As Pyongyang appears to be preparing to launch a long-range missile, experts see an end to a diplomatic process Washington has pursued to denuclearize North Korea. “I see no signs that the North Koreans are interested in talking to the U.S. at this time,” said Joshua Pollack, a North Korean expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. “They appear to have made their decision.” On Tuesday, a top U.S. Air Force general said he is expecting North Korea to launch a long-range ballistic missile as a “Christmas gift” to the U.S. “What I would expect is some type of long-range ballistic missile would be the gift,” said Gen. Charles Brown, commander of Pacific Air Forces and air component commander for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. “It’s just a matter of does it come on Christmas Eve? Does it come on Christmas Day? Does it come after the New Year?”   Earlier this month, North Korea said, “It is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will select to get.” The statement came as Pyongyang issued a series of warnings demanding that Washington change its stance on denuclearization talks by the end-of-the-year deadline Pyongyang unilaterally imposed on Washington. FILE …

Members of Congress urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection to change its decision not to vaccinate migrants against the flu. A letter sent Monday by Legislators have criticized CBP for overlooking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations, and called into question CBP policies for detection and treatment of flu in its facilities. “CBP acknowledges that there is an ‘unprecedented’ humanitarian crisis at the Southwest Border, and yet, despite this admission, insists on adhering to its ‘long-standing practice’ of not conducting vaccinations for the flu in its facilities,” the letter said. “This decision is unconscionable and continues to endanger the health and safety of migrant families, CBP personnel, and the American public.” U.S. officials not only called on CBP to immediately reverse its decision, but also asked the agency to answer a series of questions about its ongoing failure to provide recommended flu vaccines to detainees. As the flu season is officially under way, lawmakers requested a response to their letter by Dec. 30, 2019. A CBP spokesperson did not immediately respond to VOA’s email requesting a comment about the letter. Doctors rallied Meanwhile, physicians from Doctors for Camp Closure rallied at the beginning of the month to demand …

African governments and refugee activists hope a ground-breaking refugee forum will deliver much-needed funding and voice to a region whose challenges are often eclipsed by more headline-grabbing crises. Two decades ago, John Bolinga fled his hometown of Goma, in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive northeast. “Rebels came and attacked our home so my father was shot dead. So I had to run to Uganda,” Bolinga said. He started out destitute, but eventually launched his own NGO in Kampala, which today helps women and children who like himself, were uprooted by violence. He is sharing his story in Geneva, where countries are meeting for a first-ever global refugee forum. Here and elsewhere, Bolinga says, giving refugees a voice and active role in decisions that affect their lives is critical. “The challenge is if refugees feel they’re not welcomed,” Bolinaa said, “and also the root causes which is making refugees to flee their countries is not tackled, there is going to be a crisis.” Africa is a leading exporter of refugees. They count among the millions making perilous journeys across the Sahara and Mediterranean for a better life in Europe … which often isn’t realized. But Africa also shelters more than one-quarter …

In his early 20s, Mohammad was a law student who raised bees on his uncle’s farm in Syria.   But in 2013, he faced a terrible choice: Join the military, join a rival militant group, face prison or flee his country. “What if I had to kill my own people?” he said at a mobile phone shop in an urban refugee camp in Beirut. “I tried to flee to Europe many times. I was caught by the Egyptian secret police, and they sent me to Damascus.” There are now 70 million people “forcibly displaced” in the world, and their numbers are growing rapidly, according to the United Nations. Humanitarian aid is increasingly scarce, and the increase in refugees “is outpacing the rate at which solutions are being found,” according to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. As more people flee their homes, it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine who is entitled to protection under international law, and who is not. “We need to uphold the refugee definition that is enshrined in the international legal system because it is strong, and we can leverage it in our discussions with States,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said at a Geneva conference …

The Democratic-controlled House voted Tuesday to pass a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package, handing President Donald Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence while giving Democrats spending increases across a swath of domestic programs. The hard-fought legislation also funds a record Pentagon budget and is serving as a must-pass legislative locomotive to tow an unusually large haul of unrelated provisions into law, including an expensive repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health plans, help for retired coal miners, and an increase from 18 to 21 in nationwide legal age to buy tobacco products. The two-bill package, some 2,371 pages long after additional tax provisions were folded in on Tuesday morning, was unveiled Monday afternoon and adopted less than 24 hours later as lawmakers prepared to wrap up reams of unfinished work against a backdrop of Wednesday’s vote on impeaching President Donald Trump. FILE – Prototypes for U.S. President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico are shown near completion behind the current border fence, in this picture taken from the Mexican side of the border, in Tijuana, Oct. 23, 2017. The House first passed a measure funding domestic programs on a 297-120 vote. But one-third of the Democrats defected on …

At midday on Dec. 17, 2014, the sound of church bells echoed in Havana as presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced that the United States and Cuba would reestablish diplomatic relations and end nearly 60 decades of hostility. Five years later, it feels almost as if that historic moment never happened, Cubans said in interviews in the capital Tuesday. President Donald Trump has spent roughly as much time undoing detente as Obama spent constructing it, and relations between the two countries are at one of their lowest points since the end of the Cold War. Trump has cut back U.S. visits to Cuba — barring cruise ships, flights to most cities and unguided educational travel — the most popular form of American trip to Cuba. The U.S. Embassy in Havana has been reduced to skeleton staffing after diplomats reported a string of health problems whose source remains a mystery. The closure of the embassy’s visa section, and end of special five-year visas for Cubans this year, means travel to the U.S. has become near-impossible for many Cubans who used to fly regularly to South Florida to see family and buy supplies for businesses. The Cuban economy is stagnant, with …

Victims of a 2018 shooting rampage in Toronto that left two dead and 13 injured are suing the American maker of the pistol used in the attack, holding it responsible for not making guns safer. The class action, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by AFP, alleges that Smith and Wesson knew that its M&P 40 handgun “was an ultra-hazardous product.” And it should have known that the weapon might end up being stolen and used to harm or kill innocent people, the suit claims. Yet the company chose not to incorporate safety features such as fingerprint recognition to prevent unauthorized users, it alleges. The class action, which must still be certified, is seeking Can$150 million (US$115 million) in damages. FILE – Handguns are displayed at the Smith & Wesson booth at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 19, 2016. Lead plaintiffs Samantha Price and Skye McLeod said in a statement of claim that they’d gone out for ice cream with friends on the evening of July 22, 2018, when they were confronted by a man opening fire on Toronto’s bustling Danforth Avenue. Price was struck by a bullet, but survived. McLeod was injured while …

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation this week increasing fines and penalties against so-called “foreign agents” working in mass media — part of a broader spate of Russian laws that have targeted foreign media, NGOs, and other perceived enemies at home.   The latest measure strengthens a controversial law signed earlier this month that expanded the foreign agent label beyond media outlets to individuals — making journalists, bloggers and online news consumers potential new targets.  The laws have been criticized by human rights groups as a government weapon to restrict free speech, but are lauded by Kremlin loyalists as essential to protecting Russian sovereignty in the face of what they argue is routine foreign interference.  The foreign agent media law now requires those who work for suspect media outlets to label any published materials as “made by a foreign agent,” and personally submit to regular audits and inspections of their work and finances. Less clear, until now, were the penalties for violations. FILE – Law enforcement officers detain a local Reuters journalist during an opposition rally, in Moscow, Russia, July 27, 2019. Under the new terms approved by Putin, a series of graduated fines takes hold against media companies and their employees.  Initial violations would now mean up to $800 in fines for …

In conservative Pakistan, women’s sports still lag far behind their male counterparts. That has not stopped women who enjoy sports from pushing the boundaries and demanding change. In a poor neighborhood in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, young women are so passionate about football they have persisted despite the disapproval of their own families and society. But as Ayesha Tanzeem reports from Karachi, the young women still have doubts about a future in the sport. …

Stirring a giant vat in a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian Christian Maryam Salem prepares a special festive dish — not for Christmas, but the St Barbara’s Day festival. It is celebrated every December 17 in Aboud, which residents believe is the last resting place of Saint Barbara, a third century woman killed for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. The special dessert, named after Barbara and given to hundreds of people, looks a little like rice pudding but includes wheat, anise, fennel, cinnamon, almonds, raisins and sugar. Salem says it takes several days to prepare, starting with soaking the wheat for 24 hours. “We cook it and gradually add the rest of the ingredients and keep stirring until the ingredients are well mixed,” said Salem, who has been preparing the dish for the festivities for 12 years. The exact details of Barbara’s story are disputed but the legend of the story is well-known. The beautiful daughter of a pagan born in the third century, she secretly converted to Christianity. Once her father found out she fled but was eventually caught. Her furious father murdered her but was struck by lightning and died shortly after. The pastor of …

Danish scientists have managed to extract a complete DNA sample from a piece of birch pitch more than 5,000 years old, used as a kind of chewing gum, a study revealed Tuesday. The Stone-Age sample yielded enough information to determine the source’s sex, what she had last eaten and the germs in her mouth. It also told them she probably had dark hair, dark skin and blue eyes. And genetically, she was more closely related to hunter-gatherers from the mainland Europe than to those living in central Scandinavia at the time, they concluded. “It is the first time that an entire ancient human genome has been extracted from anything other than human bones,” Hannes Schroeder of the University of Copenhagen, told AFP. Schroeder is co-author of the study, which was published in the review Nature Communications. They found the sample during an archaeological dig at Syltholm, in southern Denmark, said Tehis Jensen, one of the other authors. “Syltholm is completely unique,” he said. “Almost everything is sealed in mud, which means that the preservation of organic remains is absolutely phenomenal.” The researchers also recovered traces of plant and animal DNA – hazelnut and duck – confirming what archaeologists already know …

The first woman to be elected mayor of Colombia’s capital city has married her partner in a private civil ceremony before taking office. Claudia Lopez announced her wedding to Angelica Lozano Monday evening by sharing an enthusiastic message and several photographs on social media. “On my way to the happiest moment of my life!” Lopez wrote on Twitter. The incoming mayor of Bogota, who takes office in January, thanked her bride for “loving me always” and promised “to honor and love” her the rest of their days. Photographs show the pair dressed in white, holding a simple bouquet of flowers and smiling. The couple’s union has become a rallying cause among supporters promoting LGBT rights in the traditionally conservative, Catholic country – though Colombia has permitted gay marriage since a landmark Constitutional Court ruling in 2016. Lozano told Colombia’s BLU Radio that the couple has tried to marry previously but their schedules made organizing a wedding complicated. “We told ourselves, `We have to do it now or another four years will pass by,” Lozano said. “Because Claudia’s priority the next four years will be her job.” When she is sworn into office, Lopez will become the first openly lesbian mayor …

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday rejected Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s bid to have key aides to President Donald Trump testify at a Trump impeachment trial in January. McConnell called the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives’ effort to impeach Trump, likely culminating in a Wednesday vote against the U.S. leader, “slapdash” and “sloppy.” McConnell said it was not the responsibility of the Senate to engage in further fact-finding to “search desperately for ways to get to guilty.” Schumer says the Senate should hear testimony from four Trump officials, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, about their knowledge of Trump’s monthslong effort to get Ukraine to investigate one of his chief 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden.  FILE – In this Oct. 22, 2019, photo, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks to members of the media following a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington. Trump’s Ukraine bid came at a time he was temporarily blocking $391 million in military aid that Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. But McConnell, who has predicted there is “zero chance” Trump will be …

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 30,000 votes. It’s expected to a battleground state in Trump’s 2020 re-election bid. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, two issues may affect the election outcome in the Midwestern state: the impeachment process and America’s continuing decade-long economic expansion. …

Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, says he provided the president with information that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was impeding investigations that could benefit Trump politically. Within weeks, she was recalled from her post. In an interview with The New York Times, Giuliani portrayed himself as directly involved in the effort to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, and he provided details indicating Trump’s knowledge of that effort. Giuliani’s interview, published Tuesday, comes as Trump is facing near-certain impeachment Wednesday by the House for abuse of power over his pressure on Ukraine to announce investigations of Democrats while he was withholding aid to the Eastern European nation. Giuliani said he passed along information to Trump “a couple of times” about how Yovanovitch had frustrated efforts that could help Trump, including efforts to have Ukraine investigate political rival Joe Biden. Trump, in turn, passed the information on to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Giuliani said. Within weeks, Yovanovitch was told Trump had lost trust in her and she was recalled as ambassador. Trump has said he did nothing wrong and his pressure on Ukraine was aimed at rooting out corruption there. Early last year, Giuliani said, he told Trump that Yovanovitch …

Abbas Ali spends most of his free time camped out in Tahrir Square — the epicenter of Iraq’s anti-government protests — going home only at 3 a.m. to catch few hours of sleep, change his clothes and check on his family. He is determined to stay in the square until the end, whatever that may be. Ali was only 13 when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. He only vaguely remembers life under the dictator. What he knows clearly is that life in post-Saddam Iraq is a daily, often humiliating struggle for survival. The 29-year-old considers himself lucky to have a job, although the pay barely covers medical bills for his ailing father and elderly mother. His two brothers and sister are unemployed. So are most of his friends. He says marriage is the furthest thing from his mind since he couldn’t possibly afford to start a family. Angry at factional, sectarian politicians and clerics he blames for stealing Iraq’s wealth, Ali embodies the young Iraqis in Baghdad who for more than two months have waged a revolt calling for the downfall of a hated political class. A similar scene is taking place in tiny Lebanon, where for 62 days …

Turkish authorities have arrested a mayor from Turkey’s main opposition party over his alleged links to a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, the state-run news agency reported Tuesday. Separately, c lose to 200 people were detained in other police operations. Anadolu Agency said Burak Oguz, the mayor of the Aegean coastal town of Urla, was arrested late Monday for alleged ties to Fethullah Gulen’s network. Gulen is blamed by Ankara for a failed coup attempt in 2016. Oguz, who was elected in local elections in March, is the first mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, to be arrested on terror charges. At least 14 elected mayors belonging to Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party have previously been detained for alleged ties to outlawed Kurdish rebels. The party denies terror charges and says the arrests are politically motivated aimed at weakening its hold in Turkey’s southeast. The CHP condemned Oguz’s arrest and denied the accusation of links to Gulen, saying the network had no “chance of serving within the CHP.” “We condemn the use of the justice [system] to remove those who were elected,” said CHP provincial head, Deniz Yucel. FILE – Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United …

Police said Tuesday that an Australian teenager and a New Zealand tour guide are the two people presumed dead but whose bodies have not been found after last week’s volcanic eruption on New Zealand’s White Island that killed 18 people. New Zealand police said the bodies of Winona Langford, 17, of Sydney and New Zealander Hayden Marshall-Inman, 40, have yet to be accounted for. Authorities believe both bodies are in the waters around White Island, but harsh conditions Tuesday forced an abandonment of the search for the second straight day. Inclement weather struck the Bay of Plenty, where White Island is located, and a water-based search has been ruled out due to the forecast of storms. Langford’s parents, Anthony and Kristine Langford, died in the eruption, while her brother, Jesse Langford, survived with severe burns and is being treated in a Sydney hospital. In a previously released statement from the Langford family, Anthony and Kristine Langford were described as “loving parents.’’ “They will be greatly missed by all who knew them,” the statement said. New Zealand police on Tuesday released the names of three more people who died in the eruption: Australians Richard Elzer, 32, and Julie Richards, 47, and Sydney-based …

A special court  in Pakistan Tuesday found former president and military ruler Pervez Musharraf guilty of high treason and sentenced him to death. This was the first time a military dictator was tried and convicted in court in Pakistan. Musharraf, who is currently receiving medical treatment in Dubai, came to power through a military coup in 1999. His initial actions received legal cover by the judiciary and subsequently the parliament. It was his imposition of the state of emergency in 2007 that led to the charges against him. The case has been dragging through the courts since 2014 when Musharraf was indicted. In 2016, he was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment, under what many believe was pressure from the country’s powerful military. He was asked by the judiciary to return and record his testimony multiple times but cited medical reasons for not being able to do so. Earlier this month, from a hospital in Dubai, Musharraf expressed distrust in the judicial process and said he was being victimized. The major opposition parties in the country hailed the decision as a bulwark against future military coups. Pakistan has spent more than half of its existence under direct military …

Two separate bomb explosions in Afghanistan Tuesday killed at least 10 civilians, including children, and injured 18 others.  The violence comes as a new United Nations report says that even by Afghanistan’s grim standards, 2019 has been particularly deadly for children and described the country as “the world’s most lethal war zone.” Afghan officials said a roadside bomb early Tuesday morning ripped through a civilian vehicle in the southeastern border province of Khost, killing at least ten civilians.  Provincial governor Halim Fidai said that three women and two children were among those killed in the attack in Alisher district. The governor noted in his Twitter post the victims were on their way to attend a family funeral. He added an investigation was underway into the incident to arrest the perpetrators. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi accused the Taliban of planting the bomb. There was no immediate reaction from the insurgent group to the allegations.  Separately, a roadside bomb hit a traffic police vehicle in Mazar-e-Shari, the capital of the northern Balkh province. A spokesman for the provincial police told VOA the blast wounded six traffic police personnel and 12 civilians. There were no claims of responsibility for that attack.  …

Members of the Japan soccer team that won the Women’s World Cup in 2011 will be the first to carry the torch for the Tokyo Olympics when the relay opens its Japanese leg on March 26, 2020. The relay is to begin in J-Village in Fukushima prefecture, located about 250 kilometers (150 miles) north of Tokyo. The area was devastated on March 11, 2011, by an earthquake, tsunami, and the subsequent meltdown of three nuclear reactors. Organizers made the announcement on Tuesday but did not say which player – or players – would be the first to carry the torch. The torch will go to all 47 Japanese prefectures. Former coach Norio Sasaki has also been asked to be part of the relay. Organizers and the International Olympic Committee chose to start the relay in Fukushima to show how the area is recovering from the disaster almost nine years ago. The torch will go through much of the Fukushima prefecture, although some parts are still off limits to the general public. The torch relay will take in several World Heritage Sites including Mt. Fuji and the Itsukushima shrine – known as the “Floating Shrine” – in Hiroshima prefecture. The torch …

With the U.S. House of Representatives expected to vote to impeach President Donald Trump this week, the White House is shifting focus to the Republican-led Senate, where the president will face trial as early as January. Patsy Widakuswara has this story on how Trump and his allies are planning to mount a fast and aggressive defense, with the goal of turning the tables on opposition Democrats. …