Month: January 2018

Team USA Parade Uniforms Include Touch of American Frontier

Polo Ralph Lauren unveiled Team USA’s Olympic parade uniforms Monday and social media haters can leave the ugly sweater jokes back in Sochi.

Roundly mocked in 2014 for a chaotic, patchwork cardigan sweater, the brand went classic red, white and blue this time around for the opening ceremony and white for the closing parade of athletes in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Both have a cozy bit of technology built in to keep athletes extra warm. 

Athletes will be treated to stretchy skinny jeans and a far less busily designed sweater for opening, with a stretch knit pant – think structured sweat pant – for closing. The jeans have moto-inspired seaming. Accessories include a navy wool ski hat and USA-themed navy bandanna. On the athletes’ feet will be brown suede mountaineering boots with red laces for the outdoor opening.

And then there are the gloves. They’re more Ralph than Ralph himself, a Western style in suede with fringe in rawhide brown and decorated in hand-beaded Olympic rings and an American flag. They’re lined in white and fit over the wrists. Warm, yes. Yee haw! Lasso not included.

David Lauren, the youngest son of the brand’s namesake and the company’s chief innovation officer, was proud of the technology for the tri-colored parkas in mostly navy blue and the bombers for the end of the Winter Games.

In a process developed exclusively for the brand, the heating system is made of electronic printed conductive inks in silver and black in the shape of an America flag and bonded to the interior backs of the jackets, he said. Athletes can control basic settings using their cellphones for up to five hours of heat on high and up to 11 hours on low, fully charged.

A limited number were released for sale to fans and were selling quickly, Lauren said. All garments are American made.

The brand has been the official outfitter of the U.S. Olympic Committee and Team USA since 2008. The uniforms will also be worn by the Paralympic Games teams. 

“Every season we learn from the athletes,” Lauren said. “We work very closely with them, where we find out what makes them comfortable as they’re walking out on this amazing stage in front of the entire world.”

The story Lauren is trying to tell this time around is a celebration of the past, he said, “so we have gloves inspired by the frontier movement, we have jeans that celebrate another era of American entrepreneurship and jackets that heat up, which show that America is continuing to evolve.”

The jacket technology displays the temperature inside the garment to help the athletes decide on settings. 

The company was looking to display a boldness in the looks this year. It was about comfort, however, as opposed to playing into the tumultuous politics of the last year.

And what does Lauren say to critics who have poked fun in the past? 

“We’re very proud to work with Team USA,” he said. “This year we’re excited to say that most of the outfits have already sold out.”

Enthusiasts can buy pieces online and in a handful of Ralph Lauren stores around the country, including a customizable ski hat, Lauren said. A portion of proceeds will be donated to athletes’ training.

The uniforms were modeled in a Polo Ralph Lauren store in downtown Manhattan by sister-brother, Lauren-sponsored ice dancing team Maia and Alex Shibutani. 

“The jacket is going to be perfect for the cold weather,” Alex said. “We love the jacket especially.”

Maia was impressed by the stretch in the jeans. 

“I’m going to be wearing these all the time, definitely.”

And those gloves?

“There’s some nice detailing,” Alex offered. “There’s ‘Polo’ right there on the side.”

more

New Radiation Cancer Treatment Machine for Uganda

Uganda’s cancer patients can finally breathe a sigh of relief after the country got a new cobalt-60 radiation treatment machine. But, health officials say this may not be enough because of an ever increasing number of cancer cases in the country. Halima Athumani reports for VOA from Kampala.

more

Virtual Reality Tech Makes Gaming a Full Body Experience

There’s little doubt that virtual reality is likely to be the future of video gaming. Now, a Russian company in Moscow is pushing the limits of the technology with a game changing VR experience. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

more

US Auto Parts Firms Urge NAFTA Compromise to Cover Engineering Work

A trade group representing U.S. auto parts makers on Monday urged the Trump administration to adopt NAFTA automotive rules that cover research, engineering, design and software development work as part of North American regional value content goals.

The proposal from the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) was sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as a sixth round of negotiations to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement began in Montreal.

U.S. demands for sweeping changes to automotive content rules are among the most contentious issues in the NAFTA talks, including a requirement that half the value of all North American vehicles come from the United States and a far higher content requirement of 85 percent from North America.

Canada and Mexico have said the U.S. targets are unworkable, but have not responded with counter-proposals.

They are expected to do so at the Montreal talks ending Jan 29. Lack of progress in bridging the gap on autos could jeopardize the negotiations and increase the chances that President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to seek a U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA.

The U.S. auto industry, including MEMA and trade groups representing Detroit and foreign-brand automakers, have largely sided with Canada and Mexico in arguing that the U.S. proposals would hurt the industry’s competitiveness.

The MEMA letter to Lighthizer makes no mention of the proposed U.S. and regional content targets, and focuses instead on recommendations that its members believe will help retain and grow automotive jobs in the United States.

“We think it lines up very well with the president’s initiatives and his stated goals for NAFTA and other free trade agreements,” Ann Wilson, MEMA’s senior vice president of government affairs, told Reuters. “What we have been trying to do is find other ways of getting to the president’s objectives without getting to a 50 percent domestic requirement.”

Counting the well-paid engineering, design, research and software development as part of a vehicle’s value content would provide an incentive for companies to retain jobs doing this work now largely done in the United States.

The proposal also urges the Trump administration to preserve “tariff-shifting” for automotive parts as a means to retain the higher value-added work being done on sophisticated automotive electronics and other systems.

Currently, companies that import components and materials into North America and convert them into automotive parts can “shift,” or apply, NAFTA tariff-free benefits to such inputs.

For example, off-the-shelf electronics parts from Asia such as lidar and radar units, cameras, sensors and circuit boards currently gain this benefit as they are assembled into vehicle crash avoidance systems. Steel tubing converted to fuel injectors also can gain such benefits.

But the current USTR autos proposal would require that virtually all components be subject to a “tracing list” to verify their North American origin so they can count toward regional value targets.

The tracing list would be expanded to steel, glass, plastic resins and other materials, under the proposal.

Industry executives have argued that these requirements are likely to push auto and parts companies to source more products outside the region and simply pay the low 2.5 percent U.S. tariffs on many parts.

MEMA also urged Lighthizer to negotiate an agreement that provides incentives to U.S. companies to train and expand the U.S. workforce, as parts companies struggle to fill open positions amid rising retirements. The group also urged that aftermarket parts be subject to the same NAFTA rules as original equipment parts.

more

China Invites Latin America to Take Part in ‘One Belt, One Road’

China invited Latin American and Caribbean countries to join its “One Belt, One Road” initiative on Monday, as part of an agreement to deepen economic and political cooperation in a region where U.S. influence is historically strong.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the region was a natural fit for the initiative, which China has leveraged to deepen economic and financial cooperation with developing nations.

“China will always stay committed to the path of peaceful development and the win-win strategy of opening up and stands ready to share development dividends with all countries,” Wang said at a meeting between China and 33 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

Representatives from China and CELAC signed a broad agreement to expand ties in the second time China has met with CELAC – a bloc formed in Venezuela in 2011 that does not include the United States or Canada.

Though it had few specific details, the agreement is part of an evolving and more aggressive Chinese foreign policy in Latin America as the United States, under President Donald Trump, has taken a more protectionist stance.

The “One Belt, One Road” initiative, proposed in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, promotes expanding links between Asia, Africa and Europe, with billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

Wang emphasized projects to improve connectivity between land and sea, and cited the need to jointly build “logistic, electricity and information pathways.”

The so-called Santiago declaration, signed by China and CELAC delegates, also calls for bolstering trade and taking action on climate change.

Chile Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz, who has criticized Trump in the past, said the agreement marked an “historic” new era of dialogue between the region and China.

“China said something that is very important, that it wants to be our must trustworthy partner in Latin America and the Caribbean and we greatly value that,” said Munoz. “This meeting represents a categoric repudiation of protectionism and unilateralism.”

China has sought a bigger role overseas since Trump was elected, presenting its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade agreement as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the United States has abandoned.

The country is already testing U.S. dominance in Latin America, offering the region $250 billion in investment over the next decade. It is the top trading partner of many countries in the region, including Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

Still, Wang played down the idea of a race for influence.

“It has nothing to do with geopolitical competition. It follows the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration,” Wang said in his remarks. “It is nothing like a zero sum game.”

In recent years, Chinese companies have moved away from merely buying Latin American raw materials and are diversifying into sectors such as auto manufacturing, e-commerce and even

technology businesses such as car-hailing services.

“Our relations with China are very broad, this (CELAC) is one more pathway for Brazil to work with China. Together we identified more areas of cooperation,” said Brazil’s Vice Foreign Minister Marcos Galvao.

more

After 90-year Wait, Minnie Mouse Gets Her Hollywood Moment

She waited 90 years and saw a trail of men and Disney princesses get there before her, but on Monday Minnie Mouse finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Minnie Mouse made her movie debut in the 1928 film “Steamboat Willie,” and her co-star and beau Mickey Mouse got his bronze plaque on Hollywood Boulevard back in 1978.

But it took another 40 years for Minnie, who appeared in more than 70 animated movies, to join him on the Walk of Fame.

“In true Hollywood fashion, she delivered a memorable performance but Mickey got all the credit,” Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger said at the ceremony unveiling the 2,627th star.

“After 90 years in show business, it’s certainly about time you got your star,” Iger said.

Minnie has been celebrated as a fashion icon, pop culture staple and a character who brings joy to children worldwide, and an actor dressed as the cartoon character waved and batted her eyelashes throughout Monday’s ceremony.

“This is the best day ever. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she squeaked from the red and white polka dot stage.

Pop star Katy Perry, also dressed in red and white polka dots for the occasion, said she had been a fan of Minnie since the age of two or three.

“Minnie-and-Mickey-printed diapers – that was my first memory ever and it turned into a lifelong devotion,” the “Firework” singer said.

“No one rocks a bow, or the color red, quite like her,” Perry added.

Walk of Fame honorees are selected by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Women have stepped up their campaign in recent years for equal pay in Hollywood and better representation behind and in front of the camera.

It took Minnie much longer than her boyfriend to receive Monday’s accolade because Disney only nominated her last year, Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Maybe he was more popular back in the day,” Martinez said.

Donald Duck, Tinker Bell, Snow White and other Disney characters were immortalized on the Walk of Fame before Minnie.

more

Neil Diamond Retires From Touring, Says He Has Parkinson’s Disease

U.S. singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, one of pop music’s all-time best-selling artists, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and plans to retire from touring, his official website said on Monday.

The onset of the disease has made it difficult for him to travel and perform on a large-scale, a statement on the site said, adding he will be cancelling upcoming concert dates in Australia and New Zealand and offering refunds.

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring. I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years,” Diamond said in the statement, offering apologies to those who purchased tickets to his upcoming shows.

Diamond, known for hits including “Sweet Caroline” and “Cracklin’ Rosie,” said he plans to remain active in song writing and recording.

Later this week, Diamond will turn 77 and on Sunday the Recording Academy plans to honor him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Diamond has sold more than 130 million albums worldwide and 38 of his singles have made it to the Top 40, according to the academy.

Grammy-award winner Diamond, a fixture in American pop music since he began recording in the 1960s, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“My thanks goes out to my loyal and devoted audiences around the world. You will always have my appreciation for your support and encouragement,” Diamond said.

“This ride has been — so good, so good, so good — thanks to you,” he said.

more

‘Hobbit’ Director Peter Jackson Making WWI Documentary

“The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson is going from Middle Earth to the Western Front, transforming grainy black-and-white footage of World War I into 3-D color for a new documentary film.

 

Jackson’s movie, announced Monday, is among dozens of artworks commissioned by British cultural bodies to commemorate 100 years since the final year of the 1914-18 war.

 

The New Zealand-based director of “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” series has restored film from the Imperial War Museum using cutting-edge digital technology and hand coloring, pairing it with archive audio recollections from veterans of the conflict.

 

He said the aim is to close the 100-year time gap and show “what it was like to fight in the war.”

 

“We all know what First World War footage looks like,” Jackson said in comments broadcast Monday. “It’s sped-up, it’s fast, like Charlie Chaplin, grainy, jumpy, scratchy, and it immediately blocks you from actually connecting with the events on screen.”

 

“But the results we have got are absolutely unbelievable. They are way beyond what I expected. This footage looks like it was shot in the last week or two, with high definition cameras,” he added.

 

The film will premiere during the London Film Festival in October before being broadcast on BBC television. Every school in the U.K. will also receive a copy.

 

The film is part of the government-backed 14-18 Now project, which has presented works by more than 200 artists over four years to remember a conflict in which 20 million people died.

 

Other works premiering this year include a large-scale performance piece by South African artist William Kentridge about African porters who served in the war; processions to mark the 100th anniversary of some British women winning the right to vote; and a performance celebrating wartime homing pigeons that includes birds fitted with LED lights.

 

“Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle — who helmed the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony — will create a mass-participation work to be performed on the anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918, armistice that ended the war.

more

Social Media Has Mixed Effect on Democracies, Says Facebook

Facebook took a hard look in the mirror with a post Monday questioning the impact of social media on democracies worldwide and saying it has a “moral duty” to understand how it is being used.

Over the past 18 months, the company has faced growing criticism for its limited understanding of how misinformation campaigns and governments are using its service to suppress democracy and make people afraid to speak out.

“I wish I could guarantee that the positives are destined to outweigh the negatives, but I can’t,” wrote Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook’s product manager of civic engagement.

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Facebook has been looking more critically at how it is being used. Some of what it found raises questions about company’s long-standing position that social media is a force for good in people’s lives.

In December, in a post titled “Is Spending Time on Social Media Bad for Us?” the company wrote about its potential negative effects on people.

The self-criticism campaign extended to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s personal goals. Each year he publicly resolves to reach one personal goal, which in the past included learning Mandarin, reading more books and running a mile every day.

This year, Zuckerberg said his goal is to fix some of the tough issues facing Facebook, including “defending against interference by nation states.”

Foreign Interference

During the 2016 U.S. election, Russian-based organizations were able to reach 126 million people in the U.S. with 80,000 posts, essentially using social media as “an information weapon,” wrote Chakrabarti. The company made a series of changes to make politics on its site more transparent, he wrote.

False News

Facebook is trying to combat misinformation campaigns by making it easier to report fake news and to provide more context to the news sources people see on Facebook.

“Even with these countermeasures, the battle will never end,” Chakrabarti wrote.

One of the harder problems to tackle, he said, are so-called “filter bubbles,” people only seeing news and opinion pieces from one point of view. Critics say some social media sites show people only stories they are likely to agree with, which polarizes public opinion.

One obvious solution – showing people the opposite point of view – doesn’t necessarily work, he wrote. Seeing contrarian articles makes people dig in even more to their point of view and create more polarizations, according to many social scientists, Chakrabarti said.

A different approach is showing people additional articles related to the one they are reading.

Reaction to Facebook’s introspection was mixed with some praising the company for looking at its blind spots. But not everyone applauded.

“Facebook is seriously asking this question years too late,” tweeted Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

more

WHO: Brazil’s Death Toll From Yellow Fever Triples

The number of confirmed cases of yellow fever outbreak in Brazil has tripled in recent weeks, with 20 deaths since July, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Of 35 confirmed cases, 20 were in Sao Paulo state, which includes South America’s largest city, Sao Paulo. Earlier this month, a case of the disease was confirmed in the Netherlands for a traveler who had recently been in that state.

The WHO recommended last week that foreign travelers get vaccinated before visiting.

But Brazil’s Health Ministry has said the recommendation, coming just weeks before Carnival, a holiday event in which tens of thousands of tourists descend on Brazil, would not cause it to change its advisory that only travelers going to rural areas be vaccinated.

Last week, Brazilians lined up for hours to get yellow fever vaccinations in the country’s largest states, alarmed by the increase in the number of fatal cases of infection and a warning from the WHO to tourists visiting parts of the country.

Yellow fever is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes in tropical regions and is still a major killer in Africa. It had largely been brought under control in the Americas.

The first sign that the fever was back in Brazil was the death last year of hundreds of monkeys in the Atlantic rain forest in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo and Sao Paulo.

more

EU Mulls New Link Between Budget, Civic Rights

The EU’s justice commissioner is working on a proposal that could oblige member states such as Poland, which has clashed with Brussels over reforms to its courts, to pass tests on the independence of their judicial systems before receiving funding.

Vera Jourova said there was agreement within the executive European Commission to work on ideas to encourage strong judiciaries in planning for the new budget from 2021.

“One way could be to insist that independent justice systems are necessary for effective control of the use of EU funds,” she said. “I would like to propose that link.”

Seven-year budget plan

A Commission spokesman said on Monday the work by Jourova was part of broader preparations for a new, seven-year EU budget plan, due to be published in May, and was in line with policy outlines the EU executive has put forward since last year.

The remarks by Jourova, the Commission’s Czech member, come as the EU executive is challenging Poland, a major recipient of Union funds, to amend judicial reforms which Brussels says will hurt democracy and its oversight of EU trading rules.

Facing the prospect of filling a hole left in the budget by Britain’s exit from the EU, and irritated by Poland and other governments in the ex-communist east on a range of issues, some wealthy Western governments have pushed for a clearer link between getting subsidies and abiding by EU standards.

Warning for Poland

The German commissioner in charge of the budget, Guenther Oettinger, warned Poland this month that it could lose some of its 7 billion euros annual funding if it fails to heed Brussels’ complaints about undermining the rule of law.

More broadly, Jourova is also hoping for a review of EU policy on judicial standards in the second half of this year. EU officials say that might, for example, include regular reviews of the performance of national justice systems, along the lines of existing biennial reviews of government economic policies, which are meant to promote “convergence” toward EU-wide goals.

‘Cohesion’ policy

As a former national official handling the regional funding that is a key part of EU efforts to bring poor regions closer to the prosperity of others, Jourova stressed that she saw any new rules applying to all EU funding for all states, not just to so-called “cohesion” policy. She also said it should not be seen as a punitive measure but designed to encourage good practice.

She also said discussion on the proposals could be used to help simplify some of the hurdles to applying for EU funds.

Any Commission proposal seen as too radical by governments risk being killed off by member states. 

 

 

more

ILO: Global Unemployment Rate Stabilizing

The global unemployment rate is stabilizing after years in a slump due to a faltering economy, the International Labor Organization reports in “World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2018.”

However, unemployment — which the ILO says stands at more than 192 million people globally — is expected remain persistently high in many parts of the world.

The ILO reports that unemployment in wealthier countries is expected to drop to 5.5 percent this year, the lowest rate since 2007.

The labor situation has improved in emerging and developing economies, as well. However, the report warns that employment growth in these countries will not keep pace with the increased numbers of people entering the labor market.

ILO Director-General Guy Ryder expressed concern that low-quality employment is on the rise. He says nearly 1.4 billion people are in vulnerable jobs, meaning they work in difficult conditions for low wages with little security, and that three out of four workers in developing countries are holding down such jobs.

“Very much more effort needs to be made to improve the quality of jobs,” he said. “Despite the uptick in economic and employment growth, which is welcome, working conditions are failing to improve for a very large share of the global workforce. In addition, the projected employment growth in the service sector can be expected to make only a limited contribution to the improvement of job quality.” 

The report notes that working poverty — defined as having income below the poverty line — is falling in emerging countries, but in developing nations, progress in this area is too slow to keep up with the expanding labor force. It says the number of people living in extreme poverty — at less than $3 a day — is expected to remain at more than 114 million for the coming years.

The report’s authors say the gender gap remains wide, with women more likely to have lower-quality jobs and lower salaries than men.

more

NAFTA’s Fate Uncertain Ahead of Montreal Round of Talks

The NAFTA trade agreement’s future hangs in the balance this week as negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico try to settle major differences over revamping a pact that President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon.

Senior officials from the three nations will meet in Montreal for a week starting on Tuesday in the sixth and penultimate round of talks to modernize the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump, who entered office last year pledging to undo what he described as disastrous trade deals, has portrayed NAFTA as grossly unfair to the United States and its workers.

Canada and Mexico, which initially dismissed most of Washington’s demands as unworkable, now say there is room to maneuver. But that still may not be enough to satisfy Trump and impatient U.S. officials.

U.S. threats to walk away from NAFTA, which underpins much of the more than $1 trillion in annual trilateral trade among the three nations, have put markets on edge. The talks are supposed to wrap up by the end of March to avoid clashing with Mexico’s general elections in July.

Trump, who blames NAFTA for killing off hundreds of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs and says it has led to a large U.S. trade deficit with Mexico, tweeted last Thursday that “NAFTA is a bad joke!”

Over the last 10 days the Republican president has generated confusion by indicating that he might extend the deadline for talks while saying that walking away from the table would be the best idea.

A council advising Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on NAFTA has concluded that Washington is most likely to announce that it wants out of the pact. It met with Freeland, who says a positive result is still quite possible, last week.

“There is still a shred of optimism, but I have to say the consensus around the room … felt like it’s not if, it’s when he’s going to pull the plug,” Rona Ambrose, a council member and former Canadian minister, told CTV television.

Canadian Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne stressed that Ottawa will not compromise its economic interests.

“Canada will not accept proposals that would be harmful to our economy and to Canadians,” he said in a speech in Montreal on Monday.

