Category: Technology

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.…

A somber commemoration marking the first anniversary of the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was held Wednesday in Istanbul just a few meters from the Saudi consulate where he was dismembered. Khashoggi’s brutal killing sparked widespread international condemnation of Saudi Arabia, with calls for justice continuing. A year ago, security camera images showed Khashoggi entering the consulate to collect documents for his forthcoming wedding. Inside, death awaited him at the hands of a Saudi hit squad suspected of acting on orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Commemoration in Istanbul for Slain Journalist Jamal Khashoggi video player. EmbedCopy Commemoration in Istanbul for Slain Journalist Jamal Khashoggi “Last year today, I was standing here. I was a girl in love, waiting for my man to come out of the…

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…

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. ...

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…

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 ProtestsViolent clashes between protesters…

A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration's bid to dismiss lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of a 2017 decision to downsize two sprawling national monuments in Utah.   U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan's written decisions issued Monday night means the legal challenges seeking to return the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to their original sizes can move forward.   Chutkan didn't decide the key question at the core of the lawsuits: Does the Antiquities Act give presidents the power to create monuments as well as reduce them? The government has already created new management plans for the downsized monuments. President Donald Trump downsized Bears Ears by 85% and Grand Staircase by nearly half. Ruins of ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings at Butler Wash in Bears Ears National Monument…

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…

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…

Ugandan's pop star and presidential hopeful Bobi Wine has denounced the government's banning of civilian use of red berets, a symbol of his "People Power" movement that he hopes to use to oust longtime President Yoweri Museveni. The government this month gazetted the red beret and other pieces of military wear as "property of the state." It warned people who wear or sell them that they would be prosecuted under military law, which can lead to a life sentence. "This beret ban is a sham. It is a blatant attempt to suffocate a successful threat to the autocratic status quo," Wine, 37, said in a statement. FILE - Yoweri Museveni, who has been president of Uganda since 1986, speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa meeting at the Cape…

U.S. President Donald Trump pushed Australia's prime minister to help discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the New York Times is reporting. The Times reported Monday that during a recent telephone call, Trump asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison to help U.S. Attorney General William Barr collect information for a Justice Department probe into Mueller's investigation.  The paper said its sources were two U.S. officials with knowledge of the call. FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr participate in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. The Times also reported that the White House restricted access to the call's transcript to only a small group of officials, a move that is similar to the handling of Trump's July…

The Irishman set to take over as the European Union's top trade official on Monday urged the United States not to launch an economically damaging tariff war with the bloc over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing. The World Trade Organization ruled in May that Europe illegally subsidized Airbus, hurting U.S. competitor Boeing. The WTO is set shortly to allow President Donald Trump to slap tariffs worth billions of euros on European products — including wine, cheese and olives — in response. The EU has brought a similar case at the WTO accusing the U.S. government of illegally subsidizing Boeing, and a ruling in its favor is expected, but is still months off. "I would ask the United States to negotiate with us rather than having a tit-for-tat trade war that…

Four years after battling life-threatening cancer in his liver and brain, and four months after falling and breaking his hip, requiring surgery and weeks of intense physical therapy, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter took the stage September 18, unassisted, here for the Annual Jimmy Carter Emory University Town Hall, which he’s participated in, uninterrupted, for 38 years. Standing without assistance for more than 30 minutes, addressing topics ranging from current polarized U.S. politics to his favorite animal, Carter, a distinguished professor at Emory, showed no signs of fatigue or pain as he enthusiastically answered question after question from those who gathered in the cavernous campus gymnasium by the thousands to hear him speak. “Before this I really didn’t know much about President Carter,”  freshman Stephanie Teng said. “I feel so…

Liv first met Bill in 2016 when she was a college student and $5,000 in debt from student loans. Making rent was next to impossible, she said, but Bill helped her manage her expenses and finances better. They saw each other a few times a week, and soon Bill was paying Liv’s tuition and rent. He sent her on exotic trips to Europe and Thailand. They moved in together. “He taught me how to do my taxes. He taught me how to get my own car insurance. He helped me pay back student loans,” Liv said. “He just taught me so much and he didn’t have to do any of it. “I actually grew real feelings for him.” “Actually” because Liv was 24 and Bill was 70 when they connected…

A regional Chinese diplomat has rebuked the United States for being “ignorant” about his country’s ongoing key economic contributions and cooperation with Afghanistan. Arrangements are being worked out to enhance the cooperation with Kabul even under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Yao Jing, the Chinese ambassador to neighboring Pakistan told VOA. He hailed Saturday’s successful Afghan presidential election, saying China hopes they will boost peace-building efforts in a country wrecked by years of conflicts. “We hope that with the election in Afghanistan, with the peace development moving forward in Afghanistan, Afghans will finally achieve a peaceful period, achieve the stability,” said the Chinese diplomat, who served in Kabul prior to his posting in Islamabad. China and US Clash Over 'Belt and Road' in Afghan ResolutionChina insisting on including a…

Pope Francis on Sunday decried "the culture of comfort'' that leads to indifference in the face of a global migration and refugee crisis. The pope who has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy spoke during a Mass for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees. "We cannot be indifferent to the tragedy of old and new forms of poverty, to the bleak isolation, contempt and discrimination experienced by those who do not belong to 'our group,'" Francis said. "We cannot remain insensitive, our hearts deadened, before the misery of so many innocent people. We must not fail to weep. We must not fail to respond.'' The pontiff has often spoken of the need to be welcoming to migrants, traveling to the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013…

Thousands of protesters jammed a central Moscow square on September 29 as opposition groups sought to regain momentum following a summer of demonstrations that targeted both local elections but also Russia’s broader political system. The rally was the first major effort by liberal political groups and allied parties since elections earlier in the month that ended up being a catalyst for the biggest wave of sustained anti-government rallies in nearly a decade. Instead of elections, the Moscow event was focused on "political repression," as activists demanded that authorities halt a campaign of raids and arrests targeting anti-corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny and his network of supporters nationwide. Activists were rallying against harsh police tactics used in earlier demonstrations as well as what many Muscovites say were harsh jail sentences handed down…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz traded blame Sunday over the failure so far of efforts to reach a unity government deal following deadlocked elections.   A new round of negotiations between Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Gantz’s centrist Blue and White broke down Sunday and the two sides appeared far from reaching a compromise.   Likud said Netanyahu would make a "last effort" to reach a deal before informing President Reuven Rivlin he is unable to form a government.   That would leave Rivlin to decide whether to ask Gantz to try to do so or call on parliament to agree on a candidate for prime minister by a vote of at least 61 out of 120 members.   Netanyahu "will make a last effort to…

Syria's top diplomat on Saturday demanded the immediate withdrawal of American and Turkish forces from the country and said his government reserves the right to defend its territory in any way necessary if they remain. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem's remarks to the United Nations General Assembly were made as Turkey and the United States press ahead with a deal to create a safe zone along Syria's border with Turkey.  On the political front, he reaffirmed the government's support for the recently agreed committee to draft a new constitution for the country. As has been the government's tone since the start of the 2011 uprising in Syria, the foreign minister took a hard line, stressing there must be no interference from any country or timeline imposed on the process.  Al-Moallem's speech…

The British-flagged oil tanker that was seized by Iran in July has docked in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates early Saturday, according to ship-tracking websites and pool reporters. The Stena Impero, which had been held off Bandar Abbas for more than two months, started moving out of the Iranian port Friday and reached the coast off Dubai early Saturday. The arrival was reported on several ship-tracking websites. Erik Hanell, CEO of the company that owns the vessel, Stena Bulk, told the media earlier that the tanker's crew are "safe and in high spirits" following their release from Iran. He added that arrangements have been made for them to return to their families. "The crew will have a period of time to be with their families following 10 weeks of…

Seemingly low voter turnout marked presidential elections in Afghanistan Saturday, even as security forces managed to maintain relative calm across the country, despite dire warnings from the Taliban. At least four civilians and three security personnel were killed across the country and more than 50 civilians suffered injuries in election-related violence, mostly from small explosions. The figure is relatively small, keeping in mind past elections and the almost daily violence Afghanistan normally faces.   “At the moment we don’t have the exact number of voter turnout. But we have created a safe environment. We do believe quite a wide range of our compatriots were present,” General Khoshal Sadat, the Afghan deputy interior minister, told VOA before polls closed. Afghan incumbent president and presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani arrives to cast his…

The United States rejected a request by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Iran's United Nations ambassador in a New York hospital where he is being treated for cancer, the U.S. State Department and Iranian U.N. mission said on Friday. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Zarif's request would be granted if Iran released one of several American citizens it had detained. In July the United States imposed tight travel restrictions on Zarif before a visit that month to the United Nations, as well as on Iranian diplomats and their families living in New York, which Zarif described as "basically inhuman." Unless they receive prior approval from Washington, they are only allowed to travel within a small area of Manhattan, Queens and to and from John F. Kennedy…

Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador who set off a political firestorm by disputing U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion, died Friday, according to his ex-wife. He was 69.    Wilson's died of organ failure in Santa Fe, said his former wife, Valerie Plame, whose identity as a CIA operative was exposed days after Wilson's criticism of U.S. intelligence that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase uranium.    The leak of Plame's covert identity was a scandal for the administration of President George W. Bush that led to the conviction of vice presidential aide Scooter B. Libby for lying to investigators and justice obstruction.    President Donald Trump pardoned Libby in 2018.    Plame, who is running as a Democrat for Congress — in part as a Trump adversary — called…

Mourners gathered at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday to pay their respects to former President Jacques Chirac, whose death unleashed a flood of tributes to a charismatic but complex giant of French politics.    Chirac, president from 1995 to 2007, died Thursday at age 86 after years of deteriorating health since suffering a stroke in 2005.    Ahead of a national day of mourning announced for Monday, the French presidency threw open the doors of the Elysee Palace for people wanting to sign a book of condolences.    "I express my admiration and tenderness for the last of the great presidents," read one tribute. "Thank you for fighting, thank you for this freedom and good spirits."    In a televised address Thursday night, President Emmanuel Macron praised "a…

The head of Zimbabwe's Doctors Association has left the country for urgent medical treatment in South Africa after being held captivity, during which his medical team says he was poisoned.  Police tried to block his departure even though he had a court order allowing him to leave.  Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare for VOA News. ...

Losing a job is seldom a good thing.  Repeatedly losing that job on the same day sounds nightmarish. Get ready to feel sorry for a person who does not exist. VOA's Arash Arabasadi plugs us in to an alternate reality created to help managers hone skills at performing an unpleasant but sometimes necessary task. ...

Health experts warn we are due for a cataclysmic pandemic — they just don’t know when it will happen. The warning was delivered this week to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly by a special global health monitoring group that said the next pandemic could traverse the world in 36 hours, killing up to 80 million and causing devastating economic loss. The group, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, operates independently of the World Health Organization and the World Bank, the entities that created it last year with a mandate to issue an annual assessment. The first report was grim. A health worker vaccinates a child against malaria in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, western Kenya, Sept. 13, 2019, during the launch of a malaria vaccination campaign in the country. Lack of…