Category: Євросоюз

The United States has terminated Turkey’s participation in the F-35 joint strike fighter program. The decision announced Wednesday is in response to Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 defense system. The White House said in a statement that Turkey’s acceptance of the S-400 undermines its commitments to NATO. But officials also said that Turkey remains an important strategic partner and that security cooperation will continue. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more. …

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Scientists are finally closing in on a goal they’ve spent years trying to achieve: a blood test to screen people for possible signs of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. At an international conference in Los Angeles, July 14-19, different research groups will present evidence to show how far they’ve progressed. Faith Lapidus reports.   …

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India’s monsoon rains were 20% below average in the week ending on Wednesday, as rainfall was scanty over the central, western and southern parts of the country, the weather office said, raising concerns over the output of summer-sown crops. Monsoon rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth, as about 55% of India’s arable land is rain-fed, and agriculture forms about 15% of a $2.5 trillion economy that is the third biggest in Asia. Soybean- and cotton-growing central regions received 68% less rainfall in the week, while the rubber- and tea-growing southern state of Kerala received 71% lower rainfall, …

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U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made religious freedom a centerpiece of his foreign policy, met Wednesday with victims of religious persecution from countries like China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar. Trump counts evangelical Christians among his core supporters and the State Department is hosting a conference on the topic this week that will be attended by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Four of the 27 participants in the Oval Office meeting were from China, the White House said: Jewher Ilham, an Uighur Muslim; Yuhua Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner; Nyima Lhamo, a Tibetan …

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Police have begun arresting protesters gathered at the base of Hawaii’s tallest volcano, Mauna Kea, to stop the construction of a giant telescope on what they say is their most sacred ground. Protest leader Kealoha Pisciotta told The Associated Press that police had arrested 30 elders, called kupuna in Hawaiian, on Wednesday.   Some of the elders used canes and strollers to walk, while others were taken in wheelchairs to police vans. Those who could walk on their own were led away with their hands in zip ties. The elders were among about 2,000 people blocking the road to the …

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The European Union is opening a new front in its quest to more closely regulate big tech companies, saying Wednesday it was investigating whether U.S. online giant Amazon uses data from independent retailers to gain an illegal edge when selling its own products. EU antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she is taking a “very close look at Amazon’s business practices and its dual role as marketplace and retailer, to assess its compliance with EU competition rules.”   In addition to selling its own products, Amazon also allows third-party retailers to sell their goods through its site. Last year, more than …

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Bulgarian police have detained a suspect who is allegedly behind the hacking of the national revenue agency, an attack that leaked the personal and financial data of millions of Bulgarians and companies. Police cybersecurity chief Yavor Kolev said Wednesday a 20-year-old Bulgarian employee of a cybersecurity company is suspected in the hacking. The leak is the biggest in the Balkan nation so far. Local media say the details of some 5 million of the country’s 7 million people were stolen. Kolev said the investigation is still ongoing and other people could have been involved. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the …

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A driver whose car collided with several people before crashing outside Britain’s Parliament has been convicted of attempted murder. Three people were injured when Salih Khater hit a pedestrian and cyclists before colliding with a security barrier guarded by police. The August 2018 incident came a year after London was hit by several deadly vehicle attacks, including one outside Parliament. Khater, a 30-year-old British citizen originally from Sudan, claimed he was looking for the Sudanese embassy to get a visa, got lost and panicked.   But prosecutor Alison Morgan said it was a “premeditated and deliberate” attack. She said Khater’s …

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The ever-so-brief Hurricane Barry spared the southern U.S. city of New Orleans and the Louisiana coast of devastating floods. But with the 2019 hurricane season underway, a sense of anxiety has once again overcome a community that fears it will only be a matter of time before a storm as lethal as Hurricane Katrina tests its limits again. On the bayou, one fishing community worries for the future of their profession, while residents of New Orleans’ most vulnerable neighborhoods say the city’s infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle another crisis. VOA’s Ramon Taylor reports.   …

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Police in Pakistan have arrested an Islamist cleric whom the United States has designated as a global terrorist for his alleged role in the deadly 2008 attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai. Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group and head of its banned charity wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), was traveling to the city of Gujranwala in Punjab province when he was taken into custody. A spokesman for the provincial counterterrorism department said Saeed was taken to the city’s anti-terrorism court where the judge ordered the cleric held in jail for a week. The court also …

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Venezuelans like to jest that their beloved arepas are so widely consumed that babies come out of the womb with the corn flatbreads already in hand. Now, as millions flee their homeland’s turmoil, they are taking Venezuela’s most ubiquitous dish with them. Humble street stalls and sit-down restaurants serving arepas are popping up throughout the streets of Colombia’s capital and in cities around the world, where many are finding the white corn flour patties an ideal means for gaining their footing in a foreign nation. Others are exchanging traditional fillings for local flavors in a nod to their adopted countries. …

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German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen was narrowly elected president of the European Commission on Tuesday after winning over skeptical lawmakers. The 60-year-old conservative was nominated to become the first woman in Brussels’ top job last month by the leaders of the bloc’s 28 member states, to the annoyance of many MEPs. The Strasbourg parliament would have preferred a candidate chosen by one of its political groups, but in the end a small majority — 383 members of the 751-member assembly voted — for her. She will now replace Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the EU executive on November …

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Activists are calling on Sudan’s military and opposition leaders to open the country’s political process to women when the sides begin to implement their recent power-sharing deal. For most of Sudan’s 63 years as an independent country, women were not allowed to get involved in politics due to cultural norms and other restrictions. Women say they have been marginalized and denied a chance to participate in public affairs, especially during the 30-year regime of former president Omar al-Bashir. Women’s rights activist Manal Bashir, who helped mobilize women during the protests that led to last week’s power-sharing deal, says now is …

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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif says his country is willing to negotiate with the U.S., but only if it lifts harsh economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran in 2017 before withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal last year that requires Iran to slash its uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.   “Once those sanctions are lifted … the room for negotiation is wide open,” Zarif said in an NBC News interview that aired Monday.  Zarif, who is in New York for meetings at the United Nations, said the U.S. abandoned a diplomatic …

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The U.N. refugee agency is reiterating its call for countries in the Americas to work together to develop a coordinated regional response to the growing Central American migration and asylum problem. The U.N. refugee agency expresses deep concern about the Trump Administration’s new asylum policy, warning it will put vulnerable families at risk.  It says the measure sharply curtails the right of people to apply for asylum and jeopardizes their right of protection against deportation to a country where their lives and well-being may be in danger. UNHCR spokeswoman Liz Throssell says the new rule violates international refugee law, which …

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Scientists are closing in on a long-sought goal — a blood test to screen people for possible signs of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.    On Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, half a dozen research groups gave new results on various experimental tests, including one that seems 88% accurate at indicating Alzheimer’s risk. Doctors are hoping for something to use during routine exams, where most dementia symptoms are evaluated, to gauge who needs more extensive testing. Current tools such as brain scans and spinal fluid tests are too expensive or impractical for regular check-ups. “We need …

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Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen faces a make-or-break vote on Tuesday in her quest to be the European Commission’s first female leader, and a raft of promises made the previous day may help her win over skeptical European Union socialist and liberal lawmakers. To appease them, von der Leyen pledged more ambitious carbon dioxide emissions targets, a more growth-oriented fiscal policy and taxing big tech companies. She also vowed to create an additional comprehensive European rule-of-law mechanism that includes annual reporting, boost the EU’s border guards earlier than scheduled to deal with the migrant issue, and set a minimum wage …

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Pernell Whitaker, an Olympic gold medalist and four-division champion who was regarded as one of the greatest defensive fighters ever, has died after being hit by a car in Virginia. He was 55. Police in Virginia Beach said the former fighter was hit by a car Sunday night. The driver of the car remained on the scene, and police said they were investigating the circumstances of the death. Sweet Pea was Whitaker’s nickname, and it fit perfectly. He was a master of hitting and not getting hit back, a southpaw who slipped in and out of the pocket and rarely …

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that will require federal agencies to purchase products using more American components. The order strengthens the standards that federal agencies must follow under the Buy American Act, which creates a preference for American-made goods. Trump said his order will gradually boost the percentage of U.S. components for qualifying American-made products from 50 percent to 75 percent. He said the threshold would increase to 95 percent for iron and steel products. “The philosophy of my administration is simple. If we can build it, grow it or make it in the United States, we …

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Walt Disney Co. has taken a high-tech route to remake animated classic “The Lion King” with the look of a nature documentary, an update it hopes will lure audiences to a new version of a film considered a masterpiece the first time. The re-telling of the 1994 tale about the lion cub Simba, which opens in theaters around the world this week, was created with computer animation, gaming technology and virtual reality, plus live-action filmmaking techniques, director Jon Favreau said. The goal was to provide a “photo-real” look for expressive animals and African vistas, Favreau said. “Lion King” follows recent …

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