One million people across three Yemeni cities are at risk of a renewed cholera outbreak and other water-borne diseases following the closing of airports and sea ports by a Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Shiite rebels, an international aid group said on Friday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that the cities of Hodeida, Saada and Taiz were not able to provide clean water in recent days due to a lack of fuel.

“Close to one million people are now deprived of clean water and sanitation in crowded urban environments in a country slowly emerging from the worst cholera outbreak in modern times,” said Alexander Faite, head of the Red Cross delegation in the war-ravaged nation.

The Red Cross said other major urban cities, including the capital Sanaa, will find themselves in the same situation in less than two weeks unless imports of essential goods resume immediately.

The U.S.-backed coalition imposed a land, sea and air blockade on November 6th after a missile attack by rebels targeted the Saudi capital Riyadh. Saudi Arabia said Monday the coalition would lift the blockade after widespread international criticism.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote to Saudi Arabia’s U.N. ambassador saying the Gulf kingdom’s failure to reopen key Yemen airports and sea ports is reversing humanitarian efforts to tackle the crisis in the impoverished country.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres welcomed the reopening of the port in the city of Aden, however he said this “will not meet the needs of 28 million Yemenis.”

Suspected airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 21 people on Friday in the country’s west and northwest, said Yemeni security officials and witnesses.

One airstrike hit a bus in el-Zaher district in the western province of Hodeida, killing six civilians, they said. At least 15 people were killed in another airstrike on a market in Yemen’s northwestern Hajja province, controlled by the Shiite rebels, the officials and witnesses added.

The officials and witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters or for fear of reprisals.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition.

Over the past two years, more than 10,000 people have been killed and 3 million displaced in the coalition’s air campaign. With the country in a stalemate war, cholera began to rear its ugly head in October 2016, but the epidemic escalated rapidly in April. The fighting has damaged infrastructure and caused shortages of medicine and pushed the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone pipeline leaked an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil onto agricultural land in northeastern South Dakota, the company and state regulators said Thursday, but state officials don’t believe the leak polluted any surface water bodies or drinking water systems.

Crews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning and activated emergency response procedures after a drop in pressure was detected resulting from the leak south of a pump station in Marshall County, TransCanada said in a statement. The cause was being investigated.

Discovery of the leak comes as Nebraska regulators are scheduled to announce their decision Monday on whether to approve the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, an expansion that would boost the amount of oil TransCanada is now shipping through the existing line, which is known simply as Keystone. The expansion has faced fierce opposition from environmental groups, American Indian tribes and some landowners.

TransCanada responds

Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist manager at the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the state has sent a staff member to the site of the leak in a rural area near the border with North Dakota about 250 miles (402 kilometers) west of Minneapolis.

“Ultimately, the cleanup responsibility lies with TransCanada, and they’ll have to clean it up in compliance with our state regulations,” Walsh said.

TransCanada said in its statement that it expected the pipeline to remain shut down as the company responds to the leak. It did not offer a time estimate, and a spokesman didn’t immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration didn’t immediately return an email from the AP requesting additional information. Since 2010, companies have reported 17 spills bigger than the leak announced Thursday, topping 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) of crude oil or refined petroleum products, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records.

The existing Keystone pipeline transports crude from Canada to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma, passing through the eastern Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. It can handle nearly 600,000 barrels daily, or about 23 million gallons. TransCanada says on its website that the company has safely transported more than 1.5 billion barrels of oil, or about 63 billion gallons, through the system since operations began in 2010.

President Donald Trump issued a federal permit for the expansion project in March even though it had been rejected by the Obama administration. The Keystone XL project would move crude oil from Alberta, Canada, across Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines feeding refineries along the Gulf Coast.

Kent Moeckly, a member of conservation and family agriculture group Dakota Rural Action, who opposed the pipeline, said he drove to land he owns near the site of the spill Thursday.

“There’s a heck of a south wind up here today, and man it just stunk of crude oil,” said Moeckly, whose property is crossed by the pipeline. “A mile away, but I’ll tell you it was like it was next door.”

Earlier leak

A leak and spill in southeastern South Dakota in April 2016 prompted a weeklong shutdown of the pipeline. TransCanada estimated that just fewer than 17,000 gallons (405 barrels) of oil spilled onto private land during that leak. Federal regulators said an “anomaly” on a weld on the pipeline was to blame. No waterways or aquifers were affected.

TransCanada said at the time that the leak was the first detected on the pipeline since it began operating, though there had been leaks at pumping stations. One of those leaks happened in southeastern North Dakota in May 2011, when 14,000 gallons (333 barrels) spilled after a valve failed at a pumping station near the South Dakota border.

Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign director Kelly Martin said in a statement that the only way to protect against leaks in the future is for Nebraska to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

“We’ve always said it’s not a question of whether a pipeline will spill, but when, and today TransCanada is making our case for us,” Martin said.
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From: MeNeedIt

Just a dozen years ago, a worn, touched-up old painting of Christ went for less than $10,000 (8,450 euros) at an estate sale. On Wednesday, it was auctioned for a record-breaking $450 million (380 million euros) as a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci dubbed “the Last da Vinci” or the “male Mona Lisa.”

Years of painstaking cleaning and study led scholars to authenticate it as Leonardo’s roughly 500-year-old Salvator Mundi, Latin for Savior of the World. But some experts are stunned at the jaw-dropping price for a painting with a patchy history and heavy restoration.

Leonardo produced Salvator Mundi around 1500, according to Christie’s auction house, which conducted Wednesday’s sale. The painting depicts a blue-robed Jesus holding a crystal orb and gazing directly at the viewer.

The archetypal Renaissance man created some of the world’s most famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but fewer than 20 of his paintings are known to exist.

Salvator Mundi is the only one in private hands — since 2013, those of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. Thousands of people lined up to see it before the auction.

Intense interest understandable

The high price, easily a record for a work of art at auction or in a private sale, surprised even experts. But Old Master paintings expert Nicholas Hall said Thursday that it’s understandable that the painting commanded intense interest from bidders and the public.

Leonardo is “completely in a class of his own as a mind, as a myth, as an artist,” said Hall, a former Christie’s official who now runs a New York gallery. “There was and is this huge, genuine interest in this artist, and the story behind this painting — and the painting.”

The painting, possibly commissioned by France’s King Louis XII, made its way to royalty in England, where prints and inventories record it in the mid-1600s, according to Christie’s. Then the painting’s trail went cold until an English collector acquired it in 1900. By then, many parts had been repainted, and it was attributed to Leonardo students, not the artist himself.

It was auctioned in 1958 for 45 pounds — about 1,000 pounds, $1,300 or 1,100 euros today — and slipped from the art world’s view again until two New York art dealers bought it at the 2005 estate sale in the U.S.

“I recognized that there was tremendous quality to it,” said one of the dealers, Robert Simon. But at first, “I didn’t dare think it could be by Leonardo.”

Restoration effort

Because of the centuries of inexpert touch-ups, the dealers enlisted a conservator to clean and restore the painting. After a year and a half of work and research came “an extraordinary moment,” Simon said: “We started to think that this painting, which was just an interesting picture, might actually be by this great master.”

Further study, analysis and examination, involving at least a dozen experts, led to “a broad consensus” that the painting was an original Leonardo, according to Christie’s. Among the factors: infrared imaging revealed that the artist had changed the composition slightly while working, indicating that the painting wasn’t simply a copy.

Also, known Leonardo sketches correspond to the folds of the Christ figure’s robes, Christie’s noted, and the detailed curls and hands adhere to the artist’s style.

The prestigious National Gallery in London included the painting in a 2011 Leonardo exhibition. Two years later, the owners, by then a consortium, sold it for $75 million to $80 million (63 million to 68 million euros) to a Swiss art dealer. The dealer soon sold it to Rybolovlev, for $127.5 million (108 million euros). The deal is a subject of a legal fight between the two.

Christie’s isn’t identifying the new buyer.

Group effort?

Some scholars think the painting should be attributed to Leonardo’s studio, not to him personally.

“It’s a good studio work with some participation from Leonardo,” perhaps 15 percent, said Jacques Franck, a Paris-based art historian who has published scholarly articles on the artist.

Among his arguments: that the figure’s hand doesn’t reflect Leonardo’s mastery of anatomy.

To some others in the art world, the price is dumbfounding given the painting’s condition and the gaps in its provenance.

“It’s got a mystique? That’s enough to drop half a billion dollars?” asked Todd Levin, a New York-based art adviser who consults with clients on purchases. “It’s a triumph of branding and desire over connoisseurship or expertise and reality.”

Not so, said Simon, the former co-owner.

“There’s always room for subjectivity of opinion,” he said, but “the evidence is overwhelming that this is a Leonardo.”

And beyond that, he said, “this is an extremely compelling picture that has a great spiritual effect on many people.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Carpenters fans have a dozen reasons to be on top of the world this week.

Nearly 30 years since the last LP album of new Carpenters material was released, remastered vinyl versions of 12 of the duo’s albums will be released Friday, offering fans clearer versions of tracks including the pop classics “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Top of the World.”

A&M/UMe will be selling the albums individually, as well as in the box set, Carpenters — The Vinyl Collection.

“I know there’s been interest in it, certainly for the audiophiles, ever since the CD [format] came out, because a number of people, of course, believe that CDs aren’t as warm [sounding],” Richard Carpenter said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press at his home earlier this week.

The new Carpenters releases are made to accommodate those with pricey sound systems. Each record is pressed on extra-hefty 180g vinyl, which is less prone to warping and offers potential benefits such as less noise.

Vinyl is no longer just for audiophiles. Records are expected to generate approximately $1 billion in sales for the first time since the 1980s, representing about six percent of all global music revenues, according to a January report by Deloitte.

Carpenter, 71, has collected records since childhood and said he was delighted by vinyl’s resurgence.

Carpenters has been a best-selling recording act ever since its 1970 breakthrough “Close to You” and remains popular. The duo’s music last year climbed to No. 2 on the UK pop-album chart with the compilation “The Nation’s Favourite Songs,” tied to the popular TV series.

Carpenter has spent most of his life following sister Karen’s 1983 death from complications of anorexia nervosa, as caretaker of the Carpenters legacy — preserving the integrity of the Carpenters brand and recordings, and assuring the estate is compensated. (In January, he filed a $2 million lawsuit against A&M/UMe for non-payment of royalties — a case settled in May.)

After Karen’s death, Carpenter produced four albums of unreleased Carpenters recordings, as well as numerous compilations. He recorded two solo albums, oversaw the release of his sister’s long-unreleased solo album and produced albums for others. He performs occasional concerts and is active in humanitarian efforts.

Carpenter didn’t directly oversee the remastering process, but had to approve every LP.

The essential differences between the original albums and the new releases have “the audio quality of the originals, with [fewer] pops, clicks and all the other stuff that comes along with them.”

Carpenter said he rarely listens to Carpenters recordings for pleasure. “I’ve heard our stuff plenty,” he said, chuckling.

“Friends will look at the records in my jukebox and ask, ‘Where are yours?’” he recalled.

He said he does, on occasion, pull out a personal Carpenters favorite. Among them: the 1971 smash, “For All We Know.”

The process of approving the remastered albums required him to go back and reflect on the works he and his sister produced — some as long as 50 years ago.

His take away?

“Just how marvelously talented Karen was,” Carpenter said. “Karen was a true, an honest-to-God singer. Before any auto-tuning, or anything else, that’s us. And, so, really, especially Karen’s voice. But the whole Carpenters sound is, I hope, appreciated for just how marvelous it is.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Access to education is key to ending child labor, but many countries are not investing enough to rescue 150 million children globally from often hazardous work, experts said.

When schools offer meals, transport and occupational training, children can often stop working, experts said Thursday at the fourth annual Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labor.

“We need to work hand in hand with the government so the facilities are there when we get a child out of work and back into education,” said Hillary Yuba of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe.

Ending child labor by 2025 is one of 17 ambitious global goals that the United Nations adopted in 2015, aimed at ending poverty and inequality.

Nearly one in 10 children around the world works, the leading U.N. anti-slavery group said. Half of them do hazardous work, and more than a third do not go to school.

“The future is going to be a world free of forced labor and child labor,” said Guy Ryder, director-general of the U.N. labor agency, the International Labor Organization. “There’s no excuse. … We know what those choices are.”

‘Challenge of our century’

Many countries are failing to meet commitments made in international treaties against child labor, experts said.

“This is the challenge of our century,” said Mohamed Ben Omar, minister of labor in Niger, where a population boom means the number of school-age children is growing. “The investment just isn’t there.”

An injection of $39 billion could provide quality pre-primary, primary and secondary education to all children by 2030, said children’s activist Kailash Satyarthi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

Many countries have abolished fees that keep poor children out of school, but there are often hidden costs like uniforms and transportation, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

He has been campaigning to encourage legislators to return to their schools and engage with children.

“The youth are my hope,” he said.

Paraguay has invested heavily in education, providing transportation and occupational training, in an effort to eliminate child labor, said Labor Minister Guillermo Sosa Flores.

“We also introduced lunch and afternoon tea,” he said, adding that schools in Paraguay also seek to promote self-esteem and positive attitudes toward learning and work.
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From: MeNeedIt

Battle lines are being drawn as the first gene therapy for an inherited condition nears the U.S. market, offering hope for people with a rare form of blindness and creating a cost dilemma for health care providers.

Spark Therapeutics, whose Luxturna treatment has been recommended for U.S. approval, told investors last week there was a case for valuing it at more than $1 million per patient, although it has yet to set an actual price.

However, the U.S. Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) said this week “at a placeholder price of $1,000,000, the high cost makes this unlikely to be a cost-effective intervention at commonly used cost-effectiveness thresholds.”

The ICER analysis did concede Luxturna was likely to be more cost-effective for younger patients.

The expected U.S. approval of Luxturna by Jan. 12 is seen as kick-starting the sector, following disappointing sales of the first two gene therapies in Europe.

More treatments based on fixing faulty genes using viruses to carry DNA into cells are coming from companies like Bluebird Bio, BioMarin and Sangamo.

Spark’s Chief Financial Officer Stephen Webster said Thursday that gene therapy was upending conventional thinking by offering a one-time cure, rather than years of repeat prescriptions, but health systems were struggling to keep pace.

“Gene therapy creates an unusual conundrum because we are fitting a round peg in a square hole … it’s tough,” he told a Jefferies health care conference in London.

Spark would like to say “if it works, pay us, and if it stops working, stop paying us,” Webster told the meeting.

But for Luxturna, which cost some $400 million to develop, such an offer was impractical, given the mechanics of the U.S. system and a reluctance by big health plans to move away from upfront payments for rare disease drugs.

Longer-term, pay-for-performance models could be adopted for hemophilia, where the benefits of one-time treatment can be weighed against the huge cost of regular infusions of blood-clotting factors, Webster said.

A one-off treatment would slash the need for such expensive care. But there are also indirect costs and quality of life benefits — especially in a condition like blindness — that manufacturers argue should be recognized.

Nightstar Therapeutics CEO David Fellows, whose company is also developing gene therapies for eye disorders, said calculating gene therapy’s true value was not easy.

“Trying to capture all this into some sort of price algorithm is very challenging. But we are trying to quantify the emotional impact, the care-giver impact, the effect on careers and so on,” he told the conference.
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From: MeNeedIt

If you’re wealthy and you want to buy an airplane, no matter how big, you want to go to the biennial Dubai Air Show. There, you will find everything, from a small two-seater to a diamond-encrusted jet. Aircraft manufacturers say business is booming as more and more rich people try to avoid crowded commercial flights. VOA’s George Putic has more.
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From: MeNeedIt

Burmese soldiers have gang raped Rohingya women in continued violence against the Muslim minority in the Rakhine state, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

Human Rights Watch cited firsthand interviews with 52 Rohingya women and girls who fled to Bangladesh and reported being raped by security forces in Myanmar.

