Новости за 01.03.2024

US President Joe Biden and his main challenger, Donald Trump, went to opposite ends of the 1,931-kilometer border separating Texas from Mexico on Thursday. Both went to draw attention to the surge of migrants seeking to enter the US, but their messages were radically different and show how Democrats and Republicans view this key election issue. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.

BANGKOK — The Phnom Penh Post, which has been publishing from the Cambodian capital for more than three decades, said Friday it will stop publishing its English and Khmer editions by the end of the month amid falling revenues and readership, and an inability by the shareholders to "bear such losses." Its closure is another blow to press freedom in Cambodia, which has been under pressure since a government crackdown on political dissent was initiated by former Prime Minister Hun Sen about eight years ago. Читать дальше...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran began voting Friday in its first parliamentary elections since the mass 2022 protests over its mandatory hijab laws after the death of Mahsa Amini, with questions looming over just how many people will turn out for the poll. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 84, cast one of the first votes in an election that also will see new members elected to the country's Assembly of Experts. The panel of clerics, who serve an eight-year term, is mandated to select... Читать дальше...

UNITED NATIONS — Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting to take power in Sudan carried out widespread ethnic killings and rapes while taking control of much of western Darfur that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, United Nations experts said in a new report. The report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, paints a horrifying picture of the brutality of the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against Africans in Darfur. It also... Читать дальше...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Iran elects a new parliament on Friday in a vote that will test the popularity of the country's hardline clerical rulers, with mounting public dissent over economic woes and restrictions on political and social freedoms set to keep many Iranians at home.  With heavyweight moderates and conservatives staying out of the race and reformists calling it an "unfree and unfair election," the vote will pit hardliners and low-key conservatives against one another, all proclaiming... Читать дальше...

Israeli troops shot at a large crowd of Palestinians desperately pulling food off an aid convoy in Gaza. Iranians vote for the first time since mass protests in 2022. Turkey and Italy are seeking to expand their influence in Africa. And, a new green anaconda species is identified in the Amazon.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge held veteran investigative reporter Catherine Herridge in civil contempt on Thursday for refusing to divulge her source for a series of Fox News stories about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington imposed a fine of $800 per day until Herridge complies, but the fine will not go into effect immediately to give her time to appeal. Cooper wrote that he "recognizes the paramount... Читать дальше...

MIAMI — A former career U.S. diplomat told a federal judge Thursday he will plead guilty to charges of working for decades as a secret agent for communist Cuba, an unexpectedly swift resolution to a case prosecutors called one of the most brazen betrayals in the history of the U.S. foreign service. Manuel Rocha's stunning fall from grace could culminate in a lengthy prison term after the 73-year-old said he would admit to federal counts of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government. Читать дальше...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — The first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo astronauts fell silent Thursday, a week after breaking a leg at touchdown and tipping over near the lunar south pole. Intuitive Machines' lander, Odysseus, lasted longer than the company anticipated after it ended up on its side with hobbled solar power and communication. The end came as flight controllers received one last photo from Odysseus and commanded its computer and power systems to standby. That way... Читать дальше...

Dhaka, Bangladesh — At least 43 people were killed and dozens were injured by a fire that blazed through a 7-story building in an upscale neighborhood in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka late Thursday, authorities said. "So far, 43 people have died from the fire," Bangladesh's health minister Samanta Lal Sen told AFP after visiting the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and an adjoining burn hospital. Police inspector Bacchu Mia said one more person died at Dhaka's main police hospital to bring the death toll to 44. Читать дальше...

washington — Local officials in northeastern Syria said a series of Turkish drone strikes on Wednesday killed and wounded several people in a Kurdish-controlled town near the border with Turkey. Unlike other attacks carried out by Turkey in recent months, those targeted  Wednesday were not Syrian Kurdish fighters. According to local sources, three members of a local Christian militia were killed and two others were wounded in several Turkish drone strikes on the town of Derik in northeastern Syria. Читать дальше...