Новости за 30.12.2017

Pakistan says that almost 92 percent of its 2,611-kilometer largely porous frontier with Afghanistan will be fenced by end of 2018, hoping the massive unilateral undertaking will effectively address mutual complaints of militant incursions.   The military-led construction effort went into action earlier this year. It has already fenced off about a 150-kilometer portion of the border identified as “highly prone” to terrorist infiltration. The pair of nine-foot wire fences, with a six-foot gap... Читать дальше...

Russian news outlet Interfax is reporting that a suspect in Wednesday's St. Petersburg bombing was arrested on Saturday. Interfax reported that "the organizer and direct perpetrator who triggered an improvised explosive device on December 27 in a supermarket in St. Petersburg was arrested during a special operation by the FSB," the Russian security service. The report said the suspect was handed over to the Russian Investigative Committee for further action. No other details were given. Wednesday's... Читать дальше...

Cameroon has begun giving out free computers to all university students in what the government says will boost education and research. But the distribution of what is said to be a gift from Paul Biya, one of the longest serving presidents in the world, months before presidential elections has generated criticism. Thousands of students sang as they lined up at the University of Yaounde II in Soa, 15 kilometers northeast from Cameroon's capital city, to receive free laptops. Among them was Eric Ambe... Читать дальше...

There’s new hope for ailing parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef - assisted reproductive technology.  Researchers have been capturing coral spawn and rearing millions of larvae in large tanks.  The reef is arguably Australia's greatest natural treasure.  It stretches more than 2,300 kilometers down north-eastern Australia, and faces many threats, including climate change and pollution.  Professor Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University has been collecting the coral spawn off Heron Island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Читать дальше...

A powerful Afghanistan governor returned to his office Saturday and chaired an official meeting in violation of a presidential decree that ousted him from his post earlier this month. The escalating political uncertainty comes as the United States and its allies step up military efforts in support of Afghan forces as they try to counter the Taliban insurgency and the Islamic State group plots fresh deadly suicide bombings in the war-torn country. Atta Muhammad Noor, who governed northern Balkh province for 13 years... Читать дальше...

The Associated Press reported early Saturday that in the first month of U.S. President Donald Trump's term in office, he sent "an American scholar" to meet with North Korean officials and to relay a message. The message was that the new administration was appreciative of a nearly four-month freeze of the North's nuclear and ballistic missile tests - and thought it "might just offer a ray of hope," the news agency said in its account. However, the AP reported North Korean officials said the lack... Читать дальше...

U.S. President Donald Trump denounced the Iranian government Saturday amid pro- and anti-government demonstrations in Iran. Supporters of the Iranian government took to the streets in Tehran as anti-government protests entered a third day and spread to other cities. Using excerpts from a speech he delivered to the U.N. General Assembly on September 19, Trump lambasted the Iranian government on Twitter, charging it has long oppressed the Iranian people. In Tehran, a relatively small group... Читать дальше...

Iranian hardliners rallied Saturday to support the country's supreme leader and clerically overseen government as spontaneous protests sparked by anger over the country's ailing economy roiled major cities in the Islamic Republic.   The demonstrations, commemorating a mass 2009 pro-government rally challenging those who rejected the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amid fraud allegations, had been scheduled weeks earlier.    However, they took on new importance after the economic protests began Thursday... Читать дальше...

Supporters of the Iranian government demonstrated Saturday in the capital of Tehran as anti-government protests entered a third day, spreading to other cities. The protests occurred as Iranian authorities issued another warning Saturday against "illegal gatherings." A relatively small group of government protesters rallied at the University of Tehran but they were greatly outnumbered by thousands of pro-government supporters in a show of government strength. Interior Minister Abdolrahman Rahmani... Читать дальше...

Every attorney general leaves his imprint on the U.S. Justice Department. Jeff Sessions is no exception. Since being sworn in as the nation’s 84th attorney general in February, the former Republican senator and federal prosecutor has moved to radically overhaul the Justice Department and its approach to law enforcement. From scrapping civil rights protections for transgender people to ending leniency in sentencing criminal defendants, Sessions has rolled back a host of policies his two immediate predecessors ... Читать дальше...

Readying for his first television interview, Alex Wang gazes at his reflection in the back window of his yellow cab. Wiping his windswept mane behind the ear, he adjusts his red Shanghai Tang jacket and takes a swig of steaming tea. “Ahh,” he pauses emphatically, “warms your whole body.” Wang opens the front door and reaches deep inside, revealing a glossy 2018 calendar. On the cover is a shirtless male model, sprawled on his belly atop a yellow taxicab trunk, licking a spiral rainbow-colored lollipop the size of his face. Читать дальше...

The New York City Taxi Drivers Calendar began as a tongue-in-cheek alternative to the famous chisel-chested firefighter pin-up, while benefiting a nonprofit that serves immigrant and low-income families. Now in its fifth year, the creators of the parody calendar are out with their 2018 edition, and it may be their sauciest one yet. Ramon Taylor reports.

In her dreams, Setara walks hand in hand with her Muslim husband through the streets of the seaside Myanmar town they grew up in. They visit old friends, share a meal with family, dip their toes into the warm surf of the Bay of Bengal. But in the hate-filled reality of the world they live in, Setara can only do these things alone — when she takes off her Islamic veil and crosses through a pair of checkpoints into the predominantly Buddhist state capital, where her government will not allow the love of her life to set foot. Читать дальше...

The U.S. Library of Congress says it will no longer collect every single tweet published on Twitter as it has been doing for the past 12 years.  The library said this week that it can no longer collect everything across the entire social media platform because of recent changes Twitter has made, including allowing longer tweets, photos and videos.  It said in a blog post this week that its first objective with collecting and archiving tweets was “to document the emergence of online social media... Читать дальше...

Ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has been knighted in Queen Elizabeth's New Year's honors list, along with Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb and author Michael Morpurgo, while ballet dancer Darcey Bussell becomes a dame. Ringo, 77, real name Richard Starkey, joined the Beatles as a replacement drummer for Pete Best in 1962 and occasionally sang lead vocals, notably in "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help from my Friends." He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988 and... Читать дальше...

Ex-Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has been knighted in Queen Elizabeth's New Year's honors list, along with Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb and author Michael Morpurgo, while ballet dancer Darcey Bussell becomes a dame. Ringo, 77, real name Richard Starkey, joined the Beatles as a replacement drummer for Pete Best in 1962 and occasionally sang lead vocals, notably in "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help from my Friends." He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988 and... Читать дальше...

“We have passed the grim milestone of 1,000 days of war in Yemen,” begins a joint statement from the World Health Program, the World Food Program and UNICEF, appealing for humanitarian access and an end to the conflict. “The conflict in Yemen has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, a crisis which has engulfed the entire country,” the groups said.  About 75 percent of Yemen’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance, the statement said, including 11.3 million children who cannot survive without it. Читать дальше...

In the first month of Donald Trump’s presidency, an American scholar quietly met with North Korean officials and relayed a message: The new administration in Washington appreciated an extended halt in the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests. It might just offer a ray of hope. North Korean officials responded defiantly. The nearly four-month period of quiet wasn’t a sign of conciliation, they retorted, insisting supreme leader Kim Jong Un would order tests whenever he wanted. As if to ram the point home... Читать дальше...

Dress in layers, lay off the booze and bring some hand warmers. Those are some of the tips offered for the huge crowd of revelers expected in Times Square for what could be one of the coldest New Year’s Eve ball drops on record. Brutal weather has iced plans for scores of events in the Northeast from New Year’s Eve through New Year’s Day, but not in New York City, where people will start gathering in Times Square up to nine hours before the famous ball drop. WATCH: A Crystal Ball of Serenity... Читать дальше...

The White House said on Friday it was set to kick off talks next week with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on immigration policy, government spending and other issues that need to be wrapped up early in the new year. The expected flurry of legislative activity comes as Republicans and Democrats begin to set the stage for midterm congressional elections in November. President Donald Trump's Republican Party is eager to maintain control of Congress while Democrats look for openings... Читать дальше...

The NYC Taxi Drivers Calendar is a tongue-in-cheek alternative to the famous firefighter pin-up, and it raises funds for charity.

The Trump administration has fired the remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, also known as PACHA. Council members received a letter this week saying that their appointments to the panel were terminated, “effective immediately,” according to a report in The Washington Post. PACHA was established in 1995, during the Clinton administration, to advise the White House on HIV strategies and policies. Six of the members of the council, upset by White House actions on health policy, resigned in June. Читать дальше...

The Trump administration has fired the remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, also known as PACHA. Council members received a letter this week saying that their appointments to the panel were terminated, “effective immediately,” according to a report in The Washington Post. PACHA was established in 1995, during the Clinton administration, to advise the White House on HIV strategies and policies. Six of the members of the council, upset by White House actions on health policy, resigned in June. Читать дальше...

Some made us dance and filled our hearts with music, others made us dream with movies. While they are no longer with us, their work has touched many. From American and French music icons Chuck Berry and Johnny Hallyday to beloved American TV star Mary Tyler Moore to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiabao, VOA's Mariama Diallo reports on some of the famous faces we lost in the U.S. and elsewhere in 2017.

At the hands of Mother Nature, 2017 was a deadly, devastating year. Wildfires in the US, volcanos in Indonesia, and mudslides and hurricanes across the world. Natural disasters took homes, power, water and lives. Arash Arabasadi looks back at some of the stories that made headlines.