VOA NEWS

January 28, 2015

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. Eight killed in Libyan hotel attack.



An attack on a Tripoli hotel popular with politicians and international visitors killed at least eight people Tuesday. Libyan officials say five of the dead are foreigners and the other three were guards.

The U.S. State Department says an American was one of the victims, but gave no other details.

According to Libyan authorities, the gunmen set off a car bomb outside the Corinthia Hotel before storming the building and firing weapons. The attackers then blew themselves up.

A group calling itself the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State claimed responsibility in an online statement.



Islamic State militants are threatening to kill two foreign hostages by Wednesday if demands for a prisoner swap are not met. An online video message Tuesday repeated the request that Amman free Sajida al-Rishawi, a woman Jordanian authorities have held since she participated in a 2005 terror attack that killed 60 people in the capital.

A Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot are believed to be held hostage by the Islamic State.



Kurdish fighters widened their offensive Tuesday against Islamic State strongholds near Kobani. That came a day after claiming recapture of the embattled town on the Syrian border with Turkey.

The Kurds say they took control of a nearby village, a claim confirmed by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.



President Obama traveled to Saudi Arabia Tuesday to pay respects following last week's death of 90-year-old Saudi King Abdullah.

Mr. Obama made a brief stop in the capital, Riyadh. While there, he met for the first time with new Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

A U.S. official says the two leaders talked about a variety of Middle East security issues and stability on the oil market.



This is VOA news.



Increasing counterterrorism and border security cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan are raising hopes for more effective anti-drug regional efforts. Ayaz Gul reports.

Despite significant international investment to counter illicit drug production in Afghanistan, a recent U.N. survey says the country has seen a surge in poppy cultivation area for a third consecutive year.

Pakistan Anti-Narcotics Force head Major General Khawar Hanif told a U.N.-sponsored international conference in Islamabad continued international involvement is needed to tackle the Afghan drug problem.

"Thankfully, the commitment of the present Afghan government with respect to border control arrangements and counternarcotic efforts is quite palpable."

Pakistani officials say the proliferation of Afghan drugs has also led to an increase in drug addiction in Pakistan.

Ayaz Gul, for VOA news, Islamabad.



Ukraine's parliament approved a statement Tuesday labeling Russia as an "aggressor state."

Ukrainian legislators also voted to designate the Russia-based separatists' so-called "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions as "terrorist organizations."



At least 37 people were injured Tuesday, including 22 policemen, during violent unrest in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

Police officers fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse several thousand anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of a Serb cabinet minister accused of insulting the ethnic Albanian majority.



About 300 survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp gathered Tuesday at the site in Poland to pay their respects to victims who perished in gas chambers or from inhumane treatment and disease.

Roman Kent, an Auschwitz survivor, spoke at the ceremony. "I hope and believe this generation will build on all mankind's great traditions and fight by understanding that these tradition must embrace pluralism and tolerance, decency and human rights for all people."



When Auschwitz was liberated on January 27, 1945, by the Soviet Army, soldiers found 7,000 prisoners, among them 130 children.



The U.N. children's agency says about 3,000 child soldiers will be freed from an armed group in South Sudan. The release will take place over the coming weeks.



And a massive winter snowstorm dropped up to 60 centimeters of snow in some parts of the northeast U.S. Monday and Tuesday, but fell short of forecasters' worst predictions.

Massachusetts and Connecticut were hit the hardest. New York and New Jersey a different story.

Officials and forecasters (were) forced to defend their storm warnings that were wrong.



That's the latest world news from VOA.