Новости за 24.08.2023

A Kenyan innovator is recycling fish skin into leather clothes through a process known as fish skin tanning. As Juma Majanga reports from Kisumu, Kenya, Newton Owino’s enterprise also aims to sustainably manage waste emanating from the fish-filleting industries along the Lake Victoria coast.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Elon Musk's SpaceX for refusing to hire refugees and asylum-seekers at the rocket company. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the Justice Department said SpaceX routinely discriminated against these job applicants between 2018 and 2022, in violation of U.S. immigration laws. The lawsuit says that Musk and other SpaceX officials falsely claimed the company was allowed to hire only U.S. citizens and permanent residents due to export control laws that regulate the transfer of sensitive technology. Читать дальше...

Conditions for people in Niger are getting worse, as security appears to be deteriorating, according to regional experts who spoke with VOA. Prices of staple foods such as rice and cooking oil have increased, while the country has endured more violence in the past three weeks than it had since the beginning of the year. While life may seem normal in Niger because shops are open and people are going to work, what's really happening is quite different, according to Laura Esposito, the country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council... Читать дальше...

Sanctions imposed on Niger following the July military coup there have resulted in rising food prices across West Africa, as well as worries that the Niger situation could spiral out of control. Senanu Tord reports from Accra, Ghana.

A suspected Turkish drone hit a car carrying journalists in northeast Syria, killing the driver and severely wounding a journalist, local officials said. The late Wednesday attack took place on a main road near the Kurdish city of Qamishli, according to Jin TV, the channel where both individuals worked. The media office of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said in a statement that the car was carrying journalists, without giving further details. Jin TV, a network run by women... Читать дальше...

After two years of legal ambiguity and stringent restrictions on free press, de facto Taliban authorities have submitted a draft of a new Afghanistan media law for approval by their supreme leader. The draft, shrouded in secrecy until now, will regulate the Islamist leadership's fraught and sometimes combative relationship with journalists as well as state and private media bodies. With no parliament or a constitution in the Taliban's self-declared Islamic Emirate, only the reclusive supreme leader... Читать дальше...

On Wednesday, India became the first country to put an unmanned lander and robotic probe on the moon’s south pole. Experts say the mission marks a major milestone in the country’s efforts to emerge on the front lines of space exploration. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump left the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta about 20 minutes after he arrived to be booked on felony charges of racketeering and conspiracy linked to his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 reelection loss in Georgia. He arrived at the jail shortly after 7:30 p.m. EDT and his mug shot was taken there. This marks an unprecedented fourth time that Trump was arrested and booked in the past five months. Trump was released pending trial after paying a $200,000 bond... Читать дальше...

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

The prosecutor’s office in Iran has charged a journalist in Tehran for publishing images that featured women dancing and not wearing the hijab.   Javad Heydarian revealed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was summoned by prosecutors in Tehran and charged with "spreading obscenities through the publication of images depicting dancing and unveiling at the LidoMa cultural festival."  The LidoMa Festival, a recurring celebration held in August by Iran’s Lur people, took place in the conference hall of Milad Tower... Читать дальше...

Foreign undergraduate students at the University of Missouri hail from Afghanistan, India and South Korea. This year, some have been accepted into study abroad programs in Iraq and internships with local crisis shelters. But student visa rules forbid first-year students from working off-campus. And even when they are eligible, the permit process is complex and takes months. Adeleine Halsey of the Columbia Missourian profiles undergraduates who are running into these restrictions. (July 2023)

A husband and wife who were farmers in their native Nigeria have turned the skills they learned there into a thriving small business in the U.S. state of Maryland. VOA’s Thierry Kaore has the story from their farm in Brookeville, Maryland, narrated by Salem Solomon

Emergency officials in Nigeria said Thursday rescue efforts were ongoing after a building collapse in Abuja killed at least two people. The Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency said crews had rescued 37 people. An agency statement said rescue teams planned to use excavators to search the rubble for any remaining victims. The two-story residential and commercial building collapsed late Wednesday, the statement said.

Zimbabwe’s election on Wednesday was marred by massive delays and shortages of ballot papers that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission blamed on legal problems it had faced ahead of the polls. At some polling stations, voting was extended for another day. Columbus Mavhunga has the story from the capital, Harare, where both main presidential candidates are hopeful of victory. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe

It’s been more than a year since Andy Lin graduated from his master’s program in Hong Kong, but unlike many young people in China who are desperately trying to find a job, the 27-year-old from Anhui province has become what many call a “full-time child” since returning to the mainland. Even though there is no shortage of vacant positions in the job market, Lin thinks most jobs can’t match his level of education or meet his expectations. “I don’t like jobs with fixed hours and I also refuse to work overtime,” he told VOA. Читать дальше...

U.S. Republican presidential candidates sparred sharply on a host of issues Wednesday night in the first debate leading up to the 2024 national election. But some of the most spirited comments targeted the candidate who skipped the political confrontation, former President Donald Trump, the party’s leading contender. With Trump now facing an unprecedented four criminal indictments for his actions before, during and after his single-term presidency, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pilloried him. Читать дальше...

The operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has begun releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. In a live video from a control room at the plant Thursday, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings showed a staff member turn on a seawater pump, marking the beginning of the controversial project that is expected to last for decades. "Seawater pump A activated," the main operator said, confirming the release was under way. ... Читать дальше...

In South Korea, ordinary citizens took part in defensive training for the first time in years, joining U.S. and South Korean forces amid growing provocations from North Korea. VOA’s Eunice Kim takes us there.

Russia says mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion toward Moscow, was aboard plane that crashed north of the Russian capital. BRICS leaders agree to expand the club. Thousands of drone photographers and videographers compete in an annual competition.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan lowered expectations for the Saudi-Israel normalization agreement that Washington is working on, rejecting news reports that suggest it is imminent. "There is still a ways to travel with respect to all of the elements of those discussions," Sullivan said during a briefing for reporters Tuesday. In past months, Sullivan and his deputies have begun separate negotiations with the Saudis and Israelis to lay groundwork for a deal. Peace between the two... Читать дальше...

Research shows that prolonged exposure to high levels of noise may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In New York City, not only the largest U.S. city by population but also one of the loudest, avoiding noise can be an everyday struggle. Aron Ranen has the story from the Big Apple.

More than 200,000 refugees fleeing Sudan’s civil war have arrived in the town of Adre, Chad, since the middle of June. Before the crisis, the town had a recorded population of just 40,000. In this report, Henry Wilkins asks Adre residents and newly arrived refugees what they are doing to help the influx of new residents.

The staff and owners of a newspaper in the Midwestern state of Kansas have had their equipment returned and the search warrant withdrawn after a controversial police raid. But Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer blames the raid for the death of his mother, who co-owned the newspaper, and says he will pursue legal action. For VOA’s Liam Scott in Marion, Kansas, Jessica Jerreat has the story. Camera: Saqib Ul Islam.

North Korea's second attempt to place a spy satellite in orbit failed on Thursday after the rocket booster experienced a problem during its third stage, state media reported, as space authorities vowed to try again in October. Its first try in May also ended in failure when the new Chollima-1 rocket crashed into the sea. The predawn launch came in the first hours of an eight-day window that North Korea had given for the attempt. The nuclear-armed country has been seeking to place what would be its first military spy satellite into orbit... Читать дальше...

New artificial intelligence tools that write human-like prose and create stunning images have taken the world by storm. But these awe-inspiring technologies are not creating something out of nothing; they're trained on lots and lots of data, some of which come from works under copyright protection. Now, the writers, artists and others who own the rights to the material used to teach ChatGPT and other generative AI tools want to stop what they see as blatant copyright infringement of mass proportions. Читать дальше...