Daily Archives: December 29, 2022


Pele or Maradona? Debate Will Continue Raging Over Who Was Greater

Before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo came along, the enduring debate in soccer about who was the greatest player centered on two men: Pele and Diego Maradona. It was an argument that played out for years on terraces and in bars, on radio and on television. Brazil’s Pele, a prolific goal scorer who died aged 82 on Thursday in Sao Paulo, won the World Cup an unprecedented three times as a player in 1958, 1962 and 1970 and put the small town of Santos on the map before conquering the …


US Lawsuit Claims Pharma Distributor Worsened Opioid Epidemic

The U.S. Justice Department is suing one of the largest U.S. drug distributors for failing to report suspicious orders of prescription opioids, saying the company’s “years of repeated violations” contributed to the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic.  In a civil lawsuit filed Thursday, the department alleges that AmerisourceBergen and two subsidiaries violated the Controlled Substances Act by failing to report “at least hundreds of thousands” of suspicious orders for prescription painkillers to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The department is seeking potentially billions of dollars in penalties. “For years, AmerisourceBergen prioritized profits …


Brazilian Football Legend Pele Dies at 82

Brazilian football legend Pele, who burst onto the world scene as a goal-scoring teenager and led his national team to an unprecedented three World Cup titles, died Thursday at the age of 82. He was hospitalized in late November, and doctors said in December he was dealing with cancer that had advanced along with kidney and cardiac problems. In September 2021, he had surgery to remove a tumor from his colon. The Albert Einstein hospital, where Pele was being treated, said in a statement that he died of multiple organ …


COVID Controls Offer Insight Into China’s Surveillance Network

For many outside China, this was the year that the term “surveillance state” became something they understood. Western media reported in April on what were thought to be government-operated drones whirring through a locked-down Shanghai, China’s most populous city, where authorities reported a record 22,000 new cases of COVID-19 on a single day. In an unverified viral video, one drone trumpeted, “Control your soul’s desire for freedom” as it hovered over a housing compound at night. Citizens were expected to download a “health code” app for smartphones that dictated their …


US Pays to Clean Up Agent Orange on Vietnam War Anniversary

The United States earlier this month announced a contract worth up to $29 million to clean up dioxin contamination at the Bien Hoa Air Base in southern Vietnam, near Ho Chi Minh City, a consequence of U.S. use of the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The move is the most recent attempt to demonstrate cooperation between the two countries despite a still complicated relationship.  The nations now work together on trade issues, climate change, and legacies of the war, such as the dioxin spraying or the so-called Christmas …