
<p>In a move to strengthen South Africa-Nigeria ties, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last night that efforts to create a favorable environment will include a simplified visa process for travelers coming in to South Africa from the West African nation.</p>



<p>With Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is in South Africa for the 11<sup>th</sup> session of the South Africa-Nigeria Bi-National Commission in Parliament in Cape Town, Ramaphosa added in his opening remarks: “Qualifying Nigerian business people can be granted a five-year multiple entry visa. In addition, tourists from Nigeria can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.”</p>



<p>That the visa process, previously, has been cumbersome, has been widely reported.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">South Africa&#39;s President Ramaphosa: We want to see Nigerian products on the shelves of South African shops&#8230; Nigerian tourists can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.&quot;<br><br>MXM <a href="https://t.co/4PLI7lJrb4">pic.twitter.com/4PLI7lJrb4</a></p>&mdash; Jonathern Thom 🇿🇦 (@JonathernThom) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonathernThom/status/1863991288649130038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>A <a href="about:blank">2024 report</a> by the Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria) stated that South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has a list of countries exempted from needing a visa for a 30- to 90-day stay in the country, but countries such as Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia, Cameroon, Sudan, Somalia, to name a few, are not on the list.</p>



<p>“Despite Ramaphosa’s emphasis on immigration and tourism, the first year of his presidency saw 7,000 Nigerians get their visas rejected,” Mamadou Saidou Bah and Marie Rebecca Jolicoeur wrote in the report. “It is indeed true that South Africa is largely closed to other Africans but more welcoming to the wider world. When it comes to Africans, the visa regime of South Africa is applied rigidly and that is a contributing factor to the high rejections of visa applications by Africans.”</p>



<p>The president’s announcement garnered mixed reactions on social media.</p>



<p>“We already have a problem with these nationals in our country, now we further relaxing visa laws. Please make it make sense,” one user said on Instagram.</p>



<p>Another on <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">X said</a>: “The damage done by some Nigerians is hard to overlook. However, should we look into the business side of things? We can both benefit. Africa is our home. Let&#8217;s find a way to work towards making it a great continent.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">At this rate, the plan of ANC is to destroy South Africa. How does strengthening our relationship with Nigeria secure comfortable future of South Africans? 😩😭</p>&mdash; Oracle (@Oracle5152) <a href="https://twitter.com/Oracle5152/status/1864019886093062538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">South Africans we are on our own!!!!<br><br>We want to see Nigerian products on the shelves of South African shops&#8230; Nigerian tourists can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/HrBttGavw5">pic.twitter.com/HrBttGavw5</a></p>&mdash; Sir Cabonena Alfred (@Lebona_cabonena) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lebona_cabonena/status/1863942923806818371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trade between Nigeria and South Africa is significant, with Nigeria being South Africa&#39;s largest trading partner in Africa. Crude oil from Nigeria constitutes a major portion of this trade. With recent agreements focusing on easing visa restrictions for Nigerian businesspeople…</p>&mdash; People (@MadawaMan_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadawaMan_/status/1864270349287768511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>Ramaphosa also stated in his address that he would like to see more Nigerian products on the retail shelves in South Africa. Nigeria is South Africa’s largest trading partner in West Africa. He wishes to see more robust trade between the two countries.</p>



<p>“Nigeria and South Africa enjoy strong diplomatic ties and expanding trade and investment flows,” Ramaphosa said. “The strategic positioning of both countries in their respective regions presents enormous opportunities for collaboration.”</p>



<p>According to <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Africa Check</a>, in 2016, there were 30,000 Nigerians living in South Africa.</p>



<p>“The outcome of this 11th session of the Bi-National Commission reaffirms our commitment to strengthening existing ties and deeper collaboration between Nigeria and South Africa towards a future of shared prosperity, security, and progress for our people,” Tinubu wrote on X. “As two of Africa’s leading economies, Nigeria and South Africa must keep working together to ensure shared prosperity for our countries and Africa.”</p>


Nigeria-South Africa bi-national Commission held in Cape Town

South Africa To Ease Visa Rules To Strengthen Ties With Nigeria; Both Countries To Work Collaboratively To Boost Trade


<p>South Africa’s ongoing battle with gender-based violence (GBV) has received a boost with the release of the first national study on the subject. Conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the report goes beyond statistics to expose the structural and behavioral factors fueling this epidemic. At its core, the study reveals the interconnectedness of mental health crises, entrenched societal norms, and systemic inequalities. The report, first commissioned in 2022, was released during a press conference earlier this week.</p>



<p><strong>Women Most at Risk</strong></p>



<p>The study estimates that more than 7.8 million South African women have experienced lifetime physical and/or sexual violence, said Dr Nompumelelo Zungu, Deputy Executive Director at the HSRC, announcing the report in Pretoria.</p>



<p>While all women are vulnerable, those with disabilities face heightened risks. Women living with disabilities are twice as likely to experience sexual violence compared to those without. “For a lifetime, this report shows that all forms of abuse are very high for women living with disabilities,” Zungu explained. These women face unique challenges that demand urgent, tailored interventions, including their reliance on others for daily needs, which leaves them more exposed to abuse.</p>



<p>Black African women also bear the brunt of physical violence. “Lifetime physical violence was significantly higher among Black African women with 35.5%, compared to women of other race groups,” said Zungu.</p>



<p><strong>A Broader Crisis in Masculinity</strong></p>



<p>The study highlights the mental health struggles faced by men, particularly those who perpetrate violence. Early childhood trauma, substance abuse, and socioeconomic pressures emerge as recurring themes among perpetrators. These issues underscore the need for targeted mental health services and programs aimed at dismantling harmful gender norms.</p>



<p>The findings show how deep-rooted societal norms perpetuate violence. Patriarchal beliefs, such as those normalizing men’s control over women, remain prevalent, contributing to a toxic environment. According to the study, nearly a quarter of men believe women cannot refuse sex with their husbands, and 8% believe there are times when women deserve to be beaten.</p>



<p>The Covid-19 pandemic amplified these vulnerabilities, with intimate partner violence (IPV) surging during lockdowns. Economic strain and isolation left many women trapped with their abusers, further underscoring the link between systemic inequalities and GBV.</p>



<p>The HSRC study presents a range of recommendations to tackle GBV, including community interventions to challenge harmful norms, enhanced support systems for survivors, and economic empowerment initiatives.</p>


South Africa : Illustration

Study Reiterates Hidden Drivers Of South Africa’s GBV Crisis


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Air quality in New Delhi dropped to its worst level this year on Monday—with pollutant levels reaching more than 150 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended safe levels—as local authorities enacted an emergency response plan, including shutting down schools, halting the entry of nearly all trucks and a ban on all construction activities.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.iqair.com/in-en/india/delhi%5C" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">According to IQ Air</a>, New Delhi’s Air Quality Index, which measures the level of air pollution, surged past 1,700 on Monday—more than five times above the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">“hazardous” benchmark</a>&nbsp;where even healthy individuals are likely to experience adverse effects.</p>



<p>The pollution level was so severe on Monday that the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi—which uses the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow chart—<a href="https://in.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates/new-delhi/air-quality-data/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">rated the conditions</a>&nbsp;“Beyond the AQI” on its hourly tracker as it registered levels above 1,600.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="699" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63705" style="width:644px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233-300x205.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/GettyImages-2183914233-768x524.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><strong><em>India Gate is covered in a thick layer of pollution in New Delhi, India, on November 13, 2024 (Photo by Bilal Kuchay/NurPhoto via Getty Images).</em></strong></figcaption></figure></div>


<p>The national pollution control authority rated the conditions in Delhi as “severe plus” and&nbsp;<a href="https://caqm.nic.in/WriteReadData/LINKS/GRAP%20Stage%20IV%20Order%20dated%2017112024272e205d-f42e-4106-932a-0514c584dfd7.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ordered the enforcement</a>&nbsp;of stage 4 of a graded response action plan, which is the highest level emergency response and allows for the most stringent curbs on vehicles and construction work.</p>



<p>The Delhi Government ordered all schools to switch over to online classes and issued bans on key sources of pollution, including the entry of trucks carrying non-essential goods into the city, the operation of older diesel vehicles on the road and all construction activities.</p>



<p>The national capital city was blanketed by a thick layer of smog—a toxic mix of fog and smoke—that dropped&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/dense-smog-leaves-delhi-choking-as-aqi-in-severe-plus-category-visibility-down-to-100m-101731903642563.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">visibility levels</a>&nbsp;to around 100 meters.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Is Causing Delhi’s Pollution?</h2>



<p>Severe pollution levels have become a recurring problem for India’s capital and other major North Indian cities during the winter—when the dense fog-laden air mixes with toxic smoke and other pollutants. As with every year, the issue has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/video/bjp-distributes-masks-in-delhi-as-air-pollution-crisis-deepens-862172" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">triggered</a>&nbsp;a political&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/atishi-targets-centre-on-stubble-burning-amid-delhis-air-emergency-7045044" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">blame game</a>&nbsp;between the national government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Delhi government led by the rival Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).&nbsp;<a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/farm-fires-continue-to-pollute-delhis-air-despite-decrease-in-incidents/articleshow/115062410.cms" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">According to</a>&nbsp;the national air quality monitoring agency SAFAR, nearly 40% of Delhi’s pollution can be attributed to the illegal burning of crop residues in neighboring states like Punjab and Haryana after harvest season. Efforts to crack down on farm fires have failed, as stubble burning is usually quicker and cheaper than manual or machine removal—which the government is trying to financially incentivize.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">News Peg</h2>



<p>The levels of PM 2.5 pollutants—airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can enter the lungs and cause several diseases—across the city peaked above 950 micrograms per cubic meter on Monday, according to IQAir’s tracker. According to the World Health Organization, the recommended annual average exposure to PM2.5 matter should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



<p>214. That is the total number of both arriving and departing flights, which have faced delays at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.flightaware.com/live/cancelled" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;FlightAware. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/DelhiAirport/status/1858389088614613391" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement on X</a>&nbsp;at noon, the Delhi Airport said its “low visibility procedures are still in progress and flight operations may get affected.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tangent</h2>



<p>NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, which tracks fires using satellite imagery, showed&nbsp;<a href="https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;l:fires_all,earth;@74.6,32.1,5.7z" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">several active blazes</a>&nbsp;across the state of Punjab in the past 24 hours. Last month, a&nbsp;<a href="https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/spso/bio/hiren.t.jethva" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Senior Research Scientist</a>&nbsp;at NASA, Hiren T Jethva,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/hjethva05/status/1849578536128086531" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">speculated</a>&nbsp;on X that farmers in North India may be deliberately burning crop stubbles later in the afternoon to avoid having their flames tracked by the satellite overpass. It is unclear if this is true, but this hasn’t stopped authorities from reporting a large number of farm fires in the area. In the state of Punjab alone, 4,262 cases of farm fires were reported in the last two weeks,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/of-total-8404-farm-fire-cases-in-punjab-50-reported-in-past-2-weeks/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;the Tribune.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/dense-smog-leaves-delhi-choking-as-aqi-in-severe-plus-category-visibility-down-to-100m-101731903642563.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Dense smog leaves Delhi choking as AQI in ‘severe plus’ category, visibility down to 100m</a>&nbsp;(Hindustan Times)</p>


The Cart in the Fog

India’s Capital Chokes Under ‘Severe Plus’ Pollution—Emergency Measures Enacted Including School Shutdowns


<p><strong>From the rainforest to the ocean, artificial intelligence is decoding nature’s most complex data patterns and is proving to be a game-changer in conservation.</strong></p>



<p>F<strong>or as long </strong>as there has been wildlife conservation, there has been a need for data. In order to understand ecosystem health, animal behavior and population trends, you have to be able to measure what’s going on in nature. And while there are many ways to do this, from drones to tracking devices, thermal cameras and even rangers on-foot, satellite imagery and camera traps have made study- ing wildlife movement a little bit easier. Not only can conservationists collect ample data, there’s minimal disturbance to animals. When it comes to analyzing the imagery, all that’s really needed is someone who can recognize an animal and there are many training programs to do just that.</p>



<p>But to really understand ecological trends, there are many creatures that are simply too small to be captured through pictures. “With very big animals like elephants, you can see them using satellite data which is great but a significant portion of the ecosystem is hidden,” says Dr Juan Lavista Ferres, who has worked in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for over 20 years, and is the Chief Data Scientist of Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab. Luckily, those animals that are undetectable in satel- lite imagery make up for their size with sound, which is where acoustic data comes in – and in the case of ani- mal sounds, bioacoustic data. “From a noise perspec- tive, they are there,” laughs Ferres. “There is no corre- lation between the size of an animal and the sound it makes. Very small animals can make a lot of noise and can do very specific frequencies.”</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-nature-s-silent-signals">Nature’s silent signals</h1>



<p>There’s huge potential in environmental recordings (bio- acoustics are important bioindicators —they are nature’s health signalers) and the good news is that a lot of the data is already available. At the AI for Good Lab, Ferres and his team have continuous surveillance recordings from the Amazon that go back to 1992. The problem is that there are only a handful of scientific experts who can understand what is going on when the data is visualized, and then interpret the frequencies to identify specific animals. “It’s extremely niche. In the case of bioacoustic data, you need a huge level of expertise and there are very few people in the world that can recognize these sounds and frequencies,” adds Ferres.</p>



<p>Another challenge is that going through all of this audio takes time. Ferres says that many of the record- ings he has run non-stop, day and night, for 365 days. “A person would need to be listening to these sounds for a whole year to get through just one year’s worth of data. Now imagine that you have multiple recordings in one forest?” There’s simply too much data for hu- mans to process manually, which is why AI is such a game-changer in conservation – it’s making research a much more efficient process. AI can learn from these experts to automate identifying and classifying animal sounds across large datasets. “We can go through all of the recordings and understand how the health of the ecosystem is changing,” says Ferrers. “Now that we have more compute and better models, we can work with these different types of data, whether it’s images, videos or acoustic data.”</p>



<h1 class="wp-block-heading">Under the sea</h1>



<p>One of the AI for Good Lab’s first projects using acoustic data was with endangered beluga whales in Alaska us- ing underwater sensors. “You can capture the sound of these whales, their vocalizations,” says Ferres. Because sounds travel much further than visual cues, with acous- tic data, researchers can detect (and even potentially identify) different types of whales over vast distances in the ocean, far beyond what would be possible with visual observation methods. “There are particular frequencies in the water that will be very difficult to detect without AI,” adds Ferres. “You can’t solve a problem if you can’t measure it. By doing this, we can actually start measuring the problem.”</p>



<p>Working with different industries and partners throughout the world, Ferres’ hope is that now that the information is in these AI models, more people will be able to use them to track animals over time. All the work that comes out of the AI for Good Lab is also open source which means all of the projects are freely available to re- searchers and organizations worldwide. “It’s a complete philanthropic effort. We give up the idea. We publish everything. All the work we do is for the societal good,” he says. “AI is not just the solution, but sometimes it’s the only solution we have.”</p>


Botswana. Woman photographing giraffe in Chobe National Park with tablet.

Work On The Wild Side: How AI Is Helping Conservation In Africa And The Huge Potential Of Environment Recordings


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>The billionaire founder of Telegram is offering to pay for the in vitro fertilization process of medically eligible women who are interested in having a baby using his sperm at a fertility clinic in Moscow, the latest billionaire to speak openly about his desire to widely reproduce.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/pavel-durov/?list=rtb/">Pavel Durov</a>, worth an estimated $15.5 billion as of Tuesday, is offering to cover the cost of IVF treatment for interested, healthy women under the age of 38 who will use his sperm to have a baby using the Altra Vita IVF clinic, which claims it has the exclusive right to store and use his biomaterial.</p>



<p>The clinic&nbsp;<a href="https://altravita-ivf.com/free-ivf-with-pavel-durov-donated-sperm.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">describes</a>&nbsp;the offer as &#8220;a very generous contribution to society&#8221; from &#8220;one of the most famous and successful entrepreneurs of our time.&#8221;</p>



<p>In July,&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/durov/339" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Durov said</a>&nbsp;he&#8217;s had more than 100 biological children in 12 countries via sperm bank donations he&#8217;s made over the last 15 years, and announced his plan to &#8220;open-source my DNA so that my biological children can find each other more easily.&#8221;</p>



