Новости за 14.10.2017

Wildfires in California's famed wine country are spreading after a week of the worst blazes the state has ever seen. The death toll rose to at least 40 on Saturday, with at least 16 fires burning. One side of the fire zone stretched for 160 square kilometers (62 square miles), destroying 5,700 homes and businesses. About 100,000 people have evacuated their homes. But some have stayed behind. News reports related stories of people taking shelter in swimming pools while watching their homes burn to the ground. Читать дальше...

Pakistan and the United States, uneasy allies in the war against terrorism, appear upbeat about better cooperation and relations after a joint effort freed a U.S.-Canadian family from Taliban captivity. Pakistani security forces, acting on a tip from U.S. intelligence, rescued American Caitlan Coleman; her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle; and their three young children Wednesday, hours after kidnappers had transported them into Pakistan across the porous Afghan border. The family has since been repatriated to Canada... Читать дальше...

Kenya's 2017 election followed a predictable script. Until it didn't. Incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta faced longtime rival Raila Odinga. Kenyatta won the August election by 10 percentage points, or 1.4 million votes. Odinga alleged fraud and petitioned the Supreme Court. Violence spread through parts of the country. Dozens were killed. Kenyatta was poised to begin a second term. Then, everything changed. In an unprecedented move, three weeks after Kenyans went to the polls, the Supreme Court nullified the election. Читать дальше...

Hundreds of people have gathered to remember a 42-year-old Massachusetts woman who was among the 58 people killed in the mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival. The service for Rhonda LeRocque was held Saturday in the auditorium of Tewksbury Memorial High School. WBZ-TV reports that the Tewksbury woman was remembered as a "fireball" and loving woman with a deep faith. A wake was held on Friday afternoon at the Nicholas Funeral Parlor in Wilmington. LeRocque's mother, Priscilla Champagne... Читать дальше...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is promising the company will do a better job weeding out sexual harassment, hateful symbols and violent groups from its short messaging service. The pledge issued in a series of tweets late Friday followed a boycott organized by women supporting actress Rose McGowan after she said Twitter temporarily suspended her account for posting about the alleged misconduct of film producer Harvey Weinstein. The movie mogul was fired last Sunday by the company he co-founded amid accusations... Читать дальше...

Venezuelans cast ballots Sunday in regional elections that are widely seen as a vital test for both President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition. Voters will elect governors in all 23 states and the opposition Democratic Union Roundtable coalition is calling for a large turnout that some experts say could propel them to victory in most regions. Many polling experts say the opposition coalition could win 20 of the state elections, a feat that would mark the first time since 2000 the Maduro's socialist... Читать дальше...

Seven people have been killed and at least 10 others wounded in a car bomb blast near a key intersection in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said. The blast near Zobe, a busy road intersection, may have been a suicide bomber, a police official told VOA. Witnesses said the blast occurred amid a traffic jam. A VOA reporter at the scene of the blast counted at least four bodies lying on the ground. The reporter said buildings around the area were severely damaged by the explosion... Читать дальше...

Four Moldovan nationals were killed Saturday when a cargo plane crashed into the sea off the Ivory Coast, according to the Ivorian security minister.

The United Nations warns some 4 million people across Ukraine are facing a desperate situation as winter approaches and are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance to survive the bitterly cold months ahead. Ukraine is into its fourth year of war, a war that the United Nations estimates has killed about 10,000 people and injured more than 23,500 others. No resolution is in sight to what has become a frozen conflict between the Kyiv government and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. This... Читать дальше...

A  mystery hacker who was given the alias of a TV soap opera character has stolen sensitive information about Australia's multi-billion dollar warplane and navy projects.  Intelligence officials say the break was significant, although the Australian government insists that only low-level data was taken.  The identity of the cyber criminal is not known.  The virtual break-in saw cyber thieves take illustrations of a major Australian naval project. About 30GB of data was stolen.  Details about new fighter planes... Читать дальше...

John Kerry, the former U.S. Secretary of State, had harsh criticism for President Donald Trump's decision not to certify that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear deal signed by six world powers in 2015.   Kerry said the decision is a "reckless abandonment of facts in favor of ego and ideology." Kerry, who negotiated the deal, added that Trump "weakens our hand, alienates us from our allies, empowers Iranian hardliners, makes it harder to resolve North Korea and risks moving us closer to military... Читать дальше...

A cargo plane crashed Saturday into the Atlantic Ocean after taking off from Ivory Coast's international airport in Abidjan, while witnesses said they saw four bodies amid the wreckage. At least six people were injured, the spokesman for French forces in Ivory Coast said. The plane was carrying French military cargo, he said. He didn't know how many people had been on the plane. "We have six injured that we have evacuated to the Port-Bouet camp in Abidjan for treatment. I cannot yet confirm any cases of death... Читать дальше...

