Institutional investors with $26 trillion in assets under management called on Group of Seven leaders on Monday to phase out the use of coal in power generation to help limit climate change, despite strong opposition from Washington.

Government plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions were too weak to limit warming as agreed by world leaders at a Paris summit in 2015, they wrote. U.S. President Donald Trump announced a year ago that he was pulling out of the pact.

“The global shift to clean energy is under way, but much more needs to be done by governments,” the group of 288 investors wrote in a statement before the G7 summit in Canada on June 8-9.

Signatories included Allianz Global Investors, Aviva Investors, DWS, HSBC Global Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management, Australian Super, HESTA and some major U.S. pension funds including CalPERS, it said.

As part of action to slow climate change, the investors called on governments to “phase out thermal coal power worldwide by set deadlines,” to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and to “put a meaningful price on carbon.”

The investors also urged governments to strengthen national plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and to ensure that companies improve climate-related financial reporting.

Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGC), said it was the first time that such a broad group of investors had called for a phase-out of thermal coal, used in power generation.

“There is a lot more momentum in the investor community” to put pressure on governments, she told Reuters. The IIGC was among backers of the statement, delivered to G7 governments and to the United Nations.

G7 nations Canada, Britain, France and Italy are members of a “Powering Past Coal” alliance of almost 30 nations set up last year and which seeks to halt use of coal power by 2030. Japan, Germany and the United States are not members.

The investors wrote that countries and companies that implement the Paris climate agreement “will see significant economic benefits and attract increased investment.” U.S. gross domestic product was $18.6 trillion in 2016, World Bank data show.

Trump doubts scientific findings that heatwaves, downpours and rising sea levels are linked to man-made greenhouse gas emissions and wants to bolster the U.S. fossil fuel industry.

Worldwide, coal is now used to generate almost 40 percent of electricity.
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From: MeNeedIt

Most women diagnosed with early stages of common forms of breast cancer may be able to avoid having to undergo chemotherapy, according to a new study. 

The study, led by Dr. Joseph Sparano and published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that women who had small tumors that had not spread to the lymph nodes did almost as well with medications as those who received chemotherapy. 

“The impact is tremendous,” said Sparano, of Montefiore Medical Center in New York. The study, the largest ever done on breast cancer treatment, could spare about 70,000 American women from having to undergo the toxic treatment every year. 

The study found that a genetic test of the tumors could determine which women would benefit from taking only a drug that blocks the hormone estrogen or stops the body from making it.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. More than half the women diagnosed worldwide have cancer that is hormone-positive, where the growth of cancer cells is stimulated by estrogen or progesterone. 

After following 10,273 women for an average of nine years. researches determined that for 83.3 percent of those on hormone therapy alone the original cancer did not return and they did not develop cancer elsewhere in their bodies. For the group that had both hormone and chemotherapy, the rate was minutely better at 84.3 percent.

The overall survival rate for both groups was 93.9 percent and 93.8 percent, respectively.
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From: MeNeedIt

Three astronauts from the International Space Station have safely returned to Earth after completing a five-month mission. 

American Scott Tingle, Russian Anton Shkaplerov and Japan’s Norishige Kanai touched down at 12:39 UTC Sunday in Kazakhstan.

Shkaplerov, who was the first to be helped out of the Russian Soyuz space capsule, said, “We are a bit tired but happy with what we have accomplished and happy to be back on Earth. We are glad the weather is sunny.”

The trio will undergo medical tests in the Kazakh city of Karaganda before flying on to Moscow or Houston. 

Shkaplerov will return to Moscow with a football he brought back from the space station. He and another cosmonaut were filmed practicing with the ball aboard the ISS. The Russian news agency Tass reported that the ball will be used in the opening game of the World Cup later this month. 

Three astronauts, Americans Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Russian Oleg Artemyev, remain on the ISS. They will be joined by three others who will take off Wednesday from the Baikonur complex in Kazakhstan.
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From: MeNeedIt

Governments around the world plan to strike back harder at snakebite, a scourge that kills tens of thousands of people a year.

A World Health Organization (WHO) resolution raises the priority of improving snakebite prevention as well as access to effective and affordable anti-venom. The measure was approved by 192 countries in late May.

The WHO estimates that venomous snakes bite 1.8 million to 2.7 million people a year, killing between 81,000 and 138,000 of them.

