Новости за 15.10.2017

There is more trouble for disgraced U.S. movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he has started the process to strip Weinstein of the Legion of Honor -- the highest honor in France and one of the world's most prestigious awards. France presented Weinstein the honor in 2012 in recognition of his efforts to promote French and other European cinema around the world. Four French actresses are among the 13 who accuse Weinstein of sexually assaulting or harassing them over several decades. Читать дальше...

Innsbruck no longer plans to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics after its promise to organize low-cost and sustainable games failed to convince residents.   The province of Tyrol said Sunday it will drop plans to host the games after 53.35 percent of voters had rejected the idea in a referendum. In Innsbruck, the capital of the province, 67.41 percent of residents said “no” to a possible bid.   Results from postal voting will be announced Monday but were not expected to significantly change the outcome. Читать дальше...

Egyptian security forces have foiled a militant attack on army installations in the Sinai Peninsula, a day after half a dozen policemen were killed by insurgents in the region, a military statement said.   A statement by the Egyptian army on Saturday said a group of insurgents breached a heavily-guarded army installation in the city of el-Arish in northern Sinai to carry out a “terrorist attack.”   The militants, disguised in Egyptian army uniforms, were armed with grenades and firearms and carrying explosive belts ... Читать дальше...

A runoff vote for the presidency of Liberia will be held between former footballer George Weah and incumbent Vice President Joseph Boakai, the electoral commission said Sunday. With over 95 percent of votes counted in the West African country, Weah has taken 39.0 percent of the votes and Boakai 29.1 percent - neither of them near the 50 percent required to win the presidency outright after the first round of voting last week. Voters cast their ballots Tuesday, marking the West African nation’s... Читать дальше...

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

Preliminary results from the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan show the governing party's candidate winning.   The RIA-Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported that Kyrgyzstan's elections commission said Sunday that Sooronbai Jeenbekov had received about 55 percent of the vote, based on a count of ballots from 95 percent of polling stations   In second place was Omurbek Babanov, one of the former Soviet central Asian republic's richest people. Babanov is the candidate of a party that allies nationalist and business-friendly positions. Читать дальше...

U.S.-backed militias said Sunday they have launched their final assault on Raqqa, the northern Syria city Islamic State has claimed as the self-declared capital of its religious caliphate. The Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) said that about 275 Syrian Islamic State fighters and their families were allowed to leave the city held by the jihadists since a 2014 takeover, leaving "no more than" 200 to 300 militants to fight on. Raqqa's fall could be imminent, with the SDF saying the operation... Читать дальше...

Ireland dispatched its armed forces to bolster flood defenses on Sunday and warned people against non-essential travel as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia threatened the country with its worst storm in 50 years. Ophelia, the sixth major hurricane of the Atlantic season, is due to make landfall on the south west coast of Ireland at around 0500 GMT on Monday, the Irish weather service said, describing the storm as "unprecedented." Hurricane force winds are likely off Ireland's south coast but... Читать дальше...

As Iraqi and Kurdish military forces mass troops and weaponry around the oil city of Kirkuk, sporadic fighting in another contested city is forcing some families to flee their homes, joining more than 3 million displaced people in Iraq. VOA’s Heather Murdock is on the scene in Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson conceded Sunday that Iran is in "technical compliance" with the international agreement to curb its nuclear weapons development, but said that President Donald Trump wants Congress to adopt "a more complete strategy" to fix what the U.S. leader sees as flaws in the pact. The top U.S. diplomat told CNN that Tehran has a "demonstrated practice of walking right up to the limits" of the 2015 deal, prompting Trump on Friday to decertify that Iran was in compliance... Читать дальше...

On the road out of Kirkuk city, Kurdish Peshmerga forces are massed on a bridge, overlooking the countryside. Just over a nearby bream, Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) soldiers whip down a street in large pick-up trucks, while Iraqi Army tanks lay quiet, parked in fields with their weapons pointed at Kurdish forces. WATCH: Heather Murdock's Video Report  Everyone is staying on their own side, as the standoff continues in this oil city, which is claimed by both the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Region’s government. Читать дальше...

Syria's Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump for its position on the Iran nuclear deal, saying in comments to state media that it would increase regional tension and threaten security and peace. "Syria condemns the aggressive policies of the U.S. administration against the interests of the people, and which will increase the atmosphere of tension in the region and the world," state news agency SANA quoted an official source at the ministry as saying. Читать дальше...

Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton cautioned Britain on Sunday over its push to secure a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump after it leaves the European Union. Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate who lost out to Trump in last November's election, also said Britain would face serious disruption if it left the EU without a negotiated deal with Brussels. The British government has talked up the prospect of bilateral trade deals with the United States and others as one... Читать дальше...

Iran on Sunday denied reports that Tehran had closed a border crossing with northern Iraq in response to an independence referendum in Iraq's Kurdish region last month, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported. "As we announced earlier, we blocked our airspace to the Kurdish region on a request from the central government of Iraq, and as far as I know, nothing new has happened in this area," ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying. Iran's Tasnim news agency earlier... Читать дальше...

After sitting fifty years in the National Geographic archives, 100 hours of footage on Jane Goodall and her groundbreaking observations of Chimpanzees in the African forest of Tanzania have been compiled into a documentary film. At a screening of the film in Los Angeles, Goodall spoke to VOA's Elizabeth Lee about her work and thoughts on the film.

U.S. President Donald Trump lambasted Iranian expansionism in the Middle East Friday when disavowing the international nuclear deal with Tehran, citing in particular Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But analysts charge his strategy to check Iran in the region remains inconsistent, especially when it comes to Syria. In his statement announcing he’s withholding certifying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)... Читать дальше...

Wildfires in the U.S. state of 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, destroying some 5,700 homes and businesses. Some 100,000 people have evacuated their homes. But some have stayed behind. "It was wind driven. Wind driven is basically powerful winds started pushing and intensifies the fire,"... Читать дальше...

After 50 years of sitting in the National Geographic archives, 100 hours of footage on Jane Goodall and her groundbreaking observations of chimpanzees in the African forest of Tanzania have been compiled into a documentary film. The documentary titled "Jane" starts in 1960 when Jane Goodall was 26 years old. WATCH: Video Report by Elizabeth Lee Through interviews with Goodall and National Geographic footage, the film documents Goodall’s early years, as a woman with no university degree, working in a remote part of Tanzania. Читать дальше...

The death toll from Saturday's massive truck bombing in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to more than 230, the deputy speaker of Somalia's upper house of parliament Abshir Mohamed Ahmed tells VOA. More than 200 people were wounded in the blast, including a VOA reporter. Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo said the country “will observe three days of mourning for innocent victims and flags will be flown at half-mast.” Farmaajo also called on citizens to unite against terror, saying it is “time to unite and pray together. Читать дальше...

Gay rights activist Joseph Achille Tiedjou is worried every day that he will be harassed or arrested in Cameroon.   Defending LGBT rights can be dangerous in Africa, where many countries have laws against homosexuality. But in recent years activists have stepped out of the shadows, empowered by the support of the Obama administration and the international community.   Now many fear the Trump administration will undermine those gains, and that their exposure could make them more vulnerable if support fades. Читать дальше...

Catalonia's president is facing a critical decision that could determine the course of the region's secessionist movement to break away from Spain. The Spanish government has given Carles Puigdemont until Monday morning to clarify if he did or didn't actually declare independence earlier this week. Puigdemont told Catalan lawmakers Tuesday that he had "accepted" a mandate for independence based on the results of a disputed referendum, but that he wanted parliament to delay its implementation... Читать дальше...

Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to resume four-way discussions Monday in Oman in a renewed bid to seek a politically negotiated settlement to the Afghan war. The meeting of the so-called Quadrilateral Cooperation Group, or QCG, in the Gulf state is taking place after a gap of 16 months. Senior foreign ministry officials from the four nations will lead their respective delegations at the talks. “The objective is to bring the warring factions within Afghanistan to the negotiating table. Читать дальше...

A Refugee Food Festival showcasing the cooking talents of refugee chefs from five different countries has won the hearts of Geneva residents by connecting through the food of their national cuisines.  Over the past week, the city's chefs have turned their kitchens over to their refugee counterparts from Syria, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Tibet and Nigeria. Nadeem Khadem al-Jamie smiles broadly as clients at this high-end restaurant applaud his culinary skills. Nadeem, a 29-year-old Syrian refugee, says cooking is his passion. Читать дальше...

Afghan police say they have foiled a major bombing in the capital after arresting a suspect whose truck was loaded with explosives.   Mohamed Salem Almas, the head of criminal investigations in the Kabul police, told a press conference Sunday that the truck carried more than 2,700 kilograms (3 tons) of explosives. He says police ordered the suspect to stop and then shot and wounded him when he tried to escape. Almas says the Taliban-linked Haqqani network was behind the attack, which was to be carried out in a crowded part of the city.

Hundreds of protesters marched through Sydney on Sunday calling for detainees, being held in controversial centers for asylum seekers on remote Pacific islands, to be allowed to stay in Australia as a resettlement deadline approaches. Canberra’s hard-line immigration policy requires asylum seekers intercepted at sea to be sent for processing to two remote Pacific locations, one on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and the other on the Micronesian island nation of Nauru. They are told they will never be settled in Australia. Читать дальше...