Are anti-Covid vaccines in the sky? Medicine opens the Nobel season

The pioneers of fresh messenger RNA vaccines against Covid-19 or a duo of nonagenarians who have so far been forgotten? The Nobel Prize in Medicine opens the 2021 season of the famous awards with a wide range of possibilities. For the 120th anniversary of the awards, breakthroughs against breast cancer, experts in cell adhesion, new routes for treatments in rheumatology, champions of epigenetics or antibiotic resistance could also receive the laurels, according to experts surveyed by AFP. Two names stand out as much as they are debating speculations about the “physiology or medicine” prize: the Hungarian Katalin Kariko and the American Drew Weissman, pioneers of messenger RNA vaccines and professors at the American University of Pennsylvania. Their discoveries, published starting in 2005, paved the way for vaccines from the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna laboratories, which have already been injected into more than 1 billion people worldwide to protect them from Covid-19. And the technology is also the subject of promising developments against other diseases and viruses. Too early this year or essential given their “benefit to humanity”, a slogan set by the creator of the prizes, the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel (1833-1896

The offshore billions of dozens of executives exposed by a group of journalists

Several leaders, including the Czech Prime Minister, the King of Jordan or the presidents of Kenya and Ecuador, have hidden assets in offshore companies, including for tax evasion, according to an investigation published on Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The “Pandora Papers” investigation, in which around 600 journalists collaborated, is based on some 11.9 million documents, which come from 14 financial services companies, and uncovered more than 29,000 offshore companies. In total, links have been established by ICIJ between offshore assets and 336 top executives and policymakers, who have created nearly 1,000 companies, more than two-thirds of which are in the British Virgin Islands. According to these documents, King Abdullah II of Jordan has created at least thirty offshore companies, that is to say in countries or territories with advantageous taxation. Through these entities, he purchased 14 luxury properties in the United States and the United Kingdom, for more than 106 million dollars. As for the Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, he invested 22 million dollars in shell companies that were used to finance the purchase of Château Bigaud, a large property located in Mougins, in the south of France. The Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, has placed funds in two trusts whose headquarters are located in the United States, in South Dakota. Among the celebrities on display are also the Colombian singer Shakira, the German model Claudia Schiffer or the Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Also appearing are the names of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who purchased real estate in London through a foreign company, and the former French minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn

AT A GLANCE

The European champion, the Italian Sonny Colbrelli, won Paris-Roubaix on Sunday in his first participation, in this 118th edition, which was exceptionally muddy, in the rain and marked by numerous falls.

Ligue 1: Lille recorded its third consecutive league success by beating Marseille (2-0) and moved closer to the podium on Sunday on matchday 9.

End of series for Paris: beaten at Rennes 2-0, Lionel Messi and his teammates conceded their first defeat of the season in Ligue 1 while Marseille, orphan of Bernard Tapie, slipped to 5th place after losing 2-0 in Lille.

The 4-year-old German horse Torquator Tasso ridden by René Piechulek created a surprise by winning the 100th Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after a fight, becoming the new world champion in the 2,400 meter gallop.