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VOA news. I'm Christopher Cruise reporting.
The U.S. Senate has voted overwhelmingly to move forward on a resolution ending U.S. military support to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. Wednesday's vote was 63-37. It means the Senate could start debating the resolution as early as next week. Many of the lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, were not just concerned over the humanitarian calamity caused by the fighting in Yemen. They are also upset with President Trump's reluctance to punish the Saudis for the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Afghan officials say a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle-borne bomb Wednesday evening outside a British security company's compound in Kabul, making way for a group of armed attackers to storm the facility and engage in fierce gunbattles. An Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed the raid on the high-security facility. He said at least 10 people were killed. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is responsible for the standoff with Ukrainian naval ships in the Black Sea. He contends it is an attempt by Poroshenko to boost his re-election chances next year. In a televised speech on Wednesday, Putin accused Poroshenko of orchestrating a "provocation" by Ukrainian vessels for the sole purpose of winning re-election. A woman accused of being a secret agent for the Russian government appears to be coming closer to a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors. Court documents filed Wednesday say 30-year-old gun-rights activist Maria Butina's lawyers and federal prosecutors "remain optimistic about a pretrial resolution" of her case. This is VOA news. President Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, is defending her use of a private email account when she was moving into her role in her father's administration. Associated Press Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports from the White House. Her father hammered Clinton for her emails throughout their presidential race with chants of "Lock her up" resounding through his rallies. Ivanka Trump says "Lock her up" doesn't apply to her. She tells ABC News she used the private email account while transitioning into an adviser role here at the White House and all the emails were stored and preserved. Asked about her dad denouncing Clinton's private email server, Ivanka Trump said, "There is no equivalency to what my father's spoken about." In the first case of its kind, the U.S. Justice Department announced charges Wednesday against two alleged Iranian cyber criminals. The prosecutors say the criminals used malware to infect the computer networks of U.S. towns and cities, hospitals and other organizations in a scheme to extort millions of dollars from the victims. Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, says his government has "formulated a road map" for prospective peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents to end the 17-year war in the country. He spoke at an international conference [in] on Afghanistan in Geneva on Wednesday. More than 400 Ethiopian migrants stranded in Yemen will be airlifted home this week. It's the first time since 2015 that the International Organization for Migration has been given the go-ahead for this operation to resume. Correspondent Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from IOM headquarters in Geneva. During the past few years, the IOM Voluntary Humanitarian Return operation has assisted many migrants to go home by sea. But agency spokesman Joel Millman notes returning the migrants by plane is a better, safer option. "In 2018, IOM's VHR program was able to assist 668 migrants to return to Ethiopia on ships across the Gulf of Aden. However, unstable weather conditions at sea combined with escalated fighting in and around the Al Hodeidah ports posed major operational challenges in previous return operations." Kenya's government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights [said Wednesday that] accused on Wednesday Kenyan police of committing the majority of sexual violence reported during last year's opposition protests over election results. Kenya's national police said it rejects "in totality' the report's assertions. 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 Christopher Cruise, VOA news. |