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From Washington, this is VOA news. President Obama to unveil an immigration reform plan in about an hour. Final push underway on Iran nuclear talks. I'm Ray Kouguell in reporting from Washington.
The White House says President Barack Obama is bypassing Congress on immigration reform because the country can no longer wait to fix a broken system. Mr. Obama will unveil his plan during a televised White House speech one hour from now. Senior administration officials say the plan will protect as many as 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation. Parents whose children are citizens or in the U.S. legally would to qualify for work permits. It also will broaden protection for those who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children. Many Republicans are outraged that the president is using an executive order to put forth his plan, instead of the usual congressional legislative process. President Obama's remarks can be heard live starting 1:00 Universal Time Friday on voanews.com. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is in Ukraine for talks with the country's leadership on the possibility of fresh assistance to the Kyiv government as it does battle with a pro-Russian insurgency near the Russian border. Vice President Biden will meet today with President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as controversy swirls over renewed calls for Washington to supply lethal aid to the Ukrainian military. A doctor in Mali has died of Ebola after treating an imam who succumbed to the disease, raising the Ebola death toll in the West African country up to seven. Health authorities in Mali say they are monitoring 338 people linked with the country's other six fatal Ebola cases. Most of them are under daily surveillance. This is VOA news. A U.N. commission is looking into allegations of "widespread and systematic violations" by Eritrean authorities against the country's citizens. There are reports of thousands of Eritreans fleeing the country each month. Lisa Schlein reports. The U.N. refugee agency reports more than 6,000 Eritreans have fled to Ethiopia over the past month for fear of being recruited into the national army. The chairman of the commission, Mike Smith, says those numbers are a sign something is seriously wrong. "People do not put themselves at risk and go through the sorts of traumas without having some sort of a reason behind it." The commission has sent a letter to the Eritrean government and has met with representatives at the U.N. mission in Geneva requesting permission to enter the country to carry out its investigation. Smith tells VOA the group has not yet received a response to its request. Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva. Police arrested seven people in Nigeria's national assembly Thursday when security forces tried to block the speaker of the House of Representatives from going inside. Police fired tear gas when violence erupted between security forces and supporters of House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal. The lawmakers were meeting to debate President Goodluck Jonathan's request to extend the state of emergency in three northeastern states, where the army is battling radical Islamist group Boko Haram. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Vienna for high-level nuclear talks as a deadline looms just four days from now, and that will be for a comprehensive agreement on Iran's atomic program. VOA's Al Pessin has more. Secretary Kerry and other Western officials say Iran must still make the strategic decision to accept limits on its nuclear program -- a move that would contradict the so-called "red lines" set by Iran's supreme leader earlier this year. On Thursday, the Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the negotiators are talking about another extension until March of next year. But earlier Thursday in Paris, Secretary Kerry said the opposite. "We're not talking about an extension, not among ourselves. We have not talked about the ingredients of an extension or we're talking about getting an agreement." Still, Kerry said he would be willing to look at the possibility of an extension if the talks go to "the final hour." Al Pessin, VOA news, Vienna. North Korea is threatening to conduct a new nuclear test in response to a U.N. committee's condemnation of alleged human rights abuses by Pyongyang. A U.N. General Assembly committee resolution recommends the Security Council refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea says the resolution is "filled with vicious slanders." I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |