VOA NEWS

August 8, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. United States preparing to deliver aid to beleaguered minorities in Iraq. Hamas threatening to restart fighting with Israel. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.



A Pentagon official says the United States will begin an effort to airdrop emergency food, water and other essential supplies to Iraqi Christians facing death at the hands of Islamic extremists in northern Iraq.

The official says airstrikes "remain an option."

Thousands of Christians are fleeing after Islamic militants seized the minority religious group's biggest town in Iraq. Edward Yeranian reports.

The advance by Islamic State militants caught many Christian families by surprise, driving them from their homes with little warning and little chance to gather possessions.

Sunni Islamic State militants captured the mainly Christian town of Qaraqosh and three other towns in a sudden attack that followed a string of victories farther north over the weekend.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were forced to withdraw in the face of the rapid onslaught.

Chaldean Archbishop Joseph Thomas told AFP that "tens of thousands of terrified Christians are being displaced as we speak."

Edward Yeranian, for VOA news, Cairo.

Extremists from the Islamic State have taken much of northern Iraq and are threatening to kill religious minorities, including Christians and followers of an ancient religion called Yazidi, unless they convert to Islam.



Hamas militants are threatening to restart fighting with Israel if Israeli negotiators do not meet a key demand at truce talks in Cairo.

A 72-hour cease-fire is set to expire at 8:00 a.m. local time Friday unless Hamas accepts Israel's proposal to extend it.

Hamas is demanding Israel lift its blockade of a Gaza seaport, which has choked the Gazan economy and keeps Palestinians from traveling. Israel is insisting Hamas disarm.

A month of Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas rocket attacks killed almost 1,900 Palestinians, mostly civilians.



The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention activated its emergency operation center at the highest level in response to the world's worst Ebola outbreak.

CDC chief Dr. Thomas Frieden told a congressional hearing on Ebola Thursday that the centers will soon have 50 disease experts in West Africa at the center of the crisis. Dr. Frieden said he is confident no major outbreak in the U.S. will happen.

The World Health Organization says Ebola killed more than 930 people in West Africa so far, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.



U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to meet with presidential candidates who are locked in a hard-fought dispute over election results.

Secretary Kerry is expected to press for a resolution between former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani and challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who disagree about the results of a run-off vote that placed Ghani as the frontrunner.



NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is calling on Russia to "step back from the brink" of war in Ukraine by withdrawing thousands of combat troops massed on its border.

He spoke Thursday in the Ukrainian capital in a show of support for Kyiv as government troops battle a pro-Russian insurgency near the Russian border.

Other NATO officials warned that the Russian border force could invade Ukraine under the guise of a peacekeeping mission.

Western analysts say about 20,000 Russian troops have redeployed near the border in recent days, along with armor, infantry, special forces and aircraft.



Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is being granted permission to stay in Russia for three more years.

His attorney says Snowden is working in the field of information technology and holding a job as a condition of his remaining in Russia.

Snowden is charged in the United States with theft of government property and unauthorized communication of national defense information.



Residents and tourists in the U.S. Pacific island state of Hawaii are bracing for one hurricane, while keeping a close eye on a possible second one.

Hurricane Iselle is on a path toward the state's largest island, carrying maximum sustained winds near 150 kilometers an hour. Forecasters issued a hurricane warning for part of the state and expect Iselle to produce heavy rains, life-threatening storm surges and flash floods.

The Hawaiian governor has declared a state of emergency.



I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA.