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Since the Israel-Hamas war started, Israel has arrested about 15,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians say detention conditions have worsened and many detainees are tortured. Israel says it abides by international law. Linda Gradstein reports from the West Bank city of Ramallah. Camera: Ricki Rosen.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump squared off in their first debate of the 2024 election season: Donald Trump was aggressive, confident and often, untruthful. Joe Biden was soft-spoken and seemed tired. How do the two candidates view the war in Ukraine? North Korea launches another missile, women are excluded from a UN conference on Afghanistan’s future and Iranians go to the polls.

In Frederick, Maryland, when Tony Peterson got himself off the streets, he wanted to help others conquer their homelessness as well. He began by asking the homeless people he encountered what they needed, and the answer was simple but deeply personal. Arzouma Kompaore reports.

VIENNA — Iran has so far installed four out of the eight clusters of advanced IR-6 centrifuges it said earlier this month that it would quickly set up at its Fordow uranium-enrichment plant, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a report on Friday seen by Reuters. "Since the Director General's previous quarterly report, the Agency has verified that Iran has installed four of the aforementioned eight IR-6 cascades in Unit 1 at FFEP [Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant]," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in the confidential report to member states.

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.

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — The International Monetary Fund has asked Zimbabwe to rein in corruption — said to be costing the economy billions of dollars each year — while giving some rare praise for the country's new currency, the most stable Zimbabwe has seen in years. Following a recent mission to Zimbabwe, the IMF says the country's new Zimbabwe Gold currency, or ZiG, has ended a bout of macroeconomic instability that saw the preceding currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, suffer radical depreciation, causing prices to skyrocket. The IMF said that if macro-stabilization is sustained, cumulative inflation for the remainder of the year would be about 7% — a figure Zimbabwe has not achieved in years. In an interview with VOA, Persistence Gwanyanya, a member of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Board, welcomed the IMF’s report for acknowledging that the country’s new currency had stabilized the economy. “We think that there has been some notable improvements with regards to … fiscal accountability,” Gwanyanya said. “Whilst there are isolated cases of corruption that we acknowledge, the overall picture is that there has been significant improvement in fiscal management in the country. And unsurprisingly, we continue to improve. But to achieve the ambitions, we reduce the leakages, we improve … accountability further in the economy.” In the report, the IMF said Zimbabwe’s economic governance still has significant weaknesses, and said corruption poses a risk to economic performance that needs to be addressed. Last month, Zimbabwe’s prosecutor general, Loice Matanda-Moyo, also the former head of the anti-corruption commission, said corruption costs the country nearly $2 billion annually, devastating the economy and ordinary citizens. The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission says it is investigating a case from last year in which the electoral commission reportedly paid $1.2 million for a server it could have bought on the open market for less than $25,000. The money went to a company owned by an ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Godfrey Kanyenze, an economist and founding director of the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe, said reducing corruption is crucial if the country’s economy is to improve. “Corruption is a cancer that has to be dealt with, we need political will to address this particular issue and there is to be a price to corrupt activities. The culture of impunity must be replaced by zero tolerance for corruption, as is the case in other countries where the state has played a leadership role,” Kanyenze said. Steven Dhlamini, an economics professor at National University of Science and Technology, said the IMF report addressed all issues that Zimbabwe needs to get on track. “Overall, it is a very positive report, it confirms that our policy trajectory is on the right path and we are hopeful that authorities are going to continue implementing these policy measures that have been commenced since last year,” Dhlamini said. In its report, the IMF said Zimbabwe’s economy is showing “resilience” even as effects of the El Nino drought were being felt. The economy is expected to grow 2 percent in 2024, down from 2023’s 5.3%.

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.

Johannesburg — “Kenya is not IMF’s lab rat,” was just one of many slogans condemning the International Monetary Fund that was seen this week on demonstrators’ placards at protests in Kenya against proposed tax hikes.  The protests, fueled by tech-savvy youth on social media, were sparked by the Kenyan government’s plans to significantly raise taxes to pay off its enormous debt.  The government did a U-turn after things turned deadly Tuesday when protesters broke into parliament in Nairobi and police opened fire, killing over 20 people, according to rights groups.  Embattled President William Ruto announced he was listening to the protesters’ concerns and was scrapping his controversial finance bill. He said he would instead introduce budget cuts and austerity measures to try to shore up the country’s finances.    But the chaotic events in one of Africa’s major economies, also a key U.S. ally, have led to questions about the debt choking many developing countries, and who is to blame.  International financial institutions   Kenya owes $80 billion in domestic and foreign debt. Its debt stands at 68 percent of GDP, well above the World Bank and IMF’s recommended maximum of 55 percent.  The tax hikes in Ruto’s unpopular bill were aimed at avoiding default and came after an agreement earlier this month between Kenya and the IMF on a comprehensive reform package.    Most of Kenya's debt is owed to international bondholders, while its biggest bilateral creditor is China, to which it owes $5.7 billion.     Washington frequently accuses Beijing of “debt trap diplomacy” — unscrupulous lending that leaves developing countries overly burdened. China, which has undertaken large infrastructure projects across Africa under President Xi Jinping’s global Belt and Road Initiative, vehemently rejects the allegations.  Experts have different takes on whether China or Western monetary institutions are to blame for Kenya’s current woes. Kenya owes billions of dollars to Western countries and the IMF as well as China.  “The key culprit is the lack of a well-functioning global financial safety net,” said Kevin P. Gallagher, director of Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center.   “Programs from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank made the situation worse, rather than better, and the flaws in the G20 Common Framework to work out debt problems were seen as too risky for Kenya to enter into,” he said, referring to the debt restructuring mechanism that other indebted African countries like Zambia and Ghana have been using.  China’s role  Gallagher said China’s loans to Kenya have decreased in recent years, according to his university’s data, and it has little to do with the East Africa country’s debt woes.  “Indeed, the Kenyan case disproves accusations of ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ on the part of China. If China was doing debt trap diplomacy it would be seizing Kenyan assets, instead Chinese capital has been the most patient during these rough times,” Gallagher told VOA.  David Shinn, a former U.S. diplomat, said the blame couldn’t be placed on any one factor.  “China is the largest bilateral lender, but its loans are quite modest when compared to the international financial institutions and holders of Eurobonds,” he told VOA.  “All of these players share the blame for too much debt. The Kenyan government should not have allowed itself to take on so much debt and those who offered loans should have been more circumspect,” he continued.   Alex Vines, director of the Africa Program at Chatham House, was also even-handed, saying, “China is part of the debt burden, but private equity is also contributing to the overall burden.”   Aly-Khan Satchu, a Kenya-based economist, said Kenya was “in a perfect debt storm.”   “You know you’d get whiplash for looking at Kenya’s politics. From a period of looking east, we’re back to looking west again … and therefore a big decision has been made to wrestle Kenya away from the Chinese orbit, with the support of the World Bank and the IMF.”  However, Satchu said, one of the problems is that Kenya has had to reroute some of the IMF and World Bank’s money in order to pay its debts to China, particularly for a Chinese-built railway.   Harry Verhoeven, a senior researcher at Columbia University, told VOA neither China nor the IMF is uniquely responsible for Kenya’s problems.  “I think the IMF is not wrong in its diagnosis that there’s not enough revenue being raised, I think that’s certainly right,” he said. “Where you can be more critical of the IMF is, so far at least, that it hasn’t spoken up very much … about the distributional effects of how that revenue should be raised, or what the government has proposed to raise it.”  Other factors  Analysts note it wasn’t just loans that got Kenya into its fiscal predicament. The country was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and has also suffered from the fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine — which has seen global food and energy prices rise. Climate change-induced floods have also hurt the country’s economy.  Samuel Misati Nyandemo, a senior economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi, said the Kenyan government, having withdrawn the controversial finance bill, now has a tough road ahead.   “The government should try to balance between raising revenues and address the cost of living and doing business in the midst of entrenched corruption, impunity and wastage of public resources,” he said.  Kenya, he warned, might not be the last African country where frustrations boil over and citizens take to the streets.   In impassioned remarks in April, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “the world cannot afford to continue throwing developing countries’ plans and futures onto a raging bonfire of debt.”  He said around 40% of the world’s population now live in countries that spend more on interest payments than health or education.

