Seasonal rains have brought relief from the haze that blanketed much of Malaysia and Singapore.

The toxic air disrupted life for tens of millions of people.

Face masks were in common usage as people tried to protect themselves. Many Malaysian schools closed for days because the air was so hazardous.

Much of the smog stemmed from Indonesia, where fires were set to clear land for palm oil plantations, as well as pulp and paper. Some of the plantations are owned by Malaysian companies.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has a haze agreement to try to combat the issue, but it seems to have done little so far.

“The ASEAN trans-boundary haze agreement has largely been a case of being like a paper tiger,” said Nithi Nesadurai, president of the Environmental Protection Society Malaysia, a nongovernment organization. “It’s something there on paper, but really has very little effect.”

The haze happens almost every year, although health advocates say the pollution was worse this year compared with any since 2015. Local doctors reported a surge in illnesses.

Dr. Jessreen Kaur of Kuala Lumpur says she prescribed antibiotics and antihistamines to many patients.

“There are a lot of upper respiratory tract infections coming from the haze.” Kaur said. “More people are getting infected tonsils, infections of the pharynx and also lung infections.”

ASEAN ministers have talked about closer cooperation on the issue. In Malaysia, discussions are underway about drafting a law that would punish Malaysian companies that start fires in a foreign country.

“It enables the Malaysian government to take action against a Malaysian company which is causing pollution on foreign soil,” Nesadurai said. “This will be a means of deterrence, especially if one of them gets punished.”

Nesadurai adds that more needs to happen at the grassroots level. Environmental groups like his are calling for federal and local governments, as well as the companies that own the plantations, to partner with local communities to try to prevent the fires from happening in the first place.

“The most effective action can take place if the stakeholders work together,” Nesadurai said.

The Global Environment Center, a nongovernment organization, has worked in several communities in Malaysia and Indonesia. It connects with plantation owners and people who live near the plantations. It teaches techniques to help prevent fires and also provides firefighting equipment, as well as training, to help locals contain a land fire until professional firefighters arrive.

“This community approach makes a difference,” said Adelaine Tan, coordinator of outreach and partnership programs, at the Global Environment Center. “But we have a limited budget, so we can’t reach everywhere it’s needed.”

Malaysians can breathe easier for now, but concerns linger that this problem could ignite again next year.

“Something needs to be done,” said Manisa McCalman of Kuala Lumpur. “Whenever we have this problem, you don’t want to even go outside.”

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is battling to persuade lawmakers to back the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement he signed with the European Union ahead of a special session in the British Parliament scheduled for Saturday. The vote on the deal is set to go to the wire. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Brussels, Europe is doing all it can to try to get the deal passed.

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New York City is an incredible collection of diversity. People from around the world come to live and work here, but that doesn’t mean that racism isn’t a problem. That’s why the NYC Commission on Human Rights backed a law that can impose a hefty fine on people who use the term “Illegal Alien” in a hateful way. Nina Vishneva has this story narrated by Anna Rice. 
 

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 The world’s first female spacewalking team made history high above Earth on Friday, floating out of the International Space Station to fix a broken part of the power network.
 
As NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir emerged one by one, it marked the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate.

LIVE NOW: Tune in to watch the first #AllWomanSpacewalk in human history! ??‍?

Starting at approximately 7:50am ET, @Astro_Christina & @Astro_Jessica venture into the vacuum of space to replace a failed power controller. Watch: https://t.co/2SIb9YXlRh

— NASA (@NASA) October 18, 2019

 
America’s first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, was delighted. She said It’s good to finally have enough women in the astronaut corps and trained for spacewalking for this to happen.

NASA leaders – along with women and others around the world – cheered Koch and Meir on. At the same time, many noted that this will hopefully become routine in the future.
 
“We’ve got qualified women running the control, running space centers, commanding the station, commanding spaceships and doing spacewalks,” Sullivan told The Associated Press earlier this week. “And golly, gee whiz, every now and then there’s more than one woman in the same place.”
 
Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a three-time spacewalker who watched from Mission Control, added: “Hopefully, this will now be considered normal.”
 

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine watched the big event unfold from NASA headquarters in Washington.
 
“We have the right people doing the right job at the right time,”he said. “They are an inspiration to people all over the world including me. And we’re very excited to get this mission underway.”
 
NASA originally wanted to conduct an all-female spacewalk last spring, but did not have enough medium-size suits ready to go. Koch and Meir were supposed to install more new batteries in a spacewalk next week, but had to venture out three days earlier to deal with an equipment failure that occurred over the weekend. They need to replace an old battery charger for one of the three new batteries that was installed last week by Koch and Andrew Morgan.
 
“Jessica and Christina, we are so proud of you. You’re going to do great today,” Morgan radioed from inside as the women exited the hatch.
 
Meir, making her spacewalking debut, became the 228th person in the world to conduct a spacewalk and the 15th woman.
 
It was the fourth spacewalk for Koch, who is seven months into an 11-month mission that will be the longest ever by a woman.

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Amnesty International said in a report Friday that Turkish military forces and a coalition of Turkish-backed Syrian armed groups have shown a “shameful disregard for civilian life” during the offensive into northeast Syria.

According to the account, the “serious violations and war crimes” include “summary killings and unlawful attacks that have killed and injured civilians.”

The report is based on witness testimony gathered from 17 people, a group that included medical and rescue workers, displaced civilians, journalists, and humanitarian workers.

Amnesty said it uncovered “damning evidence of indiscriminate assaults in residential areas, including attacks on a home, a bakery and a school, carried out by Turkey and allied Syrian armed groups.”

The human rights group said the testimony included the “gruesome details of a summary killing in cold blood of a prominent Syrian-Kurdish female politician, Hevrin Khalaf, by members of Ahrar Al-Sharqiya, part of the Syrian National Army.”
 

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Despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement, fighting continued Friday in northeast Syria.

Loud bangs and gunfire could be heard, and smoke could be seen rising over the town of Ceylanpinar, a day after Turkey and the U.S. agreed to a five-day cease-fire in Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish fighters.  Turkey considers the Kurds to be terrorists.

The deal has the Kurdish fighters leaving part of Syria along the Turkish border in an arrangement that strengthens Turkey’s position in the conflict.

Turkish troops and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched their offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria a week ago, after U.S. President Donald Trump suddenly announced a withdrawal of  troops from the area.

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The United States has sent some asylum-seeking immigrants off the mainland to Hawaii.

John Egan, the head of the Refugee and Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Hawaii Law School, told Hawaii Public Radio that there are not enough lawyers in Hawaii who can handle the cases on a pro bono basis.

“We have been seeing people arriving here in Hawaii quite often with no English skills whatsoever … they’re given a plane ticket and a notice to show in court,” Egan said.

Hawaii Public Radio reports that about 150 Central American migrants have been sent to Hawaii “to await their day in immigration court.”

According to the radio report, a 2018 Syracuse University study found 90% of asylum-seekers without a lawyer were denied asylum in 2017.

Egan and some of his students have taken on about a dozen of the immigration pro bono cases “because no one else can,” he said.

The University of Hawaii’s law school clinic has started a new program to recruit and train volunteer lawyers who are not immigration attorneys, but are willing to help the immigrants.
 

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Haiti’s embattled president was forced on Thursday to hold a private ceremony amid heavy security for what is usually a public celebration of one of the country’s founding fathers.
 
Jovenel Moise and other officials appeared at the National Pantheon Museum in downtown Port-au-Prince as hundreds of armed police officers closed down the surrounding area while protesters who demanded his resignation began to gather nearby.
 
“This is not how a government should be functioning,” said Mario Terrain, who is 29 and unemployed. “The president is in hiding.”
 
Moise did not speak to reporters and left after the brief ceremony to commemorate the death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, whose rule ended in 1806 following a military revolt. Protesters had prevented Moise from visiting Pont-Rouge, the site north of the capital where Dessalines was killed and where the ceremony is usually held.
 
Anger over corruption, inflation and scarcity of basic goods including fuel has led to large protests that began five weeks ago and have shuttered many businesses and schools.
 
A couple hundred protesters had already gathered at Pont-Rouge as they criticized Moise.
 
“We dare the president to come,” said 28-year-old Joel Theodore. “It will be his last day in office.”
 
The president held a surprise press conference on Tuesday and said he would not resign as he once again urged unity and dialogue. Opposition leaders, however, said protesters would remain on the streets until he steps down.

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The Marine Corps has corrected the identity of another of the men who were photographed raising the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. 
 
The Marines said in a statement Thursday that after questions were raised by private historians who studied photos and films, they determined that Cpl. Harold P. Keller was among the men who raised the flag. The Marines said Pfc. Rene Gagnon had helped in the effort but for decades was mistakenly identified by the Marines as one of the flag-raisers. 
 
Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal shot the iconic photograph atop Mount Suribachi during an intense battle between American and Japanese forces in 1945. 
 
In 2016, the Marines corrected the identity of another man in the photo after historians raised questions. 
 
NBC News, which first reported on the Marines’ more recent correction, said Keller died in 1979 in Grinnell, Iowa. 

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Nearly half the total population in Nigeria lives in extreme poverty. Nigerian authorities are working to improve the situation, but experts say government plans are not sustainable.

Uzoamaka Ndugo is struggling to raise five children in Abuja after separating from her husband six years ago.

To make ends meet, she sells plastic bottles. However, Ndugo says her income averages about $30 per month, hardly enough to provide for her family.

“Since my husband left me with the children, I’ve been the one taking care of them from the sales of my plastic bottles, I have no other job,” Ndugo said. “It’s not easy for me.”

Some 93.7 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock, a data-gathering team that monitors the global progress against poverty. This year’s figure is 6.8 million higher than in 2018.

In June last year, the group named Nigeria the world poverty capital after it overtook India having the highest proportion of poor people.

Economic experts like Nonso Obikili say an imbalance in economic growth and population growth is a major factor contributing to Nigeria’s rise in poverty.

“On a fundamental level the economy is not growing fast enough, economic growth is still below 2 percent and population growth is about 2.8 percent, so that means on average Nigerians are getting poorer and poorer,” Obikili said. “But even if you dig deeper, even when the economy was growing, the growth wasn’t that inclusive so it was a growth that was captured by a very small fraction of the country, with most of Nigeria remaining in stagnation.”

Nigerian officials have been trying to address the issue through various social schemes.

Government programs

This month, President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated his commitment to lifting millions from poverty.

“Our ongoing social intervention programs continue to target these vulnerable groups through the ongoing school feeding program, government economic empowerment program, … job creation program loans for traders and artisans, conditional cash transfers to the poorest families,” Buhari said.

However, Obikili argues the government’s plans are not enough, especially its cash transfer program to poor families.

“And if you’re in an environment where economic growth is strong, you can make the case for that,” he said. “But if you’re in an environment where there’s no economic growth, then it’s not clear how redistributive policies can reduce poverty sustainably.”

Buhari’s lofty goal is to alleviate 100 million Nigerians from poverty within the next decade. But experts say to increase the Poverty Escape Rate in the country, economic growth must remain steady and population growth controlled.

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A civil rights group is asking state motor vehicle agencies across the U.S. to reject a request from the U.S. Census Bureau for drivers’ license records, saying it is part of a scheme to reduce the political power of minority groups.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday said in a statement that the Census Bureau should stop its efforts to gather state drivers’ license information.

The ACLU was among several groups challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

After the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the question from being added, President Donald Trump in July issued an executive order asking for citizenship data to be gathered through administrative records.

The Census Bureau this week acknowledged their request was in response to the order.

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The portion of Americans with no religious affiliation is rising significantly, in tandem with a sharp drop in the percentage that identifies as Christians, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

Based on telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, Pew said Thursday that 65% of American adults now describe themselves as Christian, down from 77% in 2009. Meanwhile, the portion that describes their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Both Protestant and Roman Catholic ranks are losing population share, according to Pew. It said 43% of U.S. adults identify as Protestants, down from 51% in 2009, while 20% are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009.

Pew says all categories of the religiously unaffiliated population – often referred to as the “nones” grew in magnitude. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up from 2% in 2009; agnostics account for 5%, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009.

The report comes at a challenging time for many major denominations in the U.S. The two largest — the Catholic church and the Southern Baptist Convention — are beset by clergy sex-abuse scandals. The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination, faces a possible split over differences on the inclusion of LGBTQ people.

The Pew report found a steady decline in the rates of attendance at religious services.

Over the last decade, the share of Americans who say they attend religious services at least once or twice a month dropped by 7 percentage points, while the share who say they attend religious services less often — if at all — rose by the same degree.

In 2009, regular attenders — those who attend religious services at least once a month — outnumbered those who attend services only occasionally or not at all by a 52%-to-47% margin. Now, more Americans say they attend religious services a few times a year or less (54 than say they attend at least monthly (45%).

Pew’s data showed a wide age gap in terms of religion affiliation — three-quarters of baby boomers described themselves as Christian, compared to 49% of millennials.

The trends documented by Pew have been reflected in other recent developments.

In May, the Southern Baptist Convention reported its twelfth year of declining membership. The SBC said it had 14.8 million members in 2018, down about 192,000 from the previous year.

In June, the annual Giving USA report — a comprehensive overview of Americans’ charitable giving patterns — said giving to religious institutions had been lagging behind other philanthropic sectors for several years. Reasons included declining attendance at worship services and a rising number of Americans not affiliated with any religion.

Empty Tomb, a Christian organization based in Champaign, Illinois, that researches religious giving, says the decline is longstanding. According to its research, Americans gave about 3% of their disposable income to churches in 1968, and less than 2.2% in 2016.

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