Citing a rise in ethnic and racial violence in many parts of the world, the State Department is mobilizing U.S. partners to combat white supremacist and other extremist groups.

Nathan Sales, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, said Friday the “world saw a rise in racially or ethnically motivated terrorism” in 2018, calling the development a “disturbing trend.”

“Our role is mobilizing international partners to confront the international dimensions of this threat,” Sales said at the launch of the State Department’s 2018 Country Report on Terrorism.

Sponsors of terrorism

The report called Iran “the world’s worst sponsor of terrorism,” saying the Iranian regime, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, spends nearly $1 billion a year to support terrorist groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.

“Many European countries also saw a rise in racially, ethnically, ideologically or politically motivated terrorist activity and plotting, including against religious and other minorities,” the report said.

For example, the report noted an estimated 2,000 “Islamist extremists” and 1,000 “white supremacist and leftist violent extremists” in Sweden. A 2018 assessment by the Swedish Security Services called the extremists’ presence a “new normal.”

Cross-border links

Echoing recent assessments by the FBI and other security officials, Sales said that white supremacists and other extremists increasingly communicate with like-minded cohorts across international borders.

“We know that they are, in a sense, learning from their jihadist predecessors, in terms of their ability to raise money and move money, in terms of their ability to radicalize and recruit,” Sales said.

U.S. law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned about such cross-border links between extremists. In some cases, right-wing extremists have traveled to Ukraine to fight on either side of the five-year conflict in the east of the country.

The links between U.S. extremist groups and their foreign counterparts appear to be more ideological than operational. But what worries the FBI is the inspiration white supremacists can draw from violent groups overseas, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday.

“I think you’re onto a trend that we’re watching very carefully,” Wray said.

“We have seen some connection between U.S.-based neo-Nazis and overseas analogues,” he said. “Probably a more prevalent phenomenon that we see right now is racially motivated violent extremists here who are inspired by what they see overseas.”

The rise of violent groups on the right has started a debate among policymakers over whether some outfits should be designated as terrorist organizations.

No domestic terrorism penalty

The problem is that while “material support” for international terrorism is a chargeable offense, there are no penalties for domestic terrorism.

One proposed solution is to pass a law that would allow prosecutors to bring domestic terrorism charges against defendants. Another is to add overseas white supremacist groups to the State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Sales deferred a question about terrorism designations to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

Asked whether a proposed law on “domestic terrorism” will help the FBI, Wray said, “Certainly we can always use more tools. Our folks at the FBI, just like (federal prosecutors), work with [the motto] ‘Don’t Give Up,’ and so they find workarounds.”

Nationals of six countries who live in the United States under a special humanitarian status will be permitted to stay longer, the U.S. government announced Friday, delaying the Trump administration’s target dates for terminating the program for certain groups.

Officials pushed back the end date of Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan, in order to comply with court orders stemming from ongoing lawsuits, the government said in a document released Friday.

The lawsuits were brought by civil rights and immigrant rights groups challenging the termination of TPS for nationals of the six countries, which was originally scheduled for early next year.

TPS recipients from those nations will have their status automatically extended to January 4, 2021, but with a caveat. While recipients may continue to live and work legally in the U.S. for an extended period, the document released Friday states that, should a judge rule in favor of the government sooner, TPS holders from the named countries will have 120 days from that point to adjust their immigration status or leave the country.

The announcement follows Monday’s news, tweeted by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, that a deal had been struck with Washington to extend protected status for about 250,000 Salvadorans residing in the U.S., the largest of the TPS groups.

Salvadoran recipients may get an extension for an additional year, pushing the end date to 2022, according to the document and statements by Bukele.

Friday’s U.S. announcement had been anticipated in Honduras, where earlier this week the country’s news media reported an extension for some Hondurans living in the U.S., based on comments made by Honduran Foreign Minister Lisandro Rosales.

Un año más de tranquilidad y oportunidad para nuestros compatriotas que estan bajo el Estatus de Protección Temporal (TPS), el permiso de trabajo se extiende hasta 4/Ene/2021 @DHSgovpic.twitter.com/546wEPmJL3

— Lisandro Rosales (@lisandrorosales) November 1, 2019

The United States offers TPS to citizens of nations in crisis — sometimes from war, other times because of a natural disaster — who are in the US already and cannot safely return to their country.

Once the status expires, for example if conditions in the country improve and the U.S. government deems TPS to no longer be justified, its recipients return to whatever status they held before TPS. If they lack legal status, they can be deported.

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.
 

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.

Calm winds in forecast

The winds subsided in virtually all parts of the state Thursday and forecasters anticipated at least a week of calm weather, though there was no rain in the forecast that would reduce the threat of fall fires.

However, a new wildfire erupted Thursday evening on a ridge north of Los Angeles, where winds continued.

The Ventura County Fired Department said the blaze grew to over a square mile (3 square kilometers) in a couple of hours, prompting evacuations of a few nearby streets and threatening the unincorporated town of Somis, which has about 3,000 residents. Hundreds of firefighters raced to battle the flames.

The most devastating wildfires in California’s history have occurred in the past two years in the fall, fueled by a combination of built-up brush, dry conditions and extreme winds. The anniversary of the deadliest of those — last year’s fire that torched the town of Paradise and killed 85 — is next week.

Less destructive season

The state experienced a wet winter with a large snowpack and temperatures and wind speeds didn’t spike simultaneously over the summer, which has led a less destructive fire season overall.

Acreage burned this year is down nearly 90% from last year and 80% below the five-year average over the same period, according to figures compiled through Sunday by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The moisture, however, has fueled explosive growth of grasses that have now shriveled into golden and brown tinder.

With virtually no rain in October and bursts of erratic winds, fires sprang up across the state, forcing residents to flee homes at all hours as flames indiscriminately burned barns, sheds, mobile homes and multimillion-dollar mansions.

Conan O’Brien, Arnold Schwarzenegger and LeBron James evacuated hillside estates in Los Angeles while farmworkers were driven from homes in Sonoma County wine country where the fire leveled the historic Soda Rock Winery.

Fires start in many ways

The causes of the fires have been just as diverse.

The blaze that destroyed dozens of trailers in Villa Calimesa Mobile Home Park east of Los Angeles and killed two people was started when a trash truck dumped a flaming load of garbage that spread to grass and was swiftly whipped out of control by winds.

A fire that broke out Thursday in Jurupa Valley, not far from Calimesa, was caused when two of Southern California’s quintessential themes, car chases and Santa Ana winds, collided as a hot car came to a halt in a field and ignited dry grasses.

Power still out in places

Wildfires occurred even as many were in the dark from the intentional outages.

In places where the power stayed on, utility lines and other electrical equipment were suspected or confirmed as the cause of several fires, including the one in Sonoma, another that started on a hillside above the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and one that burned around the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Wednesday.

More than 350,000 people statewide remained without power Thursday, most in Southern California where winds were not expected to die until sundown.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. workers in Northern California were inspecting power lines and working to restore power.

Winds were gusting up to 60 mph (96 kph) early Thursday morning when two fires broke out in the heavily populated inland region east of Los Angeles.

The fire started by the stolen car burned three homes and forced residents to temporarily flee.

Another early morning fire in San Bernardino destroyed six homes and forced about 1,300 people to evacuate, but they were allowed to return home later. The cause was under investigation.

While the fires are not out, progress was heading in the right direction, said Scott Ross, a spokesman for CalFire.

The outcome in Sonoma was better than expected, considering that 80,000 homes had been threatened and evacuations extended to the coast.

“Now it’s just time to get this mopped up and put out,” Ross said.

The fire burned 120 square miles (311 sq. kilometers) and was 60% contained.
 

On Aug. 25, 1989, an 8-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis wrote in her journal that it was “the most best day” because scientists had “found a Jean for Cistik fibrosis.”  

On Thursday, the current head of the National Institutes of Health — who was a member of one of the teams that found the gene — wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine that a triple-drug therapy has been found to be highly effective in treating the life-threatening disorder.

“We hoped that the gene discovery would someday lead to effective treatments for children and adults with cystic fibrosis,” Francis Collins wrote. “Now, 30 years later, that time has come.”

The drug, called Trikafta, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last week.

Some 30,000 Americans have been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, which causes thick mucus buildup in the patient’s organs, affecting respiration and digestion. While other drugs have helped lengthen patients’ lives, those born with the disease are expected to live only into their 40s.

Past treatments helped only a small percentage of patients, but Trikafta targets Phe508del, the most common mutation of the cystic fibrosis gene. Collins said this means 90% of those suffering from cystic fibrosis — including Jenny, the 8-year-old journal writer — will be helped by the therapy.

Now 38, Jenny McGlincy told The Washington Post that she cried when she read the drug had been approved.

“To think of my lung function improving or my digestion increasing, or even adding a few years to my life that I could spend with my daughter. … Now that it’s available, I’m a little like, ‘Is this really happening?’ ” she told the Post.

 Model of collaboration

Cystic fibrosis research has set a standard of how the collaboration between nonprofits and pharmaceutical firms can help develop treatments. Collins points out that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, frustrated that gene treatments were slow to be found, decided to invest directly in a small company called Aurora Biosciences, which is now Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the developer of Trikafta.

That collaboration, “now spanning more than two decades, can be seen as an important model for other rare genetic diseases,” Collins wrote.

After the discovery of the gene, Collins wrote a song, “Dare to Dream.”  

“The lyrics expressed hope that the gene discovery would lead to effective treatments for cystic fibrosis — that someday we would see ‘all our brothers and sisters breathing free.’ It is profoundly gratifying to see that this dream is coming true,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is no longer a New York resident.

The New York Times first reported the story, and Trump confirmed it in a series of Tweets late Thursday, saying he has decided to make Palm Beach, Florida, his permanent residence.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House, is the place I have come to love and will stay for, hopefully, another 5 years as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, but my family and I will be making Palm Beach, Florida, our Permanent Residence. I cherish New York, and the people of…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2019

“… despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year,” the president tweeted, “I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both New York city and state…”

It is not clear how much Trump has paid in New York taxes, since he refuses to release his tax information.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo did not seem upset about Trump’s change of address.

“Good riddance,” the governor tweeted. “It’s not like Mr. Trump paid taxes here anyway. He’s all yours, Florida.”

Good riddance.

It’s not like @realDonaldTrump paid taxes here anyway…

He’s all yours, Florida. https://t.co/9AX0q1aBkQ

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) November 1, 2019

Trump and his wife, Melania, filed separate “declaration of domicile” documents in September with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court to change their residence to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, the president’s resort in Palm Beach.

President Trump has been at Mar-a-Lago 99 days since he took office, according to NBC News, and visited his New Jersey golf club 90 days and spent just 20 days at Trump Tower in New York City.

Observers believe the president’s move from New York to Florida is likely motivated at least in part by the southeastern state’s lower taxes.
 

Female under-representation in politics continues to be a problem in Botswana, where only three women won seats in the 57-member National Assembly during last week’s general elections. Activists say the central African country has a bias against women both in its electoral system and its culture.  From Gaborone, Botswana, Mqondisi Dube has more.
 

The U.N. human rights office has denounced what it calls the ongoing repression in Indian-administered Kashmir and is urging the government to restore the rights stripped from the region’s millions of Muslim inhabitants in August.

India’s only Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir has officially ceased to exist. On August 5, the Indian government revoked constitutional provisions that granted partial autonomy to the area. As a result, the region was divided into two federally administered states – one being Jammu and Kashmir, which will include the restive Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-majority Jammu. The second territory will include the high-altitude Buddhist enclave of Ladakh.

This move, which came into effect on Thursday, ends seven decades of self-rule for the region.  

The office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights says it deplores the restrictive measures and what it calls the wide range of rights abuses that have continued unabated since August. In large parts of the Kashmir Valley, it reports an undeclared curfew is preventing the free movement of people and restricting their rights to health, education and freedom of religion and belief.

Human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville says the agency has heard about allegations of excessive use of force by security forces during sporadic protests. He says at least six people reportedly have been killed and scores seriously injured in separate incidents since the area was split into two.

“We have also received reports of armed groups operating in Indian-administered Kashmir threatening residents trying to carry out their normal business or attend school, as well as several allegations of violence against people who have not complied with the armed groups’ demands…Hundreds of political and civil society leaders, including three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, have been detained on a preventative basis,” Colville said.

Colville says his office also has received allegations of torture and ill-treatment of people held in detention. He notes torture is banned under international law and says these allegations must be independently and impartially investigated.

Colville says restrictions on landline telephones have been lifted, but all internet services remain blocked in the Kashmir valley. At the same time, he says media outlets face restrictions and several journalists allegedly have been arrested in the past three months.

He says the people of Kashmir remain bound to the whims and will of the government. He says major political decisions about the future status of Jammu and Kashmir are taken without their consent. He notes the region’s leaders are being detained and their right to freedom of expression and political participation undermined.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended the split, saying the special status had impeded the region’s progress, given rise to terrorism and was used as a weapon by rival Pakistan to “instigate some people.”

India has long accused Pakistan of supporting and training militants to foment a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, charges Islamabad denies.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to authorize a public impeachment inquiry targeting President Donald Trump after weeks of testimony behind closed doors about his efforts to push Ukraine to investigate his political opponents.

The vote was along party lines, 232-196 for the impeachment inquiry, with all Republicans against the resolution and two Democratic defectors joining them.

Immediately after the vote, Trump called the impeachment inquiry, “The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!” in a tweet.

The Greatest Witch Hunt In American History!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2019

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a statement saying the president “has done nothing wrong” and calling the process “unfair, unconstitutional, and fundamentally un-American.”

“Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ unhinged obsession with this illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump; it hurts the American people,” she said.

House Speaker Pelosi had long opposed opening an impeachment inquiry, but has turned sharply against Trump and called for passage of the impeachment rules. As debate opened Thursday, she said “nobody” comes to Congress to impeach a president, “unless his actions are jeopardizing us honoring our oath of office.”

“Sadly, this is not any cause for any glee or comfort,” she said. “This is something that is very solemn.”

Republicans had for weeks demanded that the majority Democrats hold a vote to authorize the impeachment probe against the Republican president, but as the vote neared they attacked it as an attempt to justify what they contend are sham hearings that have already been held.

Whistleblower

One of the president’s staunchest supporters, Congressman Jim Jordan, called the inquiry “an unfair partisan process,” and assailed the fact that the name of the intelligence community whistleblower who touched off the impeachment push against Trump has not been disclosed.

The whistleblower has been described by news organizations as a Central Intelligence Agency employee who once worked in the White House. He was the first official to voice concerns that Trump in a late July phone call had pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open investigations about one of Trump’s chief 2020 Democratic rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company and any links the eastern European country might have had to try to defeat Trump in the 2016 election.

The phone call came at a time when Trump was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid to Ukraine that it wanted to help in its fight against Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.

Trump has denied any quid pro quo deal with Zelenskiy, although several White House national security officials and career diplomats have told the impeachment investigators that Trump wanted the Ukraine investigations to help him politically.

Soliciting and receiving foreign contributions in an election is illegal under U.S. campaign finance law.

Trump, who last month released a rough transcript of his call with Zelenskiy, has described the call as “perfect” and claimed that the whistleblower misrepresented it. But much of what the whistleblower alleged about Trump looking for “a favor” from Zelenskiy — the investigations — has been borne out in subsequent testimony from other officials familiar with Trump’s call and his relations with Ukraine.

“READ THE TRANSCRIPT!” Trump said Thursday on Twitter.

READ THE TRANSCRIPT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2019

In setting up Thursday’s vote, Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues, “We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the resolution “falls way short” of bringing fairness and due process to the inquiry.

“I understand that many House Democrats made up their minds on impeachment years ago,” McConnell said. “But our basic norms of justice do not evaporate just because Washington Democrats have already made up their minds.”

Impeachment trial

If the full House, on a simple majority vote, eventually impeaches Trump, his trial would be held in the Republican-majority Senate, where a two-thirds vote to convict him to remove him from office would be required. With the votes of at least 20 Republicans needed to convict Trump, his removal from office remains unlikely.

Thus far, the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees have heard closed-door testimony from diplomats and other officials as they probe whether Trump should be impeached for urging a foreign country, Ukraine, to dig up dirt on a political rival with the aim of helping his re-election bid.

The resolution calls for moving to public hearings with the House Intelligence committee eventually issuing a report on its findings and recommendations to the House Judiciary Committee, which would then be responsible for deciding whether to recommend that the full House impeach Trump.

The committees are scheduled to hear testimony Thursday from Timothy Morrison, who was Trump’s top Russian and European affairs adviser on the National Security Council until he resigned Wednesday, according to a senior administration official.

House Democrats said Wednesday they want to hear from former National Security Adviser John Bolton and asked that he testify next week.

Several other witnesses have testified that Bolton was deeply disturbed that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was working behind the scenes to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats and 2020 presidential candidate Biden for alleged corruption — evidence of which has never surfaced.

Giuliani was apparently running what critics call a “shadow foreign policy” behind the back of the State Department. Bolton was said to have called Giuliani’s work a “drug deal” and that he wanted nothing to do with it.

Trump fired Bolton last month after they clashed on several fronts, including Ukraine.

A lawyer for Bolton says he is “not willing to appear voluntarily,” which means the House committees would have to issue a subpoena if they want to him to appear.

One of witnesses in Wednesday’s testimony, Foreign Service officer and Ukraine expert Christopher Anderson, said Bolton cautioned him about dealing with Giuliani, warning that Giuliani could complicate diplomatic efforts to improve ties between Washington and Kyiv.

Another Foreign Service officer, Catherine Croft, told the House committees she had received a number of telephone calls from former Republican congressman turned lobbyist Robert Livingston, telling her that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch should be fired.

She said Livingston described Yovanovitch as an “Obama holdover” and “associated with George Soros,” a longtime supporter of liberal causes.

“It was not clear to me at the time, or now, at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch,” Croft said.

Trump fired Yovanovitch in May. She testified that she was replaced because of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”

Meanwhile in the Senate, Trump’s nominee to become the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said at his confirmation hearing he knew Giuliani was involved in efforts to fire Yovanovitch.

When asked whether a president should ask a foreign power to investigate his political opponents, Sullivan replied, “I don’t think that would be in accord with our values.”

 

The “hero” dog wounded in the U.S. commando raid that culminated in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is getting a White House homecoming next week, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

Trump revealed that the military dog, a Belgian Malinois, is named “Conan” — heretofore a closely guarded secret because the information could be used to identify the special forces unit that carried out the raid in Syria over the weekend.

Trump posted a photomontage on Twitter showing him bestowing a medal of honor on the dog with the legend: “AMERICAN HERO.”

“Very cute recreation, but the ‘live’ version of Conan will be leaving the Middle East for the White House sometime next week!” he tweeted.

It was unclear what else lies in store for Conan, but it has been noted that Trump is the first U.S. president in more than a hundred years who doesn’t own a dog.

Conan was injured chasing Baghdadi into a dead end tunnel in his Syrian hideout, where the cornered IS leader detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and two children, according to the U.S. account.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said earlier this week that the hero dog was expected to make a full recovery and was already back with his handlers.

The photomontage that Trump retweeted was produced by the conservative publication Daily Wire.

It used a White House picture of the president draping the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military medal, around the neck of James McCloughan, a former army medic distinguished for saving lives under fire during the Vietnam War.

 

William J. Hughes, a longtime congressman and ambassador who represented southern New Jersey’s Second District, has died at 87.
 
The Democrat’s family says he passed away on Wednesday in Ocean City. A cause of death wasn’t released.
 
Hughes was elected to Congress in 1974 and retired in 1995. He was appointed ambassador to Panama by President Bill Clinton and served in that role until 1998.
 
During his years in Congress he served on the House Judiciary Committee and chaired the Subcommittee on Crime.
 
The Federal Aviation Administration’s research and development center outside Atlantic City was named after Hughes in recognition of his efforts to keep the facility in southern New Jersey.

House Democrats have summoned former national security adviser John Bolton to testify next week in their impeachment inquiry into U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. media outlets reported Wednesday. 
 
Several other witnesses have testified that Bolton was deeply disturbed that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was working behind the scenes to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden for alleged corruption — evidence of which has never surfaced. 
 
Giuliani was apparently running what critics call a “shadow foreign policy” behind the back of the State Department. Bolton was said to have called Giuliani’s work a “drug deal” and that he wanted nothing to do with it. 
 
Trump fired Bolton last month after they clashed on several fronts, including Ukraine. 
 
Bolton has been lying low since he left the White House. A lawyer for Bolton said he was “not willing to appear voluntarily,” which means the House committees would have to issue a subpoena if they want to hear from him. 

 The Democrat-led House is holding closed-door hearings to decide whether Trump should be impeached for urging a foreign country, Ukraine, to dig up dirt on a political rival with the aim of helping his re-election bid. Trump allegedly held up $400 million in badly needed military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodomyr Zelenskiy publicly agreed to investigate Biden and the Democrats. 
 
Trump has called the impeachment probe illegitimate because the entire House never voted to conduct it, even though no law requires a vote. The White House has complained that the proceedings are being held away from the public, which is a routine practice for any grand jury-style investigation. 
 
In order to satisfy Republican concerns, the entire House will vote Thursday on a resolution spelling out the rules for the inquiry. 
 
The resolution would make it clear that the Republican minority has equal opportunity to question witnesses, ask for written testimony, and subpoena witnesses and records. 
 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wanted to “eliminate any doubt” about the process. 
 
One of witnesses in Wednesday’s testimony, Foreign Service officer and Ukraine expert Christopher Anderson, said Bolton cautioned him about dealing with Giuliani, warning that Giuliani could complicate diplomatic efforts to improve ties between Washington and Kyiv.  

Another Foreign Service officer, Catherine Croft, told the House committees she had received several telephone calls from Robert Livingston, a former Republican congressman-turned- lobbyist, telling her that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch should be fired. 
 
She said Livingston described Yovanovitch as an “Obama holdover” and “associated with George Soros,” a longtime supporter of liberal causes. 
 
“It was not clear to me at the time, or now, at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch,” Croft said. 
 
Trump fired Yovanovitch in May. She testified that she was replaced because of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.” 
 
Meanwhile in the Senate, Trump’s nominee to become the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said at his confirmation hearing he knew Giuliani was involved in efforts to fire Yovanovitch. 
 
When asked whether a president should ask a foreign power to investigate his political opponents, Sullivan replied, “I don’t think that would be in accord with our values.” 
 
Trump has called the impeachment inquiry a witch hunt and a hoax. He described his July 25 telephone call with Zelenzkiy, in which he was said to have asked for the investigations, as “perfect.” The White House released a rough transcript of the Trump-Zelenskiy call.  

But Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, another National Security Council aide, testified Tuesday that references to Joe Biden and the Ukrainian energy company where his son, Hunter Biden, worked were left out of the transcript and that he proposed filling them in. 
 
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said Wednesday that this was “false” and again called the impeachment hearings a “sham.” 

More details from the Pentagon on the bold U.S. military raid that took out Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Video and images released late Wednesday show the daring assault. Our Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has details. 

A rocket struck near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone on Wednesday, killing at least one Iraqi guard.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for firing into the heavily fortified area of the Iraqi capital, home to government buildings and Western embassies.

The rocket fire came as tens of thousands of people massed in central Baghdad for another night of anti-government protests that began a week ago.

Officials said at least two people were killed and more than 100 wounded earlier Wednesday. Doctors said most of those hurt were hit in the head by tear gas canisters fired by security police.

The Iraqi Human Rights Commission said more than 100 people have been killed and thousands have been wounded in cities across the country in the latest round of demonstrations demanding the government resign. Nearly 150 died in marches earlier this month.

Students and other protesters are angry at alleged corruption, a slow economy and poor government services despite Iraq’s oil wealth.

A move in parliament to approve a bill to cancel privileges and bonuses for senior politicians, including the president, prime minister and Cabinet ministers, has done little to calm the marchers.

The United States, the United Nations and Amnesty International have called for restraint by both sides.

Go inside the mission by US Special Forces that resulted in the suicide of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren examines how the mission was executed and what the fallout might be. Join Greta and VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb (@CarlaBabbVOA); VOA National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin (@jseldin); VOA Extremist Watch Desk reporter Hasib Alikozai (@Alikozai86); and retired Major General Robert Scales. Aired October 30, 2019.

British and Belgian police are continuing to investigate the people-smuggling networks that helped to transport the 39 migrants who were found dead in the back of a refrigerated truck near London last week. It’s believed they suffocated in the sealed container. Henry Ridgwell reports on the growing industry in human cargo that brings tens of thousands of migrants to Europe every year.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the withdrawal of Ukrainian and Russia-backed separatist forces from a frontline area in eastern Ukraine, but reiterated calls for Moscow to “withdraw all their troops.”

“We welcome all efforts to reduce tensions,” Stoltenberg said during a visit to the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, adding that “there is a long way to go because there are still cease-fire violations.”

“NATO states very clearly that Russia has a special responsibility to… withdraw all their troops, all their officers” from eastern Ukraine, he added.

Stoltenberg’s comments come a day after Ukrainian government troops and the separatists started a disengagement process in the town of Zolote in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting the separatists in Luhansk and the neighboring Donetsk region in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.

Under a deal reached earlier this month to end the five-year conflict, the sides agreed to start withdrawing from their positions in Zolote and the nearby town of Petrivske.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko voiced hope on October 29 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, next month for peace talks mediated by the leaders of France and Germany, in what is known as the Normandy format.

Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov also welcomed steps to resume the disengagement of forces in eastern Ukraine, telling the TASS news agency: “If everything works out in Zolote, similar procedures in Petrivske should follow immediately. And after that, preparations may begin for another Normandy Quartet summit.”

On October 30, Stoltenberg and the ambassadors from NATO’s top decision-making body – the North Atlantic Council – arrived in Odesa for a two-day trip, and visited four vessels – from Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, and Spain – that are conducting patrols in the Black Sea.

Meeting with Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Stoltenberg highlighted the Western military alliance’s “support for Ukraine’s ambitious reforms, including in defense and security,” according to a NATO statement.

“The visit today sends a clear message that NATO stands in solidarity with Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.

Pakistani authorities are deploying police and putting shipping containers in the capital, Islamabad, ahead of the arrival of a massive anti-government protest caravan.

The measures Wednesday are aimed at stopping demonstrations from reaching the Red Zone, where government offices, parliament and foreign embassies are located.

They come as thousands of Islamists led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, left for Islamabad in a caravan of cars and trucks from the eastern city of Lahore. The procession originally left Karachi on Sunday and is expected to reach Islamabad on Thursday.

Authorities in Islamabad have allocated a specific area for the rally.

Rehman wants Prime Minister Imran Khan to quit over his alleged failure in improving the country’s ailing economy. Khan has refused.
 

The head of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank pushed back on Tuesday against U.S. assertions that China’s Belt and Road lending has unfairly saddled poor countries with unsustainable debt.

Jin Liqun, AIIB’s president, said during an investment conference panel discussion that debt problems associated with China’s massive infrastructure drive were often the result of long-standing fiscal mismanagement.

“The debt problems of these poor countries were accumulated over the years. I don’t think it’s fair to put it down to the Belt and Road initiative,” Jin said at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.

He appeared on a panel with World Bank President David Malpass, who as a senior Treasury Department official in the Trump administration was highly critical of Belt and Road lending, telling the U.S. Congress in December 2018 that it “often leaves countries with excessive debt and poor-quality projects.”

Jin defended the program’s purpose as being aimed at upgrading infrastructure to improve the growth and development potential of many countries.

“But we should learn from the history. For many countries I think the issue is not whether you borrowed the money from outside, it’s how you spend the money you borrow,” Jin said. “You spend it well or not.”

He said China borrowed heavily from external sources over the past 40 years, but spent the money “judiciously” and never experienced a debt repayment problem.

“You need to look at the debtor. The debtor will speak for themselves,” Jin said. He added that multilateral development banks such as the AIIB and World Bank help debtor countries prioritize which projects they should pursue and which can wait.

Malpass agreed that it was important to invest in quality projects that benefit a country’s population and said there needed to be more transparency in infrastructure lending, including the collateral, liens and other terms to avoid hidden clauses in contracts.

“The debt burden has been going up so fast that the end result has been quite a few projects that the people of the country didn’t need,” he said, without naming specific cases.

In 2017, Sri Lanka handed control of its Chinese-financed Hambantota port to Beijing as it struggled with $8 billion in debt owed to Chinese state-controlled firms. In 2018, Pakistan scaled back a Belt and Road railroad project to cope with mounting debt.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to officially recognize the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The historic vote was 405 to 11 and is seen as a rebuke to Turkey, which has spent nearly a century denying there was a genocide.

Although the U.S. has several times recognized an Armenian genocide through presidential proclamations and House resolutions, this is the first time the full Congress passed a measure making it U.S. policy. It is unclear if the Senate will follow.

Congress’ ‘revenge’

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu immediately condemned the vote, calling it a “shameful decision of those exploiting history in politics (it is) null and void for our government and people.”

He said the resolution was Congress’ “revenge” for Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria.

Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.

Armenians say they were purposely targeted for extermination through starvation, forced labor, deportation, death marches, and outright massacres.

Turkey denies a genocide or any deliberate plan to wipe out the Armenians. They say many of the victims were casualties of World War I, or murdered by Russians. Turkey also says the number of Armenians killed was far fewer than the usually accepted figure of 1.5 million.

Politically sensitive

Turkey is a NATO member and a U.S. ally, and the issue is an extremely sensitive one. U.S. presidents have been careful not to publicly use the word genocide when talking about the Armenian deaths, sometimes to their regret.

Former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power told the radio podcast Save the World that several officials in the Obama administration called it a “mistake” not to use the word. “I’m sorry that we disappointed so many Armenian Americans,” she said.

There has been no reaction from the Trump administration.