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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.

ROME — The total global volume of fish, shrimp, clams and other aquatic animals that are harvested by farming has topped the amount fished in the wild from the world's waters for the first time ever, the United Nations reported Friday. The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, in its latest report on fisheries and aquaculture — or farming in water — says the global catch and harvest brought in more than 185 million tons of aquatic animals in 2022, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Experts say the milestone in human history had been expected, as the hauls from fisheries have largely stagnated over the last three decades — largely because of limits in nature. Manuel Barange, who heads FAO's fisheries and aquaculture division, said aquaculture has benefited from a growing recognition of the nutritional benefits — like omega-3 and other micronutrients found in food from aquatic animals — and lesser environmental impact than food derived from land animals. The total amount of aquatic animals captured in the wild fell from 91.6 million tons in 2021 to 91 million tons the following year, FAO said in its latest State of the World's Fisheries and Aquaculture report. Global production rose to 94.4 million in 2022, up from 91.1 million a year earlier, it said. Asia was the source of more than 90% of all aquaculture production of aquatic animals, the FAO added. Some 90% of aquatic animals that are farmed or fished go to human consumption, with the remainder going to other uses like feed for other animals or fish oils. The most common fish that are captured in the world's oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and ponds include Peruvian anchovies, skipjack tuna and Alaskan pollock, while freshwater carp, oysters, clams, shrimp, tilapia and prawns are among the most harvested animal life.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York — When Luis Saez first rode Dornoch at Saratoga Race Course last summer, he told trainer Danny Gargan, "You have the Derby winner." While that did not come true, Dornoch made good on that optimism Saturday by winning the first Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, hugging the rail and holding off Mindframe to spring a major upset in the Triple Crown finale at odds of 17-1. The horse co-owned by World Series champion Jayson Werth won the Belmont five weeks after a troubled trip led to a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. This time, Dornoch sat off leader Seize the Grey, passed the Preakness winner down the stretch and held on for a 1 1/2-length victory. "I would put it right up there with winning on the biggest stage. Horse racing is the most underrated sport in the world, bar none," said Werth, who won Major League Baseball's championship with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. "It's the biggest game: You get the Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont. We just won the Belmont. This is as good as it gets in horse racing. It's as good as it gets in sports." It's the first win in any Triple Crown race for Gargan and the second in the Belmont for Saez, who said he never lost faith in Dornoch. "He's one of the top 3-year-olds in the country, and we've always thought it," Gargan said. "We let him run his race, and he won. If he gets to run, he's always going to be tough to beat." It's the sixth consecutive year a different horse won each of the three Triple Crown races. Sierra Leone, the Derby runner-up who went off as the favorite, was third and Honor Marie fourth. Dornoch paid $37.40 to win, $17.60 to place and $8.10 to show. Todd Pletcher-trained Mindframe paid $6.80 to place and $4.20 to show and Sierra Leone paid $2.60 to show after a jumbled start and more directional problems. There were no such issues for Dornoch, who triumphed at the track known as the graveyard of favorites for its penchant for upsets. "No one believed in this horse," Gargan said. "It's speechless. He's such a talented horse." Despite there not being a Triple Crown on the line, it's a historic Belmont because the race was run at Saratoga for the first time in the venue's 161-year history. It returns next year while Belmont Park undergoes a massive, $455 million reconstruction with the plan for the Triple Crown race to go back to the New York track in 2026. Having it at Saratoga necessitated shortening the race to 1 1/4 miles from the usual "test of the champion" 1 1/2-mile distance that has been a hallmark of the Belmont for nearly a century. The temporary change contributed to getting more quality horses into the field who previously ran in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness or both. At 1 1/4-mile distance, Dornoch crossed the wire in a time of 2:01.64. 

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CAIRO — British security firm Ambrey said Sunday an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged general cargo ship was struck by a missile 83 nautical miles southeast of Yemen's Aden and caught fire, which was later contained. Earlier, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a report from a captain of a vessel regarding an incident 80 nautical miles southeast of Yemen's Aden. UKMTO said it also received a report from a master of a vessel about another incident 70 nautical miles southwest of Aden. The Houthi militia, which controls the most populous parts of Yemen and is aligned with Iran, has attacked ships off its coast for months, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza. "The ship was heading southwest along the Gulf of Aden at speed 8.2kts when the forward station was struck by a missile. A fire started but was neutralized," Ambrey said in an advisory note. "A second missile was sighted but did not hit the ship. Persons on board small boats in the vicinity opened fire on the ship during the incident." Ambrey said the ship changed its course to port with increased speed, adding that "no injuries were reported."  The Houthi fighters have aimed drone and missile strikes at the Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden, forcing shippers since November to take longer and more costly journeys around southern Africa. 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti's newly selected prime minister, Garry Conille, was hospitalized late Saturday in the capital of Port-au-Prince, an official told The Associated Press.  It wasn't immediately known why Conille was hospitalized.  Louis Gerald Gilles, a member of the transitional presidential council that recently chose Conille as leader of the troubled Caribbean country, said he was en route to the hospital and did not have further information.  A spokesman for Conille did not immediately return a message for comment.  Conille was chosen as prime minister on May 28 after a convoluted selection process. He arrived in Haiti on June 1, having worked outside the country until recently as UNICEF's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a post he assumed in January 2023. He previously served as Haiti's prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012 under then President Michel Martelly.  Conille has been meeting with multiple officials and visiting various parts of Port-au-Prince since arriving, including climbing into an armored vehicle to go along on a patrol with officers from Haiti's National Police.  Earlier Saturday, Conille toured Haiti's main international airport, which recently reopened after gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months. 

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea resumed flying balloons on Saturday in a likely attempt to drop trash on South Korea again, South Korea's military said, two days after Seoul activists floated their own balloons to scatter propaganda leaflets in the North. Animosities between the two Koreas have risen recently because North Korea launched hundreds of balloons carrying manure and trash toward South Korea in protest of previous South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns. In response, South Korea suspended a tension-easing agreement with North Korea to restore front-line military activities. Saturday's balloon launches by North Korea were the third of their kind since May 28. It wasn't immediately known if any of the North Korean balloons had landed on South Korean territory across the rivals' tense border. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korean balloons likely carrying trash were moving in an eastward direction, but they could eventually fly toward the south because the wind direction was forecast to change later. The Joint Chiefs of Staff advised the public to beware of falling objects and not to touch balloons found on the ground but report them to police or military authorities. After the North's two rounds of balloon activities, South Korean authorities discovered about 1,000 balloons which were tied to vinyl bags containing manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste batteries and waste papers. Some had popped and scattered on roads, residential areas and schools. No highly dangerous materials were found, and no major damage has been reported.\ The North's vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, later said his country would stop the balloon campaign but threatened to resume it if South Korean activists sent leaflets again. In defiance of the warning, a South Korean civilian group led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it launched 10 balloons from a border town on Thursday carrying 200,000 anti-North Korean leaflets, USB sticks with K-pop songs and South Korean dramas, and U.S. $1 bills. South Korean media reported another activist group also flew balloons with 200,000 propaganda leaflets toward North Korea on Friday. South Korean officials called the North Korean trash balloon launches and other recent provocations "absurd, irrational" and vowed strong retaliation. South Korea's suspension of the 2018 military agreement with North Korea would allow it to restart live-fire military drills and anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts at border areas, actions that are certain to anger North Korea and prompt it to take its own retaliatory military steps. North Korea is extremely sensitive to South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns and front-line propaganda broadcasts as it forbids access to foreign news for most of its 26 million people. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a third generation of his family to rule North Korea with an iron fist since 1948. Experts say North Korea's balloon campaign is also meant to cause a divide in South Korea over its conservative government's tough approach on North Korea. Liberal lawmakers, some civic groups and front-line residents in South Korea have called on the government to urge leafleting activists to stop flying balloons to avoid unnecessary clashes with North Korea. But government officials haven't made such an appeal in line with last year's constitutional court ruling that struck down a law criminalizing an anti-North Korea leafletting as a violation of free speech.

WASHINGTON — Badly needed aid has been delivered into Gaza from a newly repaired American-built pier, a U.S. official said Saturday, following problems that had plagued the effort to bring supplies to Palestinians by sea. The pier constructed by the American military was only operational for about a week before it was blown apart in high winds and heavy seas on May 25. The damaged section was reconnected to the beach in Gaza on Friday after undergoing repairs at an Israeli port. Crews delivered about 492 metric tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza via the pier Saturday, the U.S. official said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement of the delivery. It came the same day that Israel mounted a heavy air and ground assault that rescued four hostages, who had been taken by Hamas during the October 7 assault that launched the war in Gaza. At least 210 Palestinians, including children, were killed, a Gaza health official said. It brings back online one way to get desperately needed food and other emergency supplies to Palestinians trapped by the eight-month-old Israel-Hamas war. Israeli restrictions on land crossings, and fighting, have greatly limited the flow of food and other vital supplies into the territory. The damage to the pier was the latest stumbling block for the project and the persistent struggle to get food to starving Palestinians. Three U.S. service members were injured, one critically, and four vessels were beached due to heavy seas. Early efforts to get aid from the pier into the Gaza Strip were disrupted as crowds overran a convoy of trucks that aid agencies were using to transport the food, stripping the cargo from many of them before they could reach a U.N. warehouse. Officials responded by altering the travel routes, and aid began reaching those in need. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters Friday that the lessons learned from that initial week of operations made him confident greater amounts of aid could be delivered now. He said the goal was to get 450 metric tons of food and other supplies moving through the pier into Gaza every two days. Before the causeway broke apart in the storm, more than 1,000 metric tons of aid were delivered, Pentagon officials said. The U.S. Agency for International Development is working with the U.N. World Food Program and their humanitarian partners working in Gaza to distribute food, high-nutrition emergency treatment for starving children, and other aid via the sea route. Relief agencies have pressed Israel to reopen land routes that could bring in all the needed aid. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks to enter through a southern checkpoint and pointed the finger at the U.N. for not distributing the aid. The U.N. says it is often unable to retrieve the aid because of the security situation. U.N. agencies have warned that over 1 million Palestinians in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by the middle of next month if hostilities continue. President Joe Biden's administration has said from the start that the pier wasn't meant to be a total solution and that any amount of aid helps. Biden, a Democrat, announced his plan for the U.S. military to build a pier during his State of the Union address in early March, and the military said it would take about 60 days to get it installed and operational. It took a bit longer than planned, with the first trucks carrying aid for the Gaza Strip rolling down the pier on May 17. The initial cost was estimated at $320 million, but the Pentagon said this past week that the price had dropped to $230 million, due to contributions from Britain and because the cost of contracting trucks and other equipment was less than expected. 

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.

white house — Protesters formed a symbolic red line around the White House on Saturday, calling for an end to the eight-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and urging American leaders to press Israel not to invade Rafah, where airstrikes were reported Saturday.  As the conflict enters its ninth month, the demonstrators chanted "From D.C. to Palestine, we are the red line" while holding a long banner listing the names of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.  President Joe Biden has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch a major military operation, calling it a red line, but Israel Defense Forces have been carrying out military operations in and near Rafah since early May.  In late May, an Israeli airstrike on a camp in southern Gaza killed at least 45 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. When asked if this breached the president's red line, John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser, said the administration does not believe Israel's actions in Rafah constitute a "major ground operation."   That view was rejected by the protesters in Washington on Saturday.  "I no longer believe any of the words that Joe Biden says," said 25-year-old protester Zaid Mahdawi from Virginia, whose parents are Palestinian.   "This 'red line' in his rhetoric is rubbish... it shows his hypocrisy and his cowardice," Mahdawi told Agence France-Presse.  The protest was organized by several groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CODEPINK, and others.   CODEPINK, a left-wing anti-war organization, is supported by many at the protest for its stance on Palestinian statehood but criticized by others for opposing U.S. support for Ukraine during Russia's invasion. Some protesters said they were not affiliated with any movement.   Organized buses brought people to the capital from at least 13 states. There was no official count of protesters, but the crowd formed a symbolic red line around the White House. Biden was not at the White House to see the protest, as he is in France until Sunday.   The White House is waiting for Hamas' official response to the latest hostage deal and cease-fire proposal. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed Gaza in their bilateral meeting Saturday.  VOA asked the White House for a reaction to the protest and the protesters' demands and received the U.S. Secret Service's statement: "In preparation for the events this weekend in Washington, D.C., which have the potential to attract large crowds, additional public safety measures have been put in place near the White House complex."   A LGBTQ+ pride parade was among the events in the U.S. capital Saturday.   Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse. 

CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France — Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But World War II veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. Their respective ages — he's 100, she's 96 — made their nuptials an almost double-century celebration. Terens called it "the best day of my life." On her way into the nuptials, the bubbly bride-to-be said: "It's not just for young people, love, you know? We get butterflies. And we get a little action, also." The location was the elegant stone-worked town hall of Carentan, a key initial D-Day objective that saw ferocious fighting after the June 6, 1944, Allied landings that helped rid Europe of Adolf Hitler's tyranny. Like other towns and villages across the Normandy coast where nearly 160,000 Allied troops came ashore under fire on five code-named beaches, it's an effervescent hub of remembrance and celebration on the 80th anniversary of the deeds and sacrifices of young men and women that day, festooned with flags and bunting and with veterans feted like rockstars. As the swing of Glenn Miller and other period tunes rang out on the streets, well-wishers — some in WWII-period clothes — were already lined up a good hour before the wedding behind barriers outside the town hall, with a rousing pipe and drum band also on hand to serenade the happy couple. After both declaring "oui" to vows read by Carentan's mayor in English, the couple exchanged rings. "With this ring, I thee wed," Terens said. She giggled and gasped, "Really?" With Champagne flutes in hand, they waved through an open window to the adoring crowds outside. "To everybody's good health. And to peace in the world and the preservation of democracy all over the world and the end of the war in Ukraine and Gaza," Terens said as he and his bride then clinked glasses and drank. The crowd yelled "la mariée!" — the bride! — to Swerlin, who wore a long flowing dress of vibrant pink. Terens looked dapper in a light blue suit and matching pink kerchief in his breast pocket. And they enjoyed a very special wedding-night party: They were invited to the state dinner at the Elysee Palace on Saturday night with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden. "Congratulations to the newlyweds," Macron said, prompting cheers and a standing ovation from other guests during the toast praising French-American friendship. "(The town of) Carentan was happy to host your wedding, and us, your wedding dinner," he told the couple. The wedding was symbolic, not binding in law. Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonneur's office said he wasn't empowered to wed foreigners who aren't residents of Carentan, and that the couple, who are both American, hadn't requested legally binding vows. However, they could always complete those formalities back in Florida if they wished. Lhonneur likes to say that Normandy is practically the 51st state of the U.S., given its reverence and gratitude for Allied soldiers and the sacrifices of tens of thousands who never made it home from the Battle of Normandy. "Love is eternal, yes, maybe," the mayor said, referring to the newlyweds, although his comments also fittingly describe the feelings of many Normans for veterans. "I hope for them the best happiness together." Dressed in a 1940s dress that belonged to her mother, Louise, and a red beret, 73-year-old Jane Ollier was among the spectators who waited for a glimpse of the lovebirds. The couple, both widowed, grew up in New York City: she in Brooklyn, he in the Bronx. "It's so touching to get married at that age," Ollier said. "If it can bring them happiness in the last years of their lives, that's fantastic." The WWII veteran first visited France as a 20-year-old U.S. Army Air Forces corporal shortly after D-Day. Terens enlisted in 1942 and, after shipping to Britain, was attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter unit as their radio repair technician. On D-Day, Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle. He said half his company's pilots died that day. Terens himself went to France 12 days later, helping transport freshly captured Germans and just-freed American POWs to England. Following the Nazi surrender in May 1945, Terens again helped transport freed Allied prisoners to England before he shipped back to the U.S. a month later. Swerlin made it abundantly clear that her new centenarian husband doesn't lack for rizz. "He's the greatest kisser ever, you know?" she proudly declared before they embraced enthusiastically for the TV cameras. "All right! That's it for now!" Terens said as he came up for air. To which she quickly quipped: "You mean there's more later?"

ISLAMABAD — Police in central Pakistan said Saturday that unknown assailants had separately shot and killed two members of the minority Ahmadi community. Both shootings took place in the Mandi Bahauddin district in Punjab, the country's most populous province. Police and community leaders stated that the victims were 62 and 30 years old. Punjab has seen the bulk of recent violence against what critics describe as Pakistan's long-persecuted minority community. The district police chief told local media they had opened an investigation into Saturday’s killings, and one of the suspected assailants had been apprehended. No group immediately took responsibility for the shootings. Ahmadi community representatives blame Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, or TLP, a far-right religious political party, for inciting followers to attack their members and places of worship. TLP leaders routinely use offensive anti-Ahmadi language in rallies and gatherings and call for the killing of blasphemers. Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim, but the Pakistani parliament declared them to be non-Muslim in 1974 and further amended its laws in 1984 to prohibit community members from "indirectly or directly posing as Muslims." The minority sect is also barred from declaring or propagating its faith publicly and building places of worship in Pakistan. The South Asian nation is often criticized for not doing enough to prevent crimes against members of its religious minorities, including Christians. Last month, a mob of hundreds of people gathered in a Christian settlement in Sargodha, another Punjab district, and violently attacked a Christian man, identified as Nazir Masih, who was in his yearly 70s, after he was accused of desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Quran. The violence resulted in severe injuries, including multiple fractures to Masih’s skull, and he died in a hospital a few days later. His relatives rejected blasphemy charges against him as baseless. The Sargodha incident revived memories of one of the worst attacks on Christians in August 2023, in Jaranwala city in Punjab. It involved thousands of Muslim protesters attacking a Christian settlement and burning 21 churches, as well as damaging more than 90 properties over allegations two Christian brothers had desecrated the Quran. Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, and mere allegations have led to mobs lynching dozens of suspects — even some in police custody. Insulting the Quran or Islamic beliefs is punishable by death under the country's blasphemy laws, though no one has ever been executed. 

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.

paris — Christophe Deloire, who negotiated to free imprisoned journalists around the world and offered refuge to reporters under threat as the head of the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, died Saturday. He was 53.  Deloire had been battling sudden and aggressive cancer and died in Paris surrounded by loved ones, according to board members of Reporters Without Borders, also known by its French acronym RSF.  Deloire was "a tireless defender, on every continent, of the freedom, independence and pluralism of journalism, in a context of information chaos," RSF said in a statement. "Journalism was his life's struggle, which he fought with unshakeable conviction."  With boundless energy and a ready smile even when dishing out trenchant criticism, Deloire traveled constantly, to Ukraine, Turkey, Africa and beyond to lobby governments and defend journalists behind bars or under threat. Press freedom activists from many countries shared tributes to his work and mourned his passing.  Deloire helped Russian broadcast journalist Marina Ovsiannikova flee Russia in a secret operation in 2022 after she came under fire for denouncing the war in Ukraine on live television. RSF also launched a program to provide protective equipment and training to Ukrainian journalists after Russia's invasion.  Publicly and behind the scenes, Deloire worked for the release of journalist Olivier Dubois, held by Islamic extremists in Mali for two years and freed in 2023, and for other jailed reporters.  In his 12 years at the helm of RSF, he expanded the group's reach and activism and raised its profile with governments. Under Deloire's watch, RSF launched the Journalism Trust Initiative, a program to certify media organizations to restore public trust in the news, and a program called Forum for Democracy aimed at heading off threats to democratic thought and freedoms.  Born May 22, 1971, in Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, Deloire worked as an investigative reporter and led a prominent French journalism school, CFJ, before becoming director of RSF.  He is survived by his wife Perrine and their son Nathan. 

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.

Beirut, Lebanon — Israeli strikes on Saturday killed two people and sparked wildfires in southern Lebanon, state media said. The Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah announced the death of one fighter.  Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces in the eight months since the Gaza war began, triggered by the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack.  The deadly clashes have intensified in recent weeks, causing multiple brush fires on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border.  Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said on Saturday that "an Israeli drone carried out an air attack with two guided missiles, targeting a cafe in Aitarun and killing the cafe's owner, Ali Khalil Hamad, 37, and a young man named Mustafa A. Issa."  The agency also reported a "violent airstrike" on the border village of Khiam.   Shortly after, Hezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets on a town across the border "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks against southern villages and safe houses, and the targeting of civilians, notably in Aitarun where two people were killed."  The Shiite Muslim movement later announced that one of its fighters was killed by Israeli fire. It identified him as Radwan A. Issa, without providing further details.  The Israeli army said in a statement that "one of its planes struck a Hezbollah terrorist in the Aitarun region," adding that they also struck targets in the area of Khiam.  More than eight months of border violence, which began on October 8, has killed 458 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including about 90 civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse  tally.  On the Israeli side of the border, at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to the army.  "Israeli artillery bombarded today the outskirts of the town of Alma al-Shaab with incendiary phosphorus shells, causing fires in the forests that spread to the vicinity of some homes," NNA reported earlier on Saturday.  Lebanese authorities and several international rights groups have accused Israel of using white phosphorus rounds in its strikes on its northern neighbor.  White phosphorus, a substance that ignites on contact with oxygen, can be used as an incendiary weapon.  Its use as a chemical weapon is prohibited under international law, but it is allowed for illuminating battlefields and can be used as a smokescreen.  Further east, the NNA reported that "a large fire broke out at positions belonging to the Lebanese army and UNIFIL," the United Nations peacekeeping mission, near the border village of Mais al-Jabal and near the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel.  In a statement, the U.N. peacekeepers reported a "bushfire near one of their positions in Hula," which was put out with help from Lebanese troops and civil defense forces.  "The fire didn't cause any damage to UNIFIL assets or personnel," it said.  The NNA said "several landmines exploded, and firefighting operations are still continuing" in the area. 

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.