<p>He said he was once told by someone at an IVF clinic it was his &#8220;civic duty&#8221; to donate sperm to help couples trying to conceive, and said he now wants to &#8220;destigmatize&#8221; the notion of sperm donation and encourage more healthy men to do so.</p>



<p>He also has five children with two ex-girlfriends.</p>



<p>Durov was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/08/26/officials-confirm-arrest-of-billionaire-telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-in-france-heres-what-we-know/">arrested in France</a>&nbsp;in August and has been forbidden to leave the country as authorities investigate charges of enabling criminal activity on his messaging app, including claims he allowed drug trafficking, fraud and the sharing of child pornography.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Durov, 40, and his older brother developed Telegram, a secure messaging app with more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/08/26/officials-confirm-arrest-of-billionaire-telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-in-france-heres-what-we-know/">950 million</a>&nbsp;users, in 2013. He left his home country of Russia—where Telegram was banned from 2018 to 2021—after refusing to provide encrypted data on users of the first social networking site he founded, called VKontakte. He became a French citizen in 2021 but lived in Dubai, where he was once the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/billionaires/world-billionaires/meet-pavel-durov-the-richest-and-youngest-billionaire-living-in-the-middle-east" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">youngest and richest</a>&nbsp;billionaire in the Middle East, until his August arrest.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/08/26/officials-confirm-arrest-of-billionaire-telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-in-france-heres-what-we-know/">His arrest</a>&nbsp;is part of an investigation into Telegram’s content moderation practices and comes amid claims the app has not properly cooperated with law enforcement when the app is used for criminal activity, particularly child sex crimes. A month after his arrest,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/23/telegram-illegal-content-pavel-durov-arrest" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Durov said</a>&nbsp;Telegram had removed “problematic content” and would take a more proactive approach going forward in complying with government requests.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>Durov isn’t the only high-profile sperm donor who’s been open about his desire to widely reproduce. Last year, courts had to order Dutch crypto investor and YouTuber&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/04/29/dutch-court-orders-superdonor-to-stop-donating-sperm_6024754_4.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Jonathan Meijer</a>&nbsp;to stop donating sperm after he was suspected of fathering more than 550 children. Kyle Gordy, who was featured in the documentary &#8220;The Man with 1000 Kids,&#8221; told Netflix he thinks he has about 70 children via sperm donation. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has 10 children with three different women, at least&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexzhavoronkov/2022/07/27/elon-musk-and-other-billionaires-make-their-babies-via-ivf-and-surrogatesis-it-a-future-of-reproduction/">five of which</a>&nbsp;were conceived using IVF. He has said that he believes in vitro fertilization is a more efficient way to have children, and has called a collapsing birth rate the &#8220;biggest danger civilization faces by far.” Billionaire and president-elect Donald Trump earlier this year said he would support public funding for in vitro fertilization or mandate it be covered by insurance, which could broaden the use of procedures that can currently cost tens of thousands of dollars.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">Forbes Valuation</h2>



<p>Durov was ranked as the 141st richest person in the world Tuesday with a net worth of $15.5 billion.</p>


Telegram Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov

Billionaire Pavel Durov Offering Free IVF To Women Willing To Have His Baby


<p>When it comes to controversial advertising campaigns, they usually don’t have to do with income taxes. But a short-lived campaign from enterprise software company Intuit, which makes TurboTax,&nbsp;<strong>crossed that line and raised the ire of accountants</strong>.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2024/10/16/intuit-backpedals-after-insulting-accountants-with-latest-ad-campaign/"><em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;Kelly Phillips Erb writes</a>&nbsp;about the saga, in which a consumer-targeted message intended to be a bit cheeky and punny&nbsp;<strong>ended up insulting a group of professionals who actually rely on Intuit’s products</strong>. The centerpiece of the campaign is an advertisement in which a young woman announces to a bland-looking accountant that she’s leaving him for a younger and more fashionable man on her phone “who charges me less but gives me more” as part of a “tax break-up.” The younger man represents Intuit’s “TurboTax Full Service plan,” featuring human tax preparers who work with customers online or in person to complete their taxes.</p>



<p><strong>Tax preparers</strong>, who have competed with TurboTax for many years,&nbsp;<strong>felt the campaign went too far</strong>. The unflattering portrayal of the accountant, plus the barrage of messaging telling consumers to “break up” with them, made many individuals and organizations upset. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants President and CEO Barry Melancon issued a statement saying, “The crucial role of CPAs, who serve as expert and trusted advisors to business owners and individuals, was not reflected in an unfortunate recent ad campaign launched by Intuit.” And the National Association of Tax Professionals said it will no longer accept Intuit’s sponsorships or exhibits at its conference because of the campaign’s “direct conflict with our members’ interests.” Predictably, Intuit decided to phase out the campaign.</p>



<p><strong>While TurboTax is a well-known Intuit product, it’s only one</strong>. The company also owns QuickBooks and Mailchimp—financial management and email marketing platforms used by many businesses, including accountants—as well as consumer budgeting tool Credit Karma. In its last fiscal year, the bulk of Intuit’s growth came from those using its enterprise financial planning and email software. TurboTax online made up less than a quarter of the company’s total fiscal year revenues.</p>



<p>Intuit may be seeking more consumer tax business, but it may have damaged its larger customer base by trying to be funny. An average consumer may have giggled at the ad, but it seems unlikely that it would end up getting the desired results,&nbsp;<strong>especially since most consumers aren’t thinking about income tax prep in October</strong>. Instead, with this campaign, Intuit might have inspired more financial professionals to break up with&nbsp;<em>them</em>.</p>



<p><strong>Finding the right emotional balance is an important tool to make a campaign successful</strong>. Reticle AI is using artificial intelligence to determine the emotions that are present in campaigns, helping marketers strike the proper tone to get their messages across. I talked to Vice President of Business Development Tricia Allen about how this works. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.</p>



<p><strong>MARKETING MATTERS</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169510342.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63122" style="width:608px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169510342.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169510342-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2169510342-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> (Photo by Dilara Irem Sancar/Anadolu via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Google is making a change to its Local Services Ads business next month that&nbsp;<strong>may impact roughly half of businesses advertising on the search engine</strong>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonkochkodin/2024/10/22/googles-upcoming-ad-change-could-spell-disaster-for-millions-of-unprepared-small-businesses/">reports&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;Brandon Kochkodin</a>. Starting November 21, the local ads that pop up at the top of search results for users will be blocked if they aren’t linked to a Google Business Profile. This free profile indicates how businesses appear in search and is fully customizable by the business. But businesses need to be verified as legitimate through video or phone authentication, or by receiving a postcard. The authentication is an extra step, but it’s important that local businesses do it sooner rather than later. Studies have shown that 96% of people learn about local businesses online, and four out of five of those searches convert into business. In fact, nearly half of all Google searches are for local businesses.</p>



<p><strong>SOCIAL MEDIA</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="662" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1513152452.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61892" style="width:632px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1513152452.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1513152452-300x194.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1513152452-768x497.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> (Photo by Hakan Nural/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Two social networks are making changes that may impact user safety. For as long as X was known as Twitter, users have been able to block other accounts—a step often taken when a user is bothered or harassed by someone. Previously, the blocked account couldn’t see or engage with posts from the user who blocked them. Now, users&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2024/10/17/x-will-soon-let-users-see-tweets-from-people-who-block-them-the-controversial-change-explained/">can see all posts</a>&nbsp;from accounts that have blocked them, though they still can’t engage with them.&nbsp;<strong>X says this change allows “greater transparency,</strong>” so users can see if those who have blocked them are trying to “share and hide harmful or private information.” But critics have taken the other side of the argument: Stalkers and harassers can keep following accounts of those who have blocked them. X owner Elon Musk, who has made scores of controversial changes to the platform since he bought it in 2022, previously posted the blocking function made no sense. After this change was made, competing social media platform Bluesky gained 1.2 million users in two days,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/bluesky-gains-momentum-wake-xs-blocking-changes/730371/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Social Media Today reported.</a></p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lindseychoo/2024/10/17/instagram-sextortion-child-safety/">Changes to Instagram</a>&nbsp;<strong>intended to prevent “sextortion” scams and protect teens are much less controversial</strong>. Now, users are unable to take screenshots or recordings of disappearing images, which are only intended to be viewed once. The Meta-owned platform is also testing safety notices to let teenagers know when they are exchanging messages with someone out of the country. Images flagged to contain nudity will be automatically blurred for users younger than 18. And accounts with “scammy” behaviors will not be able to see users’ following and followers lists, a common way some bad actors get information about a target’s friends and family.</p>



<p><strong>BRANDS + MESSAGING</strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1536268798.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-62351" style="width:556px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1536268798.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1536268798-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1536268798-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Photo by Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Netflix&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lindseychoo/2024/10/17/netflix-earnings-streaming-beats-expectations-subscriber-growth/">reported earnings</a>&nbsp;last week, beating Wall Street’s expectations. The streaming giant made $9.8 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter, and gained 5.1 million subscribers. Now, nearly 283 million households have Netflix subscriptions, but the rate of new subscriber gain is slowing down.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2024/10/17/netflix-added-51-million-subscribers-can-we-talk-about-what-matters/"><em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>senior contributor David Bloom writes</a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<strong>for Netflix, this really shouldn’t be seen as a negative</strong>. After all, there is a finite amount of Netflix subscriptions that can be bought. What is more important, Bloom writes, is viewer engagement. Netflix reported that the average paid membership has two hours of engagement per day. It has an 8.2% viewership share in the U.S., according to Nielsen data. Netflix first became profitable in 2003, and to date only one other streaming service—Disney+—has posted a profit. With more emphasis on engagement, Netflix also seems to be the first of the streamers to start caring more about actual viewers and interaction.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-on-message">ON MESSAGE</h4>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-reticle-ai-uses-technology-to-determine-emotions-in-ads"><strong>How Reticle AI Uses Technology To Determine Emotions In Ads</strong></h3>



<p><em>Emotion is important to marketing. Nostalgia, joy, adventure, curiosity and stress can all inform how consumers make purchases, choose what to eat or drink, or select service providers or leisure activities. Reticle AI uses artificial intelligence to determine the emotions that are present in marketing campaigns, as well as the emotions that consumers are experiencing when they see them, and makes recommendations for an optimal outcome. I talked to Vice President of Business Development Tricia Allen about how their method works and how it can get results. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity.</em></p>



<p><strong>How can you use AI to determine things like sentiment and nostalgia?</strong></p>



<p><strong>Allen:&nbsp;</strong>We’ve trained our AI technology to understand emotional sentiment within digital content. We’re almost curating content into various emotions. If a brand wants to be associated with nostalgia, [or being] uplifting, joyful, nurturing, they can align their message within content that has that emotional sentiment. We can control how the content potentially makes someone feel. If you’re consuming content that makes you feel nostalgic, nurturing, uplifting, chances are you’re in that frame of mind. If you get served an ad that is in that nostalgic, nurturing tone, you’re more predisposed to take action. That action is that connectivity and attention that the brand is getting because it’s being served at the right time.</p>



<p>[AI has] that ability to take the universe of digital content, really cull it down, and categorize it into these emotional categories because of its understanding of human emotion.</p>



<p><strong>There’s a lot of talk about AI systems not always giving accurate responses. With something difficult to quantify like emotion, how do you make sure that what comes out of your system is accurate to how people actually would feel?</strong></p>



<p>While AI is extremely relevant and helpful from a marketing standpoint, you can’t get rid of that human oversight. I really believe strongly in that for many reasons. There’s bias that’s involved because the technology is only as good as the person who is training the platform, and if they have inherent bias, then the tech has bias. You need more than one person to be vetting that. In addition, what nurturing means to me might mean something completely different to you.</p>



<p>We actually have human labelers. We have them go in and vet our data on an ongoing basis, just to have those human eyes on it. We’ll go through, and if the technology has said this content is deemed to be nurturing, we want to see what a human actually thinks. We have that human component to make sure, because AI is not perfect. Even when it does get better, I still strongly believe you’re going to need human oversight, especially when you’re talking about emotion.</p>



<p><strong>In your research, what are some of the emotions that people are reacting to the most, and what are some more prevalent themes?</strong></p>



<p>A lot of the themes that people are looking for from a marketing standpoint are around joy and that feeling of happiness, and conversely, that feeling of stress and pressure. [It’s] not necessarily a positive emotion. Maybe it’s a negative emotion, because maybe I’m a vacation company and I want to provide you with a solution to help you overcome that stress.</p>



<p><strong>If you are able to tap into emotion—both in marketing and also what is being looked for—what would be the perfect marketing campaign?</strong></p>



<p>To me, the perfect marketing campaign is [one in which] you first do the insights work to understand the emotional footprint of that brand. How do people think and feel about your brand right now? How do you want them to feel about your brand? Then ensure that creative or the ad itself is designed to hit those key emotions. We’re kind-of that end piece. You’ve established how people think and feel. You’ve established: Do I want them to feel this way? If no, where are there distinctions that we can draw on to differentiate from the competition and then make sure that creative is dialed in?</p>



<p>The biggest area where I see brands fall down is they try and tap into emotion, but there’s a disconnect between the creative strategy and the insights work that was done. The insights work is never being brought to life, and then the creative is a bit of a disconnect. When all of those pieces line up, and you take that emotionally designed creative [and] put it in the same environment from a digital placement perspective, that’s the trifecta of emotional marketing.</p>



<p><strong>FACTS + COMMENTS</strong></p>



<p>When the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees begins on Friday,&nbsp;<strong>it will be Sho time—for Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, that is</strong>. With the Japanese phenom in the playoffs, Major League Baseball has actually seen&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2024/10/17/ohtani-mania-has-mlb-playoff-viewership-soaring-in-japan/">more October viewership</a>&nbsp;in his home country than in the U.S.</p>



<p><strong>12.9 million:&nbsp;</strong>Japanese viewers of NLDS Game 5 on October 11, when the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres to advance to the National League Championship Series. The U.S. had 7.24 million viewers, a record for a division series</p>



<p><strong>$700 million:&nbsp;</strong>Value of Ohtani’s record-setting 10-year contract</p>



<p><strong>‘I hope to continue to perform well as well for the fans in Japan’:&nbsp;</strong>Ohtani&nbsp;<a href="https://dodgersnation.com/shohei-ohtani-acknowledges-fans-in-japan-watching-dodgers-postseason/2024/10/21/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told Dodgers Nation</a>, after saying that the team has also been “playing really well”</p>



<p><strong>STRATEGIES + ADVICE</strong></p>



<p><strong>Yes, there is such a thing as too much positivity</strong>. Here are some ways to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/10/11/managers-are-glossing-over-workplace-issues-and-pushing-toxic-positivity/">avoid glossing over</a>&nbsp;your employees’ challenges and support your team through hard times.</p>



<p><strong>Time management is difficult for executives</strong>. Here are <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/10/17/top-time-management-apps/">five apps</a> that can help you get more control over your work day.</p>


Chat Bot Service Concept – Enhancing Customer Experience with Virtual Assistant

Can AI Capture The Emotional Side Of Marketing?


<p><strong>The only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton overtook French heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers on Wednesday morning.</strong></p>



<p>W<strong>ith Walmart stock</strong>&nbsp;at an all-time high, Alice Walton–the only daughter of the retail giant’s founder Sam Walton (d. 1992)–just became the world’s wealthiest woman for the first time since May 2022. With an estimated $89.1 billion fortune, Walton, 74, overtook L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of France, who briefly became the first female centibillionaire in June and is now worth an estimated $88.4 billion.</p>



<p>Walton now ranks as the 18th richest person in the world, according to&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;real-time tracker, one spot behind her brother Rob Walton. Walmart stock is up 47% year to date, while L’Oreal is down 13% during the same period.</p>



<p>Despite selling more than $22 billion of Walmart stock over the past decade—and giving away more than $11 billion of the retailer’s shares—Sam Walton’s heirs still own nearly 46% of the firm their father founded, due to significant stock buybacks that have prevented the family’s stake from being diluted.&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;estimates that three-quarters of the clan’s stock is split evenly between Alice Walton and her siblings Jim and Rob Walton, who are worth $95.9 billion and $94.2 billion as of 9:15 am Eastern time Wednesday, respectively. Most of the rest belongs to the heirs of their brother John Walton (d. 2005): his widow Christy Walton and son Lukas Walton, who are worth $16.4 billion and $33.9 billion, respectively.</p>



<p>Rob Walton retired from Walmart’s board in June after more than four decades as a director, including more than 20 years as chairman–a role that has been held by his son-in-law Greg Penner since 2015. Jim Walton was replaced by his son Steuart Walton on the retailer’s board in 2016 and now chairs the family’s Arvest Bank.</p>



<p>Alice Walton, meanwhile, worked briefly at Walmart as a buyer of children’s clothes, after graduating from Trinity University in Texas in 1971, before shifting her focus to curating art. She chaired the family’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in their hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas for a decade, before handing the reins to her nephew Tom Walton’s wife, Olivia Walton, in 2021. Alice Walton is credited with founding the museum, though almost all of the $1.6 billion it cost to open the facility in 2011 came from trusts in the names of her brother John Walton (d. 2005) and mother Helen Walton (d. 2007).</p>



<p>Alice Walton has ramped up her personal philanthropy over the last decade, pouring more than $5.7 billion into five family charitable foundations that have doled out more than $1.1 billion of her funds to date, including more than $377 million her Art Bridges Foundation has spent acquiring and loaning out works of American art to more than 230 museums across the country since its founding in 2016. Her new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine–a stand-alone entity–plans to welcome its inaugural class to Bentonville in 2025.</p>



<p>“Over the past several years, I’ve founded new organizations focused on the arts as well as health and well-being,” Walton said in a press release announcing her retirement as chair of Crystal Bridges in 2021. “I’d like to focus more fully on my board chair roles at these entities.”</p>


Walmart Holds Annual Multi-Day Shareholders Meeting In Arkansas

Alice Walton Just Became The World’s Wealthiest Woman


<p>Refiloe Jane’s rise from unknown schoolgirl spotted at a talent competition to leading her country at a FIFA Women’s World Cup should serve as an inspiration to those who believe in the impossible dream.</p>



<p>Jane has become one of the most iconic players in the Banyana Banyana side over the last decade, helping them become African champions and appearing at two Olympic Games and two Women’s World Cups.</p>



<p>No other player can match that success, but it is testament to her longevity and continued excellence that she remains a key part of the national set-up, and at the age of 32, feels she still has much more to give.</p>



<p>The midfielder was singled out at the Gauteng Future Champions Talent Identification Programme while a Grade 11 pupil at Emshukantambo Secondary School in Pimville, Soweto, and set on the road to stardom.</p>



<p>“Winning the Gauteng Future Champions really kick-started my career and gave me so much confidence to believe that I can play for a top local side and even internationally,” Jane tells FORBES AFRICA.</p>



<p>“The time I spent training with Manchester City and Everton (as a result of winning the Gauteng Future Champions) also opened my eyes up to what is required to be a professional player and I made sure that I put into practice what I learned there.</p>



<p>“When my development started, I was playing a long time with boys until the age of 14. When I was there training with those teams (in England), I saw there is more to football than what I was experiencing at home.</p>



<p>&#8220;It changed my life when I got there. I came back and said I would take my football seriously and invest a lot in it.”</p>



<p>Jane soon got a contract at home with an emerging Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies side, who were not yet the force they are today, but an ambitious club desperate to change the narrative around women’s football.</p>



<p>They found a willing player in Jane desperate for success, and she found a club to give her that platform.</p>



<p>“After joining Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies in late 2010, I put my head down and said to myself that I am going to give everything I have to try and make it into the Banyana Banyana squad. Thankfully, that hard work has paid off.”</p>



<p>She was included in Banyana’s squad for the 2012 Olympic Games at the age of 19, and repeated that feat in 2016 when she traveled to Brazil with the team for the Rio de Janeiro games.</p>



<p>Other players have been and gone, but through it all, Jane has been a constant and someone the team relies on to bring balance to the midfield.</p>



<p>“The team (Banyana Banyana) has improved very well, we have quite a number of players who have gone overseas and are still overseas, I think the (2019) World Cup played a huge role in the growth of women’s football in our country.”</p>



<p>Jane got her big break in professional football when she was signed to a short-term contract with Australian side Canberra United, heading Down Under with compatriot Rhoda Mulaudzi.</p>



<p>But after impressing at the World Cup in France in 2019, bigger things were on the horizon and she was signed by top Italian club AC Milan.</p>



<p>She spent three seasons there before moving to fellow Serie A team Sassuolo, where she featured in 29 games over two seasons, her second campaign cut short by a serious long-term injury sustained at the 2023 World Cup.</p>



<p>She has since left Sassuolo and is looking forward to a fresh challenge, and suggests later on she will perhaps take up the coaching reins.</p>



<p>&#8220;I do have ambitions of giving back to the game in the future, all that experience I have gained overseas, I want to come back home one day and plough back. The game has done so much for me and given me so much,” Jane said.</p>



<p>&#8220;I want to teach, to coach, to give back in any way to the youngsters who see themselves playing the game. I am looking forward to doing that after my playing days.”</p>


Football – 2019 COSAFA Women Championship – Final – Zambia v South Africa – Isaac Wolfson Stadium

‘Want To Come Back Home One Day And Plough Back’: The 32-Year-Old South African Football Star With A New Goal


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, reacted to an apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Sunday by saying no one was trying to kill either President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, in a strongly-condemned post.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Musk reshared a post Sunday night asking why people want to kill Donald Trump and&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.ph/OhrPX" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a>: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,” followed by the thinking face emoji.</p>



<p>The post immediately faced blowback from X users, but the billionaire—who has endorsed Trump—appeared to double down,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1835537404318392628" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">responding</a>&nbsp;with a “hundred points” emoji to a reply saying: “Trump threatens the machine. Biden/Kamala are the machine.”</p>



<p>Responding to another user who asked him to reconsider the post, saying “We need to unite,” Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1835537833869623681" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a>: “No one has even tried to do so is the point I’m making and no one will.”</p>



<p>A few hours later, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1835572816730636430" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">responded</a>&nbsp;to a follower asking him to reword his post because people were “misinterpreting your obvious intent” by saying: “Fair enough…I don’t want to do what they have done, even in jest.”</p>



<p>After taking down the post, Musk appeared to suggest it was a joke,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1835573866271330307" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">saying</a>: “One lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesn’t mean it’s going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critics">Chief Critics</h2>



<p>Musk’s posts drew immediate condemnation from users on X. Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/JonahDispatch/status/1835488915978957183" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">criticized</a>&nbsp;the post, calling it “appalling and indefensible.” Comedian Maz Jobrani tagged the Secret Secret service in his post,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/MazJobrani/status/1835485451727364582" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">saying</a>: “You may want to pay this guy a visit. He ain’t right in the head!” Brett Meiselas, founder of the left-leaning online outlet Meidas Touch,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/BMeiselas/status/1835483332844671305" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a>: “Ok this requires an IMMEDIATE visit by the secret service and federal charges. Lock this guy up. This is so dangerous.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>Earlier on Sunday, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party was condemned after&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.is/Ca9Xg#selection-499.0-508.0" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">tweeting</a>: “Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.” The Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Chase Oliver, called the post “abhorrent” and&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ChaseForLiberty/status/1835477641517748462" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote on X</a>: “I 100% condemn the statement from LPNH regarding Kamala Harris…As Libertarians, we condemn the use of force, whether committed by governments, individuals, or other political entities.” The party account, however, dismissed criticism and&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.ph/VGJLH" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a>: “Encouraging politicians to be shot is legal under the first amendment. It&#8217;s part of what makes this country great.” The account, however, eventually&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/LPNH/status/1835310685095628880" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">took down</a>&nbsp;the post and said they had done so because they did not want to “break the terms of this website we agreed to,” but added: “It&#8217;s a shame that even on a &#8220;free speech&#8221; website that libertarians cannot speak freely.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/09/15/trump-safe-after-attempted-assassination-suspect-identified/">Trump Safe After ‘Attempted Assassination’—Suspect Identified</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/09/16/trump-assassination-attempt-everything-we-know-about-the-arrested-suspect/">Trump Assassination Attempt: Everything We Know About The Arrested Suspect</a> (Forbes)<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/"></a></p>


Tech Illustration Images

Musk Posts Then Deletes ‘No One Is Even Trying To Assassinate Biden/Kamala’


<p><strong>Do You Prefer AIOr The Personal Touch? Some Insights On How Africa’s Hotel Sector Is Set To Welcome A New Era Of Hospitality.</strong></p>



<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the economic landscape and expected to boost global GDP by trillions of dollars in the coming years. It is one of the most significant commercial opportunities in the world. But how will it play out in the hospitality and tourism industry?</p>



<p>According to HotelTechReport’s State of Hotel Guest Technology Report 2024, 70% of the 400 hotel guests they surveyed said they still prefer the human touch when managing complex queries and 65% would like the technology in their hotel to be more advanced than what they have at home.</p>



<p>It’s a knife edge – on one hand, people are the heart of hospitality, on the other, ignoring the value of AI can potentially impact a hotel’s future. If a hotel can’t offer personalization, experience enhancement, chatbot support and AI-curated services, will it be left behind? Or will this make it an oasis where the lack of technology is the value-added service, whilst AI runs in the background, smoothing over the bumps and easing guests into their experiences?</p>



<p>Some hotels have already stepped into technology with immersive experiences and digital room replicas. “We launched our first use of AI for our meeting experiences called Meetings Unbound,” says Stephanie AbouJaoude, Senior Area Director of Marketing &amp; Communications – Middle East, Africa, Turkey &amp; Mediterranean at the Radisson Hotel Group. “We’ve leveraged AI technology to offer these creative and visual meeting experiences for our delegates.”</p>



<p>This is very much in line with what is being described as the ‘era of hospitality’ where personalization, engagement, human connections, and the co-creation of experiences are becoming the standards against which hospitality is measured.</p>



<p>There is a need for data, insights, and emergent technologies to provide the sector with the tools they need to ensure they meet the expectations of an increasingly discerning traveler.</p>



<p>“You have to ensure the guests you’re attracting are delivered what they’re expecting. Personalized experiences are absolutely essential, everyone wants that Instagram image, that experience,” says Neil Hughes, Managing Director, Providence Hotels, who also points out that while he does use a digital ecosystem to connect with customers, the use of AI remains at the base level. “I think people need human interaction. AI is cold – no matter how you load it with chatbots and virtual assistance, you will never achieve the personal level you can with a human on the phone. AI is valuable and absolutely can support personalization, but we’re not at a level where we will turn an AI engine on and it can handle everything from campaigns to customer service.”</p>



<p>A warm greeting and shining eyes.</p>



<p>Certainly, this is what most people would prefer rather than being caught up in a tangle of technology which is invariably frustrating and complex. Is AI ready to use the technology?</p>



<p>“The truth is AI is in use by the hospitality sector in Africa, and it is being used in really interesting ways,” says Chris Godenir, General Manager of Dream Hotels’ Peninsula All-Suite Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa. “We’re using it extensively in our back-end to manage check-ins, applications, arrival emails, questionnaires, WhatsApp conversations – we always provide people with the option to turn to a human, but we use the AI to the best of our ability in our business.” While AI is not comprehensively in use by hotels across the continent, it’s not an unknown entity. As Jerry Mabena, CEO: Motsamayi Tourism Group, says: “There are two types of guests in Africa – the more established, older market and the younger generation looking for unique opportunities. The latter is where I see AI playing a big role, engaging with this technology-savvy market and curating experiences for them. AI allows us to start moving into a space where we can draw in a wider number of people by creating iconic, African experiences.”</p>



<p>He adds that people are also now traveling for a purpose, seeking out experiences that allow them to touch the earth lightly and AI can help the industry prioritize and meet these expectations more effectively. However, there is a need to look ahead at how AI may negatively impact the sector. It’s not a plug and play solution and it brings with it a host of risks – some expected and some unexpected.</p>



<p>As Noor Kapdi, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson Africa for law firm Dentons, concludes: “The AI industry isn’t regulated in Africa, it’s hardly regulated in other parts of the world, and this creates both opportunity and risk. There’s the ethics of it – if we know how people sleep, how they like their coffee in the morning, these are deeply personal insights and managing this privacy is challenging. The only way it will be measured is through the ethical standards of each country, and we have yet to see how AI will manifest in the hospitality industry or what the consequences will be.”</p>



<p>AI can ease the burden of back-end admin, smooth over the wrinkles in customer engagement, simplify customer onboarding and reimagine their experiences, but it is still so new, untested, and fresh that hotels stepping forward into its potential should approach it with a balance of caution and innovation. It is not a technology leaving Africa in its dust – the sector is very much aware of what AI can do. Perhaps, instead, it is Africa that would like it to remain in the dust, for just a few more spectacular sunsets. </p>


Smart Robot Assistant On Reception

Hospitable Tech? Africa’s Hotel Sector And AI-Based Hospitality

A Livestock Company in Zhangjiakou

Bird Flu (H5N1) Explained: CDC Reports First Case With No Known Animal Exposure


<p>Accolades aside, Kenyan actor-and-host-turned-producer, Sarah Hassan seems to see no limit as to what she can achieve.</p>



<p>After discovering her love for performing at a very young age, she went on to join the cast of drama, <em>Tahidi High</em>, playing the role of Tanya. It earned her the award for Best Actress at the CHAT Awards in 2010 and 2011.</p>



<p>However, while she truly enjoys acting and hosting, which she had done for several years, there was another passion in her heart that she could only fulfill later on in her career.</p>



<p>“I wanted to go to, specifically, the New York Film Academy [ever] since I was out of high school… but, of course, [there were issues of ] finances and all that. I told myself one day I am going to go. I remember I had a different bank account where I just saved for film school, and I had gotten to a place where I could go, I think a couple of years before I went, but it didn’t feel like it was the right time,” she says.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GI4C0329-2-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63035" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GI4C0329-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GI4C0329-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GI4C0329-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GI4C0329-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GI4C0329-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em><strong>Hassen on set (Image supplied)</strong></em></figcaption></figure></div>


<p>“I remember, two years later, I wasn’t getting auditions at that time. I felt like if I had the necessary skillset and everything, that I could do my own story or do a short film and satisfy that part of my soul. By that time, I felt like this is the time… So I sent in the application.”</p>



<p>Hassan, speaking to us from her home in Kenya, recalls the experience with great enthusiasm, detailing all the skills she had learned, including the basics of editing and lighting, directing, writing and producing. As soon as she had completed her year in Los Angeles, she put the skills she had learned to good use.</p>



<p>“My dream has always been to be able to, first and foremost, have that skillset, and then be able to work as a producer; as an actor, not only in my country, but anywhere else in the world. Before I left, I remember I did a few projects out there. I did my first-ever short film where I wrote, co-directed, produced and acted in. It won about eight film festival awards. So [that] was quite pivotal for me,” she adds.</p>



<p>“I had gotten awards for acting before that, and for hosting, but this, I would say, is a highlight, not because of the awards but because of what it symbolized. I was behind-the-scenes of a project that I had produced. This was the first time ever doing something that was not acting or hosting. It was the first time doing a story from development – taking it from my mind all the way to seeing it completed.” Hassan, who has her own production company, Alfajiri Productions, would go on to work with streaming giant, Netflix.</p>



<p>“For <em>40 Sticks</em>, I was brought on board as a lead producer. It was so beautiful because I was there from the beginning, from bringing onboard the writers, from the development stage, the pre-development stage, filming stage, the post. Then <em>Just In Time </em>– that was with my company; with my team, and in collaboration with Lola D, who’s a very good friend of mine and a fantastic director. To see it on Netflix worldwide, not just in Africa, was surreal,” Hassan says.</p>



<p>“Now, with <em>Anyango and the Ogre </em>– it was a commission project, because it’s by Netflix and UNESCO – it was amazing to also see that other side, to be able to work with the executive producers in South Africa, you get to learn a lot. We have been doing [this] for a while but not as long, and to see all the different steps… it was absolutely amazing.”</p>



<p>She concludes that collaboration is key, especially between directors and producers on the continent. Not only does it bring in diverse audiences, one also gets to share resources and learn.</p>


DSC01052

Kenyan Actor-Producer On Wearing Many Hats And Why Timing Is Everything


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>States with an overexposure to artificial light pollution—particularly at night—are linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer&#8217;s disease, according to a new study by scientists at Rush University Medical Center, the latest research to suggest people’s likelihood of developing Alzheimer&#8217;s may be tied to their environments.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>In the study published Friday by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2024.1378498/abstract" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Frontiers in Neuroscience</a>&nbsp;journal, scientists say exposure to artificial outdoor light at night was correlated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer&#8217;s disease—though the study didn’t make a direct causal link.</p>



<p>Researchers used satellite acquired data to determine nighttime light intensity in states and compared that data with Alzheimer&#8217;s disease prevalence in the same states, finding that a positive correlation was found in states with the most light pollution in every year studied (from 2012 to 2018).</p>



<p>States with the most light pollution—and the highest Alzheimer&#8217;s disease prevalence—included Florida, Connecticut and New Jersey, while Montana, New Mexico, Vermont, Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon had lower instances of both.</p>



<p>Nighttime light pollution had a stronger correlation to Alzheimer&#8217;s disease risk than alcohol abuse, chronic kidney disease, depression, heart failure and obesity, the study showed, but less of a link to the conditions of atrial fibrillation, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and stroke.</p>



<p>In people under age 65, however, nighttime light exposure was more strongly associated with Alzheimer’s prevalence than any of the other disease factors studied.</p>



<p>Light pollution is the latest in a list of environmental factors that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/10-years-alzheimers-disease-and-related-dementias-research/increased-understanding-how-social#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20higher%20education%20levels,raises%20the%20risk%20of%20dementia." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">studies suggest</a>&nbsp;could be linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer&#8217;s disease, including living near green spaces, long-term exposure to air pollution and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7663191/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">chemical exposures</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>80%. That’s how much of the global population experiences light pollution, according to the study.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Light pollution, defined as nighttime artificial light from, for example, poorly shielded and overly bright light fixtures, has long been considered to be mostly harmless, researchers said, but more recent studies have linked light pollution to harsh ecological, behavioral, biological, and health consequences. The concept of light pollution was first pointed out by astronomers in the 1970s, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/january/increasing-light-pollution-drowning-out-stars.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">National History Museum</a>, as those who studied the night sky noted the increasing impact of artificial light on their work. At the time, the sky was estimated to have been becoming brighter by between 3 and 6% every year, the museum said, but that rate has increased to almost 10% annually around the globe, with an even faster growth rate in North America (10.5%). In addition to impacting the view of the night sky—roughly 30% of people have lost the ability to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.noaa.gov/stories/milky-way-now-hidden-from-third-of-humanity#:~:text=June%2010%2C%202016,Image%20credit:%20National%20Park%20Service)" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">see the Milky Way</a>, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—scientists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/light-pollution-health-climate/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">have noted</a>&nbsp;that over illumination at night highlights the waste of energy contributing to climate change and can decrease the nighttime cleansing of the atmosphere. Other research, like the study published Friday, is also increasingly starting to suggest light pollution can have adverse effects on human and wildlife health. Light pollution, from LED lights and electronic devices in particular, impacts circadian sleep rhythms, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-guidance-reduce-harm-high-intensity-street-lights" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">American Medical Association</a>, which can increase the risk of obesity and decrease the production of melatonin. Exposure to artificial outdoor light at night is also associated with increased obesity, depression, anxiety, memory dysfunction, atherosclerosis and cancer, the Rush University Medical Center says.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">Surprising Fact</h2>



<p>Singapore, Qatar and Kuwait are among the most light polluted countries in the world, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/light-pollution/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>Sea turtles have long been studied as a species dramatically impacted by light pollution. Female sea turtles lay their eggs on beaches and their hatchlings navigate toward the sea by using the natural light of the moon to orient themselves away from land and toward the sea. When artificial light sources are introduced and mimic that natural light, however, newly hatched turtles become disoriented and can accidentally navigate away from the sea—a mistake <a href="https://conserveturtles.org/information-sea-turtles-threats-artificial-lighting/#:~:text=Lighting%20near%20the%20shore%20also,is%20usually%20over%20the%20ocean." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most don’t survive</a>. Similarly, about 10,000 migratory birds are hurt or killed each year by crashing into skyscrapers and high-rise buildings after being confused by brightly lit buildings, according to a study published in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2627884/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Library of Medicine</a>.</p>


Neurology research, conceptual image

Alzheimer’s Risk Linked To Light Pollution, New Study Finds


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>The first mRNA mpox vaccine to be pitted against licensed vaccines beat its rivals by easing symptoms and potentially cutting transmission, according to new research published Tuesday, a coup for manufacturer Moderna as it strives to prove itself beyond COVID-19 amid efforts to contain an escalating outbreak of mpox in Africa.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The peer reviewed study, published in the journal Cell, marks the first time an mRNA vaccine has been directly compared to the already-licenced shot, Bavarian Nordic’s modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine, sold under brand names Jynneos, Imvamune and Imvanex, in nonhuman primates, said Moderna virology researcher and author Alec Freyn.</p>



<p>To test the two shots, researchers from Moderna, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Boston University gave each vaccine to six macaques, exposing them to a lethal strain of the virus eight weeks later and monitoring their health and blood for signs of an immune response for another month.</p>



<p>All animals vaccinated with Bavarian Nordic’s MVA shot and Moderna’s experimental vaccine, mRNA-1769, survived the trial, while five of the six macaques in an unvaccinated control group died from the disease, researchers said, and the Moderna group had higher numbers of antibodies in blood samples, suggesting a stronger immune response.</p>



<p>As well as preventing lethal infections, the researchers said Moderna’s investigational vaccine reduced disease severity compared to the licensed shot—mRNA-immunized macaques had a maximum of 54 mpox lesions compared to 607 in the Bavarian group and 1,448 in the unvaccinated group—and shortened disease duration by more than 10 days.</p>



<p>Macaques in the mRNA group also had lower amounts of the mpox virus in both their blood and throat swabs, suggesting Moderna’s vaccine could also be effective at reducing virus transmission.</p>



<p>“With the mRNA technology, we&#8217;re able to produce a vaccine that gives quite potent responses with a very tolerable safety profile,” said senior author Jay Hooper, a virologist at USAMRIID, adding that an mRNA shot could help prevent the disease spreading without the safety issues that prevent widespread use of some other vaccines used for mpox, such as Emergent BioSolutions’ smallpox shot ACAM2000.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral illness caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. In August, the World Health Organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/08/16/who-declares-mpox-a-public-health-emergency-heres-what-to-know/">declared</a>&nbsp;a growing outbreak in central Africa a public health emergency of international concern. It is the second time the agency has made such a warning, the highest level of alert it can sound under international law, in as many years, following a global outbreak in 2022. That&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/08/21/mpox-explained-key-details-on-latest-virus-outbreak/">outbreak</a>, which predominantly affected gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, was driven by a different and milder variant behind the outbreak we are seeing now, which data suggests could kill as many as 10% of people it infects. Young children, pregnant people and those with compromised immune systems are particularly at risk and symptoms of infection include a fever, swollen lymph nodes and characteristic, pus-filled rash. The virus spreads primarily through close contact with infected people, animals or contaminated materials like towels and while the variant was historically limited to small outbreaks in central Africa, it appears to have mutated into a more transmissible form.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">News Peg</h2>



<p>The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there have been at least 17,500 cases and 517 deaths from the virus in 2024 alone, though officials acknowledge surveillance is limited and warn the figure is potentially much higher. Amid ongoing outbreaks of the clade IIb virus variant responsible for the 2022 global outbreak, a handful of clade Ib infections have since been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/08/21/mpox-explained-key-details-on-latest-virus-outbreak/">reported</a>&nbsp;outside of Africa, including in Sweden and Thailand, though most are still located within the Democratic Republic of Congo and nearby countries. While there are a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/08/22/mpox-vaccine-maker-bavarian-nordic-shares-soar-amid-concern-over-virus-outbreak/">number</a>&nbsp;of authorized vaccines for use against mpox, constraints like cost, availability or suitability have hindered widespread uptake. Supplies of the preferred shot, Bavarian Nordic’s MVA vaccine, are limited, for example, and it is relatively expensive and has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/cases-data/JYNNEOS-vaccine-effectiveness.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">limited</a>&nbsp;effectiveness at reducing the severity of symptoms and curbing transmissibility. Emergent’s ACAM2000, on the other hand, is in plentiful supply due to stockpiling against a potential smallpox threat and can cut the risk of transmission effectively but the risk of severe side effects may make widespread use inappropriate.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">What To Watch For</h2>



