Новости за 16.01.2023

Up to 12,000 people marched Monday to the EU Parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg in support of Iran's anti-government protesters while the Eiffel Tower lit the night with the slogan "Woman. Life. Freedom," which embodies the protest movement spilling beyond Iran. The Eiffel Tower display also beamed the message, "Stop executions in Iran," highlighting a demand of protesters. Both messages pay tribute to Mahsa Amini, whose death in September triggered demonstrations in Iran, along with arrests and executions. Читать дальше...

A group of experts at the United Nations "expressed alarm" Monday at the reported rise in forced conversions and marriages of young girls from religious minorities in Muslim-majority Pakistan, calling for immediate steps to curtail the practice. In a statement issued by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the experts urged the Pakistani government to "objectively" investigate these acts in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments to hold perpetrators accountable. Читать дальше...

As the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) gets underway this week at the Swiss ski resort of Davos; the charity Oxfam says extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years – and is calling for fairer taxation in response to the soaring inequality.  Hundreds of billionaires, dozens of government ministers and central bank governors are due to attend the WEF, widely seen as a get together for the global super rich. In its report, "Survival of the Richest,” published Monday... Читать дальше...

Twenty-five members of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of holding an illegal meeting Saturday that police broke up with tear gas. Among those arrested is Amos Chibaya, a member of parliament, who talked briefly to journalists before going into the court. He called the action harassment, and said it will come to an end. The dictator will go, he added, and the people of Zimbabwe will free themselves. Fadzayi Mahere... Читать дальше...

As the annual World Economic Forum gets underway this week in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam says extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years. The charity is calling for fairer taxation amid soaring global inequality, as Henry Ridgwell reports. Videographer: Henry Ridgwell

The White House counsel’s office said Monday that no visitor logs are kept at President Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, thwarting one Republican effort to find out who might have visited the home while classified documents have been stored there. On Sunday, Representative James Comer, the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, asked Ron Klain, Biden’s White House chief of staff, in a letter for information on the searches for the documents at Biden’s office at the Penn Biden... Читать дальше...

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

The Christian Association of Nigeria has condemned the killing of a Catholic priest in central Niger state Sunday and suggested Christians might need to take up arms to defend themselves. Gunmen believed to be Islamist militants set fire to the priest's residence, burning him to death, and shot another priest who was fleeing the attack. Separately on Sunday, police in northwest Katsina state say armed men attacked a church, abducting at least nine worshippers. The national spokesperson of the Christian Association of Nigeria... Читать дальше...

Authorities in California were set to assess damage on Monday after a wave of storms killed at least 19 people, swept away scores of homes and forced thousands to evacuate. The state was expected to get a break from rain on Monday, but forecasters warned mud and rockslides are possible in canyons and steep hills as the ground is saturated after three weeks of rain and snow. Local and state emergency declarations remained in effect in Los Angeles County and dozens of other counties as the state begins to dig out. Читать дальше...

Ugandan officials have confirmed switching from a Chinese to a Turkish company to build a proposed $2 billion railway line linking the capital, Kampala, to the border with Kenya. The railway aims to link up with one being built in Kenya to improve trade and travel between the neighbors. But analysts say Chinese investors poured doubt on the viability of the project. After eight years of waiting, Uganda finally terminated its contract with China Harbor Engineering Company in favor of Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi. Читать дальше...

Many more violent incidents linked to extremist groups occurred in Benin’s north last year than the government has officially acknowledged, a recent report found, as the country has become the new front line in the Sahel conflict. In Natitingou, in northern Benin, reporter Henry Wilkins meets witnesses to attacks.

Pakistan Monday launched its first nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year to immunize children under the age of five against the crippling disease. The move follows a surge in new infections in 2022. While no new case has been reported in Pakistan so far this year, the highly infectious wild poliovirus paralyzed 20 children last year. That compares to just one infection reported in 2021. National eradication program officials said that more than 360,000 health workers would deliver polio... Читать дальше...

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu — who is visiting Bangladesh — said in Dhaka Sunday that the Rapid Action Battalion, commonly known by its acronym the RAB, has made “tremendous progress in the area of reducing extrajudicial killings” in the south Asian nation, citing a report by rights advocacy groups.  After his meeting with Lu, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters that his government would certainly do its best... Читать дальше...

The Somali government reported on Monday that government forces have captured two towns previously controlled by militant group al-Shabab in the central Galmudug State. Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur told VOA Somali that government forces and local fighters seized Harardhere and Galcad after the militants fled without a fight. Harardhere is a key coastal town and a former pirate hub. It was the biggest and most strategic town in Galmudug that was still in the hands of al-Shabab until Monday. Читать дальше...

European royalty from Britain to Spain have gathered in Athens for the funeral of Greece’s last monarch, Constantine the Second. Among the royals in attendance are Britain’s Princess Anne, the daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth the Second and a cousin of Constantine through her father, the late Prince Philip. King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, as well as members of the royal houses of Denmark, Luxembourg, Monaco and Sweden were among the 200 guests at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Constantine... Читать дальше...

One of Italy’s most wanted men, Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, has been arrested.   ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported Monday that the alleged boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia, who had been on the run for 30 years, was arrested by police at a private clinic in Palermo.   Italian state television said Denaro was taken to a secret location immediately after his arrest.   Tried in absentia on dozens of murders, including the 1992 deaths of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino... Читать дальше...

Los Angeles based conductor Charles Dickerson is convinced that every metropolitan area with a big African American population should have a classical youth orchestra to help take local kids off the streets. He created the largest majority Black youth orchestra in the U.S. Genia Dulot reports.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is accelerating a once unthinkable debate over whether his country should acquire nuclear weapons — a move that would transform the U.S.-South Korea alliance and upend regional security dynamics.   Last week, Yoon made global headlines when he suggested during a policy briefing that South Korea could get its own nuclear arms if the security situation with North Korea worsens.   Yoon’s comment was delivered in an almost off-handed manner and framed as part... Читать дальше...

Passengers laden with luggage flocked to rail stations and airports in China's megacities on Monday, heading to their hometowns for Lunar New Year holidays that health experts fear could intensify a raging COVID-19 outbreak in areas less-equipped to handle it.  After three years of strict anti-virus controls, China abruptly abandoned its "zero COVID" policy in early December, letting the virus run freely through its 1.4 billion population.  Authorities said on Saturday nearly 60,000 people with... Читать дальше...

Iranian American Siamak Namazi has launched a seven-day hunger strike to call attention to his continued detention in Iran, while calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to bring home all Americans jailed in Iran.  Namazi was arrested in 2015 and convicted of what the United States and the United Nations said were false spying charges.  His appeal Monday came in the form of a letter to Biden, released by Namazi’s lawyer Jared Genser, on the seventh anniversary of a deal in which Iran freed five Americans... Читать дальше...

The mayor of New York traveled to the Mexican border city of El Paso on Sunday and declared that "there is no room in New York" for busloads of migrants being sent to America's most populous city.  Eric Adams, a Democrat, was also critical of the administration of Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, saying "now is the time for the national government to do its job" about the immigrant crisis at America's southern border.  The visit of a New York mayor to a southern border city about the issue of immigrants is unprecedented. Читать дальше...

Four gendarmes were killed, and three others injured Sunday after being ambushed in western Mali, a region prone to jihadi attacks, the paramilitary police said. Two police vehicles were torched and two others, equipped with machine guns, were captured by the assailants during the attack in Koula, the force said. Two of the assailants were killed and others taken prisoner. The gendarmerie did not say who was responsible for the attack, but police, troops and Malian state targets are regularly hit by jihadi groups. Читать дальше...

Enough was enough. For 13 years, extremists with al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate had controlled Mohamud Adow’s village in central Somalia, imposing harsh ideology and arresting local teachers and traditional leaders. Then, word came that Somali forces in a surprising national offensive had expelled the fighters from nearby villages. A small group of residents sneaked out one night in August to meet with Somali troop commanders and invited them into their village of Rage-El. The 80-year-old Adow was among those taking up arms... Читать дальше...

A village in western Germany that is due to be demolished to make way for a coal mine expansion has been cleared of activists, apart from a pair who remained holed up in a tunnel, police said Sunday. The operation to evict climate activists who flocked to the site in the hamlet of Luetzerath kicked off Wednesday morning and progressed steadily over the following days. Police cleared people out of farm buildings, the few remaining houses and a few dozen makeshift constructions such as tree houses. Читать дальше...

As the United States this week remembers the champion of civil rights, Martin Luther King, Jr., President Joe Biden is facing scrutiny into whether he mishandled classified documents. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on why both Republicans and Democrats agree that the ongoing investigation into the matter is necessary.