Year: 2019

A U.S. Secret Service dog that prevented a potential attack on President Barack Obama in the White House in 2014 has been given the rare honor of an Order of Merit from a British charity, the first foreign animal to receive the award. Hurricane, a Belgian Malinois, was a highly trained member of the Secret Service and had previously been part of a victorious U.S. Canine Olympic team. In October 2014, when Obama and his family were home at the White House, an intruder scaled the fence and managed to fight off the first canine team deployed to intercept him. Hurricane and his handler, Special Operations Officer Marshall Mirarchi, were the backup team that night. “The second he got target lock, I sent him,” Mirarchi said. “He weaved through our teammates and took the individual down. Your normal scenario is that’s it, and you go up and get them. This was obviously different.” The intruder punched, kicked and swung Hurricane through the air. “You’re not expecting someone to fight a dog back for that long with that much violence,” Mirarchi recalled. “The individual wasn’t responding to any pain for whatever reason. So, I had to sit back and kind of watch Hurricane go to war. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” Hurricane’s jaws locked on the suspect’s arm, and he eventually forced the man to the ground where he was detained by armed officers. Hurricane was badly injured. “To see him afterward after that …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned deadly violence during protests in Iraq and called on the country’s government to “exercise maximum restraint,” the State Department said Tuesday. In a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, Pompeo “condemned the recent violence in Iraq and noted that those who violated human rights should be held accountable,” the department said in a statement. “The secretary lamented the tragic loss of life over the past few days and urged the Iraqi government to exercise maximum restraint. “Pompeo reiterated that peaceful public demonstrations are a fundamental element of all democracies, and emphasized that there is no place for violence in demonstrations, either by security forces or protestors.” Demonstrations in Iraq began with demands for an end to rampant corruption and chronic unemployment but escalated with calls for a complete overhaul of the political system. They were unprecedented because of their apparent spontaneity and independence in a deeply politicized society, and have also been bloody — with more than 100 people killed and 6,000 wounded in one week.  …

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one if its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that the plaintiff’s attorneys say is linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys. Johnson and Johnson immediately denounced the award after the jury’s decision in the Court of Common pleas, saying it’s “excessive and unfounded” and vowing immediate action to overturn it. The antipsychotic drug Risperdal is at the center of the lawsuit, with the plaintiff’s attorneys arguing it’s linked to abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys, an incurable condition known as gynecomastia. Johnson & Johnson used an organized scheme to make billions of dollars while illegally marketing and promoting the drug, attorneys Tom Kline and Jason Itkin said in a statement. Kline and Itkin said that Johnson & Johnson was “a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients.” Thousands of lawsuits have been filed over the drug, but the attorneys said this was the first in which a jury decided whether to award punitive damages and came up with an amount. Johnson & Johnson said in a statement on its website it was confident that the award would be overturned, calling it “grossly disproportionate” with the initial compensatory damage award and “a clear violation of due process.” Johnson & Johnson said the court’s exclusion of key evidence left it unable to present a meaningful defense, including what they said was a drug label that …

The furor over a tweet by the Houston Rockets general manager in support of Hong Kong protesters is highlighting the fine line that U.S. companies must walk when doing business with China. The NBA is trying to manage that delicate relationship after Daryl Morey posted a now-deleted tweet of an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” referring to the 4-month-old protests in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. That set off an immediate backlash, with China’s state broadcaster canceling plans to show a pair of preseason games in that country later this week. With a population of 1.4 billion people, a rapidly growing middle class and easing economic restrictions, China is highly appealing to U.S. companies looking for growth overseas. But companies must balance the potential for growth with the potential for pitfalls in dealing with a country that aggressively goes after its detractors. Companies need to use caution Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, cautions that companies should know what they’re getting themselves into when they enter a relationship with a country that’s heading into 70 years of communist rule. “It has a regime that doesn’t look like the United States,” Argenti said. “We can pretend it is a democracy, but it’s not.” Western governments dislike China’s attacks on companies but are unlikely to get involved, said David Zweig, a politics specialist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. So it’s up to companies to navigate situations themselves. Most …

Officials are working urgently to retrieve the bodies of 11 elephants that died after trying to save each other from a waterfall in a national park in central Thailand. Park rangers had initially thought six adult elephants had died Saturday while trying to save a three-year-old calf that had slipped down the falls. But Monday, a drone found the bodies of five more elephants in the waters below the fall in Khao Yai National Park. Authorities have strung a net downstream to catch the bodies as they float down the fast-moving waters. There is concern that the rotting bodies will contaminate the water. Officers expect the bodies to reach the net in a few days. The elephants will be buried and the area sealed with hydrated lime to prevent contamination, the Bangkok Post reported. This is not the first such incident at the waterfall, known as Haew Narok (Hell’s Fall). In 1998, eight elephants died at the same site. Park officials put up fencing to keep the wild animals away from the area, but that has not worked. The park is home to about 300 of Thailand’s approximately 3,000 wild animals. …

The White House announced Sunday that U.S. troops will pull out of northern Syria as Turkey moves forward with a military offensive. The decision has led to condemnations from Congress, clarification from the Pentagon and fear from local allies. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports. …

The Sengwer, an indigenous hunter-gatherer community in western Kenya, presented a petition Monday morning to the government in Nairobi demanding the return and protection of what they call their ancestral lands. The community says it faces threats of eviction as Kenya’s government takes over conservation of the country’s forests and water supplies. Hundreds of members of the Sengwer, a community that lives in the Embobut forest, spent two days marching from their ancestral land in Kenya’s North Rift Valley to Nairobi in hopes of meeting President Uhuru Kenyatta. Dressed in traditional regalia, they sang traditional songs as they arrived in Nairobi with the petition to the government. 85-year-old Moses Leleu took part in the march. Leleu says, “As a community, we are yet to be recognized as a Kenyan tribe. That’s one of the main reason we are here. The second is that we have been evicted several times from our ancestral land. We are now living in a small portion in these lands and still face imminent eviction. We want to go back to the areas we have been evicted from and be recognized as the owners of our ancestral land.” Hunter-gatherer communities in Kenya are facing threat of eviction as the government takes over management of the country’s forests and water catchment areas. Embobut forest is listed as one of the five most important water catchment areas in Kenya. Since the 1970’s, Kenya’s government, through its Forest Service guards, has carried out a series of forceful evictions of …

It was by Vladimir Putin’s swashbuckling standards all rather low-key. There was no riding horses bare-chested or allegedly saving a television crew by shooting a tranquilizer dart at a wild tiger which obligingly appeared from out of nowhere in the woods. No stripping to the waist to wade deep in the waters of mountain rivers to catch fish. Nor was there was any flying on an ultralight alongside endangered Siberian white cranes supposedly nudging them on to their migration path. The Russian leader’s hike Monday on the eve of his 67th birthday in the Siberian wilderness seemed more contemplative than trailblazing — a contrast with other presidential birthdays. In this undated photo released by Russian Presidential Press Service, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a holiday in southern Siberia’s mountains during a break from state affairs. Accompanied by defense minister Sergei Shoigu, a 64-year-old Siberian native, as well as a state media crew, Putin is pictured picking mushrooms and sitting on an elevated spot overlooking the Yenisei River chatting. “Super,” he says to Shoigu, “we are a bit higher than the clouds.” The video and photographs lapped up by the Russian media seemed almost elegiac in tone. Is Putin preparing the country for change? Or was he and his aides using his 67th birthday as just another occasion to keep people guessing? It isn’t the first time that Russia’s defense minister has vacationed with Putin in Siberia, but it comes just days after the …

A teenager has traced her medical journey through several neurosurgeries by making art from her brain scans.  Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles that 16-year-old Tessa Carlisle is exploring the healing potential of art as she travels her own road to recovery. …

21-year-old Marilyn Zakarya is one of the players in the new Sudanese women’s football (soccer) league that launched last week (Sept 30).  Zakarya came from South Sudan to follow her dream in Khartoum.  But she is worried about whether Sudan’s conservative society will accept women’s football after decades of restrictions. Naba Mohiedeen reports from Khartoum. …

Steve Herman contributed to this report. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have issued subpoenas to the Pentagon and White House budget office as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, requesting documents relating to Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine. Three Democratic committees Monday demanded Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Office and Budget and Management Acting Director Russell Vought turn over the documents by Oct.15. Democrats are investigating Trump’s actions of pressing Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Part of the investigation includes examining whether or not Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine was tied to his request for a Ukrainian investigation into the Bidens. 2nd Whistleblower Adds to Impeachment Peril at White House Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said the second person has spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog and can corroborate information in the original whistleblower complaint The development follows news on Sunday that a second U.S. intelligence whistleblower has come forward with a complaint about the actions of the Trump administration. Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, confirmed the news to VOA. The complaint filed by the first whistleblower is what sparked the impeachment investigation. The complaint alleges Trump used “the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 election,” and cited a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into alleged corruption in Ukraine by the former vice …

