11/03/2017 | UPONSOFT

Nigeria Militants End Oil Hub Cease-fire

By Uponbiz | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Business

A Nigerian militant group whose attacks on energy facilities in the Niger Delta last year helped push Africa’s biggest economy into recession said Friday that it had ended its cease-fire.

The Niger Delta Avengers announced a halt to hostilities in August 2016, although they carried out attacks in October and November last year.

“Niger Delta Avenger’s cease-fire on Operation Red Economy is officially over,” the group said on its website.

“Our next line of operation will not be like the 2016 campaign, which we operated successfully without any casualties; this outing will be brutish, brutal and bloody,” it said in a section of its statement addressed to oil companies.

The move threatens Nigeria’s fragile economic growth and poses a further security challenge for President Muhammadu Buhari, in addition to the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast and rising secessionist sentiments in the southeast.

The government has been in talks for more than a year to address grievances over poverty and oil pollution, but local groups have complained that no progress has been made, despite Buhari’s receiving a list of demands at a meeting last November.

Buhari’s office did not immediately comment.

The 2016 attacks cut oil production from a peak of 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to near 1 mbpd, the lowest level in Africa’s top oil producer for at least 30 years.

Result was recession

The attacks, combined with low oil prices, caused the OPEC member’s first recession in 25 years. Crude sales make up two-thirds of government revenue and most of its foreign exchange. Nigeria came out of recession in the second quarter of this year, mostly because of the rise in oil production after attacks stopped and as prices strengthened.

The Niger Delta Avengers, who say they want a greater share of Nigeria’s energy wealth to go to the impoverished swampland region, said they decided to end the cease-fire because they had “lost faith” in local leaders.

“We can assure you that every oil installation in our region will feel the warmth of the wrath of the Niger Delta Avengers,” it said.

There have been no substantial attacks in the region since January.

Eric Omare, president of the Ijaw Youth Council, which represents the largest ethnic group in the Niger Delta, said the government had paid only “lip service” to communities’ concerns.

“The truth is that the federal government has not demonstrated any seriousness towards addressing the issues that led to the Niger Delta agitation,” Omare said, while adding that his group sought a “peaceful dialogue.”

Nigeria’s economy grew 0.55 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, largely on higher oil receipts.

The World Bank cut its 2017 growth forecast in October to 1 percent from 1.2 percent, as the oil production increase was lower than expected and non-oil sector growth was subdued.
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New US Report on Climate Change Offers Dire Warnings

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

The U.S. government on Friday released a report on climate change that said there was “no convincing alternative explanation” for global warming besides human causes.

The National Climate Assessment, which the government is mandated by law to publish every four years, said Friday that climate change is almost entirely driven by human action. It warns that sea levels could rise by nearly 2.5 meters by the year 2100. It lists a number of incidents of damage across the United States that it attributes to the rise of global temperature by 1 degree Celsius since 1900.

It said the U.S. was already experiencing increasing temperatures, precipitation levels and numbers of wildfires; that more than 25 U.S. coastal cities were already experiencing flooding; and that there was no precedent in history with which these meteorological changes could be compared.

But, it said, there is “very high confidence” that the rate of climate change will depend on the amount of greenhouse gases released globally over the next few decades.

The report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, an interagency unit that coordinates and integrates research on environmental changes, runs counter to the position on climate change taken by the current U.S administration, including that of the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Trump, Perry, Pruitt have doubts

President Donald Trump, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and EPA head Scott Pruitt have all questioned how much human activity has contributed to climate change. The president has announced the United States will leave the Paris climate agreement that would obligate the U.S. to cut its overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025, compared with 2005 levels.

One of the study authors, climate scientist Robert Kopp of Rutgers University, told The Washington Post he thought the report was “basically the most comprehensive climate science report in the world right now.”

In response to Friday’s release, White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah noted a line in the report that said there was “uncertainty in the sensitivity of Earth’s climate to emissions. The climate has changed and is always changing.”
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Ohio Waitress Says Model Chrissy Teigen Left $1,000 Tip

By Uponent | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Entertainment

An Ohio waitress says model Chrissy Teigen left her the largest tip of her life.

Mikayla Scott says she was working at a Centerville Outback Steakhouse on Oct. 27 when Teigen, her daughter and several others came in.

The 21-year-old says she was nervous serving the model, but at the end she found Teigen left a $1,000 tip. Scott says, “I was like, ‘Oh my god, praise the Lord.”

Teigen’s husband, singer John Legend, is from Springfield. He had returned to his hometown that night to see the football game between local high schools Kettering Fairmont and Springfield.

Scott says she used the extra money to fix her family’s car, and she shared some of it with her co-workers.
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UNICEF: Malnutrition Rates Soar Among Rohingya Refugee Children

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

Life-threatening malnutrition rates are soaring among the children of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who fled Myanmar to escape violence, according to a nutritional assessment by the U.N. children’s fund.

The recently conducted survey in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar shows 7.5 percent of Rohingya refugee children suffer from severe acute malnutrition. UNICEF says this is at least two times higher than what was seen among the children in May — about four months before the mass exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state began.

UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac says children with severe malnutrition risk dying from the preventable, treatable condition.

“Malnutrition rates among children in northern Rakhine were already above emergency thresholds,” Boulierac said. “The condition of these children has further deteriorated due to the long journey across the border and the conditions in the camps.”

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled violence and persecution in Myanmar since August 25. Approximately 25,000 live in the Kutupalong camp, where the nutritional assessment was carried out. UNICEF says the refugees face an acute shortage of food and water. That problem, coupled with the unsanitary conditions, is giving rise to high rates of diarrhea, respiratory infections and other ailments.

Boulierac says more than 2,000 acutely malnourished children are being treated by UNICEF and partners at 15 centers. He tells VOA more treatment centers are being set up, but not fast enough to help some 17,000 other youngsters in need of specialized nutritional feeding.
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Afghanistan Blocks Social Media Services

By Uponsil | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Authorities in Afghanistan are temporarily blocking WhatsApp and Telegram social media services in the country, citing security concerns, officials confirmed Friday.

An official at the Afghan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, ATRA, told VOA the social media tools will be suspended for 20 days. The decision follows a request from state security institutions.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a formal announcement is expected Saturday.

ATRA has ordered telecom companies to shut down the services November 1, according to a copy of official instructions appearing in Afghan media.

Social media users have complained of technical problems while using the two services in recent days.

The controversial move has sparked criticism of the Afghan government, and it is being slammed as an illegal act and an attack on freedom of expression.

The outage prompted the telecom regulator to issue a statement Friday, saying the ban is meant to test “a new kind of technology” in the wake of users’ complaints.

It went on to defend the restriction, saying WhatsApp and Telegram are merely voice and messaging services and their temporary suspension does not violate the civil rights of Afghans. The government is committed to freedom of expression, the ministry added.

Afghan journalists and activists on Twitter dismissed the statement.

“This seems to be the beginning of government censorship. If it’s not resisted soon the gov’t will block FB & twitter,” wrote Habib Khan Totakhil on Twitter.

“Gov’t fails to deliver security, now it seeks to hide its incompetence by imposing ban on messaging platforms. Totalitarianism?,” said the Afghan journalist.

“#Censorship is against what freedom we stood for in #Afghanistan post 2001. Gains shouldn’t go to waste,” tweeted activist Nasrat Khalid.

An estimated 6 million people in war-torn Afghanistan can access internet-based services. The growth of media and social media activism have been among the few success stories Afghanistan has seen in the post-Taliban era.

Classifying numbers

The restrictions on social media come as the Taliban intensifies attacks on Afghan security forces, inflicting heavy casualties.

The insurgent group also relies heavily on WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter and Facebook to publicize its battlefield gains.

The Afghan government has lately barred the United States military from releasing casualty numbers, force strength, operation readiness, attrition figures and performance assessments of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko, while briefing members of Congress on Wednesday, severely criticized the classification move. He maintained American taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent.

“The Taliban know this [Afghan casualties], they know who was killed. They know all about that. The Afghans know about it, the U.S. military knows about it. The only people who wouldn’t know are the [American] people who are paying for it,” Sopko noted.

The United States has spent nearly $120 billion on reconstruction programs in Afghanistan since 2002. More than 60 percent of the money has been used to build Afghan security forces.
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Philadelphia’s Iconic ‘LOVE’ Sculpture to Return in 2018

By Uponent | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Entertainment

City officials say the return of Philadelphia’s iconic “LOVE” statue will take a few more months.

The city Parks & Recreation department announced Thursday the Robert Indiana sculpture is still being restored. The sculpture was on display at a plaza next to City Hall while its permanent home, Love Park, has been going through a multimillion-dollar renovation.

The sculpture will look different upon its return. City officials say workers are repainting it to the original colors of red, green and purple that the artist used instead of red, green and blue.

Officials say the sculpture will be displayed next year upon completion of Love Park.
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IMF Forecasts Modest Pick-up in African Economic Growth; Critics Say Figures Are Pessimistic

By Uponbiz | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Business

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to rebound this year from 20-year lows in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund’s biannual report. The Washington-based organization warns that, despite the modest recovery, public debt is continuing to rise and could soon become unsustainable in some African countries. Henry Ridgwell has more.
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Researchers Working for the End of the Internal Combustion Automobile

By Uponsil | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Hybrid cars are slowly working their way into car markets, and there are waiting lists for Elon Musk’s new all-electric Tesla Model 3. But as popular as these cars are, they have the natural limitations of their batteries. But an answer may be in sight. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Bangladesh Expands Family Planning in Rohingya Camps

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

With ever-dwindling space and resources available in overburdened Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, the government in Dhaka is boosting family planning measures and considering a voluntary sterilization plan.

The efforts include hiring more staff, distributing birth control pills and handing out condoms, a senior official told VOA.

“We have reorganized our operations in our seven camps meant for Rohingya. [Before] we had only 40 staff and now we have hired 160 others from different places to speed up our activities,” said Pintu Kanti Bhattacharjee, the head of the family planning department in Cox’s Bazar district, where the camps are located just across the border from Myanmar.

“We have distributed 3,000 strips of oral pills and 3,900 women have been given birth control injections in September and October. Only 1,000 condoms have been distributed at the same time. We are providing free of cost. At the same time, our staff is continuing family planning related counseling,” Pintu said.

Hundreds of thousands

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in August prompted a brutal crackdown that has revived discussions of targeted U.S. sanctions less than two years into the civilian administration of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Many arrive in camps that have existed for more than two decades, and the surge has put pressure on aid agencies to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis.

It has also strained resources within Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries on earth. Even though the country has welcomed refugees, it insists Myanmar take them back.

Voluntary sterilization

The growing concerns over the lack of resources have led to a proposal to introduce voluntary sterilization, which exists as an option for Bangladeshi nationals, into the camps.

The government is considering the idea, which would provide voluntary vasectomies for men and tubectomies for women, but it has not been approved yet.

It’s possible that the various family planning measures could conflict with more conservative cultural and religious beliefs among refugees. Islam does not explicitly forbid birth control but views in the camps are somewhat mixed on the idea.

Religious teacher Aminul Islam said there is nothing wrong with any method if it protects a woman’s health, but that permanent birth control procedures conflict with the faith.

But Hafez Abdul Wahab, 42, who came to Bangladesh 27 years ago and is a registered refugee in the Kutupalang camp, is not as certain.

He and his wife have 10 children and are expecting another. They are open to new options after the next birth.

“The birth control process is difficult so we prefer to go without it. But now I am thinking we will try any process after the last child is born,” he said.

Family planning sensitive topic

Family planning is also a sensitive subject for persecuted Rohingya communities. Buddhist nationalists within Myanmar advocated for a “Population Control” bill that many saw as aimed at the Muslim minority.

The bill, which was passed in 2015 but seems to have not been enforced, requires 36-month spacing between births.

The Rohingya crisis has impacted tens of thousands of children who have had to leave their homes, and some of them showed up in Bangladesh missing one or both parents.

UNICEF says there are 958 unaccompanied children in the camps, 1,968 unaccompanied minors, and 5,009 children who are separated from their parents.

Myanmar says it will take back refugees who fled to Bangladesh under a citizenship verification process, but the process has yet to resume in earnest.

De facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi made her first visit to the conflict-torn area of northern Rakhine State on Thursday in her capacity as the chairperson of the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine Committee, which was set up last month in response to the crisis.

The country has faced mounting criticism from the international community and the United States, where members of Congress have proposed a new round of sanctions, many of which were lifted after Myanmar’s peaceful 2015 election that brought Aung San Suu Kyi to power after decades of military rule.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to visit Myanmar on Nov. 15.
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China Disputes Trump’s ‘Flood’ of Fentanyl Claim

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

A Chinese official on Friday disputed President Donald Trump’s claim that the deadly opioid fentanyl flooding the U.S. is mostly produced in China.

China doesn’t deny that some fentanyl produced illicitly inside the country is contributing to the epidemic, Wei Xiaojun, deputy director-general of the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, said at a news conference.

However, according to the intelligence the two countries have exchanged, “the evidence isn’t sufficient to say that the majority of fentanyl or other new psychoactive substances come from China,” Wei said.

Trump, Xi to talk

Trump last month said the U.S. was stepping up measures to “hold back the flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl, a synthetic opioid manufactured in China and 50 times stronger than heroin.”

He said he would mention it to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week. “And he will do something about it,” Trump said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s representative in Beijing, Lance Ho, declined to comment on Wei’s assessment.

Wei also said the Justice Department’s public announcement last month of indictments against two Chinese men accused of making tons of fentanyl and other powerful narcotics sold in the U.S. could impede efforts to bring them to justice.

“I have to admit regret regarding the U.S. move to unilaterally use the method of calling a news conference to announce the matter of these two wanted individuals who’ve fled to China,” he said.

US, China cooperation

The release of information would “impact on the ongoing joint investigation into the case,” Wei said, adding that China noted the U.S. failure to mention their successful cooperation on this and other cases.

The Justice Department said Xiaobing Yan, 40, and Jian Zhang, 38, worked separately but similarly and controlled one of the most prolific international drug-trafficking organizations. The lack of an extradition treaty significantly reduces the chances they will be returned to the U.S. for trial.

The Trump administration’s anti-drug efforts suffered another recent setback when its nominee as drug czar withdrew from consideration following reports that he played a key role in weakening the federal government’s authority to stop companies from distributing opioids.

Trump last week declared opioid abuse a national public health emergency and announced new steps to combat the crisis.

Fentanyl can be lethal even in small amounts and is often laced with other dangerous drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the drug and its analogues killed more than 20,000 Americans last year, and the number is rising.

Friday’s rare news conference, held in the Ministry of Public Security’s tightly guarded compound near Tiananmen Square, appeared aimed at emphasizing China’s progress on cooperation with the U.S. on fighting opioids ahead of Trump’s visit.

China has noted Trump’s announcement of an opioid crisis and “China attaches great importance to this,” Wei said.
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More Children Surviving to Age 5

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

In the past 25 years, the world has made remarkable progress in saving the lives of young children, according to the latest report from the United Nations.

In 1990, 35,000 children died every day; last year, 15,000 children and babies died daily, the first time that annual child deaths have fallen below the 6 million mark. But most of these deaths could have been prevented, according to a U.N. interagency group that put together this year’s report on child mortality.

Dr. Flavia Bustreo of the World Health Organization acknowledged the effort it has taken to get to this point. But while the progress is good, it is not enough, she said.

“I need to stress these deaths can be prevented. With the scientific knowledge we have, with the interventions we have, with the resources that we have available, these deaths can be prevented,” said Bustreo, WHO assistant director-general for family, women’s and children’s health.

And that is the tragedy that coincides with this achievement. The report on child and infant mortality states that every year, millions of children younger than 5 die, mostly from malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea. The last two are related to unsanitary conditions.

Malnutrition plays a part

In almost half of these cases, malnutrition weakens the immune system, leaving the child unable to fight off the disease.

Bustreo said access to clean water and exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life can reduce an infant’s risk of infection.

Although more children are living to their fifth birthday, Bustreo says the U.N. report shows that 46 percent of child deaths occur shortly after birth. She said the babies who die in the first months of life are born prematurely.

“They (the deaths) are caused by low birth weight. They are caused significantly by sepsis, severe infection that is acquired during the delivery, and they are also caused by asphyxia,” Bustreo said.

While in the womb, the fetus floats in amniotic fluid. This fluid is in the fetus’ mouth, ears and nose. But after birth, if a baby cannot breathe and the birth attendant, if there is one, does not know how to clear the baby’s airways, the baby will suffocate.

The report shows the largest number of newborn deaths occurred in Southern Asia (39 percent), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (38 percent). Five countries accounted for half of all newborn deaths: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.

Children younger than 5 also are more likely to die from malaria than adults, which is one reason sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia have higher child mortality rates than other parts of the world.

Progress with vaccines

But there are bright spots in the report.

A vaccine for yellow fever spared children’s lives during an outbreak in Angola last year, and a new vaccine for malaria has proved effective for children. Tanzania has tackled air pollution, improved sanitation, and has worked to provide safe drinking water, which has also had a positive impact on child health there.

Bustreo said the concentration of child deaths are increasingly occurring in countries that are either in acute conflict or in a chronic state of strife, such as Somalia, which has the highest child death rate.

“That is important because it also links to not just the medical care, but also the social determinants of health, which, of course, include peace, stability and education, particularly girls’ education,” she said.

Bustreo explains that a girl who is educated can take better care of herself, “she does not become pregnant too early, because that is another important social phenomenon that we’re seeing that is early pregnancy associated with early and forced child marriage.”

Part of the solution lies in multisectorial planning, better training for midwives, training for nurses and vaccines.

Bustreo is dismayed that some parents in developed countries are refusing to get their children vaccinated against these diseases. Ongoing outbreaks of measles in Europe have claimed the lives of 35 children so far.

She said this trend needs to be tackled aggressively. Parents in low- and middle-income countries want to see their children immunized against measles and other disabling or life-threatening diseases.

Despite the overall gains in reducing child mortality, there’s a sense of urgency among health officials. The U.N report said if current trends continue, about 60 million children younger than 5 will die between now and 2030, and half of them will be newborns.
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More Children Survive to See Their Fifth Birthday

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

Over the past 25 years, the world has made remarkable progress in saving young children’s lives. For the first time ever, child deaths have fallen below the 6 million mark globally, but most of these deaths could be prevented according to the latest report from the U.N. VOA’s Carol Pearson has more.
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WHO Sends Experts to Prevent Spread of Plague Beyond Madagascar

By Uponsci | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Science

The World Health Organization says that since the beginning of August there have been about 1,800 cases of plague in Madagascar with 127 resulting in death. Bubonic plague is not uncommon in the island nation, but this year the population also has been hit by plague pneumonia, which is spreading fast through the densely populated areas. Health officials say the outbreak is unusually severe and there are five more months before the end of the plague season. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Trump Names Jerome Powell New Fed Chief

By Uponbiz | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Business

President Donald Trump is making his mark on the US Federal Reserve, naming former investment manager and central bank governor Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen, whose term expires in February. If confirmed by the Senate, the next chairman of the Federal Reserve will oversee U.S. monetary policy and maintain the stability of the world’s largest economy. Mil Arcega has more from the nation’s capital.
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Venezuela Looks to Restructure Debt, but Default Looms

By Uponbiz | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Business

Venezuela on Thursday announced plans to restructure its burgeoning foreign debt, a move that may lead to a default by the cash-strapped OPEC nation whose collapsing socialist economy has left its population struggling to find food and medicine.

President Nicolas Maduro vowed to make a $1.1 billion payment on a bond maturing Thursday, but also created a commission to study “restructuring of all future payments” in order to meet the needs of citizens.

Venezuela has few avenues to do that though because of sanctions by the United States that bar American banks from participating in or even negotiating such deals.

Thus, Maduro’s most readily available recourse to ease payments is unilaterally halting them.

“I am naming a special presidential commission led by Vice President Tareck El Aissami to begin refinancing and restructuring all of Venezuela’s external debt and (begin) the fight against the financial persecution of our country,” Maduro said in a televised speech.

Billions in bonds

Venezuela and state-owned companies have $49 billion in bonds governed by New York Law and promissory notes, according to New York-based Torino Capital.

The government and state oil company PDVSA owe about $1.6 billion in debt service and delayed interest payments by the end of the year, plus another $9 billion in bond servicing in 2018.

The next hard payment deadline for PDVSA is an $81 million bond payment that was due Oct 12 but on which the company delayed payment under a 30-day grace period. Failing to pay that on time would trigger a default, investors say.

That would likely make countries less willing to do business with Venezuela, aggravating shortages of food and medicine and creating further problems for its oil industry, which is hobbled by under-investment.

Wall Street for years pumped billions of dollars into Venezuela by way of bond purchases, passing off the revolutionary rhetoric of the ruling Socialist Party as bluster that belied an iron-clad willingness to pay its debts.

Maduro surprised many by maintaining debt service after the 2014 crash in oil prices, diverting hard currency away from imports of food and medicine toward Wall Street investors.

PDVSA carried out a debt renegotiation in 2016.

But that option was taken off the table after U.S. President Donald Trump levied sanctions blocking the purchase of new debt issued by Venezuela and government-owned entities.

Investors puzzled

Investors seemed puzzled by Maduro’s statements Thursday, which neither clearly declared default nor laid out a path to easing payment burden.

“At no moment did he say they wouldn’t pay, so it’s not a default,” said Alejandro Grisanti of Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalitica. “But in this environment, Maduro has no way to restructure or refinance as he said today.”

And the mere presence of El Aissami on the new debt commission makes it a non-starter for U.S. financial institution. He was blacklisted this year by U.S. Treasury Department on accusations he is involved in drug trafficking.

The increased pressure of the sanctions has made banks more nervous about working with PDVSA, according to financial industry sources, leading to delays in simple operations.

PDVSA struggled for days to deliver funds for a bond payment due last week amid confusion over which banks were charged with transferring the money.

Toll on Venezuelans

Critics say Maduro’s decision to put debt above imports has taken a huge toll on the population.

Child malnutrition has reached the scale of a humanitarian crisis in four Venezuelan states, according to a May 2017 report by Caritas Internationalis, a Rome-based nongovernmental organization with links to the Catholic Church. Medicine shortages have also left children dying of preventable diseases.

Officials say ideological adversaries are exaggerating problems for political effect.

But the situation is a stark contrast to the oil boom years of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who spent generously on social welfare programs while borrowing profusely to keep spending at full tilt.

Venezuela’s debt is the highest yielding of emerging market bonds measured by JPMorgan’s EMBI Global Diversified Index , paying investors an average of 31 percentage points more than comparable U.S. Treasury notes.

That is nearly double the spread on bonds issued by Mozambique, which is already in default, and more than six times the spread on bonds from war-torn Ukraine.
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Officials Disagree on Puerto Rico Power Restoration Timeline

By Uponbiz | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Business

Officials in the U.S. and Puerto Rico gave differing views Thursday on when power will be fully restored to the U.S. territory after Hurricane Maria hit as a Category 4 storm more than a month ago.

Ricardo Ramos, director of the state-owned power company, said the utility has restored 35 percent of the electrical system’s regular output and expects to reach 50 percent by mid-November and 95 percent by mid-December. But Ray Alexander, director of contingency operations at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the corps’ goal is to have 50 percent restored by the end of November and 75 percent by the end of January.

“We are focused on executing the mission we’ve been assigned,” Alexander said at a hearing in Washington, adding that the agency has been working with the U.S. Department of Energy to help develop a more resilient electrical grid for Puerto Rico.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello criticized the Army Corps of Engineers earlier this week for what he said was a lack of urgency in responding to Puerto Rico’s island-wide blackout.

The discrepancy came as President Donald Trump cleared the way for additional federal funding for Puerto Rico by amending a September disaster declaration to increase the share of rebuilding and recovery costs borne by the U.S. government.

Trump had already authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay 100 percent of some cleanup and emergency costs for 180 days. Washington will now pay 90 percent of the additional cost of rebuilding Puerto Rico, including repair of public infrastructure like hospitals, bridges and roads and restoration of the island’s devastated power grid.

Typically, U.S. states cover 25 percent of those costs, with federal taxpayers covering 75 percent. Puerto Rico’s finances were in shambles even before the storm made landfall in September.

A large swath of the island still has no electricity, and complaints are widespread among business owners who say losses are mounting and from parents who say their children need to start school. Nearly 20 percent of the island remains without water since Maria hit Sept. 20 with winds of up to 154 mph, killing at least 55 people. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs and some say more than 470,000 people could leave the island in upcoming years.

“If we don’t re-establish power and other basic services, the damage to our economy will be even greater,” said Puerto Rico’s public affairs secretary, Ramon Rosario. “We cannot allow that, and we have established clear goals.”

The difference in estimates came two days after the state-owned utility canceled a heavily scrutinized $300 million contract awarded to Whitefish Energy Holdings. The Montana-based company is located in the hometown of U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and had only two-full time employees before the storm hit. Crews subcontracted by Whitefish will finish their projects before Nov. 30, officials said.

Ramos continued to praise Whitefish despite local and federal audits of the contract. “They’ve performed very well,” he said.

Ramos said he is recommending that Oklahoma-based Cobra Acquisitions, which has a $200 million contract with the government, subcontract the workers Whitefish had employed if the contract allows for it. Ramos also said Cobra’s contract is “practically” the same as the one awarded to Whitefish.

He said the power company sent letters requesting help and received responses from the American Public Power Association and Edison Electric Institute. In addition, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that his state’s power authority would send 350 workers and 220 bucket trucks next week along with special equipment. It also is sending a tactical power restoration team that includes 28 engineers and 15 damage assessment experts.

The Army Corps of Engineers said it also expects about 2,100 workers to arrive by mid-November to help restore power.

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Ivanka Trump Urges Support for Women Ahead of President’s Asia Visit

By Uponbiz | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Business

White House advisor and daughter of President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, has urged nations to reverse a decline of women working in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) during a Tokyo speech just two days ahead of her father’s first visit to Asia as president.

“Women today represent only 13 percent of engineers and 24 percent of Computer Science professionals, down from 35 percent in 1990,” said Trump on Friday at the World Assembly for Women. “We must create equal participation in these traditionally male-dominated sectors of our economy, which are among the fastest-growing and most lucrative industries in the world.”

Trump said more support was needed for women’s participation in the high-tech economy, part of her portfolio as advisor to President Trump.

“Countries like the United States and Japan cannot be complacent,” she said. “We must continue to champion reforms in our own countries while also empowering women in restricted economies.”

WATCH: Ivanka Trump on Women’s Participation in STEM Fields

Trump was invited to speak at the event by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as part of the Japanese leader’s effort to “create a society where women shine.”

But in the five years Abe has been in power, he is accused by critics of accomplishing little for women. Less than four percent of business executives and fourteen percent of lawmakers are women. Japan slipped thirteen spots in the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap report to rank 114 out of 144 nations.

Abe launched a “Womenomics” program to get more women to join the workforce by providing, among other things, better childcare.

“We’ve put our full strength into creating an environment where it’s easy for women to work,” Abe said in an opening address to the conference. “I really feel that Japan has come a long way.”

Japan is struggling to emerge from a patriarchal society, says Montana State University’s anthropology associate professor, Tomomi Yamaguchi, who researches women’s issues in Japan.

“It’s very difficult to see improvement. But, then the government has been saying that they have been promoting to change the peoples’ opinions and consciousness. But, without the system changing it’s very difficult to change people’s attitude toward the issue.”

The two-day conference was extended by a day to include the speech by Trump, considered one of the U.S. president’s most trusted advisors.

Yamaguchi said Trump’s participation was a good way for Abe to make a closer connection to President Trump and try to improve Japan’s image on women. “He’s really trying to promote the image of Japan as the society that is promoting women’s rights and more participation in society. And, very likely because Japan has been criticized for not addressing the issue of ‘comfort women’ and all those wartime violence against women issues,” she added.

Japanese conservatives have downplayed the country’s role in forcing women in occupied territories into sexual slavery for soldiers during World War Two.

President Trump on Sunday arrives in Japan, the first stop of a five-nation Asia tour that continues to South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The main focus of Trump’s trip is to show solidarity with allies facing down the missile and nuclear threats from North Korea, which has defied the international community by testing its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb in September.

“Aside from that, I think that Trump is here to show the region that America is not pulling away, is not disengaged,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. “I think he did send a message of America pulling out when he decided to pull the plug on the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal). And so I think that that raised a lot of concerns around the region about the reliability of the United States. And, certainly his erratic behavior since then has raised those anxieties,” he added.

At a United Nations speech in September, Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if the United States is forced to defend itself or its allies.

South Korea’s spy agency on Thursday said Pyongyang could be preparing to conduct another nuclear or missile test after spotting activity near test sites.

Two U.S. bombers accompanied by fighter jets from Japan and South Korea conducted drills Thursday ahead of Trump’s visit near the Korean peninsula.

North Korea’s state news agency KCNA called the exercise a “nuclear strike drill.”

While Trump and Abe support a tougher line against Pyongyang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping have been pushing for diplomacy. Seoul and Beijing agreed this week to set aside disagreement over a U.S. missile defense system deployed to South Korea and hold a summit meeting in Vietnam on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Da Nang, Vietnam, which Trump will also attend.

Trump will be in Seoul Tuesday to meet with Moon and give a speech on Wednesday at South Korea’s unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, before heading to China.

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Singer, Fiddler Rhiannon Giddens Crosses Musical Divides

By Uponent | 11/03/2017 | No Comments | Entertainment

As a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, Rhiannon Giddens crosses musical divides.

Trained as an opera singer, she also plays a mean country fiddle. Folk, bluegrass, gospel and Irish ballads are all within her reach and she’s even won a Grammy with the black string band Carolina Chocolate Drops. Now she’s eager to begin work on her first musical, about a white revolt against a part African-American government in one North Carolina city three decades after the Civil War.

A native of North Carolina, Giddens is the child of a white father and black mother who married three years after the Supreme Court struck down all bans on interracial marriage in 1967. Today the versatile 40-year-old performer is winning accolades while casting a fresh spotlight on African-American contributions to early American music. She even drew from slave narratives for her latest album “Freedom Highway.” And for her accomplishments, she recently picked up a $625,000 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation.

Helped by the award, Giddens plans to take time off from touring to work on a musical about the 1898 overthrow of a so-called fusion government of legitimately elected blacks and white Republicans in Wilmington, North Carolina. Though a footnote in many history books, the insurrection by white Democrats who burned and killed their way to power is seen as an incendiary moment in the dawning of the Jim Crow era of segregation.

“I think there’s an opportunity to tell a story through this historical event which politically was very important,” Giddens said in a phone interview about the revolt, which some historians likened to a coup d’etat. She recalled a pattern of violence directed against African-Americans for decades after the war and slavery’s end. Among those moments: Colfax, Louisiana, when about 150 black men were killed by white Democrats in 1873, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, when as many as 300 may have died.

Whatever she writes about the overthrow of 1898, Rhiannon Giddens is adamant there will be no similarities to “Hamilton,” the wildly popular Broadway show written around another historic event. This won’t be “Hamilton” she said, because — a) — she doesn’t write hip hop and — b) — the Wilmington history isn’t as well-known as that of the former U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.

“I think there’s something in between that (‘Hamilton’) and something like ‘Oklahoma!’ something narratively speaking that I want do with that piece,” Giddens explained. “I don’t know what it is yet because I haven’t made it.”

Historian David Cecelski, who co-wrote a book about 1898 Wilmington titled “Democracy Betrayed,” is excited that Giddens would bring the story to the stage.

“Art has the power to do more than just give people the facts of what happened,” he said. “Historians have been trying to sledgehammer people into remembering these events. Maybe music offers a broader possibility of finding some kind of way to use that history to find some peace in the past and deal with our current dilemmas.”

This year Giddens made her acting debut on the CMT show “Nashville.” And she was lauded by the MacArthur Foundation for powerful stage performances, impressive vocals and for bringing African-American contributions to folk music out front. According to the foundation, she’s “introducing new audiences to the black banjoists and fiddlers whose influences have been left out of the popular narratives of folk and country’s history.”

In 2016, Giddens won the $50,000 Steve Martin Prize for excellence in banjo and bluegrass. And in a widely praised keynote speech to the International Bluegrass Music Association business conference in Raleigh, she spoke this year about the African influence on banjo and bluegrass, long dominated by white performers and white audiences.

“So the question becomes: are we going to let bluegrass, as an art form, recognize the fullness of its history?” she asked in her impassioned speech. “Are we going to acknowledge that the question is not, how do we get diversity into bluegrass, but how do we get diversity back into bluegrass?”

The great African-American fiddler Joe Thompson, who died in 2012 at age 93, was a mentor to Giddens, who also plays the five-string banjo.

Cece Conway, an English professor at Appalachian State University who directs the black and global banjo roots concerts at the school, said that Thompson’s mentoring “anchors her music in a significant way.”

“Her ability and perspective to be able to look at the historical aspects of the music is a tremendous contribution that she’s beginning to explore more and more. And her plan to take on this musical about this intense historical event is very challenging,” he noted of her plans to explore the 1898 white revolt.

Developing a musical about the racial and political upheaval of 19th century North Carolina is a challenge Giddens feels ready to embrace.

“It’s all in my head at the moment,” she said. “But it’s got time now to come out.”
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