VOA NEWS

August 27, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. Gaza cease-fire deal reached. Ebola lab shut down in Sierra Leone. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.



Egypt brokered a deal for an open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militant factions in Gaza after seven weeks of fighting that's killed more than 2,100 people, most of them Palestinians. Edward Yeranian reports.

The announcement of a long-term cease-fire agreement for Gaza was made by the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He says the Palestinian leadership has agreed to the call by Egypt for a complete and permanent cease-fire in accordance with the demands and needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza and in light of rebuilding what was destroyed.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry indicated that Israel had agreed to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza as part of the agreement.

Edward Yeranian, for VOA news, Cairo.

The warring sides also agreed to open talks within a month on Israel's demand that Hamas be disarmed and a Palestinian call for complete end to the years-long blockade.



Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he has support for a peace plan from all leaders who attended a regional summit Tuesday in Belarus, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two met face-to-face in Minsk for about two hours in talks aimed at ending the months-long crisis in Ukraine.



The World Health Organization shut down one of its Ebola testing labs in Sierra Leone after a staff member there was infected by the virus.

The WHO withdrew its staff from one of only two in Sierra Leone after a Senegalese epidemiologist was infected with the deadly virus.

The lab is in Kailahun.



This is VOA news.



Senior U.S. officials say Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, twice in the past week.

U.S. officials say Egypt provided the base for the launch and the U.A.E. provided the aircraft and pilots.

Neither have commented on the attacks.



The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan says one of its helicopters went down near the northwestern town of Bentiu.

Four crew members thought to be the Ukrainian and Russian nationality were on board during what's been called a routine cargo flight.

There is no word on what caused the crash.



The White House says there are no plans to coordinate with Syria in the fight against Islamic State militants who threaten the United States and are trying to topple the Assad government.

Reports say the Pentagon's already started surveillance flights over Syria to track movements of the Islamic State ahead of possible airstrikes on the militants.

President Obama authorized the flights Monday, but there is no word on whether they've begun.



U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says seven European governments have agreed to join the United States in supplying weaponry to Kurdish forces battling Islamic State extremists in northern Iraq.

Britain, Canada, Albania and Croatia will join Denmark, Italy and France in providing arms and equipment to the Kurds.

Islamic State jihadists overran large areas of northern and western Iraq in June.



Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah is threatening to pull out of the U.N.-supervised auditing process of June's disputed runoff election.

Auditors are in their final stages of examining the 8 million votes cast during the June runoff between Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani. Though preliminary votes suggest Ghani finished well ahead of Abdullah, both are claiming to have won the election.



The World Health Organization is calling for regulations on e-cigarettes to minimize their potential health risks. Lisa Schlein explains.

The U.N. agency is calling for global regulations to protect the public from the possible harmful effects of this untested product.

WHO Director of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases Douglas Bettcher says regulations will maximize the potential of e-cigarettes to wean people from smoking and minimize the potential health risks.

"Evidence shows that while they are likely to be less toxic than conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes pose threats to adolescents and fetuses of pregnant mothers using these devices. E-cigarettes also increase the exposure of non-smokers and bystanders to nicotine and a number of other toxicants."

Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.



American hamburger chain Burger King is buying Tim Hortons for $11 Billion, the world's third largest fast-food company coming.



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