Solar Sail Mission Is Declared a Success
Members of the LightSail 2 team declared their mission a success in a teleconference Wednesday. The citizen-funded spacecraft is the highest-performing solar sail to date and the first to demonstrate the ability to orbit Earth in a controlled way.
“This is a very exciting day for us, and for me personally,” said Bill Nye, chief executive officer of the Planetary Society, the organization behind the mission. “This idea that you could fly a spacecraft with nothing but photons is surprising, and for me, it’s very romantic that you could be sailing on sunbeams.”
LightSail 2 is the latest demonstration of solar sail technology, which uses the gentle pressure of photons — the particles of light — on a lightweight, reflective surface to propel a craft through space, similar to the way the wind pushes a sailing ship across the ocean. However, instead of canvas, solar sails are made of thin sheets of Mylar, the same crinkly silver material often used for helium-filled balloons. Faster speeds
Although the pressure of the sun’s rays is no greater than the weight of a paperclip dropping on the sail, sunlight is a constant source of energy. Scientists expect that as long as sunlight reaches them, solar sails will keep accelerating to much higher speeds than what is provided by traditional propulsion methods using chemical or nuclear fuel.
By tracking the location of the spacecraft, the team found that it had traveled 1.7 kilometers (1.1 miles) farther from Earth in just four days thanks to the gentle influence of sunlight. This is the first time solar propulsion has been successfully demonstrated in Earth’s orbit.
The technology has been tested before. In 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched a spacecraft called IKAROS, which used a solar sail to propel it past Venus and into orbit around the Sun.
The Planetary Society, which aims to advance space exploration, deployed its first solar sail in 2015. The LightSail 1 mission successfully unfurled a solar sail before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere a week later.
LightSail 2 follows the same trajectory. The $7 million project was funded by Planetary Society members as well as individuals who contributed to a Kickstarter campaign in 2015.
The goal of this project is to demonstrate that solar sails can be used to propel small satellites called CubeSats. These tiny satellites weigh as little as 1 kilogram and can carry scientific instruments like cameras. Specifically, LightSail 2 is carrying a 5-kilogram (11-pound) CubeSat into a controlled orbit around Earth. Small package
LightSail 2 was launched on June 25, 2019, carefully folded into a spacecraft the size of a loaf of bread. Last week, it successfully unfolded to its full 32-square-meter (344-square-foot) extent — about the size of a boxing ring.
The spacecraft orbits Earth along an elliptical path. Propelled by sunlight, the spacecraft will rise to a higher orbit through Aug. 23, 2019. As the maximum distance between Earth and LightSail 2 increases, part of its orbit will inch closer to Earth. Eventually, the spacecraft will dip low enough into the atmosphere that it will begin to slow down, re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, concluding its mission.
The team members acknowledged the mission’s 50,000 financial backers, who hail from 109 countries. Jennifer Vaughn, chief operating officer of the Planetary Society, thanked the people who “have the dream and who are willing to put down their own financial support to make it happen.”
LightSail 2’s success is encouraging for the future of solar sailing. Nye said solar sails may enable us to travel to distant destinations in the solar system, including his personal goal to “ferry cargo to Mars, look for signs of life and change the course of human history.”
Nye added that LightSail 2 is part of the bigger idea that humanity seeks to explore the universe and understand our place in it.
“Space exploration brings out the best in us,” he said.
…
Towering Broadway Director, Producer Hal Prince Has Died
Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cabaret,” “Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. Prince was 91.Prince’s publicist Rick Miramontez said Prince died Wednesday after a brief illness in Reykjavik, Iceland. Broadway marquees will dim their lights in his honor Wednesday night.Prince was known for his fluid, cinematic director’s touch and was unpredictable and uncompromising in his choice of stage material. He often picked challenging, offbeat subjects to musicalize, such as a murderous, knife-wielding barber who baked his victims in pies or the 19th-century opening of Japan to the West.Along the way, he helped create some of Broadway’s most enduring musical hits, first as a producer of such shows as “The Pajama Game,” “Damn Yankees,” “West Side Story,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” He later became a director, overseeing such landmark musicals as “Cabaret,” “Company,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Evita” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”ir Andrew Lloyd Webber, reached by phone Wednesday, told The Associated Press it was impossible to overestimate the importance of Prince to the stage. “All of modern musical theater owes practically everything to him.” Lloyd Webber recalled that, as a young man, he had written the music for the flop “Jeeves” and was feeling low. Prince wrote him a letter urging him not to be discouraged. The two men later met and Lloyd Webber said he was thinking of next doing a musical about Evita Peron. Prince told him to bring it to him first. “That was game-changing for me. Without that, I often wonder where I would be,” Lloyd Webber said.Tributes also poured in from generations of Broadway figures, including “The Band’s Visit” composer David Yazbek, who called Prince “a real giant,” and the performer Bernadette Peters, who called it a “sad day.” “Seinfeld” alum Jason Alexander, who was directed by Prince in “Merrily We Roll Along,” said Prince “reshaped American theater and today’s giants stand on his shoulders.” Composer Jason Robert Brown hailed Prince’s “commitment and an enthusiasm and a work ethic and an endless well of creative passion.”In addition to Lloyd Webber, Prince, known by friends as Hal, worked with some of the best-known composers and lyricists in musical theater, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, John Kander and Fred Ebb, and, most notably, Stephen Sondheim.”I don’t do a lot of analyzing of why I do something,” Prince once told The Associated Press. “It’s all instinct.”Only rarely, he said, did he take on an idea just for the money, and they “probably were bad ideas in the first place. Theater is not about that. It is about creating something. The fact that some of my shows have done so well is sheer luck.”During his more than 50-year career, Prince received a record 21 Tony Awards, including two special Tonys — one in 1972 when “Fiddler” became Broadway’s longest running musical then, and another in 1974 for a revival of “Candide.” He also was a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor.He earned a reputation as a detail-heavy director. Barbara Cook in her memoir “Then & Now” wrote: “I admire him greatly, but he also did not always make things easy, for one basic reason: he wants to direct every detail of your performance down to the way you crook your pinky finger.” A musical about Prince called “Prince of Broadway” opened in Japan in 2015 featuring songs from many of the shows that made him famous. It landed on Broadway in 2017.It was with Sondheim, who was the lyricist for “West Side Story,” that Prince developed his most enduring creative relationship. He produced “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1962), the first Broadway show for which Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics.They cemented their partnership in 1970 with “Company.” Prince produced and directed this innovative, revue-like musical that followed the travails of Bobby, a perpetual New York bachelor ever searching for the right woman.”Company” was followed in quick succession by “Follies” (1971), which Prince co-directed with Michael Bennett; “A Little Night Music” (1973); “Pacific Overtures” (1976); and “Sweeney Todd” (1979).Their work together stopped in 1981 after the short-lived “Merrily We Roll Along,” which lasted only 16 performances. It wasn’t to resume until 2003 when Prince and Sondheim collaborated on “Bounce,” a musical about the adventure-seeking Mizner brothers that had a troubled birth and finally made it to Broadway as “Road Show.”Prince was mentored by two of the theater’s most experienced professionals — director George Abbott and producer Robert E. Griffith.”I’ve had a unique life in the theater, uniquely lucky,” Prince said in his midlife autobiography, “Contradictions: Notes on Twenty-Six Years in the Theatre,” which was published in 1974. “I went to work for George Abbott in 1948, and I was fired on Friday that year from a television job in his office. I was rehired the following Monday, and I’ve never been out of work since.”Born in New York on Jan. 30, 1928, Prince was the son of affluent parents, for whom Saturday matinees in the theater with their children were a regular occurrence. A production of “Julius Caesar” starring Orson Welles when he was 8 taught him there was something special about theater.”I’ve had theater ambitions all of my life,” he said in his memoir. “I cannot go back so far that I don’t remember where I wanted to work.”After a stint in the Army during the Korean War (he kept his dog-tags on his office desk), he returned to Broadway, serving as stage manager on Abbott’s 1953 production of “Wonderful Town,” starring Rosalind Russell.The following year, he started producing with Griffith. Their first venture, “The Pajama Game,” starring John Raitt and Janis Paige, was a big hit, running 1,063 performances. They followed in 1955 with another musical smash, “Damn Yankees,” featuring Gwen Verdon as the seductive Lola.In 1957, Prince did “West Side Story,” a modern-day version of “Romeo and Juliet” told against the backdrop of New York gang warfare. Directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and with a score by Bernstein and Sondheim, it, too, was acclaimed.Yet even its success was dwarfed by “Fiddler on the Roof” (1964), which Prince produced and Robbins directed and choreographed. Set in Czarist Russia, the Bock-Harnick musical starred Zero Mostel as the Jewish milkman forced to confront challenges to his way of life.Prince had gotten his first opportunity to direct on Broadway in 1962. The musical was “A Family Affair,” a little-remembered show about the travails of a Jewish wedding. Its Broadway run was short — only 65 performances — but “A Family Affair” gave Prince a chance to work with composer John Kander.Four years later, Kander would provide the music for one of Prince’s biggest successes, “Cabaret,” based on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories.”And it was “Cabaret” that established Prince as a director of first rank. With its use of a sleazy master of ceremonies (portrayed by Joel Grey), the musical juxtaposed its raunchy nightclub numbers with the stories of people living in Berlin as the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s.”I became a producer because fate took me there, and I was delighted,” Prince recalled in his book. “I used producing to become what I wanted to be, a director. [Ultimately, I hired myself, which is more than anyone else would do.]”As he became more interested in directing, he withdrew from producing altogether.mong his more notable achievements: “On the Twentieth Century” (1978) and two of Lloyd Webber’s biggest hits, “Evita” (1979), starring Patti LuPone as the charismatic Argentinian, and “The Phantom of the Opera,” in London (1986), New York (1988) and around the world.”Phantom” is the longest-running musical on Broadway and hit producer Cameron Mackintosh noted that in a statement mourning Prince’s death: “The Gods of the theater salute you, Hal.”Prince was a champion of imagination in the theater and tried never to rely on technology to give his shows pop, preferring canvas to LEDs.”I believe the theater should take advantage of the limitations of scenery and totally unlimited imagination of the person who is sitting in the audience,” he told the AP in 2015. “I like what the imagination does in the theater.”He explained that in one scene of “Phantom of the Opera” in London, candles come up at different times thanks to stage workers cranking ancient machinery, but on Broadway that function was automated.”I would sit in the house and I’d see the candles come up. Something told me that was not as exciting as when the candles came up in London,” he said. “So I said, `Let’s make this tiniest adjustment so they don’t all come up at exactly the same time.’ Now, no one knows that. No one could care less. But it meant something to me.”Prince worked for the expansive Canadian impresario Garth Drabinsky, overseeing productions of the Tony-winning “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993), a lavish remounting of “Show Boat” (1994) and a short-lived revival of “Candide” (1997).Yet there were creative misfires, too. Among his more notorious flops was the five-performance “A Doll’s Life,” a musical follow-up to Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.” It began where the play ends, when Nora walks out on her husband. And Prince directed the American production of Lloyd Webber’s “Whistle Down the Wind” (1997), which didn’t get past its Washington tryout, although the London production, with a different director, had a longer run.Prince also worked as an opera director, with productions at the Metropolitan Opera House, the Chicago Lyric Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera and more. And he directed two films, “Something for Everyone” (1970) and a screen version of “A Little Night Music” (1977).”To be a both a genius and a gentleman is rare and extraordinary,” said Thomas Schumacher, chairman of The Broadway League. “Hal Prince’s genius was matched by his generosity of spirit, particularly with those building a career.”Prince is survived by his wife of 56 years, Judy; his daughter, Daisy; his son, Charles; and his grandchildren, Phoebe, Lucy, and Felix.
…
Fears Growing Congo’s Ebola Could Spread to Neighboring Countries
As the Ebola epidemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo enters its second year, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are voicing concern about the growing risk of the virus spreading to neighboring countries.Fears that the deadly Ebola virus could spread to Congo’s nine neighboring countries are growing with the death of the second person confirmed to have had the disease in Goma, a city of more than one million people. Goma, the capital of conflict-ridden North Kivu province, borders Rwanda and DRC’s gateway to the rest of the world.Uganda has had three imported cases of Ebola. While it has successfully contained the spread of the disease, WHO experts warn of the potential dangers should the virus enter South Sudan, which is a particularly vulnerable, unstable country.This is the 10th Ebola outbreak over the past four decades in the DRC. The executive director of WHO Emergencies, Michael Ryan, finds this current one presents unprecedented challenges. Ryan notes previous outbreaks were generally small, self-contained, and often confined to remote rural areas. This has changed. He says factors such as a conflict, forced migration, unsafe health facilities, and disease amplification are increasing the risks from emerging diseases.”So, the risk of an individual disease emerging may not change,” he said. “But, the impacts of those emergencies are changing. In that sense it is a new normal and we need to be ready…About 80 percent of our high-impact epidemic responses are in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable countries. So, about 30 countries around the world represent around 80 percent of these high-impact epidemics.” Ryan says African countries need international assistance to help them strengthen their fragile health systems. Without this aid, he warns, Congo and other nations will have great difficulty in tackling future outbreaks of Ebola and other emerging diseases.The World Health Organization has deployed more than 700 international experts in the field. The U.N. agency says it is scaling up Ebola preparation measures in the neighboring countries, especially Burundi, Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda, which are most at risk.It says frontline health workers are being vaccinated against the disease, more Ebola treatment centers are being set up, and more than 3,000 health workers are screening people for the virus at major points of entry.
…
South Africa Hosts World’s Largest Marimba and Steelpan Festival
South Africa hosted the world’s largest marimba and steelpan festival July 27 and 28, with nearly 2,000 musicians from around Africa, including Botswana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. The festival — now in its eighth year — mixes traditional African, classical and even rap music.
“As Africans, we encourage our students also to be dancing and singing and playing at the same time, because that’s when you get the full benefit of the music,” said Joan Lithgow of the Education Africa International Marimba and Steelpan Festival.Students participate in the Education Africa International Marimba and Steelpan Festival in South Africa, July 27 and 28, 2019. (Marize de Klerk/VOA)The festival prides itself on including disadvantaged and disabled musicians, who compete on an equal footing with other musicians.”I feel very good because people can see that deaf people can do anything,” marimba player Boitumelo Lekaka said through sign language. Rose Moloi, her teacher at South Africa’s Dominican School for the Deaf in Hammanskraal, translated. “Same as the hearing people in the world, [we] can do anything. Anything. Playing marimba, all different instruments, kinds of instruments. They can do the same as the hearing people and all other people,” Lekaka said.Five-time Grammy Ballot Award nominee and American vibraphone artist Jason “Malletman” Taylor helped judge the competitions. “And that was my first time ever judging a group that was deaf! I’m like, how are you playing these notes and you can’t hear the notes? And I know that that was a gift from up above. So, if you can’t hear it, they probably feel it. And I think it’s incredible!” Taylor said.Musicians participate in the Education Africa International Marimba and Steelpan Festival in South Africa, July 27 and 28, 2019. (Marize de Klerk/VOA)St. Jude’s Private Schools of Nigeria is one of the festival’s past winners of the trophy for the best steelpan performance. The leader of the Steelpan Ensemble, Femi Obadina, says the standard of competition is extremely high. “This one is actually more competitive, because you have, you know, different schools from different countries,” Obadina said.The competition runs alongside 90 music workshops. Award-winning composer and steelpan player Dave Reynolds feels marimba and steelpan music is like therapy.”It’s very emotionally engaging,” he said. “There’s a small amount of technical and musical knowledge that they use, but a lot of it is just coming from the heart.”
…
Huawei Remains No. 2 Smartphone Seller Despite US Sanctions
Huawei remained the No. 2 global smartphone vendor in the past quarter despite tough U.S. sanctions imposed on the Chinese technology giant, market trackers said Wednesday.The Chinese firm managed to boost its sales even as the overall market declined, remaining on the heels of sector leader Samsung and ahead of U.S.-based Apple.According to Strategy Analytics, overall global smartphone sales fell 2.6 percent to 341 million units in the April-June period, but showed signs of stabilizing after several quarters of declines.Samsung increased its market share to 22 percent, helped by a seven percent rise in handset sales, with growth seen in the mid-range and entry segments. The South Korean giant stayed ahead of Huawei, which was at 17 percent, and Apple at 11 percent of the market.FILE – The Samsung Galaxy Fold phone is shown on a screen at Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Unpacked event in San Francisco, Feb. 20, 2019.”Huawei surprised everyone and grew its global smartphone shipments by eight percent annually,” said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston.”Huawei surged at home in China during the quarter, as the firm sought to offset regulatory uncertainty in other major regions such as North America and Western Europe.”The research firm estimated that Apple, which released its results this week without details on unit shipments, saw an eight percent drop in iPhone sales in the quarter.”Apple is stabilizing in China due to price adjustments and buoyant trade-ins, but other major markets such as India and Europe remain challenging for the expensive iPhone,” said Woody Oh, director at Strategy Analytics.Huawei decline predictedA separate report by Counterpoint Research offered similar findings, showing Samsung, Huawei and Apple in the three top spots as overall sales fell.Analyst Tarun Pathak at Counterpoint said however the U.S. ban on technology sales to Huawei will have an impact in the coming months.”The effect of the ban did not translate into falling shipments during this quarter, which will not be the case in the future,” Pathak said.”In the coming quarters, Huawei is likely to be aggressive in its home market and register some growth there, but it will not be enough to offset the decline in its overseas shipments. This will further lead to the decline of the overall smartphone market in 2019.”The surveys indicated Chinese makers Xiaomi and Oppo holding the fourth and fifth spots, largely due to sales in their home markets.According to Counterpoint, the combined global smartphone market share of Chinese majors Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme reached 42 percent, the highest it has ever been.
…
US to Set Up Plan Allowing Prescription Drugs From Canada
The Trump administration said Wednesday it will set up a system to allow Americans to legally import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, weakening a longstanding ban that had stood as a top priority for the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry.Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday morning. Previous administrations had sided with the industry on importation, echoing its concerns that it could expose patients to risks from counterfeit or substandard medications.Azar, a former drug industry executive, said U.S. patients will be able to import medications safely and effectively, with oversight from the Food and Drug Administration. The administration’s proposal would allow states, wholesalers and pharmacists to get FDA approval to import certain medications that are also available here.It’s unclear how soon consumers will see results.Most patients take affordable generic drugs to manage conditions such as high blood pressure or elevated blood sugars. But polls show concern about the prices of breakthrough medications for intractable illnesses like cancer or hepatitis C infection, whose costs can run to $100,000 or more. And long-available drugs like insulin have also seen price increases that have forced some people with diabetes to ration their own doses.”For too long American patients have been paying exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs that are made available to other countries at lower prices,” Azar said in a statement that credited President Donald Trump for pushing the idea.The administration’s move comes as the industry is facing a crescendo of consumer complaints over prices, as well as legislation from both parties in Congress to rein in costs.Trump is supporting a Senate bill to cap medication costs for Medicare recipients and require drugmakers to pay rebates to the program if price hikes exceed inflation. Democrats in the House are pressing for a vote on a bill allowing Medicare to directly negotiate prices on behalf of millions of seniors enrolled in its prescription drug plan. Separately, the Trump administration is pursuing a regulation that would tie what Medicare pays for drugs administered in doctors’ offices to lower international prices.The importation idea won praise from a key lawmaker, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the panel that oversees Medicare. Grassley said on Twitter importation would lower prescription drug costs, and all drugs from abroad must be verified as safe by the FDA. He and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota have a bill to facilitate importation.Eyeing his reelection campaign, Trump has made lowering prescription drug prices one of his top goals. As a candidate, he called for allowing Americans to import prescription drugs, and recently he’s backed a Florida law allowing state residents to gain access to medications from CanadaDrug prices are lower in other economically advanced countries because governments take a leading role in setting prices. But in the U.S., Medicare is not permitted to negotiate with drug companies.Some experts have been skeptical of allowing imports from Canada, partly from concerns about whether Canadian suppliers have the capacity to meet the demands of the much larger U.S. market.But consumer groups have strongly backed the idea, arguing that it will pressure U.S. drugmakers to reduce their prices. They also point out that the pharmaceutical industry is a global business and many of the ingredients in medications sold in the U.S. are manufactured abroad.AARP had pushed hard for the Florida plan, saying it’s possible to safely import lower-priced, equally effective drugs and it would promote worldwide price competition.The drug industry lobby, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, has successfully blocked past efforts in Washington to allow importation. It argues that patients would be at risk of receiving counterfeit or adulterated medications.
…
Teens From Around the Globe Solve Problems at Google Competition
When Celestine Wenardy, a 16-year-old teenager from Indonesia, learned that diabetes was a “silent killer” in her country, she wondered how to make it easier for people to test their blood glucose levels. She entered her idea into the Google Science Fair, an annual competition that attracts teens from around the world. Celestine ended up winning the Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award for her project that involved using heat on skin to test the glucose level. Twenty teams of students were on Google’s campus this week for the search giant’s annual science fair. They came from 14 countries, bringing novel approaches to solving problems in health, environment and sustainability. Celestine plans to continue with her research. “I need to make sure it’s absolutely accurate, because people’s health is in your hands,” she said. Turning sign language into speechDaniel Kazantsev from Russia used sensors to measure arm and hand movements such as sign language, turning the measurements into actual speech. He won the Lego Education Award. Students from Saudi Arabia came up with an exoskeleton glove to fit on an injured hand to help teach it how to move. Harvesting the energy from tree movements Some of the students’ projects focused on environmental challenges. Tuan Dolmen from Turkey pursued the idea of harvesting energy produced from the movement of tree branches. That energy can then be used by farmers to power devices in the field for things such as air quality or humidity measurements. He won the Scientific American Innovator Award. “I’m a bit shocked, actually,” he said about the award. “I feel really proud that someone has appreciated my work. It has been a pleasure, and it has been an honor.” The winner of the Google Grand Prize, which comes with $50,000, was Fionn Ferreira from Ireland, who created a new method to remove microplastics from the water using magnets. The judges said Ferreira embodied the spirit of exploration.He lives in a rural community, he said, and makes many of his supplies and measurement devices, such as a spectrometer, himself. Whatever he or the other students do next, the event organizers said they expect all the students’ spirit of exploration to take them to uncharted territories in science, health and other fields.
…
Teens From Around the Globe Compete at Google
Teenagers from around the world were on Google’s campus this week to compete in a science competition. Their projects brought novel approaches to address health, disability and environmental issues. Michelle Quinn visited their booths to find out more.
…
Ethiopia Plants Trees to Curb Climate Change Effects
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his guest, director of the World Food Program David Beasley, planted tree seedlings on Tuesday in a salute to Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, which seeks to combat climate change through mass tree planting. Volunteers in the Horn of Africa state planted 350 million trees in the past week in an effort to curb climate change effects.
…
Semenya Out of World Championships After Swiss Court Reverses Reprieve
Double Olympic champion Caster Semenya will not defend her 800-meters title at the World Championships in September after the Swiss Federal Tribunal reversed a ruling that temporarily lifted the IAAF’s testosterone regulations imposed on her, a spokesman for the athlete said Tuesday.Semenya is appealing the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) ruling that supported regulations introduced by the sport’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).These say that XY chromosome athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) can race in distances from 400 meters to a mile only if they take medication to reach a reduced testosterone level.”I am very disappointed to be kept from defending my hard-earned title, but this will not deter me from continuing my fight for the human rights of all of the female athletes concerned,” Semenya said in a statement from her representative.CAS is based in Lausanne and comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland’s highest court.
The IAAF said they would only comment once they have read the full reasoning behind the judgment.”We understand the Swiss Federal Tribunal will be publishing its full decision on this order tomorrow [Wednesday] and the IAAF will comment once the tribunal makes its reasoning public,” a spokeswoman told Reuters.The South African had been given a reprieve last month by the Swiss court, which temporarily lifted the IAAF’s regulations from her until the final outcome of her appeal.”The Supreme Court emphasized the strict requirements and high thresholds for the interim suspension of CAS awards and found that these were not fulfilled,” the statement said.Lawyer: Still hopefulDorothee Schramm, the lawyer leading Semenya’s appeal, says they are still hopeful of a permanent lifting of the regulations.”The judge’s procedural decision has no impact on the appeal itself. We will continue to pursue Caster’s appeal and fight for her fundamental human rights. A race is always decided at the finish line,” Schramm said.Semenya ran the quickest-ever 800 meters on United States soil at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on June 30 in a time of 1:55.70.She told reporters afterward that she would not compete at the World Championships in Doha if barred from running her preferred distance, having earlier hinted she could enter longer races in the future that are not covered by the regulations.
…
Congo Confirms 2nd Ebola Case in Border City of Goma
VOA’s Lisa Schlein contributed to this report.Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed a second case of the deadly Ebola virus in the city of Goma. Goma is home to more than a million people and lies directly on Congo’s border with Rwanda, where tens of thousands cross on foot daily.”I have just been informed of a case of Ebola in Goma,” Dr. Aruna Abedi, coordinator of the Ebola response in North Kivu province, told AFP.The case involves a man who traveled to Goma from a northeastern rural community in Ituri province. He was diagnosed a few days after arrival and is being treated at the Goma Ebola Treatment Center.Earlier this month, a pastor tested positive and later died after arriving in Goma by bus, sparking fears the disease could spread quickly through the densely populated city.After that incident, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola epidemic in DRC’s conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri provinces a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. More than 2,500 cases of Ebola have been reported since the outbreak began in August 2018; nearly 1,670 people have died. The United Nations’ Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, reports an unprecedented number of children have been infected in this outbreak. Children account for more than 700 of the 2,671 reported cases of Ebola. UNICEF health specialist Jerome Pfaffman said more than half of the youngsters infected are below the age of five. This is the 10th outbreak of the disease over the last four decades in the DRC. It is the second-largest outbreak after the 2014 historic epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,300 people.
…
US Presidential Envoy Sent to Sweden for A$AP Rocky’s Trial
American rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty to assault as his trial in Sweden opened Tuesday, a month after a street fight that landed him in jail and became a topic of U.S.-Swedish diplomacy. Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, is accused with two others of beating a 19-year-old man in Stockholm on June 30. Prosecutors played video footage in court that showed Mayers throwing a young man to the ground. Wearing sweatpants and a green T-shirt in court, Mayers, 30, pleaded not guilty to an assault charge that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. He says he acted in self-defense. The Grammy-nominated artist’s ongoing detention in Sweden this month prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to personally intervene on his behalf. Mayers nevertheless remained behind bars, angering Trump. FILE – A$AP Rocky arrives at an event in Beverly Hills, Calif., Feb. 9, 2019.Swedish news agency TT said Trump sent the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs to Stockholm to monitor the court proceedings and to show support for Mayers. Special envoy Robert O’Brien was seen at Stockholm District Court on Tuesday. Ruth Newman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, told TT that O’Brien was in Sweden “to look after the well-being of American citizens, which is always our top priority.” A$AP Rocky’s mother, Renee Black, also attended the proceedings. She has said she was convinced her son was not guilty.”This is a nightmare,” Black was quoted by Swedish media as saying.Competing narratives Prosecutors and defense lawyers presented competing narratives on the trial’s opening day of what happened the night of the fight. Prosecutors said 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari and a friend got into an argument with Mayers and one of his bodyguards near a fast-food restaurant where the rapper’s entourage had eaten. Mayers has published videos on his Instagram account that showed him repeatedly pleading with Jafari and his friend to stop following him and his associates.Defense lawyer Slobodan Jovicic stressed Tuesday that the rapper and his entourage “didn’t want any trouble” and alleged that Jafari and his friend had exhibited “aggressive and deeply provocative behavior.” A$AP Rocky previously encountered violent situations on streets because of his fame and “there are some people who don’t always wish him well,” Jovicic said.”He’s has been harassed in the past. In this case, the bodyguard made the assessment that these people [Jafari and his friend] should move on … and not to come close,” the lawyer said.Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Mayers and the two other men facing charges beat and kicked Jafari while he was on the ground. Jafari also was hit with parts of or a whole bottle, they alleged. The court file includes photos of Jafari’s cuts, bruises and blood-stained clothes.Another lawyer representing A$AP Rocky in Sweden, Martin Persson, told public broadcaster SVT that he would present new evidence, including facts that would show “no bottle has been used to hit or injure anyone.” Any physical aggression by Mayers and his co-defendants was “within the limits of the law,” Persson said. Celebrity followingThe rapper was jailed on July 3 and remains in custody. The case drew the attention of American celebrities like Kim Kardashian West and Mayers’ fellow recording artists, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Justin Bieber. A social media campaign for his release, called #JusticeForRocky, was created soon after his arrest.Trump also weighed in, asking for a phone call with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and offering to personally guarantee the rapper’s bail. The two leaders spoke, but Lofven stressed he couldn’t interfere in a legal case.Sweden doesn’t let people facing criminal charges out on bail, and A$AP Rocky stayed behind bars. Once Mayers was charged, Trump criticized the prime minister on Twitter “for being unable to act.””We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem! #FreeRocky,” Trump tweeted. The trial was held in a secure courtroom “because of strong interest from the media and the public,” the Stockholm District Court said. Taking photographs and video was prohibited. The court set aside two more days for the trial. Witnesses are expected to testify Thursday.
…
Lebanon Music Festival Cancels Show After Christian Pressure
A multi-day international music festival in Lebanon said Tuesday that it’s cancelled a planned concert by a popular Mideast rock band whose lead singer is openly gay, apparently caving to pressure after weeklong calls by some Christian groups to pull the plug on the show, as well as online threats to stop it by force.Festival organizers released a statement saying the “unprecedented step” of cancelling the performance by Mashrou’ Leila was done “to prevent bloodshed and maintain peace and stability.””We apologize for what happened, and apologize to the public,” it added.Some church leaders and conservative politicians set off a storm of indignation on social media this week when they demanded that the Mashrou’ Leila concert be canceled, accusing the Lebanese group of blasphemy and saying some of its songs are an insult to Christianity. The band, known for its rousing music and lyrics challenging norms in the conservative Arab world, soon became the center of a heated debate about freedom of expression.Online, some groups and users posted threats suggesting they would violently stop the concert.Mashrou’ Leila was scheduled to perform in the coastal city of Byblos on Aug. 9, marking the third time the group takes part in the annual Byblos International Festival. The other performances will still take place.The cancellation triggered a storm of protests and a campaign of solidarity with the band on social media by Lebanese who described it as shameful and a dangerous precedent.”This is a step back for Lebanon, which has always prided itself on embracing diversity and being a center for music, art and culture,” tweeted Aya Majzoub, a Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.Amnesty International, in a statement, said the decision to cancel the show is an “alarming indicator” of the deteriorating state of freedom of expression in Lebanon.”This is the direct result of the government’s failure to take a strong stand against hatred and discrimination and to put in place the necessary measures to ensure the performance could go ahead,” Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf said.There was no immediate comment from the band, which last week issued a statement denouncing the “defamatory campaign” and saying that some of the lyrics from their songs were being taken out of context and twisted.The group has been a champion of LGBT rights in the Arab world and regularly sings about controversial subjects such as sectarianism, corruption and other social and political problems.The band has previously been banned from performing in Jordan and Egypt, but censorship demands threatening its concert in the more liberal Lebanon — where it has performed on numerous occasions — are new.On Monday, dozens of Lebanese held a protest in downtown Beirut objecting to the proposed ban and rejecting attempts by Christian clergymen and some right wing groups to ban the group.”Regardless of our opinion of the songs and the band, we need to defend freedom of expression, because freedom is for everyone and for everybody. The day it stops, it stops for everybody,” said writer and director Lucien Bourjeily.The band, whose name translates as “Night Project,” was founded 10 years ago by a group of architecture students at the American University of Beirut whose songs challenged stereotypes through their music and lyrics.Riding on the wave Arab Spring uprisings that swept the Middle East, the band was embraced by Arab youth who see its music as part of a cultural and social revolution. The band members have gone on to gain worldwide acclaim, performing in front of sold-out crowds in the United States, Berlin, London and Paris.
…
Unprecedented Number of Children Infected by Ebola in Congo
The United Nations’ Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, reports an unprecedented number of children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are being infected with Ebola and many are dying from this deadly disease.Children account for more than 700 of the 2,671 reported cases of Ebola. UNICEF health specialist Jerome Pfaffman says more than half of the youngsters infected with this deadly disease are below the age of five. Pfaffman, who has just completed his third tour of duty in northeast Congo, calls this number unprecedented. He says it is proportionally higher than the number of children who were infected in the 2014 West African outbreak, which affected about 28,000 people, killing more than 11,000.”When I left there were 12 new confirmed cases,” he said. “Five were alive and will have the chance to access treatment, but seven had died in the community. This is bad. Having this number of community deaths means we are not ahead of the epidemic.” Pfaffman says people living in conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri provinces are facing both a public health emergency and a humanitarian crisis, making it particularly difficult to bring this complex outbreak under control. He says building community trust is crucial for this effort. He says treating children for illnesses other than Ebola is critical. He tells VOA when a child falls ill, the mother doesn’t know whether the child has malaria, measles or Ebola.”You need to be able to take care of that child, whatever disease it is,” he said. “… By doing that kind of program, we will be able then both to treat that child for whatever disease he or she has. And, also identify quickly the Ebola cases, and refer them and control the outbreak.” Pfaffman warns it will not be possible to bring this epidemic to an end without greater international support and more resources. He says UNICEF will have to more than triple its budget to respond to this complex crisis, requiring about $170 million over the next six months.Main activities include epidemic control, helping communities strengthen their response to the disease in at-risk areas, and delivering essential services.
…
Under Trump, Expert Advisory Panels on the Decline
The move to dismantle the Jason scientific panel follows other Trump administration efforts to abolish or delay the work of independent groups that have been a staple of the U.S. government for decades.U.S. officials say many panels simply add bureaucracy and costs. Opponents of the closures see the change as a move to silence outside criticism in areas of significant public concern.“This White House has set the tone that science is unimportant if it conflicts with their political positions,” said Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration from 2002 to 2007 and now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.A Department of Justice panel studying forensic science, for instance, was disbanded in April 2017 within three months of Trump taking office. The panel was unpopular with some prosecutors and tough-on-crime proponents because it highlighted concerns over law enforcement techniques used to prosecute criminals, such as the use of bite marks to identify people and expert analysis of hair follicles and smudged fingerprints. The DOJ said the panel was never intended to be permanent, and that its work is being continued in-house.A Central Intelligence Agency panel of historians that advises the agency on declassification issues was put on hold this year. That move followed tensions over a new policy members said reduced the amount of material being declassified, said Columbia University professor Robert Jervis, the outgoing chair of the Historical Declassification Advisory Panel for the CIA.CIA spokeswoman Sara Lichterman said the panel would be reconstituted with new members and begin meeting again later this year. “The CIA is committed to the public release of historical information, and the Historical Review Panel will remain an important and valuable resource,” she said.Trump aides in the White House Office of Public Liaison ordered a second panel of historians disbanded in 2017, said panel chair Richard Immerman, a Temple University history professor. The administration reversed course after the State Department said the panel had been created by Congressional statute and could not be disbanded by the White House. The group, the State Department Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, ensures that the official record of U.S. foreign policy is a “thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record.”“There was grave concern about the politicization of the committee,” said Immerman.Members of a State Department panel dealing with nuclear nonproliferation, the Independent Security Advisory Board, were told in 2018 the panel had been suspended, members said. It provides independent insight on arms control, disarmament and international security.The panel’s charter calls for it to meet four times a year, but it hasn’t met since November 30, 2016. A State Department spokeswoman said the board remains active.Two Navy committees, the Naval Research Advisory Committee and the Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel, learned in February they were being disbanded. “This decision is in line with the Defense Department’s goal to improve the utility of advisory committees,” said Joshua Kelsey, a spokesman for Navy Secretary Richard Spencer.
…
US Rapper A$AP Rocky Pleads Not Guilty in Swedish Assault Case
U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a charge of assault on the first day of a trial in Sweden that has drawn international attention and prompted President Donald Trump to intervene on the artist’s behalf.The 30-year-old performer, producer and model, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was detained on July 3 in connection with a street brawl in Stockholm in the early hours of June 30, and later charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.
Mayers’ lawyer said his client, sitting next to him in prison clothes of a green t-shirt and trousers, pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault and had acted in self defence.
Both Mayers and the plaintiff, a 19-year-old man, will face cross-examination later on Tuesday.
Mayers has said the plaintiff provoked him and two companions who have also been charged with assault. If convicted at Stockholm district court, they could face up to two years in jail.FILE – A$AP Rocky poses for a portrait to promote the film “Monster” at the Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 22, 2018, in Park City, Utah.His detention before his trial has prompted angry responses from fans as well as from several artists and other celebrities ranging from Kim Kardashian to rocker Rod Stewart.
Trump had asked Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to help free Mayers, and later tweeted messages saying he was “very disappointed” in Lofven and demanding: “Treat Americans fairly!” Trump had said he would personally vouch for Mayers’ bail.
Sweden does not have a bail system.
Lofven has said he will not influence the rapper’s case.
Sweden’s judiciary is independent of the political system.
Mayers, best known for his song “Praise the Lord”, was in Stockholm for a concert. He has had to cancel several scheduled shows across Europe due to his detention.
Before his arrest, Mayers uploaded videos on Instagram of the moments before the alleged assault, saying two men were following his team and that he did not want any trouble.
Mayers shot to fame with his 2011 debut “Live.Love.A$AP”.
His latest album, “Testing”, reached the No. 4 spot on the Billboard 200 charts on its release last year.
…
South Africa’s ‘Reclaimers’ Shoulder the Bulk of Nation’s Recycling
It’s 6 a.m on a chilly Johannesburg morning, and Luyanda Hlatshwayo is elbow-deep in a trash can, pulling out milk bottles, soda cans, the lid of a pot, a broken blender. His eyes light up as he hits pay dirt: a tranche of used white paper. Hlatshwayo, who is 35, has spent nine years sorting through Johannesburg’s trash cans, making him a master of turning trash into treasure. He’s one of the city’s 9,000 “reclaimers” — an informal network of workers who collect and sell recyclables. The mental mathFrom the outside, his job looks simple. His tools are his hands and a homemade plastic dolly. But in his head, he keeps a complex agenda of which neighborhoods put out trash on which day; which roads to avoid if he doesn’t want to get hit by a car in the pre-dawn darkness; and a stockbroker’s mental ledger of what a recyclable item can sell for in the ever-fluctuating market. It suits his thought process, he says — he was studying banking at a local university before he ran out of money and had to drop out.Hlatshwayo’s job has a big impact: Academics estimate that reclaimers collect and recycle up to 90% of South Africa’s post-consumer packaging and paper. In doing so, they save municipalities up to 750 million rand in landfill space annually. As a result, South Africa has a recycling rate of just under 60%, according to industry studies — a statistic that puts it on par with some European nations.”We are literally subsidizing the community and the municipalities, actually,” he told VOA as he made his rounds this month. “Because an average reclaimer would collect about 200 kilograms of waste a day. You multiply that by 9,000 reclaimers, takes it to about 2 million tons or something. That’s in a day. That’s redirecting a lot of material out of the landfills.” Melanie Samson, a researcher in human geography at the University of the Witwatersrand, has spent years studying this complex informal system, which is present, she says, in many developing nations. However, she says, reclamation is becoming a global trend.“We find reclaimers in just about every postcolonial city across the world,” she said. “Reclamation exists in contexts of high income inequality, so that you have people who are wealthy enough that they’re buying things and throwing them away when they still have value or can be reused. And you have people who are so poor that they are willing to go through other people’s trash to extract these materials to make a living. So, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe — we’re starting to see a lot more reclaimers working in the global north.”WATCH: Recycling in South Africa
South Africa Reclaimers WEB.mp4 video player.
Embed” />CopySurprise!It’s grueling, messy, sometimes dangerous, work. And sometimes, Hlatshwayo says, reclaimers find unwelcome surprises.“I found a thumb,” he said, adding that he believed it was a human thumb, but he didn’t look too closely. “I just opened a plastic bag normally, in a rush, and just jumped. And it just killed my day. I just closed the bin, took my trolley, and then I went home. “Flying the flag, changing the frameworkIn Johannesburg, reclaimers are trying to organize and lobby for recognition through groups such as the African Reclaimers Organization. Chairwoman Eva Mokoena learned the job from her mother and has been doing it, with great pride, for most of her life. “My area is clean because of me,” said the mother of three. “The environment, it’s clean. Like, the work that I do, makes me to be more proud. Even people, they try to put me down, but I keep on flying this flag of being a reclaimer.”Samson says her research has been eye-opening. “One of the things that I’ve learned from the reclaimers is what the South African economy actually looks like,” she said. “Because when we analyze the economy, we’re usually looking at just the formal sector, private companies, formal jobs. And yet, a significant and growing number of people are generating their own income through informal work. And what I learned from them is how that informal work, particularly in the case of recycling, underpins an entire very large profitable industry. And so, what it makes me realize is that we need to change the way we think about the economy.”And that, reclaimers say, is what it’s all about — a different way of looking at the world. The job may look rudimentary, or even quaint, in this technology-driven world. But that is the reclaimers’ core ethos — where many see a collector pushing a handmade cart, they see a carbon-free vehicle. And where most people see trash, they see opportunity, and a chance to make their world a little cleaner.
…
After Moon Landing Anniversary, NASA Aims Beyond Earth Orbit
What looks like an unusual giant orange metal canister, rising high above the windy and humid Alabama landscape, has some familiar design features.“There’s a lot of heritage shuttle technology here,” said NASA engineer Mike Nichols.But this canister is not intended to return the iconic fixed-wing, reusable space shuttle back into orbit, which was retired in 2011 — the last time NASA sent an astronaut into space from U.S. soil.The celebrations marking the recent 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing were a reminder to the public that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, hasn’t been back to the moon since 1972, and is not currently sending astronauts into space from U.S. soil. The only way they can currently get to the International Space Station, or ISS, is by way of a Russia-launched Soyuz capsule. If everything goes according to NASA’s plan, that’s all about to change. And what is taking shape inside large steel scaffolding today at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is an example of the core of a new Space Launch System, or SLS. “The piece behind me is the liquid hydrogen tank,” explained Nichols, one of NASA’s lead engineers testing new rocket technology in Alabama. “In order to prove that it’s strong enough to survive launch, they build this structural test article, send it to us, we install it in the test end. We do tests which involves using hydraulic cylinders to provide loading to it.” NASA historian Brian Odom says the new liquid hydrogen tank is just one piece of the larger SLS system, which will launch astronauts in a newly designed “Orion” capsule into space.WATCH: Next NASA project
After Anniversary, NASA Aims Beyond Earth Orbit video player.
Embed” />Copy“The work you see in the background,” Odom motions to another large metal canister, this one being serviced by workers on large lifts, “is for the liquid oxygen — the oxidizer for the SLS vehicle — to see if it’s going to withstand those pressures, the intense dynamics at launch. And so, we’re making sure that our models are correct. And so far, everything is looking good,” He said.“The Space Launch System is the only rocket capable of sending a fully equipped Orion, the astronauts, the supplies and the systems, to the moon in one launch, and taking us to deep space. So, the Space Launch System is the key enabler to going to the moon,” said Jody Singer, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Singer knows the clock is ticking in a new space race — this time with the Chinese — who also plan to land a crew on the moon in the next decade.“I applaud them. I think it’s great. Why should we be upset because the Chinese are doing something? They are very, very good at what they do,” said astronaut Al Worden, who piloted the Endeavor Command Module during the 1971 Apollo 15 mission to the moon. “I would have expected that we would be doing a lot more on the moon, that we would even be to Mars by now,” Worden told VOA at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center during Apollo 11 50th anniversary celebrations in the town known today as “Rocket City.”Next stepsAs the U.S. gears up for another moon program, Worden believes NASA could partner with the Chinese to accomplish common goals. “I think what we need to do is cooperate and do stuff with them, instead of looking at them arms-length and being a little standoffish about it. Because I think a cooperative program would be more efficient than the way it’s going right now.”Engineer Mike Nichols says he and the large team at NASA trying to return astronauts to the moon are focused on delivering a modern, and more powerful rocket design that will potentially take them further than they have ever been before.“It’s very easy to get lost in the day-to-day engineering stuff and forget that,” he told VOA under the towering orange liquid hydrogen tank, his voice breaking up a bit as he reflected on his own long career in the space industry. “It’s pretty awesome to know that you are involved in this kind of stuff. I have worked for NASA for the better part of 20 years, spent numerous years as a contractor before that working on shuttle, hands-on flight hardware. We tested the shuttle engine that sent John Glenn back to space. It was pretty cool knowing that you were involved in that kind of stuff.”Right now, NASA is not the only organization “involved in that kind of stuff.” Private companies such as Boeing and Space X are developing vehicles to take astronauts into Earth orbit and to the ISS, which Jody Singer says is allowing NASA to set its sights on new, grander and more difficult historic milestones.“We’re all working very hard to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024, and take what we learn and do it and apply to future missions, such as missions to Mars.”The first new moon mission in the “Artemis” program is tentatively scheduled for next year, without a crew. Artemis 2 plans to send astronauts around the moon in 2022, with Artemis 3 touching down on the lunar south pole in 2024.If the testing works out, all of the missions will begin their journey back to the moon or on to Mars on top of the new SLS system.
…
After Anniversary, NASA Aims Beyond Earth Orbit
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing celebrated the crowning achievement in crewed space flight, but also reminded the public the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, is not currently sending astronauts into space from the U.S. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, if everything goes according to NASA’s plan, that’s all about to change.
…
Riskiest Time for Surgery Patients Is Not In Operating Room
The deadliest time for many surgery patients isn’t when they’re on the operating table, it’s while they’re recovering in the hospital and after they go home, a new study suggests.For the study, researchers examined outcomes for more than 40,000 patients age 45 and older who underwent non-cardiac surgery at 28 hospitals in 14 countries. Researchers monitored patients for complications and deaths within 30 days of surgery.Overall, five people, or less than 1% of patients, died on the operating table, and another 500 patients, or 70%, died in the hospital. Another 210 deaths, or 29%, didn’t happen until after patients were sent home.Nearly half of all the deaths were associated with three complications: major bleeding, heart damage, and bloodstream infections.”Many families anxiously wait to hear from the surgeon whether their loved one survived the operation, but our research demonstrates that very few of the deaths occur in the operating room,” said Dr. P.J. Devereaux, senior author of the study and director of the Division of Perioperative Care at McMaster University in Canada.”Our research now demonstrates that there is a need to focus on postoperative care and transitional care into the home setting to improve outcomes,” Devereaux said by email. Worldwide, 100 million patients age 45 and older undergo inpatient surgery unrelated to cardiac issues every year, researchers note in CMAJ.Study detailsA wide range of technological and medical advances have made surgery safer and less invasive in recent years, the study team notes. But at the same time, patients also are coming to the hospital sicker and being sent home with complex care needs that once would have meant a lengthy hospital stay.In the study, roughly half of the patients had high blood pressure, one in five had diabetes, and 13% had coronary artery disease.More than one-third of them came in only for low-risk procedures that were not emergencies. Many of the rest had major general, orthopedic, urological, gynecological, vascular or neurological operations.Patients who experienced major bleeding after surgery were more than twice as likely to die within 30 days as people who didn’t have this complication.And patients who developed heart injuries even though they didn’t have heart surgery were also more than twice as likely to die.Patients who got sepsis, a serious bloodstream infection, were more than five times more likely to die within 30 days than people who didn’t get these infections.Inflammation The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to identify which if any complications actually caused any deaths. Inflammation may be a common denominator in the complications that were most responsible for deaths, said Barnaby Charles Reeves of the University of Bristol in the U.K., author of an editorial accompanying the study.”Surgery causes a body-wide inflammatory reaction,” Reeves said by email. “This can lead to single or multi-organ failure (kidney, heart, lungs, sepsis etc.) which leads to death.”Patients may also not recognize that something is wrong when they’re coming off anesthesia or taking narcotic painkillers after surgery, Devereaux said.”This makes patients after surgery vulnerable to delays in recognizing complications and hence delays in treatment,” Devereaux said.Surgery also activates patients’ inflammatory, stress, and coagulation systems. The activation of these systems can also predispose patients to major complications. Patients should advocate and support research into enhanced monitoring techniques after surgery, which can help sort out identifying ways to lower the risk of death after surgery.
…
Southeast Asia’s Most Effective Anti-Malaria Drug Is Becoming Ineffective
Scientists warn the most effective drug used to treat malaria is becoming ineffective in parts of Southeast Asia — and unless rapid action is taken, it could lead to a global health emergency.Writing in the Lancet journal, researchers from Thailand’s Mahidol University and Britain’s Oxford University say parasites that carry malaria are developing resistance to a key drug combination across multiple regions of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.The report warns that the parasite Plasmodium falciparum — which causes the most lethal form of human malaria — is becoming resistant to the first-choice drug, DHA-piperaquine, in parts of Southeast Asia, with patients seeing a failure rate of 50 percent or more.The situation is so critical that scientists say the treatment should not be used in Cambodia, Vietnam and northeast Thailand, because it is ineffective and contributes to increased malaria transmission.New treatments must be considered, says Sterghios Moschos of the University of Northumbria.“It might be opportune at this point in time to explore whether or not we should bring together different new classes of medications so that when the problem starts becoming more substantial, there is a solution potentially that works at the multi-drug level,” said Moschos.The report says urgent action is now needed to eliminate falciparum malaria from the region — otherwise the resistant strains of the parasite could further spread to other parts of Asia and Africa, potentially causing global health emergency.“All it takes is a ship with infected individuals, or a pool of water where mosquitoes are, getting into Africa and then slowly that parasite establishing a foothold,” he added. “The likely scenario, however, will be that improvement of health care on a day-to-day basis in Africa will create the opportunity for the parasite to evolve resistance.”Currently, malaria vaccine trials are under way in several African countries. But drug combinations like DHA-piperaquine remain vital in treating malaria — especially in countries with poor health systems.Since 2014, global progress against malaria has stalled. There were an estimated 219 million cases and 435,000 related deaths in 2017, most of them children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa.
…
Iraq Displays Stolen Artifacts Recovered From UK, Sweden
Iraqi officials are displaying stolen artifacts from the country’s rich cultural heritage that were recently recovered from Britain and Sweden.Many archaeological treasures from Iraq, home of the ancient “fertile crescent” considered the cradle of civilization, were looted during the chaos that followed the 2003 U.S. invasion and whisked out of the country.Now Iraq is making a massive effort to bring these pieces home, working closely with the U.N. cultural organization.The artifacts on display Monday at the foreign ministry in Baghdad include archaeological and historical items, such as pottery fragments and shards with writing dating back at least 4,000 years to the ancient Sumerian civilization.Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hakim said his country is determined to recover its lost heritage, whatever it takes.
…
Census: Nearly 3,000 Tigers in India
Tigers are one of the world’s endangered species.India, however, is working hard to change that classification for its national animal.In just four years, its tiger population has grown from 2,226 to 2,976.In 2010, India’s tiger population was down to 1,400.India is now one of the safest places in the world for tigers.”Nine years ago, it was decided in Saint Petersburg (Russia) that the target of doubling the tiger population would be 2022,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday at the release of the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018. “We in India completed this target four years in advance.””It’s an historic achievement,” Modi said of his country’s growing tiger count. “But we still have a long way to go to secure a long-term future for wild tigers,” said Belinda Wright, founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. She warned that one of the biggest challenges against the tigers in India is the country’s massive human population and the inevitable conflict between animal and man.
…
World Champions Crowned in Annual Thumb vs. Thumb Combat Sport
In the world of combat sports, only one emerges with a consensus thumbs-up vote. This weekend in Britain, judges crowned the strongest digits in this year’s men’s, women’s and children’s World Thumb Wrestling Championships. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi points the way to victory.
…
ePUMB skype chat
