Новости за 21.01.2024

Washington — A thwarted Iranian plot to assassinate two journalists working for a Persian TV network in London has renewed focus on the ways hostile governments try to target critics outside their jurisdiction. Details of the plot, uncovered by the British news outlet ITV News late last year, included a plan to kill the journalists Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad. The details “are a shocking reminder of the sinister lengths that the Iranian regime is willing to go to silence critical reporting from abroad,” said Jessica White... Читать дальше...

Dakar — Senegal's highest election authority has excluded two top opposition leaders from the final list of candidates for the West African nation's presidential election next month. The party of the main challenger called the move a "dangerous precedent" on Sunday.  The list published Saturday by Senegal's Constitutional Council named 20 candidates, including Prime Minister Amadou Ba, who has the backing of outgoing President Macky Sall and is seen as a major contender.  Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko... Читать дальше...

AL-ARISH, Egypt — About 1,000 people from Gaza have been treated in a French field hospital aboard a ship off the coast of Egypt, its captain said, providing care for some as health infrastructure in the war-devastated enclave collapses. The Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier, has been docked in the Egyptian port of al-Arish, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, since November. The vessel is equipped with wards, operating theaters and 70 medical staff. Nearly 120 injured people have been hospitalized on board... Читать дальше...

Kabul/Moscow — Russia's aviation watchdog said on Sunday four people survived the crash of a charter plane bound for Moscow in northern Afghanistan, citing the Russian embassy there, and it said the condition of two other passengers on board was not yet clear. Two Taliban provincial officials said four survivors were now with Taliban administration officials who had reached the remote, mountainous site of the crash. They said that two other passengers had died.   The Taliban administration's... Читать дальше...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday called for the release of hostages, including six nuns, who were kidnapped on a bus in Haiti on Friday, and said he was praying for social harmony in the country. Armed gunmen hijacked a bus in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince with at least six nuns on board and drove off to an unknown destination taking all passengers hostage, Vatican News reported on Saturday, citing the Haitian Conference of Religious group. "I have learned with sorrow of the kidnapping... Читать дальше...

Cairo — Egypt's president said on Sunday it will not allow any threat to Somalia, after Ethiopia said it would consider recognizing an independence claim by Somaliland in a deal that would give it access to a seaport. The remarks by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi were the strongest yet made on the issue by Egypt, which already has frosty relations with Ethiopia, and were a sign that Cairo may get involved in a dispute that has raised fresh tensions in the volatile Horn of Africa. Somaliland... Читать дальше...

WARSAW — Polish President Andrzej Duda on Sunday criticized the European Commission for blocking EU funds in what he said had been "an attempt to force Poland to change" its government, adding he was open to negotiations over changes in the justice system. Poland's last government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party was embroiled in a dispute with the European Union over Warsaw's judicial reforms and the rule of law, resulting in billions of EU funds for Poland being frozen. The... Читать дальше...

ISLAMABAD — A Russian private jet carrying six people is believed to have crashed in a remote area of rural Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday. The crash happened Saturday in a mountainous area near Zebak district in Badakhshan province, regional spokesperson Zabihullah Amiri said, adding that a rescue team had been dispatched to the area.  Badakhshan police chief's office also confirmed the report of the crash in a statement.  From Moscow, Russian civil aviation authorities said a Dassault... Читать дальше...

washington — Scientists have mapped the largest coral reef deep in the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles off the U.S. Atlantic Coast.  While researchers have known since the 1960s that some coral were present off the Atlantic, the reef's size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology made it possible to construct 3D images of the ocean floor.  The largest yet known deep coral reef "has been right under our noses, waiting to be discovered," said Derek Sowers, an oceanographer at the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust. Читать дальше...

SHILLONG, India — Tambor Lyngdoh made his way through the fern-covered woodland — naming plants, trees, flowers, even stones — as if he were paying older family members a visit. The community leader and entrepreneur was a little boy when his uncle brought him here and said these words: "This forest is your mother." This sacred space is in the village of Mawphlang, nestled in the verdant Khasi Hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya, whose name means "abode of clouds." On an overcast day... Читать дальше...

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump seem on track for a rematch in November’s presidential election. But questions about Trump’s legal difficulties and both candidates’ ages lurk in the background. White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at what could happen should one of them be forced to drop out.

LERDO DE TEJADA, Mexico — Four local police officers in Mexico were placed under investigation in connection with the shooting death of a man in the Gulf of Mexico state of Veracruz, after neighbors in the town surrounded the officers and attacked them. The Veracruz Public Security Department said in a statement the officers from Lerdo de Tejada, a coastal town in the south of the state, were detained late Friday. They were handed over to the prosecutor's office to investigate the death of 27-year-old Brando de Jesús Arellano Cruz, it said. Читать дальше...

DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal's constitutional council on Saturday released a final list of 20 candidates for February's presidential election that excluded opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and Karim Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade. President Macky Sall will hand over power after ruling out a third term in July, ending lengthy speculation that helped fuel some of the deadliest violence in the normally stable West African nation's modern history. The council's list of approved candidates includes Sall's hand-picked successor... Читать дальше...

Beijing — At least eight people were killed in a factory explosion in eastern China's Jiangsu province early Saturday morning, state media reported.  The blast occurred at 3:38 a.m. local time (1938 GMT on Friday) in the workshop of a metal product factory in Changzhou city, 180 kilometers (111 miles) northwest of Shanghai, according to the official Xinhua news agency.  "A dust explosion occurred in the production workshop of Shenrong Metal Technology Limited, killing eight people and lightly injuring eight others," Xinhua said. Читать дальше...