Новости за 16.09.2017

Fifty years ago, U.S. Army Captain Steve Yedinak returned home from Vietnam believing that he had led covert operations that contributed significantly to the U.S. efforts to counter communist infiltration from the North into South Vietnam. Yedinak, now 77, left behind more than 200 local troops who had fought alongside U.S. forces. Ethnic Cambodians living in South Vietnam, the Khmer Krom of Task Force 957, Mobile Guerrilla Force (MGF), were “fun to be with,” he recalls, “and they were vicious.” They weren’t a well-known force... Читать дальше...

The Bangladesh government plans to construct a large camp to house some 400,000 Rohingya Muslims who have poured in from neighboring Myanmar over the past three weeks, officials said. Authorities said 14,000 shelters, each able to accommodate six families, will be built over the next 10 days on an eight square kilometer site near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. The government said the movement of the settlement's refugees would be restricted. "The Royingya refugees won't be allowed to go outside... Читать дальше...

At least six people were killed and eight others wounded Saturday when rival Somali government forces clashed in the capital, Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said. “We have the dead bodies of at least six people and eight injured civilians have been so far admitted at our facility,” said Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of the city’s main Madina Hospital.  Clashes erupted when Mogadishu’s Stabilization Security Unit clashed with a military unit based in the city’s Industrial Road in Hodan neighborhood. Читать дальше...

American farmers are on track to plant the fewest acres of wheat since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began keeping records in 1919. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, climate and price are just a few of the many factors influencing a farmer’s decision to grow and harvest the crop.

On a scorching afternoon in the Syrian city of Deir el-Zour, two dozen people patiently line up at Rashid Izghair's shop, which only opened a few days earlier, to get the most basic of supplies: milk, pasta and canned food - items they had been deprived of for nearly three years. Government forces broke a nearly three-year siege of Syria's largest eastern city earlier this month in a major offensive against the Islamic State group. Now, tens of thousands of residents such as these can go out and buy food. Читать дальше...

For more than 60 years, Harry Dean Stanton played crooks and codgers, eccentrics and losers. He endowed them with pathos and compassion and animated them with his gaunt, unforgettable presence, making would-be fringe figures feel central to the films appeared in. The late critic Roger Ebert once said no movie can be altogether bad if it includes Stanton in a supporting role, and the wide cult of fans that included directors and his fellow actors felt the same. “I think all actors will agree... Читать дальше...

The United Nations reports world hunger is rising because conflicts and problems related to climate change are multiplying. The report finds about 815 million people globally did not have enough to eat in 2016 — 38 million more than the previous year. The statistics in this report are particularly grim. They show that global hunger is on the rise again after more than a decade of steady decline. The report, a joint product by five leading U.N. agencies warns that malnutrition is threatening the... Читать дальше...

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been hospitalized in South Africa, according to a senior party official. Luke Tamborinyoka, spokesman for Tsvangirai's MDC-T party, said Saturday he was admitted "for a routine medical procedure" and is in "very stable condition." A senior party source said Tsvangirai, who is considered President Robert Mugabe's primary challenger in elections scheduled for next year, experienced severe vomiting after a party meeting. Local media outlets had reported Tsvangirai... Читать дальше...

Congolese security troops killed at least 18 Burundian refugees during confrontations Friday over plans to return some of the refugees to their home country, officials and local activists said. Soldiers and police opened fire as the refugees tried to free some of their compatriots in Kamanyola, a town in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo near the Burundi border. The troops attempted to disperse the refugees by "firing in the air but were overwhelmed," when the group began throwing stones... Читать дальше...

American farmers are on track to plant the fewest acres of wheat since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began keeping records in 1919. As VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, climate and price are just a few of the many factors influencing a farmer's decision to grow and harvest the crop.

Farmer Russ Higgins' ancestors settled a wide expanse of land south of Morris, Illinois, in 1858. Through the U.S. Civil War and every major event since then, there has been someone from the Higgins family planting and harvesting on the land. Since the first plow churned up the fertile soil here nearly 160 years ago, one crop that always had a place among the fields was wheat.   “The next crop is going to go in as soon as we take this year’s soybean crop out, hopefully within the next two and half to three weeks,” Higgins told VOA... Читать дальше...

Australia is insisting that new child protection laws are “the greatest crackdown on pedophiles in a generation”.  Canberra says the measures will include longer prison terms for child abusers. Australian officials say punishments handed down to pedophiles have been too lax.  The government wants them to spend more time behind bars for their crimes, and plans to bring in mandatory minimum sentences for convicted child sex offenders.  They would be similar to the automatic prison terms given to terrorists and people smugglers. Читать дальше...

