VOA News for 09 June 2013 - 20130609
Channel: ListenAndReadAlong
Date: 2013-06-09

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VOA NEWS 
Sunday June 9th, 2013 
From Washington, this is VOA news.  The U.S. and China agree North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons.  At least 20 are killed in violence in northeastern Syria.  I'm Vincent Bruce reporting from Washington.
A top U.S. official says President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have agreed that North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons program.
National security adviser Tom Donilon said the leaders also agreed at an informal summit that neither country will accept North Korea as a nuclear state.
Newly-appointed Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi told reporters Saturday that President Xi had told Mr. Obama that Beijing and Washington were in agreement on the North Korean nuclear issue.
Both advisers spoke to reporters as the leaders of the world's two largest economies ended a two-day informal summit in the state of California Saturday.
Witnesses in Nigeria say at least 21 people have been killed in the northeastern city of Maiduguri in the past two days, as government forces press their offensive against Boko Haram militants.
The government says at least eight militants were killed in the embattled city on Thursday.  The Friday killings were described as an apparent retaliation against local government vigilantes who had helped government troops identify militants.
Western and Nigerian news reports say militants smuggled weapons used in the Friday attacks past security checkpoints [by securing] by hiding them in a coffin.
In Libya on Saturday, at least 25 people were killed and many others were wounded in clashes between protesters and militias with ties to Libya's military in the eastern coastal city of Benghazi.
Central Benghazi hospital al-Jala said there were 25 bodies in its mortuary after several hours of clashes Saturday evening.  There were also more than 50 wounded.
Officials say violence erupted after protesters stormed a base belonging to the Libya Shield brigade, a militia reportedly aligned with the Defense Ministry.  The militia is made up of rebels who had fought to oust former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
More details on these stories at voanews.com.
Former South African President Nelson Mandela was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital early Saturday for complications linked to a new lung infection.
Mac Maharaj, a spokesman for South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, expressed optimism that Mandela will survive.
"They report this morning that his condition is serious, but stable, and he's receiving expert medical care.  Doctors are doing everything possible to make him comfortable and to get better."
The condition of Mr. Mandela, who will be 95 in July, has worsened recently since he was hospitalized in April with pneumonia, later released apparently recovered.
In Afghanistan, a man dressed in an Afghan military uniform Saturday shot and killed three Americans in Paktika province.  VOA's Sharon Behn has a report.
A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against coalition troops in the eastern Afghanistan province of Paktika, killing two U.S. soldiers and one U.S. civilian.
ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Quenton Roehricht says the attack was one of two incidents that took place on Saturday.  In the second, an Italian soldier was killed.
"At the Paktika incident those killed were Americans, in the second incident in Farah, the service member killed was an Italian."
Insider attack cases, where those in Afghan military or in police uniform turn their guns against their international counterparts, have become increasingly frequent.
The attacks threaten to undermine trust between the forces as coalition troops hand over control to Afghan security forces ahead of the final U.S.-led combat troop withdrawal in 2014.
Sharon Behn, VOA news, Islamabad.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has ordered the closure of all pipelines carrying oil from South Sudan.
Mr. Bashir [told public] told public rally in the capital Khartoum on Saturday that the move was in response to South Sudan's funding of rebels fighting his regime.
Thousands of Turkish protesters took to the streets Saturday for a ninth consecutive day, defying Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call to end the anti-government demonstrations.
The demonstrators settled into Istanbul's central Taksim Square for several more days of protests.
At least ten people have been reported killed in a second day of heavy fighting between rival militias in the key Somali port of Kismayo.
Once again one of the top items at this hour, U.S. and China officials agree North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons program.
I'm Vincent Bruce, VOA news, reporting from Washington.