Новости за 24.03.2023

Two years after the military took control of Myanmar, widespread opposition to the junta has fueled an armed resistance and conflict across the country. Journalists trying to report on the situation are often forced to work underground or in exile to avoid arrest or retaliation. It’s a situation that brings its own challenges, including finding regular funding, withstanding pressure from the military and others, and keeping staff secure. In the first few months of the takeover in 2021, the... Читать дальше...

Unlimited possibilities for people with disabilities.

Meet Mark Raymond Jr, the Founder of the Split Second Foundation + Fitness, the first rehab-based fitness center in the Gulf South. Learn how Raymond and his team are making a difference in their clients’ health and quality of life. Reporter | Camera: Aaron Fedor, Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin, Editor: Kyle Dubiel

We talk to members of an international breakdance group with different types of disabilities who have come together to tell their stories of perseverance through hip hop and motivational monologues. Reporter | Camera: Philip Alexiou, Producer: Marsha James, Editors: Randall Taylor, Philip Alexiou

Canada is being rattled by a political scandal straight from a Hollywood film, in which a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ruling party is accused of collaborating with China. Han Dong, who represents a parliamentary district in Toronto, announced Thursday that he was stepping down from Trudeau’s Liberal Party and would sit as an independent after being accused of being a knowing participant in a Chinese influence operation. Dong was the subject of a Global News report based on leaks from Canada’s intelligence agency... Читать дальше...

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

Florida's warm weather attracts millions of visitors, including animals that outstay their welcome. Wildlife brought in from somewhere else has seriously damaged the ecosystem in Florida, home to the most severe invasive animal crisis in the continental United States. VOA's Dora Mekouar has more from Orlando. Camera: Adam Greenbaum Produced by: Dora Mekouar, Adam Greenbaum

The Rwandan government has commuted the prison sentence of Paul Rusesabagina nearly three years after he was captured and detained. Rusesabagina, once a hotel manager in Rwanda's capital Kigali, is credited with saving hundreds of lives during the country's 1994 genocide. His actions inspired the Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda."  A statement Friday from the Rwandan Ministry of Justice said sentences for several individuals, including Rusesabagina, "have been commuted by presidential order after... Читать дальше...

In marking World TB Day, health officials warn the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple global crises are setting back years of progress in fighting tuberculosis and eventually ending the deadly disease. Tuberculosis, an ancient disease that some say goes back to biblical times, kills more people than any other infectious disease. The World Health Organization says 1.6 million people globally died from TB in 2021 and an estimated 10.6 million people were newly infected. Tuberculosis – a bacterial infection of the lungs ... Читать дальше...

What would turn bird flu – the kind that's killed millions of birds around the world and a few hundred people – into the next deadly pandemic? Scientists want to know so they can get ahead of it. That's why, in 2010, two groups of researchers were studying an avian influenza virus that killed about half of the people it infected but does not spread easily among them. They infected ferrets with it to see what it would take to make it more transmissible. Ferrets' lungs and airways are a lot like ours. Читать дальше...

Cameroon and Gabon have stepped up border security after neighboring Equatorial Guinea confirmed a spreading Marburg virus has killed at least nine people. Despite the controls, people are still traveling across the porous borders, raising fears the virus that causes hemorrhagic fever could spread.  At the government primary school in Kye-Ossi, a town on Cameroon's southern border with Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, children sing that regular hand washing protects people from diseases. Mireille Evan... Читать дальше...

Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic has moved towards criminalizing acts of defamation and insult despite international criticism and protests by journalists who see the new law as a crackdown on free speech. The regional parliament on Thursday passed draft amendments to the criminal code introducing fines of 3,000 to 60,000 euros ($3,200-$65,000) for damaging a person's honor or reputation and for publishing damaging videos, photos or documents without consent. The legislation has prompted a public... Читать дальше...

Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's main opposition Congress Party, was ousted from his parliament seat Friday.  Gandhi was expelled from his lower house seat a day after a court ordered a two-year jail term for him in a defamation case stemming from 2019 remarks he made questioning why a number of thieves share a surname with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Gandhi's lawyers are set to appeal the case and the politician has not been detained. Читать дальше...

Vice President Kamala Harris will become the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit the African continent when she begins a tour of Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia next week. Her office says she will work on strengthening partnerships, security and economic prosperity, and analysts say her mere presence – as the first female vice president who has ancestral ties to the continent – is significant in itself. VOA’s Anita Powell, who will be traveling with the vice president, reports from Washington.

Chinese officials have closed down the Beijing offices of U.S. due diligence firm Mintz Group and detained five of its employees. The employees are all Chinese nationals. In a statement sent to Reuters, Mintz said it “has not received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company and has requested that the authorities release its employees.” Mintz Group is a multinational company with 18 offices, including in Washington, that conducts investigations and background checks. ... Читать дальше...

In 2015, journalist Brie Zeltner investigated consequences of Cleveland, Ohio, having one of the highest child poverty rates in the United States. “One of the big impacts is infant deaths. We were looking at the rates of infant death across the city and then particularly in Black mothers, because there is a very big disparity between white infant deaths and Black infant deaths,” Zeltner told VOA. At the time, Zeltner, who specialized in health journalism for The Plain Dealer news outlet, reported... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear a case Monday that some First Amendment experts warn could affect how journalists cover immigration. The case, United States v. Hansen, stems from the 2017 prosecution of Helaman Hansen, who was convicted in connection with a fraudulent adoption agency that he ran. Hansen is attempting to have parts of his conviction overturned, saying parts of a federal law against encouraging or inducing unlawful immigration to the U.S. violate First Amendment rights. Читать дальше...

The U.S. military says it has carried out multiple “precision” airstrikes against targets in eastern Syria in response to a drone attack Thursday that killed a U.S. contractor. The Pentagon said the contractor was killed Thursday at a coalition base in northeast Syria in a strike by a one-way attack drone that the intelligence community assessed was “of Iranian origin.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement the U.S. retaliated with “proportionate and deliberate” precision strikes... Читать дальше...

Several African and Latin American countries on Thursday launched a major initiative to restore 300,000 kilometers of rivers by 2030, as well as lakes and wetlands degraded by human activity.  The "Freshwater Challenge," led by a coalition of governments that includes Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico and Gabon, is the largest river and wetland restoration project in history.  It aims to restore degraded rivers as long as seven times the Earth's circumference and an area of wetlands larger than India by 2030... Читать дальше...

China attempted on Thursday to block a prominent Uyghur activist from speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council, where he demanded the body urgently address allegations of serious violations by Beijing. Dolkun Isa, a Uyghur activist based in Germany and president of the World Uyghur Congress, spoke up during a general debate about concerns around the world. Pointing to a number of recent reports, including one from former U.N. rights chief Michelle Bachelet warning of possible crimes... Читать дальше...

North Korea tested a new underwater nuclear attack drone designed to create a "radioactive tsunami" on enemy coasts, state media claimed Friday, unveiling a weapon that appears to share some features with Russia's Poseidon super torpedo. The test of the previously unknown North Korean drone, dubbed "Haeil," came during three days of military drills guided by the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The mission of the drone is to "stealthily... Читать дальше...

Shou Zi Chew, chief executive officer of TikTok, pushed back Thursday against calls from US lawmakers to ban the social media app, contending that the company is not connected to the Chinese Communist Party. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more

The family of retired American FBI agent Robert “Bob” Levinson, who disappeared in Iran after being abducted in 2007, says U.S. authorities are trying to reinvigorate interest in a reward for information leading to his return home. Levinson disappeared on March 9, 2007, at age 58 while visiting Iran’s Kish Island as a private investigator. He had retired in 1998 from a 22-year career with the FBI. U.S. officials and family members said in March 2020 they concluded that Levinson had died in Iranian... Читать дальше...

Tuberculosis, or TB, a bacterial infection of the lungs, is one of the world's deadliest diseases. After decades of progress, cases are on the rise once more. March 24 is World TB Day — and as Henry Ridgwell reports, there are hopes that a vaccine may be developed in the next few years to help eradicate the disease. Videographer: Henry Ridgwell

Adeline Lefebvre was scrunched up next to a newsstand as a swelling crowd of demonstrators pushed past her at the Place de la Bastille — the iconic Paris square that earned its fame from French Revolution days. Rock music blared and the gigantic balloons of the leftist CGT trade union bobbed in the air on this ninth day of nationwide strikes and protests against French President Emmanuel Macron's unpopular pension reform. Lefebvre, 58, a secretary who began working at 17, has been at every one. Читать дальше...