Pioneer Vietnam War Journalist Morrissy Merick Dies at 83
Anne Morrissy Merick, who successfully fought for equal treatment of female reporters during the Vietnam War, has died. She was 83.
Morrissy Merick died May 2 of complications from dementia in Naples, Florida, said her daughter Katherine Anne Engleke.
ABC had assigned Morrissy Merick to cover the war in 1967 when U.S. commander Gen. William Westmoreland ordered that female reporters could not spend the night in the field with the troops. That made it impossible for the female reporters to go on most combat missions, as there would be no way for them to return to the base at night.
She and Overseas Weekly editor Ann Bryan Mariano organized the half-dozen female reporters covering the war to challenge Westmoreland’s order. They appealed to the Defense Department, which overrode Westmoreland.
“An edict like Westmoreland’s would prohibit women from covering the war. It was a knockout blow to our careers. We had to fight,” wrote Morrissy Merick in the book she co-authored in 2002 with eight colleagues, War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer was one of the co-authors.
Morrissy Merick gained national attention in 1954 when she became the first female sports editor of Cornell University’s student newspaper. “This sports writing doll breached the last bastion of masculinity left standing this side of the shower room,” famed sports columnist Red Smith wrote.
After graduation, she became sports editor of the international edition of the New York Herald Tribune.
ABC hired her in 1961 as an associate producer, where she covered the civil rights movement and the space program. She worked for nine months for ABC in Vietnam. While there, she met her husband, U.S. News and World Report reporter Wendell “Bud” Merick. She stayed with him in Vietnam until 1973, when the magazine closed its bureau. He died in 1988.
She married Dr. Don R. Janicek and lived with him in Naples until his death in 2016. She is survived by her daughter, a sister and four granddaughters.
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Kenya Health Officials Issue Alert Over Dengue Fever Outbreak
An alert has been issued in Mombasa County, Kenya, in response to an outbreak of dengue fever, a potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease.
More than 100 people have been infected in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, according to government health officials in the county by the same name. In recent statements, authorities say dengue has spread to different parts of the county, with cases confirmed in major hospitals.
The county director of medical services, Dr. Khadija Shikely, says that according to past statistics, dengue has been more prevalent in Mombasa compared with the rest of Africa.
Shikely says that children who go to school and people attending college are most affected by dengue fever. Officials and institutions of learning are working together to clear the mosquitoes’ breeding sites. In addition, posters have been released and information has been disseminated via social media to inform people of various preventive measures.
According to the World Health Organization, dengue is transmitted by the female mosquito of Aedes aegypti, the same species that transmits yellow fever and the Zika infection.
The dengue infection causes a flu-like illness and occasionally develops into a potentially lethal complication called severe dengue, or dengue hemorrhagic fever.
The disease is more prevalent in areas that are crowded and unhygienic. Recent rains in the region are said to have created breeding grounds for the insects.
Health authorities say dengue was first reported in Mombasa in 2013, with 197 suspected cases. Thirty-eight cases were positive. They also say 589 dengue cases were reported last year.
Shikely outlined some efforts taken to control the spread of the disease.
She says that for the past two months, even before the start of the rainy season, prevention and control efforts have included chlorination and spraying, and those steps have been repeated because of rains. She says community health workers are also engaged in health promotions.
County health officials have also outlined other prevention efforts, such as encouraging people to use mosquito repellents and sleep under mosquito nets.
Mombasa is one of Kenya’s top tourist destinations. The thousands of tourists who visit each year contribute largely to the country’s economy. Tourism in Kenya is the second-largest source of foreign exchange revenue.
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Trump Administration Hollows Out EPA Science Integrity Board
The Trump administration will not reappoint half the expert members of a board that advises the Environmental Protection Agency on the integrity of its science, the latest in a series of moves that could benefit industries whose pollution the government regulates.
Deborah L. Swackhamer, chairwoman of the Board of Scientific Counselors, confirmed Monday that nine of the 18 outside experts on her panel will not serve a second three-year term.
The affected board members’ terms expired April 30.
Experts are limited to serving two terms on the board, and Swackhamer said that in the past those completing their first term would typically have been reappointed. Four other board members just completed their second terms, meaning 13 of the 18 seats on the panel are now vacant.
EPA spokesman J.P. Freire said the agency’s new leadership wants to consider a wider array of applicants, potentially including those who may work for chemical and fossil fuel companies. He said former board members may also be considered.
“We are going to look at all applicants that come in, because this is an open and competitive process,” Freire said. “EPA received hundreds of nominations to serve on the board, and we want to ensure fair consideration of all the nominees.”
Swackhamer said she was not aware of how or when the “hundreds” of nominations Freire mentioned were collected. To her knowledge, there has not yet been any public call for applicants to fill the newly vacated positions.
“There’s hiring freeze, so we can’t actually replace them until EPA says it’s OK,” said Swackhamer, who taught environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota. “We’re kind of hobbled, to say the least. … They have essentially said they will look to industry scientists for much of their advice.”
Members of the Board of Scientific Counselors are typically top academic experts tasked with helping ensure the agency’s scientists follow well-established best practices. The positions are paid, and would be subject to the same ethics and conflict-of-interest screening as other federal appointees.
In a separate development, the Interior Department says it has launched a wide ranging review of more than 200 boards and advisory committees. Spokeswoman Megan Bloomgren said that some of the boards being looked at had not met in years, and that no current members were being dismissed.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has long been a fierce critic of the agency he now leads, saying its scientists often fail to weigh the cost of implementing new regulations on businesses.
Pruitt, a lawyer who previously served as Oklahoma’s elected attorney general, has moved in recent weeks to roll back Obama-era limits on toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants and countermand a push to ban a pesticide that peer-reviewed studies indicate may harm the developing brains of young children.
Pruitt also disagrees with the consensus of climate scientists that man-made carbon emissions are the primary cause of climate change, saying that limits on burning coal costs jobs.
Robert Richardson, one of the scientific counselors not reappointed to a second term, said Pruitt’s public comments reflect a misunderstanding of the role of scientists, which is to impartially collect data and report what the evidence shows.
“The science will show the impact of a particular chemical or toxic substance, but we would never say it should be banned or regulated in a particular way,” said Richardson, an ecological economist at Michigan State University. It is up to policy makers, Richardson said, to recommend new regulations and consider whether the benefits outweigh the costs.
“The EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment,” he said. “It is not to minimize cost to industry.”
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Study: Marijuana Ingredient Improves Memory in Aging Brains
The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that produces the “high” sought by users has been shown to reverse memory problems in aging mice. Researchers, who’ve been looking for ways to slow the effects of brain aging, hope it could have the same effect in older humans.
German and Israeli researchers showed that the memories of aging mice became nearly as sharp as those of young, two-month-old rodents when the older animals were given low doses of the marijuana compound known as THC.
“Old animals remembered as well, learned almost as well, recognized almost as well as young ones,” said neuroscientist Andras Bilkei-Gorzo of the University of Bonn. He is lead author of the study of THC’s effect on memory, published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Mice, which have a life expectancy of two years, have significant difficulty remembering and learning new things by the time they’re one year old.
Bilkei-Gorzo and his team administered low doses of THC to mice at two months, 12 months and 18 months of age.
After stopping the drug for periods ranging from seven days to one month, they put the rodents through a series of experiments testing their memories. Researchers wanted to see whether the rodents recognized mice they had been exposed to previously, and if they could find their way out of a small pool of water.
The older mice that received a placebo had trouble remembering previous objects and scenarios despite repeated exposures. The adult mice treated with THC performed nearly as well as young rodents.
THC imitates the effect of cannabinoids produced naturally in the body, which fulfill important functions in the brain. But with age, the cannabinoid system deteriorates, resulting in cognitive declines. The marijuana ingredient, says Bilkei-Gorzo, rejuvenates the system.
Interestingly, he says, THC seemed to worsen the cognitive abilities of young mice because it over-activated their normal brain circuits. The effect is probably similar to marijuana’s high in young people.
“The treatment made the young brain old and the old brain young,” he said. “So that was something that was above our imagination.”
Researchers hope to begin human trials of low doses of THC this year.
If it is shown to help the memories of aging adults, Bilkei-Gorzo says the psychoactive ingredient could be taken in the form of an herbal tea.
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A Look at Disney World’s New Pandora-World of Avatar Land
It’s not a movie set, but visitors to Disney World’s new Pandora-World of Avatar land are in for a cinematic experience.
The 12-acre land, inspired by the “Avatar” movie, opens in Florida in late May at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. It cost a half-billion dollars to build.
The marquee attraction is Flight of Passage, where a 3-D simulator plunges riders into a cinematic world. You feel like you’re riding on the back of a banshee, a bluish, gigantic, winged predator that resembles something out of the Jurassic era. Wearing 3-D glasses and straddling what resembles a stationary motorcycle, you’re strapped in, then the lights go out, a screen in front lights up and you’re swooped into a world of blue, gigantic aliens called Na’vi, with moon-filled skies, plunging waterfalls, jumping marine animals and towering ocean waves.
The ride provides an enchanting and intoxicating five minutes that touches all the senses. Blasts of air and spritzes of mist hit your face, and as you fly through a lush forest, a woodsy aroma wafts through your nostrils. A visitor could go on the ride 20 times and not catch half the visual details.
Disney designers are quick to say the new land is the star of the action, not the backdrop. “The character is being portrayed and played by the place itself and that’s different than a set,” said Joe Rohde, the design and production leader of Pandora — World of Avatar.
Flight of Passage is ride’s highlight
Other aspects of Pandora can’t quite compete with the excitement and immersion of Flight of Passage. Much of Pandora, at least during the daytime, is hard to distinguish from the rest of Animal Kingdom, Disney’s almost 20-year-old zoological-themed park with lush landscaping, an emphasis on conservation and a Noah’s ark range of animals.
At night, though, Pandora transforms into a sea of color with glowing lights on artificial plants and even in the pavement.
The enormous blue Na’vi aliens from the “Avatar” movie appear sparingly, really just on Flight of Passage and a second attraction called Na’vi River Journey. Before going on Flight of Passage, visitors walk through a tunnel in a faux mountain until they stumble upon a laboratory that includes a Na’vi floating in a tank.
“It’s not as simple as a guy in a costume painted blue walking around out here,” Rohde said of the aliens. “We know they are culturally present around us but we will meet them when we go on an excursion.”
Indoor river ride
The other main attraction, Na’vi River Journey, is an indoor river ride in the dark, lit up by glowing creatures and plants. The ride culminates with a Na’vi animatronic woman beating on drums as a chorus of voices reaches a crescendo. Images of the Na’vi riding horse-like creatures appear behind lush foliage, glimpsed in the distance from the river.
Disney has been building attractions themed on movies since Disneyland opened in 1955 with rides inspired by Snow White, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Often, as with Pandora, the attractions open years after the movies debut. “Avatar” came out in 2009. Director James Cameron’s sequel isn’t due out until 2020. Lands based on “Star Wars” are scheduled to open in Disney parks in California and Florida in 2019.
Pandora-World of Avatar isn’t tied to a narrative from the film but rather tells a story set in the future, after humans degraded the jungle through industrial folly and a resurgence of nature overtakes the human-built environment. That theme is a recurring architectural motif, for example with a beverage stand and cantina made to look like they were built for industry by humans but then overrun by plant life.
A mix of real and artificial plants
Throughout Pandora, real plants intermingle with artificial plants that resemble alien pods or Dale Chihuly glass sculptures. It’s difficult to distinguish what is real.
“We were trying to get as close as possible to fool the eye,” said Zsolt Hormay, a Disney creative executive.
At the entrance, visitors hear a cacophony of bird chirps and animal cries. A circle of drums connected to faux tree roots allows visitors to drum and then get a response of drumming or pulsing lights.
The focal points are a 135-foot (41-meter) mountaintop where Flight of Passage is located as well as “floating mountains” that appear to be suspended in air but are actually made of concrete. Engineers use tricks to make the park appear bigger than it is. The artificial foliage gets smaller as it goes higher on the mountain to give it the illusion of distance.
New way to order food
Disney also is testing out a new way to order food at Pandora. Before going to the park, visitors can pull up a menu on the My Disney Experience mobile app, order lunch and go about visiting the park. When it’s time to eat hours later, they can go to the canteen, tap on an app a button that notifies the cooks they are present. Several minutes later their food will be ready in a special line.
Jon Landau, the executive producer of the original movie, says he hopes Pandora does for visitors what the film did for movie-goers.
“I hope when people come to Pandora and their eyes will be open and they will look at the world a little differently when they go back across the bridge,” Landau said.
your ad hereLife Expectancy Gaps Growing in US
Life expectancy in the United States depends on what county one lives in, a new study suggests.
According to the study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle, “The gap between counties with the highest and lowest life expectancies is larger now than it was back in 1980 – a more than a 20-year difference in 2014 – highlighting massive and growing inequality in the health of Americans.”
For example, in Owsley County, Kentucky, one of the poorest counties, life expectancy fell from 72.4 in 1980 to 70.2 in 2014, researchers said.
In some counties, such as Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, which is home of a Native American reservation, the life expectancy is lower than that of Iraq. The county’s life expectancy was 66.8 in 2014 compared to 67.7 in Iraq.
Some of the counties with the highest life expectancy were in the state of Colorado. Summit County topped the list at 86.8 years, followed by Pitkin County (86.5) and Eagle County (85.9), the study showed. These were better than the country of Andorra, which has the highest life expectancy in the world at 84.8.
“These findings demonstrate an urgent imperative, that policy changes at all levels are gravely needed to reduce inequality in the health of Americans,” said Dr. Ali Mokdad, an author on the study. “Federal, state, and local health departments need to invest in programs that work and engage their communities in disease prevention and health promotion.”
More money doesn’t appear to buy more life expectancy, the study showed.
The U.S. invests more per person on health than many developed countries, spending $9,237 per person in 2014. That compares to $4,032 spent by Australia with a life expectancy of 82.3 and Japan, which spent $3,816 and has one of the highest life expectancy in the world at 83.1.
“The inequality in health in the United States – a country that spends more on health care than any other – is unacceptable,” said Dr. Christopher Murray, the IHME director. “Every American, regardless of where they live or their background, deserves to live a long and healthy life. If we allow trends to continue as they are, the gap will only widen between counties.”
Separately, all counties saw deaths before the age of 5 drop and differences among counties with the highest and lowest levels of under-5 mortality narrowed.
“Looking at life expectancy on a national level masks the massive differences that exist at the local level, especially in a country as diverse as the United States,” said lead author Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, a researcher at IHME. “Risk factors like obesity, lack of exercise, high blood pressure, and smoking explain a large portion of the variation in lifespans, but so do socioeconomic factors like race, education, and income.”
The study was published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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Vatican Celebrates Big Bang to Dispel Faith-science Conflict
The Vatican is celebrating the big-bang theory. That’s not as out of this world as it sounds.
The Vatican Observatory has invited leading scientists and cosmologists to talk black holes, gravitational waves and space-time singularities as it honors the late Jesuit cosmologist considered one of the fathers of the idea that the universe began with a gigantic explosion.
The Tuesday-Friday conference honoring Monsignor George Lemaitre is being held at the Vatican Observatory, founded by Pope Leo XIII in 1891 to help correct the notion that the Roman Catholic Church was hostile to science. The perception has persisted in some circles since Galileo’s heresy trial 400 years ago, even though the observatory and Catholic universities around the globe have produced top-notch science over the centuries.
In 1927, Lemaitre was the first to explain that the receding of distant galaxies was the result of the expansion of the universe, a result he obtained by solving equations of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
Lemaitre’s theory was known as the “primeval atom,” but it is more commonly known today as the big-bang theory.
“He understood that looking backward in time, the universe should have been originally in a state of high energy density, compressed to a point like an original atom from which everything started,” according to a press release from the Observatory.
The head of the Vatican Observatory, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, says Lemaitre’s research proves that you can believe in God and the big-bang theory.
“Lemaitre himself was very careful to remind people – including Pope Pius XII – that the creative act of God is not something that happened 13.8 billion years ago. It’s something that happens continually,” Consolmagno said Monday.
Believing merely that God created the big bang means “you’ve reduced God to a nature god, like Jupiter throwing lightning bolts. That’s not the God that we as Christians believe in,” he said.
Christians, he said, believe in a supernatural God who is responsible for the existence of the universe, while “our science tells us how he did it.”
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Bill Clinton and James Patterson Co-Writing a Thriller
Neither Bill Clinton nor James Patterson has ever tried something like this before.
The former president and the best-selling novelist are collaborating on a thriller, “The President is Missing,” to come out June 2018 as an unusual joint release from rival publishers — Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Co. In a statement Monday provided to The Associated Press, the publishers called the book “a unique amalgam of intrigue, suspense and behind-the-scenes global drama from the highest corridors of power. It will be informed by details that only a president can know.”
Knopf has long been Clinton’s publisher, and Patterson has been with Little, Brown for decades. “The President is Missing” is the first work of fiction by Clinton, whose best-known book is the million-selling “My Life.” For Patterson, it’s the chance to team up with a friend who knows as well as anyone about life in the White House.
“Working with President Clinton has been the highlight of my career, and having access to his firsthand experience has uniquely informed the writing of this novel,” Patterson said in a statement. “I’m a storyteller, and President Clinton’s insight has allowed us to tell a really interesting one. It’s a rare combination — readers will be drawn to the suspense, of course, but they’ll also be given an inside look into what it’s like to be president.”
“Working on a book about a sitting president — drawing on what I know about the job, life in the White House and the way Washington works — has been a lot of fun,” Clinton said in a statement. “And working with Jim has been terrific. I’ve been a fan of his for a very long time.”
A political release from the 1990s had a similar arrangement: Random House and Simon & Schuster jointly published the nonfiction “All’s Fair” by husband-and-wife campaign consultants James Carville and Mary Matalin.
Knopf and Little, Brown declined to offer any more details about the book, including whether it refers to President Donald Trump, who last fall defeated Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton. Financial terms for the novel, which the authors began working on late in 2016, were not disclosed. Clinton and Patterson share the same literary representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who negotiated the deal. “The President is Missing” will be co-written, co-published and co-edited — Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group chairman Sonny Mehta is working on the manuscript with CEO Michael Pietsch of Hachette Book Group, the parent company of Little, Brown.
“This is a blockbuster collaboration between two best-selling authors,” Mehta and Pietsch said in a joint statement, “and the pages we’ve read to date are riveting, full of intricate plotting and detail. This is a book that promises to entertain and delight millions of readers around the world, and we are thrilled to be working on it together and with our esteemed houses supporting us.”
Presidents and ex-presidents have been turning out books for a long time, but novels are rare. Jimmy Carter, a prolific and wide-ranging author since leaving the White House in 1981, released the historical novel “The Hornet’s Nest” in 2003. A presidential daughter, Margaret Truman, had a successful career with her “Capital Crime” mystery series.
Clinton’s other books include “Giving” and “Back to Work.” Patterson and various co-authors complete several works a year, ranging from young adult novels to the Alex Cross crime series.
Penguin Random House — which has published both Clinton and Patterson — has U.K., Commonwealth and European rights to the collaboration.
“This unprecedented collaboration with its compelling mix of insider knowledge and edge-of-the-seat suspense is utterly irresistible,” said Susan Sandon, divisional managing director at Penguin Random House in a statement.
your ad hereMeet the Iranian Who Looks Like Lionel Messi
An Iranian student who happens to look uncannily like soccer great Lionel Messi, nearly ended up in jail for disrupting public order.
A photo event in Reza Paratesh’s home town of Hamedan attracted so many fans that police had to close it down, according to AFP.
Paratesh’s brush with fame came after his father convinced him to pose for a photo wearing Messi’s number 10 Barcelona jersey and send it to a sports website.
That worked out well as Paratesh became a popular television guest and even got a modeling job.
“Now people really see me as the Iranian Messi and want me to mimic everything he does. When I show up somewhere, people are really shocked,” he said. “I’m really happy that seeing me makes them happy and this happiness gives me a lot of energy.”
Paratesh is not a professional soccer player, but he’s reportedly working on some dribbling tricks to make his impersonation more realistic.
He said he’d like to meet Messi face to face someday.
“Being the best player in footballing history, he definitely has more work than he can handle. I could be his representative when he is too busy,” he said.
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Facebook Removes Accounts in Fight Against Fake News
Facebook says it has deleted tens of thousands of accounts in Britain ahead of the June 8 general election in a drive to battle fake news.
The tech giant also took out newspaper advertisements in Britain’s media offering advice on how to spot such stories. The ads suggest that readers should be “skeptical of headlines,” and “look closely at the URL.”
The company says it has made improvements to help it detect fake news accounts more effectively.
Simon Milner, the tech firm’s U.K. director of policy, says the platform wants to get to the “root of the problem” and is working with outside organizations to fact check and analyze content around the election.
Milner says Facebook is “doing everything we can to tackle the problem of false news.”
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Controversial Cartoon Frog Croaks
Pepe, the green, cartoon frog who some believed was a symbol of white supremacy, is dead.
The creation of cartoonist Matt Furie, Pepe was shown in a recent comic strip dead in an open casket with his imaginary friends gathered around to mourn his death.
Pepe first appeared online around 2005, and was associated with the phrase “feels good man.” The character was the subject of countless memes, most of which were innocuous and apolitical.
During the brutal 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, many Donald Trump supporters used images of Pepe for political memes.
One prominent example of a Pepe meme was posted by Donald Trump Jr. It had a photoshopped version of the movie poster for “The Expendables” showing instead Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, alt-right icon Milo Yiannopoulos and Pepe the Frog branded as “The Deplorables,” in reference to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s claim that many Trump supporters were deplorable.
In response to that and other memes which showed the frog with a Hitler moustache and another in which the frog donned the white robes of the Ku Klux Klan, the Anti-Defamation League declared the green frog a hate symbol, saying it had been appropriated to express racist views on the internet.
“The mere fact of posting a Pepe meme does not mean that someone is racist or white supremacist,” the ADL said. “However, if the meme itself is racist or anti-Semitic in nature, or if it appears in a context containing bigoted or offensive language or symbols, then it may have been used for hateful purposes.”
At the time, Furie attempted to launch a “save Pepe” campaign, telling Time magazine “It’s completely insane that Pepe has been labeled a symbol of hate […] but in the end, Pepe is whatever you say he is, and I, the creator, say that Pepe is love.”
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MTV Awards Salute ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Stranger Things’
Film hit Beauty and the Beast and Netflix newcomer Stranger Things were the night’s big winners with two trophies apiece as MTV partied with its Movie & TV Awards show.
For this, the 26th edition of what was formerly known as the MTV Movie Awards, TV was added to the mix. Stranger Things was decreed the Show of the Year, and its cast member, Millie Bobby Brown, was named Best Actor in a Show.
Beauty and the Beast was the Movie of the Year, with its star, Emma Watson, the Best Actor in a Movie.
But the awards had another trick up its sleeve, introducing a policy of breaking down gender barriers, as men and women competed jointly in the acting categories.
The policy was put into practice at the top of the show by presenter Asia Kate Dillion, who proudly noted she has been able to break down gender barriers as “the first openly non-binary actor to play an openly non-binary actor on a major TV show,” Showtime’s drama series Billions. (A non-binary person is someone who doesn’t identify with either gender.) Then she presented the award to Watson.
“Acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories,” Watson said in receiving her trophy,
Despite glowering skies and dime-size hailstones, MTV was heralding the start of the summer viewing season with its annual shindig. The red carpet outside Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium became a swamp as luminaries made their water-logged arrival for the shindig. But inside, it was dry (except for flowing cocktails among audience members) as Adam Devine hosted the proceedings.
Tongue-in-cheek, Devine described himself as a progressive personality fully equal to the night’s high-minded theme.
As the caption “Adam Gets It” flashed on the screen, Devine declared, “I love Hugh Jackman. But I call him Hugh Jack-PERSON.”
And turning to Beauty and the Beast, he said, “I call it `Multidimensional woman with her own dynamic traits, and the beast.’ ”
The show maintained its traditional irreverence with awards recognizing the best duo (Jackman and Dafne Keen of the film Logan), best villain (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, The Walking Dead), best tearjerker (hit TV drama This Is Us), and best kiss (Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerone of Moonlight).
That last award was presented by co-stars of the film smash Get Out: a very blond Allison Williams in shimmering miniskirt, alongside a nervous-looking Lil Rey Howery.
“Are you scared of me?” Williams asked him.
“I’m AFRAID — that’s the word I’m going to use,” Howery said.
“Ever since the movie came out,” said Williams, “for the last couple of months …
” … Black dudes don’t mess with you,” said Howery, whose character in the film has good reason to be scared of hers.
A new award, Best Fight Against the System, went to the film Hidden Figures, which tells the story of a team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role at NASA during the space program’s early years.
The mission of the filmmakers, said one of its stars, Taraji P. Henson, was to dispel a certain deep-seated social myth “so another young girl wouldn’t grow up thinking that her mind wasn’t capable of grasping math and science.”
The cast of the Fast and Furious franchise received the Generation Award, accepted by Vin Diesel, who thanked a generation of fans “willing to accept this multicultural franchise, where it didn’t matter what color your skin was or what country you are from — when you’re family, you’re family.”
Trevor Noah of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show was named Best Host.
“There is one person I aspire to be every single day,” he said, “and that is my mom: a powerful, strong black woman who never listened when people told her she couldn’t be more.”
Then, among his thanks, he voiced gratitude to President Donald Trump “for the comedy.”
Even one of the night’s biggest awards couldn’t escape a bit of mischief-making. Presenting Movie of the Year, Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn comically bobbled the title (a la the Oscars), first announcing La La Light, then Moonland. Then they got it right: Beauty and the Beast.
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China to Strengthen Its Controls Over the Internet
China will further tighten its internet regulations with a pledge Sunday to strengthen controls over search engines and online news portals, the latest step in President Xi Jinping’s push to maintain strict Communist Party control over content.
Xi has made China’s “cyber sovereignty” a top priority in his sweeping campaign to bolster security. He has also reasserted the ruling Communist Party’s role in limiting and guiding online discussion.
The five-year cultural development and reform plan released by the party and State Council, or Cabinet, calls for a perfecting of laws and rules related to the internet.
Qualifications for online reporters
That includes a qualification system for people working in online news, according to the plan, carried by the official Xinhua news agency.
“Strike hard against online rumors, harmful information, fake news, news extortion, fake media and fake reporters,” it said, without giving details.
Xi has been explicit that media must follow the party line, uphold the correct guidance on public opinion and promote “positive propaganda.”
The plan comes on top of existing tight internet controls, which includes the blocking of popular foreign websites such as Google and Facebook.
Security threat cited
The government last week issued tighter rules for online news portals and network providers. Regulators say such controls are necessary in the face of growing security threats, and are done in accordance with the law.
Speaking more broadly about the country’s cultural sector, the plan calls for efforts to reinforce and improve “positive propaganda.” The plan also calls for more effort to be put into promoting China’s point of view and cultural soft power globally, though without giving details.
your ad hereMetal Fabric Printed as One Piece
3D printing with metals is rapidly changing the way parts are being manufactured because it is now possible to create continuous complex shapes. Where once parts had to be welded to close the gaps, they can now be made as one solid piece. NASA’s scientists say they can now print flexible material made of intertwined metal rings. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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US Bobsledding Star, Steven Holcomb, Dies at 37
Steven Holcomb was simultaneously ordinary and remarkable.
America’s best bobsled pilot was a self-described computer geek who would rub elbows with Hollywood stars. He was never exactly in the best of shape, yet was a world-class athlete. He attempted suicide years ago, then revealed his story with hopes of helping others. He was a man who nearly went blind, then became an Olympic gold medalist.
His life was the epitome of a bobsled race, filled with twists and turns.
‘Huge loss, huge loss’
It came to a most unexpected end Saturday in Lake Placid, New York, when he was found dead in his room at the Olympic Training Center, sending shock waves through the U.S. Olympic community, and devastating those who had known Holcomb for the entirety of his two-decade career in sliding.
The three-time Olympian, three-time Olympic medalist and five-time world champion was 37.
“The only reason why the USA is in any conversation in the sport of bobsled is because of Steve Holcomb,” said U.S. bobsled pilot Nick Cunningham, who roomed next to Holcomb in Lake Placid. “He was the face of our team. He was the face of our sport. We all emulated him. Every driver in the world watched him, because he was that good at what he did. It’s a huge loss, huge loss, not just for our team but for the entire bobsled community.”
No cause of death was immediately announced. However, officials said there were no indications of foul play after the preliminary parts of an ongoing investigation were completed.
An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday. Funeral arrangements are expected to be finalized in the coming days.
“USA Bobsled and Skeleton is a family and right now we are trying to come to grips with the loss of our teammate, our brother and our friend,” federation CEO Darrin Steele said.
Vancouver moment
Holcomb was a native of Park City, Utah, and his signature moment came at the 2010 Vancouver Games when he piloted his four-man sled to a win that snapped a 62-year gold-medal drought for the U.S. in bobsled’s signature race.
Holcomb also drove to bronze medals in both two- and four-man events at the Sochi Games in 2014, and was expected to be part of the 2018 U.S. Olympic team headed to the Pyeongchang Games.
“The entire Olympic family is shocked and saddened by the incredibly tragic loss today of Steven Holcomb,” U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said. “Steve was a tremendous athlete and even better person, and his perseverance and achievements were an inspiration to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with Steve’s family and the entire bobsledding community.”
Holcomb was still one of the world’s elite drivers, finishing second on the World Cup circuit in two-man points and third in four-man points this past season.
A mass of medals
The final victory of his career was last December in Lake Placid. He won 60 World Cup medals in his career, 10 more at the world championships and three in the Olympics, making him one of the most decorated pilots in the world.
“You will be loved, missed and remembered forever,” U.S. women’s pilot Jamie Greubel Poser wrote on Twitter.
Holcomb was cherubic, almost always happy in public, someone whose sense of humor was well-known throughout the close-knit bobsled world. Teammates even spent a season chronicling his “Holcy Dance,” a little less-than-rhythmic shuffle that he would do at each stop on the World Cup circuit to make fellow sliders laugh.
Troubled side
But there was also a troubled side, including battles with depression and alcohol, plus a failed hotel-room suicide attempt involving sleeping pills in 2007 which he wrote about in his autobiography, “But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold.”
“After going through all that and still being here, I realized what my purpose was,” Holcomb told the AP in a 2014 interview.
The depression, he believed, largely stemmed from his fight with a disease called keratoconus. Holcomb’s vision degenerated to the point where he was convinced that his bobsled career was ending, and his mood quickly started going dark as well.
His eyesight was saved in a surgery that turned his 20-500 vision into something close to perfect, and his sliding career took off from there.
Winning gold with push athletes Steve Mesler, Curt Tomasevicz and Justin Olsen at the Vancouver Olympics turned Holcomb into a full-fledged star.
In the months that followed, Holcomb met President Barack Obama, played golf with Charles Barkley, hung out with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes — they were then a couple — visited the New York Stock Exchange, threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Cleveland Indians game and went to the Indianapolis 500.
In the bobsled world, he was larger than life.
“We’re all still in shock,” Cunningham said. “I don’t know if mourning will happen for a long time, because the shock part will take a while.”
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Always Dreaming Wins Kentucky Derby
Always Dreaming splashed through the slop to win the Kentucky Derby by 2¾ lengths Saturday, giving trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez their second victories in the race but their first together.
Pletcher and Velazquez have teamed up often over the years and are the sport’s leading money winners. On their own, they were a combined 2 for 63 coming into America’s greatest horse race. Pletcher won in 2010 with Super Saver; Velazquez won the following year with Animal Kingdom.
Together, they were unbeatable on a cool and rainy day at Churchill Downs.
Sent off at 9-2 odds, Always Dreaming made it the fifth straight year that a Derby favorite has won, the longest such stretch since the 1970s.
Always Dreaming was followed across the finish line by a pair of long shots: 33-1 Lookin At Lee and 40-1 Battle of Midway.
Always Dreaming ran 1¼ miles in 2:03.59 and paid $11.40, $7.20 and $5.80.
Lookin At Lee returned $26.60 and $18.20, while Battle of Midway was another five lengths back in third and paid $20.80 to show.
Classic Empire finished fourth, followed by Practical Joke, Tapwrit, Gunnevera, McCraken, Gormley and Irish War Cry. Hence was 11th, followed by Untrapped, Girvin, Patch, J Boys Echo, Sonneteer, Fast and Accurate, Irap, and State of Honor.
Pletcher also trains Tapwrit and Patch.
Thunder Snow, the Dubai-based entry, didn’t finish. He broke poorly out of the starting gate and began bucking. He was caught by the outrider and he walked back to the barn on his own.
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Last Hindenburg Survivor, 88, Recalls: ‘The Air Was on Fire’
Thunderstorms and wind had delayed the Hindenburg’s arrival in New Jersey from Germany on May 6, 1937. The father of 8-year-old Werner Doehner headed to his cabin after using his movie camera to shoot some scenes of Lakehurst Naval Air Station from the airship’s dining room.
“We didn’t see him again,” recalled Doehner, now 88 and the only person left of the 62 passengers and crew who survived the fire that killed his father, sister and 34 other souls 80 years ago Saturday.
Doehner and his parents, older brother and sister were returning from a vacation in Germany and planned to travel on the 804-foot-long Hindenburg to Lakehurst, then fly to Newark and board a train in nearby New York City to take them home to Mexico City, where Doehner’s father was a pharmaceutical executive.
The children would have preferred the decks and public rooms of an ocean liner because space was tight on the airship, Doehner said in a rare telephone interview this week with The Associated Press from his home in Parachute, Colorado.
Their mother brought games to keep the children busy. They toured the control car and the catwalks inside the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg. They could see an ice field as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he remembered.
As the Hindenburg arrived at its destination, flames began to flicker on top of the ship.
Hydrogen, exposed to air, fueled an inferno. The front section of the Hindenburg pitched up and the back section pitched down.
“Suddenly the air was on fire,” Doehner said.
“We were close to a window, and my mother took my brother and threw him out. She grabbed me and fell back and then threw me out,” he said.
“She tried to get my sister, but she was too heavy, and my mother decided to get out by the time the zeppelin was nearly on the ground.”
His mother had broken her hip.
“I remember lying on the ground, and my brother told me to get up and to get out of there.” Their mother joined them and asked a steward to get her daughter, whom he carried out of the burning wreckage.
A bus took the survivors to an infirmary, where, Doehner said, a nurse gave him a needle to burst his blisters.
From there, the family was taken to Point Pleasant Hospital. Doehner had burns to his face, both hands and down his right leg from the knee. His mother had burns to her face, both legs and both hands. His brother had several burns on his face and right hand.
His sister died early in the morning.
He would remain in the hospital for three months before going to a hospital in New York City in August for skin grafts. He was discharged in January, and the boy, a German speaker, had learned some English.
“Burns take a long time to heal,” he said.
The family returned to Mexico City, where funerals were held for Doehner’s father and sister, who were among the 35 fatalities of the 97 passengers and crew aboard the airship. A worker on the ground also died.
The U.S. Commerce Department determined the accident was caused by a leak of the hydrogen that kept the airship aloft. It mixed with air, causing a fire. “The theory that a brush discharge ignited such mixture appears most probable,” the department’s report said.
Eight decades later, Doehner is the only one left to remember what it was like on the Hindenburg that night. A ceremony commemorating the disaster will take place at the crash site Saturday night.
“Only two others who ever flew on the airship are alive,” said Carl Jablonski, president of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society. “But they weren’t on the last flight.”
Interest in the disaster remains strong as ever, Jablonski said.
“The internet and social media has exposed and attracted the interest of a younger generation,” he said.
The Hindenburg, Doehner said, is “something you don’t forget.”
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Rain Could Play Major Role in Already Unpredictable Kentucky Derby
The U.S. Kentucky Derby, the first of three major yearly horse races in the United States, will take place on Saturday with rain in the forecast, adding another variable to an already unpredictable race.
The 20-horse field lacks a clear dominant horse following winter preparatory races, and the 40 percent chance of rain predicted for Saturday could create a sloppy track ripe for an underdog victory.
The last four Derby races have all been won by the favorite. However, without a dominant runner in the race, spectators and betters are also looking at the possibility of a long-shot win this year.
Classic Empire, at odds of 4-1, is the narrow pre-race favorite in the opener of the U.S. Triple Crown, held at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
Two horses, Always Dreaming and McCraken, are the co-second choices at 5-1.
The underdogs include Patch, rated 30-1, a one-eyed horse who drew starting gate number 20, the farthest outside gate. Patch will not be able to see any of his competition at the start of the race because of his left eye patch and lane draw.
Patch’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, also has two other horses in the race, 5-1 shot Always Dreaming, and 20-1 odds Tapwrit.
Another trainer, Steve Asmussen also has three horses in the race, all long shots.
Bob Baffert, a four-time derby winner not competing in this year’s event, told the Associated Press there is “a lot of parity” in this year’s race, but it was hard for him to pick a winner.
“I think Classic Empire is probably the best horse in the race. Todd’s horse has brilliance, Always Dreaming. If they can get him figured out, he could steal it. The rest are bombers,” he said.
your ad hereFirst Players From Africa, Lithuania Mark New Era for Major League Baseball
It is what every aspiring baseball player strives for: a Major League appearance.
“This is what you’ve been working hard for all the years,” 27-year-old South African Gift Ngoepe said. “This is what you dreamed of since you were a little kid.”
Ngoepe’s dream came true April 26 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
At the top of the fourth inning at PNC Park, Ngoepe got the call to take the field, playing second base. He had just been added to the Pirates roster, promoted from their minor league affiliate Indianapolis Indians.
Watch: First Players from Africa, Lithuania Mark New Era for Major League Baseball
“My heartbeat was very hard,” he said in an interview with VOA.
Game day footage shows teammates Josh Harrison and Francisco Cervelli placing their hands over his heart as he took his position on the field.
“And I felt like it was beating a little bit out of my chest,” he said.
Facing All-Star pitcher
Ngoepe said the intensity increased at the bottom of the inning when he was the leadoff hitter facing All-Star pitcher John Lester of the Chicago Cubs.
But Ngoepe did more than just step up to the plate.
With a 3-1 count (three balls, one strike), his bat connected with the ball, driving it into the outfield for a single. With a recorded hit for his first at-bat, Ngoepe entered the history books as the first Major League Baseball player from the African continent.
“It feels great to be a part of history with the Pirates,” Ngoepe said, reflecting on another moment in his remarkable journey in a sport he was born into. His mother, Maureen, worked for the South African Randberg Mets baseball club, and their family lived in a small apartment near the field.
“I rolled out of bed and I was on first base,” he said. “I started playing baseball at the age of 3. I was throwing the ball against the wall. And the coach came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a pretty good arm, why don’t you think about joining the team?’”
Ngoepe moved through the ranks of a sport unfamiliar to many in South Africa.
“Baseball’s not very popular,” he said, “because we compete against three other sports, cricket, rugby and soccer, so the youth development for baseball is not going to be as strong.”
Pirates contract
He developed enough to catch the attention of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who offered Ngoepe a contract at the age of 18. It brought him into the organization’s minor league system, where he formed a friendship with teammate Josh Bell.
“Having the courage to make that first step, to say, ‘Hey, I’m coming over to the states. I’m going to try to learn this game the best I can,’ it’s incredible,” Bell told VOA.
While Ngoepe is the first from the continent of Africa, he is in good company this season. Another minor league teammate, Indianapolis Indians relief pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas, was called up April 24 to join the Pirates in the bullpen at PNC Park, where they faced the Chicago Cubs.
“I got there during the game, and I got to pitch in the game at the same time,” Neverauskas said. “I didn’t have time to think once I got to the field.”
By the time he reached the mound, the Pirates were already losing and never recovered. But Neverauskas pitched two solid innings. He is the first Lithuanian player to appear in a Major League Baseball game.
Born in Vilnius, where his family still lives, Neverauskas learned the game from his father, Virmidas, who played for Lithuania’s first baseball club formed in the 1980s. The elder Neverauskas now coaches the country’s youth national teams, where Dovydas sees the next generation of talent coming up behind him, reinforcing the importance of his career.
“Because if I do good,” he said, “maybe the team will see that there’s potential in Lithuania, and maybe will send more people to look for players.”
Waiting on another chance
But Dovydas Neverauskas pitched one game for the Pirates and is now back with the Indianapolis Indians, waiting for another chance.
“It’s tough knowing that as you play today, there’s another player in every organization trying to take your spot,” said Bell, Neverauskas’s teammate. “I guess it makes it a little bit easier for us to just focus on winning, and focus on the now. And I feel like Gift is a perfect example of that.”
Bell added that he isn’t just a teammate and friend, he’s also a fan.
“I’m sure he’s got shirts being made. I know the moment I have an opportunity to put on a ‘Gift from Africa’ shirt I’m going to buy one for me and my family,” he said.
The Pittsburgh Pirates “gift from Africa” remains with the team, for now, and continues to perform well, both on the field and at the plate, exceeding even his own expectations.
“It’s been unbelievable for me,” Ngoepe said, coming off a stretch of games where he continued to get on base and help the Pirates score runs. “The story just keeps on growing bigger.”
While Gift looks to write the next chapter, another Ngoepe hopes to have his own storybook career. Nineteen-year-old Victor is following in his older brother’s footsteps, also securing a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and playing on a minor league team in Florida where he waits for his own chance to prove himself on baseball’s biggest stage.
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Entrepreneurs Outside US Can Attract Silicon Valley Backing
The venture fund 500 Startups has been making a splash in Southeast Asia, most recently with Khmerload, a Cambodian entertainment news website modeled after the American media giant Buzzfeed. Binh Tran, a venture partner with the firm, sat down with Sophat Soeung of VOA’s Khmer service to talk about how entrepreneurs in developing countries could attract such investors. Here’s some of his advice for them:
Remember, Silicon Valley investors are a click away
I think first is to understand the whole startup ecosystem. All this information is at your fingertips. The world’s shrunk, and for resourceful entrepreneurs, they have this incredible amount of knowledge that they can tap into, to get themselves familiarized with how to build a company, how to launch it, how to monetize, and also understand investment. All that is available.
Not everyone can be a tech entrepreneur. It’s incredibly hard, but for the ones that are resourceful … the tools are there. And we want to be the ones to provide that dry powder to help you grow. So once you have achieved some progress and some [traction], then come talk to us.
Don’t overthink — there is no ‘right’ sector
I’m pretty sector-agnostic. … If you’re building something that is obscure to me … the fact that you can make a business out of it, you’re making some money out of it, that’s great. And if it’s technology-enabled, it’s done through software, or done through some algorithm that you created, that’s where I think I can help. That’s where I think the opportunities are.
Look for a growing user base
All ecosystems around the world are somewhat new. Even China is a decade or two [old] for venture capital. … If these companies are making money and they’re growing, that’s great. You see companies who have been more focused on revenue early on. So I think Southeast Asia has a lot of opportunity, because you do have that 4 million-new-internet-users-a-month type of growth, but the business models are not quite as risky [as those seen in Silicon Valley].
Pay more attention to operational rather than business risk
I think there’s going to be a small percentage of my portfolio that’s always reserved for the crazy, one-in-a-million-chance ideas. But for the most part, these startups should be solving basic problems. Across many sectors in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, businesses have barely adopted Web 1.0 technologies. There’s opportunities for entrepreneurs to solve basic problems such as helping business attract, serve and support customers more efficiently.
So instead of investing in a new, risky, innovative business model as you would in Silicon Valley, the innovation these companies we’re investing into is the way they’re hiring and training employees and how they’ve mastered how to operate within highly regulated environments. These companies also deeply understand their customers’ problems and have demonstrated their ability to market to and sell to locals.
So the innovation we’re seeing is less about business model or technology innovation, but I do hope that changes.
Build your reputation, and be patient
You’ve got to do what you say you’re going to do. This is one of those things where your reputation is so important. … [Also,] realize that it’s going to take a while. It’s not easy. Don’t be caught up in the buzz or the hype — just focus on the fact that this is going to be a long, hard journey. And hopefully that sets up the right expectations.
This report originated on the VOA Khmer service.
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Attention, Wizards and Muggles: Harry Potter Book Club Launches in June
J.K. Rowling is launching a free online book club for fans and newcomers to her “Harry Potter” series.
The Wizarding World Book Club will launch in June in celebration of the 20th anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” the first in what would become a seven-book series.
The online community “aims to surprise and delight those who have never read a Harry Potter book, as well as returning readers who want to join the conversation,” says Pottermore, Rowling’s digital publishing arm.
The club says its goal is to “create a global community of Harry Potter readers who are communicating with each other as they are reading the same book, at the same time.”
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Kenyan Misses Sub-2-Hour Marathon by Seconds
Eliud Kipchoge was 26 seconds from making history Saturday but the Olympic champion finished just short of becoming the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours.
Kipchoge ran the 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) in 2 hours, 26 seconds, beating Dennis Kimetto’s world mark of 2:02:57.
The 32-year-old Kenyan did break his personal best time of 2:03:05, which was set at the London Marathon last year.
Organizers first listed his time as a second faster, then changed it to 26 seconds off the 2-hour mark.
The attempt at Monza’s Formula One race course did not go down as an official world record, sanctioned by the IAAF, because of variables like pacers entering midrace and drinks being given to runners via mopeds.
And, after three years of planning, Nike’s audacious attempt at breaking the two-hour barrier remained just that, despite the aid of a shoe that designers say will make runners 4 percent more efficient.
Two-time Boston Marathon winner Lelisa Desisa, from Ethiopia, and Eritrean half-marathon world-record holder Zersenay Tadese were also part of the Breaking2 project, which started at 5:45 a.m., but finished well off the pace.
The 32-year-old ran his trademark relaxed style and passed the halfway mark in 59:54, but his average pace of 4:36 per mile was just not enough, despite his final sprint to the tape.
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Georgia Lawmaker Helps Parents Navigate State Medical Marijuana Laws
The use of medical marijuana is legal in the U.S. state of Georgia. But like many other states, it is illegal to grow, import or sell it. So how are patients who qualify to use it supposed to get it? Well, a coalition of families and one lawmaker is working to get the drug to those who need it. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Smog Tracker Highlights Pollution Hotspots
In Rome, residents concerned about air quality may soon be able to use a smog tracker to monitor pollution levels as they travel around the city. A device is being tested that indicates which parts of the city have good or bad air quality. VOA’s Deborah Block has more.
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