The parents of a British teenager who was killed when a U.S. diplomat’s wife collided her car into the teenager’s motorcycle have reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump after she left the UK, claiming diplomatic immunity. “It’s just such a dishonorable thing to do, to just leave and go back and abscond back to her own country,” Charlotte Charles, the mother of 19 year-old Harry Dunn said. She called the crash that killed her son a “clear-cut case.” “She was on the wrong side of the road. She admitted to a witness that night she was on the wrong side of the road to the police. The next day, she said she had no intention of leaving.” Charles said. She added that the woman left for the U.S. just after her son Harry’s funeral. The State Department has declined to identify the woman, only calling her the 42-year-old wife of a U.S diplomat. British police say on August 27, the woman was driving her Volvo on a highway near Croughton air force base in Northamptonshire when she struck Harry’s motorcycle head on. It is unclear if she was injured in the accident. British police say they needed her diplomatic …

French and German attempts to end the conflict in east Ukraine risk increasing tensions that were already rising in the European Union over how to handle Russia and which could complicate peace efforts. Progress at talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys have raised hopes of convening the first international summit in three years on ending the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces. But some EU states, while welcoming a summit that would involve France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, are worried by growing talk that the EU might partially lift sanctions imposed on Moscow since its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. EU divisions over how to deal with Moscow have been growing over overtures to the Kremlin in recent months, led by Paris. Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron have especially upset governments in EU countries that were once Soviet satellite states or constituent republics. Alarmed by what they see as an increasingly aggressive Russian foreign policy, they reject anything that might smack of appeasement. “Are we to reward Russia because they have not done anything grotesque in the past few months?” one EU diplomat asked. In EU meetings, letters and speeches, divisions about Russia that were …

Britain’s Boris Johnson urged French President Emanuel Macron on Sunday to “push forward” to secure a Brexit deal and told him  the EU should not be lured into the mistaken belief that the U.K. would stay in the EU after Oct.31, the prime minister’s office said. Johnson discussed his Brexit proposal, which has been widely rebuffed in Brussels, with Macron and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Sunday. “This is the chance to get a deal done: a deal that is backed by parliamentarians and a deal which involves compromise on all sides,” a senior Number 10 source said on Sunday. “The U.K. has made a big, important offer but it’s time for the Commission to show a willingness to compromise too. If not the UK will leave with no deal.” With the Oct. 31 deadline approaching, Johnson has consistently said he will not ask for another delay to Brexit, but also that he will not break a law that forces him to request one if no withdrawal deal has been agreed by Oct. 19. He has not explained the apparent contradiction in his comments.   …

A massive, new underground necropolis is being built in Jerusalem to help overcome a looming shortage of grave sites for Jewish people in the holy city. The mile-long labyrinth, with 23,000 burial chambers lining the walls and ground, was tunnelled into the hillside beneath Jerusalem’s main Jewish cemetery, Givat Shaul, which is quickly running out of space. Chevra Kadisha, the main group overseeing Jewish burials in Israel, has invested some 300 million shekels ($86 million) in the modern twist on an ancient burial practice that it hopes will ease the pressure on the city’s cemeteries. Dozens of graveyards in Israel have already closed their gates to new burials. Non-Jews, who make up a minority in Israel, are buried in separate cemeteries. The first 8,000 graves will be ready to use at the end of the month. “According to our plan, after we finish the first part of 23,000 graves, probably we will have enough space to continue digging underground,” Chananya Shachor, director of a local chapter of Chevra Kadisha, said on Sunday as the media got a first glimpse of the work. “We will continue if people will accept this new method of burying.”   …

Contract talks aimed at ending a 21-day strike by the United Auto Workers against General Motors have taken a turn for the worse, hitting a big snag over product commitments for U.S. factories, a union official wrote in an email to members. The letter from UAW Vice President Terry Dittes casts doubt on whether there will be a quick settlement in the contract dispute, which sent 49,000 workers to the picket lines on Sept. 16, crippling GM’s factories. Dittes’ letter says the union presented a proposal to the company Saturday. He said GM responded Sunday morning by reverting back to an offer that had been rejected and made few changes. The company’s proposal did nothing to address a host of items, Dittes wrote, specifying job security for members during the term of the four-year contract. Normally in contract talks, the union bargains for commitments from the company to build new vehicles, engines, transmissions and other items at U.S. factories represented by the union. “It did nothing to provide job security during the term of this agreement,” Dittes wrote. “We, in this union, could not be more disappointed with General Motors who refuse to recognize the experience and talent of our …

Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth dissolved parliament on Sunday and said the Indian Ocean island would hold a general election on November 7. The country, a popular tourist destination and one of Africa’s most stable nations, holds elections every five years, with the last one in 2014. By law, the country has between 30 and 150 days to organize elections after the prime minister dissolves parliament. “I have advised the president of the republic to dissolve Parliament and to issue the writ for general elections,” he said in a video statement, adding that voting would be on Nov 7. Jugnauth, 57, who is also finance minister will seek another term as leader of the Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM). He has served as prime minister since 2017 when he took over from his father, Anerood Jugnauth.   …

Miami, the second home to legendary Mexican crooner Jose Jose, mourned the iconic artist on Sunday by gathering several hundreds of his fans at a closed casket wake with his family. Known as the “Prince of Song,” Jose Romulo Sosa Ortiz died eight days ago in Miami at age 71. The singer had been battling pancreatic cancer. The artist’s youngest daughter Sarita Sosa thanked Miamians for embracing her dad when he first arrived decades ago, saying he was brought back to life in Florida. “May his music never die, please,” she said, holding back tears. “Thank you for coming. You are our family. All of Miami, thank you.” Jose Jose rose to stardom in 1970 with his hit “El Triste” or “The Sad One,” and became well-known across Latin America in the 1980s with his best-selling album “Secrets,” a collaboration with Spanish composer and producer Manuel Alejandro. But the Mexican singer struggled with substance abuse and depression. Following the 1993 separation from Mexican model Anel Norena, he began sleeping in a taxi on the outskirts of the Mexican capital before friends intervened and took him to an addiction treatment center in the U.S. The artist remarried in 1995 to a …

A second whistleblower has come forward with information about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, adding to the impeachment peril engulfing the White House and potentially providing new leads to Democrats in their unfurling investigation of Trump’s conduct. Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said the second person has spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog and can corroborate information in the original whistleblower complaint. That document alleged that Trump pushed Ukraine’s president to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s family, prompting a White House cover-up. Crucially, the new whistleblower works in the intelligence field and has “firsthand knowledge” of key events, Zaid said. The emergence of the second whistleblower threatened to undermine arguments from Trump and his allies to discredit the original complaint. They have called it politically motivated, claimed it was filed improperly and dismissed it as unreliable because it was based on secondhand or thirdhand information. A rough transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, released by the White House, has already corroborated the complaint’s central claim that Trump sought to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. The push came even though there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the former vice president or …

A group of eleven key Taliban prisoners is reported to have been released from the U.S.-run Bagram military base in Afghanistan in exchange for three Indian hostages. Insurgent sources said Sunday the swap took place in the northern province of Baghlan and two former Taliban provincial governors were among those freed. Taliban men could be seen being welcomed by insurgent fighters in video images released via social media. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid when asked for his comments on the reported swap told VOA “I have not received the details. I am trying to get them and will share with you.” There was no immediate reaction from U.S. officials or the Afghan government. The Indian hostages were abducted last year along with four other countrymen while they were working on a project in Baghlan for the construction of a power generation station. One of them managed to escape and returned to India this past May while the fate of the rest was not known. Many of the districts in the troubled Afghan province are either controlled or hotly contested by the Taliban. U.S.-Taliban Meetings in Pakistan Sunday’s reported prisoner exchange followed last week’s informal meetings between American and Taliban negotiators in …

Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group celebrated in Addis Ababa on Saturday at the start of an annual thanksgiving festival which was marred by violence in 2016. Security was high for Irreecha, which is celebrated by the Oromo people to mark the start of the harvest season. On Friday and Saturday thousands of people dressed in traditional white costumes arrived in buses, cars and by foot from all over the Oromia region to celebrate on the streets of the capital with dancing, singing and flag waving. “This festivity is a symbol of a transition from darkness to a light,” said Zewidu Megrarobi, 65, a farmer from Yeka, a village located on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, who was present during the 2016 clashes. Security was high, with a visible presence from security forces including snipers. Ethiopian Federal Police said nine people had been arrested on the eve of the festival for attempting to smuggle weapons within the capital. Security officers stand guard during the opening ceremony of Irreecha celebration, the Oromo People thanksgiving ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Oct. 4, 2019. The peaceful start was in contrast to 2016 when a stampede triggered by a clash between police …

North Korea has angrily walked away from working-level nuclear talks with the United States. Pyongyang’s top negotiator said he was “greatly disappointed” with Washington’s inflexible approach. The first substantive nuclear negotiations in months between North Korea and the U.S. broke down after just one day in Stockholm, Sweden. North Korea’s top nuclear envoy says the talks failed because the U.S. would not abandon its old approach. The U.S. quickly disputed that characterization, saying the 8-and-a-half-hour talks went “good” and that the U.S. brought “creative ideas.” The breakdown raises the possibility North Korea will intensify its provocations, days after testing a new medium-range ballistic missile. But the North’s decision could also amount to a negotiating tactic meant to raise pressure on Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to use a similar tactic this February in Vietnam, when he abruptly walked away from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. FILE – U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun leaves a meeting at the Swedish Foreign Ministry in Stockholm, Oct. 4, 2019. After that summit, both sides quickly said they would eventually like to resume diplomacy. But neither have indicated they will substantially change their negotiating stance. U.S. officials …

Police blocked a march Sunday by thousands of protesters in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir who wanted to move toward the highly militarized Line of Control that divides the territory between Pakistan and India. The marchers are protesting the lockdown in Indian-administered Kashmir. Police placed shipping containers on the road and deployed a large contingent of officers near Jaskool, 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the frontier to stop the supporters of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, which announced it intended to cross the frontier to help Kashmiris under Indian oppression.   India imposed a strict curfew on Aug. 5 after stripping Indian-controlled Kashmir of its statehood.   JKLF wants Kashmir to be independent from from both India and Pakistan. The group has a history of attempts to cross the de facto frontier in the last three decades, including once in 1992 that ended in violence.   Abdul Hameed Butt, a leader of the JKLF, said the protesters would stage a sit-in until the blockade was removed.   The JKLF march, termed the “Freedom March” began Friday and reached the blockade after two overnight stops.   Police officer Arshad Naqvi said protesters won’t be allowed to continue because of the threat of “unprovoked enemy fire” …

Astronauts kicked off the first of five spacewalks to replace old batteries at the International Space Station on Sunday. Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan had to remove a pair of old batteries and install a new one delivered just a week ago. These new lithium-ion batteries are so powerful that only one is needed for every two old ones, which are original to the orbiting lab.   The 400-pound (180-kilogram) batteries — half the size of a refrigerator — are part of the space station’s solar power network. Astronauts have been upgrading them since 2017. They’re halfway done. The old batteries are 10 years old; the new ones are expected to last until the end of the space station’s life.   These latest battery swaps are especially difficult given the extreme location on the station’s sprawling frame. It’s too far for the 58-foot (17-meter) robot arm to reach, forcing astronauts to lug the batteries back and forth themselves. That’s why so many spacewalks are needed this time to replace 12 old nickel-hydrogen batteries with six new lithium-ion versions.   After removing the first old battery, Koch and Morgan took turns holding it as they made their way, inchworm style, to a storage …

A second whistleblower has come forward about U.S. President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, the lawyer representing the person said. Mark Zaid told ABC News “This Week” that the individual is from the intelligence community, like the first whistleblower whose complaint regarding a phone call between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents triggered an impeachment inquiry into Trump. Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said the second person has first hand knowledge of the matter with as well as some of the allegations outlined in the original complaint. He said the second whistleblower has been interviewed by the head of the intelligence community’s internal watchdog office, Michael Atkinson.   FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019. Zaid also represents the first whistleblower who filed a complaint involving a July 25 phone call  between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump asked for help investigating a Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden along with Biden’s son, Hunter.   Trump tweeted Saturday, “The first so-called second hand information “Whistleblower” got my phone conversation almost …

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Sunday rejected as speculation talk of a military coup after recent jihadist attacks left dozens of soldiers dead. Keita said lessons would be learned after 38 soldiers were killed in two attacks last week near the border with Burkina Faso, a death toll that observers say is probably an underestimate. “No military coup will prevail in Mali, let it be said,” the president said in remarks recorded Saturday and released on Sunday. “And I don’t think this is on the agenda at all and cannot worry us,” he added. “We are at war,” the president said after the attacks last Monday and Tuesday  in the towns of Boulkessy and Mondoro, which evoked memories of a 2012 army coup in the former French colony. “What happened at Boulkessy could unfortunately happen again,” Keita said. The assailants used heavily armed vehicles in the raids on the two military camps, during which the government said troops killed 15 jihadists. The jihadists made off with a large quantity of arms, ammunition and equipment — local media said about 20 vehicles were captured, including some mounted with machine guns. Sources said Malian special forces and foreign allies, including French warplanes …

Iran’s oil minister said Sunday that China’s CNPC has withdrawn from the development of an offshore gas field and that state-owned Petropars will take over the entire project. The South Pars gas field was to be developed jointly by France’s Total, China National Petroleum Corporation and Petropars under a $4.8-billion (4.1 billion-euro) deal signed in July 2017. The deal came after Iran reached a 2015 agreement with world powers that gave it relief from sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, ending years of economic isolation. Total left the project three months after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the nuclear accord in May last year and reimposed sanctions on Iran’s oil industry and other key sectors of the economy. “Phase 11 (of South Pars) will be entirely developed by Petropars company,” Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the ministry’s official website. Asked whether CNPC International had abandoned the project, Zanganeh said: “Yes, they have.” The other parties to the Iran nuclear deal — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — have vowed to stay in the accord despite the US withdrawal, but their efforts have so far borne no fruit. Zanganeh …

Egypt has urged international mediation over what it called “deadlock” in talks in Sudan over a massive dam under construction on the Nile River, sparking fresh tensions with Ethiopia. Negotiations between the three countries have been at a stalemate for years after Ethiopia began constructing the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile in 2012. Ethiopia says the project is needed to provide electricity. But Egypt is concerned the huge dam will severely reduce its water supplies and says it has “historic rights” to the river guaranteed by decades-old treaties. Egypt “called for the involvement of an international party in the Renaissance Dam negotiations to mediate between the three countries,” the irrigation ministry said in a statement late Saturday after a new round of talks ended in Khartoum. An impasse was reached after Ethiopia “rejected all the proposals that take Egypt’s water interests into account,” the ministry added. It said Ethiopia presented a proposal that “lacked guarantees” of the minimum water flow as well as how to deal with possible droughts. The Ethiopian foreign ministry rejected Egypt’s call for international mediation as “an unwarranted denial of the progress” of talks. “It also goes against the consent and wishes of Ethiopia,” …

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Sunday he was seeking “non-aggression” agreements with Gulf Arab nations that do not formally recognize the country as a prelude to possible future peace deals. Details of the proposal were not made public, but it was the latest sign of Israel’s push to improve ties with Gulf Arab nations with whom it has no formal diplomatic relations. Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory has long served as a major factor preventing peace deals with Arab countries, but common concerns over Iran are widely seen as having brought them closer in recent years. “Recently, I have been promoting, under the backing of the United States, a political initiative to sign ‘non-aggression agreements’ with the Arab Gulf states,” Katz wrote on Twitter. “The historic move will put an end to the conflict and allow civilian cooperation until peace agreements are signed.” Katz said he discussed the initiative with unnamed Arab foreign ministers and U.S. President Donald Trump’s outgoing envoy Jason Greenblatt while attending the U.N. General Assembly in late September. A spokesman for Katz declined to provide further details for now, and it was not clear how much progress he has made in the endeavor. Only two …

The workers were sleeping on the mountainside where they had spent a long day harvesting pine nuts in eastern Afghanistan. Some were in tents, others lay outside under the stars, when the U.S. airstrike tore into them. Only hours before the Sept. 19 strike, the businessman who hired them had heard there was a drone over the mountain and called Afghanistan’s intelligence agency to remind an official his workers were there — as he’d notified the agency days earlier. “He laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry they are not going to bomb you,’” the businessman, Aziz Rahman, recalled. Twenty workers were killed in the strike, including seven members of one family. A relative, Mohammed Hasan, angrily described body parts they found scattered on the ground, gesturing at his arm, his leg, his head. “This is not their (Americans’) first mistake,” said Hasan. “They say ‘sorry.’ What are we supposed to do with ‘sorry?’ … People now are angry. They are so angry with the foreigners, with this government.” FILE – Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during an interview in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 24, 2019. Increasing civilian deaths Increasing civilian deaths in stepped-up U.S. airstrikes and operations by Afghan forces highlight …

SEVERNA PARK, MD – Before she could even talk, Ellie Heath used to spend hours drawing. When she grew older, the 15-year-old discovered the joy of sewing. “It is my biggest hobby. It relaxes me. It started off with earrings and felted mice, and then I eventually got into sewing and jean jackets,” Ellie says. Her passion for creativity inspired her to become an entrepreneur. “Three Blue Bunnies” is the name of the company she founded to make what she calls “wearable Art.” “My definition of wearable art is something that makes you feel unique. It’s one of a kind often handmade,” she explains. She sells her products in farmers markets, local church fairs and craft shows. Ellie Heath stands next to some of her designs – repurposed jeans jackets adorned with her distinctive artistic touch (Photo: F. Elmasry / VOA) Design comes to her All the pieces Ellie creates are made of recycled or donated fabrics. “There is over 21 billion pounds of textile in the U.S. alone, in landfills and I strive to reduce that number, at least a little,” she says. She is repurposing jeans jackets by adding her distinctive artistic touch on each of them. The …

The U.S. Supreme Court is headed for another blockbuster year, starting a busy new term Monday with hot-button cases that will be decided in the midst of a contentious presidential election campaign. Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, who has been unusually vocal about protecting the high court’s reputation, the nine justices on the bench will likely seek a low profile, as they did last term following the raucous confirmation hearing of conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But with a string of cases involving socially divisive issues, from abortion to LGBTQ rights, on the docket, court watchers are bracing for as many ideologically split decisions that could be exploited by presidential and congressional candidates for political gain.  “It would probably be a mistake to expect that many of the high-profile cases will be unanimous or nearly unanimous; more likely is a series of angry 5-to-4 decisions,” said Garrett Epps, a professor of law at the University of Baltimore. FILE – Abortion rights supporters protest at the Louisiana Capitol, where lawmakers were considering a bill that would ban abortion at as early as six weeks of pregnancy, May 21, 2019, in Baton Rouge, La. The bill won legislative passage May 29. “The …

Hong Kong police fired tear gas at pro-democracy protesters Sunday after tens of thousands hit the streets once more to defy a ban on face masks despite half the city’s subway stations remaining closed. Large crowds marched through torrential rain in unsanctioned rallies on both sides of Victoria Harbor Sunday afternoon. Clashes soon erupted as police fired tear gas at protesters blocking roads and building barricades in at least three different locations. Protesters have staged unsanctioned flash mob rallies across the strife-torn city — some vandalizing subway stations and shops — after Hong Kong’s leader outlawed face coverings at protests, invoking colonial-era emergency powers not used for half a century. Pro-democracy lawmakers went to the High Court on Sunday seeking an emergency injunction against the ban, arguing the emergency powers bypassed the legislature and contravened the city’s mini-constitution. But a senior judge dismissed their injunction demand. An anti-government protester is pictured during a demonstration in Wan Chai district, in Hong Kong, Oct. 6, 2019. As the ruling was being delivered, two unsanctioned rallies were kicking off on both sides of Victoria Harbor, with thousands of masked protesters gathering in torrential downpours. After four months of huge and increasingly violent protests, …

Kosovo is electing a new parliament amid calls for leaders to resume dialogue with Serbia over normalizing ties. About 1.9 million eligible voters Sunday started to cast their ballots to elect 120 lawmakers. The vote comes after the outgoing prime minister resigned in July following a request from a Hague-based court to question him over crimes against ethnic Serbs during and after the country’s 1998-99 war. No single political party is likely to win the vote on its own. The Serb minority has 10 seats and 10 others belong to other minorities. Kosovo became independent in 2008 after NATO intervened in 1999 to stop then-Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic’s bloody crackdown on Albanian independence fighters’ insurrection. It is recognized by more than 100 countries but not by Serbia.   …

Caviar, a food associated with luxury, is being produced for the first time in Madagascar. The product makes consumers in faraway France happy, and provides hundreds of jobs in this African country.  VOA’s Jim Randle has our story.   …