Modern technology is becoming more and more common in artificial limbs. But advanced treatment like that is still a distant dream for majority of the amputees in Pakistan. VOA’s Saman Khan has more. …

Smartphones have quickly evolved from being a way to make an untethered phone call to service as portable hand-held personal computers. Yet these pros bring along many cons, as conditions like Internet addiction disorder become more widespread. To help people overcome these disorders, special rehab centers are opening around the world. Iurii Mamon visited one such center in Seattle. …

With marching bands, drum lines, hundreds of yard signs and at least one fire truck, Democratic presidential candidates made a colorful and often loud pitch to Iowa Democrats at the Steak Fry fundraiser in Des Moines on Saturday. The event, a fundraiser for the Polk County Democratic Party and one of the biggest remaining opportunities for candidates to flex their organizing muscles in Iowa before the caucuses, comes as a number of candidates are facing an uncertain future in the race and shaking up their campaign strategies in an effort to break out of the pack. Warren gains in poll A new CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll Saturday shows Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren challenging Joe Biden’s dominance in the field. Warren stands at 22% to the former vice president’s 20% in a poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker waits to speak at the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry, Sept. 21, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. On Saturday morning, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker warned he may need to end his campaign if he’s unable to raise $1.7 million by the end of the third fundraising quarter. His announcement came soon after California Sen. Kamala Harris announced …

The Islamic State group on Saturday claimed a bomb blast that killed 12 people near the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Karbala the previous day. The blast aboard a bus at a checkpoint north of Karbala also wounded five people, according to the city’s health authorities. Security forces said Saturday that they had arrested a man suspected of placing the explosives on the bus before it disembarked. Iraq declared victory against IS in late 2017 after three years of a brutal fight against the extremist Sunni group, which had specifically targeted Shiite gatherings. Jihadist sleeper cells have continued to carry out hit-and-run attacks against government positions across the country, particularly at checkpoints, but attacks targeting Shiite religious gatherings had been rare in recent years. The deadliest incident this year was a stampede earlier this month in Karbala that left more than 30 pilgrims dead and dozens injured. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from Iraq, Iran and as far away as India had been gathering in the southern city this month to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashura. Iraq is expecting millions more Shiite pilgrims to arrive at the end of October for the annual Arbaeen commemoration, which marks the end …

Greek police said Saturday they have arrested a suspect in the 1985 hijacking of a flight from Athens that became a multiday ordeal and included the slaying of an American. Police said a 65-year-old suspect in the hijacking was arrested Thursday on the island of Mykonos in response to a warrant from Germany. Lt. Col. Theodoros Chronopoulos, a police spokesman, told The Associated Press that the hijacking case involved TWA Flight 847. The flight was commandeered by hijackers shortly after taking off from Athens on June 14, 1985. It originated in Cairo and had San Diego as a final destination, with stops scheduled in Athens, Rome, Boston and Los Angeles. FILE – While holding carnations he carried off the plane, former hostage Victor Amburgy hugs an unidentified girl upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, July 2, 1985. Thirty former hostages from TWA flight 847 were greeted by President Reagan. The hijackers shot and killed U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, 23, after beating him unconscious. They released the other 146 passengers and crew members on the plane during an ordeal that included stops in Beirut and Algiers. The last hostage was freed after 17 days. Suspect from Lebanon The suspect …

The widespread damage brought to the Houston area by one of the wettest tropical cyclones in U.S. history came into broader view Saturday, as floodwaters receded to reveal the exhausting cleanup effort that lies ahead for many communities and homeowners. Hundreds of homes and other buildings in the region, extending eastward from Houston and across the Louisiana border, were damaged by Imelda, as the one-time tropical storm slowly churned across the region, dumping more than 40 inches (102 centimeters) of rain in some spots and being blamed for at least five deaths. Officials in Harris County, which is home to Houston, were trying to determine if millions of dollars in uninsured losses were enough to trigger a federal disaster declaration, Francisco Sanchez, a spokesman for the county’s Office of Emergency Management, said Saturday. FILE – In this photo provided by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, a family is rescued via fan boat by a member of the department from the floodwaters of Tropical Depression Imelda near Beaumont, Texas, Sept. 19, 2019. Authorities raised the storm’s death toll to five, saying it was believed to have killed a 52-year-old Florida man who was found dead Thursday in his stranded pickup …

Very behind the scenes, a whistleblower from the intelligence community voiced urgent concern about a matter involving a conversation between Ukraine’s leader and President Donald Trump. It’s so hush-hush that even Democrats won’t say all that they know, or suspect. Very much out in the open, Trump is calling for an investigation that involves Ukraine and could help him win re-election if it breaks his way. Trump’s interest in getting dirt from abroad on prospective Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden has been hiding in plain sight for months. His fealty to standards that other presidents have either lived by or pretended to — as when it comes to chats with foreign leaders, for example — is thin. This is, after all, the man who openly encouraged Russia to snoop on Hillary Clinton’s email and much more recently said that, sure, he’d listen to foreigners who come to him with dirt on an opponent. Why not? he wondered. As the contours of the episode roiling the capital begin to flesh out, here are some questions and answers at the intersection of Trump, Ukraine and the whistleblower. Why the whistle? Because someone in the government, who is under the umbrella of U.S. …

Rami Fares was carrying out his daily tasks as a medical worker at a local hospital in a rebel-held town near Idlib city in northwest Syria when several airstrikes and missiles hit the town. As he was trying to call his family to make sure they survived the deadly raid, Fares’ workplace, Kafr Nabl Surgical Hospital, was targeted as well. “Airstrikes hitting the hospital lasted for about an hour,” Fares, 30, told VOA, recalling the June attack, reportedly carried out by Syrian government warplanes on the town of Kafr Nabl, 50 kilometers south of Idlib. “The hardest strike was when a barrel bomb hit the entrance of the hospital and the pressure of the explosion threw me to the floor. We had to evacuate the hospital that day,” he said. Because the hospital had been built underground to protect patients from heavy bombings, no one was killed in that attack. FILE – Damage is seen at a hospital after an airstrike in Deir al-Sharqi village in Idlib province, Syria, April 27, 2017. Years of deadly conflict in the country has led Syrians to build structures that are able to withstand the constant shelling. That has led underground shelters and hideouts to become …

The streets of Cairo were jammed on Saturday morning, as police checkpoints were erected across the city. Hundreds of armed soldiers and police officers in riot gear patrolled Tahrir Square, one of the locations where protests broke out Friday night and the epicenter of previous demonstrations that led to the fall of former Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Mohammad Morsi. Activists celebrated the demonstrations as a breakthrough after years of fear of police retaliation and called for continued protests against the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Small groups of protesters gather in central Cairo shouting anti-government slogans, Sept. 20, 2019. People were on the streets Friday night in at least three cities, carrying signs with slogans such as “Go away Sissi!” and “The people demand the fall of the regime!” In Cairo, gunshots were heard and tear gas was fired. By Saturday night, 166 families had told human rights workers that a relative had been arrested, according to the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. Pro-government news outlets blamed “terrorists” for the demonstrations, saying they were part of a larger plot to overthrow the government. The demonstrations began after Mohammad Ali, a former contractor and actor now living in Spain, …

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to send additional U.S. military forces and air defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying it was the administration’s latest attempt to “circumvent” Congress.    “President Trump’s plan to accelerate the delivery of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and UAE, and to deploy additional U.S. forces to the region, is the latest outrageous attempt by the Trump administration to circumvent the bipartisan, bicameral will of Congress,” she said in a statement. “These unacceptable actions are cause for alarm.”    Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced Trump’s decision Friday night at the Pentagon.  Allies’ requests   Esper said the forces would be “defensive in nature.” He added that the U.S. was responding to requests from Saudi and UAE officials to improve their air and missile defenses after last weekend’s attacks on Saudi Arabian oil installations. U.S. officials have said Iran was responsible, an allegation that Tehran denies.    FILE – Workers fix the damage in Aramco’s oil-processing facility sustained in the Sept. 14 attack in Abqaiq, near Dammam in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province, Sept. 20, 2019. The Sept. 14 …

A senior Danish official says his country hopes to set an example for the world with an ambitious scheme to cut carbon emissions by 70% in little more than a decade, but it has no illusions that it can have a meaningful impact on global warming by itself.    “To be honest, for the climate, even if we just close down our country tomorrow, it wouldn’t help much,” Dan Jørgensen, Denmark’s top climate and energy official, told VOA during a visit to Washington this week. “I guess you can argue: Does it really matter what you do?”    Jørgensen said Denmark accounts for just 0.1% of the world’s carbon emissions, a drop in the bucket compared with emissions from the largest polluters such as China, the United States and India. But he said, “The reason we do these things anyway is that if we succeed in doing that, then hopefully we’ll inspire others.”    Jørgensen, who will be in New York next week to promote his country’s climate agenda at the United Nations, said his country hopes to demonstrate that it can carry out a green transformation and still be competitive in the global marketplace. In the process, it expects to develop …

Secretary of state is taking the lead in responding to the attacks on Saudi’s oil processing facilities, viewed by many as his first major diplomatic crisis and a test of his leadership …

U.S. President Donald Trump is denying he said anything “wrong” in a telephone conversation with the new president of Ukraine during which Trump allegedly urged him to investigate the son of former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden. Democrats meanwhile stepped up their criticism of the president for what they characterized as an attempt to engage a foreign leader in a scheme to damage the candidacy of Trump’s leading rival in the 2020 campaign. Trump tweeted Saturday morning he had a “perfectly fine and routine conversation” on July 25 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and that, “Nothing was said that was in any way wrong.” Trump accused Democrats and the news media of ignoring allegations against the Bidens and creating a false story about him. “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat (sic) Party, want to stay as far away as possible from the Joe Biden demand that the Ukrainian Government fire a prosecutor who was investigating his son, or they won’t get a very large amount of U.S. money, so they fabricate … a story about me …” The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, want to stay as far away …

An Iranian man held by Somali pirates for more than four years was flown to Ethiopia’s capital Saturday after his captors released him because he needed urgent medical care. The release of Mohammad Shariff Panahandeh means just three hostages remain in the custody of Somali pirates, according to the Hostage Support Partnership, the charity that negotiated his release. His health had deteriorated significantly in recent weeks, lending new urgency to efforts to secure his freedom, John Steed of the Hostage Support Partnership told AFP on Saturday. “He’s severely malnourished. He lost a huge amount of weight. It reminded me of someone who’s just been released from Belsen [a Nazi] concentration camp,” Steed said. Shariff is also suffering from “severe stomach problems and internal bleeding,” Steed said. Shariff arrived in Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from the city of Garowe. He will receive some medical care in Ethiopia before being flown home to Iran, Steed said. Shariff was captured with three other men in March 2015 after an attack on the Iranian fishing vessel FV Siraj. Officials with the Iranian embassy in Addis Ababa could not be reached for comment Saturday. Steed said no ransom was paid for Shariff, …

With the burial in Saudi exile Saturday of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia is turning the page on more than two decades of nepotism and repression with a large dose of indifference. Forced out of Tunisia on January 14, 2011, by weeks of popular outrage spurred by the self-immolation of a market trader protesting police harassment and unemployment, Ben Ali died on Thursday in the Saudi city of Jeddah. His death did not feature especially heavily either in the news or the conversations of ordinary Tunisians, in a country that is in the midst of elections. Reflecting the pluralism that has emerged since Ben Ali’s downfall, two non-establishment candidates made it through the first round of a presidential poll held last Sunday — one a socially conservative academic committed to radical decentralisation of power, the other a populist media magnate currently behind bars. The funeral of the former president took place in the Muslim holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, an AFP photographer said. He was laid to rest at Al-Baqi cemetery next to the Prophet Mohammed’s mosque and a place of great reverence for Muslims. His body, covered by a green shroud, was carried …

With online shopping becoming more and more popular, traditional retail stores are doing everything they can to get shoppers to visit real stores. They are hoping one new piece of tech might do the trick.  Anna Rice narrates this report by VOA’s Julia Vassey in San Francisco, California.   …

The Solomon Islands announced Saturday the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, becoming the second Pacific island nation in as many days to switch its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan. The moves are part of a long-term effort by Beijing to undermine Taiwan’s recognition as an independent nation and come as a blow to its president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election in January. Both Beijing and Taipei claim to be the rightful government of China. The Solomon Islands’ move had been expected after it severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan on Monday. The island nation of Kiribati announced on Friday that it was switching its recognition to China “in accordance with the best national interest for our country and people.” The Solomons’ foreign minister also cited the national interest in announcing his country’s decision, saying the Solomons has “huge” development needs and that “we need a broader partnership with countries that also includes China.” Both Beijing and Taipei have used development assistance to woo the support of small nations. The latest moves leave Taiwan with little more than a dozen countries plus the Vatican that recognize its independence.     …

The head of Ukraine’s state-owned oil company says Kyiv will remain able to supply Europe with natural gas from its subterranean storage units even if European Union-mediated talks don’t pan out. “We are fully confident that Ukraine can maintain gas supply … at least during the first quarter of 2020,” Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev said Friday at a public event in Brussels. On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine held their third round of ministerial-level talks in Brussels about the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe, where all parties hoped to negotiate EU Commissioner for Energy Maros Sefcovic attends a news conference after gas talks between the European Union, Russia and Ukraine at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Sept. 19, 2019. According to Sefcovic, all parties agreed that a future contract would be based on EU law, and that the unbundling of Ukraine’s Naftogaz gas transport operations should be completed, which would create a separate entity to handle the transit of gas through Ukraine. He also said all parties agreed to resume ministerial-level talks before the end of October, and those representatives from companies involved in the contract development would continue negotiating the details of Thursday’s general agreement. On Friday, …

Protesters burned a Chinese flag and police fired pepper spray during a march Saturday in an outlying district of Hong Kong in renewed clashes over anti-government grievances.   Police accused protesters of spraying water at officers during the march by several thousand people in Tuen Mun in Hong Kong’s northwest. Reporters saw at least one person arrested.   The event was relatively small compared with previous demonstrations that have taken place every weekend since June. The protests started with opposition to a proposed extradition law and have expanded to include demands for greater democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.   The events are an embarrassment for China’s ruling Communist Party ahead of Oct. 1 celebrations of its 70th anniversary in power. Hong Kong’s government has announced it has canceled a fireworks display that day, citing concern for public safety.   Protesters in Tuen Mun marched about 2 kilometers (1 1/2 miles) from a playground to a government office building. Many were dressed in black and carried umbrellas, a symbol of their movement.   Protesters chanted, “Reclaim Hong Kong!” and “Revolution of our times!”   Most were peaceful but some took down a Chinese flag outside a government office and set …

Over a hundred demonstrators were arrested at yellow vest protests in Paris on Saturday as about 7,500 police were deployed to quell any violence by the movement and its radical, anarchist “black blocs.” There were also fears that the demonstrators could try to infiltrate a march against climate change in the French capital. The yellow vest movement erupted 10 months ago and blindsided President Emmanuel Macron, whom protesters accused of being out of touch with the needs of ordinary French people. “What are we doing? We are assembling just to say that we can’t make ends meet. [The protest] is not only against the president, it’s against the system,” said a woman protestor who did not give her name.   The weekly demonstrations — Saturday was the 45th — prompted Macron to loosen the state’s purse strings to the tune of nearly 17 billion euros ($18.8 billion) in wage boosts and tax cuts for low earners, but tapered off over the summer. However, it remains to be seen whether the movement will regain the momentum of the winter and early spring, when the protests often descended into violent clashes with security forces, especially in Paris. By 1.00 p.m. (11 GMT) police had …

Rare small protests were staged overnight in Cairo and other Egyptian cities calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, but authorities quickly dispersed them and arrested dozens, a security source said. Hundreds of citizens took to the streets late Friday to protest, chanting slogans including “Leave, Sissi!” and holding up placards. At least 74 were arrested overnight, a security source told AFP, with plain clothed police patrolling sidestreets of downtown Cairo. The country effectively banned protests under a 2013 law and a state of emergency is still in full effect. Police fired tear gas and deployed forces in Tahrir Square — the epicenter of the 2011 revolution that unseated long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The protests came on the back of an online call put out by Mohamed Aly, a disgruntled exiled Egyptian businessman, demanding Sissi be toppled. The construction contractor has been posting videos from Spain that have gone viral since early September, accusing Sissi and the military of rampant corruption. The president flatly denied the allegations last week at a youth conference and sought to assure Egyptians that he “was honest and faithful” to his people and the military. In his latest video posted early Friday morning on …

Emergency workers used boats Friday to rescue about 60 residents of a Houston-area community still trapped in their homes by floodwaters following one of the wettest tropical cyclones in U.S. history. At least four deaths have been linked to the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda, which deluged parts of Texas and Louisiana and drew comparisons to Hurricane Harvey two years ago. Officials took advantage of receding floodwaters to begin assessing how many homes and cars were flooded. Almost 16 feet of standing water was reported in Huffman, northeast of Houston, when a nearby bayou overflowed. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office deployed its marine unit to evacuate about 60 residents. Officials have warned residents high waters might not recede in their neighborhoods until the weekend. In this photo provided by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, a family is rescued via air boat from the flood waters of Tropical Depression Imelda near Beaumont, Texas, Sept. 19, 2019. East of Houston in Jefferson County, which got more than 40 inches of rain in 72 hours, officials also began taking stock of their damage. They also announced the death of Malcolm Foster, a 47-year-old Beaumont resident whose body was found inside his vehicle. …

Thousands of activists fanned out across beaches and rivers throughout Asia Saturday, picking up rubbish and drawing attention to the amount of trash that is dumped worldwide, a day after millions marched to urge world leaders to act on climate change. The volunteers turned out for World Cleanup Day, an initiative that has sent millions into the streets and cleaning up litter across the globe since it began just over a decade ago. The Pacific island nation of Fiji swung into action early, with people scouring palm-fringed beaches for rubbish, heaving discarded car tires and engine parts from the coast just west of the capital Suva. Volunteers pick up trash, such as plastics and cigarette butts, on World Cleanup Day in Jakarta, Sept. 21, 2019, in order to educate residents to keep their neighborhood clean. On Australia’s Bondi beach, activists sifted through the sand, carting off bits of plastic and cigarette butts. In the Philippines, some 10,000 people swept across a long stretch of beach on heavily polluted Manila Bay, clutching sacks they filled with rubbish. Plastic pollution is a major problem across Southeast Asia, but particularly in the Philippines, which — along with China, Vietnam and Indonesia — is …

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new sanctions Friday on Iran’s central bank, calling them the most severe sanctions ever imposed on a country. But it appears that he wants to avoid military action against Tehran, in response to recent cruise missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.   …