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This is VOA News. I'm Alexis Strope.
Ukraine's leader will meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris next week. AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit here to the White House will come as he pushes the U.S. to let Ukraine use Western-provided long-range missiles for striking deeper inside Russia. The administration is not convinced amid fears loosening the restrictions would not only have limited impact but also provoke Vladimir Putin. He's warned Russia will be at war with the U.S. and NATO if the weapons are used. Officials say they want more details on how Kyiv would use them and how they fit into broader war strategy. Sagar Meghani, at the White House. Deadly Israeli attacks that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers "crossed all red lines," the leader of the heavily armed Iran-backed Lebanese movement said on Thursday in a speech broadcast as sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shook buildings in Beirut. Reuters correspondent Zachary Goelman reports. In a speech broadcast from an undisclosed location, Hassan Nasrallah called the attack, quote, "unprecedented" in the militant group's history. "Thousands of pagers were targeted by the Israeli enemy and they were all detonated at the same time. The enemy violated through this attack all the regulations, laws and red lines." Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for attacks on Hezbollah's communications equipment that killed at least 37 people and wounded around 3,000. Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency. Reuters correspondent Zachary Goelman. You'll find expanded coverage of world news and events at our website voanews.com 24 hours a day. This is VOA News. A storm system that has wreaked havoc across central Europe brought devastating floods to the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna on Thursday for the second year in a row. Sean Hogan from Reuters reports. The low pressure system named Boris has wreaked deadly havoc across central Europe, causing the worst flooding in more than two decades. As the system moved west over Italy, the acting president of Emilia-Romagna told public radio it had "rained non-stop for 48 hours." Authorities in the town of Lugo ordered the evacuation of all ground floor residences after the local Senio River broke its banks. The national fire department said it carried out more than 500 rescue operations in the area. Over 1,000 people were evacuated overnight from their homes as three rivers overflowed. Schools were closed and rail services suspended in several provinces on Thursday. Floods and mud slides were also affecting the neighboring regions of Tuscany and Marche. Sean Hogan from Reuters. [cha...] China has announced sanctions on American companies selling arms to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory and threatens to annex by force. Chinese state media made the announcement on Wednesday, citing the Foreign Ministry, but gave no details on the companies involved. Taiwan is awaiting deliveries of F-16 fighter jets and a range of missiles from the U.S. China has been upping its threats to attack Taiwan, whose 23 million citizens overwhelmingly favored their current status of de facto independence despite their lack of formal diplomatic ties. The U.S. has long been a key provider of armaments and is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being investigated for collecting a dead whale. AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports. Kennedy told a crowd of Donald Trump supporters in Arizona he received a letter saying they are investigating him for "collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago" that "they" he referred to is the National Marine Fisheries Service. In a 2012 interview with "Town & Country" magazine, daughter Kick Kennedy says when she was six years old, her dad found out a dead whale washed ashore. He got a chainsaw, cut off its head and strapped it to the roof of their minivan for a 5-hour drive home. She described whale juice pouring into the windows of the car and said it "was the rankest thing on the planet." Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the deadline to bring charges passed long ago and implied without evidence. The investigation is tied to his endorsement of Donald Trump. I'm Ed Donahue. Authorities in Honduras say that an attempted prison break left two inmates dead and three injured. Officials said 72 prisoners took part in the attempted escape on Thursday from the men's prison in the town of Tamara near the Honduran capital. They did not clarify how the casualties occurred. Military police were called to deal with the situation. The forces commander, Colonel Ramiro Muñoz, said one of the prisoners died at the prison while the other died later at a nearby hospital. I'm Alexis Strope, VOA News. |