Set somewhere in rural eastern Europe towards the end of World War II, “The Painted Bird” is a sombre tale of a young boy trying to survive a harsh wilderness and the cruelty of strangers, and is described by one of its stars as “timeless.” Based on a 1965 novel by Polish-born novelist Jerzy Kosinski, the 35mm black and white film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, depicts a bleak world where being different is dangerous. Sent by his persecuted parents to stay with an elderly woman in the desolate countryside of an unnamed country, the lead character, known simply as The Boy, soon finds himself alone when she dies and he sets off on foot to find safety elsewhere. He wanders from village to village, where he meets and stays with different people – some of them superstitious and cruel, others accommodating and kind. The Boy, played by Petr Kotlar, endures brutal beatings and abuse and witnesses horrific violence carried out by civilians and soldiers – a man having his eye gouged out, a village ransacked, people shot and a woman kicked in the genitals. “The Painted Bird” Director Vaclav Marhoul poses before an interview in …

VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this report. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the White House to restore the press credentials of Playboy correspondent Brian Karem, whose hard pass was suspended after he got into a shouting match with conservative radio host and former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden following a social media summit in July. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras found that White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham’s rationale for revoking the pass was too vague. “White House events appear to vary greatly in character,” Contreras wrote in his opinion. “Thus, without any contextual guideposts, ‘professionalism,’ standing alone, remains too murky to provide fair notice here.” In a statement late Tuesday, Grisham said the White House “disagree[d] with the decision,” arguing it “essentially gives free reign to members of the press to engage in unprofessional, disruptive conduct at the White House.” She added that Karem “clearly breached well-understood norms of professional conduct.”  Karem’s attorney, Ted Boutrous, told CNN he was pleased with the court’s decision. “The White House’s suspension of his press credentials violated the First Amendment and due process and was a blatant attempt to chill vigorous reporting about the President,” Boutrous said. Conservative radio …

Dr. L.N. Dhar vividly remembers the cold morning in Kashmir nearly 30 years ago. He left behind his plush bungalow and a prestigious job at a government hospital, becoming a refugee on the run almost overnight, with nothing but a small bag hurriedly stuffed with whatever clothes and cash he could grab. He was heeding warnings blared over loudspeakers outside mosques in the Muslim-majority region and on graffiti on walls and windows across the main city of Srinagar. Kashmiri Hindus got three options: convert to Islam, leave or be killed, Dhar said. “For a peace-loving citizen, for an educated class of people, our option was that we left that place,” he said near his home in New Delhi. “That was the only option. We had no other choice.”  Now, Dhar and thousands of other Kashmiris Hindus native to the South Asian region could get an opportunity to return to their homeland after India’s Hindu nationalist-led government suddenly stripped political autonomy from its part of Kashmir, tightening its grip in the restive region. But many are wary. A Kashmiri Hindu woman looks from inside her residence at the Jagti migrant camp in Jammu, India, Aug. 23, 2019. Tens of thousands of …

By day, the unforgiving sun glares off the road beside Ipah’s wooden home with blinding brightness as a passing motorbike stirs a swirl of dust. By night, the beams of an occasional truck carrying coal or palm fruits pierce the darkness. This remote corner of Indonesia is set to be transformed from a forest backwater on the island of Borneo to a global city – a new capital of a country whose 260 million people make it the world’s fourth most populous. At her stall serving ice tea and instant noodles, Ipah, an 18-year-old single mother, worries about what the change will bring. “Cities in Kalimantan are peaceful and safe,” said Ipah, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, referring to the Indonesian part of Borneo island. “The capital is a city that never sleeps. Too much smoke, too much fuss.” A general view of the capital city as smog covers it in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 4, 2019 The capital Jakarta’s reputation as a crowded, polluted mega city of more than 10 million people – one that is slowly sinking into the sea – is partly why Indonesia plans to move government offices to a “Forest City” in East …

Argentine economists sharply hiked 2019 inflation forecasts and cut their gross domestic product outlook for the year, according to a central bank poll released on Tuesday, following a wave of  political uncertainty that beat the local peso down 26% in August. The survey came two days after the government announced capital controls in a bid to halt a run on the peso currency. The controls, which followed an announcement that Argentina would extend the maturities of about $100 billion in debt, were a massive setback for the government’s free-markets reform effort. Inflation was seen at 55% for the year, according to the survey of 39 analysts, up from 40% in the same central bank poll a month earlier. The new weakness in the peso, which fell 50.5% against the U.S. dollar last year, is expected to lead to rising consumer prices over the months ahead. Gross domestic product was forecast to shrink 2.5% this year, the poll said, versus the previous month’s survey, which saw 2019 GDP shrinking by 1.4%. The poll was conducted after the Aug. 11 primary election, which triggered a sharp fall in the value of the peso currency when business-friendly President Mauricio Macri was soundly trounced …

Saber Sessi was working the night shift at a municipality vehicle depot in Carthage, Tunisia, when he signed off on five bulldozers in the early hours of July 9. Unbeknownst to him, the intended target for those bulldozers was his home. “I opened the gate, I handed [the keys] over and then I saw them drive around to my house,” said Sessi, 50, who lived beside the depot in the working-class neighborhood of Mohamed Ali, in the northern surburbs of the Tunisian capital. Sessi’s house and nine other buildings were razed to the ground that night in a government operation to clear illegal homes from the area that used to be a battleground for gladiators in the Roman Empire — the Circus of Carthage. Today, two-thirds of Carthage — about 430 square km (165 square miles) — is archaeological land, according to Hayet Bayoudh, the municipality’s mayor. The area earned a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. Now Carthage’s place on that list is under threat, due to what the U.N.’s cultural body calls “uncontrolled urban sprawl.” All building projects and repair works within the boundaries of Carthage must first be approved by the municipality and the …

Hurricane Dorian will likely avoid landfall in Florida, but that does not mean residents of the Sunshine State or anywhere else along southeastern U.S. coast can relax. Forecasters say Dorian is getting bigger and will move “dangerously close” to Florida and Georgia Tuesday through Wednesday night, then threaten North and South Carolina with massive rainfall and powerful winds. Cars sit submerged in water from Hurricane Dorian in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Dorian is beginning to inch northwestward after being stationary over the Bahamas, where its relentless winds have caused catastrophic damage and flooding. The lack of wind currents in the atmosphere kept Dorian parked on top of Abaco and Grand Bahama Island for two days as a Category 4. It was the strongest storm ever to strike the Bahamas. Initial reports say more than 13,000 homes were destroyed. The runways at the Grand Bahama international airport are under water, making rescue efforts complicated. Five deaths have been reported. But Lia Head-Rigby, who runs a hurricane relief organization on Abaco said bodies are being gathered. She said it is no longer a question of rebuilding on Abaco; it is time to start over. …

The new U.S. Special Envoy to the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, said on Tuesday a priority in his new role is restarting a dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo. “The first (step) is getting the parties back to the table,” Palmer, who was appointed last week, told a regional political conference in Slovenia. He said he expected the next Kosovo government would be open to re-engagement and would suspend 100% tariffs on Serbian imports it imposed last year, claiming that Belgrade’s diplomatic moves blocked Kosovo from joining Interpol. Palmer said Serbia’s campaign to persuade countries to rescind their recognition of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, was “counterproductive” and “not in the interest of peace, stability and security in the region.” “I think the United States will play an absolutely critical role in helping the parties … identify the points of disagreement and keep focused on the prize which is normalizing the relationship between Belgrade and Pristina, opening a path to … Europe for both countries,” Palmer said. All of the Western Balkans states, which also include Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania, aim to join the European Union. Most of them also want to join NATO. Kosovo will hold a …

Life is a constant struggle for Zikra Ahmed who lost her husband and three children during the war against the Islamic State in Mosul. Her remaining two daughters, who were disabled by the war, tell VOA they need to depend on charity to pay for their medicine. VOA’s Kawa Omar reports.   …

One of the main suspects in the 2014 disappearance of 43 teachers’ college students in southern Mexico has been acquitted, a human rights attorney said Tuesday, as justice remains elusive for one of the darkest moments of the country’s recent history. Santiago Aguirre, director of the human rights center known as Prodh and a lawyer for victims’ relatives, said the judge absolved Gilberto Lopez Astudillo due to “insufficient evidence” and the suspect was released from custody on Saturday with no pending charges remaining against him. The case was marred by “sleaziness, human rights violations and irregularities in the investigation,” Aguirre said, adding that the prosecutor’s office failed to correct the deficiencies that happened under previous leadership. FILE – Demonstrators holding posters of Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, right, and Attorney General, Jesus Murillo Karam, left, march in protest for the disappearance of 43 students in the state of Guerrero, in Mexico City, Nov. 5, 2014. Lopez Astudillo has been identified as a purported member of the Guerreros Unidos organized crime group. Prosecutors during the government of then-President Enrique Pena Nieto alleged that he gave the order for the disappearances, mistaking them for members of a rival gang. Authorities say the …

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said Tuesday that he has approved the use of satellites to hunt down guerrillas crossing into the country from neighboring Colombia. Collaboration has begun between Venezuela’s opposition and Colombian officials to collect intelligence on guerrilla camps and planes that Guaido said they use to transport drugs. “We’ve seen recordings of these groups showing off their weapons,” Guaido said. “We’re facing a serious, serious problem of Venezuelan sovereignty.” Guaido is seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro, accusing the socialist leader of welcoming in terrorist groups from Colombia. Guaido also urged Venezuela’s armed force to “immediately eject” the “terrorist groups” from Venezuelan territory. Guaido has offered no details, such as who will collect the satellite imagery. He is recognized as interim president by the U.S., Colombia and some 50 other nations, who consider Maduro’s election in 2018 a fraud. Maduro remains in power with backing from Venezuela’s military and support from international allies, including Cuba, Russia and China. Colombian President Ivan Duque days earlier accused Maduro of providing shelter to rebels from Colombia after some ex-leaders announced their return to arms, heightening tension between the two countries. Maduro’s government, which considers Guaido a puppet of the Trump …

Guatemala is saying goodbye to a U.N. commission that has helped investigate and bring to justice corrupt politicians, public officials and businesspeople for the last 12 years. The commission known as CICIG for its initials in Spanish is ceasing operations Tuesday after President Jimmy Morales refused to renew its mandate for another two years. Human rights prosecutor Jordan Rodas says CICIG was a nightmare for those long accustomed to getting away with brazen malfeasance. Addressing the commission’s chief, Rodas says “the majority of the Guatemalan population acknowledges your work and thanks you for your commitment over the years.” A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General said in a statement that CICIG “made a decisive contribution to strengthen the rule of law as well as investigation and prosecution capacities in Guatemala.” …

A convicted hacker who’s serving 10 years in prison for breaking into computer systems of security firms and law-enforcement agencies has been called to testify to a federal grand jury in Virginia. Supporters of Jeremy Hammond, part of the Anonymous hacking group, say he’s been summoned to testify against his will to a grand jury in Alexandria on Tuesday. Hammond, who admitted leaking hacked data to WikiLeaks, believes the subpoena is related to the investigation of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. Assange is under indictment in Alexandria and the U.S. is seeking extradition. Prosecutors declined comment. Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was also called to testify to the WikiLeaks grand jury. She refused and is now serving a jail sentence of up to 18 months for civil contempt. Hammond’s supports say he’ll also refuse to testify. Hammond was sentenced in 2013 to 10 years in prison for carrying out cyberattacks that targeted Texas-based Strategic Forecasting Inc., known as Stratfor, as well as the FBI’s Virtual Academy, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, and the Jefferson County, Alabama, Sheriff’s Office. He argued at his sentencing that the hacks were civil disobedience to expose the …

Five years ago, for her 27th birthday, Lorelei Bandrovschi gave up drinking for a month on a dare. She was a casual drinker and figured it would be easy. It was, but she hadn’t banked on learning so much about herself in the process. “I realized that going out without drinking was something that I really enjoyed and that I was very well suited for,” she told The Associated Press. “I realized I’m a pretty extroverted, spontaneous, uninhibited person.” And that’s how Listen Bar was born on Bleecker Street downtown. At just under a year old, the bar Bandrovschi opens once a month is alcohol-free, one of a growing number of sober bars popping up around the country. Booze-free bars serving elevated “mocktails” are attracting more young people than ever before, especially women. The uptick comes as fewer people overall are drinking away from home and the #MeToo movement has women seeking a more comfortable bar environment, said Amanda Topper, associate director of food-service research for the global market research firm Mintel. Mocktails aren’t just proliferating at sober bars. Regular bars and restaurants are cluing into the idea that alcohol-free customers want more than a Shirley Temple or a splash …

