Nation and World briefs for September 18

Panel approves ban on sale of flavored e-cigs in New York

NEW YORK — New York became the first state to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes Tuesday, a move that comes as federal health officials investigate a mysterious surge of severe breathing illnesses linked to vaping.

The vote by the state Public Health and Health Planning Council means the prohibition, which covers flavored e-cigarettes and other vaping products except for menthol and tobacco flavors, goes into effect immediately. Retailers will have two weeks to remove merchandise from store shelves.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, had proposed the emergency ban Sunday , citing surging use among young people.

According to data from the state health department, nearly 40% of high school seniors and 27% of high school students overall in the state use e-cigarettes. Use among high-school students went from 10.5% in 2014 to 27.4% in 2018.

Cuomo pointed to vaping flavors like bubblegum and cotton candy that he said seemed aimed at young people.

Uncertainty about South Korea’s World Cup visit to Pyongyang

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s soccer association is unsure whether its World Cup qualifier against North Korea next month will take place in Pyongyang or on a neutral ground.

The Seoul-based KFA said it hadn’t yet received any information from its counterpart in Pyongyang regarding logistics for the Group H match, which would be a first competitive meeting between the national men’s teams in the North Korean capital. North Korea hosted South Korea for an international friendly there in 1990.

North Korea nominated Pyongyang as the host venue for the Oct. 15 game after the Asian qualifying draw was made in June.

The KFA said it sent an “additional letter” to the Asian Football Confederation on Monday to see where North Korea stands on the match.

With the two countries still technically at war because 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, a meeting in the 50,000 capacity Kim Il Sung Stadium would be symbolic, particularly as the two countries have expressed their intention to submit a joint bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

South Korea’s women’s team played in Pyongyang in an Asian Cup qualifier in 2017 and traveled to the northern capital via Beijing. The KFA is hopeful that the men’s squad can travel straight across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two countries.

“When North Korea tells us where to pick up our visa, then we’ll prepare accordingly,” the KFA said. “We have also submitted to the unification ministry a list of items we need to take to North Korea.”

It is possible that the game will be played in a neutral country, with the South Korean media reporting that Beijing is an option. During qualification for the 2010 World Cup, North Korea opted to host games against South Korea in Shanghai.

North Korea sits on top of Group H with two wins from its opening two games in the second round of Asian qualification, including a win in Pyongyang against Lebanon. South Korea has played only one game so far, winning 2-0 in Turkmenistan.

Lewandowski, House Democrats spar at impeachment hearing

WASHINGTON — The first impeachment hearing held by House Democrats quickly turned hostile on Tuesday as their sole witness, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, stonewalled many of their questions and declared they were “focusing on petty and personal politics.”

Lewandowski, a devoted friend and supporter of President Donald Trump, followed White House orders not to discuss conversations with the president beyond what was already public in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Trump cheered him along as he testified, tweeting that Lewandowski’s opening statement was “beautiful.”

The hearing underscores what has been a central dilemma for the House Judiciary Committee all year as they investigate — and potentially try to impeach — Trump. Many of the Democrats’ base supporters want them to move quickly to try to remove Trump from office. But the White House has blocked their oversight requests at almost every turn, declining to provide new documents or allow aides and associates to testify.

On Tuesday, Lewandowski, who is considering a run for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, defiantly made clear he wouldn’t make life easy for the Democrats. He demanded that they provide him a copy of the Mueller report, sending Democratic staff scrambling to find one. He read directly from the report and asked Democrats to read passages to him, showing that he wouldn’t say much beyond what Mueller wrote. Republicans on the panel forced a series of procedural votes, immediately sending the hearing into disarray.

“He’s filibustering,” said a frustrated House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

Trump outpaces Obama, Bush in naming ex-lobbyists to Cabinet

WASHINGTON — In less than three years, President Donald Trump has named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight, putting a substantial amount of oversight in the hands of people with ties to the industries they’re regulating.

The Cabinet choices are another sign that Trump’s populist pledge to “drain the swamp” is a catchy campaign slogan but not a serious attempt to change the way Washington works. Instead of staring down “the unholy alliance of lobbyists and donors and special interests” as Trump recently declared, the influence industry has flourished during his administration.

The amount spent in 2019 on lobbying the U.S. government is on pace to match or exceed last year’s total of $3.4 billion, the most since 2010, according to the political money website Open Secrets. Trump also has pulled in hefty contributions from industries with business before his administration, and his hotel near the White House has been a magnet for lobbyists and foreign interests since he was elected.

“An administration staffed by former industry lobbyists will almost certainly favor industry over the general public, because that’s the outlook they’re bringing to the job,” said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow in the political reform program at the think tank New America and author of the book “The Business of America is Lobbying.”

Former lobbyists run the Defense and Interior departments, Environmental Protection Agency and office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The acting Labor secretary, Pat Pizzella, is a former lobbyist and Trump’s pick to run the department, Eugene Scalia, also is an ex-lobbyist. Scalia’s confirmation hearing before a GOP-controlled Senate committee is scheduled for Thursday and Democrats are expected to grill him on his long record of opposing federal regulations .

Gaming heavyweights raise $17M for new esports network

NEW YORK — A new venture backed by many of video gaming’s biggest publishers is unveiling a network that hopes to be to esports what ESPN has been to traditional sports.

VENN is set to launch in 2020 and aims to give the fragmented esports scene a home base for content with higher production value than gamers are used to with online streaming. The network was co-founded by four-time Emmy-winning producer Ariel Horn and entrepreneur Ben Kusin and has raised $17 million from investors including co-founders from Twitch, Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment.

VENN, short for Video Game Entertainment and News Network, will debut with live studios in New York and Los Angeles. There is expected to be 55 hours of original programming per week, including gamer streams, talk shows, documentaries and live esport events. It already has deals in place to broadcast on Twitch and YouTube and expects to be available on mediums like Roku or Sling.

Esports revenues are expected to top $1 billion this year, and global viewership numbers are rivaling those of traditional sports — nearly 100 million viewers watched last year’s League of Legends world championship, roughly on par with TV viewership for the Super Bowl.

Yet the industry remains disjointed. Just like not all football fans also watch hockey, Fortnite players aren’t necessarily keeping tabs on League of Legends or Overwatch. Creating a common space for all those gamers has proven difficult. Perhaps the closest thing is the online streaming platform Twitch, but gamers there tend to find streams specific to their interest, creating little overlap with other gaming domains.