California Will Allow College Athletes to Be Paid
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a first-of-its-kind law that will allow student athletes to hire agents and negotiate payments for the use of their name, image and likeness. The bill, known as the Fair Pay to Play Act, was strongly opposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which regulates all U.S. college student athletes.The organization had argued the bill “would erase the critical distinction between college and professional athletics” and would “negatively impact more than 24,000 California student-athletes across three divisions.” While college athletes are often offered extremely lucrative scholarships, the NCAA does not allow them to be paid. The organization says it is studying the issue of paying student athletes and if the policy is to change, it wants the change to happen on a national scale. Newsom and the bill’s supporters argue that it will, in fact, bring fairness to big-money college athletics. “Other college students with a talent, whether it be literature, music, or technological innovation, can monetize their skill and hard work,” Newsom said Monday. “Student athletes, however, are prohibited from being compensated while their respective colleges and universities make millions, often at great risk to athletes’ health, academics and professional careers.”Newsom signed the bill on the HBO TV show hosted by Los Angeles Lakers basketball star LeBron James, who had supported the bill. James tweeted that the signing was a momentous occasion.I’m so incredibly proud to share this moment with all of you. @gavinnewsom came to The Shop to do something that will change the lives for countless athletes who deserve it! @uninterrupted hosted the formal signing for SB 206 allowing college athletes to responsibly get paid. pic.twitter.com/NZQGg6PY9d— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 30, 2019The bill, which will undoubtedly face legal challenges, will not go into effect until 2023.
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Small Piece of Melting Italian Glacier Accelerates
An expert monitoring a fast-moving glacier on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc massif says a small section has picked up speed and could break off in the coming days.
Fabrizio Troilo, a glaciologist with the Safe Mountain Foundation, said Monday that the piece — measuring some 27,000 cubic meters (953,390 cubic feet) — is moving at 60 centimeters (23.6 inches) a day.
That is about twice as fast as a massive 250,000-cubic-meter (8,827,683-cubic feet) chunk that also risks breaking off from the Planpincieux glacier.
Troilo said the smaller piece “could collapse in the next days or week,” but that such collapses are annual events and would have no impact on the rest of the valley.
Experts say the increased melting rate has been linked to climate change.
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Thai Pime Minister Advises Masks Against Bangkok Smog
Thailand’s prime minister urged residents of Bangkok to wear face masks on Monday after smog covered parts of the capital in what some fear is a harbinger of more pollution to come.Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned in a statement on his Facebook page that the concentration of tiny dust particles called PM2.5 in the air had reached unsafe levels and said he has ordered government agencies to expedite anti-pollution measures. He also asked the construction and manufacturing sectors to reduce activities that release pollutants.Smog levels are expected to stay high for the next two or three days.The head of the country’s Pollution Control Department, Pralong Damrongthai, said the visibly dirty air was not caused by smoke originating from forest fires in Indonesia. Since last month, haze blown by monsoon winds from fires in Indonesia has affected nearby countries including the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and parts of southern Thailand, raising concerns about aviation safety and health.Indonesian officials say they have made progress in containing the fires, including successful efforts at rainmaking, which they say reduced the number of fire “hotspots” from more than 5,000 about two weeks ago to 491 on Sunday.Thailand’s Pralong told Thai PBS television that the problem in Bangkok is due to still air and high humidity becoming loaded with ultrafine dust from vehicle emissions, construction sites and other pollutants. He said it was then trapped close to the ground by a blanket of warm air in what meteorologists call an inversion.Thailand’s government has set a safe level of 50 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter of air, although other countries have lower limits. The Pollution Control Department’s website put Monday’s level as high as 79 micrograms.PM2.5 particulates are small enough to be sucked deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, and can cause respiratory problems and may raise risks of cardiovascular disease and cancers.It’s the second time this year Bangkok has been blanketed with a cocktail of pollutants. Smog levels also spiked back in January.Pralong acknowledged the pollution levels might shoot up again in January and February, during the dry season, when farmers burn fields to make way for new planting, another factor that contributes to the problem. He said his department and other units are preparing more stringent measures to better handle the problem than earlier this year.As the noxious smog settled over Bangkok, many residents fished out masks from drawers and went about their business.“A lot of my friends are saying they come to the office, their noses are running. Their eyes really hurt. All of them are really coughing today. It’s not normal anymore,” said Piyavathara Natthadana, an office worker who was wearing a mask.“There’s not much we can do. We have to monitor the news and protect ourselves,” said Chakrapong Sanguanjit, another Bangkok resident walking downtown with a mask on.Some environmentalists blamed the government for failing to act fast enough, despite being well aware of the issues.“The cause of the problem is the same. The sources of the pollution are the same. But measures to control the sources of pollution are not implemented yet because they said that takes time,” said Tara Buakamsri of the environmental group Greenpeace.
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Historic Payment to Gabon Seeks to Preserve ‘Earth’s Lungs’
Gabon is one of the greenest countries in the world, with 88 percent of its land covered by forest. A historic agreement between Gabon and Norway is seeking to ensure it stays that way. Through the U.N.-backed Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), Norway will pay Gabon up to $150 million over 10 years in exchange for Gabon reducing its carbon emissions and to give value to the forests’ role in absorbing carbon dioxide. In an interview with Voice of America, Lee White, Gabon’s Minister of Forests, said the agreement is groundbreaking because it is making it nearly as valuable for countries to preserve forests as to chop them down. “In all of the deals we’ve seen over the years, forest carbon has been worth $5 a ton. And in this one, subject to meeting best practice, they’ve gone to $10. So overnight we doubled the price of forest carbon. It gives a lot of hope to all the other forest nations,” he said. In a statement, CAFI said the deal will allow Gabon to achieve its goal of preserving 98 percent of its existing rainforest for the future. Across Central Africa, forests store as much as 70 billion tons of carbon which is equal to 5 to 10 years of global greenhouse gas emissions, CAFI said. The African forest is the second-largest rainforest in the world, sometimes called “Earth’s second lung”White said the agreement is part of a larger effort by Gabon to preserve its forests. Ten years ago, the country made headlines by announcing an end to raw timber exports. Although logging continues for processed wood products and domestic use, it is done in a sustainable way, White said.“We’ve doubled the number of forestry jobs and we’re opening new processing plants pretty much every month. And so that measure is starting to pay off. And what we’re finding is that we can make more money and create more jobs by exploiting less,” he said.He added that this is a strong reversal of centuries of exploitation of natural resources on the African continent by Europeans.“If you look at the history of the continent it’s been about ripping out cheap natural resources and sending it to other parts of the world to develop,” White said. “So Africa fueled the Industrial Revolution. Africa has fueled part of China’s rise and in economic terms. And so the first component of it is to make the use of our natural resources indigenous to transform things locally.”
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Province in Southern Pakistan Set to Ban Plastic Bags on October First
They choke coral reefs, clog waterways, and provide a near-permanent mark on the landfills they occupy. One environmental agency (WWF) estimates that Pakistan’s port city of Karachi produces five-to-seven-thousand tons of plastic each day. A ban on plastic bags in the region is due to go into effect this week. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has this story in the bag.
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Fact or Fiction, the Treasure is as Important as the Thrill of the Hunt
About 350,000 treasure hunters from all over the world, have been scouting out a large area in the Rocky Mountains stretching from Northern New Mexico to Montana, looking for a hidden treasure. As the story goes, all one needs to do to find the loot, is to decipher the nine clues in a poem written by wealthy art collector and entrepreneur Forrest Fenn, who says he collected and hid the treasure years ago. Its lore became wildly popular after he had written a book called “The Thrill of the Chase,” talking about his life and the treasure. While many believe the treasure is real, others think it’s a hoax. VOA’s Penelope Poulou visited the area and spoke with Fenn about the meaning of it all
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Fact or Fiction, the Treasure is as Important and the Thrill of the Hunt
About 350,000 treasure hunters from all over the world, have been scouting out a large area in the Rocky Mountains stretching from Northern New Mexico to Montana, looking for a hidden treasure. As the story goes, all one needs to do to find the loot, is to decipher the nine clues in a poem written by wealthy art collector and entrepreneur Forrest Fenn, who says he collected and hid the treasure years ago. Its lore became wildly popular after he had written a book called “The Thrill of the Chase,” talking about his life and the treasure. While many believe the treasure is real, others think it’s a hoax. VOA’s Penelope Poulou visited the area and spoke with Fenn about the meaning of it all
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Hope Endures for Nigerian Cardiac Patients
Health experts say Nigeria is seeing increasing cases of heart disease. Low awareness, lack of adequate medical facilities and expertise are major factors worsening the situation in the country. But a non profit is collaborating with the World Heart Federation to provide proper education and treatment for underprivileged patients.Participants chat at an awareness and fundraising event to mark World Heart Day in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.The program is organized by the non-profit, Global Development and Charity Support Foundation in collaboration with the World Heart Federation.Head of the non profit, Samuel Asomugha says apart from educating locals on the early signs of heart disease, his organization is making funds available to treat patients.”When you have a healthy heart, then you can lead a healthy life, then a lot of these health and heart related mortalities can be avoided,” he said.The non-profit targets about 1,000 patients for treatment.A 2018 WHO country profile reveals cardiovascular diseases is the leading cause of deaths among non-communicable diseases in Nigeria with over 11 percent prevalence.”Whichever heart disease you want to look at, whether it’s heart failure, whether it’s coronary artery disease, the incidence of patients who are coming forward to hospital is on the rise,” says cardiologist Dauda Balami.Congenital heart deformities in children are also on the rise.Nnamdi Azubuike’s one-year-old child was diagnosed with a heart condition in 2015.”We found out that he was not breathing very well, so we went to the hospital and after the analysis, then a doctor now told us that he’s having a hole in his heart,” said Azubuike.Heart related conditions often require tertiary level care and sophisticated surgeries but Nigeria lacks medical facilities and the expertise needed.Paediatrician and cardiologist Tolu Utele, admits the situation is serious.”It is almost like a death sentence for children that are born with these heart defects, all we do in most places is to manage them until they die and many of them actually end up dying,” said Utele.As talks around heart issues continue in Nigeria, citizens, nonprofits and many with conditions hope things get better.
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What’s ‘Stomach Infrastructure’? Check African Politics Dictionary
Up and down the continent, African politics sees more than its share of chaos and corruption. Africans use colorful terms and phrases to describe the unfolding developments and, sometimes, make fun of them. A new online Dictionary of African Politics, published by Oxford University Press, tries to define these words.In Nigeria, for instance, the term “zoning” has nothing to do with buildings or real estate. It describes power sharing between the north and south.In Kenya, a “three-piece suit” refers to a party asking voters to back its full slate of candidates, for president, governor and member of parliament.The Oxford Dictionary of African Politics, an online publication.Oxford student Sa’eed Husaini, one of the dictionary’s authors, said he and his colleagues thought the project would “give us an opportunity to basically shine a light on the diversity of words and diversity of meanings that are part of African politics. … There is a lot of meaning that is being generated, a lot of new content words, like ‘stomach infrastructure,’ that “will help us understand how Africa conducts contemporary politics.”The term “stomach infrastructure” was coined by a politician in the 2015 elections in Nigeria. He promised people rice and chicken over development and won that election.In Benin, switching of parties by politicians is called “transhumance,” which is the act of moving animals from one grazing ground to another.In Ghana, supporting the president of one party and a member of parliament from another party is called “skirt and blouse” voting.Another Kenyan term is “negotiated democracy,” which means the arranged sharing of power between communities BEFORE an election takes place.Kimani Njogu, an African linguist, said people create and use such terms everywhere, acts of what he called “semantic expansion.””It brings in a certain playfulness in our politics, certain humor, ingenuity, relaxation of atmosphere, normalization of the politics, so that it’s not seen to be too removed from the day-to-day experiences of people,” Njogu said.Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has seen this type of language throughout his long career.”It’s not that they are being simplistic about complex issues,” Odinga said. “It’s just that they want to make it light. Sometimes you should crack a joke about those issues, but I think it’s a way of expression that in one hand tells you it’s not right, but also with a light touch. I think that’s part of the African culture.”The Oxford dictionary covers 350 words commonly used in Africa since the introduction of multiparty democracy more than three decades ago.Njogu said the dictionary would change over time, as old expressions lose their usefulness and people create new ones to comment on their politics.
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Runners Fight for Equality by Protesting Track’s Pregnancy Penalty
For decades, the message to women in track and field was crystal clear: get pregnant, lose sponsorship money. A rebellion led by some of the sport’s top runners, Allyson Felix, Kara Goucher and Alysia Montano, is helping to change that. Two months after the U.S. women’s soccer players stated their case for equal pay, women in track and field come to their major event, the world championships in Doha, having found their footing on another important crusade — retaining full pay from their sponsorship deals after they get pregnant.”It’s the power of the collective,” Felix said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Alysia speaking, Kara speaking, the women’s soccer team. It’s just such a pivotal time right now in women’s sports, and we’re seeing change happen.”The six-time Olympic and 11-time world champion had a baby girl in November and will compete on the women’s relay team next week at the worlds in Doha, where she will have a new apparel sponsor, Athleta, after spending years with Nike.Nike responded to the outcry, as well, announcing in May that it would not apply performance-related pay reductions for pregnant athletes for a consecutive period of 12 months. Then, last month, the company expanded that to 18 months — starting eight months before the due date — and pledged to include specific language about pregnancy in its contracts to reinforce the policy.”We recognize we can do more and that there is an important opportunity for the sports industry to evolve to support female athletes,” Nike said in a statement.The fights for women’s rights in soccer and track have taken different trajectories and centered on different issues, but both had been underway for several years before they came to a head this summer.The members of the U.S. women’s soccer team, with Megan Rapinoe spearheading the move, brought their longstanding struggle for equal pay to the fore during their march to the World Cup title this summer. At issue is the difference in the collectively bargained pay structures between the U.S. men’s and women’s teams, which for decades has left the women making less per game.The women’s team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in March, and in the aftermath of its victory in the World Cup, momentum has been building for a revisiting of the pay gap, including a bill in Congress that would ensure equal pay for athletes who represent the United States in global competitions.Track and field hasn’t dealt with as many equal-pay issues, in part because men and women compete at the same time at the same venue, so there’s never been an accurate way to measure attendance and viewership for one gender over the other.The women’s side of the sport has long produced as much talent and star power as the men: Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross, Marion Jones, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and the list goes on. Meanwhile, USA Track and Field has established a pay system based on merit and potential that pays men and women equally.”I understand the discrepancies in other sports, and exposure and differences in that sort of thing,” said agent Paul Doyle, who represents a number of track athletes, including hurdler Nia Ali, a mother of two. But in track and field, “this is the same exposure. Diamond League meets have just as many female events as male events. It’s as interesting a sport as the men’s sport.”But, as the world found out this year, the conversation changes when it comes to endorsement contracts in a sport in which an increasing number of female athletes are putting careers on hold to have babies, then returning to compete at a high level.In May, Montano, the six-time U.S. champion who famously raced while she was eight months pregnant, broke nondisclosure agreements with Nike to produce a video describing the reality of being a woman in track and field.”The sports industry allows for men to have a full career, and when a woman decides to have a baby, it pushes women out at their prime,” she said. “When I told (Nike) I wanted to have a baby during my career, they said, `Simple, we’ll just pause your contract and stop paying you.”‘Montano is five months pregnant with her third child and now has a sponsorship deal with an active wear company, Cadenshae, which has vowed to support her regardless of whether she returns to the track.Her message led Felix and Goucher to both go public with their stories, as well.In a New York Times opinion piece, Felix recounted how Nike “wanted to pay me 70% less than before.” She eventually helped push the company to change the way it deals with pregnant athletes. When Nike revised its contracts, she celebrated.”This means that female athletes will no longer be financially penalized for having a child,” Felix wrote on Instagram. Goucher also participated in the op-ed, describing the pressure she felt from Nike to go back to training instead of caring for her newborn son, Colt. Despite Nike’s changes, Goucher now lists Altra as her shoe sponsor.While Goucher and Montano will not compete in Doha this week, Felix will be there, and she won’t be the only mother on the track.
Ali, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 hurdles, will be there . Two-time Olympic sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica is a mom. Marathoner Roberta Groner has three kids.Joanna Hayes, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, now coaches 20-year-old hurdler Sydney McLaughlin. Nine years ago, Hayes put her career on hold to have a baby, then “came back on a whim, just to have fun, and I ran OK.” But nearly a decade later, the issue is resonating much more widely, and not only on the track and the soccer pitch.”We’re going to see a big difference,” Hayes said. “You hear stories about this in corporate America — so many things that women go through just to have children, and so I think it’s just great to see women standing together for a cause.”
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Legendary Mexican Crooner Jose Jose Dies from Cancer at Age 71
Local media outlets are reporting that legendary Mexican crooner Jose Jose, known as the “Prince of Song,” has died from pancreatic cancer. He was 71.Multiple outlets said Saturday the singer known for sad love songs had died at a hospital in South Florida.Jose Jose, whose real name is Jose Romulo Sosa Ortiz, climbed to the top of the Latin charts in the 1970s slow ballads like “El Triste” or “The Sad Man,” and “Almohada” or “Pillow.” The power of his voice and ability to sing technically difficult tunes at a high register made him a treasured cultural icon in Latin America. His music also became popular in non-speaking countries such as Japan and Russia.
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Leslie Gelb, Son of Impoverished Immigrants Who Rose to Be US Foreign Policy Giant
His was a classic example of the American Dream, a rise from a humble childhood with immigrant parents to prestigious positions within U.S. government institutions and think tanks and a reputation as one of the nation’s most respected foreign policy thinkers.In the weeks since the death last month of Leslie H. Gelb, a number of his friends and former colleagues have shared their recollections about the man and his legacy with VOA , in particular his impact on U.S. foreign policy thinking.Gelb, best known to his friends and colleagues as “Les,” was 82 when he passed away in New York City on Aug. 31.The next day’s obituaries detailed his career highlights, including his Ph.D. in government from Harvard University, his decorated service at the Defense and State departments, his work as an influential columnist at The New York Times and his decade at the helm of one of America’s most prestigious think tanks, the Council on Foreign Relations.Child of immigrantsFewer people knew that he was a child of immigrants, that his parents worked seven days a week to sustain their corner deli, never read newspapers, and counted The Bible as one of the two books they owned.”My parents were immigrants from originally Hungary, but by the time they left it, it was the Czech Republic, today it’s Ukraine,” Gelb once said in an interview about his family’s ancestral hometown. He described the town of Mukachevo as “this little piece of property in the far east part of the Austro-Hungarian empire up against the Carpathian Mountains.”Gelb once said his parents were “essentially uneducated immigrants, fifth-grade education,” who came to America “and worked in a corner grocery store their whole lives.”Asked whether his interest in international politics was inspired by dinner table conversations, he replied that there wasn’t much of a dinner table to speak of, even less of dinnertime conversations revolving around geopolitics.”We ate at the back of the store, one at a time,” he chuckled while answering the question. “My father was interested in politics, but it was not a passion.”Leslie Gelb seen in an undated photo with one of his five grandchildren. (Photo courtesy of Leslie Gelb family)’It was easier’Tufts University, he said, was the only university that accepted him after high school. Years later, he would joke that he majored in politics and government there because “it was easier than doing anything else.” He worked as a parking attendant and a dishwasher to help with college expenses.From there, Gelb went on to obtain a master’s and then a doctorate from Harvard University in the mid-1960s, studying with the likes of Stanley Hoffmann and Henry Kissinger, two of the most distinguished political scientists at the time and, by chance, European immigrants themselves.From Harvard, Gelb came to Washington, where he first worked for Senator Jacob Javits of New York, a liberal Republican who sponsored the War Powers Act to restrict presidential powers after becoming disillusioned with the Vietnam War. Next came stints at the Pentagon and the State Department where his portfolios included negotiations with the then-Soviet Union.At the Pentagon, Gelb was tasked with editing what later became known as the Pentagon Papers — an examination of U.S. involvement in Vietnam up to that point. One of the researchers Gelb hired to work on the project would later leak the classified document to the press, resulting in a public uproar over the policymaking processes it revealed.Winston Lord, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and a longtime friend of Gelb, told VOA that many people assumed Gelb to be “a big dove” because of his role in drafting the Pentagon Papers.”He wasn’t,” Lord said in a telephone interview. “His job was — without being partisan to lay out our record of involvement.”Gelb, he said, “wasn’t one of those who felt that the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese were the good guys, the Americans were the bad guys; just the opposite. He was disgusted with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong, but he felt he owed it to the American people to point out the mistakes that were made.”‘Noble dimension’Lord sees a connection between the forthrightness in Gelb’s analysis of foreign policy records and what he describes as a “noble dimension” to Gelb’s conduct as an individual.”Many people in government suck up and fawn and praise their superiors, and then step on and beat up their staff and inferiors. He was just the opposite,” Lord said.Alexander Vershbow, a foreign service officer who worked under Gelb and who would go on to become a U.S. ambassador to Russia and NATO deputy secretary general, described Gelb in an interview as “kind of my first mentor,” and a man who “liked to give people a chance to prove themselves.”Vershbow said Gelb believed in a two-track Russia strategy, including both deterrence and dialogue, that, Vershbow said, he “kept with me throughout my career.”After leaving State, Gelb worked for more than 10 years as a foreign affairs and national security columnist, later an opinion-page editor, for The New York Times. In 1993, he was named as president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an institution over which he presided until 2003.Cover of Power Rules, written by Leslie Gelb (VOA/N. Liu)In 2009, Gelb published a book on American foreign policy, “Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy.” He told a University of California at Berkeley audience that year that he wrote the book out of frustration with the field of political science and foreign policymaking, beginning with an ill-defined concept of “power” which he thought was neither a purely intellectual process aimed at persuasion, nor a mere physical show of force.The United States won the Cold War, he believed, because it successfully developed allies “in Western Europe, Germany in particular, and Japan.” Adding these countries’ resources “to our own,” he said, “we would have more than 75% of military, diplomatic and economic power in the world.”Looking forward, he urged America to continue to build strong alliances and be mindful of other countries’ desires and capabilities, all the while having the courage — and wisdom — to “fail alone, succeed together.”
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Teenage Climate Activist Leads Hundreds of Thousands in Montreal March
Hundreds of thousands of people joined teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg for a march in Montreal Friday, part of a second wave of global protests demanding action on climate change.Thunberg responded to critics, including U.S. President Donald Trump, saying she doesn’t “understand why grown-ups would choose to mock children and teenagers for just communicating and acting on the science when they could do something good instead.”Without mentioning Trump by name, Thunberg said, “We’ve become too loud for people to handle so people want to silence us.”She called on world leaders to do more for the environment, following a meeting earlier Friday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.”My message to all the politicians around the world is the same,” she said. “Just listen and act on the current best available science.””He (Trudeau) is of course obviously not doing enough, but this is just a huge problem, this is a system that is wrong,” she said.Trudeau earlier praised Thunberg’s activism saying, “She is the voice of a generation.”Protests also took place Friday across Europe and Asia, with organizers saying 200,000 people, mainly youths, joined a march in Milan and another 100,000 in Rome.Protesters gathered in a host of countries, including India, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Austria and Germany.The demonstrations come a week after millions of youths and adults rallied worldwide ahead of the U.N. summit in New York.
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US Probe of Vaping Illnesses Focuses on THC From Marijuana
U.S. health officials said Friday that their investigation into an outbreak of severe vaping-related illnesses was increasingly focused on products that contain the marijuana compound THC.
Most of the 800 people who got sick vaped THC, the ingredient in marijuana that causes a high, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But officials said they didn’t know whether the THC was the problem or some other substance added to the vaping liquid, such as thickeners.
“The outbreak currently is pointing to a greater concern around THC-containing products,” said the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat.
So far, investigators have not identified a particular e-cigarette, vaping device, liquid or ingredient behind the outbreak. But officials say patients have mentioned the name Dank Vapes most frequently. Many of the people who got sick in Illinois and Wisconsin said they used prefilled THC cartridges sold in Dank Vapes packaging. No single store or distributor
“It’s a generic product name that doesn’t really tie back to one store or one distributor,” said Dr. Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“Folks are getting it from friends or folks on the street, with no understanding of where it came from prior to that.” she said Friday.
Until a cause is pinned down, the CDC continues to advise Americans to consider avoiding all vaping products, though the agency on Friday added the phrase “particularly those containing THC.”
“We didn’t feel comfortable dropping the broader recommendation yet,” said Schuchat.
This week, the CDC reported 805 confirmed and probable cases of the lung illness. Thirteen people have died. Only the U.S. has reported such an outbreak, although Canadian officials this week confirmed that country’s first case.
On Friday, the agency provided more details in two reports:
— The first case in the U.S. began in late March. Cases ramped up in late June and rose dramatically in late July.
— The median age of those who have become ill is 23. But the median age of those who have died is much older — 50.
— Nationally, 9 in 10 cases required hospitalization. Many young and previously healthy adolescents and young adults needed machines to help them breathe.
— In Illinois and Wisconsin, patients mentioned 87 different product names and many vaped more than one. Similar to injury
Doctors say the illnesses resemble an inhalation injury. Symptoms have included shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
Officials continue to find a substantial numbers of U.S. patients — the new report says 16% — who said they vaped only nicotine, and not THC. But the report noted that in Wisconsin, five patients who initially denied using products with THC turned out to have used them.
The most illnesses have occurred in California, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.
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Modi Tells UN India Launching Campaign to Stamp Out Single-Use Plastic
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations on Friday that India was launching a campaign to stamp out the use of single-use plastics.”Even as I am addressing you today, a very large campaign is being started across the entire country to make India free of single-use plastic,” Modi, who wants to scrap such plastics by 2022, told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly.Officials told Reuters last month that India is set to impose a nationwide ban on plastic bags, cups and straws on Oct. 2.
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2nd Wave of Protests Caps Week Focused on Climate Action
Students took to the streets across the globe in the hundreds of thousands Friday for a second wave of worldwide protests demanding swift action on climate change.The protests were inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who spoke to world leaders this week at a United Nations summit in New York.Friday’s rallies kicked off in New Zealand, where young people marched on Parliament in Wellington, holding one of the largest protests ever held there. Organizers in the capital were forced to change their security plans to accommodate the crowds, while thousands more marched in Auckland and other parts of the country.On the other side of the planet, more than 100,000 rallied in Italy’s capital, Rome, where protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Change the system, not the climate” or just the word “Future.”Activists demonstrate during a worldwide protest demanding action on climate change, in Milan, Italy, Sept. 27, 2019.Marches took place in about 180 locations across Italy, including the country’s financial hub of Milan where one banner read “How dare you!” — the accusation Thunberg, 16, leveled at world leaders during her U.N. speech in New York on Monday. The Italian Education Ministry said students attending the event would not be penalized for missing school.Fears about the impact of global warming on the younger generation were expressed by schoolchildren in Dharmsala, India. South Asia depends heavily on water from the Himalayan glaciers that are under threat from climate change.In Berlin, activists from the Fridays for Future group braved persistent rain to protest against a package the German government recently agreed for cutting the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Experts say the proposal falls far short of what’s needed if the world’s sixth biggest emitter is to meet the goal of the Paris climate accord.Actor Javier Bardem joined dozens of young people in San Sebastian in one of several early demonstrations and rallies held across Spain on Friday morning ahead of evening demonstrations to be held in the major towns and cities. They are expected to draw big crowds, especially in Madrid and Barcelona.Demonstrators hold up posters at a climate change rally in Erfurt, Germany, Sept. 27, 2019.Bardem was in San Sebastian to promote a documentary he worked on with Greenpeace.Thunberg said she planned to attend a protest in Montreal.”New Zealand leading the way into Friday nr 2 in #WeekForFuture,” she tweeted. “Good luck everyone striking around the world. Change is coming!!”In Wellington, 18-year-old university student Katherine Rivers said it was great to see young people taking action and personal responsibility by marching.”We need to stop pandering to some of the people who are making money off climate change. The big oil companies, the dairy industry etc.,” she said. “And make a change for the future of these kids that are here.”While thousands of high school students elected to take time off school to protest, many adults also joined the marches. One of them was 83-year-old grandmother-of-three Violet McIntosh.”It’s not my future we’re thinking about,” McIntosh said. She said it was time politicians should listen to young people like Thunberg, whom she described as “amazing.””She stood out there by herself to start it all. Millions of people are following her now,” McIntosh said. “She should be very proud of herself.”In the Netherlands, where thousands joined a protest in The Hague, some participants acknowledged that getting politicians to take action against global warming was only part of the story.”It’s also about then leading sustainable lives and making changes to make your life more sustainable,” said Utrecht University student Beth Meadows.German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said part of the government’s plan is to encourage citizens to shift their behavior.”People, and businesses too, know that over the coming years, step by step, behavior that harms the climate (and) causes a lot of emissions will have a higher price than before,” Seibert told reporters in Berlin.
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Health Experts Warn Disease Could Kill Millions Worldwide in 36 Hours
Health experts warn we are due for a cataclysmic pandemic — they just don’t know when it will happen.The warning was delivered this week to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly by a special global health monitoring group that said the next pandemic could traverse the world in 36 hours, killing up to 80 million and causing devastating economic loss.The group, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, operates independently of the World Health Organization and the World Bank, the entities that created it last year with a mandate to issue an annual assessment. The first report was grim.A health worker vaccinates a child against malaria in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, western Kenya, Sept. 13, 2019, during the launch of a malaria vaccination campaign in the country.Lack of medical care a threatDespite remarkable gains in medicine, politics and social issues keep those in rich countries as well as poor ones from desperately needed medical care, and this threatens the entire world.Medical achievements of the past several decades are remarkable. AIDS once meant enduring a horrible death, but now treatment has changed that and research on a vaccine is promising.Moreover, there’s talk about ending malaria, a disease that kills half a million people each year, most of them children.Scientists are also closing in on Ebola. A vaccine and two new drugs to treat those infected are saving lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ebola used to kill up to 90% of its victims. Now, it’s been reversed.Dr. Anthony Fauci, at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and a member of the board, says with a low viral load, someone infected with the Ebola virus now has a 90% chance of surviving.This report warns that the world is woefully unprepared for the next pandemic. So unprepared that the next pandemic could kill up to 80 million people and cause enormous economic suffering.FILE – Gro Harlem Brundtland is a former prime minister of Norway and a former head of the World Health Organization.The report is intended for political leaders. One of the board’s co-chairs is both a doctor and a politician. Gro Harlem Brundtland is a former prime minister of Norway and a former head of the World Health Organization. She likens health to a military threat in response to which an entire government comes together.“This has to be the same in global health security,” Brundtland said.Fauci just returned from a trip to East Africa to assess progress against an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.“I was clearly impressed at the capabilities of the Congolese who are administering the care here, as well as the preparedness of the Rwandans and the Ugandans, in case cases spill over the border,” he said.The board cited stigma as a problem that makes it more difficult to stop the spread of disease. Diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Ebola and others carry such a stigma that those who are infected often don’t seek treatment. Political leaders can create policies to erase stigma, the board said.The report cited poverty and lack of clean water and sanitation as incubators for infectious disease. Political leaders can fund cleaning up polluted water and improving hygiene.“We need to have a stronger preparedness across the board to avoid unnecessary loss of life and large economic losses,” Brundtland warned.The monitoring group also cited prolonged conflict and forced migration as risk factors for the spread of disease. It urged countries to establish emergency preparedness from the local level on up, to build trust and to work cooperatively to improve responses to serious threats and ensure health of the world’s 7.7 billion people.
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Health Experts Warn That Disease Could Kill Millions in Just 36 Hours
This week, world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly heard warnings about massive loss of life and diseases that could circle the global in just three days. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports that a special global preparedness monitoring group issued a report that says inaction will have grim consequences. The report said prevention heavily depends on political and social action as well as good medical care.
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Number of Vaping-Related Lung Illnesses Rises
The epidemic of severe lung illness related to e-cigarettes continues to grow, federal officials say, as they try to pinpoint the exact cause.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said as of Thursday there were 805 cases of confirmed or suspected vaping-related lung illnesses in 46 states and the Virgin Islands — up more than 200 since last week. Twelve deaths are reported.Many of the victims say they used vaping products containing THC, the compound in marijuana that causes the high. But others say they only vaped nicotine.The CDC is urging everyone to stop using e-cigarettes, but several states are not waiting for federal officials to take stronger action.Massachusetts this week became the first state to temporarily ban all retail and online sales of e-cigarettes. The ban is set to last for four months.Other states have stopped the sale of flavored vaping products, saying the fruit and candy flavors appeal to young people.The largest e-cigarette maker, JUUL, announced this week it will stop advertising its products.E-cigarettes heat up liquid inside a cartridge and create a nicotine-filled vapor.Federal officials have ordered JUUL to stop marketing e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes, saying such claims have never been proved.They also strongly recommend e-cigarettes users not go back to regular cigarettes and to seek help if they have trouble quitting smoking.
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Suicide Rate in Active Duty US Service Members Rises Significantly
The rate of suicide among active duty service members has increased significantly over the past five years, according to a Pentagon report released on Thursday.The report comes after three U.S. sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush died by apparent suicide last week, incidents the Navy has said are separate and unrelated.The Pentagon’s first annual suicide report said that the rate of suicide deaths among active duty service members was 24.8 per 100,000 service members, up from just under 20 per 100,000 in 2013. In 2018, 541 service members died by suicide, the report said, adding that the most common method of suicide was with firearms.”We are not going in the right direction,” Elizabeth Van Winkle, director of the office of force resiliency, told reporters.During the briefing, the Pentagon took the unusual step of advising reporters on how to cover suicides, such as not calling it a “growing problem” or “skyrocketing” because it could cause contagion.U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Wednesday that the military was caught up in “what some call a national epidemic of suicide among our youth.””I wish I could tell you we have an answer to prevent further, future suicides in the Armed Services,” Esper said. “We don’t.”
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‘OK’ Hand Symbol Added to Hate Database
The universal hand gesture that signifies everything is OK is now a hate symbol used by white supremacists and other far-right extremists.The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, added the gesture made by touching the forefinger to the thumb with three other fingers extended to its online “Hate on Display” database.The OK symbol joins the bowl haircut sported by mass murderer Dylann Roof, the “Moon Man” meme, a burning cross, Ku Klux Klan robes and the Nazi swastika in the database that was launched in 2000.”Even as extremists continue to use symbols that may be years or decades old, they regularly create new symbols, memes and slogans to express their hateful sentiments,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.The ADL explains that the OK symbol has been co-opted by white supremacists who use it to make the letter shapes for “W” and “P,” which stand for “white power.”Far-right extremists have begun using a silhouette of the bowl haircut worn by Roof, who killed nine black churchgoers at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.The “Moon Man” meme is an anthropomorphic moon wearing sunglasses that has been transformed to spread racist rap songs.”We pay special attention to those symbols that exhibit staying power, as well as those that move from online usage into the real world,” Mark Pitcavage, senior fellow in ADL’s Center on Extremism, told CNN.
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US Vaping Illness Count Jumps to 805, Deaths Rise to 12
Hundreds more Americans have been reported to have a vaping-related breathing illness, and the death toll has risen to 12, health officials said Thursday.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 805 confirmed and probable cases have been reported, up 52% from the 530 reported a week ago. At this point, illnesses have occurred in almost every state.The confirmed deaths include two in California, two in Kansas, and one each in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and Oregon. The Mississippi death was announced by officials in that state Thursday.Over the summer, health officials in a few states began noticing reports of people developing severe breathing illnesses, with the lungs apparently reacting to a caustic substance. The only common factor in the illnesses was that the patients had all recently vaped.As a national investigation started and broadened, reports have increased dramatically.It’s not clear how many of the 275 added cases occurred in the last week, and how many are being logged long after they happened. The CDC has not released details on when symptoms began in each case.The agency’s count includes only illnesses that have met certain criteria. Other illnesses are also being investigated.Most patients have said they vaped products containing THC, the ingredient that produces a high in marijuana. The investigation has been increasingly focused on products containing THC, with some attention on ingredients added to marijuana oil.But some patients have said they vaped only nicotine. Currently, health officials are advising people not to use any vaping product until the cause is better understood.
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Health Officials: It’s Time to Give Flu Vaccine Another Shot
The flu forecast is cloudy and it’s too soon to know if the U.S. is in for a third miserable season in a row, but health officials said Thursday not to delay vaccination.While the vaccine didn’t offer much protection the past two years, specialists have fine-tuned the recipe in hopes it will better counter a nasty strain this time around.“Getting vaccinated is going to be the best way to prevent whatever happens,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, flu chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Associated Press.Last year’s flu brought double trouble: A new strain started a second wave of illnesses just as the first was winding down, making for one of the longest influenza seasons on record. The year before that marked flu’s highest death toll in recent decades.So far, it doesn’t look like the flu season is getting an early start, Jernigan said. The CDC urges people to get their flu vaccine by the end of October. Typically flu starts widely circulating in November or December, and peaks by February.“Painless,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar pronounced after getting his own flu shot at a news conference Thursday.If people shrug at the risk, “it’s not just about you,” Azar said. “Vaccinating yourself may also protect people around you,” such as how newborns have some flu protection if their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy.Scientists are hunting for better flu vaccines, and the Trump administration last week urged a renewed effort to modernize production. Most of today’s vaccine is produced by growing flu virus in chicken eggs, a 70-year-old technology with some flaws. It takes too long to brew new doses if a surprise strain pops up. And intriguingly, newer production techniques just might boost effectiveness.For now, people who get vaccinated and still get sick can expect a milder illness — and a lower risk of pneumonia, hospitalization or death, stressed Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.He’s been known to tell such patients, “I’m always glad to see you’re still here to complain.”Here are some things to know:WHO NEEDS VACCINE?Everybody, starting at 6 months of age, according to the CDC.Flu is most dangerous for people over age 65, young children, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions such as heart disease, asthma or other lung disorders, even diabetes.But it can kill even the young and otherwise healthy. On average, the CDC says flu kills about 24,000 Americans each year. Last year, 135 children died.Parents wouldn’t “drive off with their child not restrained in a car seat, just in case they’re in an accident,” said Dr. Patricia Whitley-Williams, a pediatrician with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “So why would you not vaccinate your child against the flu?”HOW MANY GET VACCINATED?Not enough, the CDC says. Because flu mutates rapidly, a new vaccine is needed every year. Last year, 45% of adults and 63% of children got vaccinated, according to figures released Thursday.Some groups do a little better. Nearly three-quarters of children under age 5 were vaccinated last year, and just over two-thirds of seniors.HOW BAD WILL THIS YEAR BE?Flu is one of medicine’s most unpredictable foes.For example, last fall started off fairly mild. But in February, a strain notorious for more severe illness, called H3N2, suddenly popped up. Worse, even though each year’s vaccine contains protection against H3N2, the circulating bug had mutated so it wasn’t a good match. A vaccine that had worked well for the first few months of flu season suddenly wasn’t much use.But if that harsh bug returns, this year’s vaccine has been updated to better match it.LOTS OF OPTIONSManufacturers say up to 169 million vaccine doses will be available this year, and people can ask about different choices. Most will offer protection against four flu strains.Traditional flu shots are for all ages. For needle-phobic adults, one brand uses a needle-free jet injector that pushes vaccine through the skin. And the FluMist nasal spray is for generally healthy people ages 2 through 49, who aren’t pregnant.Two brands are specifically for the 65-plus crowd, whose weakened immune systems don’t respond as well to traditional shots. One is high dose, and the other contains an extra immune-boosting compound. Those brands protect against three flu strains, including the more typically severe ones.And people allergic to eggs have two options, one brand grown in mammal cells instead and another made with genetic technology and insect cells.NO-EGG VACCINES GAINING NEW INTERESTNewer technologies could speed production, which is currently a six-month process.But there’s another reason going egg-free is getting scientists’ attention: Certain strains change a bit while growing in chicken eggs, an adaptation that can make the resulting vaccine a little less protective.It’s mainly a problem for those worrisome H3N2 strains. While it’s not clear how much difference that makes, Schaffner said some doctors already consider using egg-free brands for high-risk patients.OTHER STEPS TO TAKECover coughs and sneezes. Wash your hands frequently during flu season. One recent study showed washing is better than hand sanitizers.Ask about anti-flu treatments if you’re at high risk of complications.And most important, stay home if you’re sick to keep from spreading the misery.
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UK’s Princess Beatrice Engaged to Real Estate Entrepreneur
Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson have announced the engagement of their elder daughter, Princess Beatrice.They said Thursday that Beatrice is engaged to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a real estate entrepreneur. The 31-year-old princess is a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II.
Buckingham Palace says the couple became engaged in Italy earlier this month. The wedding will take place in 2020.”We are both so excited to be embarking on this life adventure together and can’t wait to actually be married,” the couple said.Andrew and Sarah, who remain on good terms despite their 1996 divorce, said in a statement they are “thrilled” with the engagement.”We send them every good wish for a wonderful family future,” they said.They said they are “the lucky parents of a wonderful daughter who has found her love and companion in a completely devoted friend and loyal young man.”Their younger daughter, Princess Eugenie, married Jack Brooksbank last year.
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