The significant progress made in recent decades against malaria is at risk, according to the World Health Organization. In its annual report looking at the global fight against the disease, the WHO says malaria cases are on the rise in several countries. More from Henry Ridgwell in London.
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Month: November 2017
“Terzo Millennio”, or Third Millennium, is a new brand name in auto design from Italian carmaker Lamborghini. Company representatives introduced the design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Evgeny Maslov reports from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Facebook said on Wednesday that it was removing 99 percent of content related to militant groups Islamic State and al-Qaida before being told of it, as it prepared for a meeting with European authorities on tackling extremist content online.
Eighty-three percent of “terror content” is removed within one hour of being uploaded, Monika Bickert, head of global policy management, and Brian Fishman, head of counterterrorism policy at Facebook, wrote in a blog post.
The world’s largest social media network, with 2.1 billion users, has faced pressure both in the United States and Europe to tackle extremist content on its platform more effectively.
In June, Facebook said it had ramped up use of artificial intelligence, such as image matching and language understanding, to identify and remove content quickly.
“It is still early, but the results are promising, and we are hopeful that AI (artificial intelligence) will become a more important tool in the arsenal of protection and safety on the internet and on Facebook,” Bickert and Fishman wrote.
“Today, 99 percent of the ISIS and al Qaeda-related terror content we remove from Facebook is content we detect before anyone in our community has flagged it to us, and in some cases, before it goes live on the site.”
ISIS is an acronym for Islamic State.
The blog post comes a week before Facebook and other social media companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Twitter meet with European Union governments and the EU executive to discuss how to remove extremist content and hate speech online.
“Deploying AI for counterterrorism is not as simple as flipping a switch. … A system designed to find content from one terrorist group may not work for another because of language and stylistic differences in their propaganda,” Facebook said.
The European Commission in September told social media firms to find ways to remove the content faster, including through automatic detection technologies, or face possible legislation forcing them to do so.
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The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, accused social media company Twitter of being politically biased Tuesday as he defended his plan to roll back rules intended to ensure a free and open internet.
Pai, a Republican named by President Donald Trump to head up the FCC, unveiled plans last week to scrap the 2015 landmark net neutrality rules, moving to give broadband service providers sweeping power over what content consumers can access.
“When it comes to an open internet, Twitter is part of the problem,” Pai said. “The company has a viewpoint and uses that viewpoint to discriminate.”
He pointed to Twitter’s refusal to let Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, advertise a campaign video with an anti-abortion message.
“To say the least, the company appears to have a double standard when it comes to suspending or de-verifying conservative users’ accounts as opposed to those of liberal users,” Pai said.
A spokesperson for Twitter said that at no time was Blackburn’s video censored and that her followers would have been able to still see it.
“Because advertisements are served to users who do not necessarily follow an account, we therefore have higher standards for their content,” the Twitter spokesperson said.
Twitter in October declined a campaign video advertisement by Blackburn, who announced she was running for the U.S. Senate, saying that a remark by Blackburn about opposing abortion was inflammatory. Twitter later reversed its decision.
Internet-based firms’ letter
Pai’s criticism came a day after Twitter and a number of other internet-based companies — including AirBnb, Reddit, Shutterstock, Tumblr and Etsy — sent a letter urging the FCC to maintain the net neutrality rules.
Trump is a prolific user of Twitter, often posting his thoughts on the news of the day. He used Twitter throughout his presidential campaign to circumvent traditional media and talk directly to voters.
Pai has also been a frequent user of the website — acknowledging during the speech, “I love Twitter” — to push his case in favor of the rule changes. On Tuesday afternoon, he even posted a link to his remarks critical of Twitter on his own Twitter account.
Following Pai’s remarks on Tuesday, at an event organized by the libertarian-leaning R Street Institute, two other FCC commissioners said they would support his proposal when they vote on December 14.
Big internet service providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications have favored a repeal of net neutrality. On the other side, websites such as Facebook and Alphabet’s Google have favored the rules.
The rules prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a “fast lane,” to certain internet services over others.
“So when you get past the wild accusations, fearmongering and hysteria, here’s the boring bottom line,” Pai said. “The plan to restore internet freedom would return us to the light touch, market-based approach under which the internet thrived.”
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Scientists say they’ve unearthed fossil remains of a sea cow that lived in the shallow waters off Southern California’s Channel Islands some 25 million years ago.
The fossil skull and rib cage were discovered this summer on Santa Rosa Island, in the Pacific Ocean about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the National Park Service announced Tuesday.
Scientists say the remains may be from a previously unknown sea cow species but they won’t know for sure until the skull is analyzed by an expert.
Some fossilized remnants of at least from four other sea cows also were found nearby.
Sea cows are torpedo-shaped plant-eaters that graze in shallow waters and can grow up to 13 feet long. The only living species are the dugong and three types of manatee.
Two researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey found the skull and rib cage in a steep ravine while mapping earthquake faults, said Yvonne Menard of the park service. Erosion may have only recently revealed them.
“This sea cow may have only been exposed the past few years after being buried for millions of years,” said Jonathan Hoffman with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, which is protecting the fossils.
“They’re embedded in rock and the top surface has been exposed,” Menard said.
That surface has been covered with plaster-impregnated bandages and burlap to protect the fossils until work to excavate them can resume in late spring, Menard said.
The work is slow because researchers need to obtain permits to excavate.
Researchers hope to uncover the teeth of the sea cow, which could help determine the animal’s diet and its age when it died.
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Researchers from Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago are using advanced technology to unwrap the mysteries of an 1,800-year-old mummy.
They say the high-energy X-ray beams from a synchrotron will provide molecular information about what is inside the mummy of the little girl. Argonne says it’s the first time the beams have been used in this way.
Researchers say the technology allows them to study what’s inside the mummy while leaving the 5-year-old girl’s remains and wrappings intact.
Scientists examined the rare find on Monday in the hopes of learning more about how the girl died. And they say studying the wrapping materials may shed new light on ancient Egyptian culture.
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As India starts to use blockchain technology for land deals, it must protect the rights of the most vulnerable with policies for the responsible use of big data, analysts said.
At least two Indian states are testing blockchain — a ledger system tracking digital information — to record land deals and bring transparency to a system that is rife with fraud and leaves the poor at risk of eviction.
Putting India’s land records on blockchain — the technology behind the bitcoin currency — would greatly increase efficiency, reduce corruption and boost economic growth, experts say.
But fears about the misuse of data persist.
“One of the biggest challenges with respect to big data is the fear of discrimination and profiling based on religion, caste or income level,” said Nikhil Narendran, a partner at the law firm Trilegal.
“The government should engage in responsible and ethical big data processing, and have adequate mechanisms to retain ownership and confidentiality,” he said in Blockchain for Property, a handbook for its adoption, released Tuesday.
Land records in most Indian states date to the colonial era, and most land holdings have uncertain ownership. Fraud is rampant, and disputes over titles often end up in court.
Torn maps, old disputes
A national land record modernization program, launched in 2008 to survey lands, update records and establish ownership, has been delayed by torn maps and disputes dating back decades.
Blockchain works by creating permanent, public “ledgers” of all transactions, potentially replacing a mass of overlapping records with one simple database.
It enables real-time updates of records, improving efficiency and transparency, and reducing bribes, analysts say.
But there cannot be a complete switch to a blockchain platform, because millions are still not literate and lack access to smartphones and computers, said Ananth Padmanabhan, a fellow at think tank Carnegie India.
“There needs to exist a dual system, that is, an option to use the online services but also the old process of paper documents submission at the government office,” he said.
It is also important that the data not be used to profile people or discriminate against them — for instance, denying home loans to people from certain backgrounds, Narendran said.
“If used in a responsible and ethical manner, big data can bring about real change, including in the area of land transactions,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We need a model that is rights based and accountability based, so there are fewer chances of the misuse of data.”
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Bruce Springsteen on Tuesday announced four more months of intimate concerts on Broadway after his initial run triggered massive interest — and wide disappointment among fans who couldn’t get tickets.
The rock legend, who for decades has sold out arenas with his adrenaline-fueled marathon performances, said he would extend his residency at the 960-seat Walter Kerr Theatre from February 28 to June 30.
Springsteen opened the shows on October 3 and already extended once, until February 3, with tickets selling out nearly instantly.
The 68-year-old balladeer of working-class America set prices at $75 to $800 — but tickets immediately reappeared on resale sites at much higher prices.
As of Tuesday, the cheapest ticket on resale site StubHub was $1,449, significantly higher than Broadway’s other coveted theater seats, including those for Hamilton and Bette Midler’s revival of Hello, Dolly!
Springsteen has tried to reduce scalping through a new verification system by Ticketmaster, which asks fans to sign up and uses algorithms to determine the likelihood that they will attend before providing a code to allow purchases.
In light of the number of fans who were unable to buy tickets initially, the ticketing company said it would not start a new verification round, instead sending codes to fans who already signed up.
Springsteen has said he was inspired to create a more intimate concert experience after he played a somber private show at the White House as a gift from departing President Barack Obama to staff.
Instead of Springsteen’s high-octane arena shows with his E Street Band — whose surprise song choices once marveled fans — the Broadway concerts feature the rocker alone on piano and guitar and a standard set list.
The shows, which follow the release of Springsteen’s autobiography, start with his early song Growin’ Up, about his teenage years, and culminate in Born to Run, his classic hit of escape and ambition.
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A large iceberg broke off the Grey glacier in southern Chile, authorities said on Tuesday, adding that the cause of the rupture was unclear.
Chile’s CONAF forestry service shared photos on social media of the enormous block of blue-white ice, which measured 350 meters (1,148 feet) long by 380 meters (1,247 feet) wide, as it floated free in waters of a glacial lagoon near the southern tip of the South American continent.
Park officials at Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, home to the glacier, said such ruptures were rare and had not occurred since the early 1990s.
Torres del Paine is one of Chile’s most popular tourist attractions, famous for its mountain views and visited by more than 115,000 tourists annually, according to CONAF.
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Delays in the time between becoming infected with HIV and getting a diagnosis are shortening, helped by efforts to increase testing for the virus that causes AIDS, U.S. health officials said.
The report, released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 50 percent of the 39,720 people diagnosed with HIV in 2015 had been infected for at least three years, a seven-month improvement compared with 2011.
Nevertheless, 25 percent of people diagnosed with HIV in 2015 were infected for seven years or more before being diagnosed.
CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald said the report shows the nation is making progress in the fight against HIV, but the gains are uneven, and challenges remain.
“Too many people have HIV infections that go undiagnosed for far too long,” Fitzgerald said in a conference call with reporters.
Shortening the time between HIV infection and diagnosis is key to prevention. The CDC estimates that about 40 percent of new HIV infections are caused by people who did not know they were infected.
Although testing rates increased overall, an estimated 15 percent of people living with HIV in 2015 did not know they were infected, and half of people who were unaware of their infection in 2015 lived in the South.
The report found many other disparities, with delays in diagnosis varying significantly by race/ethnicity and gender.
For example, the estimated time from HIV infection to diagnosis was a median of five years for heterosexual men, twice as long as heterosexual women. The median was three years for gay and bisexual men.
“The report tells us some groups, particularly heterosexual men and racial and ethnic minorities, live with HIV longer than other groups before they are diagnosed,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, told the briefing.
Among high-risk individuals, many reported not being tested in the prior year, including 29 percent of gay and bisexual men, 42 percent of people who inject drugs and 59 percent of heterosexuals at increased risk for HIV.
Two-thirds of those who had not been tested for HIV in the prior year had seen a health care provider, which Mermin considered a missed opportunity for testing.
People who are diagnosed and take medications to control HIV are significantly less likely to spread the disease.
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Steven Spielberg’s new movie The Post may be set in 1971, but its theme about press freedom is all about today.
Spielberg rushed to get the movie filmed and released within a year. It is about the battle by newspapers to publish the leaked Pentagon Papers detailing the U.S. government’s misleading portrayal of the Vietnam War.
“I just felt that there was an urgency to reflect 1971 and 2017 because they were very terrifyingly similar,” the Oscar-winning director told a Hollywood audience after a screening of the film on Monday.
“Our intended audience are the people who have spent the last 13, 14 months thirsting and starving for the truth,” Spielberg said. “They are out there, and they need some good news.”
Spielberg, a prominent Hollywood Democrat, did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump. But The Post arrives in movie theaters in December at a time when media outlets have been under repeated attacks by Trump since his election in November 2016.
Trump has called journalists “the enemy of the American people.” He uses the term “fake news” to cast doubt on news reports critical of his administration, often without providing evidence to support his case.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in August the Trump administration was considering requiring journalists to reveal their sources amid Trump’s push to stop leaks to the press.
Streep, Hanks
Starring Meryl Streep as the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as late editor Ben Bradlee, The Post is seen by awards watchers as a front-runner for next year’s Oscars.
The film dramatizes the decisions by The New York Times and The Washington Post to publish the top-secret Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War in the face of injunctions by the Nixon administration in a battle that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Spielberg said that before making the film he was “really depressed about what was happening in the world and the country.”
After getting the script in February, “suddenly my entire outlook on the future brightened overnight,” he said.
The Post was shot in June and opens in U.S. movie theaters on December 22.
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The fashion industry urgently needs to reform its wasteful, polluting ways, British designer Stella McCartney and record-breaking sailor Ellen MacArthur said Tuesday.
With global clothing sales doubling since 2000, people now wear each item far fewer times, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said, calling for items ranging from T-shirts to jeans to be designed differently and reused more.
The charity, established in 2010, has pioneered the shift toward a “circular economy” in which raw materials and products are repeatedly reused to reduce waste and pollution.
“In a new textiles economy, clothes would be designed to last longer, be worn more and be easily rented or resold and recycled, and would not release toxins or pollution,” it said.
The fashion industry is worth about $2.4 trillion a year, according to the global consultancy McKinsey.
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is wasted every second, and less than 1 percent of clothing is recycled into new clothes, MacArthur’s foundation said in a report.
If nothing changes, the fashion industry will consume a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050, it said, referring to the emissions the world can make while keeping the global temperature rise at no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
‘Take-make-dispose’
Fashion must abandon its “take-make-dispose” model, where unwanted clothes are sent to landfill sites or incinerated, and start using nonpolluting materials that are designed to last and could save the industry $500 billion, it said.
“The report presents a road map for us to create better businesses and a better environment,” McCartney, a longtime vegetarian who does not use leather or fur, and daughter of the Beatle musician Paul McCartney, said in a statement.
“It provides solutions to an industry that is incredibly wasteful and harmful to the environment.”
Textile production emits 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases annually, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, the report said.
Clothes also release half a million tons of plastic microfibers into the ocean every year, equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles, it said.
Several major brands said they support the initiative, including Swedish fashion retailer H&M and sports giant Nike.
“[It] is aligned with our efforts in making sure that economic and social development can happen in a way that the planet can afford,” H&M Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson said in a statement.
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Sensing change in his native Uzbekistan, Hikmat Abdurahmonov plans to build a 10-story office block and open a consultancy firm oriented towards foreign trade. In neighboring Kazakhstan, banker Umut Shayakhmetova is considering an Uzbek subsidiary.
“There is hope in the air,” she says.
Their plans, commonplace in many countries, are striking because Uzbekistan, as Shayakhmetova puts it, is “starting from zero.”
Until the death last year of former president Islam Karimov, it was one of the world’s most isolated states. Karimov, who came to power in communist times, kept an iron grip on the economy and politics and mistrusted both Russia and the West.
Since then, foreign delegations have been beating a path to the capital Tashkent, drawn by the potential of the Central Asian country’s oil and gas and vast cotton crop as well as areas such as car and food production, machinery and chemicals.
They also have political concerns: Uzbeks from a long-oppressed Muslim population have been arrested for attacks on civilians in New York, Istanbul, Stockholm and St. Petersburg this year that killed at least 65 people and wounded many more.
Top-down political system
Karimov’s successor, his longtime prime minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has maintained the top-down political system while starting tentative reforms to an economy that had failed to create jobs, fueling discontent.
In August, the country said it would abolish, in 2019, the exit visa system that prevented Uzbeks leaving without official permission, easing the path of millions of migrant workers whose remittances, mostly from Russia, are a vital source of income.
A month later it stopped sending students, teachers and medical workers to harvest cotton after a global boycott campaign, and scrapped most of the capital controls that had bolstered state reserves but stifled trade and investment.
For Abdurahmonov, 36, who has run property, trade, finance and other businesses and lived in the United States, Britain, China and Singapore, the currency reform means he can focus on making money instead of tracking it down in an opaque system.
“I think you can feel it in the air how the atmosphere is really changing,” he said in an interview at his three-story, loft-style office building on the eastern outskirts of Tashkent.
“People are planning new businesses, you can see a lot of start-ups coming (to us).”
‘Serious’
While Abdurahmonov’s company leases out office space, arranges foreign trade deals and provides other services for local entrepreneurs, Shayakhmetova is chief executive of Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s biggest lender by assets.
“I have had meetings with high-level officials and I have the impression they are serious (about reforms),” she said in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial center. “We are studying the market and talking to the regulator to see what their plans are.”
Shayakhmetova said the bank, which has assets of $26 billion and units in Russia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, could set up a subsidiary in Tashkent in a year and a half.
The World Bank named Uzbekistan one of its top 10 improvers this year for ease of doing business, citing reforms in starting a business, construction permits, protection for minority investors, tax payments and electricity supplies.
Ranked 74 out of 190 countries, it was slightly ahead of China and Ukraine but well below Russia, which is 35th.
“Our next target is quite ambitious — we want to be in the top 20 by 2025,” Azim Akhmedkhodjaev, head of the state investments committee, said, citing a draft “Investment Code” to replace more than a hundred separate laws and regulations.
The country has not tackled the more complex and potentially painful restructuring of large state enterprises, however, or joined the World Trade Organization, and is among states perceived as most corrupt, according to watchdog Transparency International, which ranks it 156 of 176.
Ordinary Uzbeks have yet to feel the full benefits of the foreign exchange liberalization, still unable to buy foreign currency in cash except on the illegal black market.
Global outreach, Russian focus
So far this decade, Russia, China and South Korea accounted for around two-thirds of investment, with most, last year, going into oil and gas, followed by chemicals and logistics.
Akhmedkhodjaev said the country had attracted $4.2 billion so far this year, including $3.7 billion in direct investment or FDI, compared with $1.9 billion in FDI in the whole of 2016.
According to World Bank data issued before Akhmedkhodjaev spoke to reporters this month, FDI inflows fell to $67 million in 2016. He did not comment on the discrepancy.
The drop followed high-profile disputes with investors such as Britain’s Oxus Gold and Russian mobile phone operator MTS and a drop off in Chinese investment once a gas pipeline was built.
This year, France’s Peugeot announced a joint venture and Turkish firm Gentes Yapi ve Endustry Tesisleri Ltd. Sti signed a deal to build a large logistics facility.
That marked an easing of ties strained by Turkey granting asylum to a leading Uzbek opposition figure, although he and others have yet to return because, while some critics have been freed from jail, others have been detained.
Akhmedkhodjaev listed United States, Germany and Japan among investors this year, a reflection of the president’s global outreach, while the main inflow, almost a billion dollars, was expected to come from Russian energy giant LUKOIL.
Mirziyoyev has described Russia as a strategic partner, and Russian central bank data shows $2.7 billion in money transfers from Russia to Uzbekistan last year.
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Indigenous groups in Paraguay, battling to protect their ancestral lands from expanding agriculture and cattle ranching, launched the first online map of their territory Tuesday.
Paraguay’s beef and soy export industries are the main drivers of deforestation in the fast-growing South American nation, often coming into conflict with some 120,000 indigenous people, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI), a think tank.
The online platform and map, Tierras Indigenas, was built by Paraguay’s Federation for the Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples (FAPI), and so far 13 of the country’s 19 indigenous peoples have contributed to it, Washington-based WRI said.
The communities, who largely rely on the water, food, medicine and shelter from forests to survive, hope the map will help businesses and government to work out whether their activities are on legally recognized indigenous lands.
“Private companies and banks, for example, will now be able to use this tool to assess land ownership and rights prior to conducting business in these areas,” said WRI, which provided technical support to create the map.
A growing number of indigenous groups around the world are using data, drones and apps to formally map their lands, forests and water sources to better monitor and protect them.
Tierras Indigenas allows users to see where an indigenous group has legally recognized land, its size, the number of families living there, and if a forest is in a protected area.
WRI hopes the geographic data can help to avoid conflict over land rights and tenure, and reduce deforestation through monitoring and timely alerts.
“[The map] makes it less likely these lands will be dispossessed and converted into export-oriented commodity agriculture,” Ryan Sarsfield, an expert on supply chain risk in Latin America with WRI, told Reuters. “The next step is to ensure that these maps are visible and available publicly so they can be used in decision-making processes in which indigenous people have often been excluded.”
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Serbia began work on a China-funded railway line on Tuesday to try to improve the Balkan country’s infrastructure, an effort also expected to strengthen Beijing’s influence in Europe.
In May Serbia borrowed $297.6 million from China’s Exim Bank to modernize a stretch of the railway line between Belgrade and the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
Beijing sees Serbia, an EU membership candidate and Hungary, an EU member, as part of its One Belt, One Road initiative, intended to open new foreign trade links for Chinese firms.
The high-speed rail link between Belgrade and Budapest is expected to cost 3.2 billion euros ($3.80 billion) and is slated to become the main transport route for Chinese goods that arrive by sea at the Greek port of Piraeus to other parts of Europe.
At the construction site in Belgrade’s Zemun neighborhood, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the 30km-long (18.6 miles) stretch of the railway line from Belgrade to the northern town of Stara Pazova is a key step forward.
“This project … is the first cross-border project within the 16+1 framework, … it is the first project between China and EU, involving Serbia,” she said.
Earlier on Tuesday, at the 16+1 summit of Central and Eastern European countries and China, Brnabic met her Chinese and Hungarian counterparts Li Keqiang and Viktor Orban and discussed further cooperation.
Serbia has enjoyed good relations with China since the 1990s, when Belgrade was economically isolated for its role in the Yugoslav wars.
On Monday, Hungary also invited a procurement tender for a modernized railway link with Belgrade. The construction of the Hungarian stretch, worth around 550 billion forints ($2.1 billion), is expected to start in 2020, with China’s Exim Bank providing 85 percent credit coverage.
($1 = 261.4100 forints)
($1 = 0.8413 euros)
Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by William Maclean.
