The United States and other members of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State failed to reach consensus on what to do with captured foreign fighters, one of several issues threatening to reverse gains made against the terror group in Syria and Iraq. The lack of progress followed a nearly daylong meeting in Washington with just more than 30 of the coalition’s 81 members, during which the U.S. vowed not to abandon its leadership of the fight against IS. Despite such pledges, however, U.S. diplomats were unable to persuade coalition allies to repatriate about 2,000 IS fighters who left their homes to join the self-declared caliphate. Ambassador Nathan Sales, coordinator for counterterrorism, speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Nov. 14, 2019, following the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Small Group Ministerial meeting. “There is unanimity that the foreign terrorist fighter problem is a serious one,” Ambassador Nathan Sales, State Department counterterrorism coordinator, told reporters following the ministerial-level meeting. “There is candidly a difference of opinion about the best way to solve this problem.” Many countries, especially those in Europe, have balked at requests to repatriate their own foreign fighters, often citing concerns their respective legal …

The first televised hearing of the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday attracted an estimated 13.8 million viewers across 10 broadcast and cable television networks, according to Nielsen ratings data.  The audience for the six-hour proceeding, while larger than average weekday viewing, fell short of the TV audience for other recent political events that riveted the country.  About 20 million U.S. TV viewers watched congressional testimony in 2018 of then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on six networks, according to Nielsen. At that hearing, Stanford  University professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexual  assault. Kavanaugh denied the charges and was confirmed to the  court.  In July 2017, about 19.5 million Americans tuned in when former FBI Director James Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee about his dealings with Trump, according to Nielsen data from 10 networks.  A July 2019 hearing in which former special counsel Robert Mueller testified about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election attracted roughly 13 million viewers on seven networks, Nielsen’s data showed.  The numbers do not reflect people who streamed the hearings  on phones and computers or followed proceedings on social media.  …

Democrat Beto O’Rourke said Friday that he is dropping out of the crowded 2020 U.S. presidential race, saying it had become clear his campaign did not have the resources to continue to seek the party’s nomination. “My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee. Acknowledging this now is in the best interests of those in the campaign; it is in the best interests of this party as we seek to unify around a nominee; and it is in the best interests of the country,” O’Rourke wrote in a post that he shared on Twitter.   …

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that negotiations with North Korea were going too slowly after Pyongyang fired two more short-range projectiles. Pompeo downplayed Thursday’s launches themselves, saying they were consistent with previous moves, but called for more effort in nuclear negotiations. “The progress has been far too slow,” Pompeo told radio station KQAM in his home state of Kansas. “I’m hopeful that we can continue to work on this project and get a good outcome in the months ahead,” he said. The South Korean military said the projectiles flew 230 miles (370 kilometers) to the east in North Korea’s first known test since Oct. 2, when it carried out a provocative test of a submarine-launched missile. President Donald Trump has met three times with Kim in hopes of sealing a potentially historic deal on ending North Korea’s nuclear program. But there has been little concrete commitment and North Korea walked out of working-level talks last month in Sweden. …

A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the State Department to make public certain “readouts or summaries” of the July 25 call between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart at the center of a congressional impeachment investigation.  The order by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington gave the State Department until Nov. 22 to hand the documents over to American Oversight, a watchdog group that sued for access to them based on a public records law.  Last month, Cooper ordered the State Department to confer with American Oversight and negotiate the release of other categories of Ukraine-related documents, including senior officials’ correspondence with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.  American Oversight’s lawsuit has assisted congressional investigators, who have also sought documents and testimony from the State Department but have been rebuffed.  In an Oct. 30 court filing, the State Department objected to producing readouts and summaries of the July 25 phone call that are currently in the possession of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a close aide, saying “such records have a high likelihood of being classified and/or privileged.”  The State Department said those summaries and readouts “are likely to contain additional information beyond a transcription of the call itself.”  Cooper said in Friday’s order that American Oversight’s request was lawful and did not place a heavy burden …

The White House plans to end Cameroon’s preferential trade status in 2020 because of alleged human rights violations, a charge the West African nation’s government disputes.   U.S. President Donald Trump announced his decision in a written message to Congress on Thursday, saying Cameroon’s government “engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights … [including] extrajudicial killings, arbitrary and unlawful detention, and torture.”    As of Jan. 1, Cameroon would be removed from the list of countries benefiting from the African Growth and Opportunity Act.  The 2000 law aims to stimulate U.S. trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa and bolster economic growth in the region, primarily by enabling participating countries to market goods to the United States duty-free. Participants’ responsibilities Cameroon was among 39 countries participating as of last January. Participants must show evidence of working toward a market-based economy, upholding core labor standards, establishing the rule of law and respecting human rights.    Activist groups such as Human Rights Watch have reported “credible accounts of torture and abuse” in Cameroon, where a two-year crisis over Anglophone-speaking regions’ push for separation from the predominantly French-speaking country has left at least 2,000 people dead.    In August, for example, HRW said Cameroonian authorities had …

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square in the largest anti-government demonstration since protests began a month ago. Flag-waving protesters filled the square and the boulevards leading into it Friday, the Muslim main day of prayer. The protests, which began a month ago, have increased in size in recent days, with demonstrators defying security forces that have killed scores of people. Security and medical officials say at least 225 people have died in the past month, including five people who died Friday from wounds sustained earlier. An Iraqi female demonstrator waves an Iraqi flag during an ongoing anti-government protest, in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 1, 2019. Some of the protesters Friday directed their anger toward Iran, which has close ties to some political parties in the country. Shi’ite cleric Ahmed al-Safi made an apparent reference to Iran during a Friday sermon, saying that authorities should not allow “any person or group or biased entity, or any regional or international party” to impose its view on the Iraqi people. The protests are leaderless, without an organizational structure, and they are not unified. However, they have drawn a wide swath of the population from across the country’s sectarian and …

The United Nations global climate meeting next month will take place in Madrid rather than Chile, which had to bow out as host on short notice, officials said Friday.  U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa said representatives of the body that organizes the annual conference had accepted Spain’s offer to host it in the country’s capital Dec. 2-13.  Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced Wednesday that he was canceling plans to host the meeting, as well as a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, to focus on restoring security in his country following weeks of protests in which at least a dozen people have died.  Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s office offered Thursday to step in, sending delegates from around the world scrambling to change their travel plans.  Sanchez, who is facing a national election Nov. 10, celebrated Friday’s decision.  “Excellent news: Madrid will host the global climate meeting from Dec. 2-13. Spain is already at work to guarantee its staging of COP25. Our government firmly keeps its commitment to lasting progress and a just ecological transition,” Sanchez wrote on Twitter.  FILE – Environmental activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden addresses the Climate Action Summit in the U.N. General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 23, 2019. …

The Washington Nationals will not have to travel far, or wait all that long, to visit the White House, as the World Series champions have a get-together planned with President Donald Trump on Monday. Typically, teams wait until the following season when they are in Baltimore or Washington to visit the White House, but the logistics were not all that difficult for a team that plays a mere three miles away. A ceremony on the South Lawn is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. EST. The White House visit will come after a parade to honor the champions on Saturday. The Nationals completed the seven-game World Series with a victory Wednesday at Houston.  The road team won every game, the first time that has happened in World Series history. Trump attended Game 5 of the series on Sunday at Nationals Park, with boos filling the ballpark when he was shown on the video board.  Trump has also met with the 2017 champion Houston Astros and the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox, although a number of Red Sox players skipped that visit, including manager Alex Cora. …

Spaniards are voicing outrage after five men were acquitted of rape on the grounds that their 14-year-old victim had been unconscious at the time.    The Barcelona-based court ruled Thursday that the men were guilty of the lesser crime of sexual abuse and sentenced them to 10-12 years and fined them 12,000 euros ($13,300).    It ruled that their act could not be considered sexual assault since the girl was unconscious after consuming alcohol and drugs and so they did not need to use violence or intimidation, a requirement for a rape conviction in Spain.    Spain’s deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, said that while her government does not comment on court decisions it has set as a priority a modification in the law to make clear consent necessary for sexual relations to occur legally.    The attack occurred in the town of Manresa, near Barcelona, in 2016 when the girl and the men went into an abandoned factory to drink. The court said that since the victim was unconscious during the attack, she “could not accept or reject the sexual relations” and that the men “could carry out those sexual relations without the use of violence or intimidation.” FILE …

“Full House” actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband are contesting the latest charges against them in the college admissions scandal. Lawyers for Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli filed court documents Friday saying the couple plans to plead not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. The couple also waived their right to appear at a Nov. 20 arraignment. Prosecutors recently added the bribery charge for 11 parents who previously pleaded not guilty in the case. Another 19 parents have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty. Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as fake athletic recruits. Their daughters no longer attend USC. The couple previously pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering. …

VOA Connect Episode 94 – We get a rare, behind-the-scenes look at a Native Ute tribal tradition, the Bear Dance.  We also visit a butterfly sanctuary and a high tech aquarium. …

Russian lawyer Mari Davtyan has built a reputation as a go-to advocate for women abused by spouses, boyfriends and fathers. Now she’s defending three teenage sisters who battered and stabbed their father to death in his sleep in their Moscow apartment after allegedly suffering physical and sexual abuse from him for years. She believes the Khachaturyan sisters’ case is helping to shift Russian attitudes toward domestic abuse and how victims should be treated. Police investigators have confirmed the girls’ father, 57-year-old Mikhail Khachaturyan, abused the teenagers for years, regularly beating and torturing them as well as sexually assaulting them. A regular churchgoer, the rage-filled abuser saw himself as a righteous man and considered domestic violence as no sin — a not uncommon view among Russian men. However, the shocking case of the Khachaturyan sisters — Angelina, Maria and Kristina — may mark a turning point when it comes to attitudes, even of men, toward domestic abuse. Moreover, it is adding public pressure on judges and the government to rethink how they treat domestic abuse victims, the Armenian-born Davtyan said. Davtyan acknowledges that in the last few years domestic violence and abuse has started to be taken more seriously in Russia. …

A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow and Washington are running out of time to extend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty. Vladimir Leontyev, deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, said Friday that “it’s clear that we won’t be able to produce a full-fledged replacement” to the New START treaty that expires in 2021. He said that Russia-U.S. talks over the past year have shown that “there are issues that require very serious examination on expert level.” Leontyev said Russia’s prospective Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile and Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle fall under the pact, but other new weapons announced by President Vladimir Putin don’t, including the Poseidon nuclear-armed underwater drone, the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Kinzhal hypersonic missile.   He said the U.S. sees things differently, raising the need for new, complex talks. …

Authorities in the Indian capital ordered schools to shut down until Tuesday, began handing out pollution masks to school children and declared a public health emergency as air pollution levels rose to hazardous levels in the city of 20 million people.   New Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted capital cities, has been shrouded in a gray haze of toxic smog this week as the air quality dips to its worst level since January.   Warning of the adverse health consequences of dirty air, an expert panel appointed by the Supreme Court on Friday said, “Special care should be taken of the children, aged and vulnerable population” and cautioned people not to exercise outdoors.   Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that authorities will distribute 5 million pollution masks to school children and their parents. He blamed the dirty air on smoke that billows into the city at this time of the year as farmers in surrounding states set fire to crop stubble on many hectares to prepare fields for sowing.   Kejriwal tweeted, “Delhi has turned into a gas chamber due to smoke from crop burning in neighboring states. It is very important that we protect ourselves from …

China will “improve” the way Hong Kong’s leader and other officials are appointed and replaced, a Chinese official said Friday. Shen Chunyao, the director of the Hong Kong, Macau and Basic Law Commission, also told reporters Communist Party officials decided this week that the Hong Kong legal system will be improved to “safeguard national security.” “We absolutely will not permit any behavior encouraging separatism or endangering national security and will resolutely guard against and contain the interference of foreign powers in the affairs of Hong Kong and Macao and their carrying out acts of separatism, subversion, infiltration and sabotage,” Shen said. Shen’s statement comes after five months of anti-government protests over China’s meddling with the freedoms guaranteed to the city when it returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. The demonstrations started after a proposed extradition bill that could have led to Hong Kong citizens facing torture and unfair trials in mainland Chinese courts.   The extradition legislation was eventually withdrawn but authorities have rejected calls for Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to resign and for an independent inquiry into the handling of the protests by the police. Since then, protesters have broadened their demands to include greater …

Police struggled Friday to contain thousands of Algerian demonstrators surging through the streets of the capital to protest plans for next month’s presidential election and celebrate the 65th anniversary of the start of Algeria’s war for independence from France. Waving Algerian and banned Berber flags, demonstrators urged each other to remain peaceful as police tried to push them off sidewalks or clear them out of a central square. It was the 37th such gathering since their pro-democracy movement began in February and changed Algeria’s political landscape . Thousands of people came from other towns to join the protest in Algiers, some demonstrating peacefully in the streets overnight. In their homes, many residents banged on pots and pans to show support. The visitors then rested with friends or family, or in their cars, and reconvened Friday morning to march through the capital. The protesters’ anger focuses on the Dec. 12 presidential election, to replace longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika after he was pushed out in April. The pro-democracy protesters fear the vote will be manipulated by the country’s long-despised power structure.   They want an eventual election and brand-new leadership, but don’t want a vote organized by existing authorities, seen as corrupt …

Turkey and Russia launched joint patrols Friday in northeastern Syria, under a deal that halted a Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters who were forced to withdraw from the border area following Ankara’s incursion. The patrols will cover two sections, in the west and east of Turkey’s operation zone in Syria, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters now control the border towns of Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and nearby villages. The deal on the patrols excludes the city of Qamishli, according to the ministry’s statement Tuesday. Turkey’s defense ministry tweeted Friday that the patrols started in al-Darbasiyah region, with Turkish and Russian troops, armored vehicles and drones. Pushing out the Kurds Turkey last month invaded northeastern Syria to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters whom it considers terrorists for their links to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.  But the U.S. had partnered with the Syrian Kurdish fighters, their top allies in the war against the Islamic State group. The relationship has strained ties between Washington and Ankara who are NATO allies. After an abrupt and widely criticized decision by President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from this part of Syria, the …

Vietnam’s prime minister has ordered an investigation into whether 39 people found dead in a truck in the United Kingdom last month were trafficked out of his country illegally. While the order may mollify outraged Vietnamese citizens, experts fear it masks the government’s longer-term powerlessness to stop people from being smuggled into wealthier countries for money. The discovery by police in southeastern England quickly cast attention on human trafficking from Vietnam to Europe where incomes are higher. Several arrests have been made in the United Kingdom, and one man was charged with conspiracy to traffic people. But an elaborate international chain of command to move people out of Vietnam for high-paid work offshore has grown so mature, dating back to when Vietnam was poorer than it is today, that government officials will find it hard if not impossible to stop, experts say. “This is a never-ending fight,” said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor of politics at The University of New South Wales in Australia. “The rewards to the smugglers are too great and the nirvana lifestyle they offer to the people (who) are desperate.” In Vietnam’s less-developed towns, like Da Lat, brokers post signs offering to take locals abroad …

With home sales crashing, real estate agent Zhang Yonggang is tightening his belt, part of a plunge in Chinese consumer demand that is a bigger threat to economic growth than Beijing’s tariff war with Washington. Zhang, who works in the central city of Taiyuan, said his office sold no apartments last month after Beijing tightened lending controls in July to rein in housing costs and debt. Zhang, 42 and married with a teenage son, said his income has fallen by half from a year ago. “I have no money to buy a home and no plans to change cars,” Zhang said. “It is definitely the toughest time I’ve ever seen.” Communist leaders are counting on consumers to power China’s economy, replacing trade and investment. But shoppers, spooked by the tariff war and possible job losses, are cutting spending on cars, real estate and other big-ticket purchases. An employee dusts merchandise at a jewelry store in a shopping mall in Beijing, Oct. 31, 2019. Chinese leaders are counting on consumers to power the economy, replacing trade and investment as Beijing fights a tariff war with the U.S.… Economic warning signs Economic growth sank to a three-decade low of 6% over a …

Lynn Darst and her husband were camped out in their motor home on the edge of their seats for four days wondering if their house would survive yet another wildfire menacing Sonoma County. Flames had come close to their neighborhood of spacious homes surrounded by vineyards two years ago and danger was closing in again. “We were comfortable, but fearful of what the consequences could be,” Darst said Thursday, the day after finding her home had been spared once again. Darst was among the nearly 200,000 residents allowed to return home even as the fire burned along with several other blazes in the state. They were the lucky ones, at least 140 homes had been destroyed in the Sonoma fire. The blaze was the largest to burn over a three-week siege of vicious gusts that fanned fast-moving wildfires across California and led utility companies to cut power to millions to prevent winds from blowing branches into electric lines and igniting an inferno. Firefighters rest at outside a cardboard box factory that burned in a wildfire in Riverside, Calif., Oct. 31, 2019. Several blazes broke out in the heavily populated region east of Los Angeles as the Santa Ana winds were …

Facing an impeachment inquiry, U.S. President Donald Trump is unlikely to make any new decisions on North Korea even as Pyongyang has elevated warnings to pressure Washington to grant greater concessions on stalled denuclearization talks by the end of the year, experts said. “Right now, [Trump] has very little political space to work in,” because of the impeachment inquiry, said Ken Gause, director of the Adversary Analytics Program at the CNA research center. “I don’t think he’s going to waste political capital on North Korea” he continued, adding Washington “would not react [to Pyongyang’s threats] by agreeing to sanctions relief.” Missile launches Pyongyang has increased pressure on Washington in apparent attempts to change the U.S. position by the end of the year through a series of warnings that included a missile launch Thursday. People watch television file footage of a North Korean missile launch at a railway station in Seoul, Oct. 31, 2019. North Korea fired two projectiles Oct. 31, the South’s military said. North Korea said it tested North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Myong Gil is seen outside the North Korean embassy in Stockholm, Oct. 5, 2019. The talks remained deadlocked after the breakdown of the Speaker of …

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has hailed a “landmark” meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. In his address in Istanbul Thursday, the U.N. chief expressed hope for a political solution that will end the Syrian war. The U.N. says at least 180,000 people have been displaced since the Turkish incursion into Syria last month adding to the 6.5 million already displaced. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports U.S. troops have returned to a border area east of Qamishli.   …

The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives formalized the impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday, passing a resolution along party lines setting up procedures for the next phase of the investigation. After weeks of testimony behind closed doors, Democrats are expected to begin public hearings into allegations Trump invited foreign interference into the 2020 election by putting pressure on Ukraine to provide information about a political rival. VOA’s Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.   …