Новости за 22.03.2023

More than 119,000 people have been injured by tear gas and other chemical irritants around the world since 2015 and about 2,000 suffered injuries from less lethal impact projectiles, according to a report released Wednesday. The study by Physicians for Human Rights and the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations, in collaboration with the Omega Research Foundation, took 2½ years to research. It provides a rare, partial count of casualties, compiled from medical literature, from these devices used by police around the world... Читать дальше...

In a mansion in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif that was recently profiled on YouTube, all the windows and doors are bulletproof — a testament to the former residents’ security fears in a country where tens of thousands of people were killed each year in a war that took almost two decades to end. In other videos, properties are shown having private jails, helipads, gardens with exotic plants, gyms, sauna and steam rooms, pools and other amenities that defy the description of Afghanistan as one of the world’s poorest countries... Читать дальше...

Rohingya refugees said Wednesday they doubted Myanmar was offering a genuine return to their homeland, as a spokesman for the country's military junta said it would begin welcoming back members of the persecuted minority as soon as next month. A delegation of 17 officials from Myanmar's junta was in Bangladesh this week to interview potential candidates for return, more than five years after a brutal military crackdown drove immense numbers of Rohingya out of their homes. The visit, brokered... Читать дальше...

China has approved its first domestically developed mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd 1093.HK said on Wednesday, a major achievement in a country that has declined to use Western COVID shots to support domestic research.  China, whose home-grown vaccines are seen as less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots, has been racing to develop vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology since early 2020.  The long-awaited approval comes as infections... Читать дальше...

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

U.N. human rights experts warn that peace in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region will not last unless violations committed during more than two years of armed conflict are investigated and perpetrators held to account. The three-member U.N. International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, which presented its latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva Tuesday, welcomed the November 2 peace agreement that ended hostilities between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF. Читать дальше...

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says governments must do much more to move away from fossil fuels. The Biden administration has taken several steps to do so, but a recent decision to approve an oil-drilling project in Alaska has disappointed those who want the U.S. to swiftly cut greenhouse gas emissions. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias explains

Ethiopian lawmakers voted in a special session Wednesday to remove the terrorist designation given to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF. Lawmakers in the lower house approved the move by a majority vote. Out of 472 members, 61 voted against the move and five abstained. The decision is the latest step in an African Union-brokered peace deal in November between Ethiopia's federal government and the TPLF that ended a two-year civil war. Ethiopia's federal government labeled the TPLF a terrorist organization in May 2021... Читать дальше...

The U.N. secretary-general called for significant commitments and investment Wednesday to avert a growing global water crisis at the start of a major conference on the issue.   “Water is a human right — and a common development denominator to shape a better future,” Antonio Guterres told a packed General Assembly hall. “But water is in deep trouble.”   The three-day conference, which kicked off on World Water Day, is the first of its kind in 46 years. Activists and experts say the ongoing water crisis is a threat to the entire planet. Читать дальше...

Gay rights supporters are denouncing Ugandan lawmakers for voting to criminalize anyone who publicly identifies as a sexual minority or engages in same-sex activities. The bill, which Uganda's parliament passed late Tuesday with only one dissenting voice, will become law if President Yoweri Museveni signs it as expected.  In a statement, Tigere Chagutah, regional director of Amnesty International in East and Southern Africa, said the Anti-Homosexuality Bill amounts to a grave assault on LGBTQ... Читать дальше...

As Colorado's fall neared in 2021, reporter Jesse Paul wanted to peek behind the curtain of state prisons, submitting a request for documents regarding inmate deaths, injuries and staff violations — public records made available to ensure government transparency. But then the bill arrived, and Paul, a reporter at The Colorado Sun, shot off a cheeky email to his editors: "You guys cool if I drop $245,000 on this?" In a concession many journalists know well, Paul gutted his admittedly large request... Читать дальше...

The family of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo, who was killed in January, say they have received threats from officials suspected of involvement in his death. As authorities investigate the murder of the popular radio announcer and journalist, a debate has been sparked between family members who want him buried and others who insist on waiting until results of an investigation are made public. Zogo’s mutilated remains were found near a bush in Yaounde on January 22, five days after he was abducted by unknown individuals. Читать дальше...

Tanzania's Ministry of Health has confirmed five people died in a first-ever Marburg virus outbreak near the border with Uganda. The virus causes a severe hemorrhagic fever and is deadlier than the related Ebola virus, which was first suspected in the deaths. Tanzanian health officials say they are working to contain the Marburg outbreak. Tanzania’s health minister, Ummy Mwalimu, said the mysterious and deadly outbreak in its northwest Kagera region was caused by the Marburg virus. Mwalimu announced... Читать дальше...

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said a deeply unpopular new law that raises the retirement age was necessary and would enter into force by the end of the year. "Do you think I enjoy doing this reform? No," Macron said in a rare TV interview. "But there is not a hundred ways to balance the accounts ... this reform is necessary." Until the government pushed the pension bill through without a vote, the protests against a bill that will push the retirement age by two years to 64 had gathered huge... Читать дальше...

As part of World Water Day, March 22, the United Nations is holding its first conference devoted to water issues since 1977. For VOA, Matt Dibble introduces us to a Native American engineering student who will share at that conference her tribe’s successful campaign to remove harmful dams in the Western United States.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says the locations of four new military bases that will house a rotating crew of Americans will soon be revealed. Marcos told reporters in Manila Wednesday that some of the new sites will be in the northern and southern Philippines and western Palawan province. The president also said sites will boost the country’s ability to defend its eastern coast, including the coastline of its largest island, Luzon, which is the closest Philippine island to Taiwan... Читать дальше...

Lebanese security forces fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of protesters, mainly retired soldiers, who tried to break through the fence leading to the government headquarters in downtown Beirut. The violence came amid widespread anger over the harsh economic conditions in the country, where mismanagement by the ruling class has been rampant for years, preceding the economic meltdown that started in late 2019. The retired soldiers and policemen demanding better pay clashed with riot police and troops. Читать дальше...

Flintlock, the United States-led annual joint military exercises in West Africa, is introducing maritime training for troops in the Gulf of Guinea. In this report from Sogakope, Ghana, reporter Henry Wilkins explores whether oil piracy is prompting the new training as he joins forces practicing a hostage rescue at sea.

A university professor threatened by separatist violence in Cameroon is now in Southern California, sharing with her students the impact of armed conflict on the environment and on women. Genia Dulot has our story from Santa Barbara.

South Korea’s military says North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles in the waters off its eastern coast Wednesday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from North Korea’s coastal province of Hamhung. The JCS says intelligence authorities from South Korea and the United States were analyzing details of the missiles. Wednesday’s missile launches were the fourth tests conducted by North Korea since South Korea and the United States began their joint military exercise dubbed “Freedom Shield” last week. Читать дальше...

At least 13 people were killed across Afghanistan and Pakistan by a powerful earthquake that struck northeast Afghanistan Tuesday.  The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.5 magnitude quake struck about 40 kilometers southeast of the town of Jurn in the mountainous Hindukush region, at a depth of 118 kilometers.   At least four people were killed and 50 others injured in northeast Afghanistan, while officials in Pakistan say at least nine people were killed and 44 injured in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Читать дальше...

The removal of millions of rotting fish is finally underway Wednesday in south-eastern Australia, almost a week after an unprecedented mass die-off.   Residents of Menindee, 1000 kilometers west of Sydney, say their town is facing a “funeral procession” of the millions of fish carcasses. A senior police officer in charge of the clean-up has said up to 20 million fish may have died.  Parts of the Darling River in the far west of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, have been clogged with dead fish since last weekend. Читать дальше...

A U.S. federal court unsealed indictments Tuesday charging Iranian and Turkish defendants with conspiring to procure and export U.S. technology to support Iran’s weapons programs.  The U.S. Justice Department said that between 2012-2013 Amanallah Paidar, of Iran, and Murat Bükey, of Turkey, sent a device used to test fuel cells from the United States through Turkey, and tried to obtain a bio-detection system that can be used in the research and use of weapons of mass destruction.  Bükey was sentenced... Читать дальше...

Iranians celebrate a season of renewal, despite a difficult year marked by economic woes and tensions on the streets. A proposal for a new U.S. policy of maximum support for the Iranian people is taking shape. The daughter of retired American FBI agent Robert Levinson on her family’s search for answers 16 years after his disappearance in Iran.

Western experts analyzing North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile tests are watching to see whether Pyongyang will follow up by firing an ICBM into the Pacific Ocean on a flat trajectory more like a real attack on the United States.  Such a test would be intended to demonstrate North Korea’s ability to reach the mainland United States with a nuclear weapon as well as to gauge whether the Biden administration would try to intercept it, the experts told VOA’s Korean service.   North... Читать дальше...