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SAN, Mali — Thousands of fishermen holding cone-shaped nets stood side by side, cheering and chanting as they waited for the signal. Suddenly, they rushed to a large muddy pond and cast their nets, dropping to their knees in the mud. Soon, one proudly held up a fish the length of his arm. For several hundred years, people have gathered in the southern Mali town of San for Sanké mon, a collective fishing rite in June that begins with animal sacrifices and offerings to the water spirits of Sanké pond. The rite, with masked dancers and traditional costumes, is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. The marathon session of collective fishing celebrates the town's founding and marks the beginning of the rainy season. But climate change and heat waves are disturbing the tradition. Sanké pond is starting to disappear, said a village chief, Mamadou Lamine Traoré. Heat waves in Mali in recent years have caused the pond to start drying out. Temperatures in the town have reached a record this year at 48.5 degrees Celsius, Emmanuel Doumbia, a local weather observer, told The Associated Press. The unprecedented heat wave in Mali this year has also led to a surge in deaths. The heat wave began in March as many in the Muslim-majority country observed the Islamic holy month of Ramadan with dawn-to-dusk fasting. The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center said that insufficient data in Mali makes it impossible to know the number of heat-related deaths, but estimated that the toll this year has likely been in the hundreds, if not thousands. An analysis published in April by the World Weather Attribution — an international team of scientists looking at how human-induced climate change impacts extreme weather — said the latest heat wave in the Sahel, a region south of the Sahara that suffers from periodic droughts, is more than just a record-breaker. Climate change has made maximum temperatures in Burkina Faso and Mali hotter by 1.5 degrees Celsius, the researchers said. Experts have warned of more scorching weather ahead. At the latest Sanké mon collective fishing rite, men sweated as they stripped skinny chickens bare and cooked them over reeds, and dancers in sporty knee socks or plastic sandals adjusted armbands adorned with cowrie shells. A national flag waved limply on a weathered pole along the trampled shore. "This tradition was already established before I was born," said one participant, Amadou Coulibaly, who remains faithful to it despite the growing challenges. When the rite was added to the UNESCO list in 2009, there were plans to dig deeper into the pond to prevent it from silting up, Traoré said. "But since then, nothing was done and the pond is starting to create problems." It wasn't clear why no action was taken. The pond's disappearance would threaten not just the centuries-old rite but also the town's economic survival if attention fades, he said.

LUCERNE, Switzerland — World leaders gather in Switzerland on Saturday for a summit aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine, but the absence of powerful allies of Moscow such as China will blunt its potential impact. Dozens of allies of Ukraine will take part in the summit, but China is staying away after Russia was frozen out of proceedings on the grounds it had dismissed the event as a waste of time and had no interest in attending. Without China, hopes of isolating Moscow have faded, while recent military reverses have put Kyiv on the back foot. The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has also diverted attention from Ukraine. The talks are expected to focus on broader concerns triggered by the war, such as food and nuclear security and freedom of navigation, and a draft of the final declaration identifies Russia as the aggressor in the conflict, sources said. "The summit risks showing the limits of Ukrainian diplomacy," said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group. "Nonetheless, it is also a chance for Ukraine to remind the world that it is defending the principles of the U.N. Charter." Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv agreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over the entirety of four provinces claimed by Moscow -- demands Kyiv swiftly rejected as tantamount to surrender. Putin's conditions apparently reflected Moscow's growing confidence that its forces have the upper hand in the war. Moscow casts what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine as part of a broader struggle with the West, which it says wants to bring Russia to its knees. Kyiv and the West reject this and accuse Russia of waging an illegal war of conquest. Switzerland, which took on the summit at the behest of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wants to pave the way for a future peace process that includes Russia. But geopolitical splits over the deadliest European conflict since World War II have dogged the event, and Zelenskyy has even accused Beijing of helping Moscow undermine the gathering, an accusation China's foreign ministry denied. China had said it would consider taking part, but ultimately declined because Russia would not be there. "It's clear that at the moment, in geopolitical terms, for China the special relationship with Russia takes precedence over any other consideration," said Bernardino Regazzoni, a former Swiss ambassador to China. Around 90 countries and organizations have committed to the two-day gathering due to take place at the Buergenstock, a mountaintop resort in central Switzerland. The summit has also had to contend with an alternative plan floated by China. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada and Japan are among those due to attend. India, Turkey and Hungary, which maintain friendlier relations with Russia, are also expected to join. Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has described the idea of a summit without it as "futile." Supporters of Ukraine are marking the Swiss talks with a series of events in the nearby city of Lucerne to draw attention to the war's humanitarian costs, with a demonstration planned to call for the return of prisoners and children taken to Russia. European officials privately concede that without support from Moscow's main allies, the summit's impact will be limited. "What can (Zelenskyy) hope for out of it?" said Daniel Woker, a former Swiss ambassador. "Another small step forward in international solidarity with Ukraine as the victim of Russian aggression."

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Gaza Strip — Israeli forces struck Gaza and battled Hamas militants Friday as truce efforts failed to make progress and tensions surged on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.  Witnesses reported strikes on the southern city of Rafah and central areas of the Gaza Strip. At Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah, men gathered over the body of an 11-year-old boy who died during a bombardment of nearby Bureij refugee camp. In a black singlet, the child lay on a floor smeared with fresh blood, a white bandage covering the top half of his face, AFP images showed. The Israeli military said troops continued operations in central Gaza, where warplanes struck a militant cell in the Zeitun area. Witnesses in Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, reported helicopter fire, while Hamas's armed wing said its militants fired mortar rounds at Israeli troops near the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood. The war began after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The militants also seized 251 hostages. Of these, 116 remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,266 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry. The toll includes at least 34 deaths over the past 24 hours, the ministry said Friday. Border escalation Fears of a broader Middle East conflict have surged again, with Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, who are backed by Iran and allied with Hamas, launching waves of rockets, missiles and drones against Israeli military targets. Hezbollah said intense strikes since Wednesday were retaliation for Israel's killing of one of its commanders. Sirens sounded in northern Israel, where police said munitions had hit in the Kiryat Shmona area, with no reports of casualties. The military said, "approximately 35 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon." "A number" of them were intercepted while some caused fires. Israeli forces responded with shelling, the military said, also announcing air strikes on "Hezbollah terror infrastructure" across the border. Two women were killed in a strike on Jannata in southern Lebanon, village official Hassan Shur said, the latest deaths in near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military since the start of the Gaza war. French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his country and the United States would work separately with Israeli and Lebanese authorities to ease tensions. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant rejected the initiative, decrying "hostile policies against Israel" by France, which last month had barred Israeli firms from an arms trade show. A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office and senior foreign ministry officials however said Gallant's remarks do not reflect the government's position. During a Middle East trip this week to push a Gaza cease-fire plan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "the best way" to help resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence was "a resolution of the conflict in Gaza and getting a cease-fire." Truce 'hang-up' At a summit of G7 leaders in Italy, U.S. President Joe Biden called Hamas "the biggest hang-up so far" to reaching a deal on a Gaza truce and hostage release. The Palestinian group has insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent cease-fire, demands Israel has repeatedly rejected. Blinken has said Israel backs the latest plan, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose far-right coalition partners are strongly opposed, has not publicly endorsed it. Biden's roadmap for the first truce since a weeklong pause and hostage-prisoner release in November includes a six-week cease-fire, hostage releases and Gaza's reconstruction. The World Food Program said that "as fighting escalates in the south and center of Gaza, the toll on civilians is devastating." But "with lawlessness inside the Strip... and active conflict," it has become "close to impossible to deliver the level of aid that meets the growing demands on the ground," the U.N. agency's deputy executive director, Carl Skau, said. "More than anything, people want this war to end," Skau added in a statement after a two-day visit to Gaza. The World Health Organization has said more than 8,000 children younger than 5 have been treated for acute malnutrition in Gaza. AFP images from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital showed the grieving family of a 10-year-old boy who died suffering from malnutrition. His limbs appeared thin and his ribcage was clearly visible. US sanctions The United States, Israel's close ally, imposed sanctions Friday on an Israeli group whose activists have blocked Gaza-bound aid convoys. "Individuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blockading roads, sometimes violently," the U.S. State Department said. "They also have damaged aid trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid onto the road." G7 leaders in a statement at the end of their summit urged the "rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need," and said the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, must be allowed to work unhindered in Gaza. Israel had accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 Gaza staff of involvement in the October 7 attack, prompting a number of donor governments to temporarily suspend their contributions. An independent review said Israel did not support its claims with evidence. The G7 statement also called for aid flow through "all relevant land crossing points" including the Rafah border, which has been shut since Israeli forces launched a ground operation in the city in early May. As Muslims worldwide prepare to mark Eid al-Adha starting Sunday, Gazans lamented the shortages of essential goods. "There is no Eid spirit," Mohammed Shabat, who like most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war, said outside his tent in Deir al-Balah.

MOGI GUACU, Brazil — Orange juice prices have always been volatile, falling when bumper harvests create an oversupply of oranges and rising when frost or a hurricane knocks out fruit trees. But the record-high prices the world is seeing for OJ right now may be on the table for a while, since the diseases and extreme weather ravaging orange groves in some top-producing countries aren't easily resolved problems. This year's harvest in Brazil, the world's largest exporter of orange juice, is likely to be the worst in 36 years due to flooding and drought, according to a forecast by Fundecitrus, a citrus growers' organization in Sao Paulo state. "The concern isn't just that the price of juice is going up. The concern is not having the juice," Oscar Simonetti, an orange farmer in Mogi Guacu, Brazil, said. In the U.S., Florida's already diminished orange production fell 62% in the 2022-23 season after Hurricane Ian further battered a crop that was struggling due to an invasive pest. Drought also cut Spain's orange production last year. Scarce supplies have sent prices soaring. In the U.S., a 12-ounce can of frozen orange juice concentrate cost an average of $4.27 in April, 42% more than during the same month a year earlier, according to government figures. In the United Kingdom, where the British Fruit Juice Association says supplies are at 50-year lows, the price of fresh orange juice rose 25% over the past year, according to consumer research company Nielsen. Those price increases are turning off inflation-weary consumers. Orange juice consumption has fallen 15% to 25% in major global markets — including the U.S. and the European Union — over the last year, according to Rabobank, a Dutch bank that focuses on food and agriculture. Jonna Parker, a principal for fresh food client insights at market research company Circana, said consumers are increasingly getting their morning fruit intake from energy drinks, smoothies and other beverages besides orange juice. "The price gets high and people consider other alternatives," she said. Global orange juice consumption was already declining before the current price hikes due to competition from other drinks and public concern about the amount of sugar in fruit juices. If that trend continues, it should help balance supply with demand and keep prices from rising much further, Rabobank said. But it expects limited supplies will keep prices elevated for some time. In some markets, orange juice is disappearing from shelves altogether. Late last year, McDonald's in Australia removed orange juice from its menu in favor of an "orange fruit drink" that contains 35% orange juice. The company cited short supplies. Tokyo-based Morinaga Milk Industry Co. expects to stop shipping its Sunkist brand orange juice – which uses juice from Brazil – by the end of June because of low juice supplies from Brazil, a company spokeswoman said. In April 2023, Megmilk Snow Brand Co., based in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, stopped shipments of 1-liter and 450-milliliter packs of orange juice, which it sells under an agreement with Dole. Sales haven't yet resumed. Some companies are considering using alternatives to oranges in their products. Coldpress, a British juice company, introduced a mandarin juice product in February, citing the high price of regular juicing oranges. But others are tight-lipped about their plans. Several major orange juice makers – including Dole, Tropicana, Florida's Natural, Uncle Matt's and Coca-Cola, which makes the Simply and Minute Maid brands – declined to comment or failed to respond to inquires from The Associated Press. The roots of the current supply troubles stretch back decades. In 2005, an invasive bug called the Asian citrus psyllid arrived in Florida, injecting bacteria from its saliva into the state's orange trees. The bacteria slowly kills the tree by destroying its root systems. There's no known cure once a tree is infected. The impact has been devastating. In 2004, before the disease – called citrus greening – hit Florida, the state produced 200 million boxes of oranges. This year, it will produce less than 20 million. Michael Rogers, a professor of entomology and the director of the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center, said no type of orange tree is totally resistant to greening, but scientists have been trying to breed trees that are more tolerant of it. Citrus greening arrived in Brazil around the same time as Florida, but it has progressed more slowly there because Brazil has much larger orange groves. Bugs spread the disease by flying from tree to tree, Rogers said. Still, the disease is spreading. Fundecitrus estimates that 38% of Brazil's orange trees had citrus greening in 2023. Simonetti, the orange farmer, estimates that 20% of his production is affected by greening. Oranges on affected trees don't ripen properly and fall off early, affecting the quality of their juice, he said. Shifting production to other locations isn't necessarily an option. California grows oranges, for example, and the citrus psyllid doesn't fare as well in the state's climate. But California also doesn't get the rainfall needed for juicing oranges; its oranges are usually sold for eating, Rogers said. Another issue impacting orange harvests is extreme weather, which is becoming more common as the world warms due to climate change. Last year, nine heat waves swept across Brazil, resulting in lower output and poorer fruit quality. This year, the impacts of El Niño have been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon and devastating floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. "The temperatures are high during the day. At night the temperature drops. The plant can't stand this temperature difference," Simonetti said. Brazil's 2024-25 harvest is expected to yield 232 million boxes of oranges, down 24% from the prior year. "We have never seen a harvest like this," Vinícius Trombin, the coordinator of Fundecitrus' crop estimates survey, said. To make up for the anticipated smaller yield, some producers are considering blending oranges with tangerines to make juice, Trombin said. But he's skeptical. "The consumer wants an orange juice made up 100% out of oranges," he said. Parker, of Circana, isn't so sure. She thinks blends with other fruits might help hold down costs and revive consumer interest in orange juice. "The idea of multiple flavors is very popular and is a way to stand out," she said. "You've got to keep people engaged. Once you lose that interest, it's really hard to get people back."

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LAUDERHILL, Florida — The United States cricket team made more history by reaching the second round in its Twenty20 World Cup debut after its last group game against Ireland was washed out Friday. Rain meant the match at Broward County Stadium was abandoned without a ball bowled, advancing the Americans to the Super Eight stage and automatically qualifying them for the 2026 Twenty20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. The U.S. qualified for this T20 World Cup only as a co-host with the West Indies, but it has used home advantage to make a stunning first impression in its first major cricket tournament. While the Americans progressed alongside unbeaten India from Group A, former champion Pakistan and winless Ireland were eliminated from Super Eight contention. Pakistan won the title in 2009 and reached two more finals, including at the last T20 World Cup in 2022. Pakistan has failed to get out of the group stage for the first time. Ireland was expected to be a threat, too. The Irish also reached the second round on debut in 2009 and repeated in 2022. The competition point from the washout was enough for the U.S. to advance after beating Canada in Texas and stunning Pakistan in Texas during the first week. Tying Pakistan in regular overs then beating it in a super over was one of the greatest upsets in the tournament's history. The Americans were thumped by India, one of the title favorites, as expected on Wednesday but the hosts' progression without being able to play on Friday was still well deserved. The umpires made four inspections of the wet outfield before heavy rain arrived at around 1:30 p.m. local time and the match was called off three hours after its scheduled start. The 17th-ranked U.S. joined the West Indies, India, Australia, South Africa and Afghanistan in the Super Eight, with two more teams yet to qualify. The Super Eight starting on Wednesday splits into two groups, with each team guaranteed three games to try and reach the semifinals. Nepal wins toss At Kingstown, St Vincent, Nepal won the toss and chose to bowl in its later match against Group D leaders South Africa, the first international match between the teams. South Africa already has qualified for the Super Eight stage after winning its first three matches against the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. South Africa's first match in the Super Eight playoffs is next Wednesday against the U.S. in Antigua. Nepal lost to the Netherlands in its opening match, and its second match against Sri Lanka was rained out, meaning this will be its first game in 10 days. It is also the first match at the tournament to be played in St. Vincent. Nepal captain Rauhit Praudel said he elected to bowl first to take advantage of easier batting conditions in the second innings. Proteas captain Aiden Markram said he would have chosen to bat first. For the first time at the tournament, Nepal has been able to select its leading player, Sandeep Lamichhane. Lamichhane was convicted of rape in January and sentenced to eight years in jail. But his conviction was overturned in May by the Nepal High Court. His application for a visa to travel with the Nepal squad to the United States was rejected. But he has been able to join the team in St. Vincent, bringing the Nepal squad up to its full complement of 15 players in the Caribbean. New Zealand bowls first At Tarouba, Trinidad, New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl in a Group C match against Uganda. The West Indies and Bangladesh already have taken the two Super Eight qualifying spots available from the group. New Zealand lost its first two matches at the tournament to Bangladesh and the West Indies and can no longer qualify. It sits at the bottom of the group behind Uganda, which has two points from a win over Papua New Guinea. New Zealand's failure at this tournament ends a run of success at white ball World Cups. It has reached at least the semifinals of the last six white-ball world tournaments over the last decade. 

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MATAMOROS, Mexico — Some shelters south of the U.S. border are caring for many more migrants now that the Biden administration stopped considering most asylum requests, while others have yet to see much of a change. The impact appears uneven more than a week after the temporary suspension took effect. Shelters south of Texas and California have plenty of space, while as many as 500 deportations from Arizona each day are straining shelters in Mexico's Sonora state, their directors say. "We're having to turn people away because we can't, we don't have the room for all the people who need shelter," said Joanna Williams, executive director of Kino Border Initiative, which can take in 100 people at a time. About 120 are in San Juan Bosco shelter in Nogales, across the border from the Arizona city with the same name, up from about 40 before the policy change, according to its director, Juan Francisco Loureiro. "We have had a quite remarkable increase," Loureiro said Thursday. Most are Mexican, including families as well as adults. Mexico also agreed to accept deportees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. A shelter in Agua Prieta, a remote town bordering Douglas, Arizona, also began receiving more Mexican men, women and children last weekend — 40 on Sunday, more than 50 on Monday and then about 30 a day. Like those sent to Nogales, most had entered the U.S. farther west, along the Arizona-California state line, according to Perla del Angel, a worker at the Exodus Migrant Attention Center. Mexicans make up a relatively large percentage of border arrests in much of Arizona compared to other regions, which may help explain why Nogales is affected. Mexicans are generally the easiest nationality to deport because officials only have to drive them to a border crossing instead of arranging a flight. In Tijuana, directors of four large shelters said this week that they haven't received a single migrant deported since the asylum ban took effect. Al Otro Lado, a migrant advocacy group, consulted only seven migrants on the first full day operating an information booth at the main crossing where migrants are deported from San Diego. "What there is right now is a lot of uncertainty," said Paulina Olvera, president of Espacio Migrante, who houses up to 40 people traveling in families, predominantly from Mexico, and has others sleeping on the sidewalk outside. "So far what we've seen is the rumors and the mental health impact on people. We haven't seen returns yet." Biden administration officials said last week that thousands have been deported since the new rule took effect on July 5, suspending asylum whenever arrests for illegal crossings hit a trigger of 2,500 in a single day. The officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, were not more specific. The halt will remain in effect until arrests fall below a seven-day daily average of 1,500. "We are ready to repatriate a record number of people in the coming days," Blas Nuñez-Neto, assistant homeland security secretary for border and immigration policy, told Spanish-language reporters after the policy was announced. The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for figures on Friday and neither did the National Immigration Institute in Mexico. 

BANGKOK — Myanmar's military government has launched a major effort to block free communication on the internet, shutting off access to virtual private networks — known as VPNs — which can be used to circumvent blockages of banned websites and services.  The attempt to restrict access to information began at the end of May, according to mobile phone operators, internet service providers, a major opposition group, and media reports.  The military government that took power in February 2021 after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi has made several attempts to throttle traffic on the internet, especially in the months immediately after their takeover.  Reports in local media say the attack on internet usage includes random street searches of people's mobile phones to check for VPN applications, with a fine if any are found. It is unclear if payments are an official measure.  25 arrested for having VPNs On Friday, the Burmese-language service of U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia reported about 25 people from Myanmar's central coastal Ayeyarwady region were arrested and fined by security forces this week after VPN apps were found on their mobile phones. Radio Free Asia is a sister news outlet to Voice of America.  As the army faces strong challenges from pro-democracy guerrillas across the country in what amounts to a civil war, it has also made a regular practice of shutting down civilian communications in areas where fighting is taking place. While this may serve tactical purposes, it also makes it hard for evidence of alleged human rights abuses to become public.  According to a report released last month by Athan, a freedom of expression advocacy group in Myanmar, nearly 90 of 330 townships across the country have had internet access or phone service — or both — cut off by authorities.  Resistance that arose to the 2021 army takeover relied heavily on social media, especially Facebook, to organize street protests. As nonviolent resistance escalated into armed struggle and other independent media were shut down or forced underground, the need for online information increased.  The resistance scored a victory in cybersphere when Facebook and other major social media platforms banned members of the Myanmar military because of their alleged violations of human and civil rights, and blocked ads from most military-linked commercial entities.  Users unable to connect This year, widely used free VPN services started failing at the end of May, with users getting messages that they could not be connected, keeping them from social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp and some websites. VPNs connect users to their desired sites through third-party computers, making it almost impossible for internet service providers and snooping governments to see what the users are actually connecting to.  Internet users, including online retail sellers, have been complaining for the past two weeks about slowdowns, saying they were not able to watch or upload videos and posts or send messages easily.  Operators of Myanmar's top telecom companies MPT, Ooredoo, Atom and the military-backed Mytel, as well as fiber internet services, told The Associated Press on Friday that access to Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp and VPN services was banned nationwide at the end of May on the order of the Transport and Communications Ministry.  The AP tried to contact a spokesperson for the Transport and Communications Ministry for comment but received no response.  The operators said VPNs are not currently authorized for use, but suggested users try rotating through different services to see if any work.  A test by the AP of more than two dozen VPN apps found that only one could hold a connection, and it was slow.  The military government has not yet publicly announced the ban on VPNs. 

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manila / london — The crew of a Greek-owned vessel damaged in an attack by Yemeni Houthi militants has been evacuated, and the abandoned ship is drifting in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said Friday. One sailor from the Tutor, a Liberia-flagged coal carrier, remains missing, officials in the Philippines said. The attack near the Yemeni port of Hodeida on Wednesday caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room and left the Tutor unable to maneuver. Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for the missile strike on that vessel and another, the Verbena, in the Gulf of Aden, over the past days. Their attacks also damaged two other ships in the last week, "marking a significant increase in effectiveness," British security firm Ambrey said. The Houthis have used drones and missiles to assault ships in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war. They have sunk one ship, seized another vessel and killed three seafarers in separate attacks. "This situation cannot go on," International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement. The Tutor's 22 crew members are mostly Filipino, Hans Cacdac, the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers secretary, told a press conference in Manila. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the country's authorities were coordinating with the UKMTO to take the crew members to Djibouti and bring them home. The missing crew member was believed to be trapped in the engine room, maritime sources said. "We are still ... trying to account for the particular seafarer in that ship. We are praying we could find him," Cacdac said. The ship's Athens-based manager, Evalend Shipping, has not responded to Reuters' requests for comment. Tsavliris Salvage Group has been assigned to tow the ship, which is carrying 80,000 metric tons of coal, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The project will involve two vessels. The first is expected to reach the Tutor on Monday morning and the second on Tuesday evening. The Houthis' air and sea campaign has disrupted global shipping, causing delays and costs to cascade through supply chains. At least 65 countries and major energy and shipping companies — including Shell, BP, Maersk and Cosco — have been affected, according to a report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. INTERCARGO, which represents dry cargo ship owners, urged states to enhance maritime security in the area. "We demand that all involved parties cease their deliberate and targeted attacks on innocent seafarers with immediate effect," it said.

On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up meetings in Italy with leaders of the Group of Seven democracies. The leaders focused on threats they say China poses to the global economy and artificial intelligence ethics championed by Pope Francis. Patsy Widakuswara reports from Brindisi, Italy.

A peace summit for Ukraine in Switzerland this weekend will be attended by at least 90 countries and organizations —except Russia. World leaders explore ways of ending the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. G-7 world leaders boost support for Ukraine while aiming to raise the cost to Russia’s war efforts. U.S. and NATO leaders were at odds over the extent to which Ukrainians can use Western-provided weapons to hit military targets inside Russian territory. The U.N. nuclear agency or IAEA says Iran is expanding its nuclear capabilities

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United nations — Sudanese paramilitary forces are using the Central African Republic as a "supply chain," including for recruitment of fighters, according to a report published Friday by U.N. experts who are concerned about a "spillover effect."  Sudan descended into war in April 2023 when the generals in charge of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took up arms against each other in a fight for control, rejecting a plan to integrate.  "The spillover effect of the conflict in the Sudan has significantly affected the situation in the Central African Republic," said the expert committee, formed by the U.N. Security Council to monitor sanctions on C.A.R.  They highlighted in particular the humanitarian situation, as the country sees an influx of millions of Sudanese refugees, as well as incursions by the two warring Sudanese parties – plus air raids by the Sudanese army in and around the Umm Dafog border post, where the RSF is present.  This "continues to constitute a security threat to civilians and an impediment to humanitarian activities in the area," the experts said.  They insist the paramilitaries are also using the Am Dafok area in C.A.R. on the border "as a key logistical hub."  Because the RSF can "move between the two countries easily through a long-standing network," they have been able to recruit "from among armed groups in the Central African Republic."  "Opposition armed groups from the Central African Republic have been reported to have actively recruited for, and sent members of their own groups to fight in, the Sudan under RSF," the experts said.  They noted in particular fighters in Sudan since as early as August 2023 from the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central Africa, a C.A.R. rebel group. The experts said they are aware that this armed group and others "are still able to cross between the Sudan and the Central African Republic at will and use Sudanese territory to launch attacks."  