Новости за 27.05.2023

Amid a sea of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Israeli flags at an antigovernment protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday, a plain white poster protruded with a handwritten message in black: "Democracy without compromise." For five months now, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets every week to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed judicial overhaul that would give politicians greater sway over selecting judges.   It would also limit the power of the Supreme Court to strike down legislation. Читать дальше...

Sudan's army chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, has accused U.N. special envoy Volker Perthes of stoking a brutal conflict with paramilitaries, the latest in a series of apparent moves to bolster his war effort. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was shocked by Burhan's letter, which requested "the nomination of a replacement" to Perthes and accused him of committing "fraud and disinformation" in facilitating a political process that broke down into six weeks of devastating urban warfare. Читать дальше...

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Saturday that Republican negotiators were “closer to an agreement” that would resolve the looming debt crisis, but they had not reached a deal with President Joe Biden. He said there was no firm timeline for a final compromise that would raise the nation’s borrowing limit and avoid a catastrophic default while also making spending cuts that House Republicans are demanding. House negotiators left the Capitol after 2 a.m. and returned hours later. “We’ll get it when it gets right," McCarthy... Читать дальше...

Hong Kong on Saturday "strongly condemned" rights group Amnesty International for alleging that a Uyghur man had gone missing after he arrived at the city's airport. The group said in a statement Friday that Abuduwaili Abudureheman, born in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, traveled from South Korea to Hong Kong on May 10 to visit a friend and had not been heard from since. His final communication was a brief text to his friend while waiting at the airport saying, "Chinese police are asking... Читать дальше...

Trade ministers of 14 countries in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks "substantially completed" negotiations on an agreement to make supply chains more resilient and secure, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Saturday. The "first of its kind" agreement calls for countries to form a council to coordinate supply chain activities and a "Crisis Response Network" to give early warnings to IPEF countries of potential supply disruptions, Raimondo told a news conference following a ministerial meeting in Detroit. Читать дальше...

It's among the world's busiest container shipping routes — a stream of vessels packed with furniture, automobiles, clothing and other goods, traversing the Pacific between Los Angeles and Shanghai. If plans succeed, this corridor will become a showcase for slashing planet-warming carbon emissions from the shipping industry, which produces nearly 3% of the world's total. That's less than from cars, trucks, rail or aviation but still a lot — and it's rising. The International Maritime Organization... Читать дальше...

The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic's border with Afghanistan, sharply escalating rising tensions between the two nations amid a dispute over water rights.  Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country's deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious... Читать дальше...

Serbian troops near Kosovo’s border were placed on high alert Friday, after clashes between police and Kosovo’s Serbian population injured at least 10 people. Serbs in Kosovo had taken to the streets to prevent newly-elected Albanian mayors from entering their offices. Clashes erupted when Kosovan police attempted to move the protesters to allow the politicians to enter their offices. Authorities say at least five police were injured in the skirmishes Friday and several cars were set on fire. Читать дальше...

China and South Korea have agreed to strengthen dialog and cooperation on semiconductor industry supply chains, amid broader global concerns over chip supplies, sanctions and national security, China's commerce minister said. Wang Wentao met with South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Detroit, which ended Friday.  They exchanged views on maintaining the stability of the industrial supply chain and strengthening cooperation in bilateral... Читать дальше...

A court-appointed monitor said in January that child migrants held in medical isolation may be overlooked when Border Patrol stations get too crowded, a warning issued five months before an 8-year-old girl with a heart condition died in custody during an unusually busy period in the same Texas region he inspected. Dr. Paul H. Wise, a pediatrics professor at Stanford University, called the death of Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez of Panama "preventable" during an interview this week while in Texas' Rio Grande Valley to look into the circumstances.

This week, U.S. and Chinese officials held meetings in Washington aimed at building ties following months of tension since Beijing’s surveillance balloon floated across the U.S. in early February. For the former U.S. officials who used to broker such talks 15 years ago, the tensions reflect how Beijing itself has changed under leader Xi Jinping. Stephen Hadley, who served as national security adviser for former President George W. Bush, said Beijing has gone from wanting to be a part of the international... Читать дальше...

When the Popocatepetl volcano reawakened in 1994, Mexican scientists needed people in the area who could be their eyes and ears. State police helped them find one, Nefi de Aquino, a farmer then in his 40s who lived beside the volcano. From that moment on, his life changed. He became a police officer himself, but with a very specific job: watching Popocatepetl and reporting everything that he saw to authorities and researchers at diverse institutions. For nearly three decades, de Aquino says he... Читать дальше...

Memorial Day in the United States is supposed to be about mourning the nation's fallen service members, but it's come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on everything from mattresses to lawn mowers. Auto club AAA said in a travel forecast that this holiday weekend could be "one for the record books, especially at airports," with more than 42 million Americans projected to travel 50 miles (80 kilometers) or more. Federal officials said Friday that the number... Читать дальше...

Living in New York City, working full time and without a car, Jessica Ray and her husband have come to rely on deliveries of food and just about everything else for their home. It has meant more free time on weekends with their young son, rather than standing in line for toilet paper or dragging heavy bags of dog food back to their apartment. "I don't even know where to buy dog food," said Jessica Ray of the specialty food she buys for the family's aging dog. There are millions of families like... Читать дальше...

Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao was in the U.S. this week, meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The meetings took place days after President Joe Biden signaled a thaw in bilateral relations strained by trade and security issues and the takedown by a U.S. fighter jet of a Chinese espionage balloon over American territory in February. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stripped one of the nation's largest drug distributors of its license to sell highly addictive painkillers Friday after determining it failed to flag thousands of suspicious orders at the height of the opioid crisis. The action against Morris & Dickson Co., which threatens to put the company out of business, came two days after an Associated Press investigation found the DEA allowed the company to keep shipping drugs for nearly four years after a judge... Читать дальше...

Two Los Angeles residents have been charged with acting in a Beijing-directed scheme targeting U.S.-based practitioners of the Falun Gong group that is outlawed in China, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. John Chen, also known as Chen Jun, and Lin Feng were arrested in California on accusations of supporting Chinese efforts to strip the tax-exempt status of a U.S. entity run by Falun Gong practitioners, the department said in a statement. The department described the scheme as part... Читать дальше...

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink says it's gotten permission from U.S. regulators to begin testing its device in people. The company made the announcement on Twitter Thursday evening but has provided no details about a potential study, which was not listed on the U.S. government database of clinical trials. Officials with the Food and Drug Administration wouldn't confirm or deny whether the agency granted the approval, but press officer Carly Kempler said in an email that the FDA "acknowledges... Читать дальше...

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai raised complaints about China's state-led economic policies during a meeting on Friday with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, who objected to U.S. tariffs and trade policies, their offices said. But statements from the U.S. Trade Representative's office and China's Commerce Ministry both emphasized the need for Washington and Beijing to maintain communication on trade. "Ambassador Tai highlighted the need to address the critical imbalances caused by China’s state-led... Читать дальше...

The U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday. Halting the use of the red slurry material could have resulted in greater environmental damage from wildfires, said U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana. The judge agreed with U.S. Forest Service officials who said dropping retardant into areas with waterways... Читать дальше...

Thais voted for the progressive Move Forward Party to lead their next government. But over a week later, powerful political enemies are blocking the party's progress — and forcing an early climbdown over the controversial royal defamation law. Vijitra Duangdee reports from Bangkok.

Two Taiwanese reporters who had been accredited to cover this week's World Health Assembly in Geneva were told on Monday they would not be allowed to obtain their press passes in a move press freedom advocates say was likely caused by pressure from China. On Monday, Judy Tseng and Tien Hsi-ju, reporters with Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA), were blocked from covering the 76th World Health Assembly held by the World Health Organization (WHO), even though the reporters had their press credentials approved a week earlier. Читать дальше...