Author: Selleco

A company that operates ships laying sections of a new German-Russian pipeline said Saturday it is suspending that work after U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation threatening sanctions.   Trump on Friday signed the bill passed earlier this week by the Senate that provides for sanctions against individuals and companies involved in laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.   The U.S. has been an outspoken opponent of the pipeline, which will transport natural gas about 1,200 kilometers. Along with eastern European countries that also oppose the project, the U.S. government argues that it will increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for energy.   On Saturday, Switzerland-based Allseas, which operates ships laying sections of the undersea pipeline, said in a brief statement that in anticipation of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Allseas has suspended its Nord Stream 2 pipelay activities.   The company will “expect guidance comprising of the necessary regulatory, technical and environmental clarifications from the relevant U.S. authority,” it added.   Construction of the pipeline is already well advanced, and it wasn’t immediately clear what the impact will be. Nord Stream 2 spokesman Jens Mueller said in an emailed statement that “completing the project is essential for European supply security.”   “We together with the companies supporting the project will work on finishing the pipeline as soon as possible,” he added.   The German government said it regretted the approval of the U.S. legislation.   “The German government …

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is holding talks with General Motors Co. on the automaker’s petition to deploy a limited number of self-driving vehicles on American roads without  steering wheels or other human controls, the head of the agency  said Friday.  Acting NHTSA Administrator James Owens said his agency aims to decide soon on GM’s January 2018 petition as well as on a request by Nuro, a driverless delivery startup backed by Softbank Corp., to deploy a limited number of low-speed, highly automated delivery vehicles without human occupants.  The agency’s review comes at a time of heightened concerns  about the safety of automated piloting systems in vehicles and  aircraft, a potential revolution in ground and air transportation.  “I expect we’re going to be able to move forward with these  petitions soon — as soon as we can,” Owens told Reuters, adding  action “definitely” would come next year.  “This will be a big deal because this will be the first such action that will be taken,” Owens said.  GM, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, confirmed it has been in talks with NHTSA about the petition. Nuro also confirmed it is in talks with NHTSA.  Still work to do GM Chief Executive Mary Barra and U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao last week met and discussed the petition, officials said, but significant work remains at the technical level.  Owens said NHTSA officials are “crawling through these petitions because we want to make sure” the driverless vehicles are at least as safe as other cars on the roads.  “There’s a lot of back and forth between us and the companies,” Owens said during a Reuters interview that also included Chao and other Transportation …

Robert Glenn “Junior” Johnson, the moonshine runner turned NASCAR driver described as “The Last American Hero” by author Tom Wolfe in a 1965 article for Esquire, died Friday. He was 88. NASCAR announced the death of Johnson, the winner of 50 races as a driver and 132 as an owner. He was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010. NASCAR is America’s Fastest-Growing Spectator Sport A small city in North Carolina has been transformed from an old lumber mill and textile manufacturing center into the home for automobile racing teams that compete in America’s fastest growing spectator sport known as NASCAR. VOA’s Chris Simkins takes a look at the growing phenomenon of NASCAR, and why the sport is attracting thousands of auto racing fans each year. This is NASCAR, the popular American sport of stock car racing. “From his early days running moonshine through the end of his life, Junior wholly embodied the NASCAR spirit,” NASCAR Chairman Jim France said in a statement. “He was an inaugural NASCAR Hall of Famer, a nod to an extraordinary career as both a driver and team owner. Between his on-track accomplishments and his introduction of (sponsor) Winston to the sport, few have contributed to the success of NASCAR as Junior has. “The entire NASCAR family is saddened by the loss of a true giant of our sport, and we offer our deepest condolences to Junior’s family and friends during this difficult time.” From North Wilkesboro, …

