Feed aggregator

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — U.S.-sanctioned former Revolutionary Guards commander Vahid Haghanian is among the candidates who registered Saturday to become Iran's next president following the death in a helicopter crash of Ebrahim Raisi, state media reported. Haghanian, a close aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters after registering that his qualifications were based on "experience from serving 45 years in the presidency and the leader's office." The U.S. Treasury designated Haghanian in 2019 among nine individuals in Khamenei's "inner circle responsible for advancing ... domestic and foreign oppression." Iran says most U.S. sanctions are prompted by baseless accusations. Former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, a prominent conservative, was among candidates registering Friday, as was Abdolnasser Hemmati, a former central bank governor. An election official told reporters Saturday that 12 hopefuls had registered since the process opened on Thursday for the June 28 election. The Guardian Council will publish the list of qualified candidates on June 11. The death of Raisi — who was once seen as a possible successor to Khamenei, Iran's ultimate decision-maker — has triggered a race among hardliners to influence the selection of the country's next leader. After a five-day registration period, the clerical-led Guardian Council will vet candidates running for the presidency. Moderate politicians have accused the 12-member body of disqualifying rivals to hardline candidates, who are expected to dominate the race. Turnout might take a hit because of restricted choice on the ballot and rising discontent over an array of political, social and economic crises. Within Iran's complex mix of clerical rulers and elected officials, Khamenei has the final say on all state matters such as nuclear and foreign policies. But the elected president will oversee tackling the country’s worsening economic hardship. Saeed Jalili, a former chief nuclear negotiator who two decades ago ran Khamenei's office for four years, was the first heavyweight hardliner to register for the election on Thursday. Interim President Mohammad Mokhber has also been mentioned in Iranian media as a possible candidate. Several more low-key moderate politicians are also likely to enter the race. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, another former Revolutionary Guards commander, who had been touted as a potential candidate, was reelected Tuesday as the speaker of parliament, making it less likely that he might run for the presidency.

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.

BANGKOK — Tin Oo, one of the closest associates of Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as a co-founder of her National League for Democracy party, died Saturday. He was 97. Tin Oo died at Yangon General Hospital, said Moh Khan, a charity worker, citing a member of his family. Charity workers in Myanmar handle funeral arrangements. Moh Khan said Tin Oo had been hospitalized at Yangon General Hospital on Wednesday due to difficulty urinating and other health problems, including weakness. His cause of death was not immediately announced. Tin Oo was respected by many of his party's members for his outspokenness and courage as he shared many of Suu Kyi’s travails. In 1988, Tin Oo helped found the National League for Democracy with Suu Kyi after a failed revolt against military rule. He became vice chairman, then chairman of the new party. But when the military cracked down the following year, he was put under house arrest, as was Suu Kyi. Like her, he spent 14 of the next 21 years under house arrest or in prison before he was released ahead of the 2010 general election. The party had won a 1990 election, but the results were annulled by the ruling military, which launched a crackdown on its opponents. In 2003, in one of the intermittent periods when he and Suu Kyi were at liberty before their 2010 release, they had the harrowing experience of being ambushed on a country road in upper Myanmar by a mob widely believed to have been assembled by an element of the military. The incident occurred as the party leaders were making a political tour and attracting large crowds of supporters. The two leaders managed an escape, although dozens in their entourage were apparently killed in the attack, details of which remain murky. Despite being the targets, Suu Kyi and Tin Oo were detained in prison and then house arrest again after the incident. When the party was allowed to fully resume political activities, Tin Oo served as its senior leader and patron. He was often seen in public rallies, and he helped campaign with Suu Kyi for the 2015 election, which the party won by a landslide. “He endured with dignity the various house arrest and prison terms and detentions imposed on him,” Moe Thuzar, senior fellow and coordinator of the Myanmar Studies Program at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said in an email interview. “His sense of loyalty — to principles, to persons who he believed could uphold and continue the pursuit of this principles — was also evident in his unswerving support for the party he co-founded.” Because the constitution enacted under military rule contained a clause effectively barring Suu Kyi from becoming president on the grounds that she was married to a foreigner — British academic Michael Aris — there had been speculation that Tin Oo might take the position. He declared he wasn't interested, saying Suu Kyi should have the job. “I never want to be president. I want to help her as much as I can,” he told journalists. Htin Kyaw, a politician and scholar, ended up as president, while Suu Kyi took the newly created post of state counselor, the equivalent of prime minister with overall authority over government. Suu Kyi’s government was ousted by the army in 2021 after winning a second term in the 2020 election. Suu Kyi was arrested and tried on a series of charges that were widely seen as trumped up for political reasons to keep her locked up. Tin Oo was not arrested and was allowed instead to stay quietly at his Yangon home. Tin Oo’s background was unusual for a senior politician opposed to army rule, as he joined the National League for Democracy after a high-profile military career. He had been Myanmar's fourth commander-in-chief of the armed forces between 1974 and 1976 under the government of the late dictator General Ne Win. A year after his retirement, he was imprisoned for allegedly withholding information about a failed coup against Ne Win but was released in 1980 under an amnesty. Some scholars believe he was purged because his popularity threatened Ne Win's grip on power. Tin Oo displayed no inclination to reconcile with the military in which he once served, although it made several overtures. Nearly a year after the 2021 army takeover, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, paid a visit to Tin Oo at his home in Yangon and inquired about his health. In June last year, a Buddhist monk with close links to the army visited and suggested to him that Suu Kyi should retire from politics and get involved in working for peace. The army's seizure of power spurred widespread armed resistance, which has since reached the intensity of a civil war. A week after the monk's visit, Tin Oo's family hung a sign on their property's front fence declaring “No Visitors Allowed."

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.

JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result Saturday that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday's election, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent electoral commission that ran the election, but the ANC cannot pass 50%. At the start of the election, the commission said it would formally declare the results by Sunday, but that could come earlier. While opposition parties have hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained the biggest party by some way. However, it will now likely need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament elects the South African president after national elections. “The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority, and we have done that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen. The way forward promises to be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet. Steenhuisen's Democratic Alliance party was at around 21% of the vote. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, was third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters was in fourth with just over 9%. More than 50 parties contested the election, many of them with tiny shares of the vote, but the DA and MK appear to be the most obvious for the ANC to approach, given how far it is from a majority. Which coalition the ANC pursues is the urgent focus now, given Parliament needs to sit and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. Negotiations are set to take place, and they will likely be complicated. Steenhuisen has said his centrist party is open to discussions. The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement was that Ramaphosa is removed as ANC leader and president. That underlined the fierce political battle between Zuma, who resigned as South African president under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2018, and Ramaphosa, who replaced him. “We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa," MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said. MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for parts of the economy to be nationalized. The Democratic Alliance is viewed as a business-friendly party, and analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors, although there are questions over whether it is politically viable considering the DA has been the most critical opposition party for years. An ANC-DA coalition "would be a marriage of two drunk people in Las Vegas. It will never work,” Gayton McKenzie, the leader of the smaller Patriotic Alliance party, told South African media. Despite the uncertainty, South African opposition parties were hailing the new political picture as a much-needed change for the country of 62 million, which is Africa's most developed but also one of the most unequal in the world. South Africa has widespread poverty and extremely high levels of unemployment, and the ANC has struggled to raise the standard of living for millions. The official unemployment rate is 32%, one of the highest in the world, and the poverty disproportionately affects Black people, who make up 80% of the population and have been the core of the ANC's support for years. The ANC has also been blamed — and now punished by voters — for a failure in basic government services that affects millions and leaves many without water, electricity or proper housing. Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote, and turnout is expected to be about 60%, according to figures from the independent electoral commission.

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.

SINGAPORE — Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy arrived in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue conference on Saturday, where he planned to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and discuss support for his embattled country in an address to delegates.  After arriving at the conference venue in a motorcade amid heavy security, Zelenskyy said in a statement on the social media platform X that he had come to gather support from the Asia-Pacific region for a peace summit planned for June 15-16 in Switzerland.  "Global security is impossible when the world's largest country disregards recognized borders, international law, and the U.N. Charter, resorts to hunger, darkness, and nuclear blackmail," the statement said, referring to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.  The statement said Zelenskyy planned to hold several meetings, including with Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta, Austin, and Singaporean investors.  A U.S. official said Zelenskiy and Ukrainian Defense Minster Rustem Umerov would meet Austin "to discuss the current battlefield situation in Ukraine and to underscore the U.S. commitment to ensuring Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression."  The International Institute of Strategic Studies, which organized the security conference, said Zelenskyy would participate in a discussion session on Sunday entitled "Re-Imagining Solutions for Global Peace and Regional Stability."  Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Russia is trying to disrupt the Switzerland peace summit, which he hopes will generate support for the withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine's 1991 borders.  It is Zelenskiy's second trip to Asia since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In May 2023, he attended the G7 meetings in Japan.  Russia has begun renewed assaults against Ukrainian lines and has stepped up missile attacks in recent months. Russian troops have made small gains in Ukraine's east and south, even as Kyiv's allies accelerate shipments of ammunition and other arms.  Russia has not attended the Shangri-La Dialogue since the invasion.  The United States this year approved $61 billion for weapons for Ukraine, some of which — such as Patriot missiles and ATACMS precision ballistic missiles — have already arrived there.   On Thursday, U.S. officials said U.S. President Joe Biden had assured Ukraine it could use U.S. weapons to strike targets across the border in Russia that were being used to attack areas around Kharkiv, a city in Ukraine's northeast.  Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned NATO members against allowing Ukraine to fire their weapons into Russia and on Tuesday again raised the risk of nuclear war.  Sweden also approved a new security package this week worth about $1 billion, which included armored vehicles, and for the first time, airborne warning and control aircraft that can spot targets in the air at extreme distances.  Austin, who spoke earlier on Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, noted in his remarks that the support for Ukrainian forces pushing back against Russia's invasion for more than two years showed that countries around the world could rally in the face of aggression.  The Shangri-La conference, held annually in Singapore by the International Institute of Strategic Studies for the last 21 years, ends on June 2. 

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.

SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tried to refocus attention on China's threat in the Asia-Pacific region on Saturday, seeking to alleviate concerns that conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have distracted from America's security commitments in the region. Austin, who was speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, met his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, on Friday in a bid to cool friction over issues such as Taiwan and China's military activity in the South China Sea. There has been increasing concern that Washington's focus on helping Ukraine counter Russia's invasion and support for Israel's war in Gaza, while trying to ensure that the conflict does not spread, has taken away attention from the Indo-Pacific. "Despite these historic clashes in Europe and the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific has remained our priority theater of operations," Austin said in his speech, which appeared aimed at underlining the administration's legacy in the region as President Joe Biden's first term in office nears its end. Biden is running for reelection in November against former President Donald Trump. "Let me be clear: The United States can be secure only if Asia is secure," Austin said. "That’s why the United States has long maintained our presence in this region." Austin underscored the importance of alliances in the region. "And ... peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue and not coercion or conflict. And certainly not through so-called punishment," Austin said, taking a shot at China. The speech took aim at Beijing's actions in the region, including the South China Sea, without naming China for the most part. In response, Chinese Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng said the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy was intended "to create division, provoke confrontation and undermine stability." "It only serves the selfish geopolitical interests of the U.S. and runs counter to the trend of history and the shared aspirations of regional countries for peace, development and win-win cooperation," said Jing, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission. Some U.S. officials say Beijing has become more emboldened in recent years, recently launching what it described as "punishment" drills around Taiwan, sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks after Lai Ching-te was inaugurated as Taiwan's president. About $8 billion in U.S. funding is set aside for countering China in the Indo-Pacific as part of a supplemental funding bill passed by lawmakers. Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday denounced illegal, coercive and aggressive actions in the South China Sea, a disputed ocean territory that China has been flooding with coast guard ships in recent months. The Philippines, a sprawling archipelago with strong historical ties to the United States and close geographical proximity to China, is at the center of an intensifying power struggle between Washington and Beijing. Austin said the harassment faced by the Philippines was dangerous and reiterated that the United States' mutual defense treaty with Manila was iron clad. He said the aim was for tensions between Beijing and Manila not to spiral out of control. "America will continue to play a vital role in the Indo-Pacific, together with our friends across the region that we share and care so much about," Austin said. Jing, the Chinese general, said these alliances contribute to instability in the region. "It is natural for neighbors to bicker sometimes, but we need to resolve disagreements through dialogue and consultation rather than inviting wolves into our house and playing with fire," he 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.

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.

NEW DELHI — Millions of Indians voted Saturday in the last phase of India’s mammoth election that will decide whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi secures a third consecutive term in office. Voters were casting ballots for 57 parliamentary constituencies in the seventh phase of the polls that stretched over six weeks in the searing summer heat. Among the seats for which votes were cast on Saturday was Modi's constituency, Varanasi, a holy Hindu city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The Hindu nationalist leader has won the seat in the last two elections with huge margins. All eyes are now on Tuesday, when votes will be counted for all 543 elected seats in the lower house of Parliament. As India uses electronic voting machines, results are expected the same day. The elections will test the popularity of 73-year-old Modi, whose image as a strong leader and champion of Hindu nationalism has been boosted by a host of welfare measures for tens of millions of poor people during his decade in power. The Bharatiya Janata Party campaign was dominated by the Indian leader, who crisscrossed the country to hold over 200 rallies. Before elections got underway, the BJP was expected to cruise to an easy victory. The party had set a target of winning a supermajority by winning 400 seats. Most observers say it could fall short of that ambitious goal even though it is expected to win a majority. "It’s a litmus test for Mr. Modi. When elections started it appeared to be a one-horse race. He appeared very invincible, very formidable and raised the bar very high," political analyst Rasheed Kidwai told VOA. But he said an opposition alliance of more than two dozen parties that is challenging Modi has put up a spirited fight. "The final numbers will depend on whether the BJP can hold ground in populous northern states where the party has secured huge success in the past," he said. On Friday, the Indian leader started two days of meditation at the southernmost tip of India at a memorial for Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda -- images released by his party showed him clad in saffron robes with eyes closed and prayer beads in hand. Both Modi and the opposition alliance have exuded confidence about winning. The opposition’s hopes of making gains rest on tapping into growing resentment over high unemployment that faces the country’s huge youth population and rising prices. Congress Party leader, Rahul Gandhi, who was the face of the opposition, focused his campaign on the need to create jobs and growing wealth inequality in the country and said the government’s policies have favored the rich at the expense of the poor. The party has promised cash transfers to poor women and a guarantee of apprenticeships for college graduates. It has also raised concerns about democratic backsliding under Modi. The Congress Party has been marginalized over the last decade amid the BJP’s rise into a formidable political force under Modi – it only holds 52 seats in Parliament. Political observers said the party and its allies could regain some momentum. "Much will depend on how the Congress Party and its allies perform in swing states like Maharashtra in the west, Bihar in the east and Karnataka in the south," according to Kidwai. Still the opposition faces a daunting task. To make significant gains it would also have to fare well in populous northern states, where the BJP is well entrenched and where its Hindu nationalist agenda resonates the most.  The BJP, for its part, hopes to expand its influence in some southern states where it has virtually no presence. The election campaign has been called one of India’s most divisive. At rallies, Modi charged that the Congress Party was pro-Muslim and planned to hand benefits reserved for lower caste Hindus to Muslims if it is voted into power – analysts said the polarizing rhetoric was a bid to shore up support among his Hindu base after voting got off to a lackluster start last month. In a letter addressed to voters in Punjab on Thursday, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accused Modi of indulging in the "most vicious form of hate speeches that are purely divisive in nature" during the campaign and accused him of lowering the dignity of the prime minister's office. Punjab was among the seven states and one federal territory that voted Saturday. Only India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, secured a third straight term in office. The winning party is expected to form the next government by mid-June before the term of the present Parliament ends.

MEXICO CITY — Mexicans will vote Sunday in historic elections weighing gender, democracy and populism, as they chart the country's path forward in voting shadowed by cartel violence. With two women leading the contest, Mexico will likely elect its first female president – a major step in a country long marked by its "macho" culture. The election will also be the biggest in the country's history. More than 20,000 congressional and local positions are up for grabs, according to the National Electoral Institute. The number of contested posts has fed bloodshed during the campaigns, as criminal groups have used local elections as an opportunity to exert power. A toxic slate of cartels and gangs have battled for turf and more than 20 people seeking political office have been killed just this year. Also at play is the political legacy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Mexico's often tumultuous relationship with the United States. Who are the candidates in Mexico's presidential election? Claudia Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City, has maintained a comfortable double-digit lead in polls for months. She promises to be a continuation of populist leader López Obrador and is backed by his ruling Morena party. Trained as a scientist, Sheinbaum has had to walk a fine line to carve out her own image while highlighting her connection to López Obrador, though she lacks the charisma that attracted many to her political ally. Xóchitl Gálvez, an opposition senator and tech entrepreneur, represents a coalition of parties that have had little historically to unite them other than their recent opposition to López Obrador. Gálvez is a fierce critic of the outgoing president who doesn't shy away from verbal sparring, but who hasn't appeared to ignite much fervor for her Strength and Heart for Mexico coalition. The third candidate is little-known Jorge Álvarez Máynez, a former federal congressman from the Citizen Movement party. He has focused on trying to scoop up the young vote, but has not gotten much traction. What has President López Obrador meant for this election? Elected in 2018, López Obrador tapped into large swathes of the population like the working-class and poor, rural voters who had long felt forgotten by the political system. He made combatting corruption his top priority. Despite not being on the ballot, much of Sunday's election has revolved around him. Though he remains highly popular, López Obrador has shown himself to be intolerant of criticism and oversight. And his critics say his moves to attack the judiciary, slash funding to Mexico's electoral agency and expand the military's responsibilities in civilian life have eroded Mexican democracy. The opposition has responded with large protests. López Obrador is considered Sheinbaum's mentor and if she is elected, it would cement his legacy and show that his Morena party can survive beyond his presidency. When are Mexico's elections and how does voting work? Parties selected their candidates well before the official start of campaigning for the presidential, congressional and municipal elections. On June 2, millions of voters will cast for their new leaders in a single round of voting. The winner of the highly anticipated presidential election will serve a six-year term. While most eyes are on the presidential race, Mexicans will also vote for 128 senators, 500 congressional representatives and for nearly 20,000 local government positions. Why has the campaign cycle been so violent? Under López Obrador's "hugs not bullets" policy, which emphasizes addressing the societal root causes of violence, analysts say cartels and other criminal groups have expanded their control. Homicide rates have remained stubbornly high despite promises by López Obrador to ease the violence. López Obrador has in many cases refused to confront criminal groups, and activists say his government has tried to reduce the official count of Mexico's forcibly disappeared in the lead up to the election. Cartels and other criminal groups see elections – particularly local elections – as an opportunity to make power grabs. They've warred for turf and at least 145 people tied to politics have been slain by organized crime this year, according to tracking by the human rights organization Data Civica. Violence has been particularly severe in states where criminal groups are fighting for territory like Chiapas and Guerrero in the south, and Michoacan in central Mexico. Mexico's first woman president Electing a female president would be a huge step in a country with soaring levels of gender-based violence and deep gender disparities. Mexico still has a famously intense "machismo," or culture of male chauvinism, that has created large economic and social disparities in society. In its most extreme form, the misogyny is expressed in high rates of femicides, and things like acid attacks against women. Yet a historic number of women in the socially conservative country are taking up leadership and political roles. That's in part due to a decades-long push by authorities for greater representation in politics, including laws that require political parties to have half of their congressional candidates be women. Since 2018, Mexico's Congress has had a 50-50 gender split, and the number of female governors has shot up. Both frontrunner Sheinbaum and Gálvez have promised to address high rates of gender-based violence and gender disparities if they win.

DAKAR, Senegal — Billons of dollars in gold is smuggled out of Africa each year and most of it ends up in the United Arab Emirates, where it is refined and sold to customers around the world, according to a report published Thursday. Over $30 billion worth of gold, or more than 435 metric tons, was smuggled out of the continent in 2022, according to the report published by Swissaid, an aid and development group based in Switzerland. The main destinations for African gold were the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Switzerland. The authors of the report said their goal was to make the trade in African gold more transparent and put pressure on industry players to do more to make gold supplies traceable and supply chains more responsible. "We hope that this will improve the living conditions of local populations and the working conditions of artisanal miners throughout Africa," Yvan Schulz, one of the report's authors, told The Associated Press. The report found that between 32% and 41% of gold produced in Africa was not declared. In 2022, Ghana was the largest gold producer in Africa, followed by Mali and South Africa, it said. The UAE was by far the main destination for smuggled gold, the report said, with some 405 metric tons of undeclared output from Africa ending up there. During a 10-year period between 2012-22, that amount summed up to 2,569 metric tons of gold, worth around $115 billion. The report said the gap between UAE imports and exports from African countries has widened over the years, meaning that the amount of gold smuggled out of Africa appears to have increased over the past decade. For example, it widened from 234 metric tons in 2020 to 405 in 2022. Switzerland, another main buyer of African gold, imported some 21 metric tons of undeclared gold from Africa in 2022, the report said. The real figure could be much higher if African gold imported through third countries was taken into consideration, the report said, but once gold is refined, it is virtually impossible to follow its flow to it final destination. The United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database, which contains detailed imports and exports statistics, shows that Switzerland is the main buyer of gold from the UAE. "Sourcing gold from the UAE is notoriously risky," the report said, describing the difficulty in ascertaining the origins of the refined gold. A official within the UAE government's media office said the country has taken significant steps to address concerns around gold smuggling and the risks it poses. The continued growth of the UAE's gold market reflected the confidence of the international community in its processes, the official said, responding on behalf of the country's press office without providing further identification. "The UAE remains steadfast in its efforts to combat gold smuggling and ensure the highest standards of transparency and accountability within the gold and precious metals sector," the official said. The Swiss government said it was aware of the challenges identifying the origins of gold and that it had introduced measures to prevent illegal flows. "Switzerland is and stays committed to improve the traceability of commodity flows, the transparency of statistics and the quality of controls," Fabian Maienfisch, spokesperson for Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, said. The report compared export data from African countries with import data from non-African countries, along with other calculations, to extrapolate the data. Among its recommendations, it called on African states to take steps to formalize artisanal and small-scale mining and reinforce border controls. It also called on non-African states to publish the identity of the countries of origin and the countries of dispatch of imported gold, and to work with authorities to identify illicit gold flows.

