VOA news for Thursday, October 8th, 2015

• Report rights infringement
• published: 08 Oct 2015
• views: 1096

Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text Thursday, October 8th, 2015 From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Dave DeForrest reporting. U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized to Doctors Without Borders. The President made the apology for the mistaken bombing of the group's hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last weekend. Doctors Without Borders called Wednesday for an independent panel to produce an investigation of the incident in which 22 people were killed. Jason Cone is the organization's executive director: "The attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz was the biggest loss of life for our organization in an airstrike. 10s of 1000s of people in Kunduz can no longer receive medical care now when they need it most.” Meanwhile, U.S. officials are probing whether the military exceeded its authority for use of force in Afghanistan in launching the airstrike. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says 4 of his warships have fired 26 cruise missiles at 11 IS targets in Syria. He says the targets were destroyed without causing civilian casualties. The 4 ships are located in the Caspian Sea. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning Israelis to be on "maximum alert" for more violence and trouble. The warning follows several Palestinian knife attacks against Jews Wednesday. Netanyahu canceled a trip to Germany to deal with a surge in Palestinian violence. Suicide bombers targeted a town in northeast Nigeria on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people. Nigeria's Emergency Management Agency says 3 bombers set off explosives in the town of Damaturu in Yobe state. Witnesses say 1 of the early-morning attacks was near a mosque. Another was in a housing development. At least a dozen people were taken to hospital for injuries. No 1 has claimed responsibility. This is VOA news. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande are calling for unity across Europe to address a refugee crisis. In speeches to the European Parliament Wednesday in Strasbourg, both leaders said more cooperation is needed to settle 10s of 1000s of migrants and refugees. Meanwhile, the European Union started a new operation in the southern Mediterranean Sea Wednesday to intercept human trafficking boats. U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says she does not support the new Trans-Pacific Partnership. The United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim nations completed years of negotiations and signed the agreement on Monday. Even though Clinton advocated the pact when she was secretary of state, she now says the TPP does too little to protect U.S. workers from the impact of currency manipulation by other nations. Iran's top leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has banned any further direct talks with the United States. Addressing Revolutionary Guard commanders in Tehran Wednesday, Khamenei said direct negotiations with the U.S. open[s] the way for what he called U.S. "penetration" of the Islamic Republic. Pakistan's highest court Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a provincial governor for criticizing the country's blasphemy law. Ayaz Gul reports. Human rights activists like Tahira Abdullah have hailed the court ruling. "They have upheld the principle of not condoning anyone taking the law into their own hands, and doing a vigilante killing.” Activists insist the blasphemy law is often used to settle personal disputes, particularly in rural parts of Pakistan. Angry mobs or religious fanatics in the country have killed dozens of people over allegations of blasphemy in recent years. Ayaz Gul, Islamabad. The top U.N. diplomat in the Democratic Republic of Congo is urging the government there to take all necessary measures to ensure national elections happen on time next year and are transparent, credible and inclusive. Margaret Besheer has more. In Martin Kobler's final briefing Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council, he said political 10sions are running high ahead of the scheduled November 2016 legislative and Presidential elections. He warned human rights violations are increasing, with more than 2,200 recorded violations this year affecting more than 5,000 people. He said state agents committed half of these abuses. Margaret Besheer, the United Nations. On Wall Street, U.S. stock indexes were up today. European markets were up on Wednesday. Asian markets closed the day higher. In Washington, I'm Davie DeForrest. That's the latest world news from VOA.