Closed captions transcript:

00:00:06
I'm Tommy McNeill reporting President Trump's
communications director Mike Douglas

00:00:10
he has resigned in the president accepted
the resignation immediately dubbed he had

00:00:16
only been on the job for

00:00:17
a little over 3 months this comes as the
trumpet ministration faces investigations

00:00:22
into whether it had links to Russia including
reports that Jared Kirshner his son

00:00:27
in law and senior White House
adviser attempted to establish

00:00:31
a back channel communications link to
Russian officials in the weeks before Mr

00:00:35
Trump's inauguration u.s.

00:00:37
Senator John McCain said Monday he views
Russia and its president Vladimir Putin as

00:00:43
the greatest challenge we have beyond
even that posed by the Islamic state

00:00:48
terrorist group during

00:00:49
a visit to Australia McCain told the
Australian Broadcasting Company Putin has

00:00:54
tried destroy the very fundamental of
democracy with efforts to influence the u.s.

00:00:59
Presidential election I have seen no
evidence they succeeded but they tried and

00:01:04
they are still trying they're still trying
to change election to just try to affect

00:01:09
the outcome of the French election. The
White House is bracing for upcoming

00:01:14
congressional testimony of former f.b.i.

00:01:17
Chief James Comey Mr Trump fired Komi after
allegedly asking him to drop the probe

00:01:22
into former national security advisor
Michael Flynn and his close ties to the

00:01:27
Kremlin the Islamic State has
claimed responsibility for

00:01:31
a car bomb explosion in the Iraqi capital
Baghdad which has killed at least 13

00:01:36
people and wounded 24 others
it occurred just outside

00:01:41
a popular ice cream shop and apparently
involved remotely detonated explosives

00:01:45
inside

00:01:46
a parked car the bombing late Monday comes
just 3 days into the holy month of Ramadan

00:01:52
this is v.o.a. News. U.s.

00:01:56
President Trump has reiterated his accusation
that Germany does not pay its fair

00:02:01
share of dues in NATO commenting 3 days
after meeting with the country's leader

00:02:06
that the White House said it
went well but speaking at

00:02:10
a recent g 7 meeting in Sicily German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said that The Times

00:02:16
in which we can fully count on others are
somewhat over his life experience in the

00:02:21
past few days on Tuesday however miracle
clarify that she remains committed to

00:02:27
strong ties between the u.s.

00:02:28
And Germany she me the remark during

00:02:31
a news conference with the
visiting Indian prime minister

00:02:35
a tropical storm made landfall to z.

00:02:37
And the Southeastern Bangladesh killing 2
people and destroying thousands of homes

00:02:42
and already said the deaths were the result
of trees that fell in heavy winds and

00:02:46
rain before the storm Authorities evacuated
about 300000 people to shelters the

00:02:52
Bangladesh meteorological
department said that

00:02:55
a part of the storm had maximum winds of
up to 117 kilometers per hour when it came

00:03:01
ashore North Korea said Tuesday its
latest missile launch was successful in

00:03:06
a planned target point with

00:03:08
a deviation of 7 meters South Korea said
the latest rocket the 3rd launched in 3

00:03:14
weeks was

00:03:14
a scud type missile that traveled eastward
for about 450 kilometers and fell within

00:03:20
Japan's exclusive economic zone North
Korean leader Kim Jong un has said have

00:03:25
supervised the Monday launch
which the case c.n.a.

00:03:29
News agency said it was controlled by

00:03:31
a precision guided system Rand Corporation
defense analyst Bruce Bennett told

00:03:36
v.o.a. Is Victor Beattie the
outside world appeared to get

00:03:39
a glimpse of the rocket during last month's
parade marking the 105th birthday of

00:03:45
the founder and when asked about the
provocations by the North he attributed it to

00:03:50
the North Korean regime instability
it's probably caused by

00:03:54
a variety of things. Of the regime to perform
and bring up the economy the failure

00:04:00
of the regime to gain recognition from
China which is 'd very much an issue China

00:04:05
needs to be thinking about but also its
brutality in getting rid of lots of

00:04:12
senior leaders to make the other senior
leaders worried therefore that they could

00:04:17
be next and former Panama dictator Manual
Noriega whose time in power was marked by

00:04:23
corruption and violence has died at the age
of 83 Noriega had been in the hospital

00:04:28
recovering from several
surgeries related to removing

00:04:31
a brain tumor earlier this year before
being released on house arrest to prepare

00:04:36
for the procedures he had been in prison
for corruption and killing opponents

00:04:41
during his 1903 to 1989 regime
I'm Tommy McNeil in Washington.

00:04:49
That's the latest world news oh oh.

00:05:02
It is Tuesday May 30th and this is video
ways international edition I'm sorry

00:05:07
Williams in Washington coming up u.s.

00:05:10
President Donald Trump says the Russians
must be laughing at the investigation of

00:05:14
Moscow's election meddling singer ariana
grande a will perform this weekend and

00:05:19
a benefit concert for the victims of
the Manchester bombing Meanwhile the

00:05:23
investigation into the attack continues its
attacks last week with the 2nd biggest

00:05:29
terrorist attack ever in British history
and it came because of intelligence

00:05:32
failure which is now obvious and

00:05:35
a new movie version of Wonder Woman
opens this week that's all ahead.

00:05:44
U.s.

00:05:44
President Donald Trump says that Russian
officials must be laughing at the United

00:05:48
States with its escalating investigations
into Moscow's meddling in last year's

00:05:53
election and

00:05:55
a Twitter comment choose day Trump said
accounts of the probes of links between

00:05:59
Trump campaign aides and Russian operatives
aimed at helping him win have taken

00:06:04
over the fake news his
derisive term for u.s.

00:06:08
Media Trump is defending his son
in law Jared cushion or who is

00:06:12
a senior White House advisor following
news reports say he attempted to establish

00:06:17
back channel communications to Russian
officials in the weeks before Trump assumed

00:06:22
power in January questioner according to
several accounts sought to create the

00:06:27
secret communications link with Moscow as
he met with the Kremlin's ambassador to

00:06:31
the u.s.

00:06:32
Are gay Kislyak early last December Homeland
Security Chief John Kelly said this is

00:06:37
something that's done on

00:06:38
a regular basis former Central Intelligence
Agency officer Jack Rice spoke with

00:06:44
international editions Laurie London
about the reported back channel. It's

00:06:49
extraordinary if you think about this I've
been hearing the term back to channel I

00:06:53
disagree with it completely This is not

00:06:56
a back channel this would be something
called in the intelligence and military

00:07:00
business would be something called
code call and what Cocom is is covert

00:07:04
communication that is set up to essentially
protect and hide something and it's

00:07:10
a fairly a good or

00:07:11
a bad thing or in the fairest thing in any
sense word but what this is designed to

00:07:16
do is to allow direct contact and so
that was the general concept of what the

00:07:22
administration has been claiming at least
so we've got homeland security secretary

00:07:26
John Calley

00:07:27
a former Marine who has come out in question
is defense saying this is normal for

00:07:32
an administration to open the lines of
communications with foreign countries

00:07:36
companies won the election but he hadn't
actually taken office yet so is that

00:07:40
different or is it pretty much the same
thing let's start with the 1st question is

00:07:44
this normal and the answer is no is John
Kelly saying that it's acceptable he's

00:07:50
claiming it but I don't believe that even
he believes 'd this and here is why if

00:07:55
you set up

00:07:56
a covert communications through the
Russians through the Russian embassy using

00:08:00
Russian equipment using the Russian expertise
what you do is you open yourself up

00:08:06
to exploitation manipulation and ultimately
potentially blackmail because they

00:08:12
control everything about it if this were
something that were actually done you

00:08:16
would have cut out the State Department
would have cut out justice you would have

00:08:19
cut out the Central
Intelligence Agency the n.s.a.

00:08:22
The Department of Defense and even
congressional oversight this is something that

00:08:26
would never be done under any circumstances
like this not something that was

00:08:32
actually being controlled exclusively by
an adversary you would never ever ever do

00:08:38
this John Kelly is arguing that this is
Ok John Kelly if he were being on this

00:08:43
would never accept this is Ok when he was

00:08:46
a flagship office area and he had somebody
under. His command who did this that

00:08:51
person would be court marshaled if I were
an intelligence operative and I did this

00:08:56
through the Russians saying well
I want to have closer access and

00:08:59
a direct contact I would be charged with
espionage when you run something and you

00:09:05
literally cut out everybody of consequence
and it's completely and utterly

00:09:11
controlled by an adversary and one might
even argue and of me under certain

00:09:16
circumstances what you're doing is you're
exposing yourself to the rouged of all

00:09:21
worlds former CIA officer Jack Rice Well
joining me here in the studio is social

00:09:27
media editor and repel chefs cylinder
what's happening well as the trumpet

00:09:31
ministration continues to deal with those
Russian allegations we saw this morning

00:09:35
Michael dubbed key the White House
communications director resigned from his post

00:09:39
after just 3 months this
is sent social media into

00:09:42
a tizzy about why exactly he resigned
is it the normal growing pains that you

00:09:48
experience in an administration where staff
sometimes leaves after the start of the

00:09:52
administration is it a shake up as
President Trump has promised or is it

00:09:56
a White House in disarray are people kind
of jumping the ship before it sinks and

00:10:01
then there's the kind of moving of the
pieces behind the scenes lots of people

00:10:05
speculating now that Dembski has left Sean
Spicer might be appointed to the role of

00:10:09
White House communications director removing
him from the public facing role that

00:10:13
he's had as press secretary of course we've
talked about him being parodied on s

00:10:17
n l by Melissa McCarthy
So perhaps moving him to

00:10:21
a more behind the scenes role and taking
him out of the public spotlight so lots of

00:10:24
talk about that speculation on social media
today we're also seeing talk about the

00:10:29
Manchester bombing

00:10:30
a week ago an announcement from Ariana
Grande day that she's going to have

00:10:34
a concert

00:10:35
a benefit for the victims called one
love Manchester and that phrase one love

00:10:39
Manchester is trending That's the hashtag
that people are using for this concert

00:10:43
and she's not just doing
this alone she's bringing

00:10:46
a lot of her famous friends with her
including Katy Perry Coldplay. Justin Bieber

00:10:49
Miley Cyrus for Al Williams They're all
going to be participating in the concert

00:10:54
the proceeds from which will go to the
victims fund and then those people who were

00:10:57
at her concert when that bombing happened
they can actually apply for free tickets

00:11:01
to this show as kind of

00:11:03
a gesture of good will for having gone
through that horrible bombing the people who

00:11:08
perhaps were injured or were in the
arena when it happened outside can now

00:11:12
potentially come to the show so

00:11:14
a gesture of goodwill from Ariana Grande
day and other artists around the world and

00:11:19
then finally the feudalist girl statue we
talked about this earlier this year the

00:11:22
statue popped up in Wall Street across
from that famous Bowl statue in New York's

00:11:26
Wall Street one artist has
now installed a statue of

00:11:29
a dog urinating on the
girl's leg which is getting

00:11:32
a lot of criticism the artist Alex garde
Degas said it was done out of kind of

00:11:38
humor he said that the girl
statue was installed by

00:11:40
a multi-billion dollar hedge fund so he
was trying to make light of that people

00:11:44
saying it's not humorous at all it's
very mean and massaging mystics and he's

00:11:48
getting

00:11:48
a lot of criticism for that we'll see
if that statue remains there or if they

00:11:52
remove that for what it's worth the fearless
girl statue will beast there until at

00:11:56
least 2018 as an agreement with New York
Ok well thanks Andrew that social media

00:12:01
editor and. Here is some of the
top news stories trending the

00:12:08
United Nations says Yemen is now the
world's largest food insecurity crisis the

00:12:14
White House communications chief resigns
car bombings kill at least 27 people in

00:12:19
Iraq's capital and President Trump says
Germany is not adequately contributing to

00:12:25
NATO expanded coverage of these
stories and more on the v.o.a.

00:12:29
News dot com website this is the away.

00:12:41
This is international edition on The
Voice of America I'm Sara Williams The

00:12:47
publicist for u.s.