Army officials in Myanmar say they have opened an internal probe into the behavior of Burmese troops in Rahkine State, where Myanmar military forces are accused of committing widespread atrocities against members of the Muslim Rohingya minority.  Thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh since August. It was not immediately clear, however, when the military will release its findings.   "We will officially release the report (when) we have had comprehensive information," military officials said in a statement. Читать дальше...

The United States’ National Portrait Gallery has announced that two up-and-coming African-American artists, Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, have been selected to paint the official portraits of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. The Smithsonian Institution, parent organization of the National Portrait Gallery, said Friday that President Obama had specifically requested to be painted by Wiley, 40, whose portraits of young black men have made a sharp impact on the art world. Читать дальше...

Islamic State is on the verge of defeat in Syria’s Raqqa and the city may finally be cleared of the jihadists Saturday or Sunday, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia told Reuters Saturday. The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State said around 100 of the jihadist group’s fighters had surrendered in Raqqa in the last 24 hours and had been “removed from the city,” but it still expected difficult fighting “in the days ahead.” It did not say how the fighters had been removed or where the fighters had been taken. Читать дальше...

The Vatican trial over $500,000 in donations to the pope’s pediatric hospital that were diverted to renovate a cardinal’s penthouse is reaching its conclusion, with neither the cardinal who benefited nor the contractor who was apparently paid twice for the work facing trial.   Instead, the former president of the Bambino Gesu children’s hospital and his ex-treasurer are accused of misappropriating 422,000 euros from the hospital’s fundraising foundation to overhaul the retirement home of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone... Читать дальше...

Nigeria has decided to start issuing visas on arrival for all Africans, the African Union said Friday, in a major step toward the goal of free movement on the continent.   The continental body’s deputy chairman Kwesi Quartey praised the action as a “laudable move towards Africa’s integration agenda” in a Facebook post.   The AU has advocated for a “single African passport” that aims to improve intra-African trade and has called for “the abolishment of visa requirements for all African citizens... Читать дальше...

The impoverished family of Australia’s most famous Aboriginal artist, Albert Namatjira, has been given copyright to his works after years of fruitless campaigning triggered the intervention of a philanthropist. Namatjira’s vibrant water colors are internationally celebrated for the way he captured the hues of the Western Desert in the center of the country. One of his paintings was given to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 1947 on her 21st birthday, and he met the queen during her 1954 coronation tour in Canberra. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Treasury Department to impose additional sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as he announced a more aggressive stance toward Iran, including refusing to recertify the nuclear deal with Tehran. The White House called the Revolutionary Guard, which is separate from Iran’s regular armed forces, a “primary tool and weapon in remaking Iran into a rogue state.” But what is the Revolutionary Guard? Beginnings The Revolutionary Guard was founded following Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution... Читать дальше...

Turkey has deployed troops to Syria’s Idlib province, as part of its effort to stem fighting and end jihadist control of the region. Turkish military officials on Friday said Turkish forces are establishing observation posts in the area. The Hurriyet newspaper reports Turkey sent over 100 soldiers and 30 armored vehicles to the northwestern Syrian region. The newspaper said more troops would be deployed in the next few days. Turkey’s troops are supporting the Free Syrian Army, Syrian rebels who want to oust President Bashar al-Assad. Читать дальше...

A kidnapped American-Canadian couple and their three children have returned to Canada, after enduring five years as captives of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan. The family landed in Toronto late Friday aboard an Air Canada flight from London. Caitlan Coleman, a U.S. citizen, and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, were kidnapped while backpacking in Afghanistan in 2012. Coleman was pregnant at the time. She gave birth to four children while in captivity. Their release has... Читать дальше...

Throughout Northern California, where wildfires have raged for almost a week, killing at least 36 people and destroying about 6,000 buildings, residents are taking stock of what they have and what they have lost. Many are feeling lucky to have survived with their lives. The fire’s path of destruction lacked rhyme or reason, destroying an entire winery in one case but leaving patio furniture outside the tasting room untouched. Pierre Birebent, who has been a winemaker at the Signorello Estate for the past 20 years, said he feels lucky. Читать дальше...

A groundbreaking treatment for a rare form of hereditary blindness has moved closer to U.S. approval. This week advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended the experimental gene therapy, which replaces a defective gene. If the FDA agrees by mid-January, this would become the first gene therapy in the U.S. for an inherited disease. VOA's Deborah Block tells us how a breakthrough treatment helped restore vision to a teenager who has his sights on a singing career.

President Donald Trump has announced that he is decertifying Iran's compliance with a multinational 2-year-old nuclear deal and slapping Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps with new counter-terrorism sanctions. VOA White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman reports, however, the president is stopping short of calling for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to be scrapped.

As the California wild fires continue to burn, some people are able to return to their homes and businesses. Michelle Quinn visited one destroyed winery as workers arrived to see the damage.