Новости за 13.07.2017

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday released a government form dealing with contacts he has had with foreign nationals, including Russian government officials, but much of it was redacted. Form SF-86, required for government employees working in national security, indicated Sessions has had no immediate contact with any foreign government or its representatives in the past seven years. However, Sessions has said he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the run-up to the 2016... Читать дальше...

The European Union launched legal action against Hungary on Thursday because of new rules governing civic groups that receive funds from abroad. The European Commission said that the law approved by Hungary's parliament in June could prevent nongovernmental organizations "from raising funds and would restrict their ability to carry out their work." The commission also took a new step in another infringement procedure against Hungary launched in April over amendments to the law on higher education... Читать дальше...

More than 170 years after Edgar Allan Poe's fictional raven croaked, "Nevermore," scientists are reporting that real-life ravens think about the future. In a series of tests, ravens showed signs of a general planning ability that previously had been documented only in people and great apes. Even monkeys have failed to show it. It's not like you could ask a raven to arrange your wedding: Ravens showed they could plan by setting aside a tool that they suspected would get them a tasty treat later. Читать дальше...

The charade only ended in the final years of Chuck Blazer's life.   Stripped of his extravagances, soccer's gregarious and greedy dealmaker was forced to admit to his years of corruption and confined to a New Jersey hospital. The eccentric bon vivant who once strode across the global stage being flattered by sport and political leaders eager to capture his World Cup hosting vote died in disgrace on Wednesday at age 72. However much Blazer elevated the status and wealth of soccer in North America over several decades... Читать дальше...

A Serbian appeals court on Thursday halted a landmark trial against eight former Bosnian Serb police officers charged with taking part in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre - another legal hurdle in the Balkan state's struggle to come to terms with its wartime past. The trial that started in December was the first time that a Serbian court has dealt with the killings by Bosnian Serb troops of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. It was Europe's worst single atrocity since World War II. Читать дальше...

There is no evidence that millions of people voted illegally in November's presidential election, depriving Donald Trump of a popular-vote win over his opponent, Hillary Clinton. But that's exactly what Trump contends. And now a new commission, created by a Trump executive order, is tasked with investigating the issue. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity hasn't begun its work, and the 15 members of the panel, headed by Vice President Mike Pence, are still being appointed. Читать дальше...

While the fight to defeat Islamic State militants makes gains, most recently with the Iraqi government's liberation of Mosul, the United States and its partners are intensifying global pressure against the terrorists and rallying support for more resources for post-conflict stabilization efforts. “As the battle unfolds over the coming weeks and months as we did in Mosul, our stabilization planning will move in parallel,” said Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition against Islamic State militants, on Thursday. Читать дальше...

Botswana will host the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, next month, officials said on Thursday, risking a backlash from China, a major investor in the African country's economy. The Dalai Lama is expected to address a human rights conference in the capital Gaborone on August 17-19 and will also meet Botswana's president during the trip. "President Ian Khama will meet the Dalai Lama when he is in Botswana. But the president's attendance at the conference, for the official opening or otherwise... Читать дальше...

Kenya is less than a month from nationwide voting, and the electoral commission remains under pressure. The commission is appealing a High Court order that would allow the reopening of bidding for printing presidential ballots a week before the general election was set to start, even as the opposition prepares to take the commission to court on another issue. Meanwhile, the voter registry continues to spark debate and confusion. When Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission opened... Читать дальше...

Republican senators remain divided on their leadership's plan to replace major portions of former President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law, known as Obamacare. A revised plan unveiled Thursday got preliminary backing from at least one more Republican, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, after his proposal to loosen coverage requirements on some health care plans was adopted. But some moderate Republicans remained opposed to the plan, arguing it would harm vulnerable constituents by reducing funding... Читать дальше...

Russia sought to reassure NATO on Thursday that its war games in September would respect international limits on size, but NATO's chief remained wary about their scale and scope. Russia and Belarus aim to hold maneuvers that some NATO allies believe could number more than 100,000 troops and involve nuclear weapons training, the biggest such exercise since 2013. NATO allies are nervous because previous large-scale Russian exercises employed special forces training, longer-range missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. Читать дальше...

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has fired a dozen judges who went on strike in May to demand better pay and improved working conditions. Before the firings, only 274 judges had been employed across the entire country. The president’s decree was announced on the government-run television station Wednesday night. Information Minister Michael Makuei said he could not provide an explanation to South Sudan in Focus on why the judges were fired at a time when the government is preparing to address citizen grievances in a national dialogue. Читать дальше...

The blast furnaces and slab casters at United States Steel's Granite City Works have been idle for 18 months, and laid-off workers here are pinning their hopes on President Donald Trump imposing broad new restrictions on imported steel. Yet just across the Mississippi River, some manufacturers worry that new tariffs and curbs Trump is weighing under a "Section 232" national security review will raise their cost and make it harder to compete with foreign rivals. The inherent conflict between suppliers... Читать дальше...

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched a defiant public defense Thursday after being convicted of corruption and money laundering, accusing his political opponents of trying to prevent him from becoming president again. A federal judge found Silva guilty the previous day and sentenced him to nearly 10 years in prison, though the charismatic leader remains free while an appeal is heard. Speaking to supporters as sweat dripped from his forehead, the man popularly known as simply "Lula"... Читать дальше...

A dry spell across the interior of the Middle East is unlikely to abate within the next 10,000 years, according to scientists who have been analyzing the chemical composition of two stalagmites collected from Qal’e Kord, a cave in north-central Iran. Researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science took samples from different points along the stalagmites and dissolved the rock to release ancient carbon dioxide. Then they measured the oxygen within the CO2... Читать дальше...

They've been kidnapped by bandits, accused of witchcraft, arrested, robbed, and swept away by flash floods. They've also been mobbed by angry voters and confronted by men offended that their wives are being interviewed instead of them. The work of political pollsters is still widely misunderstood in Kenya, with international companies like Ipsos accused of everything from corruption to making children sick. "We have had to airlift people out before," said Hilda Kiritu, head of public relations for Ipsos's Kenya office... Читать дальше...

Two stalagmites collected from a cave in Iran recorded the changing climate over 128,000 years. Analyzing their chemical composition led researchers to conclude that relief from the region’s current dry spell is unlikely within the next 10,000 years. Faith Lapidus reports.

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

U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed spending plan over the next decade would not come close to balancing the national government's budget as it had promised, an independent analysis said Thursday.   The Congressional Budget Office said the proposed White House budget would result in a $720 billion deficit at the end of 10 years, not a small surplus as it had estimated. The CBO said Trump's decade-long spending plan would trim the current nearly $20 trillion national debt by $3.3 trillion,... Читать дальше...

U.S. prosecutors say they have arrested 412 medical providers for alleged participation in health care fraud totaling $1.3 billion in false billings. Of those charged, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, 120 were accused of prescribing medically unnecessary opioids to their patients.  Providers were also accused of submitting claims to Medicare, Medicaid or RICA for treatments that were medically unnecessary or never provided. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday the action is... Читать дальше...

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is calling for China to release Liu Xiaobo's widow from house arrest Thursday. "I call on the Chinese government to release Liu Xia from house arrest and allow her to depart China, according to her wishes," he said in a statement hours after the Nobel Laureate's death. "In his fight for freedom, equality, and constitutional rule in China, Liu Xiaobo embodied the human spirit that the Nobel Prize rewards.  In his death, he has only reaffirmed the Nobel Committee’s selection," Tillerson added. Читать дальше...

For 12 years, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has worked in Ethiopia's Somali region, providing medical care during droughts, floods and other types of emergencies that made food scarce and left people hungry. But MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, says it has never seen malnutrition levels spike so high in the region as during the current drought.  Thousands of acutely malnourished children have been admitted to hastily-established feeding centers in hopes of staving of starvation and death. Читать дальше...

South Sudanese government forces are approaching the headquarters of rebel forces led by former vice president Riek Machar, a United Nations official says. David Shearer, the head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan, said thousands of civilians have been displaced in several areas of Upper Nile state as soldiers advance on the rebels' base in the town of Pagak, in the northeast. Shearer told journalists in Juba Wednesday that there has been heavy fighting between the army, known as the SPLA, and opposition forces, known as the SPLA-IO. Читать дальше...

Saturday marks the first anniversary of Turkey's failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but with a post-coup crackdown firmly in place, there are concerns about a deepening political divide as the government marks the turmoil. Turkish media broadcasts of the tumultuous events of July 15, 2016 include file coverage of soldiers opening fire on unarmed people on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge and jets bombing parliament. More than 240 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others were injured... Читать дальше...

U.S. first lady Melania Trump took her own path through Paris on Thursday as she and President Donald Trump began a two-day visit to the French capital, starting at a children's hospital. At Necker Hospital, Melania Trump visited a ward decorated with images from “The Little Prince,” an iconic French novel written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. She spoke briefly in French to six children, asking how they were and introducing herself before switching to a translator to ask how long they expected to stay. Читать дальше...