Britain and the European Union reached a last-ditch Brexit deal on Thursday, just hours before an EU summit that is expected to give it a seal of approval. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson will still have to take the accord to a sceptical British parliament for its backing on Saturday, and it is far from certain that it will pass. Johnson, who has pledged to take Britain out of the EU with or without an agreement, tweeted: “We’ve got a great new deal that takes back control – now Parliament should get Brexit done on Saturday.” EU officials are pleased they avoided an immediate crisis at the European Council summit, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker recommended that the other 27 EU leaders endorse the deal. “Where there is a will, there is a deal — we have one! It’s a fair and balanced agreement for the EU and the UK and it is testament to our commitment to find solutions,” Juncker tweeted. The draft agreement was forged just weeks before Britain was due to leave the bloc on October 31, ending more than four decades of close economic and political ties with its nearest neighbours.    Chief EU negotiator Michel …

Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings died early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of complications from longstanding health challenges, his congressional office said. He was 68. A sharecropper’s son, Cummings became the powerful chairman of a U.S. House committee that investigated President Donald Trump, and was a formidable orator who passionately advocated for the poor in his black-majority district, which encompasses a large portion of Baltimore as well as more well-to-do suburbs. As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings led multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, including probes in 2019 relating to the president’s family members serving in the White House. House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., speaks to members of the media before Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan appears before a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 18, 2019. Trump responded by criticizing the Democrat’s district as a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” The comments came weeks after Trump drew bipartisan condemnation following his calls for Democratic congresswomen of color to get out of the U.S. “right now,” and go back to their “broken and crime-infested countries.” Cummings replied that government officials must …

After the State Department blocked him from appearing last week, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland is scheduled to appear Thursday before House lawmakers conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s relations with Ukraine. The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees are holding the closed-door deposition where Sondland is expected to say Trump would only offer a White House visit to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy if he committed to investigations involving Trump’s Democratic rivals. Sondland, a Trump donor, was one of several diplomats who advised the Ukrainian leadership about how to carry out Trump’s demands after his July phone call with Zelenskiy. In the call, Trump asked the Kyiv leader for “a favor” — that Ukraine investigate one of Trump’s top Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, and the business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden. According to a U.S. intelligence whistleblower, Sondland and other diplomats exchanged a series of text messages in which the diplomats wondered why roughly $400 million in aid to Ukraine was frozen. Texts between Gordon Sondland and William Taylor are superimposed over a hand holding a mobile phone. Reports say there was a five-hour gap between text messages, during which …

  BEDFORDVIEW, SOUTH AFRICA — Mosibudi Jo Mathole and Khomotso Ramodipa are rare gems in the male-dominated diamond industry. The South African sisters run one of the few women-owned diamond polishing businesses in the world. And, despite the slumping global market for diamonds, and a shrinking industry in South Africa, they’ve managed to keep shining and developing new female talent.  A passion for diamonds drove South African sisters Mathole and Ramodipa to drop their careers as an investment banker and an optometrist. After qualifying as diamond valuators, in 2008 they started a cutting and polishing shop, Kwame Diamonds — the first and only one run by sisters in South Africa. Many barriers to entry Entering this industry is not easy explains the company’s founder and director, Mosibudi Jo Mathole. “The barriers to entry go beyond just being a woman or being a man, because the difficulty boils down to having an outfit like this, you really need a proper capital outlay. And for women it becomes a bit tricky because this has always been a very male-dominated industry.” But seeing challenges as opportunities, the sisters cut their way into the diamond industry, selling only responsibly sourced, certified stones bought from …

Mosibudi Jo Mathole and Khomotso Ramodipa are rare gems in the male-dominated diamond industry.  The South African sisters run one of the few women-owned diamond polishing businesses in the world.  And, despite the slumping global market for diamonds, and a shrinking industry in South Africa, they’ve managed to keep shining and developing new female talent.  Marize de Klerk reports from Bedfordview, South Africa.    …

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his 27 counterparts from across the European Union are converging on Brussels Thursday for a summit they hope will finally lay to rest the acrimony and frustration of a three-year divorce fight. Yet even before dawn, Johnson had a serious setback when his Northern Irish government allies said they would not back his compromise proposals. The prime minister needs all the support he can get to push any deal past a deeply divided parliament. It only added to the high anxiety that reigned Thursday morning, with the last outstanding issues of the divorce papers still unclear. Technical negotiators again went into the night Wednesday to fine tune customs and sales tax regulations that will have to regulate trade in goods between the Northern Ireland and Ireland, where the U.K. and the EU share their only land border. European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier attends the weekly EU College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Oct. 16, 2019. EU and British negotiators have so far failed to get a breakthrough in the Brexit talks. And they were set to continue right up to the summit’s midafternoon opening. If a deal is agreed …

A warming planet is triggering extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, and loss of wildlife habitats. An American art exhibit is delving into the effects of climate change, which include melting glaciers and the destruction of coral reefs.  VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to the University of Rhode Island to see how art is used to fight climate change. …

The future was here at a recent marquee tech show in Japan.  The Consumer Exhibition of Advanced Technology, or CEATEC, showcased technologies that may simplify our lives … or rapidly bring them to an end. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi takes us back to the future! …

Scientists worry about feeding 2 billion more people in the future as climate change hampers farmers and fishing fleet catches disappoint. To produce more protein more efficiently, startup companies are creating new kinds of farms that use artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced industrial techniques to raise tens of thousands of tons of insects to feed farmed fish and livestock. VOA’s Jim Randle reports that insects efficiently turn waste food into protein at a fraction of the environmental impact of other farm animals. …

Since the days of Genghis Khan, nomads have lived in gers — a traditional Mongolian round tent — but as extreme weather patterns threaten this Mongolian traditional lifestyle, many are moving to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. The capital now competes with New Delhi for the title of most polluted capital because of the coal burned during the winter to keep the population warm. UNICEF published a report last year calling air pollution in Ulaanbaatar a child health crisis. The organization says it puts every child and pregnancy at risk and has led to a surge in stillbirths, pneumonia and bronchitis. For VOA, Libby Hogan looks at possible solutions to the problem in this report from  Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. …

Hundreds of Yazidis have fled insecurity in southeastern Syria as the Turkish military and its allied militants continue their assault against Kurdish forces. Yazidi activists in the region told VOA that at least eight villages belonging to the religious minority had been deserted because of intense fighting that broke out last week shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region. Siban Sallo, a local Yazidi activist and journalist, said that more than 500 Yazidis had been displaced in eight out of 15 Yazidi villages extending across the northeastern Syria’s border with Turkey. The villagers have escaped south toward the areas that are still intact and remain under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). “All 15 villages lost electricity after the station generating power in the area was hit by a mortar,” Sallo told VOA. Three Syriac-Christian villages in the vicinity also emptied out after the conflict broke out. “Snipers were shooting at people in Tal Khatoun village. Four people from Tal Hasnak village were injured by fire,” he said, adding that fear spread among the Yazidi residents that they could be targeted by Islamic hardliner elements among the Turkish-backed rebels.   A displaced Iraqi woman from the minority Yazidi sect, …

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) finalized its decision Wednesday to go on strike against the city’s school district, the third-largest in the United States, after protracted labor negotiations did not produce a deal before their deadline. Earlier in the day, the district canceled classes for Thursday for its 361,000 students. School buildings will be open for students who need a place to go, officials said. Schools will serve breakfast and lunch, but all after-school activities, including sports, tutoring and field trips, are canceled. Late Wednesday afternoon, CTU’s delegates overwhelmingly reaffirmed their decision earlier this month to go a strike Thursday if the union was unable to come to a contract agreement with Chicago Public Schools (CPS), said teachers union president Jesse Sharkey. “We have not achieved what we need to bring justice and high-quality schools to the children and teachers of Chicago,” he said. In addition to wage increases, the teachers union is demanding more funding to ease overcrowded classrooms and hire more support staff, two perennial issues plaguing the school district. Hundreds of teachers and supporters march, days before the teachers union was set to go on strike if a contract settlement was not reached, in Chicago, Oct. 14, …

The United States is requiring all Chinese diplomats in the country and Chinese officials traveling to the U.S. on official business to give the State Department advance notice of meetings with local, state and federal officials, as well as educational and research institutions. Chinese diplomats are not required to obtain permission for the meetings; they need only to notify the State Department in advance. In China, U.S. diplomats have to seek permission, and such permission is frequently denied. “What we’re trying to accomplish here is just to get closer to a reciprocal situation, hopefully with the desired end effect of having the Chinese government provide greater access to our diplomats in China,” said a senior State Department official Wednesday in a phone briefing to reporters.  “Unfortunately in China, U.S. diplomats do not have unfettered access to a range of folks that are important for us to do our job. That includes local and provincial-level officials, academic institutions, [and] research institutes,” said the official. Chinese object The Chinese government was apprised of this requirement last week. The U.S. State Department received one such notification Wednesday. The Chinese Embassy in Washington pushed back in a tweet on Wednesday. “According to Article 25 of …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Iran policy came under strong criticism at a Senate hearing in which Democrats and some Republicans accused him of emboldening Iran by pulling U.S. troops out of Syria. Trump’s Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, the sole witness at Wednesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, rebuffed the criticism of the president’s decision earlier this month to begin a U.S. troop pullout from northern Syria shortly before Turkey launched a long-threatened offensive against U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish forces in the region. Since then, Syrian Kurdish forces have appealed for and received help from troops under the command of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia, both allies of Iran. “The president’s decision with respect to Syria is not going to change our Iran strategy or the efficacy of it,” Hook said, referring to the U.S. strategy of imposing maximum pressure on Iran to stop perceived malign behaviors, including support for Shiite militias in Syria who have defended Assad from a years-long rebellion. Hook said the administration’s regular tightening of U.S. economic sanctions on Iran over the past year has raised the cost of Iranian involvement in the Syrian conflict. “Iran doesn’t have the money that it used to, [in order] to …

A Cuban man who had sought asylum in the United States has died while being held at an immigration jail in Louisiana.    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday that Roylan Hernandez Diaz, 43, had died at a private detention facility of an apparent suicide.    Hernandez Diaz applied for asylum at a border bridge in El Paso, Texas, in May. According to ICE, he was deemed “inadmissible” by border agents and had been in detention since.    The Richwood Correctional Center near Monroe is one of eight Louisiana jails that now house mostly immigrants, including asylum-seekers.    Of the 15,000 immigrants being held by ICE across the country, 8,000 are in Louisiana, the Associated Press reported.    Hernandez Diaz was the second person to die in ICE custody this month. Nebane Abienwi, 37, of Cameroon died of a brain hemorrhage at a detention facility in San Diego.  …

U.S. officials are renewing their call for a “humane” solution to the situation in Hong Kong, where ongoing protests show no immediate sign of ending. “In Hong Kong, we believe that the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly — core values that we share with the people of Hong Kong — must be vigorously protected,” said David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, during a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.   Stilwell said the U.S. continues to urge Beijing to uphold its commitments to respect Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the Palace Hotel on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 26, 2019. Earlier in an interview with Fox Business Network on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said protesters in Hong Kong are asking the Chinese government to honor its promises under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, as well as the so-called “One Country, Two Systems,” framework after China resumed control of Hong Kong from British colonial rule on July 1, 1997. “They are asking the Chinese leadership to respect that commitment …

Two lawyers linked to the so-called Panama Papers are asking a federal judge to stop Neflix’s upcoming release of “The Laundromat,” which they say defames them as lawless attorneys and may affect criminal cases against them. Panamanian lawyers Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca filed a defamation lawsuit and request for a temporary restraining order Wednesday in federal court in Connecticut. Netflix is set to release the movie Friday, after it had a limited release in theaters. It stars Gary Oldman as Mossack and Antonio Banderas as Fonseca, as well as Meryl Streep. Netflix says the case should be dismissed or moved to California. The Panama Papers were more than 11 million documents leaked from the two lawyers’ firm in a data breach that shed light on how the rich hide their money. …

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a law clearing away legal hurdles that could have prevented state prosecutions of people pardoned by President Donald Trump for federal crimes. The law signed Wednesday by the Democrat revises exceptions to the state’s double jeopardy law. New York Democrats say it will ensure that the state’s ongoing investigations into associates of the Republican president can’t be derailed by a White House pardon. Republicans have decried the law as a partisan attack. The law was passed this year amid speculation that Trump might pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort or former lawyer Michael Cohen. Both have been convicted of federal crimes. Manafort is also awaiting trial on a New York state mortgage fraud charge that closely mirrors part of his federal case.   …

The SPLM-North (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North) faction based in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains suspended peace talks in Juba with Khartoum officials after military forces allegedly bombed several areas in the region and killed a sheik on Tuesday. The group’s leader said the sustained attack shows the Sudanese government’s failure to respect the cessation of hostilities agreement the parties signed last month.   Amar Amoua, SPLM-North’s Secretary General and spokesperson for the group, told reporters in Juba Wednesday his group will not take part in any peace talks until there is a full investigation into the attack. For the last 10 days, Amoua said Sudanese government forces bombarded several areas of the Nuba Mountains.   Amoua said SPLM-North will not return to the bargaining table until their demands are met.   “Our coming back to negotiate on table is bound by government decision to clear all these things. The government should withdraw its forces and stop from gaining new ground by occupying new areas. We will not allow that and also we need the government to release immediately the traders whom they have arrested with all their property and hand them to SPLM/N authorities in Nuba Mountains,” Amoua told South Sudan in …

President Donald Trump has quietly transferred more than $200 million from Pentagon counterdrug efforts toward building his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, drawing protests from Democrats who say he is again abusing his powers. The move would shift $129 million to wall construction from anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan — the source of perhaps 90 percent of the world’s heroin — along with $90 million freed up by passage of a stopgap funding bill, top Democrats said in a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. The Defense Department “was faced with a simple choice: either additional funds be used for their intended purpose, to accelerate our military’s efforts to combat heroin production in Afghanistan; or divert these funds to pay for cost increases of a border wall project that does not have the support of the American people,” the Democrats wrote. FILE – Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left, accompanied by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., attend a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Jan. 16, 2018. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York and Patrick Leahy of Vermont took the lead, noting that the heroin trade is a major funding source for the Taliban and urging …

President Donald Trump says he thought the grieving parents of a British teenager who was killed in a car crash involving an American diplomat’s wife wanted to meet with the woman during a White House visit. But Harry Dunn’s parents say they were stunned by the surprise proposition. Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn traveled to Washington seeking to have the woman’s diplomatic immunity lifted. Instead, Trump and national security adviser Robert O’Brien surprised the family by suggesting they meet with the woman in front of the White House press corps, said one of the couple’s lawyers. Attorney Mark Stephens told The Associated Press that the couple had no idea the diplomat’s wife, Anne Sacoolas, would be in the building when they were there Tuesday. He said the couple wants to meet with Sacoolas at some point, but not in a surprise meeting staged for reporters. Trump said Wednesday that he met with the family in the Oval Office and described them as “desperately sad.” “It was very sad, to be honest,” he said. “They lost their son.” Trump said Sacoolas told him that she was accidentally driving on the wrong side of the road — something Trump said “happens in …

Spain’s government said Wednesday it would do whatever it takes to stamp out violence in Catalonia, where clashes between regional independence supporters and police have injured more than 200 people in two days. “Everything is prepared and (the government) will act, if needed, with firmness, proportionality and unity,” a government statement said. It said caretaker prime minister Pedro Sánchez was meeting with other national political leaders and “he doesn’t rule out any scenario.” Many people in Catalonia have long fought for it to break away from Spain and become a new European country. Demonstrations have traditionally been peaceful, but not always. A protestors raises his fist at police across a burning barricade during clashes between protestors and police in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. Violent clashes erupted in Barcelona and other Catalan towns after Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday handed nine separatist Catalan leaders lengthy prison sentences for their part in an October 2017 effort to achieve independence. Rioting broke out Tuesday evening, when Barcelona police said 40,000 protesters packed the streets near the office of Spain’s government representative. Protesters turned over metal barriers, set fire to trash cans and threw firecrackers and other objects at police. The outnumbered …

A jury in Wisconsin has awarded $450,000 to the father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting after he filed a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy theorist writers who claimed the massacre never happened. A Dane County jury on Tuesday decided the amount James Fetzer must pay Leonard Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was among the 26 victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. Fetzer, a retired University of Minnesota Duluth professor now living in Wisconsin, and Mike Palacek co-wrote a book, “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook,” in which they claimed the Sandy Hook shooting never took place but was instead an event staged by the federal government as part of an Obama administration effort to enact tighter gun restrictions. A judge earlier ruled Pozner was defamed by statements in the book that claimed he fabricated copies of his son’s death certificate. Fetzer called the damages amount “absurd” and said he would appeal. Palacek reached a settlement with Pozner last month, terms of which were not disclosed.   Pozner thanked the jury “for recognizing the pain and terror that Mr. Fetzer has purposefully inflicted on me and on other victims of …