Новости за 22.03.2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence are scheduled to headline the 2017 meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee next week in Washington. The AIPAC Policy Conference, which regularly sees attendance above 15,000 people, is the largest annual pro-Israel gathering in the U.S., and will feature speeches from political leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, among others. Thousands of people... Читать дальше...

A lawyer hired by the family of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian whistleblower who died in jail, has been seriously injured in a fall from his Moscow apartment. Nikolai Gorokhov, 53, apparently plunged from his fourth-floor apartment Tuesday as he and a group of workers were trying to lift a large bathtub into his home. He is hospitalized in serious condition with head injuries although he is conscious and responding to doctors, according to a statement Wednesday from William Browder, Magnitsky's former employer. Читать дальше...

U.S. intelligence may have picked up President Donald Trump's personal communications with foreign leaders and others during legal routine surveillance of foreign officials, a key Republican lawmaker says. Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters Wednesday outside the White House that most of the intercepted material was from communication from Trump transition team members, collected between the November election and the January inauguration. However... Читать дальше...

A wage strike and massive street protest by Argentine school teachers were energized Wednesday by anger over a disparaging comment that President Mauricio Macri made about the country's public education system. Buenos Aires traffic was paralyzed by tens of thousands of teachers marching on the presidential palace, demanding pay increases to help keep up with inflation which was 40 percent last year and is expected to be about 20 percent in 2017. "The basic problem is the terrible inequality between... Читать дальше...

One in four children — 600 million in total — may live in areas with severely limited water resources by 2040, putting them at risk of deadly diseases like cholera and diarrhea, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Wednesday. Already some 500 million children live in areas with limited water supplies, and the demand for water today far exceeds available resources in 36 countries, UNICEF said. Supplies are expected to shrink further due to droughts, rising temperatures, flooding, population growth and urbanization... Читать дальше...

Opposition parties in Zimbabwe say they have no confidence in the country's electoral commission and are calling for an international body to run the 2018 elections. Opposition parties led by former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai held a rally of about 500 people Wednesday in Harare at which they said the next election is heading for a dispute unless the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, or ZEC, steps aside. The rally follows the electoral commission's request to President Robert Mugabe's government... Читать дальше...

Judges at the International Criminal Court Wednesday sentenced former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba to an additional year in prison and fined him $324,000 for bribing witnesses during his earlier trial on war crimes. Four other members of Bemba's legal team also were sentenced by The Hague-based court. They were found guilty back in October of bribing and otherwise influencing 14 defense witnesses to try to tilt the outcome of the first trial, which led to a March 2016 conviction for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Читать дальше...

More than one in three U.S. Muslims fear they could be targeted by white supremacist groups following President Donald Trump's election and 42 percent say their children have been bullied in school because of their faith, a survey found. That fear contributes to a lower-than-average rate of voting by adult Muslim citizens, according to a study released on Monday by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Cracking down on what he called "radical Islamic terrorists" and restricting travel... Читать дальше...

Police say there are an unspecified number of casualties including police officers in a "terrorist incident" close to the British parliament in London. Eyewitnesses say a car crashed into pedestrians on nearby Westminster bridge before an assailant stabbed a policeman and was shot by police outside the parliament building. Two people were killed, according to Sky News, including a police officer. March 18, 2017 - A man attempts to snatch gun from female soldier on patrol at Orly airport south of Paris; man... Читать дальше...

Ceremonies were held Wednesday in Brussels to mark the one-year anniversary of the terror attacks in the city, which killed 32 people and came just four months after the series of attacks that took 130 lives in the French capital, Paris.   The remembrance services in the political heart of Europe took place amid a fierce debate over security failings that allowed the assailants to travel freely into and within the European Union. “There were significant lessons to be learned both from Brussels and Paris, and more recently from Berlin. Читать дальше...

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch was grilled Wednesday during testimony before a Senate panel about his role in approving severe interrogation methods when he was an attorney in President George W. Bush's administration. The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein, questioned Gorsuch about why he had written "yes" on a document next to a question about whether a CIA torture program had produced useful intelligence. "My recollection of 12 years ago is that that... Читать дальше...

