New research strengthens the case that people used the chocolate ingredient cacao in South America 5,400 years ago, underscoring the seed’s radical transformation into today’s Twix bars and M&M candies. Tests indicate traces of cacao on artifacts from an archaeological site in Ecuador, according to a study published Monday. That’s about 1,500 years older than cacao’s known domestication in Central America. “It’s the earliest site now with domesticated cacao,” said Cameron McNeil of Lehman College in New York, who was not involved in the research. The ancient South American civilization likely didn’t use cacao to make chocolate since there’s no established history of indigenous populations in the region using it that way, researchers led by the University of British Columbia in Canada said. But the tests indicate the civilization used the cacao seed, not just the fruity pulp. The seeds are the part of the cacao pod used to make chocolate. Indigenous populations in the upper Amazon region today use cacao for fermented drinks and juices, and it’s probably how it was used thousands of years ago as well, researchers said. Scientists mostly agree that cacao was first domesticated in South America instead of Central America as previously believed. The study in Nature Ecology & Evolution provides fresh evidence. Three types of tests were conducted using artifacts from the Santa Ana-La Florida site in Ecuador. One tested for the presence of theobromine, a key compound in cacao; another tested for preserved particles that help …
Zimbabwean Widows Punished by Tribal Courts for Selling Gold-rich Land
When massive gold deposits were discovered about a decade ago in Chimanimani, eastern Zimbabwe, the rural district became famous for attracting hundreds of artisanal miners from across the country every year. Wealthy small-scale prospectors regularly offer residents generous deals for their land, locals say. To many widows selling their unused land, that kind of money can be life-changing and a source of greater autonomy. But in recent years, widows in Chimanimani have found that taking a deal can have consequences. Many say they have been taken to tribal courts by their husbands’ families for selling portions of their land. “I feel bruised,” said Mavis, a 63-year-old widow from Haroni village who did not want to disclose her surname. “I lived in peace as a widow in my home until last year, when I sold an unwanted acre of my late husband’s land to korokoza,” she said, using a colloquial term for an artisanal gold miner. He paid her $2,000 in cash. “All hell broke loose,” Mavis explained. When her male relatives found out about the sale, they reported her to the tribal court. “The accusations were insane. They said I bewitched my husband, even though he died way back in 1979, in the colonial war,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The cultural norms of the Ndau people, who make up the majority of the population in Chimanimani, forbid widows from owning land their husbands leave behind or selling that land unless a male family member controls the transaction. As …
Mountain Birds on ‘Escalator to Extinction’ as Planet Warms
A meticulous re-creation of a three-decade-old study of birds on a mountainside in Peru has given scientists a rare chance to prove how the changing climate is pushing species out of the places they are best adapted to. Surveys of more than 400 species of birds in 1985 and then in 2017 have found that populations of almost all had declined, as many as eight had disappeared completely, and nearly all had moved to higher elevations in what scientists call “an escalator to extinction.” “Once you move up as far as you can go, there’s nowhere else left,” said John W. Fitzpatrick, a study author and director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. “On this particular mountain, some ridgetop bird populations were literally wiped out.” It’s not certain whether the birds shifted ranges because of temperature changes, or indirect impacts, such as shifts in the ranges of insects or seeds that they feed on. These findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirm what biologists had long suspected, but had few opportunities to confirm. The existence of a 1985 survey of birds on the same mountain gave scientists a rare and useful baseline. Past research has documented habitats of birds and other species moving up in elevation or latitude in response to warming temperatures. But Mark Urban, director of the Center of Biological Risk at the University of Connecticut, who was not involved in the study said it was the first to prove what climate …
US Survey: What Pay Gap? Men Less Aware of Women’s Workplace Struggles
Far more men than women think their companies offer equal pay and promote the sexes equally, yet younger generations are wising up, a U.S. entertainment industry survey found on Monday. Only a quarter of women think their employers pay them the same as men, while twice as many men believe their company has no gender pay gap, according to the survey by CNBC, a business news channel, and job-oriented social networking site LinkedIn. About one third of women said both sexes rise up the ranks at the same rate in their workplaces, while more than half of men think the promotion rates are equal, according to responses from at least 1,000 LinkedIn members who work in entertainment. “Men, typically we found across industries … they’re not as cognizant as their female counterparts to these issues,” said Caroline Fairchild, managing editor at LinkedIn. Other surveys in finance and technology have revealed similar findings, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Congress outlawed pay discrimination based on gender in the federal Equal Pay Act in 1963, yet public debate over why wages still lag drastically for women has snowballed in recent years. Last year in the United States, working women earned 82 percent of what men were paid, the Pew Research Center found. According to the CNBC-LinkedIn survey, four in five women said the workplace holds more obstacles to advancement for women than for men, but only about half of men held the same opinion. However the survey found that younger men were …
Scientists: Producing Bitcoin Currency Could Void Climate Change Efforts
Demand for bitcoin could single-handedly derail efforts to limit global warming because the increasingly popular digital currency takes huge amounts of energy to produce, scientists said on Monday. Producing bitcoin at a pace with growing demand could by 2033 defeat the aim of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, according to U.S. research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Almost 200 nations agreed in Paris in 2015 on the goal to keep warming to “well below” a rise of 2°C above pre-industrial times. But mining, the process of producing bitcoins by solving mathematical equations, uses high-powered computers and alto of electricity, the researchers said. “Currently, the emissions from transportation, housing and food are considered the main contributors to ongoing climate change,” said study co-author Katie Taladay in a statement. “This research illustrates that bitcoin should be added to this list.” Mining is a lucrative business, with one bitcoin currently selling for about $6,300 (4,900 British pounds). In 2017, bitcoin production and usage emitted an estimated 69 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the researchers said. That year, bitcoin was involved in less than half of 1 percent of the world’s cashless transactions, they said. As the currency becomes more common, researchers said it could use enough electricity to emit about 230 gigatons of carbon within a decade and a half. One gigaton is equal to one billion metric tons of carbon. “No matter how you slice it, that thing is using a lot of electricity. That means bad …
US Restricts Exports to Chinese Semiconductor Firm Fujian Jinhua
Opening a new front in its trade and technology disputes with China, the Trump administration on Monday took action to cut off a Chinese state-backed semiconductor maker from U.S. exports of components, software and technology goods. The Commerce Department said it has put Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co Ltd on a list of entities that cannot purchase such products from U.S. firms, citing a “significant risk” that the Chinese firm’s new memory chip capacity will threaten the viability of American suppliers of such chips for military systems. It said in a statement that Fujian Jinhua “poses a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national interests of the United States.” The action is similar to a Commerce Department move that nearly put Chinese telecommunications equipment company ZTE out of business earlier this year by cutting it off from U.S. suppliers. ZTE, which had violated a deal to settle violations of sanctions on Iran and North Korea, was allowed to resume purchases of U.S. products after a revised settlement and payment of a $1 billion fine. The action against Fujian Jinhua is likely to ignite new tensions between Beijing and Washington since the company is at the heart of the “Made in China 2025” program to develop new high-technology industries. The world’s top two economies are already waging a major tariff war over their trade disputes, with U.S. duties in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and Chinese duties on $110 billion of U.S. …
Iran Silent on S. Korea’s Hyundai Quitting Major Construction Project
South Korean conglomerate Hyundai’s cancellation of a major Iran construction project due to problems related to U.S. economic sanctions has been met with silence in Iranian media. In a brief regulatory filing published Monday, Hyundai Engineering & Construction said it canceled a $521 million contract a day earlier for building a petrochemicals complex in Iran. “The contract was canceled because financing is not complete, which was a prerequisite for the validity of the contract, as external factors worsened, such as economic sanctions against Iran,” Hyundai said. Twelve hours after Hyundai made the announcement, there were no mentions of it in Iranian state-controlled media. There also was little Farsi-language discussion of the move on Twitter. The United States is set to reimpose sanctions on Iran’s key energy exports on Nov. 4 to try to pressure Tehran into agreeing to a new deal to curb its nuclear and other perceived malign activities. Energy exports are the main sources of revenue for the Iranian government. For months, international companies in sectors such as energy, aviation, autos and shipping have been withdrawing from or scaling back business with Iran to avoid being hit by secondary U.S. sanctions for continuing such business as the primary U.S. sanctions take effect. Speaking to the Monday edition of VOA Persian’s News at Nine program, Johns Hopkins University applied economics professor Steve Hanke said cancellations of Iranian construction contracts by Hyundai and other foreign companies cause significant delays in the construction process. “Now, the Iranians have to more or less …
US Steel Tariff Fight Stirs Up Swarm of WTO Litigation
The United States urged European Union governments on Monday to reflect on whether it was really in their interest to go ahead with a trade dispute over U.S. metals tariffs, and said it was hopeful of settling the issue with Mexico and Canada. The U.S. tariffs attracted an unprecedented seven requests for WTO adjudication, as well as a slew of criticism, at a fractious WTO dispute settlement meeting, while the United States hit back with legal actions against its critics. Shea not surprised U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea said he was not surprised by China’s opposition, since it had massive overcapacity in metals production and was a non-market economy, but that Washington was “deeply disappointed” with the EU’s stance. “We would encourage the European countries to consider carefully their broader economic, political, and security interests,” Shea told the meeting. “We will not allow China’s party-state to fatally undermine the U.S. steel and aluminum industries, on which the U.S. military, and by extension global security, rely.” China’s representative responded by saying the United States was shifting its arguments to disguise its protectionism. Canada and Mexico have also challenged the tariffs — 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium — but a U.S. trade official told the meeting that, after constructive discussions, Washington was hopeful of reaching an agreement with both. Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, told Reuters the best outcome would be for Washington to rescind the tariffs. Taboo no longer Norway, Russia and Turkey …
Wall Street Drops on Trade Worries, S&P Nears Correction
U.S. stocks fell on Monday in a volatile session, with the S&P 500 ending just shy of confirming its second correction of 2018, hurt by fresh worries of an escalation of U.S.-China trade tensions and a sharp drop in big tech and Internet names. Following a morning rally, major U.S. indexes pulled back steeply after a Bloomberg report that the United States is preparing to announce tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports by early December if talks next month between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping falter. “Obviously this trade skirmish is metastasizing potentially into something worse than it already is,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. After the S&P 500 dropped more than 10 percent from its Sept. 20 record closing high during the session, the benchmark index pared its losses late to close down 9.9 percent from its peak. The Dow industrials also fell more than 10 percent from its Oct. 3 record close during the session, before ending down 8.9 percent from the mark. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 245.39 points, or 0.99 percent, to 24,442.92, the S&P 500 lost 17.44 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,641.25 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 116.92 points, or 1.63 percent, to 7,050.29. Major tech and growth stocks, such as Amazon.com, Google parent Alphabet and Netflix, posted sharp declines. The S&P 500 technology sector fell 1.8 percent. The so-called FANG growth stocks – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet – have lost more …
NASA Spacecraft Sets Record for Closest Approach to Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is now closer to the sun than any spacecraft has ever gotten. Parker on Monday surpassed the record of 26.6 million miles (43 million kilometers) set by Helios-2 back in 1976. And it will keep getting closer to the sun until it flies through the corona, or outer atmosphere, for the first time next week, passing within 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) of the solar surface. Parker will make 24 close approaches to the sun over the next seven years, ultimately coming within just 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers). Launched in August, Parker is on track to set another record late Monday night. It will surpass Helios-2’s speed record of 153,454 miles per hour (247,000 kilometers per hour), relative to the sun. …
Election of Far-right President in Brazil Cheered by Trump, Markets
Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right former Army captain who won Brazil’s presidential election in convincing fashion, rode a wave of enthusiasm on Monday from giddy supporters, bullish investors and budding ally U.S. President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro, who early in his legislative career declared he was “in favor” of dictatorships and demanded that Congress be disbanded, vowed on Sunday to adhere to democratic principles while holding up a copy of the country’s Constitution. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had an “excellent call” congratulating Bolsonaro and tweeted about their plans to “work closely together on Trade, Military and everything else!” Markets also cheered Bolsonaro’s victory, sending Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa stock index to an all-time high on his pledges to balance the federal budget and privatize state firms. Bolsonaro’s win alarmed critics around the globe, given his defense of Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, vows to sweep away leftist political opponents and a track record of denigrating comments about gays, women and minorities. His victory brings Brazil’s military back into the political limelight after it spent three decades in the barracks following the country’s return to civilian rule. Several retired generals will serve as ministers and close advisers. “You are all my witnesses that this government will defend the constitution, of liberty and of God,” Bolsonaro said in a Facebook live video in his first comments after his victory. The president-elect’s future chief of staff told Reuters his first international trip would be to Chile — one of the South American neighbors that swung …
The Dog’s Nose Knows Malaria
It doesn’t take long for Freya, a Springer Spaniel with plenty of energy and a very sensitive nose, to find the sock of a child infected with malaria. Freya’s ability to sense the deadly disease is tested in a plain white room. Her handler hides behind opaque one-way glass. At his signal, Freya darts across the lab room floor and sniffs a collection of small open mason jars. Each is holding a sock worn by a young child in Ghana for one night only. In less than 10 seconds, Freya stops sniffing and sits down in front of a jar. That means she has a hit, and in a new study published Monday, researchers from Durham University in England say Freya can sniff out malaria with 70 percent accuracy. And that could be a game changer. Non-Invasive, accurate The fight against malaria has been long and challenging. The mosquito-borne illness killed over 400,000 in 2015, according the most recent statistics from the World Health Organization. Slowly but steadily, the world has made progress against the disease. Since 2010, malaria mortality rates have dropped 29 percent, again according to the WHO. And just recently, the South American country of Paraguay was certified to be malaria-free. And that’s where Freya might play a huge role. Lead investigator Steve Lindsay says he got the idea for training dogs to sniff out malaria after a visit overseas, when he saw dogs sniffing for all kinds of contraband. “People with malaria smell differently,” Lindsay told …
Guns Send Over 8,000 US Kids to ER Each Year, Analysis Says
Gun injuries, including many from assaults, sent 75,000 U.S. children and teens to emergency rooms over nine years at a cost of almost $3 billion, a first-of-its-kind study found. Researchers called it the first nationally representative study on ER visits for gun injuries among U.S. kids. They found that more than one-third of the wounded children were hospitalized and 6 percent died. Injuries declined during most of the 2006-14 study, but there was an upswing in the final year. The researchers found that 11 of every 100,000 children and teens treated in U.S. emergency rooms have gun-related injuries. That amounts to about 8,300 kids each year. The scope of the problem is broader though; the study doesn’t include kids killed or injured by gunshots who never made it to the hospital, nor does it count costs for gunshot patients after they’re sent home. “I don’t know what more we need to see in the world to be able to come together and tackle this problem,” said Dr. Faiz Gani, the lead author and a researcher at Johns Hopkins University medical school. The study is an analysis of estimates on emergency department visits in a national database created by the U.S. government’s Agency on Healthcare Research and Quality. The researchers focused on victims under age 18; the average age was about 15. Almost half the gun injuries were from assaults, nearly 40 percent were unintentional, and 2 percent were suicides. There were five times more ER visits for boys than for …
For Sale: Pieces of American Space History
