You are watching Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis.
Top Stories:
Zindzi Mandela, daughter of former South African president Nelson Mandela, has died, according to the African National Congress on Monday. The South African Broadcasting Corporation says the 59-year-old, who was serving as South Africa’s ambassador to Denmark, died in a hospital in Johannesburg. It did not specify a cause of her death. Zindzi Mandela, whose mother was anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, rose to international prominence when she read out Nelson Mandela’s rejection of then-president P.W. Botha’s offer for freedom in 1985.
The United States continues to be hard-hit by the rampaging coronavirus. The U.S. had more than 60,000 new confirmed cases on Sunday, as infections surge in many states, including Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Arizona. Surgeon-General Jerome Adams, the top U.S. health official is urging everyone to wear a mask when out in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a renewed ban on the sale of alcohol and a new nighttime curfew Sunday, as the number of new corona-virus infections grows. South Africa has over 276,000 cases and slightly more than four-thousand deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The White House has formally notified the United Nations that U.S. plans to withdraw from the World Health Organization, a decision that continues to be widely criticized by global health experts. One campaign a global movement working to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030 says withdrawing from the WHO puts the safety of millions of people especially those in U.S. government should provide more funding for a global pandemic response package to help strengthen global health systems and ensure equitable access to an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.
As Sudan goes through its third month of COVID-19 lockdown, a new trend is growing in Khartoum, as people turn to home gardening to stay productive and healthy. Alamin Jafaar's Facebook group, which helps people share home gardening ideas, has seen its membership grow seven-fold during the pandemic to 350-thousand followers.
The United Nations Food Agency has released its 2020 state of food security and nutrition in the world report. It contains the most recent estimates of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition around the world. International Edition host Steve Miller spoke with Cindy Holleman, senior economist at the UN’s food and agriculture organization and lead author about the latest estimates and what needs to be done to help the world’s 690 million under-nourished or hungry people.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, has officially launched its balloon-based internet service in Kenya. The transmitters float high in the atmosphere and are believed to be a world-first for consumers.
A54 Sports: Many sports events, including horse racing, have been canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. One of them was the annual gold cup steeplechase in the plains, Virginia outside Washington. But instead of scrapping the entire event, the organizers decided to hold the race without spectators. As we hear from VOA’s Deborah Block, this year’s gold cup was offered virtually to anyone who wanted to watch it.
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