VOA NEWS

June 19, 2017

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Michael Brown

reporting.

U.S. officials are contacting relatives of the crew members of

the USS Fitzgerald who died after their warship collided with a
massive merchant vessel off the coast of Japan. Most sailors
were asleep in compartments below the water surface when the
collision caused the water to rush into their ship.
Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin: "The damage was significant.
This was not a small collision. It was right by the pilot's house
and there was a big puncture, a big gash underneath the
waterline also."

None of the 20-member crew of the Philippines flagged

container ship was reported to be inured. The Navy has
launched an investigation into the deadly collision.

A massive forest fire in central Portugal has killed at least 57

people and dozens more are said to be injured in the fire that
erupted amid an intense heat wave and rainless thunderstorm.
This witness said, "It was a very fast fire." She said the wind
blowing very hard and some say there was a kind of tornado
that burned villages.

Officials say hundreds of firefighters have been dispatched to

battle the blaze in the mountainous area about 150 kilometers
northeast of Lisbon.

Taliban insurgents stormed a police headquarters in eastern

Afghanistan, killing more than five people and wounding at
least 20 others. The attack set off fierce clashes and Afghan
officials say the siege is continuing.
A Taliban spokesman claimed the attack killed and wounded
more than 100 security personnel. U.S.-backed Iraqi troops
pushed into the last Islamic State stronghold in Mosul on
Sunday, launching the final major battle of an 8-month
campaign.

Iraq has driven the militants from all but a handful of

neighborhoods. The extremists are expected to make their last
stand in the Old City. French voters are casting their ballots
today in the final round of parliamentary elections. Political
analysts say voters are likely to hand France's new centrist
president, Emmanuel Macron, and his Republic on the Move
party a resounding victory, likely winning more than 400 seats
and the 577-seat National Assembly. This would enable
Macron to push through his promised reforms of France's strict
labor laws and its ailing social security system. British Prime
Minister Theresa May met with survivors of the deadly high-
rise fire at her Downing Street office after being chastised by
protesters and as the death toll continued to rise.

These are residents of the high-rise building among those who

have issues with the prime minister. "She needs to be upfront,
very open and very, you know, very transparent." "I said
human because I was disappointed when I saw. OK. You're
talking to the fire service. You know the official, what about
the people. You need to go out there. Go on, Theresa. Come on.
Look over there. She didn't."
London police are saying at least 58 people were probably
killed in the fire, a figure that includes the 30 who have already
been confirmed dead. Survivors of the building claim that the
fatal fire was due to a lack of maintenance to the tower.

Several thousand protesters marched in Madrid to urge Span's

conservative government to fulfill its pledge to give shelter to
refugees from war-torn countries like Syria. Estrella Moran,
the secretary-general (of the) Spain Commission for Refugee
Assistance, now speaking through an interpreter: "We are in
the streets to demand that our government needs to bring in the
17,337 persons that they promised over two years ago, in July,
the period for the first arrivals ins and on 26 of September, the
second period ins. At the moment, only 7.5 percent of these
persons have been accommodated. There are people in Greece
that are living in inhumane conditions and unhealthy situations.
There are people in Turkey and Lebanon and Palestine that
deserve that we give them a start in a new life."

Spain has taken a fewer than 10 percent of the refugees that

pledged to accept by September. Other countries are falling
short of their pledges as well. A quick recap of our top story at
this hour. The U.S. launching an investigation into the deadly
collision between one of its warships and a massive merchant
vessel off the coast of Japan.
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