Coronavirus digest: Rich nations buy half of promised vaccine supply

A group of wealthy countries have already secured the majority of promised stock of vaccines, a new study shows. Elsewhere, the pandemic leads to increased discrimination in Asia. DW wraps up the latest developments.








Rich nations have already bought up half of the promised COVID-19 vaccines, according to a report from Oxfam. The countries represent just 13% of the global population, but have dominated orders from big pharma companies for a potential vaccine, the report found.

Oxfam said that the five leading vaccine candidates that are in late-stage trials will be able to supply 5.9 billion doses, enough to inoculate about three billion people.

About 51% of these have been preemptively bought by countries and regions including the United States, Britain, the European Union, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, Switzerland and Israel. The remaining 2.6 billion have been bought by or promised to developing countries including India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico.

Here are the major coronavirus developments from across the world on Thursday:
Europe

UK: A shortage of lab capacity is hampering efforts to roll out widespread COVID-19 testing, according to Junior British Health Minister Edward Argar. He said the UK government will soon announce a system to ration testing, prioritising frontline health workers and carers. He said the country can hopefully avoid a second lockdown if people obey guidelines such as meeting with a maximum of six people.

Germany: Prosecutors are reportedly investigating more than 10,000 cases of fraudulent access to coronavirus emergency aid and other allegations of fraud in connection with the pandemic. The estimated damages amount to several million euros and the investigation will last well into next year, according to Redaktionsnetzwerks Deutschland.

An additional 2,194 people were confirmed to have been infected on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to 265,857, according to the Robert Koch Institute. Another three people died, bringing the confirmed death toll to 9,371.

Three more European capitals and several regions have been added to Germany's catalogue of "risk areas'' for coronavirus. Vienna, Budapest and the Dutch region that includes Amsterdam were added to the high-risk list due to increased numbers of infections. Also added were several regions in France, Romania, Croatia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Travelers coming from those areas must go into mandatory quarantine and take a coronavirus test.

Middle East

Israel: Jewish Israelis were preparing to celebrate Rosh Hashanah as they faced a second nationwide lockdown. Just hours before the Jewish New Year is set to roll in, Israelis will enter another three-week lockdown. Daily confirmed cases have topped 5,000 in recent weeks, one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world.
Asia

India: There was another record day of infections in India, with an additional 97,894 confirmed cases, bringing the total to more than 5.1 million cases. At least another 1,132 people died from the virus, bringing the total to 83,198. Experts say the official figures represent far less than the actual cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government faced stinging criticism as parliament resumed sittings after a five-month gap. Anand Sharma, Derek O'Brien and other opposition leaders criticized Modi for abruptly imposing a two-month nationwide lockdown in March, saying this gave no time to state governments to prepare, causing millions of now-jobless migrant workers to flee on foot. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the decision prevented up to 3 million additional cases and up to 78,000 deaths.

Oxygen supplies have become unreliable in the country, with the major states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh saying demand for oxygen has more than tripled.


China responds to the coronavirus pandemic

Australia: The lowest one-day rise in new cases in nearly three months was reported on Thursday as states said restrictions will soon be relaxed. There were 35 confirmed cases across the country on Thursday, the lowest since June 24. Most were reported in the state of Victoria, which has largely been in strict lock down for more than six weeks.

State carrier Qantas Airways said a seven-hour scenic flight over Australia's Outback and Great Barrier Reef sold out in 10 minutes. International and even state borders have effectively been sealed shut, prompting the airline to join a growing trend in Asia of "flights to nowhere."

Read more: New Zealand enters recession amid record drop in GDP

Discrimination: The coronavirus pandemic has led to new levels of discrimination against vulnerable communities in Asia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned on Thursday.

A survey of 5,000 people in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Pakistan found that half of respondents blamed a specific group for spreading the coronavirus. Many respondents blamed Chinese people, immigrants and foreigners.

"It is particularly concerning that both national migrant and foreign workers are blamed for the spread of COVID-19 as they are quite vulnerable already," researcher Dr Viviane Fluck told Reuters news agency.

She said there should be more focus on combating "rumors that are linked to underlying power dynamics and structural issues of inequality."  

Americas

US: The US government has outlined its plans to make free vaccines available to all Americans when it is proven safe and effective. However, the plan immediately provoked conflict between US President Donald Trump and a senior health official over a realistic timeline.

A vaccination program is due to begin either later in 2020 or in January 2021, eventually including any US citizen who wants a vaccine, according to a report to Congress and an accompanying "playbook" for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department.

Trump claimed that a vaccine could be three to four weeks away, however the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield told Congress on Wednesday that it would take six to nine months after any shot's approval to distribute it nationally, with it intially being reserved for first responders and the people most vulnerable to COVID-19. He said the vaccine wouldn't be available until the spring or summer of 2021 at the earliest.

Trump later said: "I believe he was confused," referring to Redfield. "I think he just made a mistake."
Child poverty

More than 150 million children have been pushed into poverty due to the pandemic, according to a new report from UNICEF and Save the Children on Thursday. There has been a 15% increase in the number of children living in deprivation in low and middle-income nations since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccine news

Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech has announced plans for a clinical trial of its experimental vaccine with children and adolescents later this month. The vaccine is already in the final stage of testing with adults.

The head of the US Centers for Disease Control said there would be enough doses of a coronavirus vaccine by the middle of 2021 to allow the US to get back to normality. See US update for more details.

Rich nations have already bought up half of the promised COVID-19 vaccines, according to a report from Oxfam. See opening paragraphs for more details.

aw/rt (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, KNA, epd)

UPDATES

 Belarus president puts military on alert amid EU border tensions

Belarus says it has closed its border with EU countries. But Polish officials have described the action as just "another element of the propaganda campaign," saying the situation at the border hasn't changed.



Embattled Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said troops would be pulled from the street to guard its borders with EU countries.

"We are compelled to withdraw our troops from the streets, have half our army on guard and close our state border with the West, first of all with Lithuania and Poland," said Lukashenko. "To our greatest regret, we are compelled to strengthen our border with brotherly Ukraine."

Polish officials said the situation had not yet changed at the border.

"We take this as another element of the propaganda campaign, a psychological game which aims to create a sense of an external threat," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told Reuters news agency.

Lithuanian border authorities also confirmed that the situation at the border with Belarus remained normal, saying they are waiting to see how the changes are implemented.

Read more: Opinion: Belarus opposition needs a plan

'Step down'

Since Lukashenko declared victory in a contentious presidential election last month, the former Soviet republic has seen thousands of protesters rally against his 26-year rule.

"Our people will not step away, they woke up and they want a new Belarus," former presidential candidate and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya told DW last month. "The person who has to step down is Mr. Lukashenko."

Belarusian authorities have responded by cracking down on anti-government protesters and targeting opposition figures, including the leading opposition group, the Coordination Council, which has accused Lukashenko's regime of "openly using methods of terror.

Western countries have threatened to take disciplinary action against Belarus, including enacting targeted sanctions.

Read more: Belarus opposition leader threatened with deportation 'alive or in bits'

Watch video02:28
Putin pledges support to embattled Lukashenko

Internet blackouts

On Friday, nearly 30 countries issued a joint statement calling on Belarusian authorities to end internet blackouts, a tactic often used by repressive governments to stop the opposition from organizing.

"Shutdowns and blocking or filtering of services unjustifiably limit the rights of peaceful assembly and freedoms of association and expression, especially when they lack procedural fairness and transparency," said the statement.

Meanwhile, 17 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) launched an investigation into rights violations in the wake of the contested August election, saying: "The mission is about holding the Belarussian authorities accountable."

Read more: Under threat from authorities, Belarusians go into exile



HOW FLOWER POWER CAN OVERTURN A SYSTEM
Flowers for a new Belarus
Reacting to the police's brutal crackdown on demonstrators following the contested reelection of longtime President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian women adopted powerful symbols of peace to pursue the protests. Dressed in white and bearing flowers, they marched and formed solidarity chains in the streets of Minsk, the country's capital. Flowers have often served as a revolutionary symbol.   12345678910

ls/sms (Reuters, dpa, AP)


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Putin pledges a $1.5 billion loan while meeting Lukashenko in Sochi

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a massive loan to Belarus after welcoming embattled ally Alexandar Lukashenko in Sochi. The Belarusian strongman confirmed the two countries would continue joint military drills.


Date 17.09.2020
Related Subjects Poland, Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus
Keywords Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, Poland, Lithuania

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3ieLx

OSCE to investigate human rights during Belarus election

Seventeen members of the OSCE have agreed to assign an independent team of investigators to probe election rigging and human rights abuses in Belarus stemming from August's ballot. They may not be able to go to Belarus.


More than a dozen members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have launched an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and election fraud following Belarus' August presidential election.

The team will investigate reports of persecution of political candidates, journalists and activists. It will also look into the use of force against peaceful protesters, illegal detention and torture.

The mission is expected to publish a report within two months.

"Basically, the mission is about holding the Belarussian authorities accountable for their gross violations of the right of the people of Belarus to have free and fair elections, fundamental freedoms and a well-functioning rule of law," said Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod in a statement.

The team will travel to Belarus under an OSCE norm established in 1991 called the Moscow Mechanism, which "provides the option of sending missions of experts to assist participating States in the resolution of a particular question or problem," as the OSCE's website puts it. Seventeen OSCE members, not including Germany and mainly from northern and eastern Europe, triggered the investigation.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that he won his sixth term in office fairly and is the victim of a smear campaign.

The OSCE mission will likely not be able to access the country, as it prevented OSCE election observers from entering the country by not inviting them.

The eastern European nation has also ignored several offers by OSCE chairman, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, to visit.

Belarusian opposition members said they were compiling a list of police officers implicated in an ongoing crackdown against protesters.

Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya left the country days after the election

"We have been given the names of those who have been torturing and beating people," said opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya through the opposition's Telegram channel. She left Belarus for EU member Lithuania soon after the election.

Read more: Belarus: High-profile opposition figures arrested in 'security' probe

Tsikhanouskaya came in second place in last month's election. Her supporters have claimed that the election was unfair.

Thousands of protesters have been detained since the election last month. The UN has received more than 400 reports of torture and abuse of detainees.

The European Union has refused to recognize the results of the presidential election. 

The 57-nation OSCE predominately features European nations, including Russia, which has supported Lukashenko, albeit with more hesitance than in the past during the political crisis. Russia did not sign off on the investigation.

The United States, Canada and 15 European nations — not including Germany — supported the mission. 

kbd/msh (dpa, Reuters)

APT41, the China-based hacking operation spanning the world

Issued on: 18/09/2020 - 

Some experts say hacking collective APT41 is tied to the Chinese state Fred TANNEAU AFP/File

Beijing (AFP)

A global hacking collective known as APT41 has been accused by US authorities of targeting company servers for ransom, compromising government networks and spying on Hong Kong activists.

Seven members of the group -- including five Chinese nationals -- were charged by the US Justice Department on Wednesday.

Some experts say they are tied to the Chinese state, while others speculate money was their only motive. What do we really know about APT41?

- Who are they? -

Five members of the group were expert hackers and current or former employees of Chengdu 404 Network Technology, a company that claimed to provide legitimate "white hat" hacking services to detect vulnerabilities in clients' computer networks.

But the firm's work also included malicious attacks on non-client organisations, according to Justice Department documents.

Chengdu 404 says its partners include a government tech security assessor and Chinese universities.

The other two hackers charged are Malaysian executives at SEA Gamer Mall, a Malaysia-based firm that sells video game currency, power-ups and other in-game items.

- What are they accused of? -

The team allegedly hacked the computers of hundreds of companies and organisations around the world, including healthcare firms, software developers and telecoms and pharmaceutical providers.

The breaches were used to collect identities, hijack systems for ransom, and remotely use thousands of computers to mine for cryptocurrency such as bitcoin.

One target was an anti-poverty non-profit, with the hackers taking over one of its computers and holding the contents hostage using encryption software and demanding payment to unlock it.

The group is also suspected of compromising government networks in India and Vietnam.

In addition it is accused of breaching video game companies to steal in-game items to sell back to gamers, the Justice Department court filings said.

- How did they operate? -

Their arsenal ran the gamut from old-fashioned phishing emails to more sophisticated attacks on software development companies to modify their code, which then allowed them access to clients' computers.

In one case documented by security company FireEye, APT41 sent emails containing malicious software to human resources employees of a target company just three days after the firm recovered from a previous attack by the group.

Wong Ong Hua and Ling Yang Ching, the two Malaysian businessmen, ordered their employees to create thousands of fake video game accounts in order to receive the virtual objects stolen by APT41 before selling them on, the court documents allege.

- Is the Chinese government behind them? -

FireEye says the group's targeting of industries including healthcare, telecoms and news media is "consistent with Chinese national policy priorities".

APT41 collected information on pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong and a Buddhist monk from Tibet -- two places where Beijing has faced political unrest.

One of the hackers, Jiang Lizhi, who worked under the alias "Blackfox", had previously worked for a hacking group that served government agencies and boasted of close connections with China's Ministry of State Security.

But many of the group's activities appear to be motivated by financial gain and personal interest -- with one hacker laughing in chat messages about mass-blackmailing wealthy victims -- and the US indictments did not identify a strong official connection.

- Where are they now? -

The five Chinese hackers remain at large but the two businessmen were arrested in Malaysia on Monday after a sweeping operation by the FBI and private companies including Microsoft to block the hackers from using their online accounts.

The United States is seeking their extradition.

None of the men charged are known to have lived in the US, where some of their targets were located.

They picked targets outside Malaysia and China because they believed law enforcement would not be able to track them down across borders, the court documents said.

© 2020 AFP

US charges Chinese, Malaysian hackers over global operations

They stole identities and video game technology, planted ransomware, and spied on Hong Kong activists, US officials say. Two Malaysians have been arrested but the five Chinese remain on the run.


The US Justice Department on Wednesday charged five Chinese nationals and two Malaysians who ran global hacking operations over at least six years.

The hackers targeted more than 100 companies and individuals in countries in the US and worldwide including software development, video game and social media companies, officials said. They also allegedly spied on pro-democracy politicians and activists in Hong Kong and accessed government computer systems in India and Vietnam.

The indictments are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to call out cybercrimes by China amid strained tensions between the two nations.

Read more: EU sanctions Russian, Chinese hackers over alleged cyberattacks
Who are the hackers?

The seven were long recognized by cybersecurity experts as the "APT41" hacking organization, identified by their shared tools and techniques.

Three of the Chinese suspects operated out of Chengdu 404, a Sichuan-based company that purported to offer network security services for other businesses.

While the charges did not indicate any direct political motivations behind the hackers' activities, one defendant, Jiang Lizhi — a member of Chengdu 404 — allegedly boasted connections to the Chinese Ministry of State Security, reported the Department of Justice.

"A hacker for profit is not going to hack a pro-democracy group," said acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin of the District of Columbia, where the cases were filed.

The five Chinese defendants remain fugitives, but prosecutors say two Malaysians were arrested in Malaysia this week and face extradition proceedings to the US.

Read more: EU pushes China on trade, human rights at virtual summit

kmm/dr (AP,AFP)

'Disturbing' lack of Holocaust knowledge in US

A new study reveals that roughly 11% of young adult respondents in the United States believe that Jews caused the Holocaust. Nearly half were unable to name one of Europe's 40,000 camps and ghettos.



A new study released Wednesday revealed a "disturbing" lack of basic Holocaust knowledge among young US adults, with 11% believing that Jews caused the Holocaust.

The US Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, released by the Claims Conference, an organization that negotiates compensation payments from Germany for Holocaust victims, also found that nearly two-thirds of respondents did not know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and that 36% thought that "two million or fewer Jews" were murdered.

Read more: German Chancellor Angela Merkel: 'Many Jews do not feel safe in our country'

Additionally, nearly half were unable to name one of the 40,000 camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, while a similar figure did not know what Auschwitz-Birkenau was.


Watch video 12:37
https://www.dw.com/en/us-holocaust-knowledge-jews/a-54955649

The Last Witnesses: Return to Auschwitz

"The results are both shocking and saddening and they underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories," said Gideon Taylor, president of the organization, which negotiates compensation for Holocaust survivors.

"This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act," said Taylor.

Analysis showed that New York had a particularly large number of people who thought Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, at nearly 20%.

Read more: 

70 years of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, 'a meaningful voice that is needed'

Low 'knowledge scores'

The study also revealed that Wisconsin scored highest in Holocaust awareness, while Arkansas had the lowest score, with less than 17% of respondents meeting the basic knowledge criteria.

The "knowledge score" was calculated by using the percentage of young adults who have definitively heard about the Holocaust, can name at least one concentration camp, death camp or ghetto, and know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated that they believe that something like the Holocaust could happen again. Meanwhile, around half of respondents reported seeing Holocaust denial or distortion posts online, and roughly a third had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms or in their community.

Read more: Holocaust survivors urge Facebook to remove denial posts

"Not only was their overall lack of Holocaust knowledge troubling, but combined with the number of Millennials and Gen Z who have seen Holocaust denial on social media, it is clear that we must fight this distortion of history and do all we can to ensure that the social media giants stop allowing this harmful content on their platforms," said Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider.

The data was collected from 200 interviews in each state, with adults aged 18 to 39. The respondents were chosen at random.

German infantry's role in Holocaust to be added to war memorial

Litigation by three Holocaust survivors has swayed Germany's northern city of Lüneberg to add wording to a controversial war memorial. It spells out the former Wehrmacht division was involved in genocide.



The court case brought by elderly Holocaust survivors before Lüneburg's Adminstrative Court ended Wednesday with the city agreeing to add wording to its explanatory plaque located next the often-smeared infantry monument.

It will spell out that the former 110th Infantry Division, created in the northern German city for Hitler's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, was "thus also involved in the genocide of Jews during the Shoah in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944," court spokeswoman Ines Mayer-Albrecht told DW.

The complainants had originally demanded — back in 2017 — that the memorial, erected by Wehrmacht veterans in 1960, be covered with a shroud.

Read more: How WWII affects the grandchildren of the war generation

In recent years it has often been defaced. Placed a few meters away is a city notice board elaborating on the former division that was decimated by Soviet forces near Minsk in July 1944.

One of the complainants, a Holocaust survivor living in Budapest, had spotted the infantry memorial in 2015 while attending the Lüneburg trial of Oskar Gröning as a joint plaintiff.

Gröning, notoriously called Auschwitz's "bookkeeper," was convicted in 2015 of having been an accessory to the murders of 300,000 people.

Lüneburg in Lower Saxony state was also where in late-1945 a British military court tried 45 personnel of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where at least 52,000 neglected prisoners died of hunger and disease, including Anne Frank.

That trial ended in 11 being sentenced to death, including Bergen-Belsen's former camp commander Josef Kramer, with the site (70 kilometers, 43 miles southwest of Lüneberg) subsequently becoming a memorial for its victims.

ipj/dr (dpa, epd, KNA)




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WW3.0
India digs deep to boost defences on crucial China frontier

Issued on: 18/09/2020 - 
 

The Atal Rohtang Tunnel will allow India to deploy troops to the frontier area in minutes compared with the current four-hour high-altitude crossing Money SHARMA AFP


ATAL ROHTANG TUNNEL (India) (AFP)

A tunnel nearing completion in the Indian Himalayas will slash by hours the time it takes troops to reach the Chinese border, part of an infrastructure blitz by New Delhi that is gathering pace since a bloody border clash.

The nuclear-armed Asian giants blame each other for a brutal high-altitude battle in June that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and an unspecified number of Chinese casualties.

Both have sent massive troop reinforcements, but India has also stepped up its activities behind the frontlines -- belatedly so, analysts say.


Its stepped-up infrastructure programme includes roads and bridges as well as high-altitude helipads and airstrips for civilian and military aircraft.

