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paris — Hundreds of people came out Saturday in Paris, marching in support of the right to abortion for women across the world, just six months after France became the first country to guarantee in its constitution a woman's right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy.  The protest, organized by civil society groups to mark International Safe Abortion Day, also called for greater and easier access to abortion in France, denouncing budget cuts, staff reductions and the closure of abortion centers and maternity wards, which organizers say all contribute to penalizing women.  Sarah Durocher, president of France's not-for-profit family planning services, said French women sometimes must travel to another region to access the medical services needed to abort, denouncing the "obstacle course" they sometimes face.  Thibault Thomas, 28, said the ongoing trial of a man who has confessed to drugging his wife so that dozens of men could rape her while she was unconscious, was one of the reasons that motivated him to attend the protest Saturday.  "There's a mood in France, a particular context with the Mazan trial," he said, referring to the name of the small Provence town where the couple had bought their retirement home, and where the repeated rapes occurred.  "This sweeps away all the excuses, or all the mitigating circumstances that we thought could have existed before," Thomas said. "In fact, it is something broader, generalized."  Earlier this year, France became the only country to explicitly guarantee a woman's right to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy, when lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a bill to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution.  Abortion in France has been legal since 1975 and enjoys wide support across most of the political spectrum.  Enshrining the right in the Constitution sought to prevent the kind of rollback seen in the United States in recent years.  Still, many in the protest Saturday said the right to abort could never be taken for granted, especially at a time when far-right nationalist parties are gaining influence in France and other European countries.  "Every time the far right comes to power, sexual and reproductive rights are threatened. I don't see why there would be a French exception," said Durocher, stressing that every nine minutes, a woman dies somewhere in the world for not having been able to access safe abortion. "So obviously these rights are threatened."  Also in the Saturday march was a small organization representing Colombian women in Paris, carrying a large purple banner with a feminist sign.  "In France, fortunately, it is enshrined in the constitution. But we know that when we exert pressure in France or in Latin America, we also help all women to say, 'We are not alone,'" said 49-year-old Talula Rodriguez. "We're all going to fight for rights, rights over our bodies." 

WARSAW, Poland — The death toll in Poland from recent floods rose to nine after two more bodies were found, the national police chief said Saturday.  One person is still missing, police chief Marek Boron said during a government meeting on the effects of the floods that hit southwestern Poland earlier this month.  The floods following torrential rains inundated houses and damaged bridges and roads in the towns of Stronie Slaskie, Nysa and many villages in the area. More than 20 people have died in Poland and elsewhere in Central Europe from the floods.  A German citizen is among the dead in Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this week.  In the wake of the floods, Poland's 2025 draft budget will set aside $836 million as a reserve for dealing with natural disasters, the government said Saturday.  The worst floods in at least two decades left many towns in southwestern Poland submerged, and the government plans to free up millions of dollars from the budget and European Union funds to deal with the aftermath.  The deluge has also compounded the financial worries of a government facing the prospect of EU budget discipline measures.  In a statement published after the government adopted the 2025 budget with changes due to the floods, it said that the reserve for counteracting and removing the effects of natural disasters would be increased.  It said that around $5 million in EU funds would be allocated to helping regions affected by the floods.  Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said that no decision has been made on whether changes to the 2024 budget would be necessary. 

prague — The main Czech opposition group led by former populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis won an election Saturday for a third of the seats in Parliament's upper house, the Senate. The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Petr Fiala still retained a majority in the Senate. With all the votes from the two-day ballot counted, Babis' ANO, or YES in English, won eight of the 27 seats up for grabs in the 81-seat Senate in the two-round election. It's the first time the centrist movement won that many seats in the chamber. The results are a boost for Babis ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. ANO has been the most popular party and is favored to win that vote. The candidates linked to the coalition won 15 seats. Parliament's lower house dominates the legislative process, but the Senate plays an important role in passing constitutional amendments and approving Constitutional Court judges. In a separate vote last week, ANO dominated Czech regional elections, winning 10 of the 13 regions contested. The current Czech government firmly stands behind Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia. The country has donated arms, including heavy weapons, to the Ukrainian armed forces and is behind a plan to acquire artillery shells Ukraine badly needs from countries outside the European Union. Some 320,000 refugees from Ukraine currently live in Czechia.

WASHINGTON — Bomb blasts in Mogadishu and a town in the country's Middle Shabelle region killed at least six people and injured 10 others Saturday, police said and witnesses confirmed to VOA. “An explosives-laden vehicle, which was parked on the road near a restaurant in the busy Hamar Weyne district, went off. I could see the dead bodies of at least three people, two of them women,” Mohamed Haji Nur, a witness, told VOA. The explosion site is opposite of Somalia’s National Theater, about one kilometer from the president's office. The target of the attack is still unknown, but the affected Gel Doh restaurant is frequented by government staff and people from the diaspora for serving traditional Somali food. In a separate incident, a bomb planted in a livestock market in Jowhar city in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region killed one person and injured three other civilians, Jowhar police Commander Bashir Hassan told a news conference. It was not immediately clear who had carried out the attacks. However, the Islamist militant group al-Shabab is known for orchestrating bombings and gun attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa country. Barre addressed UN General Assembly Somalian Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre publicly accused Ethiopia before the U.N. General Assembly on Friday of actions that he says "flagrantly violate" Somalia's territorial integrity. This accusation comes as tensions continue to escalate between the two neighboring countries since January, when Ethiopia struck a controversial maritime deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland. This region, at the northern tip of the country, declared independence in 1991 but lacks international recognition. Under the deal, Somaliland would lease 20 kilometers of shoreline to Ethiopia in return for recognition, a move that raised alarms in Mogadishu. "Somalia currently faces a serious threat from Ethiopia's recent actions, which flagrantly violate our territorial integrity," Prime Minister Barre stated at the U.N. General Assembly. Somalia has accused Ethiopia of unlawfully attempting to build a naval base and commercial port in Somaliland. “Ethiopia's attempt to annex part of Somalia under the guise of securing sea access is both unlawful and unnecessary,” Barre emphasized, highlighting the gravity of the situation. Ethiopia, a landlocked nation, has long sought access to the sea, but its move to deal with Somaliland infuriated the Somali government. Barre elaborated on the implications of Ethiopia's actions, saying, “Somalia ports have always been accessible for Ethiopia’s legitimate commercial activities, reflecting our commitment to regional trade and cooperation.” He warned, though, that “Ethiopia's aggressive maneuvers undermine Somalia’s sovereignty and embolden secessionist movements, which could threaten national unity.” “These actions also serve as propaganda for terrorist groups like al-Shabab, who exploit Ethiopia’s provocations to recruit and radicalize vulnerable individuals,” he said. Ethiopia denies accusations Addressing the General Debate of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Taye Atske-Selassie, minister for foreign affairs of Ethiopia, denied Somalia’s accusation. “Ethiopia’s memorandum of understanding with Somaliland is based on existing political dispensation in Somalia,” he said. “Our objective is a shared growth and prosperity in the region. Similar agreements have been concluded by other states, and there is no reason for the government of Somalia to incite hostility that obviously intends to cover internal political tensions. I therefore reject the unfounded allegations leveled against my country.” In a show of defiance, several times Somalia has threatened to expel Ethiopian troops who have been part of an African Union mission against al-Shabab militants since 2007. Afyare Abdi Elmi, a Mogadishu-based professor of international affairs, told VOA that recent Egyptian military cooperation with Somalia raised concerns in Addis Ababa. “The stakes are raised further, as Mogadishu has signed a military deal with Cairo and received weapons shipments that have alarmed Ethiopian officials.” “I am afraid that the unfolding events signal a crucial moment in the Horn of Africa, with the potential to reshape the region's geopolitical landscape and security dynamics,” said Somalia analyst Abdiqafar Abdi Wardhere, who is based in Virginia. Last week, the Somali government accused Ethiopia of sending an "unauthorized shipment of arms and ammunition" to Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland. “Ethiopia must be held accountable for actions threatening to destabilize the Horn of Africa,” Barre warned in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. As the African Union mission prepares to transform at the end of the year, Egypt has offered to replace Ethiopian troops for the first time. Somalia may also push for the removal of the estimated 10,000 Ethiopian troops stationed in Somalia’s regions along the border, aimed at preventing incursions by Islamist militants. Although he did not name Egypt, Ethiopia’s foreign minister said that other actors’ actions are undermining regional stability. “The recent maneuvers of actors from the outside of the Horn of Africa region undermine these efforts. Ethiopia will not be deterred from its resolute commitment to combating terrorism,” Atske-Selassie said. “I am confident that the government of Somalia will reckon and recognize the sacrifice we made to Somalia’s liberation from the grip of terrorist groups.” Some information in this report is from Reuters.

CAIRO — Lebanese media is reporting that Hezbollah has named its deputy leader, Naim Qassim, to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed after Israeli planes bombed the organization's headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs Friday. It wan't clear if the interim appointment would be revised, amid reports that another Hezbollah leader, Hashim Safieddine, is seeking the position. Hezbollah officially announced the death of its veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday, after initially denying reports that he had been killed Friday in an Israeli attack on the group's bunker in Beirut's southern suburbs. Iran's Revolutionary Guard also told Iranian media that Quds Force Deputy Commander Abbas Niloforoshan was killed alongside Nasrallah and several other top Hezbollah commanders, including the group's rocket expert, Ali Karaki, during the Israeli bomb attack Friday. Iranian media reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved to a more secure location, amid fears that Israel might target him, as well. Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in August. More than 200,000 Lebanese reportedly have fled their homes in parts of the country to escape possible Israeli attacks, and many are sleeping in parks and outdoor locations according to Lebanese media. UNHCR head Filippo Grandi wrote in a post on social media platform X that 20,000 Lebanese also have fled to Syria. Lebanese media showed video of the Syrian border post along the highway from Beirut to Damascus overwhelmed by Lebanese and Syrians fleeing Lebanon. Lebanese Health Minister Firaas Abiad told hospitals in Beirut and north of the capital "not to take unessential cases during the next week" in order to deal with the current wave of casualties from Israeli attacks. Abiad also told Arab media that Lebanon has a four-month supply of medicine and other hospital necessities to deal with the current emergency but that it was requesting aid from other countries to deal with possible shortages. The Lebanese army reportedly has deployed in many parts of the country that have been Hezbollah strongholds in recent years, but it wasn't clear if the government received a green light from the group to do so.

Madrid — A boat carrying migrants capsized off Spain's Canary Islands overnight, killing at least nine people and leaving 48 missing, the national maritime rescue service said Saturday. Eighty-four people were on board and 27 were saved after rescuers responded to a distress call received shortly after midnight from off El Hierro, one of the islands in the Atlantic archipelago, a statement said. This follows the death of 39 migrants in early September when their boat sank off Senegal while attempting a similar crossing to the Canaries, from where migrants hope to reach mainland Europe. Thousands of migrants have died in recent years setting off into the Atlantic to reach Europe onboard overcrowded and often dilapidated boats. The latest tragedy "again underlines the dangerousness of the Atlantic route," Canaries regional President Fernando Clavijo wrote on X. "We need Spain and the EU to act decisively in the face of a structural humanitarian tragedy" as lives are lost "meters from Europe's southern border," he said. In late August, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Mauritania and Gambia to sign cooperation agreements to crack down on people smugglers while expanding pathways for legal immigration. As of August 15, some 22,304 migrants had reached the Canaries since the start of the year, up from 9,864 in the same period the previous year. Almost 40,000 migrants entered the Canaries in 2023, a record on course to be broken this year as easier navigation conditions from September tend to lead to a spike in crossing attempts. The Atlantic route is particularly deadly, with many of the crowded and poorly equipped boats unable to cope with the strong ocean currents. Some boats depart African beaches as far as 1,000 kilometers from the Canaries. The International Organization for Migration, a U.N. agency, estimates that 4,857 people have died on this route since 2014. Many aid organizations say that is a massive undercount, with Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish nongovernmental organization that aids migrants, saying 18,680 have died trying to reach Europe.

In the American Midwest, a local fight over a Chinese electric vehicle battery factory reflects broader controversy over Chinese investments in the U.S. VOA’s Calla Yu reports on how the issue of U.S.-China competition is playing out in a small city in Michigan during this year’s U.S. presidential election. Videographer: Yu Gang

Bangkok — As Thailand faces a growing influx of refugees from Myanmar following the military coup, MP Rangsiman Rome, chair of the Thai House Committee on National Security and deputy leader of the People’s Party, emphasizes the need for urgent reform. "The immediate step is to register the people," Rome tells VOA, citing corruption and the lack of legal recognition that leave many refugees vulnerable. "By recognizing them, we can give them access to education and work, while ensuring they contribute by paying taxes." In this exclusive interview with VOA, Rome discusses Thailand’s challenges with migration, corruption and the need for coordinated government action to address the crisis. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. VOA: What are your criticisms of the government’s handling of this crisis, and what should they do differently? Rangsiman Rome: The civil war in Myanmar is devastating, forcing many to flee into Thailand. Unfortunately, Thailand wasn’t prepared, and refugees now live in the shadows without legal status. We can’t return them due to international and domestic laws, so we’ve been working with [nongovernmental organizations] to provide humanitarian aid, but a long-term solution is necessary. Thailand shares a 2,400-kilometer border with Myanmar, and instability there allows for illegal activities like drug smuggling and human trafficking, affecting Thailand and the region. ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] must pressure the State Administration Council [SAC], Myanmar’s junta, to support peace and democracy in Myanmar. In the short term, Thailand must register the 6 million Myanmar people here, providing them with legal status, work and education. Right now, the government’s policy on this issue remains unclear. VOA: What immediate steps should be taken? Rome: Registering the Myanmar people who are in Thailand would be a good first step. One of the problems that we are facing is corruption. A lot of refugees have to pay the money to the police or other authorities in order to work. If the Thai government would recognize these people living in Thailand, it would make it so they can not only access health care and education, but also they will be able to work and therefore have the responsibility to pay taxes. At the same time, we need to reach out to our friends like Japan, the U.S. and Australia for help with managing this situation, such as humanitarian aid. VOA: A recent Lower House report highlighted legal loopholes contributing to human rights violations. What changes do you propose? Rome: When we register them, we can make sure that our law will protect them. Abuses can happen because we don’t recognize them. So, [if] anything happens to them, they cannot report it; but if they are registered, they can earn, can live like normal people in Thailand. At the same time, if you want to solve this, we have to talk about how it starts. In Myanmar we find out that as many as 2 million refugees are in the IDP [internally displaced people] camps because of the ongoing bombardment by the SAC. If everyone in the international community would come together to pressure the SAC to stop this, maybe a million refugees could return to their homes again. So, we need to not just manage the refugees in Thailand, but we have to deal with the situation in Myanmar. VOA: Ministries have been criticized for working in “silos.” How do you plan to improve coordination? Rome: As chair of the National Security Committee, I ensure that our recommendations benefit Thailand. We aim to play a larger role in the U.N. Human Rights Council, but we must manage the refugee situation appropriately to maintain our reputation. We are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure Myanmar refugees can live safely in Thailand. Additionally, the SAC has been using Thailand’s banking system to launder money for weapons, and we’ve been pushing the foreign minister to take action on this. VOA: Access to health care, education and basic services for migrants remain major issues. How do you assess the government’s efforts, and what would you do differently? Rome: The policy around education in Thailand is not very clear. For example, there have been cases where the government closed a day care because they were singing a song to the children in Burmese and they found that unacceptable. The problem is that it’s very hard for refugee children to access school in Thailand and not every school has the same policies. The people at the border, they cannot have a Thai education, so the Thai authority is trying to create a separate Burmese program for them, but it doesn’t make sense to me. How can the Thai government make a Burmese program? I think one of the very important things is we need to change this policy. Kids are innocent. They should have access to the Thai education system, and actually, we have space for them. We are an aging society. Schools are actually closing due to a lack of enrollment because of low birth rates. I think Thailand must change, and if I controlled the government, absolutely we would open the education system for Myanmar people to study in Thailand. I believe that if they are better educated, it benefits not only themselves but all of Thailand. VOA: There was a protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy a few days ago where protesters were complaining about the large number of Myanmar refugees in Thailand. What do you think is driving this protest? Rome: Thailand’s struggling economy has led to job losses, and with over 6 million Myanmar refugees here, tensions are rising. Corruption adds to the issue, with refugees forced to pay bribes just to live. Crimes involving Myanmar refugees are often publicized more, worsening relations between Thai and Myanmar people. Registering the refugees would reduce corruption and ensure equal treatment under the law. Right now, Thai law restricts foreigners from working in many sectors, but if managed properly, Myanmar workers could contribute significantly to our economy. They are essential to Thailand and bringing them out of the shadows will help us all. VOA: Given the current situation, what message would you like to share with the Myanmar migrants living in Thailand? Rome: I understand that the people from Myanmar seek peace and safety here, hoping to provide for their families. The crisis in Myanmar forced them to flee and find opportunities elsewhere. As an MP, I want Thailand to uphold human rights, but that’s difficult due to many factors — history, education and the economy. Still, I believe that Myanmar and Thailand, as neighbors, must work together. Real change requires improving the situation in Myanmar. I know the Myanmar people want peace and democracy, and I hope we can achieve that together.

United Nations — China 's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Saturday against the expansion of the war in Ukraine, which has accused Beijing of assisting Russia in its war. Kyiv has been particularly scornful of Beijing's calls for talks to resolve the conflict, but Wang reiterated China 's offer to help broker an end to fighting. “The top priority is to commit to no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no provocation by any party, and push for de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible,” he told the U.N. General Assembly. "China is committed to playing a constructive role, engaging in shuttle mediation and promoting talks for peace, not throwing oil on the fire or exploiting the situation for selfish gains." Wang also called for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but only noted the resumption of fighting in Lebanon without commenting on the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike. “There must not be any delay in reaching a comprehensive cease-fire, and the fundamental way out lies in the two-state solution,” Wang said. "China has always been a staunch supporter of the just cause of the Palestinian people to regain their legitimate national rights, and a staunch supporter of Palestine's full U.N. membership."

JOHANNESBURG — Seventeen people, including 15 women, were killed in two mass shootings that took place near each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said Saturday. A search was under way for the suspects, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said in a statement. The victims were 15 women and two men, she said. One other person was in critical condition in the hospital. The shootings took place Friday night in the town of Lusikisiki in Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa. Video released by police showed that the shootings occurred at two houses in the same neighborhood, which is a collection of rural homesteads on the outskirts of the town. Twelve women and a man were killed in one house, and three women and a man were killed in the other house, police said. Four women, one man and a 2-month-old baby survived. “A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings,” Mathe said. Local media reported that the people were attending a family gathering at the time of the shooting, but the motive for the killings remains unknown. Police minister Senzo Mchunu told media on Saturday that a team of detectives and forensic experts had been deployed. “We have full faith and confidence in the team that has been deployed to crack this case and find these criminals. Either they hand themselves over or we will fetch them ourselves,” Mchunu said. South Africa, a country of 62 million, recorded 12,734 homicides in the first six months of this year, according to official crime statistics from the police. That’s an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the biggest cause of deaths in those cases. Mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their homes. Ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in a mass shooting at their home in the neighboring KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023. Firearm laws are somewhat strict in South Africa, but authorities have often pointed to the large number of illegal, unregistered guns in circulation as a major problem.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL — At least 38 people have been killed in Nepal since early on Friday as persistent downpours triggered more flooding and landslides, closing major roads and disrupting domestic air travel, officials said on Saturday. The death toll could rise, they added, with an additional 29 people reported missing over the last 30 hours. Most of the deaths took place in the Kathmandu valley, which is home to 4 million people and the country's capital, where the flooding brought traffic and normal activity to a standstill. Rescue workers used helicopters and rubber boats to help people stranded on rooftops or elevated ground as some parts of Kathmandu reported up to 322.2 millimeters of rain over the last day. Most rivers in the Himalayan nation have swollen, spilling over roads and bridges, authorities said, after nearly a week's delay in the retreat of South Asia's annual monsoon rains brought torrential downpours across the region. Police were working to clear debris and reopen roads after landslides blocked highways in 28 places, said police spokesperson Dan Bahadur Karki. The earliest let-up in the rains might not come until Sunday, said Binu Maharjan, a weather forecasting official in Kathmandu, who said a low-pressure system over parts of neighboring India had caused this year's extended rains. "Heavy rains are likely to continue until Sunday morning, and the weather is likely to clear after that," Maharjan told Reuters. Most central and eastern areas had received moderate to extremely heavy rainfall, ranging from 50 millimeters to more than 200 millimeters, she added, with moderate levels recorded elsewhere. International flights are operating, but many domestic flights have been disrupted, said Rinji Sherpa, a spokesperson for Kathmandu airport. The Koshi River in the southeast, which causes deadly floods in India's eastern neighboring state of Bihar almost every year, was running above the danger level at 450,000 cusecs, versus the normal figure of 150,000 cusecs, one official said. A cusec is a measurement of water flow equivalent to one cubic foot a second. The river level is still rising, added Ram Chandra Tiwari, the area's top bureaucrat. Hundreds of people die in the monsoon season every year in landslides and flash floods common in the mountainous nation. Authorities said at least 254 people have died and 65 gone missing in landslides, floods and lightning strikes since mid-June, when annual monsoon rains started.

GENEVA — Sudan’s warring parties are using sexual violence as a weapon of war, and “gender-based violence has increased more than two-fold” since the conflict erupted in April 2023, according to U.N. Women, a United Nations agency that focuses on women’s rights and social progress, in its new report. “Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war throughout this conflict,” Hodan Addou, U.N. Women’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, told journalists in Geneva at the launch of the report Friday. “The ongoing violent conflict has exacerbated the risks faced by women and girls in Sudan, with rising reports of conflict-related sexual violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, particularly in Khartoum, Al Jazeera, Darfur and Kordofan states,” she said, speaking from South Sudan via a video link. Authors of the report have issued what they call a “Gender Alert” to highlight the catastrophic impacts of Sudan’s conflict on women and girls. They note that nearly 5.8 million internally displaced women are particularly vulnerable, with many cases of sexual violence going unreported “due to fear of stigma, retribution and the lack of adequate support.” 'It is ... despicable' Addou observed that rape and sexual violence is used as “a way of breaking communities and tarnishing the social fabric of a community by targeting the most vulnerable.” “It is a despicable and human rights violation,” she said. “The impact this conflict has had on the lives of women and children is horrendous. “Many of them are seeing their loved ones killed in front of their eyes. They have seen brutal sexual violence against children, against women used as a way of putting more trauma, more fear on communities.” The report finds more than 6.7 million people needed services related to gender-based violence by December 2023, underscoring that “this figure is estimated to be much higher today.” “While men and boys also are victims of gender-based violence, most of these cases involve women and girls,” it says. The United Nations calls Sudan one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Since rival generals of the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces plunged the country into war more than 17 months ago, an estimated 20,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured. Some 10.8 million people are displaced inside Sudan and an additional 2 million as refugees in neighboring countries, making Sudan the largest displacement crisis in the world. According to the U.N., Sudan now is also the world’s largest hunger crisis, with nearly 26 million people facing acute hunger. 'Women and girls are eating least and last' Addou said women and children are suffering most from the looming famine gripping the country. “With 64% of female-headed households experiencing food insecurity compared to 48% of male-headed households in 10 states, women and girls are eating least and last,” she said, adding that they also are disproportionately affected by the lack of safe and easily accessible water, sanitation and hygiene. The World Health Organization reports people lack access to health care services because of insecurity, attacks on medical facilities and a shortage of medicines and medical supplies. The U.N. health agency says critical services, including maternal and child health care, the management of severe acute malnutrition, and the treatment of patients with chronic conditions have been discontinued in many areas because 70% to 80% of hospitals are not functional. “Across Sudan, women are dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related complications, whether or not those pregnancies are a result of gender-based violence, or whatever,” Dr. Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson, said. “Women are not getting the standard care that saves your life and saves the life of your child during childbirth or before childbirth.” She added that childhood vaccinations have been disrupted, as have disease surveillance and vector control, and this “has created the perfect conditions for the spread of disease outbreaks.” 'Calling for protection' U.N. Women is calling for urgent action to protect women and girls and to provide them with access to food, safe water, and sexual and reproductive health services. “We are calling for protection for all women and girls, in particular the retributions that they need to address. We are calling for accountability and the provision of justice to all of the victims,” Addou said. “The high-level sexual violence and exploitation being used as a weapon of war is preventing women from accessing much-needed resources … and the psychosocial support they need because of the chaotic nature of this conflict. “All those engaged in this violent conflict must be held to account,” she said. “We cannot let Sudan become a forgotten crisis.”

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces hit a medical center in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday morning, then struck again as the building was being evacuated, killing a total of nine people, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian prosecutors said that at the time of the attacks, 86 patients and 38 staff members were in the hospital. "The first attack killed one person and damaged the ceilings of several floors of the hospital," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. As people were being evacuated, the Russians struck again, killing five more people, he said. Ukrainian emergencies service later said nine people were killed and 10 wounded in all. "Everyone in the world who talks about this war should pay attention to where Russia is hitting. They are fighting hospitals, civilian objects, and people's lives," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram. "Only force can force Russia to peace. Peace through force is the only right way." Klymenko did not specify what weapons were used in Saturday's attacks, but the regional administration and air forces said the strike was carried out by drones. Attacks on Sumy city and the Sumy region have become much more frequent since Ukrainian forces launched an operation in Russia's Kursk region in August and captured dozens of settlements. Sumy city is located just 32 kilometers from the Russian border. Russian forces, which began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have been attacking the region and the city with drones and guided bombs. Ukrainian air forces earlier on Saturday said they shot down 69 of 73 drones during an overnight Russian attack that included two ballistic and two cruise missiles. About 15 Russian attack drones were destroyed by air defenses in the capital, Kyiv, and on its outskirts, the military administration there said.

PERRY, Florida — Hurricane Helene caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars of destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern United States, and more than 3 million customers went into the weekend without power and, for some, a continued threat of floods. Helene blew ashore in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 225 kilometers per hour and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The storm uprooted trees, splintered homes and sent creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. Western North Carolina was essentially cut off because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. There were hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by water from a flooded river. The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Several flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of the southern and central Appalachian Mountains, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio. Among the at least 44 people killed in the storm were three firefighters, a woman and her 1-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree. According to an Associated Press tally, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. When the water hit knee-level in Kera O’Neil’s home in Hudson, Florida, she knew it was time to escape. “There’s a moment where you are thinking, ‘If this water rises above the level of the stove, we are not going to have much room to breathe,’” she said, recalling how she and her sister waded through chest-deep water with one cat in a plastic carrier and another in a cardboard box. Evacuations and record rainfall In North Carolina, a lake featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam and surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated, although there were no immediate concerns it would fail. People also were evacuated from Newport, Tennessee, a town of about 7,000 people, amid concerns about a dam near there, although officials later said the structure had not failed. Tornadoes hit some areas, including one in Nash County, North Carolina, that critically injured four people. Atlanta received a record 28.24 centimeters of rain in 48 hours, the most the city has seen in a two-day period since recordkeeping began in 1878, Georgia’s Office of the State Climatologist said on the social platform X. Some neighborhoods were so badly flooded that only car roofs could be seen poking above the water. Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes in a matter of hours. Big Bend region hit hard Florida's Big Bend is a part of the state where salt marshes and pine flatwoods stretch into the horizon, and where the condo developments and strip malls that have carved up so much of the state's coastlines elsewhere are largely absent. It’s a place where Susan Sauls Hartway and her 4-year-old Chihuahua mix, Lucy, could afford to live within walking distance of the beach on her salary as a housekeeper. At least, until her house was carried away by Helene. Friday afternoon, Hartway wandered around her street near Ezell Beach, searching for where the storm may have deposited her home. “It’s gone. I don’t know where it’s at. I can’t find it,” she said of her house. Born and raised in rural Taylor County, Hartway said there is nowhere in the world she would rather be, even after Helene. But she’s watched as wealthier residents from out of state have bought up second homes here. She wonders how many of them will sell out — and what will happen to the locals who have nowhere else to go. “There’s so many people down here ... this was all they had,” she said. The community has taken direct hits from three hurricanes since August 2023. All five who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods where residents were told to evacuate, said Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County in the St. Petersburg area. Some who stayed ended up having to retreat to their attics to escape the rising water. He said the death toll could rise as crews go door-to-door in flooded areas. More deaths were reported in Georgia and the Carolinas, including two South Carolina firefighters and a Georgia firefighter who died when trees struck their trucks. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reported at least one death in his state. Power loss and infrastructure damage President Joe Biden said he was praying for survivors, and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency headed to the area. The agency deployed more than 1,500 workers, and they helped with 400 rescues by late Friday morning. Officials urged people who were trapped to call for rescuers and not tread floodwaters, warning they can be dangerous due to live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris. In Georgia, an electrical utility group warned of “catastrophic” damage to utility infrastructure, with more than 100 high-voltage transmission lines damaged. And officials in South Carolina, where more than 40% of customers were without power, said crews had to cut their way through debris just to determine what was still standing in some places. The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 30 kilometers northwest of where Hurricane Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the damage from Helene appears to be greater than the combined effects of Idalia and Hurricane Debby in August. The destruction extended far beyond Florida. Historic flooding expected A mudslide in the Appalachian Mountains washed out part of an interstate highway at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line. Another slide hit homes in North Carolina, and occupants had to wait more than four hours to be rescued, said Ryan Cole, the emergency services assistant director in Buncombe County. His 911 center received more than 3,300 calls in eight hours Friday. “This is something that we’re going to be dealing with for many days and weeks to come,” Cole said. Forecasters warned of flooding in North Carolina that could be worse than anything seen in the past century. The Connecticut Army National Guard sent a helicopter to help. Helene was the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN — Media watchdogs and journalists in Kazakhstan have raised fears that new regulations governing reporters, adopted outside a new media law, leave room for authorities to obstruct access to information and limit journalists’ ability to work. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the media law in June, expanding the definition of media subject to the law to include “internet resources” without specifying what that means. Many journalists distribute information on such channels as Telegram, YouTube and Facebook, which are separate from their accredited outlets. The law allows the Culture and Information Ministry, which oversees media, to set the rules for accrediting journalists. The regulations, which came into force last month, limit journalists to publishing information in outlets to which they are accredited, preventing them from publishing it in other outlets, and require them to comply with new and unspecified “rules and regulations established by accrediting organization.” Two violations of the rules can lead to suspension of accreditation for six months. “Any document adopted by a government body, including the Ministry of Culture and Information, undergoes legal expert examination. This means all provisions, all points, comply with the constitution and don’t contradict laws,” Culture and Information Minister Aida Balayeva told journalists this month after they raised concerns over the legality of the new regulations. “When we see that we drift away from the topic of a press briefing and, in fact, our briefings and news conferences shift to some other planes … when there is improper behavior by journalists — here we need regulation,” she said. Astana-based freelance journalist Tamara Vaal, who writes for the country’s leading vlast.kz news site and other outlets, said in a Facebook post that the rules “are a violation of the constitution, direct censorship and a ban on the trade of journalist.” In addition, she said, what the ministry is doing “is nothing but ultimately killing the profession” — journalists in Kazakhstan frequently must supplement their regular income with work for outlets other than the news organizations to which they are accredited. “Not only do these rules ban us from raising additional income, but also they deprive us of our job because just two violations of rules and regulations and you lose your accreditation for six months,” Vaal told VOA. Vaal said in her post that journalists write for several outlets because “they want to have children, save up for home and live a life at the end of the day, but this is not possible, unfortunately, on just one wage.” Vaal and others VOA spoke to cite the constitutional provisions banning censorship and ensuring citizens’ rights to access information and to work. Ainur Koskina, another Astana freelance journalist, said she believes the requirement that journalists write for only their accredited outlets would hurt journalists working outside the current and former capitals of Astana and Almaty. “They write for several outlets, and thanks to this, they can ensure a decent existence for themselves. This opportunity has now been taken away from them. I am afraid local journalism will go extinct, first of all, because of these accreditation rules,” Koskina told VOA. In a statement issued in July when the rules were put up for public discussion, the Almaty-based Adil Soz International Foundation for Freedom of Speech Protection said the new accreditation rules implied that information received from government bodies was not the public domain and was protected by copyright, so it should not be distributed to third parties. “Adil Soz believes that the rules regulating the work of journalists and media should facilitate access to information, not complicate it,” the statement said. Karlygash Jamankulova, the head of Adil Soz, told VOA that media outlets and journalists — as employers and employees, respectively — could regulate their labor relations themselves and decide whether journalists could work for other outlets. She suggested that while the new rules were vague, it remains to be seen how they would be implemented and how they would affect journalists. “This kind of issue cannot be disputed by public organizations,” she said. “It should be journalists themselves who can take it to court, and if we will have this kind of journalist in Kazakhstan, we are ready to stand by [that journalist] and provide all required legal support.” The head of the Media Qoldau, or Support, legal service, Gulmira Birzhanova, cited what she believes is a recent tendency toward tightening media legislation in Kazakhstan. “Accrediting organizations, which are state-owned companies along with government bodies, will establish their own rules and regulations, and I am afraid this could be used against journalists in the future,” Birzhanova told VOA. Vaal concluded: “This is a very bad trend, and I don’t know what future holds for Kazakh journalists.”

BEIRUT — Lebanon's Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who Israel said on Saturday it has killed, has led Hezbollah through decades of conflict with Israel, overseeing its transformation into a military force with regional sway and becoming one of the most prominent Arab figures in generations — with Iranian backing. The Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years. The Israeli military said it killed Nasrallah in an airstrike on the group's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut a day earlier. The Israeli military "eliminated ... Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization," Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a statement on X. If the Israeli claim of his death is confirmed by Hezbollah, Nasrallah will be remembered among his supporters for standing up to Israel and defying the United States. To enemies, he has been the head of a terrorist organization and a proxy for Iran's Shi'ite Islamist theocracy in its tussle for influence in the Middle East. His regional influence has been on display over nearly a year of conflict ignited by the Gaza war, as Hezbollah entered the fray by firing on Israel from southern Lebanon in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas. Yemeni and Iraqi groups followed suit, operating under the umbrella of "The Axis of Resistance." "We are facing a great battle," Nasrallah said in an August 1 speech at the funeral of Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. Yet when thousands of Hezbollah members were injured and dozens killed as their communications devices exploded in an apparent Israeli attack last week, that battle began to turn against his group. Responding to the attacks on Hezbollah's communications network in a September 19 speech, Nasrallah vowed to punish Israel. "This is a reckoning that will come, its nature, its size, how and where? This is certainly what we will keep to ourselves and in the narrowest circle even within ourselves," he said. He has not given a broadcast address since then. Israel has meanwhile dramatically escalated its attacks, killing several senior Hezbollah commanders in targeted strikes and unleashing a massive bombardment in Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon, which has killed hundreds of people. Recognized even by his enemies as a skilled orator, Nasrallah's speeches are followed by friend and foe alike. Wearing the black turban of a sayyed, or a descendent of the Prophet Mohammad, Nasrallah uses his addresses to rally Hezbollah's base but also to deliver carefully calibrated threats, often wagging his finger as he does so. He became secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992 at age 35, the public face of a once shadowy group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to fight Israeli occupation forces. Israel killed his predecessor, Sayyed Abbas al-Musawi, in a helicopter attack. Nasrallah led Hezbollah when its guerrillas finally drove Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation. 'Divine victory' Conflict with Israel has largely defined his leadership. He declared "divine victory" in 2006 after Hezbollah waged 34 days of war with Israel, winning the respect of many ordinary Arabs who had grown up watching Israel defeat their armies. But he became an increasingly divisive figure in Lebanon and the wider Arab world as Hezbollah's area of operations widened to Syria and beyond, reflecting an intensifying conflict between Shi'ite Iran and U.S.-allied Sunni Arab monarchies in the Gulf. While Nasrallah painted Hezbollah's engagement in Syria — where it fought in support of President Bashar al-Assad during the civil war — as a campaign against jihadists, critics accused the group of becoming part of a regional sectarian conflict. At home, Nasrallah's critics said Hezbollah's regional adventurism imposed an unbearable price on Lebanon, leading once friendly Gulf Arabs to shun the country — a factor that contributed to its 2019 financial collapse. In the years following the 2006 war, Nasrallah walked a tightrope over a new conflict with Israel, hoarding Iranian rockets in a carefully measured contest of threat and counterthreat. The Gaza war, ignited by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, prompted Hezbollah's worst conflict with Israel since 2006, costing the group hundreds of its fighters, including top commanders. After years of entanglements elsewhere, the conflict put renewed focus on Hezbollah's historic struggle with Israel. "We are here paying the price for our front of support for Gaza, and for the Palestinian people, and our adoption of the Palestinian cause," Nasrallah said in the August 1 speech. Nasrallah grew up in Beirut's impoverished Karantina district. His family hails from Bazouriyeh, a village in the Lebanon's predominantly Shi'ite south, which today forms Hezbollah's political heartland. He was part of a generation of young Lebanese Shi'ites whose political outlook was shaped by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Before leading the group, he used to spend nights with frontline guerrillas fighting Israel's occupying army. His teenage son, Hadi, died in battle in 1997, a loss that gave him legitimacy among his core Shi'ite constituency in Lebanon. Powerful enemies He has had a track record of threatening powerful enemies. As regional tensions escalated after the eruption of the Gaza war, Nasrallah issued a thinly veiled warning to U.S. warships in the Mediterranean, telling them: "We have prepared for the fleets with which you threaten us." In 2020, Nasrallah vowed that U.S. soldiers would leave the region in coffins after a U.S. drone strike in Iraq killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. He expressed fierce opposition to Saudi Arabia over its armed intervention in Yemen, where, with U.S. and other allied support, Riyadh sought to roll back the Iran-aligned Houthis. As regional tensions rose in 2019 following an attack on Saudi oil facilities, he said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should halt the Yemen war to protect themselves. "Don’t bet on a war against Iran because they will destroy you," he said in a message directed at Riyadh. On Nasrallah's watch, Hezbollah has also clashed with adversaries at home in Lebanon. In 2008, he accused the Lebanese government — backed at the time by the West and Saudi Arabia — of declaring war by moving to ban his group's internal communication network. Nasrallah vowed to "cut off the hand" that tried to dismantle it. It prompted four days of civil war pitting Hezbollah against Sunni and Druze fighters. The Shi'ite group took over half the capital, Beirut. He strongly denied any Hezbollah involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, after a U.N.-backed tribunal indicted four members of the group. Nasrallah rejected the tribunal — which in 2020 eventually convicted three of them in absentia over the assassination — as a tool in the hands of Hezbollah's enemies.