Cape Town's water disaster averted due to public shaming, police crackdown
May 2018, the city of Cape Town comes dangerously close to running out of water, due to years of drought and a growing population. Emergency conservation measures enforced by beat cops offer a dystopian glimpse of what could be in store for other cities running dry.
“Showers are just joyless now,” said Andie Reeves, 27, an artist and writer in the city. “You just need to clean your body and get out.”
In Norway, Trump's comments on immigration rejected as backhanded praise
January 2018, following Donald Trump's infamous "bullshit countries" remarks, I travel to Oslo to find out how the people there feel about the president's preference for Norwegian immigrants. Turns out, they aren't that impressed.
“It’s nice that people want us,” Rosseland, 40, said as she walked along the frozen banks of the inner Oslo Fjord, “but I didn’t react to it as a compliment."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/norway-trump-s-comments-immigration-rejected-backhanded-praise-n837451
Election Cyberattacks: Pro-Russia Hackers Have Been Accused in Past
November 2016, as the US was asking questions about whether Russians could have hacked the US elections, I delve into a previous attack on a vote in Ukraine and uncover a pattern of interference.
"The Russian government-backed groups are limited by their will, not by technology."
Escape of 'Gifted' Inmate Underscores Flaws in Kenya's Justice System
In October 2014, I interviewed a talented, soft-spoken inmate at Naivasha Maximum Prison in Kenya. In December, he escaped.
This is his story as best as I could put it together.
"If you have money, you get freed. You don’t have money, you get convicted. That’s how it happened," he said.
http://www.voanews.com/content/gifted-inmate-escapes-flawed-kenyan-justice-system/2651556.html
In Kenya, Police Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
June 2015 - In Kenya, you are five times more likely to be shot dead by the police than a criminal. This investigation into the shooting death of a young robbery suspect in a Nairobi slum underscores the out-of-control problem of extrajudicial killings by police.
“The police officers said 'We warned you that anywhere we come across you, we are going to kill you and today it’s your day,'”
http://www.voanews.com/content/study-kenyan-police-shoot-first-ask-questions-later/2836258.html
Floodwaters Add to Misery in South Sudan IDP Camps
October 2014 - An exclusive report from the water-logged IDP camp in Bentiu, South Sudan, where 47,000 people are living, working, sleeping in water sometimes up to their waists.
“We are struggling,” she says. “The place is filled with water and the children cry from standing up all day with no place to sit down.”
http://www.voanews.com/content/floodwaters-bentiu-south-sudan-displaced-camps-unity-state/2480961.html
Gaza's Hospitals Under Fire
July 2014 - A web version for a companion radio piece about a Palestinian rehab hospital targeted by Israeli air force strikes in the early days of the conflict.
"I told them I cannot leave," he said. "I have people who are paralyzed, unconscious, they produce no threat to the Israelis at all, they're just sitting in their beds."
http://www.voanews.com/content/gazas-hospitals-under-fire-in-israeli-operations/1961124.html
Somali Diaspora Drawn Back to Mogadishu
October 2013 - About Somali businessmen and politicians who have returned to Mogadishu after years abroad to try to rebuild a war-torn country, while facing resentment from those who stuck it out.
“But sometimes the people with the better tools are the people who come from the diaspora, so at the end of the day who is better for the country is the guy with the better tools to fix the situation.”
http://www.voanews.com/content/somali-diaspora-drawn-back-to-mogadishu/1769185.html