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Meghan Markle became an advocate for women when she was an 11-year-old elementary school student, and achieving gender equality remains a driving force for the fiancée of Britain’s Prince Harry and self-described “feminist.”
Since 2014, the American actress has helped put a global spotlight on the need for equality between women and men as an “Advocate for Political Participation and Leadership” for the women’s agency of the United Nations.
In her role for UN Women, Markle spent time at the World Bank and with the team of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learning more about the issue. She also visited Rwanda, which has the highest percentage of women in parliament and where she also met with female refugees.
UN Women said in a statement after Monday’s announcement of Markle’s engagement to Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson that it “trusts and hopes that in her new and important public role she will continue to use her visibility and voice to support the advancement of gender equality.”
Markle spoke about her accidental road to becoming an advocate at a star-studded celebration in March 2015 for the 20th anniversary of the Beijing women’s conference that adopted a roadmap to achieve equality for women, which is the framework for UN Women’s activities.
Her opening words drew loud applause and cheers: “I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.”
Markle recalled that around the time of the 1995 Beijing conference she was in school in Los Angeles watching television and saw a commercial for a dishwashing liquid with the tagline: “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.”
“Two boys from my class said, ‘Yeah. That’s where women belong – in the kitchen,'” she said.
“I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt. It just wasn’t right, and something needed to be done,” Markle said.
When she went home, she told her dad, who encouraged her to write letters.
“My 11-year-old self worked out that if I really wanted someone to hear, well then I should write a letter to the first lady. So off I went scribbling away to our first lady at the time, Hillary Clinton,” Markle said.
She also wrote to her main news source, Linda Ellerbee, who hosted a kids news program, as well as to “powerhouse attorney” Gloria Allred and to the manufacturer of the dishwashing soap.
To her surprise, she said, after a few weeks she received letters of encouragement from Clinton, Allred and Ellerbee, who even sent a camera crew to her house to cover the story.
“It was roughly a month later when the soap manufacturer, Proctor and Gamble, changed the commercial for their Ivory Clear Dishwashing Liquid … from ‘Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans’ to “People all over America …’,” Markle said.
“It was at that moment that I realized the magnitude of my actions,” she said. “At the age of 11, I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality.”
Markle said that for her, equality means that Rwandan President Paul Kagame is equal to the little girl in the refugee camp who dreams of being president and the U.N. secretary-general is equal to the U.N. intern who dreams of shaking his hand.
And “it means that a wife is equal to her husband, a sister to her brother – not better, not worse. They are equal,” she said.
UN Women has set 2030 “as the expiration date for gender inequality,” Markle said, but even though women comprise more than half the world’s population, their voices still go unheard “at the highest levels of decision-making.”
Markle called for programs to mobilize girls and women “to see their value as leaders” and for support to ensure they have seats at the top table. And when those seats aren’t available, “then they need to create their own table,” she said to loud applause.
Markle also said Rwanda’s Kagame, who has championed women in parliament, should be a role model, “just as we need more men like my father, who championed my 11-year-old self to stand up for what is right.”
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After Hurricane Maria damaged tens of thousands of homes in Puerto Rico, a newly created Florida company with an unproven record won more than $30 million in contracts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs.
Bronze Star LLC never delivered those urgently needed supplies, which even months later remain in demand by hurricane victims on the island.
FEMA eventually terminated the contracts, without paying any money, and re-started the process this month to supply more tarps for the island. The earlier effort took nearly four weeks from the day FEMA awarded the contracts to Bronze Star and the day it canceled them.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans remain homeless, and many complain that the federal government is taking too long to install tarps. The U.S. territory has been hit by severe rainstorms in recent weeks that have caused widespread flooding.
It is not clear how thoroughly FEMA investigated Bronze Star or its ability to fulfill the contracts. Formed by two brothers in August, Bronze Star had never before won a government contract or delivered tarps or plastic sheeting. The address listed for the business is a single-family home in a residential subdivision in St. Cloud, Florida.
One of the brothers, Kayon Jones, said manufacturers he contacted before bidding on the contracts assured him they could provide the tarps but later said they could not meet the government’s requirements. Jones said supplying the materials was problematic because most of the raw materials came out of Houston, which was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. He said he sought a waiver from FEMA to allow him to order tarps from a Chinese manufacturer and for more time, but FEMA denied the request.
Contracts canceled
FEMA canceled the contracts Nov. 6, Jones said. The government notified his brother and him a few days later that it would seek $9.3 million in damages unless they signed a waiver releasing the U.S. from any liability. The brothers agreed.
“We were trying to help; it wasn’t about making money or anything like that,” Jones said.
