Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives


Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
Fighting the criminal trade in cheetah cubs is particularly challenging because it revolves around Somaliland, a self-declared republic without international recognition, and one of the world's poorest regions (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
The cheetah cubs seized from the illegal wildlife trade in Somaliland are often in poor health, and about half succumb to illness (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
Cheetah have been sought after as exotic pets for centuries but today demand for cubs is placing enormous strain on the vulnerable species (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
The number of cheetahs sheltered at safe houses run by the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Somaliland has soared as the government has cracked down on the illegal cub trade (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
Snatched from their mothers, shipped out of Africa to war-torn Yemen and onward to the Gulf, a cheetah cub that survives the ordeal can fetch up to $15,000 on the black market (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)

Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
Somaliland is expanding intelligence sharing with neighbouring countries and Yemen to better tackle the illegal trade (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)



Cheetahs fast running to extinction as cub trade thrives
Every year an estimated 300 cheetah cubs are trafficked through Somaliland to wealthy buyers in the Middle East seeking exotic pets (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)


Nick Perry
Thu, 11 November 2021

Tiny, weeks-old cheetah cubs suckled from baby bottles and purred weakly, their condition still dangerously precarious after their rescue from the Horn of Africa's illegal wildlife trade.

Around half the cubs saved from traffickers do not survive the trauma -- and there are real concerns for the smallest of this lot, a frail infant nicknamed "Green" weighing just 700 grams (25 ounces).

"It was very touch and go with Green," said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), inspecting the mewling cub at the non-profit organisation's rescue centre in Somaliland.

They are the lucky ones -- every year an estimated 300 cheetah cubs are trafficked through Somaliland to wealthy buyers in the Middle East seeking exotic pets.

Snatched from their mothers, shipped out of Africa to war-torn Yemen and onward to the Gulf, cubs that survive the ordeal can fetch up to $15,000 on the black market.

It is a busy trade, one less familiar than criminal markets for elephant ivory or rhino horn, but equally devastating for Africa's most endangered big cat.

- Loved to death -

A century ago, there were an estimated 100,000 cheetahs worldwide. Today barely 7,000 remain, their numbers slashed by human encroachment and habitat destruction.

The steady plunder of cubs from the wild to satisfy the pet trade only compounds this decline.

More than 3,600 live cheetahs were illegally traded worldwide in the decade to December 2019, according to research published this year that documented hundreds of advertisements for cubs on social media platforms including YouTube and Instagram.

"If this keeps going... that kind of offtake causes the population to go extinct in a very short time," said Marker, a leading authority on cheetahs.

Cheetahs have been prized as pets and hunting companions since the Roman Empire and breeding them in captivity is notoriously difficult, making wild-caught cubs the only option.

Part of the campaign to stop the modern-day trade has focused on changing attitudes in prosperous Gulf states, the main buyer market where cheetahs are still coveted status symbols.

Marker said wealthy owners liked to show off their cheetahs in selfies as much as their cars and cash.

"There's kind of a one-upmanship on it, and there's bragging power. One of our messages is do not 'like' this kind of thing on social media," Marker said.

- Cruel trade -

Combatting this criminal trade is particularly challenging because it revolves around Somaliland, a self-declared republic without international recognition, and one of the world's poorest regions.

Roughly the size of Syria, with 850 kilometres (530 miles) of coastline facing Yemen, the breakaway region between Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia is stretched thin policing its porous borders.

Somaliland's interior minister Mohamed Kahin Ahmed told AFP that a small coastguard unit was doing its best but apart from patrolling for cheetahs they had human traffickers and gun runners to contend with.

The cubs that slip through the net suffer terrible mistreatment along the smuggling route, fed improperly and confined to tiny cages, sometimes with their legs bound with zip ties.

Marker said one particular seizure in 2019 illustrated the cruelty: "When they dumped them out, there were live ones dying on top of dead ones... It was just horrible," she said.

In recent years, confiscations have soared as the government has cracked down on the trade.

From just a handful of cubs in 2018, today CCF shelters 67 rescued cheetahs across three safe houses in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa.

Laws criminalising the sale of cheetahs have also started being enforced.

In October 2020, a smuggling ring was shattered and a high-profile trafficker prosecuted in a landmark trial.

- Future generations -

Through a UK government-funded programme, Somaliland is expanding intelligence sharing with neighbouring countries and Yemen to fight the criminals robbing Africa of the iconic species.

But the government is also working with impoverished rural communities, whose conflict with cheetahs is another driver in the trade.

Of the 13 cubs confiscated between September and November, at least four were taken by farmers hoping to sell them and recoup losses after claiming their livestock were killed by cheetahs.

"The next generation may never see a cheetah if this illicit trade continues," Edna Adan Ismail, Somaliland's former foreign minister, told an anti-poaching conference in September.

Local veterinarian Ahmed Yusuuf Ibrahim is determined this grim prophecy does not pass.

The 27-year-old has been learning how to nurse sickly cubs back to health and has developed a close fondness for the cheetahs under his care.

They cannot fend for themselves, and eventually will be relocated to a larger natural enclosure outside Hargeisa.

But for now, Ibrahim is their doting custodian -- right down to making sure cheetahs young and old get their fair share of camel meat.

"I care for them. I feed them, I clean them. They are my babies," he said.

np/txw/oho

First rhino horn NFT sold at auction in South Africa


Rhinos in Africa are slaughtered for their horns, which are smuggled into Asia where they are highly prized for traditional and medicinal purposes (AFP/Philip FONG)

Fri, November 12, 2021

A digital replica of a rhino horn sold at an auction in South Africa late Thursday, as conservationists tapped into the craze for NFTs to raise money to protect real rhinos.

Cape Town businessman Charl Jacobs paid 105,000 rand (6,850 dollars, 6,000 euros) for the digital horn, which he said he plans to place into a trust for his children.

"If worst-case scenario, if rhinos go into complete disarray then I would still own a rhino horn, because the NFT is a token of the physical rhino horn," he told AFP.

Proceeds from the sale go to the private Black Rock Rhino conservancy, home to 200 rhinos that are able to breed while protected from poachers.

"We are doubling our population every four years. So it’s a really important conservation project," said conservationist Derek Lewitton.

"But it costs a fortune. If you don’t want to get poached, you have to spend a ton in terms of manpower and security infrastructure. and this a way to help us fund that."

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have made a huge splash among art collectors who have spent millions of dollars on digital drawings, music, and videos.

An NFT's authenticity is certified by block-chain technology, which is considered immutable, making the digital objects something that can be bought and sold.

The NFT technology also allows a beneficiary to receive commissions from future sales, so if Jacobs sells his NFT in the future, Black Rock Rhino would receive a portion of that sale.

It's legal to trade in real rhino horns within South Africa, but in this case, the original horn is locked away for safekeeping.

Poachers killed at least 249 rhinos in South Africa during the first six months of the year -- 83 more than in the first half of 2020.

The animals are slaughtered for their horns, which are smuggled into Asia where they are highly prized for traditional and medicinal purposes.

str-gs/yad

Outspoken Cambodian Union Leader Released From Jail


By AFP News
11/12/21 AT 6:17 AM

An outspoken Cambodian union leader jailed for comments about the country's border was released on Friday after a court reduced his sentence.

Rong Chhun, the leader of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, was arrested and jailed last year after accusing the government of "irregularities" over the demarcation of the eastern border with Vietnam.

Activists at the time said he had been targeted as part of premier Hun Sen's crackdown on opposition voices.

As he left jail on Friday evening, Rong Chhun, who denies the charges against him, told AFP: "My arrest and conviction is an attempt to silence my voice."

Rong Chhun was detained in July and sentenced to two years in jail in August 2020.

An appeal court on Friday reduced his prison term to time already served, his lawyer Sam Sokong told AFP, with the remaining sentence suspended for three years.

Four other activists, who were jailed over protests demanding his release, will also be released, he added.

Rong Chhun, the jailed leader of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, is expected to be released after a court reduced his sentence

 Photo: AFP / TANG CHHIN Sothy

On Friday evening, wearing a headband adorned with the Cambodian flag, Rong Chhun was greeted outside Prey Sar Prison by a throng of supporters.

He vowed to continue his activism.

"I will continue my mission because Cambodia is facing a danger," he told AFP, adding his arrest was "a message to intimidate people, teachers, intellectuals and youths not to speak the truth against the government".


The comments for which Rong Chhun was jailed involved a newly agreed borderline between Cambodia and Vietnam, which the activist said encroached on some locals' farmland.

The territorial dispute has long been a lightning rod for controversy, fuelled by strong anti-Vietnamese sentiment in Cambodia.

Opposition activists accuse Hun Sen of ceding territory to Hanoi, in a bid to whip up nationalist feeling against him.

Hun Sen is one of the world's longest-serving leaders and has been in power for 36 years.

Critics say he has wound back democratic freedoms and used the courts to stifle opposition.

Cambodia Hits Back at US Sanctions Over Naval Base
November 12, 2021
Agence France-Presse

FILE - Cambodian navy crew members stand on a patrol boat at the Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, July 26, 2019. The U.S. Treasury Department on Nov. 10, 2021, imposed sanctions on two senior Cambodian defense officials over allegations of graft.

Cambodia on Friday angrily condemned a U.S. decision to sanction two senior military officials over a contentious naval base, accusing Washington of showing "utter contempt" for its sovereignty.

The U.S. Treasury Department this week announced it was freezing any U.S. assets and criminalizing transactions with senior defense ministry official Chau Phirun and naval commander Tea Vinh over alleged corruption linked to the Ream Naval Base.

Washington accused the pair, along with other Cambodian officials, of conspiring to inflate costs at the base to pocket the proceeds.

"Cambodia strongly deplores the long-arm jurisdiction of the United States over Cambodian officials on the basis of groundless allegations driven by geopolitical motives," the Cambodian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The smear campaign and unilateral sanction of the United States against public figures of a sovereign state... [displays] an utter contempt for the independence of another country as well as acts as a serious interference in its domestic affairs," the statement said.

The Cambodian foreign ministry also warned that the move was "another step in the wrong direction" for ties between the two countries.

The base on the Gulf of Thailand has been a running sore in U.S.-Cambodia relations in recent years, with Washington suspecting it is being converted for use by China.

Cambodia has been dismantling facilities at the base that were built partly with American money and played host to U.S. exercises.

Satellite imagery taken in August showed the construction of two new buildings, likely indicating that China is pushing ahead on a new agreement, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Hun Sen has repeatedly denied his country would host the Chinese military at the base.

Senior U.S. officials have warned Cambodia that hosting a Chinese base would damage relations with Washington.

China has been increasingly assertive over its extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, raising tensions with numerous Asian nations, but Cambodia has increasingly appeared as an ally.

Pet Cats Are Spreading a Brain Parasite to Wildlife, New Research Suggests

New research shows the extent to which cats are likely driving the spread of a problematic brain parasite to wild animals and how the ongoing deterioration of our environment is making this problem even worse.

© Photo: Timothy D. Easley (AP) Cats sitting on a side road in Glendale, Kentucky.

A study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Science connects densely populated urban areas with increased cases of Toxoplasma gondii among wild mammals. Domestic cats are common carriers of the parasite, and cats are often allowed to freely roam outside, so the researchers naturally suspect our feline friends as being the driving mechanism behind this process. Veterinarian and ecologist Amy Wilson from the University of British Columbia led the new research.

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that causes an upsettingly common infection known as toxoplasmosis, or toxo; it infects approximately one-third of the world’s population. The parasite is famous for altering the behavior of mice, making them more susceptible to predation by cats. Once infected, a single cat can shed half-a-billion toxo eggs in just two weeks. These eggs, known as oocysts, are super resilient, capable of living in moist soil and water for a full year and possibly even longer.

Scientists refer to toxo as a generalist zoonotic parasite, which means it’s highly capable of living and spreading to all sorts of different animals. For toxo, this means it can make the leap to any warm-blooded animal, including birds and mammals. For healthy animals, a toxo infection shouldn’t be a problem, but when in the presence of a weakened immune system, the parasite goes into action, triggering all sorts of illnesses and death in some extreme cases. In humans, the disease is especially dangerous for pregnant people.

Going into the study, Wilson and her colleagues knew that toxo isn’t spread evenly among the world’s wild animals, but the processes driving this variation were not well understood. The new study was an attempt to fill this gap in our knowledge. To that end, the team analyzed 45,079 documented cases of toxo in free-ranging wild mammal species. This data was pulled from 202 international studies and included 238 different mammalian species.

The connection became clear: Wildlife living near dense urban areas were more likely to be infected with toxo, and it didn’t matter where these animals were positioned within their respective food webs.

“As increasing human densities are associated with increased densities of domestic cats, our study suggests that free-roaming domestic cats—whether pets or feral cats—are the most likely cause of these infections,” Wilson explained in a press release. “This finding is significant because by simply limiting free roaming of cats, we can reduce the impact of Toxoplasma on wildlife.”

The researchers also noticed a higher prevalence of the parasite in warmer climates and among animals with aquatic diets. That animals living in aquatic ecosystems have increased exposure to toxo did not come as a surprise to the researchers, “due to the potential for substantial and localized oocyst influxes through runoff and increased exposure area through suspension through the water column,” as they wrote in their study.

Got a couple of caveats to point out, however.

The researchers didn’t have the desired global coverage, lacking data for central Eurasia and east-central Africa. That’s unfortunate, because ”countries on these continents have relatively high human T. gondii prevalence,” according to the paper. Also, the team would like to dive deeper into the various ecosystems studied, to get a more nuanced sense of where and how toxo might be spreading within the identified hotspots.

The paper identifies high-risk areas for wild animals to acquire a toxo infection, but as the researchers themselves admit, cause and effect was not firmly established; the scientists are merely inferring that cats are the primary drivers of the disease, which, to be fair, is probably a very good inference. Accordingly, “proactively targeting pathogen pollution from domestic cats would be the most pragmatic and impactful intervention for decreasing wildlife infections,” the authors write.

Ooh, that is such a good term: ‘pathogen pollution.’ That’s a nice way of describing the problem. We are literally polluting the environment with the toxo parasite by allowing some cats—a creature moulded by the processes of artificial selection and now reproducing to impossibly high numbers—to roam free. It’s well documented that domestic cats, when allowed to roam free, are an ecological menace, killing huge numbers of birds and other creatures; we can now add another item to the list, as likely spreaders of toxo to wildlife.

An important point made in the paper is that vibrant and healthy ecosystems are a natural defense mechanism against the spread of pathogens, toxo included.

“We know that when wetlands are destroyed or streams are restricted, we are more likely to experience runoff that carries more pathogens into the waters where wild animals drink or live,” Wilson said. “When their habitats are healthy, wildlife thrives and tends to be more disease-resistant,” she said, adding: “Conservation is really preventative medicine in action.”

Minimum wage increase caught businesses off-guard: Chamber

On Thursday, the Ontario Government introduced legislation that would increase the Province’s minimum wage from $14.35 to $15 effective January 1.

It was an about-face from the current government, which cancelled a similar move by the previous government when they came to power in 2018, but while the move was welcomed by employees, the decision caught some employers by surprise, according to the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.

“While the Chamber understands the importance of an increase in the minimum wage, especially in looking at the cost of living in the GTA, we are concerned that we, like businesses, were caught off-guard by the announcement this week and there has been minimal consultation with the business community,” said Sandra Ferri, President & CEO of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. “For that reason, the Chamber is going to be reaching out to our members to hear what they are saying so we can provide feedback on their behalf back to the government.

“We’re coming out of this pandemic and we’re wondering about timing and whether it is the right time.”

From the Province’s perspective, the timing is right – and this is due to the pandemic.

“Ontario’s workers have been the unsung heroes of this pandemic, as they’ve stocked shelves, kept our supply chain moving and helped so many of us enjoy a meal among family and friends at a local restaurant,” said Premier Doug Ford in a statement. “When we asked labour leaders what their priorities were, increasing the minimum wage was at the top of the list. As the cost of living continues to go up, our government is proud to be working for workers, putting more money into their pockets by increasing the minimum wage.”

PROVOCATION

Russia sends paratroopers to Belarus for drills near Poland

Russia sent paratroopers to Belarus Friday in a show of support for its ally amid the tensions over an influx of migrants on the Belarusian border with Poland.


Russian paratroopers. Photo courtesy of Defense Ministry Official Website

AP , Friday 12 Nov 2021

The Russian Defense Ministry said that as part of joint war games Russian paratroopers will parachute from heavy-lift Il-76 transport planes in Belarus' Grodno region that borders Poland.

The Belarusian military said the exercise involving a battalion of Russian paratroopers was intended to test the readiness of the allies' rapid response forces due to an ``increase of military activities near the Belarusian border.``

It said that as part of the drills, which will also involve Belarusian air defense assets, helicopter gunships, and other forces, troops will practice targeting enemy scouts and illegal armed formations, along with other tasks.

Earlier this week, Russia sent its nuclear-capable strategic bombers on patrol missions over Belarus for two straight days. Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that the flights came in response to a massive build-up on the Polish-Belarusian border.

Russia has strongly supported Belarus amid a tense standoff this week as thousands of migrants and refugees, most of them from the Middle East, gathered on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland in the hope of crossing into Western Europe.

The European Union has accused Belarus' authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, of encouraging illegal border crossings as a ``hybrid attack'' to retaliate against EU sanctions on his government for its crackdown on domestic protests after Lukashenko's disputed 2020 reelection.

Belarus denies the allegations but has said it will no longer stop refugees and migrants from trying to enter the EU.

The Belarusian Defense Ministry accused Poland on Thursday of an ``unprecedented'' military buildup on the border, saying that migration control did not warrant the concentration of 15,000 troops backed by tanks, air defense assets, and other weapons.

Russia and Belarus have a union agreement envisaging close political and military ties. Lukashenko has stressed the need to boost military cooperation in the face of what he has described as aggressive actions by NATO allies.

Belarus: Western nations, Russia debate migration conflict at UN

Western nations on the UN Security Council have said Belarus is putting people "in danger for political purposes." Russia, a regional ally of the Belarusian government, has rebuked the allegations.

Many of the migrants at the Polish-Belarusian border come from Iraq

Western countries on the UN Security Council and Russia traded blows on Thursday over who is responsible for an escalating crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border.

What did the two sides say?

The US, UK, France, Ireland, Norway, Estonia and Albania blamed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for the dire situation.

"We condemn the orchestrated instrumentalization of human beings whose lives and wellbeing have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus," those countries said. They claimed Minsk aims to "destabilize neighboring countries and the EU's border" while "diverting attention away from its own increasing human rights violations."

The Western nations called Belarus' behavior "unacceptable" and urged a "strong international response."

Lukashenko has been accused of flying migrants and refugees into Europe from Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq. The Belarusian president is allegedly using this tactic to punish the EU, as Belarus has been hit with debilitating sanctions from the West.

Russia, a regional ally of Belarus, rebuked the allegations on Thursday.

Moscow's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told journalists ahead of the UN Security Council meeting that Western countries "have some kind of masochist inclinations because to raise this topic, which is a total shame for the EU, in front of us would be very brave."

He said Belarus and Russia are "absolutely not" helping the migrants and refugees come to Europe.

"It's not the first time that the EU is faced with such a crisis," Polyanskiy said. "One should be mindful of the reasons why these people are fleeing their home countries, who was responsible for this crisis, and what states destroyed their homelands."

Seehofer: Poland 'performing important service' for Europe

In separate comments published on Friday, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told Germany's third-largest newspaper publisher, Funke Mediengruppe, that "Poland is performing an important service for all of Europe" by protecting the EU's external borders.

He said the EU must stand together with Poland in handling the situation.

Belarus border crisis source of concern in Germany

Seehofer called Lukashenko's alleged use of migrants to destabilize the EU a "quite nasty political method."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also called the migration tactics by Belarus "inhumane and unacceptable." She spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week and urged him to act.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Thursday in a statement that his country is witnessing a "new kind of war" whose "ammunition is civilians."
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for more pressure on Lukashenko

Meanwhile, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told DW on Thursday that Germany and other Western countries should exert more economic and political pressure on Lukashenko.

When asked if she is content with how the German government and Merkel have supported her cause, Tsikhanouskaya replied she is "grateful for any support any country shows." At the same time, she added that "much more could be done."

"That's why we continue communicating with the Bundestag, with the government of Germany, with maybe the future government to put Belarus as a priority in foreign policy, to be bolder in the actions, to be braver in the resolutions," she said.

In addition to new sanctions against Lukashenko, Tsikhanouskaya said Germany and other countries could "could help civil society in this difficult moment" in Belarus.

Tsikhanouskaya called on Germany to not concede to the "criminal regime" in Belarus

Tsikhanoukaya had also met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday, where they discussed the "hybrid attack of Belarus' dictator."
What led to the current tensions between the EU and Belarus?

Lukashenko defeated Tsikhanouskaya in last year's presidential elections in a landslide victory, with Western countries viewing his win as illegitimate amid reports of fraud. Lukashenko has cracked down on opposition groups and the media since the election.

Last year's controversial election, along with a state-ordered forced landing of a Ryanair flight over Belarusian airspace in May, have led to the current crisis between the EU and Minsk.

Lukashenko said Thursday that he could potentially cut off natural gas transit to Europe if the EU moves forward with additional sanctions. Tsikhanouskaya told news agency AFP in a separate interview that Lukashenko would not follow through with the threat.

wd/sms (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

WAIT, WHAT?!
Sri Lanka to tax car crashes in drastic budget

By AFP
12 November 2021 | 2:28 pm

A man stands near a car showroom in Colombo on November 12, 2021. 

(Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Sri Lanka slapped a tax on road accidents in a drastic austerity budget unveiled Friday as the country faces a major foreign exchange crisis.

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said vehicle accidents will be taxed under new revenue proposals to keep the budget deficit at 8.8 percent of GDP in 2022, down from 11.1 percent this year.

“It is proposed to impose a fee on vehicles meeting with accidents,” Rajapaksa told parliament. “Through this initiative, it is expected to reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents.”

He did not give details of the crash tax.

Sri Lanka’s roads are among the most dangerous in the world with over 3,000 traffic fatalities and some 25,000 seriously injured every year.

Rajapaksa admitted that the country was facing a serious crisis with foreign reserves at $2.3 billion, down from $7.5 billion when his brother Gotabaya took over as president two years ago.

“We have to accept that the increase in prices is due to a shortage of goods, the imposition of import restrictions, the overreliance on imports, the depreciation of the rupee together with the failure to adequately encourage manufacturers,” he said.

There were no measures to ease the import ban on a host of goods, including vehicles, spares, tiles and even some essential food imports, imposed in March last year.

However, Rajapaksa increased taxes on cigarettes, liquor and slapped a one-off tax on companies earning profits of over 2,000 million rupees ($10 million) and raised the VAT on financial services from 15 to 18 percent.

He also announced raising the retirement age of public servants from 60 to 65 years, a move that will delay the payment of terminal benefits to thousands of employees and thereby reduce government spending for the next five years.

The budget deficit of 1,628 billion rupees ($8.14 billion) will be bridged with borrowings, including $5.08 billion in foreign borrowings, according to official figures.

Central Bank officials have said the country is facing its worst foreign exchange crisis since the advent of a free economy in 1978.

Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Sri Lanka’s foreign debt rating last month.

The decision was fuelled by the absence of “comprehensive financing” to make looming debt repayments, according to Moody’s.

Sri Lanka’s economy shrank a record 3.6 percent last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The central bank expects growth of 4-5 percent this year with the gradual reopening of the economy and the roll-out of a vaccine programme.

AstraZeneca to take profit from Covid vaccine sales


Unlike its rivals, AstraZeneca has been selling its Covid vaccine on a not-for-profit basis. 


Issued on: 12/11/2021 

London (AFP) – British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said Friday it has begun to sell its Covid vaccine at a profit as the company posted a third quarter loss on higher costs.

AstraZeneca, which has sold its vaccine at cost during the pandemic in contrast to rivals including US giant Pfizer, said it expects "to progressively transition... to modest profitability as new orders are received" in the current fourth quarter and beyond.

AstraZeneca posted a net loss of $1.65 billion (1.44 billion euros) for the third quarter compared with a profit after tax of around $650 million in the July-September period last year, a statement said.

AstraZeneca said it experienced higher costs in the current third quarter following its $39-billion takeover of US biotech company Alexion, as well as increased research and development expenses across multiple programmes, including its Covid treatments.

Last month, the drugs company revealed positive results from a trial of a treatment for Covid-19 symptoms, which is being produced alongside its vaccine.

Made from a combination of two antibodies, the AZD7442 treatment had been undergoing final clinical trials to assess its safety and efficacy.

AstraZeneca said the limited profit contribution from the Covid vaccine in the current fourth quarter "is expected to offset costs relating to" AZD7442.

Chief executive Pascal Soriot told a conference call with reporters Friday that AstraZeneca had always planned to stop selling its Covid vaccine at cost.

But he stressed that the company wants "the vaccine to remain affordable".

The group added that revenue from its Covid vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, totalled $2.22 billion in the year to date following delivery of around 580 million doses worldwide.

