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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting. U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to meet Cuba's President Raul Castro on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas.
As VOA's White House correspondent Luis Ramirez reports from Panama City, Saturday's historic encounter is the men's first face-to-face meeting since Mr. Obama announced intentions to normalize relations with Cuba. The U.S. leader came to the Summit of the Americas aiming to show that engaging Cuba would be a better way to improve the lives of ordinary Cubans than prolonging a half century of isolation. President Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, told reporters the U.S. and Cuban leaders expect to meet on Saturday as part of Mr. Obama's plan to engage Cuba. "We want to see life on the island improve. We believe that will happen. That is much more likely to happen through engagement, and that engagement has to include the Cuban government." Prior to coming to Panama, President Obama spoke with Raul Castro by phone. The two agreed on the importance of engagement and also recognized they have remaining "differences." Luis Ramirez, VOA news, Panama City. Saudi-led coalition airstrikes hit Yemen for a 16th straight day on Friday, targeting weapons storage sites used by Shiite Houthi rebels in the capital. Witnesses say the strikes hit the Defense Ministry and other facilities, including a military camp believed to be controlled by forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The rebels control Sana'a and are seeking to capture Yemen's main southern city, Aden, as they battle forces supporting the country's internationally backed president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who recently fled Yemen. For more on these stories, please visit our website. This is VOA news. The United States has denounced a decision by Pakistan to free the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said Friday the U.S. is "gravely concerned"by a court's granting of bail to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who left custody just hours earlier. "Terrorist attacks are an assault on the collective safety and security of all countries. Pakistan has pledged its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators, financiers, and sponsors of the Mumbai terrorist attacks to justice, and we urge Pakistan to follow through on that commitment to insure justice for the 166 innocent people, including six Americans, who lost their lives." Lakhvi, a top commander of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had been in prison since February of 2009 when he and six others were charged in connection with a 60-hour assault on India's commercial capital in 2008. At least 16 people were killed and several others wounded in separate bombing attacks in Afghanistan Friday. In one attack, a suicide bomber killed four civilians when he targeted a U.S. convoy in Jalalabad. The Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul reported another car bombing against a NATO convoy. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. Also Friday, roadside explosives killed at least 12 people in Ghazni province. A Topeka, Kansas, man has been charged in U.S. federal court with attempting to detonate a car bomb at a military base as part of a plot to support the Islamic State. The U.S. Department of Justice said 20-year-old John Booker was taken into custody Friday when he and undercover federal agents met near the military base to try to arm what he did not realize was an inert bomb. Booker was also charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. U.S. media reports say that former first lady and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will formally announce her intention to run for president in the 2016 election in a video on Sunday. It will be Mrs. Clinton's second presidential bid after she failed in her effort in 2008. Current President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party's nomination and was elected that year. At the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, 21-year-old American Jordan Spieth hold the lead after firing a 6-under-par 66. Spieth set the record for the tournament's lowest 36-hole total when he reached 14-under-par 130. Charley Hoffman of the United States is in second place. Englishmen Justin Rose and Paul Casey are tied with American Dustin Johnson for third. For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |