The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now reports 380 confirmed and probable cases of lung disease associated with e-cigarette use, or vaping. The agency has also confirmed six deaths because of e-cigarettes. These latest figures were released Friday. Although vaping was once advertised as a better alternative to cigarettes, VOA’s Carol Pearson reports studies have increasingly been showing that e-cigarettes can be deadly.
Month: September 2019
A tropical depression near the Bahamas has strengthened into Tropical Storm Humberto, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said late Friday night.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the northwest Bahamas, excluding Andros Island, meaning that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere in the warning area within 36 hours.
The agency said the storm was about 365 kilometers (226 miles) east-southeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, moving toward the northwest at almost 9 kilometers (15 miles) per hour, with a turn toward the north-northwest expected by Sunday.
The storm is expected to pass very close to the northwestern Bahamas Saturday but stay offshore of Florida’s east coast by Sunday and early next week.
The agency said maximum sustained winds had increased to nearly 65 kph (40 mph) and added that gradual strengthening is forecast, with Humberto expected to become a hurricane in two or three days.
There was a time not too long ago when sneakers were just another kind of footwear, usually used for sports. Now, some popular sneaker models are seen as collectibles. Even used sneakers can be bought and sold like precious commodities. Saqib Ul Islam visited “Sneaker Con DC” an annual gathering in Washington where so-called “sneakerheads” gather to buy, sell and talk about their favorite shoes.
President Donald Trump has pegged his re-election bid on the strength of the U.S. economy. Amid growing concerns of a potential slowdown, the president insists the economy is strong, at the same time he’s pushing for growth by floating another potential round of tax cuts and urging the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates further. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
China has announced a tariff exemption on U.S.-produced pork, withdrawing duties as high as 72%, one of many tariffs Beijing imposed on American agricultural products amid a protracted trade war with Washington. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from the Midwest state of Illinois, farmers feel the economic pinch even as China’s need to import pork is growing.
There were no flag outfits, but Michael Kors’ show for New York Fashion Week was very much a patriotic tribute as he saluted American fashion with a collection that ran from nautical chic to classic glamour-girl gowns to whimsical polka-dot designs.
Taking place Wednesday, the last official day of fashion week, the show fell on one of the most solemn days in New York — the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. While the terrorist attack was not referenced, the show radiated not only American pride but themes of love and peace, from a sweater worn by a model that had the word “HATE” crossed out with a red line to the music of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, who serenaded the crowd with songs including Don McLean’s “American Pie” to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” to the O’Jays “Love Train.”
Kors told The Associated Press that the collection was inspired by many different threads of the American experience, from the recently reimagined Broadway musical “Oklahoma” to his immigrant ancestors.
“We got for a gift DNA tests — and in fact Gigi Hadid sent them to me — and we did our DNA and I realized I had never been to Ellis Island — crazy for a native New Yorker,” he said. “We went and we found my great grandmother’s arrival records and she was 14 years old, she had $10, she literally had nothing. … I walked out feeling incredibly patriotic because I thought about the fact that she built a business, raised a family and her dream was to cross the river to Brooklyn.”
He was, of course, also inspired by American fashion.
“It’s looking at sportswear which, hey, we invented it. America is not the land of the ball gown. And the world dresses in sportswear. It’s looking at all of that sportswear, which is finding this wonderful balance of power and glamour,” he said.
To that end, the show was a mix of casual, sporty outfits to sparkly dresses that harkened back to the Rita Hayworth era of silver screen glamour.
Gigi Hadid wore a fitted black gown with silver studs, poufy long sleeves that had extra draping at both hips; another model wore a blue double-breasted, gold-buttoned blazer with exaggerated, billowing shoulders. There was a one-piece bathing suit dotted by tiny metallic anchors; a belted-black romper suit with gold trim, worn by Bella Hadid; and a whimsical red-and-white checkered outfit that included a blazer, shorts and a bra top paired with chunky white sandals.
Actresses Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and Yalitza Aparicio were among the stars who turned out for Kors’ show on the banks of Brooklyn in a converted greenhouse that kept its topiary feel with a plethora of trees that decorated the cavernous space.
Actress Lucy Hale raved about the designer: “Michael Kors is just iconic. He’s so classic. He’s so lovely. This is sort of capping off my fashion week and I thought it was a great way to end an amazing week.”
Aparicio, nominated for an Oscar earlier this year for her work in “Roma,” wore a silver wrap gown with ruffles from Kors as she chatted with Kidman before the show.
“Michael Kors was one of the first designers that provided me his designs to dress me during award season,” she said, “and so I have the opportunity to have a new experience in the fashion world.”
Actress Felicity Huffman is returning to court to be sentenced for her role in a sweeping college admissions bribery scandal.
The “Desperate Housewives” star is scheduled to appear in Boston’s federal court Friday after pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy and fraud in May. She’s the first parent to be sentenced among 34 charged in the scheme.
Huffman has admitted to paying $15,000 to boost her older daughter’s SAT scores in 2017 with the help of William “Rick” Singer, an admission consultant at the center of the scheme. Prosecutors say Huffman’s daughter was unaware of the arrangement.
Prosecutors have recommended a month in prison, along with supervised release and a $20,000 fine. Huffman’s lawyers say she should get a year of probation, 250 hours of community service and a $20,000 fine.
The case is seen as an indicator of what’s to come for others charged in the case. Over the next two months, nearly a dozen other parents are scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty. A total of 15 parents have pleaded guilty, while 19 are fighting the charges.
Huffman’s legal team argues that she was only a “customer” in a broader scheme orchestrated by others. In past cases of academic fraud, they said, only the ringleaders have gone to prison.
In a Sept. 4 letter asking for leniency, Huffman said she turned to the scheme because her daughter’s low math scores jeopardized her dream of going to college and pursuing a career in acting. She now carries “a deep and abiding shame,” she said.
Prosecutors countered that Huffman knew the scheme was wrong but chose to participate anyway. They said she wasn’t driven by need or desperation, “but by a sense of entitlement, or at least moral cluelessness.”
The amount Huffman paid is relatively low compared to other bribes alleged in the scheme. Some parents are accused of paying up to $500,000 to get their children into elite schools by having them labeled as recruited athletes for sports they didn’t even play.
Among those fighting the charges are actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who are accused of paying to get their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as fake athletes.
Authorities say it’s the biggest college admissions case ever prosecuted by the Justice Department, with a total of 51 people charged.
The European Union’s powerful competition chief has indicated she’s looking at expanding regulations on personal data, dropping an initial hint about how she plans to use new powers against tech companies.
Margrethe Vestager said Friday that while Europeans have control over their own data through the EU’s existing data privacy rules, they don’t address problems stemming from the way companies use other people’s data, “to draw conclusions about me or to undermine democracy.”
She said, “we may also need broader rules to make sure that the way companies collect and use data doesn’t harm the fundamental values of our society.”
Vestager spoke days after she was appointed to a second term as the EU’s competition commissioner. She was also given new powers to shape the bloc’s digital policies.
India’s first major railway station managed by an all-women staff in the northern Rajasthan state is helping break gender stereotypes and empowering women in one of the country’s most conservative states. Reporter Anjana Pasricha visited the station to see how the initiative has fared since it was launched last year.
A lawyer for the former Tunisian president ousted in the 2011 Arab Spring says Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been hospitalized in Saudi Arabia.
Mounir Ben Salha told Mosaique radio Thursday night that Ben Ali’s daughter called him to say the 83-year-old ex-president is “very sick” after years of treatment for prostate cancer. The lawyer said Ben Ali is in a hospital in Jeddah.
The lawyer’s announcement came as Tunisians prepare for a presidential election Sunday. It is Tunisia’s second democratic presidential election since the 2011 uprising over corruption, unemployment and repression pushed Ben Ali to flee.
Ben Ali has been convicted in absentia to several prison terms for corruption-related violations.
Given Tunisia’s economic troubles since Ben Ali’s ouster, some have called for his return. But he remains detested by others.
The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating complaints that the Nissan Rogue’s automatic emergency braking can turn on when no obstacle is in the way.
The probe covers about 554,000 Rogue small SUVs from the 2017 and 2018 model years.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 843 owners have complained to the agency and to Nissan about the problem. Owners reported 14 crashes and five injuries.
The agency says Nissan has issued a technical service bulletin and two customer service actions related to the problem. It will try to find a cause and determine how often the false braking happens, and could seek a recall.
The investigation was opened in response to a March 21, 2019 petition from the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit group that represents consumers.
Nissan said in a statement Thursday that it has investigated the problem and taken action to tell customers of a free software update that improves the system’s performance. The company says that on some Rogues, the brakes can be activated by unique road conditions such as railroad crossings, bridges, and low-hanging traffic lights. Nissan says it’s cooperating with NHTSA.
But the auto safety center says the Rogues should be recalled, and that Nissan’s service campaigns don’t acknowledge the seriousness of the safety problem. In its petition, the center said that according to the complaints, the Nissan braking system can be triggered by railroad tracks, traffic lights, bridges, parking structures “and other fixed objects that do not pose a threat to the vehicle.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has released $250 million in military aid for Ukraine, U.S. senators said on Thursday, after lawmakers from both parties expressed anger that the White House had held up money approved by Congress.
Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Appropriations Committee said the White House released the money on Wednesday night, hours before the panel was due to debate an amendment to a defense spending bill that would have prevented Trump from such actions in the future.
It was one of several disputes recently between Trump and members of Congress, some of his fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, over his administration’s decision to sidestep congressional approval to fund its own policy initiatives.
A few Republicans, as well as Democrats, had said they expected Congress would pass legislation to reinstate the aid for Ukraine if the administration had not released the money. The money is intended for use by Ukraine in its struggle with pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
The White House has sought repeatedly to slash foreign aid since Trump took office in January 2017, but Congress has pushed back repeatedly against such plans.
The White House Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment.
A Tanzanian journalist arrested in July after criticizing the president in print appeared in court Thursday, looking weak and having trouble walking.
Prospects for Erick Kabendera’s release were dashed Thursday when the government prosecutor said the investigation against him is still in progress.
Kabendera had trouble walking when he entered the court chamber. His lawyer, Jebra Kambole, says the plan for his medical treatment is unclear, though the magistrate issued instructions that included meeting with a prison doctor for a checkup.
Kambole said a Sept. 18 hearing is set to look at Kabendera’s health status, and the court may issue more instructions at that time.
Kabendera, 39, was arrested at the end of July at his home amid questions about his citizenship. Later the charges were changed and he was accused of sedition, money laundering, and organized crime.
Kabendera’s work has been published in national and international newspapers. He regularly covers Africa’s politics, trade and extractive industries for leading publications, including The Guardian and The Times, both based in Britain.
After Kabendera was arrested, Kambole said his client was facing sedition charges in connection with an article in The Economist, in which Kabendera said President John Magufuli is “bulldozing” Tanzania’s freedom.
Earlier this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists included Kabendera on its 10 most urgent cases that require global attention.
The new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations took up her post on Thursday. Kelly Knight Craft will not have much time to settle in, as she arrives little more than a week before the annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer has more.
Across Nigeria, there’s a rising demand for vultures, and poachers are driving the local population of four large vulture species to near extinction.
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation is now placing vulture preservation high on its agenda, hoping to revive the threatened population. Abidemi Balogun, a senior special conservation officer with the foundation’s educational unit, is engaging with local communities where superstitions and folklore about the birds persist.
“Someone actually asked me how do they identity the evil ones because there’s been a belief that vultures are evil birds,” Balogun told VOA with a laugh.
She’s been with the foundation for eight years and said vulture poaching was not taken seriously in the past.
Spiritual practices
She said that the birds aren’t being hunted for consumption as much as they’re being killed for spiritual practices. In 2017, the foundation conducted a market survey to see how the birds were traded.
“Some of the findings that we made is that the head is used for ritual purposes and the head is the most expensive part of it,” she said.
In local markets, vulture feathers are sold for about 100 naira, or less than 50 cents. But the head can fetch up to 25,000 naira, or about $70.
In Nigeria’s diverse cultural landscape, the beliefs around vultures vary widely. In the southwest, where they’re called igún, vultures are seen as sacred in traditional spirituality. According to folklore, they can be used to communicate with the dead or to appease the gods in elaborate sacrificial ceremonies.
In northern Nigeria, they are consumed. But they’re also sold by traders known as yan shinfida to be used in traditional medicine and spiritual healing.
Treatments
A 2013 report cited traders in the north marketing vulture parts to treat epilepsy, mental instability and stroke, as well as to offer supernatural protection, good luck, pain relief and relief for women in labor. Some say the head possesses clairvoyant powers.
In southeastern Nigeria, the bird is not eaten and has no place in traditional spirituality, Ike Nwakamma of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Traditional Worshippers told VOA. He said it is viewed as unclean, and therefore unacceptable to traditional gods. People don’t want them around, whether alive or dead.
That’s why an incident that happened in July caused panic at a local market.
Amateur videos captured shocked and fearful reactions at the sight of 50 dead vultures on the ground at Eke-Ihe market in the Awgu community, in the southeastern state of Enugu.
Igwe Godwin Ekoh, the traditional ruler of Ihe and the chairman of the Agwu Traditional Rulers Council, told VOA that a poacher had killed the vultures en masse, using poisoned meat, to sell the corpses.
Vulture trafficking has become a lucrative trade. The NIgerian Conservation foundation said 500 tons of vultures are trafficked every month.
BirdLife International, a global partnership organization, said that across Africa, vulture populations have virtually collapsed in the last 30 years, with poisoning as the major threat.
In June, 537 vultures were found dead in Botswana’s northeast, after ingesting poison left by elephant poachers.
BirdLife International describes vultures as nature’s sanitary workers, worthy of being celebrated.
Vulture workshops
In Enugu last week, Igwe Ekoh attended a forum that was organized by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation for International Vulture Awareness Day, held on the first Saturday every September. The foundation held workshops in Jalingo, Ibadan and Sokoto as well as Enugu.
Attendants at the Enugu edition went to a popular market to talk to meat butchers and asked them to inform authorities if they ever saw vulture parts being sold.
