China orders ride-hailing firms to correct unfair tactics

The logo for Didi is seen on the headquarters in Beijing on July 16, 2021. Chinese regulators have ordered ride-hailing platforms to correct unfair market tactics amid a crackdown on the internet sector that has spooked investors and shaved billions off the valuations of some of China’s biggest technology companies. The ride-hailing industry led by Didi Global and Meituan employs millions, and platforms often jostle for market share by offering discounts and incentives. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)


BEIJING (AP) — Chinese regulators have ordered ride-hailing platforms to correct unfair market tactics amid a broad crackdown on the internet sector that has spooked investors and shaved billions off the valuations of some of China’s biggest technology companies.

The transport ministry, internet watchdog and other regulators on Wednesday ordered 11 such platforms by year’s end to stop unfair competition tactics and practices such as recruiting unlicensed drivers, according to a statement published Thursday.

The ride-hailing industry led by companies such as Didi Global and Meituan employs millions of drivers who are part of China’s growing gig economy, and platforms often jostle for market share by offering passengers and drivers discounts and incentives.

The Chinese government has expressed concern over the exploitation of such workers, as they often work long days and lack basic welfare benefits. China’s state union in July called for better protection of labor rights and encouraged gig economy workers to form unions to boost protections.

Sector leader Didi has nearly 90% of the market in China, but China’s internet watchdog is investigating alleged data privacy violations.

Competition among its rivals intensified as they try to gain customers amid the Didi investigation.

The 11 companies were told to inspect their own business practices, form a compliance plan and correct any issues by the end of the year to “promote the healthy and sustainable development” of the ride-hailing industry.

Chinese authorities have in recent months targeted sectors such as e-commerce and online education, after years of rapid growth in the technology sector amid fears that they may have outsized influence on society.

Beijing launched a barrage of anti-monopoly, data security and other enforcements beginning in late 2020, as it sought to tighten control over internet giants such as Alibaba and Tencent.

Effort underway to rescue girls soccer team from Afghanistan

By ALEX SANZ and TAMMY WEBBER

today

1 of 6

In this photo provided to The Associated Press, members of the Afghanistan national girls youth soccer team and their families are seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sun., Aug. 29, 2021. International efforts to rescue them and soccer federation staff suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bomb detonated at the Kabul airport and the CIA blew up its last remaining outpost to keep sensitive information and equipment from falling into the hands of the Taliban. (AP Photo)


They move from place to place at a moment’s notice in a desperate bid to evade the Taliban — girls whose lives are in danger simply because they chose to play a sport they loved.

An international effort to evacuate members of the Afghanistan national girls soccer team, along with dozens of family members and soccer federation staff, suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members during a harrowing airlift.

Now, frightened and desperate, the girls worry whether a far-flung coalition of former U.S. military and intelligence officials, congressmen, U.S. allies, humanitarian groups and the captain of the Afghanistan women’s national team can get them and their loved ones to safety.

“They’re just unbelievable young ladies who should be playing in the backyard, playing on the swing set, playing with their friends, and here they’re in a very bad situation for doing nothing more than playing soccer,” said Robert McCreary, a former congressional chief of staff and White House official under President George W. Bush who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan. “We need to do everything that we can to protect them, to get them to a safe situation.”

The airport suicide bombing was carried out by Islamic State militants who are sworn rivals of the Taliban. The U.S. military has acknowledged that during the airlift, it was coordinating to some extent with the Taliban who set up checkpoints around the airport for crowd control and in the final days facilitated the evacuation of American citizens.

The Taliban have tried to present a new image, promising amnesty to former opponents and saying they would form an inclusive government. Many Afghans don’t trust those promises, fearing the Taliban will quickly resort to the brutal tactics of their 1996-2001 rule, including barring girls and women from schools and jobs. The Taliban have been vague on their policy toward women so far, but have not yet issued sweeping repressive edicts.

Most members of the Afghan women’s team, formed in 2007, were evacuated to Australia last week.

But the girls, ages 14-16, and their families also could be targeted by the Taliban — not just because women and girls are forbidden to play sports, but because they were advocates for girls and active members of their communities, said Farkhunda Muhtaj, who is captain of the Afghanistan women’s national team and lives in Canada.

“They are devastated. They’re hopeless, considering the situation they’re in,” said Muhtaj, who keeps in contact with the girls and urges them to stay calm.

There have been at least five failed attempts to rescue the girls in recent days, as they were moved around for their safety, McCreary and Muhtaj said. They were “footsteps from freedom” when the suicide bombing occurred, Muhtaj said.

