india is being devastated by a second wave of covid — a �*coronavirus storm' as the country's prime minister called it. cases are accelerating faster than anywhere else in the world. in the past 2a hours there have been more than 2,000 deaths and nearly 300,000 new cases. russian police are reported to have arrested almost 1,500 supporters of the jailed opposition activist, alexei navalny, on a day of protests across the country. they want my navalny to be released. the attorney general of the united states has announced the justice department will conduct a civil investigation into the minneapolis police department to see whether there has been a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. it follows the conviction of a former officer for the murder of george floyd. now on bbc news — global questions.

hello, welcome to global questions with me, zeinab badawi. africa has the youngest population on earth. the average age on the continent is 19. yet many young people don't have a decent education or properjob and are worried about theirfuture. that's global questions: is africa failing its youth? well, to bring you this edition of global questions, our two panelists and our questioners join us via video link. let me tell you who's in the hot seat this week, giving the answers. graca machel is a mozambican campaigner for social justice for african women and youth.

she's the founder of the graca machel trust and is also chair for the mandela institute for development studies that bears the name of her late husband, nelson mandela. and angelique kidjo is an internationally renowned singer—songwriterfrom benin who has received four grammy awards for her music. she fled benin in the 1980s for political reasons, and continues her activism both through her campaigning and music. her new album, mother nature, is made with young artists and is out injune. welcome to you both, and of course, also to you wherever you're watching or listening to this programme, and to my questioners who join us from all corners in africa. and if you want to be part of the conversation, it's #bbcglobalquestions. let's get down now to our first question, and it's from kenya from joel. joel, fire away, please.

so, my first question is to doctor machel. i a pleasure to meet you. is the current education| system in africa failing? well, short and direct to the point, isn't it, graca machel? is the education system in africa currently failing? your answer, please. i have no doubt to affirm that yes, education systems in africa are failing our young generation. first, the way it conceived to educate young people too sick for a job. second, the quality so far is so bad that young people in primary schools, they complete without knowing really how to read and write properly, how to have critical thinking. yeah, and we have lots of still millions of children

who are out of system. but the most critical thing is these systems need a profound reform to make sure that they respond to the demands and the needs of young people to prepare them for life, to prepare them, really, to initiate their own business and not depending only on... seeking for a job. 0k, angelique kidjo, do you think the current education system in africa is failing, and if so, why? it has been failing for long time. i mean, it has not... it just gets worse today because the war becomes more and more global, and technology is allowing us to realise how far back the fall in the job market. and i think, as graca said,

we need a profound change, which means we need governments to understand in africa, the education system have to change for our country to get out of poverty. and also, what we've learned in this covid—19 is also the technology. i mean, access to internet gives you a way of thinking about how you can also think about your future job. i know what is needed. and it has to be a global working market, not only in africa, it has to be part—african workspace but also global. therefore, i think we need to think beyond the boxes and change the education system for all africans everywhere in the world. 0k, thank you. that leads on very nicely to our next question from the capital of morocco, rabat. your question, please, which is related to jobs for africa's youth.

my question is how can - the entrepreneurial ecosystem be improved to— encourage young people to grow and create job opportunities? angelique kidjo, you kick off. that's a very good question because as the education system fails, so does the entrepreneurial system. the question they are asking has roots in the beginning of all this. the governments, one after the other, never thought of preparing a workspace or any infrastructure that can allow young kids to count, and the question i have is how government in africa are thinking about the future of the youth. do they care? those questions become relevant because they will put in place a system that works. it's easy to do, but to understand the youth of africa

is the power of tomorrow and the future of africa, and if the leaders of africa don't see those two things in common, then we can talk as much as we want and nothing will change probably. graca machel, how can the ecosystem for young african entrepreneurs and start—ups be improved to create job opportunities? i'm not even so sure whether entrepreneurial ecosystems exists these countries. my first point is they should be established. and who should be in power of this ecosystem? it should be young people networks so that they can articulate their own perspectives, their own needs and what they expect, governments, private sector

and everyone to do to ensure they will be trained properly for entrepreneurship. that would lead to a production of a national skills training plan, which every government, every entrepreneur and enterprise, would know where to go. so, i believe that first and foremost, these ecosystems need to be in place. they need to be funded. they need to be accountable annually in terms of how they work. let's go now to zimbabwe to our next question. it's from kundai, your question. in this contemporary era, - gender discrimination has led to a lot of inequality- between men and women.

