- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
Biden announces cancer 'moonshot' relaunch to halve death rate
President Joe Biden on Wednesday will announce a relaunch of the government's cancer "moonshot" effort, with a goal of cutting the US death rate from the disease by half.
The so-called "moonshot" against cancer was first launched in 2016 with $1.8 billion in federal funds to be spread out over seven years. Only $400 million of that remains available to cover this year and 2023.
Biden, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46, spearheaded the original project as vice president under Barack Obama. He has talked emotionally about the pain that he and his wife Jill went through as they searched for solutions to their son's fatal illness.
Vice President Kamala Harris' mother, a breast cancer researcher, died of colon cancer in 2009.
Now, Biden and Harris are set to address a White House ceremony to "reignite" the initiative, whose name deliberately echoes the 1969 triumph of NASA landing the first humans on the Moon.
"Working together over the next 25 years, we will cut today’s age-adjusted death rate from cancer by at least 50 percent," the White House said in a statement.
While no new funding is being announced, "the president is going to set some very ambitious goals," a senior official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I am very confident that there will be robust funding going forward because, I've got to say, in these times of disagreements, there's certainly one thing on which we all agree, across party, across everything -- which is the effect of cancer on their lives. I know nothing that unites us more and that is more bipartisan."
The focus of the relaunch is to provide leadership in marshalling resources for a more united effort between patients, hospitals, biopharmaceutical companies and researchers. A White House Cancer Moonshot coordinator will be named and a cross-governmental cabinet will oversee goals, including expanding and reorganizing cancer screening networks.
Emphasis is also being put on addressing racial inequity in access to cancer care.
"Because of recent progress in cancer therapeutics, diagnostics, and patient-driven care, as well as the scientific advances and public health lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s now possible to set ambitious goals," the White House said.
"Taken together, these actions will drive us toward ending cancer as we know it today."
Already since 2000, the death rate from cancer among Americans has fallen by around 25 percent as a result of better treatments, diagnosis capabilities, therapeutics, vaccines and a halving in adult long-term cigarette smoking.
O.M.Souza--AMWN