Firefighters in the Australian state of New South Wales were bracing for “catastrophic” fire conditions on Saturday as temperatures well above 40C (104F) and strong winds were set to fuel more than 100 fires burning across the state. Authorities asked people to delay travel, at the start of what is normally a busy Christmas holiday period, warning of the unpredictability of the fires as winds of up to 70 kph (44 mph) were set to fan flames through the middle of the day. “Catastrophic fire conditions are as bad as it gets,” NSW Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told journalists. “They are the very worst of conditions. Given we have a landscape with so much active fire burning, you have a recipe for very serious concern and a very dangerous day.” Flowers and the helmets of volunteer firefighters Andrew O’Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton, who died when their fire truck was struck by a falling tree as it traveled through a fire, are seen at a memorial n Horsley Park, Australia, Dec. 20, 2019. Greater Sydney and two surrounding areas were rated as catastrophic for Saturday, and other areas were at extreme or very-high fire danger ratings. Close to 10,000 emergency personnel would be working across NSW on Saturday, which the NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said was likely the largest emergency deployment the state had ever seen. “They’re there, four days before Christmas, to keep families safe,” Elliott told media. A southerly wind change is …

Republican Wisconsin lawmakers took steps Friday to spend taxpayer dollars to hire their own attorney and intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the purge of more than 200,000 voter registrations.    The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin filed the lawsuit this week against the state Elections Commission. It did so after a state judge ruled against the commission and said it must immediately deactivate more than 200,000 voter registrations of people identified as possibly having moved. That decision, in a case brought by a conservative law firm, is being appealed but the ruling has not been put on hold.    The legal battles are being closely watched because the affected voters come from more heavily Democratic parts of the state. Democrats fear forcing them to re-register would create a burden and could negatively affect turnout in the 2020 presidential election. Republicans argue that removing the voters ensures the rolls are not full of people who shouldn’t be voting.  Key state in 2020   President Donald Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016. The state is one of a handful of battlegrounds in the upcoming election.    Republican leaders of the state Senate and Assembly on Friday circulated a ballot to approve the hiring of a private attorney to represent them in the federal lawsuit, rather than Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. Republicans have increasingly turned to hiring their own attorneys, paid for by taxpayers, rather than have Kaul represent them in lawsuits. Republicans don’t trust that Kaul will represent their interests …

British prosecutors said on Friday they had decided to charge the wife of a U.S. diplomat over a fatal car crash in England and to seek her extradition, a decision that “disappointed” Washington. Harry Dunn, 19, died after his motorcycle was in a collision with a car driven by Sacoolas near RAF Croughton, an air force base in the English county of Northamptonshire that is used by the U.S. military. Anne Sacoolas, 42, was given diplomatic immunity and left Britain shortly after the accident, setting off a dispute between London and Washington over whether she should return to face investigation. Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn, who died after his motorbike was involved in an August 2019 accident in Britain with Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American diplomat, speaks at a news conference, Oct. 14, 2019. Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday it would charge Sacoolas with causing death by dangerous driving and had started legal proceedings. But it said it was up to the Home Office (interior ministry) to decide whether to seek Sacoolas’ extradition formally through diplomatic channels. “The Director of Public Prosecutions has met with Harry Dunn’s family to explain the basis of the decision we have made following a thorough review of the evidence available,” the CPS said in a statement. The U.S. State department expressed its disappointment. “We are disappointed by today’s announcement and fear that it will not bring a resolution closer,” a State Department spokesperson said. “The United States has been …

The Democratic presidential candidates held their liveliest debate yet Thursday in Los Angeles, California.  Seven contenders were on the debate stage and clashed over the economy, health care, climate change, campaign finance reform and who best can defeat President Donald Trump next year.  VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington …

Organizers wanted to make it clear the 99th Miss America competition isn’t your grandmother’s beauty pageant, and their winner did just that on Thursday. Virginia biochemist Camille Schrier won the crown just minutes after wowing the crowd with science. Dressed in a lab coat, she gave a colorful chemistry demonstration of the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Schrier, a native of Pennsylvania, said she hopes to “break stereotypes about what it means to be a Miss America in 2020” by being a “woman of science” who is authentic to herself. “I’m not the beauty queen,” she said. “I’m the brand ambassador for this organization and I’m more than just someone with a crown on my head.” Victoria Hill of Georgia placed first runner-up. No longer called contestants, the 51 women “candidates,” who hailed from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, competed for a $50,000 scholarship and the “job” of Miss America, a one-year paid position they hope to use as a public platform for their “social impact initiative.” For the second year in a row, women were not judged in a swimsuit or how they look in an evening gown. Instead, a series of interviews and talent demonstrations will determine who is best qualified to wear this year’s crown. “To make it relevant for these young women, it was important for us as a scholarship and service organization to make sure that we were reflective of this generation, meaning that you no longer had to be defined by …

