Month: May 2017

Portugal’s Sobral Wins Eurovision Contest With Tender Ballad

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Portugal’s Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a gentle romantic ballad that challenged the event’s decades-long reputation for cheesy, glittery excess.

Sobral sang his Amar Pelos Dois (Love For Both) in a high, clear tenor accompanied by quiet strings and a piano. Unlike the 25 other competitors who performed on a wide stage backed by flashing lights, bursts of flames and other effects, Sobral sang from a small elevated circle in the middle of the crowd, an intimate contrast to others’ bombast.

“Music is not fireworks, music is feeling,” he said while accepting the award.

Runner-up Kristian Kostov of Bulgaria wasn’t short on feeling — his power-ballad “Beautiful Mess” was awash in melodrama, the singer appearing almost wrung out by romantic turmoil.

Moldova’s Sunstroke Project finished a surprising third, with a bouncy, jazzy song called “Hey Mama”‘ that featured a clever stage routine in which the female backup singers hid their microphones in bridal bouquets.

Francesco Gabbani of Italy had led bookmakers’ tallies for most of the days leading up to the final, but he ended up placing sixth even though his act seemed the epitome of Eurovision’s cheerfully tacky aesthetics — singing a driving number about spirituality while accompanied by someone in a gorilla suit.

Eurovision, in its 62nd year, is aimed at apolitical entertainment. But the sweet intentions were soured this year when Russia’s participation was scuttled by host Ukraine over the two nations’ diplomatic and military conflict.

Russia is one of Eurovision’s heavy hitters, tied with Sweden for the most top-five finishes this century. But this year’s Russian entrant, Yuliya Samoylova, was blocked from competing by Ukraine because she had toured in Crimea after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula.

In response, Russia’s state-owned Channel 1 television is refusing to broadcast the contest, replacing Saturday’s final with a screening of the film “Alien.”

The Moscow-Kyiv split is a headache for Eurovision’s producer, the European Broadcasting Union, which strives mightily to keep pop and politics separate. Overtly political flags and banners are banned, and lyrics are monitored for provocative content.

In 2009, the EBU nixed the Georgian entry “We Don’t Wanna Put In,” a dig at Russian President Vladimir Putin. The union, however, has been criticized for not barring “1944” last year, allowing Russia-Ukraine tensions to fester.

The acrimony is ironic, since Eurovision was founded in 1956 to bring the recently warring countries of Europe together. It launched a year before the foundation of the European Economic Community, forerunner of the European Union.

From its launch with seven countries, Eurovision has grown to include more than 40, including non-European nations such as Israel and — somewhat controversially — far-off Australia.

The contest helped launch the careers of Sweden’s ABBA — victors in 1974 with “Waterloo” — Canada’s Celine Dion, who won for Switzerland in 1988, and Irish high-steppers Riverdance, the halftime entertainment in 1994.
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Ransomware Attack Could Herald Future Problems

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Tech staffs around the world worked around the clock this weekend to protect computers and patch networks to block the computer hack whose name sounds like a pop song — “WannaCry” — as analysts warned the global ransomware attack could be just the first of a new wave of strikes by computer criminals.

The United States suffered relatively few effects from the ransomware that appeared on tens of thousands of computer systems across Europe and into Asia, beginning Friday. Security experts remained cautious, however, and stressed there was a continuing threat.

In contrast to reports from several European security firms, a researcher at the Tripwire company on the U.S. West Coast said late Saturday that the attack could be diminishing.

“It looks like it’s tailing off,” said Travis Smith of Tripwire.

“I hope that’s the case,” Smith added. The Oregon firm protects large enterprises and governments from computer security threats.

Ransomware attack

The code for the ransomware unleashed Friday remains freely available on the internet, experts said, so those behind the WannaCry attack — also known as WanaCryptor 2.0 and a variety of other names — could launch new strikes in coming days or weeks. Copycat attacks by other high-tech criminals also are possible.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at McAfee, the global computer security software company in Santa Clara, California. “We think it’s going to be the footprint for other kinds of attacks in the future.”

The attack hit scores of countries — more than 100, by some experts’ count — and infected tens of thousands of computer networks.

Industry reports indicate Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Britain were among the countries hit hardest, and more hacking reports can be expected when offices reopen for the new workweek Monday or, in some parts of the world, Sunday.

One of the weapons used in the current attack is a software tool reportedly stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency and published on the internet by hackers last month.

The tool affords hackers undetected entry into many Microsoft computer operating systems, which is what they need to plant their ransomware. However, Microsoft issued patches to fix that vulnerability in its software weeks ago that could greatly reduce the chances of intrusion.

Outdated operating systems

The crippling effects of WannaCry highlight a problem that experts have long known about, and one that appears to have hit developing countries harder.

Some organizations are more vulnerable to intrusion because they use older or outdated operating systems, usually due to the cost of upgrading software or buying modern hardware needed to install better-protected operating systems. Companies like Microsoft eventually stop updating or supporting older versions of their software, so customers using those programs do not receive software patches or security upgrades.

Much of the ransomware’s spread around the world occurred without any human involvement. The WannaCry malware self-propagates, copying itself to all computers on a network automatically.

When a demand for ransom payments appears on a user’s screen — $300 at first, doubling to $600 in a few days — it’s usually too late: All files on that computer have been encrypted and are unreadable by their owners.

The hackers said they would reverse the effect of their software once they received the payments they demanded.

Microsoft patched the “hole” in the newest versions of its operating software — Windows 10 for most home users — in March, three weeks before the stolen NSA exploit software was published on the internet. Since Friday, the company dropped its refusal to update old versions of its programs and issued patches specifically written for use in Windows XP and several other systems.

Microsoft declined a request for an interview, but a statement on the company’s blog said: “Seeing businesses and individuals affected by cyberattacks, such as the ones reported today, was painful. We are taking the highly unusual step of providing a security update for all customers to protect Windows platforms that are in custom support only, including Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003.”

“A lot of people in the security community were impressed with Microsoft’s speed, but it highlights an ongoing challenge we have,” said Stephen Cobb, a senior security researcher with ESET, a global security software company. “If a malicious code outbreak breaks out tomorrow, and targets unsupported operating systems, Microsoft may have to go there again.”
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‘Perfect Storm’ of Conditions Helped Cyberattack Succeed

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The cyberextortion attack hitting dozens of countries spread quickly and widely thanks to an unusual confluence of factors: a known and highly dangerous security hole in Microsoft Windows, tardy users who didn’t apply Microsoft’s March software fix, and a software design that allowed the malware to spread quickly once inside university, business and government networks.

Not to mention the fact that those responsible were able to borrow weaponized software code apparently created by the U.S. National Security Agency to launch the attack in the first place.

Other criminals may be tempted to mimic the success of Friday’s “ransomware” attack, which locks up computers and hold people’s files for ransom. Experts say it will be difficult for them to replicate the conditions that allowed the so-called WannaCry ransomware to proliferate across the globe.

But we’re still likely to be living with less virulent variants of WannaCry for some time. And that’s for a simple reason: Individuals and organizations alike are fundamentally terrible about keeping their computers up-to-date with security fixes.

The worm

One of the first “attacks” on the internet came in 1988, when a graduate student named Robert Morris Jr. released a self-replicating and self-propagating program known as a “worm” onto the then-nascent internet. That program spread much more quickly than expected, soon choking and crashing machines across the internet.

The Morris worm wasn’t malicious, but other nastier variants followed — at first for annoyance, later for criminal purposes, such as stealing passwords. But these worm attacks became harder to pull off as computer owners and software makers shored up their defenses.

So criminals turned to targeted attacks instead to stay below the radar. With ransomware, criminals typically trick individuals into opening an email attachment containing malicious software. Once installed, the malware just locks up that computer without spreading to other machines.

The hackers behind WannaCry took things a step further by creating a ransomware worm, allowing them to demand ransom payments not just from individual but from entire organizations — maybe even thousands of organizations.

Perfect storm

Once inside an organization, WannaCry uses a Windows vulnerability purportedly identified by the NSA and later leaked to the internet. Although Microsoft released fixes in March, the attackers counted on many organizations not getting around to applying those fixes. Sure enough, WannaCry found plenty of targets.

Since security professionals typically focus on building walls to block hackers from entering, security tends to be less rigorous inside the network. WannaCry exploited common techniques employees use to share files via a central server.

“Malware that penetrates the perimeter and then spreads inside the network tends to be quite successful,” said Johannes Ullrich, director of the Internet Storm Center at the SANS Institute.

Persistent infections

“When any technique is shown to be effective, there are almost always copycats,” said Steve Grobman, chief technology officer of McAfee, a security company in Santa Clara, California. But that’s complicated, because hackers need to find security flaws that are unknown, widespread and relatively easy to exploit.

In this case, he said, the NSA apparently handed the WannaCry makers a blueprint — pre-written code for exploiting the flaw, allowing the attackers to essentially cut and paste that code into their own malware.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at the Helsinki-based cybersecurity company F-Secure, said ransomware attacks like WannaCry are “not going to be the norm.” But they could still linger as low-grade infections that flare up from time to time.

For instance, the Conficker virus, which first appeared in 2008 and can disable system security features, also spreads through vulnerabilities in internal file sharing. As makers of anti-virus software release updates to block it, hackers deploy new variants to evade detection.

Conficker was more of a pest and didn’t do major damage. WannaCry, on the other hand, threatens to permanently lock away user files if the computer owner doesn’t pay a ransom, which starts at $300 but goes up after two hours.

The damage might have been temporarily contained. An unidentified young cybersecurity researcher claimed to help halt WannaCry’s spread by activating a so-called “kill switch.” Other experts found his claim credible. But attackers can, and probably will, simply develop a variant to bypass this countermeasure.

Fighting back

The attack is likely to prompt more organizations to apply the security fixes that would prevent the malware from spreading automatically. “Talk about a wake-up call,” Hypponen said.

Companies are often slow to apply these fixes, called patches, because of worries that any software change could break some other program, possibly shutting down critical operations.

“Whenever there is a new patch, there is a risk in applying the patch and a risk in not applying the patch,” Grobman said. “Part of what an organization needs to understand and assess is what those two risks are.”

Friday’s attack might prompt companies to reassess the balance. And while other attackers might use the same flaw, such attacks will be steadily less successful as organizations patch it.

Microsoft took the unusual step late Friday of making free patches available for older Windows systems, such as Windows XP from 2001. Before, Microsoft had made such fixes available only to mostly larger organizations that pay extra for extended support, yet millions of individuals and smaller businesses still had such systems.

But there will be other vulnerabilities to come, and not all of them will have fixes for older systems. And those fixes will do nothing for newer systems if they aren’t installed.
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Insecurity Creates Challenges for HIV Treatment in Southeast C.A.R.

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Violence in the southeastern part of the Central African Republic, where five U.N. peacekeepers were killed this month, has made it tougher for HIV-positive residents in the remote, lawless region to get treatment.

The prevalence rate of HIV in southeastern C.A.R. is 13 percent, nearly three times the national average.

The migration of people between the bordering areas of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo contributes to the spread of the disease in all three countries.

“Here, it’s a crossing where everything converges. It’s why the level of HIV is high,” said Bienvenu Sapioko, a government nurse who works at the only hospital in Zemio. He said the rebels and refugees in the area also increase the high prevalence.   

An internal U.N. report obtained by VOA found HIV rates increased following the arrival of the Ugandan security forces in the C.A.R. in 2009. The Ugandan and American forces tasked with tracking down Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army ended their mission in April and are heading home.

With prostitution, polygamy and effectively no state authority in the area, weak education contributes to the problem.  

Stigma, superstition

“People believe in the power of nature and traditional doctors. So bush doctors, shamans are also very common in the community,” said Olivier Pennec, the Doctors Without Borders project coordinator in Zemio.

Stigma compounds the problem.

“Before, the people didn’t treat themselves. The people would hide the microbes, this disease,” said Marcel Elonga, a community leader. They would hide and “speak about this parasite, parasite, parasite.”

HIV-positive people in local communities can also find themselves shunned by their peers.

“They don’t want him in the community,” community leader Pierre Yakanza said, describing how some people here see an HIV-positive person. “They don’t want to be close to him. ‘Leave him over there. We don’t want to associate with him or have him in the community meetings or give him a job.’ He’s rejected.”

Local health workers spread information about safe sex, but even access to condoms remains a challenge.

Treatment available

More than 1,500 people now come to Zemio’s hospital from nearby and as far away as Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the free HIV treatment offered by Doctors without Borders.

Hospital officials said previously one person would die every month or so from the disease, but they haven’t registered a death since 2014.  

In 2012, Agnes Davouragouni said she used to be sick all the time.  

“When I did the test and found out I was positive, my husband said he doesn’t have HIV, so he left me the same day,” said the 35-year-old woman, who now lives alone with her three children, selling wood and charcoal to get by.

Once a year, Davouragouni walks 45 kilometers to Zemio over the course of two days in order to get a checkup as part of her treatment.  She walks mostly at night and sleeps under a tree along the way.   

“The roads are very insecure. I don’t have a motorcycle or the money to pay to get here,” she said. “There’s a lot of fear to travel on these roads.”

Bandits and rebel groups, including the remnants of the Lord’s Resistance Army, all move around the area. The security void will worsen with the departure of Ugandan and American forces in the next few months.

Group efforts

Recognizing the challenges of getting medication, Doctors Without Borders developed a new community approach in which HIV-positive patients work in groups to bring back antiretroviral drugs in bulk every six months, reducing travel time, costs and exposure to risk.

Farmer Moïse Ouele picks up the antiretroviral drugs for his group of about 30 people and drives them  two hours down the road to his village Kitesa, about 50 kilometers away.

“It was really tiring for me to come each month to the hospital,” Ouele said. “But now, this program helps a lot with this problem, despite the insecurity of the LRA that is growing.”

Doctors Without Borders is transitioning out of the area at the end of the year and is handing over the administration of the program to the Ministry of Health.
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Italy, Portugal Eyed as Favorites as Ukraine Hosts Eurovision Final

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The Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is bracing to host the finale of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, the annual europop song fest that is expected to garner a television audience of some 200 million.
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Mnuchin Says G-7 Nations More Comfortable With New US Economic Approach

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday after meeting with officials from the world’s other industrialized democracies that he thought they were more at ease with Donald Trump’s economic policies.

“People are more comfortable today, now that they’ve had the opportunity to spend time with me and listen to the president and hear our economic message,” Mnuchin said after a two-day meeting in Bari, Italy, with members of the Group of Seven, industrialized nations commonly known as the G-7.

Officials from the G-7 countries hoped to learn more about the U.S. president’s plans, which they feared would revive protectionist policies and result in a global regression on issues such as banking reform and climate change.

After the meeting, officials from Japan and member European countries remained concerned about the economic shift in Washington, particularly after Mnuchin said the U.S. reserved the right to be protectionist if it thought trade was not free or fair.

“All the six others … said explicitly, and some very directly, to the representatives of the U.S. administration that it is absolutely necessary to continue with the same spirit of international cooperation,” said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.

Don’t ‘backpedal’ on free trade

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said continued uncertainty about U.S. policy could dampen optimism within the G-7 about the global economy’s gradual recovery from the financial crisis that began nearly a decade ago.

De Galhau echoed the sentiments of Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, who said, “We must not backpedal on free trade, as it has contributed to economic prosperity.”

European officials complained that the U.S. meaning of “fair trade” remained unclear and that the only way to establish fairness was to abide by the multilateral framework developed by the World Trade Organization.

A senior Japanese Finance Ministry official said the most significant question pertained to Trump’s U.S. tax cut proposal that could fuel America’s economic recovery.

Trump has proposed slashing the U.S. corporate income tax rate and offer multinational businesses a steep tax break on overseas profits brought back to the U.S.

The G-7 is composed of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S.
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Fact Check: This News Is Not Real

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A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of the week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. AP checked these out; here are the real facts:

 

NOT REAL: U.S. Department of State suspends New York Times license 

THE FACTS: The account claiming the State Department suspended the newspaper’s operational permit after it criticized Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is “completely false,” Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha says. There is no permit required for U.S. news organizations and there is no issue with the newspaper’s foreign press credentials, she said. A website made up to look like a CNN outlet says in a story published last month that the State Department accused The Times of “breaking communication code of ethics” in a matter that could cause diplomatic challenges between the two countries.

 

NOT REAL: Sarah Palin out of her coma, able to identify her attackers

 

THE FACTS: More than half a dozen sites have run the same verbatim account of a hit-and-run accident on California’s Pacific Coast Highway involving the former Alaska governor, followed up by stories alleging Palin emerged from her coma to identify her assailants. A spokesman for Palin tells the AP the reports are “as fake as fake can be.” The sites report that the accident happened April 28, when Palin’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were active. The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate has been a target of hoax articles in the past.

 

NOT REAL: Hobby Lobby just announced plan to close ALL stores

 

THE FACTS: The arts and crafts retail chain has 700-plus stores and says it’s adding 60 more in 2017. A story published by Daily Info News, The Washington Feed and other outlets said the chain’s CEO said it could go out of business if it pays fines for violating a mandate under the Affordable Care Act to provide employees access to emergency contraception. Hobby Lobby won an exemption from the law based on religious preferences in a 2014 Supreme Court decision.

 

NOT REAL: 2 moms, 5 kids killed in car crash in (insert place here)

 

THE FACTS: Multiple websites have appropriated many details from a true account of a June 2016 minivan accident in Southern California that killed two mothers and four children while two fathers survived. The stories circulating with dozens of different headlines change the U.S. county where it occurred, and in some cases add the fathers’ names and varying ages of the children.

 

NOT REAL: Robertson: David Bowie is not dead, he was kidnapped by demons summoned by rock music

 

THE FACTS: This account first published by politicops.com last year and recently recycled by admitted hoax site uspoln.com began with an accurate answer by “700 Club” host Pat Robertson to a teenager’s written question on whether it was OK to listen to rock music. Robertson replied that some rock wasn’t “all that bad,” but some “is just evil.” A spokesman for Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network tells the AP that the evangelist made no mention of Bowie, who died Jan. 10, 2016. 
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Global Cyberattack in Brief: Ransomware Attack, How Does It Work, How to Prevent It

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In what is believed to be the largest attack of its kind ever recorded, a cyberextortion attack struck in dozens of countries Friday, locking up computers and holding users’ files for ransom at dozens of hospitals, companies and government agencies.

Massive Cyberattack Hits Organizations Around Globe — An aggressive wave of cyberattacks has hit companies and public institutions around the globe, causing international havoc and bringing many services to a standstill. The cyberextortion attempt appeared to use stolen software developed by a U.S. spy agency.

What You Need to Know About Ransomware — What is ransomware? How does it infect your computer? How is the U.S. government’s National Security Agency involved? How to keep your computer safe.

Global Cyberattack Fuels Concern About US Vulnerability Disclosures — A global cyberattack on Friday renewed concerns about whether the U.S. National Security Agency and other countries’ intelligence services too often horde software vulnerabilities for offensive purposes, rather than quickly alerting technology companies to such flaws.

Companies Affected by Global Cyber Attack — A global cyber attack on Friday affected British hospitals, government agencies and companies, such as FedEx Corp., Telefonica SA, Portugal Telecom and Telefonica Argentina, in 99 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets.

Don’t Click: What Is the ‘Ransomware’ WannaCry Worm? — What is so special about WannaCry?
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Don’t Click: What Is the ‘Ransomware’ WannaCry Worm?

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Malicious software called “ransomware” has forced British hospitals to turn away patients and affected Spanish companies such as Telefonica as part of a global outbreak that has affected tens of thousands of computers.

How does it work?

WannaCry — also known as WanaCrypt0r 2.0, WannaCry and WCry — is a form of “ransomware” that locks up the files on your computer and encrypts them in a way that you cannot access them anymore.

How does it spread?

Ransomware is a program that gets into your computer, either by clicking on the wrong thing or downloading the wrong thing, and then it holds something you need to ransom.

In the case of WannaCry, the program encrypts your files and demands payment in bitcoin in order to regain access.

Security experts warn there is no guarantee that access will be granted after payment. Some ransomware that encrypts files ups the stakes after a few days, demanding more money and threatening to delete files altogether.

There are different variants of what happens: Other forms of ransomware execute programs that can lock your computer entirely, only showing a message to make payment in order to log in again. There are some that create pop-ups that are difficult or impossible to close, rendering the machine difficult or impossible to use.

Where has it spread?

British-based cyber researcher Chris Doman of AlienVault said the ransomware “looks to be targeting a wide range of countries,” with initial evidence of infections in at least two dozen nations, according to experts from three security firms.

The broad-based ransomware attack has appeared in at least eight Asian nations, a dozen countries in Europe, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and Argentina, and appears to be sweeping around the globe, researchers said.

What is so special about WannaCry?

WannaCry is not just a ransomware program, it is also a worm.

This means that it gets into your computer and looks for other computers to try and spread itself as far and wide as possible.

Ransomware has a habit of mutating, so it changes over time in order to find different ways to access computers or to get around patches (operating system updates that often include security updates). Many security firms are already aware of WannaCry in past forms and most are looking at this one right now to see how it might be stopped.

Several cybersecurity firms said WannaCry exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft and that Microsoft patched this in March. People don’t always install updates and patches on their computers, and so this means vulnerabilities can remain open a lot longer and make things easier for hackers to get in.

It exploited a vulnerability in the Windows operating system believed to have been developed by the National Security Agency, which became public last month. It was among a large number of hacking tools and other files that a group known as the Shadow Brokers released on the internet. Shadow Brokers said that they obtained it from a secret NSA server.

The identity of Shadow Brokers is unknown, though many security experts believe the group that surfaced in 2016 is linked to the Russian government.

The NSA and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Store Allows Customers to Play Guitars Even if They Don’t Buy Them

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Across the U.S., there are stores where people can play a musical instrument even if they have no intention of buying it. VOA’s Yahya Albarzinji spoke with music enthusiasts at one such store in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia.
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Cheap Drug Could Cut Maternal Deaths in Childbirth by a Third

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Postpartum hemorrhaging is the leading cause of maternal deaths. An estimated 127,000 women bleed to death after giving birth. But there are hopeful signs that a widely available drug could save a third of those who hemorrhage after birth. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Is Human Behavior Impeding Self-Driving Cars?

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Most technology experts agree that self-driving cars will soon finish the testing phase and enter the commercial market, probably as taxis and delivery vehicles. But some of them wonder if the cars’ artificial brains will be able to cope with the human propensity to bend the traffic rules. VOA’s George Putic reports.
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Companies Affected by Global Cyber Attack

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A global cyber attack on Friday affected British hospitals, government agencies and companies in 99 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets, security software maker Avast said.

Hacking tools widely believed by researchers to have been developed by the U.S. National Security Agency that were leaked online last month appear to have been leveraged to launch the attacks.

Around 1,000 computers at the Russian Interior Ministry were affected by the cyber attack, a spokeswoman for the ministry told Interfax.

Some of the companies affected:

FedEx Corp

Telefonica SA

Portugal Telecom

Telefonica Argentina
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Ideological Divide Over Abortion Again Affects US Foreign Aid

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Among the first executive actions at the White House this year, President Donald Trump reinstated a law that bans any U.S. aid to international organizations that support the practice of abortion.

Trump’s memorandum on the “Mexico City policy” reversed one aspect of U.S. foreign aid policy that had been in effect under former President Barack Obama. It changed the way U.S. financial assistance is distributed internationally, and most likely will affect the lives of many women in developing countries.

The “Mexico City policy” dates to 1984, when then-President Ronald Reagan declared it at a population conference in the Mexican capital. Opponents call the U.S. prohibition on aid to groups that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning a “global gag rule.”

U.S. foreign aid practices have switched back and forth several times since 1984; aid was barred to pro-abortion-rights groups whenever a Republican president was in power, then was reinstated when a Democrat controlled the White House.

WATCH: Reaction to Trump’s ‘Global Gag Rule’

Abortion stance affects aid

The political divide between the two major U.S. political parties is based on a fundamental issue: Republicans consider abortion an assault on human life, and most pledge to resist it in every way possible; Democrats say a woman should have the right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy, for financial or personal reasons, and that the decision should not be directed by government.

The deep ideological divide over abortion affects many aspects of American politics, and certainly permeates considerations about U.S. foreign aid.

“The guiding principle for our policy,” said Melissa Israel of the conservative Heritage Foundation, “really needs to be rooted in the respect for the most important fundamental human right of all, and that’s the right to life.”

Restoring the “Mexico City policy” was expected when a Republican administration took over this year, following eight years of Democratic control of the White House. What was not expected was how vigorously Trump would expand the scope of the anti-abortion rule.

