June 2018 | Page 14 of 22

Erdogan Seizes on Growth Figures to Persuade Skeptical Public

By Uponbiz | 06/12/2018 | No Comments | Business

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is campaigning for re-election, seized on the latest Turkish growth figures as a vindication of his economic policies in the face of skepticism from not only voters but international investors of the country’s economic strength.

The economy grew by 7.4 percent in the first quarter, beating expectations. “We continue to be one of the fastest-rowing countries in the world,” Erdogan said at an electoral rally in Istanbul. He also claimed victory against what he called “conspirators” whom he blamed for last month’s heavy falls of the Turkish lira.

In May, the currency fell more than 10 percent as international investors fled the Turkish market over concerns about double-digit inflation and a growing current account deficit. Financial order was only restored by a steep emergency increase in interest rates, which saw the lira recoup some its losses.

Fueling concerns

But analysts warn the strong growth figures will only fuel concerns that the government policy of priming growth by massive public expenditures is unsustainable.

“The current account deficit is more than 6 percent of GDP and inflation above 12 percent, the starting point for the rebalancing process is bad, and a prolonged commitment to a tighter policy mix after the elections will be necessary to avoid further market pressure,” economist Inan Demir of Nomura Holding wrote Monday.

Tighter economic policy usually means reduced government expenditure and higher interest rates.

Turkey’s robust economy has been the bedrock of Erdogan and his ruling AK Party’s 16 years of electoral success. But despite more than a year of sustained strong growth, opinion polls have recorded voter dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of the economy.

Fifty-one percent of voters polled cited the economy as a primary concern, according to the Metropoll polling firm. Last year, security worries topped voter worries. Other polls found that a majority of voters blamed the government for their economic concerns.

“It’s a tremendous liability for Erdogan,” analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners said. “This is an economy that grows, but not in labor-intensive way. Employment has decreased in the second quarter (2019), and things have become more expensive, and nobody is investing into new factories because loans have increased in excess of 22 percent.

“And clearly the wealth is not trickling down, whatever wealth has been created is not be felt by people on the streets, so there is a lot of public discontent,” Yesilada added.

The unemployment rate remains about 10 percent, according to recent Turkish Statistical Institute data.

Payments ahead of elections

In May, Erdogan announced two payments of over $200 for pensioners to coincide with religious holidays. The first installment is due this week, and is part of a multibillion-dollar giveaway to voters ahead of elections.

But analyst Yesilada warned the benefits of the payments are being overshadowed by the financial pain of this month’s increase in interest rates.

“We all use loans, the middle class use loans to buy houses; businesses use loans to expand. Even before the latest (interest) hikes, they were already at a 10-year high. Banks have nearly stopped making new loans; we are going into a credit crunch. For me, the recession is inevitable,” Yesilada said.

The president’s challengers are focusing on economic fears.

“Erdogan can’t survive this economic crisis,” CHP Party candidate Muharrem İnce said during a rally in Istanbul Monday. “Turkey is heading to dark days. Don’t be surprised if the Turkish lira hits 8 or 10 to the (U.S.) dollar. When troubled days have come to countries around the world, they couldn’t get through them unless they changed leaders.”

In May, at the start of the presidential and parliamentary elections, the lira was less than four against the U.S. dollar. It now stands at over 4.5, peaking at nearly 5 against the U.S. dollar.

Erdogan’s public construction boom, including building one of the world’s biggest airports as well as some of the longest bridges and tunnels, is also now an electoral target.

“Turkey has resources, but they are in the pockets of thieves. (The government) ran up $453 billion in debt. They collected $2 trillion from your pockets. What happened in return? Did your son find a job?” İYİ (Good) Party presidential candidate Meral Aksener asked.

Critical elections

Analysts predict the two-pronged attack by Erdogan’s challengers over the economy is likely to intensify, as economic concerns are expected to continue to dominate the critical elections.

“This election cycle is happening against a background of a volatile economic environment with a lot of stress on the currency with uncertainty where the economy is heading. This is turning the election campaign into a less certain outcome,” said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Edam think tank.

Opponents accuse the president of calling elections 18 months early in a bid to take advantage of the country’s strong growth. But many opinion polls now indicate Erdogan’s lead narrowing and being forced into an electoral runoff. Analysts warn the economy that was once the president’s most significant asset could ultimately be what ousts him from power.
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Elon Musk Delivers First Flamethrowers

By Uponbiz | 06/12/2018 | No Comments | Business

It may not be a ride in space or even a rocket-powered roadster, but Elon Musk has delivered the first batch of personal flamethrowers, just in time for the July 4th backyard barbecues.

The SpaceX CEO’s tunnel construction firm, The Boring Company, delivered 1,000 of the 20,000 limited-run flamethrowers sold last year.

“When the zombie apocalypse happens, you’ll be glad you bought a flamethrower. Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!” Musk joked when the devices went on sale.

Even priced at $500 each, they sold out quickly and brought in $10 million.

Musk named the device “Not-a-Flamethrower,” in order to get around shipping regulations. The device does shoot a flame four feet from the nozzle.

Musk warned his customers, “Please use as directed to avoid unintentionally burning things down.” The package also offered terms and conditions of use drawn from the classic Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham.

“I will not use this in a house. I will not point this at my spouse. I will not use this in an unsafe way. The best use is creme brulee,” it reads.

Some of the first customers were already trying to turn a profit. As of late Monday, several of The Boring Company’s Not-a-Flamethrowers were on sale on eBay, with most hovering around $3,000. The instruction manual alone was listed at $250.

The flamethrowers have raised concern among some in California, as the state is in the middle of its dry season. 2017 was the state’s most destructive wildfire season on record. Nearly 9,000 wildfires burned more than 456,000 hectares of land and killed at least 46 people.
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Analog Charm of World Cup Sticker Book Endures Among Fans

By Uponent | 06/12/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

Eighth-grade teacher Ari Mascarenhas could have picked high-tech gadgets or modern apps to help his students learn Portuguese, but he instead went old school with the World Cup sticker book.

He’s been a fan since 1986 — when he was 8 — and the attraction for the collectibles has trickled down generations and endured for adults who still trade the stickers in Brazil, the United States and other countries.

Mascarenhas said his soccer-loving students develop critical language skills by studying every part of the 80-page book filled with team rosters, country flags and historical info. They read stats, names and other information while associating it with colors, illustrations and other visual cues.

“With the sticker book, they see that language goes beyond verbal. I loved the way they interacted swapping stickers, so I thought this year I could use an analog cue in this digital world,” said Mascarenhas, a teacher at German-Brazilian Colegio Humboldt in Sao Paulo.

The book’s popularity has spread as the World Cup nears its opening in Russia on June 14, despite sticker prices nearly doubling in some countries, including Brazil. That led to some grumbling in the South American nation, which has been in a financial crisis for the past three years with widespread poverty. Still, most of the 7 million sticker books put on the market quickly sold.

Panini, the Italian collectibles company that publishes the books, declined to say how profitable the World Cup books are, but the company itself had revenue of 631 million euros ($743 million U.S. dollars) in 2016, with products sold in more than 120 countries. Brazil is the largest market for the sticker books, followed by the United States with its sizable Latino population and England.

The allure for the books is similar to baseball or Pokemon cards — challenging fans to complete the set. Each book has spots for 681 stickers depicting things like stadiums, players, host cities. The stickers themselves are sold in packs of six.

The days leading up to the tournament have become crunch time for collectors.

Making trades

Actress Bruna Marquezine, the girlfriend of Brazil superstar Neymar, noticed high demand of stickers depicting the player. So, she decided to swap stickers autographed by her boyfriend for those she still needs.

“I know this is cheating a little, but I will not have my sticker book incomplete this time,” Marquezine joked on social media as she lured swappers.

Experts say fans would need to buy about 970 packs to fill their books without trades, because of the rarity of some of the stickers, though Panini CEO Mark Warsop said there’s no difference in the frequency of stickers.

Mathematics professor Sebastiao de Amorim of the Universidade de Campinas said some stickers being hard to find is part of what makes collecting them enticing. Some are even sold at inflated prices.

“The minimum figure to complete the album is of 137 packages, but the odds of getting that, especially because some stickers are harder to find, are the same of winning the lottery,” De Amorim said.

Digital version

Panini is also hoping that a digital, mobile version of its paper product gains steam, like Pokemon and other titles that have proven popular in multiple formats.

Panini’s sticker book app was downloaded more than 1.5 million times, introducing new ways to get stickers for users, including product placements. Warsop said he thinks it will pick up during future World Cups.

“The nice thing about the digital is that you can also swap and trade wherever you are,” he said. “We want people to trade even if they are not in the same place.”

Widespread use might be a way off for adults who are currently introducing the hobby to kids.

“I can’t sell my stickers there [on the app]. People want paper,” said salesman Renato Chaves, who took a van with more than 4,000 stickers to sell outside Brazil’s training camp in Teresopolis, outside Rio de Janeiro.

Georgia Bulgackov, a 13-year-old student learning from the sticker book in Sao Paulo, said it’s amazing to learn from a toy.

“What we love is to mix learning with something from our daily life, that made me understand more what the teacher wanted,” she said.

Mascarenhas, her teacher, said he hopes his pupils can stretch their interaction with the sticker book to other parts of their lives.

“There are not many products that bring people together. In such a divisive world we can still swap, trade and have something in common,” he said.
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Test of Ebola Vaccine Raises Hopes, Doubts in Congo

By Uponsci | 06/12/2018 | No Comments | Science

Irene Mboyo Mola spent 11 days caring for her husband as he died of Ebola in a hospital where she said nurses were too scared to get close. She helped him to the bathroom, picked up his feverish body when he lost his balance, and reinserted an IV that fell out of his bleeding arm.

“He told me all he could see was death,” recalls Mola, a 30-year-old mother of six, as she sat slumped on the floor in her small hut.

That close contact put Mola at high risk of getting a disease that has no cure and kills about half of those infected. But now, as Congo battles the most serious Ebola outbreak since the devastating 2014 epidemic in West Africa, health workers have something new to offer: a vaccine.

Promising vaccine

With thousands of doses dispatched to front-line health workers, the world is watching to see if a promising but still experimental vaccine might help stop this terrifying disease faster than traditional measures doctors have tried since Ebola was identified 40 years ago.

Even if the vaccine helps, there are serious hurdles. The shots must be transported deep into forests with few paved roads without it spoiling in the heat. Health workers have to identify and track down anyone who’s had contact with a sick person. Hardest of all, they must persuade a scared and wary population that shots pushed by foreigners could save their lives.

“Communities themselves must be at the center of the response if the activities are going to be effective,” said Jonathan Polonsky of the World Health Organization, a surveillance coordinator in Mbandaka, a city of more than 1 million in northwestern Congo.

Mola’s six children have all been vaccinated. But she refused, telling government social workers and WHO workers that she didn’t believe her husband died from Ebola. She said the hospital never showed her records confirming he’d tested positive for the virus.

Fear and opportunity

There’s no guarantee the long-sought vaccine will help stop the outbreak. But Congo’s health ministry and the WHO rushed in 7,500 doses, created by the Public Health Agency of Canada and owned by Merck.

It was deemed the best option because the vaccine was found highly promising in testing a few years ago, when the epidemic in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people between 2014 and 2016, was starting to wane.

The plan is called “ring vaccination,” to find and vaccinate everyone who’s had direct contact with a sick person — the first “ring” — and then the contacts of those people, too, to break the chain of infection.

Last month, 11-year-old German Umba and her 6-year-old brother lost their father to Ebola. Both were vaccinated. But a shot alone doesn’t end the worry. U.N. workers monitor the children several times a day for fevers, an early symptom, until the incubation period passes.

Standing in the yard outside her classroom at school the young girl suddenly bursts into tears. Surrounded by aid workers, classmates and teachers who are unable to touch and console her, she buries her face in her shirt.

“I just miss my father,” she said.

Crucial window

Success with the vaccination strategy hinges on the speed at which health workers can identify people at risk.

“If you detect cases late, you’re missing the opportunity to protect people,” said Dr. Iza Ciglenecki, who is working on the vaccination campaign with Doctors Without Borders.

Congo’s current outbreak has killed 14 people so far, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. There have been 38 confirmed infections.

Friday, WHO emergency response chief Peter Salama said many people vaccinated in Mbandaka received the shots more than 10 days ago, meaning they’re now protected — the vaccine has had time to kick in.

Finding people who need vaccination is much harder in the remote area of Iboko, where a new case was just reported. Shoddy infrastructure adds to the challenge.

“The roads are so bad that even if a person gets vaccinated it can be too late and they can still die,” said Rosy Boyekwa Yamba, a regional representative for the Ministry of Health in Mbandaka.

It can take days to travel just 100 miles (160 kilometers) to reach remote areas where Ebola still is spreading. The vaccine must be kept at a temperature of minus 76 to minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 60 to minus 80 degrees Celsius), and can only be kept in mobile freezers for up to seven days.

Yamba also worries that potentially infected people aren’t being found. Five such people came forward last week in Mbandaka after he pleaded with community members to “be honest with him” about whether they’d been in contact with someone who had the disease.

So far more than 2,000 people, including front-line health workers, have been vaccinated in Mbandaka and the rural villages of Bikoro and Iboko where confirmed cases have been found, says the Congo’s Ministry of Health.

Distrust in the community

Mola’s refusal to believe that Ebola killed her husband is a common reaction in the region. While many in Mbandaka have taken to washing hands and avoiding physical contact amid the outbreak, many also remain skeptical. They often don’t trust a government they say is corrupt. Of the dozens of people The Associated Press spoke to on a recent visit, nearly all said they don’t believe Ebola exists and referred to it as witchcraft.

This is Congo’s ninth outbreak, but illnesses are usually in remote areas, not cities.

“Ebola is not here,” said local resident Aziza Monzu. “It’s a disease created by organizations to get money.”

Dr. Pierre Rollin, an Ebola expert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, understands.

“People die every day and everywhere but nobody’s interested. Suddenly because of Ebola people are interested and that makes you suspicious,” he said. “Why would they trust us?”

Mola seems to have escaped infection. The incubation period for Ebola is up to 21 days and her husband died three weeks ago.

“I’m still here,” she said.

Still, WHO officials say three-quarters of those who have been approached have agreed to a shot since the campaign started two weeks ago.

Once you’ve got people on board “you’ve tackled 90 percent of the problem,” said Dr. Alhassane Touré, the WHO coordinator for ring vaccination in Congo and Guinea.

Does the vaccine work?

Health experts say the next two weeks will be critical in determining whether the outbreak will be brought under control. The WHO is now shifting efforts to more remote areas to contain the outbreak. The organization has predicted there could be up to 300 cases of Ebola in the coming months.

“We could see is another introduction of someone that comes from Itipo (a village in Iboko) or somewhere else to see family (in Mbandaka),” said CDC’s Rollin. In the last few days there’s been a big push in Itipo, the epicenter of the outbreak with 24 confirmed cases, to retrace people and vaccinate contacts as well as health workers, he said.

No matter how the outbreak unfolds, Rollin says it will be nearly impossible to say whether the vaccine worked to stop the disease’s spread.

“We can say the vaccine plus all the other measures work, but you can’t say the vaccine by itself works,” he said. In order to do that a controlled test would have to be run where in one place only the vaccine is being used and in another it’s not being used at all.

Next year, Merck plans to seek approval of the vaccine from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, based on previous studies of the shots. While the vaccine isn’t being formally studied in the current Congo outbreak, regulatory authorities would want to know if unforeseen side effects crop up.

“If it’s fully approved, then in each outbreak it’ll be the first measure and could be used all over the region,” Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa told the AP.

In West Africa, a large study is underway that compares the Merck shot and a second vaccine candidate made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals to determine the best vaccination strategies and track how long protection lasts.

In the meantime, some recipients say the shot provided peace of mind.

Seated in a yard in the center of town, Mbandaka resident Marie Louise proudly slaps her vaccination papers on the table. She had cradled her grandson in her arms as he vomited blood on the hospital floor, and he later died. His case wasn’t officially confirmed as Ebola, but she knew she needed to get vaccinated. Tapping her arm where she was given the needle, the 68-year-old beams.

“Give me the vaccine,” she said. “I get life with the vaccine.”
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Climate Change May Boost Cost of Eating Your Greens

By Uponsci | 06/12/2018 | No Comments | Science

Keeping healthy could become more costly as climate change and water scarcity cause a huge drop in the global production of vegetables and legumes, scientists said Monday.

