Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer facing women, worldwide. During the last few decades, new treatments and early detection have improved the survival odds. But an 86 year-old Maryland woman credits her recovery to her family and to her love of favorite sport. As Breast Cancer Awareness month in the US draws to a close, VOA’s Natalia Leonova brings us Rita Eisenberg’s story. …
A Community Experiment Promoting Heathier Habits to Reduce Obesity Among Latinos
The suburbs of Washington are the setting for a pilot project to promote healthier eating habits, a partnership between leaders of the Latino community there and researchers at George Washington University. The “Water up Project” encourages the community to drink more water and reduce their consumption of sugary beverages. Faiza Elmasry reports. Faith Lapidus narrates. …
Argentina’s Macri Vows to Pursue Tax, Labor, Pension Reforms
Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri vowed to press ahead with reforms to the country’s tax, labor and retirement systems in a speech on Monday, a week after his “Let’s Change” coalition swept to victory at the polls in midterm elections. The government will present a tax reform proposal this Tuesday or Wednesday, and an amnesty plan for companies that hired workers informally in the coming days, Macri said. He added that the government would convene a commission to propose changes to the retirement system in coming weeks. The speech marked a roadmap for the second half of Macri’s four-year term, as he seeks to implement business-friendly reforms to attract investors who avoided the country during more than a decade of populist rule. “We need lower taxes, more public works, and all this we need to achieve with fiscal balance,” Macri told a gathering of lawmakers, governors, union leaders, judges and others. Investors have been encouraged by the reforms Macri has implemented since taking office in December 2015, including lifting foreign exchange controls, settling with holdout creditors, and lowering export taxes. But significant investment has not arrived. Companies have demanded lower costs, while credit agencies are concerned about a deep fiscal deficit. Macri’s coalition swept the five most populous areas in midterm elections, giving him a broader mandate to pass reforms, though it still lacks majorities in both chambers of Congress. Macri said his government had reduced the country’s tax burden, and wanted to make the system “simpler, clearer, and fairer.” He …
SpaceX Racks Up Another Rocket Launch, Its 16th This Year
SpaceX has racked up another rocket launch, its 16th this year. That’s double last year’s count, and 2017 still has two months remaining. The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off Monday afternoon from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, hoisting a communications satellite for the South Korean company KT SAT. This newest Koreasat will replace a failed satellite launched in 2006, and serve both Asia and the Middle East. Once separated, the 15-story first-stage booster flew to a floating platform in the Atlantic and landed upright. The TV link of the touchdown was lost. But SpaceX confirmed success despite the choppy seas and some flames shooting from the landed booster. The fire went out. “A little toasty, but stage one is certainly still intact,” said the launch commentator from company headquarters in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX expects to reuse the booster to save time and money. Other rocket makers ditch the boosters at sea following orbital missions. The company has launched almost every month this year — a personal record — flying Falcons from both U.S. coasts. …
Trump Expected to Nominate Powell for Fed Chair
U.S. President is expected to nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the central bank, senior administration officials said Monday. Powell is a Republican centrist who appears inclined to continue the Fed’s strategy of gradual interest rate hikes. But officials say Trump hasn’t made up his mind and could change it. Powell would represent a middle-ground pick for Trump, who is also considering current Democratic Fed Chair Janet Yellen as well as Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. Powell could, however, relax some of the stricter financial rules that were enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has complained that those rules have been too restrictive. The decision over the Fed’s next leader is overshadowing this week’s meeting of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Trump said Friday he has “someone very specific in mind” for the Fed. “It will be a person who, hopefully, will do a fantastic job,” Trump said in a short video message posted on Instagram and Twitter. Many conservative members of Congress had been pushing Trump to select Taylor, rather than Powell, for Fed chairman. Taylor, one of the country’s leading academics in the area of Fed policy, would likely embrace a more “hawkish” approach — more inclined to raise rates to fight inflation than to keep rates low to support the job market. Taylor is the author of a widely cited policy rule that provides a mathematical formula for guiding rate decisions. By one version of …
Blockchain Technology Could Unblock Southeast Asia
Imagine you could swipe your phone over a piece of fish in the supermarket and instantly see secure records of its entire path through the supply chain, from the technique used by the fisherman who caught it in Indonesia to when it was shipped and how it was processed at a factory in your home country — all at the tap of a smartphone. Trial projects such as that one are testing the potential of Blockchain technology to bring transparency to all sorts of notoriously inefficient or shadowy industries in Southeast Asia. Blockchain, the technology that powers bitcoin, is an essentially unchangeable form of bookkeeping. It creates cryptographically chained signatures between blocks of information that are authenticated by users over a peer-to-peer distributed ledger — a public record that can be applied to any type of bookkeeping, not just cryptocurrencies. “It removes the requirement for a centralized authority, and in a lot of the products that it’s being launched in, this centralized authority tends to be the government,” said Alisa DiCaprio, head of research at R3 — an enterprise banking software firm that uses distributed ledger technology. In a region where the most important records — identity and ownership for instance — are often subjected to little or no external oversight, blockchain offers enormous potential benefits. Erin Murphy, Founder and Principal of Inle Advisory Group, a Myanmar and emerging business advisory firm, said major Asian business hubs are looking to blockchain to clean up and simplify transactions. “Ideally, we would …
WMO: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Highest in 800,000 Years
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports greenhouse gas emissions in Earth’s atmosphere have reached the highest level ever in 800,000 years. The figure was made public at the launch in Geneva of the WMO’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The report was released in advance of next week’s U.N. climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. It is meant as a wake-up call to nations that time is running out to take the necessary actions to curb global warning. The WMO reports CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere surged at record-breaking speed last year to historic highs. The WMO says CO2 levels are now 145 percent higher than pre-industrial levels. It warns this has the potential to change the climate systems in unprecedented and disastrous ways. WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas says this is already occurring. He told VOA scientists have been able to track the variability of carbon dioxide concentrations thousands of years back. “We have far exceeded this natural variability that took place in the past and we are giving extra energy for our planet. We have already started seeing a growing amount of natural disasters related to weather. And, for example, the economic losses related to these disasters, they have tripled since the 80s. So, that is a consequence of climate change,” Taalas said. The report finds CO2 contributes more than 60 percent to the heating of the planet and that human activity and natural climate variability are behind the substantial increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. Taalas warned temperature …
Sounds of Predators Let Baboons Know There’s No Free Lunch
Once they find them, wild animals tend to stick around human neighborhoods. That’s because of the free food buffet we tend to leave lying around, in our trash and gardens. Then, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of the unwanted guests, short of killing them. That was the problem with Baboons in one South African neighborhood, until recently. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
India’s New Afghan Trade Route Via Iran, Bypasses Pakistan
Opening a new trade route to Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan, India has dispatched its first consignment of wheat to the war torn country via the Iranian port of Chabahar. The strategic sea route is a significant step in bolstering trade with Kabul that has been hampered because rival Pakistan does not allow India to transport goods to Afghanistan through its territory. After the shipment was seen off by Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani via a joint video conference Sunday, the Indian government called it a “landmark moment.” In the coming months, six more consignments of wheat totaling 1.1. million tons will be sent from India’s western port of Kandla to Chabahar. From the Iranian port it will be taken by road to Kabul. The shipment comes days after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on a visit to New Delhi, allayed concerns that the Trump administration’s tough stand on Iran could pose a fresh stumbling block to India’s plans to develop the strategic Iranian port as a regional transit hub. Easier connectivity to Afghanistan is key for India to step up its economic engagement with Kabul, which Washington has called for as part of its new policy to stabilize the war torn country. And Chabahar port, in which India is investing $500 million to build new terminals, cargo berths and connecting road and rail lines, is the centerpiece of the strategy to improve linkages not just with Afghanistan, but also to resource-rich Central Asian …
Мінфін: держборг України у вересні зріс на 0,6% – до 77 мільярдів доларів США
Загальний державний і гарантований державою борг України у вересні 2017 року зріс на 0,47 мільярда доларів (на 0,62 %) – до 77,03 мільярдів доларів США. Про це свідчать статистичні дані, оприлюднені Міністерством фінансів. У гривневому еквіваленті державний борг за цей період зріс на 84,66 мільярда гривень – до 2,043 трильйона гривень. За даними Мінфіну, з початку року – за січень-вересень – державний і гарантований державою борг зріс на 8,5% у доларовому еквіваленті, на 5,85% – у гривневому еквіваленті. Станом на 30 вересня гарантований державою борг становив 12 мільярдів доларів (318,31 мільярда гривень). Згідно з Бюджетний кодексом, державний борг – загальна сума боргових зобов’язань держави з повернення отриманих та непогашених кредитів (позик), що виникають внаслідок державного запозичення. Кабінет міністрів вніс до парламенту проект закону про держбюджет 15 вересня – в останній день, коли згідно з Бюджетним кодексом, мав це зробити. Документ, зокрема, передбачає доходи бюджету на наступний рік у сумі понад 877 мільярдів гривень, видатки – більш ніж 948 мільярдів гривень. Згідно із розрахунками загальний обсяг державного боргу, обрахований у національній валюті, у 2018 складе 1,9 трильйона гривень. …
Trump Tax Overhaul Under Intensifying Fire as Congress Readies Bill
President Donald Trump’s plan for overhauling the U.S. tax system faced growing opposition from interest groups on Sunday, as Republicans prepare to unveil sweeping legislation that could eliminate some of the most popular tax breaks to help pay for lower taxes. Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives will not reveal their bill until Wednesday. But the National Association of Home Builders, a powerful housing industry trade group, is already vowing to defeat it over a change for home mortgage deductions, while Republican leaders try to head off opposition to possible changes to individual retirement savings and state and local tax payments. Trump and Republicans have vowed to enact tax reform this year for the first time since 1986. But the plan to deliver up to $6 trillion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals faces challenges even from rank-and-file House Republicans. House and Senate Republicans are on a fast-track to pass separate tax bills before the Nov. 23 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, iron out differences in December, send a final version to Trump’s desk before January and ultimately hand the president his first major legislative victory. Analysts say there is a good chance the tax overhaul will be delayed until next year. The NAHB, which boasts 130,000 member firms employing 9 million workers, says the bill would harm U.S. home prices by marginalizing the value of mortgage interest deductions as an incentive for buying homes. The trade group wants legislation to offer a $5,500 tax credit but says it …
Climate Change Affects Coastal Communities and Beyond
At least one in 10 people globally lives near the coast in a low-lying area. As the population increases and sea level rises, their homes are increasingly being threatened. The countries with the most people at risk include the United States, China, India and Bangladesh, and Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia. Scientists say climate change is to blame for the threat, and it has far reaching implications. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains. …
Radio Pollution Creates Space Shield for Satellites
People are big polluters, on the land, in the sea and even in outer space, that can include anything from a hammer that floats away from the space station, to radiation from a nuclear weapons test in the atmosphere. “This can range from little chips of paint all the way up to spent rocket bodies and things like that,” said Dan Baker, director of the Laboratory of Atmosphere and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “We’ve been trying to figure out how can we most effectively eliminate this debris without causing more of a problem.” Space debris travels so fast, even an orbiting chip of paint can poke a hole in a satellite. But Baker says something tinier, and natural, is a bigger hazard: It’s the highly charged “killer electrons” of the magnetized zone above the earth called The Van Allen Belts. “We’ve observed them to cause very significant problems for spacecraft,” Baker said. Electro-magnetic planetary blanket The doughnut-shaped Van Allen Belts around our planet protect life on earth from solar winds and cosmic rays. But their highly energetic charged particles can damage the circuitry in space stations, weather satellites and other machines that travel through that region of space. Baker notes that “killer electrons” can also come from some human activities, like the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. “Back in the 1950s and especially in the 1960s, there were nuclear explosions that put huge amounts of radiation into space that caused many satellites to ‘die’ because of radiation …
For Spanish, Catalan Economies, No Winners in Standoff
Xavier Gabriel can take some credit if the tiny Catalan mountain town of Sort is one of the most famous in Spain. He runs a lottery shop called La Bruja de Oro, or The Golden Witch, in a town whose name, aptly, means “Luck” in Catalan. Its fortune in having sold many prize-winning tickets has made it a household name and a successful online business. But the crisis surrounding Catalonia’s push for independence has changed life for 60-year-old Gabriel. He joined more than 1,500 companies in moving their official headquarters out of the wealthy region in recent weeks. Their main fear: that they would no longer be covered by Spanish and European Union laws if Catalonia manages to break away, dragging their businesses into unknown territory. “The time had come to make a decision,” said Gabriel, who employs 16 people and describes himself as a proud Catalan. Hedging their bets Like Gabriel’s, the vast majority of companies that moved their headquarters didn’t transfer workers or assets, such as bank holdings or production equipment. So far, it’s mainly a form of legal insurance. But as the political crisis escalates, the risk is that companies are deferring investments and hiring. There is evidence that tourists are holding off booking, perhaps frightened by images in the media of police crackdowns, street demonstrations and strikes. And the situation risks getting worse before it improves: the central government’s decision Friday to take control of the region could spiral out of control if there is popular …
On Climate Change, It’s Trump vs. Markets
At the 2015 Paris summit, world leaders pledged to take steps to avoid catastrophic climate change. This November in Bonn, Germany, U.N. negotiators will be back, working out the details of how to cut emissions of planet-warming gases. It is the first conference since President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the agreement. That leaves questions about the direction of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. As VOA’s Steve Baragona reports, the answer is not straightforward. …
Artisans in Mali Hope to Bring Back an Ancient Fabric Style
Artisans in Mali are hoping that Bogolan, a traditional cotton fabric, will continue to fascinate Western fashion designers and provide jobs at home. VOA’s Teffera Girma Teffera and Bagassi Koura visited a small neighborhood in central Bamako where artisans are hard at work. Salem Solomon narrates. …
Retailers Offer New Tools to Help Shoppers Find Clothes That Fit
Stores watching Amazon take a larger share of clothing sales are trying to solve one of the most vexing issues for online shoppers: finding items that fit properly. The retailers are unleashing tools that use artificial intelligence to replicate the help a salesperson at a store might offer, calculate a shopper’s most likely body shape, or use 3-D models for a virtual fitting room experience. Amazon, which some analysts say will surpass Macy’s this year as the largest U.S. clothing seller, is offering some customers an Alexa-powered device that doubles as a selfie-stick machine and a stylist. Retailers want to reduce the rate of online returns, which can be up to 40 percent, and thus make customers happier — and more likely to be repeat shoppers. And the more interaction shoppers have with a brand, the more the technology will learn about shoppers’ preferences, said Vicky Zadeh, chief executive of Rakuten Fits Me, a tech company that works with QVC and clothing startup brands. “It’s all about confidence,” she said. “If they have the confidence to buy, they will come back to the retailer time and time again.” The push is coming from big names like Levi’s and The Gap and startups like Rhone and Taylrd. Levi’s new Virtual Stylist texts back and forth with online customers to offer recommendations, based on their preferences. Marc Rosen, Levi’s president of global e-commerce, said early tests show the chatbot is driving more browsers to become buyers. Reliance on body shape Rakuten …
«Роснафта» припинила на 5 років роботу на Південно-Чорноморській ділянці через санкції
Російське федеральне агентство із надрокористування задовольнило клопотання компанії «Роснафта» («Роснефть») про припинення на 5 років дії ліцензії на геологічне вивчення, розвідку і видобуток вуглеводневої сировини на Південно-Чорноморській ліцензійній ділянці, розташованій в східній частині акваторії Чорного моря неподалік Сочі. Про це повідомили у п’ятницю, 27 жовтня, російські агентства «РБК» і «ТАСС» із посиланням на джерела у компанії. «За оцінками фахівців, в умовах негативної макроекономічної кон’юнктури і санкційних обмежень на даний момент проект є економічно неефективним. До того ж на ринку нафтосервісних послуг відсутні бурові судна і бурове устаткування, що відповідають вимогам, які висуває компанія для реалізації проекту будівництва свердловини на Південно-Чорноморській ліцензійній ділянці», – мовиться у повідомленні. У «Роснєфті» також підтвердили, що компанія не змінює плани проведення робіт на Західно-Чорноморській ліцензійній ділянці шельфу Чорного моря, що прилягає до попередньої, і найближчим часом почне буріння пошуково-оцінювальної свердловини спільно з італійською нафтовою компанією Eni. «Роснафта» подала позов про скасування дії санкцій Великої Британії у Високий суд Лондона в жовтні 2014 року. У лютому 2015-го Високий суд Лондона направив справу в Суд ЄС, але той вирішив, що «обмежувальні заходи, ухвалені Радою Європейського союзу у відповідь на кризу в Україні щодо деяких російських підприємств, включаючи «Роснафту», обґрунтовані». ЄС запровадив санкції проти Росії в липні 2014 року після того, як вона незаконно анексувала український Крим, а потім розширив їх – через підтримку, яку Москва надає бойовикам на сході України. …
Weirdness, Few Tourists, Return to Key West After Irma
Things are weird, as usual, in Key West. A pair of Vikings push a stroller full of stuffed chimps down Duval Street. A man with a ponytail swallows a steel sword. People dressed only in body paint and glitter wander and jiggle from bar to bar. Fantasy Fest, one of Key West’s major tourist draws of the year, is in full swing. And that’s a relief for Florida Keys business owners trying to weather the economic storm that hit after Hurricane Irma battered the middle stretch of the tourism-dependent island chain. Bucket list trip The festivities have not disappointed Gary Gates from Buffalo, New York, who planned this “bucket list” trip 10 months ago with six friends. “We were coming whether there was a hurricane or not,” the former NFL cameraman said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this. To come down here and actually see people dressed in all kinds of costumes — or no costumes at all — was something that I needed to see.” Gates flew into Key West and has not left during its annual 10-day festival of costume parties and parades, so he has not seen the devastation that lingers more than a month since Hurricane Irma made landfall Sept. 10 about 20 miles north of the city. Middle Keys hit hardest The mostly residential middle stretch of the island chain took the brunt of the hurricane’s 130-mph winds. The area is almost entirely brown, with debris piled alongside the highway and mangroves stripped bare. …
Why Fear Is Fun for Some, Crippling for Others
The latest movie adaptation of Steven King’s terrifying book “IT” brought in a record $123 million in its opening weekend. But in real life, there’s nothing fun about being scared, so why do people flock to scary movies, and around Halloween, haunted houses and participate in other frightening activities? New research has the answer. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
UN Expert: Anti-gay Sex Laws Wane; Rights ‘Crucible’ Endures
Laws criminalizing consensual gay sex have been scrapped in about 25 countries in the last 20 years, but more than 70 nations still have such prohibitions, a U.N. expert said Friday in a first-of-its-kind report at the General Assembly. And in many places around the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people live in “a crucible of egregious violations” of human rights, enduring violence and discrimination, said Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N.’s first independent expert investigating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation. The world body’s Human Rights Council appointed him last year, in a move that met significant opposition amid deep international divisions on gay rights. Addressing a U.N. General Assembly committee for the first time Friday, Muntarbhorn noted “a global trend toward decriminalization of consensual same-sex relations.” At least five countries — Belize, Lesotho, Mozambique, Palau and Seychelles — have scrubbed such laws in the last five years. “The gaps are, however, ubiquitous,” Muntarbhorn added. Besides the dozens of countries where it’s a crime — sometimes punishable by death — for people of the same gender to have sex, some countries also have criminal laws aimed at transgender people. While some laws are rarely applied, they still fuel other forms of discrimination, Muntarbhorn said. He called for reforming all criminal laws against same-sex relations and for establishing more anti-discrimination laws. Muntarbhorn’s job became a flashpoint last year, when African nations tried to stop his work. They questioned its legal basis and said the U.N. …
Trump Administration Proposes Health Care Benefit Changes
The Trump administration Friday proposed new health insurance regulations that could affect basic benefits required by the Affordable Care Act, but not for a couple of years. Loosening “Obamacare” benefit requirements was a major sticking point for congressional Republicans in thus-far fruitless efforts to repeal the law. The complex new plan from the administration would give states a potential path to easing some requirements. Starting in 2019, states could select from coverage levels in another state, which could be less generous. Ten broad categories of services required by the health law would still have to be covered, but the fine print could change. Plan issued late Friday Issued late in the day, the 365-page plan also proposes other changes to the inner workings of the health insurance markets created under the Obama-era law. The marketplaces offer subsidized private plans to people who don’t have access to job-based coverage. The changes proposed by the Trump administration cover areas from consumers’ eligibility for subsidies to how insurers are reimbursed. It could take days for consumer groups, insurers, benefits experts and others to assess the potential impact of the proposal. Among the biggest uncertainties is whether the proposed changes would appeal to state officials, who generally try to protect standards established on their home turf. The basic benefits that could be affected include: Outpatient, inpatient and emergency care Prescription drugs and labs Preventive care Pregnancy, maternity and newborn care Mental health and substance abuse Rehabilitation Children’s services, including vision and dental While those …
Midwest Health Care Provider Cuts Opioid Prescriptions
A major health care system serving the upper Midwest said this week that the number of opioid pills it prescribes has fallen by almost a quarter as it works to respond to America’s opioid epidemic. South Dakota-headquartered Sanford Health started analyzing its prescribing last year to direct its response to rising opioid and heroin overdose deaths, said Doug Griffin, who spearheaded the system’s data collection as vice president and medical officer for Sanford in Fargo, North Dakota. Griffin said the health system learned that the numbers are “staggering”: The system reported prescribing 4.3 million opioid pills in the first quarter of 2016, a figure that doesn’t include cancer patients’ prescriptions. Sanford took steps as a result, including mandating opioid education for providers and using its electronic health record system to alert doctors about safe prescribing habits, Griffin said. Sanford has since seen a significant reduction in both the number of pills prescribed and prescriptions written. Sanford providers wrote 18 percent fewer prescriptions for opioids in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the first quarter of 2016, amounting to 24 percent, or about 1.25 million, fewer pills prescribed, according to the health system. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota, region saw a 19 percent reduction in pills prescribed, while the Fargo area experienced a 33 percent drop and the Bemidji, Minnesota, region saw a 37 percent decrease, according to Sanford. ‘Knowledge has changed’ “The stance that we have taken is clearly opioid overdoses, both illicit and prescription overdoses, are a problem …
Sessions: War on Opioids Is ‘Winnable’
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday welcomed President Donald Trump’s declaration of the opioid epidemic as a public health emergency, saying he agreed with Trump that the war on addiction was “winnable.” Trump on Thursday directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare a 90-day public health emergency, but he stopped short of declaring the epidemic a national emergency or asking Congress for additional funds. Trump’s declaration nonetheless gives states more flexibility to use federal funds, although it will not provide funds specifically for the opioid crisis. The White House said the administration had allocated more than $1 billion for the opioid epidemic, including $800 million for prevention, treatment, first responders and prescription drug monitoring programs. ‘Make a difference’ Sessions, speaking to law enforcement officials at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, called Trump’s announcement a “rare step” that “will make a difference by getting more help to those who need it.” “In confronting the worst drug crisis in our history, we need to use every lawful tool we have,” Sessions said. “But if we do, there is hope. I agree with the president — I’m convinced that this is a winnable war.” In August, the Department of Justice formed the Opioid Abuse and Detection Unit, a pilot program that places prosecutors in so-called opioid “hot spots” and uses data to investigate and prosecute opioid-related health care fraud. Sessions said the program had begun to produce results. On Thursday, he announced the first case brought …