Political uncertainty and volatile oil prices are hindering economic growth in the Middle East this year, but trends should reverse next year, according to a new report released Monday by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF’s regional outlook report projects growth to rise just 0.5% in 2019, compared to 1.6% in 2018. Increased activity in the oil and gas sectors is expected to generate a rebound to 2.7% growth in 2020, though this figure too falls shorter than previous projections. The report, which looks at the economies of 23 countries spanning North Africa, the Levant, the Persian Gulf, but also Djibouti, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the drops were linked in part to the performance of the oil exporting countries, whose economies are expected to retract 1.3% this year. The hardest hit has been Iran and Libya. The IMF expects a 9.5% retraction in Iran’s economic growth in 2019, primarily because of U.S. sanctions against it, and in Libya a 19.1% drop because of that country’s prolonged conflict. Recent months have also seen a series of mysterious oil tanker attacks the U.S. blames on Iran, something Tehran denies. Iran, which has seen its main export of oil severely restricted, also …

A spokesman for Pakistan’s minority Ahmadis says authorities demolished a 70-year-old mosque belonging to the sect in a remote village in eastern Punjab province.   Saleem-ud-Din says district police moved in over the weekend to demolish the mudbrick mosque in Hasilpur, a Muslim-majority village with only about a dozen Ahmadi residents.   He says the mosque’s dome reserved for the prayer leader was destroyed and left in a pile of rubble.   Din says authorities claimed the mosque was built illegally on government land, which he denies. There was no immediate government comment.   There are about half a million of Ahmadis in Pakistan, which has a population of 220 million. Pakistan declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974.   Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted by Sunni militants who consider them heretics.   …

An Iranian lawyer representing two French researchers in custody in Tehran says prosecutors have given no evidence of spying and security charges against them, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported Monday. The report quoted lawyer Saeid Dehghan as saying Roland Marchal was detained on security charges in June while visiting Iran to see Iranian-French fellow academic Fariba Adelkhah.   Iran disclosed in July the arrest of Adelkhah, a prominent anthropologist who holds dual French-Iranian nationality. Adelkhah often traveled to Iran for her research on post-revolutionary Iranian society.   Iran said she was arrested on espionage charges.   France revealed earlier this month that Marchal had also been arrested. The revelation came after Iran rejected as “unacceptable” a call by France for the release of Adelkhah. Iran does not recognize dual nationality for its citizens.   Marchal was in Iran to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that ends the holy month of Ramadan with Adelkhah when he was arrested, according to a statement from the African Studies Association in France.   Since Marchal’s detention became public, academics around the world have demanded Iran release the two academics. The Paris university Sciences Po issued a statement calling the detentions “scandalous, …

Pope Francis has declared that the Vatican Secret Archive isn’t so secret after all. Francis on Monday officially changed the name of the Holy See archive to remove what he said were the “negative” implications of having “secret” in its name.   From now on, the vast trove of documentation of popes past will be officially known as the “Vatican Apostolic Archive.”   Francis noted that the archive has long been open to scholars and that he himself has decreed that the archives of World War II-era Pope Pius XII, accused by some of not speaking out enough about the Holocaust, would open ahead of time March 2, 2020.   But he said the name change better reflects the archive’s reality and “its service to the church and the world of culture.”   …

A right-wing coalition scored a net victory in a local election in the central Italian region of Umbria, official data from the Interior Ministry showed on Monday, giving a boost to Matteo Salvini’s League party.  The vote in tiny Umbria, a traditional center-left stronghold with less than 900,000 inhabitants, restores impetus to Salvini after a political blunder led to his party losing a spot in the country’s national government this summer. The hard-right leader walked out of the ruling coalition his party had formed with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in August, expecting to trigger a national election that polls predicted he would win. Instead, 5-Star hooked up with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), shunting Salvini into opposition. Donatella Tesei, a senator for the League, who was also backed by the far-right Brothers of Italy and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, won the top seat as governor with 57.6% of the votes. The new 5-Star/PD alliance failed its first electoral test as Vincenzo Bianconi, leader of the civic alliance backed by the two parties, garnered 37.5% of the ballots. Claudio Ricci, a right-wing independent candidate, got only 2.65% of the votes, cast by 65% of the region’s citizens. Salvini …

The European Union is likely to agree a 3-month flexible Brexit delay on Monday as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushes for an election after he was forced by his opponents to request an extension he had pledged he would never ask for. Just three days before the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on Oct. 31 at 2300 GMT, Brexit is hanging in the balance as British politicians are no closer to reaching a consensus on how, when or even if the divorce should take place. Johnson, who won the top job by pledging – “do or die” – to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31, was forced by opponents to request a delay after he was defeated in parliament over the sequencing of the ratification of his divorce deal. The 27 European Union countries that will remain after Brexit hope to agree on Monday to delay Britain’s divorce until Jan. 31 with an earlier departure possible should the factious UK parliament ratify their separation deal, sources said. Diplomatic sources told Reuters the bloc’s 27 EU ambassadors would meet at 0900 GMT on Monday in Brussels to agree on the three-month delay from the current Brexit date of …

When the Fenner Wind Farm went online in upstate New York in early 2002, it was the largest in the United States. Today it’s still up and running and providing electricity for thousands of homes. It also serves as a teaching tool about renewable energy. Dmitrii Vershinin visited the farm and has more in this story narrated by Anna Rice. …

Questions arose after a gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand, live-streamed a video of himself opening fire at a mosque earlier this year. The terrorist killed 51 and injured dozens. Now, British police turning to social media companies to stop such broadcasts before they start.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has this story. …

Drones are being taught to deliver food and medical supplies to customers. Now, doctors and scientists at the University of Maryland at College Park are creating special, custom-made drones that can literally save lives. Alexey Gorbachev has the story narrated by Anna Rice.  …

California Governor Gavin Newsom says there are hopes that by later Monday the near historic winds that are driving a huge wildfire in the northern part of the state will “substantially settle down” as some 3,000 people work to put out the blaze. “We’re not out of the woods, but we are leaning in the right direction,” Newsom said at a late Sunday briefing. The western U.S. state is commonly hit by numerous wildfires at this time of year with the combination of low humidity and strong winds combining to create favorable conditions for fire growth. Firefighters had said the Kincade Fire, named for a local road where the flames are believed to have started in Sonoma County, was at 10% containment, but as of late Sunday that had dropped to 5% with the fire at about 22,000 hectares in size. Cal Fire said the blaze had already destroyed about 100 structures. California State Senator Mike McGuire said 4,600 people have gone to shelters in Sonoma County. Statewide, about 180,000 people have evacuated their homes to seek safety from wildfires.   Newsom declared a state of emergency Sunday and said there is “no question” the evacuations have saved lives. “Go …

Negotiations on a sweeping 16-nation free trade deal and a code of conduct for the hotly contested South China Sea are expected to take center stage at a summit of Asian leaders in Bangkok next month. The leaders of all 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are due to attend the bloc’s regular year-end summit on Nov. 2-4, along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva are also expected. Meetings related to the summit begin Thursday. RCEP a big deal As this year’s chair of ASEAN, Thailand is hoping to end its run with negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) all but done. In the works since 2012, the deal is seen by some as China’s retort to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiations for which excluded China and fell apart when the US pulled out. Taking in all 10 ASEAN countries and six others — Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — it would cover 45 percent of the world’s population and a third of global GDP. With India and China …

Conservative President Mauricio Macri conceded defeat in Argentina’s election Sunday night, paving the way for the country’s Peronist center-left to return to power under Alberto Fernandez as frustrated voters rejected the incumbent’s handling of a bruising economic crisis that has sunk many into poverty. The result would mark a dramatic return to high office of former President Cristina Fernandez, Alberto Fernandez’s vice presidential running mate, former boss and what critics say might be the power behind his throne. Macri told supports at his headquarters that he had called Alberto Fernandez to congratulate him and invited him for a breakfast chat Monday at the Pink Presidential Palace. “We need an orderly transition that will bring tranquility to all Argentines, because the most important thing is the well-being of all Argentines,” Macri said. Authorities said Fernandez has 47.83% of the votes compared to 40.66% for Macri, with 91.21% percent of the votes counted. He needs 45% support, or 40% support with a 10 percentage point lead, over the nearest rival to avoid a runoff vote on Nov. 24. Macri was elected president in 2015 promising to jumpstart the country’s economy. Argentines rejected at the time a successor chosen by ex-president Fernandez, who …

Hundreds of policemen from Haiti’s National Police Force, PNH, took to the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince Sunday, dressed in civilian clothes to protest against what they say are deplorable work conditions. The police officers, who are demanding officials allow them to form a union, complain they have not been paid for months, while being expected to risk their lives to maintain law and order.  This was the first time law enforcement officers have taken to the streets since the nationwide anti-government protests began last summer. “They are holding 6 months (of) salary they owe us, that’s not good, it’s not logical,” a policeman told VOA Creole. “When we show up somewhere and say we are police, if we don’t have a decent car to ride in they don’t even believe us – they take us for criminals because we aren’t getting paid so we can’t take care of ourselves.” Another policeman draped in a Haitian flag and wearing a straw hat with Haiti printed in blue and red letters on it told VOA Creole they are defending rights guaranteed under the nation’s constitution. “The constitution says we have the right to form a union, to defend our rights,” he …

Joe Biden called it “improper” for President Donald Trump for having his daughter and son-in-law hold positions in the White House, suggesting in a CBS interview Sunday that Jared Kushner is not qualified to weigh in on the complex affairs assigned by his father-in-law. That assessment, which the Democratic presidential hopeful offered in a wide-ranging “60 Minutes” interview, ratchets up the rhetoric between Trump and Biden over each other’s adult children and family business affairs. Biden told CBS that he doesn’t like “going after” politicians’ children, but he said none of his children would hold White House posts, even as he continued to defend his son, Hunter, against Trump’s charges that the Biden’s are corrupt because of the younger Biden’s international business affairs while his father was vice president. “You should make it clear to the American public that everything you’re doing is for them,” Biden said, according to a CBS transcript, when he was asked about Ivanka Trump and Kushner, her husband, in White House posts with significant policy portfolios. “Their actions speak for themselves,” Biden said of the Trump family. “I can just tell you this, that if I’m president get elected president my children are not gonna …

Democratic congresswoman Katie Hill of California has resigned amid an ethics probe and revelations of an affair with a campaign staffer. In a statement Sunday, the 32-year-old freshman from the Los Angeles area says leaving the House is best for her constituents, community and country. Hill is under investigation by a congressional committee for an alleged intimate relationship with a male senior aide, which Hill denies. She has acknowledged an affair with a young female staffer. Compromising photos and purported text messages surfaced online this past week in a right-wing publication and a British tabloid. Last year, Hill won the last Republican-held House seat anchored in Los Angeles County. …

Former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, one of the longest-serving members of Congress whose resolutely liberal stance on civil rights made him a political institution in Washington and back home in Detroit despite several scandals, has died. He was 90. Conyers, among the high-profile politicians topped by sex harassment allegations in 2017, died at his home on Sunday, said Detroit police spokesman Cpl. Dan Donakowski. The death “looks like natural causes,” Donakowski added. Known as the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, which he helped found, Conyers became one of only six black House members when he was won his first election by just 108 votes in 1964. The race was the beginning of more than 50 years of election dominance: Conyers regularly won elections with more than 80 percent of the vote, even after his wife went to prison for taking a bribe. That voter loyalty helped Conyers freely speak his mind. He took at both Republicans and fellow Republicans: he said then-President George W. Bush “has been an absolute disaster for the African-American community” in 2004, and in 1979 called then-President Jimmy Carter “a hopeless, demented, honest, well-intentioned nerd who will never get past his first administration.” Throughout his …

California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide state of emergency because of wildfires and power cuts to millions to stop more fires from breaking out. “We are deploying every resource available…it is critical that people in evacuation zones heed the warnings from officials and first responders,” Newsom said in his declaration. Two-hundred thousand people have been forces to flee their homes in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco. The country sheriff’s office calls it the largest such evacuation anyone can remember. The Kincade fire, named for a local road where the flames are believed to have started, has already burned more than 12,000 hectares and destroyed a number of buildings, including historic structures in the area, whose vineyards make it popular with tourists.   Officials said as of Sunday, only 10% of the Kincade fire was contained. Hot dry desert winds blowing at record-breaking speed are making it almost impossible for firefighters to bring the flames under control. In Southern California, a wildfire in Santa Clarita near Los Angeles is said to be about 65% contained, but not before it destroyed more than a dozen buildings. The California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric shut off power to nearly …

Some 500,000 residents of northern California could once again be plunged into darkness as the state’s largest power company mulls power cuts in an attempt to prevent wildfires. The warning from Pacific Gas & Electric comes just two weeks after the utility cut power to 2 million people, many for several days. This time, 15 counties in the Sierra foothills and the San Francisco Bay area could be affected starting Wednesday. The dry and windy conditions are prompting PG&E to take action so that its power lines or other equipment don’t malfunction and start a fire. FILE – Homes were leveled by the Camp Fire line the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park retirement community in Paradise, Calif., Dec. 3, 2018. PG&E has been using blackouts as a preventative measure ever since its power lines were blamed for a setting fires in northern California nearly a year ago that killed 86 people and burned 62 hectares. The town of Paradise was so devastated by the January fire that, by mid-July, only 2,034 residents — of nearly 27,000 before the fire — were living in the city. PG&E filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after the utility was found liable for igniting multiple …

China is planning to replace Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam with an “interim” chief executive, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the deliberations. If Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to go ahead, Lam’s successor would be appointed by March and cover the remainder of her term, which ends in 2022, the report said. Lam’s top successors include former head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Norman Chan, and Henry Tang, who has also served as the territory’s financial secretary and chief secretary for administration, the report said. Sources told the FT that officials in China want a stabilized situation before a final decision can be made on leadership changes, as they do not want to be seen to be giving in to violence. In September, in response to a Reuters report about a recording of Lam saying she would step down if she could, she said she had never asked the Chinese government to let her resign to end the Chinese-ruled city’s political crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Hong Kong since mid-June in sometimes violent protests against now-suspended draft legislation that could have seen people sent to mainland China for trial …

 A “tell-all” book is to be released next month by a person described as an anonymous senior official of President Donald Trump’s administration. The author is the same person who wrote an opinion article last year for The New York Times, claiming to be part of a “resistance” against Trump inside the government, according to the book’s publishing company. When contacted by VOA on Tuesday, the publicity director for Twelve Books, Paul Samuelson, declined to comment on whether the author remains in the Trump administration. The book, titled “A Warning,” is set for a Nov. 19 release and “provides an unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of the Trump presidency,” according to Grand Central Publishing, a division of the Hachette Book Group, which owns the boutique Twelve Books imprint that publishes only a dozen books every year. “Picking up from where those first words of warning left off, this explosive book offers a shocking, firsthand account of President Trump and his record,” according to the publisher’s statement. “The author will remain anonymous, their identity a secret,” according to the publisher, which adds the author took no advance fee for writing the book and plans to donate a substantial portion of any royalties to nonprofit organizations …

Violent riots and protests erupted across Chile on Tuesday for the fifth straight day, prompting the government to extend a curfew imposed over more than half the country. Clashes between protesters and law enforcement officials have killed at least 15 people, the government in Santiago said Tuesday. The protests that began last week over a 4% increase in subway fares in Santiago have spread across the nation, inflamed by the frustration of ordinary Chileans who feel they have been left out of the prosperity of Latin America’s wealthiest country. Protesters have set fire to subway stations, buses and banks, businesses have been damaged and looted, and property has been destroyed as rioters demand the resignation of conservative President Sebastian Pinera. Late Monday, the government canceled the proposed fare hike and Pinera said he was ready to meet with the different factions and discuss ways to end the violence. But Pinera’s efforts were rejected by an opposition angered by remarks he made soon after the protests began. Chile is “at war with a powerful, relentless enemy that respects nothing or anyone and is willing to use violence and crime without any limits,” Pinera said without identifying the enemy. That remark brought …