Today’s American men are working less during their prime years than they did in the 1960s, with the biggest drop in employment among less-educated men. In 1969, 96% of men between the ages of 25 and 54 participated in the labor force. By 2015, that rate had fallen to under 89%. The The decline in manufacturing jobs has hit men and women without a college degree the hardest. File photo from Sept. 18, 2019, at the Puckett Machinery Company in Flowood, Miss. Nonworkers were more likely to be black. About one-third of nonworkers were black. While the biggest employment drop is among less-educated men, the troubling trend now seems to be occurring among women as well. Female employment rates rose beginning in the late 1960s, but then started dropping. “Since about 2000, you’re also starting to see declines in participation of prime-age women, especially less educated women,” says Katharine G. Abraham, author of the study and a professor of economics and survey methodology at the University of Maryland. “So you’re kind of seeing some of the same things that have been happening for a longer time to men, also beginning to happen to women.” A changing labor market, particularly the …

Former U.S. Ambassador William Taylor, a diplomat who has sharply questioned President Donald Trump’s policy on Ukraine, has provided lawmakers with a detailed account of his recollection of events at the center of the Democrats’ impeachment probe , they said Tuesday.   Lawmakers emerging from the room after the early hours of the private deposition said Taylor had given a lengthy opening statement, with a recall of events that filled in gaps from the testimony of other witnesses.   “The testimony is very disturbing,” said New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who attended the start of the Taylor interview.   Taylor, who declined to comment as he entered the closed-door deposition, is the latest diplomat with concerns to testify. His appearance is among the most watched because of a text message in which he called Trump’s attempt to leverage military aid to Ukraine in return for a political investigation “crazy.” He was subpoenaed to appear.   Rep Ami Bera, D-Calif., said Taylor is a career civil servant who “cares deeply” about the country. He said Taylor’s memory of events was better than that of Gordon Sondland, the U.S. European Union ambassador who testified last week but couldn’t recall many specific details. …

Syrian Kurdish forces said Tuesday they have totally withdrawn from northern Syria ahead of the end of a cease-fire in Turkey’s offensive against them, even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to resume the attacks if they did not leave. A Kurdish official said fighters had left the border region with Turkey, while a senior U.S. official said that Mazlum Abdi, the chief of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, had told Vice President Mike Pence that all Kurdish fighters have withdrawn. A senior U.S. official said the U.S. is working with Turkey to see the ceasefire in Turkey’s military offensive turn into a permanent halt. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that “some progress has certainly been made. The truth was that it was not in Turkey’s interest as a NATO ally to continue with that incursion” against the U.S. allied Kurdish fighters that it started earlier this month after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew most American troops from the region. The Syrian Kurds are seen by the U.S. as allies in the fight against Islamic State.  But Turkey considers them to be allied with Kurdish separatists who have long fought for autonomy inside Turkey. The developments along …

A senior U.S. diplomat told lawmakers Tuesday the administration of President Donald Trump “remains concerned” about India’s clampdown on the part of Kashmir it controls, but supports India’s development goals in the region. Alice Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said in a statement presented to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “We welcome actions by the Indian government to improve the situation and address local grievances.” Wells said the State Department has urged India to restore phone and internet service and free detainees in the India-administered section of the disputed Kashmir region. Some phone service has been restored, but internet service remains down. Wells said while conditions in the area have improved, “the valley has not returned to normal.” She said her agency has “raised concerns” with the Indian government about the recent detention of “several thousand” local residents and “political leaders.” Citing government sources, Wells’ statement said “hundreds” of those arrested remain in custody, “many without charges,” under Indian law. Wells specifically called on the Indian government uphold its commitment to hold “local assembly elections at the earliest opportunity” and expressed hope the government would continue to release political leaders. The Indian parliament voted …

Ms. Minaj wants you to know she’s now officially Mrs. Petty.   Minaj – who has dated Kenneth Petty for about a year – seems to confirm her marriage with a video on Instagram on Monday that shows off Mr. and Mrs. coffee mugs and bride and groom hats. The rapper also changed her Twitter name to Mrs. Petty. Her caption read: “Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10-21-19.”  Minaj’s real name is Onika Maraj.   View this post on Instagram 👰🏽🤵🏽😢🙏🏽🎀 Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19 A post shared by Barbie (@nickiminaj) on Oct 21, 2019 at 8:22pm PDT She did not offer additional information.   The couple first dated as teenagers and reunited last year. She announced plans over the summer to wed.   She has come to his defense after it was revealed Petty has spent time in prison for manslaughter and is a registered sex offender for an attempted rape of a teenager.   This is the first marriage for both.     …

