VOA NEWS

February 9, 2015

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. Another Ukraine cease-fire in the works.



Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko is predicting that a "swift, unconditional cease-fire" will be agreed to this week between his government and the pro-Russian separatists it has been battling in eastern Ukraine.

Mr. Poroshenko says progress toward a cease-fire was reached Sunday in a telephone call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande.

All four plan to meet Wednesday in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, to try to hammer out an agreement after diplomatic aides work out details Monday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addressed concerns about a rift between the U.S. and its European allies on how to best deal with the crisis.

"There is no division, there is no split. I keep hearing people trying to create one -- we are united, we are working closely together, we all agree that this challenge will not end through military force, we are united in our diplomacy."

The fighting continues in eastern Ukraine with intense battles in recent days.



Jordan says it launched 56 airstrikes against Islamic State targets since the insurgents released a video last week showing they burned one of Amman's fighter pilots to death.

General Mansour al Jbour says Jordan's air force had achieved "We are looking for revenge" by striking IS training camps, barracks, ammunition and fuel depots.



At least 22 football fans were killed and many more injured when police and supporters clashed at a game in Cairo Sunday.

Authorities are saying they expect the death toll to get even higher.

The match was being played between two Cairo clubs. Police used teargas to break up the crowd.



This is VOA news.



Authorities in Egypt are setting February 12 as the start date of the retrial for the two remaining jailed Al Jazeera journalists.

Egyptian journalist Baher Mohamed and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy were sentenced last year to 10 and seven years respectively in jail.



Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he is in favor of reaching a nuclear deal with world powers as long as the pact does not go against the best interests of this country.

His comments, made to air force personnel in Iran, came as his foreign minister, Javad Zarif, met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Munich for a second day of talks on a nuclear pact.



Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke is appealing to the United States government and U.S. banks to resume money transfer services that provide a lifeline for many people in Somalia.

Many banks ended their remittance services to Somalis because of regulations imposed by the U.S. government aimed at preventing money from reaching terrorist groups like al-Shabab.



Criticism is mounting over Nigeria's decision to postpone its February 14 presidential election due to security concerns and the Boko Haram insurgency.

The opposition All Progressives Congress described the postponement as a "major setback for Nigerian democracy."

The election body chairman announced the postponement for presidential and parliamentary polls until March 28.



A new round of U.N.-sponsored negotiations to draft a climate change agreement to halt global warming is underway in Geneva. Ten months remain for a legally binding agreement. Lisa Schlein explains.

The work facing representatives from 194 countries in the week ahead is to streamline a draft text that currently runs to just under 40 pages.

Head of the Latvian Delegation to the European Union, Ilze Pruse, says it is essential to have a full negotiating text ready by May as a basis for further negotiations in June.

"IPCC has told us that our below-2-degrees goal is still within reach. Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are at record levels and the planet is getting warmer."

IPCC scientists say nations must cut greenhouse gas emissions to 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial warming to avoid dangerous climate change.

Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.



American college basketball coaching legend Dean Smith, who won two national titles at the University of North Carolina, an Olympic gold medal, and inducted to basketball's Hall of Fame, has died of 83.

In a career that spanned more than 40 years, Smith coached many star players, including Michael Jordan and James Worthy. When he retired in 1997, Dean Smith was the winningest coach in U.S. college basketball history with 879 wins.



I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.