Second patient free of HIV in London
A global health milestone was replicated in London on Tuesday, March 5, as an adult man was functionally cured of HIV in an experimental research trial. This outcome is a result of a series of bone marrow transplants from an HIV-resistant donor, as well as rigorous stem cell treatments. This marked only the second time a patient has been deemed “functionally cured” of HIV. The first, an American man named Timothy Ray Brown, was declared in remission from HIV in Berlin in 2007, and is currently still living HIV-free.
Although there is hesitation to declare the man entirely cured, researchers have marked a three-week span in which the man has exhibited no evidence of the virus, giving hope that the treatment can be replicated for large scale distribution.
Huawei sues US over ban of its products
The Chinese tech giant Huawei sued the United States Government on Thursday. They claim that a law limiting the sale of its products in the U.S. is unconstitutional. They had previously filed a complaint against Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in a federal court in Texas. NDAA prohibits federal agencies and contractors from purchasing goods and services provided by Huawei and was signed into law by President Trump last year.
The U.S. has barred Huawei sales on the grounds that they are a state-controlled company rather than a private entity, and this confrontation marks the most recent dispute between the U.S. and China following the trade war that began in 2018. Additionally, Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada at the request of the U.S. government after U.S. prosecutors claimed that her company posed a threat to national security.
US and UK bombs kill nearly 1,000 in Yemen, report finds
The subject of arms sales recently sprung into the news as a University of Human Rights report noted substantial casualties in Yemen as a result of American and British weaponry sold to various players in the Arabian peninsula. According to the report, as many as 200 Yemeni civilians have been killed and well over 1,000 have been maimed or injured by the coalition led by Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni Civil War, a conflict that has devolved into a proxy war that has enticed other regional powers such as Iran to become involved.
The U.S. and U.K. are now reevaluating the sale of arms in this region as the general public becomes more aware of the situation surrounding brutal airstrikes and other indiscriminate attacks that have led to this massive casualty rate. The lack of precise targeting has become a major issue for those in opposition to the arms sales, as there is no means to guarantee that American and British arms are only being employed against militants. There is now potential debate in favor of ceasing arms sales to the region until civilian safety is prioritized.