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Mendes' account is one of seven given to Reuters by first responders or others dealing with the dead that attest to alleged sexual violence. VICTIMS DEAD, TRAUMATIZEDIn Israeli criminal law, sexual violence includes rape, but also indecent acts, harrassment and sexually demeaning a person – including forced nudity – among other offences. Some of those purporting to show sexual violence could not be authenticated – one seen by Reuters appeared to date to 2021. The news agency verified the locations of two other videos that suggest sexual violence, shared on social media within a day of the attack. Israeli lawyers say its evidentiary requirements on sexual violence are less challenging than Israel's.

Persons: Ronen, Shari Mendes, Mendes, It's, Deen al, Beeri, Taher al, Nono, Orit Soliciano, Neubach, Shelly Harush, Chen Kugel, Kugel, Dana Pugach, Rabbi Israel Weiss, Nachman Dyksztejn, Rami Shmuel, Shani Louk, Yael Vias Gvirsman, Vias Gvirsman, Geert, Jan Knoops, Israel, Peter Hirschberg, Anthony Deutsch, Stephanie Van Den Berg, Edmund Blair, Sara Ledwith, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Nova Festival, REUTERS, Rights, Shura, Reuters, Israel's Association, Association, Authorities, Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine, Ono Academic, Zaka, Police, Criminal Court, ICC, Israel's, Israeli Defence Force, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel's, Israel, Israeli, The Hague, Tel Aviv, Shura, Amsterdam, London

☆ Explainer: What’s behind the scramble for semaglutide?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Semaglutide, developed by Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) over decades, is the active ingredient in type 2 diabetes treatments Ozempic and Rybelsus, as well as Wegovy, which is used for weight loss only. Semaglutide in injected form was first approved for use in the U.S. as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in 2017. Booming demand for both drugs has propelled Novo Nordisk to its highest-ever profits. People taking part in clinical trials for drugs based on semaglutide may also continue to take it. The curbs will be in force until August 2024, but may end sooner if supplies improve, a spokesperson for the health ministry said.

Persons: Maggie Fick, Marine Strauss, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Josephine Mason, Sara Ledwith Organizations: Novo Nordisk, World Health Organization, International Diabetes Foundation, Supply, BMI, Thomson Locations: Britain, Germany, Belgium, United States, U.S, Denmark, Brussels

☆ How well-off Brits still buy Ozempic online for weight loss
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

NHS diabetes patients – including Gradwell, who went for weeks without full medication – pay nothing for their medication. The shortage persists even after Ozempic's manufacturer Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) launched Wegovy, a semaglutide drug solely for weight loss, in September. Rightangled told Reuters it is within its rights to continue to prescribe Ozempic for weight loss. Two had stopped offering it for weight loss by October, but Rightangled continued to make it available as of Nov. 17, Reuters found. He said his oncologist said that while he could not prescribe Ozempic, it would be good for his health if he took it for weight loss.

Persons: Kim Gradwell, –, John, it's, Rightangled, Gradwell, Penny Ward, I've, Abdullah Sabyah, Ward, Juniper, Ben, Doctors, Novo, Ozempic, semaglutide, prescribers, Rightangled's Sabyah, Tyne wasn't, Gradwell's, Yaasir Mamoojee, We've, Maggie Fick, Marine Strauss, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Chad Terhune, Sara Ledwith, Josephine Mason Organizations: Diabetes, National Health Service, Novo Nordisk, King's College, Department of Health, Social Care, John, Reuters, Oxford University ., NHS, Alliance Healthcare, Alliance, Diabetes UK, NICE, semaglutide, Oxford University, General Pharmaceutical Council, Tyne, Thomson Locations: Dudley , North Tyneside, Britain, Novo, United States, London, U.S, England, Europe, Ozempic, Newcastle, Brussels, Los Angeles

[1/4] A view of the turbines at an offshore wind farm near Nysted, Denmark, September 4, 2023. Time is short: The EU has a legally binding goal to nearly double renewable sources as a share of total energy by 2030, to 42.5%, requiring a rapid expansion of offshore wind. But of the governments surveyed, only Britain and Poland said they had invested or budgeted for steps to improve the security of offshore infrastructure. It requires a lot of effort from the government side," said Mattia Cecchinato, senior adviser for offshore wind at WindEurope. It said it would establish a permanent coast guard base close to where offshore wind farms are planned.

Persons: Tom Little, Thomas Almegaard, Vladimir Putin, Mads Nipper, Orsted, Ewa Skoog Haslum, James Appathurai, Germany's RWE, Anitta, Mattia Cecchinato, Rasmus, Krzysztof Jaworski, Orsted's Errboe, Benjamin Mallet, Riham, Elizabeth Piper, Toby Sterling, Andrius Sytas, Marek Strzelecki, Sara Ledwith Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Baltic Seas, EU, NATO, NewNew, Sweden's, Soaring, Emerging, Research, Solutions, Internal, Fund, Military, Naval Operations Centre, Polish Navy, Thomson Locations: Nysted, Denmark, Europe, Baltic, Nord, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russian, Russia, NewNew Shipping, Netherlands, Britain, Poland, Germany, North, Swedish, Copenhagen, Moscow, Sofia, European, Anitta Hipper, Belgium, Norway, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Baltic . Poland, Paris, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Vilnius, Warsaw

☆ Insight: What happens when a $2 million gene therapy is not enough
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Deena Beasley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +13 min

Their experience raises broader questions around other high-cost gene therapies coming to market, sometimes after accelerated regulatory approvals, drug pricing experts said. Gene therapies work by replacing genes – the body's blueprint for its development. The gene Zolgensma delivers instructs the body to make a protein vital for muscle control. If gene therapies do fall short, it becomes harder to justify prices that researchers have argued are already poor value. More recently, the first hemophilia gene therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was priced by CSL Behring at $3.5 million; 26 more gene therapies are in late-stage development, according to IQVIA.

Persons: Elizabeth Kutschke, Ben, Zolgensma, Ben Kutschke, neurologists, Sitra Tauscher, Wisniewski, Ben's, Roger Hajjar, Brigham Gene, Kutschke, Vasant Narasimhan, Stacie Dusetzina, Roche's, Biogen, Roche, Maha Radhakrishnan, Steven Pearson, It's, Sree Chaguturu, Amanda Cook, Weston, Jackson, Cook, Elizabeth, Jerry Mendell, Russell Butterfield, –, Biogen's, Mendell, UMR, Spinraza, Eric Cox, Caroline Humer, Sara Ledwith Organizations: Reuters, U.S, Novartis, IQVIA Institute, Human Data, Novartis Gene Therapies, Mass, Cell Therapy, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, CSL Behring, CSL, Nashville's Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Clinical, Economic, CVS Health, Aetna, SMA, Nationwide Children's Hospital, University of Utah Health, Children's, UnitedHealth, Thomson Locations: Oak Park, Berwyn , Illinois, Swiss, U.S, Lebanon , Virginia, United States, Columbus , Ohio, Russia, Kazakhstan, Chicago

☆ Insight: The meds they bought were toxic. Now Gambian parents seek justice
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Edward Mcallister | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Three Gambian lawyers said this is the highest profile case of its kind against the nation's health ministry and the drug regulator, as well as against Maiden itself. It adds that the regulator and the health ministry failed to ensure that drugs were prescribed "with the expected standard of care." Gambia's health ministry did not respond to requests for comment. By this stage, the Gambian health ministry had sent samples of the Maiden syrups abroad for testing. The drugs regulator, the Medicines Control Agency, which is part of the health ministry, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Persons: syrups, Maiden, vomited, Amie Jammeh, Mafugi Jassey, Mafugi, Jammeh, Loubna Farage, Jude Nwokike, Markieu Janneh Kaira, Kaira, Edward McAllister, Michele Gershberg, Sara Ledwith Organizations: Suit, Reuters, World Health Organization, WHO, Pharmaceuticals, EG, World Bank, Medicines, Pharmacopeia, Medicines Control Agency, Thomson Locations: Serekunda, Gambia, India, DAKAR, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Africa

☆ What Sweden's submarines bring to NATO
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Johan Ahlander | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sweden's key to keeping the waters navigable in a conflict is its world-leading submarine fleet, which analysts say holds some of the most advanced conventional submarines ever built. "The Swedish submarine fleet is well prepared for this environment and will add greatly to NATO's overall submarine capabilities in the Baltic," a NATO official told Reuters. "We have regional expertise, which fills a gap, expertise that NATO doesn't have," said Submarine Flotilla Commander Fredrik Linden. [1/5]The Swedish submarine HMS Gotland lies in a port at the naval base of Karlskrona, Sweden May 25, 2023. While submerged, conventional submarines run on battery power.

Persons: Fredrik Linden, Tom Little, Sebastian Bruns, Bruns, Sara Ledwith Organizations: NATO, Reuters, U.S navy's, REUTERS, Institute for Security, Kiel University, SAAB, Thomson Locations: KARLSKRONA, Sweden, Europe, Baltic, Russia, Germany, Swedish, Gotland, Karlskrona

"It's all about containing those kinds of capabilities from the north," retired U.S. Major General Gordon B. Davis Jr. told Reuters. "With five submarines we can close the Baltic Sea," Linden told Reuters. The region from the Baltic in the south to the high north may become almost an integrated operating area for NATO. It was first shipped from Germany across the Baltic Sea, then trucked nearly 900 km to the north. "It would make it very difficult for the Russian Baltic Sea fleet to operate in a free way," he said.

Persons: Mika Hakkarainen, Finland –, Major General Gordon B, Davis Jr, Fredrik Linden, Sweden's, Linden, Samu Paukkunen, Paukkunen, Sebastian Bruns, Michael Maus, Kurt Rossi, Rossi, Tuomo Lamberg, Bruns, Nick Childs, Anne Kauranen, Johan Ahlander, Jacob Gronholt, Sabine Siebold, Sara Ledwith Organizations: NATO, Reuters, Fleet, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Major, Analysts, Northern Fleet, Kiel University's Institute for Security, NATO's, Transformation, Field Artillery, U.S . Army, Baltic, Commission, Security, Cooperation, Naval Forces and Maritime Security, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Fouche, Pedersen, Thomson Locations: TORNIO, Finland, KARLSKRONA, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Stockholm, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, RUSSIA, Russian, Murmansk, Kola, Barents, North America, Greenland, Iceland, Helsinki, Baltic, Nord, Russia's, Denmark, Kiel, Rovaniemi, Santa Claus, United States, Britain, Germany, –, St, Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Sweco, Swedish, Gotland, Karlskrona, Oeland, London, Birmingham, Tornio, Oslo, Copenhagen, Brussels

The company, Marion Biotech, bought the ingredient — propylene glycol (PG) — from trader Maya Chemtech India, as reported by Reuters. "Marion bought commercial-grade propylene glycol," said a second source, an investigator, who declined to be named while the inquiry is ongoing. International standards allow only trace amounts of EG and DEG in pharmaceutical-grade propylene glycol. The toxins were found in cough syrups exported to Gambia by the other Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals. India made it mandatory for companies to have their cough syrups tested before export from June.

Persons: Marion, Deepak Sharma, Max, Vijay Kumar, Tuhin Bhattacharya, Mool Singh, Atul Rawat, Jaya Jain, Sachin Jain, Rohan Gupta, syrups, Maiden, Saurabh Sharma, Krishna, Jennifer Rigby, Olzhas, Sara Ledwith, Michele Gershberg, Deepa Babington Organizations: Reuters, Marion Biotech, Indian, EG, World Health Organization, Authorities, . Police, Marion, Court, Maya, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, WHO, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Uzbekistan, India, Delhi, Marion, Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad, Gambia, Indonesia, London, Almaty

The World Health Organization is working with countries to investigate the global pharmaceutical supply chain for such syrups. Andika Urrasyidin, lead police investigator of the case, told Reuters police have called in "many" BPOM officials for questioning, and the investigation is still underway. Hersadwi Rusdiyono, the director of Indonesia's national police's crimes detection unit, said BPOM officials were brought in as witnesses, but investigators are now checking if any wrongdoing was committed by drug regulators. "We asked them according to their functions, as regulators, whether they've conducted supervision and what kind of supervision," he told Reuters. Hersadwi said the probe so far has focused on staff at lower levels and not included BPOM'S chief, Penny Lukito.

Persons: Urrasyidin, Hersadwi Rusdiyono, they've, Hersadwi, Penny Lukito, Penny, BPOM, Tirta Buana Kemindo, Stanley Widianto, Miyoung Kim, Sara Ledwith, Michele Gershberg Organizations: Reuters, World Health Organization, Police, Afi, Thomson Locations: JAKARTA, Gambia, Uzbekistan, BPOM

He warned that contaminated medicines could still be found for several years, because adulterated barrels of an essential ingredient may remain in warehouses. Cough syrups and the ingredient, propylene glycol, both have shelf-lives of around two years. Unscrupulous actors sometimes substitute propylene glycol with toxic alternatives, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, because they are cheaper, several pharmaceutical manufacturing experts told Reuters. The WHO said it has also offered help to Liberia and Cameroon – which recently signalled that it too may have contaminated cough syrups for sale. The contaminated syrups in Liberia were made by India's Synercare Mumbai, according to the Nigerian regulator.

Persons: Rutendo Kuwana, Kuwana, –, syrups, Naresh Kumar Goyal, QP Pharmachem, India's Synercare, Synercare, It's, Jennifer Rigby, Krishna N.Das, Edward McAllister, Stanley Widianto, Sumit Khanna, Sophie Yu, Sara Ledwith, Michele Gershberg Organizations: World Health Organization, WHO, Reuters, Pharmaceutical, Marshall, Indonesian, –, PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries, AFI, Pharmaceuticals, Marion Biotech, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, Thomson Locations: LIBERIA, CAMEROON, Liberia, Nigeria, Gambia, Uzbekistan, Micronesia, Indonesian, – Timor Leste, Cambodia, Senegal, Philippines, Cameroon, syrups, Marshall Islands, India's Synercare Mumbai, Nigerian, Liberian, India, Panama, Delhi, Dakar, Jakarta, Ahmedabad, Beijing

The Additional Chief Secretary, G. Anupama, said in a text message, "Enquiry is underway" and directed Reuters to the health minister for Haryana state, Anil Vij, for further details. Its chief minister and health minister, to whom Yashpal also sent his complaint, did not respond to requests for comment. Naresh Kumar Goyal, the founder of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, told Reuters in December his company did nothing wrong in the production of the cough syrup. The bribery allegation was one of about half a dozen claims of corruption by Yashpal against Taneja in the letter. Yashpal told Reuters he did not comply, because he did not feel comfortable bringing such details to the deputy of someone he had accused of corruption.

Persons: Sagnia, Edward McAllister, Yashpal, Manmohan Taneja, Taneja, Maiden, Yashpal –, –, Shatrujeet Kapur, Kapur, Anupama, Anil Vij, Vij, Naresh Kumar Goyal, Goyal, Narendra Modi, Taneja's, Lalit Kumar Goel, Goel, Krishna N, Jennifer Rigby, Sara Ledwith, Michele Gershberg Organizations: REUTERS, World Health Organization, WHO, Reuters, Corruption Bureau, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, pharma, Corruption, Taneja, EG, Thomson Locations: Yundum, Gambia, DELHI, Haryana, New Delhi, Vietnam, India, London

At least 70 children in Gambia, most under 5 years old, died from acute kidney injury between June and October. Tests by the WHO found that the Maiden cough syrups contained the lethal toxins diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), used in car brake fluid. Indian officials have said the WHO failed to prove a causal link to the Gambia deaths, accusing the agency of denigrating its $41 billion pharmaceutical industry. However, cough syrups made by a second Indian drugmaker have been linked to the deaths of 19 children in Uzbekistan. India has since made drug testing mandatory for cough syrups before export.

