VOA news for Sunday, October 13th, 2013 - 20131013

• Report rights infringement
• published: 13 Oct 2013
• views: 696

VOA news for Sunday 13 Oct 2013 From Washington, this is VOA news. U.S. and Afghan leaders meet into the night and 1000s take shelter in India during a massive cyclone. I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Amid Karzi say they are closer to an agreement on bilateral security but differences remain over the question of immunity for U.S. troops. The 2 officials commented in Kabul late Saturday following extended talks on a possible U.S. presence in Afghanistan after the NATO-led military mission ends next year. Secretary of State Kerry spoke with reporters: the last 24 hours is we have worked hard at these issues. They really have been negotiated over now for more than 11 months. But we have resolved in these last 24 hours the major issues that the President withdrew. We've resolved those issues. The U.S. has been pushing for an agreement with Afghanistan by the end of this month. In Eastern India cyclone Phailin has struck the region with wind speeds of !200 km/hr and incessant rain. Officials have prepared for huge disaster and relief operations to cope with the massive cyclone's as Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi Tens of 1000s of people are housed in shelters waiting for India's deadliest storm in over a decade to pass. More than !10,000,000 people live in the path of the storm in 2 Eastern Indian states, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. About 500,000 people living in villages along the coast were evacuated to shelters set up in schools and government buildings. Others hunkered down in their homes waiting for the cyclone to pass. The storm is expected to be less intense than the massive one which stuck to the region in 1999 causing widespread damage and killing 10,000 people. Vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority Marri Shashidhar Reddy said they have deployed about 60 rescue teams. "State government and their resources will be there. The Army will be there with their resources." Anjana Pasricha for VOA news New Delhi. Iraqi authorities say a car bomb attack in market has killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens of others in central Iraq. Police officials said the Saturday night attack took place when a pickup truck exploded at the entrance of a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in the city of Samarra. At least 30 people were wounded in the attack. There's no immediate claim of responsibility. Authorities in Mali say an overcrowded boat carrying 100s of passengers and goods sank late Friday on the Niger River, leaving at least 20 people dead and about 170 others unaccounted for hours later. Officials say the boat was traveling northward toward the city of Timbuktu when it sank near the town of Konna with an estimated 400 passengers and crew on board. Search efforts were continuing late Saturday. Also on this Saturday, U.S. senators rejected 1 proposal to prevent default and reopen the government and are working on another. Both the House of Representatives and Senate held unusual Saturday sessions with the partial government shutdown in its 12th day and the United States estimated to be 5 days away from not being able to pay all its bills. A Senate motion to debate a Democratic bill to increase the nations borrowing limit through 2014 and the shutdown failed. The plan did not include spending cuts or changes in the President's signature healthcare law which the Republicans want. The U.S. military has fired a General and an Admiral from key leadership roles in nuclear forces for alleged personal misconduct. The Air Force Friday remove Michael Kerry, a 2-Star-General, from his command of the 20th Air Force which includes 100s of land-based nuclear missiles. Officials gave few details about the case but said the dismissal was not operations related . Also this past week, Tim Giardino a 3-Star admiral lost his job as deputy commander of all U.S. nuclear missiles, bombers and submarines. He is under investigation over allegations he used counterfeit poker chips at a casino. Giardino is a career submarine officer who previously commanded a squadron of submarines that can launch missiles from underwater to hit distant targets. The Vatican was forced to recall 1000s of metals struck to commemorate Pope Francis because of a spelling error. The metals, which are often minted for a new Pope, were struck in gold, silver and bronze by the Italian state mint. They went on sale Tuesday. The Vatican said it withdrew 6000 of the flawed metals from sale Tuesday after it was discovered that the name of Jesus was spelled with an L instead of the letter J. Visit us at VOA news.com, 24 hours a day, for all the latest. I'm Vincent Bruce, VOA news, reporting from Washington.