Year: 2019

Google pledged Thursday to help train a quarter of a million people for technology jobs, adding its name to a White House initiative designed to get private companies to expand training opportunities for Americans. CEO Sundar Pichai announced the commitment during an appearance with White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump at El Centro community college in Dallas. Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter, oversees the administration’s worker training efforts. Google is also expanding a program it developed to prepare people for entry-level jobs in information technology support in less than six months — no college degree or prior experience required, Pichai said. More than 85,000 students have enrolled in the course since its launch in January 2018. Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during a visit to El Centro College in Dallas, Oct. 3, 2019. Expanding the course and creating another pathway to the fast-growing, high-paying field of IT support is part of the tech giant’s decision to join more than 350 U.S. companies and add its name to the Trump administration’s Pledge to America’s Workers. “Through this pledge, as Ivanka mentioned, we are committed to creating 250,000 new training opportunities for American workers over the next five years,” Pichai said at a roundtable discussion with school administrators and students who have completed the IT support program.                     “I cannot tell you how excited we are about this,” added Ivanka Trump. “IT is such a critical industry to this nation.”     …

Tanzania denied Thursday it was withholding information from the World Health Organization (WHO) on suspected cases of Ebola, saying it was not hiding any outbreak of the deadly disease in the country. “Ebola is known as a fast-spreading disease, whose impact can be felt globally. This is not a disease that the Tanzanian government can hide,” Tanzania health minister Ummy Mwalimu told journalists in commercial capital Dar es Salaam. “Reports suggesting that Tanzania has not been transparent about suspected cases of Ebola and is not sharing information with the WHO are false and should be ignored.” Last month WHO said Tanzania had refused to provide detailed information on suspected Ebola cases. Map of Tanzania showing cities and a refugee camp. Travel advisories The organization said it was made aware Sept. 10 of the death of a patient in Dar es Salaam, and was unofficially told the next day the person had tested positive for Ebola. This week the United States and Britain issued travel advisories to their citizens against Tanzania amid persisting Ebola concerns. Days before WHO’s rebuke of Tanzanian authorities, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traveled to the country at the direction of U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar, who had also criticized the country for not sharing information. Mwalimu said Tanzania has investigated 28 suspected cases of Ebola over the past year, including two cases in September, but they all tested negative. She said they had shared that information with WHO. “We are …

After several initial failures, a giant floating boom designed to collect trash from the ocean is finally working. The Ocean Cleanup Project, created by a 25-year-old Dutch university dropout, has begun collecting items ranging in size from as large as commercial fishing nets to as small as 1 millimeter pieces of plastic from the area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch located halfway between California and Hawaii. “Our ocean cleanup system is now finally catching plastic, from one-ton ghost nets to tiny microplastics! Also, anyone missing a wheel?” Boyan Slat tweeted. The 600-meter-long free-floating boom has a tapered 3-meter-deep screen that acts like a coastline to trap the estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic that form the patch, while allowing marine life to swim under it. An underwater parachute anchor was added to the boom after it failed to trap any trash in the sea last year. The anchor slowed down the boom to allow it to passively catch the trash while moving with the currents. Using sensors and satellites, the boom communicates with scientists to let them know when it is time to send out a boat to pick up the collected trash for recycling. The environmental nonprofit Ocean Conservancy estimates between 600,000 and 800,000 metric tons of fishing gear is abandoned or lost in the oceans every year. Another 8 million metric tons of plastic trash such as bottles, bags and toys flow annually into the ocean from beaches, rivers and creeks. Slat said the next move …

Peru’s centrist President Martin Vizcarra swore in a new Cabinet on Thursday as a challenge to his leadership by dismissed lawmakers fizzled out, potentially ushering in a rare period of political calm in the South American nation. No public institution or foreign power has backed the right-wing opposition’s charge that Vizcarra illegally dissolved Congress on Monday, though former lawmakers have vowed to ask Peru’s top court to intervene to halt what they deemed a “coup.” The past three years in Peru have been marked by repeated clashes between the executive and legislative branches and back-to-back corruption scandals, including one that led former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to resign in March of last year. Vizcarra invoked a nuclear option in the constitution to close Congress and call new legislative elections, forcing him to reshuffle his Cabinet as well. Vizcarra, who served as Kuczynski’s vice president, said the move was needed to end a year-long standoff with the opposition over his efforts to stamp out corruption in institutions discredited by protracted graft scandals. In a ceremony at the presidential palace, Vizcarra changed most of his ministers, naming Harvard-trained public administrator Maria Antonieta Alva as finance minister and Juan Carlos Liu, an engineer from the energy sector, as energy and mines minister. The appointments did not indicate any major shift in policy in Peru, the world’s No. 2 copper producer and one of Latin America’s most open economies. But the official event suggested Peru was moving on from its worst political crisis in …

Scores of senior doctors in Zimbabwe’s public hospitals have threatened to strike starting Thursday, if the government fails to meet their demand for better salaries and working conditions. They would join hundreds of their junior counterparts, who’ve been on strike since September 3 for the same reasons. Patients are being turned away from public health facilities amid the southern African country’s protracted economic crisis, given shortages of staffing, medical equipment and supplies. “Appalling and disgraceful” conditions have left “no option but to openly declare our incapacitation,” the Senior Hospital Doctors Association said in a statement, setting a deadline of Thursday for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to respond. According to the Zimbabwe Health Service Board, the government employs roughly 1,550 doctors and specialists in public hospitals serving the southern African country of 14 million. FILE – Zimbabwean medical staff march in Harare, Sept. 19, 2019. Zimbabwean doctors protesting the alleged abduction of a union leader won a high court ruling allowing them to march and handover a petition to the parliament. Doctors have complained that their salaries — less than $200 a month for juniors — barely cover their living expenses. Almost all of the 524 junior doctors are believed to be striking. About 200 more senior doctors, including specialists, would walk off the job. Dr. Paulinus Sikosana, who chairs the Zimbabwe Health Service Board, urged the senior doctors to keep working for the sake of patients. “While we try to negotiate, perhaps, we appeal to the doctors’ consciences … to …

The sloth – a super slow tree dweller that spends most of its life hanging upside down – isn’t on an endangered species list.  But human activity hasn’t  been kind to the popular creature who lives in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi tell us about a rehabilitation program that aims to get sloths back on their feet … and into treetops. …

Hawaii’s vibrant reefs are home to amazing populations of corals and fish, which are under growing stress and danger from a spike in  ocean temperatures.  A similar underwater heatwave damaged the reef four years ago. Now, researchers are using divers and satellites to study these corals and find ways to protect them. VOA’s Jim Randle has our story.  …

Ebola is again spreading quickly in several African countries, with the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular peril. VOA’s Plugged In traveled with U.S. health officials in mid-September to the epicenter of the outbreak, along the country’s remote northeast border. The U.S.-led delegation brought hope and medicine to the region, but serious challenges remain. Mil Arcega was on the trip and reports from the DRC. …

Hundreds of spectators gathered recently at Washington, DC’s Wharf’s District Pier to watch an unusual competition in speed and agility. Maxim Moskalkov watched the four-legged race. …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has acknowledged he was on the telephone call that triggered the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump. “I was on the phone call,” Pompeo confirmed Tuesday at a news conference in Rome, without offering details about what was said during the conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. But during an interview last week on ABC News’ ‘This Week,’ Pompeo was vague about what he knew about the call, which eventually precipitated a whistleblower complaint expressing concern Trump was seeking foreign interference in the 2020 election by asking Ukraine to investigate Democratic candidate Joe Biden. “So, you just gave me a report about a I.C. (intelligence community) whistleblower complaint, none of which I’ve seen,” Pompeo had said. U.S. President Donald Trump insists he did nothing wrong in the phone call.  He has been criticizing the impeachment inquiry launched by House Democrats against him as a “coup,” while the heads of several House of Representatives committees accuse Pompeo of blocking their efforts to gather documents and interview witnesses. The State Department’s inspector general is expected to meet Wednesday with staff from the House and Senate appropriations, oversight, foreign affairs and intelligence committees to discuss documents that lawmakers have requested as they probe the July phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy. The House intelligence, oversight and foreign affairs committees had asked to hear testimony Wednesday from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, but that session was postponed until next week.  Former U.S. envoy to …

Malaysian singer-songwriter, Yuna fourth album “Rouge” was released this summer. The album has a pop and R&B feel because she wanted to bring back the feel of old records — old vinyl. She is best known for the collaboration with Usher on her breakout single, “Crush”, which peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Adult R&B chart. …

In Hong Kong there are growing concerns the government is condoning the excessive use of force against pro-democracy demonstrators after police shot a student protester on Tuesday. More than 100 people were injured during Tuesday’s mass demonstrations in Hong Kong. Police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds. Some protesters armed with rocks and homemade gasoline bombs also attacked police. Lawful and reasonable In one skirmish that was captured on video, an 18-year-old student was shot by a police officer, who was being attacked by protesters in Tsuen Wan neighborhood in Central Hong Kong. Hong Kong Police Commissioner, Stephen Lo, said on Wednesday the officer’s use of potentially deadly force was “lawful and reasonable.” Vigil Held for Hong Kong Student Shot in Latest Anti-Beijing Protests Violent clashes between protesters and police marred Tuesday’s elaborate ceremony marking 70th anniversary of founding of Communist China “The police officer’s life was seriously endangered, so he fired one shot at the attacker,” said Lo. This was the first time Hong Kong police fired live ammunition against a protester. In the past police only fired real bullets in the air as warning shots to disperse crowds of demonstrators. They also fired rubber bullets into crowds in the past. Public anger The student who was shot underwent surgery and is in critical condition at a Hong Kong hospital. On Wednesday supporters of the student held a sit in at his school the Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu Memorial College. Some former students, who …

Nearly two months after the Indian government changed the status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, new tensions are brewing in Ladakh, a remote and picturesque part of that territory that borders China. On Aug. 5, New Delhi stripped Indian-controlled Kashmir of its statehood and divided it into two centrally governed union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. India and Pakistan both claim predominantly Muslim Kashmir, and the territory is divided between them, with insurgents battling Indian forces for three decades. Since the move eight weeks ago by India’s Hindu-led government, it has flooded the region with additional troops that enforced a security crackdown and communication blockade. Tensions also have existed for years in the Ladakh region in northeastern Kashmir, which is further divided administratively into the Leh district, which is predominantly Buddhist, and the Kargil district, which is mostly Muslim. There also have been occasional border skirmishes between India and China. On Oct. 31, New Delhi will formally take direct control of Ladakh, which is famous for its sparsely populated and stunning landscapes, Buddhist monks in mountaintop monasteries and elusive snow leopards prowling rugged terrain. That move is raising fears about the future in both the Buddhist and Muslim communities, although so far the tension has been confined to cultural and political differences, without violence. When the change in governmental status was announced for Ladakh, there were celebrations by its Buddhist population, which has been demanding separation from Kashmir since shortly after India achieved independence from British …

The sounds of artists at work fill the spacious workshops at the American College of the Building Arts in historic Charleston, South Carolina. In the Iron shop, Alex Fisher grinds down an iron door handle while Jeremiah Price and others use heat to soften the metal in theirs and hammer them into shape. In an adjacent space, a group of young men measure, saw, and sand wood to make custom workbenches. A disappearing art The students at this private, one-of-a-kind college are aspiring artisans. Working in a building that was once a trolley barn, they immerse themselves in an intense, hands-on program that trains them in traditional European craftsmanship – which many believe to be a vanishing art form. Sophomore Steven Fancsali had already earned a degree in architectural design and worked as a designer for four years doing residential architecture before he learned about the school on a television program. “My thought was ‘well I wish I had known about this 10 years ago when I was actually looking at schools’, he said. “I didn’t like being behind a desk, I couldn’t stand being cooped up…so I decided to just make a change.” So he applied to the non-profit school, got accepted, and moved from Chicago to Charleston. Students work on a woodworking project in a Timber Framing class at the American College of the Building Arts, Charleston, S.C., Sept. 17, 2019. (J. Taboh/VOA News) Rising phoenix The school was founded in the wake of Hurricane Hugo, which ripped …

Ukraine’s president said Tuesday that no one explained to him why millions of dollars in U.S. military aid to his country was delayed, shrugging off suggestions that President Donald Trump froze the funding to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is struggling to distance himself from U.S. politics, and to contain the damage to Ukraine and his own reputation from a July phone call between him and Trump that unleashed a congressional impeachment inquiry. “It is impossible to put pressure on me,” he told reporters Tuesday. “Many people try to influence me,” he said, but “I am the president of independent Ukraine.” Zelenskiy said that in discussions with Trump, he repeatedly stressed the importance of the U.S. military aid to help Ukraine battle Russian-backed separatists. In the July call, he thanked Trump for his “great support in the area of defense” and said Ukraine was ready to “cooperate for the next steps,” according to a rough transcript released by the White House. Zelenskiy didn’t say Tuesday whether the issue was raised in other discussions or when they took place. The Pentagon in June announced plans to send $250 million in aid to Ukraine, but its delivery was delayed. A defense official said the Trump administration was analyzing the extent to which Ukrainian was addressing long-standing U.S. concerns about corruption. The funding was then released in September. “It wasn’t explained to me” why the money didn’t come through earlier, Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy also said he …

A strike by the United Auto Workers union has caused a parts shortage, forcing General Motors to shut down its pickup truck and transmission factories in Silao, Mexico. Spokesman Dan Flores confirmed that production at the factories ended Tuesday morning, affecting 6,000 workers. The plant shutdown means that GM has lost any new supplies of its light-duty Chevrolet Silverado, the company’s top-selling U.S. vehicle. Earlier GM had to close a Mexican engine plant and an assembly plant in Canada due to the strike. The strike by over 49,000 union workers is now in its third week, and both sides are feeling the impact. Workers are having to get by on $250 per week in strike pay instead of their normal base pay of about $1,200 per week. The 16-day strike has cost GM just over $1 billion, JP Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman estimated Tuesday in a note to investors. The losses are mounting each week the strike continues, costing GM about $480 million in the first week and another $575 million in the second, Brinkman wrote. The company is losing $82 million per day. GM books revenue from building vehicles as soon as they change hands from the factory to the company that ships them to dealers. So revenue has been counted already for nearly all vehicles that are in dealer hands. Many dealers stocked up before the strike and report having plenty of inventory. Brinkman wrote that GM could recover some of its lost profits by increasing production in …

Melania Trump will promote U.S. national parks and her youth initiative later this week in Wyoming. The White House says the first lady will visit national parks and landmarks Thursday and spread the child well-being message that’s a big component of her year-old “Be Best” initiative.   Last month, Mrs. Trump and fourth-grade students from the District of Columbia participated in the ceremonial reopening of the Washington Monument. She helped hand out National Park Service passes that grant fourth-graders free access to hundreds of national parks, lands and waters.   The White House says Thursday’s visit will be about encouraging fourth-graders to get a pass from the National Park Service so they can spend more time outdoors. Wyoming is home to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.   …