Українські і світові новини. Новини – це інформація про поточні події або зміни, що відбуваються в світі. Вони розповсюджуються через різні медіа-канали, такі як газети, телебачення, радіо та Інтернет, з метою інформування громадськості. Основні характеристики новин включають:
Актуальність: Новини зазвичай стосуються останніх або поточних подій, які мають суспільний інтерес.
Релевантність: Вони охоплюють теми, які мають значення або впливають на життя людей, такі як політика, економіка, здоров’я, наука та культура.
Точність: Надійні джерела новин прагнуть надавати фактичну та перевірену інформацію.
Об’єктивність: Ідеально, новинні репортажі повинні бути неупередженими та об’єктивними, представляючи різні точки зору на подію.
Наратив: Новини часто подаються у форматі історій, з чітким початком, серединою та кінцем, щоб ефективно залучити та інформувати аудиторію
The U.S. State Department is making the advancement of religious freedom a foreign policy priority, with survivors of religious persecution representing North Koreans, Rohingyas, Uighurs and Yazidis invited to highlight the urgency of the problem at a conference next week in Washington.
“This is a major foreign policy initiative of the United States,” said Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom. During a telephone briefing, he said it was an issue that has not received enough attention around the world as religious persecution has grown in recent years.
More than 1,000 representatives from religious groups and civil society, as well as foreign ministers, are expected to gather at the State Department July 16-18 to discuss the status of religious freedom around the world.
FILE – A makeshift memorial was placed by a light pole a block away from a shooting incident where one person was killed at the Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway, north of San Diego, California, Apr. 27, 2019.
Victims of recent attacks at a synagogue in San Diego, mosques in New Zealand and an Easter bombing in Sri Lanka are also expected to attend.
Speakers at the ministerial will include Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi woman who has been advocating for the group in northern Iraq, and American evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, who was freed after two years of detention in Turkey.
“Our effort is to stir action. We want to see, really, a global grass-roots movement around religious freedom,” said Brownback.
The U.S. special envoy said governments of nations that have been designated by the U.S. as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for severe violations of religious freedom, including China and Myanmar, are not invited to the conference as it is centered on like-minded countries and governments that aspire to move toward religious freedom.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is telling congressional leaders that Congress should raise the debt ceiling before leaving for its August recess. He says he could run out of maneuvering room to avoid an unprecedented default on the national debt before lawmakers return.
In a letter Friday to House and Senate leaders, Mnuchin says that based on updated projections, “there is a scenario in which we run out of cash in early September, before Congress reconvenes.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she would like to complete a deal with President Donald Trump this month to raise the borrowing limit and set spending levels for the coming budget year.
House Democrats are considering a delay of special counsel Robert Mueller’s high-profile hearing next week because of concerns over the short length of the scheduled hearings before two committees.
The House Judiciary and Intelligence committees are considering delaying the July 17 hearing as they negotiate with Mueller’s representatives and the Justice Department over the hearing’s format, according to two people familiar with the talks. The delay would be in exchange for more time for questioning.
One of the people said the hearing would be delayed a week, to July 24. The people requested anonymity to discuss the private negotiations and because the talks were still fluid.
Mueller is scheduled to testify before the two committees in open session. He had expressed his reluctance to testify, and has said he won’t go beyond the report.
A spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee would not confirm the possible delay.
“At this moment we still plan to have our hearing on the 17th and we will let you know if that changes,” said Daniel Schwartz, spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting support from an unlikely source — the president — in her fight with freshmen Democrats.
Republican Donald Trump is defending top Democrat Pelosi and says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York should treat Pelosi “with respect” — in Trump’s words.
Trump also says Pelosi is “not a racist.”
Ocasio-Cortez has accused Pelosi of “singling out” her and fellow freshmen – all women of color – for criticism.
Tensions between Pelosi and some younger, more progressive first-term House Democrats have become public recently and it’s threatening party unity.
Just last month, as House Democrats clamored for impeachment proceedings against Trump, the president told Fox News Channel that Pelosi is a “nasty, vindictive, horrible” person.
The California Democrat later said of Trump: “I’m done with him.”
U.S. authorities plan to start arresting immigrants eligible for deportations in 10 cities this weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.
Trump previously warned last month about the planned deportations, which were earlier reported by the New York Times.
