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

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

Kharkiv, Ukraine — A Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv wounded 21 people including three minors, the regional governor said Sunday.    Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram that eight of the victims were hospitalized, two in critical condition, after the strike late Saturday, when dozens of people were asleep in the two multistory buildings that were hit.    Russia has repeatedly targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, near the Russian border in the country's east that counted 1.4 million inhabitants before Moscow launched its war in February 2022.    Rescue workers used torches to search through the rubble, while one girl shook with sobs and held fast to a corridor wall, too scared to descend the stairs, and calling for her mother, an AFP reporter saw at the scene.    A rescuer took her by the hand, saying, "Everything is OK," and guided her down to her mother, Oleksandra.    "It has just blown up. It's terrible in there, the place is a wreck," she said.    The city's mayor, Igor Terekhov, said at the site that "As you can see, there are no military here."    "Every day and every night Kharkiv suffers the hits," he said.    Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the attack showed why his forces needed to use weapons supplied by Western allies to strike deeper into Russian territory, which, so far, they have refused.    "We must reinforce our capabilities to better protect lives and ensure our security," he said in a statement ahead of a U.S. trip this week, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly and hold talks in Washington.

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

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa headed to a run-off for Sri Lanka's presidency on Sunday, the election body said, with a second round of counting to determine the winner using preferential votes. It is the first time in Sri Lanka's history that the presidential race is to be decided by a second round of counting after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes to be declared winner. All remaining candidates, including incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, have been disqualified, the Election Commission told reporters. Dissanayake polled 39.5% of the counted ballots with Premadasa finishing second at 34%. Wickremesinghe, who led the heavily indebted nation's fragile economic recovery from a debilitating crisis in 2022, trailed in third with 17%. This is Sri Lanka's first election since the Indian Ocean nation's economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving it unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Protests forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign. "The election result clearly shows the uprising that we witnessed in 2022 is not over," said Pradeep Peiris, a political scientist at University of Colombo. "People have voted in line with those aspirations to have different political practices and political institutions. AKD (as Dissanayake is known) reflects these aspirations and people have rallied around him." Dissanayake, 55, presented himself as the candidate of change for those reeling under austerity measures linked to a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout, promising to dissolve parliament within 45 days of taking office for a fresh mandate for his policies in general elections. He has worried investors with a manifesto pledging to slash taxes in the island nation, which could impact IMF fiscal targets, and a $25 billion debt rework. But during the campaign, he took a more conciliatory approach, saying any changes would be undertaken in consultation with the IMF and that he was committed to ensuring repayment of debt. Premadasa also pledged to renegotiate the contours of the IMF deal. Grinding poverty for millions Buttressed by the IMF deal, Sri Lanka's economy has posted a tentative recovery. It is expected to grow this year for the first time in three years and inflation has collapsed to 0.5% from a crisis peak of 70%. But the continued high cost of living was a critical issue for many voters, and millions remain mired in poverty, with many pinning hopes of a better future on the next leader. Voting was peaceful, although police declared a curfew across the island nation until noon (0630 GMT) as a precaution while vote counting continued. About 75% of the 17 million eligible voters cast their ballots, according to the commission. Dissanayake, known for stirring speeches, ran as a candidate for the National People's Power alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna party. Traditionally, Dissanayake's party has backed stronger state intervention, lower taxes and more closed market economic policies. Although JVP has just three seats in parliament, Dissanayake was boosted by his promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more pro-poor policies. He drew big crowds at rallies, calling on Sri Lankans to leave behind the suffering of the crisis. Premadasa, 57, entered politics after his father, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, was killed in a suicide bombing in 1993. The younger Premadasa polled 42% of the votes in 2019 to finish second, behind Rajapaksa, in the last presidential election. Premadasa's center-left party has promised tax changes to reduce living costs. Support from farming communities in north and central Sri Lanka helped him close the gap on Dissanayake as counting progressed. The winner will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks with the IMF program until 2027 to get its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, repay debt, attract investors and help a quarter of its people climb out of poverty.

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Four people have died and more than 20 were wounded in a shooting in a nightlife area in the U.S. state of Alabama, according to police and news reports. There were multiple people shot in Birmingham, the Birmingham Police Department said in a social media post. Birmingham Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the shooting, with up to 21 people wounded, happened shortly after 11 p.m., AL.COM reported. Fitzgerald said there were "dozens of gunshot victims" and at least four had "life-threatening" injuries, AL.COM reported. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced the three victims dead on the scene and a fourth person was pronounced dead at University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, AL.COM reported. Police said the victims found dead at the scene included two men and a woman, WBMA-TV reported. Other victims were transported to hospitals in private vehicles, police told WBMA. The Birmingham police did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional information. The Five Points South area of Birmingham has numerous entertainment venues, restaurants and bars and often is crowded on Saturday nights. Police said there were no immediate arrests. "We will do everything we possibly can to make sure we uncover, identify and hunt down whoever is responsible for preying on our people this morning," Fitzgerald told WBMA. 

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

SANBAGAWA, Japan — Benmou Suzuki's dilapidated 420-year-old temple, located deep in the forest near a tiny Japanese mountain village, hardly looks like prized real estate. Yet the monk was recently approached by two men, who said they were real estate brokers and wanted to know if he was interested in selling. He suspects they weren't really interested in the ornate building at the trailhead of a sacred mountain, but the special tax status that comes with running a religious property. "There are people out there who want a temple, even a mountain temple like this. In fact, considering the value of the religious corporation status, this temple could fetch quite a lot of money," said 52-year-old Suzuki. As Japan's population falls and interest in religion declines, there are fewer people to contribute to the upkeep of the country's numerous temples and shrines. Suzuki's Mikaboyama temple, for example, is located in Sanbagawa -- an area a three-hour drive from Tokyo with only 500 residents and which also has three other Buddhist temples, one Shinto shrine and a church. A surge in religious properties coming up for sale has Japanese authorities worried that prospective buyers are not interested in them for heavenly purposes. Rather they fear many are out to dodge taxes or possibly even launder money. "It's already a sense of crisis for us and the religious community," said an official at Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, which oversees religious sites. Cases of temple or shrine properties being extensively repurposed have triggered public outrage. In Osaka, a temple sold in 2020 was later razed and dozens of graves were relocated to make way for a property development. In Kyoto, a case about a temple that was demolished and turned into a parking lot made headlines this year. Owning a temple, shrine or church recognized as a religious corporation in Japan can confer sizeable tax benefits. Businesses under such corporations that offer religious services such as funerals do not have to pay taxes while other non-religious businesses also enjoy preferential tax rates. A wide range of undertakings are allowed from restaurants to hair salons to hotels. Japan had about 180,000 religious sites with corporation status as end-2023, according to the agency's data. The number of so-called inactive corporations -- such as those with no religious events for more than a year -- jumped by a third to more than 4,400. When monks or priests die without a successor, the overseeing religious group will usually appoint someone to take over or voluntarily relinquish the site's corporation status. However, there are around 7,000 religious sites that operate independently of these groups and are considered easy to acquire, according to the agency and specialist brokers. The cultural affairs agency said it has stepped up efforts to dissolve the corporation status of inactive religious sites to stop them from being targeted by dubious buyers. And when big earthquakes hit, often damaging temples and shrines, agency officials visit religious groups in those areas, warning them about falling prey to such buyers. Last year, 17 religious corporations were voluntarily dissolved and six were ordered to dissolve. The agency said the number would increase this year and next year as it ratchets up scrutiny. It might seem easier for Japan to change its laws to more strictly control the criteria for purchasing religious sites. But the agency said the government is wary about amending laws related to religion as that could be seen as impinging on religious freedom which is guaranteed by Japan's constitution. Reuters checks of six websites specializing in brokering the sale of religious properties showed hundreds on the market. Most are only obliquely described online with brokers saying sellers prefer to conduct sales as privately as possible. Osaka-based broker Takao Yamamoto told Reuters interest is surging. A religious corporation license alone can fetch 30 million yen ($210,000), he adds. Some religious sites, especially those with profitable graveyards, are advertised for millions of dollars. "Anyone can buy independent sites as long as you have money...even foreigners can buy them. Recently, a lot of Chinese people are trying to buy them," Yamamoto said. For his part, Suzuki says he has no intention to sell Mikaboyama temple and is working on ideas to raise funds to maintain it. "Temples are places for local people to gather and forge connections. We just can't get rid of them," he said. 

TEFE, Brazil — The carcass of a baby dolphin lay on the sand bank left exposed by the receding waters in an Amazon lake that has been drying up during the worst drought on record.  Researchers recovered the dead animal on Wednesday and measured water temperatures that have been rising as the lake's level drops. In last year's drought, more than 200 of the endangered freshwater dolphins died in Lake Tefe from excessive water temperatures.  "We've found several dead animals. Last week, we found one a day on average," said Miriam Marmontel, head of the dolphin project at the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development.   "We're not yet associating the deaths with changes in water temperatures, but with the exacerbation of the proximity between human populations, mainly fishermen, and the animals," she said.  With branches of major rivers in the Amazon basin drying up in this year's critical drought, the lake connected to the Solimoes River has shrunk, leaving less room for the dolphins in their favorite habitat.  The lake's main channel is 2 meters deep and roughly 100 meters wide, and it is used by all the boat traffic, from canoes to heavy ferries, Marmontel said. Two dolphins were killed recently when boats ran into them in the shallow water.  "Nobody thought this drought would come so quickly or imagine that it would surpass last year's drought," fisherman Clodomar Lima said.  While the dolphin deaths are nowhere close to last year's toll, the dry season has more than a month to go and water levels will continue to decline, the researcher said.  And it is not just the rare dolphin species that are suffering. Riverine communities across the Amazon are stranded by the lack of transport on waters too shallow for boats, and their floating houses are now on solid ground.  Even houses built on stilts over water are now high and dry a distance from the river shore.  Lake Tefe resident Francisco Alvaro Santos said it was the first time ever that his floating house was out of the water.  "Water is everything to us. It is part of our daily lives, the means of transportation for everyone who live here," said Santos. "Without water we are nobody!"

MALINDI, Kenya — Shukran Karisa Mangi always showed up drunk at work, where he dug up the bodies of doomsday cult members buried in shallow graves. But the alcohol couldn't numb his shock the morning he found the body of a close friend, whose neck had been twisted so severely that his head and torso faced opposite directions. This violent death upset Mangi, who had already unearthed children's bodies. The number of bodies kept rising in this community off Kenya's coastline where extremist evangelical leader Paul Mackenzie is accused of instructing his followers to starve to death for the opportunity to meet Jesus. While he sometimes sees the remains of others when he tries to sleep, Mangi said recently, the recurring image of his friend's mutilated body torments him when he's awake. "He died in a very cruel manner," said Mangi, one of several gravediggers whose work was suspended earlier in the year as bodies piled up in the morgue. "Most of the time, I still think about how he died." In one of the deadliest cult-related massacres ever, at least 436 bodies have been recovered since police raided Good News International Church in a forest some 70 kilometers inland from the coastal town of Malindi. Seventeen months later, many in the area are still shaken by what happened despite repeated warnings about the church's leader. Mackenzie pleaded not guilty to charges in the murders of 191 children, multiple counts of manslaughter and other crimes. If convicted, he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Some in Malindi who spoke to The Associated Press said Mackenzie's confidence while in custody showed the wide-ranging power some evangelists project even as their teachings undermine government authority, break the law, or harm followers desperate for healing and other miracles. It's not only Mackenzie, said Thomas Kakala, a self-described bishop with the Malindi-based Jesus Cares Ministry International, referring to questionable pastors he knew in the capital, Nairobi. "You look at them. If you are sober and you want to hear the word of God, you wouldn't go to their church," he said. "But the place is packed." A man like Mackenzie, who refused to join the fellowship of pastors in Malindi and rarely quoted Scripture, could thrive in a country like Kenya, said Kakala. Six detectives have been suspended for ignoring multiple warnings about Mackenzie's illegal activities. Kenya, like much of East Africa, is dominated by Christians. While many are Anglican or Catholic, evangelical Christianity has spread widely since the 1980s. Many pastors style their ministries in the manner of successful American televangelists, investing in broadcasting and advertising. Many of Africa's evangelical churches are run like sole proprietorships, without the guidance of trustee boards or laity. Pastors are often unaccountable, deriving authority from their perceived ability to perform miracles or make prophecies. Some, like Mackenzie, can seem all-powerful. Mackenzie, a former street vendor and cab driver with a high school education, apprenticed with a Malindi preacher in the late 1990s. There, in the laid-back tourist town, he opened his own church in 2003. A charismatic preacher, he was said to perform miracles and exorcisms, and he could be generous with his money. His followers included teachers and police officers. They came to Malindi from across Kenya, giving Mackenzie national prominence that spread the pain of the deaths across the country. The first complaints against Mackenzie concerned his opposition to formal schooling and vaccination. He was briefly detained in 2019 for opposing the government's efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, saying the numbers were satanic. He closed his Malindi church premises later that year and urged his congregation to follow him to Shakahola, where he leased 800 acres of forest inhabited by elephants and big cats. Church members paid small sums to own plots in Shakahola, and were required to build houses and live in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, according to survivors. Mackenzie grew more demanding, with people from different villages forbidden from communicating or gathering, said former church member Salama Masha. "What made me (realize) Mackenzie was not a good person was when he said that the children should fast to die," said Masha, who escaped after witnessing the starvation deaths of two children. "That's when I knew that it's not something I can do." Mbatha Mackenzie, a mason who lives with his family and goats in a tin shack in Malindi, said that while Mackenzie was generous to his followers, he never treated his extended family with similar kindness. "My brother — he seemed like a politician," he said. "They have a sweet tongue, and when he talks something to the people, people believe him." A former church member who escaped Shakahola said she lost faith in Mackenzie when she saw how his men handled people on the verge of dying from starvation. She said Mackenzie's bodyguards would take the starving person away, never to be seen again. The woman said it was "like a routine" for the bodyguards to rape women in the villages. She says she, too, was sexually assaulted by four men while she was pregnant with her fourth child. The Associated Press does not identify victims of alleged sexual assault unless they choose to publicly identify themselves. Those who tried to the leave the forest without Mackenzie's permission faced beatings, as did those who were caught breaking fast, according to former church members. Autopsies on more than 100 bodies showed deaths from starvation, strangulation, suffocation, and injuries from blunt objects. Mangi, the gravedigger, said he believed more mass graves were yet to be discovered in Shakahola. At least 600 people are reported missing, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — On his first day of school at Newcomer Academy, Maikel Tejeda was whisked to the school library. The 7th grader didn't know why. He soon got the point: He was being given make-up vaccinations. Five of them. "I don't have a problem with that," said the 12-year-old, who moved from Cuba early this year. Across the library, a group of city, state and federal officials gathered to celebrate the school clinic, and the city. With U.S. childhood vaccination rates below their goals, Louisville and the state were being praised as success stories: Kentucky's vaccination rate for kindergarteners rose 2 percentage points in the 2022-23 school year compared with the year before. The rate for Jefferson County — which is Louisville — was up 4 percentage points. "Progress is success," said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that progress didn't last. Kentucky's school entry vaccination rate slipped last year. Jefferson County's rate slid, too. And the rates for both the county and state remain well below the target thresholds. It raises the question: If this is what success looks like, what does it say about the nation's ability to stop imported infections from turning into community outbreaks? Local officials believe they can get to herd immunity thresholds, but they acknowledge challenges that includes tight funding, misinformation and well-intended bureaucratic rules that can discourage doctors from giving kids shots. "We're closing the gap," said Eva Stone, who has managed the county school system's health services since 2018. "We're not closing the gap very quickly." Falling vaccination rates Public health experts focus on vaccination rates for kindergartners because schools can be cauldrons for germs and the launching pad for community outbreaks. For years, those rates were high, thanks largely to mandates that required key vaccinations as a condition of school attendance. But they have slid in recent years. When COVID-19 started hitting the U.S. hard in 2020, schools were closed, visits to pediatricians declined and vaccination record-keeping fell off. Meanwhile, more parents questioned routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect that experts attribute to misinformation and the political schism that emerged around COVID-19 vaccines. A Gallup survey released last month found that 40% of Americans said it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019. Meanwhile, a recent University of Pennsylvania survey of 1,500 people found that about 1 in 4 U.S. adults think the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism — despite no medical evidence for it. All that has led more parents to seek exemptions to school entry vaccinations. The CDC has not yet reported national data for the 2023-24 school year, but the proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements the year before hit a record 3%. Overall, 93% of kindergartners got their required shots for the 2022-23 school year. The rate was 95% in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials worry slipping vaccination rates will lead to disease outbreaks. The roughly 250 U.S. measles cases reported so far this year are the most since 2019, and Oregon is seeing its largest outbreak in more than 30 years. Kentucky has been experiencing its worst outbreak of whooping cough — another vaccine-preventable disease — since 2017. Nationally, nearly 14,000 cases have been reported this year, the most since 2019. Persuading parents The whooping cough surge is a warning sign but also an opportunity, said Kim Tolley, a California-based historian who wrote a book last year on the vaccination of American schoolchildren. She called for a public relations campaign to "get everybody behind" improving immunizations. Much of the discussion about raising vaccination rates centers on campaigns designed to educate parents about the importance of vaccinating children — especially those on the fence about getting shots for their kids. But experts are still hashing out what kind of messaging work best: Is it better, for example, to say "vaccinate" or "immunize''? A lot of the messaging is influenced by feedback from small focus groups. One takeaway is some people have less trust in health officials and even their own doctors than they once did. Another is that they strongly trust their own feelings about vaccines and what they've seen in Internet searches or heard from other sources. "Their overconfidence is hard to shake. It's hard to poke holes in it," said Mike Perry, who ran focus groups on behalf of a group called the Public Health Communications Collaborative. But many people seem more trusting of older vaccines. And they do seem to be at least curious about information they didn't know, including the history of research behind vaccines and the dangers of the diseases they were created to fight, he said. Improving access Dolores Albarracin has studied vaccination improvement strategies in 17 countries, and repeatedly found that the most effective strategy is to make it easier for kids to get vaccinated. "In practice, most people are not vaccinating simply because they don't have money to take the bus" or have other troubles getting to appointments, said Albarracin, director of the communication science division within Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center. That's a problem in Louisville, where officials say few doctors were providing vaccinations to children enrolled in Medicaid and fewer still were providing shots to kids without any health insurance. An analysis a few years ago indicated 1 in 5 children — about 20,000 kids — were not current on their vaccinations, and most of them were poor, said Stone, the county school health manager. A 30-year-old federal program called Vaccines for Children pays for vaccinations for children who Medicaid-eligible or lack the insurance to cover it. But in a meeting with the CDC director last month, Louisville health officials lamented that most local doctors don't participate in the program because of paperwork and other administrative headaches. And it can be tough for patients to get the time and transportation to get to those few dozen Louisville providers who do take part. The school system has tried to fill the gap. In 2019, it applied to become a VFC provider, and gradually established vaccine clinics. Last year, it held clinics at nearly all 160 schools, and it's doing the same thing this year. The first was at Newcomer Academy, where many immigrant students behind on their vaccinations are started in the school system. It's been challenging, Stone said. Funding is very limited. There are bureaucratic obstacles, and a growing influx of children from other countries who need shots. It takes multiple trips to a doctor or clinic to complete some vaccine series. And then there's the opposition — vaccination clinic announcements tend to draw hateful social media comments. 

