Author: Ohart

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that nearly $3 billion in pledges has been raised to help fund the education of vulnerable girls and women around the world.

Canada will contribute $300 million to the campaign. Germany, Japan, Britain and the World Bank are among the additional supporters. 

The prime minister made the announcement on the last day of the G-7 summit which was held in Quebec. 

Women’s groups that had met with Trudeau on the sidelines of the summit welcomed the news of the generous pledges that exceeded the groups’ expectations. 

“It gives young women in developing countries the opportunity to pursue careers instead of early marriage and child labor,” said Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head in Pakistan because of her campaign for the right of girls to receive an education.

Yousafzai, currently a student at Oxford University, said the pledges give “all of us the chance to create a safer, healthier and wealthier world.” 

According to a government statement, the funds will be used to equip girls and women, including refugees, with the skills needed for the jobs of the future.

David Morley, president of UNICEF Canada, said “UNICEF believes that the right to education is as fundamental as the right to food or shelter, and provides girls with the skills they need to break the cycle of crisis and poverty.” 
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Justify led all the way Saturday to win the Belmont Stakes by 1¾ lengths and become horse racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion and second in four years.

The chestnut colt was the second undefeated horse to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, improving to 6-0 in a racing career that began on February 18. Seattle Slew was unbeaten when he won the Triple Crown in 1977.

Sent off as the 4-5 favorite, Justify went to the lead out of the starting gate and led nine rivals around the track’s sweeping turns. He was the first Triple Crown winner to face that many rivals in the 1½-mile Belmont.

Bob Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown twice. He did so with American Pharoah in 2015, ending a 37-year drought.

At 52, Mike Smith became the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown.
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The prosecutor of Colmar in France’s Alsace region says that writer and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain hanged himself in the bathroom of his French hotel room.

Prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny told The Associated Press on Saturday that the famed chef and host of the CNN series Parts Unknown used the belt of his hotel bath robe to commit suicide Friday.

Of the 61-year-old American’s death, Rocquigny said “there is no element that makes us suspect that someone came into the room at any moment.” He also said a medical expert had concluded there were no signs of violence on Bourdain’s body.

The prosecutor said toxicology tests were being carried out, including urine tests, to see if Bourdain took any medications, to try to help his family understand if anything led him to kill himself.
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British film stars Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley and Tom Hardy and Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro are among those receiving honors in the name of Britain’s monarch.

The list published late Friday by Britain’s Cabinet Office includes many receiving honors for merit, service and bravery. The awards will be given out by Queen Elizabeth II or a senior royal acting in her place during investitures at Buckingham Palace.

The list often includes prominent figures — like Thompson, the Oscar-winning actress who has been in the public eye for decades — as well as people who have labored behind the scenes or in academic or charity positions.

The 59-year-old Thompson will become Dame Emma, a high honor that is the female equivalent of becoming a knight. The citation calls her one of Britain’s “most versatile and celebrated actresses.”

Her long list of film roles includes favorites like “The Remains of the Day” — which was written by Ishiguro — “Love Actually” and “Nanny McPhee.” She received the Academy Award for Best Actress for “Howards End” and, as a writer, the Oscar for the best adapted screenplay for “Sense and Sensibility.”

The Queen’s Birthday List, Elizabeth’s official birthday is Saturday and will be marked with the Trooping the Color parade, bestows a knighthood on Mark Rowley for his service while heading the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism squad during a series of lethal attacks last year. When he retired in March after more than three decades on the force, Prime Minister Theresa May praised Rowley’s dedication to protecting the public.

 

Ishiguro, who was born in Japan, received a knighthood for his services to literature. He said he was “deeply touched to receive this honor from the nation that welcomed me as a small foreign boy.”

Former Liverpool player and manager Kenny Dalglish, 67, was also knighted for his services to soccer, charity and the city of Liverpool.

Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

The youngest winner was 20-year-old visually impaired alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick, who was Britain’s most successful competitor in the 2018 Winter Paralympics. The oldest winner was former World War II nurse Rosemary Powell, 103, who was honored for 97 years of charity work.

Both received MBE awards, making them members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Rapper and singer Ms. Dynamite also received the same honor under her real name, Niomi McLean-Daley.

Knightley, known for “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and other movies, received an OBE award, so she will become an “officer” of the British empire, a slightly higher ranking.

Hardy, star of “Inception” and other movies, received a CBE award, designating him a “commander” of the empire, a still higher designation.

The list also honors the queen’s eye surgeon, Jonathan Jagger, who was made a commander of the Royal Victorian Order. He is a specialist in cataract surgery, but officials have not said if he performed the cataract surgery the queen had done in May. 
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Attacks on three churches last month in Indonesia have shaken many who live in the country with the largest Muslim population. Some worry about peaceful relations among various faiths. So in the holy month of Ramadan, special boarding schools bring young people from different faiths together. The goal is to teach tolerance and respect for religions and eradicate extremist views. Ahadian Utama went to one such boarding school in Jakarta and filed this report, narrated by Ariono Arifin.
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Anthony Bourdain, the globe-trotting celebrity chef and food critic, is dead at the age of 61.

Bourdain was found dead Friday morning by his friend, chef Eric Ripert, in Bourdain’s hotel room in France, where he was working on an upcoming episode of his CNN series, Parts Unknown. According to the network, Bourdain took his life.

“Tony was an exceptional talent. A storyteller. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer. He brought something to CNN that no one else had ever brought before,” CNN Chief Executive Jeff Zucker wrote in a letter to staff.  “This is a very, very sad day.”

Bourdain first gained recognition with a 1999 New Yorker essay, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” which was his frank appraisal of the New York culinary scene. In 2000, the article was adapted into a book, The New York Times’ best-seller, Kitchen Confidential.

“In America, the professional kitchen is the last refuge of the misfit,” Bourdain wrote in his article.

Bourdain was born in New York City, and brought up in the suburb of Leonia, New Jersey. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978. From there, he worked his way up in New York kitchens from dishwasher to line cook to head chef.

In 2005, Bourdain began hosting his own show, the Travel Network’s No Reservations, traveling around the world in the hunt for local cuisine. Bourdain later moved to CNN to host Parts Unknown beginning in 2013, a show that has won five Emmys and a Peabody Award.

“Stunned and saddened by the loss of Anthony Bourdain,” celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay tweeted. “He brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food.”

In 2016, Bourdain traveled to Hanoi where he interviewed then-U.S. President Barack Obama, sitting down with him over a plate of noodles at a restaurant.

Bourdain was married and divorced twice, having one child with his second wife, Ottavia Busia. At the time of his death, Bourdain was dating actress Asia Argento. Bourdain was a strong advocate of the #MeToo movement — Argento being one of the women who accused disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.

“Through space and time, Anthony. Your love will find you again,” actress Rose McGowan, a leader of the movement who has accused Weinstein of sexual assault, tweeted. McGowan also said anyone contemplating suicide to call a hotline.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates have climbed in nearly every state between 1999 and 2016. In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans took their lives, according to the CDC.

“We’re saddened to hear of the tragic loss of Anthony Bourdain,” the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline tweeted. “Please know you are never alone, no matter how dark or lonely things may seem.”

Bourdain’s death follows this past week’s suicide of fashion designer Kate Spade in New York.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to both the Bourdain and Spade families.

Before leaving for Canada to attend a summit of the world’s leading industrialized economies, Trump told reporters at the White House he enjoyed Bourdain’s show. Trump described the late food critic as “quite a character.”

Obama tweeted about the time he and Bourdain sat down for the informal meal in Vietnam.

To reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, call 1-800-273-8255.
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American TV celebrity and food writer Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room Friday in France while working on his CNN series on culinary traditions around the world. He was 61.

 

CNN confirmed the death, saying that Bourdain was found unresponsive Friday morning by friend and chef Eric Ripert in the French city of Strasbourg. It called his death a suicide.

 

Bourdain achieved celebrity status after the publication in 2000 of his best-selling book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.” The book created a sensation by combining frank details of his life and career with behind-the-scenes observations on the culinary industry. It was a rare crossover – a book intended for professional cooks that had enormous mass appeal.

 

Bourdain went on to achieve widespread fame thanks to his CNN series “Parts Unknown” – and was filming an upcoming segment for the program when he was found dead, according to CNN.

 

CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker sent a note to staff saying the circumstances of the death are still unclear but that “we do know that Tony took his own life.”

 

“Tony was an exceptional talent. A storyteller. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer. He brought something to CNN that no one else had ever brought before,” Zucker said in the letter. “This is a very, very sad day.”

 

Strasbourg police, emergency services and regional authorities did not immediately have information about the death. Bourdain’s assistant Laurie Woolever would not comment when reached by The Associated Press.

 

Celebrity Chefs, fans and U.S. President Donald Trump were among those stunned and saddened by the news.

 

“I want to extend to his family my heartfelt condolences,” Trump said.

 

Jamie Oliver wrote on Instagram that Bourdain “really broke the mould … he leaves chefs and fans around the world with a massive foodie hole that simply can’t be replaced.” Chef Yotam Ottolenghi tweeted “Shocking and sad!” while Nigella Lawson tweeted she was “Heartbroken.”

 

“Bourdain’s exceptional writing made this one formerly picky, fearful eater very brave and want to try everything and I’ll always be grateful for him and the worlds he openened” tweeted Lin-Manuel Miranda.

 

U.S. television personalities Megyn Kelly and Stacy London offered condolences and urged those who needed help to contact suicide prevention hotlines.

 

Bourdain’s death came three days after fashion designer Kate Spade committed suicide in her Park Avenue apartment in New York. Spade’s husband and business partner said the 55-year-old business mogul had suffered from depression and anxiety for many years.

 

Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” seemed like an odd choice for CNN when it started in 2013 – part travelogue, part history lesson, part love letter to exotic foods. Each trip was an adventure. There had been nothing quite like it on the staid news network, and it became an immediate hit.

 

He mixed a coarseness and whimsical sense of adventurousness, true to the rock ‘n’ roll music he loved.

 

“We are constantly asking ourselves, first and foremost, what is the most (messed) up thing we can do next week?” he said in a 2014 interview with the AP.

 

Besides showcasing food, a “Parts Unknown” trip to Japan in the series’ first season included an odd show with robots and scantily clad women, a visit with a death metal band and a meal shared with a woman involved in the city’s sadomasochistic community.

 

In 2016, he sat down for some bun cha in Hanoi, Vietnam, with President Barack Obama.

 

Bourdain was reluctant to analyze why his series succeeded.

 

“If you think about who the audience is and what their expectations might be, I think that’s the road to badness and mediocrity,” he told the AP. “You go out there and show the best story you can as best you can. If it’s interesting to you, hopefully it’s interesting to others. If you don’t make television like that, it’s pandering.”

 

The American chef, author and television personality was born in New York City and was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. He had written that his love of food began as a youth while on a family vacation in France, when he ate his first oyster.

 

Bourdain said his youth was punctuated by drug use and he dropped out of Vassar College after two years.

 

Working in restaurants led him to the Culinary Institute of America, where he graduated in 1978, and began working in kitchens in New York City. He became executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in 1998.

 

In the preface to the latest edition “Kitchen Confidential,” Bourdain wrote of his shock at the success of his book, which he wrote by getting up at 5 a.m. to steal a couple of hours at the computer before appearing at the saute station for lunch.

 

He said he never intended to write an expose or to “rip the lid off the restaurant business.” He said he liked the restaurant business the way it was.

 

“What I set out to do was write a book that my fellow cooks would find entertaining and true,” he said. “I wanted it to sound like me talking at say … ten o’clock on a Saturday night, after a busy dinner rush, me and a few cooks hanging around in the kitchen, knocking back a few beers and talking.”

 

Bourdain said he really had no idea that anyone outside the world of chefs would even pay attention to his comments.

 

“The new celebrity chef culture is a remarkable and admittedly annoying phenomenon. While it’s been nothing but good for business _ and for me personally _ many of us in the life can’t help snickering about it,” he wrote. “Of all the professions, after all, few people are less suited to be suddenly thrown into the public eye than chefs.”

 

Bourdain’s introduction to “Kitchen Confidential: Insider’s Edition” was scrawled in his own hand in block letters – offering the sense of making it personal right away.

 

He wrote of the difficulty of long hours, hard work and poor pay, and said that one of the side benefits of his success was the ability to pay the rent. Yet there was more than a sense of wistfulness about times gone by.

 

CNN is currently airing the 11th season of “Parts Unknown,” and Bourdain was in France shooting an episode for the 12th season. CNN said it has not made a decision yet on whether it will proceed with the current season

 

Bourdain was twice divorced and has a daughter from his second marriage. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.

 

 
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Kate Spade, a popular designer and founder of the iconic and accessible brand Kate Spade New York, was found dead in her Manhattan apartment on this week. Her death shocked fans and friends who considered Spade a role model and her line a lifestyle brand — symbolizing both fun and success. Elena Wolf has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
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By day, she’s a cryogenics engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she works on what she calls a “baby step toward a mission to Mars.” By night, she participates in Goddard’s Music and Drama Club, often known as MAD. She played keyboard for the club’s spring musical.  

“The work here can get very intense,” said Breon, a 30-year NASA veteran. “We did our thermal vacuum testing a couple of months ago, and it was an around-the-clock, 24/7 operation.” 

The club members include scientists, engineers and managers who work for NASA on projects including weather satellites and space telescopes, and they say the club is a creative outlet for them.  

“We’ve got more engineers per square foot than any other theater group around,” said Randy Barth, who directed the club’s latest musical, “Weird Romance.”

MAD has staged at least one show a year at Goddard since 1970, from “Oklahoma!” and “The Sound of Music” to science-fiction fare. Club members say it helps them with their day jobs and shows the public another side of scientists at the sprawling flight center northeast of Washington.

Astrophysicist Kim Weaver is the club’s president. Doing theater helps her connect with people who aren’t scientists, she says.  

“When I say I’m an astrophysicist, I usually get a blank stare. So in order to get (people) to actually open up and smile at me, I then say I also do theater, because that’s the part that they think is cool,” Weaver said. “You say you’re a scientist, and I think that scares people. They think they can’t talk to you.”

She was a graduate student intern when she saw a flyer about the club’s auditions for “Sweet Charity.” Making the show was what led her to take a job at Goddard. 

“It really helped improve my chances, even in my career,” Weaver said. “I met some more senior astronomers who later on down the line were able to help steer me and guide me in my career path.”

“Weird Romance’” combines science and drama.  

In the first act, “The Girl Who Was Plugged In,” a corporate mogul creates his own celebrity using a beautiful, artificial body that is controlled by a homeless woman. 

The second, “Her Pilgrim Soul,” was adapted from a “Twilight Zone” episode. In it, a projector shows holographic images of a woman that were not programmed into it, to the surprise of the scientists involved. 

One of the production’s stage directions describes a character as having “a smile that could melt frozen methane.” 

Breon considered that a good omen, since her job actually involves melting frozen methane. 

“We have to do more than smile at it, though,” she joked. 
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When Daniel Essa fled Syria in 2014, he faced an uncertain future as a refugee in France, where he knew few people and less French. Now he is selling his own brand of luxury sneakers to the wealthy of Paris and Hollywood.

The 30-year-old studied fashion in Damascus but abandoned hopes of a career in his homeland and fled the war to settle in Lille, near the Belgian border.

His simple but chic leather sneakers with a strip of stretchy fabric rather than laces sell for an average price of 330 euros ($390).

Actress Whoopi Goldberg placed an order after spotting a prototype pair on a friend’s feet at a fashion show in the United States and asked who the designer was, Essa told Reuters from a boutique that stocks 28 style of his shoes.

Grandmother’s influence

His first shop opens in the next two weeks. The shoes are on sale in Beverly Hills, Paris and Ajaccio, Corsica.

Taught to sew by his grandmother, Essa had to persuade his parents that fashion was not just something for girls.

“The rest of my family was against it because it wasn’t a man’s job, it was a woman’s job. So it was our little secret between my grandmother and me, doing it behind my family’s back,” he said.

It was a tough decision to leave Damascus, which, unlike his home town of Homs, had escaped the worst of the fighting, especially because Essa had set up a workshop and shop in the capital.

Decision to flee

“We saw that the war had started to reach Damascus. There were attacks almost every day and I saw my friends and many families starting to leave one after the other — of course, the lucky ones, those who could afford to go.” He has not seen his family since he fled.

