Новости за 25.03.2017

Villages and entire cities in former Islamic State-controlled areas of Iraq lie in ruins after months and sometimes years of airstrikes, mortars, suicide bombers and heavy gunfire.   In recent days, a story has emerged about a particularly horrific event, with some reports putting the civilian death toll at more than 100. Local media say an airstrike hit a truck loaded with explosives in an area of Mosul packed by IS militants with civilian "human shields."   Coalition forces responded to calls for an investigation... Читать дальше...

Britain's anti-European Union party has lost its only member of Parliament, four days ahead of the country's formal exit from the EU. Douglas Carswell, the only MP in Britain's anti-immigration UK Independence Party, announced that he was leaving the party Saturday, writing in a blog post that he was departing "amicably, cheerfully and in the knowledge that we won." Carswell said he was leaving the party feeling that Brexit was in "good hands" and that his work with the party was done, though... Читать дальше...

A court in Cameroon has again adjourned a trial for a foreign reporter accused nearly two years ago of "complicity" with the Boko Haram terrorist group. Ahmed Abba of Radio France International's Hausa language service says he has done nothing wrong, but he has been in custody for nearly five months and faces a death sentence if convicted. His hearing Friday at the Yaounde military court was his first since November. During cross-examination to find out how he got videos and photos purportedly from Boko Haram... Читать дальше...

Somalia's president on Saturday asked leaders of an African trade bloc to help his country find a durable solution to the Somali refugee crisis, including reintegration of returnees inside the Horn of Africa nation, where a civil conflict is now in its 26th year. At a special summit in Nairobi on Somali refugees, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, commonly known as Farmajo, said that "about 2½ million Somali refugees and IDPs [internally displaced persons] live in camps in and out of the country. Читать дальше...

Turkey's president says the country might pursue a Brexit-like referendum on whether to pursue European Union membership.   Speaking Saturday at a Turkish-U.K. forum in the southern city of Antalya, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the proposal as tensions are escalating between Ankara and European governments ahead of an April 16 referendum to expand the powers of the Turkish presidency.   Bringing up Brexit - the British departure from the EU - Erdogan said a similar referendum "might'' be held after the April 16 vote... Читать дальше...

A Congolese militia decapitated 42 policemen in an ambush near the central Democratic Republic of Congo city of Kananga, a local official said Saturday. Francois Kalamba, speaker of the Kasai provincial assembly, said the Kamuina Nsapu militant group ambushed a group of police officers traveling between Kananga and Tshikapa a day earlier.  The militants captured the police officers and decapitated 42 of them, Kalamba said, noting that the militants freed six of the officers because they could speak the local Tshiluba language. Читать дальше...

The United Nations begins negotiations Monday on a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons. This comes as the United States commences a review of what role its nuclear weapons should now play. “Shortly after taking office, the president directed a new Nuclear Posture Review to ensure that the United States nuclear deterrent is modern, robust, flexible, resilient, ready, and appropriately tailored to deter 21st century threats and reassure our allies,” White House senior assistant press secretary Michael Short told VOA Friday. Читать дальше...

The United Nations is to begin negotiations Monday on a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons. This comes as the United States begins a review of the role its nuclear weapons should now play. VOA White House Bureau Chief Correspondent Steve Herman reports.

Mumtaz Qadri killed the governor of Punjab province who favored liberalizing Pakistan’s blasphemy law in 2011. Qadri was hanged last year after being found guilty of murder. Now he is being hailed as a hero. Thousands of supporters paid tribute to his shrine on the anniversary of his death earlier this month. VOA’s Muhammad Ishtiaq reports.

In January of 2011, Mumtaz Qadri killed the very person he was paid to protect. Qadri served in the squad of personal bodyguards for Salmaan Taseer, a liberal Pakistani politician and governor of Punjab province who advocated for liberalizing the country’s controversial blasphemy law.   After killing the governor, Qadri surrendered himself to law enforcement and confessed to his crime, citing religious reasons to justify his action.    Qadri considered governor Taseer’s soft stand on Asia Bibi... Читать дальше...

A Chinese court has ruled in favor of Apple in design patent disputes between the Cupertino, California company and a domestic phone-maker, overturning a ban on selling iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones in China, Xinhua news agency reported. Last May, a Beijing patent regulator ordered Apple's Chinese subsidiary and a local retailer Zoomflight to stop selling the iPhones after Shenzhen Baili Marketing Services lodged a complaint, claiming that the patent for the design of its mobile phone 100c was being infringed by the iPhone sales. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump is turning his attention to tax reform following the collapse of the effort to repeal and replace the nation's health care plan. "I would say that we will probably start going very, very strongly for the big tax cuts and tax reform. That will be next," Trump said at the White House Friday after Republicans withdrew legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Republicans were forced to cancel a vote on the replacement bill in the House... Читать дальше...

Pakistan says it has started fencing off its long border with Afghanistan and areas vulnerable to cross-border militant attacks are being given priority.  Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa revealed the project during a visit Saturday to tribal districts, including Mohmand, near the Afghan border where "terrorists" assaulted outposts from across the other side and killed five Pakistani soldiers this month.  Bajwa identified Mohmand and neighboring Bajaur district as "high threat zones", saying fencing them is the military's high priority.

Congo's government must cooperate with United Nations efforts to locate experts who have been missing in the violent Kasai region for nearly two weeks, Human Rights Watch said Saturday. Uruguayan peacekeepers and Tanzanian special forces who deployed to find the six people, including ones from the United States and Sweden, have faced a lack of cooperation, the rights group said. The U.N. mission in Congo said its movements have been restricted by security forces in Kananga, the provincial capital of Kasai Central. Читать дальше...

Indonesia's air force says an American military plane made an emergency landing at an airport in Indonesia's Aceh province.   Air Vice Marshall Jemi Trisonjaya says the U.S. Air Force plane requested permission to land Friday after one of its four engines failed.   Trisonjaya said Saturday that permission was granted and the Boeing 707 successfully landed at Sultan Iskandar Muda airport in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. The plane was carrying 20 military personnel to Japan's Haneda airport from Diego Garcia... Читать дальше...

The first democratically elected president of the Maldives said Saturday that he has signed an agreement with his one-time archrival and former strongman to try to restore democracy in the archipelago state. Former President Mohamed Nasheed told The Associated Press that the immediate goal of the agreement, which was also signed by two opposition party leaders, is to form a majority in a parliament now controlled by lawmakers supporting President Yameen Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed said that as a result... Читать дальше...

An Egyptian appeals court suspended a jail sentence on Saturday against the former head of the journalists' union for harboring colleagues wanted by authorities and for spreading false news, judicial sources and a lawyer said. Yehia Qalash and two colleagues were sentenced to two years in jail in November in a case which Amnesty International condemned as a further crackdown on freedom of expression in Egypt. The appeals court on Saturday gave Qalash and the two board members, Khaled al-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Rahim... Читать дальше...

Riot police in the Belarusian capital have raided the office of a human-rights group hours ahead of an attempt by opposition activists to mount a large protest march. Authorities banned the demonstration planned for Saturday afternoon and dozens of police detention trucks were deployed in the center of Minsk. The authoritarian former Soviet republic has seen an unusually persistent wave of protests over the past two months against President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled since 1994. After tolerating the initial protests... Читать дальше...

U.S. Sen. John McCain is urging President Donald Trump to nominate a team of senior officials at the State Department to back up new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke Saturday during an event in Brussels. He pointed to "confusion" over whether Tillerson would attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. He does now plan to be there. McCain said one aspect of that was that Tillerson "doesn't have a team there at the State Department. Читать дальше...

The American-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq is conducting an investigation into coalition airstrikes that some reports say recently killed more than 100 civilians in Mosul's Jidideh neighborhood.  A coalition statement said it has "opened a formal civilian casualty credibility assessment on the allegation."The statement also said coalition planes "routinely strike" IS targets in the neighborhood, and coalition forces "take all reasonable precautions during the planning and... Читать дальше...

Leaders of the European Union met in Rome Saturday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the bloc’s founding treaty and demonstrate that the EU can survive the impending departure of major power Britain. Under heavy security as the Italian capital braced for anti-EU protests later in the day and the risk of attacks such as that by an Islamic State follower in London last week, the 27 national leaders gathered in the Campidoglio palace where the six founding states signed the Treaty of Rome, March 25, 1957. Читать дальше...

The man who killed four people outside Britain’s Parliament was in Saudi Arabia three times and taught English there, the Middle Eastern country’s embassy said.    A Saudi Embassy statement released late Friday said that Khalid Masood taught English in Saudi Arabia from November 2005 to November 2006 and again from April 2008 to April 2009.    The embassy said that he had a work visa. It said he returned for six days in March 2015 on a trip booked through an approved travel agent.   The Saudi... Читать дальше...

A Syrian monitor says at least 16 people have died in airstrikes on a prison in northwestern Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday said prisoners and staff were killed in the strikes in the rebel-held city of Idlib. The Observatory says it has received reports that some of those killed were fleeing after the airstrikes and were shot by prison staff members. Idlib is an opposition stronghold where Russian warplanes have been known to carry out strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Читать дальше...

New data shows that parts of New Zealand's South Island moved several meters closer to the North Island during last November's 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The data, including satellite radar imagery, shows that parts of New Zealand’s South Island have shifted more than 5 meters closer to the North Island, and that some areas were raised by up to 8 meters.   Other information has come from observations on the ground and the analysis of coastal regions by GNS science, a New Zealand government research agency. Читать дальше...

Stars and fans will gather Saturday for a public memorial to honor late actresses Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher nearly three months after their deaths.    The ceremony honoring the lives of the mother-daughter duo will be at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, the storied cemetery that is their final resting place. People will be granted attendance at the event on a first-come, first-served basis, and it will be live-streamed beginning at 1 p.m. PDT.    The ceremony is slated to feature music by... Читать дальше...