FEMA awarded the company two contracts Oct. 10 to provide 500,000 tarps and 60,000 rolls of plastic sheeting. More than a half dozen others also bid, but FEMA said it could not provide details about their bids.
“The award of a government contract to a company with absolutely no experience in producing the materials sought obviously raises very bright red flags,” said Dan Feldman, professor of public management at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York. “I would hope and assume that the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security would begin immediately to take a very hard look at this process.”
A FEMA spokesman, Ron Roth, said the agency’s review process was “somewhat expedited” after Hurricane Maria to respond as quickly as possible to the emergency. But he said the agency did perform its due diligence.
Highest-rated submission
“Submissions from potential contractors are objectively evaluated, and a contract is awarded based on the highest-rated submission,” Roth said.
Such “best value” competitive solicitations take into account past performance and a contractor’s ability to deliver as well as price, said Alan Miller, an attorney who spent 22-years advising federal contracting officials until retiring last year.
“In every circumstance, regardless of the award, whether it’s $400 to the local stationery company for envelopes, or it’s $400 million for a construction contract, the contracting officer is required to make a responsibility determination,” Miller said. “Does this company have the infrastructure; do they have the inventory processes, the production processes, the financial capability, for performing the work?”
Nine bids were received on the first contract for plastic sheeting and eight bids on the second contract for tarps. Roth said Star was determined to be the most qualified.
“FEMA’s initial technical evaluation determined Bronze Star could do the jobs based on their proposals, which confirmed that they could meet the product specifications and delivery dates,” he said.
Served in Navy
Kayon Jones, the co-owner of Bronze Star, served in the U.S. Navy from 1997 to 2000, finishing his duty as a seaman storekeeper on the USS Gettysburg, a guided missile cruiser. The contract solicitation gave preference to veteran-owned companies. According to Navy records, Jones was never awarded a Bronze Star, a medal earned by service members who serve heroically in combat.
In an interview, Jones told The Associated Press he picked the name because he has another company with the word star in it. He said his brother, who is also listed on state incorporation documents for the business, served in the Army and is disabled. Army records show Jones’ brother also didn’t receive a Bronze Star, and it provided no evidence of a service-related injury. Richard Jones did not respond to multiple calls and requests through his brother for comment.
“My brother and I, we are both veterans, so we just came up with a name to do business,” Kayon Jones said. “We’re not saying we have a Bronze Star or anything.”
The day after FEMA canceled the Bronze Star contract, it awarded a contract to OSC Solutions Inc. for plastic sheeting for Hurricane Maria victims. The West Palm Beach, Florida-based company has roughly two decades of federal contracting experience and has produced such supplies multiple times.
The FEMA spokesman, Roth, acknowledged the contract problems delayed delivery of tarps to Puerto Rico but said anyone who needs a tarp should now be able to get one.
‘Blue Roof’ program
More than 93,000 tarps have been sent to distribution centers on the island and now are available to cover homes, Roth said. The Army Corps of Engineers’ “Blue Roof” program has provided 11,000 more reinforced tarps installed on homes by contractors.
To date, roughly $88 million in federal money has been awarded to four contractors, including Bronze Star, for tents and tarps, records show. The rescinded contracts with Bronze Star account for 35 percent of the total.
Michael Byrne, Puerto Rico’s FEMA coordination officer, estimated that at least 60,000 blue roofs are needed across the island. About 350 are installed each day, though he said that is expected to increase.
“One of the limiting factors is the availability of the material,” Byrne said.
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Thirteen things worth noting about Tuesday’s nominations for the 2018 Grammy Awards:
THIS IS NOT #OSCARSSOWHITE
The Recording Academy is ensuring black or Latino artists will win big at the show next year: only three white acts are nominated in the top four categories.
Black and Latino artists often lose in the top categories, including album of the year and song of the year. This year, those categories are dominated by Jay-Z, Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino, Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Kendrick Lamar.
Lorde is the only white nominee for album of the year, while Bieber is the only white nominee for record of the year (for his appearance on “Despacito”). Bieber is nominated again for song of the year, where singer-songwriter Julia Michaels is nominated. Michaels is also the only white nominee in best new artist.
ROCK `N’ NO
Rock and country acts were shut out of the top four categories of the Grammys, though they have won those top honors in the past.
Two country artists were nominated for best new artist at the 2017 Grammys, and the 2016 show featured a country and rock act nominated for album of the year with Chris Stapleton and Alabama Shakes.
LONG LIVE THE DEAD
Actress Carrie Fisher and singers Leonard Cohen, Chris Cornell, Glen Campbell and Gregg Allman are among the deceased nominees.
Cohen, who died last year, is up for best rock performance, where Cornell is a nominee, and best American Roots performance, where Campbell is nominated. Allman also scored two nods, including best Americana album and best American Roots song.
Fisher is nominated for best spoken word album, pitting her against Bruce Springsteen.
Linkin Park, which lost its lead singer Chester Bennington, surprisingly didn’t earn a nomination.
MAYBE NEXT YEAR
Katy Perry has scored Grammy nominations consecutively from 2009 to 2015, but this year marks the first album from Perry’s catalog not to receive a nomination. “Witness” was released in June and underperformed compared to her previous releases. Though she has yet to win a Grammy, she’s earned 13 career nominations.
Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus and John Mayer also released albums eligible for nominations but didn’t score any.
DJ Khaled, who had a No. 1 album and hit songs this year, didn’t earn a single nomination. J. Cole and Future were also shut out of the rap categories.
Ed Sheeran was snubbed in the top three categories, though he earned nominations for best pop vocal album and best pop solo performance.
Sam Hunt, who set a record for the longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart with “Body Like a Back Road,” wasn’t nominated for song or record of the year. He earned nominations for best country song and best country solo performance, though.
Miranda Lambert’s double album, “The Weight of These Wings,” was snubbed in best country album and album of the year. And though Taylor Swift received two nods, including one for writing a country song, she didn’t receive nominations in song of the year, record of the year and best pop solo performance for her No. 1 hit, “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Grammy favorites Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and John Legend all were shut out of the R&B categories.
CARDI B: THE GRAMMY NOMINEE
Stripper-turned-reality-star-turned-rapper Cardi B is now a Grammy nominee.
The former “Love & Hip Hop” cast member, who had a No. 1 pop hit this year with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” is nominated for best rap song and best rap performance.
Female rappers are well-represented this year: Rapsody, who appeared on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” is nominated for best rap album and best rap song.
TIK TOK: IT IS KESHA’S TIME
Despite a plethora of pop hits, Kesha had never earned a Grammy nomination — until now.
The singer, who this year released her first album in five years, has been at war with former mentor and producer Dr. Luke, claiming he drugged, sexually abused and psychologically tormented her. Dr. Luke denies the allegations.
“Rainbow,” nominated for best pop vocal album, marks the first time Kesha has created music commercially without Dr. Luke.
Kesha is also nominated for best pop solo performance for the piano tune “Praying,” which includes the lyrics “no more monsters, I can breathe again.”
FUNNILY ENOUGH
Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman and Jim Gaffigan are nominated for best comedy album.
FAMOUS FACES
Two-time Grammy winner Lin-Manuel Miranda is nominated twice this year for his work on the “Moana” soundtrack.
Seth MacFarlane is up for best traditional pop vocal album, where he will compete against Bob Dylan. Bernie Sanders and Mark Ruffalo share a nomination for best spoken word album.
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name is attached to the Grammys: Though he’s not nominated, Randy Newman’s satirical ode to him, titled “Putin,” earned a nomination.
STILL ROCKING `N’ ROLLING
Despite being one of the most celebrated acts in music history, The Rolling Stones have only won two Grammy Awards.
The veteran act is nominated this year for best traditional blues album for “Blue & Lonesome.”
PHARRELL: THE GRAMMY PHAVORITE
Pharrell didn’t release a new album, but he’s nominated for three awards.
He’s up for best R&B song for co-writing SZA’s “Supermodel” and earned two nods for his work on the “Hidden Figures” soundtrack.
OH LORDE
Though she earned an album of the year nomination for her sophomore effort, “Melodrama,” Lorde didn’t earn any other nominations at the Grammys. Most album of the year nominees also earn nods in their genre categories, which would be best pop vocal album for Lorde. She also was shut out of best pop solo performance.
ROCKERS WHO POP
Rock band Imagine Dragons, favorites on pop radio, earned nominations for best pop duo/group performance and best pop vocal album.
In the latter category, Coldplay is also a nominee, surprising for a five-song EP.
Alternative rock group Portugal. The Man, who had a huge pop hit this year with “Feel It Still,” is nominated for best pop duo/group performance.
LA LA LAND
Composer Justin Hurwitz, who won two Oscars this year, is nominated for four Grammys thanks to his work on “La La Land.”
Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — who both won the best original song Oscar for “City of Stars” with Hurwitz — are nominated for two Grammys: one for “La La Land” and another for best musical theater album for the Tony Award-winning musical, “Dear Evan Hansen.” Due to low submissions, the best musical theater album category only includes three nominees (“Hello, Dolly!” and “Come From Away”).
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