American companies are producing a growing range of “Halal products” — food prepared to conform to strict Islamic law as prescribed by the Koran. That includes strict adherence to how an animal is slaughtered, to the way it is prepared for consumption. As VOA’s Vardha Khalil reports, although many Muslims prefer to eat halal meat, that’s not the only reason for the rising demand for halal products.
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Month: September 2018
Naomi Osaka became Japan’s first Grand Slam singles champion after she thumped Serena Williams 6-2 6-4 in a controversial U.S. Open final on Saturday, with the American suffering a mesmerizing meltdown after being handed a code violation.
It was drama-filled conclusion to a final that was rich with story lines but will now go down as one of the most controversial Grand Slam finals of all time.
There was much riding on the match for both women, with Osaka bidding to become the first man or woman from Japan to win a Grand Slam singles title and Williams poised to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 major titles.
In the end it was Osaka making history, but on a day of bizarre events her victory will be a only footnote to what is sure to go down as one of the most infamous matches ever played at Flushing Meadows.
The chaotic finish filled with screaming, tears and jeers cast a cloud over what should have been Osaka’s shining moment.
Standing on the podium, waiting to be handed her trophy and a winner’s check for $3.8 million, Osaka heard only boos as an angry crowd took out their frustration on Portuguese chair umpire Carlos Ramos, who stood to the side.
“I know everyone was cheering for her and I’m sorry it had to end like this,” said Osaka. “It was always my dream to play Serena in the U.S. Open finals. … I’m really grateful I was able to play with you.”
Coach’s signals
With Osaka in control of the match after taking the first set, Ramos sent Williams into a rage when he handed the 23-time Grand Slam champion a code violation in the second game of the second set after he spotted the American’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, making some hand signals from the player’s box.
A string of bad behavior followed from Williams and she went on to incur a point penalty for smashing her racket before being slapped with a game penalty after she launched into a verbal attack against Ramos, accusing him of being “a liar” and “a thief for stealing a point from me.”
The game penalty put Osaka 5-3 up and the 20-year-old Japanese kept her cool to pull off the win.
Mouratoglou later admitted he had been coaching, but in another strange twist an unrepentant Williams continued to deny she had received any advice and was instead a victim of sexism.
“He [Ramos] alleged that I was cheating, and I wasn’t cheating,” said Williams. “I’ve seen other men call other umpires several things.
“I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff.
“For me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark.”
Almost lost in the chaos was a fearless and cool display from Osaka.
Before Williams’ meltdown, Osaka had already put the 36-year-old under rarely seen pressure.
Osaka had given Williams plenty of respect but no other concessions as she grabbed the early break on a double fault by her idol for a 2-1 first set lead she would not let go.
Playing on tennis’ biggest stage in her first Grand Slam final, the significance of the moment did not faze Osaka, while Williams, contesting her 31st major final, looked unsteady.
Previous incident
Williams’ implosion was not a totally unfamiliar sight for tennis fans, who watched a similar meltdown nine years earlier at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Playing the semifinals against Kim Clijsters, Williams flew into a rage after a line judge called her for a foot fault, leaving a match point down to the Belgian.
Williams launched into an expletive-laced rant at the official. She waved her racket in the lineswoman’s direction and then shook a ball in her clenched fist as she threatened to “shove it down” her throat.
Organizers fined her $10,500 at the end of the tournament for her unsportsmanlike behavior, and she was later fined an additional $175,000 and put on probation for two years by the Grand Slam Committee.
Williams could face further sanctions for her actions on Saturday against Osaka; the Women’s Tennis Association said in a statement that it would be looking into the incident.
“There are matters that need to be looked into that took place during the match,” said the WTA. “For tonight, it is time to celebrate these two amazing players, both of whom have great integrity.”
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Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, bringing Netflix its first major festival victory to seal the online streaming company’s reputation as a big name in arthouse movies.
Roma, named after the neighborhood in Mexico City where writer-director-cinematographer Cuaron grew up, is a Spanish-language drama that critics almost unanimously described as “shimmering” because of its luscious black-and-white cinematography.
At a festival where only one of the 21 films selected to compete for the Golden Lion was directed by a woman, Roma was one of several that focused almost exclusively on female characters — in this case, Cuaron’s mother and the two maids who helped bring him up.
Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy called it “an immersive bath in some of the most luxuriantly beautiful black-and-white images you’ve ever seen” and a huge change from the Sandra Bullock adventure Gravity which won Cuaron his Oscar in 2014.
The win is important for Netflix as it seeks to position itself as a major force in film, after it boycotted the Cannes festival in May because of French rules that ban simultaneous streaming of films shown in cinemas.
Another one of its movies, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a comedy-western written and directed by the Coen brothers, won best screenplay.
Runner-up
The Favourite, which, like Roma has a strong female focus, won the runner-up Grand Jury Prize, and its star, Olivia Colman, received the Volpi Cup for best actress for her uproarious portrayal of England’s Queen Anne.
Willem Dafoe won the award for best actor for his portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in the biopic At Eternity’s Gate.
Jennifer Kent, the only female director in the main competition, won the Special Jury Prize for The Nightingale, a revenge thriller set in 1825 in Australia whose male lead, Baykali Ganambarr, won for best up-and-coming actor/actress.
Dedicating the award to the indigenous people of Tasmania, whose brutal treatment by the British is explicitly played out in the film, Kent said in her acceptance speech: “The feminine force is the most powerful and healing force on the planet so I hope and I’m confident that next year, and the year after, and the year after, we’ll see more and more women inhabiting this
space.”
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday unveiled plans for tax cuts and pledged spending to heal years of painful austerity, less than a month after Greece emerged from a bailout program financed by its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund.
Tsipras, who faces elections in about a year, used a keynote policy speech in the northern city of Thessaloniki to announce a spending spree that he said would help fix the ills of years of belt-tightening and help boost growth.
But he said Athens was also committed to sticking to the fiscal targets pledged to lenders.
“We will not allow Greece to revert to the era of deficits and fiscal derailment,” he told an audience of officials, diplomats and businessmen.
Tsipras promised a phased reduction of the corporate tax to 25 percent from 29 percent from next year, as well as an average 30 percent reduction in a deeply unpopular annual property tax on homeowners, rising to 50 percent for low earners.
He also said a pledge to maintain a primary budget surplus at the equivalent of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product could be achieved without further pension cuts, and that he would discuss this with the European Commission.
The government had been expected to announce further pension cuts next year — a deeply controversial measure in a country where high unemployment means that pensioners are occasionally the primary family earners. It is also a group that has been targeted for cutbacks more than a dozen times since 2010.
The leftist premier said he would also reinstate labor rights and increase the minimum wage. And he said the state would either reduce or subsidize social security contributions for certain sections of the workforce.
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President Donald Trump concedes that some Apple Inc. products may become more expensive if his administration imposes “massive” additional tariffs on Chinese-made goods, but he says the tech company can fix the problem by moving production to the U.S.
“Start building new plants now. Exciting!” Trump said Saturday in a tweet aimed at the Cupertino, California, company.
This week, Apple said that a proposed additional round of tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports would raise prices on some of its products, including the Apple Watch and the Mac mini.
The company is highly exposed to a trade war between the U.S. and China. It makes many of its products for the U.S. market in China, and it also sells gadgets including the iPhone in China, making them a potential target for Chinese retaliation against the Trump tariffs.
Trump tweeted Saturday that “Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on China — but there is an easy solution where there would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive,” if the company made its products in the U.S. instead of China.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has not announced plans to move manufacturing from China to the U.S.
‘Tax on U.S. consumers’
In its letter this week to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Apple said that “because all tariffs ultimately show up as a tax on U.S. consumers, they will increase the cost of Apple products that our customers have come to rely on in their daily lives.”
The company said tariffs would hit “a wide range of Apple products,” including computers, watches, adapters, chargers and tools used in its U.S. manufacturing, repair and data centers. Apple said the tariffs would raise the cost of its U.S. operations and put it at a disadvantage to foreign rivals.
The White House has accused China of stealing U.S. intellectual property and forcing American companies to share their technology with Chinese companies. The tariffs would pressure China to stop that behavior, the administration has said. Apple said “it is difficult to see” how tariffs would advance the government’s goal.
The presidential tweet was the latest salvo in a dispute between the Trump administration and companies that fear tariffs will hurt their business.
The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports from China, mostly equipment and material used by manufacturers. CEO Tim Cook said in July that those measures had no effect on Apple. The company is concerned, however, about the Trump administration’s proposal to add 25 percent duties on another $200 billion in Chinese goods, including a wider assortment of consumer-related items.
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Two major health scares at U.S. airports involving inbound flights are related to pilgrims returning from the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which ended in late August, U.S. health officials said on Friday.
On Wednesday, U.S. health officials sent an emergency response team with mobile diagnostic equipment to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after they were told that more than 100 passengers aboard an Emirates airlines flight from Dubai were experiencing flu-like symptoms.
Dr. Martin Cetron, director for the division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters in a telephone interview that health officials evaluated nearly 549 passengers at the airport, and sent a total of 11 people to a local hospital for more testing.
Ten people were tested for a battery of respiratory viruses and bacteria in hopes of ruling out serious pathogens that could present a public health threat.
Two of them tested positive for an especially virulent type of influenza A virus, and one of the two, who was gravely ill with pneumonia, was co-infected with another respiratory virus, Cetron said. A third person tested positive for a cold virus.
All three had taken part in the Hajj, which this year drew some 2 million people to Mecca, Cetron said.
Seven crew members, who boarded the flight in Dubai and were not at the pilgrimage, tested negative for a number of respiratory infections of public health concern, Cetron said. The next day, two flights arriving in Philadelphia from Europe were screened by medical teams after 12 passengers reported flu-like symptoms. One of them had visited Mecca for the Hajj.
Cetron said health officials in New York had been prepared to quarantine a large group of sick passengers in an area at the airport. From a total of 11 passengers taken to hospital for evaluation, 10 were tested for respiratory symptoms; one showed signs of food poisoning.
“It was a much smaller incident. That’s not uncommon,” Cetron said. “Often the incoming information from multiple sources can be exaggerated beyond what we really find.”
All 10 patients with respiratory symptoms tested negative for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS, a highly infectious and deadly respiratory infection that was first identified in the Middle East in 2012.
The CDC was not alerted in advance about the two flights that landed in Philadelphia from Paris and Munich, but several travelers had complained of illness, triggering a “medical review” of 250 passengers from those flights, a spokesman said.
Twelve passengers were found to have sore throats and coughs, and one also tested positive for the flu, a CDC spokesman confirmed.
The responses were part of a well-rehearsed network of public health officials trained to identify and contain pathogens as U.S. airports and ports of entry, Cetron said.
“Our most critical issue was to rule several respiratory illnesses of urgent public health significance,” Cetron said.
Cetron said the CDC monitors databases to track outbreaks of infectious disease that could post a treat in the United States. Although unlikely, MERS was definitely a concern that the team needed to rule out, he said.
“That was a low-probability, high consequence event that we wanted to rule out,” he said.
The CDC said in a statement that the cases were a reminder that flu season is coming, and urged all U.S. citizens six months or older to get a flu shot by the end of October.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States and Japan have begun discussion over trade, saying that Tokyo “knows it’s a big problem” if an agreement cannot be reached, and that India has also asked to start talks on a trade deal.
“We’re starting that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “In fact Japan has called us … they came last week.”
“If we don’t make a deal with Japan, Japan knows it’s a big problem,” he added.
Later in a speech in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Trump said:
“India called us the other day. They said we’d like to start doing a trade deal. First time.”
“They wouldn’t talk about it with the previous administrations. They were very happy with the way it was,” he said without giving further details.