Thousands of jihadis are set to seek sanctuary in Turkey with Damascus’ forces laying siege to Idlib, the last Syrian rebel enclave. With Damascus determined to take control of all of Syria, analysts warn it’s only a matter of time before Turkey faces an exodus of not only refugees, but also the arrival of extremist fighters, posing a significant security threat to the country. Syrian government forces are steadily tightening their grip on Idlib province, the last pocket of the rebel resistance. It’s estimated about 3 million Syrians are holed up in the enclave, of which half have fled fighting in other parts of Syria. “It poses a huge threat, roughly half-a-million refugees are piled at the border in ramshackle refugee camps,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during a joint news conference in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 27, 2019. “If [Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-] Assad moves north and captures Idlib city, these people will flock to Turkey, and there is no way we cannot accept them. In addition to that, maybe 40,000, maybe 60,000 extremely vicious fundamentalists will mix …

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says a tiny camera was being used to spy on his meetings in a room of the National Palace. Lopez Obrador showed the tiny camera to reporters Tuesday at his morning news conference, holding the diminutive device in the palm of his hand. The president said “there’s nothing secret, nothing is hidden, for that reason we don’t consider this a big deal.” Lopez Obrador said it got his attention because it was so small. He said the room was used for meetings with people bringing proposals to the government. He did not speculate on who could have put it there or for how long it had been operating. He says technicians told him the camera’s memory had to be downloaded periodically.   …

A Virginia school board has filed a federal appeal to defend its transgender bathroom ban. The Gloucester County School Board’s appeal appeared Tuesday on the docket for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. Briefs containing legal arguments will come next.   The board has been in a yearslong legal fight over the policy with former student Gavin Grimm, a transgender male.   A U.S. District Court judge ruled last month that the board violated Grimm’s rights. The policy required transgender students to use private restrooms or bathrooms that correspond with their biological gender. Grimm had to use girls’ restrooms or private bathrooms.   The board said it was protecting students’ privacy.   Grimm’s 2015 lawsuit was once a federal test case and came to embody the debate about transgender student rights. …

As the U.S. tries a new way to protect shipping across the Persian Gulf amid tensions with Iran, it finds itself sailing into uncertain waters. For decades, the U.S. has considered the waters of the Persian Gulf as critical to its national security. Through the gulf’s narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz, 20% of all crude oil sold passes onto the world market. Any disruption there likely will see energy prices spike. The U.S. has been willing to use its firepower to ensure that doesn’t happen. It escorted ships here in the so-called 1980s “Tanker War .” America fought its last major naval battle in these waters in 1988 against Iran. Now, the U.S. Navy is trying to put together a new coalition of nations to counter what it sees as a renewed maritime threat from Iran. But the situation decades later couldn’t be more different. The U.S. public is fatigued from years of Mideast warfare after the Sept. 11 attacks. The demand for Persian Gulf oil has switched to Asia. Gulf Arab nations poured billions of dollars into their own weapons purchases while inviting a host of nations to station their own forces here, even as infighting dominates their …

Sen. Joe Manchin says he’s staying put in the U.S. Senate and won’t run for governor. The 72-year-old Manchin announced his decision on Tuesday after months of reflection. It means Manchin will steer clear of a potential showdown with incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who already has announced he’s seeking re-election. Earlier this year, Manchin became the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee, giving the coal-state lawmaker a prominent position to shape policy. But Manchin says he has become frustrated with a lack of Senate productivity and bipartisanship. Manchin also has sparred with Justice, who was elected governor as a Democrat in 2016, then switched to the Republican Party less than a year later. Manchin had endorsed Justice for governor. Justice, who has made fixing neglected state roads one of his priorities, had shifted blame for some of the road problems on Manchin and former Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Justice said the pair “created what I would call the all-time motherlode of a dog’s mess.” Manchin replied that “knowing Jim Justice’s character, it’s not a surprise for him to make a comment like this. He blames others for the work he hasn’t done.” Manchin also was critical of …

Rapper DMX has helped a Maine family with its back-to-school purchases. The rapper was in Maine to perform at Rock Row when he crossed paths with Nikki Cutchens and her daughter Grace at the Maine Mall. Cutchens tells WABI-TV that she was in line Saturday when DMX offered to pay. It was unclear how much the purchase was. DMX said he was blessed to have 15 children and wanted her family to be blessed, as well. She said she’s grateful for the act of kindness. Grace Firley and her sister both got a pair of shoes. In her words, “I have DMX’s shoes.”        …

Authorities’ attempt to charge an Indian journalist who exposed the poor quality of meals served at a government school triggered protests over fears of worsening press freedom in the country. Pawan Jaiswal made national headlines after reporting that impoverished primary school students in a district in Uttar Pradesh state were fed bread with salt instead of a mandated healthy meal. The report led to widespread criticism of the local government controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which responded by launching a criminal probe against Jaiswal. “It is a cruel and classic case of shooting the messenger,” the Editors Guild of India said in a statement on Monday. “It is shocking that instead of taking action to fix what is wrong on the ground, the government has filed criminal cases against the journalist.” Dozens of journalists shouted slogans outside the district office on Sept. 3, demanding that the investigation of Jaiswal be called off. Journalists in India have complained of deteriorating media freedoms and vicious online attacks over the past few years in the world’s largest democracy. Laws have frequently been deployed by politicians from all parties seeking to stifle social media criticism. Earlier this year, a …

Russian investigators said Tuesday they have dropped charges against five protesters who were arrested and charged with rioting connected to recent anti-government rallies. Separately, two protesters who accepted a plea bargain were given jail sentences in an expedited trial. FILE – Vyacheslav Abanichev and Alisa Abanicheva, parents of Sergei Abanichev, hold a poster saying “Free My Son” with the names of all those arrested as they attend an opposition rally in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 10, 2019. The Investigative Committee’s decision to drop the charges marks a U-turn in what has largely been seen as a widening crackdown on Russia’s opposition and its supporters. Fourteen people, mostly with no history of political activism, have been charged with rioting, which carries up to eight years in prison. The charges relate to an unauthorized protest on July 27 that was marked by police violence. The protesters, however, weren’t seen attacking the police, and no property damage was reported. The investigators said Tuesday that they “found no criminal activities” in the actions of the five people and dropped the charges against them. Among them is Sergei Abanichev, who was accused of throwing a paper cup toward the police and has been in jail for …

The Solomon Islands, one of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies, has formed a team of ministers to talk to Beijing ahead of a possible switch in ties that could be unveiled as early as this week, the chief of a parliamentary panel said. The Pacific island nation has recognised self-ruled Taiwan since 1983 but would be a prized chip for China in its bid to peel away the allies of what it considers a wayward province with no right to state-to-state ties, taking their number to 16. “There’s a certain thinking with the current government and executive to switch,” Peter Kenilorea, an opposition lawmaker who chairs a foreign relations parliamentary committee, told Reuters. “The amount of money that has already been spent by the government on this is quite telling.” A task force charged with evaluating the Taiwan ties returned from a tour of Pacific nations allied to China just before a mid-August visit to Beijing by eight Solomons ministers and the prime minister’s private secretary. “It doesn’t take much imagination to work out what the task force will recommend,” added Kenilorea, whose panel will review the recommendations. The task force, set up by new Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare after …

China aims to slash its growing dependence on gas imports by boosting domestic projects like shale fields as the security of its energy supply comes under the spotlight amid a festering trade war with the United States. The row with Washington has overshadowed China’s economy, likely slowing gas demand growth considerably this year, a new government research report shows. But Beijing is funding new efforts to boost domestic production, particularly from so-called unconventional sources like shale gas, as weaning China off its import reliance takes on new importance. The report, released on Saturday by the oil and gas department at the National Energy Administration (NEA) and a State Council research arm, calls for boosting natural gas production in key resource basins in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the Erdos basin in the north and offshore China. According to the report, China’s gas consumption will rise by about 10% this year to 310 billion cubic meters (bcm), and to continue growing until 2050. Though slowing from last year’s 17.5%, 2019’s growth still represents an annual addition of 28 bcm, faster than the annual average growth of 19 bcm during 2007-2018, the report said. While China imposed tariffs on imports of liquefied …