Радиожурнал 6 (Рубцова Б. Я.-10.04.

2023)

1. The former U.S. President Donald Trump has returned to his Mar- a-Lago resort in Florida
after pleading not guilty to 34 criminal charges in a New York court. Mr. Trump is accused of
falsifying records and paying hush money to hide damaging information during the 2016
election, but he told supporters his only crime was to fearlessly defend the nation from those who
would destroy it. A. Z. assesses the former president's speech: “An airing of grievances is a good
way to describe at least the beginning part of Donald Trump's speech. Talking about the two
impeachment cases brought against them. The search of Mar -a -Lago, the Russia investigation
with special counsel Robert Baller, all of that is familiar territory for anyone who has followed
Donald Trump over the years. He did kind of pivot into more of a kind of a traditional campaign
speech. I think he wanted to take advantage of this national spotlight on him where all of the
major cable news networks were up his feet to criticize Joe Biden, to talk about why he thinks
he's bad for America, why he thinks his campaign and his movement is what America needs.

2. The United Nations says the Taliban in Afghanistan have issued an order which bans Afghan
women from working for the UN across the country. Here's our South Asia editor A. T.: “ A UN
spokesman said the ban on female UN staff was the latest in a disturbing trend that undermined
the ability of aid organizations to work in the country where more than half the population need
assistance. He said they were expecting to have meetings with the de facto Afghan rulers on
Wednesday to seek some clarity on the development. After the Taliban banned most Afghan
women from working for nongovernmental organizations in December humanitarian agencies
stressed that some crucial health work, including immunizations could only be done by female
staff, the Taliban relented, allowing women to work only in the health sector.”

3. Russian investigators have detained a young woman, Darya Trepova, in connection with the
killing of the pro war Blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky. He died in a bomb blast in a St. Petersburg cafe
on Sunday, W. V. reports from Moscow: “The explosive device was reportedly hidden inside a
statuette which was passed to Mr. Tatarsky, shortly before the blast. It is not yet clear who was
behind the bombing. But Russia's Anti - Terrorism Committee released a statement saying it was
planned by Ukrainian intelligence agencies and involved people linked to the Russian opposition
leader and Putin critic Alexei Navalny. Kiev denies any involvement.

4. Finland has become the newest member of NATO in a ceremony at the headquarters of the
military alliance in Brussels. The Finnish flag was raised alongside that of the 30 other member
states. It applied to join the alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Speaking at the
ceremony, President Sauli Niinistö said a new chapter in Finland's history was beginning.
“The era of military non-alignment in our history has come to an end. Each country maximizes
its own security, so does Finland. NATO membership strengthens our international position and
room for maneuver. We have already long actively participated in NATO activities.”

5. The Israeli army says it has intercepted more than 20 rockets fired from southern Lebanon. 5
missiles landed on Israeli soil. The emergency services say one man was likely wounded.
Unconfirmed reports say Israel has responded with shelling across the border. It comes at a time
of heightened tension, as L. W. reports: “The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs
Gaza, has confirmed to the BBC that the attacks came during a visit to Beirut by the Hamas
leader, Ishmael Hanier. There's been no immediate claim of responsibility, but they came hours
after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it would support all measures taken by
Palestinian groups against Israel. There's been outrage across the region at the actions of Israeli
police over the past two nights as they entered the Al -Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and clashed
with Palestinians inside.
6. China's Foreign Ministry has condemned a meeting between Taiwan's President, Tsai Ing-
wen, and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, in California.
Vowing a resolute response, Taiwan's Defense minister said a Chinese aircraft carrier and three
Chinese warships had been detected 200 nautical miles of Taiwan's East Coast. More from D.
W.: “Whilst it acknowledges the so called “one China policy” under which Beijing lays claim to
Taiwan, the United States doesn't support China's claim to rule the island. A visit by the former
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last year drew a sharp rebuke from China, and China's
leadership had previously warned that it would regard any talks here as provocative.
China's state media said today that its vessels had launched a joint patrol and inspection
operation in the Taiwan Straits”.
7. The White House has released a summary of a report which says little more could have been
done to prevent the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, but admitting that the evacuation of Kabul
should have begun earlier. The review was ordered by President Biden. It blames the chaotic US
withdrawal on a deal the former President Donald Trump did with the Taliban. Our
correspondent in Washington, J. P., was at the National security spokesman John Kirby's press
briefing.“It was quite interesting watching the White House press briefing, which was quite
combative at stages journalists asking John Kirby, so do you have any regrets as to how this
unfolded, including those chaotic scenes at Kabul? And the reply was that Jo Biden was
incredibly proud of all the service personnel who had taken part in that operation.
But as well, talking about how no plan ever quite goes as you might expect it to be, but I think
there was some sort of tacit admissions of intelligence failures.

8. Russian state media say the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been charged
with spying for the United States. The report says he categorically denied the accusations.
The Wall Street Journal has demanded Mr Gershkovich's immediate release. S. R. reports: “It's
more than a week since the journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Ekaterinburg, a move
which his newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, has condemned and that the State Department has
demanded be overturned. Mr Gershkovich was detained whilst on a reporting trip in Russia and
accused of spying. He's now been formally charged, although no evidence
at all has been presented and his friends and colleagues are sure he's been targeted for his
journalism. Russia has crushed all independent local media in recent years and when Vladimir
Putin ordered a full- on invasion of Ukraine, he introduced tight censorship, making reporting
from Russia far tougher even for foreign correspondents there.

9. Taiwan's President has arrived in Guatemala, the first stop on a visit to two allied countries in
Central America. Tsai Ing-wen will be hoping to shore up support for Taiwan after last week's
decision by neighboring Honduras to switch its backing to China. A spokesperson for Beijing's
Foreign Ministry said China hoped Guatemala would follow Honduras and recognize the
authorities in Beijing as the legitimate government.

10. Relief and recovery operations are underway in several southern and Midwestern U.S. states.
After a series of tornadoes caused extensive damage in the past few minutes, the Governor of
Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has confirmed that two people have died there. Our North
America correspondent D. W. has the latest: “Both Little Rock and the surrounding area today
were hit by this tornado, which touched down in the west of the city, then crossed over the
Arkansas River into the north of Little Rock. There was another tornado that hit the town of
Wynn, which is in the eastern part of the state near the border with Tennessee. Officials also
reported widespread damage there, including destroyed buildings, trees downed and so on. Other
tornadoes reported in Iowa. That's a state which is directly to the north of Arkansas. And all this
as President Biden was touring the aftermath of a deadly tornado that hit the town of Rolling
Fork in Mississippi precisely a week ago”.