VOA NEWS

January 6, 2015

From Washington, this is VOA news. Indonesian search teams focus on AirAsia wreckage and black box. Boston Marathon bomber trial begins jury selection. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.



Better weather is help search teams from several nations look for more bodies and debris from the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 in the Java Sea off Indonesia.

Thirty-seven bodies have been retrieved along with several sections of the aircraft which went down in a storm December 28.

There were 162 people on board the plane when it crashed.

Indonesian officials say a naval patrol vessel may have found what could be the section of the crashed passenger jet where the crucial "black box" voice and flight data recorders are located. Ron Corben reports.

News media quote Indonesian patrol vessel Captain Yayan Sofyan as saying Monday there was a high probability search teams had located the tail of the AirAsia jet.

Indonesian official said up to five large objects had been sighted that are believed to be sections of the aircraft in shallow waters of some 30 meters.

Finding the aircraft's tail would be crucial because it holds the vital "black box" voice and data recorders.

Once analyzed, the data it is likely to explain why the plane plummeted into the Java Sea.

A preliminary report by Indonesia's meteorological department says weather was a key factor and icing may have caused the engines to stall.

Ron Corben, for VOA news, Bangkok, Thailand.



In Burundi, officials say the army killed 95 rebels who poured across the border from eastern Congo last week. Two government soldiers were also killed.

Government forces captured nine of the rebels. The group to which they belong and the reason for their attack are still unclear.



This is VOA news.



Jury selection for the trial of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev is underway.

Tsarnaev is 21 years old.

He is charged with 30 offences in the deaths of three people and injuries to 260 others after two homemade bombs exploded at the marathon finish (line) in April of 2013. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The trial is to begin January 26.



Saudi officials say a suicide bomber killed two border guards and their commanding officer. It happened in an attack near the Iraqi border Monday.



U.S. troops are starting to train Iraqi security forces at a base in the volatile Anbar province despite regular harassment fire from Islamic State militants. VOA's Carla Babb has details.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren says about 320 U.S. service members are stationed at Anbar's al-Asad base. They provide advice and planning assistance to Iraqi security forces as mortar fire from Islamic State militants rains down regularly near the base. But Warren says the enemy fire attacks are merely a nuisance.

"They have thus far been wholly ineffective. No U.S. personnel, no U.S. equipment has been impacted in any way."

Warren says U.S. training of Iraq's 7th Division started at al-Asad base on December 20.

Elsewhere in Iraq, about 170 U.S. military personnel are training four Iraqi security force battalions at Camp Taji, about 30 kilometers outside Baghdad.

Carla Babb, VOA news, the Pentagon.



Syrian Kurdish fighters in Kobani told a monitoring group they've made further gains against Islamic State militants and now control 80 percent of the city.



Four anti-government protesters were killed Monday in Bangladesh in clashes with security forces on the first anniversary of the disputed reelection of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

In a televised address to her nation, she blamed opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for the violence.



Bess Myerson, the first and so far only Jewish Miss America, has died at the age of 90.

The Los Angeles coroner's office says Myerson died last month, but her death was not made public until Monday.

The New York-born Myerson won the Miss America beauty crown weeks after World War II ended in 1945.

Myerson was a popular television personality in the 1950s and 60s, appearing chiefly on commercials and game shows.

She became New York City consumer affairs chief in 1969, pushing through consumer protection laws now in force nationally.

But her reputation for integrity collapsed in the 1980s with separate scandals involving shoplifting, divorce and allegations of bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice.

Ms. Myerson eventually was cleared of the corruption charges and quietly lived out the rest of her life in Los Angeles.



I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.