Category: Євросоюз

Health officials say an oppressive heat wave that has blanketed large swaths of the United States has contributed to the deaths of at least six people. Various news outlets have reported heat-related deaths in the states of Maryland, Arizona and Arkansas. The National Weather Service warned a “dangerous heat wave” paired with high humidity in the United States over the weekend could quickly cause heat stress or heat stroke, if precautions are not taken. Events were canceled throughout the nation, from festivals and concerts to sporting events. The NWS said temperatures would remain warm at night, in the upper 70s …

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Britain on Saturday denounced Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf as a “hostile act” and rejected Tehran’s explanation that it seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident.  Iran’s Revolutionary Guards posted a video online showing speedboats pulling alongside the Stena Impero tanker, its name clearly visible. Troops wearing ski masks and carrying machine guns rappelled to its deck from a helicopter, the same tactics used by British Royal Marines to seize an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar two weeks ago.  Friday’s action in the global oil trade’s most important waterway has been …

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U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Saturday that President Donald Trump relished a chant by the crowd at a campaign rally this week that called for a Democratic congresswoman to be sent back where she came from.  Trump renewed his criticism of four minority women lawmakers on Friday, saying that they had said horrible things about the United States, and defended himself from criticism over his comment that they should leave the United States if unhappy.  A day after saying his audience in North Carolina went too far when they chanted “Send her back!” about Somalia-born Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, on …

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White House national security adviser John Bolton departed on Saturday for a trip to Japan and South Korea as the two countries are in the middle of a trade dispute.  A White House National Security Council spokesman said on Twitter that Bolton planned to “continue conversations with critical allies and friends.”  President Donald Trump on Friday offered his help to ease tensions in the political and economic dispute between the United States’ two biggest allies in Asia, which threatens global supplies of memory chips and smartphones.  Lingering tensions, particularly over the issue of compensation for South Koreans forced to work …

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MIAMI — American crocodiles, once headed toward extinction, are thriving at an unusual spot — the canals surrounding a South Florida nuclear plant.  Last week, 73 crocodile hatchlings were rescued by a team of specialists at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant and dozens more are expected to emerge soon.  Turkey Point’s 168-mile (270-kilometer) man-made canals serve as the home to several hundred crocodiles, where a team of specialists working for FPL monitors and protects them from hunting and climate change.  From January to April, Michael Lloret, an FPL wildlife biologist and crocodile specialist, helps create nests for …

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A report issued on the eve of an international AIDS conference in Mexico finds progress in combating the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is receding.  The joint U.N. program on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, warns the pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections is slowing because nations lack the political will needed to end this scourge.  UNAIDS latest global update finds 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2018 and 770,000 died of AIDS-related illnesses.  The report finds more than 23 million people are receiving anti-retroviral treatment, but another 15 million are still not receiving this life-saving treatment. UNAIDS …

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The World Food Program warns 1.9 million Mozambicans battered by two devastating cyclones earlier this year are at risk of severe food shortages without urgent international assistance.  Hundreds of people were killed, tens of thousands made homeless and livelihoods lost when Cyclones Idai and Kenneth hit Mozambique with devastating force in March and April. The destructive power of the two storms has wreaked havoc on the country’s infrastructure and agriculture. Many crops that were about to be harvested and farm infrastructure were destroyed.  The impact of these two disasters lingers on, threatening widespread hunger among survivors of these twin disasters. …

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The National Weather Service warned that dangerously high temperatures and humidity in the United States over the weekend could quickly cause heat stress or heat stroke, if precautions are not taken. The NWS advises people to check in on relatives and friends, especially the elderly. Temperatures have been rising in cities from the Midwest to the East Coast because of a high pressure system that has trapped the  warm air.  City officials are allowing public pools to stay open longer and municipalities are issuing advisories to inform the public about how best to deal with the heat.    Forecasters say …

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Despite the huge amount of evidence, the dust and rock samples, the television footage, and the hundreds of thousands of people who made it happen, polls show as many as 6% of Americans believe the Apollo 11 astronauts never landed on the moon. Conspiracy theorists continue to insist the entire mission 50 years ago was an elaborate hoax, produced at the Area 51 Air Force testing range in Nevada or on a Hollywood movie soundstage by legendary director Stanley Kubrick. In Exclusive VOA Interviews, NASA Astronauts Reflect on Historic Moon Missions video player. Embed Copy In Exclusive VOA Interviews, NASA …

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The death toll has risen to 12 in a gas plant explosion in central China, authorities said Saturday. Another 13 people were seriously injured and three others remained missing, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said. About 270 firefighters and rescue workers have completed three rounds of search and rescue, the ministry said. The Friday evening explosion in Yima city in Henan province shattered windows 3 kilometers (2 miles) away and knocked off doors inside buildings, Chinese state media reports said. The official Xinhua news agency said the explosion occurred in the air separation unit of the Yima gas factory of …

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The U.S. government on Friday expanded its policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait outside the country to one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, where thousands of people are already camped, some for several months. The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it would implement its Migrant Protection Protocols in Brownsville, Texas, across the border from Matamoros, Mexico. DHS says it anticipates the first asylum-seekers will be sent back to Mexico starting Friday. Under the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, asylum-seekers are briefly processed and given a date to return for an immigration court hearing before being sent back across the …

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First lady Melania Trump says her husband’s administration is working with the State Department to try to bring rapper A$AP Rocky home. The president also tells reporters that many members of the African American community have asked him to intervene. The platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated artist has been behind bars in Sweden while police investigate a fight he was involved in in Stockholm earlier this month. Kim Kardashian West, Diddy, Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and Nicki Minaj are some of the celebrities who have shown public support for the Grammy-nominated Rocky. Kardashian West thanked Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump’s …

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A group of international astrophysicists and astronomers are speaking out against what they call the “criminalization” of Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) and their allies protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on the summit Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s “big island.” In an open letter published on Google, authors call on TMT and the government of Hawaii to stop arresting and charging people and to remove military and law enforcement personnel from the mountain. The letter is signed by 85 graduate students and more than 400 undergraduate students. “We want to acknowledge the investment that so many colleagues within …

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Zimbabwe’s food situation is moving from a crisis to an emergency because of El Nino-induced drought and the ongoing economic meltdown, the United Nations said. Plaxedes Chibura of Epworth, located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of Harare, is in desperate need of food aid.  “We have resorted to just one meal a day,” said Chibura, 48, who struggles to care for her grandchildren. “At times, it’s just the vegetables we get in our garden. We are struggling to get money to buy food. I wish donors would bring us food, especially for the children, as I am not employed. …

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The United Nations says Zimbabwe’s food situation is moving from a crisis to an emergency. It says a majority of the population is food insecure because of El Nino-induced drought and the ongoing economic meltdown. Columbus Mavhunga has the story from a poor township just outside the capital, Harare. …

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an ambitious climate change bill Thursday with the goal of slashing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 85% below what they were in 1990.    “Cries for a new green movement are hollow political rhetoric if not combined with aggressive goals and a realistic plan on how to achieve them,” Cuomo said before signing the bill into law.    He was joined by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who has made fighting global warming his life’s work.    “We still have it within our power to grab hold of this crisis,” Gore said.    …

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This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.  The U.S. is defending its new restrictions on the movements of Iranian diplomats at the United Nations in New York, saying the measures are consistent with U.S. obligations as host of the world body.  In response to a question from VOA Persian, a State Department spokesperson issued a Thursday statement saying the tightened restrictions on Iranian diplomats will be implemented “consistently with our obligations under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement.”  “The United States takes its obligations as the host of the United Nations seriously. The U.S. intends to stick to its obligations,” the spokesperson …

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An American suspected of fighting with the Islamic State terror group in Syria is back in the United States, where he is expected to be charged with and tried for terrorism-related crimes.    U.S. defense officials confirmed the transfer of the suspect Thursday, saying U.S. troops assisted in bringing the U.S. national back home for prosecution.    According to a Pentagon statement, the suspect “was previously held by Syrian Democratic Forces as a suspected member of ISIS.” It referred other questions to the Department of Justice. Justice Department officials said they were aware of the transfer, first reported by CNN, but …

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Mark LaMet and Lynn Davis contributed to this report. U.S. President Donald Trump has found his latest target for acerbic ridicule — a hijab-wearing Muslim newcomer to Congress named Ilhan Omar. She is a Somali refugee but naturalized U.S. citizen whom Trump views as something less than a patriotic red, white and blue American. Trump railed against the lawmaker Wednesday night at his 2020 re-election campaign rally in North Carolina. He stoked the packed crowd at a college basketball arena with his claims that she is proud of al-Qaida terrorists, blames the U.S. for the political crisis in Venezuela and …

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The United States sanctioned two Iraqi militia leaders and two former Iraqi provincial governors it accused of human rights abuses and corruption, the U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday. The sanctions targeted militia leaders Rayan al-Kildani and Waad Qado and former governors Nawfal Hammadi al-Sultan and Ahmed al-Jubouri, the department said in a statement. “We will continue to hold accountable persons associated with serious human rights abuse, including persecution of religious minorities, and corrupt officials who exploit their positions of public trust to line their pockets and hoard power at the expense of their citizens,” Sigal Mandelker, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and …

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