Following weeks of widespread demonstrations, with protestors calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism, we look at whether this moment in history will lead to the change and reforms people are hoping for. In this episode of #VOAOurVoices, our reporters take you inside the tumultuous demonstrations that shook cities in the U.S. and other parts of the world. We’ll bring you the story of an African mother whose son died in a hail of police bullets. And, a Kenyan rights activist talks to us about addressing police brutality and inequality in African countries.
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As U.S. lockdowns lift, evictions loom for poorest city dwellers. It’s putting millions of people, often in black communities, at risk of losing their homes, housing researchers and activists warned.Many states have halted evictions since mid-March, as the novel coronavirus spread rapidly, but such provisions are scheduled to end in the coming months as the country reopens.”There’s every reason to expect that this will result in a pretty serious rental market housing crisis,” said Peter Hepburn, a research fellow at the Eviction Lab, a research group at Princeton University in New Jersey.“Renters already put a lot of their income toward paying rent, and many of them have very limited savings, if anything, to help them weather this crisis,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.At least 29 million people in the United States are collecting unemployment checks, according to the Labor Department, as people suffered record job losses in recent months.Evictions typically hit black communities hardest, data show — an illustration of the inequality fueling the protests over race and policing that have roiled the United States for weeks, activists say.Black renters faced eviction filings by landlords at nearly twice the rate of white renters, according to an analysis of national data from 2012 to 2016 by the American Civil Liberties Union.In May, legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate to provide emergency funding to tenants facing eviction.  A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said it was asking public housing authorities to be flexible with residents who have been affected by COVID-19.”HUD is doing all that it can to ensure that the millions of residents we serve do not lose their homes due to COVID-19,” he said in emailed comments.Black renters hit harderA study released in May by Amherst, an investment research firm, estimated 28 million renter households nationwide were at risk of eviction in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”We are extremely concerned about that,” said Christie Marra, director of housing advocacy for the Virginia Poverty Law Center in Richmond.”If we don’t get significant rent relief, then in Virginia, given the high rates of eviction we’ve had historically, we’re going to see at least tens of thousands of people facing eviction.”Five cities in Virginia already rank among the 10 U.S. cities with the most evictions, according to the Eviction Lab.Housing insecurity and evictions disproportionately affect black communities, researchers say. In New Orleans, the eviction rate in some black and low-income neighborhoods was almost four times the national average, a 2015-17 study by Loyola University and the Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative, a housing association, revealed.In the 11 months up to June 2019, the number of black households evicted in Baltimore was three times higher than that of white households, according to researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Washington.Black workers in the United States have lower and less secure incomes compared with their white counterparts, said Hepburn at the Eviction Lab.”Once they miss rent, then their landlord is going to file for eviction,” he added.Eviction moratoriumsMoratoriums on evictions are lifting in coming weeks around the country.Nationwide, an eviction moratorium on rental properties with federally backed mortgages runs through the end of August. That suspension affects an estimated 28% of U.S. rentals, according to the Urban Institute, a research nonprofit.In New York state, the moratorium expires on June 20, but tenants who can prove that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a financial hardship that prevents them from paying rent can get two extra months’ reprieve from eviction.Tenant advocates want New York to extend the suspension at least through the end of the year. “It’s unthinkable to evict people during this time,” said Sandra Mitchell, a tenant leader in New York City.  Most evictions stem from nonpayment of rent, and tenants in arrears commonly owe less than a month’s rent, according to the Eviction Lab.”Give us time to do the right thing,” Mitchell said this week on a media conference call sponsored by the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, a group of tenant advocates. “We need to go back to work.”
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“I remember my dad bringing home NASA stickers for me when I was a little kid and thinking they were the greatest thing in the world,” says Erin Easley, who is now a senior studying industrial engineering at Louisiana State University.  
 
Stickers adorned Erin’s childhood schoolbooks – and other objects.
 
“Oh yeah, my sister and I would stick them on the furniture in our house, too,” she laughs, “and I’d give extras to kids in my class. I told them dad worked for NASA and had the coolest job.”
 
Erin’s father, Kelley Easley, was hired in 1983 to work in the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) – a NASA site on the outskirts of New Orleans, Louisiana. NASA calls MAF its “rocket factory” and considers it the nation’s premiere site for manufacturing and assembling large-scale structures for the space program.
 
In its 60-year history, the facility has been integral in sending Apollo astronauts to the moon and powering the Space Shuttle missions that helped build the International Space Station. Today, Kelley and others at MAF are focused on spacecraft designed carry a new generation of astronauts to the Moon and eventually to Mars. They’ve also built the largest segment of the most powerful rocket in the history of spaceflight, the SLS, that will launch astronauts at the start of those missions.
 
“We get to do some pretty awesome stuff here,” Kelley says, “and who doesn’t want his daughter to think he’s the ‘cool dad?’ That’s an added benefit.”
 Ready for launchKelley remembers bringing Erin to her first “Bring Your Child to Work Day” when she was 12 years old. MAF is large enough to hold 31 professional football stadiums and Kelley says he’ll never forget the look of awe on her face when she walked through the factory and stood in front of the 47-meter external rocket tanks – slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty.
 
“I remember, specifically, that she loved how people had to ride bicycles indoors to get around the facility,” he says. “She said anywhere that people got to ride a bicycle for work must be pretty great.”  
 
Despite her childhood love for NASA, the first profession Erin remembers wanting to pursue was teaching.
 
“Kids love playing Mom and Dad,” she says, “and I really wanted to be a teacher like my mom.”
 
But signs emerged that Erin might follow in her dad’s engineering footsteps instead.  
 
For example, Erin’s earliest memories include a love for puzzles. When she was five years old, Hurricane Katrina destroyed her family’s home. She, her dad and the rest of the family moved in with her grandfather, and Erin remembers her grandpa playing all sorts of puzzle games with her.
 
“I loved all his puzzles,” she says. “Especially the mental ones he did with me. When I got to high school and realized physics and calculus are a lot like mental puzzles, too, that’s when I decided engineering might be right for me.”
 Erin and Kelly with interns at the Marshall Space Flight Center’s Payloads Operations Integration Center (POIC) in Huntsville, Alabama in the summer of 2019 during Erin’s internship.CountdownErin’s interests were unique in her peer group, especially among her female friends. But it wasn’t until she began her engineering courses at LSU that she realized how unique.
 
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports fewer than one in five American engineers are women. Erin says she was often the only female in her classes.
 
“It can be intimidating,” she admits. “Sometimes it feels like the guys don’t take me seriously, and I have to prove myself over and over.”
 
Erin refuses to be discouraged, though, and when a classmate mentioned a 10-week summer internship at the Michoud Assembly Facility, an opportunity her father also had mentioned, she decided to apply.
 
“She applied on her own,” Kelley says. “That’s one of the many things I admire about my daughter. She’s eager to try things without help. It was the same thing when she was learning to ride a bicycle or to roller skate. She never wanted my wife or me to tell her how to do something.”
 
When Erin was announced as one of only four interns accepted into the program, no one was prouder than her dad.
 
“I was so excited for her,” he remembers. “She got to work on real NASA projects with real implementation plans.”
 
During her 10 weeks at MAF, Erin worked on the replacement of a cooling tower and the rehabilitation of a storage building. She also had the opportunity to attend meetings, visit other NASA sites and interact with employees she had admired since she was a young girl.
 
Erin says one of the things that impressed her most, though, was how many incredible women she got to interact with at MAF.
 
“I was never the only female in any of my meetings,” she says. “NASA is full of talented women engineers, and that was so encouraging for me to see.”
 Erin and Kelley at “Artemis Day at the Michoud Assembly Facility” on December 9, 2019. The machinery in the background is the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will help power the first Artemis mission to the Moon.Lift-OffHer internship ended last August, but Erin returned to MAF in December to watch the 65-meter SLS core stage depart the factory to be assembled with the remaining pieces of the rocket. While she’s still open to different career paths at this point in her life, she says working at NASA would be her dream job.
 
“This is the design for the rocket that will launch the first woman to the moon and the first humans to Mars,” she says, “and to watch how passionate everyone is about their work — I want to be part of a place where people are proud of what they do and excited to explore the unknown.”
 
Excitement about NASA’s mission is infectious, and often extends to strangers.
 
Kelley says if he goes to the grocery store while wearing a NASA shirt, he’s often stopped by another customer who wants to talk about NASA’s next big project, sometimes resulting in a 20-minute conversation.
 
“Everyone wants to do something that matters and everyone wants to feel pride in what they do,” he says. “It reminds me how fortunate I am, and I would love that same thing for my daughter.”
 
Erin says she’s treasured having a passion in common with her father. She remembers watching space movies with him when she was growing up and going for walks around the Michoud facility with him when she was an awestruck child, and again as an enterprising intern. She calls him when she sees a video about space that excites her, and when she learns something new in her engineering program.
 
Maybe one day they’ll walk across the vast floors of America’s rocket factory together again — this time as coworkers.
 
For now, Erin opens her computer to research next semester’s classes. Two NASA stickers decorate her laptop.Editor’s note: This is the fifth story in a VOA series highlighting the accomplishments of father-daughter duos across America – and celebrating cross-generational ties and common purpose between fathers and daughters ahead of Father’s Day, June 21. 
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The seven-member Guyana Elections Commission could get a report from Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield Friday that could move the South American country closer to confirming the results of March presidential and regional elections.The meeting, initially planned for Thursday, was canceled because of a lack of quorum.The commission is to announce the results after its chair, former justice Claudette Singh, receives a report from Lowenfield.A senior official of the main opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic Thursday dismissed an injunction sought by a citizen to prevent the commission from declaring the results. The party claimed victory in the election based on the national recount that ended last week.Preliminary results showed that opposition presidential candidate Irfaan Ali won the recount of votes in March’s presidential election after charges the count had been manipulated.The party also secured a two-seat advantage in the 65-seat National Assembly over President David Granger’s APNU+AFC party.Granger initially claimed victory, even after U.S. and EU observers said the count was flawed.  
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Міністр фінансів Сергій Марченко 19 червня виступив у Верховній Раді з доповіддю щодо Фонду боротьби з коронавірусною хворобою COVID-19.

За словами міністра, Фонд продовжуватиме роботу протягом всього карантину та ще 30 днів після його офіційного завершення.​

«Станом на 18 червня 2020 року урядом прийняте рішення про виділення коштів Фонду на суму 36,1 мільярда гривень. Зокрема прийнято постанову уряду на 19 мільярдів гривень, а також протокольні рішення на 17 мільярдів гривень. З урахуванням цих рішень залишок коштів Фонду станом на 18 червня складає 28, 5 мільярда гривень. Касові видатки станом на 16 червня склали 1,9 мільярда гривень», – розповів Марченко.

Читайте також: Обмеження через коронавірус «врятували мільйони життів», незважаючи на економічні та соціальні збитки – дослідження​

Зокрема, за словами міністра, Кабінет міністірів спрямував

9 мільярдів до Фонду загальнообов’язкового державного страхування на випадок безробіття для допомоги тим, хто залишився без роботи через карантин (як на безповоротній, так і на поворотній основі)
100 мільйонів гривень – закладам охорони здоров’я, які надають стаціонарну медичну допомогу пацієнтам із COVID-19 (за словами Марченка, йдеться про закупівлю апаратів штучної вентиляції легень)
майже 3 мільярди гривень передбачено на заходи з запобігання спалахам епідемії, з них 650 мільйонів гривень – лабораторним підрозділам МОЗ, 2,3 мільярда – на закупівлі засобів індивідуального захисту для закладів охорони здоров’я, надають стаціонарну допомогу пацієнтам із COVID-19 та екстрену медичну допомогу
2,5 мільярда гривень передбачено на допомогу Фонду соціального страхування (в тому числі 471 мільйон на виплати родинам медичних працівників, які померли від коронавірусної хвороби)
2,7 мільярда на додаткові виплати – до 50% заробітної плати чи грошового забезпечення військовим, поліцейським та «відповідним категоріям, які забезпечують життєдіяльність населення»
23,7 мільйона на заходи з подолання COVID-19 в установах виконання покарань та слідчих ізоляторах
52,5 мільйона – для повернення коштів за скасоване пробне зовнішнє незалежне оцінювання

За даними Марченка, станом на 9 червня 428 тисяч осіб отримують допомогу з безробіття – «майже вдвічі більше, ніж торік».

Міністр фінансів додав, що за протокольними рішеннями уряду з Фонду виділили загалом ще 17 мільярдів гривень. Ці кошти пішли зокрема напряму Міністерству охорони здорв’я, Міністерству освіти і науки (в тому числі на створення безпечних умов для проведення ЗНО), Пенсійному фонду.

Читайте також: Українська економіка і «коронакриза»: коли «пацієнт» відчує покращення?​

«Для нас принципово уникнути будь-яких зловживань чи нецільового використання коштів. Для Мінфіну це першочергове завдання. Такі загрози існують через коронакризу та спрощені порядку держзакупівель. Ми намагаємося їх уникнути в тому числі в процесі переговорів із Міжнародним валютним фондом та під час напрацювання програми», – заявив Марченко.

З цією метою, зазначив урядовець, Кабінет міністрів ухвалив постанову, яка розкриває бенефіціарних власників у закупівлях Фонду боротьби з коронавірусом.

Він також вказав на аудит, який здійснює Державна аудиторська служба.

Читайте також: За І квартал року державні банки заробили на 37% більше, ніж торік – Мінфін​

«Держаудитслужба з 9 червня здійснює контрольні заходи Міністерства охорони здоров’я, а з 16 червня територіальні підрозділи ДАС розпочали перевірки в 27 закладах охорони здоров’я. Наголошую, йдеться винятково про заклади, які не задіяні безпосередньо в ліквідації хвороби і не мають карантинних обмежень», – сказав міністр.

17 червня прем’єр-міністр Денис Шмигаль доручив Міністерству фінансів провести аудит Фонду боротьби з коронавірусною хворобою COVID-19.

10 квітня президент України Володимир Зеленський анонсував створення Фонду боротьби з коронавірусом обсягом майже 66 мільярдів гривень. З цих коштів зокрема мали виплачуватися доплати лікарям, залученим до боротьби з захворюванням, закуповуватися засоби захисту та медичне обладнання.
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European governments are working with the United States on plans to overhaul the World Health Organization, a top health official for a European country said, signaling that Europe shares some of the concerns that led Washington to say it would quit.The European health official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while discussing initiatives that are not public, said Britain, France, Germany and Italy were discussing WHO reforms with the United States at the technical level.The aim, the official said, was to ensure WHO’s independence, an apparent reference to allegations that the body was too close to China during its initial response to the coronavirus crisis early this year.”We are discussing ways to separate WHO’s emergency management mechanism from any single country influence,” said the official.Reforms would involve changing the WHO’s funding system to make it more long-term, the official said. The WHO now operates on a two-year budget, which “could hurt WHO’s independence” if it has to raise funds from donor countries in the middle of an emergency, the official said.U.S. President Donald Trump has accused the WHO of being too close to China and announced plans to quit and withdraw funding.European countries have occasionally called for reform of the WHO but have generally shielded the organization from the most intense criticism by Washington. In public the European position has usually been that any reform should come only after an evaluation of the response to the coronavirus crisis.Evaluation and reformBut minutes of a videoconference of EU health ministers last week suggested European countries were taking a stronger line and also seeking more European influence at the WHO in future.The German and French ministers told their colleagues “an evaluation and reform of the WHO was needed,” the minutes said.That was stronger wording than in a resolution last month which the EU drafted, and which was adopted by all 192 WHO member countries. That resolution called for an evaluation of the response to the coronavirus crisis, but it stopped short of calling for reforms.The German and French ministers also told their colleagues, “The EU and its MS (member states) should play a bigger role at the global level,” the minutes showed.A spokesperson for the German health ministry said Berlin sought stronger engagement with the WHO ahead of Germany taking over the EU presidency on July 1.A German government source told Reuters the aim of the intervention at the health ministers’ meeting was to encourage debate among EU member states about how to reform the WHO. Asked whether Germany was now pushing for quicker changes, instead of waiting until after the crisis, the official said: “Reforms of international organizations normally take years, not months.”A French health ministry spokesman also said the WHO would be on the agenda of Germany’s presidency of the EU, and Paris would work on it with Berlin. France backed WHO reform, but changes should follow the evaluation of the organization’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, he said.A British government spokesperson said Britain worked with organizations including the WHO “to encourage and support transparency, efficiency and good management.”The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the WHO did not respond to requests for comment.The WHO drew criticism for public praise of China’s efforts to combat the new coronavirus in the early days of the crisis, even as evidence emerged that Chinese officials had silenced whistleblowers.The EU and its governments funded around 11 percent of the WHO’s $5.6 billion budget in the 2018-19 period, and the United States provided more than 15 percent. China covered just 0.2 percent. 
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South Korea’s unification minister resigned Friday over heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, days after the North destroyed its liaison office with the South.President Moon Jae-in “accepted Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul’s offer to resign,” the presidency said in a statement, without offering further details.Kim, the key official for relations with the North since April of last year, offered to quit the post on Wednesday, taking responsibility for the worsening of inter-Korean relations.On Tuesday, North Korea used explosives to destroy the building on its side, angered by South Korean propaganda leaflets and aid supplies crossing the border into the North.Inter-Korean relations had frozen for months after the collapse of a Hanoi, Vietnam, summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. 
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Представництво країн «Групи семи» в Україні прокоментувало проєкт постанови Верховної Ради про діяльність Національного банку. Відповідну заяву пресслужба представництва оприлюднила 19 червня.

Незалежність українського центрального банку у G7 вважають однією з найважливіших реформ, які уряд України провів після Революції гідності.

«НБУ допоміг досягти макрофінансової стабільності, вирішити важку банківську кризу та відновити довіру до банківського сектору, затьмарену самоуправством та корупцією», – йдеться в заяві.

У G7 побоюються, що втрата Нацбанком незалежності зашкодить довірі інвесторів та поставить під загрозу міжнародну підтримку українського уряду «щодо побудови безпечної, успішної та демократичної країни».

18 червня у Верховній Раді зареєстрували проєкт постанови про доповідь голови Національного банку Якова Смолія, з якою він виступив у парламенті в травні.

Читайте також: Україна отримала перший транш від МВФ – Смолій​

Документ, який ініціював народний депутат від «Слуги народу» Олександр Дубінський, засуджує політику Нацбанку та пропонує висновок, що вона «не сприяла захисту економіки від впливу зовнішніх негативних впливів протягом 2019 року та під час карантину у 2020 році, а також не дозволила надати банківській системі України достатню підтримку для запобігання економічній кризі, а отже була неефективною».

Постанова також пропонує створення Тимчаосовї слідчої комісії для «розслідування діяльності керівництва Національного банку України та керівництва Фонду гарантування вкладів фізичних осіб у 2014-2019 роках».
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A State Department official resigned Thursday over President Donald Trump’s response to racial tensions sweeping the country over the deaths of black people in police custody, The Washington Post reported.Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, said in her resignation letter that Trump’s actions “cut sharply against my core values and convictions.” At 30, Taylor was the youngest person to hold her position, and she was also the first black woman in the job, according to the Post.“The President’s comments and actions surrounding racial injustice and Black Americans cut sharply against my core values and convictions,” Taylor said in her resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which was obtained by the Post. “I must follow the dictates of my conscience and resign as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.”Taylor’s resignation follows weeks of turmoil sweeping the United States following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Protesters demanding justice for Floyd and others, along with reforms to address police brutality, have taken to the streets, and the president has struggled to meet the moment.He has referred to protesters as “thugs,” and his administration forcefully pushed aside peaceful protesters near the White House so he could go to a nearby church and pose holding a Bible.The State Department declined to comment in response to a question from The Associated Press.“We do not comment on personnel matters,” the State Department said in an emailed response to a request for information about Taylor’s resignation. There was no immediate explanation for why State Department officials, including Pompeo and other top aides, had chosen to comment extensively on the decision to fire the department’s Inspector General Steve Linick in May.In her role in the Trump administration, Taylor helped guide more than 400 presidential appointments through the Senate, including those of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and CIA director Gina Haspel, the Post reported.  
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Scores of demonstrators in Guatemala are demanding President Alejandro Giammattei ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions, even as the death toll in the Central American nation tops 400.A motorcade of protesters and others on foot rallied outside the Congress in Guatemala City on Thursday, calling on the government to start relaxing restrictions and reopen the economy.Attorney Giovanni Fratti said the government is causing what he called a time bomb situation and that it should reopen the economy immediately, adding that advanced economies such as the United States and Italy, with more COVID-19 cases than Guatemala, are already reopening their economies.The demonstration comes a week after the government said it is considering increasing lockdown restrictions if COVID-19 cases continue rising.Guatemala has reported more than 11,800 cases and more than 430 deaths.   
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Wall Street closed mixed Thursday after the number of jobless claims came in higher than expected and coronavirus case numbers remained discouraging.The Dow Jones industrial average fell 39.51 points after being down as much as 271 points at one time. But the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index were each up a fraction.Analysts said that investors were disappointed at the latest jobless claims number and that worries of a possible second coronavirus wave persisted.  European investors were also concerned about a resurgence of COVID-19. Major indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris were all down less than 1%.Asian markets were mixed Thursday. Tokyo and Hong Kong were both down a fraction, but Shanghai was up slightly and the Sensex index in Mumbai climbed 2%.
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Thousands of Jews around the world are considering making what’s called Aliyah. It’s Hebrew for immigrating to Israel, partly to find shelter in a place that, as of Wednesday, has suffered few coronavirus deaths compared to other countries. While Israel has banned tourists from entering, it is allowing new immigrants. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem.Camera: Ricki Rosen  Produced by: Rob Raffaele 
 
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