Young people come from around the world to work in Silicon Valley, California. As these workers build a life away from home, many struggle with how to bring their aging parents to their new community. But what happens to foreign parents entering their later years in a new country? VOA’s Deana Mitchell visits a unique community in Silicon Valley that caters to retirees from India.
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Month: December 2017
British Finance Minister Philip Hammond said Saturday it is likely Britain will want to negotiate a bespoke arrangement for a future trade deal with the European Union, rather than copying existing arrangements like the Canada-EU deal.
The European Union agreed Friday to move Brexit talks onto trade and a transition pact, but some leaders cautioned that the final year of divorce negotiations before Britain’s exit could be fraught with peril.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk said the world’s biggest trading bloc would begin “exploratory contacts” with Britain on what London wants in a future trade relationship, as well as starting discussion on the immediate post-Brexit transition.
No off-the-shelf deal
Speaking in Beijing, Hammond it was probably not helpful to think in terms of off-the-shelf models like the Canada-EU deal.
“We have a level of trade and commercial integration with the EU 27 which is unlike the situation of any trade partner that the EU has ever done a trade deal with before,” he told reporters.
“And therefore it is likely that we will want to negotiate specific arrangements, bespoke arrangements,” Hammond added.
“So I expect that we will develop something that is neither the Canada model nor an EEA model, but something which draws on the strength of our existing relationship.”
The Brexit negotiations have been a vexed issue for the global economy as markets feared prolonged uncertainty would hit global trade and growth.
A transition period is now seen as crucial for investors and businesses who worry that a “cliff-edge” Brexit would disrupt trade flows and sow chaos through financial markets.
China visit
Hammond’s China visit is the latest installment in long-running economic talks between the two states, but it has now taken on new importance for Britain as it looks to re-invent itself as a global trading nation after leaving the EU in 2019.
China is one of the countries Britain hopes to sign a free trade agreement with once it leaves the EU, and London and Beijing have been keen to show that Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc will not affect ties.
Hammond sought to offer reassurance to Chinese firms post-March 2019 when Britain formally leaves the EU.
“We won’t technically or legally be in the customs union or in the single market, but we’re committed as a result of the agreement we’ve made this week to creating an environment which will effectively replicate the current status quo,” he said.
Addressing the press after Hammond had spoken, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Shi Yaobin said China hopes Britain and the EU can reach a win-win agreement.
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The biggest holiday of the season is in full swing, and holiday decor provides an important background for all the festivities. Cities, public buildings and most private homes are made ornate with Christmas trees, lights, bows, menorahs, Santas and other holiday figures. Some are now preparing for New Year’s Eve as well. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports on the new decor trends that are competing with the traditional, but lights are essential during the long winter nights.
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A Los Angeles-based company claims it is turning people’s bad habits into good ones with a range of vape-able vitamin supplements. But medical experts say there are no studies yet that show inhaling nutrients is any better than taking vitamin pills or simply eating right. Faith Lapidus reports.
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It’s a winter wonderland near Washington this holiday season, as it has been for nine years. It’s an exhibit called ICE!, and to it took more than 2 million pounds of ice to create sculptures that fill a huge indoor park. VOA’s Eunjung Cho reports.
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It’s one of the country’s first branches of law enforcement. Founded in 1791 by George Washington, the U.S. Park Police oversee all federal parks, but only a few officers get to work like the country’s first president … on horseback. Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington.
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President Donald Trump’s mining regulators are reconsidering rules meant to protect underground miners from breathing coal and rock dust — the cause of black lung — and diesel exhaust, which can cause cancer. An advocate for coal miners said Friday that this sends a “very bad signal.”
The Mine Safety and Health Administration has asked for public comments on whether standards “could be improved or made more effective or less burdensome by accommodating advances in technology, innovative techniques, or less costly methods.”
Some “requirements that could be streamlined or replaced in frequency” involve coal and rock dust. Others address diesel exhaust, which can have health impacts ranging from headaches and nausea to respiratory disease and cancer.
“Because of the carcinogenic health risk to miners from exposure to diesel exhaust, MSHA is requesting information on approaches that would improve control of diesel particulate matter and diesel exhaust,” the agency said.
Regulatory, deregulatory agenda
The Trump administration has said many federal regulations, including pollution restrictions, have depressed the coal industry and other sectors of the economy.
“President Trump made clear the progress his administration is making in bringing common sense to regulations that hold back job creation and prosperity,” Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said Thursday in releasing his agency’s regulatory and deregulatory agenda. “The Department of Labor will continue to protect American workers’ interests while limiting the burdens of over-regulation.”
The notices on coal dust and underground diesel exhaust had few details. Both were described as “pre-rule stage.”
MSHA in 2014 had promised to conduct a retrospective study of the new dust rule, spokeswoman Amy Louviere said Friday. The current notice seeks comments on that and also on whether existing standards and regulations could be made more effective or less burdensome, she said.
“I think it’s a very bad signal for coal miners that MSHA is wanting to revisit the issue of coal dust and rock dust as well as diesel exhaust,” said attorney Tony Oppegard, who represents miners in safety cases. “I don’t think the Trump administration has coal miners’ best interests at heart. They’re aligned with coal mine operators as opposed to miners, and the only reasons they would want to reopen these rules or revisit these rules are to weaken them.”
Obama-era rules
The Obama administration, through a lengthy rulemaking process, lowered the allowable limit for miners’ dust exposure three years ago, Oppegard said. The industry and its mine operators opposed that for years, he said.
At the National Mining Association, which represents mine operators, spokesman Luke Popovich said Friday they believe a review of the dust-exposure rule “might shed valuable information on … ways it might be improved to provide further protection for miners while eliminating unnecessary implementation requirements for operators.”
David Zatezalo, a retired West Virginia coal mining executive chosen by Trump to head MSHA, said at his November confirmation hearing that the U.S. industry is safer and healthier than ever before. He said progress is needed, including technology for real-time monitoring of silica dust blamed for a virulent variation of the black lung disease that has afflicted even some younger coal miners.
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A federal judge in Philadelphia on Friday ordered the Trump administration not to enforce new rules that could significantly reduce women’s access to free birth control.
Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued the injunction, temporarily stopping the government from enforcing the policy change to former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
The law required most companies to cover birth control at no additional cost, though it included exemptions for religious organizations.
The new policy would allow more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing free contraception to women by claiming religious objections. It would allow any company that is not publicly traded to deny coverage on moral grounds.
Health care rollback
Beetlestone, appointed to the bench by Obama, called the Trump administration’s exemptions “sweeping” and said they are the “proverbial exception that swallows the rule.”
She was particularly critical of the power to object on moral grounds, saying it “conjured up a world where a government entity is empowered to impose its own version of morality on each one of us. That cannot be right.”
Attorneys for the Trump administration had argued in court documents that the rules are about “protecting a narrow class of sincere religious and moral objectors from being forced to facilitate practices that conflict with their beliefs.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the new policy in October. It marked another step in the Trump administration’s rollback of the Affordable Care Act, and supporters say it promotes religious freedom.
Pennsylvania case
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said that Trump broke the law to undermine women’s health and that the ruling will protect women.
“This is just the first step, but today is a critical victory for millions of women and families and for the rule of law,” Shapiro said.
The injunction will block the rule from being implemented around the country while the case brought by Shapiro moves forward in Pennsylvania. Shapiro’s suit said the rules violate the Fifth Amendment because they pertain to women and not men, and the First Amendment, by putting employers’ religious beliefs over the constitutional rights of women.
Other states sue
California, Washington and Massachusetts have also sued the Trump administration over the rules. Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia joined California in its effort.
A federal judge in Oakland, California, heard arguments Tuesday on the state’s request to block the new rules and is expected to issue a ruling in that case soon.
Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, praised the decision and said the group will continue to fight against the rules.
“Employers’ religious beliefs should never determine the care a woman receives,” she said.
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France gave the world butter croissants and foie gras, yet it has often been a place where being overweight was seen as almost sinful.
Now, after taking a hard look at the contradictions in the mirror, its capital has launched a campaign to counter sizeism, an often disregarded kind of discrimination in the image-conscious city known for luxury fashion brands and tiny waists.
Paris anti-discrimination chief Helene Bidard began the initiative after falling victim to weight-related insults and noticing how bias against French people who are overweight went unnoticed, never mind unpunished.
“We see fat people as ugly and even stupid, lacking hygiene and in bad health,” Bidard said.
Anti-discrimination campaign
As part of its annual week devoted to raising awareness about discrimination, Paris on Friday unveiled its “Fatphobia, stop! Taking action together” campaign with a plus-size fashion show and panels featuring bloggers from the “body positive” movement. Fifty thousand leaflets with legal advice and helpline numbers are set to be distributed at sports centers, night clubs, swimming pools and bistros.
The effort, which is aimed at countering both casual and institutionalized discrimination, comes amid rising obesity rates in France. The National Institute of Health and Medical Research reported that nearly 16 percent of the adult population was obese last year, compared to 6 percent in 1980. But thinness ideals persist.
“There’s this French paradox where you’re supposed to eat foie gras, but you’re not supposed to get fat,” said curvy French blogger Daria Marx.
Marx said that while a 2011 French law prohibits job discrimination based on physical appearance, employers often get around it by prioritizing job applications that contain candidates’ photos.
Calling it “discrimination,” she cited research that concluded that fat people are 15 times less likely to be called back for interviews if they include their photos.
Doctors also can deny in vitro fertilization to women who are deemed overweight.
Fashtion houses respond
To challenge the images of small-sized beauty propagated by fashion houses such Paris-based Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Dior, organizers of Friday’s event put on a big-is-beautiful runway show with plus-size clothes specially made by designers such as Ewa Minge.
“In France, it’s very difficult (to buy clothes.) I only shop on the internet” or shops in London, Marx said.
French luxury giants recently woke up to the potential dangers of encouraging excessive thinness. Since Oct 1, French fashion conglomerates LVMH and Kering stopped hiring excessively thin models and now require models to provide medical certificates to prove they are healthy before they can work. The companies said they hoped to set a new global standard for the fashion industry.
The move garnered praise at Paris Fashion Week, including during the show for the collection by Stella McCartney, whose house is owned by Kering.
“The community in fashion needs to look after these young women … whether that be their emotional health, their mental health or their physical health,” McCartney told The Associated Press.
The French law initially included a minimum body mass index requirement, but it was removed after lawmakers deemed the doctor’s certificate an adequate safeguard.
Though discrimination against fat people is a real documented problem in France — a book about growing up fat in France entitled “You’re Not Born Fat” became an unexpected sensation — some remain skeptical.
“There is no problem of sizeism in Paris,” image consultant Emery Dolige said. “Does eating well make you fat? No. On the contrary. Our American friends often demonstrate that.”
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After weeks of quarrels and qualms and then 11th-hour horse-trading, Republicans revealed their huge national tax rewrite late Friday, along with announcements of support that all but guarantee approval next week.
The legislation would slash tax rates for big business and lower levies on the richest Americans in a massive $1.5 trillion bill that the GOP plans to pass through Congress before the year-end break. Benefits for most other taxpayers would be smaller.
“This is happening. Tax reform under Republican control of Washington is happening,” House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin told rank-and-file members in a conference call. “Most critics out there didn’t think it could happen. … And now we’re on the doorstep of something truly historic.”
According to the 1,097-page bill, today’s 35 percent rate on corporations would fall to 21 percent, the crown jewel of the measure for many Republicans. Trump and GOP leaders had set 20 percent as their goal, but added a point to free money for other tax cuts that won over wavering lawmakers in final talks.
Party’s first achievement of 2017
The legislation represents the first major legislative achievement for the GOP after nearly a full year in control of Congress and the White House. It’s the widest-ranging reshaping of the tax code in three decades and is expected to add to the nation’s $20 trillion debt. The debt is expected to soar by at least $1 trillion more than it would without the tax measure, according to projections.
Support is now expected from all Senate Republicans, ensuring narrow approval. Democrats are expected to oppose the legislation unanimously.
“Under this bill, the working class, middle class and upper middle class get skewered while the rich and wealthy corporations make out like bandits,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “It is just the opposite of what America needs, and Republicans will rue the day they pass this.”
The bill would drop today’s 39.6 percent top rate on individuals to 37 percent. The standard deduction, used by about two-thirds of households, would be nearly doubled.
Those who itemize their taxes face mixed results. The $1,000-per-child tax deduction would grow to $2,000. The bill makes a smaller amount — $1,400 — available to families even if they owe no income tax. The money would come in the form of a tax refund, which is why it’s called a “refundable” tax credit. In an earlier verison of the bill, the amount was $1,000.
But the deduction that millions use in connection with state and local income, property and sales taxes would be capped at $10,000. Deductions for medical expenses that lawmakers once considered eliminating would be retained.
Only on Friday did Republicans cement support for the major overhaul, securing endorsements from wavering senators.
Rubio, Corker relent
Marco Rubio of Florida relented in his high-profile opposition after negotiators expanded the child tax credit, and he said he would vote for the measure next week.
Rubio had been holding out for a bigger child tax credit for low-income families. After he got it, he tweeted that the change was “a solid step toward broader reforms which are both Pro-Growth and Pro-Worker.”
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the only Republican to vote against the Senate version earlier this month, made the surprise announcement that he would back the legislation. Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has repeatedly warned that the nation’s growing debt is the most serious threat to national security.
Although he deemed the bill far from perfect, he said it was a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
“I realize this is a bet on our country’s enterprising spirit, and that is a bet I am willing to make,” Corker said.
Members of a House-Senate conference committee signed the final version of the legislation Friday, sending it to the two chambers for final passage next week. They have been working to blend the different versions passed by the two houses.
Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, including two ailing senators who have missed votes this past week.
John McCain of Arizona, 81, is at a Washington-area military hospital being treated for the side effects of brain cancer treatment, and Thad Cochran, 80, of Mississippi had a non-melanoma lesion removed from his nose earlier this week. GOP leaders are hopeful they will be available next week.
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With nearly 2 billion users, Facebook’s survival depends on people continuing to use its service.
That’s why observers were surprised by an unusual company blog post Friday that highlighted some of the potential harm of using the social media service.
Titled Hard Questions: Is Spending Time on Social Media Bad for Us?,
the company cited studies that suggested some of the possible downsides of using social media.
In one study, people who passively read about others’ lives reported feeling worse about themselves. One possibility is “negative social comparison” when reading about others online, the company said, because “people’s posts are often more curated and flattering” than how they are in their real, offline lives.
But there’s a potential solution, according to Facebook, which reported $10 billion in revenue — its highest ever — in the last quarter: Don’t be a bystander to others’ lives. Use Facebook more and with friends and family.
Facebook users who spend more time on Facebook — actually post and interact with close friends — experienced more positive effects, according to a company study conducted with Carnegie Mellon University.
“Simply broadcasting status updates wasn’t enough,” the post said. “People had to interact one-on-one with others in their network.”
New features
The Facebook post came as some former top executives have spoken about Facebook’s potential negative effects on society and individuals. Facebook exploits a “vulnerability in human psychology,” Sean Parker, Facebook’s founding president, said recently.
To aid in supporting people’s well-being while using its service, the company recently tweaked its News Feed — what people see when they sign on — to promote friendships and demote what the firm called “clickbait headlines.”
