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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. More deadly Israeli Palestinian violence.
Israeli police killed attackers in two incidents in Jerusalem. Israeli officers shot and killed a Palestinian assailant armed with a knife as he ran toward an entrance to Jerusalem's Old City. Hours later, a Palestinian attacker from East Jerusalem stabbed an Israeli woman near Jerusalem's main bus station before being shot dead. The violence comes as Israel began deploying hundreds of troops in cities across the country. The move is aimed at helping Israeli police to counter a recent wave of attacks against Jews by Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs using knives, cars, guns, rocks and firebombs. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the violence. U.S. and Russian defense officials have wrapped up a third round of talks on rules for conduct in the air over Syria and are finalizing a memorandum of understanding to establish basic safety rules and avoid inadvertent collisions. The U.S. Defense Department says "progress was made." The Russian Defense Ministry reported a "convergence" of positions "on key provisions of the future document." President Barack Obama is sending U.S. military personnel to Cameroon to conduct airborne surveillance of Boko Haram militants. A U.S. defense official says troops were invited by Cameroon's government as part of a larger international effort to stop the spread of violent extremists in West Africa Burkina Faso's presidential and parliamentary elections, delayed by a failed coup, will take place November 29. The polls seen as a major step in the West African country's road to democracy were originally scheduled for October 11 but was postponed after a short-lived revolt. This is VOA news. Iran's powerful Guardian Council approved implementing the country's nuclear deal with a group of world powers. Iran's parliament had passed a bill approving the nuclear deal on Tuesday. The endorsement by the Guardian Council Wednesday means the bill is now passed into law. The U.S. Congress completed its own review period of the deal a month ago. Under the deal, Iran will eliminate its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions that have badly hurt the country's economy in recent years. Afghan officials say at least 22 border police and 35 Taliban insurgents were killed in fierce fighting. It broke out in southern Helmand province. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says the amount of opium produced in Afghanistan during the current year is down by 48 percent. Ayaz Gul has details. Speaking to reporters in Kabul Wednesday, Andrey Avetisyan, the regional representative for the U.N. anti-drugs mission, said the dramatic drop in opium production was due to better cooperation between enforcement agencies and Afghan policy makers. The reductions, he said, are significant following years of a steady increase in the cultivation and production of opium in the country. Avetisyan told reporters opium cultivation in 2015 also went down by 19 percent across the country. However, it increased in northern Afghanistan because of the deterioration of security in some places. Ayaz Gul, for VOA news, Islamabad. The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that a range of terrorist organizations and other non-state groups have inflicted "harsh and hateful treatment" on religious groups throughout Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In its 17th annual report on international religious freedom, the State Department said religious groups have been targeted for abuse and discrimination in the three regions. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said some governments have used the actions with these extremist groups to crackdown on religious freedom for their citizens. "As much as we oppose the actions of terrorists, we do not agree with governments that use those crimes as a pretext for prohibiting religious activities that are in fact nonviolent and legitimate. Those who misuse the terms 'terrorist' and 'extremist' are not fooling anybody, and trying to dictate an artificial conformity of religious expression is not a prescription for harmony. It is a prescription for frustration, anger, and rebellion." Secretary Kerry said everyone has a responsibility to affirm our faith in the principles of religious freedom. South African authorities say a temporary highway bridge collapsed in Johannesburg, Wednesday, killing two people and injuring twenty others. The bridge is being used for the construction of a pedestrian and cycling structure over the cities M1 highway. The construction company says the cause of the collapse is still unclear. I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |