Quad leaders to launch Cancer Moonshot initiative with focus on cervical cancer in Indo-Pacific
At this week’s leaders’ conference, the Quad grouping of Australia, the US, India, and Japan—will reveal an ambitious project to prevent, detect, and treat cancer, with an initial focus on cervical cancer throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Biden will serve as the host of the Quad Leaders' Summit, which will also be attended by PM Modi, Fumio Kishida of Japan, and Anthony Albanese of Australia.
The "Cancer Moonshot," which will be unveiled at a special event on the fringes of the Quad Leaders' Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21, was hailed by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Thursday as a "very significant" initiative that will bring a human element to the "otherwise geopolitically dominated" Quad agenda.
This is a top concern. The Quad hopes to apply cutting-edge techniques to prevent, detect, treat, and lessen the impact of cancer on patients and their families through this historic initiative, Misri said at a press conference prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US on Saturday. "Our initial goal is to work together to lessen the incidence of cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific area," he declared.
The Quad project seems to be designed to expand upon the Cancer Moonshot, which former US President Barack Obama started in 2016. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill brought the program back to life with the intention of averting over four million cancer-related deaths in the US by 2047 and enhancing the quality of life for those who are affected by the disease.
More than 95 new programs, policies, and resources have been made possible by the US Cancer Moonshot. Originally coined to describe the act of sending a spaceship to the moon, the term "moonshot" now denotes extremely difficult and creative initiatives.
According to Misri, the Quad will publish a separate factsheet on the Cancer Moonshot that will list all of the initiative's components. He continued by saying that a major focus of the Quad meeting's agenda will be achieving health security, public goods delivery, and sustainable development goals.
The Indo-Pacific region has long been the center of attention for the Quad. The organization came up with the audacious plan to provide one billion vaccination shots to nations in the Indo-Pacific region during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Quad extended this project in late 2022 to include study on pandemic and health emergency preparedness.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
