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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Jones reporting.
U.S. stocks plunged on Monday. The Dow was down almost 1,200 points, closing at 24,345, the S&P 500 slid more than 100 to 2,648 and the NASDAQ dropped down almost 4 percent. The sharp decline follows a steep drop on Friday on fears that rising U.S. wages would finally end the era of low inflation and low interest rates. The U.N. Security Council met to discuss Syria on Monday amid new reports of possible chemical weapons use in that country. The U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told council members "We have reports that the Assad regime has used chlorine gas against its people multiple times in recent weeks, including just yesterday. There is obvious evidence from dozens of victims." Medical groups and first responders in Syria reported several civilians had signs consistent with chlorine gas, including breathing problems and the smell of chlorine on their clothes, after a reported chemical attack in [Idlin] Idlib province late Sunday. Poland has cancelled Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett's visit this week because of Bennett's strong reaction to Poland's proposed holocaust law. Bennett on Monday said, "The blood of Polish Jews cries from the ground, and no law will silence it. The government of Poland cancelled my visit, because I mentioned the crimes of its people. I am honored." Bennett was to have visited Poland Wednesday and would have been the first senior official to meet with Polish officials since the controversy over the new law. This is VOA news. Salah Abdeslam, a top surviving suspect of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris stayed mostly silent during a much awaited trial in Brussels on Monday. Abdeslam and his fellow defendant are accused in a separate case, involving a shootout with Belgian police. Correspondent Lisa Bryant has more for VOA from Paris. Salah Abdeslam quickly shattered any hope he might finally talk about his role in the 2015 Paris attacks, the deadliest in recent French history. Bearded, long-haired and clad in a white polo, Abdeslam arrived under tight security at the main courthouse in Brussels. He first refused to stand or answer questions, but then claimed Muslims were unfairly judged and said he would only respond to Allah. If found guilty, Abdeslam and fellow defendant Tunisian Sofien Ayari face up to 40 years in prison for attempted murder in a shootout with Belgian police. The incident took place in March, 2016, four months after the Paris attack that killed 130 people and just before Abdeslam was arrested in the Brussel's Molenbeek district where he grew up. Days later came the attacks in the Belgian capital and airport that killed more than 30 people. Lisa Bryant, for VOA news, Paris. Kenyan authorities lifted the nearly week-long suspension of two independent TV stations cut last Tuesday. ??? reports for VOA from Nairobi. The demonstration dubbed "NOT IN MY COUNTRY" brought hundreds of protesters to streets of Nairobi. ??? The government cut the transmission for the country's three largest independent broadcasters last Tuesday to prevent live coverage of opposition leader Raila Odinga's wearing-in ceremony. The interior minister later called the event treasonous and accused the opposition and the so-called complicit media of trying to subvert the government and spark deadly riots. In addition to the media blackout, three opposition members have been arrested. ???, for VOA news, Nairobi. The former U.S.A. Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar was sentenced Monday to an additional 40 to 125 years in prison for sexually abusing female gymnasts, some of them as young as 10 years old. Nassar already faced a lifetime in prison for two prior sentencings for 10 counts of first-degree sex assault and child pornography convictions for abusing hundreds of women and girls under the guise of medical treatment. You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Jonathan Jones reporting from the world headquarters of the Voice of America in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |