Italian Bodybuilder, Actor Columbu Dies at 78
Italian bodybuilder, boxer and actor Franco Columbu, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s closest friends, has died at age 78.
Columbu died in a hospital in his native Sardinia on Friday afternoon after becoming ill while he was swimming in the sea.
His longtime friend Schwarzenegger tweeted:I love you Franco. I will always remember the joy you brought to my life, the advices you gave me, and the twinkle in your eye that never disappeared. You were my best friend. https://t.co/X3GhZKlgAd— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) August 30, 2019 After starting his career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding, winning the prestigious title of Mr. Olympia in 1976 and 1981.
Besides his athletic career, Columbu also acted in popular TV series and movies. He appeared in Schwarzenegger’s films The Terminator, The Running Man and Conan the Barbarian.
Columbu was Schwarzenegger’s best man at his marriage to Maria Shriver in 1986.
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Ohio Competition Seeks Technology to Help End Opioid Crisis
Every day, more than 130 people in the U.S. die after overdosing on opioids, but in one state heavily impacted by the opioid crisis, innovative solutions are now advancing with the hope of saving lives. More, from VOA’s Carol Pearson.
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Ohio Competition Seeks Technology to Help End Opioid Crisis
Every day, more than 130 people in the U.S. die of an opioid overdose, but in one state heavily impacted by the opioid crisis, innovative solutions are now advancing with the hope of saving lives.The opioid epidemic has taken an unspeakable toll on individuals, families and communities in the U.S.To fight back, the Midwestern state of Ohio set up a competition open to scientists, tech companies and individuals to help end this crisis. The four winners are each receiving a $1 million to further develop their products.FILE – Eddie Davis stands beside the grave of his son Jeremy, furthest left, who died from the abuse of opioids at the age of 35, July 17, 2019, in Coalton, Ohio.Two appsOne of the winning entries is an app developed at University Hospitals in Cleveland.The app helps doctors determine if a patient who is given a prescription for an opioid is likely to have an addiction problem. Hospital administrator Jonathan Sague says patients who are approved for an opioid prescription also get help in preventing addiction.“We then bring in the social worker to connect that patient to care in the community as they leave our hospital with acute pain and an opioid prescription,” Sague said, “because we don’t want them to fight that battle alone when they go home.”Sague says the program at University Hospitals has, so far, kept more than 12,000 opioid pills out of communities.“It’s not just about the number of pills,” he said, “it’s about real number of human lives that are being affected positively by not being exposed to these opioids.”Another app helps those recovering from addiction track their progress and stay accountable.FILE – A week-old baby lies in Norton Children’s Hospital neonatal intensive care unit, Feb. 13, 2018, in Louisville, Ky. This NICU is dedicated to newborns of opioid addicted mothers that are suffering with newborn withdrawal.Smart button, soothing mattressA third winner is a company named Prapela that developed a mattress designed to gently vibrate and soothe newborns addicted to opioids. John Konsin heads the company.“When an infant lays down on the pad that is vibrating, (it) actually slows down their breathing and heart rate to a normal, healthy rhythmic rate. And when that occurs, babies relax,” Konsin said.Another tech solution is a smart button that helps people battling addition call for help. It was co-designed by a company called Brave, which is headed by Gordon Casey.“Brave’s technology offers people who are at risk for overdose a way for them to connect with somebody even though they’re alone physically, so that in the event that they do overdose, we can find them and we can get help sent to them immediately,” Casey said.The state of Ohio has a huge opioid addiction problem. The state’s goal is to help develop technologies that can be a part of stopping the crisis and saving lives throughout the U.S.
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US Health Officials Report More Vaping Illnesses
U.S. health officials are warning users of e-cigarettes to reconsider their habit of vaping, noting a rise in the number of respiratory illnesses linked to the practice.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that they were investigating 215 cases of a serious lung disease possibly related to the use of e-cigarettes.Officials said the cause of the illnesses was not yet known, but noted that in some of the cases, patients used e-cigarette products that contained THC, the mind-altering substance in marijuana.Most of the patients have recovered from the mysterious illness, but last week, the first death from the disease was reported.CDC adviceThe CDC warned the public not to buy vaping products off the street and to avoid adding substances like THC.”CDC recommends that, while the investigation is ongoing, Americans who use e-cigarettes and are concerned about these specific, potential risks of illness should consider refraining from their use, and should not buy them off the street or modify them or add substances in ways not intended by the manufacturer,” the agency said.E-cigarettes have been available in the United States for more than a decade. They work, in general, by using a battery to heat a liquid nicotine solution and turn it into an inhalable vapor.While e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive, they are considered safer than traditional cigarettes because they do not contain tar or many of the other substances in traditional cigarettes, which make them deadly.Advocates and criticsAdvocates of e-cigarettes say they are a powerful tool to help adult smokers quit smoking traditional cigarettes.However, critics say that e-cigarettes are addicting a new generation to nicotine. They also point out that the long-term health consequences of vaping are not known, and say that e-cigarettes could contain other potentially harmful substances, including chemicals used for flavoring and traces of metals.
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Twitter CEO Account Hacked, Offensive Tweets Posted
Twitter said Friday the account of chief executive Jack Dorsey had been “compromised” after a series of erratic and offensive messages were posted.The tweets containing racial slurs and suggestions about a bomb showed up around 2000 GMT on the @jack account of the founder of the short messaging service before being deleted.Some of the tweets contained the hashtag #ChucklingSquad, which was believed to indicate the identity of the hacker group. The same calling card was left behind during recent hacks of other high-profile social media personalities.The messages contained racial epithets, and included a retweet of a message supporting Nazi Germany.“We’re aware that @jack was compromised and (are) investigating what happened,” a Twitter spokesperson said.Tweets up for 30 minutesThe San Francisco-based firm followed up midafternoon with a Twitter post saying Dorsey’s account was secured and there was “no indication that Twitter’s systems have been compromised.”It appeared that tweets posted on Dorsey’s account by the hacker were up for about a half-hour before they were removed.Pinned atop Dorsey’s account was a tweet from early last year saying: “We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress.”A barrage of comments fired off on the platform questioned why the Twitter co-founder didn’t secure his account with two-factor authentication, and how disturbing a sign it was that the service wasn’t to keep its own chief safe on the platform.“If you can’t protect Jack, you can’t protect … jack,” one Twitter user quipped.The Twitter logo is displayed above a trading post on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange, Feb. 8, 2018.Cleaning up contentThe news comes with Dorsey and Twitter moving aggressively to clean up offensive and inappropriate content as part of a focus on “safety.”“This might be the only way to get rid of racist tweets on this platform,” a Twitter user commented.British-based security consultant Graham Cluley said the incident highlighted the importance of two-factor authentication, where a user must confirm the account via an external service.“Everyone should ensure they have 2FA enabled, use unique password, and double check what apps they’ve linked to their accounts,” Cluley tweeted. “Hard to say at moment how he was compromised, but one of those reasons most likely.”CloudhopperCybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont said the account appeared to have been hijacked “via a third party called Cloudhopper, which Twitter acquired about 10 years ago and had access to his account.”Cloudhopper enables users to send tweets on their phones via SMS.University of Hartford communications professor Adam Chiara was keen to learn whether the breach resulted from Dorsey’s negligence or a breakdown of security at Twitter.“While it’s tempting to laugh at the irony of it, the real-world consequences don’t make it funny,” Chiara said of Dorsey’s account being hacked. “Twitter can tell us that they are becoming more diligent with our privacy and security, but actions speak louder than words.”The incident raised fresh concerns about how social media users, even prominent ones, can have their accounts compromised and used for misinformation, a point highlighted by Canadian member of parliament Michelle Rempel Garner.“Between bots, trolls and abuse, I’ve been skeptical about @Twitter as a viable platform for some time now,” Rempel Garner wrote. “But the fact it took the platform’s owner (@jack) about 30 min to get his hacked account under control is deeply problematic, and makes me worry as an elected official.”
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Valerie Harper, TV’s ‘Rhoda,’ Dies at 80
Valerie Harper, who scored guffaws and stole hearts as Rhoda Morgenstern on back-to-back hit sitcoms in the 1970s, has died. She was 80.
Longtime family friend Dan Watt confirmed Harper died Friday, adding the family wasn’t immediately releasing any further details. Harper was a breakout star playing the lovable sidekick on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” then as the funny leading lady of the spinoff series “Rhoda.”
In March 2013, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She had battled lung cancer in 2009, and her husband-manager said recently that he’d been advised to place her in hospice.
Harper appeared on Broadway and in feature films, including “Freebie and the Bean” and “Chapter Two.”
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Teen Climate Activist Thunberg Leads Rally at UN
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined several hundred other young people Friday outside the United Nations to demand action on global warming.
To chants of “Greta! Greta!” the petite 16-year-old climate rock star made her way through a sea of young people, many of whom said they had drawn inspiration from her activism.
She rose to fame last year after she started skipping school on Fridays, leading strikes over the lack of action on climate change.
Greta arrived in New York on Wednesday, ahead of a Sept. 21 Youth Climate Summit at the United Nations, which she will address. Adult leaders will meet two days later to have a climate summit of their own.
She has said she will not fly because air travel leaves too big a carbon footprint, and she put her principles to the test, crossing the Atlantic in a zero-emissions, no-frills sailboat with her father and a small crew. The trip took two weeks and the seas were often rough.
On Friday, she looked tired and perhaps a bit overwhelmed by the large and enthusiastic crowd and the aggressive pack of photographers and reporters. She answered a few questions, but her comments were mostly inaudible because there was no sound system and she is not one to shout her message. But it did not dampen the enthusiasm of the many young people who had come to see her. Youths gather Aug. 30, 3019, outside the United Nations in New York to demand action on global warming. (M. Besheer/VOA)”We came today because we want to support Greta,” 12-year old Tilly told VOA. She had a sturdy grip on the hand of her 8-year old sister, Izzy. Tilly noted that her family recycles.
Olivia, 15, from Long Island, New York, came by commuter train with her friend Defna, also 15, to see Greta. Olivia said her school is very conservative and climate change is not a subject that gets much attention. She wants to change that.
“We want to start being a voice for our school, because we have to, because no one else is,” Olivia said. “We don’t have any clubs about the environment. We don’t have anything. We are trying to start, we have to, because people need to know about it, because they think it’s not as bad as it is.”
This youth movement is angry at world leaders and adults who they think are not taking rising atmospheric temperatures, melting ice caps and greenhouse gas emissions seriously.
“They [adults] have to strike with us, definitely,” Defna said. “And people who do not believe in the issue have to come here and support the kids, because it is our future.”
A speaker addresses young climate activists outside the United Nations in New York, Aug. 30, 2019. The rally preceded a Sept. 21 Youth Climate Summit at the U.N.; adults will meet two days later for a climate summit of their own. (M. Besheer/VOA)Demonstrators carried signs that warned, “Protect the planet because your life depends on it,” “Our house is on fire,” and messages to the grownups that included, “Act now or we will!”
Greta received an impromptu invitation to meet with the president of the U.N. General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés. She took two of the young New York activists with her, Alexandria Villasenor, 14 and Xiye Bastida, 17.
As they entered the U.N. building, Thunberg noted, “There is a lot of air conditioning.” ‘Tipping point’
In her meeting, she spoke of the upcoming summit.
“I think this U.N. summit needs to be some kind of breaking point, tipping point, where people start to realize what is actually going on,” Thunberg said. “And, so we have high expectations in you, too, and all member states to deliver. And we are going to try to do our part to make sure that they have all eyes on them and they have put the pressure on them so they cannot continue to ignore it.”
Espinosa told VOA that she was impressed with Thunberg because of all that she has done and for “her commitment, strength and intelligence.”
She said they discussed how governments, the private sector, citizens and youth all have roles to play to change the tide of global warming.
Also Friday, a Brazilian delegation met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, “to thank [him] for his support during the crisis surrounding the fires in the Amazon rainforest.”
The meeting was not previously announced in the president’s daily schedule but was tweeted by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro late Thursday.- Nosso Chanceler @ernestofaraujo e o Deputado Eduardo @BolsonaroSP serão recebidos, nessa sexta-feira, pelo Presidente @realDonaldTrump na Casa Branca em Washington.— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) August 29, 2019Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araújo downplayed the fires. “It’s basically on average of the last years, and Brazil is already controlling the fires,” he said.
More than 75,000 fires covering the Amazon region have been detected this year, with many of them coming this month. Experts have blamed farmers and ranchers for the fires, accusing them of setting them to clear lands for their operations.
About 60% of the Amazon region is in Brazil. The vast rainforest also extends into Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
At the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, last weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron and Bolsonaro went head to head several times over the Amazon fires issue.
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White House: US, Poland May Sign 5G Network Security Agreement
The United States and Poland may sign an agreement aimed at securing 5G networks when U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visits Warsaw in the coming days, a senior White House official said Friday. Pence leaves Saturday night on a trip to Poland, Ireland, Iceland and Britain. President Donald Trump had planned to make the trip himself, but Pence is going instead so that Trump can remain in the United States as Hurricane Dorian approaches the Atlantic coast. Pence will attend ceremonies marking the start of World War II 80 years ago. But he will also discuss with Polish officials how to maintain cybersecurity with 5G technology edging closer and Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. under scrutiny.
The United States has led a global campaign to persuade allies to ban Huawei, the world’s top telecommunications equipment supplier, from 5G networks. The U.S. government says Huawei can spy on customers, has violated U.S. sanctions on Iran and has stolen American intellectual property. Huawei denies the allegations. FILE – A pedestrian walks past a Huawei product stand at an EE telecommunications shop in London, April 29, 2019.Guarding against ‘adversary nations’A goal of a U.S.-Poland 5G agreement would be to protect networks from unauthorized access and interference from telecommunications suppliers controlled by “adversary nations,” the official said, without naming any companies or countries.
“Important steps are being taken, some of which we may be able to announce in the next day or two, to develop a common approach to a 5G network security between our two countries to ensure a secure and vibrant 5G ecosystem,” the official said.
The comments echoed those of a senior Polish official on Thursday. Poland in July proposed tightening its cybersecurity standards and could ban certain products or suppliers from parts of a future 5G network.
The Polish official said no specific company or equipment from any particular country would be excluded as part of any agreement with the United States, although security and cooperation with Washington would be an important aspect. Visa waiver programNo announcement is expected from Pence about Poland’s request to join the U.S. visa waiver program. Poland has made progress toward meeting the necessary requirements but has not cleared the final hurdles, the senior U.S. official said.
Washington has touted Poland’s commitment to fund its military to meet NATO requirements, and Trump signed an agreement during a June visit by Polish President Andrzej Duda to send 1,000 U.S. troops to Poland. Trump previously visited Poland in July 2017, a few months after taking office.
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Alliance Seeks $7.4B to Immunize 300M Children
Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that targets developing countries, said Friday that it was appealing for $7.4 billion to immunize 300 million children in 2021-25. Gavi’s latest fundraising drive is its most ambitious to date. Officials said they expected huge returns from what would be the agency’s most comprehensive and cost-effective preventive health package ever.
Gavi said the vaccines would protect against 18 diseases, saving up to 8 million lives. Spokeswoman Frederique Tissandier said sustainable investment was needed for the project because there still are 1.5 million people dying every year from vaccine-preventable diseases. “The situation is increasingly fragile because of climate change, because of wars, because of the rise of the population in the urban slums,” she said. “So you have more and more epidemics that are spreading around.” Tissandier said Gavi planned to introduce new vaccines to prevent deadly diseases. For instance, she said, Gavi is ready to invest up to $150 million in a new Ebola vaccine stockpile once it is prequalified by the World Health Organization.
She told VOA that Gavi also would help the Democratic Republic of the Congo obtain the lifesaving vaccines it needs to immunize children against other killer diseases.
“We are going to fund, for instance, starting in September, measles campaigns in DRC to cover — I think the number is close to 18 million kids — to strengthen routine immunization, because we really focus on routine immunization,” Tissandier said. “We fund the stockpile against cholera, yellow fever or meningitis to respond to outbreaks.”
She said support for the global polio eradication program remained a priority. Tissandier said Gavi would invest up to $800 million to accelerate the rollout of inactivated poliovirus vaccine. This would protect against a re-emergence of the disease in areas such as Africa, which is on the cusp of becoming polio-free, and other regions that already have achieved that status.
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Why Americans Don’t Wear White After Labor Day
This Monday is Labor Day in the United States — a holiday linked to workers’ rights and wearing white.That may sound strange, but it is true. Many Americans put away their white clothes on Labor Day and do not wear them again until the following May, after Memorial Day.One reason for the clothing custom relates to the season. In the United States, the months between June and September are summer.The weather is usually hot, including in Northeast cities like Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York. Many people there historically wore light-colored clothing in the summertime to keep cool.First lady Melania Trump ignored the rule against wearing white after Labor Day by appearing in a white pantsuit at the 2018 State of the Union address in Washington, Jan. 30, 2018.Judith Martin is an expert on manners – in other words, on how to behave politely. She spoke to Time Magazine about the history of wearing white in the summer.She said that Americans in the 1800s and early 1900s wore formal clothes all year long. Wearing white clothes in the summertime may have felt more comfortable because “white is of a lighter weight,” Martin said.Then, in about the 1930s, wearing white clothes in the summertime became fashionable, too. That is because some wealthy Americans in Northeast cities went on vacation for weeks or months in the summer. They stayed in costly hotels or summer houses. The white clothes they wore there became linked to ease, beauty and money.But at the end of summer, around Labor Day, they put those white clothes away and returned to their lives in the city – as well as to their darker, heavier clothes. In time, not wearing white after Labor Day became a bit of a fashion rule. Following it showed that you were wealthy — or at least that you knew how to act like you were.Today’s fashion magazines, however, advise readers to ignore the rule. They point to Coco Chanel, Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama, who have appeared in white in all seasons.But you may want to be careful about wearing white to an American-style Labor Day barbecue. The trouble is not fashion – it is ketchup. If it spills, the popular red tomato sauce can ruin a nice set of clothes.
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Ebola Cases Top 3,000 in Democratic Republic of Congo
The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached another grim milestone, the World Health Organization says. More than one year after the epidemic was declared, the WHO confirmed 3,004 cases, including 2,006 deaths. That is the second worst Ebola outbreak after the 2014 West African epidemic, which infected more than 28,000 people and killed more than 11,000.Most Ebola cases in the current epidemic are in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict-ridden North Kivu province. WHO says Ebola transmission has been substantial, but somewhat less intense for the past 10 weeks. On average, it says 80 people a week are being sickened by the virus.Unlike previous outbreaks, health workers have new tools to help them tackle the deadly disease. WHO says more than 200,000 people in the DRC and in four neighboring countries have been vaccinated against Ebola, and two therapeutic treatments are saving the lives of people who seek early treatment.More than 89 million people have been screened for the disease inside the DRC and at international borders, according to WHO, which has helped control the spread of the disease by identifying and providing care to anyone with symptoms.However, WHO added, ongoing insecurity in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, as well as community mistrust, continue to be major impediments to international efforts to bring the epidemic to an end.
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Uganda: Traveling Girl from Congo Dies of Ebola
A 9-year-old Congolese girl who tested positive for Ebola in neighboring Uganda has died, officials said Friday, as the World Health Organization said that the outbreak has neared 3,000 cases.The young girl’s body will be repatriated with her mother back to Congo for a funeral, according to Dr. Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi.”We are finalizing the administrative formalities so that the body is repatriated and buried here in Congo, her native country,” Kasenda said. “We are collaborating with the health services of neighboring Uganda and we will strengthen the sanitary measures here in Kasindi.”A Ugandan official at the hospital where the girl had been in isolation confirmed her death overnight. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.The girl, who was traveling with her mother, was identified at a border screening Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated.Porous borders
Although cases of cross-border contamination have been rare, this case highlights the risk of Ebola spreading across the border into neighboring Uganda and Rwanda. Borders in the region are often porous, and many people traveling at night use bush paths to cross over. FILE – School-going pupils from the Democratic Republic of Congo cross the Mpondwe border point separating Uganda and the DRC, Aug. 14, 2019.In June, a family of Congolese with some sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path. Two of them later died of Ebola, and the others were transferred back to Congo.Uganda has had multiple outbreaks of Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers since 2000.Because the 9-year-old Ebola victim passed through an official entry point this week, Ugandan health authorities believe she had no contact with any Ugandan.Ebola has killed nearly 2,000 people in eastern Congo since August 2018. The disease is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.WHO said Friday that cases have reached 3,000 in Congo, with 1,893 confirmed deaths and some 900 survivors. An average of 80 people per week are sickened by the virus, which has infected most people in Congo’s North Kivu province.
The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo hasn’t shown signs of slowing down despite new treatments and vaccines given to more than 200,000 people in the region and the use of two therapeutic treatments being used as part of a clinical trial. Obstacles
Insecurity has been one factor in a region where rebel groups have fought for control of mineral-rich lands for decades. Ebola also has spread because of mistrust by communities who have also staged attacks against health workers. Many people in eastern Congo don’t trust doctors and other medics.”Many people are afraid to seek treatment for illnesses, worried they will be sent to an Ebola Treatment Center where they fear they could contract the disease. As an actor within the response, we must assume our own responsibility,” said Bob Kitchen, Vice President of Emergencies at the International Rescue Committee. “One year into the response, the lack of community acceptance remains the single greatest obstacle to containing the outbreak. Building trust with the community doesn’t just mean dialogue with the affected population. It means working with the community to adapt the response and address the overall needs they are facing inside and outside of the Ebola outbreak.”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will travel this weekend to Congo with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and senior officials, including Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.On Friday, he called on partners to increase their presence in the field.
“Our commitment to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is that we will work alongside them to stop the Ebola outbreak,” Ghebreyesus said. “Our commitment also means strengthening the health systems to give them all the other things they need. Building strong systems is what will protect people, communities and the world.”
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NASA Launches Probes under Greenland to Track Melting Ice
Scientists warn that Greenland’s melting ice sheet is a real doomsday scenario. Rising temperatures and record heat this summer accelerated what has already been a much faster thaw than seen in previous years. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Report: US Investigating E-Cigarette Maker’s Practices
Federal officials have opened a “deceptive marketing” probe into electronic cigarette maker Juul because of allegations that the company has targeted teens, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.Congress and several state attorneys general have also opened their own investigations into Juul.Neither the Federal Trade Commission or Juul has confirmed the Journal report. But Juul said it would “fully cooperate and is transparent with any government agency or regulator who have interest in our category.”The company denies it has tried to sell its product to youths.”Our earliest marketing campaign in 2015 was intended for adults in the 25-34-year-old demographic … we regret that the campaign was executed in a way that was perceived as appealing to minors,” it said.Juul said it had abandoned its practice of using so-called social media influencers — paid third parties who use tweets and blogs to write about products and other services.A stop-smoking aidElectronic cigarettes, or vaping, are intended to be used by smokers who are trying to give up smoking tobacco. But critics say the products appeal to teens because the devices come in fruit and candy flavors.Juul says it has stopped selling the flavors in traditional stores and has installed new age-verification systems to keep e-cigarettes away from children.Meanwhile, health officials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are “strongly urging” people to stop vaping because the devices are suspected of causing lung disease.The officials interviewed 27 people who have become sick with chemical pneumonia and said 89% reported using e-cigarettes.Their symptoms included shortness of breath, fatigue, coughing and weight loss.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported about 200 cases of lung disease related to vaping in 22 states, including one death in Illinois.
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WHO To Create Registry for Genetic Research
The WHO announced Thursday it will create a global registry to track research into human genetic manipulation, after a call to halt all work on germline genome editing, used in China last year to genetically modify twin baby girls.“New genome editing technologies hold great promise and hope for those who suffer from diseases we once thought untreatable,” the World Health Organization’s Director General for told the body’s genome editing oversight committee meeting in Geneva.“But some uses of these technologies also pose unique and unprecedented challenges — ethical, social, regulatory and technical,” he added.He Jiankui, a Chinese researcher, center, speaks during the Human Genome Editing Conference in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018. He made his first public comments about his claim to have helped make the world’s first gene-edited babies.Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s announcement last November that he had altered the DNA of twins girls in southern China by using molecular scissors, ostensibly to prevent them from contracting HIV.He was then fired from his university, put under police investigation and ordered to halt his work.But his announcement provoked a global backlash from scientists saying the untested procedure was unethical and potentially dangerous and in December the WHO set up an expert committee to look into the matter.About 30 nations have legislation directly or indirectly barring all clinical use of germline editing.WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that countries should not allow any further work on human germline genome editing “until the technical and ethical implications have been properly considered,” the WHO said in a statement.Accepting the recommendation of its 18-member expert committee, WHO announced plans for an initial phase of the registry to include both germline and somatic clinical trials.Somatic mutations occur in a single body cell and cannot be inherited while germline mutations can be passed onto offspring.
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CDC: Mumps Spread in US Migrant Detention Centers
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed nearly 900 cases of mumps among people at adult migration detention facilities across the United States in the last year.
The virus swept across 57 detention centers in 19 states, sickening 898 migrants between Sept. 1, 2018, and Aug. 22, the CDC said Thursday.
Thirty-three staff members were also infected.
The CDC said the virus continues to spread as more migrants are arrested or transferred between facilities.
Mumps is a contagious virus that causes swollen glands, puffy cheeks, fever, headaches and, in severe cases, hearing loss and meningitis.
Mumps outbreaks are rare in the U.S. because of vaccinations, but the disease is easily transmittable in spaces where people have close, prolonged contact.
The CDC said most of those infected were men who caught the virus while in detention.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said all detainees go through a medical screening within 24 hours of arriving at the facilities.
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Uganda’s Ministry of Health Confirms Ebola Case from DR Congo
Uganda’s Ministry of Health has confirmed a case of the Ebola virus in the western district of Kasese.In a statement released Thursday evening, Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu, Uganda’s minister of state in charge of primary health care, said, “The confirmed case is a 9-year-old female of Congolese origin who traveled with her mother on Wednesday.”The child and her mother entered Uganda through the Mpondwe main border post to seek medical care. The child reportedly has symptoms including high fever, body weakness, rash and unexplained mouth bleeding.A blood sample was drawn and sent for testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute and was confirmed positive for Ebola on Thursday.”She was subsequently isolated and transferred to Bwera Hospital Ebola treatment unit, where she is currently being managed,” Moriku said.This was the second time a confirmed Ebola case had crossed into Uganda. In June, a 5-year-old boy died in Uganda after crossing into the country with his family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where more than 1,800 people have died of the disease since August 2018.Uganda’s Ministry of Health is now repeating calls to citizens to cooperate with health workers, immigration officials and security officials “to ensure effective screening at all entry points to prevent the spread of Ebola to other parts of the country.” The case came amidst an ongoing Ebola vaccine trial by scientists in Uganda, a project aimed at preventing the disease from spreading.The new vaccine is manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceutical, owned by U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson. It will be administered to health care professionals, as well as ambulance drivers, burial teams and cleaners. The trial is expected to last two years and cover 800 people in the Mbarara district in southwest Uganda.
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Apple Offers New Repair Options for Out-of-Warranty iPhones
There may soon be more places to get an Apple-sanctioned fix for a cracked iPhone screen.Apple said Thursday that it will sell tools and parts to independent phone-repair shops in the U.S. and later in other countries. Repairs at these shops, though, will be limited to iPhones already out of warranty.Customers with in-warranty repairs will still need to visit an Apple store or one of more than 5,000 authorized service providers worldwide, including all Best Buy stores in the U.S. Same goes for repairs on other products, such as Apple Watch and Mac computers, or for more complicated iPhone repairs.Though many unofficial repair shops have been offering basic fixes such as screen replacements, they aren’t necessarily using Apple parts or qualified technicians, leading to variations in quality. Now, these shops will be able to buy parts directly from Apple, as long as they have an Apple-certified technician to make those repairs.“When a repair is needed, a customer should have confidence the repair is done right,” Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said in a statement.With iPhone sales on the wane and people hanging on to their phones longer, Apple is trying to ramp up its services business, with offerings such as music subscriptions. It plans to launch a video streaming service this year.
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In US, Many Kids Take Passion for the Planet Back to School
For many kids, heading back to school means more than resuming classes and homework. It means getting back to clubs and student organizations focused on sustainability — everything from composting and recycling to reducing food waste and promoting cleaner oceans and waterways.“Young people tend to be incredibly active in sustainability issues, much more so than many adults,” says April Peebler, executive director of Heirs to our Oceans (H2OO), a Berkeley, California-based organization that tries to help 12- to 17-year-olds from around the world learn about and advocate for the environment.“There’s a lot of passion there, and a strong desire to deal with the problems facing the environment that they are going to be inheriting,”Hannah Ono, 15, of Boston, has already been advocating for the environment for years. In fourth grade, she and some friends started a petition asking Dunkin Donuts to stop using Styrofoam cups. The Change.org petition drew 300,000 supporters, and helped persuade the company to ditch Styrofoam cups by 2020, she says.“My next petition is for the City of Boston to ban Styrofoam containers. I just put it up a couple months ago on Change.org, and it has about 300 signatures so far,” says Ono, a rising sophomore at Phillips Academy Andover.She’s also one of a group of students who got a $1,000 grant from her school to raise awareness this year about sustainable fashion. “We want people to know more about where their clothes are coming from. Fast fashion can be really harmful for the environment,” she says.“We’re going to be the ones living with the consequences of climate change, so it’s important for us to take these steps,” Ono says of her generation.Perhaps the most famous teen dedicated to the environment is Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who inspired coordinated climate-change strikes around the world last year. She arrived in New York on Wednesday and will speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, then join world leaders who will present plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Thunberg is taking a year off school to pursue her activism.Joelle Alley heads a California non-profit, EarthTeam, that offers a paid internship program for kids interested in sustainability. She says the group starts each school year by presenting their program to around 10 under-resourced high schools in the Richmond, California, area.“We recruit teams of 14 interns from each school, and the interns work with coaches to identify environmental problems on their campus and in their community. Then the kids come up with action campaigns to help solve the problems,” Alley says.The kids “have a unique perspective on their families and communities, and often spot issues that outsiders would miss. They walk everywhere, they hang out in parks, and they see a lot of things. We provide the structure and tools and resources, but they are the ones identifying the issues and coming up with campaigns,” she says.Through the Food Recovery Network, one of the largest student-led movements fighting food waste and hunger, students at college campuses in 44 states and the District of Columbia connect with college dining halls, local shelters and food pantries to make sure excess food is delivered to those in need, instead of going into the trash.“We coach and mentor students to help them build local food recovery programs,” says the organization’s executive director, Regina Anderson. “There’s an incredible amount of food waste on university campuses and this is a very practical way to help our environment.”Through the network, students have recovered 3.9 million pounds of food so far, Anderson says.“At any given time, we work with 5,000 college students,” as well as some high school-age volunteers, she says.Educators say students who care about sustainability can have a huge impact, particularly as they enter the workforce.“We’re seeing this manifest in two ways,” says Jonathan Deutsch, professor of Food and Hospitality Management in the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, where the Food Recovery Network has been active for years.“Students are very mindful of their own impact, opting for reusable water bottles and coffee mugs. But it’s taken to a much wider-reaching level in the case of students in professional programs. Someone studying to be a food service manager in a hospital, for example, who is launching their career with a sustainability-oriented mindset, really moves the needle,” he says. “They are making decisions about thousands of meals a day, and that adds up to a huge environmental impact.”Thunberg told political and business leaders in Davos recently: “I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”
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US Set to Curtail Regulation of Methane Emissions
The U.S. is set Thursday to curtail its regulation of methane emissions, easing standards for what scientists say is a major contributor to climate change.Sources familiar with the rule-making say the administration of President Donald Trump plans to eliminate the requirement that the oil and natural gas industry use technology to inspect for and repair methane leaks from wells and transmission equipment, including pipelines and storage facilities. The regulatory cutback is the latest in a string of reductions in environmental restrictions that were imposed under former President Barack Obama, as Trump officials look to make government less intrusive and more business friendly.Trump officials say the methane emissions cutback is expected to save the energy industry between $17 million and $19 million a year. But the officials said they believe the industry already has the incentive to capture as much methane as possible from leaking into the atmosphere because it then has more gas to sell.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers the oil and gas industry to be the country’s primary source of methane emissions, a component of natural gas considered to be a bigger contributor to climate change than carbon dioxide, although it occurs in smaller volumes.However, some of the biggest fossil fuel companies — Exxon, Shell and BP — are opposed to the looser regulations being offered by EPA, just as some of the world’s largest car manufacturers recently objected to the Trump administration’s plans to ease standards for fuel efficiency.Shell president Gretchen Watkins renewed the company’s support for tougher standards on methane release, pledging to reduce its methane leaks from its global operations to less than 0.2 percent by 2025.“We believe sound environmental policies are foundational to the vital role natural gas can play in the energy transition and have made clear our support of 2016 law to regulate methane from new and modified onshore sources,” she said. “Despite the administration’s proposal to no longer regulate methane, Shell’s U.S. assets will continue to contribute to that global target.”Environmentalists condemned the rollback in methane regulations.Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group, said, “This reckless rollback highlights the Trump administration’s complete contempt for our climate. The EPA is now so determined to actually increase greenhouse pollution that it’s even shrugging off concerns from oil and gas companies about gutting these protections.”The new EPA methane rules are subject to public review, but could be finalized early next year.
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Jet-car Speed Racer Jessi Combs Dies Trying to Break Record
Jet-car speed racer Jessi Combs, known by fans as the “fastest woman on four wheels,” has died in a crash in Oregon’s Alvord Desert while trying to break a speed record, local authorities said Wednesday.Combs, 39, died Tuesday afternoon while racing in a dry lake bed in a desert in remote Harney County, sheriff’s Lt. Brian Needham said in a statement. The cause is under investigation.Terry Madden, Combs’ teammate on the North American Eagle racing team, said in an Instagram post Wednesday that he was heartbroken and added a video collage of photos and video clips of Combs with various team members.“She was the most amazing spirit that I have ever or will ever know,” Madden wrote.“Unfortunately we lost her yesterday in a horrific accident, I was the first one there and trust me we did everything humanly possible to save her.”Combs was widely known in the niche sport of jet-car racing and was attempting to break the Women’s Land Speed Record of 512 mph (823 kph) set in 1976 by Kitty O’Neil when she died. Jet cars are race cars propelled by jet engines.She currently held the record as the fastest woman on four wheels — O’Neil piloted a three-wheeled vehicle — for a 398 mph performance in 2013 and had driven even faster in follow-up runs, but mechanical problems prevented those from making the record books.In an Instagram post on Sunday, Combs indicated that she hoped to break O’Neil’s record in the Oregon desert.She wrote, “People say I’m crazy. I say, ‘thank you.’”In a statement, Combs’ family said her “most notable dream was being the fastest woman on Earth.”Combs, who was born in Rapid City, South Dakota and lived in Long Beach, California, dabbled in snowboarding earlier in life and was also an accomplished artist and craftswoman, according to a biography on North American Eagle, her racing team.She studied automotive design and fabrication and appeared as a host on Spike TV’s Extreme 4X4 before a freak accident with a piece of heavy machinery that broke her spine.After months of rehabilitation, Combs recovered and appeared on and guest hosted a number of TV shows, including Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters” while honing her skills as a professional driver for movies and commercials.The Alvord Desert is an extremely remote and sparsely populated region in southeastern Oregon, about 400 miles (643 kilometers) southeast of Portland.
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Measles Epidemic Is Surging Globally at Alarming Rate
The World Health Organization warns of serious consequences if nations do not take immediate action to stop the escalation of measles infections, which have reached alarming new heights. Nearly 365,000 cases of measles have been reported globally so far this year, the highest number since 2006. The World Health Organization says that is almost three times as many cases than at the same time last year. And, with four more months left in 2019, it warns more bad news is in store.The WHO said measles is increasing in all regions of the world, with the exception of the Americas. WHO Director of the Department of Immunization Vaccines and Biologicals Kate O’Brien said the world is backsliding and is not on track to eliminate the dangerous, but largely preventable disease by 2020.”We are absolutely backsliding on the measles situation and that is extremely worrying for, certainly the health of children,” O’Brien said. “Absolutely the health as well of adolescents and adults as I mentioned … And, it also signals that there is a complacency in some way about our immunization systems.” FILE PHOTO: A vial of the measles, mumps, and rubella virus (MMR) vaccine is pictured at the International Community Health Services clinic in Seattle, Washington, March 20, 2019.A European regional report finds four countries, Albania, Czech Republic, Greece and Britain have lost their measles elimination status. However, Austria and Switzerland attained elimination status, having interrupted transmission of the disease for at least 36 months.O’Brien said children are not getting vaccinated against the disease for a variety of reasons. She told VOA it sometimes is physically difficult for parents to go to a clinic to have their child vaccinated. She said vaccine hesitancy and complacency, as well as misinformation about the safety of vaccines play a role.”We do see in high income countries to some degree there are small, well-defined communities that have religious or ethnic or social beliefs where a community as a whole is declining vaccines,” O’Brien said. On the other hand, O’Brien notes in countries of conflict and other fragile settings, getting and delivering life-saving vaccines to the populations is often very difficult.She said she is very concerned about the politicization of vaccines. She said vaccines have no role in political conflict and should never be used in this way.
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NYC Garbage Man Shares Treasures Found in Trash
New York City garbage man Nelson Molina has been seeing value in other people’s garbage for the past three decades. For years he has been saving unique items that their owners threw away. Vladimir Lenski met with the unusual collector.
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Elliott Recalls Crazy Moments It Took to Make Iconic Videos
After celebrating her two-decade-plus career at the MTV Video Music Awards with a performance featuring a slew of her hits, Missy Elliott knew she did a great job when the first text she received after the performance was from another musical icon and longtime friend: Janet Jackson.”She was like, ‘You shut that [expletive] down,'” Elliott said, laughing in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, a day after the VMAs. “And just to know that Janet even said that word was amazing. And I was like, ‘OK, I must have done good for her to use that [word].'”FILE – Janet Jackson accepts the ultimate icon: music dance visual award at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, June 28, 2015.Elliott, who has collaborated musically with Jackson in the past, received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award on Monday night for the eccentric and vibrant music videos that helped establish her as a trailblazer on the music scene.The 48-year-old Grammy winner said the road to creating iconic videos was not easy. She said in the “She’s a B—h” clip, which includes a scene where she and others are submerged, two of the dancers “had asthma attacks just from being underwater.”For “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” — her 1997 debut single where she wore an inflated trash bag — she recalls walking “to the gas station to use the air pump … in Brooklyn to pump up the suit, and then realized I was too big to fit in the car, so we had to walk … on the main street in this outfit all the way to set, and it had deflated.”She confirmed that the bees in the “Work It” video were in fact real. And in the “Pass that Dutch” clip when she was lifted up and rapping from a cornfield, “they dropped me on my knees; I thought my kneecaps had broken.””I was just doing these videos and … it wasn’t like I was doing them and trying to make a point for later down the line. I was just doing it,” she said. “A lot of people say, ‘Hey you should have gotten [this award] a long time ago and I realize that I’m a spiritual person and so I always say, ‘I’m on God’s time.’ And so whenever God says it was time for me to have it is the correct time.”FILE – Alyson Stoner arrives at the season three premiere of “Stranger Things” at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, Calif., June 28, 2019.Elliott’s VMA performance also included the well-known hits “Lose Control” and “Get Ur Freak On,” as well as “Throw It Back,” the first single from her new EP “Iconology,” released last week. Her performance also featured dancer and actress Alyson Stoner, who first gained fame as the young child who danced with skill in the “Work It” video.”It’s been 17 years since we shot that video,” Elliott said. “I couldn’t have done it without [Alyson]. I was like, ‘I’ve got to have Alyson in here because everywhere I went since then people have always been like, ‘What happened to that little girl that used to be in your ‘Work It’ video?'”At the VMAs, Elliott also honored late R&B singer Aaliyah when she gave her acceptance speech. Elliott and Timbaland wrote and produced a number of hits for Aaliyah, from “One In a Million” to “4 Page Letter.”
“I always pay tribute to her. And I’m always in contact with her brother, you know, checking on them. Even though each year makes it a year longer, it always still feels like it was yesterday,” Elliott said of Aaliyah, who was killed in a plane crash 18 years ago last Sunday.
“I could still hear her laughter and I could see her smile and almost kind of could sense what she would be like today. She’s always been a risk taker and never a follower because when she chose to work with Timbaland and myself, we had style that was so different; she could have picked any other producer and writer that was already hot and popping,” she continued. “We hadn’t had anything out but she heard something in us and so I know that she would have just been setting the bar high.”
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