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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting.
Iraqi government and Kurdish Peshmerga forces say they are within 25 kilometers of the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul three days into an operation to retake the city. Henry Ridgwell reports. Islamic State released a propaganda video Wednesday purporting to show its fighters defiantly patrolling the streets of Mosul. An unidentified militant addresses the camera warning that the United States will be defeated in Iraq. Despite the rhetoric, Islamic State fighters are rapidly losing ground. Backed by coalition artillery and airstrikes, Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces say they are ahead of schedule in their mission to retake Mosul. Henry Ridgwell, London. The United Nations says Russia's extension of a truce in the Syrian city of Aleppo does not provide enough time to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to civilians. Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi said a "humanitarian pause" Thursday in Aleppo will last from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. That's three hours longer than originally planned. Meanwhile, French President François Hollande is demanding an end to airstrikes on Aleppo. Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are preparing for their third debate. That'll be coming our way in about one hour. It will be the last time millions of Americans will have a chance to see the two candidates square off on a wide range of issues. Clinton will show up on the debate stage in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a growing lead in public opinion polls over Trump in an unusually uncontentious campaign. Both candidates have declared each other unfit to be president. This is VOA news. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with Czech police, arrested a Russian citizen in Prague on Wednesday in connection with attempted cyberattacks against the United States. Last week, the Obama administration formally accused the Russian government of hacking U.S. institutions in an attempt to influence the upcoming presidential election. Police have not said the arrested man was involved with the election-related hacking. Leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France gathered Wednesday in Berlin for talks aimed at reestablishing the stalled Minsk peace agreement on the Ukraine crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the talks among Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and French President François Hollande didn't achieve miracles, but that the sides did agree to work on a plan to provide the move forward with the Minsk agreement. Among the issues discussed was the creation of zones of disengagement between the warring parties as well as measures to improve the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine. Police in Europe announced Wednesday the arrest of 314 people from 52 different countries this week following a series of raids. Europol also says it has broken up several human trafficking rings. The agency says it has disrupted "the most dangerous criminal networks currently active," focusing on cases related to illegal immigration, human trafficking, drug trafficking and cybercrime. Officials say the trafficking networks based in Nigeria, Asia and Eastern Europe are the most active in Europe. The Palestinians are pushing for a U.N. Security Council resolution threatening "consequences" if Israel continues building Jewish settlements in lands the Palestinians want for a future state. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour accused Israel of continuing to break international law. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon denounced what he said was a one-sided resolution against Israel. A cease-fire has started in Yemen. The U.N.-mediated truce went into effect near midnight Wednesday. The truce would last about 72 hours, but is subject to renewal. The U.S. military says one of its service members and an American civilian were killed Wednesday in a shooting near a coalition base [in Afghan] in the Afghan capital, Kabul. It says another service member and two U.S. civilians were wounded and are in stable condition. The shooter, wearing an Afghan army uniform, was shot and killed by international forces. The United States and South Korea Wednesday announced a further strengthening of their security alliance. They plan to start talks on what is called an "extended deterrence" against nuclear North Korea. From the VOA news center in Washington. I'm David DeForest. That's the latest world news from VOA. |