Collectors of space memorabilia will have a chance to own a piece of American history when the Armstrong family begins auctioning off the vast personal collection of Neil Armstrong in November. The sale at Heritage Actions begins November 1 and will include some of the most prized artifacts of space exploration. The end of auction is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Armstrong’s Apollo 11 mission, when Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. The collection has over 2,000 items, including pieces of the airplane used by the Wright brothers in 1903, which Armstrong brought with him to the moon, as well as other items from his lunar landing. The most expensive piece in the sale is a silk American flag that was carried to the moon in Armstrong’s personal kit. It has an opening bid of $75,000. Other items that will likely draw a lot of interest is one of Armstrong’s flight suits, which starts at $30,000, as well as sterling silver medallions that were available for purchase only by NASA astronauts. Armstrong’s collection also includes a rare gold medallion. In addition to space artifacts, the auction will feature items from Armstrong’s childhood, including his Boy Scouts cap and a letter he wrote to the Easter bunny. Armstrong died in 2012 in his native Ohio. Armstrong’s sons, Mark and Rick Armstrong, say they began thinking about preserving the items in their father’s collection two years ago when they realized some of the items were …
WHO: Air Pollution a Health Risk for Children
The World Health Organization says air pollution kills hundreds of thousands of children every year and puts the physical health and neurological development of hundreds of millions of other youngsters at serious risk. The WHO is issuing a report titled “Air pollution and child health: Prescribing clean air” on the eve of the U.N. agency’s first-ever Global Conference on Air pollution and Health. The World Health Organization reports more than 90 percent, or nearly 2 billion children under the age of 15, breathe toxic air every day. The WHO says debilitating problems associated with air pollution begin at conception and continue until adolescence. The report notes pregnant women exposed to polluted air are likely to give birth prematurely and have low-weight babies. A WHO scientist and expert on air pollution, Marie Noel Brune Drisse, warns that many babies will have neurodevelopment problems, resulting in lower IQs. “The fact is that air pollution is stunting our brains, even before we are born,” said Drisse. “The fact that it is leading to diseases that we may not be able to see immediately but look at much later in life like adult diseases. Our lung function and our respiratory systems are being altered during our development.” Drisse says this can lead to chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as certain types of cancers later in life. In 2016, the report estimated that 600,000 children died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air. It said the heaviest toll is paid …
Середня зарплата в Україні у вересні склала 9042 гривні – Держстат
У вересні середня номінальна заробітна плата в Україні склала 9402 гривень. Про це повідомили у Державній службі статистики України. У відомстві зазначили, що вересневий показник в 2,4 раза перевищує мінімальний показник і на 12,9% більше показника вересня 2017 року. Середня номінальна заробітна плата в Україні у вересні склала 9042 грн, що в 2,4 раза перевищує мінімальний показник і на 12,9 відсотків більше показника вересня 2017 року. Читайте також: Понад 30% працівників в Україні отримує зарплату в конвертах – ЗМІ «Зарплати вищі за середню отримували на підприємствах промисловості, особливо у фармацевтиці (16,4 тисяч гривень), нафтопереробці (11,4 тисяч гривень) та металургії (11,2 тисяч гривень), транспорту, сектору ІТ. Середня зарплата в освіті майже вдвічі перевищила мінімальну і склала 7176 гривень. В медицині – 5730 гривень», – ідеться у повідомленні. В проекті Державного бюджету на 2019 рік Кабмін закладає показник мінімальної зарплати на рівні 4170 грн. …
Право на субсидії в Україні мають близько 7 мільйонів домогосподарств – Гройсман
В Україні право на отримання субсидії на оплату житлово-комунальних послуг мають близько семи мільйонів домогосподарств. Про це 29 жовтня повідомив прем’єр-міністр України Володимир Гройсман. За словами голови уряду, з початку опалювального сезону уряд ініціював моніторинг процесу надання субсидій. «Ми усунули обмеження, які заважали отримати допомогу. При органах соцзахисту створені окремі комісії, які мають враховувати окремі обставини кожної сім’ї, яка потребуватиме субсидії. Просив би, аби комісії приймали людей, і якщо є реальні життєві обставини, ставати на позиції громадян», – сказав Гройсман. Читайте також: Бідність чи зловживання: в Україні майже кожен п’ятий отримує субсидії Він зазначив, що середній розмір субсидії для однієї родини складає 600-700 гривень. На 2018 рік у проекті бюджету заплановано 55 мільярдів гривень на субсидії з комунальних послуг. Читайте також: Як зростатимуть пенсії і коли уряд підвищить мінімальну зарплату? Відповідає міністр Рева Кабінет міністрів у листопаді минулого року схвалив запровадження в Україні монетизації субсидій на рівні постачальників послуг від 1 січня 2018 року. …
Торгівля між Україною та США зросла на 16 відсотків – Кубів
Двостороння торгівля між Україною та Сполученими Штатами Америки цього року зросла на 16 відсотків. Про це заявив перший віце-прем’єр-міністр України Степан Кубів, повідомляє кореспондент Радіо Свобода. «Двостороння торгівля протягом восьми місяців 2018 року зросла на 16 відсотків і склала майже 2,6 мільярда доларів. Експорт до Сполучених Штатів Америки зріс майже на 32 відсотки, імпорт з США – на 11 відсотків», – заявив Кубів. Він також додав, що за останній рік уряд скасував більше 760 застарілих нормативних актів, які «ускладнювали життя» підприємцям в Україні. Читайте також: Івано-Франківськ – найпрозоріше місто для бізнесу в Україні – рейтинг Transparency International 29 жовтня в Україну прибула офіційна торгова місія США, яка складається з дванадцяти компаній, що представляють американське сільське господарство, енергетику, інфраструктуру та IТ-сектор. За результатами опитування іноземних інвесторів, яке щороку проводять Європейська бізнес-асоціація, Dragon Capital та Центр економічних стратегій, основними перешкодами для приходу іноземних інвестицій до України є поширення корупції в Україні, недовіра до судової системи, нестабільна фінансова система, монополізація та олігархізація ринків. Наразі річний обсяг прямих іноземних інвестицій в Україну Європейська бізнес-асоціація оцінює в 1,5 мільярди доларів. …
В Україну прибула перша за 10 років офіційна торгова місія США
В Україну прибула офіційна торгова місія США, яка складається з дванадцяти компаній, що представляють американське сільське господарство, енергетику, інфраструктуру та IТ-сектор. Представники компаній прибули в Україну для пошуку нових можливостей для інвестування, повідомив перший віце-прем’єр-міністр України Степан Кубів. «Вони (американські інвестори — ред.) зробили позитивний меседж щодо інвестування в Україну. Було чітко сказано у виступах їх (компаній, – ред.) представників, що настав час проводити системні інвестиції в Україну», – сказав Кубів. Він висловив сподівання, що американський бізнес зацікавиться не тільки можливостями щодо відкриття нових компаній в Україні, а й також візьме участь у процесі приватизації державних підприємств. Як заявила посол США в Україні Марі Йованович, ця місія є першою за останні десять років, і це підтверджує поліпшення взаємин двох країн. Читайте також: Івано-Франківськ – найпрозоріше місто для бізнесу в Україні – рейтинг Transparency International За результатами опитування іноземних інвесторів, яке щороку проводять Європейська бізнес-асоціація, Dragon Capital та Центр економічних стратегій, основними перешкодами для приходу іноземних інвестицій до України є поширення корупції в Україні, недовіра до судової системи, нестабільна фінансова система, монополізація та олігархізація ринків. Наразі річний обсяг прямих іноземних інвестицій в Україну Європейська бізнес-асоціація оцінює в 1,5 мільярди доларів. При цьому 35% опитаних інвесторів готові вкладати кошти в Україну після парламентських виборів, 28 – після президентських, 25% – до виборів. …
Shoppers May Face Hard Choices Again on Health Marketplaces
Insurance shoppers likely will have several choices for individual health coverage this fall. The bad news? There’s no guarantee they will cover certain doctors or prescriptions. Health insurers have stopped fleeing the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces and they’ve toned down premium hikes that gouged consumers in recent years. Some are even dropping prices for 2019. But the market will still be far from ideal for many customers when open enrollment starts Thursday. Much of the insurance left on the marketplaces limits patients to narrow networks of hospitals or doctors and provides no coverage outside those networks. Plus these plans can still be unaffordable for people who don’t receive help from the ACA’s income-based tax credits, and they often require patients to pay several thousand dollars toward their care before most coverage starts. “People understand that things are kind of screwed up,” said Chicago-area broker Robert Slayton. “My objective is to give them what reality is, to give them options. Their job is to choose what may work.” The ACA expanded coverage to millions of Americans when it established state-based marketplaces where people can buy a plan if they don’t get insurance through work or qualify for government programs like Medicaid. But the expansion has been rough. Several insurers pulled back from these markets after being swamped with higher-than-expected costs. Many that remained jacked up prices or started limiting the hospitals and doctors included in their coverage networks. Those narrow networks give insurers leverage to negotiate better rates that can lead …
DRC Health Ministry: Children Dying of Ebola at Unprecedented Rate
Children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are dying from Ebola at an unprecedented rate due largely to poor sanitary practices at clinics run by traditional healers, the health ministry said on Sunday. The impact on children has been felt acutely in the city of Beni, which has emerged as the outbreak’s new epicenter. Of 120 confirmed Ebola cases in Beni, at least 30 are under 10-years-old, and 27 of them have died, according to health ministry data. Many children affected by an unrelated malaria outbreak near Beni are thought to have contracted Ebola at clinics run by traditional healers who have also treated Ebola patients, said Jessica Ilunga, a spokeswoman for the health ministry. “There is an abnormally high number of children who have contracted and died of Ebola in Beni. Normally, in every Ebola epidemic, children are not as affected,” Ilunga told Reuters. “Traditional healers use the same tools to treat everyone. And the child who has entered a traditional healer’s clinic with malaria comes out with Ebola and dies several days later,” she said. The rate of new cases in eastern Congo has accelerated in recent weeks. An emergency World Health Organization committee said earlier this month that the outbreak was likely to worsen significantly unless the response was stepped up. The health ministry reported nine new confirmed cases late on Saturday — seven in Beni and two in the city of Butembo — the biggest one-day day jump since the outbreak was declared on Aug. 1. The hemorrhagic …
Japan, India Leaders Build Ties Amid Trade, Security Worries
The leaders of Japan and India are reaffirming their ties amid growing worries about trade and regional stability. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived Saturday, was meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a resort area near Mount Fuji on Sunday. Modi is also visiting a nearby plant of major Japanese robot maker Fanuc. Relations with China are a major issue shared by Modi and Abe, as their cooperation may balance China’s growing regional influence and military assertiveness. “The India-Japan partnership has been fundamentally transformed and it has been strengthened as a ‘special strategic and global partnership,’” Modi told Kyodo News service. “There are no negatives but only opportunities in this relationship which are waiting to be seized.” Modi chose Japan among the first nations to visit after taking power four years ago. He has been urging countries in the Indo-Pacific region to unite against protectionism and cross-border tensions. In another sign of closer relations, India and Japan are also set to hold their first joint military exercises involving ground forces, starting next month. Abe has just returned from China, where he met President Xi Jinping and agreed the two nations were “sharing more common interests and concerns.” President Donald Trump’s policies that have targeted mostly China with tariffs, but also Japan and other nations, accusing them of unfair trade practices, are working to prod India and Japan to promote their economic ties. The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the leaders had lunch …
French FinMin: Eurozone not Prepared Enough to Face New Crisis
There is no risk of contagion from Italy’s budget crisis in the European Union but the euro zone is not prepared enough to face a new economic crisis, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told daily Le Parisien on Sunday. The European Commission rejected Italy’s draft 2019 budget earlier this week for breaking EU rules on public spending, and asked Rome to submit a new one within three weeks or face disciplinary action. “We do not see any contagion in Europe. The European Commission has reached out to Italy, I hope Italy will seize this hand,” he said in an interview. “But is the eurozone sufficiently armed to face a new economic or financial crisis? My answer is no. It is urgent to do what we have proposed to our partners in order to have a solid banking union and a euro zone investment budget.” Eurozone officials have said that Rome’s unprecedented standoff with Brussels seems certain to delay the reform process and probably dilute it for good. Le Maire also said French banks with branches in Italy had issued corporate and household loans totaling 280 billion euros ($319 billion). “This sum is manageable but substantial,” he said. …
Istanbul to Unveil New Airport, Seeks to be World’s Biggest
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held plenty of grand opening ceremonies in his 15 years at Turkey’s helm. On Monday he will unveil one of his prized jewels — Istanbul New Airport — a megaproject that has been dogged by concerns about labor rights, environmental issues and Turkey’s weakening economy. Erdogan is opening what he claims will eventually become the world’s largest air transport hub on the 95th anniversary of Turkey’s establishment as a republic. It’s a symbolic launch, as only limited flights will begin days later and a full move won’t take place until the end of the year. Tens of thousands of workers have been scrambling to finish the airport to meet Erdogan’s Oct. 29 deadline. Protests in September over poor working conditions and dozens of construction deaths have highlighted the human cost of the project. Istanbul New Airport, on shores of the Black Sea, will serve 90 million passengers annually in its first phase. At its completion in ten years, it will occupy nearly 19,000 acres and serve up to 200 million travelers a year with six runways. That’s almost double the traffic at world’s biggest airport currently, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson. “This airport is going to be the most important hub between Asia and Europe,” Kadri Samsunlu, head of the 5-company consortium Istanbul Grand Airport, told reporters Thursday. The airport’s interiors nod to Turkish and Islamic designs and its tulip-shaped air traffic control tower won the 2016 International Architecture Award. It also uses mobile applications …