Paris, France |

A matchstick-sized implant could revolutionise HIV prevention regimes after early trials suggested the device could stop at-risk people contracting the virus for up to a year at a time, new research showed

Unveiling their findings from a clinical trial at the 10th annual International AIDS Society conference in Mexico City, developers said the device could eventually offer a novel approach to HIV suppression. 

It uses a molecule called MK-8591, which is roughly 10 times stronger as an HIV inhibitor than medicines currently on the market, and which has a very high barrier against resistance.

"It slowly releases the drug and maintains a very consistent level of the drug in your body and taking this prophylactically it can actually prevent you from getting infected," Mike Robertson, director global clinical development for virology at MSD research, told AFP.

Currently, individuals at high risk of contracting HIV have to take a pill every day in order to guarantee their protection. 

In its annual report on the disease, the United Nations this month said that global AIDS deaths had fallen one third since 2010 to roughly 770,000 in 2018.

But it warned that the decline in new infection rates was slowing worldwide, and in some regions including Eastern Europe and the Middle East, rates were increasing dramatically. 

Robertson said that the implant, or even a monthly pill containing the same active ingredient could provide more options for at risk communities. 

"The people that are at highest risk are different populations -- for example men who have sex with men still remain in the US and Europe the group that has the highest rate of new infections," he said. 

"But globally the highest incidence rate is in young women in sub-Saharan Africa and this is another group where most the new infections are occurring."

Anton Pozniak, International AIDS Society president, said that the implant "offers another choice for those who might in the future also have pills and injectables available" to prevent infection. 

Tuesday also saw fresh analysis unveiled on a recent clinical trial into the safety and tolerability of a HIV vaccine. 

The Phase 2 trial took place in Kenya, Rwanda and the United States among healthy, low-risk, HIV negative adults. The initial results showed that the vaccines were well-tolerated among subjects.

A Phase 3 trial is now in planning. 

"These are very promising times in HIV vaccine research, with multiple efficacy clinical trials ongoing, new approaches in development, and a growing sense that we may be getting closer to an effective vaccine," said Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Director Roger Tatoud.

Rome, Italy | 

Two German tourists were fined Friday for making themselves a coffee on the steps of the famous Rialto bridge in Venice and asked to leave the city, the municipal authorities said.

The two backpackers from Berlin, aged 32 and 35, had made themselves comfortable at the foot of the world-famous landmark and got out their portable coffee-making equipment when they were spotted by a passer-by and reported to the police, the city authorities said in a statement.

Using a newly-passed law, police officers fined them 950 euros ($1,050) for unseemly behaviour and asked them to leave Venice. 

"Venice must be treated with respect and impolite people who come here and think they can do what they want must understand that, thanks to the local police, they can be stopped, fined and sent away," the city's mayor Luigi Brugnaro said. 

"From now on, we will also communicate the identities of people who have been asked to leave to the embassies and consulates of their home country," the mayor said. 

The new law, passed in May, sets out rules for decency, cleanliness and safety in the lagoon city, which has a population of just 55,000 but is invaded every year by around 30 million visitors and is increasingly feeling the detrimental effects of mass tourism. 

The law bans picnicking at certain sites, bathing in fountains and not wearing a shirt in public spaces, often with draconian fines for the offenders. 

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Thanh Hoa , Vietnam |Thousands of daytrippers jostled for selfie space and elbowed their way to the sea at a popular north Vietnam beach over the weekend, with extra vigilant lifeguards watching worriedly over the summer surge.

There are few beaches in this part of the country, and Sam Son in Thanh Hoa province has long been a go-to destination with its white sand coastline and blue waters.

But its beauty has proven both a blessing and a curse, leading vacationers to pack out the 16 kilometre-long (9.9 mile-long) beach. 

"Today, there are too many tourists," said Le Huu Mui, an 80-year-old visiting with family.

He last came to Sam Son five years ago and was shocked at the difference. 

"We have to hustle on the beach and it is less comfortable than previous years." 

On Saturday couples snapped selfies in front of elaborate sandcastles and families played spirited games of tug of war. 

But not everyone was relaxing.

"We have to keep an eye on everything," said lifeguard Nguyen Huu Linh, 41. "There are cases of tourists not listening to us."

Visitor Dao Quyet Tien, who comes to the beach frequently, has also noticed murkier waters as more swimmers stir up sand and sediment.

"There have been a few times...when the beach water was dirty," he told AFP. "It's not comfortable to swim." 

But he admitted the crowds also brought a lively atmosphere to Sam Son.

"With the beach busy like this, I can meet new people -- that's what I like about about it," the 27-year-old said. 

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Islamabad, Pakistan |

It's a cuppa like no other. Every evening in Islamabad a crowd arrives at Sanaullah's street stall to taste his "tandoori chai" -- milk tea served in terracotta mugs, still hot from his traditional oven. 

The old-fashioned cups are placed directly inside the tandoor, where they are baked at high temperatures.

The tea, prepared separately, is then poured in to the cups, where it starts to boil on hitting the hot clay.  

In Pakistan, where the classic milk tea -- thick, strong, and generously sweet -- dominates all strata of society, the particular alchemy of tandoori chai seduces patrons intrigued by its traditional roots and distinct earthy taste.

The tandoor is ubiquitous in South Asia, most commonly used to bake bread.

But the concept of making tea this way, is  the main draw for many, explains Sanaullah, the jovial owner of a trendy shop located in an upmarket area of the Pakistani capital. 

"The process of making it is really very interesting, which makes people like it," he said, adding that the tea also has a smoky flavour which attracts many.

Sitting among the customers on a low rush stool, Muhammad Ishaq Khawar is a frequent customer.

"There is a different kind of atmosphere, especially the way in which we are served tea. It was a very old system which goes back to the old days when the terracotta pots were used," he explains.  

It may seem like a niche product but the drink has become so popular the Tandoori Chai Company cafes, which recently launched in Lahore, has expanded to a second branch.

And while coffee culture has caught on in Pakistan's main cities with big name chains and local cafes a hit urban youths, tea, regardless of how it is prepared, is nonetheless an essential component of the daily menu.

The country is one of the top tea consumers globally according to research firm Euromonitor International, while a recent study by Gallup found 73 percent of Pakistani tea drinkers have at least two or more cups a day. 

"Not only in Pakistan, but in the entire subcontinent, it has been mixed in our blood," says Mohammad Asim Khan, a customer at a small eatery in Islamabad.

He adds: "Your physical fatigue will go away by taking tea and you get fresh." 

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |These days whenever Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appears in public, he removes his jacket, rolls up his sleeves, grabs a shovel and gets to planting a tree.

Abiy is leading by example as Ethiopia plans to plant a mind-boggling four billion trees by October, as part of a global movement to restore forests to help fight climate change and protect resources.

The country says it has planted nearly three billion trees already since May.

On Monday, state employees were given the day off as Abiy sought to get the rest of the country involved, and the government claimed a "record-breaking" 350 million trees were planted in only one day.

"I think we demonstrated the capacity for people to come together collectively and deliver on a shared vision," Billene Seyoum, Abiy's press secretary, told AFP. 

The figure has attracted scepticism about the sheer number of volunteers this would require, and the logistics involved.

"I personally don't believe that we planted this much," said Zelalem Worqagegnehu, a spokesman for the opposition Ezema party. 

"It might be impossible to plant this many trees within a day." 

Yet Zelalem also noted that hundreds of members of his party planted trees of their own on Monday, and suggested the actual total was beside the point.

"We took this as a good opportunity to show solidarity with the citizens," he said. "Our concern is the green legacy, making Ethiopia green."

- Planting only first step -

Ethiopia's forest cover declined from around 40 percent half a century ago to around 15 percent today, said Abiyot Berhanu, director of the Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute. 

"Deforestation has become very grave in many parts of Ethiopia," he said. 

The recent tree-planting drive has targeted areas that have been stripped of their trees over the years, Billene said. 

The types of new trees planted have varied from region to region. 

"A lot of nurseries have been working on producing more saplings over the past couple months," Billene said, while some of the saplings and seedlings had come from abroad. 

Reforestation is a major component of global initiatives to recapture carbon emissions. It can also purify water, produce oxygen and bolster farmers' incomes, said Tim Christophersen, chair of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration. 

But Christophersen said planting trees was only the first step. 

"The most important factor is grazing pressure. If you plant a tree and a day later the goats come along they will absolutely eat the tree first before they eat the dry grass next to it," he said. 

"We don't speak so much about planting trees but about growing trees." 

He said planting 350 million trees would require about 350,000 hectares (864,000 acres) -- an area bigger than Luxembourg -- and added that a volunteer could realistically plant about 100 trees a day. 

"It is not impossible, but it would take a very well organised effort," he told AFP.

He said that Ethiopia was one of only five countries ranked as having a "sufficiently ambitious" contribution to the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the UN's pact to curb global warming.

Trees take in carbon from the air as part of the process of synthesis and store it in their leaves, branches and trunks.

Abiy's tree-planting drive is part of a national environmental campaign, known as the Green Legacy Initiative, that includes cleaning waterways and making agriculture more sustainable. 

Billene said the turnout Monday indicated that the prime minister's environmentally-friendly message was resonating. 

"Everyone was clear and understood the long-term vision," she said. "They actually bought into the benefits of what it means to have a green country." 

If Ethiopia really did plant 350 million trees on Monday, it would have smashed the current world record of around 50 million held by the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. 

However an official determination may have to wait. 

So far, Ethiopia has not attempted to register its achievement with Guinness World Records Limited, spokeswoman Jessica Dawes told AFP in an email. 

"We are always on the lookout for new record breaking achievements however, and so we would encourage the organisers of this event to get in touch with us to register an application," Dawes said.

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Singapore, Singapore | 

Hundreds of "friendly" robots that speak multiple languages and sing are being rolled out across hi-tech Singapore, to help clean the city-state's hotels, shopping malls and government buildings.

Four of the robots, which have oval-shaped heads with lights for eyes, have already got down to work and it is hoped that 300 will be put into service by March next year.

They scrub, mop, vacuum and sweep autonomously, and can entertain by rapping in English.

The robots speak all four of multi-ethnic Singapore's official languages -- English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil -- plus Japanese and "Singlish", a local patois that mixes English with words from the myriad local tongues.

"I'm the coolest thing in town, I'll make your world light up, hey you're never gonna frown," rapped one of the robots as they were unveiled Wednesday. 

The devices, which come in 13 different models and are produced by local company LionsBot, also tell jokes or ask humans to move aside if they are in the way.

Humans can get a response from the robots by pressing a button called the "heart", or use an app to ask them how they are feeling or what their hobbies are. 

"Everybody knows a cleaner that's always friendly and would remember your name and say hi, so we hope to recreate that," LionsBot CEO Dylan Ng told AFP. 

The robots can be rented from Sg$1,350 (about $1,000) a month. 

LionsBot has signed agreements with six cleaning partners to deploy the robots gradually over the coming months as they are produced.  

Those already in use are in Changi Airport's new shopping and entertainment complex, an art gallery, a resort and an office building.

The robots also have a serious purpose: to help plug a labour shortage in the rapidly ageing country of 5.6 million people.

Ng stressed the robots were not intended to replace human cleaners, but to act as their assistants.

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Singapore, Singapore | 

Smokers in Singapore will no longer have to sneak a drag on the street, with the launch of the city-state's first air-conditioned "smoking cabin", but the experience won few fans among cigarette puffers .

The city-state has some of the world's strictest anti-tobacco laws and smoking is banned in most public places, with a fine of up to Sg$1,000 ($725) if caught. E-cigarettes are also banned outright.

The new cabins, which are fitted with a Danish filtration system that can purify cigarette smoke before it is released into the air, can reportedly fit up to 10 people at a time.

But tobacco enthusiasts appeared unimpressed, with many choosing to light up at a nearby open-air smoking corner instead.

"The atmosphere in there is stifling, honestly. Because it's so small and squeezy, I feel a bit like a second-class citizen smoking in there," e-commerce executive Azfar Zain told AFP after using the cabin.

"There are no seats, either. I'm not comfortable with smoking there unless they make the room bigger."

Office worker Rama Dass said he preferred to smoke outside, adding, "sometimes I just need a bit of fresh air".

Singapore-based Southern Globe Corporation, which launched the cabin on Tuesday, said it planned to deploy 60 such structures by the end of the year.

Singapore first introduced anti-tobacco laws in the 1970s as part of a national effort to reduce smoking.

It has since expanded the number of public places where lighting up is prohibited, including university campuses, common areas around apartment blocks, and inside private cars with the windows down.

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Washington, United States | A kidney needed for transplantation has been delivered by a drone for the first time ever, the University of Maryland Medical Center said, a development that could herald faster and safer organ transport.

The specially designed high-tech drone was fitted with equipment to monitor the kidney along its three mile (five kilometer) journey to its recipient: a 44-year-old woman from Baltimore who had spent eight years on dialysis before the procedure. 

The drone, which required a special clearance from aviation regulators, took off  and flew at a height of 400 feet (120 meters) for about ten minutes before touching down at its destination.

Doctor Joseph Scalea, who was among the team of surgeons that performed the transplantation, hailed the project's success and said drone deliveries could help overcome delays that destroy an organ's viability.

"The next run could be over 30 miles, or 100. The distance is relatively unimportant," he told AFP Wednesday. "The most important part is, we were able to implement drone technology into the current system of transplantation and transportation."

Current transport methods involve expensive chartered flights or even variable commercial flights, occasionally resulting in delays, and cost typically around $5,000.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there were nearly 114,000 people on waiting lists for an organ transplant in the US in 2018. 

About 1.5 percent of deceased donor organ shipments did not make it to their intended destination while nearly four percent of organ shipments had an unanticipated delay of two or more hours.

Scalea, who has founded a company that manages data for organ shipments, likened the system to an Uber-like service that would prove eventually prove less costly.

Cape Town, South Africa |

Mopane worms are a traditional snack in South Africa, but a Cape Townrestaurant is set to crawl into the history books as the first to serve a full menu of bug-infused delicacies.

The Insect Experience, which opened its doors this month, is offering an alternative food source to the city's mainstream culinary experience.

The restaurant was opened by Gourmet Grub, a company that has already introduced Cape Town to dairy-free ice cream made from insect milk.

Co-founder and head of product development Leah Bessa has been investigating insects as a viable protein substitute. 

"In general insects are really high in protein and fat, comparable to red meat in their protein and fat content. The insects we use, the black soldier fly larvae, are much higher in zinc, iron and calcium than beef," she said.

According to Bessa, the insects are also high in dietary fibre and have no carbohydrate value. 

The bugs are bred by two local farmers and delivered straight to the restaurant.

Mealworms and mopane worms are some of the creepy-crawlies that chef Mario Barnard has included in his dishes.

In 2015, he went to Thailand and for the first time experienced dishes made with tarantulas and scorpions. 

"I knew then that I wanted to hide insects in food, incorporated into little gourmet dishes, to introduce to South Africans," Barnard said.

The restaurant serves mopane worm polenta fries, and black fly larvae chickpea croquettes paired with a mopane hummus and topped off with a sprinkle of dried mealworms.

For dessert, it offers a deep-fried dark chocolate black fly larvae ice cream.

"I chose these dishes for introducing insects to people because they're already familiar with them -- everyone knows polenta fries and croquettes," he said.

One customer told AFP: "It's delicious, it's flavourful and spicy, it's everything you want in food."

Pamplona, Spain | 

Thousands of revellers raised candles and red scarves in the air and swayed back and forth as they sang a mournful song to mark the end of Spain's most famous bull running festival in Pamplona which saw eight daredevils gored this year.

"Poor me, poor me, the San Fermin fiesta has come to an end," the crowd sang just after the stroke of midnight in front of city hall in the Plaza Consistorial as fireworks lit up the sky above.

"People of Pamplona, the San Fermin festival is over, the best festival in the world," Pamplona mayor Enrique Maya said from the balcony of city hall to cheers from the crowd just before the singing began.

The nine-day San Fermin festival, which dates back to medieval times, features concerts, religious processions, folk dancing, and round-the-clock drinking.

But the highlight is a bracing, daily test of courage against a thundering pack of half-tonne, sharp-horned bulls.

Each morning hundreds of runners, many dressed in white with red scarves and sashes, test their valour by sprinting with six half-tonne bulls along an 850-metre (2,800-foot) course through the narrow streets of the city in northern Spain.

The most daring try to run as long as they can right in front of the beasts' horns before veering off to the side or diving under the wooden barriers that separate the bulls and runners from the thousands of spectators from around the world that line the route.

Two Australians aged 27 and 30, as well as a 25-year-old Spaniard, were gored during the final bull run of the festival  by a half-tonne fighting bull which became separated from the pack moments into the run and began charging people in its way, regional health authorities said.

The three men suffered injuries to the armpit, arm and leg from the bull's horns. 

Isolated bulls are more likely to get disoriented and start charging at people.

That brought to eight the total number of daredevils who were gored by a bull during this year's fiesta.

- 'Saw blood' -

At the end of the festival's first run, a bull ran over and sunk one of its horns deep in the neck of a 46-year-old lawyer from San Francisco, Jaime Alvarez, narrowly missing key arteries. 

He was injured as he was trying to take a video-selfie with his mobile phone.

"It was like a truck or car just hitting me in the side of the head. I put my hand on my neck and I saw blood," he told US television from a Pamplona hospital.

He was released from hospital two days later.

Another 23-year-old American from Kentucky and a 40-year-old Spaniard were also gored that day.

In addition to the eight men who were gored, another 27 people were taken to hospital for broken bones and bruises suffered during the bull runs.

About 500 more people were treated at the scene for more minor injuries, according to the Red Cross.

- Deaths -

The festival, made famous worldwide by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises", claims scores of casualties every year although last year just two men were gored.

Sixteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records started in 1911.

The last death was in 2009 when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.

The bulls face almost certain death in afternoon bullfights, and earlier this month animal rights activists staged a "die-in" demonstration in the streets of the city to protest the tradition.