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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Living in a tent in rebel-held northwestern Syria, Rudaina al-Salim and her family struggle to find enough water for drinking and other basic needs such as cooking and washing. Their encampment north of the city of Idlib hasn't seen any aid in six months. "We used to get food aid, hygiene items," said the mother of four. "Now we haven't had much in a while." Al-Salim's story is similar to that of many in this region of Syria, where most of the 5.1 million people have been internally displaced — sometimes more than once — in the country's civil war, now in its 14th year, and rely on aid to survive. U.N. agencies and international humanitarian organizations have for years struggled with shrinking budgets, further worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and conflicts elsewhere. The wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and more recently Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip are the focus of the world's attention. Syria's war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million, has long remained largely frozen and so are also efforts to find a viable political solution to end it. Meanwhile, millions of Syrians have been pulled into poverty, and struggle with accessing food and health care as the economy deteriorates across the country's front lines. Along with the deepening poverty, there is growing hostility in neighboring countries that host Syrian refugees and that struggle with crises of their own. Aid organizations are now making their annual pitches to donors ahead of a fundraising conference in Brussels for Syria on Monday. But humanitarian workers believe that pledges will likely fall short and that further aid cuts would follow. "We have moved from assisting 5.5 million a year to about 1.5 million people in Syria," Carl Skau, the U.N. World Food Program's deputy executive director, told The Associated Press. He spoke during a recent visit to Lebanon, which hosts almost 780,000 registered Syrian refugees — and hundreds of thousands of others who are undocumented. "When I look across the world, this is the (aid) program that has shrunk the most in the shortest period for time," Skau said. Just 6% of the United Nations' appeal for aid to Syria in 2024 has so far been secured ahead of Monday's annual fundraising conference organized by the European Union, said David Carden, U.N. deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria. For the northwestern region of Syria, that means the U.N. is only able to feed 600,000 out of the 3.6 million people facing food insecurity, meaning they lack access to sufficient food. The U.N. says some 12.9 million Syrians are food insecure across the country. The U.N. hopes the Brussels conference can raise more than $4 billion in "lifesaving aid" to support almost two-thirds of the 16.7 million Syrians in need, both within the war-torn country and in neighboring countries, particularly Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. At last year's conference, donors pledged $10.3 billion — about $6 billion in grants and the rest in loans — just months after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and much of northern Syria, killing over 59,000 people, including 6,000 in Syria. For northwestern Syria, an enclave under rebel control, aid "is literally a matter of life and death" this year, Carden told the AP during a recent visit to Idlib province. Without funding, 160 health facilities there would close by end of June, he said. The International Rescue Committee's head for Syria, Tanya Evans, said needs are "at their highest ever," with increasing numbers of Syrians turning to child labor and taking on debt to pay for food and basics. In Lebanon, where nearly 90% of Syrian refugees live in poverty, they also face flagging aid and increasing resentment from the Lebanese, struggling with their own country's economic crisis since 2019. Disgruntled officials have accused the refugees of surging crime and competition in the job market. Lebanon's bickering political parties have united in a call for a crackdown on undocumented Syrian migrants and demand refugees return to so-called "safe zones" in Syria. U.N. agencies, human rights groups and Western governments say there are no such areas. Um Omar, a Syrian refugee from Homs, works in a grocery store in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli — an impoverished community that once warmly welcomed Syrian refugees. For her work, she gets to bring home every day a bundle of bread and some vegetables to feed her family of five. They live rent-free in a tent on a plot of land that belongs to the grocery store's owners. "I have to leave the kids early in the morning without breakfast so I can work," she said, asking to be identified only by her nickname, Arabic for "Omar's mother." She fears reprisals because of heightened hostilities against Syrians. The shrinking U.N. aid they receive does not pay the bills. Her husband, who shares her fears for their safety, used to work as a day laborer but has rarely left their home in weeks. She says deportation to Syria, where President Bashar Assad's government is firmly entrenched, would spell doom for her family. "If my husband was returned to Syria, he'll either go to jail or (face) forced conscription," she explains. Still, many in Lebanon tell her family, "you took our livelihoods," Um Omar said. There are also those who tell them they should leave, she added, so that the Lebanese "will finally catch a break."

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean judge on Saturday ordered a volunteer firefighter and a former forestry official detained for allegedly planning and causing a mammoth forest fire in the Valparaiso region that caused 137 deaths and made 16,000 people homeless in February. The court in Valparaiso ruled the two men, who were arrested Friday, could be held for 180 days while they are investigated. The chief prosecutor in the case, Osvaldo Ossandón, told journalists that the main suspect is Francisco Mondaca, a 22-year-old volunteer firefighter in Valparaiso who is accused of physically starting the fire. He said flares and fireworks were found in Mondaca's vehicle. The other suspect was identified as Franco Pinto, a former employee of the National Forest Corporation. He is accused of planning the crime. The regional prosecutor for Valparaiso, Claudia Perivancich, said investigators have evidence the two men agreed "in advance to carry out conduct of this type when the weather conditions were adequate." Prosecutors said there was an economic motive behind the plot, that is providing more work in fighting fires. They said they had not ruled out the possibility of more people being involved. The commander of the Valparaiso Fire Department, Vicente Maggiolo, said, "We are very dismayed by the situation." Maggiolo called it an isolated incident and said it should not tarnish the work of the fire department. "We have been saving lives for more than 170 years," he told TVN. Christian Little, executive director of the forestry department, described the detention of a former official as "a pain" for the agency. Both the fire department and forestry agency said they would tighten hiring procedures. The megafire began February 2 in the Lago Peñuelas nature reserve, in the central region of Chile, and for several days burned several communes, including destroying more than 10,000 homes. It is considered Chile's worst tragedy since a magnitude 8.8 earthquake killed more than 500 people on February 27, 2010.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania holds presidential elections Sunday, with incumbent Gitanas Nauseda expected to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state. The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, the NATO and EU member worries it could be Moscow's next target. Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% he needed for an outright victory. He is running against Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling center-right Homeland Union party that has been trailing in opinion polls. She was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round and came second with 20%. Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll conducted between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed the idea that it might attack a NATO member. Nauseda told a debate on Tuesday he sees Russia as an enemy. "Our enemies -- who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and all the democratic world -- are attempting to destablilize our politics, and we must do all to resist." Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defense spending to at least 3% of Lithuania's gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year. But Nauseda, who is a social conservative, has clashed with Simonyte on other issues, including whether to give a legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes. He has said it would make such unions too similar to marriage, which Lithuania's constitution only allows for a man and a woman. Simonyte, a former finance minister and a fiscal hawk, said on Thursday that if she won, "the direction for the country -- pro-European, pro-Western -- would not change." "But I would like quicker progress, more openness and understanding, larger tolerance to people who are different from us," she added. Lithuania's president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the supreme defense and national security policy body and representing the country at European Union and NATO summits. The president sets foreign and security policy in tandem with the government, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defense and the head of the central bank. It will be the second time the two have competed in a presidential run-off. In 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte with 66% of vote.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Tel Aviv, Israel — Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand urgent government action to bring home hostages held in Gaza, after the bodies of several were retrieved. Protesters observed a minute's silence in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square in honor of the captives whose bodies were recovered by Israeli troops this month, an AFP correspondent reported. The army said on Friday that troops had retrieved the bodies of three hostages in an overnight operation in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. The remains of Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux were recovered and their families notified after forensic identification, the military said in a statement. "In just a few hours, I will bury my 42-year-old brother ... I feared this moment," Yablonka's sister Avivit said at Saturday's rally. "My brother, I promise you that I will continue to shout, support, fight and do everything so that all the hostages return home safely. "They must be taken out of this hell now,” she said. The bodies of four other hostages — Ron Benjamin, Yitzhak Gelerenter, Shani Louk and Amit Buskila — were recovered last week. Another protest, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an early election, was held nearby. The latest eruption of war in the Middle East began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, including about 30 the army says are dead. Israel has since responded with an air and land assault on Hamas-governed Gaza, which both sides agree has killed at least 30,000 people. Israel says the majority of the dead are combatants. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says 35,903 have died, the majority of them women and children, but it does not estimate how many of the dead were combatants. Nearly three-quarters of Gaza's 2.3 million population is displaced. Nearly the entire population is at risk of famine, according to the U.N.

