Новости за 25.04.2017

The U.S. Coast Guard says far fewer Cubans are trying to get to Florida using makeshift rafts since former President Barack Obama ended a policy granting residency to Cubans landing on American soil. Coast Guard spokeswoman Kate Webb said overall interdictions have dropped from as many as 25 a day to about 20 per month since Obama ended the “wet foot, dry foot” policy. The policy allowed Cubans who reached U.S. territorial waters to remain in the country but those intercepted in the waters between the two nations were returned home. Читать дальше...

A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked a directive from President Donald Trump to withhold funding from sanctuary jurisdictions — those that limit their cooperation with U.S. immigration agents. U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued a temporary ruling Tuesday that will remain in effect while the lawsuit over a provision in a Trump executive order makes its way through the court. The January 25 executive order called for federal funding to be withheld from sanctuary jurisdictions. San... Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to call for a sharp reduction in the nation's corporate tax rate, the highest among the world's industrialized countries. Trump is planning to unveil his tax plans Wednesday, with aides saying he will ask Congress to slash the current 35 percent rate down to 15 percent, a pledge he first made during last year's presidential election campaign. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the U.S. has been "uncompetitive" against other countries in attracting new businesses... Читать дальше...

Afghanistan’s largest television station has reported last Friday’s deadliest-ever assault by the Taliban on a major military base in northern Balkh province left more than 250 soldiers dead and accused authorities of “hiding the truth.” The government has been under fire for refusing to reveal the number of casualties several days after the attack targeting the Afghan National Army’s 209th Shaheen Corps in the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif. The deputy chairman of the Afghan Senate, the upper house of the parliament... Читать дальше...

The number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally fell to 11 million since 2009, largely because of a drop-off in the number of Mexicans without legal status, according to a study released Tuesday. The report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center — using survey data from 2015 — showed the number of immigrants lacking legal status was 11.3 million in 2009. The number of Mexicans in the country illegally dropped to about 5.6 million from 6.4 million during the same six-year period. "The numbers are not going up and... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump will mark the end of his first 100 days in office with a flurry of executive orders, a tool he once derided. Trump's frequent use of executive orders points to his struggles getting legislation through a Congress controlled by his own party, and few of the orders themselves appear to deliver the sweeping changes the president promised. White House aides said Trump will have signed 32 executive orders by Friday, the most of any president in his first 100 days since World War II. Читать дальше...

The founder of Wikipedia is starting a website he says will fight so-called fake news. Jimmy Wales says his Wikitribune site will bring journalists and volunteer fact checkers together to stop the spread of false news stories. "We want to make sure that you read fact-based articles that have a real impact in both local and global events," according to the group’s website. The volunteer fact checkers’ role will be similar to how editors work on Wikipedia. Any changes will be reviewed by other fact checkers. Читать дальше...

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has admonished the warring parties in South Sudan, saying they have done nothing to end the suffering of their people and are only exacerbating it. Haley spoke of the on-going violence, worsening food insecurity, massive displacements, and the dangers to humanitarian workers in the young but failing country. “It is clear that the warring parties do not have the political will to end this conflict on their own, and so it falls on us to consider our next... Читать дальше...

Canadian officials say a new tariff imposed by the Trump administration will raise the cost of new homes in the United States by $1,000 each, and shut 150,000 Americans out of home ownership. Washington's decision also puts "thousands" of U.S. homebuilding jobs at risk, according to Canada's ministers of natural resources and foreign affairs. The comments follow preliminary action by the U.S. Commerce Department to impose a 20 percent tariff on $5.77 billion worth of soft wood imports from Canada to the United States. Читать дальше...

Dating app Tinder is hit or miss for humans, but wildlife conservationists hope it might lead to love for the world’s last male northern white rhino. The move is seen as a last-ditch effort to keep the species alive. "I don't mean to be too forward, but the fate of the species literally depends on me," the rhino's profile says. "I perform well under pressure." Sudan is 43 years old, weighs nearly 2,270 kilograms and lives in Kenya. And while he has two female companions, they are unable to mate due to age and other limitations. Читать дальше...

A U.N. official in the Democratic Republic of Congo has repeated calls for a dialogue to end the deadly, months-long conflict in the Kasai region of the central DRC.   “There is no solution in Kasai other than a negotiated solution,” said Mamadou Diallo, the coordinator of humanitarian affairs for the U.N.’s mission in DRC.   Diallo addressed a news conference in Kinshasa the day after DRC government spokesman Lambert Mende showed journalists grisly videos of executions he said were carried out by the Kamwina Nsapu rebels... Читать дальше...

We are live. In Extra Time Shaka answers your questions about politics in Africa.

It was the most stunning political victory of the 21st century, one that brought shocked concern in many parts of the world and cheers in others. One uncontroversial certainty was that it would cause reverberations around the globe.   Donald Trump campaigned on an “America First” platform, but has found himself as president drawn into thorny geopolitical complexities aplenty in the first 100 days of his administration. Relations with Russia plummeted to “an all-time low,” as Trump himself described it... Читать дальше...

One by one, the Mexican men stood in the jury box, shackles rattling as they fidgeted slightly and pleaded guilty to crossing the U.S. border illegally. They had come for better jobs, many to earn more money to help raise their children, their defense lawyer told a federal magistrate in a quiet west Texas courtroom about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the Mexican border. The magistrate, Collis White, warned that a guilty plea would mean jail time and they couldn't return to the United States legally for years. Читать дальше...

The United States and Britain banned passengers last month on several Middle Eastern airlines from carrying laptop and tablet computers onto the plane. Officials cited airline safety concerns as the reason, and pointed specifically to a February 2016 attack on a flight of the Somali airline Daallo, in which a passenger set off a bomb concealed in a laptop, killing himself. Now, the Somali government said it has taken specific steps to address security at Mogadishu's international airport and has... Читать дальше...

Thai police say a man has filmed himself killing his 11 month old daughter on Facebook live, before committing suicide, in an incident the social media giant has called "appalling." Authorities say the murder occurred in the seaside town of Phuket, where the father, a 21-year-old man, hung his daughter.   “This is an appalling incident and our hearts go out to the family of the victim," a Facebook spokesperson said in an email to VOA. "There is absolutely no place for acts of this kind on Facebook... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser appears to have violated federal law by not properly disclosing payments he received from foreign governments for public engagements, the heads of the House Oversight Committee told reporters Tuesday. The rare show of bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill came after the White House denied the committee's request for documents relating to retired  Lieutenant General Michael Flynn's contact with foreign nationals. "As a former military officer... Читать дальше...

Britain, where the Industrial Revolution began more than 200 years ago, has recorded its first full day without using coal power. The milestone was achieved Friday, following years of investment in renewable energy — a trend being replicated in some other European countries, and even in developing nations. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.

Sure enough, the big trans-Pacific trade deal is toast, climate change action is on the ropes and various regulations from the Obama era have been scrapped. It's also a safe bet President Donald Trump hasn't raced a bicycle since Jan. 20, keeping that vow.   Add a Supreme Court justice — no small feat — and call these promises kept. But where's that wall? Or the promised trade punishment against China — will the Chinese get off scot-free from "the greatest theft in the history of the world"? Читать дальше...

The magnate behind LVMH is to incorporate Christian Dior into his luxury goods empire in a multibillion-dollar deal.   It's the latest business coup for businessman Bernard Arnault, who has expanded his LVMH empire to include dozens of leading luxury brands — from high-end champagne and whiskies, to exclusive Vuitton handbags, Kenzo and Givenchy perfumes and Bulgari and TAG Heuer watches. Dior Couture, launched in 1946 and seen as the pinnacle of Paris style, would be a starring jewel in his empire. Читать дальше...

The decades-long battle to legalize marijuana remains cloudy in 2017. The Obama Administration declined spending federal taxpayer money to enforce a drug policy that most Americans say needs updating. But the new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has been an outspoken opponent of legalization. Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington.

In a move that further cements Russia's control over parts of eastern Ukraine, Russian officials announced Tuesday they will begin supplying electricity to separatist-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine after the Ukrainian government cut off the power because of millions in unpaid bills.   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the decision as a humanitarian mission - helping to keep an estimated 3 million people out of darkness - but would not say exactly when or how the power supply will be... Читать дальше...

When Robert Blecker, a professor at New York Law School, first witnessed an execution, it reminded him of the scene when his father-in-law died in a hospice. “In both cases, the dying person was wrapped in white sheets, lying on a gurney with an IV coming out of his arm, attended by medical technicians, with loved ones, and witness,” recalls Blecker who spent thousands of hours interviewing inmates in maximum-security prisons for his book of "The Punishment of Death."    The author is an unlikely... Читать дальше...

Malawi President Peter Mutharika has signed a constitutional amendment raising the legal marriage age to 18. The amendment marks the final step in a years-long process in Malawi to outlaw child marriage. But rights campaigners say it is just a start, and the country must now enforce the ban.  Parliament approved the change to the constitution in February. Prior to the amendment, the constitution allowed minors aged 15 and older to marry with parental consent. The amendment comes into effect two... Читать дальше...

Google has sprinkled some new ingredients into its search engine in an effort to prevent bogus information and offensive suggestions from souring its results. The changes have been in the works for four months, but Google hadn't publicly discussed most of them until now. The announcement in a blog post Tuesday reflects Google's confidence in a new screening system designed to reduce the chances that its influential search engine will highlight untrue stories about people and events, a phenomenon... Читать дальше...