There is renewed interest nuclear energy in Europe driven in part by climate goals but also the war in Ukraine – especially as the European Union moves to cut all energy ties with Russia. But tapping nuclear power remains expensive, time consuming and deeply controversial. For VOA, Lisa Bryant takes a look at the debate from Paris. Camera: Lisa Bryant
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Corts
Next Battle Over Access to Abortion Will Focus on Pills
It took two trips over state lines, navigating icy roads and a patchwork of state laws, for a 32-year-old South Dakota woman to get abortion pills last year.
For abortion-seekers like her, such journeys, along with pills sent through the mail, will grow in importance if the Supreme Court follows through with its leaked draft opinion that would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and allow individual states to ban the procedure.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was concerned for her family’s safety, said the abortion pills allowed her to end an unexpected and high-risk pregnancy and remain devoted to her two children.
But anti-abortion activists and politicians say those cross-border trips, remote doctors’ consultations and pill deliveries are what they will try to stop next.
“Medication abortion will be where access to abortion is decided,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor at Florida State University College of Law who specializes in reproductive rights. “That’s going to be the battleground that decides how enforceable abortion bans are.”
Use of abortion pills has been rising in the U.S. since 2000 when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone — the main drug used in medication abortions. More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills, rather than surgery, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Two drugs are required. The first, mifepristone, blocks a hormone needed to maintain a pregnancy. A second drug, misoprostol, taken one to two days later, empties the uterus. Both drugs are available as generics and are also used to treat other conditions.
The FDA last year lifted a long-standing requirement that women pick up abortion pills in person. Federal regulations now also allow mail delivery nationwide. Even so, 19 states have passed laws requiring a medical clinician to be physically present when abortion pills are administered to a patient.
South Dakota is among them, joining several states, including Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee and Oklahoma, where Republicans have moved to further restrict access to abortion pills in recent months.
Those moves have spurred online services that offer information on getting abortion pills and consultations to get a prescription. After the woman in South Dakota found that the state’s only abortion clinic could not schedule her in time for a medication abortion, she found an online service, called Just The Pill, that advised her to drive to Minnesota for a phone consultation with a doctor. A week later, she came back to Minnesota for the pills.
She took the first one almost immediately in her car, then cried as she drove home.
“I felt like I lost a pregnancy,” she said. “I love my husband and I love my children and I knew exactly what I had to say goodbye to and that was a really horrible thing to have to do.”
Besides crossing state lines, women can also turn to international online pharmacies, said Greer Donley, a professor specializing in reproductive health care at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. Some women also are having prescribed pills forwarded through states without restrictions.
“It allows for someone to have an abortion without a direct role of a provider. It’s going to be much harder for states to control abortion access,” she said, adding, “The question is how is it going to be enforced?”
Abortion law experts say it’s an unsettled question whether states can restrict access to abortion pills in the wake of the FDA’s decision.
“The general rule is that federal law preempts conflicting state law,” said Laura Hermer, a professor at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. “There is no question that the FDA has proper authority to regulate the drugs used in medication abortions. The question is whether a state can make a viable, winning argument that, for public health purposes, it needs to further regulate access to the relevant medications.”
Hermer said she doesn’t think there is a valid public health reason because the published evidence is that the drugs are “exceptionally safe.” But if the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade and a state gives embryos and fetuses full rights as people “then all bets would be off.”
The Planned Parenthood regional organization that includes South Dakota doesn’t believe it can legally mail abortion pills to patients there.
Telemedicine providers have to abide by the laws of the state where the patient is, said Dr. Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood North Central States in St. Paul. She acknowledged that some organizations disagree.
“But,” she added, “we don’t feel like we have liberty to mail pills from Minnesota to other places in the country where it’s illegal to provide medication abortion.”
Sue Leibel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony List, a prominent organization opposed to abortion, acknowledged that medication abortions have “crept up” on Republican state lawmakers.
“This is a new frontier and states are grappling with enforcement mechanisms,” she said, adding, “The advice that I always give — if you shut the front door, the pills are going to come in the back door.”
Leibel maintained women should not be prosecuted for seeking abortions, keeping with a long-standing principle of many abortion opponents. She suggested the next target for state enforcement should be the pharmacies, organizations and clinics that provide the abortion pills. She also said abortion-rights opponents should focus on electing a presidential candidate who would work to reverse the FDA’s decision.
The FDA said a scientific review supported broadening access to the drugs and found complications were rare. The agency has reported 26 deaths associated with the drug since 2000, though not all of those can be directly attributed to the medication because of existing health conditions and other factors.
However, with new legal battles on the horizon and abortion seekers going to greater lengths to obtain the procedure, Donley, the law school professor, worried that state lawmakers will turn their attention toward the women who get the pills.
Indeed, a Louisiana House committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would make abortion a crime of homicide for which a woman ending her pregnancy could be charged, along with anyone helping her.
“Many anti-abortion legislators might realize the only way to enforce these laws is to prosecute the pregnant person themselves,” Donley said.
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Censorship of Hollywood Blockbuster Films Intensifies in China
China is stepping up censorship of U.S. films as producers make movies with an eye toward pleasing Beijing yet without isolating the global audience, industry insiders say.
The roughly 25-year-old practice of cutting scenes that don’t conform to Communist Party ideals from Hollywood movies has expanded.
“Now it’s kind of escalated in the sense that they’re much more direct in banning films outright rather than just tampering or asking for scenes to be removed,” said Stanley Rosen, a University of Southern California political science professor who follows China’s film industry.
Industry observers say censors are also asking that versions of movies for audiences outside China follow Beijing’s script.
Hollywood movies, Chinese censors
It is unlikely that censors will allow the 2022 Marvel Studios movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” to be shown in China. The state-affiliated Global Times tabloid published a scathing op-ed on the film Sunday, saying that it contains nods to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement Beijing has banned and labeled as a cult. According to the op-ed, a news rack for The Epoch Times, a publication the writer calls “the mouthpiece of the Falun Gong,” appears in the frame as Doctor Strange battles a tentacled monster.
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Washington, said, “As a country under the rule of law, China regulates the film industry in accordance with the Film Administration regulations.” Liu, however, did not describe the process in detail.
Marvel Studios did not reply to VOA’s questions about “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”
The China Film Administration, an oversight body for the $7.4 billion market, banned Marvel Studios’ 2021 superhero films “Eternals” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” which were released last year.
The 2021 superhero film “Spider-Man: No Way Home” missed Chinese approval because authorities wanted Sony Pictures to remove images of the Statue of Liberty from the film, several news outlets reported.
The 2015 sci-fi movie “Pixels” made it into China after removing a scene of aliens blasting a hole into the Great Wall, news reports said at the time.
“As the dragon gets bigger, its leverage gets bigger, and no one’s pushed back yet,” said Chris Fenton, Hollywood executive and lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
An increase in Sino-U.S. tensions since the administration of former U.S. president Donald Trump may have exacerbated China’s treatment of American movies, said James Tager, research director at the free-speech advocacy group PEN America in New York.
Film studios stuck in the middle
Film studios have been operating under the pressure of satisfying censors in China — a massive market in normal times, when cinemas are not closed because of COVID-19 — while appearing before American audiences and legislators as supporters of artistic freedom, Tager said.
Hollywood doesn’t want a “pinball”— a situation in which both U.S. and Chinese officials take aim at the film industry, he said.
Hollywood companies are pre-censoring films to avoid losing access to China’s lucrative box office market, PEN America said in a 2020 report.
Refusal of a Chinese order to cut a scene would risk the studio’s future business in China, such as the next Disney or Marvel film or other assets, Tager said. Walt Disney Co., for example, has a 47% stake in Shanghai Disneyland, according to the PEN America report.
“You may get a reputation as someone who doesn’t play ball, which could have even further knock-on effects, possibly for other films or possibly for other business relationships that large studios have in China,” he said.
Self-censorship is getting worse, Fenton said. Some studios even worry that China will punish them for leaving objectionable scenes in film versions for audiences outside China.
“To me, the bigger issue is when China tells us we can’t have stuff in movies for other markets,” Fenton said. “That’s where we’re suddenly allowing them to spread their narrative rather than the narrative of the filmmakers or the studio or of Hollywood — or the U.S. or the Western side of things. Who gives them that right to tell us we can’t have that in a movie that someone in Argentina sees?”
China wants its view of the world to resonate worldwide, said James Gomez, regional director of the Asia Centre, a Bangkok-based think tank.
“It’s competing powers, it’s competing narratives,” he said. “It’s a different world view, and China wants to be able to shape the world view.”
Objections to Chinese-tailored films
The Philippines pushed back against studios’ attempt to woo China in the case of the 2022 American action movie “Uncharted.” The Southeast Asian country’s cinemas yanked the movie at the request of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. The department objected to a scene that showed Beijing’s nine-dash line claim to the South China Sea, which Manila vigorously disputes. The nine dashes demarcate China’s claim to about 90% of the sea.
Manila moved earlier to block the showing of “Abominable,” a 2019 animated collaboration between a U.S. and a Chinese production company, because the same nine-dash line was shown in the cartoon.
Some studios may eventually forego the China market to be seen elsewhere as “celebrating artistic freedom elsewhere on the globe,” Tager said.
Hollywood is slowly factoring in the “arbitrary” demands from China, Rosen said. One thing it has learned, he said, is to avoid making Chinese-themed films such as “Shang-Chi” because those can be better done in China.
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Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ Shirt Sets Auction Record
The shirt worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the controversial “Hand of God” goal against England in the 1986 World Cup has sold for $9.3 million (7.1 million pounds), the highest price ever paid at auction for a piece of sports memorabilia.
Auctioneer Sotheby’s sold the shirt in an online auction that closed Wednesday. It did not identify the buyer.
Maradona scored two goals during the quarterfinal game in Mexico City on June 22, 1986, just four years after Britain and Argentina had fought a war over the Falkland Islands. The Argentine great’s first goal was ruled a header, but the ball had bounced off Maradona’s fist, out of sight of the referee.
Maradona said afterward that it had been scored “a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God.”
Maradona’s second goal saw him dribble the ball past almost the entire English team before beating goalkeeper Peter Shilton. In 2002, it was voted “goal of the century” in a FIFA poll.
Argentina won the game 2-1 and went on to win the World Cup.
After the game. Maradona swapped shirts with England midfielder Steve Hodge, who loaned it long-term to England’s National Football Museum in Manchester before putting it up for sale.
Maradona, considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, struggled with cocaine abuse and other excesses and died in November 2020 at age 60.
After Sotheby’s announced the coming sale last month, relatives of Maradona expressed doubt the blue No. 10 jersey was the shirt the soccer star had worn in the second half of the game, when he scored both goals. The auction house said the shirt’s identity was confirmed by sports memorabilia photo-matching firm Resolution Photomatching and confirmed by Sotheby’s chief science officer.
Brahm Wachter, Sotheby’s head of streetwear and modern collectibles, said the shirt was “a tangible reminder of an important moment not only in the history of sports, but in the history of the 20th century.”
The previous record for sports memorabilia was $8.8 million paid at a December 2019 auction for the manifesto that launched the modern Olympic movement. The previous record for a piece of sportswear was $5.64 million for a Babe Ruth New York Yankees jersey in 2019.
The sale prices include an auction house charge known as the buyer’s premium.
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World Faces Looming Hunger Crisis
The Global Network, an alliance of humanitarian and developmental agencies, says around 193 million people globally experienced extreme hunger last year, with more than half a million on the brink of famine in Ethiopia, southern Madagascar, South Sudan, and Yemen.
The network, which includes the European Union, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Food Program, is calling for action to tackle the life-threatening crisis.
Authors of the report warn the crisis is set to worsen this year. They say the key drivers of food insecurity — conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic — are pushing increasing numbers of people into poverty.
The executive director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, calls it a perfect storm. He says whatever progress has been made in feeding the destitute is being lost because of Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and now Ukraine.
“As we look around the world, 276 million people marching towards starvation,” he said. “And now we have got the breadbasket of the world being turned into breadlines. Who would have ever thought that we would see this in our time, our lifetime. Mass migration taking place out of Ukraine. And it is going to devastate the food security situation around the world.”
He notes Ukraine and Russia together produce 30 percent of the world’s wheat, 20 percent of the world’s maize, and up to 80 percent of sunflower seed oil. He says those supplies are not moving out of Ukraine because Russia has blockaded Black Sea ports.
“If we do not get ahead of this thing, we will have not just famine in multiple countries around the world because, you know, we got additional droughts and all types of issues. But you will have destabilization of some nations and you will have mass migration by necessity. And no one wants that,” Beasley said.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warns the global food crisis threatens child survival and development.
“By stark contrast, inadequate nutrition is the leading cause of child mortality,” she said. “In fact, nearly half of all deaths of children under five are attributable to undernutrition. … We now estimate that by the end of 2021, 50 million children were suffering from wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition. We expect this number is now higher.”
The Global Network is calling for coordinated, collective action to address the food and nutrition crisis. It says emergency funding is needed now to pull starving people back from the brink, and longer-term action is crucial to create more sustainable agri-food systems.
your ads here!Dolly Parton, Eminem, Richie Get into Rock Hall of Fame
Eminem, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Eurythmics, Duran Duran and Pat Benatar have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a list that also includes Dolly Parton, who initially resisted the honor.
The honorees — voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals — “each had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture and helped change the course of rock ‘n’ roll,” said John Sykes, the chairman of the Rock Hall, in a statement Wednesday.
Parton had gone on social media to “respectfully bow out” of the process, saying she did not want to take votes away from the remaining nominees and had not “earned that right.” The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation responded by saying ballots had already been sent and it was up to the voters to decide if Parton was elected. Parton later said she would accept an induction.
To be eligible, artists are required to have released their first record 25 years prior to induction. Parton, Richie, Simon and Duran Duran were selected on their first go-round. Simon was a first-time nominee this year more than 25 years after becoming eligible. Eminem becomes the 10th hip-hop act to be inducted, making the cut on his first ballot.
The hall also announced Wednesday that Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are getting the award for musical excellence and that Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten will be honored with the Early Influence Award.
Other artists and groups that failed this year for induction in the performer category are A Tribe Called Quest, Rage Against the Machine, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon, Beck, Kate Bush, DEVO, Fela Kuti, MC5 and the New York Dolls.
Parton is most associated with country music and is in the Country Hall of Fame, but she has performed songs with a rock feel. Artists who have made both the Rock Hall and Country Hall of Fame include Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins, Hank Williams and the Everly Brothers.
The induction ceremony will be held Nov. 5 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
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Comedian Dave Chappelle Attacked on Stage at Hollywood Bowl
U.S. comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked on stage on Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles by an assailant who rugby-tackled him before being apprehended and arrested, video footage verified by Reuters showed.
The attack came just over a month after actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, an unprecedented incident at the globally televised event that prompted concerns that performers might be subject to copycat assaults.
Smith, who won the best actor award, was subsequently banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years.
It was not immediately clear if Chappelle was injured in Tuesday’s attack, or what motivated it.
An agent and public relations representative for Chappelle were not immediately available for comment. A representative for the Hollywood Bowl told Reuters the incident was under investigation, declining to comment further.
According to an ABC report, Rock, who had performed earlier in the evening, joined Chappelle on stage moments after it took place and joked: “Was that Will Smith?”
Chappelle and Rock were giving shows as part of an 11-day comedy festival called “Netflix is a Joke.”
Los Angeles police took a male suspect into custody who NBC Los Angeles said was armed with a replica gun capable of ejecting a knife blade.
Video footage obtained by Reuters showed the suspect on a stretcher being placed into an ambulance. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries, NBC Los Angeles cited police as saying.
Los Angeles Police Department officials did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Chappelle’s Netflix comedy special “The Closer” was criticized last year by some who saw it as ridiculing transgender people. Supporters of the comedian viewed it as a cry against cancel culture.
Brianna Sacks, a journalist for BuzzFeed News who attended h event, said the altercation took place as Chappelle ended his performance.
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South Africa Urges Africa’s First COVID-19 Vaccine Plant to Keep Its Doors Open
South African health officials are urging COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Aspen to keep its plant in the Eastern Cape province open. This follows a Reuters article quoting Aspen’s senior director saying they may have to shut down as there have been no orders for their rebranded COVID vaccine.
A South African-owned subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Aspen struck a deal with American company Johnson & Johnson in March to package, price, sell and distribute its vaccine in Africa.
This vaccine was rebranded as Aspenovax.
The move was hailed by many as there had been much concern about Africa’s reliance on imported vaccines which were often costly and at times in short supply.
But there have been no orders for Aspenovax. South Africa’s National Health Department Spokesperson Foster Mohale said the lack of orders is due to low vaccination rates not only at home, but globally.
“Vaccine hesitancy is one of the factors which contribute to these low vaccination rates or demand for more vaccines which also affect the production. Because obviously we understand that they are in a business, they can’t keep on producing vaccines when they know that the demand for vaccines is very low. So, we understand the situation where they are, and we sympathize with them,” he said.
Mohale said for now, South Africa has enough vaccines. He adds that in March, 100,000 vaccines expired. And more are due to expire in June and July.
However, he said that Aspen’s vaccine plant is important because no one knows what the future holds.
“We will try to engage them not to rush their decision precisely because we anticipate especially our scientists, our epidemiologists, we anticipate that the fifth wave might hit the country, South Africa, during the winter season which is a few weeks away from now. As you can see the number of daily COVID-19 patients has been rising for the past seven days,” he said.
Professor Petro Terblanche, who is the managing director of South African company, Afrigen, which in a continent-first made an mRNA COVID vaccine using Moderna’s data — said the situation at Aspen is a tragedy for the industry.
“This is just indicating again how important it is that this continent looks at policy reform. This is about how are we going to make sure that we give preferential procurement to local companies. How are we going to make sure that we create a marketplace and eco-system that will absorb local capacity? Otherwise, we will not have capacity locally in a sustainable manner and we’re going to get the next pandemic and we will be unprepared, and we will not have health security,” said Terblanche.
She believes money should also be put into educating people on the importance of vaccines.
“We need to ensure that we also put effort into advocacy for vaccination. Because we now have 17% of the continent that is vaccinated. We need to get them to at least 40% to ensure that we fully arrest this pandemic,” she said.
Mohale was unable to say when the Health Department would be meeting with Aspen’s executives.
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Afghan Refugees in San Diego Celebrate Their First Eid al-Fitr in the US
This was the first Eid al-Fitr in the United States for most of the more than 70,000 Afghan refugees who came to the country following the Taliban takeover last August. For VOA, Genia Dulot met with some of those refugees in California to see how they are marking the end of Ramadan. Camera: Genia Dulot
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Body in Barrel Exposed as Level of Nevada’s Lake Mead Drops
A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest U.S. reservoirs. Officials say the discovery could be the first of more grim finds.
“There is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains,” Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV on Monday.
The lake’s level has dropped so much that the uppermost water intake at drought-stricken Lake Mead became visible last week. The reservoir on the Colorado River behind Hoover Dam has become so depleted that Las Vegas is now pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead, which also stretches into Arizona.
Personal items found inside the barrel indicated the person died more than 40 years ago in the 1980s, Spencer said.
He declined to discuss a cause of death and declined to describe the items found, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Police plan to reach out to experts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to analyze when the barrel started eroding. The Clark County coroner’s office will try to determine the person’s identity.
Boaters spotted the barrel Sunday afternoon. National Park Service rangers searched an area near the lake’s Hemenway Harbor and found the barrel containing skeletal remains.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S., part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.
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Stars Dazzle at Met Gala in New York
Hundreds of A-listers dressed to the theme of “gilded glamour” gathered Monday in New York for the annual Met Gala extravaganza known as “the party of the year.
The fundraiser is back in its usual early May slot after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event and delayed last year’s edition to autumn.
Some 400 celebrities from the worlds of music, film, fashion, sports and more strutted their stuff at the over-the-top costume parade on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s carpeted steps.
The invitation-only guest list is a closely guarded secret, but frequent attendees have included Beyoncé, Justin Bieber and Elon Musk.
Some of the more eye-catching outfits worn over the years have included Beyoncé’s “naked dress” and Kim Kardashian’s face-covering black bodysuit.
In 2019, the last edition before the pandemic, Lady Gaga did a striptease of four different outfits, starting in a billowing fuchsia dress and ending in black lingerie.
Also grabbing headlines that year was singer and actor Billy Porter, who dressed as a sun god. With outstretched golden wings, he was carried in by six shirtless men.
At last year’s event, held in September, left-wing politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez caused a stir by wearing a dress emblazoned with the slogan “Tax the Rich.”
That struck a nerve at the celebration of fashion where tickets cost $35,000 and tables go for up to $300,000.
The gala — overseen by the high-priestess of fashion, Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour — raises millions of dollars for The Met’s Costume Institute.
Last year, the event raised more than $16.4 million for the institute.
The dress code comes from the annual exhibit that the party coincides with. This year’s is “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” a retrospective from the late 19th century to the present.
Monday’s gala was co-hosted by actor-couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Oscar-winning actress Regina King, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Broadway hit “Hamilton.”
This year’s honorary presidents are Instagram boss Adam Mosseri and designer Tom Ford, who was expected to dress many of the attendees.
The gala was first held in 1948 and was for a long time reserved for New York’s high society. Wintour took over running it in 1995, transforming the event into a catwalk for the rich and famous.
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Sikhs of Virginia Celebrate End of Ramadan
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported there was a spike in Islamophobia and a surge in hate crimes against Muslims in the United States last year. The council recommends bringing minority communities together to try to defuse tensions. One such effort is linked to celebrations to mark the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan. VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam reports from a Sikh community in Virginia. Camera: Saqib Ul Islam
Produced by: Saqib Ul Islam
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Soccer’s Governing Body Announces More Bans on Russia
The UEFA Champions League, soccer’s governing body, announced Monday the Russian women’s soccer team will be banned from the Women’s European Championship in July and from participating in qualifying for next year’s World Cup over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian team will be replaced by the Portuguese team for the tournament that will be played from July 6-31 in England.
Russian soccer faced a slew of bans following the invasion.
“Further to its 28 February 2022 decision to suspend all Russian representative teams and clubs from participating in UEFA competition matches until further notice, the UEFA Executive Committee today took a series of decisions relating to the implications of that decision for its upcoming competitions, in order to ensure their smooth staging in a safe and secure environment for all those concerned,” UEFA said in a press release.
UEFA also denied Russia’s bid to host the men’s European championships in 2028 and 2032.
Russian club teams will also be barred from participating in the Champions League, the Europa League and the Europa Conference League next year.
The Russian national men’s team was already banned from the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.
Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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Freedom on Wheels
Skateboarding tends to be the domain of the young and agile. But as Genia Dulot reports from Los Angeles, Tracie Garacochea finds age and limited mobility are no barriers to the sport or other aspects of her life.
Videographer: Genia Dulot Produced by: Genia Dulot, Jack Lacy
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Cairo Celebrates Eid al-Fitr Following Two-Year Coronavirus Ban
Egyptian worshippers, workers, families, and friends are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the three-day Islamic holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
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Russia’s Bolshoi Scraps Performances by Critical Directors
Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre has announced it is cancelling the performances directed by Kirill Serebrennikov and Timofey Kulyabin who have spoken out against Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Late Sunday, Russia’s top theatre announced that instead of the three performances of “Nureev,” a ballet directed by Serebrennikov, the audiences this week will see a production of Aram Khachaturian’s ballet, “Spartacus.”
The prestigious theatre also said that instead of “Don Pasquale,” a comic opera by Gaetano Donizetti directed by Timofey Kulyabin, audiences this week will see a production of Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”
The Bolshoi did not give any reason for the cancellations and spokeswoman Katerina Novikova told AFP on Monday that she had no “official” comment.
The Bolshoi performed “Spartacus” in early April, saying that proceeds would be used to help the families of Russian troops who died in Ukraine.
Serebrennikov, 52, was allowed in March to leave Russia, where he had been found guilty in 2020 of embezzling funds at Moscow’s Gogol Centre theatre.
His supporters say the conviction was revenge for his criticism of authoritarianism and homophobia under President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to AFP in Berlin last month, Serebrennikov said he felt “just horror, sadness, shame, pain” about Russia’s military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine.
“Nureev” is based on the life of Russian dance legend Rudolf Nureyev, and its use of onstage nudity and profane language outraged Russian conservatives.
Kulyabin, 37, who is also believed to be now based in Europe, has spoken out against Putin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine.
Several dancers have in recent weeks quit the Bolshoi including prima ballerina Olga Smirnova.
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The Judds, Ray Charles Join the Country Music Hall of Fame
Ray Charles and The Judds joined the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday in a ceremony filled with tears, music and laughter, just a day after Naomi Judd died unexpectedly.
The loss of Naomi Judd altered the normally celebratory ceremony, but the music played on, as the genre’s singers and musicians mourned Naomi Judd while also celebrating the four inductees: The Judds, Ray Charles, Eddie Bayers and Pete Drake. Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill and many more performed their hit songs.
Naomi and Wynonna Judd were among the most popular duos of the 1980s, scoring 14 No. 1 hits during their nearly three-decade career. On the eve of her induction, the family said in a statement to The Associated Press that Naomi Judd died at the age of 76 due to “the disease of mental illness.”
Daughters Wynonna and Ashley Judd accepted the induction amid tears, holding onto each other and reciting a Bible verse together.
“I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today,” Ashley Judd said of her mother to the crowd while crying. Wynonna Judd talked about the family gathering as they said goodbye to her and she and Ashley Judd recited Psalm 23.
“Though my heart is broken I will continue to sing,” Wynonna Judd said.
Fans gathered outside the museum, drawn to a white floral bouquet outside the entrance and a small framed photo of Naomi Judd below. A single rose was laid on the ground.
Charles’ induction showcased his genre-defying country releases, which showed the genre’s commercial appeal. The Georgia-born singer and piano player grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry and in 1962 released “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” which became one of the best-selling country releases of his era.
The piano player, blinded and orphaned at a young age, is best known for R&B, gospel and soul, but his decision to record country music changed the way the world thought about the genre, expanding audiences in the Civil Rights era.
Charles’ version of “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” spent five weeks on top of the Billboard 100 chart and remains one of his most popular songs. He died in 2004.
Brooks sang “Seven Spanish Angels,” one of Charles’ hits with Willie Nelson, while Bettye LaVette performed “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”
Country Music Hall of Famer Ronnie Milsap said he met Charles when he was a young singer and that others tried to imitate Charles, but no one could measure up.
“There was one of him and only one,” said Milsap. “He sang country music like it should be sung.”
The Hall of Fame also inducted two recording musicians who were elemental to many country songs and singers: Eddie Bayers and Pete Drake.
Bayers, a drummer in Nashville for decades who worked on 300 platinum records, is a member of the Grand Ole Opry band. He regularly played on records for The Judds, Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney. He is the first drummer to join the institution.
Drake, who died in 1988, was a pedal steel guitar player and a member of Nashville’s A-team of skilled session musicians, played on hits like “Stand By Your Man” by Tammy Wynette and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones. He is the first pedal steel guitar player to become part of the Hall of Fame.
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Heath Officials Search for Cause of Hepatitis in Children in 16 Countries
Health officials are still trying to identify the cause of cases of acute and severe hepatitis that have infected scores of children in 16 countries, mainly in Europe.
Over 170 cases of acute severe hepatitis in children aged between 1 month and 16 years have been reported from 16 countries, 12 in Europe. Most cases have been found in Britain. Other infections have been reported from the United States, Canada, Israel, and Japan.
The World Health Organization reports 17 children have required liver transplantation and one child has died. Hepatitis in children sometimes can lead to chronic liver disease and liver failure.
Philippa Easterbrook is a scientist at the WHO’s program of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections. She said the origin of these infections in children remains unknown. She said investigations have shown that none of the children have the common viral causes of hepatitis A, B, C or E.
“The questionnaires have not identified any common exposure—be it to a toxin or a particular food and no strong travel history. And importantly, very few of the children have received COVID vaccinations. So, there does not appear to be a link with COVID vaccine,” she said.
Easterbrook says one line of inquiry is to see whether there is a possible link to adenovirus. This is a common infection in children, which can cause respiratory illness, gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis and bladder infection.
She said a few cases of unexplained hepatitis in children occur every year in most countries. She said scientists are trying to ascertain whether the current apparent infection rate is truly unusually high or just a result of better reporting.
“The suggestions are there is a clear significant increase above that background rate in several of the countries that have been able to report this data with some confidence. But that is what we are trying to establish in the various countries now that we are working with to investigate those cases and establish whether this is the case,” said Easterbrook.
The WHO says toxicology, immunology, and other studies will continue in hospitals. It notes the likelihood that more cases will be detected before the cause of this infection can be confirmed and before more control and prevention measures can be taken.
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China’s Zero-COVID Restrictions Curb May 1 Holiday Travel
Many Chinese are marking a quiet May Day holiday this year as the government’s zero-COVID approach restricts travel and enforces lockdowns in multiple cities.
All restaurants in Beijing are closed to dine-in customers from Sunday through the end of the holiday on Wednesday, open only for takeout and delivery. Parks and tourist attractions in the Chinese capital are limited to 50% of their capacity. The Universal Studios theme park in Beijing, which opened last year, said it had shut down temporarily.
The pandemic situation varies across the vast nation of 1.4 billion people, but the Transport Ministry said last week that it expected 100 million trips to be taken from Saturday to Wednesday, which would be down 60% from last year. Many of those who are traveling are staying within their province as local governments discourage or restrict cross-border travel to try to keep out new infections.
China is sticking to a strict zero-COVID policy even as many other countries are easing restrictions and seeing if they can live with the virus. Much of Shanghai — China’s largest city and a finance, manufacturing and shipping hub — remains locked down, disrupting people’s lives and dealing a blow to the economy.
The major outbreak in Shanghai, where the death toll has topped 400, appears to be easing. The city recorded 7,872 new locally transmitted cases on Saturday, down from more than 20,000 a day in recent weeks. Outside of Shanghai, only 384 new cases were found in the rest of mainland China.
Beijing, which has tallied 321 cases in the past nine days, is restricting activity to try to prevent a large outbreak and avoid a city-wide lockdown similar to Shanghai. Individual buildings and housing complexes with coronavirus cases have been locked down. Visitors to many office buildings and tourist sites such as the Great Wall must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the previous 48 hours.
Online booking agency Ctrip said last week that people were booking travel to cities that were mostly virus-free, such as Chengdu in Sichuan province and the nearby city of Chongqing. Other popular destinations included Wuhan, where the world’s first major outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in early 2020. About half the orders on the Ctrip platform were for travel within a province.
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Taekwondo Champion Who Fled Afghanistan, Then Ukraine Hopes to Represent Afghanistan
Afghan Taekwondo champion Nisar Ahmad Abdulrahimzai fled Afghanistan for Ukraine and is now in Switzerland. Despite his circumstances, he says he is ready to represent Afghanistan in competition. VOA’s Waheed Faizi has the story.
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Naomi Judd, of Grammy-winning Duo The Judds, Dies at 76
Naomi Judd, the Kentucky-born singer of the Grammy-winning duo The Judds and mother of Wynonna and Ashley Judd, has died. She was 76.
The daughters announced her death Saturday in a statement provided to The Associated Press.
“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” the statement said. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”
Naomi Judd died near Nashville, Tennessee, said a statement on behalf of her husband and fellow singer, Larry Strickland. It said no further details about her death would be released and asked for privacy as the family grieves.
The Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday and they had just announced an arena tour to begin in the fall, their first tour together in over a decade. They also made a return to awards shows when they performed at the CMT Music Awards earlier this month.
“Honored to have witnessed ‘Love Can Build a Bridge’ just a few short weeks ago,” singer Maren Morris posted on Twitter Saturday.
“This is heartbreaking news! Naomi Judd was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known,” singer Travis Tritt posted on Twitter, noting that he had worked with Judd several times on screen and during performances.
The mother-daughter performers scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades. After rising to the top of country music, they called it quits in 1991 after doctors diagnosed Naomi Judd with hepatitis. Wynonna continued her solo career.
The Judds’ hits included “Love Can Build a Bridge” in 1990,”Mama He’s Crazy” in 1984, “Why Not Me” in 1984,”Turn It Loose” in 1988, “Girls Night Out” in 1985, “Rockin’ with the Rhythm of the Rain” in 1986 and “Grandpa” in 1986.
Born Diana Ellen Judd in Ashland, Kentucky, Naomi was working as a nurse in Nashville, when she and Wynonna started singing together professionally. Their unique harmonies, together with elements of acoustic music, bluegrass and blues, made them stand out in the genre at the time.
“We had a … such a stamp of originality on what we were trying to do,” Naomi Judd told The AP after it was announced that they would be joining the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Judds released six studio albums and an EP between 1984 and 1991 and won nine Country Music Association Awards and seven from the Academy of Country Music. They earned a total of five Grammy Awards together on hits like “Why Not Me” and “Give A Little Love.”
The Judds sang about family, the belief in marriage and the virtue of fidelity. Because Naomi was so young looking, the two were mistaken for sisters early in their career.
They first got attention singing on Ralph Emery’s morning show in early 1980, where the host named them the “Soap Sisters” because Naomi said she used to make her own soap.
After the success of “Mama He’s Crazy,” they won the Horizon Award at the 1984 CMA Awards. Naomi started her speech by saying “Slap the dog and spit in the fire!”
Daughter Ashley Judd is an actor known for her roles in such movies as “Kiss the Girls,” “Double Jeopardy” and “Heat.”
Strickland, who was a backup singer for Elvis Presley, was married to Naomi Judd for 32 years.
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Satellites Detect California Cow Burps, a Major Methane Source, From Space
Satellites have detected methane emissions from belching cows at a California feedlot, marking the first time emissions from livestock – a major component of agricultural methane – could be measured from space.
Environmental data firm GHGSat this month analyzed data from its satellites and pinpointed the methane source from a feedlot in the agricultural Joaquin Valley near Bakersfield, California in February.
This is significant, according to GHGSat, because agricultural methane emissions are hard to measure, and accurate measurement is needed to set enforceable reduction targets for the beef-production industry.
GHGSat said the amount of methane it detected from that single feedlot would result in 5,116 tons of methane emissions if sustained for a year. If that methane were captured, it could power over 15,000 homes, it said.
Agriculture contributes 9.6% to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and about 36% of methane emissions, mostly from livestock.
The Biden administration late last year announced its plan to crack down on methane emissions from the U.S. economy.
The EPA unveiled its first rules aimed at reducing methane from existing oil and gas sources that require companies to detect and repair methane leaks. The Agriculture Department rolled out a voluntary incentive program for farmers.
At last year’s climate talks, more than 100 countries pledged to cut methane emissions by 30% and to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Much of this reduction would need to come from the livestock industry, according to the U.N. food agency, which said that livestock accounts for 44% of man-made methane emissions.
Several methods to reduce livestock methane emissions are being tested, including adding seaweed to cattle diets.
GHGSat provides its data to the United Nations’ International Methane Emissions Observatory program.
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