VOA Connect Episode 94 – We get a rare, behind-the-scenes look at a Native Ute tribal tradition, the Bear Dance.  We also visit a butterfly sanctuary and a high tech aquarium.

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On Aug. 25, 1989, an 8-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis wrote in her journal that it was “the most best day” because scientists had “found a Jean for Cistik fibrosis.”  

On Thursday, the current head of the National Institutes of Health — who was a member of one of the teams that found the gene — wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine that a triple-drug therapy has been found to be highly effective in treating the life-threatening disorder.

“We hoped that the gene discovery would someday lead to effective treatments for children and adults with cystic fibrosis,” Francis Collins wrote. “Now, 30 years later, that time has come.”

The drug, called Trikafta, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last week.

Some 30,000 Americans have been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, which causes thick mucus buildup in the patient’s organs, affecting respiration and digestion. While other drugs have helped lengthen patients’ lives, those born with the disease are expected to live only into their 40s.

Past treatments helped only a small percentage of patients, but Trikafta targets Phe508del, the most common mutation of the cystic fibrosis gene. Collins said this means 90% of those suffering from cystic fibrosis — including Jenny, the 8-year-old journal writer — will be helped by the therapy.

Now 38, Jenny McGlincy told The Washington Post that she cried when she read the drug had been approved.

“To think of my lung function improving or my digestion increasing, or even adding a few years to my life that I could spend with my daughter. … Now that it’s available, I’m a little like, ‘Is this really happening?’ ” she told the Post.

 Model of collaboration

Cystic fibrosis research has set a standard of how the collaboration between nonprofits and pharmaceutical firms can help develop treatments. Collins points out that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, frustrated that gene treatments were slow to be found, decided to invest directly in a small company called Aurora Biosciences, which is now Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the developer of Trikafta.

That collaboration, “now spanning more than two decades, can be seen as an important model for other rare genetic diseases,” Collins wrote.

After the discovery of the gene, Collins wrote a song, “Dare to Dream.”  

“The lyrics expressed hope that the gene discovery would lead to effective treatments for cystic fibrosis — that someday we would see ‘all our brothers and sisters breathing free.’ It is profoundly gratifying to see that this dream is coming true,” he said.

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The Nationals’ World Series victory Wednesday night has brought together fans in a city deeply divided by the impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 on Wednesday in the seventh game of Major League Baseball’s World Series, earning the team’s first championship win in franchise history.

Politics have previously divided fans at D.C.’s Nationals Park, where the team plays its home games. Last Sunday, Trump, first lady Melania Trump and other prominent Republicans attended the fifth game of the series. The president’s group was loudly booed by members of the audience, many jeering “lock him up.”  

Ballpark Boos a Rarity for Shielded US President

Donald Trump showered with jeers, boos and chants when he attended a World Series game, a rare moment of in-your-face disapproval for a president whose White House takes extraordinary steps to shield him from protests

But sporting events also provide an opportunity to bring people together, as famously happened during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan, when a public encounter between two pingpong players from China and the U.S. was seen as signaling the thawing of U.S.-Chinese relations during the Cold War.

For D.C. residents, the Nationals’ World Series victory became a moment of unity for the city.

“The impeachment is definitely divisive,” said resident Ore Fashola. “The Nationals’ win in the World Series … is a very big cohesive moment.”

Despite the win, D.C. residents said the good news was only temporary.

“On Saturday, everybody will be together for the parade and for one day only, and then it will go back to business as normal,” said resident Daniel Dowhan. While Wednesday’s win was big, it was too small for people to overcome their differences and be “friends,” he added.

Fashola said she thought the win would be a “short-term” unifier. “I think that [impeachment is] more a long-term focus.”

Some Washingtonians, however, had trouble taking even a short break from the impeachment inquiry on the day of the World Series win.

“I’m following and looking forward to seeing a better change,” said one resident, Penelope, when asked about the inquiry.

The House voted Thursday to authorize a public impeachment inquiry targeting Trump for allegedly pushing Ukraine to investigate his political opponents.

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s attended two fundraisers this week, raking in millions of dollars for the Trump 2020 and House Republican campaigns. The events, both held at Trump’s own properties in Washington and Chicago are drawing continued scrutiny and charges of ethics violations that the president brushes aside. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

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Chile canceled the hosting of two important international meetings in the capital, Santiago, because of ongoing protests across the South American country. Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera said Wednesday his country will not host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in November or the COP25 environmental summit in December, as his government has to deal with the unprecedented unrest that has left about 20 people dead and led to the resignation of eight cabinet ministers. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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Officials in Pakistan say at least 65 people have been killed and dozens more injured after fire engulfed a passenger train near Pakistan’s Rahimyar Khan city.

Local television footage showed flames pouring out of the train’s carriages and people could be heard crying.

Railway authorities are probing the cause. Initial reports say the fire was caused when a gas cylinder in one of the wagons exploded. Army helicopters are helping in rescue efforts. 

Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where the railways have seen decades of decline because of corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment. They often take place at the unmanned crossings, which frequently lack barriers and sometimes signals.

In July, at least 23 people were killed in the same district when a passenger train coming from the eastern city of Lahore rammed into a goods train that had stopped at a crossing.

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The Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 Wednesday in the deciding seventh game of the World Series to claim their first Major League Baseball championship in franchise history.

Washington had to rely on what had become a defining factor of their playoff run, staging a late comeback after falling behind early in the game.

The Nationals played in five deciding games in October and at one point trailed in all five. Even making the playoffs seemed like a distant goal in May when the team was struggling with a 19-31 record.

‘We stayed in the fight’

But Manager Dave Martinez, who faced numerous calls for him to be fired, preached resiliency and his motto that to turn things around the team needed only to win that day’s game.

“Guess what, we stayed in the fight,” Martinez said Wednesday, echoing what had become a team slogan. “We won the fight!”

A second-inning home run by Astros first basemen Yuli Gurriel put the Nationals and ace starting pitcher Max Scherzer in a 1-0 hole.

Scherzer was pitching days after being scratched from a planned start in Game 5 of the series thanks to a neck injury. He and the Nationals fell behind 2-0 in the fifth inning as Houston shortstop Carlos Correa singled home Gurriel.

Up to that point, Astros starting pitcher Zack Greinke had been moving methodically through the Washington lineup, allowing only a single by Nationals left fielder Juan Soto in the second inning. Things changed in the seventh inning.

Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon sent a one-out Greinke pitch into the left field stands. Soto came to the plate next and reached on a walk, prompting Astros Manager A.J. Hinch to end Greinke’s night and put the game in the hands of relief pitcher Will Harris.

No relief

The first batter Harris faced was Washington designated hitter Howie Kendrick, already a star of the playoffs for hitting a grand slam in the deciding game of the first round that pushed the Nationals past their painful history of never winning a playoff series.

Kendrick smacked the second pitch from Harris down the right field line where it slammed into the foul pole for a home run that put the Nationals ahead 3-2.

A Soto single in the eighth inning widened the lead to 4-2, and right fielder Adam Eaton gave the Nationals more cushion in the top of the ninth with a single that scored two more runs.

Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin allowed just two hits in three innings of work, while reliever Daniel Hudson tossed a perfect ninth inning as the Astros failed in their quest to turn their 107-win regular season into a reclamation of the World Series crown they won in 2017.

“Let’s be honest, there’s 28 other teams that would love to have our misery today,” Hinch said after the loss. “We play to get here. We play to have an opportunity to win it all. And I just told our team, it’s hard to put into words and remember all the good that happened because right now we feel as bad as you can possibly feel.”

A game like the season

“The way this game went is the way this whole season went,” said Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who was the team’s first draft pick after it relocated from Montreal to Washington in 2005. “What a story. What a fun year, man.”

The most valuable player of the World Series was Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg. He won Game 1 and Game 6 of the series while giving up just two runs and striking out seven batters in each contest.

Strasburg called the experience of winning a championship “surreal.”

“To be able to do it with this group of guys is something special. We didn’t quit.”

The series made history in an odd way with the visiting team winning each of the seven games. Washington won games one, two, six and seven in Houston, while Houston won games three, four and five in Washington.

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A prolific fundraiser charged with funneling illegal foreign campaign contributions to American political candidates surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles on Wednesday and was released on $3 million bond.

The court appearance came about a week after prosecutors announced charges against Imaad Zuberi, a venture capitalist who raised millions of dollars for both Democratic and Republican political candidates and committees, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Donald Trump.

Zuberi has agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion, violating campaign finance laws and concealing his work as a foreign agent as he lobbied high-level U.S. government officials. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

Zuberi’s defense attorney declined to comment.

Zuberi, 49, is accused of soliciting donations from foreign nationals and companies and giving the money to several political campaigns, violating a federal law that forbids foreign contributions. He claimed he could use his influence to change foreign policy and create business opportunities for clients and himself.

Prosecutors have not alleged any campaign that received money from Zuberi was aware of his scheme or that any foreign nationals were aware of wrongdoing, and they did not identify the campaigns or foreign nationals in court papers.

But The Associated Press reported this week that a Saudi tycoon and his business associate sent hundreds of thousands of dollars through Zuberi to help pay for President Barack Obama’s second inaugural celebration.

Zuberi signed a plea agreement admitting he received $850,000 from Sheikh Mohammed Al Rahbani but delivered just $97,500 of that money to the Obama inaugural committee, skimming the rest for himself.

Rahbani is not named in the plea agreement, but The AP identified him in part by matching the timing and amounts of donations mentioned in the court filing to publicly available campaign finance records.

Rahbani initially declined to comment. But his attorney sent a letter to The AP on Wednesday saying that Rahbani and his wife, Kate Rahbani, had been unwitting victims of Zuberi’s crimes. The attorney, Martin Auerbach, suggested Rahbani’s name had been attached to political contributions without his consent.

“They have fully cooperated with the government in its investigation of Zuberi and have not been charged with any wrongdoing,” Auerbach wrote in the letter, referring to Rahbani and his wife.

Auerbach also said Kate Rahbani, an American citizen, made the donations to Obama’s inauguration and not her husband.

That account differed from charges outlined in Zuberi’s charging documents, which say the money Zuberi used to pay Obama’s inaugural committee was wired to him by Mohammed Al Rahbani and an associate through a company based in Saudi Arabia and another based in Kuwait. Prosecutors also say in the court filings that Zuberi spoke with Mohammed Al Rahbani about donating additional money to the inaugural fund in exchange for appearing in a photograph with Obama at an event.

Zuberi also admitted violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by submitting false statements in which he concealed a multi-million-dollar contract he signed in 2014 with the Sri Lankan government to help improve that country’s image in the United States.

Prosecutors said he directed millions of dollars from that deal to himself and his wife for personal purposes, shortchanging lobbyists, public relations and law firms, and certain subcontractors who were part of the lobbying effort.

Prosecutors also recently charged a former college classmate and business associate of Zuberi’s accused of participating in the Sri Lankan scheme. Mark Adam Skarulis was charged in September with one misdemeanor count of failing to file a tax return.

A message was sent to Skarulis’ defense attorney seeking comment.

Zuberi’s donations have also been separately scrutinized by federal prosecutors in New York after he gave $900,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. That donation was not part of his federal criminal case in Los Angeles.

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A respected British think tank slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Wednesday, concluding that the economy would be 3.5% smaller compared with staying in the European Union.

The study by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research says the agreement would deliver a 70 billion-pound ($90 billion) blow to the U.K. Researchers said that the outlook is clouded by political and economic uncertainty.

“We would not expect economic activity to be boosted by the approval of the government’s proposed Brexit deal,” the group said.

The researchers based their prediction on the assumption that the U.K. would leave the bloc with a free trade agreement with the EU after a transition lasting until 2021 while negotiating new deals with other nations. It said that higher “barriers to goods and services, trade and restrictions to migration,” would force the economy to slow.

UK’s Party Leaders Brace for Brexit Election

The House of Commons on Tuesday approved an early election in hopes of breaking the deadlock over Britain’s departure from the European Union

As politicians squabble over how and when Britain will leave the EU, Brexit is reshaping the economy. Initially planned for March, Brexit was pushed back to Halloween and now is not likely to happen before January. Companies are meanwhile shifting investments, creating new supply chains and stockpiling goods to mitigate any damage that would occur from leaving the EU, with or without a deal.

The NIESR estimated that the economy was 2.5 % smaller than it would have been had Britain not voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

The British government says it plans a different scenario than the one considered by the think tank.

“We are aiming to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union, which is more ambitious than the standard free trade deal that NIESR has based its findings on,” the Treasury department said in a statement.

The research suggested a no-deal Brexit would cause an even greater loss to the economy, with a 5.6% blow to GDP.

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said the figures “come as no surprise”.

“The Tories’ obsession with Brexit at any cost puts our future prosperity at risk,” he said. “It is unconscionable that any government would voluntarily adopt a policy that would slow economic growth for years to come.”

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Indonesia is about the closest thing left to a liberal democracy in Southeast Asia, so analysts had high hopes that President Joko Widodo could promote civil rights and transparency, while steering an open economy to more global trade. As the president enters his second term this month, however, those expectations are coming back down to earth.

Although Indonesia distinguishes itself with a relatively free press and big emerging market, it appears to be backtracking in examples like corruption, economic protectionism, and instability in the Papua region marked by separatism and ethnic tensions. In an analysis of the next term of the president known as Jokowi, investment research firm IHS Markit predicted Indonesia’s unfulfilled economic reforms would lead to gross domestic product growth of 5 percent, lower than the 7 percent government goal.

Corruption is a good example, given the high-profile change to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in September that led to protests across the country of 260 million people. Previously the commission was already seen as more show than substance, a nominal way for Jakarta to claim it was fighting corruption. But the September change took the teeth out of the commission even further, reducing the amount of time it can investigate criminals, and requiring it to seek approvals from the president, which weakens its independence.

Joko Widodo Re-Elected Indonesian President

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, has been re-elected with 55.50% of the vote, defeating former army general Prabowo Subianto. The victory was confirmed by the General Elections Commission (KPU). “The number of valid votes for candidate No. 1, Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin, is 85,607,362 votes. The number of valid votes for candidate No.

‘Soft’ on Corruption

“There are signs that the government is going soft on its commitment to clamp down on corruption after parliament approved changes to how the country’s anti-corruption body (KPK) is governed,” senior Asia economist Gareth Leather wrote in a Capital Economics analysis. “We are concerned that the move will weaken the KPK’s powers to investigate new corruption allegations.”

He added, “Indonesia is rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the region and the high level of corruption remains a major deterrent to foreign businesses.”

Backtracking on corruption is all the more stark because Indonesia has been a “beacon of progress” among Southeast Asian democracies, according to the Lowy Institute. Elsewhere in the region are fewer signs of open societies: military rule in Myanmar and Thailand, one party rule in Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, and Vietnam, monarchism in Brunei, and authoritarian populism in the Philippines. The closest runner up is Malaysia, where democracy appeared to decline until the ruling party was surprisingly beaten in 2018 elections.

Even though the April election that returned Jokowi to power in Indonesia was free and fair, it involved curbing Islamic extremism in the Muslim-majority country, which is a slippery slope that could lead to curbing free speech more generally.

“The Jokowi government’s decision to take a tougher line against extremism is welcome, but he needs to ensure that tactics used do not feed a new narrative of repression,” Nava Nuraniyah, Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict analyst in Jakarta, said.

She further argued Jokowi could have dealt with extremists by emphasizing that all citizens are equal, including minority Christians and Buddhists, rather than emphasizing his own Islamic piety.

Joko Widodo Inaugurated as Jakarta’s 7th President

In Indonesia Monday, a former furniture entrepreneur turned wildly popular politician, Joko Widodo, was officially sworn in as the country’s seventh president. There are huge expectations and challenges ahead for Widodo, who will now lead the world’s

Economy

Besides risks from the China-U.S. trade war, Indonesia faces economic risks in the areas of education, protectionism, and infrastructure. One has only to look at the subway proposal in Jakarta, long discussed but yet to appear, for an example. Infrastructure spending has fallen after a period of investment, and the island nation’s logistics sector sits behind those of Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam in World Bank lists.

Protectionism is evident in Indonesia’s willingness to block commodities exports, and poor test performance suggests the young generation is not as equipped for the future as it could be.

“The two key economic challenges facing President Joko Widodo in his second term are boosting GDP growth and reducing Indonesia’s external vulnerabilities,” Leather said. “We don’t think he will succeed in either.”

Still Indonesia has the biggest economy in Southeast Asia and thus a big customer base that appeals to domestic and foreign business. It is also a population full of people free to engage in critical public discourse, which cannot be said of the whole region. The question is whether the people and the economy live up to their potential.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn were set to trade barbs over Brexit and public spending Wednesday when they face off in Parliament for the last time before a Dec. 12 general election.

The House of Commons on Tuesday approved an early election in hopes of breaking the deadlock over Britain’s departure from the European Union. While Johnson’s Conservative Party has a wide lead in opinion polls, analysts say the election is unpredictable because Brexit cuts across traditional party loyalties.

Johnson and Corbyn will trade carefully crafted quips when they face off in their regularly scheduled question-and-answer session. This will be the last episode of Prime Minister’s Questions before Parliament is suspended for the election.

Johnson has told Conservative lawmakers this will be a “tough election.”

After three years of inconclusive political wrangling over Brexit, British voters are weary and the results of an election are hard to predict.

The House of Commons voted 438-20 on Tuesday night, with dozens of lawmakers abstaining, for a bill authorizing an election on Dec. 12. It will become law once it is approved Wednesday by the unelected House of Lords, which doesn’t have the power to overrule the elected Commons.

The looming vote comes two and a half years before the next scheduled election, due in 2022, and will be the country’s first December election since 1923.

Meanwhile, the Brexit conundrum remains unsolved, and the clock is ticking down to the new deadline of Jan. 31.

“To my British friends,” European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted Tuesday.   
“The EU27 has formally adopted the extension. It may be the last one. Please make the best use of this time.”

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Last week, a Ugandan minister attempted to reintroduce a revoked 2014 law allowing capital punishment for people convicted of gay sex. Meanwhile, police arrested 16 activists on suspicion of homosexuality, which is illegal in Uganda and punishable with up to life in prison. The government’s renewed anti-gay focus has led a long-castigated and already fearful community to lie low, with some LGBT people forced into hiding.

Twenty-one-year-old Shamim Pretty, not her real name, has taken shelter in a Kampala safe space for the past three years.

Pretty says that when she was 16, her mother kicked her out of the house and called the police – because she, Pretty, is transgender.

“When they took me to the police, my mother was there waiting for me. They really mistreated me. There was an officer who was very homophobic. He got a hold of me and beat me up. He called in the media and, in front of the press, they took my clothes off,” Pretty said.

LGBT support group Icebreakers Uganda set up the safe house in 2012, just one year before lawmakers voted to increase the punishment for homosexuality from life in prison to death.

Under Western pressure, Uganda in 2014 overturned the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

But gay sex remains illegal and members of the LGBT community are routinely harassed and shunned in a country where many revile homosexuality.

Elvis Ayesiga is the programs director at Icebreakers Uganda.

“Evicting you, you don’t have anywhere to go, you don’t have money for rent, you don’t have what, so we offer space here, usually for one month, so that you go back on your feet as you look for money to go and rent somewhere else,” Ayesiga said.

Earlier this month, Uganda’s ethics minister, Simon Lokodo, announced the bill would be reintroduced – raising fears of renewed attacks on the gay community.

Pepe Julian Onzima works with Sexual Minorities Uganda.

“Already, most (gay) people do not have homes, they do not have education, they are not employed, they are homeless. So, when something like this comes, it threatens even the little safety that they had,” Onzima said.

A Ugandan government spokesman denied any plan to reintroduce what some call the “Kill the Gays” bill.

Even so, the LGBT community sees an ominous sign in the arrest of 16 gay activists who simply possessed condoms and anti-HIV medicines.

Zallen, not the person’s real name, is a gay Ugandan.

“You’re out and then you’re thinking, yeah, I’m letting loose. Before you know it, you want to dance in a certain kind of way. And then, boom, you’re thinking, or wait, you have to control yourself. You do not know who is watching, or who will get offended by the way you’re really having a good time or whatever. So, it’s…you have to be on the cautious side all the time,” Zallen said.

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