Kansas is the latest U.S. state to commit to resettling refugees under a new Trump administration rule that requires cities and states to opt in to the government’s refugee program. “I not only consent to the initial refugee resettlement in Kansas as per the terms of the Executive Order, I also welcome them into our state,” Democratic By requiring consent, the Trump administration is allowing states and localities to bar refugee resettlement in their areas. “State and local governments are best positioned to know the resources and capacities they may or may not have available to devote to sustainable resettlement, which maximizes the likelihood refugees placed in the area will become self-sufficient and free from long-term dependence on public assistance. Some States and localities, however, have viewed existing consultation as insufficient,” Trump stated in the executive order. Lawsuit filed Three of the leading refugee agencies sued the Trump administration last month, arguing the executive order violates federal law and that decisions on refugee placement should continue to be made at the federal level. Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, one of the groups leading the lawsuit, says that allowing states or cities to reject or take in refugees will result in …

A Navy sailor shot three civilians, killing two of them, before taking his own life at Pearl Harbor just days before thousands were scheduled to gather at the storied military base to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese bombing that launched the U.S. into World War II. Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick, the commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said the service would evaluate whether security should be upgraded before the annual ceremony. About a dozen survivors of the 1941 bombing were expected to attend, along with dignitaries and service members. The shooter was identified Thursday as 22-year-old G. Romero, according to a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been made public. Chadwick said he didn’t know the motive behind Wednesday’s shooting at the naval shipyard within the base. The third victim was hospitalized. It wasn’t known if the sailor and the three male civilians had any type of relationship, or what the motive was for the shooting, Chadwick said. “We have no indication yet whether they were targeted or if it was a random shooting,” Chadwick said. The sailor was assigned to the fast attack submarine USS Columbia, which is at Joint …

Hundreds of Venezuelan children are fleeing into Brazil alone and at risk of becoming homeless, abused or recruited by gangs, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.                     The human rights group cited government figures indicating that over 500 children have crossed into the Brazilian state of Roraima since May.                     Ninety percent of the Venezuelan children were between 13 and 17 and traveled alone or with an adult who was not a relative or legal guardian. Many were fleeing hunger, looking for healthcare to treat serious ailments or trying to find work in Brazil.                     “The humanitarian emergency is driving children to flee Venezuela alone,” said Cesar Munoz, senior Brazil researcher at Human Rights Watch.                     An estimated 4.6 million Venezuelans have fled their country’s economic and political turmoil, a figure that the United Nations believes could reach 6.5 million by the end of 2020, making it one of the largest mass migrations on the planet today.                     More than 224,000 have fled to Brazil, where many remain in the border state of Roraima because of its relative isolation from the rest of the country. Human Rights Watch found that many of the shelters there are …

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to void a subpoena from the House of Representatives that seeks the president’s financial records from his accounting firm.         The justices already have shielded the documents from being turned over while they consider whether to hear Trump’s case and his separate appeal of a court order that requires the same accounting firm, Mazars USA, to give his tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney. The court could say as early as mid-December whether it will hear and decide the cases by the end of June.         Yet another case involving House subpoenas for Trump’s records from New York banks also is headed for the Supreme Court, and the justices are likely to prevent the handover of any documents for the time being.         The two court cases involving House subpoenas are distinct from the ongoing impeachment inquiry.   …

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said she does not hate President Donald Trump, but called him a coward and cruel on certain policies and asserted “don’t mess with me” during a testy news conference as she moved ahead with an impeachment process that could remove him from office. At the close of the news conference, an indignant Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. Congress, took strong exception to a reporter’s question as to whether she hated Trump, a Republican. The reporter explained he was asking because some Republicans have said a dislike of Trump is driving impeachment. “I don’t hate anybody,” Pelosi said. “I was raised in a Catholic house. We don’t hate anybody. Not anybody in the world. So don’t you accuse me,” she said, pointing at the reporter. Earlier on Thursday, Pelosi said she directed the House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment – formal charges – against Trump over his effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival, a historic step that sets up a fight over whether to oust him from office. Responding to the question about hating Trump, Pelosi criticized the president on policy, calling him a “coward” …

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is attacking President Donald Trump as a laughingstock among world leaders in a new video that has gone viral. The minute-long video plays off a clip taken at a NATO summit in Britain this week that appeared to show Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joking about Trump’s press appearances during a chat with other world leaders. The world is laughing at President Trump. They see him for what he really is: dangerously incompetent and incapable of world leadership. We cannot give him four more years as commander in chief. Trump has argued that former President Barack Obama, whom Biden served as vice president, pursued trade deals and other policies that let other countries take advantage of the United States. The latest video is meant to reinforce one of the key arguments Biden is making ahead of the 2020 presidential election: that he is most prepared to deal with foreign policy, not just in comparison with Trump, but also other Democrats seeking their party’s nomination. …

An independent Ukrainian lawmaker said on Thursday he had met U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in Kyiv to discuss the alleged misuse of U.S. taxpayer money by Ukrainian state bodies. In a statement on Facebook accompanied by photos of the meeting, Andriy Derkach said the two had discussed the creation of an interparliamentary group to fight corruption. As Trump faces an impeachment inquiry led by House of Representative Democrats into whether he abused his office by pressing Ukraine to investigate a political rival, the U.S. president and his allies have sought to reject that by saying Trump is interested in the wider issue of corruption in Ukraine. As first reported by the New York Times, lawyer Rudy Giuliani has traveled to Budapest and Kyiv this week to meet current and former Ukrainian officials for a documentary series amid the ongoing impeachment inquiry. “Unfortunately, our country has been at the center of scandals about international corruption,” Derkach said. “Among other things, there are facts about the inefficient use of American taxpayers’ money by representatives of Ukrainian state bodies.” Ukraine was plunged into the center of the impeachment inquiry over allegations that Trump abused his power to pressure Ukraine’s president to …

Israel’s state prosecutor said Thursday he intends to indict seven men, including close associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a sweeping graft case related to a possible conflict of interest involving a $2 billion purchase of German submarines. State prosecutor Shai Nitzan’s office said in a statement the seven would be charged with various offenses, among them bribery, money laundering and fraud, pending a hearing. Netanyahu was questioned, but not named as a suspect, in the submarine probe, known as “file 3000.” But it roped in some of his closest aides and sparked questions about his earnings on a related German submarine sale to Egypt. Among those to be charged were Netanyahu’s personal attorney, David Shimron, who is also his cousin. Shimron represented the German firm involved and was suspected of using his influence over the prime minister in return for a hefty cut of the deal. Also set to be indicted is David Sharan, who once headed Netanyahu’s office. The former head of the navy has also been implicated. After seeming to escape the submarine scandal, it was revealed that Netanyahu reportedly earned $4 million on a related German submarine sale to Egypt by owning shares in …

An Estonian court has decided to release on parole a former security official who was found guilty of treason for passing on top NATO secrets to Russia in a case widely considered to be one of the worst spy scandals within the military bloc. The Tartu County Court said Thursday that Herman Simm, who was sentenced to 12-1/2 years in prison in 2009, is eligible for parole without electronic surveillance. The 72-year-old Simm, who is a former head of security at the Estonian Defense Ministry, was found to have passed over 2,000 pages of NATO and other diplomatic information to Russia’s foreign intelligence service SVR between 1995 and 2008. In retaliation, two Russian diplomats had their accreditation to NATO’s Brussels headquarters cancelled in 2009. Estonia has been a NATO member since 2004. …

A fire that broke out early Thursday in a housing unit at a refugee camp on the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos has left one woman dead, Greek authorities said, as the country’s prime minister met with top European officials to discuss issues related to migration and refugees. The fire department said the small fire broke out before dawn in a container housing a family of five in the Kara Tepe camp. Eight firefighters with two vehicles responded. It was unclear what caused the fire. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said the woman who died was a 27-year-old Afghan mother of three young children, and that the fire started shortly before 2 a.m. Other camp residents managed to evacuate the children, aged 5, 3 and an infant, unharmed. The children’s mother was found dead after the fire was extinguished, while their father suffered smoke inhalation. The father and three children “are receiving support from UNHCR and partners,” the agency said. Kara Tepe houses mainly families and other refugees considered vulnerable. Hundreds of people arrive on Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast each week, resulting in overcrowded camps on the islands. Under the terms of a 2016 deal between …

Cameroon has organized a national vaccination campaign to stop a measles outbreak that has infected more than 3,000 people, especially children, this year. The most-affected area is the central African state’s northern border with Nigeria and Chad, where 17 children have died this month. Health officials believe many more people are infected, since barely 30% of the population visits conventional health facilities. Dr. Edzoa Brice, coordinator of the vaccination teams dispatched to towns and villages around Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde, says vaccination teams are stationed in all road junctions, churches, schools, markets and popular spots, and will not be visiting homes as they have always done in the past. He says back the teams found that few parents and children were at home as they had gone to schools, farms, offices or markets. Nurse Theresia Mabuh, a member of the vaccination team from Cameroon’s Public Health Ministry, says the vaccination campaign is aimed at saving millions of lives threatened by the outbreak. “It is efficient, it is simple and it is free for all the children, so I am calling on all the parents, all the mothers to [have their children vaccinated]. We also have the deworming of children from …

Most students and their families quickly dive into rankings when searching for the “best colleges and universities.” However, Georgetown University, itself on many of those “best college” lists, has veered from rankings based on grade-point averages, admission rates and SAT scores, and come up with a new metric, ranking institutions of higher education based on the financial return students receive from their investment in the school. Traditional private, four-year schools that offer bachelor’s degrees have the highest returns on investment not just immediately after graduation, but 40 years after enrollment, Georgetown’s report on the ranking says. “For example, Babson College, a private college in Massachusetts, ranks 304th in net present value at the 10-year horizon, but ranks seventh at the 40-year horizon,” Georgetown’s University Center on Education and the Workforce said. Its detailed project included 4,500 schools that offer degrees and certificates. Tops on the list for return on investment over 40 years was Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, a private nonprofit institution that costs about $50,000 per year. It was calculated to return $385,000 at 10 years, $1.3 million at 20 years, and $2.72 million on that investment to the graduate after 40 years. FILE – Students …

Bleak news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Americans are dying younger and that life expectancy in the U.S. is falling. It might be time to call dogs to the rescue. Dogs are so attuned to humans that many people think of them as family, Sandi Shrager fits in that category. “I can’t imagine my life without them,” she said. “They’re just a big part of my life.” According to a pet owners survey, there are some 90 million pet dogs in the United States. The University of Washington is recruiting 10,000 of them for a study on aging. Professor Daniel Promislow at the university’s School of Medicine explains. Aging in dogs “The goal is to follow dogs for their entire lives, young, old, big, small, males, females, all dogs all around the U.S. to understand how the biology and the environment shape healthy aging in dogs,” he said. The University of Washington, which is on the West Coast of the U.S., is partnering with veterinarians like Dr. Kate Creevy at Texas A&M University. “By studying aging in pet dogs living in human environments,” Creevy said, “we can learn things that will translate to human health …

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court to throw out a Trump administration rule that bans phone carriers in rural areas from using money from an $8.5 billion government fund to purchase Huawei’s equipment. The lawsuit says the Federal Communications Commission acted improperly when it imposed the ban last month on Huawei and its domestic rival ZTE, citing national security concerns. At a news conference at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen Thursday, Song Liuping, Huawei’s chief legal counsel, said the FCC made its decision without any evidence that Huawei posed a national security threat. This is the second lawsuit filed by Huawei to combat U.S. government claims that it presents a threat to U.S. national security. The company first filed suit in March challenging the legality of a law passed by the U.S. Congress last year that bars government agencies and contractors from doing business with the tech giant. Huawei is also involved in a separate legal fight involving Meng Wanzhou, its chief financial officer and the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei. Meng was arrested in Canada last December on a U.S. warrant seeking her extradition to face charges of violating U.S. sanctions on …

The United States and North Korea are resorting to alluded threats of force ahead of Pyongyang’s end-of-year deadline for progress with nuclear negotiations. Pak Jong Chon, head of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), threatened to reciprocate any U.S. military action with force in a statement he made to North Korean state media Wednesday. The statement was a direct response to comments made by President Trump, who alluded to using military force against North Korea if necessary. “One thing I would like to make clear is that the use of armed forces is not the privilege of the U.S. only,” Pak reportedly said through North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Dec. 4. “Anyone can guess with what action the DPRK will answer if the U.S. undertakes military actions against the DPRK.” Hours earlier, Trump spoke about North Korea to reporters at the NATO summit in London: “Now we have the most powerful military we’ve ever had and we’re by far the most powerful country in the world. And, hopefully, we don’t have to use it, but if we do, we’ll use it. If we have to, we’ll do it.” FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader …

U.S. President Donald Trump appears intent on following through with his plan to formally designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. His announcement has put the Mexican government on the defensive. VOA’s Ardita Dunellari looks at the political impact of such a move and its effect on bilateral relations with Mexico.   …

The Alyn Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital in Jerusalem offers innovative therapies for children with serious injuries. They treat children (and parents) from diverse national, cultural and religious backgrounds, preparing them to cope with their special needs in their home communities. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. …

The highly anticipated final chapter in the Skywalker film saga will feature a significant role for Princess Leia, the beloved “Star Wars” character played by late actress Carrie Fisher. Writer and director J.J. Abrams said he had enough unused footage of Fisher from the filming of 2015 movie “The Force Awakens” to make Leia a key player in “The Rise of Skywalker,” the “Star Wars” film that debuts in theaters on Dec. 20. Fisher died in 2016 at age 60. “We couldn’t tell the story without Leia,” Abrams said in an interview on Wednesday. “She’s the mother of the villain of the piece. She’s in a sense the mother of the resistance, the rebellion, the leader, the general.” “Her role is, I would say, integral,” he added. “This is not just a cosmetic thing where we’re sort of inserting Leia.” “The Rise of Skywalker” is the ninth movie in the celebrated space franchise that debuted in 1977 and is now owned by Walt Disney Co. In recent films, Leia had risen to general leading the fight against the evil First Order in the galaxy far, far away. Her son is Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the warrior who took over as …

Congressional Democrats launched the next step in the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday, hearing testimony from legal scholars on what the U.S. Constitution says about the standards for impeaching and removing a president from office. The House Judiciary Committee hearings take lawmakers a step closer to a vote on Articles of Impeachment, measures that if passed would lead to a Senate trial. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.   …

Moscow denies any involvement in the shooting death of a former Chechen rebel commander in Berlin in August. The Russian government Wednesday condemned Germany’s decision to expel two Russian diplomats over the case. Germany has accused Russia of failing to assist in the investigation. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the attack on the Chechen rebel in Germany has been compared to the attempt on the life of a former Russian spy in Britain last year. …

Moviegoers have been offered rolling seats, 3D glasses and even rain and smells in recent years as theater chains seek to fill seats. Now comes an immersive experience that gets its U.S. launch in Los Angeles next week. It features laser projection and giant LED panels that line each side of the auditorium and fill a moviegoer’s peripheral vision. The panels extract colors from the screen and project them around the audience. “It gives you a feeling of being immersed in the film,” said Shelby Russell, senior vice president of marketing at AEG and the LA Live entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles. “It makes you more engaged in the film in a very immersive way so it sets the mood throughout the entire auditorium,” Russell told Reuters Television. The Immersive Cinema Experience (ICE), first launched in France two years ago by movie chain CGR Cinemas, will make its U.S. debut on Dec. 12 at a single venue in Los Angeles for adventure movie “Jumanji: The Next Level,” starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart. Moviegoers will be charged an additional $6 for the experience, which CGR Cinemas plans to expand to other theaters around the United States. It …

Anti-government protests in Haiti are waning, with schools and businesses trying to reopen in the face of political gridlock and heightened violence in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. Demonstrations began in September against President Jovenel Moise over allegations of corruption and mismanagement, paralyzing the Caribbean island nation of 11 million. Protesters have barricaded roads and the electrical grid has broken down, plunging much of the island into darkness. Gangs have profited from the chaos to expand their territory. Haitians have wearied of disruptions, and crowds at recent protests are down to the hundreds from tens of thousands at the height of the crisis. The political opposition insists that the government has lost control of the country. Yet many question whether the opposition can dislodge the president. Washington has pledged Haiti more aid, and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale is expected to arrive Friday. Franz Merisier teaches a Spanish class at the College Saint Pierre-Eglise Episcopale D’Haiti as schools and businesses tentatively reopen their doors after anti-government protests begin to wane, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dec. 3, 2019. Attempts at normalcy Attempts to return to normalcy have been tentative and precarious. Hawkers are returning to sell wares …

A day after U.S. Senator Kamala Harris ended her 2020 presidential bid, former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic nomination, said on Wednesday he would consider her as a potential running mate. Biden, with whom Harris clashed during a Democratic debate earlier this year, praised her after a campaign event in Ames, Iowa. “Senator Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be,” Biden told reporters, according to a video posted by CBS News. “I talked to her yesterday. She’s solid. She can be the president one day herself. She can be the vice president. She can go on to be a Supreme Court justice.” FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., left, speaks with Astrid Silva, right, at an immigration roundtable at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, June 14, 2019. Biden and Harris had a contentious exchange over forced busing in public schools in the first Democratic debate in Miami in June. It was a standout moment for Harris, who saw her fortunes briefly rise in her party’s contest for the right to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in next year’s election. But any rift appears to …

A shooting at a Pearl Harbor naval shipyard in Hawaii left at least one person injured Wednesday, military and hospital officials said.  Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam spokesman Charles Anthony confirmed that there was an active shooting at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The military tweeted that it began around 2:30 p.m.   Queen’s Medical Center spokesman Cedric Yamanaka said the hospital was treating one patient but didn’t give details on the person’s condition.  Petty Officer Second Class Lexie Perez, who was helping at the Navy Region Hawaii public affairs office, said she couldn’t confirm how many people were injured or whether a shooter had been apprehended.  The base tweeted that the gates and base could be accessed again following a lockdown.  Honolulu Emergency Medical Service spokeswoman Shayne Enright said the service treated and transported patients but wouldn’t provide more details.  The shipyard repairs, maintains and modernizes the ships and submarines of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which is headquartered at Pearl Harbor. It’s the home port for 10 destroyers and 15 submarines.  The shipyard is across the harbor from the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, which on Saturday will mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II. More …