During the first six months of the Trump presidency, the Environmental Protection Agency has lagged behind three previous administrations in environmental enforcement, collecting 60 percent less in civil penalties from polluters, a report released on Thursday said. During President Donald Trump’s first six months in office, the Justice Department collected $12 million in civil penalties as part of 26 civil lawsuits. That compares to $36 million in 34 cases during the Obama administration; $30 million in 31 cases under the George W. Bush administration; and $25 million in 45 cases during the Clinton administration’s first six months, the report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) found. “If this drop-off in environmental enforcement continues, it will leave more people breathing more air pollution or swimming in waterways with more waste,” said EIP Executive Director Eric Schaeffer, who served as the EPA’s head of civil enforcement from 1997 to 2002. The report analyzed consent decrees lodged by the Justice Department from Trump’s first day in office, Jan. 21, through July 31, evaluating penalties paid by companies, the amount those companies will spend on pollution controls and how much pollution these enforcement actions can reduce. Patrick Traylor, deputy assistant administrator at EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, reviewed a copy of the report and said the findings were unfair because it can take months for a consent decree to be lodged. “This ‘snapshot’ … says much more about enforcement actions commenced in the later years of the Obama administration than it does …
Croatia Cuts Import Fees to Avoid Trade War with Balkan Neighbors
Croatia revoked on Thursday its decision to raise import fees on some farm products by 220 percent, avoiding a trade war with its Balkan neighbors who had threatened to hit back with counter-measures. European Union-member Croatia last month raised its fees for phytosanitary controls — agricultural checks for pests and viruses on fruits and vegetables — at its borders to 2,000 kuna ($317.52) from 90 kuna, citing compliance with EU standards and protection of its consumers. EU candidates Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as fellow EU aspirant Bosnia, have called on Croatia to withdraw its decision, saying otherwise each of them would take counter-measures it considered adequate to protect its economic interests. Serbia, which is the only country in the region that operates a trade surplus with its neighbor, has already stepped up phytosanitary controls on all organic produce from Croatia and said it would increase them further. Croatia’s agriculture ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it cut the import fee for a shipment of one brand of fruits and vegetables to 90 kuna, and that the decision will become effective on Friday. The ministry also agreed with neighboring countries that agricultural inspections on their borders will go back to normal routine as of Friday, while all other pending issues will be analyzed and discussed, it said in the statement. Most countries in the region import more than they export to Croatia, except for Serbia. Serbia’s exports to Croatia in 2016 reached 116 million euros ($136.04 million) …
Egypt Inflation Surges to 33 Percent After Fuel Subsidy Cuts
Egypt’s official statistics agency says the country’s inflation rate has jumped to 33 percent in July – up from 29.8 percent in June. The announcement comes as Egyptians struggle in the face of steep price hikes as part of the government’s economic reform plan. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics made the announcement Thursday. Economists believe the hike is driven by an increase in fuel prices. They expect inflation to remain above 30 percent over the next two months, especially after an increase in electricity, transportation and drinking water prices. Egypt raised fuel prices in June by 55 percent for the commonly used 80-octane gasoline and diesel. It also doubled the price of the butane gas canisters, used in the majority of Egyptian households for cooking. …
Кістіон: урядовий комітет схвалив енергетичну стратегію України до 2035-го
Комітет Кабінету міністрів із питань економічної, фінансової та правової політики схвалив проект енергетичної стратегії України до 2035 року, повідомив у Facebook віце-прем’єр Володимир Кістіон. «Цей документ є стратегічним, він визначає цілі нашої держави в енергетичному секторі до 2035 року і глобальні кроки для їхнього досягнення», – зазначив він. За даними документа, опублікованого на сайті уряду, зокрема, стратегія передбачає завершення реформування української енергетики до 2020 року, коли мають запрацювати повноцінні ринки електроенергії та природного газу. «Буде створено ринок вугільної продукції. Реструктуризація вугільної промисловості супроводжуватиметься комплексом заходів для пом’якшення соціальних та екологічних наслідків ліквідації/консервації вугільних шахт та соціальної реконверсії регіонів закриття шахт відповідно до найкращих європейських практик», – мовиться у тексті документу. До 2025 року уряд планує інтегрувати українську енергосистему із системою континентальної Європи, зменшити шкідливі викиди у довкілля та розширювати інфраструктуру електротранспорту. У третій етап автори стратегії вписали, зокрема, нарощення національного видобутку нетрадиційного газу та газу на шельфі. 9 серпня Кабінет міністрів створив Координаційний центр для забезпечення запровадження нового ринку електричної енергії. …
Ціна нафти Brent зросла до 53 доларів за барель
Ціна еталонної північноморської марки нафти Brent на електронних торгах 10 серпня сягнула позначки 53 долари за барель. Водночас американський еталон WTI залишається нижче позначки 50 доларів за барель, хоча теж незначно зростає в ціні. Ціна нафти зростає впродовж останніх двох днів завдяки прогнозам Американського інституту нафти про значне скорочення запасів у США, підтвердженим офіційними даними управління енергетичної інформації міністерства енергетики Сполучених Штатів. Водночас значніше зростання ціни стримує збільшення запасів бензину на американському ринку. Також через кілька тижнів у США фінішує літній автомобільний сезон, і це теж стримує нафтові котирування. Ринок також не має певності, чи продовжать дію своїх домовленостей про скорочення видобутку нафти країни ОПЕК та Росія й інші нафтовидобувники, що не входять до картелю. …
China to US: Be Prudent on Aluminum Duties
China urged the U.S. government Thursday to act “prudently” to avoid damaging economic relations between the two countries, in a strongly worded response to Washington’s preliminary decision to place anti-dumping duties on Chinese aluminum foil. In a statement posted on the Ministry of Commerce’s Wechat account, the government said the United States had ignored cooperation offered by Beijing and Chinese companies in making its ruling this week. The statement, attributed to Wang Hejun, head of the Commerce Ministry’s trade remedy and investigation bureau, was more strongly worded than typical responses to trade disputes with the United States. The statement said there were no grounds to accuse China’s aluminum producers of benefiting from subsidies. …
Breastfeeding Center Helps Ugandan MP’s Juggle Work, Motherhood
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for a baby’s first six months and continued breastfeeding up to two years of age. Uganda’s parliament has been promoting breastfeeding with a free, day care center for female legislators and staffers. Halima Athumani reports for VOA. …
Embryo Gene Editing is Still a Long Way Off
A study published this month in the online scientific journal Nature stunned the world: Scientists were able to fix a hereditary genetic mutation in a human embryo. The milestone achievement was quickly tempered by the ethical question: Will this lead to the making of designer babies?’ VOA’s George Putic explains. …
In the Fight to End Modern Slavery, Machines May Hold Key
More than 20 million people are working as modern slaves, and a technology developer is hoping artificial intelligence can help clean up the world’s supply chains and root out worker abuse. Developer Padmini Ranganathan said mobile phones, media reports and surveillance cameras can all be mined for real-time data, which can in turn be fed into machines to create artificial intelligence (AI) that helps companies see more clearly what is happening down the line. “The time to do this now is better than ever before, with so many countries and companies focusing on modern slavery,” she said. “At the start of the decade, the driving force for compliance was fear of being penalized. Now companies are looking at social impact and saying they want to do this.” More scrutiny of modern-day slavery Modern-day slavery has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, putting regulatory and consumer pressure on companies to ensure their supply chains are free from forced labor, child workers and other forms of slavery. Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), with migrant workers and indigenous people particularly vulnerable. But Ranganathan said there are new digital ways to stamp out exploitation, given humans have failed to end modern slavery. “The technology can filter over 1 million articles a day using forced labor specific key words and highlight potential areas of risk in a supply chain,” she said. Ranganathan works for information technology services company SAP Ariba, which helps companies …
Efforts to End Viral Hepatitis in Indigenous People Show Promise