00:12:48
Pop star Arianna. Grand Day announced
Tuesday the singer will perform at

00:12:52
a benefit concert in Manchester for victims
of last week's deadly bomb attack in

00:12:56
the city the one love Manchester show to
be hell Sunday at the city's Old Trafford

00:13:01
cricket ground will also feature artists
such as Justin Bieber and Katy Perry

00:13:07
Meanwhile British authorities are investigating
apparent shortcomings at m I 5 the

00:13:12
domestic intelligence agency when it
failed to detect the behavior of suicide

00:13:17
bombers Solomon a baby

00:13:18
a Manchester resident of Libyan descent
home secretary Amber Rudd said it's right

00:13:23
to launch such an inquiry into how warnings
surrounding the 22 year old baby were

00:13:28
handled is

00:13:30
a lot of information coming out at the
moment about what happened had this how this

00:13:35
occurred what people might or might not
have known and I think is right that m I 5

00:13:39
takes

00:13:39
a look to find out what the facts are I
think we just shouldn't rush to make any

00:13:44
sort of conclusions at this stage the
important thing at this moment I believe is

00:13:48
to ensure that we allow the operation
to continue and to conclude

00:13:52
a baby had been flagged earlier as

00:13:54
a person of interest but security alerts
were dropped when his file was closed

00:13:58
after authorities determined he was
not deemed dangerous Greg Barton

00:14:03
a terrorism analyst at Australia's Deakin
University tells international editions

00:14:07
Victor Beatty authorities had
been warned for years about

00:14:11
a baby's radical views beginning last
year after he spent time in Libya

00:14:15
intelligence services
including allegedly be f.b.i.

00:14:19
And in mind exchanged
information with the f.b.i.

00:14:23
Expressing concern of a link between

00:14:26
a body and no one al Qaeda linked
terrorists in Libya bodies father has

00:14:31
a long association with one of these groups
that fought against Moammar Gadhafi the

00:14:36
father and mother returned to live in
Tripoli Libya in 2011 and the brothers and

00:14:41
sisters to them regularly so that was

00:14:44
a pet and so concern but there were signs
of radicalization taking place and so I

00:14:48
went up to the. At least
in the last 12 months

00:14:51
a man should have returned attention
to his case and the investigation the

00:14:56
government on Monday acknowledged publicly
that at least 2 investigations within

00:15:01
a 5 are under way about the way of Ortiz
handled this case that's extraordinary

00:15:07
public acknowledgement it is I think it's
what the British public expects clearly

00:15:11
the ball was dropped to put it in context
since the 77 attacks in London in July

00:15:16
2005 there have been no major
terror attacks in the u.k.

00:15:20
There's been several lone wolf attacks but
nothing involving large scale planning

00:15:24
with days and authorities have stopped
at least 3 dozen attempted attacks so

00:15:30
significant success but this attack last
week was the 2nd biggest terrorist attack

00:15:35
ever in British history and it came because
of intelligence failure which is now

00:15:40
obvious given that the authorities have
3000 people on their active watch list

00:15:44
people believed to be linked with terrorism
500 open investigations and another

00:15:48
22000 people on

00:15:51
a lower level watch list the shit workload
means that it's not surprising that at

00:15:55
some point just being overwhelmed with
numbers something is missed Islamic state

00:15:59
claimed responsibility how much credence
do you give to that initially they were

00:16:02
skepticism when non-official Islamic state
social media channels began to boast

00:16:07
about the attack later on an Islamic state
through more official channels playing

00:16:12
detective to some skepticism because they
didn't seem very clear on the details

00:16:16
they didn't mention a suicide
operation though with

00:16:18
a quite happy to boast of suicide operations
so it's possible that this is Islamic

00:16:23
state linked but indirectly via al-Qaeda
militants That's Greg Barton of

00:16:29
Australia's Deakin University Sudanese
President Omar Hassan al Bashir and his

00:16:35
foreign minister have postponed planned
visits to Cairo and then heightening

00:16:40
tensions over alleged support to terrorists
Egypt accuses Sadan of supporting

00:16:45
Islamic militants in Libya while Sudan
accuses Egypt supporting separatists and or

00:16:50
for as Edward Uranian reports for v.o.a.

00:16:54
From Cairo. Relations between
Egypt and Sudan have taken

00:16:58
a turn for the worse as each side accuses
the other of supporting terrorism

00:17:04
Sudanese foreign minister
Ibrahim gun door postponed

00:17:08
a planned visit Tuesday to Cairo amid
tensions Sudanese President Omar Hassan al

00:17:15
Bashir accused Egypt last week of supporting
terrorists in South Sudan the dar for

00:17:21
after allegedly capturing rebels Sudan
alleges were driving Egyptian armored

00:17:27
vehicles we're going to give you a bit of
know what the nurse said that the have

00:17:32
a problem with you that he said those
who plans armed forces uncovered

00:17:36
a big plot with fighters coming from 2
directions one from South Sudan and the

00:17:42
other is coming from Libya on the same
day he alleges the Sudanese military

00:17:48
destroyed 59 armored personnel carriers and
tanks coming from South Sudan and that

00:17:55
they were high tech Egyptian
made vehicles Sudanese t.v.

00:18:00
Showed video of what it said were some
of the vehicles. Top Sudanese negotiator

00:18:07
for the conflict in Darfur Amine the
Haasan Omar told Sudanese state t.v.

00:18:13
That Egypt is trying to
destabilize his country. Under.

00:18:24
Cover he says and as well known there are
Egyptian Brotherhood support eastern

00:18:29
Libyan military commander General Tommy
Franks in that they furnished the South

00:18:34
Sudanese government with weapons he adds
Egypt also accuses Sudan of sending arms

00:18:41
to parties and Libya Egyptian
president of the c.c.

00:18:46
Rebutted the charges against Cairo last
week says of course the Sept 11th to the

00:18:52
shuttle I guess. What I'm going to tell you
he says Egypt's foreign Jolly's see as

00:18:58
unwavering in that interfering with the
affairs of others and maintain that Egypt

00:19:04
conducts an honorable policy in an
Iraq devoid of honor it Gyptian state

00:19:11
media have accused Sudan of supporting

00:19:13
a slum make militants in southern Libya
following the terror attack Friday that

00:19:19
killed more than 2 dozen Coptic Christians
many of them children near the upper

00:19:24
Egyptian town of mean young Egyptian t.v.

00:19:28
Showed

00:19:29
a Sudanese militant Islamic cleric justifying
the killing of civilians was coming

00:19:35
out of you are the facts
why somebody want. To be

00:19:39
a medical father he says that Islam in its
battle against infidels recognizes no

00:19:45
difference between regular armies and
civilians for that reason he says it is

00:19:51
permissible to kill tourists or
children. It Gyptian president c.c.d.

