Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text VOA news for Saturday, January 18th, 2014 From Washington, this is VOA news. A suicide bombing in Kabul takes at least 13 lives. President Obama introduces change to the U.S. intelligence process. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington. Kabul's chief of police tells VOA's Afghan service that 13 or 14 people are dead in an attack on a Lebanese restaurant frequented by foreigners, officials and business people. Afghan officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the restaurant Friday in the Afghan capital and that two gunmen entered the establishment and opened fire. The gunmen also were killed. Sediq Sediqi is Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman: "There were apparently, according to our primary investigation, three terrorists-- one was able to explode the explosives that he had brought with him and two others were trying to enter the restaurant. They were faced with the security guards in the area, two of them have been killed, one was able to explode the explosives." The Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident. More on this story at voanews.com. President Barack Obama Friday announced an overhaul of electronic surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency, including changes to a program that collects huge amounts of data from telephone calls by Americans and foreigners. Senior White House correspondent Dan Robinson reports. Mr. Obama reviewed 46 recommendations covering everything from NSA's collection of so-called metadata from communications links worldwide to direct surveillance of foreign leaders-- an issue that caused major rifts between the U.S. and key allies. "The task before us now is greater than simply repairing the damage done to our operations or preventing more disclosures from taking place in the future. Instead, we have to make some important decisions about how to protect ourselves and sustain our leadership in the world, while upholding the civil liberties and privacy protections that our ideals and our Constitution require." Effective immediately, the National Security Agency will be required to get the court's permission before accessing phone records collected from hundreds of millions of Americans, except in emergency situations. Dan Robinson, VOA news, the White House. Syria's government says it has given Russia a plan for a cease-fire in the country's largest city of Aleppo and an exchange of prisoners with Syrian rebels. Syria's foreign minister said during his visit to Moscow Friday he had turned over the proposals in preparation for next week's peace talks with rebels. The move comes as Syria's main Western-backed opposition coalition is meeting in Istanbul to vote on whether to attend next week's peace talks in Geneva. Opposition leaders so far have refused to attend talks without a prior commitment that President Bashar al-Assad will step down. ASEAN foreign ministers have concluded the first-ever high-level meeting hosted by Myanmar, also known as Burma, since the once-isolated country joined the grouping in 1997. The Burmese foreign minister told reporters in the town of Bagan the participants discussed topics of regional importance Friday, including maritime territorial disputes between China and the ASEAN members-- Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. In Bangkok, at least 28 people were wounded in an explosives attack against anti-government protesters Friday. Ron Corben reports from Bangkok. Friday's midday attack wounded protesters who were marching with movement leader Suthep Thaugsuban, and followed a series of bombings in recent days against the anti-government camp. Earlier Friday pro-government "Red Shirt" supporters attacked a protest site 20 kilometers from the city center. Since the anti-government protests began in November, at least eight people have died including two police officers. Since the "Bangkok Shutdown" marches began this week, sporadic violence mostly occurred late at night. Friday's incident is the first targeting daytime marches. Ron Corben, Bangkok, Thailand. Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders has suspended activities in the South Sudanese state capital after what it calls the looting of its compound. Also, a report in a medical journal says South Africa has released patients with a highly drug resistant form of tuberculosis into the general population. The Internet giant Google reportedly is testing a possibility of a smart contact lens that could visually alert patients of low blood sugar levels. A new report by the U.S. surgeon general warns that smoking cigarettes causes more health problems than previously thought. That study released Friday follows the 50th anniversary of the surgeon general's landmark report that first confirmed smoking causes lung cancer. The latest report said smoking can cause conditions such as liver and colorectal cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and even erectile dysfunction.

• published: 18 Jan 2014
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