Nevertheless, a large majority of economists polled by Reuters are betting the treaty will be renegotiated successfully with only marginal changes.

Freeland met Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo in Toronto on Monday to iron out details of the negotiations, and they agreed it will be critical to tackle some of the most complicated issues, Mexico’s Economy Ministry said in a statement.

Cautious Optimism

Canada and Mexico initially said they would not even discuss U.S. demands to set minimum levels of North American content for the auto sector, a clause that would terminate the deal if it is not renegotiated every five years, and to end the so-called Chapter 19 dispute mechanism.

Sources close to the talks say Canada and Mexico will now be more flexible on the auto content and dispute resolution issues.

“We have got areas we are going to fight for, obviously, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be creative, nimble, clever,” said one Canadian source familiar with Ottawa’s strategy.

“There can be very strong lines (in the sand) … it’s not to say you don’t talk around them. Sometimes you find creative ways without necessarily compromising,” said the source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

In Mexico, some of the pessimism palpable in late December has given way to cautious optimism that progress towards a deal is possible in Montreal if the Trump administration is prepared to give ground on its toughest proposals.

Jaime Zabludovsky, one of the Mexican negotiators of the original NAFTA accord and an adviser to the private sector on the current talks, said the negotiations in Montreal would be a decisive test of the countries’ ability to make progress.

“I think we’re at a make-or-break moment,” he said in an interview.

One Mexican source familiar with the process said he expected further talks through March and mentioned the possibility that final discussions could, if necessary, be postponed until after the Mexican elections.

more

Heat-not-burn Cigarette Alternative Faces US Scrutiny

A device that heats tobacco without burning it reduces some of the harmful chemicals in traditional cigarettes, but government scientists say it’s unclear if that translates into lower rates of disease for smokers who switch.

U.S. regulators published a mixed review Monday of the closely watched cigarette alternative from Philip Morris International. The company hopes to market the electronic device as the first “reduced-risk” tobacco product ever sanctioned by the U.S. government.

Philip Morris’ pen-like device, called iQOS, is already sold in more than 30 countries, including Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom. But Philip Morris and its U.S. partner, Altria, need the permission of the Food and Drug Administration to sell it in the U.S.

iQOS heats strips of Marlboro-branded tobacco but stops short of burning them, producing a tobacco vapor that includes nicotine. This is different from e-cigarettes, which don’t use tobacco at all but instead vaporize liquid usually containing nicotine. Nicotine is what makes cigarettes addictive.

Philip Morris believes its product is closer to the taste and experience of traditional cigarettes, making it more attractive to smokers and reducing their contact with tar and other toxic byproducts of burning cigarettes.

Company scientists will present their studies and marketing plan to a panel of FDA advisers this week. The panel’s recommendation, expected Thursday, is non-binding: The FDA will make the ultimate decision on the device later this year.

A green light from FDA would mark a major milestone in efforts by both the industry and government to provide less harmful tobacco products to smokers who can’t or won’t quit cigarettes. Despite decades of tax hikes, smoking bans and campaigns, about 15 percent of U.S. adults smoke.

The FDA review paints a mixed picture of the potential benefits of the iQOS “heat-not-burn” approach.

Levels of certain harmful chemicals were between 55 and 99 percent lower in the vapor produced by iQOS than in cigarette smoke. But animal and laboratory studies submitted by the company also suggested the chemicals could still be toxic and contribute to precancerous growths. A company study in mice could help clarify the cancer risk, but the FDA said the results would not be available until later this year.

FDA requirements

Under a 2009 law, the FDA gained authority to regulate a number of aspects of the tobacco industry. The same law allows the agency to scientifically review and permit sales of new products shown to be less dangerous than what’s currently available. But the FDA has not yet allowed any company to advertise a “reduced-risk” tobacco product.

To meet FDA requirements, a company must show that the product will improve the health of individual users and the overall population. Additionally, the product should not appeal to non-smokers or interfere with smokers looking to quit.

The FDA review said some non-smokers, including young people, would likely experiment with iQOS. Reviewers also questioned if smokers would completely switch to iQOS from cigarettes. In company studies, less than 20 percent of U.S. users switched completely to iQOS over six weeks.

Philip Morris and other global tobacco companies are diversifying their products beyond traditional cigarettes, making investments in e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and chewable tobacco pouches, among other alternatives. While cigarettes remain enormously profitable, the global market continues to contract amid worldwide campaigns to discourage smoking.