DUBAI — Iranians voted for a new president Friday following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader at a time of growing public frustration and Western pressure. The election coincides with escalating regional tension because of the war between Israel and Iran's allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as increased Western pressure on Iran over its fast-advancing nuclear program. While the election is unlikely to bring a major shift in the Islamic Republic's policies, its outcome could influence the succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's 85-year-old supreme leader, in power since 1989. Khamenei called for a high turnout to offset a legitimacy crisis fueled by public discontent over economic hardship and curbs on political and social freedom. "The durability, strength, dignity and reputation of the Islamic Republic depend on people's presence," Khamenei told state television after casting his vote. "High turnout is a definite necessity." The next president is not expected to usher in any major policy shift on Iran's nuclear program or support for militia groups across the Middle East, since Khamenei calls all the shots on top state matters. However, the president runs the government day-to-day and can influence the tone of Iran's foreign and domestic policy. A hardline watchdog body made up of six clerics and six jurists aligned with Khamenei vetted candidates and approved six from an initial pool of 80. Two hardline candidates subsequently dropped out.  Three candidates are hardline conservatives Three candidates are hardliners, and one is a low-profile comparative moderate, backed by the reformist faction that has largely been sidelined in Iran in recent years. Critics of Iran's clerical rule say that low and declining turnouts in recent years show the system's legitimacy has eroded. Just 48% of voters participated in the 2021 presidential election and turnout sank to a record low of 41% in a parliamentary election in March. State television showed queues inside polling stations in several cities. Polls were extended for two hours because "people are still waiting to vote," state TV said. Voting is often extended as late as midnight. Authorities said the result would be announced on Saturday. If no candidate wins at least 50% plus one vote from all ballots cast, including blank votes, a run-off between the top two candidates is held on the first Friday after the result is declared. Prominent among the remaining hardliners are Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, parliament speaker and former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who served for four years in Khamenei's office. All four candidates have vowed to revive the flagging economy, beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018, after the United States ditched Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers. "I think Jalili is the only candidate who raised the issue of justice, fighting corruption and giving value to the poor. ... Most importantly, he does not link Iran's foreign policy to the nuclear deal," said Farzan Sadjadi, a 45-year-old artist in the city of Karaj. One candidate is comparatively moderate The sole comparative moderate, Massoud Pezeshkian, is faithful to Iran's theocratic rule but advocates detente with the West, economic reform, social liberalization and political pluralism. "We will respect the hijab law, but there should never be any intrusive or inhumane behavior toward women," Pezeshkian said after casting his vote. He was referring to the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, in 2022 while in custody of the morality police for allegedly violating the mandatory Islamic dress code. The unrest sparked by Amini's death spiraled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical rulers in years. Pezeshkian's chances hinge on reviving the enthusiasm of reform-minded voters who have largely stayed away from the polls for the last four years as a mostly youthful population chafes at political and social curbs. He could also benefit from his rivals' failure to consolidate the hardline vote. "I feel Pezeshkian represents both traditional and liberal thoughts," said architect Pirouz, 45, who said he had planned to boycott the vote until he learned more about Pezeshkian's plans. In the past few weeks, Iranians have made wide use of the hashtag #ElectionCircus on X, with some activists at home and abroad calling for a boycott, saying a high turnout would only serve to legitimize the Islamic Republic. "The youth were punished ... young girls were killed on the streets. ... We can't easily move on from that. ... After all that happened, it's unconscionable to vote," said 55-year-old writer Shahrzad Afrasheh. In the 2022-23 protests, more than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed, hundreds were injured, and thousands were arrested, rights groups said.

