VOA NEWS

December 1, 2014

From Washington, this is VOA news. Former Egyptian President Mubarak could soon be released. Pope Francis wraps up his trip to Turkey. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.



The lawyer for deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says he could soon be freed, having served two-thirds of a corruption sentence and cleared in the deaths of anti-government demonstrators in 2011.

Mr. Mubarak, now 86 years old, is being held in a military hospital, serving a three-year sentence in the graft case. But his attorney says the former Egyptian leader could be released early under a new Egyptian provision that frees prisoners after they have served two-thirds of their sentences.

Egyptian authorities say two people were killed and nine injured Saturday night in protests following a court decision to drop murder charges against Mr. Mubarak in the 2011 uprising in Cairo that led to his ouster. He was also acquitted of a separate corruption charge.

Hundreds of students protested on Sunday (at) universities throughout Egypt.



An Egyptian court designated the Islamic State as a "terrorist" group. The court said Sunday that it also considers all of the affiliates of the insurgent group to be terrorist organizations, including Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, an Egyptian jihadi group that pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State earlier this month.

Syrian activists, meanwhile, say that in the last day at least 50 Islamic State militants were killed in the ongoing fight for control of Kabani, a Syrian town just south of the Turkish border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the militants were killed during intense fighting with the Kurdish forces along with U.S. airstrikes and suicide bomb attacks. Eleven Kurdish forces in Kabani were killed.



This is VOA news.



Pope Francis is calling on the world's Muslim leaders to condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam, saying that doing so would help dispel a wrongful stereotype held by those in the West who equate the two.

The pope spoke Sunday to reporters aboard his plane while returning from a three-day visit to Turkey.

On Sunday, he met in Istanbul with the head of the Orthodox Christian Church. Dorian Jones reports.

On the final day of his visit to Turkey, Pope Francis celebrated Saint Andrew's Day at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul. The pope sat opposite Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who heads the 250 million strong Orthodox Church.

The two leaders signed a joint declaration to prevent Christianity from being driven out the region.

The pope met with Christian refugees during his time in Istanbul.

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew say persecution is giving added impetus to their reunification efforts.

During a homily to the Orthodox faithful, the pope said his goal was full unity, but he said such unity would not mean assimilation or loss of their traditions.

Dorian Jones, for VOA news, Istanbul.



Hundreds of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters have clashed with police while trying to expand their protests outside government headquarters.

Protesters stormed past police lines early today in a bid to occupy a major road in the Admiralty district. Hundreds of riot police armed with pepper spray and batons pushed back, injuring several protesters and arresting at least 18 of them.



The police chief of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, resigned following a string of Taliban attacks on foreign targets, including guesthouses, embassy vehicles and U.S. troops.

General Mohammed Zahir stepped down Sunday shortly after officials confirmed that a South African man, his two children and an Afghan man were killed in an assault Saturday on a foreign guesthouse in Kabul.



Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to impose radical limits on immigration, a referendum opponents have labeled xenophobic and disastrous for the economy.

The proposal to limit immigration growth to [1.2] 0.2 percent of the population, or an addition of 16,000 people annually, was rejected by 74 percent of voters.



The polls have closed in crucial parliamentary elections in Moldova. That's where voters are choosing between parties that want to pursue integration with Europe and those who want to move closer to Russia.

First results are expected early today.



And a white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in the central U.S. state of Missouri after street confrontation sparking protests has resigned.

A lawyer for Officer Darren Wilson says his resignation from the Ferguson Police Department is effective immediately.

Officer Wilson had been on administrative leave since killing 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.



I'm Ray Kouguell (in Washington).

That's the latest world news from VOA.