The FDA itself has signaled its intention to begin pushing U.S. consumers away from traditional cigarettes toward alternative products. As part of the effort, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wants to drastically cut nicotine levels in traditional cigarettes to help smokers quit.

more

Amazon Opens Store With No Cashiers, Lines or Registers

No cashiers, no lines, no registers — this is how Amazon sees the future of in-store shopping.

The online retailer opened its Amazon Go concept store to the public Monday, selling milk, potato chips and other items typically found at a convenience shop. Amazon employees have been testing the store, which is at the bottom floor of the company’s Seattle headquarters, for about a year.

The public opening is another sign that Amazon is serious about expanding its physical presence. It has opened more than a dozen bookstores, taken over space in some Kohl’s department stores and bought Whole Foods last year, giving it 470 grocery stores.

But Amazon Go is unlike its other stores. Shoppers enter by scanning the Amazon Go smartphone app at a turnstile. When they pull an item of the shelf, it’s added to their virtual cart. If the item is placed back on the shelf, it is removed from the virtual cart. Shoppers are charged when they leave the store.

The company says it uses computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors to figure out what people are grabbing off its store shelves.

Amazon says families can shop together with just one phone scanning everyone in. Anything they grab from the shelf will also be added to the tab of the person who signed them in. But don’t help out strangers: Amazon warns that grabbing an item from the shelf for someone else means you’ll be charged for it.

At about 1,800 square feet, the store will also sell ready-to-eat breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Items from the Whole Foods 365 brand are also stocked, such as cookies, popcorn and dried fruit.

The company had announced the Amazon Go store in December 2016 and said it would open by early 2017, but it delayed the debut while it worked on the technology and company employees tested it out.

more

Facebook Should Pay ‘Trusted’ News Publishers Carriage Fee: Murdoch

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch on Monday called on Facebook to pay “trusted” news publishers a carriage fee, similar to the model used by cable companies, amid efforts by the social media company to fight misinformation on its platform.

“Facebook and Google have popularized scurrilous news sources through algorithms that are profitable for these platforms but inherently unreliable,” Murdoch, who controls the Wall Street Journal as executive chairman of News Corp., said in a statement.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday his company would fight misinformation and sensationalism on its platform by using member surveys to identify “trustworthy” outlets.

“There has been much discussion about subscription models but I have yet to see a proposal that truly recognizes the investment in and the social value of professional journalism,” Murdoch said.

The quality of news on Facebook has been called into question after alleged Russian operatives and spammers spread false reports on the site, including during the 2016 U.S. election campaign.

Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

more

Blood Test to Detect 8 Cancers Early Gives Promising Results

 Scientists are reporting progress on a blood test to detect many types of cancer at an early stage, including some of the most deadly ones that lack screening tools now. 

Many groups are working on liquid biopsy tests, which look for DNA and other things that tumors shed into blood, to try to find cancer before it spreads, when chances of cure are best. 

In a study Thursday in the journal Science, Johns Hopkins University scientists looked to see how well their experimental test detected cancer in people already known to have the disease. The blood tests found about 70 percent of eight common types of cancer in the 1,005 patients. The rates varied depending on the type — lower for breast tumors but high for ovarian, liver and pancreatic ones. 

In many cases, the test narrowed the possible origin of the cancer to one or two places, such as colon or lung, important for limiting how much follow-up testing a patient might need. It gave only seven false alarms when tried on 812 others without cancer.

The test is nowhere near ready for use yet; it needs to be validated in a larger study already underway in a general population, rather than cancer patients, to see if it truly works and helps save lives — the best measure of a screening test’s value.

“We’re very, very excited and see this as a first step,” said Nickolas Papadopoulos, one of the Hopkins study leaders. “But we don’t want people calling up” and asking for the test now, because it’s not available, he said.

Some independent experts saw great promise.

“It’s such a good first set of results” that it gives hope this approach will pan out, said Dr. Peter Bach, a health policy expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who consults for a gene testing company. “Anything close to 50 percent or 40 percent detection is pretty exciting stuff,” and this one did better than that, he said.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, was encouraged that the test did well on cancers that lack screening tests now. If a blood test could find 98 percent of ovarian cancers at an early stage, as these early results suggest, “that would be a significant advance,” he said.

But he cautioned: “We have a long way to go to demonstrate its effectiveness as a screening test.”

Testing the test

The test detects mutations in 16 genes tied to cancer and measures eight proteins that often are elevated when cancer is present.

It covers breast, colon and lung and five kinds that don’t have screening tests for people at average risk: ovarian, liver, stomach, pancreatic and esophageal. Prostate cancer is not included. A blood test already is widely used — the PSA test — but its value for screening is controversial.   

Researchers tried the new test on people whose cancers were still confined to where it started or had spread a little but not widely throughout the body. It detected 33 percent of breast cancers, about 60 percent of colon or lung cancers and nearly all of the ovarian and liver ones.  It did better when tumors were larger or had spread. It did less well at the very earliest stage. 

Caveats and next steps

The test probably will not work as well when tested in a general population rather than those already known to have cancer, researchers say. Hopkins and Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania have started a study of it in 10,000 Geisinger patients who will be tracked for at least five years. 

The work was financed by many foundations, the Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which provides The Associated Press with funding for health and science coverage. Many study leaders have financial ties to gene testing companies, and some get royalties for patents on cancer detection methods.

Researchers say the test could cost around $500 based on current materials and methods, but the ultimate goal is to commercialize it, so what a company would charge is unknown.  

Other liquid biopsy news

Also this week, Taiwan-based CellMax Life gave results on its liquid biopsy test, which looks for whole tumor cells shed into blood, at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.

Researchers tested 620 people getting colonoscopies or with confirmed colon cancer at a hospital in Taiwan. The company said its test had an overall accuracy of 84 to 88 percent for detecting cancer or precancerous growths and a false alarm rate around 3 percent.

The company’s chief executive, Atul Sharan, said U.S. studies should start this year. The test is sold now in Taiwan for $500, but should cost around $150 in the U.S., he said.

Dr. Richard Schilsky, chief medical officer of the oncology society, said results are encouraging, but the test needs more study, especially to see if it gives too many false alarms.

“The last thing you’d want is a test that tells you you might have cancer if you don’t,” he said.

 

                  

more

Jesmyn Ward, Masha Gessen Among Nominees for Book Critics Awards

Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, winner of the National Book Award for fiction, is now a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle prize.

Other finalists announced Monday include Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West for fiction, Roxane Gay’s Hunger for autobiography and Masha Gessen’s The Future is History, winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction. The celebrated author-journalist John McPhee will receive a lifetime achievement award and Carmen Maria Machado, author of the story collection Her Body and Other Parties, will be honored for best debut book. The author-critic Charles Finch will receive a citation for “excellence in reviewing.”

The critics circle chose five nominees in each of six competitive categories: fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, biography, poetry and criticism. Winners will be announced March 15.

Fiction nominees besides Ward’s haunting story of family and race in the American South include Hamid’s best-selling tale of young lovers who become refugees, Exit West; Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour; Joan Silber’s Improvement and Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, her first novel since winning the Booker Prize in 1997 for The God of Small of Things.

Besides Gessen, nonfiction nominees were Jack E. Davis for Gulf: The Making of An American Sea, Frances FitzGerald for The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America, Kapka Kassabova for Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe and Adam Rutherford for A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes.

In biography, the finalists were Caroline Fraser’s Prairie Fires, Edmund Gordon’s The Invention of Angela Carter: A Biography, Howard Markel’s The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek, William Taubman’s Gorbachev: His Life and Times and Kenneth Whyte’s Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times.

Autobiography finalists besides Gay’s Hunger were Thi Bui’s An Illustrated Memoir, Henry Marsh’s Admissions: Life as a Brain Surgeon, Ludmilla Petrushevskay’s The Girl from the Metropol Hotel: Growing Up in Communist Russia and Xiaolu Guo’s Nine Continents: A Memoir In and Out of China.

In poetry, the nominees were Nuar Alsadir for Fourth Person Singular, James Longenbach for Earthling, Layli Long Soldier for Whereas, Frank Ormsby for The Darkness of Snow and Ana Ristovic for Directions for Use.

Edwidge Danticat, a prize-winning novelist and memoir writer, is a finalist in criticism for The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story. The poet Kevin Young is also a criticism nominee for Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News. The others cited were Carina Chocano for You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages, Camille T. Dungy for Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History and Valeria Luiselli for Tell Me How it Ends.

The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, is comprised of around 1,000 critics and book review editors.

more