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Phnom Penh — Buddhist monks in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh chanted blessings and threw flowers on Thursday to welcome 14 trafficked artifacts repatriated from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Angkorian artworks, which included a 10th century goddess sandstone statute and a large Buddha head from the 7th century, were stolen by antiquities trafficker Douglas Latchford before ending up in New York.   "I am so glad and so happy to see our ancestors back home," Cambodian Culture Minister Phoeurng Sackona said at the repatriation ceremony.   "We have many more treasures at the Met which we also hope will be returned to Cambodia," she added. Sackona said more than 50 stolen artifacts would return to Cambodia from the United States in the near future. The minister also called on private collectors and museums around the world to follow the Met and return looted artifacts. "This return of our national treasures, held by the Met, is of utmost importance not only for Cambodia, but for all of humankind," she said.   Latchford, who died aged 88 at his home in Bangkok, was widely regarded as a scholar of Cambodian antiquities, winning praise for his books on Khmer Empire art. He was charged in 2019 by prosecutors in New York with smuggling looted Cambodian relics and helping to sell them on the international art market. The Met said in December that it would return 14 antiquities to Cambodia and two to Thailand after they were linked to Latchford. A 900-year-old statue of the Hindu god Shiva and a bronze sculpture of a female figure were returned to Thailand by the museum in May.  Thousands of statues and sculptures are believed to have been trafficked from Cambodia from the mid-1960s to the 1990s, while sites in neighboring Thailand were also hit by smugglers. The return of the items comes as a growing number of museums worldwide discuss steps to repatriate looted artworks, particularly those taken during the colonial era.

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Kuala Lumpur — A chemical leak Thursday at an engineering section of Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport sickened at least 20 people, an emergency services official said.  "A total of six victims received treatment at the air disaster unit, 13 victims were taken to a medical center and one victim was transferred to a public hospital," local rescue officer Muhammad Nur Khairi Samsumin said in a statement.  The 20 people, who belonged to three companies working at the facility, suffered dizziness after exposure to the leak, he said.  The incident did not disrupt air travel at the country's premier airport.  Officers from the emergency services and health department were sent to the scene.  The statement did not say what caused the leak.   

BENGALURU, India — Months of scorching temperatures sometimes over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of India this year — its worst heat wave in over a decade — left hundreds dead or ill. But the official number of deaths listed in government reports barely scratches the surface of the true toll and that's affecting future preparations for similar swelters, according to public health experts.  India now has a bit of respite from the intense heat, and a different set of extreme weather problems as monsoon rain lashes the northeast, but for months the extreme heat took a toll on large swaths of the country, particularly in northern India, where government officials reported at least 110 heat-related deaths.  Public health experts say the true number of heat-related deaths is likely in the thousands but because heat is often not listed as a reason on a death certificate many heat deaths don't get counted in official figures. The worry, they say, is that undercounting the deaths means the heat wave problem isn't as prioritized as it should be, and officials are missing out on ways to prepare their residents for the scorching temperatures.  All of India’s warmest years on record have been in the last decade. Studies by public health experts found that up to 1,116 people have died every year between 2008 and 2019 due to heat.  Difficulties registering heat deaths  As part of his work in public health, Srinath Reddy, the founder of the Public Health Foundation of India, has advised state governments on how to factor in heat when recording deaths.  He found that as a result of “incomplete reporting, delayed reporting and misclassification of deaths,” heat-related deaths are significantly undercounted around the country. Despite national guidelines for recording deaths, many doctors — especially those in overcrowded public hospitals where resources are already strained — don’t follow it, he said.  “Most doctors just record the immediate cause of death and attribution to environmental triggers like heat are not recorded,” Reddy said. That's because heat deaths can be classified as exertional or non-exertional: Exertional is when a person dies due to direct exposure to high temperatures and non-exertional is when young children, older people or people with pre-existing health conditions become seriously ill or sometimes die from the heat, even if indoors.  “The heatwave is the final straw for the second category of people," said Dileep Mavalankar, former head of the Indian Institute of Public Health in Gandhinagar. “Most people dying during heat waves belong to this category but their deaths are not recorded as connected to the heat.”  Mavalankar agreed the official number of heat deaths this year is an undercount. He said there were 40,000 recorded case of heat stroke, but only 110 deaths. “This is just 0.3% of the total number of heatstroke cases recorded, but usually heat deaths should be 20 to 30% of heatstroke cases,” he said.  “We need to be counting deaths better," Mavalankar said. “That is the only way we will know how severe the consequences of extreme heat are." 

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London — Britain voted Thursday in a general election widely expected to hand the opposition Labour party a landslide win and end nearly a decade-and-a-half of Conservative rule.  The first national ballot since Boris Johnson won the Tories a decisive victory in 2019 follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's surprise call to hold it six months earlier than required.  His gamble looks set to backfire spectacularly, with polls throughout the six-week campaign -- and for the last two years -- pointing to a heavy defeat for his right-wing party.  That would almost certainly put Labour leader Keir Starmer, 61, in Downing Street, as leader of the largest party in parliament.  Centre-left Labour is projected to win its first general election since 2005 by historic proportions, with a flurry of election-eve polls all forecasting its biggest-ever victory.  But Starmer was taking nothing for granted as he urged voters not to stay at home. "Britain's future is on the ballot," he said. "But change will only happen if you vote for it."  Voting began at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) in more than 40,000 polling stations across the country, from church halls, community centers and schools to more unusual venues such as pubs and even a ship.  Sunak was among the early birds, casting his ballot at his Richmond and Northallerton constituency in Yorkshire, northern England. Starmer voted around two hours later in his north London seat.  "I just moved back from Australia and I've got the feeling that everything has turned wrong in this country and a lot of people are not satisfied," said Ianthe Jacob, a 32-year-old writer, after voting in Hackney, east London.  In Saint Albans, north of London, 22-year-old student Judith told AFP: "I don't really trust any of them but will vote. A lot of my friends feel the same."  Voting closes at 10:00 pm (2100 GMT). Broadcasters then announce exit polls, which typically provide an accurate picture of how the main parties have performed.  Results from the UK's 650 constituencies trickle in overnight, with the winning party expected to hit 326 seats -- the threshold for a parliamentary majority -- as dawn breaks Friday.   Polls suggest voters will punish the Tories after 14 years of often chaotic rule and could oust a string of government ministers. 

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.

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.

Voters in the United Kingdom cast ballots in a national election on Thursday, passing judgment on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s 20 months in office, and the four Conservative prime ministers before him. Voters are widely expected to do something they have not done since 2005: elect a Labour Party government. We talk with American University professor Laura Beers. Donald Trump has established a sizable lead over President Joe Biden in the White House race since the two candidates debated last week. Hurricane Beryl hits Jamaica. And the evolution of Barbie opens in London this week as the famed Mattel doll celebrates her 65th birthday this year.