Новости за 04.05.2017

Former U.S. president Barack Obama officially endorsed French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron Thursday, calling a victory by Marcon “very important to the future of France and the values we care so much about.” Obama said he admired Macron’s “liberal values” and said Macron is committed to a better future for the French. “Because of how important this election is, I am supporting Emmanuel Macron to lead you forward,” Obama said, noting that Macron appeals to “people’s hopes and not fears,”... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump is set to make his first overseas trip as the American leader in late May, visiting Israel and Saudi Arabia before heading to Europe to meet with Pope Francis and then world leaders at international meetings. Trump already has met numerous heads of state at the White House and at his oceanfront retreat in Florida. But his first foreign destinations are in the volatile Middle East, where he has said he wants to broker a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, a... Читать дальше...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly has warned that force will be used to end the presence of Kurdish groups YPG and PKK in Syria and Iraq. "We do not differentiate between terrorist organizations. Daesh, YPG, al-Qaida are all the same for us," Erdogan said Wednesday at a press conference, with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.   Erdogan said the nation's forces will continue to carry out military operations across its southern borders. "It... Читать дальше...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it will begin launching Internet-providing satellites in 2019. The move was announced Wednesday by SpaceX vice president of satellite and government affairs, Patricia Cooper, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. She said the company eventually plans to field 4,425 small satellites into low Earth orbit by 2024 using the company’s partially reusable Falcon 9 rockets. "SpaceX intends to launch the system onboard our Falcon 9 rocket... Читать дальше...

Many cite a 1970s television ad for launching what is today a global movement to save the earth. It featured a Native American in buckskins and braids who shed a single tear over the destruction of America’s once-pristine landscape.  Later, it was revealed that the actor, Iron Eyes Cody, was not Native American at all, but a second-generation Italian who fabricated a heritage that won him roles in Hollywood.      Since then, a number of public figures have been “outed” for fictitious claims to Indian ancestry. Читать дальше...

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is reported to be in talks with the Trump administration to keep American troops in Iraq after the fight against Islamic State in the country is over. Citing U.S. and Iraqi officials, The Associated Press reports that talks are ongoing, but the agreement could conclude that, in contrast to the U.S. withdrawal in 2011, a longer-term presence of U.S. troops is needed to ensure security in Iraq. The decision to withdraw U.S. combat forces was implemented by former... Читать дальше...

The head of the World Health Organization is praising Guineans for their role in helping to develop a vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus. On a visit to the country where the world's deadliest Ebola outbreak emerged in 2013, Dr. Margaret Chan said Guineans had "fought back" by helping scientists.   There is no licensed treatment for Ebola, and the outbreak killed more than 11,300 people. Researchers began testing the vaccine as the outbreak was waning.   WHO, which has acknowledged shortcomings... Читать дальше...

A civil rights group has sued a Massachusetts sheriff who joined a federal immigration enforcement program and offered to send inmates to help build President Donald Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice sued Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson on Thursday to obtain public records related to Hodgson's participation in a program that will allow his staff to identify and detain inmates who may have entered the country illegally. Читать дальше...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his first meeting with President Donald Trump left him hopeful, but he did not appear to have come away with any achievements that move the needle on Israeli-Palestinian peace. Abbas said he believes the Trump administration can play an important role as a mediator, and the U.S. president indeed restated his ambition to facilitate the deal that has eluded negotiators for over two decades. But he also said outsiders cannot impose terms on the parties -... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump has loosened the government's enforcement of a rule that bars tax-exempt churches from participating in political activity. Trump signed an executive order Thursday that would give "maximum enforcement discretion" to the country's tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service, in tracking the ban on political activity by religious groups, an edict that already is rarely enforced. His order also would give "regulatory relief" to conservative religious groups that object to provisions... Читать дальше...

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said Thursday he has been granted a passport, after being denied the travel document for five years, so he can travel abroad to receive treatment for his eye. Navalny suffered a severe chemical burn on his face and eye last week when an attacker dumped a green chemical dye on him. In a post on his blog, Navalny said his doctors suggested he go abroad for treatment as he may need a cornea transplant. The dye attack caused Navalny to lose about 85 percent of vision in his right eye... Читать дальше...

It's being called “gray death” - a new and dangerous opioid combo that underscores the ever-changing nature of the U.S. addiction crisis.   Investigators who nicknamed the mixture have detected it or recorded overdoses blamed on it in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio. The drug looks like concrete mix and varies in consistency from a hard, chunky material to a fine powder.   The substance is a combination of several opioids blamed for thousands of fatal overdoses nationally, including heroin, fentanyl... Читать дальше...

Dr. Ed Chasteen of Liberty, Missouri, gets to his “office” – the first table in a local diner – at 6:30 a.m. every weekday. “My wife doesn’t like me meeting people in the house,” he said, sitting at a high table at Ginger Sue’s, surrounded by stacks of pancakes and paper. Chasteen is the founder of HateBusters, a group that reaches out to victims of hate crimes or discrimination within a 160-kilometer radius of his town, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. “We help people who’ve been hurt because somebody hates them ... Читать дальше...

A women's rights activist in Rwanda says she will stand against President Paul Kagame in the country's August election. The 35-year-old Diana Rwigara is declaring her presidential ambitions more than two years after her father was killed in what police called a car accident even as the family cited foul play.   The family of prominent businessman Assinapol Rwigara had petitioned Kagame to launch an independent investigation into his death.   Diana Rwigara tells The Associated Press that many... Читать дальше...

NASA has released stunning video taken by the Cassini space probe as it took the first of its “grand finale” dives between Saturn and its rings. The images were taken April 26 as Cassini made a southerly pass over Saturn. It captures the vortex on the planet’s north pole and continues to the hexagonal jet stream. "I was surprised to see so many sharp edges along the hexagon's outer boundary and the eye-wall of the polar vortex," said Kunio Sayanagi, an associate of the Cassini imaging team based at Hampton University in Virginia... Читать дальше...

Egypt's antiquities ministry says that a Spanish archaeological mission has discovered a nearly 4000-year old funerary garden in the southern city of Luxor. In a Wednesday statement, the ministry said the rectangular-shaped garden was found during excavations in an open courtyard of a rock-cut tomb belonging to the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt.   The garden is divided into four squared sections. Each covers 30 square centimeters and is believed to have contained different kinds of plants and flowers. Читать дальше...

Algerians caught a glimpse of their ailing president Thursday, barely able to cast a ballot in parliamentary elections that the government hopes will give it a mandate as it struggles with low oil prices, dismal job prospects and Islamic extremism. The government has been worried about voter apathy — and even a potential boycott — and analysts say bribery scandals during the campaign have deepened long-running distrust of politicians. The key question remained the health of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika... Читать дальше...

In Uganda, the case of a university lecturer jailed last month for allegedly insulting the president on Facebook has revived concern over what civil society groups say are growing efforts to limit freedom of expression in the country. Civil society groups in Uganda continue to campaign for the release of Stella Nyanzi. She remains behind bars awaiting a bail hearing, charged over allegedly calling President Yoweri Museveni “a pair of buttocks” in an online post. The university researcher had been... Читать дальше...

Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed to a Moscow-proposed deal Thursday to establish so-called “de-escalation” zones in Syria to try to end the six-year conflict in the country.   Representatives of the three Syria cease-fire guarantor nations signed a memorandum to that effect at the end of the latest round of peace talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The proposal calls for taking measures to reduce fighting in four designated areas of Syria where rebels not associated with Islamic State terrorists control significant territory. Читать дальше...

A business manager who stole more than $7 million from Alanis Morissette and others was sentenced Wednesday to six years in federal prison and ordered to pay $8.6 million in restitution.   Jonathan Todd Schwartz, 47, wept and apologized at the hearing, saying he took full responsibility for his behavior and would have a life of shame because of it.   "I alone am responsible for the devastation," he said, adding: "I will spend the rest of my life asking for forgiveness."   He could have faced... Читать дальше...

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is denying his country is in a fragile state and insists it is one of Africa's most developed despite its plunging economy.   The 93-year-old was speaking Thursday at the Africa leg of the World Economic Forum.   Mugabe, whose health has been weakening, declared that the country he has ruled since 1980 is the most developed on the continent after South Africa.   The once-prosperous Zimbabwe now has a cash crunch so severe that livestock in some cases is being accepted instead of currency. Читать дальше...

Brazil's federal police began a new round raids on Thursday as part of their investigation into alleged embezzlement and graft at a division of state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA. In a statement, the police said search and raid orders as well as detention orders were issued in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. They gave no further details on the targets. Federal prosecutors began investigating suspected corruption around Petrobras in April 2014 in an... Читать дальше...

Dr. Ed Chasteen is well known in the vicinity of his home town of Liberty, Missouri, for reaching out to victims of local hate crimes, usually on his bicycle. VOA's Esha Sarai reports from Liberty that "no job is too big" for Chasteen - founder of HateBusters.

A Komodo dragon has bitten an overly inquisitive tourist in Indonesia who ignored warnings about getting too close to the enormous reptile while it was eating, a national park official said.   The tourist from Singapore was bitten on his leg Wednesday morning while taking pictures of the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, said the chief of the Komodo National Park, Sudiyono.   Sudiyono said the man was rescued by locals and rushed to a hospital in Labuan Bajo on Flores Island, near Komodo Island, for treatment. Читать дальше...

The European Union's competition watchdog says it accepts commitments made by online giant Amazon to change part of its e-book contracts to avoid fines for anti-competitive behavior.   Amazon has promised not to enforce any contract clause that might oblige other publishers to offer it similar terms and conditions as those offered to competitors.   The EU Commission said Thursday that it has made the commitments legally binding. Amazon could be fined 10 percent of annual turnover if it reneges over the next five years. Читать дальше...