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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.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Participants at a global conference on how to reduce the world's energy use called for universal access to clean cooking through government incentives and subsidies to unlock more private sector funds.  The Paris-based International Energy Agency's ninth annual conference on energy efficiency, held Tuesday and Wednesday in Nairobi, brought together ministers, CEOs and thought leaders from around the world to discuss how to speed up progress on energy efficiency, which experts say can drastically reduce planet-warming emissions. How to deliver affordable clean cooking, which involves using electricity, solar and other solutions instead of more polluting fuels like charcoal, wood and kerosene, was on the agenda.  "There are many practical barriers to energy efficiency, and of course the barrier of the need for investment up front," said Brian Motherway, head of IEA's office of energy efficiency and inclusive transitions. "The key to unlocking efficiency is in the hands of governments. Strong, coordinated policies by governments will unlock finance and enable business and consumers to take the actions required to lower their bills."  This year's conference focused on accelerating progress toward doubling energy efficiency by 2030 as agreed upon by governments at the COP28 climate change conference in 2023.  Rashid Abdallah, executive director of the Africa Energy Commission, said at a panel discussion on Tuesday that "clean cooking should be part of any energy policy" or socioeconomic development plan.  Globally, around 2.3 billion people cook using solid biomass fuel – such as wood and charcoal – and kerosene. In Asia, 1.2 billion people lack access to clean cooking facilities, and in Africa, more than 900 million people use biomass as their primary energy source. These energy sources release harmful toxic fumes and smoke that lead to illnesses and deaths and contribute to climate change.  There's also evidence that household air pollution from cooking with dirty fuels can lead to diabetes and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as stillbirth and low birth weight, said Matt Shupler, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "There are many known health effects," he said.  Cleaner alternatives include electric and ethanol cookers that emit fewer pollutants.  High prices are an obstacle to making clean, green and affordable cooking available to all, but positive trends are emerging in the sector, with investment in clean cooking enterprises surging to an all-time high of $215 million in 2022 and the number of clean cooking enterprises with revenue exceeding $1 million growing to 11 that same year, according to a report by the Clean Cooking Alliance.  Despite this progress, a huge capital gap remains in achieving universal access to clean cooking by 2030. IEA estimates that $8 billion will be needed annually as investment in clean cooking stoves, equipment and infrastructure to meet the goal.  One of the countries that have significantly scaled up affordable, high-quality, clean cooking is Indonesia. In 2007 the government started implementing a program to transition its primary cooking fuel from kerosene to liquefied petroleum gas. The proportion of the population with access to clean cooking doubled from 40% in 2010 to 80% in 2018. Regulation and incentives have been key to the program's success, said Dadan Kusdiana, secretary-general of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. "What we do is to provide the energy with affordability," he said at a panel discussion on Tuesday. "They need this kind of energy, but they can't afford it at the commercial price."

detroit — Cars, trucks and SUVs in the U.S. keep getting older, hitting a record average age of 12.6 years in 2024 as people hang on to their vehicles largely because new ones cost so much.  S&P Global Mobility, which tracks state vehicle registration data nationwide, said Wednesday that the average vehicle age grew about two months from last year's record.  But the growth in average age is starting to slow as new vehicle sales start to recover from pandemic-related shortages of parts, including computer chips. The average increased by three months in 2023.  Still, with an average U.S. new-vehicle selling price of just over $45,000 last month, many can't afford to buy new — even though prices are down more than $2,000 from the peak in December of 2022, according to J.D. Power.  "It's prohibitively high for a lot of households now," said Todd Campau, aftermarket leader for S&P Global Mobility. "So I think consumers are being painted into the corner of having to keep the vehicle on the road longer."  Other factors include people waiting to see if they want to buy an electric vehicle or go with a gas-electric hybrid or a gasoline vehicle. Many, he said, are worried about the charging network being built up so they can travel without worrying about running out of battery power. Also, he said, vehicles are made better these days and simply are lasting a long time.  New vehicle sales in the U.S. are starting to return to pre-pandemic levels, with prices and interest rates the big influencing factors rather than illness and supply-chain problems, Campau said. He said he expects sales to hit around 16 million this year, up from 15.6 million last year and 13.9 million in 2022.  As more new vehicles are sold and replace aging vehicles in the nation's fleet of 286 million passenger vehicles, the average age should stop growing and stabilize, Campau said. And unlike immediately after the pandemic, more lower-cost vehicles are being sold, which likely will bring down the average price, he said.  People keeping vehicles longer is good news for the local auto repair shop. About 70% of vehicles on the road are six or more years old, he said, beyond manufacturer warranties.  Those who are able to keep their rides for multiple years usually get the oil changed regularly and follow manufacturer maintenance schedules, Campau noted.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — For years, the African National Congress rose above politics in South Africa. It was a movement dedicated to freeing Black people from the oppression of white minority rule and to the lofty principle of democracy, equality and a better life for all South Africans. It was widely revered as a force for good under Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for his opposition to the apartheid system of racial segregation. But 30 years after the ANC transformed from a liberation organization to a political party in government at the end of apartheid in 1994, it faces growing dissatisfaction from South Africans who feel it has failed to live up to its promises. South Africans will vote on May 29 in a national election that could be the biggest rejection yet of the ANC, which has governed one of Africa's most important countries largely unchallenged since it led the fight to bring down apartheid. Now, the ANC is for many a byword for graft and failed government. Here's how the famous party lost its way: Broken promises While the end of apartheid gave every South African the right to vote and other basic freedoms, the challenge for the ANC was to convert that into a better life, especially for the Black majority who had been systematically repressed. That has been difficult for the ANC government to sustain after some early success in raising living standards in its first 10 years in power. South Africa sits today with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, is still ranked as one of the most unequal countries, and its widespread poverty — which still disproportionately affects Black people — spurs most of the criticism of the ANC's three decades in charge. The ANC has often pointed to the difficulties in reversing nearly a half-century of racist laws under apartheid and hundreds of years of European colonialism before that, which kept millions in poverty. It maintains that South Africa is a better country than it was under apartheid and that is undoubtedly true. But the most pressing problems for many South Africans in 2024 boil down to a failure of basic government services, with communities across the nation regularly protesting against the lack of electricity in their neighborhoods, broken or nonexistent water and sewage systems, garbage piling up on streets, and a shortage of proper housing that leaves millions living in shacks. Corruption While around half of South Africa's population of 62 million live under the poverty line, according to the World Bank, ANC officials have been implicated in enriching themselves in a succession of corruption scandals. Corruption is alleged to have been especially bad under former President Jacob Zuma, who was accused of allowing a decade of rampant graft to play out before he stepped down in disgrace in 2018. There were countless stories of wrongdoing, with politicians receiving bribes in return for influence or lucrative state contracts as a culture of graft pervaded all levels of government. South Africans heard how senior ANC figures allegedly received money to buy expensive suits, throw lavish parties or renovate their homes. The disappearance of $15 million designated for the removal of harmful asbestos from the houses of poor people was one of many cases that enraged the country. President Cyril Ramaphosa promised to clean up the ANC when he succeeded Zuma, but he was involved in his own scandal and survived an impeachment vote. The ANC's reputation hasn't recovered. Infighting The ANC has been hampered by infighting since Mandela stepped down as president in 1999 after one term and handed over to a younger generation. His successor, Thabo Mbeki, was forced out as Zuma undermined his position as the head of the ANC. The party turned on Zuma, who is disqualified from running in next week's election, when the corruption allegations became overwhelming. Ramaphosa has spent his first term as president since 2019 battling a part of the party still loyal to Zuma. In its early days, the ANC celebrated that it was a "broad church" of people dedicated to freedom and democracy. It now has factions much like any other political party, affecting its ability to solve South Africa's problems. The future From a dominant position when it once commanded 70% of the vote, the ANC has seen people gradually desert it, especially among a new generation of South Africans who don't remember apartheid. The election is widely expected to be a landmark moment for the country's post-apartheid democracy as recent polls have the ANC's support at less than 50%, suggesting it might lose its parliamentary majority for the first time. The ANC is still expected to be the biggest party but dropping below 50% would lead to it having to govern alongside others in a coalition. That would be the biggest political shift in South Africa since the ANC ascended into the government and a humbling moment for a party Zuma once said would rule "until Jesus comes back."

