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Rafah, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Saturday after renewed U.S. criticism over its conduct of the war and a U.N. warning of "epic" disaster if an outright invasion of crowded Rafah city occurs. AFP journalists reported the strikes in various sectors of the coastal territory, where the U.N. says aid is blocked after Israeli troops defied international opposition and entered eastern Rafah this week, effectively shutting two crossings. A long-awaited U.S. State Department report on Friday said Israel likely violated norms on international law in its use of weapons from the United States -- its main military supplier -- but it did not find enough evidence to block shipments. The State Department submitted its report two days after President Joe Biden publicly threatened to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells if Israel goes ahead with an all-out assault on Rafah, where the United Nations said 1.4 million had been sheltering. After rising criticism from Washington over the civilian impact of Israel's war against Hamas Palestinian militants, the threat was the first time Biden raised the ultimate U.S. leverage over Israel -- its military aid which totals $3 billion annually. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza risked an "epic humanitarian disaster" if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in Rafah. Israeli troops on Tuesday seized and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza -- through which all fuel passes into the territory -- after ordering residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate. 'Heavily militarized' Israel said its southern crossing with the Palestinian territory -- Kerem Shalom -- was reopened Wednesday. But a U.N. report late Friday said both crossings remain "heavily militarized" and cited Martin Griffiths, the U.N.'s aid chief, as saying closure of the crossings "means no aid." The war began with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,943 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Israel's military said it went into eastern Rafah to pursue militants. Fighting continued on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, the military reported Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel cannot defeat Hamas and eliminate any possibility of the militant group repeating its October 7 attack without sending ground troops into Rafah in search of remaining Hamas fighters. The State Department report said it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel has used American weapons in ways inconsistent with standards on humanitarian rights but that the United States could not reach "conclusive findings." The report does not affect Biden's threat to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells. The White House on Friday said it did not yet see a major operation in Rafah. "We're obviously watching it with concern, of course, but I wouldn't go so far as to say what we've seen here in the last 24 hours connotes or indicates a broad, large (or) major ground operation," said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. Biden's administration had already paused delivery of 3,500 bombs as Israel appeared ready to attack Rafah. Displaced again Israel's military operations around Rafah have already had a severe impact on Gaza civilians, U.N. agencies said. More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel's military on Monday issued an evacuation order affecting the city's east, the United Nations said. Many have returned to the city of Khan Younis, where intense fighting raged earlier this year, or are crowded into shelters along the coast in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Displaced civilian Malek al-Zaza said he had found "no food" and "no water" in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp. "No one is asking about us, no one is looking for us ... We only have God looking out for us," he said. The Rafah crossing is the only one normally used for deliveries of fuel, and the United Nations said the resulting exhaustion of stocks inside Gaza had effectively halted aid agency operations. Israel said it had delivered 200,000 liters of fuel to Gaza on Friday through Kerem Shalom -- the amount the United Nations says is needed every day to keep aid trucks moving and hospital generators working. The Israeli army said four soldiers were killed on Friday when an "explosive device" went off near a school in Gaza City, in the territory's north. The deaths took to 271 the number of Israeli troops killed in the Gaza campaign since the start of its ground offensive on October 27. The army said rocket fire from Gaza wounded an Israeli civilian in the southern city of Beersheba. It was the first time since December that the city had come under Palestinian rocket attack. Back to 'square one' Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo on Thursday after what Egypt called a "two-day round" of indirect negotiations on the terms of a Gaza truce. Hamas said Israel's rejection of a truce plan submitted by mediators at the talks had sent the negotiations back to "square one." In New York, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to grant the Palestinians additional rights in the global body and backed their drive for full membership, which is blocked by the United States. Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour said the vote was historic, while Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it sent the message to Hamas that "violence pays off." Richard Gowan, an analyst with Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group, said the resolution sent "a very clear signal to Israel and the U.S. that it is time to take Palestinian statehood seriously." 

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 — The head of the United Nations World Food Program says northern Gaza has entered "full-blown famine" after nearly seven months of war between Israel and Hamas. But a formal, and highly sensitive, famine declaration faces the complications of politics and of confirming how many people have died. Cindy McCain in an NBC interview broadcast Sunday said severe Israeli restrictions on humanitarian deliveries to the territory that has long relied on outside food assistance have pushed civilians in the most isolated, devastated part of Gaza over the brink. Famine was now moving south in Gaza, she said. A WFP spokesperson later told The Associated Press that one of the three benchmarks for a formal famine declaration has already been met in northern Gaza and another is nearly met — important details on how far the effort to document deadly hunger has progressed. Israel faces mounting pressure from top ally the United States and others to let more aid into Gaza, notably by opening more land crossings for the most efficient delivery by truck. Aid groups say deliveries by air and sea by the United States and other countries cannot meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million people, a growing number of them reaching the stage of malnutrition where a child's growth is stunted and deaths occur. Famine had been projected in parts of Gaza this month in a March report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative that includes WFP as a partner. It said nearly a third of Gaza's population was experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger, and that could rise to nearly half by July. The next IPC report is expected in July. Israel strongly rejects any claims of famine in Gaza, and its humanitarian agency called McCain's assertion incorrect. A formal declaration could be used as evidence at the International Criminal Court as well as at the International Court of Justice, where Israel faces allegations of genocide in a case brought by South Africa. Here's what we know about famine and the hunger crisis in Gaza. What a famine means According to the IPC, an area is considered to be in famine when three things occur: 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or essentially starving; at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they're too thin for their height; and two adults or four children per every 10,000 people are dying daily of hunger and its complications. In northern Gaza, the first condition of extreme lack of food has been met, senior WFP spokesperson Steve Taravella told The Associated Press. The second condition of child acute malnutrition is nearly met, he said. But the death rate could not be verified. Doing so is difficult. Aid groups note that Israeli airstrikes and raids have devastated medical facilities in northern Gaza and displaced much of the population. Along with restrictions on access, they complicate the ability to formally collect data on deaths. A document explaining famine published in March by the IPC noted, however, that an area can be classified as "famine with reasonable evidence" if two of the three thresholds have been reached and analysts believe from available evidence that the third likely has been reached. "The bottom line is that people are practically dying from a lack of food, water and medicines. If we are waiting for the moment when all the facts are in hand to verify the final conditions to scientifically declare a famine, it would be after thousands of people have perished," Taravella said. The causes of catastrophic hunger Shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Israel sealed its borders with Gaza and for weeks prevented aid from entering. Aid groups have said assistance since then has been restricted to a trickle far below the 500 trucks of aid that entered before the war. Since March, as Israel has pointed to progress, an average of 171 trucks per day have entered Gaza, according to the U.S.-established Famine Early Warning Systems Network. Once inside Gaza, food and other aid doesn't always reach the most vulnerable. Aid groups say access is limited, particularly in the north, due to ongoing fighting and a chaotic security situation. Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, was the first target of Israel's invasion and became the epicenter of the hunger crisis, with many residents reduced to eating animal feed and foraging for weeds. The IPC report in March said around 210,000 people in the north were in catastrophic levels of hunger. The very young, the very old and those with health problems are the most affected. On Sunday, a 6-year-old from northern Gaza with cystic fibrosis was taken to the United States on a humanitarian flight after his mother made a video pleading for help. Fadi Al-Zant's jutting ribs and thin arms showed advanced malnutrition. How to avert a famine Humanitarian groups say it will be difficult to deliver life-saving aid without a cease-fire. Even with a pause in fighting, some experts say the situation in northern Gaza will have life-lasting consequences, especially for newborns and pregnant women. While Israel has allowed more aid in recent weeks under international pressure, a humanitarian official for the U.S. Agency for International Development told the AP that since March, northern Gaza has not received anything like the aid needed to stave off famine. USAID made the official available on condition of the official's anonymity, citing security concerns over his work in conflict. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed Israel's recent steps to increase deliveries but stressed such moves must be sustained. That's not easy. Israel on Sunday closed its main crossing point for delivering aid after a Hamas attack killed soldiers. Voices from Gaza Some Palestinians say the increase in aid has eased things slightly, especially by lowering the cost of food. Gaza City resident Said Siam said prices have dropped in recent weeks. Still, the 18-year-old said he and family members have each lost at least 10 kilograms since the start of the war, mostly eating one meal of pumpkin soup each day. Fruits, vegetables and fresh meat are still scarce.

BARCELONA, Spain — Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's fugitive former leader, stares confidently out the backseat window of a car, the sun illuminating his gaze in a campaign poster for Sunday's critical elections in the northeastern Spanish region. The image plays on another one imagined from six years prior when Puigdemont hid in the trunk of a car as he was smuggled across the French border, fleeing Spain's crackdown on a failed illegal 2017 secession attempt that he had led as Catalan regional president. Sunday's elections will be a test to see if Catalonia wants him back as leader or if the wealthy region has moved on from secession and has more pressing worries. Puigdemont is still technically a fugitive. But ironically, recent maneuvers by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have revitalized his political career. Sánchez promised amnesty to Puigdemont and other separatists facing charges in return for the support of separatist lawmakers in the national parliament to form a new government in Madrid. But that could now backfire and cause problems for the national government if Puigdemont, public enemy No. 1 for many Spaniards, is reelected. Sánchez's stake Either from conviction or necessity, Sánchez has spent huge amounts of political capital taking decisions embraced in Catalonia but largely lambasted in the rest of the country that were aimed at wooing back voters from the separatist camp. So far it seems to be working. The Socialists' candidate, Salvador Illa, is currently leading all the polls ahead of both Puigdemont and current Catalan regional president Pere Aragonès, another secessionist from a different Catalan party. Illa won the most votes in the 2021 Catalan elections but could not stop Aragonès from keeping the separatists in power. If the Socialists win Sunday, Sánchez, who has campaigned alongside Illa, can boast that his risky bets on Catalonia have paid off. "Carles Puigdemont is the past, we represent the future," Illa said at a debate this week, as he focuses on social issues and casts the debate about secession as stale. "If the Socialists have a strong showing, that will give Sánchez a boost, especially before European elections (in June)," Oriol Bartomeus, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona told The Associated Press. But Illa's chances of becoming regional president will, according to all election polling, still hinge on winning the support of other parties, including most likely Aragonès' Republican Left of Catalonia. Puigdemont's pledge Puigdemont is running on the pledge that he will finally return home — in theory under the protection provided by the amnesty — when the newly elected lawmakers convene to form a new regional government. That investiture vote would come in the weeks after the post-election negotiations between parties. Puigdemont has moved, at least temporarily, from Waterloo, Belgium, where he has lived as a self-styled "political exile," to a French village just north of Spain where he has campaigned with rallies by followers who have crossed the border. He has said that if he is not restored to power he will retire from politics. Voter priorities The question Puigdemont, Illa, Aragonès and the other candidates now face is how much Catalonia has changed. A record drought, not independence, is the number one concern among Catalans, according to the most recent survey by Catalonia's public opinion office. Some 70% of would-be voters now say that the management of public services, the economy and climate change would drive their choice at the polls, while 30% say the question of independence was still their priority. The opinion office said 50% of Catalans are against independence while 42% are for it, meaning support for it has dipped to 2012 levels. When Puigdemont left in 2017, 49% favored independence and 43% were against. Pablo Simón, political science professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, said that the secessionist movement was in a period of uncertain transition. "I would not dare say that the secessionist movement is dead, but I can say that we are in a period where we don't know what will come next," he said.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Prices in Argentina have surged so dramatically in recent months that the government has multiplied the size of its biggest bank note in circulation by five — to 10,000 pesos, worth about $10. The central bank announcement Tuesday promised to lighten the load for many Argentines who must carry around giant bags — occasionally, suitcases — stuffed with cash for simple transactions. Argentina's annual inflation rate reached 287% in March, among the highest in the world. The new denomination note — five times the value of the previous biggest bill — is expected to hit the streets next month in a bid to "facilitate transactions between users," the central bank said. The 10,000 peso note is worth $11 at the country's official exchange rate and $9 at the black market exchange rate. Across Argentina, hard currency — specifically, the country's ubiquitous 1,000-peso notes — remains the most popular way to pay for things. When first printed in 2017, the 1,000-peso note was worth $58 on the black market. Now, it's worth a dollar. Given the instability unleashed by Argentina's worst financial crisis in two decades, vendors prefer old-fashioned cash payments for big purchases and offer steep discounts to incentivize paper bills over electronic transfers. Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, who took office last December, campaigned on a promise to tame inflation and stabilize the local currency by reversing the policies of past left-leaning governments that printed money to finance public spending. But in the meantime, his harsh austerity drive has pushed prices up to levels in the U.S. and Europe, adding to the economic woes of ordinary Argentines. A massive nationwide strike, the latest in a series of protests, is planned for Thursday. Even as annual inflation remains high, Milei cites a gradual slowdown in Argentina's monthly inflation rate since last December to insist his plan is working. Confident consumer prices can continue creeping downward, policymakers lowered the central bank's key interest rate three times last month. The new 10,000-peso notes feature small artistic portraits of Manuel Belgrano, a founding father of Argentina, and María Remedios del Valle, a Black Argentine woman and army captain who gained fame fighting the country's War of Independence. Argentina's central bank said it would introduce an even bigger bill — a 20,000-peso note — later this year.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Vodou faithful sing, their voices rising above the gunfire erupting miles away as frantic drumbeats drown out their troubles. They pause to swig rum out of small brown bottles, twirling in unison as they sing in Haitian Creole: "We don't care if they hate us, because they can't bury us." Shunned publicly by politicians and intellectuals for centuries, Vodou is transforming into a more powerful and accepted religion across Haiti, where its believers were once persecuted. Increasingly, they seek solace and protection from violent gangs that have killed, raped and kidnapped thousands in recent years. The violence has left more than 360,000 people homeless, largely shut down Haiti's biggest seaport and closed the main international airport two months ago. Basic goods including food and life-saving medication are dwindling; nearly 2 million Haitians are on the verge of famine. From January to March alone, more than 2,500 Haitians were killed or injured, up more than 50% from the same period last year, according to the U.N. Amid the spiraling chaos, numerous Haitians are praying more or visiting Vodou priests known as "oungans" for urgent requests ranging from locating loved ones who were kidnapped to finding critical medication needed to keep someone alive. "The spirits help you. They're always around," said Sherly Norzéus, who is initiated to become a "mambo," or Vodou priestess. In February, she invoked Papa Ogou, god of war and iron, when 20 armed men surrounded her car as she tried to flee the community of Bon Repos. Her three children and the two children of her sister, who died during childbirth, sat next to her. "We are going to burn you alive!" she recalled the gunmen yelling. Gangs had invaded their neighborhood before dawn, setting fire to homes amid relentless gunfire. "I prayed to Papa Ogou. He helped me get out of the situation," Norzéus said. When she opened her eyes, the gunmen signaled that she was free to leave. Vodou was at the root of the revolution that led Haiti to become the world's first free Black republic in 1804, a religion born in West Africa and brought across the Atlantic by enslaved people. The syncretic religion that melds Catholicism with animist beliefs has no official leader or creeds. It has a single God known as "Bondye," Creole for "Good God," and more than 1,000 spirits known as the lwa — some that aren't always benevolent. During Vodou ceremonies, lwa are offered treats ranging from papayas and coffee to popcorn, lollipops and cheese puffs. A ceremony is considered successful if a Vodouist is possessed by an lwa. Some experts consider it a religion of the exploited. "Vodou is the system that Haitians have developed to deal with the suffering of this life, a system whose object is to minimize pain, avoid disaster, soften losses, and strengthen the survivors as much as the survival instinct," Haitian sociologist Laennec Hurbon wrote in a recent essay. Vodou began to take shape in the French colony of Saint-Domingue during funeral rituals for enslaved people and dances called "calendas" that they organized on Sunday evenings. It also was practiced by slaves known as Maroons who escaped to remote mountains and were led by François Mackandal, a Vodou priest. In August 1791, some 200 slaves gathered at night in Bois-Caiman in northern Haiti for a Vodou ceremony organized by Dutty Boukman, a renowned enslaved leader and Vodou priest. They sacrificed a pig, drank its blood and swore to keep secret an imminent revolt against slavery, according to a surgeon present at the ceremony. After a 13-year revolution, Haiti became independent, but Vodou remained oppressed. The country's new leaders condemned Vodou worship, as did the Catholic Church. Catholic leaders demanded parishioners take an oath renouncing Vodou in 1941. Thousands of Vodou followers were lynched and hundreds of symbolic spaces destroyed in what became the most violent attack in Haiti's history against the religion, according to journalist Herbert Nerette. But Vodou persisted. When François Duvalier became president in 1957, he politicized the religion during his dictatorship, appointing certain oungans as its representatives, Hurbon wrote. By 2003, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a Salesian priest who became Haiti's first democratically elected president, recognized Vodou as one of Haiti's official religions. Despite the formal recognition, Vodou remains shunned by some Haitians. "When you say you are a Vodouist, they stigmatize you," said Kadel Bazile, a 42-year-old civil engineer. Until recently, Bazile was a practicing Catholic. But when he lost his job and his wife left him nearly two years ago, a friend suggested he try Vodou. "What I find here is spirituality and fraternity. Being here is like being with family," he said while attending a May 1 ceremony to honor Kouzen Zaka, the lwa of harvest. He identifies the most with Erzulie Dantor, the divinity of love represented by a Black Madonna with scars on her right cheek. "That is the spirit who lives in me," he said. "She is going to protect me." As the ceremony started, Bazile smiled and moved to the beat of the drums while dancers twirled nearby, their long earrings swaying to the rhythm. Vodou is attracting more believers given the surge in gang violence and government inaction, said Cecil Elien Isac, a fourth-generation oungan. "Whenever the community has a big problem, they come here, because there is no justice in Haiti. You find it in the ancestral spirits," he said. When Isac opened his temple years ago in Port-au-Prince, about eight families in the area became members. Now he counts more than 4,000, in Haiti and abroad. "We have a group of intellectuals who have joined," he said. "Before, it was people who couldn't read or write. Now it has more visibility." Credited with that turnaround are thinkers like Jean Price-Mars, whose 1928 book, Thus Spoke the Uncle, visualized Vodou as a religion, "without making the Haitian elites blush," wrote sociologist Lewis Ampidu Clorméus. "Until the 1920s, Haitian Vodou was generally regarded as a string of superstitions, witchcraft and ritual cannibalism," Clorméus wrote. "Talking about Vodou constituted a shame for Haitian intellectuals." Vodou has since become a key ingredient in Haiti's rich cultural scene, inspiring music, art, writing and dance. It's unknown how many people currently practice Vodou in Haiti, but there's a popular saying: "Haiti is 70% Catholic, 30% Protestant and 100% Vodou." Vodou also has countless lwas, although Ogou Je Wouj — the god of red eyes — has grown more significant to Haitians given the lack of security in the country, said Erol Josué, a singer, oungan and director of Haiti's National Bureau of Ethnology. Ogou Je Wouj is a manifestation of the god of war and is believed to wield a machete. "They want power in their body and in their mind," Josué said of those who seek the god. While spirits infuse believers with energy and hope, Vodou priests warn they don't perform miracles. "We're praying, but we're also taking precautions," Isac said. "There are a lot of lwas to protect you from kidnapping, but if you walk through certain areas, no lwa is going to protect you." On a recent afternoon, hundreds of Haitians gathered on a steep hill and squeezed into a small church to celebrate St. George, a Christian martyr believed to be a Roman soldier revered by Catholics and Vodouists alike. They offered him money and prayers in hopes they would make it through Haiti's deepening crisis. "It's very important to be here," said Hervé Hyppolite, a chef who practices Christianity and Vodou. "You find force, courage and also protection." Surrounding him was a sea of people clad in khaki and red, the saint's colors. Some held candles as a handful of women danced nearby. "St. George!" the priest leading the celebration yelled. The crowd shouted in response, "We need you!" Josué, the singer and oungan, noted that some young people becoming Vodouists are trying to change traditional prayers or certain practices, but he said oungans and mambos are not embracing the push. "We make them understand that those spirits are a symbol of resistance of the Haitian nation," he said. "There's a lot of substance in Vodou that can lead to a renaissance of Haiti."

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CANOAS, Brazil — A Brazilian horse nicknamed Caramelo by social media users garnered national attention after a television news helicopter filmed him stranded on a rooftop in southern Brazil, where massive floods have killed more than 100 people. About 24 hours after he was first spotted and with people clamoring for his rescue, a team in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state on Thursday successfully removed Caramelo, providing a dose of hope to a beleaguered region. The brown horse had been balancing on two narrow strips of slippery asbestos for days in Canoas, a city in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area that is one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, much of which has been isolated by floodwaters. "We found the animal in a debilitated state," Cap. Tiago Franco, a firefighter from Sao Paulo deployed to lead the rescue, was quoted as saying in a statement from that state's security secretariat. "We tried to approach in a calm way." Firefighters and veterinarians climbed onto the mostly submerged roof, sedated and immobilized the horse and then laid him on an inflatable raft — all 770 pounds of him. The operation involved four inflatable boats and four support vessels, with firefighters, soldiers and other volunteers. The rescue was broadcast live on television networks that filmed from their helicopters. Social media influencer Felipe Neto sent out updates to his almost 17 million followers on X as the rescue was under way. Afterwards, he offered to adopt him. "Caramelo, Brazil loves you!!! My God, what happiness," he wrote. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's wife, Janja, posted a video of herself sharing the good news with the Brazilian leader, whispering into his ear at an official event. He smiled, gave a thumbs up and hugged her to him. Rio Grande do Sul's Gov. Eduardo Leite also celebrated the rescue, posting on X: "All lives matter, we stand firm!" Caramelo is recovering at a veterinary hospital affiliated with a university. Mariângela Allgayer, a veterinarian and professor at the institution, said Thursday afternoon on social media that the horse arrived very dehydrated. He is about 7 years old and, based on his characteristics, was likely used as a draft animal for a cart, Bruno Schmitz, one of the veterinarians who helped rescue and evaluate Caramelo, later told television network GloboNews. He's also very gentle, Schmitz added, which greatly helped with the administration of sedatives. "It was a very difficult operation, well beyond the standards even for specialized teams. I think they had never been through something like this before, but thank God everything went well," he said, then showed Caramelo standing up. The stranded horse is just one of many animals rescue workers have been striving to save in recent days. Rio Grande do Sul state agents have rescued about 10,000 animals since last week, while those in municipalities and volunteers have saved thousands more, according to the state's housing secretariat. Animal protection groups and volunteers have been sharing images of difficult rescues and heartwarming scenes of pets reuniting with their owners on social media. One video that went viral shows a man crying inside a boat, hugging his four dogs after rescuers went back to his home to save them. Heavy rains and flooding in Rio Grande do Sul have killed at least 107 people. Another 136 are reported missing and more than 230,000 have been displaced, according to state authorities. There is no official tally for the number of animals that have been killed or are missing, but local media have estimated the number is in the thousands. Not far from where Caramelo was rescued, pet owners in Canoas celebrated as they waited in line to get donations at a makeshift animal shelter organized by volunteers. "So much bad news, but this rescue does give people here some more hope," said Guilherme Santos, 23, as he sought dog food for his two puppies. "If they can rescue a horse, why not all dogs that are still missing? We can definitely do this." Carla Sassi, chairwoman of Grad, a Brazilian nonprofit that rescues animals after disasters, said she is meeting with state government officials in Canoas to discuss emergency measures to rescue pets.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — At least 90 people were injured in Argentina's capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety. The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety officials said. While it was not immediately clear why the idled boxcar had been on the bridge, Argentina's railway union said several meters of copper cable used to carry power along the tracks had been stolen from the railway, disabling the signaling system intended to prevent such accidents. Union leaders fiercely opposed to libertarian President Javier Milei's economic austerity blamed the government for its failure to invest in public infrastructure. "We have been demanding for 10 days that the stolen signaling cables be repaired," rail union leader Omar Maturano told the country's independent Radio Con Vos station. "The government said there was no money for spare parts." Prosecutors said they were investigating. "There is not enough information about the mechanics of this accident," Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims. Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones. Alberto Crescenti, director of the city's emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped in the derailed train, lowering some by rope from the highway overpass scattered with twisted metal and shattered glass. Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering off the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke. Officials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended, complicating travel for many commuters. The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of train crashes from 2012-14 left more than 50 people dead and hundreds injured. It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human error had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems. With Argentina's economy spiraling and anti-government protests gripping the streets, the crash quickly spawned contradictory narratives, with both government officials and leftist union leaders using the incident to further their agendas. "The rail company has been totally degraded because there's no budget," said Maturano, from the rail union. President Milei reposted comments on social media blaming his left-leaning predecessors for neglecting public infrastructure and running up a massive budget deficit. In the midst of Argentina's worst economic crisis in two decades, police have repeatedly reported would-be cable thieves being electrocuted in the act. Those who succeed wreak havoc on the rail system in stealing metal to sell to scrapyards, where local media says the going rate is about $7 a kilogram. The Argentine website Infobae in February called copper cable theft "a trendy crime for the crisis."

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ROME — Pope Francis pressed his campaign Friday to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families and warning that the country's demographic crisis was threatening the future. "The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of a people," Francis told an annual gathering of pro-family groups. "Without children and young people, a country loses its desire for the future." It was Francis' latest appeal for Italy – and beyond that Europe – to invert what he has called the demographic winter facing many industrialized countries. Italy's birth rate, already one of the lowest in the world, has been falling steadily for about 15 years and reached a record low last year with 379,000 babies born. With the Vatican's strong backing, the right-wing government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has mounted a campaign to encourage at least 500,000 births annually by 2033, a rate that demographers say is necessary to prevent the economy from collapsing under the weight of Italy's aging population. Francis called for long-term political strategies and policies to encourage couples to have children, including an end to precarious work contracts and impediments to buying homes, and viable alternatives so women don't have to choose between motherhood and careers. "The problem of our world is not children being born: it is selfishness, consumerism and individualism which make people sated, lonely and unhappy," Francis said. Francis is expected to continue emphasizing his demographic call during the upcoming 2025 Holy Year, which has hope as its main theme. In the official Jubilee decree, or papal bull, that was promulgated Thursday, Francis called for a new social covenant among Christians to encourage couples to be open to having children.

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea will equip its military with a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher starting this year, state media said Saturday, adding a "significant change" for the army's artillery combat capabilities was under way. Leader Kim Jong Un on Friday oversaw a live-fire test of the "technically updated" rocket system, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said. The announcement comes as analysts say the nuclear-armed North could be testing and ramping up production of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine. Pyongyang in February said it had developed a new control system for its 240mm multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a "qualitative change" in its defense capabilities, and last month executed a test-firing of new shells. The updated rocket launcher will be "deployed to units of the Korean People's Army as replacement equipment from 2024 to 2026," KCNA said Saturday. South Korea's defense ministry told AFP it could not confirm the Friday test launches. But Pyongyang said eight shells had "hit point target to intensively prove the advantage and destructive power of the updated 240mm multiple rocket launcher system." Images released by state media showed leader Kim conversing with military officials during an inspection of the launcher, as well as what appeared to be the live-fire test of the system. The tests also proved the power of the "controllable shells for (the) multiple rocket launcher," it added. The largely isolated country has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, and Pyongyang thanked Moscow last month for using its U.N. Security Council veto to block the renewal of a panel of U.N. experts that monitored international weapons sanctions on Kim's regime. South Korea and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia, despite U.N. sanctions banning such a move. KCNA said Saturday that Kim discussed ways to raise production of the new rocket launcher system and shells to "the highest level." It also said a "significant change will be soon made in increasing the artillery combat ability of our army," without providing details. Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring South Korea its "principal enemy." It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement. While escalating its military threats towards South Korea, the North is "also signaling its intentions to participate in weapons exports and other defense-related economic activities via ongoing technical advancements," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. In the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Pyongyang has "indirectly verified the performance of its existing weapons" by supplying them to Russia, he told AFP.

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.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — The families of five Hawaii men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II received posthumous Purple Heart medals on behalf of their loved ones on Friday, nearly eight decades after the soldiers died in a plane crash in the final days of the conflict. "I don't have words. I'm just overwhelmed," Wilfred Ikemoto said as he choked up while speaking of the belated honor given to his older brother Haruyuki. The older Ikemoto was among 31 men killed when their C-46 transport plane hit a cliff while attempting to land in Okinawa, Japan, on August 13, 1945. "I'm just happy that he got recognized," Ikemoto said. Army records indicate only two of the 31 ever received Purple Heart medals, which the military awards to those wounded or killed during action against an enemy. Researchers in Hawaii and Minnesota recently discovered the omission, leading the Army to agree to issue medals to families of the 29 men who were never recognized. Researchers located families of the five from Hawaii, and now the Army is asking family members of the other 24 men to contact them so their loved ones can finally receive recognition. The older Ikemoto was the fourth of 10 children and the first in his family to attend college when he enrolled at the University of Hawaii. He was a photographer and developed film in a makeshift darkroom in a bedroom at home. "I remember him as probably the smartest and most talented in our family," said Wilfred Ikemoto, who was 10 years old when his brother died. On board the plane were 12 paratroopers with the 11th Airborne Division, five soldiers in a Counter-intelligence Detachment assigned to the paratroopers, 10 Japanese American linguists in the Military Intelligence Service and four crew members. They had all flown up from the Philippines to spearhead the occupation of Japan after Tokyo's surrender, said Daniel Matthews, who looked into the ill-fated flight while researching his father's postwar service in the 11th Airborne. Matthews attributed the Army's failure to recognize all 31 soldiers with medals to administrative oversight in the waning hours of the war. The U.S. had been preparing to invade Japan's main islands, but it formulated alternative plans after receiving indications Japan was getting ready to surrender. Complicating matters further, there were four different units on the plane. Wilfred Motokane Jr. said he had mixed feelings after he accepted his father's medal. "I'm very happy that we're finally recognizing some people," he said. "I think it took a long time for it to happen. That's the one part that I don't feel that good about, if you will." The Hawaii five were all part of the Military Intelligence Service or MIS, a U.S. Army unit made up of mostly Japanese Americans who interrogated prisoners, translated intercepted messages and traveled behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. They five had been inducted in January 1944 after the MIS, desperate to get more recruits, sent a team to Hawaii to find more linguists, historian Mark Matsunaga said. Altogether some 6,000 served with the Military Intelligence Service. But much of their work has remained relatively unknown because it was classified until the 1970s. During the U.S. occupation of Japan, they served crucial roles as liaisons between American and Japanese officials and overseeing regional governments. Retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, who recently stepped down as head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, presented the medals to the families during the ceremony on the banks of Pearl Harbor. Nakasone's Hawaii-born father served in the MIS after the war, giving him a personal connection to the event. "What these Military Intelligence Service soldiers brought to the occupation of Japan was an understanding of culture that could take what was the vanquished to work with the victor," Nakasone said. "I'm very proud of all the MIS soldiers not only during combat, but also during the occupation."

WASHINGTON — Liam and Olivia have for a fifth year together topped the list of baby names for brand new boys and girls born in the U.S. in 2023. And Mateo joins the top 10 baby names list for the first time. The Social Security Administration annually tracks the names given to girls and boys in each state, with names dating back to 1880. The agency gathers the names from applications for Social Security cards. Based on cultural and population trends, the list shows how names can rise and fall in popularity. The latest was released Friday. Liam has reigned supreme seven years in a row while Olivia has topped the girls' list for five, after unseating Emma, previously No. 1 for five years. After Liam, the most common names for boys are, in order: Noah, Oliver, James, Elijah, Mateo, Theodore, Henry, Lucas, and William. And after Olivia, the most common names for girls are Emma, Charlotte, Amelia, Sophia, Mia, Isabella, Ava, Evelyn and Luna. The Social Security Administration's latest data show that 3.58 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2023. That's a slight decrease from last year's 3.66 million babies, representing an overall decline in the American birthrate. Social media stars and popular television shows are having some impact on the rising popularity of certain names, Social Security says. The fastest rising name for boys is Izael while the second fastest rising, Chozen, shot up to number 813 in 2023. The character Chozen was a protagonist in the last season of the Netflix show Cobra Kai. For girls, one of the fastest rising baby names is Kaeli, which rose 1,692 spots. "Parents must have really smashed the 'like' button for YouTube and TikTok star Kaeli McEwen, also known as Kaeli Mae, who routinely promotes a clean, tidy, and neutral-aesthetic lifestyle," Social Security said in a news release. The complete, searchable list of baby names is on the Social Security website.

Chinese President Xi Jinping departed Hungary Friday after a five-day trip to Europe. Xi pledged to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a new “multipolar world order.” As Henry Ridgwell reports, analysts say Xi wants to exploit the West's different approaches to Beijing.