Merck says its antiviral pill less effective in final analysis
Pharmaceutical company Merck said Friday that in a final analysis of a clinical trial, its antiviral pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID-19 patients by 30%, down from an earlier estimate of 50%. The lower efficacy is a disappointment for the drug, known as molnupiravir, which health officials around the world are counting on as a tool to save lives and reduce the burden on hospitals. A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration is set to meet Tuesday to discuss Merck’s treatment and vote on whether to recommend authorizing it to treat high-risk COVID-19 patients.
Seeking backers for new fund, Jared Kushner turns toMiddle East
As a White House adviser in the Trump administration, Jared Kushner took a special interest in the monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Since the electoral defeat of his father-in-law, former President Donald Trump, Kushner has stayed active in the region through a nonprofit organization he established. Now, Kushner is trying to raise money from Persian Gulf states for a new investment firm he has founded. So far, he is having only mixed success. Qatar declined to invest in his firm, a person familiar with those conversations said. So did the main Emirati sovereign wealth funds. But the Saudis are more interested, according to four people briefed on the negotiations.
Iraqi migrants return from Belarus
Iraq repatriated a second wave of more than 600 migrants from Belarus on Friday after they gave up, at least for now, on an attempt to reach the European Union via its eastern borders. Two Iraqi Airways charter flights landed in Irbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous zone of northern Iraq controlled by Kurds, then went on to the national capital, Baghdad. One of the returning migrants, Shaho Omar, 27, said he and his friends had been trying to reach Germany and then go on to Britain. But they abandoned their plans after hearing that at least 27 migrants died Wednesday in a failed attempt to cross the English Channel.
Sondheim, titan of the musical, dead at 91
Stephen Sondheim, one of Broadway history’s songwriting titans, died Friday at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was 91. His lawyer and friend, F. Richard Pappas, announced the death, which he described as sudden. The day before, Sondheim had celebrated Thanksgiving with a dinner with friends in Roxbury, Pappas said. Overall, Sondheim wrote both the music and the lyrics for a dozen Broadway shows. Five of them won Tony Awards for best musical, and six won for best original score. A show that won neither of those, “Sunday in the Park With George,” took the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Fresh violence in Darfur adds to Sudan’s crises
Dozens of people have been killed and their villages burned in inter-communal violence in Sudan’s West Darfur state, the United Nations said. The violence comes as Sudan’s leaders are working through their own crisis, one that is likely to distract them from Darfur’s mounting problems. Sudan’s effort at a democratic transition is faltering, with thousands of demonstrators flooding the streets Thursday to denounce the military’s deal with the civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok. After almost a month under house arrest following a coup, Hamdok signed a new power-sharing agreement with the military in a bid to end a bloody standoff and restore the democratic process.
Ukraine leader alleges Russia-backed coup planned next week
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday claimed that his country’s intelligence service has uncovered plans for a Russia-backed coup d’etat in the country set for next week that allegedly involves one of Ukraine’s richest oligarchs. Both the oligarch and the Russian government rejected the allegations. In Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he is spending a holiday weekend, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed concern at the coup talk and renewed U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and self-government.
By wire sources
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