00:19:58
Now such actions in

00:19:59
a speech during an anti-terrorism summit
in the Saudi capital Riyadh just over

00:20:05
a week ago and no mater. How did I let
me add that when I was 31 he said

00:20:12
Egypt's battle is part of the world war
against terrorism and Egypt is determined

00:20:19
to defeat terrorist groups while extending

00:20:22
a hand and cooperation to
its allies against the c.c.

00:20:27
Said terrorists are not just those who
carry weapons but also those who arm and

00:20:33
train the or offer them political
justification Edward Uranian for v.o.a.

00:20:39
News Cairo this is the l.a.

00:20:42
. Breaks v.o.a.

00:20:47
. News as it happens.

00:20:54
Monday through Friday at 160800 u.t.c.

00:20:59
And our 5 minute newscasts come to
you at the top of each hour v.o.a.

00:21:05
Africa your trusted source of information.

00:21:14
I'm Nickey strong you love music how about
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00:21:35
the boys of America.

00:21:46
This is international edition and
you are telling and the d.c.

00:21:50
Comics superhero Wonder
Woman opens in u.s.

00:21:53
Theaters this week as David Bird tells us
the movie stars Israeli born star Joe and

00:22:00
Chris Pine who joined
forces to fight against

00:22:03
a super weapon during World War
1900 just not me to see. It 5

00:22:10
times to be 2 for. Just the
sheer fun and Diana. Worship

00:22:17
that. The Czechs man claimed to have.

00:22:24
Such. A to the not as sad if
you is telling me the story

00:22:31
Diana is an Amazon princess the daughter
of hip politician and Zeus and lives on

00:22:37
the island of thermos Sera
where she trains to be

00:22:39
a warrior with her fellow Amazons one day

00:22:42
a plane piloted by Captain
Steve Trevor of the u.s.

00:22:46
Army Air Service crashes into the water off
the island Diana rescues him and learns

00:22:51
he is on

00:22:51
a spying mission to stop Dr Maroon also
known as Dr poison from developing

00:22:57
a deadly gas weapon during World War One
Diana leaves her island home to help end

00:23:03
the war to end all wars at the film's Los
Angeles premiere it wasn't movie villains

00:23:08
but real ones that had bomb sniffing
dogs and heavy security out in force the

00:23:13
London premiere was canceled entirely because
of the Manchester bombing attack but

00:23:19
the film star Israeli born Gaga dose said
that dealing with terrorism is something

00:23:25
she has unfortunately gotten used to but I
feel awful I feel very sad and it's like

00:23:31
it's bad the extremes of life right I
experienced the most amazing thing of working

00:23:35
on this was

00:23:36
a long time needs at the back of the mind
and on the other hand there is there are

00:23:41
10 years. And that is. The worse
most horrible strains hand

00:23:48
you know for me coming from Israel and I
mean there unfortunately with these type

00:23:53
of events and and I think that it was

00:23:57
a good idea not to do that
we're denying that good o.

00:24:00
Used

00:24:01
a strict diet and exercise regimen including
martial arts training for months in

00:24:07
order to prepare for the role she also
gained nearly 8 kilograms of muscle and

00:24:12
learn to fight in Wonder Woman's armor Chris
Pine who plays Steve Travers says that

00:24:18
the film is a love story as well as

00:24:20
a big budget superhero movie I think what's
neat about this film in particular is

00:24:25
that it's a romance it's like it's
a superhero film wrapped around

00:24:31
a really really deep romance like you know
like at Casa Blanca something is earnest

00:24:37
and hopeful and buoyant that's what we had
back in the day Nollywood So for me that

00:24:43
that's the beating heart of this film and
the themes of compassion and love and and

00:24:48
all that director Patti Jenkins says she
made the movie with Wonder Woman as an

00:24:53
example for young girls who
go to the film I try to make

00:24:57
a movie for everybody where if nobody thinks
about the fact that the lead character

00:25:02
is someone that because
one woman has had such

00:25:04
a huge fan base for so long and I say
like let's treat her as Granted she was

00:25:08
Superman this is a movie for everybody
don't worry about the fact that she's

00:25:12
a woman but of course it's going to speak

00:25:14
a very special language to girls who might
not have seen it on the screen or that

00:25:18
like touches Wonder Woman also stars Conny
Nielsen as Queen had politics Diana's

00:25:23
mother Robin Wright stars as general Antiope
hip politest sister and the woman who

00:25:29
trains Diana to fight
Wonder Woman is rated p.g.

00:25:32
13 for violence and some suggestive
scenes in Washington I'm David Bird.

00:25:40
And that is our show please remember to
visit our website at the way News dot com

00:25:45
I'm Sarah Williams thanks
so much for joining us.

00:26:44
Next an editorial reflecting the views of
the United States government as the world

00:26:49
has grown increasingly interconnected fast
evolving technologies globalization and

00:26:55
trade liberalization have all but removed
many traditional barriers to free

00:27:00
movement of goods and people and facilitated
rapid transnational business trade and

00:27:05
banking transactions transnational
criminal networks are among the great

00:27:10
beneficiaries of these developments today
such organizations employ the latest

00:27:15
technological advances and use commercial
jets fishing vessels and container ships

00:27:21
to move drugs people small arms crude oil
cigarettes counterfeit and pirated goods

00:27:28
and toxic waste through the region generating
massive profits said senior director

00:27:33
for national security and diplomacy crime
programs at the State Department's Bureau

00:27:39
of intern. National Narcotics and law
enforcement Affairs David Luna transnational

00:27:44
crime is tremendously
lucrative according to

00:27:48
a number of international organizations
the illegal economy accounts for 8 to 15

00:27:53
percent of the world's gross domestic
product and nowhere are these criminal

00:27:58
networks more active than in sub-Saharan
Africa said David Luna was it markets are

00:28:04
going across Africa to meet the global
demand for arms counterfeit cigarettes

00:28:09
diamonds natural resources and other illicit
commodities this fact has not escaped

00:28:14
terrorist organizations indeed today's
thriving illegal economy is so lucrative

00:28:20
that terrorists are increasingly turning
to criminal activities to fund their

00:28:24
violent campaigns such as those that we
are witnessing today by al Qaeda in the

00:28:29
Islamic Magreb also known as a.q.i.m.

