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Blantyre, Malawi     — Malawi has declared the end of the country's worst cholera outbreak, which began in March 2022 and killed nearly 2,000 people. In a statement Monday, the Ministry of Health said the country had registered no cases or deaths from cholera in 26 of Malawi's 29 health districts in the past four weeks. Some health experts, however, said the outbreak could resurface if the country failed to address sanitation problems that caused it. Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera launched a national campaign to end the cholera outbreak in February 2023. The “Tithetse Kolera” or “Let’s End Cholera” campaign came three months after he declared the disease to be a public health emergency in Malawi. The campaign aimed to interrupt cholera transmission in all districts and reduce the fatality rate from 3.2% to below 1%, which the World Health Organization considers a controlled cholera outbreak. Dr. Wilfred Chalamira Nkhoma,  co-chairperson for the presidential task force on COVID-19 and cholera in Malawi, told VOA the disease had now been defeated largely because of the campaign. “By WHO definition, a country stands to end the transmission of cholera when they have gone at least four weeks without reporting a laboratory confirmed case of cholera," he said. "So that is the case with Malawi right now. We haven’t had a confirmed case since 6th of June.” Successful steps Nkhoma attributed the development to several interventions Malawi conducted over the past two years. He said they involved educating people about transmission, prevention and control of cholera; increasing surveillance; and properly managing cholera cases. “The key one — and that must remain the key one — is to increase access to safe water and also improve adequate sanitation," he said. "The Ministry of Water and Sanitation was taking the lead in this, but they were supported very well by nongovernmental organizations that are working in the water and sanitation sector.” Nkhoma said another measure was the oral cholera vaccination campaign, which began in December 2022. “We were able as a country to access some doses from WHO," he said. "We were able to administer not less than about  6 million doses of cholera vaccine focusing first and foremost in priority areas.” The Ministry of Health said in its Monday statement that Malawi had registered 56,376 cases of cholera, with 1,772 deaths since March 2022. Maziko Matemba, a national community health ambassador in Malawi, told VOA that Malawi seemed to have managed the cholera outbreak at the treatment and case-management levels, but added that sanitation problems remained a challenge. “Because at the moment, if you go to villages, if you go to public places, people are not doing the sanitation issues properly," Matemba said. "Even if you check in public toilets, even if you check how people are preparing food, you will find that we still have challenges as a country to contain disease like cholera.”  Nkhoma said the government would continue its effort to educate people about how cholera is transmitted, prevented and controlled to try to avoid further outbreaks.

san juan, puerto rico — Tense deliberations over how and if to allow deep sea mining unfolded Monday in Jamaica as at least one company threatened to apply for permission before rules and regulations are in place. More than two dozen countries have called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep sea mining — including most recently Peru and Greece — as the U.N. International Seabed Authority resumed talks over a proposed mining code after last meeting in March. “We have two very busy weeks ahead of us,” said Olav Myklebust, the authority’s council president as some countries warned that the proposed regulator framework has significant gaps and does not include some of their proposals. The Jamaica-based authority, which is the global custodian for deep waters that don't fall under a country's jurisdiction, has granted 31 mining exploration contracts but has not authorized any exploration as the debate continues. Much of the ongoing exploration centers in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico. It occurs at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters). Scientists have said that minerals at those depths take millions of years to form, and that mining them could unleash noise, light and suffocating dust storms. “The deep ocean sustains crucial processes that make the entire planet habitable, from driving ocean currents that regulate our weather to storing carbon and buffering our planet against the impacts of climate change,” said Sofia Tsenikli with the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition ahead of the meeting. Those who support deep sea mining argue that it is cheaper and has less of an impact than land mining. Among those pushing for exploitation is The Metals Company, a Canadian business that is largely expected to be the first to seek permission to start mining. The debate over deep sea mining comes amid growing demand for precious metals including cobalt, nickel and copper that grow in the ocean’s bowels and are used in electric car batteries and other green technology. “There is a lot of work that remains to be done," said France's representative, Olivier Guyonvarch, of the proposed mining code. Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, the representative for Brazil, said the draft needs more clarity about issues including liability and additional details about a proposed environmental compensation fund. The council is scheduled to debate the issue for two weeks and will then hold an assembly to elect a secretary general.

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SALT LAKE CITY — Three hikers died over the weekend in suspected heat-related cases at state and national parks in Utah, including a father and daughter who got lost on a strenuous hike in Canyonlands National Park in extreme temperatures.  The daughter, 23, and her father, 52, sent a 911 text alerting dispatchers that they were lost and had run out of water while hiking the 13-kilometer (8.1-mile) Syncline Loop, described by the National Park Service as the most challenging trail in the Island in the Sky district of the southeast Utah park. The pair set out Friday to navigate steep switchbacks and scramble through boulder fields with limited trail markers as the air temperature surpassed 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).  Park rangers and a helicopter crew with the Bureau of Land Management began their search for the lost hikers in the early evening Friday but found them already dead. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office identified them Monday as Albino Herrera Espinoza and his daughter, Beatriz Herrera, of Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Due to the jagged terrain, safety officials used a helicopter to airlift the bodies out of the park and to the state medical examiner Saturday morning, according to the sheriff's office. Their deaths are being investigated as heat-related by the local sheriff and the National Park Service.  Later Saturday, first responders in southwest Utah responded to a call about two hikers “suffering from a heat-related incident” at Snow Canyon State Park, which is known for its lava tubes, sand dunes and a canyon carved from red and white Navajo Sandstone.  A multi-agency search team found and treated two hikers who were suffering from heat exhaustion. While they were treating those individuals, a passing hiker informed them of an unconscious person nearby. First responders found the 30-year-old woman dead, public safety officials said.  Her death is being investigated by the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department. She has not been identified publicly.  Tourists continue to flock to parks in Utah and other southwestern states during the hottest months of the year, even as officials caution that hiking in extreme heat poses serious health risks. Earlier this month, a Texas man died while hiking at Grand Canyon National Park, where summer temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit). 

moscow — A court in Moscow ordered house arrest Monday for a general in custody on fraud charges, in a ruling that represents an about-face from just weeks ago, when the same court refused to release the general from jail. Major General Ivan Popov was ordered to be placed under house arrest until at least October 11 by the 235th Garrison Military Court. Popov, who had commanded the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army, was arrested in May along with several top military officials, including former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, a close associate of then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Some of these officials have been charged with bribery, while Popov has faced charges of fraud on an exceptionally large scale. President Vladimir Putin dismissed Shoigu as defense minister on May 12, appointing him the secretary of the national security council. Shoigu had been widely criticized for Russia's setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine and was accused of incompetence and corruption by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who launched a mutiny in June 2023 to demand the dismissal of Shoigu and military chief of staff General Valery Gerasimov. Less than a month after Prigozhin’s failed uprising, Popov was dismissed. He said he had complained about problems that his troops were facing in Ukraine to the Russian military command, and that his dismissal was a “treacherous” stab in the back to Russian forces in Ukraine. Popov’s forces were fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast of Ukraine, which is now partially occupied by Russian forces. His dismissal came one day after the 58th Army’s command post in the occupied city of Berdyansk was hit in a Ukrainian strike, killing a high-ranking general. Popov has been in detention since late May. His lawyers appealed the ruling to put him behind bars but lost. In a development that is relatively rare for the Russian justice system, authorities also filed a petition to release Popov under house arrest, but their request was initially turned down by the 235th Garrison Military Court. The investigators filed another request with the court, and it was approved Monday. It wasn't immediately clear what prompted the court to change its position on Popov's pretrial detention.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Two suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted ships in the Red Sea on Monday, as a new U.S. aircraft carrier approached the region to provide security for the key international trade route that has been under assault since the Israel-Hamas war erupted nine months ago. The captain of the first targeted ship reported being attacked by three small vessels off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said, adding that two of the vessels were crewed and another uncrewed. The “reported unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and the two manned small craft fired at the vessel," the UKMTO reported. “The vessel conducted self-protection measures, after 15 minutes the small craft aborted the attack." The captain later reported two separate waves of missile attacks, about 45 minutes apart, that exploded close to the vessel. Later Monday, in a separate incident also off the coast of Al Hudaydah, a vessel reported being attacked by a suspected uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicle, which “impacted on the port side causing some damage and light smoke,” the UKMTO reported. Both ships and all crew are reported safe, the UKMTO said in a warning to mariners. Names and flags of the ships were not immediately known. The Houthis did not immediately comment on either incident. However, it can take hours or even days before they acknowledge carrying out an attack. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is approaching the Middle East to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which spent months in the Red Sea to counter the Houthis. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday that its forces destroyed two uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicles and an uncrewed surface vessel in the Red Sea. The rebels have targeted more than 70 vessels by firing missiles and drones in their campaign, killing four sailors. They seized one vessel and sank two since November. In June, the number of Houthi attacks on merchant vessels increased to levels not seen since December, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), a coalition which is overseen by the U.S. Navy. U.S.-led airstrikes have targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say. The Houthis maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain, as part of the rebels’ support for the militant group Hamas in its war against Israel. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war — including some bound for Iran, which backs the Houthis. Last week, the Houthis said they launched missiles at a U.S.-flagged container ship in the Gulf of Aden, marking what authorities acknowledged as the rebels’ longest-range attack yet on a U.S.-flagged vessel near the Arabian Sea. The JMIC identified the ship as the Maersk Sentosa. Maersk, a Danish firm that is the world’s biggest shipping company, confirmed to The Associated Press that its vessel had been targeted.

Abuja — A U.S. advisory council on African diaspora engagement is in Nigeria on a mission to discuss diaspora-led investments across sectors including education, health, technology and the creative industries. Analysts weigh in on the purpose of the visit. Delegates to the 12-member President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement were in Nigeria's economic center, Lagos, Monday for talks with creative industry players. It was the council's first meeting in Africa and second overall. According to an official statement, meetings with government, civil society and private sector players in Nigeria are also scheduled to discuss investments in education, entrepreneurship, health and technology. Godbless Otubure, president of the nonprofit ReadytoLeadAfrica, said the visit is timely. "I think it's a strategic meeting; it is important especially at this time where we have a lot of challenges around the world, within the sub-region and specifically in Nigeria. They underscore the value that the United States places on its relations with not just Nigeria but the African diaspora community in the United States," said Otubure. The council was set up by the U.S. government last September to advise on ways to foster economic, cultural, social, and political relations among African communities and Africans in the diaspora. Authorities say the Nigeria visit underscores the council's effort to build partnerships and promote investments that can significantly benefit the African continent and its diaspora communities. According to a 2018-2022 American Community Survey, 45.3 million foreign nationals live in the United States, with an estimated 2.1 million coming from sub-Saharan Africa. Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and United States have the highest number of Nigerians living abroad. Last year, Nigeria accounted for $19.5 billion or about 35% of sub-Saharan Africa's total remittances, according to a World Bank report. Otubure said the council's visit will add a better structure for investments on the continent by Africans in the diaspora. "When you put a structure to the investment that diaspora community in the U.S. especially of African descent are making, then you create more ties," he said. "People are able to see that what they have in the U.S. is what they're also looking at creating back home and you export culture, education best practices. This meeting is very important because a lot of conversations around the African Continental Free Trade Agreement — what is the role of the African community in that? How do they bring that conversation to the U.S. market?” Rotimi Olawale, co-founder of the nonprofit Youth Hub Africa, also spoke about the council's visit. "The visit is a welcome development as you know the U.S. is looking for ways to maximize relationships with other countries by focusing on the diaspora. Nigeria is one of the most educated migrant groups in the U.S. and Nigeria is also leading in terms of the remittances on the African continent. There are quite a lot of benefits if we harness the professionalism, experience and technology know how — that the diaspora can contribute," said Olawale. The council will discuss youth and women empowerment, and the promotion of creative industries. The team will hold meetings in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday before departing.

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The deadly July 8 Russian missile attack that damaged Ukraine’s largest children hospital also destroyed its school for seriously ill patients trying to keep up with their studies. The School of Superheroes, launched at Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, is now offered at other children’s hospitals in Ukraine. Anna Kosstutschenko has more from Kyiv. (Camera and Produced by: Pavel Suhodolskiy)

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.

Ukrainians react to the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump. Days after NATO allies called Beijing a Ukraine war enabler, China and Russi begin joint naval drills. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he aimed to have all the elements of a peace plan ready in November so Kyiv could convene a follow-up international summit. Ukrainians are less eager to fight than they were early in the war against Russian forces.

Budapest, Hungary — Top officials of the European Union will boycott informal meetings hosted by Hungary while the country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, after Hungary's pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held a series of rogue meetings with foreign leaders about Ukraine that angered his European partners. The highly unusual decision to have the European Commission president and other top officials of the body boycott the meetings in Budapest was made “in light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian [EU] presidency," commission spokesperson Eric Mamer posted Monday on X. Hungary took over the six-month rotating role July 1, and since then Orban has visited Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, China and the United States on a world tour he’s touted as a “peace mission” aimed at brokering an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. That angered many leaders in the EU, who said they had not been informed in advance of Orban’s plans and rushed to emphasize that the nationalist leader was not acting on behalf of the bloc during his surprise meetings with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Hungary's European affairs minister, Janos Boka, lashed out at the commission's decision, writing on X on Monday that the body ‘’cannot cherry pick institutions and member states it wants to cooperate with." “Are all Commission decisions now based on political considerations?” Boka wrote. A Hungarian government spokesperson, Zoltan Kovacs, also suggested the decision was a product of political bias, writing on X: “Sacrificing the institutional setup for private political purposes and disregarding [the Commission's] role for ideological and political motives.” The decision by the European Commission applies to informal meetings hosted by Hungary and means senior civil servants will attend instead of top officials like the European Commission president, currently Ursula von der Leyen. Orban's government has gone against the European mainstream by refusing to supply Kyiv with weapons to deter Russia's invasion and by threatening to block financial assistance to the war-ravaged country. In an interview with Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet on Monday, Orban's political director said that following his trip to Moscow — the first such visit from an EU head of state or government in more than two years — the prime minister had briefed the leaders of other EU countries "in writing about the negotiations, the experiences of the first phase of the peace mission and the Hungarian proposals.” “If Europe wants peace and wants to have a decisive say in settling the war and ending the bloodshed, it must now work out and implement a change of direction,” said Balazs Orban, who is not related to the premier. But von der Leyen accused Orban of trying to mollify the Russian leader with the trip, writing on X: “Appeasement will not stop Putin. Only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” Hungary's government has long argued for an immediate cease-fire and peace negotiations in the conflict in Ukraine but has not outlined what such moves might mean for the country's territorial integrity and future security. It has exhibited an adversarial posture toward Ukraine while maintaining close ties to Moscow, even after its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Orban's critics have accused him of acting against the unity and interests of the EU and NATO, of which Hungary is a member, and of pursuing an appeasement strategy concerning Russia's aggression.

Washington — President Joe Biden has directed the U.S. Secret Service to protect independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Homeland Security secretary said Monday. Kennedy is a longshot to win Electoral College votes, much less the presidency. But his campaign events have drawn large crowds of supporters and people interested in his message. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Biden had directed the protection for Kennedy "both prior to and after the events of this past weekend." The Secret Service is legally required to protect major party presidential and vice-presidential candidates and their families 120 days out from a general election, but third-party candidates are on an as-needed basis. The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged in its 2024 budget overview that recent requests for candidate protection were coming in earlier than in the past. Threats to political candidates are common, but law enforcement officials have said that there has been an uptick in violent rhetoric since the weekend attack at the Trump rally. Mayorkas said both Biden and Trump are "constantly the subject of threats." "We are in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment," he said.  With a famous name and a loyal base, Kennedy has the potential to do better than any third-party presidential candidate since Ross Perot in the 1990s. But he didn't participate in the first presidential debate on June 27. Both the Biden and Trump campaigns, who fear he could be a spoiler, bypassed the nonpartisan debate commission and agreed to a schedule that essentially left out Kennedy. Kennedy, who last year challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination before launching an independent bid, has argued that his relatively strong showing in a few national polls gives his candidacy heft. Polls during the 2016 presidential campaign regularly put libertarian Gary Johnson's support in the high single or low double digits, but he ultimately received only about 3% of the vote nationwide. Trump became the official Republican presidential nominee Monday after receiving the votes of enough delegates at the Republican National Convention. He was not seriously injured in the shooting over the weekend in Pennsylvania. There is an independent review of the attack underway. Mayorkas said Trump's protection has been enhanced based on the "evolving nature of the threats to the former president" and his shift from presumptive nominee to nominee. 

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine needs 25 Patriot air defense systems to fully defend its airspace and protect the entire country from Russian missile attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, adding that he also wants Western partners to send more F-16 warplanes than those already pledged. In his first news conference since returning from a trip to the United States, Zelenskyy said he is ready to work with Donald Trump if he wins November’s election. “I am not afraid" of that prospect, Zelenskyy said, adding he is convinced that most Republicans support Ukraine in its war with Russia. Zelenskyy said on Sunday he was “appalled” by the attempt to assassinate Trump and wished him a speedy recovery. Western support is crucial for Ukraine as it tries to beat back Russia’s bigger and better-equipped invading army. Zelenskyy has proved talented at persuading friendly countries to provide ever more support, even if he doesn’t always get what he wants immediately. A six-month delay in military assistance from the U.S., the biggest single contributor to Ukraine, meant that Kyiv’s forces “lost the initiative” on the front line, Zelenskyy said. Since the U.S. aid resumed in April, Ukraine has been scrambling to block a Russian offensive in eastern areas. Zelenskyy didn’t say how many Patriot systems Ukraine currently possesses, though it is far fewer than the 25 he says his country needs as Russia has battered the national power grid. The U.S. and other NATO allies promised last week to provide Ukraine with dozens of air defense systems in the coming months, including at least four of the sophisticated and expensive Patriot systems. F-16 warplanes pledged by Western countries are due to arrive in Ukraine in two waves: the first batch this summer, and the second by the end of the year, Zelenskyy said. He acknowledged the deliveries won’t, on their own, be a game-changer in the war, given that the Russian air force is far larger. Ukraine will need more warplanes, he said. Commenting on other issues, Zelenskyy said: Russia should be present at a second international gathering to discuss peace. Russia was absent from the first meeting. There is no date for a second gathering. A Ukrainian government reshuffle is in the cards. “We are discussing various changes with some ministers,” Zelenskyy said. Efforts to mobilize more troops are going according to plan, though Ukraine doesn’t have enough training grounds and 14 brigades haven’t yet received promised Western weapons.

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