The amount of vegetables produced could fall by more than a third, especially in hot regions like southern Europe and swaths of Africa and South Asia, said researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

By analyzing studies across 40 countries, with some dating as far back as 1975, they found that hikes in greenhouses gases, water scarcity and global temperatures lowered the amount of vegetables and legumes produced.

Such drastic changes could drive up the prices of vegetables, which would affect poorer communities the most, according to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“If we take a ‘business as usual’ approach, environmental changes will substantially reduce the global availability of these important foods,” said Alan Dangour, a co-author of the paper, in a statement.

Scientists have warned that world temperatures are likely to rise by 2 degrees to 4.9 degrees Celsius this century compared with pre-industrial times.

This could lead to dangerous weather patterns — including more frequent and powerful droughts, floods and storms — increasing the pressure on agriculture.

Food production itself is a major contributor to climate change.

Agriculture, forestry and changes in land use together produce nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, making them the second-largest emitter after the energy sector, said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The volume of food transported around the world also is exacerbating global warming.

The global demand for food is expected to soar as the world’s population is projected to grow to 9.8 billion people by 2050, up from 7.6 billion today, according to the U.N.

Crops now take up 11 percent of the world’s land surface, and livestock grazing covers 26 percent of ice-free land, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Farming accounts for about 70 percent of all water used globally, said the OECD.

Water scarcity already affects more than 40 percent of the world’s population, according to the U.N.

That number is expected to rise due to global warming, with one in four people projected to face chronic or recurring shortages by 2050, the U.N. said.

“Urgent action needs to be taken, including working to support the agriculture sector to increase its resilience to environmental changes,” said Dangour. “And this must be a priority for governments across the world.”
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American Artist Prefers Beer Cans to Canvas

By Uponent | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

Described as bright, thoughtful and bold – the art that Mike Van Hall makes is both unexpected and accessible. But what makes his art unique is that you don’t have to go to a museum to admire it – just pop by a grocery store and walk down the beer isle. Mike is an artist, and beer cans are his canvas. Anna Rice has the story.
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Proof-of-Concept Hyperloop to Open Soon

By Uponsil | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Silicon Valley

The Boring Company, based in California, is close to opening its first exciting venture – a 3.2 kilometer underground tunnel designed to convince Californians that traveling underground at high speed may solve their state’s ubiquitous traffic jams. It is the brainchild of Elon Musk, the U.S. billionaire who founded the electric car company Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. VOA’s George Putic has more.
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New US Neutrality Rules Repealed; Supporters, Critics of Move Wonder What’s Next

By Uponsil | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Silicon Valley

The Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of the United States’ net neutrality rules — which mandated internet service providers to not discriminate in their handling of internet traffic — took effect Monday, reigniting fears from internet freedom advocates of potential manipulation of consumers’ internet access.

The FCC voted in December to overturn its net neutrality rule, first put in place by the Obama administration in 2015. With its repeal, the door is now open for internet service providers to block content, slow data transmission, and create “fast lanes” for consumers who pay premiums.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a staunch critic of net neutrality, wrote Sunday that while he “support[s] a free an open internet,” the overturning of the Obama-era rule will allow the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] to “once again be able to protect Americans consistently across the internet economy.”

In 2004, then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell announced the commission’s support of what he called the “four internet freedoms,” including the freedom of consumers to access content. Since 2005, the FCC had enforced net neutrality rules in some regard, with the support of both Republican and Democratic chairmen. In 2015, the regulations were codified into law.

“We’re actually in a brave new world where no protections for a free internet currently exist, whereas they have for the majority of the history of the internet,” Tim Karr, senior director of strategy and communications of media watchdog Free Press, told VOA on Monday.

Karr said based on the prior actions of internet service providers, he feared we could see restrictions placed on such free internet access.

In 2007, the Associated Press reported that telecommunications giant Comcast was stifling connection to file-sharing websites such as BitTorrent. In 2011, fellow communication company Verizon blocked the download of Google Wallet, a payment app, on its mobile devices.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young told VOA that the company “strongly supports open internet rules,” and the recent FCC decision does not change the company’s support of full internet access.

Since the December FCC decision, two states — Washington and Oregon — have passed their own net neutrality laws, whereas governors of five other states — Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Montana and Vermont — have issued executive orders mandating that internet service providers for government agencies abide by net neutrality regulations.

In May, the U.S. Senate voted 52-47 to reinstate the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules. Every Democratic senator voted for the proposal, as did three Republicans: John Kennedy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

The bill is now in the House of Representatives, where outgoing Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has not yet announced any plans to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

Congressman Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, filed a petition in May to force a vote on the matter. Doyle spokesperson Matt Dinkel said of the 218 signees for the petition needed to force a vote, the petition currently has 170.

“If enough representatives sign the discharge petition to bring the bill to the floor, odds are that it will pass,” Dinkel told VOA.
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Vaccines Make Major Dent in Child Deaths from Pneumonia, Meningitis

By Uponsci | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Science

A vaccine against bacterial pneumonia and another against meningitis have saved 1.45 million children’s lives this century, according to a new study.

The diseases the vaccines prevent are now concentrated in a handful of countries where the medications are not yet widely available or were only recently introduced, the research says.

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children worldwide. The bacteria targeted by the shots, Haemophilus influenzae type b (known as Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), are major causes of pneumonia and also cause meningitis. Together, the two bacteria claimed nearly 1.1 million lives in 2000, before the vaccines were widely available, according to the World Health Organization.

Vaccines against the bacteria are not new, but funding to provide them in low-income countries only became available recently.

To estimate their impact, the researchers started with country-by-country data from the WHO on pneumonia and meningitis cases and deaths, as well as vaccine coverage estimates. They factored in data from dozens of clinical studies on infections caused by the two bacteria to create estimates of illness and death from the diseases in 2000 and 2015.

They found deaths from Hib fell by 90 percent in 2015, saving an estimated 1.2 million lives since 2000. Pneumococcus deaths fell by just over half, accounting for approximately 250,000 lives saved.

The research appears in the journal The Lancet Global Health.

“What was interesting was to see the rate at which some of these deaths have been prevented in the last several years,” said lead author Brian Wahl at Johns Hopkins University, “largely due to the availability of funding for these vaccines in countries with some of the highest burdens [of disease].”

The study estimates that 95 percent of the reduction in pneumococcal deaths occurred after 2010, when 52 low- and middle-income countries began receiving funding from Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, to introduce the vaccine into their national immunization programs.

“The good news is that the numbers are moving in the right direction,” wrote Cynthia Whitney at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an accompanying editorial.

However, Whitney added, “far too many deaths — about 900 every day — are still being caused by these two infections.”

She notes that more than 40 percent of the world’s children live in countries where pneumococcal vaccine is not a routine childhood immunization.

Many of the countries with the largest number of deaths from these two bacteria have recently introduced the vaccines, but coverage is uneven.

India, Nigeria, China and South Sudan had the highest rates of death from Hib, the study says. All but China have introduced the vaccine in the past few years.

Half of the world’s pneumococcal deaths occurred in just four countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan. All have recently introduced the vaccine, though in India it is a routine immunization in only three states.

Lowering the global burden of these diseases will depend on improving coverage in these countries, the study says.
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Paraguay Declared Malaria-Free Amid Concerns Disease Rising Again

By Uponsci | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Science

Paraguay is officially free of malaria, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, making it the first country in the Americas in 45 years to have wiped out the deadly disease which is back on the rise globally.

Nearly half a million people — most of them babies and children in Africa — died in 2016 from mosquito-borne malaria, while at least 216 million were infected, an increase of five percent over 2015, WHO said.

With no recorded cases of malaria in five years, Paraguay became the first country in the region to have eliminated malaria since Cuba in 1973, the WHO said. It was the first country to be declared malaria free since Sri Lanka in 2016.

“It gives me great pleasure today to certify that Paraguay is officially free of malaria,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of WHO, said in a statement.

“Success stories like Paraguay’s show what is possible. If malaria can be eliminated in one country, it can be eliminated in all countries.”

While significant progress has been made over the past 20 years in reducing malaria cases and deaths, in 2016, for the first time in a decade, the number of malaria cases rose and in some areas there was a resurgence, the WHO said.

Health experts say this was partly to blame on a growing resistance to the sprays and drugs used to attack the mosquito that transmits the disease and the parasite that causes it.

They also say it is partly due to stagnant global funding for malaria since 2010. Climate change and conflict can also exacerbate malaria outbreaks.

“This is a powerful reminder for the region of what can be achieved when countries are focused on an important goal,” said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the WHO’s regional office.

“We are hopeful that other countries will soon join Paraguay in eliminating malaria,” she said in a statement.

In 2016 the WHO identified Paraguay as one of 21 countries with the potential to eliminate malaria by 2020.

The WHO said Algeria, Argentina and Uzbekistan are on track to be declared free from malaria later this year.
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Washington Capitals to Celebrate NHL Stanley Cup Title with Parade

By Uponent | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

Washington, D.C., will host a celebration on Tuesday that has been 44 years in the making: a parade to mark the first Stanley Cup title in the Washington Capital’s hockey team history.

The Capitals beat the Las Vegas Golden Knights four games to one to win the city’s first major sports championship in 26 years. The last such parade was to honor the Redskins for a Super Bowl win in 1992.

The parade: The event is to begin at 11 a.m. local time near the Lincoln Monument and then proceed east on Constitution Avenue N.W. to Seventh Street N.W. It will culminate with a rally on the National Mall.

Attendance: While requesting a parade and rally permit from the National Park Service, the team estimated more than 100,000 fans will attend the celebration.

Season record: The Capitals had a 49-26-7 record for the season, finishing first in the National Hockey League Metropolitan Division.

The playoffs: The team, which had only once before made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs, made it to the finals after twice shutting out the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Stanley Cup finals: Capitals fans experienced a familiar disappointment when the team lost the first game to the Golden Knights. But the Capitals outscored the novice Vegas team 16-8 in the last four games.
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Summit Visitor: Former US Basketball Player Dennis Rodman, a Kim Jong Un Friend

By Uponent | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

Dennis Rodman, a flamboyant, one-time U.S. professional basketball player, showed up Monday in Singapore ready to renew his unique friendship with Kim Jong Un as the North Korean dictator gets prepares for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Rodman, 57, arrived wearing a T-shirt that said, “Peace Starts in Singapore,” produced by PotCoin, a cryptocurrency for the legalized marijuana industry that has paid for at least one of his five trips to visit Kim in North Korea.

Rodman, a five-time champion in the National Basketball Association, is 20 years removed from his playing days. But he has stayed in the spotlight with his frequent trips to North Korea, which the U.S. State Department has distanced itself from over the years. Rodman’s visits occurred long before Trump and Kim traded belligerent taunts, and before they decided to hold a summit over the North’s nuclear weapons program.

Rodman said he was not sure if he would meet up with Kim on the sidelines of the summit.

“I got to say, you know, it’s up in the air right now,” he said. “He’s got bigger things to worry about than seeing me right now. Trying to make this conference something more, a good gateway. Like I said, every time I see him, it’s always a surprise. So, maybe tomorrow is the same thing. So far, let’s see how tomorrow ends.”

Rodman predicted the summit “should go fairly well, but people should not expect so much for the first time. Like I said, the doors are open.”

He said that with the taunts Trump and Kim traded last year, “it could have been a disaster. … Trump could have said something different. Kim Jong Un could have said something different. But I think that it’s fair to say that both of them will see what this meeting is going to do.”

Rodman, who in 2013 took former pro basketball players with him to North Korea, has said he visited the country with good intentions, to “break the ice between hostile countries.”
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A Convert to Islam Experiences First Ramadan

By Uponent | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

When Jeremy Randall and Ariam Mohamed set their wedding date for May 5, they knew they would be submitting their new union to an endurance test – of faith.

“We were married a month ago and then,” after a honeymoon, “going straight into Ramadan, it kinda set the table for me to look at my recent life, just being thankful and grateful,” said Randall, 39, who converted to Islam earlier this spring at Mohamed’s request.

It is the first Ramadan for Randall and the first that he and Mohamed, 37, are sharing as partners. During the Muslim holy month, which began May 15 and ends by June 15, they join millions of others worldwide in a period of reflection, prayer and sacrifice. It includes abstaining from food and drink from before dawn until after sundown.

The daily fast stretches almost 16 hours in the lengthening spring days of metropolitan Washington, D.C., where the newlyweds live. They must eat before morning prayers, which start as early as 4:08 a.m., and not until after evening prayers, which start as late as 8:35 p.m.

“A little less food, a little less drink, a little being uncomfortable is minuscule compared to the joy and beauty she’s brought into our lives,” Randall said of Mohamed, speaking for himself and his 10-year-old son, Jeremiah. They’d felt a huge gap since his wife Maya, the boy’s mother, died of cancer five years ago.

Time of transitions

One evening last week, the family invited two journalists into their cozy, brick house in suburban Maryland to talk about transitions and faith.

Jeremiah snuggled on the couch between his father and the woman he’d called Miss Ariam until he gave her a new name as a wedding gift: Mom.

More than midway through Ramadan, Randall – a development officer for Howard University, the historically black college in Washington that is his alma mater – was counting down the days. “We’re into the home stretch,” he joked, showing the Muslim Pro app on his smartphone. It tracks progress on a calendar, lists prayer and meal times and offers Quran verses, all helpful for a fledgling in the faith.

Randall was raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in a devout family living in Naperville, a predominantly white suburb of Chicago, Illinois. St. John AME was central to his spiritual and social development, through Sunday school, summer camps and youth programs.

“I met most of my African-American friends through church,” he said. His decision to leave the church, but not the friendships, involved “a long process.”

‘I was very skeptical’

It was set in motion by Mohamed, a human resources professional. They’d met at his friend’s birthday party in late December 2013, just days before she was moving to the United Arab Emirates to work in Dubai. They went on a first date months later, when she was visiting Washington, and eventually began coordinating vacations together.

“I was very skeptical in the beginning. There was the religion, which we had extensive conversations about. Then there was the distance,” Mohamed said. But, “we were both very genuinely interested in one another.”

She moved back to the States last year, agreeing to marry only if Randall would share fully in her faith. Her mother and late father, originally from the East African country of Eritrea, had presented Islam as a sustaining force as they moved their family from Italy to the Middle East and finally to the United States when Mohamed was 14. She also has two brothers.

“Asking someone to convert was a huge deal for me,” said Mohamed, who conceded that the idea of telling his parents was “terrifying.”

But, as Randall had explained earlier, “my dad and my mother – they’re very religious but they took the news well, I think, because they love Ariam.”

Nine percent of Americans who’ve converted to Islam do so primarily for the sake of a relationship, the Pew Research Center reported earlier this year. Three out of four American converts were raised as Christians, like Randall. Pew estimates the U.S. Muslim population at more than 3.4 million – about 1.1 percent of the country’s total population.

Drawing connections and distinctions

As Randall studies his new faith, he said he appreciates similarities – Christianity and Islam, like Judaism, recognize Abraham as a prophet – and learns of differences.

He was accustomed to more free-form and spontaneous prayer rather than at prescribed times on the clock. He’s also discovered more about fasting through his Ramadan experience.

“I tried before what I thought was a fast, and that was just not eating,” as opposed to stopping liquids, too. “A fast definitely strengthens the mind and the spirit – I feel better for it,” Randall added. A trim man already, he guessed he “might have lost 2 or 3 pounds.” He’s also lost sleep, which, along with “the change in my schedule, was the hard part.”

Mohamed has been fasting during Ramadan “since I was about his age,” she said of Jeremiah. While her family also lives in the metro D.C. area, she said she’s grateful to wake, eat and pray with someone after living abroad on her own for several years.

However, she noted that in majority-Muslim countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Ramadan brings shortened work days, so people can go home and nap midday. And most adults observe the fast. “To live in a country where not a lot of people are fasting is harder,” Mohamed said of being back home in the U.S.

She also admits to cravings sometimes when she catches the scent of colleagues’ lunches. Some work friends have asked whether they should eat elsewhere. Laughing, she said, “I tell them, ‘It’s my fast, not yours.'”

Respecting faiths

At home, the same holds true for young Jeremiah. He eats meals throughout the day and might snack on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after school.

“I’m Christian,” said Jeremiah, who can go to church with his paternal grandparents, who moved to the D.C. area several years ago. But he’s also respectful of his father and stepmother’s religion. “I want to follow the rules they set for themselves. I don’t want to, like, get in the way – like, eat before it’s time, or say, ‘You thirsty?’ Stuff like that.”

The final hours before iftar, or dinner, are the toughest. When Randall gets home from work, he conserves his energy. He and Jeremiah go down to the basement, “where it’s nice and cool,” Randall said, “and we don’t move. Well, I don’t move. He runs circles around me.”

Mohamed gets home later, “and I only have about an hour to cook,” she said. She immediately begins cooking, sometimes drafting Randall to wash or chop vegetables.

On this evening, Mohamed was making baked chicken pasta with spinach, along with garlic bread and a salad. Randall stood in the kitchen doorway, his eyes on the pasta sauce simmering on the stove, his hands pressed against his audibly growling stomach. Hunger? “It’s real now,” he said, chuckling.

Within the hour, the three were giving thanks for their blessings and sitting down to dinner.

And, Randall said, they were looking forward to the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which ends Ramadan.

“This Ramadan is super special to me,” he said. “It’s a good way to start a marriage, I think.”
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Broadway’s Tony Awards Get Political

By Uponent | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

The Band’s Visit, a musical about a an Egyptian police orchestra booked for a concert in an Israeli town, but end up in the wrong town, took home the prize for the best new musical at Sunday’s Tony Awards honoring Broadway performances

The stars of The Band’s Visit – Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub – won the top acting in a musical prizes.

Based on at 2007 Israeli film of the same name, The Band’s Visit beat out Frozen, Mean Girls, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Once On This Island won the best musical revival Tony.The 1990 calypso-infused musical triumphed over My Fair Lady and Carousel.

“(Let’s) just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked,” Andrew Garfield said when he won a Tony Award for best leading actor in a play for his work in Angels In America, the revival of Tony Kushner’s monumental drama about life, love, AIDS and homosexuality in the 1980s.

Garfield’s remark was a reference to the recent Supreme Court decision in favor of a baker’s right to refuse to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding.

The awards show turned political once again when actor Robert De Niro came on stage to introduce a performance by special Tony winner Bruce Springsteen.

De Niro shouted an obscenity about the president of the United States and received a standing ovation. He said it again to more cheers. The CBS-TV censors bleeped out the obscenity for television viewers.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two won prizes for best play, best director of a play, best sound design, best lighting design, best scenic design, and best costume design.

Broadway veteran Nathan Lane won the Tony Award for best featured actor in a play for his work in Angels in America.

Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles co-hosted for this year’s awards ceremony.

Eighty-two year old British actress Glenda Jackson won her first Tony for her role in the revival of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women.

Laurie Metcalf won best featured actress in a play for Three Tall Women. Metcalf won a Tony last year for A Doll’s House, Part 2.

But in the midst of Broadway’s magical night, one award was presented for outstanding off-Broadway work. The recipient was Melody Hertzfeld, the head of the drama department at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The drama teacher was recognized for saving dozens of children from the deadly mass shooting at the school that claimed 17 lives. She is credited for saving more than 65 students by guiding them to safety and keeping them out of harm’s way for more than two hours.

She received the 2018 Excellence in Theatrical Education award, which honors an educator “who has demonstrated monumental impact on the lives of students.” It comes with a $10,000 prize for the winner’s theater program.
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Trump Says Friends, Enemies Cannot Take Advantage of US on Trade

By Uponbiz | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Business

President Donald Trump tweeted out more criticism of U.S. trade partners Monday, including allies in Europe and Canada, adding to his declarations that the United States will no longer tolerate what he has called “trade abuse.”

“Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!” Trump said.

That was part of a string of messages in which the president asserted the United States “pays close the the entire cost of NATO” while other member countries take advantage of the U.S. on trade.

“We protect Europe (which is good) at great financial loss, and then get unfairly clobbered on Trade,” he said. “Change is coming!”

NATO members, in general, make direct financial contributions based on their economic output, and as a result of being the world’s biggest economy the United States does contribute a larger amount than other nations. Indirectly, NATO members contribute to the alliance through the size of their military budgets, and the United States also spends more on defense than any other nation.

Trump tweeted from Singapore where he traveled for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after attending a meeting of G-7 leaders in Canada.

After Trump left, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Trump’s decision to impose invoke national security grounds to impose new tariffs on aluminum and steel “insulting” because of the long history of Canadian troops supporting the United States in conflicts.

Trudeau also pledged to respond with equivalent tariffs on U.S. goods beginning July 1.

While airborne, Trump ordered U.S. officials to refuse to sign the traditional end-of-summit communique and tweeted criticism of what he said were Trudeau’s “false statements at his news conference.”

“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, ‘US Tariffs were kind of insulting’ and he ‘will not be pushed around.’ Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!” he said.

Trump followed Monday with another tweet saying, “Fair Trade is no to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal,” and that Trudeau “acts hurt when called out.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed any rift in G-7 relations during a news conference Monday in Singapore.

“There are always irritants in relationships. I am very confident that relationships between our countries, the United States and those G-7 countries, will continue to move forward on a strong basis,” he said.

Trudeau did not respond to the U.S. attacks, instead declaring the summit a success.

“The historic and important agreement we all reached” at the summit “will help make our economies stronger and people more prosperous, protect our democracies, safeguard our environment, and protect women and girls’ rights around the world. That’s what matters,” Trudeau said.

But foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said, “Canada does not believe that ad hominem attacks are a particularly appropriate or useful way to conduct our relations with other countries.”

The G-7 summit communique called for working together to stimulate economic growth “that benefits everyone,” and highlighted a commitment to a “rules-based international trading system” and “fight protectionism.” The document also supports strong health systems, advancing gender equality, ending sexual and gender-based violence, as well as efforts to create a more peaceful world and combat climate change.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told ARD television that Trump’s withdrawal from the communique through a tweet is “sobering and a bit depressing.”

