|
From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Jonathan Jones reporting.
All 71 people aboard a Russian passenger plane were killed when it crashed near Moscow on Sunday. "Sixty-five passengers and six crew members were on board." Russia's office of transport investigations in a statement said, "All of them died." The seven-year-old plane disappeared from the radar just minutes after departing from the capital city's second largest airport, Domodedovo. The Russian Minister for Transport Maxim Sokolov told reporters on Sunday it was too early to draw conclusions about the cause of the crash. Officials in Afghanistan say four operatives of the national intelligence agency have gunned down their 16 colleagues before fleeing to join the Taliban insurgency in southern Helmand province. The overnight "insider" attack took place in the Gerishk district. The provincial government spokesman confirmed the incident saying the Taliban also assaulted the facility while the insider attack was under way, causing fierce clashes with Afghan security guards. Egypt's military said Sunday it has killed 16 militants and arrested more than 30 suspects in a major counterterrorism operation focused on the restive Sinai region where last year militants attacked a Sufi mosque killing more than 300 worshippers. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his country had dealt severe blows to Iranian and Syrian forces inside Syria and would continue to combat any further aggression. Raids on Saturday came after Syrian air defenses shot down an Israeli F16 fighter with anti-aircraft fire. This is VOA news. The World Health Organization is calling for action to end violence against children. WHO's appeal comes in advance of a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, this week that will seek solutions to the problem of violence, which affects one out of every two children on this planet. Correspondent Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO headquarters in Geneva. The ultimate consequence of violence is death. WHO Director of Non-Communicable Diseases, Etienne Krug, says homicide is one of the three leading causes of death for adolescents. "But, beyond that, there are also for those that survive, which is the vast majority a wide array of health consequences - mental health consequences, depression, anxiety, insomnia, changes in behavior. They are more likely to smoke, to drink alcohol, to engage in risky sexual behavior, which leads to HIV, NCDs, etc." Krug says violence is not inevitable. It is predictable and preventable. He says the Stockholm conference will consider seven strategies for ending violence against children. Correspondent Lisa Schlein. The British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the United Nations must supervise the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar because many of them are scared to come home on their own. Johnson spoke to reporters Sunday after his meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the country formerly known as Burma. The first round of three-day talks between Ethiopian officials and representatives from the Ethiopian rebel group of ethnic Somalis, the Ogden National Liberation Front, began Sunday at a secret location in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Delegates from the two sides arrived Saturday for the talks that are being facilitated by Kenyan officials. Pakistan has again banned Valentine's Day events and media coverage of them after a court ruled for a second consecutive year that the holiday is un-Islamic. The judgment prohibited any advertising or the sale of merchandise associated with the day. The ruling has affected many businesses, including flower shops and vendors selling Valentine's Day-related merchandise. A teenager has won the first medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics gold for team U.S.A. and it's gold. Seventeen-year-old Red Gerard, from Silverthorne, Colorado, in his debut Olympics, won the men's slopestyle snowboarding competition. After winning, he told VOA "My emotions are crazy. I was just so happy to land the run and to make it to the podium... I'm so excited." 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. |