Facebook and other social media sites are free for everyone. But a new social media site launched this month promises to be more exclusive by only permitting people who are rich to join.
The site is called Netropolitan. To join, users must pay $9,000. This includes a $6,000 entry fee plus $3,000 for the yearly membership fee.
James Touchi-Peters is the founder of Netropolitan. He is a composer and orchestra conductor from the eastern American state of New York. He says he believes there is a need and an audience for this service. He says he had trouble finding people like him on other social sites. He says Netropolitan is a place where rich people can talk about what he calls “the finer things in life.” In his words, “Netropolitan is an online country club focused on connecting members around the world.” He says it is “for people with more money than time.”
Unlike Facebook, everything on Netropolitan is private. The site is not included-- or indexed-- by search engines like Google or Bing. Non-members can only see the log-in screen when they visit the site. Information to and from the site is hidden, or encrypted. This gives the site’s members even more privacy.
Netropolitan does not have any advertising. And it will employ monitors to prevent bad behavior.
Members must be 21 or older. And they must use their real names and addresses to register. Once they have registered, members can do things like create groups and join discussions on the site. Mr. Touchi-Peters has not said how big he hopes the site’s membership will grow. And he has not said how many members the site has. He does say it has a small group of “pre-qualified members.” The website says it “will never publicly state the exact number of members in the club. And especially, we will NEVER release or verify the identity of any of our members-- ever.”
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Sunday, October 19th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Ukraine and Russia reportedly reach an energy deal. Nigeria and Boko Haram to discuss the release of kidnapped girls. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has disclosed details of an energy deal reached with Russia.
Mr. Poroshenko described details to Ukraine media Saturday. He said the rate is nearly $100 less than Moscow was charging Ukraine in June -- $385 per cubic meter of natural gas through the winter months.
However, Mr. Poroshenko said the agreement ratified Friday at a Russia-Europe summit is only in place until March 31st, 2015. He also said his cash-trapped government may need international help to pay its gas bills.
The Nigerian government says it plans to talk with Boko Haram this coming week about the terms for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls the militant group kidnapped in April.
The two sides agreed to a cease-fire Friday.
Top Nigerian presidential aide Hassan Tukur told VOA's Hausa service on Friday that the militants have agreed in principle to free the schoolgirls, who were taken in Borno state.
Reports of new deadly attacks on Borno state villages Friday and Saturday raised speculation that the militant group was already violating the cease-fire. But Nigeria's government tells VOA the cease-fire has not been broken.
U.S. President Barack Obama has called on Americans not to give in to Ebola "hysteria or fear," urging people to keep the situation in perspective.
In his weekly address Saturday, President Obama said the U.S. may see more "isolated" cases of the deadly disease, but he is "absolutely confident" that officials can prevent a serious outbreak in the United States.
This is VOA news.
Hong Kong's government says it will likely begin talks with student demonstrators on Tuesday.
A few days ago, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said he had been seeking ways to resume talks with protest leaders that stalled earlier this month after the government backed out.
Iraqi lawmakers have approved the critical security posts of defense minister and interior minister in Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi's government, completing the formation of a new cabinet amid the fight against the Islamic State group.
Parliament Saturday voted in Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni lawmaker from the northern city of Mosul, as the new defense minister. Mohammed al-Ghabban, a Shiite lawmaker from a powerful political bloc, was elected interior minister.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi have pledged cooperation on combating terrorism, the Islamic State and the spread of the Ebola virus.
They met during a second day of talks Saturday in the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts.
Just as it seemed the Roman Catholic Church might ease its stance on homosexuality, bishops from around the world removed language doing just that from a new Vatican document.
The final version of the document was issued Saturday at the close of a two-week assembly, or synod, of 200 Catholic bishops.
Ethnic Sahrawis from the Western Sahara conflict living in refugee camps in the Algerian desert reportedly are undergoing human rights violations. Selah Hennessy reports for VOA from London Human Rights Watch says the United Nations must do more to monitor human rights at the camps.
Human Rights Watch researchers say during their two-week visit to the camps, they did find evidence of some abuse, but that there has been an exaggeration by some parties.
"In fact they are able to leave if they so wish," Eric Goldstein spoke to VOA from Algiers, "so it's not true that the Polisario simply prevents them from leaving.”
Nonetheless, Goldstein says, human rights in the camps need to be regularly observed.
