Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, is witnessing an explosion of graffiti art.
Many of those driving this wave of colorful artistic expression are women.
Gamze Yalcin is one of them.
She has been painting graffiti on Istanbul's walls for the past six years.
Yalcin, a trained artist, told VOA it is exciting to see continual growth of graffiti art across
the city.
"More and more, the new generation are very into painting on the streets.
But for me it is still very much at the beginning," she said.
Yalcin spoke to VOA as she worked to finish her latest art project on the wall of an abandoned
building in Istanbul's Tophane district.
She says a lot of the graffiti art deals with women and women's issues.
"I feel very lucky that as a female artist painting on the street wherever I go, that
brings so much power and so much inspiration."
Yalcin believes this kind of artwork can help inspire women to do whatever they want to
do in their own lives.
She says the number of female artists in Turkey continues to grow.
Some of them have sought her help to learn more about graffiti art.
In some countries, marking up buildings with graffiti is considered a serious crime.
Human rights groups and other countries have criticized Turkey's government for restricting
forms of free expression.
They accuse the government of taking steps to limit news reporting and stop political
critics.
But Yalcin says that while there are more Turkish rules for street art today than in
the past, graffiti artists are generally left alone.
"We are having more and more limits for our street life from what we used to have," she
said.
She added that she has not had any trouble from police.
Sometimes, she is told that graffiti art is not officially permitted.
But she says police often then tell her, "thank you for creating art for our places."
Observers say the police treatment of graffiti creators can be partly explained by the fact
that most do not include strong political themes in their art.
Yalcin says her works are usually made up of a collection of images and symbols that
relate to a specific theme.
"People want to see colors, they want to see art.
Whatever you do on the street is a gift for everyone," she said.
"We have very limited parks, so green areas is always a subject I like to include with
symbols of plants and greens."
On the streets of Istanbul, many people like Yalcin's art work.
Many of them often stop to offer words of praise as she paints.
Others take pictures of her work.
Ulas operates a restaurant in the city.
"Coloring the walls and shop fronts is beautiful, rather than seeing just shutters or bare,
derelict walls.
This is much more colorful.
When you wake up in the morning, streets look much different.
I think this is super."
Graffiti art is becoming an important part of Istanbul's culture.
At a recent arts show, the most popular area had graffiti created by women artists.
Yalcin says she sees this popularity continuing because it provides beauty and happiness for
people throughout the city.
"Whatever you do on the street is a gift for everyone.
So [people] are really taking it as a gift, and they feel connected," she said.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov is urging Macedonians to boycott a popular vote on whether
the country should change its name.
He called changing the country's name from the Republic of Macedonia to North Macedonia
"historical suicide."
Ivanov spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
He said, "It is a censorship of the world and an auto-censorship of the collective conscience
of Macedonian people."
Ivanov has refused to support a deal reached between Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev
and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Under the deal, the people of Macedonia will vote on whether to change the country's name
or not.
The Associated Press reports that it is unclear if 50 percent of voters will take part in
the referendum, which is required for the vote to be official.
If voters do support the change, parliament will have to change Macedonia's constitution.
Ivanov has called the deal a clear "violation of sovereignty."
He criticized the vote saying: "This referendum could lead us to become a subordinate state,
dependent on another country."
He added, "We will become a state in name only, not in substance."
Greece has said that the name Macedonia belongs only to its northern province of Macedonia.
It says by using the name, the country of Macedonia can make a claim to the Greek province.
Since Macedonia became independent in 1991, Greece has put pressure on it to change its
name.
Because of the Objections of Greece, Macedonia is known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia in the United Nations.
Greece also has blocked Macedonia from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or
NATO.
Supporters of the name change say it will lead to NATO membership and permit the country
to join the European Union after a set time period.
Opponents consider the change a national humiliation.
On Sunday, September 30, the people of Macedonia will vote on whether to change their name
to North Macedonia.
I'm Mario Ritter.
China's growing expertise with computers is a bigger threat to the United States than
Russia's attempts to influence American elections.
That claim comes from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats.
He warns that China is on a path to possible become more powerful than any other country.
Coats spoke at a cyber security conference this week at The Citadel military college
in Charleston, South Carolina.
The U.S. official said China's slow and careful operations helped the government escape the
kind of publicity that has followed Russia's actions.
Most worrisome, he said, is the way in which the government is using its ties with the
rest of the world to test and improve its computer technology in China.
Coats said China has used its campaign on Muslims in the Xinjiang area as a testing
ground for such technology.
Intelligence officials and human rights groups estimate that China has detained more than
1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims, including families and children.
The detainees reportedly have been sent to re-education centers, where they are forced
to reject their religion and their culture.
But Coats said the re-education centers are just the start.
He warned that officials in China's Northwest have set up high-tech spying operations, including
the collection of DNA and other biological information.
Coats added that China is experimenting with a "social credit ratings program," using computers
to decide access to bank loans, schooling and even medical care.
He warned that the Chinese government also "threatens the export of these tools" to other
governments.
An attempt to reach China's embassy in Washington for reaction to Coats' comments went unanswered.
One Chinese official said last week that China's use of information technology is no more invasive
than that used by Western countries like Britain.
Some U.S. officials fear China could use Chinese-made products to spy on Americans.
Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is one
of them.
"Do I have concerns with the Chinese?" he said.
"Huge concerns with regards to their ability to leverage their industry."
Already, the U.S. Defense Department has banned on its military bases the sale of mobile telephones
by two Chinese companies because of possible security risks.
And military officials, like Ashley, are increasingly worried about the large number of Chinese-made
parts in computers and the effect that could have.
Ashley said, "My bigger concern may not necessarily be what's taking place on the on the battlespace
if I can't turn the power on."
The U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center reported in July that Chinese
cyber spying mostly targets businesses working with the defense department.
But the report said it also spies on information technology and communications companies.
U.S. intelligence officials are also increasingly concerned that China's efforts, while methodical,
are becoming increasingly aggressive.
China is no longer "hiding its strengths" Coats warned.
He said that China is working against the shared values of the international community,
including protecting, in his words, "personal privacy, the free flow of information and
the protection of commercial secrets."
I'm Caty Weaver.
English phrases can be difficult to remember since the meaning of each individual word
may not give any clue as to a phrase's meaning.
In today's Ask a Teacher, Inna from the Ukraine asks about two phrases.
Here is her question: Hello.
Can you please explain the difference between "by the way" and "mind you" and how to use
these phrases correctly?
Thank you.
Hello, Inna, and thanks for your question.
I never thought of these two phrases as having anything in common, but your question gave
me something to research!
Here's what I found: Both "mind you" and "by the way" are used to direct the listener's
attention to an added piece of information.
But that is as far as their similarities go.
English speakers use "by the way" when we want to quickly ask or say something that
is partly or totally unrelated to the subject of discussion.
For example, suppose you were talking to a friend about a city you visited, and how beautiful
it was.
Then, suddenly, you remember something unrelated – your future travel plans with your friend.
You might say something like this: The architecture was gorgeous.
And, we visited the flower gardens and ancient temples.
Oh, by the way, are we still going to London in November?
But, unlike with "by the way," we do not use "mind you" to add a piece of unrelated information
to what we just said.
We usually use "mind you" to show differences between two statements.
It has a similar meaning to "however" or "but, just to let you know" or "on the other hand."
It helps us make clear to the listener that we don't want our statement to be misunderstood.
For example, imagine that a teacher had received excellent online reviews from people who took
her class.
So, you decided to try it.
But, you did not enjoy the class.
You might say: Her class wasn't very good.
Mind you, I think she's a nice person.
It is similar to saying, "Her class wasn't very good.
But, just to let you know, I think she's a nice person."
You can also put "mind you" at the end of a sentence, like this:
I think she's a nice person, mind you.
Note that "mind you" is not used very much in everyday American English.
And that's Ask a Teacher.
I'm Alice Bryant.
American President Donald Trump is directing the Federal Bureau of Investigation to launch
an additional investigation into his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump acted at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The request followed reports of sexual wrongdoing by Kavanaugh.
Trump said in a statement that the investigation must be limited in nature and "completed
in less than one week."
The decision marks a reversal for the administration, which had argued that the FBI had already
investigated Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh has strongly denied the reports of sexual attack.
Earlier Friday, the Senate committee voted in support of the nomination of Kavanaugh.
Now, the decision is left to the full Senate to confirm or reject Kavanaugh's lifetime
appointment to the high court.
Eleven Senate Judiciary Committee members voted to support Kavanaugh's nomination.
All 11 are Republicans, the party of President Trump.
The committee's 10 Democrats said they did not support Kavanaugh's appointment.
Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona asked Friday for the FBI to have a week to examine the
accusations against the nominee.
Kavanaugh has been accused of sexually attacking at least one woman when they were both teenagers.
The woman, Christine Blasey Ford, told the committee about her memory of the assault.
Kavanaugh strongly denied the claims.
"I have never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not in college, not ever,"
Kavanaugh told the committee Thursday.
"I have never done this to her or to anyone."
Hours earlier, Ford spoke at the public hearing.
She told senators she was "100 percent" sure that Kavanaugh and a friend of his, Mark Judge,
locked her in a bedroom during a party near Washington D.C.
She said Kavanaugh forced himself on top of her, groped her, and covered her mouth when
she shouted for help.
Kavanaugh told senators he attended no such party.
He accused Democrats of attacking him and his nomination for political gain.
Kavanaugh also denied accusations of sexual wrongdoing from several other women who came
forward in the past week.
He noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had found no suggestion of sexual wrongdoing
in any of its six investigations of him during his career.
All those investigations were carried out before Ford's accusations were made public.
Trump chose Kavanaugh in July to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Christine Blasey Ford is a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California.
Brett Kavanaugh is a federal judge in Washington, D.C.
They both attended private high schools in the D.C. area in the 1980s.
I'm Caty Weaver.
I'm Ashley Thompson.
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