|
From Washington, this is VOA news. A suicide bombing in Somalia takes at least ten lives, and the U.N. seeks a review of recent violence in the U.S. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
At least 11 people have been killed and nearly 30 wounded in an attack at a restaurant in the southern Somali town of Baidoa. VOA's Somali Service reports a suicide bomber blew himself up in the National Bar and Restaurant Friday evening local time. A car bomb went off near the same establishment just 10 minutes later. United Nations human rights experts are calling for a review of policing in the United States after two separate cases in which white police officers were not charged for killing unarmed black men. The U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues says in a statement Friday that the two grand jury decisions "leave many with legitimate concerns relating to a pattern of impunity when the victims of excessive use of force come from African-American or other minority communities." Friday, the International Criminal Court prosecutor withdrew crimes against humanity charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Gabe Joselow has this report. ICC lead prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Friday there is not enough evidence to prove the charges against Mr. Kenyatta beyond a reasonable doubt. Bensouda said Kenya's government failed to provide key documents to the prosecution, which undermined her investigations and "had a severe, adverse impact" on the case. President Kenyatta was charged for his alleged role before he was president in the inter-ethnic violence that followed the 2007 Kenyan elections, leaving 1,100 people dead. Mr. Kenyatta's deputy, William Ruto, still faces charges at the ICC for similar crimes. Gabe Joselow, Nairobi. More on all of these stories at our website voanews.com. This is VOA news. Ashton Carter has been named to lead the U.S. Defense Department. Carter is a former deputy Pentagon chief with extensive experience in national security issues. U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Carter Friday at the White House. "He's a reformer who's never been afraid to cancel old or inefficient weapons programs. He knows the Department of Defense inside and out, which, all of which means that on day one, he's going to hit the ground running." A Sunni militant commander in Syria who has pledged allegiance to the group calling itself the Islamic State has threatened to retaliate against Lebanese Shiites for the arrest of his wife and children in Lebanon. He says in a video that Shiite women and children will be legitimate targets. In the video, the commander, Abu Ali al-Shishani, is flanked by two masked gunmen who could not be independently verified as authentic. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines evacuated coastal villages and landslide-prone areas Friday as a powerful typhoon is expected to hit the country on Saturday. Weather forecasters warn that Typhoon Hagupit is expected to blast into the central Philippines late Saturday, impacting parts of a region that was devastated by last year's deadly Typhoon Haiyan. The United Nations refugee agency says authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have suddenly closed a camp for internally displaced people, forcing them to leave and go home. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva. The U.N. refugee agency says 2,300 people living in the Kiwanja IDP camp in the eastern Congolese city of Rutshuru have suddenly become homeless. It says people were forced to leave the camp on December 2 without warning and told to go home. A UNHCR spokeswoman, Karin de Gruijl, tells VOA ["The M23 rebels, they have been brought back under control."] that regional authorities decided they would close the IDP camp because the improved security situation meant people could go home without risk. "Our concern is that there are other militia groups in the area as well and there is still lawlessness." Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva. In stocks in the U.S. Friday, the numbers were up slightly on the Dow, S&P500 and NASDAQ. A new spacecraft that is intended to take U.S. astronauts back to the moon and beyond has returned from its test flight, earning rave reviews from U.S. space scientists on Friday. The unmanned spacecraft named Orion made two orbits of the earth at an altitude more than 14 times higher than the International Space Station. Again, that was on Friday. For all the latest on these and other stories, visit our website voanews.com 24 hours a day. From Washington, I'm Vincent Bruce. That's the latest world news from VOA. |