A woman who worked at NBC News claimed that former anchor Matt Lauer raped her at a hotel while on assignment for the Sochi Olympics, an encounter the former “Today” show host claimed was consensual. The claim outlined by Brooke Nevils in Ronan Farrow’s book, “Catch and Kill,” puts a name and details behind the event that led to Lauer’s firing by NBC in 2017. It also provoked the first public response from Lauer, who said in a defiant and graphic letter made public by his lawyer that “my silence was a mistake.” Variety first reported Nevils’ charges after obtaining a copy of Farrow’s book. The Associated Press typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, unless they step forward publicly as Nevils has done. Nevils, who was working for Meredith Vieira in Sochi, met her for drinks one night and Lauer joined them. Nevils said she had six shots of vodka and wound up going to Lauer’s room. She said that Lauer pushed her onto a bed and asked if she liked anal sex. Nevils said she declined several times, but then Lauer “just did it.” She described the encounter as “excruciatingly painful.” “It was nonconsensual in the …

The European Union’s 2019 cybercrime report said the number of online attacks is going down but criminals are targeting more data and profits. The European Union’s law enforcement agency developed the report that shows that ransomware remains the top cybercrime threat. Ransomware attacks block access to vital data and are described as being targeted, more profitable for the attackers and causing greater economic damage to private and public entities. The report, called the Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment, cited the 2019 “GermanWiper” ransomware as an example of the harm it can bring. That ransomware replaced the files of German companies, making them unrecoverable. The report identified concerns of governments becoming victims to ransomware attacks. Local governments in the United States, like the cities of Atlanta and Baltimore, have fallen victim to it.  According to the report “every state in the U.S. has been hit with an attack, with the exception of Delaware and Kentucky.” The IOCTA said the United States has seen more damage from ransomware than the European Union, but that could change as cybercrime “evolves.” Europol also highlighted online sexual exploitation of children.  A report says cybercriminals can use the internet to access sexually explicit content of minors. It says …

Russian authorities say they intend to add an opposition-run anti-corruption foundation to a list of so-called “foreign agents” operating in the country — potentially curtailing the operations of one of the Kremlin’s fiercest critics. In a statement released Wednesday, Russia’s Justice Ministry said an audit of the Anti-Corruption Foundation — a non-governmental organization run by opposition leader Alexey Navalny  — showed the organization was receiving foreign funding to maintain its operations.   The move puts the group, commonly known by its Russian acronym FBK, afoul of Russia’s so-called “foreign agents” law — a controversial 2012 measure the Kremlin says is necessary to protect Russian sovereignty and that civil society leaders argue tars NGOs as traitors and spies.   Formally, the designation opens up the FBK to increased scrutiny by authorities — as well as fines and possible suspension of its operations. FILE – Activist supporters of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are seen monitoring elections at the office of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2018. While the ministry statement provided no details on its audit, an Interfax news agency report said regulators had found two undeclared foreign donations to the FBK — one from the U.S. and …

Women from across Africa are meeting at the annual Women in Tech Africa Week, hoping to bring more women into the tech industry and combat inequalities in technology use and access, especially for economic empowerment. Francesca Opoku remembers having to physically send workers to deliver messages or documents when she started her small social enterprise in Ghana 10 years ago. Today, she works to keep up with fast-developing technology to grow her business that produces natural beauty products. She also trains women she works with in financial literacy, such as using simple mobile technology to manage their money. “As a small African business, as you are growing and as you aspire to grow globally and your tentacles are widening, the world is just going techy,” Opoku said. “Business in the world is going techy. It’s especially relevant in small business. It’s the best way to make what you are doing known out there.” She was at the launch of Women In Tech Africa in Accra, with events in six other countries including Germany, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Opoku said she wants to learn more about how she can use technology to make her business grow and to ensure she is not left …

The European Union is helping countries in Africa create biometric ID cards. The ID cards could make it easier for people in Africa and elsewhere in the region to travel and access government services. But critics fear the EU-funded effort might infringe on Africans’ privacy and also harm democracy if authoritarian governments use the data to repress opposition.  Michael Scaturro has more from Berlin. …

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli is known as the “bulldozer” for refusing to tolerate criticism of himself and his policies. Since coming to office in 2015, critics say Magufuli’s government has squeezed press freedoms through harsh media laws and intimidation.  Charles Kombe reports from Dar es Salaam.  …

In Hong Kong, protests that erupted nearly four months ago to oppose a controversial extradition law have developed into a disruptive pro-democracy movement, led to increasingly violent clashes between protesters and police, and poses a serious challenge to China’s rule over this former British colony. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on how Hong Kong got to this point.   …

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit India to hold an informal summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 11 and 12. The meeting in a coastal temple town near the southern Indian city of Chennai is expected to smooth out ties that have been strained over various issues.   The latest issue to cloud relations between the Asian giants is the August revocation by New Delhi of constitutional autonomy in the disputed region of Kashmir. China’s protests over the action and its strong backing of Pakistan on the issue have raised anger in India, which says the decision is an internal matter. India and Pakistan both claim the Himalayan region and have fought two wars over the territory.   “The forthcoming Chennai Informal Summit will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening India-China Closer Development Partnership,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.   Ahead of the summit, China’s envoy to New Delhi, Sun Weidong, also struck an optimistic note saying that it is “normal” for neighbors to have differences. “The key is to properly handle differences …

Three scientists on Wednesday were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries, which have reshaped energy storage and transformed cars, mobile phones and many other devices in an increasingly portable and electronic world. The prize went to John B. Goodenough of the University of Texas; M. Stanley Whittingham of the State University of New York at Binghamton; and Akira Yoshino of Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University in Japan.   Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said the prize was about “a rechargeable world.”   In a statement, the committee said lithium-ion batteries “have revolutionized our lives” — and the laureates “laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society.”   The Nobel committee said the lithium-ion battery has its roots in the oil crisis in the 1970s, when Whittingham was working to develop methods aimed at leading to fossil fuel-free energy technologies.   The prizes come with a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma that are conferred on Dec. 10 — the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896 — in Stockholm and in Oslo, Norway.   Prize founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist who invented …

When 40-year-old Svetlana Prokopyeva penned her column about an October 2018 suicide bombing by a 17-year-old student at the Federal Security Service (FSB) offices in Arkhangelsk, Russia, she had no inkling of what she would be bringing on herself. The perpetrator killed himself in the blast and injured three FSB officers, announcing beforehand on an anarchist chat forum that he was doing so because the security agency “fabricates cases and tortures people.” Prokopyeva tried in her commentary to enter the state of mind of the teenage bomber, to analyze his motives, arguing the Russian government’s repressive policies and its squelching of dissent and opposition was to blame. “A young citizen who has only seen prohibitions and punishments from the government in his life has not been able to invent any other means of communication. Cruelty breeds cruelty. The ruthless state has created a citizen whose only argument is death,” she wrote. Now Prokopyeva, who works in the northwestern Russian city of Pskov for the independent Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy and is a freelance reporter for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, is facing a possible seven year jail term. Her apartment was raided by the security services, her …

A groundbreaking new device is helping those who are blind see in a new way by helping them perceive the world around them. Jason Esterhuizen never thought he’d be able to see light or movement again after a car accident left him blind. But with the flick of a switch, his world suddenly grew brighter. “I still can’t put it into words. I mean from being able to see absolutely nothing, it’s pitch black, to all of a sudden seeing little flickers of light move around,” Esterhuizen said. While it’s not normal sight, Esterhuizen can navigate the world around him. Dr. Nader Pouratian is one of the researchers at the UCLA Medical Center. “Being able to tell where a doorway is, being able to tell where the sidewalk begins or ends or where the crosswalk is, are all extremely meaningful events that can help regain or help these people regain some form of independence,” Pouratian said. Here’s how it works: a small generator is implanted into the brain. The other parts consist of a video camera on a pair of sunglasses and a processing unit that can fit in a pocket. When the user points the camera in a particular direction, …

In Turkey, new controls regulating internet broadcasting have come into force. The government says all broadcasters need to abide by the same rules, but critics claim the new measures are an attempt to silence the last platform for independent journalism. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

As the political and economic crisis in Venezuela worsens, more teachers have been leaving the classroom and moving out of the country – frustrated over the low pay and lack of supplies in schools.  This is putting parents in a tough position, as VOA’s Adriana Nuñez Rabascall reports from Caracas. Cristina Caicedo Smit narrates her report. …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned deadly violence during protests in Iraq and called on the country’s government to “exercise maximum restraint,” the State Department said Tuesday. In a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, Pompeo “condemned the recent violence in Iraq and noted that those who violated human rights should be held accountable,” the department said in a statement. “The secretary lamented the tragic loss of life over the past few days and urged the Iraqi government to exercise maximum restraint. “Pompeo reiterated that peaceful public demonstrations are a fundamental element of all democracies, and emphasized that there is no place for violence in demonstrations, either by security forces or protestors.” Demonstrations in Iraq began with demands for an end to rampant corruption and chronic unemployment but escalated with calls for a complete overhaul of the political system. They were unprecedented because of their apparent spontaneity and independence in a deeply politicized society, and have also been bloody — with more than 100 people killed and 6,000 wounded in one week.  …

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one if its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that the plaintiff’s attorneys say is linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys. Johnson and Johnson immediately denounced the award after the jury’s decision in the Court of Common pleas, saying it’s “excessive and unfounded” and vowing immediate action to overturn it. The antipsychotic drug Risperdal is at the center of the lawsuit, with the plaintiff’s attorneys arguing it’s linked to abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys, an incurable condition known as gynecomastia. Johnson & Johnson used an organized scheme to make billions of dollars while illegally marketing and promoting the drug, attorneys Tom Kline and Jason Itkin said in a statement. Kline and Itkin said that Johnson & Johnson was “a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients.” Thousands of lawsuits have been filed over the drug, but the attorneys said this was the first in which a jury decided whether to award punitive damages and came up with an amount. Johnson & Johnson said in a statement on its website it was confident …

The furor over a tweet by the Houston Rockets general manager in support of Hong Kong protesters is highlighting the fine line that U.S. companies must walk when doing business with China. The NBA is trying to manage that delicate relationship after Daryl Morey posted a now-deleted tweet of an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” referring to the 4-month-old protests in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. That set off an immediate backlash, with China’s state broadcaster canceling plans to show a pair of preseason games in that country later this week. With a population of 1.4 billion people, a rapidly growing middle class and easing economic restrictions, China is highly appealing to U.S. companies looking for growth overseas. But companies must balance the potential for growth with the potential for pitfalls in dealing with a country that aggressively goes after its detractors. Companies need to use caution Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, cautions that companies should know what they’re getting themselves into when they enter a relationship with a country that’s heading into 70 years of communist rule. “It has a regime that doesn’t look like the United States,” …

Officials are working urgently to retrieve the bodies of 11 elephants that died after trying to save each other from a waterfall in a national park in central Thailand. Park rangers had initially thought six adult elephants had died Saturday while trying to save a three-year-old calf that had slipped down the falls. But Monday, a drone found the bodies of five more elephants in the waters below the fall in Khao Yai National Park. Authorities have strung a net downstream to catch the bodies as they float down the fast-moving waters. There is concern that the rotting bodies will contaminate the water. Officers expect the bodies to reach the net in a few days. The elephants will be buried and the area sealed with hydrated lime to prevent contamination, the Bangkok Post reported. This is not the first such incident at the waterfall, known as Haew Narok (Hell’s Fall). In 1998, eight elephants died at the same site. Park officials put up fencing to keep the wild animals away from the area, but that has not worked. The park is home to about 300 of Thailand’s approximately 3,000 wild animals. …

More than one-third of new mothers in four poor countries are abused during childbirth, a study published Wednesday in the medical journal The Lancet. The study, carried out in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar and Nigeria by the World Health Organization, found that 42% of the women experienced physical or verbal abuse or some form of stigma or discrimination at maternity health facilities. The study also found a high number of caesarean sections, vaginal exams and other procedures being performed without the patient’s consent. Of the 2,016 women observed for the study, 14% said they were either hit, slapped or punched during childbirth. Some 38% of the women said they were subjected to verbal abuse, most often by being shouted at, mocked or scolded. An alarming 75% had episiotomies performed without consent. The procedure involves surgically enlarging the opening of the vagina. The authors of the study urged officials to hold those who mistreat women during childbirth accountable. They also urged the governments to put into place clear policies and sufficient resources to ensure that women have a safe place to give birth. Among the specific steps proposed by the study are: making sure all medical procedures are performed only after getting …

President Donald Trump on Tuesday awarded one of the nation’s highest civilian honors to Edwin Meese, best known for serving as President Ronald Reagan’s attorney general. Meese, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, had a longstanding connection to Reagan that included serving as his chief of staff when Reagan was California’s governor. After Reagan became president, Meese served as his chief policy adviser before going on to serve as the nation’s 75th attorney general. “He was a star,” Trump said. “Ed was among President Reagan’s closest advisers as the administration implemented tax cuts, a dramatic defense buildup and a relentless campaign to defeat communism.” FILE – President-elect Ronald Reagan and his transition team leader Edwin Meese leave the Blair House in Washington, Dec. 10, 1980. Meese was an early Trump critic who ended up supporting him and helping lead his transition team. Surrounded by family and friends in the Oval Office, the 87-year-old recalled some 30 years of working with Reagan at the state and national level and in his retirement. “Ronald Reagan was a pivotal part of my life and I am always grateful to him,” Meese said. Meese stayed active in conservative circles following his time in …

Steve Herman at the White House, Carla Babb at the Pentagon and Nike Ching at the State Department contributed to this report. Turkish military officials say their troops are ready to launch a long-planned incursion into Syria to take out Kurdish forces branded by Ankara as terrorists, but viewed by much of the West as key partners in the fight against the Islamic State terror group. “Our glorious army is ready for Operation Safe Zone,’” the Turkish Armed Forces tweeted late Tuesday, promising to fight against what it described as Kurdish terrorists, as well as against IS, “with determination.” Gücünü asil milletimizden alan TSK, PKK/PYD- YPG-SDG ve DEAŞ gibi terör örgütleri başta olmak üzere her türlü tehdit ve tehlikeye karşı gece gündüz, yaz kış, dağ bayır demeden azim ve kararlılıkla mücadelesini sürdürmektedir. Şanlı ordumuz Güvenli Bölge Harekâtı için hazırdır.🇹🇷 Artillery pieces are seen on the Turkish side of the border with Syria near Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Oct. 8, 2019. Yet, despite the social media diplomacy, U.S. military officials said they expect a Turkish incursion is still likely and confirmed that they have repositioned about 50 U.S. special forces members, who had been operating along the Turkey-Syria border, out of …

Dogs can perform many tricks for their owners, but the best one might be extending their life. “Our analysis found having a dog is actually protective against dying of any cause,” said Dr. Caroline Kramer, lead author of a study published Tuesday in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. Kramer’s team studied data on 3.8 million patients taken from 10 other studies conducted worldwide over more than 70 years. They found a 24% reduction in the risk of death from all causes, and a 31% reduction of death due to cardiovascular problems.   “Having a dog was associated with increased physical exercise, lower blood pressure levels and better a cholesterol profile in previous reports,”she said. Another study also published Tuesday in the same journal found that dog owners living alone had a 33% better chance of surviving a heart attack than patients living alone without a dog. In stroke patients living alone, the chance of survival increased 27%. That study was conducted in Sweden between 2001 and 2012 using the country’s National Patient Register. “We know that loneliness and social isolation are strong risk factors for premature death, and our hypothesis was that the company of a pet …

The U.N. Secretary-General warned Tuesday that the organization is facing its “deepest deficit of the decade” and might not be able to pay all its staff in November. “Our work and our reforms are at risk,” António Guterres told a meeting of the U.N. budget committee. Guterres said the cash-flow problem is so steep that without spending cuts he put in place in January, the organization would not have been able to pay for last month’s meeting of the General Assembly for its annual debate, which was attended by world leaders. By the end of September, member states had paid only 70% of the total assessment for the regular budget, compared to 78% at the same time last year, a U.N. spokesperson said. Of the organization’s 193 member states, 129 have paid in full, totaling $1.99 billion toward the regular budget of just over $3 billion. Approximately $1.3 billion is outstanding for 2019. U.S. payments The United States is among the 64 countries that has yet to pay its dues in full. It is also the largest contributor to the U.N.’s regular budget. Washington owes more than $674 million for 2019 and has an additional $381 million outstanding from 2018 …

A state-run Rwandan newspaper reports that the country has deported an American pastor who was arrested and accused of disturbing the public order. The New Times Tuesday cited immigration authorities as saying conservative missionary Gregg Schoof had overstayed his work permit. Police had arrested him for what they called an illegal meeting with journalists to criticize the government’s shutdown of his local radio station. Gregg Schoof, US pastor, arrested in Rwanda for ‘illegal’ meeting https://t.co/yybmZcjONxpic.twitter.com/JVSrcmoapl — BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) October 7, 2019 That Amazing Grace radio station was banned last year after authorities said it broadcast a sermon that described women as “evil.” The New Times report said Schoof in a statement on Monday criticized Rwanda authorities for loosening restrictions on abortion and teaching about reproductive health in schools. “Is this government trying to send people to hell?” the statement asked. …