Day: November 4, 2017

Sprint, T-Mobile End Merger Talks

Wireless carriers Sprint and T-Mobile called off a potential merger, saying the companies couldn’t come to an agreement that would benefit customers and shareholders.

The two companies have been dancing around a possible merger for years, and were again in the news in recent weeks with talks of the two companies coming together after all. But in a joint statement Saturday, Sprint and T-Mobile said they are calling off merger negotiations for the foreseeable future.

“The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior long-term value for T-Mobile’s shareholders compared to our outstanding stand-alone performance and track record,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile US, in a prepared statement.

T-Mobile and Sprint are the U.S.’ third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, respectively, but they are significantly smaller than AT&T and Verizon, who effectively have a duopoly over U.S. wireless service. The two companies have said they hoped to find a way of merging to make the wireless market more competitive.

Sprint and its owner, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, have long been looking for a deal as the company has struggled to compete on its own. But Washington regulators have frowned on a possible merger. D.C. spiked AT&T’s offer to buy T-Mobile in 2011 and signaled in 2014 they would have been against Sprint doing the same thing. But with the new Trump administration, it was thought regulators might be more relaxed about a merger.

Sprint has a lot of debt and has posted a string of annual losses. The company has cut costs and made itself more attractive to customers, BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk says, but it hasn’t invested enough in its network and doesn’t have enough airwave rights for quality service in rural areas.

T-Mobile, meanwhile, has been on a yearslong streak adding customers. After the government nixed AT&T’s attempt to buy it in 2011, T-Mobile led the way in many consumer-friendly changes, such as ditching two-year contracts and bringing back unlimited data plans. Consumers are paying less for cellphone service, thanks to T-Mobile’s influence on the industry and the resultant price wars.

“T-Mobile does not need a merger with Sprint to succeed, but Sprint might need one to survive,” Piecyk wrote in an October research note.

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Red Cross: $6M Lost Through Fraud in Ebola Response Spending

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says it has discovered several cases of fraud committed during the height of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2014 to 2016.

In a statement, the aid agency said it was “outraged” by the discovery and would “ensure any staff involved are held to account.”

The outbreak killed more than 11,000 people, infected another 29,000 and cost more than $6 million during its height, when it ravaged the countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

In Sierra Leone, the Red Cross said it had found evidence of “likely collusion” between a bank and former Red Cross employees that resulted in a $2.1 million loss.

In Guinea, overbilling and fake invoices cost the agency about $1.2 million. The Red Cross said two other investigations were underway in Guinea.

And in Liberia, the organization found that inflated prices for relief items and payroll had cost an extra $2.7 million.

The Red Cross said it was committed to holding to account all those involved in the illegal activities, and also to reclaiming all misappropriated, diverted or otherwise illegally taken funds.

The organization, which has undergone past corruption scandals, said that since 2014 it has implemented cash spending limits in “high-risk” settings and has begun deploying auditors when it sends out relief teams.

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Pneumonic Plague in Madagascar Slowing, But Not Over

The World Health Organization says an outbreak of pneumonic plague in Madagascar appears to be slowing.  But, it warns vigilance must be maintained as the spread of the disease is far from over.  

The World Health Organization says plague came early to Madagascar this year and has spread quickly.  Quite unusually, pneumonic plague moved from the remote rural areas to congested urban areas, causing panic since, unlike bubonic plague, this disease is transmitted from human to human.   

The normal plague season of September to April causes about 400 cases of the disease.  But, this year, the WHO says more than 1,800 suspected cases, resulting in 127 deaths were reported in the three-month period from August through late October.  

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says that is an unusually large number of cases in such a short period of time.  But, he says there has been a decline in the number of new cases since the second week of October.

“There is also a decrease in the number of patients that are hospitalized due to suspicion of a plague,” said Jasarevic. “While this declining trend in new plague cases and reduction in hospitalizations due to plague cases is encouraging, WHO expects more cases of plague to be reported from Madagascar until the typical plague season ends in April 2018.”   

