Category News

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Prince Charles is convinced he’s “way down the list” for the COVID-19 vaccine.

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The 72-year-old British royal and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, paid a visit to the vaccination centre at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in England on Thursday, where they met with frontline National Health Service workers administering the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

Speaking to reporters at the facility, Charles, who is first in line to the British throne, revealed he is yet to be vaccinated against the virus and doesn’t anticipate receiving one until the AstraZeneca one is in use.

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“I think I am way down the list and will have to wait,” he affirmed. “I think I’ll have to wait for the AstraZeneca one before it gets to my turn. I’m some way down the list.”

The Prince of Wales tested positive for coronavirus in March and spent the first U.K. lockdown in March in isolation. Charles previously admitted he “got away with it quite lightly” when he contracted the potentially deadly virus.

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Revealing his bout of ill health drove him to do more to “push and shout and prod” when it comes to his campaigning for the natural world, he shared: “It makes me even more determined to push and shout and prod if you see what I mean. Whatever I can do behind the scenes sometimes. I suppose it did partly, I mean I was lucky in my case and got away with it quite lightly.

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“But I’ve had it, and I can so understand what other people have gone through. And I feel particularly for those for instance, who have lost their loved ones and have been unable to be with them at the time. That to me is the most ghastly thing.

“But in order to prevent this happening to so many more people, this is why I’m so determined to find a way out of this,” he concluded. “In order to bring the world and all of us back to the centre, back to understanding what we have to do in relationship to the natural world.”

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There’s no question that COVID-19 has made things harder for entrepreneurs looking to grow a business, but the pandemic didn’t get in the way of one of Canada’s biggest demo and pitch events from taking place during a virtual gathering.

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NEXT Venture Day encourages NEXT Canada entrepreneurs to pitch their startup ideas to an audience of business leaders, partners, alumni and investors. The virtual event, which took place in early October, concluded this year’s NEXT 36, NEXT AI and NEXT Founders accelerator programs and showcased 12 out of 80 graduating ventures spanning AI, finance, security, mental health, cleantech, sustainable fashion, and diagnostics.

NEXT Canada was founded by entrepreneur and investor Reza Satchu, who has had success managing a fleet of businesses. Today, he runs Alignvest Management Corporation, a private investment firm based in Toronto.

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Reza Satchu said he didn’t want COVID-19 to dampen the day, so he and his team improvised.

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“Faced with a global pandemic, we turned to technology and we persevered. We chose to deliver our programs virtually, supporting and accelerating 80 of Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs.”

This year’s Venture Day tech startups included Furnishr, a furnishing software platform, and MinervaAI, an automated solution aimed to provide faster, smarter, and more compliant financial crime investigations.

As part of the event, NEXT Canada announced several award winners. Moment Technology, a company that is replacing diesel generators for remote communities by repurposing electric vehicle batteries into sustainable energy storage, was chosen by the audience as the RBC People’s Choice Award.

“NEXT Canada is on a mission to inspire more Canadians to focus on entrepreneurship, and the Venture Day event is just the tip of the iceberg of what we can be doing to facilitate that,” said Satchu.

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The organization, which promotes and supports the success of Canada’s roughly 3.5 million entrepreneurs, is hoping to foster economic growth, competitiveness, and prosperity through entrepreneurship.

NEXT Canada, which Satchu founded in 2010, offers three programs: NEXT 36, NEXT Founders and NEXT AI.  NEXT Canada’s programs provide entrepreneurs with access to capital, education, mentorship, and networking in order to build and scale a company.

As an educator, Satchu wants to help more young entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. In addition to his work with NEXT Canada, he is also a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, where he teaches two courses: Launching Technology Ventures and The Entrepreneurial Manager. Before founding NEXT Canada, Satchu taught at the University of Toronto for seven years.

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“I am fortunate to be in a position where I can give back to Canada, a country that has helped me so much. That is why I created NEXT Canada and why I continue to focus my efforts on helping the next generation of entrepreneurs grow their businesses.”

Satchu’s hope is that over time he can help inspire more young, talented and promising Canadian entrepreneurs so that they will create businesses that are beneficial for the country, and hopefully make an impact globally, too.

“NEXT Canada wants to teach entrepreneurship as a way of living and my hope is to play a part in helping the next generation of innovators.”

One of the ways Canada can help entrepreneurs is by creating a more robust venture capital community.

“COVID has brought so many more uncertainties, especially when it comes to funding,” Satchu said. “Without funding support for entrepreneurs, people from around the world will fail to take notice of the innovation and creativity that’s been happening in Canada.  We need larger venture capital sources.  We need more investors who know what it takes to help an entrepreneur build a billion dollar plus business. If we can do that, people will start looking at Canada as a place where entrepreneurs can build substantial businesses.”

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has denied parole for former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten.

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Van Houten, who is serving a life sentence behind bars for her role in the Manson family murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in August 1969, was recommended for parole by a panel in July, but Newsom has reversed that decision, just as he did last year.

Newsom insisted the evidence “shows that she currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison.”

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This is the 71-year-old’s fourth parole reversal.

Van Houten, who did not take part in the infamous murders at actress Sharon Tate’s home, testified at her trial that she and fellow Manson family member Patricia Krenwinkel held a pillowcase over Rosemary LaBianca’s head, gagged her with a lamp cord, and stabbed her to death.

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She was sentenced to death in 1971 but the decision was overturned when the state abolished the death penalty and instead she was sentenced to life in prison with a possibility of parole in 1978. She has since applied for parole 23 times. A parole board first recommended Van Houten’s release in 2016, when then-California Governor Jerry Brown denied the request. He did so again in 2018.

Van Houten’s lawyer, Rich Pfeiffer, insists he will appeal Newsom’s decision.

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Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s time in The White House put a hidden strain on his marriage to First Lady Michelle Obama.

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In his new memoir, A Promised Land, the star writes about nights where he could feel the “tension” between them due to the pressures of the presidency and the “loneliness” she felt due to her husband’s all-consuming job.

Expanding on his feelings in a new interview with People magazine, he says he thinks they “came out of it whole” and there were “great joys” – such as watching their children grow up to become impressive young women, but White House life did take its toll.

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“During the time we were there, Michelle felt this underlying tension,” he explains. “The pressure, stress, of needing to get everything right, to be ‘on’ at every moment.

“There were times where I think she was frustrated or sad or angry but knew that I had Afghanistan or the financial crisis to worry about…so she would tamp it down.”

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However, he explains that after he left office, he and Michelle were able to talk through their marital issues and are now stronger than ever.

“It was like a big exhale right after we left office,” he shares. “It took some time to talk about how she had felt. Once (the presidency) was done, there was possibility of her opening up… but more importantly just her being able to let out a breath and relax.”

The 44th President goes on to say that Michelle “has been more relaxed and more joyful since we left office,” and being free again has, “allowed us to just enjoy the deep love that comes with a marriage this long. But also to be friends again.”

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Actor Ricky Schroder reportedly contributed $150,000 US towards alleged killer Kyle Rittenhouse’s $2 million bail.

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The NYPD Blue star’s donation to the fund emerged after one of Rittenhouse’s attorneys, Lin Wood, tweeted a triumphant photo on Friday showing lawyer John Pierce, Rittenhouse and Schroder, shortly after Kyle was released from custody, reports TMZ.

“FREE AT LAST!!!” he penned, with Wood previously thanking Schroder in a tweet, writing: “Special thanks to Actor Ricky Schroder… & Mike Lindell @realMikeLindell for putting us over the top.”

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Lindell is the founder and CEO of MyPillow, and an avid supporter of President Donald Trump.

Rittenhouse, 17, allegedly shot three protesters after travelling with an AR-15-style rifle from Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, while the city was engulfed in civil unrest following an earlier shooting by a Kenosha police officer that left Jacob Blake paralyzed.

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The teenager was charged with multiple counts of homicide and unlawful possession of a firearm. He claims he was acting in self-defence.

While many people on social media criticised Schroder for his involvement in the case, journalist Seph Lawless tweeted that the actor’s publicist told him the contribution was “contingent on rights to (Rittenhouse’s) story (aka documentary).”

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Peter Sutcliffe, the notorious British serial killer known as the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’, has died after contracting COVID-19.

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Sutcliffe, who murdered at least 13 women across the north of England in the late 1970s, died at University Hospital of North Durham, England, a U.K. Prison Service spokesman confirmed to Sky News on Friday.

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The 74-year-old, who also had a number of other underlying health problems, reportedly refused treatment for COVID-19.

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Sutcliffe terrorized West Yorkshire and Manchester from 1975, sparking one of Britain’s biggest manhunts which finally concluded in 1981 with his conviction for the murders of 13 women.

He spent three decades at the Broadmoor Hospital high-security psychiatric unit before being moved to Her Majesty’s Prison Frankland in County Durham in 2016.

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Sutcliffe is known to have started attacking women in the late 1960s but his first known murder took place in 1975 when he killed 28-year-old mother of four Wilma McCann – and he remained at large until his arrest in 1980.

