Новости за 16.12.2017

President Donald Trump is set to unveil on Monday his strategy to counter what he considers the most dire global threats to the United States. Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, gave a preview of the administration's new national security policy on Tuesday at a conference hosted by the London-based policy research organization Policy Exchange. "Geopolitics are back and they are back with a vengeance," McMaster told the audience. McMaster said Trump's policy is driven by four key priorities... Читать дальше...

Somalia's prime minister, Hassan ali-Khaire, said his government had demanded the U.S. briefly suspend aid to much of Somalia's armed forces in an effort to improve transparency and accountability following corruption concerns. Speaking Saturday to reporters in Mogadishu, Khaire blamed former Somali governments for U.S. concerns about corruption. "In the first month in office, my government stood for the need for Somalia to be governed on transparency principles," he said. "To ensure such principles... Читать дальше...

India's opposition Congress Party workers celebrated Saturday as Rahul Gandhi from India's famous Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty took over as president of the party. Hopes are high that the 47-year-old leader will revive the party, which has suffered several crushing defeats over the last three years.

U.S. President Donald Trump continued to tout the Republican tax bill Saturday, saying "everybody's going to benefit" if it is signed into law. "But I think the greatest benefit is going to be for jobs and for the middle class, middle income," Trump said to reporters on the White House South Lawn before departing for the presidential Camp David retreat in Maryland. Republican Senate and House negotiators finalized a final version Friday of their compromise $1.5 trillion tax bill, after appeasing Republican Senator Marco Rubio... Читать дальше...

Nigerian oil workers are threatening to strike indefinitely starting Monday after mediated talks reached a stalemate with Neconde Energy Limited over allegations of wrongful terminations. The union, known as PENGASSAN (Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria), says the walkout will begin at midnight local time Monday after it concludes a meeting of its central committee. It says workers across the country are on standby for the strike to begin. The union has clashed with... Читать дальше...

Austria’s Conservative People’s Party (OVP) reached a coalition deal Saturday with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which takes a hard line on immigration. The deal makes Austria the only western European country with a far-right group in government. Austrian conservatives led by Sebastian Kurz and FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache said in a joint statement this was a "turquoise-blue agreement," referring to each group's political colors. “We want to reduce the burden on taxpayers ... and... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is reportedly banning a list of seven words or phrases in official documents, sparking a flood of reaction on social media platforms. Policy analysts at the CDC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, were told about the list of prohibited words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials, according to an unnamed analyst who attended the meeting as reported by The Washington Post newspaper. The banned words are "diversity," "entitlement," "evidence-based," "fetus,"... Читать дальше...

Argentina has dismissed the head of its navy following last month's disappearance of a submarine with 44 crew members. Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported Saturday that Defense Minister Oscar Aguad has asked Admiral Marcelo Eduardo Hipolito Srur for his resignation. The move comes one month after the last contact with the submarine ARA San Juan. A replacement for the admiral has not been announced. The sub disappeared in the South Atlantic November 15 with 44 crew members aboard and has not been located. Читать дальше...

Argentina fired the head of its navy a month after a submarine disappeared in the South Atlantic with 44 crew members onboard, a government spokesman said on Saturday. Local paper La Nacion had reported earlier, citing anonymous sources, that Navy Admiral Marcelo Eduardo Hipolito Srur was let go by the defense minister. The ARA San Juan submarine has not been located and is thought to have exploded.

Five years after the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old physical therapy student in the Indian capital turned the focus to violence against women, small groups turned out in New Delhi and several other cities on Saturday to highlight the need for safety for women in public spaces.   The “Meet to Sleep” movement, under which women took a short nap at a park, is one of several campaigns that have emerged in the wake of massive protests that rocked India after the gang rape. The symbolic nap highlights... Читать дальше...

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights is urging the government of El Salvador to commute the 30 year prison sentence of a woman convicted of “aggravated homicide” after her baby was stillborn in her ninth month of pregnancy. Teodora Vasquez has been in prison since 2008 for “aggravated homicide,” a term used to prosecute women suspected of deliberately terminating their pregnancies.  This week, an appeals court in San Salvador rejected her appeal to commute her 30-year sentence. Vasquez... Читать дальше...

A senior member of Australia’s Roman Catholic Church has rejected a key recommendation of a five-year inquiry into child sex abuse.  The Royal Commission has made more than 400 recommendations, including the creation of a new National Office for Child Safety and the requirement that members of the clergy report abuse confided in them during confession. The report found that tens of thousands of children were abused in Australian institutions over past decades.  Most of the perpetrators were members of the clergy and school teachers. Читать дальше...

The U.N. refugee agency reports aid agencies are bracing for another humanitarian emergency in Yemen as people flee from intensified fighting in frontline areas on Yemen’s west coast.   The UNHCR says it has received reports that more than 1,400 people have fled from Hudaydah and Taizz governorates in the past few days. This follows the recent fighting in the Yemeni capital Sana’a and neighboring areas. The UNHCR says it is working with other aid agencies to scale up operations to help those who are fleeing and others to come. Читать дальше...

South Africa’s powerful ruling party is meeting to choose new leadership at a time when it has never been more divided. Over the coming days, some 5,000 delegates of the African National Congress will choose its new top slate - and in doing so, will signal the end of the controversial rule of embattled party leader and South African president, Jacob Zuma.   Zuma, whose mounting corruption scandals have riven the party, will step down as leader at this conference. His successor will then be the... Читать дальше...

South Africa’s embattled president made no attempt to hide his pick for his successor as his party met to vote over new leadership, delivering several backhands at his deputy, successful businessman Cyril Ramaphosa.   “We cannot exercise things that are foreign to ANC culture and tendencies,” Jacob Zuma said to the gathering, in Soweto, of some 5,000 delegates of the African National Congress, who greeted his arrival with half-hearted applause. He warned delegates, who will vote Saturday and Sunday... Читать дальше...

Top entertainment and business executives have agreed to found and fund a Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace. The new group was established at a meeting in Los Angeles convened by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, Nike Foundation founder and co-chair Maria Eite, talent attorney Nina Shaw and venture capitalist Freada Kapor Klein. It was attended by the heads of nearly every major Hollywood studio. The establishment of the new group follows the recent avalanche... Читать дальше...

Military authorities say Nigerian soldiers have arrested more than 400 people associated with the Boko Haram extremist group hiding on the islands of Lake Chad, including fighters, wives and children. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu says the two-week operation netted the largest number of arrests of Boko Haram fighters in recent months in northeast Nigeria. It included air and ground offensives targeting insurgents’ locations. Nwachukwu says the military arrested 167 Boko Haram fighters, 67 women and 173... Читать дальше...

With people coming from around the world to work in Silicon Valley, some struggle with the best ways to care for their aging parents. Increasingly, the solution is an “affinity” retirement community, where older people from places like India and China can live near — but not with — their adult children. These communities break from traditional custom that parents and children live together. “The children are so busy these days, they are all the time working, taking care of their kids, so we do... Читать дальше...

Ukraine’s foreign minister applauded decisions announced this week by Canada and the European Union (EU) as important in demonstrating the international community’s solidarity with Ukraine and sending a clear message to Russia. “Look, Russia does not live in a vacuum, sanctions are effective,” Pavlo Klimkin said Friday in an interview with VOA. EU Council President Donald Tusk announced Thursday that leaders of the organization’s 28 member states were “united on the rollover of economic sanctions... Читать дальше...

President Donald Trump frequently casts his first year in office as a string of successes and campaign promises fulfilled. But less than a quarter of Americans think Trump has made good on the pledges he made to voters while running for president, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Among Republicans, just half say Trump has kept his promises, which included vows to overhaul his predecessor’s health care law, withdraw the United States from a... Читать дальше...

Ukraine’s foreign minister applauded decisions announced this week by Canada and the European Union (EU) as important in demonstrating the international community’s solidarity with Ukraine and sending a clear message to Russia. “Look, Russia does not live in a vacuum, sanctions are effective,” Pavlo Klimkin said Friday in an interview with VOA. EU Council President Donald Tusk announced Thursday that leaders of the organization’s 28 member states were “united on the rollover of economic sanctions... Читать дальше...

A fourth generation of India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty came to the helm of the Congress Party Saturday as Rahul Gandhi vowed to rebuild a “Grand and Young Old party.” But the 47-year-old leader faces a daunting challenge in emerging as a credible challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and rebuilding the party that was in power for most of the seven decades since independence but suffered a crushing defeat in 2014. The lone contender in the election for the top post in the party... Читать дальше...

Young people come from around the world to work in Silicon Valley, California. As these workers build a life away from home, many struggle with how to bring their aging parents to their new community. But what happens to foreign parents entering their later years in a new country? VOA's Deana Mitchell visits a unique community in Silicon Valley that caters to retirees from India.

British Finance Minister Philip Hammond said Saturday it is likely Britain will want to negotiate a bespoke arrangement for a future trade deal with the European Union, rather than copying existing arrangements like the Canada-EU deal. The European Union agreed Friday to move Brexit talks onto trade and a transition pact, but some leaders cautioned that the final year of divorce negotiations before Britain’s exit could be fraught with peril. Summit chairman Donald Tusk said the world’s biggest... Читать дальше...

Moderate to heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in central Philippines as tropical storm Kai-tak made landfall Saturday afternoon, and may hit more areas while moving westward, the weather bureau said Saturday. Locally known as Urduja, Kai-tak was barreling through the eastern region of Visayas, hitting islands and coastal towns such as Tacloban City where Supertyphoon Haiyan claimed 8,000 lives in 2013. Heavy rains and large waves have stranded at least 11,000 people in various ports in the region... Читать дальше...