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VOA news for Friday, June 26th, 2015
From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Forrest reporting. The Islamic State launches two attacks in Syria.
Fifty people have been reported killed in Syria after Islamic State militants captured part of the northern city of Hasaka. Witnesses also report extremists executed 20 people near the town of Kobani. Edward Yeranian has more.
Civilians fled fighting Thursday in the northeastern Syrian provincial capital, Hasaka, as Islamic State militants made inroads into the city.
Syrian government forces control southern portions of the city and Kurdish militia fighters control regions to the north.
Rami Abdel Rahman of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights insists the battle for Hasaka continues.
He says that Islamic State has taken control of part of the city of Hasaka for the first time but that fighting and clashes are continuing.
Edward Yeranian, Cairo.
A senior U.S. administration official says nuclear negotiators may not reach final agreement with Iran by a June 30 deadline.
The official said negotiators are expected to be at least "close" to an agreement on the 30th.
The president of Nigeria will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama next month. The men will discuss the fight against the militant group Boko Haram as well as other issues.
The White House said Thursday Mr. Obama will host President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House on July 20.
Pakistan has rejected Afghan allegations that an officer of its intelligence agency was involved in a recent attack on the Afghan parliament.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country is committed to having good relations with Afghanistan.
This is VOA news.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has begun Thursday's round of talks with Greece's creditors in Brussels in hopes of achieving a bailout agreement to save Greece from default next week.
Wednesday's round of meetings with eurozone ministers ended early on Thursday morning but no agreement was in place.
Here is Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis: "Interestingly, several colleagues disagreed and criticised not only our text but also the text of the institutions. We decided as a euro group that we shall continue our deliberations.”
Greece must make a nearly $2 billion loan payment to the International Monetary Fund by next Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Barack Obama a major victory Thursday, rejecting a legal challenge to the new U.S. health care law.
The high court voted 6-3 to affirm the legal status of the Affordable Care Act, more popularly known in the United States as ObamaCare.
President Obama spoke following the court's ruling.
"But as the dust has settled, there can be no doubt that this law is working. It has changed, and in some cases saved, American lives. It set this country on a smarter, stronger course." :President Obama.
The U.N. humanitarian chief says there is still time to avert a potential famine in Yemen but aid supplies must be allowed into the country. Margaret Besheer has more.
The humanitarian situation in Yemen continues its downward spiral.
Health facilities report more than 2,800 people killed and 13,000 injured since Saudi-led airstrikes began in late March to aid the government against Houthi rebels who have seized several cities and driven Yemen's president into exile.
The country, already one of the poorest in the Arab world, imported 90 percent of its goods before the conflict. A Saudi blockade of Yemen's ports has made it nearly impossible to get fuel, food and other urgently needed supplies to the 80 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance.
Margaret Besheer, the United Nations.
This week's high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials underscores the two countries' uneasy relationship despite an effort to build better ties.
During the talks, the two countries made efforts to move forward on environmental issues and concerns about the value of Chinese currency. But they found little common ground on such issues as Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and cyber attacks targeting the American government and businesses.
On Wall Street, U.S. stock indexes down at the close of trade today. European markets were mixed. And on Thursday, Asia markets closed down.
From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David Forrest.
That's the latest world news from VOA.
