A Peruvian ex-interior minister was complicit in the 1988 killing of Hugo Bustíos, a journalist who investigated human rights abuses, a court has found. The former minister, Daniel Urresti, has been sentenced to 12 years in jail. The court ruled that Urresti, who at the time was a military intelligence officer in the army, took part in the ambush and murder of Mr Bustíos. Lawyers for the politician said they would appeal against the verdict. Hugo Bustíos, a reporter for the weekly magazine Caretas, was killed at the height of the conflict between Peruvian security forces and rebels of the Maoist Shining Path group. The journalist reported on human rights abuses committed both by the rebels and the army in the Andean region of Ayacucho, one of the hardest hit by the armed conflict which left 69,000 people dead or disappeared. On the day of his killing, he was heading to investigate the killing of a villager and her son, reportedly by the Shining Path. He and a fellow journalist, Eduardo Rojas, were ambushed and shot at while they were making their way to the village by motorcycle. (BBC)…[+]

Ghana is the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine that has been described as a “world-changer” by the scientists who developed it. The vaccine – called R21 – appears to be hugely effective, in stark contrast to previous ventures in the same field. Ghana’s drug regulators have assessed the final trial data on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, which is not yet public, and have decided to use it. The World Health Organization is also considering approving the vaccine. Malaria kills about 620,000 people each year, most of them young children. It has been a massive, century-long, scientific undertaking to develop a vaccine that protects the body from the malaria parasite. Trial data from preliminary studies in Burkina Faso showed the R21 vaccine was up to 80% effective when given as three initial doses, and a booster a year later. But widespread use of the vaccine hinges on the results of a larger trial involving nearly 5,000 children.

A US appeals court has temporarily blocked a decision by a Texas judge to halt the government’s approval of a widely used abortion drug. Mifepristone – one of two drugs used for medication abortions – was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been allowed for over 20 years. Abortion pills are now the most common method of ending a pregnancy, used in more than half of all US abortions. This ruling means access to it will be maintained but with some restrictions. They include a requirement to visit one’s doctor to get the drug and limiting its use to the first seven weeks of pregnancy from the current 10. Critics of the ruling by Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk say it will open the door for challenges to other approved medicines in the US and could also stifle development of future drugs. In his 8 April ruling, Judge Kacsmaryk ordered pulling mifepristone from the market in seven days’ time, saying the FDA had violated federal rules that allowed for the accelerated approval of some drugs. The order was set to take effect on Friday. The Department of Justice and the drug manufacturer applied for an emergency stay on the ruling on Monday, asking the court to put a hold on the judge’s decision.(BBC)…[+]