Year: 2017

Morocco’s government is partnering with civil society groups to plant the roots of understanding about deforestation’s potential harm to local communities. Arash Arabasadi reports. …

Fighting Climate Change for Profit

Coral reefs stop erosion, and are incredibly biodiverse. Mangroves store carbon and keep rising seas at bay. But U.N. officials say we are losing both at an alarming rate. In Kenya, government and U.N. officials are enlisting locals to help replace what is being lost. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Stem Cells Get Paralyzed Mice Back on Their Feet

Treating spinal cord injuries is one of the dreams of modern science, and one Israeli research group may be on the right path. Using human stem cells, they have repaired the spinal cords of mice, allowing the paraplegic rodents to walk again. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Digital World Provides Benefits and Risks for Children

The U.N. Children’s Fund says the explosion of digital technology and growing internet access holds both benefits and risks for children. UNICEF’s annual State of the World’s Children report explores ways to protect children from the potential harm of the expanding digital world. The U.N. children’s fund reports one in three internet users around the world is a child. Despite this huge and growing online presence, UNICEF says little is known about the impact of digital technology on children’s wellbeing and little is being done to protect them from the perils of the digital world. UNICEF Director of Data Research and Policy Laurence Chandy tells VOA the internet can be a game changer for children. “We sincerely believe that especially for kids in places where opportunities are few or for children who are disabled living in remote places … it is completely intuitive that the internet has enormous potential and is already helping children access opportunity that just was not conceivable not long ago,” said Chandy. At the same time, he says the internet poses many risks. These include the misuse of children’s private information, access to harmful content and cyberbullying. Chandy says criminal digital networks make children vulnerable to some of the worst forms of exploitation and abuse, including trafficking and online child sexual abuse. He says safeguarding children’s privacy on the internet is an issue of major concern. “We really emphasize the importance of putting in place safeguards to prevent children’s personal data from falling in wrong peoples’ …

Traders Brace for Launch of Bitcoin Futures Market

12/10/2017 selleco

The newest way to bet on bitcoin, the cyptocurrency that has taken Wall Street by storm with its stratospheric price rise and wild daily gyrations, will arrive Sunday when bitcoin futures start trading. The launch has given an extra kick to the cyptocurrency’s scorching run this year. It has nearly doubled in price since the start of December, but recent days saw sharp moves in both directions, with bitcoin losing almost a fifth of its value Friday after surging more than 40 percent in the previous 48 hours. But while some market participants are excited about a regulated way to bet on or hedge against moves in bitcoin, others caution that risks remain for investors and possibly even the clearing organizations underpinning the trades. The futures are cash-settled contracts based on the auction price of bitcoin in U.S. dollars on the Gemini Exchange, owned and operated by virtual currency entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. A regulated bitcoin product “The pretty sharp rise we have seen in bitcoin in just the last couple of weeks has probably been driven by optimism ahead of the futures launch,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin. Bitcoin fans appear excited about the prospect of an exchange-listed and regulated product and the ability to bet on its price swings without having to sign up for a digital wallet. The futures are an alternative to a largely unregulated spot market underpinned by cryptocurrency exchanges that have been plagued by …

Satellite Technology Helps Protect Ocean Wildlife

12/10/2017 sellheal

Scientists around the world are increasingly using satellite technology to study life on earth. Small, inexpensive transponders attached to animals track their movement and interaction with humans, helping scientists and activists protect endangered species. Oceana, an international organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the world’s oceans, teamed with shark researchers to study the fishing industry’s impact on one shark species. VOA’s George Putic reports. …

Argentina Blocks Two Activists From Entry on Eve of WTO Meeting

12/10/2017 selleco

Argentina blocked two European activists from entering the country on the eve of the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, the two told a local radio program Saturday. Sally Burch, a British activist and journalist for the Latin American Information Agency, said Argentina had already revoked credentials given to her by the WTO to attend the meeting but thought she would be able to enter the country as a tourist. “They found my name on a list and started asking questions … supposedly I was a false tourist,” Burch said on Radio 10. “It’s not very democratic of Argentina’s government.” Petter Titland, spokesman for the Norweigan NGO Attac Norge, said authorities denied him entry without explaining why. Late last month, Argentina rescinded the credentials of 60 activists who had been accredited by the WTO to attend the meeting because it determined they would be “more disruptive than constructive.” WTO meetings often attract protests by anti-globalization groups, but they have remained largely peaceful since riots broke out at the 1999 meeting in Seattle. WTO’s spokesman, Keith Rockwell, reiterated on Saturday that it disagreed with Argentina’s decision to revoke activists’ credentials. “We didn’t have the same perspective but we’re now moving on,” Rockwell told journalists. Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has promoted business-friendly policies since taking office in December 2015, and Argentina will host global events as chair of the G-20 group of major economies next year. …

Warming Arctic, Drier Regions, and Wildfires: Is There a Link?

