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Trial of Human Ebola Vaccine Begins as Virus Kills More

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A highly anticipated test of an experimental Ebola vaccine will begin this week, amid mounting anxiety about the deadly virus which is “spiraling out of control”.

The experimental Ebola vaccine is coming after an expedited review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which gave the green light to begin so-called human safety trial.

It will be the first test of this type of Ebola vaccine in humans.

The experimental vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

If deemed safe, it will then be given to another small group of volunteers, aged 18 to 50, to see if it produces a strong immune response to the virus. All will be monitored closely for side effects.

The vaccine will be administered to volunteers by an injection in the deltoid muscle of their arm, first in a lower dose, then later in a higher dose after the safety of the vaccine has been determined.

Some of the preclinical studies that are normally done on these types of vaccines were waived by the FDA during the expedited review, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, said that so “we want to take extra special care that we go slowly with the dosing.”

The vaccine did extremely well in earlier trials with chimpanzees, Fauci said.

He noted that the method being used to prompt an immune response to Ebola cannot cause a healthy individual to become infected with the virus.

Still, he said, “I have been fooled enough in my many years of experience… you really can’t predict what you will see (in humans).”

Elsewhere, Dr. Tom Frieden, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered his stark commentary to CNN a day after Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, voiced dissatisfaction with the world response so far.

“In a way, we feel saddened by the response,” President Sirleaf said.

More than 3,000 people have been infected by Ebola in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria since the first documented cases in December, according to the World Health Organization. At least 1,552 have died.
 
Making it worse, Frieden said, is how other countries have turned their backs on those coming from countries where the outbreak is strongest, even if they don’t realize it.

Measures to restrict flights and border crossings into the countries facing the outbreak were designed to contain the spread, but are having a paradoxical effect, he explained.

“This is making it really hard to get help in and to respond effectively to the outbreak,” he said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“What we’re seeing is a … hugely fast increase in cases that’s harder and harder to manage,” he said. “The more we can get in there and tamp that down, the fewer cases we’ll have in the weeks and months to come.”

The president of Doctors Without Borders sharply criticized what she called the “global coalition of inaction” for focusing on insulating their nations instead of helping those in Africa who need it most. Dr. Joanne Liu said centers run by her group have turned away sick because they are too full, as an ever-increasing number of people develop symptoms of Ebola.

“States with the required capacity have a political and humanitarian responsibility to come forward and offer a desperately needed, concrete response to the disaster unfolding in front of the world’s eyes … rather than limit their response to the potential arrival of an infected patient in their countries,” Liu said.

In her CNN interview, President Sirleaf of Liberia appealed for other nations to “please work as partners with us” by offering monetary, health care, logistical and other assistance, yes, but also by giving moral and personal support to a problem that’s affected millions already.


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Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after  SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk

Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.

The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.

Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.

SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.

The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.

The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.

Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.

The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.

The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.

Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.

Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.

Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”

“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.

SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.

The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.

Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.

The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.

Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.

Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.

The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.

Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.


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Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

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African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.

The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.

Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.

Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”

He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.

Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.

According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.

The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.

Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.


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Meet the 39-Year-Old Genius Replacing Oloyede at JAMB

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed 39‑year‑old Professor Segun Aina as the new Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), succeeding Professor Is‑haq Oloyede whose two‑term tenure expires on July 31, 2026.

Meet the 39-Year-Old Genius Replacing Oloyede at JAMB

Professor Segun Aina

Aina, who will turn 40 in July, will become the youngest registrar in JAMB’s history, marking a generational shift in the leadership of Nigeria’s premier tertiary‑admissions body.

In a statement issued in Abuja by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the new registrar was described as a distinguished academic and systems expert with extensive experience in national examination systems, digital infrastructure and public‑sector institutional reform.

A professor of Computer Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile‑Ife, Aina holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Kent, an MSc in Internet Computing and Network Security and a PhD in Digital Signal Processing, both from Loughborough University, United Kingdom. He also completed the Senior Management Programme at Lagos Business School.

His early career with JAMB began during his National Youth Service Corps scheme, where he gained foundational experience in national admissions and data‑driven institutional processes; those insights have since shaped his contributions to examination reform and systems optimisation.

At 39, Aina became one of Nigeria’s youngest professors of Computer Engineering and has advised federal and state governments on system design, digital transition and operational reform, while also consulting major examination bodies such as NECO and NABTEB on ICT systems and examination integrity.

He is a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

President Tinubu expects Aina to leverage his experience, knowledge and practical insight to further strengthen JAMB’s operations and to build on the achievements recorded under Professor Oloyede’s leadership.


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