VOA NEWS

September 8, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, dealing with the Islamic State insurgency. The latest on the Ebola outbreak.



The U.S. military is widening its campaign against Islamic State militants, launching four airstrikes Sunday on insurgents threatening to take over the Haditha Dam in western Iraq.

U.S. officials said Iraq remains in control of the dam, a major source of water and electrical power. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said securing the dam (was) crucial.

"If that dam would fall into ISIL's hand, or if that dam would be destroyed, the damage that that would cause would be very significant. And it would put a significant, additional and big risk into the mix in Iraq." U.S. Defense chief Chuck Hagel speaking Sunday in Tbilisi, Georgia.



President Obama says he will outline his "game plan" to deal with the threat posed by Islamic State militants this week.

Mr. Obama told NBC television's Meet the Press program in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he will meet with congressional leaders Tuesday to discuss the matter.

He stressed the U.S. does not plan to send ground troops into Iraq.



Authorities in Sierra Leone are ordering people to stay at home for three days this month as part of an effort to stop the spread of the Ebola virus.

Doctors Without Borders has criticized the measure saying it could lead to people trying to conceal infections.

A Sierra Leone government spokesman says people will not be allowed to leave their homes from late September 18th until September the 21st.

A lockdown last month in an area of Monrovia, Liberia, sparked riots.

Ebola has ravaged Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria since March.



This is VOA news.



Somalia has removed its top intelligence official and is on high alert following the Monday killing of an al-Shabab leader in a U.S. airstrike.

National Security Director Abdulahi Mohamed Ali had only held the post for two months. He was appointed in July as part of a major overhaul of Somalia's security services.

The decision comes as Somali officials put the country on high alert after the militant group al-Shabab confirmed the death of its leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, in a U.S. airstrike last week.



Fighting and shelling in eastern Ukraine has put the two-day-old cease-fire between Kyiv and pro-Russia separatists in jeopardy.

Shelling near the Donetsk airport on Sunday set two houses on fire in a small village, and clashes near the city of Mariupol killed a civilian and wounded three others.

Both sides blamed the other for shattering the truce.



The U.N. refugee agency is warning time is running out to get hundreds of thousands of displaced Iraqis ready for winter.

The UNHCR says accommodations must be arranged and supplies prepositioned before the cold weather hits in less than three months. Lisa Schlein reporting from the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.

The U.N. refugee agency says "time is of the essence." It notes winter is approaching fast and work to reinforce tents and other housing must be accelerated before the snow, rain and mud add to the misery of hundreds of thousands of people displaced inside Iraq.

Iraq currently is sweltering under average temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius. In less than three months, temperatures will dip to below 10 degrees Celsius and the rains will begin.

The UNHCR says its winterization program is off to a late start because of the multiple crises which keep cropping up in this conflict-ridden country.

Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.



The September 11 Museum in New York has unveiled some items related to the successful 2011 raid against Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The new exhibit that opened Sunday includes a shirt worn by one of the U.S. Navy SEALs who took part in the raid, a brick from the compound where bin Laden died and a commemorative coin donated [by] to a CIA operative who relentlessly pursued the al-Qaeda leader.



In sports news, American Serena Williams has won the third consecutive U.S. Open women's tennis championship in a dominating performance on Sunday evening in Flushing Meadows, New York. 32-year-old Williams beat her good friend, 24-year-old Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in straight sets of 6-3, 6-3.



That's the latest world news from VOA.