NETHERLANDS
‘Very rare’ AZ effect cited
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has listed Guillain-Barre syndrome — a neurological disorder — as a “very rare” side effect of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine. A causal relationship was “considered at least a reasonable possibility,” the agency said on Wednesday, after 833 cases of the syndrome had been reported worldwide as of July 31, from about 592 million doses administered. The agency added that Guillain-Barre syndrome was a “very rare” side effect, occurring in less than one in 10,000 people. The disorder is a nerve inflammation that can cause temporary paralysis and difficulty breathing. The EMA and the US Food and Drug Administration said that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the potential risks.
INDIA
Ferries collide; 82 rescued
Authorities working overnight rescued 82 people after two passenger ferries collided in a river in the country’s northeast, police said yesterday. The head-on collision on Wednesday caused one of the boats to sink in the Brahmaputra River, leaving one person dead. Several people were initially feared missing, but most of the passengers were rescued or swam to safety, Assam Police Chief Bhaskar Mahanta said. Four rescued passengers were taken to hospital, where one died, said Ashok Barman, deputy commissioner of Jorhat city. About 120 people were on the two boats.
WEST BANK
Protesters back escapees
About 500 Palestinians on Wednesday held protests in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and other cities in support of six militants who broke out of a maximum security Israeli prison this week. Israeli forces have mounted a search in an effort to capture the men who on Monday escaped through a hole in the floor of a prison cell. The inmates had been convicted or were suspected of involvement in deadly attacks against Israelis. “We came out in solidarity with our prisoners in the occupier’s jails,” said Jihad Abu Adi, 25, as protesters nearby set tires ablaze. “It’s the least we could do for our heroic prisoners,” he added.
ETHIOPIA
Villagers massacred: doctors
At least 125 villagers were earlier this month massacred in the Amhara region, doctors said on Wednesday. It was the latest reported mass killing in the 10-month conflict in the country’s north between government forces and Tigray rebels. “There were 125 dead in Chenna village... I saw the mass grave myself,” said Mulugeta Melesa, head of the hospital in nearby Dabat town. Residents were “still searching for dead bodies around the area and counting is still going on,” he said. The toll could not be independently verified. “We categorically reject claims of our forces’ involvement in the killing of civilians,” Tigray People’s Liberation Front spokesman Getachew Reda wrote on Twitter.
MOROCCO
Liberals win the most seats
The liberal RNI party has won the most seats in the country’s parliamentary elections followed by another liberal party, PAM, while the co-ruling moderate PJD Islamists sustained a crushing defeat, preliminary results showed yesterday. The RNI, led by Minister of Agriculture Aziz Akhannouch, took 97 of the 395-seat parliament, followed by PAM with 82 seats and the conservative Istiqlal with 78 seats. The PJD, which had been a coalition partner in the previous two governments had only 12 seats after 96 percent of the votes had been counted.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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