Author: Selleco

What started as workshops to provide skills needed to restore damage from Hurricane Hugo in 1989 has become an accredited college in Charleston, South Carolina.  As its students well know, this College of The Building Arts is fulfilling a direct need for historic restoration. Reporter:   Julie Taboh, Camera: Adam Greenbaum, Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki …

Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, on Thursday set a share price for its initial public stock offering — expected to be the biggest ever — that puts the value of the company at $1.7 trillion, more than Apple or Microsoft.    The company said it would sell its shares at 32 riyals ($8.53) each, putting the overall value of the stake being sold at $25.6 billion.    Aramco is floating a 1.5% stake in the company, or 3 billion shares. Trading is expected to happen on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange as early as December 11.    The company is selling 0.5% to individuals who are Saudi citizens and residents  and 1% to institutional investors, which can be sovereign wealth funds, asset managers or government-run pension programs.    The pricing of the shares was at the top of the range Aramco had sought. The company had priced its shares ranging from 30 to 32 riyals each, or $8 to $8.53 a share.    In the announcement Thursday, Aramco said the offering drew heavy demand. Most orders from Saudis The company’s financial advisers had said earlier that most orders came from Saudi funds or companies, with foreign investors, including from neighboring Persian Gulf Arab states, accounting for 10.5% of the bids. It was not immediately known what the final figures released Thursday represented and how much of that was generated by foreign investment.    The highly anticipated sale of a sliver of the company had generated global buzz since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans for it more than two years ago. That’s in part because it would clock in as the world’s biggest IPO, surpassing …

A piece of paper no bigger than a business card could enrich struggling coffee farmers and their soil, a growing challenge as temperatures rise and prices fluctuate.    Enveritas, a U.S. nonprofit, signed an agreement with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) on Thursday to pilot the AgroPad, which analyzes soil samples remotely and quickly.    Powered by artificial intelligence, the AgroPad can perform a chemical analysis in 10 seconds, reading nitrate or chloride levels from a drop of water or small soil sample, said IBM.    Enveritas plans to provide the devices for free to farmers in coffee-growing regions of Latin America and Africa, and IBM said it aims to make them affordable for everyone. Its target production cost: less than 25 cents.    The nonprofit, which works with 100,000 farms, mills and estates in Latin America and Africa, did not say how many would be in the pilot but, if successful, “the plan is to scale it out,” CEO David Browning told Reuters.    Coffee farmers have been struggling with a slump in global prices while climate change is threatening vast swaths of land in Latin America, Asia and Africa.    Enveritas, which verifies the sustainability of coffee farmers, said most of its growers live on less than $2 a day.    Chemical analysis of soil is vital to improve yields but is complicated, expensive and time-consuming because it requires laboratory equipment, said Mathias Steiner from IBM Research-Brazil.    AgroPad costs less and could reduce the use of fertilizers, which would save money and help the environment, said Steiner, one of its inventors.    …

President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States may take action on trade with countries that are not contributing enough to NATO. Trump, fresh from a trip to London for a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been pushing member countries to contribute more to the organization. The U.S. president said a lot of countries were getting close to the goal of 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product for NATO contributions. “A lot of countries are close and getting closer. And some are really not close, and we may do things having to do with trade. It’s not fair that they get U.S. protection and they’re not putting up their money,” he said. Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron clashed over the future of NATO on Tuesday before a summit intended to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Western military alliance. In sharp exchanges underlining discord in a transatlantic bloc hailed by many as the most successful military pact in history, Trump demanded that Europe pay more for its collective defense and make concessions to U.S. interests on trade. He also was upbeat about the alliance on Thursday, saying his meetings went well and that “NATO is in very, very good shape and the relationships with other countries are really extraordinary.” …

Republican Senator Kevin Cramer prevented the U.S. Senate from voting Thursday on a resolution that would recognize as a genocide the mass killings of Armenians a century ago, saying it was not an appropriate time to pass legislation that would anger Turkey.    The Democrat-led House of Representatives passed the resolution  405-11 in late October. But there has not been a vote in the Senate, where President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a majority of seats.    Congressional aides said the White House did not want the legislation to move ahead while it was negotiating with Ankara on sensitive issues such as Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria and the NATO ally’s purchase of an S-400 missile defense system from Russia, which could provoke U.S. sanctions.    The resolution asserts that it is U.S. policy to commemorate as genocide the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. The Ottoman Empire was centered in present-day Turkey.    Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but it contests the figures and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.  Threat to sovereignty Ankara views foreign involvement in the issue as a threat to its sovereignty. It immediately denounced the House vote.    Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas tried to force a Senate vote on the resolution Thursday.    Cramer, of North Dakota, blocked it, saying the time was not right, just after Trump held …

Measles infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, as devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of the world, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. In figures described by its director general as “an outrage,” the WHO said most of last year’s measles deaths were in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated. “The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world’s most vulnerable children,” said the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus. FILE – Signs posted at The Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver, Wash., Jan. 30, 2019, warn patients and visitors of a measles outbreak. The picture for 2019 is even worse, the WHO said, with provisional data up to November showing a three-fold increase compared with the same period in 2018. The United States has already reported its highest number of measles cases in 25 years in 2019, while four countries in Europe — Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece and Britain — lost their WHO “measles-free” status in 2018 after suffering large outbreaks. An ongoing outbreak of measles in South Pacific nation of Samoa has infected more than 4,200 people and killed more than 60, mostly babies and children, in a battle complicated by a vocal anti-vaccination movement. Globally, measles vaccination rates have stagnated for almost a decade, the WHO said. It and the UNICEF children’s fund say that in 2018, around 86% …

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday led hundreds of people in a march against corruption, calling corrupt people parasites who steal public wealth. Museveni said to end corruption, leaders must develop the economy. “Commercial agriculture, industry services and ICT, because that’s how we can create jobs and wealth and income so that our people do not have a material basis for acute need, which forces them to be corrupt,” Museveni said. President Yoweri Museveni addresses a gathering that had participated in the anti-corruption walk in Kampala, Uganda, Dec. 4, 2019. (Halima Athumani/VOA News) Critics note that last year, Transparency International ranked Uganda as one of the most corrupt countries in Africa, below Kenya, Mauritania and Nigeria. Action Aid International-Uganda says Museveni marching against corruption is ironic, because his government is to blame for much of it. Nickson Ogwal is the director of programs and policy at Action Aid International-Uganda. “He is the chief law enforcement officer of Uganda,” Ogwal said. “He’s therefore the one [to] whom the citizens are supposed to walk and show and demonstrate that they are angry about corruption. Now, to whom is he angry? So, we really think that he is playing politics.” Critics accuse Uganda’s inspector general of holding only lower level officials or private citizens to account for corruption. The inspector, Irene Mulyagonja, acknowledges that some top government officials hide behind Museveni but argues the president is sincere in tackling corruption. “You see when he says, ‘I am ready to fight,’ it means he’s …

The Alyn Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital in Jerusalem offers innovative therapies for children with serious injuries. They treat children (and parents) from diverse national, cultural and religious backgrounds, preparing them to cope with their special needs in their home communities. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. …

The highly anticipated final chapter in the Skywalker film saga will feature a significant role for Princess Leia, the beloved “Star Wars” character played by late actress Carrie Fisher. Writer and director J.J. Abrams said he had enough unused footage of Fisher from the filming of 2015 movie “The Force Awakens” to make Leia a key player in “The Rise of Skywalker,” the “Star Wars” film that debuts in theaters on Dec. 20. Fisher died in 2016 at age 60. “We couldn’t tell the story without Leia,” Abrams said in an interview on Wednesday. “She’s the mother of the villain of the piece. She’s in a sense the mother of the resistance, the rebellion, the leader, the general.” “Her role is, I would say, integral,” he added. “This is not just a cosmetic thing where we’re sort of inserting Leia.” “The Rise of Skywalker” is the ninth movie in the celebrated space franchise that debuted in 1977 and is now owned by Walt Disney Co. In recent films, Leia had risen to general leading the fight against the evil First Order in the galaxy far, far away. Her son is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the warrior who took over as ruler of the First Order at the end of 2017 film “The Last Jedi.” If Fisher had been alive, “there is no question we would have done, I’m sure, additional and other things,” Abrams said. “But the fact we had the material to do what we did is incredibly gratifying.” …

Congressional Democrats launched the next step in the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday, hearing testimony from legal scholars on what the U.S. Constitution says about the standards for impeaching and removing a president from office. The House Judiciary Committee hearings take lawmakers a step closer to a vote on Articles of Impeachment, measures that if passed would lead to a Senate trial. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.   …

Moscow denies any involvement in the shooting death of a former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin in August. The Russian government Wednesday condemned Germany’s decision to expel two Russian diplomats over the case. Germany has accused Russia of failing to assist in the investigation. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the attack on the Chechen rebel in Germany has been compared to the attempt on the life of a former Russian spy in Britain last year. …

Iran’s President Hassan Rohani has called for the release of protesters who were arrested in recent demonstrations against a sharp hike in gas prices if they were unarmed and simply voicing their opinion. “Religious and Islamic clemency should be shown and those innocent people who protested against petrol price hikes and were not armed…should be released,” Rohani said in a televised speech on December 4. Protests erupted on November 15 after the government announced a fuel price hike of up to 200 % but were quickly stifled by security forces who also imposed a week-long near-total Internet blackout. Earlier this week rights group Amnesty International said at least 208 people were killed in the crackdown, a number that is “evidence that Iran’s security forces went on a horrific killing spree.” Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili rejected the high death toll estimates on December 3, calling them “utter lies.” On December 3, Rohani ordered a panel to investigate possible compensation for civilians who suffered personal or property damages during the protests. …

NATO leaders are gathering at a golf resort outside of London Wednesday to present a united front amid bitter differences over terrorism, Turkey and increased burden sharing with the United States. The 29 leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, posed for a traditional “family” photograph before retreating for the planned three-hour meeting.  The leaders are expected to release a statement afterwards promising to focus more attention on the challenges posed by Russia and rising superpower China.   On the sidelines of the meeting Wednesday, Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  The White House said “the  two Presidents discussed the importance of Turkey fulfilling its alliance commitments, further strengthening commerce through boosting bilateral trade by $100 billion, regional security challenges, and energy security.” A day earlier, leaders had gathered for informal meetings to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance’s founding, but the day was overshadowed when tensions between President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron broke out in full public display. Macron vs Trump In an almost 40-minute session with journalists the two leaders clashed on a number of issues including burden sharing within NATO, terrorism, Turkey’s invasion in northern Syria, and the U.S. withdrawal from an arms treaty with Russia. The two leaders met hours after Trump criticized Macron for his recent statement describing NATO as experiencing a “brain death,” due to diminished U.S. leadership.  Trump called it a “nasty statement.”   President Donald Trump, right, listens as French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at their meeting at …

China has expressed anger over passage of a bill by the U.S. House of Representatives that calls for official actions against Beijing over its crackdown on millions of ethnic Muslims.   By a vote of 407-to-1, the Democratic-led chamber approved the Uighur Act of 2019 Tuesday which condemns the detention of an estimated one million Uighurs, Kazahks and other ethnic Muslims in so-called “re-education camps” in the remote western province of Xinjiang.  The bill directs various U.S. government agencies to prepare reports on China’s treatment of the Muslim minorities, and calls on President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for the mass detentions, specifically Chen Quanguo, the ruling Communist Party’s chief in Xinjiang. Beijing has denied that it is detaining the Uighurs against their will, maintaining that the camps are “vocational training centers” designed to combat terrorism and extremism and to teach new skills.   The Republican-controlled Senate passed a similar bill back in September.  The two measures will have to be reconciled and approved by both the House and Senate before they go to Trump for his signature.   In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters that any nation that seeks to interfere in China’s internal affairs will pay a price. The U.S., the United Nations and various human rights groups have accused China of detaining ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang in an attempt to force them to renounce their religion and heritage. The State Department has imposed visa restrictions against Chinese government and …

A decision by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to dissolve the ruling party months ahead of the 2020 national election has prompted criticism from the upper echelons of his own government. In an interview with VOA’s Afaan Oromo Service, Minister of Defense Lemma Megerssa said unrest in the country means it is the wrong time to create a new political party. “Merging this party is not timely as there are many dangers. We are in a transition,” he said, speaking in Afaan Oromo. “This is borrowed time; it is not ours. We are facing several problems from different places during this borrowed time.” Lemma is currently visiting the U.S. with a delegation aiming to strengthen the two countries’ defense partnerships. In November, Abiy announced that the country’s ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, EPRDF, would dissolve and become one unified party called the Prosperity Party. Ethiopia’s Ruling Coalition Merges Into Single Party Newly formed party, created just months ahead of the general election in May, is called the Prosperity Party The decision came after a vote by coalition members in support of the change. On December 1, the prime minister held a ceremony in the capital celebrating the new party and saying it “has also prepared a clear program and bylaws as well as a 10-year plan that leads Ethiopia to prosperity,” state-media reported. Previously the EPRDF had been a coalition of four ethnically based parties. VOA Report But the decision has prompted a backlash. The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front …

More than 200 people have perished in east African floods and mudslides since the beginning of the rainy season, which is not over yet. Experts say the rains were especially heavy this year due to a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole which can cause a rise in water temperatures in the Indian Ocean of up to 2 degree Celsius. This leads to higher evaporation rates off the East African coastline which results in more rain inland.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was a “victim” of the multimillion-dollar 1MDB scandal that saw state coffers drained on his watch, his lawyer said Tuesday, as the ex-premier gave evidence in his own fraud trial. Huge sums were stolen from sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, allegedly by the ex-prime minister and his cronies, and spent on everything from high-end real estate to artwork. Najib’s coalition was ousted at the polls last year after six decades in power, largely due to public anger over the scandal. He has since been arrested and hit with dozens of charges linked to the looting of the investment vehicle. “Najib is not part of the conspiracy. He is a victim as much as others in the 1MDB scandal,” his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Adbullah told reporters. “The leader of the pack is Jho Low,” he said, referring to fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, a member of Najib’s inner circle who allegedly masterminded the elaborate fraud that spanned from the United States to Switzerland, Dubai and Singapore. “The crux of my defense is the entire scheme is designed by Jho Low,” Shafee added. Low “portrayed himself as someone influential in the Middle East countries,” Najib told the packed courtroom, speaking calmly during five hours of testimony. “I thought his influence and connections will help 1MDB achieve its goals and attract investments.” 243-page statement Najib, 66, went on trial in April over the controversy, in a case centered on the transfer of 42 million ringgit …

Russia on Tuesday accused a former U.S. Marine it has held for almost a year on spying charges of faking health problems in custody and lying about his ill-treatment to stir up noise around his case. Paul Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was accused of espionage after agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service detained him in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28. Whelan, who is being held in pre-trial detention, denies Moscow’s allegations and says he was set up in a political sting. He has alleged at court hearings that he is being subjected to ill treatment in custody and that his complaints are systematically ignored. In October, he said a prison guard had forced him to his knees and threatened him with a gun. In August, Whelan’s lawyer said his client was suffering from a groin hernia that prison authorities were aggravating, prompting the U.S. embassy to demand immediate access to Whelan. A U.S. diplomat met him last week in jail and called for his immediate release. The U.S. embassy described Whelan’s treatment as “shameful”, said Moscow had refused permission for an outside doctor to examine him. On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Whelan’s allegations of ill-treatment had not checked out and that diplomats were being granted regular access to him in custody. “They (the diplomats) know perfectly well that the public statements by the accused about certain abuses and even threats (made to his) life in pre-trial detention – are nothing more …

The publisher of Barack and Michelle Obama has pledged to donate 300,000 children’s books to a leading educational organization, adding to the 1 million copies already given. Penguin Random House announced Tuesday that it had joined with the former president and former first lady in contributing to First Book in the Obama family’s name. For every $3 donated to First Book between now and the end of the year, Random House will give two new books to First Book, up to 300,000 books. First Book distributes books and other resources to schools and programs serving children from low-income communities. The initial First Book contribution was announced by Penguin Random House upon acquiring memoirs by the Obamas in 2017. Michelle Obama’s million-selling “Becoming” came out last year. Barack Obama is currently working on his book about his years in the White House. “When children have greater access to our books and stories, we, together with President and Mrs. Obama, are helping to shape a literate, educated, and democratic society that will become the next generation of readers and leaders,” Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle said in a statement. …