Also, it launched a new feature called “Snooze” that lets a user hide a person, Facebook page or group for 30 days without having to “unfollow.” It gives a Facebook user more control of what he or she sees, the company said.
Effects on kids
The company acknowledged that people are worried about the short- and long-term effects of Facebook use on young people. It pledged $1 million toward research to “better understand the relationship between media technologies, youth development and well-being.”
Observers praised the company for acknowledging that using social media may have unintended, negative consequences, but noted that it was unusual for a corporation, one that typically presents itself as a force for good, to point out some of the risks of using its service.
One unanswered question is whether Facebook with new features and tweaks can offset potential negative effects.
Or will people put a Snooze button on Facebook?
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What makes a film a holiday landmark? Not so much religious subject matter as much as its appeal for the whole family and audiences of all ages. This year, three high-budget films, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the political thriller The Post and the musical The Greatest Showman, fit the bill.
The new Star Wars installment is one of the most highly anticipated film extravaganzas of the year. It begins with a desperate standoff of the forces of the Resistance against the First Order. Even if Star Wars is not your religion, this visually powerful sci-fi flick offers massive sets, complex characters and, most important, a twist of events centered on the battle of good versus evil.
Daisy Ridley reprises the role of Rey, one of the key characters of the Resistance, who finds Luke Skywalker on a remote island and uncovers the powers of the Jedi warrior. Ridley said that what attracted her to this story was the martial arts-type of fighting. She said the Jedi was reminiscent of the samurai and that warrior’s code of ethics.
As Rey discovers her powers she grapples with her purpose in the battle between the Rebels and First Order. Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, the brooding, charismatic antihero and prospective leader of the Order, is also facing inner conflict.
Ultimately, ‘a family story’
As the main heroes reckon with who they are, margins between good and evil are blurred. And if the philosophically charged plot does not satisfy you, something else in this film will, said Daisey Ridley. “Ultimately, it is a family story,” she said. “But then, some people prefer the ships. Some people prefer the creatures. I hope there is much that will please a lot of people in The Last Jedi.”
Mark Hamill, who reprises the much-anticipated role of Luke Skywaker, was overwhelmed by the scope of the film’s production. “I’m telling you, I’ve never been on a set that opulent in my life, plus 150 extras in exotic makeup and prosthetics,” he said. “They spared no expense!”
The cast is equally expansive, including first-generation cast members such as the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa and Hamill. It would not be an exaggeration to say that newcomer filmmaker Rian Johnson has created the most riveting yet Star Wars episode, with a thought-provoking tale, stellar performances, great ensemble cast and a plot that is emotionally satisfying without being cliched.
The battle scenes are enhanced by the tightly paced drama and powerful cinematography. Naturally, the glorious sets and costumes help.
“I hope audiences come out of the theater wanting to run into their backyard, grab their Star Wars toys and start flying spaceships around. I hope it just feels like a great Star Wars movie, a fun Star Wars movie that takes you back to being 10 years old again,” the filmmaker said.
Political thriller
Another big holiday movie focuses on a real-life political story that rocked America in the ’70s.
The Post, a critically acclaimed docudrama by Steven Spielberg, tells the story of how The Washington Post newspaper, at great risk, published excerpts of top-secret government documents describing the war in Vietnam as a lost cause and revealing that the U.S. government had lied about the extent of its involvement in the war in Indochina.
“It showed that we were fighting an illegal war. An unwinnable war. And yet we fought on,” Spielberg said.
Meryl Streep has already received critical acclaim for her role as Washington Post publisher and socialite Katharine Graham, and Tom Hanks interprets the paper’s prominent executive editor, Ben Bradlee.
The two offer a dynamic performance showcasing their often-contentious relationship as they argue over whether to publish excerpts of the secret documents, known as the Pentagon Papers — a move that could have destroyed the paper and everyone who worked for it.
