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Philanthropists and media mogul Dr Pauline Long has been reflecting on the importance of connecting with people around the world during these Covid-19 challenging times. The graceful humanitarian has recorded a heartfelt message to the world urging people to reach out for another and not treat anyone as a stranger. As a strong crusader and agent of human love, she believes that more than ever now is the time humanity must practice generosity if not through words then through action. Dr Pauline Long said, "The past 11 months have been tough for many of us, we have lost our loved ones, we have lost our colleagues, we have lost our friends, but still we are here. So today I just want to send messages of hope, I know words can't heal where people are hurting but messages of hope can warm the heart."

Jonas Gwangwa in 2019 (Gallo Images / Oupa Bopape)

The Oscar-nominated trombonist used music as a rallying cry against apartheid and spent years in exile. Jonas Gwangwa—the South African anti-apartheid activist, composer, and jazz trombonist—has died, NPR reports. The news was confirmed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. “A giant of our revolutionary cultural movement and our democratic creative industries has been called to rest,” Ramaphosa wrote in a statement. “The trombone that boomed with boldness and bravery, and equally warmed our hearts with mellow melody has lost its life force.” Gwangwa was 83. 

Raised in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, Gwangwa was a member of the Jazz Epistles alongside Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela, and Kippie Moeketsi. When South Africa’s apartheid regime censored jazz performances in 1960 and jailed Black people for congregating, Gwangwa chose to live in exile outside the country. 

Gwangwa performed internationally in the ensuing years and continued to use his music in service of activism. He was the musical director of the Amandla Cultural Ensemble—a group formed by African National Congress activists. His music for 1987’s Cry Freedom, a film about anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko starring Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline, earned Gwangwa two Oscar nominations. In 1985, he reportedly survived a bombing of his home by apartheid security forces.  

In 2010, Gwangwa was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga—South Africa’s highest honor. His death falls on the three-year anniversary of the death of his friend and collaborator Hugh Masekela.  

 
The bloc has a deal to purchase a minimum of 300 million doses from AstraZeneca, with an option for an additional 100 million, part of the drugmaker’s global commitments to supply more than 3 billion doses. Photo: Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) has delivered a fresh blow to the European Union’s (EU) mountain of woes after announcing that it plans to cut deliveries of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The reduction will see deliveries to the EU cut by 60% to 31 million doses in the first quarter of the year. It blamed production problems, meaning the number of initial available doses would be lower than expected.

The jab developed in coordination with Oxford University is already in widespread use in Britain but the bloc has yet to approve it. The EU is expected to make a decision by 29 January. So far, the bloc has approved vaccines made by Pfizer (PFE) /BioNTech (BNTX) and Moderna (MRNA).

The bloc has a deal to purchase a minimum of 300 million doses from AstraZeneca, with an option for an additional 100 million, part of the drugmaker’s global commitments to supply more than 3 billion doses.

It was expected to deliver around 80 million doses to the 27 EU nations by the end of March, an EU official told Reuters.

The drugmaker confirmed the decline in deliveries without specifying the magnitude of the shortfall.

An AstraZeneca spokesman said: “Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain.”

“We will be supplying tens of millions of doses in February and March to the European Union, as we continue to ramp up production volumes,” the spokesperson said in a written statement on Friday.

The UK-based drugmaker was also due to deliver more than 80 million doses in the second quarter of 2021, but it was not able to indicate delivery targets for the April-June period amid production issues.

Responding to the announcement, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Twitter (TWTR) that EU governments “expressed deep dissatisfaction with this.”

"We insisted on a precise delivery schedule on the basis of which Member States should be planning their vaccination programs, subject to the granting of a conditional marketing authorisation,” Kyriakides said.

She added that the EU Commission “will continue to insist with AstraZeneca on measures to increase predictability and stability of deliveries, and acceleration of the distribution of doses.”

It is the second drug manufacturer that has warned on supply issues. Last week Pfizer and BioNTech slowed shipments and distribution proceeds unevenly among EU states.

This meant that some nations' inoculation programmes were slowed due to the cuts. The drugmakers are retooling a site in Belgium to boost output.

While the coronavirus vaccines have been developed and approved across the globe at record speeds, distribution and deliveries have been slower to EU nations.

European countries have administered more than five million doses to citizens so far. The bloc aims to inoculate 70% of adults by the end of August this year. By Suban Abdulla, Yahoo News

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