Новости за 13.03.2017

Dutch envoy Daan Feddo Huisinga was summoned Monday by the Turkish foreign minister for the third time in as many days to receive a diplomatic dressing down.   The verbal salvo reportedly was for the crackdown by Dutch police on ethnic Turks who demonstrated Saturday in Rotterdam over the removal of Turkish Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from the Netherlands.   Turkish pro-government newspapers Monday published photos of police dogs biting demonstrators, with... Читать дальше...

Madrid's city government announced plans on Monday to ban the oldest and most polluting vehicles from the city center by 2025 in a bid to crackdown on air pollution. The local government will prohibit the use within the city's limits of gasoline cars registered before 2000 and diesel-powered cars registered before 2006, which at the moment account for 20 percent of all those registered. The ban would lower nitrogen dioxide levels in the city by an estimated 15 percent, a poisonous gas behind respiratory problems... Читать дальше...

A new report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council accuses Myanmar of “institutionalized discrimination and long-standing persecution” of its mainly Muslim Rohingya population amid appeals by a government representative to the international community to support Myanmar “in its efforts to promote democracy and human rights.” While Yanghee Lee, special investigator on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, acknowledged the new government has been in power for barely one year, she noted that... Читать дальше...

Several hundred Palestinians marched in an anti-government protest Monday, calling for the resignation of President Mahmoud Abbas and criticizing his security coordination with Israel. Separately, Palestinian journalists staged a sit-in nearby to protest the violent dispersal of an anti-government protest by Palestinian riot police a day earlier. In Sunday's incident, helmeted troops beat demonstrators and journalists with clubs. Jihad Barakat of Palestine Today TV said he was pushed and that his camera was broken. Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of his administration on Monday - a meeting he said he hoped would be "historic.''   He told his Cabinet members and reporters that he's working to repeal former President Barack Obama's health care law despite it "getting a false rep that maybe it's OK'' when, as he sees it, "it's failed'' and "imploding." The president described the fight over the proposed Republican health care law as "a big fat beautiful negotiation.''   Trump also said... Читать дальше...

Chileans began to return to their homes in the beach resort of Vina del Mar on Monday after wildfires over the weekend reached the city's suburbs, burning houses and knocking out power. On Sunday, a forest fire prompted authorities to evacuate thousands of residents from Vina del Mar on central Chile's Pacific coast, as firefighters and some residents who stayed behind worked frantically to control the flames. There were no deaths reported, though 280,000 households lost power, according to Chile's emergency service... Читать дальше...

A former communist leader in Kosovo was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt Monday in his apartment in the capital, authorities said, but he said that his injuries weren't life-threatening. The 68-year-old Azem Vllasi, now a lawyer, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the assailant used a gun equipped with a silencer. He was taken to a hospital for treatment. Vllasi was kept under tight police security in his hospital room. An Associated Press cameraman was not allowed to interview him. Читать дальше...

Civilian leadership has assumed governance in the flashpoint northern Syrian town of Manbij for the first time since it was liberated from Islamic State (IS) last year, local officials said. Manbij's local council said a governing body has been formed to run affairs in the ethnically diverse town that has seen skirmishes between Kurdish, Turkish and Arab interests. “We have formed an executive council that has 13 committees that will be responsible for running the city and providing services to the local population,” said Qasim Ramo... Читать дальше...

Argentine labor unions appear to be pressuring the government by holding marches and threatening strikes ahead of the country's key October mid-term elections, Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio said Monday. President Mauricio Macri took office 15 months ago promising to jumpstart the economy by regaining the trust of investors after a decade of free-spending populism. Until last week, organized labor had signaled patience with his program aimed at cutting labor costs, interest rates and the fiscal deficit. Читать дальше...

Hungarian lawmakers comfortably re-elected ruling Fidesz party veteran Janos Ader as President for another five years on Monday, a sign of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's firm grip on power just over a year before a parliamentary election. The 57-year-old Ader, a lawyer and long-time member of Orban's Fidesz party, has been a strong ally of Orban since being elected for the largely ceremonial role in 2012. Lawmakers voted 131 in favor of extending Ader's term in a second round run-off after he... Читать дальше...

Before Donald Trump's election, Laurence Berland viewed political protest as a sort of curiosity. He was in a good place to see it: San Francisco's Mission District, once an immigrant enclave in the country's heartland of radicalism that is increasingly populated by people like him — successful tech workers driving up rents while enjoying a daily commute to Silicon Valley on luxury motor coaches. Berland regarded the activism of his adopted city with a mix of empathy and bemusement, checking out... Читать дальше...

A NATO top official told European allies Monday to increase spending on military funds, as requested by U.S. President Donald Trump, if they expect to keep important foreign alliances. NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg said it was "essential for the continued strength of the transatlantic bond on which our alliance is founded." "For almost 70 years the unique partnership between Europe and North America has ensured peace and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. ...That is an achievement we can never take for granted," Stoltenberg said. Читать дальше...

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

Advancing Iraqi forces in western Mosul have captured a textile factory that Islamic State (IS) used to as a jail to hold women, officials inside the city told VOA. “The Islamic State imprisoned nearly 300 women in the building,” Gayath Surchi, the speaker of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party in Mosul told VOA. The textile factory is located between al-Mansour and Wadi al-Hajar neighborhoods in western Mosul and came under the Iraqi control Sunday night, according to Surchi. Mines slow rescue Another Kurdish official in Mosul... Читать дальше...

The death toll from the landslide at a massive garbage dump in Ethiopia's capital has climbed to more than 60 people. Ethiopian government media said Monday that at least 62 died in the weekend disaster, while Addis Ababa Mayor Deriba Kuma put the death toll at 65, including 20 men and 45 women. Communications Minister Negeri Lencho said that “several people are still missing; the search will continue.” Dozens were buried when a mountain of trash at the 50-year-old Koshe dumpsite came crashing down with little warning on Saturday. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at a two-day summit next month at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, according to media reports. The two-day meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 6-7, U.S. online media outlet Axios reported Monday, citing officials familiar with the plans. CNN also reported the planned summit, citing an unnamed administration official. It added the plan was tentative and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was expected to finalize plans during a trip this week to Asia... Читать дальше...

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey asked a government ethics office Monday to assess whether President Donald Trump's business dealings make his administration vulnerable to conflicts of interest. "President Trump has exposed his administration to possible conflicts of interest on an unprecedented scale," the Pennsylvania lawmaker says in a letter to the Office of Government Ethics. Casey asked whether any of Trump's foreign business deals could violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which... Читать дальше...

The top U.S. diplomat prepares to visit Asia. Drones are deployed to the Korean peninsula. Plus, the Philippines has a message for China. VOA’s Steve Miller has your Asia news, in a minute.

At the height of the current xenophobic violence in South Africa, new research has shown that immigrants make substantial contributions to South Africa's economy. A report released by the South African Institute of Race Relations, or IRR, shows that instead of attacking immigrants, South Africans could learn entrepreneurial skills from them. The report, titled "South Africa's Immigrants, Building a New Economy," reveals that most immigrants have relied on their entrepreneurial skills and hard work to survive in the country. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump this week will unveil a budget expected to massively increase military spending while slashing other federal programs. The proposal, set to be released Thursday, will offer the most detailed look yet at how Trump intends to move ahead with his so-called "America First" policy. The budget will likely face significant opposition in Congress, where lawmakers are already bickering over a plan to overhaul the nation's health care program. Many of Trump's fellow Republicans... Читать дальше...

It’s not every day that an unmanned scientific submarine makes international headlines, but this sub is named Boaty McBoatface, and it is about to embark on its first mission. The sub is operated by Britain's National Environmental Research Council, which last year turned to the internet to name the group’s new $248 million research ship that is still under construction. The online naming poll went viral, but NERC opted instead to name the ship the Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough, after the famous British naturalist. Читать дальше...

Scotland’s first minister took a step closer Monday to breaking up the United Kingdom by announcing she intends to begin the legal process of holding a new independence referendum for Scots. At a news conference in Edinburgh, Nicola Sturgeon said it is the "right thing” to give Scots an opportunity to express their opinion following Brexit, last year’s vote by Britain to leave the European Union. In her speech, Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party is the largest party north of the English border... Читать дальше...

Humankind wastes a lot of energy, but thanks to new technologies, it is increasingly affordable to harvest and use it. At a recent energy summit in Washington, one of the participating commercial firms exhibited photovoltaic cells that turn waste heat into electricity. VOA's George Putic reports.

The good news is that researchers say they have found a way that may reverse aging for older people. The bad news is you are going to have to hit the gym for some high-intensity aerobic training to do it. For the study, researchers from the Mayo Clinic compared three types of exercise: high-intensity interval training, resistance training and a combination of the two. They found that only high-intensity interval training and combined training “improved aerobic capacity and mitochondrial function... Читать дальше...

Business representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan have called on Islamabad to immediately reopen the border between the two countries, saying the closure is hurting economic and social ties and resulting in massive monetary losses and mutual trust deficit. Pakistani authorities unilaterally closed the two main border crossings of Torkham and Chaman nearly a month ago, saying a wave of suicide bombings across the country was being plotted from Afghan territory, charges Kabul rejected.   Around... Читать дальше...