This is a highly entertaining, tightly paced political drama that will appeal not only to fans of political thrillers who may reminisce about Alan J. Pakula’s iconic All the President’s Men, but also to many who may find the ’70s political scene in the U.S. nation’s capital eerily relevant to today as they listen to Hanks as Bradlee retort, “What will happen if we don’t publish? We will lose. The whole country will lose!”
Barnum’s spectacle
And from the musical film genre, Hugh Jackman takes center stage as The Greatest Showman. The film by Michael Gracey is based on the real life of showman P.T. Barnum who founded was was originally called Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth.
Jackman plays the legendary Barnum as he rises from obscurity, recruits marginalized people with peculiar talents and creates a spectacular variety troupe. Michelle Williams plays Barnum’s wife, Charity Barnum.
The film, a great spectacle of its own this yuletide season, delivers a message of acceptance for those who, no matter how different or odd they may look, exude a spark of genius. As P.T. Barnum says in the film, “No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”
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What makes a film fit for the holidays? Not so much a religious subject as an appeal to the whole family and audiences of all ages. This year, three high-budget films, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the political thriller “The Post” and the musical “The Greatest Showman,” fit the bill. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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Two titans of U.S. business have come together to demand that Congress find an immediate solution for DACA recipients, whose legal immigration status will come to an end in March without intervention.
Charles Koch, chairman and chief executive of Koch Industries, and Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday in The Washington Post that “we strongly agree that Congress must act before the end of the year to bring certainty and security to the lives of dreamers. Delay is not an option. Too many people’s futures hang in the balance.”
Dreamers is another term for participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has protected undocumented young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and provided them with work permits.
President Donald Trump ended the DACA program in September although it will not begin to phase out until March, 2018.
His action put the ball in Congress’ court to find a long term solution for dreamers.
In their op-ed piece, the two CEOs note that both of their companies employ DACA recipients. “We know from experience that the success of our businesses depends on having employees with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. It fuels creativity, broadens knowledge and helps drive innovation.”
Koch Industries encompass a variety of companies including manufacturing and refining of oil and chemicals. Forbes Magazine lists Koch as the second largest privately held company in the U.S. Apple is the world’s largest information technology company, producing such familiar products as the iPhone and the Mac computers.
‘Firmly aligned’ on DACA issue
Koch and Cook are as different politically as their companies. Deeply conservative, Charles Koch has made significant financial contributions to rightwing causes and mostly Republican candidates. Tim Cook has been more bipartisan in his donations but did host a fundraiser for Democrat Hillary Clinton when she was running for president.
“We are business leaders who sometimes differ on the issues of the day,” the two concede in their piece. “Yet, on a question as straightforward as this one, we are firmly aligned.”
Congress seems unlikely to provide a DACA solution by the end of the year.
While some Democrats have remained firm in linking the spending legislation to a measure that would allow nearly 800,000 DACA immigrants to continue to work and study in the United States, the effort seems to have lost momentum.
Speaking Wednesday to a group of DACA recipients, Democratic Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois said he wished he could “tell you that we’re totally confident we can get it done. I can’t say that. I don’t want to mislead you.” Durbin is a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act which would protect DACA recipients.
Republican lawmakers have maintained that there is no reason to act on DACA in 2017.
“There is no emergency. The president has given us until March to address it,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Sunday on ABC’s This Week program. “I don’t think Democrats would be very smart to say they want to shut down the government over a nonemergency that we can address anytime between now and March.”
But that was said before a major Republican donor urged immediate action.
“We have no illusions about how difficult it can be to get things done in Washington, and we know that people of good faith disagree about aspects of immigration policy,“ Koch and Cook write.
“By acting now to ensure that dreamers can realize their potential by continuing to contribute to our country, Congress can reaffirm this essential American ideal.
“This is a political, economic and moral imperative.”
U.S. attorneys in Utah prosecuting a multimillion-dollar opioid drug-ring are moving quickly to sell seized bitcoin that’s exploded in value to about $8.5 million since the alleged ringleader’s arrest a year ago.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah cites the digital currency’s volatility in court documents pressing for the sale. The bitcoin cache was worth less than $500,000 when Aaron Shamo was arrested on drug charges, but the value of the digital currency has skyrocketed since then.
Bitcoin was created as a digital alternative to the traditional banking system, and is prone to swings in value based on what people believe its worth.
For federal prosecutors in Utah, sales of seized assets like cars are routine, but bitcoin is new territory, spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said Thursday.
Shamo is accused of selling pills containing the powerful opioid fentanyl on the dark web — an area of the internet often used for illegal activity — to thousands of people all over the U.S., at one point raking in $2.8 million in less than a year.
The 500,000-pill bust ranked among the largest of its kind in the country, and authorities also found $1 million of cash stuffed into trash bags.
Shamo has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges.
The proceeds of the bitcoin sale will be held until the case is resolved, and then decisions will be made about where the money goes, Rydalch said. Seized asset sale proceeds usually goes to the agency that investigated, like the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Defense attorney Greg Skordas is not contesting the sale of his client’s bitcoins.
Although there’s no global consensus over the status of bitcoin — debate rages whether the virtual money is an asset or a currency — that hasn’t stopped officials in the U.S. and elsewhere from cashing in on the digital hauls seized from cybercriminals.
In 2014 the U.S. Marshals Service announced the auction of nearly 30,000 bitcoins seized from notorious dark web drug marketplace Silk Road. Other seizures have since netted the American government millions of dollars in a series of sales.
Other governments — from Australia to South Korea — have set up similar auctions over the years.
Associated Press writer Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.
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The German government says it backs an “open and free internet” following the U.S. decision to repeal net neutrality rules.
A spokeswoman for the Economy Ministry said Friday that Germany had “taken note” of the U.S. move but declined to comment directly on it.
However, spokeswoman Beate Baron said the German government supports rules introduced across the European Union last year forbidding discriminatory access to the internet.
Baron told reporters in Berlin that “an open and free internet is indispensable for the successful development of a digital society that everyone wants to take part in.”
The Republican-controlled U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday repealed Obama-era rules requiring all web traffic to be treated equally.
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An ingredient in cannabis called cannabidiol or CBD has shown promise in a clinical trial as a potential new treatment for psychosis, scientists said Friday.
In research involving 88 people with psychosis, a mental disorder characterized by anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations, the scientists found patients treated with CBD had lower levels of psychotic symptoms than those who received a placebo.
They were also more likely to be rated as improved by their psychiatrist, the study found, and there were signs of better cognitive performance and functioning.
The main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. It can induce paranoia and anxiety and other unpleasant psychotic symptoms.
Two ingredients, two effects
But its second major constituent, CBD, has the opposite effects to THC, leading scientists to think it might one day be useful as a treatment in mental health.
Scientists at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience conducted a placebo-controlled trial of CBD in patients with psychosis and published their findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Small trial
In the trial, 88 patients with psychosis received either CBD or placebo for six weeks, alongside their existing antipsychotic medication. Beforehand and afterwards, the scientists assessed symptoms, functioning and cognitive performance, and the patients’ psychiatrists rated their overall condition overall.
“The study indicated that CBD may be effective in psychosis: patients treated with CBD showed a significant reduction in symptoms, and their treating psychiatrists rated them as having improved overall,” said Philip McGuire, who co-led the trial.
He noted that trial patients also reported few adverse side effects, and added: “Although it is still unclear exactly how CBD works, it acts in a different way to antipsychotic medication, and … could represent a new class of treatment.”
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They say young children are like sponges. They soak up information from all around them unconsciously, and build on that core foundation for the rest of their lives. Baba Ras D, a corrections-officer-turned-singer, is a firm believer in the theory. He created a program for children that inspires peace and unity in the community. And the children love him and the program. VOA’s June Soh met him at a performance in Washington.
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