From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting.

Hurricane Matthew is pounding the Bahamas as it moves forward toward Florida, where President Obama has declared a state of emergency.

Florida's Governor Rick Scott says Matthew will likely retain its Category 4 classification with sustained winds of 205 kilometers per hour when it hits the state late Thursday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami describes the storm as "extremely dangerous."

A senior U.N. official warns that eastern Aleppo could be obliterated by Christmas unless Russia and Syria halt the relentless bombing there. Lisa Schlein reports.

U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura says eastern Aleppo's 275,000 people are hanging on by a thread and ability of the city to survive the constant aerial bombardment of the past few weeks is in doubt.

He warns Aleppo may be "totally destroyed" if the battling continues over the next two and one half months. He says thousands of people will be killed and many wounded. He says thousands of others may flee and become refugees.

Lisa Schlein, Geneva.

Meanwhile, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman warned the United States against launching airstrikes on Syrian army positions, saying those could be a threat to Russian military personnel.

He pointed out that two Russian military bases in Syria are now protected by surface-to-air missile systems.

In Washington, a State Department official said despite the warning, the United States will continue holding deliberations about military options in Syria.

The United Nations Security Council Thursday approved António Guterres as the next U.N. secretary-general by acclamation.

This is VOA news.

The European Union on Thursday announced the creation of a new cooperative Border and Coast Guard Agency that will patrol its external borders. The agency will have to deal with the influx of refugees coming from the Middle East and Africa.

It will complement independent border police in each of the 28 nations that make up the bloc, and work with those agencies to "quickly identify and address any potential security threats to the EU's external border."

The heads of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank say the benefits of trade must be shared more widely, or a rising tide of protectionism will hurt the world economy.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde spoke to reporters Thursday in Washington. "If you look at the level of growth that has helped China, that has helped countries like India, and other low-income countries to pull themselves out of massive poverty, it has been usually beneficial on an aggregate global basis."

But Lagarde said too many people feel they have been left behind at a time of weak global economic growth. She urged action on policies that work for all.

New public opinion polls in the United States show support for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is dwindling. As a third party candidate, he didn't have much support anyway. But after a string of verbal gaffes, even he admitted his chances of winning are all but nil.

The latest compilation of polls in the U.S. by Real Clear Politics shows Johnson with only 7.1 percent support, far behind Democrat Hillary Clinton at 43.9 and Republican Donald Trump at 40.7.

Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif is warning India any military aggression in Kashmir will not go unpunished.

"While Pakistan wants good relations with all its neighbors, no one should make any mistakes about our collective resolve to defend our motherland."

India says it's foiled an attack by suspected rebels near an army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The United Nations is expressing concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation for civilians trapped in the Afghan city of Kunduz.

Street-to-street fighting for control of the provincial capital was reported for a fourth day Thursday. Taliban insurgents began an offensive earlier this week to take the city.

A new survey shows a majority of people in China are concerned that territorial disputes with neighboring countries could lead to a military conflict. The Pew Research center released the findings Wednesday.

China has been locked in a long-running dispute with countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia over territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The Pew survey showed 59 percent of Chinese people had some concern about the dispute resulting in a conflict.

In Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.