Новости за 20.10.2023

Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony Friday just as jury selection was getting underway in his trial on charges accusing him of participating in efforts to overturn Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 election in Georgia. Chesebro, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state's anti-racketeering law, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents in a last-minute deal. His plea came a day after fellow attorney Sidney Powell... Читать дальше...

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is expected to visit Washington this month on a highly anticipated trip that comes as U.S. officials urge Beijing to help prevent fighting in the Middle East from spreading. China’s leader Xi Jinping broke nearly two weeks of silence on events in Israel on Thursday, saying he supports an immediate cease-fire and establishing “an independent state of Palestine” as the best way out of the conflict. Beijing’s position has drawn the ire of Israeli officials, who insist... Читать дальше...

A top U.S. official on African affairs says there is a need for a quick transition to civilian rule in Gabon after a coup in August, but coup leaders have yet to make public when they would hand power back to civilians. Following a coup in August, Washington suspended most nonhumanitarian aid to the central African nation. Judd Devermont, a special assistant to U.S. President Joe Biden, met with military leaders Thursday in the Gabonese capital, Libreville. Devermont said he met with Gabon's coup leader... Читать дальше...

As Arab leaders condemned Israel and the international community on Friday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel, Hamas and Egypt to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza as quickly as possible amid yet another delay that appeared to have postponed aid deliveries at least one more day. Arab media showed video of Egyptian bulldozers working to repair the road, damaged by Israeli airstrikes, on the Gaza side of its Rafah border crossing. It was not clear when the repairs would be completed... Читать дальше...

The Belt and Road Initiative has been largely successful in increasing China’s influence on the international stage, yet scientists and environmentalists warn the initiative could have immediate biophysical impacts and cause irreversible environmental damage.

None of the Israeli government spokespersons took responsibility for the attack on the hospital, and evidence is piling up that it was not a “strike” but the explosion of a misfired rocket.

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

An investigation into the damage to the Balticonnector gas pipeline is currently focused on the role of the Chinese NewNew Polar Bear container vessel, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation or NBI said on Friday. Early on Oct. 8, a gas pipeline and a telecoms cable connecting Finland and Estonia were broken, in what Finnish investigators said may have been sabotage, though they have yet to conclude whether it was an accident or a deliberate act. On Tuesday, Sweden said a third link, connecting Stockholm to Tallinn... Читать дальше...

Top U.N. humanitarian and political officials are at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, negotiating to end the stalemate that has prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been under siege since Hamas militants attacked Israel October 7. “They are in touch with Egyptian authorities, with everybody who can help to get humanitarian needs into Gaza,” Alessandra Vellucci, director of the U.N. Information Office in Geneva, told journalists Friday. Читать дальше...

An International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team Friday observed the preparation of fish samples for testing to assess the impact of treated nuclear wastewater released into the ocean from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.  The IAEA team included independent scientists from China, South Korea and Canada, who observed at Japan's Marine Ecology Research Institute, in Chiba prefecture.  Samples were sorted and prepared to be sent to laboratories in different countries for independent testing. Читать дальше...

Part of competitive collegiate admissions is crafting a compelling narrative about yourself, and part of sales is telling a story about your product and why it matters. Businesses and graduate schools are turning to professional storytellers to help. Marlena Corcoran has some of their insights in Forbes. (October 2023)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s planned visit to Washington this month is viewed as paving the way for further high-level meetings between the United States and China. It comes as Washington urges Beijing to use its lines of communication with countries in the Middle East to prevent a military escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Washington also is calling for Beijing’s cooperation to stop the flow of precursor chemicals that are fueling the fentanyl crisis. VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching has more.

San Francisco Police have released bodycam video and other information regarding an incident at the Chinese consulate earlier this month. On October 9, a Chinese national crashed his car into the consulate, scuffled with police, and threatened them with a knife before he was shot and killed.  In a virtual "town hall" meeting late Thursday, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott and Acting Police Commander Mark Im provided details of the incident. As part of its transparency policy, the SFPD provides... Читать дальше...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said dozens of aid trucks stuck at the border of Egypt and the Gaza Strip are a “lifeline” that must be allowed to deploy, as hopes faded for them to enter Gaza as expected on Friday. “We need — we absolutely need — to have these trucks moving as quickly as possible and as many as necessary,” Guterres told reporters in front of the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing in the northern Sinai desert. “We are not looking for one convoy to come; we are looking for convoys to be authorized... Читать дальше...

The Israel-Hamas war has animated students on college campuses across the United States. As young people voice their opinions, there are questions of safety, free speech rights and even future job prospects. VOA’s Tina Trinh reports from New York

Those miracles of modern science, the Rolling Stones, celebrated the release of their first album of original music in 18 years with a Manhattan club gig on Thursday. Before a celebrity-strewn audience of invited guests that included Christie Brinkley, Elvis Costello and Trevor Noah at Racket NYC, the Stones made a notable racket themselves over seven songs, four from the new “Hackney Diamonds” disc. Mick Jagger alluded to past stunts the Stones had done in New York to tout new music over the years... Читать дальше...

A Kenyan IT practitioner created Wakili — which means "lawyer" — an AI tool to help Kenyan citizens learn the country's laws and how to seek justice. It is aimed at a wide range of users, including individuals, legal professionals and organizations in need of assistance with legal issues. Wakili’s developer was inspired by how people, including his father, struggle to get justice. Mohammed Yusuf reports. Camera: Mohammed Yusuf

The Philippine defense chief has ordered all defense personnel and the 163,000-member military to refrain from using digital applications that harness artificial intelligence to generate personal portraits, saying they could pose security risks. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. issued the order in a Saturday memorandum, as Philippine forces have been working to weaken decades-old communist and Muslim insurgencies and defend territorial interests in the disputed South China Sea. The Department... Читать дальше...

The latest: The Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza is not expected to open Friday, officials say, delaying a humanitarian convoy. U.S. officials, CNN reports, are saying the convoy may be delayed until Saturday, citing road repairs as one of the reasons for the delay. Israel said Friday it plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.  The evacuees will be placed in state-funded guest houses.  Kiryat Shmona is near Israel’s border with Lebanon where there have been repeated rocket and missile attacks by Palestinian militants. Читать дальше...

Chinese leader Xi Jinping made his first public comment about the Israel-Hamas conflict Thursday, calling for a cease-fire and reiterating that establishing “an independent state of Palestine” through a two-state solution is the “fundamental way out of” the conflict. "The top priority is to stop the fighting as soon as possible, prevent the conflict from spreading or even getting out of control and causing a severe humanitarian crisis," Xi said during his meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in Beijing. Читать дальше...

Fifty years after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the current crisis in the Middle East has the potential to disrupt global oil supplies and push prices higher. But don't expect a repeat of the catastrophic price hikes and long lines at the gasoline pump, experts say. The Israel-Hamas war is "definitely not good news" for oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China, the head of the International Energy Agency said. Markets will remain volatile... Читать дальше...

Haitian police arrested former justice official Joseph Felix Badio in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, a police spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday. Badio is accused by investigators of ordering the hitmen who carried out the attack in July 2021. The assassination of Moise plunged the Caribbean island nation into political disarray and increasing lawlessness as powerful gangs have expanded their reach. Armed police intercepted Badio as he was driving out of a supermarket parking lot in Petion-Ville... Читать дальше...

A court in Amsterdam sentenced a Polish-Canadian national to two months in prison on Thursday for projecting a message alluding to an antisemitic conspiracy theory onto the Anne Frank House museum. Robert Wilson was charged with insulting a group and inciting discrimination for using a laser projector in February to display the words "Ann (sic) Frank invented the ballpoint pen" on the side of the canal house where the Jewish teenager hid with her family during the Holocaust. The text refers to... Читать дальше...

Niger's junta said Thursday that it had thwarted an escape attempt by ousted President Mohamed Bazoum who has been imprisoned by the military since a July 26 coup despite international calls for his release. The interim authorities said that Bazoum and his family, with the help of accomplices in the security forces, planned to drive a vehicle to the outskirts of the capital Niamey and catch a helicopter to neighboring Nigeria. "The strong reaction of the defense and security forces made it possible... Читать дальше...

As the Israel-Hamas war intensifies, the United States Thursday launched a visa waiver program allowing Israelis wishing to visit the United States for 90 days or fewer to come without applying for a visa.  The U.S. announced Sept. 27 that it was admitting Israel into the visa waiver program, adding the country to a select group of 40 mostly European and Asian countries whose citizens can travel to the U.S. for three months without visas.  At the time, the U.S. said Israelis could start traveling to America without visas as of Nov. Читать дальше...