The U.S. is closely watching North Korea for signs of a possible missile launch or nuclear test in the coming days that officials are referring to as a “Christmas surprise.” A significant launch or test would mean the end of North Korea’s self-imposed moratorium and raise tensions in the region. It would also be a major blow to one of the Trump administration’s major foreign policy initiatives: the drive to get North Korea back to negotiations to eliminate its nuclear weapons and missiles. Pentagon Tests Long-Banned Ballistic Missile Over Pacific The Pentagon says it’s conducted a flight test of a missile that had been banned under a treaty that the United States and Russia abandoned last summer Earlier this month, the North conducted what U.S. officials say was an engine test. North Korea described it as “crucial” and experts believe that it may have involved an engine for a space launch vehicle or long-range missile. Officials worry that it could be a prelude to the possible launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the coming days or weeks. Any test involving an ICBM would have the most serious impact on the diplomatic effort because it would be considered a move by North Korea to acquire the ability to strike the United States, or, even worse, to show they already have it. “North Korea has been advancing. It has been building new capabilities,” said Anthony Wier, a former State Department official who tracks nuclear disarmament for the Friends Committee on National …

The United States renewed its offer to engage in talks with Iran on Thursday but warned it will do everything in its power “to curb malign Iranian behavior” if Tehran continues to destabilize the Middle East. The U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, Kelly Craft, said the Trump administration also “rejects Iran’s use of nuclear brinkmanship to normalize its destabilizing behavior.” She commented at a U.N. Security Council meeting on implementation of a resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and key world powers. Iranian Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi called the U.S. offer of unconditional talks “disingenuous.” The U.S. wants to enter dialogue from a position of strength from maintaining sanctions and maximum pressure, “and not based on equal footing,” he said. “Iran does not negotiate under the threat of a sword,” Ravanchi said. He said U.S. implementation of the council’s 2015 resolution endorsing the international Iran nuclear deal “will pave the way for a genuine dialogue to start.” Ravanchi said that in negotiations on the nuclear deal, Iran rejected attempts to include its legitimate defense capabilities and its role in the region. He said that “under no circumstances will Iran compromise on its security.” After the meeting, a live camera at the United Nations filmed Craft come up to Ravanchi, a rare, direct diplomatic interaction between the two countries. Craft tried to shake hands with Ravanchi and his colleague, though both men bowed and folded their hands as if in a prayer to acknowledge her and avoid shaking …

The sixth Democratic presidential candidate debates took place Thursday in Los Angeles. The candidates were peppered with questions on a range of issues, including the impeachment of President Donald Trump, climate change and foreign policy. Democratic Presidential Candidates Assail Trump as Corrupt Party contests to pick the US leader’s 2020 opponent start in six weeks Here are some comments from each of the seven  candidates: Former Vice President Joe Biden, in a discussion about foreign policy regarding issues such as Hong Kong and China, said, “We should be going to the U.N. immediately and seek sanctions against [China]. … We have to be firm. We don’t have to go to war [for Hong Kong]. But we have to make it clear this is as far as you go, China.” Mayor Pete Buttigieg, in responding to a comment about Trump’s leadership abroad, said, “When the American president refers to unfavorable press coverage as the product of the enemy of the people, democracy around the world gets weak. Freedom of the press, not just here at home, but around the world, gets weaker. It’s one more reminder of what is at stake, not just here at home, but for world history.” Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks during a Democratic presidential primary debate, Dec. 19, 2019, in Los Angeles. Senator Amy Klobuchar, in stopping a quarrel between Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren over fundraising, said, “I did not come here to listen to this argument. I came here to make a …

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 …