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KAMPONG PHLUK, Cambodia — Em Phat, 53, studies his eel tanks with the intensity of a man gambling with his livelihood. For millennia, fishermen like him have relied on the bounty of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia's largest lake and the epicenter of the world's most productive inland fishery. But climate change, dams upstream on the Mekong River that sustains the lake, and deforestation in the region have changed everything. There aren't enough fish and living by the lake has become dangerous as storms intensify due to global warming. "Being a fisherman is hard," he said. Phat hopes that raising eels — a delicacy in Asian markets like China, Japan and South Korea — will provide a way forward. He raises eels in different tanks: translucent eel eggs bob gently in small glass aquariums. Voracious glassy larvae swim in plastic tanks. Larger tubs have bicycle tires to provide places for juvenile eels to hide. Raising eels can be profitable but it's risky. Eels are notoriously difficult and expensive to raise. They need constant pure, oxygenated water and special food and are susceptible to diseases. Phat lost many eels when a power cut stopped his oxygen pumps, killing the fish. But he's optimistic about the future. Living on land, instead of on the lake, also means that his wife, Luy Nga, 52, can grow vegetables to eat and sell, so they are making enough money to get by. "The eels have value and can also be exported to China and other countries in the future," he said. That fishermen like Phat can no longer rely on the Tonle Sap, literally the "Great Lake," for their livelihood reflects how much has changed. The lake used to more than quadruple in size to an area larger than the country of Qatar during the rainy season, inundating native forests and creating the perfect breeding ground for diverse fish to thrive. The "flood pulse," a natural process of periodic flooding and droughts in the river system helped make the Mekong Basin the world's largest freshwater fishery, with nearly 20% of all freshwater fish worldwide caught there, according to the think tank Stimson Center in Washington. More than 3 million people live and fish by the lake: a third of all 17 million Cambodians rely on the fisheries sector and up to 70% of Cambodia's intake of animal protein is from fish. But dams upstream in China and Laos are cutting the Mekong's flow, weakening that flood pulse. The lakes have been depleted by overfishing and much of the forest surrounding it has been logged or burned for farmland. Cambodian authorities are reluctant to estimate the extent that fish stocks have declined. This year, the flood pulse was delayed by about two months, according to the Mekong Dam Monitor, a research project. In this shattered ecosystem, raising eels or other fish can provide fishermen like Phat with a "buffer," said Zeb Hogan, a fish biologist at the University of Nevada who has worked in the region for decades. "Aquaculture, such as eel farming, is a way for people to take more control over their income source and livelihood," he said, adding that it also allows them to raise fish that they know will fetch higher prices. Phat is one of more than thousands helped by a program run by the Britain-based nonprofit VSO to boost incomes of people living by Tonle Sap. VSO provides his baby eels and has taught him how to raise them. Eels are in high demand in Cambodia and elsewhere, said Sum Vy, 38, a coordinator at VSO, so they're profitable. When fishermen know how to farm eels and hatch the babies, others can follow. "Not only can he or she earn the money to support their family, they can share this knowledge and skill with other people," he said. Expanding aquaculture is helping increase Cambodian exports. Its fish production increased 24-fold in the two decades leading up to 2021 and, unlike its neighbors, most of its fish catch is inland, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization or FAO. Much of it is consumed domestically and exports have grown sluggishly. Earlier this year, the government launched a scheme to improve fish processing technologies and address food safety concerns, hoping to begin exporting more fish to Europe next year. Cambodia has signed trade agreements with China and began shipping frozen eels to Shanghai last year. "This export will contribute to economic growth, creating jobs for our farmers and fishermen," Heng Mengty, the export manager of the Cambodian fish exporter told China's official Xinhua news agency. The promised growth can't come soon enough for Cambodians living in fishing communities around the lake. Some families live in homes that float year round, others on homes built on stilts up to 8 meters high, to keep them above floodwaters during the rainy season. Fishing is the only form of subsistence for many, but signs of decay are evident. Fishing nets catch only very small fish, or worse, nothing at all. Families speak of giant fish that are now rarely seen. The catch is a fraction of what it used to be. Even 10 years ago, Som Lay, a 29-year-old fisherman said, the lake was teeming with fish. But illegal fishing has increased and some families have already given up fishing and are trying to find land where they can grow rice. "The entire village — my family and others — is facing these difficulties," he said.

PHOENIX — On just one sweltering day during the hottest June on record in Phoenix, a 38-year-old man collapsed under a freeway bridge and a 41-year-old woman was found slumped outside a business. Both had used methamphetamine before dying from an increasingly dangerous mix of soaring temperatures and stimulants. Meth is showing up more often as a factor in the deaths of people who died from heat-related causes in the U.S., according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Death certificates show about one in five heat-related deaths in recent years involved methamphetamine. In Arizona, Texas, Nevada and California, officials found the drug in nearly a third of heat deaths in 2023. Meth is more common in heat-related deaths than the deadly opioid fentanyl. As a stimulant, it increases body temperature, impairs the brain's ability to regulate body heat and makes it harder for the heart to compensate for extreme heat. If hot weather has already raised someone's body temperature, consuming alcohol or opioids can exacerbate the physical effects, "but meth would be the one that you would be most concerned about," said Bob Anderson, chief of statistical analysis at the National Center for Health Statistics. The trend has emerged as a synthetic drug manufactured south of the border by Mexican drug cartels has largely replaced the domestic version of meth fictionalized in the TV series Breaking Bad. Typically smoked in a glass pipe, a single dose can cost as little as a few dollars. At the same time, human-caused climate change has made it much easier to die from heat-related causes in places like Phoenix, Las Vegas and California's southeastern desert. This has been Earth's hottest summer on record. Phoenix baked in temperatures topping 37.7 Celsius for 113 straight days and hit 47.2 Celsius in late September — uncharacteristic even for a city synonymous with heat. The searing temperatures have carried into October.  "Putting on a jacket can increase body temperature in a cold room. If it's hot outside, we can take off the jacket," explained Rae Matsumoto, dean of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii in Hilo. But people using the stimulant in the outdoor heat "can't take off the meth jacket." These fatalities are particularly prevalent in the Southwest, where meth overdoses overall have risen since the mid-2000s. In Maricopa County, America's hottest major metropolitan area, substances including street drugs, alcohol and certain prescription medicines for psychiatric conditions and blood pressure control were involved in about two-thirds, or 419 of the 645 heat-related deaths documented last year. Meth was detected in about three-quarters of these drug cases and was often the primary cause of death, public health data show. Fentanyl was found in just under half of them. In Pima County, home to Tucson, Arizona's second most populous city, methamphetamine was a factor in one-quarter of the 84 heat-related deaths reported so far this year, the medical examiner's office said. In metro Las Vegas, heat was a factor in 294 deaths investigated last year by the Clark County coroner's office, and 39% involved illicit and prescription drugs and alcohol. Of those, meth was detected in three-fourths. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration notes in its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment that 31% of all drug-related deaths in the U.S. are now caused by stimulants that speed up the nervous system, primarily meth. More than 17,000 people in the U.S. died from fatal overdoses and poisonings related to stimulants in the first half of 2023, according to preliminary CDC data. Although overdoses have been more associated with opiates like fentanyl, medical professionals say overdosing on meth is possible if a large amount is ingested. Higher blood pressure and a quickened heart rate can then provoke a heart attack or stroke. "All of your normal physiological ways of coping with heat are compromised with the use of methamphetamines," said Dr. Aneesh Narang, an emergency medicine physician at Banner University Medical Center in downtown Phoenix. Narang, who sits on a board that reviews overdose fatalities, said the "vast majority" of the heat stroke patients seen in his hospital's emergency department this summer had used street drugs, most commonly methamphetamine. Because of its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, Phoenix is considered a "source city" where large amounts of newly smuggled meth are stored and packaged into relatively tiny doses for distribution, said Det. Matt Shay, a narcotics investigator with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. "It's an amazing amount that comes in constantly every day," Shay said. "It's also very cheap." U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized about 74,000 kilograms of meth at the U.S.-Mexico border this last fiscal year ending September 30, up from the 63,500 kilograms captured in the previous 12 months. And sellers often target homeless people, Shay said. "It's a customer base that is easy to find and exploit," Shay said. "If you're an enterprising young drug dealer, all you need is some type of transportation and you just cruise around and they swarm your car." Jason Elliott, a 51-year-old unemployed machinist, said he's heard of several heat-related deaths involving meth during his three years on the streets in Phoenix. "It's pretty typical," said Elliot, noting that stimulants enable people to stay awake and alert to prevent being robbed in shelters or outdoors. "What else can you do? You have stuff; you go to sleep, you wake up and your stuff is gone." Dr. Nick Staab, assistant medical director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said brochures were printed this summer and distributed in cooling centers to spread the word about the risk of using stimulants and certain prescription medicines in extreme heat. But it's unclear how many are being reached. People who use drugs may not be welcomed at some cooling centers. A better solution, according to Stacey Cope, capacity building and education director for the harm reduction nonprofit Sonoran Prevention Works, is to lower barriers to entry so that people most at risk "are not expected to be absent from drugs, or they're not expected to leave during the hottest part of the day."

WASHINGTON — Online hate against Americans of South Asian ancestry has risen steadily in 2023 and 2024 with the rise of politicians from that community to prominence, according to a report released Wednesday by nonprofit group Stop AAPI Hate. Why it's important Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris is of Indian descent, as are former Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is also Indian American. Harris faces Republican former President Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. elections. There has been a steady rise in anti-Asian hate in extremist online spaces from January 2023 to August 2024, the report said. The nonprofit group blamed the rise on a "toxic political climate in which a growing number of leaders and far-right extremist voices continue to spew bigoted political rhetoric and disinformation." Key quotes "Online threats of violence towards Asian communities reached their highest levels in August 2024, after Usha Vance appeared at the Republican National Convention and Kamala Harris was declared a presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention," Stop AAPI Hate said. "The growing prevalence of anti-South Asian online hate ... in 2023 and 2024 tracks with the rise in South Asian political representation this election cycle," it added. By the numbers Among Asian American subgroups, South Asian communities were targeted with the highest volume of anti-Asian online hostility, with 60% of slurs directed at them in that period, according to the report. Anti-South Asian slurs in extremist online spaces doubled last year, from about 23,000 to more than 46,000, and peaked in August 2024. There are nearly 5.4 million people of South Asian descent living in the United States, comprising of individuals with ancestry from nations including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

HAVANA — Balto, Pepa and Mami were among the lucky ones. After being abandoned by their owners who left Cuba — or simply couldn't care for them anymore — the dogs were rescued by animal rights activists on the island, who fed them, sterilized them and found them a new home. Many others didn't have such luck and were left wandering the streets. While there are no official figures or estimates of how many pets have been left behind by their owners who leave the island, the number of abandoned cats and dogs has spiked in the last two years as Cubans migrate in record numbers, animal activists say. "We'd receive a phone call from someone asking us to care for their pets, because they're suddenly migrating and don't know what to do with them," said Elizabeth Meade, founder of Adoptions for Love, an animal shelter in Havana. Although the shelter found a home for some 300 rescued pets in the past year, many of those were returned — or simply went missing — after their new owners also decided to migrate. For these animals, said Meade, "it's not always a happy ending." Between October 2021 and September 2024, U.S. authorities reported more than 600,000 encounters with Cubans — a significant number for an island of roughly 10 million people. That is in addition to the thousands who choose to migrate to Spain or other Latin American countries. For many Cubans, taking their pets with them is not an option. Transporting an animal from Havana to Miami through a specialized agency can cost up to $1,200 — including medical examinations and the flight — and, since September, pet owners have to pay an additional $1,300 to comply with a legal obligation of a quarantine. For those who remain in Cuba, daily life is not easy: the country's gross domestic product fell by 2% in 2023, resulting in rampant inflation and food and fuel shortages. Caring for a pet on the island can be prohibitive for most Cubans. While the average monthly salary in the state sector — the largest employer — is about $21, a 20-kilo bag of imported dog food can cost up to $70 and a visit to the vet costs the equivalent of $10. The increase in the number of abandoned pets in Cuba has been largely countered by animal activism, a phenomenon that began to take shape in 2018 after the Internet was massively adopted and social media helped coordinate actions. In 2021, animal rights activists scored a win when the government passed a long-awaited animal welfare law, which seeks to prevent cruelty and raise awareness about the need to protect animals. The law also penalizes animal cruelty, including dogfights, and the sacrifice of animals for religious purposes but activists say it is not enough. "Abandonment is the worst form of animal abuse," said Leandro Valdés, a dog trainer and proud owner of Koffee, a rescued dog that has gone viral as he rides around Havana in the back of Valdés' motorcycle, wearing goggles and a seatbelt. "The increase in migration has resulted in more pets being abandoned," says Valdés, noting the "loss of values" that resulted from Cuba's deepening economic crisis.

BAKERSVILLE, North Carolina — Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Helene downed power lines and washed out roads all over North Carolina's mountains, the constant din of a gas-powered generator is getting to be too much for Bobby Renfro. It's difficult to hear the nurses, neighbors and volunteers flowing through the community resource hub he has set up in a former church for his neighbors in Tipton Hill, a crossroads in the Pisgah National Forest north of Asheville. Much worse is the cost: he spent $1,200 to buy it and thousands more on fuel that volunteers drive in from Tennessee. Turning off their only power source isn't an option. This generator runs a refrigerator holding insulin for neighbors with diabetes and powers the oxygen machines and nebulizers some of them need to breathe. The retired railroad worker worries that outsiders don't understand how desperate they are, marooned without power on hilltops and down in "hollers." "We have no resources for nothing," Renfro said. "It's going to be a long ordeal." More than 43,000 of the 1.5 million customers who lost power in western North Carolina still lacked electricity on Friday, according to Poweroutage.us. Without it, they can't keep medicines cold or power medical equipment or pump well water. They can't recharge their phones or apply for federal disaster aid. Crews from all over the country and even Canada are helping Duke Energy and local electric cooperatives with repairs, but it's slow going in the dense mountain forests, where some roads and bridges are completely washed away. "The crews aren't doing