Month: March 2019

A hospital in Jordan has given a victim of Yemen’s war new hope for the future, thanks to the cutting edge technology of 3D printed prosthetics. Abdullah Ayed, 21, lost one arm and badly damaged the other when his home in Aden was hit by an explosive in 2017. He spent weeks in a coma in a local hospital. When he woke, he learned one of his arms had to be amputated while the other was almost beyond repair. “I wished for death, that would have been better than being like this,” said Ayed. “It was embarrassing to go out with my hand amputated, especially still being young, I wanted to get married, I wanted a job. But I did not lose my faith in God.” In August 2018, the international medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), sent Ayed to Amman for treatment and rehabilitation. The MSF reconstructive surgery program was set up in 2006, and aims to help patients regain independence. Ayed was chosen to receive a 3D-printed prosthetic. Project supervisor, Samar Ismail, said 3D-printed prosthetics are faster to produce and much cheaper. The price for a 3D limb is around 30$, while the more conventional limbs start at 200$ and can go up to thousands of dollars. The lightweight is also a huge advantage, Ismail added, which enables patients to use them for longer. So far, more than 20 limbs have been fitted to patients, from Gaza, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Ayed said his prosthetic is life-changing. Though …

Study: Trump Climate Deregulation Could Boost CO2 Emissions by 200M Tons a Year

The Trump administration’s plans to roll back climate change regulations could boost U.S. carbon emissions by over 200 million tons a year by 2025, according to a report on Tuesday prepared for state attorneys general. The increase from the world’s second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China would hobble global efforts to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, which scientists say is caused by burning fossil fuels and will lead to devastating sea-level rise, droughts and more frequent powerful storms. “The Trump administration’s actions amount to a virtual surrender to climate change,” said the report by the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, released at a gathering of the National Association for Attorneys General in Washington. The report from the research group, based out of New York University’s law school, analyzed the impact of rolling back six major regulations related to climate change that President Donald Trump is seeking to rework to unfetter business. They include national vehicle tailpipe standards and the Obama-era Clean Power Plan to limit emissions from power plants, among others focused on major polluter industries. More than a dozen state attorneys general, including those from Maryland, New York and Massachusetts, are challenging the administration on their rollbacks in court. California, for example, is leading a coalition of 21 states in challenging the administration’s rollback of tailpipe standards. Weakening those standards will lead to an additional 16 million to 34 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2025, according to the report. It also estimated that …

Mind-Altering, Ketamine-Like Drug OK’d for Severe Depression

A mind-altering medication related to the club drug Special K won U.S. approval Tuesday for patients with hard-to-treat depression, the first in a series of long-overlooked substances being reconsidered for severe forms of mental illness. The nasal spray from Johnson & Johnson is a chemical cousin of ketamine, which has been used for decades as a powerful anesthetic to prepare patients for surgery. In the 1990s, the medication was adopted as a party drug by the underground rave culture due to its ability to produce psychedelic, out-of-body experiences. More recently, some doctors have given ketamine to people with depression without formal FDA approval. The Food and Drug Administration approved Spravato as a fast-acting treatment for patients who have failed to find relief with at least two antidepressants. Up to 7.4 million American adults suffer from so-called treatment-resistant depression, which heightens the risk of suicide, hospitalization and other serious harm, according to the FDA. The drug will cost between $590 and $885 depending on the dosage and before various insurance discounts and rebates. There have been no major pharmaceutical innovations for depression since the launch of Prozac and related antidepressants in the late 1980s. Those drugs target the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, and can take weeks or months to kick in. Ketamine and J&J’s version work differently than those drugs, targeting a chemical called glutamate that is thought to restore brain connections that help relieve depression. When the drug works, its effect is almost immediate. That speed “is a huge thing …

Researchers: Airlines Lack Clear Flight Path to Lower Carbon Emissions

Some of the world’s largest airlines have yet to set long-term targets to reduce their climate-changing emissions, climate and economic researchers warned Tuesday. Top publicly listed airlines have cut their “emissions intensity” — how much pollution they produce for the same amount of activity — significantly in recent years, said researchers from the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute. But they are not making clear plans for the much larger emissions reductions needed to meet internationally agreed climate goals, the researchers said. Beyond 2020 and particularly in the long-term “the targets these airlines have set to reduce their emissions are not clearly consistent with the Paris Agreement goals,” said Simon Dietz, co-author of a study released Tuesday. The Paris goals, agreed by world governments in 2015, call for keeping global temperature rise to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and ideally to 1.5C above pre-industrial times. The study, which looked at 20 of the world’s largest publicly listed airlines, noted that air travel currently accounts for about 2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and 12 percent of transport-related emissions. Cutting those emissions — and emissions from shipping — is particularly challenging because their mobile nature makes it harder for companies to use clean energy sources such as solar or wind power. Alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, may offer long-term solutions but are still being developed. The study, backed by investor groups, analyzed the public disclosures of airlines as a way of assessing their performance on combatting climate change, Dietz …

Hands Off! Kenyan Slum Dwellers Unite to Protect City Dam

It is Friday morning, and the southeastern fringe of Kibera slum comes alive as teams of women and youngsters converge on the edge of the Nairobi dam. There, on its northern perimeter, some rake and pile garbage for collection while others plant saplings on cleared terrain. Known as riparian land, the area they are planting is the strip adjacent to the dam that can absorb flooding. Under Kenyan law, this is public land and it may not be built on. Their work might look like simple civic pride, but something more is going on: This is a message to developers who might want this unused land for themselves. “Nairobi dam’s riparian land is not for grabbing,” said Yohana Gikaara, the founder of Kibera 7 Kids, a non-profit that works with young people in the slum. Forty years ago, this shore was underwater and safe from land-grabbers, he said. At that time, the dam was a popular recreation site for residents of Kenya’s capital. But years of siltation due to human encroachment and the dumping of waste saw the waters recede. Over that time the dam’s main water source — the Motoine River — was choked by garbage, leaving it just a thread of slimy effluent. Today, of the original 88 acres the dam once occupied, only a chunk of water about half the size of a football pitch remains, said Gikaara. Given that land near the dam is worth about 80 million Kenyan shillings ($800,000) an acre, the attractions for …

UN Again Defers Report on Companies With Israeli Settlement Ties

Publication of a U.N. database of companies with business ties to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has been delayed again, drawing the ire of activists who have campaigned for three years. The issue is highly sensitive as companies appearing in such a database could be targeted for boycotts or divestment aimed at stepping up pressure on Israel over its West Bank settlements, which most countries and the United Nations view as illegal. Goods produced there include fruit, vegetables and wine. Israel has assailed the database, whose creation was agreed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2016, as a “blacklist.” Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday that despite progress made since launching the study, further work was needed due to the “novelty of the mandate and its legal, methodological and factual complexity.” Her office aimed to finalize and issue the study “in coming months,” she said in a letter to the Human Rights Council. Activists voiced outrage, noting that Bachelet’s predecessor, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, had already delayed its publication in 2017 before stepping down in August 2018. “Israeli authorities’ brazen expansion of illegal settlements underscores why the UN database of businesses facilitating these settlements needs to be published,” Bruno Stagno Ugarte of Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “Each delay further entrenches corporate involvement in the systematic rights abuses stemming from illegal settlements,” he said, calling for Bachelet to commit to a clear publication date. Palestinian rights groups and trade unions, in …

Reality Star Kylie Jenner Is World’s Youngest Billionaire

Kylie Jenner on Tuesday was named the youngest self-made billionaire of all time by Forbes magazine, thanks to the booming cosmetics company she founded three years ago. Jenner, 21, the half-sister of reality television stars Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, made it onto the annual Forbes list of billionaires after debuting her Kylie Cosmetics online in 2015 with $29 lip kits containing matching lipstick and lip liner. Forbes said she was both the world’s youngest billionaire and also the youngest self-made billionaire ever. On their billionaires list, Forbes distinguishes between those who inherited much of their wealth and those who made their fortunes on their own. Kylie would be in 2,057th place whether she was self-made or inherited. Last year, Kylie Cosmetics did an estimated $360 million in sales, according to Forbes. Jenner, who has a one year-old daughter, owns 100 percent of the company. She also makes money from endorsements and appearances on cable TV’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” and was ranked at number 2,057 on the Forbes 2019 list. Kylie Cosmetics last year signed a deal with Ulta Beauty Inc to put her products in all of the retailer’s 1,163 U.S. stores. Forbes put 2,153 billionaires on its 2019 list, down from 2,208 in 2018, and said their total combined net worth was $8.7 trillion, down from $9.1 trillion in 2018. The richest person in the world remained Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, whose net worth increased to $131 billion from $112 billion in 2018, …

Company Behind Florida Migrant Children Camp Stops IPO Plans

The corporation behind a Florida detention camp for migrant children is abandoning its plans to go public as controversy grows around policies that lock up children crossing the Mexico border. The chairman of Caliburn International Corp., Thomas J. Campbell, sent a letter Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission saying it no longer wishes to conduct a public offering. The Virginia-based company said in a press release the reason was “variability in the equity markets,” adding that business continues to grow. Previous filings cited risks of “negative publicity” as something that could affect share price. Federal lawmakers toured the center last month and said it had a “prison-like feel,” vowing to change a policy they say still separates families. The government announced in December that the facility was expanding from 1,350 to 2,350 beds. …

«Змотуємося»: в «Укрзалізниці» анонсували заміну килимів у вагонах

03/05/2019 sellbiz

В «Укрзалізниці» повідомили про намір замінити килимове покриття у вагонах на шумоізоляційне покриття, повідомив очільник залізничного відомства Євген Кравцов. «Цього року з заводу ми отримаємо 40 нових вагонів. Вони будуть без звичних різнокольорових доріжок і розкритикованого пасажирами лінолеуму. Замість них – суцільне шумоізоляційне покриття для підлоги», – написав Кравцов у Facebook. За його словами, замінити всі килими одразу – це питання «чималої» ціни, втім перші 10 вагонів без них будуть готові вже цього місяця. В «Укрзалізниці» назвали плановану заміну підлогового покриття у вагонах «антикилимовою операцією». «Укрзалізниця» є національним перевізником вантажів та пасажирів. …

НБУ посилив гривню щодо долара ще на 6 копійок

03/05/2019 sellbiz

Національний банк України встановив на 6 березня курс 26 гривень 76 копійок за долар. Це на шість копійок менше, ніж за результатами понеділкових торгів. Зараз гривня щодо долара перебуває на рівні липня 2018 року. Свого пікового значення 28 гривень 39 копійок впродовж останнього року долар сягнув 30 листопада 2018 року. Відтоді американська валюта втратила понад півтори гривні. Національний банк пояснює тренд на зміцнення гривні, зокрема, стабільними надходженнями експортної виручки. Нині регулятор майже щодня викуповує певні обсяги валюти, щоб не допустити надмірних коливань на ринку. …

Russia’s Arctic Plans Add to Polar Bears’ Climate Woes

Last month’s visit by roaming polar bears that put a Russian village on lockdown may be just the beginning. For as Moscow steps up its activity in the warming Arctic, conflict with the rare species is likely to increase. More than 50 bears approached Belyushya Guba, a village on the far northern Novaya Zemlya archipelago, in February. As many as 10 of them explored the streets and entered buildings. Local authorities declared a state of emergency for a week and appealed for help from Moscow. Photos of the incident went viral, with some observers blaming officials for ignoring a sprawling garbage dump nearby where the animals feasted on food waste. But polar bear experts say the main reason the Arctic predators came so close to humans was the late freezing of the sea. It was this that kept them from hunting seals and sent them looking for alternate food sources. And as Russia increases its footprint in the Arctic, pursuing energy projects, Northern Passage navigation and strategic military interests, experts expect more clashes between humans and bears. “Development in the Arctic will definitely increase conflict with humans, especially now that the polar bear is losing its life platform in several regions and coming ashore,” said biologist Anatoly Kochnev, who has studied polar bears in the eastern Arctic since the 1980s. World’s fastest-melting ice Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago of two islands between the Kara and Barents seas, is a good example of Moscow’s new frontier that falls inside the polar bear …

