Month: May 2017

Gambia’s government used a court order Monday to seize assets belonging to exiled former President Yahya Jammeh. They include nearly 90 bank accounts and 14 companies linked to Jammeh. Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou says Jammeh stole $50 million in public funds before fleeing Gambia for Equatorial Guinea in January. Jammeh and his associates have been unavailable for comment since he left the country. Jammeh ruled Gambia for 22 years before losing December’s presidential election to Adama Barrow. He contested the results for several weeks before giving up and fleeing the country. His long-ruling political party lost April’s parliamentary elections to the opposition United Democratic Party. Along with allegations of looting public funds, investigators in Gambia are also probing a number of disappearances under the Jammeh government. …

«Держпродспоживслужба» повідомила про необхідність узгоджувати транзит товарів до Придністров’я з Кишиневом

05/22/2017 sellbiz

Державна служба України з питань безпечності харчових продуктів та захисту споживачів повідомила, що ще з суботи, 20 травня, діє новий порядок пропуску підконтрольних вантажів у режимі транзиту через територію України до Придністровського регіону Молдови. Відповідно до розпорядження головного державного інспектора ветеринарної медицини України від 17.05.2017 № 33, пропуск такого транзиту тепер здійснюється лише за умови його погодження з Національним агентством безпеки харчових продуктів Республіки Молдова, мовиться в повідомленні. У «Держпродспоживслужбі» наголосили, що ця вимога відповідає угоді про співпрацю в галузі ветеринарії країн СНД, яку парафували, зокрема, представники України і Молдови. Відповідно до цієї угоди, під час імпорту та міжнародного транзиту в обов’язковому порядку завчасно оформлюються дозволи центральних державних ветеринарних органів сторін, на території яких ввозиться та через території яких транспортується підконтрольний вантаж. Оскільки дія цієї угоди не поширюється на відносини з самопроголошеною й невизнаною Придністровською Молдавською Республікою, що є сепаратистським регіоном Молдови, підтримуваним Росією, й було ухвалене згадане рішення з метою забезпечити виконання угоди, мовиться в повідомленні. Таке рішення також відповідає вимогам Всесвітньої організації охорони здоров’я тварин (МЕБ). Останнім часом з’являються повідомлення про те, що Україна на придністровській ділянці кордону з Молдовою запроваджує спільний контроль із представниками законної влади Молдови – прикордонниками, митниками тощо. У Придністров’ї, де розташовані російські війська, у відповідь скаржаться на «блокаду» проросійського регіону. …

Robotics Contest for Youth Promotes Innovation for Economic Growth in Africa

Several hundred middle school and high school students from Senegal and surrounding countries spent last week in Dakar building robots. Organizers of the annual robotics competition say the goal is to encourage African governments and private donors to invest more in science and math education throughout the continent. The hum of tiny machines fills a fenced-off obstacle course, as small robots compete to gather mock natural resources such as diamonds and gold. The robots were built by teams of young people gathered in Dakar for the annual Pan-African Robotics Competition. ‘Made in Africa’ The event’s founder, Sidy Ndao, says this year’s theme is “Made in Africa,” and focuses on how robotics developed in Africa could help local economies. “We have noticed that most countries that have developed in the likes of the United States have based their development on manufacturing and industrialization, and African countries on the other hand are left behind in this race,” Ndao said. “So we thought it would be a good idea to inspire the kids to tell them about the importance of manufacturing, the importance of industry, and the importance of creation and product development.” During the week, the students were split into three groups. The first group worked on robots that could automate warehouses. The second created machines that could mine natural resources, and the third group was tasked to come up with a new African product and describe how to build it. Building a robot a team effort Seventeen-year-old Rokyaha Cisse from Senegal …

Outgoing WHO Director Says Agency Remains Relevant

Margaret Chan, the outgoing Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has opened this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) by staunchly defending the organization against critics who say it has lost its relevance. Chan’s tenure as head of WHO will soon end and after 10 years of service, she appears intent on handing her successor, who will be elected Tuesday, an organization that is viable and remains the essential leader in global health. In addressing the WHA for the last time, Chan presented 3,500 delegates from WHO’s 194 member states with, what could be seen, as a report card of her work by presenting some highlights from a report issued this month tracking the evolution of public health during her 10-year administration. “The report sets out the facts and assesses the trends, but makes no effort to promote my administration. The report goes some way towards dispelling criticism that WHO has lost its relevance. The facts tell a different story,” Chan said. Drug costs The report covers setbacks as well as successes and some landmark events. Among the successes, she cited WHO’s decade-long fight “to get the prices for antiretroviral treatments for HIV down.” In contrast, she said “prices for the new drugs that cure hepatitis-C plummeted within two years.” The results in both cases have been dramatic in making life-saving drugs affordable for millions of people. During the past 10 years, antiretroviral treatments have fallen from $10,000 to less than $100 a year and Hepatitis C …

