VOA NEWS

August 25, 2015

I'm David Forrest reporting. Tensions ease on the Korean peninsula.



South Korea agreed Tuesday to halt propaganda broadcasts into North Korea after the North expressed "regret" about a recent land-mine explosion that maimed two southern soldiers.

The agreement reached after 30 hours of negotiations defused the latest confrontation on the Korean peninsula that had threatened to turn into a military conflict.



Worries about a slowdown in the rate of increase in China's growing economy is fueling a drop in stock and oil prices around the world.

The plunge in stock prices follows six years of mostly rising stock values. Experts say market downturns are a normal part of the economy, with abrupt 10 percent drops called "corrections" hitting every few years.



Health officials in Sierra Leone released the country's last confirmed Ebola patient from a hospital Monday. The release of the patient begins a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus.

Adama Sankoh left an Ebola treatment center on the outskirts of Makeni after receiving her second negative test results for the virus. Medical staff celebrated in a ceremony attended by President Ernest Bai Koroma.



French President François Hollande on Monday bestowed the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, on a Briton and three Americans who subdued a gunman aboard a train on Friday.

In a ceremony in Paris, Mr. Hollande pinned medals on the chests of Briton Chris Norman and Americans Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler.



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Ukraine has celebrated its Independence Day, marking an event that heralded the collapse of the old Soviet Union. Daniel Schearf reports.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday said the next year would be one of struggle against Russia's efforts to undermine his country.

Speaking in Kyiv during celebrations marking Ukraine's independence, he accused Russia of sending more troops and weapons across the border.

"We have to understand that any wrong step could be the last," he said. "The war for independence is still going on and victory is possible only through combined efforts of defense, diplomatic pressure and political responsibility."

Daniel Schearf, Moscow.



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called new parliamentary elections after a deadline passed for forming a government.

The move announced Monday was widely expected after two months of coalition talks with the opposition failed to produce a new government.

The statement did not say when the new election will be held, but government officials had previously said it is likely to take place November 1.



The head of the Syrian government's Department of Antiquities says Islamic State militants have blown up an iconic Roman era temple in the historic desert oasis of Palmyra. Edward Yeranian reports.

Syrian state TV announced the destruction of the well-known temple of Baal Shamin Monday, quoting government antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim.

Islamic State militants blew up the temple which they rigged with explosives, damaging nearby stone columns.

Word of the temple's destruction follows the recent killing of Palmyra's long-time archaeological chief Khaled al-Asaad. Photos of his headless body strung up to a lamppost were posted on social media.

Edward Yeranian, Cairo.



A Sudanese migrant who walked the length of the Channel Tunnel from France to Britain has pleaded not guilty to charges in a British court.

Abdul Haroun entered the plea on a charge of obstructing the use of a railway.

Haroun was arrested August 4 after spending as much as 12 hours walking along the tracks in the dark as high-speed trains passed by.



U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met privately for lunch with President Barack Obama Monday as speculation mounts about a possible Biden candidacy for president.

If Biden were to join the race for the Democratic Party nomination, he would face another key official from Mr. Obama's White House tenure, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Obama has made no endorsement on a possible successor and has frequently praised both Biden and Clinton.



From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David Forrest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.