Month: June 2017

Military-linked Business Enterprises Dominate in Cuba

Posted on by Coeco

American tourists strolling the ample squares and narrow streets of colonial Havana may not know it, but from novelist Ernest Hemingway’s famed Floridita bar to Sloppy Joe’s eatery, they are probably patronizing businesses owned by Cuba’s military.

It is that lucrative line of business that President Donald Trump will target when he rolls out his new Cuba policy Friday in Miami, the heart of the country’s hard-line exile community, according to U.S. officials who have seen a draft presidential memorandum.

Trump will significantly restrict U.S. companies from doing business with some military-linked enterprises, the officials said.

“Any ban on using military-owned tourism facilities would make it very difficult to bring groups larger than seven people, because for logistical reasons you need to work with the government,” said Collin Laverty, president of Cuba Educational Travel.

The number of Americans traveling to Cuba, mostly in large groups because of U.S. regulations, has nearly tripled in recent years and was expected to reach around 400,000 in 2017, according to U.S. travel agencies.

Trump’s expected limits on U.S. business deals will target the Armed Forces Business Enterprises Group (GAESA), a conglomerate involved in all sectors of the economy that is led by General Luis Alberto Rodriguez, reportedly President Raul Castro’s son-in-law.

That is bad news for the pro-engagement U.S. politicians and hundreds of businesses that flocked to Cuba in the last few years in search of new opportunities.

Lone hotel deal

The only hotel deal struck to date may prove the last for now, at least in the capital. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which is owned by Marriott International, signed on to manage a Gaviota hotel in Havana under the Sheraton brand, which opened in 2016.

Gaviota is part of GAESA, and tourism development projects in Havana and other choice locations are almost exclusively in its hands.

U.S. Gulf Coast ports and the Port of Virginia, which have signed letters of intent to work with the new Mariel container terminal, will most likely have to look elsewhere for shipping partners because it is controlled by Almacenes Universales, another GAESA company.

The terminal feeds a surrounding Chinese-style development zone that allows investors 100 percent ownership and that was visited by dozens of U.S. business delegations beginning in 2015, though no deals were signed. It also is controlled by Almacenes Universales.

GAESA does not run Cuba’s airports, or its cruise ship terminals, meaning U.S. airlines and cruise operators might not be directly affected, but it does control the marinas.

All the state hotels, stores and eateries in colonial Old Havana are owned by Habaguanex, which was recently taken over from the city historian’s office by GAESA.

GAESA began modestly enough in the 1980s as an effort to bring modern management to the civilian sector mired in the ways of Soviet-style administration.

It has grown dramatically over the last decade since Raul Castro took over for his ailing and now deceased older brother, Fidel.

Today GAESA boasts dozens of companies that control 40 percent to 60 percent of the Caribbean island’s foreign exchange earnings, according to Cuban economists.

GAESA’s books, like those of other state-run companies, are not public.

Military’s self-interest

Some Cuba experts and diplomats believe the military is feathering its own nest and perhaps preparing to cash in if the government falls.

But others believe revenues flow to the cash-strapped state.

A former British ambassador to Cuba, Paul Hare, who lectures at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies, said the military was viewed as a guardian of the Revolution.

“Their function is to ensure that private Cubans and foreign investors do not undermine the principles of ‘socialism,’ ” he said.

The holding company controls virtually all of the thousands of stores, supermarkets and malls in the country that sell imported products ranging from food and beverages to clothing and appliances, and hundreds of gas stations and eateries.

That means when you enter a shop in Cuba to purchase a bottle of water, soda or beer, you probably are patronizing a military establishment.

If you want to rent a condominium or satellite TV service, you have to go through a GAESA company.

The holding company also controls two banks and all credit card and money transfer transactions through Fincimex. RAFIN, the conglomerate’s mini-hedge fund, owns shares in the telecommunications monopoly ETECSA.
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Study: Three Mutations Could Make Bird Flu a Potential Pandemic

Posted on by Cosc

Scientists have identified three mutations that, if they occurred at the same time in nature, could turn a strain of bird flu now circulating in China into a potential pandemic virus that could spread among people.

The flu strain, known as H7N9, now mostly infects birds but it has infected at least 779 people in outbreaks in and around China, mainly related to poultry markets.

The World Health Organization said earlier this year that all bird flu viruses need constant monitoring, warning that their constantly changing nature makes them “a persistent and significant threat to public health.”

At the moment, the H7N9 virus does not have the capability to spread sustainably from person to person. But scientists are worried it could at any time mutate into a form that does.

To assess this risk, researchers led by James Paulson of the Scripps Research Institute in California looked at mutations that could potentially take place in the genome of the H7N9 virus.

They focused on the H7 hemagglutanin, a protein on the flu virus surface that allows it to latch onto host cells.

The team’s findings, published in the journal PLoS Pathogens on Thursday, showed that in laboratory tests, mutations in three amino acids made the virus more able to bind to human cells — suggesting these changes are key to making the virus more dangerous to people.

Scientists not directly involved in this study said its findings were important, but should not cause immediate alarm.

“This study will help us to monitor the risk posed by bird flu in a more informed way, and increasing our knowledge of which changes in bird flu viruses could be potentially dangerous will be very useful in surveillance,” said Fiona Culley, an expert in respiratory immunology at Imperial College London.

She noted that while “some of the individual mutations have been seen naturally, … these combinations of mutations have not,” and added: “The chances of all three occurring together is relatively low.”

Wendy Barclay, a virologist and flu specialist also at Imperial, said the study’s findings were important in showing why H7N9 bird flu should be kept under intense surveillance.

“These studies keep H7N9 virus high on the list of viruses we should be concerned about,” she said. “The more people infected, the higher the chance that the lethal combination of mutations could occur.”
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Video Game Helps Unlock Animal Vision, Camouflage Secrets

Posted on by Cosc

Like many online video games, the one developed by scientists at the University of Exeter challenges players to quickly find hidden objects, but with a twist. They’re not looking for gold or swords or magical mirrors in an imaginary universe, but for birds in real photos. And everyone who plays “Where is that Nightjar” is contributing to a study of animal vision.

Nightjars are ground-nesting birds, whose mottled feathers help them disappear into the fallen leaves and twigs where they lay their eggs. They are hunted by a variety of predators and rely on their camouflage for their survival.

Some predators, such as mongooses, are color-blind and cannot see reds and greens. They are called dichromats. Others, like baboons and humans, are trichromats, and can see a wider range of colors. Researchers wanted to know how color vision affected an animal’s ability to find camouflaged prey.

“A huge number of mammals are dichromats,” ecologist Jolyon Troscianko explains. “But it does not take a huge evolutionary leap to develop this third color channel. So it is surprising that this has not happened more often in nature, suggesting there could be some advantage to being a dichromat.”

The game uses actual photos of nightjars, manipulated so the images appear as they would through the eyes of a dichromat predator, and also as we would see them. People could choose to play as a trichromat or a dichromat, and they had just 30 seconds to try to find each camouflaged bird.

After 30,000 volunteers played the game, the researchers got some surprising results, published in Behavioural Ecology.

Scientists assumed that dichromats, which are better at differentiating between light and shadow, would be better at finding camouflaged prey. But the trichromat competitors found the birds and their eggs faster, at first. Troscianko says as the game progressed, the dichromats improved faster, and were performing equally well by the end of the game.

“That shows that there is a huge element of learning, which has previously been largely ignored in the importance of camouflage. But if a predator in the wild is learning to try to find one type of prey, one type of camouflage faster than another, that could actually change the whole dynamics of an ecosystem where there is now a disadvantage to having a camouflage type that is easily learned by predators over time.”

The Exeter Sensory Ecology Group has also developed games to study camouflage in other animals, like crabs and moths.
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Indonesia Plows Ahead on Fisheries Protection, Despite Resource Constraints

Posted on by Coeco

Foreign fishing in Indonesian waters has long been a concern for the government, for which it has recently taken a literally explosive approach: blowing up illicit fishing boats. But the country’s wildly popular Minister of Marine Affairs lobbied the United Nations last week to declare illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF) an organized crime, signaling growing frustration and a new approach from Jakarta.

That said, even if the U.N. takes this step, Indonesia faces an uphill battle in protecting its fisheries. As the world’s largest archipelagic nation, it has somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000 islands and many kilometers of unsecured coastline. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo created a task force to address illegal fishing in October 2015, which reports directly to him and gives the Navy, the National Police and the Maritime Security Agency wide jurisdiction to deter illegal fishing by any means necessary.

But the fleet and law enforcement personnel are still small given the scale of the problem, which costs Indonesia, by one estimate, $3 billion a year.

Surprisingly empowered task force

Task forces, or “Satgas” (satuan tugas in Bahasa Indonesia) are almost a punchline in Indonesian governance because they are created for a wide variety of issues and often with unclear mandates. But the fishing task force feels different, according to Mas Achmad Santosa, head of the IUUF Fisheries Task Force.

“This is the first time for Indonesians that the president has set up a task force and it actually works well,” Santosa told VOA. “Every element needed for enforcement is there: investigators [from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fishery, Marine Police, Coast Guard, and Navy], prosecutors under the attorney general’s office, and several experts from fields like money laundering and environmental law.”

There are about 60 dedicated members of this task force, but they work closely with the above institutions so their effective numbers are larger, Santosa said.

The task force only directly prosecutes cases with “elements of serious crime,” said Santosa, and they have prosecuted 42 such cases over the last year.

“But our fleet is far from sufficient, we must admit,” Santosa said. “Compared to our oceans, which are huge, the technology is limited.” They only have four patrol boats, for instance.

Since Jokowi took office in 2014, Indonesia has blown up over 300 illegal fishing boats, taking out 81 near Ambon over a single weekend last April. The eye-catching strategy has become something of a local tourist attraction. Its symbolic impact, though, could be larger.

“Blowing up boats is just one of our treatments. But we hope it creates a general deterrent effect,” Santosa said.

Charismatic leader

Indonesia’s Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, known as “Bu Susi,” is a high school dropout turned entrepreneur with a knack for viral photo opportunities (smoking on a paddleboard, sleeping in an airport) and a no-nonsense style that has raised the profile of her relatively obscure ministry.

“It’s very important to have a strong leader, and she is a person of integrity who leads by example,” Santoso said.

Foreign fishing is concentrated in Maluku, Sumatra, and the Indian Ocean, according to the maritime ministry. Beyond that, there are also illicit Indonesian vessels that engage in what Santoso calls “unsustainable fishing that will destroy ecosystems.” So international cooperation is not a silver bullet;  the task force’s inroads on domestic fishing will be equally important, and somewhat harder to attack in such a spectacular manner.

Domestic agenda

The Peoples Coalition for Fishery Justice (KIARA) has urged the maritime ministry to revise regulations that they say hinder the development of the local fishing industry.

“Today the biggest challenge faced by coastal communities, especially fishermen, is the investment from and development through foreign capital,” KIARA secretary-general Susan Herawati Romica told VOA. For instance, she said, on the island of Gili Sunut, Lombok, there are 109 households who have been displaced by construction on a Singaporean beach resort to more dangerous cliffside areas.

“Today, 90 percent of Indonesian fishermen are traditional fishermen with vessels that average below 10 gross tons,” she said. “They rely heavily on marine and coastal areas, but they still face major challenges in accessing the coast.”

According to KIARA data, there have been at least 34 recent cases of mine reclamation or development that have displaced local communities. “To that end, we say, if the country wants to push fisheries to provide the maximum benefit to coastal communities, then access to the sea [for local communities] should be guaranteed by the state.”
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Footsteps Through the Ancient Past in New Mexico

Posted on by Corts

Strolling through a tranquil landscape of lush meadows and meandering streams in northern New Mexico, it was hard for national parks traveler Mikah Meyer to imagine that this area was once rocked by a violent force of nature.

1.25 million years ago, a supervolcano blew its top, creating a 21-kilometer wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera.

“It really is this gorgeous bowl of pure grass, with mountains on every side, and it’s a stunning thing to look at, [especially] coming from the rest of New Mexico that is so mountainous everywhere, and so dry,” Mikah said.

The ancient land where ancestral natives once lived is one of the newest sites to be protected by the National Park Service. Today, Valles Caldera National Preserve is home to an abundance of wildlife, including the second largest elk population in New Mexico as well as Gunnison prairie dogs, coyotes, badgers, black bears, Eastern mountain bluebirds, golden eagles and bobcats.

Grueling journey to engineering wonders

People often say that it’s the journey that matters more than the destination, but that certainly wasn’t the case as Mikah made his way northwest to the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

According to the young traveler, who’s one-third of the way through his quest to visit all 417 national park sites within the U.S., this was the hardest park to get to so far.

“It was 20-some miles of rough, rough gravel roads — I mean I easily was going 4-5 miles per hour and even then the van was shaking and it was probably the worst experience I’ve had accessing a park.”

But he realized the rough ride was worth it, once he arrived at his destination.

“The park itself was really gorgeous…beautiful canyons with valleys, lots of ancient ruins, lots of historical and cultural and spiritual significance of the Chaco culture and the Chaco people and the natives of today and how they got there.”

Chaco has approximately 4,000 prehistoric archaeological sites, including 16 “great houses” — the largest, best preserved, and most complex prehistoric architectural structures in North America. Altogether, the park’s prehistoric and historic archaeological sites represent more than 10,000 years of human cultural history in Chaco Canyon.

In addition to its remarkably well-preserved structures, the park is also known for its spectacular night skies. On August 19, 2013, Chaco Culture distinguished itself by becoming the world’s newest International Dark Sky Park (IDSP), one of only four National Park sites to receive this distinction.

According to the International Dark-Sky Association, the designation is given to “a land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment.”

In recognition of its rich archaeological resources, Chaco Culture National Historical Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Ancient footprints

Aztec Ruins National Monument, also in northwestern New Mexico, was not as spectacular as Chaco Culture. But Mikah said it was easy to get to.

“It’s just a very tiny site with an old ruins of the native people that lived there, so not the most magnificent site but a nice addition to help better understand the native culture that is shared partially by the historical park.”

While it may be small, the National Park Service refers to the site as “the footprint of Ancestral Pueblo society,” because it was one of the largest communities in this region.

One of the excavated buildings is the large, 900-year-old ancestral Pueblo Great House, which many believe was used for ceremonial or social purposes. It has more than 400 rooms.

Mikah strolled the kilometer-long trail through the ruins, exploring intact doorways and rooms, and visited a reconstructed Great Kiva, a room Puebloans would have used for religious rituals and political meetings.

As he reflected on his multi-day journey through this stark but charming area of the American southwest, Mikah said he enjoyed learning about the region’s rich and ancient history through the many natural and man-made wonders that are being preserved for all to enjoy.

“The name of New Mexico is Land of Enchantment and it’s a really great moniker because it is a state of such varied landscapes,” he said. “From Carlsbad Caverns to White Sands National Monument, to the Gila Cliffs…” and the 12 others that he visited, “it’s just such a diverse state with so much candy for the eye that it really should not be overlooked by any traveler.”

Mikah invites you to learn more about his travels across America by visiting him on his website, Facebook and Instagram.
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No Longer the Hot New Thing? Teen Vaping Falls, Study says

Posted on by Cosc

Teen vaping, which has been skyrocketing, fell dramatically last year in the United States.

 

A government survey released Thursday suggests the number of high school and middle school students using electronic cigarettes fell to 2.2 million last year, from 3 million the year before.

 

Health officials have worried about the booming popularity of vaping products among kids and the potential impact on adult smoking rates in the future.

 

“It certainly is a public health win,” said Brian King, an expert on smoking and health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

It’s the first decline CDC has reported in teen vaping since the agency began tracking it in 2011. The findings echo a recent University of Michigan survey, which also detected a decline in 2016.

 

It’s unclear why teen vaping fell last year, and it’s too soon to know if the numbers will continue to drop.

One possibility may be a growing push to ban sale of e-cigarettes to minors, including a federal regulation that took effect in August. Another may be the influence of ad campaigns by the government and other organizations to discourage kids from smoking, the CDC said.

 

E-cigarettes may also be losing their novelty among teens, said Matthew Farrelly, a tobacco control researcher at RTI International.

 

Studies suggest many kids who vape use the products less often than kids who smoke cigarettes — a sign that vaping seems to be more social and experimental, some experts said.

 

“These products were new and novel and now we’re starting to see that change,” said Robin Koval, president of Truth Initiative, a public health education organization that runs anti-tobacco ads.

 

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that provide users with aerosol puffs that can contain nicotine. Research has found kids like to vape flavorings like strawberry and bubble gum, though often in nicotine-free versions.

 

They’re generally considered a less dangerous alternative to regular cigarettes. But health officials have warned nicotine in e-cigarettes is harmful to developing brains.

 

The CDC study is based on a questionnaire filled out annually by about 20,000 students in grades 6 through 12. It focused on “current users” — kids who said they had used a tobacco product within the 30 days before they answered the survey.

 

It found an overall decline in use of vaping devices, traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products. Based on the survey responses, the CDC estimates that the number of middle and high school students using tobacco products fell to 3.9 million last year, from 4.7 million the year before.

 

Adolescent cigarette smoking has been falling for many years, but the decline in e-cigarette and hookah use was more remarkable.

 

In 2011, 1.5 percent of high school students said they’d recently vaped. That jumped to 16 percent in 2015, and it’s become more common than cigarette smoking. But it dropped to about 11 percent last year, the CDC said.

 

For middle school students, about 5 percent said they’d recently vaped in 2015. That fell to about 4 percent last year, the study found.
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New HIV Infections Climb Among Young Women in South Africa

Posted on by Cosc

Among the people socializing in a tavern in Alexandra township in Johannesburg is Karabo Sathekge, who asked that VOA not give her real name. She is a slight, attractive 19-year-old in a veil of an orange dress, defying the winter chill.

Sathekge often meets one of her partners here. He is more than twice her age.

Sathekge explains that sex with older men is sometimes “rough,” and always without a condom.

South Africa has almost 7 million people living with HIV and manages the globe’s largest antiretroviral program, keeping about 4 million people alive with the drugs. At the South African National AIDS Conference in Johannesburg this week, specialists voiced their concern about the spiking rates of infections among young women, a trend reflected throughout the continent.

“What does it tell you about the lack of knowledge about HIV, 20, 30 years into the HIV epidemic?” said Mark Heywood, the director of the Section 27 social justice movement. “We have seen, shockingly, a decline in knowledge of HIV amongst young people. It is like we have taken our foot off the accelerator, in certain respects.”

Heywood says more than 200 young women, ages 15 to 24, are infected with HIV each day in South Africa.

In 2015, that demographic accounted for the largest segment of new HIV infections in South Africa and a disproportionate number of new cases in the region. Adolescent and young women made up a quarter of the new cases in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS most recent global report.

UNAIDS says adolescent and young women in Africa are at “particularly high risk” for a variety of reasons, such as poverty, lack of education and violence.

Like Sathekge, many poor young women in South Africa have “transactional” sexual relationships with older men who have jobs and money. The men buy them food, clothes and gifts.

Health care workers in South Africa say transactional sex is a key driver of the new infections among young women in the country.

Heywood is at the forefront of protests to demand the government make a new weapon against HIV infection available to young women. That weapon is a combination of antiretroviral drugs called “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” or Prep. Taken correctly, the pill can prevent people from getting HIV.

Heywood says the state could afford to give the drugs to young women for free.

“If you have literally tens of billions of rand being stolen every year out of different government departments, that is money that could be generating programs that reduce the vulnerability of young women,” he said. “But there has to be a [political] will.”

South Africa’s health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, says he plans to provide Prep to young women in about two to three years, after educating them about the pill. It must be taken at about the same time every day, and ideally is used with condoms.

However, Heywood says Motsoaledi’s “innovative” policies to prevent new HIV infections are likely to stall, as Motsoaledi has been politically isolated after publicly opposing President Jacob Zuma over Zuma’s alleged corruption.
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Phone App Helps Doctors With Talks About Opioids

Posted on by Cosc

A phone app is helping doctors have difficult conversations with patients about lowering doses of opioids.

Primary care doctors prescribe nearly half the opioids dispensed in the U.S. They’re increasingly being called upon to stem the flow of the highly addictive pills into medicine cabinets. That means writing lower-dose or shorter-term prescriptions for some patients, helping others taper off high doses and refusing opioids entirely to others.

The shift enrages some patients.

“People will blow up. We have to call security. They can get very mean,” said Dr. Ashley Ruby, a Philadelphia family physician.

U.S. public health officials developed an app to help doctors practice a technique called motivational interviewing. It’s part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s opioid guidelines app, which also has a dosage calculator and a copy of the first national prescribing guidelines.

The app, released in December, includes these tips for doctors:

— Ask open-ended questions. This increases the patient’s involvement in the discussion and allows for more meaningful conversation. For example: “What are some of your goals as we manage your pain?”

— Reflect. Reflective listening helps the patient feel understood. For example: “It sounds like you miss being able to play with your grandchildren.”

— Express empathy. “A lot of people are concerned about managing their pain if the amount of opioids is decreased.”

— Evoke “change talk.” “What would you like to see different about your life right now?”

— Develop discrepancies. Help patients see the difference between their current behavior and their goals. “You’ve told me that exercise helps you have more energy and reduces stiffness. Why do you think it’s been hard for you to get more active?”

— Provide affirmation. “I am glad to see your endurance is improving with physical therapy. Keep it up!”

In the app, doctors can try a hypothetical conversation with a virtual patient. Red messages (which indicate the doctor should “try again”) or green  messages (which indicate a correct response) pop up after the doctor picks what to say next.
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From Bleeps of ‘Pong’ and ‘Mario,’ Game Music Comes of Age

Posted on by Cobiz

The electronic bleeps and squawks of “Tetris,” “Donkey Kong” and other generation-shaping games that you may never have thought of as musical are increasingly likely to be playing at a philharmonic concert hall near you.

From the “ping … ping”  of Atari’s 1972 ground-breaking paddle game “Pong,” the sounds, infectious ditties and, with time, fully-formed orchestral scores that are an essential part of the sensory thrill for gamers have formed a musical universe. With its own culture, sub-cultures and fans, game music now thrives alone, free from the consoles from which it came.

When audiences pack the Philharmonie de Paris’ concert halls this weekend to soak in the sounds of a chamber orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra performing game music and an homage to one of the industry’s stars, “Final Fantasy” Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu, they will have no buttons to play with, no characters to control.

Music triggers nostalgia

 

They’re coming for the music and the nostalgia it triggers: of fun-filled hours spent on sofas with a Game Boy, Sonic the Hedgehog and the evergreen Mario.

“When you’re playing a game you are living that music every day and it just gets into your DNA,” says Eimear Noone, the conductor of Friday’s opening two-hour show of 17 titles, including “Zelda,” “Tomb Raider,” “Medal of Honor” and other favorites from the 1980s onward.

“When people hear those themes they are right back there. And people get really emotional about it. I mean REALLY emotional. It’s incredible.”

Dating the birth of game music depends on how one defines music. Game music scholars — yes, they exist — point to key milestones on the path to the surround-sound extravaganzas of games today.

Game music remix

The heartbeat-like bass thump of Taito’s “Space Invaders” in 1978, which got ever faster as the aliens descended, caused sweaty palms and was habit-forming.

Namco’s “Pac-Man,” two years later, whetted appetites with an opening musical chirp. For fun, check out the 2013 remix by Dweezil Zappa, son of Frank, and game music composer Tommy Tallarico. Their take on the tune speaks to the sub-culture of remixing game music, with thousands of redos uploaded by fans to sites like ocremix.org — dedicated, it says, “to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form.”

 

Based on the Russian folk song “Korobeiniki,” the music of the 1984 game “Tetris” has similarly undergone umpteen remixes — including “Tetris Meets Metal,” with more than 2.2 million views on YouTube.

Fame for Kondo

By 1985, the can’t-not-tap-along-to-this theme of “Super Mario Bros.,” the classic adventure of plumber Mario and his brother Luigi, was bringing fame for composer Koji Kondo, also known for his work on “Legend of Zelda.” Both are on the bill for the “Retrogaming” concert in Paris. Kondo was the first person Nintendo hired specifically to compose music for its games, according to the 2013 book, “Music and Game.”

Noone, known herself for musical work on “World of Warcraft,” “Overwatch” and other games, says the technological limitations of early consoles — tiny memories, rudimentary chips, crude sounds — forced composers “to distill their melodies down to the absolute kernels of what melodic content can be, because they had to program it note by note.”

 

But simple often also means memorable. Think “da-da-da-duh” — the opening of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

‘It speaks to people’

“That is part of the reason why this music has a place in people’s hearts and has survived,” Noone says of game tunes. “It speaks to people.”

She says game music is where movie music was 15 years ago: well on its way to being completely accepted.

 

“I predict that in 15 years’ time it will be a main staple of the orchestral season,” she says. “This is crazy to think of: Today, more young people are listening to orchestral music through the medium of their video game consoles than have ever listened to orchestral music.”

She still sometimes encounters snobbism from orchestras: “They saw ‘Pong’ once and that’s video game music to them, you know?”

‘The Rolling Stones’

But “halfway through the first rehearsal, their attitude has changed,” she adds. “And then when they walk out on stage and the audience treats them like they’re The Rolling Stones.”

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first game-music concert: The Tokyo Strings Ensemble performed “Dragon Quest” at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall in August 1987. Now there are six touring shows of symphonic game music, Noone says.  

 

“This is just the best way, the most fun way to introduce kids to the instruments of the orchestra,” she adds. “It may be the first time ever they are that close to a cellist, and that’s really exciting for me.”
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Facebook Uses Artificial Intelligence to Fight Terrorism

Posted on by Cobiz

Facebook has revealed it is using artificial intelligence in its ongoing fight to prevent terrorist propaganda from being disseminated on its platform.

“We want to find terrorist content immediately, before people in our community have seen it,” read the message posted Thursday. “Already, the majority of accounts we remove for terrorism we find ourselves. But we know we can do better at using technology — and specifically artificial intelligence — to stop the spread of terrorist content on Facebook.”

The company has been under increasing pressure from governments around the world to do a better job of removing posts made by terrorists

Some of the roles AI plays involve “image matching” to see if an uploaded image matches something previously removed because of its terrorist content.

“Language understanding,” the company says, will allow it to “understand text that might be advocating for terrorism.”

AI, Facebook says, is also useful for identifying and removing “terrorist clusters.”

“We know from studies of terrorists that they tend to radicalize and operate in clusters,” according to the blog post. “This offline trend is reflected online as well. So when we identify pages, groups, posts or profiles as supporting terrorism, we also use algorithms to “fan out” to try to identify related material that may also support terrorism.”

Facebook said AI has helped identify and remove fake accounts made by “repeat offenders.” It says it has already reduced the time fake accounts are active.

However, the company does not rely completely on AI.

“AI can’t catch everything,” it said. “Figuring out what supports terrorism and what does not isn’t always straightforward, and algorithms are not yet as good as people when it comes to understanding this kind of context.

“A photo of an armed man waving an ISIS flag might be propaganda or recruiting material, but could be an image in a news story. Some of the most effective criticisms of brutal groups like ISIS utilize the group’s own propaganda against it. To understand more nuanced cases, we need human expertise.”
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Reports: US Job Market Stronger, But Credit Card Bills Rising

Posted on by Coeco

New data show the U.S. job market becoming a bit stronger, while credit card costs are increasing for American consumers.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department says the number of newly-laid off workers signing up for assistance fell 8,000 last week to a nationwide total of 237,000. Experts say any level below 300,000 indicates strong demand for workers and a healthy job market.  Jobless claims have been under this benchmark now for well over two years, the longest streak since 1970.

On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank cited the improving job market as evidence that the economy no longer needs the boost it has been receiving from ultra-low interest rates. The Federal Reserve increased the key interest rate by a quarter of a percent. It is the latest in a series of gradual increases intended to bring interest rates closer to the average rates seen over the past few decades.

While economists say the increases are a vote of confidence in the economy, higher rates also raise costs for consumers who have run up credit card bills. The business group WalletHub says U.S. consumer credit card debt will likely exceed $1 trillion this year, a record high. The company says that means a quarter of a percentage point interest rate hike will cost consumers an extra $1.5 billion this year.

Wednesday’s action is the latest of several rate increases, and if all the higher costs are tallied, the bill for consumers will be $6 billion more this year than it would have been in the past.
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US Senate Approves Russia Sanctions

Posted on by Coeco

The U.S. Senate voted 98-2 Thursday to approve sweeping sanctions against Russia and make it harder for President Donald Trump to ease punitive measures against Moscow.

“We have no time to waste,” said Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. “The United States of America needs to send a strong message to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and any other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy.”

“We must not allow this kind of interference in our elections become a normal process,” said Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

Adopted overwhelmingly as an amendment to an Iran sanctions bill, the measure targets Russia’s cyber espionage entities, energy sector, financial interests, and the flow of Russian weaponry to war zones like Syria.

“It expands the list of where sanctions can apply to the energy projects and foreign financial institutions,” said Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It provides for actors undermining cyber security being subject to sanctions. It provides sanctions against suppliers of Russian arms to Syria. It’s comprehensive.”

The measure also asserts a role for Congress if the White House opts to ease any sanctions against Moscow.

“The president can’t remove a sanction until he’s given Congress notice and an opportunity to review,” Cardin said. “We can have congressional hearings, we can put a spotlight on it. And then we have an expedited process where we could reject the president’s decision to give relief. And all during that process, the sanctions remain in place.”

The Trump administration reportedly is weighing the return of Russian compounds on U.S. soil seized by the Obama administration, and the president has repeatedly expressed a desire for better relations with Moscow while downplaying the impact of Russia’s cyber activities.

“It’s particularly significant that a bipartisan coalition is seeking to reestablish Congress, not the president, as the final arbiter of sanctions relief,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.

McCain described existing punitive measures against Russia as “modest” and “reversible at the discretion of the president.”

“We must take our own side in this fight, not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans,” McCain said.

The White House has not said if Trump would sign or veto the legislation, which would have to be passed by the House of Representatives before it could go to the president‘s desk. Testifying this week on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged the need to take action against Russia but warned against measures that would cut off dialogue with Moscow.

“We would ask for the flexibility to turn the heat up when we need to, but also to ensure that we have the ability to maintain a constructive dialogue,” Tillerson said.

The underlying bill imposed new sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program and support for international terrorism. Lawmakers of both parties stressed the measures in no way target Iran’s nuclear program or the landmark international nuclear accord with Tehran.

“We see destabilizing act after destabilizing act [by Iran], from missile launches to arms transfers to terrorist training to illicit financial activities to targeting Navy ships and detaining American citizens,” said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee.

“It’s past time for us to take steps to protect the interests of the United States and our allies. This bill is the first time Congress has come together since the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, to do just that,” Corker added.

“This bill will impose sanctions on Iran for its non-nuclear violations,“ Cardin said. “The debate we have here is on the non-nuclear activities of Iran that violate international norms and international agreements.”

 
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Trump Orders More Cash, Industry Input, for Apprenticeships

Posted on by Coeco

President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered more money and a bigger role for private companies in designing apprenticeship programs meant to fill some of the 6 million open jobs in the U.S.

 

Trump signed an executive order to roughly double to $200 million the taxpayer money spent on learn-to-earn programs. The money would come from existing job training programs. The executive order would leave it to industry to design apprenticeships under broad standards to be set by the Labor Department.

 

“We’re training people to have great jobs and high paying jobs,” Trump said at a White House ceremony. “We’re here today to celebrate the dignity of work and the greatness of the American worker.”

 

Trump is directing the government to review and streamline some 43 workforce programs across 13 agencies. Senior administration officials have said Trump was reluctant to spend more federal funds on apprenticeships, so the boost would come from existing money, perhaps from the streamlining process. The officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity to preview Trump’s order.

 

Companies have long complained that they can’t find trained people to fill highly technical jobs, and apprenticeship programs have sprung up around the country. Companies now have to register with the Labor Department and adhere to government guidelines.

 

There are about 500,000 apprenticeship positions in the U.S.

 

Trump had campaigned on creating jobs. The executive order addresses the nation’s “skills gap” that have left millions of open jobs unfilled. Apprenticeships would give students a way to learn skills without the crippling debt of four-year colleges, and expand those opportunities to women, minorities and other populations underrepresented among the nation’s roughly 505,000 apprentices.

 

Trump accepted a challenge earlier this year from a CEO to create 5 million new apprenticeships.

 

The Trump administration has said there’s a need that can be met with a change in the American attitude toward vocational education and apprenticeships. A November 2016 report by former president Barack Obama’s Commerce Department found that “apprenticeships are not fully understood in the United States, especially” by employers, who tend to use apprentices for a few, hard-to-fill positions but not as widely as they could.

 

The shortages for specifically trained workers cut across multiple job sectors, from construction trades to agriculture, manufacturing, information technology and health care.

 

Critics say Trump can’t be promoting apprenticeships while he proposes cutting federal job training funding by as much as 40 percent – from $2.7 billion to $1.6 billion. There also are questions about oversight of apprenticeship programs that begin and operate almost completely under the control of the company.

 

Apprenticeships are few and far between. Of the 146 million jobs in the United States, about 0.35 percent – or slightly more than a half-million – were filled by active apprentices in 2016. Filling millions more jobs through apprenticeships would require the government to massively ramp up its efforts.

 

“Scaling is the big issue,” said Robert Lerman, a fellow at the Urban Institute.

 

Another complication: only about half of apprentices finish their multi-year programs. Fewer than 50,000 people – including 11,104 in the military – completed their apprenticeships in 2016, according to Labor Department.

 

Trump’s resume includes the hit television show, “The Apprentice.”
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Jury Deadlocked in Bill Crosby Sex Assault Trial

Posted on by Corts

Jurors in the sexual assault trial of celebrity comedian Bill Cosby have told a judge they are deadlocked on charges he drugged and then molested a woman in 2004.

The jury had been deliberating Cosby’s sexual assault charges since Monday, and seemed exasperated at times as it repeatedly asked the judge for clarifications of evidence or to hear testimony from the trial again.

Judge Steven O’Neill told the jurors other judges may not have granted their six requests to revisit evidence from the trial, but since he granted their first request he felt obligated to fulfill the rest of the requests because he didn’t want them to think some pieces of evidence were more important than others.

“From now on when you ask for testimony, I am compelled to give it to you,” he said Wednesday night.

O’Neill told the jurors to continue discussing the charges in the jury room after the panel told him they could not agree on Cosby’s guilt.

The 79-year-old Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a former director of operations of the Temple University women’s basketball team.

He allegedly gave her pills that paralyzed her and left her unable to resist when he started touching her in his Philadelphia home.

Constand had gone to Cosby’s house for dinner and to get advice about her career.

Cosby’s lawyers used their closing arguments to say Constand lied on the witness stand about her relationship with the comic. They pointed out that she telephoned Cosby more than 50 times after the alleged attack, but told police she had no contact with him.

“It’s not a fib. It’s not a mistake, It’s a stone cold lie,” Brian McMonagle told the jury.

Constand said the calls were just business and that Cosby, as a Temple alumnus, could help the basketball team.

“This isn’t talking to a trustee. This is talking to a lover,” McMonagle said, accusing Constand of trying to use Cosby’s name for financial gain.

The prosecution relied heavily on parts of the deposition Cosby gave to police in a 2005 civil suit brought by Constand.

In it, Cosby admitted getting a prescription to a sedative called Quaaludes back in the 1970s and giving the drug to women he wanted to sleep with.