what are some _ opportunities available to young african girls so they are not in a space of fear and - unsustainable systems? i know that both of my panelists have done let me start with you, graca machel. gender discrimination, a huge problem in africa. in my view, what is missing is platforms where young girls particularly will be nurtured to affirm their identity, to affirm their own views of who they are and what they want to become. i feel that families, churches and schools, they try to engage these young ones to conform with the realities of today. it doesn't allow them

to challenge systems and question systems that are unjust and unfair, as the young lady was asking. so, i believe more thanjust supporting girls to conform with the system, we need platforms in which they have their own space to lead the process of who they are, what do they want to do, what they want to be supported by people, but to become themselves in their wishes and perspectives. this way, we transform the oppressive systems we have of the continent. so greater agency for women is what graca machel is saying there. angelique kidjo, i know you are an goodwill ambassador for unicef, and you work in this space for girls. what would you add to what graca has said? what graca said it is

completely true and that's what i'm trying to address since 2006. what i do basically is to create, because in 2016, i realised that we've all been working with adolescent and young women without really asking them what they need. you can't help people if they don't speak up and come up with solutions. i completely transformed my organisation. with that technology, the phone, you can map a village of 5,000 people a day and find out the needs of the girl. are they in school, are they out of school, are the orphans, are they married, are they mothers and what do they need? and i find out through that technology that girls want a safe space, so i create girls club and start giving them seed funding for businesses. today, two villages in my country is something... it exceeds my expectation

because they also realise they can change their own lives, it is not for us to do it. graca machel, i want to ask you this because we talk about a safe space for girls and women in africa, but in particular, for young women, we are seeing, sadly, an increase in sexual violence, particularly in conflict, where rape is being used as a tool of war. and this is something that, of course, is terribly distressing. i wonder if you would comment on that, graca machel. the reality is the numbers of women who are being violated, who are being aggressively sexually violated are increasing instead of reducing. and we don't find even in the government systems and even in civil society organisations, spaces which you can consider absolutely safe for prevention. you'll find some which help women when they have been violated.

there are certain cases where there is a success in supporting them, but i have to confess that with gender based violence, we still need to go to the drawing board and find the right ways one, to prevent it, and second, to make sure that when this happens, we support not only the women who have been violated. very rarely, you will find a woman who is violated to be taken to justice and even to be taken to jail. so, it means this system is failing women abysmally in my view. very tragic. so the violation as well as the impunity of the men who perpetrate sexual violence.

kundai, do you want to come back on what they said? just to add on to - what these powerful woman have said, it is high time to move on from - sugar—coating these problems. the situation keeps getting. exacerbated and inequalities will never end, so thank- you so much for what you both just said. thank you. let's go to the capital of sudan. your question, please. i'lljust come to you first, angelique kidjo. how can african youth be engaged in countering violence, extremism and terrorism? i'll say that it starts with education. it's education and also the pride that you want to take in doing the right thing.

we're talking about violence against women. why are we incapable of bringing the perpetrator to jail? because the system that is put in place always favours men. so, here's a man asking this question. the question i have for him is, how can you help us, help the women not to be violated any more? how can men, african men that have pride and dignity, stand on the side of women and refuse for women to be abused, for all off our society to abuse one another, and to help us fight extremism. extremism is a lack of education. if you don't respect a woman, you cannot be respected, so extremism is about trying to understand the root cause of that.

why people turn to extremism, where does the anger come from, what is driving that anger and try to find solutions to build up conversations and coming together with religious leaders, for us to find out a solution together. graca machel, various studies across africa looking at the activities... boko haram, al shabaab. sadly now, what's happening in your own country, mozambique, where we're seeing a million people in dire straits because they're fleeing the extremists there. but studies show that actually, it's economic reasons often at the core of why young men — usually young men — join these extremist groups of. , extremist groups. ——extremist groups. so, what can be done to counter it? what would you say there?

i think angelique addressed one of the issues — it's really education. these young people, in many cases, they are the educated and of course, economically, they are totally disadvantage. there are two signs in my view. ——two sides of the same coin, in my view. 0ne, it's the conditions of education so that they will discern what they want for life and they won't be an easy prey for these who are recruiting them. the second one is opportunities to earn a living in a dignified way. if these young people, they have education, they can earn a living, they will not be easily taken by these extremists and practices. so, i see a three—leg response. education, economy

and governments. and build a movement across the country of saying we young people are not going to continue to be prey to these extremists. thank you for that, graca machel. but very quickly, how worried are you about the activities of extremists in northern mozambique? i can't really tell you. i can't tell you. it's tragic, it's tragic. but if we come to recognise, and now there are some efforts to focus on that region, programmes which economically empower young people, empower women, issues which will take time to bear fruit. 0ur government not having invested properly and

that part of the world. it has been a corridor of drug dealers, of arms dealers, and again, it's because of the government institutions have not been strong enough to counter these networks. let's go to nigeria to james. your question, james, please to graca angelique? why do we have african leaders that are - insensible and the plight of our people in africa? i graca machel, we've got quite a few african leaders who are— let's put it this way— very senior in their age, and not giving up that presidential seat. and then they governed these vast swathes of young people and don't always reflect their concerns. so what can we do about it?

two questions there, make more responsive but also perhaps let them seed power to a younger generation. let me say that these old people who are in those positions, they will not give up willingly. so, i think we have two issues which i would like to challenge young people to get involved in. one is, who is electing these old people? i think it's important that young people begin to ask the right questions. who are we going to be voting for? and what are we going to be voting for? that means to look very critically in terms of candidates for these elections. and question the motives in which they want to become leaders. second, look at the programmes they are bringing to young people. for young people to say "we will only vote on you if you have our interest, our issues, and our plans." at the centre of your campaign, and set up accountability and

even to get those leaders to signed up on what they are going to do to benefit and prioritise young people. all right, let's go to angelique kidjo on that question. i like the optimism of graca, but i have to say something. it has been for a decade now that african leaders don't care at all about the population. most of them don't even know, they don't care at all. so, for the system to change, the western country has to stop being complacent. china is playing a big role in that, and a thing is if we africans sit aside, the youth

is asking for a better africa, stand up, then stand up and refuse to see the chinese coming to build bridges without exchange of knowledge, — they come in, they do everything, they leave. which means we don't... we're always going to be pushing her hand out to get some help. you want different leaders, look at what is going on in your country and come together. you have to be together, different group of youth, and listen, have a proposal and a programme that you want a leader to work for when the next election comes in. then you have to be a watchdog of election, be there at the election polls and watch what is coming on. and you have to be present. they will send you police, they will send the army,

but gee, you want freedom, and different leadership? you have to sacrifice something for it. we all have to be honest. corruption is killing us in africa and are leaders are at the centre of all this. james? the ball is in your court, the court of young people like you, what do you say? we elected this year and once they - get into power, they. totally forget about us. we want the issue of unemployment - we want the issue of unemployment to. we want the issue of unemployment to be we want the issue of- unemployment to be solved. the people are poor. it is actually terrible when we have leaders who are insensitive to the - have leaders who are . insensitive to the plight have leaders who are - insensitive to the plight of young _ insensitive to the plight of young people _ thanks very much and we're going to stay in nigeria for our final question. your question, please. all right, my question is how. and when will the african youth shift from wanting their voices to be heard _ to becoming the key. voices of their nation? angelique kidjo. i would say through culture. music is a huge

vehicle for that. sing and bring people together. we have so many tools. using it right. ——the youth have so much, so many tools, and they're not using it right. culture is like a glue. it brings people together. in music, you can bring so much message out there. we need to be proud and we need to want the best for us and be the change we want to see happen. it's easy to talk. i always say talk is cheap, action is a lot of things have been done that is positive. find out within your country the positive thing that are working and how you can make it grow, how you can find alliances from different part of society — architects, lawyers, everybody, vendors and the street. come with an alliance through music and put the pressure on your leaders because as you say, power

kills every second, every minute, because they are sitting on loads of money and the money always ends up in europe. the rich countries arc complacent of this, and you guys have to understand exactly how the political system in your country functions. graca machel. you have to be aggressive. you have to have the strategies. you have to have targets to achieve. and to define, who are my alliances? and then young people, they have to accept it. stand and be counted. don't say i don't want to be in politics, because politics is dirty. go into politics, to clean politica, go to business to clean business, go into academics to clean academic. we have to be the change we want to see, i want to happen.

a quick response from you. 0k, amazing perspective from our guests. - like i said, we have several. strategies that we can use to become the key voice - of our country, but that is not enough. we need to take the bull by the horn and get - involved in politics, _ get involved in the governance of our country. i agree to that. thank you very much. all right, thank you very much indeed. some very concrete proposals there from our two panelists graca machel and angelique kidjo. to you people there, the youth of africa, remember we are the programme that brings you the trend lines behind the headlines, and if you want to be part of global questions, you can submit a question on global questions just drop us an e—mail. until the next time, from me, zeinab badawi and the rest of the global questions team, goodbye.

hello. after slightly cloudy conditions across england and wales on wednesday, the clear blue skies and strong sunshine experienced in scotland, northern ireland, akin to what we can see here from one of our weather watchers during the day, well, they will become a bit more abundant. but those clear skies by day also mean colder nights are back, and a widespread frosty start to the day, temperatures as low as —5—6 through some parts of eastern scotland and northeast england, very few immune to a frost. and that's because we've got high pressure in charge. it's keeping those skies clear. high pressure generally means dry weather as well, stops the rain clouds from going up. and around the centre of it, which is right over us, there will be light winds. a little bit more breeze, most notable across the far south of england. and while most will see sunshine from dawn to dusk, they will be a bit more clout in northern scotland through thursday compared with wednesday, and the sunshine in central parts of scotland

that little bit hazier. but with much more sunshine around on thursday, pollen levels are back up again high in most parts, limited a little bit around this southeast corner and through the english channel because we've got more of a breeze here. that breeze, coming in from an east or northeasterly direction, will also limit the rise in temperatures here to between 10—13 celsius. but with lighter winds further north and west, because the ground is so dry at the moment, it means the air above it warms quite quickly and that's why we could get to around 16—17 celsius in some western areas through the afternoon. but what will follow, again, will be there skies for most away from northern scotland into thursday night, so another frost is likely. notice how that area of high pressure has barely changed. the lines on the chart, the isobars, where we see the windy conditions will be out to the south and the west, so more of a breeze potentially for northern ireland, but still that breeze blowing through the english channel and through southern parts of wales. the cloud in the far northeast of scotland mayjust produce

the odd isolated shower, but for most, again, it's another day of sunshine from dawn to dusk. and with each day being sunny, the ground warms up a bit more. temperatures could reach 19—20 celsius, particularly across parts of north wales, northwest england and southwest scotland. still cooler with that onshore breeze, though, to east anglia and the southeast. now, if you're expecting any change into this weekend, they'll only be subtle ones. now, if you're expecting any change into this weekend, there will be a bit more cloud developing through saturday and sunday, and by sunday, temperatures dropping just a little bit. bye for now.

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