Fruit Juice Consumption Discouraged for Young Children

Children younger than one should drink breast milk or formula, and should only drink fruit juice if advised by a doctor, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The organization made the recommendation in the journal Pediatrics amid concerns about rising childhood obesity and tooth decay. This is the first time since 2001 that the doctors’ group has reviewed its recommendation on fruit juice, which is a leading source of dietary sugar. Between the ages of one and four, young children should consume no more than 118 milliliters of fruit juice, the doctors’ group says. The academy recommends that children between the ages of four and six restrict their juice intake to no more than 177 milliliters a day, while children between seven and 18 should limit their fruit juice consumption to 236 milliliters. The new guidelines recognize that 100 percent natural and reconstituted juice can be a healthy part of a child’s diet. However, the group said juice should count for no more than one of the two to two-and-a-half recommended servings of fruit per day. If fruit juice is given to young children, the academy discourages parents from putting it in a bottle or “sippy” cup, which may be in a child’s mouth all day, promoting cavities. Instead, it’s recommended that the juice be consumed all at once in a cup. The group had previously recommended that parents wait until a child is six months old before introducing fruit juice to the diet. However, in light of the …

Brazil Packed with Travel Riches, So Why So Few Tourists?

Brazil is home to the largest rainforest on Earth. It has miles of sandy, deserted beaches, and stunning flat-topped mountains. It invented samba and a devilish little drink called the caipirinha. It has massive reserves for native peoples and charming colonial towns built by the Portuguese. Despite the seeming abundance of riches for travelers, it has a tourism problem. Because while you may have heard about the Amazon or the stunning beaches of Rio de Janeiro, you have probably also heard that Brazil has high crime, was swept by a Zika outbreak and that its politicians have concocted the largest graft scheme in Latin American history. Most likely you’ve never visited Brazil. Only 6.6 million foreigners did last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism. That’s about half the number that go to the tiny city-state of Singapore, and this in a continent-sized country that the World Economic Forum ranks No. 1 in natural resources and No. 8 in cultural resources. Oh, and that hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics. “The highest gap between potential in tourism in the world and what’s been realized so far is Brazil,” said Vinicius Lummertz, the president of Embratur, Brazil’s tourism board. “We have [everything] from Xingu [an indigenous reserve] and Indians to Oktoberfest in Santa Catarina.” High hopes In the face of a deep and protracted recession, the government is now hoping to change all that with several measures that aim to nearly double the number of foreign visitors in the next five years. …

Germany, France Pledge New Efforts to Strengthen Eurozone

Germany and France pledged Monday to seek ways to strengthen the 19-nation eurozone, with harmonizing corporate taxes among the possible measures they will mull over in the coming weeks. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and new French counterpart Bruno Le Maire said they are setting up a panel to produce proposals for a bilateral summit in July. “We’ve been talking for years about progress in the integration of the eurozone, but things aren’t advancing quickly enough or far enough,” Le Maire said. “We are determined to get things moving faster and further, in a very concrete way.” Germany and France could either propose a joint corporate tax system of their own or concentrate on pushing efforts for a harmonized assessment of corporate taxes at the European Union level, Schaeuble said. “Both are ambitious,” he conceded, noting that wider tax harmonization is difficult because it would require consensus among EU leaders. Le Maire said there needs to be better coordination of economic policy. He said investment will also be considered. He stressed France’s willingness to consider deeper reforms such as creating a finance minister for the 19-nation eurozone or a “European monetary fund,” an idea that Schaeuble has periodically backed. He offered assurances that “France will respect its European obligations in terms of [budget] deficit reduction.” The latest German-French drive to strengthen the EU’s economic coherence come as Britain, the bloc’s No. 2 economy after Germany, prepares to leave the EU. “We see …

Trans Surgeries Jump 20 Percent from 2015 to 2016

Gender confirmation surgeries jumped by 20 percent in the United States from 2015 to 2016, according to a new survey. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) survey says there were more than 3,200 “transfeminine” and “transmasculine” surgeries in 2016. Included in this number is everything from body contouring to full gender reassignment. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to gender confirmation,” said Loren Schechter, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon based in Chicago. “There’s a wide spectrum of surgeries that someone may choose to treat gender dysphoria, which is a disconnect between how an individual feels and what that person’s anatomic characteristics are.” The survey is the first ever done by the ASPS and includes data from 2015 to 2016. One driver is that insurance companies are increasingly covering some of the procedures, making them more accessible and affordable. “In the past several years, the number of transgender patients I’ve seen has grown exponentially,” said Schechter. “Access to care has allowed more people to explore their options, and more doctors understand the needs of transgender patients.” Changing attitude is also behind the increase. ‘It’s only in the last couple of years that we’ve seen this dramatic increase in demand for procedures, it’s certainly a subject that’s more talked about,’ Schechter told Daily Mail Online. Schechter added that until recently, there were just six U.S. surgeons who were certified to do both male-to-female and female-to-male genital surgery. “The numbers are increasing, but one of the barriers is that there’s been no formal …