Cities and towns along the border in northeastern Syria evacuated in the final hours of their cease-fire with Turkey on Tuesday.   In the nearly-abandoned border city of Darbasiyah, some of the few locals remaining were nervous and angry, saying they hoped the army of President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, comes to town before Turkey starts bombing.   “No agreement was reached and people are afraid,” said Mohammed, a 39-year-old father of three. While most shops were closed, he was keeping his vegetable shop open, saying the people remaining need to eat. “We are afraid that what happened in Ras al Ayn will happen here.” Mohammad, 39, sent his three children to stay with relatives ahead of the end of the cease-fire, but says he won’t leave unless the city is bombed, in Darbasiyah, Syria, Oct. 22, 2019. (VOA/Yan Boechat) After a week of airstrikes and gunfire, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces pulled out of Ras al-Ayn on Sunday, leaving the city controlled by Turkish-backed fighters.   In Darbasiayah, families packed the blankets and appliances on trucks, and some of the remaining shopkeepers wrapped up their goods.   “This is our gift for defeating Islamic State militants?” said Adnan Mala …

When the grand vacation homes of Newport Beach were empty on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend, Molly Munger decided it was time for the U.S. to consider taxing wealth.    As her family’s boat moved through the harbor a few years ago, Munger, whose father is a billionaire investor, saw that many of her neighbors’ houses were sitting dark and vacant. She knew why: The owners now controlled enough money to holiday at one of their several other luxury homes. It didn’t sit right, she said.   “It’s just too much to watch that happen at the top and see what is happening at the bottom,” said Munger, 71, a California civil rights lawyer whose father, Charlie, built his fortune as vice chairman of Warren Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway. “Isn’t it a waste when beautiful homes on the beach are empty for most of the summer?”   Munger is now among a handful of billionaires and multimillionaires making a renewed push for the government to raise their taxes and siphon away some of their holdings. As Democratic presidential candidates debate a new tax on wealth rather than on incomes, this group of uber-rich people is urging them on.    “I …

The presidents of Turkey and Russia met in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on Tuesday, hours before a five-day cease-fire between Turkish troops and Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria was set to expire.   The talks between Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are likely to be crucial in determining arrangements along the Syrian-Turkish border, where Ankara demands a long “safe zone” cleared of Kurdish fighters. As all the other parties jockey for control along the border, the United States was stumbling from one problem to another getting its troops out of Syria in an abrupt withdrawal ordered by President Trump. Iraq’s military said Tuesday that American forces leaving Syria did not have permission to stay in Iraq, seemingly contradicting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper who said a day earlier the forces would remain to help fight the Islamic State group.   After the Iraqi statement, Esper said he would speak to the Iraqi defense minister Wednesday and underlined that the U.S. has no plans to keep the troops in Iraq “interminably” and intends to “eventually get them home.” It seemed another instance of the U.S. scrambling to set its policy after Trump surprised many by …

President Donald Trump injected racial overtones into the House impeachment inquiry Tuesday by comparing the Democratic-led investigation into his handling of U.S. policy toward Ukraine to a “lynching.” The highest-ranking African American in Congress warned Trump about making the comparison. Lynchings, or hangings, historically were mostly used by whites against black men and mostly in the South beginning in the late 19th century amid rising racial tensions in the U.S. By comparing the impeachment process to a lynching, Trump is also likening Democrats to a lynch mob. Under pressure over impeachment, blowback over his Syria policy and other issues, the Republican president tweeted Tuesday: “So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!” House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., criticized Trump’s word choices. “That is one word no president ought to apply to himself,” Clyburn said on CNN after the president’s tweet was read to him. “That is a word that we ought to be very, very careful about …

Former President Jimmy Carter has been hospitalized after falling in his home Monday night in Plains, Georgia. The Carter Center said the 95-year-old was admitted to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in nearby Americus, Georgia, “for observation and treatment of a minor pelvic fracture.” The center, a not-for-profit human rights group, also said Carter “is in good spirits and is looking forward to recovering at home.” Monday’s fall was the second time the former president fell this month and the third time since the spring, when he underwent hip replacement surgery. Carter, the nation’s oldest living former president, served one term in the White House from 1977 to 1981. Carter and his 92-year-old wife, Rosalynn, are the longest married former U.S. first couple, with more than 73 years of marriage.   …

There appear to be few signs that the Kremlin and Russia’s security agencies are ready to adopt a more relaxed approach to opposition groups and dissent, say analysts, notwithstanding that anti-government protests don’t appear to have weakened Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.   Last week, security agencies dubbed the anti-corruption foundation of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best known opposition leader, a ‘foreign agent,’ possibly as a prelude to closing it down. That was followed by nationwide raids on the foundation’s affiliates and other Navalny-connected figures. Activities by Russia’s security agencies “Hundreds of officers with salaries, bonuses and state-funded apartments are carrying out ridiculous work: on orders from the very top, they are searching the apartments of ordinary people, going through their personal belongings, photographs, rifling through documents, confiscating computers and other electronics, and then carrying out lengthy interrogations that can last hours,” complained Fedor Krasheninnikov in the Moscow Times newspaper. “They are sent on a pointless search for evidence to confirm conspiracy theories thought up by their superiors,” added Krasheninnikov, a political commentator for the independent radio station Echo of Moscow and an organizer of environmental and political protests. Search for foreign influence in Russia’s protests Among those conspiracy theories is …

A veteran U.S. diplomat is set to appear before lawmakers Tuesday in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry of allegations that President Donald Trump held up military aid to Ukraine unless it opened an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. William Taylor, the top official at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, will testify behind closed doors about a series of text messages with other officials expressing concerns about the White House’s actions. Taylor wrote that it was “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper, who has worked on Russia and Ukraine policy at the Pentagon, is scheduled to testify in Wednesday. The Democratic-led inquiry was set off when an intelligence whistleblower expressed concern to the inspector general about Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he appeared to urge Zelenskiy to open an investigation into the former vice president, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.   Trump has alleged that Biden threatened to withhold loan guarantees to Ukraine unless an earlier corruption probe into a gas company that employed his son Hunter was stopped. No evidence of wrongdoing …

Kenya’s reputation as a producer of world-class marathon runners was further boosted this month when Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei broke world records on the same weekend.  Running is a big thing for the East African nation, where regular competitions give Kenyans a chance to prepare for greater glory. Mohammed Yusuf has more from Nairobi. …

Thousands of satellites orbit the Earth for a multitude of purposes. Some circle the planet to check on the health of the swirling blue orb below.  Reaching the perfect place to collect that information can mean an arduous and frigid journey back on Earth.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi bundles-up tight for this story from the Arctic Circle. …

U.S. forces crossed into Iraq from northeastern Syria Monday, part of the broader withdrawal from the region that was ordered by President Donald Trump ahead of a Turkish incursion. Some analysts say the U.S. retreat from parts of Syria creates a vacuum for countries like Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayiip Erdogan Tuesday for high-stakes talks on what happens next in Syria.  VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington. …

Iran says it has given the U.S. a list of detained Iranians whom it wants to be freed in a prisoner swap, drawing a vague public response from U.S. officials who have sought to discuss the issue with Tehran. Speaking to reporters Monday in Tehran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran had provided the names of the detained Iranians to the U.S. and was ready to do a trade. He did not specify who was on the list or how it was handed to Washington, with whom Tehran has no formal ties. But Mousavi said the Iranian government believes about 20 Iranians have been detained by the U.S. on what it considers to be “baseless” charges of circumventing U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. He singled out one of them, Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani, as a cause for concern due to ill health. U.S. authorities arrested Soleimani, a stem cell researcher, in October 2018 upon his arrival at a Chicago airport. He was charged with trying to export biological materials to Iran in violation of the sanctions. Asked by VOA Persian to confirm whether it has received Iran’s list for a proposed prisoner swap, a State Department spokesperson declined …

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has started photocopying inmate letters and other mail at some federal correctional facilities across the U.S. instead of delivering the original parcels, in an attempt to combat the smuggling of synthetic narcotics like K-2, officials told The Associated Press on Monday. The program is being implemented at a “number of Bureau facilities impacted by the increased introduction of synthetic drugs,” the agency said in a statement to the AP. At those jails and prisons, Bureau of Prisons employees are currently copying incoming mail and then distributing the copies to inmates, the agency said. Officials would not say how many staff members are being assigned to make photocopies or whether they are removing correction officers to perform the task. The initiative raises questions about whether the agency, which has been plagued by chronic staffing shortages and violence, is reassigning staff members to spend time making photocopies instead of watching inmates. The Bureau of Prisons has faced increased scrutiny since billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was able to take his own life behind bars at a federal facility in New York in August. Across the board, the agency has been down 4,000 jobs since 2017. Staffing shortages are …

Associate Justice Elena Kagan said Monday that it “behooves” the U.S. Supreme Court to realize in these polarized times that there’s a danger of the public seeing it as just a political institution — and to strive to counter that perception. Speaking at the University of Minnesota, Kagan said the high court’s legitimacy depends on public trust and confidence since nobody elected the justices. “We have to be seen as doing law, which is distinct from politics or public policy, and to be doing it in a good faith way, trying to find the right answers,” she said. FILE – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. Kagan acknowledged that the justices can be “pretty divided” on how to interpret the Constitution. But she said the view that politics guides their decisions is an oversimplification. The justices decide most of their cases unanimously or by lopsided margins, she said. The justice didn’t mention a Marquette University Law School poll released earlier Monday in which 64% of respondents said they believe the law, rather than politics, mostly motivates the high court’s decisions. But the findings dovetailed with her remarks. “It behooves us on the court to realize that this is a danger …

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro questioned on Friday whether a far-reaching oil spill on the nation’s northeastern shore may have been a criminal act designed to harm a major oil auction scheduled for November. “Coincidence or not, we have the transfer-of-rights auction,” said Bolsonaro in a Facebook Live video, referring to an oil bidding scheduled for Nov. 6, in which an array of major oil players will compete for $26 billion worth of production rights in large offshore oil areas of Brazil. “I wonder, we have to be very responsible about what we say — could it have been a criminal act to harm this auction? It’s a question that’s out there.” Bolsonaro offered no evidence for his statements. Oil has been washing up on the shore of northeastern Brazil for two months, but its origin has remained a mystery. On Wednesday, Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA said it had cleaned up some 200 tons of the oil from Brazil’s beaches. On Thursday, the head of Brazil’s environmental regulator said tests had proved the oil was Venezuelan. He said that the cause of the spill was criminal in nature, as it would otherwise have been reported. He added, however, …

The king of Thailand has stripped his royal consort of her titles less than three months after they was bestowed upon her. An announcement in the Royal Thai Government Gazette said Sineenat Bilaskalayani, 34, was stripped of all her titles and military ranks for being “ambitious” and trying to “elevate herself to the same state as the queen.” It said her actions “are considered dishonorable, lacking gratitude, unappreciative of royal kindness, and driving a rift among the royal servants, making misunderstanding among the people, and undermining the nation and the monarchy.” FILE – Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall of the Grand Palace as they grant a public audience on the final day of his royal coronation in Bangkok, May 6, 2019. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who ascended to the throne in 2016, named Sineenat his royal consort just two months after he married his fourth wife, Queen Suthida. This was the first time a Thai monarch has taken a consort in nearly a century. Both Sineenat and Suthida had served as senior officers in palace security units. Suthida was previously a flight attendant with Thai Airways, while Sineenat was an army …

Women will finally join men in New York’s iconic Central Park after a city commission voted Monday to erect a monument depicting women. Central Park has 23 statues honoring men who have contributed to history but none honoring real women. There are plenty of statues depicting female fantasy and fictional characters. The monument, to be unveiled in August 2020, will feature three civil rights pioneers: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth. The work by artist Meredith Bergmann will break what some call the “bronze ceiling” in the 166-year-old park. Bergmann’s original design for the monument came under criticism because it only showed Anthony and Stanton. Critics pointed out that African American women also played an important role in women’s suffrage in America, prompting Bergmann to redesign the statue and add Truth.   …

Thundering explosions toppled two cranes Sunday that had loomed precariously for days over a partially collapsed hotel in New Orleans, in what city officials hailed as a success and said efforts now would focus on retrieving two bodies still inside the ruined building. The fiery afternoon explosions sent up massive clouds of dust and sent one crane crashing to the street while the second fell in a way that left much of it resting atop the hotel where officials said it was “stable” and could be removed piecemeal. “We know that we are safer now than we have been in the past eight days,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell, speaking at a news conference after the explosions roared through the city’s downtown. It was a little more than a week ago — Oct. 12 — that the Hard Rock Hotel that was under construction near the historic French Quarter partially collapsed. Three workers died that day when several floors of the multistory building pancaked. Only one body has been removed so far. The multi-ton cranes — one around 270 feet (82 meters) high, the other about 300 feet (91 meters) — were badly damaged in the collapse. They had been tilting …

Ambulances howled down the road to Ras al-Ayn, while small trucks piled with mattresses, appliances and children hurried out. At the hospital, about 10 minutes behind the convoy, doctors and nurses prepared to treat some of at least 35 patients who were believed to be trapped underground in a makeshift clinic in Ras al-Ayn.   The first attempt to rescue them Saturday morning had been swiftly aborted when bombs fell near their convoy. Women mourn at a funeral for a Kurdish-led government security guard on the outskirts of Tal Tamer, Syria, Oct. 21, 2019. (Yan Boechat/VOA) “Today, we have evacuated the city of Ras al-Ayn from all SDF fighters,” read a SDF statement released later that night. “We don’t have any more fighters in the city.” Even before the Turkish incursion began, the SDF said they would withdraw from some border towns and villages to allow for a buffer zone between their forces and Turkey, in a deal brokered by the United States.   In late August, they started pulling down their reinforcements and removing their weapons. The SDF may have been a U.S. ally, but Turkey also considers it a branch of a designated terrorist group that has been …