Courses in Islamic studies are being offered at many colleges and universities in the United States. And it’s not just Muslims signing up for those classes, as VOA’s Ali Orokzai notes in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
Bariatric surgery shrinks the stomach so people battling obesity can lose weight and regain their health. It’s a drastic, life-changing procedure, but as VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, some doctors think it should be done more often, before patients become severely obese.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a Social Media Summit Thursday, inviting conservative media, pundits, think tanks and social media influencers. Trump claims that conservative views are being censored online, by platforms including Twitter, Google and Facebook — tech-giants who were not invited to the summit. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
U.S. President Donald Trump has abandoned efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census and decided to get the information on people residing in the United States through other federal agencies. Speaking outside the White House Thursday, Trump blamed Democrats and “unfriendly” courts for creating obstacles to what he called a legitimate question. Opponents say the question would deter many non-citizens, legal or illegal, from participating in the census and that the skewed results would give Republicans more seats in the House of Representatives and other advantages. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
The thriving U.S. economy is creating new manufacturing jobs in northeast Ohio, part of the country’s once vibrant industrial heartland, but these new jobs pay about half what workers who belonged to unions made in the past. As VOA’s Brian Padden reports from Youngstown, Ohio, the mixed economic result of more jobs but at lower wages has divided working class support for President Donald Trump, who won this key battleground state in the 2016 presidential election with a promise to revive American manufacturing.
Anthropologists know that humans migrated to Europe out of Africa thousands of years ago. But it’s been hard to get a firm date on when and how or even why. Now, thanks to new technology, some old bones may help scientists narrow down the “when” of human migration. Faith Lapidus narrates this report from VOA’s Kevin Enochs.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday he had invited his son Eduardo to become ambassador to the United States, underscoring his family’s influential role in the country’s diplomacy and domestic politics.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, currently a federal congressman, told reporters separately he would accept the role if nominated. His father said earlier that the appointment would hinge on his son’s acceptance.
“If it is a mission given by the president, I would accept,” Eduardo Bolsonaro told reporters, adding he was prepared to resign from Congress if the president appoints him. He added the ultimate nomination still depended on conversations with his father and Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo.
The appointment would need to be approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before passing to the full upper house for confirmation.
Brazil’s previous ambassador to Washington retired in April. The far-right Brazilian president, who said his campaign last year was inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump, has made friendly overtures to the American leader and made similar use of family members as official advisers.
Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Flavio, is advancing his conservative social agenda as a senator.
Carlos Bolsonaro, another son of the president and a Rio de Janeiro city councilman, has taken a role in his father’s social media communications and stirred controversy by attacking members of the Brazilian Cabinet.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the third of the president’s four sons and a daughter from three marriages, has counseled his father on foreign affairs.
After his father’s election in October, Eduardo Bolsonaro was one of his first envoys to Washington, where he met with Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and was spotted wearing a “Trump 2020” cap.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon named the younger Bolsonaro the Latin American leader of his right-wing nationalist organization, “The Movement.”
During the Brazilian leader’s White House visit in March, Trump heaped praise on Eduardo Bolsonaro, who sat by his father during an Oval Office chat while Brazil’s foreign minister and ambassador in Washington were nowhere to be seen.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized Bitcoin, Facebook’s proposed Libra
digital coin and other cryptocurrencies and demanded that companies seek a banking charter and make themselves subject to U.S. and global regulations if they wanted to “become a bank.”
“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Trump wrote on Twitter.”If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International,” he added.
Trump’s comments come one day after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers that Facebook’s plan to build a digital currency called Libra cannot move forward unless it addresses concerns over privacy, money laundering, consumer protection and financial stability.
Powell said the Fed has established a working group to follow the project and is coordinating with other government’s central banks. The U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators that identifies risks to the financial system, is also expected to make a review.
Hours earlier on Thursday, Trump criticized large technology companies at an event at the White House, who he said treated conservative voices unfairly.
The Internet Association, a trade group representing major tech firms like Facebook, Twitter and Google, said, “Internet companies are not biased against any political ideology, and conservative voices in particular have used social media to great effect.”
An expanded alliance between Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG that includes a partnership in Ford self-driving unit Argo AI could redraw the balance of power in autonomous vehicles.
A Ford-VW collaboration with Argo, the Pittsburgh-based startup that has spearheaded Ford’s self-driving development since 2017, could help reduce the engineering and financial burdens on each automaker. It could also accelerate the deployment timetables of both, which have said they plan to put autonomous vehicles into operation in 2021.
Argo has been overlooked as Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving subsidiary, has deployed its robo-vans, and General Motors Co.’s Cruise Automation subsidiary has raked in billions of dollars in investments.
Scale and resources
With VW, the world’s biggest automaker by sales volume last year, Argo would be aligned with a partner with substantial scale and resources.
Ford and VW said Thursday they are expanding their global alliance and that the two companies’ chief executives would hold a news conference in New York Friday, where they are expected to announce details on a technology-sharing agreement.
A Ford-VW deal that involves Argo could also have broader implications for similar alliances, as well as valuations of related startup companies.
Earlier estimates of Argo’s value have ranged from $2 billion to $4 billion. Depending on the size of a VW investment, that valuation could rise to $7 billion, according to a source familiar with the Ford-VW discussions.
Other players
In comparison, the value of Cruise jumped to $19 billion earlier this year after it attracted more than $6 billion in investments from SoftBank Group, Honda Motor Co. and T. Rowe Price.
The value of ride services firm Uber Technologies’ Advanced Technologies Group climbed to more than $7 billion earlier this year after SoftBank, Toyota Motor Corp. and Denso Corp. invested $1 billion.
Those valuations are dwarfed by the estimates for Waymo, which is widely acknowledged as the sector leader. Morgan Stanley values Waymo at up to $175 billion, while Jefferies values the company at up to $250 billion.
Both estimates take into account Waymo’s nascent robotaxi business and potential future revenue streams from a delivery service and from streamed in-vehicle services, including e-commerce and infotainment.
VW, whose Audi unit heads the German automaker’s Automated Intelligence Driving (AID) unit in Munich, reportedly considered a $13.7 billion investment last year in Waymo for a 10 percent stake that would have valued Waymo at $137 billion.
VW recently concluded a development agreement with Aurora, the Silicon Valley self-driving startup that includes Hyundai Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles among its customers. Fiat Chrysler also supplies vehicles to Waymo.
Aurora is valued at $2.5 billion. Investors include Hyundai and Amazon Inc.
Argo, which is majority-owned by the No. 2 U.S. automaker, is part of Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC. Ford set up the unit in 2018, pledging to invest $4 billion until 2023.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to launch an investigation into the alleged killings of tens of thousands of Filipinos during the government’s war on drugs.
The measure, put forward by Iceland, was approved 18-14 Thursday. It cites extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and disappearances at the hands of police since President Rodrigo Duterte launched the anti-narcotics campaign in 2016.
Philippines ambassador in Geneva, Evan Garcia, immediately rebuked the U.N. move saying it “does not represent a triumph of human rights, but a travesty of them.”
Filipino activists have claimed that about 27,000 people have been killed as police terrorize poor communities, using cursory drug “watch lists” to identify users or dealers. The government counters that about 6,600 people have been killed by police in shootouts with drug dealers.
The resolution was welcomed by human rights groups. “This vote provides hope for thousands of bereaved families in the Philippines,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “It’s a crucial step towards justice and accountability.”
Two senior human rights officials say they want the 5,600 refugees and migrants in Libyan detention centers freed and their protection guaranteed.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and International Organization for Migration Director Antonio Vitorino issued a joint statement Thursday. They said if Libya cannot guarantee safety for the migrants, they need to be evacuated to other countries “where accelerated settlement is needed.”
The two officials described Libya as a place where “suffering and risk of human rights abuses continue” for refugees. “A safe, managed process of release with proper information on available assistance is essential for all.”
Grandi and Vitorino also said migrants picked up in the Mediterranean Sea must no longer be sent back to Libya, as it cannot be considered a safe port.
They pointed to last week’s airstrike on a detention center near Tripoli, which killed more than 50, as one of the perils faced by refugees returned to Libya.
FILE – Debris covers the ground and an emergency vehicle after an airstrike at a detention center in Tajoura, east of Tripoli in Libya, July 3, 2019.
They called on European Union nations to resume search-and-rescue operations in the dangerous waters and said all member states should share this responsibility, along with halting penalties for charity-run rescue ships.
The two said more help was needed for the 800,000 migrants in Libya so that “living conditions are improved, human rights are better protected, and fewer people end up being driven into the hands of smugglers and human traffickers.”
Refugees from North Africa and elsewhere trying to escape poverty, war and terrorism usually depart from Libyan shores to try to reach European ports.
Congressional Democrats hope to put last month’s scuffle over the $4.6 billion emergency border bill behind them with renewed oversight of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and legislation to strengthen protections for families detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The push comes amid reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will begin nationwide immigration raids Sunday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday, “It’s never too late to do the right thing for the children, and when it comes to children, again, I’m the lioness, I’m just going to protect our cubs. And so we’re going to use every legislative tactic at our disposal.”
House legislation
House Democrats introduced a series of measures earlier this week intended to address the gap between a House-passed bill restricting the Trump administration’s operations on the border and the Senate version of the bill that ended up passing both chambers in June.
Democratic leadership had to quell a rebellion from House progressives who objected to voting for the Senate version of the bill, which provided emergency funding to address the humanitarian crisis at the border. A handful of Democrats refused to vote for that bill on the ground it enabled the Trump administration’s treatment of asylum-seekers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. arrives for a House Democratic caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 10, 2019.
Pelosi declined to answer if she would attach this week’s measures to must-pass legislation, a move that would avoid a repeat of the embarrassing scenario the leadership encountered last month.
Republican leadership pointed to the new legislation as proof Democrats were finally acknowledging problems on the border.
“I’m just excited that now the Democrats realize there’s a crisis,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said. “The problem is their lack of action made the crisis worse, or lack of action when it comes to the supplemental.”
Republicans argue Democrats have failed to address increases in undocumented immigration, harming the children and families they want to help.
“By refusing to address our border crisis, we invite child smuggling and child abuse,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said on the Senate floor Thursday. “Nobody who is compassionate, nobody who wants to be virtuous, nobody who cares about other human beings would want to perpetuate what is happening at the border for even a single day.”
Detention policy
But Democrats argue the Trump administration is creating the crisis. Senate Democrats Thursday introduced legislation addressing the administration’s family detention policy, while recognizing it has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled chamber.
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y. (L) listens as Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks at a news conference on proposed legislation regarding detention of immigrants on the southern border, July 11, 2019, Capitol Hill, Washington.
“If Democrats were in the majority, we’d move this legislation immediately,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. “We’re not. And the question looms: Will [Majority] Leader [Mitch] McConnell stand up for the children and work with us to pass these new standards into law?”
The bill would seek a legislative end to the policy of separating migrant parents from children, along with mandating congressional oversight of children in custody.
“This is a conscious policy decision by this administration to create what they call a deterrent, to make the mistreatment of people at the border a signal and message to people across the world that the door is closed in the United States for asylum and for refuge. And they’re doing this in a conscious manner,” Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said.
The effort in both chambers provides Democratic lawmakers with political cover with constituents concerned about Trump administration policies. But lawmakers are likely to gain more traction with oversight efforts in committees.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday will examine claims of inhumane conditions by members of Congress who visited border detention facilities, as well as hear testimony from officials charged with oversight of the government agencies overseeing detention facilities. In a hearing next week, the committee will hear testimony from acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan.
Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee authorized subpoenas Thursday that would assist an investigation into administration policies at the border.
The investigation would require administration officials to answer questions about reports President Donald Trump offered then-Customs and Border Protection Commissioner McAleenan a pardon if he was jailed for obeying a presidential order denying asylum seekers entry into the United States.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri could edge out his main challenger in the event of an election runoff later this year, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday, one of the first since candidates officially announced their plans to run.
The poll from local firm Management & Fit suggested Macri would win by 2 percentage points in a head-to-head contest with Peronist rival Alberto Fernandez, whose running mate is populist former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
FILE – Argentine presidential candidate Alberto Fernandez acknowledges the audience during a campaign rally in Buenos Aires. May 25, 2019.
The report was based on 2,000 voters polled online, by telephone and in person. The narrow advantage, however, is less than the poll’s margin of error of 2.2% and comes months before the first voting round on Oct. 27.
According to the poll, Macri and his running mate, moderate Peronist Miguel Angel Pichetto, would win 45% of the votes in an election runoff scenario, with the Fernandez ticket at 42.9%.
A second-round runoff would take place on Nov. 24 if no candidate wins at least 45% of the first-round vote in October, or a minimum of 40% of the vote with a margin of at least a 10 percentage points over second place.
The poll indicated that Fernandez would narrowly win with the electorate able to vote for the full range of candidates — mirroring the process of the first round of voting — but not by a large enough margin to avoid a runoff.
Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez are not related.
Macri, elected in 2015, has come under fire since last year amid a biting recession and economic turmoil that saw the peso tumble against the dollar and annual inflation climb above 50%, denting his popularity with voters.
However, the economy has shown some recent signs of improvement, with a stronger peso, inflation stabilizing, bond yields falling and local equities near a record high.
Alberto Fernandez has criticized Macri’s policies and vowed to “rework” a huge financing deal with the International Monetary Fund for $56.3 billion that Macri agreed to last year.
The Fernandez ticket has yet to announce a detailed economic plan, though they have said they would look to tackle unemployment and the sharp slump in industrial production.
Investors, however, are wary of Cristina Fernandez — who is running for vice president — because of her past populist economic policies.
