From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Anne Ball reporting.

Vice President Mike Pence has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan leaders and visit U.S. troops.

Pence landed at Bagram Air Base under heavy scrutiny and security on Thursday.

Speaking to U.S. troops, he praised the president's plan to win the war on Afghanistan, telling them that he has their back.

Pence told the troops that the commander in chief supports what they are doing.

He also met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as well as U.S. military leaders.

Pence's surprise visit is the first to the war-torn country by either Trump or the vice president.

South Sudan's [warring fractions] warring factions on Thursday signed a new agreement to cease hostilities and protect civilians in the latest effort to calm the devastating civil war. The cease-fire is set to begin first thing Sunday morning or Christmas Eve.

The warring sides also agreed to grant badly needed humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas.

South Sudan is entering its fifth year of civil war, and no one knows how many tens of thousands of people have been killed in the world's youngest nation.

The U.S. called the deal "the last chance for the implementation of the peace process." Past attempts at peace deals have stumbled amid renewed violence.

In Spain, the pro-independence parties are poised to regain a majority in Catalonia's regional parliament, according to provisional results.

This is VOA news.

The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, was not mincing words today when she addressed the United Nations General Assembly as they approved a resolution rejecting U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

She said "the United States will remember the day when it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising a right as a sovereign nation."

She spoke before the resolution was approved with 128 yes votes, nine no votes and 35 abstentions.

U.S. President Donald Trump broke with long-standing U.S. policy earlier this month by saying the United States considers Jerusalem the Israeli capital and starting the process of moving the U.S. embassy there.

The embassy announcement was met with a move in the U.N. Security Council on Monday to adopt a resolution noting its "deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem."

[fifteen of the council] Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted for the draft resolution but the United States used its veto power to block adoption.

The U.N.'s special envoy for Yemen expressed deep concern Thursday about an escalation of violence in the country while also welcoming a pledge by Saudi-led coalition to allow access to humanitarian aid at a key port.

The official condemned Tuesday's Houthi rebel ballistic missile attack on Saudi Arabia, saying it was "an escalation that hinders peace efforts in Yemen."

After the rebels fired a missile at the Riyadh airport in November, Saudi Arabia [placed an air] put in place an air and sea blockade in Yemen for several weeks, saying the move was necessary to prevent shipments of arms from reaching the rebels.

Also in Yemen, the charity, Doctors Without Borders, reports preventable, long-forgotten diseases are now re-emerging in Yemen due to the ongoing war there.

The Doctors Without Borders are saying that the outbreak of diphtheria emerged in early October and the vaccines necessary to prevent diphtheria and the antibiotics to treat the infection are both in short supply.

I'm Anne Ball in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.