The experts thus called on C.A.R. authorities to "counteract the surge in arms trafficking from neighboring countries, particularly given the current conflict situation in the Sudan."  They also asked the leaders to combat "the infiltration of foreign fighters into the Central African Republic, which poses a significant long-term threat to the region." 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti will replace the head of its national police force, Frantz Elbe, with former chief Rameau Normil, the prime minister's office said Friday, as the country faces a gang crisis that has displaced more than half a million people. The Haitian National Police, or PNH, has been at the forefront of a battle against powerful armed gangs that have taken over most of the capital, Port-au-Prince. A spokesperson from the office of Prime Minister Garry Conille, who was named to the post two weeks ago, confirmed the change by telephone following local media reports. The effective date was not clear, but the decision will likely go into force after a decree from Conille and the presidential transition council. The Caribbean nation's fast-shrinking police force has suffered from lack of resources while fighting the criminal groups, armed with high-caliber weapons the United Nations says are largely trafficked from the nearby United States. Normil headed the PNH from mid-2019 to late 2020. Elbe was one of his successors, replacing a chief who served during the 2021 assassination of Haiti's last president, Jovenel Moise, and the kidnapping of 17 U.S. and Canadian missionaries by the 400 Mawozo gang. Moise's assassination opened a political vacuum that allowed gangs to expand their territories, while ransom kidnappings have since become rife. A recent survey by local rights group RNDDH found that 20 police officers have been killed so far this year and more than 320 since 2015. Police officers also reported late pay, insufficient training, workplace harassment, dismissal threats, knife and gunshot injuries and equipment shortages, including of weapons, ammunition, shields and vehicles. "The results of Elbe at the helm of the police are catastrophic," RNDDH director Pierre Esperance told Reuters, saying he believed Elbe should be prosecuted. Elbe did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The police force, Haiti's main security agency, has been in talks with counterparts from Kenya, which pledged to lead a long-delayed U.N. security support mission requested by Haiti in 2022. The gang violence has, according to the U.N.'s latest estimates, pushed 578,000 people from their homes. Esperance said his organization hopes Normil will "work to de-gangsterize the country and dismantle the gangs so the Haitian population can breathe."  

ABUJA, Nigeria — The World Bank has approved a $2.25 billion loan for Nigeria to shore up revenue and support economic reforms that have contributed to the worst cost-of-living crisis in many years for Africa's most populous country.  The bank said in a statement late Thursday that the bulk of the loan — $1.5 billion — will help protect millions who have faced growing poverty since a year ago when President Bola Tinubu came to power and took drastic steps to fix the country's ailing economy.  The remaining $750 million, the bank said, will support tax reforms and revenue and safeguard oil revenues threatened with limited production caused by chronic theft.  President Tinubu's economic reforms — including ending decadeslong but costly fuel subsidies and unifying the multiple exchange rates — have resulted in surging inflation that is at a 28-year high.  Under growing pressure from citizens and workers protesting the hardship, Tinubu's government said in May that it was seeking the loan to support its long-term economic plans.  Mohamed Malick Fall, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, told a U.N. news conference in New York that about $800 million will go to a cash transfer program that will enable the number of households benefitting from social support to increase from 3 million to 15 million. That will help alleviate immediate suffering and could impact up to 70 million people, considering every household has five to seven people, he said.  Fall said the government has put about $450 million into a social protection scheme, and to sustain the social safety net in the long term, the U.N. is advising it to develop a sustained investment program that isn't dependent on foreign assistance as part of its poverty alleviation plan.  The government said it was also taking steps to boost foreign investment inflows, which fell by 26.7% — from $5.3 billion in 2022 to $3.9 billion in 2023, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group think tank.  Nigeria already has a high debt burden that has limited how much money the government can spend from its earnings. Its reliance on borrowing for public infrastructure and social welfare programs saw public debt surge by nearly 1,000% in the past decade.  The World Bank, however, said it was "critical to sustain the reform momentum" under Tinubu. The government's economic policies have placed the country "on a new path which can stabilize its economy and lift its people out of poverty," according to Ousmane Diagana, the World Bank vice president for Western and Central Africa.