Day: October 6, 2017

New Book Heralds Early Days of Fleetwood Mac

Mick Fleetwood was 16 when he left school, told his parents he wanted to pursue a career in rock ‘n’ roll, and went to London in search of gigs.

A common tale, true, but this one has a happy ending. Fleetwood fell in with some talented blues enthusiasts, paid [barely] his dues, and soared to stardom with the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac — and then into the rock ‘n’ roll stratosphere with the second, more pop-oriented version of the band.

“School was not a good thing for me,” said Fleetwood. “I had a learning disability, no doubt, and no one understood what those things were. I was sort of drowning at school academically. My parents were like, ‘Go and do it.’ They were picking up on the fact that I had found something. They saw the one thing that I loved with a passion was teaching myself how to play drums at home. So they sent me off with a little drum kit to London, and the whole thing unfolded.”

Fleetwood didn’t really have to rebel, though rebellion was in the air, and he had the good fortune to make friends early with Peter Green, the supremely talented guitarist whose blues sound shaped the band’s early years.

Green receives the lion’s share of the credit, and the dedication, in Fleetwood’s memoir of the band’s formative period, Love That Burns: A Chronicle of Fleetwood Mac, Volume One: 1967-1974. It has been published in a limited signed edition by Genesis Publications.

At 70, Fleetwood is eager to acknowledge his debt to Green, who left the band in 1970.

 

Fleetwood and bassist John McVie were later joined by Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham for a new lineup that hit the jackpot with Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Green’s generosity

Fleetwood said the band’s very name reflects Green’s self-effacing approach.

“Peter was asked why did he call the band Fleetwood Mac. He said, ‘Well, you know, I thought maybe I’d move on at some point and I wanted Mick and John to have a band.’ End of story, explaining how generous he was.”

The photos and text of Love That Burns are really the celebration of an era, capturing the explosion of British music at a time when bands like The Who and The Beatles were vying for the top spots on the charts — and competing with semi-forgotten bands like Freddie and the Dreamers, who actually got top billing over the Rolling Stones on a least one concert poster.

Once Fleetwood Mac made its name as a blues band, the group was able to go to Chicago’s famous Chess Studios to record with some of the great American bluesmen, including a few of the pioneers who had helped perfect the driving Chicago sound.

Fleetwood remembers — with relief — that the longhaired crew of young Brits was able to at least play in the same room as Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon without sounding foolish.

“These are major, major players for anyone who knows anything about blues,” Fleetwood said. “Having that take place, I don’t know what they must have really thought with us funny little English kids walking into their world. … I feel good about it to this day that we held our own dignity, even with these guys.”

He said the whole experience was “like going to their church and not just being in the congregation but actually doing our version of preaching with them.”

Salute to first band

While some fans swear the early Fleetwood Mac was better than the later, far more commercial version, Fleetwood knows the group is identified more with its string of hits, including Bill Clinton’s favorite song, Don’t Stop, which earned the band a headlining gig at his inaugural celebration.

This is one reason the book focuses on the first band. Fleetwood doesn’t want it to be forgotten.

“Even as we were doing it [the book], we realized that the band was 50 years old,” he said. “So it’s really about drawing a line in the sand to say that this happened and what caused this. And it’s generally fair to say, especially in the United States, this section of the formation of Fleetwood Mac is not really known about.”

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Lin-Manuel Miranda, Latin Stars Sing for Puerto Rico Relief

“Hamilton” musical creator Lin-Manuel Miranda on Friday released a new song for hurricane relief charity efforts in Puerto Rico featuring many of the music industry’s biggest Latin stars.

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Rita Moreno Luis Fonsi and many others sing on the English- and Spanish-language song “Almost Like Praying.”

The song, a riff on the tune “Maria” from the Broadway musical “West Side Story,” lists the names of all 78 of Puerto Rico’s towns in its lyrics.

Hurricane Maria, the worst hurricane to hit the U.S. territory in more than 90 years, killed at least 34 people last month and left most of the island without power or access to clean running water.

Miranda, 37, whose parents migrated to the United States from Puerto Rico, said the song was inspired by his own desperate attempts to contact family members after Hurricane Maria, and his frustrations about the pace of aid reaching the island.

“I thought I could work all 78 towns in Puerto Rico into the lyrics of this song and if we did our job right, these towns will never be forgotten again,” the musician told Billboard.

The success of the Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton” has made Miranda one of America’s most influential Latin celebrities.

He made headlines last week for saying on Twitter that U.S. President Donald Trump was “going straight to hell” for criticizing Puerto Ricans for not doing enough to help themselves.

Miranda on Friday said he had no regrets about his comments.

“I’ve never seen the president of the United States attack the victims of a natural disaster,” he told “CBS This Morning” in an interview. “That has no precedent for me and so those words coming out of me also have no precedent.”

“Almost Like Praying” will benefit the Hispanic Federation’s UNIDOS Disaster Relief Fund for Puerto Rico.

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Women in Tech Talk Change in Orlando

In Orlando, Florida, where tourists come for the palm trees, shopping and theme parks, 18,000 women converged recently on the city’s giant convention center to talk about technology.

Amid technical sessions on artificial intelligence and augmented reality, the main theme of the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest gathering of women in technology worldwide, was simple: How to make the tech industry more welcoming to women.

 

With women making up nearly 23 percent of the U.S. tech industry’s workforce, women should be playing a bigger role than they currently do in the industry, said Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“It’s time the world recognizes that the next Bill Gates may not look anything like the last one and that not every great idea comes wrapped in a hoodie,” said Melinda Gates, who worked at Microsoft earlier in her career.

This isn’t your typical technology conference.

 

First, its namesake “Grace Hopper” was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and a groundbreaking computer programmer.

 

The conference also provided childcare and all-gender bathrooms. At some of the career booths, women were offered lip balm embossed with a corporate name. At one booth, they were invited to vamp it up, while promoting a new cloud computing service.

Chinyere Nwabugwu, a machine learning researcher at IBM Research in San Jose, California, said what she liked most was hearing about what successful women have done to get ahead.

“I’m just encouraged to work hard in my field, to be known for something, to put in my best, to be a good role model to others, mentor other people coming after me,” Nwabugwu said.

Town hall conference

Voice of America held a town hall at the conference where female leaders in technology talked about the progress that has been made and how far it has yet to go. There are concrete steps companies can take that will bring more women into the industry, the speakers said.

One simple thing companies can do is publicly announce job openings, rather than fill jobs from managers’ personal connections, said Danielle Brown, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Google.

Paula Tolliver, chief information officer at Intel, recently left one male-dominated industry — she was an executive at Dow Chemical — for the tech industry. But she said she was drawn by tech’s promise.

 

“Being CIO of Intel, and being at the middle of the ecosystem of Silicon Valley and working across many industries, it’s exciting,” Tolliver said. “And I personally, want more women to be more representative of that.”

Deborah Berebichez, a data scientist and co-host of the Discovery Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science, said that she pursued science despite the lack of support from her parents.

 

Gatherings, such as the Grace Hopper Celebration, are solving two important problems in the tech industry, Berebichez said: How to interest more women in tech and how to help women already in tech to advance their careers.

Gender diversity issues

Both issues came to the forefront in August after a memo written by a male engineer at Google questioned the need for gender diversity programs in the industry.

In a 10-page internal memo that was leaked on social media, James Damore suggested fewer women are employed in the technology field because women “prefer jobs in social and artistic areas” due to “biological causes.”

Brown, who joined Google two weeks prior to the notorious memo, said that it upset both men and women at the company and didn’t reflect Google’s values. Damore was fired.

Berebichez’s message to women?  

 

“You’re the only one that can make your future,” Berebichez said. “Nobody else will do it for you so seek mentors, do whatever you have to do, study like crazy, be very entrepreneurial and craft your path, because you will be the only one that gets the fruits of your own labor.”

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‘Blade Runner’ Update Evokes Colder, Isolated World

In 1982, iconic filmmaker Ridley Scott imagined the dystopian world of 2019 as overcrowded, cynical, polluted and inhabited not only by humans but also by their genetically engineered look-alikes — a disposable workforce, called replicants.

Almost at the doorstep of 2019, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve creates Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to the original. As the lines between humanity and artificial intelligence are blurred, once again, both films probe the nature of life and its moral implications.

In the new film, 30 years have passed since replicant revolts were quelled by humans, and bioengineers redesigned replicants to obey them unconditionally. However, life overturns human designs and replicants are again surprising their creators. Lieutenant Joshi of the Los Angeles Police sends Blade Runner “K” to deal with the problem.

Joshi, played by Robin Wright, will do anything to keep order because without it, she tells K, there will be chaos. “The world is built on a wall that separates kind. Tell either side there is no wall, you got a war,” she says in a key moment.

Today’s realities

Joshi’s words resonate with today’s political realities, where walls and fences built across the planet aim to restrict the flow of humanity, to divide the “privileged” from the “undesired.”

“It really is a story trying to seek your identity in this near future world. What does it mean to be human anymore, and try and maintain love and connection as we know it today?” said Wright.

Ryan Gosling interprets Blade Runner K, a police officer and a replicant himself, programmed to exterminate his own kind. But along the way, he comes face to face with his own humanity.

“When you meet the character,” Gosling said, “he is sort of at odds with his station in life and he’s looking for some kind of connection, love and happiness in amongst this sort of nightmare that they are all living.”

K, an introvert, lives with Joi, played by Ana de Armas, a beautiful, loving companion but a digital application. Their intangible relationship highlights the isolation and artificiality around them.

The dystopian world is ruled by a genius villain, bioengineer-tycoon Niander Wallace, played by Jared Leto, and his obedient synthetics.

Harrison Ford reprises his original Blade Runner character, Officer Rick Deckard, to team up with K on his mission.

Challenges advance

“The original film proposed a future in which humanity had reached a point where cities were overpopulated, there was a lot of suffering, a challenge between classes, and this story continues on most of those themes in an interesting way,” Ford said.

“The challenges with the environment have progressed where there are life-and-death issues, and science has loosened its moral constraints and is willing to develop a biological creature identical to a human being,” he said. “But because they are owned, because they are manufactured, they are denied the potentials of human beings.”

Screenwriters Hampton Fancher and Michael Green created a streamlined story that does not match the original’s inception. But it is the visual storytelling by director Villeneuve, the cinematography by Roger Deakins and the music by Hans Zimmer that add texture to the story. Blade Runner 2049 is ruled by visual precision, unnerving music and muted colors that evoke loneliness.

Villeneuve’s precise and orderly future is more impressionistic than Scott’s chaotic and more linear story. It is anchored in the original but finds its own vision reflecting our social and political anxieties, 30 years later.

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Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Oct. 7

We’re cranking up the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending Oct. 7, 2017.

Three consecutive weeks, three consecutive Hot Shot Debuts in the Top Five – that’s incredible, and it’s not even our biggest story!

Number 5: Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber “Despacito”

Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber retreat a slot to fifth place with their former 16-week champ “Despacito.”

On Oct. 2, Luis took off from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on a mission to help those in his Puerto Rican homeland affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Also on board were fellow Puerto Rican stars Chayanne, Nicky Jam and Ricky Martin. Luis’ “Despacito” partner Daddy Yankee is already on the island, working with the food bank Feeding America.

Number 4: Logic Featuring Alessia Cara & Khalid “1-800-273-8255”

Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid also lose a slot, in fourth place with “1-800-273-8255.” 

On Sept. 29, Logic appeared to suffer an onstage breakdown in Pennsylvania. He walked off midway through his show, but later finished the set, telling the crowd he was battling exhaustion. Posting later on Twitter, the 27-year-old rapper said he needed to seek a better work-life balance.

Number 3: Taylor Swift “Look What You Made Me Do”

It’s a down week for Taylor Swift, who loses her Hot 100 crown in third place with “Look What You Made Me Do.” Taylor is one of many celebrities reacting to the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Taylor sent bouquets of flowers to a Los Angeles police station after the shooting. One of its off-duty police officers was injured during the shooting, which has claimed 59 lives.

Number 2: Post Malone Featuring 21 Savage “Rockstar”

The past three weeks have seen three straight Hot Shot Debuts in the Top Five. Post Malone and 21 Savage get lucky this week, as “Rockstar” opens in second place.

This is Post’s third and highest-ranking countdown single — and it’s currently number one in Australia. Growing up in Texas, the rapper — real name Austin Richard Post — says his parents turned him on to all kinds of music. He says he wants to break boundaries with his songs, incorporating sounds from all different genres.

Number 1: Cardi B “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”

Congratulations to Cardi B, reaching the Hot 100 summit with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves).” Cardi is the first solo female rapper to top the Hot 100 since 1998, when Lauryn Hill did it with “Doo Wop (That Thing).”

This thing is over for now, but we’ll be back next week with a brand new lineup.

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Taco Bell Designer, Former President McKay Dies at 86

Robert L. McKay, who designed the first Taco Bell restaurant and with founder Glenn Bell turned it from a quirky food stand into a fast-food empire, has died. He was 86.

His son, Rob McKay, said McKay died last week of cancer.

Bell opened his first Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962, selling hard-shell tacos and other Mexican-inspired fast food.

McKay was an architect and designed the Spanish-style arched and tiled building that became the chain’s signature look.

McKay eventually became president of Taco Bell, which had 900 restaurants when it was sold to PepsiCo in 1978.

He went on to finance other businesses that invested in technology, consumer products, real estate and banking.

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Trump Administration Rolls Back Obamacare Birth Control Mandate

The Trump administration says it will broaden the scope of an opt-out provision in the Affordable Health Care Act, allowing nonprofits and publicly traded companies to stop offering birth control coverage in the insurance they provide their employees.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the new set of rules Friday, effective immediately, that expands the privilege previously given to privately-owned companies that say they have religious objections to birth control.

The rules published Friday in the Federal Register, the government’s public archive of official documents, broaden the range of employers allowed to opt out of birth control insurance coverage if they have a “sincerely held religious or moral objection” to the practice. That rule will force women who work for those companies to pay for contraceptive pills and devices themselves.

Health and Human Services officials have told reporters they expect the companies taking advantage of the new rules will be few — perhaps only about 200 companies that have filed suit in objection to Obamacare’s birth control coverage requirement.

“This provides an exemption and it’s a limited one,” said Roger Severino, director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights. “We should have space for organizations to live out their religious identity and not face discrimination.”

Health care providers and activists who oppose the new rules, however, say they could provide opportunities for many employers to end the coverage just to save money.

Haywood Brown, president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told National Public Radio that “reducing access to contraceptive coverage threatens to reverse the tremendous progress our nation has made in recent years in lowering the unintended pregnancy rate.”

Brown added that the change also could affect the maternal mortality, community health, and economic stability of women and families.

Dania Palanker, professor at Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reform, told NPR that “it is a huge loophole for any employer that does not want to provide birth control coverage to their employees.”

Move follows Trump executive order

Friday’s announcement follows an executive order in May vowing to “protect and vigorously promote religious liberty.” President Trump made the order in response to a lawsuit by the religious order The Little Sisters of the Poor, who filed their suit during the Obama administration, when the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, went into effect.

The Act required employer-provided health insurance policies to include coverage for preventative care, including birth control using all contraceptive methods approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The act included a loophole for churches and other religious employers to opt out of that requirement, in which case the government arranged the coverage directly with the employer’s insurance company without employer involvement.

A challenge to that requirement led to the famous Hobby Lobby ruling of 2014, which allowed privately held companies to object to the coverage on religious grounds and deny the Obamacare workaround to their employees.

Reports say HHS is expected to tighten restrictions further in the coming months by cracking down on enforcement of a requirement that federal subsidies not be used for insurance policies that cover abortions. The agency is issuing guidelines for insurers that specify they have to charge women who want abortion coverage at least $12 a year for that coverage.

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Women in Tech Talk Change at Orlando Gathering

In Orlando, Florida this past week, 18,000 women from around the world gathered to talk about technology and how women can play a bigger role in shaping the industry’s future. VOA’s Michelle Quinn went to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the largest meeting of women in technology worldwide, to find out what women in tech want to change.

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Agencies Move to Stop Spread of Plague in Madagascar

As an outbreak of pneumonic plague worsens in Madagascar, the World Health Organization and other international agencies are working with the Ministry of Health to stop the spread of the deadly disease.  The latest official figures put the number of cases at 231, including 33 deaths.

Pneumonic plague is a lung infection, transmitted through flea bites or from person to person through droplets in the air when someone coughs or sneezes. A person can die within 48 hours of the disease’s onset if not treated with antibiotics. 

In response to the crisis, the World Health Organization sent 1.2 million doses of antibiotics to Madagascar this week.

“These antibiotics are being given to health facilities and they are enough to treat 5,000 patients and protect up to 100,000 people who may have been exposed to disease,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the WHO. “We are also filling critical shortages in disinfection materials and personal protective equipment for health professionals and safe burials.” 

While plague is a recurring problem in Madagascar, this particular outbreak has triggered a nationwide panic because it has moved from remote rural areas into the cities, including the capital, Antananarivo.

To contain the spread, the International Red Cross Federation is releasing emergency funds to support the Malagasy Red Cross, which is mobilizing more than 700 community volunteers in response to the outbreak. 

The volunteers will scale up community surveillance and contact tracing, and tell their communities about steps they must take to protect themselves. 

“Getting the messages out into the community that treatment is available, that treatment is possible, but you need to receive the antibiotics as quickly as possible after developing symptoms is vital,” said Julie Hall, the Red Cross director of health care. “In addition to that, if someone has had contact, close contact with someone with the symptoms, it is vital that they get the antibiotics as quickly as possible because that can stop them developing any symptoms.”

Symptoms of pneumonic plague include coughing, fever, chest pain and difficulty breathing.

Despite the gravity of the outbreak, the World Health Organization does not advise any travel or trade restrictions on Madagascar. However, travelers are encouraged to educate themselves about the disease and, if they have any symptoms, go immediately to the nearest health facility.

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Blade Runner Update Evokes Colder, Isolated World

In 1982’s iconic Blade Runner, filmmaker Ridley Scott imagined the dystopian world of 2019 as overcrowded, polluted and inhabited not only by humans but by their genetically engineered lookalikes – a disposable workforce called replicants. Almost at the doorstep of 2019, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve creates Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to the original. VOA’s Penelope Poulou looks at Villeneuve’s ambitious sci fi sequel.

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Ocean Conference Raises Over $7 Billion for Marine Protection

A global conference organized by the European Union aimed at better protecting marine life has raised more than $7 billion.

During the Our Ocean conference that concluded Friday in the Maltese capital of Valletta, the EU committed $645 million to improve marine governance. Representatives from businesses, 112 countries and others pushed the total up to the unprecedented level.

The Our Ocean conference has accumulated some 8.7 billion euros ($10.2 billion) since it started in 2014, but the 2017 commitments exceeded expectations.

The conference focuses on funding and leading projects as varied at combating plastics pollution to countering illegal fishing and looking at the effects of climate change.

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Renault Wants Half Its Cars to Be Electric or Hybrid in 2022

French carmaker Renault said Friday that half of its models will be electric or hybrid by 2022 and it’s investing heavily in “robo-vehicles” with increasing degrees of autonomy.

A strategic plan released Friday aims to boost Renault annual revenues to 70 billion euros ($82.2 billion) by 2022 from 51 billion euros last year, in part through an effort to double sales outside its traditional markets in Europe — especially Russia and China.

The plans reflect the vision laid out last month by the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance, the world’s No. 1 carmaker by sales. Many of Renault’s new aims depend on saving money through sharing platforms and development with Nissan and Mitsubishi.

CEO Carlos Ghosn said Renault is aiming to sell more than 5 million vehicles annually by 2022 from 3.2 million last year. The plan relies in part on boosting low-cost car production in emerging markets, notably with the Dacia Logan and Kwid mini-SUV.

As regulators crack down on emissions from combustion engines and as drivers seek cars that can do more by themselves, Ghosn wants to position Renault as a major player in mass-market electric and driverless cars.

“We are confident we can turn upcoming … challenges into significant business opportunities for Renault,” he said.

The company pledged to offer eight purely electric vehicle models and 12 hybrid models by 2022, compared with its 19 diesel or gasoline models sold worldwide, Ghosn said.

The world’s major carmakers are rethinking their strategies to profit from pivotal changes in the industry: autonomous cars, connected cars that share data, car-sharing where you don’t own a vehicle but order one by app, and low-emissions vehicles demanded by the European Union to fight climate change and by China, where many cities are fighting rampant pollution.

Investing in electric vehicles has hurt profitability in the past, but Ghosn says that should change as they grow in scale. He said electric cars “are turning into a significant contributor to our performance while other automakers are just starting the journey.”

Ghosn said Renault would retrain 13,000 people over the next five years to adapt to changing markets.

Renault is aiming to produce 2 million cars per year outside Europe compared with 750,000 cars in 2016, with a heavy push in Russia as its economy picks up.

Asked about challenges to Renault’s activity in Iran amid the possibility that the U.S. could reintroduce sanctions, Ghosn said: “Obviously if it becomes impossible to deal with Iran we will put a plan together for the suspension of our business there, but that’s not at all to say that we will leave Iran.”

Renault was active in Iran before the West imposed sanctions over its nuclear program and was among the first major companies to relaunch its Iranian business when the sanctions were lifted after the 2015 accord to curb Iran’s nuclear activities.

Ghosn insisted that Iran’s market has major potential. “If we can’t work there immediately, then we will work there in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years because I don’t think that this is a situation that can last forever.”

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After Sexual Harassment Accusations Hollywood Asks: Is Harvey Weinstein Done?

Accepting the Golden Globe best actress award in 2012 for “The Iron Lady,” Meryl Streep took a moment to thank the almighty – “God, Harvey Weinstein.”

For decades, Weinstein has held a lofty position in Hollywood as one of the industry’s most powerful figures – an old-school, larger-than-life movie mogul who was never shy about throwing his weight around. “The Punisher. Old Testament, I guess,” Streep added that night to laughter and applause.

 

But Weinstein’s name – such a regular refrain on countless Oscar nights – on Thursday rang out in a different way. In a bombshell expose, The New York Times reported that Weinstein had reached at least eight legal settlements with women over alleged harassment. With allegations levied by actresses including Ashley Judd and former employees at both the Weinstein Co. and Weinstein’s former company, Miramax, the report detailed decades of abuse.

 

The 65-year-old Weinstein, in a lengthy written statement, said he would take a leave of absence from his company. But many in Hollywood are wondering if Weinstein’s leave might be permanent. Is this, like the accusations that felled Bill Cosby and Roger Ailes, the end for the sharp-elbowed independent film pioneer whose editing-room meddling earned him the nickname “Harvey Scissorhands” and whose unprecedented run of Oscar glory made him a Hollywood deity?

 

“Harvey Weinstein’s career in Hollywood is likely over,” declared industry trade Variety.

 

Others were less sure if this was indeed the downfall of Weinstein, who has weathered downturns and bankruptcy before. Weinstein was contrite in his statement, acknowledging “the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain.” He added: “I want a second chance in the community but I know I’ve got work to do to earn it.”

 

Representatives for The Weinstein Co. didn’t respond to questions about the mogul’s status on Thursday. The company’s Board of Directors was to meet to discuss Weinstein’s future. If Weinstein were to be ousted or step down, leadership could potentially be transferred to Weinstein’s brother Bob, who serves as co-chairman, and David Glasser, the president and chief operating officer.

 

“I don’t know if he’s done because Harvey is the kind of person who has the ability to rise again, which he has done so many times from a business perspective,” said Sharon Waxman, CEO and founder of trade website The Wrap, and author of “Rebels on the Backlot.”

 

“If he can make amends, if he can apologize then I think a lot of things are possible,” said Waxman. “Hollywood is not public office, you are not required to have a morality clause necessarily. It’s business. And ultimately he has to run his business which has also survived near death experiences many, many times, and has also been sold for $600 million. I would say it’s up to him as to whether he survives in Hollywood.”

 

Weinstein’s attorneys signaled a fight is still to come. Weinstein’s attorney Charles J. Harder, who recently waged a successful suit for Hulk Hogan against Gawker, said in a statement that the Times story is “saturated with false and defamatory statements about Harvey Weinstein.” In an interview with the New York Post, Weinstein alleged the Times has “a vendetta” against him, and said “the next time I see (New York Times Executive Editor) Dean Baquet it will be across a courtroom.”

 

A spokesperson for The New York Times responded: “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting.”

 

But while the misdeeds and manipulations of Hollywood producers have long been considered a constant of the movie business, the passionate reactions on Thursday suggested a dearth of forgiveness for Weinstein.

 

“Anyone who does business with (blank space) is complicit,” actress Rose McGowan tweeted. The New York Times reported that a settlement of $100,000 was paid to McGowan by Weinstein after an incident in 1997 when she was 23.

 

Ashley Judd recounted an incident from two decades ago in which she said she was asked to meet Weinstein in his hotel room. Weinstein greeted her wearing a bathrobe and asked her if he could give her a massage or if she would watch him shower, the paper reported. “Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it’s simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly,” Judd told the Times.

 

Richard Rushfield, founder and editor of industry newsletter The Ankler, sensed a shift in the response to the allegations against Weinstein.

 

“In the past, this many people in Hollywood would never have come forward against a big Hollywood Poobah like this,” said Rushfield. “If they had, the story would have gone nowhere. And if it had, the subject could have been changed, laughed off, done six months in a penalty box and come back.”

 

“The problem is there’s going to be a cost to association with him. Anybody who makes a movie with him now is going to be subjected to questions about it,” said Rushfield. He added: “He’s going to be untouchable and I don’t think in the internet age that goes away. Those stories are there.”

 

Weinstein’s stature was also already diminished. He has had a powerful perch in Hollywood for three decades, producing films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” for which he won an Oscar. He masterminded extremely successful Oscar campaigns with his company Miramax, which he ran with his brother. The brothers sold Miramax to Walt Disney Co. in 1993. Twelve years later, they left Miramax to found their namesake company. More Oscar wins followed, including back-to-back best-picture winners in 2011 and 2012 with “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist.”

 

But in recent years, The Weinstein Company has suffered from a string of executive exits, mounting lawsuits and increasingly hectic distribution decisions. In 2016, the company didn’t receive a best-picture nomination for the first time since 2008. Weinstein returned to the category with “Lion” at this year’s Oscars, but his pre-eminence as an Academy Awards heavyweight has waned.

 

Money problems have plagued the company intermittently since 2009, when it entered bankruptcy. Last year, The Weinstein Co. continually shuffled release dates and delayed films amid reports that it was too cash-strapped to put a full slate of films into theaters. Some 50 staffers were let go.

 

Movies like “The Founder” and “Tulip Fever” were juggled over numerous release date shifts. After “The Founder,” with Michael Keaton, was released in January along with the Matthew McConaughey-led “Gold,” the co-financier of “The Founder,” FilmNation, sued The Weinstein Company for $15 million, alleging Weinstein violated the non-compete clause of their agreement.

 

The Weinstein Co. had a modest hit this summer with the acclaimed thriller “Wind River.” The $11 million film has made $33 million. But the company’s fall season awards hopeful “The Current War,” with Benedict Cumberbatch, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to withering reviews.

 

Instead, other leaders in independent film have stepped forward, including “Moonlight” distributor A24 and Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures.

 

“Women face serious repercussions for sharing their experiences and deserve our full support,” Ellison said on Twitter. “I admire the courage of these women.”

 

 

 

 

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US Unemployment Drops Slightly, but Economy Sheds Some Jobs

The U.S. economy lost 33,000 jobs in September, reflecting the impact of hurricanes hitting the states of Florida and Texas, as well as other areas.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department also said the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.2 percent, the lowest jobless figure since 2001.

Economists said many of those lost jobs were in Florida’s restaurants and bars, where storm damage, blackouts and closed airports hurt business. It is the first time in seven years the U.S. economy has had a net loss of jobs. Until September, the economy had been adding an average of more than 170,000 jobs each month this year.

The head of Randstad Sourceright, a firm that tracks global workforce trends, says the need to rebuild parts of Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico already is creating jobs in construction and other trades. Rebecca Henderson says she expects to see demand for more temporary jobs in the coming months.

While there was a net loss of jobs in the overall economy, the construction industry added 8,000 jobs in September, according to the Associated General Contractors. Construction firms continued to complain about a tight labor market and shortage of workers with key skills.  

American Enterprise Institute scholar Aparna Mathur says the impact of the hurricanes will probably pass in a few months, and notes improvements in the jobless rate, number of involuntary part-time employees, wages and other areas. IHS Markit economist Ben Herzon says the U.S. economy was benefiting from “solid momentum” before the hurricanes. 

At the same time, government data show 6.8 million Americans are out of work, which is a decline of more than 300,000 people over the past year. Another 5.1 million want full-time work, but can find only part-time employment.

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WHO, Others Pledge to End Cholera

The World Health Organization is sending 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine to Bangladesh to help prevent a major outbreak of cholera in the crowded Rohingya refugee camp that sits on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

At least a half-million Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar, have crossed the border to escape a military crackdown in their villages.

In Yemen, a massive and deadly cholera epidemic has affected almost 800,000 people, and the World Health Organization expects that number to climb to 1 million by year’s end. Worldwide, about 100,000 people die from cholera each year.

WATCH: WHO, Others Pledge to End Cholera

End cholera by 2030

On Tuesday, the WHO, along with governments, aid agencies and donors announced a roadmap to end cholera by 2030. It’s the first global pledge to end this disease.

Dr. Amesh Adalja said it’s not possible to eliminate cholera because cholera is a bacteria that exists naturally. Adalja is an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. He is also a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Adalja told VOA it is possible to make cholera as rare in Bangladesh and in Yemen as it is in the United States and the rest of North America. He said sanitation is the key to eliminating cholera.

The disease is “not something that should happen in 2017,” Adalja said. “This is something that can be fixed by development and the civilizing effect of sanitation.”

Cholera is a diarrheal disease. The bacteria that causes cholera lives in coastal waters and in brackish rivers. It thrives where there is poor water treatment, poor toilet sanitation and poor hygiene. It’s caused by eating or drinking contaminated food and water.

Malnutrition plays a role

Malnutrition is also a factor. Jesse Hartness is the senior director of emergency health and nutrition at Save the Children, an agency that has been working to control the cholera outbreak in Yemen.

“There’s a cycle of illness and malnutrition where you have a child who is sick, and they lose their appetite,” Hartness said. “They are dehydrated from having diarrhea, they lose weight, and, once they are malnourished, that also drives their vulnerability to additional illness.”

Anyone can get cholera, but children, pregnant women and the elderly are most at risk.

Yet, cholera is not difficult or expensive to treat. Hartness said it is simple if the disease is caught early and if you can provide hydration to the less severe patients so they don’t become severe patients who require more intensive treatment.

But in places ravaged by flooding and other natural disasters, or by manmade disasters like war, or in crowded refugee camps, sanitation is hard to maintain. Water can’t be treated properly. Human waste can’t easily be disposed of hygienically, so in addition to providing aid, organizations like Save the Children find themselves trying to rebuild sanitation systems.

The WHO says about 2 billion people globally lack access to clean water.

Vaccine available

Vaccines can help. Adalja said the oral vaccines the WHO uses to manage cholera outbreaks have about a 65 percent effectiveness rate over five years. He adds that “65 percent isn’t 100 percent, but it is very good.”

Hartness said in order to end cholera in Yemen, the war that Yemen has been mired in for three years has to end.

“In order to really look at ending this outbreak, we have to look at ending the war,” he said. “And if that can’t happen immediately, we have to look at negotiating access to these communities … that are the hardest to reach.”

Adalja added, “It’s basically a poverty trap for some of those countries which they can never get out of. … This is something that can be fixed by development and the civilizing effect of sanitation.”

Forty-seven countries are affected by cholera, and the WHO expects the global cholera situation to get worse, which is behind its urgency to end the disease.

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