VOA news for Sunday, November 16th, 2014

Thanks to http://gandalf.ddo.jp/ for audio and text Sunday, November 16th, 2014 From Washington, this is VOA news. World leaders pledge to boost the global economy, and Ukraine shuts down government institutions in pro-Russian areas. I'm David Byrd reporting from Washington. World leaders are preparing to issue a communiqué at the Group of 20 summit in Australia that is aimed at reviving the global economy. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said Saturday that increasing the global gross domestic product by 2 percent will help inject around $2 trillion into the world economy. "This is our message to the world that governments can deliver, that governments can agree, that the world can be better, that there can be higher jobs, higher growth and more jobs.” Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama met with [Prime Minister Abe] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G20 meeting Sunday in Brisbane. White House officials say the tripartite meeting was not meant to send a message to China. However, Mr. Obama has said on his trip that China needs to be a "responsible actor" on the world stage. Beijing has viewed the president's attempts to deepen ties with Australia and Japan as an attempt to counter its expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has issued several decrees shutting down state institutions in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine. The moves further separate Ukraine's separatist-dominated Donetsk and Luhansk regions from the rest of the country. Meanwhile, officials said that at least five civilians and seven Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine since Friday. This is VOA news. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey has visited Iraq for talks with Iraqi officials and U.S. commanders and troops about the next phase of the expanding war against Islamic State militants. An Iraqi spokesman says that his country's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, is hoping for close military cooperation from the United States but is not seeking combat troops on the ground from any countries. A spokesman for General Dempsey said the primary purpose of the visit to Iraq was to get a firsthand look at the situation in the country, and to get a better sense of how the campaign against Islamic State militants is progressing. The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan have wrapped up three days of negotiations aimed at easing more than a decade of tensions between the two Muslim countries. New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held face-to-face talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his offices in the capital Saturday. Prime Minister Sharif said that the two countries have begun a comprehensive dialogue on strengthening security cooperation against the common threat of terrorism. "Our two countries face formidable challenges, including extremism and terrorism, a precarious security environment, and trans-national crimes. I am convinced that we can effectively meet them, through common resolve and common endeavors.” Later in the day Saturday, the two leaders watched an exhibition cricket match between Afghanistan and Pakistan before the end of the state visit. A new version of the hit song "Do They Know It's Christmas" was recorded Saturday in London, with the proceeds going to help fight the Ebola crisis. Pop music starts, including One Direction, Bono from U2, Chris Martin from Coldplay and others, recorded the song in a West London studio. Bob Geldof, who also organized the original Band Aid concerts to fight famine in Africa in the mid-1980s, encouraged fans to buy the song so more resources can be sent to fight Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. "So the most you can do on this is buy as many of this track as you possibly can. Buy, that's the key issue. Buy this song, we will stop the virus. We will certainly help to stop it.” The song has been reworked, with words to the original version changed to reflect the current crisis. Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of Congo has declared itself Ebola-free after an outbreak that started in August killed nearly 50 people. DRC Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi made the announcement on Saturday, but he warned that the end of the outbreak does not mean the country is fully out of danger. For more on these stories, visit our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA.