Новости за 24.04.2017

The Italian and Greek governments are counting on France's likely next president Emmanuel Macron to help them see off populist parties that blame European Union-enforced austerity and open immigration policies for economic and social ills. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni both called Macron on Monday to congratulate him after the independent centrist won Sunday's first round of voting in the French election. The former economy minister, who is seen in southern Europe as an opponent of rigid austerity... Читать дальше...

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

After an unprecedented global rally in support of science-based policymaking, organizers of last Saturday's March for Science say the real measure of success will be whether they can translate the event's enthusiasm into action. After crowds rallied in Washington and more than 600 other locations around the world April 22, march planners now urge those who participated to go out into their communities and advocate for science. "WE MARCHED. NOW, WE ACT," reads the updated March for Science website... Читать дальше...

Maoist rebels killed at least 25 Indian paramilitary soldiers and injured six others in their stronghold in central India on Monday in one of the worst attacks on the country's security forces in recent years, police said.   The rebels fired from hilltops at a group of paramilitary soldiers who were guarding workers building roads in a forested area of Sukma district of Chhattisgarh state, police officer Jitendra Shukla said.   The government has been trying to improve roads in the dense jungles... Читать дальше...

Rodrigo Tot, a 60-year-old farmer and activist, was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday for work in his Guatemala homeland, an honor that comes after two previous Latin American winners were murdered in the last year. The diminutive, soft-spoken evangelical pastor was recognized for defending his indigenous Q'eqchi community's lands against a mining company and the government. In a statement, Goldman praised Tot for "intrepid leadership of his people and defense of their... Читать дальше...

All 100 U.S. senators have been invited to the White House on Wednesday for a classified briefing that will primarily concern North Korea, the administration announced Monday. The briefing will be conducted by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford. While lawmakers often receive classified briefings on Capitol Hill, it is rare for them to take place at the White... Читать дальше...

The U.S. and China are launching four rounds of talks, as U.S. President Donald Trump heads to China later this year in a visit aimed at strengthening cooperation to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula. In a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday, Trump said he's "looking forward to the state visit to China," according to a readout published by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Coordinating efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and addressing the threat posed... Читать дальше...

Observers say one of the few positives that supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took from the controversy-marred narrow referendum victory last week was the widely touted bump in support from southern Turkey's restive predominantly Kurdish region. Critics say that bump had more to do with fraud and intimidation, but Erdogan advisers and members of his ruling AK Party argue it signifies a sea change in Kurdish sentiments toward the president and away from separatist politics. “The Kurds... Читать дальше...

France's two contenders for the presidency launched their campaigns Monday in a frantic bid to garner an absolute majority by convincing voters they each have the measure of change that French voters want. The choice before French voters in the final round of elections on May 7 will be between staying the course in the European Union or following the lead of Britain and leaving the bloc. In picking former banker and economy minister Emmanuel Macron and nationalist crusader Marine Le Pen, voters... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Treasury has slapped sanctions on hundreds of employees of a Syrian research center that Western analysts say develops chemical weapons like those thought to be used by government forces against civilians in Syria's long-running civil war. These expanded sanctions, announced Monday in Washington, target workers at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, a Damascus-based facility linked to the research and development of biological, chemical and missile related technology. ... Читать дальше...

The U.S. House of Representatives has just a few days to finish negotiations for a 2017 budget. If no agreement is reached on levels of funding, the U.S. government will shut down at midnight April 28. What is the US House of Representatives? Each of the House's 435 representatives represents about 700,000 people back in their home state Congressional districts. They draft and pass legislation that will become the law of the land. The House is half of the legislative branch of government. Читать дальше...

Nine-year-old Fahad works at a tailor shop in Peshawar with his brother to provide for their family of 11, including his six brothers, two sisters and his parents. Making just $20 a month, his job hinders him from going to school. “Every day on my way to work, I see students who go to school and it is very hard for me to ignore them,” Fahad told VOA. “My parents are poor and I have to work to be able to make ends meet.” Fahad is not alone on having to trade off school for work. An estimated... Читать дальше...

Authorities in southwestern Somalia have executed four al-Shabab militants convicted of carrying out explosions that killed some 80 people. The men had been sentenced to death in February by a Somali military court in the city of Baidoa, 240 kilometers southwest of the capital, Mogadishu. Reading the execution order Monday, the court's deputy general attorney, Mumin Husein Abdullahi, said the men were behind simultaneous blasts that targeted two Baidoa restaurants in February 2016. “Following convictions with clear and concrete evidence... Читать дальше...

