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Beirut — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced $1 billion in aid to Lebanon on Thursday to help tackle illegal migration, as rights groups warned against forced returns to Syria. The European Union has already agreed deals with Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania and others aimed at helping stem flows of irregular migrants. "I can announce a financial package of $1 billion for Lebanon that would be available from this year until 2027," the European Commission chief said, adding that "we want to contribute to Lebanon's socio-economic stability." She said the aid was designed to strengthen basic services such as education and health amid a severe economic crisis. Europe will also support Lebanon's army, with the aid "mainly focused on providing equipment and training for border management." $1 billion in aid The EU Commission's spokesman said in Brussels the aid will be disbursed "in grants," with 736 million euros ($788 million) earmarked to support Lebanon "in response to the Syrian crisis." He said, "264 million euros will be for bilateral cooperation," notably to support the security services, including with border management. Von der Leyen said the EU was committed to maintaining "legal pathways open to Europe" and resettling refugees, but "at the same time, we count on your good cooperation to prevent illegal migration and combat migrant smuggling." Lebanon's economy collapsed in late 2019, turning it into a launchpad for migrants, with Lebanese joining Syrians and Palestinian refugees making perilous Europe-bound voyages. Lebanon says it currently hosts around 2 million people from neighboring Syria — the world's highest number of refugees per capita — with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations. "We understand the challenges that Lebanon faces with hosting Syrian refugees and other displaced persons," said von der Leyen, adding that the EU had supported Lebanon with 2.6 billion euros to host them. The Syria war erupted in 2011 after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests and has killed more than half a million people and displaced around half of the prewar population. Eight rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, warned before von der Leyen's Beirut visit that Syria was not safe for returns. EU assistance "geared to enabling or incentivizing returns to Syria risks resulting in forced returns of refugees," a statement said. EU aid bolstering Lebanese security agencies so they can curb migration to Europe "could result in Syrians resorting to even longer and more dangerous routes," they added. Lebanon has also faced nearly seven months of border clashes between its powerful, Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah and Israel that flared after the Israel-Hamas war began in October. Lebanon remains essentially leaderless, without a president and headed by a caretaker government with limited powers amid deadlock between entrenched political barons. Cyprus also watching Von der Leyen was accompanied by Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides. Cyprus, the EU's easternmost member, is less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Lebanon and Syria, and it wants to curb migrant boat departures from Lebanon toward its shores. Nicosia says the Israel-Hamas war has weakened Beirut's efforts to monitor its territorial waters. "I am very confident that this package announced today will enhance the capacity of Lebanese authority to handle various challenges, including controlling land and maritime borders, ensuring the safety of its citizens, fight against people smuggling and continue their fight against terrorism," Christodoulides said. Some Lebanese politicians have blamed Syrians for their country's worsening troubles, and pressure often mounts ahead of an annual conference on Syria in Brussels, with ministers meeting this year on May 27. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: "We reiterate our request to the European Union ... to help displaced people in their own countries to encourage them to return voluntarily, and thus guarantee them a decent life in their country of origin. "If we insist on this issue, it is to warn against Lebanon becoming a transit country from Syria to Europe, and the problems at the Cypriot border are just one example of what could happen if this issue is not radically resolved."

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Geneva — UNICEF warns the conflict in Gaza and mounting violence between Israel and Hezbollah are increasing the suffering of tens of thousands of children in Lebanon caught in the crosshairs of this escalating regional crisis.  A report issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund this week calls for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza as an essential prerequisite for protecting the lives and well-being of children and civilians in Lebanon and beyond.  “Without that, Lebanon is at risk of a full-scale war which would have a devastating impact on the 1.3 million children living in the country, as well as the rest of the children in the region,” said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.  Presenting the report at a Geneva press conference, Elder said humanitarian needs were surging across Lebanon as airstrikes by Israel Defense Forces have progressively increased and “hit deeper into a country already suffering protracted economic and political crises.”  Israel has been exchanging frequent fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants.    “UNICEF has previously warned of Lebanon’s unrelenting, overlapping emergencies and their impact on children and education. Today these are compounded by almost daily airstrikes,” he said.  According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, airstrikes have damaged civilian infrastructure and facilities, killing 344 people, including eight children and 21 women, since October 7, when Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to a Hamas attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw 240 abductions.  “Together with those children killed and scores injured, 30,000 children have been displaced,” said Elder. “Infrastructure that children rely on is being destroyed, including significant damage to water stations, thus denying 100,000 people access to safe drinking water. Around 23 health care facilities, serving 4,000 people, are also closed due to the hostilities.  “Should the conflict continue to escalate, UNICEF warns that repercussions for children will be devastating,” he said.  Before the conflict, UNICEF reports, some 700,000 children in Lebanon were out of school. It says Lebanon’s pre-existing education crisis has since worsened, noting that the recent violence has forced the closure of 72 schools in southern Lebanon, disrupting the education of an additional 20,000 students.  The agency says nearly half of Lebanon’s 5.49 million population live below the poverty line, while an estimated 90% of its more than 1 million Syrian-refugee households live in extreme poverty.  “There are some commonalities between Syrian and Lebanese children, and Palestinian children on the ground in that the vast majority of children in Lebanon are not having their needs met,” Ettie Higgins, deputy head of office for UNICEF in Lebanon, told journalists Tuesday.  She observed that tensions between communities and nationalities have risen due to the lack of resources brought on by “a massive collapse of humanitarian funding in Lebanon in the past few months.”  “This has forced us to cut back virtually on all of our services, including the provision of safe drinking water and simple things like getting rid of sewage in communities.”  She acknowledged that cutbacks in food and other essential life-saving commodities and services are having a profound impact on the health and well-being of children.    This is borne out by data collected for a comprehensive nutrition assessment conducted by UNICEF in Lebanon last year. Higgins said the results, which will be released next month, “point to a very, very worrying situation, particularly for children who are living in informal settlements.”  “The rates of stunting and wasting [becoming underweight for height] are much higher than we, unfortunately, had assumed,” she said, noting that there has been “a three-fold increase in children being referred to malnutrition programs in the past 12 months.”  Discussing Lebanon’s economic meltdown, she said: “Now in the fourth year of this massive catastrophe that has hit Lebanon, we are seeing tensions spike, and this is having an impact on children daily.” Higgins added that Palestinian refugees who have been living for a long time in terrible conditions in camps and settlements are experiencing “the secondary trauma of seeing what is happening to fellow Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”  She said destitute families who are unable to make ends meet have been forced into negative and sometimes potentially dangerous coping mechanisms to survive.  “We are seeing families sending the entire family out to beg. They are forcing children as young as four to work in agriculture. And this means that their overall health and well-being are impacted,” she said.  “I spoke to a doctor recently who said that he had 7-year-olds coming to him with back problems because of the heavy loads of trash that they are carrying on a daily basis,” she added. “And this was to earn maybe two dollars a day, just to be able to eat and put a meal on the table."

The number of Washington-based journalists covering the Capitol for local news outlets is dwindling. As the beat shrinks, so, too, does the ability of these regional reporters to hold elected officials to account, media advocates say. VOA's Cristina Caicedo Smit and Liam Scott have the story, narrated by Caicedo Smit.

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.

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.

Nairobi — The number of people who have lost their lives in devastating floods in Kenya since March has risen to 188, with dozens still missing, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Torrential rains in Kenya and other countries in East Africa have caused deadly havoc, with floods and landslides forcing people from their homes, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure. "As a result, the country has regrettably recorded 188 fatalities due to severe weather conditions," the ministry said in a statement. It added that 125 people had been reported injured and 90 people were currently missing, while 165,000 have been displaced. On Wednesday, nearly 100 tourists were among people marooned after a river overflowed in Kenya's famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve following a heavy downpour. The ministry said rescuers had successfully evacuated 90 people by ground and air in the Masai Mara, where lodges and safari camps were flooded after the River Talek overflowed. The ministry said rescuers had successfully evacuated 90 people by ground and air in the Masai Mara, where lodges and safari camps were flooded after the River Talek overflowed. The area is currently inaccessible with bridges washed away, Narok West sub-county administrator Stephen Nakola told AFP, adding that about 50 camps in the reserve have been affected, putting more than 500 locals temporarily out of work. There are no fatalities but communities living around the area have been forced to move away. "Accessing the Mara is now a nightmare and the people stuck there are really worried, they don't have an exit route," Nakola said, adding that waterborne diseases were likely to emerge. "I am worried that the situation could get worse because the rains are still on." In the deadliest single incident in Kenya, dozens of villagers were killed when a dam burst on Monday near Mai Mahiu in the Rift Valley, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi. The interior ministry said 52 bodies had been recovered and 51 people were still missing after the dam disaster. Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday announced he was deploying the military to evacuate everyone living in flood-prone areas. Opposition politicians and lobby groups have accused Ruto's government of being unprepared and slow to respond to the crisis despite weather warnings, demanding that it declare the floods a national disaster. "Kenya's government has a human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable harm from climate change and extreme weather events and to protect people when a disaster strikes," Human Rights Watch said Thursday. The HRW statement said events such as flooding are "particularly threatening for marginalized and at-risk populations, including older people, people with disabilities, people in poverty, and rural populations". The United States and Britain have issued travel warnings for Kenya, urging their nationals to be cautious amid the extreme weather. The downpours have also left a trail of destruction across other East African countries, including neighboring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have been killed in flooding and landslides. The heavy seasonal rains have been amplified by the El Nino weather pattern — a naturally occurring climate phenomenon typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. The disaster in Kenya and other nations has sparked an outpouring of condolences and pledges of solidarity with the affected families from all over the world. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply distressed" to hear of the loss of lives from heavy flooding in Burundi, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania and other parts of East Africa, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The [U.N.] secretary-general is extremely concerned about the impacts of El Nino-triggered extreme weather, which risk further devastating communities and undermining their livelihoods."