Each pair of Daniel Essa shoes is etched with a word under the tongue: “Freedom,” “Kisses,” or “Peace.”

“Everybody talks about world peace, but I really hope that one day we will have peace in our world,” Essa said.
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Warner Bros. Records has announced a new Prince album on what would have been the musician’s 60th birthday.

 

The company said Thursday that “Piano & A Microphone 1983” from Prince’s storied vault will be released on Sept. 21 on CD, vinyl and digital formats.

 

Warner Bros. says the album features Prince working through nine tracks in a private rehearsal recording at his now-demolished home studio in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen.

 

Among the songs are “17 Days,” Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You,” “Strange Relationship,” “International Lover” and “Purple Rain,” the title song of Prince’s 1984 hit movie.

 

Also included is Prince performing the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep.”

 

Prince was 57 when he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park recording complex in 2016.
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Prayer is an especially important part of Ramadan observances this month, and for Muslims in Aurora, Colorado, that happens at the Daral Tawheed mosque. The mosque is not just a focus for the religious community, it is part of a center for the entire community … with a swimming pool, tennis courts and a gym. As Alam Burhanan learned, the idea was to attract young Muslims to come to the mosque to pray … and play. VOA’s Ariono Arifin narrates his report.
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The last Munchkin has died.

Actor Jerry Maren was the last survivor of the group of little people known as Munchkins who greeted Judy Garland’s Dorothy when she landed in Munchkinland in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. He died May 24 at age 98 in a San Diego nursing home, but news of his death did not become widely known  until Wednesday.

Maren immortalized himself as a member of the Lollipop Guild when he sang, shuffled his feet and presented Dorothy with a lollipop.

He appeared in countless television shows and commercials and in dozens of other movies, most notably the Marx Brothers’ At the Circus. 
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In the nine months that Cara Mund has been Miss America, not once has she ever had to don a swimsuit as part of her duties.

The reigning Miss America told The Associated Press on Tuesday night she supports the decision of the Miss America Organization to drop the swimsuit competition, starting this September.

The former Miss North Dakota said Miss America is all about scholarship opportunities for young women, adding they shouldn’t have to display their bodies in swimwear in order to get college assistance.

“Swimsuits should never equal scholarships,” she said. “I believe that a woman’s lifestyle and fitness can be showcased in a way that does not display her in a swimsuit. The Miss America Organization is a scholarship program. No woman should ever feel like her physical appearance limits her from seeking out these scholarship opportunities.”

Mund will be the last Miss America to have worn a swimsuit onstage during the nationally televised competition.

Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and the new head of the organization’s board of trustees, made the announcement Tuesday.

Carlson, whose sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes led to his departure, said the board had heard from potential contestants who lamented, “We don’t want to be out there in high heels and swimsuits.”

The announcement came after a shake-up at the organization that resulted in the top three positions being held by women. The overhaul was triggered by an email scandal last December in which Miss America officials mocked winners’ intelligence, looks and sex lives.

Instead of showing off in a bathing suit, each contestant will interact with the judges to “highlight her achievements and goals in life and how she will use her talents, passion and ambition to perform the job of Miss America,” the organization said.
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U.S. senators on Tuesday questioned the former president of Michigan State University and several former USA Gymnastics officials to determine what could be done in the future to prevent sexual abuse of athletes. A Senate panel is conducting a series of hearings investigating how much officials knew about years of sexual misconduct by a former USA Gymnastics doctor. Larry Nassar is serving long sentences for sexually abusing hundreds of young gymnasts. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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A security breach at family networking and genealogy website MyHeritage leaked the data of over 92 million users, the company said in a blog posted on Monday.

The breach took place on Oct. 26 last year, and consisted of the email addresses and hashed passwords of users who signed up to the website up to the date of the breach, according to the blog post.

The company said it learned about the breach on Monday, when its chief information security officer was notified by a security researcher who found a file with the email addresses and hashed passwords on a private server outside of MyHeritage.

MyHeritage said no other data was found on the server, and that there was no evidence of data in the file being used.

Information about family trees and DNA data are stored on separate systems and were not a part of the breach, the blog said.

MyHeritage said it was investigating the breach and taking steps to engage an independent cybersecurity company to review the incident.

The company advised users to change their passwords.

Israel’s MyHeritage helps families around the world find their history with family tree tools, DNA tests, and a library of historical records. 
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As the vast Indian plains sizzle during the summer months, the picturesque hill resort of Shimla turns into a tourist haven. But after the Himalayan town’s water supplies virtually ran out, panicked residents sent out “Stop Visiting Shimla” social media posts, schools were temporarily shut, and authorities faced angry protests as people lined up to get meager supplies from water tankers.

Like other residents, Nilu Parmar faced a crisis since the problem erupted two weeks ago, even though she lives in an upmarket area that is usually spared the worst of Shimla’s water woes. “Even the tanker did not have enough water. So they were giving like three buckets per family,” she says.

 

The water crisis in the hill town, home to about 180,000 people, has eased slightly, although supplies are still strictly rationed. But it served as a wake up call for India, where sprawling metropolises such as New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai routinely face critical water shortages as ground water levels deplete and lakes and rivers dry up.

 

Although Shimla is much smaller, comparisons were drawn to Cape Town, the South African city that faces the prospect of “Day Zero” when taps could run dry.

 

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur of Himachal Pradesh state, of which Shimla is the capital, blamed the water woes on meager snowfall and rainfall, which feeds mountain rivers and streams.

Others cited many more reasons for the chronic shortfall that has been steadily worsening: massive construction over the lush green slopes to accommodate the rush of tourists, an old water pipe system that results in leaks and unchecked extraction of ground water that is rapidly depleting water levels.

 

Experts also warned although the situation may not have reached Shimla’s proportion in other cities, they confront similar problems putting them also at risk of facing similar crises.The countryside is not much better off: women often walk for miles to fetch water in many areas.

 

“The trajectory we are on is of course one that is worrisome,” says Arunabha Ghosh, founder of the Council for Energy, Environment and Water in New Delhi. Citing India’s rapidly growing population and economy he points out that “while traditionally one would normally move from agriculture to industry to services, in India all these three sectors are growing simultaneously.”

 

While demand has grown enormously in a country of 1.3 billion people, experts also say India’s water woes are not as much due to scarcity as poor management of water sources and supplies.

Almost 70 percent of India’s population depends on groundwater for drinking and irrigation, but indiscriminate pumping over the past four decades has sent water plunging to dangerously low levels, warns Professor Abhijit Mukherjee, a hydrologist at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, who has done several studies.

 

“I call it the largest extraction of ground water extracted in human history. If you look at the volume of water that has been extracted from India, it is more than the U.S. and China have taken out,” says the hydrologist.

Urban residents increasingly dig wells in their backyards to bypass unreliable municipal supplies. Farmers pump out water for their crops, even in areas close to rivers and streams because these are choked with urban and industrial waste and of little use in irrigating fields.

 

To underline the urgency of reviving the depleting water table, experts repeatedly point out that India has 18 percent of the world’s population and four percent of its water resources. Some states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have reported success after building recharge structures says Abhijit Mukherjee.

“They did small community level interventions, building small check dams, ponds, recharge canals.” But he warns that India has a small window in which to ensure that those in other parts of the country do not face the situation that Shimla residents coped with.

 

“Beg, borrow, steal: you do all sorts of things. You learn to have a bath in a basin and then throw that water in the flush,” says Nilu Parmar.
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Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Tuesday to rape and criminal sex act charges in New York.

Weinstein quietly answered a series of yes and no questions from the judge asking if he understood his rights at the hearing in Manhattan after a grand jury indicted the former movie mogul last week on charges involving two women.

 

One alleged victim, who has not been identified publicly, told investigators that Weinstein cornered her in a hotel room and raped her. The other accuser, former actress Lucia Evans, has gone public with her account of Weinstein forcing her to perform oral sex at his office in 2004. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults unless they come forward publicly.

 

Dozens more women have accused him of sexual misconduct ranging from harassment to assault.

 

The 66-year-old Weinstein has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, has challenged the credibility of his alleged victims and says his client is confident he is going to clear his name.

 

Brafman called the rape allegation “absurd,” saying that the accuser and Weinstein had a decadelong, consensual sexual relationship that continued after the alleged 2013 attack.

 

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. has said it was predictable that Weinstein’s camp would attack the integrity of the women and of the legal system.

 

Vance, a Democrat, came under public pressure from women’s groups to prosecute Weinstein after declining to do so in 2015, when an Italian model went to police to say Weinstein had groped her during a meeting.

 

Police set up a sting in which the woman recorded herself confronting Weinstein and him apologizing for his conduct. But Vance decided there was not enough evidence to bring charges.

 

 Weinstein is out on $1 million bail.

 

 
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U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn an invitation for this year’s Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, to visit the White House.

Trump called off the June 5 visit late Monday.

 

“The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to celebrate tomorrow,” Trump said in a statement. “They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”

All Eagles players stood for the anthem last season.

 

Trump said the team wanted to send a smaller delegation, but “the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better.”

 

Instead, Trump said the fans were still welcome and that he would host “a different type of ceremony.” In a Twitter post on Tuesday, he said the anthem “will proudly be playing.”

Trump also noted “many” championship teams have visited the White House.

Trump has been at odds with NFL athletes who knelt during the playing of the national anthem before their games in a protest of police brutality and racial inequality. Trump has repeatedly denounced the players as unpatriotic and demanded an end to such protests.

In response to Trump’s announcement, the Eagles issued a statement saying, “It has been incredibly thrilling to celebrate our first Super Bowl Championship,” adding, “Watching the entire Eagles community come together has been an inspiration.” The statement also said the team was grateful for the support it has received and is looking forward to continuing preparations for this year’s season.

 

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney criticized the move by President Trump and said the Eagles “represent the diversity of our nation — a nation in which we are free to express our opinion.”

Kenney, a Democrat, said, “Disinviting them from the White House only proves that our President is not a true patriot, but a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to attend.”

In a CNN interview Tuesday, Kenney said, “Athletes are American citizens who have the First Amendment right to express their views” and accused the president of trying to “control the thoughts of this country.”

 

Wide receiver Torrey Smith, who played for the Eagles last season, responded via Twitter to Trump’s decision.

 

“So many lies,” he wrote, adding, “Not many people were going to go.”

 

He also said, “No one refused to go simply because Trump “insists” folks stand for the anthem…The President continues to spread the false narrative that players are anti military.”

Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania invited the Eagles to the U.S. Capitol and described the president’s decision as a “political stunt.”

 

This is not the first time Trump has clashed with professional athletes.

 

Last year, the National Basketball Association champions, the Golden State Warriors, did not visit the White House after the president took issue when team star Stephen Curry said he would not attend.

 

 

 

 

 
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Demi Lovato’s best-known songs include “Sorry Not Sorry.” But when it comes to sharing details of a sexual joke on her bodyguard, she is sorry — mostly.

The pop singer triggered a flurry of negative reactions over the weekend when, in a largely innocuous exchange with fans on Twitter, she was asked to name the funniest prank she has ever pulled off.

Lovato said that she hired a sex worker to enter the hotel room of her bodyguard when they were staying in Las Vegas, where prostitution is legal.

“She walked into his room without permission and grabbed him in his ‘area’ and he freaked,” Lovato said, sharing her amusement.

A number of Twitter users took Lovato to task, saying she was admitting to a serious episode of sexual harassment, an issue that has drawn growing attention amid the rise of the #MeToo movement.

Lovato deleted the post and quipped: “I swear I could tweet something about craving jelly beans and it would offend someone.”

But she also urged upset people to revisit her song “Warrior” in which she speaks of being a survivor of sexual abuse.

“Maybe you’ll have more compassion for a simple mistake,” she wrote, while adding: “So sorry if anyone was offended.”
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Serena Williams announced her shock withdrawal from the French Open with injury on Monday just minutes before her scheduled fourth-round clash against long-time bitter rival and fellow Grand Slam icon Maria Sharapova.

The 36-year-old said she had suffered a pectoral muscle injury in her third-round win over Julia Goerges and “can’t serve at all.”

The 23-time Grand Slam champion added that she would stay in Paris for scans on the injury to find out how long she will be out of action.

