Voice of America’s immigration news

London — A record 973 migrants crossed the Channel on small boats on the same day in which four died while attempting the journey from France to England, U.K. Home Office figures showed Sunday. The figure for Saturday is the highest single-day number of migrants making the cross-Channel journey this year, surpassing the previous high of 882 set on June 18.   On the same day, a two-year-old boy and three adults died after overloaded boats got into trouble during the dangerous crossing attempted by several thousand every year. The tragedies bring the number of migrants who have died attempting Channel crossings this year to 51, according to Jacques Billant, France's prefect for the Pas-de-Calais region.   Over 26,600 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats in 2024 according to U.K. Home Office figures. Saturday’s deaths were likely caused due to the victims being crushed in overloaded dinghies, according to authorities and prosecutors. U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Saturday that it was "appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel."   "Criminal smuggler gangs continue to organize these dangerous boat crossings," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "The gangs do not care if people live or die — this is a terrible trade in lives." Keir Starmer's new Labour government has been at pains to reduce cross-Channel arrivals in small boats, a key issue in this year's general election in July. The government has repeatedly pledged to "smash the gangs" of people smugglers who organize the perilous journeys.

Kyiv, Ukraine — Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on a surprise visit to Kyiv on Sunday that his country will invest 400 million euros ($440 million) in advanced drone development with Ukraine and deliver more F-16s in the coming months.  More than 2-1/2 years since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Ukraine is fighting to thwart Russia's troops as they inch forward in the east and attack critical infrastructure ahead of the winter months.  "The war, of course, is intensifying every day, and Ukraine is setting up more brigades who all need support, who all need military equipment. We need to have this continuous flow of support," Brekelmans told Reuters in Kyiv.  The drone action plan will combine Ukraine's innovation and Dutch knowledge to improve technology used on the battlefield, he said.  "We will focus on different types of drones, so both surveillance drones, more defensive drones, but also the attack drones, because we see that Ukraine needs those more offensive drones also to target military facilities," Brekelmans said.  Around half of the investment will be spent in the Netherlands, while the rest will be split between Ukraine and other countries, he added.  If the developed drones are successful, more funding will be available to scale up production, according to the defense minister.  The Netherlands has pledged 10 billion euros ($11 billion) in military support for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion and spent around 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) so far.  Air defense  After visiting the city of Kharkiv, pummeled by Russian glide bombs Saturday,   Brekelmans said attacking military targets in Russia was the only way to defend the city.  Ukraine has asked its partners to give it permission to use their weapons to strike targets deep in Russia and provide it with more air defenses.  The Netherlands has contributed to its air defense support by driving international partners to supply Ukraine with F-16 jets and pledging 24 of them.  The first batch of planes from the Netherlands is already operating in Ukrainian airspace, according to the minister, while the others will be delivered "in the upcoming months and maybe beginning of next year."  The country is also delivering reserve parts, ammunition and fuel for jets as it seeks to expand pilot training opportunities through meeting with partner countries and private sector players like Lockheed Martin to keep jets operational, he said.  The Netherlands has also announced a plan to assemble a Patriot air-defense system for Ukraine relying on parts from different countries, but Brekelmans said it had struggled to source some parts.  He said Ukraine was already using one Dutch-supplied Patriot radar and "three launchers are going to be delivered very soon." 

Tehran — Iran 's aviation body announced Sunday the cancelation of flights at some of the country's airports, citing "operational restrictions," state media reported as Israel vows to retaliate for an Iranian missile strike. Because of those restrictions, "the flights at some airports of the country will be canceled from 21:00 tonight (1730 GMT), Sunday, October 6, until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, October 7," according to IRNA state news agency citing Iran 's Civil Aviation Organization spokesperson, Jafar Yazarloo. Iran on Tuesday launched around 200 missiles in its second direct attack on Israel, in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-aligned militant leaders in the region, along with a general in Iran 's Revolutionary Guards. Ever since, Israel has said that it will respond to Iran's attack. On Tuesday night, Iran closed its airspace for less than two days until Thursday morning. The aviation body announced then that both domestic and international flights were grounded for security reasons until the reopening. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has advised European airlines to avoid Iranian airspace until October 31, with the situation under ongoing review.

Yangon — A close ally of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was granted amnesty by junta authorities as he battles cancer, a party source told AFP on Sunday.    Zaw Myint Maung, 72, is a stalwart of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party that has been a thorn in the side of the military during its decades of rule.   He was arrested following the military's latest coup in 2021 and later jailed for corruption.  "He was pardoned because of his health situation today," a senior NLD source told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.    Zaw Myint Maung was in an intensive care unit in Mandalay, where he was battling cancer, the source said.   "His condition is 50-50. We are trying to get more information," they said.  Zaw Myint Maung was a former chief minister of the Mandalay region and was detained shortly after the coup that upended a 10-year experiment with democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.   The junta's subsequent crackdown on dissent has decimated the senior ranks of the NLD.  Months after the coup Nyan Win, a former NLD spokesperson and Suu Kyi confidante died of COVID-19 while being held in military custody for sedition.    In 2022 another former lawmaker was executed by the junta in Myanmar's first use of capital punishment in decades.   In March last year the junta dissolved the NLD for failing to re-register under a tough new military-drafted electoral law, removing it from polls it has indicated it may hold in 2025.  Suu Kyi, 79, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges ranging from corruption to not respecting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.  Rights groups say her closed-door trial was a sham designed to remove her from the political scene.  Last month Italian media reported that Pope Francis has offered refuge on Vatican territory to Suu Kyi, who led the government ousted by the military in 2021.

Reuters — Chinese hackers accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers and obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies are among the telecoms companies whose networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. The hackers might have held access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized U.S. requests for communications data, the Journal said. It added that the hackers had also accessed other tranches of internet traffic. China's foreign ministry responded Sunday that it was not aware of the attack described in the report but said the United States had “concocted a false narrative” to “frame” China in the past. "At a time when cybersecurity has become a common challenge for all countries around the world, this erroneous approach will only hinder the efforts of the international community to jointly address the challenge through dialog and cooperation," the ministry said in a statement to Reuters. Beijing has previously denied claims by the U.S. government and others that it has used hackers to break into foreign computer systems. Lumen Technologies declined to comment, while Verizon and AT&T did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of collecting intelligence. U.S. investigators have dubbed it "Salt Typhoon." Earlier this year, U.S. law enforcement disrupted a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon," months after confronting Beijing about sweeping cyber espionage under a campaign named "Volt Typhoon." China’s foreign ministry said in its statement that Beijing’s cybersecurity agencies had found and published evidence to show Volt Typhoon was staged by “an international ransomware organization.”

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilians began voting in the first round of local elections Sunday for mayors, deputy mayors and councilors in the country’s 5,569 municipalities. In Sao Paulo, three mayoral candidates are running neck-and-neck, including incumbent Ricardo Nunes, left-wing lawmaker Guilherme Boulos and self-help guru turned far-right politician Pablo Marçal. A runoff is scheduled for Oct. 27. Much of the attention leading up to Sunday’s vote has been on Brazil’s biggest city, where the race has been marred by episodes of violence involving Marçal. Last month, José Luiz Datena, a former TV presenter turned candidate, slammed Marçal with a metal chair during a televised debate following references to allegations of sexual misconduct. In a later debate, an aide to Marçal thumped an adversary’s counterpart, resulting in a bloody face. Marçal sparked more controversy Friday, when he published on social media a falsified medical report indicating cocaine use by Boulos. The document was widely debunked by local media that pointed to inconsistencies including the fact that it was signed by a doctor who had passed away. Boulos, a longtime campaigner for housing rights who is backed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vehemently denied the veracity of the document. On Saturday, a judge sitting on Sao Paulo’s electoral court ordered the suspension of Marçal’s Instagram account for 48 hours and deemed that there are “indications of various offenses under the Electoral Code.”  Some of former President Jair Bolsonaro ’s political base has been drawn to Marçal, enthralled by his fiery rhetoric, although the far-right leader is supporting Nunes. In Rio de Janeiro, incumbent Eduardo Paes is hoping to avoid a second-round runoff. Polls indicated until recently that was possible. But his principal challenger Alexandre Ramagem has steadily climbed in the polls in recent weeks, rendering the outcome of Sunday’s vote uncertain. Ramagem, the former chief of Brazil’s intelligence agency under Bolsonaro, is being investigated as part of a wider probe into alleged spying on political opponents. He has denied the accusations. Bolsonaro is backing Ramagem, and his ascent in the polls is widely attributed to the former president's campaigning on his behalf. More than 155 million Brazilians are eligible to vote. Forty-three percent of the electorate is in the southeastern region, where Rio and Sao Paulo are located. Women make up around 52% of voters. Nearly 1,000 transgender politicians are running Sunday in every one of Brazil’s 26 states, according to the nation’s electoral court, which is tracking them for the first time. The number of candidacies has tripled since the last local elections four years ago, when trans rights group Antra mapped them. Polls opened at 8 a.m. Brasilia time and close at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT). A second round will be held in municipalities with more than 200,000 registered voters if none of the candidates for mayor obtains an absolute majority. 

Paris — Crowds were participating in pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests and memorial events across the world Sunday on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel. Sunday’s events follow massive rallies that took place Saturday in several European cities, including London, Berlin, Paris and Rome. Other events are scheduled through the week, with an expected peak Monday, the date of the anniversary. In Australia, thousands of people protested Sunday in support of Palestinians and Lebanon in various cities, while a pro-Israeli rally also took place in Melbourne. Samantha Gazal, who came to the rally in Sydney, said she was there "because I can’t believe our government is giving impunity to a violent extremist nation and has done nothing. ... We’re watching the violence play out on livestream, and they’re doing nothing.” In Melbourne, supporters of Israel held up posters showing Israeli hostages who are still missing. “We feel like we didn’t do anything to deserve this," said Jeremy Wenstein, one of the participants. "We’re just supporting our brothers and sisters who are fighting a war that they didn’t invite.” At a rally in Berlin, near the Brandenburg Gate, hundreds of pro-Israeli demonstrators set off up the famed Unter den Linden behind a banner that read “Against all antisemitism,” accompanied by a police escort. With many Israel flags waving overhead, some Jewish leaders led a song about “shalom” — peace — while marchers chanted “Free Gaza from Hamas!” and “Bring them home,” referring to hostages still held in the Gaza strip. Some in the crowd held up photos of hostages still held by Hamas. Photos of several women featured the word “Kidnapped” in German. Memorial events organized by the Jewish community for those killed in the Oct. 7 attack and prayers for those still in captivity were also to be held in Paris and London on Sunday afternoon. Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the escalating conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that some of the protests could turn violent. On Sunday, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “full solidarity” with police, the day after security forces used tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent demonstrators in Rome. Meloni firmly condemned clashes between a few pro-Palestinian demonstrators and law enforcement officers, saying it was “intolerable that dozens of officers are injured during a demonstration.” Thirty police officers and four protesters were hurt in clashes at the pro-Palestinian march in Rome Saturday, local media said. In Rome’s central Piazzale Ostiense, hooded protesters threw stones, bottles and even a street sign at the police, who responded using water cannons and tear gas. Pope Francis, celebrating his Sunday Angelus prayer from the Vatican, issued a new appeal for peace “on every front.” Francis also urged his audience not to forget the many hostages still held in Gaza, asking for “their immediate liberation.” The pope called for a day of prayer and fasting for Monday, the first anniversary of the attack. On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. It says more than half were women and children. Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. Israelis have experienced attacks — missiles from Iran and Hezbollah, explosive drones from Yemen, fatal shootings and stabbings — as the region braces for further escalation. In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon and some other areas of the country, attacking the militants with exploding pagers, airstrikes and, eventually, incursions into Lebanon.

KIGALI — Rwanda said Sunday it had begun administering vaccine doses against the Marburg virus to try to combat an outbreak of the Ebola-like disease in the east African country, where it has so far killed 12 people.  "The vaccination is starting today immediately," Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said at a news conference in the capital Kigali.  He said the vaccinations would focus on those "most at risk, most exposed health care workers working in treatment centers, in the hospitals, in ICU, in emergency, but also [in] the close contacts of the confirmed cases."  The country has already received shipments of the vaccines including from the Sabin Vaccine Institute.  Rwanda's first outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever was detected in late September, with 46 cases and 12 deaths reported since then. Marburg has a fatality rate as high as 88%.  Marburg symptoms include high fever, severe headaches and malaise within seven days of infection and later severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.  It is transmitted to humans by fruit bats and then spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. Neighboring Uganda has suffered several outbreaks in the past.  "We believe that with vaccines, we have a powerful tool to stop the spread of this virus," the minister said. 

