Новости за 11.09.2017

The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, has again called on his fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi to peacefully end the Rohingya crisis. "May I take the liberty of writing to you once again to tell you how dismayed I am by the distressing circumstances in which the situation seems to have deteriorated further," he wrote to Myanmar's de facto leader. VOA's Tibetan Service received a copy of the letter, in which he refers to discussions the two had a few years ago... Читать дальше...

In an attempt to mobilize public opinion and gain support for its outreach in Syria and Iraq, over the weekend Iran released a four-minute video clip praising Mohsen Hojaji, a 25-year-old-member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who was recently beheaded by the Islamic State militants in Iraq. Hajaji was captured in an ambush near the border with Iraq on August 7. The video clip, titled “Beheaded Prideful”, has been aired several times on various TV channels in Iran, including the State Television. Читать дальше...

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has urged the United States to start finding a way to resolve the problems between the two countries. “We called for a stop to the destruction of Russia-U.S. relations and ... to start finding solutions to resolve problems that are mounting through no fault of ours,” said a Russian Foreign Ministry statement after Ryabkov met with U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon in Helsinki, Finland. Shannon arrived in Finland earlier Monday for the talks aimed at calming tensions... Читать дальше...

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon believes that his ex-boss, President Donald Trump, made the biggest mistake "maybe in modern political history" by firing FBI chief James Comey. Comey was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into Russian meddling in last year's election and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign when the president ousted him on May 9. The White House at first said Trump had fired Comey for mishandling an investigation into the use of a... Читать дальше...

The Trump administration asked the country's highest court on Monday to block a lower court ruling that would allow refugees with formal assurances from U.S. resettlement agencies to come to the United States. In an emergency application filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, the Justice Department lobbed the latest salvo in an ongoing lawsuit that challenges a Trump-ordered 120-day ban on most refugees. The Justice Department's high court filing Monday follows an appeals court ruling last... Читать дальше...

President John F. Kennedy's granddaughter and Caroline Kennedy's daughter Tatiana Schlossberg has gotten married at the family's Martha's Vineyard home. The New York Times reports the 27-year-old Schlossberg married 28-year-old George Moran on Saturday with former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick officiating. The couple met in college at Yale. Schlossberg was an environmental reporter for the Times until July. Moran is a medical student at Columbia University. Schlossberg is Caroline Kennedy's second child. Читать дальше...

The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on a new round of sanctions against North Korea for its illicit nuclear activities. VOA's Margaret Besheer reports the latest sanctions are in response to North Korea's recent nuclear test.

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

Vice President Mike Pence told the family and friends of the victims of United Flight 93 attending the 16th anniversary ceremony in Pennsylvania that the passengers might well have saved his life. Monday's somber service began at 9:45 a.m., the time that federal investigators determined passengers decided to revolt against their four al-Qaida hijackers, who ended up crashing the plane in a field 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Pittsburgh.   The Republican said he was in Washington, as a member of Congress... Читать дальше...

Scientists say DNA tests on a skeleton found in a lavish Viking warrior's grave in Sweden show the remains are those of a woman in her 30s. While bone experts had long suspected the remains belong to a woman, the idea had previously been dismissed despite other accounts supporting the existence of female Viking warriors. Swedish researchers used new methods to analyze genetic material from the 1,000-year-old bones at a Viking-era site known as Birka, near Stockholm.   Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Secret Service has restored access to the White House and surrounding areas after objects were thrown over the fence.   The agency - which is responsible for security at the White House - tweeted late Monday morning that a male subject has been arrested and turned over to the local police department for throwing a sign and a notebook over the Pennsylvania Avenue fence. The incident prompted a temporary "lockdown" of the White House, meaning no one could enter or leave the area.... Читать дальше...

The Polish government is abandoning a plan to include in Polish passports images of landmarks that are today within the borders of Ukraine and Lithuania. Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Monday his ministry has picked other images to include in place of the two disputed ones.   The plan had angered both of the neighboring countries, with the Ukrainian government calling it an "unfriendly step."   The disputed images were of a Polish military cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, and the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Lithuania. Читать дальше...

International watchdog group Global Witness says powerful political elites and security forces have controlled and secretly exploited Zimbabwe's diamond sector for a decade. Zimbabwe's dreaded Central Intelligence Organization and the military are among the state actors accused of holding stakes in private diamond enterprises, trading the country's precious stones on the international market. Global Witness says it examined the workings of five of the major diamond companies in Zimbabwe, and... Читать дальше...

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-packed car into a NATO military convoy wounding "a small number" of foreign troops and Afghan civilians Monday in Afghanistan, officials say. The Taliban swiftly took credit for the afternoon attack near the U.S.-run Bagram military air base. NATO's Resolute Support mission said the wounded service members were taken to the Bagram hospital for treatment. "None of the injuries are considered life threatening," it added, but did not reveal the victims' nationalities... Читать дальше...

The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a new round of economic sanctions against North Korea, in response to its continuing nuclear program and missile tests. The draft resolution is considerably watered down from what the Americans put forward a week ago, and follows intense negotiations with Russia and China, which both have veto powers in the council. The new draft, due to be voted on late Monday, removes an oil embargo against North Korea that the United States was seeking... Читать дальше...

Cardi B. has a breakthrough hit with "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)" and the rapper said she's ready to follow the single's success with an album next month.   "I have an album coming. It will be dropping in October. I'm an October baby," Cardi B., who turns 25 on Oct. 11, said in a recent interview. "I'm a little nervous to put the project out, but I think it's going to be pretty good."   Cardi B. said she's nervous because there's "a lot of pressure on" her after the success of "Bodak Yellow," which is currently No. Читать дальше...

The head of the multinational task force fighting Boko Haram says the war against the militants is being won, but warned that suicide bombings remain a threat, killing close to 400 people in Nigeria and Cameroon since April. Soldiers from the 7,800-person task force have been stationed in several towns and villages along the Nigeria-Cameroon border since those communities were liberated from Boko Haram a little over a year ago.  The force's commander, Nigerian-born General Lucky Irabor, visited... Читать дальше...

The Dutch government says it will continue contributing to the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali and NATO's force in Afghanistan. The Cabinet on Monday informed Parliament about the extension into next year of Dutch participation in the military missions. The foreign ministry said in a statement that the fragile international security situation means that "the Netherlands will continue to take its responsibility." It says that the priority... Читать дальше...

Lebanese film director Ziad Doueiri, detained briefly for previous visits to Israel, blasted people who accused him of normalization with the Jewish state, saying Monday that his work is for the good of Lebanon and the Palestinian cause. It was not clear why the Paris-based Doueiri, director of the award-winning civil war film West Beirut, was detained Sunday night, as he has visited Lebanon several times since traveling to Israel. Lebanon and Israel are in a state of war and Beirut bans its... Читать дальше...

Irma devastated parts of Florida, the third most populous U.S. state, although early reports Monday indicate damage left behind may not have been as much as originally feared.  But rescue teams are still pulling people out of their homes in some communities as floodwaters rose.

Some black and mixed-race residents of the hurricane-devastated French territory of St. Martin have expressed anger at a perception that white tourists were given priority during the evacuation of the island that France acquired during colonial times.   The anger over perceived discrimination — whether or not based on fact — is exposing underlying racial tensions that have long plagued France's far-flung former colonies, especially its Caribbean islands.   St. Martin resident Johana Soudiagom... Читать дальше...

Officials say the driver of a semitrailer died after it collided with a crane hired to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Dallas. Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune says the crane was headed to Lee Park when the collision happened Sunday night near downtown Dallas. A city news release says that a witness said the crane was turning left on a green arrow. The release says the semitrailer's driver "was traveling ... at a very high rate of speed and failed to yield the right of way... Читать дальше...

India will provide more assistance to Afghan defense forces and implement new development projects in the war-torn country. The announcement came at the first high-level meeting held between the two countries after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a new Afghan strategy in which he called on India to step up its role in Afghanistan. A joint statement issued at the end of a day-long conference between the Afghan and Indian foreign ministers Monday in New Delhi said they have agreed to strengthen security cooperation... Читать дальше...

Apple is expected to sell its fanciest iPhone yet for $1,000, crossing into a new financial frontier that will test how much consumers are willing to pay for a device that's become an indispensable part of modern life.   The unveiling of a dramatically redesigned iPhone will likely be the marquee moment Tuesday when Apple hosts its first product event at its new spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino, California. True to its secretive ways, Apple won't confirm that it will be introducing a new iPhone... Читать дальше...

Kristen Bell says she's "singing in a hurricane" while riding out Irma in Florida.   The "Frozen" star is in Orlando filming a movie and staying at a hotel at the Walt Disney World resort. She stopped by an Orlando middle school that was serving as a shelter and belted out songs from "Frozen." Back at the hotel, Bell posted pictures on Instagram of her singing with one guest and dining with a group of seniors .   Bell also helped out the parents of "Frozen" co-star Josh Gad by securing them a room at the hotel . Читать дальше...