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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Forrest reporting. Iraqi officials say a truck bomb tore through a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad Thursday, killing at least 67 people.
Dozens were wounded when a refrigerated truck packed with explosives was detonated at a market in Sadr City. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Only one in three Americans approves of President Barack Obama's handling of the international agreement to restrain Iran's nuclear program, according to a new Gallup survey. The pollster questioned more than 1,000 people in the last few days and said Thursday 55 percent disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of Iran policy, 33 percent approve of it. The finding is similar to that of another pollster, Quinnipiac University, which showed recently that Americans oppose the internationally brokered Iran deal by a 2-to-1 margin. The death toll from a series of explosions at a hazardous materials warehouse in China Wednesday has risen to 50. Chinese state media say 700 people were injured. Seventy-one of them are in serious condition. The Nigerian military says it is implementing new measures against Boko Haram. The announcement follows an order by President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday for the military to defeat the Islamist militant group within the next three months. The U.S. flag will be raised Friday in Cuba for the first time since 1961. Cuba and the United States have diplomatic relations and Secretary of State John Kerry will raise the flag over the U.S. embassy in Havana. Officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan held high-level meetings Thursday, attempting to ease tensions. The meeting followed a series of terrorist attacks in Kabul that have killed scores of people. This is VOA news. A senior State Department official told reporters in Washington on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed "grave concern" to his Russian counterpart over an increase in separatist attacks in eastern Ukraine. He said Kerry urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to implement a cease-fire agreement reached earlier this year in Belarus. More than 6,500 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the fighting erupted in 2014, and there has been another spike in violence in recent days. Myanmar's President Thein Sein carried out a purge of the leadership of the country's ruling party Thursday in a major political shakeup ahead of national elections in November. Steve Herman reports. In a surprise move characterized as part of a power struggling in Myanmar, the chairman of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, Shwe Mann, has been removed. The announcement read by Central Executive Committee Secretary Maung Maung Thein says it was too much of a burden for Shwe Mann to be both party leader and parliamentary speaker. The longtime politician had indicated in the past that he would a candidate for president this year. An independent political commentator, Yan Myo Thein, tells VOA all of the party leaders who have been ousted were reform-minded. Steve Herman, Bangkok. Cameroon has shut down the offices and studios of pan-African television channel Afrique Média as part of an apparent continuing crackdown on journalists. The Cameroonian communication minister says he told officials in Douala to close down the studios. He said he acted after the country's National Communications Council reported that the TV channel has persistently failed to respect what were called professional ethics. Afrique Média apparently angered authorities with its reports on Cameroon's war against the Boko Haram insurgency, saying weapons seized from the insurgents originated in France. Swedish prosecutors say rape allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will continue to be investigated but have dropped charges of lesser sexual misconduct. Three cases of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion against Assange were dropped when a five-year statute of limitation expired. Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange after two women accused him of rape and sexual misconduct during a visit there in 2010. That investigation is effective until 2020. Connecticut's highest court has ruled the death penalty is unconstitutional in that state because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Hours earlier, another state Texas carried out its tenth execution of the year. On Wall Street, U.S. stock indexes ended the day higher. From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David Forrest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |