Новости за 04.06.2023

Egypt deployed three tugboats Sunday to tow away an oil tanker that had broken down and caused brief delays in the Suez Canal, authorities in charge of the vital waterway said.    Traffic in both directions returned to normal after a brief disruption when the Malta-flagged Seavigour experienced a "machinery malfunction" while en route from Russia to China, the Suez Canal Authority said.    Three tugboats "successfully towed and moored the ship" at a shipyard where the technical fault will be... Читать дальше...

The United States and China spent a weekend meeting in Singapore pointing fingers at each other. The two countries’ top military leaders accused one another of ratcheting up tensions in the Taiwan Strait in separate speeches in a summit meant to highlight unity. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, the heightened rhetoric follows increasingly tense training maneuvers in the region.

Tour de France organizers have set up an anti-COVID protocol for this year's race, with riders and team staff banned from signing autographs and eating out of their hotels, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters Saturday.  Riders and staff members were allowed out of their hotels last year. Access to the paddock at the start of the stages was open to reporters until midway through the race, when organizers decided to close it to "fight against the propagation of COVID-19."  ... Читать дальше...

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

Senegal's government has cut access to mobile internet services in certain areas because of deadly rioting in which "hateful and subversive" messages have been posted online, it said in a statement on Sunday. The West African country has been rocked by three days of violent protests in which 16 people have died, one of its deadliest bouts of civil unrest in decades. Last week, the government limited access to certain messaging platforms, but many were able to bypass the outage with the use of... Читать дальше...

Turkey, Sweden and Finland will meet later this month to try to overcome objections that have delayed Sweden's NATO membership bid, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey in March ratified Finland's bid for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but still objects to Sweden joining the alliance, as does Hungary. Turkey has said Stockholm harbors members of militant groups it considers to be terrorists. "Sweden... Читать дальше...

US special climate envoy John Kerry has met senior Emirati officials in Abu Dhabi, including the head of the United Nations' upcoming climate change conference, official media reported Sunday. The choice of Sultan al-Jaber, chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to head December's COP28 summit in Dubai has angered climate activists and some Western legislators who fear it will hold back progress on reducing emissions. Kerry met with al-Jaber and the UAE foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed... Читать дальше...

The frontrunner to be Thailand's next prime minister joined a Pride parade in Bangkok on Sunday, promising to pass a law that would allow same-sex marriage and gender identity rights if he becomes premier. Thousands of LGBTQ+ people, their allies and political leaders marched through central Bangkok, marking Pride month and promoting gender equality in the second official Pride parade to be held in the country. Marchers waved rainbow flags with one holding a placard that said "freedom to choose... Читать дальше...

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter's ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public's imagination. After years of speculation, the stage is set for the widely anticipated announcement to be made Monday at Apple's annual developers conference in a Cupertino, California, theater named after the company's late co-founder Steve Jobs. Apple... Читать дальше...

Chinese-sponsored talks in Myanmar between the junta and three of Myanmar’s ethnic armies, known as the Brotherhood Alliance, aimed at persuading the three to support the junta’s election plan concluded without an agreement Friday. The alliance of the Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army has been providing military training and supplies to anti-junta forces. The talks were held over two days in the Mongla region in northern Myanmar’s Shan state, near the Chinese border. Читать дальше...

A landslide in China’s southwestern Sichuan province has killed 14 people, according to a local government statement. Five people are missing. The early morning landslide Sunday happened near the city of Leshan. The statement said that 180 people have been deployed for a search and rescue operation.

Residents of Sudan's capital Khartoum reported a sharp escalation of clashes in several areas of the capital on Sunday after the expiry of a ceasefire deal between rival military factions brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Witnesses also said a military plane had crashed in Omdurman, one of three cities around the confluence of the Nile that make up the greater capital region. There was no immediate comment from the army, which has been using fighter jets to target the paramilitary... Читать дальше...

China tightened access to Tiananmen Square in central Beijing on Sunday, the anniversary of the military suppression of 1989 pro-democracy protests that left a still unknown number of people dead and discussions and commemorations forbidden within the country.  In Hong Kong, which had been the last Chinese-controlled territory to hold commemorations, eight people, including activists and artists, were detained on the eve of the anniversary of the crackdown, a move that underscored the city's shrinking room for freedom of expression. Читать дальше...

A train was on the wrong track because of an electronic signaling system error, and that error led to India’s devastating train derailment that has killed nearly 300 people and injured more than 1,000. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s railways minister, said in a television interview Sunday on New Delhi Television, “Who has done it and what is the reason will come out of an investigation.” An official explanation of the cause of the crash came after the completion of the rescue operation following the derailment. Читать дальше...

As a high school senior, Nick was blessed with a deadly accurate jump shot from the three-point range — something he was quick to monetize. He and his gym classmates not far from the Jersey Shore would compete to see who could make the most baskets, at $5 or $10 a pop. "It gave a different dynamic to the day, a certain level of excitement," Nick said. "Little did I know how far it would continue to go." Before long, he was gambling staggering sums of money on sports, costing him over $700,000 in the past decade. Читать дальше...

It's rare these days for a turbaned cleric in Iran to attract a large following of adoring young fans on Instagram, but Sayed Mahdi Tabatabaei has done it by rescuing street dogs in defiance of a local taboo. Tabatabaei posts regularly — to his more than 80,000 followers — heartbreaking stories of abused and neglected dogs that he has treated in his shelter. His young fans ask for updates on the rescues and send well wishes in the hundreds of comments he receives on almost every post. In some parts of the Muslim world... Читать дальше...

Jeong Se-ah feels happy to see Tanaka, a Japanese bar host character from the early 2000s created by a South Korean comedian, because he revives her teenage memories of watching animations from the neighboring nation. The 24-year-old office worker is one of a growing number of young South Koreans drawn to the products and culture of Japan, coming to see it as more of a friend than a foe that colonized the country 70 years ago, unlike previous generations. Dressed in a Japan-inspired retro costume... Читать дальше...

At the height of the Islamic State group's rampage across Syria, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in the country's famed Roman ruins in Palmyra.  Eight years later, IS has lost its hold but restoration work on the site has been held up by security issues, leftover IS land mines and lack of funding.  Other archaeological sites throughout Syria face similar problems, both in areas held by the government and by the opposition. They were damaged by the war or... Читать дальше...

Indian officials say the rescue operation following a deadly train derailment has been completed. A report in The Times of India said nearly 300 people had died in the accident and more than 1,000 were injured when three trains collided Friday night about 220 kilometers south of Kolkata. Officials said railway workers are now focusing their attention on clearing the tracks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site Saturday, spending about half an hour at the location, surveying the relief efforts and talking to rescue workers. Читать дальше...

The latest threat to the life of Txai Surui is still fresh in her mind. Protesting deforestation in the Amazon with other Indigenous people last week, she found herself held at gunpoint. "They got out guns and ambushed two days ago," Surui said. The Indigenous campaigner recalled the confrontation with gunmen in a telephone interview from Brazil with VOA. "I am 26 and my parents have been getting death threats since before I was born. We are threatened all the time," Surui said. Her testimony... Читать дальше...

Air raids, artillery fire and explosions rocked Sudan's capital Saturday, as fighting between warring generals entered its eighth week. Witnesses told AFP of "bombs falling and civilians being injured" in southern Khartoum, while others in the city's north reported artillery fire, days after a U.S.- and Saudi-brokered cease-fire collapsed. Residents reported that warplanes of the army led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan targeted positions of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo... Читать дальше...

Fifty Islamic State-group fighters and 168 relatives of group members were repatriated from Syria to Iraq on Saturday, an Iraqi official said. Iraqi authorities "received 50 members of the Islamic State from the Syrian Democratic Forces," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The SDF are the Kurds' de facto army in the area and led the battle that dislodged Islamic State group fighters from the last scraps of their Syrian territory in 2019. They will "be the subject of investigations... Читать дальше...

A senior United Arab Emirates official says the Gulf nation wants the U.N. climate summit it's hosting later this year to deliver "game-changing results" for international efforts to curb global warming, but doing so will require having the fossil fuel industry at the table. Environmental campaigners have slammed the presence of oil and gas lobbyists at previous rounds of talks, warning that their interests are opposed to the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions — caused to a large degree by the burning of fossil fuels. Читать дальше...

While judges, lawyers and support staff at the federal courthouse in Concord, New Hampshire, keep the American justice system buzzing, thousands of humble honeybees on the building's roof are playing their part in a more important task — feeding the world.  The Warren B. Rudman courthouse is one of several federal facilities around the country participating in the General Services Administration's Pollinator Initiative, a government program aimed at assessing and promoting the health of bees and other pollinators... Читать дальше...

Kaija Saariaho, who wrote acclaimed works that made her the among the most prominent composers of the 21st century, died Friday. She was 70.  Saariaho died at her apartment in Paris, her family said in a statement posted on her Facebook page. She had been diagnosed in February 2021 with glioblastoma, an aggressive and incurable brain tumor.  "The multiplying tumors did not affect her cognitive facilities until the terminal phase of her illness," the statement said. Her family said Saariaho had... Читать дальше...