French President Emmanuel Macron attacked Trump’s stance, saying, “International cooperation cannot be dictated by fits of anger and throwaway remarks.” He called Trump’s refusal to sign the communique a display of “incoherence and inconsistency.”

U.S. Republican Sen. John McCain, a vocal Trump critic, offered support for the other six world leaders at the Canadian summit.

“To our allies,” McCain tweeted, “bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t.”

Trudeau and May also bucked Trump on another high-profile issue: Russia. Trump suggested Russia rejoin the group after being pushed out in 2014 when it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Trudeau said he is “not remotely interested” in having Russia rejoin the group.

May added, “We have agreed to stand ready to take further restrictive measures against Russia if necessary.”
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Swiss Voters Reject Campaign to Radically Alter Banking System

By Uponbiz | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Business

A radical plan to transform Switzerland’s financial landscape by barring commercial banks from electronically creating money when they lend was resoundingly rejected by Swiss voters on Sunday.

More than three quarters rejected the so-called Sovereign Money initiative, according to the official result released from the Swiss government.

All of the country’s self-governing cantons also voted against in the poll, which needed a majority from Switzerland’s 26 cantons as well as a simple majority of voters to succeed. Concerns about the potential risks to the Swiss economy by introducing a “vollgeld” or “real money” system appear to have convinced voters to reject the proposals.

The Swiss government, which had opposed the plan because of the uncertainties it would unleash, said it was pleased with the result.

“Implementing such a scheme, which would have raised so many questions, would have been hardly possible without years of trouble,” Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said.

“Swiss people in general don’t like taking risks, and …the people have seen no benefit from these proposals. You can also see that our banking system functions…The suspicions against the banks have been largely eliminated.”

The vote, called under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy after gathering more than 100,000 signatures, wanted to make the Swiss National Bank (SNB) the only body authorized to create money in the country.

Contrary to common belief, most money in the world is not produced by central banks but is instead created electronically by commercial lenders when they lend beyond the deposits they hold for savers.

This arrangement, underpinned by the belief that most debts will be repaid, has been a cornerstone of the global capitalist system but opponents say it is unstable because the new money created could exceed the rate of economic growth, which could lead to inflationary asset bubbles.

If approved, Switzerland, famed for its banking industry, would have been the first country in the world to introduce such a scheme, leading opponents to brand the plan a dangerous experiment which would damage the economy.

The plan could have had repercussions beyond Switzerland’s borders by removing a practice which underpins most of the world’s bank lending.

Support for reform had grown in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis, with campaigners saying their ideas would make the financial system more secure and protect people’s savings from bank runs.

As well as the Swiss government, opposition came from the Swiss National Bank and business groups.

“We are pleased, this would have been an extremely damaging initiative,” said Heinz Karrer, president of business lobby Economiesuisse.

The SNB acknowledged the result, saying adoption of the initiative would have made it much harder to control inflation in Switzerland.

“With conditions now remaining unchanged, the SNB will be able to maintain its monetary policy focus on ensuring price stability, which makes an important contribution to our country’s prosperity,” it said in a statement.

Campaigners – a group of academics, former bankers and scientists – said they would continue to work on raising their concerns.

“The discussion is only just getting started,” said campaign spokesman Raffael Wuethrich. “Our goal is that money should be in the service of the people and not the other way around and we will continue to work on it.”
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Tony Awards to Honor Broadway Talent, Parkland Teacher

By Uponent | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

“(Let’s) just bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake to be baked,” Andrew Garfield said when he won a Tony Award Sunday night in New York for best leading actor in a play for his work in Angels In America, the revival of Tony Kushner’s monumental drama about AIDS and homosexuality in the 1980s.

Garfield’s remark was a reference to last week’s Supreme Court decision in favor of a baker’s right to refuse to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding.

Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles are the co-hosts for this year’s awards ceremony for the best performances on Broadway.

A band of Egyptian musicians, a sea sponge, an ice princess, mean girls and a magical child named Harry Potter are among those vying Sunday for the highest honors bestowed on Broadway theater: the Tony Awards.

Broadway veteran Nathan Lane won the Tony Award for best featured actor in a play for his work in Angels in America.

Eighty-two year old British actress Glenda Jackson won her first Tony for her role in the revival of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women.

Laurie Metcalf won best featured actress in a play for Three Tall Women. Metcalf won a Tony last year for A Doll’s House, Part 2.

Hurricane Bud Intensifying Off Mexico’s Pacific Coast

By Uponsci | 06/11/2018 | No Comments | Science

Tropical Storm Bud intensified late Sunday afternoon into a Category 1 hurricane some 254 miles (410 km) west of the Pacific coast of Mexico, the country’s weather service said.

With maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (121 km) per hour and gusts of 93 miles (150 km) per hour, Bud was moving northwest at 9.3 miles (15 km) per hour.

The storm is the second of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season after Tropical Storm Aletta, which is moving west away from land. On the Atlantic side, Subtropical Storm Alberto slammed into the Mexican Caribbean in late May, forcing the evacuation of oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico and killing almost 10 people in Cuba and in the U.S. Southeast.

Within hours, Bud was due to generate intense storms in the Mexican states that border the Pacific Ocean, such as Jalisco, Colima and Guerrero.

The Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said Bud would start to weaken by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

There are no oil installations on the Pacific side of Mexico.

Although authorities established a surveillance zone to follow the trajectory of the hurricane northward along Mexico’s western coast, there were no evacuations of tourist spots like Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.

“People in the zones of the states with forecast of rains, wind and waves, including maritime navigation, are recommended to take extreme precautions and to comply with the recommendations issued by the authorities,” Mexico’s meteorological service said in a statement.
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Month: June 2018