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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. Turkey's prime minister plans to leave office.
Ahmet Davutoğlu says he will not seek re-election as leader of the ruling party. Mr. Davutoğlu met late Wednesday with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but the two allegedly were unable to smooth over several disagreements. The prime minister has not been a strong supporter of some of Mr. Erdoğan's policies, including constitutional changes to make the largely ceremonial presidency into an all-powerful position. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 28 civilians were killed Thursday in an airstrike on a refugee camp in northern Syria near the Turkish border. The group's director says he didn't know if the attacking planes were Syrian or Russian. The bombing came just a day after the United States and Russia brokered a cease-fire for the city of Aleppo. U.S. Defense Department spokesman Colonel Steven Warren says U.S. warships have stopped accompanying U.S. and British-flagged commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. Edward Yeranian reports Iran has threatened to close the waterway to U.S. and allied vessels. The threat to close the Strait of Hormuz follows an announcement last week by Iran's naval commander, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, that his country would hold maneuvers in the Persian Gulf in the near future. The deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami, told state TV Wednesday that Iran would close the strait to U.S. and allied commercial vessels if it came under threat. Edward Yeranian, Cairo. After largely self-funding his run for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination, businessman Donald Trump will begin raising money for his race against the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. This is VOA news. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the country's top elected Republican, says he is "not ready" to support his party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Trump later quipped that he was not ready to support Ryan's agenda. Trump will not be getting the endorsements of the last men the party sent to the White House. An aide says George W. Bush does not plan to participate in or comment on this year's race. A spokesman for Mr. Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, said simply the elder former president is retired from politics. Britons went to the polls Thursday to vote in local so-called Super Thursday. Election counting is underway. London could be getting its first Muslim mayor. Former government minister Sadiq Khan appears headed for an electoral victory. A U.S. rights group says a prisoner held in China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising may be released this October. Miao Deshun was a 25-year-old factory worker from Hebei province at the time of the pro-democracy demonstrations and military crackdown. The Dui Hua Foundation says he was the last known person involved in those events in Beijing still in jail. The seventh congress of North's ruling Workers' Party is set to begin Friday, its first in nearly 40 years. The congress is likely to last several days. In the past, the event drew many delegates from around the world. Leader Kim Jong Un is expected to make major policy announcements during the gathering although what he might announce remains unclear. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned Thursday the country faces bankruptcy because of an ongoing scandal with the state-owned 1MDB fund. He said any defaults by the government-owned company would affect Malaysia's credit worthiness and prevent the government from borrowing in the market. Rescue workers in Kenya's capital have pulled three more survivors from the ruins of an apartment building that collapsed nearly a week ago. That brings to four the number of people found alive Thursday in the rubble of the six-story complex. The Kenyan Red Cross says "one male and two female" survivors were freed from the rubble late in the day. Earlier, rescue crews pulled out a woman who was taken by ambulance to a hospital. The death toll from the collapse stands at 36. Dozens more are still missing. More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week than was expected, although the underlying trend still points to declining jobless claims and a strengthening labor market. The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday initial claims for unemployment jumped during the week ending April 30. From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David DeForest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |