Новости за 02.03.2017

Researchers at Egypt's Nile University are developing a way to turn dried shrimp shells that would otherwise be thrown away into thin films of biodegradable plastic they hope will be used to make eco-friendly grocery bags and packaging. Six months into their two-year project, the research team has managed to create a thin, clear prototype using chitosan, a material found in the shells of many crustaceans. "If commercialized, this could really help us decrease our waste ... and it could help us... Читать дальше...

The Pentagon has sent the White House a preliminary plan to defeat Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria. Some Pentagon officials have said it could lead to more U.S. military involvement in Syria and a continuation of the current strategy in Iraq. The U.S. air campaign against militants is expected to remain a key part of the strategy, and VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb brings us a firsthand look aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier that recently returned to the Mediterranean Sea.

Ninety-year-old Khatla Ali Abdallah has survived decades of turbulence in northern Iraq, but the frail grandmother who fled the battle for Mosul this week says the fighting there is the worst she has ever seen. Carried across the desert by her grandsons, under sniper and mortar fire, she was one of thousands who braved the difficult and dangerous journey out of Islamic State's shrinking stronghold in the west of the city. "I'm a 90-year-old woman and I haven't seen such a war," she said in a camp for displaced people south of Mosul... Читать дальше...

Nearly one week after Islamic State fighters were driven from the strategic town of al-Bab, northern Syria is in military disarray with U.S.-supported factions fighting each other and thousands of residents fleeing to havens to avoid the chaos. Control of areas changes within a few kilometers and skirmishes break out amid an uneasy detente. Turkish forces and their rebel allies drove Islamic State (IS) from al-Bab last week. Now Syrian forces, with the help of Russian airpower, are battling IS in nearby villages. Читать дальше...

The United States stands to lose millions in tourism revenues by travelers who will shun the country because of its ban on the nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries, the head of a United Nations tourism body said on Thursday. Taleb Rifai, a Jordanian who is secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, also said the ban  was partly the result of Americans not being well-traveled. "I completely believe our friends across the Atlantic are developing this isolation... Читать дальше...

Serbia's outgoing prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, reassured European Union officials visiting Belgrade on Wednesday that his country remains committed to joining the European bloc — but he cautioned that Serbs also want to pursue traditional ties with "friends from the East." And in recent months, those friends in the Kremlin have been busy, say Western officials and analysts. From offering help with disaster relief to supplying sophisticated weaponry, including warplanes, the Kremlin is seeking to expand its influence in the Balkans... Читать дальше...

Serbia will hold a presidential election on April 2 that is seen as a litmus test of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's popularity, the parliamentary speaker said on Thursday. The vote will pit Vucic, whose Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is the largest in the ruling coalition, against the candidates of a fragmented opposition. It will be a test of his economic reforms, which have been backed by the International Monetary Fund, as well as of efforts to bring the Balkan country of 7.3 million people closer to the European Union. Читать дальше...

Fast-growing Pakistan will conduct its first census in 19 years in March, the statistics bureau said on Thursday, hoping to end years of wrangling by politicians concerned about how a survey would affect the makeup of their local electorates. Changes could be significant in a country where 60 percent of the population is under the age of 30. In 2015, the World Bank estimated Pakistan's population at 188.9 million but the country still uses the official 1998 figure of 134.7 million. The population... Читать дальше...

When Islamic State militants began circulating names of Christians who must leave their Egyptian hometown of Arish or die, Munir Munir's father Adel, a civil servant, brought home a hit list that had his own name as number two. The first person on the list, shopkeeper Wael Youssef, was killed on Jan. 30. The Munirs barricaded themselves inside their house "like rats in a hole," Munir Munir recalled last week. Within a month, four more Christians in the town had been shot dead, one beheaded and another burned to death. Читать дальше...

The word "grand" matched few hotels in the world better than New York City's Waldorf Astoria, but this bastion of gilded splendor is now closing for two to three years for a makeover. Wednesday was the last day that guests could enjoy the rich Art Deco style of the old Waldorf one last time. When the building reopens it will still have a hotel, but hundreds of its 1,400 guest rooms will have been converted into privately owned condominiums, according to a spokesman for the Anbang Insurance Group... Читать дальше...

Mali's main jihadist groups said on Thursday they will merge under Islamist leader Iyad Ag-Ghali whose fighters have claimed multiple attacks on Malian, French and U.N. peacekeeping forces, Mauritania's Nouakchott News Agency (ANI) reported. ANI said Ag-Ghali's Ansar Dine would join with al-Mourabitoun, led by Algerian jihadist and smuggler Mokhtar Belmokhtar, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a military camp in northern Mali that killed up to 60 people and wounded more than 100 in January. Читать дальше...

