Month: January 2018

Three people in South Sudan have died of a suspected viral hemorrhagic fever and 60 of their contacts are being monitored for any infection, the World Health Organization said Monday. Ebola, Marburg and yellow fever are among viral hemorrhagic fevers that have caused deadly outbreaks in Africa. More than 11,300 people died during the worst outbreak of Ebola, a highly contagious disease, which mainly affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from 2013 to 2016. The three people in South Sudan — a pregnant woman, a teenage girl and a boy — all died in December and were from the same village in Yirol East county in the eastern Lakes State. But there had been no known contact among them. No tissue or blood samples were collected from their bodies for analysis, and South Sudan health authorities reported the cases on Dec. 28, the WHO said in a statement. “The outbreak of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever in South Sudan could rapidly evolve, and critical information including laboratory confirmation of the etiology of disease is needed to direct response efforts,” it said. National health authorities and WHO are investigating and have found evidence of zoonotic hemorrhagic illness in goats and sheep in the area, including some deaths, as well as deaths among wild birds at the time, it added. …

Death Toll in South Africa Listeria Outbreak Jumps to 61

The death toll from an outbreak of listeria in South Africa has jumped beyond 60 in the past month, health authorities said Monday, adding they had closed a poultry abattoir where the bug that causes the disease had been detected. Since monitoring of the outbreak began last January, 720 laboratory-confirmed cases of food poisoning due to the disease, also known as listeriosis, have been reported, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) said. That was up from 557 in December, since when recorded deaths had risen to 61 from 36. A food microbiologist said the “alarming” outbreak appeared to be the biggest ever recorded and could spread further if it was not tackled urgently. “Of the documented outbreaks globally that we know of … our numbers are way above any of those other cases,” said Dr. Lucia Anelich, who runs her own food safety consultancy. The Department of Health said it had closed a poultry abattoir operated by Sovereign Foods in the capital Pretoria after detecting listeria there, and had banned the facility from preparing food in December. The department said it did not yet know whether this abattoir was the source of the outbreak, which the NICD said was still unknown. Sovereign Foods, which delisted from the Johannesburg stock exchange in November, said the prohibition on the abattoir was lifted Monday after the listeria bacterium was not found in the latest samples from the plant. “Despite being declared clean and free of the listeria bacterium, we are further strengthening …

Britain’s National Health Service Engulfed in Crisis

In 2012, Britons delighted in the spectacular opening ceremony of the London Olympics celebrating British history. One of the curtain-raiser’s most popular sequences, drawing loud applause, involved 1,800 dancers and 320 hospital beds honoring the country’s National Health Service. Six years on, and Britons are more likely to moan about the world’s largest single-payer health care system than praise it. According to patients, doctors and analysts, the NHS is buckling and close to collapse, with emergency departments over-burdened, hospital wards full and all nonessential operations — more than 55,000 of them — suspended because of a winter surge in demand. Fueled in part by unseasonably cold weather, an especially virulent flu strain and cuts in social care, leaving hospital beds occupied by the elderly who have nowhere else to go, the winter crisis has brought home to the country the fragile state of the NHS. Last week, an 81-year-old pensioner suffering chest pains died after waiting four hours for the ambulance service to respond to her emergency call. Patients are being left on gurneys for hours in drafty corridors waiting for beds to become free, and hospitals in the northeast are reporting an outbreak among patients of the gastroenteritis norovirus, dubbed the vomiting bug. Politics involved Norman Lamb, a former health minister, blames “tribal politics” for failing to deliver “a solution to the existential challenges facing the NHS and social care.” “The winter crisis of the past few weeks is unfortunate proof that the current situation is unsustainable, and these pressures will …

Retail Workers Feel Disruption From Shifting Shopper Habits

With new options and conveniences, there’s never been a better time for shoppers. As for workers… well, not always. The retail industry is being radically reshaped by technology, and nobody feels that disruption more starkly than 16 million American shelf stockers, salespeople, cashiers and others. The shifts are driven, like much in retail, by the Amazon effect — the explosion of online shopping and the related changes in consumer behavior and preferences. As mundane tasks like checkout and inventory are automated, employees are trying to deliver the kind of customer service the internet can’t match. So a Best Buy employee who used to sell electronics in the store is dispatched to customers’ homes to help them choose just the right products. A Walmart worker dashes in and out of the grocery aisles, hand-picks products for online shoppers and brings them to people’s cars. ___ Yet even as responsibilities change — and in many cases, expand — the average growth in pay for retail workers isn’t keeping pace with the rest of the economy. Some companies say that in the long run the transformation could mean fewer retail workers, though they may be better paid. But while some workers feel more satisfied, others find their jobs are just a lot less fun. Bloomingdale’s saleswoman Brenda Moses remembers the pre-internet era, when the upscale store was regularly filled with customers ready to buy. These days, department stores are less crowded and the customers who do come in can make price comparisons on …

Velib Bike-Sharing Scheme Hits Road Bump in French Capital

Paris’ pioneering Velib bicycle hire service, which has been copied from London to Seattle, has ground to a virtual standstill after the new concession holder failed to install revamped docking stations on schedule. In May 2017, Paris awarded a new contract to the French-Spanish Smovengo consortium to operate its bike-sharing scheme from 2018 to 2032, replacing outdoor advertising group JCDecaux, which had run it since 2007. Under the 700 million euro ($838 million) contract, about half of the new bikes should have become available at the start of 2018, but fewer than 100 out of a planned 1,400 stations opened on time, while the old Velib bikes have been withdrawn. “There are major delays to the new Velib system. Very few docking stations have been installed and hardly any bikes are available,” said Charles Maguin, head of Paris cyclist organization Paris en Selle. A Smovengo spokeswoman said that of the roughly 100 newly-installed stations about 60 were operational and that the group aimed to get all 1,400 stations and more than 20,000 bicycles operational by the end of March. The consortium — which includes bike share operator Smoove, car park operator Indigo, mobility group Mobivia and Spanish transport group Moventia — said in a statement that legal action by JCDecaux and technical problems with electricity supply to the new stations were part of the reason for the delays. With fewer Velibs available, many Parisians have returned to using public transport or cars, or one of three new Asian-owned dockless bike-sharing schemes which …

Israel’s Central Bank: Bitcoin Is an Asset, Not a Currency

Israel’s central bank said on Monday it would not recognize virtual currencies such as bitcoin as actual currency and that it was difficult to devise regulations to monitor the risks of such activity to the country’s banks and their clients. Deputy Governor Nadine Baudot-Trajtenberg said there had been public complaints Israeli banks were making it difficult for some customers to transfer money from their accounts to buy bitcoin. But this was something the central bank would not be able to address. Other central banks faced the same problem. “The Bank of Israel’s position is that they should be viewed as a financial asset,” Baudot-Trajtenberg told a meeting of Israel’s parliamentary finance committee, noting that there was no government responsibility for investors in bitcoin. The central bank, Baudot-Trajtenberg said, was studying the issue of virtual currency but not much could be learned from what exists globally since no regulator anywhere in the world had issued guidelines to the banking system on how to act in relation to customers’ activity in virtual currencies. “There is a real difficulty in issuing sweeping guidelines to the system regarding the proper way to estimate, manage, and monitor the risks inherent in such activity,” she said. “Beyond the risks to the customer there are also compliance risks to the bank.” The value of a bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, surged in mid-December to nearly $20,000, then dropped to less than $12,000 at the end of the month. It was trading on Monday around $15,370. Anonymous …

As Growing Economies Jostle for Power, What Post-Brexit Role for Britain?

As Britain’s 2019 exit from the European Union edges closer, it is looking to carve out a new role for itself on the world stage. Many analysts say it could struggle to retain its influence as other world powers demand greater representation in global bodies like the United Nations. But the British government insists it is looking to build global alliances beyond Europe. “Britain punches above its weight” – a boxing analogy once used by a former foreign secretary to describe his country’s role on the world stage, and often repeated since. But the punch could be losing power, says Luke McDonagh of City University London. “Leaving the EU means that the UK could now be seen as a medium-sized economy in an increasingly polarized world where there are massive economic blocs,” he said. ” You have the United States, you have China, you have the EU. In the coming century, you will also have India, the rise of South America and Africa to compete, as well. What will the UK’s place be?” McDonagh says a measure of Britain’s fading clout was its November loss of a judge at the International Court of Justice. After a long battle at the United Nations, London withdrew its candidate, allowing an Indian judge to take the place occupied by Britain since the ICJ’s inception in 1946. “The way the powers game works now is decidedly different from that of 1945. And we have to question whether the U.N. Security Council will continue in …

Apple Investors Urge Action to Curb Child Gadget Addiction

Two major Apple investors have urged the iPhone maker to take action to curb growing smartphone addiction among children, highlighting growing concern about the effects of gadgets and social media on youngsters. New York-based Jana Partners LLC and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or CalSTRS, said Monday in open letter to Apple that the company must offer more choices and tools to help children fight addiction to its devices. “There is a developing consensus around the world including Silicon Valley that the potential long-term consequences of new technologies need to be factored in at the outset, and no company can outsource that responsibility,” the letter said. “Apple can play a defining role in signaling to the industry that paying special attention to the health and development of the next generation is both good business and the right thing to do.” The two investors collectively control $2 billion worth of Apple shares. Among their proposals to Apple: establish an expert committee including child development specialists; offer Apple’s vast information to researchers; and enhance mobile device software so that parents have more options to protect their children’s health. The letter cited various studies and surveys on how the heavy usage of smartphones and social media negatively affects children’s mental and physical health. Examples include distractions by digital technologies in the classroom, a decreased ability of students to focus on educational tasks, and higher risks of suicide and depression. The investors’ call reflects growing concerns around the …

One-Legged Footballers in Egypt Aspire to a League of Their Own

A group of disabled Egyptians is not letting the lack of having lost a leg get in the way of playing football. They have formed a team they hope will be a part of a soccer league for people with special needs. Faith Lapidus reports. …

Wolf-Dogs Help Veterans Cope With PTSD

01/07/2018 sellheal

The unpredictable and aggressive nature of wolf-dog hybrids makes them difficult to keep as household pets. But the founders of the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center in California say the dual nature of these animals makes them ideal therapists for combat veterans who suffer from PTSD. VOA’s Genia Dulot has more on the “Wolves and Warriors” program. …

500 Flee Surprise Eruption of Remote Papua New Guinea Volcano

01/07/2018 sellheal

A remote island volcano in Papua New Guinea has begun spewing ash into the air, forcing the evacuation of more than 500 residents, media and nonprofit groups said. Kadovar Island, a 365-meter (1,197 feet) tall volcano on the north coast of PNG, was thought to be dormant until it began erupting Jan. 5. “It’s just a continuous emission of volcanic ash at the moment,” Cheyne O’Brien, a forecaster at the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, told Reuters by telephone Sunday. The ash clouds have been thrown up steadily to a height of 2,133 meters (7,000 feet), forming a plume that is traveling west-northwest, he added. The plume does not yet pose a hazard to aviation, but a change in wind direction could hit operations at PNG’s Wewak airport, O’Brien said. All the residents of the island have been evacuated with no loss of life, U.S.-based charity Samaritan Aviation, which operates seaplanes to remote areas of PNG, said on Facebook. The eruption may become explosive, bringing a risk of tsunamis and landslides, domestic online media Loop PNG quoted the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory as saying. There are no confirmed records of a previous eruption of Kadovar, said Chris Firth, a volcanologist at Macquarie University, but scientists speculate it could have been one of two “burning islands” mentioned in the journals of a 17th-century English pirate and maritime adventurer, William Dampier. Dampier may have recorded the last eruption of Kadovar during a voyage in search of “Terra Australis,” the southern continent once thought …

New Research Shows How Alcohol Damages Stem Cells

01/07/2018 sellheal

The World Health Organization classifies alcohol as a “group 1 carcinogen.” That means there is convincing evidence it can cause cancer in humans. But new research shows how alcohol can damage the body on a genetic level. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Eritrea Closes Hundreds of Businesses for Bypassing Banks

01/07/2018 selleco

Eritrea has temporarily shut down nearly 450 private businesses, the latest in a series of moves that has sent shockwaves through the economy of the Red Sea nation. The closures were a response to companies hoarding cash and “failing to do business through checks and other banking systems,” according to a Dec. 29 editorial published by Eritrea’s Ministry of Information on the state-run website Shabait.com. Most of the affected businesses operate in the hospitality sector, according to the announcement, and they will remain closed for up to eight months, depending on the severity of the violations. About 58,000 private businesses operate across the country, according to the government; less than 1 percent was affected by the recent closures. Replacing the currency The government has taken other steps in recent years to reassert control over the economy. In 2015, Eritrea mandated that citizens exchange all notes of the currency, the nakfa, for new notes. The government also imposed financial restrictions, including limits on the amount of cash that could be withdrawn from bank accounts or kept in private hands, according to multiple reports. Business owners complained about the restrictions, and reports from inside the country indicate the rules have altered Eritrea’s black market exchange rate, which affects the price of many goods. State control Tesfa Mehari, a professor of economics in England, said the Eritrean government wants a state-owned economy. That’s a trap many other countries have fallen into that generally leads to economic failure, Mehari said. “The government cannot develop …