Complicating the rescue effort is the size of the group — 133 people, including the 26 youth team members as well as adults and other children, including infants. Many don’t have passports or other necessary documentation to board flights from Kabul.

McCreary said the mission — called Operation Soccer Balls — is working with other countries, with the hope the girls will eventually settle in the U.S. He said Australia, France and Qatar have expressed interest in helping. He also urged the Taliban to ease the exit for the group, saying it would create goodwill.

“If we can put a protective bubble around these women and young girls ... I really believe the world will stand up and and take notice and have a lot of offers to take them in and host them,” McCreary said.

Former U.S. women’s national soccer team captain Julie Foudy, a two-time World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, said the rescue efforts “raise the visibility of these young women and their importance to equality and democracy and all these things that we value in this country.”

“As many of us who can stand up as female athletes — as humans — and say, ‘This is a moment we need to come together and do what’s right,’ then we absolutely should,” she said.

In this photo provided to The Associated Press, members of the Afghanistan national girls youth soccer team and their families are seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sun., Aug. 29, 2021. International efforts to rescue them and soccer federation staff suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bomb detonated at the Kabul airport and the CIA blew up its last remaining outpost to keep sensitive information and equipment from falling into the hands of the Taliban 

Nic McKinley, a CIA and Air Force veteran who founded Dallas-based DeliverFund, a nonprofit that’s secured housing for 50 Afghan families, said he understood that the U.S. was focused on relocating Afghans who helped American forces, but that others need help, too.

“What about the little girl who just wants to kick a ball around a field and wants to do that well, and has worked hard to do that at a world class level who finds herself suddenly in jeopardy only because she just wanted to play a sport and had a passion for playing that sport?” he said. “The only thing that they had done wrong in the eyes of the Taliban ... is the fact that they were born girls and they had the audacity to dream of doing something.”

McCreary said the rescue team feels personally responsible because the U.S. helped the girls go to school and play soccer.

“We need to protect them now,” he said. “They should not be in harm’s way for things that we helped them do.”

__

Follow Alex Sanz on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/alexsanz

ECOCIDE

Photos show black slick in water near Gulf oil rig after Ida

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and GERALD HERBERT

Photos captured by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aircraft Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021 and reviewed by The Associated Press show a miles long black slick floating in the Gulf of Mexico near a large rig marked with the name Enterprise Offshore Drilling. The company, based in Houston, did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone or email on Wednesday. EPA officials said Wednesday hey were unaware of any leak requiring a federal response. (NOAA via AP)


PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) — Photos show what appears to be a miles-long oil slick near an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida, according to aerial survey imagery released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and reviewed by The Associated Press.

The government imagery, along with additional photos taken by the AP from a helicopter Tuesday, also show Louisiana port facilities, oil refineries and shipyards in the storm’s path where the telltale rainbow sheen typical of oil and fuel spills is visible in the water of bays and bayous.

Both state and federal regulators said Wednesday that they had been unable to reach the stricken area, citing challenging conditions in the disaster zone.

The NOAA photos show a black slick floating in the Gulf near a large rig with the name Enterprise Offshore Drilling painted on its helipad. The company, based in Houston, did not respond to requests for comment by phone or email Wednesday.

Aerial photos taken by NOAA on Tuesday also show significant flooding to the massive Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery along the bank of the Mississippi River, just south of New Orleans. In some sections of the refinery, rainbow sheen is visible on the water leading toward the river.

Asked about reports of levee failures near the refinery Monday, Phillips 66 spokesman Bernardo Fallas said there was “some water” in the facility and stressed that operations were shut down in advance of the storm. Asked Tuesday about potential environmental hazards emanating from the facility, Fallas referred a reporter to a statement on the company’s website saying its response is focused “on ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and our surrounding communities.”

After the AP sent Phillips 66 photos Wednesday showing extensive flooding at its refinery and what appeared to be petroleum in the water, Fallas conceded by email that the company could confirm it had “discovered a sheen of unknown origin in some flooded areas of Alliance Refinery.”

“At this time, the sheen appears to be secured and contained within refinery grounds,” Fallas said Wednesday evening. “Clean-up crews are on site. The incident was reported to the appropriate regulatory agencies upon discovery.”

Fallas did not respond when asked whether the leak was reported after the AP sent the company photos four hours earlier.

Phillips listed the Alliance Refinery for sale last week, before the storm hit, citing poor market conditions.

All told, seven Louisiana refineries remained shuttered Wednesday. Combined, they account for about 9% of all U.S. refining capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Some refineries on the Mississippi River reported damage to their docks from barges that broke loose during the storm.