Trump, who is already challenging China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union on trade issues, has expressed displeasure about his country’s large trade deficit with Japan, but had not asked Tokyo to take specific steps to address the imbalance.
On Thursday, though, CNBC reported he had told a Wall Street Journal columnist he might take on trade issues with Japan, causing the dollar to slip against the yen. The White House said Trump would push for fair trade.
“The president has been clear that he will fight to promote free, fair, and reciprocal trade with countries around the world, including Japan, that impose a range of restrictions on U.S. market access,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a statement.
“The United States and Japan have been in close contact on ways to address such barriers, including through the U.S.-Japan Economic Dialogue.”
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China’s trade surplus with the United States reached a record $31 billion in August, despite hefty tariffs recently imposed on Chinese goods.
The news of the surplus came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose another $267 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports, which would cover virtually all the goods China imports to the United States.
The potential tariffs would come on top of punitive levies on $50 billion in Chinese goods already in place as well as another $200 billion that Trump says “could take place very soon.”
He told reporters traveling with him to Fargo, North Dakota “behind that, there’s another $267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want.”
“That changes the equation,” he added.
Such a move would subject virtually all U.S. imports from China to new duties.
The president’s comments Friday came one day after a public comment period ended on his proposal to add duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday the Trump administration would evaluate the public comments before making any decisions on the new proposed tariffs.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office received nearly 6,000 comments during seven days of public hearings on the proposal.
The Trump administration has argued that tariffs on Chinese goods would force China to trade on more favorable terms with the United States.
It has demanded that China better protect American intellectual property, including ending the practice of cyber theft. The Trump administration has also called on China to allow U.S. companies greater access to Chinese markets and to cut its U.S. trade surplus.
China has retaliated to the U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports with an equal amount of import taxes on U.S. goods. It has also threatened to retaliate against any potential new tariffs. However, China’s imports from the United States are $200 billion a year less than American imports from China, so it would run out of room to match U.S. sanctions.
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On the 30th anniversary of Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ slogan, the apparel and footwear company announced a new endorsement deal and ad starring former NFL player Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick’s decision to kneel in protest of police brutality during the national anthem at NFL games has sparked controversy across the country, with the fallout further blurring the line between sports and politics in the United States. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more.
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The number of wearable technologies that use sensors as medical tools to track a person’s well-being – is on the rise. All of them – need an electric charge or a battery source to operate, but a handful of researchers are trying to take batteries out of the equation. At the Texas A&M University in College Station, researchers are doing just that – looking at ways to use our own body heat to power all those sensors. Elizabeth Lee takes a look at the emerging new technology.
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There has been an increasing number of wearable technologies that have health sensors as medical tools to track a person’s well-being. Many of these devices need to be charged or are battery-powered.
A handful of researchers want to take batteries out of the equation and instead, use waste body heat and convert that into useful electricity to power sensors.
“The average person is something like an 80-watt light bulb,” said Jamie Grunlan, Texas A&M University’s Linda & Ralph Schmidt ’68 Professor in Mechanical Engineering.
Grunlan and his team of researchers are working on using the waste heat the body gives off and converting that into useful electricity. The idea is to create printable, paintable thermoelectric technology that looks like ink and can coat a wearable fabric, similar to dyeing colors onto cloth. Once a person wears the fabric, devices such as health sensors can be powered.
“Our coating coats every fiber within that textile, and so what’s drawing it is simply that textile needs to just be touching the heat source or be close enough to the heat source to be feeling the heat source,” Grunlan said.
Military and sporting goods companies have applications for this type of technology because there is not a large battery pack worn on the body that could be a cause of injury if the person would fall.
“They would love to power health sensors off of body heat and then wirelessly transmit that data to wherever,” Grunlan explained. “You’d like to know if somebody had a concussion or was dehydrated or something like that while it’s happening in real time.”
As a person generates heat, the temperature outside is colder than what’s against the body. The temperature differential generates a voltage.
The goal is to design technology that can get one volt or up to 10 percent efficiency and beyond. So, for example, a researcher would try to get eight watts from a person who is generating 80 watts.
The ingredients in this thermoelectric recipe include carbon nanotubes, polymers and a carbon material called graphene, which is a nanoparticle.
Researchers are trying to perfect the recipe of this ink-like material.
“The one voltage is realistic, but how much material do we need to get that one voltage because we need as little as possible?” said Carolyn Long, a Ph.D. graduate student at Texas A&M.
“So, different polymers, different amounts of the multi-walled or double-walled nanotubes, adding the graphene, which order it needs to go in exactly to create the best pathway for the electrons for the thermoelectric material,” said Long of the various experiments she and her lab mates have conducted.
The aim is to create a product that can be mass produced.
“It will happen. It’s not will it happen. It’s when. Is it a year, or is it five years?” Grunlan said.
That will depend on how much funding and manpower is available to make this technology a reality.
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U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to impose tariffs on another $267 billion worth Chinese imports, which would cover virtually all the goods China imports to the United States.
The potential tariffs would come on top of punitive levies on $50 billion in Chinese goods already in place, as well as tariffs on another $200 billion worth of goods that Trump says “could take place very soon.”
He told reporters traveling with him to Fargo, North Dakota, on Friday that “behind that, there’s another $267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want.”
“That changes the equation,” he added.
Such a move would subject virtually all U.S. imports from China to new duties.
The president’s comments came one day after a public comment period ended on his proposal to add duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that the Trump administration would evaluate the public comments before making any decisions on the new proposed tariffs.
The U.S. trade representative’s office received nearly 6,000 comments during seven days of public hearings on the proposal.
The Trump administration has argued that tariffs on Chinese goods will force China to trade on more favorable terms with the United States. It has demanded that China better protect American intellectual property, including ending the practice of cybertheft. The Trump administration has also called on China to allow U.S. companies greater access to Chinese markets and to cut its U.S. trade surplus.
China has retaliated against the U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports with import taxes on an equal amount of U.S. goods. It has also threatened to retaliate against any new tariffs. However, China’s imports from the United States are worth $200 billion a year less than American imports from China, so it would run out of room to match U.S. sanctions.
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More than 30 dresses and accessories worn on stage by Aretha Franklin are going up for auction.
The Queen of Soul died at age 76 in Detroit on August 16.
Julien’s Auctions says the items include a red sequined dress Franklin wore at Radio City Music Hall in 1991, a knit jacket she appeared in with President Bill Clinton at the National Medal of Arts ceremony in 1999 and a denim jacket given to crew members of “The Blues Brothers.”
The items will go on display between November 5 and November 9 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York.
The auction will take place in person and online on November 10 as part of a two-day Icons & Idols: Rock-N-Roll at the Hard Rock.
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Lizzy Maupa uses a bucket to transfer water she used to bathe from her tub to her toilet.
She has a four-week-old baby and a three-year-old child, but the city water supply has not been working for a month, says Maupa.
So she collects water from a nearby river, which she boils to drink. Maupa is being extra careful after Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health on Thursday announced an outbreak of cholera in their part of the city.
“I have heard about it. I heard on the news last night,” she says. “So I am trying to be hygienic so that I can take care of the little ones. It has been difficult. I have too many water demands.”
Zimbabwe’s outgoing Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told reporters late Thursday approximately 40 people were being treated for cholera and five had already died from diarrhea and vomiting, typical symptoms of the water-borne disease.
During a visit to a temporary cholera treatment camp in Harare, he warned people to wash their hands and drink only clean water.
“It is usually a problem of contaminated water. These people were drinking water from, we suspect from one or two boreholes that our team has gone to take samples from,” he explained. “If they are contaminated, they will be decommissioned for now. Those that we have here are getting much, much better. As usual prevention, prevention, prevention is key otherwise we will have an outbreak throughout the country.”
A 2008 cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe lasted over a year and killed about 5,000 people.
It was stopped only after international groups like USAID donated drugs and water treatment chemicals.
The head of Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights Calvin Fambirai warns the country must improve basic sanitation to prevent further outbreaks.
“The conditions that necessitate the spread of cholera and typhoid in Zimbabwe haven’t changed,” he warned. “They are becoming worse by the day. The first problem we face is authorities haven’t been giving resources necessary for the improvement of service delivery in the country to make sure that these archaic diseases do not continue to break out.”
Poor hygiene, water quality and waste disposal in densely populated areas remain unsolved, notes Fambirai.
Residents often go for weeks without running water or waste collection.
Health Minister Parirenyatwa said the sanitation situation would improve a promise that many have heard before.
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Millions of people covered under the Affordable Care Act will see only modest premium increases next year, and some will get price cuts. That’s the conclusion from an exclusive analysis of the besieged but resilient program, which still sparks deep divisions heading into this year’s midterm elections.
The Associated Press and the consulting firm Avalere Health crunched available state data and found that “Obamacare’s” health insurance marketplaces seem to be stabilizing after two years of sharp premium hikes. And the exodus of insurers from the program has halted, even reversed somewhat, with more consumer choices for 2019.
The analysis found a 3.6 percent average increase in proposed or approved premiums across 47 states and Washington, D.C., for next year. This year the average increase nationally was about 30 percent. The average total premium for an individual covered under the health law is now close to $600 a month before subsidies.
For next year, premiums are expected either to drop or increase by less than 10 percent in 41 states with about 9 million customers. Eleven of those states are expected to see a drop in average premiums. In six other states, plus Washington, D.C., premiums are projected to rise between 10 percent and 18 percent.
Insurers also are starting to come back. Nineteen states will either see new insurers enter or current ones expand into more areas. There are no bare counties lacking a willing insurer.
Even so, Chris Sloan, an Avalere director, says, “This is still a market that’s unaffordable for many people who aren’t eligible for subsidies.”
Nearly nine in 10 ACA customers get government subsidies based on income, shielding most from premium increases. But people with higher incomes, who don’t qualify for financial aid, have dropped out in droves.
It’s too early to say if the ACA’s turnabout will be fleeting or a more permanent shift. Either way, next year’s numbers are at odds with the political rhetoric around the ACA, still heated even after President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans failed to repeal the law last year.
Trump regularly calls “Obamacare” a “disaster” and time again has declared it “dead.” The GOP tax-cut bill repealed the ACA requirement that Americans have health insurance or risk fines, effective next year. But other key elements remain, including subsidies and protection for people with pre-existing conditions. Democrats, meanwhile, accuse Trump of “sabotage,” driving up premiums and threatening coverage.
The moderating market trend “takes the issue away from Republican candidates” in the midterm elections, said Mark Hall, a health law and policy expert at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. “Part of the mess is now their fault, and the facts really don’t support the narrative that things are getting worse.”
Market stability also appears to undercut Democrats’ charge that Trump is undermining the program. But Democrats disagree, saying the ACA is in danger while Republicans control Washington, and that premiums would have been even lower but for the administration’s hostility.
“Voters won’t think that the Trump threat to the ACA has passed at all, unless Democrats get at least the House in 2018,” said Bill Carrick, a strategist for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose re-election ads emphasize her support for the health law.
As if seconding Democrats’ argument, the Trump administration has said it won’t defend the ACA’s protections for pre-existing conditions in a federal case in Texas that could go to the Supreme Court. A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that Americans regardless of partisan identification said those protections should remain the law of the land.
In solidly Republican Arkansas, Democratic state legislator and cancer survivor Clarke Tucker is using the ACA in his campaign to try to flip a U.S. House seat from red to blue. Tucker, 37, says part of what made him want to run is the House vote to repeal the ACA last year and images of Trump and GOP lawmakers celebrating at the White House.
Business analysts say the relatively good news for 2019 is partly the result of previous premium increases, which allowed insurers to return to profitability after losing hundreds of millions of dollars.
“They can price better, and they can manage this population better, which is why they can actually make some money,” said Deep Banerjee of Standard & Poor’s.
Repeal of the ACA’s requirement to carry insurance doesn’t seem to have had a major impact yet, but Banerjee said there’s “a cloud of uncertainty” around the Trump administration’s potential policy shifts. Yet some administration actions have also helped settle the markets, such as continuing a premium stabilization program.
April Box of Spokane Valley, Washington, lives in a state where premiums could rise substantially since insurers have proposed an 18 percent increase. In states expecting double-digit increases, the reasons reflect local market conditions. Proposed increases may ultimately get revised downward.
Box is self-employed as a personal advocate helping patients navigate the health care system. She has an ACA plan, but even with a subsidy her premiums are expensive and a high deductible means she’s essentially covered only for catastrophic illness.
“I’m choosing not to go to the doctor, and I’m saying to myself I’m not sick enough to go to the doctors,” Box said. “We need to figure out how to make it better and lower the price.”
Now in her 50s, Box was born with dislocated hips. She worries she could be uninsurable if insurers are allowed to go back to denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. She might need another hip surgery.
“It needs to be a level playing field for everybody,” said Box. “We need to have universal coverage – that is really the only answer.”
Tennessee is a prime example of the ACA’s flipped fortunes.
Last year, the state struggled to secure at least one insurer in every county. But approved rates for 2019 reflect an 11 percent average decrease. Two new insurers – Bright Health and Celtic_ have entered its marketplace, and two others – Cigna and Oscar – will expand into new counties.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander called that a “welcome step,” but argued rates could have been even lower if congressional Democrats had supported a market stabilization bill. Democrats blame Republicans for the failure.
To calculate premium changes, Avalere and The Associated Press used proposed overall individual marketplace rate filings for 34 states and D.C., and final rates for 13 states that have already approved them. Data was not available for Massachusetts, Maryland and Alabama. The average rate change calculations include both on-exchange and off-exchange plans that comply with ACA requirements. The government isn’t expected to release final national figures until later this fall.
Hiring picked up in August as U.S. employers added a strong 201,000 jobs, a sign of confidence that consumers and businesses will keep spending despite the Trump administration’s conflicts with U.S. trading partners.
The Labor Department said Friday the unemployment rate remained 3.9 percent, near an 18-year low.
Americans’ paychecks grew at a faster pace in August. Average hourly wages rose last month and are now 2.9 percent higher than they were a year earlier, the fastest year-over-year gain in eight years. Still, after adjusting for inflation, pay has been flat for the past year.
The economy is expanding steadily, fueled by tax cuts, confident consumers, greater business investment in equipment and more government spending. Growth reached 4.2 percent at an annual rate in the April-June quarter, the fastest pace in four years.
Most analysts have forecast that the economy will expand at an annual pace of at least 3 percent in the current July-September quarter. For the full year, the economy is on track to grow 3 percent for the first time since 2005.
Consumer confidence rose in August to its highest level in nearly 18 years. Most Americans feel that jobs are widely available and expect the economy to remain healthy in the coming months, according to the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey.
The buoyant mood is lifting spending on everything from cars to restaurant meals to clothes. Consumers’ enthusiasm is even boosting such brick-and-mortar store chains as Target, Walmart and Best Buy, which have posted strong sales gains despite intensifying competition from online retailers.
In August, factories expanded at their quickest pace in 14 years, according to a survey of purchasing managers. A manufacturing index compiled by a trade group reached its highest point since 2004. Measures of new orders and production surged, and factories added jobs at a faster pace than in July.
Not all the economic news has been positive. Higher mortgage rates and years of rapid price increases are slowing the housing market. Sales of existing homes dropped in July for a fourth straight month.
And wages are still rising only modestly, even after more than nine years of economic expansion and an ultra-low unemployment rate.
Many economists also worry President Donald Trump will soon follow through on a threat to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on $200 billion of imports from China. That would be in addition to $50 billion in duties already imposed. That move could shave as much as a quarter-point off growth over the next year, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, has estimated.
For now, there’s little sign that companies are worried enough about a trade war to slow hiring. Businesses are increasingly reluctant to even lay off workers, in part because it would be difficult to replace them at a time when qualified job applicants have become harder to find.
On Thursday, the government said the number of people seeking unemployment benefits — a proxy for layoffs — amounted to just 203,000 last week, the fewest total in 49 years.
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Early, partial results from a historic gene editing study in human patients that was released earlier this week give encouraging signs that the treatment may be safe and having at least some of its hoped-for effect, but it is too soon to know whether it ultimately will succeed. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Hikers have embarked on a 500-mile (805-kilometer) expedition that will traverse New Mexico. The mission: Chart out the best route and identify what challenges might lie ahead as the state moves closer to establishing the Rio Grande Trail.
Following in the footsteps of other states, New Mexico is looking to capitalize on its vistas, mild weather and culture with the creation of a long-distance trail along one of North America’s longest rivers.
The Rio Grande stretches down the middle of the state, from the southern end of the Rocky Mountains near the Colorado state line to the bustling desert region where New Mexico and Texas intersect with the U.S.-Mexico border.
Supporters say that with its diverse scenery, the Rio Grande Trail has the potential to make the list of the country’s more famous long-distance routes, including the Appalachian Trail that runs from Georgia to Maine and the Continental Divide Trail that crosses a handful of Western states. Neighboring Colorado and Arizona have their own namesake trails and there are several others that are designed as national scenic trails.
Outdoor recreation in New Mexico alone is already a multibillion-dollar industry and the benefits of the Rio Grande Trail could be profound, said Jeff Steinborn, a New Mexico state senator who pushed legislation in 2015 to create the commission charged with establishing the trail.
“We can’t even begin to appreciate all the opportunities that it will unfold for our citizens, for economic development and for frontier communities,” he said.
Appalachian study
In the East, more than 3 million people visit some part of the Appalachian Trail annually. The trail’s advocacy group is working on a study to better determine the spending that results from those visits and the branding campaigns that go along with such long-distance trail systems.
Jordan Bowman, a spokesman for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, said it’s all tied to the draw of experiencing the American backcountry.
“It’s whatever adventure you want to make out of it,” he said. “So people can find a nice smooth section if they just need to get out for an afternoon or it can be a monthslong adventure where you walk out with a beard and this incredible story of how you survived a blizzard or whatever the case may be.”
In New Mexico, the Rio Grande Trail Commission last week approved an official logo, and a master plan is in the works.
While the official alignment has yet to be decided, this month’s expedition by volunteers with the Southern New Mexico Trail Alliance is aimed at scouting proposed segments and gathering as much data about water sources, camping spots, supply stops and not-to-be-missed scenery that could be incorporated.
“A lot of those little details we can’t pick up until we’re actually there on the ground walking it,” said Peter Livingstone with the alliance.
He has traveled more than 120 miles (190 kilometers) in five days. He expects the whole trip to take about a month.
A small solar panel sits on the top of his backpack, charging a collection of GPS and satellite communication devices that are tracking the journey.
Just in case
“I have a map and compass if all that fancy stuff fails,” Livingstone said.
The expedition so far has taken him along the volcanic ridge that makes up the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos. To the west, there are numerous homes dubbed earthships built out of recycled materials. Wheeler Peak — the highest in New Mexico — is visible to the east.
Livingstone also talked about petroglyphs, adobe churches, driving rain, hail and being greeted by locals with beans, rice and tacos.
“Life is a wonderful adventure, or it is nothing,” he said in a recent post.
The trek will end near Mount Cristo Rey, where the faithful make a religious pilgrimage each year. Steinborn plans to join the hikers there.
Close to 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more of trail already have been designated and there are another 100 miles (160 kilometers) or so being planned with the federal government and conservancy districts in the Middle Rio Grande, Steinborn said.
“There’s work to be done, but what an incredible start. It’s coming to life in front of our eyes,” he said.
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