Many indigenous populations suffer from high rates of viral hepatitis, and are 2 to 5 times as likely as the surrounding general population to contract it. But efforts to eliminate the diseases have begun to show promise, some researchers say. Globally, 71 million people have hepatitis C and 257 million have hepatitis B. The viruses cause inflammation of the liver and can lead to cirrhosis and, especially with hepatitis C, liver cancer. Most cases come from contact with infected blood, drug use, tattoos with unclean needles, or sexual transmission. Before the screening of blood in 1992, blood transfusions were a frequent source. The infection also can pass from a mother to her newborn child. At the World Indigenous People’s Conference on Viral Hepatitis this week in Anchorage, Alaska, scientists reported on the problem and the efforts to solve it, including one of the first efforts to eliminate hepatitis C from a population. Reasons for high rates of infection Homie Razavi and Devin Razavi-Shearer, epidemiologists from the Polaris Observatory, examined why infection rates were so high among indigenous communities. In Canada, hepatitis B rates were five times higher than the general population, and hepatitis C, three times higher. In Australia, indigenous people were four times as likely to contract hepatitis B and three times as likely to contract hepatitis C. The researchers said the rates were likely because to “disproportionately high rates of poverty, injection drug use, and incarceration in indigenous populations. This, in combination with the lack of access to …
Hard-pedaling Soft Power, China Helps Launch $13B Belt and Road Rail Project in Malaysia
China and Malaysia broke ground on Wednesday on a $13 billion rail project linking peninsular Malaysia’s east and west, the largest such project in the country and a major part of Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure push. The planned 688-km (430-mile) East Coast Rail Link will connect the South China Sea, large parts of which are claimed by China, at the Thai border in the east with the strategic shipping routes of the Straits of Malacca in the west. It is among the most prominent projects in China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build a modern-day “Silk Road” connecting the world’s second-largest economy by land corridors to Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Central Asia and maritime routes opening up trade with the Middle East and Europe. “The ECRL is indeed yet another ‘game changer’ and a ‘mindset changer’ for Malaysia as it will significantly cut travel time to and from the east coast of the peninsula,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said at the ceremony halfway along the route in Kuantan, which faces the South China Sea. For China, the project is another expansion of its soft power in Malaysia, which also lays claim to some disputed South China Sea islands, and is critical for China’s geopolitical and strategic interests. “The China government has attached great importance to the China-Malaysia relations and has always considered Malaysia a dear neighbor and trustworthy partner who is committed to seeking mutually beneficial cooperation and common development in the country,” Chinese State …
Venezuela Exchange Rate Fluctuation Sparks Price Surge
The extreme volatility of Venezuela’s exchange rate has the crisis-hit country’s shop owners hurriedly marking up their merchandise and consumers balking at the higher price tags. Just last week, the bolivar currency fell around 70 percent on the black market, according to DolarToday, the opaque U.S.-based website that dictates the black market rate. Although the currency roared back this week to around 10,387 bolivars to the U.S. dollar, prices for often imported products have already been adjusted, heaping more hardship on Venezuelans who often earn only a handful of dollars per month. “How is it possible that I bought rice a few days ago at 8,000 bolivars, which was already expensive, and now it’s at 17,000,” said housewife Senovia Gonzalez, 64, standing in a line to buy food in the Paraguana Peninsula that juts out into the Caribbean. The monthly minimum wage in Venezuela is 97,531 bolívars, or not even $1 per day on the parallel exchange rate, making it the lowest in Latin America despite President Nicolas Maduro’s frequent increases. To that is added a 153,000-bolivar food ticket. His unpopular socialist government has dispatched inspectors to try to contain the price hikes with fines, but that strategy has been largely ineffective in the midst of an economic crisis with triple-digit inflation, recession, and food and medicine shortages. “If we do not adjust prices, we have to close, fire employees, work for someone else or leave the country,” said Victor Moreno, a seller of home appliances at a mall in …
Ancient Beast Named for Late Motörhead Bassist Lemmy
A ferocious seagoing crocodile that menaced coastal waters about 164 million years ago during the Jurassic Period has been given a name honoring the similarly ferocious heavy-metal rocker Lemmy, the late frontman for the British band Motörhead . Scientists said on Wednesday they had named the 19-foot-long (5.8 meters) reptile Lemmysuchus, meaning “Lemmy’s crocodile.” Its fossils were unearthed near the eastern English city of Peterborough in 1909 and were recently re-examined and determined to be a distinct genus in need of a name. Its enlongated, narrow snout resembled those of modern fish-eating crocs from India called gharials. It boasted large, blunt teeth, perfect for crushing turtle shells or other hard-bodied prey like hard-scaled fish, said University of Edinburgh paleontologist Michela Johnson, lead author of the study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. “It’s big, ugly and quite scary. We think that Lemmy would have liked it. For me, this is a career high, and I can now die happy,” added another of the researchers, Lorna Steel, who came up with the name. Known for hard living and hard rocking, gravelly voiced Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, died of cancer at age 70 in 2015 in Los Angeles. He formed his influential band Motörhead in 1975. “I wanted to name something after Lemmy after he died,” said Steel, senior curator for fossils from the croc family, birds and flying reptiles at the Natural History Museum in London. “At that time, late December 2015, I was working with colleagues from Edinburgh …
Study Boosts Hope of ‘Liquid Biopsies’ for Cancer Screening
Scientists have the first major evidence that blood tests called liquid biopsies hold promise for screening people for cancer. Hong Kong doctors tried it for a type of head and neck cancer, and boosted early detection and one measure of survival. The tests detect DNA that tumors shed into the blood. Some are used now to monitor cancer patients, and many companies are trying to develop versions of these for screening, as possible alternatives to mammograms, colonoscopies and other such tests. The new study shows this approach can work, at least for this one form of cancer and in a country where it’s common. “This work is very exciting on the larger scale” because it gives a blueprint for how to make tests for other tumor types such as lung or breast, said Dr. Dennis Lo of Chinese University of Hong Kong. “We are brick by brick putting that technology into place.” He led the study, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. Lo is best known for discovering that fetal DNA can be found in a mom’s blood, which launched a new era of non-invasive testing for pregnant women. The study involved nasopharyngeal cancer, which forms at the top of the throat behind the nose. It’s a good test case for DNA screening because it’s an aggressive cancer where early detection matters a lot, and screening could be tried in a population where the cancer is most common — middle-aged Chinese men. Also, the Epstein-Barr virus is …
Harsh Rhetoric Between North Korea and Trump Worries Investors
The exchange of threats and harsh rhetoric between North Korea and Donald Trump has rattled many investors. Stock prices fell in Asia, Europe and the United States, while demand rose for safe-haven investments like gold. Key stock indexes in Hong Kong, Germany, and France were down by one percent or more. U.S. stocks were down as much as four-tenths of a percent in Wednesday’s mid-day trading. Before Tuesday’s angry exchange of words, U.S. stocks had been setting a series of record highs. Demand for gold, a traditional way of protecting assets in troubled times, pushed up the price for the precious metal by about one percent in Wednesday’s trading. Oil prices also posted gains. South Korea is home to more than 50 million people and major companies like Samsung and Hyundai. World Bank data show South Korea has a $1.4 trillion economy, which is nearly two percent of global economic activity. …
НАЗК хоче змінити алгоритм перевірки декларацій – Корчак
Національне агентство з питань запобігання корупції має намір змінити порядок проведення повної перевірки декларацій, написала у Facebook керівниця агентства Наталія Корчак. За її словами, НАЗК планує взяти до уваги рекомендації громадських організацій, зокрема, «Громадського люстраційного комітету», але не всі. «Пропозиції в першу чергу стосуються критеріїв, за якими уповноважені особи НАЗК відповідно до вказаного Порядку, приймають рішення про початок перевірки. Маю на увазі підстави, за якими звернення заявників до агентства з вимогою перевірки декларації того чи іншого декларанта на основі викладених у зверненні доказів, фактично стають першоджерелами початку перевірки», – зазначила Корчак. Система електронного декларування статків високопосадовцями є однією з вимог закону «Про запобігання корупції». Перший етап подання електронних декларацій завершився наприкінці жовтня 2016 року. Друга хвиля електронного декларування почалася 1 січня 2017 року і тривала до 1 квітня для службових і посадових осіб, які працюють в органах влади та місцевого самоврядування, у державних та комунальних установах, закладах і організаціях. 23 березня парламент ухвалив закон про необхідність електронного декларування також для антикорупційних активістів. Прихильники закону наголошують, що борці з корупцією мали б бути чисті перед законом, і в такому разі електронне декларування нічим їм не загрожує. 27 березня президент України Петро Порошенко підписав зміни до закону щодо електронного декларування після зустрічі з громадськими активістами щодо цього документа. При цьому він заявив, що запропонує внести зміни до тих пунктів документа, які критикують. В Адміністрації президента повідомили, що оскільки зобов’язання для заповнення електронних декларацій представниками громадських організацій з’являється лише з 2018 року, сторони домовилися створити робочу групу з метою опрацювання узгоджених змін до цього закону. …
Author of Google Diversity Memo Files Labor Complaint After Firing
A former Google software engineer, who wrote an internal memo criticizing the company’s diversity policies, has filed a labor complaint, saying he was wrongfully fired. In a statement emailed to news agencies, James Damore said he filed the complaint with the National Labor Relations Board prior to his termination and that, “It’s illegal to retaliate against the NLRB charge.” Damore said he was subjected to “coercive statements” while working at Google. According to the Associated Press, a Google spokesperson said the company could not have retaliated against Damore because it was not aware of the complaint until hearing about it in the news media after he was dismissed. Damore caused an uproar after the website Gizmodo published a leaked copy of the memo he wrote, encouraging Google to “treat people as individuals, not as just another member of their group,” and questioning the effectiveness of diversity programs at the company. Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive officer, criticized Damore’s memo in an email for “advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.” In the 10-page internal memo, titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” Damore asserted that fewer women are employed in the technology field because they “prefer jobs in social and artistic areas,” while men are more inclined to become computer programmers — a fact he said was due to “biological causes.” Danielle Brown, Google’s new vice president for diversity, integrity and governance, said the memo “advanced incorrect assumptions about gender” and promotes a viewpoint not encouraged by the company. “Part of building …
Cholera Threatens to Sweep Across South Sudan During Rainy Season
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling for rapid action to prevent a cholera epidemic in South Sudan from spiraling out of control as the rainy season in the country progresses. More than 18,000 cases of cholera, including 328 deaths have been reported in South Sudan since June 2016. The International Organization for Migration warns the number of cases and deaths is likely to grow as the rainy season this year will leave as much as 60 percent of the country inaccessible by road. IOM spokeswoman, Olivia Headon, tells VOA a combination of factors including the ongoing crisis, the rainy season and the movement of displaced people across the country is making it extremely difficult to contain this deadly disease. “So, if you are maybe infected with cholera or someone in your family if you come in contact with this and then you move to a different part of the country, you are also bringing the infection with you,” she said. “We hope that it does not spiral out of control and IOM with other partners in the U.N. and NGO [non-governmental organization] implementers on the ground are working so it does not.” IOM reports the scale of needs in this conflict-ridden country is unprecedented, with more than 7.5 million people dependent on humanitarian aid. The agency says disease outbreaks, such as cholera, are particularly dangerous for displaced and vulnerable populations. This includes children under five, thousands of whom are severely acutely malnourished and at risk of dying without …
US Push for Freer NAFTA e-commerce Meets Growing Resistance
A U.S. proposal for Mexico and Canada to vastly raise the value of online purchases that can be imported duty-free from stores like Amazon.com and eBay is emerging as a flashpoint in an upcoming renegotiation of the NAFTA trade deal. Vulnerable industries like footwear, textiles and bricks and mortar retail in Mexico and Canada are pushing back hard against the proposal by the U.S. trade representative to raise Mexican and Canadian duty-free import limits for e-commerce to the U.S. level of $800, from current thresholds of $50 and C$20, respectively. For the Mexicans, the main worry is that such a move could open a back door for cheap imports from Asia and beyond. For Canadian retailers, the fear is that e-commerce companies will undercut their prices. The U.S. plan was unveiled in July as part of the Trump administration’s goals to renegotiate the 25-year-old treaty. While Mexico and Canada are still formulating their responses, Mexico City is leaning strongly against the proposal in its current form, and Ottawa may not be far behind. The proposed $800 level “opens a completely unnecessary door” to imports from outside the NAFTA trading bloc, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Thursday on the sidelines of a NAFTA-related event, calling it “a very sensitive topic.” The growing controversy over how to account for a burgeoning regional e-commerce sector dominated by the United States highlights a rare area where the Trump administration is pushing to liberalize trade rules rather than tightening them. Much of Trump’s …
WHO in Myanmar Says Swine Flu Outbreak Not an ‘Unusual Event’
The World Health Organization in Myanmar says a recent outbreak of H1N1 in the country is not unusual for the time of the year, and while there may be more cases in the future the available data suggests it is not a cause for panic. Myanmar’s state media reported on Wednesday that since July 21 there have been 166 confirmed cases and 17 deaths from the virus, known commonly as swine flu after a global pandemic in 2009 was found to have originated in infected pigs. The respiratory infection is now considered a normal human flu. Seasonal event Dr. Stephan Paul Jost, WHO’s country representative in Myanmar, said in an interview the consensus based on the evidence so far is that “this is a seasonal event, it’s a seasonal influenza, and there are likely to be also more cases because it is seasonal. And it is not in itself a cause for alarm.” “Influenza of course can be a serious disease and people can also die from it,” he added. “It happens in every country in the world in the flu season and sometimes even outside it.” The damp and slightly cooler conditions of Myanmar’s rainy season are also favorable for the influenza virus. But Jost said the numbers are generally in line with what WHO is seeing in countries in the region. “It is not in itself an unusual event. Of course we are keeping a close eye on it,” he said. Monitoring Dr. Than Htun Aung, the deputy director …
Уряд підвищує мінімальні ціни на алкоголь в Україні
Кабінет міністрів ухвалив постанову, якою підвищує як гуртову, так і роздрібну ціну на окремі алкогольні напої. Про це йдеться на сайті уряду. Зокрема, як зазначається, роздрібні ціни на горілку та лікеро-горілчані вироби планується збільшити на 14,0-19,41%; віскі, ром та джин – на 6,5-6,6%; коньяк (бренді) – на 12,3-29,1%; вина з додаванням спирту, ігристі – на 7,1-13,3%. Таким чином Кабмін має намір боротись із контрафактом. «До Мінекономрозвитку надійшли чисельні звернення учасників ринку, які наголошували, що чинні мінімальні ціни не покривають їхні операційні витрати. Внаслідок цього, на думку асоціацій виробників алкогольної продукції, послаблюється конкуренція з боку легальних виробників і збільшується частка недобросовісних виробників. Це відбувається, тому що такі компанії можуть скорочувати свої операційні витрати шляхом придбання необлікованого спирту, використання сурогатних речовин, ухилення від сплати податків, виробництва контрафактної продукції, тощо», – йдеться у повідомленні. Уряд уточнює, що теперішні мінімальні ціни на алкоголь були встановлені у листопаді 2016-му, але цього року зросли ставки акцизного податку. Підвищенню цін на алкоголь передували повідомлення про отруєння сурогатним алкоголем в кількох регіонах України у вересні минулого року року. За даними Державної служби з питань безпечності харчових продуктів і захисту споживачів, станом на 28 листопада 2016-го 150 людей отруїлися через вживання неякісного алкоголю, з них – 73 померли. …
Trump Vows US Will ‘Win’ in Fight Against Opioid Crisis
U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States had no alternative but to defeat an epidemic of opioid drug use, which kills more than 100 Americans daily. Speaking from New Jersey, Trump promised measures to combat the “scurge,” including tougher prosecution of drug-related crimes, better controls at the southern U.S. border. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has a report. …
Scientists Find Potential Building Block of Life on Titan
When astronomers look for life, they generally look for water. The saying goes that where there is water, there is life. But some NASA researchers think we may be able to expand that saying to include any liquid, even the methane lakes on Saturn’s moon, Titan. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Transgender Kids Blossom in Summer Camp Just for Them
Many summer camps in the U.S. focus on a single activity – baseball, computers. Many target specific groups – Jewish or Christian camps. Some are available for children with physical disabilities. According to the VOA’s Faith Lapidus, a camp in California is serving a growing population: transgender children, aged four to twelve-years-old. …