VOA News for Sunday, August 11th, 2013 - 20130811
Channel: ListenAndReadAlong
Date: 11/08/2013

VOA NEWS Sunday August 11th, 2013
From Washington this is VOA news. 
Scores dead in Iraq bombings and militants claim Israel launches drone strike in Sinai.
 I'm Bill Michaels reporting from Washington.
At least 61 people have been killed in a wave of car bombings in Iraq in what appears to be coordinated strikes on people celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. 
Iraqi officials say most of Saturday's bombings took place in daylight with attackers targeting busy markets, cafes and places where families had gathered to mark the end of the holiday.
Police say at least 150 people were wounded.
U.S. State Department condemned in the strongest possible terms the cowardly attacks today in Baghdad.
Spokeswoman  Jan Psaki in a statement late Saturday said the attacks were aimed at families and called the perpetrators "enemies of Islam."
Psaki  also reiterated the ten million dollar reward offered for information that helps authorities kill or capture Iraq's purported al-Qaeda leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who US authorities say is hiding in nearby Syria.
An Islamist militant group active in Egypt's northern Sinai region says an airstrike that killed at least four of its fighters was carried out by an unmanned aircraft or drone based in Israel.
A statement in the name of the militants seen on the jihadist website Saturday said the drone attacked Friday as Arab fighters were preparing to fire rockets into Israel
The group is known in some quarters as  Ansar Jerusalem.. 
It was not clear how the militants determined the attack came from Israel. 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is recovering after undergoing hernia surgery late Saturday.
His office said the surgery took about an hour and Mr. Netanyahu is expected to be released from hospital today.
The United States is reopening 18 of its embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa today, more than a week after they were closed due to a security threat.
The U.S. closed the facilities a week ago following a worldwide alert that said al-Qaeda could be planning attacks.
The alert was issued after U.S. intelligence intercepted electronic conversations in which the al-Qaeda chief in Pakistan ordered the head of its branch in Yemen to carry out an attack.
The two terrorists did not specify exactly where and when the attacks would take place. 
U. S. President Barack Obama and his family left Saturday for an eight day vacation on the upscale resort island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. 
Mr. Obama takes with him the burdens of the Presidency and criticism.
VOAs Kent Klein filed this report. 
Many opposition Republicans are criticizing Mr. Obama for going to Martha's Vineyard.
Kenneth Walsh, the author of the History of Presidential Retreats titled from Mount Vernon to Crawford,  says the opulence of Martha's Vineyard could present an image problem for the President while many Americans are still struggling to recover from the recession.
A very upscale place that most American couldn't afford really to go to in a 7 million dollar estate he'll be renting. 
A recent poll by Fox News shows Americans are evenly divided over whether Mr. Obama deserves to take time off. 
The poll also shows that an overwhelming majority do not believe members of Congress deserve a vacation. 
Congress is on a five week recess.
Kent Klein, VOA news, the Whitehouse.
Voters in Mali head to the polls today to choose a President that most hope will lead  the country out of eighteen months of civil strife and political crisis. 
The election, the country's first since two thousand seven, is seen as crucial to unlocking nearly four billion dollars in promised international aid that was suspended after a military coup last year plunged the country into chaos. 
China has fined six largely foreign infant formula firms a total of one hundred and eight million dollars in one of the biggest  antitrust penalties.
VOAs Bill Ide has more from Beijing. 
China's has fined infant formula companies from the United States, France, New Zealand and one Chinese firm following a five month investigation into their business practices by the country's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission.
Those penalized include U.S. firm Meade Johnson, which was fined thirty three million.
Dumex, a subsidiary of France's Danone, was fined nearly twenty eight million.
The investigators say the fines were based on the company's sales last year and their cooperation with the investigation.
Bill Ide for VOA news Beiging.
And for more on these stories and all the day's news visit our website VOAnews dot com.
Reporting from Washington, I'm Bill Michael's VOAnews.