By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Researchers and scientists in South Africa on Tuesday launched clinical trials on the first domestically developed vaccine.

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The oral cholera vaccine, developed by the Cape Town-based pharmaceutical firm Biovac, is currently undergoing trials to determine its safety in adults and will be followed by trials to compare it to existing cholera vaccines that are already in the market.

Depending on the results, the vaccine could be approved and ready for use in Africa by 2028, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

The development of the vaccine has been praised as a significant milestone for vaccine access in the country and across the rest of the continent.

Motsoaledi said that while South Africa experienced relatively low levels of cholera, many countries in Africa often hit hard by outbreaks would greatly benefit. He said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how vulnerable African countries were to pandemics as they relied on imported vaccines.

South Africa often experiences cholera outbreaks due to cross-border movements. Other causes includes a lack of clean water in communities such as Hammanskraal, in the capital Pretoria, where provision of clean water remains a major problem.

A cholera outbreak in 2023 led to the death of 47 people and over 1,400 reported cases, but neighboring countries like Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have experienced far higher cases and deaths.

“When we can research, develop and manufacture vaccines locally, we reduce our vulnerability to supply chain disruptions, geopolitical pressures, international market competition and vaccine nationalism, which was apparent at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Motsoaledi.

The trials are being held in the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where cholera cases have previously been reported.

“This development addresses a critical, life-saving need, given the ongoing global shortages of the vaccine amid recurring cholera outbreaks,” said Biovac CEO Morena Makhoana.

Lerato Maleka, 44, who is one of the first participants in the clinical trial, said she enrolled because of the water issues in South Africa.

“I haven’t had cholera, but we know that sometimes they don’t maintain water and people died in Hammanskraal from cholera by drinking water, so I wanted to be safe from that,” said Maleka.

She said even though there had never been an outbreak where she lives in Diepkloof, Soweto, they often had to boil tap water as it was not clean.

Shadrack Makutu, 37, a resident from Limpopo province, is another participants who has previously experienced an outbreak in his village of Bushbuckridge.

“I do know people who share water with animals, so I know a few people who have been affected by this cholera,” said Makutu.

The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 4 million people around the world are affected by cholera every year, with between 21,000 and 143,000 people dying from it annually.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

LONDON (AP) — A Chinese woman who was found with 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) in Bitcoin after defrauding more than 128,000 people in China in a Ponzi scheme was sentenced by a U.K. court on Tuesday to over 11 years in prison.

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Police said the investigation into Zhimin Qian, 47, led to officers recovering devices holding 61,000 Bitcoin in the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the U.K.

Qian, dubbed “cryptoqueen” by British media, was arrested in April 2024 after spending years evading the authorities and living an “extravagant” lifestyle in Europe, staying in luxury hotels across the continent and buying fine jewelry and watches, prosecutors said.

Police said she ran a pyramid scheme that lured more than 128,000 people to invest in her business between 2014 and 2017, including many who invested their life savings and pensions. Authorities said she stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets.

When she attracted the attention of Chinese authorities, Qian fled to the U.K. under a fake identity. Once in London, police said she rented a “lavish” house for over 17,000 pounds ($23,000) per month, and tried but failed to buy multimillion pound properties in a bid to convert the Bitcoin.

Investigators found notes Qian had written documenting her aspirations — including her “intention to become the monarch of Liberland, a self-proclaimed country consisting of a strip of land between Croatia and Serbia.”

They said other notes showed Qian detailing her hopes of “meeting a duke and royalty.”

Judge Sally-Ann Hales said Qian was the architect of the crimes from start to finish.

“Your motive was one of pure greed. You left China without a thought for the people whose investments you had stolen and enjoyed for a period of time a lavish lifestyle. You lied and schemed, all the while seeking to benefit yourself,” Hales said.

The businesswoman, who had pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses and transferring and possessing criminal property, was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court.

She was sentenced alongside her accomplice Seng Hok Ling, 47, a Malaysian national who was accused of helping Qian transfer and launder the cryptocurrency. Ling was jailed at the same court for four years and 11 months after he pleaded guilty to one count of transferring criminal property.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned Tennessee Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger’s husband, who pleaded guilty more than a decade ago to health care fraud and other crimes and served time in federal prison.

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Robert Harshbarger Jr. was a licensed pharmacist in 2013 when he admitted substituting a cheaper drug imported from China that was not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the iron sucrose that the FDA had approved for kidney dialysis patients to use. He was sentenced to and served four years in prison.

Trump signed the pardon document on Friday, according to the website of the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice. It was among several pardons the Republican president issued, including to a former speaker of the Tennessee House and to former Major League Baseball slugger and New York Mets great Darryl Strawberry.

Trump last week also pardoned a former New York police sergeant who was convicted of helping China try to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland. On Monday, Trump pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows and many others accused of backing his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

A White House official on Tuesday defended the pardon for Harshbarger, saying that he was a victim of “excessive prosecution” and that the drug substitution he made was a common practice among pharmacists known as “compounding,” in which unapproved drugs are provided to patients based on their condition or for other reasons. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the reasoning behind Trump’s clemency decision.

Presidents have broad constitutional powers to grant pardons, which do not erase criminal convictions but can be seen as acts of justice or mercy, often in cases that can further public welfare.

Harshbarger turned to the Chinese drug due to a backlog of the iron sucrose drug, the White House official said. No patients were alleged to have been harmed by the substitution, and doctors seemed to prefer the drug Harshbarger gave them because it was easier to administer, the official said.

Prosecutors said that even though there were no reports of patients being harmed, Harshbarger’s substitution still put patients at risk since the FDA cannot assure the safety and effectiveness of products from other countries.

Harshbarger has served his sentence, the official said. He also was ordered to pay restitution, pay a fine and forfeit $425,000 in cash.

Rep. Harshbarger, who is also a licensed pharmacist, was first elected to the U.S. House in 2020 and has been a strong supporter of Trump. She spoke in support of Trump outside his hush money criminal trial in New York in 2024 and in other settings.

Trump has backed all of her congressional campaigns and offered her his “Complete and Total Endorsement” for reelection in 2026 in a Nov. 3 social media post.

She was not a member of Congress when her husband pleaded guilty in 2013 to one count of distributing a misbranded drug and one count of health care fraud.

Robert Harshbarger’s license was revoked in 2013 after the conviction, according to the website of the Tennessee Department of Health. The congresswoman remains licensed, the records show.

The congresswoman’s office in Washington did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment.

GENEVA (AP) — A blue diamond weighing nearly 10 carats has sold at auction in Switzerland for 20.5 million Swiss francs ($26.6 million) including fees.

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The pear-shaped 9.51-carat “Mellon Blue” — named for the late American arts patron Rachel “Bunny” Mellon — had been expected to fetch $20-$30 million at the Christie’s auction on Tuesday.

The house said the stone came in on the estimated range. The final price includes the “buyer’s premium” and other fees.

“Not the dazzling moment I expected,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of online jeweler 77 Diamonds. He said the gem was “tipped as the season’s headline act” but was weighed down by a broader market mood.

“Geopolitical tensions — from the war in Ukraine to Trump’s tariffs — and a weakened Chinese economy that kept many usual buyers away, left the room distinctly cautious,” he said in a statement.

Auctioneer Rahul Kadakia, chairman of the global luxury group at Christie’s, hailed a “notable moment” for his team, “evidencing the elite appetite among collectors for extraordinary and storied gems.”

It was a far cry from the peak sale for a blue diamond: Christie’s says its highest price for a vivid blue diamond was set in Geneva in 2016 when the 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue sold for more than $57 million.

The Mellon Blue was previously sold in 2014, the year that Mellon died, for $32.6 million, which was one of the highest prices ever paid for a colored diamond at auction, Christie’s says.

For decades, the stone was part of Mellon’s private collection.

Max Fawcett, Christie’s global head of jewelry, said the Mellon Blue was unlike the vast majority of other modern gems that have had facets added and been modified to enhance the color.

“When you have great shape and great color, you’re looking at the gem of gems,” he said Friday, noting the stone’s grade of Fancy Vivid Blue and Internally Flawless by the Gemological Institute of America. “That’s what this is.”

The auction was the first installment of two days of jewelry auctions in Geneva. On Wednesday, rival Sotheby’s is putting up the “Glowing Rose” pink diamond that’s expected to draw bids of around $20 million.