VOA NEWS

June 24, 2016

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Steve Norman reporting. Britain has voted to leave the European Union.



Forecasts are showing with nearly all of the votes counted, turn out was reported to be high. VOA's Luis Ramirez is in London.

Certainly, there was a great deal of enthusiasm. This has been such a passion, sometimes ugly debate, that the people really seem very eager to go out and vote on this. This is something people feel very strongly about. And so, very turned out, pretty strong numbers despite the bad weather in London the torrential rainstorms throughout the day and flooding. Yet there was a steady stream at the polling stations that I went to.

Prior to results today and certainly over the outcome since the pound currency tumbling to a 31-year low, U.S. stock futures along with other global markets have plunged so far today in reaction.

Some British analysts say their prime minister, David Cameron, might have to resign even though he has said that he will not.



The Colombian government and the leftist FARC rebels have signed a cease-fire and disarmament deal, bringing Colombia a major step closer to ending more than 50 years of guerrilla warfare and terrorism

Meanwhile, security challenges remain between the Colombian government and the second insurgency, the leftist National Liberation Army.



The United States has imposed sanctions on Kinshasa's police chief in the Democratic Republic of Congo for violence and murder of civilians.

The U.S. accuses Celestin Kanyama and his police of creating a "climate of fear" for the November (December) presidential election.



This is VOA news.



United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura says talks about a political transition in Syria need a boost.

"Don't forget the cessation of hostilities took place when the Russian Federation and the U.S. agreed on something and that produced a critical mass. We are looking for the same type of critical mass on the beginning of the political transition."

Speaking in Geneva, de Mistura said he hoped the negotiations could start soon but explained they depended on the humanitarian conditions and the security situation in Syria.



Here in Washington, Democratic Party lawmakers shouted appeals to their Republican colleagues, and finally they ended a 26-hour sit-in outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.

They were upset Republican leaders adjourned the House of Representatives in recess for two weeks without debating gun control legislation.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said the sit-in was not about emotion. It was about fund-raising, he says.

Democrats vowed to come back after the Independence holiday - that's the holiday for U.S. independence - to renew the fight.

The long-running gun battle in Congress has been renewed recently just after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history took the lives of dozens at a nightclub in the city of Orlando, Florida.



President Obama's years-long push for immigration reform effectively came to an end on Thursday when a high court deadlock cast into question the future of millions of undocumented immigrants and dash the administration's hope to make immigration reform a key part of Mr. Obama's legacy.

He spoke in the White House press room: "I think it is heartbreaking for the millions of immigrants who made their lives here, who have raised families here, who hope for the opportunity to work, pay taxes, serve in our military and more fully contribute to this country we all love in an open way."

The president suffered a setback when the Supreme Court split evenly on his plan to shield an estimated four million undocumented immigrants from deportation.



In U.S. politics, presidential candidate in the Democratic Party Bernie Sanders told a packed town hall meeting in New York City that while elections come and go, political and social revolutions continue.

Sanders continues to campaign, speak out and rally thousands of appearances across the country even after his opponent, Hillary Clinton, has clinched enough delegates to become the Democratic Party nominee for president.

Sanders promises to come to next month's nominating convention with what he says will be the most progressive platform in Democratic Party history.



That's the latest world news from VOA.