Chinese artists who are not endorsed by the ruling communist party often find they need to work outside the country, especially if their art is critical of the government in Beijing. Sculptor Weiming Chen is among them. Genia Dulot went to the California desert to see what he is doing.
…
Month: July 2023
WMO Warns of Risk of Heart Attacks, Deaths as Heatwave Intensifies
The heatwave engulfing the northern hemisphere is set to intensify this week, causing overnight temperatures to surge and leading to an increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday.
“Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40°C for a prolonged number of days this week as the heatwave intensifies,” the WMO said in a statement.
Overnight minimum temperatures were also set to reach new highs, according to the WMO, creating risks of increased cases of heart attacks and deaths.
“Whilst most of the attention focuses on daytime maximum temperatures, it is the overnight temperatures which have the biggest health risks, especially for vulnerable populations,” the WMO said.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, a researcher specialized in the study of heatwaves said that the high temperatures Europe was experiencing currently were bound to increase.
“The Mediterranean heatwave is big but nothing like what’s been through North Africa,” said John Nairn, Senior Extreme Heat Advisor for WMO. “It’s developing into Europe at this stage.”
…
White House Partners With Amazon, Google, Best Buy To Secure Devices From Cyberattacks
The White House on Tuesday along with companies such as Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet’s Google and Best Buy will announce an initiative that allows Americans to identify devices that are less vulnerable to cyberattacks.
A new certification and labeling program would raise the bar for cybersecurity across smart devices such as refrigerators, microwaves, televisions, climate control systems and fitness trackers, the White House said in a statement.
Retailers and manufacturers will apply a “U.S. Cyber Trust Mark” logo to their devices and the program will be up and running in 2024.
The initiative is designed to make sure “our networks and the use of them is more secure, because it is so important for economic and national security,” said a senior administration official, who did not wish to be named.
The Federal Communications Commission will seek public comment before rolling out the labeling program and register a national trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the White House said.
Other retailers and manufacturers participating in the program include LG Electronics U.S.A., Logitech, Cisco Systems and Samsung.
In March, the White House launched its national cyber strategy that called on software makers and companies to take far greater responsibility to ensure that their systems cannot be hacked.
It also accelerated efforts by agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Department to disrupt activities of hackers and ransomware groups around the world.
Last week, Microsoft and U.S. official said Chinese state-linked hackers secretly accessed email accounts at around 25 organizations, including at least two U.S. government agencies, since May.
…
UN Says Childhood Vaccination Rates Improving, But Trail Pre-Pandemic Levels
The United Nations said Tuesday vaccinations for children have generally rebounded since a drop during the COVID-19 pandemic but warned that vaccination rates in many smaller and poorer countries are not experiencing the same progress.
The U.N. said 20.5 million children missed one or more routine vaccinations in 2022, an improvement from 24.4 million the year before. In 2019, before the pandemic hit worldwide, that figure was 18.4 million.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the overall figures “encouraging,” but said global and regional numbers “mask severe and persistent inequities.”
“When countries and regions lag, children pay the price,” he said.
The U.N. said 73 countries saw substantial declines in child vaccination rates during the pandemic, and that 34 of those countries have seen their rates either fail to improve or get worse.
Rates for measles vaccines followed the larger global trend, with 83% of children receiving a first does during their first year of life in 2022, improving from 81% in 2021 but not reaching the 86% level achieved before the pandemic.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…
Turkey Quake Survivors’ Latest Menace: Dust
The excavator tore into the remnants of the damaged building in southeast Turkey, bringing it crashing down into a cloud of dust — the latest menace facing survivors of the deadly February quake that ravaged the region.
Extending to the horizon, a cocoon of fine grey dust envelops the city of Samandag in the south of Hatay province, devastated by the February 6 earthquake that killed more than 55,000 people and laid waste to parts of Turkey and Syria.
“We survived the earthquake, but this dust will kill us,” Michel Atik, founder and president of the Samandag Environmental Protection Association, said. “We are going to die of respiratory diseases and lung cancer with all these hazardous materials.”
Five months after the quake, the scale of cleanup and reconstruction is enormous, with the government estimating that nearly 2.6 million buildings have been destroyed.
According to the UN Environment Programme, some 210 million tonnes of rubble must be disposed of.
By comparison, some 1.8 million tonnes of rubble had to be hauled away after the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City that brought down the World Trade Center skyscrapers.
Environmental activists and local residents worry that in the rush to clean up and rebuild, crucial safety measures are being ignored, with potentially adverse effects on the health of local residents, the environment and the economy.
Landfills
The landfill near Samandag is one of several that have been set up in this province bordering Syria. It lies next to the Mediterranean and the Milleyha natural bird reserve, which is natural bird reserve, which is a nesting site for endangered green sea turtles.
Another landfill, in the Antakya region, lies near a valley of olive trees at the foot of the Nur Mountains. With olive oil the primary source of income in the province, there are fears that the dump could harm the trees.
“They don’t even hose it down,” said Cagdas Can, 33, an environmental activist with the Reconstruct group, as he watched trucks filled with debris leave Samandag toward the huge open-air landfill that lies next to one of Turkey’s longest beaches.
“There were other possible sites. … But the companies that won the tenders (for clearing) chose here to save fuel,” said Can.
“All they care about it recovering the iron and the metal,” he said.
“Nobody wears a mask. The demolition sites are not covered or hosed down and neither are the holds of the trucks, as required by law,” he said.
Can said that his environmental organization had tried to stop the trucks by forming human chains, “but the police intervened. Eighteen people were arrested, and I had my collarbone broken,” he said.
The exhausted local population, faced with a myriad of problems after the quake, has not mobilized, he said, but they are as worried as the conservationists about the impact of the cleanup.
Hidden hazards
“The children are the first to be affected, they cough a lot, so do we. As soon as it’s windy, everything is covered in dust,” said Mithat Hoca, 64, who sells vegetables at a stall in central Samandag.
“We have to cover everything,” said Mehmet Yazici, a 61-year-old retiree who passed by on a scooter. “We wipe the table 15 to 20 times a day. You have to do it every half hour.”
Ali Kanatli, a doctor in Antakya, some 26 kilometers (16 miles) away from Samandag, has already seen cases of “conjunctivitis, allergies, asthma, bronchitis.”
But above all, he worries about the long-term effects, like an increase in cancers, that the hazardous materials in the rubble and dust could cause in the region.
Turkey did not ban asbestos until 2013 and most of the buildings affected by the quake are older, he said.
“In addition to asbestos, we have lead in paint, heavy metals including mercury in electronic equipment such as televisions, household appliances,” he said.
…
Vanishing Whale’s Decline Worse Than Previously Thought
A review of the status of a vanishing species of whale found that the mammal’s population is in worse shape than previously thought, federal ocean regulators said Monday.
The North Atlantic right whale numbers less than 350, and it has been declining in population for several years. The federal government declared the whale’s decline an “unusual mortality event,” which means an unexpected and significant die-off, in 2017.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released new data that 114 of the whales have been documented as dead, seriously injured or sub-lethally injured or sick — since the start of the mortality event. That is an increase of 16 whales since the previous estimate released earlier this year.
The agency recently completed a review of the whales using photographs from researchers and surveys to create the new estimate, said Andrea Gomez, a spokesperson for NOAA.
“Additional cases will continue to be reviewed, and animals will be added if appropriate, as more information is obtained,” Gomez said.
Thirty-six of the 114 whales included in the estimate had died, NOAA documents state. The agency cautioned that only about a third of right whale deaths are documented, so the total number of dead or injured animals could be much higher.
Right whales are found off the Atlantic coast of the U.S. They are vulnerable to collisions with large ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. The federal government has worked to craft stricter rules to protect the whales from both threats.
Commercial fishing and shipping interests have both vowed to fight stricter protections. A federal appeals court sided with fishermen last month after they filed a complaint that proposed new restrictions could put them out of business.
The new data illustrate how dire the situation is for the whales, said Sarah Sharp, an animal rescue veterinarian with International Fund for Animal Welfare. The number of injured animals is especially significant because injured whales are less likely to reproduce, Sharp said.
“If animals are putting energy into healing from a wound, they are not necessarily going to have those energy stores for other things,” Sharp said. “I think this just paints a much more accurate picture of the threats these whales are facing.”
The whales give birth off Florida and Georgia and feed off New England and Canada. They have been protected under the Endangered Species Act for decades, and federal authorities ruled in December that they must retain that protection.
…
Hollywood Plunges into All-Out War on Heels of Pandemic and Streaming Revolution
To get a sense of just how much animosity is flying around Hollywood these days, watch how Ron Perlman responded to a report that the studios aimed to prolong a strike long enough for writers to lose their homes.
Perlman, the hulking, gravel-voiced actor of “Hellboy,” leaned into the camera in a since-deleted Instagram live video to vent his anger. “Listen to me, mother-(expletive),” Perlman said. “There’s a lot of ways to lose your house.”
Three years after the pandemic brought Hollywood to a standstill, the film and TV industry has again ground to a halt. This time, though, the industry is engaged in a bitter battle over how streaming — after advancing rapidly during the pandemic — has upended the economics of entertainment.
Having weathered plague, Hollywood is now fully at war in its own “Apocalypse Now” double feature. When tens of thousands of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists hit the picket lines last week, joining 11,000 Writers Guild of America screenwriters who have been on strike since May, a smaller clash went nuclear just in time for the release of “Oppenheimer.” As striking actors and writers mobilized to mob studio lots and streamer headquarters, Puck’s Matthew Belloni wrote, “The town is burning to the ground.”
“You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change, too,” said Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president, in a fiery press conference announcing the strike. “We’re not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us.
“What are we doing?” she added. “Moving around furniture on the Titanic?”
Disaster also loomed in Hollywood when COVID-19 in March 2020 shuttered movie theaters, emptied TV studios and shut down all production. The recovery is still ongoing.
Over the weekend, one of the first major film productions shut down by the pandemic — “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” — only just reached theaters. And as its big-but-not-blockbuster opening showed, some of pre-pandemic Hollywood still just hasn’t returned. Box office remains about 20% to 25% off the pre-pandemic pace.
“We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing. It’s not completely back,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said Thursday. “This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”
Though many of the demands of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are longstanding, much of the current dispute gathered force in the helter-skelter days of the pandemic. A digital land rush to streaming ensued, as studios, in many cases, hurried to craft their Netflix competitors. Subscriber growth became the top priority.
Rahul Telang, a Carnegie Mellon University professor and co-author of the book “Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment,” says an entire era of change was condensed into two years.
“What is happening right now was bound to happen. With streaming, the whole business got disrupted,” says Telang. “So naturally, they’re complaining, ‘We need our fair share.’ But how do you decide what’s a fair share? There has to be a transparency about where the money is coming from and where it’s going. Until this gets resolved, this issue will keep coming up.”
The last time screen actors and writers struck simultaneously, in 1960, the guilds established royalty (later residual) payments for replays of films and TV episodes, among other landmark protections. If that strike reckoned with the dawn of television, this one does much the same for the streaming era.
But streaming, especially when companies carefully guard audience numbers, offers no easy metric like box office or TV ratings to establish residuals — long a foundational part of how writers and actors make a living. SAG-AFTRA is seeking a small percentage of subscriber revenue, with data measured by a third party, Parrot Analytics.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, hasn’t agreed to that but says the studios have offered actors “historic pay and residual increases,” along with pension contributions and other protections.
Meanwhile, actors are sharing images of their paltry residual payments for streaming hits. Kimiko Glenn of Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” posted a clip of residual payments totaling $27.30.
“You used to be able to work on a broadcast show, one show and you’re good for the year because of the residuals,” said actor Nachayka Vanterpool on the picket lines. “And then you have streaming coming along and you got 20 cent residual checks. That impacts you.”
Increasingly, it’s looking like everyone lost in the so-called streaming wars that went into hyperdrive under COVID-19. Since Wall Street last year began souring on subscription numbers being the be-all-end-all, most media companies have suffered stock declines. Wall Street’s message turned to: Show us the profits.
Many are now girding for a prolonged stoppage that, if carried into September, would greatly impact the fall TV schedule and the film festivals (Venice, Telluride, Toronto) that launch awards season contenders. Drescher said she “couldn’t believe” how far apart her union and AMPTP are.
Cooler heads could prevail. Perlman, for his part, later apologized for getting so heated. He implored studio executives to find “a degree of humanity.”
“It can’t all be about your (expletive) Porsche and your (expletive) stock prices,” said Perlman. “There’s got to be dignity if we’re going to hold a mirror up and reflect human experiences, which is what we do as actors and writers.”
…
Norway Threatens $100,000 Daily Fine on Meta Over Data
Norway’s data protection agency said Monday it would ban Facebook and Instagram owner Meta from using the personal information of users for targeted advertising, threatening a $100,000 daily fine if the company continues.
The business practices of big U.S. tech firms are under close scrutiny across Europe over concerns about privacy, with huge fines handed out in recent years.
The Norwegian watchdog, Datatilsynet, said Meta uses information such as the location of users, the content they like and their posts for marketing purposes.
“The Norwegian Data Protection Authority considers that the practice of Meta is illegal and is therefore imposing a temporary ban of behavioural advertising on Facebook and Instagram,” it said in a statement.
The ban will begin on August 4 and last three months to give Meta time to take corrective measures. The company will be fined one million kroner ($100,000) per day if it fails to comply.
“We will analyze the decision … but there is no immediate effect on our services,” Meta told AFP in a statement.
The Norwegian regulator added that its ruling was neither a ban on Facebook and Instagram operating in the country nor a blanket ban on behavioral advertising.
The Austrian digital privacy campaign group noyb, which has lodged a number of complaints against Meta’s activities, said it “welcomes this decision as a first important step” and hopes data regulators in other countries will follow suit.
Meta suffered a major setback earlier this year when European regulators dismissed the legal basis Meta had used to justify gathering users’ personal data for use in targeted advertising.
Meta suffered another major setback earlier this month when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rejected its various workarounds and empowered antitrust regulators to take data privacy issues into account when conducting investigations.
…
For the First Time in the Olympics, Men Will Compete in Artistic Swimming, Formerly Called Synchro
Snicker if you wish. Guffaw for good measure. Bill May and other male synchronized swimmers — now called artistic swimmers — have heard the putdowns before.
But they’re getting the last laugh.
Men have competed in synchro at the lower levels for decades. Now, they’re being included in the Olympics, meaning next year’s Summer Games in Paris.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for the sport to grow and attract more men,” May told The Associated Press at the World Aquatics Championships. “By keeping men out, you’re limiting the sport. By including men, you’re going to see an upshift in the popularity and the numbers.”
May looks like a lean bodybuilder. He was among the first men to compete when synchro was included in the worlds for the first time in 2015. And he worked for 17 years at Cirque du Soleil doing water-themed shows. He has come out of competitive retirement for a chance to compete at the Olympics.
“There has always been that misconception that it’s a female-only sport, or that it’s for wimps, or that it’s not a difficult sport,” May, 44, said. “Anyone that has anything negative to say about the sport — boy, female, anyone — just try it and you’ll know it’s the most difficult sport in the world.”
This is not the synchronized swimming that your parents or grandparents watched — the water ballet that made few waves below the flowery rubber caps and permanent smiles. It’s estranged from the sport introduced at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The acrobatic team event, in particular, features lifts, throws and flips, and diving routines launched off the shoulders of teammates treading water below. It’s gymnastics on water, and concussions are a risk.
Interested men often confront the stereotypes.
Beginning in elementary school, 18-year-old American Kenny Gaudet dreamed of being a synchronized swimmer. He made it, but it wasn’t easy.
“It makes me emotional just to think about the problems we all went through and the struggles we all had just to get a chance to swim and do what we love,” said Gaudet who competed at this year’s worlds.
“So much bullying. So much slander. So much hate,” he added. “Just because of my gender, just because I’m a male in artistic swimming. When I first started, I wanted to quit so many times. Growing up, my peers would ask why I’m doing a female sport, why am I being like a girl and degrade me for doing what I love to do.”
One aspect of Adam Andrasko’s job as the head of USA Artistic Swimming is recruiting men. He said there are about 100 participating in the United States, up from 25 just four years ago.
“There hasn’t been a good foundation of growth,” Andrasko said. “You haven’t had the farm system.”
A few countries at the world championships have male swimmers, including the United States, Japan, Germany and China. Spain and Italy also have top competitors.
“There aren’t a lot of countries with strong males,” in the international competition, Andrasko said, noting that men often lack the flexibility to compete. “So, you might not see a lot of males swimming in the Olympics. I’m concerned it goes to the Olympic Games and we don’t see a male participating. I definitely have that fear.”
“To this point,” he added, “women are still far better at this sport than a man.”
Another fear, apparently unfounded, is that women might resent the men competing in the sport. Men will compete in only team events at the Olympics. Teams have a maximum of eight members — with a limit of two men — which means men might crowd out some women.
There is no requirement for men to be included.
Asked about any acrimony, two-time American Olympian Anita Alvarez replied, “No, not at all.”
Alvarez has blacked out twice in the last two years while competing and had to be resuscitated. She’s been cleared to compete with no diagnosis except physical or mental exhaustion. Holding her breath for too long underwater is also suspected.
Men can add some physicality to routines, and their presence could lead to a wider audience. Alvarez also credits May with choreography skills that he picked up with Cirque du Soleil.
“Having the inclusion of both males and females will make it more open for young boys and young girls to dream of being in the Olympics, parents wanting to start their kids,” Alvarez said.
She ran off her workout routine, sure to scare away men and women equally.
“We’re training eight-plus hours a day, treading water all day,” she said. “You have to be able to count time and work with music. You have to be able to watch your patterns and stay in line. We don’t wear goggles when we compete. You’re holding your breath. You don’t touch the bottom. There are so many elements that go into it that people don’t see.”
And we’re about to see more men trying it.
…
Elton John Backs Kevin Spacey’s Testimony at Actor’s Sexual Assault Trial
Elton John briefly testified Monday for the defense at Kevin Spacey ‘s sexual assault trial as the actor’s lawyer attempted to discredit a man who claimed the Oscar winner aggressively grabbed his crotch while driving to the singer’s summer ball.
John appeared in the London court by video link from Monaco after his husband, David Furnish, testified that Spacey did not attend the annual party at their Windsor home the year the accuser said he was attacked.
One of the alleged victims said he was driving Spacey to the White Tie & Tiara Ball in 2004 or 2005 when the actor grabbed him so forcefully he almost ran off the road.
Furnish supported Spacey’s own testimony that he only attended the event in 2001. Furnish said he had reviewed photographs taken at the party from 2001 to 2005 and Spacey only appeared in images that one year. He said all guests were photographed each year.
John said the actor attended the party in the early 2000s and arrived after flying in on a private jet.
Furnish said Spacey’s appearance was a surprise and he remembered it because it was a big deal.
“He was an Oscar-winning actor and there was a lot of buzz and excitement that he was at the ball,” Furnish said.
John said he only remembered Spacey coming once to the gala and said the actor spent the night at their house after the event. He also confirmed that Spacey bought a Mini Cooper at the auction held that night for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The alleged victim said he may have gotten the year wrong, but that he would not have forgotten the incident because it took his breath away and he almost crashed the car.
The timeline, however, is important because the man testified that Spacey had fondled him over several years beginning in the early 2000s. The incident was the final occasion, he said, when he threatened to hit the actor and then avoided him.
Spacey said the two were friends and they engaged in some romantic contact but the man was straight, so the actor respected his wishes not to go further. He said he was crushed when he learned the man had complained to police about him and said the man had “reimagined” what had been consensual touching.
Furnish said he was familiar with the accuser and described him as “charming,” the same term Spacey used.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
Over two days of testimony last week, the two-time Academy Award winner insisted that he never sexually assaulted three of the four accusers who described disturbing encounters between 2001 and 2013. The acts allegedly escalated from unwanted touching to aggressive fondling to one instance of performing oral sex act on an unconscious man.
Spacey dismissed one man’s fondling claims as “pure fantasy” and said he shared consensual encounters with two others who later regretted it. He accepted the claims of a fourth man, saying he had made a “clumsy pass” during a night of heavy drinking, but he took exception to the “crotch-grabbing” characterization.
John’s testimony comes just over a week after he wrapped up his 50-year touring career with a show in Stockholm.
It’s the second time the “Rocket Man” star and Furnish have made appearances in a London courtroom this year. The two showed up at hearings in their phone hacking lawsuit with Prince Harry against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper.
The couple, the Duke of Sussex and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost are among a group of claimants that allege Associated Newspapers Ltd. violated their privacy by intercepting voicemails and using unlawful methods to snoop on them.
A judge is deciding whether to throw out the case after the publisher said the group waited too long to bring their claims.
…
Comprehensive Sex Education Remains Controversial in the Philippines
Jomarie Oliva, 33, led an afternoon workshop with 10 teenagers on topics that many in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines consider taboo. The conversation included the reasons that some teens have sex.
“Out of curiosity?” Oliva asked the group? “For pleasure,” responded one of the teens, while the rest of the group laughed.
Later, Oliva talked about the responsibilities of parenthood as well as different types of birth control, including “abstinence, pills, condoms, IUDs, implants, injectables,” she said, before explaining each one.
Oliva is a community mobilizer for Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, a non-government organization that works on reproductive health, access to contraceptives and sex education.
In some countries, in-depth classroom discussions about sex and contraceptives are common for teenagers, but not in the Philippines. “Not every student gets sex education in schools,” Oliva told VOA. “You don’t always learn all the ways to protect yourself from unplanned pregnancies, how to use condoms and other contraceptives.”
Advocates for comprehensive sex education say the lack of lessons for many youths is one of the reasons one out of 10 births in the Philippines is by a mother younger than 19.
Government data reports the number of females ages 15 to 19 who became pregnant during the previous five years fell from 8.6% in 2017 to 5.4% in 2022. Health advocates, however, say they are very concerned that about 2,300 girls ages 10 to 14 gave birth in 2021.
“There are teens who don’t know that a woman can get pregnant the first time she has sex,” Oliva says. “Some kids think a girl needs to have sex multiple times to get pregnant.”
Oliva holds workshops in community centers and neighborhood gathering spots in metropolitan Manila. At a recent session, 17-year-old Hanah Ilajas listened carefully. Ilajas said this was first time anyone explained to her how birth control pills work.
“I’ve heard about pills before, but I only really learned about them now,” she said, adding that in school, her teachers don’t discuss contraceptives. “It’s just not something that really comes up.”
Sex education and access to contraceptives are controversial subjects in the Philippines, where the Catholic Church holds significant influence on a population that’s about 80% Catholic. The church fought a reproductive health law, passed in December 2012, that expanded sex education in public schools and made contraceptives available for free at public health clinics. Minors, however, can only legally access contraceptives with parental approval.
The Rev. Jerome Secillano, a spokesperson for the Catholics Bishops Conference of the Philippines, says teaching people about contraceptives might encourage them to use them. The Catholic Church advocates only for natural birth control methods and Secillano says for teens, the only one that should be encouraged is abstinence.
“We start by telling them that sex should be done not outside the marriage but inside the marriage,” Secillano said. “Secondly, do not use contraceptives, do not use pills, do not use condoms and thirdly, you need to preserve your body. You’re still young and sexual intercourse is not for your biological age.”
Erickson Bernardo, a youth advocacy officer for Likhaan, believes complete education for teens on all forms of birth control, including pills and condoms, is important. “You don’t actually encourage them to have sex, but basically you allow them to make responsible decisions,” Bernardo said.
Bernardo and other advocates for comprehensive sex education say in reality, many teens still aren’t getting these lessons in schools. Although the reproductive health law was passed in late 2012, it took the Department of Education more than five years to issue guidelines for comprehensive sexuality education. According to Bernardo, it still faces resistance
“There are some school administrators who are willing to adopt comprehensive sexuality education so long as not in their schools,” Bernardo said. The Department of Education did not answer questions, sent in writing from VOA, about implementation of comprehensive sexuality education.
Bernardo and Oliva say while the pace is slow, gradually more schools are teaching students about all methods of birth control. Both, however, say the issue also has roots in the home.
“Parents often shy away from having reproductive health discussions with their children,” Oliva said. “In some cases, it’s because it makes them uncomfortable and sometimes, they don’t have enough knowledge themselves.”
Seventeen-year-old Hanah Ilajas said participating in Oliva’s workshop was time well spent.
“It helped me understand things better,” she said.
…
Comprehensive Sex Education Remains Controversial in the Philippines
In the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, a debate is raging over whether to teach teenagers about contraceptives. Comprehensive sex education is required in public schools but not all schools are following through. Dave Grunebaum has the story.
…
UK Watchdog Proposes Applying ‘Consumer Duty’ to Social Media
Britain’s financial watchdog on Monday proposed toughening up safeguards against the illegal marketing of financial products on social media by applying a stringent “consumer duty” that is being rolled out to banks, funds and insurers on July 31.
The Financial Conduct Authority has said its new duty will be a step change in protecting retail investors after years of mis-selling scandals, by forcing firms to demonstrate how they are giving consumer good outcomes.
“Where applicable, the Consumer Duty will raise our expectations of firms communicating financial promotions on social media above the requirement… to be ‘clear, fair and not misleading’,” the FCA said in proposals out to public consultation.
“Firms advertising using social media must consider how their marketing strategies align with acting to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.”
In the fourth quarter of last year, nearly 70% of amended or withdrawn financial marketing following FCA intervention involved a promotion on websites or social media, the FCA said.
The watchdog is targeting so-called ‘finfluencers’ or widely followed people on social media who promote financial products.
“Consumers exhibit high levels of trust in finfluencers, but their advice can often be misleading,” the FCA said.
“Promoting a regulated financial product or service without approval of an FCA authorized person, or providing financial advice without FCA authorisation, may be a criminal offense.”
Promotions should also include risk warnings, it added.
…
Parity, Bigger Field Mean There Could Be Surprises at the Women’s World Cup
There could be some surprises at the Women’s World Cup.
Sure, the U.S. is still considered dominant, and those elite European teams have developed even more with the rise of competitive clubs. Then there’s Brazil, which always seems on the verge of a breakout.
But an expanded field of 32 teams at the tournament starting Thursday in Australia and New Zealand means more players will see the international spotlight — and they no doubt want to prove they belong.
Consider Japan.
Back in 2011, Japan wasn’t expected to make the semifinals, let alone the championship match. But the Japanese, reeling from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated their country earlier that year, rallied and beat the Americans on penalties after a 2-2 draw, and in the process became the first Asian team to win soccer’s top prize.
That was the last Women’s World Cup that wasn’t won by the United States. The No. 1-ranked Americans aim to make it three in a row.
U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski is well aware that other countries are catching up. He pointed to Zambia’s exhibition victory over Germany in the run-up to the tournament.
“The top 10 have always been there. The world that is catching up is Wales, is Vietnam, is Zambia, Portugal. These are these are the countries that are catching up. The 7-0, 8-0 games are gone. And we can see that Germany plays against Zambia, loses 3-2. Those games are going to happen,” Andonovski said. “And that’s what we are preparing ourselves for, so we don’t run into into a game like that with the mentality that it’s gonna be easy. No game is gonna be easy. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of us.”
Canada is considered among those top teams, particularly after winning the Olympic gold medal at Tokyo. But coach Bev Priestman suggested that growing parity means there are no givens.
“It could really throw up some surprises just on tournament football, you can lose group-stage games and then go on to win the thing. So yeah, it’s it’s tighter than it’s ever been,” Priestman said.
There are eight teams on debut at the tournament, including Ireland, Vietnam, Zambia, Haiti, Morocco, Panama, Portugal and Philippines. While most stand little chance against the likes of France or Sweden, there’s always that hope.
And there’s hope that the international stage will help push federations to invest in more for the teams that don’t traditionally have support.
“A lot of federations are slowly getting into the trend of being better,” South Africa forward Thembi Kgatlana said. “A lot of those girls in those countries have been professional athletes, so they have an idea of what it means to be a professional. And when they go back to the respective national teams, they are able to also help and say `Hey, we need this, we need that.’ It kind of forces the national teams to also adapt into the trends of changing and becoming better.”
More than a game
Players are well aware that the World Cup gives them the platform to speak about inequity, human rights and a whole host of social issues.
At the World Cup final four years ago in France, fans chanted “Equal Pay!” in support of the Americans’ fight for equitable compensation to their male national team counterparts. The players struck a contract that equalized pay last year.
Now other teams are joining the call for better pay and conditions. A group of international players, backed by the global players association FIFPRO, called on FIFA to increase prize money and make sure that each player at the tournament gets a share of those funds.
As a result, all 736 players participating at this World Cup will each get at least $30,000, an amount that increases the further teams advances in the tournament. FIFPRO has vowed to make the money gets to the players.
The overall fund for this World Cup is $152 million, covering prize money, team preparation and payments to players’ clubs. That’s a 300% increase over the funds for the 24-team edition in 2019, and 10 times what it was in 2015.
It’s just a number
It’s hard to say who has had more of an impact on women’s soccer in their home countries: Canada’s Christine Sinclair or Brazil’s Marta. Both players will be making their sixth appearance at the World Cup.
Sinclair, 40, holds the international scoring record, among both men and women, with 190 career goals. She’s played in 323 games for Canada.
Marta, 37, a six-time FIFA World Player of the Year, has scored 115 goals for Brazil in 174 appearances. Marta is the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 17 goals and will vie to be the first player to score in six World Cups.
They are not the only players to make a sixth World Cup roster: Nigeria’s Onome Ebi, 40, is about a month older than Sinclair and is the oldest in the tournament.
The kids are alright
Casey Phair, an American-born forward on South Korea’s squad, turned 16 on June 29 and is the youngest person on a tournament roster. She’s one of four 16-year-old players in World Cup squads.
The United States boasts teenager Alyssa Thompson, who plays for Angel City in the National Women’s Soccer League. Just 18, she missed her high school graduation because of soccer.
A look back
The U.S. women ran through a gauntlet of tough teams — first host France in the quarterfinals and then England in the semis — before beating Netherlands 2-0 in the final to win the 2019 World Cup. Sweden defeated England in the third-place match.
Details, details
The co-hosts are in action on the tournament’s opening day, with New Zealand facing Norway in Auckland followed by Australia against Ireland in Sydney.
The United States opens against Vietnam on Saturday in Auckland, but because of the time difference, viewers in North America will watch on Friday.
The top two teams from each of the eight groups will advance to the knockout stage, which begins on Aug. 5. The championship game is set for Aug. 20.
…
Hollywood Striking Actors Seek Fair Wages and AI Protection
Hollywood actors walked off the job Friday, striking for higher pay, an improved residuals policy and protections against the use of artificial intelligence. Hollywood writers have been on strike since May. Genia Dulot has the report.
…
Pipestone Carvers Preserve Native Spiritual Tradition on Minnesota Prairie
Under the tall prairie grass outside this southwestern Minnesota town lies a precious seam of dark red pipestone that, for thousands of years, Native Americans have quarried and carved into pipes essential to prayer and communication with the Creator.
Only a dozen Dakota carvers remain in the predominantly agricultural area bordering South Dakota. While tensions have flared periodically over how broadly to produce and share the rare artifacts, many Dakota today are focusing on how to pass on to future generations a difficult skillset that’s inextricably linked to spiritual practice.
“I’d be very happy to teach anyone … and the Spirit will be with you if you’re meant to do that,” said Cindy Pederson, who started learning how to carve from her grandparents six decades ago.
Enrolled in the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Nation, she regularly holds carving demonstrations at Pipestone National Monument, a small park that encompasses the quarries.
In the worldview of the Dakota peoples, sometimes referred to as Sioux, “the sacred is woven in” the land where the Creator placed them, said Iyekiyapiwin Darlene St. Clair, a professor at St. Cloud State University in central Minnesota.
But some places have a special relevance, because of events that occurred there, a sense of stronger spiritual power, or their importance in origin stories, she added.
These quarries of a unique variety of red pipestone check all three – starting with a history of enemy tribes laying down arms to allow for quarrying, with several stories warning that if fights broke out over the rare resource, it would make itself unavailable to all.
The colorful prayer ties and flags hung from trees alongside the trails that lead around the pink and red rocks testify to the continued sacredness of the space.
“It was always a place to go pray,” said Gabrielle Drapeau, a cultural resource specialist and park ranger at the monument who started coming here as a child.
From her elders in the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, Drapeau grew up hearing one of many origin stories for the pipestone: In time immemorial, a great flood killed most people in the area, their blood seeping into the stone and turning it red. But the Creator came, pronounced it a place of peace, and smoked a pipe, adding this is how people could reach him.
“It’s like a tangible representation of how we can connect with Creator,” Drapeau said. “All people before you are represented in the stone itself. It’s not just willy-nilly stone.”
Pipes are widely used by Indigenous people across the Great Plains and beyond, either by spiritual leaders or individuals for personal prayer for healing and thanksgiving, as well as to mark rites of passage like vision quests and the solemnity of ceremonies and gatherings.
“Pipestone has a particular relationship to our spiritual practice – praying with pipes, we take very seriously,” St. Clair said.
The pipe itself is thought to become sacred when the pipestone bowl and the wooden stem are joined. The smoke, from tobacco or prairie plants, then carries the prayer from a person’s heart to the Creator.
Because of that crucial spiritual connection, only people enrolled in federally recognized tribes can obtain permits to quarry at the monument, some traveling from as far as Montana and Nebraska. Within tribes, there’s disagreement over whether pipes should be sold, especially to non-Natives, and the pipestone used to make other art objects like carved animal figures.
“Sacredness is going to be defined by you — that’s between you and the Creator,” said Travis Erickson, a fourth-generation carver who’s worked pipestone in the area for more than two decades and embraces a less restrictive view. “Everything on this Earth is spiritual.”
His first job in the quarries, at age 10, was to break through and remove the layers of harder-than-steel quartzite covering the pipestone seam – then about six feet down, now more than 18 feet into the quarry, so the process can take months. Only hand tools can be used to avoid damaging the pipestone.
Taken out in sheets only about a couple of inches thick, it is then carved using flint and files.
“The stone talks to me,” added Erickson, who has fashioned pipe bowls in different shapes, such as horses. “Most of those pipes showed what they wanted to be.”
Growing up in the 1960s, Erickson recalled making pipes as a family affair where the day often ended with a festive grilling. He taught his children, but laments that few younger people want to take up the arduous job.
So does Pederson, some of whose younger family members have shown interest, including a granddaughter who would hang out in her workshop starting when she was 3 and emerge “pink from head to toe” from the stone dust.
But they believe the tradition will continue as long as they can share it with Native youth who might have their first encounter with this deep history on field trips to the monument.
On a recent trip, Pederson’s brother, Mark Pederson, who also holds demonstrations at the visitor center, took several young visitors into the quarries and taught them how to swing sledgehammers — and many asked to return, she said.
Teaching the techniques of quarrying and carving is crucially important, and so is helping youth develop a relationship with the pipestone and its place in the Native worldview.
“We have to be concerned with that as Dakota people – all cultural messages young people get draw away from our traditional lifeways,” St. Clair said. “We need to hold on to the teachings, prayers, songs that make pipes be.”
From new exhibits to tailored school field trips, recent initiatives at the monument — undertaken in consultation between tribal leaders and the National Park Service — are trying to foster that awareness for Native youth.
“I remind them they have every right to come here and pray,” Drapeau said — a crucial point since many Native spiritual practices were systematically repressed for decades past 1937, when the monument was created to preserve the quarries from land encroachment.
Some areas of the park are open only for ceremonial use; the 75,000 yearly visitors are asked not to interfere with the quarriers.
“The National Park Service is the newcomer here — for 3,000 years, different tribal nations have come to quarry here and developed different protocols to protect the site,” said park superintendent Lauren Blacik.
One change brought through extensive consultations with tribal leaders is the park’s decision to no longer sell pipes at the visitor center, though other pipestone objects are — like small carved turtles or owls. Pipes are available at stores a few miles away in Pipestone’s downtown.
Tensions over the use of sacred pipes by non-Natives long predates the United States, when French and English explorers traded them, said Greg Gagnon, a scholar of Indian Studies and author of a textbook on Dakota culture.
“Nobody wants to have their world appropriated. The more you open it up, the more legitimate a fear of watering it down,” he said. But there’s also a danger in becoming entrenched in dogmatic ways of understanding traditions, Gagnon added.
For carvers like Pederson, good intentions and the Spirit at work in both those practicing the craft as well as those receiving the pipestone are reasons to be optimistic about the future.
“Grandma and Grandpa always said the stone takes care of itself, knows what’s in a person’s heart,” she said.
…
‘Mission: Impossible’ $80M Debut Ignites Box Office but Misses Expectations
After a globe-trotting publicity blitz by star Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” launched with a franchise-best $80 million over five days, though it came in shy of industry expectations with a $56.2 million haul over the three-day weekend, according to studio estimates.
The Paramount Pictures’ debut was boosted by strong overseas sales of $155 million from 70 markets. But while a $235 million worldwide launch marked one of the best global openings of the year, “Dead Reckoning” couldn’t approach the high-speed velocity of last summer’s top film, “Top Gun: Maverick.”
“Dead Reckoning Part One,” the seventh film in the 27-year-old series, had been forecast to better the franchise high of the previous installment, “Fallout,” which opened with $61 million domestically in 2018. Instead, it also fell short of the $57.8 million “Mission: Impossible II” debuted with in 2000.
That puts the film’s opening-weekend tally very close to the tepid launch of Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which opened in U.S. and Canadian theaters with $82 million over five days and $60 million over the three-day weekend. Paramount and Skydance had higher hopes for the action extravaganza of “Dead Reckoning,” which cost $290 million to make, not counting marketing expenses.
Those costs were inflated, in part, by the pandemic. “Dead Reckoning,” directed by Christopher McQuarrie, was among the first major productions shut down by COVID-19. It was preparing to shoot in Italy in March 2020. When the film got back on track, McQuarrie and Cruise helped lead the industry-wide recovery back to film sets – albeit with some well-publicized friction over protocols along the way.
Still, “Dead Reckoning” was hailed as a high point in the franchise. Critics (96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and fans (an “A” on CinemaScore) alike came away awed by the stunts and chases of the latest “Mission: Impossible” film. Though the coming competition of “Barbenheimer” — the much-anticipated debuts of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — looms, “Mission: Impossible” should play well for weeks to come.
“This is a global franchise. It’s going gangbusters and it’s going to play for a long time. Quality always wins in the end,” said Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Paramount.
“Dead Reckoning,” Aronson said, met or exceeded the studio’s expectations.
“In international markets, in like-for-like markets, we’re 15% ahead of ‘Fallout,’ and that’s taking China out,” added Aronson. “Domestically, we’re over 3% ahead of ‘Fallout’ for the first five days. To beat its predecessor is phenomenal, especially in this environment.”
Cruise, the so-called savior of movie theaters last year, traveled tirelessly to again pump life back into a summer box office that’s been sluggish. After a splashy world premiere in Rome with a red-carpet on the Spanish Steps, Cruise and McQuarrie surprised theaters in Atlanta, Miami, Toronto and Washington D.C. in the days ahead of opening.
“Dead Reckoning” hit theaters at a crucial mid-summer period for Hollywood, and not just because of the SAG-AFTRA strike which began Thursday. “Mission: Impossible” launched a week before one of the biggest box-office showdowns of the year.
Though “Dead Reckoning” and “Oppenheimer” have vied for some of the same IMAX screens, each film has publicly endorsed the idea that a rising tide lifts all blockbusters. Cruise and McQuarrie in early July even bought opening-weekend tickets to both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and “Oppenheimer” filmmaker Christopher Nolan reciprocated with their own gestures of support.
However, that trio of films performs over the next few weeks will do a lot to determine the fate of the summer box office.
“These are a crucial couple of weeks for the industry starting this weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. “I think it’s going to be a fun reinvigoration of the box office because we have had a few films underperforming. Really, the summer movie season restarts this week with ‘Mission’ leading into ‘Barbenheimer.'”
No other new wide release challenged “Mission: Impossible” over the weekend. Second place went to Angel Studios’ faith-based political thriller “Sound of Freedom” which increased 37% in its second with $27 million. Jim Caviezel stars in the child trafficking drama.
Last week’s top film, “Insidious: The Red Door” slid to third with $13 million in its second weekend. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” dropped quickly with $12 million for its third weekend, with a domestic total so far of $145.4 million.
In limited release, the Searchlight Pictures’ mockumentary “Theater Camp” opened to $270,000 from six theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
-
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” $56.2 million.
-
“Sound of Freedom,” $27 million.
-
“Insidious: The Red Door,” $13 million.
-
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” $12 million.
-
“Elemental,” $8.7 million.
-
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” $6.1 million.
-
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” $3.4 million.
-
“No Hard Feelings,” $3.3 million.
-
“Joy Ride,” $2.6 million.
-
“The Little Mermaid,” $2.4 million.
…
Canadian Wildfires’ Smoke Creates Unhealthy Conditions in Large Swath of US
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency posted air quality alerts Sunday for several states stretching from Montana to Ohio because of smoke blowing in from Canadian wildfires.
“Air Quality alerts are in place for much of the Great Lakes, Midwest, and northern High Plains,” the National Weather Service said. “This is due to the lingering thick concentration of Canadian wildfire smoke over these regions. While the concentration of smoke in the atmosphere should begin to wane by Monday, there is still enough smoke to support unhealthy air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups in parts of these regions into the start of the upcoming week.”
The U.S. EPA’s AirNow air quality page rated the air in Chicago as “unhealthy” as of 9 a.m. CDT Sunday. And in Michigan, state environmental officials said the air “is unhealthy for sensitive groups.”
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services advised people in the state to check the Air Quality Index regularly to decide if they should be participating in outdoor activities.
The Indianapolis Office of Sustainability issued a Knozone Action Day for Sunday, saying people throughout central Indiana should avoid time spent outdoors as much as possible, especially active children, the elderly, anyone who is pregnant, and those with asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), emphysema, heart disease or COVID-19. Sensitive groups should remain indoors Sunday and refrain from activities that degrade indoor air quality, including burning candles and vacuuming.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday that unhealthy air from the wildfires in Canada was expected to hit parts of New York state again Monday, mostly in the northern and western parts of the state. She said the air quality index was forecast to be 100 to 150 in those areas, when 0 to 50 is the norm. Her comments came at a news conference about heavy rain and flooding.
“As if the rain coming out of the sky isn’t enough, if you start looking up tomorrow, you’re going to see a similar situation to what we had a couple of weeks ago because of the air quality degradation resulting from the wildfires in Canada,” she said. “We’re likely to be issuing [an] air quality alert for portions of our state. It seems to be projected to be mostly around western New York and the North Country at this time. But as we saw, it can shift very quickly and start developing in more populated areas.”
Health officials have recommended people can stay safe by taking steps such as wearing a mask, staying indoors and keeping indoor air clean.
…
Actress and Singer Jane Birkin Dies, France Loses an ‘Icon’
British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin, a 1960s wildchild who became a beloved figure in France, has died in Paris aged 76.
The French Culture Ministry said the country had lost a “timeless Francophone icon.”
Local media reported she had been found dead at her home, citing people close to her. Birkin had a mild stroke in 2021 after suffering heart problems in previous years.
Birkin was best known overseas for her 1969 hit in which she and her then-lover, the late French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, sang the sexually explicit “Je t’aime…moi non plus”.
She had lived in her adopted France since the late 1960s and apart from her singing and roles in dozens of films, she was a popular figure for her warm nature, stalwart fight for women’s and LGBT rights.
The “most Parisian of the English has left us,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. “We will never forget her songs, her laughs and her incomparable accent which always accompanied us.”
Jane Mallory Birkin was born in London in December 1946, daughter of British actress Judy Campbell and Royal Navy commander David Birkin.
She first took to the stage aged 17 and went on to appear in the 1965 musical “Passion Flower Hotel” by conductor and composer John Barry, whom she married shortly after. The marriage ended in the late 1960s.
Before venturing across the Channel aged 22, she achieved notoriety in the controversial 1966 Michelangelo Antonioni film “Blow-Up,” appearing naked in a threesome sex scene.
But it was in France that she truly shot to fame, as much for her love affair with tormented national star Gainsbourg, as for her tomboyish style and endearing British accent when speaking French, which some said she cultivated deliberately.
Following the breakup of that relationship in 1981, she continued her career as a singer and actress, appearing on stage and releasing albums such as “Baby Alone in Babylone” in 1983, and “Amour des Feintes” in 1990, both with words and music by Gainsbourg.
She wrote her own album “Arabesque” in 2002, and in 2009 released a collection of live recordings, “Jane at the Palace.”
“It’s unimaginable to live in a world without you,” said French singer Etienne Daho, who produced and composed Birkin’s last album in 2020.
It was on the set of the film “Slogan” in 1969 that Birkin first met Gainsbourg, who was recovering from a break-up with Brigitte Bardot, and the two quickly began a love affair that captivated the nation.
That same year they released “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus” (“I Love You… Me Neither”), a song about physical love originally written for Bardot in which Gainsbourg’s explicit lyrics are punctuated with breathy moans and cries from Birkin.
The song was banned by the BBC and condemned by the Vatican.
Gainsbourg’s drinking eventually got the better of the relationship, and Birkin left him in 1981 to live with film director Jacques Doillon. However she remained close to the troubled singer until his death in March 1991.
It was around this time that she inspired the famous Birkin bag by French luxury house Hermes, after chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas saw her struggling with her straw bag on a flight to London, spilling the contents over the floor.
She is survived by two daughters the singer and actress Charlotte, born in 1971, and Lou Doillon, also an actress, born in 1982. She also had a daughter, Kate, who was born in 1967 and died in 2013.
…
‘We Cannot Work’ — Why Gulf Summer Feels Even Hotter Than Usual
As much of the world swelters in record temperatures, spare a thought for Issam Genedi, who ekes out a living washing cars in one of the planet’s hottest regions, the Gulf.
Pausing from his work at an outdoor carpark in Dubai, the Egyptian migrant says the United Arab Emirates’ furnace-like summer feels even hotter this year.
“This summer is a little more difficult than other years,” says Genedi, who shines cars for about 25 dirhams ($6.80) a time in temperatures that pass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) each day.
“Between noon and 3 p.m. or 3:30 p.m., we simply cannot work.”
The oil-rich UAE — host of this year’s COP28 United Nations climate talks, where the world will try to sharpen its response to global warming — is no stranger to unbearable summers.
In the blistering summer months, those who can decamp to cooler climes, or stay cocooned inside air-conditioned homes, offices and shopping malls.
The streets are largely deserted, apart from laborers hired cheaply from abroad. Many manual workers have a compulsory rest period in the hottest hours of the day.
It’s a similar story all around the energy-rich desert region. In Bahrain, an island nation off Saudi Arabia, July average temperatures threaten to beat the record of 42.1C (107.8F) set in 2017.
Two weeks ago, more than 1.8 million Muslims battled through a days-long hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in temperatures up to 48C (118F), with thousands treated for heat stress.
And in Kuwait, which regularly records some of the world’s highest temperatures, experts warn the mercury could pass a formidable 50C (122F) in the coming weeks.
Where ‘real feel’ is 60C
Genedi is right that this summer seems unusually hot. Apart from last week being identified as the hottest ever recorded worldwide, a wave of humidity has been suffocating the Gulf.
“People have been left wondering if the temperatures are even higher” than usual, Ahmed Habib of the UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology told AFP.
“An increase in relative humidity … combined with already high temperatures, makes the temperature seem higher than it really is,” he said, adding that “real-feel” temperatures have ranged between 55-60C (131-140 F) in some areas.
The Gulf’s extreme heat and high humidity are a dangerous mix because, in such conditions, the human body struggles to cool itself by evaporating sweat on the skin.
The combination is measured by a thermometer wrapped in a wet cloth to calculate the “wet bulb temperature” — the lowest possible through evaporative cooling.
The Gulf is one of the few places to have repeatedly measured wet bulb temperatures above 35C (95F), the threshold of human survivability beyond which heat stress can be fatal within hours, regardless of age, health and fitness.
It is for this reason that experts warn accelerated climate change will make parts of the Gulf region unliveable by the end of this century.
In Kuwait, meteorologist Issa Ramadan said “the increase in temperature over the past year has been significant.”
“It is expected that from the middle of the month until August 20 there will be a noticeable rise in temperatures that may reach and even exceed 50C (122F) in the shade,” he told AFP.
Humidity could top 90% in Bahrain by the end of the week, with maximum temperatures ranging between 42-44C (108-111F), according to official forecasts.
‘Our profession is difficult’
Gulf temperatures will rise to disruptive levels if global warming is left unchecked, according to projections by Barrak Alahmad of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Dominic Roye of the Foundation for Climate Research.
In the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, the number of 40C-plus (104F-plus) days will rise by 98% by 2100 if global temperatures increase by 3C, according to the findings published in June by Vital Signs, a coalition of rights groups working on migrant laborer deaths in the Gulf.
The same 3C global increase will see Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia experiencing 180 days of 40C-plus temperatures a year by the end of the century, it said.
“These conditions could seriously disrupt human societies in ways we are just beginning to understand,” Alahmad told the Vital Signs Partnership.
Intense heat and humidity is already a daily reality for many in the Gulf, not least the thousands of mostly South Asian delivery motorcyclists who crisscross its cities carrying food and other packages.
…
Musk Says Twitter Is Losing Cash Because Advertising Is Down and the Company Is Carrying Heavy Debt
Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half.
In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”
“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he concluded.
Ever since he took over Twitter in a $44 billion deal last fall, Musk has tried to reassure advertisers who were concerned about the ouster of top executives, widespread layoffs and a different approach to content moderation. Some high-profile users who had been banned were allowed back on the site.
In April, Musk said most of the advertisers who left had returned and that the company might become cash-flow positive in the second quarter.
In May, he hired a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, an NBCUniversal executive with deep ties to the advertising industry.
But since then, Twitter has upset some users by imposing new limits on how many tweets they can view in a day, and some users complained that they were locked out of the site. Musk said the restrictions were needed to prevent unauthorized scraping of potentially valuable data.
Twitter got a new competitor this month when Facebook owner Meta launched a text-focused app, Threads, and gained tens of millions of sign-ups in a few days. Twitter responded by threatening legal action.
…
UK Immigration Health Fee Hikes Face Criticism
The U.K.’s oldest medical union Saturday hit out at government plans to increase the amount migrant workers pay to use the state health care service, to cover public-sector wage increases.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government this week approved recommendations to boost wages of teachers, doctors and police by between 5.0 to 7.0 percent.
Sunak ruled out tax increases or government borrowing to fund the raise but instead said hikes in the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) and visa fees would raise $1.3 billion.
Doctors in Unite, which represents junior doctors, general practitioners and hospital consultants, said it was “appalled” at the move, as it would see migrants pay double to use the National Health Service (NHS).
Most employees in the U.K. have National Insurance contributions deducted at the source on their salaries, which pays for the National Health Service, as well as state pension and unemployment schemes.
“Just like other workers, migrants contribute to NHS funding through general taxation. Doubling the NHS surcharge to over $1,570 per year is an unjust additional penalty,” Doctors in Unite said.
“Migrants are effectively ‘taxed twice’ to access the same service,” it added, calling the move “immoral and divisive.”
The IHS, initially brought in to prevent “medical tourism,” is now paid by most migrants under tighter post-Brexit entry rules.
It is paid per person in addition to visa fees for stays of more than six months.
Over-18s pay $817 per year while students and under-18s pay $615 per year.
The government has proposed raising the IHS for adults to $1,355, and $1,016 at the reduced rate.
Work and visit visas will go up by 15 percent, while the cost of student and leave-to-remain visas among others will rise by at least 20 percent.
Net migration in the U.K. hit a record 606,000 in 2022, according to official figures released in May, heaping pressure on the government, which has pledged to cut dependency on foreign labor.
Sunak has described legal immigration levels as “too high,” and is separately battling record levels of asylum claims from migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
Critics warn the IHS increases — paid for by individuals or their companies — could worsen under-staffing in many sectors, and prompt high-skilled workers and students to go elsewhere.
Migrant and refugee charity Praxis has accused ministers of treating people born outside the U.K. as “cash cows” at a time when they were struggling to repay already high visa renewal fees.
The genomics research center The Wellcome Sanger Institute said it spent more than $393,000 in immigration fees for its employees in 2022.
“These proposed increases create further barriers for global talent… and will have a detrimental effect on [the] U.K. and global science,” said head of policy Sarion Bowers.
…