The American Indian tribe at the center of tumultuous protests against the Dakota Access pipeline unveiled a solar farm Friday that came about partly due to the tribe’s fierce opposition to the oil pipeline’s environmental impact. Located just 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s solar project is meant as a first step toward clean energy independence and a way to power all 12 of the reservation communities in North Dakota and South Dakota. It also shows that the protests that began in 2016 and ended in 2017 weren’t for naught, even though the pipeline began carrying oil more than two years ago, said Cody Two Bears, the project leader and executive director of Indigenized Energy, which promotes energy within the Sioux Nation. Two Bears said the solar project “pays tribute to everyone who’s come to Standing Rock and all their hard work and tireless dedication toward protecting our people and land.” The project has 1,000 panels covering about three acres of wide-open prairie near Cannon Ball, with plans to expand to 10 acres. A night of Native American dancing, music indigenous foods and gift giving was kicked off by actress Shailene Woodley, a loyal …

Rescuers in India on Saturday safely evacuated all 700 passengers from a train after it got stuck in monsoon floodwaters between two stations near Mumbai, the country’s home minister said.   A statement by India’s disaster management office in Maharashtra state said the Mahalaxmi Express train got stuck due to flooding of the tracks.   Home Minister Amit Shah said on Twitter that all of the passengers had been rescued safely.   The National Disaster Response Force and the navy earlier launched a rescue operation after authorities warned passengers not to move. The first group of 150 passengers was rescued after the train had been stranded for nine hours in the area, which is about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Mumbai.   The train had departed from Mumbai around 8:15 p.m. Friday before it got stuck at 3 a.m. Saturday. …

Pakistan’s military says militant attacks in the country’s northwest and southwest have killed 10 soldiers. The military says both attacks took place on Saturday. The first attack targeted a military patrol near a security post in the Gurbaz area of North Waziristan. It says the shooting came from across the Afghan border and left six soldiers dead. The second attack, during a search operation, killed four troops from the paramilitary Frontier Corps near Turbat in southwestern Baluchistan province. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the North Waziristan attack, a region that still sees attacks though the military says it’s cleared tribal areas of militants. There was no claim for the Baluchistan attack. The province has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch separatists. Islamic militants also operate there. …

The head of a Sudanese investigative committee said on Saturday that 87 people were killed and 168 wounded on June 3 when a sit-in protest was violently broken up by security forces. Fath al-Rahman Saeed, the head of the committee, said 17 of those killed were in the square occupied by protesters and 48 of the wounded were hit by bullets. Saeed said some security forces fired at protesters and that three officers violated orders by moving forces into the sit-in. He also said an order was issued to whip protesters. …

Georgia allowed its election system to grow “way too old and archaic” and now has a deep hole to dig out of to ensure that the constitutional right to vote is protected, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg said Friday. Now Totenberg is in the difficult position of having to decide whether the state, which plans to implement a new voting system statewide next year, must immediately abandon its outdated voting machines in favor of an interim solution for special and municipal elections to be held this fall. Election integrity advocates and individual voters sued Georgia in 2017 alleging that the touchscreen voting machines the state has used since 2002 are unsecure and vulnerable to hacking. They’ve asked Totenberg to order the state to immediately switch to hand-marked paper ballots. But lawyers for Fulton County, the state’s most populous county that includes most of Atlanta, and for state election officials argued that the state is in the process of implementing a new system, and it would be too costly, burdensome and chaotic to use an interim system for elections this fall and then switch to the new permanent system next year. A law passed this year and signed by Gov. Brian …

Updated 6:14 a.m., July 27, 2019 HONG KONG — Police in riot gear fired tear gas Saturday at Hong Kong protesters marching through a town near the Chinese border to rally against suspected gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators there last weekend. Images broadcast on television stations showed repeated rounds of tear gas being fired at the crowds in Yuen Long after tense standoffs with protesters, some of whom were throwing projectiles at police. Protesters vowed to take to the streets in Yuen Long despite the threat of violence by gangs and a police ban on the demonstration. Police had warned that demonstrators would be breaking the law if they marched. Protesters line up inside an MTR station in the Yuen Long district of Hong Kong, July 27, 2019, before an expected protest march in the afternoon. The gangs were accused of beating and bloodying customers, journalists and a lawmaker at the Yuen Long rail station on Sunday July 21, leaving 45 people with injuries, some severe. The march’s organizer, Yuen Long resident Max Chung, said it was important for Hong Kongers to stand against what he termed a terrorist attack and against a government that has seemed more concerned with …

The upper deck of a nightclub collapsed on top of revelers in South Korea on Saturday, killing two people and injuring several foreign athletes competing at the World Aquatics Championships, rescue officials and witnesses said. The floor gave way in the Coyote Ugly nightclub in the city of Gwangju about 2:30 a.m. (1730 GMT Friday), pinning people underneath and injuring at least 10, rescue officials said.  The two people killed were South Korean. New Zealand men’s water polo team captain Matt Small said he was on the second-floor deck when it collapsed. “We were just dancing and then the next minute we dropped,” he told New Zealand’s Radio Sport. “We … fell on top of the heads of other people that were beneath us. … Some of them were pretty dire cases,” he said of the injured. Kim Young-don, chief of the Gwangju Seobu Fire Station, told a briefing there were about 370 people in the club at the time. “We deem that the second level … seems to have collapsed because there were too many people on it,” he said. “The second level is a small space, it’s not a space where a lot of people can be.” The …

The Swedish indie pop duo, Flora Cash, is new in the pop/rock world but has been gaining popularity with a hit song on the charts and a newly-released record.  It also has been gaining a following, especially among Albanian-American fans because one of its members, Shresa Lleshaj, is of Albanian descent.  The duo recently performed in Baltimore, and VOA’s Ardita Dunellari was there.    …

Like other summer camps in America, AileyCamp helps its participants learn valuable leadership skills. But it has something that others probably don’t: rhythm. That’s because the camp was created by world-renowned dancer, choreographer and director Alvin Ailey. As Faith Lapidus reports, the program is now in its 31st summer.   …

After a blaze engulfed Notre-Dame in April, it sparked a debate over how best to restore the Gothic cathedral to its former glory. Tucked away in the French countryside, a medieval castle may hold some of the answers. Faith Lapidus explains.   …

China’s government uses advanced technology to monitor and censor daily life of people in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous region, according to Jewher Ilham, daughter of prominent jailed Uighur scholar and economist, Ilham Tohti. Her observation comes amid reports that the U.S. government is considering sanctions against Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision for its role in China’s treatment of its Uighur minority in the internment camps. State Department correspondent Nike Ching has more.   …

In response to President Donald Trump’s call for tougher penalties on violent crimes, the U.S. Justice Department this week lifted a federal moratorium on the death penalty. VOA’s Brian Padden reports this controversial decision has been denounced by opponents as immoral and inhumane, but advocates say imposing the ultimate punishment for the ultimate crime is the right thing to do, and is supported by a majority of Americans.   …

Two strong earthquakes hours apart struck a group of sparsely populated islands in the Luzon Strait in the northern Philippines early Saturday, killing at least seven people, injuring about a dozen and causing substantial damage. Itbayat town Mayor Raul de Sagon said five people died in the first quake and two in the second, and at least 12 were injured. “The wounded are still being brought in,” de Sagon told a local radio station, adding that he and residents were staying in the town plaza because the successive quakes damaged mostly older buildings and houses made of thick limestone. A resident looks at damages in Itbayat town, Batanes islands, northern Philippines, July 27, 2019. Three strong earthquakes hours apart struck a group of sparsely populated islands in the Luzon Strait in the northern Philippines early Saturday. The Philippine seismology agency said the quakes measured 5.4 and 5.9. A third quake magnitude 5.7 struck later Saturday. A damage assessment team was about to be deployed when the second temblor struck and they were diverted to helping residents, de Sagon said. Authorities delayed the resumption of power supply, he said. More doctors may be needed if the number of injured from interior …

NEW YORK — Federal authorities arrested a New York City man Friday on charges accusing him of seeking to join the Taliban to fight American forces.    The FBI intercepted Delowar Mohammed Hossain on Friday morning at Kennedy Airport before he could carry out a plan to travel to Afghanistan, prosecutors said.    Hossain, 33, of the Bronx, was ordered held without bail after appearing in federal court in Manhattan. He is charged with one count of attempting to provide material support for terrorism.    Defense attorney Amy Gallicchio declined to comment Friday.    A criminal complaint says that starting in 2018, Hossain expressed interest in joining the Taliban and sought to recruit a government informant to do the same. It claims he told the informant: “I want to kill some kufars [non-believers] before I die.”    Hossain’s preparations included buying equipment such as walkie-talkies and trekking gear, prosecutors said. He instructed the informant to save enough money “to buy some weapons” once they reached Afghanistan, they added.    The case follows a series of arrests of self-radicalized terror suspects on charges they tried to join or support the Islamic State group by making contacts on social media.    FBI official William Sweeney said in …

ROME — A young American tourist has confessed to fatally stabbing an Italian paramilitary policeman who was investigating the theft of a bag and cellphone before dawn Friday, the Italian news agency ANSA and state radio reported.    ANSA, citing unidentified investigators, said two American tourists allegedly snatched the bag of a drug dealer who had swindled them. It said the owner called police to say he had arranged a meeting with the thieves to get back his bag and phone.     When two plainclothes officers arrived at the rendezvous site in Rome’s Prati neighborhood about 3 a.m., there was a scuffle during which Carabinieri paramilitary officer Mario Cerciello Rega was stabbed eight times, ANSA said.    RAI state radio reported early Saturday that the two tourists are 19 years old and had been seen on video surveillance cameras apparently running away with the bag, which was stolen in another neighborhood, Trastevere, which is very popular with young Italians and foreigners for its night life.    The Carabinieri police corps did not immediately confirm the alleged confession.   Questioning continues   Prosecutors were apparently still questioning the Americans at a Carabinieri station in Rome early Saturday.    Police said earlier Friday evening that several …

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Trump administration to tap billions of dollars in Pentagon funds to build sections of a border wall with Mexico.  The court’s five conservative justices gave the administration the green light to begin work on four contracts it has awarded using Defense Department money. Funding for the projects had been frozen by lower courts while a lawsuit over the money proceeded. The court’s four liberal justices wouldn’t have allowed construction to start.  The justices’ decision to lift the freeze on the money allows President Donald Trump to make progress on a major 2016 campaign promise heading into his race for a second term. Trump tweeted after the announcement: “Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall. The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed. Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!”  FILE – A Customs and Border Protection agent patrols on the U.S. side of a razor-wire-covered border wall along the southern U.S. border east of Nogales, Ariz., March 2, 2019. The Supreme Court’s action reverses the decision of a trial court, which initially froze the funds in May, and an appeals court, which …

When Ciwan Husen lost his left hand and eye at age 21 in the Kurdish fight against the Islamic State (IS) in northwest Syria, he knew his life would never be the same. In the months leading to his recovery, his efforts to overcome his physical disability and the psychological trauma of war led him to develop a talent he never knew he had: playing drums and cymbals. ‘I thought life was over’ Living in displacement in the Shahba district of northern Aleppo Governorate, Husen has developed a love for music and plays drums even without prosthetics. “At the beginning, when I had just lost one of my hands and one of my eye(s), I thought life was over and I couldn’t do anything,” Husen told VOA, speaking of his impairment after being hit by an IS explosive in 2016. “But people around me continued to encourage me and told me to trust in God and my will. Their encouragement overtime built this confidence in me,” he added. Husen is originally from the predominantly Kurdish city of Afrin, in northwest Syria. He fled with his family in early 2018 following a Turkish attack to seize the city from Kurdish fighters. …

The number of U.S. military personnel taken into custody in connection with an alleged human smuggling operation in southern California is growing. A spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) said Friday investigators apprehended a total of 18 Marines and one sailor as a result of a mass arrest at Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base located roughly 79 kilometers (49 miles) north of San Diego. Arrests made during formation NCIS and Marine officials initially announced the apprehension of 16 Marines with the Fifth Marine Regiment during Thursday’s mass arrest, which took place after the Marines were called to a battalion formation. The initial statement from the Marine Corps said another eight Marines had been taken in for questioning on unrelated drug allegations. “The 1st Marine Division is cooperating,” NCIS spokesman Jeffrey Houston said in a statement Friday, in which the additional apprehensions were announced. “Out of respect for the investigative and judicial process, and to protect witnesses, NCIS will not comment further until the investigative and judicial process has completed,” he added. No charges filed None of the Marines apprehended in what was described by some officials as a sting operation have yet been charged, nor have officials …

This week #VOAOurVoices joins the international community in marking the World Day against Trafficking Persons. Yearly millions of vulnerable victims, mainly adult women, fall into human trafficking, through violence, manipulation and false promises. Our team, joined by VOA Zimbabwe Digital Lead Marvelous Nyahuye, takes a closer look at the myths and misconceptions of trafficking, measures to combat the act and how survivors cope. …

U.S. President Donald Trump is pressing the World Trade Organization to stop designating China and other countries as “developing” nations, a label that allows them to receive lenient treatment under global trade rules.    In a memo Friday, Trump directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to “use all available means” to get the WTO to stop describing countries as “developing” if their economies are strong.      He said the WTO uses “an outdated dichotomy between developed and developing countries that has allowed some WTO members to gain unfair advantages.”      Trump said that if the United States decides the WTO has not made “substantial progress” after 90 days, it will unilaterally stop treating those nations as developing countries.    The statement notes that seven of the 10 wealthiest economies in the world, including China, claim developing country status with the WTO. The status allows governments the ability to protect some domestic industries and maintain subsidies, as well as to receive longer time limits to implement trade commitments.    In a tweet Friday, Trump said the “WTO is BROKEN when the world’s RICHEST countries claim to be developing countries to avoid WTO rules and get special treatment. NO more!!! Today I directed the …

This story originated in VOA’s Albanian service. PRISTINA, KOSOVO — Kosovo’s outgoing Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj is calling on the international community, the United States and the European Union to stop pressuring his country to remove tariffs against Serbia as a precondition for negotiations between the countries.    Haradinaj offered his resignation last week before being questioned as a suspect by a special court investigating alleged war crimes by the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).  Appearing before prosecutors in The Hague on Wednesday, Haradinaj refused to answer questions. As he left, he said his response was made “at the advice of my lawyer.”     In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Albanian service, his first since returning from the Netherlands, Haradinaj insisted tariffs should remain in place until Serbia recognizes Kosovo.    Kosovo and Serbia map Haradinaj gained popular support after introducing a 100 percent tax on goods produced in Serbia last November, immediately prompting Belgrade to pull out of talks with Pristina. Many saw the move as a way to block Kosovar President Hashim Thaci and Serbian President Alexandar Vucic from discussing a change of borders as a formula for normalizing relations between the two countries.    Asked if he saw any connection between his insistence on keeping tariffs and the …

Zimbabwean Tourism Minister Prisca Mupfumira was charged in court on Friday with corruption involving $95 million from the state pension fund after questioning by the newly formed Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC). Mupfumira is the first senior government official to be interrogated by the commission, which was appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week after he promised tough action against graft. The prosecution laid out charges ranging from alleged abuse of state pension fund money to finance Mupfumira’s political campaigning to directing investments of up to $62 million into a bank against the advice of the pension fund’s risk committee. Property deals? Mupfumira is also accused of leaning on the pension fund to enter into property deals with the same bank worth $15.7 million. The charges arose from Mupfumira’s tenure as labor minister between 2014 and 2018, when she oversaw the state pension fund. “While some amounts have been identified, where they went to, there are other amounts which the police and officers at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission have failed to find. She has managed to hide that money very well,” prosecutor Michael Reza said in court. Costly corruption Transparency International says Zimbabwe loses $1 billion to corruption every year. Zimbabwe’s …

A top Sudanese editor who heads the main journalists’ union has been detained, the union said Thursday, calling on Sudan’s military rulers to free him or put him on trial. The detention of Sadiq al-Rizaigi came as the military said it had arrested a top general, several security officers and Islamist leaders over a failed coup attempt announced earlier this month. The Sudanese Journalists’ Union called on the ruling Transitional Military Council to “immediately release” its head Rizaigi, a prominent Islamist and editor of Al-Sayha newspaper, or that he be put on trial. A senior journalist with Rizaigi’s newspaper told AFP that security forces had taken him away from outside the newspaper’s premises. “We do not know where he is being held or the reasons for his detention,” said Awad Jad Al-Sayid, news editor of Al-Sahya. On Wednesday, the military announced several arrests in connection with a failed coup attempt. It said it had arrested General Hashim Abdel Mottalib, the head of the joint chiefs of staff, and a number of officers from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) along with leaders of the Islamic Movement and the National Congress Party. On July 11, the military announced it had …

The U.N. refugee agency says up to 150 refugees and migrants are believed to have lost their lives Thursday in a shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. If confirmed, the UNHCR says the shipwreak will be the biggest on the Mediterranean Sea since May 2017, when 156 people died off the coast of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Close to 140 survivors, mainly Eritreans and Sudanese, were pulled from the water. Migrants watch the body of their fellow migrant who died after a wooden boat capsized off the coast of Komas, a town east of the capital Tripoli, Libya, July 25, 2019. UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley says the latest tragedy comes weeks after more than 50 people were killed when a detention center in Tajoura, on the outskirts of Tripoli, was hit in an airstrike. “In addition to the shipwreck … a further 87 people were brought back to Libya by the Libyan coast guard, and 84 of them were transferred to Tajoura,” Yaxley said. “The total population in Tajoura now numbers nearly 300. This is completely unacceptable, and we call for their immediate orderly release.”   There were no search-and-rescue boats operated by nongovernmental organizations in …