BEIJING — One burning issue dominates as the 2024 session of China's legislature gets underway this week: the economy. The National People's Congress annual meeting, which opens Tuesday, is being closely watched for any signals on what the ruling Communist Party might do to reenergize an economy that is sagging under the weight of expanded government controls and the bursting of a real-estate bubble. That is not to say that other issues won't come up. Proposals to raise the retirement age are expected to be a hot topic... Читать дальше...
SELMA, Alabama — Attorney General Merrick Garland told parishioners at a Selma church service commemorating the 59th anniversary of the attack by Alabama law officers on Civil Rights demonstrators that voting rights are endangered in much of the nation. Garland told a Bloody Sunday service that decisions by the Supreme Court and lower courts since 2006 have weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was passed in the wake of the police attack. The demonstrators were beaten by officers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7... Читать дальше...
For students with a disability, career options can appear limited. But in Ghana, one journalist is using photojournalism to encourage students at a deaf school to broaden their horizons. For VOA, Senanu Tord reports from Savelugu, Ghana.
U.S. Voters in more than a dozen states head to the polls on Tuesday to choose their party’s presidential nominee. Over the weekend, all candidates ramped up their criticism of their challengers and spelled out their priorities to voters. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details.
BEIJING — The former chairman of the state-owned Bank of Beijing is under investigation for corruption, the latest in a series of graft investigations focused on the country’s financial sector. Yan Bingzhu, who led the bank since its establishment in 1996 and until he retired in 2017, is among several top officials being probed for “seriously violating discipline and the law,” according to a notice published on the city of Beijing’s official website Friday. He is the latest official to be probed... Читать дальше...
WASHINGTON/PORT-AU-PRINCE — Thousands of prisoners fled Haiti’s National Penitentiary, located in the capital, during a Saturday night gunbattle between national police and armed gangs, an official told VOA. Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is currently overseas. He traveled last week to Kenya, where he signed a bilateral accord to authorize 1,000 Kenyan police officers who will lead a multinational security force. The United Nations authorized the force to help Haiti combat gang violence and reestablish security. Читать дальше...
March 4 is World Obesity Day. Indonesia is facing a disparity in obesity rates among adults. Almost half of the country’s women are overweight or obese, nearly double the rate of Indonesian men according to data from the country's Ministry of Health. Dave Grunebaum looks at the issue. (Camera: Dave Grunebaum)
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — An airplane carrying Norway’s King Harald V departed Malaysia on Sunday, a day after he was implanted with a pacemaker. Europe’s oldest reigning monarch was hospitalized for an infection during a private vacation on the northern resort island of Langkawi, the royal house said Tuesday. He underwent surgery at the Sultanah Maliha Hospital on Saturday to implant a temporary pacemaker due to a low heart rate, according to the royal house. Norwegian media outlets said Harald traveled to Malaysia with his wife... Читать дальше...
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A court in Bangladesh on Sunday granted bail to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in a $2.3 million embezzlement case. Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, was sentenced to six months in prison in January on a separate charge of violating labor laws. He was granted bail in that case too and has appealed. Prosecutor Mir Ahmmad Ali Salam said the embezzlement case involves a workers welfare fund of Grameen Telecom... Читать дальше...
Bangkok — Thailand has in the last week helped facilitate the transfer of some 900 Chinese nationals who had been trapped in scam centers in a Myanmar border town back to China, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Sunday. Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, has become a hub for telecom and other online fraud, according to the United Nations, with hundreds of thousands of people trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centers and other illegal operations. The operation, which... Читать дальше...
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — Around 170 people were "executed" in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor said on Sunday as jihadist violence flares in the junta-ruled country. On that same day, February 25, separate attacks on a mosque in eastern Burkina and a Catholic church in the north left dozens more dead. Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said he had received reports of the attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe in Yatenga province on February 25... Читать дальше...
ISLAMABAD — Lawmakers in Pakistan's National Assembly elected Sunday Shehbaz Sharif as the country's new prime minister for the second time. Allies of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan in parliament shouted in protest against his appointment, alleging rigging in last month's election. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said Sharif secured 201 votes, defeating Omar Ayub of the Sunni Ittehad Council who got 92 votes. Sharif only needed 169 votes to get majority. Following days of negotiations, Sharif's Pakistan... Читать дальше...
SEOUL, South Korea — Thousands of senior doctors rallied in Seoul on Sunday to express their support for junior doctors who have been on strike for nearly two weeks over a government plan to sharply increase the number of medical school admissions. The rally came as the government said it would begin to take steps Monday to suspend the medical licenses of nearly 9,000 medical interns and residents for defying government orders to end their walkouts, which have disrupted hospital operations. "The... Читать дальше...
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities said Sunday at least 29 people died and 50 others injured due to heavy rains that swept across the country in the past 48 hours, causing several houses to collapse and landslides to block roads, particularly in the northwest. This comes as Pakistan is also witnessing severe snowfall. About 23 rain-related deaths were reported in various areas in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan since Thursday night, the provincial disaster management authority said in a statement. Читать дальше...
China on Monday opens its so-called Two Sessions gathering, one of Beijing’s highest-profile annual political events. Although carefully scripted, the meeting will provide important signals about Chinese policy plans. However, the proceedings may be overshadowed by a long list of challenges facing China, reports VOA’s Bill Gallo, who will attend the event.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A Native American tribe with one of the largest outstanding claims to water in the Colorado River basin is closing in on a settlement with more than a dozen parties, putting it on a path to piping water to tens of thousands of tribal members in Arizona who still live without it. Negotiating terms outlined late Wednesday include water rights not only for the Navajo Nation but the neighboring Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes in the northeastern corner of the state. The water would come from a mix of sources... Читать дальше...
MEXICO CITY — As Mexico prepares for the largest elections in its history, organized crime is once again preying on local candidates across swaths of the country where cartels dominate, raising concerns among experts that these could be Mexico's bloodiest elections ever. Julián López, coordinator for the Citizen Movement party in the southern state of Guerrero, experienced it firsthand when rifle-toting gunmen abducted him and two colleagues while they were driving on February 7. The 43-year-old López was beaten... Читать дальше...
