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SINGAPORE — When Pope Francis arrives Wednesday in Asia's financial powerhouse Singapore for the last leg of a four-nation tour, he is expected to bring his message of unity and hope to one of the world's richest nations. The 11-day trip, which earlier took him to Indonesia,Papua New Guinea and East Timor, is the longest for the 87-year-old pontiff since becoming head of the Catholic Church in 2013. Francis will be the second pope to visit Singapore, after a five-hour stopover by the late John Paul II in 1986. Here's what to know about Pope Francis' three-day stay in Singapore: Why is Francis visiting Singapore? Singapore was originally part of Francis' travel plans to the region in 2020 but it was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The island city-state at the tip of the Malay peninsula has a small population of just under 6 million people and lacks natural resources, but it is a heavyweight in regional and international affairs. Astute leadership, its strategic location and reputation as one of the most open and least corrupt economies had transformed Singapore into a bustling financial giant and maritime and aviation hubs in just 59 years after independence. Singapore is a strategic U.S. partner but also maintains close ties with China. Ethnic Chinese account for about three-quarters of its residents followed by minority Muslims and Indians. According to a 2020 Singapore population census, Buddhists make up about 31%. About a fifth of the population claimed no religious belief, while Christians account for almost 19% and Muslims about 15%. Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, reflecting its multicultural identity and heritage. "Singapore and the Holy See share a common interest in promoting interfaith dialogue and understanding. Pope Francis' state visit is also the first papal visit to Singapore in almost 40 years," Singapore's Foreign Ministry said. In a city ranked as one of the most expensive to live in, Singapore's Cardinal William Goh said that key themes frequently emphasized by Francis such as human dignity, inclusiveness, interreligious dialogue, family values, the need to manage artificial intelligence responsibly and care for the environment were of particular relevance. "As such, Pope Francis' visit is highly anticipated and warmly welcomed not only by the Catholic faithful, but also by the wider society." Goh said in a written response to The Associated Press. "After the apostolic visit is done, I pray that Singapore will be filled with hope — a profound, divine hope." What's on the pope's itinerary? After flying in from Dili, East Timor, on Wednesday, Pope Francis will hold a private meeting with members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). On Thursday, he will receive an official welcome at Parliament House and meet Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He will also meet government officials, civil society and the diplomatic corps at the National University of Singapore. The highlight will be a public Mass at the 55,000-seat National Stadium in the evening. Those attending include Catholics from neighboring Malaysia and Brunei. Francis will make a tour around the stadium pitch to greet the faithful in his Popemobile before delivering his homily. On the last day, Francis will visit elderly residents at the St. Theresa's Home. He will also hold an interreligious meeting with youths at the Catholic Junior College. How influential is the church in Singapore? The church marked 200 years in Singapore in 2021. The Archdiocese of Singapore was formed in 1972, seven years after Singapore's independence. Diplomatic relations with the Holy See were established in 1981. In Singapore's early years, Cardinal Goh said the church's work in education and health care were important contributors to national development. "Many of the country's top leaders in both the public and private spheres were formed in Catholic schools; and many basic health care needs were provided by Church-run health care institutions," he wrote on the Vatican News website. The church supports 395,000 Catholics in Singapore with its 29 parish churches, three devotional churches, 53 schools, 47 humanitarian organizations and two health care institutions. Goh said the church holds frequent dialogue with the government, which views it as an important contributor and shaper of Singapore's social fabric. Goh, Singapore's first cardinal installed by Francis in 2022, is a member of two Presidential Councils that advise the government on matters relating to racial and religious harmony and minority rights. "As the final stop on this apostolic journey, Singapore stands as a testament to peaceful coexistence in a modern, multicultural, and multi-religious society," Goh wrote in his reply to the AP. "This reflects the spirit of unity and diversity that Pope Francis has emphasized throughout his pontification."

SYDNEY — Australia will ban children from using social media with a minimum age limit as high as 16, the prime minister said Tuesday, vowing to get kids off their devices and "onto the footy fields." Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, Anthony Albanese said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a "scourge." The minimum age for children to log into sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has not been decided but is expected to be between 14 and 16 years, Albanese said. The prime minister said his own preference would be a block on users aged below 16. Age verification trials are being held over the coming months, the center-left leader said, though analysts said they doubted it was technically possible to enforce an online age limit. "I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts," Albanese said. "We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm," he told national broadcaster ABC. "This is a scourge. We know that there is mental health consequences for what many of the young people have had to deal with," he said. Australia's conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton said he would support an age limit. "Every day of delay leaves young kids vulnerable to the harms of social media and the time for relying on tech companies to enforce age limits," he said. 'Easy to circumvent' But it is not clear that the technology exists to reliably enforce such bans, said the University of Melbourne's associate professor in computing and information technology, Toby Murray. "We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy," he said.  Analysts warned that an age limit may not in any case help troubled children. It "threatens to create serious harm by excluding young people from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world," said Daniel Angus, who leads the digital media research centre at Queensland University of Technology. "There is logic in establishing boundaries that limit young people's access," said Samantha Schulz, senior sociologist of education at the University of Adelaide. "However, young people are not the problem and regulating youth misses the more urgent task of regulating irresponsible social media platforms. Social media is an unavoidable part of young people's lives." The prime minister said parents expected a response to online bullying and harmful material present on social media. "These social media companies think they're above everyone," he told a radio interviewer. "Well, they have a social responsibility and at the moment, they're not exercising it. And we're determined to make sure that they do," he said. Australia has been at the forefront of global efforts to regulate social media platforms, with its online safety watchdog bumping heads notably with Elon Musk's X over the content it carries.  

BEIJING — The United States and China held theater-level commander talks for the first time on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilize military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hot spots such as the South China Sea. Washington seeks to open new channels of regular military communication with Beijing since ties sank to a historic low after the United States downed a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year. Admiral Sam Paparo, head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, held a video telephone call with his counterpart Wu Yanan of the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's areas of responsibility include the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, two hot spots for regional tension that are also flashpoints in U.S.-China bilateral ties. Both sides had an "in depth exchange of views on issues of common concern," the Chinese defense ministry said in a readout. Paparo urged the PLA "to reconsider its use of dangerous, coercive, and potentially escalatory tactics in the South China Sea and beyond," the Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that described the exchange as "constructive and respectful." He also stressed the importance of continued talks to clarify intent and reduce the risk of misperception or miscalculation. The call followed a meeting in Beijing last month between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese leader Xi Jinping's leading military adviser, at which the talks were agreed. U.S. and Chinese troops were also taking part in large-scale military exercises led by the Brazilian Armed Forces this week in the Brazilian city of Formosa in the state of Goiás. American and Chinese troops had not trained side by side since 2016, when Beijing participated in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, or Rimpac, led by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Most two-way military engagements between the U.S. and China were suspended for almost two years after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in August 2022. "I certainly worry about an unintended conflict between our military forces, an accident, an accidental collision," Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China, told the magazine Foreign Policy in an online interview. Later this week, the United States plans to send a senior Pentagon official to a major security forum in China.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Tropical Storm Francine churned in the Gulf of Mexico with increasing strength and was expected to reach hurricane status on Tuesday before reaching landfall in Louisiana. A storm surge warning was in effect for an area stretching from just east of Houston to the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, according to the National Hurricane Center. Such a warning means there's a chance of life-threatening flooding. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents "not to panic, but be prepared" and heed evacuation warnings. Forecasters said Francine's landfall in south Louisiana was expected Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 155-175 kph. "We do not want people to wait to the last minute to get on the road and then run out of fuel," Landry said. "We put a lot of information throughout the summer, throughout hurricane season, so that people can be prepared. The more prepared we are, the easier it is for us." Francine is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of storm destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps. Francine's storm surge on the Louisiana coast could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said. "It's a potential for significantly dangerous, life-threatening inundation," said Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center, adding it could also send "dangerous, damaging winds quite far inland." He said landfall was likely somewhere between Sabine Pass — on the Texas-Louisiana line — and Morgan City, Louisiana, 350 kilometers to the east. Louisiana officials urged residents to immediately prepare while "conditions still allow," said Mike Steele, spokesperson for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "We always talk about how anytime something gets into the Gulf, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that," Steele said. Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital, began forming long lines as people filled gas tanks and stocked up on groceries. Others filled sandbags at city-operated locations to protect homes from possible flooding. "It's crucial that all of us take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately," Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said, urging residents to stock up on three days of food, water and essentials. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for seven remote coastal communities by the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. They include Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch dubbed Louisiana's "Cajun Riviera," where many homes sit on stilts. The storm-battered town has been a low-cost paradise for oil industry workers, families and retirees, rebuilt multiple times after past hurricanes. In Grand Isle, Louisiana's last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle recommended residents evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for those in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the city three years ago, destroying 700 homes. Officials warn that flooding, along with high winds and power outages, is likely in the area beginning Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare to shelter in place. "Now is the time to finalize your storm plans and prepare, not only for your families but looking out for your neighbors," she said. City officials said they were expecting up to 15 centimeters inches of rain, gusty winds and "isolated tornado activity" with the most intense weather likely to reach New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday. The hurricane center said Francine was last about 205 kilometers south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and about 690 kilometers south-southwest of Cameron, with top sustained winds of about 100 kilometers per hour. It was moving north-northwest at 7 kph. As rain fell Monday in northern Mexico, more than a dozen neighborhoods in Matamoros — across the border from Brownsville, Texas — flooded, forcing schools to close Monday and Tuesday. Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, manager of the Matamoros Water and Drainage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico's federal government to provide pumps to drain affected areas. The storm was expected to move in north-northeast motion through Monday evening and then accelerate to the northeast beginning Tuesday before nearing the upper Texas and Louisiana coastlines Wednesday.  

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HANOI, VIETNAM — Emergency workers raced to evacuate thousands of people from severe floods Tuesday after Typhoon Yagi swept through northern Vietnam, killing 63 people and leaving 40 missing. Yagi struck Saturday with winds in excess of 149 kilometers per hour, making it the most powerful typhoon to hit northern Vietnam in 30 years according to meteorologists. The storm downed bridges, tore roofs off buildings, damaged factories and triggered widespread flooding and landslides. The north of the country, densely populated and a major manufacturing hub for global tech firms including Samsung, is now battling historic flooding, meteorologists said. Authorities have issued flood and landslide warnings for 429 communes across 17 northern provinces.  One-story homes in parts of Thai Nguyen and Yen Bai cities were almost completely submerged in the early hours of Tuesday, with residents waiting on the roofs for help. Rescue forces were trying to reach residential areas to retrieve older people and children. On social media, relatives of those stuck in floodwater posted desperate pleas for help and supplies. In Hanoi, communities along the swollen and fast-moving Red River, which flows through the capital, were also partially under water, with people forced to evacuate in boats. Downtown Hoan Kiem District was forced to relocate 460 people on Tuesday. Crops including bananas, guavas and corn, which are usually sold in nearby markets, were all flooded. 'Lost everything' Phan Thi Tuyet, 50, who lives close to the river, said she had never experienced such high water. "I have lost everything, all gone," she told AFP, clutching her two dogs.  "I had to come to higher ground to save our lives. We can not bring with us any of the furniture. Everything is under water now." As well as the dead and missing, flooding and landslides have also injured at least 752 people, officials at the ministry of agriculture said Tuesday. Authorities stopped heavy vehicles crossing a major bridge over the Red River in central Hanoi Tuesday and suspended a train line across Long Bien bridge as the water level rose. The action followed the dramatic collapse of a bridge higher up the river in northern Phu Tho province Monday. Pictures showed half of the 375-meter Phong Chau bridge gone. Five people who were crossing the bridge at the time have been rescued, but eight others were still missing Tuesday, authorities said. Forecasters warned central Hanoi would be affected by flooding later Tuesday. Hanoi authorities said more than 25,000 trees in the city had been uprooted in the storm. Huge trunks blocked key roads in the city centre, creating large traffic jams. At least 24 people were killed as Yagi tore through southern China and the Philippines before hitting Vietnam. Typhoons in the region are forming closer to the coast, intensifying more rapidly, and staying over land longer due to climate change, according to a study published in July.

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.

As the international community closely follows fallout from the disputed Venezuelan election, the United States is calling for transparency and weighing actions against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which has issued arrest warrants against opposition leaders, including rival presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez. Celia Mendoza reports from the State Department in Washington.

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It’s being reported that Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. It’s presidential debate day in the United States, this time with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump squaring off on stage. We talk to Kamy Akhavan, former CEO of ProCon.org, the nation’s leading source of nonpartisan research on controversial issues who now leads the Center for the Political Future (CPF) at the University of Southern California. And James Earl Jones, the actor who voiced Darth Vader, has died. He was 93.

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JERUSALEM — Israel's military conducted a missile strike early Tuesday that targeted a humanitarian area in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians there, authorities said. Details about the strike in the Mawasi coastal community just west of Khan Younis that the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone remained unclear. The area is home to many Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war in which the Israeli military has devastated the wider Gaza Strip after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Footage circulating on social media showed deep craters at the site of the attack, the strewn ruins around it covered in shredded tents, a bicycle and other debris. Rescue workers used shovels to shift through the sand. Bystanders used their hands to dig, illuminated by mobile phone light. At least one crater at the site looked to be as deep as 10 meters (32 feet). The Israeli military described the strike as hitting "significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control center," without immediately providing additional evidence. The Palestinian news agency WAFA said dozens had been killed and wounded, without providing precise casualty figures. It described five missiles striking the area, cratering the ground. The Israeli military said it used "precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional means" it did not immediately describe to limit civilian casualties. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100 after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead. Meanwhile, the United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops. The agency's head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City. "The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff," he wrote on the social platform X. "Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles." He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a U.N. base but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza. "UN Staff must be allowed to undertake their duties in safety + be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law, he wrote. "Gaza is no different." The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday, after the country disclosed a new platform likely designed to fire more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the mainland U.S. Kim has repeatedly made similar pledges, but his latest threat comes as outside experts believe Kim will perform provocative weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. In recent days, North Korea has also resumed launches of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea. In a speech marking the 76th founding anniversary for his government on Monday, Kim said North Korea faces "a grave threat" because of what he called "the reckless expansion" of a U.S.-led regional military bloc that is now developing into a nuclear-based one. Kim said such a development is pushing North Korea to boost its military capability, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim said North Korea will "redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state including the nuclear force fully ready for combat," KCNA said. North Korea has been protesting the July signing of a new U.S.-South Korean defense guideline meant to integrate U.S. nuclear weapons and South Korean conventional weapons to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats. North Korea said the guideline revealed its adversaries' plots to invade the country. U.S. and South Korean officials have repeatedly said they don't intend to attack the country. Since 2022, North Korea has significantly accelerated its weapons testing activities in a bid to perfect its capabilities to launch strikes on the U.S. and South Korea. The U.S. and South Korea have responded by expanding military drills that North Korea calls invasion rehearsals. Many analysts believe North Korea has some last remaining technological barriers to overcome to acquire long-range nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland, though it likely already possesses missiles that can hit key targets in South Korea and Japan. South Korean officials and experts say North Korea could conduct nuclear tests or ICBM test-launches before the U.S. election to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S. Observers say North Korea likely thinks a greater nuclear capability would help it win U.S. concessions like sanctions relief. North Korea as of Tuesday morning did not appear to have staged any major military demonstration to mark this year's anniversary. But the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Sunday published a photo of Kim inspecting what appeared to be a 12-axle missile launch vehicle, which would be the largest the country has shown so far, during a visit to a munitions plant. This sparked speculation that the North could be developing a new ICBM that is bigger than its current Hwasong-17 ICBM, which is launched on an 11-axle vehicle. When asked about the photo on Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder refused to provide a specific assessment of North Korea's missile capabilities and reiterated that Washington was working closely with Seoul, Tokyo and other partners to preserve regional security and deter potential attacks. "It's not unusual for North Korea to use media reports and imagery to try to telegraph, you know, to the world," he said. North Korea flew hundreds of huge balloons carrying rubbish toward South Korea for five straight days through Sunday, extending a Cold War-style psychological warfare campaign that has further stoked animosities on the Korean Peninsula. The balloons largely contained waste papers and vinyl, and there has been no repots of major damage. North Korea began its balloon campaign in late May, calling it a response to South Korean civilians flying propaganda leaflets across the border via their own balloons. South Korea later restarted its anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along the rivals' tense land border. Observers say North Korea is extremely sensitive to South Korean leafleting activities and loudspeaker broadcasts as they could hamper its efforts to ban foreign news to its 26 million people.

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