Voice of America’s immigration news

Beirut, Lebanon — An Israeli airstrike killed three people Wednesday in Damascus, a monitor said, in the second strike in as many days on a neighborhood that is home to security headquarters and embassies.  "An Israeli airstrike targeted a flat in a residential building in the Mazzeh neighborhood frequented by Hezbollah leaders and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.  It killed at least three people, two of them foreigners, the monitor said.  State news agency SANA quoted a military source as saying that "the Israeli enemy launched an air strike... targeting one of the residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood."  That source said three civilians were killed and three wounded.  Wednesday's strike hit around 500 meters from Tuesday's strike.  The Observatory said the earlier strike killed six people — three civilians, including a television anchor, and three Iran-backed fighters, one of them from Hezbollah.  Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the country's civil war erupted in 2011, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including those of Hezbollah.  Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes but have said repeatedly they will not allow archenemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria. 

A U.S. Supreme Court decision this year allowed authorities nationwide to fine and arrest people sleeping on the streets. That is leading to a massive cleanup of homeless encampments in many California cities, including Los Angeles. Genia Dulot has the story.

TALLINN, Estonia — Four Russian journalists went on trial in Moscow on Wednesday after being accused of working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, which was designated by authorities as an extremist organization in 2021. Antonina Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger, Sergey Karelin and Konstantin Gabov were arrested earlier this year and charged with involvement with an extremist group, a criminal offense punishable by up to six years in prison. All four have rejected the charges. The trial, which is being held behind closed doors, is the latest step in the Kremlin's unrelenting crackdown on dissent that has reached unprecedented levels after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin with criminal and misdemeanor charges, jailing hundreds and prompting thousands to leave the country, fearing prosecution. The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed by the Russian authorities in 2021. That designation has been widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny was President Vladimir Putin's fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. In February, Navalny died in a remote Arctic prison while serving a 19-year sentence on a number of charges, including running an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically driven. Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters. Karelin is a freelance video journalist who has done work for Western media outlets, including The Associated Press. As they were led into the courtroom on Wednesday, a crowd of supporters greeted them with applause. In the courtroom, the four smiled at their loved ones from a glass defendant's cage. Addressing reporters from behind the glass, Kriger cast the case against him and his fellow journalists as a cautionary tale and urged journalists still in Russia to leave the country: "It is not a joke. Any person can be charged with anything." Favorskaya, in turn, spoke about hope: "Everything that is happening now, the darkness that surrounds us, it is not forever, and we will definitely see the country that Alexei [Navalny] dreamed of, we will definitely live in a country where rights and freedoms will be [respected] and journalists and other people will not be jailed for their views." Shortly after the hearing began, the judge ordered that the proceedings be held behind closed doors upon a request from the prosecution, even though the defense objected to it.

Geneva — Russian authorities have subjected hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to “widespread and systematic torture” while supervisors in detention facilities aware of that treatment did nothing to stop the abuse, according to a report published by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “We have interviewed 174 Ukrainian prisoners of war, and this includes five medics since March of last year, and almost every single one provided credible and reliable and detailed accounts of torture and severe ill-treatment,” Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, told journalists in Geneva. Speaking Tuesday via video link from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Bell said the POWs described “severe beatings, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, dog bites, mock executions” and other threatening and degrading treatment. She said 68% of the POWs reported that “sexual violence, torture and ill treatment occurs at all stages of captivity under appalling internment conditions” across multiple facilities in the occupied territory and the Russian Federation. She said the routine nature of the abuse, which occurred on a daily or weekly basis and continued throughout the period of internment — sometimes as long as up to three years — “indicated knowledge of faculty supervisors.” “When external officials of the Russian Federation visited internment sites, in many instances, the torture and ill treatment temporarily ceased and conditions improved, indicating that those responsible for these facilities were aware of the mistreatment,” she said. “Russian public figures have openly called for the inhumane treatment and execution of Ukrainian POWs,” she said, adding that “these factors, combined with the adoption of broad amnesty laws for Russian service persons, have contributed to a climate of impunity.” The United Nations report, which describes conditions of detention as poor, “with most POWs reporting food shortages, lack of medical care, overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions,” says 10 Ukrainian POWs have died due to “torture, lack of medical care and dire health conditions.” Of the 205 Russian POWs interviewed since March 2023, the report says 104 were subjected to torture or ill-treatment by Ukrainian authorities “during the initial stages of their captivity,” including severe beatings, threats of death and physical violence. “However, in nearly all cases, torture and ill-treatment stopped when prisoners arrived at official places of internment, where conditions appeared generally compliant with international standards,” it says. Bell underlined differences in the scope and scale of the treatment meted out to Ukrainian and Russian POWs by their captors. She observed that the torture or ill treatment of the Russian POWs by Ukrainian authorities takes place during their initial capture, in the early days. She said these practices stop and the captives “are safe once they are inside the internment facilities,” whereas the abusive treatment of Ukrainian POWs in Russian detention centers “happens throughout the duration of their internment.” Bell attributes the better treatment of Russian POWs in large part to the monitors having unrestricted access to Ukrainian sites where they are held, noting that U.N. officials are “able to carry out a very open dialogue with Ukrainian authorities on where to make improvements.” She added, however, that the mission cannot look out for the welfare of Ukrainian POWs because it does not have access to them in the Russian Federation, “though we have been asking for access for a long time.” Other human rights developments Besides delving into the torture experienced by POWs since Russian armed forces’ full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the 30-page U.N. report also covers key human rights developments in the country from June 1 to August 31, 2024. The report finds civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure have increased significantly during that period, noting that 589 civilians have been killed and 2,685 injured. That represents “a 45% increase in casualties on the previous three months” and brings the total number of civilians killed since the start of the war to 11,743, with 24,614 injuries. “During the reporting period, Russian armed forces continued to target energy infrastructure across Ukraine, affecting essential services and deepening concerns about the plight of the civilian population with winter approaching,” Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office, said at the release of the report. She also said intensive military attacks by Russian armed forces against cities across Ukraine such as Sumy, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia “have damaged and destroyed civilian property and infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and even a geriatric care home.” “And we have documented even more attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” said Throssel. Bell said the Russian Federation has launched nine waves of large-scale, coordinated attacks between March and August targeting Ukraine’s energy generation facilities, primarily thermal, hydroelectric and heating plants. “The cascading damage from these attacks has affected essential services like electricity, water, heating, sewage and public education,” she said. “Vulnerable populations — for example, older persons, persons with disabilities, lower income households and children — have been disproportionately affected. “Rolling blackouts are expected to resume this winter,” she said. “But let me emphasize, significant efforts are underway to restore Ukraine’s generation capacity and to mitigate the risks of a harsh winter. But this situation is exacerbated by ongoing attacks.” The High Commissioner’s report will be submitted to the U.N. human rights council next week.

SWANNANOA, North Carolina — Many residents of the Carolinas still lacked running water, cellphone service and electricity Wednesday as rescuers searched for people unaccounted for after Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage across the Southeast and killed at least 166 people.  President Joe Biden will survey the devastation in the two states as floodwaters receded and revealed more of the death and destruction left in Helene's path.  More than 1.2 million customers still had no power Wednesday in the Carolinas and Georgia, where Helene tore far inland after initial landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast. Some residents cooked food on charcoal grills or hiked to high ground in the hopes of finding a signal to let loved ones know they are alive.  "We have to jump-start this recovery process," Biden said Tuesday, estimating it will cost billions. "People are scared to death. This is urgent."  While Biden is in the Carolinas, Vice President Kamala Harris will be in neighboring Georgia.  Cadaver dogs and search crews trudged through knee-deep muck and debris in the mountains of western North Carolina looking for more victims. At least 57 people were killed in Buncombe County alone, home to the city of Asheville, a tourism haven known for its art galleries, breweries and outdoor activities.  In small Swannanoa, outside Asheville, receding floodwaters revealed cars stacked on top of others and mobile homes that had floated away. Sinkholes pockmarked roads caked with mud and debris.  Cliff Stewart survived 2 feet of water that poured into his home, topping the wheels on his wheelchair and sending his medicine bottles floating. Left without electricity and reliant on food drop-offs from friends, he has refused offers to help him leave.  "Where am I going to go?" the Marine Corps veteran said. "This is all I've got. I just don't want to give it up, because what am I going to do? Be homeless? I'd rather die right here than live homeless."  Across the border in east Tennessee, a caravan including Gov. Bill Lee surveying damage outside the town of Erwin drove by a crew pulling two bodies from the wreckage, a grim reminder that the rescue and recovery operations are still very much ongoing and the death toll is likely to rise.  In Augusta, Georgia, Sherry Brown converted power from her car's alternator to keep her refrigerator running. She has been taking "bird baths" with water collected in coolers. In another part of the city, people waited in line for more than three hours to get water from one of five centers set up to serve more than 200,000 people.  What is being done to help?  More than 150,000 households have registered for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that number is expected to rise rapidly in the coming days, said Frank Matranga, an agency representative.  Nearly 2 million ready-to-eat meals and more than a million liters of water have been sent to the hardest-hit areas, he said.  The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina, dumping more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain in places.  The administration of Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that more than two dozen water plants remained closed. Active-duty U.S. military units may be needed to assist the long-term recovery, he said, adding that Biden had given "the green light" to mobilizing military assets soon.  A section of one of the region's main arteries, Interstate 40, reopened Tuesday after a mudslide was cleared, but a collapsed stretch near North Carolina's border with Tennessee remained closed.  How some of the hardest-hit areas are coping  Residents and business owners wore masks and gloves while clearing debris Tuesday in Hot Springs, North Carolina, where almost every building along the main street was heavily damaged.  Sarah Calloway, who owns the deli and gourmet grocery Vaste Riviere Provisions, said the storm arrived frighteningly quickly. She helped fill sandbags the night before, but they turned out to be useless. The water rose so rapidly that even though she and others were in an apartment on an upper floor, she feared they would not be safe. They called to request a rescue from a swift water team.  "It was really challenging to watch how quickly it rose up and then just to watch whole buildings floating down the river. It was something I can't even describe," she said.  In the Black Mountain Mobile Home Park in Swannanoa, Carina Ramos and Ezekiel Bianchi were overwhelmed by the damage. The couple, their children and dog fled in the predawn darkness on Friday as the Swannanoa River's rapidly rising waters began flooding the bottom end of the park.  By then, trees blocked the roads and the couple abandoned their three vehicles, all of which flooded.  "We left everything because we were panicking," Ramos said.  Mobile service knocked out  The widespread damage and outages affecting communications infrastructure left many people without stable access to the internet and cell service.  "People are walking the streets of Canton with their phones up in the air trying to catch a cellphone signal like it's a butterfly," said Mayor Zeb Smathers, of Canton, North Carolina. "Every single aspect of this response has been extremely crippled by lack of cellphone communication. The one time we absolutely needed our cellphones to work they failed."  Teams from Verizon worked to repair toppled cell towers and damaged cables and to provide alternative forms of connectivity, the company said in a statement.  AT&T said it launched "one of the largest mobilizations of our disaster recovery assets for emergency connectivity support."  The efforts to restore service were made more challenging by the region's terrain and spread-out population, said David Zumwalt, president and CEO of the Association for Broadband Without Boundaries.  Destruction from Florida to Virginia  Helene blew ashore in Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and upended life throughout the Southeast, with deaths reported in six states: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, in addition to the Carolinas.  With at least 36 killed in South Carolina, Helene passed the 35 people who were killed in the state after Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989.  When Lee, the Tennessee governor, flew to the eastern part of the state to survey damage Tuesday, residents said the governor and his entourage were the first help they had seen since the storm hit.  "Where has everyone been?" one frustrated local asked. "We have been here alone." 

SAN FRANCISCO, California — Cabrel Ngounou's life in Cameroon quickly unraveled after neighbors caught the teenager with his boyfriend. A crowd surrounded his boyfriend's house and beat him. Ngounou's family learned of the relationship and kicked him out. So Ngounou fled — alone and with little money — on a dangerous, four-year journey through at least five countries. He was sexually assaulted in a Libyan prison, harassed in Tunisia and tried unsuccessfully to take a boat to Europe. "The worst thing was that they caught us. So, it was not easy for my family," Ngounou said. "My sisters told me I need to get out of the house because my place is not there. So that's what really pushed me to leave my country." Ngounou's troubles drew attention after he joined a protest outside the U.N. refugee agency's Tunisia office. Eventually, he arrived in the United States, landing in San Francisco in March. Ngounou joined a growing number of LGBTQ+ people accepted into the Welcome Corps, which launched last year and pairs groups of Americans with newly arrived refugees. So far, the resettlement program has connected 3,500 sponsors with 1,800 refugees, and many more want to help: 100,000 people have applied to become sponsors. President Joe Biden has sought to rebuild the refugee programs Donald Trump largely dismantled as president, working to streamline the process of screening and placing people in America. New refugee resettlement sites have opened across the country, and on Tuesday, the Biden administration announced that it resettled 100,000 refugees in fiscal year 2024, the largest number in more than three decades. In contrast, Trump has pledged to bar refugees from Gaza, reinstate his Muslim ban and impose "ideological screening" for all immigrants if he regains the presidency. He and running mate JD Vance are laying groundwork for their goal of deporting millions of illegal immigrants by amplifying false claims, such as the accusation that Haitians given temporary protected status to remain in the U.S. legally are eating pets in Ohio. Under Biden, meanwhile, two human rights officials in the State Department were tasked last year with identifying refugees who face persecution either due to their sexual orientation or human rights advocacy. "LGBTQ refugees are forced to flee their homes due to persecution and violence, not unlike other people," said Jeremy Haldeman, deputy executive director of the Community Sponsorship Hub, which implements the Welcome Corps on behalf of the State Department. But they are particularly vulnerable because they're coming from places "where their identities are criminalized, and they are at risk of imprisonment or even death." More than 60 countries have passed anti-LGBTQ laws and thousands of people have fled the Middle East and Africa seeking asylum in Europe. In April, Uganda's constitutional court on Wednesday upheld an anti-gay law that allows the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality." "There are just a lot of people who are really at risk and are not safe in their country, and they're usually not safe in the neighboring or regional countries either," Kathryn Hampton, senior adviser for U.S. Strategy at Rainbow Railroad, which helps LGBTQ+ people facing persecution. The demand far outstrips capacity: Of more than 15,000 requests for help in 2023, the nonprofit group helped resettle 23 refugees through the Welcome Corps program in cities as large as Houston and towns as small as Arlington, Vermont. It has a goal of resettling 50 this year. "So, we have a lot of urgency as an organization to find and create new pathways that LGBTQI+ people can access to find safety," Hampton said. Another refugee in the program, Julieth Luna Garcia, is a transgender woman from El Salvador who settled in Chicago. Speaking through a translator, the 31-year-old Garcia said she suffered abuse from her family because of her trans identity and couldn't legally access gender-affirming care until she arrived in the United States. "I lived with constant fear, even more so at night. I didn't like to go out. I was really scared that somebody would find me alone and do something," Garcia said. Since arriving in February, Garcia has found a place to live and a job as a home health aide and hopes to study to become a lawyer. "Here, I'm not scared to say who I am. I'm not scared to tell anyone," she said. Maybe the biggest change was starting hormone treatments, she said: "To see yourself in the mirror and see these changes, I can't really explain it, but it's really big. It's an emotional and exciting thing and something I thought I would never experience." Welcome Corps sponsors are expected to help refugees adjust for at least three months after they arrive. Garcia said the five volunteers helped her "adapt to a new life with a little less difficulty," by accessing benefits, getting a work permit and enrolling in English classes. Ngounou recalled how his sponsors, a team of seven that included a lesbian couple, Anne Raeff and Lori Ostlund, hosted him and connected him with LGBTQ+ resources and a work training program. They also served as his tour guides to gay life, taking him to the historically gay Castro district, where Ngounou got his first glimpse of the huge rainbow Pride flag and stopped to read every plaque honoring famous gay people. "Cabrel was just very, very moved by that. Just kind of started crying. We all did," Raeff recalled. "I know that feeling like when we were young, when you'd go into a gay bar and you'd feel like this sense of kind of freedom, like this community," she said. "That was the only place where you could go and actually be open. And that ... this is this community of people, and we all have this in common." Now the 19-year-old Ngounou works in a coffee shop and takes college courses, with the goal of becoming a social worker. He hopes the boyfriend he met in Tunisia can visit him in San Francisco — and he still finds it hard to believe that they can share their love openly. "Here I'm really me ... I feel free," he said. "I feel free to have my boyfriend and walk with him in the street. I feel free, you know, to enjoy myself with him wherever we want to enjoy ourselves. But in Tunisia or anywhere else, in Cameroon, you have to hide such things."

Copenhagen — Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals that took place amid spiraling Middle East tensions. In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts were reported in the "immediate proximity" of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen early Wednesday. Swedish police said the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting on Tuesday just before 6 p.m. No injuries were reported from the incidents, but both came amid heightened international fears as Iran fired missiles at Israel, which has vowed to respond to the attack. "Two explosions occurred at 3:20 a.m. at the Israeli Embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades," Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen police said at a press conference. He added that three Swedes between the ages of 15 and 20 had been arrested. The police officer explained that one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident near the crime scene and that the other two had been arrested later. Police said in an earlier statement that two suspects had been arrested on a train at Copenhagen Central Station. "It's too early to say if there is a link" between the blasts and the Israeli Embassy, Danish police spokesperson Jakob Hansen said of the Copenhagen incidents. By midmorning, the area in Copenhagen was cordoned off and police were working at the scene, an AFP correspondent observed. Denmark's intelligence service, PET, said it was monitoring events "closely" and assisting the police investigation. "We are also in dialogue with the Israeli embassy about security, and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations," PET said in a statement to AFP. Writing on X, Israeli Ambassador to Denmark David Akov said he was "shocked by the appalling incident near the embassy a few hours ago." Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the Israeli Embassy building had been hit by shots on Tuesday evening. "We've made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel's Embassy, but we don't want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation," Rebecca Landberg, Stockholm police press officer, told AFP. Landberg added that an investigation had been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment of others and unlawful threats. Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said police were actively gathering and analyzing material from the many surveillance cameras in the area. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported. In February, police found a grenade in the Israeli Embassy compound grounds, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack. In May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli Embassy, which prompted Sweden to boost security around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.

Amman, Jordan — Arab states like Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have engaged in diplomacy and humanitarian efforts during the year-long Gaza conflict, but those doing the actual fighting against Israel are in fact Iran's Arab proxies or non-state actors, Hamas and Hezbollah. This signals not just a big switch from past Arab-Israeli conflicts, but a growing threat of a wider regional war. Arab governments have struggled to respond to the Gaza crisis. Rami G. Khouri, a non-resident fellow of Washington’s Arab Center writes they have been trying to balance support for Palestinians “without strengthening Hamas and other Islamist militant allies that most Arab governments see as radicalizing threats.” This, while providing humanitarian aid for suffering Gaza civilians. Lebanese analyst Dania Koleilat Khatib explained the conundrum to VOA. “Most Arab states, either have formal relations or they have taken the decision not to engage in any fight with Israel. Now the resistance movements have no sponsor. That’s why they go to Iran, why Hamas went to Iran,” she said. Khatib, president of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building in Beirut, said the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict has given non-Arab Iran a way to influence regional politics for its own purposes. “They’re engaged, and they use the Palestinian issue as an entry door to the Arab community. If you take the Palestine issue aside, what do we have with the Iranians in common? Nothing. Of course, this creates friction. The Arab states are going on one course and these resistance movements are going on another course. The PLO was not Islamist, it was secular. But unless you solve the problem, you will have a problem that hasn’t been solved,” said Khatib. Analyst Nicholas Heras of the New Lines Institute in Washington told VOA that Iran spent years building “committed proxies” like Hezbollah, Hamas, and others, most of which, he says, are of "Arab origin," and that see defeating Israel “as the culmination of their ideological mission.” This allows Iran not to take on Israel directly. That changed on October 1 with Iran’s biggest missile attack on Israel. Despite Israel’s downgrading of Hezbollah, once considered Iran’s chief defense line, Heras said Hezbollah may be down, but not out. “On the longer term what Iran most likely will try to do is create a Hezbollah organization that’s younger, more extreme, and transnational in character so as to truly link all the different battlefronts in the region to force the Israelis to have to play a broader regional conflict and to continue to signal to the Americans that if the Americans get involved, it would require them to go to war with Iran,” he said. Heras said that ultimately Iran wants missiles and drones capable of threatening “Israel in a manner that has never been done before by any Arab state actor in the course of Arab-Israeli conflicts.” “The Iranians view themselves as the flag bearers of a revolutionary cause that is not Arab. It’s Islamic. The Iranians are hoping that the current conflict in Gaza, with all the difficult images of human suffering and destruction, will inspire a future generation of the Arab and the broader Islamic world, to take up arms against Israel,” he said. Former Mideast Pentagon adviser Yasmine El Gamal told the BBC that Arab and Muslim states have now provided a "diplomatic offramp" to Israel: their recognition of Israel in exchange for “the end of the occupation and a two-state solution” to end the Arab Israeli conflict. She and other analysts say the West needs to bring Israel back from the brink of a possible widening conflict. But will that be enough to settle the decades-long animosity between Israel and Iran?

With much of Gaza's medical infrastructure destroyed and limited medical supplies, hospitals are struggling to provide even basic assistance, one year after the Israel-Hamas war began. Among the facilities struggling is the al Aqsa hospital, which is supposed to serve one million people. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul with Nedal Hamdouna, Amjed Tantesh, and Enas Tantesh in the Gaza Strip.

Vatican City, Holy See — Pope Francis launched new consultations Wednesday on the future of the Roman Catholic Church, as it faces pressure over the role of women and the ongoing scourge of clerical child abuse.   The General Assembly of the Synod, comprising 368 religious and lay people — including women — from around 100 countries, will hold closed-door debates on potential reforms at the Vatican until October 27.   The synod had already gathered for a month-long assembly in October 2023, after a three-year worldwide consultation among Catholics organized by Francis to confront challenges facing the 2,000-year-old Church.   The 87-year-old Argentine pontiff will have the final say on any doctrinal changes they recommend.   Last year, the assembly addressed themes as varied as attitudes to LGBTQ people, polygamy, the ordination of married men and the fight against the sexual abuse of children by priests.   Although the body resisted pressure to allow the ordination of female priests, calls continue for more visibility and space for women in an institution still run by men.   No decisions are expected any time soon, with the most sensitive issues entrusted to working groups that will deliver their conclusions in June 2025.    Francis launched the Assembly with a mass in St Peter's Square, where he urged participants to enter the discussions with an open mind.   "Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed," he said.   He added that the meeting was "not a parliamentary assembly, but rather a place of listening in communion."   On Tuesday evening, Francis held a "penitential" vigil attended by around 2,5000 people in St Peter's Basilica, during which he again asked forgiveness and expressed his "shame" for the abuse by priests that has overshadowed the Church's work across the world.   People at the vigil heard from a South African former choirboy who was assaulted by a priest when he was just 11, and who denounced a lack of transparency and responsibility in and by the Church that he said had shaken the faith of millions of people.   "We are here as beggars of the Father's mercy, asking for forgiveness," Francis said.   "How could we be credible in our mission if we do not acknowledge our mistakes and stoop to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins?" he added.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan shut down on Wednesday, grounding hundreds of flights and closing schools, offices and financial markets ahead of the arrival of a weakening Typhoon Krathon with one person reported dead and torrential rain lashing the island's south. Officials in the key port city of Kaohsiung, set to be in the eye of the storm, told people to stay home and avoid the sea, rivers and mountains, warning of a repeat of 1977's Typhoon Thelma that killed 37 and devastated the city of 2.7 million. Although the typhoon has weakened, the threats from a storm surge, strong winds and rain remain as it slowly makes its way towards Taiwan's coast, weather forecasters said. The typhoon would lose power once it hits land, said Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, but would still bring intense winds and rain. "But if it moves north, the winds will strengthen again, so the threat to Kaohsiung will continue to exist, and people cannot take this lightly," he told reporters. Once it hits land, the typhoon could be downgraded into a tropical depression and dissipate, which has happened only once before in Taiwan, in 2001, forecasters said. That storm, called Trami, dumped vast amounts of rain leading to massive flooding. The fire department reported one person dead, an elderly man in the eastern county of Hualien who fell from a tree, with two others missing and 70 injuries. On Wednesday, all the island's cities and counties declared a day off, shutting financial markets .TWII and cancelling domestic flights, along with 246 international ones, while more than 10,000 people were evacuated, mostly in the south and east. Typhoons often hit Taiwan's mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific, but Krathon is set to make landfall on its flat western plain. It is forecast to hit between Kaohsiung and its neighboring city of Tainan in the early hours of Thursday, before heading northeast up towards Taipei, the capital, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. "Because of Typhoon Gaemi being quite severe earlier this year, everyone is more cautious and prepared this time around," said sales representative Yu Ren-yu, 35, picking up sandbags at a government office, referring to July's storm that killed 11. "First be prepared, then we can face this typhoon." The typhoon has revived the older generation's bad memories of Thelma, prompting extra precautions, said Chou Yi-tang, a government official working in the Siaogang district home to the airport. "We were hit directly by the eyewall," he added, describing events almost five decades ago. "Power was out for two weeks and no water for almost a month. It was disastrous." More than 700 sandbags have been distributed in his district, a record for a typhoon, while authorities are making more to meet demand, Chou said. Taiwan's defense ministry said it had put more than 38,000 troops on standby. The north-south high speed rail line stayed open, but scaled back services. TSMC2330.TW, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple AAPL.O and Nvidia NVDA.O supplier, said on Tuesday it did not expect the typhoon would have a significant impact on operations. TSMC's factories are along the west coast, some in the city of Tainan.

Pentagon — U.S. Africa Command chief Gen. Michael Langley is starting to reshape the U.S. military presence on the continent following the U.S. military withdrawal from Niger. Uncertainty about the next phase of the counter-terror fight in West Africa stems from America’s lost access to two critical counter-terror bases in Niger. In the east, international participants and troop numbers for the new African Union Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) have yet to be finalized less than three months before the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) ends on December 31. In an exclusive interview at the VOA on Thursday, Langley said the Islamic State in Somalia had grown about twofold and explained how al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab had taken advantage of tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia to increase recruitment. Below are highlights from his discussion with VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, edited for brevity and clarity: On the growing U.S. partnership with Angola: AFRICOM Chief General Michael Langley: Angola has displayed their leadership across southern Africa … I’m very encouraged by the actions of Angola. With Angola and all the countries across the periphery, you have over 38 countries in Africa that have a shoreline. Economic viability is heavily dependent upon their economic exclusive zones … In the maritime and maritime awareness of some of these countries, we have a number of engagements, whether it be Exercise Obangame Express in Gabon this past summer … We have shared type objectives. They want to be able to stabilize and grow their economy through their fishing industries, but it's hampered by other countries that are going across their economic exclusive economic zones. On Chinese aspirations for a second military base in Africa: Langley: I think they do have, in my best military opinion, aspirations for another military base… We're actively watching. On Russia’s Africa Corps: Langley: As you can see, they're already in Mali. They're already in Burkina Faso and, to some degree, in Niger. They've been in CAR for a while, Central African Republic, and also in Libya. … (Wagner) has transitioned to the Russian MOD and the introduction of the Africa Corps, trying to replicate what we do best in partnering with these countries and trying to say that their security construct is better. It has proven not to be … I don't have particular numbers that they've introduced to Mali, limited numbers in Burkina Faso and also in Libya. It's in the hundreds. I'll just put it that way. It's not extensive just yet. On how the disputes between Ethiopia, Somalia and others in east Africa are affecting the war against al-Shabab: Langley: Well, it comes down to troop-contributing countries: who's going to play and who's going to be a troop contributing country in the transition from ATMIS to AUSSOM, and that starts at the end of the year. The sunset of ATMIS is 31 December, and then AUSSOM is supposed to take effect. The unknowns are who are going to be the troop-contributing countries to the AUSSOM construct…It is not finalized yet. That's the UN, that's the AU and that's the government of Somalia doing that. We're not in those discussions, but it's going to be revealed soon. I hope so. So, in the ATMIS construct, one of the anchor and frontline countries was Ethiopia. So that's what has me concerned. Ethiopia, especially in the South West State and their contributions to the liberation and stabilization, has been valuable … So time will tell if they can settle their differences and coalesce into a force that's very effective, because when they do work together, they're very, very effective at clearing out al-Shabab … There’re limited operations with the Ethiopians at this time.…Al-Shabaab leadership will try to exploit those disagreements and use that as a recruiting mechanism. VOA: We’ve heard that they've had a stronger recruitment because of that situation. Would you agree with that? Langley: Yes, I will agree with that. They have used that to their advantage. On whether U.S. forces may be needed during that transition from ATMIS to AUSSOM to try to supplement security: Langley: That's not what we're there for. We're there … helping President Hassan Mohamud be able to build his army. He's going through the force generation … all of our initiatives and our approach on the African continent, with our African partners, will be Africa-led and U.S.-enabled. So our piece of enabling is not our boots on the ground. We're there to advise and assist, and assist in the training, but the fight is theirs… That's not my mission… President Sheik Mohammed does not ask for our boots on the ground. On June comments from senior U.S. defense officials who told VOA that al-Shabab had reversed Somali National Army gains in central Somalia: Langley: I will say it ebbs and flows…They're still building the Somali National Army. So as they go on offensive operations, it is stress on the force. As they clear and liberate a region, you have to have a credible holding force there so stabilization activities and efforts can initiate and turn the populace and faith in the federal government of Somalia with the services they provide. So that's a very, that's a very fragile period. And if they can't sustain that, because they're moving to the next region or next district, it ebbs. VOA: So that was what was happening in this instance. They couldn't hold the territory that they had gained? Langley: Right. VOA: And that's where your training is coming in, to try to get them ready to be able to hold that territory? Langley: Exactly. It takes time. It’s an investment to build an army … so they have staying power, and they can also close the military and civilian divide, where the local populace will have faith in the federal government of Somalia and the national army that is there trying to hold. On why he’s “cautiously optimistic” the Somali forces will be successful against al-Shabab: Langley: We are at an inflection point. This is unknown territory … However, when I say I'm consciously optimistic, I'm looking at the whole-of-government effort. ... Every time I go there, stabilization activities are increasing…Yes, we need a credible holding force because sometimes the shadow governments of al-Shabab try to re-insert themselves back in that region and try to influence some of the local leaders … So it goes back and forth to some of these regions, but they're being overridden by some of the stabilization activities that USAID, the biggest contributor, has put forth. On the collaboration between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants and al-Shabab: Langley: There’s probably aspirations. That’s something that we're watching closely but, you know, I will stay tight lipped on … We're concerned, and we're closely watching that, because this can turn into a bad neighborhood real quick. This is a strategic choke point on the globe…That's where a lot of our commerce goes through. It could affect our global economy if those waters don't have free flow of commerce… With the Houthis and their actions, and al-Shabab and their actions and (Somali President) HSM trying to keep them from coalescing, that can interdict the free flow of commerce across those waters of the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea, and through the Suez Canal. On reports Islamic State in Somalia leader Abdulqadir Mumin is now the leader of Islamic State: Langley: We have to take it as credible … As far as who is the overall leader--and ISIS professes that--sometimes you’ve got to take that seriously, because that person may have an act or aspirations or put forth operations that can affect our homeland. So yes, we’ve got to take that seriously. On Islamic State in Somalia’s growth: Langley: I am concerned about the northern part of Somalia and ISIS growing in numbers, and also the possibility of foreign fighters growing there. Oh, wow ... In the past year, it's probably grown, probably twofold. Now, I won't give numbers, but I'd say it's probably, it's more than what it was last year. On whether France, the U.S. and Germany have failed the Sahel: Langley: If we look at the numbers of the global index for terrorism across the Sahel … 40% of those killed across the globe came from the Sahel. So that's concerning. It emanated from, the ideology, I would say, emanated down through Syria, through the Maghreb. Arab Spring contributed to it. The fall of Libya contributed to it. That's how that has grown and metastasized to the numbers you have today…that jihad-type ideology is preying upon the civil society, preying upon the military-aged males. We are engaging with coastal West African countries because as we look at what direction it’s metastasized, it’s on the northern regions of Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo and Benin. …They understand the enduring solution for terrorism …. it's not about kinetics. So that's why I don't just go see the militaries. I get with USAID, and we sit down with these, with these administrators that go out in the field. On the possibility of southern Libya providing a solution to the U.S. bases challenge in the fight against terror in the Sahel: Langley: We've affected the conversation… I went in and talked to both sides, the GNU and the LNA leadership, but also I want to say that this is very much in the diplomatic realm. …We need to affect unity to move forward. They are at an impasse, a political impasse, because, for us to fully be able to support building their capacity to fight terrorism, anything emanating from the Sahel, we do need them in agreement, in concert, working together as a joint force. But I will tell you, you know, there is another elephant in the room--elephant in that country--and it's the Russian Federation. And so their activities are irrespective of the law of armed conflict, irrespective of rules-based order, irrespective to human rights. So we want to be the preferred partner. We don't tell them to choose. We don't give them ultimatums, but through our actions and whatever we offer in a value proposition that protects human rights, that's mindful of the laws of armed conflict, protects the civil society … both the GNU and LNA understand that, and they have made overtures that they do want to work with us. So we're in the nascent stages, but they need to address the political impasse that they have between the east and the west. And so our State Department is working that effort.

SEOUL — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held his first telephone call with Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday and agreed a united response together with the United States is needed to counter North Korea's threats, his office said.  South Korea last week welcomed Ishiba's election as the head of Japan's ruling party, saying it looked forward to the two countries continuing to improve ties and working together on security and economic issues under his leadership.   Yoon told Ishiba during their call the neighbors are important partners who share values and interests and invited him to continue to communicate closely and enhance cooperation, Yoon's office said.  "The two leaders agreed that South Korea and Japan, South Korea, the United States and Japan need to unite to respond to North Korea's continued provocations," it said.  Ishiba, who was confirmed as prime minister on Tuesday, pledged to seek deeper ties with friendly nations to counter the gravest security threats his country has faced since World War Two.  Yoon has made it a diplomatic priority to improve ties with Tokyo and build trilateral security cooperation together with the United States by putting years of animosity stemming from Japan's wartime history behind.  Ishiba's predecessor Fumio Kishida and Yoon oversaw a newfound partnership after orchestrating an about-face in ties that had sunk to their lowest level in decades before Yoon came to office, prodded by U.S. President Joe Biden. 

U.S. vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance met for the first and only vice presidential debate of this election season. Tina Trinh reports from New York.

LONDON/DUBAI — An OPEC+ panel is unlikely this week to recommend any changes to its current deal to reduce production and to start unwinding some cuts from December, despite recent sharp declines in oil prices, five sources from the producer group told Reuters. Top ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, or OPEC+ as the group is known, will hold an online joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting on Wednesday. "Although the oil market situation is a bit complicated, I do not expect a new decision or any change to the OPEC+ agreement in Wednesday's meeting," one of the sources said, declining to be identified. Oil prices have fallen in 2024 with Brent crude last month slipping below $70 a barrel for the first time since 2021, pressured by concern about global demand and rising supply outside OPEC+. Brent was trading near $71 on Tuesday. OPEC+ is currently cutting output by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 5.7% of global demand, in a series of steps agreed since late 2022. Its latest agreement calls for OPEC+ to raise output by 180,000 bpd in December, part of a plan to gradually unwind its most recent layer of voluntary cuts during 2025. The hike was delayed from October after prices slid. Compliance by countries with cuts will also be in focus at the meeting and in coming weeks, particularly that of Iraq and Kazakhstan which have promised so called compensation cuts of 123,000 bpd in September and more in later months to make up for past over-production. An OPEC+ source told Reuters last week that when it becomes clearer that the compensation cuts are being made in September, this will allow the December increase to go ahead as the net supply addition to the market will be minimal. However, a lack of compliance could prompt Saudi Arabia and others to unwind their cuts faster from December, analysts said. "If they fail to comply, we can envision a swifter sunsetting of the voluntary cuts," Helima Croft of RBC Capital said in a report. The JMMC, which groups the oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other leading producers, usually meets every two months and can make recommendations to change policy.