Days after the brazen Taliban attack on an Afghan military base, top U.S. military officials are "not refuting" reports Russia has been arming the insurgent group. "We continue to get reports of this assistance and, of course, we had the overt legitimacy lent to the Taliban recently by the Russians that really occurred late last year," said U.S. General John Nicholson, the ground commander for international forces in Afghanistan. Nicholson made the comments Monday in Kabul alongside U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis... Читать дальше...

In a sign of just how important internet access is, a new survey suggests rental apartment hunters are more concerned with high-speed internet and wi-fi than they are with in-home laundry facilities. The survey commissioned by cable television and internet provider Comcast, found 34 percent of the 205 building managers, building owners and real estate developers of multifamily properties surveyed in the United States ranked wi-fi as the most important amenity. After that, 25 percent said high-speed internet was... Читать дальше...

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has identified a U.S. monitor killed in a landmine blast in eastern Ukraine as Joseph Stone. Stone, an American paramedic, was traveling in a car that hit a mine near rebel-held Luhansk Sunday.  Two other monitors were injured in the incident. The injured monitors, a female from Germany and male from the Czech Republic, are in stable condition, the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine wrote on Twitter.  It said Stone's body was recovered... Читать дальше...

The Communist Party of China has recently warned its members of eight major “red lines” while using the popular social media platform WeChat, prohibiting behaviors like accepting or giving electronic “red envelopes” to buy votes. The warning showcases the party’s resolve to fight corruption ahead of this year’s 19th party congress, which is slated to elect China’s top leaders for the next five years. By tightening its grip, observers say the party may have gone too far to limit its 88 million-strong members’ social media presence. Читать дальше...

Coming soon to West End and Broadway stages: Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Tom Price and Scott Pruitt   Four key players in President Donald Trump's new administration are central characters in a “verbatim play,” boiled down from combative U.S. Senate confirmation hearings, that looks to Trump's Cabinet picks for clues to his government's direction.   "All the President's Men?" - the question mark sets it apart from the famous Watergate expose - is being presented as a staged reading Monday at London's Vaudeville Theatre. Читать дальше...

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated during World War I, according to a version of events accepted by many historians but disputed by Turkey - which is blamed for the atrocities. As Armenians across the globe commemorate the 102nd anniversary on April 24 and honor those who perished in what they characterize as genocide, debate continues about the politics of that word. “We do not blame today’s modern day Turks for what happened 102 years ago, but there... Читать дальше...

Billionaire Elon Musk is getting close with actress Amber Heard.   The pair is shown in paparazzi photos zip-lining in Australia, where Heard is filming "Aquaman." Both Musk and Heard posted pictures to their Instagram accounts Monday showing Musk with lipstick on his cheek left behind from a kiss. Musk wrote on his post that he and Heard were dining with "Aquaman" director James Wan and producer Rob Cowan on Australia's Gold Coast.   Musk has been married three times, twice to British actress Talulah Riley. Читать дальше...

Former U.S. President Barack Obama returned to public life Monday, urging young people in his adopted home town of Chicago to be activists in their communities, much like he was before running for political office. Obama said that as a community organizer three decades ago in Chicago he learned that "ordinary people, when working together, can do extraordinary things," a lesson "that stayed with me." The 44th U.S. president said he hopes to "help and prepare the next generation to take up the... Читать дальше...

A white oak tree that has watched over a New Jersey community and a church for hundreds of years began its final bow Monday as crews began its removal and residents fondly remembered the go-to spot for formal photos, the landmark for driving directions and the remarkable piece of natural history. Crews at the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church in Bernards began taking down the 600-year-old tree that was declared dead after it began showing rot and weakness over the last couple of years. The two... Читать дальше...

The CEO of one of the Middle East's largest carriers said Monday passenger numbers to the United States have dipped slightly over fears by some Muslim passengers that their visas may be rejected upon arrival, but expressed confidence in President Donald Trump as a "very good businessman."   Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker said uncertainty about travel to the United States is "affecting the business, but to a very small extent."   "We didn't have massive decline like other carriers so we still... Читать дальше...

Thousands of people from around the world, many of them young Israelis, paid homage Monday to the millions who perished in the Holocaust at the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz. The event, the March of the Living, is a somber memorial march of about three kilometers (two miles) from the original Auschwitz camp to Birkenau, a much larger death camp where Jews and Roma were murdered in gas chambers in German-occupied Poland. Participants gathered under and near the main gate with the... Читать дальше...