Officials in Afghanistan Saturday announced that security forces have recaptured a key northeastern district from the Taliban after five years, as heavy clashes raged in provinces elsewhere in Afghanistan. The Taliban has intensified attacks even as its representatives are engaged in a fresh round of peace negotiations with the United States in Qatar for ending the 18-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest overseas military intervention. The Afghan Defense Ministry said the fighting for renewed control over Wardoj in Badakhshan province killed about 100 Taliban insurgents, including their key commanders. It claimed Afghan security forces “carried out this operation successfully without sustaining any losses.” The ministry asserted in its statement that the Taliban’s so-called shadow governor, Qari Fasihuddin, was among the dead. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied government claims, telling VOA that fighting was still raging in the district and rejected as “enemy propaganda” the claim that Fasihuddin had been killed. It was not possible to verify from independent sources claims made by either side. Badakhshan borders three neighbors of Afghanistan, including China, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The Taliban has, meanwhile, continued attacks in surrounding provinces of Kunduz, Takhar and Baghlan, overrunning new territory and killing scores of government forces. Afghan security forces …

A high-level U.S. defense delegation is scheduled to visit Pakistan and Afghanistan next week.  Randall Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, made the announcement Thursday evening at the Pakistani embassy in Washington. Schriver, appointed to his current position by President Donald Trump in January 2018, attended the embassy’s annual celebration of Pakistan’s Defense Day.     Shriver said his intent “and our team’s intent, is to be aspirational,” saying the parties will be “talking about where we can go in the future, how we can strengthen and improve cooperation, all the challenges notwithstanding.”   Shriver cited Pakistan’s contribution in several of the U.S.-led security initiatives, citing “the very important work in trying to achieve peace in Afghanistan,” as well as Pakistan’s participation in a maritime security initiative known as Combined Task Force 150, a multi-nation effort led by the United States designed to “deter, disrupt and defeat attempts by international terrorist organizations” that seek to use the maritime domain as venues for attack or as a means to transport personnel, weapons and other materials.  CTF 150 is based in Bahrain. Randall Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, is seen in an official U.S. Defense …

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is planning to vote to determine the parameters for conducting an impeachment probe of President Donald Trump. Politico first reported the development, saying its report was based on “multiple sources briefed on the discussions.” The committee is expected to vote on the details next week. A draft of the resolution is expected to be released Monday morning, according to Politico. The article said Democrats are “hopeful that explicitly defining their impeachment inquiry will heighten their leverage to compel testimony from witnesses.” It is doubtful, however, that the probe will lead to any charges against the president. Articles of impeachment would have to be voted on by the full House and it is doubtful that the Republican Senate would vote to remove the president from office.   Various legislative committees are looking into a number of matters concerning the president, including his failure to release his tax returns, his payment of hush money to stop embarrassing stories becoming public, and the spending of taxpayer money at the president’s hotels and properties.   …

A major prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine is underway — with multiple reports citing the transfer of prisoners out of Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison as well as the arrival of a Ukrainian state-emblemed plane to Vnukovo airport in the Russian capital Saturday morning.   While the exact number, list, and timing of the exchange is not yet publicly known, the leaders of both countries have insisted a significant exchange was imminent in recent days.   “We will finalize our talks on the exchange, and I think it will be rather large-scale,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin while addressing the issue at an economic forum in the far eastern city of Vladivostok on Thursday.   “And also it will also be a good step forward toward the normalization” of relations, added Putin. Putin’s comments followed Ukraine’s release of Volodymyr Tsemakh, a former commander of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, by a court in Kyiv on Thursday.   The release was not without controversy: Ukrainian security services have identified Tsemakh as a key witness to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over east Ukraine in July of 2014, killing all 298 people aboard. Dutch prosecutors investigating the …

Trump administration officials will meet next week to discuss whether to further restrict the number of refugees accepted into the U.S., according to a senior administration official. Some administration officials believe that the cap should be smaller because of the number of asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border and other protections afforded to migrants who live in war-torn countries or those devastated by natural disasters. Some have argued for the number to be 15,000 or fewer, according to two other administration officials. The officials were not allowed to speak publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Nothing has been decided. Senior leaders will meet in the Situation Room Tuesday to discuss the cap, which is set by the president and must be decided before the fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The New York Times first reported the meeting. Cap currently 30,000 Right now, the cap is set at 30,000, and 28,501 refugees were accepted between Oct. 1, 2018, and Sept. 6. Last budget year the cap was 45,000 and 22,491 were admitted. That’s one-quarter of the number allowed to enter two years ago and the lowest since Congress passed a law in 1980 creating the modern resettlement …

Russians braced for key local elections in Moscow and St. Petersburg Sunday — as the exclusion of opposition candidates and imprisonment of anti-government demonstrators cast doubt on the legitimacy of races that analysts say Kremlin-backed candidates still risk losing. Indeed, with polls showing widespread discontent with President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party, the limited scope of Russia’s election season was set early on. Russia’s Election Commission barred opposition-oriented candidates nearly en masse in July, citing candidates’ failure to clear voter signature requirements to participate in elections. The result: a series of rolling weekend protests in both cities that saw more than 2,500 arrests, many at the hands of truncheon-wielding police and aggressive OMON security forces. “The aggressive response suggests authorities understand it’s not just about the Moscow Duma,” said Alexander Baunov of the Moscow Carnegie Center. “It’s about reshaping the future of power in Russia.” Russian President Vladimir Putin attends judo tournament on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 5, 2019. Right to protest vs. rush to justice Putin has insisted citizens have the right to participate in political protests, a constitutional guarantee he reaffirmed again this week. “(The protests) sometimes it brings positive …

U.S. President Donald Trump heads to North Carolina late Monday, aiming to swing a congressional race in the 2020 election battleground state that could provide insight into his re-election chances. Trump’s rally aims to persuade voters in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District to head to the polls Tuesday to vote for Republican candidate Dan Bishop. His opponent, Democrat Dan McCready, will be trying to flip a district that Trump won in 2016 with 54% of the vote. The special election could provide an early test of whether highly educated women voters in suburban areas will throw their support to Democrats in marginally Republican districts as they did in a number of House races in the 2018 midterm elections. North Carolina is one of a handful of states seen by analysts as a possible swing state in the 2020 presidential election. This early race, fueled by heavy spending on the national level by both political parties, will be a key early indicator on a number of levels. Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College in North Carolina, said the election, “could serve in some ways as a canary in the coal mine if we’re looking at the …

Anyone who has tried booking interesting and affordable accommodations in New York City knows how difficult it is. Renting a room for less than $30 a night sounds impossible. But it’s true, even if the accommodations are a bit… unconventional. Elena Wolf has the story narrated by Anna Rice.    …

An Iraqi resort is welcoming visitors again after years of war, terrorism and chaos kept families away. Habbaniya Lake was once one of Iraq’s most popular tourist destinations. Now, managers say they plan to restore it in the next couple of years. VOA’s Jim Randle narrates our report.   …

Hurricane Dorian has weakened as it hits the U.S. southeastern coast Friday, lashing North Carolina, southeast Virginia and parts of New England with torrential rain, flooding and strong winds. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump has created a potential firestorm of his own, by continuing to insist he was right when he said that Alabama was also in the storm’s path earlier this week, despite evidence that it wasn’t. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.   …

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Dorian is “heading for Nova Scotia in a hurry” and is expected to arrive late Saturday as it moves with maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour. Dorian made landfall over Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, Friday morning after weakening into a Category 1 storm and generating tornadoes, severe storm surges and flooding in coastal areas in North and South Carolina. After landfall, Dorian began moving out into the Atlantic ocean and continued its trek up the U.S. eastern seaboard, the NHC said. The storm had devastated much of the Bahamas days earlier. The NHC said the storm was about 200 kilometers northeast of Cape Hatteras Friday afternoon with maximum sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour. The winds are expected to slowly weaken through Saturday. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said there was “significant concern about hundreds of people trapped on Ocracoke Island” in the Outer Banks region. “We are flooding like crazy,” Ocracoke Island bookstore owner Leslie Lanier texted. “I have been here 32 years and not seen this.” Steve Harris, who has been on Ocracoke for most of the last 19 years, said, “We went from almost no water to four …

 The Alaska Department of Corrections has agreed to policy changes to accommodate Muslim inmates who wish to practice their religion, settling a lawsuit brought last year. A federal judge Friday signed the agreement in a case brought on behalf of two Muslim inmates by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which argued that meals provided to the men during the holy month of Ramadan did not meet caloric requirements under federal health guidelines. They also said the meals were cold when others received hot meals and sometimes contained pork, which is at odds with their faith. The lawsuit also said the department had not allowed Muslims to perform Friday religious services or hold study groups. Details of agreement Terms of the agreement call for the department to provide inmates fasting during Ramadan at least 3,000 average daily calories and at least two hot meals without pork. Officials are not allowed to remove inmates on the list for a Ramadan diet for disciplinary or other reasons. Ramadan is marked by daily fasting from dawn to sunset. The settlement calls for meals to be provided between sunset and dawn. Muslim inmates also will be allowed to participate in religious services, prayers and religious …

Officials in Hong Kong are limiting transportation services to the airport Saturday to try to prevent any demonstrations from taking place there this weekend. Authorities say an airport train from downtown Hong Kong will depart as scheduled Saturday but will skip all stations in between and instead only stop at the airport terminal. Some protesters called earlier this week for renewed demonstrations at Hong Kong’s airport; however, it is not clear whether they will take place. Hong Kong’s airport was forced to close in August when protesters occupied terminals. China called the behavior “near-terrorist acts” and some protesters later issued an apology. Violence broke out at protests late Friday after demonstrators besieged a police station and a subway stop, leading police to fire tear gas and rubber bullets. Earlier this week, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced that her government will formally withdraw an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to face trial in mainland China. The extradition bill sparked the mass protest movement in June. Since then, however, demonstrators’ goals have expanded to include demands for full democracy. …

A tight U.S. labor market and booming demand in industries with an abundance of female workers is drawing more women back into the workforce, helping to shrink the longstanding gap in the labor participation rate between men and women to the narrowest on record. Other parts of a report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed that the longest economic expansion on record is leading to improvements for workers who are often left on the sidelines. Not only did the unemployment rate for African Americans drop to a record low of 5.5% in August, it narrowed to being 1.62 times the white unemployment rate, the smallest gap ever. The share of women aged 25 to 54 who either have jobs or are looking for work rose by a full percentage point in August to 76.3%, according to the report. The gain helped to lift the overall labor participation rate to 63.2%, one of the bright spots in a monthly jobs report otherwise riddled with signs of a softening U.S. economy. “What we’re seeing is the benefits of a strong labor market,” said Nick Bunker, an economist at the Indeed Hire Lab. “Workers who in the past have been shut …

Typhoon winds toppled trees, grounded planes and left thousands of South Korean homes without electricity Saturday as a powerful storm system brushed up against the Korean Peninsula. Strong winds and rain from Typhoon Lingling caused power outages in about 17,000 homes on the southern resort island of Jeju and in southern mainland regions, South Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety said. The typhoon was 184 kilometers (114 miles) southwest of the southern mainland city of Gunsan Saturday morning, moving north at 45 kilometers (28 miles) per hour with winds of up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour, the Korea Meteorological Association said. More damage expected It is expected to affect a broader part of the country as it passes off South Korea’s west coast later Saturday before making landfall in North Korea in the evening. The storm toppled trees and streetlamps and damaged traffic signs in Jeju overnight, caused airports to cancel 89 flights and forced 38 people to evacuate from their flooded homes in a city near Seoul. There were no immediate reports of injuries. National parks were closed, as were southern ports on the mainland and major cross-sea bridges. South Korea’s weather agency has warned of …

An American Airlines mechanic was ordered temporarily detained Friday after he was charged with purposely damaging an aircraft in July amid a dispute between the airline and its mechanics union involving stalled contract negotiations. Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani will remain in custody pending a hearing Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Federal prosecutors are requesting he be detained pending trial. Takeoff aborted Pilots of a flight from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas, July 17 aborted takeoff plans after receiving an error message involving the flight computer, which reports speed, pitch and other data, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Miami. It said after returning to the gate for maintenance, a mechanic discovered a loosely connected pitot tube, which measures airspeed and connects directly to the flight computer. A later review of video surveillance footage before the flight captured “what appears to be the sabotage of the aircraft” by a man walking with a limp, the complaint said. Union contract When Alani was interviewed, he told law enforcement he was upset at the stalled contract between the union and American, which he said had affected him financially, according to the complaint. It said Alani claimed to …

The announcement of John Lansing’s resignation as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media is renewing questions about the mission and direction of the broadcasters it oversees. The USAGM directly manages five international news entities, including Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America. Combined, the USAGM broadcasters transmit in 61 languages and have an unduplicated weekly audience of 345 million. Lansing, 62, a veteran cable TV executive, was named CEO of USAGM in 2015 and has now served under two presidents. He will formally leave the agency at the end of September and start in mid-October as CEO of the domestic National Public Radio network. “John Lansing is going to leave behind a really remarkable legacy,” said Amanda Bennett, director of the Voice of America. “He really focused USAGM on issues of a free and independent press. That’s going to be his legacy. That, and his sunny disposition.” Michael Pack (Manifoldproductions.com) Trump nominee President Donald Trump has nominated documentary filmmaker Michael Pack to replace Lansing. Pack, a senior fellow and former president at the Claremont Institute in California, has collaborated on film projects with former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon. Pack’s name was sent to the Senate …

U.S. college students are using marijuana at the highest rates in 35 years, according to a report released Thursday. About 43% of full-time college students said they used some form of pot at least once in the past year, up from 38%, a University of Michigan survey found. About 25% said they did so in the previous month, up from 21%. The latest figures are the highest levels seen in the annual survey since 1983. About 6% of college students said they used marijuana 20 or more times in the past month. For adults the same age who weren’t enrolled in college, the figure was 11%. “It’s the frequent use we’re most worried about” because it’s linked to poor academic performance and can be detrimental to mental health, said John Schulenberg, one of the Michigan researchers. College-age adults are the biggest users of marijuana than any other age group. Use among high school students has been flat for a few years. The 2018 findings are based on responses from about 1,400 adults age 19 to 22, including 900 who were full-time college students and about 500 who were not. The survey only has comparable data on college kids going back …

Leon Panetta says the United States is in a new chapter of the Cold War with Russia and is not investing as it should in regards to national security in space. In a wide-ranging interview about global issues and the new arms race, the former U.S. defense secretary and CIA director discusses the ramifications of ending the INF Treaty, Turkey’s purchase of a missile system from Russia and summitry with North Korea. Recorded September 6, 2019. …

U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in August, with retail hiring declining for a seventh straight month, but strong wage gains should support consumer spending and keep the economy expanding moderately amid rising threats from trade tensions.  The Labor Department’s monthly employment report on Friday also showed a rebound in the workweek after it shrank to its shortest in nearly two years in July, suggesting that companies were not yet laying off workers.  Economists said the report was consistent with an economy that was slowing but probably not flirting with a recession as has been signaled by financial markets, especially an inversion of the U.S. Treasury yield curve.  Some have blamed the economy’s waning fortunes on the Trump administration’s yearlong trade war with China and its effect on business sentiment and global manufacturing.  “The softening in job growth should surprise no one but it doesn’t mean the economy is headed toward a recession right away,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. “Households still have the income to keep spending.”  FILE – Spinning operator Sara Colburn pulls fabric off the spinning frame inside the mill on Wednesday, July 3, 2019, at American Woolen Company Inc., in Stafford Springs, Conn. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 130,000 jobs last month, helped by the temporary hiring of 25,000 workers for the 2020 census. …

Police on Hawaii’s Big Island have arrested two people as crews demolished a small house built by demonstrators near the place where they are blocking construction of a giant telescope. Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe says officers arrived at Mauna Kea on Friday morning to clear the way for crews to take down the structure. He did not have details about why the arrests happened. Officials say protesters who oppose the planned telescope near Mauna Kea’s summit constructed the wooden building in a lava field near their protest camp without a permit. Some Native Hawaiians consider the telescope site sacred. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands said this week that the building would be removed. …

India’s space agency says it has lost communication with its unmanned spacecraft that was set to touch down Saturday on the moon’s south pole. “Communications from lander to ground station was lost,” said K Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization. “The data is being analyzed.”   It is not clear if the mission had failed. A successful landing would make India just the fourth country to land a vessel on the lunar surface, and only the third nation to operate a robotic rover there. The roughly $140 million mission, known as Chandrayaan-2, is intended to study permanently shadowed moon craters that are thought to contain water deposits that were confirmed by the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008. …

Many attending U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s college lecture Friday in his home state of Kansas listened for clues about whether he might run for the Senate next year, though it could be many months before anyone finds out.    Three Democrats and four Republicans are already actively running for the seat held by Republican Senator Pat Roberts, who isn’t seeking a fifth term, and several others are expected to join them. Weeks after Pompeo said a run is “off the table,” though, he is still creating a buzz and looming over the race, as only he has enough name recognition and support among Kansas conservatives to afford to wait until next June’s filing deadline to decide.    If he does run, Pompeo would enter the race as the favorite.    “It’s the Pompeo decision, and then everything else trickles down,” said Joe Kildea, a vice president for the conservative interest group Club for Growth.    Other candidates don’t have the luxury of waiting and the field is likely to grow, with GOP Representative Roger Marshall of western Kansas expected to announce his candidacy Saturday at the state fair.  FILE – Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, right , Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, …

VOA Connect Episode 86 – Choosing to be childless is a growing trend in the United States. We also explore the world of vintage drag race cars, and head to New York, where visually impaired people can get a ride though a park on a tandem bike. …