Schneider Electric launches new interface for edge network management
Dec 23. 2020
By The Nation
Schneider Electric has released a public API (application programming interface) for its cloud-based software EcoStruxure IT Expert.
The first public API for EcoStruxure IT Expert allows IT solution providers and end users to integrate a critical infrastructure monitoring platform into any preferred management system.
With the introduction of EcoStruxure IT Expert API, Schneider Electric is simplifying the management process for a distributed IT infrastructure.
“We are working with our partners and customers in new and different ways so they can gain the right visibility and insights on their IT infrastructure, while we create a more open ecosystem,” said Kevin Brown, senior vice president of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure.
With the addition of public API, IT solution providers can easily integrate the EcoStruxure platform into their preferred systems. By adding remote monitoring of power and critical infrastructure into their portfolio, solution providers can help drive differentiation and bring more value to customers grappling with the complexities of edge network management.
Indonesia to send back hazardous materials to Australia, NZ, UK, US
Dec 26. 2020Batam Customs Office officers oversee the transfer of one of seven containers containing toxic and hazardous waste (B3 waste) to the Capricorn 97.210 Barge, on July 29, 2019 at the Batu Ampar Container Port, Batam, Riau Islands. (JP/Fadli)
By Dian Septiari The Jakarta Post/ANN
Indonesia is set to send 79 containers of hazardous materials back to Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States beginning in January, the government recently revealed.
The Foreign Ministry summoned the envoys of the four countries to notify them about the plan on Wednesday, according to the ministry’s statement published on Thursday.
The ministry’s director general of American and European affairs, Ngurah Swajaya, said the measure was in accordance with international law, namely the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
The treaty was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous materials between nations, specifically to prevent the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries. “In accordance with the Basel Convention […], cross-country imports containing toxic waste are not allowed.
The Indonesian government must return it to the origin country,” he told the ambassadors.
Ngurah said the containers had been verified by various government agencies including the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Trade Ministry, Industry Ministry, Finance Ministry and the National Police.
“The 79 containers to be re-exported are part of the total 107 containers that had been confiscated by the Indonesian government because they contained hazardous waste, while the remaining 28 containers will be re-examined,” he added.
The containers were confiscated in 2019, during which Indonesia, together with other Southeast Asian nations faced a sharp increase in shipments of plastic waste from developed countries to developing nations following China’s decision to ban imports of 24 types of waste materials.
Nonhazardous waste, mostly consisting of clean scrap paper, was intended to be used by paper-recycling companies in Indonesia. However, most of the cargo was found to be contaminated by hazardous waste such as old diapers and plastics, which the businesses reject and ends up in landfills.
SIA cabin crew to wear N95 masks, protective overalls on flights from London amid concerns over new Covid-19 strain
Dec 26. 2020SIA said that it already has a series of precautions to protect its crew and reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission. PHOTO: ST FILE
By Toh Ting Wei The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE – All Singapore Airlines (SIA) cabin crew members working on flights from London will now have to wear N95 masks and protective overalls amid growing concerns about the new strain of the Covid-19 virus in the city.
They will also have to take Covid-19 swab tests after their return. They will not be allowed to resume work on other flights until they get a negative result, in line with the usual practice when flying to areas with higher risks of Covid-19 infections.
SIA is currently operating two direct flights daily from London’s Heathrow Airport on most days. The flights are about 13 hours long.
The additional requirements for protective equipment for flights from London kicked in on Wednesday (Dec 23), SIA said in response to queries on Thursday. Prior to this, cabin crew had already been wearing goggles, gloves and surgical masks for all flights.
Reports about a new strain of the coronavirus that is 70 per cent more infectious surfaced last week.
On Tuesday, Singapore joined more than 40 other countries in tightening restrictions on travellers arriving from the United Kingdom. The Ministry of Health had said that all long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with travel history to Britain within the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore.
Returning Singaporeans and permanent residents will have to be tested on arrival, and again towards the end of their 14-day stay-home notice period at dedicated facilities.
SIA also said on Thursday that it already has a series of precautions to protect its crew and reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
For long-haul flights where the crew will have to stay over in the destination country, SIA has been chartering a dedicated bus for crew to be transported to and from the hotels, which are located away from city centres.
“All crew are required to stay in their hotel rooms during the layover period, and they need to wear devices that track their location to ensure that they comply with this regulation,” said SIA.
The crew members must also take their temperature regularly and closely monitor their health throughout their duty period.
To protect crew and other passengers on flights, if anyone – passenger or crew member – were to report feeling unwell, the person would be moved to a dedicated quarantine area within the plane, SIA added.
The unwell person would be attended to by a cabin crew dressed in full personal protective gear, and would be checked by medical authorities upon the plane’s landing.
Dec 26. 2020Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at a press conference at the Diet Building on Thursday. (The Yomiuri Shimbun)
By The Japan News/ANN
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized Thursday after his state-paid first secretary was given a summary indictment regarding irregularities on political fund reports over dinners held prior to cherry blossom-viewing parties.
“Even though [the irregularities] occurred without my knowledge, I am keenly aware of my moral responsibility,” Abe said at a press conference at the Diet building on Thursday. “I deeply regret it and offer my sincerest apologies to the people.”
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigation squad filed the summary indictment against the secretary, Hiroyuki Haikawa, on the same day over a suspected violation of the Political Funds Control Law. Abe, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was not indicted due to insufficient evidence.
In a Diet session during his time as prime minister, Abe repeatedly denied the fact that his political support group covered some of the expenses of the dinner events. However, at the press conference on Thursday, he admitted that the group had paid a portion of the expenses and that it later revised its political fund reports.
Regarding his past remarks in the Diet, Abe also apologized for the discrepancy in some of his answers given at the time.
“This has undermined the public’s trust in politics. I would like to express my deepest apologies to the people and to all Diet members of the ruling and opposition parties,” Abe said.
When asked about whether he intends to resign from politics, Abe denied the possibility, saying: “I am well aware that I have an extremely heavy political responsibility. I want to fulfill my duties by returning to my original political goals and doing my best.”
On Friday, Abe explained the matter and fielded questions from ruling and opposition party members at sessions of the committees on rules and administration of both Diet chambers. He corrected past remarks made in the Diet and offered his apologies.
According to the House of Representatives’ Research Bureau, Abe made remarks, such as “My office isn’t involved in this matter,” “There are no receipts” and “[My support group] did not make up for the shortfall [when costs exceeded what dinner guests had paid],” 118 times from November 2019 to March 2020 when answering questions posed by lawmakers in the Diet.
■ Payments made ‘out of pocket’
At the press conference Thursday, Abe explained that the shortfall for the expenses of the dinner events was covered by his own money allotted for his personal expenses that he had entrusted to his office.
“As a number of invoices for expenses, including food and transportation, come to my office every day, I have the office handle the payments,” Abe said. “The payments were made from money withdrawn from my personal account that I had entrusted to the office.”
S. Korea’s virus cases hit all-time high despite tougher distancing rules
Dec 26. 2020People wait in a long line around a large Christmas tree to get tested for COVID-19 at a screening center in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, on Christmas Eve on Thursday. (Yonhap)
By THE NATION
South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases hit a new record high on Friday, despite the most stringent social distancing rules to contain the winter wave of the virus.
South Korea reported 1,241 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,216 local infections, raising the total caseload to 54,770, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The tally marked a hike from 985 on Thursday, according the public health agency.
The hike is mainly blamed on 288 new cases at Dongbu Detention Center in eastern Seoul in one of the largest cluster infections in South Korea.
The second mass outbreak at the detention center raised the total number of infections linked to the facility nationwide to 514, the justice ministry said.
South Korea has banned gatherings of five or more people across the country in the most stringent social distancing rules meant to contain the spread of the virus.
Yoon Tae-ho, a senior official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, asked people to cancel gatherings and stay at home, saying tougher social distancing rules and antivirus measures could reduce the number of infections in the new year.
The government warned that violators of the social distancing rules will face a fine of up to 3 million won ($2,700).
The government also shut down ski resorts and popular venues for watching the sunrise on New Year’s Day to slow the spread of the virus during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season.
On Friday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun called on health authorities and local governments to respond “strictly” to violations of social distancing rules, noting some restaurants and bars entertained guests after 9 p.m. after locking their doors and switching off signs.
“The vast majority of the nation is faithfully adhering to the government’s antivirus measures despite the inconvenience and pain they entail, but if a few cheat for their own gains, it is difficult to expect results from participating in the antivirus measures,” Chung said during a government COVID-19 pandemic response meeting.
South Korea has been applying Level 2.5 social distancing rules, the second highest of the five-tier system, in the greater Seoul area, home to half of its 51.6 million population, and Level 2 rules in the rest of the country.
Health authorities have said they are aiming to contain the current wave of the pandemic without raising virus curbs to Level 3 on concerns over the impact on the economy.
The authorities plan to decide Sunday on whether to raise the country’s social distancing guidelines to the highest Level 3, Yoon said.
Of the newly identified local infections, 550 cases were reported in Seoul and 257 cases in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. Incheon, west of Seoul, reported 55 more cases.
Other municipalities reported new infections, with South Chungcheong Province adding 79 cases and North Gyeongsang Province reporting 67 new cases.
South Korea reported 17 additional deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 773. The fatality rate was 1.41 percent.
The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients reached 311, compared with 291 from the previous day.
The public health agency said the total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries stood at 38,048, up 623 from the previous day.
Meanwhile, South Korea reported 25 imported cases, increasing the total to 5,425.
Of the newly imported cases, 15 were South Koreans and 10 were foreigners. They came from the United States, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Finland, Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger.
Beijing’s new cases test city’s antivirus measures
Dec 26. 2020Medical workers conduct nucleic acid tests in Xicheng district, Beijing, on Thursday. Beijing faces a major test of COVID-19 control after new cases have occurred in several districts. WU XIAOHUI/CHINA DAILY
By DU JUAN and ZHANG XIAOMIN CHINA DAILY/ANN
Beijing is facing a major test of its COVID-19 prevention and control as new cases have occurred recently in several districts, a senior city official said on Friday.
The municipal government suggests local residents spend the New Year’s and Spring Festival holidays in the city to reduce the risk of infection, said Chen Bei, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government. Spring Festival is in mid-February this year.
“Citizens should not leave the city if not necessary,” she said. “Large-scale events should not be held.”
Zhu Sheng, deputy administrator of Chaoyang district, said officials received a report on Thursday morning that an Asiana Airlines employee who lived and worked in the Maizidian Street area in Chaoyang tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling to South Korea from Beijing on Tuesday.
The South Korean government confirmed that the employee was asymptomatic as of Thursday night.
The living space and workplace of the employee was disinfected immediately and 43 close contacts were placed under medical observation, Zhu said.
By 4 pm on Friday, 4,345 test samples had been collected and all 1,684 results that had been processed were negative.
To help curb the outbreak in Dalian, the National Health Commission has sent a working group to the Liaoning province port, the commission said Friday.
Dalian reported seven new confirmed cases and one asymptomatic infection on Thursday. One confirmed patient was previously asymptomatic, the local health commission said.
As of Thursday, the city had reported 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 asymptomatic infections since new infections emerged on Dec 15.
With the national postgraduate entrance exams starting on Saturday, all Chinese cities, particularly cities like Beijing and Dalian that have reported new cases of the virus, are making every effort to ensure exams are conducted in a safe and smooth manner.
The candidates are required to present negative nucleic acid tests done within seven days before taking the exams.
Wen Zhihao, 21, a student who planned to take the exam in Beijing, said that he trusts the city’s prevention and control measures and that the new cases had not affected his mood at all.
Zhao Yang, director of Dalian’s education bureau, said designated exam rooms and hotels have been prepared to host candidates from the city’s five closed-off neighborhoods from Friday morning to Monday. The test-takers will stay at the hotels during the exam period.
Expenses will be covered by the Dalian Jinpu New Area, where the neighborhoods, test-taking facilities and hotels are located.
“Fortunately, Dalian has made adjustments very quickly. We were worrying that my sister might miss the exam since she could not leave the area to get to her original testing center in downtown Dalian,” said Qiu Tiantian, whose 24-year-old sister is a candidate for the exams.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said it’s normal for China to have recently had new COVID-19 cases in some places given that the pandemic is still growing worldwide, adding that rising cases are a reminder to stick to prevention and control measures to avoid risks.
Wu told China Central Television on Thursday that many of the positive test results that have been reported in China recently have been asymptomatic patients, indicating that risks have been discovered before they spread widely thanks to multiple measures, including testing.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games announced Thursday that it had reached a deal with all 68 domestic sponsors to extend their contracts for a year, through 2021.
The corporate sponsors have plans to make additional contributions of about 22 billion yen, which is set to be incorporated into the organizing committee’s revenue.
Since the decision to postpone the Tokyo Games to summer 2021 was made in March, executive members of the organizing committee, including President Yoshiro Mori, visited each of these companies to request an extension of their sponsorship contracts.
“We’ve received word [from the companies] that they’d like to support us as much as possible to ensure that the Games can be held,” Mori said at a news conference Thursday. “We can’t thank them enough for their support.”
Despite the possibility that the novel coronavirus could cause a deterioration in business performance, Mori said, “I believe that they will continue to cooperate with us as they recognize the significance in the Games being held.”
WASHINGTON – Relations between Washington and Moscow have gotten so bad that the United States cannot get visas for American technicians to repair malfunctioning elevators and fire alarms at diplomatic missions.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is understaffed and overstretched as every diplomatic visa requires drawn-out negotiations that get snagged over minuscule matters. Senior diplomats are being tasked with basic duties including shoveling snow and mixing disinfectants to supplement depleted cleaning crews battling the coronavirus pandemic.
Even as President Donald Trump has refrained from directly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin, the State Department has been outspoken in condemning Russian transgressions and pressuring the government to change its behavior and rhetoric.
That has contributed to a “visa impasse,” as U.S. officials delicately phrase it, that has been growing since 2014, when the United States imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Crimea. Since then, the diplomatic standoff has ballooned into a tit-for-tat visa war, with both sides expelling diplomats and closing each other’s consulates during rows over Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election and Moscow’s poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.
After years without a solution, U.S. officials grew alarmed about the potential for a catastrophic fire or accident at the missions and their ability to keep the embassy in Moscow functioning. So in early December, the State Department notified Congress that it would permanently close the consulate in Vladivostok near the Pacific and suspend operations at the consulate in Yekaterinburg in Russia’s industrial heartland.
“We had to decide structurally how we can address this,” said a senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk about the delicate, tangled relationship. “We’re running out of Band-Aids to sustain our presence in those locations.”
The two consulates already had been effectively shuttered since March because of the pandemic. News that they would stay out of operation coincided with revelations that Russian hackers had penetrated the computers of U.S. government agencies, including the Departments of State and Homeland Security.
U.S. officials insist that the timing was coincidental and that the consulate decision was based solely on how best to keep the embassy in Moscow functioning with sufficient staff numbers.
“We took the decision we took because it’s part of . . . broader problems in a bilateral diplomatic relationship between the United States and Russia, which have extended to a so-called visa impasse,” John Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, said in an interview this week with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “We can’t get visas for U.S. personnel to come to work at our consulates in Yekaterinburg [and] Vladivostok, or the embassy in Moscow.”
“And without those personnel who are able to perform essential functions for health and safety risks, the risk is increasing that there could be a fire or other safety issues,” he added.
The other U.S. official said the consulate closures are not meant to send Moscow a message on any foreign policy issue other than the visas. “It’s not about Russian behavior, whether in cyberspace or elections or aggression abroad,” the official said.
But the decision effectively is a recognition that the U.S. relationship with Russia is unlikely to improve anytime soon, even after Joe Biden assumes the presidency.
“We are going from bad to worse,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview Wednesday with the Interfax news agency. “This was very typical for the past four years, and so far there is no feeling that this trend has exhausted itself.”
Ryabkov said he doubted tensions would ease in a Biden administration, which he said would be stocked with foreign policy experts who harbor antipathy to Russia.
“It would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom made their careers on Russophobia and throwing mud at my country,” he said.
The visa deadlock leaves the embassy in Moscow as the only U.S. diplomatic outpost in Russia, a vast country that encompasses 11 time zones. That complicates matters for Russians seeking visas to visit the United States, though they have dwindled with the pandemic. Before the coronavirus stopped most international travel, the wait for a U.S. visa in Moscow was almost a year, compared with a few months in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg.
The pandemic also blocks most remaining opportunities for U.S. diplomats to connect with ordinary Russians and local government officials. Those contacts already were curtailed by the Russians, who had ordered the closure of American “corners” established in Russian libraries, banished U.S. exchange programs as undesirable and prohibited U.S. diplomats from speaking at universities.
The Russians have rejected U.S. requests to move to new buildings over the past year.
Under caps established under the retaliatory punishments, Russia and the United States are allowed to staff their embassies and consulates with 455 people, including local hires. The Russians have almost 430 people in their U.S. missions, while the United States is down to about 320.
Visas are occasionally granted when diplomats are rotated out, though the Russians have imposed limitations, such as insisting a woman can be replaced only by another woman, and a man with a man.
Some former U.S. envoys to Moscow consider the closures counterproductive.
“I cannot understand how this is anything but against the interests of the United States,” said James Collins, who as U.S. ambassador to Moscow oversaw the opening of the consulate in Vladivostok in 1992.
“It was in the American interest to get to know and establish relations with the Russian government beyond the Kremlin. It’s just as important today as it ever was,” he said.
Mike McFaul, a U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, said his conversations with students and business leaders in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg gave him valuable insights into popular sentiment.
“This is a self-inflicted wound,” he said of the consulate closures. “Russia is not kicking us out. We are unilaterally deciding we don’t want be there. It’s a giant mistake. I hope Biden reverses it.”
State Department officials say they have reached out to former ambassadors, explaining that conditions in recent years have made interactions with Russian citizens virtually impossible. About eight diplomats already have been transferred from Vladivostok to Moscow, but several remain in Yekaterinburg.
They have told the Russians that the United States will not order the closure of Russian consulates in Houston and New York, at least for now. They would like their action to spur negotiations that reverse the impasse.
“I hope this is the start of a path forward and the Russians will think about it, and we’ll be able to get to a more stable footing for the bilateral situation,” the U.S. official said. “But that’s going to require visas for us to get our mission-essential personnel on the ground.”
An Air Canada Boeing 737-8 Max on a test flight had engine problems that forced the crew to shut down one of the plane’s engines and make an emergency landing in Tucson, Ariz., Aviation24.be reported.
Shortly after takeoff, the crew received an indication of hydraulic low pressure in the left engine, the website said. The three-member crew of the empty plane initially decided to continue the flight to Montreal, but it shut down the engine and diverted to Tucson after receiving an indication of a fuel imbalance from the left wing, Aviation24.be said.
The incident took place Tuesday, according to the report.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration permitted the 737 Max to return to the skies in November, after a 20-month hiatus prompted by two fatal crashes. Boeing is seeking approval from other regulators around the world to relaunch the 737 Max, the manufacturer’s best-selling model.
An earlier version of this obituary misstated the date of the “Show Boat” revival in which Rebecca Luker played Magnolia and for which she received her first Tony nomination. The revival was staged in 1994, not 2004.
Rebecca Luker, a Broadway actress and singer who was nominated for three Tony Awards and starred in several classic musicals, including “Show Boat,” “The Sound of Music” and “The Music Man,” died Dec. 23 at a Manhattan hospital. She was 59.
Her death was announced in a statement by her husband, actor Danny Burstein. The cause was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative neurological disease that leads to paralysis.
Luker was one of the leading figures of musical theater for 30 years, appearing in nine Broadway productions and many others off-Broadway and on stages across the country. Known for her clear, crystalline soprano voice, she recorded several albums and was a popular cabaret performer.
She had starring roles in “The Phantom of the Opera,” Maury Yeston’s “Nine” and musicals by Stephen Sondheim, but she gained particular acclaim for bringing new life to beloved musicals from Broadway’s past.
She received Tony Award nominations for her performances in revivals of “Show Boat” and “The Music Man,” and her third nomination came for a role in “Mary Poppins,” a 2006 musical based on the 1964 movie. Luker also starred as Maria in a 1998 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” which ran for more than a year.
“During her audition, Rebecca brought such a freshness to the music, as if I had never heard the score before,” Susan H. Schulman, who directed Luker in “The Sound of Music,” told Playbill in 1998. “Little hairs stood up on the back of my neck. You don’t expect songs that you are so familiar with to take you by surprise that way. She has the most glorious voice. The instrument is so pure.”
“The Sound of Music” has never impressed the critics – only the audiences that flock to see it and memorize the words of every song. But even some cynical Broadway scribes found something to like in Luker’s portrayal of Maria, a high-spirited nun – “Unpredictable as weather / She’s as flighty as a feather” – who becomes governess to the seven children of an Austrian nobleman in the 1930s as Nazis take over the country. (The role was first performed on Broadway in 1959 by Mary Martin, then on film in 1965 by Julie Andrews.)
Hartford Courant theater critic Malcolm Johnson called Luker’s performance “true and wonderful, never too sweet . . . a Maria who far surpasses Mary Martin, and perhaps even Julie Andrews.”
Luker received her first Tony nomination for a 1994 revival of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Show Boat,” which was first presented on Broadway in 1927. She played Magnolia, an innocent girl who falls for a shady riverboat gambler named Gaylord Ravenal. Her songs included “Make Believe” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.”
Luker received her first Tony nomination for a 1994 revival of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Show Boat,” which was first presented on Broadway in 1927. She played Magnolia, an innocent girl who falls for a shady riverboat gambler named Gaylord Ravenal. Her songs included “Make Believe” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.”
“Rebecca is a very truthful actor,” Mark Jacoby, who played Ravenal in that production, told the Raleigh News & Observer in 2016. “By that I mean that she doesn’t play the character, she inhabits the character . . . And what a great singer. I have not heard another voice like hers on Broadway in my lifetime.”
Luker was nominated again for a 2000 revival of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” for playing Marian (the librarian), a role first performed on Broadway by Barbara Cook and later in a 1962 movie by Shirley Jones. In “Mary Poppins,” for which she received a Tony nomination in 2007, Luker played Winifred Banks, the mother of two children under the care of Mary Poppins, their nanny. She appeared in the musical for more than three years.
Luker made her Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” in 1988, eventually taking on the lead role, and also was in “The Secret Garden” (1991-93), “Nine” (2003), “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” (2013-15) and “Fun Home” (2015-16).
Elsewhere, she appeared in the 2014 world premiere at the Kennedy Center of “Little Dancer,” about a teenage dancer who inspired painter Edgar Degas, and in other productions in Washington and California. Seeking to expand her acting roles beyond those of ingénues, Luker had parts in several television series, including “NCIS: New Orleans,” “Law and Order: SVU” and “Boardwalk Empire,” and was in several films. She last performed onstage in a 2019 Kennedy Center production of “Footloose.”
Luker often appeared in concerts with orchestras and in intimate cabaret settings, singing show tunes. She “lends even the most anecdotal lyrics a gravitas that keeps you hanging on every word,” critic Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times in 2005.
“If you’ve been wondering who, if anyone, might be the heir to the great Barbara Cook, Luker, who also comes from the South . . . and also played Marian the librarian (in the revival of “The Music Man”) is the one.”
Rebecca Joan Luker was born April 17, 1961, in Birmingham, Ala., and grew up in the small Alabama town of Helena. Her father was a construction worker, her mother a treasurer at a high school.
Luker seldom saw live theater as a child, but “I sang in church a lot and every singing group I could get into,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2003. She was first runner-up for Junior Miss Alabama in 1979. She graduated in 1984 from the University of Montevallo in Alabama, then moved to New York, finding work in the theater almost immediately.
Her first marriage, to actor Gregory Jbara, ended in divorce. In 2000, she married Danny Burstein, a Broadway performer who has been nominated for seven Tony Awards.
In addition to her husband, of New York, survivors include her mother, Martha Hales, and stepfather, Lamar Hales; two stepsons; a brother and sister.
In February, Luker revealed that she had been diagnosed in 2019 with ALS, sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease. A month later, her husband became ill with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and was hospitalized for a week.
Luker later contracted the disease herself but recovered. Burstein published two essays in the Hollywood Reporter about caring for his ailing wife while trying to recover from covid-19.
“Will she ever walk again?” Burstein wrote in August. “Her shoulders went, seemingly overnight. And now her hands.”
Two months earlier, Luker was still strong enough to sing three songs from her wheelchair during a fundraiser for ALS research broadcast over Zoom.
“Well, physically, it helps my lungs,” she told the Times in June. “But more than that, when I sing, I think it heals me. It helps me feel like I’m still a part of something, like I’m doing something that’s worthwhile.”
Batam Customs Office officers oversee the transfer of one of seven containers containing toxic and hazardous waste (B3 waste) to the Capricorn 97.210 Barge, on July 29, 2019 at the Batu Ampar Container Port, Batam, Riau Islands. (JP/Fadli)
SIA said that it already has a series of precautions to protect its crew and reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission. PHOTO: ST FILE
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at a press conference at the Diet Building on Thursday. (The Yomiuri Shimbun)
People wait in a long line around a large Christmas tree to get tested for COVID-19 at a screening center in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, on Christmas Eve on Thursday. (Yonhap)
Medical workers conduct nucleic acid tests in Xicheng district, Beijing, on Thursday. Beijing faces a major test of COVID-19 control after new cases have occurred in several districts. WU XIAOHUI/CHINA DAILY
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