“Rape has been a prominent and devastating feature of the Burmese military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya,” said Skye Wheeler, women’s rights emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “The Burmese military’s barbaric acts of violence have left countless women and girls brutally harmed and traumatized.”

All but one of the interviewees was gang raped, HRW said.

Hundreds of cases

HRW also spoke with multiple humanitarian organizations in Bangladesh who have reported “hundreds” of rape cases. Numbers of rape victims are likely much higher, as social stigma keeps many women silent.

“I have had to deal with disgust, others looking away from me,” Isharahat Islam, who was raped by soldiers in her village Hathi Para in October 2016, told HRW.

The numbers also cannot account for those who were killed after they were raped.

Fifteen-year-old Hala Sadak from a village in the Maungdaw Township told HRW that soldiers had dragged her from her home, stripped her naked, and pushed her against a tree where she estimates as many as 10 men raped her from behind.

“They left me where I was … when my brother and sister came to get me, I was lying there on the ground, they thought I was dead,” she said.

Emotional, physical injuries

In addition to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, women reported untreated injuries including vaginal tears, bleeding, and infections, the report said.

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have left Myanmar’s Rakhine State since Aug. 25, after insurgents attacked security forces and prompted a brutal military crackdown that has been described as ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar’s government has repeatedly rejected claims that atrocities, including rape and extrajudicial killings, are occurring in northern Rakhine, the epicenter of the violence that the United Nations has called “textbook ethnic cleansing.”

Denials from Myanmar

In September, the Rakhine state border security minister denied reports of rape by security forces in the state, according to HRW.

“Where is the proof? Look at those women who are making these claims — would anyone want to rape them?” he was quoted as saying in Thursday’s report.

Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya and denies them citizenship, referring to them as “Bengali” to imply origins in Bangladesh.

Though Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for sidestepping allegations of abuses, many Western governments have been reluctant to ostracize her during a fragile transition to democracy.
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From: MeNeedIt

Mexico shot down a proposal by the United States to include provisions in the North America Free Trade Agreement that would benefit AT&T, Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Wednesday.

“AT&T, which is North American, asked its government to reflect its interests in the negotiation,” Guajardo said in an interview on local radio without specifying the details of the U.S. proposal. “You cannot have an agreement … that gives a tailor’s cut, a perfect handiwork, to a specific company.”

AT&T and the U.S. Trade Representative office declined to comment.

During the last round of talks in Virginia, the United States proposed incorporating Mexico’s landmark telecommunications reform into a NAFTA provision that would apply only to Mexico, four sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Mexico’s 2013-14 telecommunications reform aimed to break up the dominance of America Movil, the telecommunications firm owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, which emerged from a state monopoly in the 1990s.

Negotiators are still working to make sure the reform is included in the agreement, Guajardo said.

“What we said is that we cannot accept a specific annex,” he said. “We can reflect conceptually the commitments that are reflected in the law, which for us is very important to consolidate.”

Mexico reform weakened

Beckoned by the reform, AT&T entered the Mexican market in 2014, spending $4.4 billion to buy Mexico’s No. 3 and No. 4 carriers.

But the market was plunged into uncertainty in August when the Mexico Supreme Court ruled America Movil should not be barred by law from charging its rivals for calls to its network, weakening a key pillar of the reform.

The turmoil has spilled over into NAFTA negotiations, Guajardo said.

“What has kept us from closing (the telecoms chapter) is that it was contaminated a little bit by this debate over the zero-rate,” he said.

The telecommunications reform, which sharply lowered prices for consumers, is one of Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto’s signature accomplishments. But throughout the negotiations, Mexico has consistently rejected proposals that isolate the nation, trade experts say.

Negotiating as three, not two

“What’s surprising (about the telecommunications proposal) is that there is the principle that we are negotiating as three countries,” said Mexico Senator Gerardo Flores, who was briefed on the proposal.

“And suddenly the United States puts on the table a proposal that demands commitments specifically from Mexico, which converts the negotiation into a bilateral negotiation.”

Mexico has been enthusiastic about enshrining a 2014 energy reform in NAFTA, but also with the condition that the language applies to all three countries in the pact, said Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.

“Mexico doesn’t want to be singled out in any way,” he said. “You set a precedent where side deals with individual countries can be made.”
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From: MeNeedIt

In Mongolia’s Gobi desert, thousands of heavy-duty trucks laden with coal inch along a cluttered highway toward the Chinese border in a journey that can take more than a week.

Truckers cook, eat and sleep in vehicles covered in coal dust, many subsisting on the same meat soup that fueled Genghis Khan’s Mongol Horde more than eight centuries ago.

Alongside the trucks a bustling microeconomy has sprung up of traders peddling cigarettes, water and diesel as drivers wait to clear Chinese customs in a queue that can stretch for 130 kilometers (80 miles).

A rebound in coal prices and a surge in exports to China this year has meant a bonanza for miners in Mongolia, and a vital lifeline for the country’s tiny economy, after a currency and debt crisis forced it to seek an economic rescue package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

​Border chokepoint

But long delays at the Gashuun Sukhait-Gants Mod crossing, the main transit point between the two countries, are undercutting those gains as fleets of trucks carrying coal from Gobi desert mines to China pile up at the border.

The long delays have been blamed on a surge in traffic driven by the thriving cross-border coal trade. However, Mongolia’s inability to stop rampant smuggling across the border has also played a role as China has imposed more stringent checks on incoming deliveries in recent months.

Customs officials in China’s Inner Mongolia declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. The General Administration of Customs in Beijing also did not respond to requests for comment.

Coal prices, exports up

The rise in coal prices this year has doubled border traffic, according to local police, putting law enforcement and customs staff under heavy pressure in both China and Mongolia.

With Gobi miners hoping to boost output further next year in a bid to take advantage of higher prices in China, the bottlenecks are expected to get worse.

An environmental crackdown in China has resulted in the closure of hundreds of mines and the restriction of coal deliveries into smaller ports, driving up prices.

Curbs on coal imports from North Korea as a result of international sanctions against Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program have also allowed Mongolia to fill the breach.

Mongolia’s coal exports to China rose more than four-fold in the first half of the year, but growth has petered out since the delays at the border crossings first arose in July.

Bataa Davaasuren, director of Mongolia’s Customs House at Gashuun Sukhait, said customs on both sides of the border were short-staffed, adding that the situation had been exacerbated by events like the Chinese Communist Party Congress in October.

Mongolia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the problem was initially caused by the Naadam summer festival, when many Mongolians take long holidays.

​Smuggling a problem

Mongolian customs officers are also taking more time to screen cargoes after their Chinese counterparts complained that raw meat and even guns had been secreted in coal heading to China, Davaasuren said.

There was even one incident when a driver tried to sneak a live wolf across the border, he said.

“Nobody wants the long queue, of course,” said Davaasuren, who said the problem would quickly disappear if Mongolian customs could raise its handling capacity to 3,000 trucks a day from 700 currently. “It’s bad for the drivers and the country, so we’re all working to resolve the issue.”

Harrowing trip

When trucks aren’t stuck in grinding traffic, just getting to the border is also a harrowing ordeal, as vehicles speed toward China and back down the one-lane road. With no street lamps to guide the way and drunken driving a constant problem, danger levels increase at night, drivers say.

“It’s very risky,” said one driver, who identified himself as Bat-Erdene. “We see flipped-over cars on the side of the road every day.”

On a recent trip down the road, a team of Reuters journalists saw numerous overturned trucks and vehicles smashed up from head-on collisions littering the side of the road.

“We see unbelievable things,” said Dunshig Baasanjav, a driver standing outside his truck amid the motionless traffic.

“Others who see it would think it’s the worst they’ve ever seen, but we see it all the time. We’re numb to it.”

​Rail link the answer

Miners say the long-term solution to the border bottleneck problem is a new rail link connecting mines with the Gashuun Sukhait crossing.

Mongolia built more than 200 kilometers of foundations for railway tracks for the link but the project was put on hold after financing ran dry.

Local authorities believe the project may have to start again from scratch because the foundation blocks have been left at the mercy of Mongolia’s harsh environment for so long.

Whatever the fate of the railroad, those plying the roads from the Gobi to China in stop-and-go traffic have little choice but to keep driving given the lack of opportunities in a country strapped by austerity measures linked to the IMF bailout.

“This job is very risky and life threatening, but we have no other choice,” said Choijiljav Ganbold, a trucker who emerged from his truck as the sun set on the motionless traffic.

“We have nothing else to do.”
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From: MeNeedIt

German sportswear giant Adidas led the pack as four companies won a global award on Wednesday for shining a light on their own supply chains to eradicate modern slavery from their operations.

Adidas was revealed as the overall winner of the second Thomson Reuters Foundation Stop Slavery Award, which celebrates businesses that excel in efforts to identify, investigate and root out forced labor from their supply chains.

Global fashion retailer C&A, U.S. technology company Intel and British mutually-owned retail and services group The Co-operative Group were the other winners of the annual award designed by Turner Prize winning sculptor Anish Kapoor.

With modern slavery increasingly dominating headlines worldwide, businesses are under increasing pressure from both governments and consumers to disclose what actions they are taking to ensure their supply chains are free from slavery.

About 25 million people globally were estimated to be trapped in forced labor in 2016, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) and rights group Walk Free Foundation.

“Whilst we have outsourced our production and manufacturing all over the world, we will not outsource our moral responsibility which is to do right by the 1.3 million workers who make our products,” said Aditi Wanchoo, senior manager of social and environmental affairs at Adidas, at the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s annual Trust Conference.

The winners were chosen from a shortlist of 15 companies that employ millions of people worldwide in sectors ranging from electronics and hospitality to retail and mining and included British multinational bank Barclays, Nestle and Walmart.

The shortlist was selected after businesses completed a detailed questionnaire, designed in partnership with human rights specialists at multi-national law firm Baker & McKenzie, giving details about their operations.

An independent specialist assessed the company submissions on the strength of anti-trafficking policies already in place, as well as their ability to identify and respond to problems.

Rebuilding Lives

Adidas, the world’s second-biggest sportswear firm, was hailed for its transparent audits, strong responsible sourcing guidelines, and robust tools to trace higher-risk supply chains.

The sportswear giant was one of the world’s first companies to create a role dedicated to fighting slavery, and uses technology to encourage workers to speak out about any abuses.

The Co-operative Group was honored for having excelled in business partnership and supplier engagement, and won praise for its ‘Brighter Future’ program which aims to offer jobs to 30 slavery and trafficking victims in Britain.

“We want to go further than our own supply chains in tackling modern slavery,” said Pippa Wicks, deputy chief executive of The Co-operative Group.

Intel, the world’s largest computer chipmaker, was awarded for its innovation, in particular an initiative which leverages the company’s data analytics, and uses artificial intelligence to combat child sexual exploitation in the United States.

The company has openly discussed its anti-slavery efforts, and refused new business with several suppliers who have failed to implement measures to combat forced labor, the judges said.

Fashion retailer C&A, which was praised by the judges for going beyond compliance standards in all categories, called for more collaboration between brands, governments and civil society to implement projects which tackle slavery in source countries.

The C&A Foundation, affiliated with retailer C&A, is in a partnership with the Thomson Reuters Foundation on trafficking.

The Stop Slavery Award was won last year by multinational tech companies Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NXP Semiconductors.
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From: MeNeedIt

Eleven countries meeting at the APEC summit in Da Nang agreed Saturday to seek a trans-pacific free trade agreement, despite the world’s largest market – the United States – pulling out of the deal.  Vietnam is expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of freer trade as it expands rapidly growing exports, including technology.  VOA’s Daniel Schearf visited Vietnam’s largest technology company, FPT, and has an exclusive interview with its chairman in Danang.
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From: MeNeedIt