California lawmakers have approved a bill to make the most populous U.S. state a sanctuary state for immigrants who do not have legal residency.   The measure would ban police from asking for the immigration status of people who have been arrested.  It also would limit police cooperation with immigration officers. Governor Jerry Brown says he supports the move that will boost immigrant protections in the state. Donald Trump promised during his presidential campaign to crack down on undocumented... Читать дальше...

An Egyptian court has sentenced seven people to death over links to the so-called Islamic State group in Libya. Saturday's ruling refers the case to the Grand Mufti, the country's top theological authority, to solicit his non-binding opinion on the sentences. The referral is a formality in cases of capital punishment. The court has set a Nov. 25 date for issuing the final verdict in the case, which involves 20 defendants. The verdict is subject to appeal. Charges include belonging to a militant group affiliated with IS branch in Libya... Читать дальше...

Would a 15-year-old girl be married off by her parents in violation of the law? Would another girl, who looks even younger, get justice after an alleged statutory rape at the hands of an older man? In their impoverished communities in Uganda, the answers hinged on the fact that one girl had a birth certificate and the other didn't. Police foiled the planned marriage after locating paperwork that proved the first girl was not 18 as her parents claimed. The other girl could not prove she was under the age of consent; her aunt... Читать дальше...

An American dentist's killing of Cecil the lion, a collared 13-year-old lion monitored by the University of Oxford in Zimbabwe, sparked widespread outrage and condemnation of big-game hunting.  But Trophy, a new documentary by filmmakers Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau, offers a more complex perspective on trophy hunting as an industry that blurs the lines between big-game hunting and wildlife conservation. Every year, Safari Club International holds the largest big-game hunt convention in the world in Las Vegas. Читать дальше...

California Democrats approved a “sanctuary state” bill Saturday that would limit how local and state police can interact with federal immigration agents.    The bill is intended to bolster immigrant protections in the state that are among the toughest in the nation.    It will now be considered by Gov. Jerry Brown, who announced his support after the top state Senate leader agreed to water down the bill and preserve authority for jail and prison officials to cooperate with immigration officers in many cases. Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump will push the case for tightening the global economic isolation of North Korea at next week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting, according to two senior officials who say he will argue that the failure of diplomacy increases the likelihood of war. At a White House briefing Friday, Washington’s U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster welcomed the Security Council’s move this month to place additional sanctions on North Korea, but said Pyongyang’s belligerent behavior is continuing. Читать дальше...

Al-Shabab militants have attacked another key town near the border with Kenya, continuing their recent escalation of attacks against government institutions. Residents in El-Wak say Al-Shabab fighters entered the town after a brief gunfight with a small number of local security forces who then escaped across Somalia’s border with Kenya. The militants have detonated explosives at the town’s police station, but casualties are not yet known. Storage facility, aid agencies raided One resident... Читать дальше...

A resolution condemning white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups has been approved by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, who faced criticism over his response to violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally last month in Charlottesville, Virginia. A 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer, was killed and 19 others were injured when a car allegedly driven by a white supremacist slammed into a crowd. Two state police officers who were observing the protests were killed in a helicopter crash. Читать дальше...

Last month's white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to renewed calls in many U.S. states to remove Civil War monuments that to some symbolize part of American history, and to others are a constant reminder of white supremacy. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.

Imagine having a butler to keep you home in perfect order. Well, you don't have to be a blueblood anymore to get that kind of service. As VOA's Olga Loginova shows us, a British butler with royal references is available for hire.

It was a Friday in June, a short workday before a public holiday weekend in Ukraine, and cybersecurity expert Victor Zhora had left the capital, Kyiv, and was in the western city of Lviv when he got the first in a torrent of phone calls from frantic clients. His clients’ networks were being crippled by ransomware known as Petya, a malicious software that locks up infected computers and data. But this ransomware was a variant of an older one and wasn’t designed to extort money — the goal of the... Читать дальше...

London police say they are “chasing down suspects” in their investigation to determine who is responsible for the rush-hour bomb attack on a city subway. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said police have the remnants of the improvised explosive device that was partially detonated Friday morning on a subway car at the Parsons Green station. Images of the bomb posted on social media appear to show a bucket on fire that had been placed inside a plastic bag close to a railcar door. Prime Minister... Читать дальше...

Fans of the American hip hop group the Insane Clown Posse will march on Washington Saturday in protest of their designation as a street gang by the federal government. On Saturday, the Insane Clown Posse (ICP), along with thousands of their diehard fans — who refer to themselves as “Juggalos” — will gather near the Lincoln Memorial to make a “collective statement from the Juggalo family to the world about what we are and what we are not.” “At this point, it’s time for everyone to put up or shut up. Читать дальше...