Sydney — Pro-Palestinian students at four Australian campuses say they will permanently occupy university land until their demands for divestment are met. The protests have been called by activists in solidarity with their counterparts in the United States. Australian students say they see themselves “part of this global wave” of pro-Palestinian activism. The protests have, so far, been peaceful, although some Jewish students say they feel intimidated by the rallies. The Australian Union of Jewish Students in New South Wales state told local media that antisemitism was forcing many of its members to avoid going to classes and many were “scared” to go to campus. In response, protest organizers said that antisemitism had no place in their campaign. A university spokesperson said the protest camp was being carefully monitored and that threatening chants or slogans would not be tolerated. At the University of Sydney, there have been verbal disputes between pro-Palestinian students and others who oppose their actions. Student activists at four Australian campuses want their universities to divest from all activities that support Israel, as well as a cease-fire and the end of Australian government ties to Israel. All four universities told local media they supported the rights of students and staff to protest peacefully in accordance with Australian law. Antony Loewenstein is a Jewish Australian and author of the best-selling book The Palestine Laboratory. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the students support their counterparts in the United States. “There were a lot of Jewish students and others," he said. "There were Muslims, there were Christians. What they are protesting, yes, is partly what is happening in Gaza, of course, in solidarity with students across the U.S. but also the connections between Sydney University and frankly many Australian universities with defense companies.” Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have continued at universities across the U.S. and there have been counterprotests by activists supporting Israel. Police officers have massed in Los Angeles on the campus of the University of California. telling pro-Palestinian protesters to leave or face arrest. Last month, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the country could consider a highly conditional recognition of a Palestinian state. The Canberra government would expect a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, the return of Israeli hostages held by the militant group Hamas, and the exclusion of Hamas from any future Palestinian government as preconditions for recognition.

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.

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea raised its terror alert level for five diplomatic missions Thursday, South Korean media reported, warning North Korea could attempt to attack South Korean diplomats overseas. The reports said South Korea’s National Counter Terrorism Center raised the country’s terror watch level to “alert” status, the second-highest level in the four-tier system, indicating a “high possibility of a terrorist attack.” South Korean officials recently received intelligence that North Korea was planning to harm South Korean diplomats, the reports said, without disclosing the exact nature of the alleged threat. The targeted diplomatic missions include South Korean embassies in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as consulates in the Far Eastern Russian city of Vladivostok and the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang. South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment. The two Koreas remain technically in a state of war, since their 1950s conflict ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty. However, it has been decades since major, sustained hostilities. North Korea has a long history of terror attacks and political assassinations against South Korea. In 1983, North Korea bombed a hotel in Rangoon, Burma, now Yangon, Myanmar, during a visit by South Korea’s then-president Chun Doo-hwan. Although Chun survived, 21 others were killed. In 1988, North Korean agents blew up a South Korean civilian airliner, killing 115 people. After the airliner attack, the United States formally placed North Korea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Pyongyang was removed from the list in 2008 amid negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. In 2017, the United States reinstated North Korea on the terror sponsor list after American college student Otto Warmbier died shortly after being released from North Korean custody. That year, North Korea also assassinated Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, during a brazen attack at a Malaysian airport. North Korea has denied involvement in any terrorist activities. It has not commented on the South’s latest accusations.

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.

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.

Manila, Philippines — Manila summoned a senior Chinese envoy on Thursday to protest a water cannon incident that damaged two Philippine vessels during a patrol in the South China Sea. A coast guard vessel and another government boat were damaged in the April 30 incident near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, according to the Philippines' foreign ministry. Manila and Beijing have a long history of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and the neighbors have been involved in several maritime incidents in recent months as they assert their rival claims in the strategic waterway. The latest, near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, occurred during a mission to resupply Filipino fishermen. Zhou Zhiyong, the number two official at the Chinese Embassy, was summoned by Manila over "the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous maneuvers, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions of China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia vessels," according to a statement from the foreign ministry. "China's aggressive actions, particularly its water cannon use, caused damage" to the Philippines' vessels, the ministry added, demanding that the Chinese boats immediately leave the shoal and its vicinity. The Philippines said the pressure in Tuesday's water cannon incident was far more powerful than anything previously used, and that it tore or bent metal sections and equipment on the Philippine vessels. Thursday's diplomatic protest was the 20th lodged by Manila this year, and 153rd since President Ferdinand Marcos came to power in mid-2022, the foreign ministry said. The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China's coast guard had previously said it "expelled" the two Philippine ships from its waters near Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal. The shoal has been a flashpoint between the two countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Major military exercise China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. The triangular chain of reefs and rocks that make up Scarborough Shoal lies 240 kilometers west of the Philippines' main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from Hainan, the nearest major Chinese land mass. Since seizing the shoal, Beijing has deployed its coast guard and other vessels that Manila says harass Philippine ships and prevent its fishermen from accessing the rich lagoon. The latest incident came as the Philippines and the United States held a major annual military exercise that has infuriated Beijing. Manila and Washington have a mutual defense treaty and recent confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels have fueled speculation of what would trigger it. President Marcos said last month that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had given assurances that the treaty would be invoked if another "foreign power" killed a Filipino soldier.