A daunting new barrier is beginning to loom over Hungary's southern border, capable of delivering electric shocks to unwanted migrants and armed with heat sensors, cameras, and loudspeakers that blare in several languages. The country was a main crossing point for hundreds of thousands of people trekking into Europe at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015. A hastily-erected first razor wire fence and tough new laws have cut arrivals to a trickle, but Budapest is not taking any chances. "Attention, attention. Читать дальше...

Two of President Donald Trump's former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of House and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41. A few hours later, the Senate backed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary, 62-37. Carson and Perry are the 17th and 18th of Trump's 22 Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations to win Senate approval. Carson has never... Читать дальше...

Georgia's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a change of ownership at the biggest independent TV station Rustavi 2, in a move critics say is an attempt to silence the media. Hundreds of viewers, opposition politicians and supporters of Rustavi 2 rallied outside the court and moved to the broadcaster's studio building in a gesture of support after the ruling was announced. The TV station has been fighting court battles since August 2015 when a court found in favor of former co-owner Kibar Khalvashi... Читать дальше...

The United States ambassador to Macedonia is calling for President Gjorge Ivanov to reverse his decision to withhold from the opposition a mandate to form a new government with ethnic Albanians. Ivanov on Wednesday defied parliament, saying he would not give such authority to anyone backing what he calls "a platform undermining Macedonia's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence." The leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev, accused the president of a coup and pushing... Читать дальше...

Officials in Pakistan say a massive government-run reforestation campaign has grown 750 million trees across a northwestern province since 2015. The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or KP, launched the four-year project with a goal of planting 1 billion trees by the end of 2018, hoping it would "turn the tide on land degradation and loss" in a formerly forested province in the Hindu Kush mountain range. Officials and leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party — which rules the province ... Читать дальше...

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

Tucked between snow-capped mountains, Lake Titicaca was once worshipped by the Incas, who proclaimed its deep blue waters the birthplace of the sun. These days the shores of South America's largest lake are littered with dead frogs, discarded paint buckets and bags of soggy trash. Less visible threats lurk in the water itself: toxic levels of lead and mercury. The steady deterioration of the prized tourist destination has caused a rash of health problems among the 1.3 million people in Peru and... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump did not utter the word "Russia" In his address to the U.S. Congress earlier this week. Still, observers in Moscow zeroed in on parts of his speech, including this one: "America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align." President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Wednesday that no one in the government felt put off that Trump did not mention Russia, saying it was "natural" that Trump was "busy with American... Читать дальше...

Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed February 13 when two women smeared a liquid that Malaysian authorities say is VX nerve agent on his face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong have been charged with murder, a crime that carries with it the death penalty. The two women say they thought they were participating in a televised prank.   But how does this attack in Kuala Lumpur compare with other North Korean moves to consolidate power? Читать дальше...

China's government says it will support the World Trade Organization, arguing that an "open and unbiased" trading system benefits global economic growth and is in everyone's interest. Beijing's comments come just a day after the Trump administration said it might not comply with WTO rulings it judged to violate American national sovereignty. Wednesday, the administration sent its formal trade agenda to Congress and the document's authors pledged a "more aggressive" stance on trade issues. President... Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump is visiting a Virginia shipyard Thursday to tour the most expensive warship ever built  - a high-profile event designed to showcase his budget pledge this week to dramatically boost U.S. military spending. “We’re going to spend a lot more money on military,” he told the Fox and Friends morning television show this week ahead of a major address to a joint session of Congress. WATCH: Trump on rebuilding US military The president will lay out his defense budget priorities in Newport News... Читать дальше...

In Zimbabwe, the process to name a new chief justice of the Supreme Court has become mired in legal challenges and politics. At his farewell party Wednesday night, the outgoing chief justice, Godfrey Chidkyausiku, was asked if he had any disappointments in his career. "Yes, there are times when things are not going the way they should. One of them is the way we are quarreling about my successor," Chidkyausiku said. "It's a big disappointment, but it's nothing that we can't overcome. In my view is... Читать дальше...

Uganda has taken about half of the more than 1.5 million South Sudanese who have fled into neighboring countries, as South Sudan has become Africa’s largest refugee crisis, resulting from more than three years of civil war.   As the refugees flee conflict, sexual violence, looting, and food insecurity  —  highlighted by the recent announcement of famine in two counties of Unity State  —  they’re finding that aid agencies are struggling to provide them with enough food in the Ugandan refugee settlements. Читать дальше...

Five workers have been kidnapped from a gold mine in eastern Congo, including ones from France and Tanzania, and rebels are demanding $1 million in ransom, a local official said Thursday. The Congolese, Tanzanian and French workers were abducted Wednesday from Banro Mining Corp.'s Namoya mine, said Kabambare administrator Balthazar Hemedi Kabemba. An investigation has been opened, but members of the rebel group Rahiya Mutomboki have left leaflets around the mines threatening its workers. "These five workers... Читать дальше...