Новости за 18.05.2023

Thailand’s Election Commission is weighing a last-minute legal challenge to the pro-democracy front-runner in the country’s race for prime minister in a case that could derail the political career of one of the military-backed government’s fiercest critics. The complaint against Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat bears strong echoes of the case that brought down another rising star of Thailand’s gaining pro-democracy movement four years ago and set the stage for a wave of anti-government protests. Читать дальше...

We're diving into the U.S. immigration dilemma and exploring the growing surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Find out what Washington is doing to address this long-troubled immigration policy and how it's impacting the safety and management of people in this humanitarian crisis. This week on The Inside Story: Immigration Dilemma

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a freelance reporter on espionage charges this week, saying the journalist illegally collected sensitive information about the Indian army and shared the information with foreign governments. On Tuesday night, longtime reporter Vivek Raghuvanshi was arrested for allegedly collecting sensitive information about the Indian army and the Defense Research Development Organization, which leads the military’s research and development, according to The Indian Express. Читать дальше...

U.S. President Joe Biden has canceled a historic visit to Papua New Guinea, where he was to meet with Pacific Island leaders, choosing instead to focus on crucial debt-ceiling negotiations in Washington. Biden's meeting with the leaders of India, Australia and Japan in Sydney has also been scrapped. VOA's Jessica Stone looks at what this means for U.S. engagement in the region at a time when China is increasingly exerting its influence.

Thailand’s opposition has announced an eight-party coalition in a bid to create a new government following Sunday’s general elections. The Move Forward Party, or MFP, was announced as the unofficial winner in the elections, gaining the most seats in Thailand’s lower house and comfortably defeating conservative and military-backed parties. Seven other political parties, including pre-election favorite Pheu Thai, have agreed to support the MFP as leader of the coalition and leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s push to be premier. Читать дальше...

Leaders of Iran and Pakistan jointly inaugurated a marketplace and a power transmission line along their shared border Thursday in a significant move aimed at boosting regional trade and energy cooperation. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed a ceremony in a live broadcast from the Iranian side of the more than the 900-kilometer border between the two countries. Raisi said the project had set the stage for Tehran and Islamabad to expand their economic and energy exchanges. Читать дальше...

Arab heads of state are slated to attend Friday's Arab League summit in the Saudi Red Sea resort town of Jeddah, including the president of Syria for the first time in over a dozen years. The crises in Syria and Sudan are expected to be major topics of discussion at the meeting. Arab leaders began arriving in Jeddah Thursday in the lead-up to Friday's 32nd annual Arab summit, due to be hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Among those expected to be present is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad... Читать дальше...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to clear a path for victims of attacks by militant organizations to hold social media companies liable under a federal anti-terrorism law for failing to prevent the groups from using their platforms, handing a victory to Twitter. The justices, in a unanimous decision, reversed a lower court's ruling that had revived a lawsuit against Twitter by the American relatives of Nawras Alassaf, a Jordanian man killed in a 2017 attack during New Year's celebration... Читать дальше...

Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal announced Thursday that he is pulling out of the French Open because of a lingering hip injury, and he expects 2024 to be the final season of his career. The owner of a record 14 championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament will miss it for the first time since making his debut there in 2005. Nadal, who turns 37 next month, delivered the news of his withdrawal — and future plans — during a news conference at his tennis academy in Manacor, Spain. He said... Читать дальше...

In Cameroon, thousands of people are demonstrating this week, calling for peace and reconciliation ahead of National Day on May 20. Peace caravans led by activists, clerics and traditional rulers are calling for an end to hate speech and the separatist conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people in Cameroon since 2017. A band of youths leads several hundred Cameroonians in protests against hate speech in the capital, Yaounde, on Thursday. The protesters are also calling for peace and reconciliation in the central African state. Читать дальше...

Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier. A woman only identified as Jane Doe sued the bank in federal district court in New York and sought class-action status to represent other victims of Epstein. The lawsuit asserted that the bank knowingly benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking... Читать дальше...

Eleven villagers in southern Chad have been killed by "bandits," in a region troubled by violence between herders and sedentary farmers, the military said on Thursday. The attack occurred on Wednesday, coinciding with an announcement by Chad that it had joined with neighboring Central African Republic (CAR) in an unprecedented crackdown.  "Armed bandit cattle rustlers attacked the village of Mankade in Laramanaye district, killing 11 villagers and making off with their cattle," Defense Minister Daoud Yaya Ibrahim told AFP. Читать дальше...

Vietnam on Thursday criticized recent conduct by a Chinese research ship and the Philippine coast guard in the South China Sea, accusing its neighbors of separate actions that were violating its sovereign rights. Tensions are high in contested parts of the South China Sea, one of the world's most important trade routes and a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce. Chinese and Vietnamese vessels confronted each other in recent days on multiple occasions as a Chinese research... Читать дальше...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to Papua New Guinea later this week for a visit aimed at shoring up India’s outreach to Pacific Island countries, with an eye on countering China’s growing footprint in the Pacific. The first visit by an Indian prime minister to the largest of the Pacific Island nations comes as New Delhi’s hostilities with Beijing have prompted it to work more closely with countries such as the United States, Japan and Australia in the Indo-Pacific region.     Modi will... Читать дальше...

The death toll following clashes between herders and farmers in central Nigeria's Plateau State has jumped from 30 to 85, a local official said Thursday. Following the attacks on Monday in Mangu district, "85 bodies (were) recovered," the chairman of the local government council Daput Minister Daniel told AFP. He said some people were wounded, without giving a number, while "several houses have been destroyed and many people are now displaced." The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) also... Читать дальше...

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday called on Afghanistan to respect Iran’s water rights. Speaking during a visit to Sistan and Baluchistan Province in southeastern Iran, Raisi said a dam on the Helmand River was restricting the flow of water into a lake along the border between the two countries. Afghanistan has blamed lower river volumes on climactic factors. Raisi said Iranian experts should be allowed to visit Afghanistan to examine the situation. He said Afghanistan’s leaders should... Читать дальше...

Each year, U.S. News and World Report ranks U.S. undergraduate and graduate programs. But recently, many prestigious medical and law schools, as well as undergraduate colleges, have opted out of the rankings, claiming they are inaccurate and don’t capture the nuances of each school. The newest rankings address this by prioritizing student outcomes over test scores and reputations. Jeremy Bauer-Wolf of Higher Ed Dive analyzes the changes. (May 2023)

Analysts say U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to postpone a trip to Australia is a major blow to Canberra. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will still make the trip to Australia next week, even though the Quad leaders' summit at the Sydney Opera House has been canceled. The White House says U.S. President Joe Biden has postponed his planned trip to Australia because of domestic debt ceiling negotiations. Biden will, however, travel to Japan for a meeting of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations... Читать дальше...

The top leaders of Japan and South Korea will try to maintain momentum toward improved relations when they meet on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit that begins Friday in Hiroshima. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday, the final day of the three-day gathering, according to South Korean officials. South Korea is not a member of the G-7 group of advanced democracies but was invited by Kishida as an observer, along with the leaders of several other non-G-7 states. Читать дальше...

More than two weeks after Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old mentally ill and homeless Black man was choked to death on the New York City subway by a former Marine, reaction to the killing has broken down along familiar political fault lines. Daniel Penny, the 24-year-old man who placed Neely in a chokehold and was captured on video holding him for several minutes, is being widely hailed as a hero by Republican politicians in the United States, and a fund set up for his legal defense has collected more... Читать дальше...

Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. went up slightly last year after two big leaps during the pandemic.  Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the numbers plateaued for most of last year. Experts aren't sure whether that means the deadliest drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history is finally reaching a peak, or whether it'll look like previous plateaus that were followed by new surges in deaths.  "The fact that it does seem to be flattening out, at least at a national level... Читать дальше...

Biden administration officials pushed back Wednesday against criticism over the decision to postpone a visit to Australia and a historic trip to Papua New Guinea, the first by an U.S. president. Analysts have described the move, spurred by President Joe Biden’s need to return home sooner to attend to congressional budget negotiations, as a setback for the United States and a gift to China as it flexes its muscle in the Indo-Pacific region — one of the reasons the Biden administration has been shoring up alliances in the area recently. Читать дальше...

The Chronicle of Higher Education reviewed data from the U.S. Department of Education for almost 4,000 schools. Scroll through their findings to see how schools stack up on racial and gender diversity, as well as their proportion of “nonresident foreign” students. (May 2023)

Several ships and aircraft searched Wednesday for 39 people reported missing after a Chinese fishing boat capsized in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the accident happened around 3 a.m. Tuesday. The report said the crew included 17 people from China, 17 from Indonesia and five from the Philippines.  Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang ordered Chinese diplomats abroad, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors. Читать дальше...

The son of prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner and media mogul Jimmy Lai is defending his father and calling for his release from prison. Sebastien Lai spoke to members of the U.S. Congress recently and sat down with VOA’s Laurel Bowman.