Several Democratic presidential candidates on Sunday lined up to call for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the face of a new, uninvestigated, allegation of sexual impropriety when he was in college. Kavanaugh was confirmed last October after emotional hearings in the Senate over a sexual assault allegation from his high school years. The New York Times now reports that Kavanaugh faced a separate allegation from his time at Yale University and that the FBI did not investigate the claim. The latest claim mirrors one offered during his confirmation process by Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate who claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken party. When he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, Kavanaugh denied all allegations of impropriety . Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said after the new report that “Brett Kavanaugh lied to the U.S. Senate and most importantly to the American people.” She tweeted: “He must be impeached.” A 2020 rival, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, tweeted that “Confirmation is not exoneration, and these newest revelations are disturbing. Like the man who appointed him, Kavanaugh should be impeached.” Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke asserted in a tweeted, “We know he lied under …

Visiting a black church bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in the civil rights era, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Sunday the country hasn’t “relegated racism and white supremacy to the pages of history” as he framed current tensions in the context of the movement’s historic struggle for equality. He spoke to parishioners at 16th Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham as they commemorated the 56th anniversary of the bombing that killed four black girls in 1963. “It’s in the wake of these before-and-after moments when the choice between good and evil is starkest,” he said. The former vice president called out the names of the victims — Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. He drew nods of affirmation as he warned that “the same poisonous ideology that lit the fuse on 16th street” has yielded more recent tragedies including in 2015 at a black church in South Carolina, in 2018 at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh and in August at an El Paso, Texas , Wal-Mart frequented by Latino immigrants. He condemned institutional racism as the direct legacy of slavery and lamented that the nation has “never lived up to” the ideals of equality …

Roughly 49,000 workers at General Motors plants in the U.S. plan to go on strike just before midnight Sunday, but talks between the United Auto Workers and the automaker will resume. About 200 plant-level union leaders voted unanimously in favor of a walkout during a meeting Sunday morning in Detroit. Union leaders said the sides were still far apart on several major issues and they apparently weren’t swayed by a GM offer to make new products at or near two of the four plants it had been planning to close, according to someone briefed on the matter. “We stood up for General Motors when they needed us most,” union Vice President Terry Dittes said in a statement, referring to union concessions that helped GM survive bankruptcy protection in 2009. “Now we are standing together in unity and solidarity for our members.” UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said Sunday evening that contract talks would resume at 10 a.m. Monday, but the strike was still expected to go ahead. GM on Friday offered to build a new all-electric pickup truck at a factory in Detroit that is slated to close next year, according someone who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition …

Syrian government troops on Sunday bombarded a rebel-held area in the Syrian northwestern province of Idlib, a monitor group said. Several missiles targeted towns and villages in the southern part of Idlib that are controlled by rebel forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. No casualties were reported in the Sunday attack. Despite a unilateral ceasefire that was declared by the Syrian government and its ally Russia in late August, government forces have continued targeting towns and cities across the Syrian province, experts said.   “The ceasefire is vague and seems to only apply in certain parts of Idlib,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory. He said that details of the ceasefire haven’t fully been disclosed. “What is clear, however, is that [Syrian] regime forces want to recapture two highways that connect Aleppo to Damascus and Latakia. Both routes go through south Idlib,” Abdulrahman told VOA. Syrian rebels said they have managed to halt the regime’s assault on south Idlib temporarily. “We are responding directly by targeting the positions from where the shells are fired,” Naji Mustafa, a spokesman for the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front opposition force, told Reuters news agency Sunday. The Idlib province, home to …

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar on Sunday responded to the son of a 9/11 victim who criticized the congresswomen last week on the anniversary of the attacks. Nicholas Haros Jr., whose mother died in the World Trade Center, spoke at the ceremony on the 18th anniversary of the attacks wearing a shirt that said “Some people did something,” a reference to comments Omar earlier this year. “Today I am here to respond to you exactly who did what to whom,” he said. While speaking to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in March, Omar said the group was founded because “some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”  The comments sparked immediate backlash. On Sunday, Omar was once again asked about her comments and those of Haros while appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation. “9/11 was an attack on all Americans. It was an attack on all of us, and I certainly could not understand the weight of the pain that the families of the victims of 9/11 must feel,” Omar said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” But, she said, we should also remember that “many Americans found themselves now having their …

A solid-gold toilet that was part of an art exhibit has been stolen from the birthplace and home of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The 18-carat toilet, titled “America” was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.  It was part of a larger exhibit of Cattelan’s work at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. “At first, when they woke me up this morning with the news,” Cattelan said in an email to The New York Times, “I thought it was a prank: Who’s so stupid to steal a toilet? I had forgotten for a second that it was made out of gold.” The theft caused “significant damage and flooding” since it had been attached to the building’s plumbing so it could actually be used by visitors. A  66-year-old man has been arrested but authorities have neither named him nor charged him The toilet was previously on display at New York’s Guggenheim Museum where “more than 100,000 people have waited patiently in line for the opportunity to commune with art and with nature” museum officials said at the time. Last year, the chief curator at the Guggenheim offered to lend the golden toilet to U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania …

Ten top Democrats faced off in a debate in Houston last week, making a case for his or her policies while claiming to be the candidate who can beat Republican Donald Trump. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports, Democrats face the challenge of appealing to party members while expanding their appeal to other voters …

Algeria’s interim leader has announced Dec. 12 as the date for the presidential election, in line with the army chief’s demand to fill the vacancy left when longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika was pushed from office more than five months ago. Abdelkader Bensallah during an address to the North African nation Sunday night called on citizens to make Dec. 12 “an historic day to make the dreams of our people concrete.” The powerful army chief, Ahmed Gaid Salah, has been pushing for elections as quickly as possible and even named Sunday as the date to announce them. A pro-democracy movement holding weekly protests since February wants time to organize elections that ensure all traces of the old system are gone. Bensallah took office as interim leader after Bouteflika, rarely seen since a 2013 stroke, was pushed out by protests in April following 20 years in power. Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term triggered the demonstrations. The interim leader has overstayed his constitutional time limit of 90 days. In his address, he said elections will return the oil- and gas-rich country to “constitutional legality and allow our people to choose its future president freely and sovereignly.” Bensallah last week pushed through two …

An angry mob in southern Pakistan has vandalized several Hindu temples and property over allegations a local school principal belonging to the minority community had committed blasphemy. Police said Sunday the riots in Ghotki in the province of Sindh broke out the previous day and quickly spread across the entire city, with an estimated 40% Hindu population, and surrounding towns. Residents and the community leaders confirmed protesters had stormed three temples, vandalizing statues and other sacred material inside the places of worship. They also assaulted and destroyed multiple houses belonging Hindus, including the school being run by the alleged blasphemer, prompting the district administration to call in paramilitary forces to assist in bringing the situation under control. Ghotki was completely closed Sunday amid tensions and fears of more protests. Area police confirmed Sunday they have arrested the school principal and an investigation was underway into the accusations he made derogatory remarks regarding the Prophet Muhammad. Videos shared via social media showed stick-wielding angry mobs roaming the streets and destroying infrastructure. The non-governmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also shared a video of the violent protests , denouncing them and demanding authorities quickly take action to ensure safety of the Hindu …

Saudi Arabia scrambled Sunday to restore operations at its key oil fields after drone attacks cut the kingdom’s production in half, while also saying it would tap its vast reserves to shore up exports to the world market. Meanwhile, there was widespread uncertainty about responsibility for the attacks that cut the Saudi oil production by 5.7 million barrels of oil a day — nearly 6% of the world’s crude supply — and where the early Saturday missile attacks were launched. Fires burn in the distance after a drone strike by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group on Saudi company Aramco’s oil processing facilities, in Buqayq, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 14, 2019 in this still image taken from a social media video. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility for the attacks, but U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran and ruled out Houthi involvement. “Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy,” Pompeo said on social media, referring to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has …

Tunisians voted Sunday to select their next president among some two dozen candidates. More than seven million people were eligible to cast their ballot in what is only the North African country’s second free presidential election, eight years after its so-called Jasmine Revolution. A steady stream of people filed into this primary school in the working class Tunis suburb of Ariana, lining up under posters offering instructions on how to vote. Nineteen-year-old college student Yomna El-Benna is excited to be voting for the first time. “I’m going to vote for Mourou… for many reasons…. when I was deciding, I eliminated the persons who I’m not convinced with… they cannot lead Tunisia,” said El-Benna. That’s Abdelfattah Mourou from the moderate Islamist Ennahdha party, running to replace 92-year-old president Beji Caid Essebsi who died in July. Mourou’s part of a dizzying lineup of presidential hopefuls, including two women. Among them: government ministers, far left politicians and jailed media tycoon Nabil Karoui. A runoff vote is expected, following next month’s legislative elections. Zohra Goummid voted for Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. “He’s got experience, he’s young,’ she says. ‘We Tunisians know him well. The other candidates are just upstarts,” she said. But with Tunisia’s …

The al-Shabab militant group launched a series of attacks since Saturday that led to the death of at least 17 people in Somalia. Lower Shabelle region officials told VOA Somali that the militants attacked the town of Qoryoley late Saturday using rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing nine people. The town’s Mayor Sayid Ali Ibrajim told VOA that an RPG fired by the militants caused most of the casualties. Somali government forces with support from African Union forces, who are based outside the town, repelled the attack, according to officials. Some of the residents in Qoryoley alleged that heavy weapons fired by AU troops caused some of the civilians casualties. The Governor of the region Ibrahim Adan Najah told VOA Somali that they are investigating the allegations. AMISOM forces did not immediately respond to the allegations. Also in Lower Shabelle region on Saturday, two civilians were killed after al-Shabab militants fired mortars on the ancient port town of Marka during a visit by the Prime Minister of Somalia Hassan Ai Khaire. Al-Shabab claimed they were targeting the prime minister but the Governor Najah told VOA Somali that the incident took place outside the town. Residents and security sources …

US President Donald Trump mounted an angry defense of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday as the controversial judge faced calls for an investigation over fresh allegations of sexual misconduct. Trump blasted the media and “Radical Left Democrats” after a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh alleged that the jurist — one of the most senior judges in the land  — exposed himself at a freshman year party before other students pushed his genitals into the hand of a female student. The latest allegation in The New York Times came after Kavanaugh denied sexual misconduct accusations leveled against him by two women during his confirmation to the Supreme Court last October. “Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment,” Trump tweeted. “He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning Liberal!” Now the Radical Left Democrats and their Partner, the LameStream Media, are after Brett Kavanaugh again, talking loudly of their favorite word, impeachment. He is an innocent man who has been treated HORRIBLY. Such lies about him. They want to scare him into turning …

A young Zimbabwean doctor who led a recent doctors’ strike over poor government salaries disappeared Saturday, in a move his colleagues say is an overt warning to all public-sector doctors in the country. The events could exacerbate an impasse between the doctors and the government over their demands for a salary increase, as doctors say their government salary is a pittance that doesn’t allow them to cover even the most basic needs. Here is the chilling message that Dr. Peter Magombeyi, head of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, received before he suddenly went missing. “Do not say I did not warn you,” read his colleague, Dr. Learnmore Shoti. “Keep on doing what you are doing, you will be taken by a whirlwind. We are getting close now. Which is a threat you will disappear. This was a screenshot from him a few days before this incident. So we are very much worried about what really happened to him.” So what was Dr. Magombeyi doing that was so dangerous? VOA spoke to him a few days earlier.  “The Zimbabwean doctors, they are not on strike, but they simply do not have the means to keep on continuing to report for duty,” …

The U.S.-led coalition said Sunday that “good progress” was being made in implementing a buffer zone in northern Syria along the Turkish border. Turkey and the United States last month agreed on the so-called “security mechanism” to create a buffer between the Turkish border and Syrian areas controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The YPG led the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in battle against the Islamic State group in Syria, but Ankara views the Kurdish fighters as “terrorists”. The United States and Turkey launched their first joint patrol of the border areas on September 8, but Ankara has accused Washington of stalling in the week since. A coalition delegation on Sunday visited a military council in the northern town of Tal Abyad, from which Kurdish forces started withdrawing late last month. “We are seeing good progress for the initial phase of security mechanism activities,” the coalition said in a statement handed out to journalists. “The coalition and SDF have conducted multiple patrols to identify and remove fortifications to address concerns from Turkey,” the statement said. “Four joint US and Turkish military overflights” were also carried out, it said. Little is known about the buffer zone’s size or …

Less than two months into its term, Thailand’s post-junta government is fending off a series of challenges to its very existence, including a brewing political storm over the Cabinet’s failure to recite the full oath of office. A general election in March returned the 2014 coup leader, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, to power to widespread criticism that his military junta had manipulated the contest in its favor. Two months later the country crowned a new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has been consolidating power around the Royal Palace since the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016. The country’s GDP growth rate has meanwhile dipped to its lowest level since just after the putsch. Analysts expect the country’s courts to save Prayut’s new administration from collapse. They say, though, that a pending fight in the lower house of Parliament next week over the botched oath could further batter its already bruised image, especially if the economy continues to flag. FILE – People gather holding a portrait of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn along a sidewalk near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, May 3, 2019, ahead of King Vajiralongkorn’s coronation. which will take place from May 4 to 6. Legitimacy of …

Promised talks this month between the United States and North Korea will give President Donald Trump yet another chance to conclude a deal with the reclusive nation, something that has eluded several of his predecessors. But after three summits and more than two years of on-and-off talks, some analysts are asking just how well Trump’s self-proclaimed prowess as a dealmaker translates to the world of diplomacy. This week, FILE – Real estate mogul Donald Trump announces, during a news conference in New York, the opening of his Taj Mahal Resort Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., Feb. 28, 1989. Baruch Fischhoff, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Politics and Strategy, said Trump’s dealmaking with world leaders is influenced by his dealmaking in the business world. “Mr. Trump’s business experience is primarily as a real estate developer,” Fischhoff said. “In that business arena, it was possible for him to have major properties go bankrupt and still get funding for new ones.” In the world of business, deals are often viewed through the lens of cost and benefit analysis, and strategies involved are aimed at maximizing profit while minimizing cost, said Vershbow, the former Bush administration ambassador. However, in the world …

A group of Native American women from several tribes in Oklahoma have launched a nonprofit organization they’re calling the “ A Quiche indigenous woman faces a monument that pays homage to migrants from the town of Salcaja, at the entrance to the town in Guatemala, June 7, 2019. Central Americans still dream of reaching the United States as Mexico cracks down on migration. “But I’m hearing it more and more from Native American activists who say that before the Europeans came, we were all indigenous people, so there’s that shared history of kinship,” Leza said. It is not known what percentage of migrant detainees are indigenous, but a A migrant family from Central America waits outside the Annunciation House shelter in El Paso, Texas, Nov. 29, 2018, after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer drops them off. Cathy Nestlen, a spokesperson for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (RFBO), part of greater Feeding America network, explained how the Aunties’ donations will be spent. “The Auntie Project is helping us to offset the cost that we have incurred towards food that we take to Texas,” Nestlen said. “The El Paso Food Bank been working with other nonprofits in the community …

LAREDO, TEXAS/NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO — Editor’s note: VOA is withholding some identifying information and images when requested by the migrant or asylum-seeker, to limit risks to their safety, as criminals in northern Mexico are targeting migrants for kidnapping, assault and ransom. Only first names are included in this report from the border, which contains personal accounts as told by migrants that have not been verified by VOA but are consistent with reports from a wide range of news outlets and sources. The U.S. Border Patrol reports it has intercepted more than 800,000 migrants and asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border so far in the 2019 fiscal year. In recent months, the Trump administration has returned tens of thousands of mostly Central American migrants to Mexico to await U.S. immigration hearings under the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” program. This past Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration to deny asylum to all recent non-Mexican claimants who hadn’t already been denied asylum in a third country before reaching the U.S. border. Even before the Supreme Court decision, U.S. officials reported nine of 10 asylum claims were being rejected. Despite such statistics, and amid rapidly shifting U.S. policies, migrants …

The Taliban on Sunday revoked their ban on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan and gave a guarantee of security for its staff doing humanitarian work in areas under their control. Taliban leaders imposed a ban on the ICRC and the World Health Organization (WHO) in April saying the organizations were carrying out “suspicious” activities during vaccinations campaigns and not sticking to their declared missions. “The Islamic Emirate restores the former security guarantees to ICRC in Afghanistan and instructs all mujahideen to pave the way for ICRC activities and be mindful of security to this committee’s workers and equipment,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement. The Taliban refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The spokesman did not refer to the WHO in his statement. Officials at ICRC and WHO in Kabul were not immediately available for comment. WHO vaccinations The WHO has been carrying out a vaccination campaign in Afghanistan, one of the last countries in the world where polio is endemic. The ICRC has been providing medical support for more than 30 years. Aid groups operating in Afghanistan stress that they do not take sides. The ICRC in particular is known …

A watery grave of old sunken ships has been designated the newest national marine sanctuary in the United States. Located in Maryland about 60 kilometers south of Washington, the “ghost fleet” rises like an apparition out of the water when the tide is low. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to this underwater park with ships going back more than one hundred years.   …

Selecting a college or university from the thousands in the U.S. can be mind-boggling. Many applicants turn to a web search to find rankings of the “best” colleges and will find U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Princeton Review, and Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education ranking sites, to name a few. Are those rankings and lists accurate, though, and, more importantly, are those “top” schools the best for you? U.S. News & World Report published its first “America’s Best Colleges” report in 1983, and many schools use those rankings to promote themselves. However, some educators have questioned the published rankings and how useful they are. Experts rank college rankings Ray Anderson is a former high school principal who works with AGM-College Advisors in Virginia. Anderson says that while he uses the rankings and talks with students about the results, what’s more important is knowing what the student wants, likes and is capable of doing. “The focus is on who you are, and then what schools match you,” Anderson said, “not matching you to the school.” Jeffrey Stahl, a Virginia high school counselor, agrees that rankings have limited value. He said the rankings “can be helpful,” but that some students pay …

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said Saturday that drone attacks on two Aramco oil facilities by a Yemen Houthi militia group have cut the kingdom’s oil production in half. Amateur video of the early morning attack in Abqaiq, in eastern Saudi Arabia, showed several blazes raging. By afternoon, video showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky. Saudi officials said no workers were killed or injured in the attacks. A military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi militia, Col. Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility Saturday for the drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities and vowed to increase them if Saudi-coalition forces continued their strikes on targets inside Yemen. It was not clear, however, if the drones originated in Yemen. Smoke is seen following a fire at an Aramco factory in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 14, 2019. Saree said 10 (Houthi) drones hit the two oil facilities run by Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant. He said the attacks are being dubbed “Operation Balance of Terror” and are a response to what he called the “ongoing crimes of blockade and aggression on Yemen” (since the Saudi-led coalition began battling the Houthis five years ago). Saree claimed the attack was the “largest to date” and …