Новости за 15.04.2023

French President Emmanuel Macron signed his unpopular pension reform into law on Saturday, prompting accusations from unions and the left that he was showing contempt for those behind a three-month protest movement. The text became law after it was published before dawn in France's official journal. The publication came just hours after the approval on Friday by the Constitutional Council of the essence of the legislation, including the headline change of raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Читать дальше...

Christian worshippers thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on Saturday to celebrate the ceremony of the “Holy Fire," an ancient ritual that sparked tensions this year with the Israeli police. In the annual ceremony that has been observed for over a millennium, a flame taken from Jesus' tomb is used to light the candles of fervent believers in Greek Orthodox communities near and far. The devout believe the origin of the flame is a miracle and is shrouded in mystery. On Saturday... Читать дальше...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned two days of fighting between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary force that has killed dozens of people, including three U.N. workers for the World Food Program. Guterres "strongly condemns the deaths and injuries of civilians, including the death of three staff members of the World Food Program in North Darfur, with a further two seriously injured," the U.N. chief's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement, adding: "Those responsible should... Читать дальше...

Fierce clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force erupted Saturday in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken nation.  In Khartoum, the sound of heavy firing could be heard in several areas, including the city center and the neighborhood of Bahri.  In a series of statements, the Rapid Support Forces militia accused the army of attacking its forces at one of its bases in south Khartoum. They claimed... Читать дальше...

Scores of prisoners of war, including Saudis, were freed Saturday as part of a cross-border exchange between a Saudi-led military coalition and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.   The flights connecting Saudi Arabia and Houthi-held territory in Yemen were part of a multiday transfer involving nearly 900 detainees that comes amid peace talks which have raised hopes for an end to Yemen's eight-year-old war.  The first flight of the day took off... Читать дальше...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Hanoi on his first visit to Vietnam since becoming the top U.S. diplomat and he met Saturday with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh as they discussed strengthening ties between the two nations.  Blinken’s visit to Vietnam is part of the Biden administration’s campaign to counter China’s increasing influence in the region.      He met with other top officials that included Vietnamese General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong as they talked about upgrading diplomatic and security connections. Читать дальше...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Hanoi on Saturday, his first visit to Vietnam since becoming the top U.S. diplomat. Blinken met Saturday with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. His visit to Vietnam is part of the Biden administration’s campaign to counter China’s increasing influence in the region. The U.S. is building a $1.2 billion embassy compound in Hanoi, a move designed to demonstrate a U.S. commitment to improving ties with the Southeast Asian trading partner. Vietnam... Читать дальше...

"Remember, Joey, the best drop of blood in you is Irish," President Joe Biden said, quoting his grandfather. Such fierce ethnic pride from "the most Irish of all American presidents," as the Taoiseach describes him, was guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser, and Biden knew it. Biden displayed an endless supply of that pride during a three-day visit that culminated in a Friday night speech in Ballina, County Mayo, where his paternal ancestors once lived. The speech was the last item on his schedule before he returned to Washington. Читать дальше...

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was safely evacuated Saturday after a man appeared to throw an explosive device in his direction at a campaign event, Japanese media reported. The incident happened at a fishing port in Wakayama, in western Japan, where Kishida was scheduled to give a speech in support of a ruling party candidate for upcoming elections. Video showed several police tackling a young man in a black hoodie, shortly before an explosion rang out nearby. Witnesses told local media that the man had thrown an object ... Читать дальше...

A trio of health care bills enshrining access in Colorado to abortion and gender-affirming procedures and medications became law Friday as the Democrat-led state tries to make itself a safe haven for its neighbors, whose Republican leaders are restricting care.  The main goal of the legislation signed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis is to ensure people in surrounding states and beyond can go to Colorado to have an abortion, begin puberty blockers or receive gender-affirming surgery without fear of prosecution. Читать дальше...

Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who has been accused of leaking a trove of highly classified documents online, faces two criminal charges: unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents. The first charge falls under the so-called Espionage Act, a statute that the Justice Department has relied on to prosecute leaks of classified information. What is the Espionage Act? The Espionage Act... Читать дальше...

Twenty-one-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira appeared in court to face charges of unauthorized retention and transmission online of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified documents. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has more.

Iran's president on Friday delivered an unprecedented speech to an annual pro-Palestinian rally in the Gaza Strip — a rare display of Iran's importance to the Hamas militant group that rules the territory.  Speaking virtually to hundreds of supporters of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group gathered at a soccer stadium in Gaza City, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi urged Palestinians to press on with their struggle against Israel.  His speech — the first of its kind to Palestinians ... Читать дальше...

A French court on Friday convicted 11 alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on charges of terror financing. The defendants, all Kurds from Turkey who speak little or no French, were accused of being part of a network that seeks a so-called revolutionary tax, or "kampanya," from the Kurdish diaspora.  Deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, the PKK has been waging a decades-long armed struggle against Ankara for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority in the country's southeast. Читать дальше...

A U.S. citizen who says he was tortured in Syrian custody has filed a lawsuit against President Bashar al-Assad's government in Washington, seeking accountability at a time that Damascus is reconciling in the region. Obada Mzaik, who was born in Ohio and also holds Syrian citizenship, said he was hoping to see family when he was detained on arrival at the Damascus airport in January 2012, nearly a year into the brutal civil war. In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Washington, Mzaik said... Читать дальше...

Suspected militants killed at least 30 civilians Friday in a village raid in Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern Ituri province, the head of a civil society group and a local resident said. Army spokesperson Jules Ngongo Tshikudi confirmed the morning attack in Banyali Kilo, a district in conflict riven Ituri, but did not give a death toll as he said the armed forces were still searching the area. "They set fire to several houses, looted property ... and killed around 30 people, both... Читать дальше...

Editor's note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch. Leaked Documents Claim US Spied on UN Chief On Thursday, FBI agents arrested a 21-year-old U.S. Air National Guards member accused of leaking classified military intelligence documents online. Among the trove, the BBC reported that the U.S. may have spied on U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, including monitoring his private communications, including with Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. Читать дальше...

A gathering of regional foreign ministers to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan this week brought little in the way of new initiatives but provided a forum for several of Kabul’s neighbors to blame the country’s economic plight on the United States and its Western allies. The United States “was described as an irresponsible actor, which for two decades destroyed Afghanistan and now refuses to cover the damage,” said a Central Asian diplomat who described to VOA the general mood at the Samarkand... Читать дальше...

Russia said Friday that Afghanistan’s Taliban had made progress against terrorism and drug trafficking but needed to resolve women’s rights issues and create an inclusive government to win recognition for their rule. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the remarks a day after participating in a regional conference in Uzbekistan, along with six immediate neighbors of Afghanistan, including China. “Everyone unanimously agreed that we will continue to develop contacts with the Taliban government. Читать дальше...