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Tag: Diseases and conditions

  • Qatar: No ‘white elephant’ legacy for World Cup stadiums

    Qatar: No ‘white elephant’ legacy for World Cup stadiums

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    One of the World Cup stadiums in Qatar is named after the Persian Gulf country’s international dialing code — 974 — and another is called “Education City.” They’re unusual names that hardly sound like they have links to soccer, and after the tournament many no longer will.

    Qatar built seven of its eight lavish World Cup stadiums and heavily renovated another. The smallest World Cup host nation since Switzerland in 1954, Qatar has a population of 2.6 million, with only 360,000 Qatari citizens, and a limited domestic league.

    So it’s questionable it needs so many large venues after the tournament, especially after the past three World Cups — in South Africa, Brazil and Russia — exposed several stadiums without long-term use.

    At least Stadium 974 in Ras Abu Aboud won’t become a white elephant, since it will disappear. The 40,000-seat arena located port-side just east of Doha was made from recycled shipping containers — 974 of them. The demountable, energy-efficient stadium will make way for a waterfront business development.

    But many other stadiums won’t host any more soccer beyond this tournament and next summer’s Asian Cup — for which Qatar won hosting rights after host China withdrew citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Only two top-tier teams from the Qatar Stars League — Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah — will play in their glitzy World Cup stadiums.

    The majority of this World Cup’s venues will have their capacity diminished from 40,000 to 20,000 post-tournament as part of a sustainability drive. Education City is 13 kilometers (8 miles) from Doha. Half the seats will go and the venue will be used by 8,000 students across nine universities and eleven schools.

    What happens those extra 20,000 seats, then?

    ”(They) will be offered to countries who need sporting infrastructure,” Ali Al Dosari, the stadium’s director of installations, said in a press release. “This will allow the culture of soccer to be promoted and to a greater extent the love of sport throughout the world.”

    Qatar pledged to give 170,000 removed seats to developing countries.

    With its gold facade and 80,000 capacity, Qatar’s gleaming Lusail Stadium hosts 10 matches, including the final. It’s only 20 kilometers (12.2 miles) from Doha, but no club will call this gleaming vessel home. In keeping with sustainable development, its future lies as a community hub with housing units, shops, schools, cafes and medical clinics. The upper-tier will become outdoor terracing for new homes.

    A similar fate awaits the tent-shaped Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor City, a 60,000-seater hosting the opener between Qatar and Ecuador on Nov. 20 and soon after an eagerly anticipated tussle between England and the United States.

    The plan is for the upper tier is to be removed after the tournament, allowing for further recommissioning of seats. A five-star hotel and a shopping center will be incorporated into the stadium building, and a sports medicine hospital will open.

    Good use of existing infrastructure, no doubt, but hardly leaving a soccer legacy behind. For example, the four extra stadiums built for the 2016 European Championship in France — Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux and Nice — are being used by those club teams for the long term.

    Al Thumama Stadium is another 40,000-seater located close to the center of Doha whose capacity will be halved. The arena will then be used for soccer and other sporting events, although it is not yet clear which. A sports clinic and a hotel will open on site.

    CARRY ON PLAYING

    The 40,000-capacity Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, located 20 kilometers (12.2 miles) west of Doha in Umm Al Afaei, is home to Al Rayyan in the 12-team QSL; and to second-tier Al-Kharitiyath Sports Club.

    The 40,000-seater Al Janoub Stadium, meanwhile, is where France begins its title defense against Australia on Nov. 22.

    Al Wakrah will carry on playing matches here in the QSL after the tournament with a reduced capacity of 20,000 — a low attendance for a top-flight team compared to major European and South American leagues.

    Khalifa International Stadium near central Doha dates from 1976 and was extensively renovated to hold 40,000 fans. The oft-used stadium has held the Arabian Gulf Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the track and field world championships.

    “The Khalifa Stadium will continue to host matches and big tournaments,” stadium director Ahmad Al Thani said.

    A recent written request by The Associated Press for more comment on the stadium legacies from the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy was declined.

    The SC’s Secretary General Hassan Al Thawadi previously said the stadiums all met sustainability benchmarks.

    “We have recycled and reused wherever possible and implemented a vast range of energy and water efficiency solutions,’” he said in a document on the stadiums. “We have used materials from sustainable sources and implemented innovative legacy plans to ensure our tournament doesn’t leave any ’white elephants.’”

    So, although post-World Cup soccer legacy itself is likely to be low, it’s unlikely cash-rich Qatar will face similar financial and logistical problems other nations did after misusing public resources.

    EXPENSIVE ELEPHANTS

    The Montreal Olympic Stadium that hosted the 1976 Olympic Games became known as a famed white elephant that took 30 years to pay off.

    Previous soccer World Cup hosts are still shelling out, too.

    After South Africa spent $1.1 billion on its 10 stadiums for the 2010 tournament, half of which were new, many were later left unused or underused. This proved highly expensive for city councils left footing the bill and ended up bleeding taxpayer money.

    The $600 million Cape Town Stadium offered a spectacular view of Table Mountain, but for a hefty price. It has reportedly cost taxpayers in the region of $3.5 million a year, but legacy problems were partially resolved by sharing with the city’s Stormers rugby team and hosting international rugby games.

    Brazil spent nearly $4 billion building and renovating venues for 2014. Four cities in Brazil were left with underused stadiums like the $550 million Mane Garrincha in Brasilia, which even hosted one game with just 400 spectators. The 46,000-capacity Arena Pernambuco in Recife does not have a team.

    Russia’s $10.8 billion World Cup price tag was inflated by loss-making arenas with high yearly maintenance. Of the 12 stadiums from 2018, only eight host top-tier matches, generally with tens of thousands of empty seats, except at Zenit St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow’s stadiums.

    HUMAN COST

    Qatar has been fiercely criticized for the physical and contractual conditions of workers, mostly from south Asia, needed to build stadiums, metro lines, roads and hotels.

    The exact number of migrant workers who have died or were injured working in often extreme heat on projects since FIFA picked Qatar as World Cup host in December 2010 is unclear. Definitive data has been hard to verify or not published by authorities.

    Qatar has set up a workers’ support fund which, since 2020, has paid $164 million in compensation to more than 36,000 workers from 17 different countries, Human Rights Watch said in August, citing government data.

    ———

    AP Sports Writers James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf and Gerald Imray in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

    ———

    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • US jails rife with violence, abuse and overcrowding

    US jails rife with violence, abuse and overcrowding

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    In California, lawyers accused staff at the Los Angeles County jail of chaining mentally ill detainees to chairs for days at a time. In West Virginia, people held in the Southern Regional Jail sued the state, saying they found urine and semen in their food. In Missouri, detainees in the St. Louis jail staged multiple uprisings last year, while in Texas, a guard at Houston’s overcrowded Harris County Jail said she and her coworkers had started carrying knives to work for fear that they wouldn’t have backup if violence broke out.

    And while the infamous Rikers Island jail complex in New York City has been the focus of media coverage for its surging number of deaths, rural and urban lockups from Tennessee to Washington to Georgia are not faring much better.

    In other words, America’s jails are a mess.

    “It’s hard to believe, but it seems jails are even more wretched than usual these last few months,” said David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. “Having worked in this field for 30 years, I don’t remember any other time when there seem to be so many large jails in a state of complete meltdown.”

    Several lockups denied claims about deteriorating conditions or did not respond to requests for comment. A few, including Rikers, acknowledged problems such as infrastructure issues, detainee deaths and high staff attrition.

    “We are working hard to stem the rippling effect of years of mismanagement and neglect within our city’s jails,” a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Correction, which runs Rikers, said in a statement. “Turning our jails around requires a collaborative effort, transparency and time.”

    Unlike prisons, most jails are funded and managed locally, so the problems they face can vary widely from one county to the next. While there’s crumbling infrastructure in Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail, there’s been murky brown drinking water in Seattle’s King County Jail and overcrowding in Houston because of a backlog in the court system.

    But more than a dozen employees, detainees and experts who spoke with The Marshall Project and The Associated Press highlighted two problems they’ve seen at jails across the country: too many people incarcerated, and not enough guards.

    “Our jail facilities are at capacity,” said David Cuevas, president of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies’ union. “It is truly not safe.”

    The twin issues of overcrowding and understaffing have plagued jails across the country for years, and even before the pandemic many facilities were in disarray. Yet in the months after COVID-19 hit, the number of people in local lockups plummeted. People stayed home and committed fewer crimes. Police did not make as many arrests. Courts reduced bail. And jails let more people go home early. Nationally, the number of people in jail decreased by about 25% by the summer of 2020, according to data compiled by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

    But as concern about the virus faded, so did many of the measures designed to combat it — and soon jail populations began to rise. By the summer of 2022, many lockups held more people than they had in years, or became so overcrowded that detainees were forced to sleep on floors, in underground tunnels or in common areas without toilets.

    “Everyone is on edge because it is crowded,” one man detained in Los Angeles wrote in a sworn declaration filed as part of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. “The place smells of urine and excrement because some toilets don’t work, and people who are chained to chairs sometimes pee on the floor because the deputies won’t unchain them.”

    Celia Banos, whose son was one of the people chained to a bench for several days, told The Marshall Project that she was shocked to learn how little the jail had done to take care of him.

    “His condition has deteriorated in there,” Banos said. Though her son — who has schizophrenia — has been incarcerated before, she said this time the jail seemed to be getting worse.

    Some jails found that they still needed to use isolated cells to quarantine potentially sick prisoners. A jail official in Houston said that meant cells that once held two or three people might only be able to hold one, and detainees with a record of violence couldn’t be separated from the general population as easily.

    But even as the number of detainees increased, the number of guards did not. Just like state prisons, many local lockups saw a rise in officer vacancies — sometimes even at facilities that appeared fully staffed on paper. The City, a nonprofit news outlet in New York, reported last year that more than 1,000 Rikers Island guards were calling out sick every day due to a frequently abused policy allowing unlimited sick leave.

    “The things that led to the Great Resignation were happening in jails, too: It was a depressing time, and lots of people were getting sick,” Vincent Schiraldi, a former New York City jail commissioner, said in an interview.

    The guards’ union has disputed that members overuse sick leave, saying they are legitimately absent, often due to on-the-job injuries and exhaustion. In October, the jail said it still had as many as 800 employees out at a time.

    With fewer officers, those who remain are often forced to work longer hours, including double, triple and even quadruple shifts. Guards in Cleveland said they didn’t have time to eat, while some jail workers in Houston reported urinating in bags when they couldn’t find someone to replace them at their posts.

    Having fewer jail employees can also make life worse for detainees because there are fewer workers to let them out of their cells, take them to court, teach their educational programs or tend to their most basic needs.

    In Houston, a man in one of the jail’s isolation units said violence sometimes broke out after guards didn’t let them out to shower for days at a time, while in Philadelphia — at a lockup with a 36% staff vacancy rate — incarcerated people said they couldn’t always get meals or toilet paper. (A jail spokesman “categorically denied” that allegation.) In Ohio, local media reported that guards at Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County Jail have taken to locking people in their cells 23 hours a day because there aren’t enough staff.

    And in one extreme example, a man detained at the Oklahoma County jail in Oklahoma City is accused of raping a handcuffed woman after guards at the understaffed facility left them unsupervised during booking. A detention officer at the troubled facility, which the county took over from the sheriff two years ago, eventually intervened, and the man was later charged with first-degree rape. A jail official said that no disciplinary measures against staff have been announced, but the matter is still under investigation.

    According to Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans who studies deaths in jails and prisons, staffing problems are particularly dangerous when it comes to medical care.

    “We are seeing increased mortality in jails, and they are the types of deaths that could have been avoided if the person had better access to emergency care,” she said.

    In February, a man at Rikers Island choked on an orange and died after staff failed to intervene in time. He was one of eighteen people who have died in the city’s jails this year. Two months later, a detainee at the jail in Anoka County, Minnesota, died in his cell after the guards could not find any medical staff on duty to save him. In Houston, the family of a man who caught COVID-19 and died alone in his cell last year sued the jail. According to the family’s lawyer, U.A. Lewis, none of the staff noticed the man was dead until officers came to get him for a visit.

    Despite the consensus among experts that conditions are deteriorating in many lockups, there’s far less agreement on solutions. While jails officials said they needed basic infrastructure improvements and more staff, some prisoner advocates point out that more lenient bail policies could help ensure fewer people stay behind bars when they don’t have money to pay for their freedom.

    In the meantime, researchers say they need better information from the jails to be able to measure the scope of the problem.

    “There’s so little data out there,” said Michele Deitch, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies jails and prisons. “We literally do not have the means to assess the safety or dangerousness of a facility in any comparative way.”

    Some of the starkest examples of poor conditions — like semen-tainted food or brown drinking water — aren’t easy to measure.

    Even for those things that can be measured — like overcrowding, understaffing or an increase in jail deaths — the available numbers are often years delayed and unreliable. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice said that its annual in-custody death reports undercounted jail deaths by at least 39%. And although the federal government issues an annual report about the number of people in jails nationwide, the most recent data is more than two years old.

    Experts said that lack of data makes it hard to say how much of the growing alarm now actually reflects a change in jail conditions and how much is the result of heightened interest from media and the public.

    But they say that so far, that increased concern has not translated into better conditions.

    “It is horrible in here,” another detainee in Los Angeles wrote in a sworn declaration. “In fact, it is worse than being homeless. Even when I sleep on the streets, there is some room to stretch out. But in here, there are so many people walking by you or sleeping next to you that I’d rather be on the streets.”

    ———

    Blakinger and Rachel Dissell in Cleveland reported for The Marshall Project. Associated Press writers Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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  • Death in CRISPR gene therapy study sparks search for answers

    Death in CRISPR gene therapy study sparks search for answers

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    The lone volunteer in a unique study involving a gene-editing technique has died, and those behind the trial are now trying to figure out what killed him.

    Terry Horgan, a 27-year-old who had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, died last month, according to Cure Rare Disease, a Connecticut-based nonprofit founded by his brother, Rich, to try and save him from the fatal condition.

    Although little is known about how he died, his death occurred during one of the first studies to test a gene editing treatment built for one person. It’s raising questions about the overall prospect of such therapies, which have buoyed hopes among many families facing rare and devastating diseases.

    “This whole notion that we can do designer genetic therapies is, I would say, uncertain,” said Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at New York University who is not involved in the study. “We are out on the far edge of experimentation.”

    The early-stage safety study was sponsored by the nonprofit, led by Dr. Brenda Wong at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The hope was to use a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to treat Horgan’s particular form of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The rare, genetic muscle-wasting disease is caused by a mutation in the gene needed to produce a protein called dystrophin. Most people with Duchenne die from lung or heart issues caused by it.

    At this point, it’s unclear whether Horgan received the treatment and whether CRISPR, other aspects of the study or the disease itself contributed to his death. Deaths are not unheard of in clinical trials, which test experimental treatments and sometimes involve very sick people.

    But trials involving CRISPR are relatively new. And Fyodor Urnov, a CRISPR expert at the Innovative Genomics Institute at University of California, Berkeley, said any death during a gene therapy trial is an opportunity for the field to have a reckoning.

    “Step one is to grieve for the passing of a brave human soul who agreed to be basically a participant in an experiment on a human being,” Urnov said. “But then, to the extent that we can, we must learn as much as we can to carve out a path forward.”

    FEW ANSWERS YET

    A statement from Cure Rare Disease said multiple teams across the country are looking into the details of the trial and its outcome, and the company intends to share findings with the scientific community.

    “It will probably be 3-4 months to come up with a full conclusion,” said spokesman Scott Bauman. “At this stage of the game, saying anything is pure speculation.”

    The company, which is also working on 18 other therapeutics, said in its statement that the teams’ work is essential not only to shed light on the study’s outcome but also “on the challenges of gene therapy broadly.” Meanwhile, it said, “we will continue to work with our researchers, collaborators, and partners to develop therapies for the neuromuscular diseases in our pipeline.”

    Bauman said the company has filed a report on death the with the FDA as required. The FDA declined to release or confirm the report.

    Sarah Willey, spokeswoman for Chan Medical School, said scientists there provided data to the company for the report. She later emailed to say no one there would comment further; out of respect for the family’s wishes, all information would come from Cure Rare Disease. Monkol Lek, a Yale genetics expert who has been collaborating on the effort, did not respond to a request for comment. Yale spokeswoman Bess Connolly asked a reporter for context on the story but didn’t respond to a follow-up email or phone call.

    A crucial question is whether CRISPR played a part in Horgan’s death.

    The chemical tool can be used to “edit” genes by making cuts or substitutions in DNA. The tool has transformed genetic research and sparked the development of dozens of experimental therapies. The inventors of the tool won a Nobel Prize in 2020.

    In this case, scientists used a modified form of CRISPR to increase the activity of a gene. The CRISPR therapeutic is inserted directly into the body and delivered to cells with a virus.

    But CRISPR is not perfect.

    “We know that CRISPR can miss its target. We know that CRISPR can be partially effective. And we also know that there may be issues with … viral vectors” that deliver the therapy into the body, Caplan said. “Red flags are flying here. We’ve got to make sure that they get addressed very, very quickly.”

    Safety issues have arisen in gene therapy studies before. Late last year, Pfizer reported the death of a patient in its early-stage trial for a different Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy. And in a major earlier setback for the gene therapy field, 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger died in 1999 during a study that involved placing healthy genes into his liver to combat a rare metabolic disease. Scientists later learned that his immune system overreacted to the virus used to deliver the therapy. Many recent studies, including the Cure Rare Disease trial, use a different virus that’s considered safer.

    Another difference? The recent trial involved just one person — a type of trial Caplan is skeptical about.

    Horgan’s recent death, he said, “may make us think whether we really do like studies that are just on one person, and do we want to say: ‘No, ethically, you’ve got to at least have a trial where you line up 5, 10, 20 people (and) you learn from the data.’ ”

    A ‘MEDICAL PIONEER’

    On the company’s web site, Horgan was described as a “medical pioneer” who “will be remembered as a hero.”

    In 2020, the Montour Falls, New York resident blogged that he was diagnosed with Duchenne at age 3. As a kid, he said, he loved computers — once building his own — and would play catch in the driveway with his family when he could still walk. Later in his life, he used a motorized wheelchair. He studied information science at Cornell University and went on to work at the school in the information science department.

    “As I grew up and began to understand what it meant to have DMD, my fears about this disease began to grow as it began to manifest,” Horgan wrote. “There weren’t many, or any, trials available to me through the years” — until this one brought the prospect of a customized drug.

    Horgan was enrolled in the study on Aug. 31. The plan was to suppress his immune system to prep his body for a one-time, gene-editing therapy delivered by IV at UMass medical school, followed by monitoring in the hospital. The company explained that the therapy is designed to increase the level of an alternate form of the dystrophin protein using CRISPR, with the goal of stabilizing or potentially reversing the progression of symptoms.

    Urnov, scientific director for technology and translation at the Berkeley genomics institute, said no other trial targeted this disease using this kind of virus to deliver this particular payload with its modified form of CRISPR.

    Some other gene therapy trials – such as those targeting the blood disorders sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia – involve removing stem cells from someone’s blood, using CRISPR in the lab, then putting the altered cells back into the person. The first time CRISPR was used to edit genes within the body was to address a blindness-causing mutation.

    Given the “exceptional distinctness” of the Cure Rare Disease approach, Urnov said he doesn’t think Horgan’s death will have a major impact on things like using gene therapy to fix blood diseases. But he said pinpointing the exact cause will help inform scientists throughout the field.

    “History teaches us that in the case of such fatalities – which have been rare – that a deep dive into what happened was critical for the field to move forward.”

    ———

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Revelers return to Hong Kong 7s for 1st time since pandemic

    Revelers return to Hong Kong 7s for 1st time since pandemic

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    HONG KONG — Revelers returned to Hong Kong Stadium on Friday to enjoy a highly-anticipated international rugby sevens tournament for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

    It wasn’t a celebration for everyone, though, with some international fans unaware of the city’s pandemic restrictions turned away at the gates.

    The Hong Kong Sevens, a popular stop on the World Rugby Sevens Series circuit, is part of the government’s drive to restore the city’s image as a vibrant financial hub after it scrapped mandatory hotel quarantine for travelers.

    Hundreds of spectators, some in fancy dress and superhero costumes, had gathered by mid-afternoon and the crowd was expected to build up during the evening sessions.

    The city’s pandemic rules require spectators to show a photo of their rapid virus test results and scan a risk notification app upon entry. Fans were required to wear masks except when eating or drinking in their seats. The stadium in Causeway Bay will be capped at 85% of its 40,000 capacity.

    The world’s leading teams are competing in Hong Kong, where the tournament for the condensed rugby format started in the 1970s and really took hold in the 80s, accelerating rugby seven’s eventual inclusion in the Olympics in 2016.

    The two-time Olympic champion and defending World Cup Sevens champion Fijians will be in action, along with 2022 world series champion Australia, which finishes the program on Day 1 against host Hong Kong.

    Overseas patrons, who used to account for a significant percentage of ticket sales in what has always been a party-like atmosphere at the stadium, need to comply with extra rules set for arrivals, such as undergoing other COVID tests and monitoring their health. Restaurant and bar visits are not allowed during their first three days in the city.

    While some local fans and international spectators weren’t bothered by the controls, the rules proved to be an upsetting experience for others.

    Businessman Renier du Plessis from South Africa arrived in the city with three friends on Thursday to watch the tournament but he was barred from entering the stadium because he failed to meet the health code requirements.

    They were unaware of the rules partly because they bought the tickets months ago, du Plessis said.

    “It’s disappointing, you know, the fact that we cannot do anything. I’m not allowed anywhere. So where am I supposed to be for the next three days?” he said.

    Some German exchange students were already used to the precautionary rules and did not find them troublesome.

    “It’s probably one of the biggest events that we will attend in Hong Kong over our time, and we only have one month left. So we’re really looking forward to this,” 21-year-old university student Bella Müller said.

    Hong Kongers, who mostly came in groups, were excited to attend a long-awaited large scale event. IT specialist Janssen Chow, 26, was happy that he could at least eat and drink in an enjoyable atmosphere.

    “It’s already better than just sitting here,” he said.

    At a separate forum Friday, Regina Ip, a leading member of Hong Kong’s cabinet, the Executive Council, described the Hong Kong Sevens as a “test.” If the infection figures have not surged rapidly after the three-day event, she said that the city would have the conditions to further open up.

    The former British colony also kicked off a five-day “FinTech Week,” and a major financial conference that featured more than 200 global financial executives this week.

    ———

    More AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Today in History: November 4, Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated

    Today in History: November 4, Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated

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    Today in History

    Today is Friday, Nov. 4, the 308th day of 2022. There are 57 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Nov. 4, 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli minutes after attending a festive peace rally.

    On this date:

    In 1842, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, Illinois.

    In 1879, humorist Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Oklahoma.

    In 1922, the entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in Egypt.

    In 1942, during World War II, Axis forces retreated from El Alamein in North Africa in a major victory for British forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Bernard Montgomery.

    In 1956, Soviet troops moved in to crush the Hungarian Revolution.

    In 1979, the Iran hostage crisis began as militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran, seizing its occupants; for some of them, it was the start of 444 days of captivity.

    In 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan won the White House as he defeated President Jimmy Carter by a strong margin.

    In 1985, to the shock and dismay of U.S. officials, Soviet defector Vitaly Yurchenko announced he was returning to the Soviet Union, charging he had been kidnapped by the CIA.

    In 1991, Ronald Reagan opened his presidential library in Simi Valley, California; attending were President George H.W. Bush and former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard Nixon — the first-ever gathering of five past and present U.S. chief executives.

    In 2007, King Tutankhamen’s face was unveiled for the first time to the public more than 3,000 years after the pharaoh was buried in his Egyptian tomb.

    In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama was elected the first Black president of the United States, defeating Republican John McCain. California voters approved Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, overturning a state Supreme Court decision that gave gay couples the right to wed just months earlier.

    In 2020, a day after the presidential election, victories in Michigan and Wisconsin left Joe Biden one battleground state short of winning the White House. President Donald Trump falsely claimed victory in several key states and called the election process “a major fraud on our nation.”

    Ten years ago: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said cold temperatures would leave “tens of thousands” of people whose homes were damaged by Superstorm Sandy in need of alternate housing. A 2-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of African wild dogs when he fell into their pen from a viewing area at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

    Five years ago: China’s rubber-stamp legislature made it a criminal offense to disrespect the country’s national anthem, punishable by up to three years in prison; the move came amid rising nationalist appeals from the ruling Communist Party. Saudi Arabian authorities began a wave of arrests of dozens of the country’s most powerful princes, military officers, businessmen and government ministers in a purported anti-corruption sweep; they included potential rivals or critics of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    One year ago: The Biden administration issued a rule requiring tens of millions of Americans who worked at companies with 100 or more employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested for the virus weekly. (The Supreme Court rejected that rule in January 2022, finding that the administration had overstepped its authority.) The Biden administration sued Texas over new voting rules, saying that the restrictions surrounding mail-in voting requirements and voter assistance violated federal civil rights protections. A Texas real estate agent, Jennifer Leigh Ryan, who bragged she wasn’t going to jail for storming the U.S. Capitol because she was white, had blond hair and had a good job, was sentenced to two months behind bars. Drug gang gunmen stormed ashore at a beach on Mexico’s resort-studded Caribbean coast in front of luxury hotels and executed two drug dealers from a rival gang.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Loretta Swit is 85. R&B singer Harry Elston (Friends of Distinction) is 84. Blues singer Delbert McClinton is 82. Former first lady Laura Bush is 76. Actor Ivonne Coll is 75. Rock singer-musician Chris Difford (Squeeze) is 68. Country singer Kim Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 62. Actor-comedian Kathy Griffin is 62. Actor Ralph Macchio is 61. “Survivor” host Jeff Probst is 61. Actor Matthew McConaughey is 53. Rapper-producer Sean “Puffy” Combs is 53. TV personality Bethenny Frankel is 52. Actor Anthony Ruivivar is 52. Soul/jazz singer Gregory Porter is 51. Celebrity chef Curtis Stone is 47. Actor Heather Tom is 47. R&B/gospel singer George Huff is 42. Actor Emme Rylan is 42. Actor Chris Greene (Film: “Loving”) is 40.

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  • Inflation puts tighter squeeze on already pricey kids sports

    Inflation puts tighter squeeze on already pricey kids sports

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    It only took a few seconds for Rachel Kennedy to grab her phone after she left the checkout line at the sporting-goods store, where she had just finished buying a new glove, pants, belt, cleats and the rest of the equipment for her son, Liam’s, upcoming baseball season.

    “I texted his dad and asked him, ‘Did we really spend $350 on all this last year?’” Kennedy said.

    Sticker shock in youth sports is nothing new, but the onslaught of double-digit inflation across America this year has added a costly wrinkle on the path to the ballparks, swimming pools and dance studios across America. It has forced some families, like Kennedy’s, to scale back the number of seasons, or leagues, or sports that their kids can play in any given year, while motivating league organizers to become more creative in devising ways to keep prices down and participation up.

    Recent studies, conducted before inflation began impacting daily life across America, showed families spent around $700 a year on kids’ sports, with travel and equipment accounting for the biggest portion of the expense.

    Everyone from coaches to swim-meet coordinators are struggling to to find less-expensive ways of keeping families coming through the doors. Costs of uniforms and equipment, along with facility rental, are shooting up — all products of the onslaught of supply-chain issues, hard-to-find staff, lack of coaches and rising gas and travel costs that were exacerbated, or sometimes caused, by the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted and sometimes canceled seasons altogether. The annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending in September was 8.2%.

    Kennedy, who lives in Monroe, Ohio, and describes her family as “on the lower end of middle class,” opted Liam out of summer and fall ball, not so much because of the fees to join the leagues but because “those don’t include all the equipment you need.”

    “And gas prices have gotten to the point where we don’t have the bandwidth to drive one or two hours away” for the full slate of weekend games and tournaments that dot the typical youth baseball schedule each season. The Kennedys rarely stayed the night in hotels for multi-day tournaments.

    A study published by The Aspen Institute that was conducted before COVID-19 said on average across all sports, parents already spent more each year on travel ($196 per child, per sport) than any other facet of the sport: equipment, lessons, registration, etc. A number of reports say hotel prices in some cities are around 30% higher than last year, and about the same amount higher than in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.

    At the venues, it costs more to hire umpires to call the games, groundskeepers to keep fields ready, janitors to clean indoor venues and coaches to run practices. Even sports that are traditionally on the less-expensive end of the spectrum are running into issues.

    “You talk to people and you say ‘What do you mean you get $28 an hour to be a lifeguard?’” said Steve Roush, a former leader in the Olympic world who now serves as executive director of Southern California Swimming, which sanctions meets across one of America’s most expensive regions. “The going rate has just gone through the roof, and that’s if you can find somebody at all. And that accounts for part of the big gap” in prices for swimming meets today versus three years ago.

    One Denver-area dance studio director, who did not want her name used because of the competitive nature of her business, said she started looking for new uniform suppliers as a way of keeping costs down for families. Some destinations for the two out-of-state competitions that are typical in a given season have been shifted to cities that have more — and, so, less expensive — flight options. Some of those teams only make a third trip, this one to a major competition, if it receives a “paid” invitation.

    “The cost is just so much to ask them to travel a third time,” the director said. “And oftentimes you don’t know that you’re getting that bid until February or March and you have to turn around and travel to it in April, and that turnaround just makes it very hard from an expense standpoint.”

    At stake is the future of a youth-sports industry that generated around $20 billion, according to one estimate, before COVID-19 sharply curtailed spending in 2020.

    Also, inflation is giving some families a chance to revisit an issue that first came up when COVID-19 more or less canceled all youth leagues for a year or more.

    “There was some optimism that maybe families would be like, ‘OK, let’s maybe have a more balanced approach to how we’re going to participate in sports,’” said Jennifer Agans, an assistant professor at Penn State who studies the impact of youth sports. “But until this economic wave, everyone was so excited to go back to normal that we forgot the lessons we learned from slowing our lives down. Maybe this gives another chance to reevaluate that.”

    It’s a choice not everyone wants to make, but still one that is being imposed more on people in the middle and lower class. Another Aspen Institute report from before the pandemic concluded children from low-income families were half as likely to play sports as kids from upper-income families.

    Kennedy said she has long been fortunate to have a supportive family — including grandparents who chip in to defray some costs of Liam’s baseball. But some things had to go. A spot on a travel team can reach up to $1,200, and that’s before equipment and travel, “and we just don’t have that kind of money,” Kennedy said.

    Still, Liam loves baseball and sitting it out altogether wasn’t a real choice.

    “It’s the whole parental, ‘I’ll go hungry to make sure my kids get what they need’ situation,’” Kennedy said. “So if I give up my Starbucks, or some little extras for me, then it’s worth it to make sure he gets to play. But it’s certainly not getting any less expensive.”

    ———

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Today in History: November 3, Iran-Contra affair is revealed

    Today in History: November 3, Iran-Contra affair is revealed

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    Today in History

    Today is Thursday, Nov. 3, the 307th day of 2022. There are 58 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Nov. 3, 1986, the Iran-Contra affair came to light as Ash-Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, first broke the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran.

    On this date:

    In 1839, the first Opium War between China and Britain broke out.

    In 1908, Republican William Howard Taft was elected president, outpolling Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

    In 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Car Co. was founded in Detroit by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant. (The company was acquired by General Motors in 1918.)

    In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the U.S. Agency for International Development.

    In 1970, Salvador Allende (ah-YEN’-day) was inaugurated as president of Chile.

    In 1976, the horror movie “Carrie,” adapted from the Stephen King novel and starring Sissy Spacek, was released by United Artists.

    In 1979, five Communist Workers Party members were killed in a clash with heavily armed Ku Klux Klansmen and neo-Nazis during an anti-Klan protest in Greensboro, North Carolina.

    In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd president of the United States, defeating President George H.W. Bush. In Illinois, Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

    In 1994, Susan Smith of Union, South Carolina, was arrested for drowning her two young sons, Michael and Alex, nine days after claiming the children had been abducted by a Black carjacker.

    In 1997, the Supreme Court let stand California’s groundbreaking Proposition 209, which banned race and gender preference in hiring and school admissions.

    In 2014, 13 years after the 9/11 terrorist attack, a new 1,776-foot skyscraper at the World Trade Center site opened for business, marking an emotional milestone for both New Yorkers and the nation.

    In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won the presidency in an election that saw more than 103 million Americans vote early, many by mail, amid a coronavirus pandemic that upended a campaign marked by fear and rancor, waged against a backdrop of protests over racial injustice. As vote counting continued in battleground states, Biden’s victory would not be known for more than three days; Republican President Donald Trump would refuse to concede, falsely claiming that he was a victim of widespread voter fraud. Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to become vice president. Democrats clinched two more years of controlling the House but saw their majority shrink. Republicans emerged with a two-seat Senate majority that would be erased by Democratic wins in two runoffs in Georgia in January.

    Ten years ago: The lights went back on in lower Manhattan to the relief of residents who’d been plunged into darkness for nearly five days by Superstorm Sandy, but there was deepening resentment in the city’s outer boroughs and suburbs over a continued lack of power and maddening gas shortages. New York’s newly relocated NBA team, the former New Jersey Nets, hosted the first regular-season game by a major sports team in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left in 1957; the Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors 107-100.

    Five years ago: Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan and triggered a search that left some of his comrades severely wounded, was spared a prison sentence by a military judge in North Carolina; President Donald Trump blasted the decision as a “complete and total disgrace.” Netflix said it was cutting all ties with Kevin Spacey after a series of allegations of sexual harassment and assault, and that it would not be a part of any further production of “House of Cards” that included him. A massive report from scientists inside and outside the government concluded that the evidence of global warming was stronger than ever. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky suffered five broken ribs in an attack by a longtime next-door neighbor as Paul did yard work at his home. (Rene Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and was sentenced to 30 days in prison.)

    One year ago: After serving more than seven years in an Indonesian prison for killing her mother at a luxury resort on the island of Bali, Heather Mack of Chicago was indicted on murder conspiracy charges in the United States and taken into federal custody on her arrival at O’Hare International Airport. Police in western Australia used a battering ram to enter a locked house and rescue a 4-year-old girl, Cleo Smith, who’d been abducted from a camping tent more than two weeks earlier; the suspect in the kidnapping was arrested nearby. (Terence Kelly pleaded guilty to the abduction.) A government advisory committee recommended that all U.S. adults younger than 60 be vaccinated against hepatitis B. The Federal Reserve announced a plan to gradually reduce bond purchases, a first step in withdrawing emergency aid for the economy during the coronavirus pandemic.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Lois Smith is 92. Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis is 89. Actor Shadoe Stevens is 76. Singer Lulu is 74. “Vogue” editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is 73. Comedian-actor Roseanne Barr is 70. Actor Kate Capshaw is 69. Comedian Dennis Miller is 69. Actor Kathy Kinney is 69. Singer Adam Ant is 68. Sports commentator and former quarterback Phil Simms is 67. Director-screenwriter Gary Ross is 66. Actor Dolph Lundgren is 65. Rock musician C.J. Pierce (Drowning Pool) is 50. Actor Francois Battiste (TV: “Ten Days in the Valley”) is 46. Olympic gold medal figure skater Evgeni Plushenko is 40. Actor Julie Berman is 39. Actor Antonia Thomas (TV: “The Good Doctor”) is 36. Alternative rock singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett is 35. TV personality and model Kendall Jenner (TV: “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”) is 27.

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  • Danish leader to quit in bid to form new Cabinet despite win

    Danish leader to quit in bid to form new Cabinet despite win

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    COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Voters in Greenland secured the last two seats necessary for the center-left bloc of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to win Denmark’s general election.

    But Frederiksen plans to resign later Wednesday, because the Social Democratic leader wants to attempt to form a new government with broader support across the political divide — something she had suggested before the election.

    The two seats in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, meant that the so-called red bloc of Frederiksen reached the required 90-seat majority and put her in a strong position after Tuesday’s tight election.

    The Greenland results came in early Wednesday and the red side’s win was based on the assumption that a vote count in Greenland would give the autonomous Danish territory’s two seats to the center-left bloc.

    Siumut and Inuit Ataqatigiit, two left-leaning groups, grabbed 37.6% and 24.6% of the votes, respectively. Four of the 179 seats in Denmark’s legislature, known as the Folketing, are reserved for Greenland and the Faeroe Islands, another autonomous Danish territory.

    Frederiksen will formally hand in her resignation to Queen Margrethe at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT; 4 a.m. EDT) Wednesday after which talks to form a government — so-called queen rounds — are expected to begin with party leaders.

    “It is also clear there is no longer a majority behind the government in its current form. Therefore, tomorrow I will submit the government’s resignation to the queen,” Frederiksen said Tuesday as she announced she would step down.

    Margrethe’s role is largely ceremonial, but she performs certain official functions, including attending the opening of parliament, signing new laws, formally nominating a person to head the government-formation process and appointing the prime minister. Sometimes several “queen rounds” are needed before a new government can be formed.

    Troels Bøggild, an associate professor of political science at Aarhus University in western Denmark, said that Frederiksen ”has two options to form a government.”

    “Either go with the Moderates (at the center) and the Liberals and if that fails, she can crawl back to the red bloc and form a government there.”

    “By resigning, she shows that her election promises to build a broad center government is serious,” he told The Associated Press. “If she didn’t resign and formed a government in the red bloc, she would face criticism. To avoid that, she has resigned.”

    Frederiksen was forced to call the vote earlier this month amid the fallout from her government’s contentious decision to cull millions of minks as a pandemic response measure. The cull and chilling images of mass graves of minks have haunted Frederiksen since 2020 and eventually led to cracks in the center-left bloc.

    The Social Democrats remained Denmark’s top party with 27.54% of votes, but it remained unclear long into the night whether the center-left parties together would reach a majority. The decisive seat flipped at the very end of the vote count.

    Before that, former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen appeared set to become kingmaker. His newly formed centrist party won 9.27% of the vote for 16 seats, according to the preliminary results. Final results were expected later.

    Løkke Rasmussen said he too wanted Frederiksen to try to form a government, but he wouldn’t provide support for her to remain “as prime minister.”

    Løkke Rasmussen, a two-time government leader who lost the 2019 election to Frederiksen and abandoned the center-right Liberal party following an internal power struggle, wouldn’t say whom he would back as the next prime minister or whether he saw that role for himself.

    “I know for sure that Denmark needs a new government,“ he told jubilant supporters in Copenhagen. “Who is going to sit at the end of the table? We do not know.”

    Prior to the election, the 44-year-old Frederiksen floated the idea of a broader alliance that would also include opposition parties, but was rebuffed by opposition leaders Jakob Ellemann-Jensen of the Liberals and Søren Pape Poulsen of the Conservatives.

    Even though the election result suggested she could ostensibly carry on as prime minster with only center-left support, Frederiksen said she would adhere to her ambition to also reach out to opposition parties.

    “The Social Democrats went to the election to form a broad government,” she said on election night. “I will investigate whether it can be done.”

    Frederiksen, who became Denmark’s youngest prime minister when she took office at 41 more than three years ago, teamed up with the opposition to hike NATO-member Denmark’s defense spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her steadfast leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was partly overshadowed by the mink-culling episode.

    The decision to slaughter up to 17 million minks to protect humans from a mutation of the coronavirus was taken in haste and without the required legislation in place. It dealt a devastating blow to Danish mink farmers, even though there was no evidence the mutated virus found among some minks was more dangerous than other strains.

    “It can take a long time before a new government is formed as all the pieces of the puzzle have been tossed up in the air,” Bøggild said, adding he believes that Frederiksen will become prime minister again.

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  • Today in History: November 1, Thomas joins Supreme Court

    Today in History: November 1, Thomas joins Supreme Court

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    Today in History

    Today is Tuesday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2022. There are 60 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Nov. 1, 1991, Clarence Thomas took his place as the newest justice on the Supreme Court.

    On this date:

    In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was established.

    In 1512, Michelangelo’s just-completed paintings on the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel were publicly unveiled by the artist’s patron, Pope Julius II.

    In 1604, William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello” was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.

    In 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament, went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.

    In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott.

    In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.

    In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an “axis” running between Rome and Berlin.

    In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. (One of the pair was killed, along with a White House police officer.)

    In 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, code-named “Ivy Mike,” at Enewetak (en-ih-WEE’-tahk) Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

    In 1989, East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the West.

    In 1995, Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present.

    In 2007, less than a week after workers ratified a new contract, Chrysler announced 12,000 job cuts, or about 15 percent of its work force.

    Ten years ago: Israel, lifting a nearly 25-year veil of secrecy, acknowledged it had killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s deputy in a 1988 raid in Tunisia. (Khalil al-Wazir, who was better known by his nom de guerre Abu Jihad, founded Fatah, the dominant faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization.)

    Five years ago: Federal prosecutors brought terrorism charges against the man accused in the Manhattan truck rampage a day earlier that left eight people dead; prosecutors said Sayfullo Saipov had asked to display the Islamic State group’s flag in the hospital room where he was recovering from police gunfire. President Donald Trump tweeted that the suspect in the truck attack should get the death penalty. Prompting celebrations in a city still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, the Houston Astros won their first World Series championship, beating the Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7 in Los Angeles.

    One year ago: The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million, as tallied by Johns Hopkins University. About 9,000 New York City municipal workers were put on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with a new COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and thousands of city firefighters called out sick in an apparent protest over the requirement. Real estate scion Robert Durst was indicted on a murder charge in the disappearance of his first wife nearly four decades earlier; he was already serving a life sentence for killing a confidante who helped cover up that slaying. (Durst died in January 2022.) At a U.N. summit in Scotland, President Joe Biden apologized for former President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate change agreement, and for the role that the U.S. and other wealthy countries played in contributing to climate change.

    Today’s Birthdays: World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player is 87. Country singer Bill Anderson is 85. Actor Barbara Bosson is 83. Actor Robert Foxworth is 81. Country singer-humorist Kinky Friedman is 78. Actor Jeannie Berlin is 73. Music producer David Foster is 73. Actor Belita Moreno is 73. Country singer-songwriter-producer Keith Stegall is 68. Country singer Lyle Lovett is 65. Actor Rachel Ticotin is 64. Apple CEO Tim Cook is 62. Actor Helene Udy is 61. Pop singer-musician Mags Furuholmen (a-ha) 60. Rock singer Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 60. Rock musician Rick Allen (Def Leppard) is 59. Country singer “Big Kenny” Alphin (Big and Rich) is 59. Singer Sophie B. Hawkins is 58. Rapper Willie D (Geto Boys) is 56. Country musician Dale Wallace (Emerson Drive) is 53. Actor Toni Collette is 50. Actor-talk show host Jenny McCarthy is 50. Actor David Berman is 49. Actor Aishwarya Rai (ash-WAHR’-ee-ah reye) is 49. Rock singer Bo Bice is 47. Actor Matt Jones is 41. Actor Natalia Tena is 38. Actor Penn Badgley is 36. Actor Max Burkholder is 25. Actor-musician Alex Wolff is 25.

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  • Bird flu infects Iowa egg farm with 1 million chickens

    Bird flu infects Iowa egg farm with 1 million chickens

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    FILE – Chickens walk in a fenced pasture at an organic farm in Iowa on Oct. 21, 2015. Iowa agriculture officials said Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, that another commercial egg farm in the state has been infected with bird flu, the first commercial farm case identified since April when a turkey farm was infected. The latest case is in Wright County in north central Iowa, housing about 1.1 million chickens. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

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  • Workers leave iPhone factory in Zhengzhou amid COVID curbs

    Workers leave iPhone factory in Zhengzhou amid COVID curbs

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    HONG KONG — Workers who assemble Apple Inc.’s new iPhone have walked out of their factory in northern China to avoid COVID-19 curbs after some coworkers were quarantined following a virus outbreak.

    Videos circulating on Chinese social media platforms showed people said to be Foxconn workers climbing over fences and walking down a road laden with their belongings.

    The scenes underscore growing public discontent with China’s “zero-COVID” strategy, where the government seeks to stamp out outbreaks by implementing strict testing, isolation and lockdown measures where infections are detected.

    Outbreaks have led to entire cities going into lockdown. In the latest wave of infections, Shanghai Disney Resort said Monday that it would close as of Monday for an indefinite amount of time “to follow the requirement of pandemic prevention and control.”

    In an online notice, the park apologized for the inconvenience and said it would provide refunds or exchanges for those affected by its closure.

    The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, can accommodate up to 350,000 workers and is one of the largest factories in China assembling products for Apple Inc., including its latest iPhone 14 devices.

    Not all the videos that showed workers purportedly leaving the facility could be verified. It was unclear if the workers leaving the facility had escaped or if they were allowed to leave.

    Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Volunteers from nearby villages put out food and drinks for the Foxconn workers. One such volunteer, who asked to be identified only by his surname Zhang out of privacy concerns, was put in charge of distributing supplies that his village in Xingyang county had prepared. He said that the people shown in a video he uploaded to the short-video platform Douyin were Foxconn workers because they would have to take that road if they were leaving the facility.

    It was unclear how many people are currently employed at the Zhengzhou factory, how many of them have left and how many were affected by factory’s COVID-19 curbs.

    Earlier this week, media reports said the factory had implemented a “closed-loop” system largely restricting workers to movements between their residences and the plant.

    Local media reports said that Foxconn workers complained of poor food quality and a lack of medical care for those who tested positive amid worries infections could be spreading. The company denied rumors that 20,000 people in the plant had been infected with COVID-19.

    Cities near Zhengzhou have urged Foxconn workers to report to local authorities if they plan to return to their hometowns to allow preparation of appropriate isolation measures.

    Posts on the Zhengzhou government’s public WeChat account said Foxconn issued notices Sunday to workers at the factory, pledging to ensure the safety, legitimate rights and incomes of those who stayed.

    A day after the videos circulated of workers leaving the factory on foot, Foxconn and several local governments arranged transportation for employees choosing to return home. It wasn’t clear how much choice they were given in the matter.

    ———

    AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.

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  • Workers leave iPhone factory in Zhengzhou amid COVID curbs

    Workers leave iPhone factory in Zhengzhou amid COVID curbs

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    HONG KONG — Workers in a manufacturing facility in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou appear to have left to avoid COVID-19 curbs, with many traveling on foot for days after an unknown number of employees were quarantined in the facility after a virus outbreak.

    Videos circulating on Chinese social media platforms showed people who are allegedly Foxconn workers climbing over fences and carrying their belongings down the road.

    The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, is one of the largest factories in China that assembles products for Apple Inc., including its latest iPhone 14 devices.

    Not all the videos that showed workers purportedly leaving the facility could be verified. It is unclear if the workers leaving the facility had escaped or if they were allowed to leave.

    Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Volunteers from nearby villages put out food and drinks for the Foxconn workers. One such volunteer, who asked to be identified only by his surname Zhang out of privacy concerns, was put in charge of distributing supplies that his village in Xingyang county had prepared. He said that the people shown in a video he uploaded to the short-video platform Douyin were Foxconn workers because they would have to take that road if they were leaving the facility.

    The workers’ exodus comes after reports that Foxconn had placed a number of workers under quarantine following a COVID-19 outbreak in the factory.

    The Foxconn facility in Zhengzhou can accommodate up to 350,000 factory workers, but it is not clear how many are currently employed by the factory. It is also unclear how many of them have left, or how many were affected by COVID-19 curbs implemented in the factory prior to their departure.

    Earlier this week, media reports said that a “closed-loop” system had been implemented in the factory that largely restricts workers to movements between their residence and the plant.

    Local media reports said that Foxconn workers complained of poor food quality and a lack of medical care for those who tested positive amid growing concerns that the infection could be spreading. The company also denied rumors that 20,000 people in the plant had been infected with COVID-19.

    Cities near Zhengzhou have since urged Foxconn workers to report to local authorities if they have plans to return to their hometowns so they can undergo appropriate isolation measures.

    According to posts on the Zhengzhou government’s public WeChat account, Foxconn issued notices Sunday to workers at its factory, pledging to ensure the safety, legitimate rights and income for those willing to stay.

    A day after videos circulated of workers leaving the factory, Foxconn and several local governments have also arranged transportation for employees who choose to return home. It is not clear how much agency the workers had in deciding to leave the factory.

    The departure of Foxconn workers from the Zhengzhou plant highlights the growing discontent in China’s “zero-COVID” strategy, where governments attempt to stamp out outbreaks by implementing strict isolation and lockdown measures where infections are detected.

    ———

    AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.

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  • Flashy Dubai will cash in on a World Cup a short flight away

    Flashy Dubai will cash in on a World Cup a short flight away

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The FIFA World Cup may be bringing as many as 1.2 million fans to Qatar, but the nearby flashy emirate of Dubai is also looking to cash in on the major sports tournament taking place just a short flight away.

    Some soccer fan clubs have already said they’ll be commuting to Qatar during the cup on 45-minute flights from Dubai, the skyscraper-studded, beachfront city-state in the United Arab Emirates. Other fans plan to sleep on cruise ships or camp out in the desert amid a feverish rush for rooms in Doha.

    Dubai’s airlines, bars, restaurants, shopping malls and other attractions now hope to benefit, further boosting their rebounding tourism industry in the crucial fall and winter months after the blows delivered by the coronavirus pandemic.

    “If you can’t stay in Qatar, Dubai is the place you’d most like to go as a foreign tourist,” said James Swanston, a Middle East and North Africa expert at Capital Economics. “It’s somewhere safe, somewhere more liberal in terms of Western norms. It’s the most attractive destination.”

    Now home to the world’s tallest building, cavernous malls — including one with an indoor ski slope — and thriving nightclub scene, Dubai has seen explosive growth fueled by its boom-and-bust real estate market that’s transformed the one-time pearling village over the last 20 years.

    Its long-haul carrier Emirates helped make Dubai International Airport the busiest in the world for foreign travel and provides a steady stream of new visitors who stay for layovers or longer. And while still an autocratic sheikhdom like its other Gulf Arab neighbors, Dubai has a relatively more-liberal view on drinking and nightlife.

    In the lead-up to the tournament, concerns about hotel room space and high prices for the rooms available have trailed Qatar, which lacks hotel capacity for all teams, workers, volunteers and fans at the World Cup. So Doha has created camping and cabin sites, hiring cruise ships, and encouraging fans to stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games.

    Qatar has estimated it will have 45,000 hotel rooms for the tournament.

    Surrounding nations, like Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also suggest they could see a spike in visitors — even though Bahrain is the only among them that allows alcohol. Even Iran, months ago, suggested developing plans for World Cup tourists to stay on its Kish Island. Apparently, nothing came of the idea and now the Islamic Republic is gripped by nationwide protests.

    Meanwhile, Dubai has over 140,000 hotel rooms, putting it easily into the top 10 destinations worldwide as far as available hotel rooms go, said Philip Wooller, a senior director at STR, a company that monitors the hotel industry. Dubai also offers price ranges greater than what Qatar can at the moment, given the demand, he said.

    “I think Dubai is an incredibly eclectic city,” Wooller said. “You can buy a room for $100 or you can buy a room for $5,000.”

    Still, he added, he expects “Qatar will be able to accommodate most of the fans coming to the World Cup (but) there will be a knock-on in Dubai.”

    Dubai appears fully poised to take advantage of the tournament.

    Its low-cost carrier, FlyDubai, plans as many as 30 round-trip flights a day during the World Cup, shuttling fans between Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC, in the city-state’s southern reaches, to Doha International Airport, Qatar’s old main airport.

    Other airlines that may use Al Maktoum airport include KLM, Qatar Airways and Wizz Air, while private jets will fly from there as well to the tournament, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. That could help boost the profile of an airfield that Dubai hopes will expand in the future as Dubai International Airport nears its capacity.

    “It’s a great experience for us to see DWC suddenly so busy for the World Cup,” he said. “It will give exposure to the convenience of the airport for so many people that (airlines may) actually favor operating from there.”

    The expected economic boost from the World Cup for Dubai comes after its turnaround since suffering through the pandemic. It spent billions for its delayed Expo 2020 world’s fair — which largely attracted visitors already in the UAE.

    Dubai, like much of the world, had a lockdown early in 2020. However, by July that year, it announced it was reopening for tourists. Though Dubai faced a surge of international criticism when cases spread from the emirate months later, around New Year, Dubai and the rest of the UAE widely rolled out vaccines.

    The UAE dropped its mandatory mask policy about a month ago.

    “Dubai is on a lot of people’s radars as one of the most phenomenal places to come and visit,” said Dennis McGettigan, the CEO of an eponymous empire of Irish bars in Dubai and elsewhere. “And I think the World Cup has added a layer” of desire to visit.

    McGettigan said his bar business is already up as much as 40% on its sales, compared to 2019, something he linked to pent-up demand for socializing after the worst days of the virus. He said he’s overstaffed his locations and expects strong business through the tournament.

    But McGettigan and others acknowledged headwinds Dubai faces in attracting World Cup tourists — the strong U.S. dollar. The Emirati dirham has long been pegged to the dollar, making a Dubai trip now more expensive for those using British pounds, euros and other currencies.

    Other financial dangers also lurk for tourist-reliant Dubai, built on the promise of globalization.

    “We still need to be cautious of global economic pressures, including rising interest rates, high oil and commodity prices, supply chain issues that are creating inflationary pressures which could impact Dubai’s economic recovery,” said Sapna Jagtiani of S&P Global Ratings.

    McGettigan doesn’t expects that to be too much of a damper. His firm also will be organizing a massive fan zone venue in the grassy expanses of Dubai Media City, complete with musical performances, massive televisions and even a winter-themed area in Dubai’s desert environs.

    “I, for one, am absolutely delighted to see everything back on full steam ahead and actually a little bit more,” he said.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

    ———

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • Flashy Dubai will cash in on a World Cup a short flight away

    Flashy Dubai will cash in on a World Cup a short flight away

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The FIFA World Cup may be bringing as many as 1.2 million fans to Qatar, but the nearby flashy emirate of Dubai is also looking to cash in on the major sports tournament taking place just a short flight away.

    Some soccer fan clubs have already said they’ll be commuting to Qatar during the cup on 45-minute flights from Dubai, the skyscraper-studded, beachfront city-state in the United Arab Emirates. Other fans plan to sleep on cruise ships or camp out in the desert amid a feverish rush for rooms in Doha.

    Dubai’s airlines, bars, restaurants, shopping malls and other attractions now hope to benefit, further boosting their rebounding tourism industry in the crucial fall and winter months after the blows delivered by the coronavirus pandemic.

    “If you can’t stay in Qatar, Dubai is the place you’d most like to go as a foreign tourist,” said James Swanston, a Middle East and North Africa expert at Capital Economics. “It’s somewhere safe, somewhere more liberal in terms of Western norms. It’s the most attractive destination.”

    Now home to the world’s tallest building, cavernous malls — including one with an indoor ski slope — and thriving nightclub scene, Dubai has seen explosive growth fueled by its boom-and-bust real estate market that’s transformed the one-time pearling village over the last 20 years.

    Its long-haul carrier Emirates helped make Dubai International Airport the busiest in the world for foreign travel and provides a steady stream of new visitors who stay for layovers or longer. And while still an autocratic sheikhdom like its other Gulf Arab neighbors, Dubai has a relatively more-liberal view on drinking and nightlife.

    In the lead-up to the tournament, concerns about hotel room space and high prices for the rooms available have trailed Qatar, which lacks hotel capacity for all teams, workers, volunteers and fans at the World Cup. So Doha has created camping and cabin sites, hiring cruise ships, and encouraging fans to stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games.

    Qatar has estimated it will have 45,000 hotel rooms for the tournament.

    Surrounding nations, like Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also suggest they could see a spike in visitors — even though Bahrain is the only among them that allows alcohol. Even Iran, months ago, suggested developing plans for World Cup tourists to stay on its Kish Island. Apparently, nothing came of the idea and now the Islamic Republic is gripped by nationwide protests.

    Meanwhile, Dubai has over 140,000 hotel rooms, putting it easily into the top 10 destinations worldwide as far as available hotel rooms go, said Philip Wooller, a senior director at STR, a company that monitors the hotel industry. Dubai also offers price ranges greater than what Qatar can at the moment, given the demand, he said.

    “I think Dubai is an incredibly eclectic city,” Wooller said. “You can buy a room for $100 or you can buy a room for $5,000.”

    Still, he added, he expects “Qatar will be able to accommodate most of the fans coming to the World Cup (but) there will be a knock-on in Dubai.”

    Dubai appears fully poised to take advantage of the tournament.

    Its low-cost carrier, FlyDubai, plans as many as 30 round-trip flights a day during the World Cup, shuttling fans between Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC, in the city-state’s southern reaches, to Doha International Airport, Qatar’s old main airport.

    Other airlines that may use Al Maktoum airport include KLM, Qatar Airways and Wizz Air, while private jets will fly from there as well to the tournament, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. That could help boost the profile of an airfield that Dubai hopes will expand in the future as Dubai International Airport nears its capacity.

    “It’s a great experience for us to see DWC suddenly so busy for the World Cup,” he said. “It will give exposure to the convenience of the airport for so many people that (airlines may) actually favor operating from there.”

    The expected economic boost from the World Cup for Dubai comes after its turnaround since suffering through the pandemic. It spent billions for its delayed Expo 2020 world’s fair — which largely attracted visitors already in the UAE.

    Dubai, like much of the world, had a lockdown early in 2020. However, by July that year, it announced it was reopening for tourists. Though Dubai faced a surge of international criticism when cases spread from the emirate months later, around New Year, Dubai and the rest of the UAE widely rolled out vaccines.

    The UAE dropped its mandatory mask policy about a month ago.

    “Dubai is on a lot of people’s radars as one of the most phenomenal places to come and visit,” said Dennis McGettigan, the CEO of an eponymous empire of Irish bars in Dubai and elsewhere. “And I think the World Cup has added a layer” of desire to visit.

    McGettigan said his bar business is already up as much as 40% on its sales, compared to 2019, something he linked to pent-up demand for socializing after the worst days of the virus. He said he’s overstaffed his locations and expects strong business through the tournament.

    But McGettigan and others acknowledged headwinds Dubai faces in attracting World Cup tourists — the strong U.S. dollar. The Emirati dirham has long been pegged to the dollar, making a Dubai trip now more expensive for those using British pounds, euros and other currencies.

    Other financial dangers also lurk for tourist-reliant Dubai, built on the promise of globalization.

    “We still need to be cautious of global economic pressures, including rising interest rates, high oil and commodity prices, supply chain issues that are creating inflationary pressures which could impact Dubai’s economic recovery,” said Sapna Jagtiani of S&P Global Ratings.

    McGettigan doesn’t expects that to be too much of a damper. His firm also will be organizing a massive fan zone venue in the grassy expanses of Dubai Media City, complete with musical performances, massive televisions and even a winter-themed area in Dubai’s desert environs.

    “I, for one, am absolutely delighted to see everything back on full steam ahead and actually a little bit more,” he said.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

    ———

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • Women’s clinic in South Sudan a casualty of distracted world

    Women’s clinic in South Sudan a casualty of distracted world

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    MINGKAMAN, South Sudan — In a country where the maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, a small clinic dedicated to reproductive health care for more than 200,000 people is about to be shut down. The worried-looking mothers know too well what might happen next.

    “If the hospital closes, we will die more because we are poor,” said one expectant mother who gave her name only as Chuti. She was attending a monthly checkup at the Mingkaman reproductive health clinic in this town on the White Nile River, and it might be her last.

    The United Nations has said it intends to end the clinic’s operations by December because of a lack of funding from European and other supporters. It is just one casualty among many in developing countries as humanitarian donors have been stretched by one crisis after another, from COVID-19 to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The U.N. would not say how much it costs to run the clinic.

    A loss like the clinic is of critical importance for people in places like Mingkaman, which along with the rest of South Sudan has struggled to cope with the aftermath of a five-year civil war, climate shocks like widespread flooding and lingering insecurity that includes shocking rates of sexual violence.

    The U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has said the war in Ukraine has led to a dramatic cut in funding for emergency medical care for people who have been sexually assaulted. “It’s not that sexual violence ebbs and flows, it’s going on all the time, largely unseen,” commissioner Barney Afako said. The commission also has asserted that the government has failed to invest in basic services like health care.

    This reproductive health clinic in the capital of Awerial county in central South Sudan serves a community largely of people displaced by the civil war and the floods. It is where women who once gave birth at home now come to deliver their children. It is also where women who are assaulted come for care.

    The maternal mortality rate in South Sudan was 789 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019, according to the World Health Organization. That’s more than double the rate in more developed neighboring Kenya, according to U.N. data, while the U.S. rate was 23 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    At least 250 women give birth in the Mingkaman clinic every month, said Teresa Achuei, the site manager with the organization IMA World Health, which runs the facility. She said she knew of only three women who have died while giving birth in the community, all of them outside the clinic.

    Now, she said, hundreds of women could be at risk. “Our aim, our mission, is to reduce maternal mortality rate. Every woman should deliver safely. If the facility closes, there will be many deaths in the community,” she told The Associated Press during a visit in mid-October.

    The clinic was founded in 2014, the year after South Sudan’s civil war began. Set up in tents as a temporary way to serve people displaced by fighting, it remains makeshift but works around the clock.

    It is a center of activity in Mingkaman, a community on one of South Sudan’s muddy main highways without reliable electricity and running water. The military is present to respond to flares of violence. Many women support their families by collecting firewood from the nearby forest to sell or work in modest local hotels.

    Multiple women expressed concern about the clinic’s coming closure.

    “It will be worsening for us because it was helping us,” said Akuany Bol, who delivered her three children there. She looked miserable while waiting for a midwife to examine her child.

    Andrew Kuol, a clinical officer, said the facility receives an average of 70 to 80 patients per day. It often admits 20 patients a day, or twice the number of beds.

    Some women must be treated on the ground.

    Kuol said the clinic faces shortages of medicines including malaria drugs, post-rape drugs, antenatal drugs and others, again because of waning donor support.

    The nearest hospital is in the city of Bor in the neighboring state of Jonglei, where the clinic’s more complicated cases are sent. Getting there is complicated, too. With no bridge between the states, it can take an hour for a boat to cross the Nile.

    As in much of South Sudan, travel is challenging. And current circumstances mean few of the people here can easily relocate for health care or anything else.

    “These (displaced people) are not going anywhere because there is still insecurity and also the flooding,” said James Manyiel Agup, the Awerial county director for health here in Lakes state. He urged the U.N. partners to continue supporting the facility to save lives.

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  • Ahead of harsh winter, tourism roars back in Mediterranean

    Ahead of harsh winter, tourism roars back in Mediterranean

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    CAPE SOUNION, Greece — When Stelios Zompanakis quit his job at Greece’s central bank to try his luck at boat racing, friends and family pleaded with him to reconsider.

    Nine years later, he spends summers on the “Ikigai,” a 53-foot yacht he named after the Japanese concept of finding happiness through a life of meaning.

    Weeklong holiday trips on his yacht around some of the lesser-known Greek islands — Milos, Sifnos, Serifos, Kythnos and many others — were booked up through October.

    “The demand is insane,” said Zompanakis, who recently paced barefoot around the teak-paneled deck to adjust the sail and check instrument panels as the boat swung past the ancient Temple of Poseidon, on a clifftop south of Athens.

    Tourism around the Mediterranean has been booming. Helped by a strong U.S. dollar and Europeans’ pent-up demand to find a beach after years of COVID-19 travel restrictions, it’s been a stronger comeback from the pandemic slump than many expected, which led to long lines, canceled flights and lost luggage this summer at many European airports — though not in Greece.

    “People after COVID, after two years of frustration, probably put some money aside and decided they needed a vacation,” Zompanakis said. “And I think the income from their budgets that they are willing to spend rose so that also brought more quality … and this helped Greece a lot.”

    Greece is on course to beat its annual record revenue haul from tourism. Portugal also is eyeing a full recovery, while late-summer data suggested Spain, Italy and Cyprus will end the year just shy of pre-pandemic visitor levels.

    A blessing for Europe’s southern economies, the rebound is also easing the continent’s tilt toward recession brought on by rocketing energy prices, the war in Ukraine and enduring disruptions caused by the pandemic.

    “For countries like Greece and others like Italy and Spain, they have actually produced plenty of resilience during the summer … despite the tsunami that is coming from the cost-of-living crisis and the energy crisis,” said Lorenzo Codogno, chief economist at LC Macro Advisors and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.

    Europe’s Mediterranean coast also offers destinations that are safe and have cultural interest, Codogno said, but the good news may not last.

    Economic growth in 19 countries using the euro currency is set to sink to 0.5% in 2023 from an increase of 3.1% this year, according to a new forecast from the International Monetary Fund.

    Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain have the highest debt levels in the eurozone relative to the size of their economies and also face rising borrowing costs.

    Stephen Rooney, a senior economist focused on tourism at Oxford Economics, says tourism-dependent countries will eventually see their industries hit harder next year by the cost-of-living crisis driven by soaring inflation and high energy bills.

    “There is an expectation that these challenges will begin to bite as we move into the final quarter of this year and into 2023,” he said. “We do not expect the travel recovery to stall in 2023, but we do expect it will slow somewhat in 2023 in line with the general economic slowdown, before picking up again in 2024.”

    In Athens’ historic Plaka district, tourists were still packing the narrow streets during a mild late October, crowding around ice cream sellers and stopping to browse at stores selling leather bags, jewelry, hats and souvenirs.

    At Loom Carpets, co-owner Vahan Apikian, folded and stacked carpets and laid out shoulder bags for customers, happy that demand has remained high well into the autumn.

    “Business has gone very well: We had many more visitors than in 2019, which was a record year. This year was even better,” he said.

    As the days get shorter and the outlook darkens over European Union economies, Greece and other southern member states have renewed national efforts to set up year-round holiday destinations, hoping that hiking trails, rock climbing and visits to historic churches can dampen the winter drop in arrivals.

    But year-round tourism also exposes the shortcomings in governments’ ability to plan and coordinate, said Panagiotis Karkatsoulis, a senior policy analyst at the Athens-based Institute for Regulatory Research who has advised governments in southern Europe and the Middle East on policy reforms.

    “There isn’t much point in advertising a trail to a historic monastery that closes at 3 p.m. or trying to bring seniors to a destination with bad roads and no hospital access … tourism exposes every weakness an administration has,” he said.

    The revenue windfall this winter, he argued, will have to fund continued government aid for struggling businesses and households rather than go to longer-term improvements.

    “Anything like tourism that generates wealth is unquestionably positive,” he said. “But how that money is spent — that’s a different conversation.”

    ———

    AP reporters Theodora Tongas and Lefteris Pitarakis in Athens, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal; Raquel Redondo in Madrid; Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus; and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed.

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  • Cholera overwhelms Haiti as cases, deaths spike amid crisis

    Cholera overwhelms Haiti as cases, deaths spike amid crisis

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    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The sun shone down on Stanley Joliva as medical staff at an open-air clinic hovered around him, pumping air into his lungs and giving him chest compressions until he died.

    Nearby, his mother watched.

    “Only God knows my pain,” said Viliene Enfant.

    Less than an hour later, the body of her 22-year-old son lay on the floor wrapped in a white plastic bag with the date of his death scrawled on top. He joined dozens of other Haitians who have died from cholera during a rapidly spreading outbreak that is straining the resources of nonprofits and local hospitals in a country where fuel, water and other basic supplies are growing scarcer by the day.

    Sweat gathered on the foreheads of staff at a Doctors Without Borders treatment center in the capital of Port-au-Prince where some 100 patients arrive every day and at least 20 have died. Families kept rushing in this week with loved ones, sometimes dragging their limp bodies into the crowded outdoors clinic where the smell of waste filled the air.

    Dozens of patients sat on white buckets or lay on stretchers as IV lines ran up to bags of rehydrating fluids that gleamed in the sun. So far this month, Doctors Without Borders has treated some 1,800 patients at their four centers in Port-au-Prince.

    Across Haiti, many patients are dying because say they’re unable to reach a hospital in time, health officials say. A spike in gang violence has made it unsafe for people to leave their communities and a lack of fuel has shut down public transportation, gas stations and other key businesses including water supply companies.

    Enfant sat next to her son’s body as she recalled how Joliva told her he was feeling sick earlier this week. She had already warned him and her two other sons not to bathe or wash clothes in the sewage-contaminated waters that ran through a nearby ravine in their neighborhood — the only source of water for hundreds in that area.

    Enfant insisted that her sons buy water to wash clothes and add chlorine if they were going to drink it. As Joliva grew sicker, Enfant tried to care for him on her own.

    “I told him, ‘Honey, you need to drink the tea,’” she recalled. “He said again, ‘I feel weak.’ He also said, ‘I am not able to stand up.’”

    Cholera is a bacteria that sickens people who swallow contaminated food or water, and it can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea, in some cases leading to death.

    Haiti’s first major brush with cholera occurred more than a decade ago when U.N. peacekeepers introduced the bacteria into the country’s biggest river via sewage runoff at their base. Nearly 10,000 people died and thousands of others were sickened.

    The cases eventually dwindled to the point where the World Health Organization was expected to declare Haiti cholera-free this year.

    But on Oct. 2, Haitian officials announced that cholera had returned.

    At least 40 deaths and 1,700 suspected cases have been reported, but officials believe the numbers are much higher, especially in crowded and unsanitary slums and government shelters where thousands of Haitians live.

    Worsening the situation is a lack of fuel and water that began to dwindle last month when one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs surrounded a key fuel terminal and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Gas stations and businesses including water companies have closed, forcing an increasing number of people to rely on untreated water.

    Shela Jeune, a 21-year-old hot dog vendor whose 2-year-old son has cholera, said she buys small bags of water for her family but doesn’t know if it’s treated. She carried him to the hospital where he remains on IV fluids.

    “Everything I give him to eat, he just throws it up,” she said.

    Jeune was among dozens of mothers seeking treatment for their children on a recent morning.

    Lauriol Chantal, 43, recounted a similar story. Her 15-year-old son would vomit as soon as he finished eating, prompting her to rush him to the treatment center.

    While at the center, her son, Alexandro François, told her he felt hot.

    “He said to me … ’Mama, could you take me outside to wash me or pour water over my head?’” she said.

    She obliged, but suddenly, he collapsed in her arms. The staff ran over to help.

    Children younger than age 14 make up half of cholera cases in Haiti, according to UNICEF, with officials warning that growing cases of severe malnutrition also make children more vulnerable to illness.

    Haiti’s poverty also has worsened the situation.

    “When you are unable to get safe drinking water by tap in your own home, when you don’t have soap or water purifying tablets and you have no access to health services, you may not survive cholera or other waterborne diseases,” said Bruno Maes, Haiti’s UNICEF representative.

    Perpety Juste, a 62-year-old grandmother, said one of her three grandchildren became ill this week as she fretted about how their situation might have led to her sickness.

    “We spent a lot of days without food, I cannot lie,” she said. “Nobody in my house has a job.”

    Juste, who lives with her husband, five children and three grandchildren, said she used to work as a house cleaner until the homeowners fled Haiti.

    The increasing demand for help is squeezing Doctors Without Borders and others as they struggle to care for patients with limited fuel.

    “It’s a nightmare for the population, and also for us,” said Jean-Marc Biquet, a project coordinator with the organization. “We have two more weeks of fuel.”

    Life is paralyzed for many Haitians, including Enfant, as she mourned her son’s death. She wants to bury him in her southern coastal hometown of Les Cayes, but cannot afford the 55,000 gourdes ($430) it would cost to transport his body.

    Enfant then fell quiet and gazed into the distance as she continued to sit next to her son’s body — too stunned, she said, to stand up.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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  • Today in History: October 29, “Black Tuesday” on Wall Street

    Today in History: October 29, “Black Tuesday” on Wall Street

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    Today in History

    Today is Saturday, Oct. 29, the 302nd day of 2022. There are 63 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Oct. 29, 1929, “Black Tuesday” descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America’s “Great Depression” began.

    On this date:

    In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for treason.

    In 1787, the opera “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had its world premiere in Prague.

    In 1891, actor, comedian and singer Fanny Brice was born in New York.

    In 1940, a blindfolded Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number — 158 — from a glass bowl in America’s first peacetime military draft.

    In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Israel invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” premiered as NBC’s nightly television newscast.

    In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board.

    In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburg’s previous marijuana use. Jazz great Woody Herman died in Los Angeles at age 74.

    In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he’d blazed for America’s astronauts 36 years earlier.

    In 2004, four days before Election Day in the U.S., Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement, directly admitted for the first time that he’d ordered the September 11 attacks and told Americans “the best way to avoid another Manhattan” was to stop threatening Muslims’ security.

    In 2005, mourners slowly filed past the body of civil rights icon Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama, just miles from the downtown street where she’d made history by refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.

    In 2015, Paul Ryan was elected the 54th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

    In 2018, a new-generation Boeing jet operated by the Indonesian budget airline Lion Air crashed in the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board; it was the first of two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max, causing the plane to be grounded around the world for nearly two years as Boeing worked on software changes to a flight-control system.

    Ten years ago: Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S.

    Five years ago: All but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.” The head of Puerto Rico’s power company said the agency was cancelling its $300 million contract with a tiny Montana company to restore the island’s power system; the company was based in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

    One year ago: The Food and Drug Administration paved the way for children ages 5 to 11 to get Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine; the FDA cleared kid-size doses — just a third of the amount given to teens and adults — for emergency use. Eighteen states filed three separate lawsuits to stop President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, arguing that the requirement violated federal law. Biden held extended and highly personal talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican, and came away saying the pontiff told him he was a “good Catholic” and should keep receiving Communion, although conservatives had called for him to be denied the sacrament because of his support for abortion rights.

    Today’s Birthdays: Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is 84. Country singer Lee Clayton is 80. Rock musician Denny Laine is 78. Singer Melba Moore is 77. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 75. Actor Kate Jackson is 74. Country musician Steve Kellough (Wild Horses) is 66. Actor Dan Castellaneta (TV: “The Simpsons”) is 65. Comic strip artist Tom Wilson (“Ziggy”) is 65. Actor Finola Hughes is 63. Singer Randy Jackson (the Jacksons) is 61. Rock musician Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 57. Actor Joely Fisher is 55. Rapper Paris is 55. Actor Rufus Sewell is 55. Actor Grayson McCouch (mih-KOOCH’) is 54. Rock singer SA Martinez (311) is 53. Actor Winona Ryder is 51. Actor Tracee Ellis Ross is 50. Actor Gabrielle Union is 50. Actor Trevor Lissauer is 49. Olympic gold medal bobsledder Vonetta Flowers is 49. Actor Milena Govich is 46. Actor Jon Abrahams is 45. Actor Brendan Fehr is 45. Actor Ben Foster is 42. Rock musician Chris Baio (Vampire Weekend) is 38. Actor Janet Montgomery is 37. Actor India Eisley is 29.

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  • Inflation, gas prices looming over sports biz, concessions

    Inflation, gas prices looming over sports biz, concessions

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    CHICAGO — Dan Coyne makes an annual trip from his Pennsylvania home to watch the Chicago Bears with his brother, Dave, who has season tickets.

    The brothers got something to eat a couple hours before the game. Dave Coyne, 47, normally stays away from the concessions at Soldier Field, but “I only had to pay for myself tonight,” he said. “I didn’t have a kid or my wife with me.”

    That’s the calculus in play as fans balance their favorite sporting events — the games they missed desperately during the COVID-19 pandemic — with persistently high inflation and gas prices that loom over everything these days.

    U.S. inflation jumped 8.2% in September from a year ago, the government reported this month. That’s not far from a four-decade high of 9.1% in June. Higher prices for housing, food and medical care were among the largest contributors to the rise.

    Given the industry’s reliance on disposable income, the inflation numbers are a troubling sign for sports business leaders.

    “What’s historically accurate for teams is that they tend to try to take less on the ticketing side because once somebody comes in they typically will make up for it once they are inside,” said Ron Li, a senior vice president at Navigate, a data-driven consulting firm in sports and entertainment. “But with costs rising pretty much across the board after the turnstile, I think they have some decisions they need to make.”

    According to Team Marketing Report, the average cost for a family of four to attend a 2022 Major League Baseball game was $256.41, an increase of $3.04 from the previous season. The main engine behind the rise was the cost of tickets, with the average general ticket price increasing 3.6% to $35.93.

    Despite the jump in prices, Americans have largely kept up their spending, particularly on entertainment and other services like travel that they missed out on during the pandemic. Still, there are signs the solid spending won’t last: Credit card debt is rising and savings have declined as consumers, particularly low-income ones, have taken hits to their finances from the spike in inflation.

    Sitting on a bench in front of Soldier Field, about to watch his beloved Bears play in person, money wasn’t exactly a big concern for Corey Metzger.

    Or any concern, really.

    “This trip has been a long time in the making, and I’m splurging whatever I got to spend to make it happen,” said the 45-year-old Metzger, who works in law enforcement in Fargo, North Dakota.

    Casey Lynn, 43, a low-voltage technician from Minneapolis, and his wife, Lori, 44, a commercial lender, aren’t big football fans, but they decided to check out the Bears on a trip to Chicago. While Casey Lynn said he is bothered by the ticket surcharges, the couple didn’t want to pass on the opportunity to see the game.

    “The gas is a necessity. Electric’s a necessity. The sports isn’t a necessity,” he said. “But when in Rome, why not?”

    Of course, the cost of games often includes a trip to the concessions stands for a hot dog or a beer. Concessions typically have a higher profit margin for sports teams and providers, but increased costs for goods, transportation and labor have cut into those margins.

    The changes come after concessions companies were already profoundly impacted by the pandemic.

    “The whole model has been kind of disrupted in a pretty big way as we’re dealing with inflation of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30% when we have typically underwritten 2 or 3%,” said Jamie Obletz, president of Delaware North Sportservice. “And you can imagine the impact that that’s had on us and what it’s forced us to think about and do over the past six to 12 months, like a lot of companies.”

    Paul Pettas, a vice president with Sodexo Live!, estimated overall costs are up 10% to 15% over the past 12 to 24 months.

    “In reality, costs are up across the board, but we certainly try to do as much as we can to keep that down and not have that affect the average fan or guest who comes to our events,” he said.

    Concessions companies also are experiencing lingering issues with their supply chains, which have improved recently but remain a factor. Obletz recalled his company running out of peanuts midway through the 2021 World Series in Atlanta, so two workers drove a truck to another venue, loaded up and then drove through the night to get back to Truist Park.

    “Things are not great,” Obletz said. “They’re better than they were, it feels like, three to six months ago, and our hope is that it continues to improve.”

    The issues have forced concession companies to get creative in an effort to address the rising costs with minimal effect on consumers in terms of culinary options and price.

    Chefs are redesigning menus to replace items that face significant cost increases and consolidating other options. They are using analytics to examine portion sizes — do consumers need six chicken fingers or will five work instead? — and taking a closer look at their vendors.

    “There’s dozens of things like this that we’ve tried to do and are doing as we speak, trying very desperately to offset those pricing increases that we’re seeing,” Obletz said.

    Alison Birdwell, the president and CEO of Aramark Sports + Entertainment, said the company is leaning on analytics and its data science team “more than ever” when it comes to menu strategies and new concessions items.

    “With that guidance, we are working to give fans the items they’re looking for while simultaneously being efficient with our product and mitigating significant increases in cost,” Birdwell said in a statement to AP.

    ———

    AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

    ———

    For more AP coverage of the impact of inflation: https://apnews.com/hub/inflation And for more AP sports coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Tuberville: US has too many ‘takers’ who don’t want to work

    Tuberville: US has too many ‘takers’ who don’t want to work

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    MONTGOMERY, Ala — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said this week that the country has too many “takers” instead of workers and suggested that many in younger generations — including people in their 40s — don’t understand they need to work.

    Tuberville, 68, made the remarks while discussing the national worker shortage during a speech to business groups in south Alabama.

    “What’s happening in our country right now, we’re getting too many takers in our country,” Tuberville said Tuesday, according to Al.com. Later, he added, “They don’t want to go to work. We’ve got to get Generation X and these Millennials to understand that you have to tote your own load.”

    A spokeswoman for Tuberville, responding to a question from The Associated Press on Wednesday, said the state’s junior senator misspoke and meant to say Generation Z, which includes people born after 1997, instead of Generation X, which includes people in their 50s. Millennials are generally defined as people born between 1981 and 1996. The oldest millennials are entering their 40s.

    Tuberville made the remarks in Mobile on Tuesday. He was the featured speaker at a Forum Alabama breakfast presented by the Mobile Chamber and attended by local business leaders. He also spoke to news outlets during an appearance at Austal USA after touring the shipyard. The remarks about generational work ethic came two weeks after Tuberville was widely criticized for comments about race and crime.

    Fox10 reported that Tuberville blamed government benefits.

    “We’re getting too many takers in our country,” the former college football coach said. “They’d rather take a (government) check.”

    While the federal government initially sent out trillions in pandemic relief funds, the COVID-19-related extended unemployment benefits and stimulus checks have ended. The last pandemic stimulus check was given out last year.

    Businesses nationwide have struggled to fill positions amid a dire worker shortage, prompting some companies to raise wages or offer perks such as college tuition reimbursement to try to lure workers. Economists have pointed to complex reasons for the worker shortage in the wake of the pandemic, including a rise in early retirements, a shortage of affordable child care and other factors that have contributed to a workforce reshuffling.

    Tuberville’s comments came two weeks after he drew widespread criticism for saying at an election rally that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”

    In an interview with FOX10 afterward, Tuberville maintained his comments were about crime, not race. “It had nothing to do with race. You know crime has no color,” he said.

    Tuberville rejected calls to apologize. “I would apologize if I meant anything about race, but it wasn’t. Like I said, race has no color. Reparation would have no color,” Tuberville said.

    Al.com reported that Tuberville deflected a question about the controversy.

    “We don’t have enough people right now paying the price for a lot of the crimes that are being made,” he said. “They don’t need to be rewarded for it. They need to understand that we can’t run a country — it’s like a football team. If you’ve got people going in different directions breaking all the rules, you’re not going to win.”

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