Canada’s prime minister has said sending in troops to clear protesters from the nation’s capital is “not in the cards right now”. The city’s police chief had earlier refused to rule out military intervention to remove demonstrators. Thousands arrived in the city last weekend to protest vaccine mandates, gridlocking downtown Ottawa. Police Chief Peter Sloly warned that protests could grow again this weekend. “There may not be a policing solution” to resolve the impasse, he said on Wednesday. Though many protesters have left over the course of the week, some 250 remain who are “a highly determined and highly volatile group of unlawful individuals”, Chief Sloly has said. On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government had received no formal request for military assistance to remove this core group of protesters who have been camped out in and around parliament.(BBC)…[+]

Scientists in South Africa have made a copy of the Moderna Covid vaccine, a move which they say could help boost vaccination rates across Africa. The continent currently has the lowest uptake of Covid shots in the world. The company behind the new vaccine – Afrigen Biologics – says it hopes to start clinical trials in November. Moderna previously said it would not enforce the patents on its vaccine, allowing scientists in Cape Town to make their own version of it. The researchers were backed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Petro Terblanche, director of Afrigen Biologics, said they were starting small, but had ambitions to scale up quickly.

Rescuers are still desperately trying to reach a five-year-old boy who fell into a well near the Moroccan city of Chefchaouen on Tuesday. The boy, named by local media as Rayan, was reportedly playing near the well in the northern town of Tamorot, 100km (62 miles) from Chefchaouen. He is believed to have fallen about 32m (104ft) through a narrow opening. After days of digging there are just three metres to go, but there is the risk of a landslide. So as a precaution, a “parallel shaft” is being dug next to the well to reach Rayan that is so far proving successful, says Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Baitas. Rescue operations, led by Morocco’s Civil Protection Directorate, have been ongoing since Tuesday evening, even going through the night. “The child’s rescue is approaching,” Mr Baitas said on Thursday evening. “Our hearts are with the family, and we are praying that he will back with them as soon as possible.”(BBC)…[+]