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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting. President Obama holds wide-ranging talks with China's President Xi Jinping.
Mr. Obama and his Chinese counterpart agreed that neither country's government will conduct or "knowingly" support cyber theft of intellectual property or commercial trade secrets. The issue has been a source of tension between the world's largest economies and at an afternoon news conference, Mr. Obama said that cyber crime has to stop. "I believe we can expand our cooperation in this area, even as the United States will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to protect American companies, citizens and interests." The U.S. has blamed China for a series of high-profile cyberattacks on U.S. government and business entities. China has strongly denied the allegations. The two presidents also discussed human rights, climate change and China's controversial territorial claims over islands in the South China Sea. Pope Francis has concluded a historic Mass at the Madison Square Garden arena in Manhattan in front of about 20,000 worshipers. Massive crowds turned out Friday in New York City to see the 78-year-old pontiff ride through Central Park in his popemobile. Earlier, he visited a Catholic school in East Harlem. On Friday morning in an address to the U.N. General Assembly, the pope exhorted presidents and prime ministers to show leadership in combating climate change and poverty and in protecting refugees fleeing conflicts. Francis then traveled to the National September 11 Memorial site for an interfaith prayer service. The pope plans to leave New York Saturday morning for two days in Philadelphia. This is VOA news. The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, announced his resignation from Congress on Friday. The Ohio Republican said he will give up his seat at the end of October because prolonged turmoil over his leadership would do irreparable harm to the House. "It was never about the vote, all right? There was never any doubt I could survive the vote, but I didn't want my members to go through this, I didn't want this institution to go through this." The intense fight between the Republican Party's establishment leadership and hardcore conservatives has repeatedly threatened Boehner's speakership and split the GOP caucus. Right-wing members have challenged Boehner on everything from federal spending to anti-abortion. At the White House, President Obama praised Boehner, saying he was gracious and someone who knew how to work even with people he disagreed with to accomplish the country's business. Croatia has lifted restrictions on the main border crossing with Serbia, ending a week of friction prompted by the flow of thousands of migrants across their common frontier. Speaking in Belgrade, a visiting European Union commissioner, Johannes Hahn, said the migrant crisis is a global problem that can be resolved only through the joint engagement of all European countries. "It's a global problem and we can only give a European answer. It's not something where we can leave only one country with its help to resolve the problem." About 60,000 people escaping war and poverty have entered Croatia in recent days. Iran is demanding a thorough investigation by Saudi Arabia and help for Iranian pilgrims affected in a Hajj stampede that killed at least 717 people near Mecca. Mass demonstrations broke out across Iran Friday, with protesters denouncing Saudi Arabia's handling of the catastrophic accident in the city of Mina. In addition to the immense number of deaths, more than 900 other people caught up in the stampede were injured. Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered a review of annual Hajj pilgrimage procedures and expressed his deep condolences for the casualties. And Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter involving his possible criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of the football federation's funds. The Swiss attorney general's office said Friday that its representatives interrogated Blatter after a meeting of FIFA's executive committee in Zurich. Swiss authorities have been following up allegations of money laundering connected to FIFA's selection of Russia and Qatar as hosts of football's World Cup championship tournament. For more on these stories, visit our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |