http://192.168.2.6/music/20061015/2006VOA1017.mp3

It's 15:00 Universal Time and here is the news from the Voice of America.

I am David Deforest from the VOA news center in Washington.

Iraqi police say a car bomb has killed at least 10 people and wounded 15 south of Baghdad. The blast took place near a bank in the town of Suwayrah, 50 kilometers from the capital. Suwayrah has a mixed population(s/) of Sunnis and Shiites and is frequently the scene of sectarian violence. Roadside bombs in Baghdad today killed at least 3 people and wounded several others. Authorities also found at least 8 bodies with bullet wounds dumped in the capital area overnight. Meanwhile Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he will wait several months before forcing militias to disarm.

The top American negotiator on North Korea's nuclear program is in Japan for talks as regional countries began new cargo inspections and other sanctions against North Korea. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill meets his Japanese counterpart ahead of a new effort to try to restart the six-nation talks and dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program. Also today Australia's foreign minister said his country has banned all North Korean ships from Australian ports following last week's apparent nuclear test. Later this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Japan and South Korea for talks on persuading the North to return to disarmament negotiations.

Sri Lankan authorities say a suicide bomb attack on a military convoy has killed at least 92 sailors, at least 150 were wounded in the explosion. VOA's Patricia Nunan reports from New Delhi.

Officials in Sri Lanka say a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into a Sri Lankan Naval convoy on Monday near the central town of Habarana, some 190 kilometers northeast to the capital Colombo. The area is a transit point for the Navy which routed personnel in and out of the port city of Trincomalee in the country's northeast. Officials immediately blamed the attack on the Tamil Tiger guerillas who often use suicide bombs and attacked in the past. So far the rebel leadership has not commented on the bombing. The incident comes as the government and the rebels are expected to meet for peace talks in Switzerland at the end of the month, an effort to stop the country from returning to war. Peace talks have been organized periodically in the past two years as 2002 ceasefire shows signs of rambling and a series of attacks by both the government and the rebels. Most meetings were aimed at saving the ceasefire south, while talks to address the underlined differences between the rebels and government have been put on backburner. Patricia Nunan VOA news, New Delhi.

A suicide car bomber has rammed a NATO military convoy in southern Afghanistan. Three Afghan civilians were killed and one NATO soldier and four civilians wounded. The attack took place on an outskirt of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The attacker is also dead. Earlier coalition forces said a predawn raid in central Afghanistan destroyed a bomb making cell and killed three insurgents.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he is ready to meet immediately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the stalled peace process in an address to the Israeli parliament today. Mr. Olmert said he believes Mr. Abbas is a / partner for peace.

News reports from Jerusalem meanwhile are saying Israeli President Moshe Katsav will resign if indicted on charges of rape and sexual assault. On Sunday police investigating him said there is enough evidence for an indictment on charges of rape, sexual assault, illegal wiretaping and fraud. VOA's Jim Teeple has more on this story from Jerusalem.

Talk is growing in Israel's / bringing in peachment charges against Mr. Katsav and pressure is growing on the veteran politician to resign from his post to Israel's head of state. He was elected to the largely ceremonial post in 2000 and his term ends next year. One of Mr. Katsav main duties is to open parliament. His failure to appear at Monday's opening session comes one day after senior police officials recommended that he had been indicted on charges of rape, aggrieved sexual assault, illegal wiretaping and fraud. Mr. Katsav, a veteran politician who is a member of the right-center Likud Party, says he's innocent. His brother / says the president has been blackmailed by a former female employee who worked in the president's office.
/ says his brother is innocent, has been fraud and has been blamed for things that never happened. Jim Teeple VOA news, Jerusalem.

And in Washington I am David Deforest, VOA news.