Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text Sunday, July 27th, 2014 From Washington, this is VOA news. Israel extends Saturday's cease-fire. U.S. suspends embassy operations in Libya. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington. Israel is extending Saturday's cease-fire in Gaza another 24 hours through Sunday at midnight local time. An Israeli official says the United Nations asked for the extension of the 12-hour truce and the cabinet agreed. The official says Israel would respond to Hamas rocket fire during the extension and will continue to search for and destroy tunnels Hamas uses to smuggle in weapons and fighters. Hamas is rejecting the extension, saying Israel 1st has to withdraw its forces from Gaza. Hamas militants fired several rockets into Israel shortly after the original 12-hour cease-fire ended. Israeli forces did not respond. The United States has moved its staff from the U.S. embassy in Libya to neighboring Tunisia, suspending operations temporarily. In a Saturday statement, the State Department also recommended that U.S. citizens in Libya depart immediately. VOA's State Department correspondent Scott Stearns. Secretary Kerry says the United States is suspending diplomatic activities in Libya because of what he calls "freewheeling militia violence" in Tripoli. "A lot of the violence is around our embassy but not on the embassy, but nevertheless it presents a very real risk to our personnel.” Kerry says diplomatic staff were evacuated overland to Tunisia, from where they will move on to other locations to continue efforts to ease violence in Libya. "We are deeply committed and remain committed to the diplomatic process in Libya.” The security of American personnel in Libya is a sensitive political issue for the Obama administration since the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that killed 4 Americans including ambassador Chris Stevens. Scott Stearns, VOA news, Paris. The United Nations' new human rights envoy to Myanmar, also known as Burma, says camps housing 10,000s of homeless Muslims are "deplorable.” Yanghee Lee spoke to reporters in Yangon Saturday at the end of her 1st official 10-day visit to the country. She said many Muslims living in camps for the dispossessed do not have access to basic services. Lee said she has gotten disturbing reports of people dying because of a lack of emergency medical care and treatment for preventable diseases. The 2nd "black box" has been recovered from the site of the Air Algerie plane crash Thursday in Mali. U.N. officials announced Saturday that the 2nd flight data recorder was recovered safely and will improve the chance they can determine the cause for the plane to go down. 118 people on board were killed. Ukraine troops reportedly continued a military assault on the eastern city of Donetsk on Saturday. Kyiv government's national security spokesman told reporters that Ukrainian troops were bearing down on the city. That agreed with reports by U.S. officials. President Barack Obama met with leaders of 3 Central American nations on Friday to ask for their help in stemming the flow of 1000s of unaccompanied minors to the southern U.S. border. VOA White House correspondent Luis Ramirez has a report. President Obama told the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras it is not a lack of compassion, but an obligation to obey immigration laws that is prompting the U.S. to turn back many of those coming to this country's borders. The U.S. President asked the leaders to do their part. "All of us recognize that we have a shared responsibility to address this problem.” Under U.S. law, those who come and seek asylum are given due process, meaning the courts decide whether they can stay or not. The migrants make the dangerous journey across Mexico in the belief that they will get residency permits-- a hope that is encouraged by human smugglers. Luis Ramirez, VOA news, at the White House. President Obama has criticized what he calls "a small but growing group" of big corporations that are fleeing the country to avoid paying taxes. Speaking in his weekly address Saturday, Obama said these companies are keeping most of their business inside the United States, but they are "basically renouncing their citizenship," declaring they are based somewhere else to avoid paying "their fair share" of taxes. In the Republican address, Congressman Steve Daines of Montana said President Obama is waging a war on the middle class. Daines called on the Senate to pass House-approved jobs bills. The White House and Senate are controlled by Democrats, the House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans. Lebanese security forces reportedly have preempted an assault plan by Syrian jihadists. Security officials say the planned attack would have been on predominantly Shiite Muslim villages in the Bekaa Valley. I'm Vincent Bruce in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA.

• published: 27 Jul 2014
• views: 1