News Wrap: Iraqi forces advance on ISIS-held Ramadi

JUDY WOODRUFF:

In Iraq, army units advanced deep into Ramadi today, in a bid to recapture the key city from Islamic State control. It's the latest push in a slow-moving offensive.

ISIS captured Ramadi last May, striking a blow at the Baghdad government. The city is capital of Anbar province, the country's Sunni heartland. Iraqi officials reported sporadic fighting today in the city center.

In Afghanistan, Taliban fighters pressed beleaguered Afghan forces in a crucial southern province. The government sent reinforcements and Britain sent military advisers.

Alex Thomson of Independent Television News has the story.

ALEX THOMSON:

Fighting even around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province. Reports differ, but there is no doubt that insurgents have come close to ousting the Western-backed Afghan army from the town of Sangin.

GOV. MERZA KHAN RAHIMI, Helmand, Afghanistan (through interpreter):

We are assessing the situation and sending supplies to the security forces. If there is any failure, then the Ministry of Defense, the Interior Ministry, the National Directorate of Security and Security Council have a special agenda to solve it.

ALEX THOMSON:

This is now a military and political crisis for Afghanistan and NATO. Things got so bad, a key Sangin official put his career on the line and took to Facebook on Sunday, writing to the Afghan president: "I know that bringing up the issue on social media will make you very angry. But Helmand stands on the brink. Ninety men have been killed in Gereshk and Sangin districts in the last two days."

Tonight, the strategic road to the Kajakai Dam from Sangin is cut, so too routes to other key areas across Helmand Province. Ten British advisers have flown now to Helmand to advise the Afghans, but they're miles away from the fighting, U.S. and U.K. special forces also reportedly there, very rather closer.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Also today, a U.S. Army sergeant accused of deserting in Afghanistan was arraigned before a military judge. Bowe Bergdahl faces charges for walking off his post in 2009. He was captured by the Taliban, and finally released in a prisoner swap last year. Bergdahl's appearance today came in a brief hearing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

An Army spokesman summed up afterward.

COL. DANIEL KING, Spokesman, U.S. Army Forces Command:

The judge explained Sergeant Bergdahl's right to be tried before a panel or a military judge. The judge also inquired if Sergeant Bergdahl wished to enter any motions or a plea at this time. Sergeant Bergdahl deferred all of these decisions to a later hearing.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Bergdahl could get life in prison if he's convicted at a general court-martial.

The first body has been pulled from the muddy rubble of a landslide disaster in Southern China. Search teams in Shenzhen found the remains today, and continued hunting for at least 70 people still missing. A wave of earth and construction waste swallowed 33 buildings on Sunday, despite longstanding warnings the site posed a threat.

Europe's migrant crisis reached a staggering record today. The director-general of the International Organization for Migration announced the new numbers in Geneva.

WILLIAM LACY SWING, Director-General, International Organization for Migration: We have just published the figures of the one — passing the one million mark for the number of refugees and other migrants heading north into Europe, primarily out of Syria, but other areas also, and of that number, the death total is very close to 3,700.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Just today, 11 more people drowned when a boat carrying migrants to Greece sank off the western coast of Turkey. Seven others were rescued by the Turkish coast guard.

And Wall Street moved higher for a second day, as oil prices rose. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 165 points to close at 17417. The Nasdaq rose 32, and the S&P 500 added nearly 18.