VOA News for 29 July 2013 - 20130729
Channel: ListenAndReadAlong
Date: 2013-07-29

Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text
VOA NEWS  Monday July 29th, 2013
Now the news from the Voice of America.  Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may get back on truck.  Big loss for Shiite minority in Kuwait.  I'm Christopher Cruise reporting live from the VOA news center in Washington.
The American State Department has confirmed to VOA that Israeli and Palestinian leaders will meet in Washington beginning Monday.  It's the first time the two sides have met in 3 years.
Ahead of the planned talks, Israel approved the release of some long-held Palestinian prisoners.  The cabinet vote was 13-7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement Sunday.  He said the decision to release the prisoners was a difficult one for him and the cabinet, but he said difficult decisions are needed in order to achieve peace.
Egypt's capital was calm but tense on Sunday.  Members of the Muslim Brotherhood are angry about the killing of 74 people in shootings on Saturday near a Brotherhood demonstration.  800 people were hurt.
Edward Yeranian reports from Cairo.
Thousands of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi stood their ground Sunday near Cairo University and in front of the Rabaa Adawiya mosque.
Early Sunday, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Abdel-Rahman el-Bar read a message from the group's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie.  He said what happened Saturday was a massacre and blamed secular politicians for the bloodshed.
Edward Yeranian for VOA news, Cairo.
In Syria, rebels have apparently lost control of an important part of the central city of Homs.
State-run television broadcast live images Sunday from an embattled and important neighborhood in the city.  It says Syrian government forces and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon have taken the area from the rebels.  The video showed extensive destruction.   A Syrian activist group confirmed the report.
Kuwait's Shiite minority lost more than half of its seats in parliamentary elections Saturday.  Shiite candidates won just 8 seats in the 50-member parliament.  They had held 17.
Results were released Sunday morning.
You are listening to the news from the Voice of America in Washington.
A mostly peaceful presidential election in Mali on Sunday.  The vote is seen as the first step toward getting things back to normal in the North African country.
VOA correspondent Anne Look has told us that election officials are reporting a record high voter turnout.  She describes the mood in the country as happy.  On Sunday, VOA spoke with the American ambassador to Mali, Mary Beth Leonard, as she visited some voting stations Sunday.
"What I hope for by the end of this day today is to have seen a process that has been peaceful and joyful, as Malians go to the elections that will bring them a democratically elected government who can move forward with them to address the many challenges that face them."
It has been a disastrous 18 months in Mali.  There was a military coup in the south and an Islamist takeover of the north.
Early results from the West African nation of Togo show the ruling party gaining seats in Thursday's parliamentary elections.
Results announced Sunday give the Union for the Republic Party 62 of 91 seats.  That is up from 50 of the 81 seats it has held since 2007.
One family has ruled Togo for almost half a century.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will apparently continue his 28-year-long rule.
A government spokesman said the ruling Cambodian People's Party won 68 seats in the nation's 123-member parliament in elections on Sunday.  However, that is down from the 90-seat majority it had before the election.
The spokesman said the main opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party took the remaining 55 seats, almost doubling the 29 seats it held before the election.
Official results won't be released for weeks, but in an interview with VOA, an official of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia estimated voter turnout at 69 percent, compared to 75 percent in 2008.
And a top South Korean government official says the South wants to talk with North Korea about the now closed Kaesong joint industrial zone.
The South unification minister for cross-border affairs told reporters Sunday he would send an offer for talks to the North on Monday.  He said the South wants the North to accept responsibility for the closure of the area and it wants a guarantee that it will no be closed again.
That's the news at this hour from the Voice of America.  You can read more about these stories and find other news from around the world around the clock at voanews.com.  I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA news, Washington.