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BAKU — Azerbaijan's ruling party retained its majority in Sunday's snap parliamentary election, preliminary results showed, in the country's first vote since staging a lightning offensive a year ago to recapture the breakaway territory of Karabakh. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a rights watchdog, criticized the vote, saying it had fallen well short of democratic standards. President Ilham Aliyev's party was on course to win 68 out of 125 seats in parliament, according to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission reported by the TASS news agency. It had 69 seats in the outgoing parliament. Just over 2 million people in the energy-rich nation cast their ballots, bringing the turnout at the time of the close of polling stations to 37.3%, said Central Election Commission chief Mazahir Panakhov. Exit polls suggested dozens of other seats would go to candidates who are nominally independent of political parties but in practice back the government as well as to minor pro-government parties. OSCE election monitors said the election campaign had been "barely visible". "The September 1 early parliamentary elections took place in a restrictive political and legal environment that does not enable genuine pluralism and resulted in a contest devoid of competition," the OSCE mission said in a statement. Karabakh It was the first parliamentary vote since Azerbaijan recaptured Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Aliyev, in power since 2003, moved swiftly to capitalise on that victory and won a fifth presidential term in February with more than 92% of the vote, according to election authorities. Armenia accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing in Karabakh after almost all of its more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents fled the area. Azerbaijan denied that allegation. It is rebuilding the region and resettling it with Azerbaijanis who fled during a war with Armenia in the 1990s. The Central Election Commission said about 42,000 people in Karabakh were registered to vote on Sunday.  

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Beijing — China rolled out the red carpet on Monday for leaders from across Africa, seeking to deepen ties with the resource-rich continent it has furnished with billions in loans for infrastructure and development. Beijing has said this week's China-Africa forum will be its largest diplomatic event since the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than a dozen leaders and delegations expected. China has sent hundreds of thousands of workers to Africa to build its megaprojects while tapping the continent's vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.   Its huge loans have funded infrastructure but also stoked controversy by saddling countries with huge debts. China, the world's No. 2 economy, is Africa's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $167.8 billion in the first half of this year, according to Chinese state media. Security is tight across Beijing, with roads and bus stops bedecked with banners declaring China and Africa are "joining hands for a brighter future." Among the leaders in the capital is South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who arrived early on Monday for a four-day trip during which he will also visit the southern tech powerhouse city of Shenzhen.   Trade between China and South Africa soared to $38.8 billion in 2023, according to the South African presidency. Ramaphosa met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said. China and South Africa are expected to sign a number of agreements focused on "enhancing economic cooperation and the implementation of technical cooperation," Ramaphosa's office said. Expanding influence Xi also met Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said. China has a significant presence in the DRC, where it is keen on tapping vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.   But it has grappled with security issues there. DRC sources told AFP in July that a militia attack on a mining site in gold-rich Ituri province killed at least four Chinese nationals. Leaders of Djibouti -- home to China's first overseas military base -- as well as Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Mali and others, also arrived in Beijing on Sunday and Monday. Beijing's loans to African nations last year were their highest in five years, research by the Chinese Loans to Africa Database found. Top borrowers were Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya. However, the data showed that loans were well down compared to highs in 2016, when they totaled almost $30 billion. The loans were also increasingly to local banks, researchers said, helping to avoid "exposing Chinese creditors to credit risks associated with those countries". Analysts say an economic slowdown in China has made Beijing increasingly reluctant to shell out big sums. This week's summit comes as African leaders eye mounting great power competition between the United States and China over resources and influence on the continent.  Washington has warned against what it sees as Beijing's malign influence. The White House said in 2022 China sought to "advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests (and) undermine transparency and openness."

Manila — A storm set off landslides and unleashed pounding rains that flooded many northern Philippine areas overnight into Monday, leaving at least nine people dead and prompting authorities to suspend classes and government work in the densely populated capital region.  Tropical Storm Yagi was blowing 115 kilometers northeast of Infanta town in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, by midday on Monday with sustained winds of up to 75 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour, according to the weather bureau.  The storm, locally called Enteng, was moving northwestward at 15 kilometers per hour near the eastern coast of the main northern region of Luzon, where the weather bureau warned of possible flash floods and landslides in mountainous provinces.  A landslide hit two small shanties on a hillside in Antipolo city on Monday in Rizal province just to the west of the capital, killing at least three people, including a pregnant woman, disaster-mitigation officer Enrilito Bernardo Jr.  Four other villagers drowned in swollen creeks, he said.  National police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo told reporters without elaborating that two other people died and 10 others were injured in landslides set off by the storm in the central Philippines.  Two residents died in stormy weather in Naga city in eastern Camarines Sur province, where floodwaters swamped several communities, police said. Authorities were verifying if the deaths, including one caused by electrocution, were weather-related.  Storm warnings were raised in a large swath of Luzon, the country’s most populous region, including in metropolitan Manila, where schools at all levels and most government work were suspended due to the storm.  Along the crowded banks of Marikina River in the eastern fringes of the capital, a siren was sounded in the morning to warn thousands of residents to brace for evacuation in case the river water continues to rise and overflows due to heavy rains.  In the provinces of Cavite, south of Manila, and Northern Samar, in the country's central region, coast guard personnel used rubber boats and ropes to rescue and evacuate dozens of villagers who were engulfed in waist- to chest-high floods, the coast guard said.  Sea travel was temporarily halted in several ports affected by the storm, stranding more than 3,300 ferry passengers and cargo workers, and several domestic flights were suspended due to the stormy weather.  Downpours have also caused water to rise to near-spilling level in Ipo dam in Bulacan province, north of Manila, prompting authorities to schedule a release of a minimal amount of water later Monday that they say would not endanger villages downstream.  About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago lies in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.  In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million people in the central Philippines. 

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Beijing — Swathes of China logged the hottest August on record last month, the weather service said, as Japanese authorities announced that 2024 had been its warmest summer since records began.  China is the leading emitter of the greenhouse gas emissions scientists say are driving global climate change.  Beijing has pledged to bring planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.  Its weather service said in an article published Sunday that average air temperatures last month in eight provinces, regions and cities "ranked the hottest for the same period" since records began.  They included the megacity of Shanghai, the provinces of Jiangsu, Hebei, Hainan, Jilin, Liaoning and Shandong as well as the northwest region of Xinjiang, the weather service said.  A further five provinces chalked up their second-hottest August, while seven more endured their third-hottest.  "Looking back at the past month, most parts of China have experienced a hotter summer than in previous years," the weather service said.  The major population centers of Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chongqing also saw more "high temperature days" -- typically declared when the mercury breaches 35 degrees Celsius -- than in any August since records began.  Although the heat is expected to recede across much of the north as autumn begins, "it is still too early to end completely," the weather service said.  Climate scientists have already predicted that 2024 will be the hottest year on record for the Earth because of a warming planet.  The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said July was the second warmest on record books going back to 1940, only slightly cooler than July 2023.  Extreme heat has seared much of East Asia this summer, with Asian neighbor Japan saying on Monday that its long-term average temperature between June and August was 1.76 degrees Celsius above the standard value, the joint highest since statistics started being kept in 1898.  Rising global temperatures also make extreme weather more frequent and intense, and China has seen a summer of extreme weather, from heatwaves across much of the north and west to devastating floods in central and southern regions.  Chinese weather authorities said July was the country's hottest month since records began, state media reported, as extreme temperatures persist across large parts of the globe.  Last month was "the hottest July since complete observations began in 1961, and the hottest single month in the history of observation," state broadcaster CCTV said, citing weather authorities.  The average air temperature in China last month was 23.21 degrees Celsius, exceeding the previous record of 23.17 C in 2017, CCTV reported the weather authorities as saying. 

Paris — Refugee Paralympic Team triathlete Ibrahim Al Hussein said Monday he had come to "give a message of hope" after taking part in his third Paralympic Games.   Born in Syria, Al Hussein fled the civil war in his homeland, first seeking refuge in Turkey before settling in Greece in 2014.   But prior to his managing to flee Syria, the future Paralympian was injured during the war and lost his right foot as well as the joint of his left foot in 2012.   "I came to give a message to everyone, a message of hope," said Al Hussein after completing his race at the Paris Paralympics.   "Everyone, from where we are in the world, is going through a difficult time. Everyone can reach their destination.   "With serious work, with hard work, everyone can achieve their goal. It's not just the athletes. Everyone can achieve their goal."   Al Hussein overcame the hardships of war, injury and displacement to participate in para-swimming at Rio 2016 and then at the Tokyo Games three years ago.   Now in his third Paralympics, the 35-year-old competed in the triathlon, finishing sixth in the men's PTS3 race -- the category for athletes with significant disabilities.   "I am very happy. It was a very good result for me. It was my goal to be in the top six," said Al Hussein after recording a time of 1hr 12min 34sec.   "I want to thank the International Paralympic Committee for giving me this opportunity," he added.   "And I want to thank the UN Refugee Agency for believing in me." 

New Delhi — Intense monsoon rains and floods in India's southern states have killed at least 25 people, with thousands rescued and taken to relief camps, disaster officials said Monday. At least 16 people have been killed in Telangana state, and nine in neighboring Andhra Pradesh in the past two days. "Lots of houses have been damaged as well," Y. Nagi Reddy, director general of Telangana's disaster response and fire service, told AFP, noting there had 400 millimeters (15.7 inches) of rainfall within the past 24 hours. Around 3,800 people have been rescued in Telangana and moved to relief camps. India's air force said Monday it had flown in more than 200 rescue officers and 30 tons of emergency aid to both states. Rains cause widespread destruction every year, but experts say climate change is shifting weather patterns and increasing the number of extreme weather events. Last week, at least 28 people were killed over three days in the western state of Gujarat. The northeastern state of Tripura was also hit by floods and landslides in August, with more than 20 people killed. In neighboring Bangladesh, downriver from India, floods killed at least 40 people over the same period, with nearly 300,000 residents taking refuge in emergency shelters.

Oslo — Electric car sales in Norway took a 94% share of the market in August — a new world record — statistics showed Monday, as sales in the rest of Europe stagnate.   Boosted by the Tesla Model Y, which accounted for 18.8% of sales, and to a lesser extent Hyundai's Kona and Nissan's Leaf, electric vehicles made up 94.3% of new car registrations, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said.   Norwegians bought 10,480 new EVs in August, bringing the total to 68,435 since the start of the year.   Elsewhere in Europe high prices and insufficient infrastructure have hampered sales of EVs, whereas sales of hybrid models, which combine fossil fuel engines with electric batteries, have increased.   The Scandinavian country, a major oil and gas producer, has set a target to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2025, 10 years ahead of the EU goal.   The country offers generous tax benefits which make electric models competitively priced.   "No country in the world comes close to Norway in the electric car race," OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said in a statement.   "If this trend continues, we will soon be on our way to achieving our goal of 100% zero-emission cars by 2025," he said.   By comparison, electric cars represented 12.1% of new car sales in the EU in July, behind petrol cars at 33.4%, full hybrids at 32% and diesel cars at 12.6%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. 

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.

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.