what they typically do, which is a repair effort. They're rebuilding from the ground up," said Kristie Aldridge, vice president of communications at North Carolina Electric Cooperatives. Residents who can get their hands on gas and diesel-powered generators are depending on them, but that is not easy. Fuel is expensive and can be a long drive away. Generator fumes pollute and can be deadly. Small home generators are designed to run for hours or days, not weeks and months. Now, more help is arriving. Renfro received a new power source this week, one that will be cleaner, quieter and free to operate. Volunteers with the nonprofit Footprint Project and a local solar installation company delivered a solar generator with six 245-watt solar panels, a 24-volt battery and an AC power inverter. The panels now rest on a grassy hill outside the community building. Renfro hopes his community can draw some comfort and security, "seeing and knowing that they have a little electricity." The Footprint Project is scaling up its response to this disaster with sustainable mobile infrastructure. It has deployed dozens of larger solar microgrids, solar generators and machines that can pull water from the air to 33 sites so far, along with dozens of smaller portable batteries. With donations from solar equipment and installation companies as well as equipment purchased through donated funds, the nonprofit is sourcing hundreds more small batteries and dozens of other larger systems and even industrial-scale solar generators known as "Dragon Wings." Will Heegaard and Jamie Swezey are the husband-and-wife team behind Project Footprint. Heegaard founded it in 2018 in New Orleans with a mission of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of emergency responses. Helene's destruction is so catastrophic, however, that Swezey said this work is more about supplementing generators than replacing them. "I've never seen anything like this," Swezey said as she stared at a whiteboard with scribbled lists of requests, volunteers and equipment. "It's all hands on deck with whatever you can use to power whatever you need to power." Down near the interstate in Mars Hill, a warehouse owner let Swezey and Heegaard set up operations and sleep inside. They rise each morning triaging emails and texts from all over the region. Requests for equipment range from individuals needing to power a home oxygen machine to makeshift clinics and community hubs distributing supplies. Local volunteers help. Hayden Wilson and Henry Kovacs, glassblowers from Asheville, arrived in a pickup truck and trailer to make deliveries this week. Two installers from the Asheville-based solar company Sundance Power Systems followed in a van. It took them more than an hour on winding roads to reach Bakersville, where the community hub Julie Wiggins runs in her driveway supports about 30 nearby families. It took many of her neighbors days to reach her, cutting their way out through fallen trees. Some were so desperate they stuck their insulin in the creek to keep it cold. Panels and a battery from Footprint Project now power her small fridge, a water pump and a Starlink communications system she set up. "This is a game changer," Wiggins said. The volunteers then drove to Renfro's hub in Tipton Hill before their last stop at a Bakersville church that has been running two generators. Other places are much harder to reach. Heegaard and Swezey even tried to figure out how many portable batteries a mule could carry up a mountain and have arranged for some to be lowered by helicopters. They know the stakes are high after Heegaard volunteered in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria's death toll rose to 3,000 as some mountain communities went without power for 11 months. Duke Energy crews also restored infrastructure in Puerto Rico and are using tactics learned there, like using helicopters to drop in new electric poles, utility spokesman Bill Norton said. The hardest customers to help could be people whose homes and businesses are too damaged to connect, and they are why the Footprint Project will stay in the area for as long as they are needed, Swezey said. "We know there are people who will need help long after the power comes back," she said. 

CORTEZ, Florida — Floridians recovering from Hurricane Milton, many of whom were journeying home after fleeing hundreds of miles to escape the storm, spent much of Saturday searching for gas as a fuel shortage gripped the state. In St. Petersburg, scores of people lined up at a station that had no gas, hoping it would arrive soon. Among them was Daniel Thornton and his 9-year-old daughter Magnolia, who arrived at the station at 7 a.m. and were still waiting four hours later. "They told me they have gas coming but they don't know when it's going to be here," he said. "I have no choice. I have to sit here all day with her until I get gas." Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Saturday morning that the state opened three fuel distribution sites and planned to open several more. Residents can get 37.85 liters each, free of charge, he said. "Obviously as power gets restored ... and the Port of Tampa is open, you're going to see the fuel flowing. But in the meantime, we want to give people another option," DeSantis said. Officials were replenishing area gas stations with the state's fuel stockpiles and provided generators to stations that remained without power. Disaster hits twice Those who reached home were assessing the damage and beginning the arduous cleaning process. Some, like Bill O'Connell, a board member at Bahia Vista Gulf in Venice, had thought they were done after the condo association hired companies to gut, treat and dry the units following Hurricane Helene. Milton undid that work and caused additional damage, O'Connell said. "It reflooded everything that was already flooded, brought all the sand back on our property that we removed," O'Connell said. "And also did some catastrophic wind damage, ripped off many roofs and blew out a lot of windows that caused more damage inside the units." The two hurricanes left a ruinous mess in the fishing village of Cortez, a community of 4,100 along the northern edge of Sarasota Bay. Residents of its modest, single-story wood and stucco-fronted cottages were working to remove broken furniture and tree limbs, stacking the debris in the street much like they did after Hurricane Helene. "Everything is shot," said Mark Praught, a retired street sweeper for Manatee County, who saw 1.2-meter storm surges during