VOA60 - Africa for July 15th, 2011
1. Somalia: Drought in southwestern Somalia captured on film by VOA stringer Sahra Abdi Ahmed.
2. Kenya: Hospital in Wajir District struggles to care for children near starvation because of drought.
3. Ivory Coast: Food maker Nestle sends out more disease resistant cocoa plants.
4. Egypt: Protesters at Friday prayers ramp up their week-long demonstration against slow pace of reforms.
5. Madagascar: To delight of spectators men risk their lives in the ancient sport of Savika — bull wrestling.
6. US: Elves, witches and wizards line up for the US opening of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.”
VOA 60 is a 1 minute overview of the day’s top news stories — comprised of compelling video clips with simple captions. It is short, concise, and straight to the point so that viewers will be able to get their daily dose of news in less time.
In terms of underrated Tumblr resources, VOA 60 is pretty high up there on the list. If you haven’t checked out their videos, now would be a great time.
Check out Voice Of America’s exclusive interview with Obama. It’s the only one that Obama gave after his Afghan War speech last night. And in case you don’t feel like watching, there’s a full transcript over here. (What, you didn’t hear? Voice of America is on Tumblr, guys!)
According to VOA, the U.S. government (along with a drug firm named Onconova) is currently working on an anti-radiation drug called Ex-Rad. “Ex-Rad is a drug which is effective in saving a cell damaged by radiation,” says Onconova CEO Ramesh Kumar, “and we have found that it can be given in advance of exposure to radiation up to a day ahead or it can be given up to a day after the exposure to radiation.” If this is true, it’s worth keeping an eye on. source
See this clip right here? It’s from a “Daily Show”-styled program for the Iranian market called “Parazit.” The show, created by Voice of America and tough to come by unless you have an illegal satellite, nevertheless has a huge fan base – over 200,000 Facebook followers and thousands more YouTube visitors. And, considering the country, the tone of the show isn’t nearly as lighthearted as “The Daily Show.” “We have to walk a fine line,” said Saman Arbabi, one of the show’s DC-based hosts. ”We come from that generation of kids who got up in Iran and protested the government. We share their politics, so we echo their voice.” But that doesn’t mean they don’t get a kick out of making fun of Ahmadinejad. “His bloopers are fantastic,” he said. The show is so popular that Iran has had to create an anti-“Parazit” show which reportedly isn’t as funny. Awesome. source
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