Drake is the king of streaming: the rapper has been named Spotify’s most-streamed artist of the decade. Spotify announced Tuesday that Drake has been streamed 28 billion times in the last 10 years. Ed Sheeran came in second, while Post Malone, Ariana Grande and Eminem round out the Top 5. Sheeran’s “Shape of You” was the most-streamed song of the decade. Post Malone performs during Snow Fest at Park City Live on Jan. 20, 2018, in Park City, Utah. For 2019, Post Malone is the top-streamed artist globally. Billie Eilish, Grande, Sheeran and Bad Bunny round out the Top 5. Eilish’s debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’” is the year’s most-streamed album, while Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Senorita” tops the list of the most-streamed songs. “The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory & Mal” is the year’s most-streamed podcast on Spotify.   …

Differences between U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron were on full display as NATO leaders gathered for a summit in London. In an almost 40-minute session with journalists the two leaders clashed on a number of issues including burden sharing within NATO, terrorism, Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria, and the U.S. withdrawal from an arms treaty with Russia. The two leaders met hours after Trump criticized Macron for his recent statement describing NATO as experiencing a “brain death,” due to diminished U.S. leadership.  Trump called it a “nasty statement.”   As the two sat down for talks, Trump warned member countries who do not meet NATO’s guideline of spending 2% of GDP on collective defense could be dealt with “from a trade standpoint” referring to tariffs on products including French wine. This prompted Macron, who is currently contributing 1.9% of France’s GDB towards NATO’s defense, to push back. “It’s not just about money,” Macron said. “What about peace in Europe?” he asked Trump. “It’s impossible just to say we have to put money, we have to put soldiers, without being clear on the fundamentals of what NATO should be,” Macron said. FILE – Flags wave in front of soldiers who take positions with their army vehicles during the NATO exercises near Swietoszow Zagan, Poland, June 18, 2015. Macron said he supports a stronger European component in NATO but points out that after the end of the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, European countries are faced with the …

Tens of millions of people in southern and eastern Africa are facing emergency food insecurity partly caused by climate change – with half of them children, according to the charity Save the Children. The area has been hit by extreme cyclones, flooding and drought in recent months – and scientists warn the region is warming much faster than other parts of the world. As Henry Ridgwell reports, aid agencies are calling on world leaders meeting at the climate conference in Madrid to commit to bigger cuts in greenhouse gases. …

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was admitted to a hospital in the southern U.S. state of Georgia over the weekend with a urinary tract infection. The 95-year-old statesman “is feeling better and looks forward to returning home soon,” Deanna Congileo, a spokeswoman for The Carter Center said Monday. Carter was released from the hospital last week after undergoing surgery to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding from a fall. Carter has overcome several health challenges in recent years. He was diagnosis with melanoma in 2015 but recovered after receiving radiation and immunotherapy. A fall last spring required him to get hip replacement surgery. Two separate falls last month required 14 stitches and caused a pelvic fracture. Carter, who was in the White House from 1977 to 1981, is now the longest-living former president in U.S. history. Despite the health concerns, Carter has been active building homes for Habitat for Humanity and teaching Sunday school twice monthly at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains in southwest Georgia.   …

The United Nations Security Council called on all countries on Monday to implement an arms embargo on Libya and to stay out of the conflict after U.N. sanctions monitors accused Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey of repeated violations. The 15-member council urged all states “not to intervene in the conflict or to take measures that would exacerbate the conflict” and expressed concern at “the growing involvement of mercenaries.” Such statements are agreed by consensus. The council “called for full compliance with the arms embargo,” but any action over reported sanctions violations is unlikely, diplomats said. Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have repeatedly violated an arms embargo on Libya and it is “highly probable” that a foreign attack aircraft is responsible for a deadly strike on a migrant detention center, U.N. experts monitoring the implementation of sanctions on Libya reported last month. The U.N. missions of Jordan and Turkey did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment at the time on the accusations. The United Arab Emirates said it was “firmly committed to complying with its obligations under the Libya sanctions regime and all relevant Security Council resolutions.” “The transfers (of military material) to Libya were repeated and sometimes blatant with scant regard being paid to compliance with the sanctions measures,” the independent U.N. experts wrote in the confidential report, due to be published this month. Libya descended into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising that overthrew leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Thousands of people have …