Steve Herman contributed to this report.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have issued subpoenas to the Pentagon and White House budget office as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, requesting documents relating to Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine.

Three Democratic committees Monday demanded Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Office and Budget and Management Acting Director Russell Vought turn over the documents by Oct.15. Democrats are investigating Trump’s actions of pressing Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Part of the investigation includes examining whether or not Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine was tied to his request for a Ukrainian investigation into the Bidens.

<!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

2nd Whistleblower Adds to Impeachment Peril at White House

Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, said the second person has spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog and can corroborate information in the original whistleblower complaint

The development follows news on Sunday that a second U.S. intelligence whistleblower has come forward with a complaint about the actions of the Trump administration.

Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents both whistleblowers, confirmed the news to VOA.

The complaint filed by the first whistleblower is what sparked the impeachment investigation. The complaint alleges Trump used “the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 election,” and cited a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into alleged corruption in Ukraine by the former vice president and his son.

Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing. He has repeatedly termed the call with Zelenskiy as “perfect,” while attacking his critics as “traitors” and alleging a “coup” is in the works to remove him from office.

<!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

Diplomat at Center of Trump Impeachment Inquiry Quits McCain Institute Directorship

Former US special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, testified before House committees last week

Also Sunday, Trump accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being guilty of “High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and even Treason,” crimes that are the same level of offense as those the U.S. Constitution cites as the threshold for removing a president from office.

Trump’s tweet late Sunday also reiterated his criticism of Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the Democrat whom Pelosi has tasked with leading the impeachment inquiry.

Trump took offense to the way Schiff described a phone call between him and the leader of Ukraine. On Sunday, he said Pelosi knew of Schiff’s “lies and massive frauds.”

Schiff said at a committee hearing that the transcript of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president reads like “a classic organized crime shakedown,” and that Schiff’s own version of the conversation was meant to be a parody.

<!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

What’s the impeachment process?

A two-step process in the House and Senate required to remove the president from office

The impeachment inquiry is moving forward this week with the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees set to hear testimony from several important figures. On Tuesday, they are scheduled to hear from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from her post as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, is scheduled to testify.

The House committees are also waiting for answers to their subpoenas for documents from the State Department, White House and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Trump reacted Sunday to news of a second whistleblower with a flurry of tweets, repeating unproven claims of corruption by the Bidens.

“The Biden family was PAID OFF, pure and simple. The fake news must stop making excuses for something that is totally inexcusable,” Trump said.

He has alleged that when Joe Biden was vice president, he threatened to hold up loan guarantees to Ukraine unless it fired a prosecutor investigating a gas company on which Hunter Biden had a seat.

Trump also accuses Hunter Biden of taking $1.5 billion from China “for no apparent reason” and has publicly called on China to investigate the Bidens.

“There is NO WAY these can be legitimate transactions? As lawyers & others have stated as President I have an OBLIGATION to look into possible or probable CORRUPTION,” he tweeted.

No evidence of corruption by the Bidens in Ukraine or China has been found.

…

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees is calling for urgent action to resolve the global forced displacement crisis as increasing numbers of people flee conflict, natural disasters and grinding poverty. Filippo Grandi was speaking at the opening of UNHCR’s annual weeklong refugee conference.

Forced displacement has reached record highs. In recent years, nearly 71 million people have been uprooted from their homes. More than one-third are refugees; the rest are displaced within their own countries.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi says the issue of forced displacement is far more complex now than in 1951. That was when the United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention to protect and assist millions of refugees who survived the horrors of World War II.  

<!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

India, Bangladesh Stress Safe Return of Rohingya Refugees

India also promises additional humanitarian aid for refugees living in Bangladesh camps

Grandi says refugee protection since has become more complex. He notes the world now is faced with what he calls mixed flows of refugees and migrants.

The commissioner also says putting economic migrants and asylum seekers into the same category is eroding protections for refugees, who are people fleeing from war, persecution and violence.  

In Mexico last week, he says he saw examples of refugee integration coupled with increasing migratory pressures from the region, but also from Africa.

“Saving lives and safeguarding the dignity and rights of all those on the move must remain central, together with access to international protection for those with valid claims,” Grandi said. “There and elsewhere, legal migration pathways would help prevent the abuse of asylum systems as substitutes of migration channels.”

Grandi says climate change is creating a new form of forcible displacement, an issue that did not exist when the Refugee Convention was conceived.

He says climate-related causes are a growing driver of new internal displacement.

“Climate is often also a pervasive factor in cross-border displacement…Forced displacement across borders can stem from the interaction between climate change and disasters with conflict and violence,” Grandi said. “Or, it can arise from natural or man-made disasters alone.  Either situation can trigger international protection needs.”

Grandi says he plans to convene the first Global Refugee Forum in just over two months. The aim of the forum, he says, is to address and seek to resolve forced displacement, one of the great global challenges of this century.

…

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees is calling for urgent action to resolve the global forced displacement crisis as increasing numbers of people flee conflict, natural disasters and grinding poverty.

In recent years, nearly 71 million people have been uprooted from their homes. More than one-third are refugees; the rest are displaced within their own countries.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the issue of forced displacement is far more complex now than in 1951, when the United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention to protect and assist millions of refugees who survived the horrors of World War II.  

Grandi, speaking at the UNHCR’s annual weeklong refugee conference, said the world now is faced with what he calls mixed flows of refugees and migrants.

The commissioner also said that putting economic migrants and asylum-seekers into the same category is eroding protections for refugees, who are people fleeing war, persecution and violence.  

In Mexico last week, he said he saw examples of refugee integration coupled with increasing migratory pressures from the region, but also from Africa.

“Saving lives and safeguarding the dignity and rights of all those on the move must remain central, together with access to international protection for those with valid claims,” Grandi said. “There and elsewhere, legal migration pathways would help prevent the abuse of asylum systems as substitutes of migration channels.”

Grandi says climate change is creating a new form of forcible displacement, an issue that did not exist when the Refugee Convention was conceived.

He said climate-related causes are a growing driver of new internal displacement.

“Climate is often also a pervasive factor in cross-border displacement…Forced displacement across borders can stem from the interaction between climate change and disasters with conflict and violence,” Grandi said. “Or, it can arise from natural or man-made disasters alone. Either situation can trigger international protection needs.”

Grandi plans to convene the first Global Refugee Forum in just over two months. The aim of the forum, he said, is to address and seek to resolve forced displacement, one of the great global challenges of this century.

…

French and German attempts to end the conflict in east Ukraine risk increasing tensions that were already rising in the European Union over how to handle Russia and which could complicate peace efforts.

Progress at talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys have raised hopes of convening the first international summit in three years on ending the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces.

But some EU states, while welcoming a summit that would involve France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, are worried by growing talk that the EU might partially lift sanctions imposed on Moscow since its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

EU divisions over how to deal with Moscow have been growing over overtures to the Kremlin in recent months, led by Paris.

Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron have especially upset governments in EU countries that were once Soviet satellite states or constituent republics. Alarmed by what they see as an increasingly aggressive Russian foreign policy, they reject anything that might smack of appeasement.

“Are we to reward Russia because they have not done anything grotesque in the past few months?” one EU diplomat asked.

<!–[if IE 9]><![endif]–>

Steinmeier Deal Sparks Protests in Ukraine, Praise in Moscow

Former US diplomats to the region are cautiously optimistic but concerned that Moscow and Kyiv may have different interpretations of the deal

In EU meetings, letters and speeches, divisions about Russia that were once under control are resurfacing, diplomats say.

The tension could make it harder for the EU to agree new sanctions if Russia intensifies what are often depicted by Western leaders as efforts by President Vladimir Putin to undermine Western institutions such as the 28-nation bloc.

The tension could also further divide the bloc – with a group of French-led, relatively Russia-friendly allies such as Italy on one side, and the Baltic states, Poland and Romania on the other. This in turn could weaken the resolve of Western-backed governments to stand up for Ukraine, diplomats said.

EU diplomats still expect leaders of the bloc to extend sanctions on Russia’s energy, financial and defense sectors for another six months at a regular summit in December.

But while Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel say there can be no sanctions relief until Russia implements a peace deal for Ukraine agreed in 2014-2015, both see sanctions as impeding better relations with Moscow.

MACRON’S “RESET”

The measures, imposed over the annexation of Crimea and Russian support for the separatists fighting in Ukraine, require all EU governments to agree. Any friction could allow just one country, possibly Moscow’s ally Hungary, to end them.

“The time has come for the German government to pressure the EU for a partial lifting of the sanctions,” German lawmaker Peter Ramsauer, whose centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU) is a member of Germany’s ruling coalition, told Reuters.

Baltic states, once part of the Soviet Union, fear a Russian trap to block Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO and the EU. The country of 42 million has borders both with Russia and countries in the EU and NATO.

With Germany open to France taking a more active role on Russia, Macron unexpectedly relaunched a bid for better Russian ties in July.

Sending his defense and foreign ministers to Moscow in September and ending a four-year freeze on such high-level diplomatic visits, Macron is seeking to bring Moscow back into the fold of leading industrialized nations.

Macron, who said in August that alienating Russia was “a profound strategic mistake”, wants Moscow’s help to solve the world’s most intractable crises, from Syria to North Korea.

“The geography, history and culture of Russia are fundamentally European,” Macron said on Tuesday in a speech to the Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights forum, from which Russia was suspended after Crimea.

Russia’s readmission in July, for which France and Germany lobbied, was the first time that an international sanction imposed for Moscow’s seizure of Crimea has been reversed.

Charles Michel, Belgium’s prime minister, told EU diplomats last month that while Russia was a security threat, it “remains a neighbor too and we must deal with this reality.”

In a letter to EU diplomats last month, the EU’s ambassador to Moscow also called for a “pragmatic” approach to Russia.

REWARD OR REVENGE?

EU diplomats from eastern, Baltic and Nordic nations have said they are confused by Macron’s approach, questioning what has changed in Russia to merit a renaissance in relations.

The conflict in east Ukraine has killed over 13,000 people since April 2014 .

Russia and Ukraine swapped prisoners in September in what was seen as the first sign of an improvement in relations.

But Putin has ruled out returning Crimea, gifted to Ukraine in 1954 by then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

NATO accuses Russia of trying to destabilise the West with new nuclear weapons, pulling out of arms control treaties, cyber attacks and covert action.

Last year, Western governments including France expelled an unprecedented number of Russian diplomats after a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England that EU leaders blamed on Moscow.

The Kremlin rejected any involvement.

Michel Duclos, a former French envoy to Syria, said the risk for Macron was that, viewed from Moscow, France was “useful for disuniting the Western camp,” recalling what he said was a “classic feature” of East-West relations during the Cold War.

Macron’s offer to Putin is based on setting up a so-called structured dialogue focusing on five points: sharing expertise and intelligence; a mechanism to defuse EU-Russia tensions; arms control in Europe; European values; working together on international crises.

The European Union’s own five-point strategy to deal with Russia involves so-called selective engagement. Many EU diplomats say that is the best way forward, seeking Russian collaboration on issues such as climate change to rebuild trust.

…

Britain’s Boris Johnson urged French President Emanuel Macron on Sunday to “push forward” to secure a Brexit deal and told him  the EU should not be lured into the mistaken belief that the U.K. would stay in the EU after Oct.31, the prime minister’s office said.

Johnson discussed his Brexit proposal, which has been widely rebuffed in Brussels, with Macron and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Sunday.

“This is the chance to get a deal done: a deal that is backed by parliamentarians and a deal which involves compromise on all sides,” a senior Number 10 source said on Sunday.

“The U.K. has made a big, important offer but it’s time for the Commission to show a willingness to compromise too. If not the UK will leave with no deal.”

With the Oct. 31 deadline approaching, Johnson has consistently said he will not ask for another delay to Brexit, but also that he will not break a law that forces him to request one if no withdrawal deal has been agreed by Oct. 19. He has not explained the apparent contradiction in his comments.

…

Rip Taylor, the madcap mustached comedian with a fondness for confetti-throwing who became a television game show mainstay in the 1970s, has died. He was 84.

Taylor died Sunday in Beverly Hills, California, publicist Harlan Boll said.

The man who would become known worldwide as Rip did not have a direct line into show business. He was born Charles Elmer Taylor Jr. in Washington, D.C., to a waitress and a musician and first worked as a congressional page before serving in the Army during the Korean War, where he started performing standup.

His ascent began with spots on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” where he was known as the “crying comedian.” The moniker pre-dated his television stints, however, and went back to his time in the Catskills.

“I sat on a stool telling jokes, and nobody was laughing,” he told UPI in 1992. “In desperation, I pretended to cry as I begged them to laugh. That killed ’em.”

It’s where he said the character “Rip” came from.

Although he readily admitted stealing jokes from USO shows, the crying comedian bit got him to Ed Sullivan, where the host — forgetting Taylor’s name — would say “get me the crying comedian.”

Success begat more success, and Taylor ended up on tour with Judy Garland and Eleanor Powell in Las Vegas in 1966.

In his over five decades in entertainment, Taylor would make over 2,000 guest star appearances on shows like “The Monkees,” “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Tonight Show,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” “Hollywood Squares” and “The Gong Show.” He also hosted the beauty pageant spoof “The $1.98 Beauty Show.”

With his bushy blonde toupee, exaggerated eyebrows and walrus-like mustache, Taylor was a striking presence. He was apparently so proud of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that he’d regularly schedule trips to buff and clean the square at 6625 Hollywood Boulevard.

Taylor also did a fair share of voice work for animated films and television like “The Jetsons” and “The Addams Family,” as Uncle Fester, which earned him an Emmy nomination.

He played himself in movies like “Wayne’s World 2” and the “Jackass: movies, appeared on stage in “Anything Goes,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Sugar Babies,” where he took over for Mickey Rooney, as Fagin in “Oliver!” and Captain Hook in “Peter Pan.” Taylor also wrote and performed an autobiographical one-man play called “It Ain’t All Confetti.”

Taylor reflected in that same 1992 interview that he always considered himself an actor.

“Rip is funny because he’s crazy. Every night on stage, he’s cornered and put-upon,” Taylor said. “That’s what I am bringing into play as a straight actor.”

He is survived by his longtime partner Robert Fortney. In lieu of flowers, they ask that donations be made to the Thalians, a charitable organization that Taylor supported that is dedicated to mental health issues.

…

A witness in the murder trial of a white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor has been killed in a shooting, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing authorities.

The newspaper reported that authorities said Joshua Brown, who lived in the same apartment complex as Amber Guyger and Botham Jean, was shot and killed Friday in Dallas. Guyger was still in her police uniform after a long shift when, according to her trial testimony, she mistook Jean’s apartment for her own one floor below and shot him after pushing open his unlocked door and thinking he was a burglar.

Brown, 28, testified in Guyger’s trial about the September 2018 night that Jean was killed, saying he was in a hallway on the fourth floor, where he and Jean lived. He said he heard what sounded like “two people meeting by surprise” and then two gunshots.

Brown, who became emotional at times and used his T-shirt and tissue to wipe his tears, said he had met Jean, a 26-year-old accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, for the first time earlier that day.

Guyger, 31, was fired from the department soon after the shooting. She was convicted Tuesday and sentenced the next day to 10 years in prison.

Friday night shooting

The newspaper did not cite authorities by name for confirmation of Brown’s death. A Dallas police spokesman Saturday would not confirm to The Associated Press that it was Brown who was shot Friday. He said the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office would determine the identification Sunday.

Police said in a news release that they responded to the shooting shortly after 10:30 p.m. Friday at an apartment complex that is not the one where Jean was killed. They said several witnesses flagged officers down when they arrived and directed them to an apartment parking lot where the man was lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding out of the parking lot, according to the police news release.

Attorney: We need answers

Lee Merritt, a lawyer for the Jean family, said in a tweet Saturday that he spoke with Brown’s mother and that she is “devastated.”

“We all are,” Merritt said. “Joshua Brown was a key witness in the murder of Botham Jean that helped put Amber Guyger away. We need answers.”

In a statement he included with the tweet, he said authorities have not identified a suspect or determined a motive.

“Brown deserves the same justice he sought to ensure the Jean family,” Merritt said in the statement.

Dallas County prosecutor Jason Hermus said Brown “bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn’t,” according to the newspaper.

“If we had more people like him, we would have a better world,” said Hermus, who was lead prosecutor in the case.

…

Caviar, a food associated with luxury, is being produced for the first time in Madagascar. The product makes consumers in faraway France happy, and provides hundreds of jobs in this African country.  VOA’s Jim Randle has our story.
 

…

Nearly 50,000 workers at General Motors are on strike, the largest labor action against the automaker in 50 years. It comes at a critical time in the industry as the economy slows and a major industry transition looms. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more.
 

…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine that is at the center of an impeachment inquiry. He rejected allegations it was at best inappropriate or at worst an illegal abuse of power for which Congress should remove President Donald Trump from office.

Pompeo maintained that the investigation the United States sought from Ukraine’s government involved possible interference from Ukraine in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He did not speak to Trump’s stated desire for Ukraine to specifically investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s and his son Hunter, which impeachment investigators are focused on since a whistleblower complaint surfaced last month.

Pompeo criticized the impeachment inquiry as “clearly political” and said the actions of the State Department were aimed solely at improving relations with the new government of Ukraine that took office this spring. He also said the work of a former special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, was based on the direction of the president to do just that.

Volker was interviewed by congressional investigators on Thursday and turned over text messages between himself and other officials. Those messages detailed their push to get Ukraine to agree to investigations into an energy company on whose board Hunter Biden sat, and 2016 election interference. In exchange, American officials dangled the offer of a meeting with Trump in Washington for Ukraine’s new president.

“The State Department was very focused, at the direction of the president, on creating space where we could ultimately deliver a good relationship with this government,” Pompeo said. “Ambassador Volker worked diligently to create that opportunity.”

Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, has warned about the dangers of Moscow’s intrusions in the American political system.

Pompeo said the administration had an obligation to investigate alleged election interference and ask foreign governments for assistance if needed.

“The administration was incredibly focused on making sure that we worked with Ukraine in a way that was appropriate. It is not only appropriate, it is our duty if we think there was interference in the election of 2016,” he said. “I think everyone recognizes that governments have an obligation, indeed a duty, to ensure that elections happen with integrity, without interference.”

In Trump’s July telephone call with Ukraine’s president, Trump referred to a discredited conspiracy theory that tries to cast doubt on Russia’s role in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee and alleges that Ukraine had spread disinformation during the U.S. election.

Separately, on impeachment, Pompeo said the State Department had responded to a congressional subpoena for him to produce Ukraine-related documents. He did not say what that response was.

He had faced a Friday deadline to hand over the documents, but he suggested that he had not and would instead move to comply with the subpoena at his own pace.

…

U.S. President Donald Trump has asked for a substantial cut in the National Security Council staff, Bloomberg reported late on Friday, citing five people familiar with the plans.

The step was described by some sources cited in the report as part of an effort from the White House to make its foreign policy arm leaner.

The request to do so was conveyed to officials in the agency by current White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien earlier this week, according to Bloomberg.

The reductions at the agency, in which currently 310 people work, will be carried out through attrition, Bloomberg reported.

The report did not mention the exact number by which Trump is looking to cut the agency’s staff.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

The development comes as Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are examining whether there are grounds to impeach Republican Trump based on a whistleblower’s account that said he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July 25 phone call to help investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden.

Lawmakers are investigating concerns that Trump’s actions have jeopardized national security and the integrity of U.S. elections.

…

A global education fund is providing tens of thousands of Sahelian children in crisis with a quality education, bringing hope to boys and girls who have known nothing but violence and sorrow in their young lives. Education Cannot Wait, a funding mechanism set up at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, globally is helping more than 1.4 million children in emergencies go back to school.

More than 75 million children caught in conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies are being deprived of an education.  Children in the Sahel, a region just south of the Sahara Desert, are among the most vulnerable.  In Central Mali, armed conflict has forced the closure of more than 900 schools, depriving an estimated 280,000 children of an education.

The director of Education Cannot Wait, Yasmine Sherif, recently returned from a mission to Mali.  She describes the heart-wrenching condition of children she met in a camp for displaced people in the city of Mopti.  She told VOA of the psychological distress suffered by children forced to flee for their lives with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

“They have fled some horrifying violence in the North.  I spoke to several of them – young girls who saw their homes, their huts being burnt down, fleeing from villages where summary executions took place. They are very traumatized, very traumatized,” she said.

Despite their frightful experiences, Sherif said the children arrive with their dreams of a better life intact.  She said the young people have dreams of becoming doctors and lawyers and schoolteachers.  She said education can turn these dreams into reality.

She noted the crisis afflicting Mali permeates the Sahel region as a whole and is keeping 2.4 million children out of school.  She said the fund has made recent emergency investments of $6 million in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to support education for 187,000 children.  She added there are plans to scale up this aid and extend it to other Sahelian countries.

While the education fund provides the money for projects, they are implemented by partners, such as the U.N. Children’s Fund and Save the Children. Sherif said impoverished, conflict-ridden governments welcome their support.

“What they are receiving through our investments right now, through our partners on the ground is rehabilitation of classrooms, learning spaces, latrines, distribution of learning materials, hygiene promotion, psycho-social support, teacher training and mobilization of community members to help create the protective environments,” Sherif said.  

Education Cannot Wait is supporting programs in 32 countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria and Ukraine. The agency is seeking to raise $1.8 billion by 2021 to reach 9 million children and youths living in crisis.  

Sherif says 60% of the money raised will be targeted toward girls’ education because girls always are the ones left farthest behind.

…