VOA news for Friday, August 19th, 2016

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• published: 19 Aug 2016
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VOA news for Friday, August 19th, 2016 Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. South Sudan's former first Vice President Riek Machar has fled to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Margaret Besheer takes a look. U.N. Spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that Machar and a small group of people turned up in the DRC on Wednesday. The U.N. mission there, known as MONUSCO, was alerted to his presence and contacted the Congolese government. The government asked them to facilitate the group's transfer from an area near the DRC-South Sudan border to a location inside Congo which the U.N. has not revealed. Asked whether Machar required medical care, Haq said "we have been providing him with whatever medical assistance he needs.” Margaret Besheer, the United Nations. The State Department says U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Nigeria and Saudi Arabia next week to discuss regional issues. A spokesman says Kerry will first go to Nigeria and meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the threat of the terrorist group Boko Haram. The two leaders will also discuss Nigeria's economy and human rights issues. Brazilian police say they might charge U.S. Olympic swimmers with vandalism and giving false testimony after the swimmers admitted they fabricated a story about being robbed at gunpoint. Swimmers Ryan Lochte, Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and James Feigen initially told police they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning on their way back from a party outside Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro. But two of the swimmers, Conger and Bentz, admitted to fabricating the story. The two were detained at the airport late Wednesday while heading back to the United States. The head of the civil police in Rio told reporters security cameras revealed the swimmers actually visited a gas station. This is VOA news. Life-sized naked statues of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump greeted people in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Cleveland Thursday. The statues were created by an artist in Cleveland. The project was put on by a group called INDECLINE Trump's campaign has declined to comment so far. The Russian government says it is ready to support a 48-hour cease-fire in Aleppo to allow aid deliveries. U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has expressed frustration at the continuing violence that is preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need. De Mistura cut short a meeting of the U.N. aid delivery task force Thursday in Geneva and said the group will reconvene next week with what he hoped would be a discussion of action instead of "wishes and promises.” "... to start with Aleppo, a 48 hours pause, that would allow U.N. humanitarian convoys, unhindered, to go via the Castello road to Aleppo ...." : Staffan de Mistura. The Russian prosecutor general's office has added two U.S.-based non-governmental organizations to its list of foreign NGOs whose activities are deemed "undesirable" in Russia. The office said Thursday that the work of the International Republican Institute and the Media Development Investment Fund "poses a threat" to Russia's constitution and security. The Washington-based IRI says its programs are aimed at encouraging democracy. The New York-based MDIF says it "provides financing and assistance to independent news and information businesses.” Australian officials are trying to decide what to do with hundreds of asylum-seekers at a detention center it has agreed to close in Papua New Guinea. Phil Mercer reports. The closure of the Manus Island facility was announced Wednesday in a statement by PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, who said an agreement had been reached after meeting with Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in Port Moresby. The question now is what happens to the 850 men housed at the facility? Senior officials in Canberra say the detention center won't close immediately. And they say the migrants won't be resettled in Australia. Most are from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Phil Mercer, Sydney. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson toured recovery efforts in Louisiana Thursday, where flooding has left at least 13 people dead and thousands displaced. The flooding around Baton Rouge came from record-breaking rains of more than 75 centimeters that began last week. An estimated 40,000 houses have been damaged. From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David DeForest. That's the latest world news from VOA.