Новости за 26.09.2017

Top officials from Canada, the United States and Mexico join negotiations on modernizing NAFTA in Ottawa on Tuesday where the U.S. is expected to present draft text on issues such as labor, investment and intellectual property. Labor leaders of the two wealthier NAFTA nations say laxer labor standards and lower pay in Mexico have swelled corporate profits at the expense of Canadian and U.S. workers, making the issue one of the major battles of the NAFTA talks. Officials with knowledge of the... Читать дальше...

Kenya’s opposition rallied outside building of the country’s electoral board Tuesday to demand new officials organize the re-run of the presidential poll, scheduled for October 26.  The opposition says it will boycott the poll if the personnel changes do not occur, while the ruling party rejects these threats. The sounds of police firing tear gas and protesters in retreat filled the air outside Kenya’s electoral commission offices Tuesday, as demonstrators attempted in several waves to get close to the building, before police dispersed them. Читать дальше...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up pressure on Iraqi Kurds, labeling their leaders as treacherous and warning that all military and economic options are now "on the table.” The verbal attack comes as Turkish forces start unprecedented joint military exercises with their Iraqi counterparts around Iraq's Kurdish region. The military maneuvers Tuesday come one day after Iraqi Kurds voted on an independence referendum that drew objections from Iraq and Turkey, along with some other countries in the region... Читать дальше...

The Nigerian army says it has taken a high-level Boko Haram militant into custody. Police in Ondo state arrested Idris Ibrahim Babawo on Sunday and handed him over to the army's 32nd brigade one day later, according to a statement from the army's director of public relations, Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman. The statement, which refers to Babawo as a "terrorist kingpin," says the suspect is 42, goes by the names Idoko and Nagada, and is on a list of wanted Boko Haram militants. It says... Читать дальше...

French President Emmanuel Macron offered an ambitious vision for European renewal Tuesday, calling for the EU to work more closely on defense and immigration and for the eurozone to have its own budget, ideas he may struggle to implement. In a nearly two-hour speech delivered two days after the German election in which Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc scored its worst result since 1949, limiting her freedom to maneuver on Europe, the 39-year-old French president held little back in terms of sweep... Читать дальше...

The holiday of Diwali is starting to light up mainstream America. Diwali, a festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in India and other countries, has long been observed in immigrant communities around the U.S. But now public celebrations of the holiday are starting to pop up in places ranging from Disneyland and Times Square to parks and museums. The Times Square event is the brainchild of Neeta Bhasin, who says that while many Indian immigrants have found great success in the U.S.... Читать дальше...

The United Nations began a new push on Tuesday to stabilize Libya by getting rival factions to revise the stalled peace plan and set the country on the path to elections. The effort aims to end the turmoil that developed in Libya after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising ended Moammar Gadhafi's 42-year rule, giving space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe. Political and military fractures have left the country mired in conflict and the OPEC member's economy in freefall. Читать дальше...

Chad’s appearance on a new U.S. government list of countries subject to travel restrictions has the central African country bewildered. “The Government of Chad expresses lack of understanding of the official reasons for it,” Chad's communications minister and government spokesperson, Madeleine Alingue, said in a statement in French. The administration of President Donald Trump issued new travel rules Sunday, building on and adding to a March executive order that banned travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries. Читать дальше...

Saudi King Salman on Tuesday ordered that women be allowed to drive cars, state media said, ending the conservative Islamic kingdom's status as the only country where that is forbidden. The royal decree ordered the formation of a ministerial body to give advice within 30 days and then implement the order by June 2018, according to state news agency SPA. It stipulated that the move must "apply and adhere to the necessary Sharia standards," without providing details, and said a majority of the... Читать дальше...

Venezuela’s opposition said on Tuesday it will not join scheduled talks with President Nicolas Maduro’s government, undercutting a dialogue effort that has been viewed with suspicion by many adversaries of the ruling Socialist Party. The government has eagerly promoted the talks amid global criticism that Maduro is turning the country into a dictatorship, while the opposition has always insisted the talks should not distract from the country’s economic crisis. The two sides held separate exploratory... Читать дальше...

A Zimbabwean court on Tuesday freed activist pastor Evan Mawarire, a critic of President Robert Mugabe, following his weekend arrest on new charges of attempting to subvert the government. It was the second time he has been detained for a similar offense. Mawarire went on trial Monday on separate subversion charges stemming from protests last year against Mugabe's handling of the economy. The magistrates court said the rights of Mawarire, who appeared in a khaki prison uniform, had been violated... Читать дальше...

Angola's first new president in almost four decades vowed to rebuild an economy devastated by falling oil prices and fight corruption at his inauguration on Tuesday. João Lourenço told thousands of supporters in Luanda he would also tackle gaping inequality in Africa's second largest oil producer - though analysts have already raised doubts about his ability to make far-reaching change. "No one is so rich and powerful that they cannot be punished and no one is so poor that they cannot be protected," he said to loud applause. Читать дальше...

Longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone said Tuesday he’s “aware of no evidence whatsoever” that Trump's campaign coordinated with Russians during the 2016 election.   Stone spoke to the House intelligence committee for more than three hours as part of the panel's probe into Russian interference in the election. Afterward, he told reporters that the majority of lawmakers’ questions focused on his communications with Guccifer 2.0, the unnamed hacker who has taken credit for breaking into Democratic National Committee email servers. Читать дальше...

Not So Lazy Now

Toyota Motor Corp. announced a $374 million investment Tuesday at five U.S. plants to support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain. The upgrades at Toyota’s factories in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia are part of a previously announced $10 billion in U.S. spending by the Japanese automaker. It “underscores Toyota’s confidence in the capability and global competitiveness of our North American manufacturing,” Jeff Moore, Toyota North America’s senior vice president of manufacturing... Читать дальше...

The United States has imposed sanctions on eight North Korean banks and 26 bank executives amid escalating tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear program. "This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean Peninsula," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday in a statement. Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for new economic sanctions against individuals... Читать дальше...

Kumari Behera carefully folds a set of heavy brown jute sacks, stacking them in a corner of her small, windowless shack. Splashed with water every two hours and arrayed on her tin roof, they have served as her air conditioning this summer — the only option available to cool her home in the face of increasingly brutal summer heat. The 54-year-old is sure she'll need the sacks again next summer. This year temperatures in Bhubaneswar, a city near the coast in eastern India, did not reach last... Читать дальше...

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that the Fed is puzzled by the persistence of unusually low inflation and that it might have to adjust the timing of its interest rate policies accordingly. Speaking to a conference of economists, Yellen touched upon key questions the Fed is confronting as it tries to determine why inflation has remained chronically below its inflation target of 2 percent annually. The Fed chair said officials still expect the forces keeping inflation low to fade eventually. Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump's clash with scores of professional football players who knelt during “The Star-spangled Banner” last weekend has set off a heated debate over proper etiquette during the national anthem. But the U.S. is far from alone. Throughout the world, flags, anthems and other national symbols can often divide as much as they unify, especially in countries with large religious or ethnic divisions.   Here is a look at some of the controversies: Israel   Israel's Arab minority has... Читать дальше...

Puerto Rican rapper Residente’s first solo album post-Calle 13 has received a leading nine nominations for this year’s Latin Grammys, including for record, song and album of the year. Colombian sensation Maluma follows him with seven, Shakira’s comeback gathered six, and Juanes, Mon Laferte and producer Kevin Jimenez ADG received five nominations each, the Latin Recording Academy announced Tuesday. The announcement was delayed by nearly a week after last year’s devastating earthquake in Mexico and hurricanes Irma and Maria... Читать дальше...

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

Uber said Tuesday it will cease operations in Quebec next month if the province doesn't rescind new rules it introduced last week.   Quebec Uber boss Jean-Nicolas Guillemette said it will stop operating on October 14 if the government doesn't back down.   Transport Minister Laurent Lessard said Friday the province would allow Uber to continue to operate provided Uber drivers are required to undergo the same number of training hours as traditional taxi drivers, which is 35 hours, instead of the 20 hours required previously. Читать дальше...

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy-winning guitarist Joe Walsh has started a new charity to benefit veterans’ organizations. As VOA’s David Byrd tells us, Walsh says he especially wants to help small, grass-roots groups that work with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan

Robert Plant is going on tour in North America next year to support his upcoming album, “Carry Fire.” The former Led Zeppelin frontman announced Tuesday that his 2018 tour will begin Feb. 9 in Raleigh, North Carolina. He’ll also visit New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles, among other cities. More dates will be announced later. Plant will be joined on the tour by his backing band, the Sensational Space Shifters. Plant has also released another track from “Carry Fire” Tuesday, a cover... Читать дальше...

The activist group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused the Myanmar military of committing “crimes against humanity” as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee violence in Rakhine State. “The Burmese military is brutally expelling the Rohingya from northern Rakhine State,” said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. “The massacres of villagers and mass arson driving people from their homes are all crimes against humanity.” The United Nations says more than 400,000... Читать дальше...