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

DUNBARTON, New Hampshire — It's harvest time in central New Hampshire, and one farm there appears to have been transplanted from a distant continent. Farmers balance large crates laden with vegetables on their heads while chatting in Somali and other languages. As the sun burns away the early morning mist, the farmers pick American staples like corn and tomatoes as well as crops they grew up with, like okra and sorrel. Many of the women wear vibrant orange, red and blue fabrics. Most workers at this Dunbarton farm are refugees who have escaped harrowing wars and persecution. They come from the African nations of Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Congo, and they now run their own small businesses, selling their crops to local markets as well as to friends and connections in their ethnic communities. Farming provides them with both an income and a taste of home. "I like it in the USA. I have my own job," says Somali refugee and farmer Khadija Aliow as she hams it up by sashaying past a reporter, using one hand to steady the crate of crops on her head and the other to give a thumbs-up. "Happy. I'm so happy." The farm is owned by a New Hampshire-based nonprofit, the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, which lets the farmers use plots of land and provides them with training and support. The organization runs similar farms in Concord and the nearby town of Boscawen. In all, 36 people from five African countries, including South Sudan, and the Asian nation of Nepal work on the farms. Many were farmers in their home countries before coming to the U.S. or had previous experience with agriculture, said Tom McGee, a program director with the nonprofit. "These are farmers who are basically independent business owners, who are working in partnership with our organization to be able to bring this produce to life in this country," he said. "And to have another sense of purpose, and a way that they can bring themselves into the community and belong. And really participate in the American dream." The nonprofit runs a food market in Manchester, where people can buy fresh produce or sign up to have boxes delivered. McGee said there are a few other programs with similar aims scattered throughout the U.S. but that the model remains relatively rare. He said his organization relies on state and federal funding, as well as private donations. Farmer Sylvain Bukasa said he escaped in 2000 from the decades-long conflict in Congo that has resulted in millions of deaths. He spent six years with his wife and son in a refugee camp in Tanzania before being accepted into the U.S. in 2006. "I was worried for my safety," he said. "I decided to just go somewhere where it's a little bit safer." Bukasa said he has worked hard since arriving in the U.S. and relishes his new life. But at first he missed the foods he grew up with. He could only find them in specialized markets, where they tended to be expensive and of poor quality. "Back home we ate more vegetables and less meat," he said. "When we came here, it's more chicken, more pizza, things like that. They taste good, but it's not good for you." Bukasa started growing crops on the farm in 2011. The initial plan on the Dunbarton farm was to allow migrants like him to grow traditional crops for themselves and their families. But demand grew, particularly during the pandemic, prompting the farm's evolution into a commercial operation. For a few of the farmers, the harvest provides their primary income. For most, like Bukasa, it's a side gig. He works fulltime as a service agent for a rental car company and travels whenever he can to tend his plot of just over 0.4 hectares. The biggest challenges are making sure his crops are adequately watered and stopping the weeds from taking over, he said. Mondays are harvest days, and on a recent Monday, Bukasa listed the crops he was picking: tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, kale, corn, okra, and the leaves from pumpkins and sorrel — which he and the other migrants call sour-sour because of its taste. He said there's a surprisingly large Congolese community throughout New England, and they appreciate what he grows. "It's a hard job, but hard work is good work," Bukasa said. "It's fun and it helps people. I like when I satisfy people with the food that they eat." His dream is to one day buy his own farm with a couple of acres of land, so he can walk out his front door to tend to his crops rather than driving 20 minutes like he does now. A more immediate challenge, he said, is to work on the marketing side of his business. He's got to the point where he now grows more food than he's able to sell, and he hates seeing any of it go to waste. One idea is to buy a van, so he can deliver more produce himself. "You see the competition in there," he says with a grin, motioning toward the tent where other refugee farmers wash and pack their crops. "See how many farmers are trying to sell their produce."

IBADAN, Nigeria — In her cramped, dimly lit kitchen, Idowu Bello leans over a gas cooker while stirring a pot of eba, the thick, starchy West African staple made from cassava root. Kidney problems and chronic exhaustion forced the 56-year-old Nigerian woman to retire from teaching, and she switches between cooking with gas or over a wood fire depending on the fuel she can afford. Financial constraints also limit the food Bello has on hand even though doctors have recommended a nutrient-rich diet both to improve her weakening health and to help her teenage daughter, Fatima, grow. Along with eba, on the menu today is melon soup with ponmo, an inexpensive condiment made from dried cowhide. "Fish, meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables and even milk are costly these days," Bello, 56, said, her lean face etched with worry. If public health advocates and the Nigerian government have their way, malnourished households in the West African nation soon will have a simple ingredient available to improve their intake of key vitamins and minerals. Government regulators on Tuesday are launching a code of standards for adding iron, zinc, folic acid and vitamin B12 to bouillon cubes at minimum levels recommended by experts. While the standards will be voluntary for manufacturers for now, their adoption could help accelerate progress against diets deficient in essential micronutrients, or what is known in nutrition and public health circles as "hidden hunger." Fortified bouillon cubes could avert up to 16.6 million cases of anemia and up to 11,000 deaths from neural tube defects in Nigeria, according to a new report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Regardless of economic situation or income level, everyone uses seasoning cubes," Bello said as she unwrapped and dropped one in her melon soup. A growing and multipronged problem Making do with smaller portions and less nutritious foods is common among many Nigerian households, according to a recent government survey on dietary intake and micronutrients. The survey estimated that 79% of Nigerian households are food insecure. The climate crisis, which has seen extreme heat and unpredictable rainfall patterns hobble agriculture in Africa's troubled Sahel region, will worsen the problem, with several million children expected to experience growth problems due to malnutrition between now and 2050, according to the Gates Foundation report released Tuesday. "Farmlands are destroyed, you have a shortage of food, the system is strained, leading to inflation making it difficult for the people to access foods, including animal-based proteins," Augustine Okoruwa, a regional program manager at Helen Keller Intl, said, highlighting the link between malnutrition and climate change. Dietary deficiencies of the micronutrients the government wants added to bouillon cubes already have caused a public health crisis in Nigeria, including a high prevalence of anemia in women of child-bearing age, neural tube defects in newborn babies and stunted growth among children, according to Okoruwa. Helen Keller Intl, a New York-based nonprofit that works to address the causes of blindness and malnutrition, has partnered with the Gates Foundation and businesses and government agencies in Africa to promote food fortification. In Nigeria, recent economic policies such as the cancellation of gasoline subsidies are driving the country's worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, further deepening food hardship for the low-income earners who form the majority of the country's working population. Globally, nearly 3 billion people are unable to access healthy diets, 71% of them in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization. The large-scale production of fortified foods would unlock a new way to "increase micronutrients in the food staples of low-income countries to create resilience for vulnerable families," the Gates Foundation said. Bouillon cubes as the vehicle Bouillon cubes — those small blocks of evaporated meat or vegetable extracts and seasonings that typically are used to flavor soups and stews — are widely consumed in many African countries, nearing 100% household penetration in countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon, according to a study by Helen Keller Intl. That makes the cubes the "most cost-effective way" to add minerals and vitamins to the diets of millions of people, Okoruwa said.

KAWARAMACHI, Japan — Time seems to stop here.  Women sit in a small circle, quietly, painstakingly stitching patterns on balls the size of an orange, a stitch at a time.  At the center of the circle is Eiko Araki, a master of the Sanuki Kagari Temari, a Japanese traditional craft passed down for more than 1,000 years on the southwestern island of Shikoku.  Each ball — known as a "temari" ball — is a work of art, with colorful geometric patterns carrying poetic names like "firefly flowers" and "layered stars." A temari ball takes weeks or months to finish. Some cost hundreds of dollars (tens of thousands of yen), although others are much cheaper.  These kaleidoscopic balls aren't for throwing or kicking around. They're destined to be heirlooms, carrying prayers for health and goodness. They might be treasured like a painting or piece of sculpture in a Western home.  The concept behind temari is an elegant otherworldliness, an impractical beauty that is also very labor-intensive to create.  "Out of nothing, something this beautiful is born, bringing joy," said Araki. "I want it to be remembered there are beautiful things in this world that can only be made by hand."  Natural materials  The region where temari originated was good for growing cotton, warm with little rainfall, and the spherical creations continue to be made out of the humble material.  At Araki's studio, which also serves as head office for temari's preservation society, there are 140 hues of cotton thread, including delicate pinks and blues, as well as more vivid colors and all the subtle gradations in between.  The women dye them by hand, using plants, flowers and other natural ingredients, including cochineal, which is a bug living in cacti that produces a red dye. The deeper shade of indigo is dyed again and again to turn just about black. Yellow and blue are combined to form gorgeous greens. Soy juice is added to deepen the tints, a dash of organic protein.  Outside the studio, loops of cotton thread, in various tones of yellow today, hang outside in the shade to dry.  Creating and embroidering the balls  The arduous process starts with making the basic ball mold on which the stitching is done. Rice husks that are cooked then dried are placed in a piece of cotton, then wound with thread, over and over, until, almost magically, a ball appears in your hands.  Then the stitching begins.  The balls are surprisingly hard, so each stitch requires a concentrated, almost painful, push. The motifs must be precise and even.  Each ball has lines to guide the stitching — one that goes around it like the equator, and others that zigzag to the top and bottom.  Appealing to a new generation  These days, temari is getting some new recognition, among Japanese and foreigners as well. Caroline Kennedy took lessons in the ball-making when she was United States ambassador to Japan a decade ago.  Yoshie Nakamura, who promotes Japanese handcrafted art in her duty-free shop at Tokyo's Haneda airport, says she features temari there because of its intricate and delicate designs.  "Temari that might have been everyday in a faraway era is now being used for interior decoration," she said.  "I really feel each Sanuki Kagari Temari speaks of a special, one-and-only existence in the world."  Araki has come up with newer designs that feel both modern and historical. She is trying to make the balls more accessible to everyday life — for instance, as Christmas tree ornaments. A strap with a dangling miniature ball, though quite hard to make because of its size, is affordable at about 1,500 yen ($10) each.  Another of Araki's inventions is a cluster of pastel balls that opens and closes with tiny magnets. Fill it with sweet-smelling herbs for a kind of aromatic diffuser.  A tradition passed down through generations  Araki, a graceful woman who talks very slowly, her head cocked to one side as though always in thought, often travels to Tokyo to teach. But mostly she works and gives lessons in her studio, an abandoned kindergarten with faded blue paint and big windows with tired wooden frames.  She started out as a metalwork artist. Her husband's parents were temari masters who worked hard to resurrect the artform when it was declining in the modern age, at risk of dying out.  They were stoic people, rarely bestowing praise and instead always scolding her, she remembers. It's a tough-love approach that's common in the handing down of many Japanese traditional arts, from Kabuki acting to hogaku music, that demand lifetimes of selfless devotion.  Today, only several dozen people, all women, can make the temari balls to traditional standards.  "The most challenging aspect is nurturing successors. It typically takes over 10 years to train them, so you need people who are willing to continue the craft for a very long time," Araki said.  "When people start to feel joy along with the hardship that comes with making temari, they tend to keep going." 

TEHRAN, IRAN — A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 32 people and injuring 17 others, Iranian state media reported Sunday. Another 18 miners are believed to be trapped inside. The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, about 540 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran. Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast. State television later said that 18 were believed to be trapped inside in tunnels at a depth of 700 meters below the surface. Iran's new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, preparing to travel to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said that he ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families. He also said an investigation into the explosion had begun. Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes around 3.5 million tons of coal, but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills. Iran's mining industry has been struck by disaster before. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.

NAHARIYA, Israel — Over 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon early Sunday, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa, as Israel and the Hezbollah militant group appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions. The rockets streaked over a wider and deeper area of northern Israel than previous volleys and set off air raid sirens across the region. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired "toward civilian areas," pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated four people for shrapnel wounds, including a 76-year-old man who was moderately wounded near Haifa, where buildings were damaged and cars set on fire. It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by a rocket or an Israeli interceptor. The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 37 people, including one of Hezbollah's top leaders as well as women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier. The Israeli military said it carried out a wave of strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting some 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The low-level fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the frontier. Neither side is believed to be seeking a war. But in recent weeks, Israel has shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon and vowed to bring back calm to the border so that its citizens can return to their homes. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly elusive as long-running negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly bogged down. The war in Gaza began with Hamas' October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed. It does not say how many were fighters but says women and children make up over half of the dead. Israeli media reported that rockets fired from Lebanon early Sunday were intercepted in the areas of Haifa and Nazareth, which are further south than most of the rocket fire to date. Israel canceled school across the north, deepening the sense of crisis. Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles — a new type of weapon the group had not used before — at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, "in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs." In July, the group released a video with what it said was footage it had filmed of the base with surveillance drones. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for a wave of explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people — including two children — and wounding around 3,000. The attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which has not confirmed or denied responsibility. On Friday, an Israeli airstrike took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel. Among those killed was Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah official who commanded the group's special forces unit, known as the Radwan Force. Lebanon's health minister, Firass Abiad, told reporters Saturday that at least seven women and three children were killed in Friday's airstrike on the building. He said another 68 people were injured, including 15 who were hospitalized. It was the deadliest strike on Beirut since the bruising monthlong war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, and the casualty count could grow, with 23 people still missing, a government official said. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the attack broke up the group's chain of command while taking out Akil, who he said was responsible for Israeli deaths. He had been on the U.S. most wanted list for years, with a $7 million reward, over his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon during the civil war in the 1980s.