|
From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spells out Iranian nuclear concerns before the U.S. Congress.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made his long-awaited appearance before Congress Tuesday to talk about Iran and the logic of holding negotiations about its nuclear program. Prime Minister Netanyahu said negotiations underway between the United States and Iran would "guarantee" that Iran gets nuclear weapons. Mr. Netanyahu stressed the danger a nuclear Iran poses to his country. "This deal has two major concessions: one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and, two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That's why this deal is so bad. It doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb; it paves Iran's path to the bomb." President Obama says he did not watch Mr. Netanyahu's remarks but read a transcript. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Mr. Obama dismissed the speech as "nothing new" and accused the Israeli leader of not offering a better alternative to negotiations. "The alternative that the prime minister offers is no deal, in which case Iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its nuclear program, accelerate its nuclear program, without us having any insight into what they're doing and without constraints." Mr. Obama refused to meet with Mr. Netanyahu in Washington, saying it was inappropriate to do so given that the Israeli leader is facing a national election in two weeks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met for a second day in Switzerland to discuss the status of Tehran's nuclear program. Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany are working against the self-imposed March 31 deadline. This is VOA news. Western leaders have called for a "strong reaction" from the international community if the cease-fire accord reached in Belarus capital, Minsk, last month on Ukraine is not observed. President Obama and leaders from France, Germany, Britain, Italy and the head of the European Council, Donald Tusk, held a video conference Tuesday to discuss the developments in eastern Ukraine as well as global security issues. Officials are reviewing the role that observers and peacekeepers will play in eastern Ukraine and the possibility of additional sanctions on Russia for supporting Ukrainian separatists. Russian anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny says he believes fellow opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was killed either by members of the state security services or a "pro-government organization" acting "on the orders of the political leadership of the country," including President Vladimir Putin. Navalny is serving a 15-day prison sentence for handing out leaflets promoting a protest and thus was not permitted to attend Nemtsov's funeral and burial in Moscow Tuesday. Chadian forces in the northeastern Nigerian town of Dikwa say they have recaptured the town from Boko Haram militants. The military reports that 34 soldiers were injured in the effort to liberate the town. The Associated Press reports hundreds of civilians in Dikwa, in Borno state, were killed while the militants had control of the town. Leaders from three West African countries hardest hit by Ebola are calling for more international aid to help them emerge from the devastating outbreak. Their plea was heard at an international conference in Brussels. Lisa Bryant has more. Speaking Tuesday at the conference hosted by the European Union, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called for a massive financial response to Ebola, similar to the U.S. Marshall Plan that helped rebuild European economies after World War Two. "We need to respond to the economic impact of the disease, to stabilize our economies, to return to the path of inclusive growth on which we had embarked before the virus hit." U.N. experts say Ebola's spread has dropped by 10 percent since six months ago. Lisa Bryant, for VOA news, Paris. A Libyan security official says Islamic militants seized two oil fields Tuesday just ahead of more U.N. peace talks. Rebel fighters took over the Bahi and Mabrouk fields after Libyan security forces guarding those fields retreated. An Iraqi coalition battled its way toward Tikrit for a third day Tuesday, facing Islamic State snipers and roadside bombs as it flanks the extremist group's strategic stronghold north of Baghdad. An estimated 30,000 fighters are pushing toward the rebel-held city. The Islamic State group claimed an American citizen launched a suicide attack against encroaching Iraqi forces. I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |