A car bomb exploded in the Hodan district headquarters of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Monday causing massive destruction. At least six people were killed, 16 injured.
The al-Shabab terrorist group claimed responsibility via social media.
At least two people have been killed and ten injured in an attack on the headquarters of Libya's state oil firm Monday. The building is near the center of the capital, Tripoli. It caught fire but was quickly surrounded by security forces.
It's the first attack of its kind on Libya's national oil corporation headquarters.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
More than a hundred migrants died when two rubber boats carrying them failed in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya earlier this month.
The international aid agency, Doctors Without Borders, said in a report on its website Monday that most of the migrants were from Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Libya, Algeria and Egypt.
Survivors being treated by the aid group said one of the boats had engine failure while the other sprang a leak and began to sink.
The U.N. said Monday that 30,000 people have fled their homes in northwest Syria this month to escape an assault by the government and allied forces on Idlib, the last region of the country still under the control of rebels.
The combined forces of Syria and Russia have increased their bombardment of Idlib province and parts of nearby Hama over the past few days. The region is held by anti-government groups associated with al-Qaeda as well as rival factions.
And North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a letter requesting a second meeting with President Trump.
The White House said the letter was "very warm and very positive."
This is VOA news.
The Trump administration said Monday that it would refuse to cooperate "in any way" with the International Criminal Court in The Hague if the court carries out an investigation into allegations of war crimes by U.S. military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan.
National Security Adviser John Bolton spoke to the conservative Federalist Society in Washington. He said the court should not have jurisdiction over Americans or people from other nations that did not ratify the treaty that created the court.
"I want to deliver a clear and unambiguous message on behalf of the president of the United States. The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court. We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. And we certainly will not join the ICC."
Swedish political parties have begun what may be weeks of negotiations to form a government after voters delivered a hung parliament in Sunday's election.
Russia will hold its largest military drills in almost 40 years beginning Tuesday in eastern Siberia.
China is planning to join the Russian military exercises for the first time.
The International Committee of the Red Cross reports some signs indicate South Sudan's recent peace agreement is holding and may lead to a sustainable end to years of conflict.
Correspondent Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from ICRC headquarters in Geneva.
The ICRC global director of operations, Dominik Stillhart, has just returned from a week-long mission to South Sudan. He says the impact of five years of war is widespread, palpable and will not be easily overcome.
At the same time, he says there appears to be some reason for hope for improvement in the war-ravaged country. He notes a significant decrease in violence since President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar signed a cease-fire agreement on August 2.
Parts of North Carolina and South Carolina are being evacuated now as a Category 4 hurricane heads from the U.S. East Coast with winds up to 195 kilometers an hour.
South Carolina's governor on Monday ordered the state's entire coastline to evacuate and predicted that [as nearly as] nearly as many as a million people would flee.
The U.S. military said Monday it has sent an advance team to an emergency operations center in North Carolina, and troops have already received orders to prepare to deploy to Virginia, and South and North Carolina.
You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA news.
<
