Author: Gulf News Week

Pharmaceutical giant Merck is buying Verona Pharma, a company that focuses on respiratory diseases, in an approximately $10 billion deal.The deal gives Merck access to Verona Pharma’s new chronic obstructive pulmonary disease medication Ohtuvayre. U.S. regulators approved the inhaled medication more than a year ago to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, in adults.“Ohtuvayre complements and expands our pipeline and portfolio of treatments for cardiopulmonary diseases while delivering near- and long-term growth as well as value for shareholders,” Merck & Co. Inc. Chairman and CEO Robert Davis said in a statement.Verona CEO David Zaccardelli added that Merck’s commercial reach…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — President Donald Trump’s administration sued the California Department of Education on Wednesday for allowing transgender girls to compete on girls sports teams, alleging the policy violates federal law. The move escalates an ongoing battle between the Republican administration in Washington and Democratic-led California over trans athletes competing in girls and women’s sports. The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department says California’s transgender athlete policies violate Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. The department says California’s rules “are not only illegal and unfair but also demeaning, signaling to girls that…

You may be seeing elaborate shower cleansing routines on social media: daily exfoliation, double cleansing, antibacterial soap, loads of scented body scrubs and shower oils. “I’m kind of appalled by the shower routines,” said Dr. Olga Bunimovich, a dermatologist who teaches at the University of Pittsburgh Medical College. The multistep processes that have inspired people to spend endless amounts of time sudsing up can harm your skin — and the environment. Dermatologists say it’s all mostly unnecessary. “Your skin is a barrier,” said Dr. Nicole Negbenebor, a dermatologic surgeon at University of Iowa Health Care. “It’s one of the biggest…

In 1974, when it seemed as though everyone was leaving South Africa, Embeth Davidtz’s family was going back.Davidtz, a familiar presence in films and television for over 30 years with memorable roles in everything from “Schindler’s List” to “Matilda,” was born in the United States to white, South African parents. When she was 8, they decided to return during a time of upheaval.Although the transition from “innocent New Jersey” was hard, it was also a life-making, character- and imagination-building experience that she’s still processing to this day. It’s where she grew up. It’s where she began acting. And it’s where…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies and consulates.The warning came after the department discovered that an impostor posing as Rubio had attempted to reach out to at least three foreign ministers, a U.S. senator and a governor, according to the July 3 cable, which was first reported by The Washington Post.The recipients of the scam messages, which were sent by text, Signal…

PHILADELPHIA (news agencies) — A union representing thousands of city workers in Philadelphia and the city have reached a deal to end a more than weeklong strike that halted residential curbside trash pickup and affected other services, officials said Wednesday.Nearly 10,000 blue-collar employees from District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had walked off the job July 1, seeking better pay and benefits after failing to agree with the city on a new contract.The tentative agreement was announced on what would have been the ninth day of the strike. That period, which included the…

Army shares video of troops on ground in ‘targeted nighttime operation’ amid near-daily attacks against neighbour.Israeli troops have entered southern Lebanon, the military says, to dismantle infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, in its latest near-daily violation of its November ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group. The military said in a statement on Wednesday that it had launched “special, targeted operations” to destroy Hezbollah facilities and prevent the group from “reestablishing itself in the area”. It claimed the ground incursion had been launched, acting on “intelligence information and the identification of Hezbollah weapons and terrorist infrastructure in several areas of southern Lebanon”.…

LOME, Togo (news agencies) — The family courtyard where Jacques Koami Koutoglo used to play football with his cousins in a working-class neighborhood in Togo ‘s capital now sits silent. The ball he once kicked around lies deflated beside a bundle of firewood.“Jacques died for Togo,” his uncle, Koutoglo Kossi Mawuli, said quietly, eyes heavy with grief.The 15-year-old is one of several people who died during mass protests in the West African nation against constitutional changes that many fear will cement President Faure Gnassingbé’s grip on power — and lengthen a ruling dynasty that has lasted over half a century.The…

LONDON (news agencies) — When Jannik Sinner and Ben Shelton — who were scheduled to meet in the quarterfinals Wednesday — walk toward the wood-and-glass doors leading to the grass at Wimbledon’s second-biggest stadium, known as No. 1 Court, they and other players pass through a hallway renovated this year to display memorabilia and photos from the arena’s history.“We were really keen to create a more inspiring place for players and create a sense of occasion,” said Malin Lundin, the All England Club’s collections manager. “We wanted to highlight main events from the history of this court and what sets…

WASHINGTON (news agencies) — Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week’s European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found.Those 1,500 people “have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it would not have been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century,” said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London.Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in…