Singapore, S Korea report first cases of monkeypox

SINGAPORE: South Korea and Singapore on Wednesday reported their first imported cases of monkeypox, joining at least 42 countries that have reported such infections this year. In Singapore, the virus was detected in a 42-year-old male British flight attendant who tested positive on June 20. Meanwhile, South Korea became the first in East Asia to have identified the disease. A South Korean national in their 30s who arrived from Germany on Tuesday was confirmed to have contracted the disease.

Pakistan, IMF say bailout talks make key progress ISLAMABAD: Progress has been made in talks on the revival of Pakistan’s International Monetary Fund bailout programme, both sides said on Wednesday, with Islamabad expecting the lender to increase the size and duration of the 39month, $6 billion facility. The two sides held talks on Tuesday night and agreed on the budget and fiscal measures but still need to agree on a set of monetary targets, finance minister Miftah Ismail said. The statements came as Pakistan’s economy teeters on the brink of a financial crisis.

‘Omicron shot effective against subvariants’ WASHINGTON: Moderna on Wednesday said its new Covid booster candidate performed well against Omicron’s latest subvariants. It announced earlier this month that the so-called “bivalent” shot, which targets the original strain and original Omicron, performed better against both compared to its original Covid vaccine called Spikevax. However even those high levels were still one third the levels achieved against the original Omicron strain, BA.1.

AFP LOST AND FOUND: An aerial view work at a recently discovered ancient mosque, which dates back to the early Islamic period, in the Bedouin town of Rahat in Israel's southern Negev desert.