LONDON – A 15-minute blood and saliva test for Ebola is to be trialled in Guinea, it has been announced. The solar-powered, portable laboratory should deliver results six times faster than tests currently used in West Africa. The researchers involved say faster diagnosis would increase the chances of survival and reduce transmission of the virus….
ST LOUIS – The St Louis suburb of Ferguson has seen rioting and looting after a jury decision not to bring charges over the killing of Michael Brown. A local police chief said the violence was “probably much worse than the worst night we ever had in August” after the black teenager was killed. St…
HONG KONG – China is building an island in the South China Sea that could accommodate the country’s first airstrip in bitterly contested waters, according to satellite images analyzed by IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly. Reclamation at Fiery Cross Reef on the western edge of the disputed Spratly islands is creating a land mass that is…
TOKYO – A strong earthquake shook central Japan on Saturday night, injuring several people as their homes collapsed in a village west of Nagano, an official said. Reports of the intensity of the quake, centered in the Nagano area at 10:08 p.m., differed. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported it was a 6.8 magnitude temblor; the…
WASHINGTON – Millions of immigrants living illegally in the US will be allowed to apply for work permits under a major shake-up unveiled by President Barack Obama. They include immigrants living in the US for five years who have children staying legally in the US. Up to five million are expected to benefit from a…
BRISBANE – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that US and EU sanctions will harm not just Russia but the global economy. He said the sanctions were a mistake, going against trade accords and only the UN had the right to impose them. The sanctions were introduced over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s region of Crimea…
WASHINGTON – The US Senate’s new Republican leader and President Barack Obama have both promised to end the political gridlock that has so frustrated American voters. Republicans made historic gains in the mid-term elections and now control both legislative chambers. Incoming Senate leader Mitch McConnell said he would make the ineffective Senate function and pass…
MOSCOW – Russia’s mining billionaires are starting to feel the sting of economic sanctions. Mikhail Prokhorov, whose investment empire stretches from the world’s largest aluminium maker to the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, recently explored whether fellow oligarchs, including Vladimir Potanin, were willing to buy a portion of his $2.7 billion (R29.5bn) stake in potash miner…
WASHINGTON – US medics returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa will be actively monitored but not placed in quarantine under new US health rules. The federal guidelines came after a nurse was put in isolation in a tent in New Jersey, a decision condemned by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Meanwhile, Australia has been…
WASHINGTON – US-led air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria have killed 553 people since September, UK-based activists say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 464 IS fighters, 57 other militants and 32 civilians have died. Meanwhile, fierce fighting resumed in the town of Kobane, where militants and Kurdish forces battling for…
