Author: Selleco

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 …

French and German attempts to end the conflict in east Ukraine risk increasing tensions that were already rising in the European Union over how to handle Russia and which could complicate peace efforts. Progress at talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys have raised hopes of convening the first international summit in three years on ending the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces. But some EU states, while welcoming a summit that would involve France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, are worried by growing talk that the EU might partially lift sanctions imposed on Moscow since its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. EU divisions over how to deal with Moscow have been growing over overtures to the Kremlin in recent months, led by Paris. Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron have especially upset governments in EU countries that were once Soviet satellite states or constituent republics. Alarmed by what they see as an increasingly aggressive Russian foreign policy, they reject anything that might smack of appeasement. “Are we to reward Russia because they have not done anything grotesque in the past few months?” one EU diplomat asked. Steinmeier Deal Sparks Protests in Ukraine, Praise in Moscow Former US diplomats to the region are cautiously optimistic but concerned that Moscow and Kyiv may have different interpretations of the deal In EU meetings, letters and speeches, divisions about Russia that were once under control are resurfacing, diplomats say. The tension could make it harder for the EU to agree new …

Britain’s Boris Johnson urged French President Emanuel Macron on Sunday to “push forward” to secure a Brexit deal and told him  the EU should not be lured into the mistaken belief that the U.K. would stay in the EU after Oct.31, the prime minister’s office said. Johnson discussed his Brexit proposal, which has been widely rebuffed in Brussels, with Macron and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Sunday. “This is the chance to get a deal done: a deal that is backed by parliamentarians and a deal which involves compromise on all sides,” a senior Number 10 source said on Sunday. “The U.K. has made a big, important offer but it’s time for the Commission to show a willingness to compromise too. If not the UK will leave with no deal.” With the Oct. 31 deadline approaching, Johnson has consistently said he will not ask for another delay to Brexit, but also that he will not break a law that forces him to request one if no withdrawal deal has been agreed by Oct. 19. He has not explained the apparent contradiction in his comments.   …

Rip Taylor, the madcap mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s, has died. He was 84. Taylor died Sunday in Beverly Hills, California, publicist Harlan Boll said. The man who would become known worldwide as Rip did not have a direct line into show business. He was born Charles Elmer Taylor Jr. in Washington, D.C., to a waitress and a musician and first worked as a congressional page before serving in the Army during the Korean War, where he started performing standup. His ascent began with spots on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where he was known as the “crying comedian.” The moniker pre-dated his television stints, however, and went back to his time in the Catskills. “I sat on a stool telling jokes, and nobody was laughing,” he told UPI in 1992. “In desperation, I pretended to cry as I begged them to laugh. That killed ’em.” It’s where he said the character “Rip” came from. Although he readily admitted stealing jokes from USO shows, the crying comedian bit got him to Ed Sullivan, where the host — forgetting Taylor’s name — would say “get me the crying comedian.” Success begat more success, and Taylor ended up on tour with Judy Garland and Eleanor Powell in Las Vegas in 1966. In his over five decades in entertainment, Taylor would make over 2,000 guest star appearances on shows like “The Monkees,” “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Tonight Show,” “Late Night with …

Tens of thousands of French conservatives took to the streets of Paris Sunday to protest a proposed bill that would allow single women and lesbian couples to access to fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. Currently such procedures are only offered to heterosexual couples. The bill has already passed the lower house of parliament and will be voted on by the senate later this month. If passed, the law would allow all women under 43 access to fertility treatments paid for by France’s health care system. Protesters demonstrate against a reform bill that will widen access to medically assisted procreation to lesbian couples and single women, in Paris, France, Oct. 6, 2019. It would also allow children conceived with a donated sperm to learn the identity of the father after they turn 18. The bill does not address surrogate pregnancies, which are illegal in France. Polls have found two-thirds of French voters support the bill. The protests Sunday were reminiscent of demonstrations held when French lawmakers were considering legalizing gay marriage in 2013.   …

Ecuadorean authorities have begun arresting shopkeepers for raising food prices as indigenous groups clashed with security forces on Sunday in a fourth day of protests against President Lenin Moreno’s austerity measures. Ecuadoreans complain consumer prices have risen sharply as a knock-on effect of Moreno’s abolition of fuel subsidies, which has also triggered the nation’s worst unrest in more than a decade. “Everyone’s raising prices with the excuse of the gasoline price rise,” said disgruntled pensioner Camilo Salazar, 65, at a food market in the coastal city of Guayaquil where prices had risen up to a third in just a few days. The government said 20 people were detained over the weekend for over-charging for products including corn, onions, carrots and potatoes, which are all subject to price controls. “There is no justification for raising the prices,” Interior Minister Maria Romo said in a statement. Ecuador’s dollarized economy had seen inflation of just 0.27 percent in 2018. Protesters bock a highway in Pastocalle, Ecuador, Oct. 6, 2019. After a two-day strike by transport unions, indigenous groups have now taken the lead in demonstrations against Moreno’s economic measures. Roads were blocked in various places again on Sunday with burning tires, branches and rocks. Some protesters threw stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas. The CONAIE umbrella indigenous group published one video showing spear-wielding inhabitants blocking a road and shouting “Down with the government!” The 66-year-old Moreno won the 2017 election and has set the oil-producing nation on a centrist track …

A homeless man wielding a long metal bar rampaged through New York City’s Chinatown early Saturday attacking other homeless people who were sleeping, killing four and leaving a fifth with serious injuries, police said. Police recovered the weapon, which was still in the suspect’s hands when he was arrested, officials said. “The motive appears to be, right now, just random attacks,” Chief of Manhattan South Detectives Michael Baldassano said, adding there was no evidence yet that the victims were “targeted by race, age, anything of that nature.” Police officers escort Randy Rodriguez Santos from the 5th Precinct to a vehicle bound for a hospital for evidence collection, Oct. 5, 2019, in New York. Randy Rodriguez Santos was taken into police custody early Saturday. Police say he has been arrested at least a half-dozen times in the past two years, three times on assault charges. Santos was escorted out of a police station late Saturday. Detectives told journalists he was being taken to a hospital for the gathering of DNA evidence. An arraignment was expected Sunday morning. It wasn’t clear whether Santos had a lawyer yet. The victims, all men, were attacked as they slept in doorways and sidewalks in three different locations in Chinatown, which is packed during daylight hours but empties out at night. Police responded to a 911 call just before 2 a.m. as one assault was in progress. They found one man dead in the street and a second with critical head injuries. A search of the …

A witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor has been killed in a shooting, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing authorities. The newspaper reported that authorities said Joshua Brown, who lived in the same apartment complex as Amber Guyger and Botham Jean, was shot and killed Friday in Dallas. Guyger was still in her police uniform after a long shift when, according to her trial testimony, she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own one floor below and shot him after pushing open his unlocked door and thinking he was a burglar. Brown, 28, testified in Guyger’s trial about the September 2018 night that Jean was killed, saying he was in a hallway on the fourth floor, where he and Jean lived. He said he heard what sounded like “two people meeting by surprise” and then two gunshots. Brown, who became emotional at times and used his T-shirt and tissue to wipe his tears, said he had met Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, for the first time earlier that day. Guyger, 31, was fired from the department soon after the shooting. She was convicted Tuesday and sentenced the next day to 10 years in prison. Friday night shooting The newspaper did not cite authorities by name for confirmation of Brown’s death. A Dallas police spokesman Saturday would not confirm to The Associated Press that it was Brown who was shot Friday. He said the …

Caviar, a food associated with luxury, is being produced for the first time in Madagascar. The product makes consumers in faraway France happy, and provides hundreds of jobs in this African country.  VOA’s Jim Randle has our story.   …

Nearly 50,000 workers at General Motors are on strike, the largest labor action against the automaker in 50 years. It comes at a critical time in the industry as the economy slows and a major industry transition looms. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more.   …

Australia will not extradite an Iranian academic to the United States, Australia’s attorney-general said over the weekend, following a 13-month detention of the researcher for allegedly exporting American-made military equipment to Iran. Attorney-General Christian Porter said in a statement that “in all the circumstances of this particular case” the academic, Reza Dehbashi Kivi, should not be extradited. “My decision was made in accordance with the requirements of Australian domestic legal processes and is completely consistent with the powers provided to the commonwealth attorney-general under our law,” Porter said. Iran releases Australian couple The statement came hours after Iran had agreed to free an Australian couple from a Tehran prison who were held on spying charges. Later Saturday, Iranian media reported that Dehbashi Kivi had already returned to Iran. Porter would not say whether the two cases were related. “The Australian Government does not comment on the details behind its consideration of particular cases,” Porter said in his e-mailed statement. “And while it is likely that because of Mr. Kivi’s nationality some will speculate regarding this matter, consistent with prior practice I do not intend to comment further on the particular details of this case, particularly when any such response from me may diminish our government’s capacity to deal with future matters of this type in Australia’s best interests.” Accused of selling US equipment to Iran According to Australia’s ABC News, the 38-year-old Dehbashi Kivi was arrested in September 2018 on accusations of sending American equipment for stealth planes or missiles …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine that is at the center of an impeachment inquiry. He rejected allegations it was at best inappropriate or at worst an illegal abuse of power for which Congress should remove President Donald Trump from office. Pompeo maintained that the investigation the United States sought from Ukraine’s government involved possible interference from Ukraine in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He did not speak to Trump’s stated desire for Ukraine to specifically investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s and his son Hunter, which impeachment investigators are focused on since a whistleblower complaint surfaced last month. Pompeo criticized the impeachment inquiry as “clearly political” and said the actions of the State Department were aimed solely at improving relations with the new government of Ukraine that took office this spring. He also said the work of a former special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, was based on the direction of the president to do just that. Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine, is leaving after a closed-door interview with House investigators as House Democrats proceed with the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 3, 2019. Volker was interviewed by congressional investigators on Thursday and turned over text messages between himself and other officials. Those messages detailed their push to get Ukraine to agree to investigations into an energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat, and 2016 election interference. In exchange, …

U.S. President Donald Trump has asked for a substantial cut in the National Security Council staff, Bloomberg reported late on Friday, citing five people familiar with the plans. The step was described by some sources cited in the report as part of an effort from the White House to make its foreign policy arm leaner. FILE – National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien (R) talks with White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, Sept. 23, 2019. The request to do so was conveyed to officials in the agency by current White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien earlier this week, according to Bloomberg. The reductions at the agency, in which currently 310 people work, will be carried out through attrition, Bloomberg reported. The report did not mention the exact number by which Trump is looking to cut the agency’s staff. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. The development comes as Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are examining whether there are grounds to impeach Republican Trump based on a whistleblower’s account that said he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to help investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden. Lawmakers are investigating concerns that Trump’s actions have jeopardized national security and the integrity of U.S. elections.   …

A global education fund is providing tens of thousands of Sahelian children in crisis with a quality education, bringing hope to boys and girls who have known nothing but violence and sorrow in their young lives. Education Cannot Wait, a funding mechanism set up at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, globally is helping more than 1.4 million children in emergencies go back to school. More than 75 million children caught in conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies are being deprived of an education.  Children in the Sahel, a region just south of the Sahara Desert, are among the most vulnerable.  In Central Mali, armed conflict has forced the closure of more than 900 schools, depriving an estimated 280,000 children of an education. Director of the nonprofit Education Cannot Wait Yasmine Sherif (L. Schlein/VOA) The director of Education Cannot Wait, Yasmine Sherif, recently returned from a mission to Mali.  She describes the heart-wrenching condition of children she met in a camp for displaced people in the city of Mopti.  She told VOA of the psychological distress suffered by children forced to flee for their lives with nothing but the clothes on their backs. “They have fled some horrifying violence in the North.  I spoke to several of them – young girls who saw their homes, their huts being burnt down, fleeing from villages where summary executions took place. They are very traumatized, very traumatized,” she said. Despite their frightful experiences, Sherif said the children arrive with their dreams of a …

Iraqi authorities lifted a dayslong curfew in Baghdad on Saturday that anti-government protesters had defied, as the toll from four days of violent unrest rose to 72 killed and hundreds injured. Traffic ran as normal through the Iraqi capital and streets and main squares were otherwise quiet. Concrete barriers blocked off areas where protesters in the thousands clashed with police during the week. Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights said security forces had detained hundreds of people for demonstrating but then let most of them go. Police snipers shot at protesters Friday, Reuters reporters said, escalating violent tactics used by the security forces that have included live fire, tear gas and water cannons. The security forces have accused gunmen of hiding among demonstrators to shoot at police. Several police officers have died. Anti-government protesters set fires and close a street during a demonstration in Baghdad, Oct. 4, 2019. Security forces opened fire directly at hundreds of anti-government demonstrators in Baghdad, killing some protesters and injuring dozens. The protests over unfair distribution of jobs, lack of services and government corruption erupted Tuesday in Baghdad and quickly spread to other Iraqi cities, mainly in the south. It is the deadliest unrest Iraq has seen since the declared defeat of Islamic State in 2017 and has shaken the year-old government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. The government has responded with vague reform promises that are unlikely to placate Iraqis. Powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has a mass popular following and …