From 2008 on, Vietnam was mostly protected from the global financial crisis, not because its banks were stronger than the U.S. banks that created the crisis, but because it was less integrated into global trade back then. More than a decade later, Vietnam does far more trade with foreign countries today, making its banks far more susceptible to global trends.  The government has taken steps to strengthen domestic banks.

In particular Vietnam is transforming banks to require that, when doing credit risk analyses, they take into account environmental, social, and governance risks, known as ESG. The State Bank of Vietnam has set a goal that by 2025, each bank will have created its own department dedicated solely to ESG analysis, and it will incorporate ESG factors into its overall risk analyses.

The central bank says it is making progress, noting that 17 banks in Vietnam have set up these mandatory departments to analyze the environmental and social impact of their lending, and that 25 banks have conducted such analyses so far, based on a survey in early 2019. 

“Vietnamese banks have shown their readiness in pursuing a sustainable finance agenda, which is essential for capturing new business opportunities,” Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of the department of credit policies for economic sectors at the State Bank of Vietnam, said. 

The push for banks and other businesses to consider their impact on the environment has given birth to buzz words like “green finance” and “green bonds” — but what do they actually mean? An important example would be for a bank to provide a loan to a small business that produces wind turbines. The development of wind power would be considered an environmental benefit in the bank’s credit risk analysis, in addition to the social benefit of supporting a small business rather than just working with major corporations.

The example matters particularly to Vietnam because it considers green finance one strategy in its fight to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and it considers itself one of the countries most susceptible to the threat of a changing climate. 

The government is moving to strengthen domestic banks as part of its membership in the Sustainable Banking Network, a network of 38 developing countries pushing ESG factors and supported by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
A benefit of the network is for countries to share best practices, according to Imansyah, who is a co-chair of an SBN working group and who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“Sharing lessons and knowledge among members has been an important catalyst to drive finance reforms,” Imansyah said.

His country, along with China, is leading the pack of 38 countries, having already implemented many of its planned ESG policies, such as government incentives for environmentally friendly investments. 

However Vietnam is catching up. For instance an October IFC report noted, “Vietnam is one of the few SBN members to require CIs [credit institutions] to report the quantities and values of their green loans.”

Besides the environment, Vietnamese officials are concerned about ensuring social and governance standards at its banks, given the banks’ history of complex cross-ownership and corporate board arrangements that create possible conflicts of interest and that the government aims to clean up. It has also been cleaning up the burden of bad debt, or bank loans that have gone unpaid for a certain period of time, which could threaten the stability of the banking sector.

Social impact is harder to measure at Vietnamese banks. They might look to their U.S. counterparts, which did not fully analyze the social risks of giving out too many subprime mortgages, to be packaged into financial products for investors before 2008. The defaults on those mortgages, leading up to the global financial crisis, are the kind of social impact Vietnam’s banks wish to avoid.

…

Pope Francis arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday to begin a tour of Thailand and Japan, beginning a mission to boost the morale of those countries’ tiny minority Catholic communities and speak about issues of concern including human trafficking and peacemaking.

He is expected to highlight his admiration in Thailand for the community’s missionary ancestors who brought the faith to this Buddhist nation centuries ago and endured bouts of persecution as recently as the 1940s.

Francis was greeted by Surayud Chulanont, former prime minister and head of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s Privy Council.

His warmest welcome, however, came from his second cousin, Sister Ana Rosa Sivori, who has been a missionary in Thailand since the 1960s and will serve as his translator during his time here. On stepping down from the plane, the first thing Francis did – even before his official welcome from Surayud – was to hug his cousin.

He also met about a dozen children in traditional hilltribe attire. One wearing an elaborate headdress came forward with a huge smile on her face and hugged him. He also received an artillery salute.

Francis’ three-day visit to Thailand, followed by three days in Japan, will be a welcome break for the 82-year-old pope. He is enduring fresh opposition from Catholic conservatives in the U.S. over his just-concluded meeting on the Amazon as well as a new financial scandal at home.

Leaving those concerns behind, Francis will meet with Thailand’s supreme Buddhist leader, Thai authorities as well as all the Catholic bishops of Asia _ a rare chance for him to address some of the major challenges facing the Catholic Church in the region and the men responsible for dealing with them.

On the eve of the trip, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said interfaith relations and emphasizing the dignity of every person are likely to be raised.

Francis has made the fight against human trafficking a hallmark of his papacy. He is expected to raise this issue in Thailand, which is a key transit point for victims of human trafficking, forced labor and the sex trade.

Francis is also expected to encourage the Catholic community, which represents just 0.58 percent of its 69 million people, as well as encourage the largely Buddhist country to continue welcoming migrants and showing tolerance to people of other faiths. That message is also intended to reach the country’s small Muslim community amid a persistent insurgency in the far south bordering Malaysia.

Thirty-five years after St. John Paul II became the first pope to visit Thailand, Francis is marking the 350th anniversary of the creation of a stable apostolic vicariate in Thailand, then known as Siam, after Dominican missionaries first brought the faith in 1567, followed by members of Francis’ own Jesuit order.

Francis will pray at the tomb of Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung, known as the Rev. Benedikto Chunkim, who became the first martyred priest of modern Thailand when he was killed in 1944. Francis is also likely to refer to seven other martyrs killed in 1940 as a nationalistic government sought to convert all Thais to Buddhists.

In the morning ahead of the Pope’s arrival, members of the Catholic community continued preparations for his activities

At the National Stadium, where Francis will be celebrating Mass before tens of thousands of people, students gathered with their band instruments for a costume rehearsal as their parents looked on with excitement.

Eight-year-old Jiraroj Panyam, who will be playing the saxophone, said he hoped to tell the pope to “keep on working hard, have faith and be cheerful.”

“I think this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for anyone, not just him, but for everyone no matter what nationality or religion they are,” said Mongkol Devapradipa, whose son will also be performing on Thursday.

…

The U.S. military said Wednesday two of its service members were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, however preliminary reports do not indicate it was caused by enemy fire, according to an official announcement.

The latest fatalities bring the number of American soldiers killed this year in war-related activities in Afghanistan to at least 18.

Earlier, the Taliban insurgency claimed its fighters shot down a U.S. military Chinook helicopter in the eastern Afghan province of Logar.

A Taliban spokesman said the helicopter was sent to raid an insurgent base in the area.

It was difficult to ascertain from independent sources whether the insurgent group was referring to the same incident. Taliban battlefield claims of attacks on U.S.-led foreign forces in Afghanistan are often inflated.

Separately, an overnight Taliban raid on a military base in northern Kunduz province has killed at least 13 Afghan forces and wounded several others. Afghan media reported the attack occurred in the Imam Sahib district.

The Taliban took responsibility for carrying out the deadly attack, saying insurgent fighters also seized military equipment from the base.

The violence comes a day after a high-profile prisoner swap between the insurgents and the United States that freed two foreign hostages, including an American, in return for three senior insurgent detainees.  

The two university professors, Kevin King and his Australian colleague, Timothy John Weeks, had been held hostage by the Taliban since August 2016. They were teaching at Kabul’s American University of Afghanistan before being kidnapped at gunpoint from near their campus.

…

Amnesty International says Iranian security forces have killed at least 106 people in nationwide anti-government protests since Friday, four times the death toll of Iran’s last mass protests two years ago.

In a Tuesday interview with VOA Persian, the London-based rights group’s Iran researcher Raha Bahreini said Amnesty determined that security forces killed 106 protesters based on eyewitness accounts, social media videos and reports of exiled Iranian human rights activists. She said Amnesty International soon would provide a breakdown of the number of protesters killed in various Iranian cities.

VOA Persian has independently confirmed the killings of at least seven protesters in shootings by Iranian security forces on Saturday. Iranian state media have said several people have been killed including at least one security force member in the demonstrations that began Friday and spread to dozens of cities. But the Iranian government has not published any official death toll.

The demonstrations erupted in response to the government abruptly raising the subsidized price of gasoline by 50% early Friday. Many Iranians see the increase as putting a further burden on their wallets at a time of worsening economic conditions.

Bahreini said Amnesty has called on the United Nations and European Union to make urgent appeals to Iran to end its violent crackdown on the protests and to respect Iranians’ rights to freedoms of expression and assembly.

Iran violently suppressed the last major wave of nationwide protests that swept the country from late December 2017 to early January 2018. At least 22 people were killed in the crackdown on those protests, which were fueled by public anger with government corruption and mismanagement.

This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.
 

…

DARPA, the main research and development arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, is funding researchers to develop wearable devices that would have military applications such as using the mind to control unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, commonly known as drones. Instead of using brain implants to achieve this, DARPA is looking for non-invasive to minutely invasive ways of interfacing with the machine. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee got a close-up look at one team’s work at Rice University.

…

Google’s head of philanthropy says the company is having “a lot of conversations” internally amid worries about the tech giant’s bottomless appetite for consumer data and how it uses its algorithms.
                   
Vice President Jacqueline Fuller wouldn’t comment on specific data privacy controversies dogging Google lately, but says she shares other concerns many have about Big Tech. Cyberbullying. Hate speech amplified online. The impact of artificial intelligence on everything, from jobs to warfare.
                   
“As a consumer myself, as part of the general public, as a mother, it’s very important to understand what am I seeing, what are my children seeing,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press in Paris, where she announced new grant winners Tuesday for projects aimed at teaching digital skills to poor, immigrant, rural or elderly users.
                   
The philanthropic arm she runs, Google.org, is like the company’s conscience, spending $100 million a year on non-profit groups that use technology to try to counteract problems the tech world is accused of creating, abetting or exacerbating.
                  
“Across the world we want to make sure we’re a responsible citizen,” she said.
But can Google’s do-good arm make up for everything else? At least it’s trying, she argues.
                   `
“The company is having a lot of conversations around things like access to information and access to data and making sure there’s no algorithmic bias,” she said.
                  
Public outrage has grown over Google’s use of consumer data and domination of the online search market, with governments stepping up scrutiny of the company.
                   
Just in the past week, nine groups called for the U.S. government to block Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of fitness-gadget maker Fitbit, citing privacy and antitrust concerns. Then Google came under fire for a partnership with U.S. health care system Ascension that the Wall Street Journal says gives the search giant access to thousands of patient health records without doctors’ knowledge. Both companies say the deal is compliant with health-privacy law.
                   
Fuller wouldn’t comment specifically on either case, but said, “We take our users’ trust very seriously.”
                   
She also insisted that the company has a very “vibrant discussion” internally about sexual misconduct, human rights and other problems that have tarnished Google’s reputation.
                   
Its philanthropic arm is focused lately on using artificial intelligence to help society, for example by providing better access to health care and more effective emergency services. It’s also working on ways to limit the damage of the breakneck developments of AI, notably after employee departures and public pressure over a Pentagon contract pushed the company to pledge it wouldn’t use AI in weapons development.
                   
Among projects Google.org is funding are those that help users create and share digital resumes or map job opportunities, as the company tries to figure out “how can we anticipate some of the impacts of AI in an economy, and understand how can we make sure that everyone has access to jobs that are not only interesting now but jobs that are going to be here in the future,” Fuller said.
                   
Google is also holding a competition this year in Europe for projects on “how we can keep children safe,” she said.
                   
Digital literacy is crucial, she said: “All of us need to discern what is truthful of what I see online. How do I ask the questions of who is sponsoring this content.”
                   
In Paris, Fuller announced the winners of Google.org’s latest “Impact Challenge,” contests it holds around the world for non-profits using technology for good. Ten groups won grants worth a total of 3 million euros for projects helping the millions of people in France who lack the basic digital skills that are increasingly crucial for everything from paying taxes to finding a job.
                   
Despite its philanthropic efforts, Google’s critics remain legion _ even within the tech universe.
                   
Former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris argues technology is shortening our attention spans and pushing people toward more extreme views. He couldn’t get Google to tackle these problems when he was there, so he quit and is pushing for change through his Center for Human Technologies.
                   
He says companies like Google won’t change voluntarily but that the tech world has undergone a “sea change” in awareness of problems it’s caused, thanks in part to pressure from a frustrated public.

…

…

Ghana is regarded as a West African hub of invention, with growing numbers of young people looking at local solutions to local problems.  In December, Ghana is hosting two conferences on innovation and technology.

Alhassan Baba Muniru, co-founder of the Recycle Up company, wants to clean up the natural environment in Ghana.

But he also wants to educate, empower and support young people to pursue conservation – and to make money while doing it.

At the December Innovation Africa summit in Accra, he plans to advocate for more support for young inventors, especially those looking to do green business.

“Even while we are in school we are already entrepreneurial so, for me, I can be able to do a formal job but the freedom of being able to bring my own ideas into action and really take charge of doing something practical and something which also makes society better – it’s much more fulfilling,” said Muniru.

Part of Recycle Up’s work includes collecting plastic from schools to sell to people like Nelson Boateng, whose company mixes it with sand to create bricks.  

Muniru and Boateng walk through the factory in the outskirts of Accra, where plastic from across the city is shredded, melted, mixed and then molded into bricks to be used for roads, pavements and buildings.

Boateng, who also manufactures plastic bags, said the bricks are his way of helping to clean up the environment and to provide jobs.

But while Ghana is seeing a spurt in innovation, he said the country needs a lot more infrastructure to support environmentally-friendly business.

“For innovations in Ghana, it’s very, very difficult if you don’t really have the heart.  You will lose hope because honestly speaking when I was doing my polybag that is polluting the environment, I was having a lot of money.  I have money, there wasn’t any problem. When I started this, when you go to the bank they don’t know this, they want something that the money will be flowing, not something you people don’t know –  and not something you say you are trying to save the environment, nobody will mind you on that,” he said.

Supporting local technology startups is expected to be discussed at another December conference in Accra – the second annual Ghana Tech Summit.

Ghanaian inventor Andrew Quao is working to ease the burden on hospitals with technology that allows pharmacies to diagnosis and monitor chronic and tropical diseases.

He said African healthcare sectors like Ghana’s are ripe for innovative solutions.

“I think it is growing in the right direction, I think the climate is good, you have got a good mix of local talent and experience and expats coming in and seeing Ghana as a good point to start, so that also works.  We have the ‘brain gain.’ The diasporans – people like myself who schooled in the U.S. – coming back and trying to bring innovations in country,” said Quao.

While both public and private sectors are backing innovation, entrepreneurs hope to see a swell of support from the Innovation Africa and Ghana Tech summits.

…

In her first public appearance since being deported by U.S. authorities who had jailed her for being a Russian agent, Maria Butina was on Monday offered a job by Moscow to defend Russians imprisoned abroad.

During an event for the media, Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, offered Butina, 31, a job working for her commission.

“I invite you to work in our group defending compatriots abroad. I’m sure together we’ll be able to do a lot of good for people who’ve ended up in tough situations abroad,” Moskalkova said.

Butina, who flew back to Russia on Oct. 26 after being deported, did not say whether she would accept the offer made at what she called her first public appearance since she was mobbed by wellwishers in front of the media at the airport on her arrival home.

Butina pleaded guilty in December last year to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia by infiltrating a gun rights group and influencing U.S. conservative activists and Republicans, a conviction slammed as ridiculous by Moscow.

Russia accused Washington of forcing Butina to confess.

The case put strain on relations that were already under pressure from an array of issues including U.S. allegations of Russian election meddling and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Moscow denies any inteference in U.S. elections.

Moskalkova invited Butina to help her commission defend the rights of Russians abroad such as Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot serving 20 years in the United States for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the country.

Moskalkova said she also knew that Butina had been offered a job in the State Duma, the Russian lower house of parliament, and urged her to accept that one too.

The case of Yaroshenko, who was arrested by U.S. special forces in Liberia in 2010, and others like it have prompted Russia to accuse the United States of hunting its citizens across the world.

The United States has accused the Russians in question of specific crimes and sought their extradition and arrest with regard to those crimes.

Russia said last week it had lodged a formal diplomatic protest after Israel extradited a Russian man to the United States where he faces a slew of serious cyber crime charges.

…

Twenty-four Malian soldiers were killed and 29 wounded in an attack on an army patrol in northern Mali on Monday in which 17 militants were also killed, a spokesman for the army said.

The West African country is still reeling from an attack on an army post that killed 54 in early November — one of the deadliest strikes against its military in recent memory, which underscored the increasing reach and sophistication of armed jihadist groups active in the wider region.

The Malian patrol attacked on Monday was in Tabankort, Gao region, while on a joint operation with Niger against militants operating near the border.

“During this attack, Malian forces suffered 24 deaths, 29 wounded as well as equipment damage. On the enemy’s side, 17 were killed and a certain number captured,” army spokesman Diarran Kone said.

The authorities have not named the assailants or identified which group they belonged to. From strongholds in Mali, groups with al Qaeda and Islamic State links have been able to fan out across the Sahel, destabilizing parts of Niger and Burkina Faso.

Violence has surged this autumn with heavy military and civilian losses in Mali and Burkina Faso.

In addition to November’s bloodshed in Mali, 38 Malian soldiers were killed on Sept. 30 in coordinated attacks on two army bases in the center of the country, which has slipped from government control despite the presence of the French army and other international forces.

Meanwhile 39 people were killed in Burkina Faso on Nov. 6 when militants attacked a convoy carrying workers of Canadian gold mining company Semafo.

…

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on four companies and two people operating in Syria, Turkey, the Gulf and Europe for providing financial and logistical support to Islamic State.

The targets were blacklisted under an executive order that imposes sanctions on terrorists and those who have provided assistance or support for terrorists, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

Turkey-based Sahloul Money Exchange Company, Al-Sultan Money Transfer Company and ACL Ithalat Ihracat were targeted for providing financial and logistical support to Islamic State, as were Turkish nationals Ismail Bayaltun and his brother Ahmet Bayaltun.

The Afghanistan-based Nejaat Social Welfare Organization and two of its senior officials, Sayed Habib Ahmad Khan and Rohullah Wakil, were also targeted for supporting activities of the Islamic State branch in Afghanistan.

In a statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin characterized the move as a follow-up pressure tactic on the jihadi group after a U.S. special forces operations killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“Following the highly successful operation against al-Baghdadi, the Trump administration is resolved to completely destroy ISIS’s remaining network of terror cells,” Mnuchin said, using an acronym for the group.

The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets held by those targeted and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.
 

…

“Enough, we cannot deal with this anymore,” a visibly disgusted Predica Jean, coordinator for the League of Haitian Women for Reconstruction(Lig Fanm Ayisyen pou Rekonstruksyon)  (LIFAR) said during a press conference in Port-au-Prince.  

“We’re asking all the political actors who are involved to resolve the situation quickly so we can have a country where we can live (in peace and security), where women’s rights are respected,” she added.

Haiti’s League of women is denouncing the gang rape of female prisoners during an attempted jail break by 300 male prisoners. There are STD and pregnancy fears in addition to the psychological trauma. Female activists demand #justice reparations. #Haiti@hrw ?Renan Toussaint pic.twitter.com/ahpu82SoUF

— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) November 14, 2019

Jean decried the gang rape of a dozen female prisoners by male prisoners attempting to escape from a jail in the northern city of Gonaives last week. She asked for justice and reparations for all the women who were violated.

About 340 male prisoners, angry about the jail’s poor living conditions, broke out Nov. 7-8. They had been reportedly held for days in overcrowded cells without food and water. They managed to disarm a guard and break through the gates. Once out, they sought female prisoners in a separate part of the jail, according to witnesses, and raped them repeatedly until a police unit arrived and fired tear gas to stop the attack.

Jean also demanded the immediate release of a female prisoner who remained jailed even though she was set to be released before the attacks.

“They claimed they couldn’t find her release form and held her in jail where she was subjected to rape,” Jean told reporters.

The LIFAR coordinator cited the Geneva Conventions and other international law statutes that demand prisoners of war, as well as civilian prisoners, be treated humanely. “These laws are being violated in our country,” Jean said.

A human rights activist who spoke to VOA Creole said police officers who arrived at the jail during the incident told him they were shaken by what they heard.

“Some of the officers said they were heartbroken and crying when they heard the screams of the women during the criminal actions of the men,” the activist said.

After the incident, the nongovernmental organization Zanmi Lasante (Friends for Health) stepped in to address the rape victims’ immediate health needs, including testing for sexually transmitted diseases. They were also provided medication to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Jeanne Bolivar, the Haitian Ministry for Women’s Affairs coordinator for the Artibonite Department, visited the female prisoners and told VOA Creole they were visibly distraught. She said she is working to find a psychologist who can counsel the victims. She also denounced the authorities of Gonaives who transferred the women after the attack to a jail in neighboring St. Marc in their underwear.

“The women’s rights were not respected, their dignity was not respected at all,” Bolivar said. She told VOA Creole she spoke to a young woman who told her she was raped by seven men.

Bolivar said she is working to find food for the transferred prisoners as well.

Women’s rights activist Guerline Residor called on law enforcement officials to act responsibly.

“We are asking the Ministry of Justice, the chief of police, police officers, etc., to intervene rapidly to resolve the dangerous situation women in the north find themselves in,” she said.

…