According to the U.N., there are up to 125,000 refugees living in the camps. The refugees endure harsh desert conditions and have limited job opportunities.
Selah Hennessy, for VOA news, London.
Residents of the island nation of Bermuda have survived the worst of the passing Hurricane Gonzalo with no deaths and only minor injuries.
Gonzalo struck Friday night into Saturday with massive rains and 175-kilometer per hour winds, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and knocking out power to most of the island chain.
[the new storm is] but the storm is moving north and is expected to pass near the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Saturday, October 18th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Pakistanis reportedly come under attack by Iranian forces. Boko Haram and Nigeria reach agreement to release kidnapped schoolgirls. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
Pakistan officials report Iranian forces have killed an officer and wounded three members of its border security force. Ayaz Gul reports from Islamabad.
A spokesman for Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, which guards the southwestern border with Iran, says its personnel were engaged in a car chase to try to capture a group of what it called "miscreants" when Iranian forces opened "indiscriminate" gun and mortar fire at them.
The rare clash occurred Friday, a day after Tehran warned it would intervene on the Pakistani side if the neighboring country failed to prevent terrorist infiltrations into Iran.
Ayaz Gul, for VOA news, Islamabad.
Nigeria has reached a cease-fire agreement with Islamic militant group Boko Haram, which is expected to release the more than 200 schoolgirls who were kidnapped in April.
Nigeria's highest-ranking military official, General Alex Badeh, announced the agreement Friday.
"I wish to inform this audience that a cease-fire agreement has been concluded.”
He ordered all of the country's military chiefs to abide by the deal.
Danladi Ahmadu, who calls himself Boko Haram's secretary-general, confirmed the deal to VOA's Hausa-language service.
Three police officers reportedly have been injured in Hong Kong as police tried to control thousands of protesters returning to an area they were cleared from earlier in the day during a pre-dawn raid.
Late Friday, Hong Kong law enforcement used pepper spray and batons on large numbers of protesters who were attempting to reclaim areas in the Mong Kok district.
Witnesses say dozens of protesters were knocked to the ground and carried away by police.
This is VOA news.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters at a high-stakes summit in Milan Friday that a deal had been reached between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia -- at least for the winter --, according to Putin, to restart the flow into Ukraine of Russian natural gas. He did not elaborate.
Moscow stopped gas shipments to its energy dependent neighbor in June over what it says are nearly $5 billion in unpaid gas bills. Mr. Putin, speaking after talks with Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, urged European countries to help the Kyiv government pay off the debt.
The World Health Organization says the number of deaths from the Ebola outbreak has hit 4,555, with the number of confirmed cases at nearly 9,200. New numbers were released Friday, showing all but nine of the deaths occurring in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Earlier, the WHO declared the nation of Senegal Ebola-free 42 days after officials there reported a lone case of Ebola.
Kurdish forces are now in their second month defending the northern Syrian border city of Kobani aided by airstrikes from the U.S. coalition.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East says the fight for Kobani is providing the coalition with opportunities to destroy the group calling itself the Islamic State and keep them out of Iraq. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has more.
The coalition's fight against Islamic State militants was an answer to a call for help from the forces inside Iraq. But now, most coalition strikes are hitting targets around Kobani, Syria, a town Kurdish forces have desperately fought to keep out of Islamic State hands.
"Now, my goal is to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL.": General Lloyd Austin, the head of U.S. Central Command forces, waging war against Islamic State or ISIL. "And if he continues to present us with major targets, as he has done in the Kobani area, then clearly we'll service those targets, and we've done so very, very effectively here of late.”
Carla Babb, VOA news, the Pentagon.
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius will learn his fate Tuesday when a South African judge will hand down the sentence over the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
The judge adjourned the court Friday after lawyers delivered their closing arguments in the sentencing hearing.
World Bank economists predict much of Africa will continue moderate growth over the next two years. But there are three exceptions to their forecast - the West African countries stricken with Ebola.
Francisco Ferreira, the World Bank's chief economist for Africa: "The fear it creates, what we call the aversion behavior on other people, on farmers, miners, workers, consumers.”
Ferreira says that fear has created the reduction of the gross domestic product.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Wednesday, October 15th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Police use force to remove Hong Kong protesters. Worries grow over the spread of Ebola. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
Hong Kong police have removed protesters from a major thoroughfare outside government headquarters.
Police used power tools early today to dismantle barricades set up by demonstrators. Several were arrested.
Police say protesters can remain, but they must not block traffic or the tram lines that run through the middle of the street.
The head of the U.N. Ebola mission in West Africa says he is deeply worried about anything being done to fight the outbreak, saying it's not enough.
Anthony Banbury told the Security Council from Ghana Tuesday that Ebola has a "head start" in the race against the disease.
He said Ebola has to be stopped now, or the world faces an unprecedented crisis.
The World Health Organization says it expects 10,000 new cases a week by December 1st.
WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward says actual infections could be 1.5 times higher than reported in Guinea, 2 times higher in Sierra Leone and 2.5 times higher in Liberia.
"The disease continues to expand geographically, there are more districts, counties, and prefectures that actually have disease than there would have been a month ago, and it's happening in all three countries.”
Aylward says official death toll from the Ebola virus is now up to 4,447.
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says any U.S. hospital with a confirmed case of Ebola will now get a CDC response team on the ground "within hours.”
Fears are rising since a Texas nurse became the first person to contract Ebola on U.S. soil after she treated the Liberian man who was the first person to die of the virus in the United States.
This is VOA news.
President Obama says he is "deeply concerned" about Kobani, the key Syrian city that Kurdish fighters are struggling to keep from falling into Islamic State hands.
Mr. Obama met with more than 20 foreign military chiefs at a U.S. air base outside Washington Tuesday to talk about the fight against the militants. Mr. Obama said the crisis in Kobani underscores the threat Islamic State poses to Syria and Iraq.
He says coalition airstrikes against the militants will continue.
Turkish airstrikes pounded Kurdish rebel bases Tuesday for the first time since a peace process began almost two years ago. Dorian Jones reports.
The air attacks against the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, are reported to have occurred in Hakkari province on Iraq's border.
In a statement, the Turkish military said the action was in response to attacks on one of its bases.
The airstrikes follow last week's violent protests by Kurds throughout Turkey over the government's refusal to allow military assistance for Syrian Kurds under siege by the Islamic State in the city of Kobani on Turkey's border.
Dorian Jones, VOA news, Istanbul.
Yemen's Shiite rebels have seized control of a strategic port city on the Red Sea hours after the president appointed a new prime minister in an effort to appease rebels and ease years of political turmoil.
Security officials say Houthi rebels overran Hodeida Tuesday, meeting little resistance.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from eastern Ukraine.
Following a meeting Tuesday in Paris with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary Kerry said the fighting must stand between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists around eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Airport.
Europe's largest economy, Germany, slashed its growth forecast amid fears Europe may be sinking back into recession. Lisa Bryant has details.
The 18-member eurozone region, which only emerged from recession last year, risks being dragged down again, partly because of the economic problems of heavyweights France and Germany.
On Tuesday, the German government sharply cut its growth forecasts for this year and next - down to 1.2 percent in 2014, compared to its earlier estimate of 1.8 percent. It blamed troubles overseas for slowing its export-driven output.
France's economy is also struggling and it faces record unemployment. But budget conscious Germany is at odds with France about how to stimulate growth. On Wednesday, the French government presents its 2015 draft budget to European officials.
Lisa Bryant, for VOA news, Paris.
A cyclone that killed at least 24 people as it swept through eastern India continues to dump rain inland after being downgraded to a tropical depression.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Wednesday, October 8th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Islamic State forces close in on Syrian town near the Turkish border. Progress reported in the fight against Ebola. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
The United Nations special envoy to Syria says Kurds defending the city of Kobani against the Islamic State are very close to no longer being able to fight off the militants.
Staffan de Mistura says the Kurds are fighting with great courage, but that the international community needs to come to their defense. He said other cities that have fallen into Islamic State hands suffer through massacres, rapes and horrific violence.
The United States says its air campaign against the militants near Kobani has been useful.
Turkey's President Erdogan says bombs are not enough and a major ground offensive is needed.
Hong Kong students and government officials reached an agreement to begin formal talks on demands for political reforms. They are scheduled for Friday.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, says President Thein Sein pardoned more than 3,000 prisoners.
The order releases anyone with at least 1 year of time served and less than 6 months left of their sentence.
The latest amnesty comes as the country's reformist government prepares for next month's meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in Myanmar.
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the fight against Ebola in Africa will be long and hard, but there are real signs of progress.
Dr. Thomas Frieden says this includes better training, more understanding of the virus, and safer practices, including burials for Ebola victims.
Dr. Frieden says there are no new cases in Nigeria and the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is contained. He also says there is a decrease in the number of new cases in parts of Liberia-- 1 of the hardest-hit countries.
This is VOA news.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court opened a 2-day status hearing on the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The Kenyan leader faces crimes against humanity-- charges that are related to his alleged role in post-election violence 7 years ago. Lisa Bryant reports.
The 1st day of the status hearing at the International Criminal Court, pretty much ended the way it began, with the prosecution claiming the Kenyan government was blocking access to key documents for its case against President Uhuru Kenyatta and the defense arguing it was doing its best to comply.
At the end of the 2-hour hearing, prosecution lawyer Benjamin Gumpert summed up his frustrations.
"We are, I would respectfully submit, deadlocked.”
Kenya's President faces 5 counts at the ICC for his alleged role in overseeing post-election violence in late 2007 and early 2008.
Lisa Bryant, Paris.
A new report says at least 11,000 people have been killed as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria.
The estimate comes from researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, who compiled a database on deadly violence in Nigeria that goes back to 1998.
At least 8 militants are dead in northwest Pakistan following 2 suspected U.S. drone strikes on Tuesday on Taliban compounds. Both attacks happened in the North Waziristan tribal region.
As Islamic State militants continue to terrorize Iraqi civilians, the U.N. warns it is struggling to cope with the humanitarian needs of almost 2,000,000 people displaced by violence in that country. VOA's Margaret Besheer reports.
The U.N.'s deputy humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Kevin Kennedy, said via a video link from Irbil that there needs to be a sustained international effort to address the growing humanitarian crisis.
"While we understand that the world's attention is focused primarily on the very serious security situation in Iraq and the region, we believe the humanitarian situation - which is the other side of the coin - deserves equal serious consideration and the full support of all who can lend a hand.”
Kennedy said the U.N. and its partners are facing 3 major challenges - reaching those in need because they are spread among 1,500 locations in Iraq, some not under government control; a shortage of shelter, and the impending winter.
Margaret Besheer, VOA news, the United Nations.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be announced today.
On Tuesday, 2 Japanese scientists and a Japanese-born American physicist were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their invention of the environmentally-friendly blue light emitting diodes commonly known as LEDs.
The 3 were honored for their work in the 1990s in creating energy-efficient white light from semiconductors.
We answered a question last week about how American college students find jobs after they graduate. Now, we discuss foreign graduates. The process for employing foreign workers in the United States is long. It involves different government agencies. It also involves a hot political issue.
For example, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed into law in February dealt with this issue. It included conditions against foreign workers displacing qualified Americans at companies that receive federal stimulus money.
Job cuts have slowed in some industries. But the economic downturn has cost 1,000,000s of jobs and recovery will take some time.
Foreign graduates need a job offer to get an H-1B visa. This is a non-immigrant visa for work in the person's area of specialty. The employer is the one who applies for it. The visa is good for 3 years and may be extended for another 3 years.
Cheryl Gilman directs visa services at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She noted that H-1B visas were still available for next year. This tells her that the recession is preventing employers from sponsoring as many foreign nationals as they have in the past.
65,000 H-1Bs are awarded each year to graduates with a bachelor's degree. Bill Wright at the Department of Homeland Security says fewer than 45,000 applications for these visas had been received as of this week.
There was more demand for 20 thousand other H-1Bs for those with advanced degrees. In addition, 1000s of the visas are awarded to other groups, such as university researchers.
Amy Ramirez is an administrator at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. She says foreign students who work for their school or at an internship probably have the best chance for a job after graduation.
She points out that many foreign graduates ask to stay for what is called optional practical training. This lets them accept temporary employment in their area of study for 12months after graduation.
Many times, the employer will then apply for an H-1B. But Amy Ramirez and Cheryl Gilman both say foreign students should understand that visa rules change often. That can make it difficult to plan ahead for what to do after graduation.
And that's the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT, written by Nancy Steinbach. Earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Weekly Address: America Is a Place Where Hard Work Should Be Rewarded
WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President made the case for why it’s past time to raise the minimum wage. Increasing the national minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would benefit 28 million Americans, and make our economy stronger. While Republicans in Congress have blocked this commonsense proposal, a large and growing coalition of state and local leaders and owners of businesses large and small have answered the President’s call and raised wages for their residents and employees. This progress is important, but there is more that can be done. No American who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty. That’s why the President will continue to push Congress to take action and give America its well-deserved raise.
The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, October 11, 2014.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
October 11, 2014
Hi, everybody. For the first time in more than 6 years, the unemployment rate is below 6%. Over the past four and a half years, our businesses have created more than 10 million new jobs. That’s the longest uninterrupted stretch of private sector job creation in our history.
But while our businesses are creating jobs at the fastest pace since the ‘90s, the typical family hasn’t seen a raise since the ‘90s also. Folks are feeling as squeezed as ever. That’s why I’m going to keep pushing policies that will create more jobs faster and raise wages faster – policies like rebuilding our infrastructure, making sure women are paid fairly, and making it easier for young people to pay off their student loans.
But one of the simplest and fastest ways to start helping folks get ahead is by raising the minimum wage.
Ask yourself: could you live on $14,500 a year? That’s what someone working full-time on the minimum wage makes. If they’re raising kids, that’s below the poverty line. And that’s not right. A hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.
Right now, a worker on the federal minimum wage earns $7.25 an hour. It’s time to raise that to $10.10 an hour.
Raising the federal minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour, or ten-ten, would benefit 28 million American workers. 28 million. And these aren’t just high schoolers on their first job. The average worker who would benefit is 35 years old. Most low-wage workers are women. And that extra money would help them pay the bills and provide for their families. It also means they’ll have more money to spend at local businesses – which grows the economy for everyone.
But Congress hasn’t voted to raise the minimum wage in seven years. Seven years. And when it got a vote earlier this year, Republicans flat-out voted “no.” That’s why, since the first time I asked Congress to give America a raise, 13 states, 21 cities and D.C. have gone around Congress to raise their workers’ wages. Five more states have minimum wage initiatives on the ballot next month. More companies are choosing to raise their workers’ wages. A recent survey shows that a majority of small business owners support a gradual increase to ten-ten an hour, too. And I’ve done what I can on my own by requiring federal contractors to pay their workers at least ten-ten an hour.
On Friday, a coalition of citizens – including business leaders, working moms, labor unions, and more than 65 mayors – told Republicans in Congress to stop blocking a raise for millions of hard-working Americans. Because we believe that in America, nobody who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. And I’m going to keep up this fight until we win. Because America deserves a raise right now. And America should forever be a place where your hard work is rewarded.
From Washington, this is VOA news. Kobani, the center of violence by the Islamic State group. The Ebola vaccine clinical trials begin in Mali. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
Fighting raged on Friday in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani near the Turkish border, with Syrian Kurdish leaders saying key government buildings have fallen to Islamic State forces.
Kurdish fighters are trying to halt a three-week offensive by the Islamic State group on the strategic border city as militants aim to take complete control of the area.
Staffan de Mistura is the U.N. envoy to Syria: "We need that because otherwise all of us, including Turkey, will be regretting deeply that we have missed an opportunity of stopping ISIL and sending a signal that that cannot continue.”
Mistura says that thousands of people will most likely be massacred if Kobani [fails] falls to Islamic State fighters.
The U.S. State Department has updated its "worldwide caution" for Americans overseas, saying it "remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests.”
The first phase of a clinical trial of a promising Ebola vaccine has gotten underway in the west African country of Mali. Mali borders Guinea, the epicenter of the deadly viral epidemic.
This vaccine has been developed by researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and British drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline A person said to have access to the secretive regime in North Korea says Kim Jong Un is absent from public events because he injured a leg taking part in a military drill.
The explanation came amid heightened explanations that Kim is in poor health and no longer in control of the nation.
This is VOA news.
Friday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a press briefing that North Korea targeted balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets by South Korean activists, leading to gunfire between the two Koreas.
The Defense Ministry said North Korean gunners fired anti-aircraft rounds at the balloons for about 20 minutes, and that some of the shots landed on South Korean soil. After a warning, South Korea responded with 40 rounds from a machine gun.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says he is confident Hong Kong's social stability can be preserved and said China will not change its so-called "one country, two systems" arrangement for governing the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Mr. Li met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Friday.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Hong Kong Friday to renew their calls for electoral reform after government authorities abruptly canceled plans to meet with protest leaders.
Four days of protests, including possible civil disobedience, are planned in and around the Midwestern U.S. city of St. Louis, Missouri, following a recent fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer.
The planned protests coincide with similar demonstrations in the nearby St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, which was rocked by violence in August following the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown, by a white police officer.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee says Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were selected to receive the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize jointly for "their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to an education.”
Pakistani education activist Yousafzai told reporters Friday her selection for the award is not just her but for all those children who are voiceless.
"This award is not just a piece of metal or a medal you wear or an award you keep in your room. But this is encouragement for me to go forward and to believe in myself and know there are people who are supporting me in this campaign. And we are standing together. We all want to make sure that every child gets quality education.”
The Associated Press reports Ethiopia's government is hoping the United States will prosecute protesters who tore down the Ethiopian flag for the nation's embassy in Washington September 29th.
Government spokesman Dina Mufti is quoted as accusing the demonstrators of having ties to Eritrea and the Somali extremist group al-Shabab.
A State Department official tells VOA an upcoming Europe-Iran business conference -- the first gathering of its kind -- underscores to Iran the great benefits of reaching an agreement with world powers on its nuclear program.
The Europe-Iran forum will take place in London next Wednesday and Thursday, October 15th and 16th.
More at voanews.com. I'm Vincent Bruce in Washington.
Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
Saturday, October 11th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Kobani, the center of violence by the Islamic State group. The Ebola vaccine clinical trials begin in Mali. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
Fighting raged on Friday in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani near the Turkish border, with Syrian Kurdish leaders saying key government buildings have fallen to Islamic State forces.
Kurdish fighters are trying to halt a three-week offensive by the Islamic State group on the strategic border city as militants aim to take complete control of the area.
Staffan de Mistura is the U.N. envoy to Syria: "We need that because otherwise all of us, including Turkey, will be regretting deeply that we have missed an opportunity of stopping ISIL and sending a signal that that cannot continue.”
Mistura says that thousands of people will most likely be massacred if Kobani [fails] falls to Islamic State fighters.
The U.S. State Department has updated its "worldwide caution" for Americans overseas, saying it "remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests.”
The first phase of a clinical trial of a promising Ebola vaccine has gotten underway in the west African country of Mali. Mali borders Guinea, the epicenter of the deadly viral epidemic.
This vaccine has been developed by researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and British drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline A person said to have access to the secretive regime in North Korea says Kim Jong Un is absent from public events because he injured a leg taking part in a military drill.
The explanation came amid heightened explanations that Kim is in poor health and no longer in control of the nation.
This is VOA news.
Friday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a press briefing that North Korea targeted balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets by South Korean activists, leading to gunfire between the two Koreas.
The Defense Ministry said North Korean gunners fired anti-aircraft rounds at the balloons for about 20 minutes, and that some of the shots landed on South Korean soil. After a warning, South Korea responded with 40 rounds from a machine gun.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says he is confident Hong Kong's social stability can be preserved and said China will not change its so-called "one country, two systems" arrangement for governing the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Mr. Li met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Friday.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Hong Kong Friday to renew their calls for electoral reform after government authorities abruptly canceled plans to meet with protest leaders.
Four days of protests, including possible civil disobedience, are planned in and around the Midwestern U.S. city of St. Louis, Missouri, following a recent fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer.
The planned protests coincide with similar demonstrations in the nearby St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, which was rocked by violence in August following the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown, by a white police officer.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee says Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi were selected to receive the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize jointly for "their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to an education.”
Pakistani education activist Yousafzai told reporters Friday her selection for the award is not just her but for all those children who are voiceless.
"This award is not just a piece of metal or a medal you wear or an award you keep in your room. But this is encouragement for me to go forward and to believe in myself and know there are people who are supporting me in this campaign. And we are standing together. We all want to make sure that every child gets quality education.”
The Associated Press reports Ethiopia's government is hoping the United States will prosecute protesters who tore down the Ethiopian flag for the nation's embassy in Washington September 29th.
Government spokesman Dina Mufti is quoted as accusing the demonstrators of having ties to Eritrea and the Somali extremist group al-Shabab.
A State Department official tells VOA an upcoming Europe-Iran business conference -- the first gathering of its kind -- underscores to Iran the great benefits of reaching an agreement with world powers on its nuclear program.
The Europe-Iran forum will take place in London next Wednesday and Thursday, October 15th and 16th.
More at voanews.com. I'm Vincent Bruce in Washington.
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