The robots built to clean up our nuclear mess

Britain on Thursday (November 4) granted conditional authorization for Drugmaker Merck's COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir, the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19. It reduced hospitalizations, and deaths by around 50% in people severely infected with the coronavirus, according to interim clinical trial results announced on October 1. Due to the strong positive results, the Phase 3 trial is being stopped early at the recommendation of an independent group of medical advisers.

It has been a year since Ethoipian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed triggered a civil war by sending in troops to the northern region of Tigray after local TPLF forces seized military bases there. The country is still mired in conflict.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday the government took accusations of corruption very seriously and would hold lawmakers to account, but added that the process of investigating politicians needed to be changed.

Britain has backed a $546 million Rolls-Royce funding round to develop the country's first small modular nuclear reactor, in a drive to reach net zero carbon emissions and promote new technology with export potential. Hitting this goal by 2050 will require a huge increase in low-carbon power generation such as wind, solar and nuclear, but while large-scale new nuclear projects have struggled for funding, Britain is now banking on smaller versions.

Armed men attacked a bilingual school in south-west Cameroon, killing at least four students and one teacher and leaving several others hospitalised. Meanwhile, Tunisia's waste crisis continues to anger residents in Agareb. Our correspondents met with people living next to a toxic trash dump.

In October last year, around a dozen armed men riding motorbikes attacked a bilingual school in Kumba, also in the Southwest, killing seven children aged nine to 12. A dozen other children were wounded, either by gunfire or machete.

The European Union wants member states to halt air travel with South Africa and several surrounding countries over a new coronavirus variant. Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic were all quick to react.

Russia is one of the countries with the lowest vaccination rates and highest Covid-19 death rates in the world. With just over 30 percent of the population vaccinated, the Russian authorities' vaccination campaign has been deemed a fiasco. And yet when Vladimir Putin announced the launch of the Sputnik V vaccine in summer 2020, it was supposed to "save humanity from Covid". More than a year later, the jab has still not arrived on the European market and the majority of Russians do not trust it.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said about 50 had died in his state alone, bringing the suspected death toll across ravaged states to 64. So far, 60 workers presumed dead at a candle factory were located.

Violence between fishing and herder communities has left at least 25 people dead in Cameroon's Far North region. Thousands of residents have fled to neighbouring Chad.

The conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region continues to escalate one year after breaking out. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called on civilians to take up arms against the Tigrayan forces and warned he would bury his enemies with blood.

An unknown number of people are killed in Ghana in a huge explosion that razed hundreds of buildings to the ground. The blast was caused by a truck carrying explosives which collided with a motorcycle. Also, at least 29 people in Liberia, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, have died in a stampede of worshippers at a Christian ceremony in Monrovia. And the big upset of the day at the Africa Cup of Nations saw Ivory Coast cruise past defending champions Algeria 3-1 to send them crashing out of the tournament.