McCann’s son Richard told Sky News: “He ruined so many lives. He will go down as one of those figures from the twentieth century in the same league I suppose as someone like Hitler.”

An official cause of death has yet to be confirmed, pending a coroner’s examination.

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Some volunteers who took part in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial reportedly were left feeling like they were boozing heavily the night before after getting the injection.

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A number of volunteers among the 43,500 people from six countries who took part in the phase three trials – some received the experimental vaccine and others got a placebo – said they experienced side effects that felt like a severe hangover, according to multiple reports.

Although volunteers were not told if they received the vaccine or a placebo, some believe they know they were given the real deal based on how they were feeling afterwards.

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Glenn Deshields, 44, of Austin, Tex. was quoted by the New York Post saying he felt like he had a “severe hangover” but those symptoms quickly cleared up. Another volunteer, a woman who identified herself as Carrie, a 45-year-old from Missouri, said she had a fever, headache and body aches after her first injection in September and the symptoms became more severe after the second last month.

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“The thought that we could do something to stop people from suffering from this, from losing family members, that we could get rid of it and get back to some sort of normal in our lives – that’s a driving factor for this for me,” Carrie said, according to Metro UK. “I don’t want anyone else to be sick.”

Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced Monday that the vaccine it was developing showed it was 90% effective against Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But the vaccine, which could help end the coronavirus pandemic, has still not received government approval anywhere in the world.

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Several other pharmaceutical companies are also working on a vaccine for COVID-19.

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Amanda Knox is once again the centre of controversy.

The American who spent years in prison until her murder conviction was overturned faced backlash after comparing the election results to the tragic events that plagued her in Italy.

“Whatever happens, the next four years can’t be as bad as that four-year study abroad I did in Italy, right?” Knox tweeted Tuesday.

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Knox – who was an exchange student in Italy – was convicted and spent close to four years in jail for being linked to the murder of roommate Meredith Kercher. In 2015, Knox was acquitted of the crime by Italy’s Supreme Court.

Playing off the controversy from her time in Italy, Foxy Knoxy thought it was appropriate to joke about it while chiming about the possible election outcome.

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Of course, the tweet – which garnered 27,000 likes and 24,900 retweets – didn’t sit too well with the Twitterverse, who responded negatively at the insensitive election joke.

“I imagine it was a lot worse for Meredith,” one person tweeted, referring to the murder victim.

“I’m sure the family of the murdered girl appreciate you finding the funny side…” another %7B%22provider_name%22:%22Twitter%22,%22provider_url%22:%22https:%5C/%5C/twitter.com%22,%22object_url%22:%22https:%5C/%5C/twitter.com%5C/amandaknox%5C/status%5C/1323846028416618496%22,%22html%22:%22

Whatever%20happens,%20the%20next%20four%20years%20can’t%20be%20as%20bad%20as%20that%20four-year%20study%20abroad%20I%20did%20in%20Italy,%20right?%E2%80%94%20Amanda%20Knox%20(@amandaknox)%20November%204,%202020%5Cn

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The key to ending the global COVID-19 pandemic may be a llama named Wally.

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According to a study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, scientists have found a way to extract fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 antibody from llamas that may help in treating the novel coronavirus.

These fragments – known also as nanobodies – are smaller than antibodies found in humans and much more effective in killing the fatal virus. The university researchers believe the nanobodies can be made into inhalable therapeutic products that could potentially treat and prevent COVID-19.

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“Nature is our best inventor,” said Yi Shi, an assistant professor of cell biology at the University of Pittsburgh.

“The technology we developed surveys SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing nanobodies at an unprecedented scale, which allowed us to quickly discover thousands of nanobodies with unrivalled affinity and specificity,” said Shi.

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In order to create these nanobodies, researchers immunized Wally the llama with a fragment of COVID-19’s spike protein. About two months later, Wally’s immune system made mature nanobodies.

Another university researcher, Yufei Xiang, noticed the nanobodies in the llama’s bloodstream bound to the coronavirus most strongly. Scientists then exposed these nanobodies to the virus itself and noticed a fraction of a nanogram could kill enough of it to prevent one million human cells from becoming infected.

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Shi stated the nanobodies can last for six weeks at room temperature and tolerate enough to be used to create an inhalable mist to deliver the therapy to the lungs. This form of treatment is a contrast to traditional antibodies that are administered via IV, which dilutes the products, needs a higher dose and hurts the wallet, the researchers stated.

“Nanobodies could potentially cost much less,” said Shi. “They’re ideal for addressing the urgency and magnitude of the current crisis.”

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