LIMA, Peru — With their unmistakable red noses, extravagant shoes, colorful outfits and unique makeup, hundreds of clowns Saturday gathered in the streets of Peru's capital to mark Clown Day. They have sought for years to gain official recognition of the day. The colorful parade in Lima, which includes awards for the best costumes, makeup, routine and improvisation, takes place every year on May 25. "In Peru, there is Lawyer's Day, Ceviche Day, and we also want a Clown Day because it would open doors for us to have support from the State and from the municipalities," said Marcos Chininín, known as the clown "Chalupa." Chininin said the official recognition would give clowns access to government funds and performance spaces overseen by municipalities and local communities, as well as open the possibility of establishing schools to teach the art of clowning. Members of Parliament have not yet discussed a proposed bill to create the holiday. Chininín, 42, estimated that about 200,000 people across Peru work as clowns, including at children's events and the circus. Miguel Ara Stein participated in Saturday's parade dressed as his character "Chuchurro." He said establishing the holiday would also be an acknowledgement of the talents that clowns must have. "You have to have the gift of acting, the gift of character, of improvising," Ara, 57, said. "We are all born for something and making people laugh is a gift."

SYDNEY — More than 4,000 people were likely impacted by a massive landslide that flattened a village in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday, humanitarian group CARE Australia said. Hundreds are feared dead in the landslide in the Pacific nation north of Australia that leveled Kaokalam village in Enga Province, about 600 kilometers northwest of capital Port Moresby, around 3 a.m. Friday local time (1900 GMT Thursday). According to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, more than six villages have been impacted by the landslide in the province's Mulitaka region, which local media said buried more than 300 people and more than 1,100 houses. CARE Australia said late on Saturday that nearly 4,000 people lived in the impact zone, with the total number of those affected probably higher as the area was "a place of refuge for those displaced by conflicts" in nearby areas. In February, at least 26 men were killed in Enga Province in an ambush amid tribal violence that prompted Prime Minister James Marape to give arrest powers to the country's military. CARE said Friday's landslide has left debris up to 8 meters deep across 200 square km, cutting off road access, which was making relief efforts difficult. Helicopters were the only way to reach the area, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp, which reported on Saturday that four bodies had been retrieved from the rubble. "More homes could be at risk if the landslide continues down the mountain," a CARE spokesperson said in a statement. Marape has said disaster officials, the Defense Force and the Department of Works and Highways were assisting with relief and recovery efforts. Social media footage posted by villager Ninga Role showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees and mounds of dirt searching for survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background. 

NEW YORK — Richard M. Sherman, one half of the prolific, award-winning pair of brothers who helped form millions of childhoods by penning the instantly memorable songs for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — as well as the most-played tune on Earth, It's a Small World (After All) — has died. He was 95. Sherman, together with his late brother Robert, won two Academy Awards for Walt Disney's 1964 smash Mary Poppins — best score and best song, Chim Chim Cher-ee. They also picked up a Grammy for best movie or TV score. Robert Sherman died in London at age 86 in 2012. The Walt Disney Co. announced that Sherman died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital of an age-related illness. "Generations of moviegoers and theme park guests have been introduced to the world of Disney through the Sherman brothers' magnificent and timeless songs. Even today, the duo's work remains the quintessential lyrical voice of Walt Disney," the company said in a remembrance posted on its website. Their hundreds of credits as joint lyricist and composer also include the films Winnie the Pooh, The Slipper and the Rose, Snoopy Come Home, Charlotte's Web and The Magic of Lassie. Their Broadway musicals included 1974's Over Here! and stagings of Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the mid-2000s. "Something good happens when we sit down together and work," Richard Sherman told The Associated Press in a 2005 joint interview. "We've been doing it all our lives. Practically since college we've been working together." Their awards include 23 gold and platinum albums and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They became the only Americans ever to win first prize at the Moscow Film Festival for Tom Sawyer in 1973 and were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 2005. President George W. Bush awarded them the National Medal of Arts in 2008, commended for music that "has helped bring joy to millions." Most of the songs the Shermans wrote — in addition to being catchy and playful — work on multiple levels for different ages, something they learned from Disney. "He once told us, early on in our career, 'Don't insult the kid — don't write down to the kid. And don't write just for the adult.' So we write for Grandpa and the 4-year-old — and everyone in between — and all see it on a different level," Richard Sherman said. The Shermans began a decade-long partnership with Disney during the 1960s after having written hit pop songs like Tall Paul for ex-Mouseketeer Annette Funicello and You're Sixteen, later recorded by Ringo Starr. They wrote more than 150 songs at Disney, including the soundtracks for such films as The Sword and the Stone, The Parent Trap, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, The Aristocrats and The Tigger Movie. It's a Small World — which accompanies visitors to Disney theme parks' boat ride sung by animatronic dolls representing world cultures — is believed to be the most performed composition in the world. It first debuted at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair pavilion ride. The two brothers credited their father, composer Al Sherman, with challenging them to write songs and for their love of wordsmithing. The Shermans teased songs out of each other, brainstorming titles and then trying to top each other with improvements. "Being brothers, we sort of short-cut each other," Richard Sherman said. "We can almost look at each other and know, 'Hey, you're onto something, kiddo.'" Away from the piano, the two raised families and pursued their own interests, yet still lived close to each other in Beverly Hills and continued working well into their 70s. Richard Sherman is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children: Gregory and Victoria. He also is survived by a daughter, Lynda, from a previous marriage.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

NEW ORLEANS — First-of-its-kind legislation that classifies two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances was signed into law Friday by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.  The Republican governor announced his signing of the bill in Baton Rouge a day after it gained final legislative passage in the state Senate.  The measure affects the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used in medication abortions, the most common method of abortion in the U.S.  Opponents of the bill included many physicians who said the drugs have other critical reproductive health care uses, and that changing the classification could make it harder to prescribe the medications.  Supporters of the bill said it would protect expectant mothers from coerced abortions, though they cited only one example of that happening, in the state of Texas.  The bill passed as abortion opponents await a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on an effort to restrict access to mifepristone.  The new law will take effect October 1.  The bill began as a measure to create the crime of "coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud." An amendment adding the abortion drugs to the Schedule IV classification of Louisiana's Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law was pushed by Sen. Thomas Pressly, a Republican from Shreveport and the main sponsor of the bill.  "Requiring an abortion inducing drug to be obtained with a prescription and criminalizing the use of an abortion drug on an unsuspecting mother is nothing short of common-sense," Landry said in a statement.  Current Louisiana law already requires a prescription for both drugs and makes it a crime to use them to induce an abortion, in most cases. The bill would make it harder to obtain the pills. Other Schedule IV drugs include the opioid tramadol and a group of depressants known as benzodiazepines.  Knowingly possessing the drugs without a valid prescription would carry a punishment including hefty fines and jail time. Language in the bill appears to carve out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription for their own consumption.  The classification would require doctors to have a specific license to prescribe the drugs, and the drugs would have to be stored in certain facilities that in some cases could end up being located far from rural clinics.  In addition to inducing abortions, mifepristone and misoprostol have other common uses, such as treating miscarriages, inducing labor and stopping hemorrhaging.  More than 200 doctors in the state signed a letter to lawmakers warning that the measure could produce a "barrier to physicians' ease of prescribing appropriate treatment" and cause unnecessary fear and confusion among both patients and doctors. The physicians warn that any delay to obtaining the drugs could lead to worsening outcomes in a state that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.  Pressly said he pushed the legislation because of what happened to his sister Catherine Herring, of Texas. In 2022, Herring's husband slipped her seven misoprostol pills in an effort to induce an abortion without her knowledge or consent. 

