U.S. Supreme Court justices, delving into the issue of aging prisoners with dementia, struggled on Tuesday over whether a convicted Alabama murderer should be spared the death penalty because strokes have wiped out his memory of committing the crime. Vernon Madison, 68, was convicted and sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of a Mobile police officer in 1985. During an hour of arguments, the justices heard from both Alabama and Madison’s attorney that severe cognitive decline could preclude a state from executing inmates who cannot understand what was happening to them. But it was unclear how the court would decide on whether Madison fits that criteria. The justices, on the second day of their new term, must determine whether executing Madison would violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. A ruling is due by June. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, a death penalty critic, noted …

Two letters sent to the Pentagon, including one addressed to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, have tested positive for ricin, a defense official told VOA Tuesday. The envelopes containing a suspicious substance were taken by the FBI Tuesday for further testing, according to Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Rob Manning. The two letters arrived at an off-site Pentagon mail distribution center on Monday.  One was addressed to Mattis, the other was addressed to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, an official told VOA on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency detected the substance during mail screening, so the letters never entered the Pentagon building, officials said. “All USPS (United States Postal Service) mail received at the Pentagon mail screening facility [Monday] is currently under quarantine and poses no threat to Pentagon personnel,” according to Manning. Ricin is a highly toxic poison found in castor beans.   …

Tesla announced record quarterly car production numbers on Tuesday but warned it was facing major problems with selling cars in China due to new tariffs that will force it to accelerate investment in its factory in Shanghai. The California-based electric carmaker, emerging from several months of turmoil around its Chief Executive Elon Musk, confirmed numbers leaked to an industry news site on Monday that showed it produced roughly 80,000 cars in the third quarter. Deliveries reached a record 83,500, above Wall Street estimates of 80,000 and including almost 56,000 of the Model 3 sedan whose ramp-up is widely seen as crucial to the company’s drive to become profitable. That overshadowed concerns expressed by the company over a 40 percent tariff being charged by China for the import of its cars, which it said was blocking sales in the world’s biggest electric car market. Shares gained 0.5 percent at the open. …

The EU’s top data privacy enforcer expressed worry Tuesday that Facebook had lost control of data security after a vast privacy breach that she said affected five million Europeans. “It is a question for the management, if they have things under control,”  EU Justice and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Vera Jourova told AFP in Luxembourg. “The magnitude of the company … makes it very difficult to manage, but they have to do that because they are harvesting the data and they are making incredible money on using our privacy as the commodity,” she added. Jourova spoke just days after Facebook admitted that up to 50 million user accounts around the world had been breached by hackers, in yet another scandal for the beleaguered social platform. “I will know more … in hours or days but according to our knowledge, five million Europeans have been affected out of those 50, which is …

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump is in Ghana at the start of a tour of Africa — her first major solo international trip since her husband became president. …

A lawyer for the U.S. pastor whose detention in Turkey sparked a crisis with Washington will appeal Wednesday to the constitutional court for his release. The move comes ahead of an October 12 hearing in the Andrew Brunson case and amid growing expectations he will be allowed to return home. Since July, Brunson has been under house arrest at his home in the western city of Izmir. Previously, he had been held in jail after being detained in October 2016. His lawyer, Cem Halavurt, told AFP they would lodge the appeal in Ankara at 0700 GMT Wednesday. Brunson, who runs a small evangelical Protestant church in Izmir, is at the center of a bitter standoff between the Turkey and the United States. Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey over the summer and Ankara imposed sanctions of its own, leading to an escalation that prompted a crash in value of the Turkish …

The U.S. envoy to NATO on Tuesday said that Russia must halt development of new missiles that could carry nuclear warheads and warned that the United States could “take out” the system if it becomes operational. NATO fears the 9M729 system contravenes the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF. The Cold War-era pact bans an entire class of weapons — all land-based cruise missiles with a range between 500-5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles), and the alliance says that the Russian system fits into that category. “It is time now for Russia to come to the table and stop the violations,” U.S. Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison told reporters in Brussels, on the eve of a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his NATO counterparts. She said that if the system “became capable of delivering,” the U.S. “would then be looking at the capability to take out a missile that …

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that the U.S. will not reduce its support for the French-led military operations against insurgents in Mali.   “We have no intention of cutting back one bit on that support,” said Mattis.   Speaking alongside Mattis at a press conference in Paris, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said the Pentagon chief reassured her that any changes in U.S. operations or forces in Africa would not affect support provided to France.   The Pentagon has been reevaluating its troop presence and operations in Africa after the ambush in Niger last year that killed four U.S. soldiers and four of their Niger counterparts. French forces were part of the rescue force that went to the aid of U.S. forces after the Niger attack.   French leaders have previously suggested they’d like to see continued or additional American support in Africa, where militant groups continue to …

Amazon is boosting its minimum wage for all U.S. workers to $15 per hour starting next month. The company said Tuesday that the wage hike will benefit more than 350,000 workers, which includes full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal positions. It includes Whole Foods employees. Amazon’s hourly operations and customer service employees, some who already make $15 per hour, will also see a wage increase, the Seattle-based company said.   Amazon has more than 575,000 employees globally.   Pay for workers at Amazon can vary by location. Its starting pay is $10 an hour at a warehouse in Austin, Texas, and $13.50 an hour in Robbinsville, New Jersey. The median pay for an Amazon employee last year was $28,446, according to government filings, which includes full-time, part-time and temporary workers.   Amazon said its public policy team will start pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per …

In five weeks, U.S. voters head to the polls to elect a new Congress and the outcome will have a profound impact on the next two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. Intensity is building for the Nov. 6 election, especially among opposition Democrats seeking to win back control of the House of Representatives. But the polarizing battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh seems to be mobilizing voters in both political parties, as we hear from VOA National correspondent Jim Malone. …

President Donald Trump is back in Tennessee, trying to push U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s Senate bid over the finish line.   Trump headlined a high-dollar, closed-door fundraiser for Blackburn in Johnson City before appearing at a packed rally at the Freedom Hall Civic Center.   Blackburn is in a tight race against the state’s Democratic ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen, who, like other Democratic candidates across Trump country, has painted himself as a pragmatist willing to work with the president on certain issues. The Tennessee campaign is among several closely watched races expected to determine control of the Senate, and Republicans are desperate to defend a narrow two-seat majority in the face of surging Democratic enthusiasm.   And the stakes couldn’t be clearer. The rally comes as the FBI is continuing to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh — an FBI investigation that was forced by a …

The image of the United States has deteriorated further among its traditional allies after a year in which President Donald Trump ratcheted up his verbal attacks on countries like Canada and Germany, a leading survey showed. The survey of 25 nations by the Pew Research Center also showed that respondents from across the globe have less confidence in Trump’s ability to lead than they do in Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has pulled the United States out of international agreements like the Paris climate accord and Iran nuclear deal, cozied up to authoritarian leaders like Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and criticized his neighbors and NATO allies. In June, after a G7 summit in Canada, Trump refused to sign a joint statement with America’s allies, deriding his host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as “very dishonest and weak”. He …

Former President Barack Obama is expanding his influence ahead of November’s midterm elections. On Monday, he released a second slate of endorsements for Democrats running for offices ranging from local to national, bringing the total to more than 300.   Among the most prominent candidates to win Obama’s support are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congressional candidate who won an upset primary victory this summer in New York; Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor who is running for governor in Florida; and Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Arizona.   While the candidates that Obama endorsed stretch up and down the ballot — from gubernatorial hopefuls to aspiring state lawmakers — he notably declined to wade into several races that have captivated national attention. Obama did not endorse Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat challenging Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, or Phil Bredesen, a former Democratic governor of Tennessee who is …

Fresh from clinching an updated North American commerce pact, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday criticized Indian and Brazilian trade tactics, describing the latter as being “maybe the toughest in the world” in terms of protectionism. Addressing reporters at a White House event to celebrate the agreement of an updated trilateral trade deal between the United States, Mexico and Canada, Trump added India and Brazil to a growing list of countries that, he argues, treat the world’s top economy unfairly in terms of commerce. “India charges us tremendous tariffs. When we send Harley Davidson motorcycles, other things to India, they charge very, very high tariffs,” Trump said, adding that he had brought up the issue with Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, who he said was “going to reduce them very substantially.” Modi’s office could not immediately be reached for a request for comment. India’s government has become more protectionist in …

A former Army medic who received the nation’s highest military honor Monday for braving heavy gunfire to save lives in Afghanistan was rejected by the military the first time he tried to enlist. “Boy that was a bad mistake. But they made up for it, right,” President Donald Trump said in a formal White House ceremony where 250 people gathered to laud former Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II for his heroic actions in 2008 in a remote part of Afghanistan. Shurer, a native of Fairbanks, Alaska, was a senior medical sergeant in the special forces on April 6, 2008 when his team encountered machine gun and sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades from militants. Shurer stabilized one soldier, then fought his way through a barrage of bullets and up a mountain to the lead members of the unit. There, he treated and stabilized four more soldiers. Shurer helped evacuate them, carrying …

Why is the FBI conducting the probe? All presidential appointees undergo a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background check — called a Special Inquiry (SPIN) — before their names are sent to the Senate for confirmation. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had undergone six such checks as part of previous government appointments. But after three women came forward last month with accusations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, Democrats demanded a new FBI inquiry. President Donald Trump initially balked at the idea, but on Friday he ordered a one-week probe of the allegations. The about-face came after moderate Republican and frequent Trump critic Sen. Jeff Flake threw his support behind the Democratic call for an investigation.   What is the FBI doing? The FBI is conducting a supplemental background check on Kavanaugh, rather than a criminal investigation, in light of the sexual assault allegations. Pete Yachmetz, a former FBI special agent and security …