Persons: Sagnia, Lamin, Edward McAllister, Dawda Jallow, Jallow, syrups, Maiden, Adama Barrow, Dawda, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Sara Ledwith, Michele Gershberg, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Reuters, World Health Organization, WHO, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, EG, World Bank, Thomson Locations: Serekunda, Gambia, BANJUL, India, Uzbekistan

The World Health Organization said last year the syrups, made by Indian manufacturer Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd, contained lethal toxins ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG) – used in car brake fluid. "If you ask and you don't get informed, it's a dead end," Rutendo Kuwana, the WHO's team lead for incidents with substandard and falsified medicines, told Reuters in an interview on March 31. Drug inspectors found a dozen violations at Maiden last October related to the production of the cough syrups sold to Gambia, a government document showed. Among these, some of the COAs of raw ingredients used in making the syrups, including propylene glycol, were missing batch numbers. Kuwana said the WHO was sure of its own cough syrup test results from two separate independent laboratories, both of which showed contamination.

When we've been awake for a long time, our sleep drive kicks in and tells us we need to sleep. During REM sleep, the cortex – responsible for cognition and emotion-processing – is activated in some regions and deactivated in others. After cycling through non-REM and REM sleep around 4 to 5 times, the basal forebrain and other structures receive signals to start exiting sleep. WHEN SLEEP GOES WRONGIn the U.S. alone, 50 to 70 million people experience some type of chronic sleep disorder, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). In the United States, a list of board-certified sleep medicine physicians and accredited sleep disorders centers is available from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

☆ How cough syrup gets poisoned
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

These medicines combine active ingredients such as paracetamol (known as acetaminophen in the United States) to reduce fever with a syrup made from glycerin or propylene glycol that is safe, sweet and easy to swallow. In Gambia, imported cough syrup for children was found by global health officials to be contaminated with two highly toxic substances: ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG). Manufacturers making propylene glycol for pharmaceutical use must purify it to remove any toxins, Kumar Koduri said. Mix-ups can happen due to human error, said Kumar Koduri. EG and DEG can cost less than half the price of propylene glycol, according to two websites selling the chemicals.

☆ Exclusive: WHO investigating links between cough syrup deaths, considers advice for parents
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The deaths of children from acute kidney injury began in July 2022 in Gambia, followed by cases in Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The WHO has said the deaths are linked to over-the-counter cough syrups the children took for common illnesses and which contained a known toxin, either diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol. The WHO, working with Indonesia’s drugs regulator, also issued an alert in October about cough syrups made by four Indonesian manufacturers and sold domestically. The manufacturers are: PT Yarindo Farmatama, PT Universal Pharmaceutical, PT Konimex, PT AFI Farma. PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries’ lawyer, Hermansyah Hutagalung, said it had pulled from the market all cough syrups deemed dangerous.

The UK government has promised to overhaul the youth gender care system, after it was deemed inadequate by England’s regulator of health and social care. They described a deeply flawed system that is now hobbled by a toxic political climate around gender care. The letter said a decision would be made at some point from early 2022 on whether the child “is likely to meet the access criteria” for gender care. The family has received no NHS gender care or mental health support since the referral, she said. These recommended supporting “identity exploration” and mental health treatment as the first steps to ensure that any psychological issues are addressed.

Over recent years, NATO allies and Russia have scaled up military exercises in the region; Chinese and Russian warships conducted a joint exercise in the Bering Sea in September. Four Arctic experts say it would take the West at least 10 years to catch up with Russia's military in the region, if it chose to do so. "NATO is increasing its presence in the Arctic with more modern capabilities," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters. Now NATO and Arctic allies are changing their stance. Sweden and Finland have begun investing in surveillance and deterrence capabilities and military hardware including jets so their air forces can fight alongside Arctic NATO allies.

☆ Exclusive: NHS drafts stricter oversight of trans youth care
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The guidelines are part of a wide-ranging review of treatment for young transgender people seeking NHS care. It was briefly uploaded to the NHS England website at the end of September, with plans for a 45-day public comment period, but later removed. "No-one should be purchasing illegal, unknown and potentially life-threatening drugs online," said NHS England medical director Dr Stephen Powis in a statement earlier this week. The drugs used in the UK are prescribed "off-label," which means they are not licensed for gender care. A lack of long-term scientific evidence around how to help transgender youth has contributed to a highly politicised fight in many countries.

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