Новости за 27.02.2017

The Oscar awarded to a documentary about the daily lives of volunteers of a Syrian search and rescue group called the "White Helmets" shows people care about its mission to help civilians caught in Syria's civil war, the group said on Monday. The White Helmets operate a rescue service in rebel-held parts of Syria, which have been subjected to fierce bombardment by the government and Russia's air force during the country's civil war that has leveled whole city districts. Syria's government under... Читать дальше...

Independent candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign for the French presidency is gathering momentum, according to two polls published on Monday that showed him closing the gap with far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of voting. Until now polls have given Le Pen a clear lead in the first round on April 23 but have shown her losing the decisive second round on May 7 to either Macron or the other main challenger, center-right candidate Francois Fillon. Macron gains ground In an... Читать дальше...

Egypt's parliament on Monday kicked out a prominent legislator with a reputation for being critical of the government because he allegedly "belittled" the assembly in correspondence with foreign organizations. Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, the nephew of late President Anwar al-Sadat, was also accused of forging lawmakers' signatures on a draft bill. He denies the accusation. Speaker Ali Abdelaal said 468 members out of the chamber's 596 members voted to unseat Sadat and that there would be a by-election... Читать дальше...

A Kyrgyz court jailed a prominent opposition politician on corruption charges on Monday, a move his supporters said was part of a politically motivated crackdown by President Almazbek Atambayev. The court ordered Omurbek Tekebayev to be detained for two months pending trial, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the Central Asian former Soviet republic, which hosts a Russian airbase. Kyrgyzstan holds presidential elections on November 19 in which Atambayev is barred from running. Читать дальше...

It's a rare sight. Girls in Nigeria playing rugby. And in northern Nigeria's Kano state, the girls in the Basic College secondary school are defying cultural norms. “A girl is expected not to be involved in all those masculine games, because they believe rugby needs strength,” said Rahilat Umar. “So they believe, as a girl, I'm just supposed to face my studies, leave all those games. I believe that what a man can do, a woman can do better.”  At 13 years of age, Umar is one of the youngest players on this all-girls high school rugby team. Читать дальше...

Doctors in Kenya's public health facilities have refused to work since December. They are demanding the government implement an agreement it signed in 2013 to raise salaries and improve working conditions. However, the strike is taking a deadly toll on the nation's poor. Jared Ochieng lost his son Lamarck to complications from leukemia. "If it were not for the strike, I would have not lost my son," Ochieng said. Lamarck was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. When he started experiencing complications in early February... Читать дальше...

The chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said Monday he has seen no evidence of improper contacts between officials working on President Donald Trump's campaign for the White House and Russian agents and has no plans to expand an investigation already underway. "We just cannot go on a witch hunt," Congressman Devin Nunes told reporters. The Republican is leading one of three congressional probes into possible links between Trump and Russians, but has balked at calls for a wider investigation. Читать дальше...

Hurrying home from work, Noellie Benison paused to take in the grinning poster of the former U.S. president, flanking a busy meridian in northern Paris. “Obama 2017,” she read out. Below: the French translation of his famous tagline, “Oui, on peut" — "Yes we can.” “If Obama runs, I'll vote for him, that’s for sure,” said 55-year-old Benison, who is planning to cast a blank ballot in this spring’s presidential vote. “We’ve lost our confidence,” she added, dismissing the current crop of candidates. Читать дальше...

The Pentagon says it has sent the White House a preliminary plan to defeat Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and says Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will brief senior administration officials on the draft later Monday. Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis described the document as a framework for a broader plan aimed at countering the extremist group beyond Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State is seeking to establish a religious state. Davis did not provide details.   But Joint Chiefs of Staff... Читать дальше...

The World Health Organization is calling for the urgent development of new antibiotics to fight growing bacterial resistance. For the first time, the U.N. agency has drawn up a list of 12 families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health. The list is divided into three categories according to the urgency of need for new antibiotics; however, one of the scariest so-called super bugs is not on that list, according to Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general for health systems and innovation. Читать дальше...

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

At least 11 people were killed in airstrikes on Syria's rebel-held Idlib province Monday, opposition activists said, in the latest spasm of violence to mar U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva between the Syrian government and the opposition. Separately, there were unconfirmed reports that a top al-Qaida official was killed in an airstrike, also in Idlib. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist groups, said Abdullah Muhammad Rajab Abdulrahman, the deputy to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri... Читать дальше...

"If you trap a cat in a closet, he will fight like hell to get out," says Ahmed Ghalibi as multiple car bombings send smoke billowing over a nearby Iraqi neighborhood. Standing Sunday on a rooftop with a view of the week-old fight for western Mosul, Ghalibi, a soldier with Iraq's Emergency Response Unit — one of the branches of the Iraqi armed forces leading the charge into Islamic State-controlled territories — says he has witnessed the battle for Mosul change abruptly. In the fight for eastern Mosul... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Embassy in Croatia on Monday strongly denounced a march by far-right nationalists in the Croatian capital of Zagreb who also waved an American flag and reportedly voiced support for President Donald Trump. The embassy said in a statement it "rejects, in the strongest terms, neo-Nazi and pro-Ustasha views expressed during the demonstration of a few people in Zagreb on Sunday." The protesters, dressed in black and chanting slogans used by Croatia's pro-Nazi World War II Ustasha regime... Читать дальше...

A float crashed during Rio de Janeiro's world famous Carnival parade Sunday evening and injured at least 20 people, including three people reported in serious condition, but organizers proceeded with the show. The incident involved the last float of the first samba school parading through Rio's Sambadrome. The float of samba school Paraiso de Tuiuti crashed into a fence that separates the stands from the pavement, injuring spectators, revelers and journalists. One reporter had an exposed fracture. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump is to tell governors from throughout the country how he hopes to repeal and replace health care reforms that former President Barack Obama considered his signature legislative achievement. Trump's message to the governors Monday could begin to provide some clarity about his stance on how to revamp the seven-year-old Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. The law, long reviled by Republicans like Trump because of its mandate for all Americans to buy insurance or pay a penalty if they did not... Читать дальше...

Two years after he was killed near the Kremlin, Boris Nemtsov can still attract crowds of supporters. But his death left in tatters Russia's opposition movement, which is struggling with infighting and seems unable to rally behind one unifying figure. In the largest Russian opposition protest in months, thousands marched Sunday across Moscow to commemorate Nemtsov's life, demand a thorough investigation of his death and to denounce President Vladimir Putin. The procession went to the bridge where Nemtsov was gunned down on Feb. Читать дальше...

The Oscar for Asghar Farhadi's “The Salesman” energized many of the filmmaker's fellow Iranians, who saw the win for best foreign film Monday as a pointed rebuke to the Trump administration and its efforts to deny them entry into the U.S. Farhadi refused to attend the Academy Awards, announcing after the temporary U.S. travel ban was initially imposed last month for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries that he would skip it even if an exception was made for him. Iran was one of the seven countries affected by the measure... Читать дальше...

The best picture gaffe wasn’t the only mix up at the Academy Awards Sunday night. During a part of the ceremony honoring film industry luminaries who died in the past year, the organizers displayed a photo of a woman who’s still alive. Organizers mistakenly used photo of Australian producer Jan Chapman. It should have been a photo of Janet Patterson, an Australian costume designer who died in October. "I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and longtime collaborator... Читать дальше...

At the Oscars in Hollywood, the coming of age film "Moonlight" was named best picture - after the musical "La La Land" was announced as the winner by mistake. Mike O’Sullivan reports that at the end of the evening, the Hollywood musical had still earned six awards, while losing the key honor of best picture.

An art installation in the German city of Dresden - inspired by the siege of Aleppo in Syria - has triggered a heated debate on remembrance and immigration. Over a million refugees have arrived in Germany since 2014, among them over 400,000 Syrians fleeing the civil war. Henry Ridgwell reports from Dresden, a city that came to symbolize Germany’s recovery after World War II.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe marked his 93rd birthday last week by squashing any thought he plans to resign or not seek re-election. "If I feel that I can't do it anymore, I'll say so to my party so that they relieve me," he told state broadcaster ZBC-TV. "But for now I think, I can't say so. The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, actually. No successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am." That last statement might be true, given the lack of a strong opposition figure in Zimbabwe. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump called Monday for a $54 billion annual increase in defense spending, describing the 10 percent jump as a "landmark event," a message aimed at assuring the world of "American strength, security and resolve." Speaking to U.S. governors at the White House, Trump said, "We must ensure that our courageous servicemen and women have the tools they need to deter war and when called upon to fight in our name, only do one thing, win." The new president said the United States... Читать дальше...

Nigerian police say it is not clear if a ransom was paid for the release of two German archaeologists freed by their kidnappers over the weekend. Professor Peter Breunig and Johannes Behringer of Frankfurt's Goethe University were seized at gunpoint Wednesday from Jenjela village in Kaduna state, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Abuja, Nigeria's capital. Two villagers who tried to help them were killed by the kidnappers. The kidnappers released the Germans unharmed on Saturday night, said a police statement. Читать дальше...

Former President George W. Bush said Monday "we all need answers" on the extent of contact between President Donald Trump's team and the Russian government, and didn't rule out the idea that a special prosecutor could be necessary to lead an investigation. The Republican also defended the media's role in keeping world leaders in check, noting that "power can be addictive,'' and warned against immigration policies that could alienate Muslims.     "I am for an immigration policy that's welcoming... Читать дальше...