In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country’s top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to get a boost.

Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses abroad while trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process.

“It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao said.

Officials at a news conference Sunday didn’t respond directly to questions about Gao’s comment or possible changes in official plans. But another CDC official said developers are working on mRNA-based vaccines.

“The mRNA vaccines developed in our country have also entered the clinical trial stage,” said the official, Wang Huaqing. He gave no timeline for possible use.  Experts say mixing vaccines, or sequential immunization, might boost effectiveness. Researchers in Britain are studying a possible combination of Pfizer-BioNTech and the traditional AstraZeneca vaccine.

The coronavirus pandemic, which began in central China in late 2019, marks the first time the Chinese drug industry has played a role in responding to a global health emergency.
Vaccines made by two state-owned drug makers, Sinovac and Sinopharm, have been exported to 22 countries including Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Hungary, Brazil and Turkey, according to the foreign ministry.

The effectiveness of a Sinovac vaccine at preventing symptomatic infections was found to be as low as 50.4% by researchers in Brazil, near the 50% threshold at which health experts say a vaccine is useful. By comparison, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been found to be 97% effective.  Health experts say Chinese vaccines are unlikely to be sold to the United States, Western Europe and Japan due to the complexity of the approval process.

A Sinovac spokesman, Liu Peicheng, acknowledged varying levels of effectiveness have been found but said that can be due to the age of people in a study, the strain of virus and other factors.

Beijing has yet to approve any foreign vaccines for use in China

Gao gave no details of possible changes in strategy but cited mRNA as a possibility.
“Everyone should consider the benefits mRNA vaccines can bring for humanity,” Gao said. “We must follow it carefully and not ignore it just because we already have several types of vaccines already.”

Gao previously questioned the safety of mRNA vaccines. He was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying in December he couldn’t rule out negative side effects because they were being used for the first time on healthy people.

Chinese state media and popular health and science blogs also have questioned the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.  As of April 2, some 34 million people in China have received both of the two doses required for Chinese vaccines and about 65 million received one, according to Gao.

The Sinovac spokesman, Liu, said studies find protection “may be better” if time between vaccinations is longer than the current 14 days but gave no indication that might be made standard practice./agencies

In a major milestone, Turkey on Sunday successfully conducted the first test of its hybrid rocket engine that is expected to be used in its 2023 moon mission, the nation’s industry and technology minister announced.

The firing test was made at the facility of Delta V, a state-backed research firm that has a leading role in the national space program announced in February, in Istanbul’s Şile district.

In parallel, a vertical firing test of the thrust system of the hybrid sounding rocket (SORS), which will reach outer space, was also carried out, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said.

As part of its 10-year road map, unveiled by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey aims to achieve its first contact with the moon in 2023, when the country marks the centennial of the founding of the Republic of Turkey.

As part of the moon mission, the first launch into orbit will be made with international cooperation, after which the hybrid engine manufactured by Delta V will take the Turkish spacecraft to the moon’s surface.

In the second stage in 2028, according to the road map, the country will launch its own rockets into space in the same way they did the probe.

Expressing the belief that the country can accomplish the first leg of its moon mission in 2023, Varank said Turkey is planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to make the hard landing.

"Our spacecraft will be making contact with the moon. So, we're very proud to have performed the first firing of the engine here," the minister told reporters.

A sample of the rocket engine will be launched from northern Sinop province in May, Varank said. It will mark the most important stage so far.

If all goes well in May, Delta V will be carrying out launchings to higher altitudes, its general manager, Arif Karabeyoğlu, said.

“Today we tested the rocket engine of the spacecraft that will go to the moon,” he said. “Step by step, we are going to the moon.”

Karabeyoğlu called Sunday's tests very important.

“One was the static firing on the ground of the engine of the sounding rocket to be launched from Sinop. It is an engine that uses liquid oxygen and is the largest and best performing of its kind in the world. In addition, we have fired another engine that can be used in the moon mission. This uses a different oxidizer. Here, we can say that we succeeded by firing for 50 seconds,” he noted.

Varank last month said the country is preparing to fire the unique hybrid rocket into space by the end of summer.

Delta V will fire the rocket that will exceed an altitude of 100 kilometers (62.5 miles), the start of outer space, he said.

Using hybrid technology will result in a “significant” commercial advantage because it produces the same thrust at a fraction of the cost of competitors, according to Varank.

In addition to demonstrating its capabilities, the minister Sunday said the country wants to commercialize these capabilities and gain economic benefits from them.

He earlier said the country is looking to set up a ground control station for the moon project and future missions.

The government is also said to be in talks with foreign partners to manufacture much larger missiles that can carry bigger payloads.

Varank emphasized that Turkey was looking for a partnership with a country, which he did not name, near the equator to jointly build a spaceport.

Earlier reports suggested Turkey could establish a spaceport in Somalia with a $350 million (TL 2.85 billion) investment.

The government was said to be planning to construct a rocket launch site in the African country, which already hosts Turkey’s largest military training base.

Reports have also said a separate port would be established in Turkey for “sensitive” launches, such as satellites for national security purposes.

In addition to the moon mission, the space road map also includes sending Turkish astronauts on a scientific mission in space and developing internationally viable satellite systems.

Erdoğan in late January spoke to Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk about possible cooperation in space technologies with Turkish companies.

Earlier the same month, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket deployed Turkey’s new-generation communication satellite Türksat 5A into orbit from the southern U.S. state of Florida./agencies

According to a survey from the MetroPOLL research company, voters are most unlikely to support the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and are the least opposed to supporting the Good Party (IP).