Helene. "We'll replace the electrical and the plumbing and go from there." Praught and his wife, Catherine, have lived for 36 years in a low-lying home that now looks like an empty shell. All the furniture had to be discarded, the walls and the brick and tile floors had to be scrubbed clean of muck, and drywall had to be ripped out. Catherine Praught said they felt "pure panic" when Hurricane Milton menaced Cortez so soon after Helene, forcing them to pause their cleanup and evacuate. Fortunately, their home wasn't damaged by the second storm. "This is where we live," Catherine Praught said. "We're just hopeful we get the insurance company to help us." In Bradenton Beach, Jen Hilliard scooped up wet sand mixed with rocks and tree roots and dumped the mixture into a wheelbarrow. "This was all grass," Hilliard said of the sandy mess beneath her feet. "They're going to have to make 500 trips of this." Hilliard, who moved to Florida six months ago and lives further inland, said she was happy to pitch in and help clean up her friend's home a block from the shore in Bradenton Beach. Furniture and household appliances sat outside alongside debris from interior drywall that was removed after Helene sent several feet of storm surge into the house. Inside, walls were gutted up to 1.2 meters, exposing the beams underneath. "You roll with the punches," she said. "Community is the best part, though. Everybody helping each other." Milton killed at least 10 people after it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, tearing across central Florida, flooding barrier islands and spawning deadly tornadoes. Officials say the toll could have been worse if not for the widespread evacuations. Overall, more than a thousand people had been rescued in the wake of the storm as of Saturday, DeSantis said. Property damage and economic costs in the billions On Sunday, President Joe Biden will survey the devastation inflicted on Florida's Gulf Coast by the hurricane. He said he hopes to connect with DeSantis during the visit. The trip offers Biden another opportunity to press Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to call lawmakers back to Washington to approve more funding during their preelection recess. It's something Johnson says he won't do. Biden is making the case that Congress needs to act now to ensure the Small Business Administration and FEMA have the money they need to get through hurricane season, which stretches through November in the Atlantic. DeSantis welcomed the federal government's approval of a disaster declaration announced Saturday and said he had gotten strong support from Biden. "He basically said, you know, you guys are doing a great job. We're here for you," he said when asked about his conversations with Biden. "We sent a big request and we got approved for what we wanted." Moody's Analytics on Saturday estimated economic costs from the storm will range from $50 billion to $85 billion, including upwards of $70 billion in property damage and an economic output loss of up to $15 billion. Safety threats remain, including rising rivers As the recovery continues, DeSantis has warned people to be cautious, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water. Some 1.3 million Floridians were still without power by Saturday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. National Weather Service Meteorologist Paul Close said rivers will "keep rising" for the next four or five days resulting in river flooding, mostly around Tampa Bay and northward. Those areas were hit by the most rain, which comes on top of a wet summer that included several earlier hurricanes. "You can't do much but wait," Close said of the rivers cresting. "At least there is no rain in the forecast, no substantial rain. So we have a break here from all our wet weather." 

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Almost eight decades after an atomic bomb devastated her hometown of Hiroshima, Teruko Yahata carries the scar on her forehead from when she was knocked over by the force of the blast. The U.S. bombs that laid waste to Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, and to Nagasaki three days later, changed the course of history and left Yahata and other survivors with deep scars and a sense of responsibility toward disarmament. The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to the Nihon Hidankyo group of atomic bomb survivors, for its work warning of the dangers of nuclear arms, has given survivors hope and highlighted their work still ahead, Yahata and others said. "It felt as if a light suddenly shone through. I felt like I could see the light," the 87-year-old said on Saturday, describing her reaction to hearing about the award. "This feels like the first step, the beginning of a movement toward nuclear abolition," she told Reuters at the site of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. She was just 8 years old and in the back garden of her home when the bomb hit. Although her house was 2.5 kilometers from the hypocenter, the blast was strong enough to throw her several meters back into her house, she said. Seventy-nine years later, and a day after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the survivors the prize, a long line formed outside the museum, with dozens of foreign and Japanese visitors queuing up to get in. A bridge leading into the memorial park was decorated with a yellow sheet and other handmade signs against nuclear weapons. Campaigners gathered signatures for nuclear abolition from those passing by. Nihon Hidankyo, formed in 1956, has provided thousands of witness accounts, issued resolutions and public appeals, sent delegations to the U.N. and peace conferences, and collected signatures advocating nuclear disarmament. Yahata, who is not a Nihon Hidankyo member, said it was that drive to gather signatures that finally paid off after bearing little fruit for most of a century. "It's this amount of sadness and joy that led them to this peace prize. I think it's something very meaningful," she said. Nihon Hidankyo's co-chair, Toshiyuki Mimaki, said he felt the award meant more responsibility, adding that most atomic bomb survivors were more than 85 years old. "Rather than feeling purely happy, I feel like I have more responsibility now," he told Reuters, sitting in a Hidankyo office in Hiroshima in front of a map showing the impact of the bomb on the city. In rural areas the group is on the verge of falling apart, the 82-year-old said. "The big challenge now is what to do going forward."

