ISIS has issued a new purported audio recording of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. NPR's EM reports it will be the first recording of the IS leader in seven months. In a new recording, IS's leader Baghdadi says that US and Russian air strikes only strengthen his group and that he denounces Saudis' efforts to form an Islamic anti-terror alliance. This is the first Baghdadi statement since May. And it comes as the IS faces increased pressure. A Syrian Kurdish-lead alliance backed by US air strike just cut off a key ISIS supply route on the Euphrates River. And across the border in Iraq, US-backed troops look poised to retake the city of Ramadi where IS fighters are now encircled. EM, NPR news, Beirut.

 

 

Japan has launched a formal protest with Beijing. Tokyo says a Chinese coast guard vessel that appeared to be armed entered a territorial waters in the South China Sea claimed by Japan. The BBC's RW says the territorial dispute over the islands has been a major source of tension between China and Japan for years. A photograph released by the Japanese government shows a white Chinese coast guard ship mounting what appeared to be four gun torrents. Japan says the ships sailed into its Japanese controlled waters around the Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands at around 9 am on Saturday morning. China and Japan have been locked in an intense dispute over control of these tiny uninhabited islands for the last three and a half years. But Tokyo say this is first time that China has sent an armed vessel into the disputed waters.The BBC's RW.

 

 

Nearly 140,000 people have been forced from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil following days of torrential rains. The National Emergency Department Department says Paraguayis the hardest hit. At least 100,000 people there have been told to evacuate. Local media report several people are dead after being crashed by falling trees in the storms but there is no official death toll. You're listening to NPR news in Washington.

 

 

Severe flood warnings are still in effect for parts of England, Scotland and Wales. Officials say rainfalls in areas already flooded is unprecedented. The Environment Agency says a month worth of rain could fall in one day on already saturated ground. An army company has helped built temporary flood defenses in a area northwest of England as residents there continue to struggle. 

 

 

A golfball-sized plutonium238 has been successfully produced by the  Oak Ridge National Lab. That's something that hasn't been done in three decades. Blake Farmer of member station WPLN and national reports the radio active material is used in space travel. Plutonium 238 has been a powerful source in space probes and will be needed again for the next Mars Rover. NASA has 80 about  pounds left in its stockpile, says the Department of Energy's Rebecca A. 'We have enough to last us for a while but in the long time without that material, we won't be able to explore deep space. At least not the way we know how now.' The Savannah River Plant stopped making Plutonium238 in the 1980s. Recently, the Department of Energy has spent 15 million dollars a year to revive production. It's a process that begins at the Idaho National Lab. It's competed in Oak Ridge. Then the plutonium pillars are sent to Los Alamos until NASA needs them. For NPR news, I'm Blake Farmer in Nash Field . 

 

 

Walt Disney Studios has released its estimated take for Stars Wars: The Force Awakens after bringing in nearly 15 million dollars yesterday. The accumulative growth has reached more than 440 million dollars since its December 17th opening. I'm Windsor Johnston and you're listening to NPR news in Washington.