Новости за 19.03.2023

Somalia’s federal and regional leaders have agreed to increase the number of armed forces and police officers to meet security demands as African Union forces leave the country by the end of next year.   The leaders have agreed the number of national armed forces to be at least 30,000 soldiers and at least 40,000 police personnel, according to the agreement obtained by VOA Somali. According to the agreement known as the “National Security Architecture” signed by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre... Читать дальше...

Police in Pakistan on Sunday filed new terrorism charges against the country's populist former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a day after thousands of his supporters clashed with security forces in the capital, Islamabad. Dozens of senior leaders and workers of Khan's opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have also been named for allegedly committing terrorism and offenses such as wounding officers and threatening their lives. Police rounded up 61 PTI workers in connection with the clashes... Читать дальше...

Parisians have been clashing with police over the past week following French President Emmanuel Macron’s push to raise the pension age for workers. Macron now faces an angry public. And his rammed-through policy may leave permanent political scars. But south of Paris, another crisis looms for workers as a winter drought dries-up their prospects for work. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.

Israel and the Palestinians pledged Sunday at a meeting in Egypt to take steps to lower tensions ahead of a sensitive holiday season — including a partial freeze on Israeli settlement activity and an agreement to work together to "curb and counter violence." But a Palestinian shooting attack that wounded two Israelis in the occupied West Bank underscored the tough work that lies ahead as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches this week. The Israeli and Palestinian delegations met for the second time in less than a month... Читать дальше...

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

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met Sunday with Emirati leaders in Abu Dhabi, his second Gulf visit since last month's earthquake prompted renewed efforts to bring Damascus back into the Arab fold. The trip — Assad's second to the oil-rich United Arab Emirates in as many years — comes after a visit to Oman last month, his only official engagements in Arab countries since the start of Syria's war in 2011. The UAE's president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, greeted Assad and his wife Asma in the capital... Читать дальше...

Iraq and Iran signed a border security agreement on Sunday, a move Iraqi officials said aimed primarily at tightening the frontier with Iraq's Kurdish region, where Tehran says armed Kurdish dissidents pose a threat to its security. The joint security agreement includes coordination in "protecting the common borders between the two countries and consolidating cooperation in several security fields," a statement from the Iraqi prime minister's office said. Iran's Supreme National Security Council... Читать дальше...

Tanzania has started to dispatch food aid and self-storage equipment to neighboring Mozambique to help thousands of people affected by tropical cyclone Freddy. More than 190 people are feared to have died, at least 584 have been injured, and 37 have been reported missing in the country. In a press briefing Saturday, the acting director of information of the army, Gaudentius Ilonda, said the shipment includes 1,000 metric tons of flour, 6,000 blankets, and 50 tents, as well as two helicopters for rescue services. Читать дальше...

The U.N.’s premiere global body fighting for gender equality on Saturday called for wide-ranging efforts to close the gap between men and women in today’s technology-driven world and urged zero tolerance for gender-based violence and harassment online. In a document approved by consensus after all-night negotiations at the end of a two-week meeting, the Commission on the Status of Women expressed grave concern at the interrelation between offline and online violence, harassment and discrimination against women and girls ... Читать дальше...

A group of Israelis describing themselves as reservists in elite military and intelligence units said they would not turn up for some duties from Sunday, escalating protests at the hard-right government's planned judicial overhaul. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, which wields a Knesset majority, say they want bills the would limit Supreme Court authorities written into law by April 2. The plan has stirred concern for Israel's democratic health at home and abroad. As ratification nears... Читать дальше...

PARIS, March 19 (Reuters) - President Emanuel Macron faces a critical moment on Monday when the National Assembly is due to vote on no-confidence motions filed after his government bypassed parliament on Thursday to push through an unpopular rise in the state pension age.    The move, which followed weeks of protests against the pension overhaul, triggered three nights of unrest and demonstrations in Paris and throughout the country, reminiscent of the Yellow Vest protests that erupted in late 2018 over high fuel prices. Читать дальше...

At least 15 people were killed Saturday afternoon when a powerful earthquake shook parts of Ecuador and Peru. Hundreds more were injured, officials said, and some people were trapped under the rubble. Most of the deaths occurred in Ecuador. The U.S. National Weather Service did not issue a tsunami warning after the earthquake. The Associated Press reported that in Ecuador “many of the homes that crumbled had a lot in common: they housed the poor, were old and did not meet building standards in... Читать дальше...

Barbara Washington is a lifelong resident of Convent, Louisiana, a town of fewer than 500 residents along the Mississippi River that has been hit hard by cancer. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven … about eight,” she told VOA, counting the number of people on her street who have died from cancer in recent years. “And my sister died from lung cancer at just 57 years old. She didn’t smoke. She just worked at one of the chemical plants at night.” Convent is in the southeastern part of the state... Читать дальше...

When Juan Lorenzo Holmann’s daughter came to see her father in prison, he had lost so much weight that she did not recognize him. It was June last year and Holmann had shrunk from 78 kilograms (172 pounds) to about 65 kilograms (143 pounds) since he was jailed in August 2021. The CEO of La Prensa, Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper, was suffering from a poor diet and lack of exercise, as he had spent months in cramped prison cells. “When [my daughter] came in [to see me], she did not recognize me,” Holmann told VOA from the United States... Читать дальше...

The Vatican Museums officially reopened its African and American ethnographic collections Thursday by showcasing intricately restored Rwandan raffia screens that were sent by Catholic missionaries to the Vatican for a 1925 exhibit. The display at the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum featured a scientific presentation of the restoration process as well as the research that preceded it, with consultations with Rwanda's own ethnographic museum, a UCLA graduate student and Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa. Читать дальше...

When Razia Muradi, a 27-year-old Afghan student, won a gold medal for her performance in a master's program in a college in India, her thoughts flashed back to her homeland, she told VOA this week. Growing up in Bamiyan province in Afghanistan, the future looked promising. She worked by day and went to night school to complete her bachelor's degree. “Life was peaceful and normal,” Muradi said. “Women were free to attend university. Girls were eager to learn. Families were supportive and encouraged... Читать дальше...

Japan says North Korea has launched a suspected missile toward the sea. Japan's coast guard said it confirmed that what appeared to be a North Korean missile was fired Sunday morning. Further launch details were not immediately available, it said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited the South's military as saying that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters. Calls to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff were not immediately answered Sunday. The launch, if confirmed... Читать дальше...

Mozambique police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters planning a march Saturday in memory of a rapper vocal in his criticism of the government, Human Rights Watch said. The sudden death of Edson da Luz, known by his stage name Azagaia, has sparked rare anti-government demonstrations in the southern African country. On Saturday, more than a thousand people were expected to take part in a memorial march in central Maputo, with rallies also planned in other cities. But in the capital... Читать дальше...

The head of Italy’s opposition Democratic Party blasted a bureaucratic crackdown on LGBTQ families as ideological, cruel and discriminatory and vowed Saturday to push through legislation to better recognize and protect their rights. Elly Schlein, who in 2020 revealed she was in a relationship with another woman, joined thousands of people at a demonstration in Milan to protest a move by the far-right-led Italian government to restrict the rights of parents in same-sex relationships. The Interior... Читать дальше...

At least six people were killed in a clash between remnants of the defunct Shining Path rebel group and a military patrol in a coca-growing valley in central Peru, a Defense Ministry unit reported Saturday. The statement from the Joint Command of the Armed Forces did not give the date of the confrontation, in which it said that five members of the Sendero Luminoso, as the guerrilla group is known in Spanish, and an Army soldier died. It said the clash took place in Vizcatan del Ene, in central Peru... Читать дальше...

Canada on Saturday moved to ease immigration for Turkish and Syrian citizens already in the country, a month after an earthquake killed more than 50,000 people in the two countries. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6 killed more than 45,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighboring Syria, and devastated hundreds of thousands of buildings. "Canada is committed to providing relief to those impacted by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria," said Sean Fraser, minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Читать дальше...

Britain's interior minister arrived in Rwanda Saturday for a visit aimed at reinforcing the United Kingdom government's commitment to a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to the African country. Ahead of her visit, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the migration policy “will act as a powerful deterrent against dangerous and illegal journeys.” Britain's Conservative government wants to stop migrants from reaching the U.K. on risky journeys across the English Channel, and a deportation... Читать дальше...

A strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru Saturday, killing at least a dozen people, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines. The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 that was centered just off the Pacific Coast, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Guayaquil, Ecuador's second-largest city. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in a televised address to the nation said the earthquake killed 12 people. Читать дальше...

Israelis packed city streets Saturday in nationwide demonstrations now in their 11th week against plans by the hard-right government to curb the Supreme Court's powers, which critics see as a threat to judicial independence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says his aim is to balance out branches of government, wields a parliamentary majority along with his religious-nationalist coalition allies, but his planned judicial overhaul has sparked concern at home and abroad. As the changes head toward ratification... Читать дальше...