Новости за 12.05.2023

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group has denounced as "baseless lies" reports that one of Syria's most well-known drug dealers, who was killed earlier this week in an airstrike near the Jordanian border, was linked to the Iran-backed group. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's televised speech Friday came four days after the rare strike that some Syrian opposition activists claimed was carried out by Jordan's air force. The activists and a war monitor said the amphetamine Captagon kingpin killed... Читать дальше...

Iran on Friday released two French citizens, including one also holding Irish nationality, as Paris urged Tehran to free other foreigners jailed by the Islamic republic. French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, and Frenchman Benjamin Briere, who was first detained while traveling in Iran in May 2020, were freed from their prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the French foreign ministry said. They rapidly boarded a special flight to Paris and landed at the capital's Le Bourget airport ... Читать дальше...

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has announced snap elections less than a week after securing public approval for a new constitution that opens the door for him to extend his time in office by more than a decade. Mirziyoyev cast the decision as a reform-minded move and a personal sacrifice. "Why am I voluntarily giving up the remaining three and a half years of my presidential term?" asked the president, who is nearing the mid-point of his final five-year term under the old constitution. Under the new constitution... Читать дальше...

Malawi has launched a nationwide rollout of the newest typhoid vaccine for children under 15. A two-year study of the vaccine, the first in Africa, found it safe to use and effective in more than 80% of recipients. Health authorities say the vaccine is expected to reduce the threat from a disease that kills close to 20,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa each year. Typhoid fever is a contagious bacterial infection caused by consuming contaminated foods or drinks. Its symptoms include nausea, fever and abdominal pain... Читать дальше...

Tens of thousands of people marched through the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and blocked a key bridge Friday in the second large protest since two mass shootings that rattled the Balkan country and killed 17 people, including many children.  Protesters gathered in front of the Parliament building before filing by the government's headquarters and onto a highway bridge spanning the Sava River, where evening commuters had to turn their vehicles around to avoid getting stuck. At the head of the column... Читать дальше...

Universities have national service requirement now, but ROTC has been a voluntary part of that

Apple will launch its first online store in Vietnam next week, the company said Friday, hoping to cash in on the country's young and tech-savvy population. The iPhone maker is among a host of global tech giants including Intel, Samsung and LG, that have chosen Vietnam for assembly of their products. But up to now, the Silicon Valley giant has sold its products in Vietnam's market of 100 million people via authorized resellers. "We're honored to be expanding in Vietnam," said Deirdre O'Brien... Читать дальше...

The emergency health order used during the pandemic at the U.S.-Mexico border to quickly expel migrants back to Mexico or to their home countries has ended. VOA’s immigration correspondent Aline Barros reports on how the situation is unfolding along the South Texas border.

A new project aims to reopen the official border crossings between Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, which have been partially or fully closed in recent years due to security issues. Speaking Thursday in the border town of Mandera during the launch, Kenya's Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said the project will improve socio-economic development between the three countries. "Infrastructural development is silenced by armed conflicts, we must silence the gun for the industries to roar back, we must... Читать дальше...

Doctors Without Borders, also known by the French acronym MSF, is sounding the alarm this week as it treats an unusually high number of sexual assault victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province.  Jason Rizzo, the emergency coordinator for MSF in North Kivu, told VOA that clashes between the Congolese army and many armed groups, including M23, have recently led to the enormous displacement in the province of 1.2 million people.  "We have been trying to respond to the different needs that come with mass displacement... Читать дальше...

India sent more students to study in the U.S. in 2022 while China sent fewer, the Hindustan Times reported. In 2022, California hosted 225,173 international students, the Times reported, the largest percentage of any U.S. state. Read more about the trends and the numbers in the Times story. (May 2023)

Amid widespread protests and political instability following the recent arrest of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, authorities have imposed internet shutdowns and blocked social media platforms, while protestors have targeted journalists in violent attacks.  Khan was arrested on May 9 by paramilitary troops on corruption charges. Two days later, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled the arrest was unlawful and ordered that Khan be released, marking a setback for the country’s powerful military. Читать дальше...

A South Korean human rights group has condemned what it calls inappropriate pressure from the Chinese government, after the organization selected a jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist as the winner of its annual human rights award. The May 18 Foundation — an organization based in South Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju — earlier this month named labor activist and lawyer Chow Hang-tung as the recipient of its 2023 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Chow is serving 22 months in prison for... Читать дальше...

At Chad's border with Sudan, Sudanese security forces tell VOA they fled their country because they have neither supplies nor ammunition to fight their opponents, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. As the rule of law breaks down in Sudan's Darfur region, analysts and aid groups say the risk of the conflict spreading to neighboring countries is high. Henry Wilkins reports from Koufroune, Chad.

International forecasters warn Tropical Cyclone Mocha is intensifying in the very warm waters of the Bay of Bengal and is forecast to be one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in decades when it comes ashore Sunday. The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization ((WMO)), in a statement Friday, said the storm is likely to come ashore near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border about midday Sunday, very near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh — home to the world’s largest refugee camp, with about one million Rohingya refugees. Читать дальше...

Some US lawmakers are urging legislation to curb sales of US agricultural land to foreign entities, specifically China. Of more than 100 countries with US land investments, China ranks 18th in holdings. As VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports, while concerns about China gobbling up US farmland resound in Congress, experts say it’s more a political issue than a practical one.

A renewed political dispute between the federal government of Somalia and the Puntland federal member state, and a failure of the fragile reforms to boost revenue collection and fiscal transparency, could endanger Somalia's hope for full debt relief from the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders by the end of the year, officials and experts warn. "Strengthening fiscal transparency is a requirement for Somalia to secure not only debt forgiveness but also more loans from the... Читать дальше...

The U.S. government has ended Title 42, the emergency health order used during the COVID-19 pandemic at the U.S.-Mexico border to quickly expel migrants back to Mexico or to their home country, The order ended Thursday night at midnight. The Biden administration introduced strict asylum measures that, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says, will lead to the expulsion of the majority of migrants at the border, where some border analysts say about 150,000 people are waiting to enter the U.S. "This is what will happen... Читать дальше...

A federal judge Wednesday ordered the Biden administration to end the expedited releases of migrants who enter the United States illegally from Mexico, potentially straining already stretched holding facilities. The order won’t take effect for a week to give the government time to appeal. The Homeland Security and Justice departments had no immediate comment. In declaring a key administration tool illegal, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II offered a scathing review of President Joe Biden’s border policies in a 109-page opinion... Читать дальше...

Not exactly, according to a new survey of the two groups conducted by the Association for Graduate Enrollment Management (NAGAP). Compared to students, the managers overestimated the difficulty of the application, while underestimating how hard it is for students to find the “best fit” school for them. Maureen Manning summarizes the findings for The PIE News. (May 2023)

Sudan's warring parties signed a commitment late Thursday on guidelines for allowing humanitarian assistance but did not agree to a cease-fire U.S. officials said. Representatives of the army and paramilitary forces, which have been fighting for nearly a month, signed the agreement in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on a “declaration of commitment to protect the civilians of Sudan,” a U.S. official involved in the talks said. "We agree that the interests and well-being of the Sudanese people are our top... Читать дальше...

A Hong Kong newspaper has pulled a popular, decades-old political comic strip after government officials accused it of smearing the government’s image and misleading the public. The move is widely seen as another step in the erosion of freedom in Hong Kong under a controversial national security law. Ming Pao, a respected Chinese-language newspaper, said Thursday it would stop publishing cartoons by Wong Kei-kwan, better known under his nom de plume “Zunzi,” starting Sunday.   “Ming Pao thanks... Читать дальше...

As the pandemic-related remote work model fades in most parts of the world, women in Afghanistan have found the practice a potential remedy to the Taliban's ban on women being employed outside the home. Women employed by the United Nations and other international aid agencies are often provided laptops and links to networks that enable them to keep earning paychecks without explicitly violating the Taliban's rules. The Taliban ban, imposed on Afghan women working for nongovernmental organization... Читать дальше...

Migrants rushed across the Mexico border Thursday in hopes of entering the U.S. in the final hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions are lifted. The two warring factions in Sudan are reported to be making progress in truce talks. Ghana is encouraging African Americans to connect with their African roots.

More than 115,600 children in Haiti are expected to suffer severe wasting from malnutrition this year, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said on Thursday, as an escalation of armed violence worsens food insecurity and a cholera outbreak. That number is more than 30% higher than the 87,500 children UNICEF registered as suffering from the condition last year. It warned of a severe funding gap that "could put the lives of more than 100,000 children at risk of immediate death." Heavily... Читать дальше...