Новости за 08.08.2017

Films by Greta Gerwig, Sean Baker and Agnes Varda are headed to the 55th New York Film Festival. The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the selections of 25 films for its main slate on Tuesday, including eight directed by women. The festival, held annually at Lincoln Center, is one of the most prestigious of the fall season. Among the films selected are Baker's acclaimed Cannes entry The Florida Project, the 89-year-old Varda's Faces Places and Gerwig's directorial debut Lady Bird. Gerwig's... Читать дальше...

As President Donald Trump spends much of August at his New Jersey golf club, Democratic lawmakers are making a new push for information about how much money the federal government is spending at his for-profit properties. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday asked departments to hand over information about their Trump-related spending by August 25. "The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent, including the amount of federal funds that are being provided... Читать дальше...

The Al-Jazeera global news network has once again become the subject of the news. The Israeli government called this week for the Qatar-based network's Jerusalem bureau to be closed, its journalists' press credentials revoked and its transmission blocked. The move follows a decision by Saudi Arabia and Jordan to shutter the network's local offices. Its websites and channels were also blocked in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Egypt has banned Al-Jazeera since 2013, when the military there took power. Читать дальше...

Venezuela's Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced Caracas district mayor Ramon Muchacho to 15 months in jail for defying orders to keep transit moving in an area routinely blocked and barricaded by anti-government demonstrations. The court said in a statement that its Constitutional Chamber ordered Muchacho's immediate arrest and dismissal from his post as mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao. Muchacho was ruled to be in contempt of court for not having obeyed an order to ensure freedom of movement in his district... Читать дальше...

The Trump administration has reversed an Obama administration stance and will support Ohio in its bid at the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a state policy of purging people from voter-registration lists if they do not regularly cast ballots. The Justice Department filed legal papers with the high court on Monday staking out the new position in the voting rights case, backing the Republican-led state's policy to purge inactive voters. Former President Barack Obama's Justice Department had argued... Читать дальше...

Uzbekistan, one of the most tightly controlled ex-Soviet republics, plans to abandon a requirement for all Uzbeks to seek permission from the authorities to leave the country, the Central Asian nation's foreign ministry said Tuesday. The abolition of the exit visa system inherited from the Soviet Union is one of a number of changes being brought in since Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power last year, following the death of strongman leader Islam Karimov. Millions of Uzbeks are migrant laborers... Читать дальше...

Deep below London's bustling streets, a piece of once-vital communications technology will soon be roaring back into life after years of disuse — a train. The train operates on the "mail rail" line — a 6.4-mile underground train track that once transported letters and parcels 70 feet below ground to and from sorting offices on the east and west sides of the city 22 hours each day. The line, construction of which began in 1915, ceased operations in 2003. It will be opened to the public next month as a tourist attraction... Читать дальше...

A senior U.N. official said Monday that civilians in Mosul, Iraq, remained at risk of revenge attacks from Islamic State militants. Lise Grande, deputy special representative of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, said that while the fighting in the former IS stronghold was over, the humanitarian crisis was not. The problems resulting from the nine-month fight in Mosul — the single largest urban battle since World War II — are enormous and difficult to handle, she said. Grande said many IS fighters and sympathizers of the militant group... Читать дальше...

Dozens of glistening pools in a small village on Croatia's Adriatic coast stand testament to its annual salt harvests from seawater, which use a method largely unchanged for centuries. The salt works facility in Ston, which says it is the oldest in Europe, consists of 58 pools and covers about 430,000 square meters where the waters of the Adriatic are allowed to seep in and then evaporate, leaving salt behind. The first of two salt harvests this year kicked off on Tuesday, with around 35 tourists... Читать дальше...

Lebanon's U.S.-backed military is gearing up for a long-awaited assault to dislodge hundreds of Islamic State militants from a remote corner near Syrian border, seeking to end a years-long threat posed to neighboring towns and villages by the extremists. The campaign will involve cooperation with the militant group Hezbollah and the Syrian army on the other side of the border — although Lebanese authorities insist they are not coordinating with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. But... Читать дальше...

The male Google engineer fired for circulating a memo decrying the company's diversity hiring program became the center of a heated debate on sexism, drawing scorn, cheers and even a job offer on Tuesday from WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. James Damore, 28, confirmed his dismissal from Alphabet Inc's Google on Monday, after he wrote a 10-page memo that the company was hostile to conservative viewpoints shaped by a flawed left-wing ideology. The manifesto was quickly embraced by some, particularly on the political right... Читать дальше...

