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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Anne Ball reporting.
A blast ripped through a supermarket in Russia's St. Petersburg on Wednesday evening, injuring at least 10 shoppers, investigators said. No one was killed. Here is Alexander Klaus, head of St. Petersburg investigative committee. He says multiple investigative and search procedures are underway and all possible versions of what has happened are being worked on. So far, no claims of responsibility. The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to continue to work towards a diplomatic solution for a denuclearized Korean peninsula. A U.S. statement said that neither the United States nor Russia accepts Pyongyang as a nuclear power. Ryan Brooks reports on new U.S. sanctions against North Korean officials. A precise approach to new North Korean sanctions as the U.S. took aim at two top officials behind the ballistic missile program on Tuesday. The U.S. Treasury said it's all part of a "maximum pressure campaign" to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. However, these restrictions are largely symbolic. They only block both of them from property under U.S. reach and forbid dealings with the U.S. citizens. Also on Tuesday, Russia offered to wade into the fray to help mediate between Washington and Pyongyang. In response, the State Department said the U.S. can already talk to North Korea "through a variety of channels" and that "it's up North Korea to change course." That's Ryan Brooks reporting. And this is VOA news. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Wednesday he is organizing a nationwide rally on January 28 to support his call for a boycott of next year's presidential elections. He called for people to go out onto the streets for their rights and future, saying that people should not want to lose another six years. Meanwhile, Liberians went to the polls on Tuesday for a presidential election they hope will mark their first democratic transfer of power in more than seven decades. Scarlett Cvitanovich reports the race is between former footballer George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai. They are bidding to succeed Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in a run-off vote delayed for more than a month after Boakai and another candidate alleged widespread fraud in October's first-round of polls. However, the Supreme Court rejected that challenge earlier this month. So far, the National Elections Commission confirmed no major disruptions occurred in the run-off and voting was a bit organized than last time. Now, Reuters is reporting that the preliminary results are not expected until Thursday. In 2017, more than 600,000 Kenyan students sat for secondary education exams. Marissa Melton has more. Only 10 percent of the students taking the exams scored high enough to enter university. The results sparked an uproar among parents, teachers and others concerned about the fate of the students and the quality of Kenya's education system. Calls are growing for a national conference to resolve the crisis and decide what to do about the students who failed the exams. The issue is expected to be discussed in the National Assembly in February. Marissa Melton, VOA news. In Egypt, seven Egyptian rights groups have condemned the execution of 15 suspected Islamic militants convicted of staging a deadly attack on an army checkpoint four years ago in the Sinai Peninsula. The groups said legal procedures against the men were flawed and at least one of the 15 appears to have been tortured in detention. And Ukrainian authorities and Russian-backed rebels began exchanging prisoners in eastern Ukraine Wednesday, the first major transfer in months and the largest such swap since a pro-Russian uprising erupted in that part of former Soviet Republic in 2014. From Washington, I'm Anne Ball. That's the latest world news from VOA. |