From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting.
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At least 25 people were killed in eastern Afghanistan Saturday when a suicide car bomb ripped through a crowd of government soldiers, Taliban insurgents and civilians celebrating Eid al-Fitr. Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
A government spokesman said the bombing also seriously injured at least 50 people.
Saturday's blast coincided with a brief televised announcement from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, praising a mutual cease-fire between government forces and the Taliban and unilaterally extending the period of the government's cease-fire.
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo responded to Ghani's announcement Saturday afternoon with a statement that the United States stands with Ghani and with his offer.
Spain's coast guard says it rescued more than 930 migrants and recovered four dead bodies Friday and Saturday in the Mediterranean Sea. The news comes as Spain prepares for the arrival of the Aquarius rescue ship, which has become the heart of a major dispute within the European Union over how to handle the migration crisis.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Secretary-General Elhadj As Sy says it is regrettable it took so long for the Aquarius to find someone willing to take the migrants.
"We really regret that it is not possible for countries as wealthy, you know, as sophisticated as Europe, you know, not to be able to find a common platform, you know, where they can be responding, you know, effectively."
France [has offered a] has accepted an offer from Spain to take in some of the migrants aboard the Aquarius, which was turned away by Italy and by Malta.
This is VOA news.
The U.N. envoy for Yemen arrived in the rebel-held capital, Sana'a, on Saturday for talks on the key aid port of Hodeida, where Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are fighting a regional coalition.
Martin Griffiths is expected to propose to rebel leaders that they cede control of the Red Sea port to a U.N.-supervised committee in order to avoid further fighting with advancing government troops backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
More than 70 percent of Yemeni imports pass through Hodeida's docks.
The country is already teetering on the brink of famine and Stephen Anderson says it could get worse.
"Any kind of blockage of the free flow of humanitarian food also commercial stocks of particularly food and fuel could have a major impact on people who are already highly vulnerable."
Stephen Anderson of the World Food Program.
The Saudi-backed coalition troops took control Hodeida's airport on Saturday. The rebels have controlled the region with its population of 600,000 people since 2014.
A huge fire gutted one of Scotland's architectural gems, the Mackintosh building at the Glasgow School of Art, and it was still being restored after a previous fire from 2014.
Peter Heath is the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's deputy assistant chief officer for West Scotland.
"... I don't know they can be replaced, but people are safe and now take some comfort."
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said after visiting the site Saturday that the damage to the 1909 masterpiece by Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh was "much, much worse" than four years ago.
Eight people were injured, one seriously, when a taxi drove into a crowd of pedestrians near Moscow's Red Square on Saturday.
The incident took place as residents and visiting soccer fans thronged the center of the Russian capital on a balmy summer evening.
Moscow's traffic management authority said the taxi driver had a license issued in Kyrgyzstan. It cited the driver, who was in police custody, as saying he had not driven into the crowd on purpose.
The city's police said they had opened a criminal investigation into a suspected violation of the traffic code.
And Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras survived a no-confidence motion in parliament Saturday, setting the stage for the signing of a historic accord [with naming] with neighboring Macedonia on a name dispute.
For more, log on to our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington.
