VOA NEWS

November 1, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. Liberia's newest and largest Ebola treatment center opens. Burkina Faso's army chief assumes power. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.



In Liberia, one of the country's largest treatment centers for Ebola has opened in Monrovia.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf thanks the international community for its part in opening the 200-bed center, which was built with help from American soldiers and will be operated by Cuban doctors.

The U.S. ambassador to Liberia, Deborah Malac, said the new center [shows what the world] shows that the world is making progress against the Ebola virus.



The State Department has announced a meeting next month between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The topic is Iran's nuclear program. As a deadline for an agreement on Iran's nuclear program nears, Kerry's meeting with the Iranian diplomat is set for Oman on November 9th and 10th.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will also be part of the talks.



Burkina Faso's army chief has taken power in the country following the resignation of longtime President Blaise Compaore.

General Honore Traore told a news conference in Ouagadougou Friday that he is taking on "the responsibilities as head of state."

He said his administration will begin talks with political stakeholders immediately with a view to restoring "normal constitutional order."

Mr. Compaore announced his resignation Friday.

A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the secretary-general continues to follow the situation in Burkina Faso with "great concern."



More on all of these stories at voanews.com. This is VOA news.



Thousands of fighters from more than 80 countries have left their homes to take up arms with extremist groups battling for power in Syria and Iraq. That's according to a United Nations report by a panel of experts that monitor al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

They are coming mainly from the Middle East, Western Europe and North Africa, according to the report, although there are also some Asians and a small number of Americans.

In September, the U.N. adopted a resolution urging countries to work to prevent their citizens from traveling to join terrorist organizations.

Since 1999, the U.N. has imposed a series of financial and travel sanctions aimed at making it harder for such terrorist groups as the Taliban and al-Qaeda to operate. But terrorist groups now are raising significant funds through kidnap for ransom.

One U.N. member state estimates that the group calling itself the Islamic State received between 35 and 45 million dollars in ransoms last year.



Friday, the World Health Organization said the death toll from Ebola has risen to over 4,900 with most of the deaths in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The agency slightly lowered the number of overall Ebola cases to 13,567 due mainly to some suspected cases in Guinea being shown false.



Authorities in the western state of California say a space tourism rocket has crashed while on a test flight in the Mojave desert, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another.

Officials say the injured pilot ejected from the Virgin Galactic commercial spaceship before it crashed Friday. Television images showed parts of SpaceShipTwo scattered amid brush in the desert north of Los Angeles.

Virgin Galactic founded by British billionaire Richard [Benjamin] Branson says it will work with the relevant authorities to determine the cause of the accident.



The United Nations is reporting attacks on humanitarian workers are seriously hampering efforts to provide relief for hundreds of thousands of people in Central African Republic who have been forced to flee their homes.

According to the U.N., between the start of the year and September [there were between 19 security incidents] there have been 19 security incidents in which eight national aid workers were killed.

At the same time as attacks against humanitarian workers attacked this past month, U.N. Children's Fund spokesman Christof Boulierac says dangers are increasing for the population across the country.



And for the first time, Turkey is allowing an armed force to cross its border into Syria.

Reports now say a convoy of 150 Iraqi Kurdish fighters have crossed from Turkey into Syria to bolster Syrian Kurds defending the city of Kobani.



I'm Vincent Bruce in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.