IF iDir.com

Like many countries, Rwanda is finding it impossible to test each of its citizens for the coronavirus amid shortages of supplies. Rwanda’s mathematical approach, the researchers say, makes that process more efficient. Sema Sgaier, a Harvard assistant professor of global health, called the Rwanda approach an example of the “incredible solutions in very resource-poor settings” that have come out of the continent.

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 03:07:20 -0400

A sharp escalation in tensions with the United States has stoked fears in China of a deepening financial war that could result in it being shut out of the global dollar system - a devastating prospect once considered far-fetched but now not impossible. Chinese officials and economists have in recent months been unusually public in discussing worst-case scenarios under which China is blocked from dollar settlements, or Washington freezes or confiscates a portion of China's huge U.S. debt holdings.

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 02:18:43 -0400

South Korean police have confirmed a British man is in custody on charges of illegally filming women using hidden cameras and then distributing the footage on his website. The man, who has not been named, allegedly approached 10 women on the street and filmed them without their consent during a visit to South Korea in August 2018, the Korea Times reported. He is also suspected of committing similar crimes in Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. The problem of secret spy-cam pornography, known locally as “molka”, has long been widespread in South Korea, prompting tens of thousands of women in recent years to take to the streets in mass protests and instigating a police awareness campaign about its devastating impact. The epidemic of high-tech voyeurism has often involved men – sometimes boyfriends and relatives – filming women without their knowledge in schools, offices, trains, toilets and changing rooms. The footage is often lucrative. One porn website that attracted more than a million users and hosted thousands of spy-cam videos was shut down in 2016, but the number of reported incidents remained at about 6,000 in 2018. Police this year stepped up efforts to crack down on digital sex crimes, setting up a special investigation headquarters following public outrage over scandals involving the abuse of women in social media chat rooms. In the case of the alleged British offender, officers began an investigation in September 2019 following media reports of the incident and requested an Interpol red notice on the man because he had already left Korea. The man was arrested by police in Denmark in November last year and extradited to South Korea on July 31. Access to his website has been blocked and an investigation has been launched into paid subscribers.

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 01:25:14 -0400

The Philippines plans to launch clinical trials for a Russian coronavirus vaccine in October, with President Rodrigo Duterte expected to be inoculated as early as May next year, the presidential spokesman said on Thursday. Harry Roque, Duterte's spokesman, made the announcement a day after Philippine scientists met with representatives of the vaccine developer, research facility Gamaleya, to discuss trials and information about the inoculation. Russia on Tuesday became the world's first country to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine, to be named “Sputnik V” in homage to the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite.

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 01:02:18 -0400