Новости за 19.05.2017

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is sticking by his memo that preceded President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. “I wrote it. I believe it. I stand by it,” Rosenstein said Friday during his closed-door session with lawmakers at the House of Representatives. In the memo, Rosenstein recommended that Comey be replaced, in part because of his handling of the investigation into ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails. White House officials have cited Rosenstein’s... Читать дальше...

The newspaper of Brazil's biggest media group is calling for President Michel Temer to resign after the country's top court authorized investigations on the embattled leader for alleged corruption and obstruction of justice. The daily O Globo published its call in an editorial Friday afternoon shortly after Brazil's supreme court revealed several accusations against Temer made by a business mogul. JBS company owner Joesley Batista said he paid bribes to Temer from 2010 to this year, among other accusations. Читать дальше...

This time of the year, Hollywood rolls out its big-budget films. Monsters and superheroes are framed by spectacular special effects on IMAX screens, and the industry's big stars flex their muscles, figuratively and literally. This summer, some of the industry's monster flicks look promising. VOA's Penelope Poulou reports.

Saudi Arabia is an unprecedented destination for an initial overseas trip by any U.S. president. But Donald Trump is making it his first stop on his first presidential foreign journey. It is all the more surprising in wake of his "America First" rhetoric and campaign statements calling for a “Muslim ban” backed by subsequent orders attempting to limit travel from six Muslim-majority countries. Saudi Arabia, which has deep, long-standing energy and defense ties to the United States, was not named in the travel bans. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered an "accelerated operation" against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday. Mattis called it a "tactical shift," saying the military would move away from operations designed to shove IS fighters out of seized locations, and instead focus on "surrounding the enemy in its stronghold." "The intent is to prevent the return home of escaped foreign fighters," Mattis said, noting that the goal now is to "annihilate" the IS jihadists, not simply contain them. Читать дальше...

Australian police said on Friday they were investigating the case of a West African girl who said she had been held as a sex slave and repeatedly assaulted before she made an escape. The 17-year-old from Guinea told investigators she was flown to Sydney via Paris in early April after a man in her home country offered her a job as a cleaner in Australia. The pair traveled together from Guinea and upon arrival, the man drove her to a house police believed was in the Sydney area where she was "kept... Читать дальше...

About three million American university graduates will enter the job market this year. And with unemployment currently at a 10-year low, it's a good time to be graduating, says Nicole Smith, chief economist at Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW). "We are at one of the lowest unemployment rates we've had since May of 2007, so what that means for the graduating class of 2017 is that the likelihood of getting a job is really, really good," she said. The U.S. Labor... Читать дальше...

The family of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell is disputing "inferences that Chris knowingly and intentionally" killed himself. The family said in a statement that without toxicology tests completed, they can't be sure what led to his death, or if any substances were involved. According to lawyer Kirk Pasich, Cornell had a prescription for the anti-anxiety drug Ativan, which he said has various side effects. The musician was found dead in his Detroit hotel room Wednesday after performing at a concert. Читать дальше...

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

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

We’re liberating the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending May 20, 2017. This week’s lineup is a real thriller, but you’ll have to wait until the end for the payoff. Number 5: Ed Sheeran Shape of You Ed Sheeran slides three slots to fifth place with his former 12-week champ “Shape Of You.” Last year, Ed took a lengthy hiatus from the spotlight. He quit social media and traveled the globe, seeking balance in his life. Ed says six years in... Читать дальше...

As Nigeria fights the brutal insurgency of Boko Haram, its army is hampered by an equally dangerous enemy: corruption. That is according to a new report by Transparency International (TI), a German-based non-governmental organization, which found that Nigerian military officers, politicians and other elites have enriched themselves by diverting money that was meant to fight terror. Much of this money is said to have disappeared through kickbacks, payments to "ghost soldiers" who don't exist,... Читать дальше...

U.S. presidential trips are an opportunity to project power and burnish statesmanship. But they come with diplomatic dangers and potential pitfalls, too. For Donald Trump, several of those await in Jerusalem and Bethlehem next week. A nine-day tour taking in Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian territories, the Vatican and NATO would be a tall order for any president. But for Trump, under siege at home over questions about his administration's links to Russia and his firing of FBI chief James Comey... Читать дальше...

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen marks the first anniversary of her presidency this weekend, avoiding scheduled speeches to review achievements, as approval ratings slip and pressure mounts to engage China for economic gain. The president’s office said Tsai will give no speech Saturday, the first day of her second year in office, surprising political experts accustomed to past leaders who addressed the public on their inauguration anniversaries.   Opinion surveys indicate Taiwanese are keen for Tsai to improve economic conditions. Читать дальше...

