From Washington,this is VOA News.

South Sudan's military says thousands of armed youth loyal to ousted Vice President Riek Machar are marching toward the government-held town of Bor.

A group of East African leaders announced on Friday that South Sudan had agreed to a “cessation of hostilities” and started a peace talk.

Yet,Satuday military spokesman Philip Aguer told VOA the Machar-backed force -- the so called "White Army" -- planed to attack the central town, which was retaken by government forces earlier this week. The youth, like Machar, are ethnic Nuers while President Salva Kiir and his loyalists are ethnic Dinka.

The government also agreed to release eight of 11 political prisoners suspected of plotting the coup.

But earlier Saturday, Machar ally Rebecca Nyandeng told VOA that Machar forces will not agree to cease-fire terms until the government releases all 11 prisoners.

Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh says his country will send more troops to violence-ridden Somalia within the next three weeks.

Mr Guelleh told VOA's Somali service his country will deploy one more battalion to boost its troop presence in central Somalia.

U.S. Secretary of State will make an official visit to the Middle East to begin a new year.

The State Department said Saturday Secretary of State John Kerry will renew efforts to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians during the travel to Jerusalem on January 1.

Rights group Amnesty International criticized the European Union earlier this month for not welcoming more Syrian refugees. The group says only 10 out of the EU's 28 members plan to take in Syrian refugees while the United Nations is calling for Western countries to admit up to 30,000 Syrian refugees in 2014.

From Paris,Lisa Bryant has the report.

Rights group Amnesty International has sharply criticized the European Union for taking in what it calls "paltry numbers" of Syrians fleeing their war-torn country. While Germany plans to admit 9,000 Syrians, Amnesty notes that some countries like Britain are not offering any places. France plans to take in only 500 refugees.

EU members say they are instead helping Syrians inside Syria and in neighboring countries. In December, for example, the EU announced more aid for Syrians totaling $244 million.

Lisa Bryant from VOA News Paris.

Meanwhile in Syria Saturday at least 20 people were killed in a government airstrike in Aleppo.

An investigation by The New York Times newspaper raises new questions about the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans on September 11, 2012.

VOA's Kent Klein has the report.

The Times says it spent months talking to Libyans in Benghazi who had direct knowledge of the assault on the U.S. consulate there and the circumstances surrounding it.

The report says the attack was led by local fighters who had benefited from NATO support during the uprising against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

That finding appears to partially support a statement by then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, on a television talk show five days after the incident.

The report was released hours after the State Department said the Libyan government released four U.S. military personnel it had briefly detained.
 
A State Department spokeswoman said the four had been taken into custody near Sabratha, where they were participating in "security preparedness efforts."

Kent Klein VOA News Washington.

Officials in Thailand report one person was killed , three wounded when an unidentified gunman fired into a group of anti-government protesters in the capital on Saturday.

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