As the world watches the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, some American athletes in Washington are lacing up their skates to train for their own, major sporting event. Special in every way, these young people work to overcome their developmental obstacles to compete for gold — just like the world’s top athletes in Pyeongchang. Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington.
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Month: February 2018
Robot Drives Itself to Deliver Packages
Delivery robots could one day be part of the landscape of cities around the world. Among the latest to be developed is an Italian-made model that drives itself around town to drop off packages. Since the machine runs on electricity, its developers say it is an environmentally friendly alternative to fuel powered delivery vehicles that cause pollution. VOA’s Deborah Block has more.
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Fashionable and Able: Designers Strive to Help the Disabled
A new exhibit showcases gadgets and inventions by designers striving to make disabled people’s lives easier — in style. Faith Lapidus reports.
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In Troubling Times, Curling Might be Just What We Need
The world, some fret, is falling apart. Politicians spar viciously on social media. Leaders lie. Former heroes fall like dominoes amid endless scandals. Cruelty has come to feel commonplace.
But never fear: We have curling.
The sport with the frenzied sweeping and clacking rocks has rules that require players to treat opponents with kindness. Referees aren’t needed, because curlers police themselves. And the winners generally buy the losers a beer.
At the Pyeongchang Olympics, curlers and their fans agree: In an era of vitriol and venom, curling may be the perfect antidote to our troubled times.
“Nobody gets hit — other than the rock,” laughed Evelyne Martens of Calgary, Canada, as she watched a recent Canada vs. Norway curling match. “And there’s nothing about Trump here!”
Thanks, Scotland
In the 500 years since curling was conceived on the frozen ponds of Scotland, it has remained largely immune to the cheating controversies and bloated egos common in other sports. This is thanks to what is known as “The Spirit of Curling,” a deeply ingrained ethos that dictates that curlers conduct themselves with honor and adhere to good sportsmanship.
The World Curling Federation’s rules state: “Curlers play to win, but never to humble their opponents. A true curler never attempts to distract opponents, nor to prevent them from playing their best, and would prefer to lose rather than to win unfairly.”
Kindness is the baseline for what curling is all about, says Canadian Kaitlyn Lawes, who won the gold medal this week in curling mixed doubles.
“We shake hands before the game, we shake hands after. And if someone makes a great shot against you, we congratulate them because it’s fun to play against teams that are playing well,” Lawes says. “I think that spirit of curling can be used in the real world — and hopefully it can be a better place.”
Case in point: After losing the curling mixed doubles gold medal to Canada, Switzerland’s Martin Rios swallowed his disappointment during a press conference to say that the Canadians had deserved to win, declaring: “They were the better team.”
The Canadians returned the favor by heartily applauding their Swiss opponents not once but twice. And before the women’s round-robin match Thursday, the Korean team presented their Canadian competitors with a gift bag of Korean curling banners and pins.
A certain morality
Children new to the sport are coached about the spirit of curling from the very start, says Willie Nicoll, chairman of British Curling. Fair play is not an afterthought, he says. It is the heart of the game.
“It’s always been looked at as being a very gentlemanly sport,” says Kate Caithness, president of the World Curling Federation. “Where does that happen in sport, when you say to your opposition, ‘Good shot?’”
It’s not that curling isn’t competitive. Like every other Olympian in Pyeongchang, curlers all want the gold — just not at the expense of their integrity.
Perhaps the best example of this is the lack of referees. Officials rarely get involved in matches because players call themselves out for fouls. If a curler accidentally hits a stone that’s in motion with their foot or broom — a situation known as a “burned stone” — he or she is expected to immediately announce the mistake. Aileen Geving, a member of the U.S. Olympic curling team, says it would be unthinkable for her not to own up to such a goof.
“We all have to be true to ourselves and I know I would feel way too guilty not to say anything if I hit it!” she says, laughing. “I think there’s a certain morality behind that.”
On Friday, an exceedingly unusual controversy over a burned stone erupted that — unsurprisingly — meandered its way to a mild end. In a tense match against Canada, a Danish player accidentally hit a moving rock. Canada, which had the right to decide what happened, chose to remove the rock from play rather than allow it to remain.
The “aggression” stunned some observers. Canadian media covering the game launched into frenzied discussions, and some curling fans tweeted shock over what they considered unsportsmanlike behavior.
This, though, was the measured reaction from the Danish team’s skip a bit later: She wouldn’t have made the same choice, but she also wasn’t mad.
For the fans, seeing such displays of warmth — or, in the above case, lack of heat — can be a welcome respite from the harshness of the outside world.
Sinking into her seat at the Gangneung Curling Centre, Crystle Kozoroski was still stressed from attending the previous night’s rough and rowdy hockey game. Watching curling, she said, was just the therapy she needed.
“I’m still tense from last night’s game — my body is literally sore,” said Kozoroski, of Manitoba, Canada. “It’s nice just to sit and relax.” Curling is, she says, a “very calming and soothing sport.”
A typical game
Here is how a typical game starts at Gangneung: Opponents turn to each other, share a handshake and wish each other “Good curling!” A bouncy organ tune blasts across the arena and the stadium announcer cheerfully bellows, “Good luck and GOOD CURLING!” The crowd whoops with glee. Even if you have no idea what is happening, it is almost impossible not to smile.
There’s a sense that everyone is welcome. And with curling, that’s kind of true. Both women and men compete in all three versions of the sport — traditional curling, mixed doubles and wheelchair — and members of curling clubs range in age from 7 to 90.
That feeling of inclusiveness is intertwined with a deep camaraderie that goes back to curling’s inception. Take “broomstacking,” named for the original practice of opponents stacking their brooms in front of a roaring fire after a game and enjoying a drink together.
These days, rivals still socialize after matches, with the winner generally buying the loser a round. The other day, Canadian gold medal curler John Morris posted a photo on Instagram of himself sharing a locker room brew with U.S. rival Matt Hamilton, their arms slung around each other and grins stretching across their faces.