Trump policy affects $9.5 billion

He broadened the policy to affect about $9.5 billion in U.S. global health aid, said Amanda Klasing of Human Rights Watch — funds that would have been destined for programs to combat HIV/AIDS, to promote maternal and child health and to prevent childhood diseases.

Organizations working on AIDS, malaria, or maternal and child health will have to make sure that none of their programs involves so much as an abortion referral.

The Heritage Foundation’s Israel disagrees with the notion that Trump’s action has greatly expanded the effect of Republicans’ anti-abortion principles.

“We are not cutting funding for family planning services or for women’s health,” she said. “We are saying that if you want to partner with the United States, then there are some fundamental things you have to agree to as a condition to receiving these funds.”

Ban on abortion information, too  

Not-for-profit groups hoping to get U.S. funds to support their work around the world must not perform abortions or provide any information about them, even if they use their own funds, from nongovernment sources, for abortion services.

Opponents say this will have a chilling effect on women’s health.

“It means,” said Klasing of Human Rights Watch, “that when a doctor sits down with a woman, if she has a health complication and she’s entitled under her local law to access a safe abortion, that doctor cannot give her a referral, or provide her information she needs to take care of herself.”

In rural areas of developing countries, a physician often takes care of a variety of medical needs, including providing information about reproductive health. Such medical practices would be proscribed from receiving any U.S. assistance. Advocates cite research that has shown family planning services result in fewer unplanned pregnancies, fewer maternal deaths and fewer abortions.

56 million abortions worldwide each year

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 56 million abortions take place every year worldwide. More than half of those are in developing countries.

“Trump’s global gag rule will have a direct and devastating effect in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa in several ways,” said Liza Muringo Kimbo, the director in Kenya for Ipas Africa Alliance, a nonprofit group whose principal goal is advocating for safe abortion and reforming laws that harm women.

The current U.S. policy “will lead to more unwanted pregnancies,” Muringo Kimbo said. “It will lead to more unsafe abortions, increased deaths of women and young women, and even increased numbers of newborn deaths.”

Muringo Kimbo noted that her predictions have been borne out in the past, whenever a Republican administration in Washington reinstated the “Mexico City policy.”

Other countries have begun their own initiatives to counter the impact of U.S. anti-abortion policies. The Dutch have created the “She Decides Initiative,” and in Britain, an upcoming conference, “Family Planning 2020,” will try to bring together donor and recipient countries.
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Michelle Obama Criticizes Trump School Lunch Directives

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Former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama has criticized the new Trump administration’s directives on school lunches during her first high-profile public appearance since leaving the White House.

Obama, who led a nationwide effort to reduce childhood obesity while first lady, told an annual health conference Friday in Washington that more nutritious school lunches are important because millions of children receive federally subsidized meals at school.

The Trump administration recently said it would delay federal rules promoted by Obama aimed at trying to make school lunches healthier.

Without mentioning the Trump administration by name, Obama urged parents to think about the new government directives and the motives behind them.

“I don’t care what state you live in, take me out of the equation — like me, don’t like me — but think about why someone is OK with your kids eating crap. Why would you celebrate that?” she said during the keynote speech.

She said healthier school lunches should not be a political issue.

“You have to stop and think, ‘Why don’t you want our kids to have good food at school?’ What is wrong with you? And why is that a partisan issue? Why would that be political? What is going on?’ ” she asked.

In one of his first major actions, Sonny Perdue, Trump’s new agriculture secretary, said the department will delay some school lunch rules, including reducing sodium in the meals and increasing whole wheat.

“If kids aren’t eating the food and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition … undermining the intent of the program,” Perdue said earlier this month. The secretary said he appreciates what Obama wanted to do, but he said his department wants to adjust the program to make the healthier food more appetizing.

Under the 2012 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, schools that wanted federal meal subsidies would have to put limits on salt and fat in lunches, and add more fruit, vegetables and whole grains to the menus.

Health experts say U.S. children do not exercise enough and that one child in six is overweight.
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5 Immigrant Women Vie for Miss USA Pageant Title

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Five of the contestants vying for the Miss USA title have a message to immigrant girls and women watching the pageant this weekend: Set goals, work hard and don’t stay in the shadows.

The contestants know what they are talking about, as they were all born in other countries and immigrated to the U.S. at young ages as their families pursued their versions of the American Dream. The women are now all U.S. citizens.

“I want them to see that anything is possible if you work hard,” said Linette De Los Santos, who immigrated with her family from the Dominican Republic when she was 5 years old. “As Miss USA, I would love to be able to be that inspiration for our immigrant community. If I would have stopped following my dreams and working hard toward what I wanted, I wouldn’t be sitting here as Miss Florida USA or in law school ready to become an immigration attorney.”

The competition airs Sunday from Las Vegas.

De Los Santos, Miss North Dakota Raquel Wellentin, Miss Hawaii Julie Kuo, Miss Connecticut Olga Litvinenko and Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg spoke to The Associated Press about the opportunities and challenges they’ve faced as immigrants. 

Their remarks stand in stark contrast to the scandal that enveloped the pageant in 2015, when part owner and now President Donald Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his bid for the White House. Trump co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties with him, refusing to air the show. Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling off the entire pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.

Miss North Dakota Raquel Wellentin

Wellentin and her family left the Philippines over safety fears when she was 2 years old. Their first taste of American life was in the small community of Enderlin, North Dakota, where she and her siblings felt isolated.

“Nobody wanted to talk to me at all. I came home one day and I asked my dad ‘Why am I so different? Why isn’t anyone talking to me?”‘ Wellentin said. “My dad told me, ‘You know, you are not different. You are very unique yourself. You have to be strong and really accept this negativity from other people and have it motivate you.’ I still keep that in my mind.”

Their situation improved when they moved to the larger and more diverse Fargo, North Dakota.

Wellentin, 24, who wants to be a middle school teacher after she completes a student-teaching requirement, said her experiences have taught her to not take no for an answer.

“I want to tell people that they need to make sure that they should not allow anyone to tell them that they can’t do something because only you can determine your future,” she said.

Miss Connecticut Olga Litvinenko

Like thousands of immigrants, Litvinenko moved to the U.S. with her family after her mother won the lottery for a green card. She was 3 years old when they relocated from Ukraine a few years after the Soviet Union collapsed.

The 27-year-old business owner ventured into pageants when she could no longer play basketball after injuring a foot in high school. She won Miss Connecticut Teen on her first try, but had to compete five times to reach the Miss USA competition. Her persistence, Litvinenko said, shows that every effort counts.

“I want to showcase that no matter who you are, no matter what your background is, your size or what you have done in the past, through hard work and discipline, through perseverance and determination, you really can achieve what you put your heart toward.”
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By the Numbers: China’s Chase of ‘Golden Visa’ Abroad

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From the United States and Canada to small islands in Europe and the Caribbean, Chinese are spending billions on new passports and visas to move their families away from their homeland.

China’s middle and upper classes are demanding better schools, cleaner air and a more secure life for their children. And as China gets wealthier, millions of families have the means to purchase a new life elsewhere.

 

Their demand has transformed a once obscure market for immigration by investment. To study China’s impact, the Associated Press collected statistics from 13 countries that offer citizenship or permanent residency for a price.

Here’s a look at AP’s analysis of the market, by the numbers.

China’s favorite programs

Consulting firms in China’s biggest cities hawk investor visa programs in weekly sessions at hotels and on social media. The market leader is the United States, as urban Chinese are widely familiar with American schools and culture.

 

Here are the five countries in the AP’s analysis with the most visas issued to Chinese investors and their families in the last decade:

— 43,448: the United States’ investment visa program, known as EB-5.

— 35,278: Canada’s investment bond programs, including a program offered by the province of Quebec.

— 7,875: Portugal’s “golden visa” program for real estate investors.

 

— 6,405: Hungary’s residence bond program, recently suspended by the government.

— 4,640: Australia’s program for high-dollar “significant investors.”

 

What they buy

Depending on the country, Chinese investors looking for a second home can join business projects, invest in bonds or make an outright payment to the government. Currency conversions are as of May 11.

 

— $250,000: the minimum price of citizenship in Antigua & Barbuda for an investor who donates to the island government’s development fund and pays a $50,000 government fee.

 

— $380,000 (350,000 euro): the minimum value of real estate investors must purchase in Portugal’s “golden visa” program.

 

— $500,000: the minimum business investment in the United States’ EB-5 program, with a “green card” given to investors whose money creates or saves 10 jobs.

 

— $584,000 (800,000 Canadian dollars): the minimum amount of interest-free investment to be made or financed for residence in the Canadian province of Quebec. (Canada closed a similar national program in 2014.)

 

— $3.7 million (5 million Australian dollars): the required investment in Australia’s Significant Investor Visa program in a mix of developing businesses and funds as defined by the government. Australia’s program is by far the most expensive in the AP survey.

 

What they spent

To understand how China has changed the global investor migration market, the AP estimated how much Chinese families have invested at a minimum in foreign countries for a visa or passport. The AP multiplied the number of investors, excluding family members, by the minimum investment level for each year, in each program for the last decade. In some cases, the AP estimated the number of investors with the help of government data or experts on investment migration.  

 

The figures below are an undercount because some investors put in more than what’s required. Investment amounts for each year were converted to U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rate that year. The figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

 

— $7.7 billion: estimated minimum investment in the United States through the EB-5 program.

 

— $6 billion: estimated minimum investment in Australia through its Significant Investor Visa program.

— $4.3 billion: estimated minimum investment in Canada, including Quebec, through its immigrant investor programs.

— $1.96 billion: estimated minimum investment in the United Kingdom through its Tier 1 investor program.

— $1.71 billion: estimated minimum investment in New Zealand through its investor and entrepreneur programs.
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US to Attend China’s Belt and Road Forum

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In a move that is likely to give a boost to China’s Belt and Road Forum, the United States has announced that it will participate in meetings on the initiative beginning this weekend in Beijing.

The decision to attend is part of a 100-day plan and new deal between Washington and Beijing that was initially hammered out when President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping met early last month in Florida.

The interagency delegation from Washington will be led by Matthew Pottinger, a top adviser to the Trump administration and National Security Council senior director for East Asia. China is pleased with the decision.

“We welcome all countries to attend. And we welcome the United States’ attendance as the world’s largest economy in the relevant activities of the Belt and Road initiative,” said Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao.

Fact and fiction

China has long been playing up the global benefits of its ambitious trade project, but analysts note that the plan is opaque and vague. Besides, the economic benefits for developed nations such as the United States are still unclear.

For many, the project still seems largely China-centric. It boasts six economic corridors, all of which are to enhance links with China through connectivity and trade infrastructure. Those include connections between China and Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

“It’s about making China great again — in Trumpian terms — and making China great on the international stage,” said Tom Miller, author of China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road.

Domestically, China’s leaders present the project as part of their attempt at the grand rejuvenation of the Chinese people. Internationally, Beijing is trying to convince the world that it is a cooperative win-win plan that will equally benefit all participants.

So far the response has been mixed, but Beijing hopes that its forum on Sunday and Monday, which will include heads of state from 29 countries and official delegations from several other countries, will bring more clarity.

For starters, there is no official map of the grand plan, and the scope of the project continues to balloon. Beijing is entirely in the driver’s seat and the direction of the initiative is fuzzy at best, analysts said.

“What actually gets built will depend on what deals Chinese companies make with other countries abroad or on the deals that Chinese government makes with other governments abroad, and no one knows exactly what those are going to be,” Miller said.

Bumps on China road

There are also the geopolitical implications of the project.

Many developing countries along the route will obviously welcome and be eager and open to receive Chinese investment, infrastructure and development, said Paul Haenle, director of the Beijing-based Tsinghua-Carnegie Center for Global Policy.

In addition to communicating with developing countries, China needs to proactively engage with developed nations such as the United States and others as well.

China “should explain fully what the objectives are for the initiatives,” Hanele says. “And if it doesn’t do a very good job, I think then China risks these nations projecting their worst fears onto the Belt and Road initiative.”

While China-backed infrastructure projects could bring many benefits to developing countries, they could also make them reliant on Beijing’s largesse.

“The more power that China gains economically, [the more] it will have a geopolitical impact,” Miller said. “And in that sense, you can say that it does equate to a double win for China.”

Critical eye

Having developed countries such as the United States, Germany and Britain participate in the meeting could help make it more transparent.

Other developed European countries and the United States are right to look at Chinese behavior that is opaque and poorly defined with a critical eye, Haenle said.

He added Washington’s decision to attend and not shun the gathering, as it did during China’s formation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) two years ago, is a better approach.

The United States would do well “to ask about what the rules will be and what the purpose is behind this, but at the end of the day, the U.S. should not have a hostile attitude,” Haenle said.

Friday’s last-minute announcement has raised questions about whether the United States may reverse former President Barack Obama’s decision to stay away from the AIIB and join. The bank is hosting a special press conference on Saturday to announce new members.
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WHO Confirms Ebola Case in DR Congo

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A person has tested positive for the Ebola virus in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization says officials declared an Ebola outbreak in Bas-Uele province after laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the virus.

The spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, tells VOA English to Africa that nine people in the area fell sick with what is currently listed as hemorrhagic fever. He said three people have died.

The WHO said on its Twitter feed it is working with Congo’s Ministry of Health to contain the outbreak.

The ministry says in a statement that teams of doctors, coordinators and specialists are headed to the remote area and should arrive by Saturday.

The last Ebola outbreak in Congo happened in 2014 and killed more than 40 people.

A much larger outbreak swept across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone that year and killed more than 11,000.

 

 
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Harry Potter Prequel, Written on a Postcard, Is Stolen

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A rare Harry Potter prequel handwritten by author J.K. Rowling on a postcard was stolen during a burglary in central England, police said Friday as they appealed for help from fans of the wizard across the world.

The 800-word story, set three years before Harry Potter is born and which sold for 25,000 pounds ($32,152) at a charity auction in 2008, was stolen from a property in Birmingham between April 13-24.

Appeal to Potter fans

“Please don’t buy this if you’re offered it,” Rowling wrote on Twitter. “Originally auctioned for @englishpen, the owner supported writers’ freedoms by bidding for it.”

The proceeds of the auction were donated to English PEN, an organization that champions freedom of expression, and to Dyslexia Action.

“The only people who will buy this unique piece are true Harry Potter fans. We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police,” said Constable Paul Jauncey from West Midlands Police.

Untitled prequel

Handwritten over two sides of an A5 postcard, the untitled prequel features the characters Sirius Black and Harry’s father, James. It opens with a youthful Sirius and James cornered by two irate policemen at the end of a high-speed motorcycle chase.

After an exchange of words with the policemen, the two teenagers make their escape using a touch of magic. The card concludes with the words “From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!”

More than 450 million copies of the seven original Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in 79 languages. The movie franchise has grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.
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