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Now live from the Voice of America's global headquarters in Washington. This is VOA world news at this hour.
French voters have chosen Emmanuel Macron as their new president. In so doing, they rejected the anti-EU, anti-immigrant policies of the National Front candidate, Marine Le Pen. "I give a vote for Mr. Macron. He is re-shifting the political game in France." "To me, it's important for France. I am not for the euro, and I'm not for euro, never was. You know the best person who could resolve some of the problem that there is in France period. I don't believe in this other guy." The new president is a former banker and economy minister. At 39, he will be the youngest president France has ever had. During the campaign, Marine Le Pen drew the world's attention with her promise to stop the flow of Muslim immigration to France if she were elected. The leader of the Islamic State in Afghanistan has been killed in a joint raid in eastern Nangarhar province. Local and American military officials confirmed the death Sunday. The U.S. military released a statement that said dozens of Afghan and American special forces killed Sheikh Abdul Hasib along with his 35 fighters in a combined operation against an IS cave and tunnel complex in the Achin district. The operation took place April 27. Two American soldiers died in the three-hour-long attack. Hasib was named the terrorist group's leader in Afghanistan last year after his predecessor, Hafiz Saeed Khan, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the same Afghan province. Once again, the leader of the Islamic State in Afghanistan has been killed. You are listening to world news from the Voice of America in Washington. North Korea says it has detained another American citizen. It accuses Kim Hak Song of committing "hostile acts." The North said Kim was detained Saturday. It said he had taught at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. Kim Hak Song is now the fourth American citizen in North Korean custody. Eighty-two Chibok schoolgirls freed by Boko Haram extremists arrived Sunday in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, where they were reunited with their families after they got medical checkups. They then met President Muhammadu Buhari, who told them "no human being should go through this kind of ordeal." He promised that his office will "personally supervise ... those entrusted with your welfare." This is activist Bukky Shonibare: ".... It's been three years, three weeks and one day since we've been waiting. So far, within that period, we've had 24 of our girls returned. Now having 82 actually come back at once. It's easy, very big deal." The girls were released Saturday. They were among the 276 girls kidnapped in 2014 from a government-run secondary school in the town of Chibok near Nigeria's borders with Chad and Niger. More than 50,000 people in the northwestern German city of Hanover have been asked to leave their homes as a bomb squad defuses at least five World War II-era bombs. The Allies dropped a lot of bombs on Hanover on October 9, 1943, in one day. About 261,000 bombs were dropped on the city and many of them remain unexploded. There is heavy fighting underway in northern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency has overrun several districts since launching its yearly "spring offensive" more than a week ago. The battlefield advances have again brought insurgents close enough to threaten Kunduz, the strategically important city which the Taliban briefly captured in 2015. And, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders is warning of a growing cholera epidemic in Yemen. On Sunday, the group said "Two years into the war, the health care system has collapsed, hospitals are destroyed ... and government employees' salaries have not been paid." The group's doctors have treated more than 570 suspected cholera cases in the last three weeks. Cholera is caused by fecal-contaminated water and food. It's easily treatable but can be fatal if not treated quickly. You can find more on these and other stories at voanews.com. That's the latest world news from VOA. |