The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Drugmakers join hands to fight Ebola Plan to make millions of vaccine doses \| J&J says has discussed collaboration with GSK London, October 22 Leading drugmakers plan to work together to accelerate development of an Ebola vaccine and produce millions of doses of the most effective experimental product for use next year. Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday that it aims to produce at least 1 million doses of its two-step vaccine next year and has already discussed collaboration with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, which is working on a rival vaccine. The US group’s head of research Paul Stoffels said the two companies would support each other’s work and could combine their vaccines if that made sense, while other companies without an Ebola treatment are ready to provide production capacity. There is currently no proven vaccine against the deadly disease but several companies are racing to develop products. Clinical tests on GSK’s vaccine and another from NewLink Genetics are under way, while human tests on J&J’s vaccine will start in January. The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes that tens of thousands of people in West Africa, including frontline healthcare workers, can start receiving Ebola vaccines from January as part of large-scale clinical trials. “I have spoken with (GSK chief executive) Andrew Witty over the past few days several times as colleagues on how we are going to solve this,” Stoffels told reporters. “It might even be that we have to combine their vaccine with ours.” J&J said the accelerated work on its Ebola vaccine, which has been helped by recent advances in technology, would yield 250,000 doses by May. The company plans to test its vaccine for safety and immune response in healthy volunteers in Europe, the United States and Africa from early January, having committed up to $200 million to accelerate the programme. The J&J vaccine was discovered in collaboration with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and includes technology from Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic, which will now receive a cash injection from the American healthcare company. The total potential deal value for Bavarian Nordic could be more than $187 million, including upfront payments, milestone payments based on product progress, a supply contract and the purchase by J&J of shares in the Danish biotech business. J&J has simplified and fast-tracked its vaccine programme in the light of the world’s worst Ebola outbreak. It had been working to develop a vaccine against both the Zaire and Sudan strains of Ebola, as well as a related condition called Marburg disease. However, it is now also developing a vaccine targeting only the Zaire strain behind the current epidemic, which should yield results faster. Immunisation with the J&J vaccine, which was developed by its Crucell unit in the Netherlands, consists of two injections: one to prime the immune system and a second to boost the response. In contrast, researchers are testing a single shot of GSK's vaccine.— Reuters Deadly virus brings Cuba, US closer A plane carrying some 50 Cuban doctors and nurses arrived in Liberia on Wednesday to help treat victims of Ebola in the West African country, where a US military mission is also deploying to fight the deadly virus An Air Cubana jet carrying the 51 medical staff touched down at Monrovia’s Roberts International Airport. Another group of around 40 doctors from the communist-led Caribbean island were due to arrive in neighbouring Guinea on Wednesday A top Cuban health official has voiced hope that collaboration in fighting Ebola could help thaw relations between Cuba and the United States, long-time adversaries. US Secretary of State John Kerry singled out the Cuban effort in West Africa for praise last week Indians in Gambia do their bit Dakar (Senegal): The Indian community in neighbouring Gambia, one of the three countries in West Africa afflicted by the deadly Ebola virus, has provided 865,000 dalasis ($20,567) to the Gambian government to boost the country’s preparatory strategy against the disease, a gesture that has been highly appreciated. Making the presentation in Banjul, the Gambian capital, Suresh Wadhwani, a leader of the local Indian community, said the token was meant to support the government in its efforts to prevent the spread of the disease to the country.
	Shots fired near Canadian Parliament Toronto, October 22 Several gunshots were fired outside Canada's Parliament in the capital Ottawa today. The incident took place at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, just steps from the nation's parliament. Witnesses reported seeing a man running toward the government buildings, where more shots were fired inside, according to witnesses. A soldier has been wounded in the attack, a Canadian media report said. The incident came hours after Canada raised its terror threat level from low to medium. A soldier was killed in a hit-and-run earlier this week. "Shots fired at War Memorial at 9:52am today; one person injured," Ottawa Police tweeted on Wednesday as a witness reported seeing authorities search from room to room for the suspect. Additional shots were fired inside the parliament buildings, multiple news agencies and eyewitnesses reported, according to the BBC. A government official earlier said the raised threat level was in response to an increase in online "general chatter" from radical groups including Islamic State and Al-Qaida. A minister said it was a "terrible act of violence against our country". — PTI
	Despite talks, no end in sight to protests in HK Hong Kong, October 22 Hong Kong student leaders said today they may shun further talks with the government, accusing it of failing to make any meaningful offers to end weeks of mass pro-democracy rallies and roadblocks. The comments are a blow to the city's Beijing-backed leaders who had expressed hopes for fresh rounds of talks after meeting face-to-face with students yesterday night for the first time. The negotiations are widely seen as the only way to end nearly a month of protests-calling for full democracy in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city-without a police crackdown or further violence. Fresh confrontations broke out Wednesday afternoon between protesters and opponents who tried to remove demonstrators' barricades in the Mongkok district. The first talks last night made little headway, with students calling the government "vague" in its commitment to finding a genuine compromise. — AFP Hong Kong leader offers olive branch Indicating a possibility to concede to the demands of the pro-democracy protesters for the first time, the Hong Kong leader has reportedly proposed that the panel chosen to select candidates for the 2017 elections could be made "more democratic." While speaking to the media, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said there was room for discussion here and that the nominating body could be made more democratic, reported News 24 .
	Female terror suspect held in Britain London, October 22 A 25-year-old woman has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of "preparation of terrorist acts" linked to Syria, Scotland Yard said today. The woman was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police's SO15 Counter Terrorism Command in Bedfordshire. Her two addresses in Bedfordshire are now being searched, police said adding that the investigation "is related to Syria." The arrest of the woman comes a week after six people were arrested by British police in a counter-terrorism operation linked to the on-going civil war in Syria and Iraq. UK has raised its international threat level to the second highest level of "severe" in August after it was found that as many as 500 of its citizens were fighting alongside the dreaded terrorist-outfit Islamic State in the two countries. — PTI
	‘Watergate’ editor Bradlee dies at 93 Washington, October 22 Ben Bradlee, the hard-driving editor who reigned over the Washington Post with the style of a well-dressed swashbuckler and the profane vocabulary of a dockworker as the newspaper helped topple President Richard Nixon, died on Tuesday aged 93. Bradlee's death at his Washington home of natural causes was announced by the Post, which reported late last month that he had begun hospice care after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years. As executive editor from 1968 until 1991, Bradlee became one of the most important figures in Washington, as well as part of journalism history, while transforming the Post from a staid morning daily into one of the most dynamic and respected publications in the United States. Bradlee's work guiding young reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they traced a 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex back to the Nixon White House has been celebrated from journalism schools to Hollywood. The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Watergate scandal, which forced Nixon to quit under threat of impeachment in August 1974. Bradlee gave Woodward and Bernstein licence to pursue the scandal and its cover-up vigorously, approving their use of the unidentified "Deep Throat" source, and the newspaper published about 400 articles about Watergate over 28 months. Upsetting presidents was a Bradlee stock-in-trade. In 1972 the Post joined the New York Times in publishing stories based on the Pentagon Papers, a secret government account of Vietnam War decisions, despite heavy legal pressure. The Post also uncovered details of the Iran-Contra scandal that rocked Ronald Reagan's White House. — Reuters Man who reshaped American journalism Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee's career at the Washington Post began in 1948 as a police reporter. He quit to become a press attache at the US Embassy in Paris, then Newsweek magazine's Paris correspondent and its Washington bureau chief He returned to the Post, was named managing editor in 1965 and became executive editor in 1968, holding the job until his 1991 retirement. Bradlee brought in discipline in writing, changed styles and raised the quality of news When the Watergate burglary occurred and was dismissed by the White House as trivial, Bradlee was skeptical of the investigative efforts of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. But once he sensed they were onto something big — that the burglars were employed by Nixon's presidential re-election committee — he urged them on

Baby killed, 8 hurt in Jerusalem ‘terror’ attack

Jerusalem, October 22
A Palestinian rammed a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem today, killing a baby and injuring eight other people in what Israeli police said was a suspected "terror attack".

It was the second such deadly incident involving a vehicle driven by a Palestinian in three months, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately order an increase in police presence across the city.

The driver, identified as a 21-year-old Palestinian from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, was shot and wounded as he tried to flee the scene, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. His condition was described as moderate-to-serious.

The police described the incident as a "hit-and-run terror attack" — the term for a deliberate attack with a vehicle.

During the attack, which took place shortly before 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), the car ploughed into a group of pedestrians walking near the Ammunition Hill tram stop, on the seamline between west and occupied east Jerusalem.

Nine people were hurt, among them a three-month-old baby girl who later died of her injuries, a spokeswoman for Hadassah hospital said. — AFP

BRIEFLY

for a cause: Chinese artist Kong Ning wears her 10-metre-long wedding gown made of hundreds of face masks in Beijing. Kong created the gown hoping her act will call on more actions to fight the pollution in the capital. AP/PTI

Man jokes with Obama: ‘Don't touch my girlfriend’
Washington: President Barack Obama encountered a jealous boyfriend, who jokingly asked him not to touch his girlfriend while voting in Chicago for the November 4 midterm election, local television stations reported. As Obama was casting his ballot, he was standing beside a woman, Aia Cooper, whose boyfriend, Mike Jones, approached them and said jokingly to the President: "Mr. President, don't touch my girlfriend." "I really wasn't planning on it," Obama responded in a repartee, the reports said Tuesday. IAns

Former Australian PM Gough Whitlam dies at 98
SYDNEY: Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, who died on Tuesday aged 98, was one of his country's most revolutionary yet divisive statesmen, forging ties with China but triggering a constitutional crisis that split the country. Whitlam, who held office from 1972 to 1975, ended conscription and abolished the White Australia policy, but his legacy was dominated by the greatest political upheaval in Australian history when his government was sacked by the Queen's representative. reuters