Iran’s Working Class on Front Lines of Protests

01/07/2018 selleco

The Iranian town of Doroud should be a prosperous place — nestled in a valley at the junction of two rivers in the Zagros Mountains, it’s in an area rich in metals to be mined and stone to be quarried. Last year, a military factory on the outskirts of town unveiled production of an advanced model of tanks. Yet local officials have been pleading for months for the government to rescue its stagnant economy. Unemployment is around 30 percent, far above the official national rate of more than 12 percent. Young people graduate and find no work. The local steel and cement factories stopped production long ago, and their workers haven’t been paid for months. The military factory’s employees are mainly outsiders who live on its grounds, separate from the local economy. “Unemployment is on an upward path,” Majid Kiyanpour, the local parliament representative for the town of 170,000, told Iranian media in August. “Unfortunately, the state is not paying attention.” It’s the economy That’s a major reason Doroud has been a front line in the protests that have flared across Iran. Several thousand residents have been shown in online videos marching down Doroud’s main street, shouting, “Death to the dictator!” At night, young men set fires outside the gates of the mayor’s office and hurl stones at banks. Anger and frustration over the economy have been the main fuel for the eruption of protests that began Dec. 28. President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, had promised that lifting most …

US Flu Season Proves Unusually Severe So Far

Health experts say the influenza season in the United States is proving to be more severe than usual, with about twice the number of people reporting flu-like illness to their doctors compared with the same time last year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that in the week ending December 23, 36 states reported widespread flu. The agency said that nearly 2,500 people have been hospitalized for flu-related symptoms and that 13 children have died of the virus in the current season, which started in October. The CDC said that across the nation, about 5 percent of patients saw their doctors for flu-like symptoms in the week ending December 23, compared with 2.2 percent of patients doing so during the same week in 2016. Hospitals in California are particularly overwhelmed, with some Southern California pharmacies running out of flu medication. Health officials told the Los Angeles Times on Friday that 27 people younger than 65 had died of the flu in California since October. Only three people died of the flu in the same time period a year ago. Medical experts say this year’s strain of influenza may just be peaking early in the season. By February last year, flu deaths had gone from the three reported in December to 68. Experts say it is also possible that this year’s dominant strain, H3N2, is more resistant to treatment than some others. Health officials say more people may be getting ill because the vaccine is less effective against H3N2. Los Angeles County’s interim …

Retired US Astronaut Young Dies at 87

Veteran U.S. astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and even smuggled a corned beef sandwich into orbit during one of his six missions in space, has died at age 87, NASA said Saturday. Young, a former Navy test pilot, in 1972 became the ninth of 12 people ever to set foot on the moon. “We’re saddened by the loss of astronaut John Young,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Twitter. The time and cause of Young’s death were not immediately clear. Young became one of the most accomplished astronauts in the history of the U.S. space program. He flew into space twice during NASA’s Gemini program in the mid-1960s, twice on the Apollo lunar missions and twice on space shuttles in the 1980s. He retired in 2004 after 42 years with the U.S. space agency. Moon mission The Apollo 16 mission in April 1972, his fourth space flight, took Young to the lunar surface. As mission commander, he and crewmate Charles Duke explored the moon’s Descartes Highlands region, gathering 90 kilograms (200 pounds) of rock and soil samples and driving more than 26 kilometers (16 miles) in the lunar rover to sites such as Spook Crater. Recalling his lunar exploits, Young told the Houston Chronicle in 2004: “One-sixth gravity on the surface of the moon is just delightful. It’s not like being in zero gravity, you know. You can drop a pencil in zero gravity and look for it for three days. In one-sixth gravity, you just look down …

Virtual Reality Helping Australians Protect from Catastrophic Bushfires

Emergency authorities in Australia have released a virtual reality program recreating potentially catastrophic bushfire scenarios. The project aims to encourage residents in the state of Victoria to prepare for extreme danger. “This emergency warning is being issued for Hare Creek. There is a bushfire at Hare Creek that is out of control. The bushfire is traveling in a north-westerly direction towards Upper Hare Creek,” says the program’s warning. The virtual reality programs have three different scenarios. They show how residents who leave it too late to respond to an advancing bushfire can face disastrous consequences. Officials say the technology allows Australians to get a taste of the type of hostile conditions they might face and helps them make better decisions. The simulation urges homeowners to decide early whether to leave, seek shelter, or stay and defend their property. South-eastern Australia, one of the world’s most fire-prone regions, has been preparing for a scorching weekend with temperatures forecast as high as 45 degrees Celsius. Victoria state Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, says the bushfire risk in some areas will be extreme. “Obviously it is about heat, it is about fire. We are going to see a fire today that is going to be hot, dry and windy, and with a wind change late in the day that if we had fires running in the afternoon the wind change will change the direction of the fires and traditionally that is where we lose most of our property after the wind …

Social Media’s Impact on Children Rising

Researchers in Europe and the U.S. say the use of social media among preteens and teenagers is on the rise, while internet companies, authorities and parents are slow to recognize its potentially harmful impact. VOA’s George Putic reports. …

Social Media’s Impact on Children