Jennah Durant, spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said Wednesday that the agency had received no reports of significant spills or other environmental threats after the Category 4 storm made landfall Sunday at Port Fourchon with 150 mph (240 km/h) winds

Three days after the storm moved through, Durant said Wednesday that no EPA personnel had yet deployed to the devastated region south of New Orleans. Asked if EPA staff had been reviewing the aerial photos taken by federal aircraft over the disaster zone, Durant said the imagery had not been provided to the agency.

The aerial imagery reviewed by the AP is readily available to the public on the NOAA website.

After the AP sent photos of the oil slick to EPA on Wednesday, agency press secretary Nick Conger said the National Response Center hotline operated by the U.S. Coast Guard had received 26 calls reporting leaks or spills in the storm zone but none had warranted an EPA response.

Conger reiterated that any person or organization responsible for a sizable release or spill of pollutants is required to notify the federal government.

The AP also provided photos of the oil slick to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, which regulates offshore drilling in state waters. Spokesman Patrick Courreges confirmed the agency had received an informal report of petroleum sheen in the waters south of Port Fourchon but said regulators “currently don’t have capabilities to get out there yet.”

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which regulates offshore oil and gas platforms, announced before the hurricane arrived that about half of the 560 staffed rigs in the Gulf had been evacuated. Those crews had only started to trickle back out by Wednesday and it was unclear whether the Enterprise Offshore rig was staffed.

  

Photos captured by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aircraft Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021 and reviewed by The Associated Press a large rig marked with the name Enterprise Offshore Drilling is seen. The company, based in Houston, did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone or email on Wednesday. EPA officials said Wednesday hey were unaware of any leak requiring a federal response. (NOAA via AP)

 

Damage to ship docking facilities are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Port Port Fourchon, La., Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

DIESEL, SEWAGE, WASTE WATER, BILGE TANKS

  

In this drone image released by NOAA, flood waters cover Tom's Marine & Salvage in Barataria, La., following the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. (NOAA via AP)

THAT IS POLLUTED WATER, SLUDGE OF GAS, OIL, HEAVY MACHINE OIL, BUNKER OIL

The bureau’s public affairs staff did not respond Wednesday after the AP sent photos of the black slick in the Gulf and asked if there were any reports of a spill.

Both state and federal environmental regulators said the emergency response to Ida had been hampered by blocked roads, washed-out bridges, electrical outages and a lack of communications. Both telephone landlines and mobile phone service in much of the region remained offline Wednesday.

“I think most agencies are kind of caught up in the whole ‘fog of war’ thing at the moment, with far more places we need to be than we can be,” Courreges wrote in an email. “It’s not as easy to respond to things right now.”

Port Fourchon, which took a direct hit from the storm, is the primary service hub for hundreds of oil and gas rigs offshore. The port also contains oil terminals and pipelines that account for about 90% of the oil and gas production from the Gulf.

Photos taken by the AP from a chartered helicopter Tuesday, as well as the NOAA imagery, show extensive damage to the sprawling facility, including sunken vessels, collapsed structures and more than a dozen large overturned fuel storage tanks.

Ida’s winds, equivalent to an EF3 tornado, peeled the roofs off large steel buildings in the harbor and toppled metal light poles. Trucks, cranes and shipping containers were piled into jumbled heaps.

Chett Chiasson, the executive director of Greater Lafourche Port Commission, told the AP late Tuesday that the companies based at Port Fourchon were entering what would likely be a lengthy recovery phase. A top priority, he said, will be clearing roads and removing sunken vessels so boats can safely navigate the harbor.

___

Associated Press Investigative Reporter Michael Biesecker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Matthew Daly in Washington and David Koenig in Dallas contributed.

___

Follow Biesecker at http://twitter.com/mbieseck

___

Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.

THIRD WORLD USA
As Ida hit, homeless, other vulnerable people left behind

BY LEAH WILLINGHAM and JAY REEVES

1 of 15

 Homeless couple Angelique Hebert, and husband Wilfred Hebert, ask for help on a sidewalk as they try to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ida Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, in Houma, La. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)


HOUMA, La. (AP) — With Hurricane Ida’s winds screaming and only a tent and tarp for shelter, Angelique Hebert clung to her husband under a bridge where the couple had sought refuge.

“We’re gonna die in this hurricane,” Angelique told him. But he said: “Just hang on, baby. It’s gonna be over.”

So she hung on, and she prayed.