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda has rolled out a nationwide yellow fever vaccination campaign to help safeguard its population against the mosquito-borne disease that has long posed a threat. By the end of April, Ugandan authorities had vaccinated 12.2 million of the 14 million people targeted, said Dr. Michael Baganizi, an official in charge of immunization at the health ministry. Uganda will now require everyone traveling to and from the country to have a yellow fever vaccination card as an international health regulation, Baganizi said. Ugandan authorities hope the requirement will compel more people to get the yellow fever shot amid a general atmosphere of vaccine hesitancy that worries health care providers in the East African nation. The single-dose vaccine has been offered free of charge to Ugandans between the ages of 1 and 60. Vaccination centers in the capital, Kampala, and elsewhere included schools, universities, hospitals and local government units. Before this, Ugandans usually paid to get the yellow fever shot at private clinics, for the equivalent of $27. Uganda, with 45 million people, is one of 27 countries on the African continent classified as at high risk for yellow fever outbreaks. According to the World Health Organization, there are about 200,000 cases and 30,000 deaths globally each year from the disease. Uganda's most recent outbreak was reported earlier this year in the central districts of Buikwe and Buvuma. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. The majority of infections are asymptomatic. Symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, headache, loss of appetite and nausea or vomiting, according to the WHO. Uganda's vaccination initiative is part of a global strategy launched in 2017 by the WHO and partners such as the U.N. children's agency to eliminate yellow fever by 2026. The goal is to protect almost 1  billion people in Africa and the Americas. A midterm evaluation of that strategy, whose results were published last year, found that 185 million people in high-risk African countries had been vaccinated by August 2022. In Uganda, most people get the yellow fever shot when they are traveling to countries such as South Africa that demand proof of vaccination on arrival. James Odite, a nurse working at a private hospital which has been designated as a vaccination center in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, told the AP that hundreds of doses remained unused after the yellow fever vaccination campaign closed. They will be used in a future mass campaign. Among the issues raised by vaccine-hesitant people was the question of whether "the government wants to give them expired vaccines," Odite said. Baganizi, the immunization official, said Uganda's government has invested in community "sensitization" sessions during which officials tell people that vaccines save lives.

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.

KYIV — Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones on Saturday, damaging energy facilities in five regions across Ukraine, officials said. Ukraine's national grid operator Ukrenergo said the attack damaged energy facilities in the eastern Donetsk, southeastern Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, central Kyrovohrad region, and Ivano-Frankivsk region in the west. "Today morning the Russians launched another strike on Ukrainian energy facilities. Since March it is already the sixth massive, complex, missile and drone attack against the civilian energy infrastructure," Ukrenergo said. Ukrainian air defense shot down 35 of 53 Russian missiles and 46 of 47 Russian drones, the air force commander said. Since March, Russia has stepped up its bombardments of the Ukrainian power infrastructure, knocking out the bulk of the thermal and hydropower generation, causing blackouts, and pushing electricity imports to record highs. DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy-generating company, said that during the attack its two thermal power plants had been hit and equipment "seriously damaged." Regional officials reported that firefighters were extinguishing fires on several sites following the strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.