Temperatures in the Arctic in recent days have surged above the freezing point, leading to renewed fears that climate change is affecting the planet’s atmosphere and causing sea ice to melt at a faster rate than predicted. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, scientists say, but at the same time much of Europe is experiencing a severe cold spell. Some scientists believe the two events are linked, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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Month: March 2018
First Lao-American MMA Fighter Enters the Octagon Driven by Memories of Son
Andre Soukhamthath, the Lao-American MMA fighter with a big match in Las Vegas this weekend, stumbled into fighting. He’d dreamed of playing soccer and even had college scholarships based on his potential as a goalkeeper.
But his then girlfriend, now his wife Jamie, got pregnant and Soukhamthath decided he needed to work rather than study. A gym down the street from his job beckoned, and a friend suggested he might enjoy boxing.
From the first session, “I was addicted to it,” Soukhamthath said. “I didn’t miss a day.”
Boxing led to Mixed Martial Arts, and when Jamie gave birth to the couple’s first son, LeAndre, in 2007, training helped Soukhamthath process his son’s diagnosis of epidermolysis bullosa, a rare skin disease that causes extremely fragile skin and blistering.
When the child died after nine months, Soukhamthath got serious about MMA, which incorporates techniques from boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu, karate, Muay Thai, and other disciplines.
“(LeAndre’s) the reason I started (MMA),” said Soukhamthath, who wants to go to Laos to teach MMA techniques to kids.
“If it wasn’t him being born I would never even known about Mixed Martial Arts. I would never even tried it, I was so into soccer,” Soukhamthath said.
“When I decided not to go to school, and decided just to work, then I found MMA, that’s because of him,” he said.
Las Vegas bout
On March 3, Soukhamthath is scheduled to go into the octagon cage at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to fight Sean O’Malley, who has won all of his last nine contests.
A fight in Vegas “is a big deal,” said Adam Hill, a sportswriter with the Las Vegas Review who covers MMA.
Soukhamthath “is coming onto the scene right now,” Hill said. “He’s not a guy who people have their eye on as a potential star, but he was a champion on the regional scene and has made a pretty quick impact on the UFC.”
After losing two fights in split decisions, Soukhamthath volunteered to fight Luke Sanders in Fresno, California, after his scheduled opponent was injured. At the time, Soukhamthath faced the loss of his UFC contract, his first, signed in early 2017, but he defeated Sanders “a guy who was supposed to beat him … in a very impressive manner,” Hill said.
That win earned Soukhamthath a new UFC contract and the March 3 match is the first of five under the new agreement. But O’Malley is “a guy the UFC would like to see do well. They discovered him on one of their side project TV shows, and they’re putting a lot of money behind him. So if you beat him, you get that shine for yourself,” Hill said.
Immigrants in the ring
It’s that shine, or something like it, that attracts immigrants to the ring.
“You really can trace social mobility among ethnic and racial groups in the United States through boxing. It starts in the 19th century with the Irish. They pretty much monopolized boxing,” Gerald Gems, professor of kinesiology emeritus at North Central Illinois College, told VOA.
Then came Jewish boxers, Italian boxers, African-American boxers, Hispanic and Latino boxers. Now there are Asians “who have controlled the lower weight classes and have for some time,” said Gems, the author of Boxing: A Concise History of Sweet Science.
Immigrants and people in the working class often have “less money and less education, so they tend to see things in a physical way,” Gems said. Status comes “through physical ability.”
Gems, who grew up working class, said “the first sport my father taught us was boxing. He knew we were going to have to fight. … Middle-class kids hire a lawyer, working-class kids fight it out.”
Any time a fighter steps into the ring, death is a possible outcome “and any fan understands that,” Gems said. “So whether they win or lose, they gain status among those who appreciate their psychological and physical courage.”
Today, “boxing seems to be a dying sport, except in Mexico and Asia,” Gems said. “MMA is much more popular.”
With fights that last three quick rounds, he said, “there’s a lot of action, and it permits different types of attacks that were involved in early boxing before more restricted rules … you can kick somebody, you can throw someone down. MMA is kind of like a rock concert … there’s a wildness aspect.”
There’s also money. MMA, according to Gems, draws a global audience with “ethnic and racial heroes. It all leads into selling more products.”
Laos, American roots
Soukhamthath, 29, who was born in Providence, Rhode Island, is the son of two Lao immigrants, William and Chanthalangsy Soukhamthath. During the Vietnam War, his father escaped to Thailand where he took up muay Lao (Lao boxing) in a refugee camp. Soukhamthath’s mother moved to the United States with her foster family when she was a girl, leaving her parents behind and never meeting them again.
Soukhamthath is married to Jamie Soukhamthath, a Lao-American and former Miss Teen Rhode Island. They have been together for 11 years and are the parents of two children.
His MMA career is something of a family business that “started as a hobby,” said Jamie Soukhamthath, who pitches in with managerial and logistical chores.
“I know that when Andre is determined, it becomes something bigger,” she said. “But at the time I didn’t really realize that it was going to turn into his career.”
The couple is intent on raising $50,000 to build a school in Laos, “and to give back to Laos, especially the children and Lao-American children in the United States,” Andre Soukhamthath said.
It hasn’t been easy, she said, balancing the roles of wife, mother and financial manager for her MMA fighter.
“I definitely wear multiple hats,” said Jamie Soukhamthath, adding “I have always worked in a professional settings, so it’s easy for me to negotiate on his behalf. I don’t want him to get taken advantage of.”
Is she scared to see him in the ring?
“No” she said. “I am very proud of him.”
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Report: Narcotics Consumption, Production Up Significantly Worldwide
Illegal heroin and fentanyl exports from Mexico to the United States are on the rise, according to World Drug Report 2017 compiled by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and backed by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Speaking in Mexico City, as the report, which tracks narcotics consumption and production throughout the world, was released Thursday, INCB President Raul Martin del Campo noted the significant increase of drug use around the world, highlighting the harvest and trafficking of illicit drugs in and from South America.
“Poppy harvest that you see in so many countries throughout South America, as you do in Mexico, en route to the United States has increased by a significant amount as registered in the report,” he said. “Fentanyl precursors have also been detected as entering the country, and that is having a consequence with respect to the composition of these drugs that are being exported illegally.”
Fentanyl interceptions skyrocket
Seizures of fentanyl, a significant contributor to the epidemic of overdose deaths, by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection increased from less than 1 kilogram in 2013 to about 200 kilograms in 2016, the INCB said.
Three-quarters of the cocaine consumed in Mexico comes from Mexico and Central America, the report noted.
Mexico is under increasing pressure to combat drug trafficking after more than 25,000 homicides were recorded last year across the country as rival drug gangs increasingly splintered into smaller, more violent groups.
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Uber Starts Offering Rides to Doctor
Uber is driving deeper into health care by offering to take patients in every U.S. market where it operates to their next medical appointment.
The ride-hailing service said Thursday its Uber Health business will handle rides set up by doctor’s offices or other health care providers and then bill that business, not the patient, for the service. The company said rides can be set up within a few hours or days in advance. Patients won’t need access to a smartphone to use the service.
Uber began testing the service last summer. More than 100 health care providers have signed up including hospitals, clinics and physical therapy centers.
Company leaders said they are expanding because there’s a need. They cite federal government research that estimates that more than 3 million people do not obtain medical care due to transportation problems.
“There are a lot of people out there who are not going to the doctor simply because they can’t physically make it there,” said Uber Health executive Jay Holley.
He added that the service also represents a business opportunity for Uber by connecting the company with a lot of first-time users.
Uber will bill care providers who sign up for the service monthly based on their usage. Holley said some may pass the cost on to their customers, but most of the providers it has worked with so far pay for the rides out of their operating budget.
Uber rival Lyft offers a similar service called Concierge, which allows health care providers to set up rides for patients to get to appointments. The providers pay for the rides. Lyft also has patient transport partnerships with larger health care providers.
Health insurers and others have long recognized the need to help some patients, especially those with low incomes, make their medical appointments.
Molina Healthcare Inc. has offered a transportation benefit to its customers for around 25 years and says that more than 3 million people are eligible. Molina specializes in administering the state- and federally funded Medicaid programs for poor people and the disabled.
Spokeswoman Laura Murray said the insurer found that covering transportation expenses helps patients keep regular appointments and preventive care visits, which can include things like flu shots or checkups. She said that can improve patient health and cut down on unnecessary emergency room visits.
Adams Clinical runs clinical trials for drug companies and started using Uber Health in the middle of last year. Since then, trial participation has grown and patients have started staying in the studies longer, CEO Nelson Rutrick said.
The Watertown, Massachusetts, company had used taxis before switching to Uber. Rutrick said taxis were more expensive and required advance planning to get a cab to drive an hour or two to pick someone up.
“Uber is already where the patient lives,” he said.
your ads here!Refugee Women Get a Taste of Entrepreneurship
When refugees arrive in a new country, they bring little to no material possessions. But many bring something more valuable: their talent and skills.
Twenty refugee women and asylum-seekers from different parts of the world recently came together at a pop-up store in Phoenix, Arizona, to display their homemade products and tell their compelling stories.
The details and the countries may be different, but their stories are strikingly similar.
From Iraq
Nada Alrubaye was an art teacher who fled Iraq. “I had two boys. One, my young boy, was killed in Baghdad,” she said. “I decided to go to Turkey with another son because I wanted to protect him.” They arrived in Arizona four years ago.
“I escaped from Syria seven years ago when the war started,” said Rodain Abo Zeed, through an interpreter, “because there was no safety and no opportunities for my kids to continue their education, and because my husband’s restaurant got burned down to ashes.” She traveled first to Jordan and then came to the U.S.
From Afghanistan
Tahmina Besmal was in her early 20’s when she fled Afghanistan. “Me, my mom, and two sisters because of safety and there was no opportunities for ladies to go to school, to do a job, to be independent.” Her family lived in India for six years before coming to Phoenix.
A step toward self-sufficiency
A team of graduate social work students at Arizona State University created the Global Market pop-up store to help these women become self-sufficient. They welcomed the opportunity to sell their homemade products at this donated retail space in downtown Phoenix.
“The global market project is developed in a collaboration between local non-profits and Arizona State,” one of the students, Alyaa Al-Maadeed, said. “So the way that we designed this project is just by using a concept from the world of business, which is a pop-up store, and integrated it into the world of social work.”
Asna Masood is president of one of the nonprofit partners — the American Muslim Women’s Association (AMWA). “Last year, we started new beginning skills training program for refugee women,” she said. “We teach them how to sew and then help them sell those items to the community.”
Learning a skill
Tahmina Besmal acquired sewing skills in the program and brought aprons, purses, and tablet cases she sewed at home to the pop-up store.
Other items for sale at the store included handicraft arts, soap and organic body care products, international sweets, paintings, jewelry and more. An Iraqi refugee applied henna tattoos on customers’ hands.
“The pop-up market is good for me because I bring all my stuff here. They were only in my home,” said Nada Alrubaye. “I sold some of my paintings like today, I sold two paintings and some of my jewelry.” Alrubaye said she was happy with the opportunity.
The pop-up store was only open for a month. But Megan McDermott, another graduate student on the team, said organizers have a long-term vision.
“The goal of the project is not only to bring these women short-term income. We want to really provide them with the experience of learning how to run their own business and learning how to be entrepreneurs.”
From Iraq
The goal resonates with Tara Albarazanchi, an Iraqi asylum-seeker who offered her homemade soaps and body care products.
“This pop-up market gives me that experience of working in a shop, dealing with people, dealing with cash, and knowing how to make the books,” she said. “I am talking about my products. It gives me the exposure that I was looking for.”
Organizers hope visitors to the store learned something as well.
As Alyaa Al-Maadeed explained, “It offers an educational opportunity for the customers to come in and interact with people from different parts of the world and learn their stories and learn what is a refugee and what does it mean to come from another part of the world having nothing to begin with.”
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Almost Any Amount of Exercise May Help Older Men Win Longevity Race
Older men may face premature death if they spend most of the day sitting around, but it doesn’t require a huge amount of exercise to increase their chances of living longer, a study in the UK suggests.
Researchers asked 1,655 men, all between 71 and 92 years old, to wear accelerometers for one week. The goal was to assess their activity levels.
Among a subset of 1,274 men without cardiovascular disease or heart failure who wore the accelerometers as directed, participants logged a daily average of 616 minutes of sedentary time, 199 minutes of light activity and 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise.
After following the men for up to six years, there were 194 deaths.
For each additional 30 minutes of sedentary time on a typical day, men were 17 percent more likely to die during the study, researchers report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Every extra half hour of light activity, however, was associated with 17 percent lower odds of death.
“For those who are able, it remains a good idea to aim for at least 150 minutes each week of moderate or more intense activity, that is, activities that get the heart beating faster,” said lead study author Barbara Jefferis of University College London.
“Our results suggest that whilst moderate or more intense activity is best, for older men who are unable to achieve the target, doing even light physical activity is worthwhile for extending the lifespan,” Jefferis said by email.
Not surprisingly, researchers also found that men were about 40 percent less likely to die during the study when they got the minimum recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise each week, compared to men who didn’t achieve that amount.
Long or short bursts
And the benefit was similar whether men got this total amount of exercise in brief, sporadic bouts of less than 10 minutes at a time or they exercised in longer bouts of at least 10 minutes or more.
“We found that as long as men accumulated 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, it didn’t matter whether it was in long or short bursts,” Jefferis said.
“This is encouraging for older adults, as it is easier for them to reach the target without worrying about sustaining activity in bouts.”
While 66 percent of the men managed to get at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise in short bursts, just 16 percent achieved this in bouts of 10 minutes or longer, the study found.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how the amount or duration of exercise men get might directly impact longevity.
Another limitation is that accelerometers used in the study didn’t distinguish between standing time and sitting, which might have different health effects, researchers note. Men who followed through with wearing the devices also tended to be younger and healthier than men who didn’t.
Mental benefits
Still, the results add to evidence that any exercise is better than none, even if more intense activity is better, said Keith Diaz, a researcher at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City who wasn’t involved in the study.
“So, whether one walks for 1 minute at a time or 10 minutes at a time, any duration of activity at a time is healthful,” Diaz said by email.
“Regular exercise can lower blood pressure, blood sugar levels, body weight, triglycerides, and unhealthy LDL cholesterol; all of which can improve your heart’s health and, in turn, longevity,” Diaz added. “Exercise can also help memory and thinking by stimulating the release of chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells and the growth of new blood vessels in the brain.”
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Facebook Ends Six-Country Test of Two Separate News Feeds
Facebook Inc on Thursday put an end to a test of splitting its signature News Feed into two, an idea that roiled how people consumed news in six countries where the test occurred and added to concern about Facebook’s power.
The test created two streaming series of posts. One was focused on photos and other updates from friends and family, and a second was called an “explore feed.” It was dedicated to material from Facebook pages that the user had liked, such as media outlets or sports teams.
The social media network decided to end the test and maintain one feed because people told the company in surveys they did not like the change, Adam Mosseri, head of the News Feed at Facebook, said in a statement.
“In surveys, people told us they were less satisfied with the posts they were seeing, and having two separate feeds didn’t actually help them connect more with friends and family,” Mosseri said.
The test began in October and took place in Bolivia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Serbia, Slovakia and Sri Lanka, and it quickly affected website traffic for smaller media outlets.
Mosseri said the company had also “received feedback that we made it harder for people in the test countries to access important information, and that we didn’t communicate the test clearly.”
He said Facebook would, in response, revise how it tests product changes although he did not say how.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled other changes to the Facebook News Feed in the past two months to fight sensationalism and prioritize posts from friends and family.
The world’s largest social network and its competitors are under pressure from users and government authorities to make their services less addictive and to stem the spread of false news stories and hoaxes.
Reporting by David Ingram.
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‘Weinstein’ on PBS Studies Why Alleged Sexual Misconduct Persisted
In making a documentary about disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, PBS’ Frontline wanted to focus less on what he did than on how the alleged sexual misconduct went on for so long.
“Weinstein” airs Friday on most PBS stations, two nights before the Academy Awards. Its richness comes in detailing the combination of fear, intimidation and self-interested passivity that papered over allegations of harassment and assault dating back nearly 40 years, involving the famous and obscure alike.
More than 100 women have come forward since stories about the influential film producer’s behavior were first published in The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine last fall. Weinstein has denied some of the allegations. Several women speak to Frontline, their stories unfolding with numbing similarity, usually starting with an unwanted request for a massage.
To illustrate how long this has been going on, PBS interviews two women who worked on Weinstein’s first film in the early 1980s, back when he ran a concert promotion business in Buffalo, New York. Suza Maher-Wilson and Paula Wachowiak kept their stories to themselves because they figured no one else would care, or that it typified how young women were treated in the entertainment industry.
Career suffered
Actress Sean Young said she rebuffed Weinstein when he exposed himself. “I upset a few important men and the trajectory of my career … ,” she said, her hand motioning downward.
Frontline also speaks with two former Weinstein employees, Paul Webster and Tom Prince, who illustrated with their own inaction how things continued. Webster said he knew Weinstein was a dangerous character when he took a job there in 1995. “But I knew he was in the epicenter of where I wanted to be,” he said.
Webster seems to wrestle on camera with his conscience. He said he knew of character traits of Weinstein’s that perhaps could lead to predatory behavior. Looking back, he said, “I did know and I chose to suppress it. I chose to hide from that fact.”
Prince said he heard innuendoes, and he became suspicious of why the company was spending a lot of money to fly young women around the world. But he didn’t give it much thought, primarily because he was focused on his day-to-day job.
For people not motivated to keep quiet, Weinstein had many tools at his disposal. Alleged victims signed nondisclosure agreements. Investigative companies were used; one lawyer who told Weinstein he’d heard that the mogul assaulted women was told that his own behavior had been investigated. New York authorities, despite convincing an Italian model who alleged she was groped by Weinstein to wear a wire when she met with him again, dropped their case after a sophisticated tabloid campaign to disparage her.
“I felt if you could understand that more deeply, it could have consequences beyond the Harvey Weinstein story — that it’s important and appropriate to speak out when you’re observing something that isn’t quite right,” said Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer of Frontline.
Silence remains
Several people are still reluctant to talk. Filmmakers interviewed Zelda Perkins, a former Weinstein assistant who broke a nondisclosure agreement after advocating for a friend who alleged that Weinstein assaulted her. Her friend still hasn’t spoken publicly.
In an illustration of how difficult the story was to crack, PBS talks to two well-regarded journalists — Ken Auletta of The New Yorker and Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter — who tried and failed. Auletta even confronted Weinstein about accusations made by Perkins.
“I wish I could have nailed the guy in 2002,” Auletta says in the film. “The problem was that I couldn’t prove it.”
With the self-imposed Oscars deadline, “Weinstein” came together quickly for a documentary. Some important interviews, including Webster and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, were conducted within the past two weeks, Aronson-Rath said.
PBS did not get an interview with Weinstein, but his camp specifically discusses some of the accusations discussed in the film. The documentary’s final scene was of reporters recently cornering Weinstein. “We all make mistakes. Second chance, I hope,” Weinstein said, before getting into an SUV.
It was also the first Frontline collaboration with the BBC, which was airing “Weinstein” Thursday. The organizations merged investigative teams to work faster, and the combination of the PBS and BBC names helped persuade some interview subjects to talk, she said.
“We felt that the stakes were so high in this investigation that we wanted to make sure that we were working together on all levels,” she said.
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#MeToo, Black Lives Matter Movements Reflected in Oscars 2018
Movements such as #OscarsSoWhite, Black Lives Matter and #MeToo have helped bring changes in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, allowing more voting members from minorities and women. As a result, audiences and critics may see the Oscars cover a wider racial and gender breadth this year. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with Giovanna Chesler, director of the Film and Video Studies Program at George Mason University, about the Oscar nominees making a difference.
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US Markets Fall on Steel, Aluminum Tariffs Announcement
Stocks are turning sharply lower in afternoon trading as talk of steep tariffs on steel and aluminum spook investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped as much as 500 points Thursday.
Industrial companies that would take a hit from higher steel and aluminum prices fell sharply.
Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar fell 2 percent and aerospace giant Boeing gave back 4 percent.
Big exporters like Apple and drugmaker Pfizer, which would suffer if trade tensions picked up, also fell.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 41 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,671. The benchmark index is coming off its worst month in two years.
The Dow was down 470 points, or 19 percent, at 24,554. The Nasdaq composite fell 127 points, or 1.8 percent, to 7,142.
This is a breaking story; please check back for updates.
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Chris Stapleton Leads ACM Nominations, Reba Returns as Host
Chris Stapleton, who released two top-selling albums last year, leads the Academy of Country Music Awards with eight nominations, including his first entertainer of the year nomination.
Reba McEntire announced the nominations Thursday on “CBS This Morning” as well as her return as host for a record 15th year. The show will air April 15 from Las Vegas on CBS.
Thomas Rhett earned six nominations, Keith Urban had five nominations, and songwriter and producer Shane McAnally had five nods. Miranda Lambert and Maren Morris had four nominations each. The top category of entertainer of the year was an all-male line-up including Stapleton, Urban, Jason Aldean, Garth Brooks and Luke Bryan.
McEntire, who recently took on the role as the first female Colonel Sanders for KFC advertisements, has hosted the awards show more than anyone, dating back to 1986. She has co-hosted the show with Hank Williams Jr., Alan Jackson and Blake Shelton, and hosted solo for several years. McEntire is also nominated for female vocalist of the year.
Stapleton is nominated twice as an artist and producer for album of the year for his “From A Room: Volume 1” and single record of the year for “Broken Halos.” He is also nominated as artist and songwriter in the song of the year category for “Whiskey and You.” He is also nominated for male vocalist of the year.
Rhett’s nominations include album of the year for “Life Changes” and male vocalist of the year, which he won last year. He is also nominated for vocal event of the year with Morris for their duet “Craving You” and music video of the year.
Urban earned nominations in the categories of male vocalist, song of the year for his song “Female” and vocal event of the year.
Lambert, a perennial favorite at the ACMs, is the current record holder for most consecutive wins in the female vocalist of the year category and is currently tied with Brooks and Dunn as artists with the most awards in ACM history with 29 wins each. Lambert is nominated in female vocalist, song of the year and video of the year categories.
Morris is nominated for female vocalist and is nominated twice in the vocal event of the year category, once with Rhett and another for a duet with Vince Gill called “Dear Hate,” which was released after the mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival last year.
Sam Hunt, Little Big Town and Midland all have three nominations each.
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US Will Impose Steep Steel, Aluminum Tariffs Next Week
President Donald Trump says the United States will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports next week.
At a meeting Thursday with top executives from U.S. steel and aluminum companies, he announced tafiffs of 25 percent on steel products and 10 percent on aluminum.
Trump said in a Twitter post Thursday morning that “Our Steel and Aluminum industries (and many others) have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy with countries from around the world.” He continued, “We must not let our country, companies and workers be taken advantage of any longer. We want free, fair and SMART TRADE!”
The Trump administration has shown its desire to impose tariffs on various metal imports since last year.
Earlier this month, the Commerce Department announced that it found “the quantities and circumstances of steel and aluminum imports threaten to impair national security.”
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recommended that President Trump impose a tariff of at least 53 percent on all steel imports from China and 11 other countries, and a tariff of 23.6 percent on all aluminum products from China, Hong Kong, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam.
On Thursday China’s top economic advisor Liu He is scheduled to visit the White House to meet with top administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Trump’s chief economic advisor Gary Cohn.
A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters that they expect a “frank exchange of views” and will focus on “the substantive issues.”
Ryan L. Hass, David M. Rubenstein Fellow at John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings Institution told VOA he believes in the best case scenario, Liu’s visit will assure both sides that “they are committed to solving underlying problems in the bilateral trade relationship.”
Hass noted, “In such a scenario, both sides would agree on the problems that need to be addressed, the framework for addressing them, and the participants and timeline for concluding negotiations.”
Hass said if Liu He’s visit fails to exceed the White House’s expectations, then the probability of unilateral U.S. trade actions against China will go up. “If the U.S. takes unilateral actions, China likely will respond proportionately, and that could set off a tit-for-tat cycle leading to a trade war,” he said.
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Environmentalists in Kenya Protest China-Backed Railway Construction
Environmental activists in Kenya have pledged to take further legal action against Kenyan and Chinese corporations if contractors move forward with construction of a railway bridge across Nairobi National Park. The activists held a demonstration Thursday outside parliament.
About 100 activists chanted as they marched through the streets of Nairobi Thursday to demand that phase 2 of construction of the Standard Gauge Railway be rerouted around Nairobi National Park.
The park is a rare wildlife sanctuary located just minutes from the city center of one of Africa’s rapidly growing economic and technological hubs.
“This is a tiny park. It’s an absolute jewel to the Nairobi citizens and all of Kenya. It is crowded with guests. Everybody who comes for safari, their first stop is Nairobi National Park before they go to the Mara and all those places, and it’s a disaster if they take it away,” said Patricia Heaths.
The six-kilometer bridge planned to cross over the park is part of a much larger project – the SGR, a massive regional rail network largely funded by China. Kenya opened the Nairobi to Mombasa line last year. This second phase of the SGR in Kenya is set to connect Nairobi to Naivasha.
Environmentalists say the construction would affect the ecology of the park, endangering the wildlife and their natural habitats. Paul Mark from Friends of Nairobi National Park read a petition outside parliament.
“…The purpose of this letter is to remind you of the court orders in place which stop the Kenya Railways Corporation and any other person from construction of the Standard Gauge Railway within the Nairobi National Park,” he said.
In 2017, the National Environment Tribunal ordered a temporary halt to construction in the Nairobi National Park in response to a petition from environmental groups. The activists demanded the government conduct an environmental impact study. The case is still pending.
However, Kenya Railways, a state company, and its partner, the China Road and Bridge Corporation, moved to begin construction work in the park in late February.
The Kenya Coalition for Wildlife Conservation and Management said in a statement Thursday that it would seek to have the contractors held in contempt.
Officials at Kenya’s Ministry of Transport and Kenya Railways did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment.
Marko Pruikma sits on the board of Friends of Nairobi National Park.
“Nairobi National Park is an open park, which means animals can migrate freely in and out the southern boundaries of the park. There will be a lot of noise because of construction in certain areas. You will see certain animals removed out of their particular area going to another area pushing out other animals, and they might go out of the park, causing extra human-wildlife conflict outside the park,” said Pruikma.
Last year, environmentalists unsuccessfully tried to stop construction of phase one of the SGR which passes through Tsavo National Park. Activists say the rail line interferes with elephant migration.
A total of seven possible routes were considered for phase two of the SGR, two of which did not pass through Nairobi National Park. The government said the current design was picked as the most cost-effective and technically feasible.
The Kenya Wildlife Service also rubber-stamped the decision to build the rail bridge over the park saying it would have minimal interference with the movement of the wildlife.
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US Consumer Spending Ticked Up in January as Incomes Soared
Americans lifted their spending just 0.2 percent in January, while their incomes jumped because of last year’s tax cuts.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that the modest spending increase followed gains of 0.4 percent in December and 0.8 percent in November. Incomes rose 0.4 percent, boosted by $30 billion in tax cut-related bonuses the government estimates were paid out in January.
After-tax income jumped 0.9 percent, the most in a year, lifted by the Trump administration’s tax cuts. With consumers holding back on spending, the savings rate rose. Savings had fallen to a 12-year low in December.
The figures suggest Americans took a breather in January after shopping enthusiastically over the holidays. The healthy income gains will likely spur more spending in the coming months. Still, the slow start to the year indicates the economy may grow more slowly in the first three months of the year than it did in last year’s fourth quarter, when it expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate.
Consumers are feeling much more optimistic about the economy, which should help lift spending. Consumer confidence jumped in February to the highest level since 2000, according to the Conference Board.
“With consumer confidence elevated and disposable incomes rising, we don’t expect the softness in spending to last long,” Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said.
There were some signs of inflation pressures. A key inflation gauge that excludes the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.3 percent, the most in a year and matching January 2017’s gain. The last time core prices rose faster was in January 2007.
Fears of rising inflation stemming from faster economic growth and a solid job market contributed to a sharp fall in the stock market in early February.
Yet core prices rose just 1.5 percent in January from a year ago, the same annual gain as in December. A broader inflation measure that includes food and energy increased 1.7 percent from a year earlier, also the same as the previous month. Both figures are below the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent.
Americans spent much less on cars last month, reflecting a slowdown after consumers replaced thousands of cars in previous months that had been destroyed by hurricanes. That pulled down spending on long-lasting goods by 1.6 percent, the steepest fall since last January.
Adjusted for inflation, Americans’ after-tax incomes rose 0.6 percent in January, the most in five years.
Overall, the economy and job market are mostly healthy. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 210,000, the lowest level in 48 years, the Labor Department said Thursday. That is a sign that employers anticipate solid growth and want to hold onto their staffs.
your ads here!Exxon Mobil Withdraws From Russia Deal due to Sanctions
U.S. oil company Exxon Mobil says it will withdraw from its joint venture with Russia’s state-controlled Rosneft due to U.S. and European sanctions against the country.
Exxon Mobil had signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, in 2011 that aimed to drill in difficult terrain, like Russia’s Arctic waters. It combined Exxon’s high level of technology with Rosneft’s access to the area.
The deal came under strain, however, after the U.S. sanctioned Russia in 2014 over the invasion of Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula. The sanctions did not affect existing deals in the energy sector, but prohibited any business with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, an influential oligarch in Russia.
That created a series of hurdles for the partnership. Exxon has applied for a waiver but without success. Last year, the U.S. Treasury fined Exxon $2 million for signing new deals with Sechin in 2014. Exxon sued the U.S. government to stop the fine.
The deal has come under extra scrutiny because Rex Tillerson, the current secretary of state, was the Exxon CEO who had struck the deal and has had reportedly good personal ties with Sechin.
As America’s top diplomat, Tillerson has insisted the sanctions will stay in place until Russia reverses course in Ukraine and gives back Crimea. Still, the Russian deal on his watch raises significant questions about his ability to credibly enforce the sanctions and to persuade European countries to keep doing so.
The situation was escalated further last year, when the U.S. expanded sanctions against Russia for allegedly interfering in the U.S. presidential election.
Exxon said in a note to its earnings report late Wednesday that it had made the decision to end the partnership in late 2017.
“The corporation expects it will formally initiate the withdrawal in 2018,” at a cost of about $200 million, it said.
Rosneft said in a statement that it “will continue the independent development of these projects,” and that it supports Exxon Mobil’s eventual return, should the law allow that.
your ads here!Equifax Finds Additional 2.4 Million Impacted by 2017 Breach
Equifax said Thursday that an additional 2.4 million Americans were impacted by last year’s data breach, however these newly disclosed consumers had significantly less personal information stolen.
The company says the additional consumers only had their names and a partial driver’s license number stolen by the attackers, unlike the original 145.5 million Americans who had their Social Security numbers impacted. Attackers were unable to get the state where the license was issued, the date of issuance or its expiration date.
In total, roughly 147.9 million Americans have been impacted by Equifax’s data breach. It remains the largest data breach of personal information in history.
The company says they were able to find the additional 2.4 million Americans by cross referencing names with partial driver’s license numbers using both internal and external data sources. These Americans were not found in the original breach because Equifax had focused its investigation on those with Social Security numbers impacted. Individuals with stolen Social Security numbers are generally more at risk for identity theft because of how prolific Social Security numbers are used in identity verification.
Equifax Inc. says it will reach out to all newly impacted consumers and will provide the same credit monitoring and identity theft protection services they have been offering to the original victims.
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Oscar-Nominated Composers Embrace Their Rare Moment on Stage
It’s not often that a composer is asked to provide musical accompaniment to a woman having sex with a fish monster.
It’s almost as rare that a composer is asked to conduct a big-city symphony in a performance of his movie score the same week he’s expected to win an Oscar for it.
Alexandre Desplat, whose music gave voice to the emotions of the mute couple at the center of “The Shape of Water,” embraced both tasks.
He was one of five Academy Award nominees whose scores the Los Angeles Philharmonic performed Wednesday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall in a show designed to give usually secluded composers a rare moment in the spotlight. It was just the second such concert in the history of the academy, which celebrates its 90th anniversary with Sunday’s Oscar ceremony.
“It’s a fantastic moment for a composer to be able to come out of your studio and share the emotion,” Desplat, 56, told The Associated Press shortly before taking the stage. “It’s a great reward, especially here, with this orchestra.”
Guillermo Del Toro, who directed the film, was in attendance Wednesday night and spoke briefly to introduce Desplat to the crowd.
When Del Toro presented him with the amphibious and very adult love story, Desplat said his thought was: “Give me more sex scenes.”
And he knew what approach he wanted to take: as pure, sweeping and romantic as he would give to any passionate relationship.
“I haven’t scored that many love stories,” Desplat said. “It’s one of my rare opportunities. There are not so many movies that are love stories anymore.”
He set aside the conductor’s baton and used only his hands to lead the orchestra in a transfixing performance of his score, a classic movie-romance with an occasional accordion that evoked his native Paris, and just the slightest nod to the movie’s supernatural themes.
While he has spent his entire career in movies, and won an Oscar for 2014’s “Grand Budapest Hotel,” he has also occasionally led an orchestra in concert.
Carter Burwell hasn’t.
The composer for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” has had a storied three-decade career in movie music, but had never before taken the concert stage to conduct.
“Oh it’s completely new,” said Burwell, showing no sign of nerves before the show.
He was resplendent in a tux and slightly oversized white tie when he led the orchestra in his spaghetti-western-style soundtrack to “Three Billboards,” giving no indication that he was a rookie.
Jonny Greenwood, the Radiohead guitarist and keyboardist who scored “Phantom Thread,” was the lone no-show nominee, though his work was played in his absence.
The night had a rock star anyway in 86-year-old John Williams, who was welcomed with whoops and cheers more common in arenas than concert halls.
Williams’ Oscar nomination for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is his 51st.
Williams was introduced by Rian Johnson, the “Last Jedi” director who said it’s impossible to present Williams to an audience without sounding “too grandiose, like I’m dedicating a national park.”
On this night, however, Williams focused only on material that was new and unique to “Last Jedi,” and stayed away from the soul-stirring “Star Wars” melodies.
The last of the composers, Hans Zimmer, wasn’t happy Wednesday night. The 11-time nominee was certainly glad the Academy was giving added attention to composers. But he really wished they hadn’t done it in a year when his entry, the score for “Dunkirk,” was designed to make an audience feel edgy and claustrophobic, instead of, say, 1995, when he won an Oscar for his crowd-pleasing work on “The Lion King.”
“Why couldn’t it have been any other year?” he moaned, with a bit of a laugh behind his agony.
And when he heard the order of performers, it got even worse.
“They made us go alphabetically,” Zimmer said. “I think there’s something completely and utterly wrong about me following John Williams.”
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Benin Leader’s Visit is First Test of France’s Promise to Return African Art Treasures
French President Emmanuel Macron’s groundbreaking vow to return colonial-era artifacts Africa may face its first test next week, when he holds talks in Paris (March 6) with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon. At issue are treasures from the former kingdom of Dahomey, which ended up in French museums and private collections. As Lisa Bryant reports from Paris, the practicalities of repatriation are both complicated and controversial.
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Popular Alaska Peak Weighs New Rules for Climbers’ Poop
Climbers on North America’s tallest mountain may have to start packing out more of their poop after a researcher determined a glacier in which much of it has been dumped over the past decade probably is not decomposing the human waste.
Michael Loso, a glacier geologist, calculates that 36,000 climbers between 1951 and 2012 deposited 152,000 to 215,000 pounds (69 to 97 metric tons) of feces onto Kahiltna Glacier, part of the most popular route to Denali’s summit.
For more than a decade, the National Park Service has required that climbers keep waste off the Alaska mountain’s surface. Mountaineers captured their poop in biodegradable bags held by portable toilets and pitched it into deep crevasses on the glacier.
However, Loso’s research indicates human waste never reaches the bottom of the glacier, will never be exposed to extreme temperatures and disintegrate, and likely will reappear downstream as stains on Kahiltna Glacier’s surface where melting exceeds annual snowfall.
Park Service officials say the dumping of human waste that does not decompose is not a practice they want to continue in a national park and a wilderness area.
“These changes are in direct response to the research,” Chris Erickson, a mountain ranger, said by phone from nearby Talkeetna.
The proposed regulations would allow mountaineers to drop waste in only one crevasse at high elevation. They would have to carry out the rest.
Human waste is a concern on most mountains that attract multitudes of climbers, and the issue of poop littering the routes up Mount Everest in Nepal is well-documented. Some mountains are trying to minimize the human waste problem. In Japan, bio-toilets have been set up along the route to Mount Fuji’s summit, and incinerator toilets are at the top. In Tanzania, latrines have been built for climbers making their way to Kilimanjaro’s summit.
The waste can be more than just bothersome. Climbers on Denali, the centerpiece of sprawling Denali National Park, get all their drinking water by melting snow. And snow contaminated by human excrement can spread dangerous bacteria such as E. coli, causing climbers intestinal distress and diarrhea leading to dehydration, a life-threatening condition at high altitude.
Each year about 1,100 people try to reach Denali’s summit at 20,310 feet (6,190 meters). More than 90 percent use a route that starts from a landing strip for small airplanes on Kahiltna Glacier.
Starting in 2007, the Park Service required that human waste be collected in “Clean Mountain Cans,” a portable toilet invented by a Denali park ranger that looks like an extended coffee can. Under current rules, climbers between the base camp and 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) are allowed to toss filled liners into crevasses. Rangers even marked safe places to do so.
Loso for more than a decade has studied Denali human waste management to determine whether feces broke down, and if not, where it went. He buried human waste, dug it up after a year and found it remained at temperatures just below freezing, without undergoing temperature extremes or ultraviolet light that kills bacteria.
“For most bacteria, that’s a really comfortable place to be,” Loso said.
He forecasts that poop could emerge soon on the glacier surface 7 miles (11 kilometers) below the base camp, where the surface melts faster than snow accumulates.
The area is so remote, future visitors are unlikely to see the emerging waste, but Loso’s findings motivated the Park Service to re-examine its rules. The agency also doesn’t want pollution reaching the Kahiltna River, which flows from the glacier.
Under proposed rules, all Denali dung must be deposited in one of two places: the ranger station at Talkeetna or in a crevasse at “Camp Four,” a campsite at 14,200 feet (4,330 meters). Waste dumped there tumbles down a huge ice cliff and is likely to be pulverized and rendered inert, said Erickson, the mountain ranger.
Tom Kirby, a guide for American Alpine Institute, said his company supports any effort to get the waste problem under control.
“I think that’s a pretty reasonable thing to do to promote cleanliness and to keep water coming out of Kahiltna Glacier reasonably clean,” he said.
Colby Coombs, owner of Alaska Mountaineering School, which guides visitors on Denali, said he fully supports the Park Service balancing the safety of climbers, who want to move quickly through dangerous terrain without extra weight, while protecting a wilderness area within a national park.
“Who would like to see a big pile of human waste?” he asked. “That’s disgusting.
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AI Software Differentiates Between Extremist Propaganda and News
The battle to identify and remove extremist video online just got a new weapon. Video-sharing sites can now use artificial intelligence to scan thousands of videos as they are uploaded. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Competitive Ax Throwers in Washington Aim for World Championships
If you’re looking for a new sport, or a new hobby that doesn’t cost a fortune, is open to nearly everyone, and helps relieve stress, you may want to consider ax throwing. All you need is a sharp ax — or axe, as Canadians spell it — and an unsuspecting piece of wood. Arash Arabasadi caught up with an international, competitive ax-throwing league in Washington.
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Gorgeous Orchids Showcased at US Botanic Garden
Orchids are among the world’s most beautiful flowers. Although the blossoms come in different shapes, sizes and colors, they all belong to one of the largest and oldest families of flowering plants on earth. The U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington is showcasing some of the thousands of different orchid varieties in a spectacular exhibit that runs until the first week of April. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us there for a fragrant look at the exotic world of orchids.
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