MACAO — Macao's former top judge, Sam Hou Fai, was chosen as the Chinese casino hub's next leader in a largely ceremonial election on Sunday, setting him up to become the city's first chief executive born in mainland China. Almost the entire election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists — 394 of 398 — voted for Sam, the sole candidate, in a departure from the long-standing custom of having chief executives who were born in the former Portuguese colony, typically from influential business families. The remaining four were blank votes. The shift in the city's leadership to someone from the legal profession is likely to create expectations of a declining influence from business circles, which critics have often accused of colluding with officials, analysts say. They anticipate Beijing's policy agenda for the city will take priority. Sam, 62, is widely seen to have Beijing's blessings. During the nomination period, he had already secured endorsements from 386 election committee members who voted in batches in a conference hall on Sunday. Influential figures among the 400-strong committee were Shun Tak Holdings' group executive chairperson Pansy Ho, daughter of late casino tycoon Stanley Ho, lawmaker Angela Leong, one of Ho's widows, and former chief executives Edmund Ho and Fernando Chui. Sam is expected to meet reporters later Sunday. Most of the territory's 687,000 residents lack voting rights, leading to mixed sentiments about the election. Some hope Sam will heed public opinion and avoid prioritizing business interests, while others feel disconnected from an election process they can't participate in. Still, political observers said many residents are comfortable with Sam's nonlocal origin in a city that has been home to migrants for decades. With Sam's victory guaranteed, the real challenges await in the governance hurdles that lie ahead. Macao is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Beijing has called for the city to diversify its gambling-reliant economy. Sam has promised to accelerate the current government's plan to boost tourism and other sectors such as traditional Chinese medicine, finance, exhibitions and commerce. However, the city will still need to rely on the gambling industry for government revenues to support the city's welfare and accomplish other goals laid out by Beijing, analysts say. China wants Macao to develop into a world-class tourism and leisure center and play a bigger role as a bridge for trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Small local businesses have been hurt by residents who spend money in the neighboring mainland city of Zhuhai, which offers a wider selection of items with good value for money. Chinese tourists are also now spending less than before. It remains to be seen whether Sam, with a lack of government leadership experience, can form a capable cabinet to tackle these pressing issues. Sam was born in neighboring Guangdong province in 1962. He graduated from the prestigious law school of Peking University in Beijing. He also studied the Portuguese language, culture and law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and once practiced law in mainland China. When Macao returned to Chinese rule in 1999, Sam was appointed the city's top judge, a role in which he served for nearly 25 years before resigning in August to participate in the election. He handled some politically sensitive cases, including rejecting an appeal of a police ban on a vigil commemorating China's bloody 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. His court also upheld a decision to bar pro-democracy figures from running in the 2021 legislative elections. 

washington — Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by Southeast Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday. A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said. "ASEAN presented this final draft and said that, essentially, this was a take-it-or-leave-it draft," the official said on condition of anonymity. The United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India all said they could support it, the official said, adding: "The Russians and the Chinese said that they could not and would not proceed with a statement." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference in Vientiane on Friday the final declaration had not been adopted because of "persistent attempts by the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to turn it into a purely political statement." China's Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. official said there were a couple of issues of contention, but the key one was how it referred to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), going further than in the previous 2023 EAS statement. However, the official said, "there was certainly no language that was getting into the nitty gritty of any particular standoff, no language that was favoring any claimant over any other." China claims nearly all of the South China Sea and has stepped up pressure on rival claimants, including several ASEAN countries, notably the Philippines. ASEAN has spent years negotiating a Code of Conduct with Beijing for the strategic waterway, with some ASEAN states insisting it be based on UNCLOS. China says it backs a code but does not recognize a 2016 arbitral ruling that said its claim to most of the South China Sea had no basis under UNCLOS, to which Beijing is a signatory. According to a draft seen by Reuters, the proposed EAS statement contained an extra sub-clause over the 2023 approved statement, and this was not agreed to. It noted a 2023 U.N. resolution saying that UNCLOS "sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out." Another sub-clause not agreed said the international environment, including "in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar, Ukraine and the Middle East ... present challenges for the region." Chinese Premier Li Qiang told the summit Beijing was committed to UNCLOS and striving for an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct, while stressing its claims have solid historical and legal grounds. "Relevant countries outside the region should respect and support the joint efforts of China and regional countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and truly play a constructive role for peace and stability in the region," he said.

paris — A 22-year-old Afghan was indicted and imprisoned in France on Saturday, accused of supporting the ideology of the Islamic State (IS) and of having "fomented" a "plan for violent action" in a football stadium or a shopping center. His arrest, which took place Tuesday in Haute-Garonne, has "links" with the arrest of an Afghan living in the United States and charged Wednesday with planning an attack on the day of the U.S. elections, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor's office (PNAT) said, confirming a source close to the case questioned by AFP. This 27-year-old Afghan, living in the southern U.S. state of Oklahoma, was in contact on the Telegram messaging service with a person identified by the FBI as an IS recruiter, according to American judicial authorities. According to the source close to the case, during their investigations, the American authorities transmitted information to the French authorities, triggering the opening of an investigation in Paris and leading to three arrests. On Tuesday morning in the southwest of France, three men, aged 20 to 31, two of whom are brothers, were arrested in Toulouse and Fronton by investigators from the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), supported by the RAID, the police intervention unit, as part of a preliminary investigation opened on September 27 for "terrorist criminal association with a view to preparing one or more crimes against persons." "The investigations carried out have highlighted the existence of a plan for violent action targeting people in a football stadium or a shopping center fomented by one of them, aged 22, of Afghan nationality and holder of a resident card, several elements of which also establish radicalization and adherence to the ideology of the Islamic State," the PNAT told AFP on Saturday. His lawyer, Emanuel de Dinechin, did not