Beijing — Coco Gauff won her second title this season with a lopsided 6-1, 6-3 victory over Karolina Muchova in the final of the China Open on Sunday. Aged 20, the sixth-ranked U.S. player became the youngest China Open champion in 14 years. She is also the second American champion in Beijing, following Serena Williams’ title runs in 2004 and 2013. It was Gauff's eighth career title. She improved her record in tour finals to 8-1 and has a 7-0 record in hard-court finals. Gauff wasted no time and took the opening set in just 31 minutes. She dropped just five points on her first serve and broke Muchova five times. Shanghai Masters Top-ranked Jannik Sinner overcame a one set deficit to rally to a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2 win against Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Shanghai Masters. A night after winning his 250th career match with a straight-sets victory, the 23-year-old Italian faced a much sterner third-round examination against the No. 37-ranked Argentine under the roof inside Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena that hosted play due to rain. Sinner will next play either No. 16-ranked Ben Shelton, who beat the Italian here last year, or Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain. Etcheverry produced the shot of the night with a stunning drop volley to bring up set point in the first set tiebreak, which he converted to take the lead. Sinner began to better find his range in the second and after trading breaks midway through the set, the Italian found another opportunity to level the match. The momentum was all with Sinner in the third as he broke Etcheverry twice more to advance in 2 hours, 39 minutes. Fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev also came from behind for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Matteo Arnaldi to book his fourth-round berth against either 12th-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alexandre Muller. The 28-year-old Medvedev was forced to dig deep to level the match after the Italian took a tight first set. In the deciding set, Medvedev's experience and composure came to the fore as he clinched a vital break in the ninth game and held firm to close out the match in 2 hours, 44 minutes.  Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who won the China Open on Wednesday for his fourth title of the year, plays his third round match against Chinese player, Wu Yibing. 

Moscow — Polls are open in Kazakhstan Sunday for a landmark referendum on building the country’s first nuclear power plant, confronting the country's painful legacy as a testing ground for Soviet nuclear weapons. The proposal is backed by the government and the country’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who hopes to boost the country’s energy security. The plant, which is slated to be built close to Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan’s southeast, would take pressure off the coal-powered power stations on which the country heavily relies. Although the use of renewable energy is growing, supporters believe Kazakhstan’s position as one of the world’s largest uranium producers makes nuclear energy a logical choice.  However, the use of nuclear materials remains a controversial and often sensitive topic in Kazakhstan, which was used as a testing ground for the Soviet Union’s nuclear program.  The weapon tests made large swaths of land in the country’s northeastern Semei region uninhabitable, devastating the local environment and affecting the health of nearby residents. In total, 456 tests were carried out between 1949 and 1989 at the Semipalatinsk test site. It was officially closed in August 1991. Critics have also drawn attention to the project’s high costs: The Kazakh government estimates that the nuclear power plant could cost up to $12 billion. Some Kazakhs have sought to protest but have been impeded by authorities. Several anti-nuclear protesters were arrested across Kazakhstan Sunday, while other activists said that permission to hold anti-nuclear rallies on the day of the vote had also been denied by officials in six Kazakh cities. Questions on Russian involvement There are also concerns that Russia’s state atomic agency, Rosatom, could be invited to take part in the plant’s construction at a time when an increasing number of Kazakhs wish to distance themselves from Moscow's influence. Rosatom had previously been named by the government as one of four companies whose reactors could be used for the plant, as well as companies from China, South Korea and France. Tokayev, who has maintained a delicate balancing act between Moscow and the West amid sanctions against Russia, has tried to allay such fears by suggesting that the plant could be built by a multinational team. “The government must analyze and negotiate,” he told reporters after casting his referendum vote Sunday. “But my personal vision is that an international consortium of companies with the most advanced technology possible should work together in Kazakhstan.” The result of the referendum is due to be announced Monday. 

Tehran — Iran's supreme leader has decorated the Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander for the Islamic Republic's missile attacks on arch-foe Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's website said Sunday. "Ayatollah Khamenei presented the Order of Fath ("Conquest" in Farsi) to General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Guards Aerospace Force," it said. The decoration was bestowed because of what was described as "the brilliant 'Honest Promise' operation," according to the website. Hajizadeh, 62, has headed the Guards aerospace unit since its creation in 2009. On Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired some 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC top general Abbas Nilforushan in Beirut. It was Iran's second direct attack on Israel in six months, after a missile and drone assault in April in retaliation for a deadly strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus, which Tehran blamed on Israel. Israel has vowed to respond after Tuesday's Iranian missile attack. The exact nature of that response is still to be determined or seen.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Rescue teams from Bosnia's neighbors and European Union countries on Sunday were joining efforts to clear the rubble and find people still missing from floods and landslides that devastated parts of the Balkan country. Bosnia sought EU help after a heavy rainstorm overnight on Friday left entire areas under water and debris destroyed roads and bridges, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens. Officials said that at least 10 people are still unaccounted for, many of them in the village of Donja Jablanica, in southern Bosnia, which was almost completely buried in rocks and rubble from a quarry on a hill above. Residents there have said they heard a thundering rumble and saw houses disappear before their eyes. Luigi Soreca, who heads the EU mission in Bosnia, said on X that the EU stands with Bosnia and that teams are arriving to help. Bosnia is a candidate country for membership in the 27-nation bloc. Authorities said Croatian rescuers have already arrived while a team from Serbia is expected to be deployed in the afternoon, followed by a Slovenian team with dogs. Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Czechia and Turkey have also offered help, a government statement said. Sunday is the date of a local election in Bosnia. Election authorities have postponed voting in the flood-hit regions, but the flooding has overshadowed the vote across the country. Ismeta Bucalovic, a resident of Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, said, “We are all overwhelmed by these flooding events. We all think only about that.” Impoverished and ethnically divided, Bosnia has struggled to recover after the brutal war in 1992-95. The country is plagued by political bickering and corruption, stalling its EU bid.

DUBAI — Iran's oil minister landed on Kharg Island, home to the country's main export terminal, and held talks with a naval commander Sunday, the oil ministry's news website Shana reported, amid concern Israel could attack energy facilities.  An Israeli military spokesperson said Saturday that Israel would retaliate in response to last week's missile attack by Tehran "when the time is right."  U.S. news website Axios cited Israeli officials as saying Iran's oil facilities could be hit, while U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that he did not think Israel had yet concluded how to respond.  Iran is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with production of around 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd), or 3% of global output. Iranian oil exports have climbed this year to near multi-year highs of 1.7 million bpd despite U.S. sanctions.  Most of its oil and gas wealth is in the south of the country, where the Kharg Island terminal is situated and from which around 90% of Iranian oil exports are shipped.  Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad arrived Sunday "to visit the oil facilities and meet operational staff located on Kharg Island," Shana reported, adding that the oil terminal there has the capacity to store 23 million barrels of crude.  State media reported Paknejad met with Mohammad Hossein Bargahi, a Revolutionary Guards Navy commander, to check the security of Iran's South Pars gas platforms and assess the effective actions of the Guards' 4th Naval Region.  "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy plays an important role in the security of oil and gas facilities," Paknejad was quoted as saying.  China, which does not recognize U.S. sanctions, is Tehran's biggest oil customer and, according to analysts, imported 1.2 to 1.4 million barrels per day from Iran in the first half of 2024. 

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Several provinces in central Thailand braced for floods Sunday after the Irrigation Department announced it was releasing water from a major dam after weeks of frequent heavy rain.  The rain stopped in the northern city of Chiang Mai, but many people, especially the elderly, remained cut off by floodwaters that in some areas were waist-high or more. Volunteer rescue teams, often traveling by boat, worked to supply them with food or evacuate them.  Further complicating the situation, electricity was cut off in some neighborhoods for safety reasons.  Areas popular with tourists, such as the city’s Night Bazaar and Tha Pae Gate, were under as much as a meter of water.  Central provinces, including the capital Bangkok, have been warned of possible flooding as the Irrigation Department plans to release water from the Chao Phraya Dam to keep it under capacity.  The latest flooding in Chiang Mai began when the Ping River, which runs along the eastern edge of the city, began overrunning its banks on Friday. Flooding is an annual problem in many parts of Thailand during the monsoon season.  Concern remained for animals that had been kept in parks and sanctuaries on the outskirts of Chiang Mai.  Most of the 125 elephants held at the city's Elephant Nature Park have been led to safety, although some escaped on their own to seek higher ground.  Photos in Thai media showed elephants in water so deep that they could barely keep their heads above it. Thai media reported that at least two elephants have been found dead and several more were unaccounted for. 

