Month: July 2021

On the eve of the funeral for slain Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse, host Carol Castiel and assistant producer at the Current Affairs Desk, Sydney Sherry, speak with Haiti expert Georges Fauriol, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and fellow at the Caribbean Policy Consortium, about the chaos following Moïse’s assassination, the breakdown of democratic institutions in Haiti, and the power struggle that ensued over who would become Haiti’s next leader. What does this crisis reveal about the state of affairs in Haiti, and is the international community, Washington in particular, playing a constructive role in …

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On the eve of the funeral for slain Haitian president, Jovenel Moïse, host Carol Castiel and assistant producer at the Current Affairs Desk, Sydney Sherry, speak with Haiti expert Georges Fauriol, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and fellow at the Caribbean Policy Consortium, about the chaos following Moïse’s assassination, the breakdown of democratic institutions in Haiti, and the power struggle that ensued over who would become Haiti’s next leader. What does this crisis reveal about the state of affairs in Haiti, and is the international community, Washington in particular, playing a constructive role in …

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Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA senior diplomatic correspondent, Cindy Saine, and senior reporter for Marketplace, Nancy Marshall-Genzer, about growing congressional challenges on infrastructure, police reform, COVID-19 and the economy facing the Biden administration, the ramifications of a widespread cyber-attack on Microsoft allegedly conducted by China, controversial Israeli phone surveillance software allegedly misused amid a global hacking scandal, the Tokyo Olympics and global concern over the spreading of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. …

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Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on the eve of slain President Jovenel Moise’s national funeral to be held there Friday. The day began with a special mass in honor of Moise, attended by members of the president’s PHTK political party. Immediately afterward, protesters wearing white in a sign of mourning marched through the streets chanting, “Justice!” “We are saying there must be justice for President Moise,” a protester wearing a Haitian flag bandana on his head told VOA Creole. An investigation into Moise’s death has already resulted in more than 20 arrests. Other protesters yelled …

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After a one-year pandemic delay, the Tokyo Olympics will formally get under way Friday, with an opening ceremony that will be scaled back but still celebratory. The event will be held amid tens of thousands of empty seats in Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium, with only about 900 dignitaries and other officials attending because of COVID-19 precautions. The opening ceremony, themed “United by Emotion,” may be one of the most normal elements of what figures to be the most unusual Olympic Games ever. The ceremony will feature familiar elements such as fireworks, drones, musical performances and a torch-lighting ceremony. Athletes will also …

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Burkinabe triple jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango in January set a world record to hop, skip and jump more than 18 meters indoors. Zango is on his way to the Tokyo Olympics and stands a good chance of bringing home Burkina Faso’s first Olympic medal. Henry Wilkins reports from Ouagadougou. …

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The United States has launched about a “half-dozen” airstrikes across Afghanistan in the past 30 days, part of an effort to support Afghan security forces attempting to hold the Taliban at bay. A U.S. defense official told VOA on Thursday that the strikes, most of them carried by U.S. drones, targeted “captured military equipment that the Taliban [were] able to seize from the ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces].” “There were enemy forces, enemy personnel targeted” alongside the captured equipment, the official added, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information. For days, …

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Human rights and media rights groups have expressed outrage over revelations that 180 journalists around the world were targeted for surveillance by military-grade Israeli spyware.  VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports on a widening scandal, with some world leaders also targeted, such as French President Emmanuel Macron. …

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Armenia is struggling to leave behind its war in 2020 with neighboring Azerbaijan and the political turbulence that surrounded recent legislative elections.  With the social and political upheaval of the last several months now easing, the calm is allowing many Armenians to examine and deal with the war wounds that continue to fester, along with the pain of defeat and the losses that Armenia says amount to nearly 4,000 mostly young soldiers.  Roderick James narrates this report by Pablo Gonzalez in Yerevan and Ricardo Marquina in Moscow. (Ricardo Marquina contributed to this video.) Camera:  Pablo Gonzalez    Produced by:  Ricardo …

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