Новости за 28.08.2023

Women’s rights activists in Israel are increasingly concerned about the new government’s moves to separate men and women in public spaces. They also worry that the Supreme Court will fail to protect women. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen.

Women’s rights activists in Israel are increasingly concerned about the new government’s moves to separate men and women in public spaces. They also worry that the Supreme Court will fail to protect women. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen

Iran has summoned a Swiss diplomat over the apparent U.S. seizure of Iranian crude oil from a ship that sat for months off Texas, an official said Monday, as the oil now appeared to be moored in Houston. The remarks by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani mark the latest twist in the saga of the oil once aboard the tanker Suez Rajan, which had become mired in the wider tensions between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. That's even as Tehran and Washington work toward a trade of... Читать дальше...

China is witnessing a rise in public outrage toward Japan after Tokyo released treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on August 24. After Beijing banned imports of Japanese seafood, Chinese netizens began to call for boycotts on a wide range of Japanese products while others tried to stock up on essential supplies. Some analysts say Beijing is sending a message to Tokyo through anti-Japan sentiment. “Japan has released the wastewater and there is no rolling back on that... Читать дальше...

Sweden charged a man on Monday with spying on it and the United States on behalf of Russia and unlawfully transferring advanced technology to Russia's armed forces over a nine-year period.  Prosecutors indicted Sergej Skvortsov, a citizen of both Sweden and Russia, on charges of gross unlawful intelligence activity against the two countries between 2013 and 2022, according to the indictment.  The 60-year-old's lawyer said he denied any wrongdoing. "He reiterates that he denies all charges," lawyer Ulrika Borg told Reuters. Читать дальше...

Diplomatic representatives from the United States and the United Kingdom are calling upon the South Sudanese government to initiate a thorough investigation of the 2017 death of British-American journalist Christopher Allen. A 26-year-old freelance journalist who held British and American nationality, Allen was shot and killed on August 26 of that year while covering a confrontation between the South Sudan People's Defense Forces and the former rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army-in-Opposition... Читать дальше...

Whether China is a developing or developed nation has long been a source of debate among researchers and China experts — especially as China has risen to become the world's second largest economy and a global manufacturing powerhouse. At the recent summit of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Johannesburg, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said "China has been and will always remain a member of [the] developing countries." However, in Washington, lawmakers in Congress... Читать дальше...

Ask Alexa or Siri about the weather. But if you want to save someone’s life? Call 911 for that. Voice assistants often fall flat when asked how to perform CPR, according to a study published Monday. Researchers asked voice assistants eight questions that a bystander might pose in a cardiac arrest emergency. In response, the voice assistants said: - “Hmm, I don’t know that one.” - “Sorry, I don’t understand.” - “Words fail me.” - “Here’s an answer … that I translated: The Indian Penal... Читать дальше...

More than 1,000 health experts, including African Cabinet ministers, are in Botswana for the World Health Organization Africa region to discuss health challenges facing the continent. Delegates want the continent to be better prepared for the next pandemic — following Africa’s poor response to COVID-19. Speaking at the start of the five-day meeting Monday, Jean Kaseya, head of Africa’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said it is important for the continent to be pandemic ready, after being found wanting during COVID-19. Читать дальше...

French President Emmanuel Macron says France’s ambassador to Niger is staying at his post despite being ordered to leave the country by Niger’s new military leaders. Macron told a gathering of French ambassadors in Paris Monday that Ambassador Sylvain Itte “is remaining despite pressure.” He also rejected concerns that standing up to the junta in Niger could be dangerous, insisting, “Our policy is the right one.”  Itte was asked to leave Niger within 48 hours in a letter Friday from the Nigerian Foreign Ministry. Читать дальше...

President Joe Biden is heading to Vietnam next month to meet with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other Vietnamese leaders, the White House announced on Monday.  The president will arrive in Hanoi on Sept. 10, tacking on the one-day visit to the Vietnamese capital after attending the annual Group of 20 leaders' summit in India.  "The leaders will explore opportunities to promote the growth of a technology-focused and innovation-driven Vietnamese economy, expand our people-to-people... Читать дальше...

Chinese lawmakers Monday submitted a draft law aimed at making preschools more accessible and affordable, state media reported. It's part of a drive to encourage people to have more children following the first population drop in six decades. The draft Preschool Education Law includes measures to curb excessive profit-seeking by preschool providers, the state-backed China news service reported. Children applying for preschool places should not be subject "to any form of examination or testing... Читать дальше...

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has laid out conditions for ending its conflict with the country's army. The RSF says it wants a peaceful solution and a return to civilian government. In a statement, the leader of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, said his group is ready to resolve the conflict with Sudan's Armed Forces peacefully, with a settlement that would lead to civilian rule. Dagalo said he wants talks that would include political parties and civil society... Читать дальше...

Anti-Hezbollah sentiment is growing in Lebanon, especially among the country’s Christian population following the continuing impasse over the election of a president and the recent death of a Lebanese Christian in a shootout with Hezbollah. The Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah political party enjoyed some degree of legitimacy in Lebanon because of its governing alliance with former President Michel Aoun’s Christian Free Patriotic Movement, says Lebanese analyst Dania Koleilat Khatib. But the relationship... Читать дальше...

The mother of the Spanish soccer federation president has started a hunger strike in a church in southern Spain in defense of her son, who is under fire for kissing a player during the recent Women's World Cup awards ceremony.  Ángeles Béjar, mother of suspended federation president Luis Rubiales, told the state news agency EFE she would remain on hunger strike "night and day" until a solution is found to "the bloody and inhumane hounding" of her son.  Speaking outside the church in the southern town of Motril... Читать дальше...

A video clip posted on social media showing a private elementary school teacher asking pupils to take turns slapping a seven-year-old Muslim boy has triggered outrage in India. The clip, recorded Thursday in a classroom of Neha Public School in Uttar Pradesh state, shows the teacher, identified as Tripta Tyagi, instructing students to hit the second grader, ostensibly because he failed to memorize a multiplication table. The child is seen crying, as the other children take turns slapping him. ... Читать дальше...

Climate activists have spray-painted a superyacht, blocked private jets from taking off and plugged holes in golf courses this summer as part of an intensifying campaign against the emissions-spewing lifestyles of the ultrawealthy.   Climate activism has intensified in the past few years as the planet warms to dangerous levels, igniting more extreme heat, floods, storms and wildfires around the world. Tactics have been getting more radical, with some protesters gluing themselves to roads, disrupting... Читать дальше...

A two-week blockade by Islamist militants has created food and aid shortages in the ancient city of Timbuktu, the mayor and residents said, as security deteriorates across much of northern and eastern Mali.   Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a fabled seat of Islamic learning on the edge of the Sahara desert, has been surrounded by violence ever since French forces liberated it from militants in 2013 after an uprising.   The unrest, driven by local affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State... Читать дальше...

Poland has filed legal challenges attempting to annul three of the European Union's main climate change policies, which the Polish government argues would worsen social inequality, document published on Monday showed. The legal actions, brought by Warsaw to the EU Court of Justice in July, target policies including a law agreed this year which will ban the sale of new CO2-emitting cars in the EU from 2035. "The contested regulation imposes excessive burdens connected with the transition towards zero-emission mobility on European citizens... Читать дальше...

In the last two months, intense rains have triggered landslides and flash floods and caused widespread havoc in India’s Himalayan region. A recent study points to one cause – shifting weather patterns that are bringing more rain instead of snow to mountainous regions in the northern hemisphere. It says the Himalayas are more vulnerable to the changing climate. Anjana Pasricha has a report on villages impacted by the devastation. (Camera: Rakesh Kumar)

Thousands of airline passengers faced delays on Monday after Britain's air traffic control system was hit by a breakdown that slowed takeoffs and landings across the U.K. on one of the busiest travel days of the year.  More than three hours after it reported the "technical issue," flight control operator National Air Traffic Services said it had "identified and remedied" the problem and flights could begin to return to normal. But scores of flights were canceled, and Heathrow Airport said its schedules... Читать дальше...

There has been a “disturbing surge” in the number of female suicides and attempted female suicides in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control in 2021, according to a report by British newspaper The Guardian. The Taliban government has not published any statistics on the phenomenon and has forbidden health care workers from sharing the numbers, the newspaper said.  However, the report said health care providers agreed to privately share the information from August 2021 to August 2022 “to highlight... Читать дальше...

Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to disarm members of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases, officials from the two countries said Monday.  Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said in a news briefing Monday that the Iraqi government had agreed "to disarm the armed terrorist groups stationed in Iraq's territory by September 19, and then, evacuate and transfer them from their military bases to camps... Читать дальше...

Legislation recently proposed in Kenya’s parliament would provide a framework for reducing carbon emissions by buying and selling carbon credits locally. Victoria Amunga reports on one Kenya manufacturer who is making cooking stoves designed to lower emissions. Camera and video edit: Jimmy Makhulo.

According to a U.N. Human Rights Office report published in February, about 1 million Tibetan children have been herded into state-run boarding schools as part of a push to forcibly assimilate Tibetans into China's majority Han culture.