China Sets Economic Policy for 2019

Tax cuts and increased defense spending are among the measures China will introduce this year to boost its flagging economy. Premier Li Keqiang announced the measures Tuesday on the opening day of China’s annual National People’s Congress in Beijing. Li told the legislators that policymakers are targeting economic growth of 6 to 6.5 percent this year, a slight cut from last year’s target of 6.5 percent. The world’s second-largest economy recorded official growth of 6.6 percent in 2018, the slowest pace in nearly three decades, due to slow demand at home and abroad and a bitter trade war with the United States. The premier said the government will cut $298 billion in corporate taxes and social insurance contribution fees and lower the value-added tax for the manufacturing sector from 16 to 13 percent. Meanwhile, Beijing has approved a $177 billion military budget for this year, an increase of 7.5. percent, and is planning to spend more on The legislature is expected to pass a new law during this session that will discourage officials from pressuring foreign companies to transfer their technology to Beijing in exchange for market access. The practice has angered the United States and Europe for years and was cited by President Donald Trump as part of his reason to impose huge tariffs on Chinese imports in an attempt to force China into trade concessions. …

New Techniques Let Scientists Zero In on Individual Cells

Did you hear what happened when Bill Gates walked into a bar? Everybody there immediately became millionaires — on average. That joke about a very rich man is an old one among statisticians. So why did Peter Smibert use it to explain a revolution in biology? Because it shows averages can be misleading. And Smibert, of the New York Genome Center, says that includes when scientists are trying to understand the basic unit of life, the cell. Until recently, trying to study key traits of cells from people and other animals often meant analyzing bulk samples of tissue, producing a mushed-up average of results from many cell types. It was like trying to learn about a banana by studying a strawberry-blueberry-orange-banana smoothie. In recent years, however, scientists have developed techniques that let them directly study the DNA codes, the activity of genes and other traits of individual cells. The approach has become widely adopted, revealing details about the body that couldn’t be shown before. And it has opened the door to pursuing an audacious goal: listing every cell type in the human body. “Single-cell analysis is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of our biology and health,” Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, declared recently. In fact, the journal Science named the techniques that allow single-cell tracking of gene activity over time in developing organisms and organs as its “breakthrough of the year” for 2018. Its announcement declared, “The single-cell revolution is just starting.” A slew …

Activists Campaign for Treaty to End Violence Against Women

Women’s rights activists from 128 nations are launching a public campaign Tuesday for an international treaty to end violence against women and girls, a global scourge estimated by the United Nations to affect 35 percent of females worldwide. The campaign led by the Seattle-based nonprofit organization Every Woman Treaty aims to have the U.N. World Health Organization adopt the treaty with the goal of getting all 193 U.N. member states to ratify it. “Violence against women and girls is the most widespread human rights violation on Earth,” the organization’s co-founder and chief executive, Lisa Shannon, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday ahead of the official launch. “All the efforts that people put into development, education, women’s empowerment, economic opportunity are being squashed when women are not physically safe,” she said. “It’s a global pandemic. … We cannot make progress as a species without addressing violence against women and girls.” The activists want the treaty to require countries to take four actions that have proven to lower rates of violence against women: Adopt laws punishing domestic violence, which lower mortality rates for women. Train police, judges, nurses, doctors and other professionals about such violence, which leads to increased prosecution of perpetrators and better treatment for survivors. Provide education on preventing violence against women and girls, which research shows has an influence on boys’ and men’s attitudes and actions, and encourages women and girls to demand their rights. Provide hotlines, shelters, legal advice, treatment and other services …

Scientists Observe Low Sea Ice in Bering Sea Off Alaska

Open water has replaced sea ice in much of the Bering Sea off Alaska’s west coast, leaving villages vulnerable to powerful winter storms and adding challenges to Alaska Native hunters seeking marine mammals, an expert said Monday. Rick Thoman of the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment & Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks said that winter storms over five weeks obliterated thin ice that had formed since December. Wind blew ice to Russian beaches in the west and to the south side of Norton Sound south of Nome but left open water all the way to Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait. “You can take your sailboat from Dillingham to Diomede today,” he said. Sea ice historically covers much of the Bering Sea throughout the winter with maximum coverage through March. Kotzebue Sound, a great bay northeast of the Bering Strait, already has open water, an occurrence normally seen in June. It’s the second consecutive winter for low sea ice. Last year, it was low all season. This winter, a warm November was followed by a cold December and January, Thoman said. “Then the weather pattern changed and the ice has just collapsed,” he said. He suspects that heat in the ocean played a factor. Phyllis Stabenow, a physical oceanographer at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Monday that storms played a large role in the extreme low ice. Winds from November …

‘The End of a Fantastic Era’ — a Look Back at the Concorde

The speed and elegant appearance of the Concorde inspired awe. Its ear-rattling sonic booms irritated people on the ground and led to restrictions on where the jet could fly. The Concorde’s maiden flight was 50 years ago this month. Although the plane went out of service in 2003, its delta-wing design and drooping nose still make it instantly recognizable even to people who have never seen one in person. The Concorde was the world’s first supersonic passenger plane. It was a technological marvel and a source of pride in Britain and France, whose aerospace companies joined forces to produce the plane. Its first flight occurred on March 2, 1969, in Toulouse, France. The test flight lasted 28 minutes. British Airways and Air France launched passenger flights in 1976. With four jet engines and afterburners, the plane could fly at twice the speed of sound and cruised at close to 60,000 feet, far above other airliners. It promised to revolutionize long-distance travel by cutting flying time from the U.S. East Coast to Europe from eight hours to three-and-a-half hours. Depending on the layout, the plane could seat up to 128 passengers, far fewer than on many other planes flying the trans-Atlantic routes. The relative scarcity of seats and the plane’s high operating costs made tickets expensive — typically several thousand dollars — so it was mostly reserved for the wealthy and famous, occasionally royalty. In the U.S., the plane flew mainly to New York and Washington …

Trump Extends US Sanctions Against Zimbabwe By a Year

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday extended by one year sanctions against Zimbabwe saying that the new government’s policies continue to pose an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to U.S. foreign policy. The renewal comes despite calls by African leaders, including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the sanctions to be lifted to give the country a chance to recover from its economic crisis. “The actions and policies of these persons continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States,” Trump said in a notice announcing the extension, adding: “I am continuing for (one) year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288.” The renewal comes despite calls by African leaders, including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the sanctions to be lifted to give the country a chance to recover from its economic crisis. Trump administration officials had said the sanctions will remain until the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa changes Zimbabwe’s laws restricting media freedom and allowing protests. According to U.S. officials, there are 141 entities and individuals in Zimbabwe, including Mnangagwa and long-time former president Robert Mugabe, currently under U.S. sanctions. Mnangagwa has called for the sanctions to be lifted against the ZANU-PF ruling party, top military figures and some government-owned firms, which were imposed during Mugabe’s rule over what the United States said were human rights violations and undermining of the democratic process. …

2nd Man Seems to Be Free of AIDS Virus After Transplant

A London man appears to be free of the AIDS virus after a stem cell transplant, the second success including the “Berlin patient,” doctors reported. The therapy had an early success with Timothy Ray Brown, a U.S. man treated in Germany who is 12 years post-transplant and still free of HIV. Until now, Brown is the only person thought to have been cured of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Such transplants are dangerous and have failed in other patients. They’re also impractical to try to cure the millions already infected. The latest case “shows the cure of Timothy Brown was not a fluke and can be recreated,” said Dr. Keith Jerome of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle who had no role. He added that it could lead to a simpler approach that could be used more widely. The case was published online Monday by the journal Nature and will be presented at an HIV conference in Seattle. The patient has not been identified. He was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and started taking drugs to control the infection in 2012. It’s unclear why he waited that long. He developed Hodgkin lymphoma that year and agreed to a stem cell transplant to treat the cancer in 2016. With the right kind of donor, his doctors figured, the London patient might get a bonus beyond treating his cancer: a possible HIV cure. Doctors found a donor with a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV. About …

US to End Preferential Trade Status for India, Turkey

At President Donald Trump’s direction, the United States intends to scrap the preferential trade status granted to India and Turkey, officials said Monday. Washington “intends to terminate India’s and Turkey’s designations as beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program because they no longer comply with the statutory eligibility criteria,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said in a statement. India has failed to provide assurances that it would allow required market access, while Turkey is “sufficiently economically developed” that it no longer qualifies, USTR added. Under the GSP program, “certain products” can enter the US duty-free if countries meet eligibility criteria including “providing the United States with equitable and reasonable market access.” India, however, “has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on United States commerce,” the statement said. Turkey, after being designated a GSP beneficiary in 1975, has meanwhile demonstrated a “higher level of economic development,” meaning that it can be “graduated” from the program, according to USTR. …

Mnuchin Announces Halt in Payments Into 2 US Retirement Funds