Новости за 17.09.2023

The International Coffee Organization says Kenya is the fifth-largest coffee producer in Africa. But like farmers elsewhere, Kenya’s coffee growers are being squeezed by climate change, price fluctuations and now a real estate boom. Francis Ontomwa reports from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Camera and video editing by Amos Wangwa.

President Joe Biden says he’s “focused on the things the American people want” and not political theater following a week in which the House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry into allegations that he had benefited from his son Hunter's foreign business dealings. Democrats call it a distraction. All this comes as lawmakers must strike a deal with Biden to keep the government open past a September 30 funding deadline. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.

Gunmen opened fire on a group of paramilitary forces in southern Iran, killing one of them and wounding another three, state media reported Sunday. Local media did not give a motive for Saturday's attack, which occurred on the anniversary of the death while in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and the outbreak of nationwide protests. It was unclear if the attack was linked to the anniversary. The official IRNA news agency said the attack targeting members of the paramilitary Basij occurred late Saturday in the town of Nourabad... Читать дальше...

Pakistan's caretaker prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, has written a letter to his Taliban counterpart in Afghanistan, stressing the need to address the security and economic challenges facing both countries. Kakar's letter to Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund comes amid persistent tensions over Islamabad's complaints that Kabul is not doing enough to prevent cross-border "terrorist" attacks being planned on Afghan soil. While discussing the letter's contents Sunday, a Pakistani official... Читать дальше...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will touch down in California on Monday to meet with Elon Musk. The talks come as civil rights groups accuse the X owner of amplifying anti-Semitism, an allegation he denies. When Musk purchased Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion last year, he vowed to turn the site into a haven for free expression. He envisioned a virtual community without stringent user guidelines. But his overhaul plan ran into turbulence early on, when he laid off thousands of employees... Читать дальше...

Human rights activists say dozens of people were detained as Iran marked the one-year anniversary Saturday of the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Hengaw Organization for Human Rights has confirmed the identities of at least 13 of those detained across various provinces. Those detained included Nima Safar, a poet, and writer, along with Mani Safar and Majid Kalateh, who were apprehended in Gorgan, according to the group. Meanwhile, Rahim Jahanbakhsh, the police commander of West Azerbaijan... Читать дальше...

Al-Shabab militants attacked convoys carrying Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia’s southwestern Bakool region early Sunday, Somali officials said. The ambush targeted two convoys, one traveling from the Somali town of Yeed to Wajid and the second convoy as it traveled from El Barde to the town of Huddur. Ethiopian troops have bases in Wajid and Huddur.   A Somali official said local forces were accompanying the convoy that was en route to Huddur from El Barde. The mayor of Huddur, Omar Abdullahi Mohamud... Читать дальше...

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta this weekend, Beijing and Washington said on Sunday, as the world's two largest economies seek to stabilize troubled relations. Both sides held "candid, substantive and constructive" talks during multiple meetings held Sept. 16-17, according to separate statements from the White House and the Chinese foreign ministry published Sunday. Sullivan's meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of... Читать дальше...

Climate activists sprayed orange and yellow paint on the columns of Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to push demands for a stop to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.   "Members of the so-called 'Last Generation' sprayed the columns on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint from fire extinguishers during the morning," Berlin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter. It added that police officers noticed a hydraulic lift was being operated at the gate and they kept... Читать дальше...

European Union Commision President Ursula von de Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni toured a migrant center Sunday on the small Italian island of Lampedusa. The center was recently overwhelmed with almost 7,000 migrants in a 24-hour period, a total that is nearly equivalent to the number of people who live on the island. Residents of Italy’s southernmost island say they are frustrated with the steady stream of arrivals on their tiny island. The island has struggled for years to manage the arrivals. Читать дальше...

A U.N. conference voted Sunday to list ruins of the ancient West Bank city of Jericho as a World Heritage Site, a decision likely to anger Israel, which controls the territory and does not recognize a Palestinian state. Jericho is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on earth, and is in a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that is administered by the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. The listing refers to the Tel es-Sultan archaeological site nearby, which contains... Читать дальше...

A U.N. conference voted Sunday to list ruins of the ancient West Bank city of Jericho as a World Heritage Site in Palestine, a decision likely to anger Israel, which controls the territory and does not recognize a Palestinian state. Jericho is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on earth, and is in a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that is administered by the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. The listing refers to the Tel es-Sultan archaeological site nearby, which... Читать дальше...

The Canadian Hurricane Center has canceled a Tropical Storm warning for Lee over portions of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. However, the tropical storm warning remains in effect for Lee in Nova Scotia from Lismore eastward to Point Aconi and southwest to east of Porter Lake, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Storm warnings are also in effect for Prince Edward Island from Savage Harbor eastward to east of Wood Islands and for the Magdalen Islands. The U.S. hurricane center... Читать дальше...

The beer is flowing and millions of people are descending on the Bavarian capital to celebrate the official opening of Oktoberfest. With the traditional cry of “O’zapft is” — “It’s tapped” — Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap in the first keg at noon on Saturday, officially opening the 18 days of festivities. Revelers decked out in traditional lederhosen and dirndl dresses trooped to Munich’s festival grounds Saturday morning, filling the dozens of traditional tents in anticipation of getting their first 1-liter mug of beer. Читать дальше...

Anti-junta forces in Myanmar, facing a common enemy in the country’s post-coup rulers, are divided internally, and the leaders of dozens of ethnic armies aligned with the opposition cannot agree on a common political strategy, all of which has its costs in terms of funding, arms, sanctions and time, specialists interviewed by VOA in recent weeks say. Even supporters of the opposition National Unity Government — born out of the ousted National League for Democracy — complained in conversations with... Читать дальше...

Families and a pediatrician are challenging North Dakota's law criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors, the latest lawsuit in many states with similar bans.  Gender Justice on Thursday announced the state district court lawsuit in a news conference at the state Capitol in Bismarck. The lawsuit against the state attorney general and state's attorneys of three counties seeks to immediately block the ban, which took effect in April, and to have a judge find it unconstitutional and stop the state from enforcing it. Читать дальше...

Farmers say extreme temperatures caused a huge drop in the output of olive oil in Spain, the world’s largest producer, triggering a big jump in world olive oil prices. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from Alfonso Beato in Barcelona, who says Europe’s leadership is blaming climate change.

For decades, preventing dengue fever in Honduras has meant teaching people to fear mosquitoes and avoid their bites. Now, Hondurans are being educated about a potentially more effective way to control the disease — and it goes against everything they've learned. Which explains why a dozen people cheered last month as Tegucigalpa resident Hector Enriquez held a glass jar filled with mosquitoes above his head, and then freed the buzzing insects into the air. Enriquez, a 52-year-old mason, had volunteered... Читать дальше...

Police in southern China have detained some staff at China Evergrande Group's wealth management unit, suggesting a new investigation that could add to the property giant's woes. "Recently, public security organs took criminal compulsory measures against Du [Liang] and other suspected criminals at Evergrande Financial Wealth Management Co.," Shenzhen city police said in a social media statement Saturday night. During protests by disgruntled investors at Evergrande's Shenzhen headquarters in 2021... Читать дальше...

Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and also was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall's board of directors after making comments that were seen as disparaging toward Black and female musicians. "Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation," the hall said Saturday, a day after Wenner's comments were published in a New York Times interview. A representative for Wenner, 77, did not immediately respond for a comment. Читать дальше...

Thousands of South Korean schoolteachers and staff rallied in Seoul on Saturday for more legal protection from bullying by parents, a rising problem in a country known for its brutally competitive school environments. The weekend demonstrations in the capital city, were triggered by the death of a teacher who was found dead at her elementary school in July after reportedly expressing emotional distress caused by complaints from allegedly abusive parents. The protesting teachers, who have rallied for weeks... Читать дальше...

Two of President Joe Biden's top goals — fighting climate change and expanding the middle class by supporting unions — are colliding in the key battleground state of Michigan as the United Auto Workers go on strike against the country's biggest car companies. The strike involves 13,000 workers so far, less than one-tenth of the union's total membership, but it's a sharp test of Biden's ability to hold together an expansive and discordant political coalition while running for reelection. Biden... Читать дальше...

The one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa "Jina" Amini was marked Saturday by a strong military presence and a general strike by tradespeople and shopkeepers in Kurdish cities across numerous provinces of Iran — along with protest rallies in cities worldwide.  Numerous images circulating Saturday on social media also showed a significant number of military and security forces around the Amini family residence in Saqqez in Iran's Kurdish region.  Last week, despite repeated summons from security authorities... Читать дальше...