Mae Polo, whose son Joe Polo is a member of the U.S. Olympic curling team, says she and her family have formed tight bonds with curlers across the globe. Those friendships have traversed any competitive or cultural divides, she says, with the curlers’ families all helping each other sort out travel logistics to the Olympics.
Curling is one big family, she says. And maybe, just maybe, curling could serve as a blueprint for us all.
“The world needs to take a lesson from it,” she says. “Let’s just love each other.”
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Facebook Forges Ahead With Kids App Despite Expert Criticism
Facebook is forging ahead with its messaging app for kids, despite child experts who have pressed the company to shut it down and others who question Facebook’s financial support of some advisers who approved of the app.
Messenger Kids lets kids under 13 chat with friends and family. It displays no ads and lets parents approve who their children message. But critics say it serves to lure kids into harmful social media use and to hook young people on Facebook as it tries to compete with Snapchat or its own Instagram app. They say kids shouldn’t be on such apps at all — although they often are.
“It is disturbing that Facebook, in the face of widespread concern, is aggressively marketing Messenger Kids to even more children,” the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood said in a statement this week.
Lukeward reception
Messenger Kids launched on iOS to lukewarm reception in December. It arrived on Amazon devices in January and on Android Wednesday. Throughout, Facebook has touted a team of advisers, academics and families who helped shape the app in the year before it launched.
But a Wired report this week pointed out that more than half of this safety advisory board had financial ties to the company. Facebook confirmed this and said it hasn’t hidden donations to these individuals and groups — although it hasn’t publicized them, either.
Facebook’s donations to groups like the National PTA (the official name for the Parent Teacher Association) typically covered logistics costs or sponsored activities like anti-bullying programs or events such as parent roundtables. One advisory group, the Family Online Safety Institute, has a Facebook executive on its board, along with execs from Disney, Comcast and Google.
“We sometimes provide funding to cover programmatic or logistics expenses, to make sure our work together can have the most impact,” Facebook said in a statement, adding that many of the organizations and people who advised on Messenger Kids do not receive financial support of any kind.
Common Sense a late addition
But for a company under pressure from many sides — Congress, regulators, advocates for online privacy and mental health — even the appearance of impropriety can hurt. Facebook didn’t invite prominent critics, such as the nonprofit Common Sense Media, to advise it on Messenger Kids until the process was nearly over. Facebook would not comment publicly on why it didn’t include Common Sense earlier in the process.
“Because they know we opposed their position,” said James Steyer, the CEO of Common Sense. The group’s stance is that Facebook never should have released a product aimed at kids. “They know very well our positon with Messenger Kids.”
A few weeks after Messenger Kids launched, nearly 100 outside experts banded together to urge Facebook to shut down the app , which it has not done. The company says it is “committed to building better products for families, including Messenger Kids. That means listening to parents and experts, including our critics.”
Wired article unfair?
One of Facebook’s experts contested the notion that company advisers were in Facebook’s pocket. Lewis Bernstein, now a paid Facebook consultant who worked for Sesame Workshop (the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street”) in various capacities over three decades, said the Wired article “unfairly” accused him and his colleagues for accepting travel expenses to Facebook seminars.
But the Wired story did not count Lewis as one of the seven out of 13 advisers who took funding for Messenger Kids, and the magazine did not include travel funding when it counted financial ties. Bernstein was not a Facebook consultant at the time he was advising it on Messenger Kids.
Bernstein, who doesn’t see technology as “inherently dangerous,” suggested that Facebook critics like Common Sense are also tainted by accepting $50 million in donated air time for a campaign warning about the dangers of technology addiction. Among those air-time donors are Comcast and AT&T’s DirecTV.
But Common Sense spokeswoman Corbie Kiernan called that figure a “misrepresentation” that got picked up by news outlets. She said Common Sense has public service announcement commitments “from partners such as Comcast and DirectTV” that has been valued at $50 million. The group has used that time in other campaigns in addition to its current “Truth About Tech” effort, which it’s launching with a group of ex-Google and Facebook employees and their newly formed Center for Humane Technology.
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British Government Temporarily Halts New Funding to Aid Group Oxfam
The British government has suspended new funding to the aid organization Oxfam following allegations that some of its staff had paid for sex with prostitutes in Haiti after the country’s 2010 earthquake.
British Development Minister Penny Mordaunt said the group has agreed not to bid for any new funding from Britain’s government until London is satisfied the aid organization meets its “high standards.”
In a statement, the British-based aid group said, “We are committed to proving that we deserve the confidence of the U.K. public.”
The aid group has been rocked by allegations of sexually exploiting people in crisis zones, including using prostitutes and downloading pornography in Haiti after the country’s 2010 earthquake.
Oxfam, one of the world’s biggest disaster relief organizations, said it investigated the case in 2011 and fired four staff members and allowed three others to resign. However, the British government has criticized the group’s lack of transparency.
Earlier on Friday, Oxfam said it would create an independent commission to review the group’s practices and culture.
Oxfam International’s executive director, Winnie Byanyima, told BBC Friday, “What happened in Haiti and afterwards is a stain on Oxfam that will shame us for years, and rightly so.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I am asking for forgiveness,” Byanyima said, adding she wants all victims of abuse to come forward.
Mordaunt said the British government had asked Oxfam and other recipients of aid funding to provide assurances by February 26 that they effectively safeguarded people they helped, and reported any breaches to the government.
“At that stage we will make further decisions about continuing or amending how those programs are delivered. Our primary guiding principle in this will be the welfare of the beneficiaries of U.K. aid,” she said.
Oxfam relies on public and corporate donations as well as government funding. The allegations relate to Oxfam Great Britain, one of 20 affiliates that make up Oxfam International.
The scandal has led Britain’s charity regulator to open an investigation into Oxfam and has caused three celebrity ambassadors to the aid group — South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, British actress Minnie Driver and Senegalese musician Baaba Maal — to resign.
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Ethics Dispute Erupts in Belgium Over Euthanasia Rules
A disputed case of euthanasia in Belgium, involving the death of a dementia patient who never formally asked to die, has again raised concerns about weak oversight in a country with some of the world’s most liberal euthanasia laws.
The case was described in a letter provided to The Associated Press, written by a doctor who resigned from Belgium’s euthanasia commission in protest over the group’s actions on this and other cases.
Some experts say the case as documented in the letter amounts to murder; the patient lacked the mental capacity to ask for euthanasia and the request for the bedridden patient to be euthanized came from family members. The co-chairs of the commission say the doctor mistakenly reported the death as euthanasia.
Although euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since 2002 and has overwhelming public support, critics have raised concerns in recent months about certain practices, including how quickly some doctors approve requests to die from psychiatric patients.
Dispute revealed
The AP revealed a rift last year between Dr. Willem Distelmans, co-chair of the euthanasia commission, and Dr. Lieve Thienpont, an advocate of euthanasia for the mentally ill. Distelmans suggested some of Thienpont’s patients might have been killed without meeting all the legal requirements. Prompted by the AP’s reporting, more than 360 doctors, academics and others have signed a petition calling for tighter controls on euthanasia for psychiatric patients.
Euthanasia — when doctors kill patients at their request — can be granted in Belgium to people with both physical and mental health illnesses. The condition does not need to be fatal, but suffering must be “unbearable and untreatable.” It can be performed only if specific criteria are fulfilled, including a “voluntary, well-considered and repeated” request from the person.
But Belgium’s euthanasia commission routinely violates the law, according to a September letter of resignation written by Dr. Ludo Vanopdenbosch, a neurologist, to senior party leaders in the Belgian Parliament who appoint members of the group.
The most striking example took place at a meeting in early September, Vanopdenbosch wrote, when the group discussed the case of a patient with severe dementia who also had Parkinson’s disease. To demonstrate the patient’s lack of competence, a video was played showing what Vanopdenbosch characterized as “a deeply demented patient.”
The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, was euthanized at the family’s request, according to Vanopdenbosch’s letter. There was no record of any prior request for euthanasia from the patient.
After hours of debate, the commission declined to refer the case to the public prosecutor to investigate whether criminal charges were warranted.
Vanopdenbosch confirmed the letter was genuine but would not comment further about details.
Palliative sedation
The two co-chairs of the euthanasia commission, Distelmans and Gilles Genicot, a lawyer, said the doctor treating the patient mistakenly called the procedure euthanasia, and that he should have called it palliative sedation instead. Palliative sedation is the process of drugging patients near the end of life to relieve symptoms, but it is not meant to end life.
“This was not a case of illegal euthanasia but rather a case of legitimate end-of-life decision improperly considered by the physician as euthanasia,” Genicot and Distelmans said in an email.
Vanopdenbosch, who is also a palliative care specialist, wrote that the doctor’s intention was “to kill the patient” and that “the means of alleviating the patient’s suffering was disproportionate.”
Though no one outside the commission has access to the case’s medical records — the group is not allowed by law to release that information — some critics were stunned by the details in Vanopdenbosch’s letter.
“It’s not euthanasia because the patient didn’t ask, so it’s the voluntary taking of a life,” said Dr. An Haekens, psychiatric director at the Alexianen Psychiatric Hospital in Tienen, Belgium. “I don’t know another word other than murder to describe this.”
Kristof Van Assche, a professor of health law at the University of Antwerp, wrote in an email the commission itself wasn’t breaking the law because the group is not required to refer a case unless two-thirds of the group agree — even if the case “blatantly disregards” criteria for euthanasia.
But without a request from the patient, the case “would normally constitute manslaughter or murder,” he wrote. “The main question is why this case was not deemed sufficiently problematic” to prompt the commission to refer the case to prosecutors.
Other problems
Vanopdenbosch, who in the letter called himself a “big believer” in euthanasia, cited other problems with the commission. He said that when he expressed concerns about potentially problematic cases, he was immediately “silenced” by others. And he added that because many of the doctors on the commission are leading euthanasia practitioners, they can protect each other from scrutiny, and act with “impunity.”
Vanopdenbosch wrote that when cases of euthanasia are identified that don’t meet the legal criteria, they are not forwarded to the public prosecutor’s office as is required by law, but that the commission itself acts as the court.
In the 15 years since euthanasia was legalized in Belgium, more than 10,000 people have been euthanized, and just one of those cases has been referred to prosecutors.
Genicot and Distelmans said the group thoroughly assesses every euthanasia case to be sure all legal conditions have been met.
“It can obviously occur that some debate emerges among members, but our role is to make sure that the law is observed and certainly not to trespass it,” they said. They said it was “absolutely false” that Vanopdenbosch had been muzzled, and they said they regretted his resignation.
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Could Mining, Analyzing Social Media Posts Prevent Future Massacres?
In multiple online comments and posts, Nikolas Cruz, 19, the suspect in the Valentine’s Day high school shooting in Florida, apparently signaled his intent to hurt other people.
I want to “shoot people with my AR-15,” a person using the name Nikolas Cruz wrote in one place. “I wanna die Fighting killing…ton of people.”
As investigators try to piece together what led to the school shooting that left 17 people dead and many others wounded, they are closely examining the suspect’s social media activity, as well as other information about him.
The focus on Cruz’s digital footprint highlights a question that law enforcement, social scientists and society at large have been grappling with: If anyone had been paying attention to his postings, could these deaths have been prevented?
The FBI was contacted about a social media post in which the alleged gunman says he wants to be a “professional school shooter.”
However, though the commenter’s username was “Nikolas Cruz” — the same name as the shooting suspect — the FBI couldn’t identify the poster, according to the Associated Press.
But what if an algorithm could have sifted through all of Cruz’s posts and comments to bring him to the attention of authorities?
Data mining
In an era where data can be dissected and analyzed to predict where cold medicine will most likely be needed next week or which shoes will be most popular on Amazon tomorrow, some people wonder why there isn’t more use of artificial intelligence to sift through social media in an effort to prevent crime.
“We need all the tools we can get to prevent tragedies like this,” said Sean Young, executive director of the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology.
“The science exists on how to use social media to find and help people in psychological need,” he said. “I believe the benefits outweigh the risks, so I think it’s really important to use social media as a prevention tool.”
Despite the 2002 movie Minority Report, about police apprehending murderers before they act based on knowledge provided by psychics known as “precogs,” the idea of police successfully analyzing data to find a person preparing to harm others is still a far-off scenario, according to experts.
Predictive policing
Increasingly, police departments are turning to “predictive policing,” which involves taking large data sets and using algorithms to forecast potential crimes and then deploying police to the region. One potential treasure trove of data is social media, which is often public and can indicate what people are discussing in real time and by location.
Predictive policing, however, comes with ethical questions over whether data sets and algorithms have built-in biases, particularly toward minorities.
A study in Los Angeles aims to see if social media postings can help police figure out where to put resources to stop hate crimes.
“With enough funds and unfettered data access and linkage, I can see how a system could be built where machine learning could identify patterns in text [threats, emotional states] and images [weapons] that would indicate an increased risk,” said Matthew Williams, director of the social data science lab and data innovation research institute at Cardiff University in Wales. He is one of the Los Angeles study researchers.
“But the ethics would preclude such a system, unless those being observed consented, but then the system could be subverted.”
Arjun Sethi, a Georgetown law professor, says it is impossible to divorce predictive policing from entrenched prejudice in the criminal justice system. “We found big data is used in racially discriminating ways,” he said.
Using Facebook posts
Still, the potential exists that, with the right program, it may be possible to separate someone signaling for help from all the noise on social media.
A new program at Facebook seeks to harness the field of machine learning to get help to people contemplating suicide. Among millions of posts each day, Facebook can find posts of those who may be suicidal or at risk of self-harm — even if no one in the person’s Facebook social circle reported the person’s posts to the company. In machine learning, computers and algorithms collect information without being programmed to do so.
The Facebook system relies on text, but Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, has said that the firm may add photos and videos that come to the attention of the Facebook team to review.
Being able to figure out if someone is going to harm himself, herself or others is difficult and raises ethical dilemmas but, says Young of UCLA, a person’s troubling social media posts can be red flags that should be checked out.
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Black Athletes in 1980s, ’90s Not Outspoken, but Not Silent
By the 1980s, America finally publicly embraced the black athlete, looking past skin color to see athleticism and skill, rewarding stars with multimillion-dollar athletic contracts, movie deals, lucrative shoe endorsements and mansions in all-white enclaves.
Who didn’t want to be like Mike?
But those fortunate black athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods did not, for the most part, use their celebrity to speak out. Most were silent on issues like the crack epidemic, apartheid in South Africa, the racial tensions exposed by the O.J. Simpson trial and the police brutality that set off the Rodney King riots.
There were exceptions — more, perhaps, than are generally remembered. And the times and the media of those times did not necessarily lend themselves to protest. But while Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali once stood up — and more recently, Colin Kaepernick , LeBron James, Serena Williams and others would not back down — black athletes of the ’80s and ’90s were known mostly for playing games.
“It seems to me that we need to rethink how we define ‘activism’ since black athletes certainly were involved in various social causes during that era. Anecdotally, I think about them donating to various scholarship funds and participating in ‘say no to drugs’ campaigns,” said Johnny Smith, professor of sports, society and technology at Georgia Tech University. “That’s certainly a form of activism. “However, on the whole, the most prominent black male athletes were not confrontational or outspoken.”
When Harvey Gantt took on conservative Republican Senator Jesse Helms in 1990, Jordan — the undisputed superstar athlete of his time — refused to support the black Democrat in his native North Carolina, reportedly saying Republicans buy shoes, too.
It took until 2016 for Jordan to finally speak out strongly on a social issue by condemning the killing of black men at the hands of police, writing in a column published by The Undefeated, a sports and pop culture website.
Woods said this week that throughout America’s history, blacks have struggled.
“A lot of different races have had struggles, and obviously the African-Americans here in this country have had their share of struggles,” Woods said. “Obviously has it gotten better, yes, but I still think there’s room for more improvement.”
Not everyone is an activist
The mold of the public activist — the person who is willing to lead but also willing to lose everything for a cause — doesn’t fit everyone, said Harry Edwards, a scholar of race and sports who has worked as a consultant for several U.S. pro teams.
Some people don’t want to be bothered, Edwards said, but “that has always been there. That was there during slavery. Nat Turner comes and says, ‘Hey, let’s run away. Let’s get some guns. Let’s get some machetes, and let’s fight for our freedom.’ And you always have someone say, ‘You kidding me?’ ”
Dominque Wilkins, a National Basketball Association Hall of Famer known as the “Human Highlight” for his thunderous, acrobatic dunks during the 1980s and ’90s, believes social media have amplified athletes’ voices — and the Twitter-less past did not offer sports stars the soapboxes they have now.
“We didn’t have a platform because it wasn’t that type of media around,” Wilkins said. “You had the normal, everyday media, but you didn’t have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram — you didn’t have any of that.”
Wilkins, 58, said people are completely off base when they say his generation didn’t do anything or care about what was happening in their communities and in the world.
“We grew up in a different era. We were born in the civil rights era. I remember when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated,” said Wilkins. “People who say we didn’t care don’t know what they’re talking about. … We cared. We were a part of it, so we cared.
“Our parents lived it. Our grandparents lived it. How can we not care?”
Behind-the-scenes work
The activism of the time was different, said sports historian Victoria Jackson, who works in the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University.
Behind the scenes, superstar athletes worked in their communities and with schools — without making their activities known or asking for publicity for their time. Millions of dollars went to schools like historically black colleges and universities, as well as other deserving charities, without public acknowledgment, Jackson said.
“While we might have seen a decline in athletes voicing strong opinions publicly about systemic racism, police brutality, criminal justice and education and residential and workplace reform — and perhaps the growth of endorsements contributed to this — I would suspect, if we did a little digging, we’d find countless stories of athletes doing work in the space of social justice and that this is the constant theme in the long historical arc,” she said.
There were some who spoke loudly. Dashiki-wearing point guard Craig Hodges, Jordan’s teammate on the Chicago Bulls, presented then-President George H. W. Bush with a letter in 1991, urging more concern for African-Americans during one of the Bulls’ championship trips to the White House.
During the 1995-96 season, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf began stretching or staying in the locker room during the national anthem. Abdul-Rauf was suspended for one game.
But at season’s end, despite averaging 19.2 points and 6.8 assists, he was traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Sacramento Kings. And when his contract expired two years later, he couldn’t get a tryout and was out of the league at age 29.
Efforts in boardrooms
Those protests, some say, may not represent the most radical actions of black athletes of the time, which were in the boardrooms, not on the streets.
Jordan built a brand that turned him into a Nike powerhouse, where he brought African-American businessmen and women up the ladder with him, before becoming the first black sports billionaire with his ownership of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.
Magic Johnson, in addition to building a business empire, spoke out passionately about the HIV/AIDS crisis after contracting the disease. The NFL’s Man of the Year award was long named for Walter Payton, who pushed organ donation into the public limelight in his native Chicago and around the country through his foundation while advocating for minority ownership in professional football.
Mike Glenn, who played in the NBA from 1977 to 1987 and is a member of the National Basketball Retired Players Association board of directors, believes how those first black millionaires went about their business helped build the foundation that allows athletes to speak out today.
“I think all of them were aware of backlash,” said Glenn, a collector of documents on African-American history and culture. “They were aware that if you say certain things it may hurt your brand, or may hurt your ability to do things or that maybe even the league would take a different look at you. I think it was an insecurity of their position regardless of how much success they had.”
Jordan and other iconic athletes of that period established the power of individual sports brands, a transitional platform Glenn believes athletes benefit from today.
“LeBron has took what Michael had,” Glenn said, “and taken it a step further.”
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Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Feb. 17
We’re on the move with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending Feb. 17, 2018.
Our musical deck gets shuffled this week, but no new songs manage to break into the charmed circle.
Number 5: Post Malone Featuring 21 Savage “Rockstar”
Former champs Post Malone and 21 Savage back off a slot to No. 5 with “Rockstar.”
21 Savage loves his shoes … and he went online to prove it. He posted a sales receipt from the high-end Barney’s department store in New York City, totaling $13,913. Among the items was a pair of Adidas black high-top sneakers costing $320.
Number 4: Camila Cabello Featuring Young Thug “Havana”
Also falling a slot this week are Camila Cabello and Young Thug, with “Havana.”
Camila has apparently found a new boyfriend. E News reports that the 20-year-old singer is dating 30-year-old Matthew Hussey. It should be smooth sailing, because Matthew is a dating coach. The two were photographed frolicking on a beach in Mexico.
Number 3: Bruno Mars & Cardi B “Finesse”
Bruno Mars and Cardi B jump two notches to third place with their remix of “Finesse.” Bruno has added a final 23 dates to the North American leg of his 24 K Magic World Tour … and Cardi B will be his special guest.
On February 12, Bruno announced the dates — it all starts September 7 in Denver, Colorado, and ends October 27 in Los Angeles.
Number 2: Ed Sheeran “Perfect”
Ed Sheeran remains your runner-up with “Perfect.”
Speaking on a podcast with fellow artist George Ezra, Ed said that due to social media, he felt pressure to lose weight early in his career. He says he compared himself unfavorably to his peers, such as Justin Bieber and One Direction. These days, Ed says he eats a more sensible diet and works out every day.
Number 1: Drake “God’s Plan”
Drake remains your Hot 100 champ for a second week with “God’s Plan.”
Earlier this month, he stopped by a supermarket in Miami, Florida, where he bought groceries for all the shoppers. It set him back about $50,000. He also gave a local student a $50,000 scholarship to attend the University of Miami, and donated $50,000 to a local shelter for homeless women and children.
With gifts like that, Drake deserves another week at the top. Join me in seven days and we’ll see how he does!
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Billionaire Wynn Gets No Money in Casino Termination Deal
A termination agreement between embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn and the company bearing his name shows that he won’t receive any compensation and can’t be involved in any competing gambling business for two years.
The terms of the agreement were released Friday by Wynn Resorts. Wynn resigned as CEO earlier this month amid sexual misconduct allegations.
The billionaire has vehemently denied the allegations, which he attributes to a campaign led by his ex-wife.
As part of the agreement, Wynn also agreed to cooperate with any investigation or lawsuits involving his time with the company. He can have his attorney present. Wynn Resorts created a committee to investigate the sexual misconduct allegations.
As fallout from the allegations, Wynn also resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
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US Flu Season Report: Child Deaths Up to 84
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says 84 children have died in this year’s flu season, one of the most intense flu seasons since the swine flu pandemic in 2009.
In Friday’s report from the nation’s public health agency, experts said this year’s unusually hardy flu strain is still widespread in 48 of the 50 U.S. states, with only the Pacific Island state of Hawaii and the northwestern state of Oregon excepted.
Friday’s report also said for the week ending January 27, nearly 10 percent of U.S. death certificates listed flu or pneumonia as the cause.
The report noted that about one of every 13 doctor visits during that time was due to flu symptoms — no worse than the previous report, which means a steady increase in that total late last year and early this year has leveled off.
In a separate report Thursday, CDC experts reported that this year’s flu vaccine is only about 25 percent effective at preventing this year’s dominant flu strain, although success rates are higher among young children.
The CDC said most of the child deaths from this year’s flu and in past seasons were among children who had not been vaccinated.
And on Thursday, acting CDC director Anne Schuchat told reporters that the U.S. flu season this year, which she called “challenging and intense,” is expected to last several more weeks.
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Being There Helps at Olympics, Even If You Don’t Want to Be
Highlights from media coverage of the Pyeongchang Olympics:
BEING THERE: Sometimes the secret to good reporting is simply being there, even if you’d rather not. Alpine skiing reporter Steve Porino was right near American Mikaela Shiffrin as she vomited before heading out on her first slalom run Friday in South Korea. Fortunately, he didn’t have a camera. Was it nerves? Was Shiffrin coming down with something at the worst possible time? Not clear. In a high-flying sport decided by split seconds, though, her condition is valuable information. (Later, after finishing in fourth place, she admitted to anxiety that made her sick.) Analyst Bode Miller is full of insight from being a recent top competitor on the ski circuit. He even has his own tales of throwing up before major races, and the pressure that can literally make you sick.
SHARP WORK: Listen to the work of Leigh Diffey and Bree Schaaf as they called the skeleton competition won handily by Yun Sung-Bin. They bring excitement and historical sweep to their calls, explaining the technicalities without getting lost in them. “This is one of those moments that just makes your heart feel like it’s going to explode,” Schaaf said over the replay of the South Korean’s final run. “His form, his expression. I am blown away by not just this race but the entire season by Yun Sung-Bin.” Similarly, cross-country ski analyst Chad Salmela made the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle race easier to understand, despite its complexities. He captured the thrill as he and viewers tried to will Jessica Diggins over the finish line to earn the USA’s first Olympic medal in the sport. She fell less than four seconds short in a 25-minute race.
TRYING AGAIN: NBC prepared a strong feature on American snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis, a four-time Olympian sadly known best to many for falling while making an unnecessary jump at the end of a race she was dominating, costing her a sure gold medal in the 2006 Turin Games. Unfortunately, producers aired it around 1 a.m. Eastern on Thursday on the East Coast, right before a men’s qualifying round in snowboarding. Time constraints probably prevented NBC from showing it before Jacobellis competed Friday (she finished fourth) and that’s a shame, because anyone who saw the story would have rooted hard for her.
PRIME TIME PLUS: NBC decided this year to air its Olympic telecast at the same time across the country, and that paid off for West Coast viewers in the U.S. with Thursday’s competition in Korea. They were able to see Shiffrin win her giant slalom gold medal live in a prime viewing window, right before 10 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday. In past years, West Coast viewers were stuck watching reruns of an East Coast feed that aired three hours earlier.
COORDINATION: On a busy night Thursday, NBC seemed to use the extra space of its NBCSN cable network wisely. Producers showed a wider sweep of Olympic events on the network, while letting people who wanted to see an extended look at figure skating have the chance on cable. One area to improve upon: keeping viewers better informed of their options.
RATINGS: If the ratings were an Olympic race, NBC slipped a few seconds off its pace on Wednesday. The Nielsen company said 19.2 million people watched competition in prime time on NBC, the cable network NBCSN and through streaming services, down 8 percent from the 20.8 million who watched NBC for the corresponding night at the Sochi Olympics four years ago. An estimated 17.2 million watched NBC alone, or 17 percent off Sochi.
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Ancient Beard Traditions Shape Face of Modern Jerusalem
Facial hair is trendy worldwide these days, but in Jerusalem beards have never gone out of style, projecting religious mysticism, nationalism and ideals of masculinity.
For men of all faiths in the holy city, a beard can be an important statement of religious devotion, connecting past generations to God through the tangled strands of history. Facial hair also reflects social mores in many communities. In some cases, it can even reflect one’s political views.
Nowhere is this more visible than in Jerusalem’s Old City, where bearded ultra-Orthodox Jews, Christian clerics and devout Muslims all come into contact in a densely packed mix of some of the world’s most sensitive holy sites.
For Eitan Press, 40, growing a beard is a spiritual journey that embodies ancient concepts of Jewish mysticism while challenging modern perceptions of masculinity.
His beard balm company, “Aleph Male,” is more than a clever word play on the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. He says it expresses Jewish values that stand in sharp contrast to the tough Alpha Male narrative often associated with facial hair.
“Rather than being a man at the top of the pyramid, it’s the image of a man who is lifting his brothers up,” said Press, who has a majestic, full red beard.
“When a man grows a beard, it is incumbent upon him to act with greater kindness, compassion and sensitivity toward the world because he is now wearing on his face a divine quality,” he said.
At Jerusalem’s bustling Mahane Yehuda market, he demonstrated his unique blends on a recent day, “anointing” bearded shoppers with balms inspired by Jewish festivals and rites.
One conjures up the citrus notes of Sukkot, the autumn festival that commemorates the desert wandering of the Jews during the Exodus. Items like myrtle branches and the etrog, a fruit resembling a lemon, are used in ceremonies.
Another blend has aromas of clove and cinnamon, spices used in Havdalah, the ritual marking the end of the Sabbath and the beginning of the new week.
“Jewish beard culture is literally thousands of years old. Moses had a beard. King David had a beard,” he said. “The custom for Jewish men to anoint their hair and beards with sacred oil goes back to the Bible.”
The custom of religious Jews wearing beards is rooted in a passage in the Biblical book of Leviticus that forbids “destroying” beard edges and prohibits shaving with a blade. While Jewish law permits the use of electric razors or scissors to trim beards, some sects don’t shave at all.
‘Channel of divinity’
Michael Silber, a Hebrew University professor who has researched beards, said that some Orthodox Jewish communities, leaning on Jewish mystical texts, consider facial hair so holy that men refrain from even combing their beards, fearing they will pull hair out. Strands that fall out naturally are sometimes placed in prayer books for preservation, he said.
For the pious that follow such teachings “beards are a channel of divinity” connecting them to God, he said.
Beards cross religious lines.
Zuheir Dubai, an Islamic scholar and imam in the West Bank city of Nablus, said that while Muslim men grow beards for religious reasons, moustaches are rooted in popular culture.
Some grow moustaches to emulate powerful leaders, like Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, he said. Some autocratic governments in the Mideast were known to shave off a prisoner’s mustache as a form of humiliation, Dubai said.
In Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, some men swear by their mustache, putting their hand on it to convince people to accept their word, Dubai said.
Muslim beard traditions stem from the time of the Prophet Muhammad, who in the 7th century urged his followers to wear beards and “shorten the mustache as a sign of modesty.” They regained popularity in modern times with the rise of political Islam about three decades ago. Some Muslims tint their beards orange with henna, which may have been used by the prophet, Dubai said.
Among Orthodox Christian priests, long bushy beards are as common a sight as their long, flowing robes on the narrow, winding cobblestone streets of Jerusalem’s ancient Old City. They see a beard as a sign of devotion to God and homage to Jesus – traditionally portrayed with a beard.
In Jerusalem wearing a beard can also reflect political sentiments. “In the 1980s religion begins to be intertwined with political orientations and this is reflected with the rise of the beard among the more right-wing oriented and religiously oriented, both Jews and Muslims,” Silber said.
Many bearded men, of course, often have simpler motives and just like the style.
Tal Johnson, a barber in the Israeli city of Holon, said growing one is not as easy as it looks.
“You can’t eat with it … there are lots of things that are terrible, like hummus … or fried egg that is runny, and you need to wash it afterward, all of this, it’s very complicated. Eating soup is awful,” he said.
For Heath Loftis, an American visiting Jerusalem, it has a different meaning altogether.
“I grew the beard after my time in the Marine Corps,” he said. “We always had to keep our face shaved. So I grow it out now as a freedom, but also as a tribute to that time in the Marine Corps.”
your ads here!Massive Fraud at Indian State-Owned Bank Linked to Celebrity Jeweler
The uncovering of one of the biggest frauds at a state-owned bank in India has rocked the country’s financial sector and brought scrutiny to a billionaire jeweler who counted Hollywood stars among his customers.
The nearly $1.8 billion fraud reported at India’s second-largest state-owned bank is a blow to the government’s efforts to revive the state-owned banking sector, which is already staggering under a mountain of bad debt.
Nirav Modi, whose jewelry boutiques span high-end streets from Hong Kong to London to New York and whose diamonds have been worn by Hollywood stars such as Dakota Johnson and Kate Winslet, is being investigated for the fraudulent transactions. His brand ambassador is Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, who has also carved a niche in the United States.
The fraud, which officials say had been going on from a single branch of Punjab National Bank in Mumbai, went undetected since 2011. Calling it a “cancer,” the bank’s chief executive, Sunil Mehta, told a news conference earlier this week that it had been removed. “We will resolve it and we will honor all our bona fide commitments.”
Officials at the bank have accused Modi and his companies of obtaining unauthorized letters of undertaking from junior employees to secure credit from overseas branches of Indian banks.
Modi has not responded to the allegations and, according to some reports, left the country last month. His home, stores and offices were raided by Indian investigators. His passport is being revoked, according to the Law and Justice Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“No one will be spared,” he said. “The taxpayers’ money will not be allowed to be lost. The investigation is proceeding with great speed and pace.”
Modi, whose worth is estimated at about $1.74 billion, is the 85th richest man in India, according to Forbes. Belonging to a family of diamond traders, the soft-spoken businessman founded a company called Firestone Diamond in 1999 — later rechristened Firestar Diamond — and quickly made a name in the business. He later set up his own jewelry design brand and won the rich and famous among his customers.
In January, he attended the economic summit in Davos, where a large Indian business delegation was present, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two are not related.
The fraud, which went undetected for years, has reignited concerns about governance standards at Indian banks and norms that are used for lending to corporate customers. Questions have been raised as to why audits failed to detect the fraud for years.
It came to light weeks after the government announced a $14 billion bailout for state banks. These banks, which account for about two-thirds of all bank assets in the country, are the backbone of the financial system, but are saddled with bad debt estimated at $147 billion.
Economists have warned that this mountain of bad loans threatens India’s efforts to accelerate its economy as it slows down efforts by banks to lend to potential investors.
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Belgian Court Orders Facebook to Stop Collecting Data
Belgian media say a Brussels court has ordered Facebook to stop collecting data about citizens in the country or face fines for every day it fails to comply.
The daily De Standaard reported Friday that the court upheld a Belgian privacy commission finding that Facebook is collecting data without users’ consent.
It said the court concluded that Facebook does not adequately inform users that it is collecting information, what kind of details it keeps and for how long, or what it does with the data.
It has ruled that Facebook must stop tracking and registering internet usage by Belgians online and destroy any data it has obtained illegally or face fines of 250,000 euros ($311,500) every day it delays.
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Spacewalking Astronauts Finishing Months of Robot Arm Repair
Spacewalking astronauts stepped out Friday to wrap up months of repair work on the International Space Station’s big robot arm.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan’s Norishige Kanai emerged from the orbiting complex as the sun rose over Peru’s western coast, 250 miles below.
The 58-foot robot arm had both of its aging mechanical hands replaced on spacewalks conducted in October and January. Friday’s work involved bringing one of those old hands inside so it can be returned to Earth for a tuneup and then flown back up, and moving the other gripper to a long-term storage location outside.
This last spacewalk in the series should have been completed by now, but was postponed because of complications with the robotic hand that was installed last month. Further delays were caused by this week’s late arrival of a Russian supply ship.
It was the first spacewalk for Kanai, a surgeon and former diving medical officer who arrived at the space station in December. For Vande Hei, it was spacewalk No. 4. He returns to Earth at the end of the month.
Four other men currently live at the space station.
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London Fashion Week Draws Fresh Faces, Blended Cultures
Asians and Asian Americans are increasingly putting their stamp on the global fashion industry — and the big Asian student body at top fashion schools suggests their influence will be lasting. Filipino Jason Wu, American Vera Wang and Malaysian Jimmy Choo are now household names among fashionistas. As London Fashion Week opens today, meet another aspiring designer: 23-year-old, US-trained Xinye Jiang, whose Chinese and international backgrounds inspire her jewelry pieces. Lisa Bryant reports.
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When Will Robots Work Alongside Humans?
Most analysts and economists agree, robots are slowly replacing humans in many jobs. They weld and paint car bodies, sort merchandise in warehouses, explore underground pipes and inspect suspicious packages. Yet we still do not see robots as domestic help, except for robotic vacuum cleaners. Robotics experts say there is another barrier that robots need to cross in order to work alongside humans. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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Iraq’s PM Declares Country Open for Business
Iraq’s prime minister was in Kuwait this week, selling his country as a promising investment opportunity. After years of war and sectarian violence, Iraq is moving toward stability and wants to attract the private sector to help fund its $88 billion reconstruction and recovery effort. From the Kuwaiti capital, VOA’s Margaret Besheer reports investors are interested.
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Mexico, US Express Cautious Optimism on NAFTA Deal
Top U.S. and Mexican officials on Thursday expressed cautious optimism that the North American Free Trade Agreement will be renegotiated, speaking ahead of the next round of trade talks later this month.
Asked on local television whether it was more likely the $1.2 trillion trilateral trade pact would survive or die, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said there was cause for optimism, though Mexico should be prepared for all eventualities.
“We should be prepared for a future with or without NAFTA,” he said.
In Washington, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it was a priority for the Trump administration to renegotiate NAFTA, declining to speculate on the consequences if the United States withdraws from talks.
The seventh round of negotiations in Mexico City will take place Feb. 25 to March 5, starting and ending a day earlier than initially planned.
There is a “window of opportunity” for concluding the talks in March or April, said Moises Kalach, head of the international negotiating arm of Mexico’s CCE business lobby.
“That’s the objective,” Kalach told reporters.
Talks to renegotiate the 1994 pact have stalled as Canada and Mexico are at loggerheads with the United States over some of the most contentious proposals its negotiators have put on the table.
“I am cautiously hopeful that [U.S. Trade Representative] Ambassador Lighthizer will be renegotiating this deal,” Mnuchin told the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade matters in the U.S. Congress.
“It is a major priority of ours,” he added U.S. President Donald Trump has called NAFTA one of the worst deals in history, blaming it for U.S. manufacturing job losses, and has threatened to quit the agreement unless he can rework it to better suit U.S. interests. His remarks have unsettled financial markets.
At the last round in Montreal, Canada made several proposals to address the U.S. insistence on raising the North American content of autos. Washington also wants a clause that would allow any member to withdraw after five years.
The early March deadline for concluding talks has been extended to at least early April, officials have said. But participants have conceded privately it could take months longer.
If talks run past Mexico’s July presidential election, Mexico’s private sector will work with the president-elect to update NAFTA, Kalach said.
The current frontrunner, leftist contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has said Mexico should suspend talks until after the election.
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Remote Pakistan Village Produces 2 Olympic Hopefuls
Pakistan, which has sent athletes to previous Winter Olympics, this year sends a two-man delegation — an uncle and his nephew — to compete in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Muhammad Karim, 22, and his nephew Syed Human, 26, are both from the Naltar Valley, a village located in Gilgit Baltistan, the northernmost region of the country.
Karim was the sole athlete from Pakistan at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“It feels very good. Before I was alone, and now, God willing, we have a team,” Karim told VOA in Urdu.
He said he has been able to give his nephew Human tips about preparing for the Olympics as well as how to stay relaxed at this level of competition.
Alpine, cross-country skiing
Although the two are participating in different events, he said they support each other. Karim will compete in the Alpine skiing competition and Human in cross-country skiing.
As a child, Karim started skiing for fun and took part in competitions that were organized for kids. He then joined the Shah Khan School, a ski school that was set up in Naltar Valley. In 2007, he first visited South Korea for a junior championship. Afterward, he was sent to Austria for training.
Now, Karim has returned to South Korea, this time for the Olympics. He is participating in two Alpine skiing events: giant slalom and slalom, scheduled for Feb. 18 and 22, respectively.
Coming from a rural valley, Karim said it makes him very happy and proud to now represent the country on an international level.
Human echoed that sentiment. He is in the Pakistan Army and is a member of its skiing team. He competes in the men’s 15km free cross-country skiing event on Friday.
Like his uncle, Human’s interest in skiing started at home, in the Naltar Valley.
The Ski Federation of Pakistan opened a school in his village. He was inspired to join after watching others train. Showing a talent for cross-country skiing, he was sent abroad to train. Later, he began competing at a national level, and now internationally.
“After the Ski Federation of Pakistan sent me abroad for training in 2010-2011, it was on my mind and became my mission to represent Pakistan in cross-country skiing at the Olympics,” he said, adding that dream has come true now in South Korea.
While Naltar Valley is a remote valley and a difficult area to access, it has been central to the development of skiing in Pakistan.
Future of Pakistan winter sports
Shahid Nadeem, secretary general of the Ski Federation of Pakistan, said the first ski resort was opened in Naltar Valley in 1958, to provide training to the Pakistan air force pilots. It later allowed civilians to train.
In 1990, the Ski Federation of Pakistan was created. Twenty years later, Pakistan participated for the first time at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. The sole athlete was Muhammad Abbas, also from Naltar Valley.
Back in Pakistan, the families of Karim and Human are praying for and supporting the two men.
“They are hopeful that we will return to Pakistan having given a great performance, InshAllah, we will keep this hope alive and try to give our best performance,” Karim said.
In Pyeongchang, they were given a warm welcome by the Pakistani embassy and Korean students, whom Karim said made him feel at home. The two men practice on the ski slopes every day, as well as in the gym, they said.
Nadeem, of the Ski Federation, accompanied Karim and Human to Pyeongchang. He said he believes Pakistan, home to some of the world’s highest mountains, has a lot of potential for growth in winter sports.
By the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, Nadeem said he hopes Pakistan will be represented in even more events.
He said his organization is trying to develop athletes in other winter sports, including ice skating, ice hockey and snowboarding. They are also focusing on female participation, with the hope to have a woman qualify for alpine skiing at the Beijing Winter Games.
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