According to the survey results shared by Özer Sencar, the founder of MetroPOLL research company, on Twitter, 28.7% of voters say "I will never vote" for the HDP.

This rate is 27.7% for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), 15.7% for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and 3.7% for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The IP is the "least distasteful" party for voters with 0.8%.

According to the Diken news website, Sencar answered the question of whether these results would be interpreted as if the undecided voters would not vote for the AK Party or the HDP:

"No, one-third of the undecided voters are of AK Party origin (about 6%). Half of them continue to be devoted to President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan. Especially 1.5% are strictly committed to Erdoğan. The most important result of this data is that there is very little opposition to the IP in society. (IP head Meral) Akşener's march to center stage continues. And if she can exceed the 13%-15% resistance line, this feature can turn into a great advantage."

According to a January survey by MAK Consultancy, the percentage of undecided voters passed 10% and the vote percentage for the IP is increasing, while the popularity of the MHP and the HDP is declining.

Despite speculation from opposition parties, Turkey is expected to hold its upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023. So far, the AK Party has consistently denied rumors of early elections.

It has been three years since Turkey switched from a parliamentary system to the current presidential system after the majority of Turkish voters opted to create the new system.

Turkish voters narrowly endorsed an executive presidency in the April 16, 2017 referendum with 51.4% of the votes. The official transition to the new system took place when Erdoğan took oath as president after the June 24, 2018 general elections, where he won 52.6% of the votes./aa

A group of women held a protest march in the capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday against a fashion show that was organized recently and featured Kashmiri girls as models.

The hijab-clad protesters held placards and walked silently along the Boulevard Road in Srinagar, which runs along the famous Dal Lake and is frequented by tourists. A government-owned convocation center, where the fashion show took place, is situated along the road on the banks of the lake.

The placards urged women to wear the head covering, and carried messages such as, “It is not the cloth that suppresses women; it is the illiterate mind."

Tahira Manzoor, a protester, told Anadolu Agency that dozens of like-minded women who were not representing any organization assembled to protest against the fashion show she said was a first step toward pushing Kashmiri women into “an abyss of immorality."

“We don’t know who is organizing these shows but in the name of fashion obscenity is being promoted," she said. "Today, our girls show bare arms. Tomorrow, they would be pushed into flesh trade. Already thousands of our youth are being consumed by drug abuse."

Another protester, who requested anonymity, said shows like these have “state patronage” and are “aimed at presenting a rosy picture of a place where 12 militants were killed in the past 72 hours."

Public protests have become rare since Aug. 5, 2019 when India scrapped autonomy of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir after imposing a military and communications lockdown.

Since then, New Delhi has led several delegations of foreign envoys to guided tours of the disputed region in a bid to demonstrate that people are happy with the decision.

The state has drawn flak from various quarters for promoting tourism, musical shows and other activities that strengthen the normalcy narrative amid rising concerns over the spread of COVID-19.

Disputed region

Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts, but claimed by both in full. A small sliver of the region is also controlled by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed and tortured in the conflict since 1989./aa

Turkey's First Lady Emine Erdogan on Sunday took to Twitter to ask her followers to vote for the country's Lake Van at the NASA photo competition.

“The photograph of Lake Van, which has a unique natural beauty, taken from space and with all shades of blue, made it to the finals in NASA's online competition,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

She also shared a link for the competition.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry also joined Erdogan in support of the Lake Van photo.

“Turkey's #LakeVan, the largest alkaline lake on our Planet, is hypnotizing from space as well, w/its many shades of blue and turquoise waters,” the ministry wrote on Twitter, adding “Let’s vote now,” sharing the link for the contest.

In the battle between the best photos taken by astronauts, the showdown came down to a unique Turkish lake versus stars in the heavens. The photos were taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Tournament Earth competition, which kicked off on March 8, features more than two decades of snapshots by spacewalkers.

The last photos standing in the final include a 2012 composite of stars in motion over the Americas, shot by astronaut Don Pettit, and an alkaline lake in eastern Turkey – Lake Van – captured in 2016 by astronaut Kate Rubins, according to NASA’s online Earth Observatory.

“In the semifinals, the photo of Lake Van took 94 percent of the vote against the Castellanus cloud tower,” said the website, referring to the previous round, adding that an image of stars and earthly lights in motion also beat its rival to make it to the final.

The pictures, showing unique views of the planet, were gathered in four groups – Unity, Cupola, Destiny, and Tranquility – based on four modules of the space station.

The photo Stars in Motion by Pettit was in the Unity bracket, while Lake Van was in the Tranquility bracket.

Voters have until April 12 at noon US Eastern Time (1600GMT) to choose their favorite picture at earthobservatory.nasa.gov/tournament-earth./aa

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed on Sunday the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project agreement with his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Hassan Suluhu.

"The EACOP Tripartite Project Agreement has been signed by all parties with commitment for realization of the Equal project; for the benefit of all people of Uganda and Tanzania in the spirit of East Africa," said Sam Kuteesa, Uganda's foreign minister.

The agreement, signed in the Ugandan capital Kampala, paves the way for the construction of a 1,440 km crude oil pipeline from Uganda's Albertine region to Tanzanian seaport of Tanga.

Extraction will take place at two oil fields: the Kingfisher field, which is operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd, and the Tilenga field, operated by Total S.A.

Uganda last month suspended the signing of the agreement to mourn the death of then Tanzanian president John Pombe Magufuli.

The $3.55 billion pipeline could be the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world. Once completed, more than 10,000 job opportunities will be created during execution, according to Suluhu.

Environmental activists say the project poses risks to protected environments, water sources and wetlands in both the countries due to C02 emissions from the burning of oil through the pipeline./aa