Los Angeles — For more than two decades, the low rent on Marina Maalouf’s apartment in a blocky affordable housing development in Los Angeles’ Chinatown was a saving grace for her family, including a granddaughter who has autism. But that grace had an expiration date. For Maalouf and her family it arrived in 2020. The landlord, no longer legally obligated to keep the building affordable, hiked rent from $1,100 to $2,660 in 2021 — out of reach for Maalouf and her family. Maalouf's nights are haunted by fears her yearslong eviction battle will end in sleeping bags on a friend's floor or worse. While Americans continue to struggle under unrelentingly high rents, as many as 223,0000 affordable housing units like Maalouf's across the U.S. could be yanked out from under them in the next five years alone. It leaves low-income tenants caught facing protracted eviction battles, scrambling to pay a two-fold rent increase or more, or shunted back into a housing market where costs can easily eat half a paycheck. Those affordable housing units were built with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC, a federal program established in 1986 that provides tax credits to developers in exchange for keeping rents low. It has pumped out 3.6 million units since then and boasts over half of all federally supported low-income housing nationwide. “It’s the lifeblood of affordable housing development,” said Brian Rossbert, who runs Housing Colorado, an organization advocating for affordable homes. That lifeblood isn’t strictly red or blue. By combining social benefits with tax breaks and private ownership, LIHTC has enjoyed bipartisan support. Its expansion is now central to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ housing plan to build 3 million new homes. The catch? The buildings typically only need to be kept affordable for a minimum of 30 years. For the wave of LIHTC construction in the 1990s, those deadlines are arriving now, threatening to hemorrhage affordable housing supply when Americans need it most. “If we are losing the homes that are currently affordable and available to households, then we’re losing ground on the crisis,” said Sarah Saadian, vice president of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “It’s sort of like having a boat with a hole at the bottom,” she said. Not all units that expire out of LIHTC become market rate. Some are kept affordable by other government subsidies, by merciful landlords or by states, including California, Colorado and New York, that have worked to keep them low-cost by relying on several levers. Local governments and nonprofits can purchase expiring apartments, new tax credits can be applied that extend the affordability, or, as in Maalouf’s case, tenants can organize to try to force action from landlords and city officials. Those options face challenges. While new tax credits can reup a lapsing LIHTC property, they are limited, doled out to states by the Internal Revenue Service based on population. It's also a tall order for local governments and nonprofits to shell out enough money to purchase and keep expiring developments affordable. And there is little aggregated data on exactly when LIHTC units will lose their affordability, making it difficult for policymakers and activists to fully prepare. There also is less of a political incentive to preserve the units. “Politically, you’re rewarded for an announcement, a groundbreaking, a ribbon-cutting,” said Vicki Been, a New York University professor who previously was New York City’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development. “You’re not rewarded for being a good manager of your assets and keeping track of everything and making sure that you’re not losing a single affordable housing unit,” she said. Maalouf stood in her apartment courtyard on a recent warm day, chit-chatting and waving to neighbors, a bracelet with a photo of Che Guevarra dangling from her arm. “Friendly,” is how Maalouf described her previous self, but not assertive. That is until the rent hikes pushed her in front of the Los Angeles City Council for the first time, sweat beading as she fought for her home. Now an organizer with the LA Tenants' Union, Maalouf isn’t afraid to speak up, but the angst over her home still keeps her up at night. Mornings she repeats a mantra: “We still here. We still here." But fighting day after day to make it true is exhausting. Maalouf's apartment was built before California made LIHTC contracts last 55 years instead of 30 in 1996. About 5,700 LIHTC units built around the time of Maalouf's are expiring in the next decade. In Texas, it’s 21,000 units. When California Treasurer Fiona Ma assumed office in 2019, she steered the program toward developers committed to affordable housing and not what she called “churn and burn," buying up LIHTC properties and flipping them onto the market as soon as possible. In California, landlords must notify state and local governments and tenants before their building expires. Housing organizations, nonprofits, and state or local governments then have first shot at buying the property to keep it affordable. Expiring developments also are prioritized for new tax credits, and the state essentially requires that all LIHTC applicants have experience owning and managing affordable housing. “It kind of weeded out people who weren’t interested in affordable housing long term,” said Marina Wiant, executive director of California’s tax credit allocation committee. But unlike California, some states haven't extended LIHTC agreements beyond 30 years, let alone taken other measures to keep expiring housing affordable. Colorado, which has some 80,000 LIHTC units, passed a law this year giving local governments the right of first refusal in hopes of preserving 4,400 units set to lose affordability protections in the next six years. The law also requires landlords to give local and state governments a two-year heads-up before expiration. Still, local governments or nonprofits scraping together the funds to buy sizeable apartment buildings is far from a guarantee. Stories like Maalouf's will keep playing out as LIHTC units turn over, threatening to send families with meager means back into the housing market. The median income of Americans living in these units was just $18,600 in 2021, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "This is like a math problem,” said Rossbert of Housing Colorado. “As soon as one of these units expires and converts to market rate and a household is displaced, they become a part of the need that’s driving the need for new construction.” “It’s hard to get out of that cycle,” he said. Colorado's housing agency works with groups across the state on preservation and has a fund to help. Still, it's unclear how many LIHTC units can be saved, in Colorado or across the country. It's even hard to know how many units nationwide are expiring. An accurate accounting would require sorting through the constellation of municipal, state and federal subsidies, each with their own affordability requirements and end dates. That can throw a wrench into policymakers' and advocates' ability to fully understand where and when many units will lose affordability, and then funnel resources to the right places, said Kelly McElwain, who manages and oversees the National Housing Preservation Database. It's the most comprehensive aggregation of LIHTC data nationally, but with all the gaps, it remains a rough estimate. There also are fears that if states publicize their expiring LIHTC units, for-profit buyers without an interest in keeping them affordable would pounce. “It's sort of this Catch-22 of trying to both understand the problem and not put out a big for-sale sign in front of a property right before its expiration,” Rossbert said. Meanwhile, Maalouf's tenant activism has helped move the needle in Los Angeles. The city has offered the landlord $15 million to keep her building affordable through 2034, but that deal wouldn't get rid of over 30 eviction cases still proceeding, including Maalouf's, or the $25,000 in back rent she owes. In her courtyard, Maalouf's granddaughter, Rubie Caceres, shuffled up with a glass of water. She is 5 years old, but with special needs, her speech is more disconnected words than sentences. "That’s why I’ve been hoping everything becomes normal again, and she can be safe,” said Maalouf, her voice shaking with emotion. She has urged her son to start saving money for the worst. “We'll keep fighting,” she said, “but day by day it's hard.”

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Sunday announced he will appoint 21 new cardinals of the global Catholic Church, in an unexpected push to influence the powerful group of churchmen that will one day choose his successor. The ceremony to install the new appointees, known as a consistory, will be held on December 8, the 87-year-old pope announced during his weekly noon-time prayer with pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square. It will be the tenth consistory called by the pope since his election 11 years ago as the first pontiff from Latin America. Although popes may choose to appoint cardinals at any time, Francis's decision to make new appointments now comes as something of a surprise. As of the pope's announcement there were 122 cardinals under 80 and able to vote in a future conclave. Church law technically limits the number of such cardinals to 120, but recent popes have frequently gone above that number. Two of the cardinals currently able to vote in a conclave will age out by the end of the year. A further 13 will cross the threshold through the end of 2025. All cardinals, regardless of their age, are allowed to take part in pre-conclave meetings, known as General Congregations, giving them a say in the type of person they think the younger cardinals should choose. Cardinals rank second only to the pope in the Church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers. Due to their historical power and influence, they are still called the princes of the Church, although Francis has told them not to live like royalty and to be close to the poor.