Nation & World

Exhaustion and relief were written on the faces of arrivals of Condor flight 2050 Saturday morning as they walked into the lobby of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Family members and volunteers from the Ukraine Relief Program were there to greet them with flowers and hugs. Twelve people from Ukraine arrived over the weekend, and hundreds more are expected in the coming weeks thanks to the local nonprofit and a new federal program.

Among those on Saturday’s nine-hour flight were Mariia and Anton Bershytska and their three-year-old son, Iaroslav. They spent three months in Poland after fleeing their home in Bucha, outside Kyiv, in February.

“Our city was destroyed by war, and many people died there and all infrastructure of Bucha was destroyed, too. And it was awful,” said Mariia Bershytska.

Now they’ll stay with family here in Anchorage thanks in part to the federal Uniting for Ukraine program, which allows Ukrainians sponsored by U.S. citizens to come for a two-year parole period.

“We will stay here in this program during two years, and we hope that the peace in our Ukraine will be (restored) and we can (go) back there. We hope so,” said Bershytska.

The United Nations estimates that more than six million Ukrainians have been displaced since Russia invaded earlier this year. That number will rise as the conflict drags on.

“It’s been sort of surreal at times. I mean, it’s, as an American, it’s hard to understand,” said Mike Robbins, the finance and outreach chair for the Ukraine Relief Program. Anton is his nephew. Robbins’ wife is Ukrainian, and their family has been closely following news of what’s happening back home.

The local nonprofit run by members of New Chance Christian Church received generous financial support from the Rasmuson Foundation and others, allowing them to purchase plane tickets for Ukrainians with relatives in Alaska.

Robbins said donations are welcome, but it’s not what they need most right now.

“What we really need is people who would like to help us sponsor them into the country,” Robbins said. “Then we help with job placement, and all of the other things that go along with coming.”

They hope to bring up to a thousand people to Alaska in the coming weeks and months. Anyone interested in becoming a sponsor can visit ukrainereliefprogram.com to learn more.

MANILA, Philippines – With 94.23% of precincts already accounted for, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the only son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator, is the presumptive winner of the 2022 presidential elections in the Philippines.

It is a historic win nearly four decades after Filipinos booted his family out of power, ending a well-oiled campaign that sought to bury the past, rally for unity, and evade scrutiny.

As of 4:41 am on Tuesday, May 10, partial and unofficial results from the Commission on Elections’ transparency server showed Marcos Jr. with 30,015,540 votes so far, representing 58.86% of total votes reported for all presidential candidates.

The 64-year-old Marcos Jr. is set to become the 17th president of the Philippines, as he receives more than double the votes of his closest opponent, Vice President Leni Robredo, who has garnered 14,309,524 votes or 28.06% as of the latest update.

He will succeed the strongman Rodrigo Duterte, winning without his outright support. The President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, was Marcos Jr.’s running mate, getting 30,310,743 votes or 61.08%, as of 4:06 am on Tuesday.

It’s the first presidential elections since the rebirth of democracy in 1986 where the outgoing president did not endorse a candidate. “He is a spoiled child…. He’s a weak leader at may bagahe siya (and he has baggage),” the outgoing president Duterte had said of Marcos.

Marcos will lead the Philippines for the next six years, and will have to steer the country into economic recovery after a global pandemic. He is now the country’s chief diplomat, who flip-flopped on standing with Ukraine amid a Russian invasion that threatens security in the whole of Europe.

“This is bad for the country. There would be no good governance as we know it. Cronyism and dynasty will thrive,” said jailed opposition leader Leila De Lima.

Marcos has promised to continue Duterte’s warm ties to superpower China, and will keep at bay the International Criminal Court investigating the President and his men for alleged crimes against humanity for the thousands of killings during the drug war.

As president, Marcos will have power over executive agencies involved in recovering his family’s ill-gotten wealth, such as the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). The PCGG was still trying to recover P125 billion more in stolen wealth.

Marcos also has a standing contempt order in the United States – among other cases that he and his mother Imelda are facing. The business community fears that investors will steer clear of the Philippines under a Marcos presidency.

“Well, we’ll just have to prove them wrong if we get the opportunity and we will,” said Marcos in an interview with One PH on March 21.

Strong from start to finish

Marcos started and finished strong, peaking at 60% in a Pulse Asia survey in January 2022, and securing a huge lead at 56% in April before election day. Robredo could only manage a peak of 24%.

Like his father before him, Marcos built his clout first as congressman of Ilocos Norte, and then senator. Many believe his vice presidential run in 2016 was a test drive – to be more prepared to go for the gold.

“[Returning to] Malacanang would be a great help,” said his mother Imelda in 2014.

It seems it has been a lifelong family plan, as Imelda herself ran for president in 1992 after their family were allowed to return from their exile in Hawaii.

Learning the hard lessons from his defeat in his 2016 vice presidential run, Marcos sought to consolidate his base by getting a strong running mate. With the help of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, he managed to convince Duterte’s daughter Sara to be his vice president – even if Sara’s was performing better in presidential opinion polls last year.

He also managed to get the support of powerful dynasties and big business, such as the magnate Manny Villar. Next, he courted the transport and workers sectors, but not without backlash from the other factions who highlighted that Marcos the dictator was the one who sunk those sectors in the first place.

Marcos showed this as proof of the image he wanted to sell: that he’s the unifying factor in Philippine politics.

Alongside his campaign of unity is the policy of evading scrutiny, as he snubbed all the debates and ran away from the independent press. This way, he was able to preserve his bubble by capturing a craving among Filipinos to have a more positive feel of politics.

It’s “part of the mood of the times,” said political analyst Julio Teehankee.

“Given the pandemic, we were thinking, after what we experienced in the pandemic and how the government handled the pandemic, we would long for a more technocratic good governance, reformist approach, but instead the opposite happens – pagod na ang tao, wala na rin silang pasensiya, so ano ang solusyon? Magkaisa tayo (people are tired, they don’t have patience, so what is the solution? Let’s unite.),” said Teehankee.

Stores across the U.S. are continuing to run low on baby formula, with the Biden administration saying it is working to ease the problem for American families and caregivers.

During the first week of May, the average out-of-stock rate for baby formula at retailers across the country was 43%, according to data from the firm Datasembly, which collected information from more than 11,000 sellers.

In late April, the rate was even higher in some states, with an out-of-stock rate over 50% in Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Texas and Tennessee.

“This issue has been compounded by supply chain challenges, product recalls and historic inflation,” Datasembly CEO Ben Reich said in a statement.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Monday that the Food and Drug Administration is working to make sure baby formula is available to consumers.

“They are working around the clock to address any possible shortage,” she said.

Psaki said the FDA is coordinating with formula manufacturers to ramp up production, while prioritizing those products that are of the greatest need.

The shortage has the potential to impact many children across the country. Only about a quarter of infants born in the U.S. in 2017 were fed exclusively through breastfeeding in their first six months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Part of the reason the formula supply is so low is because, in February, the company Abbott issued a recall of some of its baby formula products. The voluntary recall included certain lots of Similac, Alimentum and EleCare formula products.

“It is a real crisis and, in many cases, potentially life-threatening,” Dr. Benjamin Gold, a pediatric gastroenterologist in Atlanta, said of the shortage in an interview with NPR.

Gold said he had just seen a young patient with a metabolic disease who requires formula, but their family couldn’t find any at the chain pharmacies near where they live in southern Georgia.

“We’re working on getting the company that makes one of the substitute formulas to ship – actually my nurse is still on the phone with them right now – to ship the formula to this family,” he said.

Gold – who is also president of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition – says there are some brands of formula that can be substituted for the products that were recalled.

If you can’t find your child’s formula, a website run by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends to first contact your pediatrician. In urgent situations, you could check smaller stores or buy online, the website says.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Overturning Roe v. Wade could have implications for more than access to abortion; medical and legal experts say it could open the door to restrictions on other types of reproductive health care.

“To say that we are incredibly concerned would, I think, actually be putting it mildly,” said Dr. Kavita Arora, chair of the ethics committee at the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists.

Arora said the decision could have far-reaching implications for other types of care including birth control, emergency contraception known as Plan B, trans-affirming healthcare, and fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization, which can produce leftover embryos.

“This threatens our ability to take care of patients on a daily basis,” Arora said.

Most types of contraception prevent a sperm from fertilizing an egg. But as a second line of defense, she said some can stop an already-fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus — considered the beginning of a pregnancy.

“In changing definition of when pregnancy starts to just at fertilization, it would compromise our ability to provide access to really highly effective methods of contraception such as the copper IUD,” Arora said.

Some abortion rights opponents regard such devices as quote “life-ending” because of the possibility that implantation can be disrupted.

Kristan Hawkins is president of the anti-abortion rights groups Students for Life of America, which is pushing for state and federal legislation to recognize human life as beginning “at conception.” Her group takes the position that some devices and pills that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg are “mislabeled” as contraception — a position at odds with the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, which defines pregnancy as beginning at implantation.

“I think legislators should be able to have the right to decide and to investigate if there are devices, if there’s chemicals that are ending the lives of their citizens in their state,” Hawkins said.

In an interview last week, Hawkins denied that birth control is a focus of her movement — and called that notion a “scare tactic.”

Some Republican leaders, including a state lawmaker in Idaho, have expressed an openness to entertaining questions about the safety of contraceptives, which are tested by federal regulators before they are put on the market.

Last week, a Louisiana state lawmaker proposed a bill that would classify abortion as a homicide — beginning at the moment of fertilization.

On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, when host Jake Tapper asked Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves about the bill in his neighboring state, Reeves declined to rule out support for similar legislation, saying only, “That is not what we are focused on at this time.”

Under Roe, the right to an abortion is guaranteed under the right to privacy. That’s also part of the rationale for the Griswold v. Connecticut decision in 1965, which recognized a right to contraception for married people — and eventually, everyone else.

In his draft opinion in the major abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which was leaked to Politico last week, Justice Samuel Alito argued that abortion is different from other rights, like contraception and marriage, because he said it destroys fetal life.

But Khiara M. Bridges, a law professor at the University of California-Berkeley, said Alito’s originalist view of the Constitution offers no guarantees that women’s rights will be protected.

“Because women were not part of the body politic, the rights that are important to people who can get pregnant are just not contemplated by the Constitution,” Bridges said. “The drafters of the Constitution could care less about what women’s concerns were, what they needed in order to be fully human in society.”

If the court is willing to do away with longstanding precedent like Roe, Bridges said, it’s impossible to predict what other rights also could be in question.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The Biden administration says it will partner with internet providers to lower the cost of high-speed internet plans for low-income Americans, the White House announced Monday.

The Affordable Connectivity Program will provide plans of at least 100 Megabits per second of speed for no more than $30. An estimated 48 million Americans will qualify.

“High-speed internet service is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity,” the White House said. “But too many families go without high-speed internet because of the cost, or have to cut back on other essentials to make their monthly internet service payments.”

Twenty internet providers, including national companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, as well as regional companies, such as Hawaiian Telecom and Jackson Energy Authority in Tennessee, have committed to the program.

“It’s time for every American to experience the social, economic, health, employment and educational benefits of universal scaled access to the Internet,” said AT&T CEO John Stankey.

Americans can visit www.getinternet.gov to determine their eligibility and sign up for the program. Those who receive benefits, such as the Pell Grant, Medicaid or SNAP may qualify.

Agencies overseeing these programs will reach out to recipients of these benefits to see which households qualify for the ACP. Eligible households may also receive notifications from city or state agencies.

Organizations such as United Way and Goodwill will also assist with outreach and enrollment.

“Being connected is essential,” said Daniel Friesen, the chief innovation officer of IdeaTek, a Kansas-based Internet provider. “Our mission for Internet freedom means we believe everyone should have access to fast, reliable Internet and the opportunities it provides — even when the budget is tight.”

As of 2018, 85% of American households had access to broadband Internet, with rates generally being lower in rural communities, according to Census data.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Until the last day of the campaign period on Saturday, May 7, outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte did not endorse his daughter’s standard-bearer, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Duterte was a no-show at the Uniteam miting de avance in Parañaque on Saturday.

His daughter Sara, who is running for vice president, was by herself on stage, while Marcos was joined by wife Liza, and sons Sandro, Simon and Vincent.

Starting Sunday, May 8, it is prohibited to do any overt campaigning such as endorsing or explicitly encouraging voters to go for a certain candidate.

Then again, the President on Friday morning, May 6, said something that pleased the Marcoses. Duterte said – albeit falsely – that no ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses has been found.

To Marcos, it sounded like an endorsement.

“Dahil nga pinayagan na niya ‘yung partido niya na mag-desisyon na mayoridad na makapag-endorse sa tambalang Marcos-Duterte ay consistent pa rin ‘yun, sinasabi nga niya na ayaw niyang mag-endorse dahil pangulo siya, he’s above the fray ika nga. Siguro dahil palapit na tayo sa election day, talagang nagpahiwatig na siya at pinapaalaman na niya saan suporta niya,“ Marcos said during a DZRH interview on Saturday, in reaction to Duterte’s latest remarks.

(Because he allowed his party to decide by majority to endorse the Marcos-Duterte tandem, that’s still consistent. He said he did not want to endorse because he’s the president and he should be above the fray. But maybe because we’re nearing the election, he’s making it apparent, or known, who he is supporting.)

The Supreme Court declared in 2003 that $658 million worth of the Marcos family’s assets are ill-gotten.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has recovered P174 billion from the Marcos loot, and continues to run after P125 billion more. Last year, the PCGG won a new case that awarded them P1 billion in bank certificates that the Marcoses took with them to Hawaii.

Imelda Marcos has been convicted of seven counts of graft for maintaining illegal Swiss foundations, two of which had Marcos Jr. and his siblings Imee and Irene as beneficiaries.

PDP-Laban endorsement

On Friday night, at his son’s Sebastian local miting de avance in Davao City, Duterte said in Bisaya: “I am not supporting anyone for president, I leave it up to you who you want. I will not dictate, I am neutral.”

Duterte was reported to have harbored ill feelings when her daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, slid down to vice president for Marcos. After the official confirmation of the tandem, Duterte called Marcos a “spoiled child” and a “weak leader.”

For months, he insisted he would not be endorsing a presidential candidate, even when his PDP-Laban wing endorsed Marcos midway in the campaign period. Marcos and Duterte even met in person on the eve of the party endorsement, but Duterte never attended any of the Uniteam rallies after.

He was also not present in the tandem’s miting de avance in Tagum, Davao del Norte, on Thursday, May 5, though he attended his son Sebastian’s miting de avance in Davao City the next day. Sebastian, the youngest of his children with Elizabeth Zimmerman, is running for mayor against their former ally, Ruy Elias Lopez.

This piece is republished with permission from Rappler.com.