Новости за 27.01.2024

islamabad — Pakistan confirmed Saturday that nine of its nationals were killed by gunmen in neighboring Iran, demanding an immediate investigation into the "terrorist incident" to punish the perpetrators.    Iranian media reported that the early morning shooting occurred in a home in the southeastern city of Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan province bordering Pakistan.    "It is a horrifying and despicable incident, and we condemn it unequivocally," said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson. Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel met privately with senators recently, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee asked for his assessment of a startling report: A whistleblower estimated that 95% of claims now being made by businesses for a COVID-era tax break were fraudulent. “He looked at his shoes and he basically said, ‘Yeah,’” recalled the lawmaker who posed that question, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. The answer explains why Congress... Читать дальше...

BEIRUT — The United States and Iraq held a first session of formal talks Saturday in Baghdad aimed at winding down the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that he had sponsored “the commencement of the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq and the United States of America to end the mission of the Coalition in Iraq.” The beginning of talks, announced by both countries Thursday... Читать дальше...

NAIROBI, Kenya — Thousands of people marched in cities and towns in Kenya during protests Saturday over the recent slayings of more than a dozen women. The anti-femicide demonstration was the largest event ever held in the country against sexual and gender-based violence. In the nation's capital, Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with the names of women who became homicide victims this month. The crowd, mostly women, brought traffic to a standstill. "Stop killing us!" the demonstrators... Читать дальше...

TEHRAN, Iran — Unknown gunmen shot to death nine people Saturday in the southeastern part of Iran that borders Pakistan, media reports said. A report by the semiofficial Mehr news agency said the shooting took place in a home near the town of Saravan, in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. It added that the victims were not Iranian. No official news outlet reported the shooting, and no group has yet taken responsibility for the attack. HalVash, an advocacy group for the Baluch people, shared... Читать дальше...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Radio stations across Haiti were jammed with calls just hours after a court in Kenya blocked the deployment of a U.N.-backed police force to help fight gangs in the troubled Caribbean country. Many callers wondered and demanded: What's next? Few know. Uncertainty and fear have been spreading since Friday's Kenyan court ruling, with violence reaching records as gangs tighten their grip on Haiti's capital and beyond. "Absent a robust external mission that would be deployed very soon... Читать дальше...

london — Two British museums are returning looted gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement as U.K. institutions face increasing demands to hand over treasures acquired at a time when the British Empire ruled over people around the globe. The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, together with the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana, announced the "important cultural'' collaboration on Thursday. The loan sidesteps U.K. laws that bar the repatriation... Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON — The rumors about vote fraud started swirling as the ballots in Taiwan's closely watched presidential election were tallied on January 13. There were baseless claims that people had fabricated votes and that officials had miscounted and skewed the results. In a widely shared video, a woman recording votes mistakenly enters one in the column for the wrong candidate. The message was clear: The election could not be trusted. The results were faked. It could have been Taiwan's January 6 moment. Читать дальше...

AZUA, Dominican Republic — It was a busy Saturday morning at Marcia Gonzalez's church. A bishop was visiting, and normally she would have been there helping with logistics, but on this day she was teaching sex education at a local school. "I coordinate activities at the church, and my husband is a deacon," González said. "The bishop comes once a year, and children are being confirmed, but I am here because this is important for my community." For 40 years, Gonzalez and her husband have pushed... Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is starting to enlist individuals who didn't graduate from high school or get a GED, marking the second time in about a year that the service has opened the door to lower-performing recruits as it struggles to meet enlistment goals. The decision follows a move in December 2022 to bring in a larger number of recruits who score very low on the Armed Services Qualification Test. Both are fairly rare steps that the other military services largely avoid or limit, even though... Читать дальше...

The White House says the preliminary order by the International Court of Justice that Israel must take urgent action to prevent genocide in Gaza, is consistent with the Biden administration’s approach to the war and will not change U.S. policy supporting Israel. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China sent more than 30 warplanes and a group of navy ships toward Taiwan, the island's defense ministry said Saturday. The military pressure comes on the heels of an announcement that senior American and Chinese representatives were expected to meet in the Thai capital as the two countries seek to cool tensions. The Chinese People's Liberation Army sent 33 aircraft, including SU-30 fighters, and six navy vessels around Taiwan, between 6 a.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday. Of these... Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON — A military panel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, recommended 23 years in detention Friday for two Malaysian men in connection with deadly 2002 bombings in Bali, a spokesperson for the military commission said. However, under a previously secret provision of the plea agreement disclosed after the panel's recommendation Friday, and a separate sentence reduction Friday by the presiding judge, both men may face a far shorter sentence: about five years. Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir... Читать дальше...

SYDNEY — The pro-Taiwan leader of the Pacific Islands nation of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, lost his seat in an election closely watched by Taiwan, China and the U.S., partial results showed Saturday. Tuvalu, with a population of about 11,200 spread across nine islands, is one of three remaining Pacific allies of Taiwan, after Nauru cut ties this month and switched to Beijing, which had promised more development help. Natano had pledged to continue support for Taiwan, a diplomatic ally since 1979. Читать дальше...

hong kong/washington/taipei, taiwan — The Hong Kong Stock Exchange's benchmark Hang Seng index is having a rocky start to the new year, trading around the same level it was at when the British handed the city to Beijing 27 years ago and losing its place as the fourth-largest capital market in Asia to India. Last year it was the worst-performing major market in the world. The Hang Seng has been trading below 16,000 points, declining in value for about 90% of the trading days so far this year. On January 22 alone... Читать дальше...

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The last of the 100 known victims of the wildfire that destroyed Maui's historic town of Lahaina in August was identified Friday as a 70-year-old woman whose husband, sister and several other relatives also died in the fire.  Maui police said they identified the victim as Lydia Coloma. Her husband, along with a sister, brother-in-law and a niece and nephew, also died in the fire, said her sister-in-law, Tina Acosta, in Honolulu. Coloma was from the Ilocos Sur province in the Philippines... Читать дальше...

los angeles — Data gathered by NASA's Perseverance rover have confirmed the existence of ancient lake sediments deposited by water that once filled a giant basin on Mars called Jezero Crater, according to a study published Friday. The findings from ground-penetrating radar observations conducted by the robotic rover substantiate previous orbital imagery and other data leading scientists to theorize that portions of Mars were once covered in water and may have harbored microbial life. The research... Читать дальше...

Vancouver, British Columbia — An official commission is about to get underway in Ottawa as Canada tries to determine to what extent China and other countries interfered in its last two elections. The investigation also will examine whether Russia and India interfered as well. All three countries have denied the allegations. Justice Marie-Josee Hogue will oversee the commission, which is the latest attempt to find out how countries — predominately China, Russia and India — may have sought to influence Canada's most recent federal elections. Читать дальше...

WASHINGTON — "I just want my mother back," Kaung Sett Lin told reporters outside Insein Prison in Yangon on January 4. He was among the nearly 10,000 prisoners released during a mass amnesty announced by the ruling junta on Myanmar’s Independence Day on January 4. "My mother passed away eight months ago while I was in prison," Kaung Sett Lin told VOA in a recent interview. "She died at the age of 48 from cancer. The last time I saw her, or the rest of my family, was when I appeared in court for... Читать дальше...

Former US President Donald Trump came away from Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary with the most votes, but his chief opponent, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, wasn’t too far behind. US President Joe Biden also won his write-in campaign in the state and garnered a big union endorsement. How is the 2024 US Presidential election shaping up? To discuss the results and what's next, University of Mary Washington Political Science and International Affairs chair Rosalyn Cooperman joins the program. Chad’s... Читать дальше...

washington — Human rights experts are dismissing Beijing's latest claim, made again this week, that North Koreans fleeing into China are not political refugees but only illegal migrants seeking economic opportunities. Several experts said they see the claim as simply a way of supporting Pyongyang's authoritarian system, which is similar to China’s own. "There [are] no so-called DPRK defectors in China. People who illegally entered into China for economic reasons are not refugees," Chinese Foreign... Читать дальше...