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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Michael Brown reporting.
Russian authorities are said to have identified a suspect in Monday's deadly subway bombing in St. Petersburg that killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more. The Interfax news agency says police now believe it was a suicide bombing and they identified the alleged bomber as a 23-year-old man from Central Asia. The news agency quotes police who say he carried the bomb aboard the train in a backpack. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack in Russia's second-largest city. Police defused another bomb hidden inside a fire extinguisher at a second St. Petersburg station. The city's entire subway was shut down for much of Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in St. Petersburg to attend a state-sponsored event at the time of the explosion, expressed condolences to the families of the victims and offered to help the survivors. Putin placed flowers near the metro station as Russia begins to observe three days of mourning. France interior minister, meantime, announced security will be enhanced at Paris region metro stations following the subway attack in Russia. The U.S. Senate is facing a key vote this week over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, with opposition Democrats saying they now have enough votes to block his confirmation under the chamber's normal rules of operation. However, Republicans with a 52-to-48 margin in the Senate announce they will change the chamber's voting rules to allow them to approve Gorsuch's appointment by a simple majority vote. Democrats are largely opposed Gorsuch, citing President Obama's nominee was not given a hearing [because] to become a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. From here in Washington, this is VOA news. President Trump has welcomed his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, to the White House Monday, pledging U.S. support for Egypt and its leader. "We agree on so many things. I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President el-Sissi. He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt." Trump added that the U.S. is rebuilding its military to the highest level as it looks to fight Islamic State militants and offer support to its allies. Regional experts say balancing the relationship with the Egyptian leader will remain a difficult foreign policy challenge for Trump just as it was for former President Obama. President Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort later this week. Their two-day summit will undoubtedly focus on North Korea and its nuclear program. Trump says if Beijing is not going to help solve the problem of North Korea, the U.S. "we will." The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, says China must use its political influence with North Korea. "China has to cooperate. This is now down to, do we want to continue to see these ballistic missile attacks from North Korea or does China want to do something about it? And this is all about the fact they need to have action, and we are going to continue to put pressure on China to have action. That will be shown in multiple ways." U.S. experts warn North Korea is planning its sixth nuclear test. Tokyo called the February North Korean ballistic missile launch over the Sea of Japan "intolerable." President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, visited Iraq, met with senior Iraqi officials to discuss the fight against Islamic State militants. Kushner flew into Baghdad Monday with the top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford. A U.S.-led international coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State fighters and assisting Iraqi troops on the ground as they engage in a fierce fight to retake Mosul. A key U.S. lawmaker says he will try to force President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to repay "tens of thousands of dollars" to Russian and Turkish interests he represented in recent years even as he came to play a prominent role in Trump's election campaign. Flynn is also at the center of ongoing investigation(s) by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the intelligence committees in both the House and Senate into the [collusion that Russia] conclusion, that is, that Russia meddled in the election in an effort to help Trump win. For details on more news, we invite you to join us at our website voanews.com. I'm Michael Brown reporting here in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |