Input: He said the government was responding to last week’s jihadist bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc and a spike in PKK violence

Turkish

town

Suruc

government

PKK


Input: “If we hesitated in case of such an attack, if we had played time, saying, ‘Wait and see because we are … charged with forming a government,’ be assured that Turkey would have been dragged into chaos by now,” said Davutoğlu

Turkey

government


Input: He also made clear his own dislike of coalitions, pointing out that they tend to be short-lived and that Turkey, as it pursues a two-front war against Islamic State militants and Kurdish separatists, needs a strong government

Turkey

Kurdish

Islamic State

government

militants


Input: “For more than 20 years, the [average] longest lifetime for coalition governments has been three or four months,” he said

coalition


Input: Erdoğan’s Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has been conducting negotiations with the two main opposition parties, but the talks appear to be stuck

parties

Ahmet Davutoğlu


Input: Commentators and opposition politicians are accusing the Turkish leader of pursuing a strategy geared to obstruct the formation of a coalition government

Turkish

coalition

government

leader


Input: Turkish police officers carry the coffin of slain police officers Serdar Kazar and Isa Ipek, killed in an attack by Kurdish rebels overnight, in the the city of Adana, southern Turkey, July 31, 2015

Turkish

city

Adana

Turkey

police

police

Kurdish

officers

officers

Serdar Kazar

Isa Ipek

rebels

attack

Adana

killed

Isa Ipek

Adana


Input: Landmark US Voting Rights Law Marks 50th Anniversary-Fifty years ago, in signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson called it "one of the most monumental laws in the entire history of American freedom.

US

U.S.

American

Lyndon Johnson


Input: "Many of these states have histories of voter discrimination and are covered under the VRA.

states


Input: Attention to those changes heightened in June 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down a key VRA enforcement provision that required nine states with histories of flagrant racial discrimination to get federal approval before changing election procedures

Supreme Court


Input: The justices’ ruling, by a 5-to-4 vote, found that the "preclearance" formula used on these mostly Southern jurisdictions was outdated

Southern


Input: "Our country has changed," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote on behalf of the majority, "and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.

country

Congress

John Roberts


Input: Leo Smith, the Georgia GOP's director of minority engagement, applauds the decision for ending what he considers to be unfair, unevenly applied oversight

Georgia

GOP's

Leo Smith

director


Input: "Supporting the removal of restrictive laws is a freeing and liberating thing and we can only be benefited by that," he told VOA in June

VOA


Input: Though African-Americans already had the constitutional right to vote, the legislation provided the federal enforcement to eliminate legal obstacles thrown up by some states and counties

states

counties

African-Americans


Input: A man holds a protest sign at rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after the start of a federal trial challenging the state’s voting rights law, July 13, 2015

Winston-Salem

North Carolina

man

rally

man

Winston-Salem


Input: House Bill 589 ended same-day voter registration, stopped preregistering 16- and 17-year-olds, and cut back early voting from 17 days to 10

House


Input: That last measure eliminated voting on the final Sunday before the Tuesday election, a day often used by Democrats for "souls to the polls" voting drives in black churches

Democrats


Input: The U.S. Justice Department and several civil rights groups challenged the new election law, with their respective lawsuits combined in a federal case heard in July in the former tobacco town of Winston-Salem

town

Winston-Salem

U.S. Justice Department

groups


Input: They said the Republican-sponsored legislation meant to deliberately disenfranchise many black, Hispanic and young voters, who tend to vote for Democrats

Democrats

voters


Input: But witnesses for the state testified that there was no discriminatory intent and that the voter turnout rate of African-Americans actually had increased in the 2014 midterms, after the new rules were in place, over 2010

state

witnesses


Input: U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder is expected to issue his decision later this year

U.S.

Thomas Schroeder


Input: Because it may set precedent for the 2016 elections and beyond, the case is being closely watched – especially in states such as Florida, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin, where stricter voting laws have been contested

Florida

Ohio

Texas

Wisconsin


Input: Responding to Democratic critiques, the head of the Republican National Committee has said his party is embracing, not disenfranchising, minority voters

Democratic

Republican National Committee

voters


Input: "Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color," the president said in his remarks August 6, 1965

Americans

president


Input: Reince Priebus, in a recent op-ed, wrote that "a central part" of the committee’s "mission is to improve voter turnout, to encourage more Americans to make their voices heard and to engage young and new voters in the democratic process.

Reince Priebus

voters


Input: Harper’s Weekly magazine imagined black men lining up to vote in this 1867 engraving by Alfred R. Waud

Harper’s Weekly

men


Input: The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African-American men the right to vote

men


Input: But some states and counties devised impediments

counties


Input: Barriers were highest in the segregated South, with its history of slavery

South


Input: States "started to require things like literacy tests, instituting grandfather clauses, poll taxes, that kind of thing," said Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Atlanta

Georgia

Emory University

Andra Gillespie

scientist


Input: ... There were also changes to state constitutions in many Southern states that actually allowed for voting rights of blacks to be taken away on technicalities.

state

states

Southern


Input: He pledged that with this law, the federal government "will not turn aside until Americans of every race and color and origin in this country have the same right as all others to share in the process of democracy.

country

government

Americans


Input: Atlanta's Southern Poverty Law Center counts 40 "civil rights martyrs" – including young bystanders and white civil rights activists – just from 1955 on

Atlanta's Southern Poverty Law Center


Input: "We were murdered for [seeking] the right to vote," civil rights activist Cordy Tindell "C.T." Vivian told VOA on a hot June afternoon at his home in Atlanta, Georgia.

home

Atlanta

Georgia

VOA

activist

Cordy Tindell

Vivian


Input: ... We were beaten at night by policemen because they wanted to keep us under constraint.

policemen


Input: A Baptist minister, he'd helped launch a Nashville affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Council in 1955 and was among the demonstrators in the civil rights movement's first march, in 1960 in the Tennessee city

Nashville

Tennessee

city

the Southern Christian Leadership Council

minister


Input: He was working on the executive staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), at the behest of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., when in early 1965 he went to register voters in Selma, Alabama

Selma

Alabama

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

SNCC

Martin Luther King Jr.

voters


Input: Until then, only 2 percent of the city's eligible blacks had been able to sign up

blacks


Input: C.T. Vivian, shown at home in Atlanta in June 2015, 50 years earlier told a hostile white sheriff in Selma, Alabama: 'You can't turn your back on justice.

Atlanta

Selma

Alabama

C.T. Vivian

sheriff


Input: (J. Swicord/VOA)-Vivian recalled confronting Sheriff Jim Clark, who proudly enforced local laws deterring Negros from registering and voting

Vivian

Jim Clark


Input: Clark, solidly built and armed with a nightstick, blocked Vivian on the Dallas County courthouse steps, the activist recalled

courthouse

Dallas County

Clark

Vivian

activist


Input: Since then, U.S. voting rolls have added millions of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and others

U.S.

African-Americans

Latinos

Asian-Americans


Input: When the lawman turned to walk away, "I told him, 'You can turn your back on me, Sheriff Clark, but you can’t turn your back on justice.

lawman

Sheriff Clark


Input: So he decided to do what he always does and beat people...

people


Input: The blow was so hard that the sheriff broke his own finger, he later said, contending Vivian provoked the beating by grabbing his nightstick

sheriff

Vivian

nightstick

beating

Vivian

nightstick


Input: Vivian sprang back up to show fellow protesters they shouldn't be intimidated for demanding their constitutional right, he said

Vivian

protesters


Input: He recalled telling Clark, "'We are willing to be beaten for democracy, and you misuse democracy in the streets.'

streets

Clark


Input: FILE - Alabama state troopers use clubs against voting rights marchers, including John Lewis, shown in foreground, in Selma on March 7, 1965

Alabama

state

Selma

John Lewis


Input: Some 600 voting rights supporters planned to march peacefully to Alabama’s state capital of Montgomery from Selma

state

capital

Montgomery

Selma

Alabama’s

supporters


Input: Americans have voted an increasing number of minorities into public office and have chosen a black man for the nation’s highest elective office – twice

Americans

man


Input: But as they left Selma, the marchers encountered 150 state troopers and deputies at the Edmund Pettis Bridge

Selma

state

Edmund Pettis Bridge

troopers


Input: "They came toward us, beating us with nightsticks, trampling us with horses, releasing the tear gas," recalled Congressman Lewis, who, as head of SNCC, helped organize the march

SNCC

They

us

Lewis

nightsticks

tear gas


Input: Then 25, he "was hit in the head by a state trooper with a night stick

he

trooper

night stick


Input: I had a concussion at the bridge

bridge


Input: Images of the attack, broadcast on television and splashed on news pages, horrified the nation

nation


Input: Two days after the violence, before a second attempted march, King stopped at the hospital to encourage the injured Lewis.

hospital

King

Lewis


Input: 'John, don't worry,'" the congressman recalled the civil rights leader saying.

congressman

leader


Input: 'We [are] going to make it from Selma to Montgomery and the Voting Rights Act will be passed.

Selma

Montgomery


Input: King's prediction came true: He and 2,000 others completed the march to Montgomery on a third try late that month

Montgomery


Input: Bills proposed-These days, Lewis is pushing to restore Voting Rights Act protections he said were "gutted" by the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision

Bills

Supreme Court’s

Lewis


Input: "If we fail or cannot repair the damage done to this act ... we will be less a democratic country, a democratic society," he told VOA last Wednesday in his House office, crammed with historic photos

country

VOA

House


Input: One shows him at the White House with Johnson, hours before the president signed the 1965 law at the U.S. Capitol

White House

U.S. Capitol

Johnson

president


Input: Congressman John Lewis joins several dozen other Democrats at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol to urge restoring a shelved Voting Rights Act protection, July 30, 2015

U.S. Capitol

Democrats

Congressman

John Lewis


Input: The next morning, he joined roughly 40 other Democratic lawmakers in front of the Capitol, where several took turns speaking at a podium adorned with a placard for a #RestoreTheVRA Twitter handle

Capitol

Democratic

Twitter


Input: They urged House Republicans to bring to a floor discussion two measures focused on fortifying the Voting Rights Act, and they promised to campaign this summer to bring them to voters' attention

floor

House

Republicans


Input: Lewis is a co-sponsor of both

Lewis

co-sponsor


Input: One is the bipartisan Voting Rights Amendment Act, proposed in 2013 and reintroduced this year by House members John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who's the only sitting member of Congress to vote for the original law, and James Sensenbrenner, a conservative Wisconsin Republican who has been a key supporter for renewing the Voting Rights Act since the 1980s

Michigan

Wisconsin

House

Democrat

Congress

members

John Conyers

James Sensenbrenner

supporter


Input: The other bill is the Voting Rights Advancement Act, whose lead sponsors are two Democrats

Democrats


Input: Under siege-But some observers, particularly Democrats, see a Voting Rights Act under siege

Democrats


Input: One is Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama, whose district is near Shelby County, the named plaintiff in the Supreme Court case

Alabama

Shelby County

Supreme Court

Terri Sewell

plaintiff


Input: "The challenge of Shelby to Congress was to find a modern-day formula," Sewell said in a phone interview

Congress

Shelby

Sewell


Input: Instead of looking at violations over a 40-year period, the proposed legislation would look at more recent infractions: over the last 15 years for the Amendment Act and 25 for the Advancement Act

legislation


Input: With that and other criteria, four states immediately would qualify for preclearance under the Amendment Act; 13 would do so under the Advancement Act

states


Input: Just after the high court's ruling two years ago, Sensenbrenner joined Lewis in testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee

Senate Judiciary Committee

Sensenbrenner

Lewis


Input: The House Judiciary Committee's chairman, Republican Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, has said it's not necessary to restore federal oversight of once-troubled jurisdictions

Virginia

House Judiciary Committee's

Republican

chairman

Bob Goodlatte


Input: His state is one of the nine that had required preclearance

state


Input: "We are certainly willing to look at any new evidence of discrimination if there is a need to take any measures," he told the Roanoke Times in June

Roanoke Times


Input: "Across the country, there is a deliberate, systematic attempt to make it harder and more difficult for the disabled, students, seniors, minorities, poor and rural voters to participate in the democratic process," contends U.S. Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who as a young man was wounded in a 1965 march credited with hastening the voting law’s approval

country

U.S.

Georgia

Democrat

disabled

students

seniors

minorities

poor

voters

John Lewis

man


Input: Sewell said she and others owe a debt to all who worked toward passage and reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act over the years

Sewell


Input: US Voting Restrictions Fuel Tensions -Among the political and legal fights over U.S. elections, some of the most contentious ones center on voter identification requirements and on the way political districts are drawn

US

U.S.


Input: Melvin Robertson understands that predicament

Melvin Robertson


Input: A resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he has voted for most of his 86 years

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

resident


Input: Robertson said, suggesting that’s a true measure of citizenship

Robertson


Input: It was passed in 2011, pushed through the GOP-led legislature and signed by Republican Governor Scott Walker

legislature

Republican

Governor

Scott Walker


Input: It was halted by a series of legal challenges and even frozen by the U.S. Supreme Court last fall

U.S. Supreme Court


Input: But when the high court declined to hear the case, the law took effect after a statewide election in April

court


Input: Now, Robertson and an estimated 340,000 other state residents lack the proper documentation to vote

state

Robertson


Input: Voter ID-As of this spring, 32 states had voter identification laws in place; North Carolina will join them in 2016, the National Conference of State Legislatures reports

states

North Carolina

National Conference of State Legislatures


Input: Robertson has a Social Security card and a city-issued ID

Social Security

Robertson


Input: But when he tried to get a copy of his birth certificate at the Milwaukee County courthouse, there was no such record on file

courthouse

Milwaukee County


Input: FILE - Under Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin has implemented a strict voter ID law

Wisconsin

Governor

Scott Walker


Input: When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed the law, he cited concern for voter fraud and support for election integrity as the motivations

Wisconsin

Governor

Scott Walker


Input: "Illegal voting of all kinds is extremely rare in Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney confirmed in an email to VOA

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Government Accountability Board

VOA

spokesman

Reid Magney


Input: He said most infractions involve people on parole or probation who "have not had their civil rights restored yet.

people


Input: A Loyola University Law School professor found only 31 verifiable cases of in-person voter fraud – the kind that would be deterred by photo IDs – among roughly 1 billion votes cast nationwide from 2000 to 2014

Loyola University Law School

professor


Input: Walker, now a Republican candidate for the 2016 presidential election, has vowed Wisconsin will make every effort to ensure that legitimate voters have necessary identification, even if it means offering IDs at no cost to individuals

Wisconsin

Republican

Walker

candidate

voters

individuals


Input: "Everyone [who] is legitimate to vote will have easy access to do that," he said

Everyone


Input: Anita Johnson, who works with the Democracy 2020 coalition in Wisconsin, discusses voting law changes at a Milwaukee street festival in June

coalition

Wisconsin

Milwaukee

Democracy

Anita Johnson


Input: (J. Swicord/VOA)-Anita Johnson is a Milwaukee community activist trying to help residents understand the recent changes in voting law

Milwaukee

community

Anita Johnson

activist

residents


Input: "The reason why this law was changed, that we now have to show a photo ID, is to stop people from voting – plain and simple," said Johnson, an activist with Our Democracy 2020, a coalition of Wisconsin good government and pro-democracy groups

coalition

Wisconsin

government

groups

Johnson

activist


Input: "It affects senior citizens, it affects students, it affects the low-income [people]

students


Input: Republican Milwaukee County Election Commissioner Rick Baas takes issue with the idea that the law is unfair to minorities

Republican

Milwaukee County Election Commissioner

Rick Baas


Input: While some states permit the use of bank statements, student IDs or other evidence of state residence, stricter ones require approved photo IDs, such as government-issued driver's licenses and passports

residence

state


Input: … If you are American, I want you to vote.

American


Input: Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political scientist, encourages looking at the impact of voter ID laws on registration

Emory University

Andra Gillespie

scientist


Input: (J. Swicord/VOA)-Gillespie, the Emory University professor, noted that her state of Georgia implemented a voter ID law in 2006, and “it has not had an adverse effect on African-American voter turnout so far

state

Georgia

Emory University

Gillespie

professor


Input: But a U.S. congresswoman from the neighboring state of Alabama believes it's a deterrent

U.S.

state

Alabama

congresswoman


Input: Representative Terri Sewell said when Alabama implemented its voter ID law in 2014, she learned firsthand how challenging it could be

Alabama

Terri Sewell


Input: The Democratic legislator's father, normally confined to a wheelchair, had to be helped up the steps of the Dallas County courthouse – a historic building waived from federal access requirements – to obtain a photo ID

courthouse

building

Dallas County

Democratic

father

wheelchair


Input: Sewell said the whole effort took several hours, "and he was motivated because his daughter was on the ballot.

Sewell

daughter


Input: Sewell, who worries such obstacles would discourage other voters, is sponsoring legislation to restore related Voting Rights Act provisions set aside by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013

U.S. Supreme Court

voters


Input: As Massachusetts’ governor in the early 1800s, he had the northeastern state’s district boundaries redrawn, and one resembled a salamander

district

governor


Input: Some of the strangest-looking congressional districts are in Texas, where a legal fight continues over boundaries drawn by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2010

Texas

legislature


Input: The courts are trying to determine if the redistricting maps violated provisions of the Voting Rights Act

courts


Input: One-party rule-The state’s history of one-party rule has created bitter political fights over voter distribution, said Jim Henson, who directs the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin

state’s

the Texas Politics Project

University of Texas at Austin

Jim Henson


Input: Critics say that voter impersonation is rare and that the laws disproportionately discourage the poor, minorities, senior citizens and students from voting

Critics

students


Input: "For decades," he said, "the Democrats dominated that process and you had Republicans feeling prophetically bullied in the redistricting process.

Democrats

Republicans


Input: Democrats are responsible for the upside-down elephant shape of the 35th District, which connects parts of Austin, the capital, with San Antonio some 129 kilometers or 80 miles to the south

Austin

capital

San Antonio

35th District

Democrats


Input: In the early 1990s, they tried to corral as many liberal voters as possible into the district

voters


Input: Republican Larry Gonzales, who serves in the Texas House of Representatives, defends the redistricting effort led by his party

Texas

Republican

House of Representatives

Larry Gonzales


Input: Larry Gonzales, a Republican in the Texas House of Representatives, represents a community where the redistricting plans that he helped design are being challenged

the Texas House of Representatives

Larry Gonzales

Republican


Input: It includes Williamson County, which encompasses Austin’s northern suburbs

Williamson County

Austin’s

suburbs


Input: "When it came to drawing the lines for Williamson County, we understood that the population is diverse enough that we could draw the lines and still meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act," he told VOA earlier this summer at the state Republican Party's headquarters

headquarters

Williamson County

state

VOA

Republican Party's


Input: Someone born in the 1920s or '30s in a rural part of the country might not have a formal birth certificate, said Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University in Georgia

country

Georgia

Emory University

Andra Gillespie

professor


Input: In Austin, Sabino "Pio" Renteria is among three Latinos serving on the 11-member city council

Austin

city

Sabino "Pio" Renteria


Input: The Democrat was elected in 2014 after the city did away with an at-large system and substituted one that fills council seats by geographic districts slicing around white and minority neighborhoods

city

neighborhoods

Democrat


Input: Constituents "worked the elections for single-member districts," Renteria said, noting he was "the first elected member from my district.

Renteria


Input: Renteria has a boyhood memory of the 1960 presidential election in Texas, where his father and other Latinos faced discriminatory voting practices

Texas

Renteria

father


Input: I remember going with my dad and [him] voting for John F. Kennedy and paying $2.50" – a hardship when he was earning $1 an hour and supporting a family of 10, Renteria recalled

dad

John F. Kennedy

family

Renteria

paying

dad

earning


Input: "If your birth certificate is the family Bible, then that might not count as the official documentation you need" for voter registration

family


Input: But Renteria said he feared Republicans "are going to draw their lines so that they can stay in power for the next 20 to 30 years.

Republicans

Renteria


Input: Instead, voters deserve to have political jurisdictions determined by nonpartisan citizen committees, Renteria said

voters

Renteria


Input: Independent commissions already are used by seven states: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and Washington

Arizona

California

Hawaii

Idaho

Montana

New Jersey

Washington


Input: In June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed their right to have them

U.S. Supreme Court


Input: In the 5-4 vote, justices rebuked the challenge by Arizona’s Republican legislators

Arizona’s Republican

legislators


Input: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the majority, said: “Arizona voters sought to restore the core principle that voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.

Arizona

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

voters

voters


Input: Chris Simkins and Jeff Swicord reported from Georgia, Texas and Wisconsin

Georgia

Texas

Wisconsin

Chris Simkins

Jeff Swicord


Input: Carol Guensburg reported from Washington

Washington

Carol Guensburg


Input: Melvin Robertson lacks an appropriate voter ID under a recently enacted Wisconsin law

Wisconsin

Melvin Robertson


Input: One Year Later: Ferguson Cast Spotlight on Nation's Racial Struggles-When a white policeman fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in a street confrontation last summer, the outrage reverberated far beyond the central U.S. town of Ferguson, Missouri

street

Ferguson

U.S.

town

Ferguson

Missouri

policeman

teenager

Michael Brown

shot

policeman

Michael Brown

street


Input: In March, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would not pursue civil rights charges against the officer

U.S. Justice Department

officer


Input: But the department also said a separate investigation into Ferguson showed extensive evidence of a police force operating with extreme racial prejudice and a municipal court system exploiting blacks to generate city revenue

Ferguson

city

department

police

court


Input: Since then, Ferguson has installed a new police chief, city manager and municipal judge — all black

Ferguson

city

police chief

manager

municipal judge


Input: The city has stepped up recruitment of minority officers, who now account for five of its 50-member force, and it’s setting up a citizen police review board, the Associated Press said

city

police

Associated Press

officers


Input: The reforms implemented in Ferguson policing and city management have reduced traffic stops and fines — and trimmed its revenue by nearly $700,000 in the first six months this year, the AP said, citing a city finance report

Ferguson

city

city

AP


Input: FILE - Angry protestors in Ferguson, Missouri, Aug. 18, 2014

Ferguson

Missouri


Input: “We’re not done yet” with changes, said Aldridge, the youngest member of the Ferguson Commission

Ferguson Commission

Aldridge

member


Input: "Ferguson was a spark for a larger play which is now a brushfire in America," said Jeffrey McCune, a professor studying race and gender at Washington University in nearby St. Louis

Ferguson

America

St. Louis

Washington University

Jeffrey McCune

professor


Input: The commission recently endorsed more tactical, anti-bias and wellness training for police, and Aldridge said it's looking at measures such as raising the minimum wage and establishing childhood savings accounts to support education

police

Aldridge


Input: “This is just the beginning of more improvements to our community, more improvements to police,” he told VOA

police

VOA


Input: The questionable deaths of African-Americans in Ferguson, New York, Cleveland, Baltimore and other cities have amplified a movement — begun with the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin in Florida — declaring that “Black Lives Matter.

Ferguson

New York

Cleveland

Baltimore

Florida

Trayvon Martin


Input: The United States needs to do more to achieve racial equality, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” in Washington

United States

Washington

the Pew Research Center

tank


Input: “Still, significant divides remain on these questions, with Republicans less likely than Democrats to hold these views,” Pew found

Republicans


Input: Nationally, African-Americans are arrested at much higher rates than people of other races, USA Today discovered in an analysis of FBI data last year

USA

FBI


Input: It found that while blacks in Ferguson were almost three times as likely to be arrested as people of other races, nearly 1,600 other U.S. communities had even higher rates

Ferguson

U.S.


Input: Dismayed by such data, President Barack Obama in December announced the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

President’s Task Force

Barack Obama


Input: It urges setting standards for the use of new technology, including the body cameras increasingly worn by officers to document interactions with the public

officers


Input: Also in May, the White House announced it would halt funding of some military-style equipment for law enforcement

White House


Input: The federal restrictions cover Humvees and other wheeled armored vehicles, specialized firearms, explosives and some riot gear — equipment that some critics said escalated tensions at the scene of demonstrations

Humvees

vehicles

firearms

explosives


Input: This weekend, Ferguson — a predominantly black St. Louis suburb of 21,000 — is holding marches to mark the anniversary

Ferguson

St. Louis


Input: “People don’t like how certain equipment looks,” Johnson said

Johnson


Input: He complained that the decision also restricts helmets and shields that law enforcement personnel wear “to protect themselves.

personnel


Input: Johnson, a former police officer and prosecutor, said police morale is at the lowest level he’s seen since joining the organization in 1985

police

police

organization

Johnson

officer


Input: “Officers feel that they’re under siege, that they’re unfairly criticized, that they’re painted with a very broad brush for the sins or omissions of a few,” he said, naming Obama and his former attorney general, Eric Holder, among the antagonists

Obama

Eric Holder


Input: Johnson said criticism breeds the kind of anti-police sentiment that led a gunman to ambush and fatally shoot New York Police Department Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in their patrol car in December

New York Police Department

Johnson

gunman

Wenjian Liu

Rafael Ramos

car


Input: He also said a hostile environment discourages police recruitment — even in families that have produced generations of cops

police


Input: “The danger, the risk — that’s always been there,” Johnson said

Johnson


Input: In Ferguson, Officer Jill Gronewald, who started with the police force just weeks after Brown's death, is trying to build connections within the community

Ferguson

police

Jill Gronewald


Input: “It’s not so much a happy moment” because it recognizes the loss of “a brother,” Rasheen Aldridge, 21, of Ferguson, told VOA

Ferguson

VOA

brother

Rasheen Aldridge


Input: The Associated Press and AFP contributed to this report

Associated Press

AFP


Input: But he said the activism provoked by Brown’s death “has brought a lot of positive change, a lot of positive energy — not only to Ferguson but to the whole region.

Ferguson

region


Input: For weeks after Brown's shooting, demonstrators, sometimes violent, had demanded a reckoning

Brown's

demonstrators


Input: When a grand jury in late November found insufficient cause to indict Officer Darren Wilson, protests erupted in more than 170 U.S. cities, from Atlanta to New York to Seattle to Washington

U.S.

Atlanta

New York

Seattle

Washington

jury

Darren Wilson


Input: Ferguson, Missouri, map shows #1) Ferguson Market and Liquors and #2) Canfield Drive, approximate site where Michael Brown was shot

Ferguson

Missouri

Ferguson Market

Canfield Drive

Michael Brown


Input: State of Emergency Remains in Ferguson -FERGUSON, MISSOURI — -The central U.S. city of Ferguson, Missouri remained under a state of emergency Tuesday after a second night of violence marking the first anniversary of the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer

Ferguson

U.S.

city

Ferguson

Missouri

state

police

man

officer

death

Missouri

man

officer


Input: Police said they arrested about two dozen protesters in the St. Louis suburb after demonstrators pelted them with rocks and bottles

St. Louis

Police

protesters

arrested

protesters

St. Louis


Input: A lot has changed with them, like a lot of us have been awakened in a way we couldn't even have imagined,” said St. Louis resident Tiffany Shawn

Louis

Tiffany Shawn


Input: But for as much change as Shawn welcomes, she said some things have stayed the same

Shawn


Input: “Not a lot has changed with how the police are reacting to us, and are behaving with us

police


Input: Beefed up police presence-The beefed-up police presence in Ferguson came one night after officers shot and seriously wounded an 18-year old suspect they say opened fire on them, leading to charges against the suspect and a state of emergency declared in St. Louis County to stem further violence

Ferguson

state

St. Louis County

police

police

officers

suspect

shot

officers


Input: Those on the ground in Ferguson for another night of protests shrugged off those concerns

Ferguson


Input: “Violence is going to happen, I don’t want to minimize it at all because it’s a problem, no one agrees with it, but it happens regardless,” Shawn said

Shawn


Input: Police gather on street in Ferguson, Missouri, Aug. 10, 2015

Ferguson

Missouri


Input: "We continue to support free speech, but agitators who ignore orders to disperse risk arrest," police said in a tweet

police


Input: The location of Michael Brown's death on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri, is a now a makeshift memorial on the anniversary of the incident, August 11, 2015

Ferguson

Missouri

location

Canfield Drive

Michael Brown's


Input: He was killed during a heated street confrontation with officer Darren Wilson who months later was cleared of wrong-doing

street

He

officer

Darren Wilson

killed

Darren Wilson


Input: Harris's father, Tyrone Harris Sr., said he believed his son, a friend of Brown's, was unarmed and called the police version of Sunday night's violence "a bunch of lies.

police

father

Tyrone Harris Sr.

son

friend


Input: Police Chief Belmar said detectives had been tracking a man they feared was armed and he was then involved in an exchange of 40 or 50 shots between two groups of people, before shooting the officers' vehicle

groups

Belmar

detectives

man

vehicle

shooting

man

vehicle


Input: The tumultuous scene on Ferguson's streets, with mostly black protesters clashing with police equipped in riot gear, was further complicated by the appearance of a new group, white militiamen calling themselves Oath Keepers and wearing bulletproof vests and carrying rifles and pistols

streets

police

group

protesters

militiamen

rifles

pistols

clashing

police


Input: They were not protesters," Belmar said of the groups that exchanged shots

groups

Belmar


Input: The location of Michael Brown's death on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri, is a now a makeshift memorial on the anniversary of the incident, August 11, 2015

Ferguson

Missouri

location

Canfield Drive

Michael Brown's

death

Michael Brown's

Ferguson


Input: "Not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest," Lynch said, "it places the community, as well as the officers who seek to protect it, in harm's way.

Lynch

officers


Input: The demonstrations that followed Brown's killing in August 2014 threw the St. Louis suburb into the national spotlight and sparked calls for better treatment of minorities by police

St. Louis

police

Brown's

demonstrations

St. Louis

killing

Brown's


Input: The anti-government activist group said it was in Ferguson to protect businesses from rioters and looters, but St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said their presence was "both unnecessary and inflammatory.

Ferguson

Louis County

group

activist

Jon Belmar


Input: Police make an arrest on West Florissant in Ferguson, Missouri, Aug. 10, 2015

West Florissant

Ferguson

Missouri


Input: As further unrest marked the anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown, some in the crowd, not far from the spot where he was shot, felt the awareness stemming from that incident has empowered them

Michael Brown

death

Michael Brown


Input: “They say what we are doing is excessive, but the death of Mike Brown brought an issue that has been swept under the rug to the light, so I like it, it’s powerful,” said a former Ferguson resident who goes by the name Mal Stiff

Ferguson

Mike Brown

resident

Mal Stiff

death

Mike Brown


Input: Attacks in Turkey-Turkey has seen a sharp spike in clashes between security forces and Kurdish rebels in recent weeks

Turkey

Turkey

Kurdish

security forces

rebels

clashes

security forces

rebels


Input: UN: Greece Must Lead on Refugee Crisis-The United Nations told Greece it must show "much more leadership" as more than 160,000 refugees and migrants have arrived, overwhelming the country's small islands and causing a humanitarian crisis

Greece

Greece

UN

United Nations

refugees

migrants

arrived

Greece

migrants


Input: "The number of refugee arrivals to Greece ... have been increasing dramatically and have now reached the 160,000 mark," William Spindler of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said at a Geneva news briefing on Tuesday

Greece

Geneva

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR

refugee

William Spindler

arrivals

Greece


Input: “The refugees, as well, are very frustrated that (they) have been waiting sometimes for 10, 12,15 days in conditions that are obviously not adequate

refugees


Input: Rising tensions led to clashes last week on the Greek island of Kos, between local police and desperate migrants and refugees, many fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq

Greek

Kos

Syria

Afghanistan

Iraq

police

migrants

refugees


Input: In response, Greece chartered a passenger ship, which will be used to house and process hundreds of Syrian refugees, many of whom are living in tents or cardboard boxes

tents

Greece

Syrian

refugees

ship


Input: Spindler told VOA the rising tensions are aggravated by a lack of communication between the new arrivals and police

VOA

police

Spindler


Input: To try to remedy this, he said the UNHCR has sent to the islands a number of interpreters who can speak Arabic, Farsi and other languages

UNHCR

interpreters


Input: To underscore the deadly risks migrants are taking to reach Europe, six Syrian migrants, including an infant, drowned off the Turkish coast Tuesday as they tried to reach the Greek island of Kos

Syrian

Turkish

Greek

Europe

coast

migrants

migrants

infant

drowned off

migrants

coast


Input: Europe's help-Spindler said Greece needs to show more leadership on the migration issue, but he added that most of the refugees and migrants end up in other European countries, so Europe cannot sit back and do nothing

Greece

European

Europe

Spindler

refugees

migrants


Input: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose government is also grappling with an economic crisis, earlier this month sought help from the European Union, saying, “The immigrant flow to Greece is beyond of what our state infrastructure can handle.

Greek

European Union

Greece

state

government

Alexis Tsipras


Input: The influx of boatloads of migrants every day has triggered a "humanitarian crisis within the economic crisis," Tsipras said at the time

Tsipras


Input: Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR director for Europe, also called on Greece earlier this month to take control of the “total chaos” on Mediterranean islands, where nearly 125,000 refugees have arrived so far this year by sea

Greece

Europe

Mediterranean

UNHCR

Vincent Cochetel

director

refugees

arrived

Mediterranean

refugees


Input: People arrive thinking they are in the European Union

European Union


Input: What we have seen was not anything acceptable in terms of standards of treatment," Cochetel said after visiting the Greek islands of Lesbos, Kos and Chios

Greek

Lesbos

Kos

Chios

Cochetel


Input: This is the European Union and this is totally shameful," he added

European Union


Input: A migrant child sits aboard a dinghy with others as they try to start their journey from the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, to the nearby Greek island of Kos, Aug. 18, 2015

town

Bodrum

Turkey

Greek

Kos

child


Input: The UNHCR on Tuesday said the Greek government has a responsibility to do more, and the European Union must also support Athens

Greek

European Union

Athens

UNHCR

government


Input: So far this year, nearly 250,000 migrants have reached Europe by sea, compared with 219,000 for all of 2014, and at least 2,349 have died making the journey, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday

Europe

International Organization for Migration

IOM

migrants

reached

migrants

Europe


Input: A total of 1,000 migrants are being rescued on their way to Italy and Greece each day, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said

Italy

Greece

IOM

spokesman

Joel Millman


Input: "Migrants are being rescued, both in Italy and Greece, at a rate of over a thousand a day if you add the two nations together and we would like to point out that there are 135 days left this year, we have every expectation that the total number of arrivals will surpass 300,000," Millman said

Italy

Greece

nations


Input: Aid kits-On Tuesday, the German Red Cross said it will distribute hygiene kits to migrants to try to prevent disease from spreading as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos

Greek

German Red Cross


Input: The aid organization said that starting in mid-September it will hand out more than 19,000 kits, each containing a two-month supply of toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, baby-care products and diapers

organization


Input: Germany also is expecting 750,000 people to seek asylum this year, up from a previous estimate of 450,000, government sources told the business daily Handelsblatt

Germany

government

sources


Input: Children migrants walk along railway tracks while police officers try to secure the entrance of the railway station in the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, as migrants prepare to board a train toward Serbia, Aug. 17, 2015

railway

station

Macedonian

town

Gevgelija

Serbia

police

officers


Input: Germany is the biggest recipient of asylum-seekers in the European Union, and some cities are saying they already cannot cope with the influx, as hostility toward and attacks on migrants has surged in some areas

Germany

European Union

migrants


Input: The issue of asylum-seekers has also forced Chancellor Angela Merkel to address fears among some voters that migrants will eat up taxpayers' money and take their jobs

Angela Merkel


Input: Border protection-Hungary, which has registered 100,000 migrants so far this year, compared with 43,000 in all of 2014, said on Tuesday it will send thousands of policemen to its southern border with Serbia, where it is building a 177-kilometer (110-mile) security fence, to stem the influx of refugees

Hungary

Serbia

border

migrants

policemen

refugees

send

policemen

border


Input: "If the (Greek) central authority would come up with a leadership ambition and appoint somebody who would coordinate this response, then we and other international organizations would be ready to come and help

Greek

organizations


Input: Landlocked Hungary is part of the European Union's Schengen zone of passport-free travel, making it attractive to migrants transiting the non-EU Balkans

Hungary

European

Balkans


Input: Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said the deployment of additional border guards was required because of what he called the increasingly aggressive and resolute behavior of migrants, many of whom are arriving from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq

Syria

Afghanistan

Iraq

Viktor Orban's

Janos Lazar


Input: In a report last week, Amnesty International criticized Austria for its “scandalous” and “inhumane” treatment of many asylum-seekers, including leaving more than 1,000 people, including unaccompanied children, to camp in the open, providing inadequate health care, and forcing male and female migrants to share shower facilities without curtains

camp

Austria

Amnesty International

children

male


Input: "Showers for women were organized like a peep-show," Amnesty Austria head Heinz Patzelt said

Amnesty Austria

women

Heinz Patzelt


Input: FILE - A refugee walks near tents at the refugee camp in Traiskirchen, Austria, July 31, 2015

tents

camp

Traiskirchen

Austria


Input: Patzelt said the conditions represent a failure to care for refugees fleeing wars, and violate U.N conventions

U.N


Input: A team from the rights watchdog visited the Traiskirchen center, south of Vienna, Aug. 6 and found migrants seeking out shady areas of the center's grounds to escape from relentless heat

center

Traiskirchen

Vienna

team

watchdog


Input: They also said four doctors and three psychologists, working only a few hours a day, are responsible for the care of the more than 4,000 people at the center

center

doctors


Input: But it is difficult for us, if there is, to start working on the ground if we don't have somebody who is in charge," the UNHCR’s Spindler said

UNHCR’s


Input: Lawmakers said the measure was one way to ensure a more equitable distribution of refugees, but right-wing leader Heinz Christian Strache of the Freedom Party described it as the imposition of quotas "with brute force.

the Freedom Party

Heinz Christian Strache


Input: Elsewhere, Italian police arrested eight suspected human traffickers on suspicion of homicide Tuesday

Italian

police

traffickers

arrested

police


Input: The eight suspects are accused of possibly forcing migrants to stay in the hold of a fishing boat in the Mediterranean as 49 of them suffocated on engine fumes

Mediterranean

suspects

migrants

boat


Input: The dead migrants were discovered last weekend aboard an overcrowded fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya

Libya

Mediterranean Sea

migrants

boat

dead

migrants


Input: Monday, the Italian coast guard delivered the bodies, as well as 320 survivors from the boat, to Catania, Italy, where officials say they will bury the dead migrants in a local cemetery

Italian

Catania

Italy

coast

cemetery

officials

migrants

boat


Input: Lisa Schlein contributed to this report from Geneva

Geneva

Lisa Schlein


Input: Some material for this report came from Reuters and AP

Reuters

AP


Input: Locals overwhelmed-Last month alone, more than 50,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece - twice as many as arrived during all of last year, the UNHCR said

Greece

UNHCR

refugees

migrants

arrived

Greece


Input: FILE - A policeman hits a migrant as police try to disperse hundreds of migrants during a registration procedure that was taking place at the stadium of Kos town, on the southeastern island of Kos, Greece, Aug. 11, 2015

stadium

Kos

town

island

Kos

Greece

police

policeman

migrant

migrants

hits

policeman

migrant

disperse

police

migrants


Input: Spindler told VOA the lack of reception facilities is worsening the crisis unfolding on Greece’s small, inadequately prepared islands

Greece’s

VOA

Spindler

islands


Input: “There is a bottleneck as people need to be registered by the police; but, the police are overwhelmed

police

police


Input: Southern US Prison Potential Site for Guantanamo Inmates -PENTAGON — -A team of U.S. defense officials has started surveying a medium security military prison in Charleston, South Carolina, to potentially hold detainees currently at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

prison

facility

U.S.

Charleston

South Carolina

Cuba

Guantanamo

Guantanamo Bay

Prison

team

military

officials


Input: President Barack Obama has made closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center a top priority, despite opposition among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress

Guantanamo Bay

Republicans

Democrats

Congress

Barack Obama


Input: FILE - A detainee's feet are seen shackled to the floor inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base April 27, 2010

floor

facility

U.S.

Camp 6

Guantanamo Bay


Input: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter suggested this week that the Guantanamo Bay military prison might need to stay open, despite the president’s efforts to shut it down

prison

Guantanamo Bay

Defense

military

Secretary

Ash Carter


Input: "If they're detained at Guantanamo Bay, fine," Carter said

Guantanamo Bay

Carter


Input: Carter was speaking at a call-in event Tuesday with U.S. service members stationed around the globe

U.S.

globe

Carter


Input: "These site surveys are necessary to determine potential locations for detaining a limited number of individuals in the United States, and to assess the costs associated with doing so,” Ross said

United States

Ross


Input: A defense team looked at a facility in Leavenworth, Kansas earlier this month

facility

Leavenworth

Kansas

team


Input: The Leavenworth surveys began August 13

Leavenworth


Input: File -Prisoners at the US Guantanamo base

base

US

Guantanamo


Input: There are currently 116 prisoners at the detention center at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

center

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base


Input: Many of the others are eligible for transfer to other countries

countries

Many


Input: Drowned Syrian Boys' Aunt Fights to Bring Family to Canada-COQUITLAM, BRITISH COLUMBIA — -The aunt of a drowned Syrian boy whose death has sparked global outrage about the plight of refugees in Europe says she still hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada

Syrian

Canada

COQUITLAM

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Syrian

Canada

Europe

Aunt

Family

aunt

boy

family

death

boy

bring

aunt

family

Canada


Input: Tima Kurdi said through tears outside her home in Coquitlam, British Columbia, that she plans to help her brother, Abdullah, and her other siblings immigrate to the country she made home more than two decades ago

Coquitlam

British Columbia

country

Tima Kurdi

brother

Abdullah


Input: Kurdi has previously said she wanted to bring both her brothers to Canada, but she applied first for her eldest sibling Mohammed, whose application was rejected because it was incomplete

Canada

Kurdi

brothers

Mohammed

bring

Kurdi

brothers


Input: She said that Mohammed's failed application prompted Abdullah to embark on the risky journey with his family

Abdullah

family


Input: She said she sent him $5,000 to pay smugglers to take them in a boat

him

smugglers

boat


Input: Asked whether her brother blames himself, Kurdi said no

brother

Kurdi


Input: "I blame myself because my brother does not have money

brother


Input: She said the trip was the "only option'' left for the family to have a better life in a European country, possibly Germany or Sweden

country

Germany

Sweden

European

family


Input: They were fleeing horrors in Syria, where militants from the Islamic State group had beheaded one of her sister-in-law's relatives

Syria

Islamic State

group

militants


Input: Abdullah isn't ready to leave his Syrian hometown of Kobani, where his sons, 3-year-old Alan and 5-year-old Ghalib, and wife Rehanna were buried on Friday, she said

Syrian

hometown

Kobani

Abdullah

sons

Alan

Ghalib

wife

Rehanna


Input: Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year old Alan Kurdi, cries as he leaves a morgue in Mugla, Turkey, Sept. 3, 2015

morgue

Mugla

Turkey

Abdullah Kurdi

father

Alan Kurdi


Input: Abdullah knew of the dangers, including the risk of smugglers using fake life-jackets, she said, adding he had planned to pay 2,000 euros ($2,230) each for him and his wife to board a safer jet boat, compared to 1,200 euros ($1,338) for a rubber boat

Abdullah

smugglers

wife

jet

boat

boat


Input: There was no fee for the two boys

boys


Input: Photos of Alan's lifeless body on a beach in Turkey have put Canada's refugee policy in the spotlight, though Kurdi said she doesn't blame the Canadian government

Turkey

Canadian

government

Kurdi


Input: She said she hopes Citizenship and Immigration Canada stops requiring a document missing from Mohammed's application because it's impossible for people to secure the necessary paperwork amid a crisis in Syria

Syria

Citizenship and Immigration Canada


Input: Kurdi spoke to both her brothers by phone on Friday and watched emotional video on CNN of her two young nephews being buried in Kobani

Kobani

CNN

Kurdi

brothers

nephews

spoke

brothers


Input: "Abdullah said to me, `I don't want you to come

Abdullah


Input: They drowned earlier this week after piling into an overloaded boat in Bodrum, Turkey, headed for the Greek island of Kos

Bodrum

Turkey

Greek

boat


Input: Her grieving brother is proud of his kids for becoming a symbol of the dire situation facing Syrian refugees, and hopes to see leaders step in to end human smuggling, Kurdi said

Syrian

brother

kids


Input: "He said, `I don't need anything from this world anymore

world


Input: But my kids, and my wife, it's a wake-up call for the world

world

kids

wife


Input: Her brother was among the few survivors

brother


Input: A paramilitary police officer carries the lifeless body of a migrant child after a number of migrants died and a smaller number were reported missing after boats carrying them to the Greek island of Kos capsized, near Bodrum, Sept. 2, 2015

Greek

Kos

Bodrum

police

officer

child

migrants

them

boats

died

carries

officer

child

carrying

boats

them


Input: "We're all emotionally affected by what happened right now,'' Kurdi said, surrounded by framed photos of her nephews

Kurdi

nephews


Input: "I'm sure he [will] refuse and he doesn't want to leave Kobani.'

Kobani


Input: Europe's Migrant Crisis - September 11, 2015-In pictures: A Look at Europe migrant crisi

Europe


Input: Francis Celebrates Mass for Thousands in New York-Pope Francis celebrated an historic Mass at the Madison Square Garden sports arena in Manhattan before about 20,000 worshipers

New York

Manhattan

Madison Square Garden

Francis Celebrates

Francis

worshipers


Input: In his homily, Francis said the "people of God" are called upon to contemplate "the great light" of God's presence among them

Francis


Input: A crucifix hangs above member of the clergy who watch as Pope Francis, not shown, celebrates Mass at Madison Square Garden, New York, Sept. 25, 2015

New York

Madison Square Garden

Francis


Input: Massive crowds turned out earlier to see the 78-year-old pontiff ride through Central Park in his popemobile as he waved to thousands of screaming and applauding people ahead of the Mass

Central Park

pontiff


Input: Earlier, he visited Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem

East Harlem

Angels School

he

visited

Angels School


Input: At the school he spoke to students in Spanish, looked at their projects and told them school can become a second home

school

school

home

students


Input: Earlier, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the pope tied "misuse and destruction of the environment" with what he called the "relentless process" of economic and social exclusion of disadvantaged members of society

headquarters

New York

United Nations

pope


Input: "In effect, a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and disadvantaged," Francis said in Spanish to the dignitaries seated before him in the General Assembly chamber

Spanish

General Assembly

Francis


Input: Pope Francis addresses the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2015 at United Nations headquarters

headquarters

United Nations

General Assembly

United Nations

Francis


Input: He urged government leaders to take concrete steps "for preserving and improving the natural environment and thus putting an end as quickly as possible to the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion, with its baneful consequences: human trafficking, the marketing of human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of boys and girls, slave labor, including prostitution, the drug and weapons trade, terrorism and international organized crime.

government

leaders

boys

girls

weapons


Input: Francis also appealed to the world leaders to "work tirelessly to avoid war," which he called "the negation of all rights and a dramatic assault on the environment.

Francis


Input: The mass ended a busy day in New York

New York


Input: Citing conflicts in "the entire Middle East, North Africa and other African countries," as well as in Ukraine, he urged the international community, "particularly through the norms and mechanisms of international law, to do all that it can to stop ... further systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities’ and to protect innocent peoples.

countries

Ukraine

Middle East

North Africa

African


Input: Applause interrupted the pontiff's lengthy speech, especially when he spoke of the need to protect the environment, aid the poor and educate girls

girls


Input: Before the pope's arrival, the great hall had a festive atmosphere, with diplomats greeting one another at the start of the annual meeting

pope's

diplomats


Input: Can be deleted after Twitter fix the issue-if (e.target) {-var par = e.target.parentElement;-if (par && par.className === "twitterSnippetProcessed" &&-e.target.previousSibling && e.target.previousSibling.nodeName.toLowerCase() === "iframe") {-//this is duplicate embed, delete it-par.removeChild(e.target);-}-}-});-}-}-renderTweets();-};-thisSnippet.className = "twitterSnippetProcessed";-render();-//if (d.readyState === "uninitialized" || d.readyState === "loading")-// window.addEventListener("load", render);-//else //liveblog, ajax-// render();-})(document);-9/11 memorial visit, multifaith service-From the United Nations, the Roman Catholic Church leader traveled to the National September 11 Memorial, the site where the World Trade Center once stood

National September 11 Memorial

the United Nations

the World Trade Center

Twitter

Roman Catholic Church

leader

traveled

the United Nations

leader


Input: He greeted relatives of some of the people killed in the terrorist attacks on New York City in 2001

New York City

some of the people

killed

New York City


Input: Nearly 3,000 died in attacks on that day in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania

New York

Washington

Pennsylvania

died

Washington

Pennsylvania


Input: The atmosphere inside the Garden was absolutely electric and almost raucous at times

Garden


Input: At an interfaith meditation service, Francis prayed for peace for all victims of the September 11 attacks, and healing for the family members and friends they left behind

Francis

members

friends


Input: Rich nations have a moral obligation to aid the vulnerable, Francis suggested in discussing "the creation and distribution of wealth.

Francis


Input: Nuns, some angered by the pushing and shoving, scramble to get into position for a photograph of the Pope as he leaves St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Sept. 24, 2015 in New York

New York

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

he

leaves

St. Patrick’s Cathedral


Input: Praise for nuns-Francis flew late Thursday afternoon from Washington to New York, where he began his visit to the nation's financial center with a prayer service at St. Patrick's Cathedral on posh Fifth Avenue

Washington

New York

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Fifth Avenue

Francis

flew

Francis

Washington

New York


Input: VOA's Alexis Christoforous was at the Mass, and she described Pope Francis as a rock star, with people standing, cheering, whistling and chanting "Viva il Papa.

Alexis Christoforous

Francis

people


Input: There, he gave a special shout-out to American nuns, offering his "esteem and gratitude.

American

nuns


Input: Calling them "women of strength, fighters, with that spirit of courage which puts you on the front lines in the proclamation of the Gospel," Francis said he wished "to say thank you, a big thank you... and to tell you that I love you very much.

women

fighters

Francis


Input: The main group representing American nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, had been the subject of a seven-year Vatican investigation over accusations that it had overemphasized social justice work and pushed "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.

American

Vatican

group

the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

nuns


Input: The Vatican and LCWR resolved their differences in April

Vatican

LCWR


Input: VOA's Alexis Christoforous contributed to this report from New York

New York

Alexis Christoforous


Input: Pope Francis’ U.S. visit has spawned a wave of memorabilia including dolls, magnets, cards and stickers

U.S.


Input: A New York store displays some of the options

New York


Input: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, thanked the pope for visiting the city

New York

city

Timothy Dolan

pope

visiting

pope

city


Input: The crowd enthusiastically jumped to its feet and gave Francis a standing ovation that continued for several minutes

Francis


Input: The audience seemed quite reluctant to let the pope leave

audience

pope


Input: Austria's Largest Refugee Camp Readies for Winter-TRAISKIRCHEN, AUSTRIA — -Serving 2,600 people in a kitchen intended for no more than half that figure is a challenging task, but staff and management in Traiskirchen are slowly figuring out how to deal with the notoriously overcrowded camp

camp

Traiskirchen


Input: Patience is key for those waiting in long lines that extend to the courtyard of Austria's biggest reception center for migrants and asylum-seekers

center

Patience


Input: In July, when an unprecedented number of asylum-seekers reached Austria, about 4,600 people were living inside the reception center in Traiskirchen

center

Austria

Traiskirchen

asylum-seekers

reached

Austria


Input: “We had to fight homelessness inside the reception center

center


Input: Hundreds of children, women and men slept on the bare ground, unsheltered from heatwaves and rainstorms

women

men


Input: Since then, Traiskirchen has been the focus of outrage of local media and concerned citizens who believe that one of the world's wealthiest nations should treat better people in need

nations

media


Input: Amnesty International, upon doing an inspection of the camp in August, called the conditions and treatment of the asylum-seekers "scandalous.

camp

Amnesty International


Input: Residents of the reception center for migrants and asylum-seekers in Traiskirchen, Austria, are seen lining up for food at the camp's kitchen

center

Traiskirchen

Austria


Input: Few news outlets have been granted access, and there's a general sentiment among local media that the government is hiding what's happening inside Traiskirchen

media

government


Input: But the Interior Ministry is trying to improve the image of Traiskirchen, and said that any media outlet asking for permission to access the facility would get an appointment for a supervised tour

facility

Traiskirchen

Interior Ministry

outlet


Input: “We have made many improvements,” Ruscher said, pointing to the health facilities that are now staffed with two doctors, another facility staffed by the Red Cross and an ad hoc hospital with 40 beds

facility

hospital

Red Cross

doctors


Input: Baby carriages are available, young men play on soccer pitches and basketball courts

courts

men


Input: Still, 2,629 people were housed at Traiskirchen earlier this week — about twice the capacity

Traiskirchen


Input: The tent city with its 15 showers still houses 720 people

city


Input: The influx of migrants, most of them from the Middle East and Africa, has been overwhelming

Middle East

Africa


Input: Migrants and asylum-seekers are seen walking on the grounds of the make-shift reception center in Traiskirchen, Austria

Traiskirchen

Austria


Input: In the first nine months of this year, the government registered 52,000

government


Input: By the end of the year, about 85,000 people are expected — roughly as many as in Germany, considering the relative size of each nation's population

Germany


Input: The Germany, which has a population of about 80 million, has a land mass about four times larger than Austria, which has about 8 million residents

The Germany

Austria


Input: Recently, the camp distributed electric radiant heaters, as nighttime temperatures have dipped to near freezing

camp


Input: As a cluster of people quickly teemed around workers delivering the heaters inside the tent city, a security staff member assured migrants there would be enough heaters for each tent

city


Input: "Just go inside the tents, we will bring them.

tents


Input: “Asians like spicy food,” said Sam, a 28-year-old refugee from Pakistan who used to work at a pharmaceutical company

Pakistan

company

Sam

refugee


Input: The tents are only a stop-gap solution in case all the bunks beds inside are taken, Ruscher said

tents


Input: An employee of ORS, a subsidiary of a Switzerland-based enterprise managing Austria's migrant camps, is seen talking to residents of the reception center in Traiskirchen, Austria

Traiskirchen

Austria

ORS

subsidiary

employee


Input: But even if conditions have improved, opposition parties such as the Green party criticize the way Traiskirchen and other federal facilities are run

parties

Green party


Input: Instead of having asylum-seekers' facilities run by the government or a nonprofit organization, such as Caritas, the largest relief organization in Austria, the task was handed to ORS, a private company

Austria

government

organization

Caritas

organization

ORS

company


Input: ORS, a subsidiary of a Switzerland-based enterprise, won the contract to manage all federal asylum-seeker facilities with Austria’s Ministry of Interior — a total of 38, according to the ministry, up from just over 10 last year

ORS

subsidiary

Austria’s Ministry of Interior

ministry


Input: “A profit-oriented company will always focus on profits

company


Input: The less money they spend on food and other services, the more profit is left for them,” Green party lawmaker Alev Korun said

Green party

Alev Korun


Input: Ruscher, of the Interior Ministry, said NGOs had bid for the contract, but that the cost of running Traiskirchen and similar facilities would have been twice as high

Traiskirchen

Interior Ministry

Ruscher


Input: In the taxpayers' interest, the government opted for the cheaper ORS

government


Input: While ORS said that they are doing their best to provide the best service and care, Ruscher said that it was also the government's duty to assure that there were no human rights violations, and that all refugees were receiving care in compliance with United Nations’ standards

ORS

Ruscher


Input: Satisfying everyone's taste, especially considering the multiple ethnicities in Traiskirchen, is an impossible task

Traiskirchen


Input: Report: Plan to Sell Nuclear Materials to IS Thwarted-Eastern European gangs have tried to sell radioactive materials to Middle Eastern extremists, including Islamic State, The Associated Press reported Wednesday

European

Middle Eastern

gangs

Islamic State

Associated Press

extremists


Input: Four attempted sales by gangs with suspected Russian connections have been thwarted in the past five years by authorities in the eastern European country of Moldova working with the FBI

Russian

country

Moldova

European

FBI


Input: Moldovan authorities said the breakdown in cooperation between the West and Russia has made the job of tracking Russia’s vast store of radioactive materials much more difficult

Russia

West


Input: “We can expect more of these cases,” Moldovan police officer Constantin Malic told AP

police

officer

Constantin Malic


Input: “As long as the smugglers think they can make big money without getting caught, they will keep doing it.

smugglers


Input: In this combination of images provided by the Moldova General Police Inspectorate, a sample of uranium-235 is tested for radioactivity in Chisinau, Moldova, June 27, 2011

Moldova

Chisinau

Moldova

General Police Inspectorate


Input: Malic and the other Moldovan investigators were on a short learning curve, going from near ignorance of nuclear smuggling to closing four cases in five years by penetrating smuggling networks posing as gangsters

investigators


Input: The FBI helped by providing high tech gear such as radiation detectors and clothing threaded with recording devices

FBI


Input: The most serious of the four cases began in the spring of 2011, when the investigators infiltrated a group led by a shadowy Russian named Alexandr Agheenco and known as the "Colonel.

Russian

group

investigators

Alexandr Agheenco

Colonel


Input: Moldovan authorities believe him to be an officer with the Russian Federal Security Service [FSB], formerly the KGB

Russian

Federal Security Service

FSB

KGB

officer


Input: AP reports that the last attempt was in February, when a smuggler in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, offered a large cache of deadly cesium and was specifically looking for a buyer from IS

capital

AP

IS

cache


Input: AP reports that a middle man working for the Colonel was recorded arranging the sale of the bomb grade uranium, U-235, and blueprints for a dirty bomb to a man from Sudan

Sudan

AP

man

Colonel

man

bomb

bomb


Input: “He said to the informant, ‘I really want an Islamic buyer because they will bomb the Americans,’” Malic told AP

Americans

informant

bomb


Input: The blueprints were discovered in a raid of the middleman’s home, according to police and court documents

home

police


Input: But Agheenco got away and, police say, may have more nuclear material to sell

police


Input: There were strategic reasons for this, but the results were that kingpins got away and those arrested were able to evade long prison sentences and return to nuclear smuggling

prison

arrested


Input: The State Department’s Kirby said, “The proliferation, the smuggling, the movement of this material has grave consequences if not stopped, and if not hindered, and we’re going to continue to work across, not just the U.S. government, but internationally as this demonstrated.

U.S.

government

Department’s Kirby


Input: “You can make a dirty bomb, which would be perfect for the Islamic State,” the smuggler, Valentin Grossu, told an informant at a dance club and sushi bar

Islamic State

Valentin Grossu

informant

bomb


Input: AP reports Grossu was asking for $2.8 million (2.5 million euros) in exchange for the cesium, which is capable of contaminating several city blocks

city

AP

$2.8 million


Input: It took about 20 meetings for the informant to convince Grossu he was IS and make the exchange of cash for the small sample of cesium that landed Grossu in jail

jail

IS

informant

cash


Input: “We applaud the Moldovan government’s good police and investigative work, which led to recovering the smuggled materials and placing them back under regulatory control,” U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday, adding that the smuggling of nuclear materials is something the U.S. government takes very seriously

U.S.

police

U.S. State Department

government

spokesman

John Kirby


Input: Valentin Grossu is escorted by an armed police officer following his arrest during a cesium smuggling sting operation in Chisinau, Moldova, Feb. 19, 2015

Chisinau

Moldova

police

Valentin Grossu

officer

escorted

Valentin Grossu

police


Input: Obama Orders US to Prepare to Lift Sanction on Iran-STATE DEPARTMENT — -President Barack Obama Sunday ordered the U.S. government to start preparing to lift sanctions against Iran on what was called Adoption Day -- the day all parties who signed the nuclear deal in July take the first steps towards implementing it

US

Iran

U.S.

Iran

government

Obama

Barack Obama


Input: "I welcome this important step forward, and we, together with our partners, must now focus on the critical work of fully implementing this comprehensive resolution that addresses our concerns over Iran's nuclear program," Obama said Sunday

Obama


Input: FILE - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

U.S.

State

Secretary

John Kerry


Input: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a finalized deal could have ramifications for years to come

U.S.

State

Secretary

John Kerry


Input: "Iran will now begin taking all of the necessary steps outlined in the JCPOA to restrain its nuclear program and ensure that it is exclusively peaceful going forward," Kerry said in a statement Sunday

Iran

JCPOA

Kerry


Input: FILE - Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi, bottom, speaks in an open session of parliament while discussing a bill on Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 11, 2015

Tehran

Iran

Iran's Atomic Energy Organization

parliament

Ali Akbar Salehi


Input: Tough work ahead-Representatives from Iran and the six world powers who signed the deal - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States - meet in Vienna Monday to set up a commission that will oversee implementation

Iran

Britain

China

France

Germany

Russia

United States

Vienna

meet

Britain

Vienna


Input: Iran test-fired a medium-range missile earlier this month which U.S. officials say may be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon

Iran

U.S.

officials

missile

weapon


Input: While the test does not violate the nuclear deal, it does violate a U.N. Security Council resolution

U.N. Security Council


Input: But a senior U.S. official said he is reluctant to link the missile test to Iran's willingness to comply with the nuclear deal

U.S.

missile


Input: The official called it another in a "long pattern" of Iran ignoring resolutions on ballistic missiles

Iran

missiles


Input: FILE - Iranian National Oil Company

Iranian

National Oil Company


Input: “In the immediate sense, it means between 40 and 50 million barrels of oil that Iran has in storage will be released on the market,” she said

Iran


Input: But as Iranian officials work to get their nuclear sites into compliance, they will need to sell the deal to the country’s hardliners, said Berman

Iranian

officials

hardliners

Berman


Input: “They have to sell their constituency that the Islamic Republic has not changed its stripes, ideologically, despite the deal.

Islamic Republic


Input: He also said there is concern about whether Iran will remain in compliance once it begins reaping the benefits of sanctions relief

Iran


Input: Obama said Iran has also started carrying out its side of the deal -- removing centrifuges, slashing its uranium stockpiles, and filling the Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor with concrete -- all to ensure it cannot build a nuclear weapon

Iran

Arak

Obama

stockpiles

weapon


Input: The European Union also passed legislation Sunday allowing its members to start looking at ending sanctions

The European Union


Input: Now the question is whether Iran shows that it can fulfill its commitments," he said Sunday

Iran


Input: A newscast on Iranian state television Sunday said Tehran will act upon its commitments

Iranian

state

Tehran


Input: Iranian officials suggested last week the country could meet its requirements by the end of the year

Iranian

country

officials


Input: IS Has 'Mastered Social Media' Like No Other Extremist Group-The Islamic State group has mastered the use of social media to promote its cause like no other extremist organization, experts on the group said Tuesday in Washington

Washington

IS

Islamic State

group

organization

group

Social Media'

experts


Input: The panel discussed the Islamic State group's adept use of social media and propaganda to recruit members worldwide in a joint forum, called ISIS and the Digital War, conducted by the Voice of America and the Newseum

Islamic State

group's

ISIS

Voice of America

members


Input: “Ideologies are not defeated with guns

guns


Input: They are defeated with better ideas,” President Barack Obama said in July

Barack Obama


Input: Vidino, an academic and security expert who specializes in Islamism and political violence in Europe and North America, said the Islamic State group has also been "very effective" at sending its message out to different audiences, especially the young

Europe

North America

Islamic State

group

Vidino

expert

Islamism


Input: Journalist Michael Weiss, right, participated in a VOA-Newseum forum discussing ISIS’s use of propaganda during a town hall at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Oct. 21, 2015

town

Washington, D.C.

Newseum

ISIS’s

Michael Weiss

discussing

Michael Weiss

Newseum


Input: Gene Policinski, chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute, said young people tend to get their news from other people their age or their friends

Newseum Institute

Gene Policinski

officer

people

people

friends


Input: Michael Weiss, an American journalist specializing in Syria and the Middle East and a senior editor at The Daily Beast, agreed in part, saying the Islamic State group has "a coherent narrative, it’s very attractive and it's conforming.

American

Syria

Middle East

The Daily Beast

Islamic State

group

Michael Weiss

journalist

editor


Input: Un-Islamic-However, the Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, president and chairwoman of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation, said the message is completely un-Islamic

AMAR International Charitable Foundation

Emma Nicholson

Winterbourne

president


Input: "They don't know anything about Islam," said Nicholson, who regularly travels to Iraq and leads the charity's work to support hundreds of thousands of more than 3 million Iraqis displaced by Islamic State militants

Iraq

Islamic State

Nicholson

Iraqis

militants

travels

Nicholson

Iraq

displaced

Iraqis

militants


Input: The Islamic State group differs from its predecessor, al-Qaida, in delivering its message, said Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University

Islamic State

group

al-Qaida

Program on Extremism

Center for Cyber

Homeland Security

George Washington University

predecessor

Lorenzo Vidino

director


Input: Vidino said the recruitment materials appeal to a certain segment

Vidino


Input: "People who join are seekers of knowledge," he said

People


Input: "Forty percent are people who do not have a clue about the basics of Islam -- so they go online.

people


Input: Where al-Qaida released long, verbose statements by leader Osama bin Laden, Vidino said, the Islamic State group has been able to "capitalize on social media

al-Qaida

Islamic State

group

Osama bin Laden

Vidino


Input: Maruf said families should watch for warning signs, such as changes in behavior or complaints about the West

the West

Maruf

families


Input: The recruitment "happens in chat rooms, it happens in home," he said

rooms


Input: Nicholson suggested a "wholly round" approach involving "every single level of society.

Nicholson


Input: She mentioned a program her charity has developed in southern Iraq that fosters religious tolerance that has been successful

Iraq


Input: Vidino, of George Washington University's extremism center, said society has a major role to play in combatting the radical Islamic State message

George Washington University's extremism center

Islamic State

Vidino


Input: Weiss, who has reported on the group for several years, suggested a two-pronged approach: stem the flow of foreign fighters and engage the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Syrian

group

government

Weiss

fighters

Bashar al-Assad


Input: "I have argued... until you engage the Assad regime, that government is a magnet for jihadist elements," he said

regime

government

Assad


Input: Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syria President Bashar Assad arrive for their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Oct. 20, 2015

Russian

Syria

Moscow

Russia

Kremlin

Vladimir Putin

Bashar Assad

arrive

Bashar Assad


Input: Moderate Muslims-When asked if moderate Muslims needed to take a more active role in countering the Islamic State message on Islam, Nicholson and Weiss bristled

Islamic State

Muslims

Muslims

Nicholson

Weiss


Input: "I think it’s enormously unfair to turn to a particular segment of society and say this is your problem," Nicholson said

Nicholson


Input: "You don’t put on the shoulders of every Muslim to denounce ISIS," said Weiss, whose book, "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," was published earlier this year

ISIS

ISIS

Muslim

Weiss


Input: Right to left: Lorenzo Vidino, Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, Gene Policinski and Mil Arcega discuss ISIS's use of propaganda as Andrew Palczewski, far left, monitors social media during a town hall event at the Newseum, Oct. 21, 2015

town

hall

Newseum

Lorenzo Vidino

Baroness Emma Nicholson

Winterbourne

Gene Policinski

Mil Arcega

Andrew Palczewski


Input: In it, he explains how the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who have conquered territory equal to the size of Great Britain

Iraq

Syria

Iraqi

Great Britain

Islamic State

group

ISIS

Islamic State

group

army


Input: He said Tuesday, "If you look at the upper echelons of who runs ISIS today [with the exception of leaders Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu Mohammed al-Adnani], everyone behind those two is a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime.

ISIS

regime

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Abu Mohammed al-Adnani

Saddam Hussein's


Input: Operation Inherent Resolve, as the U.S.-led coalition's military operation is called, began airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq in June 2014

Iraq

Operation Inherent Resolve

military

Islamic State

airstrikes

Islamic State

Iraq


Input: The air campaign was expanded in September 2014 to battle the militant group in Syria

Syria

air campaign

group

battle

air campaign

group

Syria


Input: As of October 6, the Pentagon said the coalition had conducted a total of 7,323 strikes – 4,701 in Iraq and 2,622 in Syria, with the U.S. conducting the majority of the airstrikes in both countries

coalition

Iraq

Syria

U.S.

countries

Pentagon

strikes

coalition

Syria

airstrikes

U.S.

countries


Input: Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, and its surrounding areas, has been under assault by extremists-As of September 15, the total cost of operations related to the anti-Islamic State fight was about $4 billion, with the average daily cost of about $10 million, according to Department of Defense records

Kobani

Ayn Arab

areas

Department of Defense

extremists

$4 billion

$10 million

assault

Ayn Arab


Input: Nearly 60 countries are involved in various aspects of the anti-Islamic State campaign, with about 10 countries joining the U.S. in airstrikes

countries

countries

U.S.

airstrikes

U.S.


Input: The Obama administration announced earlier this year its multipronged campaign to “degrade and defeat” the Islamic State group

administration

Islamic State

group

Obama


Input: Harun Maruf, senior editor with VOA's Somali news service, said al-Qaida used to issue videotaped messages, but the Islamic State group has "mastered social media like no other extremist organization.

VOA's Somali

al-Qaida

Islamic State

group

organization

Harun Maruf

editor


Input: This is a long-term campaign,” Obama said July 6

Obama


Input: “It will take time to root them out, and doing so must be the job of local forces on the ground with training and air support from our coalition

coalition

forces


Input: "It is ultimately not going to be won or lost by the United States alone

United States


Input: It will be decided by the countries and the communities that terrorists like ISIL [IS] target," he added

countries

communities

ISIL

IS


Input: Four-pronged effort-The campaign includes U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeting Islamic State forces, buildings and weaponry; steps taken to root out the group’s financing, efforts to combat the extremist group’s message, and strengthening local forces for ground operations in Iraq and elsewhere

coalition

Iraq

forces

buildings

Islamic State

forces

weaponry

airstrikes

coalition

weaponry

operations

forces

Iraq


Input: Noting the militant group’s success in reaching out to potential recruits in faraway lands, including the United States, Obama said defeating the Islamic State group will require more than military might

United States

Islamic State

group

military

Obama


Input: John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a leading critic of Obama's policy in Syria, has previously urged the president to establish a no-fly zone in Syria to protect Syrians from the Assad regime's barrel bombing

Syria

Syria

Syrians

the Senate Armed Services Committee

John McCain

chairman

Obama's

president

Assad

bombing

Syrians

Assad


Input: A buffer zone would allow for "an area where we can train and equip the moderates," he told VOA's Persian News service Tuesday

area

Persian News


Input: In early October, the U.S. announced it was abandoning efforts to build up a new rebel force inside Syria to combat the Islamic State group

U.S.

Syria

Islamic State

group


Input: A $500 million campaign that was supposed to train several thousand fighters was deemed a failure after training just 60 men

fighters

men

$500 million


Input: The administration said money would instead be used to provide ammunition and weapons for some U.S.-backed rebel groups already in the region

region

administration

groups

ammunition

weapons


Input: Just days after the announcement to curtail the program, the U.S. airdropped 50 tons of small-arms ammunition to rebels in northern Syria, a U.S. defense official said

U.S.

Syria

U.S.

ammunition


Input: Carla Babb contributed to this report from the Pentagon and Michael Bowman contributed to this report from Washington

Washington

Pentagon

Carla Babb

Michael Bowman


Input: VOA's Persian News service contributed to this story

VOA's

Persian News


Input: Anti-IS campaign-The Obama administration announced earlier this year its multipronged campaign to “degrade and defeat” the Islamic State group, and one of the main components is efforts to combat the extremist group’s online messaging and recruiting

Anti-IS campaign

administration

Islamic State

group

Obama


Input: EU: 100,000 Places for Migrants in Reception Centers-Thousands of mostly Middle Eastern migrants fleeing war and poverty continued pushing Monday through the Balkans toward Western Europe, as European Union leaders struggled to avert a looming humanitarian disaster with winter fast approaching

EU

Middle Eastern

Balkans

Western Europe

European Union

leaders


Input: As cold weather continues to set in on much of the continent, EU leaders met Sunday for a fifth time to address the crisis

continent

EU

leaders


Input: The meeting was the latest in a series of top-level EU meetings to find a unified approach on how to best deal with the thousands of migrants streaming into the EU every day

EU

EU

migrants


Input: On Sunday, Croatia Interior Ministry spokesman Domagoj Dzigulovic said a record 11,500 migrants entered the country Saturday — the most in a single day since the flow of migrants began in mid-September

Croatia

country

Interior Ministry

spokesman

Domagoj Dzigulovic

migrants


Input: Police said the country has seen nearly 250,000 enter the country since then

country

country


Input: Migrants turned to Croatia after Hungary erected a barbed-wire fence along its border with Serbia

Croatia

Hungary

Serbia

border


Input: Countries called to meet-The leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, attended the Brussels summit

Austria

Bulgaria

Croatia

Macedonia

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Romania

Serbia

Slovenia

Brussels

leaders

summit

Brussels


Input: But some EU lawmakers complained ahead of the meeting that all 28 EU member countries should attend and that France's absence in particular threatened progress on a plan

countries

EU

EU


Input: A man comforts a woman upon arrival with other refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos on October 25, 2015 after they crossed the Aegean sea from Turkey

Greek

Turkey

the Aegean sea

man

woman

migrants

arrival

migrants

Greek

Turkey


Input: "Every day counts," Juncker said Sunday in an interview in German weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag

German

Juncker


Input: "Otherwise we will soon see families in cold rivers in the Balkans perish miserably.

Balkans

families

perish

Balkans


Input: More than 680,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to the International Organization for Migration

Europe

Middle East

Africa

Asia

International Organization for Migration

migrants

refugees

crossed

refugees

Europe

Asia


Input: The grouping agreed to expand reception centers in Greece to accommodate 100,000 more migrants, while failing to bridge political differences dividing the continent between those governments willing to help address the crisis and those so far refusing to provide long-term shelter

centers

bridge

Greece

continent

grouping

migrants


Input: "The challenge now is to slow down the flow of migration and to bring our external borders under control," Juncker told Bild

Juncker


Input: "We must also make it clear that people who arrive at our borders who are not looking for international protection have no right to enter the EU.

borders

EU

people


Input: Some criticism-Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania said they would close their borders if Germany or other countries shut the door on refugees

Bulgaria

Serbia

Romania

Germany

countries

refugees


Input: A group of migrants walks toward Austria from a camp in Sentilj, Slovenia, Oct. 25, 2015

camp

Austria

Sentilj

Slovenia

migrants

walks

Austria

Sentilj


Input: Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday Serbia would not "put up any walls" but suggested his country will not agree to be the only migrant stop if countries farther west close their borders

Serbian

Serbia

country

Aleksandar Vucic


Input: At the Brezice camp in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Babar Baloch urged leaders to come up with a system to register and screen newcomers when they first enter Europe, rather than piecemeal along the way

camp

Slovenia

Croatia

Brezice

border

Europe

U.N. refugee agency

UNHCR

spokesman

Babar Baloch


Input: “But also very important is to help Syria's neighboring countries where there are around 4 million refugees,” Baloch said

Syria's

countries


Input: “These people don't need to take these risky journeys if there are legal pathways to come to Europe.

Europe

people


Input: The lack of a common policy is straining ties among European leaders, raising questions about the EU's future

European

EU's


Input: Rights group Amnesty International said the 28-counry bloc could not afford to end another meeting without an agreed plan

group

Amnesty International


Input: Hours later, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government has welcomed waves of foreigners, described the crisis as "one of the greatest litmus tests Europe has ever faced.

German

Europe

government

Angela Merkel

foreigners


Input: "As winter looms, the sight of thousands of refugees sleeping rough as they make their way through Europe represents a damning indictment of the European Union's failure to offer a coordinated response to the refugee crisis," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's director for Europe and Central Asia

the European Union's

Europe

Central Asia

Europe

Amnesty's

refugee

John Dalhuisen

director


Input: "As winter looms, the sight of thousands of refugees sleeping rough as they make their way through Europe represents a damning indictment of the European Union's failure to offer a coordinated response to the refugee crisis," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's director for Europe and Central Asia

the European Union

Europe

Central Asia

Europe

Amnesty's

refugees

refugee

John Dalhuisen

director


Input: Death toll-The continent is experiencing the worst migration crisis since World War Two

continent


Input: At least three migrants — two children and a woman — drowned on Sunday when their boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos, the coast guard said, the latest fatalities in Europe's refugee crisis which has claimed nearly 3,000 lives

Greek

Lesbos

island

coast

migrants

children

woman

Europe's refugee crisis

boat

drowned

woman


Input: Around a dozen others, mostly Afghans, are still missing after the rickety vessel, carrying 60 people, went down at dawn as it made the perilous crossing from Turkey, according to the Greek coast guard

Turkey

Greek

Afghans

people

vessel

went down

vessel

Turkey


Input: Also Sunday, the bodies of 40 people thought to be migrants were discovered on beaches near a city 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Tripoli, the Red Crescent said

city

Tripoli

Red Crescent


Input: Syrian refugees lie exhausted moments after arriving by a raft at a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos, Oct. 25, 2015

Syrian

Greek

Lesbos

beach

refugees

raft

arriving

refugees

raft

beach


Input: "Local residents told us about bodies on the beaches around Zliten," spokesman Mohamed al-Misrati told the French news agency AFP

French

agency

AFP

Mohamed al-Misrati


Input: Misrati did not give any further details about the nationality of the deceased, but the Tripoli authorities' official news agency reported that they were from Africa

Tripoli

Africa

agency


Input: EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker said more reception centers will be constructed along the so-called Balkan route traveled by most migrants from war-torn Syria in recent weeks

centers

Syria

Balkan

EU

Jean-Claude Juncker


Input: Some material for this report came from Reuters, AP and AFP

Reuters

AP

AFP


Input: The new structures will house 50,000 people, while additional facilities are planned in Greece for 50,000 more migrants

Greece

people

migrants


Input: Juncker, who released nearly 20 aid proposals Monday, described the reception units as vital for registering migrants and managing their travels

units

Juncker


Input: But he also voiced dismay that previous vows of help from EU countries have not yet been acted upon

EU


Input: The mini gathering of central and eastern European leaders Sunday was sought by Chancellor Merkel, who has voiced concern for migrants as winter sets in

European

leaders

Merkel


Input: US, British Officials Note Possibility of Terrorism in Sinai Crash-British Prime Minister David Cameron says he believes it is "more likely than not" that a bomb brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last week, killing all 224 people on board

US

British

British

Russian

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula

David Cameron

people

jet

bomb

killing

bomb


Input: Speaking before talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is in London Thursday, Cameron also noted that experts are not yet certain of the cause of the crash

Egyptian

London

Abdel Fattah el-Sissi

Cameron


Input: The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the disaster, but has so far not presented any firm evidence to back it up

Islamic State

group


Input: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has dismissed Islamic State's claim as "propaganda" and an effort to damage Egyptian security and stability

Egyptian

Egyptian

Islamic State's

Abdel Fattah el-Sissi


Input: He is in London to meet Thursday with British Prime Minister David Cameron

London

British

He

David Cameron

meet

London

David Cameron


Input: Trucks carry the bodies of the air crash victims from a city morgue to the crematorium for identification in St.Petersburg, Russia, Nov. 2, 2015

morgue

city

St.Petersburg

Russia

Trucks


Input: With Britain and Egypt offering vastly different opinions on the cause of the plane crash, the incident is sure to be high on the two leaders' agenda

Britain

Egypt

plane


Input: The meeting at 10 Downing Street was scheduled before the crash took place

Downing Street


Input: Also Thursday, relatives of one of the plane crash victims held the first funeral associated with the crash

plane


Input: Friends and relatives of Nina Lushchenko gathered in the city of Veliky Novgorod, about 160 kilometers south of St. Petersburg, to bury her

city

Veliky Novgorod

St. Petersburg

relatives

Nina Lushchenko


Input: Abdel-Wahab Ali, the chief of the Sharm El-Sheikh airport, was promoted Wednesday to become assistant to the chairman of the state company that runs Egypt's civilian airports, according to The Associated Press

airports

Sharm El-Sheikh

state

company

Associated Press

Abdel-Wahab Ali

chairman


Input: It is not clear what effect this would have on his position at the airport

airport


Input: Also, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, "There is a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive devise on board the aircraft.

British

Secretary

Philip Hammond

aircraft


Input: IS allegation-David Schenker, a Middle East expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told VOA "it would not come as much of a surprise" if Islamic State was responsible for destroying the plane

Middle East

IS

Washington Institute for Near East Policy

VOA

Islamic State

David Schenker

plane


Input: Schenker said the extremist group has an interest in attacking both Egypt and Russia, and that blowing up a soft target like a civilian airliner would send a powerful signal

Egypt

Russia

extremist group

civilian airliner

attacking

extremist group

Russia

blowing

extremist group