The increasing trade tensions between the United States and China has rattled farmers in the American heartland, the place where many of the products on which China seeks to impose a tariff are produced. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, those farmers, once supportive of President Trump, are increasingly wary about his stance on global trade, and ultimately, how it will impact their bottom line.
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Month: April 2018
Dumping sewage into a local river is common practice in some of America’s older cities. With the benefits of modern engineering, cities like Washington D.C. will soon be able to divert hundreds of millions of liters of raw sewage every day to wastewater treatment plants instead of a river. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified on Capitol Hill for the first time Tuesday, answering lawmakers’ concerns about the social media giant’s failure to protect the private information of as many 87 million users worldwide from Trump-affiliated political firm Cambridge Analytica. VOA’s Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from a key day in the internet privacy debate on Capitol Hill.
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The head of the International Monetary Fund is warning that the global trading system is in danger of being “torn apart.”
In a speech prepared for delivery in Hong Kong Wednesday, Christine Lagarde urged nations to “steer clear of protectionism.” That may be a reference to Washington’s recent moves to slap large tariffs on imported steel and other products. China responded by raising tariffs on U.S.-made products, beginning a cycle that some experts warn could escalate further into a trade war.
Lagarde says the benefits of trade far outweigh the costs and has credited unfettered global trade for drastically reducing the number of people around the world living in extreme poverty. Lagarde and other experts say everyone loses in trade wars, particularly the 800 million people around the world who, the World Bank says, remain mired in poverty.
While Lagarde’s comments implied criticism of the Trump administration, she also urged nations, presumably including China, to do a better job of protecting intellectual property. President Trump and many foreign businesses operating in China have complained that they are pressured to turn over technology secrets to Chinese partner companies in exchange for access to the huge Chinese market. She also urged economic reforms, including ending policies that unfairly favor state-owned enterprises.
Lagarde says the global economy is experiencing a strong upswing, and says now is the time for nations to make economic reforms such as opening up the service sector in developing economies, and doing more to use digital technology to improve the the delivery of government public services. She warns that economic reform is more urgent now because of the growing uncertainties arising from trade tensions, uncertain geopolitics and rising fiscal and financial risks.
Lagarde’s speech comes ahead of next week’s meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, where top economic and financial leaders and experts from around the world will gather to seek solutions to problems in banking, trade, deficits and many other topics.
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After weathering heated questions from two Senate panels, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg returns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to face more questions from a House committee about the social media platform’s transparency and user privacy.
Lawmakers want better protections after data breaches that affected tens of millions of users.
WATCH: Facebook hearing
”There was clearly a breach of consumer trust and a likely improper transfer of data,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said.
“It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” Zuckerberg said moments later.
Senators demanded action from the Facebook CEO.
“If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy,” the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, Bill Nelson of Florida, said. “If Facebook and other online companies will not or cannot stop the privacy invasions, then we are going to have to — we, the Congress.”
Zuckerberg was called to testify after news emerged that the personal data of millions of Facebook users had been harvested without their knowledge by Cambridge Analytica, a British voter profiling company that U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign hired to target likely supporters in 2016.
Zuckerberg promised to better protect Facebook users. The social media mogul spoke with pride about Facebook’s ability to connect people for the common good but admitted the company has not been proactive in safeguarding its users from misuse of data or those sowing malign messages.
“I started Facebook, I run it. And I’m responsible for what happens here,” Zuckerberg said.
Earlier this week, Facebook began notifying 87 million users, most of them in the United States, whose personal data may have been mined by Cambridge Analytica.
Zuckerberg pledged Facebook will scrutinize and, when necessary, block other firms from gaining access to the platform and empower its 2.2 billion users to wall off their apps from third parties.
Senators also sought assurances that Facebook and other social media platforms are blocking fake profiles originating in Russia that spread divisive messages to sow discord during and after the 2016 U.S. election.
“We will be verifying the identity of any advertiser who’s running a political ad,” Zuckerberg said. “And we’re also going to do that for [Facebook user] pages … that will make it significantly harder for Russian interference efforts or other inauthentic efforts to spread misinformation through the network.”
Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy noted that misuse of Facebook extends far beyond the United States, saying that Facebook has been used to spread hate speech against Burma’s Rohingya minority.
“Recently U.N. investigators blamed Facebook for playing a role in inciting possible genocide in Myanmar, and there has been genocide there,” Leahy said.
“We’re working on this,” Zuckerberg responded. “We’re hiring dozens of more Burmese language content reviewers. Because hate speech is very language-specific, it’s hard to [detect] it without people who speak the local language, and we need to ramp up our effort there dramatically.”
Until now, social media companies have been largely self-regulating. Several senators said Congress must consider steps to protect users of the platforms.
“What do we tell our constituents, given what’s happened here, why we should let you self-regulate?” South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham asked.
“My position is not that there should be no regulation,” Zuckerberg said. “I think the real question, as the internet becomes more important in people’s lives, is: What is the right regulation?”
The Facebook CEO promised to submit proposals for regulating social media companies and work with lawmakers to craft legislation.
Facebook faces a backlash from some consumer groups. Members of #DeleteFacebook gathered outside Tuesday’s hearing on Capitol Hill.
“We knew that they had your data, but the extent of what is being breached is a concern for me. What do they know about my children and my grandchildren?” said a woman who identified herself as Alison.
Lawmakers pledged to hold separate hearings focusing on Cambridge Analytica in the near future.
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Isaac Asimov’s influential “Foundation” science fiction novels about the collapse and resurgence of a galactic empire are heading to Apple as a television drama series, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The series is the latest step the iPhone maker has taken to acquire original programming as it seeks to rival more established outlets such as Netflix Inc, Time Warner’s HBO and Amazon.com’s Amazon Studios.
It is unclear when Apple’s shows will be released, and where viewers will be able to see them. The company has not said if it will distribute them through its own iTunes Store, where it sells shows and films by other companies, or on another platform.
David S. Goyer, screenwriter of blockbusters “The Dark Night” and “Batman Begins,” and Josh Friedman, the writer of Steven Spielberg’s 2005 sci-fi adaptation “War of the Worlds,” have been charged to bring Asimov’s work to the TV screen.
Hollywood’s attempts over the past two decades to bring the Russian-American author and scientist’s saga of humans living on planets scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy to either television or the big screen have so far never come to fruition.
The “Foundation” series began as several short stories published between 1942 and 1950, and was later developed into a trilogy of novels published from 1951 to 1953. It won a Hugo Award, the top awards for science fiction and fantasy writing, in 1966 as best all-time series, the only time the award has been handed out.
Apple has already ordered two seasons of a drama about a morning TV program starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, as well as a remake of Spielberg’s 1980 sci-fi anthology series “Amazing Stories.”
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Comedic actor Tracy Morgan, who rose to prominence on sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live” after growing up in one of New York City’s toughest housing projects, said he felt right at home receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday.
With his trademark wide, mischievous grin, Morgan, 49, bent over and kissed the emblematic terrazzo and brass star along Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, now one of the city’s most-visited sites but for decades was a home to L.A.’s underbelly.
“When I was a poor kid growing up in the projects in Brooklyn, I would never dream of having a star on the Walk of Fame,” the comic known for his cringe-inducing style said.
“But now that I’m here, I have to tell you I feel pretty comfortable,” the “30 Rock” star added. “I’ll tell you why! Because of the smell of weed and stale urine – it’s just like being in the projects. What would really make me feel at home, if somebody spray painted graffiti on my star.”
Morgan, who stars in the new Time Warner-owned TBS comedy “The Last O.G.” with Tiffany Haddish, was introduced by Oscar winner Jordan Peele and comedian Martin Lawrence, who gave Morgan his first break in 1994 on his TV comedy series “Martin.”
“The Last O.G.” is Morgan’s first big step back into Hollywood after he was seriously injured in 2014 when a Wal-Mart truck crashed into his limousine on the New Jersey Turnpike killing his friend, the comedian James McNair.
“He’s been through so many things and he’s come out with an outlook on life that is absolutely beautiful,” Peele told the assembled crowd.
“He’ll take you all over the map in a conversation with him,” Peele added. “You’ll be laughing one second, you’ll be crying the next second. He’ll have you thinking one second and then he’ll say something so stupid it’s just funny the next second.”
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
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Yvonne Staples, whose voice and business acumen powered the success of the Staple Singers, has died at age 80.
The Chicago funeral home Leak and Sons says she died Tuesday at her home in Chicago.
Staples’ family gospel group had a string of Top 40 hits and scored their first No. 1 with “I’ll Take You There” in the early 1970s.
She also performed with her sisters Mavis and Cleotha and their father Pops on other hits, including “Respect Yourself.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reports the family was active in civil rights and performed at the request of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2005.
A family friend says Yvonne Staples was “no nonsense” but “had a heart of gold.”
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Conflicts across the Middle East have had a tremendously adverse effect on children, the most vulnerable members of the population. With the Syrian civil war now in its seventh year and the Iraqi territories retaken from the Islamic State still unstable, millions of children in refugee camps have had to spend their early years dealing with the dire consequences of war.
But the American nonprofit behind the popular children’s show Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop, says it is sending its lovable and furry Muppets to these countries to help bring laughter and build resilience in the affected kids.
In an interview with VOA, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president for international social impact, Shari Rosenfeld, said her organization was teaming up with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to provide early education to help children and families overcome the trauma of conflict.
“We will deliver this in two ways: direct, in-person services for 1.5 million of the most vulnerable children, as well as a new educational broadcast that will reach 9.4 million children across Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria,” she said.
In December 2017, the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change program — a competition for funds to support a program that promises measurable progress in solving a critical contemporary problem — awarded Sesame Workshop and the IRC a grant of $100 million to help implement the project.
Rosenfeld said the program would introduce a localized version of Sesame Street to provide engaging educational messages covering reading, languages, math and social skills.
Character customization
Instead of using popular character names such as Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster, the puppets will have regional names and will speak Arabic and Kurdish.
“Not only will our content be made available through traditional television broadcast, but it will also be available on digital platforms like WhatsApp,” she said.
The program also will directly support children and parents at learning centers equipped with material for play-based learning, she added. Its trained workers will give home visitation and caregiving sessions to nearly 800,000 caregivers to mitigate the impact of toxic stress on children up to age 3.
“Toxic stress” occurs when a child’s brain development is disrupted because of prolonged adversity and leads to problems such as self-harm, suicide attempts and aggressive behavior.
Save the Children, a children’s rights and relief NGO, last year found that millions of Syrian children exposed to war could now suffer from “toxic stress” and needed immediate help to keep the damage from becoming irreversible.
The U.N.’s children agency, UNICEF, estimates that 1.75 million Syrian children remain out of school, and that 2.6 million Syrian children are living as refugees or are on the run for their safety.
In neighboring Iraq, the agency says, more than 1 million children have been displaced and 4 million are in need of assistance as a result of the war with the Islamic State group.
Affected children
Iraqi officials have expressed concerns, particularly about children who were schooled by IS. Counterterrorism officials have listed about 2,000 children needing therapy after having been influenced or brainwashed by IS.
Rights organizations say a majority of children affected by extreme violence do not receive proper education and rehabilitation.
The IRC estimates that of the billions of dollars spent on humanitarian aid, only about 2 percent is reserved for education or child development.
Rosenfeld of Sesame Workshop said the organization’s project would meet the children’s needs to recover from violence and extremism by emphasizing critical issues, such as mutual respect and understanding, diversity and inclusion, and gender equity.
If the program is successful in achieving those goals, the organization would try to expand it for other crises.
Projects elsewhere
Sesame Workshop has created local versions in several conflict-torn areas, such as Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Palestinian territories, Israel and Kosovo.
In rural Afghanistan, where women’s rights are sharply restricted, particularly by extremist groups like the Taliban, the local version of Sesame Street, known as Baghch-e-Simsim, has targeted girls’ empowerment. The program features a vibrant hijab-clad female role model called Zari, a 6-year-old Muppet who loves going to school and has big dreams for her future.
An impact assessment by the organization showed that children who watch Baghch-e-Simsim test 29 percent higher in believing in girls’ and boys’ equal ability to do various tasks compared with their peers who did not watch the show.