It wasn’t that the couple wanted to ride out a major hurricane exposed to the elements. Homeless and with few options in the bayous and small communities of southern Louisiana, they said they simply couldn’t afford to get out of Ida’s path. With no car, they walked more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the coastal hamlet of Montegut to Houma to try to catch an evacuation bus. They missed it.

Despite mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders in south Louisiana parishes, many residents who wanted to flee were left to fend for themselves as the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the U.S. mainland ravaged Louisiana. For homeless people, those on fixed or low incomes, and others in the state’s most vulnerable groups, staying wasn’t a matter of choice — it was the only choice.

“People will say, ‘Well, I’m just going to ride it out,’” said Craig Colten, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University who studies community resilience and adaptation to changing environments in coastal Louisiana. “But a lot of the time, people will ride it out because they don’t have the means to escape, and that, in large measure, means an automobile and enough money to buy gas.”

Experts have long been concerned that the increasing intensity and frequency of hurricanes — especially in Louisiana, where many residents return even after major storms — put people of lower means at higher risk. Even those who can scrape together resources to leave temporarily often return to find damaged or destroyed homes, jobs that no longer exist, and little immediate assistance.

“There’s a real concern among people who keep an eye on equity issues,” said Colten, who’s particularly worried that Ida — like Katrina — fell at the end of the month, when those who rely on retirement or government checks have already used most of their money.

“Their funds are pretty close to exhausted, these people who live hand-to-mouth, and so they didn’t have much choice but to stay,” he said. “They can’t go get a motel room. They can’t even buy a bus ticket. ... Many of them have infirm relatives or family members, they have pets.”

The Heberts used a two-person dome tent, settled in by a concrete pillar under a bridge that crosses the Intracoastal Waterway and hoped for the best. The tent collapsed, letting rain inside.

“It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through,” said Angelique Hebert, 53. Wilfred Hebert said he wanted to do more to protect his wife, but he couldn’t.

The couple has been staying at a shelter since the storm passed, but they don’t know what will come next. Broke, they panhandled along a road, with a sign: “Hurricane took everything.”

Also in hard-hit Houma, mother of two Kaylee Ordoyne, 26, said her family couldn’t afford to evacuate. Her truck — the family’s only vehicle — broke down days before the storm. She spent her last $30 on water, juice, cans of Chef Boyardee and soup, bread and sandwich meat. They left their trailer behind and took refuge in a relative’s apartment.

By Monday morning, that apartment would be in ruins.

As the storm ripped through the roof, Ordoyne held her kids, 2 and 4, singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and whispering nursery rhymes. The ceiling collapsed, and they were trapped in a corner of the kitchen with water up to their ankles.

“If I would have had the money to evacuate, I would have — for my babies,” Ordoyne said. “I cried once, and then had to hold my tears in after, no matter how bad I wanted to break down.”

They survived, but the family’s troubles are far from over. The $11,000 trailer Ordoyne spent her savings on was destroyed by the storm. She had lived there just two months and has no insurance. She also has no paycheck — she reviews and approves phone applications for a wireless company, a job she can’t do without internet or power.

“I’m so worried sick about what will be next,” she said.

In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said roughly half the population evacuated ahead of Ida. The other half — 200,000 people — remained. For them and those who’d returned to a city with a shattered power grid, officials opened cooling stations and gave out meals Wednesday.

At one center, Barbara Bradie, a work-from-home agent for Walgreens, and Rita Richardson, a research coordinator at Tulane Medical Center, enjoyed their hot meal: pork, peas and bread. They said they couldn’t have evacuated; neither has a car.

Richardson said she evacuated once, for Hurricane Gustav in 2008: “I was out of town 10 days, and I was broke by the time I got home. ... I’d rather just stay here and deal with it.”

Bradie added: “People think you just get up and go. You’ve got to have a car, put gas in the car, got to have a hotel.”

After Hurricane Katrina, the city partnered with a nonprofit to put together a “City-Assisted Evacuation Plan” where people would meet at designated neighborhood pickup spots — marked with 12-foot stainless steel sculptures— for a shuttle to shelters. But in Ida — a storm intensifying so fast the mayor said mandatory evacuation wasn’t possible — the system was not utilized, Colten said.

Even for families who were able to evacuate, the financial impact will be long-lasting and painful. Some spent their last dollars to get their families to safety.

Lesl Bell and her husband were already living paycheck to paycheck before they both tested positive for COVID-19 a month ago. They had to stay home and were soon behind on bills. Then Ida hit.

“We couldn’t work for that whole month, and now this?” Bell said.

They packed their car and left with their 3-year-old and their remaining cash for a Florida hotel. They were too scared to stay in Louisiana; Bell’s pregnant, and she worried for their toddler’s safety.

But the family started running out of money and was forced to make the drive home Tuesday, even as officials advised people to stay away.

“It’s crazy how they tell you to stay out when the cheapest hotel room is almost $200 a night,” she said. “How we going to afford to be out for so long?”

___

Willingham reported from Jackson, Mississippi. Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed.

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Leah Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.




Homeless couple Angelique Hebert, and husband Wilfred Hebert, ask for help on a sidewalk as they try to recover from the effects of Hurricane Ida Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, in Houma, La. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

MURDERED INTROVERT

Colorado grand jury indicts officers, paramedics for death of Elijah McClain


Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A Colorado grand jury has indicted two police officers, a former officer and two paramedics in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the grand jury returned the 32-count indictment Thursday. The five men face one count each of manslaughter and criminal negligent homicide.

Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec also face one count each of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury and causing serious bodily injury; second-degree assault for recklessly causing serious bodily injury by means of a deadly weapon; and assault for a purpose other than lawful medical or therapeutic treatment internally using a stupor, unconsciousness, or other physical or mental impairment or injury.

Aurora police officer Randy Roedema and former officer Jason Rosenblatt each face one count of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury and causing serious bodily injury and one count of a crime of violence related to the second-degree assault charge.

Aurora officer Woodyard faces only the manslaughter and negligent homicide charges.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last year designated Weiser as a special prosecutor in the case, granting him authority to criminally prosecute any individuals whose actions contributed to McClain's death in August 2019.

"Our department has the solemn duty to prosecute this case," Weiser said in a blog post announcing the indictment. "Make no mistake, we recognize that this case will be difficult to prosecute -- these types of cases always are. Our goal is to seek justice for Elijah McClain, for his family and friends, and for our state. In so doing, we advance the rule of law and the commitment that everyone is accountable and equal under the law."

Doctors took McClain, 23, off life support Aug. 30, 2019, about a week after police confronted him while he was walking down the street in Aurora while wearing a ski mask. His family told police he often wore the mask while outside due to his anemia.

Police said McClain, who was unarmed, initially refused to stop per their instructions. Police body camera footage shows him telling officers he was attempting to stop his music in order to hear them.

Officers tackled McClain to the ground and used a "carotid control hold" on him. He said he couldn't breathe and vomited multiple times during the encounter.

Paramedics who responded to the scene injected McClain with ketamine, a sedative, and he went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital. Doctors declared him brain dead three days later.

The coroner said McClain's death was due to "undetermined causes," but didn't rule out the chokehold or use of ketamine as contributing factors.

Weiser said in addition to the criminal case, his office was investigating whether the city of Aurora, and its police and fire departments have a pattern of violating civil rights.

"By working to build trust in law enforcement and working to elevate what safe and effective policing looks like, we will advance public safety and honor the profession's commitment to serve all Coloradans fairly and responsibly," he said.

Equine therapy can help veterans struggling with PTSD, study says

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News


Matthew Ryba, a retired U.S. Marine who is director of community outreach and education for the Military Family Wellness Center in New York, said equine therapy can be a path to more traditional treatment for PTSD. Photo courtesy of HealthDay News

As a Marine Corps veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Matthew Ryba understands what life in a combat zone can do to soldiers' minds, leaving many struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now, new research shows that equine therapy might go a long way in starting the healing process for these veterans.

In the program, participants learned about horses, stroking their sides, cleaning hooves and building trust with the animals.

"We saw with the study that a lot of people who were not amenable to going into traditional therapy because they had an idea of what mental health therapy was because they had this kind of ingrained, sense of, 'I don't need help. I'm a military service member. I'm stronger than this kind of a thing,'" said Ryba, who is now director of community outreach and education for the Military Family Wellness Center at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

RELATED Dogs, horses help U.S. Army fight PTSD

"When they realized that, I don't want to call it a dependent relationship with the horse, but kind of as equals with the emotional balance with the horse, they realized that, 'maybe I do need some help,'" he said. "It was a good stepping stone into a traditional therapy."

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the attack that caused the death of dozens of people, including 13 members of the U.S. military last week, is dredging up a lot of memories for veterans, Ryba noted.

"We're at a very pivotal moment where programs like this ... and the other military support programs for veterans are of the utmost importance," Ryba said.

"We see the suicide rate continuing to rise. These problems are getting worse and not better, and we really need the support from the public and from others to be able to fund this kind of research so that we can find tools to be able to help veterans that need it," Ryba said.

The new study assessed the equine therapy program known as the Man O' War project for veterans at the Bergen Equestrian Center in northeastern New Jersey.

Study authors Prudence Fisher, a research scientist at New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Yuval Neria, professor of medical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, founded the equine therapy project. Ryba helped recruit vets for the fledgling program.

RELATED  Brain stimulation may reduce depression and PTSD symptoms, study says

Easing of symptoms

"We were totally open to it not working," Fisher said.

The study was conducted from July 2016 to July 2019, enrolling 63 veterans who had PTSD. They were men and women with a wide range in ages.

Their PTSD was assessed by a clinician and through self-reporting before they started the program, mid-treatment, after treatment and three months later.

Researchers grouped the participants into teams of typically four veterans plus two horses, a mental health professional, an equine expert and a third staff person, to be another set of eyes.

The participants received eight weeks of weekly 90-minute sessions with the horses, where they might talk about their PTSD, but didn't speak specifically about their traumas.

In addition to recording and assessing the process, the researchers worked with manual writers to create a detailed book of the therapy protocol, to help guide other programs in the future.

The researchers found that equine-assisted therapy, or EAT, showed real promise.

"Our study would say, it could work, but what we looked at is, does a specific type work? We're not speaking for equine-assisted therapy as the whole field," Fisher said. "But I think it is a good indication that it does work, that there is something about it that can be really, really helpful."

The veterans had marked improvement in PTSD symptoms and in depression after the treatment ended, and that persisted even three months later.A path to more therapy?

Though training has already begun to help other programs try this type of project, it may not be a good fit for all equine-based programs, Fisher said. Having a mental health professional on the team is critical for certain mental health conditions, she said.

"PTSD is a serious illness. People can get worse. My own personal opinion is if you go to a program and think you're getting treatment, then you might not be going to [other] treatment that might help you," Fisher said. "So, it's really important that you have somebody who keeps an eye on what's going on and knows if you're getting worse or you're getting better."

The program is a gentle introduction to therapy, with opportunities for participants to ground themselves, help each other, and learn about communication and self-regulation, Fisher added.

The study was an open trial, which makes it harder to say the changes the participants experienced were specifically because of the horses.

A randomized, controlled trial with different types of treatments, would be more definitive. The findings were published Aug. 31 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

The study results are encouraging, said Dr. Stephen Stern, a psychiatrist and adjunct professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. It's also important to be careful about how to interpret it, he added.

Both the staff and the participants were likely enthusiastic, which can have an effect on people's symptoms, said Stern, who wasn't part of the research. The study also included a lot of human interaction with veterans in small groups and study staff, alleviating some of the loneliness experienced by those with PTSD.

"I think the paper itself was really very good and they didn't hype their results at all, but I think it's important that the public not overinterpret this," Stern said. "Yes, this is encouraging, but we don't know to what extent this therapy actually had an effect and we need to study it further."More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

  

Dolphin spotted swimming in flooded Louisiana neighborhood

 

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A Louisiana family surveying the damage to their

 neighborhood after Hurricane Ida found a surprising new neighbor

 swimming in the floodwaters -- a dolphin.

Amanda Huling said she first spotted the dolphin swimming in the

 floodwaters of her Slidell neighborhood Monday.

She said the dolphin was still swimming around the neighborhood

 Tuesday.

Huling said she has been in contact with a rescue group that is

 planning to attempt to relocate the dolphin if it doesn't find its 

way out of the flooded neighborhood within the next few days.

Cow rescued from Louisiana tree after Hurricane Ida

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A rescue crew in Louisiana came to the aid of

 a cow found wedged in a tree above the floodwaters left 

behind by Hurricane Ida.

The St. Bernard Parish government said in a Facebook post

 that parish employees Tyler Acosta, David Palmer and 

Roy Ragan Sr. teamed up with private citizen Louis Pomes 

to rescue a cow  found stuck in a tree near the Florissant Highway.

The crew used chainsaws to cut branches from the tree and

 bring the  cow back down to the ground level.

The Florissant Highway remains closed due to high floodwaters

 from Hurricane Ida.

Fuel crisis hinders media coverage in Lebanon

A house and vehicles belonging to the owner of a gas tank that exploded were burned in Akkar, northern Lebanon. Photo by EPA-EFE

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Without gasoline, electricity and reliable Internet, covering the news in Lebanon has become a daily struggle for journalists and media institutions.

Lebanon's fuel crisis, which worsened in the past month with a gradual reduction of state subsidies on imports, has severely impacted most sectors. Hospitals, bakeries and businesses have been forced to reduce activities or shut down.

Waiting in long lines at gasoline stations to fill tanks and searching for diesel to power private generators have become daily tasks for most, media outlets and journalists included.

Newspapers, websites and TV and radio stations are exerting tremendous effort to keep operations going and enable journalists to cover developments on the ground.

They are supplying journalists with gas to get to work or to report a story from the field, adjusting their shifts and asking them to work online from home whenever possible.

Their other main concern is securing an interrupted power supply to keep broadcasting, as the state electricity company, Electricite du Liban, is barely able to provide more than 2 to 3 hours of power a day and diesel fuel is becoming scarce.

Nabil Ismail, chief photographer at the leading An Nahar newspaper, has been forced to limit his photo coverage to the most important events.

"We are very much affected by the fuel crisis. We used to tour the streets all day long...not anymore," Ismail told UPI, explaining how he spends long hours most days at the gas station, trying to persuade the station's owner to fill his motorcycle tank by showing his press card or taking photos of a large crowd of motorists cramming the station.

It's worse for journalists trying to fill car gas tanks.

Only the essentials

Up to 60 percent of An Nahar's journalists can no longer work from their offices in downtown Beirut.

"Most of them are now working from their homes, as they have no gasoline to come to work," Ismail said. "Our photo coverage dropped by 50 percent ... myself and the five other photographers are covering only the essential news."

To cover the Aug. 15 explosion of a fuel tank in Tleil in the northern Akkar region, which killed more than 30, Ismail shared a taxi with photographers from three international news agencies. They had to pay 3 million Lebanese pounds (around $150 at the black market rate) for the trip.

Two days ago, only a few journalists and photographers showed up to cover an explosion at a factory in Burj Brajneh in Beirut's southern suburbs that killed four people.

"The situation today is much more difficult than the war times... We didn't face then such a humiliation," Ismail said.

Shafiq Taher, Beirut office director of the London-based Al Araby al Jadeed media outlet, has been trying to ease the pressure on his 50 employees, mostly journalists, by adjusting working shifts, supplying them with UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and battery backups to work from home, sometimes securing some gasoline and even considering a solar solution to power their main office.

"This is all to keep our operations going... but we are unable to cover the events properly with such conditions," Taher told UPI. "So we are obliged to rely on our stringers in the region to send news and photos, but it is not the same ... when our professional reporters and stringers are dispatched from Beirut and handle the coverage themselves."

Stress is not just related to the acute fuel crisis and work problems. Journalists, like most in Lebanon, are suffering from the deteriorating living conditions, spending much time to secure essentials for their family, searching pharmacies and bakeries for medicine and bread, finding ways to help their children overcome the trauma of long hours without electricity.

"Most are depressed, and many asked to be moved to our offices outside Lebanon," Taher said. "At the end, we are all human beings and have responsibilities as parents first."

No time to give up

The New TV television station has managed to maintain its local and satellite broadcast, giving priority to its news and field reporting.

"We are still able to secure that most of our news teams come to the station or go on field reporting," NTV public relations manager Ibrahim Halabi told UPI. "We need gasoline for our cars and diesel fuel for our generators... So far, we are getting the supplies needed from fuel companies and stations we used to deal with."

Halabi said the network is also providing some gasoline for the journalists and reporters who must report daily. Others who work from home have to struggle with severe power cuts and unreliable Internet connections.

"If things get worse, and the government lifts completely the fuel subsidies by the end of September, with the price of 20 liters jumping to more than 300,000 LL as expected, I doubt our employees could afford to pay for gasoline anymore," he said.

Assad Maroun, general manager of the Voice of Lebanon radio station, said it is not the time to give up, despite the country's extremely difficult conditions.

"We are doing everything possible to continue operating and broadcast to all the regions by securing diesel fuel to our transmitting stations and studios, relying on our multi-skills team, with longer shifts and less working days, as well as more in-house coverage," Maroun told UPI.

Ayman Mhanna, executive director of the Beirut-based Samir Kassir Foundation's SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, voiced concern over the impact of the crisis on the journalists and their ability to cover news properly.

"Whenever journalists cannot be on the ground, the quality of reporting and the ability to verify facts is reduced," Mhanna told UPI, referring to "very dangerous events taking place across the country" while "the physical presence of journalists is no longer what it was."

He emphasized that it is the duty of the media to inform, and people must have access to information, but "that is at stake" and "something particularly dangerous" with Lebanon heading for general elections next spring.

"People really need high-quality verified journalism to know the truth and so to hold those behind mismanaging the crisis accountable," Mhanna said.

PUSHERS
Judge approves Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan; Sacklers to pay $4.3B



Under the terms of the bankruptcy, the Sackler family would lose control of Purdue and pay $4.3 billion of their personal fortune in installments over the next 10 years, but will be given immunity from any future lawsuits. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Federal bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain approved a bankruptcy settlement Wednesday requiring the Sackler family to pay $4.3 billion and forfeiting ownership of Purdue Pharma for their role in the nation's opioid crisis.

The family and pharmaceutical company have been blamed for fanning the flames of the opioid crisis that's led to untold deaths and overdoses in the United States. Some hold the Sackler family personally responsible, saying they got rich while people died.

Drain said during Wednesday's hearing the plan will lead to the creation of a new company that will make Oxycontin and opioids under much safer governance. He said the oversight and safety systems in place under the new company "should serve as a model to similar companies."

Under the terms of the bankruptcy, the Sackler family would lose control of Purdue and pay $4.3 billion of their personal fortune in installments over the next 10 years, but will be given immunity from any future lawsuits.

While 15 states signed on to the bankruptcy agreement, other states refused, saying the Sackler family should be held responsible beyond the deal in some shape.

The plan's supporters say the deal will end lengthy and costly litigation that could continue for years without a guarantee of success. They say the plan would pump billions into drug treatment and healthcare programs that will benefit those with opioid addiction.

House oversight committee Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to reject the bankruptcy deal. There have been some reports indicating that the Department of Justice may get involved.

Purdue initially filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in response to thousands of lawsuits that argued the company was responsible for worsening the opioid crisis in the United States through its marketing efforts for OxyContin, which entered the market in 1995.

NASA's Mars simulation participants face 'slight risk of death' JUST A TEENY WEENY ITSY BITSY...

An illustration depicts a Mars habitat on the Red Planet. Image courtesy of ICON Technology


Sept. 2 (UPI) -- NASA won't send astronauts to Mars for at least a decade, but the agency said interest is running high in applying for a year's stint in a simulated home base on the Red Planet.

The space agency's simulation is to begin in fall 2022 inside a 3D-printed habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Applications are due Sept. 17.

And being chosen for this simulation seems as difficult as making the grade for a seven-month journey to the Red Planet.

To be picked as one of four men and women who will live in NASA's simulated Mars habitat, candidates must jump through a complex series of hoops, much like astronauts do.

RELATED NASA plans yearlong Mars simulation to test limits of isolation


Participants must be 30 to 55 years old and healthy. They also must have at least a master's degree in science or engineering, or similar professional or military experience in some cases. Physicians would fit the bill, too.

The application process begins on NASA's website, and includes a strong warning.

"Risks of participating ... may include loss of privacy or confidentiality, minor discomforts ... and physical injury or a highly unlikely chance of death," NASA notes its description of the application process.


Selection may take up to 18 months, with trips to Johnson Space Center for tests and in-person interviews.

Such simulations are viewed widely as vital to any attempt to explore Mars, said Robert Zubrin, founder of the non-profit space exploration advocacy group, The Mars Society.

"Any competent military does field exercises, in which the troops go out and learn how to use the tanks and helicopters and coordinate activities when nobody is trying to kill them," Zubrin said. "It follows that any serious space agency these days must do simulations for a trip to Mars."

But a year in isolation could result in dramatic shifts in the human psyche, Lisa Stojanovski, a science communicator and participant in a 2018 Mars simulation in Hawaii, told UPI.

"Between eight months and 12 months you kind of see the long-term effects," Stojanovski said. "Something in the human mind kind of clicks over I think -- becomes ingrained."


Those who have the required background are then ushered through a series of online questions to determine if they will move further in the process. Some of those questions are:

"Are you willing to go for extended periods (up to one year) with restricted social media contact?"

"Are you willing to perform daily or weekly cognitively and physically demanding tasks?"

"Are you willing to consume processed and prepackaged spaceflight foods for a year with no input into the menu?"

Are you willing to follow daily prescribed exercise protocols? Are you willing to follow daily scientific protocols?

After that, candidates will undergo medical evaluations, psychological testing and psychiatric screening to determine fitness for long-term isolation, regular exercise and difficult tasks such as simulated spacesuit walks or fixing failed equipment.

Participants also will be required to grow greens indoors to supplement stored food, according to NASA.

While isolation is one issue Mars travelers may endure, the bigger problem is the work required, Zubrin said. He said he knows this because The Mars Society runs three-month Mars simulations on a remote island in Canada and at high elevations in Utah.

"For any trip to Mars, you will have a group of highly trained, highly motivated people. They may be isolated ... but they will be excited and busy, so I think NASA's focus on [isolation] is a little off base," Zubrin said.