The showpiece is a $400-million tunnel in Himachal Pradesh state, providing an all-weather route for military convoys to avoid a 50-kilometre (30-mile) trudge through mountain passes that are snow-bound in winter and subject to frequent landslides.

From late this month, what used to be a four-hour, winding, high-altitude crossing will be cut to a 10-minute dash through the mountains in the state-of-the-art tunnel.

"There have been times on the pass route when vehicles have broken down, causing traffic jams of even six to eight hour," said Lieutenant-General Harpal Singh, head of India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

"This tunnel and the other infrastructure plans change a lot for the troops," he told AFP.

- Engineering feat -

Labourers are working overtime to get the tunnel ready before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to open it later this month.

Currently, essential items such as arms, ammunition and food have to be transported up in bulk before winter starts in an area where temperatures can plunge to minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit).

Constructed at an altitude of more than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) and stretching nine kilometres (six miles), the Atal Rohtang tunnel is also a feat of engineering.

A decade in the making, freezing winter temperatures meant work could only take place from April to September. Workers wore special microchips to help locate them if they got trapped in an avalanche.

Still, India's efforts only belatedly mirror those of China, experts say.

"Earlier administrations wasted two decades," said Harsh Pant, from the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in New Delhi.

"China, and its infrastructure, is much stronger today."

- Training the locals -

Sanjay Kundu, the Himachal Pradesh police chief, has also proposed arming locals and training them to report possible Chinese spies and drone and helicopter sightings.

"Ultimately, whether it is at the border or the hinterland, people need to be trained and they need to be trained in defending themselves," he told AFP.

The government hopes it will reassure worried villagers.

"In the last few weeks they've seen a lot more activity of fighter planes over the region," said Lobsang Gyaltsen, an elected representative from a village around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.

"They often wonder if China is attacking," Gyaltsen told AFP.

- Tanks -

The BRO says it has built more strategic roads -- most in the high-tension zone next to China -- the last four years than in the previous decade and aims to complete 15 more key routes by the end of 2021.

Labourers are upgrading a recently-completed 250-kilometre stretch parallel to the Chinese frontier that cuts journey times from Ladakh's capital Leh from one week to less than a day.

Significantly, by next month all bridges along the route will be able to support the weight of a 70-tonne T-90 tank on a trailer, or a truck carrying a surface-to-air missile, according to press reports.

There are several strategic high-altitude tunnels as well as 125 bridges at different stages of planning in the states of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim bordering Tibet and Xinjiang.

This will boost the local economy and attract more people to the sparsely populated area, and so make it less prone to cross-border incursions by the Chinese, the government hopes.

© 2020 AFP

Midas touch: Singapore exchange touts gold to the masses

SOUNDS LIKE THE PERFECT LOCATION FOR A HEIST NOVEL

Issued on: 18/09/2020 -
  

Investors can turn up to admire their treasure whenever they want Martin ABBUGAO AFP/File

Singapore (AFP)

Fancy owning your own gold bars that you can admire and take selfies with?

With the coronavirus fuelling demand for safe-haven assets for investors to park their cash, a Singapore exchange is offering mom-and-pop investors what it says is an easier way to get their hands on the precious metal.

The Singapore Precious Metals Exchange is seeking to do away with the notion trading in bullion is only for professional investors or the super-rich, by offering small amounts for reasonable prices that can be bought using a phone app.

"When we first started our business a decade ago, obviously we attracted the elite group, people who had money," chief executive Victor Foo told AFP.

"But it's our aspiration to be able to reach the mass market."

The price of an ounce of gold topped US$2,000 for the first time last month -- fuelled by worries about the economic impact of the virus as well as future inflation -- and Foo says sales have risen.

But 80 percent of his customers are still high-net-worth individuals and the exchange's most popular offering is a one kilogram (2.2 pound) gold bar -- setting them back more than US$60,000.

Foo is, however, keen to stress you can start much smaller.

For around US$70 you can buy one gram -- a wafer the size of an SD memory card -- while mini-bars weighing five, ten, 50 and 100 grams are also available.

SGPMX says it is the world's first precious metals exchange entirely backed by physical bullion, and investors can turn up whenever they like to admire their trove.

While virus-related travel curbs have halted most visits from overseas for now, there is a steady stream in usual times -- with Japanese particularly keen to check out their investments.

"They visit us once a year, they see their thing, take pictures, 'wefie', then they go," Foo said.

The bullion is stored at Le Freeport, a fortified, Fort Knox-like vault near the city-state's main airport set up to house treasures from around the world and private art collections.

Most investors are from Europe and the United States, but Foo predicts the number from Asia will increase in the coming years.

It may be hard to change age-old habits however. While gold is popular among many Asian communities, it is typically bought in the form of jewellery to give as gifts at special occasions, rather than in bars and coins.

© 2020 AFP

US Open virus success points way for Tokyo Games: wheelchair tennis champ


Issued on: 18/09/2020 - 

Tokyo (AFP)

The successful staging of the US Open Grand Slam proves that next year's Olympics and Paralympics can be held safely despite the coronavirus pandemic, wheelchair tennis champion Shingo Kunieda said on Friday.

The 24-time Grand Slam singles champion, widely considered the best player wheelchair tennis has seen, said the US Open's ability to stave off the virus was a hopeful sign for next year's postponed Games.

Although France's Benoit Paire tested positive after entering the Grand Slam's bio-secure 'bubble', there were no clusters of cases and the tournament went off smoothly behind closed doors in New York.


"The US Open... ended safely without making a cluster happen. I think this showed a step toward" holding the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Kunieda told reporters via videolink.

The world number one and three-time Paralympics gold medallist, who captured his seventh US Open men's singles title on Sunday, held an online meeting with Tokyo 2020 organisers to discuss anti-virus measures.

The 2020 Games were postponed in a historic decision earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with a potentially scaled-down version set to be held from July 23, 2021.

Top officials have spoken openly about the possibility of cancelling the Games altogether, as the pandemic continues to rage. But Kunieda said he took heart from his experiences in New York.

"If measures are taken firmly, international competitions can be held safely. I think the US Open is a good example," which Tokyo organisers should learn, he told an online news conference.

"If measures are taken firmly, athletes can take part in competitions comfortably. This is very important," Kunieda added.

Kunieda briefed Tokyo 2020 organisers about the US Open's frequent virus tests and strict isolation measures at hotels and the venue.

He urged the Tokyo officials to adopt stringent measures against the virus, which he described as "the most important key" to the Games' success.

Earlier this month, Japanese officials and Tokyo 2020 organisers began talks on the mammoth task of how to hold the Olympics safely while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.

© 2020 AFP

 Bolivia's conservative interim president, Jeanine Anez, pulled out of next month’s general election on Thursday, a move that should strengthen other candidates running against the front-running socialist party of ex-leader Evo Morales.

Swedish scientists are working on a radical Covid-19 blocker involving alpacas

MERS WAS A ZOONOSIS SPREAD BY CAMELS TO HUMANS

ALPACAS ARE RELATED TO CAMELS THOUGH NOT TO SWEDEN

Issued on: 18/09/2020 - 
  

Tyson the alpaca could hold the key to finding a vaccine for the coronavirus, according to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. © FRANCE 24 screengrab.

Text by:FRANCE 24

Video by:Catherine NORRIS-TRENT|James ANDRE

Tyson the alpaca could hold the key to developing a process to block the coronavirus. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent and James André report from the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Leading scientists in Stockholm are working on a pioneering treatment involving llamas and alpacas such as Tyson in the fight against Covid-19.

"Tyson has the antibodies against SARS-Covid-2 virus," explains Dr Gerald McInerney, Associate Professor of Virology at the Karolinska Institute. "Camels, and alpacas and llamas and other animals from that family have special, small single-chain antibodies.Tiny antibodies they've proved can block Covid-19."

The institute is studying how to put these tiny antibodies on cells, blocking the virus from getting in and to stop patients from developing the disease.

From alpaca blood samples the researchers can clone antibodies en masse in the laboratory. They hope to produce a short term treatment, most likely as a mouth spray, or inhaler.

"We are very excited that we have something that's very functional," says Dr McInerney.