As Ethiopian Seeks to Head WHO, Outbreak at Home Raises Questions

Ethiopia is battling an outbreak of acute watery diarrhea (AWD) that has affected more than 32,000 people. At the same time, Ethiopia’s former minister of health, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is a candidate to lead the World Health Organization. The two facts are linked in that critics of Tedros say he has tried to minimize the outbreak by refusing to classify it as cholera, a label that could harm Ethiopia’s economic growth. The WHO’s 194 member states will gather in Geneva for a 10-day assembly starting Monday. One of their first tasks is to choose the organization’s next director-general. Tedros is one of three top contenders for the position, along with candidates from Britain and Pakistan. Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, told The New York Times that Ethiopia has a long history of downplaying cholera outbreaks, and the WHO could “lose its legitimacy” if Tedros, who is also a former Ethiopian minister of foreign affairs, takes over the leadership of the organization. “Dr. Tedros is a compassionate and highly competent public health official,” he told the Times. “But he had a duty to speak truth to power and to honestly identify and report verified cholera outbreaks over an extended period.” But others have risen to Tedros’ defense. Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the controversy over naming the outbreak is overblown. “During the time that Tedros was health minister, it would …

Study Finds that Speeding up Sepsis Care Can Save Lives

Minutes matter when it comes to treating sepsis, the killer condition that most Americans probably have never heard of, and new research shows it’s time they learn. Sepsis is the body’s out-of-control reaction to an infection. By the time patients realize they’re in trouble, their organs could be shutting down. New York became the first state to require that hospitals follow aggressive steps when they suspect sepsis is brewing. Researchers examined patients treated there in the past two years and reported Sunday that faster care really is better. Every additional hour it takes to give antibiotics and perform other key steps increases the odds of death by 4 percent, according to the study reported at an American Thoracic Society meeting and in the New England Journal of Medicine. That’s not just news for doctors or for other states considering similar rules. Patients also have to reach the hospital in time. “Know when to ask for help,” said Dr. Christopher Seymour, a critical care specialist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who led the study. “If they’re not aware of sepsis or know they need help, we can’t save lives.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year began a major campaign to teach people that while sepsis starts with vague symptoms, it’s a medical emergency. To make sure the doctor doesn’t overlook the possibility, “Ask, ‘Could this be sepsis?’” advised the CDC’s Dr. Lauren Epstein. Sepsis is more …

Boeing Co. Signs Defense, Commercial Deals with Saudi Arabia

Boeing Co said on Sunday it had signed several defense and commercial deals with Saudi Arabia including for the sale of military and passenger aircraft during a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to the kingdom. The announcement is the latest in tens of billions of dollars in deals signed between U.S. and Saudi firms since Trump arrived in Riyadh on Saturday. Boeing said Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy Chinook helicopters, associated support services and guided weapons systems, and intends to purchase P-8 surveillance aircraft. The total value of the deals or how many aircraft Saudi Arabia intends to buy was not given in the statement announcing the agreements. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment beyond the statement. The U.S State Department announced in December plans to sell Saudi Arabia CH-47F Chinook cargo helicopters and related equipment, training and support worth $3.51 billion. Saudi Arabia is seeking closer defense and commercial ties with the United States under Trump, as it seeks to develop its economy beyond oil and leads a coalition that is fighting a war in Yemen. “These announcements reaffirm our commitment to the economic growth, prosperity and national security of both Saudi Arabia and the United States, helping to create or sustain thousands of jobs in our two countries,” said Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg. Boeing also said it would negotiate the sale of up to 16 widebody airplanes to Saudi Gulf Airlines which is based in the country’s east in Dammam. Boeing did not say which …

EU’s Moscovici Confident Eurogroup Will Reach Deal on Greece

05/21/2017 selleco

The European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, said on Sunday he was confident an agreement between Athens and its creditors could be found at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday in Brussels. Athens needs funds to repay 7.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) of debt maturing in July. “We are very close to an overall agreement,” Moscovici told France Inter radio. “Greece has assumed its responsibilities,” he said, referring to measures on pension cuts, tax hikes and reforms adopted on Thursday by the Greek Parliament. “I now wish that we, the partners of Greece, also take our responsibilities,” he said. Moscovici said his optimism over a deal was partly linked to the fact Germany was now aware of the need to find a structural solution to Greece’s problems. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed during a call on Wednesday that a deal was “feasible” by Monday. …

WHO Optimistic on Controlling DRC Ebola Outbreak

The World Health Organization’s regional chief for Africa reports prospects for rapidly controlling the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo are good. While not underestimating the difficulties that lie ahead in bringing this latest outbreak of Ebola to an end, Matshidiso Moeti told VOA she is “very encouraged” by the speed with which the government and its national and international partners have responded to this crisis. “I am quite optimistic because this is a government that is experienced at this, and which has got off to a very quick start and we are already on the ground with the partners. “We are getting logistic support from WFP (World Food Program) and from the U.N. mission. So, I am quite optimistic,” Moeti said. WHO has reported 29 suspected cases, including three deaths since Ebola was discovered in a remote region of DRC on April 22. This deadly virus causes fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. It spreads easily through bodily fluids and can kill more than 50 percent of its victims. This is the eighth recorded outbreak of Ebola in DRC since 1976. The outbreak was first detected in Bas-Uele Province, a densely-forested area in northeastern Congo near the border with the Central African Republic. Outbreak isolated Moeti calls the remoteness of the area “a mixed blessing.” She said that there was little likelihood of a “rapid expansion of the outbreak to other localities due to population movement as happened in West Africa. Although, we …

Exhibit Illustrates Extreme Adaptations of Mammals Over Millennia

A giant rhinoceros the size of three African elephants once grazed on treetops in Tibet, but succumbed to climate change more than 20 million years ago. The high treetops disappeared, along with its food source, says Xiaoming Wang of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Wang has done field research on the long-legged rhino, more formally called the Indricotherium, one of the stars of a new exhibit that shows how radical adaptations that aid survival in one setting can spell disaster in another. Through fossils and reconstructions, the exhibit tells the story of Mother Nature’s radical gambits to keep organisms alive in changing conditions. The show was built around an earlier exhibit from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which also included ice age remains from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Mammals that have adapted in the extreme include an ancient whale that walked on land and more recent pygmy mammoths on California’s Channel Islands, whose small size is illustrated with side-by-side jaw bones of a Columbian mammoth and its pygmy relative, which shrunk to cope with limited food resources on the islands. Many species challenged Climatic variations over the ages and the more recent incursion of humans have challenged many species, said Emily Lindsey of the La Brea Tar Pits, a site rich with fossils from the mammoths and giant cats that once roamed California, but died out more than 10,000 years ago. Seen in the exhibit are the extinct American …

Exhibit Shows Extreme Adaptations of Mammals

The challenges of adaptation and survival are the themes of a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Mike O’Sullivan reports that the the exhibit, Extreme Mammals, shows the radical changes in animal species over millions of years and the extinctions of species that failed to adapt. …

Russian Ship Brings Medical Care to Remote Places

Recent studies suggest that as many as 400 million people around the world do not have access to basic health care. In some cases it’s because of conflict, but in some cases it’s just geography: humans live in some very far away places, Siberia for instance. That’s where the medical ship comes in handy. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Russian Ship Brings Medical Care to Isolated People

G20 Health Ministers Take on Antibiotic Resistance

Health ministers of the G20 leading economies, meeting for the first time Saturday, agreed to work together to tackle issues such as a growing resistance to antibiotics and to start implementing national action plans by the end of 2018. Germany, which holds the G20 presidency this year, said it was an “important breakthrough” that all nations had agreed to address the problem and work toward obligatory prescriptions for antibiotics. Pandemics Saying that globalization caused infectious diseases to spread more quickly than previously, the 20 nations also pledged to strengthen health systems and improve their ability to react to pandemics and other health risks. “By putting global health on the agenda of the G20 we affirm our role in strengthening the political support for existing initiatives and working to address the economic aspects of global health issues,” the communique said. The results of the meeting will feed into a G20 leaders’ summit in Hamburg in July. Overprescription While the discovery of antibiotics has provided cures for many bacterial infections that had previously been lethal, overprescription has led to the evolution of resistance strains of many bacteria. An EU report last year found that newly resistant strains of bacteria were responsible for more than 25,000 deaths a year in the 28-member bloc alone. Germany has argued that even having a discussion about it will help raise public awareness about the problem. The G20 also said they agreed to help improve access to affordable medicine in poorer countries. …

Eastern US Trees Shift North, West With Climate Change