A German-Israeli artist who accuses Twitter of failing to delete hate speech tweets has taken matters into his own hands - by stenciling the offending messages on the road in front of the company's Hamburg headquarters. A post on video-sharing site YouTube showed Shahak Shapira and fellow activists stencilling tweets saying "Germany needs a final solution to Islam" and "Let's gas the Jews" - clear references to the Nazi regime's World War II genocide of Europe's Jews.   Shapira said he had... Читать дальше...

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has called on the Turkish government to act following a spate of abductions. In a letter to Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul, the rights group called for an "urgent and effective investigation of the abduction and possible enforced disappearances of at least four men in Ankara since March 2017." "As far as we can tell, there has not been an effective investigation," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The cases we've looked at... Читать дальше...

An Iranian drone came within 30 meters of a U.S. Navy fighter jet that was waiting to land on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz as it traveled in the central Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Central Command said Tuesday. U.S. military statements said an F/A-18E Super Hornet jet was in a holding pattern above the USS Nimitz when a QOM-1 Iranian drone “executed unsafe and unprofessional altitude changes” nearby.   “The F/A-18E maneuvered to avoid collision with the QOM-1 resulting in a lateral... Читать дальше...

A U.S. federal grand jury has charged a 25-year-old Bangladeshi citizen and former resident of Maryland with attempted murder and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State terror group. Nalesh Das was charged Tuesday with attempting to kill a member of the U.S. military in support of IS. Authorities allege he plotted the scheme between October 2015 and September 2016 while working with an FBI agent posing as an IS sympathizer. Prosecutors say Das spent months expressing his... Читать дальше...

Many of the U.S. colleges and universities that are most popular among foreign students are reporting an increase in international applicants, despite surveys earlier this year that warned of a drop. VOA Student Union contacted 20 schools with the largest populations of foreign students. Fourteen institutions reported that international applications from undergraduates increased or remained stable. Five reported drops. One declined to answer. Collectively, the schools account for about 20 percent... Читать дальше...

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

U.S. President Donald Trump has assailed the leaks of intelligence documents from his White House, but on Tuesday he sent a news story to millions of followers on his social media account about North Korean missiles that was based on reports from anonymous U.S. intelligence sources. Trump, apparently wanting to emphasize the dangers posed by North Korea's missile tests and nuclear weapons development, used his Twitter account to retweet a Fox News story saying that a few days ago U.S. spy agencies... Читать дальше...

A prominent Thai journalist has been charged with sedition for Facebook posts criticizing the military junta. Pravit Rojanaphruk, a senior writer for news website Khaosod English, acknowledged the charges at the police department's Technology Crime Suppression Division, his lawyer said.   Rojanaphruk has used social media to criticize the junta which took power after a 2014 coup which overthrew the elected civilian government. “I’m not surprised by the charge,” Pravit told reporters after meeting with police, according to Khaosod. Читать дальше...

Saudi Arabia and Iraq say they are in the process of improving relations after the first busloads of Iraqi pilgrims entered the Saudi kingdom through a border crossing at Arar, which had been closed for 27 years. The nations also say that they are resuming air transportation, but have not set a date for the first flights. Saudi and Iraqi officials embraced each other to celebrate the reopening of their Arar border crossing. A convoy of tour buses carrying more than 1,000 Iraqi pilgrims bound for Mecca entered Saudi territory... Читать дальше...

We are live. In Extra Time, Shaka answers your questions about politics in Africa.

Dozens of people from East Java community organizations rallied in Surabaya on Monday, demanding that a statue of a Chinese god be demolished. Claiming the representation of a warrior god known variously as Kwan Sing Tee Koen, Kwan Kong, Kuan-Ti or Guan-Yu fails to reflect Indonesian culture, protesters gathered in front of the East Java Provincial Legislative Building to demand the statue’s demolition.   The brightly colored, 30-meter-tall statue at the Kwan Seng Bio temple in Tuban, East Java, is now draped in cloth. Читать дальше...

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the remote and mountainous Sichuan province of China Tuesday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Up to 100 people are feared dead and thousands more injured in the quake, the Chinese government said. At least four people have been confirmed dead and 30 injured so far. The epicenter of the quake was in Ngawa prefecture, sparsely populated mostly by Tibetans, many of whom are nomadic herders, near a well known national park. Tremors from the quake were felt as far away as the provincial capital... Читать дальше...

Weeks after the Iraqi army proclaimed victory over Islamic State militants, civilians and local government in Mosul have started the challenging process of rebuilding the war-torn city.

Here Comes the Moon