VOA NEWS

December 15, 2019

This is VOA news. I'm David Byrd.



A senior North Korean military official said that recent tests of defense technology are aimed at subduing nuclear threats from the United States.

As AP's Ben Thomas reports, the general statement came after Pyongyang conducted a test at its long-range rocket launch facility.

North Korea's Academy of Defense Science says what it describes as a crucial test was the second carried out at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in a week.

Separately, the chief of the Army's general staff states North Korea has built up tremendous power and the findings will be used to develop new weapons to allow the country to definitely and reliably counter U.S. nuclear threats.

Analysts see the statements as an indication the tests likely involved technologies to improve intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially the U.S.

North Korea has been trying to pressure the Trump administration for major concessions as Kim Jong Un's end-of-year deadline for nuclear negotiations approaches.

Ben Thomas, Washington.



Specialist teams were due to return to New Zealand's volcanic White Island Sunday to resume a land search for the bodies of two victims of an eruption which has now claimed 17 lives.

Two four-person teams wearing protective clothing and using breathing apparatuses were to land on the island in the hope of finding the bodies which have not been located since the volcano erupted December 9. Six bodies were recovered on Friday.

Police divers working in near-zero visibility in contaminated waters around White Island tried Saturday to find the missing two victims. They did not succeed.

For the first time, police have released the name of one of the people killed in the eruption. She was 21-year-old Krystal Browitt, a veterinary nursing student from Melbourne, Australia.



This is VOA news.



A court in Khartoum sentenced former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday to two years of detention in a correctional facility.

As Naba Mohiedeen reports, it was after he was convicted of corruption and money laundering.

A court in Khartoum sentenced former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday to two years of detention in a correctional facility after convicting him of corruption and money laundering, the first verdict after his act of evil

Bashir also has been indicted at the International Criminal Court for war crimes against humanity genocide in Darfur. More than 300,000 civilians have been killed since 2002 and the conflict has displaced some two million people.

The verdict is the first in a series of ongoing trials against Bashir and the first by the transitional government that has ruled the country since his removal.

Naba Mohiedeen, for VOA news, Khartoum.



Clashes sparked between police and demonstrators on the streets of Beirut Saturday night after the main base of Lebanon's anti-government protests was attacked for the second time in a week.

Hundreds of protesters including women had gathered outside the parliament before several people attacked the rally, prompting security forces to fire tear gas to push them back.

The clashes then spread to the streets surrounding the camp, engulfing the area with smoke from the tear gas. Earlier, police had fired tear gas to chase away a group of men thought to be affiliated with Shia, Amal and Hezbollah who attacked the main base of the anti-government protesters in downtown Beirut.



Tens of thousands of people, many with fish-shaped posters, packed Rome's Piazza San Giovanni on Saturday as part of a grassroots movement known as the "sardines" against Matteo Salvini's [polity] politics, that is. Emer McCarthy reports.

Protesters denounced Salvini whose anti-immigrant, Italy-first rhetoric has resonated with many other voters.

The "sardines" movement is gaining momentum across the country after an initial protest that drew more than 10,000 in Bologna at the start of November.

Salvini has dragged the League from the edge of extinction to become Italy's largest party in just six years, promoting an uncompromising line on law and order and promising big tax cuts in defiance of European Union budget rules.

Critics say he promotes hatred with his social media attacks on marginalized groups like illegal immigrants, but his message has resonated with many in a country that has still not recovered from the financial crisis of a decade ago.



And at the annual Army-Navy football game, with President Donald Trump watching, the Navy Midshipmen defeated the Black Knights of Army 31-7.



I'm David Byrd, VOA news.