BOGOR, Indonesia — A recent video captured the moment a vast fireball sent thick smoke high in the sky after an explosion at an Indonesian oil refinery. The incident, that occurred at the Pertamina Balongan Refinery in the province of West Java on the island of Java on March 29, left 20 people injured and three people are missing. As per the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), nearly 1,000 residents were evacuated. At least 20 suffered injuries, and three people remained missing. “Five people were seriously injured, 15 people were slightly injured, and three people are still being searched for”, said Dr.…
Author: zenger.news
NANJING, China — A video was released of an Evergreen truck crashing into a stationary car and ending up blocking the whole highway on the Changchun-Shenzhen Expressway in the Chinese city of Nanjing on March 27. In the video, a light-colored vehicle was seen braking and coming to a stop on the highway after reportedly breaking down. Several vehicles pass the broken-down car before a truck with an Evergreen container approaches. The truck driver apparently fails to notice the stationary vehicle until the last moment when he suddenly slams the brakes and swerves left. However, the truck apparently still crashes…
Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant, is now a household name, thanks to developing one of the leading vaccines against COVID-19. Now, an Israeli startup will help the New York-based firm produce the next generation of drugs more efficiently and effectively — whether that’s a booster shot against the novel coronavirus or an entirely different class of drugs. CytoReason has a machine-learning platform that essentially serves as a “GPS for the immune system.” For Pfizer, that means aggregating data from sources including in-house data, clinical studies and the large body of published research on the immune system. The Pfizer logo is viewed…
For the first time in its three-year history, IBM’s annual list of the world’s 40 leading women in the field of artificial intelligence includes an Israeli — Hagit Tzafrir, head of the Health Division at Harel Insurance and Finance Group. Tzafrir was selected by the multinational company in recognition of her artificial intelligence project “Ella the Digital Assistant” that provides digital customer service on Harel’s website and on WhatsApp. Women represent just 26 percent of the AI workforce, according to IBM, which launched the program “as a force for change because we believe inclusivity and gender equality drive better outcomes.”…
VIENNA — Europe lost the first round of the digital revolution to China and the U.S. and needs to take decisive action to fix its digital single market, according to European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who heads the bloc’s digital strategy. “The timing to solve this problem is absolutely now, because we are now at the beginning of the next phase of digitalization,” Vestager stressed in an exclusive interview with Zenger News. She added Europe must better accommodate the growth of tech firms to capitalize on the next big wave of global digitalization in the coming years. The 27-member…
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — Four members of a major drug trafficking group led by two women were arrested during an anti-drug operation in the Ukrainian city Mykolaiv on March 23. Officers seized large amounts of methadone and drug paraphernalia. After a previous investigation, officers from the Mykolayiv Regional Police Department, and agents from the Department for Combating Drug Crime and the Rapid Operational Response Unit, conducted 10 search warrants at the residences of pre-identified suspects. “Four suspects, including one of the leaders, were detained under the suspicion of drug trafficking by a group of people, and a pre-trial sentence will be chosen soon,”…
A novel oral COVID-19 vaccine will be developed by Jerusalem-based Oramed Pharmaceuticals through a new company, Oravax Medical, using Oramed’s proprietary oral delivery technology and India-based Premas Biotech’s novel vaccine technology. In a pilot study performed on pigs, the vaccine candidate promoted systemic immunity via Immunoglobulin G (IgG), the most common antibody in blood and bodily fluids that protects against viral infections, and Immunoglobulin A (IgA). A Phase I clinical study is to begin during the second quarter of 2021. “An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, widescale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine themselves…
Medical robotics pioneer Prof. Moshe Shoham of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology just raised $10 million in seed money for a sight-saving startup. ForSight Robotics, based in Haifa, is developing a robotic surgical platform that will “enable the transformation of ophthalmic surgery from art to science,” said cofounder Dr. Joseph Nathan. Nathan said many leading causes of blindness can be prevented with timely intervention. However, ophthalmic microsurgery requires many years to master. In addition, trained ophthalmic surgeons are in short supply worldwide. Foresight Robotics will automate the complex steps from planning stages to real-time operational guidance. The goal is to…
SUNSHINE COAST, Australia — This video shows the moment a biker filmed himself through his helmet-cam, speeding at over 124mph and leading the Australian police to discover eight cannabis plants at his home. The incident took place on the Sunshine Coast in the Australian state of Queensland, and the unnamed man has been fined AUD 17,000 ($12,999). The Queensland Police Service shared the clip on their Facebook page, writing, “Sunshine Coast police have fined a man AUD 17,000 after seizing helmet cam vision which allegedly showed him performing high-risk stunts on a motorbike, including wheel stands at more than 200 kilometers per…
MOSCOW — A group of pranksters has filmed themselves pretending to steal a business taxi, but it backfired. The three pranksters returned the taxi several minutes later, but one was arrested and remanded in custody. All three face up to seven years behind bars. The prank was filmed in front of a business center in Moscow, later announced by Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs on March 24. “Criminal investigation officers of the MIA of Russia Division for the Presnensky District of Moscow detained three citizens of one of the neighboring countries on suspicion of misappropriation of an expensive car,” it…