Новости за 02.05.2023

Pop singer/songwriter Meg Smith recently released her latest single, “You Make Bad Things Not Suck” which is a song about having a ginormous, overwhelming crush. It’s about enjoying every second with someone, no matter the circumstances; being stuck in traffic while having the time of your life” according to Meg.  The song is also a love letter to Los Angeles, the city where Meg grew up. Since moving to NYC, Meg has romanticized the parts of LA she used to dislike: the heat in the valley, the constant traffic... Читать дальше...

Ugandan lawmakers have passed a harsh anti-LGBTQ bill after minor changes. If signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni, as expected, some same-sex acts could be punishable by the death penalty. Anyone found guilty of promoting homosexuality could face up to 20 years in prison.  The bill, which passed Tuesday with the support of 301 legislators and only a single dissenting vote, was a modified version of the Anti- Homosexuality Bill of 2023 . An earlier version of the bill passed in March... Читать дальше...

The Somali government has launched its first national population and housing census in decades, which is expected to take two years. "We will be counting those who live in the Somali territory and the houses they live in," Dr. Abdi Ali Ige, head of the Somali Population and Housing Census, told VOA's Somali Service Tuesday. Ige, who will be overseeing the project, said the data collectors will be following a standard methodology used internationally to conduct the count. "We are using combination of de facto and de jure methodology. Читать дальше...

Participants at a United Nations-convened international meeting on Afghanistan in Qatar agreed Tuesday to work together to find a way to engage with the country's fundamentalist Taliban authorities on issues such as human rights, governance, counterterrorism and anti-drug efforts.    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and special envoys on Afghanistan from nearly two dozen countries, including the United States, China and Russia as well as international organizations, attended the talks that began on Monday. Читать дальше...

The United States worked together to impose terrorism-related sanctions on two individuals linked to funding two Syria-based groups already sanctioned by the United States and United Nations, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday. The actions target Omar Alsheak, a leader of Haya’at Tahrir al-Sham group, and Kubilay Sari, who has received funds in Turkey from donors for Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, the department said in a statement. "As terrorist groups continue to seek access to the international financial system... Читать дальше...

The Biden administration will send 1,500 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of an expected migrant surge following the end of coronavirus pandemic-era restrictions, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement Tuesday.  Military personnel will do data entry, warehouse support and other administrative tasks so that U.S. Customs and Border Protection can focus on fieldwork, the officials said. The troops will not do law enforcement work and will be there for roughly 90 days... Читать дальше...

Israeli strikes on north Syria's Aleppo province overnight killed four Syrian officers and three Iran-backed fighters, putting the area's international airport out of service, a war monitor reported Tuesday. During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli missiles targeted "the Aleppo... Читать дальше...

A computer scientist often dubbed "the godfather of artificial intelligence" has quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology, U.S. media reported Monday. Geoffrey Hinton, who created a foundation technology for AI systems, told The New York Times that advancements made in the field posed "profound risks to society and humanity". "Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now," he was quoted as saying in the piece, which was published on Monday. "Take the difference and propagate it forwards. Читать дальше...

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

Somalia’s army said it has killed 67 al-Shabab militants and seized large amounts of explosives in an operation in the north-central Mudug region. Brigadier General Mohamed Tahlil Bihi told reporters Tuesday the military was acting on intelligence about movements of the al-Shabab group. Bihi said the operation in the Harardhere district of central Mudug region took place at around 1 a.m. when 120 jerrycans containing improvised explosive devices were offloaded from a boat and carried in a vehicle that was guided by 69 militants. Читать дальше...

New technology is using augmented reality for hearing-impaired people to see the words that are being spoken around them in real time. Deana Mitchell has more in this week’s LogOn.

Two Kenyan preachers have appeared in separate courts, accused of encouraging their followers to harm themselves to meet Jesus. Kenyan authorities have exhumed the bodies of more than 100 people, with postmortems on 10 of them showing they died from starvation and lack of oxygen. Pastors Paul Mackenize and Ezekiel Odero appeared in court to answer charges that they allegedly killed their followers by urging them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus. Mackenize and his accomplice were re-arrested... Читать дальше...

In a massive global crackdown on fentanyl trafficking on the darknet, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies have arrested nearly 300 suspects and seized a large cache of drugs, cash, virtual currency and weapons, officials announced on Tuesday. The law enforcement action dubbed Operation SpecTor spanned three continents and involved the collaboration of eight countries. It was part of a Justice Department initiative led by the FBI known as JCODE, which aims to dismantle online drug markets. Читать дальше...

Aid agencies are gearing up for what is expected to be a massive exodus of more than 800,000 refugees and returnees fleeing for safety from war-torn Sudan to neighboring countries at a time when U.N. humanitarian agencies and partners are facing a severe funding shortage. “As of this morning, the $1.75 billion joint appeal for Sudan in 2023 is only 14 percent funded,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “In other words, U.N. humanitarian... Читать дальше...

Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic. About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a report from his office. “We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It's like hunger or thirst. It's a feeling the body sends us when... Читать дальше...

Authorities in Cameroon say anglophone rebels have attacked military posts near the country’s port city of Douala, killing several people. The attack is the closest the separatist conflict has come to Douala since fighting broke out in 2017. Officials in Cameroon say at least 15 heavily armed rebels attacked a military post Monday in Matouke, a farming village less than 40 kilometers west of Douala. Officials say the separatists killed at least six people and wounded many others without giving a figure. Читать дальше...

Private colleges in the U.S. can be very expensive, and their costs have risen much faster than comparable public institutions. But few students pay the full “sticker price,” and a new survey suggests the savings are greater than ever. According to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, full-time, first-year students at private schools had their tuition discounted by more than 56% on average. Jeremy Bauer-Wolf of Higher Ed Dive summarizes the data. (April 2023)

The union that represents U.S. film and television writers sent their members on strike Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement with studios and production companies over a new labor contract.  The Writers Guild of America announced late Monday that their 11,500 members would put down their pens and turn off their computers at midnight Los Angeles time ((Tuesday 3:00 a.m. Washington time, 0700 GMT)) when their current contract expires.   The union has been negotiating with the Alliance of... Читать дальше...

Israeli jets hit targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in response to rocket barrages fired by militant groups earlier in the day following the death of a Palestinian hunger striker in Israeli custody.  Plumes of smoke spiraled into the night sky as the jets hit targets including training camps of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the coastal enclave.  At the same time, sirens sounded near the southern Israeli town of Sderot and other areas around Gaza as Hamas radio reported that militant... Читать дальше...

A Palestinian militant detained in an Israel prison has died after a three-month hunger strike.  Israel’s prison service says 45-year-old Khader Adnan was found unconscious in his cell Tuesday morning at Ramla prison in central Israel and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.    Adnan was a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group. He began his hunger strike shortly after his arrest in the West Bank on February 5 on terror charges. Israeli prison authorities say Adnan had refused medical treatment during his detention. Читать дальше...

Disposable vapes used by more than a million Australians will be banned under sweeping new reforms.   The government wants to end the sale of e-cigarettes in shops in the most significant tobacco and vaping control measures in a decade. Under new rules announced Tuesday, vapes will only be sold in Australian pharmacies and in "pharmaceutical-like" packaging.                   Australia has some of the world’s lowest rates of smoking because of plain package laws introduced over a decade ago, high taxes and education campaigns. Читать дальше...

Somalia has begun evacuating its citizens from Sudan, with more than 100 returning home on a flight from Khartoum Sunday night, and more flights promised in the coming days. The situation is being watched with special interest by a network of Somalis who were educated in Sudan in the years after the Somali government and schooling system collapsed. As Mohamed Sheikh Nor reports, these Somalis are still grateful to Sudan for the education they received and are hoping the fighting ends soon.

U.S. President Joe Biden assured his Philippine counterpart Monday of the the United States' commitment to the Southeast Asian archipelago as tensions rise with China. "The United States also remains ironclad in our commitment to the defense of the Philippines, including in the South China Sea, and we will continue to support the Philippines military modernization goals," Biden said. The two leaders signed a new defense cooperation agreement Monday to strengthen Philippine security and support military modernization. Читать дальше...

Negotiators for Hollywood writers and film and television studios engaged in 11th-hour contract talks on Monday to try to avert a strike that would disrupt TV production across an industry grappling with seismic changes.  The Writers Guild of America (WGA) could call a work stoppage as early as Tuesday if it cannot reach a deal with companies such as Walt Disney Co. and Netflix Inc. A strike would be the first by the WGA in 15 years.  Writers say they have suffered financially during the streaming TV boom... Читать дальше...

Two Kurdish reporters have been detained in Turkey over terrorism accusations, days ahead of that country’s May 14 presidential election considered to be the biggest electoral challenge faced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his two decades in power. Sedat Yilmaz, an editor at the Mesopotamia News Agency (MA), and Dicle Muftuoglu, co-chair of the Dicle Firat Journalists Association, were taken into custody last week as part of an investigation by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Читать дальше...