NEW YORK — Three years ago, Erin Decker was a middle school librarian in Kissimmee, Florida, increasingly frustrated by the state's book bans and worried that she couldn't make a difference remaining in her job. So, she and fellow librarian Tania Galiñanes thought of a way to fight back. "We just put our heads together and decided a bookstore would help make sure students could get to books that were being pulled from shelves," says Decker, whose White Rose Books & More opened last fall in Kissimmee. The store is named for a resistance group in Nazi Germany and features a section — ringed by yellow "caution" tape — dedicated to such banned works as Maia Kabobe's Gender Queer, Jonathan Evison's Lawn Boy and John Green's Looking for Alaska. White Rose Books is part of the ever-expanding and diversifying world of independent bookstores. Even as industry sales were slow in 2023, membership in the American Booksellers Association continued its years-long revival. It now stands at 2,433, more than 200 over the previous year and nearly double since 2016. Around 190 more stores are in the process of opening over the next two years, according to the ABA. "Our numbers are really strong, and we have a solid, diverse pipeline of new stores to come," says Allison Hill, the book association's CEO. She cites a range of reasons for people opening stores, from opposing bans to championing diversity to pursuing new careers after the pandemic. "Some are opening to give back to their community. And some still just love books," she said during a phone interview this week. Recent members include everyone from the romance-oriented That's What She Read in Mount Ayr, Iowa; to Seven Stories in Shawnee, Kansas, managed by 15-year-old Halley Vincent; to more than 20 Black-owned shops. In Pasadena, California, Octavia's Bookshelf is named for the late Black science fiction author Octavia Butler and bills itself as "a space to find community, enjoy a cup of coffee, read, relax, find unique and specially curated products from artisans from around the world and in our neighborhood." Leah Johnson, author of the prize-winning young adult novel You Should See Me In a Crown, was troubled by the surge in book bans and by what she saw as a shortage of outlets for diverse voices. Last year, she founded Loudmouth Books, one of several independent sellers to open in Indianapolis. "I'm not a person who dreamed of opening a bookstore. I didn't want to be anybody's boss," Johnson says. "But I saw a need and I had to fill it." Most of the new businesses are traditional "brick and mortar" retailers. But a "bookstore" can also mean a "pop-up" business like Loc'd & Lit, which has a mission to bring "the joy of reading to the Bronx," the New York City borough that had been viewed by the industry as a "desert" for its scarcity of bookstores. Other new stores are online only, among them the Be More Literature Children's Bookshop and the used books seller Liberation Is Lit. Nick Pavlidis, a publisher, ghost writer and trainer of ghost writers, launched the online Beantown Books in 2023 and has since opened a small physical store in suburban Boston. "My goal is to move into a larger space and create a friendly place for authors to host events," he says, adding that he'd like to eventually own several stores. Independent bookselling has never been dependably profitable, and Hill notes various concerns — rising costs, dwindling aid from the pandemic and the ongoing force of Amazon.com, which remains the industry's dominate retailer even after the e-book market stalled a decade ago. Last month, the booksellers association filed a motion with the Federal Trade Commission, seeking to join the antitrust suit against Amazon that the FTC announced in 2023. The motion states in part that Amazon is able to offer prices "that ABA members cannot match except by forgoing a sustainable margin, or incurring a loss." Just opening a store requires initiative and a willingness to take risks. Decker says that she and Galiñanes had to use retirement money because lenders wouldn't provide credit until they were actually in business. The owner of Octavia's Bookshelf, Nikki High, is a former communications director for Trader Joe's who relied on crowdfunding and her own savings to get her store started. "Even with tons of planning, and asking questions and running numbers, it's been very difficult," High says. "I don't know that I could have prepared myself for what a shrewd business person you have to be to making a living out of this." High cites a variety of challenges and adjustments — convincing customers they don't have to order items from Amazon.com, supplementing sales by offering tote bags and journals and other non-book items. Knowing which books to stock has also proved an education. "I would read a book and think it's the best thing ever and order a bunch of copies, and everybody else is like, 'No, I don't want that book,'" she explains. "And when we started, I wanted to be everything for everybody. We had a ton of different categories. But I found out that short stories and poetry almost never sell for us. People want general fiction, bestsellers, children's books. Classics sell very well, books by James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and bell hooks and June Jordan." "It's incredibly important to listen to your customers."

SACRAMENTO, California — California could eventually join the European Union in requiring all new cars to alert drivers when they break the speed limit, a proposal aimed at reducing traffic deaths that would likely impact motorists across the country should it become law. The federal government sets safety standards for vehicles nationwide, which is why most cars now beep at drivers if their seat belt isn't fastened. A bill in the California Legislature — which passed its first vote in the state Senate on Tuesday — would go further by requiring all new cars sold in the state by 2032 to beep at drivers when they exceed the speed limit by at least 16 kph. "Research has shown that this does have an impact in getting people to slow down, particularly since some people don't realize how fast that their car is going," said state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco and the bill's author. The bill narrowly passed Tuesday, an indication of the tough road it could face. Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle said he voted against it in part because he said sometimes people need to drive faster than the speed limit in an emergency. "It's just a nanny state that we're causing here," he said. While the goal is to reduce traffic deaths, the legislation would likely impact all new car sales in the U.S. That's because California's auto market is so large that car makers would likely just make all of their vehicles comply with the state's law. California often throws its weight around to influence national — and international — policy. California has set its own emission standards for cars for decades, rules that more than a dozen other states have also adopted. And when California announced it would eventually ban the sale of new gas-powered cars, major automakers soon followed with their own announcement to phase out fossil-fuel vehicles. The technology, known as intelligent speed assistance, uses GPS technology to compare a vehicle's speed with a dataset of posted speed limits. Once the car is at least 16 kph over the speed limit, the system would emit "a brief, one-time visual and audio signal to alert the driver." It would not require California to maintain a list of posted speed limits. That would be left to manufacturers. It's likely these maps would not include local roads or recent changes in speed limits, resulting in conflicts. The bill states that if the system receives conflicting information about the speed limit, it must use the higher limit. The technology is not new and has been used in Europe for years. Starting later this year, the European Union will require all new cars sold there to have the technology — although drivers would be able to turn it off. The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 10% of all car crashes reported to police in 2021 were speeding related — including an 8% increase in speeding-related fatalities. This was especially a problem in California, where 35% of traffic fatalities were speeding-related — the second highest in the country, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal. Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended federal regulators require all new cars to alert drivers when speeding. Their recommendation came after a crash in January 2022 when a man with a history of speeding violations was traveling more than 100 miles per hour when he ran a red light and hit a minivan, killing himself and eight other people. The NTSB has no authority and can only make recommendations.

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 — Living in a tent in rebel-held northwestern Syria, Rudaina al-Salim and her family struggle to find enough water for drinking and other basic needs such as cooking and washing. Their encampment north of the city of Idlib hasn't seen any aid in six months. "We used to get food aid, hygiene items," said the mother of four. "Now we haven't had much in a while." Al-Salim's story is similar to that of many in this region of Syria, where most of the 5.1 million people have been internally displaced — sometimes more than once — in the country's civil war, now in its 14th year, and rely on aid to survive. U.N. agencies and international humanitarian organizations have for years struggled with shrinking budgets, further worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and conflicts elsewhere. The wars in Ukraine and Sudan, and more recently Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip are the focus of the world's attention. Syria's war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of of 23 million, has long remained largely frozen and so are also efforts to find a viable political solution to end it. Meanwhile, millions of Syrians have been pulled into poverty, and struggle with accessing food and health care as the economy deteriorates across the country's front lines. Along with the deepening poverty, there is growing hostility in neighboring countries that host Syrian refugees and that struggle with crises of their own. Aid organizations are now making their annual pitches to donors ahead of a fundraising conference in Brussels for Syria on Monday. But humanitarian workers believe that pledges will likely fall short and that further aid cuts would follow. "We have moved from assisting 5.5 million a year to about 1.5 million people in Syria," Carl Skau, the U.N. World Food Program's deputy executive director, told The Associated Press. He spoke during a recent visit to Lebanon, which hosts almost 780,000 registered Syrian refugees — and hundreds of thousands of others who are undocumented. "When I look across the world, this is the (aid) program that has shrunk the most in the shortest period for time," Skau said. Just 6% of the United Nations' appeal for aid to Syria in 2024 has so far been secured ahead of Monday's annual fundraising conference organized by the European Union, said David Carden, U.N. deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria. For the northwestern region of Syria, that means the U.N. is only able to feed 600,000 out of the 3.6 million people facing food insecurity, meaning they lack access to sufficient food. The U.N. says some 12.9 million Syrians are food insecure across the country. The U.N. hopes the Brussels conference can raise more than $4 billion in "lifesaving aid" to support almost two-thirds of the 16.7 million Syrians in need, both within the war-torn country and in neighboring countries, particularly Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. At last year's conference, donors pledged $10.3 billion — about $6 billion in grants and the rest in loans — just months after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and much of northern Syria, killing over 59,000 people, including 6,000 in Syria. For northwestern Syria, an enclave under rebel control, aid "is literally a matter of life and death" this year, Carden told the AP during a recent visit to Idlib province. Without funding, 160 health facilities there would close by end of June, he said. The International Rescue Committee's head for Syria, Tanya Evans, said needs are "at their highest ever," with increasing numbers of Syrians turning to child labor and taking on debt to pay for food and basics. In Lebanon, where nearly 90% of Syrian refugees live in poverty, they also face flagging aid and increasing resentment from the Lebanese, struggling with their own country's economic crisis since 2019. Disgruntled officials have accused the refugees of surging crime and competition in the job market. Lebanon's bickering political parties have united in a call for a crackdown on undocumented Syrian migrants and demand refugees return to so-called "safe zones" in Syria. U.N. agencies, human rights groups and Western governments say there are no such areas. Um Omar, a Syrian refugee from Homs, works in a grocery store in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli — an impoverished community that once warmly welcomed Syrian refugees. For her work, she gets to bring home every day a bundle of bread and some vegetables to feed her family of five. They live rent-free in a tent on a plot of land that belongs to the grocery store's owners. "I have to leave the kids early in the morning without breakfast so I can work," she said, asking to be identified only by her nickname, Arabic for "Omar's mother." She fears reprisals because of heightened hostilities against Syrians. The shrinking U.N. aid they receive does not pay the bills. Her husband, who shares her fears for their safety, used to work as a day laborer but has rarely left their home in weeks. She says deportation to Syria, where President Bashar Assad's government is firmly entrenched, would spell doom for her family. "If my husband was returned to Syria, he'll either go to jail or (face) forced conscription," she explains. Still, many in Lebanon tell her family, "you took our livelihoods," Um Omar said. There are also those who tell them they should leave, she added, so that the Lebanese "will finally catch a break."

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.

SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean judge on Saturday ordered a volunteer firefighter and a former forestry official detained for allegedly planning and causing a mammoth forest fire in the Valparaiso region that caused 137 deaths and made 16,000 people homeless in February. The court in Valparaiso ruled the two men, who were arrested Friday, could be held for 180 days while they are investigated. The chief prosecutor in the case, Osvaldo Ossandón, told journalists that the main suspect is Francisco Mondaca, a 22-year-old volunteer firefighter in Valparaiso who is accused of physically starting the fire. He said flares and fireworks were found in Mondaca's vehicle. The other suspect was identified as Franco Pinto, a former employee of the National Forest Corporation. He is accused of planning the crime. The regional prosecutor for Valparaiso, Claudia Perivancich, said investigators have evidence the two men agreed "in advance to carry out conduct of this type when the weather conditions were adequate." Prosecutors said there was an economic motive behind the plot, that is providing more work in fighting fires. They said they had not ruled out the possibility of more people being involved. The commander of the Valparaiso Fire Department, Vicente Maggiolo, said, "We are very dismayed by the situation." Maggiolo called it an isolated incident and said it should not tarnish the work of the fire department. "We have been saving lives for more than 170 years," he told TVN. Christian Little, executive director of the forestry department, described the detention of a former official as "a pain" for the agency. Both the fire department and forestry agency said they would tighten hiring procedures. The megafire began February 2 in the Lago Peñuelas nature reserve, in the central region of Chile, and for several days burned several communes, including destroying more than 10,000 homes. It is considered Chile's worst tragedy since a magnitude 8.8 earthquake killed more than 500 people on February 27, 2010.

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.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania holds presidential elections Sunday, with incumbent Gitanas Nauseda expected to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state. The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, the NATO and EU member worries it could be Moscow's next target. Nauseda, 60, a former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% he needed for an outright victory. He is running against Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling center-right Homeland Union party that has been trailing in opinion polls. She was the only woman out of eight candidates in the first round and came second with 20%. Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll conducted between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed the idea that it might attack a NATO member. Nauseda told a debate on Tuesday he sees Russia as an enemy. "Our enemies -- who even call themselves our enemies, who are enemies of us and all the democratic world -- are attempting to destablilize our politics, and we must do all to resist." Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defense spending to at least 3% of Lithuania's gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year. But Nauseda, who is a social conservative, has clashed with Simonyte on other issues, including whether to give a legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes. He has said it would make such unions too similar to marriage, which Lithuania's constitution only allows for a man and a woman. Simonyte, a former finance minister and a fiscal hawk, said on Thursday that if she won, "the direction for the country -- pro-European, pro-Western -- would not change." "But I would like quicker progress, more openness and understanding, larger tolerance to people who are different from us," she added. Lithuania's president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the supreme defense and national security policy body and representing the country at European Union and NATO summits. The president sets foreign and security policy in tandem with the government, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defense and the head of the central bank. It will be the second time the two have competed in a presidential run-off. In 2019, Nauseda beat Simonyte with 66% of vote.

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.

Tel Aviv, Israel — Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand urgent government action to bring home hostages held in Gaza, after the bodies of several were retrieved. Protesters observed a minute's silence in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square in honor of the captives whose bodies were recovered by Israeli troops this month, an AFP correspondent reported. The army said on Friday that troops had retrieved the bodies of three hostages in an overnight operation in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. The remains of Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux were recovered and their families notified after forensic identification, the military said in a statement. "In just a few hours, I will bury my 42-year-old brother ... I feared this moment," Yablonka's sister Avivit said at Saturday's rally. "My brother, I promise you that I will continue to shout, support, fight and do everything so that all the hostages return home safely. "They must be taken out of this hell now,” she said. The bodies of four other hostages — Ron Benjamin, Yitzhak Gelerenter, Shani Louk and Amit Buskila — were recovered last week. Another protest, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an early election, was held nearby. The latest eruption of war in the Middle East began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, including about 30 the army says are dead. Israel has since responded with an air and land assault on Hamas-governed Gaza, which both sides agree has killed at least 30,000 people. Israel says the majority of the dead are combatants. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says 35,903 have died, the majority of them women and children, but it does not estimate how many of the dead were combatants. Nearly three-quarters of Gaza's 2.3 million population is displaced. Nearly the entire population is at risk of famine, according to the U.N.

LIMA, Peru — With their unmistakable red noses, extravagant shoes, colorful outfits and unique makeup, hundreds of clowns Saturday gathered in the streets of Peru's capital to mark Clown Day. They have sought for years to gain official recognition of the day. The colorful parade in Lima, which includes awards for the best costumes, makeup, routine and improvisation, takes place every year on May 25. "In Peru, there is Lawyer's Day, Ceviche Day, and we also want a Clown Day because it would open doors for us to have support from the State and from the municipalities," said Marcos Chininín, known as the clown "Chalupa." Chininin said the official recognition would give clowns access to government funds and performance spaces overseen by municipalities and local communities, as well as open the possibility of establishing schools to teach the art of clowning. Members of Parliament have not yet discussed a proposed bill to create the holiday. Chininín, 42, estimated that about 200,000 people across Peru work as clowns, including at children's events and the circus. Miguel Ara Stein participated in Saturday's parade dressed as his character "Chuchurro." He said establishing the holiday would also be an acknowledgement of the talents that clowns must have. "You have to have the gift of acting, the gift of character, of improvising," Ara, 57, said. "We are all born for something and making people laugh is a gift."

SYDNEY — More than 4,000 people were likely impacted by a massive landslide that flattened a village in northern Papua New Guinea on Friday, humanitarian group CARE Australia said. Hundreds are feared dead in the landslide in the Pacific nation north of Australia that leveled Kaokalam village in Enga Province, about 600 kilometers northwest of capital Port Moresby, around 3 a.m. Friday local time (1900 GMT Thursday). According to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, more than six villages have been impacted by the landslide in the province's Mulitaka region, which local media said buried more than 300 people and more than 1,100 houses. CARE Australia said late on Saturday that nearly 4,000 people lived in the impact zone, with the total number of those affected probably higher as the area was "a place of refuge for those displaced by conflicts" in nearby areas. In February, at least 26 men were killed in Enga Province in an ambush amid tribal violence that prompted Prime Minister James Marape to give arrest powers to the country's military. CARE said Friday's landslide has left debris up to 8 meters deep across 200 square km, cutting off road access, which was making relief efforts difficult. Helicopters were the only way to reach the area, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp, which reported on Saturday that four bodies had been retrieved from the rubble. "More homes could be at risk if the landslide continues down the mountain," a CARE spokesperson said in a statement. Marape has said disaster officials, the Defense Force and the Department of Works and Highways were assisting with relief and recovery efforts. Social media footage posted by villager Ninga Role showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees and mounds of dirt searching for survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background. 

NEW YORK — Richard M. Sherman, one half of the prolific, award-winning pair of brothers who helped form millions of childhoods by penning the instantly memorable songs for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — as well as the most-played tune on Earth, It's a Small World (After All) — has died. He was 95. Sherman, together with his late brother Robert, won two Academy Awards for Walt Disney's 1964 smash Mary Poppins — best score and best song, Chim Chim Cher-ee. They also picked up a Grammy for best movie or TV score. Robert Sherman died in London at age 86 in 2012. The Walt Disney Co. announced that Sherman died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital of an age-related illness. "Generations of moviegoers and theme park guests have been introduced to the world of Disney through the Sherman brothers' magnificent and timeless songs. Even today, the duo's work remains the quintessential lyrical voice of Walt Disney," the company said in a remembrance posted on its website. Their hundreds of credits as joint lyricist and composer also include the films Winnie the Pooh, The Slipper and the Rose, Snoopy Come Home, Charlotte's Web and The Magic of Lassie. Their Broadway musicals included 1974's Over Here! and stagings of Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the mid-2000s. "Something good happens when we sit down together and work," Richard Sherman told The Associated Press in a 2005 joint interview. "We've been doing it all our lives. Practically since college we've been working together." Their awards include 23 gold and platinum albums and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They became the only Americans ever to win first prize at the Moscow Film Festival for Tom Sawyer in 1973 and were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 2005. President George W. Bush awarded them the National Medal of Arts in 2008, commended for music that "has helped bring joy to millions." Most of the songs the Shermans wrote — in addition to being catchy and playful — work on multiple levels for different ages, something they learned from Disney. "He once told us, early on in our career, 'Don't insult the kid — don't write down to the kid. And don't write just for the adult.' So we write for Grandpa and the 4-year-old — and everyone in between — and all see it on a different level," Richard Sherman said. The Shermans began a decade-long partnership with Disney during the 1960s after having written hit pop songs like Tall Paul for ex-Mouseketeer Annette Funicello and You're Sixteen, later recorded by Ringo Starr. They wrote more than 150 songs at Disney, including the soundtracks for such films as The Sword and the Stone, The Parent Trap, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, The Aristocrats and The Tigger Movie. It's a Small World — which accompanies visitors to Disney theme parks' boat ride sung by animatronic dolls representing world cultures — is believed to be the most performed composition in the world. It first debuted at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair pavilion ride. The two brothers credited their father, composer Al Sherman, with challenging them to write songs and for their love of wordsmithing. The Shermans teased songs out of each other, brainstorming titles and then trying to top each other with improvements. "Being brothers, we sort of short-cut each other," Richard Sherman said. "We can almost look at each other and know, 'Hey, you're onto something, kiddo.'" Away from the piano, the two raised families and pursued their own interests, yet still lived close to each other in Beverly Hills and continued working well into their 70s. Richard Sherman is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children: Gregory and Victoria. He also is survived by a daughter, Lynda, from a previous marriage.