Новости за 01.04.2017

A Taliban suicide car bomber killed an Afghan regional base commander and two soldiers Saturday in the southeastern province of Khost, officials and insurgents said. A government spokesman, Mubarez Zadran, told VOA the Afghan forces were targeted in Mando district. The powerful blast also wounded six students from a nearby school, most of whom suffered life-threatening injuries. A Taliban spokesman who said insurgents carried out the assault claimed the explosion had killed five Afghan special forces members. Читать дальше...

The chief lieutenant of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an airstrike in Iraq's al-Anbar province near the Syrian border, Iraqi state television said Saturday. The report said an Iraqi Air Force strike in far western Iraq had killed Ayad al-Jumaili and several other regional IS commanders. The report did not say when the attack occurred and offered no other details.   Officials of the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition had not confirmed the extremist's death by Saturday evening. Читать дальше...

A massive wall of water from three overflowing rivers in southwestern Colombia swept through the town of Mocoa overnight Friday as residents slept, destroying homes and infrastructure and killing more than 150 people. President Juan Manuel Santos visited the wrecked town of 40,000 near the border with Ecuador on Saturday and declared a state of public calamity. Santos warned the death toll was likely to rise, and added, "We don't know how many victims there are going to be." For their part... Читать дальше...

The language at a small graduation ceremony inside a federal office building in Washington Friday morning was militaristic: Fighting. Frontlines. Enemies. War. For a fifth year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather quietly has trained a small team of injured, wounded or sick military veterans for a different type of deployment - supporting the agency’s lesser-known investigative arm as analysts on child exploitation cases - the ones who will be able to take photos off a hard drive in a child pornography investigation... Читать дальше...

As the U.S. Senate prepares for a confirmation vote on Republican President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Democratic opposition continues to mount. Three more Democratic senators, Claire McCaskill, Richard Blumenthal and Brian Schatz, announced their opposition to Gorsuch Friday, setting up a confrontation with Republicans. Democrats have said they will use a procedure called a filibuster that requires 60 votes to win a confirmation in the 100-seat Senate. Republicans control... Читать дальше...

Israeli police said they shot and killed a Palestinian man Saturday after the man stabbed three people in the old city of Jerusalem. Spokeswoman Luba Samri said the man stabbed two Jewish people before fleeing. A short time later, the man stabbed a border guard before being killed by police. The two Israelis were lightly wounded and the other has more serious injuries, according to police. The incident led to an outbreak of violence, with police using stun grenades on stone-throwing Palestinians. Читать дальше...

Somalia’s new prime minister, Hassan Ali-Khaire, said he is mobilizing his government to tackle corruption and vowed to make the fight against misconduct a non-negotiable principle in his administration. Speaking at an official handover ceremony from the outgoing finance minister, Mohamed Adan Ibrahim "Farketi", to the new minister, Abdirahman Duale Beyle, Khaire expressed his concerns about the need for Somalia to be governed on transparency principles. “I and the president will never accept public property embezzlement... Читать дальше...

A journalist from the independent Somali television station Goobjoog was abducted at gunpoint Saturday outside Mogadishu after receiving “threatening” phone calls overnight, his wife said. Television news producer Hanad Ali Guled was outside his home and headed to work when six masked men kidnapped him early Saturday. Ahmedwali Hussein, an editor at the station, said Guled called his family from an unknown location and told them he was being tortured. In a post on its website, Goobjoog said... Читать дальше...

Rioters in Paraguay set fire to parliament late Friday to protest a bill that would allow the country's president to serve more than one term. Protests erupted when the Senate secretly voted to amend the constitution, which has not allowed re-election since it was created in 1992 following the fall of a brutal dictatorship. Demonstrators broke windows and set fire to the interior of the parliament building late Friday. One activist was reportedly killed by a blow to the head - what opposition leaders say was a rubber bullet fired by police.

A fugitive anti-state Pakistani extremist leader has asked followers to find and execute “blasphemers” in the country for insulting Islam and its Prophet Muhammad. In a video message sent Saturday to VOA and other media outlets, Fazlullah Khurasani, who heads the militant Tehrike-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), issued the threat without identifying the alleged blasphemers. TTP, which is commonly referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, has been waging deadly attacks for years against the state, killing tens of thousands of Pakistanis... Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders on trade deficits and import duty evasion are a sign that Washington plans to move away from free trade and international agreements, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said on Saturday. Trump instructed his administration on Friday to study the causes of U.S. trade deficits and clamp down on countries that abuse trade rules in two executive orders he said would open a new chapter for U.S. workers and businesses. Zypries said that while the executive orders were initially only reviews... Читать дальше...

He gives his political rivals derogatory nicknames like “Establishment Ed.” He uses the slogan, “Make Virginia Great Again.” He speaks at length about what he sees as the dangers posed by undocumented immigrants. And he despises political correctness so much that he railed against it in a Facebook Live video in which he sips coffee from a Confederate flag mug while sitting in his carefully restored 18th century tobacco plantation that once housed slaves. Meet Corey Stewart, the firebrand Virginia... Читать дальше...

Pakistan’s unilateral decision to build a wall along the de facto border with Afghanistan is proving popular at home while fanning emotions on the other side that were enflamed by Islamabad’s decision to close border crossings. In both cases, the stated reason was to halt terror attacks in Pakistan that it has blamed on terrorists operating from havens in Afghanistan, although it remains unclear how effective that restricting travel along the porous border can be. Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa... Читать дальше...

The number of tourists visiting Cambodia’s genocide sites has more than tripled during the last 10 years, raising concerns that commercialism is compromising efforts to preserve memorials for 2 million people who perished here under Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge. Chhour Sokty, director at Choeung Ek, the best known of the sites commonly called The Killing Fields, said visitor numbers had leaped to as many as 800 a day since he began working here 11 years ago, with media promotions leading to increased numbers of tourists... Читать дальше...

A U.S. judge has approved a $25 million deal settling the lawsuits against U.S. President Donald Trump and his now defunct Trump University. The students claimed Trump committed fraud with his assertions that his real estate seminars would help them make money in the real estate market. Some students paid as much as $35,000 to enroll in Trump University. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s ruling Friday brings an end to a lengthy battle with Trump, who had vowed not to settle the suits. After his stunning presidential win in November... Читать дальше...

Venezuela's Supreme Court said Saturday that it would abandon measures to strengthen President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power after it was widely and harshly criticized. In a ruling posted on its website, the Supreme Court said it was overturning its decision to diminish the legislative powers of the General Assembly, which opponents called a "coup d'etat". Powerful Attorney General Luisa Ortega denounced two rulings announced late Wednesday, which effectively dissolved the opposition-majority... Читать дальше...

Waving the national flag, the U.S. stars and stripes and shouting military-style slogans, tens of thousands of supporters of arrested former South Korean President Park Geun-hye rallied Saturday for her to be released from detention on corruption allegations.    Park was jailed Friday over allegations that she colluded with a confidante to extort money from businesses, take bribes and allow the friend to unlawfully interfere with state affairs. The Constitutional Court ruled March 10 to remove... Читать дальше...

More than two dozen people were reported missing Saturday after a rain-triggered landslide struck a village on Indonesia’s main island of Java.    The landslide hit up to 30 houses and farmers harvesting ginger on a hillside in Banaran village in East Java province’s Ponorogo district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency.   The local mitigation agency said 27 people were buried, while a local army chief put the number of missing at 38, based on reports from villagers. Читать дальше...

Voting began Saturday in 19 by-elections in Myanmar, in the first test of the popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy since it formed the government a year ago.   Nine of the contested seats are in the Lower House, three are in the Upper House and the rest are in state and regional assemblies in ethnic minority areas.   Some seats became vacant because the lawmakers were promoted to the Cabinet; some because of deaths and others were never filled in the 2015 general election... Читать дальше...

The White House has released a report on the personal finances of the president’s staff. The report, released late Friday, lays out details about the assets, liabilities and income in the portfolios of what are the wealthiest White House staff members ever when they entered the White House in January and before they started selling off assets that could be considered conflicts of interest in their new posts. The account includes data about the financial life of the president’s daughter, Ivanka... Читать дальше...

A witness says the driver of a pickup that collided with a church minibus in rural Texas, killing 13 people, acknowledged he had been texting while driving — a development that highlights the dangers of sending messages on smartphones while behind the wheel.    Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Conrad Hein wouldn't comment Friday on whether texting might have played a role in the Wednesday collision on a two-lane road about 75 miles west (120 kilometers) of San Antonio, near the town of Concan. Читать дальше...

He gives his political rivals derogatory nicknames. He uses the slogan "Make Virginia Great Again." He speaks at length about what he sees as the dangers posed by undocumented immigrants. Meet Corey Stewart, the firebrand Virginia politician who, as VOA's Bill Gallo points out, is not so subtly embracing Donald Trump as he runs for governor.

The Trump administration escalated its criticism of Moscow Friday, with two of its most senior officials denouncing Russia’s treatment of Ukraine and reiterating a vow to maintain U.S. sanctions. In his first visit to a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of “aggression” in Ukraine and told his counterparts that their alliance is “fundamental to countering both nonviolent, but at times violent, Russian agitation” in the region.  He also said... Читать дальше...

On Tuesday, voters in California's 34th congressional district will have a special election to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The race to represent much of Los Angeles in the lower house of Congress has 23 candidates: 19 Democrats, one Republican and three independents. VOA's Arturo Martinez reports.

Scientists working at Cambridge University in England have coaxed a collection of mouse stem cells to turn into a mouse embryo. This breakthrough could change the way scientists study early development and how it can go wrong early in a pregnancy. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports.