A Sri Lankan shaman who touted a potion which he said would protect people against COVID-19 has died with the disease, his family says. Eliyantha White treated sports stars and top politicians with the potion, which he said came to him in a dream. He said pouring it into rivers could end the pandemic in Sri Lanka and neighbouring India. The 48-year-old fell ill with the virus earlier this month and was taken to hospital where his condition worsened.
Canada's Justin Trudeau called a snap election in mid-August hoping an early campaign could net his Liberals a majority government. But with their lead in the poll vanishing at the campaign's halfway point, is one still within reach?
In August, when he called the election saying "Canadians need to choose how we finish the fight against COVID-19", political headwinds appeared to be blowing in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's favour. Canadians were largely happy with the direction of the country and his Liberal government's pandemic response, polls suggested.
Though the initial rollout of COVID jabs in the country had been slow and bumpy, many Canadians had been vaccinated more quickly than predicted. People were enjoying the summer as lockdown restrictions were being eased by the provinces.
"Three weeks ago it felt like pretty common knowledge - at least with people I was talking to - that it was going to be a cakewalk for the Liberals," said Jenni Byrne, a political commentator and former Conservative campaign manager. But heading into September, Trudeau and his Liberals are in a different position.
Canadians seem to be wondering why an election - called two years early - was necessary, said Alex Marland, a political science professor at Memorial University.
The prime minister may have controlled the timing of the campaign, but he did "not provide a satisfactory narrative about why we need to go to the polls" leaving voters "grumpy and frustrated", he said.
[Trudeau is in power because Harper was resoundingly punished for pulling the same power-grabbing stunt. So was Theresa May in the UK.]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a snap summer general election as Canada enters into its pandemic fourth wave. The general election comes as polls indicate his minority Liberal government looks within reach of forming a majority. The 49-year-old Liberal leader says "Canadians need to choose how we finish the fight against Covid-19".
Canadians will vote on 20 September, some two years ahead of schedule.
The top US general has described the Taliban as a "ruthless group" and says it is unclear whether they will change. [imo, the only change will comprise their becoming more and more oppressively violent, particularly to women]
US forces withdrew from Afghanistan on Tuesday, ending America's longest war 20 years after launching an invasion to oust the Taliban. The Islamists are now in control and expected to announce a new government. The Taliban's lightning advance sparked off a frenetic effort to evacuate thousands of foreign nationals and local Afghans who had been working for them.
US President Joe Biden has been widely criticised over the abrupt manner of the withdrawal, which led to the unexpected collapse of the Afghan security forces the US had trained and funded for years.
In the news conference on Wednesday, both Gen Milley and Secretary Austin praised the troops who had served in Afghanistan and the massive evacuation mission.
[In face of the alarming levels of wrong-wing partisan hysteria in the US, non-RepuGNicans have been urged not to call RepuGNicans "stupid". I make no apologies ---- too many of them ARE blindingly stupid.]
Ivermectin is most commonly used against parasites in livestock animals including horses and cows. It is also used in humans, against some parasitic worms and external parasites like head lice. [Rather apt, though useless against COVID-19.]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that “taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm”.
But amid widespread resistance to public health mandates and vaccines, particularly on the political right wrong, amid a surge in hospitalisations and deaths due to the Delta variant and in light of testimony from some [apparently demented] doctors, ivermectin has found advocates as a treatment for COVID-19.
Research, however, has not shown that ivermectin can prevent or treat COVID-19. One of the largest trials for the drug was halted earlier this month by a data safety monitoring board, because the drug proved no more effective than a placebo.
