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Baghdad — Human rights groups and diplomats criticized a law that was quietly passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the law passed Saturday “threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society” and “can be used to hamper free-speech and expression.” He warned that the legislation could drive away foreign investment. “International business coalitions have already indicated that such discrimination in Iraq will harm business and economic growth in the country,” the statement said. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called the law “dangerous and worrying.” Although homosexuality is taboo in the largely conservative Iraqi society, and political leaders have periodically launched anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns, Iraq did not previously have a law that explicitly criminalized it. The law passed Saturday with little notice as an amendment to the country’s existing anti-prostitution law. It imposes a sentence of 10 to 15 years for same-sex relations and a prison term of one to three years for people who undergo or perform gender-transition surgeries and for “intentional practice of effeminacy.” It also bans any organization that promotes “sexual deviancy,” imposing a sentence of at least seven years and a fine of no less than 10 million dinars (about $7,600). A previous draft version of the anti-prostitution law, which was ultimately not passed, would have allowed the death sentence to be imposed for same-sex relations. Iraqi officials have defended the law as upholding societal values and portrayed criticisms of it as Western interference. The acting Iraqi parliamentary speaker, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, said in a statement that the vote was “a necessary step to protect the value structure of society” and to “protect our children from calls for moral depravity and homosexuality.” Rasha Younes, a senior researcher with the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, said the law’s passage “rubber-stamps Iraq’s appalling record of rights violations against LGBT people and is a serious blow to fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and association, privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination.” A report released by the organization in 2022 accused armed groups in Iraq of abducting, raping, torturing, and killing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people with impunity and the Iraqi government of failing to hold the perpetrators accountable.

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.

At least 16 African countries, including South Africa, will hold elections in the remaining months of 2024. Voters who go online for political news are risking exposure to disinformation and misinformation. But a new digital ethics organization aims to help journalists and activists identify false and misleading content so they can educate the public. Zaheer Cassim has the story from Johannesburg.

Tehran, Iran — Iranian authorities have banned an Egyptian TV series depicting a medieval Persian figure over historical "distortions" and "a biased approach," state media reported Sunday. "The Assassins," or "El-Hashashin" in Arabic, recounts the story of Hassan-i Sabbah, the controversial founder of an offshoot Shiite Muslim sect known for bloody political assassinations during the 11th century. The 30-episode series about Sabbah and his band of assassins, who operated out of mountain bases in northern and western Iran, was first broadcast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan which ended earlier this month. The show has since gained popularity across the Middle East, but the head of Tehran's audiovisual media regulatory body, Mehdi Seifi, said that "the broadcast of 'El-Hashashin' series... is no longer approved in Iran." "Its narrative of Islamic history includes many distortions, and it seems to have been produced with a biased political approach," Seifi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency, without elaborating. IRNA said the series shows "a false image of Iranians" and quoted experts who argued it sought to link Iranians to the "inception of terrorism."   Another news agency, ISNA, said the series was a "perfect example" of the "modification and falsification of truth." The notorious legends of Sabbah and his medieval order have inspired multiple works of fiction over the years. The remains of the Alamut castle, where the group resided, is today a tourist destination in northern Iran. 

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U.S. President Joe Biden’s jokes were well-received by those who attended the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington Saturday. But his political rival, Donald Trump, criticized the event as he gears up for a new round of campaign stops and court appearances this week. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details.

Hamas says it is reviewing a cease-fire plan for Gaza put forth by Israel. This follows a visit to Israel by an Egyptian delegation where officials described a “new vision” for a prolonged end to hostilities. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.

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.

CHBAR MON, Cambodia — A funeral was held Sunday for 20 soldiers who died at an army base in southwestern Cambodia in a huge explosion of stored munitions that also wounded several others and damaged nearby houses.  There has been no public explanation of what caused the Saturday afternoon blast at the base in Kompong Speu province, though there were no suggestions it was triggered deliberately.  Defense Minister Tea Seiha, representing Prime Minister Hun Manet, presided over the Buddhist funeral ceremony, which was attended by relatives of the victims and fellow soldiers. Cambodian flags covered the wooden coffins.  A villager living nearby told The Associated Press on Sunday that he trembled after hearing the blast because he had never before experienced such a loud explosion.  “When the explosion happened, I was fixing my house with some construction workers,” said Chim Sothea. “Suddenly there was a loud explosion, causing my house to shake and breaking tiles on my roof. They fell down but luckily they didn’t fall inside the house.”  Images showed several badly damaged buildings on the base, at least one with its roof  blown off, and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. Other photos showed nearby houses with holes in their roofs.  Four buildings on the base — three for storage and one work facility — were destroyed and several military vehicles damaged, Col. Youeng Sokhon, an army officer at the site, said in a report to army chief Gen. Mao Sophan.  Another villager, who asked to be named only as Sophal, said the military closed the road to the base and “villagers were in a panic, seeking a safe place.” He moved his family to his parent’s home, farther away from the base. When he returned to his own house hours later, he found it undamaged but other villagers’ houses had broken windows, doors and roofs, he said.  Cambodia, like many countries in the region, has been suffering from an extended heat wave, and the province where the blast took place registered a high of 39 C (102 F) Saturday. While high temperatures normally can’t detonate ammunition, they can degrade the stability of explosives over time, with the risk that a single small explosion can set off a fire and a chain reaction.  In March 2005, a nighttime blast at an arms depot in the northwestern provincial town of Battambang triggered an hour-long spray of shells and bullets, killing at least six people and causing panic.  A 2014 report by the Swiss-based group Small Arms Survey highlighted the dangers of poorly stored or mishandled munitions, calling it a “global problem.” It noted that from 1979 through 2013 there were more than 500 incidents involving unplanned explosions at munitions sites. 

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London — Prince Harry will return to Britain to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games in May, before joining his wife Meghan on a visit to Nigeria, his spokesperson said Sunday.  Harry, the youngest son of King Charles, lives in the United States with Meghan and their two children after he gave up working as a member of the royal family in 2020.  He has only returned to Britain on a few occasions since his departure from royal life, arriving for major events such as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in 2022 and his father's coronation in May 2023.  His spokesperson said Harry would attend a service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on May 8 to celebrate the Invictus Games, the international sporting event that he founded for military personnel wounded in action.  Harry served as a military helicopter pilot in Afghanistan and Invictus organizers said the service was designed to mark "a decade of changing lives and saving lives through sport."  It will include readings by Harry and the British actor Damian Lewis. Wounded veterans and members of the Invictus community will also attend.  Harry will then be joined in Nigeria by Meghan, a former American actress who is known as the Duchess of Sussex. Harry's spokesperson said the couple had been invited by the country's chief of defense staff, its highest-ranking military official.  No further details were given about the trip.  Harry was last seen in Britain in February this year for a brief meeting with his father after the monarch announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.  The palace said Friday that Charles would return to public duties after he made good progress following treatment and a period of recuperation. 

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NICOSIA — World Central Kitchen, or WCK, said it would resume operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday, a month after seven workers of the U.S.-based charity were killed in an Israeli air strike.  Prior to halting operations, WCK had distributed more than 43 million meals in Gaza since October, representing by its own accounts 62% of all international NGO aid.  The charity said it had 276 trucks with the equivalent of almost 8 million meals ready to enter through the Rafah crossing and will also send trucks into Gaza from Jordan.  "The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire," said the charity's chief executive officer Erin Gore. "We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible."  The April 1 deaths triggered widespread condemnation and demands from Israel's allies, including the U.S., for an explanation.  Israel said its inquiries had found serious errors and breaches of procedure by its military, dismissing two senior officers and reprimanding senior commanders.  WCK is demanding an independent investigation.  Israel's six-month war against Hamas in Gaza followed an Oct. 7 attack by the militant group in southern Israel when more than 250 hostages were seized and some 1,200 people killed, according to Israeli tallies.  Israel's offensive has killed more than 34,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian disaster for the enclave's more than 2 million inhabitants.  "We have been forced to make a decision: Stop feeding altogether during one of the worst hunger crises ever...Or keep feeding knowing that aid, aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed," Gore said.  "These are the hardest conversations, and we have considered all perspectives when deliberating. Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding, continuing our mission of showing up to provide food to people during the toughest of times." 

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — At least 23 members of Nigeria's civilian joint task force were killed Saturday in separate attacks by militants and an armed kidnapping gang in the north, two officials from the force said Sunday.  In northeast Borno state, the heartland of an Islamist insurgency, suspected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters used an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a vehicle carrying the Civilian Joint Tast Force (CJTF) team, a local force chairman said.  The CJTF was first formed in 2013 to protect communities in the northeast and help the military fight Boko Haram and later its offshoot ISWAP. The force has since been extended to other northern states that are grappling with armed kidnapping gangs.  Tijjanima Umar, CJTF chairman for Gamboru Ngala area near the border with Cameroon, said his team was traveling to Borno state capital Maiduguri when they drove over the IED.  "As the mine blew up, nine of them died instantly ... while two other people had severe injuries and were immediately taken to hospital for treatment," Umar told Reuters by phone.  The Nigerian military was not immediately available to comment.  Although severely curtailed by Nigerian security forces, Boko Haram and ISWAP still carry out deadly attacks against civilians and the military.  In northwestern Soko state, 14 CJTF members were killed and several were missing following an ambush by gunmen Saturday, task force sector commandant Ismail Haruna told Reuters.  Haruna said the CJTF members were killed in Sokoto's Isa local government area, where they had raided and destroyed a bush camp belonging to a known armed kidnapping gang leader.  The gang quickly regrouped and ambushed the CJTF as they drove back to Sokoto state capital, he added. 

State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed to Riyadh for regional talks Monday and Tuesday on humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a post-war roadmap for the Palestinian territories, and stability and security in the Middle East. “The secretary will discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages and how it is Hamas that is standing between the Palestinian people and a cease-fire,” the State Department said. Blinken will participate in a ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional alliance of Arab countries bordering the Persian Gulf that is convening in Saudi Arabia’s capital. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told ABC’s “This Week” show Sunday that the United States is continuing to push for a six-week cease-fire in the nearly seven-month war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants. The cease-fire talks have been going on for months, and despite periodic signals that a deal might be close, Kirby gave no indication of new progress in the discussions. He said Israel has assured U.S. officials it will not send ground troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah without fully hearing U.S. concerns that such an attack would endanger the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians who are sheltering there. Kirby said that a makeshift Mediterranean Sea pier being constructed on the Gaza shoreline could be completed in two or three weeks so that more humanitarian aid can be transported into the narrow territory to help feed famished Palestinians. Gaza, post-war roadmap The humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains dire, despite an increase in daily aid and Israel beginning to utilize a northern crossing and Ashdod Port for humanitarian deliveries. The United States is collaborating with partners to establish a maritime humanitarian corridor; however, these efforts are insufficient as the entire population of Gaza faces the risk of famine and malnutrition. U.S. officials have stated that Washington is committed to advancing lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, including through practical steps aimed at establishing a Palestinian state that exists alongside Israel. Barbara Leaf, an assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs at the State Department, said at a recent briefing, "The West Bank and Gaza must be reunified under the Palestinian Authority. A revitalized Palestinian Authority is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability.” Washington has also made clear that Hamas should not play a role in such governance. Analysts, however, say there are many hurdles to the U.S. vision. Michael Hanna, the program director at the International Crisis Group, noted that the current Israeli government has shown a "total rejection of the idea of a two-state solution." Moreover, "the physical reality has changed so dramatically since 1967 that it makes the possibility of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state almost an impossibility." He told VOA, "There's no real assurance" that countries in the Middle East are particularly committed to post-war reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. “It's very difficult for many of these regional parties to engage politically at the moment while the war rages on." Prospects for Saudi-Israel normalization The Biden administration continues to work on a potential agreement that could lead to normalization of relations with Israel, even as some officials and analysts consider it a remote possibility. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the two-state solution and the return of the Palestinian Authority to control Gaza, demands that are widely supported by the international community. The Saudis have demanded, as a prerequisite, to see an Israeli commitment to the two-state solution. "If Netanyahu's positions do not change, he will probably not be able to deliver normalization with Saudi Arabia. It may be that a U.S.-Saudi offer for such a normalization will be publicly made, so when Israelis go to the polls, they can take this option into account," Nimrod Goren, a senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute, told VOA in an email. US reviews alleged IDF units' rights violations Blinken’s scheduled meetings in the Middle East come as the U.S. evaluates new information from the Israeli government to determine whether to blacklist certain Israeli military units. These units are accused of violating the human rights of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank before the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. Critics have pointed out that the State Department's “slow rolling” in making its decision highlights the special treatment that Israel continues to receive. Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.

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.