Neha Wadekar
August 9, 2022Videos
** With exclusive interviews with President Elect William Ruto and Raila Odinga **
Kenyans will go to the polls on Tuesday to select a new president. In a nation with a history of contested and violent elections, this is the first time a member of the politically dominant Kikuyu tribe is not running. And many claim this is Kenya’s first election in which class plays a greater role than ethnicity. My report with Jack Hewson.
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As Facebook and its competitor TikTok grow at breakneck speed in Kenya, and across Africa, researchers say the tech companies are failing to keep pace with a proliferation of terrorist content, hate speech and false information , taking advantage of poor regulatory frameworks to avoid stricter oversight.
“It’s a deliberate choice to maximize labor and profit extraction, because they view the societies in the Global South primarily as markets, not as societies,” said Nanjala Nyabola, a Kenyan technology and social researcher.
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Although Kenya has gradually liberalized its abortion laws in recent years, activists are concerned that the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court could set back their progress. But they are determined to continue their fight, drawing inspiration from Latin America, where three countries have expanded abortion rights in the last year.
“I think the wave that started in Mexico, in Argentina, in Colombia, is catching fire in Africa,” said Tabitha Griffith Saoyo, a Kenyan lawyer working to expand reproductive rights. “[T]here’s room for Africa to lead by showing that abortion is an African issue, it’s not a Western concept, and that we’re ready to protect our women.”
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July 2, 2022Radio
The world is chock full of jihadist violence as our news feeds show us every day. Still, there are places that seem to escape our attention, despite the ghastly nature of the killing. Luckily there are intrepid souls who bring us this information. Borealis has a conversation with Neha Wadekar on the situation in Mozambique
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The Wajir event was a sign the 2022 presidential race is heating up. Past elections have descended into violence, with the most recent one in 2017 culminating in a nullified result, a runoff vote, and street riots.
The upcoming election, on Aug. 9, promises to be as fractious as ever. It’s an unusual contest with all the usual names: Odinga has teamed up with former rival Uhuru Kenyatta, the sitting president, against William Ruto, the sitting deputy president.
Experts are already predicting that the results could be challenged in the Supreme Court, and the decision could provoke violence and a prolonged period of unrest in this East African country — a pillar of democracy and a key U.S. ally.
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Meet the pageant queen who is raising awareness about climate change.
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In the United States, the proliferation of disinformation about Covid vaccines and treatments has been widely publicized, and most of these myths come from a few powerful influencers. Last year, the anti-extremism group Center for Countering Digital Hate found that 65 percent of vaccine disinformation on Facebook and Twitter came from just 12 people, including the activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the natural lifestyle influencer Dr. Joseph Mercola. The target audience, the media reports, is in bastions of American conservatism—in rural communities, among evangelical Christians, and among Trump voters.
But there is increasing evidence that American vaccine disinformation campaigns don’t stop at the borders.
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May 22, 2022Radio
Abortion debate has been one of the critical and influential issues within the US political and social changes, more and more people are rather outspoken, in terms of protecting and advocating for their own rights. Meanwhile, across the continents, female citizens in other nations are also struggling with the same issue. Among the nations in Africa, women no longer can find legal clinics for safe abortion, instead, they are playing fire with “illegal places.” Neha Wadekar, one international journalist joined the latest show to explain more.
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The men sitting inside the open-backed safari truck were silent and tense as they pulled up alongside their target. A young male giraffe stood under the shade of a tall tree, seeking relief from the unusually brutal March sun. As he heard the tires roll over dry thorn bushes, he craned his long neck and perked up his ears.
The man in the passenger seat aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, hitting the giraffe squarely in the flank. The group let out a hushed cheer as the animal flinched.
A man in the backseat set the timer on his watch. “Seven minutes until he falls,” he whispered…
Read my latest on how the worst drought to hit NorthEast Kenya in decades is killing off its precious and endangered wildlife.
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Global warming may shrink the total area that is most suited to growing arabica beans by about half by 2050, according to a recent peer-reviewed paper. Other cash crops including tea will also be affected.
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