Новости за 16.06.2017

The destroyer USS Fitzgerald was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel early Saturday southwest of Yokosuka, Japan, the U.S. Navy said. The collision between the destroyer and the Philippine-flagged merchant vessel ACX Crystal happened about 2:30 a.m. local time about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, according to the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet, which operates in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. The Navy said the extent of damage and personal injuries "is being determined." It... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered tighter restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba and a clampdown on U.S. business dealings with the Caribbean island's military, saying he was canceling former President Barack Obama's "terrible and misguided deal" with Havana. Laying out his new Cuba policy in a speech in Miami, Trump signed a presidential directive to roll back parts of Obama's historic opening to the Communist-ruled country after a 2014 diplomatic breakthrough between the two former Cold War foes. Читать дальше...

British officials say they fear the death toll could exceed triple figures in the massive fire that engulfed a high-rise apartment building in London this week. British Prime Minister May and Queen Elizabeth are expected to visit survivors. Jon Spier prepared this video.

President Donald Trump continued a campaign on Twitter on Friday against the investigations into possible links between his campaign and Russia. Trump said he was "being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt." It was unclear whether the president was referring to Special Counsel Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Reporters who shouted questions for clarification after Trump stepped off Marine... Читать дальше...

Like most teenagers in Mosul, Iraq, Dhyab Idris Abdulghani dropped out of school once Islamic State (IS) militants took over and changed textbooks into pro-violence treatises. During their nearly three-year rule of his area, he sold ice cream and juice from a cart on the street. Then the war for Mosul came to their neighborhood. As Iraqi forces pushed in, the 17-year-old and his family ran. He held a small cousin while IS militants fired at them from behind. Two weeks later, IS bullets still... Читать дальше...

The United Nations refugee agency reports more than 100,000 Iraqis may still be held hostage by Islamic State militants in western Mosul. The UNHCR warns conditions in the old city are worsening for the civilians trapped there. The Iraqi military offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State was launched on October 17. The battle got off to a good start as the militants were ousted rather quickly from their stronghold in the east. After claiming that part of the city, Iraqi forces embarked on a... Читать дальше...

Vietnam’s most wanted human rights and environmental activist, Bach Hong Quyen, is safe and considering taking up residence outside his homeland, he told VOA's Vietnamese service after weeks on the run from authorities who issued a warrant for him in May. “I feel quite safe,” Quyen said earlier this week, speaking to VOA from an undisclosed location. “I don’t think the Vietnamese police can find me." Quyen had been evading police before they announced they would attempt to serve a rare "wanted"... Читать дальше...

The United Nations estimates that 100,000 civilians may still be trapped in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, the Islamic State’s last and most tightly held stronghold here. More than 230 civilians have been killed by IS sniper fire in recent weeks, and hundreds of others from airstrikes, according to the U.N. Civilians who have fled IS in Mosul say the death tolls are far higher.

The International Organization for Migration reports efforts are ongoing to rescue around 200 migrants, from Somalia and Ethiopia, who have been kidnapped in Libya and are being held for ransom. News of the kidnappings and illegal detentions in Libya first surfaced in a video, which appeared on Facebook on June 9. The International Organization for Migration says families of the missing men and women have received ransom demands based on short video clips depicting scenes of active torture. IOM... Читать дальше...

An explosion at a kindergarten in eastern China that killed eight people and injured dozens more Thursday afternoon was a deliberate attack by a mentally unstable man, Chinese state-run media reported. The Xinhua news agency, citing police, reported that investigators found bomb-making materials in the suspected bomber's home, along with the words "death" and "end" scrawled on the walls. Police said the 22-year-old man, who had a history of mental illness, lived and worked near the kindergarten. Читать дальше...

Jurors in the sexual assault trial of celebrity comedian Bill Cosby have entered their fifth day of deliberation over charges that he drugged and then molested a woman in 2004. On Thursday, jurors told a judge they were deadlocked and could not come to a unanimous decision on Cosby's guilt in any of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault levied against him. The jurors have deliberated for 40 hours already and it is unclear exactly what the deadlock is about. Judge Steven O'Neill has... Читать дальше...

In India, a court has convicted six men for their role in the 1993 bombing attack that rocked the financial hub, Mumbai, killing 257 people. The six have been found guilty of murder, transporting weapons and criminal conspiracy. The prosecution said it is likely to seek the death penalty when the punishment is decided next week. The men were arrested several years after the coordinated attacks in which 13 powerful bombs packed in cars and other vehicles ripped through high profile targets such as the Mumbai stock exchange... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Border Patrol says agents served a search warrant at a southern Arizona humanitarian aid camp and arrested four Mexican citizens suspected of being in the country illegally. The federal agency said agents on Wednesday tracked the men walking north on a known smuggling route before the four entered the camp run by No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, an organization that provides care for migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Border Patrol said talks between agents and camp representatives... Читать дальше...

