On June 29, 2017, Vietnamese dissident blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, best known by her blogging name of “Mother Mushroom,” was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she was detained eight months earlier for posting about people dying in police custody, or “conducting propaganda,” as the court found. Released from prison a month ago, Quynh, 39, has settled with her children in Houston, Texas .

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On November 15, 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman starts his famous march across the state of Georgia. The Union troops destroyed military, industrial and personal property as they marched for six weeks from Atlanta to the port of Savannah. Sherman’s march is credited with helping break the back of the Confederacy and ending the Civil War.

In Singapore, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has offered the Trump administration’s support for Southeast Asia’s digital and urban infrastructure development. In his remarks at the U.S. ASEAN Summit, Pence announced the new “U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership.”

“There will be difficult days ahead,” Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May said on the steps of Downing Street when announcing she had secured the backing of her Cabinet for a contentious Brexit divorce agreement after an impassioned and at times angry five-hour meeting.

VIDEO: Thousands of firefighters in California are battling deadly wildfires in northern and southern parts of the state. So far 56 people in the state have died as a result of the fires. Many more have lost their homes. The wildfires in Southern California have been sweeping through many affluent communities near Los Angeles. Some residents are now returning home. Among them, celebrities are who posting their thoughts and experiences on social media.

The process of removing Sudan from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism will start soon, Sudan’s top diplomat told VOA in an exclusive interview .