Новости за 07.05.2017

More than 50,000 residents of the northern German city of Hannover have been asked to leave their homes, as authorities prepare to mount a large-scale operation to defuse World War II-era bombs. City officials say two bombs were found at a construction site and three more nearby. The city prepared a series of events for the evacuees, including free museum visits and discounted film screenings. More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried on German land... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Senate is beginning work on an issue that shifted control of Congress in 2010 and could do so again next year: America’s costly and complex health care system. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the House of Representatives passed a Republican bill repealing former president Obama’s health care law, but the bill faces major hurdles going forward.

A U.S. Senate panel is taking a new look Monday into the extent of Russian meddling in last year's presidential election, even as President Donald Trump continues to dismiss Moscow's interference. The Senate Intelligence Committee is hearing testimony from Sally Yates, who was briefly acting attorney general, the country's top law enforcement official, in the early days of the Trump administration before the new president fired her. She had been a key Justice Department official under former... Читать дальше...

Release of 82 Chibok Girls Celebrated

The Somali government says the leader of al-Shabab in the Lower Shabelle region and three of his associates have been killed in a raid in the village of Barire.   The Somali government identified the man as Moalin Osman Abdi Badil. In a statement by the Information Ministry the government says the operation on May 5 was conducted by the Somali national security forces. The Somali government says the death the al-Shabab leader Badil “significantly disrupts” the group’s ability to operate in the Lower Shabelle region. Читать дальше...

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

U.S. President Donald Trump is voicing confidence the Senate will join the House of Representatives in repealing health care reforms championed by former President Barack Obama. "Republican Senators will not let the American people down!" Trump said Sunday on his Twitter account, just days after the House narrowly voted to repeal the seven-year-old health law popularly known as Obamacare. The long-running U.S. health care debate now moves to the Senate, where the fate of the repeal effort is uncertain. Читать дальше...

Hundreds of volunteers held "welcome" signs in multiple languages near Los Angeles International Airport, ahead of an appeals court hearing in Virginia on Monday regarding the Trump administration's revised travel ban. The Saturday event, organized by the Los Angeles tourism office, was intended to show arriving passengers that the city welcomes visitors from all parts of the world.

Hundreds of volunteers held signs "welcome" signs in multiple languages near Los Angeles International Airport, ahead of an appeals court hearing in Virginia on Monday regarding the Trump administration's revised travel ban. The ban has been placed on hold in the courts, and if reinstated, would temporarily bar travelers from six majority-Muslim countries. The Los Angeles event on Saturday was organized by the city’s tourism office, and although nonpolitical, organizers say it is intended to show the city’s openness. Читать дальше...

It isn't the first time a new U.S. President has promised a fresh start in American-Arab relations. Eight years ago Barack Obama promised a beneficial reset in a speech delivered in Cairo entitled "A New Beginning." The speech honored a campaign pledge Obama made to give a major address to Muslims from a Muslim capital during his first few weeks in office. Obama hoped it would mark the start of "a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." The speech raised expectations of a new era in U.S.-Arab relations... Читать дальше...

The sister of U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law is in China courting wealthy people to invest $500,000 in luxury apartment towers outside New York City as part of a program that would grant them permanent U.S. residency. Nicole Kushner Meyer, the sister of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, one of the president's top White House advisers, spoke Sunday to potential investors in Shanghai after making the same pitch the day before in Beijing. Meyer told more than 100 people at a Beijing hotel that the $976 million project ... Читать дальше...

Pakistan claims last week’s border clashes with Afghanistan left more than 50 Afghan security troops dead and scores of others wounded while five of their outposts were destroyed. Major-General Nadeem Anjum, commander of the provincial paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) shared the details Sunday in Quetta, the capital of the southwestern border province of Baluchistan where Thursday’s skirmishes occurred. The Afghan government swiftly rejected the claims, saying the fighting left four people, including two security personnel... Читать дальше...

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday criticized the government of President Hassan Rouhani for promoting a "Western-influenced" United Nations education plan which his hardline allies have said contradicts Islamic principles. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks came ahead of May 19 polls, in which the president is seeking re-election. "In this country, the basis is Islam and the Koran. This is not a place where the faulty, corrupt and destructive Western lifestyle will be allowed to spread its influence," Khamenei told a gathering of educators... Читать дальше...

Former Israeli combat soldiers who were thrust into the center of a recent diplomatic row between Israel and Germany, say the sudden international spotlight has given them a bigger stage to speak out against Israel's 50-year rule over millions of Palestinians. Breaking the Silence is a group of ex-soldiers-turned-whistleblowers who view Israel's open-ended occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state as an existential threat to their country. Since 2004, the group has collected testimony... Читать дальше...

North Korea says it has detained another U.S. citizen, accusing him of committing "hostile acts." The North's official news agency KCNA said Kim Hak Song was detained on Saturday. The report said he had worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. The U.S. has not yet commented on the report, which if confirmed, would make Kim Hak Song the fourth American citizen in North Korean custody. Last month, Pyongyang detained Kim Sang-duk, a university accounting professors in his 50s. Читать дальше...

Heavy fighting is raging in northern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency has overrun several districts since launching its so-called yearly “spring offensive” more than a week ago. The battlefield advances have again brought insurgents close enough to threaten Kunduz, the strategically important city the Taliban had briefly captured in 2015. Officials told local media Sunday that Afghan forces were battling the insurgents in Charkhab area on the outskirts of the provincial capital. ... Читать дальше...

In a race dominated by the issues of jobs, immigration and security, the choice before voters in this second and final round Sunday is stark, with centrist, pro-EU former economy minister, Emmanuel Macron facing nationalist, anti-immigration crusader Marine Le Pen.

The International Committee of the Red Cross posted a photograph on its Twitter account of the girls lining up to get into a helicopter.    The ICRC said it on Twitter that it "acted as a neutral intermediary to facilitate" the girls' transport back home. The  girls are expected to meet with President Muhammadu Buhar later in the day. The group of girls, released Saturday, had been kidnapped in 2014  in the town of Chibok near Nigeria's borders with Chad and Niger. Nigerian government officials confirmed the releases early Sunday. Читать дальше...

A Frenchman who was kidnapped in Chad in March and taken to the restive Darfur area of Sudan has been rescued in a raid organized by France, Chad and Sudan and was handed over to French authorities on Sunday, Sudanese officials said. They said the kidnappers had demanded an undisclosed ransom for the man, an employee of a French mining company operating in Chad. He was abducted south of Abeche, a mining area about 800 km (500 miles) east of Chad's capital, N'Djamena, and 150 km from the border with Sudan. Читать дальше...

The Iraqi man laid the body of his wife, wrapped in a black shroud, gently on the bow of a small wooden boat and held onto it as a second man rowed slowly to pick up the man's three children standing a few metres away. The two teenage girls and young boy climbed in, careful not to disturb the balance, for the crossing taking their mother, killed in an air strike this week, to the east bank of the Tigris River. This crossing is no ancient rite, however. It is an extra hardship heaped on the... Читать дальше...

German authorities are evacuating around 50,000 people from their homes in the northern city of Hannover while five suspected aerial bombs from World War II are made safe for removal. City officials say two suspected bombs were found at a construction site and three more nearby. Germany was heavily bombed by Allied planes during the war and such finds are common.   Leaflets in German, Polish, Turkish, English and Russian were delivered door-to-door to make sure everyone evacuated on Sunday. The... Читать дальше...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Palestinians are not educating their children toward peace. Netanyahu spoke Sunday at his weekly Cabinet meeting ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's upcoming visit to Israel. Netanyahu says Trump's first overseas trip as president reflects the strong bond between the nations. He welcomed Trump's push to resume peace talks, but criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for "praising terrorists and paying them" - and lying about preaching peace to children. Читать дальше...

China will further tighten its internet regulations with a pledge Sunday to strengthen controls over search engines and online news portals, the latest step in President Xi Jinping’s push to maintain strict Communist Party control over content. Xi has made China’s “cyber sovereignty” a top priority in his sweeping campaign to bolster security. He has also reasserted the ruling Communist Party’s role in limiting and guiding online discussion. The five-year cultural development and reform plan released by the party and State Council... Читать дальше...

At least two people were killed and six injured when multiple Islamic State suicide bombers attacked a base in northern Iraq where U.S. military advisers are stationed, security sources said Sunday. In addition, two of the militants died when they detonated their vests at the entrance to the K1 base overnight, and three more were killed by Kurdish peshmerga forces who control the Kirkuk area where it is situated. "They were wearing uniforms like the Kurdish peshmerga and had shaved their beards to look like us," one officer told Reuters. Читать дальше...

Police in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir say rebels have attacked a police squad, killing three civilians and a police officer. An assailant was also killed when officers returned fire. The unit came under fire Saturday night as it reached a road accident site on a key highway connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of India, said senior police officer S.P. Pani.    He said the dead civilians were road construction officials of a private company. Various insurgent groups have been... Читать дальше...