Robert Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in last year's presidential election, has boosted his team of lawyers to 13 and plans to hire several more, his spokesman, Peter Carr, said on Friday. Since his appointment on May 17, Mueller, a former FBI director, has recruited a high-powered team of lawyers, investigators and prosecutors with deep expertise in areas ranging from financial fraud to constitutional law. Three came from Mueller’s former law firm, WilmerHale... Читать дальше...

Amazon announced Friday that it will purchase Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. It is the e-commerce giant’s biggest acquisition to date, and highlights the company’s continued attempt to penetrate the $800 billion grocery industry. “Millions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy,” said Amazon co-founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in a statement. “Whole Foods Market has been satisfying, delighting and nourishing customers for nearly four decades ... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump on Friday began rolling back some of his predecessor’s actions that were meant to engage Cuba after more than a half-century of isolation by the United States. "We will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer," the president said, announcing that effective immediately, the U.S. will enforce the ban on tourism and ban doing business with the island nation’s military conglomerate, GAESA, which is estimated to control more than half of the Cuban economy. Читать дальше...

In 2011, RollingStone magazine deemed it the “greatest song of all time," cementing singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s status as perhaps the most influential musician in American history. "Like a Rolling Stone," recorded 52 years ago on June 16, 1965, was considered the “moment” when rock music took the spotlight from traditional American folk songs, according to critics and fans. Dylan plugged in, abandoning his usual acoustic sound by adding a gospel organ arrangement and the steely sounds of a Telecaster guitar. Читать дальше...

Rows of homes line the quiet, narrow streets of Hagerstown's Jonathan Street Neighborhood, with boarded-up storefronts and empty buildings that have been left for decades. The neighborhood was once a vibrant African-American community, but for years it has grappled with a lack of economic development and racism. Located in Washington County, Maryland, Hagerstown is filled with a rich, dark history dating to the 19th century. Washington County, between Pennsylvania, a free state, and Virginia... Читать дальше...

Helmut Kohl, the physically imposing German chancellor whose reunification of a nation divided by the Cold War put Germany at the heart of a united Europe, has died at 87.   Kohl's Christian Democratic Union Party posted on Twitter: "We are in sorrow. #RIP #HelmutKohl.''   The German newspaper Bild reported that Kohl died Friday at his home in Ludwigshafen.   Kohl's 16-year tenure as chancellor stretched from 1982 to 1998.   He combined a dogged pursuit of European unity with a keen instinct... Читать дальше...

In Cameroon, the case of a bishop found dead earlier this month has sparked calls for a wider investigation into what the country's Catholic authorities say has been a string of suspicious clergy deaths. Two other priests were also found dead in the past month. Worshipers at a Catholic church in Oveng, on the outskirts of Yaounde, held a memorial service for Jean Marie Benoit Bala. Oveng is Bishop Bala's birth place. The 59-year-old bishop disappeared from his residence in Bafia, central Cameroon, on May 31. Читать дальше...

French President Emmanuel Macron promoted his pro-European views in a series of meetings Friday with leaders of The Netherlands, Spain and Estonia in Paris, as Brexit negotiations are set to start next week. Macron met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas and had a working lunch with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Estonia will lead the work of the 28 EU member states for six months starting from July. Defense and security issues, migration and climate... Читать дальше...

US CONGRESS BASEBALL SHOOTING The gunman who allegedly opened fire at a Congressional Republican baseball practice on Wednesday was a harsh critic of President Donald Trump. VOA White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman and Congressional correspondent Kathryn Gypson talk about the shooting and wounding of US House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. Steve Herman reported from the scene of the crime the day of the attack.

AFGHANISTAN – THE NEW US STRATEGY FOR VICTORY The United States is not winning in Afghanistan. That’s according to U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who testified before lawmakers during a Defense Department budget hearing recently. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb in Washington and VOA’s Ayaz Gul in Islamabad discuss the US strategy and direction for the war in Afghanistan, now in its 16th year.

QATAR TURKEY   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has placed himself at the forefront of the defense of Qatar, in the face of Saudi Arabia-led economic and diplomatic sanctions; meanwhile, the US should consider moving its air base out of Qatar, the Emirati ambassador to the US has said, encouraging the Trump administration to use its leverage to further pressure Qatar over extremism. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, and White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman talk about Turkey’s defense of and political alignment with Qatar... Читать дальше...

US Congress Baseball Shooting 0:50, Afghanistan - The New US Strategy for Victory 11:30, Qatar Turkey 21:59