From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Tommie McNeil reporting.

Speaking about the ongoing military bombardment of Ghouta, the regional director of the International [Red Committee] Committee of the Red Cross in the Middle East now says, "Aid workers should not have to risk their lives to deliver assistance" after heavy fighting impeded efforts to get aid to people trapped there.

Robert Mardini said his group was "taken aback by the fighting that broke out despite guarantees from the parties involved in this conflict that humanitarian aid could enter" towns of Douma and eastern Ghouta.

Eastern Ghouta has been besieged since 2013 but a relentless assault over the past three weeks has seen the Syrian army capture half of the territory and it's estimated to have killed nearly 1,000 people.

The intensity of the assault has drawn international condemnation and demands by U.N. agencies for a humanitarian halt in the fighting.

They've only been able to get a fraction of much needed food and medical supplies into the area where an estimated 400,000 people are trapped.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his main ally Russia say the campaign in eastern Ghouta is needed to end rebel shelling of Damascus and the rule of Islamist insurgents of the area's civilians.

Capturing the enclave will be the latest in a string of victories for the Syrian regime since Russian jets entered the fray three years ago and it will be the biggest blow against rebels since they were driven from Aleppo in December, 2016.

That's Reuters David Doyle reporting.

Britain is expected to hold a second meeting of its national emergencies committee Saturday in response to nerve agent attack on a Russian former spy. The March 4th attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southwest of England, is being treated as attempted murder.

Both are said to be in critical condition.

This is VOA news.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson canceled his Saturday events in Kenya to recover from an extraordinary busy schedule. He was said to have not been feeling well. He is expected to resume events Sunday.

On Friday, he said the political reconciliation between Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga is a very positive step. He said that Kenya's leadership has its responsibilities to its people which have been neglected in recent months.

"We believe that there are actions that need to be taken in Kenya and that they need to correct certain actions like shutting down TV stations and threatening the independence of the courts."

Other topics of discussion during Tillerson's meeting with Kenyatta were defeating terrorism and neighboring Somalia political unrest and South Sudan and strengthening U.S.-Kenya business relations.

The White House says that the United States has made "zero concessions" in agreeing to face-to-face talks between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The White House is insisting that Mr. Trump's surprise acceptance of Kim invitation to meet resulted from months of preparation that involved relevant U.S. government agencies.

U.S. Naval War College national security scholar Tom Nichols on whether the Trump administration is actually prepared for those talks.

"Talking always better than fighting. But talking requires a lot of preparation and there is no evidence, first of all, that there was preparation here. And second there is nothing that North Koreas have done to merit this except to be the rogue nation they are. Usually summits with the president of the United States are a sign of great seriousness and stature and a reward often for having good relations with the United States."

France and India have signed agreements intended to boost cooperation in the nuclear energy, space, trade and defense sectors.

The French President Emmanuel Macron's office said that the contacts were about $16 billion.

Partial results early Saturday in Sierra Leone's new president show no one has a strong enough majority so far to Wednesday's polls as election observers criticized the country's police for intimidating opposition members before and after the vote.

Presidential candidate needs more than 55 percent of the vote to win in the first round or else there will be a runoff between the top two candidates.

California officials have released identities of the gunman and the three hostages he killed Friday at a veterans facility in northern California.

The suspect has been identified as 36-year-old Albert Wong and the people killed were 48-year-old Christine Loeber, 42-year-old Jen Golick and 29-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez.

That's the latest world news from VOA.