Two leading Ebola vaccines appear safe, further tests starting

Sunday, January 11, 2015 | 1:58 AM    

LONDON, England (AP) — The World Health Organization says the two leading Ebola vaccines appear safe and will soon be tested in healthy volunteers in West Africa.

After an expert meeting this week, WHO said there is now enough information to conclude that the two most advanced Ebola vaccines — one made by GlaxoSmithKline and the other licensed by Merck and NewLink — have “an acceptable safety profile.”

In a press briefing on Friday, Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, who heads WHO’s Ebola vaccine efforts, said “the cupboard (for Ebola vaccines) is filling up rapidly.”

She said further trials in healthy people in West Africa, including health workers, are scheduled to start soon. Kieny added several other vaccines were being developed in the US, Russia and elsewhere.

Despite the temporary suspension of a trial of the vaccine made by NewLink and Merck in December, Kieny said there was no sign of significant side effects. That trial was put on hold while experts investigated reports of joint pain in a number of participants. It was an unexpected side effect but Kieny said it was not worrying enough to stop the vaccine’s development. No such side effects have been reported with the other vaccine.

The next phase of trials will likely take about six months and manufacturers will ramp up their production at the same time, meaning millions of doses could be available later this year. It’s unclear if that will be quick enough to help slow the epidemic, which appears to be on the decline. So far, Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 20,000 people and killed about 8,000, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Officials estimate the death rate to be about 71 per cent.

“We will have to take stock when we have the vaccines,” said Helen Rees of the University of Witwatersrand, who chaired the WHO meeting. She said experts would have to consider at that point whether it’s useful to vaccinate entire populations or focus only on high-risk groups.

Dr Peter Piot, the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, said he was concerned there might be too few cases to prove the vaccines worked. Still, he said every option should be pursued to stop the world’s biggest-ever outbreak of Ebola.

“With Ebola, you need to find every last case and stop all transmission,” he said. “It may be that we won’t be able to do that without a vaccine,” Piot said.

GAVI, a private-public vaccine alliance, has pledged to spend US$300 million on WHO-recommended Ebola vaccines, which it estimates could translate into 12 million doses.

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Two leading Ebola vaccines appear safe, further tests starting

Scotia moves to further reduce credit/debit card fraud

BY KARENA BENNETT Business reporter bennettk@jamaicaobserver,com SCOTIABANK Jamaica will be implementing a security system to further minimise credit and debit card fraud within another 12 months.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014    

SCOTIABANK Jamaica will be implementing a security system to further minimise credit and debit card fraud within another 12 months.

The CHIP/EMV card processing system will require customers to insert their cards into point-of-sale terminals instead of swiping, to authenticate transactions. This should allow for faster processing at checkout points in addition to enhanced security, according to Monique Todd, Scotiabank Jamaica’s vice-president of marketing, public and corporate affairs.

“Plans are already well on the way for Scotiabank to switch over to the CHIP/EMV card processing system by the end of 2015,” Todd told the Jamaica Observer in an e-mailed response. “Once fully implemented, customers will no longer need to sign transaction receipts and verify their signature.”

EMV, or Europay, MasterCard and Visa card, has already been implemented in a number of countries, including the United States. A study conducted in that country estimates that close to 1.1 billion EMV cards will be issued by the end of 2015, costing banks US$3.85 billion ($435 billion) to issue the cards and another US$6.5 trillion ($734.5 trillion) for the upgrading of point-of-sale systems to become EMV-compliant.

Traditionally, electronic cards use a magnetic strip which stores data, allowing anyone who accesses the data to gain sensitive information. However, the new card will feature a small magnetic square that will increase protection against fraud, by creating a unique transaction code each time the card is inserted for payment.

For the first few months, the EMV cards should be equipped to use both chip and magnetic-strip functions to avoid disruptions and allow time for merchants to adjust. While the new system will not prevent data breaches from occurring, Scotia believes it will make it much harder for hackers to conduct fraudulent transactions.

Over the last five years, commercial banks have seen a significant increase in the number of transactions carried out by credit and debit cards. A report by the Bank of Jamaica indicated that the banks recorded a 52 per cent increase in credit card receivables, moving from $11.6 million at the end of June 2009 to $24.3 million for the comparative period this year.

Still, credit card fraud has amounted to more than US$58,000 and J$34 million during the first five months of this year, and is now classified as the most productive means of swindling local currency from bank customers.

Scotia has been strengthening its online banking security system after recording a $150-million loss over a nine-month period to debit and credit card fraud transactions in 2010. Since then, the bank has managed to reduce the number of credit and debit card liabilities by 57 per cent.

The EMV, or Europay, MasterCard and Visa card, has already been implemented in a number of countries, including the United States

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Scotia moves to further reduce credit/debit card fraud

Oil price dips further

Jamaican motorists could see a further decline in prices at the pumps in coming weeks.
Crude oil futures fell on Monday, as ample supply and slowing economic growth in Europe and China outweighed expectations of  a cut in oil output from the Organization of  Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).  
Brent crude for November delivery fell $1.42 to settle at $96.97 a barrel.

Fuel prices in Jamaica fell by a big margin last week. Petrojam cut the price of  gasoline by $2.47. It was the biggest decline in gas prices for a single week in 2 years.

Meanwhile, OPEC members, many of them needing oil prices above $100 a barrel to meet budgetary needs, will review oil output policy at a meeting on November 27.  
Many analysts expect OPEC to cut output to slow the recent price slide, but it is not clear how much impact a reduction willl have on prices at a time of  oversupply and high inventories.

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Oil price dips further

Sierra Leone’s “lockdown” could lead to further spread of Ebola, says medical group

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, Monday September 8, 2014 – In a bid to stop the relentless spread of the deadly Ebola virus, the government of Sierra Leone plans to order every man, woman and child in the country not to leave the areas immediately surrounding their homes for a period of three days starting September 19.

According to the country’s deputy information minister Theo Nichol, the three-day shutdown would also make it easier for medical workers to trace suspected cases of the disease.

Nichol added that the period may be extended if needed, echoing the words of a presidential official who had previously indicated that the “lockdown” would last for four days.

International medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) nevertheless begs to differ over the proposed countrywide quarantine, which it claims will not help control an Ebola outbreak and could lead to the disease spreading further as cases are concealed.

“It has been our experience that lockdowns and quarantines do not help control Ebola as they end up driving people underground and jeopardising the trust between people and health providers,” said MSF.

“This leads to the concealment of potential cases and ends up spreading the disease further,” added the medical charity, which has been helping battle the world’s biggest ever outbreak of the disease across West Africa.

MSF added that door-to-door screening required high levels of expertise and, even when cases were detected, there were insufficient treatment centres and other essential facilities for patient care.

The international medical charity reiterated its calls for nations with civilian and military biological-disaster response capacities to send equipment and teams to West Africa.

“This remains our best hope of bringing this deadly outbreak under control as quickly as possible,” it said.

The outbreak was first identified in Guinea in March and has since spread across much of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases have also been recorded in Nigeria and Senegal, while a different strain of the virus has surfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Late last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that more than 2,100 people have died.

The WHO went on to say that it will take months to bring Ebola under control and forecast as many as 20,000 cases.

Following a trip to the region, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr Tom Frieden warned that the Ebola outbreak is much worse than official figures show and is “spiralling out of control.”

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Sierra Leone’s “lockdown” could lead to further spread of Ebola, says medical group

Further erosion of foreign reserves puts Barbados dollar in danger – Moody’s

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, July 23, 2014, CMC - With Barbados’ foreign reserves standing below the 2013 level, International credit rating agency, Moody’s has warned that strain could be put on the dollar.

“Any further erosion in reserves would likely put further pressure on Barbados’ currency, which is pegged to the US dollar,” Moody’s stated in a July 21 report.

The agency issued its analysis based on the Central Bank of Barbados’ fiscal first quarter report issued on July 15.

The analysis is titled, ‘Barbados’ Mounting Fiscal Challenges and Persistent Economic Weakness Are Credit Negative’.

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“After recovering slightly during the previous three quarters, foreign exchange reserves have resumed their decline, and as of 30 June remained around 25 per cent below early-2013 levels,” Moody’s noted. “This decline occurred despite a slight recovery in long-term private financial inflows that traditionally help support the central bank’s international reserves.”

In its July report the Central Bank set Government’s financing needs for the remaining three quarters of the current fiscal year at BDS$300 million, to be financed by commercial banks, NIS, and other non-bank organisations.

But stating that the fiscal first quarter, ended in June, was an important test for the government’s ability to deliver its deficit reduction program introduced in August 2013, Moody’s raised the level of Government’s estimated financial needs.

Any further erosion in reserves would likely put further pressure on Barbados’ currency, which is pegged to the US dollar

“Given the larger budget gap in the last fiscal year, we now estimate that the authorities need a total adjustment of at least BD$450 million (5.2 per cent of projected 2014 GDP) to reach their deficit objective in the current fiscal year,” Moody’s stated.

Moody’s stated that although it expects Barbados’ fiscal consolidation to accelerate over the next three quarters, “it will remain constrained by revenue underperformance, difficulty reining in transfers and subsidies and rising interest costs.

“Consequently, we are adjusting our 2014 budget deficit projection to 8.5 per cent of GDP from 8.0 per cent, about two percentage points above the government’s target, with risks firmly tilted to the downside.”

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Further erosion of foreign reserves puts Barbados dollar in danger – Moody’s

Arley Gill: A policy of containment may have avoided further Middle East troubles

Rashid Street, Baghdad, Iraq (Credit: Caribbean360/Bigstock)

Arley Gill

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, Friday June 27, 2014 - ISIS – the group that claims it’s fighting for an “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’’ – is said to be extreme compared to the Taliban, whom we know to be extreme. The goal of ISIS is to carve out an Islamic state, taking portions of unstable Iraq and the dysfunctional nation of Syria. This is not good news for the west and, indeed, the world.

Now, I am no admirer of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi President. For sure, I would not like to live in a country where the likes of Saddam are leaders.

However, it is fair to ask one’s self whether or not the so-called “War on Terror’’, launched by the United Stated in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in America, would not have been better off with a policy of containment on an Iraq led by Saddam Hussein.

Saddam, for all his weaknesses, led a more stable Iraq. One cannot help but wonder whether or not these types of leaders are what is required in societies so volatile.

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So, did the US err in invading Iraq and getting rid of Saddam? Was getting rid of Saddam a shortsighted policy?
It occurs to me that the same questions can be asked for the countries that were part of the Arab Spring of protest and western-encouraged government changes; in places such as Egypt and Libya, for example.

Egypt is back, effectively, with a military Jefe, who has jailed his opponents including a sitting president. He resigned from the army, installed himself as government leader, and then – not surprisingly – ran and won an election. Farcical, isn’t it?

Libya, for its part, now has a multitude of leaders and militias for every district.

Muammar Gaddafi, the former leader who was overthrown and executed, had negotiated a settlement of the Lockerbie airplane bombing (subsequent documentaries and literature I have read indicate that Libya was not to blame for the bombing), and he had opened up Libya to the west; so much so that western leaders had returned to visiting Libya.

But, the west had other plans for Gaddafi and it did not include him remaining in charge of Libya.

They supported rebel fighters against Gaddafi and a no-fly zone was set up over Libya. It’s the same policy that was adopted against Syria; only this time, Syria had powerful friends like Russia to assist.

The west now seemingly appreciates that there is no one opposition group in Syria and it is chaos dealing with the leaders of these groups. Here again, can a policy of containment be a better option rather than military intervention and the overthrow of the government?

Admittedly, there is need for greater freedom and democracy in Syria. But, what is the alternative? Who is the alternative? Those are questions begging for answers. It seems to me that a dance with the devil may be better than a search for the unknown.

Further, on the issue of Iraq, the reasons given by the US for the invasion we now know to be untruthful. So, what were the real reasons for the Iraqi invasion?

Whatever it is, it seems as though it was a bad decision by the US. But, who is going to take the blame? Who is going to accept the responsibility?

The views expressed in this column are solely those of Arley Gill. Arley Gill, a lawyer and magistrate, is a former Grenada minister of culture.

The views expressed in this column are solely those of Arley Gill. Arley Gill, a lawyer and magistrate, is a former Grenada minister of culture.

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Arley Gill: A policy of containment may have avoided further Middle East troubles

Jamaica sugar operation drags Chinese company further in the red

HUA Lien International, an associate of Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company, has said that operations in Jamaica’s sugar industry may lead to a significant increase in losses for the period ending June 30, 2013.

The Chinese company made the disclosure in a profit warning document to shareholders and potential investors. It blamed foreign exchange losses from US dollar-denominated debts, and the decrease in fair value of biological assets due to extreme weather-related conditions, for losses at the group’s new operations in Jamaica.“The board believes that the main reasons attributable to the expected substantial operating loss of Jamaica sugar industry projects are the foreign exchange loss from the US dollar-denominated debts as a result of the depreciation in the value of the Jamaican dollar,” the document said, adding that “The decrease in fair value of biological assets as a result of the drought conditions and hurricane being experienced has negatively affected the growth, and so the expected sugar cane yields of the Jamaica Sugar Industry Projects.”However, the notification to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange highlighted that the company is in the process of finalising interim results for the period and that the announcement is based only on a preliminary assessment made by the board.Hua Lien International is a subsidiary of Pan-Caribbean’s parent, Complant International. Pan-Caribbean bought three Government of Jamaica owned sugar assets — Frome, Monymusk and Bernard Lodge — and committed to reviving the industrial and agricultural production plant and facilities by mid-August 2014.Complant and Hua Lien last year agreed to inject US$38 million and US$89 million, respectively, into a joint venture to purchase Pan -Caribbean Sugar. Some of the funds went towards the repayment of short-term loans and working capital.Meanwhile, the local sugar company on Wednesday said it made financial investments to the tune of US$160 million, which was expended in rolling stock, including tractors, trucks, graders, harvesters and factory equipment.But the company said it has incurred losses of equipment valued at $28.3 million due to security breaches.“There have been a plethora of security breaches within Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company which have resulted in the company incurring significant losses, and to date it has not been able to hold anyone accountable for such breaches,” the sugar company said in a press release.Consequently, 132 guards were sent on leave and the sugar company contracted a private security firm.In response to the move, workers of the sugar estate have been on strike.The company said it remains committed to facilitating timely discussions with the trade unions to ensure an effective resolution for the security employees placed on paid leave.Despite the industrial disputes, Pan-Caribbean said it is working towards improving operations and has taken steps to increase cane production by installing new irrigation systems and expanding areas under production.Pan–Caribbean Sugar Company associate Hua Lien International expects substantial operating loss in Jamaica sugar industry projects. Pan–Caribbean took control of three Government of Jamaica owned sugar assets.

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Jamaica sugar operation drags Chinese company further in the red

Vybz Kartel trial faces further delay

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The murder trial of dancehall DJ Vybz Kartel failed to get underway Wednesday for the third day in a row.

The often-postponed trial is now expected to start Thursday, July 11.The trial scheduled to begin on Monday was postponed to Tuesday because of issues pertaining to the location of Kartel’s case files.On Tuesday the trial was again postponed, this time because of the unavailability of a courtroom.It failed to proceed further on Wednesday due to the involvement of the presiding judge, Justice Bryan Sykes in another trial.The entertainer whose name is Adijah Palmer is, along with Lenburgh McDonald and Nigel Thompson, charged for the July 2011 murder of St Catherine businessman, Barrington ‘Bossie’ Bryan.Bryan was reportedly shot to death while he was standing with friends in Gregory Park, St Catherine.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Vybz Kartel trial faces further delay