AFP UK

Aftershocks rattled Greece’s largest island Crete on Tuesday, a day after a strong earthquake that killed one person, damaged hundreds of buildings and left many homeless.

The strongest tremor was measured at 5.3 magnitude at 7:48 a.m. (0448 GMT), the Athens observatory said, as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis prepared to visit the area.

Crete is Mitsotakis’ home island.

A preliminary inspection has shown around a thousand buildings were damaged in Monday’s quake, which struck at a depth of just 10 kilometres (6.2 miles).

The epicentre was near the agricultural town of Arkalochori, where a man was killed inside a church that collapsed and nearly a dozen other people were injured.

“It was a very difficult night, we had many aftershocks… we were awake all night,” Arkalochori community head Chryssoula Kegeroglou told ERT state radio.

Authorities have put up tents to host hundreds of people whose homes are deemed unsafe to return to at present, and have also made dozens of hotel rooms available.

Kegeroglou said around a thousand people spent the night in tents in the outlying area.

Greece is located on a number of fault lines, and is sporadically hit by earthquakes. 

The last deadly quake in the country occurred on March 3 in the central town of Elassona, killing one person, injuring 10 and causing major damage.

High levels of illegal drugs have been found in a river running through Britain’s Glastonbury music festival site, endangering a rare species of fish and other wildlife, scientists said on Tuesday.

The levels of cocaine and MDMA — more commonly known as ecstasy — detected in the water were so high, experts said, they could be harming wildlife downstream in Whitelake River that runs through the festival grounds.

Samples taken from the river in 2019, when more than 200,000 people thronged the five-day summer festival in Somerset, southwest England, found MDMA concentrations were four times higher the week after the festival.

The damagingly high levels of cocaine in the water in particular had risen to levels that interfere with the life cycles of the rare and protected European eel found in the area, the scientists said.

Experts are urging festival attendees to use Glastonbury’s official toilets in the future because it is believed the drugs enter the surrounding water sources through public urination.

– Born trippy –

Dan Aberg, a postgraduate student at Bangor University in north Wales who collected the data, said all music festivals were “undoubtedly” an “annual source of illicit drug release”.

“Unfortunately, Glastonbury Festival’s close proximity to a river results in any drugs released by festival attendees having little time to degrade in the soil before entering the fragile freshwater ecosystem,” he added.

Christian Dunn, also from Bangor University, said the amount of illicit drugs being released into the water had the potential to derail conservation of the endangered eels.

“We also need to raise awareness around drug and pharmaceutical waste,” Dunn said, calling the pollutants “hidden, worryingly-understudied yet potentially devastating”.

Because of Covid restrictions, the festival was forced to cancel its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2020, and again this year, after some 135,000 people purchased tickets.

Glastonbury’s organisers have said they hope to hold the event in June 2022. 

US pharmaceutical company Pfizer said Monday it had begun a clinical trial to test an influenza vaccine designed with the same mRNA technology behind its successful Covid-19 shot.

The idea is to improve on the current generation of flu vaccines that have an efficacy of 40-60 percent against a disease that can cause up to 650,000 deaths a year.

“The Covid-19 pandemic allowed us to deliver on the immense scientific opportunity of mRNA,” Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research at Pfizer, said in a statement.

“Influenza remains an area where we see a need for vaccines which could result in improved efficacy in any given season, and we believe mRNA is the ideal technology to take on this challenge.”

The early stage study will recruit more than 600 Americans aged 65 to 85, according to a company statement and a government website listing the trial. 

Specifically, Pfizer wants to compare the safety and level of immune response of a single, double and quadruple strain mRNA vaccine at different dosage levels versus a conventional, licensed quadruple strain vaccine.

Conventional seasonal flu vaccines are generally cultured by growing the virus inside chicken eggs or mammalian cells. 

The viruses are inactivated and processed to be turned into vaccines.

The process is fraught with challenges, including producing vaccines that evoke a strong response and keeping up with virus strain changes.

Experts have to predict the best match for next season’s vaccine six months out.

The promise of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic) acid technology is that they only require the genetic sequence of the virus, or a specific part of it, enabling faster and more flexible production.

The human body reads the genetic code and produces virus-like cells that train the immune system to be prepared for the real thing.

Pfizer began work on its mRNA influenza vaccine in 2018 with its German partner BioNTech, which would receive a royalty upon approval and commercialization.

In the future, Pfizer plans to explore mRNA medicine against other respiratory viruses, cancer and genetic diseases.

Moderna likewise is working on an mRNA flu vaccine and one against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

A volcano began spewing out ash again Monday after a brief lull in the Canary Islands, where coastal residents are confined to their homes over fears of toxic gases when the lava hits the sea.

La Cumbre Vieja, which straddles a southern ridge in La Palma in the Atlantic archipelago, erupted on September 19, spewing out rivers of lava that have slowly crept towards the sea.

But on Monday morning, the lava and ash flow had stopped, and the week-long rumble of the eruption faded to silence, before resuming its activity several hours later, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Smoke had continued to emerge from the top during the lull. 

“In the last hours, the volcanic tremor has almost disappeared, as well as the explosive strombolian activity,” tweeted Involcan volcanology institute, using the scientific term for a mix of explosions and lava flow.

“Volcanic activity in La Palma has reduced significantly in the last few hours,” Madrid’s Institute of Geosciences tweeted.

“We must be very vigilant about how it evolves because the scenario can change quickly.”

Several hours later, the volcano started pumping out ash again. 

– Fits and starts –

Speaking to AFP after the resumption, Involcan spokesman David Calvo said it was “just ash, for the time being”. La Cumbre Vieja had been switching between “explosive episodes and lulls for quite a while”, he added.

Overnight, 300 residents living in coastal areas were ordered to stay at home to avoid harm from the release of toxic gases when the lava finally reaches the sea, the regional government said. 

“The population must follow the instructions of the authorities and remain at home, with doors and windows closed,” it said.

The lava, moving very slowly, is currently between 800 and 1,000 metres (around half a mile) away from the shore, it said. An evacuation order affecting four areas is in place around Tazacorte, where it is expected to enter the sea. 

Officials have also set up an exclusion zone to head off curious onlookers.

Experts say the entry of lava into the seawater will send clouds of toxic gas into the air, causing explosions and a fragmentation of the molten rock like gunshots. 

“Inhalation or contact with acid gases and liquids can irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, and may cause breathing difficulties, especially in people with pre-existing respiratory diseases,” Involcan warned.

– Air traffic disrupted –

The molten rock has so far scorched its way across more than 235 hectares of land, burning up many banana plantations, devoured 513 properties and destroyed nearly 20 kilometres of road, the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme said. 

And eruption has so far force more than 6,000 people from their homes, although 160 were allowed to return home on Sunday.  

The authorities also said clouds of ash from the volcano had started to affect areas on the eastern side of the island. 

At La Palma’s airport, where air traffic was halted on Saturday for 24 hours due to the ash, local airline Binter said it had been unable to resume flights.

“We have halted our La Palma operations again after trying to make a first flight today and finding conditions were not safe enough,” tweeted the airline, which is based in the Canary Islands, saying it would try again on Tuesday.

A strong earthquake struck Crete early Monday, killing a man, injuring nearly a dozen others, damaging a town and sending panicked residents rushing into the streets on Greece’s largest island.

The quake, measuring magnitude 5.8 according to Greece’s seismological observatory, killed a man who had been repairing a church.

The 62-year-old was crushed by rubble in the small agricultural town of Arkalochori, where nearly a dozen were hurt, 30 kilometres (19 miles) southeast of the island capital of Heraklion.

Evangelia Christaki, whose husband is disabled, said she just had enough time to flee as her house shook.

“I grabbed my husband and we rushed out, everything in the house was falling,” the 62-year-old, who works at a supermarket, told AFP as the couple sat under a tree for shade.

They were joined by her 96-year-old mother-in-law, whose home collapsed.

