Новости за 25.02.2023

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 soldiers, wounding dozens and taking five hostages, in an ambush on a military convoy in northern Burkina Faso. The statement, posted Friday by Amaq, the group’s news agency, said it attacked a convoy trying to advance to areas under its control near Deou, in the Sahel's Oudalan province. It said it seized weapons and chased retreating soldiers for miles into the desert. Images released by the group show 54 slain bodies... Читать дальше...

Turkey has arrested 184 people suspected of responsibility for the collapse of buildings in this month's earthquakes and investigations are widening, a minister said Saturday, as anger simmers over what many see as corrupt building practices. Overnight, the death toll from the earthquakes, the most powerful of which struck at the dead of night Feb. 6, rose to 44,128 in Turkey. That took the overall number of deaths in Turkey and neighboring Syria to more than 50,000. More than 160,000 buildings... Читать дальше...

Two police officers have been killed and three others injured in a suspected al-Shabab militant attack on a police vehicle near the Dadaab refugee camp in northeast Kenya. Security officials in Kenya say two police officers have died and three others were injured when the vehicle they were traveling in came in contact with an improvised explosive device along Garissa Dadaab Road, in Kenya’s Garissa County.   Security officials declined to respond to VOA’s request for a comment.   Dadaab Parliament... Читать дальше...

Officials in Cameroon and Niger say several million people in Boko Haram-affected territories are threatened by severe hunger as floods and wildlife destroy thousands of hectares of farmland. Governors from the two West African nations visited northern Cameroon Friday after a crisis meeting in Diffa, Niger. They say millions of people, including thousands who were returning after fleeing conflicts between cattle ranchers and fishers, need food and resettlement help. Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum... Читать дальше...

Spain has identified its first suspected case of Marburg disease.  The Spanish patient is a 34-year-old man who had recently traveled to the Central African nation of Equatorial Guinea.  He was in a private hospital but has been transferred to an isolation unit at Hospital La Fe in Valencia for further tests, regional medical officials said. Marburg virus disease, or MVD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “is a rare but severe hemorrhagic fever which affects both people... Читать дальше...

Search and rescue efforts have been ramped up at a collapsed opencast coal mine in north China's Inner Mongolia, as experts have optimized the rescue scheme and adopted simultaneous operations in multiple working areas by using more cutting-edge equipment and technologies, according to a rescue expert on Friday. The open-pit coal mine collapsed in Alxa Left Banner in Inner Mongolia at around 13:00 local time Wednesday, leaving dozens of workers and vehicles buried under a huge pile of debris about 80 meters high... Читать дальше...

Pakistani officials say at least 13 people were killed and 14 were injured in an accident on Multan-Sukkur Motorway on Friday night. District Police Officer Rizwan Umar Gondal told Dawn.com, a Pakistani website, that a passenger bus stopped to let its passengers off to help people in an overturned van. As the passengers were helping the people, a Jeep smashed into the bus, resulting in the deaths and injuries. Traffic accidents in Pakistan are typically due to traffic rules violations, resulting... Читать дальше...

Surrounded by kindergarteners, Lana Scott held up a card with upper and lower case Ys, dotted with pictures of words that started with that letter: Yo-yo. Yak. Yacht. "What sound does Y make?" Scott asked a boy. Head down, he mumbled: "Yuh." Instead of moving on, she gave him a nudge. "Say it confident, because you know it," she urged. "Be confident in your answer because you know it." He sat up and sounded it out again, louder this time. Scott smiled and turned her attention to the other kids in her group session. Читать дальше...

On January 31, when Uzbekistan found 22 Karakalpaks guilty of crimes against the state, VOA spoke with seven of them, including a prisoner who died four days later. Their stories reveal the complexities and contradictions prevailing in this part of Central Asia. In Bukhara, the trial of 39 more Karakalpaks is underway with no reporters or outside observers present. “The doors are wide open,” said Aziz Abidov, the court’s spokesperson. The defendants in both trials, almost all men, were charged in connection with unrest on July 1- 2... Читать дальше...

Uber Technologies Inc. said on Friday plans by the local government in India's Delhi city to only allow electric vehicles to function as bike taxis would risk "finishing off the sector" and impact the mobility needs of millions. Delhi's plans, part of a new policy to regulate vehicles used by ride-hailing companies like Uber and rival Ola, are being finalized and will be rolled out soon, the Economic Times reported earlier this week. Reuters could not immediately confirm those plans. If implemented... Читать дальше...

Voters in Nigeria are going to the polls Saturday to elect a new president. President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down after serving the maximum eight years or two terms as allowed under the country’s constitution. About 90 million Nigerians are eligible to cast their ballots in the election in Africa’s most populous democracy that will also determine who will serve in the National Assembly. Veteran candidates – Bola Tinubu, 70, a former Lagos governor from the ruling All Progressives Congress party... Читать дальше...

Voters in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, head to the polls Saturday to cast ballots in presidential and parliamentary elections. President Muhammadu Buhari, who is in his second term in office, is not eligible to run again after serving the maximum of eight years in office. There are three main presidential candidates running to succeed him and the race is seen as the most competitive since the country switched from military rule to democracy in 1999. Here is what to know about the elections: When is voting? Читать дальше...

The number of people still unaccounted for in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle that battered New Zealand nearly two weeks ago has dropped to 13, authorities said on Saturday, as heavy rain overnight prompted evacuations on the country's North Island. Gabrielle struck the island's northernmost region on February 12 and tracked down the east coast causing widespread havoc, leaving at least 11 dead and displacing thousands. The number of people who couldn’t be contacted exceeded 6,000 following the... Читать дальше...

US first lady Jill Biden called for democracy and women's empowerment at the midpoint of her trip to Africa, arriving Friday in Kenya's capital to a lavish welcome after a stay in Namibia. But analysts note that the first lady wields only soft power, and that African nations may not be as keen to change as the US. would like. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Nairobi.

Pakistan has to unwillingly accept the strict conditions of a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide a lifeline for an economy in turmoil, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday. Sharif was speaking to top security officials at his office in Islamabad in a meeting that was telecast live. "We have to accept unwillingly the strict conditions for the IMF deal," he said, adding that an accord was still a "week, 10 days" away. Pakistani authorities have been negotiating with... Читать дальше...

Turkey has begun work to rebuild homes following this month's devastating earthquakes, a government official said Friday, as the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria surpassed 50,000. More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Turkey and neighboring Syria. The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced the death toll in Turkey due to earthquakes rose to 44,218 on Friday night. Читать дальше...

A Uyghur refugee from China's Xinjiang region died of alleged police neglect this month at the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center, raising concerns about the treatment of the more than 50 Uyghur refugees who have been held at the center since 2014. The victim was Abdulaziz Abdullah, 49. His son, Muhammad Abdullah, who lives in Kayseri, Turkey, said in an interview with VOA that his family had fled Xinjiang because of the oppression and the repeated arrests of his father. "The Chinese police... Читать дальше...

Trisha Thadani, City Hall reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, has covered a host of difficult topics: homelessness, the fentanyl crisis, flooding, and shootings. But for a time during the pandemic, her work ground to a halt. “It was like drinking out of a firehose every day with all the news that we had to cover,” Thadani told VOA. “I was working and working, grinding myself to the bone, and then all of a sudden I hit a wall where I physically could not work anymore.” Thadani’s father had passed away in February 2020. Читать дальше...

United States first lady Jill Biden on Friday ended her first visit to Namibia on a hopeful, encouraging note, stressing the power of youth in a nation where youth unemployment hovers at an alarming 40%. “Each generation inherits the world in their time,” she said, standing before 1,300 students who packed into a shady courtyard at the public Namibian University of Science and Technology. “We often tell young people that you’re the future,” she said. “And it’s true. But sometimes, that message can sound like... Читать дальше...

Fighting in the area of Las Anod, in the breakaway Somaliland republic, has escalated, with medical sources now saying more than 100 people have been killed in three weeks of clashes. Local militias are fighting to pull three regions away from Somaliland in order to rejoin Somalia. So far, calls for a cease-fire are being ignored. Las Anod is the capital of the Sool region, which together with the Sanaag and Cayn regions is fighting to withdraw from Somaliland and be governed by Somalia to the south. Читать дальше...

Gunmen have killed at least 12 civilians in an attack on a village in central Mali, two officials said on Friday, the latest reported attack in an area rife with jihadist activity. The West African nation is battling a violent insurgency with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State that took root in its arid north following a Tuareg separatist rebellion in 2012. Militants have since spread to other countries in the Sahel region south of the Sahara and more recently to coastal states, seizing territory... Читать дальше...