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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Forrest reporting. An agreement for South Sudan.
The U.N. Security Council is threatening to take quick action if South Sudan's President Salva Kiir does not sign a peace agreement with rebels Wednesday. President Kiir has agreed to sign the peace agreement in the capital of Juba on Wednesday. Rebel leader and former Vice President Riek Machar signed it last week. Global markets recovered some of their recent losses Tuesday. Stock prices rose after Chinese authorities took action to stimulate their weakening economy. China's central bank cut interest rates a quarter of one percent and told banks they could hold less money in reserve. Officials say record numbers of migrants are entering Hungary. They are also arriving in other parts of Europe. This migrant is from Syria: "I want a country to be part of. I want a country to belong to. I want a country of civilization. It's not for money or for food. It's for freedom." The U.N. refugee agency is calling on all governments to respond compassionately. Hungary has registered more than 100,000 migrants in 2015, more than double the number from last year. It is rushing to complete a border fence to control the flood of migrants. Most of the migrants are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. French prosecutors announced Tuesday they have launched an investigation into last week's terrorist attack in a high-speed train. Paris Prosecutor Frédéric Molins said the man detained in connection with the attack, Ayoub El-Khazzani, is being investigated for "attempted murder in connection to terrorism." Khazzani was subdued by a group of passengers - three Americans and a Briton. This is VOA news. The United Nations nuclear chief said Tuesday he is confident of his agency's ability to determine if Iran had sought to develop a nuclear weapon more than a decade ago. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano spoke at a meeting in Vienna about access to the Parchin nuclear facility. "We have discussed the issues related to Parchin with Iran and we have reached an agreement on the roadmap and a separate arrangement related to Parchin, but I cannot discuss on the details." U.S. critics of the recent nuclear accord with Iran are citing a side agreement with the IAEA which the Associated Press says would allow Iran to investigate its own past nuclear activities. Iran has long denied accusations that it has been trying to develop a nuclear weapon. Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza swore in a new cabinet Tuesday following his re-election to a third term. Members of the ruling party were given 15 to 20 spots, including the key posts leading the ministries of defense, the interior, finance and foreign affairs. The chairman of Turkey's election board announced Tuesday elections will be held November 1. The announcement came a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally asked for a new parliamentary vote. Mr. Erdogan Tuesday asked Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to form a temporary cabinet. A Russian military court Tuesday sentenced an acclaimed Ukrainian film director to 20 years in prison on charges of leading a terrorist group. Daniel Schearf reports. A military court in Rostov-on-Don found Oleh Sentsov guilty of leading a terrorist group and terrorist attacks on pro-Russia organizations in Crimea. Co-defendant Oleksandr Kolchenko was also convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 10 years. Rights groups expected a guilty verdict in the highly politicized trial. Heather McGill is a researcher in Amnesty International's Eurasia program: "The various violations of fair trial standards point to the fact that these accusations are possibly fabricated." Russia's FSB, the successor to the Soviet KGB, arrested Sentsov in May 2014 at a pro-Ukraine rally in Crimea. Daniel Schearf, Moscow. Authorities in Spain and Morocco arrested 14 people Tuesday suspected of being part of a network to recruit people to join the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Photos posted online by the Islamic State terrorist group claim to show the destruction of a 2,000-year-old temple at the Syrian world heritage site of Palmyra. In a series of images posted Tuesday, several men are seen carrying barrels into the temple and smoke and debris are seen from an explosion. UNESCO called the temple's destruction a war crime. From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David Forrest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |