Новости за 14.10.2023

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Saturday for protecting civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel as he intensified his diplomatic outreach across the Middle East and beyond to rally an international response to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding.  Blinken met with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh before stopping in the United Arab Emirates as he sought ways to help civilians trapped in between the fighting and to address the growing humanitarian crisis. Читать дальше...

First came the darkening skies, then the crescent-shaped shadows on the ground, and finally an eruption of cheers by crowds that gathered Saturday along the narrow path of a rare "ring of fire" eclipse of the sun.  It was a spectacular show for some parts of the western United States as the moon moved into place and the ring formed.  There were hoots, hollers and yelps for those with an unfettered view in Albuquerque, where the celestial event coincided with an international balloon fiesta... Читать дальше...

Iran said Saturday it was still possible to prevent a regional spillover of Israel's war with Islamist group Hamas but warned that time was quickly running out. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian spoke from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, a week after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed from Gaza into Israel and killed at least 1,300 people, mostly civilians. Israel has since been pounding Hamas targets in Gaza, where authorities say more than 2,200 people have been killed in the retaliatory strikes. Читать дальше...

Pakistani police said Saturday that gunmen killed at least six construction workers and injured two others in an overnight attack in the turbulent southwestern Baluchistan province — the country’s largest province bordering Afghanistan and Iran. The shooting occurred in the Turbat district of the natural resources-rich province, targeting a group of migrants from the country's most-populous central Punjab province. Police and witnesses said the victims were asleep when unknown assailants stormed... Читать дальше...

With the highest number of international students since the start of the pandemic, one U.S. university is conducting a program to help foreign students feel more at home. Kent State University in Ohio hosts Conversation Partners, which pairs international students with students from the U.S. Yui Kaichi, writing for Kent Wired, explains how the program is helping students make new friends and learn more about the world. (September 2023)

As Egypt faces the possibility of receiving an influx of Palestinian refugees from its northern border with Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has repeated his country's longstanding opposition to permitting Palestinians from Gaza to be resettled in the Sinai. Egypt and Israel reportedly agreed Saturday to open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egyptian territory to allow U.S. citizens stranded in the Hamas-controlled territory to leave. There was no agreement, however, for... Читать дальше...

Former businessman Christopher Luxon will be New Zealand's next prime minister after winning a decisive election victory Saturday. People voted for change after six years of a liberal government led for most of that time by Jacinda Ardern. The exact makeup of Luxon's conservative government is still to be determined as ballots continued to be counted. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who spent just nine months in the top job after taking over from Ardern in January, told supporters late Saturday he had called Luxon to concede. Читать дальше...

Even after long periods in Beijing, Manya Koetse still felt like an outsider. At parties and over hotpot, her Chinese friends discussed memes and other social media trends, but Koetse didn’t know what they were talking about. “I just felt really left out,” the Dutch national told VOA, adding that she was missing a key way to relate to her friends and understand China more broadly. That isolated feeling led Koetse in 2013 to start a news site, What’s on Weibo, named after one of China’s largest social media platforms. Читать дальше...

Multiple countries around the world frequently take steps to repress the activities of their critics and dissidents based in the United States, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office found, calling into question the ability of law enforcement agencies to effectively curtail it. The study defines the practice, known as "transnational repression," or TNR, as "when governments, either directly or through others, reach across borders to silence dissent from diasporas and exiles, including journalists... Читать дальше...

The contest comes Sunday, and whoever wins the prize — a job that starts on Christmas — will face a difficult, if not impossible, task. What awaits is a shorter-than-normal 15-month run as president of Ecuador, which is engulfed in a surge of violence tied to drug trafficking. The runoff election pits an heir to a banana empire, Daniel Noboa, and an attorney, Luisa González. In a different year or in another country, their business and lawyering experience might help them deliver on campaign promises. Читать дальше...

The latest: The IDF has confirmed that Hamas is holding more than 120 civilians hostage in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have killed 70 and wounded 200 people evacuating northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Interior Ministry. Israel said that it has hit a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon. Hamas tells civilians to ignore an IDF call for 1.1 million civilians to evacuate to northern Gaza for southern areas within 24 hours "for their own safety." U.N. says 423,000 people displaced in Gaza. Russia... Читать дальше...

On the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington this summer, a few Black queer advocates spoke passionately before the main program about the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights. As some of them got up to speak, the crowd was still noticeably small. Hope Giselle, a speaker who is Black and trans, said she felt the event's programming echoed the historical marginalization and erasure of Black queer activists in the Civil Rights Movement. However, she was buoyed by the fact that prominent speakers... Читать дальше...

In an ongoing legal battle with the Biden administration over a Nevada lithium mine, environmentalists are poised to return to court with a new approach accusing U.S. wildlife officials of dragging their feet on a year-old petition seeking endangered species status for a tiny snail that lives nearby. The Western Watersheds Project said in its formal notice of intent to sue that the government's failure to list the Kings River pyrg as a threatened or endangered species could push it to the brink of extinction. Читать дальше...

Jewish communities in North America are ramping up security in the face of rising emotions over the massacre of Jews in Israel and the imminent invasion of Gaza, with pro- and anti-Israel rallies being held daily in cities across the United States. Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told VOA that the communities are prepared and have built "comprehensive security programs." But, he said, last Saturday’s Hamas attack against Israel and its aftermath has brought the threat... Читать дальше...

Hamas calls for solidarity events worldwide raises safety concerns for Jews worldwide. From Washington state, Natasha Mozgovaya is on a US campus where tensions were visible.

Malawi launched its first-ever Centre for Artificial Intelligence and STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics — Friday at the Malawi University of Science and Technology. Established with support from various U.S.-based universities, the center aims to provide solutions to the country's innovation and technology needs. The project's leader, Zipangani Vokhiwa, a science professor at Mercer University in the U.S. and a Fulbright scholar, says the center will help promote the study and use of artificial intelligence... Читать дальше...

Nigeria's president has asked the Supreme Court to reject a petition by his political opponents to introduce new evidence aimed at overturning February's presidential election. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's plea to the Supreme Court was contained in his response to an appeal made by the main opposition — People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar. Abubakar seeks to present new evidence at the Supreme Court in a bid to annul Tinubu's victory, which was upheld last month by a lower court after weeks of litigation. Читать дальше...

Republicans nominated conservative Representative Jim Jordan by a vote of 124-81 Friday in a chaotic third day of attempting to elect a speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, Jordan needs substantially more support to win a full floor vote next week to become the person who will be second in the presidential line of succession.

Uyghur Forced Labor in China's Seafood Industry The Chinese government forcibly sends Uyghurs to work in various industries, including seafood processing for export, as part of its control and assimilation efforts, according to a report in The New Yorker, published in collaboration with the Outlaw Ocean Project.   Despite the U.S. passing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the seafood industry's use of Uyghur labor remains largely unnoticed, with Uyghurs working in factories in Shandong Province. Читать дальше...

In an unprecedented move, Israel's military ordered some one-million Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza and head to the southern part of the territory. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III is in Tel Aviv in a show of unwavering support for the people of Israel.

With Israel ordering the evacuation of some 1 million Palestinian civilians from Gaza City within 24 hours, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expanded his crisis talks from Israel and Jordan to include all the Gulf Arab countries and Egypt. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.

New Zealanders began voting Saturday in a general election, with opinion polls indicating they favor a conservative change after six years of a liberal government led for most of that time by Jacinda Ardern. Ardern unexpectedly stepped down in January, saying she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do the job justice. She won the last election in a landslide, but her popularity waned as people tired of COVID-19 restrictions and inflation threatened the economy. Her departure left Chris Hipkins, 45, to take over as prime minister. Читать дальше...

U.S. national park officials are planning to gather and reduce the bison herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the northern state of North Dakota, rehoming the animals to a number of Native American tribes.  The "bison capture" is scheduled to start on Saturday and continue through the week in the park's South Unit near Medora. The operation will be closed to the public for safety reasons.  The park plans to reduce its roughly 700 bison to 400. The park will remove bison of differing ages. Читать дальше...

Pfizer slashed its full-year revenue forecast by 13% and said Friday it will cut $3.5 billion worth of jobs and expenses due to lower-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment. Pfizer earned record revenue in 2021 and 2022, topping $100 billion last year, after developing its vaccine Comirnaty with German partner BioNTech SE and antiviral treatment Paxlovid on its own. Last year, revenue from those two products exceeded $56 billion. But annual vaccination rates have dropped sharply... Читать дальше...