“For every person who dies following a snakebite, another four or five are left with disabilities such as blindness, restricted mobility or amputation, and post-traumatic stress disorder,” the WHO reports.

Snakebite envenoming is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, the WHO reports. People in rural, impoverished areas there and elsewhere are most at risk, challenged by poor or remote health systems, and limited diagnoses, ambulances and other emergency care – including reliable anti-venom.

In sub-Saharan Africa, just 2 percent of people bitten by venomous snakes have access to appropriate anti-venom, says Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the aid group also known as Doctors Without Borders.

“We need to know better the data [on] where most cases take place,” said Julien Potet, MSF’s policy adviser on neglected tropical diseases, speaking by phone last week from Geneva. “We need to better regulate the quality of the anti-venoms, to distribute them accordingly in the areas of highest need” and to make them affordable, “because otherwise they [patients] will not be able to access the product.”

Potet pointed out that French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur has stopped manufacturing Fav-Afrique, the only serum known to effectively treat bites from some sub-Saharan African snakes. The last batches of the company’s serum expired in June 2016.

Production of the anti-venom takes roughly two years, the in-Pharma Technologist website reported.  It said the pharmaceutical company cited manufacturing costs, and competition from cheaper but less effective treatments, in its decision to stop producing Fav-Afrique.

MSF has estimated that the anti-venom costs a patient $250 to $500 for treatment.

Sanofi Pasteur announced in January that it had agreed to divest its anti-venom immunoglobulin range, which includes Fav-Afrique, to the U.K.-based firm MicroPharm.

“We hope this resolution will trigger some actions to better regulate the market … and to prioritize and subsidize” anti-venom production and distribution, Potet said.

“Now we need to make sure this resolution is translated into a concrete, fully funded action plan,” he added.

A WHO working group is expected to offer recommendations on how governments can bolster data collection, training for health workers, access to care and support for effective anti-venoms, according to Devex, a website aimed at the global development community. It said the group’s report is expected by Nov. 30.         

Devex also reported that David Williams, the group’s chair, estimated “about $6 million was needed in 2018-2019 to prepare the recommendations, improve surveillance, deliver antivenoms, and address other technical and medical challenges.”

This story originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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From: MeNeedIt

The government Papua New Guinea is considering blocking Facebook while it investigates how to best to regulate the social networking site. Critics say the move would be authoritarian.

Authorities in Papua New Guinea, or PNG, say Facebook has become a magnet for illegal and unsavory activity. The government is considering a temporary ban on the site while it works out the best way to regulate the social media platform.

Only about 10 percent of the nearly 7 million people in PNG use Facebook, but some officials have become increasingly agitated by content being posted online.They have asked experts to help in their search for the best way to impose controls on the social media site.

PNG Communications Minister, Sam Basil, says illegal use of Facebook must be curbed.

“Defamatory publications or the fake news, identity theft and, of course, unidentified Facebook users. Most of those users are the ones that are really breaching all the laws in terms of posting pornography materials and, of course, posting fake news,” he said.

But critics believe the government’s attempts to muzzle Facebook are an attack on free speech. They believe that ministers are motivated by a desire to silence those who expose official corruption and wrongdoing online.

Lawrence Stephens, the chairman of Transparency International PNG, says a temporary ban of Facebook would be a draconian move.

“To talk about stopping this for a month whilst someone, somewhere does an analysis of what we should be able to see sounds pretty authoritarian and pretty worrying,” said Stephens.

The move to temporarily ban Facebook comes as PNG prepares to host the 2018 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, leaders’ summit later this year.

PNG is a South Pacific nation and is Australia’s closest neighbor.
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From: MeNeedIt

China has warned that any agreements with Washington in their talks on settling a sprawling trade dispute “will not take effect” if threatened U.S. sanctions including tariff hikes go ahead.

The statement Sunday came shortly after delegations led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and China’s top economic official, Vice Premier Liu He, held another round of talks on China’s pledge to narrow its trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more American goods. 

The Chinese statement said the two sides made “positive and concrete progress,” but neither side released details.

The statement said, “If the United States introduces trade sanctions including increasing tariffs, all the economic and trade achievements negotiated by the two parties will not take effect.”

Ross said U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed specific American export items Beijing might buy as part of its pledge to narrow its trade surplus with the United States.

The two sides began a new round of talks in Beijing this weekend aimed at settling a simmering trade dispute.

Ross gave no details at the start of his meeting Sunday with Liu, China’s top economic official. But Chinese envoys promised after the last high-level meeting in Washington in mid-May to buy more American farm goods and energy products.

President Donald Trump is pressing Beijing to narrow its politically volatile surplus in trade in goods with the United States, which reached a record $375.2 billion last year. He’s threatening to hike duties on up to $150 billion of Chinese imports.

“Our meetings so far have been friendly and frank, and covered some useful topics about specific export items,” Ross said.

Ross was accompanied by agricultural, treasury and trade officials. Liu’s delegation included China’s central bank governor and commerce minister.

There was no indication whether the talks also would take up American complaints that Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies regarding their technology. The White House renewed a threat this week to hike duties on $50 billion of Chinese technology-related goods over that dispute.

Private sector analysts say that while Beijing is willing to compromise on its trade surplus, it will resist changes that might threaten plans to transform China into a global technology competitor.

Ross had a working dinner Saturday evening with Liu, also at the same guesthouse in Beijing.

China has promised to “significantly increase” purchases of farm goods, energy and other products and services. Still, Beijing resisted pressure to commit to a specific target of narrowing its annual surplus with the United States by $200 billion.
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From: MeNeedIt

Trucks can be used for so much more than transporting goods from one place to another. They can be transformed into restaurants, mobile health clinics … even a concert hall.

That’s what two young pianists have done with their truck as they work to make classical music more accessible to a wider range of audiences.

The Concert Truck

Nick Luby came up with the idea for the Concert Truck, says his partner, Susan Zhang. “He went sailing with his grandfather,” she says. “When they would dock, they would go to certain churches where he could practice (piano). While he was practicing, people would gather because they were curious about what he was playing.”

Though people can listen to music anywhere, on radio, TV or on their earphones with MP3 players, Luby says nothing is like listening to live music.

“When you listen to live music there is energy they just can’t get from recordings.” He adds, “It brings people together. For me it makes life worth living.”

But for Zhang, the idea of using a truck to bring live music to different locations was a bit unsettling at first.

“When he came to me with the idea, I thought he was crazy,” she recalls. “Then, I watched this movie, ‘Chef,’ about a chef who has a food truck and he travels across the country and I thought that kind of life would be so cool, so I decided to go in on this with him.”

The next step was to get funding.

“We started by winning a Creativity in Music Award from our university in South Carolina,” Luby says. “That was matched by the Performing Art Consortium. They provide some financing for artists to perform or to apply for schools and competitions. And the piano is a generous loan from Jordan Kitts Music, which is a piano store in Rockville, Maryland.”

That was two years ago, and they’ve been performing ever since.

A different experience

Zhang admits that performing from a truck, in the middle of street traffic and noise, can be challenging.

“Usually when you perform in a concert hall, everything is very controlled, everybody is quiet, the lighting,” she says. “In a place like this, anything could happen. When I start performing, I really don’t notice a lot of the things that happen. I think there is definitely a kind of endurance you gain from performing on a truck.”

And the artists don’t take it personally when people pass by and don’t stay to listen.

“When people walk by and listen for a second and keep going you definitely notice, but the fact that someone stops even for a second or a minute is really a nice thing to be able to share that moment with people,” Luby says.

On a recent day, the performance is in front of a farmers market in Baltimore, where Luby and Zhang are both high school music teachers. With their rented piano tightly stored aboard the truck, the duo head downtown. The 5-meter-long Concert Truck is equipped with speakers and lights, and takes only a few minutes to transform into a stage.

The music draws a lunchtime crowd, including Reba Cornman, who was buying some herbs from the farmers market.

“All of a sudden, I heard (Sergei) Prokofiev’s ‘Cinderella’ played on piano,” Cornman says. “I love Prokofiev! I came right over and sit down. It was extraordinary. I know they’re trying to reach all kinds of audiences and being on a truck is such a remarkable way to do that.”

Baltimore Farmers Market manager Jill Ciotta worked with Luby and Zhang to bring their Concert Truck to the market. She considers the performing experience part of the healthy focus the market, which is run by the University of Maryland’s Medical Center, tries to promote in downtown.

“We’re always open on bringing in things that make it better and bigger and really draw people outside, get moving, walking, and get healthy food. I’d love to see more performances here, I’d love to see them attracting more people, employees, students and neighbors, and getting them to enjoy the outdoors,” Ciotta said.

Performing on the road

The Concert Truck has performed in schools, children’s homes and homeless shelters, in addition to public squares in several cities in South Carolina, Ohio, Maryland and Minnesota. These trips, Luby says, bring him closer to his dream, “to create a platform that allows musicians, not just us but many musicians, to share their craft and their art broadly.”

That dream is what keeps Luby and Zhang energized, and on the road, bringing the Concert Truck and classical music to new audiences.
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From: MeNeedIt

Classical music is often thought of as an elite art, usually performed in concert halls to a dedicated, dressed up audience. But two young pianists are working hard to make this style of music more accessible to wider audiences. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, to do that, they’re offering free performances on a mobile stage, The Concert Truck. Faith Lapidus narrates.
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From: MeNeedIt

The French news agency AFP is reporting five new suspected cases of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

AFP reported Saturday that DRC health authorities had recorded two new cases of illness in the Wangata area and three new cases in Bikoro. Both areas are in the northwest Equateur province.

A new Ebola virus outbreak was declared in DRC on May 8 in Bikoro. Since then, about 50 cases of infection have been reported, with 25 of them leading to death.

This is the most serious outbreak of Ebola virus since a massive outbreak in western Africa that ended in 2016 after infecting more than 28,600 people.

On May 30, the World Health Organization said there had been 37 confirmed cases and 13 probable cases in DRC since the start of this outbreak. The fast-acting virus has killed about half its victims in the current outbreak.

Meanwhile, the WHO has been involved in an effort to create a vaccine against the Ebola virus, which has broken out nine times in DRC since its discovery in the 1970s.

On Friday, Peter Salama, the head of emergency response for the WHO, told VOA that teams had vaccinated about 500 people who had contact with Ebola cases discovered recently in Equateur’s capital, Mbandaka.

So far, he said, it appears that the highly contagious virus has not spread in the city.

VOA’s Jackson Mvunganyi and Kate Pound Dawson contributed to this report.
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From: MeNeedIt

An anonymous bidder offered more than $3.3 million Friday for a private lunch with Warren Buffett, an amount just short of the record paid in 2016 and 2012 for the chance to pick the brain of the renowned investor and philanthropist.

An online auction that raises money for the Glide Foundation’s work to help the homeless in San Francisco ended Friday night on eBay with a winning bid of $3,300,100. The winner wished to remain anonymous.

Third highest price paid

The price was the third highest in the 18 years Buffett has offered the lunch. Winners paid $3,456,789 in 2012 and 2016, which remain the most expensive charity items ever sold on eBay.

Buffett has raised more than $26 million for the Glide Foundation through the annual auctions. Bidders continue to pay high prices for the chance to talk with Buffett, who leads Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway, and the event raises a significant part of Glide’s $20 million annual budget.

Buffett supports Glide because of the work the charity does to help people. His first wife, Susie, introduced him to Glide after she volunteered there.

“Glide really takes people who have hit rock bottom and helps bring them back. They’ve been doing it for decades,” Buffett said.

Glide provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless.

One topic off limits

Buffett has said he gets asked about a variety of topics during the lunch. The only subject that’s off limits is what Buffett might invest in next.

The winners of the lunch auction typically dine with Buffett at Smith and Wollensky steak house in New York City, which donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the lunch.

Buffett’s company owns more than 90 companies including insurance, furniture, railroad, jewelry, utility and candy businesses. Berkshire Hathaway also has major investments in companies including Coca-Cola Co., Apple, American Express and Wells Fargo & Co.
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From: MeNeedIt

Birds and airplanes share the sky, so inevitably collisions occur. But airport authorities try to limit those encounters because bird strikes cause costly damage to jet engines and can lead to crashes. Some airports employ trained dogs, others use loud noises to frighten birds away. A company in the Netherlands says its robotic predator Robird is much more efficient. VOA’s George Putic has more.
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From: MeNeedIt

For Muslims, the month of Ramadan is a time for self-reflection and prayer — and fasting from sunrise to sunset. After sunset, families and friends enjoy a meal called Iftar. At a mosque in Virginia, outside Washington, people of various faiths came to Iftar one evening and to join Muslims in prayer. VOA’s Deborah Block has the story.
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From: MeNeedIt