Despite international sanctions, North Korea has found partners across Africa willing to buy arms and make defense deals, says the head of a U.N. panel of experts that investigated the transactions. According to a U.N. report released last month, North Korea has used a number of methods to avoid detection and has forged agreements with at least seven African nations to train soldiers, build infrastructure and sell a wide range of weapons and vehicles. The deals violate U.N. sanctions banning... Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is acknowledging that he worked for a Russian aluminum magnate under a multi-million-dollar contract a decade ago, but is pushing back on claims that his efforts were aimed at advancing the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Manafort, Trump's campaign chief from March until August last year, told U.S. news outlets on Wednesday that he worked for Oleg Deripaska "almost a decade ago, representing him on business and... Читать дальше...

Brazil is developing technology to send domestically-made satellites into space with its own rockets by the end of the decade, aerospace executives and officials said ahead of the launch of the nation's first defense and communications satellite. The launch of the French-made satellite, the first project of its kind led by Brazil's private sector, was originally set for Tuesday but rescheduled for Thursday evening due to protests around the lift-off site in French Guyana. The 5.8-tonne geostationary... Читать дальше...

Russian and Turkish soldiers are facing off over the Syrian Kurdish canton of Afrin.  Ankara says the area that borders its territory is under the control of PYD ‘terrorists’ affiliated with the Kurdish insurgent group the PKK.  But Moscow, like Washington, views the PYD and its YPG militia which controls Afrin as key to fighting Islamic State. Moscow took Ankara by surprise when it deployed forces in the canton to monitor a cease-fire between YPG and the Free Syrian Army, which is backed by Turkey. Читать дальше...

And Over Here is My Lung

Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch connected in press reports Wednesday to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, has a long history of connections with senior U.S. politicians, including Senator John McCain and former senator Bob Dole. Deripaska was listed by Forbes magazine in 2008 as Russia’s richest oligarch, with a fortune the business magazine then assessed at $28 billion. He is suddenly back in the news, despite the fact that Forbes now estimates his wealth at a mere $5.1 billion. Читать дальше...

Shaka Ssali discusses Africa land reform with Frank Byamugisha, Ph.D., Former World Bank Expert on Land Reform and an Independent Consultant, and with Jacques Bahati, Policy Analyst at Africa Faith and Justice Network.

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

A three- to four-month window remains to avert a famine that could potentially kill millions of people in three African countries and Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross warns.  The Swiss humanitarian agency said speed was of the essence to prevent a tragedy of massive proportions in Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and northeast Nigeria.   Dominik Stillhart, ICRC Director of Operations, said agencies must urgently scale up their humanitarian operations and international donors must... Читать дальше...

Wastewater from households, industries and agriculture, if treated, could be a valuable resource rather than a costly problem, United Nations experts in a report on Wednesday. Treating and recycling wastewater would not only reduce pollution but could help meet growing demand for freshwater and other raw materials, they said. Below are some facts on wastewater to tie in with World Water Day on Wednesday: - More than 80 percent of wastewater worldwide is released without treatment, contaminating rivers and lakes. Читать дальше...

The results from another North Korean missile launch. The Philippines looks for clarification in the South China Sea. Plus, South Korea hopes for closure. VOA’s Steve Miller has your Asia news, in a minute.

At least 25 people have died of starvation in the self-declared republic of Somaliland as the Horn of Africa grapples with an increasingly severe drought. “The drought situation is at its most dangerous level. Eighty percent of the livestock have gone and we are struggling with saving people, who have started dying. So far, we have recorded 25 deaths, most of them children who starved to death," said Ahmed Abdi Salay, the governor of Somaliland's northwest Sanag region. According to the United Nations... Читать дальше...

Military officials in Pakistan say a gunfight with militants killed two soldiers and five “terrorists” in a volatile northwestern region. The clash occurred when security forces conducted an “intelligence-based operation” against a suspected militant hideout early Wednesday in the semi-autonomous Orakzai tribal district, according to an army statement. The firefight killed a senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban along with four other militants while an army major and a soldier also died, it said. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders are struggling to come up with enough votes to overhaul the national health care reforms that former President Barack Obama considered as his signature legislative achievement. A key health care vote is set for late Thursday in the House of Representatives, but conservative stalwarts who contend the legislation does not go far enough to create a new health care policy say they have enough votes to thwart their leaders' and Trump's plan. Читать дальше...