District Attorney Kevin Steele told the jury these words prove Cosby knew exactly what he was doing when he allegedly gave pills to Constand, telling her they were herbal relaxants.

“Drugging somebody and putting them in a position where you can do what you want with them is not romantic. It’s criminal,” he said.

Steele said no amount of “fancy lawyering” will save Cosby from his own words.

“Ladies and gentlemen, he has told you what he has done,” Steele said to the jurors. “It is about as straightforward as you are ever going to see in a sex crimes case.”

If found guilty, Cosby could go to prison for the rest of his life.

More than 50 women claim Cosby sexually assaulted them in incidents dating back to the 1960s, when he emerged as a major comedy star. Most of the alleged incidents occurred too long ago to be prosecuted now.

Constand’s complaint is the only one that has come to trial. Cosby has denied all the charges.

 
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Oxygen-Producing Bacteria Could Help Heart Attack Sufferers

Posted on by Cosc

Photosynthetic bacteria and light may offer hope to heart disease patients, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Stanford University say that after injecting the bacteria into the hearts of rats with cardiac disease and using light to start photosynthesis, they were able to increase the flow of oxygen, improving heart function.

“The beauty of it is that it’s a recycling system,” said Joseph Woo, senior author of the study. “You deliver the bacteria, they take up carbon dioxide, and with energy from the light, they form oxygen.”

The findings could help many who have a condition called cardiac ischemia, which restricts blood flow and the delivery of oxygen to the heart muscles.

“We thought there is an interesting relationship in nature,” Woo said. “In nature, humans exhale carbon dioxide and plants convert it back to oxygen. During a heart attack, the muscle is still trying to pump. There’s carbon dioxide but no oxygen. We wondered if there were any way to use plant cells and put them next to heart cells to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide.”

At first, the researchers tried to use spinach and kale cells, but the chloroplasts, the structures where photosynthesis occurs, were not stable enough to live outside the plant.

“So we kept looking around,” Woo said, saying the next option was photosynthetic bacteria called cyanobacteria because it is “more rugged” and could survive with heart cells in a petri dish.

After that, Woo and his team injected cyanobacteria into the beating hearts of anesthetized rats, comparing the oxygen levels among rats with their hearts exposed to light and rats that did not have light shined on their hearts.

“The group that received the bacteria plus light had more oxygen and the heart worked better,” Woo said, adding that the bacteria “dissipated” in about 24 hours. Improved cardiac function lasted at least four weeks, he said.

“This is still very preliminary,” Woo said.

The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
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Video Game Shows Importance of Color Vision in Finding Prey

Posted on by Cosc

Animal researchers have used a video game to better understand the differences between animals that could see a wide range of colors and those that are color blind. After 30,000 volunteers played the game, the researchers got some surprising results. Faith Lapidus reports.
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UN: Trucks Readied to Send Polio Vaccine For IS-Held Syria

Posted on by Cosc

A U.N. humanitarian aid adviser for Syria says trucks are being prepared to ship polio vaccine into Islamic State group-held areas of Deir Ezzor governorate following confirmation of a “very dangerous” outbreak of the virus.

 

Jan Egeland made the comment to reporters Thursday in the wake of the confirmation announced last week by the World Health Organization of two cases in Deir Ezzor of a polio strain derived from vaccines that mutated under weakening health and immunization conditions.

 

He said 58 acute flaccid paralysis cases, a possible symptom of polio, had been reported in Deir Ezzor this year through June 6.

 

Egeland said “it’s one of the remarkable things” of Syria’s war that people have been reached with vaccines, even in the Deir Ezzor and Raqqa governorates held by IS.

 
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Child Poverty, Hunger Widespread in World’s Richest Countries

Posted on by Cosc

A new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) finds child poverty and hunger are widespread in 41 of the world’s richest countries. The report says one in five children in rich countries lives in poverty, while one in eight often do not have enough to eat.

The report finds high income does not necessarily lead to a good outcome for children and often serves to widen the gap between rich and poor. UN Children’s Fund Chief of Social Policy and Economic Analysis, Jose Cuesta says all 41 countries surveyed, in one way or another, are failing to protect the well-being of their children.

“If I were to grade all countries, no one will get an A,” he said. “There is good news, of course, in quite a number of targets and areas. For instance, childhood learning or reductions in neonatal mortality rates. But, there are also substantive gaps in some targets. For instance, poverty reduction of children, increasing inequality, increasing obesity and worsening mental health.”

The seven top ranked countries in UNICEF’s League Table of 41 countries includes all the Nordic countries — Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, as well as Germany and Switzerland. The seven countries holding up the bottom are Chili, Mexico, the United States, Bulgaria, Romania, Israel and Turkey.

Cuesta tells VOA the United States, which ranks 37th does not perform well in areas such as poverty, hunger, good health and well-being, and quality education.

“Actually, it is a surprise and it is not a surprise at the same time because consistently the U.S. is doing poorly across these key indicators. So, it is not really one indicator driving the results here,” he said.

The report notes wealth and economic growth alone are not enough to ensure the well-being of children. UNICEF is urging rich countries to put children’s needs at the heart of their policy agenda.

 
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US Central Bank Hikes Key Interest Rate Amid Weaker Than Expected Data

Posted on by Coeco

The U.S. central bank raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday amid concerns about sluggish growth, a slowdown in consumer spending and low inflation. But the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve says the one-quarter of 1 percent increase in the federal funds rate demonstrates the committee’s confidence in the overall health of the U.S. economy. Mil Arcega has more.
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Kushner Company Drops Tax Break Request in New Jersey

Posted on by Coeco

The real estate firm owned by the family of Jared Kushner has withdrawn a request for a big tax break for one its buildings in Jersey City, New Jersey, the latest setback for the company in the area.

 

The Kushner Cos. sent a letter withdrawing its application for a 30-year break from city taxes for a planned two-tower project in the struggling Journal Square section of the city, Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said Wednesday. Opponents of the tax breaks marched downtown earlier this year and the city’s mayor recently came out against the Kushner request.