A top Venezuelan opposition leader was prevented from leaving the country Thursday for a meeting in New York with the U.N. human rights chief. Henrique Capriles, who challenged President Nicolas Maduro for the presidency in 2013, had his passport cancelled at the airport as he tried to leave the country, according to news reports. Capriles was on his way to New York to meet with U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein when Zeid tweeted this: The U.N. said the... Читать дальше...

A succession of brutal murders of women and children in South Africa has sparked national outrage and calls for action to end persistent violence. "We, as the citizens of this country, we must say enough is enough," said South African President Jacob Zuma, speaking Thursday at a service for three-year-old rape and murder victim Courtney Pieters of Cape Town. "This cannot be accepted. The police must double their effort. I don't know whether we need to introduce more harsher laws or change the laws. Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump is wasting no time trying to succeed where his predecessors have failed. He will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on Monday and Tuesday of next week, hoping to revive peace talks that collapsed three years ago. His goal is what he calls “the ultimate deal” that would bring an elusive peace to the Holy Land. Both sides are preparing to roll out the red carpet, Israel in Jerusalem and the Palestinians in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem which is under limited self-rule. Читать дальше...

Sudan's government says President Omar al-Bashir has chosen to skip a summit in Riyadh that U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend because Bashir does not want to upset Sudanese-American relations. Information Minister Ahmed Bilal says Khartoum recognizes that Bashir's indictment by the International Criminal Court makes it difficult for him to meet the U.S. president. "The situation of the president in the international community is linked to the ICC indictment, and that is sort... Читать дальше...

To the White House and its supporters, the big story in Washington isn't the investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. It's about leakers working to undermine the president. "SABOTAGE," read the subject line of emails sent out by President Donald Trump's re-election campaign and the Republican Party, which pointed to "people within our own unelected bureaucracy that want to sabotage President Trump and our entire America First movement." Trump tweeted Thursday that he's facing... Читать дальше...

Fired FBI director James Comey was uneasy with President Donald Trump's interactions with him and wanted a professional boundary maintained between the agency and White House, according to a friend of the former law enforcement official in a story published Thursday. The New York Times cites Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution and frequent Trump critic, as saying Comey felt the contacts by Trump were inappropriate and that the now-former agency chief didn’t want to be friendly with the president. Читать дальше...

Voting in Iran was extended by two hours for a second time, with polls now closing at 10 p.m. for the presidential election, state TV reported Friday. Polls had initially been slated to close at 6 p.m., but were extended until 8 p.m. to accommodate "a rush of voters." More than 60,000 polling stations have been operating around the country to serve Iran's 56 million eligible voters. Reports say the polls have seen a strong turnout thus far in an unexpectedly tight race. President Hassan... Читать дальше...

One of the coldest areas in the world is getting greener, and researchers say it’s because of global warming. Researchers from the University of Exeter in England who first studied the increase of moss and microbes in the Antarctic Peninsula in 2013, now say the greening of the region is widespread. "This gives us a much clearer idea of the scale over which these changes are occurring," says lead author Matthew Amesbury of the University of Exeter. "Previously, we had only identified such a... Читать дальше...

A group of top French officials and ministers from President Francois Hollande's outgoing government drafted an emergency plan to manage the consequences of a win by Marine Le Pen in the recent presidential election and to weaken her, if she were elected, according to French media. The secret plan, which was seen as a bid to protect France's Fifth Republic and to keep public order by the officials who drew it up, included delaying the handover of power from Hollande to Le Pen and keeping the outgoing... Читать дальше...

TRUMP TROUBLES U.S. President Donald Trump's White House was left reeling Wednesday following the stunning allegation that he sought to derail a criminal investigation into links his former National Security Adviser had with Russian officials, on top of reports that Trump disclosed highly classified intelligence to two Moscow diplomats last week. VOA’s Bill Gallo at the White House, and VOA National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin talk about the controversies involving former FBI Director James Comey... Читать дальше...

Mozambique has declared an end to a cholera epidemic that was triggered by heavy rains and infected more than 2,000 people, a senior government official said Friday. The outbreak was another setback for Mozambique, which is grappling with a financial crisis as it strives to woo investors to develop huge offshore gas reserves. "The epidemic is under control: In the last 28 to 29 days, we have not registered new cases of cholera and so we are declaring the epidemic terminated," Francisco Mbofana... Читать дальше...