“Fortunately, our home was not too badly damaged,” said Christaki.

– ‘We are so scared’ –

“But the authorities have told us to stay outdoors over the next hours. In any case, we are so scared,” she said.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at a magnitude of 6.0.

The tremor struck at 9:17 a.m. (0617 GMT), 23 kilometres (14 miles) from the Crete capital of Heraklion. Dozens of aftershocks followed.

“So far, one man is dead and 11 people are in hospital suffering mostly from fractures, according to a spokesman from the National Centre for Emergency Care.

Spiros Georgiou, spokesman for the civil protection agency had earlier said Arkalochori was particularly badly hit.

Images on ERT public television showed old buildings that had collapsed in Arkalochori and surrounding villages near Heraklion.

“It’s an earthquake that we did not expect, for the moment there are aftershocks of 4.5,” said Efthymis Lekkas, the head of Greece’s quake protection agency, quoted by the ANA news agency.

However, experts said the quake was likely to be the main one.

The minister for civil protection Christos Stylianides said tents with a capacity to host 2,500 people would be deployed before nightfall.

“We will provide shelter and food so nobody will face hardship,” Stylianides told reporters at the stricken area.

He added that officials needed to inspect neighbouring villages which have a large number of old stone buildings.

The Athens observatory said the epicentre of the quake was 346 kilometres south of Athens at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Greece is located on a number of fault lines, and is sporadically hit by earthquakes. 

The last deadly quake in the country occurred on March 3 in the central town of Elassona, killing one person, injuring 10 and causing major damage.

Last October 30 a magnitude 7.0 hit in the Aegean Sea between the Greek island of Samos and the city of Izmir in western Turkey.

Most of the damage was in Turkey where 114 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured. 

In Greece, two teenagers were reported dead on Samos. 

Overshadowed by the global push for vaccines, the search for treatments for Covid-19 has made steady — if slower — progress.

Here is a look at what works, what might work, and what definitely doesn’t. 

– Proven therapies –

The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved three types of Covid-19 treatment.

The first is a class of steroids called corticosteroids, recommended in September 2020 by the UN’s health authority, which said it should only be used by seriously ill patients.

Inexpensive and widely available, the steroid fights the inflammation that commonly accompanies severe cases, reducing the need to be placed on a ventilator and the likelihood of death.

The WHO has also endorsed two known arthritis drugs — tocilizumab and sarilumab — which have been shown to suppress a dangerous overreaction of the immune system to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid.

Both drugs, approved in July, likewise reduce the risk of death and the need for ventilators.

And last week the WHO recommended Regeneron, the expensive synthetic antibody cocktail given to former US president Donald Trump during his brush with the virus. 

But it said it should only be used in patients with specific health profiles, for example with non-severe Covid who are still at high risk of hospitalisation.  

Critically ill patients who cannot mount an adequate immune response can also take the antibody combo, the WHO said.

 – Therapies being tested –

Several labs are working on antiviral drugs that can be taken orally as pills. 

One of the most advanced is molnupiravir, an experimental therapy developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck that is meant to stop the virus from replicating.

Currently in phase 3 trials, the drug is being tested on Covid patients and also as a preventative measure for contact cases. Results are expected by the end of the year.

Atea Pharmaceuticals and Roche laboratories are evaluating a similar treatment.

Vaccine maker Pfizer is also working on a medication that combines two molecules, including one that is already used to combat HIV.

The market for treatments that are “effective and easy-to-administer against early forms of Covid is potentially huge”, said infectious disease specialist Karine Lacombe. 

So far, antiviral medications have not been very effective against Covid.

In May, the US Food and Drug Administration gave sotrovimab — an new monoclonal antibody therapy developed by GSK — emergency use approval for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19.

The European commission later classified it as one of the five most promising treatments for the disease. 

AstraZeneca released preliminary results of its antibody cocktail at the end of August, saying it could prevent Covid in fragile patients.

And French company Xenothera is working on a different kind of synthetic treatment called “polyclonal antibodies”. Its therapy — based on pig antibodies adapted to the human immune system — is in the final stages of clinical trials. 

– What doesn’t work –

Hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, ivermectin and the HIV drug lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra), have all proved ineffective against Covid-19, according to multiple studies and trials.

Despite this, demand for these drugs as Covid treatments remains high, fuelled in large part by dodgy or fraudulent claims on social media. 

Researchers had hoped to ‘reposition’ these drugs — try them on Covid patients even though they were created to fight other conditions.

“Repositioning a drug is what you do in an emergency at the very beginning of a pandemic,” said Lacombe.

But the fact that no therapies were able to be repurposed — besides the arthritis anti-inflammatory medication — shows the limit of that kind of approach, she said.

A volcano on Monday began again spewing out ash after a brief lull in the Canary Islands, where coastal residents are confined to their homes over fears of toxic gases when the lava hits the sea.

La Cumbre Vieja, which straddles a southern ridge in La Palma in the Atlantic archipelago, erupted on September 19, spewing out rivers of lava which have slowly crept towards the sea.

But on Monday morning, the lava and ash flow had stopped, and the week-long rumble of the eruption faded to silence, before resuming its activity several hours later, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Smoke had continued to emerge from the top during the lull. 

“In the last hours, the volcanic tremor has almost disappeared, as well as the explosive strombolian activity,” tweeted Involcan volcanology institute, using the scientific term for a mix of explosions and lava flow.

“Volcanic activity in La Palma has reduced significantly in the last few hours,” Madrid’s Institute of Geosciences tweeted.

“We must be very vigilant about how it evolves because the scenario can change quickly.”

Several hours later, the volcano started pumping out ash again. 

– Fits and starts –

Speaking to AFP after the resumption, Involcan spokesman David Calvo said it was “just ash, for the time being”. La Cumbre Vieja had been switching between “explosive episodes and lulls for quite a while,” he added.

Even so, its activity had “decreased with respect to previous days”. 

Overnight, the inhabitants of several coastal areas were ordered to stay at home to avoid harm from the release of toxic gases when the lava finally reaches the sea, a process which has been much slower than expected. 

Experts say the entry of lava into the seawater will send clouds of toxic gas into the air, causing explosions and a fragmentation of the molten rock like gunshots. 

“When the lava, with a temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) meets the sea… a thermal shock is produced that generates plumes of water vapour charged with hydrochloric acid,” Involcan said. 

These plumes “also contain tiny particles of volcanic glass,” it said.

“Inhalation or contact with acid gases and liquids can irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, and may cause breathing difficulties, especially in people with pre-existing respiratory diseases.”

But Involcan said the vapours were only dangerous to those in the immediate area, with the authorities setting up a two-kilometre (1.2-mile) exclusion zone to head off curious onlookers.

A strong earthquake struck the Greek island of Crete early Monday, killing a man who was working in a church that collapsed and injuring 11 others, officials said.

The quake, measuring magnitude 5.8 according to Greece’s seismological observatory, sent panicked residents rushing into the streets and damaged buildings on Greece’s largest island.

It struck at 9:17 a.m. (0617 GMT), 23 kilometres (14 miles) from the Crete capital of Heraklion.

“So far, one man is dead and 11 people are in hospital suffering mostly from fractures, according to a spokesman from the National Centre for Emergency Care.

Spiros Georgiou, spokesman for the civil protection agency, had earlier said nine people were slightly injured in the farming town of Arkalochori which was particularly badly hit.

He said the man died in a small church that collapsed in the town.

Images on ERT public television showed old buildings that had collapsed in Arkalochori and surrounding villages near Heraklion.

“It’s an earthquake that we did not expect, for the moment there are aftershocks of 4.5,” said Efthymis Lekkas, the head of Greece’s quake protection agency, quoted by the ANA news agency.

The minister for civil protection Christos Stylianides was to visit the area later Monday accompanied by Lekkas and other experts, ERT said.

The Athens observatory said the epicentre of the quake was 346 kilometres south of Athens and at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Greece is located on a number of fault lines, and is sporadically hit by earthquakes. 

The last deadly quake in the country occurred on March 3 in the central town of Elassona, killing one person, injuring 10 and causing major damage.

On October 30, 2020 a magnitude 7.0 quake hit in the Aegean Sea between the Greek island of Samos and the city of Izmir in western Turkey.

Most of the damage was in Turkey where 114 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured. 

In Greece, two teenagers were reported dead on Samos. 

A Canary Islands volcano that has been erupting for over a week fell silent Monday as coastal residents were confined over toxic gas fears when the lava hits the sea.

La Cumbre Vieja, which straddles a southern ridge in La Palma in the Atlantic archipelago, erupted on September 19, spewing out rivers of lava which have slowly crept towards the sea.

But on Monday morning, there was no lava and ash emerging, with the week-long rumble of the eruption fading to silence, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. 

It was not immediately clear whether the eruption had stopped completely or merely paused, as smoke was still emerging from the top. 

“Volcanic activity in La Palma has reduced significantly in the last few hours. We must be very vigilant about how it evolves because the scenario can change quickly,” Madrid’s Institute of Geosciences tweeted. 

“It seems the volcano has entered a phase of decreased activity. We will see how it evolves in the coming hours.”

And the Involcan volcanology institute gave a similar assessment.

“In the last hours, the volcanic tremor has almost disappeared, as well as the… explosive activity,” it tweeted.

Contacted by AFP, Involcan was unable to say whether the eruption had finished or just paused, with a spokesman saying its experts were “evaluating the different scenarios”. 

Overnight, the inhabitants of several coastal areas were ordered to stay at home to avoid harm from the release of toxic gases when the lava finally reaches the sea, a process which has been much slower than initially expected. 

When the molten lava enters the ocean, experts warn it will send clouds of toxic gas into the air, as well as explosions and a fragmentation of the lava, which shoots outwards like bullets. 

The authorities have set up a no-go zone to head off curious onlookers.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, under pressure to adopt a 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target, said in an interview published Monday that he may not join this year’s landmark UN climate summit in Glasgow.

The world’s biggest coal exporter by value, and still reliant on fossil fuels for most of its electricity, Australia has not made a firm commitment on its own greenhouse gas reductions.

Morrison has vowed to mine and export fossil fuels as long as there are buyers.

Asked about attending the global climate crisis conference in November, Morrison told the West Australian newspaper: “We have not made any final decisions”.

“I mean it is another trip overseas and I have been on several this year and spent a lot of time in quarantine,” he was quoted as saying.

“I have to focus on things here and with Covid. Australia will be opening up around that time. There will be a lot of issues to manage and I have to manage those competing demands.”

The 12-day meeting in Scotland, the biggest climate conference since landmark talks in Paris in 2015, is seen as a crucial step in setting worldwide emissions targets to slow global warming.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia would be “strongly represented” at a senior level, even if Morrison did not attend the summit.

Morrison’s government has suggested it will achieve net-zero carbon emissions “as soon as possible”, and preferably by 2050, but has not made any commitments to do so.

The Australian prime minister told the newspaper he was trying to bring the government and the country together on commitments, to provide certainty for the next 20-30 years.

He has been in tough negotiations over setting a net-zero target within the conservative coalition government, an alliance of his own Liberal Party and the Nationals, who have much of their support base in rural and mining communities.

Climate scientists warn extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to manmade global warming.

Environmentalists argue inaction on climate change could cost Australia’s economy billions of dollars as the country suffers more intense bushfires, storms and floods.

Asked if he would commit to a specific climate target, in a separate interview with The Australian newspaper, the prime minister replied: “I can assure you we will have a plan”.

Morrison told the newspaper that Australia’s position as the primary energy exporter in the Asia-Pacific region would change and it was important to make a transition towards a low-emission economy.

But the prime minister added that the change had to be managed so “things keep running, things stay open, things keep getting dug out of the ground for some considerable time, you have to keep making stuff, you have to keep eating things and the world needs food”.