The instruction to feed the hungry is a common philosophy among most major world religions. Muslims are no exception, especially while the observe the fasting month of Ramadan. VOA’s Irfan Ihsan reports. Alam Burhanan and Ronan Zakaria contributed.
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Day: April 10, 2023
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has paused its practice of paying for emergency contraception — and in rare cases, abortions — for victims of sexual assault, a move that drew criticism from some victim advocates.
Federal regulations and state law require Iowa to pay many of the expenses for sexual assault victims who seek medical help, such as the costs of forensic exams and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Under the previous attorney general, Democrat Tom Miller, Iowa’s victim compensation fund also paid for Plan B, the so-called morning after pill, as well as other treatments to prevent pregnancy.
A spokeswoman for Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird, who defeated Miller’s bid for an 11th term in November, told the Des Moines Register that those payments are now on hold as part of a review of victim services.
“As a part of her top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance, Attorney General Bird is carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds,” Bird Press Secretary Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement. “Until that review is complete, payment of these pending claims will be delayed.”
Victim advocates were caught off guard by the pause. Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, said in a statement that the move was “deplorable and reprehensible.”
Bird’s decision comes as access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the U.S. plunged into uncertainty following conflicting court rulings on Friday over the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone. For now, the drug the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2000 appeared to remain at least immediately available in the wake of separate rulings issued in quick succession.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone. But that decision came at nearly the same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice in Washington state, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, essentially ordered the opposite.
The extraordinary timing of the competing orders revealed the high stakes surrounding the drug nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion across the country. President Joe Biden said his administration would fight the Texas ruling.
In Iowa, money for the victim compensation fund comes from fines and penalties paid by convicted criminals. For sexual assault victims, state law requires that the fund pay “the cost of a medical examination of a victim for the purpose of gathering evidence and the cost of treatment of a victim for the purpose of preventing venereal disease,” but makes no mention of contraception or pregnancy risk.
Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, who served as director of the victim assistance division under Miller, said the longtime policy for Iowa has been to include the cost of emergency contraception in the expenses covered by the fund. She said that in rare cases, the fund paid for abortions for rape victims.
“My concern is for the victims of sexual assault, who, with no real notice, are now finding themselves either unable to access needed treatment and services, or are now being forced to pay out of their own pocket for those services, when this was done at no fault of their own,” she said.
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Climate change, deforestation, and urbanization are some of the major risk factors behind the increasing number of outbreaks of viruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya around the world, warns a study by the World Health Organization.
The study says the incidence of infections caused by these mosquito-borne illnesses, which thrive in tropical and subtropical climates, have grown dramatically in recent decades. The report says cases of dengue have increased from just over half a million globally in 2000 to 5.2 million in 2019.
And the trend continues. The latest data show about half of the world’s population now is at risk of dengue, the most common viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people, with an estimated 100 to 400 million infections occurring every year.
“Right now, around 129 countries are at risk of dengue, and it is endemic in over 100 countries,” said Raman Velayudhan, unit head of WHOs global program on control of neglected tropical diseases coordinating dengue and arbovirus initiative.
He said dengue in South America alone is moving further south to countries such as Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay.
Climate change gives rise to increased precipitation, higher temperatures and higher humidity, conditions under which mosquitos thrive and multiply. There is new research, which shows that even dry weather enables mosquitos to breed. Scientists say dry weather makes mosquitos thirsty and when they become dehydrated, they want to feed on blood more often.
“This is really worrying because this shows that climate change has played a key role in facilitating the spread of the vector mosquitoes down south. And then when people travel, naturally the virus goes along with them,” he said. “And this trend is likely to continue for the rest of the world.
“We have already got reports from Sudan, which has recorded a quite high increase in dengue cases, over 8,000 cases and 45 deaths since July.”
WHO officials note that cases of dengue in Asia have increased in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Dengue is a mild disease, in most cases. While most people will not have symptoms, some might experience high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash. Most people will recover in a couple of weeks, but dengue could be fatal for those who develop severe cases.
“This is a big threat to the world because most of the countries now have all the four related dengue viruses in circulation,” Velayudhan said. “Dengue unfortunately does not have a treatment and even vaccines are just emerging in the market right now,” he said.
He noted that one vaccine, found to be effective in people who have had dengue once, is licensed in about 20 countries, two other vaccines are in the pipeline, and two drugs are under development.
Chikungunya and Zika
The Chikungunya virus is spread by Aedes mosquitoes and is found on nearly all continents. To date, about 115 countries have reported cases. The disease can cause chronic disabilities in some people and severely impact their quality of life.
Diana Rojas Alvarez, WHO technical lead for Zika and chikungunya and co-lead of the global arbovirus initiative said that cases of chikungunya in the Americas have increased from 50,000 in 2022 to 135,000 this year. She said the virus was circulating out of the usual endemic areas inside South America and was spreading into other regions.
Arboviruses are spread by arthropods – which include mosquitos, ticks, centipedes and millipedes and spiders.
“Now we are seeing transmission where we did not see it before. The countries where the mosquito has been introduced is increasing and where the mosquito is established is alarming,” she said.
“We should be prepared to detect some cases during spring and summer in Europe and in the northern hemisphere, also in southeast Asia because the arbovirus season starts later there. It is usually when the summer season starts,” Rojas Alvarez said.
Like dengue and chikungunya, the Zika virus is spread by the Aedes mosquitoes, which mostly bite during the day. However, unlike the other two viruses, Zika also can be transmitted sexually between people and from mother to child during pregnancy.
Between October 2015 and January 2016, Brazil reported 1.5 million people were infected with the Zika virus and more than 3,500 babies were born with smaller heads than normal—a condition known as microcephaly.
The epidemic spread to other parts of South and North America and several islands in the Pacific. The WHO declared Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in February 2016.
“Zika is still circulating,” said Rojas Alvarez. “Of course, we went from millions of cases in 2015 and 2016 and since 2017 the cases are going down, but we still have about 30 to 40,000 cases reported every year, mostly in the Americas.”
She added that 89 countries and territories have reported cases of Zika virus transmission.
Last year, WHO launched the Global Arbovirus Initiative to tackle emerging and re-emerging arboviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential. The plan focuses on preparedness, early detection, and response to outbreaks, as well as the development of new drugs and vaccines.
While these strategies take shape, health officials are urging communities to eliminate mosquito breeding sites in and around homes and use mosquito repellent to protect themselves against the potentially fatal diseases.
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A group of historians from India’s leading universities have slammed recent revisions to school textbooks that include removing or trimming references to Islamic rule in the subcontinent and to the anger among some Hindu extremists at independence leader Mahatma Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Education authorities have said the history, political science and sociology texts were revised as part of a “rationalization process” but critics charge that the amendments help promote the Hindu nationalist vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
School textbooks issued by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an autonomous organization under the Education Ministry, are part of the curriculum in thousands of schools across the country.
NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani has denied allegations that the revisions were made with a political agenda and said they are meant to lighten the academic load on students in the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic, which led to loss of learning.
“It’s a professional exercise meant to help students hit by the pandemic and has no ulterior political motive,” he told television news channel, NDTV.
However a group of 250 historians and academics said that while they understand the need for periodic revisions of school texts, this round “reflects the sway of divisive politics over pedagogic concerns.”
“Selectively deleting several important themes from school textbooks is not only doing great disservice to the composite heritage of the Indian subcontinent, but betraying the aspirations of the Indian masses,” historians and academics from India’s top universities such as Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Ashoka University said in a statement on Friday.
While textbooks have been amended before, critics say the latest changes are efforts to bypass the period when Muslims ruled India.
Passages on Mughals, who ruled in North India between the 16th and 19th centuries, have been either trimmed or removed in secondary and senior school texts. Right wing Hindu groups consider the Muslim rulers oppressors and wanted more focus in history texts on ancient India, which they say reflects the achievements of India under Hindu rulers.
Several towns and streets bearing Muslim names have been renamed with Hindu ones since the BJP came to power.
Prime Minister Modi said at an event last December, that in the name of history, “concocted narratives” were taught to infuse inferiority and there is a need to break free from the “narrow views” of the past to move forward.
Historians underline how diverse races and religions that came to India over the centuries molded its identity.
“With these revisions, future generations of students might lose out on the basic nuances of how that historical progression had taken place in India,” pointed out Archana Ojha, professor of history at Delhi University, who is a signatory to the statement. “You cannot write history on the basis of religion. It is an account of human progression based on political, economic and other changes. For example the process of urbanization of Delhi began in the 13th century with a Muslim ruler. The Mughals were as much Hindustani [Indian] as others.”
Other deletions in the school texts include references to the links between Hindu extremism and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the dislike of his pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity among some Hindus, as well as the ban imposed on the right wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in the aftermath of his killing. The RSS is called the ideological parent of the ruling BJP.
Among the deleted references is one that says Gandhi “was convinced that any attempt to make India into a country only for Hindus would destroy India.”
References to the riots that wracked Gujarat state in 2002 killing almost a 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, when Prime Minister Modi headed the state have also been dropped. So have some accounts of some social movements and caste-based discrimination in Hinduism.
The historians, several of whom had worked on the syllabus in the past, said in their statement that the attempts in the earlier texts were to make them as inclusive as possible, and to provide a “sense of the rich diversity of the human past both within the subcontinent and the wider world.”
Calling for the changes to be recalled, the statement said that “removing entire periods of history from textbooks would not only perpetuate misconceptions and misunderstandings, but would serve to further the divisive communal and casteist agenda of the ruling elites.”
“When we revise history we do so on the basis of new evidences, new sources or what is found in archival records which may have been overlooked. It is not done on the basis of what politicians or a certain class of people want it to be,” said Ojha. She pointed out that “in the latest revisions, there are just deletions, no new additions.”
In an editorial last week, the Indian Express newspaper, said that while curriculum reforms should be par for the course, the recent ones “excise content related to chapters in history that have acquired political overtones under the current regime.”
The newspaper said the deletions from the textbooks invite the charge “that not only does the government wish to escape unpalatable facts, but it also wants to ensure that students do not engage with social and political realities with a critical attitude.”
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Qamar Ali Haji has been using skin-lightening products for four years. Initially she liked the change in her appearance but now the exposure to the chemicals in the products is taking a toll. She says she regrets it.
“I can’t sit too long in the school, I cannot bear the heat, my cheeks turn red, and I cannot go into the kitchen,” Haji said. “I cannot bear the slightest heat, I become boiled, there are ulcers on my legs, redness all over.”
The 19-year-old student is one of a growing number of women in Somalia who use the skin-lightening products.
Locally known as “qasqas” or “mixture,” the term reflects the combination of various skin-whitening products. Health advocates say using these products can cause dangerous side effects and lead to physical and mental health problems.
Somali officials and activists said the country’s political upheavals and the war on the al-Shabab militant group are overshadowing socially driven health dangers like skin-whitening. Due to a lack of awareness, some people don’t realize how dangerous these products can be.
The issue has attracted the attention of Amira Adawe, a leading activist with a master’s degree in public health from Minnesota. Adawe has traveled to the Horn of Africa region multiple times in recent years as part of her research into the practice of skin-whitening.
She is the founder of Beautywell, an organization that has been addressing this issue in the United States.
Adawe said the skin-lightening products from Kenya and Somalia that she tested contained high levels of toxic chemicals like mercury, hydroquinone and lead.
Mercury, hydroquinone, steroids and lead are the four main chemicals found in skin-whitening products, according to Adawe. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal. Women who use skin-lightning products that contain mercury, can suffer neurological side effects, and develop depression and anxiety, Adawe added.
“We had a Somali woman in the state of Minnesota who actually lost her vision because of (the) neurological impact that came from the use of skin-lighting products containing mercury,” she told Women’s Square, a new VOA Somali program.
“Some people also develop diabetics because medically, skin-lightning products impact hormones … which impacts the insulin in our body,” she said.
Other health risks include hypertension, kidney problems, skin sensitivity and skin cancer as product users cannot tolerate any sunlight, Adawe said.
“Steroids can give them a lot of skin tenderness,” she added.
There’s also the possibility of a mother passing the toxicity to her baby if she is breastfeeding.
Skin-whitening is multibillion-dollar industry that targets women around the globe. Adawe says the practice is especially high in countries where regulations on toxic products are weak or nonexistent, like Somalia.
According to Adawe many people in Somalia are using skin-whitening products.
“I have done several focus group sessions, key informant interviews and surveyed two universities,” she said. “In all these more than 140 women, girls and some men participated, and all of the women and girls were using. Some of the men were using.”
The focus groups and interviews took place in Mogadishu and Hargeisa.
“Women that I interviewed … in Somalia had kidney problems and other health issues like very (a) bad smell of fish odor, skin redness, skin ulcers, blue skin pigmentation, headache, severe wound healing problems and endocrinological problems,” she said.
“All of these (health issues) are associated with the use of mercury, hydroquinone and steroids in skin-lightening products.”
Adawe shared her work with Somali officials and explained the health issues associated with exposure to the toxic ingredients in skin-lightening products.
In Mogadishu she met female parliamentarians who promised to support legislation to regulate skin-lightening products with toxic chemicals. She also has been communicating with the Somali ministry of health to increase awareness of the problem and find strategies for regulating the toxic products.
Interim manager of the National Medicine Regulatory Authority at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Farah Mohamed Sharawe was one of the officials who met Adawe last month. He admits the government has not researched skin-whitening products.
“The first action of my office is to register the importation of these medications, find out who is bringing [them] in, and give them license. The other action is widespread awareness about the harmful impacts of these medications. [To] prevent expanding of skin-whitening problems,” he said.
Sharawe said the ministry agreed with Adawe on the need for research about the cosmetics coming into Somali and the amount of toxicity, if any, the products may contain.
“Conduct research into the compounds, check the level of mercury and other harmful elements, and then share … [the] data with the public,” he said. “This needs legislation, the Medicine and Food Safety Bill, which the Cabinet has passed. That legislation is important.”
While the Medicine and Food Safety Bill has Cabinet approval, it won’t become law until Parliament approves it.
Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, the World Health Organization representative for Somalia, also met Adawe.
“These are poisons which should never be allowed to come in. She is using science to understand the scope of this problem and address these problems which are harmful to public health. She is doing it without any fear,” he said.
Malik said WHO is planning to set up a laboratory for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to test and identify contaminated products.
“Within (the) next few months we will help them to have the ability to test these cosmetic products, food and any other imported products which pose (a) risk to (the) health of the population,” he said.
Personal mission
The practice of whitening skin is personal to Adawe. She has faced discrimination because of her own dark skin color.
“At a very young age I had a little experience of colorism; as you know colorism, it’s a cultural thing that happens all over the world because of skin color discrimination especially in countries that went through colonization and slavery,” Adawe said.
“So at very young age I remember people always commenting on my skin color and so that stayed with me but also I have seen when I was growing up in Somalia and also growing up in the United States especially in Minnesota, many individuals that are using these products, whether it’s relatives or friends or people that I came to know using these products and externally I could see how it was impacting their skin color.”
She said she hopes to see the Somali government ban the toxic ingredients like mercury, lead and other chemicals found in some skin-lightening products and establish a regulatory system for the drugs and cosmetics.
Harun Maruf contributed to this report.
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A British performance of “The Bodyguard” musical ended in unrequited love for some audience members who couldn’t refrain from singing along to the anthemic finale.
The show at the Palace Theatre in Manchester screeched to a halt Friday when two unruly patrons were ejected for joining the lead in singing “I Will Always Love You,” the soaring, emotional ballad made famous by Whitney Houston.
