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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. The U.S. and India break a nuclear deadlock.
President Obama says he and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi have reached a breakthrough on a long-stalled nuclear power agreement. Mr. Obama, who is visiting New Delhi, says they broke a deadlock during talks Sunday, with both leaders noting their "friendship" as the catalyst for closer diplomatic ties. No details were released on how the leaders overcame the six-year impasse over the 2008 nuclear agreement that will give India access to civilian technology. President Obama is blaming Russia for an attack by Ukrainian separatists that left at least 30 people dead in the port of Mariupol, casting further doubt on viability of last year's cease-fire with the Kyiv government. VOA's Michael Bowman reports. Devastation in Mariupol after a rebel rocket bombardment prompted sharp comments by President Obama on a visit to India. "We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the cease-fire and the aggression that these separatists -- with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops -- are conducting. And we will continue to take the approach that we've taken in the past, which is to ratchet up the pressure on Russia." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was even more blunt blaming the attack on terrorists supported by Russia. Michael Bowman, VOA news, Washington. At least 15 people were killed Sunday in Egypt as protesters marked the anniversary of a deadly 2011 uprising that ousted long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. Dozens more were injured in clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Cairo and at least two other Egyptian cities. This is VOA news. A new round of talks between rival Libyan factions is planned in Geneva. The U.N. mission in Libya says two rounds of talks will take place this week in Switzerland. A delegation from the internationally recognized government of prime minister Abdullah al-Thani attended a first round of talks two weeks ago, but major representatives of the rival Libya Dawn group failed to attend. That group seized Tripoli last year, pushing Prime Minister al-Thani to set up a government in the east. U.S. Secretary of States John Kerry says the United States will continue to support the Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram. Mr. Kerry, who arrived Sunday in the Nigerian city of Lagos, spoke shortly after Nigerian troops repelled an attack by Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of the Borno state capital Maiduguri. The World Health Organization admits it did not move fast enough in tackling the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Health experts from around the world held a special one-day meeting in Geneva to discuss the epidemic. Lisa Schlein has more. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan admitted to delegates attending the special Ebola session her agency did not respond as vigorously as it should have. "The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us. Ebola is a tragedy that has taught the world, including WHO, many lessons also about how to prevent similar events in the future. Never again should the world be caught by surprise, unprepared." Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva. Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party and its leader Alexis Tsipras appear headed to a decisive national election victory in a vote lodged against repeated European demands for fiscal restraint in Athens. The early vote count showed Syriza with about 35 percent of the vote, outdistancing the 29 percent recorded by the conservative New Democracy party led by the incumbent Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras. Pakistan's military says it bombed suspected militant hideouts in the North Waziristan tribal territory, killing at least 35 militants. The army says the airstrikes Sunday focused on an area near the Afghan border. The U.S. National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for many of the largest metropolitan areas of the northeast, with heavy snow and high winds expected to impact the region Monday and Tuesday. More than 60 centimeters of snow could fall in cities and towns from New York City to Boston and on up to eastern Canada. There is speculation that it could be a record setter. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. That's the latest world news from VOA. |