VOA NEWS

February 5, 2016

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. New [changes] charges, rather, against U.N. peacekeepers.



The United Nations is reporting new cases of alleged sexual assault and exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

The U.N. says it has identified seven new possible victims in the town of Bambari.

The mission says the soldiers implicated in the cases are from the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and says that both countries' governments have been asked to launch their own investigations.



The senior U.S. military commander in Afghanistan told Congress Thursday training for Afghan forces will be severely constrained if the number of American troops there is cut to 5,500 as President Barack Obama is proposing.

Army General John Campbell told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the cut would mean "very little" additional training for Afghan soldiers possible.



An Israeli court has sentenced two Israelis -- one to life in prison and another to 21 years -- for the 2014 murder of a Palestinian teen.

A third Israeli is awaiting a verdict following psychological examination.

Two of the defendants were 16 at the time they committed the murder, while a third was 18. All were from ultra-Orthodox families.

The three defendants were found guilty in November of snatching 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir from an East Jerusalem street, driving him to an Israeli force, beating him and burning him to death.



Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face off Thursday in a Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire.

According to RealClearPolitics, Sanders has a nearly 16-point lead over Clinton in the northeastern state just days ahead of its primary election.



This is VOA news.



World leaders meeting in London have pledged $10 billion in humanitarian relief, jobs and education to people fleeing the war in Syria. Henry Ridgwell has more.

Arriving at the Syria Donors' conference Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry implored the world to act fast.

"If people are reduced to eating grass and leaves and killing stray animals in order to survive on a day-to-day basis, that is something that should tear at the conscience of all civilized people and we all have a responsibility to respond to it."

The response was better than many had hoped for - $10 billion were pledged for 2016, and a further $5 billion in the years up to 2020.

Henry Ridgwell, London.



The body of a missing Italian graduate student has been found on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Italy's Foreign Ministry says Giulio Regeni's body was found Wednesday in a Cairo suburb along the road that leads to the city of Alexandria. He was covered with burns and other wounds, indicating he may have been tortured.

An Egyptian prosecutor who leads the investigation said the cause of the death was still being probed, but he said that it appeared to have been a "slow death."



A new survey revealed a sharp difference between Democrats and Republicans on how the next president of the United States should discuss Islamic extremism.

The Pew Research Center study found 65 percent of Republicans, or those who lean Republican, want President Barack Obama's successor to speak bluntly about Islamic extremism.

Seventy percent of Democrats, or those who lean Democratic, think the next president should speak more carefully.

The survey, which was conducted last month, also found that nearly half of those asked believe that some Muslim citizens hold anti-American attitudes, including 11 percent who believe that "most" or "almost all" U.S. Muslims are anti-American.



Police in Cologne, Germany, have arrested at least two Algerians suspected of having links to the Islamic State group.

The arrests came as the city of Cologne kicked off its annual carnival cerebration.



Swedish prosecutors say the United Nations panel has found that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. They add that his confinement has no impact on the rape case against him in Sweden.

Assange has been living at the embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on allegations of rape, a charge he denies.



Allegations that Rwanda has been recruiting and training Burundian rebels on its territory resurfaced Thursday in a confidential U.N. report. The rebels hope to oust President Pierre Nkurunziza.



In Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.