From Washington,this is VOA News.

Rebels and Iraqi police in the volatile Anbar province say the Iraqi government has lost control of the city of Fallujah to al-Qaida militants after days of fighting.

The al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which is active in both countries, has pushed police out of the city center.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the country's forces will not retreat from Anbar province until they "eliminate" al-Qaida militants.

Witnesses said the militants cut power lines in the city late Friday and ordered residents not to use backup generators.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he is making progress on the Middle East peace process, but more work is still needed.

Kerry spoke after meeting Saturday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the second time in two days in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He hopes Israeli and Palestinian leaders can soon agree on a framework peace deal.

Kerry said the peace negotiators are beginning to "flesh out the toughest hurdles yet to be overcome." Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said failure is not an option for Palestinians.

Several hundred protesters had marched through the streets Friday to denounce the peace talks as a delay tactic.

Kerry has also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman during his visit to the region. He told the leaders a framework deal would narrow differences between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators and provide guidelines for permanent agreements.

South Sudan's warring factions have opened peace talks in Ethiopia, as violence continues in at least two regions of South Sudan.

Representatives for President Salva Kiir and ex-vice president Riek Machar took part in opening ceremonies for talks on Saturday.

Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti says the two sides will begin face-to-face negotiations in Addis Ababa on Sunday, following days of delays.

Bangladesh is holding parliamentary elections Sunday, despite an opposition voter boycott and pre-election violence said to include arson attacks on 100 polling stations and injuries to at least 20 poll workers and police officers.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party is urging voters to stay home from what it called a "farcical" election, while the ruling Awami League candidates run unopposed in more than half of the country's constituencies.

The Dhaka Tribune newspaper, in a report early Sunday, said a polling officer in the northern district of Thakurgaon was beaten to death hours earlier at a polling center and that 10 others were wounded and hospitalized.

The U.S. Coast Guard says one of its vessels is responding to a request from Australia, Russia and China to assist two ships trapped in ice in the Antarctic.

The Coast Guard said Saturday its icebreaker, the Polar Star, is cutting short a planned stop in Sydney to assist the Russian research ship Akademik Shokalskiy and the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon.

In a statement, U.S. military officer Paul Zukunft said the Coast Guard's top priority is "safety of life at sea." He said that is the reason the Coast Guard will help to break a navigational path for both trapped ships.

The Akademik Shokalskiy has been stuck in ice since December 24. A helicopter from the Snow Dragon airlifted all 52 passengers from the Russian ship on Thursday to the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis.

A group of nuns in Spain got quite the New Year's surprise when they checked their answering machine and realized they had missed a call from the pope.

Leaving a message for them in Spanish, Pope Francis asked jokingly, "What are the nuns doing that they can't answer the phone?"

News reports note Francis did call back and talked to the nuns that evening — New Year's Eve.

For more of these stories, visit geilien.cn.

From Washtington.I'm Bill Michales.

VOA News.