Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text Wednesday, June 25th, 2014 From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, the latest on the Iraq crisis. People fleeing North Waziristan vaccinated against polio. Hello everyone, I'm Steve Norman. The 1st of up to 300 military advisers President Obama committed to help Iraq counter a Sunni militant surge have begun their assessment mission. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters 2 special operations teams-- a total of 40 personnel already working in Iraq-- started their work on Tuesday. He also spoke about U.S. air surveillance over Iraq. "We continue to fly routine and regular ISR missions over Iraq to the tune of about 30- to- 35 flights per day to help us gain better insight about the security situation on the ground. This continued effort will no doubt aid our assessment teams as they begin their important work." The advance of the Sunni militants, al-Qaeda breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has sparked the crisis in Iraq. Meantime, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Tuesday with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani in Kurdistan, hoping to convince him to close ranks with the government in Baghdad to fend off the insurgency. Edward Yeranian reports. Secretary Kerry thanked Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani for helping battle the militants during their meeting. He went on to stress that resolving the current conflict revolves around forming an inclusive new government in Baghdad. "In recent days, the security cooperation between the forces here in the Kurdish area has been really critical to helping to draw a line with respect to ISIL and also to provide some support to the Iraqi security forces." But Mr. Barzani was cautious about cooperating with the Baghdad forces. Edward Yeranian, for VOA news, Cairo. Suspected Islamist militants have carried out another mass kidnapping in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, the same region where more than 200 school girls were abducted by Boko Haram militants in April. They say gunmen killed at least 4 villagers during the attacks. There has been no claim of responsibility. Ukraine says pro-Russian separatists near the Russian border shot down a Ukrainian military helicopter on Tuesday, killing at least 9 servicemen. It happened near the eastern city of Slovyansk less than a day after rebels announced a temporary cease-fire in their push to gain autonomy from the Kyiv government. The truce was to have run parallel to a week-long cease-fire declared by Kyiv on Friday. Gunmen have fired on a Pakistan International Airlines plane as it was landing at the Peshawar airport, killing 1 person and wounding 2 others. That flight arriving from Saudi Arabia was carrying 178 passengers when the incident occurred late Tuesday. Authorities are searching the area around the airport for the gunmen. The World Health Organization reports 100,000s of people fleeing Pakistan's war-torn North Waziristan region are being vaccinated against polio in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading throughout the country. Lisa Schlein has more. The Pakistani government reports more than 435,000 people have fled their homes since it began its military operation against al-Qaeda-linked Taliban forces in North Waziristan 10 days ago. Most are leaving for other parts of Pakistan to live in host communities with family and friends. The Taliban banned polio vaccinations in North Waziristan from June, 2012. WHO polio spokeswoman Sona Bari says there was a huge outbreak of polio in Pakistan during the past year, most of it based in North Waziristan. "This out-flux of the population from North Waziristan is our 1st opportunity to vaccinate these people in 2 years." Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva. In World Cup football action in Brazil on Tuesday, Uruguay defeated Italy, 1-0. Tuesday's other Group D match, Costa Rica and England played to a scoreless draw. And in Group C, Greece defeated Ivory Coast, 2-1, Colombian winning a 4-1 match over Japan. At Wimbledon, Spain's Rafael Nadal slipped and tumbled to the Centre Court turf before beating 51st-ranked Martin Klizan of Slovakia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the 2nd round. That's the latest world news from VOA.

• published: 25 Jun 2014
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