VOA [Voice of America] Africa : December 27, 2017 10:00PM-11:00PM EST

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VOA [Voice of America] Africa : December 27, 2017 10:00PM-11:00PM EST

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Closed captions transcript: 00:00:00 Reporting 00:00:01 a suicide car bombing of the military base in southern Afghanistan Wednesday killed 00:00:06 at least 2 soldiers and wounded 15 others I as goal reports from Islam abad what 00:00:12 happens usually in the one which has been gripped by this fighting for so many 00:00:17 years that during the harsh winter weather particularly in December and January 00:00:23 that. They scaled back their battlefield at that axe and they to lie in order on 00:00:29 suicide beings and go to attacks in harsh winter weather and that's what we are 00:00:36 seeing that they have been could be did suicide bombings this is v.o.a. 00:00:42 News. Liberians will have to wait another day to get the results from Tuesday's 00:00:48 voting Reuters reports that the per Lemon ery results expected Wednesday will not 00:00:54 be made public now until Thursday the race is between former footballer George way 00:01:00 and Vice President Joseph block 00:01:02 a they are bidding to succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 00:01:06 a runoff vote delayed for more than a month after block 00:01:11 a and another candidate alleged widespread fraud in October's 1st round of 00:01:18 polls both candidates promised to tackle poverty and corruption 00:01:23 a blast ripped through 00:01:25 a supermarket and Russia's St Petersburg on Wednesday evening injuring at least 10 00:01:31 shoppers investigators said no one was killed Alex Klaas heads St Petersburg 00:01:38 investigative committee. Like if you would like to listen to. What he 00:01:44 says multiple investigative search procedures are under way and all possible 00:01:49 versions of what has happened are being worked on so far no claims of 00:01:55 responsibility last April 00:01:57 a suicide bombing in the St Petersburg subway it left 16 people dead and wounded 00:02:04 more than 50 u.s. 00:02:06 President Donald Trump paid 00:02:08 a visit to firefighters in Florida on Wednesday while thanking 1st responders 00:02:14 stationed at West Palm Beach Fire Rescue also talked about legislative 00:02:20 accomplishments including the recent Republican tax bill. 00:02:28 That. They're going to be the year. Speaking 00:02:35 to the firefighters chant thank them for their work saying they do 00:02:39 a fantastic job the 71 year old Pres. Didn't spent the holidays at his private Mara 00:02:46 Lago 00:02:46 a state and golfing at his club in Florida thousands of police officers are 00:02:53 calling in sick every day in Puerto Rico partly to press demands for unpaid 00:03:00 overtime pay for hurricane recovery efforts says concerns grow over people's safety 00:03:06 in the u.s. 00:03:07 Territory struggling to restore power Syria's government is allowing the evacuation 00:03:14 of nearly 30 critically ill people from 00:03:17 a besieged domestics suburb where hundreds for acquiring medical treatment have 00:03:24 been preventing from reaching hospitals just minutes away for more on this story go 00:03:31 to our website from Washington Imam ball. That's the latest world news. 00:03:38 0 00:03:39 a. Good 00:03:48 morning Africa and welcome to daybreak uppercut from the Voice of America I'm 00:03:52 Jackson in Washington today December 28th and yes some of the stories we're 00:03:59 covering for you Liberians us waiting to find out who is going to be the next 00:04:04 president as officials continue to tally votes from Tuesday's runoff election. 00:04:14 For. 00:04:23 The. Former President John Dramani Mahama ahead of us 00:04:30 election Obs of a mission to Liberia in Libya 142 migrants were put on 00:04:35 a flight back to Guinea with the help of the un migration. North African countries 00:04:42 dipping guy. Deportations to ease overcrowding in its detention centers. After the 00:04:49 appointment of General to the position of vice president unless they're concerned 00:04:54 about the involvement in the ruling party's succession politics. Because. 00:05:02 That. Is always that line between having 00:05:07 a. Political analyst the Nigerian government says that the 00:05:14 United States has agreed to sell fighter planes. As the West African country 00:05:20 continues to go. Around those stories and more coming up right 00:05:27 here on Daybreak Africa. 00:05:37 And West Africa where librarians are still waiting to find out who's going to be 00:05:42 the next president as election officials continue to tally votes from Tuesday's 00:05:48 runoff election for my soccer star George Ware and Vice President Joseph Walker 00:05:54 vying to replace President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who's stepping down after 2 terms 00:05:59 the maximum allowed and 00:06:01 a Liberia's Constitution Vio was Jim's but is in Monrovia where I reached him. 00:06:09 In currently in Monrovia any idea as to when the Electoral Commission of Liberia 00:06:15 will announce the results from 00:06:17 a runoff elections thank you and good morning to you also good morning to listeners 00:06:23 on Daybreak Africa the whole country was expecting yesterday but the when we 00:06:30 commissioner was going to announce some preliminary results you know that people 00:06:36 are anticipating expecting highly the results they were expecting but 00:06:43 there. Apparently the election commission for some reason decided that today. It 00:06:49 will make its 1st get its 1st preliminary result. Around Monrovia. 00:06:57 If we stop by our judge we Coalition for Democratic Change compound there's some 00:07:03 celebration and people are wondering why are they celebrating nobody knows because 00:07:09 the elections commission has not made any announcement in terms of its meaning the 00:07:15 expectation is high that everyone is wearing 00:07:19 a sport we listen commission something later today 1st thing now that they have the 00:07:25 obviously been some news reports that have been doing the rounds on different 00:07:30 social media platforms. On the web about Judge we are having been declared 00:07:37 the winner of the Liberian elections and in essence becoming the next president now 00:07:43 we know that the Electoral Commission say that they are the only ones that the 00:07:46 electoral commission is the only one that is allowed to announce the results is it 00:07:52 possible that some of the celebrations are you seeing 00:07:54 a judge with another judge who has compound has to do with some of the news that is 00:07:59 filtering out that he might have won the elections I've seen those reports on 00:08:02 social media taxing and if you talk to Judge we have supporters they say that they 00:08:08 are getting their fact. From what they call the 00:08:11 a war room or. They all have their own observation people probably where 00:08:18 the again from electoral commission again the spine of our organization I would 00:08:24 have to tell people in the lead are not in the lead right and so 00:08:31 we've had 00:08:32 a couple of observer missions including the echo us and African Union sending 00:08:38 observers to this round of elections with 00:08:42 a run of election. What are the observers saying about this runnable actions the 00:08:47 African Union be Economic Community of West African observer mission of have 00:08:53 a joint news conference on Thursday on Wednesday and. 00:09:00 The Economic Community of West Africa both of them said that they were satisfied 00:09:05 pleased with the conduct of the run up election compared to the problems that the 00:09:12 1st round had the echo of that again is led by former Gagnon 00:09:18 President Jiang that money must come back and he stepped. Over 00:09:25 or that the acolyte delegation was plea that out that the runoff election was 00:09:32 you know transparent and free and fair so this is what he had to say. 00:09:39 Needed to really be doing the people. Doing the. 00:09:46 Policing Niang the really. Really really. 00:09:56 For the millions being released. In addition. 00:10:04 To the religion that that was the former president of Ghana John Dramani 00:10:11 Mahama and who was the head of the our Economic Community of West African States 00:10:16 election observer delegation here in Liberia also at the news conference 00:10:23 was the African Union delegation led by the former deputy chair of the at the King 00:10:30 in 00:10:30 a commission to rescue China like Mark Mahama we also said that the African Union delegation 00:10:38 was pleased with the conduct of the our election we made server observations and 00:10:44 here are some of what he had to say. Clues. 00:10:52 Leading to 00:10:53 a new. Use in. This 00:11:01 with. The. 00:11:10 Former deputy chair of the African Union 00:11:12 a commission refuse. Let me say that here 00:11:18 a model be aware I am as well as around the country the expectation is 00:11:25 high in terms of who is going to win the election as you will know that this 00:11:32 will be the 1st time in a very long while the Nigeria is making 00:11:36 a transition democratically one leader to another so. The 00:11:43 expectation and. Everything is everyone is looking forward to this 00:11:49 particular event happening so we look forward to what the elections commission is 00:11:54 going to announce later today. Thank you very much Jim Starr was James Butty 00:12:01 he's in Monrovia Liberia always covering the runoff election thank you very much 00:12:06 Jim thank you very much from Liberia we go to Zimbabwe where President Musselman 00:12:12 Gaga has appointed former army chief cause the Tina to wangle as one of the 00:12:17 country's new vice presidents to wangle lead the military takeover in November that 00:12:22 led to the resignation of the country's long time president Robert Mugabe 00:12:28 opposition leaders in Zimbabwe have expressed concern about this trend which began 00:12:33 last month with 00:12:34 b m is the involvement in the ruling party succession politics Dr one woman though 00:12:39 the Zimbabwean political analyst I reached him by phone from New York and I asked 00:12:45 him about the appearance that Moonen got what is consolidating his power by 00:12:50 rewarding the key military generals who supported his rise to power by appointing 00:12:55 them to keep Party and that cabinet positions Yes Let me 1st start by saying 00:13:00 Zimbabweans. To some extent surprised by the appointments 00:13:07 by lot of tally shocked because they and that's tending or what is being 00:13:14 insured on the ground is they're. All sentenced 00:13:21 to prison to the military so we just ignore but if you will pay the piper pleased 00:13:28 by all we really accept that land is just 00:13:33 a fitting this particularly. Of the really to all that is just. Is this is really 00:13:40 a necessity of the military but it is to be a less to do that 00:13:45 a man up by himself is also a military man where fast amid 00:13:51 a kind of training and all that that stress change. Likely to be 00:13:58 a civilian need about. This in bubbly inequality cause he let it be said with the 00:14:04 government is always been that. The line between the military and political 00:14:11 leadership they should be the simplest ajoint between the 2 most 00:14:18 observers saying that they're not sure that this is the kind of change post Mugabe 00:14:23 that Zimbabweans had been waiting for had been longing for how would you 00:14:28 characterize the changes within so far. It changes if trying to even Zimbabwe that 00:14:33 is pent is just a shake up of 00:14:37 a change nothing really has changed in terms of the political landscape in the 00:14:43 sense that what is just changed is that the papacy the way it's been power does 00:14:49 a shakeup within the sims and p. 00:14:50 Of signal. Base kind of is no real Chavez the Democratic change anything what is 00:14:56 the attitude of the civilians who make up the bulk of done O.P.'s membership about 00:15:02 this kind of changes are they comfortable with the military being the face of the 00:15:07 leadership of their party. Simon tearful whisper Courtemanche let me say because 00:15:14 just. 2 weeks before we got him land governor was actually offended to president. 00:15:23 Robert Mugabe would then need all the uproar we did the power in the country on 00:15:28 Monday at all Sunapee of structure to endorse the expulsion of an angle. 00:15:36 That would be tied changed with the military. Was no in control the military 00:15:43 was 00:15:43 a coal mine and yet the centerpiece of structure to endorse the expulsion of robot 00:15:49 to Mugabe telling them that God's way into power for to say is that it be of people 00:15:55 with good in will appease you and say you know how. Of the. Pact 00:16:03 that would be true because that would be sup with the parties of that. 00:16:11 Military that no Out side of the sun no p.f. 00:16:15 Membership obviously isn't Bobby and have been looking for change for the longest 00:16:20 time and you're saying that it wasn't really change it was just 00:16:23 a shakeup What do you think worries Mosen Bobby and this time is in the political 00:16:28 future of the country or the current economic crisis let me say that one of the 00:16:34 competing interest between the Politico and also. Economists interest in this is 00:16:41 that. In that mission no organizations within blog 00:16:48 and the Tate additional community is I loaded with the fact that 00:16:55 they are going to support 00:16:56 a democratically elected government which in no point. In some foot or some corner 00:17:02 because if you want to get any dimensional support before the us for the in Phoenix 00:17:08 you call that's no elite to my taste on your side in the 2018 in the 00:17:15 sense that he doesn't or in free elections you want to get the economy to support 00:17:20 him. And he just bought it all but there's no idea. 00:17:28 That the supported they don't fall for but God thinking that if we're not all we 00:17:34 can possibly get into powers then to bring democracy and economy to defend me. Now 00:17:39 I'm not going to play as short. Well military government is no conservative so 00:17:46 I don't have. Any economic. Performance. 00:17:55 That nest. Which I. Know the 00:18:02 military says for 00:18:04 a probable God to give in to peace and we should be developmentally Dr along with 00:18:10 those that thank you very much for joining us today thank you so much Dr Longo 00:18:14 Maddow the uses him but when political analyst Irish team by phone in New York. We 00:18:21 stay in Zimbabwe 00:18:22 a country where media freedom was restricted under former President Robert Mugabe 00:18:27 that media had been Mugabe's mouthpiece private media imposed its own regulations 00:18:32 to avoid government retaliation reporter cause I takes 00:18:38 a look at how the local media covered the recent coup which many say was not 00:18:44 anticipated the military intervention which ended 37 years of Robert 00:18:50 Mugabe took the government back to daily paper The Herald completely by surprise 00:18:56 working quickly the publishers shelved the planned edition for the day and put out 00:19:02 a new one that afternoon the tip of 00:19:05 a came as voters plan to go to the polls 8 months from now election the putting has 00:19:10 been high on the agenda when you're out the door do is the editor of Politi is 00:19:16 citizen journalist living platform that covers parliament business and other 00:19:20 political events where it was very hard stretched our team to the max there was 00:19:25 a lot of misinformation and the big news was at an all time high 00:19:29 a lot of press conferences that we had to attend to the coup happened in the middle 00:19:33 of a scheduled parliamentary break the whole country was in 00:19:37 a limbo in terms of news and the way forward and everyone has the speculating it's 00:19:41 at the time the local media added to the confusion with some questionable and 00:19:46 unconfirmed reports Pascoe can hear there is 00:19:50 a media analyst the problem. Local media leads whom social media 00:19:57 when they're doing their stories local media tends to lose its credibility special 00:20:02 over the last few weeks the privately owned media lost some good ground because 00:20:08 they've been falling prey to those social media fake news in Mugabe's era 00:20:14 a good number of them but when they stopped listening to news from the state media 00:20:19 which were considered to be. Once I did and I trust with however during the 00:20:24 takeover government officials became the only reliable source of credit bureaus 00:20:29 when you had 00:20:30 a explains at that time those waiting levels of power control and and now that the 00:20:35 military taking over they will turn to utilize it busines in people is their 00:20:41 official all to pieces that's why you realize now on state media that was we're 00:20:46 going to get credible sources of information because the Army would come in with 00:20:51 a pill or Dick did taking lessons from covering the cool touches on some of the 00:20:57 things they will have to improve on to guard against fake news I think it's very 00:21:02 important to have strong contacts because very easy for real information to be 00:21:06 manipulated very important to use video in an audio of the original sources because 00:21:11 texts can be manipulated verifying sources getting 00:21:14 a list linkages from in high office is going to verify and confirm what's happening 00:21:21 like you only is the co-founder and producer of past of t.v. 00:21:26 In online platform that runs 00:21:27 a news edition that keeps him bobbins informed and interacting with the economic 00:21:32 delivery he says they're taking lessons from covering the coup and the crowd 00:21:37 funding to improve their coverage. From that we learned that we need to start 00:21:42 streaming on. From location as it happens to go in 00:21:47 a suit and upload later on about how we need to upload stream live after the cool 00:21:54 we need more equipment is purchased through from a location so that it starts 00:21:59 a girlfriend or 2 or 3 that month to break with them and they go off on me 00:22:03 companies ongoing and past of t.v. 00:22:05 Ses This is largely to prepare for elections that I have few months out we create 00:22:11 essays the attitude of the government officials towards the media may be changing 00:22:16 in the past officials with the held information from the private media but the new 00:22:21 administration seems to be open to finding new ways of working with Davis and 00:22:26 evolving information our cleats for viewing this is called there is now I see from 00:22:31 my diary in Kenya opposition lawmakers have called on the government to investigate 00:22:37 why 90 percent of students who took the 2017 secondary education exams failed 00:22:44 the Minister of Education maintains he is satisfied with the results for v.o.a. 00:22:49 Mohammad use of reports speaking to reporters in Nairobi opposition legislator I 00:22:55 mean he ses parliament needs to know why students failed Kenyan national exams Nick 00:23:01 must be ordered to prepare 00:23:04 a comprehensive report over these perceived they must failure and an independent 00:23:10 investigation does will be incorporated this will be conducted by the some of the 00:23:15 most credible auditing companies in Kenya in 2017 more than 600000 students signed 00:23:21 for secondary education exams only 10 percent scored high enough to enter 00:23:26 a university the results have spark an opera and parents teachers and other 00:23:31 concerned about the fate of the students and the quality of Kenya's education 00:23:36 system 00:23:38 a key question is what caused the high failure rate. Was it the students the people 00:23:44 who taught them the curriculum or 00:23:46 a speed up grading process that So educators plough through their exams in just 3 00:23:51 weeks Mark Namita an opposition lawmaker say's the problem needs to be fixed all 00:23:57 millions of young Kenyans will be bad from higher education if this goes on in this 00:24:02 government over the next 5 years we're going to have. Been Told point $5000000.00 00:24:07 plus people will be 00:24:10 a future shot up some officials say the mass failure resulted from efforts to 00:24:14 reduce cheating in an interview with citizen television Education Minister Fred 00:24:19 much younger hinted that might be true saying the result reflects the real state of 00:24:24 Kenyan education I'm very satisfied with the results we've had in the last 2 years 00:24:30 26th remember I'm 70 because we have lived our lives for such 00:24:34 a long time time easier for us now to deal with the truth calls are growing for 00:24:39 a national conference to resolve the crisis and decide what to do about the 00:24:43 students who fail the exams they she is expected to be discussed in the National 00:24:48 Assembly in February 100 he said for a news now Robi South Africa has had 00:24:54 a long love affair with food originating from neighboring Muslim big its recipes 00:25:00 are influenced by the Portuguese who colonized the territory on Africa's South East 00:25:05 Coast from 1498 until 1975 for hundreds of years Portuguese traders cross the 00:25:12 ocean to bring spices from the east to the port now known as Mark put all these 00:25:17 flavors that have crossed the border and continue to be embraced by South Africans 00:25:22 especially the nation's growing black middle class daring teller reports on tests 00:25:27 of the continent that have swept South Africa 00:25:30 was people enjoying new rules seated on white 00:25:37 chairs and tables covered with blue and white checked material. In 00:25:42 a restaurant in northern Johannesburg paid hundreds of Fisher dollar rolls co owner 00:25:49 Jordi Meyers says while Portugal colonized Mozambique Mozambique and colonized the 00:25:55 Europeans calorie creations to suit African pellets he cites the world famous 00:26:01 fiery red hairy hairy source Myers is adamant its original data did Mozambique 00:26:08 not Portugal He supported by researches they give the origin of the word Perry as 00:26:14 bun to meaning chili in the wrong language of southern Mozambique. You got 00:26:20 a political and you have 00:26:21 a baby chicken it's nothing like cows It comes almost like 00:26:23 a casserole so that begins left crispy kind of chicken that paid to taste 00:26:29 Portuguese food is not a spicy as Mozambican. Point is 00:26:35 a real business partner buffet McClung drives Peppa over his lemon and Herb paste 00:26:41 to the chicken miles of Congo's 1st cooks with from Mozambique they left off to 00:26:47 some of the competitors were assaulted and even killed in Zillah phobic attacks on 00:26:53 African immigrants in 2008 but not before they pass their skills on to current 00:26:59 chefs like food each a piece 00:27:01 a. Big spice the guy behind the lemon juice Woodstock b. 00:27:07 Our South African food writer John Sopel on there opens 00:27:11 a Mozambican Laughton to know to savor with her chin charge of your palate is 00:27:18 channeling Africa but you don't need the very expensive plane ticket while there is 00:27:23 some ulterior muse he complained that their own all too many of the neighbors in 00:27:27 the country I'm Daryn Taylor for viewing news in Johannesburg and that's it for 00:27:32 this Does the December 28th edition of daybreak Africa on behalf of the debt break 00:27:38 Africa crew I'm Jacksonville Ghani in Washington wishing you 00:27:42 a good day off. When news breaks v.o.a. 00:27:49 Africa is there. On weekends and tune into Nightline Africa at 00:27:55 161800 u.t.c. 00:27:58 And our 5 minute newscast comes to you at the top of each hour v.o.a. 00:28:04 Africa your trusted source of information. 00:28:13 Interested in deep on the assists of news on events in Africa then plan to join me 00:28:19 at Douglas in. Older voters on table every Thursday at 730 use easy and 00:28:25 we have African journalists and expect us to discuss the topic the time we get. Put 00:28:32 on to other countries topics so blunt with us David a 1730 u.t.c. 00:28:39 Right here on v.o.a. 00:28:41 Africa. 00:28:48 Hello there today is Thursday December 28th and this is via ways international 00:28:53 edition I'm Lori London in Washington coming up flood areas vote in their 1st 00:28:58 democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years the Trump administration 00:29:03 environmental policies facing 00:29:05 a growing number of lawsuits the inner city impact with air pollution are 00:29:12 unique we said 00:29:13 a real concern and I think the courts are going to take that very seriously u.n. 00:29:18 Aid in assisting is assisting displaced people in Afghanistan as winter sets in 00:29:23 Also ahead former President Barack Obama gives his 1st interview since leaving 00:29:27 office it's all on today's international edition. 2 Reuters journalists who have 00:29:34 been detained in me and Maher for the past 2 weeks were sent back into custody 00:29:38 Wednesday for another 2 weeks Rosanna Phil part has details to Reuters journalists 00:29:44 detained in Myanmar for the past 2 weeks were reminded back into custody on 00:29:49 Wednesday for a father 14 days while alone and chose appeared at 00:29:54 a court in yang gone over allegations they breached the nation's Official Secrets 00:29:59 Act The 2 were allowed to meet their families and their lawyer for the 1st time 00:30:03 since their arrest on December the 12th the journalists had worked on Reuters 00:30:07 coverage of the migrant crisis which has seen an estimated $655000.00 range of 00:30:13 Muslims flee from 00:30:14 a military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine meon miles Ministry of 00:30:18 Information has said they illegally acquired information with the intention to 00:30:23 share it with foreign media they could face 00:30:25 a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Well alone and shows sones lawyer said 00:30:31 they'd only been doing their job as journalists government officials from some of 00:30:36 the world's major nations including the Us Britain and Canada have echoed calls 00:30:41 from Royce's and their families for their release again that's Rosanna Phil part 00:30:45 reporting a suicide car bombing at 00:30:48 a military base in southern Afghanistan Wednesday killed at least 2 soldiers and 00:30:52 wounded 15 others Iowa's goal has more from Islam about Pakistan the attack. 00:30:59 Which is the provincial capital capital of the Helmand province and there was 00:31:04 a military base and apparently 00:31:07 a group of soldiers were getting ready to go and conduct 00:31:11 a counterinsurgency operation in the nearby but of district when 2 Taliban 00:31:18 suicide bombers riding 00:31:20 a car packed with explosives tried to ram their car into this facility but they 00:31:26 were intercepted at the old gate by security forces and by the soldiers who were 00:31:32 about to take off from that area and what we know that several soldiers have died 00:31:39 as 00:31:39 a result of this powerful explosion and more than 15 have been wounded but in 00:31:46 this report because it happened really late afternoon and few details that the 00:31:50 birds since that. He says during the harsh winter weather in Afghanistan the 00:31:55 Taliban scales back its battlefield attacks and relies more on suicide bombings and 00:32:00 guerrilla type attacks Wolf says there are many in recent There have been many in 00:32:05 recent weeks particularly in southern Afghanistan the largest province which is 00:32:10 known for producing opium poppy which is known to fund the Taliban's activities and 00:32:16 as winter sets in the United Nations refugee agency plans to distribute aid to more 00:32:20 than 2700 needy families and internally displaced people in the western Afghan 00:32:26 province of Herat many of the displaced come from nearby Afghan provinces where 00:32:32 ongoing finding and insecurity have made it impossible to remain in their homes 00:32:37 John Walker narrates this report by call Ilmor Zion on their plight from 00:32:41 a camp in Herat city the challenges are almost too many to count for those who fled 00:32:48 violence near their homes and sought shelter here in Herat city mice can 00:32:52 accommodate a man they do I have so many problems I don't have 00:32:56 a place to live and I have to handicapped can't work so I have to wear to make 00:33:02 a living in hopes of providing some relief in the United Nations and local Afghan 00:33:07 officials launched 00:33:09 a winter distribution program on December 17th giving money and supplies to nearly 00:33:15 3000 families who are either internally displaced people I.D.P.'s or have been 00:33:21 repatriated to Afghanistan. So that you do for me the program also 00:33:28 provides to have doubts needy families as well as people with special needs $200.00 00:33:33 and $4.00 blankets are provided to everything Amalie Afghan officials say the 00:33:38 government will try to grant plots of land to people so they can build homes for 00:33:42 themselves more but how the economic all I.D.P.'s well received the limelight and 00:33:47 the most fun of all these including women and children will receive special 00:33:51 attention. Some of the displaced who have received aid say living conditions here 00:33:56 are harsh and that the help will not last long especially during the winter season 00:34:02 . My only son who was separate. And Afghanistan. 00:34:09 Both. My husband can hardly make fun of others 00:34:16 are calling on the government to bring peace to their provinces so they can return 00:34:21 home to what the government should provide security in 00:34:24 a villages and provinces we can go back. To start farming and make 00:34:30 a living we are living 00:34:32 a refugee life inside of our own country the fraud prevention department of 00:34:35 refugees and repatriations says more than 14000 refugees including 10000 00:34:42 I.D.P.'s are living in various camps in shelters in Herat for. In 00:34:49 Herat I'm John Walker the news. 00:34:57 High Here are some of the stories we're following at v.o.a. 00:35:00 News dot com Russia's foreign minister defends serious peace conference u.s. 00:35:06 And Russia agree to continue diplomacy over North Korea 00:35:10 a new poll finds Former President Obama and Hillary Clinton retaining status as the 00:35:15 world's most admired man and woman and fishermen in Mexico sure down an 00:35:20 environmental groups drone find expanded coverage of these stories and more at the 00:35:25 away News dot com and on our v.o.a. 00:35:28 Mobile app this is international edition. 00:35:44 Liberians went to the polls on Tuesday for 00:35:46 a presidential election they hope will mark their 1st democratic transfer of power 00:35:51 in more than 7 decades. It's to spite allegations of fraud scarlet satanic bitch 00:35:57 reports election officials in library accounting votes by torchlight poll shops 00:36:03 like Choose day and 00:36:04 a presidential runoff which authorities hope will mark the 1st democratic transfer 00:36:09 of power in the African country and more than 70 years the former World Footballer 00:36:15 of the year George where is squaring up against Vice President Joseph for the top 00:36:20 job both of them promised to tackle poverty and corruption there but him to succeed 00:36:25 Alan Johnson Sirleaf in a runoff vote delayed for more than 00:36:29 a month after block I and another candidate alleged widespread fraud in October 00:36:34 this 1st round of homes however the Supreme Court rejected that challenge earlier 00:36:39 this month. The National Elections Commission confirmed no major disruptions 00:36:46 occurred in the run off and voting was better organized than last time 500 where 00:36:52 one on October with 00:36:53 a 9 point lead over who has found it hard to convince sponsors he will bring change 00:36:59 given he worked alongside Johnson Sirleaf for 12 years her role cemented pace in 00:37:05 the West African country up to civil war ended in 2003 and brought in much needed 00:37:11 but critics including many of the country's young voters say her administration was 00:37:16 y. 00:37:16 Down by corruption and she did little to ryse most Liberians out of diet poverty where 00:37:23 has won the hearts of mostly young people through his football performances however 00:37:27 some aware about his lack of political experience education and concrete policy 00:37:33 whether those worries will trump hope for change will be answered and results 00:37:36 expected in the next few days that scarlet to 10 of it reporting Donald Trump 00:37:43 campaigned as a booster of fossil fuels and 00:37:46 a skeptic of climate change science and his policies over the past year have 00:37:50 reflected those views. 2017 and climate an energy policy under the trumpet 00:37:55 ministration have outraged environmentalists Joining us now to talk more about this 00:38:00 Jeffrey grace or principal attorney with the New York based environmental law group 00:38:06 size Padgett and Rice now Jeff we've seen the u.s. 00:38:10 Pull out of the Paris climate accord the deregulating of rules on water carbon 00:38:15 emissions endangered species and others how significant is all of this been in 00:38:21 terms of the deregulation effort I would say the jury is still out because 00:38:26 a lot of those efforts are either already in the courts or soon to be in the courts 00:38:33 and the courts will be taking I think 00:38:36 a very close look at whether the administration has followed the rules under the 00:38:41 Administrative Procedure Act to walk back either prior proposals in the A-Bomb of 00:38:46 ministration or final rules so that is very much I think still an open question as 00:38:53 to how much of that will stick and I think that the courts are going to be 00:38:57 skeptical about a lot of a lot of these efforts in terms of the e.p.a. 00:39:03 There is 00:39:04 a normal turnover in administrations and you know even under Obama there were more 00:39:10 than a 1000 e.p.a. 00:39:11 Employees who took buyouts or other reductions but I think it's fair to say that 00:39:18 for 3 e.p.a. 00:39:19 Employees who spent most of their careers in the agency and I would say employees 00:39:24 of both parties and employees with many different points of view this is 00:39:29 a really challenging environment for many of the totally for scientists right I 00:39:33 know we've lost 00:39:34 a lot of scientists several 100 Some of them even being offered jobs to come work 00:39:38 in France that can't be good I don't think it's good for actions by an agency that 00:39:44 are under the law are supposed to be grounded in science and reasonably objective 00:39:50 analysis and there is. Is an inquisitorial aspect to what's going on including 00:39:56 recent reports that had retained firm to investigate employees there is 00:40:03 a bit of you know I'm sort of an auto da say former employees as to whether they 00:40:09 are going to be adhering to whatever the police of the current administration are 00:40:15 even if they have no basis in science that is troubling but I think that there are 00:40:19 also a number of employees that e.t.a. 00:40:22 That are there that have guided to stay even in 00:40:25 a very hostile environment and are doing their jobs and I and I think they deserve 00:40:30 a lot of praise for their patriotic dedication to environmental protection 00:40:37 and 00:40:37 a lot of people are have just decided that they're going to stick it out and I think 00:40:43 that there will be enough people like that in the agency that the agency will 00:40:47 survive this there will be people on the other side of this chapter in our history 00:40:54 that remain at the agency and remain dedicated to the mission of the agency where 00:40:59 you mention lawsuits that 00:41:01 a lot of the stuff that's been overturned in reversed has been in litigation and we 00:41:05 just heard this week that 8 Eastern u.s. States are suing the p.a. 00:41:09 Demanding it it orders tougher controls over some of the Midwestern states that 00:41:13 they say are blowing air pollution eastward How significant is that or is not just 00:41:18 one more lawsuit I think it's 00:41:21 a significant case and I think that the interstate impacts of air pollution are 00:41:27 uniquely federal concern and I think the courts are going to take take that very 00:41:32 seriously I also think that the youth climate lawsuit which which was just argued 00:41:39 in the 9th Circuit is a very important lawsuit to watch this is 00:41:43 a litigation brought by children basically alleging that the federal government has 00:41:48 failed to protect them from harm that rises to the level of constitute. No harm by 00:41:53 failing to address air pollution and climate change that case and many other live 00:41:58 cases of similar nature are percolating not only here in the us not just other 00:42:03 parts of the world what help can we take away from all of this well I think one of 00:42:08 the positives out of all of this is that a lot of corporations that really want 00:42:14 a stable environmental regulatory system here and around the world are quite 00:42:20 concerned about the sharply partisan attacks on the value of environmental 00:42:27 regulation and really feel that it doesn't the service to to the cause of 00:42:32 sustainable business to assume that every corporation would be hostile to 00:42:38 environmental protection and they're becoming more and more vocal in their defense 00:42:43 of the e.p.a. 00:42:44 And their defense of state environmental regulators and in their in their defense 00:42:49 of the rule of law as it applies and they're extremely strong action to rally 00:42:55 around the Paris agreement and to appear in force and bond with their colleagues in 00:43:01 the state and local governments to make the case that Washington doesn't really 00:43:06 speak for corporate America or for the vast majority of Americans those voices have 00:43:12 been very important on the international stage and I think that people in the 00:43:17 international community understand that what's happening in Washington is not 00:43:21 representative of mainstream sought in America Jeff grace or principle attorney 00:43:27 with the New York based environmental longer group size Padgett and right out 00:43:33 you're listening to international edition on the l.a. 00:43:36 . Strong enough music how about Blake Shelton Carrie 00:43:43 Underwood for Merle Haggard in the Ritalin experienced the best in country music on 00:43:48 country hip USA I bring you some country rock out of the. Hillbilly contemporary 00:43:53 and more with 00:43:54 a dash of entertainment news to you so join me for country hits USA and be away 00:43:59 with the Voice of America. 00:44:12 Hi this is Victor Beatty managing editor of deal when you. Tune 00:44:19 into the Voice of America's newscasts every hour on the top of each hour 24 00:44:24 seventh's listen to our news and correspond to reports from around the world. 00:44:33 Be 00:44:33 a way your trusted source for news and information. Delays 00:44:43 international edition continues now as we take 00:44:46 a look at the latest social media news for that we're joined by the Bernard Hi Doug 00:44:51 I guess of course Laurie It is the holiday week here in the United States between 00:44:57 Christmas on Monday and New Years on Monday so News is 00:45:01 a little slow here in the United States but of course that doesn't mean that people 00:45:05 aren't still talking on social media because Lord knows they have to keep talking 00:45:10 about something so there's 2 stories that I wanted to bring to your attention today 00:45:15 that are getting 00:45:15 a lot of attention the 1st of President Obama has given one of the his 1st 00:45:19 interviews if not his 1st broadcast interview since leaving the Oval Office and of 00:45:25 all people he gave it to Prince Harry of England Prince Harry was sort of sitting 00:45:30 in as a editor if you will at b.b.c. 00:45:33 For the 2 sat down and had a discussion about 00:45:36 a number of things they they talked about the Invictus Games they talked about 00:45:41 social media and its possible dangers or you know concerns about its 00:45:48 overuse 00:45:50 a number of serious topics but. Of course the one thing that people just have to 00:45:54 keep talking about on social media is Prince Harry's wedding he's getting married 00:45:59 to Macon Markel in May The American and so now all the talk on social media is is 00:46:06 Mr Obama going to be invited to the wedding or not 00:46:11 a lot of people weighing in of all people here Joy Reid who is a news anchor here 00:46:17 a cable anchor in the United States she said this is just so silly let the let them 00:46:23 invite who they want to invite Everything doesn't have to be about Trump Well 00:46:29 perhaps but at least for some people it's about Trump down here just to toot toot 00:46:35 tweets down all over rag writes If that's his name that's his his handle he writes 00:46:41 that Mr Mr Obama is clearly just hurt by all the attention and all the success that 00:46:47 Mr Trump is having while in office besides his legacy meaning Mr Obama's legacy is 00:46:54 largely getting undone anyway so whether it is or isn't it seems to certainly be 00:47:00 a lot about Trump and Obama for people and also another story very quickly bit of 00:47:06 a sad story but it's hard to be too sad about this one today marks one year 00:47:13 to the day that actress Carrie Fisher died of course Carrie Fisher well known from 00:47:19 her work in Star Wars and and 00:47:21 a lot of other work as well and in addition to the books that she wrote her one 00:47:26 woman play that she had on Broadway just 00:47:28 a beloved figure lots and lots of people using the hash tag carry on forever 00:47:33 tweeting out great photos funny quotes from her they're almost all quotes from 00:47:39 Carrie Fisher So 00:47:41 a lot of people still one year later expressing their affection for 00:47:46 a long time public figure an actress here in the United States Carrie Fisher Thanks 00:47:51 stag. You can follow him on Twitter at de frontin yours we also invite you to 00:47:56 follow the international edition stream at v.o.a. Underscore i.e. 00:48:00 . This is science in 00:48:06 a minute. When you think of the moon you may think of it as some cold dry and 00:48:13 lifeless Rocky or with craters but 00:48:16 a new NASA study suggests that the moon once had and that the sphere the study 00:48:22 shows that the moon was volcanically active between 3 and 4000000000 years ago 00:48:28 gases produced by the flowing lava would rise above the moon's surface faster than 00:48:33 they were able to make it into space as 00:48:36 a result the study suggests these small county gases accumulated around the moon 00:48:42 forming 00:48:42 a temporary atmosphere and that's the scientists after analyzing volcanic moon rock 00:48:48 samples gathered by Apollo astronauts found they contained 00:48:52 a variety of gases such as software and carbon monoxide I feel ways Rick Penta 00:48:59 lay of. The 7 day festival of Kwanzaa is underway it's 00:49:04 a time when African-Americans highlight their heritage the always mix O'Sullivan 00:49:09 has more among the central rituals of Kwanzaa is the lighting of 00:49:14 a candle for each of the 7 days of the celebration at 00:49:18 a cultural festival at the California African-American museum babe Evans explains 00:49:23 the principles behind the upcoming holiday to 00:49:26 a group of children the 1st principle she says is unity. 00:49:33 It means at time of repose us it means 00:49:37 a time to think about your ancestors to think about the struggles that people have 00:49:42 been through so that you can now have 00:49:45 a life that is much more open Kwanzaa is based on African themes but was started in 00:49:51 the United States. Each of the 1960 s. 00:49:54 Its principles are stated in the Swahili language and the name Kwanzaa comes from 00:49:59 a phrase meaning 1st fruits of the harvest the 2nd day because it's 00:50:03 a 7 day ceremony as kooky childhood Leon and that means self determination 00:50:10 collective work and responsibility cooperative economics purpose creativity and 00:50:15 faith these round out the 7 principles of Kwanzaa gift giving as 00:50:20 a part of the holiday but actor Jeffrey Anderson Gunther says the celebration has 00:50:24 not become commercialized like Christmas when Kwanzaa we make our gifts we and all 00:50:30 the kids will make something and give to it to each other and then that we have an 00:50:35 abundance of food and stuff that's share many people celebrate their Christian or 00:50:40 Muslim holidays or the feast days of other faiths found then celebrate Kwanzaa as 00:50:44 well says writer Marsha Bullock whose family is Christian and we start we do 00:50:49 Christmas and then we did so want to start psyched directly the day after so we do 00:50:53 that too and then out of course my favorite part is the celebration right you get 00:50:57 to eat everything the festival will end January 1st with 00:51:01 a feast with friends and family Michael Sullivan v.o.a. 00:51:05 News Los Angeles. Whatever you think and Sharon's duet with beyond 00:51:12 say is topping the charts for the end of 2017 the always border crossings host 00:51:16 Larry London joins international edition Sara Williams with details as this year 00:51:21 comes to 00:51:22 a close what I've got for you today is the artist with the number one song for 00:51:29 the end of the year which is 00:51:30 a big honor to have every artist is out to finish the year with the number one song 00:51:34 especially in the u.k. 00:51:36 Where it's important to be the Christmas number one song so Ed Sheeran has 00:51:41 accomplished his goal Congratulations to ed sheeran his new song perfect which is 00:51:46 interesting because he's got 3 versions of it out so it's the 2nd version the one 00:51:50 he recorded along with beyond say. That is the number one song for the 3rd straight 00:51:54 week and will finish 2017 at number one for edgier and now this song by the way has 00:52:01 not only been something that reached number one for him but earlier this year shape 00:52:06 of you off of the divide album also went to number one and it was number 112 weeks 00:52:11 in the u.s. 14 weeks in the u.k. 00:52:13 16 weeks in Canada tying 00:52:15 a record there and so he's just been the hottest artist to watch this past year so 00:52:21 let's check out Ed Sheeran with beyond say and this is called Perfect. 00:52:29 In Sylvia. 00:52:40 Mary so why do you think that beyond say seem to what did she bring to this 00:52:44 recording that's a great question Sarah you know beyond say brings in 00:52:48 a whole new audience obviously there's the r. And b. 00:52:50 Crowd there's the beyond say fans she's the queen bee her fans are known as the 00:52:55 beehive so she brings whether the aura of being beyond say and you couple that with 00:53:01 the attraction of being Ed Sheeran and you have 2 superpowers together so you know 00:53:06 Beyonce is lending her services to Jay Baldwin on me Jen take a and she's recorded 00:53:12 a couple of songs with a couple of other artist d.j. 00:53:14 Callid they did a song so there's 00:53:16 a number of songs and every time that you add someone like 00:53:19 a beyond say the curiosity factor goes up the interest goes up and of course you've 00:53:24 got the fans who are the loyalists and that is 00:53:26 a major component as well so that's the beyond say factor for lack of 00:53:30 a better term because you know his song perfect just as himself did Ok but what it 00:53:36 wasn't until he added beyond say and he's got another version with Andrea Bocelli 00:53:41 and it's not doing as well either so it's that beyond say thing that kind of you 00:53:45 know is undeniable a good decision to Lester an absolutely 00:53:49 a great decision he didn't expect it was going to happen. He said that he e-mailed 00:53:53 her that's how we approached her you know you go through the channels the 00:53:56 connections that he's got through the record industry gets the email address sends 00:54:00 the e-mail says yeah maybe answer is not she's going to Sam busy or you know 00:54:04 whatever she wrote back and said Yeah I love to do it in fact not only that she 00:54:07 wrote back with some ideas on what they could do together and so that got at very 00:54:12 excited and the song was inspired by Ed's girlfriend Cherry seaborne the 2 of them 00:54:17 have been dating since primary school and so it's a great version of 00:54:22 a great song and it's right at the top where should be Thanks 00:54:25 a lot Larry that's Larry London he's the host of the always border crossings. 00:54:49 You've been listening to international edition that does it for today's show but 00:54:54 you can find us any time at v.o.a. 00:54:57 News dot com. Thanks for joining us I'm Lori London in Washington. 00:55:09 Next an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government the United 00:55:14 States remains deeply concerned over the dire humanitarian conditions of the 00:55:18 Venezuelan people brought about by the authoritarian regime of Nicolas Maduro these 00:55:24 hardships include lack of access to affordable food vital medicine and medical 00:55:30 supplies malnutrition and 00:55:32 a rise in malaria cases are among other harsh realities according to press reports 00:55:38 those of limited means are being hit hard by the economic situation and that is why 00:55:42 a lot. Families are going hungry and reports indicate child mortality rates have 00:55:48 increased in the past years infant formula has become increasingly scarce or 00:55:52 unaffordable in addition some children choose to take their chances living on the 00:55:56 streets rather than remain hungry at home all of this in 00:56:00 a country that has the largest proven oil reserves in the world but years of 00:56:04 economic mismanagement and Taft by the ruling Maduro alit of the country's wealth 00:56:10 has led to the country's inability to reap the benefits of substantial oil reserves 00:56:14 . A 2016 survey by 3 Venezuelan universities found that 9 out of 10 households 00:56:21 had become food insecure in Venezuela the United States stands ready to provide 00:56:27 emergency assistance including food and nutrition commodities to affected 00:56:31 populations these provisions said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert 00:56:35 could be made available immediately if only the government of Venezuela what except 00:56:40 international humanitarian assistance we repeat our call on them 00:56:45 a dural regime to stop denying needs of its people and to allow aid from the 00:56:50 international community to reach them said Ms NAUERT u.s. 00:56:54 Sanctions do not prohibit Americans from providing food medicine and other 00:56:58 humanitarian assistance to the Venezuelan people yes now it stressed that u.s. 00:57:03 Sanctions are not directed at the people of Venezuela nor need they remain 00:57:07 permanent our sanctions can be adjusted for those who support Venezuela's return to 00:57:12 a democratic and constitutional path explained Ms NAUERT but without changes 00:57:17 forthcoming from the mood or 00:57:19 a regime additional measures remain under active consideration warned spokesperson 00:57:24 now or in the meantime it is incumbent on the Venezuelan government to immediately 00:57:29 permit the inflow of humanitarian assistance to its people. That was an 00:57:36 editorial reflecting the views of the United States government. 00:58:18 See. The so. 00:58:45 From Washington this is v.o.a. 00:58:47 News. I'm Tommy McNeill 00:58:54 reporting both the u.s. 00:58:55 Secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister c. 00:58:59 Serug a lever off say their countries will continue to work toward 00:59:03 a diplomatic solution to achieve a de nuclearized Korean Peninsula 00:59:08 a us statement said The 2 spoke by phone Tuesday to discuss concerns related to 00:59:13 North Korea's destabilizing nuclear program and emphasized that neither the United 00:59:19 States nor Russia accept beyond yang as a nuclear power Meanwhile the u.s. 00:59:24 Treasury Department announced that it had been both sanctions on 2 North Korean 00:59:28 officials for their role and beyond Yang's ballistic missile program the 2 men it 00:59:33 targeted are among the favorites of leader Kim Jong room and top experts in making 00:59:38 the North's weapons a Treasury report says one of the men Kim Jong sheik is 00:59:42 a major figure in Pyongyang efforts to switch its missiles from work with solid 00:59:46 fuel which helps make launch pads warmer.