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From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, the latest on Ukraine tensions. Restoring stability in Lesotho following an apparent coup. Hello everyone, I'm Steve Norman.
Ukrainian separatist leader Andrei Purgin says he is ready to discuss a cease-fire and prisoner exchange. This is at peace talks in Minsk. Purgin is leader of the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk. There has been no official reaction from Kyiv. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vows the country will be a "graveyard" for the Islamic State group as he celebrated the liberation of a town from the militants. Mr. Maliki visited the newly freed town of Amerli on Monday, promising to reward Iraqi troops who took it back from those he calls "beasts and killers." Food, water and medicine have been flowing into Amerli since Iraqi forces entered the town on Sunday. Countries in southern Africa say they will send an envoy and an observer team to Lesotho following an apparent coup attempt over the weekend. Officials from the Southern African Development Community made the announcement during an emergency meeting in Pretoria Monday with Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and South African President Jacob Zuma plus others. Mr. Thabane fled Lesotho on Saturday before the military surrounded his residence. West Africa struggles to halt the unprecedented spread of the Ebola virus and the World Health Organization is warning that cases could top 20,000. Nigeria's health minister says another health care worker has become infected while an emergency meeting of state health commissioners discusses that outbreak, which has left six people dead in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Get more news at our website voanews.com. This is VOA news. Fierce fighting is reported in the northeastern Nigerian city of Bama, with soldiers trying to repel an attack by Islamist militant group Boko Haram. A local security official told VOA that soldiers pushed back the initial assault but the militants regrouped and attacked again. Military sources say 70 militants have been killed in the fighting. There is no word on army casualties. After boycotting a U.N.-supervised audit of all votes from June's disputed runoff, Afghan presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah is now threatening to pull out from the entire political process if his demands are not met within 24 hours. His opponent in the election was Ashraf Ghani. Ayaz Gul reports. The Afghan Independent Election Commission and U.N. officials say that weeks of auditing ballot boxes from the presidential runoff is near completion. Political negotiations between Ghani's and Abdullah's teams continued for devising a framework needed to establish a so-called "national unity government" after the audit results are announced. But on Monday, a spokesman for former Foreign Minister Abdullah said those talks have collapsed, blaming the other side for the failure. The Ghani team has made few public comments about details of their political negotiations. But the presidential candidate has maintained he is ready to make compromises that do not undermine the Afghan constitution. Ayaz Gul, Islamabad. Pakistani security forces have cleared hundreds of anti-government protesters from the state television studios in Islamabad after they seized the building and briefly took the channel off the air. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. India's economy is showing signs of recovery with the [state] rate of growth at its fastest pace in over two years. Anjana Pasricha reports. It was promises of reviving the sluggish economy that brought the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to office three months ago. And latest economic numbers suggest those expectations are being met. The 5.7 percent growth reported in the April to June quarter is the highest since 2012. Economists say the coming months are likely to see even more robust growth. Economist N.R. Bhanamurthy with the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi forecasts a growth rate of more than six percent this year. Anjana Pasricha, for VOA news, New Delhi. And at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Serena Williams got to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal of 2014 by overwhelming 50th-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-3, 6-3, on Monday. Andy Murray pulled out a win, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4. That's the latest world news from VOA. |