wish to comment at this stage. In accordance with the PNAT requisitions, he was charged with terrorist criminal association by an investigating judge, then placed in provisional detention. According to a source close to the case, this young man comes from the Tajik community in Afghanistan and his project, which he reportedly spoke about on Telegram, remained rather vague and unfinished. According to another source close to the investigation, he has been living in France for around three years. The other two men were released after their police custody. Reconfiguration The last arrests for a plan for violent action in France date back to the end of July. Two young men, aged 18 and originally from Gironde in the southwest, were indicted on July 27, suspected of having created a group on social networks "intended to recruit" people "motivated (to) perpetrate a violent action" during the Paris Olympic Games. Three attacks were foiled during the Olympic period, according to the authorities. In addition to the two young people from Gironde, one of the plans targeted establishments, including bars, around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne (southeast), and the other came from a group that had planned attacks against institutions and representatives of Israel in Paris. Five people have been charged, including a minor teenager, in these cases. The "jihadist threat represents 80% of the procedures" initiated by the PNAT, anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen recalled in mid-September. "In the first half of 2024, there were approximately three times more procedures" of this type than in the same period in 2023, he added. According to him, this increase is explained by the "geopolitical context," but also by "the reconfiguration, particularly in Afghanistan" of the Islamic State group. In September, two attacks by the Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) group, the regional branch of IS in Afghanistan, killed around 20 people in that country. The deadliest attack by ISIS left 145 dead in March at a concert hall in Moscow.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuanians elect a new parliament Sunday in a vote dominated by concerns over the cost of living and potential threats from neighboring Russia, with the opposition Social Democrats tipped to emerge as the largest party but well short of a majority. The outgoing center-right coalition of Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has seen its popularity eroded by high inflation that topped 20% two years ago, by deteriorating public services and a widening gap between rich and poor. Polling stations open at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and close at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT). Results are expected after midnight local time. Opinion polls suggest Simonyte's Homeland Union will win just 9%, behind the Social Democrats at 18% and the anti-establishment Nemunas Dawn at 12%, though the eventual shape of a future coalition will depend on how smaller parties perform. The Baltic state of 2.9 million people has a hybrid voting system in which half of the parliament is elected by popular vote, with a 5% threshold needed to win seats. The other half is chosen on a district basis, a process which favors the larger parties. If no candidate gets over 50% of the vote in a district, its top two candidates face each other in a run-off on October 27. Domestic issues have loomed large in the election campaign, with the Social Democrats vowing to tackle increased inequality by raising taxes on wealthier Lithuanians to help fund more spending on healthcare and social spending. But national security is also a major concern in Lithuania, which is part of the eastern flank of NATO and the European Union and shares a border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad as well as with Belarus, a close Moscow ally. Three quarters of Lithuanians believe that Russia could attack their country in the near future, a Baltijos Tyrimai/ELTA poll found in May. The main parties strongly support Ukraine in its war with invading Russian forces and back increased defense spending.

KILIFI, Kenya — Dozens rallied against a proposal to build Kenya's first nuclear power plant in one of the country's top coastal tourist hubs which also houses a forest on the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage site.  Kilifi County is renowned for its pristine sandy beaches where hotels and beach bars line the 165-mile-long coast and visitors boat and snorkel around coral reefs or bird watch in Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve, a significant natural habitat for the conservation of rare and endangered species, according to the United Nations organization.  The project, proposed last year, is set to be built in the town of Kilifi — about 522 kilometers (324 miles) southeast of the capital, Nairobi. Many residents have openly opposed the proposal, worried about what they say are the negative effects of the project on people and the environment, leading to a string of protesters which at times turned violent.  Muslim for Human Rights (MUHURI) led the march Friday in Kilifi to the county governor's office where they handed him a petition opposing the construction of the plant.  Some chanted anti-nuclear slogans while others carried placards with "Sitaki nuclear," Swahili for "I don't want nuclear."  The construction of the 1,000MW nuclear plant is set to begin in 2027 and be operational by 2034, with a cost of 500 billion Kenyan shillings ($3.8 billion).  Francis Auma, a MUHURI activist, told the Associated Press that the negative effects of the nuclear plant outweigh its benefits.  "We say that this project has a lot of negative effects; there will be malformed children born out of this place, fish will die, and our forest Arabuko Sokoke, known to harbor the birds from abroad, will be lost," Auma said during Friday's protests.  Juma Sulubu, a resident who was beaten by the police during a previous demonstration, attended Friday's march and said: "Even if you kill us, just kill us, but we do not want a nuclear power plant in our Uyombo community."  Timothy Nyawa, a fisherman, participated in the rally out of fear that a nuclear power plant would kill fish and, in turn, his source of income. "If they set up a nuclear plant here, the fish breeding sites will all be destroyed."  Phyllis Omido, the executive director at the Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action, who also attended the march, said Kenya's eastern coastal towns depended on eco-tourism as the main source of income and a nuclear plant would threaten their livelihoods.  "We host the only East African coastal forest, we host the Watamu marine park, we host the largest mangrove plantation in Kenya. We do not want nuclear (energy) to mess up our ecosystem," she said.  Her center filed a petition in Nov. 2023 in parliament calling for an inquiry and claiming that locals had limited information on the proposed plant and the criteria for selecting preferred sites. It also raised concerns over the risks to health, the environment and tourism in the event of a nuclear spill, saying the country was undertaking a "high-risk venture" without proper legal and disaster response measures in place. The petition also expressed unease over security and the handling of radioactive waste in a country prone to floods and drought.  The Senate suspended the inquiry until a lawsuit two lawyers filed in July seeking to stop the plant's construction, claiming public participation meetings were rushed and urging the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (Nupea) not to start the project, was heard.  Nupea said construction would not begin for years and environmental laws were under consideration, adding that adequate public participation was carried out.  The nuclear agency also published an impact assessment report last year that recommended policies be put in place to ensure environmental protections, including detailed plans for the handling of radioactive waste, measures to mitigate environmental harm, such as setting up a nuclear unit in the national environment management authority, and emergency response teams. 

hanoi, vietnam — Vietnam and China agreed on Saturday to boost defense and security cooperation despite their years-long maritime dispute in the South China Sea, said the Vietnamese government. China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and a vital source of imports for its manufacturing sector.  The two countries on Saturday also agreed to boost economic ties, with China pledging to further open its market for Vietnamese farm produce while Vietnam would facilitate Chinese investment, the government added in a statement.  It said the two countries will prioritize cooperation in developing railway links.    The statement came after Chinese premier Li Qiang met Vietnamese President To Lam in Hanoi late on Saturday, as Li began his three-day state visit to Vietnam.  Sources told Reuters on Friday that China and Vietnam are expected to sign new agreements — including pacts to boost railway links and agricultural trade — during the visit.  Li is expected to meet Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and attend a business forum in Hanoi on Sunday.  Early this month, Vietnam protested to China over what it said was an attack on a Vietnamese fishing boat in contested South China Sea waters that injured several fishermen. 

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Thirteen pregnant Philippine women accused of illegally acting as surrogate mothers in Cambodia after being recruited online could face prison terms after giving birth, a senior Interior Ministry official said Saturday.  Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng, who leads the country's fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation, said police found 24 foreign women, 20 Philippine and four Vietnamese, when they raided a villa in Kandal province, near the capital of Phnom Penh, on September 23.  Thirteen of the Philippine women were found to be pregnant and were charged in court on October 1 under a provision in the law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, she said.  The law was updated in 2016 to ban commercial surrogacy after Cambodia became a popular destination for foreigners seeking women to give birth to their children.  Developing countries have been popular for surrogacy because costs are much lower than in countries such as the United States and Australia, where surrogate services could cost around $150,000.  The surrogacy business boomed in Cambodia after it was put under tight restrictions in neighboring Thailand, as well as in India and Nepal.  In July 2017, a Cambodian court sentenced an Australian woman and two Cambodian associates to 1 1/2 years in prison for providing commercial surrogacy services.  The new case is unusual because surrogates normally are employed in their own countries, not transported elsewhere.  Cambodia already has a bad reputation for human trafficking, especially in connection with online scams in which foreigners recruited for work under false pretenses are kept in conditions of virtual slavery and help perpetrate criminal fraud online against targets in many countries.  Details of the new surrogacy case remain murky, and officials have not made clear whether the women were arrested or whether anyone involved in organizing the scheme has been identified.  Chou Bun Eng told The Associated Press that the business that recruited the surrogates was based in Thailand, and their food and accommodation in Cambodia were arranged from there. She said the authorities had not yet identified the business.  She said the seven Philippine women and four Vietnamese women who were caught in the raid but who were not pregnant would be deported soon.  The 13 pregnant women have been placed under care at a hospital in Phnom Penh, said Chou Bun Eng. She added that after they give birth, they could be prosecuted on charges that could land them in prison for two to five years.  She said that Cambodia considered the women not to have been victimized but rather offenders who conspired with the organizers to act as surrogates and then sell the babies for money. Her assertion could not be verified, as the women could not be contacted, and it is not known if they have lawyers.  The Philippine Embassy in Cambodia, in response to a local news account of the affair, issued a statement Wednesday confirming most of the details related to what it called the "rescue of 20 Filipino women."  "The Philippine Embassy ensured that all 20 Filipinos were interviewed in the presence of an Embassy representative and an interpreter in every step of the investigation process," it said. 

washington — The Federal Aviation Administration approved a license Saturday for the launch of SpaceX's Starship 5 on Sunday after earlier saying it did not expect to make a decision until late November. Reuters first reported this week the faster than expected timetable after the FAA in September had suggested a much longer review.  SpaceX is targeting Sunday for the launch and said a 30-minute launch window opens at 7 a.m. CT (1200 GMT)  The FAA said Saturday that SpaceX had "met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight" for the fifth test of the Starship and has also approved the Starship 6 mission profile.  The Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket are fully reusable systems designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon and beyond.  The fifth test flight of the Starship/Super Heavy from Boca Chica, Texas, includes a return to the launch site of the Super Heavy booster rocket for a catch attempt by the launch tower, and a water landing of the Starship vehicle in the Indian Ocean west of Australia.  The FAA said if SpaceX chooses an uncontrolled entry "it must communicate that decision to the FAA prior to launch, the loss of the Starship vehicle will be considered a planned event, and a mishap investigation will not be required."  On Friday, the FAA approved the return to flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle after it reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred September 28.  SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has harshly criticized the FAA, including for proposing a $633,000 fine against SpaceX over launch issues and for the delay in approving the license for Starship 5, which the company said has been ready to launch since August. Musk has called for the resignation of FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker and threatened to sue the agency.