Новости за 23.06.2023

Thirty-seven migrants are missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and the Italian island of Lampedusa, the International Organization for Migration said on Friday, citing an account by four survivors of the shipwreck. The United Nations agency said the survivors, all from sub-Saharan Africa, arrived on Lampedusa late on Thursday, having been rescued by another vessel. The survivors told the IOM they left the Tunisian port of Sfax heading for Italy with 46 people aboard, but their boat capsized in strong winds. Читать дальше...

The Carter Center was already a decade into its fight against Guinea worm globally when former President Jimmy Carter and his nonprofit took on another neglected tropical disease in the African nation of Mali. “From 1996 to 1998, it was estimated about 85,000 to 90,000 people would go blind from trachoma,” said Kelly Callahan, director of the Carter Center’s trachoma control program. “Twenty-five[%] to 50% of the children between the ages of 1 and 9, in all areas of Mali, suffered from the beginning... Читать дальше...

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s federal right to an abortion. Since then, U.S. states have decided on the regulations governing the procedure, and the issue has become even more politically crucial in U.S. campaigns and elections. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports.

Zambia said it reached a long-awaited deal to restructure $6.3 billion of its debt, including its loans from China, its largest private creditor. Zambia was the first African country to default on its debt during the coronavirus pandemic and analysts say the deal paves the way for developing countries in debt distress. Zambian lawmakers Friday hailed the deal. They were in a jovial mood as they sang the national anthem during a parliamentary session, setting aside their political affiliation to celebrate the agreement. Читать дальше...

An American aircraft carrier was scheduled to make a port call in Vietnam on Sunday — a rare visit by one of the U.S. Navy's biggest ships that comes as Washington and Beijing both step up efforts to bolster ties with Southeast Asian nations. The USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, was scheduled to arrive in Da Nang on June 25 and stay through June 30, making use of a port that was modernized and expanded by the United States during the war in Vietnam, the country's Foreign Ministry announced. Читать дальше...

The U.S. Coast Guard says it remains focused on the search for debris of the Titan submersible and has yet to launch an official investigation into the vessel’s disappearance and implosion. This comes as questions arise about its safety. Authorities confirmed Thursday the submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion near the wreckage of the Titanic, killing all five on board. Responders have rushed equipment to where remains of the Titan were found. Five major fragments of the 6.7-meter Titan... Читать дальше...

Chinese efforts to portray their nation in Europe as a safe haven for investment appear to be falling flat. Chinese Premier Li Qiang was in Germany and France this week, promoting post-COVID China as a nation of open institutions operating in a market-oriented, world-class business environment governed by a legal framework that safeguards the rights and interests of foreign companies. Yet a record-high 64% of surveyed China-based European companies reported that doing business in China became more difficult in 2022... Читать дальше...

A federal law that makes it a crime for a person to encourage illegal immigration does not violate constitutional free speech protections, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday in upholding the decades-old measure defended by President Joe Biden's administration. The 7-2 ruling overturned a lower court's decision to strike down the provision, part of a larger immigration statute, in a case involving a California man named Helaman Hansen who deceived immigrants through a phony "adult adoption" program. Читать дальше...

US News & World Report just released an updated guide to the process. It describes the types of visas, the typical processing time and what to bring to your visa interview. Read the explainer from Anayat Durrani. (June 2023)

In Cameroon, hundreds of women made widows by the country's separatist conflict are protesting what they call the government's lack of support. The widows say they have been left vulnerable to violence and abuse in the conflict, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives, and they are struggling to support their families. The song “Veuve” in the French language, which translates to widow in English, by Cameroonian singer Giselle Otabela, blasts through speakers at a courtyard in the Yaounde 3rd district council in Cameroon's capital. Читать дальше...

Afghanistan’s western province of Herat is known for its raisins. Estimates show about 20 metric tons of the dried fruit are produced in the province each year using ancient methods. Safiullah Ahmadzai has the story from Herat, narrated by Anne Ball.

Wealthy nations have finalized an overdue $100 billion climate finance pledge to developing countries and created a fund for biodiversity and the protection of forests, France's president said Friday. President Emmanuel Macron was speaking at a final panel of a summit in Paris where some 40 leaders, including two dozen from Africa, China's prime minister and Brazil's president had gathered to give impetus to a new global finance agenda. The summit's objective is to boost crisis financing for low-income states and ease their debt burdens... Читать дальше...

Saturday marks the anniversary of an attempt by approximately 2,000 sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees to cross over from Morocco to Spain. At least 37 people died in the attempt, and 76 are still unaccounted for. Amnesty International Friday accused Morocco and Spain of conducting a cover-up of their racist practices at the border. The group said Spain failed to open an independent investigation after Spanish prosecutors dropped their investigation because they said they had not found... Читать дальше...

Record heat across Asia is putting its surging renewable power fleet to the test, highlighting the need for backup supply, transmission system upgrades and tariff reforms to ensure reliability and stave off a slowdown in green energy adoption. Temperatures in parts of the region breached 40 Celsius in late April, earlier than usual, causing widespread infrastructure damage and power outages. In China, where renewables account for more than half of the power mix, authorities kept backup coal and... Читать дальше...

Weather forecasters issued tropical storm warnings Friday for Barbados, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as Tropical Storm Bret bore down on the eastern Caribbean. St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip Pierre has encouraged the island’s residents to “Protect your lives, property and livelihoods.” The National Hurricane Center said early Friday that the center of Bret is over the Eastern Caribbean Sea, resulting in “heavy rains and strong winds over portions of the Winward Islands.” Ralph Gonsalves... Читать дальше...

A fragile thaw in U.S.-China relations is unlikely to significantly reduce tensions between Seoul and Beijing, experts said. Stalled talks between the world’s two biggest economies were revived when Washington and Beijing agreed over the weekend to maintain high-level communication channels and to stabilize relations that had hit a low point after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew across the continental U.S. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday at a news briefing that his... Читать дальше...

Iran's foreign minister on Thursday concluded a three-day tour of Gulf Arab neighbors with a visit to the United Arab Emirates, where he held talks with the country's president. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's visit to the UAE followed stops in Qatar, Kuwait and Oman -- the latest in a flurry of diplomatic moves by Tehran as it seeks to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength. On Thursday, he discussed "bilateral relations and ways to enhance cooperation" in a meeting with UAE... Читать дальше...

Amid regional tensions with China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is planning its first joint military drill, finalizing on Thursday the location in Indonesia's South Natuna Sea, according to the Indonesian military. At the 20th ASEAN Chief of Defense Forces Meeting in Bali on June 7, 10 ASEAN military chiefs agreed to conduct routine joint training and coordinated patrols in waters of the South China Sea involving their army, naval and special forces from Sept. 18-25, despite skepticism from member state Cambodia. Читать дальше...

Attorneys for the widow of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise filed a lawsuit Thursday in Florida against those accused in his assassination, which is still under investigation. The lawsuit, which was first shared with The Associated Press, seeks unspecified damages for Moise's family and a trial by jury in a push to hold the defendants responsible for the president's death. "Whatever assets are out there, we will make sure these people will pay," attorney Paul Turner told the AP. The lawsuit... Читать дальше...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the U.S. Congress; tragedy for the tourist submersible bound for the Titanic and we meet families of migrants lost at sea, plus the final installment of our series about the Uyghur minority in China and their treatment by the Beijing government.

Residents of the city of Kadugli in southwestern Sudan began fleeing the city Thursday as tensions escalated between the army and a powerful rebel group, threatening to open another area of conflict in the country's ongoing war, witnesses said. Mobilization around Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan state, and an escalation of fighting in Darfur come after nearly 10 weeks of fighting focused in the capital, Khartoum, between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The United... Читать дальше...

The departure of a U.N. peacekeeping mission from Mali will strike a "fatal blow" to a peace accord and threaten stability across the region, a coalition of armed groups in the north of the country has warned.  But Mali's junta has asked the peacekeeping force, known as MINUSMA, to leave "without delay," a demand that followed years of fraying relations between the U.N. and Bamako's military leadership.  "The departure of MINUSMA without a credible alternative would constitute a threat to security... Читать дальше...

The family of the British Pakistani father and son who were among the five people who died on the Titanic tourist submersible expressed "profound grief" at their loss Friday. Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman, 19, were part of the Dawood industrial empire, which has become one of the most profitable in Pakistan.  "It is with profound grief that we announce the passing of Shahzada and Suleman Dawood," said a statement from the Dawood Foundation. "We extend our heartfelt condolences to... Читать дальше...

Sixteen people have been killed in two attacks in north-central Nigeria in a region struggling with intercommunal violence, the army said. Clashes between nomadic herders and farming communities often flare in Plateau State, which sits on the dividing line between the mostly Muslim north and Nigeria's predominantly Christian south. In the latest violence on Tuesday, half a dozen members of a local farmers self-defense group were killed by gunmen in Riyom district while another 10 people were killed in an attack in Mangu area... Читать дальше...

Canada and the Dominican Republic have agreed that Canada will coordinate assistance for Haiti by boosting staff at its embassies in Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, the countries said in a joint statement on Wednesday.  The agreement settles a public dispute last week over a proposed Canadian office in Dominican territory that risked further complicating an international plan to boost Haiti's outgunned police force.  "Canada and the Dominican Republic have solid bilateral relations and are long-standing partners... Читать дальше...