Year: 2019

The World Health Organization projects that, for the first time, the number of men smoking around the world is dropping, indicating measures to end the global tobacco epidemic are paying off. WHO officials called it a major shift in the fight against tobacco, which every year kills more than eight million people prematurely. Data from 143 countries shows that tobacco use among men has stopped growing, following a steady rise in the use of this deadly product during the past two decades. During this period, WHO reports 60 million of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion smokers have quit the habit.  Most of those reductions were driven by women, as male use of tobacco over the same period rose by around 40 million. “But now we are seeing for the first time a decline in use, with WHO projecting that there will be at least 2 million fewer males using tobacco in 2020 and 5 million less by 2025,” said Ruediger Krech, WHO’s director of health promotion. “Fewer males using tobacco products means fewer people will suffer the avoidable pain and death that they cause.”  Krech says the decline in tobacco use shows tobacco control measures work.  He says steps such as taxation, banning advertising and marketing as well as smoking in public places, and plain packaging of tobacco products discourage people from smoking. The report also found that approximately 43 million children aged 13 to 15 smoke, with boys using tobacco at twice the rate as girls.  It said Southeast …

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the U.S. impeachment process “far-fetched” Thursday, making a seemingly obvious prediction that Donald Trump will be acquitted in the Senate. Putin said Thursday at his annual news conference in Moscow that the move is a continuation of the Democrats’ fight against Trump.  “The party that lost the (2016) election, the Democratic Party, is trying to achieve results by other means,” Putin said.  He likened Trump’s impeachment to the earlier U.S. probe into collusion with Russia, which Putin downplayed as being groundless. Putin noted that the impeachment motion “is yet to pass the Senate where the Republicans have a majority.” He added that “they will be unlikely to remove a representative of their own party from office on what seems to me an absolutely far-fetched reason.” Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the Constitution’s ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors. The historic vote split along party lines Wednesday night in the U.S., much the way it has divided the nation, over a charge that the 45th president abused the power of his office by enlisting a foreign government to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election. The House then approved a second charge, that he obstructed Congress in its investigation. The articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment, now go to the Senate for trial.  Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during his annual end-of-year news conference …

American folk singer and songwriter, Alice Peacock released her latest album, “Minnesota” earlier this year. The album’s title track is a love song to her home state, where her family spends their summers. Much has changed for Peacock since her last solo studio album, 2009’s “Love Remains.” She has had three kids, moved to Cincinnati and … gotten 10 years older. …

Three small explosions went off in a southern Rakhine town in Myanmar Thursday just before civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi landed there in a rare visit to the conflict-ridden state, a local official said. The blasts happened in the normally quiet town of Manaung on an island off Myanmar’s western coast where Suu Kyi was due to open a solar power plant. “There were three explosions, but no casualties,” Win Myint, spokesperson for Rakhine’s regional government, told AFP. Myanmar Democracy Icon’s Dramatic Fall From Grace Many former supporters watched in dismay as the Nobel peace laureate denied accusations that Myanmar’s military conducted atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim population He said it happened before Suu Kyi arrived, but since they were on the other side of town the event went ahead as planned and she had since left safely on a flight to Yangon. “This has never happened in Manaung before.” No group has yet claimed responsibility for planting the small bombs, which detonated at the side of a road, photos from local media showed.   The area has remained largely unscathed by unrest further north, where Myanmar’s military is locked in an increasingly vicious conflict with the Arakan Army (AA). The rebel group claims to be fighting for more autonomy and rights for the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and garners sympathy from many local people who have long felt marginalized in the Bamar-majority country. But tens of thousands have fled their homes over the past year and dozens of civilians …

Police detained several hundred protesters in some of India’s biggest cities Thursday as they defied a ban on assembly that authorities imposed to stop widespread demonstrations against a new citizenship law that opponents say threatens the country’s secular democracy. Dozens of demonstrations were planned around the country as opposition widened to the law, which excludes Muslims. The legislation has sparked anger at what many see as the Hindu nationalist-led government’s push to bring India closer to a Hindu state. India’s Supreme Court Delays Hearing Citizenship Law Pleas India’s Supreme Court has postponed hearing pleas challenging the constitutionality of a new citizenship law that has sparked opposition and massive protests across the country Historian Ramchandra Guha, a biographer of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, was among those detained in Bangalore, the capital of southern Karnataka state. The state government issued a ban on groups of more than four people gathering. Reached by phone, Guha said he was in a bus with other detainees and did not know where the police were taking them. In New Delhi, Yogendra Yadav, the chief of the Swaraj India party, was among those detained as protesters demonstrated at New Delhi’s iconic Red Fort and the surrounding historic district. Officials said more than 100 people were detained at the fort. The protesters were loaded into buses and other vehicles. The main roads leading to the fort were blocked off and police did not let pedestrians go to nearby temples or shopping areas. Internet and phone services were blocked …

Lawyers for Marry Chiwenga, the wife of Zimbabwe’s vice president, Constantino Chiwenga, have asked judges to free her on bail, four days after she was arrested for allegedly attempting to murder her husband. Attorney Toana Nyamakura filed the bail application on behalf of Marry Chiwenga at the High Court on Wednesday. While Nyamakura refused to speak to reporters, Kenny Mubaiwa, the father of the former model, maintained his earlier line and only said: According to state prosecutors, when Vice President Chiwenga was flown to South Africa for medical care in June, Marry Chiwenga forced her husband to stay at a hotel overnight, denying him treatment for about 24 hours. When security agents finally took the vice president to a hospital, his wife allegedly entered his room and removed an IV and a catheter, resulting in profuse bleeding. Marry Chiwenga was also charged with corruption for allegedly using $1 million in foreign currency – of which there is a shortage in Zimbabwe – to buy houses and luxury vehicles abroad. Alexander Rusero, a senior journalism lecturer at Harare Polytechnic College, says the attempted murder charge might well be true. “When you have a whole vice president accusing his wife of murder, I think there is an element of truth to it. No husband in his entire pride would want to bring, or wash dirty linen unless there is something important, and in this case, a life-threatening issue,” he said. At the same time, Rusero said he thinks the vice president is …

Immigrants convicted of illegally reentering the U.S., driving drunk or committing domestic violence will be barred from claiming asylum under a proposed regulation announced Wednesday by the Trump administration. The proposal, which must go through a public comment period before it is finalized, lists seven criminal areas, including some low-level crimes, that would bar migrants from claiming asylum in addition to federal restrictions already in place. It also would remove a requirement for immigration judges to reconsider some asylum denials. It’s another push to restrict asylum by President Donald Trump’s administration, which claims migrants are gaming the system so they can spend years in the U.S. despite their ineligibility, in part because of a lower bar for initial screenings. Most of the people who claim asylum are fleeing violence, poverty and corruption in their home countries. Immigrant advocates and humanitarian groups have criticized Trump’s hard-line policies as inhumane and have said the U.S. is abdicating its role as a safe haven for refugees. But an immigration court backlog has reached more than 1 million cases, and border agencies were overwhelmed this year by hundreds of thousands of Central American families that require more care-giving and are not easily returned over the U.S.-Mexico border. In an effort to stop the flow of migrants, the Department of Homeland Security, which manages immigration, has sent more than 50,000 migrants back over the border to wait out asylum claims. The migrants often are victimized in violent parts of Mexico and sickened by unsanitary conditions …

An editor of a Serbian website that investigates organized crime was denied entry to Abu Dhabi, where he was due to address a U.N. conference on corruption, after being told he had been blacklisted by an unidentified country, the journalist said. Stevan Dojcinovic flew in to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Tuesday and was turned back to Belgrade early on Wednesday morning after spending 12 hours at the airport. “I was told that I had been blacklisted by another country,” Dojcinovic said. “Given close ties between United Arab Emirates and Belgrade, I would not exclude that Serbia had something to do with it.” There was no immediate response from the UAE’s National Media Council to a Reuters request for comment. Approached by Reuters, the Serbian foreign ministry said it had no one available to comment. The Association of Independent Journalists in Serbia protested against Dojcinovic’s deportation. Dojcinovic’s Krik portal mainly writes about alleged links between Serbian politicians and organized crime. It has also written about UAE projects in Serbia. In 2015 Dojcinovic was banned from entering Russia. “I am not sure what the reason for either ban was but I am sure it has to do with my job as a journalist,” Dojcinovic told Reuters. Serbia ranks 90th on a list of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group. The UAE ranks 133. Reporters Without Borders warned earlier this year “the number of attacks on …

The attempt to smuggle more than 70 people from Mexico into Texas this week was bold: A driver pulled a tractor-trailer into the commercial vehicle inspection lanes at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Laredo, and waited for agents to check the truck. From a photo released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there was little else in the trailer except for dozens of people huddled against a metal-clad wall, heads turned to avoid the camera or the bright light shined at them.   Most of those visible in the picture were wearing white shirts, which CBP says were marked by the smugglers “to assist the trafficking organization in classifying/identifying the individuals within the group.” It is unclear what the markings were, and what they signified. A request to CBP for more information was not immediately returned on Wednesday. The story will be updated with the agency’s response. The group was comprised of men and women from El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico who entered the United States without authorization, according to CBP.   The driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested, as were the people found in the trailer. While many migrants attempt to cross the border into the U.S. on foot to remain undetected, that often requires swimming across the river or traversing remote, rugged desert areas where deaths by drowning and dehydration regularly occur. 2019 Among Deadliest Years for Migrants Trekking to US By the end of August, more than 520 migrants in the Americas died or went missing …

African governments and refugee activists hope a ground-breaking refugee forum will deliver much-needed funding and voice to a region whose challenges are often eclipsed by more headline-grabbing crises. Two decades ago, John Bolinga fled his hometown of Goma, in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive northeast. “Rebels came and attacked our home so my father was shot dead. So I had to run to Uganda,” Bolinga said. He started out destitute, but eventually launched his own NGO in Kampala, which today helps women and children who like himself, were uprooted by violence. He is sharing his story in Geneva, where countries are meeting for a first-ever global refugee forum. Here and elsewhere, Bolinga says, giving refugees a voice and active role in decisions that affect their lives is critical. “The challenge is if refugees feel they’re not welcomed,” Bolinaa said, “and also the root causes which is making refugees to flee their countries is not tackled, there is going to be a crisis.” Africa is a leading exporter of refugees. They count among the millions making perilous journeys across the Sahara and Mediterranean for a better life in Europe … which often isn’t realized. But Africa also shelters more than one-quarter of the world’s displaced people. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during the UNHCR – Global Refugee Forum at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 17, 2019. Critics note that some African countries severely restrict refugees’ opportunities. Still these nations are opening doors …

The number of journalists killed globally in 2019 is the lowest in over a decade as some war zones became less deadly, say two of the world’s leading free-press advocacy groups. New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Paris-headquartered Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which is known by its French initials, released separate reports that identified the same trend on Tuesday. Each of the annual reports, however, based findings on distinct research methodologies, resulting in some hard data discrepancies. CPJ says at least 25 journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2019, the lowest figure since 2002 when 21 journalists lost their lives in the field. RSF reported 49 killed, the lowest number since 36 were killed in 2003. FILE – A Turkish police officer walks past a picture of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi prior to a ceremony, near the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, marking the one-year anniversary of his death, Oct. 2, 2019. Both organizations emphasized that although journalist war zone fatalities have declined, the number of journalists killed in countries at peace remains consistent with years prior, and that the decrease is no cause for complacency. CPJ: Syria, Mexico are deadliest CPJ logs killings only in direct reprisal for reporting combat-related crossfire, “or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.” Syria and Mexico are the deadliest for journalists in 2019, its report said. “Deaths in Syria, where at least 134 journalists have been killed in the war, …

Turkish military operations which began in October in northern Syria have left over 200,000 thousand Syrians displaced in northern Iraq. The refugees left all their belongings behind so people around the world have stepped up to help.  VOA’s Hateen Mahmood  reports on a group of Kurdish volunteers in Nashville, Tennessee doing what they can. …

The U.S. this week deported a German man convicted in the high-profile killings of his girlfriend’s parents 35 years ago, in a crime that stunned a Virginia community and prompted decades of media obsession. Jens Soering, 53, flew from a Washington, D.C.-area airport to Frankfurt on Monday, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. FILE – Elizabeth Haysom is seen in an undated photo provided by the Virginia Department of Corrections. He served two life sentences for the first-degree murders in 1985 of Nancy and Derek Haysom, whose daughter Elizabeth attended the University of Virginia with Soering at the time. Both were found nearly decapitated in their Virginia home. The young couple led police on an international chase after the killings and were arrested in London in 1986. Soering fought extradition on the grounds that the U.S. allowed for the death penalty in certain cases, but in 1990, capitulated to authorities. Virginia authorities released him last month, on the condition that he be taken into immigration custody immediately. Soering, the son of a German diplomat, told a reporter in 2011 that Elizabeth Haysom committed the double murder; but he “decided to lie and to cover (…) up” the crime by taking the blame, thinking that if he were returned to Germany, he would only spend a decade in prison at the most.  “I loved Elizabeth and I believed that the only way I could save her life from the electric chair was for me to take the blame, and …

As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to take a historic vote on the impeachment of President Donald Trump, the American public is following along, steadfast in its views. Many polls since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the start of an impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24 show that Americans are closely divided over whether Trump should be removed from office. Heated public hearings on network television that reached millions of Americans alongside a White House on the defensive have done little to move public opinion on the issue. And there’s little sign that the inquiry has had any impact on Trump himself, whose approval rating has not strayed from the range it’s been throughout his presidency. The impeachment articles accuse Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House has spent weeks investigating whether the president violated his oath of office by asking the government of Ukraine to investigate his political opponent.  Consistent (and polarized) views of Trump Approval of Trump’s overall performance has largely held steady, even as the impeachment proceedings have carried on. A new AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll has Trump’s approval rating standing at 40%, about where it’s been over the last several months and through most of his presidency. Views of the president and, by extension, views of his impeachment reflect deep political polarization. Wide shares of Democrats both disapprove of the president and support impeachment, while wide shares of Republicans approve of Trump and want him to remain in office. …

Rallies against a new Indian citizenship law based on religion continued for a fifth consecutive day Monday amid clashes between students and the police. The protests that started Thursday in the northeastern state of Assam last Thursday have spread through university campuses and have left at least six people dead so far. The controversial law allows non-Muslims from three majority Muslim nations to obtain Indian citizenship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended the law, saying it protects non-Muslims from persecution. But critics say the Hindu nationalist government is pushing a partisan agenda and undermining the country’s status as a secular republic.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

With the U.S. House of Representatives expected to vote to impeach President Donald Trump this week, the White House is shifting focus to the Republican-led Senate, where the president will face trial as early as January. Patsy Widakuswara has this story on how Trump and his allies are planning to mount a fast and aggressive defense, with the goal of turning the tables on opposition Democrats. …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case that would allow cities to make it a crime to sleep on the streets. The court let stand a ruling by a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, which struck down a couple of local laws in Boise, Idaho that made it a crime for homeless people to sleep on the streets when no alternative shelter is available. The Ninth Circuit includes various western states that have a problem of astronomical real estate prices resulting in growing homelessness. Several major cities have tried to curb homelessness by passing strict local legislation. Boise had appealed the ruling arguing it would allow homelessness to proliferate leading to public health issues. “As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” the appeals court said in its ruling. …

Amnesty International says its documented death toll from Iran’s recent anti-government protests will rise again from the group’s latest report that at least 304 demonstrators were killed by security forces. “That is not a final figure by any means,” said Amnesty’s Middle East research director Philip Luther in a VOA Persian interview on Monday. Hours earlier, the London-based rights group had updated its death toll for last month’s Iran protests to 304 fatalities from its previous figure of 208 reported on Dec. 3. “We think the number could rise (further),”  Luther said, citing the group’s ongoing examination of “credible” reports showing Iranian security forces used live ammunition while suppressing several days of nationwide protests that erupted on Nov. 15. “(Iranian security forces) have shot protesters with guns and they have done so in some cases when the protesters actually have been running away from them. This shows a clear intention to use lethal force,” Luther said. In its update published Monday, Amnesty said its researchers determined that Iranian authorities arrested thousands of people as part of a “vicious” crackdown following the protests to stop them from speaking out about Iran’s “ruthless repression.” It said those arrested included children as young as 15, people who participated in the demonstrations, journalists, human rights defenders and students. An Iraqi demonstrator shows a bullet that was used during ongoing anti-government protests in Najaf, Iraq December 2, 2019. The group said it had carried out interviews with dozens of people inside Iran, who described how …