VOA News Transcript Videos Week 45, 2014

Monday, November 3rd, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Burkina military promises unity government. Massive deadly bombing hits Pakistan. I’m Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
Burkina Faso’s Army, which seized power last Friday, says it will install a unity government to oversee a political transition spawned by the ouster of longtime President Blaise Compaore.
The military says all of the components of the transitional body “will be adopted by a broad consensus,” but there are no other details The announcement Sunday in Ouagadougou follows hours of widespread confusion about who will run the country. Here is VOA’s Anne Look.
Thousands of people demonstrated Sunday in Ouagadougou. Some carried signs reading “Soldiers stole our revolution.”
This man says, “This wasn’t a coup so we don’t understand why the military thought they could choose the new head of state.”
The opposition had called for the protest.
Opposition leaders spent Sunday behind closed doors meeting with the country’s military leader, Lieutenant Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida.
Soldiers took over the state television station and fired warning shots to disperse a large crowd Sunday afternoon.
Anne Look, VOA news, Dakar.
France says a United Nations employee suffering from Ebola was flown to a military hospital outside Paris from Sierra Leone for treatment.
A spokesman at the French U.N. mission in New York says the worker was placed in “high security” isolation. The worker’s name and nationality have not been disclosed.
The UNICEF worker is the second person to receive Ebola treatment in France since the epidemic erupted in Guinea late last year and then spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
This is VOA news.
A bomb attack in the Lahore region of Pakistan killed at least 55 people and wounded more than 100.
The attack occurred near the Wagah border crossing with India, where a “lowering of the flags” ceremony is held every evening.
A Pakistani militant faction called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.
The group says the attack was revenge for deaths caused by Pakistan’s army during counter-insurgency operations in the tribal region of North Waziristan.
Three car bomb attacks targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad killed at least 34 people Sunday.
One of the blasts killed 14 at a tent where people were delivering food to pilgrims as they headed to the holy city of Karbala for a religious observance. Later, two other bombings, one in downtown Baghdad and the other in Sadr City, left at least 20 more people dead.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have voted in controversial elections that Kyiv and the West say they will not recognize.
The separatists who control parts of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions held elections Sunday for leadership and legislative bodies in the areas they control.
The United Nations, the European Union and the United States have called the rebel vote illegal, saying it violates Ukraine’s constitution and the cease-fire agreement reached in September between separatists and the Ukrainian government.
A U.N. panel on climate change says the world will have to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the year 2100 to limit the most dangerous risks associated with climate change.
In a report issued Sunday in Copenhagen, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summed up the findings of more than 800 scientists over the past 13 months in what it’s calling the most comprehensive assessment of climate change ever undertaken.
The report says climate change has already increased the risks of severe heat waves and other extreme weather and is warning of things to come that could be worse, including food shortages and violent conflicts.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “If we continue business as usual, our opportunity to keep temperature rise below 2 degrees centigrade will slip away within the next decades. Even if emissions stopped Tomorrow, we will be living with climate change for some time to come.”
Mr. Ban said that quick, decisive action will build a better and sustainable future while inaction will be costly.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to keep longstanding worship arrangements in place at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, saying that Muslims can continue to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
He called Sunday for calm and restraint in the face of rising tensions over the site that have sparked almost daily clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the move “a step in the right direction.”
I’m Ray Kouguell in Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.

Tuesday, November 4th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Heavy fighting erupts in Libya’s main eastern city, and Ukraine’s president condemns rebel-held votes in the country’s east. I’m Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
In eastern Libya, pro-government forces have attacked Islamist militants occupying the city of Benghazi. Heavy shelling set parts of the city ablaze on Monday and black smoke rose above its central districts.
A Libyan army spokesman said the aim of the offensive is to clear the Benghazi area of armed Islamist groups.
The Libyan army called on residents to evacuate the commercial district of Saberi near the Benghazi port, warning that militants have barricaded themselves among civilians.
The battle is part of a wider offensive launched two weeks ago by the Libyan army against Islamic militants in the country. The militants have controlled most of Benghazi for the past four months.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has denounced elections held on Sunday in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, calling them “a farce at gunpoint” conducted by “bandits, terrorists and interventionists.”
Mr. Poroshenko, speaking Monday on national television, called the pro-Russian rebel-organized elections “a gross violation” of a two-month-old cease-fire deal. He also said he will hold emergency talks on Tuesday with his security chiefs to plan new ways of dealing with the ongoing uprisings near the Russian border.
Sunday’s balloting aimed to fill pro-Russian legislative bodies in the Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. The United Nations, the United States and the European Union all have rejected the votes and said they will not recognize the outcome.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a meeting on Monday with ambassadors from countries backing a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. VOA’s State Department correspondent Scott Stearns has more.
State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki says Secretary Kerry met with about 60 Washington-based ambassadors from countries involved in the fight against Islamic State militants because “diplomacy is an important part” of the coalition.
“The session was an opportunity, is an opportunity for coalition partners to reaffirm shared efforts in the coalition, discuss ways in which we can integrate our contributions to coalition efforts, and review ways to accelerate and increase our joint operations.”
In addition to airstrikes against Islamic State targets, coalition members are working to train Iraqi security forces and Syrian rebels, restrict Islamic State financing, cut-off its supply of foreign fighters and undermine its ideological appeal.
Secretary Kerry’s talks Monday with ambassadors from coalition countries follow[s] President Obama’s meeting last month with coalition defense chiefs, at which he said this will be a long-term campaign with periods of progress and setbacks.
Scott Stearns, VOA news, at the State Department.
The African Union has given Burkina Faso’s military a two-week ultimatum to return power to a civilian transitional government.
The AU Peace and Security Council said Monday it will not impose sanctions on Burkina Faso for now. But it said the military must hand power to a civilian government by the deadline “or else.”
Burkina Faso’s interim military ruler, Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida, met with diplomats on Monday a day after holding talks with religious leaders.
News agencies quote Zida as saying the military will cede power to a transitional body led by consensus leader. He did not give a time frame for the transition.
There were no reports of unrest in the capital, Ouagadougou.
On Sunday, demonstrators called on Mr. Zida to step down. One person was killed when soldiers fired on a crowd outside the state television station.
Border guards from Pakistan and India have gone ahead with a flag-lowering ceremony at their main border post a day after a suicide attack there killed 55 people and wounded more than 100 others.
Authorities initially had planned to cancel Monday’s ceremony at the Wagah crossing due to the attack. But they later decided to proceed and hundreds of men, women and children came to watch.
A Pakistani army corps commander said the high turnout proved that terrorists cannot lower the spirit of the nation.
You can find more on those stories by checking our website at voanews.com. I’m Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.

Wednesday, November 5th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. U.S. holding crucial congressional elections. NATO says it’s been looking at Russian troops moving closer to the Ukraine border. I’m Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
With Americans at the polls Tuesday to elect a new Congress, President Obama says Senate Democrats face what could be the toughest races since Republicans lost 13 seats in 1958 under President Dwight Eisenhower.
A third of the Senate’s 100 seats are at stake in Tuesday’s elections.
President Obama says many of the states with contested Senate races tend to tilt to Republicans.
Many political analysts say Republicans are poised to win the six seats needed to seize control of the chamber from Mr. Obama’s Democratic Party, which now holds a 55-seat working majority.
Republicans are also expected to expand their solid majority in the House of Representatives for all 435 seats are up for grabs.
Opposition leaders in Burkina Faso have called off protests as they continued holding talks with the country’s military leadership on forming a government of “national consensus.”
The military took control last Friday after longtime President Blaise Compaore resigned in the face of protests against his effort to amend the constitution to allow to run for another term.
It appointed Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Zida as the interim president.
NATO says it’s observed Russian troops moving closer to the Ukraine border.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance has seen the maneuvers as Moscow continues to support separatists with equipment and special forces in eastern Ukraine.
A pro-Russian rebel leader was sworn in Tuesday as the head of a self-declared “People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine, following elections condemned by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Kyiv as illegal and destabilizing.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calls the U.S.-China relationship the most consequential in the world today.
Secretary Kerry is taking an overseas trip that includes a stop in Beijing. He says the United States and China have a profound opportunity to build a constructive course in a number of issue, including climate change and global trade.
Secretary Kerry says disagreements over human rights, cyber theft and maritime security will also be under discussion Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims have gathered in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala for the annual Ashura commemoration. They are doing that despite the threat of Sunni extremist attacks.
Iraq’s security forces have deployed tens of thousands of troops to protect the pilgrims, who are observing the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures.
Sunni militants from the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for multiple deadly attacks against Shiites who were traveling to Karbala for Ashura.
Two bomb attacks killed at least four people Tuesday in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region of Khyber.
There has been no claim of responsibility.
Police and eyewitnesses in eastern Pakistan say an angry crowd attacked and beat a married Christian couple to death after accusing them of desecrating a Koran. The mob later burned the bodies in the brick kiln where the victims worked.
The deadly incident took place Tuesday in a town about 60 kilometers southwest of Lahore.
Provincial authorities have launched an investigation and ordered police to increase security at minority Christian neighborhoods across Punjab.
The European Union cut its already low economic growth forecasts further, indicating the recovery in EU countries will remain sluggish.
Officials from the 18-country eurozone say it will grow [by just 8] by just 0.8 percent this year. That’s down from an earlier figure of 1.2 percent.
Pierre Moscovici, the European Union Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, says that France and Italy remain a hindrance to European economic recovery.
And Israel reopened two border crossings with Gaza after closing them for two days. They were closed Sunday after a rocket was fired into Israel from the Palestinian side. There were no injuries.
I’m Ray Kouguell in Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.

Thursday, November 6th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. President Obama reacts to the Republican big midterm election victories. Ukraine stops sending the money to rebel-held regions. I’m Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
President Obama and the leader of the new Republican majority in the Senate are pledging to cooperate in passing legislation, while conceding they are not going always going to reach agreement.
A day after Republicans won control of the Senate and increased their hold on the House of Representatives, Mr. Obama said Wednesday he is certain there are some issues the Republicans and Democrats can work out.
“If there are ideas that the Republicans have that I have confidence will make things better for ordinary Americans, the fact that a Republican is suggesting it, as opposed to a Democrat, that will be irrelevant to me. I want to just see what works.”
Meanwhile, the presumptive Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, says one message of the election is that a politically divided government need not result in continued gridlock in Washington.
“In Washington, I think there are a lot of people who believe that just because you have divided government doesn’t mean you do not accomplish anything.”
Senator McConnell says he will work with President Obama to approve key legislation on international trade pacts and tax reform.
President Obama also at that news conference says the United States and its P5 +1 allies have handed Iran a framework for a nuclear agreement, but says it will be weeks before anyone knows if there will be a deal.
Mr. Obama says the deal would let Iran meet its peaceful energy needs.
President Obama is calling it “a progressive step-by-step verifiable way” for Iran to get out from under crippling sanctions and rejoin the international community.
This is VOA news.
A delegation of West African leaders is in Burkina Faso, trying to defuse a political crisis set off by the departure of longtime President Blaise Compaoré.
A VOA reporter on the scene says the heads of state from Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal arrived in Ouagadougou Wednesday to ask politicians, religious leaders and civil society groups to each name three candidates to lead a transitional government.
Ukraine will be halting the government funding to those areas of its eastern regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the cutoff of funding to parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions will go on as long as they are held by who he describes as “terrorists.”
The self-declared breakaway regions defied Ukraine by holding elections last Sunday meant to assert their autonomy from Kyiv.
A Palestinian man rammed a car into a crowded commuter rail platform in Jerusalem Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least nine others.
Israeli police shot and killed the driver. VOA’s Scott Bobb reports.
The attack occurred midday at a station on Jerusalem’s light railway near the Old City.
Police said the motorist whom they identified as a Palestinian man drove a car into the crowd.
An amateur video showed he was shot to death after he got out of the vehicle and began attacking police cars with a metal bar.
The Israeli minister of internal security, Yitzhak Aharonovich, spoke to the media shortly after arriving on the scene.
He said, “There are injuries, some of them seriously, and they are at a hospital receiving treatment.” He said, “This is the second attack near the light rail and police have spread throughout the city, especially in Arab neighborhoods.”
Scott Bobb, VOA news, Jerusalem.
World press sources tell VOA the health of detained Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian has deteriorated in the past few weeks.
Rezaian has been detained in Iran since July, when he, his wife and two other American journalists were taken into custody in Iran. No formal charges have ever been announced against them.
Rezaian’s wife, a correspondent for the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, was freed on bail about five weeks ago for reasons never made public.
Police in Pakistan have arrested at least 44 people in connection with the killing of a Christian couple who were accused of desecrating a Koran.
It took place in a town about 60 kilometers southwest of Lahore. Police say the man and his wife were beaten to death by an angry mob and then their bodies were burned.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the murder an “unacceptable crime” that a responsible state cannot tolerate.
I’m Ray Kouguell in Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.

Friday, November 7th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. NATO’s new leader brings a message of reassurance to Afghanistan, and Nigeria releases dozens of detainees who have been suspected of having militant connections. I’m Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
The new head of the NATO military alliance has made his first visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, since taking office earlier this year.
Speaking Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Afghans that NATO will continue supporting their country after it withdraws foreign combat troops at the end of this year.
Stoltenberg said the end of the combat mission means “starting a new chapter in which Afghanistan’s future will be in the hands of the Afghan people.”
“Much has been sacrificed over many years to give Afghanistan a chance to succeed. We cannot and we will not allow these gains to be lost. I am here to reaffirm NATO’s commitment to our common efforts for peace and security.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who met with Stoltenberg, said he looks forward to working with the Western alliance in the future.
U.S.-led NATO forces plan to leave a residual force of 12,000 personnel in Afghanistan to provide training and backup for Afghan troops who are continuing to fight a Taliban militant insurgency.
The Nigerian army has released 42 suspected members of Boko Haram after clearing them of involvement in the militant group’s activities.
The 42 men, who include three foreign nationals from Chad, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, had been arrested during military raids over the past three years.
Nigerian army officials turned them over to Borno state governor Kashim Shettima on Tuesday at the state capital.
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The Pentagon says U.S. airstrikes have hit Islamic State militants in Syria who were plotting to attack the United States or Europe.
U.S. Central Command says five Khorasan group targets were struck Wednesday night near Sarmada close to the Turkish border.
Coalition jets struck terrorists and destroyed vehicles, buildings and bomb-making facilities.
A Pentagon official who did not want to be named says one of the targets was a French-born convert to Islam and suspected al-Qaeda bomb-maker, David Drugeon.
No one was able to confirm if Drugeon or any other suspects were killed.
The Pentagon says it took decisive action to protect the U.S. interests and remove the terrorists’ capability to act.
Human rights group Amnesty International says U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic must take bold action to protect civilians from armed fighters. The group says sectarian violence in the African country is escalating. VOA’s Joe DeCapua reports.
Amnesty’s Steve Cockburn says despite U.N. peacekeepers being deployed in September, the killings and displacement of civilians are on the rise.
“Over the last month, we’ve seen the situation deteriorate somewhat in Central African Republic.”
Cockburn is Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for West and Central Africa.
“During our recent mission to CAR, we uncovered a very significant upsurge in violence also in the central area of the country around the town of Bambari and Dekoa, where there’s a really quite a volatile mix of increasingly heavily armed groups.”
CAR has a transitional government that Amnesty International says should play a leading role in ending the violence. But it adds that a lot more international support is needed to do so, including financing, logistics and security.
Joe DeCapua, VOA news, Washington.
The International Criminal Court has announced that it will not prosecute Israel for a 2010 raid on a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza Strip.
Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza were killed by Israeli commandos in that raid.
ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said there is a “reasonable basis” to believe that war crimes were committed by Israel. But he also said the alleged crimes were not of “sufficient gravity to justify further action by the ICC.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it took a “positive note” of the decision. But it said Israel considers the case to be politically motivated and legally unfounded, and regrets what it called the waste of the International Criminal Court’s time and resources.
I’m Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.

Saturday, November 8th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. Fifteen hundred additional U.S. troops for Iraq authorized by President Obama. Four arrested in bombing in northeastern Nigeria. I’m Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
U.S. President Barack Obama is authorizing the U.S. military to deploy up to 1,500 more troops to Iraq as part of the mission to combat Islamic State militants.
Friday’s announcement came after Mr. Obama met with congressional leaders. VOA’s Aru Pande has more.
President Obama on Friday authorized the deployment of an additional 1,500 non-combat troops to Iraq to help train local forces.
Lawmakers heard from top U.S. military commanders who briefed them on the fight against the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria.
Aru Pande, VOA news, the White House.
President Obama will also ask Congress for more than $5 billion to help fund the campaign.
Police in Nigeria say a suicide bomber has killed at least seven people at an ATM, or automated teller machine, in the country’s northeast.
Police say they believe a female suicide bomber carried out the attack Friday and say they have arrested four other suspects.
A police spokesman says at least 10 people were also injured in the blast, which went off at a branch of the First Bank of Nigeria in the town of Azare, in Bauchi state.
In a televised briefing Friday, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, reported Russia has sent a large number of tanks, heavy weapons, ammunitions and soldiers into Kremlin-backed eastern Ukraine.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki Friday [told] said the U.S. condemns the reported advance.
“If confirmed, the United States condemns this most recent incursion into Ukrainian territory. It would be another blatant violation of the Minsk agreement signed by Russia and the separatists.”
This is VOA news.
Japan says discussions are underway for a meeting to take place between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping after the two countries agreed to ramp up dialogue.
In a joint statement released Friday, the two sides agreed to “gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogue” and “make efforts to build political mutual trust.”
Tanzania’s government has denied reported allegations that officials traveling with China’s president last year illegally purchased thousands of kilograms of ivory in the East African nation.
China also has denied the allegations, which were brought by a British-based nongovernmental group called the Environmental Investigation Agency, or EIA.
Speaking with VOA’s Swahili Service Friday, Tanzanian government spokesman Assah Mwambene questioned the timing of the report, saying the relations between Tanzania and China are good and noting that the presidents of both nations have recently visited the other’s country.
According to U.S. government figures, the unemployment rate in America fell to a six-year low of 5.8 percent in October. And also job growth its 56th consecutive month of growth, according to Labor department’s statistics.
Select Muslims prayed at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque without incident Friday, although there were reports of scattered violence between Palestinians and Israeli security forces elsewhere.
VOA correspondent Scott Bobb in Jerusalem says the presence of hundreds of Israeli troops outside al-Aqsa’s compound allowed for midday prayers to go ahead peacefully.
In stocks in the U.S., the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Index all were down. The Dow dropped 18.54 points, or 0.11 percentage points.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers from 21 countries began talks on boosting trade, international investment and economic growth in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation region.
In a speech earlier this week, Secretary of State Kerry said the U.S. and China have agreed to disagree when it comes to human rights.
“That’s why we’ve spoken out about the situation in Hong Kong and human-rights issues elsewhere in China, because respect for fundamental freedoms is now and always has been a centerpiece of American foreign policy.”
National Security Adviser Susan Rice for the U.S. recently met with American and Chinese rights advocates about what they called a “deterioration” of human rights in China.
More on this story at voanews.com 24 hours a day. I’m Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.

Sunday, November 9th, 2014
From Washington, this is VOA news. South Sudan’s Kiir and Machar come to power sharing agreement. Islamic State militant convoy struck by U.S. airstrikes. I’m Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar have reached an agreement on a power sharing formula. The reported deal would establish a national transitional government that would help steer the world’s newest nation to elections.
The other reported agreement would have Mr. Kiir as president and Machar as prime minister. Discussions are still ongoing about positions like a vice president and deputy vice presidents.
The two warring leaders also called on their troops for an immediate cease-fire Friday during the ongoing peace talks in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
U.S. officials say U.S.-led airstrikes hit a convoy of Islamic State militants’ vehicles near the Iraqi city of Mosul Saturday.
The officials say the 10-vehicle convoy was moving near a gathering of Islamic State leaders.
U.S. officials could not confirm whether Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among the leaders thought to be at the meeting or if any of the group’s leaders were wounded or killed.
For weeks, U.S.-led forces have carried out near daily airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq.
In Sudan, reports say an attacker with a knife killed two soldiers guarding a gate at the presidential palace in Khartoum before other troops shot him dead on Saturday.
Press secretary Emad Ahmed tells Reuters news service President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was not in the Republican Palace at the time.
According to Ahmed, [A little while ago] “A little while ago someone attacked soldiers who guarded one of the Gates of the palace.” And he said soldiers shot him dead.
This is VOA news.
Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller are on their way to the U.S. after being detained by North Korea.
The State Department’s announcement of their release Saturday comes less than three weeks after the unexpected release of another American detained in North Korea, Jeffrey Fowle.
President Barack Obama told reporters Saturday the U.S. is “very grateful for their safe return.”
Japan’s foreign minister and his Chinese counterpart have met formally in Beijing for the first time in more than two years.
The two, that is Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China, met in diplomatic efforts to lay the groundwork for a possible summit between the two countries’ top leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, which begins in Beijing on Monday.
In Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the meeting.
“This agreement is a beginning, it’s not an end. It’s the outline of steps that now need to be taken in order to really define how certain tensions are gonna really be resolved. So it’ll be over time that this will be given a little more meat on the bones.”
Also in Beijing, Kerry says the U.S. and Russia have agreed to exchange information about developments in Ukraine.
The World Health Organization says the death toll from the Ebola crisis has risen to 4,960, with more than 13,200 others infected with the disease.
Health officials said while the death toll continues to rise, the rate of increase has declined.
U.S. ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac says while the rate of the increase for Ebola is declining, the international community cannot get overconfident.
“We are not yet on the true downward curve or close to zero. The nature of the epidemic is changing, and so we need to continue to be vigilant.”
In the U.S., New York federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch was nominated by President Obama to join his cabinet as attorney general on Saturday.
Lynch would become the first African-American woman to head the Justice Department if confirmed by the Senate. She would replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.
As he announced the nomination of Lynch Saturday, President Obama said [he thinks] he could think of “no better public servant” for the job.
“It’s pretty hard to be more qualified for this job than Loretta. Throughout her 30-year career, she has distinguished herself as tough, as fair, an independent lawyer who has twice headed one of the most prominent U.S. attorney offices in the country.”
With the president, Lynch pledged that if confirmed by the Senate, she will work every day to safeguard American citizens and their liberties and rights.
I’m Vincent Bruce in Washington.
That’s the latest world news from VOA.