Jasarevic says people must remain vigilant and ongoing operations of surveillance and treatment must be sustained over the coming six months, when the danger will be over.  

He says finding and treating active cases of the plague, identifying people who have come in contact with an infected person, following up and providing antibiotic treatment is important.  In addition, he says rodent and flea control, as well as safe and dignified burials is crucial throughout the plague season.

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Trump Urges Saudi Arabia To List Shares of World’s Largest Oil Producer on NYSE

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Saudi Arabia Saturday to list its state-owned oil company on the New York Stock Exchange when the company goes public in what is expected to be the largest-ever initial public offering in which shares of a company are sold to investors.

“Would very much appreciate Saudi Arabia doing their IPO of Aramco with the New York Stock Exchange. Important to the United States!,” Trump tweeted from Hawaii, his first stop ahead of a 13-day trip to Asia.

Saudi officials have reportedly said the government intends to list 5 percent of  the company’s shares on local and global stock exchanges in 2018 but have yet to select an overseas venue. Saudi officials have estimated the IPO will be worth about $100 billion.

The NYSE has had discussions with the Saudis about the upcoming IPO as has the London Stock Exchange. Exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto and the U.S. are also soliciting portions of the public offering.

New York-based NASDAQ, which provides technology to Saudi Arabia’s exchange, has been leveraging that relationship in an attempt to win the listing.

Trump has developed a close relationship with Saudi Arabia. During his visit there last summer, he signed a $110 billion defense agreement with Saudi King Salman.

At a $2 trillion valuation Saudi officials have projected for Aramco, selling five-percent of the company’s shares would reap $100 billion.

The public offering of shares of Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, is part of Saudi government plans to sell state assets as a recession slows Riyadh’s effort to eliminate a budget deficit caused by low oil prices.

 

 

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In Lebanon, Maestro Helps Voices of Refugee Children Rise Above Poverty, Divisions

They are among the most underprivileged children in Lebanon, and now their voices can soar. For several months, conductor and composer Salim Sahab auditioned youngsters, most of whom work, for a choir of 300. With Syrian and Palestinian refugees selected along with Lebanese children, hopes are that the unifying power of singing will help cross political and sectarian lines. Having performed the same feat in Egypt, Sahab plans to get them on the big stage. John Owens reports from Tripoli.

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Saudi Crown Prince Tackles Extremism on the Road to Social, Economic Reform

The recent flurry of social and economic reform coming out of Saudi Arabia has left some Saudis ecstatic, others more circumspect, and a few conservatives bewildered or even angry.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman told a crowd of investors at a conference in late October that he was merely attempting to “return Saudi Arabia to the moderate Islam that once prevailed” before the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He stressed that 70 percent of Saudis are younger than 30 and vowed “not to spend another 30 years of our lives living under extremist ideas.”

The young crown prince also proposed an ambitious plan for a new economic zone on the Red Sea near Jordan and Egypt. In April, he put forward an economic road map for the kingdom, called Vision 2030. Part of the plan calls for privatizing 5 percent of the country’s flagship petroleum company Aramco, in addition to attracting foreign investment capital.

​Too much change too fast

Clarence Rodriguez, who spent 12 years as a French foreign correspondent in Riyadh and recently wrote a book called Saudi Arabia 3.0 on the aspirations of Saudi women and young people, tells VOA that she believes Saudi Arabia “is in crisis, due to the drop in the price of petroleum,” and that it has found itself under pressure to “diversify its economy, which necessitates societal reform involving women and young people, as well.”

Rodriguez points out that the late King Abdallah, who died in 2015, started the reform movement by allowing Saudi women to run for the country’s consultative “Shoura” council and to enter the work force, becoming lawyers, bankers and salespeople.

She worries, however, that some recent moves to change the status of women have angered parts of the kingdom’s mostly conservative population. Traditionalists, she says, are “not used to such quick change” and many “are afraid, because things are moving too fast for them.”

On a recent talk show on an Arabic-language news channel, a conservative Saudi caller told the show’s host that he thinks Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman are “violating (Islamic) sharia law” with some of their recent reforms “and should go to jail.”

Saudi commentator Jamal Kashoggi tells VOA that he’s “not optimistic about the reforms,” but that he would “still like to be optimistic … since everyone will suffer if they fail.” Kashoggi worries that the reforms are “not engaging Saudi society, enough.” 

“We wish Mohammed Bin Salman well, and we need economic (and social) reform,” he said, “but, we also need to discuss (these issues). The change,” he said, “is being done in very narrow circles. (Ordinary) people are not feeling engaged.” 

Was Saudi society more moderate?

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, is not convinced that Saudi society was more moderate before the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He thinks that parts of Saudi society have always had a conservative streak to them, pointing out that Wahabi conservatives killed many moderate Muslims, including the Shafa’i mufti of Mecca when they overran the city and the nearby resort city of Ta’ef in 1924.

A handful of prominent Saudi conservative clerics have been arrested since Mohammed Bin Salman replaced his cousin, Mohammed Bin Nayef, as crown prince, in June. 

“By weakening the clerical establishment and making clerics simple government workers,” Khashan said, “(Mohammed Bin Salman) will be able to give women more rights, as he is proposing.” Saudi women were allowed to drive, starting in September, and this week were given permission to attend sports matches with their families.

Khashan believes that economic considerations are a key factor in the decision to allow Saudi women to drive. 

“If 10 million women are given the right to drive in Saudi Arabia,” he said, “and if just a fraction of those women buy cars, take driving lessons or buy insurance, that would contribute to stimulating Saudi Arabia’s stagnant economy.” Allowing women to drive will also curtail the expensive practice of hiring foreign chauffeurs to drive women around.

Both Kashoggi and Khashan believe that the Saudi government will eventually prevail in its efforts to reform society. 

“Conservatives,” Kashoggi said, “have already lashed out. They’ve been lashing out since 2003. Al-Qaida, or ISIS, or the radical Wahabis … these are the extremists in Saudi Arabia … and they don’t want change. They have resisted, and will continue to resist. … The only thing stopping them is (government) security.”

Clashes with clerics

Khashan points out that in clashes with conservative clerics back in the 1960s, after King Faisal opened a school for girls in Riyadh, and when the king opened the first TV station in Riyadh in 1965, the government prevailed. 

“Whenever the state clashes with the (conservative) clerical establishment, the state emerges victorious,” he said, “and there’s no reason to believe that things will not be the same, this time.”

Jordanian analyst Shehab Makahleh is less certain about who will come out on top, however. 

“There is a kind of opposition among royal family members who are not happy (about the reforms),” he said, “and they have had a number of meetings to clarify where the country is heading in the coming five to 10 years.”

Makahleh believes that King Salman may soon abdicate in favor of Mohammed Bin Salman “in order to gain more support from the international community” for his ambitious reform program and to promote a more secular model of society.

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China Border Traders Hit Hard by North Korea Sanctions

For Yu Kaiguang, harsh new United Nations sanctions on North Korea are a disaster.

The trader in the Chinese border city of Dandong has seen business all but dry up, and he spends his days scrambling to obtain payment from the suddenly broke North Korean state companies to whom he sold on credit.

“They have no money to pay us in cash, and the worst is that because of sanctions they can’t settle the bill with goods such as coal, as they did in the past,” said Yu, reached by telephone at the offices of his Dandong Gaoli Trading Company.

Yu said he’s owed about $1 million in all for deliveries of toothpaste, instant noodles and other household items. He’s trying to avoid laying off staff by continuing to export foodstuffs such as pine nuts and red beans. “If they become unemployed, it would be bad for both the state and society.”

​Common problem for traders

Yu’s plight appears increasingly commonplace across Dandong, where the bulk of the cross-border trade is handled. Interviews with four trading companies and recent media reports indicate Chinese companies are hurting in a city where North Korean trucks used to rumble across the Yalu River bridge several times a week delivering metal scrap and returning with everything from televisions to toilet bowls.

The owner of another firm, Dandong Baoquan Commerce and Trade Co., which used to import iron ore and coal and export basic consumer goods, said he was owed around $200,000 by his North Korea clients.

“I had to lay off about 10 staffers, but I had no other choice because it was the government policy,” Han Lixin said, referring to the sanctions. “I’m still in business hoping to trade with other countries, but it takes a lot of time and efforts to develop customers.”

Large-scale trade involving North Korean resources such as iron ore and coal has been banned entirely under the sanctions, dealing a big blow to Dandong’s port, whose operator defaulted on a $150 million corporate bond this week in part because of cratering revenues.

Both economies hurting

“The sanctions have a broad effect, and both the economies of North Korea and China are suffering a lot,” said Jin Qiangyi, professor at the Institute of Northeast Asia Studies at Yanbian University in Northeast China. “Chinese companies doing business with North Korea may see quite a lot of losses, and the companies that have already invested in North Korea will suffer more.”

Dealing with North Korean companies was never easy. Wang Chengpeng, former manager of Dandong Hongwei Trading Company, quit doing business with the North entirely because of hassles, restrictions and low-profit margins, even before the latest sanctions began to bite.

Despite that, China has long been the North’s biggest economic partner. Beijing accounted for more than 90 percent of its neighbor’s foreign trade of about $6.5 billion in 2016, according to the South Korean-owned Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency. China continues to be a key source of food and fuel aid to help keep North Korea’s weak economy from collapsing, and Chinese officials say they won’t agree to measures that could cut off basic life necessities and possibly cause Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship to topple.

Sanctions holding

China’s patience with Kim has grown increasingly thin, however, and Beijing has lent its support to increasingly tough resolutions unanimously approved by the Security Council this year that target North Korea’s economy in response to its ballistic missile launches and latest nuclear test.

China has said it sees sanctions purely as a means of inducing North Korea to return to nuclear disarmament talks and has rejected unilateral measures not approved by the Security Council, of which it is one of the five veto-wielding permanent members.

Still, despite some allegations of cheating, China appears to be seeking to enforce the sanctions that also ban exports of lead, textiles and seafood, prohibit joint ventures, and bar any country from authorizing new permits for North Korean workers, all sources of hard currency for Pyongyang.

The sanctions have also blacklisted a number of firms in the extraction and financial industries, imposed travel bans and frozen the assets of some government officials, banned the import of natural gas liquids and condensates, and capped the country’s crude oil imports.

It’s hard to gauge the exact impact of sanctions on the North Korean economy because the crucial food and energy sectors are less likely to be hurt by external conditions, said Lee Seok-ki, a senior researcher at the South Korean government-run Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.

However, while the North’s economy has been expanding, by 3.9 percent in 2016, according to an estimate by the Bank of Korea in South Korea, that rate almost certainly can’t be sustained if sanctions continue, Lee said.

China for its part is watching North Korea to see how its ally will respond to the new measures, eager for signs of a shift in tactics by Kim and an improvement in relations between Beijing and Pyongyang that have “sunk into a standstill,” as Jin puts it.

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Pakistan Working to Eradicate Polio

Pakistan is one of three nations in the world that still reports cases of polio. The other two are Afghanistan and Nigeria. But an ongoing effort is slowly making progress toward eradicating the disease. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

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New Exhibit Shows How Tech Intrudes on Our Lives

The extent to which technology is always watching us is on stark display at a new London exhibit called “The Glass Room.” It allows visitors to see just how much of their lives is always available online. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

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Food as Art Feeds Thousands in Annual NY Competition

Many organizations across the United States sponsor food drives, urging people to contribute canned and nonperishable food for families that are hungry or homeless. While most campaigns consist of a large box with a “Donate Here” sign, an annual design competition in New York City takes a more creative approach to fighting hunger. Faith Lapidus explains.

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US Unemployment Lowest in 17 Years After Employers Add 261,000 Jobs

A solid rebound for the job market in October as the U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs. Job gains were strong across the board, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent, its lowest level in 17 years. But, as Mil Arcega reports, American workers are not seeing any real growth in their wages.

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Netflix Cuts All Ties with Actor Kevin Spacey

Netflix said Friday night that Kevin Spacey will no longer be a part of House of Cards and it’s cutting all other ties with the actor after a series of allegations of sexual harassment and assault.

 

“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey,” the company said in a statement. 

 

Netflix said it will work with the show’s production company MRC to evaluate whether it will continue without him. 

 

The 58-year-old Spacey was nominated for best drama actor Emmy Awards during each of the show’s first five seasons, but never won. He played a ruthless politician who ascends to the presidency of the United States. Co-star Robin Wright is also a central player on the show, and it could conceivably continue with a focus on her. 

 

Production on the show was suspended Tuesday. 

Current, former co-workers complain

 

Netflix says it also will refuse to release the film Gore, in which Spacey stars as the writer Gore Vidal and also acted as producer. 

 

CNN reported that eight current or former House of Cards workers claim that Spacey made the production a “toxic” workplace and one ex-employee alleges the actor sexually assaulted him.

 

Spacey has not been arrested or charged with any crime. His publicist did not immediately return an email message late Friday night seeking comment. A publicist said earlier this week that Spacey is “taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment.”

 

Multiple accusations

The Academy Award-winning actor became ensnared in Hollywood’s fast-growing sexual harassment crisis after actor Anthony Rapp alleged Spacey made sexual advances toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14. Spacey has said he doesn’t remember the alleged encounter reported by BuzzFeed News last weekend but apologized if such “drunken behavior” occurred.

 

The story spurred several others to come forward with similar allegations about Spacey. 

 

London police are reportedly investigating Spacey for a 2008 sexual assault, British media reported Friday.

 

Police did not identify Spacey by name but said the department’s child abuse and sexual offenses unit is investigating the reported assault after it was referred to police earlier this week.

 

Weinstein and others

Spacey is the latest high profile Hollywood figure to lose work and standing in a wave that began when dozens of sexual harassment allegations were reported last month against film mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

 

Weinstein is under investigation in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, London and New York for possible criminal cases after several women accused him of sexual assault or rape. 

 

Also Friday, Hamilton Fish, publisher of The New Republic, resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment.

 

In a company memo shared with The Associated Press, magazine owner Win McCormack wrote that Fish’s resignation was effective immediately and that an internal investigation would continue. Fish, who joined The New Republic in 2016, had been placed on leave of absence last week. He is a former publisher of The Nation.

 

“As I understand it, some employees, to my deep dismay, complained this week that my presence had led them to feel uncomfortable at The New Republic,” Fish wrote to McCormack in a memo Friday that was also shared with the AP. “Women have longstanding and profound concerns with respect to their treatment in the workplace. Many men have a lot to learn in this regard. I know I do, and I hope for and encourage that new direction.”

 

Fish wrote in an email to the AP that he “felt the controversy swirling around us could cause irreparable harm to the magazine, and that the only way to protect The New Republic and its employees was for me to separate from the organization.” Noting his time with such organizations as The Nation, a prominent liberal publication, and with Human Rights Watch, he wrote that he had spent his career in “in progressive media and the human rights field.

 

Fish is among several figures in media and publishing that have stepped down or been fired in the wake of the Weinstein reports. 

 

Others include author and former NBC analyst Mark Halperin, former New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier and former NPR chief editor Michael Oreskes, who was an AP executive from 2008 to 2015.

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Ivorian Artist Says #MeToo With Her Hair

A 21-year-old artist in Ivory Coast has found an eye-catching new way to draw attention to the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment — by sculpting her hair into the image of a man lifting a woman’s skirt.

Laetitia Ky creates elaborate hair sculptures in order to emphasize black women’s natural beauty, which is undervalued in the realms of fashion and entertainment, she said.