It was not supposed to be a singalong. Ushers carried signs saying, “Please refrain from singing” and announcements were made in advance that patrons would have a chance to join along at the end but not to sing during the show, said Tash Kenyon, an audience member.
During the closing number, somebody shouted, “Does this mean we can start singing now?” Kenyon said. A tone-deaf voice projected from the balcony and competed with the vocals of Melody Thornton, a former member of The Pussycat Dolls.
Laughter then turned to anger and confusion, Karl Bradley told the Manchester Evening News.
“The stage then just went black again and that’s when it really started to kick off on the higher tier, you could really hear screams and audible gasps,” Bradley said. “Everyone starting standing up and looking over. There was chants of ‘out, out, out’ to get them gone.”
When the lights came up, the unwanted backup singers were being hauled out of their seats by theater security and audience members began cheering.
But the music and show were over.
A spokesperson for the theater said the show was canceled because disruptive fans who refused to stay seated had spoiled the performance.
Thornton posted a video on Instagram thanking respectful fans and apologizing for those who weren’t.
Greater Manchester Police said it spoke with the two people who were removed by security and would review evidence before taking any action.
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Jon Rahm turned the longest day into his sweetest victory, starting Sunday with a four-shot deficit in the morning chill and finishing in fading sunlight as the fourth Spaniard to become a Masters champion.
Rahm closed with a 3-under 69 to pull away from mistake-prone Brooks Koepka. He won by four shots over Koepka and 52-year-old Phil Mickelson, who turned in a tournament-best 65. He is the oldest runner-up in Masters history.
It was Mickelson who declared Rahm would be among golf’s biggest stars even before the Spaniard turned pro in 2016. Rahm now has a green jacket to go along with his U.S. Open title he won in 2021 at Torrey Pines.
Rahm made up two shots on Koepka over the final 12 holes of the rain-delayed third round and started the final round two shots behind. He seized on Koepka’s collapse and then surged so far ahead that Mickelson’s amazing closing round — the best final round ever at Augusta National for the three-time Masters champion — was never going to be enough.
Nothing was more satisfying than an uphill climb to the 18th green to claim the green jacket on a day when Spanish stars aligned. Sunday is the birthdate of his idol, the late Seve Ballesteros, and this is the 40-year anniversary of Ballesteros winning his second Masters title.
Rahm embraced his wife and two children, and as he walked toward the scoring room, there was two-time Masters champion José María Olazábal in his green jacket for the strongest hug of all.
Rahm won for the fourth time this year — just as Scottie Scheffler did a year ago when he won the Masters — and reclaimed the No. 1 world ranking from Scheffler.
This Masters had a little bit of everything — hot and humid at the start, a cold front with wind that toppled three trees on Friday, putting surfaces saturated from rain on Saturday and a marathon finish Sunday as Rahm and Koepka went 30 holes.
Koepka helped to pave the way with one miscue after another, losing the lead for the first time since Thursday afternoon when he chipped 20 feet past the hole from behind the par-3 sixth and made his second bogey. There would be more to come.
Worse yet, Koepka went 22 consecutive holes Sunday without a birdie — from the par-5 eighth hole in the morning of the third round until the par-5 13th in final round. By then, he was three shots behind and Rahm all but sealed it with his next shot.
He hit a low cut around a tree from right of the 14th fairway and it caught a slope just right on the 14th green and fed down to 3 feet for a birdie. When Koepka three-putted for bogey, it was a matter of finishing.
Rahm hooked his tee shot into the trees on the final hole and didn’t reach the fairway. No matter. He played up the fairway, hit wedge to 3 feet and tapped in for the victory.
The leaderboard was littered with major champions and a tinge of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Mickelson and Koepka both are part of the rival circuit. Former Masters champion Patrick Reed, another player who defected to LIV, closed with a 68 and tied for fourth with Jordan Spieth (66) and Russell Henley.
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