“I unfortunately have been having some issues with my pec, my pec muscle, and [it] has unfortunately been getting worse to the point where right now I can’t actually serve. It’s kind of hard to play when I can’t physically serve,” she explained.

She was unable to say whether or not she would be fit for Wimbledon which gets underway in four weeks’ time.

“I’m beyond disappointed,” added three-time Roland Garros champion Williams who was playing in her first Grand Slam since winning the 2017 Australian Open while two months pregnant.

She was also in just her third tournament of the year after giving birth to daughter Olympia in September.

“I gave up so much time with my daughter and time with my family all for this moment. So it’s really difficult to be in this situation.”

The shock withdrawal came just minutes before she was due on Court Philippe Chatrier to face fierce rival Sharapova.

Williams has not lost to the Russian since 2004, winning the last 18 matches.

It had been the most eagerly-awaited match of the tournament, coming just two days after Williams had blasted Sharapova’s autobiography for being “100 percent hearsay” when it came to references about her.

‘Sacrificed so much’

Sharapova, the champion in Paris in 2012 and 2014, goes on to play a first quarter-final at the Slams since losing to Williams at the same stage at the 2016 Australian Open.

It was in Melbourne that Sharapova tested positive for meldonium after which she served a 15-month doping ban.

The Russian will face either 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza or Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine for a semi-final place.

“I was looking forward to my match against Serena and am disappointed that she had to withdraw,” said Sharapova in a statement.

“I wish her a speedy recovery and hope she returns to the tour soon.”

Monday’s bombshell announcement was the first time in her 20-year career that Williams had pulled out during a Grand Slam event.

Despite her well-documented fall-outs with Sharapova, Williams insisted she had been looking forward to the match.

“I love playing Maria — it’s just a match I always get up for. Her game matches so well against mine.”

Despite playing just four matches in 2018 before Roland Garros, Williams played doubles in Paris with sister Venus.

They had been knocked out on Sunday by Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez with the American sisters getting a 6-0 bagel in the final set.

Serena had gone into that match wearing her striking all-black catsuit but she admitted she had had to tape her serving arm to try and protect the injury.

“Every match has been getting better for me. Physically I’m doing great.

“I sacrificed so much to be at this event. I can only take solace in the fact I’m going to continue to get better.

“And I had such a wonderful performance in my first Grand Slam back. I just feel like it’s only going to do better.”

However, her status for Wimbledon where she has been champion seven times, will only become clear once she has had an MRI.

“I made a promise that if I’m not at least 60 percent or 50 percent, then I probably shouldn’t play,” she added.

“The fact that I physically can’t serve at all is a good indication that maybe I should just go back to the drawing board and stay positive and try to get better and not get it to a point where it could be a lot worse.”

 

 
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The U.S. attracts the best and the brightest talents from around the world. For many, the path to success is easy and quick, for others – long and challenging. For two ballerinas who moved to the U.S. from Ukraine and Armenia, dancing on the American stage had been a dream, and now they proudly call this stage their own. Karina Bafradzhian has their story.
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A new occupation has emerged in the United States: professional cuddler. While to some the idea might sound strange, scientists from the Miami Touch Research Institute say they are not surprised at the demand for such services. The institute says that’s because the American culture is one of the most touch-averse in the world. Anush Avetisyan has more on this story.
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Trucks can be used for so much more than transporting goods from one place to another. They can be transformed into restaurants, mobile health clinics … even a concert hall.

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

 

The Concert Truck

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

The next step was to get funding.

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

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

A different experience

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

Performing on the road

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

 

That dream is what keeps Luby and Zhang energized, and on the road, bringing the Concert Truck and classical music to new audiences.
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Classical music is often thought of as an elite art, usually performed in concert halls to a dedicated, dressed up audience. But two young pianists are working hard to make this style of music more accessible to wider audiences. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, to do that, they’re offering free performances on a mobile stage, The Concert Truck. Faith Lapidus narrates.
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For Muslims, the month of Ramadan is a time for self-reflection and prayer — and fasting from sunrise to sunset. After sunset, families and friends enjoy a meal called Iftar. At a mosque in Virginia, outside Washington, people of various faiths came to Iftar one evening and to join Muslims in prayer. VOA’s Deborah Block has the story.
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