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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Smith reporting.
President Trump said, "We'll see what happens. Certainly that is not a first choice," when reporters asked him Wednesday whether he plans to take military action against North Korea. Trump spoke to reporters following a telephone call with China's president. "We had a very good conversation with President Xi of China. It lasted for about 45 minutes. He's very much in favor of the denuke of North Korea, and we're talking about different things. We have some things -- we're going to be talking again soon." The president speaking to reporters on Air Force 1. The Voice of America asked him what he discussed concerning North Korea with the Chinese leader, Trump replied that "Xi would like to do something" on North Korea but it is unclear, he said, "whether or no he can do it." The president also said he is confident Congress will act to protect 800,000 young undocumented immigrants from being deported even after he moved to end the program that kept them from being returned to their home countries. "Congress, I really believe, wants to take care of this situation. I really believe it, even very conservative members of Congress. I've seen it firsthand. If they don't, we're going to see what we're going to do." The president said he told congressional leaders at a White House meeting before leaving Washington, "If we can get something to happen, we are going to sign it and we are going to make a lot of happy people." The president's been widely criticized by Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans for rescinding the program that was created by then President Barack Obama for [in]undocumented immigrants. The program kept them in the U.S. to study, work and serve in the military. This is VOA news. The Turkish foreign minister is due to fly to the Bangladesh for talks on Rohingya Muslim refugees who are fleeing fighting in neighboring Myanmar. Correspondent Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul that Turkey says it will send a thousand tons of aid for the refugees. Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu will fly to Bangladesh Wednesday and (is) due to hold talks in the capital, Dhaka. Ankara is pressing Bangladesh to give sanctuary to all Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar. More than 120,000 of them have entered Bangladesh, fleeing Myanmar's military operations against insurgents. Çavuşoğlu is also due to visit Rohingya refugee camps and said Turkey would give financial assistance to Bangladesh if it continues to give refuge to those fleeing Myanmar. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has condemned Myanmar for its ongoing military operations. "There is genocide there. Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators," Erdoğan said Friday. Dorian Jones, of VOA news, Istanbul. The Caribbean island of Barbuda is completely isolated after taking a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, the strongest Atlantic storm in recorded history. There is no power on the island and no way to communicate with the outside world. And meanwhile, the French President Emmanuel Macron said he expects the toll Irma took on the French West Indies, including St. Martin and St. Barts, to be "harsh and cruel," with considerable casualties and damage. The American island of Puerto Rico is next in Irma's path. High winds and rain were starting to lash the island late Wednesday afternoon. The U.S. territory is in the middle of a financial crisis, and officials there say it could be as long as six months to restore electricity to the entire island if power is knocked out. The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicts what it calls the "extremely dangerous core" of Irma to pass over Puerto Rico's northern coast Wednesday night on its way to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. And, DNA tests done on the remains of the Spanish artist Salvador Dali revealed he is not the father of a Spanish psychic who claimed to be his only child and heir. The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation said in a statement released Wednesday the results showed "the exclusion of Salvador Dali as the biological father of the woman." You can read more about these and other developing and late breaking stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. From the world headquarters of the Voice of America in Washington, I'm Jonathan Smith reporting. That's the latest world news from VOA. |