Brussels - President of the Eurogroup and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem says there is no need to discuss fresh aid for Greece, which has...

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Bafana Bafana defender Thabo Nthete says he can’t wait for the much-anticipated clash against five-time world champions Brazil next month. South...

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The new Sol Plaatjie University in the Northern Cape opened its doors for the first time for learning on Monday. The university has 105 students on its books, instead of the anticipated 120. The institution was launched in Kimberley last year by Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Blade...

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Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Lechesa Tsenoli and his Palestinian counterpart Saed Al Koni have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which will see the two countries deepen their working relationship.

The MoU makes provision for an exchange programme between SA and Palestine, in the interests of improving the work of local government.

Speaking to SAnews after signing the agreement, Tsenoli said the MoU was a symbolic representation of a step towards building a better world.

“… The MoU benefits are not only aimed at the advancement of local government, but also for the education of young engineers and others who would like to get skills opportunities in both South Africa and Palestine.

“The signing of this MoU is important because we’ve always maintained that our freedom is interconnected with the freedom of others elsewhere, who are facing similar challenges like us. So this relationship also fits in with our own agenda of strengthening local government capacity, which we need from the Palestinians.

“The MoU also speaks to our agenda of building a better world through working together, as we undertook in 2009 that we will work with others to make our world a better one. The signing of the MoU today is a symbolic representation of the step we are taking towards that direction,” he said.

Tsenoli described the relationship with Palestine as an “historic one”, which dates back to the period before the dawn of democracy in 1994. He said through the MoU, South Africa will reinforce its capacity to turnaround its municipalities.

The minister had high hopes for the exchange work that will take place following the signing of the MoU. He said the MoU laid the foundation not only for government-to-government exchange, but also for people-to-people.

“People expect to see change in their lives, especially at the local government level. If the Palestinians can help us to improve the capacity of our local government, we will also contribute to their programmes aimed at improving their local government as well.

“This … will offer us an opportunity to learn from each other… We also view this as a great opportunity for our people, especially the youth, to be skilled and trained.”

Al Koni said the Palestinians were enjoying their deep-rooted relationship with South Africa.

“With regard to local government, what we’ve noted is that we have mutual experience, a similar history to our struggle. We had the same programme to build a strong local government,” he said.

He said Palestine admired South Africa’s democratic institutions, which have grown in leaps and bounds since 1994.

“We hope that the MoU will benefit us from your experience of building a well capacitated local government,” he said.

Al Koni and his delegation of senior officials have been in South African from 16 February and are expected to stay until Saturday, 22 February. The visit is part of strengthening relations between the two countries, after a MoU was signed between the respective ministries in July 2013.

The MoU provides a framework for cooperation between the two countries in the fields of local governance and municipal development and is currently being implemented.

It also provides for cooperation in various fields including the legal framework of local governance; municipal finances and intergovernmental fiscal relations; urban and strategic development planning and the amalgamation and restructuring of local government units.

The cooperation is based on the needs, interests and potential of both parties. It set the foundation for launching an exchange and cooperation programme between Palestine and South Africa. - SAnews.gov.za

Sao Paulo - Scientists from the University of Sao Paulo (USP) say that preliminary tests for an experimental anti-HIV vaccine have produced "unexpectedly good results".

As part of the study, Rhesus monkeys were given three separate doses of the vaccine, which was prepared by USP scientists at varying intervals since last November. The study is being conducted at the University's Butantan Institute, a world leader in pioneering vaccines and anti-venoms.

The immunising component of the vaccine has been developed and patented by the leading Brazilian university.

“We tested the immune response of the [monkeys] and the results were excellent,” lead vaccine developer Edécio Cunha Neto told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

The scientists said they were surprised by the results and by how intense the response was in primates, after more muted results from tests on rats. Vaccine responses are usually expected to be lower in primates than in rodents, but in this case the primate responses were up to 10 times higher, scientists said.

Human vaccine against HIV/Aids?

The scientists say their goal is to create a safe and effective human vaccine that will immunise people against the virus which, if not kept at bay by antiretroviral drugs, leads to Aids.

Figures from the World Health Organisation show that Aids killed around 1.6 million people worldwide in 2012, and that 35 million people are currently living with HIV/Aids.

Researchers developing the vaccine since 2002 first looked at human patients whose own immune systems were capable of recognising and fighting HIV, allowing them to work out which peptide components of the virus were triggering by a response from the body.

This breakthrough gave a rise to a targeted DNA vaccine, which has been tested on rodents modified to replicate human immune responses, and now primates.

Researchers are looking to put the vaccine technology into a host virus which would be unable to infect the individual with HIV but would give greater immunisation.

The next stage for the vaccine will see it given to 28 of the rhesus monkeys to compare immune responses depending on a set of variables over two years. This development phase on monkeys is expected to last until 2016.

Financial and ethical cost

The first dose of the HIV vaccine was given to healthy primates at the beginning of November 2013 in conjunction with a flu-like virus, which scientists say catalyzes a greater immune response.

The enclosure housing the monkeys at the Butantan Institute has been subject to tighter security since the beginning of trials due to increased activity by animal rights campaigners, who have questioned why the tests have to be carried out on primates.

However, researchers say that the final human destination for the vaccine means primates must be used in its development, given their genetic closeness to humans, but have stressed that the animals taking part in the experiments are well treated.

Eventually it is hoped to move the study onto a human testing phase, although the university is still looking for private investors; it is expected to cost around 250 million Brazilian reais (approximately US$105 million) to develop.

The study has so far cost around 1 million reais (US$419 000), reports say.

Other HIV vaccines are in different phases of development across the world, and hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent annually on this medical Holy Grail. – SAnews.gov.za-Anadolu Agency

see the article: South African HIV/AIDS trial scoops USAID award

Online music streaming service Spotify is recruiting a U.S. financial reporting specialist, adding to speculation that the Swedish start-up is preparing for a share listing, which one banker said could value the firm at as much as $8 billion. Meeting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) standards for filing financial disclosures is essential for any [...]Spotify eye IPO is a post from: Tech-e-View



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The Gauteng Department of Health says its intensive educational campaign to raise awareness around sexual transmitted illnesses (STIs) is beginning...

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New Zealand Combined Events Championships, Douglas Track & Field, Waitakere – 15/16 February 2014 Nicholas Gerrard regained the New Zealand decathlon title with a solid performance and personal best score of 7375 for the ten events over the weekend. The 21 year old started with a 100 metres sprint of 11.41 (-2.1) and was just [...]Combined Events Championships 2014 is a post from: Time-to-Run New Zealand



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Geneva - A hijacked Ethiopian plane landed early on Monday at Geneva International Airport, but the situation on the plane was still unclear, according to multiple reports.

The Boeing 767-300 flight from Addis Abba to Milan via Rome was forced to proceed to the Geneva airport, according to AirlineReporter.com, an industry news blog.

Both the airport and airline confirmed the plane had touched down at the airport. The airline said all passengers and crew on board are currently safe.

Earlier, reports said the flight sent out a signal of being hijacked while flying over Sudan. - SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua

Business has welcomed President Jacob Zuma’s sixth State of the Nation Address (SONA). “Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) is pleased at the...

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