Soriot said the company had "saved millions of hospitalisations" thanks to being the world's second largest provider of Covid vaccines after Pfizer.
Soaring sales

The drugs giant said total group revenue soared 50 percent in the third quarter to almost $9.9 billion.

"AstraZeneca's scientific leadership continues to provide strong revenue growth and exceptional pipeline delivery... including our long-acting antibody combination showing promise in both prevention and treatment of Covid-19," Soriot said in the earnings statement.

"The addition of Alexion furthers our commitment to bring transformative therapies to patients around the world, and I am proud of our colleagues' ongoing dedication and focus."

The group completed its mega takeover of Alexion earlier this year.

Since taking the helm at AstraZeneca in 2012, Soriot has pushed the company into lucrative treatments such as cancer therapies, and the Alexion takeover gives it more heft in areas such as treating blood disorders.

© 2021 AFP

CRISPR-CRITTERS
CRISPR-Cas9: A weapon against antibiotic-resistant superbugs?

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. A technology to edit genes, called CRIPSR-Cas9, could help us eliminate these superbugs, a new study has found.

Genetically modified bacteria have shown antibacterial properties in a mouse model


Before the discovery of penicillin in 1928, even common infections such as strep throat could be a terminal diagnosis. Antibiotics gave us a great advantage in the battle against harmful bacteria. Since then, antibiotic medicine has improved a lot. But so have bacteria.

The fast rise in antibiotic resistance is one of the world's most concerning health issues. Antibiotic-resistant infections kill about 700,000 people each year, according to the Worl;d Health Organization (WHO). A 2018 study by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that these so-called superbugs were responsible for 33,000 deaths every year in the EU alone.

Scientists are struggling to keep up with resistant bacteria in developing new antibiotics.
Good bacteria against evil bacteria

In a recent study, researchers managed to kill resistant bacteria in mice guts. This method, which is still being researched, uses the famous Nobel Prize winning gene-editing technology, CRISPR-Cas9.

Scientists from the University of Sherbrooke in Canada used the technology, which works like "genetic scissors," to delve inside resistant bacteria and cut vital "genetic wires," which disabled the bacteria, killing them from within.

This result is not only promising because the bacteria were successfully killed, but also because CRISPR-Cas9 specifically targeted harmful bacteria, as opposed to killing off a whole bunch of good bacteria alongside the harmful bacteria — which is what antibiotics do.

What exactly is CRISPR-Cas9?

Imagine you have a book that you want a specific sentence taken out of. You have a little device that can search through the book for the exact sentence and take it out without damaging the book. On the computer, it would be like using the search function (control+F) to identify and delete the specified text. That's pretty much what CRISPR-Cas9 does, just on a much, much smaller scale — simply replace the book with a DNA or RNA sequence.


It's like a search-and-cut molecular machine. You give it a target DNA sequence, and it will cut precisely and only there. In this case, a DNA sequence belonging to an antibiotic resistant gene.

In theory, it seems simple. But getting this molecular machine inside the resistant bacteria is not easy. The Canada-based researchers managed to do so by exploiting a curious thing that bacteria can do. They can transfer genetic material between each other when they touch. The process is called conjugation. It's kind of like being able to send files from one smartphone to another when touching them.

These scientists used CRISPR-Cas9 to target an antibiotic-resistant gene, and modified it to be much more transferable between bacteria. Then, they put it inside harmless bacteria and fed them to the mice. Surprisingly, it eliminated more than 99.9% of the targeted antibiotic resistant bacteria after only four days.

Though CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful and precise tool with the potential to be very helpful in eliminating antibiotic resistance, researchers don't yet know if bacteria are also capable of developing resistance to this technology, too.

But it's just one example of many studies being carried out in this area. Some research groups have used bacteria-attacking viruses, called bacteriophages, as vehicles, and others have targeted the bacterial RNA instead.


7 OF THE DEADLIEST SUPERBUGS
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Approximately 3-5% of the population carry Klebsiella pneumoniae. But most people can carry it without becoming sick. It's different for those with a weakened immune system or acute infections. They could suffer severe gastrointestinal infections, pneumonia, blood poisoning — it depends on where the bacteria settles. Klebsiella pneumoniae is a critical-priority drug-resistant bug, says the WHO.
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