The U.S. State Department is marking the 60th anniversary of its Office of Art in Embassies, a government partnership with art communities to promote democratic values. VOA’s Saqib Ul Islam shows us two of its traveling exhibitions that were on display in Washington.
…
Day: October 6, 2023
Indian rescuers are searching for over 100 people missing in a flash flood caused by a glacial lake bursting its banks, a risk scientists warn is increasing with climate change.
Agence France-Presse explains what glacial lake outburst floods are and the risks they pose, particularly in parts of Asia.
What is a glacial lake outburst flood?
A glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF, is the sudden release of water that has collected in former glacier beds.
These lakes are formed by the retreat of glaciers, a naturally occurring phenomenon that has been turbocharged by the warmer temperatures of human-caused climate change.
Glacier melt is often channeled into rivers, but ice or the build-up of debris can form what is effectively a natural dam, behind which a glacial lake builds.
If these natural dams are breached, large quantities of water can be released suddenly from the lakes, causing devastating flooding.
What causes these breaches?
The natural dams holding back glacial lakes can be breached for a variety of reasons, explained Lauren Vargo, a glacier expert and scientist at the Antarctic Research Centre in New Zealand. Causes include “an avalanche of snow, or a landslide causing a wave in the lake, or overfilling of the lake … from rain or the glacier melting,” she told AFP.
Sometimes the dam has been gradually degraded over time or is ruptured by an event such as an earthquake.
The breaches are highly unpredictable, “because they can be caused by so many different factors,” she said.
What is the impact of climate change?
Climate change is driving the disappearance of glaciers, with half the Earth’s 215,000 glaciers projected to melt by the end of the century, even if warming can be capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The volume of glacial lakes has jumped by 50% in 30 years, according to a 2020 study based on satellite data.
The more lakes that form and the larger they grow, the greater the risk they pose to populations downstream.
Climate change is not only driving the creation of glacial lakes, but also can produce the conditions that result in dam breaches.
“The flooding can be caused by glaciers melting or these big rainfall events,” said Vargo. “We know that’s happening more because of climate change.”
How dangerous are these floods?
The particular danger of GLOFs lies in their unpredictability.
“The probability of a lake releasing a GLOF is difficult to accurately quantify without detailed and localized studies,” a study of the problem globally warned this year.
The study, published in Nature Communications, found that 15 million people live within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of a glacial lake and within one kilometer of potential flooding from a breach.
The risk was greatest in “High Mountains Asia,” an area that covers parts of 12 countries, including India, Pakistan, China and Nepal.
That is partly because more people live closer to glacial lakes in the region than in other parts of the world, making warning times even shorter.
But it also reflects the vulnerability of those populations, who may be poorer and less prepared to deal with the sudden arrival of catastrophic floodwaters.
“The most dangerous basins … do not always host the most, or the largest, glacial lakes,” the authors wrote.
“Rather it is the high number of people and the reduced capacity of those people to cope with disaster that plays a key role in determining overall GLOF danger.”
Thousands of people, for example, have been killed by glacier lake outburst floods in High Mountains Asia but only a handful in North America’s Pacific Northwest, even though that region has twice as many glacial lakes.
Experts have called for more research on the risks posed by GLOFs, particularly in the Andean region, which remains comparatively understudied, but also for better preparedness.
“But then there’s the larger part of what we can do in terms of reducing emissions, to try to slow down climate change and reduce the threats of this from growing even more,” Vargo said.
…
At a rally Friday in the southern city of Blantyre, unemployed nurses called for more jobs and gave Malawi’s president 14 days to help them find new opportunities for work.
Frank Kamwendo, the chairperson of concerned nurses, said the demonstrations were a last resort after several meetings with Malawi government officials.
“We have been trying our level best to discuss with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of local government to recruit more than 2,260 nursing officers,” said Kamwendo. “Unfortunately, these ministries have been telling us that there are no funds for recruitment.”
Kamwendo said the nurses have also tried in vain to get the government to help them work in other countries.
Thousands without jobs
Government statistics show that Malawi has about 3,000 unemployed nurses and 160 vacant positions for nurses in public medical facilities.
Last year, Malawi’s government stopped a plan by the National Organization of Nurses and Midwives that could have helped some 2,000 unemployed nurses find work in the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Ministry of Labor authorities said the organization has no legal mandate to export labor.
Shouts Simez, the president of the National Organization of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi, told VOA that there are now positive signs that the situation will soon be better for unemployed nurses.
“I am happy to share that the approach has changed now because now it’s from the Ministry of Labor to the Ministry of Trade and Industry,” said Simeza. “So, the Ministry of Trade and Industry is looking at exporting services. Nursing is one of the services that can be exported.”
Simeza said his organization is part of the group including the Ministry of Trade that is working on a legal framework for exporting services.
“When the Ministry of Labor said, ‘No you cannot do this,’ I ended up agreeing because we did not have the guidelines, meaning that if we had to send nurses or midwives to work in the diaspora, they were not going to be safe and protected,” said Simeza. “That’s now where the issues of exploitation were going to come in.”
Protesters threaten to stage vigils
However, the demonstrators delivered a petition to the office of a Blantyre district commissioner and threatened to hold vigils at the State House to pressure authorities into action.
Director for the Blantyre District Council, Rejison Nkolobwe, promised to deliver the petition to the responsible authorities for action.
“Our duty as DC for Blantyre is to take this petition and forward it to the relevant authorities, which is the office of president and cabinet,” said Nkolobwe.
While government authorities have not formally responded to the unemployed nurses’ demands, Simeza said he hopes the demonstration will help push the government to fast-track the process of putting in place guidelines on labor migration.
…
Amazon launched the first test satellites for its planned internet service Friday as a rival to SpaceX’s broadband network.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket blasted off with the pair of test satellites, kicking off a program that aims to improve global internet coverage with an eventual 3,236 satellites around Earth.
Amazon plans to begin offering internet service by the end of next year.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has a huge head start over Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos, who has his own rocket company, Blue Origin.
SpaceX flew its first test Starlink satellites in 2018 and the first operational satellites in 2019. It has since launched more than 5,000 Starlinks from Florida and California, using its own Falcon rockets.
Europe’s Eutelsat OneWeb also is launching internet satellites, with around 600 in orbit.
Amazon originally agreed to put the satellites on the debut launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. But with the Vulcan grounded by problems until at least the end of this year, Amazon switched to the long-established Atlas V.
When licensing the program, the Federal Communications Commission stipulated that at least half of the planned satellites be operating by 2026 and all of them by 2029.
Amazon has reserved 77 launches from ULA, Blue Origin and Europe’s Arianespace to get everything up and orbiting before the deadline.
…
A study published Friday indicates 1 in 10 babies around the world are born prematurely — before 37 weeks — leading to deaths, disability and chronic illnesses.
The study was conducted by the World Health Organization, the U.N. Children’s Fund, UNICEF and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The study monitored global births between 2010 and 2020 and documented global, regional and country estimates and trends. It found 13.4 million babies — 1 in 10 of all live births — were born prematurely in 2020, with large disparities between regions and nations.
It showed about 65% of 2020 preterm births worldwide occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, where more than 13% of all births were preterm. The rates in the most affected countries — Bangladesh, 16.2%; Malawi 14.5%; and Pakistan, 14.3% — were three or four times higher than those in the world’s least affected countries — Serbia, 3.8%; Moldova, 4%; and Kazakhstan, 4.7%.
The study indicates premature birth is not limited to low- and middle-income countries, with data showing preterm rates of 10% or higher in wealthier nations such as Greece, with 11.6%, and the United States, at 10%. No region saw a significant reduction in premature births during the 10-year period.
The WHO said that premature birth is a leading cause of death among young children, and that those who survive are more susceptible to disabilities, developmental issues and chronic illness as adults.
The U.N. agency called for greater global investment in prevention and ensuring access to quality health care.
The study, titled “National, regional, and global estimates of preterm birth in 2020, with trends from 2010: a systematic analysis,” was published in the British medical journal Lancet.
…
It’s been more than 20 years since “Spy Kids” made its way to movie theaters around the world. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has rebooted the franchise to attract a new generation. VOA’s Veronica Villafañe spoke with the director and has more in this report.
…
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Narges Mohammadi, a women’s and human rights activist who is imprisoned in Iran.
Mohammadi has been arrested by Iran’s government 13 times, convicted five times, and sentenced to 31 years’ imprisonment and 154 lashes.
The Nobel Committee said that Mohammadi’s life embodies the “Woman – Life – Freedom” motto of the protests in Iran that erupted last year after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in custody after being arrested by the morality police for wearing her headscarf incorrectly.
Hours after the announcement of Mohammadi as the winner of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, Ms. Mohammadi’s Instagram account released a statement from her family in which she congratulated all Iranians, especially the brave women and girls of Iran.
“We would also like to extend our sincere congratulations to all Iranians, especially the brave women and girls of Iran, who have captured the world’s attention with their courage in their struggle for freedom and equality. This remarkable honor is a lasting witness to the tireless civil and peaceful efforts of Narges Mohammadi to bring change and freedom to Iran.
Ms. Mohammadi’s family expressed regret that she is in prison at these moments, emphasizing in their statement: “Unfortunately, Narges is not on our side to share this wonderful moment. Because he has been unjustly imprisoned, we cannot see his happy reaction to this remarkable and glorious news.
“This remarkable honor belongs to each and every one of you the courageous and resistant people of Iran who have fought tirelessly and peacefully for freedom.”
Mohammadi began her activism in the 1990s as young physics student and was first arrested in 2011 for her work with incarcerated activists and their families.
Her subsequent activism, bringing attention to Iran’s death penalty, torture and sexualized violence against political prisoners, especially women, resulted in more arrests.
Last year, as a leader among prisoners, she voiced support for the demonstrators who took to the streets of Iran following Amini’s death. Prison officials stopped her from receiving calls and visitors, but she was somehow able to smuggle out an article for The New York Times that was published on the anniversary of Amini’s killing.
She wrote in the article, “The more of us they lock up, the stronger we become.”
Alfred Nobel, a 19th-century Swedish chemist best known for inventing dynamite, provided money for the Nobel prizes in his will. He said there should be five prizes – physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. These prizes were to be given to “those who during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”
VOA’s Persian Service contributed to this report.
…
For years, Chinese officials have referred to the Tiananmen massacre as “political turmoil” and have attempted to make the violence of June 4, 1989, disappear.
Estimates of the death toll range from several hundred people to more than 10,000, though there has never been an official tally released. Thousands more were injured by troops who charged the student-led pro-democracy demonstration that began massing in Beijing’s vast open space in mid-April.
Against that backdrop, Tiananmen: A New Musical weaves a love story between two students in a production that opened Wednesday at the Phoenix Theatre Company in Arizona. Its world premiere will be Friday night.
Wu’er Kaixi, who was one of the protest leaders and who now lives in Taiwan where he is a pro-democracy activist, served as a creative consultant.
It is the latest in a subset of musicals that tackle serious issues. Cabaret addresses homophobia, antisemitism and the rise of Nazi Germany. Dear Evan Hansen grapples with suicide and bullying.
It took three years to produce Tiananmen. Beijing’s growing willingness to track down its critics and exert pressure on them left many who auditioned wary of accepting roles that jeopardize family or business interests in China.
The show’s musical director, theater veteran Darren Lee, told VOA Mandarin that before accepting the job, he had a career first: calling his parents to see if there were relatives still in China who would be endangered.
His family’s “most studious aunt” with the best “memory and connection to where we’ve all come from” greenlit Lee’s participation. The show’s original Chinese American director left the show because of “potential for retribution against his family in China if he were involved in telling this story,” Lee told Phoenix magazine.
Lee said one of the core messages of the Tiananmen play is to explore the impact of this “long arm of fear” on people.
“I’m an American-born Chinese person. I may share DNA with people in China, but I don’t have direct relatives that would be pressured in any way. So, I don’t have that same sense of — I guess it’s fear,” he said.
Producer Jason Rose said others involved in the show opted out due to concerns about family or business interests in China. Others used stage names or were credited as “Anonymous.”
Rose told VOA Mandarin he respected those decisions, but the show kept moving ahead despite possible pressure from Beijing.
“That’s what drew me to this show,” he said. “It is provocative. It is important. It is a celebration of bravery by these artists. … That is American art at its best, and to allow another country to dictate what’s going to be on the American stage — I’m sorry, that’s where I’ll hold up my hand and say, ‘Let’s go try and do this.’”
And while Kaixi hopes audiences will feel the students’ courage and the atmosphere of hope that permeated Tiananmen Square, he wants people to realize that the rulers of today’s China are no different from those who “decided to shoot and kill people” in 1989.
That view is reflected in a scene described by Rose in an opinion piece Sept. 15 in the Arizona Capitol Times. China’s leader in 1989, Deng Xiaoping, walking through the carnage left by the government’s attack, delivers a monologue: “People will forget what happened here. People will forget what we did here. Westerners will. China will. Because you will want smartphones. Because Beijing will want skyscrapers. Twenty-thousand dying will bring 20 years of stability. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. And at the edge of memory, who defines the truth? Me.”
VOA Mandarin sought comment from the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco but did not receive a response.
Ellie Wang, who stars opposite Kennedy Kanagawa in Tiananmen, told Playbill, “This production is not just a celebration of art and storytelling but a powerful reminder of the importance of courage, resilience, and the universal desire for freedom.”
Wen Baoling, a Hong Konger who lives in San Francisco, traveled to Phoenix to attend a preview of the show, which has a book by Scott Elmegreen, with music and lyrics by Drew Fornarola.
“I really wanted to support this team of very brave people who made this show about the Tiananmen massacre,” she said. “The Chinese regime tries to put a lot of pressure on people, even outside of China. So, we can’t really let the censorship — this complete erasure of history — we can’t let the Chinese regime extend that censorship outside of China and into the U.S.”
Audience member Jerry Vineyard told VOA Mandarin he had followed the Tiananmen protests when they began. He said the musical “brought up a lot of memories for me … because I remember I was in high school, I was 17, when all this happened. And I felt a lot of hope when I saw that started to happen. And then it just seemed like it was all dashed and crushed. And then … they mentioned in the play, the [Berlin] Wall came down shortly after. So, [Tiananmen] kind of got brushed away in history.”
Kaixi said the students’ pro-democracy movement of 1989 remains “unfinished business.”
“I hope everyone will remember this history, respect this history, and eulogize this history. This generation of young people, with their dedication and their bravery, can achieve the results we wanted,” he said.
…
A photo of Dick Butkus sneering behind his facemask filled the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL preview, topped by the headline, “The Most Feared Man in the Game.” Opponents who wound up on the business end of his bone-rattling hits could testify that wasn’t an exaggeration.
Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears whose speed and ferocity set the standards for the position in the modern era, died Thursday, the team announced. He was 80.
According to a statement released by the team, Butkus’ family confirmed that he died in his sleep at his home in Malibu, California.
Butkus was a first-team All-Pro five times and made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at 31. He was the quintessential Monster of the Midway and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. He is still considered one of the greatest defensive players in league history.
“Dick Butkus was a fierce and passionate competitor who helped define the linebacker position as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Dick’s intuition, toughness and athleticism made him the model linebacker whose name will forever be linked to the position and the Chicago Bears,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We also remember Dick as a longtime advocate for former players, and players at all levels of the game.”
A moment of silence honoring Butkus was held before the Bears played the Washington Commanders on Thursday night.
Trading on his image as the toughest guy in the room, Butkus enjoyed a long second career as a sports broadcaster, an actor in movies and TV series, and a sought-after pitchman for products ranging from antifreeze to beer. Whether the script called for comedy or drama, Butkus usually resorted to playing himself, often with his gruff exterior masking a softer side.
“I wouldn’t ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately,” Butkus replied tongue-in-cheek when asked about his on-field reputation. “Unless it was, you know, important … like a league game or something.”
Butkus was the rare pro athlete who played his entire career close to home. He was a star linebacker, fullback and kicker at Chicago Vocational High who went on to play at the University of Illinois. Born on December 9, 1942, as the youngest of eight children, he grew up on the city’s South Side as a fan of the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears’ crosstown rivals.
But after being drafted in the first round in 1965 by both the Bears and Denver Broncos (at the time, a member of the now-defunct American Football League), Butkus chose to remain in Chicago and play for NFL founder and coach George Halas. The Bears also added future Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers to the roster that year with another first-round pick.
“He was Chicago’s son,” Bears chairman George McCaskey, Halas’ grandson, said in a statement. “He exuded what our great city is about and, not coincidentally, what George Halas looked for in a player: toughness, smarts, instincts, passion and leadership. He refused to accept anything less than the best from himself, or from his teammates.”
Butkus inherited the middle linebacker job from Bill George, a Hall of Famer credited with popularizing the position in the NFL. In 1954, George abandoned his three-point stance in the middle of the defensive line and started each play several paces removed, a vantage point that allowed him to watch plays unfold and then race to the ball.
Butkus, however, brought speed, agility and a scorched-earth attitude to the job that his predecessors only imagined. He intercepted five passes, recovered six fumbles and was unofficially credited with forcing six more in his rookie year, topping it off with the first of eight straight Pro Bowl appearances. But his reputation as a disruptor extended well past the ability to take away the football.
Butkus would hit runners high, wrap them up and drive them to the ground like a rag doll. Playboy magazine once described him as “the meanest, angriest, toughest, dirtiest” player in the NFL and an “animal, a savage, subhuman.” Descriptions like that never sat well with Butkus. But they were also hard to argue.
Several opponents claimed Butkus poked them in the face or bit them in pileups, and he acknowledged that during warmups, “I would manufacture things to make me mad.” When the Detroit Lions unveiled an I-formation against the Bears at old Tigers Stadium, Butkus knocked every member of the “I” — the center, quarterback, fullback and halfback — out of the game.
And he didn’t always stop there. Several times Butkus crashed into ball carriers well past the sidelines. More than once he pursued them onto running tracks surrounding the field and even into the stands.
“Just to hit people wasn’t good enough,” teammate Ed O’Bradovich said. “He loved to crush people.”
Despite those efforts, the Bears lost plenty more games during his tenure than they won, going 48-74-4. Dealing with tendon problems that began in high school, Butkus suffered a serious injury to his right knee during the 1970 season and had preventive surgery before the next one. He considered a second operation after being sidelined nine games into the 1973 season.
When a surgeon asked him “how a man in your shape can play football, or why you would even want to,” Butkus announced his retirement in May 1974.
Soon after, Butkus sued the Bears for $1.6 million, contending he was provided inadequate medical care and owed the four years of salary remaining on his contract. The lawsuit was settled for $600,000, but Butkus and Halas didn’t speak for five years.
Butkus, like Sayers, never reached the postseason. The Bears won the 1963 championship and by the time they made the playoffs again in 1977, Butkus and Sayers were long gone.
After leaving football, Butkus became an instant celebrity. He appeared in “The Longest Yard” in 1974 and a dozen feature films over the next 15 years, as well as the sitcoms “My Two Dads” and “Hang Time.” He also returned to the Bears as a radio analyst in 1985, and replaced Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder on CBS’s “The NFL Today” pregame show in 1988.
Through the Butkus Foundation, he helped establish a program at a Southern California hospital to encourage early screenings to detect heart disease. He promoted a campaign to encourage high school athletes to train and eat well and avoid performance-enhancing drugs.
The foundation oversees the Butkus Award, established in 1985 to honor college football’s best linebacker. It was expanded in 2008 to include pros and high school players.
Butkus is survived by his wife, Helen, and children Ricky, Matt and Nikki. Nephew Luke Butkus has coached in college and the NFL, including time with the Bears.
…