Month: July 2019

Join us every Wednesday as Shaka and his guests discuss topics of special interest to Africans, including politics, economic development, press freedom, health, social issues and conflict resolution.   Broadcast Schedule Straight Talk Africa is broadcast live every Wednesday from 1830-1930 UTC/GMT simultaneously on radio, television and the Internet.   Join the Discussion Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Watch us on YouTube Contact Us: E-mail africatv@voanews.com Postal Mail Voice of America TV to Africa – Suite 1613 330 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20237 USA Internship Opportunities In the competitive and changing television industry, nothing is more valuable for job-seekers than “real world” experience. The Straight Talk Africa internship program offers motivated and outstanding students exciting opportunities to experience practical journalism.  In addition to helping to get our weekly studio programs on-the-air, interns also produce a final project for their portfolios. Projects include writing and producing promos, stories, and even full-length documentary or magazine shows. Watch our interns in action For more information and/or send your resume to: africatv@voanews.com Attention to Roblyn Hymes. …

The U.S. Justice Department’s watchdog will review the role of the FBI and Justice Department in a reversal of plans to move FBI headquarters to the Washington suburbs, Democratic congressional leaders said Wednesday.  The department’s inspector general informed House committee leaders of the review in a letter on Tuesday after two committees had pushed him to investigate the reversal.  The leaders of four House committees, including Oversight and Transportation, who are pursuing their own investigations into the shift of FBI headquarters plans, said in a statement they welcomed the watchdog’s examination.  Before he was elected, U.S. President Donald Trump had favored a government plan to move FBI headquarters from downtown Washington, where it is housed in a crumbling building adorned with safety nets to catch falling chunks of concrete. It is also too small for the bureau’s thousands of local employees.  Current preference Trump now favors replacing the building with a new structure in the same location.  Democrats have alleged that Trump, a real estate developer before becoming president, had expressed interest in the FBI’s move so he could buy the land where the current headquarters sits and redevelop it.  The Democrats say Trump, who owns a hotel down the street from the current FBI building, changed his position on the headquarters move after he became president and was disqualified from bidding for the land.  The watchdog for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal buildings, said last year that the revised plan would be more expensive than the original proposal to move the headquarters.  The GSA’s inspector general also found that the GSA administrator had not disclosed a meeting with …

Tesla set a record for quarterly vehicle deliveries in a triumphant response to months of questions about demand for its luxury electric cars, sending shares up 7% after hours Tuesday. Tesla did not comment on profit — which is still elusive — but the robust deliveries could help jumpstart investor sentiment on Tesla, which has been challenged in recent months. Before Tuesday’s after-hours spike, Tesla shares were down about a third from the beginning of the year. Brushing aside concerns about demand that have dogged the company all year, Tesla said orders during the second quarter exceeded deliveries, despite buyers getting a smaller tax credit. A $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit was cut in half at the end of last year, fell to $1,875 on Monday and expires at the end of the year. “We believe we are well positioned to continue growing total production and deliveries in Q3,” the company said in a statement. Tesla delivered 77,550 Model 3s in the quarter, the company’s latest sedan and linchpin of the company’s growth strategy. That compared with analysts’ average estimate of 73,144, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Deliveries of all models rose 51% from the first quarter to 95,200 vehicles, including 17,650 Model S and X. Analysts on average were expecting total deliveries of 89,084. FILE – Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks before unveiling the Model Y at the company’s design studio in Hawthorne, California, March 14, 2019. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has repeatedly said Tesla could deliver …

Brazil’s foreign minister said Tuesday that protecting the environment “is not only a European interest” after France said it would ratify a free-trade deal between the European Union and the South American bloc Mercosur only if Brazil respects its commitment to reduce deforestation.   The EU and Mercosur last Friday finalized, after two decades of negotiations, an agreement that would integrate the blocs into a market of 800 million people. But the deal must still be ratified by the legislatures of the countries involved.   The French government said Tuesday that it was yet not ready to ratify the pact, saying Brazil must “respect its commitments” to protecting its rainforest. Before the deal was finalized, French President Emmanuel Macron had said France would not sign if Brazil did not continue within the Paris climate agreement.   Brazilian foreign minister Ernesto Araujo responded to France’s comments by saying: “No country is ready to ratify (the agreement) from the constitutional point of view. It must be still submitted to parliament and approved.”   “Most European countries use more agrotoxins per hectare then Brazil. The agricultural health crisis of mad cow disease began in Europe because of the poor feeding of livestock,” Araujo said at a news conference in the capital, Brasilia. “This issue is not only a European interest, but ours” as well.   Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has raised fears among environmentalists by promising to open up the Amazon to further development and because of his close ties to the country’s …

Global regulators will meet in Montreal next week to review pilot licensing requirements, the U.N.’s aviation agency said, as part of a discussion that has gained urgency following two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircraft in the past year. It is the first time that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets global standards for 193 member countries, will undertake such a broad review on training requirements. While the meeting was not called in response to the Max crashes in Indonesia last October and in Ethiopia in March, it coincides with a larger debate on whether increasingly automated commercial jets are compromising pilot skills.  The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide and could not be back in service for months yet. FILE – A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California, March 26, 2019. Most attention surrounding the two 737 Max crashes that killed a total of 346 people focuses on suspected flaws in an automated stall-prevention system called MCAS, which Boeing implemented to make the Max perform like previous 737 models. But the training given to pilots to allow them to handle such problems smoothly is also under scrutiny, expanding an industry debate over pilot skills that has been raging for years as crews spend less and less time flying aircraft manually. “Recently, with current events, people are discussing whether the minimum requirements or experience are still valid, [or] should we review that?” ICAO’s chief …

The Pentagon said on Tuesday a recent Chinese missile launch in the South China Sea was “disturbing” and contrary to Chinese pledges that it would not militarize the disputed waterway. The South China Sea is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and Taiwan. China and the United States have repeatedly traded barbs in the past over what Washington says is Beijing’s militarization of the South China Sea by building military installations on artificial islands and reefs. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said China tested multiple anti-ship ballistic missiles over the weekend. “Of course the Pentagon was aware of the Chinese missile launch from the man-made structures in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said. “I’m not going to speak on behalf of all the sovereign nations in the region, but I’m sure they agree that the PRC’s behavior is contrary to its claim to want to bring peace to the region and obviously actions like this are coercive acts meant to intimidate other (South China Sea) claimants,” Eastburn added. PRC is an acronym for the People’s Republic of China. China’s claims in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each year are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. News of the China missile test was first reported by NBC News. …

Baby spiders like to mingle, but adult spiders tend to eat each other. New research published in PLOS Biology found that adult spiders seem to forget how to behave with each other after being alone too long, which causes them to become aggressive. These findings could help researchers understand why some spider species like to hang out together their whole lives but most would eat another spider if given the chance. Regardless of how you feel about spiders, they’re an important part of many ecosystems. Despite that, they are often misunderstood, said Violette Chiara, a graduate student at the University of Toulouse, France, who led the study. “Spiders are not just aggressive, cannibalistic monsters,” Chiara said. “There are spiders that are social at the beginning of their lives, and there are also some species that remain social during their whole lives.” A friendly start in life Baby spiders, known as spiderlings, begin their lives cozied up to their siblings — sometimes as many as several hundred. But when they grow up, they tend to live alone. Of the more than 40,000 known spider species, all but 30 lead solitary lives in adulthood. It’s not clear why so few spider species remain social their whole lives. Many researchers believe that spiders become more aggressive as they grow, which drives them to avoid each other. Chiara decided to test which comes first: aggressive behavior or social isolation. Chiara and team members Felipe Ramon Portugal and Raphael Jeanson studied labyrinth spiders, which are …

In Malawi, a young albino man is using music to fight discrimination and misconceptions about the genetic condition in a country where more than 100 people with albinism have been attacked since 2014. Lazarus Chigwandali has long been performing on the streets of Lilongwe.  But after catching the eye of a Swedish producer, he began work on an album that is due out in August. He’s also about to embark on a nationwide tour to promote a documentary, produced by American pop star Madonna, about the plight of albinos in Malawi. Lameck Masina reports from Lilongwe. …

In Malawi, a young albino man is using music to fight discrimination and misconceptions about the genetic condition in a country where more than 100 people with albinism have been attacked since 2014.  As teens, Lazarus Chigwandali and his late brother, who also had albinism, played on the streets of Lilongwe, mostly to raise money to buy protective skin lotion. He says in those days it was difficult to find skin lotion that would protect them from the sun, so they had sores all over their bodies. As a result many people discriminated against them because of the way their bodies looked. Attacks continue Discrimination and attacks against albinos like Chigwandali continue. Some Africans believe their body parts, used in so-called magic potions, will bring good luck. At 39, Chigwandali began composing songs about the myths and misperceptions about people with albinism. Then he heard music producers from abroad wanted to meet him at his home village to record his music, something that worried his wife, Gertrude Levison. She says she was afraid that maybe they wanted to kidnap them all. But she realized that it was a peaceful move when she heard her husband talking with a friend of his on the phone. The recording deal enabled Chigwandali to produce a 30-track music album, Stomp on the Devil, which denounces attacks on albinos. It is due out in August Esau Mwamwaya, is Chigwandali’s manager. “With the challenge which people with albinism face in Malawi we felt like, with his …

Iran announced Monday that it has exceeded its low-enriched uranium stockpile limit, violating the amount it agreed to hold in the 2015 international deal. The move is aimed at forcing the signatories of the nuclear deal to give Iran relief from U.S. sanctions. VOA’s Kurdish Service discussed the consequences of Iran’s action with two experts on Iranian issues. Zlatica Hoke has a summary of what they said. …

Forests are one of the planet’s best defenses against climate change. But trees are worth more to most people as building material or firewood than as sponges for planet-warming carbon dioxide. Conservationists are working to find ways to make forests valuable while protecting the livelihoods of people who earn a living from them. In the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, an environmental group recently bought 40,000 hectares of forest. But that will not mean an end to logging. VOA’s Steve Baragona has a look. …

Upon returning from the G-20 summit, U.S. President Trump claimed foreign policy victory, saying that “much was accomplished.” But what exactly was achieved during the three-day trip? White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara unpacks the president’s whirlwind trip to Osaka and Seoul. …

The U.S. military says it has struck an al-Qaida leadership and training facility in northern Syria where attacks threatening Americans and others were being planned. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the strike occurred on Sunday near the northern province of Aleppo. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, said Monday that the strike killed eight members of the al-Qaida-linked Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for “Guardians of Religion.” The Observatory says the dead included six commanders: two Algerians, two Tunisians, an Egyptian and a Syrian. Al-Qaida-linked militants control wide parts of northern Syria, mostly in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.       …

India spends billions of dollars on social welfare support for the poor but corruption, fraud and inefficiencies often prevent the benefits from reaching them. But now, the government is starting to transform the way it gets welfare to the poor by linking welfare programs to the world’s biggest biometric identity project under which more than one billion people have been given biometric cards. Anjana Pasricha reports on how residents of a rural hamlet in the northern Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh are benefiting after it switched from cash to digital payments. …

A powerful car bomb-and-gun attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul is reported to have killed and wounded dozens of people. Officials said the ensuing clashes between the assailants and Afghan security forces were raging six hours into the siege. The Taliban claimed responsibility for plotting the suicide raid against what it said was the logistics and engineering center of the Afghan Defense Ministry. Residents said Monday’s blast occurred in a central part of the city during morning rush hour, sending a plume of black smoke over Kabul. Wounded people receive treatment in a hospital after a powerful bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 1, 2019. Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said in a statement that several gunmen later took positions in a nearby under construction multi-story building following the blast and started firing at Afghan police forces on duty. Rahimi added that Afghan special forces reached the site and an operation was underway to neutralize the assailants. He said two attackers had already been killed while the rest were currently holed up in “civilian homes” around the site of the attack. Rahimi noted that security forces have rescued more than 200 people to safety. Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah condemned the Taliban attack, saying it “showcases the group’s inherent criminal nature” and vowed the violence will not deter security forces from pursuing and punishing the “miscreants.” Ambulances rushed to the scene and ferried one dead and around 100 injured people to hospitals, including children, the Afghan health ministry spokesman …

Albania has avoided clashes during municipal elections amid high tensions between the ruling and opposition parties and a tug-of-war between the prime minister and president. However, turnout was said to be low, raising further questions about their legitimacy inside the Balkan country. The main opposition parties boycotted the June 30 municipal elections, accusing the Socialist-led government of Prime Minister Edi Rama of previous electoral fraud and corruption. Rama and his government have denied the allegations and insisted on holding the vote, even after President Ilir Meta said he was postponing it until October amid security concerns. Opposition supporters have protested for weeks, calling for Rama’s resignation and new general elections, and clashed with police in several incidents where they tried to disrupt election preparations. Groups of protesters gathered at several polling stations in the capital, Tirana, to dissuade fellow citizens from voting. However, the much-feared clashes never materialized amid the low voter turnout. Interior Minister Sander Lleshaj said voting proceeding calmly. The U.S. Embassy in Albania and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called on both sides to refrain from violence. Some 3.5 million Albanians are eligible to elect mayors and town hall councils in 61 districts. The total registered voter list is larger than the country’s population of 2.9 million because of the number of people from the Albanian diaspora in other countries. Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time and closed at 7 p.m. Around 12 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by 11 …

A tough new ban on single use plastic bags has come into force in New Zealand.   Retailers caught still handing them out to customers could be fined up to $67,000 (US dollars).  But critics say the legislation introduced July 1 does not go far enough. It is a small country but about 750 million plastic bags are used in New Zealand each year.  Surveys show most people support the ban on lightweight single-use bags that the government says are an environmental menace.  Retailers who flout the law could face heavy fines and shoppers are encouraged to report offenders, while random checks by officials are also planned.  But authorities say their initial approach will be to educate companies about their responsibilities before fines are imposed.    Eugenie Sage, the associate minister for the environment, says the ban is part of a broader assault on New Zealand’s “throwaway culture.” “It is progressively making that shift.  I mean, my grandmother never used plastic bags going to the supermarket.  That was what that generation did and I think we are making the shift back to less plastic,” she said. The ban was announced by Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, last year, and regulations that came into force Monday apply to any type of plastic less than 70 microns in thickness.  Supermarkets had already begun phasing them out.  Garbage bin liners, nappy bags and pet waste bags are exempt. Critics, however, insist a loophole will allow retailers to continue to sell reusable heavier …