Igwe Ekoh said he left the forum with a newfound appreciation for vultures, saying he learned about how they are vital to reducing the spread of bacteria of dead animals.
A local NGO, the South Saharan Development Organization (SSDO), has agreed to partner with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. SSDO will set up conservation clubs for high school students to learn about the environment and the role of animals, including vultures, in sustaining nature.
“It’s holistic,” SSDO’s executive director, Dr. Stanley Ilechukwu, told VOA.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court announced Wednesday that it had declined to hear a case accusing the country’s prime minister of violating the constitution by omitting a sentence from the oath of office he and his government took before King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
The issue raised questions about the legitimacy of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government, which took office in July.
Prayuth failed to include the phrase “I will also uphold and comply with the constitution of the kingdom in every aspect.” It was unclear whether the omission was accidental or intentional.
A statement from the court Wednesday said it lacked jurisdiction because the oath was a matter between the executive branch and the king.
It also mentioned that the king had issued a royal message, delivered late last month but dated the day of the oath-taking, that encouraged Cabinet members to perform their duties according to the oath they swore.
The king as a constitutional monarch is supposed to have no political role but holds a great amount of influence.
The court’s decision appeared to preclude further legal challenges of Prayuth’s omission. The lower house of Parliament is supposed to debate the matter on Sept. 18 at the request of the opposition, but the court’s position gives Prayuth’s government ammunition to stave off any political attacks.
Monarchy’s special status
The mention of the king’s note giving moral support to the government helps it defend against criticism, because the monarchy is treated as an untouchable institution in Thailand, where a tough lese majeste law provides penalties of up to 15 years in prison for insulting the royal family.
The case went to the Constitutional Court after the state ombudsman forwarded complaints from two citizens who charged that Prayuth’s failure to pledge allegiance to the constitution was a breach of the charter.
Opposition lawmakers pointed out the omission, and Prayuth responded that the matter was not a problem. The ombudsman’s office said he told them he had completed the oath-taking, without elaborating.
The oath is written into the constitution that was adopted in 2017 when Prayuth headed a military government that took power in a 2014 coup.
He became prime minister again after a general election in March that was held according to laws the military regime wrote to favor its political allies.
Divers on Wednesday recovered the body of the last missing victim of a boat fire off the California coast that killed 34 people.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office announced the end of the search on Twitter, saying it was “relieved to report” the final victim had been found.
Authorities were still doing DNA tests to confirm the identities of seven of the victims.
New safety bulletin
Earlier in the day, the Coast Guard announced it has issued new safety recommendations in the wake of the tragedy near Santa Cruz Island, such as limiting the unsupervised charging of lithium-ion batteries and the use of power strips and extension cords.
The bulletin also suggests that owners and operators of vessels review emergency duties with the crew, identify emergency escapes, check all firefighting and lifesaving equipment onboard, and look at the condition of passenger accommodation spaces for “unsafe practices or other hazardous arrangements.”
The cause of the Sept. 2 fire has yet to be determined. Salvage efforts to recover the Conception, which authorities have said is expected to aid the investigation, resumed this week after several days of weather delays.
Five of the Conception’s six crew members survived and told investigators they made multiple attempts to save people who were trapped below deck.
Criminal, Marine Board investigations
Authorities have said they are looking at several factors in their investigation, including how batteries and electronics were stored and charged. They will also look into how the crew was trained and what crew members were doing at the time of the fire, which erupted in the middle of the night as the passengers slept.
The boat’s design will also come under scrutiny, particularly whether a bunkroom escape hatch was adequate.
The FBI, Coast Guard and U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles are conducting a criminal investigation, and the Coast Guard has convened a formal Marine Board of Investigation.
The four members of the board will look into “pre-accident historical events, the regulatory compliance of the Conception, crew member duties and qualifications, weather conditions and reporting, safety and firefighting equipment, and Coast Guard oversight.”
That investigation is expected to take at least a year. The panel will seek to determine the factors that led to the fire, any possible evidence of misconduct, inattention to duty, negligence or willful ignorance of the law, and if any other factors caused or contributed to the deaths.
Coast Guard records show the Conception passed its two most recent inspections with no safety violations. Previous customers said the company that owns the vessel, Truth Aquatics, and the captains of its three boats, were very safety conscious.
Authorities have said 21 women and 13 men from 16 to 62 years old appear to have died from smoke inhalation.
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to visit Baltimore, the eastern U.S., majority-black city he recently called a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
Trump will be in Baltimore on Thursday to address Republican congressional leaders attending an annual retreat.
Several protests are planned to coincide with his visit. Activist groups are planning to protest “racism, white supremacy, war, bigotry and climate change,” organizers told The Baltimore Sun.
Trump has denied charges of racism regarding his attacks on the city and U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who is a native of Baltimore.
“There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself,” he tweeted in July.