In another assessment, Israeli and Palestinian children who watched the show were more likely to take someone else’s perspective and express the need for the use of dialogue to solve a problem.
Some experts say that by providing education for children and promoting messages of tolerance, the program also could be used as an effective counterterrorism tool.
Countering Boko Haram
Naomi Moland, a lecturer at American University in Washington who studies the Nigerian version of Sesame Street, said the program producers tried to indirectly combat Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.
The terror group, whose name loosely translates as “Western education is forbidden,” has abducted hundreds of girls for going to secular schools.
“As far as gender equality, especially in regions where Boko Haram is active, even saying that girls should go to school is a counterterrorism message, because Boko Haram has fought against it,” Moland told VOA.
She said the creators of the localized show, called Sesame Square, feared being targeted by Boko Haram or having their show boycotted.
“They would say things like, ‘If we do one thing wrong, nobody in northern Nigeria is going to watch this because a certain extremist imam might say the show is not appropriate,’ ” she added.
Her forthcoming book, Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? Children’s Television as Soft Power in Nigeria, concludes the creators faced other dilemmas, such as celebrating diversity without exacerbating divisions and stereotypes of others, and localizing the show to reflect children’s reality.
“I think that is a difficult challenge that Sesame will face in this new program with Syrian refugees — that is, how do you present something that seems somewhat realistic to the children in that it connects their experiences of trauma and displacement while also giving them hope that something could be different and they might be able to get along with people who are different from them?” asked Moland.
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The Federal Reserve on Tuesday proposed new rules that could allow some large banks to reduce the amount of capital they must hold as a cushion against a future economic shock.
The proposal may clear the way for some large banks to reduce their capital levels in the future, but the largest firms on Wall Street are not likely to get such relief, the Fed said.
The proposal is expected to reduce bank paperwork and also make it easier for regulators to monitor the health of banks, said Randal Quarles, the top Fed official in charge of regulations.
“Our regulatory measures are most effective when they are as simple and transparent as possible,” Quarles, the Fed vice chairman for supervision, said in a statement.
The Fed said the proposed changes were likely to somewhat increase the amount of capital required for the 30 largest banks known as GSIBs, or global systemically important banks.
The measures should modestly decrease the amount of capital required for banks smaller than the GSIBs, the Fed said.
“No firm is expected to need to raise additional capital as a result of this proposal,” the Fed said in a statement.
Banks and other stakeholders will have 60 days to comment on the proposal, which is likely to take effect next year, said the Federal Reserve.
The new capital standards would be the first reform of capital standards conceived after the decade-old financial crisis.
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The Federal Reserve on Tuesday proposed new rules that could allow some large banks to reduce the amount of capital they must hold as a cushion against a future economic shock.
The proposal may clear the way for some large banks to reduce their capital levels in the future, but the largest firms on Wall Street are not likely to get such relief, the Fed said.
The proposal is expected to reduce bank paperwork and also make it easier for regulators to monitor the health of banks, said Randal Quarles, the top Fed official in charge of regulations.
“Our regulatory measures are most effective when they are as simple and transparent as possible,” Quarles, the Fed vice chairman for supervision, said in a statement.
The Fed said the proposed changes were likely to somewhat increase the amount of capital required for the 30 largest banks known as GSIBs, or global systemically important banks.
The measures should modestly decrease the amount of capital required for banks smaller than the GSIBs, the Fed said.
“No firm is expected to need to raise additional capital as a result of this proposal,” the Fed said in a statement.
Banks and other stakeholders will have 60 days to comment on the proposal, which is likely to take effect next year, said the Federal Reserve.
The new capital standards would be the first reform of capital standards conceived after the decade-old financial crisis.
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Composer John Williams will be honored by performing rights organization BMI with an award bearing his name.
BMI says The John Williams Award will be presented to the celebrated musician at the 34th annual BMI Film, TV and Visual Media Awards on May 9 in Beverly Hills, California.
Williams has won five Academy Awards throughout his illustrious career, most recently for best original score for “Schindler’s List” at the 66th show held in 1994. He earned his 51st Oscar nomination this year for scoring “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”
The 86-year-old has received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts. He has won multiple Grammys and Emmys.
Composers Laura Karpman, Miriam Cutler, Lolita Ritmanis and Rick Baitz will also be honored at the event.
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Russian retailers warned of price increase after ruble tumbles
European electronic and household goods manufacturers have warned Russian retailers of a possible 5 to 10 percent rise in prices after the ruble tumbled this week due to U.S. sanctions, retailers said on Tuesday.
Eldorado, which operates over 400 stores in Russia, said the hikes may mean it has to adjust its retail prices.
“Suppliers have already started warning of a possible 5-10 percent adjustment in prices,” a spokesperson for Eldorado told Reuters, adding that the warnings had primarily come from European manufacturers that do not produce goods in Russia.
A spokesperson for M.Video, which operates a network of 424 stores, also said that some of its suppliers had told them of plans to raise prices by between 5 and 10 percent.
The ruble fell sharply on Monday as investors took fright after a new round of U.S. sanctions against Moscow, targeting officials and businessmen around Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The ruble extended its losses on Tuesday, shedding over 3 percent of its value against the dollar, as investors continued a sell-off of assets fueled by fears that Washington could impose more sanctions and a realization that Russian credit and market risks had substantially increased.
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The Turkish lira Tuesday hit another historic low against the U.S. dollar amid growing financial market concerns that the Turkish economy is overheating.
With elections on the horizon, the government is stoking economic growth. The latest figures saw growth running at over 7 percent, making Turkey one of the fastest-growing economies in the developed world.
But international investors are becoming increasingly alarmed at the cost of such growth, with double-digit inflation and a surge in imports widening Turkey’s current account deficit (the difference between imports and exports).
“Investors are disappointed by the fact the government is pushing growth even faster, rather than addressing the imbalances that show up, such as high inflation and wide current account deficit.” said economist Inan Demir of Nomura banking.
“Some people say this: ‘Too much growth is not a good thing,’ ” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Monday aimed at challenging financial critics. “Why? Because they are jealous. It is nothing else.”
In another move aimed at defying critics, Erdogan also announced a new $34 billion economic stimulus package. Much of Turkey’s rapid growth has been achieved by the government injecting billions of dollars into the economy.
Erdogan further challenged international markets by renewing his strong opposition to increasing interest rates, which orthodox economic theory demands to protect a falling currency.
“If there isn’t an increase in interest rates, the likelihood will be the lira will continue to depreciate,” warned Demir. “More or less, the lira will remain at the mercy of global sentiment. It’s extremely difficult to draw a line where the depreciation stops on its own.”
Since the start of the year, the lira has fallen over 7 percent against the dollar.
Reports on Simsek
Last week, the lira fell heavily amid reports that Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek had resigned after a heated telephone conversation with Erdogan over interest rate policy.
Analysts suggest that Simsek, who is responsible for the economy, is key to maintaining the confidence of financial markets in Turkey, having formerly worked for international investment bank Goldman Sachs. According to Ankara sources, Simsek withdrew his resignation only after intense government pressure.
But with presidential and general elections upcoming in 2019, a booming economy is seen as key to Erdogan and his ruling AKP Party’s re-election chances.
“He [Erdogan] knows the way to win the election is by improving the economic situation,” wrote newspaper columnist and presidential insider Abdulkadir Selvi in Monday’s Hurriyet. “That is why he declared 2018 as the year of performance, growth and employment.”
Analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners asked, “What is left with AKP’s vision? Ten years ago, it was a big-tent party. It talked about human rights, modern democracy advancement, a humane society. Now, there is only mega-construction projects left and economic growth. So, if they stop stimulating the economy, economic growth will immediately fall off the cliff, and they will have no chance to win in a fair election.”
But a plummeting currency brings its own economic risks. Experts warn that heavy currency decreases usually undermine consumer confidence, leading invariably to a fall in consumption, and ultimately hitting growth.
A more imminent threat faced by Turkey is debt. Turkish companies’ short-term foreign exchange debt stands at $220 billion.
“We hear more and more companies requesting loan restructuring from the banks,” Demir said. “In the coming days as the lira depreciates further, more and more companies will find it more difficult to meet their foreign currency obligations with an overwhelming Turkish cash flow.”
Banks under scrutiny
In the past few weeks, two of Turkey’s largest companies have sought to restructure nearly $12 billion in bank loans. Turkish banks are now facing increasing scrutiny over their corporate loan exposure and how many of their loans are still performing.
“Clearly there is an understanding between [Turkey’s] regulatory authorities, the banks and major companies that the system must go on,” Yesilada said. “It’s in nobody’s interest to declare these loans nonperforming or the borrowers bankrupt, so everything looks good. But nothing is being sustained, to be perfectly honest.”
Turkish banking stocks have fallen heavily in the past few months and are now trading at nine-year lows. Most analysts claim, despite growing financial pressures, that the integrity of the banking system still remains strong.
But the same analysts warn that banks may curtail future lending, which would likely affect growth. Demir predicts Erdogan and his government’s dash for growth could ultimately become self-defeating.
“If the insistence on pro-growth measures continues, and investors become more and more concerned about the external financing requirements and sell liras, the pro-growth measures may actually turn out to be counterproductive, because the weaker lira could hurt company balance sheets, forcing more of them to seek a restructuring of their loans, and forcing them to cut back on investment and generating new employment,” Demir said.
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Future Russian gas transit flows through Ukraine to Europe may be between 10 and 15 billion cubic metres per year, Alexei Miller, head of Russian gas giant Gazprom, said on Tuesday, which is a significant decline from current levels.
Miller issued his comments after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the planned new Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany could not go ahead without clarity on Ukraine’s role as a transit route for gas.
“We have never raised an issue about abandoning the Ukrainian transit. However, the Russian resource base has been moving northward and there won’t be the same resources in the central gas transportation corridor as it was in the past,” Miller said in a statement.
“That’s why a certain transit could still be in place, in the amount of 10-15 bcm per year, but the Ukrainian side has to explain the viability of the new transit contract,” he said.
He did not give a time frame for when the transit could be 10-15 bcm a year.
Ukraine has been a key route for carrying Russian gas to Europe where it supplies around a third of gas needs, but Moscow and Kiev have clashed frequently over energy.
Last year, the transit amounted to more than 93 bcm, while Gazprom’s total exports to Europe and Turkey reached an all-time high of 194 bcm.
Last year, Ukraine earned around $3 billion in Russian gas transit fees.
Gazprom said last month it would terminate its gas contracts with Ukraine after it lost a court case, escalating a dispute which had left Ukraine struggling to stay warm and which the European Union said could threaten gas flows to Europe.
A Stockholm arbitration court ordered Gazprom in February to pay more than $2.5 billion to Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz – a ruling meant to conclude a long legal battle that has run alongside Ukraine’s broader political stand-off with Russia.
Gazprom wants to bypass Ukraine as an export route and plans to build two more undersea gas pipelines to Europe: TurkStream to Turkey and Nord Stream 2 to Germany.
Eastern European and Baltic states fear Nord Stream 2, planned to run through the Baltic Sea, could increase reliance on Russian gas and undermine Ukraine’s role as a gas transit route.
The plans for the pipelines were given new impetus after relations between Moscow and Kiev plunged as Russia-leaning president Viktor Yanukovich fled Ukraine in 2014 following street protests and a pro-Moscow revolt subsequently flared in eastern Ukraine.
The current deal between Russia and Ukraine on gas purchases and transit expires at the end of 2019 and Kiev has been worrying about losing its transfer fees for shipping the Russian gas westwards to Europe.
The group known as the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots says fully autonomous lethal weapons that can strike selected targets are no longer within the realm of science fiction. The coalition says it wants pre-emptive action taken to ban them. Government experts will spend the next two weeks discussing the issue at a meeting of the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
The Campaign to stop Killer Robots – a coalition of 65 non-government organizations – says the world is running out of time to prevent these systems from becoming a dangerous reality.
Campaign co-founder Richard Moyes warns the world is moving closer to situations where machine intelligence, instead of humans, may make life and death decisions on the battlefield.
“We need humans involved in these processes and it needs to be a substantial engagement that allows sort of human ethical judgment and human moral engagements with the decision about the use of force…From my perspective, I think there is a real risk in thinking that violence and killing people can ever be a really clean business,” said Moyes. “I think…we should be very wary about thinking that machines and computers can solve that.”
Campaign co-founder Mary Wareham tells VOA autonomous weapons systems with decreasing levels of human control are currently in use and development by six countries – the United States, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia and Britain. She says the U.S. is the most advanced.”
“I think all of them have commented that these weapons systems, the fully autonomous weapons systems, lethal autonomous weapons systems, do not exist yet,” said Wareham. “That is the common refrain that we hear in the room; but, there is acknowledgement that this is the direction that it could head in.”
Human Rights Watch – a founding member of the campaign – has said previously that precursors to killer robots include armed drones.
The campaign says the government experts have made some progress in identifying key issues of concern regarding autonomy in weapons systems. It says 22 countries are calling for a ban on fully autonomous weapons and many others agree some human control must be retained over future weapons systems.
The activists say they are heartened by the increasing number of countries that have expressed interest in negotiating a new international law on killer robots. The campaign says it wants member states to conclude a legally binding treaty “prohibiting the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons systems by the end of 2019.”
Tuesday, April 10, is Equal Pay Day in the United States. Advocates designated the day to mark how much longer women must work, on average, to earn as much as men averaged in the previous year.
Germany recognized Equal Pay Day on March 10. The Czech Republic will observe it on April 13. While assigning a date to the gender pay gap is a way to make a point, it makes for an easy gauge of whether the pay gap is getting worse or better from one year to the next. In 2017, the U.S. Equal Pay Day was April 4 — meaning the pay gap is slightly worse this year than last.
There are a number of explanations for historic gender gaps in pay.
One of the major ones is known as “occupational segregation,” meaning a particular job is seen as “men’s work” or “women’s work” and is dominated by that gender. In a study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in 2017, among the most common occupations for women and for men in the United States, only six occupations overlap.
In the fields that pay best, men tend to dominate, said the IWPR’s Chandra Childers. She adds that when men start to leave a field and women start to move in, the average pay for that field begins to drop.
Some say the pay gap is due to more women taking time off work or assuming less demanding professional roles so they can care for their families. “Women often choose lower-paying jobs that are closer to home and have better, more flexible hours,” conservative commentator Carrie Lukas said in an April 4 column for Forbes.
Childers says she hears that argument often. But “when you look at the pay gap,” she said, “a lot of it is because women are concentrated in low-wage service jobs. Many of these jobs are not flexible. They’re not family friendly,” and they are less likely to have paid family leave.
The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that advocates for low- and middle-income workers, found in April 2017 that women are paid less than their male colleagues in almost every occupation, regardless of whether that occupation is traditionally held by men or women. The average wage for preschool and kindergarten teachers was $16.33 per hour for men, and $14.42 per hour for women. Male nurse practitioners made $42.74 an hour, compared to $37.50 per hour for female nurse practitioners. Male software developers made $38.98 an hour, while women software developers made an average $33.65 an hour.
#MeToo movement
Hollywood has recently gotten much attention for starkly different salaries paid to women and men working on the same project. To highlight this point, several high-profile actresses turned up at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony with women’s rights activists as their dates.
Actress Meryl Streep brought Ai-jen Poo, the executive director of the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance. Poo used the opportunity to talk about how attitudes toward women — including those behind the sexual harassment scandal wracking the entertainment industry — affect pay levels at both the bottom of the income scale and the top.
“Equal Pay Day looks different in the #MeToo moment,” Poo said in a column in In Style magazine on April 4. “Each #MeToo story amplified the voice of a woman who has been underpaid, shut out, harassed, assaulted, undermined, ignored, or threatened. We can see clearly how it is that women are paid less when the gender discrimination that leads to the wage gap is exposed.”
Poo goes on to say that pay inequality and sexual harassment are “inextricably linked. They are both the result of a culture in which women’s lives and contributions are devalued.”
Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer recently told People magazine how she and Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain teamed up for a tiny experiment in collective bargaining, a tool activists recommend to fight against unfair compensation practices. The two women told producers that they would only take the roles if they were paid the same amount. Spencer — the Oscar winner — said she ended up making five times the amount she had expected for the film.
Technology sector
Women also face tough hurdles in the technology sector. A survey by the job-hunting website Hired.com showed that 63 percent of the time, men were offered higher salaries than women for the same role at the same company. The differences in starting pay for the same job ranged from 4 percent to 45 percent.
Notably, the Hired survey found that 54 percent of the women it surveyed said they had found out at some point in their careers that they were making less money than a man with the same job. Only 19 percent of men had had the same experience.
Equal-pay supporters say the benefit of equal pay is not just confined to the individual earners; it also benefits the employer and the community in which it is based.
Power to employees
There’s no silver bullet, says Jessica Schieder of the Economic Policy Institute, but an important tool in the fight for equal pay is transparency.
“You can’t know you’re underpaid and have a problem until that information is available,” Schieder said. She also recommends collective bargaining, a higher minimum wage, and any other tools that give employees more power. The social taboo against talking about personal income, she says, is not helpful either.
Jess Morales Rocketto of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and We Belong Together, a feminist campaign for immigration reform, says there is one other idea that can’t be overlooked. “There’s nothing more powerful than women coming together. … In the next 10 years, I want to see us close the pay gap. But also, I want ALL working people to be covered by our labor laws. And I want women at every level of public office.
“Our job is to address all forms of gender inequality to ensure that no woman, regardless of where she’s from, is left behind,” she said.
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Painter Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga’s tiny, sweltering Kinshasa studio seems worlds away from his glittering, well-received foreign exhibitions.
The 25-year-old painter says he is inspired by his country’s vast cultural and mineral wealth — but also by the region’s painful colonial history.
That message shines through in his captivating, dizzyingly bright paintings of figures garbed in bright Congolese and French textiles, their dark skin scarred by the signature markings of computer circuit boards, which are often made of Congolese-mined cobalt. Ilunga’s work has been exhibited in South Africa, Europe and the United States, as African art has grown increasingly more popular.
One of his pieces can fetch up to $30,000 in an international auction.
But that figure is far from his daily reality. He rents this space for $300 a month. His paints have to be imported from Germany. And, art industry experts say, while those seemingly high prices make him one of Congo’s most lucrative artists, his extraordinary work only fetches average prices by international standards.
“African artists are regarded differently on the international art scene,” he said. “And I think it’s a struggle of many artists in Africa to get the same recognition.”
Celebrated sculptor Freddy Tsimba notes that one problem is the lack of support at home. His captivating works of haunting human figures shaped of discarded items like bullet casings, keys and spoons are shown internationally, but get little notice inside Congo.
But there’s no shortage of artwork and creativity in Congo — original pieces and antique crafts sell for a song at the bustling Kinshasa art market, but high-end art is rare, says local art promoter Fabrice Bashonga.
“Congolese art is going very cheap in the international market, mainly because of the lack of consideration locally,” he told VOA.
Artists coming home
Artist Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo has exhibited — and lived — around the world, gathering acclaim for his complex collages, which are reminiscent of the work of French painter Henri Matisse.
But he chose to return home, despite the challenges. He now works at a recently established incubator for young Congolese talent in Kinshasa.
“We need to build the art scene and to make something since the people can buy artwork in Congo,” he told VOA. “And now, people are starting to buy, but it’s a big process, it’s a big challenge.”
The studio also features a rare sight on the Congolese art landscape: Women artists. Dina Ekanga, who creates images by pounding nails into a board to make the shape of human figures, is one of two women among the 10 artists in residence here.
“It is not easy at all,” she said. “Because the men they push you around a bit from all sides, and especially in the Congolese art scene, the market is rather difficult.”
Younger artists trying to make a mark
And younger artists like painter Romario Lukau say they struggle to establish themselves on the scene. He is part of Collective Takeyi, a group of four young painters represented by Bashonga. Their works shimmer with color and vitality and sell for about $1,000 apiece.
For now, the group works from a modest house in a Kinshasa suburb, but they are dreaming big.
“My biggest dream is that I would like for people to talk about Congolese art the way we talk about American art, the way we talk about German art, the way we talk about Belgian art,” he said.
This story was written by Anita Powell in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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