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees is calling for urgent action to resolve the global forced displacement crisis as increasing numbers of people flee conflict, natural disasters and grinding poverty. Filippo Grandi was speaking at the opening of UNHCR’s annual weeklong refugee conference. Forced displacement has reached record highs. In recent years, nearly 71 million people have been uprooted from their homes. More than one-third are refugees; the rest are displaced within their own countries. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi says the issue of forced displacement is far more complex now than in 1951. That was when the United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention to protect and assist millions of refugees who survived the horrors of World War II.   India, Bangladesh Stress Safe Return of Rohingya Refugees India also promises additional humanitarian aid for refugees living in Bangladesh camps Grandi says refugee protection since has become more complex. He notes the world now is faced with what he calls mixed flows of refugees and migrants. The commissioner also says putting economic migrants and asylum seekers into the same category is eroding protections for refugees, who are people fleeing from war, persecution and violence.   In Mexico last week, he says he saw examples of refugee integration coupled with increasing migratory pressures from the region, but also from Africa. “Saving lives and safeguarding the dignity and rights of all those on the move must remain central, together with access to international protection for those with valid claims,” Grandi …

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees is calling for urgent action to resolve the global forced displacement crisis as increasing numbers of people flee conflict, natural disasters and grinding poverty. In recent years, nearly 71 million people have been uprooted from their homes. More than one-third are refugees; the rest are displaced within their own countries. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the issue of forced displacement is far more complex now than in 1951, when the United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention to protect and assist millions of refugees who survived the horrors of World War II.   Grandi, speaking at the UNHCR’s annual weeklong refugee conference, said the world now is faced with what he calls mixed flows of refugees and migrants. The commissioner also said that putting economic migrants and asylum-seekers into the same category is eroding protections for refugees, who are people fleeing war, persecution and violence.   In Mexico last week, he said he saw examples of refugee integration coupled with increasing migratory pressures from the region, but also from Africa. “Saving lives and safeguarding the dignity and rights of all those on the move must remain central, together with access to international protection for those with valid claims,” Grandi said. “There and elsewhere, legal migration pathways would help prevent the abuse of asylum systems as substitutes of migration channels.” Grandi says climate change is creating a new form of forcible displacement, an issue that did not exist when the Refugee Convention was conceived. He said climate-related …

Minor protests were reported Monday in parts of the capital, Baghdad, and elsewhere across the country, as Iraq’s political leaders tried to head off further bloody clashes between security forces and crowds of mostly young demonstrators. Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said he was pulling military units out of Baghdad’s mostly Shi’ite Sadr City and replacing them with units of the country’s national police, after over a dozen demonstrators were killed during the past 48 hours.  Mahdi called on protesters to discuss their demands, saying that the country’s leaders are ready to talk to those who represent them if they come forward. He said his government is discussing demands that it has received, and that he is ready to talk to the protesters himself, unarmed. Iraqi protesters speaks with members of police in Baghdad’s predominantly Shi’ite Sadr City, Oct. 7, 2019. Some of Iraq’s top Shi’ite political leaders are claiming that demonstrations are being incited by forces outside the country. Falah Fayyad, who heads the country’s Shi’ite volunteer militia called the Hushd al-Shaabi, told journalists that the Iraqi government would not tolerate any forces playing with the country’s security. “We will not allow anyone to spill the blood of our young people or to destroy our democratic process,” he said. Iraq can only be governed by the ballot boxes and any uprisings using force will not tolerated, he said, adding that his militia will support the country’s constitution and its elected prime minister. Arab media reported that pro-Iranian Shi’ite cleric Muqtada …

The NBA statement originally made in English had a different twist when it came out in Chinese. The NBA’s Chinese social media account posted a statement Monday saying the league was “extremely disappointed” by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s “inappropriate” tweet that showed support for Hong Kong anti-government protesters, adding that Morey’s view “severely hurt the feelings of Chinese fans.” Thing is, the league never actually said those words. NBA spokesman Mike Bass’ statement, which had only one version and was delivered in English, began like this: “We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable.” It continued, but never said “extremely disappointed,” ″inappropriate” or “severely hurt the feelings” of anyone. “There should be no discrepancy on the statement issued last night,” Bass said Monday. “We have seen various interpretations of the translation of the Mandarin version, but our statement in English is the league’s official statement.” The “hurt feelings” phrase is commonly used by Chinese authorities to describe perceived gaffes by foreign parties. Similar phrasing was used by Mercedes-Benz in February 2018 when it had to apologize for quoting the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in a social media post. The auto company apologized for “wrong information” that “hurt the feelings of Chinese people.” Morey tweeted a now-deleted image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” in reference to four months of pro-democracy demonstrations in the semiautonomous …