<p>The tests Moderna are conducting in nonhuman primates are being run&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-mpox-vaccine-being-tested-in-the-uk/35622" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">alongside tests</a>&nbsp;in humans. The company’s mRNA-1796 shot is being assessed in an early stage clinical trial to determine safety, tolerability and immune response over a range of doses. The outcomes of this will determine the trajectory of future trials for the vaccine.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-do-mrna-vaccines-work">How Do Mrna Vaccines Work?</h2>



<p>Vaccines train your body to fight off pathogens in a safer way than if they were encountered naturally. This involves presenting the immune system with something it would later recognize and respond to if encountered at a later date, giving it a head start to help prevent infection entirely or reduce disease transmissibility and the severity of symptoms. Most vaccines make use of a weakened or inactivated (killed) version of the disease-causing germ, or a specific part of the germ like a protein or sugar, to spark an immune response, which impose limits on how fast a new shot can be developed and scaled up. mRNA shots work by providing instructions to the body allowing it to produce part of the germ itself, triggering an immune response without needing any exposure to the germ. By nature, mRNA shots can be more flexible and specific than shots using the entire virus.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-can-mrna-vaccines-help-tackle-emerging-pandemics">Can Mrna Vaccines Help Tackle Emerging Pandemics?</h2>



<p>The swift development, testing and approval of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic was a landmark moment for public health and the first time mRNA shots had been authorized after decades of struggles and setbacks. The scalability of mRNA vaccines outpaced more traditional methods, illustrating why experts now believe the technology platform will be a crucial tool for tackling emerging pandemic <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/07/03/gsk-secures-mrna-vaccines-for-bird-flu-covid-and-seasonal-flu-from-struggling-biotech-curevac/">threats</a>. Many experts and health groups like the <a href="https://www.who.int/activities/prioritizing-diseases-for-research-and-development-in-emergency-contexts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Health Organization</a> and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (<a href="https://cepi.net/priority-diseases" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CEPI</a>) flag diseases like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/07/02/moderna-scores-federal-funding-for-mrna-bird-flu-vaccine-as-pandemic-fears-grow/">bird flu</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/07/22/what-to-know-about-the-deadly-nipah-virus-as-india-races-to-contain-another-outbreak/">Nipah</a>, Lassa Fever, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/03/27/what-is-marburg-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-killer-ebola-like-virus-spreading-in-parts-of-africa/">Ebola and Marburg</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/10/23/us-scientists-deliberately-infected-people-with-zika-heres-why/">Zika</a>, coronaviruses like COVID-19, SARS and MERS and Rift Valley fever as urgent priorities for research given their high potential to seed future pandemics and the absence of countermeasures. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/22/british-scientists-warned-monkeypox-would-fill-void-left-smallpox/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">some experts</a> have long <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/27/1101751627/scientists-warned-us-about-monkeypox-in-1988-heres-why-they-were-right" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warned</a> one of humanity’s greatest public health achievements—the eradication of smallpox through a highly successful vaccination campaign—has potentially left the world vulnerable to outbreaks of related diseases that can exploit our lack of immunity now that we no longer immunize ourselves against it. Mpox, an Orthopoxvirus like smallpox virus variola, is one such threat, and there are many other viruses in the group like camelpox, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/02/12/what-to-know-about-alaskapox-after-officials-confirm-first-death-from-recently-discovered-virus/">Alaskapox</a>, cowpox, rabbitpox, dolphinpox and horsepox, some of which are known to infect humans and for which the risks are Blood serum from vaccinated macaques “neutralized not only mpox but also vaccinia, cowpox, rabbitpox, camelpox, and ectromelia virus,” Freyn said, a sign the vaccine would convey at least some protection against the virus. “We believe that this vaccine may protect from other Orthopoxvirus threats that may emerge in the future,” he said.</p>


A Covid-19 Vaccination Site As Children Under 5-Years Old Become Eligible For Shot

Moderna’s First mRNA Mpox Vaccine Beats Licensed Rival Shots In Early Testing


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Managing the early stages of medication abortion care at home later in pregnancy is safe and cuts down time spent in hospital, according to new research&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01079-1/fulltext" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;on Thursday, which researchers say could boost access to the procedure as reproductive rights stand out as a key issue in the 2024 election.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Almost all abortions in the United States are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/data-statistics/abortion-surveillance-findings-reports.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">performed</a>&nbsp;at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy—the first trimester—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and clinical guidelines typically recommend the procedure be performed exclusively in clinical settings after the 12-week mark so patients can remain under observation.</p>



<p>Medication abortions involve taking two types of pills to end pregnancy—mifepristone, which blocks a hormone needed for pregnancy to continue, and misoprostol, which makes the womb contract—and for abortions after 12 weeks patients are usually given mifepristone in a clinic and return to a day or two later to receive misoprostol until the procedure is complete, a process that frequently requires an overnight stay in hospital.</p>



<p>Based on a randomized control trial of 435 women having a medical abortion between 12 and 22 weeks published in the Lancet medical journal, researchers from universities and hospitals in Sweden found medical abortions conducted after 12 weeks of pregnancy were as safe and as effective when misoprostol was started at home instead of in hospital and that women managing the early stages of care at home spent less time in hospital.</p>



<p>Of the pregnant people starting misoprostol at home and returning to clinics to receive further doses—several are usually required to complete the procedure—71% spent fewer than nine hours in hospital, compared to 46% of those in the hospital treatment group, the peer reviewed study showed.</p>



<p>There were no differences in the pain reported by patients in either group, the type and number of side effects or rates of hospital admission earlier than what was planned, the researchers said, adding that a follow up survey revealed 78% of the home group said they preferred their allocated treatment option compared to just 49% of the hospital group.</p>



<p>One of the study’s authors Johanna Rydelius, a gynecologist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and researcher at the University of Gothenburg, said the findings offer a safe alternative to a practice that often requires overnight stays many women “find stressful and isolating” and could potentially lead to more “feelings of autonomy during a time where women can feel extremely vulnerable.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>“Increasing access to abortion later in pregnancy is a crucial component of the struggle for reproductive autonomy,” said Heidi Moseson and Caitlin Gerdts, researchers at Ibis Reproductive Health, a U.S. non-profit reproductive health research organization, in a linked comment piece published alongside the study in the Lancet. Given the “overwhelming preference for at-home” misoprostol administration among the pregnant people involved in the study, Moseson and Gerdts, who were not involved in the research, said reforming guidance and “moving towards a less clinically supervised model of medical abortion care later in pregnancy is an important first step” for improving access.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-do-current-guidelines-recommend-facility-based-medication-abortions-after-12-weeks">Why Do Current Guidelines Recommend Facility-Based Medication Abortions After 12 Weeks?</h2>



<p>This is because of the greater risk of complications the procedure carries in later stages of pregnancy that may require additional care. This could include pain, bleeding, infection or an incomplete abortion (material remaining). But despite “profound” implications for access, the requirement to administer medications in clinical settings is “driven primarily by the absence of data on alternative models of care,” Moseson and Gerdts explained. This system “limits the number and type of facilities that can offer abortion care after 12 weeks,” they added, pointing to limited bed spaces and staffing requirements needed to keep people overnight.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, many states across the U.S. have harshly restricted access to abortion. The procedure is now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/29/abortion-laws-bans-by-state" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">banned</a>&nbsp;from conception in 14 states and from six weeks—a time many people are not even aware they are pregnant—in four states, with the future of abortion uncertain in a handful of other states due to legal challenges. While exceptions are made under limited circumstances in states banning abortion, these vary by state and clinicians and health experts have complained the vague or inconsistent language setting out exceptions are out of touch with medical reality and unworkable in practice. This fits within broader efforts to roll back reproductive care even further, such as Republican&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2qq1wqw3w2o" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">attempts</a>&nbsp;to restrict access to mifepristone. The matter has polarized the country and both Democrats and Republicans have seized upon reproductive healthcare as a major dividing issue for the upcoming presidential election.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>625,978. That’s how many legal induced abortions there were in the U.S. in 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/data-statistics/abortion-surveillance-findings-reports.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to the CDC, excluding California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey, which did not submit data to the agency. Almost all of these, 93.5%, happened at or before 13 weeks.</p>


Tag: COVID-19

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