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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Forrest reporting. Indonesia executes foreign drug dealers.
Indonesian media are reporting that seven foreigners and an Indonesian man convicted of drug trafficking have been executed. The report said the eight were put to death by a firing squad early Wednesday local time. The foreigners included four people from Africa, two from Australia, one from Brazil. There was no immediate official confirmation. Nigerian troops rescued 200 girls and 93 women on Tuesday. It is not clear if any of those freed are the schoolgirls kidnapped a year ago. A Nigerian Defense Department spokesman says the abductees were found at three camps in a stronghold of the Boko Haram Islamist group. In Nepal, rescue and relief efforts are picking up pace, but also encountering some steep problems in distributing aid in the quake-devastated country. Anjana Pasricha has more. Relief material and rescue teams have lined up to help tens of thousands of Nepalese in desperate need of food, shelter and medical help. But much of it has yet to reach those in need. The head of communications at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kathmandu, Krishna Prasad Chalisey, tells VOA. "These items are in the airport. But it has not reached [to] the people." The entry point for Nepal is via Kathmandu. But the small airport is unable to cope with either the rush of people, equipment and material(s) coming in or with foreign nationals clamoring to leave the shattered country. Anjana Pasricha, New Delhi. Baltimore police say their city was mostly peaceful on Tuesday. That coming after a night of rioting Monday following the funeral of a black man who died after being in police custody. This is VOA news. The U.S. says Iranian naval ships and patrol boats fired shots across the bridge [of the] of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship in the Straight of Hormuz in Iranian territorial waters. U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke says the container ship, the M/V Maersk Tigris, was traveling into the Arabian Gulf Tuesday on an internationally recognized maritime route when it was fired on by Iranian or [IGRC] IRGC ships. "The IRGC navy contacted the vessel, and they directed the master of the vessel to divert further into Iranian waters. And the master initially declined, and one of the patrol craft, the IRGC navy patrol craft, fired shots across the Maersk Tigris's bow. The master then complied and diverted under escort of the IRGC navy vessels toward Iranian waters." Pentagon officials say a U.S. guided missile destroyer, the USS Farragut, is en route to the area. Nigeria and South Africa are having a dispute over the recent wave of attacks in South Africa. Nigeria has called its envoys back home. Gillian Parker has more. The South African government has criticized Nigeria's decision to pull its senior envoys from Pretoria amid a wave of xenophobic attacks on foreigners and foreign-owned businesses. The governments of Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique have repatriated hundreds of their citizens following the unrest, but Nigeria is the first to take such drastic diplomatic action. Nigeria's government says it did not formally recall its envoys, saying they were asked to return to Nigeria for "routine consultations." But that has done little to stop the sharp exchanges. Gillian Parker, Johannesburg. U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Tuesday to complete a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade agreement. The visiting prime minister called for an "early conclusion" of negotiations on the agreement, which would open up exports for both Japanese and American manufacturers along with those in ten other nations. Supreme Court arguments are under way in Washington on whether homosexuals have a constitutional right to marry Initial questioning followed showed the justices are split along conservative and liberal lines The suspected swing vote is Justice Anthony Kennedy. VOA's Michael Bowman listened carefully to his statements in court. "Justice Kennedy did not tip his hand in the question of whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. He expressed skepticism toward attorneys for both sides in the case." Hundreds of activists supporting and opposing same-sex marriage gathered outside the court in advance of the hearing. From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David Forrest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |