The White House on Wednesday condemned Turkey’s doubling of tariffs on products imported from the U.S. in response to Washington’s moves on imports of Turkish goods. Tensions between the two NATO allies have been strained amid Turkey’s detention of an American pastor and other diplomatic actions. The United States doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum last week, which contributed to a tumble in the Turkish lira. “The tariffs from Turkey are certainly regrettable and a step in the wrong direction. The tariffs that the United States placed on Turkey were out of national security interest. Theirs are out of retaliation,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. …
Report: US SEC Subpoenas Tesla Over Musk’s Tweets
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sent subpoenas to Tesla Inc. regarding Chief Executive Elon Musk’s plans to take the company private and his statement that funding was “secured,” Fox Business Network reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Subpoenas typically indicate the SEC has opened a formal investigation into a matter. Tesla and the SEC declined to comment. Musk stunned investors and sent Tesla’s shares soaring 11 percent when he tweeted early last week that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share and that he had secured funding for the potential deal. The electric carmaker’s shares were last down 1.9 percent at $341.00 on Wednesday. They have erased all their gains following Musk’s tweet last week. Musk provided no details of his funding until Monday, when he said in a blog on Tesla’s website that he was in discussions with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and other potential backers but that financing was not yet nailed down. The CEO’s tweet may have violated U.S. securities law if he misled investors. On Monday, lawyers told Reuters Musk’s statement indicated he had good reason to believe he had funding but seemed to have overstated its status by saying it was secured. The SEC has opened an inquiry into Musk’s tweets, according to one person with direct knowledge of the matter. Reuters was not immediately able to ascertain if this had escalated into a full-blown investigation on Wednesday. This source said Tesla’s independent board members had hired law firm Paul, …
A Rising Concern? After Straws, Balloons Get More Scrutiny
Now that plastic straws may be headed for extinction, could Americans’ love of balloons be deflated? The joyous celebration of releasing balloons into the air has long bothered environmentalists, who say the pieces that fall back to earth can be deadly to seabirds and turtles that eat them. So as companies vow to banish plastic straws, there are signs balloons will be among the products to get more scrutiny, even though they’re a very small part of environmental pollution. This year, college football powerhouse Clemson University is ending its tradition of releasing 10,000 balloons into the air before games, a move that’s part of its sustainability efforts. In Virginia, a campaign that urges alternatives to balloon releases at weddings is expanding. And a town in Rhode Island outright banned the sale of all balloons earlier this year, citing the harm to marine life. “There are all kinds of alternatives to balloons, a lot of ways to express yourself,” says Kenneth Lacoste, first warden of New Shoreham, Rhode Island, who cites posters, pinatas and decorated paper. Following efforts to limit plastic bags, the push by environmentalists against straws has gained traction in recent months, partly because they’re seen as unnecessary for most. Companies including Starbucks and Disney are promising to phase out plastic straws, which can be difficult to recycle because of their size and often end up as trash in the ocean. A handful of U.S. cities recently passed or are considering bans. And the push may bring attention to …
US Retail Sales Rise Solidly; Productivity Accelerates
U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in July as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and clothing, suggesting the economy remained strong early in the third quarter. Other data on Wednesday showed worker productivity growing at its fastest pace in more than three years in the second quarter, but a drop in labor costs pointed to moderate wage inflation. Strong domestic demand supports expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in September for the third time this year. The Commerce Department said retail sales increased 0.5 percent last month. But data for June was revised lower to show sales gaining 0.2 percent instead of the previously reported 0.5 percent rise. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales nudging up 0.1 percent in July. Retail sales in July increased 6.4 percent from a year ago. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales advanced 0.5 percent last month after a downwardly revised 0.1 percent dip in June. These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Core retail sales were previously reported to have been unchanged in June. Consumer spending is being supported by a tightening labor market, which is steadily pushing up wages. Tax cuts and higher savings are also underpinning consumption. July’s increase in core retail sales suggested the economy started the third quarter on solid footing after logging its best performance in nearly four years in the second quarter. Gross domestic product surged at a …
У Києві запрацювала система громадського велопрокату – КМДА
У Києві почала роботу система громадського велопрокату Bike sharing, повідомляє Київська міська адміністрація на своєму сайті. Планується, що такий прокат буде коштувати 30 грн за півгодини, місячний абонемент – 199 гривень, а на сезон – за 599 гривень. Щоб узяти велосипед в оренду потрібно скачати мобільний додаток Nextbike, зареєструватися в ньому та зчитати QR-код із велосипеда на парковці. «Система велопрокату столиці спочатку буде розрахована на 33 велостанції. Їх розміщують у найбільш зручних місцях: біля станцій метро «Лук’янівська», на Оболонському проспекті біля станцій метро «Почайна», «Золоті ворота», «Арсенальна», «Оболонь», «Мінська», «Героїв Дніпра», «Лівобережна», «Харківська», «Позняки», «Осокорки», «Тараса Шевченка», «Контрактова площа» на Верхньому Валу біля Київського велотреку, на Софійській площі, Майдані Незалежності, Михайлівській площі, Контрактовій, Поштовій, вулиці Хрещатик (біля КМДА) та вулиці Архітектора Городецького, в парку імені Тараса Шевченка, на Райдужному масиві, Русанівській набережній та інших», – мовиться у повідомленні на сайті КМДА. Поки що, зазначають в адміністрації, у проекті задіяно буде тільки 100 велосипедів, але до кінця наступного року за умови інвестицій цю кількість планують збільшити до 2 тисяч. Також у КМДА обіцяють облаштувати 64 вулиці столиці таким чином, аби велосипедистам було комфортно ними пересуватися, а також створити три магістральних веломаршрути та встановити велопарковки біля комунальних закладів міста. Як розповідають у КМДА, компанію «Nextbike», із якою міська влада впроваджує пілотний проект велопрокату, було засновано у 2004 році у Лейпцигу. Вона оперує системами громадського прокату велосипедів більше ніж у 150 містах, у 25 країнах світу. …
Experimenting With the Magic Ingredient in Beer
Only four ingredients are needed to make one of the oldest staples of mankind. Mix water, hops, malt and yeast and you’re well on your way to making beer. But as Sadie Witkowski reports, it’s the smallest ingredient in beer that’s making the biggest splash. …
НАЗК винесло припис Нищуку за неврахування конфлікту інтересів
Національне агентство з питань запобігання корупції винесло припис міністру культури Євгенові Нищуку щодо генерального директора музею «Національний музей історії України у Другій світовій війні. Меморіальний комплекс» Івана Ковальчука. Про це йдеться у повідомленні на сайті відомства. «Припис, внесений Євгену Нищуку стосується порушення вимог частини четвертої статті 28 ЗУ «Про запобігання корупції»: Міністерством культури України як органом, до повноважень якого належить звільнення з посади Генерального директора музею Івана Ковальчука, не вжито передбачених законодавством заходів щодо врегулювання потенційного конфлікту інтересів у його службовій діяльності, зумовленого спільною роботою зі своєю дружиною. Встановлено, що дружина Івана Ковальчука обіймає керівні посади з 1995 року та до сьогодні перебуває в прямому підпорядкуванні у свого чоловіка – Генерального директора музею», – зазначають у НАЗК. Згідно з приписом, НАЗК вимагає усунути виявлені порушення, провести службове розслідування з метою виявлення причин і умов, що сприяли вчиненню правопорушень. Припис Національного агентства є обов’язковим до виконання, за його невиконання передбачається адміністративна відповідальність. Закон зобов’язує державні органи перевіряти факт подання працівниками декларацій та повідомляти Національне агентство про випадки неподання чи несвоєчасного подання таких декларацій. Згідно з законодавством, серед функцій Національного агентство з питань запобігання корупції є контроль та перевірка декларацій осіб, уповноважених на виконання функцій держави або місцевого самоврядування, зберігання та оприлюднення таких декларацій, проведення моніторингу способу життя цих людей. …
Індія хоче відправити свою першу пілотовану місію в космос до 2022 року
До 2022 року Індія відправить свою першу пілотовану місію в космос, заявив прем’єр-міністр Нарендра Моді 15 серпня. За його словами, Індія буде лише четвертою країною – після Росії, Сполучених Штатів та Китаю, – що запустить власну місію. Посилюючи свою конкуренцію з Китаєм, Індія в останні десятиліття вклала великі кошти в космічну програму. Планується також відправити безпілотну місію на Місяць в січні 2019 року, про що Індійська організація космічних досліджень оголосила минулого тижня. За її словами, науковці мають намір збирати таким чином дані та зразки з поверхні Місяця. Індія також запустила в 2013 році апарат до Марса, який вийшов на орбіту 2014-го. …
Turkey Boosts Tariffs Amid US Feud
Turkey on Wednesday announced tariff hikes on a range of U.S. goods in the latest back-and-forth move amid a deteriorating relationship between the two countries. The extra tariffs apply to imports of vehicles, alcohol, coal, rice and cosmetics. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Twitter the increases were being done “within the framework of the principle of reciprocity in retaliation for the conscious economic attacks by the United States.” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the United States of waging a targeted economic war on his country, and on Tuesday he proposed a boycott of U.S. electronic goods. “If they have the iPhone, there is Samsung elsewhere. In our own country we have Vestel,” said Erdogan. Asked how U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration would react to any such Turkish boycott, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders replied during Tuesday afternoon’s briefing, “I certainly don’t have a policy announcement on that at this point.” Trump administration sources say further sanctions against Turkey are under active consideration. But Sanders declined to say how the U.S. government plans to apply more pressure on Ankara, which repeatedly has ignored calls from Trump and others to free Christian pastor Andrew Brunson. Turkey accuses Brunson of espionage and is holding him under house arrest pending his trial. The chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Turkey, Jeffrey Hovenier, visited Brunson on Tuesday and called for his case — and those of others detained in Turkey — to be resolved “without delay” and in a …
NZ Teachers Strike for First Time in 20 years, Challenge Government’s Fiscal Plan
New Zealand school teachers went on strike on Wednesday for the first time in more than 20 years, challenging the Labor government’s plans to balance promised fiscal responsibility against growing demands to increase public sector salaries. The government’s first budget in May was stretched to fulfill its promise to juggle investing in much-needed infrastructure with a self-imposed rule to pay down debt and insulate the economy from potential shocks. Almost 30,000 primary school teachers did not turn up to work on Wednesday and held protests across the country, leaving parents of children aged 5 to 13 at public schools scrambling to find childcare. “Teachers and principals voted for a full day strike…to send a strong message to the Government that the current collective agreement offers from the Ministry of Education would not fix the crisis in teaching,” said Louise Green, lead negotiator at NZEI, the union that represents teachers, in a statement. NZEI said it has asked for a 16 percent pay increase for teachers over two years, whereas the government has offered between 6.1 and 14.7 percent pay rises, depending on experience, over three years. “Our view is that we need to have those discussions around the negotiating table but…there isn’t an endless amount that we have available to us in order to meet those expectations,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at her weekly news conference on Monday. The action comes in the wake of a one-day nationwide nurses’ strike in July and a series of smaller actions by …
Experts: Hail Damage Worse, but Climate Role Uncertain
Hailstorms inflict billions of dollars’ worth of damage yearly in North America alone, and the cost will rise as the growing population builds more homes, offices and factories, climate and weather experts said Tuesday. The role of climate change in hailstorms is harder to assess, the experts said at a conference at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Climate change will most likely make large hailstorms worse, but population growth is more of a certainty, said Andreas Prein, a climate modeling scientist at the atmospheric research center. “We know pretty certain that we will have more people in the future, and they will have more stuff, and this stuff can be damaged,” Prein said. “I think this component is more certain than what we can say about climate change at the moment.” This year is expected to be the 11th in a row in which the damage from severe storms exceeds $10 billion in the United States, and 70 percent of that cost comes from hail, said Ian Giammanco, a research meteorologist for the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. “It’s such a huge driver of the dollar loss each year,” he said. Bigger homes, closer together Costs are rising in the U.S. because homes are getting bigger, from about 1,700 square feet (139 square meters) in the early 1980s to 2,500 square feet (232 square meters) in 2015, he said. New subdivisions also pack homes in more tightly, Giammanco said. “So it’s a bigger target …
Congo Deploys Experimental Ebola Treatment as Cases Rise
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has started using the experimental mAb114 Ebola treatment to counter the latest flare-up of the virus, health officials said Tuesday, the first time it has been deployed against an active outbreak. Forty-two people are believed to have died from the hemorrhagic fever in Congo’s 10th Ebola outbreak since the disease was discovered in the 1970s. In all, there have been 66 cases to date, including 39 confirmed and 27 probable, the health ministry said Tuesday evening, an increase of nine confirmed cases since Monday. The outbreak has spread from its epicenter in North Kivu province to neighboring Ituri province after an infected person returned home, Congo’s health ministry said, complicating containment in a region beset by militia violence. Testing ground Ebola, which causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, finds a natural home in Congo’s vast equatorial forests. Continuing flare-ups have made the central African country a testing ground for new treatments against a virus that between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people in a West African epidemic. In an outbreak in western Congo that began in April and was declared over in July, an experimental vaccine manufactured by Merck & Co. Inc. was given to 3,300 people and was considered central in containing the virus when it reached a city. The mAb114 treatment was developed in the United States by the National Institutes of Health using the antibodies of the survivor of an Ebola outbreak in the western Congolese city of Kikwit in 1995. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva that medics were already treating five patients with mAb114 and that …
Royal Bank of Scotland Pays $4.9B for Crisis-era Misconduct
Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $4.9 billion to settle U.S. claims that it misled investors on residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2008, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. The Justice Department said the penalty was the largest ever imposed on a bank for misconduct leading up to the financial crisis. The bank announced in May that it had reached the settlement in principle. The government alleges RBS misled investors in underwriting and issuing residential mortgage-backed securities, understating the risks behind many of the loans and providing inaccurate data. “Despite assurances by RBS to its investors, RBS’s deals were backed by mortgage loans with a high risk of default,” Andrew E. Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said in a statement. The Justice Department said that RBS disputes the allegations and does not admit wrongdoing, although the bank said in a statement it was happy to move on. “There is no place for the sort of unacceptable behavior alleged by the DoJ at the bank we are building today,” RBS Chief Executive Ross McEwan said. Dividend In conjunction with the settlement, the bank also said it would be paying out an interim ordinary dividend of 2 pence per share on October 12 to shareholders. The dividend is the bank’s first since its near-collapse and 45.5 billion-pound ($58 billion) state bailout in 2008. The DOJ settlement and the resumption of dividends were two of the last big milestones in RBS’s decade-long journey back to normality. The looming Justice …
Ruble Slump Hits Russians’ Wallets, Not Their Support for Putin
Alexei Nikolayev, one of more than 56 million Russians who re-elected President Vladimir Putin in March, is already counting the likely cost of a weaker ruble: less spending power abroad, higher prices at home and another round of belt tightening. But Nikolayev, 56, a graphic designer who enjoys foreign travel and imported wine, blames the West, not Putin, for the pain and has no regrets about voting for a politician he sees as the right man to guide Russia through trubled times. “It’s painful and it’s unpleasant, but it won’t change my politics,” Nikolayev said of the ruble shedding 10 percent of its value against the dollar since the end of July, driven down largely by new U.S. sanctions on Russia. “In fact, as strange as it may sound, it will only strengthen my convictions. They [the West] are trying to break Russia.” Nikolayev’s view that Putin is not to blame is held widely among Russians, according to Stepan Goncharov, a sociologist at the Levada Center pollster. “People don’t really understand the dynamics behind it and the president, traditionally, is safe from criticism,” Goncharov told Reuters. The narrative in Russia that the ruble’s slide is the result of a Western plot has direct echoes with Russian ally Turkey, whose lira currency slid to a record low Monday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his country is the target of an economic war and that Turkey will boycott some U.S. imports in retaliation. In Russia, the falling ruble causes pain for some. The price of imported goods is likely to rise. Foreign vacations have also become more expensive. Irina Turina, a …
Sprint Partners with LG to Launch 5G Smartphone in 2019
Sprint said Tuesday it has partnered with phone manufacturer LG Electronics to launch a 5G smartphone in the first half of next year, marking the first 5G device deal for the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint is working to persuade antitrust regulators to approve its merger with larger rival T-Mobile US Inc in a $26 billion deal, which the companies say will help them more quickly build the next-generation wireless network. That network is expected to eventually pave the way for new technologies like autonomous cars. The LG phone will be customized to Sprint’s planned 5G network, and will be compatible with T-Mobile only on that carrier’s existing 4G network, John Tudhope, Sprint director of product development, said in an interview. The price of the phone and exact launch date will be announced later, Sprint said in a news release. Last month, Sprint introduced new unlimited wireless plans bundled with video streaming platform Hulu and music streaming service Tidal, in an effort to attract more customers with media content. Tudhope said Sprint will continue to use content as a way to “bring to life the value of 5G,” as one of the benefits of the 5G network will be faster download times of video content on smartphones. The company had previously announced it would initially launch its 5G network in nine cities in 2019, including New York City and Los Angeles. Sprint is the fourth-largest cellphone service provider in terms of number of customers, after Verizon Communications, AT&T and …
Indian Rupee Falls to All-time Low Against Dollar
The Indian rupee fell to an all-time low Tuesday against the U.S. dollar amid worries that Turkey’s growing financial crisis could spread to other developing-world economies. Indian Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chander Garg told reporters that there was “nothing at this stage to worry” about after the rupee reached 70.1 to the dollar earlier in the day. He said the dip resulted from “external factors.” The rupee ended the day at 69.93 per dollar, down 110 paise or 1.6 percent. It was the currency’s biggest one-day drop in five years. The rupee has lost about 8 percent of its value this year. Garg said the country had sufficient foreign exchange reserves to weather the downturn. Turkey’s central bank has been unable to stop a sharp plunge in the lira, pushing the value of the dollar higher and driving down emerging-market currencies from South Africa to Mexico. Rajnish Kumar, chairman of the State Bank of India, said he believed the rupee would stabilize at around 69-70 to the dollar, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Turkey’s economy has been troubled for years, but the latest crisis was set off by worries over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s economic policies and a trade dispute with the United States. Turkey’s government has so far refused to raise interest rates to prop up the currency, fearing a political backlash if it causes the economy to slow. The falling rupee, which will make Indian exports cheaper on overseas markets, was welcomed by one of …
Sudanese Hit by Bread Shortages as Currency Crunch Escalates
Bread shortages have hit Sudan, with wheat traders blaming a foreign currency crisis for shortages of the staple that have left people lining up for hours outside bakeries. Sudan’s economy has been struggling since the south seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of its oil output and depriving it of a crucial source of foreign currency. The crisis has deepened over the past year as a black market for U.S. dollars has effectively replaced the formal banking system after the Sudanese pound was devalued, making it more difficult to import essential supplies such as wheat. A doubling of the price of bread in January triggered demonstrations after the government eliminated subsidies, although so far there was no sign of protests this time. At Banet neighborhood in the town of Omdurman, in Khartoum, dozens of people stood in a long line outside the Modern Bakery. “This is unbearable,” said 53-year-old Abdullah Mahmoud, a day laborer, who said he had been lining up for two hours for bread. “I had been here since the morning and I still don’t have any bread.” Fatima Yassin, 36, in a queue for women, said: “Everything is expensive and bread is not available. We have a difficult life and the government doesn’t care about us.” Similar queues were seen in other cities near the capital. Sudan imported 2 million tons of wheat in 2017, the government said in December, compared with 445,000 tons produced locally. One Khartoum bakery owner, Ahmed Saleh, said he had had …
Омелян оприлюднив рейтинг найпунктуальніших авіаперевізників липня
Міністр інфраструктури Володимир Омелян оприлюднив рейтинг найбільш пунктуальних авіакомпаній липня. Про це він написав на своїй Facebook-сторінці. Всього, за даними міністра, з аеропортів України українськими перевізниками за місяць було здійснено понад 5,2 тисячі рейсів, а іноземними – 2,3 тисячі. Раніше на сайті міністерства оприлюднювали аналогічний рейтинг перевізників за червень. Від кінця червня сотні українських туристів були заблоковані в аеропортах кількох країн. По кілька годин, а то й діб, люди чекали, зокрема в аеропортах Тунісу, Албанії, Грузії, а також в аеропорту «Київ». Авіакомпанія Bravo Airways пояснила затримки рейсів на кілька діб невиплатою коштів туроператором «Оазис тревел Україна». Останній свою провину не визнає. …
На сайті Конгресу США опублікували законопроект про нові санкції щодо Росії
У законопроекті йдеться, що США не визнають анексії Росією Криму – за зразком Декларації 1940 року про невизнання анексії Радянським Союзом країн Балтії …
Ebola Outbreak in Eastern DR Congo Potentially More Dangerous Than West African Epidemic
World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the raging conflict in North Kivu makes the Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo more dangerous than the historic 2014-2015 epidemic in West Africa. More than 11,000 people died from the Ebola virus by the time it was contained in 2016. WHO Director-General Tedros returned Sunday from a visit to Beni and Mangina, the epicenters of the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He says he was worried before he went on this mission, but he is more worried now after having observed first-hand the dangers and difficulties posed by the active conflict in North Kivu. He says more than 100 armed groups operate in the region. He says there have been 120 violent incidents this year involving killings, kidnappings, rapes and other atrocities. “That environment is really conducive for Ebola actually to transmit freely because in that area there are places called Red Zones, inaccessible areas because there are many armed groups that operate in that region … And, these Red Zones could be hiding places for Ebola,” said Tedros. Tedros is calling on the warring parties for a cessation of hostilities, warning this extremely contagious virus is dangerous for everyone. Despite the many concerns, he says WHO and partners are moving ahead aggressively with the operation to contain this deadly virus. He says more than 216 health workers and 20 people from the community have been vaccinated against Ebola. He says more vaccinators have been deployed from …
Євросоюз надасть Україні 15,5 мільйонів євро на реформу держуправління
Євросоюз погодив переказ до державного бюджету України 15,5 мільйонів євро. Призначення грошей – фінансування реформи державного управління. Про це повідомляє Представництво ЄС в Україні. Загальна сума зобов’язань ЄС щодо підтримки цієї реформи – 90 мільйонів євро. Ще 14 мільйонів мають піти на технічну допомогу. Попередній транш Євросоюз здійснив у травні 2017 року, він становив 10 мільйонів. Згідно з заявою Представництва, таке рішення базується на результатах, яких Україна вже досягла в реформуванні держуправління. Читайте також: «ЄС продовжив «кримські санкції», Київ закликає переходити «від невизнання до деокупації» «Передусім, мова йде про створення дієвого координаційного механізму цієї реформи на політичному та вищому адміністративному рівнях, прозорий та конкурсний відбір на посади фахівців із питань реформ, старт пілотної фази реорганізації 10-и міністерств та започатковану роботу над удосконаленням процедур формування державної політики та розробкою законопроекту про загальну адміністративну процедуру», – наводить прес-служба слова тимчасово повірений у справах ЄС в Україні Томаса Фрелесена. Водночас у Представництві наголошують, що перед українським урядом досі стоїть низка задач із реформування державного управління. Зокрема йдеться про оновлення регламенту Кабміну, впровадження плану оптимізації чисельності працівників та структури центральних органів виконавчої влади, вдосконалення системи оплати праці в державних органах. …
Ebola Death Toll in DRC at 41 as New Drug in Use
Forty-one people have died in the latest outbreak of Ebola in DRC, health authorities said on Tuesday, adding that doctors were using a novel drug to treat patients. Out of 57 recorded cases as of Monday, 41 were fatal, the Congolese Health Ministry and UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) said. Fourteen of the deaths had been confirmed by lab tests, the ministry said. Last Friday, the ministry put the tally at 37 deaths, either confirmed or suspected. The outbreak is the country’s 10th since 1976, when the disease was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) near the Ebola River, a tributary of the Congo. Its epicenter is Mangina in the region of Beni, in the strife-torn eastern province of North Kivu. For the first time since the outbreak was announced on August 1, one fatality was recorded outside of North Kivu — in the neighboring province of Ituri, the ministry’s directorate for disease control said. It added that doctors in Beni had started to use a novel treatment called mAb114 to treat patients with Ebola. The treatment is “the first therapeutic drug against the virus to be used in an active Ebola epidemic in the DRC,” it said. Developed in the United States, the prototype drug is a so-called single monoclonal antibody — a protein that binds on to a specific target of the virus and triggers the body’s immune system to destroy the invader. The antibody was isolated from a survivor of an Ebola outbreak in the western …
ДБР відібрало 180 людей для роботи у центральному апараті
Державне бюро розслідувань обрало 180 осіб серед більш ніж 1,5 тисяч кандидатів для роботи у центральному апараті: 126 слідчих та 54 державних службовців. «До першого управління — з розслідування злочинів у сфері службової діяльності та корупції — оголошено конкурс на 57 посад, обрано – 48 осіб. До другого – з розслідування злочинів, вчинених працівниками правоохоронних органів та у сфері правосуддя: оголошено – конкурс на 57 посад, обрано – 47 осіб. До третього – управління з розслідування військових злочинів за результатами конкурсу – заповнено 31 з 38 вакансій», – зазначають у ДБР. Водночас, як мовиться на сайті установи, ще 39 посад залишаються вакантними, для них планується оголосити повторний конкурс. Загалом, за даними ДБР, у центральному та семи територіальних управліннях відомства передбачено 383 посади слідчих: 152 посади в центральному апараті та 231 посада – у територіальних органах. Згідно зі встановленими законом квотами, 48,6% слідчих ДБР обираються з тих, хто працює на посадах слідчих правоохоронних органах, 51,4% – з тих, хто не працює на посаді слідчого. 18 липня зовнішня комісія оголосила переможців конкурсу на 27 керівних посад у ДБР. Читайте також: Переможці конкурсу на керівні посади в ДБР: скільки з них доброчесних Державне бюро розслідувань – новий правоохоронний орган, створений для розслідування злочинів (у тому числі корупційних, не підслідних НАБУ) високопосадовців, суддів, співробітників Національного антикорупційного бюро і Спеціалізованої антикорупційної прокуратури, екс-президентів та членів уряду. …
Survey: Vienna Tops Melbourne as World’s Most Liveable City
Vienna has dislodged Melbourne for the first time at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, strengthening the Austrian capital’s claim to being the world’s most pleasant city to live in. The two metropolises have been neck and neck in the annual survey of 140 urban centers for years, with Melbourne clinching the title for the past seven editions. This year, a downgraded threat of militant attacks in western Europe as well as the city’s low crime rate helped nudge Vienna into first place. Vienna regularly tops a larger ranking of cities by quality of life compiled by consulting firm Mercer. It is the first time it has topped the EIU survey, which began in its current form in 2004. At the other end of the table, Damascus retained last place, followed by the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and Lagos in Nigeria. The survey does not include several of the world’s most dangerous capitals, such as Baghdad and Kabul. “While in the past couple of years cities in Europe were affected by the spreading perceived threat of terrorism in the region, which caused heightened security measures, the past year has seen a return to normalcy,” the EIU said in a statement about the report published on Tuesday. “A long-running contender to the title, Vienna has succeeded in displacing Melbourne from the top spot due to increases in the Austrian capital’s stability category ratings,” it said, referring to one of the index’s five headline components. Vienna and Melbourne scored …