The antiviral drug Avigan was developed by the firm Fujifilm Toyama Chemical in 2014, and it was later envisioned as Japan’s leading prospect to solve the global Covid pandemic. The drug was enthusiastically promoted by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but this October its development was quietly terminated.
The South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu promoted a proposal for a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty to COP27, the United Nations’ annual climate change conference.
Canadian military intervention in Haiti now appears unlikely in spite of the request by Ariel Henry, who is acting as Haiti’s prime minister, for a “specialized armed force” to be deployed in his country against endemic gang violence. Instead, international sanctions on individuals are being employed to do the work.
Millions of Somalis are facing starvation in the coming months as 90% of the Horn of Africa nation experiences a severe drought.
Continued heavy fighting following the collapse of a ceasefire between the rebel region of Tigray and the Ethiopian national government further imperils aid efforts to a people already facing what some believe to be the world’s gravest humanitarian crisis.
After decades of conflict and military occupations, Afghanistan has yet to emerge from its ongoing humanitarian crisis. The main culprits at this juncture are the poor governance of the ruling Taliban as well as the remarkably hostile policies of the United States and its allies, which are, in effect, waging economic warfare against one of the poorest nations on Earth.
Air conditioning has long been viewed as a luxury which makes people’s lives more comfortable in the hot summer months, but increasingly in the era of the climate crisis, analysts are pointing out that it has become a matter of life-and-death, and thus access to air conditioning should be regarded as a human right in the late 21st century.
Health equity campaigners have called for a fairer system of developing and distributing Covid medications after pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced record second-quarter revenue, more than half of which is attributable to sales of coronavirus vaccines and treatments that remain out of reach for much of the global south.
Women’s healthcare in Japan is treated as a lower priority than men’s healthcare; in particular, women’s reproductive rights are neglected.
Police have opened investigations into dolphin and whale meat being sold in Wakayama Prefecture after accepting a criminal complaint regarding illegal levels of dangerous toxins.