 

Jared Kushner was CEO of the family company before stepping down to become a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.

Committed to area

 

Kushner Cos. spokesman James Yolles said the company is committed to the “much-needed investment” in that area of the city.

 

The loss of the tax break is the latest blow for the company in a city where it is major real estate developer.

 

The 79-story building, One Journal Square, gained attention last month after Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, mentioned her brother in a presentation in Beijing where she had hoped to attract Chinese investors in the building. Marketing material noted the “celebrity status” of her family.

 

Government ethics experts blasted the family for what they said was an attempt to profit off Jared Kushner’s position in Washington, and the Kushner Cos. canceled upcoming investor presentations in the country.

 

The company said Meyer wasn’t trying to use her White House ties to attract investors.

EB-5 visa program

 

The Kushner family is seeking 300 wealthy Chinese to invest a total of $150 million in One Journal Square. The family was trying to raise money through the EB-5 visa program that grants temporary U.S. residency to wealthy foreigners in exchange for investments of at least $500,000 in certain U.S. projects

 

The company also is in danger of losing another tax break for the building. The shared office space firm WeWork recently pulled out as anchor tenant. That has put in doubt a state tax break tied to WeWork.

 

Another project is off, too. The Kushner Cos. once considered bidding to develop a 95-acre industrial site along the Hackensack River in the city for housing, called Bayfront. Last month, it was revealed the family had withdrawn from those plans last year.

 

The Kusnher Cos. has said politics had nothing to do with its decision to withdraw from Bayfront, and that “economics of the deal” drove the move.

 

As for One Journal Square, company spokesman Yolles said the project will provide 4,000 construction jobs and $180 million in tax revenue for the city over 30 years.

Tax breaks an issue

 

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat, is running for re-election this fall, and tax breaks to developers have become a major issue.

 

Unlike neighboring Hoboken, Jersey City has granted dozens of tax breaks in recent years. Fulop had campaigned to reform the practice, but critics say he has done little.

 

Another Kushner property in the city overlooking the Hudson River got a five-year tax break soon after Fulop was elected mayor. That 50-story building has licensed the Trump name and is called Trump Bay Street. The building was also partly financed with EB-5 visa money from abroad.

 

The Kushner family owns or manages 20,000 apartments, 13 million square feet of office space and industrial properties in several states, including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Illinois. 
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Russia’s Hosting FIFA Tournaments Reignites World Cup Hopes

Posted on by Corts

Russia’s hosting of FIFA’s (International Federation of Association Football) Confederations Cup from June 17 to July 2 and the World Cup championship in 2018 is reigniting hopes in the country for football (soccer).

The last time Russia made the world’s top four was in 1966 when it was part of the Soviet Union.

Watch: Russia’s Hosting of FIFA Tournaments Reignites World Cup Hopes

 

Russian football gained global recognition during the 1966 World Cup when the Soviet Union defeated Italy, Chile, and Hungary to take fourth place.

Half-a-century later, the few living players from that championship have yet to see Russia return to the top four.

 

“When there was the world championship in England, the coach said, ‘Thank you guys, we won’t achieve such a success for the next 50 years.’ So, 50 years passed,” said Vladimir Ponomarev, USSR defender in the 1966 championship.

Fans have high hopes

 

Despite Russian football’s struggle since, die-hard fans have high hopes for the tournaments.

 

“That’s why we are faced with big problems when they show negative results,” said Lokomotiv Football Club’s Maksim “Loko” Shataylo. “Sometimes it may result in such extraordinary situations because the fans become too upset. They believe too much, they hope too much! I believe in the better. We’ll definitely be in the top eight,” adds Shataylo.

As host of the FIFA tournaments, Russia’s national team automatically qualifies to compete.

Russia’s star players say their goal is clear.

“Of course, it is to get to the final game, step by step,” said Spartak Moscow Football Club Captain Denis Glushakov in May comments to the press. “We’ll play the first and the second match and only then I may tell you whether we get to the final or not.”

Passion is lacking

Ponomarev says Russian football lacks the passion it had during Soviet times.

 

“But we’ll keep working and growing. We’ll keep training and that will allow us to get on the same level as great European teams,” said Ponomarev. “So far, we are not much valued. The Confederations Cup matches will show us the level of Russian football.”

The Confederations Cup will also test how well Russia itself is prepared for next year’s World Cup championship.

“As for the world championships and the idea that so much effort is put into winning them without a result, I think that after the world championship of 2018 there will be a breakthrough in football here,” says Shataylo. “It will become more popular. New stadiums, new infrastructure are under construction. It will be more convenient to move around the country to see the matches. The fans will love this country and football, and all will be well.”

Meanwhile, Ponomarev continues to support Russian football and the next generation of players by offering advice to amateur teams and coaches.

“We must start small. We must start with our small footballers who train here,” he said.

But as for hosting the upcoming FIFA tournaments, he adds optimistically, “For me it will be a success. Fifty years have passed. It’s time to get to fourth place. It would be superb for all Russian fans! They would be absolutely happy.”

Field is set

For the host Russian team, its Confederations Cup Group A opener will be played on Saturday (June 17) against New Zealand in St. Petersburg. Wednesday (June 21) the Russians play in Moscow against Portugal, and the hosts final group match is against Mexico in Kazan on June 24.

The other four teams in the tournament — Cameroon, Chile, Australia and Germany — are in Group B. After round-robin play, the first and second-place teams in each group advance to the semifinals, with the championship match in St. Petersburg July 2. The tournament winner will receive $5 million, and the runner-up $4.5 million.

 Olga Pavlova and Ricardo Marquina Montañana contributed to this report.
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Russia’s Hosting of FIFA Tournaments Reignites World Cup Hopes

Posted on by Corts

Russia’s role as host of FIFA’s (International Federation of Association Footballs’) Confederations Cup from June 17 to July 2 and the World Cup championship in 2018 is reigniting hopes for Russian football (soccer). The last time Russia made the world’s top four was 1966, when it was part of the Soviet Union. VOA’s Daniel Schearf spoke with one of the few living players from that game and has this report from Moscow.
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