When women around the world began sharing experiences of sexual abuse and harassment on social media using the hashtag #MeToo, sparked by allegations against U.S. movie producer Harvey Weinstein, she knew she wanted to take part.

“Like everyone, I saw the wave of women who were speaking out, and this touched me immensely,” Ky told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “I hope women everywhere wake up and revolt.”

Ky posted a picture of her hair art on Facebook and Instagram along with the story of a friend who had narrowly escaped rape. She invited other women to send her messages if they wanted to share their stories.

The testimonies have been pouring in, she said. In West Africa, many women have said that sexual assault is rampant but so taboo that you can be shunned or considered unfit to marry for speaking out.

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Scientists: Half of Hawaii’s Coral Reefs Bleached

Nearly half of Hawaii’s coral reefs were bleached during heat waves in 2014 and 2015 and fisheries close to shore are declining, a group of scientists told state lawmakers.

The scientists from the Nature Conservancy briefed the lawmakers Thursday about what they called an unprecedented situation for Hawaii’s sea life.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said 56 percent of the Big Island’s coral were bleached, along with 44 percent along West Maui and 32 percent around Oahu.

Worse to come

The scientists said more severe and frequent bleaching is predicted.

“In the 2030s, 30 to 50 percent of the years will have major bleaching events in Hawaii,” said Kuulei Rogers of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

When ocean temperatures rise, coral expel the algae they rely on for food. This causes their skeletons to lose their color and appear “bleached.”

Coral can recover if the water cools. But they die if high temperatures persist. Eventually reefs degrade, leaving fish without habitats and coastlines less protected from storm surges.

Fish decline as well

As for Hawaii’s fish, University of Hawaii researchers compiled data for 15 years and found a 90 percent decline in overall catch from the last 100 years, which includes fish such as ulua, moi and oio.

“What we found was pretty overwhelming,” University of Hawaii scientist Alan Friedlander said. “About 40 percent of the species will be classified as overfished. The correlations are more people, less fish.”

Friedlander suggested expanding marine reserves and said gear restrictions and size limits help, but bag limits and quotas don’t work.

Those who fish argued against more regulations.

“If the fishermen don’t stand up and come down here and fight for fisherman’s rights now, we’ll lose more than we can possibly ever imagine,” said Makani Christensen of the Hunting, Farming and Fishing Association.

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Study of Nutrition Crisis Finds Millions Either Malnourished or Obese

Almost every country in the world now has serious nutrition problems, either because of overeating leading to obesity or a lack of food leading to undernutrition, according to a major study published Saturday.

Researchers behind the Global Nutrition Report, which looked at 140 countries, said the problems were thwarting “human development as a whole” and called for a critical change in the response to this global health threat.

The report found that while malnutrition rates were falling globally, their rate of decrease was not fast enough to meet the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

More than 155 million children under age 5 are stunted because of lack of nutrition, and 52 million are defined as “wasted,” meaning they do not weigh enough for their height, the report said.

At the other end of the spectrum, overeating is taking a heavy toll on people of all ages worldwide: The report found that 2 billion of the world’s 7 billion people are now overweight or obese.

In North America, a third of all men and women are obese.

Worldwide, at least 41 million children under 5 are overweight, and in Africa alone, 10 million children are now classified as overweight.

“Historically, maternal anemia and child undernutrition have been seen as separate problems to obesity and noncommunicable diseases,” said Jessica Fanzo, a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the United States who co-led the Global Nutrition Report.

“The reality is they are intimately connected and driven by inequalities everywhere in the world. That’s why governments … need to tackle them holistically, not as distinct problems.”

Donor funding for nutrition rose by just 2 percent to $867 million in 2015, the report found. It said funding needs to be “turbocharged” and called for a tripling of global investment in nutrition to $70 billion over 10 years.

The Global Nutrition Report is an independently produced annual analysis of the state of the world’s nutrition. It tracks progress on targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition and on diet-related chronic diseases adopted by World Health Organization member states.

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