March 26 will mark the fourth anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition campaign to oust the Houthi rebels from parts of Yemen they had occupied. The fighting has caused what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” displacing people from their homes, creating food shortages, a growing civilian death toll and undermining children’s development. The UN estimates that about 10 children die every day in Yemen from preventable diseases caused by hunger. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has this story.
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Month: March 2019
Yemeni Children Victimized by ‘World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis’
March 26 will mark the fourth anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition campaign to oust the Houthi rebels from parts of Yemen they had occupied. The fighting has caused what the UN calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” displacing people from their homes, creating food shortages, a growing civilian death toll and undermining children’s development. The UN estimates that about 10 children die every day in Yemen from preventable diseases caused by hunger. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has this story.
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Larry Cohen, Director of Cult Horror Films, Dies at 77
Larry Cohen, the maverick B-movie director of cult horror films “It’s Alive” and “God Told Me To,” has died. He was 77.
Cohen’s friend and spokesman, the actor Shade Rupe, said Cohen passed away Saturday in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones.
Cohen’s films were schlocky, low-budget films that developed cult followings, spawned sequels and gained esteem for their genre reflections of contemporary social issues.
His 1974 “It’s Alive,” about a murderous mutant baby, dealt with the treatment of children. Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Hitchcock’s frequent composer, supplied the score.
His New York-set 1976 satire “God Told Me To” depicted a series of shootings and murders carried out in religious fervor. Andy Kaufman played a policeman who goes on a shooting spree during the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There were also aliens.
In Cohen’s 1985 film “The Stuff,” Cohen skewered consumerism with a story inspired by the rise of junk food. It’s about a sweet yogurt-like substance that’s found oozing out of the ground and is then bottled and marketed like an ice cream alternative without the calories. The “stuff” turns out to be a parasite that turns consumers of it into zombies.
“It wasn’t just going to a studio like a factory laborer and making pictures and going home every night,” Cohen told the Ringer last year. “We were out there in the jungle making these movies, improvising, and having fun, and creating movies from out of thin air without much money.”
“You’ve gotta make the picture your way and no other way,” he added, “because it can’t be made otherwise.”
Cohen’s approach — he would often shoot extreme scenes on New York City streets without permits or alerting people in the area — made him, like Roger Corman, revered among subsequent generations of independent genre-movie filmmakers. A documentary released last year, “King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen,” paid tribute to Cohen.
“Larry Cohen truly was an independent freewheeling movie legend,” the writer-director Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead,” ″Baby Driver”) said on Sunday, praising him “for so many fun, high-concept genre romps with ideas bigger than the budgets.”
The New York-native Cohen began in television, where he wrote episodes for series like “The Fugitive,” ″The Defenders” and “Surfside 6.” New York would be the setting for many of Cohen’s films, including 1982′s “Q,” in which a giant flying lizard nests atop the Chrysler Building.
Cohen’s 1973 blaxspoitation crime drama “Black Caesar,” scored by James Brown, was about a Harlem gangster. He and star Fred Williamson reunited the next year for “Hell Up in Harlem.”
Cohen later directed Bette Davis’ last film, “Wicked Stepmother,” in 1989. More recently, he wrote the 2002 Colin Farrell thriller “Phone Booth” and 2004′s “Cellular,” with Chris Evans.
Cohen was often his own producer, director, writer and sometimes prop-maker and production manager. “Otherwise,” he told the Village Voice, “I’d have to sit down with producers, and producers are a real pain in the ass, believe me.”
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Get Out! Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ Shatters Records With $70.3M
Jordan Peele has done it again. Two years after the filmmaker’s “Get Out” became a box-office sensation, his frightening follow-up, “Us,” debuted with $70.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The opening, well above forecasts, had few parallels. It was the largest debut for an original horror film (only the “It” remake and last year’s “Halloween” have surpassed it in the genre) and one of the highest openings for a live-action original film since “Avatar” was released 10 years ago.
In today’s franchise-driven movie world, seldom has a young director been such a draw. But moviegoers turned out in droves to see what kind of freak-out Peele could muster in his sophomore release.
“Peele has really crafted an extraordinary story that I think once again is going to capture the cultural zeitgeist,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “He is recognized as just an amazing talent. He crafts films that make you think, that are extraordinarily well-acted, well-written and are amazingly entertaining.”
“Us” took over the top spot at the box office from “Captain Marvel,” which had reigned for two weeks. The Marvel Studios superhero release slid to second place with $35 million in its third week. In three weeks of release, it’s made $910 million worldwide, and will soon become the first $1 billion release of 2019.
Other holdovers — the animated amusement “Wonder Park” and the cystic fibrosis teen romance “Five Feet Apart”— trailed in third and fourth with about $9 million each in their second week.
But the weekend belonged overwhelming to “Us,” which more than doubled the $33.4 million domestic debut of 2017′s Oscar-winning “Get Out.” The former “Key & Peele” star’s first film as writer-director, “Get Out” ultimately grossed $255.4 million on a $4.5 million budget.
“Us” cost $20 million to make, meaning it’s already a huge hit for Peele and Universal Pictures, which notched its third No. 1 release of the year following “Glass” and “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.”
It’s also, as Peele has said, more thoroughly a horror film. While “Us” has drawn very good reviews (94 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences gave it a relatively low “B″ CinemaScore. Paul Dergarabedian chalked that up mainly to moviegoers feeling shell-shocked when they emerged from the theater.
“Us” stars Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as vacationing parents whose family is faced with eerie doppelgangers of themselves. The film added $16.7 million from 47 international territories.
While “Us” was propelled by a number of things, including Nyong’o and buzz out of its SXSW premiere, the main selling point was Peele. The 40-year-old director already has an imprimatur matched only by veteran filmmakers like Clint Eastwood.
“It’s really difficult for a director to become a superstar whose name gets people in theater, and Jordan Peele has done just that,” said Dergarabedian. “He’s a superstar director with a brand all his own, and that’s with two feature films under his belt. That’s pretty astonishing. That just doesn’t happen.”
After a sluggish January and February, the overall box office has rebounded thanks to “Captain Marvel” and “Us.” The weekend was up 15.3 percent from last year, according to Comscore.
The weekend followed an especially tumultuous week in Hollywood. On Monday, Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara stepped down following a sex scandal. On Wednesday, the Walt Disney Co. completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
In absorbing one of the six major studios in 20th Century Fox, Disney quickly made many layoffs and shuttered Fox 2000, the Fox label behind hit book adaptations like “Hidden Figures” and “Life of Pi.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.
- “Us,” $70.3 million ($16.7 million international).
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“Captain Marvel,” $35 million ($52.1 million international).
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“Wonder Park,” $9 million ($5 million international).
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“Five Feet Apart,” $8.8 million ($6.2 million international).
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“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” $6.5 million ($6 million international).
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“A Madea Family Funeral,” $4.5 million.
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“Gloria Bell,” $1.8 million.
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“No Manches Frida,” $1.8 million.
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“Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” $1.1 million ($6.2 million international).
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“Alita: Battle Angel,” $1 million ($1.6 million international).
Researchers Say Lab Test Appears To Diagnose #Fibromyalgia For The First Time
Millions of people live with a the constant pain of fibromyalgia. It’s a disorder that’s often misdiagnosed. And while lab tests can help identify a lot of diseases, until recently there was no test for fibromyalgia. Now, as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, a simple blood test could finally give these patients scientific proof of their condition.
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Researchers Say Lab Test Appears To Diagnose #Fibromyalgia For The First Time
Millions of people live with a the constant pain of fibromyalgia. It’s a disorder that’s often misdiagnosed. And while lab tests can help identify a lot of diseases, until recently there was no test for fibromyalgia. Now, as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, a simple blood test could finally give these patients scientific proof of their condition.
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South Africa’s Liberal Abortion Laws Hampered by Widespread Stigma
Abortion is legal in South Africa for up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy, and is provided for free at government-run clinics. However, getting a safe, legal abortion is a challenge. Many women face harsh stigma for seeking them, or resistance from health workers who oppose abortion. As a result, more than half of all South African abortions end up being performed by unlicensed, backstreet providers. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the area.
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South Africa’s Liberal Abortion Laws Hampered by Widespread Stigma
Abortion is legal in South Africa for up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy, and is provided for free at government-run clinics. However, getting a safe, legal abortion is a challenge. Many women face harsh stigma for seeking them, or resistance from health workers who oppose abortion. As a result, more than half of all South African abortions end up being performed by unlicensed, backstreet providers. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the area.
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DRC, Madagascar Struggle With Ebola, Measles Outbreaks
Efforts to control the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are hitting a roadblock, says Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The medical charity group says security forces and a climate of community mistrust are hampering efforts to combat the outbreak. Meanwhile the country of Madagascar is struggling to curb a measles outbreak. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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DRC, Madagascar Struggle With Ebola, Measles Outbreaks
Efforts to control the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are hitting a roadblock, says Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The medical charity group says security forces and a climate of community mistrust are hampering efforts to combat the outbreak. Meanwhile the country of Madagascar is struggling to curb a measles outbreak. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Better Future for Victims of Gender-Based Violence
A business in Washington, D.C., is working to empower women who have been victims of gender-based violence by targeting the growing number of consumers who are socially and environmentally conscious. Handmade handicrafts are imported from countries where women are vulnerable. Access to a broader market gives victims more opportunities for a better future.
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Better Future for Victims of Gender-Based Violence
A business in Washington, D.C., is working to empower women who have been victims of gender-based violence by targeting the growing number of consumers who are socially and environmentally conscious. Handmade handicrafts are imported from countries where women are vulnerable. Access to a broader market gives victims more opportunities for a better future.
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Blair House: A look Inside the US President’s Guest House
The U.S. President’s Guest House, commonly known as Blair House, has played a significant role in the history of American diplomacy. Milena Gjorgjievska visited the unique place and learned more about whom it has hosted and what events it has witnessed since it was built in 1824.
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Blair House: A look Inside the US President’s Guest House
The U.S. President’s Guest House, commonly known as Blair House, has played a significant role in the history of American diplomacy. Milena Gjorgjievska visited the unique place and learned more about whom it has hosted and what events it has witnessed since it was built in 1824.
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Ocean Heatwaves Become More Frequent
Parts of our oceans routinely go through temperature swings. The El Nino and La Nina effects in the Pacific are perhaps the best known. But new research in Britain suggests that those heat waves are becoming more common and more extreme. And that spells trouble for the world’s waters. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Ocean Heatwaves Become More Frequent
Parts of our oceans routinely go through temperature swings. The El Nino and La Nina effects in the Pacific are perhaps the best known. But new research in Britain suggests that those heat waves are becoming more common and more extreme. And that spells trouble for the world’s waters. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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India, Southeast Asia to Mark Five Years of Being Polio-free
The World Health Organization says that on March 27, India’s 1.3 billion people and the entire WHO Southeast Asia region will celebrate five years of being polio-free.
Twelve years ago, the WHO said, India alone was responsible for almost 70 percent of all polio cases around the world. It called India’s success against polio one of the most significant achievements in public health.
WHO officials said India’s accomplishment proved the crippling disease could be eliminated in even the most challenging circumstances with a strong political commitment.
Worldwide, the number of cases due to wild poliovirus has decreased from an estimated 350,000 a year in 1988, when the WHO launched its global eradication campaign, to 33 in 2018.
Trouble spots
WHO spokesman Christian Lindemeier told VOA that polio remained endemic in only three countries in two of the organization’s six regions: Nigeria in the African region and Pakistan and Afghanistan in the eastern Mediterranean region.
“There has been no wild polio virus detected in Africa since 2016, and we are cautiously optimistic that AFRO, our African region, is on the path to certification as well,” Lindemeier said. “EMRO, our eastern Mediterranean region, has only those two countries, which have never stopped polio, unfortunately — Afghanistan, Pakistan.”
Lindemeier said the countries are considered a joint reservoir of the virus. Therefore, he said, both are getting most of the focus and support from the WHO’s polio eradication program. He said tailored and innovative tactics were being put in place to deal with the challenges in each country.
The strategies include identifying, tracking and vaccinating migrant and hard-to-reach populations. Lindemeier said community workers would be trained to go door to door to find children who haven’t been vaccinated and immunize them against polio.
The WHO said the polio virus does not respect borders. It said polio would not be eradicated until every last child was protected.
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India, Southeast Asia to Mark Five Years of Being Polio-free
The World Health Organization says that on March 27, India’s 1.3 billion people and the entire WHO Southeast Asia region will celebrate five years of being polio-free.
Twelve years ago, the WHO said, India alone was responsible for almost 70 percent of all polio cases around the world. It called India’s success against polio one of the most significant achievements in public health.
WHO officials said India’s accomplishment proved the crippling disease could be eliminated in even the most challenging circumstances with a strong political commitment.
Worldwide, the number of cases due to wild poliovirus has decreased from an estimated 350,000 a year in 1988, when the WHO launched its global eradication campaign, to 33 in 2018.
Trouble spots
WHO spokesman Christian Lindemeier told VOA that polio remained endemic in only three countries in two of the organization’s six regions: Nigeria in the African region and Pakistan and Afghanistan in the eastern Mediterranean region.
“There has been no wild polio virus detected in Africa since 2016, and we are cautiously optimistic that AFRO, our African region, is on the path to certification as well,” Lindemeier said. “EMRO, our eastern Mediterranean region, has only those two countries, which have never stopped polio, unfortunately — Afghanistan, Pakistan.”
Lindemeier said the countries are considered a joint reservoir of the virus. Therefore, he said, both are getting most of the focus and support from the WHO’s polio eradication program. He said tailored and innovative tactics were being put in place to deal with the challenges in each country.
The strategies include identifying, tracking and vaccinating migrant and hard-to-reach populations. Lindemeier said community workers would be trained to go door to door to find children who haven’t been vaccinated and immunize them against polio.
The WHO said the polio virus does not respect borders. It said polio would not be eradicated until every last child was protected.
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Experts Advise Against Human Genome Editing as Too Risky
A group of experts meeting for the first time to examine the pros and cons of human genome editing say it would be “irresponsible” to engage in this procedure at this time.
Late last year, a Chinese scientist triggered an international storm when he announced he had created the first gene-edited babies. He said he had edited the DNA of the twin girls to protect them from HIV.
Having met at World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva earlier this week, the 18-person panel warned the procedure is too risky and should not be attempted before a system of strong rules governing this technique are established. Co-chair of the advisory committee, Margaret Hamburg, said the group has agreed on a set of core principles.
She said the panel recommends the WHO create a registry for human genome editing research. Under this system, she said scientific work in these technologies would be registered in a transparent way.
“We think it is very important to establish this registry to get a better sense of the research that is going on around the world, greater transparency about it, and in fact greater accountability in terms of assuring that research meets standards in terms of science and ethics,” Hamburg said.
The experts agree this would preclude the kind of secrecy that surrounded the work of the Chinese scientist. She said the panel would like this transparency to extend to the publication of manuscripts that emerge from important research. Hamburg said publishers will be asked to ensure the research has been registered with the WHO before it is publicized.
Hamburg said developing the guidelines on human genome editing is a process that will take about 18 months to complete, noting that it is a difficult, but urgent task that must be carried out in a thoughtful, comprehensive manner.
your ads here!Experts Advise Against Human Genome Editing as Too Risky
A group of experts meeting for the first time to examine the pros and cons of human genome editing say it would be “irresponsible” to engage in this procedure at this time.
Late last year, a Chinese scientist triggered an international storm when he announced he had created the first gene-edited babies. He said he had edited the DNA of the twin girls to protect them from HIV.
Having met at World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva earlier this week, the 18-person panel warned the procedure is too risky and should not be attempted before a system of strong rules governing this technique are established. Co-chair of the advisory committee, Margaret Hamburg, said the group has agreed on a set of core principles.
She said the panel recommends the WHO create a registry for human genome editing research. Under this system, she said scientific work in these technologies would be registered in a transparent way.
“We think it is very important to establish this registry to get a better sense of the research that is going on around the world, greater transparency about it, and in fact greater accountability in terms of assuring that research meets standards in terms of science and ethics,” Hamburg said.
The experts agree this would preclude the kind of secrecy that surrounded the work of the Chinese scientist. She said the panel would like this transparency to extend to the publication of manuscripts that emerge from important research. Hamburg said publishers will be asked to ensure the research has been registered with the WHO before it is publicized.
Hamburg said developing the guidelines on human genome editing is a process that will take about 18 months to complete, noting that it is a difficult, but urgent task that must be carried out in a thoughtful, comprehensive manner.
your ads here!How US States Are Richer Than Some Foreign Nations
The United States is an economic powerhouse.
As the largest economy in the world, the U.S. produced $20.5 trillion worth of goods and services — known as its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — in 2018. That’s impressive when you consider that the total GDP for the entire world was about $80 trillion in 2017.
In fact, every U.S. state has a GDP that makes it as powerful, economically, as a foreign nation.
California is the state with the highest GDP in the country. Its $2.97 trillion economy is on par with Britain, which has a GDP of $2.81 trillion. The UK needed 14.5 million workers — 75 percent more than California used — to produce the same economic output. On its own, California is the fifth-largest economy in the world.
The GDP of Texas ($1.78 trillion) is equivalent to the economy of Canada ($1.73 trillion), while New York’s GDP ($1.70 trillion) matches up to South Korea ($1.66 trillion).
Even the smaller U.S. states can hold their own. Wyoming, the smallest U.S. state population-wise, with fewer than 600,000 residents, has a GDP of $41 billion, which is about the same as Jordan’s, a country of 9 million people.
Mark J. Perry, an economics and finance professor at the University of Michigan, and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, used data from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Monetary Fund for his analysis comparing the GDP’s of U.S. states to entire countries.
He says those numbers are a testament to the “world-class productivity of the American workforce,” and a reminder of “how much wealth, output and prosperity is being created every day in the largest economic engine there has ever been in human history.”
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How US States Are Richer Than Some Foreign Nations
The United States is an economic powerhouse.
As the largest economy in the world, the U.S. produced $20.5 trillion worth of goods and services — known as its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — in 2018. That’s impressive when you consider that the total GDP for the entire world was about $80 trillion in 2017.
In fact, every U.S. state has a GDP that makes it as powerful, economically, as a foreign nation.
California is the state with the highest GDP in the country. Its $2.97 trillion economy is on par with Britain, which has a GDP of $2.81 trillion. The UK needed 14.5 million workers — 75 percent more than California used — to produce the same economic output. On its own, California is the fifth-largest economy in the world.
The GDP of Texas ($1.78 trillion) is equivalent to the economy of Canada ($1.73 trillion), while New York’s GDP ($1.70 trillion) matches up to South Korea ($1.66 trillion).
Even the smaller U.S. states can hold their own. Wyoming, the smallest U.S. state population-wise, with fewer than 600,000 residents, has a GDP of $41 billion, which is about the same as Jordan’s, a country of 9 million people.
Mark J. Perry, an economics and finance professor at the University of Michigan, and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, used data from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Monetary Fund for his analysis comparing the GDP’s of U.S. states to entire countries.
He says those numbers are a testament to the “world-class productivity of the American workforce,” and a reminder of “how much wealth, output and prosperity is being created every day in the largest economic engine there has ever been in human history.”
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