VOA NEWS

November 2, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. Burkina Faso's military leader is finding resistance. A Boko Haram's leader denies an agreement to released kidnapped schoolgirls. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.



Burkina Faso's opposition and civil society leaders are rejecting the army's takeover of power following the ouster of the country's longtime president.

In a statement Saturday, they called President Blaise Compaore's resignation amid a popular uprising a "victory" that "belongs to the people.

Prior to military officer Yacouba Isaac Zida's confirmation, the U.S. State Department issued a warning against travel to Burkina Faso and said the status of a transitional government remained unclear.

Ghana's deputy foreign minister, Joseph Yammin, says the president of his country, John Dramani Mahama, is working to help resolve the political uncertainty in neighboring Burkina Faso.

Mahama also heads the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.

The foreign minister, Yammin, said the government in Accra is displeased with the current situation in Burkina Faso.



A new reported statement conflicts with recent news the Nigerian government was negotiating with Boko Haram to release 219 schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok earlier this year.

In a video, the leader of Boko Haram identified as Abubakar Shekau said the girls are now "married off" and have memorized two chapters of the Koran.

Earlier, the Nigerian government had announced it was negotiating with Boko Haram to release the girls.

Campaigner Bukky Shonibare of the group "Bring Back Our Girls" Saturday said the video was an embarrassment.

"I can now show you that this is a huge, huge embarrassment on this state of Nigeria. We are a unified people. ???What about tortures the federal government, the military. It tortures us. It tortures my child. It tortures the generation yet unborn."



This is VOA news.



U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone Saturday with U.S. forces working to fight Ebola in Liberia and Senegal.

The White House says Mr. Obama thanked the men and women providing logistics support, engineering expertise, construction services and other elements needed to bring the epidemic under control.

Meanwhile, Canada says it will suspend issuing visas to residents of countries experiencing what it calls "widespread and persistent-intense transmission" of Ebola. The decision, first announced Friday, is similar to a recent move by Australia.



President Obama ... Well, back to that in a moment.



[In northern Kenya,] In the northern Kenya region of the Lake Turkana, at least seven police officers were killed in a reported ambush by unidentified gunmen.

Officials say at least 12 officers were missing. One report said two civilians are also killed.

The attack occurred during a security operation. No details are available about who was behind the attack.



Local sources report Islamic State militants have executed [about] at least 50 more members of the Sunni Muslim Albu Nimr tribe in Iraq's Anbar province.

Reports say the mass killing campaign is being carried out by the members of the group calling itself the Islamic State for resisting IS rule.



Tens of thousands of people have flooded into the coastal town of Albany in western Australia to mark the departure of the first fleet of troops, known as the Anzac, to the battlefields of World War I. From Sydney, Phil Mercer has a report.

One hundred years ago, the whaling town of Albany, south of Perth in western Australia, would have been the last sight of home for many of the young men sailing off to war.

Many would end up on the beaches of Gallipoli, where Australia and New Zealand, two former British colonies, fought for the first time as independent nations.

There was carnage on the battlefield. Troops from Britain, France and Turkey suffered terrible losses, while more than 8,000 Australians died at Gallipoli.

Thousands of people have gathered in Albany in western Australia for a parade and a memorial service to remember the heroism of the Anzacs.

Phil Mercer, for VOA news, Sydney, Australia.



A former U.S. Marine freed after spending seven months in a Mexican prison on a gun charge is back in the United States.

The State Department says it is pleased Mexican judicial authorities ordered Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi released.



British billionaire Richard Branson says he is determined to find out what went wrong with his space tourism aircraft that crashed Friday, killing one pilot and seriously [injured] injuring the other.

An investigation is under way.



I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.