Global Briefs: Ivory Coast—Hands-free communication

Ivory Coast

Tech entrepreneur Alain Capo-Chici won the 2023 World Literacy Award for inventing a smartphone that enables communication in at least 16 languages. In his April 4 acceptance speech, Capo-Chici told attendees of the World Literacy Summit that he designed the smartphone to help illiterate people like his parents. Ivorians speak over 60 local languages, but 40 to 50 percent of the population cannot read or write. Users can operate the phone, Open G, by simply speaking into it. The phone can also take pictures of text and read it aloud. —Elizabeth Russell

Myanmar

The military junta sentenced pastor and minority rights advocate Hkalam Samson to six years in jail on Good Friday. Police arrested Samson in December. He was convicted of unlawful association and terrorism in relation to a 2022 trip during which he met and prayed with members of the government in exile. A third conviction of inciting opposition stemmed from a Zoom prayer meeting during which he told young people to build “the nation in Christ,” according to The New York Times. Samson is former president of the Kachin Baptist Convention, a denomination of 300,000 mostly Kachin people from Burma. Christian Solidarity International’s Benedict Rogers called the sentencing unjust. —Amy Lewis

South Korea

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on April 11 plans to offer reclusive young people a monthly living allowance of 650,000 won ($495) to help them “recover their daily lives and re-enter society.” The incentive to venture outside their homes is available for people ages 9 to 24 who experience hikikomori, a term that originates from Japan and translates as “pulling inward, being confined.” According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, about 338,000 people between 19 and 39 in South Korea are “secluded and lonely.” They make up 3.1 percent of that age group. —Joyce Wu

Chile

On April 14, President Gabriel Boric signed into law a bill lowering his country’s official work week from 45 to 40 hours. The legislation represents a victory for the left-wing president who promised the labor reform during his campaign. Boric, who took office in March 2022, suffered several early defeats, first when voters overwhelmingly rejected a progressive new constitution to replace the one written during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, and later when the Chilean Congress voted against a tax reform bill. The reduction in working hours will be phased in over the next five years. The bill does not apply to Chile’s large sector of informal workers, which is estimated to represent about a quarter of the country’s workforce. —Emma Freire

Ghana

Malaria kills 620,000 ­people a year and especially threatens the lives of Africa’s youngest ­residents. But the R21 vaccine developed by Oxford University may change that. A recent trial of 5,000 children showed an 80 percent success rate, according to unpublished results reviewed by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority. That’s enough to give Ghanaian officials confidence to become the first to license and approve R21’s use for children ages 5 months to 3 years, ahead of World Health Organization approval. R21 requires three doses plus a booster, but even after only one dose of Mosquirix, a similar but less effective vaccine, childhood mortality dropped 10 percent. Serum Institute of India plans to produce up to to 200 million doses of R21 annually at a factory in Ghana’s capital. —Amy Lewis

Germany

The German-Israeli Society filed a criminal complaint against organizers of a protest in Berlin on Holy Saturday. During the event, participants chanted “Death, death, death Israel!” in Arabic, and one man shouted “Death to Jews!” Video footage captured by independent journalists showed protesters also chanting support for Qassam, the armed wing of Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. Police have opened an investigation and say about 500 people ­participated in the rally where protesters vowed to ­“liberate” the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem with “their blood.” They also called for the release of prisoners convicted of terrorism. German officials are investigating the possibility of illegal “hate” speech. —Jenny Lind Schmitt