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headline

Cannabis Firms Catch a Whiff of Opportunity in Brazil

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Agronomist Engineer Sergio Rocha, 36, Executive Director of the cannabis cultivation for research and cultivation project, poses for a picture in a greenhouse at the Federal University of Vicosa, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, August 18, 2021. Picture taken August 18, 2021. REUTERS/Washington Alves

SAO PAULO, Aug 20 (Reuters) – International cannabis companies are showing interest in Brazil, both its large consumer market for medicinal products and a proposal that could legalize planting of the crop.

Major producers like Colombia’s Clever Leaves (CLVR.O) and Canada’s Canopy Growth (WEED.TO) are developing and selling medicinal cannabis products to a Brazilian consumer segment estimated at 10 million to 13 million people. This results from a 2019 regulatory change allowing the import, sale and manufacturing of such products.

But permission for cultivation of hemp and cannabis in Brazil would be a bigger prize. If granted, the industry could blossom in four to five years, based on the experience of other countries such as Colombia.

“By 2025, I would like to be planting hemp in the interior of Pernambuco,” said José Bacellar, founder of Canada’s VerdeMed, referring to a northeastern state known for illegal marijuana growing.

A proposal that would legalize cultivation was approved in June by a congressional committee. Lawmakers are weighing if it could be fast-tracked to the Senate for approval. If passed there, President Jair Bolsonaro would have to sign it into law.

While Bolsonaro’s far-right positions may seem an unlikely match for the bill, the proposal has support from some members of the powerful farm sector, a key constituency that helped him win the 2018 election.

SILICON VALLEY OF CANNABIS

In the quiet town of Viçosa in southeastern Brazil – which some call the Silicon Valley of cannabis – researchers are developing a hemp variety better suited to the tropics.

If the law is changed and research is successful, Brazil could become a top grower of cannabis and hemp, experts said.

Sérgio Rocha, director of ag-tech startup Adwa which is developing the hemp strain for Brazil, said about 3 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) of land would potentially be suitable for cultivating the new variety.

Brazil could overtake China, the world’s largest hemp producer, which has about 670 square kilometers (259 square miles) planted.

“Using a part of Brazil’s agricultural land would be enough to give the country the title of world’s largest producer and exporter of hemp fibers, seeds and flowers for medicinal and industrial purposes,” said Dennys Zsolt, an agronomist specializing in the plant.

Brazil bans growing of Cannabis sativa L, the plant that produces hemp and marijuana. Hemp, which has less than 0.3% of the psychoactive compound THC, contains CBD or cannabidiol. This non-intoxicating ingredient has been touted as beneficial for many health conditions including childhood epilepsy.

Growing the plants in Brazil would lay the foundation for a vertically integrated industry. A stable source of the raw material would support manufacturing of medicinal cannabis products, growth of a retail market and exports. Recreational cannabis would remain illegal.

Gabriela Cezar, chief executive of New York-based Panarea Partners investment banking firm, sees Brazil playing a leading role in hemp in Latin America, a region she calls the “epicenter of world hemp production.”

Panarea plans to form a Brazilian cannabis company focused on pharmaceutical products for pets while seeking to broker more cannabis deals in Brazil.

TROPICAL ADVANTAGE

Among Brazil’s advantages are lower growing costs because its warm climate allows plants to grow outdoors compared to greenhouses in some countries. Stable hours of sunlight due to Brazil’s proximity to the equator are another plus.

Canopy Growth is “actively monitoring the advancement of hemp regulations in Brazil,” David Culver, the company’s vice president of global government relations, said.

But nothing is certain without the change to Brazil’s law, though some signs suggest the prospects are favorable. When Rocha spoke to a congressional committee about hemp in 2019, he was surprised that conservative lawmakers were not hostile.

“After I finished presenting the maps and hemp’s potential, I was applauded,” he said.

Although the farm caucus has not taken a formal position, members of the group said a majority in both houses of Congress back the proposal. The farm caucus controls slightly fewer than half the seats in the two chambers, and the law requires approval by a simple majority.

Center-right lawmaker Fausto Pinato, a member of the farm caucus, said he supports the bill. “If you are authorizing the sale, why not cultivation?,” he said.

Reporting by Ana Mano in São Paulo, Jimin Kang in Seul and Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

The post Cannabis Firms Catch a Whiff of Opportunity in Brazil appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

World View: US Kabul Airlift, VP Harris to Asia, Haiti Oxygen Plant Destroyed, Florida COVID, More

Aug 20, 2021

Alternate text

The Associated Press

The Rundown

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is struggling to pick up the pace of American and Afghan evacuations at Kabul airport, constrained by obstacles ranging from armed Taliban checkpoints to paperwork problems….Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has given new urgency to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tour of southeast Asia, where she will attempt to reassure allies of American resolve following the …Read More

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LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — As if Haiti’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake, a tropical storm and the coronavirus pandemic weren’t enough, the temblor damaged the only medical oxygen plant in the southern part of the count…Read More

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — As quickly as one COVID patient is discharged, another waits for a bed in northeast Florida, the hot zone of the state’s latest surge. But the patients at Baptist Health’s five hospit…Read More

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Time was running out for Mohammad Khalid Wardak, a high-profile Afghan national police officer who spent years working alongside the American military. Hunted by the Taliban, he was hiding with his family in K…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Harvey Sutton, or “Little Man,” as he is known on the Appalachian Trail, won’t have long to bask in the glory of hiking its full length. After all, he …Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — A North Carolina man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol surrendered to law enforcement after an hourslong standoff Thursday …Read More

BEIJING (AP) — China is tightening control over data gathered by companies about the public under a law approved Friday by its ceremonial legislature, expanding the ruling Co…Read More

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency plans to bring soil samples back from the Mars region ahead of the U.S. and Chinese missions now operating on Mars, in hopes of finding clue…Read More

The post World View: US Kabul Airlift, VP Harris to Asia, Haiti Oxygen Plant Destroyed, Florida COVID, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

The Wiggles help ICU nurse save COVID-19 patient

An intensive care nurse at the Royal Melbourne Hospital has gone above the call of duty, personally tracking down The Wiggles to help save his patient suffering from COVID-19.

Sarah Kelly, who has Down syndrome, is on track to getting out of hospital after watching the how-to message from her favourite musical group.

When the 22-year-old was admitted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital struggling to breathe with COVID-19 last month, she refused to have oxygen tubes put in.

READ MORE: Victoria records 55 new local cases of COVID-19

With her condition rapidly deteriorating, nurse Steven Moylan — who has a brother with an intellectual disability — had an idea.

"She had it on her iPad, she just wouldn't look away from The Wiggles and I thought to myself 'what if I could get The Wiggles to wear the nasal prongs? Would she copy them and do what they do?'" he told 9News.

READ MORE: String of COVID-19 cases linked to Melbourne childcare centre

When he finally made contact with the group, the stars were ready to wiggle, and together they helped save a life.

"That's what we needed for her to stay alive," he said.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE.

headline

Haiti Earthquake: The Forgotten Villages Cut Off from Help

 

By James Clayton and Stephane Vincent
BBC News, Les Cayes, Haiti

The prettily named village of Marceline is 30 minutes’ drive north of Les Cayes.

Before the earthquake hit it had two churches – Catholic and Baptist – a medical centre, a school and a voodoo community centre.

A tarmac road runs through the village, and off that tight paths cross banana trees, meandering by cinder block houses.

The town we arrive in is unrecognisable.

The drive up to Marceline is marked by landslides, and huge fissures in the road. The driver at times slows the car to a stop so he can negotiate the cracks.

The town of Les Cayes was badly affected by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on 14 August. Perhaps one in six buildings collapsed.

Here it’s hard to find a house that is standing.

Kelly Phildor was a 15-year-old boy who was preparing for a new school term.

He was cheeky and full of life. His nickname was Kelly Forever, and he had scrawled that moniker on to his shirt.

“I didn’t realise his life would be so short,” his mother, Marie Rose, says.

Marie Rose
image captionMarie Rose says she has her son’s shirt wrapped around her waist “to give me strength”

Kelly had woken up early, and had left his home on Saturday morning. But his phone needed charging so he decided to return.

When the quake hit, a wall made of chunks of heavy cement and rock fell on top of him. It broke both of his legs and his skull. He didn’t stand a chance.

“I don’t know what to do. I have his shirt wrapped around my waist to give me strength,” Marie Rose says.

The level of destruction here is hard to comprehend. Both churches were obliterated.

In the voodoo community centre, people were getting ready for a dance in the chapel. They were waiting for the priestess to start proceedings when the quake struck.

The building caved in on itself.

A neighbour tells us that they managed pull out the body of the priestess, but there could be more than 25 people still under the rubble.

What everyone asks is why there is no help – no medicine, no search and rescue teams, no food and water – nothing.

Margaret Maurice and her eight children managed to survive their house collapsing with only minor injuries.

However, they are now left to fend for themselves, squatting on the rubble of their former homes.

“Do I have to scream to get the government’s attention,” she says, “or are we being left to die?”

She says she has little food and water, and the few aid trucks she’s seen have passed them by.

The government, aid agencies and the international community have all promised help.

But those promises mean little to people here.

The medical centre – a place where people could perhaps have sorted supplies – was also flattened.

Destroyed voodoo community centre in Les Cayes, Haiti
image captionThe voodoo community centre was obliterated by the powerful quake

Here in the mountains it can get cold and wet at night. Some people have flimsy tarpaulins, and some don’t even have that.

Occasionally there are short jolts, aftershocks, that add to the stress.

People here aren’t thinking about their long-term future – they’re focused on surviving.

But with all the village’s infrastructure utterly destroyed it’s hard to see how Marciline will recover.

Haiti is currently in political turmoil. The former president was assassinated last month. The country simply isn’t able to give villages like Marciline the assistance they need.

Everyone here has multiple friends and family members lost to this earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 Haitians.

But now, there are worries that more could die – not from the earthquake – but because basic supplies that were needed, never came.

The post Haiti Earthquake: The Forgotten Villages Cut Off from Help appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

What WA's 'extreme risk' border declaration means for NSW

Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan has announced that as of next Thursday, New South Wales will become the first jurisdiction in Australia to be classified as "extreme risk".

Western Australia introduced the new COVID-19 border category last Friday.

"We had hoped to not have to use it for some time," Mr McGowan said today.

READ MORE: All the changes coming into force across NSW

A state or territory is classified as an "extreme risk" if it averages more than 500 coronavirus cases a day.

Under the rules of the "extreme risk" border closures, travel exemptions into WA from that jurisdiction are restricted to "Commonwealth, State and specialist functions only".

They will have to undergo 14 days in hotel quarantine, and be tested for COVID-19 on days one, five and 12.

READ MORE: Sydney lockdown extended amid 644 new local COVID-19 cases

Mr McGowan warned Western Australians who were still in NSW that the "window was closing".

NSW will enter the new category of border restrictions at 12.01am on August 26.

WA residents looking to return home before then will need to have had at least one vaccination, if eligible, and return a negative COVID-19 test.

More information is available on the WA government's controlled border website.

headline

Vietnam Residents Confined to Homes, Corona Summary, World Stats

17m ago 08:12

Vietnam’s business hub Ho Chi Minh City has announced that its residents will be prohibited from leaving their homes, as the country’s biggest city turns to drastic measures to slow a spiralling rate of coronavirus deaths.

Vietnam’s toughest order yet comes amid a spike in fatalities and infections, despite weeks of lockdown measures aimed at limiting movement in the city of 9 million people, the epicentre of the country’s outbreak.

“We are asking people to stay where you are, not to go outside. Each home, company, factory should be an anti-virus fort,” Pham Duc Hai, deputy head of the city’s coronavirus authority, said on Friday.

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  • Israel’s health minister said on Thursday that people over 40 and teachers would be eligible for a third dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, expanding its booster campaign to fend off the coronavirus Delta variant.
  • In the UK, the House of Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is facing calls to urge MPs to wear masks in the chamber, after cabinet ministers and many Tory backbenchers shunned the advice during a packed eight-hour debate on Afghanistan.
  • Brazil has now registered 20,494,212 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 572,641, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the US and India and its second-deadliest after the US.
  • Police in Kenya used teargas and fired shots in the air to break up protests in Nairobi after a man was allegedly killed by officers for violating the country’s Covid curfew. Shops were looted as unrest grew after John Kiiru’s death, which came just two days after six police officers appeared in court over the death of two brothers this month after they also allegedly broke the curfew.
  • A plan to start offering Covid booster vaccinations in the UK from early September is extremely unlikely to happen, it is understood, given the concerns of the government’s vaccines watchdog about the clinical benefits and potential wider risks to vaccine confidence. Immunologist Prof Peter Openshaw also said that the results of ongoing studies to determine their effectiveness “should not be prejudged”.
  • The mass rollout of Covid-19 booster vaccines in Britain to residents over 50 this autumn could be shelved, with government scientists considering limiting third doses only to the most vulnerable, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.
  • An online open-source intelligence group last year identified that a virus studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology taken from an abandoned copper mine in Yunnan province was the closest known relative to Sars-CoV-2, the Economist reports in a piece which also considers the case for a zoonotic origin to Covid.
  • A Spanish court has lifted a coronavirus curfew imposed on most of Catalonia, including the capital Barcelona, leaving it in place in just a fraction of the northeastern region. The high court of justice of Catalonia said the measure was “not justified” because infection rates had improved.
  • Joe Biden said he and his wife, Jill, would receive a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to boost their immunity, as his administration announced booster shots would be offered to Americans in September. He also announced that nursing home staff would need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding.
  • Hospitalisations of people under the age of 50 with Covid-19 are now at the highest levels seen in the US since the start of the pandemic, the latest government data shows. The largest increases in hospitalisations was among those in their 30s and the under-18s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • The hoarding of Covid jabs by rich countries which are also rolling out booster shots “makes a mockery of vaccine equity” pledges, the Africa director for the World Health Organization said. But she noted that cases across Africa are levelling off and more vaccine doses are finally arriving on the continent
  • The French scientist who promoted the discredited hydroxychloroquine treatment for Covid-19 backed by Donald Trump faces being pushed out of the infectious diseases institute he founded amid concerns from key members over its role in feeding conspiracy theories and an investigation by regulators into its clinical studies.
  • =================================================

WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

210,873,693

Deaths:

4,417,858

Recovered:

188,809,859
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

Latest News

August 20 (GMT)

Updates

  • 23,006 new cases and 850 new deaths in Mexico [source]

The post Vietnam Residents Confined to Homes, Corona Summary, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Mother, children killed in fiery Melbourne car explosion

A mother and her two children have tragically died after their car burst into flames in Melbourne's inner-north.

Police confirmed the 35-year-old Cheltenham mother and her two children, an eight-year-old girl and a 20-month-old boy, were killed when their car exploded in Parkville just before 10am today.

The mother was driving a Ford Territory south along Flemington Road near Grattan Street, when she lost control of the car, hitting a curb and crashing into a pole.

READ MORE: Victoria records 55 new coronavirus cases

https://twitter.com/LanaMurphy/status/1428608584691044353

The woman had rammed a small car at the intersection of Gatehouse Street in the moments before the deadly crash occurred, police said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Gerard Clanchy said police believe the mother was on her way home after going to the pharmacy at the Royal Children's Hospital.

"(The car) has lost control and collided into a tramways pole," he said.

"Subsequently (it) burst into flames and unfortunately the occupants of the vehicle died as a result of the collision.

"It happened very quickly. The vehicle was engulfed in flames very quickly as well."

The explosion unfolded in front of dozens of onlookers and motorists who could do nothing to save the trio inside.

READ MORE: Cases linked to Melbourne childcare centre

Witnesses ran towards the fireball, desperately trying to help the family.

"Someone said they heard a kid cry in there, screaming," one witness told 9News.

"There was nothing you could do, there was so much smoke and flames."

Detective Senior Sergeant Clanchy said he was at a "loss for words" over the tragedy.

"It would have been a very tragic event for people to have witnessed," he said.

"When it involves a mother and her two children – this is tragic. It's hard to find words to describe what's happened here today."

The car was on fire and destroyed when emergency services arrived outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital about 10am.

The exact cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but police have ruled out the explosion being a "terrorism incident".

"We haven't been able to establish what made her lose control of that vehicle," Detective Senior Sergeant Clanchy said.

Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Wallabies star says family's recovery from home invasion a 'slow process'

Wallabies star Toutai Kefu and his children have returned to their Brisbane family home four days after a terrifying and allegedly violent home invasion.

Kefu, 47, his wife Rachel and two of his adult children were injured when a group of teens allegedly broke into the Coorparoo home in the early hours of Monday morning.

Four teenage boys have since been charged with a total 44 offences including attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

A 15-year-old teenage boy charged with attempted murder following a bungled burglary that left Wallabies legend Toutai Kefu and his family with serious injuries has this morning faced court.

READ MORE: Australian evacuation flight from Kabul arrives in Perth

The family's recovery will be a "slow process", Kefu said outside his home today.

"I'm just grateful that we all got out, we're alive," Kefu said.

"There might be a little bit of damage moving forward, but we're still breathing."

https://twitter.com/NatarjshaKramer/status/1428536540171358210

The Rugby Union legend hailed his neighbour an "absolute hero" for coming to his family's aid after hearing screaming coming from the home.

"He's an absolute hero, unbelievable, he turned up at the right time on Monday morning and apprehended one of the intruders," he said.

Today, Kefu's mates, brothers and neighbours rallied around the family helping out with cleaning and landscaping, while others delivered flowers and letters of support.

"The outpouring of love and well wishes from everyone's been unbelievable," he said.

Three boys aged 15 and one aged 13 have been arrested and charged with a total of 44 offences including four counts of attempted murder, three of grievous bodily harm and one count each of deprivation of liberty, burglary, enter dwelling with intent whilst armed and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

All four were denied police bail and are due to face Brisbane Children's Court.

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Melbourne mum pleads guilty to killing aunt with hammer while pregnant

A Melbourne mum was eight months pregnant when she put on gloves and killed her aunt, prominent greyhound trainer Karen Leek, with a hammer, a court has heard.

Jessie Moore fronted the Supreme Court today, pleading guilty to killing her 69-year-old aunt in May 2020 in Melbourne's outer south east.

Moore, who was eight months pregnant, and her five-year-old daughter were living at Ms Leek's Devon Meadows home at the time.

READ MORE: Speeding P-plater jailed for causing young man's death after drinking

The court heard Ms Leek, a respected leader of Victoria's greyhound racing industry, was taking care of the child while Moore was a drug-user.

Ms Leek had repeatedly asked her niece to leave the property because of of her lying, stealing and drug use.

On the night of the attack the pair had an argument about Moore's boyfriend.

Moore then put on rubber gloves and grabbed a hammer and attacked Ms Leek as she sat in her armchair.

The prosecution told the court the 26-year-old had an intention to kill, striking the victim 12 times in the face, then putting a plastic bag over her head.

READ MORE: Girl, toddler among three people dead after Melbourne car explosion

Moore then left the house with her daughter and had KFC for dinner.

The next day she returned and made a panicked 000 call pretending she'd found her aunt's body.

The court heard Moore was a suspect from day one, and her DNA was later found to be a match.

Psychiatrists said the mother of two had borderline personality disorder that impaired her functioning.

Moore's lawyer said her client both loved and resented Karen Leek.

The court heard Moore continued to blame her victim, saying she felt like her aunt was controlling her, and also claiming that Karen pushed her first, which was why she grabbed the hammer.