Новости за 13.06.2017

President Donald Trump says apprenticeships could match workers with millions of open jobs, but he's reluctant to devote more taxpayer money to the effort. Instead, Trump and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta say the administration is focused on getting universities and private companies to pair up and pay the cost of such learn-to-earn arrangements.   The president has accepted a challenge from Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff to create 5 million apprenticeships over five years. Now, as part of a week-long apprenticeship push... Читать дальше...

Flying Makes Your Arms Tired

A Democratic congressman from Illinois has introduced a bill named for President Donald Trump's infamous "covfefe" tweet with the goal of ensuring presidential social media posts are archived.   U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley introduced the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement or COVFEFE act Monday. It would amend the Presidential Records Act to include the term social media.   The name of the bill comes from Trump's likely typo in a midnight Twitter post last month: "Despite... Читать дальше...

The U.N.'s refugee agency on Tuesday called for better access to northern Syria's Raqqa province, where U.S.-backed forces are trying to drive the Islamic State group out of its self-styled capital, saying close to half a million people are in need of assistance. Kurdish-led forces attacked the provincial capital, also called Raqqa, a week ago, hoping to drive the militants out with the aid of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.   Clearing operations around the city have been underway for months,... Читать дальше...

Two former allies of the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic played key roles in facilitating atrocities by notorious Serb paramilitaries in Croatia and Bosnia as Belgrade tried to carve out an ethnically homogenous “Greater Serbia” during the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia, a prosecutor said Tuesday as the two men's United Nations retrial began.   Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic were originally acquitted in 2013 by judges who said there was insufficient evidence linking them to the crimes. Читать дальше...

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela announced late Monday his Central American country would switch diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China, a move analysts said is a major success to Beijing in its drive to isolate the self-governing island it claims as its own territory. In a televised address on Monday Varela said Panama, which has strategic significance to China, was upgrading its commercial ties with Beijing and establishing full diplomatic links with the second most important customer of its key shipping canal. Читать дальше...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions steps back into a familiar arena Tuesday when he testifies before the Senate intelligence committee about his role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the investigation into contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russia. Last week, Comey raised additional questions about Sessions' involvement, saying the FBI knew of reasons why it would be problematic for the attorney general to stay involved in the Russia investigation well before Sessions recused himself in March. Читать дальше...

A mass food poisoning at a camp for the displaced near the northern city of Mosul has killed at least two people and sickened over 700, Iraq's health minister said on Tuesday.   The incident quickly became new fodder for a diplomatic dispute between several Arab nations and Qatar, with an Iraqi lawmaker who visited the camp overnight and Saudi state television accusing a charity from Qatar of providing the tainted food. The claims could not be independently confirmed and Qatari officials did not immediately answer calls for comment. Читать дальше...

Vietnamese American Kristopher Larsen learned he was not a U.S. citizen when he was in Washington State prison serving time for kidnapping – and he was confronted with the possibility of deportation. He was in his early forties and had never thought of himself as anything but a U.S. citizen. Larsen is one of thousands of foreign nationals adopted by American parents who do not have U.S. citizenship status because their parents did not follow through on naturalization. He was only four when he... Читать дальше...

Kristopher Larsen learned he was not a U.S. citizen when he was in a Washington state prison serving time for kidnapping – and he was confronted with the possibility of deportation. He was in his early forties and had never thought of himself as anything but a U.S. citizen. Larsen is one of thousands of foreign nationals adopted by American parents who do not have U.S. citizenship status because their parents did not follow through on naturalization. VOA's Aline Barros reports.

Heavy rains have triggered landslides in Bangladesh that killed at least 43 people. Officials warned Tuesday the death toll could rise as rescuers reach more areas of the hilly districts in the southeastern part of the country. The mud buried homes after the rains started Monday. The Rangamati district near the border with India was the hardest hit. Last month, a cyclone killed seven people and damaged tens of thousands of homes in southeastern Bangladesh.

The case of three labor rights activists detained in China for trying to investigate a factory that makes Ivanka Trump brand shoes highlights the pervasive problem of labor abuses and lax enforcement by authorities. But rights activists said President Donald Trump's daughter, who is also his assistant, could help make a difference if she speaks out about the case. They are also urging the Chinese government to give labor activists and investigators more room to freely expose labor rights violations. Читать дальше...

A South Korean professor was injured Tuesday after opening a concealed explosive device brought to his university office in Seoul, police said. The crudely made device was made with explosive powder, four batteries and dozens of bolts that were packed inside a vacuum bottle, and it exploded after the professor opened the bottle inside his office, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Agency. The victim is a professor in the mechanical engineering department at Yonsei University. The professor... Читать дальше...

An eight-story building has collapsed in a low-income area of Nairobi and 10 people are missing, witnesses and officials in Kenya said Tuesday. The collapse occurred late Monday night, Nairobi Police Chief Japheth Koome said. Police fired tear gas after residents angered by the slow deployment of government rescuers hurled stones slowing search and rescue efforts, said a resident, Hailey Akinyi. Akinyi, who lives in an adjacent building, witnessed the collapse and said three people had been rescued from the debris. Читать дальше...

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to testify in a public hearing Tuesday, with members of a Senate panel likely to ask him about his contacts with the Russian ambassador and his involvement in the firing of the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Senate Intelligence Committee hearing is the latest step in multiple ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in last year's U.S. presidential election. Sessions recused himself from the FBI's investigation in March after acknowledging... Читать дальше...

The Trump administration is proposing to curb the authority of the consumer finance watchdog created following the economic crisis as it drives toward easing restrictions on banks and financial institutions. The Treasury Department issued Monday the first part of a review that was ordered by President Donald Trump in one of his earliest acts as president. The report reviewing the Dodd-Frank financial oversight law also urges changes to rules for banks that were put in place under the 2010 law. Читать дальше...

The Golden State Warriors won their second National Basketball Association championship in three years Monday night with a 129-120 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Warriors forward Kevin Durant scored 39 points in Game 5 of the best-of-7 series on his way to being named NBA Finals most valuable player. The championship is the first for Durant, a 10-year veteran who spent the first nine years of his career in Oklahoma City before signing with the Warriors before this season. Golden State's... Читать дальше...

Former National Basketball Association star Dennis Rodman is expected to arrive in North Korea on Tuesday for a trip the State Department said was not an official U.S. visit, CNN reported on Monday. Rodman, who met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on previous trips to Pyongyang and has called him "an awesome kid," declined to answer questions when he was seen by CNN reporters at Beijing International Airport, the network said. Tensions have heightened on the Korean peninsula over Pyongyang's... Читать дальше...

A group of U.S. Senators agreed Monday on legislation to strengthen sanctions against Russia, including a provision that would require congressional review if the White House relaxed, suspended or terminated sanctions already in place. The bipartisan agreement comes in the form of an amendment to legislation the Senate is already considering on sanctions for Iran.  The bill is expected to have strong support when it goes before the full Senate, and would have to then pass in the House of Representatives... Читать дальше...

“I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” This is the first entry in The Dairy of Anne Frank. She wrote it on June 12, 1942 - her 13th birthday. At that moment, she was a normal teenager living with her family in the Netherlands, where they moved from Frankfurt after Hitler’s rise to power. This was one of Anne’s last diary entries as a carefree teenager. Less than a month later... Читать дальше...

The state of Maryland and the District of Columbia on Monday filed what they described as a “major” lawsuit against President Donald Trump. The suit claims Trump’s sprawling business empire represents a conflict of interest and is violating the U.S. Constitution, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from the White House.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies in open session Tuesday before the Senate committee investigating alleged ties between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Kremlin election meddling. VOA White House correspondent Peter Heinlein reports that Sessions wants to explain why he recused himself from the collusion probe. But senators have other questions.

Augmented reality is slowly entering everyday life, and Swiss researchers say it can be used to study children’s behavior. A new app for tablet computers helps them study whether playing computer games can lead to something called augmented creativity. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Police in Russia have detained hundreds of protesters and some journalists at anti-corruption demonstrations in cities across the country on Russia's national day.  The protests were organized by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained in Moscow as he left his home to try to join a demonstration in the capital.  VOA's Moscow Correspondent Daniel Schearf reports that the White House condemned the detentions and said it is monitoring the situation.

Just south of Aleppo there was once a research center where Syria’s agricultural heritage was preserved with a view to helping feed the world. The seed bank may have been abandoned due to the country's civil war, but efforts of scientists and farmers now continue in neighboring Lebanon. With harvesting just begun for the year, the vital work taking place there could prove crucial. John Owens reports.