Новости за 17.11.2023

The U.S. federal government has opened civil rights investigations into seven schools, universities and a school district over allegations of antisemitism or Islamophobia since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The list includes three Ivy League institutions — Columbia, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania — along with Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. It also includes one K-12 system, the Maize Unified School District in Kansas.

Gunfire exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel at the border with Lebanon, as well as attacks across the border with Syria, have continued since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Israel Defense Forces Golan infantry brigade is ready at the border for the possibility of an escalation. VOA's Natasha Mozgovaya visited Israel’s northern border. Videographer: Mary Cieslak

Togolese opposition parties and civil society organizations Friday denounced the incarceration for "defamation" of two journalists who had claimed on social media that a minister had around the equivalent of 600,000 euros ($650,000) stolen from his home. The DMP, a collective of opposition political parties and civil society organizations, demanded the two journalists, Loic Lawson and Anani Sossou, be freed after their postings about Minister of State Kodjo Adedze. The opposition Democratic Forces for the Republic... Читать дальше...

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

The wreckage goes on for block after devastated block. The smell is sickening. Every day, hundreds of people claw through tons of rubble with shovels and iron bars and their bare hands.  They are looking for the bodies of their children. Their parents. Their neighbors. All of them killed in Israeli missile strikes. The corpses are there, somewhere in the endless acres of destruction.  More than five weeks into Israel's war against Hamas, some streets are now more like graveyards. Officials in Gaza say they don't have the equipment... Читать дальше...

Judges at the World Court ordered Azerbaijan Friday to let ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh in September to return, and to keep the Armenians remaining in the enclave safe, as part of a set of emergency measures. Azerbaijan in September recaptured the region, then controlled by its ethnic Armenian majority despite being internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. The lightning offensive, after decades of enmity between Baku and Yerevan and a nine-month blockade of essential supplies by Baku... Читать дальше...

Airstrikes by Myanmar's military on a village in a western region have killed at least 11 civilians, including eight children, a leading opposition group and residents of the area said Friday.  The attack Wednesday on Vuilu village, south of Matupi township in Chin state, also left four people wounded, according to online reports in independent local media. The military government has not announced any attacks at the location.  As reports of the attack began to circulate, the United Nations... Читать дальше...

Some 240 Rohingya Muslims, including women and children, are afloat off the coast of Indonesia after two attempts to land were rejected by residents. Officials said the boat most recently tried to land in Aceh Utara district, in Indonesia's Aceh province Thursday afternoon, but left a few hours later. It is the fourth boat to reach Indonesia's northernmost province since Tuesday. Three others arrived in a different district and were allowed to land. Residents of the Ulee Madon beach in Muara... Читать дальше...

On November 22, we commemorate the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. VOA's Steve Herman interviews Sid Davis, White House correspondent for Westinghouse Radio, who recalls the tragic day in Dallas when one president was killed, and another hastily took the oath of office

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit Kosovo and Serbia next week amid soaring tensions between the Balkan neighbors, the military alliance said Friday. An armed ambush in Kosovo's volatile north in September near the border with Serbia killed a police officer, triggering one of the worst escalations in the former Serbian breakaway province, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians. Stoltenberg will head to Kosovo on Monday for talks with its prime minister and president before visiting... Читать дальше...

Government forces in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir killed five suspected militants in a gunbattle, police said Friday. Indian forces launched a joint operation Thursday evening following a tip that rebels were hiding in a village in the southern Kulgam district. The siege led to a gunbattle that continued until Friday, police said. Five militants were killed in the fighting, a police statement said. It said they had been involved in several attacks on government forces and civilian killings. Читать дальше...

The International Criminal Court said Friday it had ended proceedings against Vincent Otti, the former deputy head of the notorious Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), as it believed he had died. Otti was facing 32 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, forced enlistment of children, cruel treatment and pillaging. But deserters from the LRA said as early as 2007 that LRA leader Joseph Kony had executed Otti, who had been instrumental in peace talks. The... Читать дальше...

The U.S Geological Survey reports Friday a powerful 6.7 earthquake struck the Philippines, reportedly causing damage, including the collapse of a shopping mall ceiling near the quake’s epicenter.  The USGS reports the earthquake struck at 8:14 UTC and was centered about 27 kilometers off the southern coast of the Philippines Mindano region, at a depth of about 77 km.  International warning agencies said there was no threat of tsunami from the event.   The Philippines Institute of Volcanology... Читать дальше...

U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Friday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, conference in San Francisco.  In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the two leaders will discuss “ongoing efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship and address issues of shared concern.”   The statement said they would also discuss “how to work together as partners” to manage... Читать дальше...

Tens of thousands of Israelis who had been living abroad returned to Israel to join reserve army units and assist the war effort. Among them are hundreds of lone soldiers, Jews from around the world who previously volunteered, trained and served with the Israeli army but have no family in the country. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen.

Zimbabwe has recorded more than 7,000 suspected cholera cases and almost 150 deaths

For more than a decade, Indian journalist Shahina K.K. has been fighting the same legal battle. When Indian authorities first charged the journalist under an anti-terror law in 2010, such cases were rare, Shahina said. But now journalists are more regularly targeted in her home country. “Fifteen years ago, or 20 years ago, it was an exception — journalists being booked was an exception. Now it has become a norm,” Shahina, an editor at Outlook magazine, told VOA during a trip to Washington this week. Читать дальше...

Rescuers drilled deeper into the rubble of a collapsed road tunnel in northern India on Friday to fix wide pipes for 40 workers trapped underground for a sixth day to crawl to their freedom. Drilling with a new machine started on Thursday and has covered a stretch of 24 meters (78 feet) so far, Devendra Patwal, a disaster management official, said. It may require up to 60 meters (195 feet) to enable the trapped workers' escape, Patwal told The Associated Press on Friday. However, the drilling... Читать дальше...

Two years after Taiwan opened a representative office in Lithuania, officials from both sides stress progress in bilateral relations while analysts cite risks that the deepened engagement could be affected by domestic political shift in Lithuania. “After two years of engagement with Taiwan, we have some specific agreements with Taiwanese companies and organizations, especially in the field of semiconductors, but we shouldn’t neglect the risk of some changes in Lithuania’s current relationship with... Читать дальше...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged leaders of developing nations to unite in the face of growing challenges due to the Israel-Hamas war as he convened a virtual summit of more than 100 countries Friday. "This is the time when the countries of the Global South should unite for the greater global good," Modi said in a speech, referring to developing nations. The Voice of Global South Summit was convened to follow up on decisions made during the Group of 20 top world economies meeting in... Читать дальше...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Germany Friday on a short visit overshadowed by the two countries' very different stances on the war between Israel and Hamas. Erdogan is holding meetings with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany's largely ceremonial president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Berlin. Scholz invited Erdogan to visit in May following his re-election. Turkey has long been viewed as an awkward but essential partner in Germany, which is home to more than 3 million people with Turkish roots. Читать дальше...

As cultural battles involving school curriculums are being fought across the United States, some conservative politicians are suggesting funding be cut for college humanities programs.   Times Higher Education reports that some elected officials favor programs that help students get higher-paying jobs, and that help states train more skilled workers. (October 2023)

Maldives will use diplomacy to ensure there is no foreign military presence on its soil, its new president said on Friday, reaffirming his support for the departure of a small Indian force from the islands where India and China vie for influence. Mohamed Muizzu was speaking at his inauguration after winning a presidential election in September, beating incumbent Ibrahim Solih in a second-round runoff. Solih had followed an "India first" policy, but Muizzu in his election campaign promised to... Читать дальше...

Leaders of the union representing Hollywood actors announced a tentative deal recently with film and television studios to end a strike that started in July. It includes pay raises, streaming bonuses for actors, and the industry’s first protections against the use of artificial intelligence. From Los Angeles, Genia Dulot has our story.

Latest developments: Gaza is facing the “immediate possibility of starvation,” according to the executive director of the World Food Program. Israel warns Palestinians to leave four towns in southern Gaza, possibly presaging new Israeli attacks in the area. Israeli forces continue operations around Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The U.N. Security Council passes a resolution calling for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas and "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses" in Gaza. Israel... Читать дальше...