Many scientists believe the Arctic, one of the fastest-changing places on the planet, could drive change in other parts of the world, including wildfire-ravaged Southern California. In a recent NASA mission called Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG), climate scientist Josh Willis embarked on a journey to study ice in Greenland and surrounding oceans and how much oceans are eating away at the ice around the edges of the ice sheet. The data collected included the ocean’s temperature and salinity, and the shape and depth of the sea floor. “The shape of the sea floor determines how much the warm water can reach in and touch the glaciers,” said Willis, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles. “Warm water is widespread across the Greenland shelf, and it is very much a major threat to the glaciers,” Willis said. “The thing we really don’t know is how fast is Greenland’s ice going to disappear. “If it takes a thousand years or two thousand years, then we can probably adapt. But if it happens in a few hundred, we should already be evacuating cities around the world,” he added. Impact of sea ice A separate study from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory suggests a link between sea ice melting in the Arctic and drier conditions in California. A new simulation that only looks at sea ice in the next two decades, shows a pressure ridge pushing the winter air masses north into Alaska and Canada, which impacts California. “We saw quite substantial …

Warming Arctic, Drier Regions and Wildfires: Is There a Link?

A new report from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory predicts a link between sea ice melting in the Arctic and drier conditions in California over the next several decades. This finding comes at a time when several wildfires are raging across Southern California. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports on the work of scientists as they look at the global implications of the melting of glaciers and sea ice, and other impacts a changing climate could have around the world. …

US Economy Adding Jobs, But Employers Say Skills Gap is Rising

The U.S. economy posted another impressive month, adding 228,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate, now at a 17-year low, remains unchanged at 4.1 percent. But even as more Americans returned to the workforce, job recruiters say the job market is changing and both employers and employees need to be prepared. Mil Arcega reports. …

UN Members Sign Commitment to Reduce Plastic Pollution

The environmental group EcoWatch estimates that at least 1 million sea birds, and 100,000 marine mammals are killed every year by ingesting plastic or getting caught in it. It is an environmental nightmare, and it’s getting worse every year. But this week, more than 200 countries signed an agreement to begin dealing with the problem. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Wind, Fire, Ash Destroy Much of California Avocado Crop

The wildfire that roared through the orchards of California’s Ventura County destroyed much of the region’s avocado crop not just with flames, but also with fierce Santa Ana winds and a thick blanket of ash. With the so-called Thomas Fire just 10 percent contained by Friday afternoon, after blackening more than 132,000 acres across Ventura County and destroying some 400 homes and other structures, it is too soon to know the extent of the damage to the upcoming avocado harvest. But experts say even the mostly family-owned orchards spared by the epic conflagration may have suffered devastating losses to their crops from the hot, dry Santa Ana winds that blow out of the California desert, knocking avocados from the trees with gusts up to 80 miles per hour. (129 kilometers per hour) The fruit cannot be sold for human consumption once it is on the ground because of food safety regulations. “A lot of that fruit everybody was looking forward to harvesting next year is laying on the ground,” said John Krist, chief executive of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. Vulnerable to the wind Avocados are the rare produce trees planted in hillside groves because of their shallow roots, said Ben Faber, a University of California farm adviser in Ventura. The fruit, typically harvested in February or March, is full-sized and heavy by December, held by a long stem. Those factors make avocados, already growing away from their natural environment in Central and South America, more vulnerable to the whipping …

‘Worker Bee’ Round of NAFTA Talks to Focus on Easier Chapters

NAFTA trade negotiators convene in Washington next week for a limited round of talks unlikely to move the needle on major sticking points, but aimed at demonstrating some progress toward closing easier chapters. Last month’s round of negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City failed to resolve major differences, as Canada and Mexico pushed back on what they saw as unreasonable U.S. demands on automotive content rules, dispute settlement and a five-year sunset clause. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the United States wanted to see “meaningful progress” before year’s end. The “intersessional” meetings in a Washington hotel come with lower expectations and without trade ministers from the three countries, who are due to attend a World Trade Organization meeting in Buenos Aires. Some lobbyists and trade experts said that chapters with the best chances of showing progress were among those that Canada and Mexico had agreed to create or update in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: digital trade, food safety, state-owned enterprises and telecommunications. NAFTA negotiators have not closed any chapters since completing talks on competition policy and small-medium enterprises in late September. Talks have since been dominated by U.S. demands, such as for half of all North American automotive content to be produced in the United States. Less rhetoric, more substance “The intersessional could be a chance to turn the temperature down,” said Max Baucus, a former U.S. senator who chairs Farmers for Free Trade, a coalition of U.S. farm sector groups. “This …

First Black Astronaut Honored on 50th Anniversary of Death

AP Photo NY560, NY561, NY562 America’s first black astronaut, Air Force Maj. Robert Lawrence Jr., finally got full honors Friday on the 50th anniversary of his death. Several hundred people gathered at Kennedy Space Center to commemorate Lawrence, who almost certainly would have gone on to fly in space had he not died in a plane crash on Dec. 8, 1967. The crowd included NASA dignitaries, astronauts, fellow Omega Psi Phi fraternity members, schoolchildren, and relatives of Lawrence and other astronauts who have died in the line of duty. Lawrence was part of a classified military space program in the 1960s called the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, meant to spy on the Soviet Union. He died when his F-104 Starfighter crashed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He was 32. Astronauts at Friday’s two-hour ceremony said Lawrence would have gone on to fly NASA’s space shuttles and that, after his death, he inspired all the African-American astronauts who followed him. Like Lawrence, Robert Crippen was part of the Air Force’s program. It was canceled in 1969 without a single manned spaceflight, prompting Crippen and other astronauts to move on to NASA. Crippen was pilot of the first space shuttle flight in 1981. With a doctoral degree in physical chemistry — a rarity among test pilots — Lawrence was “definitely on the fast track,” Crippen said. He graduated from high school at age 16 and college at 20. “He had a great future ahead of him if he had not been …

From Poles to Filipinos? UK Food Industry Needs Post-Brexit Workers

Britons who voted for Brexit in the hope of slashing immigration seem set for disappointment. In the farming and food industries at least, any exodus of Polish and Romanian workers may simply be followed by arrivals of Ukrainians and Filipinos. From dairy farms to abattoirs, employers say not enough Britons have an appetite for milking cows before dawn or disemboweling pig carcasses — jobs often performed by workers from the poorer, eastern member states of the European Union. With unemployment at a four-decade low of 4.3 percent, even Brexit supporters acknowledge the industries will need some migrant workers after Britain leaves the EU in 2019, ending the automatic right of the bloc’s citizens to work in the country. Employers praise eastern European staff for their skills and work ethic. “They are a massively valuable part of our work force and a massively valuable part of the food industry overall,” said Adam Couch, chief executive of Cranswick plc, a meat processing group founded by pig farmers. Food and drink is the largest U.K. manufacturing sector, with a turnover of 110 billion pounds ($147 billion) in 2015, government figures show. Much of it depends heavily on staff from elsewhere in the EU, mainly the post-communist east. For example, the British Meat Processors Association says 63 percent of workers in the sector come from other EU countries, and in some plants it can be as high as 80 percent. The proportion has risen partly due to increased demand for more labor-intensive products such …

Maldives Rushes Through Trade Pact With China Despite Opposition

The Maldives government signed a free trade agreement with China during a visit to Beijing by its leader, Abdulla Yameen, it said on Friday, despite criticism from the opposition over the speed at which the deal was concluded. Under the deal – a document of more than 1,000 pages that the Maldives parliament signed off on last week after less than an hour of discussion – China and the archipelago nation will impose no tariffs on imports from each other. Fisheries are the main export from the Maldives, an Indian Ocean country of 400,000 that also relies heavily on tourism. “The free trade agreement between China and Maldives signed during the visit was a milestone in the development of China-Maldives economic and trade relations,” Yameen’s official website said in a joint communique. The Maldives government also endorsed China’s proposed Maritime Silk Road business development project, part of its vast Belt and Road infrastructure project. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping as telling Yameen that the Belt and Road program matched up with the Maldives’ development strategies. President Yameen’s government has had good relations with China since taking power in 2013. China has been striking deals with countries in Asia and Africa to improve its imports of key commodities and boost its diplomatic clout. The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said in a statement that the FTA contained technical details that should have been thoroughly reviewed and called for its implementation to be suspended until an …

WHO: Rapid Action Brings Quick End to Marburg Outbreak in Uganda

Rapid action prevented the spread of the deadly Marburg virus just weeks after it was first detected in Uganda, the World Health Organization reports. The first case of the disease in the African country was confirmed October 17, when laboratory tests found the death of a 50-year-old woman was due to the Marburg virus. “Within 24 hours of being informed by the Ugandan health authorities in early October, WHO deployed a rapid response team to the remote mountainous area and we have financed the immediate support and scaled up the response in Uganda and Kenya,” said World Health Organization spokeswoman, Fadela Chaib. WHO released $623,000 from its emergency fund to finance the action. Marburg is a highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as that of Ebola. It can be transmitted from person to person by bodily fluids, and can cause bleeding, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms. This was the fifth outbreak of Marburg virus in a decade, and lessons have been learned from those outbreaks, as well as from the West African Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people. “Marburg is very infectious,” Chaib said. “It was also important to trace all the contacts of this first case and to follow them for a period of 21 days, plus 21 days just to make sure that there [are] no other cases being detected.” WHO reports three people died over the course of the outbreak, which affected two districts in eastern Uganda near the …

Are 3-D Mammograms Better?

Mammography has been a standard screening device for breast cancer since the mid-1970s. And the practice is crediting with a 30 percent decline in death due to early detection and treatment. Now, many doctors are urging women to get a 3-D mammogram, which produces a more detailed view of the breast. But there has not been a large-scale study to determine if the technology actually provides a better outcome… until now. Faith Lapidus reports. …

Климпуш-Цинцадзе: законопроект №7206 порушує Угоду про асоціацію і зобов’язання в рамках СОТ

12/08/2017 sellbiz

Ухвалений Верховною Радою в першому читанні законопроект про преференції українським виробникам при державних закупівлях навіть у разі, якщо їх цінова пропозиція від 25% до 43% гірша, ніж у конкурентів, порушує Угоду про асоціацію між Україною і ЄС і зобов’язання в рамках СОТ. Про це повідомила віце-прем’єр-міністр з питань європейської та євроатлантичної інтеграції Іванна Климпуш-Цинцадзе на своїй сторінці в мережі Facebook. «Крім назви (законопроект №7206 з назвою «Купуй українське» – ред.), власне, нічого доброго в ньому немає – голий популізм і цілковита зневага до наших міжнародних зобов’язань. Маю наголосити – законопроект прямо порушує Угоду про асоціацію між Україною і ЄС, а також наші зобов`язання в рамках СОТ», – написала вона. За її словами, законопроект суперечить положенням Угоди в розділі «Державні закупівлі» за принципом недискримінації між іноземними та українськими економічними операторами в торгівлі товарами і послугами у сфері державних закупівель. «Окрім проблем із нашими закордонними партнерами, найбільшої шкоди автори завдадуть тим, кого буцімто взялися захищати. Насправді, з/п №7206 суттєво ускладнює для українських виробників участь у системі державних закупівель, пропонуючи якийсь нескінченний додатковий перелік підтверджуючих документів-довідок для участі в тендерах. Він спотворить систему електронних державних закупівель ProZorro..», – додає Климпуш-Цинцадзе. Верховна Рада 7 грудня ухвалила за основу законопроект «Купуй українське, плати українцям», який, серед іншого, передбачає запровадження питомої ваги «місцевої складової» не нижче ніж 20% у тендерній пропозиції на участь у публічних держзакупівлях. Як написав на своїй сторінці в Facebook перший заступник міністра економічного розвитку і торгівлі Максим Нефьодов, цей законопроект порушує угоду про асоціацію з Європейським союзом, а також пропоновані зміни до …

Miami Citizens Become Scientists to Study Rising Seas

Rising seas driven by climate change are threatening coastal cities around the world. The Southern U.S. city of Miami is already feeling the effects. Every autumn, when tides are at their highest, residents contend with flooded streets. Now, scientists are turning citizens into scientists to help them understand the impacts. VOA’s Steve Baragona spent time with volunteers splashing in puddles for science. …

Bangladesh Asks NY Fed to Help it Recover Stolen Millions

12/08/2017 selleco

Bangladesh’s central bank has asked the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to join a lawsuit it plans to file against a Philippines bank for its role in one of the world’s biggest cyber-heists, several sources said. The Fed has yet to respond formally, but there is no indication it would join the suit. Unidentified hackers stole $81 million from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the New York Fed in February last year, using fraudulent orders on the SWIFT payments system. The money was sent to accounts at Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corp and then disappeared into the casino industry in the Philippines. Nearly two years later, there is no word on who was responsible, and Bangladesh Bank has been able to retrieve only about $15 million, mostly from a Manila junket operator. Legal action discussed Officials from Bangladesh Bank and the New York Fed spoke about legal action against RCBC in a conference call last month that was also attended by two representatives from SWIFT, according to three sources in Dhaka who had direct knowledge of the conversations. It was agreed that Bangladesh Bank would send a proposal on the suit to the New York Fed, they said. “The aim is to file a case by March-April in New York,” said one of the sources. “Work is on. Bangladesh Bank is likely to send something to the Fed soon.” The source said the idea was it would be a civil suit to recover the money, and that Bangladesh hoped the …

New Test Catches Ovarian Cancer Early