Maribel Resendiz and her husband came to the U.S. from Mexico, sold cool drinks to workers in the tomato fields of South Florida and eventually opened a bustling shop in a strip mall offering fruit smoothies and tacos. Now she is preparing for the possibility she’ll have to leave it all behind. Resendiz, who is not a legal U.S. resident, recently turned over control of the business in Florida City to her daughter, a citizen. The once-proud shop owner is so afraid of deportation these days that on a recent morning she was keeping out of sight of customers while her husband was not there at all. “I am afraid the police will stop me, call immigration, and they will take me away to Mexico,” Resendiz said while cutting fruit for smoothies. The couple, who came to the United States in 1992 and have not become legal residents, are among a growing number of business owners with the same status who are scrambling to get their affairs in order amid a crackdown on illegal immigration under President Donald Trump. As many as 10 percent of the 11 million or so immigrants in the United States without legal residency own businesses in the country by some estimates, and many are selling their enterprises, transferring them to relatives or closing altogether to avoid a total loss if they are abruptly deported. They include people like Mauro Hernandez, a native of Mexico who operates a small chicken takeout and delivery restaurant along immigrant-heavy …
Rural America Braces for Labor Shortages After Immgration Crackdown
A rural county in Pennsylvania is facing the consequences of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, as businesses in the agricultural-based economy experience labor shortages. Some orchard owners and local pro-immigrant activists are lobbying state and federal lawmakers to raise awareness of the contributions by immigrants in a county that voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump in November. Bill Rodgers has this report on what is happening in Adams County, Pennsylvania. …
Simple Concoction Found to Halt Fall Armyworm
A farmers’ group in South Sudan’s Imotong state says it has found a way to combat the dreaded fall armyworm, which has devastated crops across the state. Robert Lokang, leader of the Bidaya Farm association, says he regularly sprays his crops with a concoction of tree leaves, ash, powdered soap and water. The all-natural formula is designed to kill the armyworms while not harming the plants. It’s not a new invention – Lokang says he learned it decades ago as a child, when his father used the same concoction to ward off pests. He says about a year ago, the NGO Care International showed local farmers how to use the mixture as a replacement for pesticides. He says his group decided to try it on the fall armyworm and it worked. Fall armyworms, which are native to the Americas, have spread across Africa since 2015, raising alarm among farmers and agriculture officials. The pests thrive in warm and humid climates, travel great distances quickly, and devour maize, cotton, sorghum, and vegetable crops. They were first detected in South Sudan in June, although they could have arrived earlier. Lokang says he suffered severe financial losses last season after fall armyworms tore into his eggplants, tomatoes, onions and cabbages. “They are eating the leaves and other insects. They also destroy the roots and the ones we transplant when the fruit is ready, they also get rotten,” Lokang told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. Lokang’s concoction is fairly simple to …
Зубко: 70% житлового фонду готові до опалювального сезону
Більше двох третин житлового фонду України готові до проходження цьогорічного опалювального сезону, заявив віце-прем’єр-міністр та міністр регіонального розвитку Геннадій Зубко на тематичній селекторній нараді 17 серпня. Про це повідомляється на урядовому сайті. За словами Зубка, технічну підготовку об’єктів соціальної сфери планують завершити до 1 серпня, а житлових будинків – до 15 вересня. «Підготовка до опалювального сезону на контролі Уряду і відбувається згідно з планом-графіком. Створені і працюють регіональні штаби. По об’єктах соціальної сфери вже підготовлено 80,3% – шкіл, 81% – дитсадків та 70,1% – лікарень», – зазначив віце-прем’єр. Окрім того, Зубко повідомив, що станом на 1 серпня більше 70% будинків мають лічильники тепла. За інформацією урядовця, найбільша кількість оснащених будинків приладами обліку теплової енергії у Миколаївській, Полтавській, Рівненській, Херсонській, Хмельницькій, Черкаській і Чернігівській областях, а найменше – на Донеччині, Луганшині та Тернопільщині. …
Wonder Women of Bodybuilding: Getting Pumped Up About Weightlifting
They’re muscular, fit, and in much better physical shape than most people. They’re competitive body builders, and many of them in the U.S. are women, something that was evident at a recent Washington-area competition called the OCB Presidential Cup. At that event, three-quarters of the competitors were women. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi hit the gym and a few places you might not expect in this report on what it takes to make it in the world of competitive bodybuilding. …
Physicist Writes Science Books for Toddlers and Babies
Reading to children is one of the best ways to prepare them for a lifetime of learning. It introduces babies to language and teaches youngsters about colors, shapes and letters. But an Australian quantum physicist is experimenting with something different. He’s writing science books for babies and toddlers. Faiza Elmasry has the story. Faith Lapidus narrates. …
Pakistan Railway Revival Clashes With Shanty Towns
After many false starts, plans to resurrect a railway in Pakistan’s teeming metropolis of Karachi are moving ahead with the help of Chinese cash. Not everyone is happy. The Chinese-funded $2 billion project to revive Karachi Circular Railways (KRC), nearly two decades since it was shut down, has been touted as a way to ease pollution and chronic congestion in the port city of 20 million people. It is also viewed with suspicion by Pakistanis who have built homes and businesses along the 43-km route connecting Karachi’s sprawling suburbs with the industrial and commercial areas of the megacity. In April, a push to remove shanty towns near the rubbish-strewn railway track was met with violence as residents clashed with police and set fire to machinery used for demolishing homes. Officials say nearly 5,000 houses and 7,650 other encroaching structures have been erected along the route of the old KRC, which closed in 1999 after 29 years of shunting passengers across the sweltering city. Three-wheel auto-rickshaws and mini-buses, often cramped and with no air conditioning, have filled the transport gap on Karachi’s streets despite grumbling from commuters. Work on the new KRC is scheduled to begin later this year, with financing from the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, part of Beijing’s wider Belt and Road initiative to build trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa. Beijing’s cash is building motorways and power plants to alleviate Pakistan’s energy shortages, but Karachiites hope it could also modernize their city at …
Petrobras Argentina Sale Under Scrutiny in Brazil
Brazilian prosecutors plan to investigate last year’s controversial sale of the Argentine subsidiary of Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, a lawyer representing some Petrobras shareholders said on Wednesday. Petrobras, formally known as Petroleo Brasileiro SA , sold its 67.2 percent stake in Petrobras Argentina SA for $892 million to Pampa Energia SA, Argentina’s largest power company. The sale has already drawn scrutiny from Brazil’s Congress and a federal audit court, and lawyer Felipe Caldeira said prosecutors were now looking into it as part of Brazil’s sweeping “Car Wash” anti-corruption investigation. Caldeira, representing a group of minority Petrobras shareholders, told Reuters he spoke on Tuesday to prosecutors on a task force in Curitiba leading the Car Wash probe and gave them information on the sale. “They are very interested and will investigate this,” said Caldeira, who filed a civil case in a Rio de Janeiro court in May alleging that the sale fetched a below-market price and was harmful to the interests of minority shareholders. Federal prosecutors in Curitiba said the task force had not met with Caldeira but said that any relevant information about the case would be studied. Petrobras bought the Argentine unit from energy conglomerate Perez Companc in 2002 for $1 billion, plus $2 billion in debt. The sale 14 years later for much less sparked controversy in Brazil and led lawmakers to call on Petrobras and Pampa executives, and lawyer Caldeira, to testify before a committee hearing on Wednesday. The controversy has grown since, Aldemir Bendine, chief …
As Rural Sri Lanka Dries Out, Young Farmers Look for Job Options
Scorched by a 10-month drought that has killed crops and reduced residents to buying trucked-in water, Adigama’s young people are voting with their feet. At least 150 youth have left this agricultural village 170 kilometers northwest of Sri Lanka’s capital since the drought began, looking for jobs in the country’s cities, or overseas, village officials say. Few are expected to come back, even when the rains end. “If they get the lowest-paying job overseas, or in a garment factory, they will not return,” Sisira Kumara, the main government administrative officer in the village of 416 families, said as he walked through a dried and long-abandoned maize plot. “They will work at construction sites or as office helpers — anything they can get their hands on.” W.M. Suranga, 23, who left his family’s withering rice paddy six months ago for Colombo, said working for low wages in the city is preferable to struggling with no rain at home. “At least I am sure of a paycheck at the end of the month. This uncertainly of depending on the rains is too much of a risk,” he said. As Sri Lanka struggles with its worst drought in 40 years, farmers in the hardest-hit areas are migrating for work — with some wondering whether farming remains a viable career as climate change brings more frequent extreme weather. “There is no income here. All the crops have failed in the last four seasons,” Kumara said. Little to harvest for a year Paddy rice and …
Landmark UN Mercury Treaty Takes Effect
A landmark global treaty aimed at keeping millions safe from the horrors of mercury poisoning took effect Wednesday. The 2013 Minamata Convention was named for the Japanese bay from which mercury-tainted fish left thousands of people with severe brain damage in 1956. Industrial wastewater had been dumped into the bay for more than 20 years. So far, 128 countries have signed the treaty and 74 have ratified it. “The Minamata Convention shows that our global work to protect our planet and its people can continue to bring nations together,” UN environmental chief Erik Solheim said Wednesday. “We did it for the ozone layer and now we’re doing it for mercury, just as we need to do it for climate change.” Mercury was commonly used in batteries, fluorescent lights, felt production, thermometers and barometers. These uses have been phased out. The treaty requires governments to stop mercury mining, continue to cut mercury use in industry and slash emissions. Mercury is an extremely poisonous metal that never breaks down. Contact with it attacks the nervous system and can cause brain damage, severe emotional problems, coma and even death. Children are especially at risk. Mercury forms naturally in the environment, but is also man-made for industrial uses. “There is no safe level of exposure to mercury nor are there cures for mercury poisoning,” the U.N. says. Governments that signed the treaty must also meet tough conditions for storing and safely disposing mercury waste. …
Catch Solar Eclipse Online or on TV
Ronald Dantowitz has been looking forward to Monday’s solar eclipse for nearly 40 years. An astronomer who specializes in solar imaging, he’s been photographing eclipses for more than three decades, and will be using 14 cameras to capture the August 21 event. The cameras have solar filters to capture the eclipse in its partial phases, along with custom modifications that can photograph the corona and light wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye, allowing scientists to view and study the sun’s temperature and composition in a way only possible during a total eclipse, he said. Dantowitz, who is based at Dexter Southfield School in Brookline, Massachusetts, is lending his expertise to NOVA’s Eclipse Over America, airing at 9 p.m. EDT Monday on PBS. That hourlong special, which will incorporate his images, is among extensive coverage planned on TV and online of the first solar eclipse to cross the United States in 99 years. Still, witnessing totality — when the sun is completely obscured by the moon — is best done with the naked eye, not a camera, Dantowitz said, adding that the total eclipse is safe to view without special lenses. (NASA warns that, except for the totality period, looking directly at the sun is unsafe; the only safe way to look directly at an uneclipsed or partly eclipsed sun is through special solar filters, or “eclipse glasses.”) “Enjoying totality by eye is more rewarding,” he said. “There is much to see: stars during the daytime, the million-degree solar …
Study: Simple Therapy Eases Effects of Violence Against Women
An intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was found to be more effective than traditional therapy in helping women struggling with depression or anxiety after experiencing gender-based violence, research shows. It is estimated that more than a third of women around the world have been exposed to such violence, which includes rape, sexual assault and intimate partner violence. The intervention, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help anyone facing adversity, had already been proven effective for Pakistanis struggling emotionally after exposure to terrorism. Psychologist Richard Bryant at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, developed the program with colleagues there and others from WHO and the World Vision Institute. To test its effectiveness, 421 women in Nairobi, Kenya, were treated with either five sessions of the CBT program administered by a lay health care worker, or were referred to area health care centers for standard treatment administered by nurses. The nurses had four more years of education than the lay workers, who had no previous experience with mental health care. A program simple enough for lay volunteers to administer is important in areas with little mental health infrastructure. Reducing symptoms The study, published Tuesday in PLOS Medicine, found that women who received the CBT treatment showed 20 percent fewer anxious and depressive symptoms five weeks after the end of treatment than the control group, and 45 percent fewer than they did before treatment. Following this work, WHO will begin distributing the treatment more broadly to …
Trump Dissolves Business Advisory Councils After CEOs Quit in Protest
U.S. President Donald Trump continues to face a barrage of criticism for his contention that both white supremacists and counterprotesters were to blame for the deadly violence that erupted last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Wednesday, the president announced that he had dissolved two business advisory committees made up of top American corporate executives, after at least seven CEOs announced they were resigning from the councils because of his remarks. Trump said that “rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople … I am ending both. Thank you all!” A day ago, Trump had branded those quitting the panels as “grandstanders” and said they could be easily replaced with more corporate chieftains. In announcing her resignation from Trump’s manufacturing jobs initiative before he disbanded it, Campbell’s Soup CEO Denise Morrison said, “Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottestville. I believe the president should have been — and still needs to be — unambiguous on that point.” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Washington, D.C., that he condemns the “hate and violence” displayed on Saturday in Charlottesville, adding, “There is just simply no place for that in our public discourse.” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, speaking at an event in Miami, Florida, said, “In no way can we accept [or] apologize for racism, bigotry, hatred, violence, and those kind of things that too often arise in our country.” Also Wednesday, two former U.S. presidents, George H.W. Bush and …
Ireland Rejects EU’s Demand to Collect Billions From Apple
Ireland’s finance minister rejected the European Commission’s demand that it retroactively collect 13 billion euros in taxes from Apple, saying this was not Dublin’s job in an interview with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) newspaper. In the interview, extracts from which the FAZ published on Wednesday, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the tax rules from which Apple benefited had been available to all and not tailored for the U.S. technology giant. They did not violate European or Irish law, he added. “We are not the global tax collector for everybody else,” the paper quoted him as saying. The European Commission last year ruled that Apple paid so little tax on its Ireland-based operations that it amounted to state aid. …
Trump Renews Twitter Criticism of Amazon
President Donald Trump is renewing his attacks on e-commerce giant Amazon, and he says the company is “doing great damage to tax paying retailers.” Trump tweets that “towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt — many jobs being lost!” The president has often criticized the company and CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post. Many traditional retailers are closing stores and blaming Amazon for a shift to buying goods online. But the company has been hiring thousands of warehouse workers on the spot at job fairs across the country. Amazon has announced goal of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year. …
Defector: UN Sanctions Would Play Havoc With North Korean Economy
The impact of the latest round of U.N. sanctions leveled against North Korea could be greater than the projected $1 billion cut in its export revenue if fully implemented, a high-profile North Korean defector told VOA’s Korean Service, and this would deal a significant financial blow to a regime intent on advancing its nuclear and missile programs. “The new U.N. restrictions are perhaps the strongest sanctions ever imposed on Pyongyang because they demand a complete shutoff of markets for its most lucrative exports,” said Ri Jong Ho, who previously served various high-level roles in central agencies of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, overseeing the country’s overall production and trade and replenishing the Kim regime’s foreign currency reserves. “They certainly could threaten the Kim Jong Un regime’s lifeline.” In response to North Korea’s two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed another round of sanctions earlier this month — the seventh since the regime’s first nuclear weapons test in 2006. Many experts in Washington welcomed the measure, calling it the biggest diplomatic victory of the Trump administration, which has been seeking to build international pressure on North Korea. “I think the latest U.N. resolution is yet another good, incremental step toward increasing pressure on North Korea,” said Bruce Klingner with the Heritage Foundation Asian Study Center. “Each U.N. resolution is better than its predecessor and each one is the strongest in history against North Korea.” The sanctions call for, among other things, a total ban …
Податковий борг «Укрнафти» у червні склав 13,2 мільярди гривень – компанія
Борг «Укрнафти» перед бюджетом станом на кінець червня склав 13,2 мільярди гривень, повідомила прес-служба компанії 16 серпня. ««Укрнафта» продовжує нарощувати податкові відрахування до бюджетів усіх рівнів. У період з січня по липень 2017 року компанія погасила податкові платежі на суму 6,5 мільярди гривень, що на 2,4 мільярди гривень вище, ніж за аналогічний період минулого року. За липень компанія перерахувала до бюджету 816,3 мільйони. Компанія продовжує в повному обсязі виконувати поточні податкові зобов’язання, при цьому сума «історичної» податкової заборгованості не змінилася з початку року», – заявляють у компанії. Як повідомляла у червні «Економічна правда», посилаючись на дані Державної фіскальної служби, борг «Укрнафти» зростає і вже досягнув на той момент 12,9 мільярда гривень. «Левова частка – це заборгованість по рентних платежах. Її сума – 11 мільярдів гривень», – сказав виданню голова офісу великих платників податків ДФС Євген Бамбізов. У серпні, за даними видання Oil news, борг підприємства становить 13,2 мільярда. Одним із акціонерів ПАТ «Укрнафта» є НАК «Нафтогаз України», що володіє пакетом акцій у розмірі 50 відсотків плюс одна акція його статутного капіталу. Другим за величиною акціонером ПАТ є структури, пов’язані з бізнесменом Ігорем Коломойський. …
US, Mexico and Canada Launching NAFTA Renegotiation Talks
The United States, Mexico and Canada are opening negotiations Wednesday to reform the North American Free Trade Agreement, a 1994 trade deal that was a major target in U.S. President Donald Trump’s run for office. Trump has called NAFTA “the worst trade deal in history,” and one that has unfairly swollen the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico while allowing manufacturing jobs to migrate there. Addressing the imbalance is a key U.S. goal in the talks, along with seeking to do away with a dispute mechanism the three countries use to resolve disagreements. Negotiators will use multiple sessions to try to come up with reforms, with the aim of finishing their work before the end of the year. If the process stretches into 2018, there are concerns it could be complicated by a presidential election in Mexico and U.S. congressional elections. Mexico and Canada Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said ahead of the talks, “We are looking forward to a productive, constructive conversation.” She spoke alongside Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal before a meeting in Washington Tuesday. “I have always said that the negotiators cannot be unoptimistic, has to be realistic with a positive approach,” Villarreal said. A U.S. trade official who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity said the U.S. is seeking a “more balanced, reciprocal trade agreement that supports high-paying jobs for Americans and grows the U.S. economy.” Vow to cause no harm Gary Hufbauer, an economist with the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics …
Держпідприємство «Антонов» очолить Олександр Кривоконь – Укроборонпром
Виконувачем обов’язків голови державного підприємства «Антонов» став Олександр Кривоконь, повідомили 16 серпня на сайті концерну «Укроборонпром», куди входить це підприємство. «Підставою для такого кадрового рішення стала успішна робота Олександра Кривоконя на посаді директора Харківського Державного Авіаційного Виробничого Підприємства (ХДАВП), що входить до складу ДК «Укроборонпром». За півроку своєї діяльності Олександр Кривоконь успішно реалізував на ХДАВП антикризову стратегію, що дало змогу здійснити перші кроки для реанімації провідного Харківського підприємства та забезпечити його замовленнями», – йдеться у повідомленні. За інформацією «Укроборонпрому», раніше Олександр Кривоконь обіймав керівні посади на«Південному машинобудівному заводі імені Макарова», «Заводі імені Малишева», корпорації «Гірничі машини» (нині – «Corum group») та ін. 15 серпня в «Укроборонпромі» повідомили, що президент держпідприємства «Антонов» Олександр Коцюба йде у відставку, щоб повернутися у приватний бізнес. Напередодні журналісти програми «Схеми» (спільний проект Радіо Свобода та телеканалу «UA:Перший») повідомили, що Олександр Коцюба у 2016 році отримував від держпідприємства «Антонов» близько 14 тисяч гривень (500 доларів) на добу у відрядженні. За даними журналістів, чиновник задекларував 1 мільйон 408 тисяч 293 гривень як дохід від перерахування добових, у 2016 році він провів за кордоном близько ста днів. У цю суму не входять витрати на перельоти та на готелі, які покривались окремо, зазначають журналісти. У відповіді на інформаційний запит Коцюба пояснив, що попри те, що норми добових, затверджені Кабміном, складають 50–70 євро, він отримував надбавки до добових витрат на відрядження за рахунок чистого прибутку підприємства, що передбачено колективним договором – так і сформувалася значна сума. Під час особистого спілкування із журналістами Олександр Коцюба зазначив, що витрачав кошти «на виконання функцій і …
Trade Talks: Key Issues in the NAFTA Renegotiations
Negotiators from Canada, Mexico and the United States will kick off an ambitious first round of trade talks Wednesday as the countries try to fast-track a deal to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement by early next year. The key issues facing negotiators include: RULES OF ORIGIN: NAFTA says that in order for a good to be traded duty-free within the three countries, it must contain a certain percentage of North American content, which differs for various products. The rule of origin is most contentious in the auto industry; cars must contain at least 62.5 percent American, Canadian or Mexican content. The United States wants to increase the content threshold for NAFTA goods in a bid to return manufacturing jobs to the United States, and the auto industry has conceded that the rules should be updated to account for auto components that did not exist when the original deal was signed. Canada has said it is prepared to discuss some strengthening of rule of origin in the auto sector, but that any change must apply equally to all three countries. Mexico is willing to look at strengthening rules, but warns that going too far will make the region less competitive. DISPUTE RESOLUTION: The United States has sought to ditch the so-called Chapter 19 tool, under which binational panels hear complaints about illegal subsidies and dumping and then issue binding decisions. The United States has frequently lost such cases since NAFTA came into effect in 1994, and the mechanism has …
Україна наростила запаси газу у сховищах до 14 мільярдів кубів – Білявський
Україна збільшила запаси газу у підземних сховищах до 14 мільярдів кубів, повідомив радник міністра енергетики і вугільної промисловості Максим Білявський. «Запаси газу в сховищах продовжують зростати, сьогодні перетнули позначку в 14 мільярдів кубів. Менше ніж за місяць закачали один мільярд», – написав він у Facebook. Раніше міністр енергетики і вугільної промисловості Ігор Насалик заявив про плани нагромадження на 1 жовтня 2017 року 17 мільярдів кубометрів для проходження опалювального сезону 2017–2018 років. При підготовці до минулого опалювального періоду профільне міністерство також наполягало на необхідності нагромадити 17 мільярдів кубометрів газу, але керівництво «Нафтогазу України» запевняло, що 14,5 мільярда кубометрів буде цілком достатньо. У результаті, в опалювальний сезон 2016–2017 років Україна ввійшла із запасами «блакитного палива» на рівні 14,7 і завершила сезон на рівні 8,4 мільярда кубометрів. …
Philippines to Send Troops to Halt Bird Flu’s Spread
The Philippines will deploy hundreds of troops to hasten the culling of about 600,000 fowl, the farm minister said Wednesday, as part of efforts to rein in the Southeast Asian nation’s first outbreak of bird flu. There has been no case of human transmission after the flu was detected on a farm in the province of Pampanga, about 75 km (47 miles) north of the capital Manila, but it has spread to about 36 other farms and nearly 40,000 birds have died. Troops to be sent “I have asked the Philippine army to provide us with additional warm bodies to help us in depopulating the farms,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol told a news conference. “Six hundred thousand is no mean job. Our personnel are facing a difficult task and we lack people.” Pinol said the government had about 200 men in the area, but fewer than 20,000 birds had been culled since the outbreak was reported. Brigadier-General Rodel Mairo Alarcon said at least 300 soldiers would be sent to the province Thursday to assist in the cull of chicken, quail and ducks. “The Philippines army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines is 100 percent in support of this effort,” Alarcon said. Soldiers will be given protective gear and doses of Tamiflu to guard them against possible infection. Specific strain unknown Two sick farm workers from the area have tested negative for the virus, health ministry spokesman Eric Tayag said. Although the health ministry has yet to identify the specific …
Arctic’s Epic Mosquito Swarms May Get Worse with Climate Change
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Across the tundra, the rapid changes are affecting creatures large and small. That includes the ferocious Arctic mosquito and the caribou it torments. It’s a snapshot of how climate change is rippling through entire ecosystems around the world. VOA’s Steve Baragona reports. …
After Years of Decline, Teen Overdose Deaths Rise
After years of decline, teen deaths from drug overdoses have inched up, a new U.S. government report shows. The drop in teen deaths had been a rare bright spot in the opioid epidemic that has seen adult overdose deaths surge year after year, fueled by abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin and newer drugs like fentanyl. “This is a warning sign that we need to keep paying attention to what’s happening with young people,” said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University expert on drug abuse issues who wasn’t part of the study. What’s not clear is why It’s not clear why teen overdose deaths increased in 2015 or whether the trend will continue, said lead researcher Sally Curtin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC released the report Wednesday focusing on adolescents ages 15 to 19. The overdose death rate rose to 3.7 per 100,000 teens in 2015, from 3.1 in 2014. Most of the deaths were accidental and were mainly caused by heroin, researchers found. Clearly, drug overdoses have been a far smaller problem in teens than in adults. Tens of thousands of adults die from overdoses each year compared to about 700 to 800 teens. Another difference: Unlike adults, teen overdose deaths have not been climbing every year. Teen overdoses were down To their surprise, CDC researchers found that teen overdose deaths actually fell after 2008, and dropped as low as about 3 per 100,000 during 2012 through 2014. The drop tracks with previously reported declines …