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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with this worldwide news update.
U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend he'd like to see regional actors accept more Palestinian refugees. VOA's Arash Arabasadi has more. Hundreds of displaced Palestinians in Gaza gather for aid. People here say they expect to return to their homes in northern Gaza. But after accusations that Hamas breached a recent cease-fire deal, Israel refused to open crossing points. U.S. President Donald Trump says he'd like to see regional actors take a bigger role in accepting refugees to start over fresh in Gaza. "I'd like Egypt to take people and I'd like Jordan to take people. I mean, you're talking about probably a billion and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing." Jordan's foreign minister told journalists his country firmly rejects the proposal. A Hamas official said Trump's words only reinforce Palestinians' fears that they'll be permanently driven from their homes. The tenuous Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal now enters a second week. And the International Rescue Committee says the past 15 months of fighting displaced roughly 90 percent of Gaza's population. Arash Arabasadi, VOA News. President Trump says that he is ordering tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures against Colombia after its government rejected two military flights carrying migrants. Trump made the announcement Sunday on his social media platform True Social. He said that the decision of Colombian President Gustavo Petro jeopardized national security in the U.S. Petro announced earlier Sunday that his government won't accept flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. until the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with dignity. This is VOA News. The World Health Organization says about 70 people have been killed in a weekend attack on the only functioning hospital in Sudan's besieged city of el-Fasher. AP correspondent Donna Warder reports. Local officials blame the attack on the rebel Rapid Support Forces, which has been experiencing apparent battlefield losses to the Sudanese military and allied forces. In Vatican City, Pope Francis called for an end to the violence, saying the conflict is causing the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world, with dramatic consequences even in South Sudan. And the pope renewed his appeal to warring parties to end their hostilities and sit at the negotiating table. International attempts to halt the fighting, including mediation and sanctions, so far have failed. I'm Donna Warder. Rwandan-backed fighters on Sunday closed in on the Democratic Republic of Congo's largest eastern city of Goma, forcing thousands of civilians to flee and grounding flights from the local airport as government forces battled to stop the rebels from seizing the city. Reuters correspondent Freddie Joyner reports. The rapid advances by the M23 rebel movement have raised fears that the fighting could spill over into a regional war. So far, three U.N. peacekeepers have been killed, while seven South African soldiers and three from Malawi serving in a separate southern African mission also lost their lives this week, South African and U.N. authorities said. Three years into their current insurgency, the rebels, who the United Nations say receive backing from neighboring Rwanda, now control more Congolese territory than ever before. Kigali, Rwanda's capital, denies supporting the group. Home to about one million people, M23 fighters began moving on the city of Goma earlier this week and have vowed to seize the city. According to a statement by the office of the U.N. humanitarian coordinator, several hundred thousand people have been forced to flee. Reuters correspondent Freddie Joyner. South Korea's prosecutors indicted impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday. Reuters correspondent Diane To reports. Yoon's lawyers confirmed that he faces charges of leading an insurrection when he briefly imposed martial law in December. The charges are unprecedented for a South Korean president. If convicted, Yoon could face years in prison. His lawyers criticized the indictment as "the worst choice" made by prosecutors, while the main opposition party welcomed the decision. Reuters correspondent Diane To. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website, voanews.com. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA News. |