In 2017, China’s Xi Jinping rose to become the country’s most powerful leader in decades. And as he shoulders more responsibility, analysts say the government in Beijing is likely to take more risks in 2018 at home and overseas, even as it deals with economic challenges at home, a nuclear North Korea and the looming threat of trade tensions with the United States. VOA’s Bill Ide has this report. …
Scientists Experience Mars on Earth in Utah
For those interested in experiencing life on the Red Planet, the time has come. There are four operating stations in the world where the environment on Mars is replicated: in the U.S., Australia, Iceland and the Arctic. VOA’s Alex Yanevskyy was given exclusive access to the research station in the Utah dessert. Here’s his report. …
Bike Sharing Business Brings Competition from China
Silicon Valley has long inspired Chinese business and tech ventures. But now that a Chinese dockless bike share company has landed in the Valley, is the tide turning? VOA’s Calla Yu has more. …
US Holiday Travel Numbers Up
Americans are traveling in record numbers this season, according to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) annual estimate, which forecasts more than 107 million will travel by road, rail or air between now and the start of 2018. Despite higher gas prices, travel volume is expected to be 3.1 percent higher than last year’s holiday season, the association said. AAA said this season marks the ninth consecutive year of rising year-end holiday travel in the United States. Since 2005, it said, holiday travel has grown by 21.6 million, an increase of 25 percent. The majority of travelers, 97.4 million, will make their way to their destinations by road, while 6.4 million people are expected to fly to see family and friends or to take holiday vacations. Only 3.6 million are expected to take to trains, buses or cruise ships for the holiday. Apparently, not all holiday travelers are making family visits. AAA said, for the second year in a row, the top destinations for holiday travel are Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California – the homes of theme parks Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Sunny destinations also make up the next seven entries on the top 10 destinations: Cancun, Mexico; Hawaii, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and several locations in Florida. The only non-beach destination on the list? No. 10, New York City. …
Видатки на діяльність Міноборони у держбюджеті наступного року зростуть на понад 24% – Кифоренко
Міністерство оборони України повідомило про зростання видатків на свою діяльність у 2018-му на 24,3% порівняно з поточним роком. Про це у п’ятницю заявив начальник управління планування бюджету департаменту фінансів міністерства Костянтин Кифоренко, зазначається на сайті уряду. «На підставі пропозицій, державним бюджетом України на 2018 рік заплановані видатки Міністерству оборони у сумі 86,6 млрд гривень (2,58 відсотка ВВП). Зокрема, 81,7 млрд гривень за загальним фондом і 4,3 млрд гривень за спеціальним», – повідомив чиновник. Загалом же на безпеку і оборону, за його словами, передбачено 170,5 мільярдів, відповідно, фінансування сектору безпеки складатиме 5,1% ВВП України. Верховна Рада України 7 грудня ухвалила в другому читанні і в цілому законопроект №7000 «Про Державний бюджет України на 2018 рік». Доходи держбюджету на 2018 рік передбачені в розмірі 913 мільярдів 613 мільйонів 702,5 тисячі гривень. Видатки передбачені в сумі 988 мільярдів 634 мільйони 334,5 тисячі гривень. На 2018 рік прожитковий мінімум на одну особу в розрахунку на місяць встановлено у розмірі з 1 січня 2018 року – 1700 гривень, з 1 липня – 1777 гривень, з 1 грудня – 1853 гривні. Мінімальна зарплата з 1 січня – 3723 гривні. …
Bitcoin’s Roller-coaster Ride May Get Wilder
What’s a bitcoin worth? Lately nobody knows for sure, but after a wild ride Friday, it’s worth a good deal less than it was Thursday. After losses over the last few days, the digital currency fell as much as 30 percent overnight in Asia, and the action became so frenzied that the website Coinbase suspended trading. It later made up much of that ground, and slumped 9.5 percent to $14,042 Friday, according to the tracking site CoinDesk. Experts are warning that bitcoin is a bubble about to burst, but things might get crazier before it does: A lot of people have heard of bitcoin by now, but very few people own it. “Bubbles burst when the last buyers are in,” said Brett Ewing, chief market strategist for First Franklin. “Who are the last buyers? The general public, unfortunately.” 1,000 people own 40 percent Ewing said 40 percent of bitcoin belongs to just 1,000 people, and hedge funds and other major investors are going to start buying it soon. But those funds may buy bitcoin and also protect themselves by placing bets that it will fall. Retail investors may just buy it only to see it fall. “I think investors should approach it with caution and I think many people will dive into it not understanding what it is,” he said. As bitcoin skyrocketed this month, the volume of trading was unprecedented as investors hoping to catch a ride up piled in. Prices have risen so fast, the fall on Friday …
Tribe Will Move From Shrinking Island to Louisiana Farm
Louisiana officials have chosen a sugar cane farm as the next home for residents of a tiny, shrinking island, a move funded with a 2016 federal grant awarded to help relocate communities fleeing the effects of climate change. Dozens of Isle de Jean Charles residents are to be relocated about 40 miles (64 kilometers) to the northwest, in Terrebonne Parish, Nola.com|The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate report. The state is negotiating to purchase the 515-acre (208-hectare) tract, which is closer to stores, schools and health care — and which is less flood-prone than the island, which has been battered by hurricanes and tropical storms. Louisiana’s Office of Community Development expects to finalize the purchase in the coming weeks. “Everybody seems to think it’ll be a pretty quick property negotiation,” said Mathew Sanders, the community development office’s resilience program manager. Construction on the new settlement could begin in late 2018 or early 2019, meaning island residents most likely will have to endure at least one more hurricane season before moving. Last year, Isle de Jean Charles became the first community in the U.S. to receive federal assistance for a large-scale retreat from the effects of climate change. About $48 million was allotted to purchase land, build homes and move the island’s approximately 80 full-time residents. Tribe’s area mostly gone Isle de Jean Charles is home to members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe. It has lost 98 percent of its area since 1955. Causes include erosion, sinking of coastal land, and Mississippi …
Indonesian Health Officials Launch Diphtheria Vaccination Campaign
In the face of a diphtheria outbreak in parts of Indonesia, authorities have embarked on an immunization drive to slow the advance of the dangerous respiratory disease. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. Faith Lapidus narrates. …
NASA Astronaut, 1st to Fly Untethered in Space, Dies at 80
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless, the first person to fly freely and untethered in space, has died. He was 80. He was famously photographed in 1984 flying with a hefty spacewalker’s jetpack, alone in the cosmic blackness above a blue Earth. He traveled more than 300 feet away from the space shuttle Challenger during the spacewalk. “The iconic photo of Bruce soaring effortlessly in space has inspired generations of Americans to believe that there is no limit to the human potential,” Sen. John McCain said in a statement. The Arizona Republican and McCandless were classmates at the U.S. Naval Academy. NASA’s Johnson Space Center said Friday that McCandless died Thursday in California. No cause of death was given. McCandless said he wasn’t nervous about the historic spacewalk. “I was grossly over-trained. I was just anxious to get out there and fly. I felt very comfortable … It got so cold my teeth were chattering and I was shivering, but that was a very minor thing,” he told the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, in 2006. During that flight, McCandless and fellow astronaut Robert L. Stewart pioneered the use of NASA’s backpack device that allowed astronauts walking in space to propel themselves from the shuttle. Stewart became the second person to fly untethered two hours after McCandless. “I’d been told of the quiet vacuum you experience in space, but with three radio links saying, ‘How’s your oxygen holding out?’ ‘Stay away from the engines!’ ‘When’s my turn?’ it wasn’t that peaceful,” McCandless …
Homegrown African Climate Model Predicts Future Rains — and Risks
One big problem confronts Africa as it tries to predict how its weather patterns will shift in the face of climate change: Almost all the climate models for the continent were created in the United States or Europe. Now South African climate researcher Francois Engelbrecht has changed that by developing a climate model for Africa, in Africa. The model aims to “generate reliable projections of future climate change over Africa,” said Engelbrecht, the chief researcher for climate studies, modeling and environmental health at South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Those projections include figuring out which areas will get more or less rainfall — “a key to adapting agriculture successfully” — or looking at where African grasslands might give way to thickets as more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere drives the growth of trees. “We know that climate is changing, risks are changing, including changes in the risk of heat waves, flooding, drought, tropical cyclones, changes in growing seasons [and] rising temperatures,” said Rachel James, a visiting climate researcher at the University of Cape Town. “People everywhere will need to adapt to these changing conditions in the years and decades to come,” she told Reuters. “The problem is that we don’t know exactly what will happen in any one location. It’s challenging to predict which areas might get more rainfall and which might get less.” More detail The new African-built climate model aims to generate much more detailed and place-specific projections, to give decision makers the information they need to prepare …
Nestle Warned It Lacks Rights to California Spring Water
Nestle, which sells Arrowhead bottled water, may have to stop taking millions of gallons of water from Southern California’s San Bernardino National Forest because state regulators concluded it lacks valid permits. The State Water Resources Control Board notified the company on Wednesday that an investigation concluded it doesn’t have proper rights to pipe about three-quarters of the water it currently withdraws for bottling. “A significant portion of the water currently diverted by Nestle appears to be diverted without a valid basis of right,” the report concluded. Nestle Waters North America was urged to cut back its water withdrawals unless it can show it has valid water rights to its current sources or to additional groundwater. The company, a division of the Swiss food giant, also was given 60 days to submit an interim compliance plan. “We are disappointed by the fact that we have just received a copy of the report from the State Water Resources Control Board and that others appear to have received it much sooner,” Nestle said in a statement Thursday. “Once we have had an opportunity to review the report thoroughly, we will be in a position to respond.” The move was applauded by activists who have fought to turn off Nestle’s tap in the forest. Amanda Frye, who filed one of the complaints that prompted the investigation, said she was pleased with the result although she hadn’t read the entire report. “I feel like it’s a victory,” …
UN: Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh Face a Nutrition, Health Crisis
A nutritional survey of Rohingya refugee children at a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, found high rates of malnutrition and other debilitating, life-threatening health problems. UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac calls the survey findings alarming, saying they indicate thousands of Rohingya refugee children are facing a public health crisis. “Up to 25 percent of children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition,” Boulierac said. “This is much more than the WHO emergency threshold of 15 percent. … Half of the children, nearly half of them, have anemia. Up to 40 percent of them have diarrhea and up to 60 percent of them have acute respiratory infections.” UNICEF conducted three surveys between October 22 and November 27 of more than 1,700 newly arrived refugee children from Myanmar in refugee camps and makeshift settlements in Cox’s Bazar. Fewer than 16 percent of children in the camps are eating a diet considered barely acceptable and sufficient for their growth and development, Boulierac says. UNICEF has set up 22 outpatient treatment centers where refugee children can receive special nutritional food and clean water. An estimated 645,000 Rohingya have fled persecution and violence in Myanmar since the end of August. More than half are children. …
Bitcoin Plunges Below $12,000, Heads for Worst Week Since 2013
Bitcoin plunged by a quarter to below $12,000 on Friday as investors dumped the cryptocurrency in manic trading after its blistering ascent to a peak close to $20,000 prompted warnings by experts of a bubble. It capped a brutal week that had been touted as a new era of mainstream trading for the volatile digital currency when bitcoin futures debuted on CME Group Inc, the world’s largest derivatives market on Sunday. Friday’s steep fall bled into the U.S. stock market, where shares of companies that have recently lashed their fortunes to bitcoin or blockchain — its underlying technology — took a hard knock in early trading. The biggest and best-known cryptocurrency had seen a staggering twentyfold increase since the start of the year, climbing from less than $1,000 to as high as $19,666 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange on Sunday and to over $20,000 on other exchanges. Bitcoin has fallen each day since, with losses accelerating on Friday. In the futures market, bitcoin one-month futures on Cboe Global Markets were halted due to the steep price drop, while those trading on the CME hit the limit down threshold. In the spot market, bitcoin fell to as low as $11,159, down more than 25 percent on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, its largest one-day drop in nearly three years. For the week, it was down around a third — its worst performance since April 2013. “After its parabolic-like rally, a crash was imminent and so it has proved,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market …
Гройсман: нинішнє коливання курсу має сезонний характер
Прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман вважає, що нинішнє зниження курсу гривні сезонним. «Коливання курсу має абсолютно сезонний характер. У грудні завжди так відбувається. У січні все стабілізується», – сказав він сьогодні під час прес-конференції. У Національному банку України раніше цього тижня заявили, що фундаментальних причин для девальвації української гривні на сьогодні немає, коливання курсу обумовлене сезонними і психологічними факторами. На 22 грудня НБУ встановив офіційний курс гривні щодо долара США на рівні 27,85 гривні, водночас на початку грудня курс був на рівні 27,15 гривні. …
The Family Business is Christmas
For retailers, Christmas can be a make or break season, but for a small Czech family owned business, Christmas means it is time to start looking ahead to next Christmas. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
UN Security Council to Vote Friday on Additional North Korea Sanctions
The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote Friday on another round of targeted sanctions aimed at further restricting North Korea’s crude oil imports, which fuel its illicit weapons programs. The proposed sanctions come in response to Pyongyang’s November 28 launch of a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) called a Hwasong-15, which the North Koreans claim is capable of delivering nuclear warheads anywhere in the continental United States. It was Pyongyang’s third ICMB test this year and its 20th ballistic missile launch of 2017. The United States drafted the text and negotiated it with China. It was circulated to the wider council membership on Thursday, and a vote is scheduled Friday at 1 p.m. EST (1800 UTC). “We hope there will be a consensus and vote — the sooner, the better — and we are on board,” France’s U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, told reporters Thursday. ‘A good message’ “We support it wholeheartedly and we hope that it will be unanimous,” Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho said. “I think it will be sending a good message if we can pass it, and that’s what I think will happen.” The draft resolution, seen by VOA, seeks to cap crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels, not exceeding 4 million barrels per year. It would allow exemptions only on a case-by-case basis with Security Council approval. The text also seeks to impose a ban on 90 percent of refined petroleum products exported to North Korea, as well as on all industrial machinery …
Papa John’s Founder Out as CEO, Weeks After NFL Comments
Papa John’s founder John Schnatter will step down as CEO next month, about two months after he publicly criticized the NFL leadership over national anthem protests by football players — comments for which the company later apologized. Schnatter will be replaced as chief executive by Chief Operating Officer Steve Ritchie on Jan. 1, the company announced Thursday. Schnatter, who appears in the chain’s commercials and on its pizza boxes, and is the company’s biggest shareholder, remains chairman of the board. Earlier this year, Schnatter blamed slowing sales growth at Papa John’s — an NFL sponsor and advertiser — on the outcry surrounding players kneeling during the national anthem. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had kneeled during the national anthem to protest what he said was police mistreatment of black men, and other players started kneeling as well. “The controversy is polarizing the customer, polarizing the country,” Schnatter said during a conference call about the company’s earnings on Nov. 1. Papa John’s apologized two weeks later, after white supremacists praised Schnatter’s comments. The Louisville, Kentucky-based company distanced itself from the group, saying that it did not want them to buy their pizza. Ritchie declined to say Thursday if the NFL comments played a role in Schnatter stepping down, only saying that it’s “the right time to make this change.” Tougher competition Shares of Papa John’s are down about 13 percent since the day before the NFL comments were made, reducing the value of Schnatter’s stake in the company by …
Russia’s Globex Bank Says Hackers Targeted Its SWIFT Computers
Hackers tried to steal 55 million rubles ($940,000) from Russian state bank Globex using the SWIFT international payments messaging system, the bank said Thursday, the latest in a string of attempted cyberheists that use fraudulent wire-transfer requests. Globex President Valery Ovsyannikov told Reuters that the attempted attack occurred last week, but that “customer funds have not been affected.” The bank’s disclosure came after SWIFT, whose messaging system is used to transfer trillions of dollars each day, warned late last month that the threat of digital heists was on the rise as hackers use increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques to launch new attacks. SWIFT said in late November that hackers continued to target the SWIFT bank messaging system, though security controls instituted after last year’s $81 million heist at Bangladesh’s central bank have helped thwart many of those attempts. Sources familiar with last week’s attack on Globex said the bank had spotted the attack and been able to prevent the cybercriminals from stealing all the funds they had sought, according to a report in the Kommersant daily. The hackers withdrew only about $100,000, the report said. Globex is a part of the state development bank VEB. VEB plans to transfer Globex to the state property management agency, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters this week. SWIFT representatives declined to discuss the Globex case. “We take cybersecurity very seriously, and we investigate all threats very seriously, taking all appropriate actions to mitigate any risks and protect our services,” the group said …
Burkina Faso Pledges to End North Korea Trade
Burkina Faso said it will immediately stop importing goods from North Korea and that it only learned of possible violations of U.N. sanctions through American news reports. The West African country was the top importer of North Korean goods in Africa in 2015, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a website that collects and distributes international trade data. Speaking to VOA’s French to Africa Service, Burkina Faso’s foreign minister, Alpha Barry, said the decision to end imports from North Korea takes effect immediately. “I wrote to my colleagues in Commerce and Finance, and we found out that, from January to August 2017, we imported $7 million worth of goods,” he said, emphasizing that his government wasn’t initially aware of the goods imported from North Korea. Barry said he learned about the deals through news reports in the United States, prompting him to open an inquiry into the matter. “We also found out that in 2015 these imports reached $38 million. These imports are mostly oil products,” he said. In addition to its imports, Burkina Faso exported about $637,000 in oil seeds to North Korea in 2015, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. Burkina Faso’s decision to sever economic ties comes amid heightened scrutiny of North Korea’s business dealings. Following the rogue nation’s nuclear test in September, the U.N. passed new sanctions to restrict Pyongyang’s imports and exports. In October, the United Nations banned four ships found to be transporting North Korean goods from world ports. In one case, …
Eastern Russian Port of Nakhodka Chokes on Coal
The far eastern Russian port of Nakhodka on the Sea of Japan is swathed in coal dust. It blankets the streets, clogs the air and is blamed by some for a rise in respiratory diseases among the city’s 150,000 residents. Yet despite pledges this year by Russia President Vladimir Putin to tackle coal pollution in ports such as Nakhodka and Murmansk thousands of kilometers away near Finland, port workers and local officials don’t expect any change soon. Once mainly an entry point for cars from Japan and an export route for Russian wood and fish, Nakhodka has switched in recent years to shipping almost nothing but coal from the vast mines in the Siberian region of Kemerovo, also known as Kuzbass. Now, there are few other employment options for Nakhodka’s residents and in Kuzbass the region’s 3 million people have become ever more dependent on the far eastern ports and the export revenues coal generates. “The coal is everywhere,” said Nakhodka resident who gave his name as Ivan. “I was a sailor in the port. In winter, there was a lot of coal, the water became black, the coal was on the snow, on the ice, the ships.” Local officials say a rise in wood export duties first prompted wharves to switch to coal and the business has picked up since thanks to a rise both in coal prices and demand from Asia. Shipments of coal to Asia accounted for more than half of Russia’s total coal exports last year …
After Delays, Ground Broken for Thailand-China Railway Project
Construction of a long-awaited Thai-Chinese railway line that will link Thailand, Laos and China officially began on Thursday with a ground-breaking ceremony in the northeastern Thai province of Nakhon Ratchasima. The first phase of the project, a 250-km (155 mile) high-speed rail line linking Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima, is expected to be operational in 2021. The full line is expected to stretch 873 km (542 miles), linking Thailand and Laos at the northeastern Thai city of Nong Khai. It is part of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure drive, which aims to build a modern-day “Silk Road” connecting China to economies in Southeast and Central Asia by land and the Middle East and Europe by sea. But the Thailand project, which began in 2014 with formal talks, has been beset by delays, including disagreements over the design and funding as well as technical assistance. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday presided over a ceremony to begin construction of the first, 3.5-km section of the railway. “Thailand is developing in every aspect to become the center of connectivity… and this route is to connect to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to China, India and further to other countries,” Prayuth said in a speech. Completion of the first section is expected to take six months, according to the transport ministry. In September, Thailand signed two contracts worth $157 million with Chinese state enterprises covering the engineering design of the project and the hiring of Chinese technical advisers. …
НБУ: позов «Приватбанку» до Лондонського суду покликаний відновити прибутковість банку
Національний банк України підтримує позов «Приватбанку» до Високого суду Лондона щодо колишніх акціонерів, оскільки він покликаний повернути фінустанові прибутковість. «Цей позов спрямований на захист інтересів банку та відшкодування коштів вкладників, незаконно виведених з «Приватбанку» до входження держави до його капіталу. Позов знаменує значний прогрес для банку…», – йдеться у заяві Нацбанку. У НБУ вважають, що цей позов є «хорошою новиною для платників податків в Україні і української економіки». 20 грудня прес-служба «Приватбанку» повідомила, що Високий суд Англії 19 грудня видав наказ про всесвітній арешт активів Ігоря Коломойського і Геннадія Боголюбова, а також шести компаній, які, ймовірно, їм належать на суму понад 2,5 мільярда доларів. За повідомленням, суд ухвалив рішення за позовом «Приватбанку» проти своїх колишніх власників і керівників – Коломойського і Боголюбова. Міністерство фінансів України привітало цей наказ Лондонського суду. «Ми вітаємо це позитивне рішення Англійського суду. На сьогодні держава фактично витратила майже 140 мільярдів гривень на докапіталізацію «Приватбанку» через те, що раніше з нього були виведені гроші, або надані недостатньо забезпечені кредити, які ніхто не повертає», – цитує прес-служба Мінфіну слова міністра Олександра Данилюка. Водночас бізнесмен Ігор Коломойський у коментарі ТСН.ua заявив, що «це тимчасовий арешт на час розгляду справи в суді». У грудні минулого року уряд ухвалив рішення про націоналізацію «Приватбанку». Нині власником фінустанови є Міністерство фінансів. Це було частиною домовленостей із колишніми власниками фінансової установи. Упродовж червня цього року бізнесмен, один з колишніх акціонерів «Приватбанку» Ігор Коломойський подав до суду низку позовів, направлених проти уряду, НБУ та «Приватбанку». Заступник голови Національного банку України Катерина Рожкова заявляла, що …
Thailand Battles Drug-Resistant Malaria Strains
While progress has been made against malaria, the mosquito-borne disease kills more than 420,000 people each year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Now, drug-resistant malaria strains in Southeast Asia could threaten the global fight against the disease. VOA’s Faith Lapidus reports. …
Overdose Deaths Soar, Cut Life Expectancy for 2nd Year
U.S. deaths from drug overdoses skyrocketed 21 percent last year, and for the second straight year dragged down how long Americans are expected to live. The government figures released Thursday put drug deaths at 63,600, up from about 52,000 in 2015. For the first time, the powerful painkiller fentanyl and its close opioid cousins played a bigger role in the deaths than any other legal or illegal drug, surpassing prescription pain pills and heroin. “This is urgent and deadly,” said Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The opioid epidemic “clearly has a huge impact on our entire society.” Opioids behind two-thirds of deaths Two-thirds of last year’s drug deaths, about 42,000, involved opioids, a category that includes heroin, methadone, prescription pain pills like OxyContin, and fentanyl. Fatal overdoses that involved fentanyl and fentanyl-like drugs doubled in one year, to more than 19,000, mostly from illegally made pills or powder, which is often mixed with heroin or other drugs. Heroin was tied to 15,500 deaths and prescription painkillers to 14,500 deaths. The balance of the overdose deaths involved sedatives, cocaine and methamphetamines. More than one drug is often involved in an overdose death. The highest drug death rates were in ages 25 to 54. Preliminary 2017 figures show the rise in overdose deaths continuing. Life expectancy 78 years, 7 months The drug deaths weigh into CDC’s annual calculation of the average time a person is expected to live. The life expectancy figure is based on …