The Know Daily - Tuesday 6 June 2023

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The city of Fortaleza, in north-east Brazil, has won a $1m sustainable transport prize with a plan to build more than 110 miles of protected cycle routes. The money was put up by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and projects in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Albania will also receive $400,000 in funding - we love!

⚖️ Harry at the High Court

Prince Harry is set to give evidence at the High Court for the first time today over alleged unlawful information gathering by journalists working for Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

First things first: what’s the case about?
Harry is suing the publisher, attempting to prove that their journalists were “linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called ‘blagging’ or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators, between 1996 and 2010,” Sky News explains. Harry is one of more than 100 high-profile figures who have accused MGN of using unlawful means to get stories.

The publisher is contesting the claims, either denying or not admitting them. It also argues that some of the claimants brought legal action too late.

What happened in court yesterday?
The trial has previously been focused on evidence relating to “generic” allegations against MGN, but on Monday lawyers for Prince Harry and MGN made their opening statements.

Harry’s lawyer said that there was “no time” in Harry’s life “when he was safe from this activity”. MGN’s lawyer later told the court that there was “no evidence to support a finding that any mobile phone owned or used by the Duke of Sussex was hacked”. While the publisher denies phone hacking in this case, it has previously admitted it did take place.

Harry did not attend yesterday’s court session. His lawyer explained that he had chosen to stay in Los Angeles for his daughter’s second birthday, “to the obvious annoyance of the judge”, reported The Guardian.

What’s happening today?
The Duke of Sussex is expected to appear in the witness box to answer questions on his allegations of phone hacking, in what Sky News describes as a “landmark appearance”. The last time a senior royal appeared in the witness box was in 1891, when Prince Edward was called to give evidence in a case about cheating at cards.

Harry is also bringing separate claims against two other publishers - News Group Newspapers (NGN) and Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) - over allegations of unlawful information gathering, which they have denied.

🔬 Bloody good news

A blood test that can detect more than 50 different types of cancer has shown “real promise” in a major new trial, according to researchers who hope that it could speed up diagnoses.

How effective is the test?
The Galleri blood test, which was being trialled by researchers at the University of Oxford, correctly revealed two out of every three cancers in more than 5,000 people who had visited their GP with suspected symptoms in England and Wales. Using traditional diagnostic methods such as scans and biopsies, 75% of those testing positive on the test were then found to have cancer, while 2.5% of those testing negative were found to have cancer.

The test was able to accurately predict 95% of advanced-stage tumours but only 24% of very early-stage cancers.

How does it work?
Some cancers are known to shed DNA into the blood well before someone starts showing symptoms - and the Galleri test detects these fragments of tumour DNA in the blood. “There are differences in the DNA of healthy cells and cancerous cells. The test aims to pick up these differences,” Cancer Research UK explains.

Why is this such a big deal?
Diagnosing cancer early means that there’s a greater chance of successful treatment - and the test is particularly good at finding harder-to-spot cancers, such as bowel, lung and throat.

“Earlier detection of cancer is vital and this test could help us to catch more cancers at an earlier stage and help save thousands of lives,” said the NHS’ national director for cancer.

What happens next?
Researchers have stressed that the test is very much a “work in progress” and is not accurate enough to definitively rule cancer in or out.

A separate NHS screening trial is currently underway and looking at the test in people who do not have cancer. Initial results are expected next year and, if successful, the NHS in England plans to extend the rollout to a further one million people.

🇺🇦 Ukraine latest: Zelenskyy’s government has accused Russia of blowing up part of the 3.2km-long Nova Kakhovka dam near Kherson and said residents who live downstream are being evacuated in the face of “catastrophic flooding”.

🚭 Vape warning: Children’s doctors have called for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes, warning that youth vaping is “fast becoming an epidemic among children”. A government consultation on vaping closes today.

🇦🇫 Afghanistan outrage: Nearly 80 primary schoolgirls in northern Afghanistan are believed to have been poisoned and hospitalised in two separate attacks, likely by someone with a “personal grudge”.

🥽 Apple Vision Pro launch: Apple has unveiled a £2,849 virtual reality headset - the company’s first major hardware launch for almost a decade. Updates to Apple’s MacBook Air, iPhone operating system and autocorrect feature were also announced by the tech firm.

🛒 Supermarket sweep: The UK’s cheapest supermarket has been named by Which? magazine, where 40 items cost £68.60 (compared to £86.91 for the same items from the most expensive). Which supermarket do you think took the crown?

Trivia answer: A) A psammophile is an organism which thrives in sandy soils - and we definitely wouldn’t have been able to spell it!

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