00:28:33
Boko Haram. And others said Mr Luna So
for example in the sun hell and the

00:28:39
Magreb a.q.i.m.

00:28:41
Finances its terror campaigns by collecting
attacks on drugs passing through

00:28:46
territory under its control a.q.i.m.

00:28:49
And Isis both of whom are involved in
smuggling and trafficking in persons or

00:28:54
attempting to build alliances with violent
extremist networks in Libya and across

00:28:59
the Magreb sun hell and West Africa in
reality there is no region no country and no

00:29:06
community who remain untouched by the
destabilizing effects and corruptive

00:29:11
influence of transnational organized crime
and violent terrorism said Mr Luna the

00:29:17
United States is committed to strengthen
international cooperation in support of

00:29:22
our u.s.

00:29:23
Law enforcement and security agencies and
the capacities of our allies and partners

00:29:28
in Africa to disrupt and dismantle
transnational organized criminals.

00:29:36
But it was an editorial reflecting
the views of the United States.

00:30:02
Good evening everyone I'm Leno and welcome
to health experts citric fistula is one

00:30:08
of the most devastating and serious of all
childbirth injuries women will suffer

00:30:13
from the condition can not control the
urine of fishies onto this program over.

00:30:19
This devastating condition that can be
prevented and treated and joining us via

00:30:25
phone from song to California Grant c.e.o.

00:30:29
Of the fistula Foundation Grant welcome
to the show Highland or disturbing to be

00:30:35
with you again it's great to have you
on the program and let me remind our

00:30:39
listeners that we will start
discussing fistula in

00:30:43
a moment but 1st via ways Abraham
has this report the United

00:30:50
Nations Population Fund
in conjunction with

00:30:53
a French medical organization. From tears
and the ministry of health care in our.

00:31:00
Operations after help.
Doctors from the un and the

00:31:07
Ministry of Health are forming the
operations. From Nigeria. Be.

00:31:15
For the next 2 weeks because
they want to see. More life the

00:31:22
general situation will woman is really
pathetic in the sense that. We all know that

00:31:28
the pregnancy is not

00:31:30
a disease so if you are having something
that decision joy to the family he should

00:31:35
not affect your health but here we women
in India. Process or the willingness to

00:31:42
have children the end of have
been a lot of difficulties to x.

00:31:46
Only to secure this disease which point
team use the community and in most cases

00:31:53
with other social implications Dr Saeed
say swimmin be have met so far tell them

00:31:59
that they have been isolated in
their community because of be

00:32:04
a but smell He says the disease is avoidable
when one understands the principles of

00:32:10
how fistula is contract it he
say some of the cases involve

00:32:14
a lot of per for high gain especially
among property stricken women and girls

00:32:19
between the biggies of $14.40
additional birth practices and

00:32:24
a lot of health he's contributed to
the last number of cases to more ease

00:32:31
undergoing treatment for
fistula I don't receive

00:32:34
a hospital just suffered from the disease
since 2007 and separated from her husband

00:32:40
because of sickness say's he will undergo
an operation at the hospital with the

00:32:45
hope of resuming

00:32:47
a normal life again soon I cannot
count on it. And then you will.

00:32:54
Think me specially during. Because
I am sick my has been abandoned

00:33:02
that many me except my mother look.

00:33:09
Reproductive health coordinator at the
state ministry of health you know when he

00:33:13
sees women are in due to
many health complications as

00:33:17
a result of the sickness is really bad or
was he not on the bike around I know that

00:33:23
I know about it because. We have fairly
calm pay in this campaign in part campaign

00:33:29
we mobilized. Us. 3 years

00:33:35
paying. We had 120 mothers. Braided
on their back to their home.

00:33:43
Life Currently we have one and we
have 9 mothers who are admitted.

00:33:50
10. And 11 all prated.

00:33:59
Kraken is going on there will be
operated better she. Reveals 99 percent

00:34:06
of patients with have been divorced has
been abandoned by their husbands families.

00:34:13
Fistula are normal opening between

00:34:17
a woman's female and bladder or retract
them through which high urine or feces

00:34:24
continually leak it can happen after

00:34:27
a lengthy complicated shan't or when
adequate medical care available it

00:34:34
usually results in

00:34:35
a lifelong pain the condition causes many
African women to become social outcasts

00:34:42
in the communities news.
Reporting you know we.

00:34:56
Again thank you so much for joining us grant
we are very excited to have you on the

00:35:02
program today fistula is

00:35:05
a condition that really is devastating
when you think about it but there is good

00:35:11
news one of the good news is the work
that you have been doing with your

00:35:15
organization for the past several years
many years trying to help these women

00:35:22
so can you tell us. To
begin with just give us

00:35:27
a sense of what have been
accomplished so far. Well the Nords

00:35:34
typically are going to sation the financial
foundation has grown dramatically over

00:35:37
the last decade if I were talking to
10 years ago I would have said we were

00:35:41
supporting one hospital

00:35:42
a big hospital where the hospital but
only one in the capital of Ethiopia at

00:35:48
a Sabbath Fast forward 10 years later and
we are now supporting hospitals in more

00:35:53
than 20 countries and we're treating
about 10 times as many women as we were

00:35:58
a decade ago we have donors in about 60
countries and last year raised about

00:36:03
$10000000.00 u.s.

00:36:04
Dollars which is tremendous growth but
as you noted at the beginning of this

00:36:10
program there are still at least

00:36:12
a 1000000 women that have untreated
fistulas So while we've made

00:36:16
a cause and accomplished a lot in the
last in the last decade we still have

00:36:22
a long long way to go in ensuring that all
these women that have been injured in

00:36:27
childbirth are given

00:36:29
a treatment that can transform their lives
so then and that has been accomplished

00:36:34
but a lot remains to be done
and when we hear boxes to that

00:36:38
a lot of people asked him very much ignorant
about this condition and we want to

00:36:43
talk. More in-depth about the work of the
organization but before we do with so

00:36:49
let's get some basics in terms of understanding
this condition we talked about it

00:36:54
before on the program but if you could
please enlighten us further about this

00:36:59
condition sure. Fish really is
as you noted we've noted is

00:37:04
a childbirth injury and
injury happens when

00:37:08
a woman stays in labor
sometimes as long as

00:37:10
a week and then often in fact with most.
Normal Unfortunately should deliver

00:37:15
a stillborn baby and at this point about
half of the the deliveries the children

00:37:21
that are born in Africa are born at home
without and needed access to emergency

00:37:28
obstetric care if something goes wrong
in labor Thankfully most flavors are not

00:37:33
obstructed and most babies even those born
at home are born safely Unfortunately

00:37:38
though for the women that do need emergency
of said Tricare as the ones that that

00:37:43
have that obstructed labor if that labor
is not relieved they too often again end

00:37:48
up with

00:37:48
a stillborn child which is heartbreaking
enough and then end up with this choice so

00:37:54
that's that's really what caused this
injury and the reason that it's it's

00:37:59
intractable in some ways and it's been so
hard to fight is one to really prevent

00:38:05
the injury you need to have emergency
obstetric care available to all laboring

00:38:10
women which is

00:38:11
a huge huge accomplishment for the kind
of Africa to accomplish and the other

00:38:18
thing is that to treat the women most of
the women. They have this injury where

00:38:23
they live is usually

00:38:24
a more room more remote rural areas it makes
sense if you think about it when it's

00:38:27
in an urban area would likely be closer to

00:38:31
a hospital if she needed help in delivery
when she's delivering at home or as

00:38:35
a woman in a remote rural village will
have problems getting to a facility in

00:38:39
a timely manner so the patients that are
most affected also are the ones likely to

00:38:45
live in outlying areas where it's harder
to get them in for treatment so it's

00:38:49
a it's a it's

00:38:50
a complex problem and it's done without
easy solutions that said we've got now

00:38:56
a global campaign led by the u.n. F.p.a.

00:38:59
And his children the next
generation and we've got

00:39:02
a number of organizations multilateral
bilateral N.G.O.s working in concert to help

00:39:07
. Both prevent the injury from happening
and to treat women that have tragically

00:39:12
already been injured so is
it a problem that we see

00:39:16
a lot in some specific
communities that had to do

00:39:20
a lot by Koch when we look
at the marriage you know

00:39:27
early marriage is not a is is not a
good thing for for girls there's

00:39:31
a wonderful organization called Girls
not brides that does incredible work to

00:39:36
create awareness of the fact that you have
too many girls that are being married

00:39:40
before they're physically and emotionally
ready to handle that kind of adult Union

00:39:46
to certainly girls getting married and
girls having children be for their bodies

00:39:50
are for. Developed is

00:39:52
a problem but really the biggest problem
and nor it is is it is poverty or says in

00:39:58
culture because poverty robbed Well
men women children all of us as

00:40:05
of the ability to access services and
resources we need to thrive but one of the

00:40:10
resources that the poor and particularly
poor women don't have access to is

00:40:15
reproductive health care and particularly
emergency it's had to care when they are

00:40:19
most vulnerable delivering

00:40:21
a child so when you look at the root
cause I would say it's not culture it's

00:40:26
poverty and that knows unfortunately
efface across cultures you know I mean

00:40:31
absolutely absolutely but the good news is
there is treatment there there are ways

00:40:37
to prevent and there are
treatment so there's

00:40:40
a treatment that is available which is men
the surgery I believe can you tell us

00:40:45
a little more about about that sure
really the only way to treat Fiscella is

00:40:51
surgery the brutal truth
is that if it still is

00:40:54
a hole between an internal organ and the
outside world that shouldn't exist and

00:40:59
that trick fistula means that there's a
hole in a vagina bladder and sometimes

00:41:03
a rectum to it that's

00:41:04
a really brutal truth it's hard to talk
about but those holes are what produced the

00:41:09
incontinence but the good news is

00:41:11
a trained surgeon and have this on trained
can go in and so those holes that

00:41:17
literally those holes where
waste is leaking and return

00:41:20
a woman to continents and it's

00:41:23
a it's an incredible operation most
of the time successful and can take

00:41:29
a woman from obviously incontinent but also
too often socially ostracized and give

00:41:34
her back her health. It's also worth noting
that while women can get official list

00:41:41
at any time in their reproductive life
what happens in the majority of cases is

00:41:47
actually the 1st birth so that means that
that woman is usually quite young when

00:41:52
the injury develops and if she's
not given treatment that means

00:41:56
a good portion if not most of her adult
productive life would be. If not wasted at

00:42:02
least extremely challenging but again the
good news is that surgery when done well

00:42:07
in the hands of

00:42:08
a trained surgeon is most of the
time successful and can really give

00:42:13
a woman back her life so
there is and there can be

00:42:16
a happy ending after this incredible tragedy
Oh that's And happy ending is these

00:42:22
some something that you have been providing
through the organization to many women

00:42:27
and 3 years ago this is to the foundation
knowledge the program in Kenya called

00:42:32
Action on Cease to that was the goal to
treat 200 women over the course of 3 years

00:42:38
now 1st of all what did the program consist
of well the program was really exciting

00:42:44
we were fortunate enough to partner with

00:42:46
a Japanese pharmaceutical company called
stylus out of their European office side

00:42:51
of London and they provided resources
for us to really kick this us and the

00:42:56
exciting thing about it was in order is
that we could think Big thanks to them and

00:43:02
what we thought about was how do you get
around this problem and how do you get

00:43:07
your arms around trying to fix it and
go beyond supporting and develop jewel

00:43:11
hospital and what we decided
we wanted to create was

00:43:14
a network of hospitals Countrywide that
way. And didn't have to get to one hospital

00:43:19
in the capital city but she
could go to any one of

00:43:22
a number of hospitals and that's why we've
created there are no 6 hospitals in

00:43:26
Kenya that will treat fistulas
any week of the year if

00:43:29
a woman arrives there for
treatment the same time we've had

00:43:32
a really robust outreach strategy where
we've covered the majority of the counties

00:43:37
in Kenya with with robust outreach efforts
so that women know that this treatment

00:43:43
is available at the same
time we've helped train half

00:43:47
a dozen new fistula surgeons at those
hospitals I was mentioning and that

00:43:52
training's really important so we've also
helped acquit these hospitals so that the

00:43:56
network we've helped build
is both a physical and

00:44:00
a human network the physical part is these
hospitals that are equipped the human

00:44:04
part is the surgeons that have been trained
and outreach workers and it's been

00:44:09
tremendously successful we've treated in
the last 3 years over 2500 women which is

00:44:16
twice the number we set out
to do We thought we'd had

00:44:19
a pretty. For ourselves yet we were able
to surpass it we think that this network

00:44:25
idea is really really working and we're
excited about it this fantastic and we're

00:44:31
going to talk more about this
and we just have to take

00:44:34
a short break and when we come back we'll
have more on our discussion office today

00:44:40
we fuck it Grant in

00:44:41
a moment don't go where we'll be right
back. What's up I forgot I'm just

00:44:49
watching and I'm not yes Tommy thanks for
joining us we'd love to have you on board

00:44:53
this up front on the Voice of America
listen let's be upfront there's

00:44:57
a lot to talk about we need to discuss
what's going on in your communities the

00:45:02
shoes that are you involved are you
engaged. To today right now this is your

00:45:09
much more let us know what you've been
up to check us out on Facebook drop us

00:45:13
a line up front of the show where we
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00:45:18
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00:45:23
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00:45:30
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00:45:39
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00:45:43
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00:45:49
Right here on v.o.a.

00:45:51
Hour to go.

00:45:58
Up on to. That Hello this is
Heather mats Well the host of

00:46:04
a music time in Africa. Which
will be. Coming up this Sunday I

00:46:10
have

00:46:11
a super hot show such great music current
hits and classics from Nigeria South

00:46:18
Africa. Senegal. And Liberian Joe

00:46:22
out on the job over to the

00:46:27
Ok you'll also need an indie artist
from Ghana who is on the right

00:46:35
Jet Blue out. Down to our.

00:46:42
Tune in and join me here Saturday and Sunday
at 15 they're going to be their music

00:46:48
time in Africa just go to welcome back for
those of you joining us late tonight we

00:46:55
are discussing fistula joining us via phone
from California is Kate Grant c.e.o.

00:47:02
Of the fistula foundation and Kate before
the break we talked about the action and

00:47:07
fistula and how you were able to really
surpass the goal of for 200 women

00:47:15
going all the way to over 2500 this
is really good news now how was the

00:47:21
implementation I mean something like that
doesn't seem very simple to to put into

00:47:27
action so what did it take. It
took a lot of work frankly over

00:47:33
a number of years and you're so right
Leonard It did not happen overnight we

00:47:37
started this program in the beginning
of 2014 So really we've been at it

00:47:44
3 and

00:47:45
a half years it officially kicked off May
of 2014 so 3 years ago but we actually

00:47:50
started it even before that and you're
right it was very energy intensive We have

00:47:54
a terrific program or that lives in
Nairobi that's been as tenacious and as

00:48:00
dedicated as anybody could be and she's
done Linsey Pollak check she's done an

00:48:05
amazing job she's the one that helped us
get these have doesn't hospitals up and

00:48:11
not up and running as if they weren't up
and running but they're Fiscella programs

00:48:14
up and running she's the one that helped
us screen the doctors the training program

00:48:19
she's the one that worked
with us to actually build

00:48:21
a new center of excellence out in Eldoret
she's got some terrific staff on the

00:48:25
ground as well that have done phenomenal
work just working tirelessly So it has

00:48:31
been

00:48:31
a lot of work but I would say you know the
work of the heart at the same time you

00:48:37
were talking earlier Lenore about the
patients and I can think of ones that I've

00:48:42
talked to and it it motivates you so much
after able to speak with them and because

00:48:49
they were so often feeling. Understandably
depressed but the rest of their life

00:48:55
would be one of being marginalized and set
aside and not able to really participate

00:49:00
in their families and their communities and
surgery again and truly transform their

00:49:05
lives you go from

00:49:06
a who's obviously and understandably
depressed to one that practically lights up

00:49:10
a room with her joy it's really quite amazing
and we're we're we're grateful again

00:49:16
for the corporate partners to tell us that

00:49:17
a lot of to do this and for the hard work
of each of the. People running these

00:49:23
hospitals to the Kenyan partners the
dedicated surgeons like Dr Healy where they

00:49:28
are that the founder of the gyno
care hospital and I was managing

00:49:31
a 2nd go out in Eldoret he and he and his
wife also had white helps in important

00:49:38
ways with his hospital it's

00:49:40
a team effort there's that wonderful African
expression that if you want to go fast

00:49:44
go alone if you want to go far go with
others and I think this program is

00:49:49
a terrific example of that proverb because
we've gone far but it's been true team

00:49:54
effort with our Kenyan partners with her
and how does it take for the woman who to

00:50:01
him 1st of all how long does it take for
the surgery and for the woman to heal well

00:50:07
generally speaking generally speaking
the surgery will take one to 2

00:50:13
hours sometimes it can take more
sometimes even less than that if it's

00:50:17
a very simple to chill

00:50:19
a. So that's that's the good news usually
what's recommended is 2 weeks of

00:50:25
bedrest afterwards where the woman is
catheterized so that ladder and the rest of

00:50:32
her health at floor has the opportunity
to heal there's some recent research said

00:50:37
that you can actually achieve
the same kind of results with

00:50:39
a week of post-op bedrest
and catheterization but

00:50:44
a week to 2 weeks is still
so it's it gives them

00:50:49
a chance to rest and. Ok
and now when you treat

00:50:56
them physically other both to go back to
the community are there accepted you know

00:51:02
that's

00:51:02
a very good question I wish I could cite
research that told me for sure that they

00:51:07
were always accepted what we have is more
anecdotal evidence that would say that

00:51:12
generally they are that you get a woman
back in a community where she's able to be

00:51:17
a productive member of her family and
her community she's more likely to be

00:51:24
accepted through. Just as

00:51:25
a as any of us would her own eyes
your own attitude about her injury is

00:51:33
is important and I think it's fact that
women go back generally feeling physically

00:51:37
better and emotionally better at the same
time. As well for their you know for

00:51:42
their future again I don't have published
rigorous data about about what happened

00:51:48
and go back to their Can What about
psychological Well how are you able to

00:51:55
address that do they show that
there there is a need for

00:51:59
a 2nd did you go support and if
yes what is being done. It's

00:52:04
a really really good question he added
Sabbaths his jaw hospital what I was

00:52:09
mentioning at the outset. The woman that
runs that incredible doctor named Dr

00:52:14
Catherine Hamlin said that once patients
came into her ward and saw that they were

00:52:20
one of 100 women that had this issue that
were in the hospital at the same time as

00:52:23
opposed to the only one in the village the
emotional healing began just by finding

00:52:28
out that they're not alone with this injury
so I do think that that the women that

00:52:33
come into

00:52:34
a hospital where there are multiple women
being treated just to see that they are

00:52:39
that they're not alone in
this condition and it's

00:52:42
a medical problem that was caused by labor
not by you know bad that they had done

00:52:47
but just the fact that they didn't have
the attention they need when they were

00:52:50
delivering I think the awareness of that
can change feelings about about the injury

00:52:56
the other thing is that we're doing so
much outreach at least in Kenya with radio

00:53:00
and community groups thousands
of events we sponsored

00:53:04
a thug women's soccer team with the tagline
let's take this chill out of Kenya

00:53:11
and all of those efforts have

00:53:13
a way of also reducing some of the stigma
so that I think over time there's going

00:53:18
to be more awareness this is an injury that
happened to somebody that is not their

00:53:21
fault and they shouldn't be seen. There's
more work that can be done there's some

00:53:26
interesting research that's being done
looking at peer counseling in hospitals that

00:53:31
what does that mean it means patients that
actually provide emotional support and

00:53:36
and help or former patients to existing
patients again it's another area

00:53:41
a bit like the reintegration question asked
about what happens when they go back to

00:53:44
their villages where we don't have enough
data enough resources but we do see Ok

00:53:51
now tell us about the back to action
insisted that I was about the next tips for

00:53:56
the program well the next steps are we are
excited we've just kicked off the 2nd

00:54:02
phase of this the 1st phase was
the 1st 3 years and now we've got

00:54:05
a plan in place for the next 3 years
through 2020 We've secured him follow on

00:54:11
funding from our generous sponsor Othello's
pharma and then the chill foundation is

00:54:16
going to be funding the rest of it we're
seeking additional support now from donors

00:54:20
but we are committed to the program we have
been so excited about the results we're

00:54:25
seeing not only are we continue we're
going to can you know we're trying to

00:54:30
basically replicate this model right now
in Zambia in fact our program director for

00:54:35
Kenya is literally in Zambia as I speak
to help launch her program in Zambia this

00:54:39
idea of

00:54:40
a treatment network that's worked so
powerfully in Kenya we believe will also work

00:54:45
in Zambia and in jambia we're fortunate to
have incredible support from our longest

00:54:50
term corporate sundered supporter which
is Johnson and Johnson so we think the

00:54:54
future for fighting fistulas and really
getting getting our hands around this is

00:55:00
this horrible problem is this idea of
treatment networks that allow women to get

00:55:06
treatment out of the year at a
variety of. Washington d.c.

00:55:11
Or Saturday as well you see this model.
Being applied in Zen Yeah fairly

00:55:18
easy I mean given that you've already gone
through the experiment in Kenya I fuckin

00:55:23
use that right right I think it's
true I mean Kenya was it was

00:55:27
a pilot of sorts that said you know each
country has their own their own unique

00:55:33
geography their own transportation their
own existing network of hospitals and

00:55:38
certainly we want to be not just sensitive
to the differences it savvy and smart

00:55:43
about them so that we make sure that we're
not you know overdoing things or not

00:55:49
missing things by assuming that things are
the same as they are in Kenya but the

00:55:53
basic elements of the model are going to
stay the same but we're trying to be again

00:55:56
sensitive to what may or may not be different
in Zambia rather than just completely

00:56:00
kind of left repeating without without
thought sure that me. Now let me ask you how

00:56:06
you are able to reach these women that
you need those services do they find out

00:56:12
about you or do you. Reach camp
in to look for them well we have

00:56:17
a very very robust outreach
strategy and campaign in in

00:56:24
Kenya in fact we had

00:56:26
a night the numbers are staggering
actually we had over 7400 focused

00:56:33
fistulas events over the last 3 years
to raise awareness we also have

00:56:38
a national hotline number so if
someone thinks that they might have

00:56:42
a fistula they can actually call that
number and I'd love to give it to you on

00:56:46
a good telephone screening So
here's the number in Kenya for

00:56:49
a woman that is suffering from some kind
of incontinence and wants to at least get

00:56:53
it over the phone assessment
the hotline number is

00:56:58
071-749-2526 Let me repeat that

00:57:05
euro 717492526

00:57:12
Ok and that's the number in Kenya that's
the number in Kenya Yes we have someone

00:57:17
employed on the ground in Kenya that runs
that hotline for us so they won't be

00:57:21
calling san is

00:57:22
a They'll be calling. In the country of
Kenya now to be able to reach out to the

00:57:27
organization online what is the
Web site our website is still

00:57:33
a foundation dot org The chillis
just spelled like just f i n t u l

00:57:38
a foundation dot org And great Any final
words before we wrap well and nor did

00:57:45
we get nowhere without people building
awareness of this problem both for the

00:57:49
patients and effort as well as for people
that can help support the treatment for

00:57:53
the patients that we are grateful for the
continuing disability that we get from

00:57:58
voice of American from you thank you so
much thanks to you Miss Grant and thank you

00:58:02
so much for the work that you doing out
there helping these women that are in need

00:58:07
of

00:58:07
a fistula treatment and really good luck
for the next. Phase of the action on sista

00:58:15
thank you so much minority Take care
thanks and that's all the time we have for

00:58:19
this edition of health chat we
thank our guests Kate Grant c.e.o.

00:58:23
Of the fistula Foundation and we thank her
for joining us today and we thank all of

00:58:27
you for listening to House chat every
week here on The Voice of America from on

00:58:32
today's show logon to our website at
viewing the dot com and we can keep the

00:58:37
conversation going on Facebook dot com
slash view we and send your questions

00:58:44
comments of concern Thanks to all of you
again for joining us the show thanks to

00:58:48
a few stations throughout Africa for
carrying house I'm your host the number 2 in

00:58:53
Washington with producer check some of them
down you until next time take care the

00:58:58
women's try to make every day

00:59:00
a healthy day. To

00:59:06
our. To

00:59:13
our. The

00:59:18
b. .

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