ATLANTA — A record was broken ahead of the Memorial Day weekend for the number of airline travelers screened at U.S. airports, the Transportation Security Administration said Saturday.  More than 2.9 million travelers were screened at U.S. airports on Friday, surpassing a previous record set last year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, according to the transportation security agency.  "Officers have set a new record for most travelers screened in a single day!" the TSA tweeted. "We recommend arriving early."  The third busiest day on record was set on Thursday when just under 2.9 million travelers were screened at U.S. airports.  In Atlanta, the world's busiest airport had its busiest day ever. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport broke a traffic record on Thursday when 111,000 passengers, airlines crew and airport employees were screened at security checkpoints. The second busiest day followed on Friday when 109,960 people were screened, according to the TSA.  With 104.6 million passengers, the Atlanta airport was the busiest in the world last year, according to Airports Council International.  U.S. airlines expect to carry a record number of passengers this summer. Their trade group estimates that 271 million travelers will fly between June 1 and August 31, breaking the record of 255 million set last summer.  AAA predicted this will be the busiest start-of-summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to roam at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday — 38 million of them taking to the roads.  The annual expression of wanderlust that accompanies the start of the summer travel season is happening at a time when Americans tell pollsters they are worried about the economy and the direction of the country.  In what had long been celebrated every May 30 to honor America's fallen soldiers, Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, observed on the last Monday in May. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Dakar, Senegal — Malian opposition politicians said Saturday that they had formed a transition government in exile to rival the one governing the country, ruled by the military since a 2020 coup.  It was the latest maneuver by the civilian opposition since Mali's military rulers failed to meet a March deadline to hold elections and hand over power to a civilian government.  "The citizen assembly of the civil transition has today elected the members of the government," read a statement datelined Geneva and signed by exiled Malian politician Adaman Traore, identified as the body's president.  This "civil transition (government) ... is the only legitimate one in Mali," the text said.  It named the prime minister and defense minister of the rival government as Mohamed Cherif Kone, one of several prominent exiled politicians listed as members.  The announcement came a day after the political movement behind Mali's junta-appointed civilian prime minister, Choguel Kokalla Maiga, openly criticized the military rulers for the first time.  AFP was not able to confirm whether Maiga endorsed that position or Saturday's statement by the rival government.  The colonels running the junta have kept a tight hold on power, suspending all political activities and muzzling opponents, journalists and human rights activists.  Mali has since 2012 been plunged into a political and security crisis fueled by attacks from jihadis and other armed groups, as well as a separatist struggle in the north. 

FRANKFURT, Germany — Finance officials from the Group of Seven rich democracies said they had moved toward agreement on a U.S. proposal to squeeze more money for Ukraine from Russian assets frozen in their countries. But the ministers left a final deal to be worked out ahead of a June summit of national leaders.  "We are making progress in our discussions on potential avenues to bring forward the extraordinary profits stemming from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to the benefit of Ukraine," the draft statement said, without providing details.  Despite the progress made at the meeting in Stresa, on the shores of Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, a final decision on how the assets will be used will rest with the G7 national leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, next month at their annual summit in Fasano, in southern Italy.  Host Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said that "progress has been made so far" but that there were "legal and technical issues that have to be overcome."  "It is not an easy task, but we are working on it," he said at a news conference following the end of the meeting.  Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko joined the finance ministers and central bank heads at their concluding session on Saturday. "I am satisfied with the progress," he told journalists afterward. He said the G7 ministers "are working very hard to find a reliable construction for Ukraine."    The U.S. Congress has passed legislation allowing the Biden administration to seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian assets in the U.S., but European countries have a strong voice in the matter since most of the $260 billion in Russian central bank assets frozen after the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion are held in their jurisdictions.  Citing legal concerns, European officials have balked at outright confiscating the money and handing it to Ukraine as compensation for the destruction caused by Russia.  Instead, they plan use the interest accumulating on the assets, but that's only around $3 billion a year — about one month's financing needs for the Ukrainian government.  U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing for borrowing against the future interest income from the frozen assets. That would mean Ukraine could be given as much as $50 billion immediately.  But the proposal has run into concerns from European members about the legal complexities, and about concerns that Russia could retaliate against the diminished number of Western companies and individuals who still have holdings in Russia, or against the Euroclear securities depository in Belgium where the bulk of the funds is held.  Russia has published a decree from President Vladimir Putin allowing confiscation of assets of U.S. companies and individuals as compensation for any Russian assets seized in the United States.  The ministers also discussed what to do about China's outsized, state-backed production of green energy technology, which the U.S. considers a threat to the global economy. The U.S. has imposed major new tariffs on electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar equipment and medical supplies imported from China. Included is a 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs, meant to protect the U.S. economy from cheap Chinese imports.  The U.S. position has been that Chinese overcapacity is an issue not just for the U.S. but also for other G7 and developing countries. That's because China's selling of low-priced goods threatens the existence of competing companies around the world.  The G7 is an informal forum that holds an annual summit to discuss economic policy and security issues. The member countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Representatives of the European Union also take part, but the EU does not serve as one of the rotating chairs.