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.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will expand deportation relief and work permits to an estimated 309,000 Haitians in the country already, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday.   The administration will expand access to the Temporary Protected Status program to Haitians through February 2026 because of violence and security issues in Haiti that limits access to safety, health care, food and water, the department said. The expanded program will be available to Haitians in the U.S. on or before June 3.  About 264,000 Haitians in the U.S. were already covered by the program, according to the U.S. government.   U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat seeking another term in the November 5 elections, has walked a political tightrope when it comes to immigration, both trying to step up security at the U.S.-Mexico border and take a more humane approach to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.  In a presidential debate on Thursday, Biden's Republican challenger, former president Donald Trump, criticized Biden for failing to stem high levels of illegal immigration.  Gang wars in Haiti have displaced over half a million people and nearly 5 million are facing severe food insecurity. Armed groups, which now control most of the capital, have formed a broad alliance while carrying out widespread killings, ransom kidnappings and sexual violence.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to federal regulatory power on Friday by overturning a 1984 precedent that had given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer, handing a defeat to President Joe Biden's administration. The justices ruled 6-3 in favor of fishing companies that challenged a government-run program partly funded by industry that monitored overfishing of herring off New England's coast. It marked the latest decision in recent years powered by the Supreme Court's conservative majority that hemmed in the authority of federal agencies. The precedent that the court overturned arose from a ruling involving oil company Chevron that had called for judges to defer to reasonable federal agency interpretations of U.S. laws deemed to be ambiguous. This doctrine, long opposed by conservatives and business interests, was called "Chevron deference." The decreasing productivity of Congress – thanks to its gaping partisan divide – has led to a growing reliance, especially by Democratic presidents, on rules issued by U.S. agencies to realize regulatory goals. The 1984 precedent, set in a ruling involving oil company Chevron, has called for judges to defer to federal agency interpretations of U.S. laws that are deemed to be ambiguous. This doctrine, long opposed by conservatives and business interests, is called "Chevron deference." Democratic President Joe Biden's administration had defended the National Marine Fisheries Service regulation at issue and the Chevron deference doctrine. The fish conservation program was started in 2020 under Republican former President Donald Trump. The regulation called for certain commercial fishermen to carry aboard their vessels U.S. government contractors and pay for their at-sea services while they monitored the catch.   The companies – led by New Jersey-based Loper Bright Enterprises and Rhode Island-based Relentless Inc – in 2020 sued the fisheries service, claiming the monitoring program exceeded the Commerce Department agency's authority. The bid by the fishermen was supported by various conservative and corporate interest groups including billionaire Charles Koch's network. The litigation is part of what has been termed the "war on the administrative state," an effort to weaken the federal agency bureaucracy that interprets laws, crafts federal rules and implements executive action. The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has signaled skepticism toward expansive regulatory power, issuing rulings in recent years to rein in what its conservative justices have viewed as overreach by the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies. The fish conservation program aimed to monitor 50 percent of declared herring fishing trips in the regulated area, with program costs split between the federal government and the fishing industry. The cost to commercial fishermen of paying for the monitoring was an estimated $710 per day for 19 days a year, which could reduce a vessel's income by up to 20 percent, according to government figures. The Biden administration said the program was authorized under a 1976 federal law called the Magnuson-Stevens Act to protect against overfishing in U.S. coastal waters. It said in court papers the program was suspended for the fishing year starting in April 2023 due to insufficient federal funding. The Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of the government. The Biden administration said Chevron deference among other things "gives due weight to the expertise that agencies bring to bear" and promotes national uniformity in the administration of federal law. An attorney for the commercial fishermen said Chevron deference "incentivizes a dynamic where Congress does far less than the Framers [of the U.S. Constitution] anticipated, and the executive branch is left to do far more by deciding controversial issues via regulatory fiat." The Supreme Court has issued other rulings this term involving the scope of agency powers, including two rulings on Thursday. It rejected the Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house enforcement of laws protecting investors against securities fraud. It also blocked an Environmental Protection Agency regulation aimed at reducing ozone emissions that may worsen air pollution in neighboring states. The justices on May 16 upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding mechanism in a challenge brought by the payday loan industry.

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.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday anti-camping laws used by authorities in an Oregon city to stop homeless people from sleeping in public parks and public streets — a ruling that gives local and state governments a freer hand in confronting a national homelessness crisis.  The justices ruled 6-3 to overturn a lower court's decision that found that enforcing the ordinances in the city of Grants Pass when no shelter space is available for the homeless violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition on "cruel and unusual" punishments. Various jurisdictions employ similar laws.  The court's conservative justices were in the majority, while its three liberal members dissented.  Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the ruling, wrote, "Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it. At bottom, the question this case presents is whether the Eighth Amendment grants federal judges primary responsibility for assessing those causes and devising those responses. It does not."  Homelessness remains a multifaceted problem for public officials in the United States as many municipalities experience chronic shortages of affordable housing. On any given night, more than 600,000 people are homeless, according to U.S. government estimates.  The case focused on three ordinances in Grants Pass, a city of roughly 38,000 people in southwestern Oregon, that together prohibit sleeping in public streets, alleyways and parks while using a blanket or bedding. Violators are fined $295. Repeat offenders can be criminally prosecuted for trespassing, punishable by up to 30 days in jail.  Advocates for the homeless, various liberal legal groups and other critics have said laws like these criminalize people simply for being homeless and for actions they cannot avoid, such as sleeping in public. They point to a 1962 Supreme Court ruling that the Eighth Amendment barred punishing individuals based on their status rather than their conduct.  A point of contention during the Supreme Court's arguments in the case in April was whether homelessness can be deemed a status that would prohibit enforcing local laws.  President Joe Biden's administration agreed with the plaintiffs that Grants Pass cannot enforce an "absolute ban" on sleeping in the city — which effectively criminalizes homelessness — but suggested the rulings by the lower courts against the city were too broad and should be reconsidered.  Proponents including various government officials have called such laws a necessary tool for maintaining public safety.   The case, which began in 2018, involved three homeless people who filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the measures impacting them in Grants Pass. One of the plaintiffs has since died.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke ruled that the city's "policy and practice of punishing homelessness" violates the Eighth Amendment and barred it from enforcing the anti-camping ordinances. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Clarke's injunction against the ordinances.  The city had defended itself in the case in part by noting that homeless people have alternatives outside the city, including nearby undeveloped federal land, county campsites or state rest stops. The judge said that argument "sheds light on the city's attitude towards its homeless citizens" by seeking to drive them out or punish them if they stay.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Nigeria and Cameroon said Thursday they would no longer seek a court ruling to settle their disputed border. Rather, the two nations said, joint delegations will validate a demarcation plan on site and put an end to long-standing territorial disputes. The nations share about 2,100 kilometers (1,300 miles) of border, from Lake Chad in the north of the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean coast. Leonardo Santos Simao, chairperson of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission set up by the United Nations to solve the countries’ territorial disputes, said he is delighted the two countries decided to resolve their disputes without long and expensive processes at the International Court of Justice. The agreement to peacefully resolve border disputes before the end of 2025 was made at a meeting of the Mixed Commission on Wednesday and Thursday in Yaounde. Simao called it a milestone. The two countries agreed to visit disputed territories in Rumsiki and Tourou in northern Cameroon and Koche in eastern Nigeria before the end of 2024. Nigerian Justice Minister Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, who is the leader of the West African state's delegation to the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, confirmed that the countries have agreed to complete the project within 12 months. "It's a consensus between Cameroon and Nigeria. By the end of 2025, this project should be concluded,” he said. “We have so admirably and maturely handled the situation in such a way that there is hardly any dissent. We are satisfied with the outcome of the two-day meeting, and we are hopeful that there is light at the end of the tunnel." Cameroon and Nigeria say the border demarcation was slowed by Boko Haram terrorism in both countries. They say that the Boko Haram group’s firepower is drastically reduced now and that the demarcation can continue. The two states say they will move past existing differences over the precise location of the border in about 30 villages. The Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission was established in 2002 at the request of President Paul Biya of Cameroon and the then-Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo to facilitate the implementation of an October 10, 2002, International Court of Justice ruling that ceded Bakassi, an oil-rich border peninsula, to Cameroon. Nigeria initially rejected the verdict, with its senate arguing that the ruling, based on a colonial era agreement, was unfair and should be appealed. But Nigerian officials said the verdict should be respected.