- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
Studies to see if mutations behind monkeypox spread: WHO
Studies are under way to see whether genetic changes in the monkeypox virus are driving the rapid spread of the disease, the World Health Organization told AFP on Wednesday.
The two distinct clades, or variants, of the virus were called the Congo Basin (Central African) and West African clades, after the two regions where they are each endemic.
On Friday, the WHO renamed the groupings as Clade I and Clade II respectively, to avert the risk of geographic stigmatisation.
It also announced that Clade II had two sub-clades, IIa and IIb, with viruses within the latter identified as being behind the the current global outbreak.
On Wednesday, the UN health agency specified that Clades IIa and IIb are related and share a recent common ancestor -- therefore IIb is not an offshoot of IIa.
- Research into mutations -
Clade IIb contains viruses collected in the 1970s, and from 2017 onwards.
"Looking through the genome, indeed there are a few genetic differences between the viruses from the current outbreak and the older Clade IIb viruses," the WHO told AFP.
"However, nothing is known about the significance of these genetic changes, and research is ongoing to establish the effects (if any) of these mutations on transmission and disease severity.
"It is still early on in both the outbreak and laboratory studies to tell if the rise in infections could be driven by the observed genotypic changes in the virus, or are due to host (human) factors."
There is also no information yet on what the mutations mean in terms of how the virus interacts with the human immune response.
A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the endemic African countries.
The WHO declared the situation an international public health emergency on July 23.
More than 35,000 cases in 92 countries, and 12 deaths, have now been reported to the WHO.
Almost all new cases are being reported from Europe and the Americas.
Experts have been studying samples from cases.
"The diversity between the viruses responsible for the current outbreak is minimal, and there is no obvious genotypic differences between the viruses from the non-endemic countries," the WHO said.
- Renaming monkeypox could take months -
Meanwhile the WHO said its drive to rename monkeypox could take "a number of months".
The organisation has for weeks voiced concern about the name, with experts concerned that it is misleading.
Monkeypox received its name because the virus was originally identified in monkeys kept for research in Denmark in 1958.
However, the disease is found most frequently in rodents, and the current outbreak is being spread through human-to-human close contact.
The WHO has called for help from the public in coming up with a new name, with a dedicated website where anyone can make suggestions.
"We will update the public by the end of the year," the WHO said.
F.Bennett--AMWN