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Islamabad — The United Nations expressed "a great deal of sorrow" Friday over the continued ban on girls’ secondary school education in Taliban-led Afghanistan as the world body marked the International Day of the Girl Child.  Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, renewed her appeal to Taliban leaders to "change course" by lifting the restrictions. She lamented that over 1,100 days have passed since the de facto Afghan authorities imposed the ban on educating girls over the age of 12.   “This is more than three years of lost opportunity – not just for millions of girls, but for families, communities, and the entire country,” Otunbayeva stated.   ”As each day passes, even greater damage is being done to the lives of women and girls. Afghanistan is being taken backwards, not forwards, in its quest for peace, recovery, and prosperity,” the U.N. envoy added.   Otunbayeva pledged that her organization will continue to advocate for Afghan women and girls, even in the face of attempts to silence them.  The Taliban have enforced their strict interpretation of Islamic law since regaining control of the impoverished country in 2021.   Girls ages 12 and older are barred from attending school, making Afghanistan the only country with that restriction. Female students have been prohibited from attending universities, and most Afghan women are banned from working in both public and private sectors, including the U.N. They are also forbidden from visiting public places such as parks and gyms.  Islamist leaders enacted contentious “vice and virtue” laws last month, which solidified existing restrictions on women’s freedoms and deemed the sound of a female’s voice in public as a moral violation.   The decree requires women to cover their entire bodies and faces when outdoors and forbids them from looking at men to whom they are not related and vice versa, sparking a global outcry and calls for reversing the curbs.   The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, defends its policies as being aligned with Sharia and Afghan customs, rejecting international criticism as an interference in the internal affairs of the country.   The United Nations recognizes October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child to acknowledge girls' rights and the challenges they face worldwide.  

This month, [October 8] the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History opened "NASA’s Earth Information Center" an exhibition that gives visitors a firsthand look at the forces shaping our planet. Andrei Dziarkach has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Artem Kohan

Taipei, Taiwan — Four people working for Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn in China have been detained, Taipei said Friday, describing the circumstances as "quite strange".  The employees were detained by public security in the central city of Zhengzhou for the equivalent of "breach of trust" under Taiwan law, Taipei's top China policy body, the Mainland Affairs Council, said in a statement to AFP.  "The circumstances surrounding this case are quite strange," the council said.  Foxconn "has declared the company suffered no losses, and the four employees did not harm the company's interests in any way," it said, without providing details about when they were detained or their roles.  Foxconn, also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer and assembles devices for major tech companies, including Apple.  Most of its factories are in China, including Zhengzhou, which is dubbed "iPhone City" as the home of the world's biggest factory for the smartphone.  The Straits Exchange Foundation, a semi-official body in Taiwan handling people and business exchanges with China, told AFP the four detainees were Taiwanese.  The case "may involve corruption and abuse of power by a small number of public security officials, which has severely damaged business confidence," the Mainland Affairs Council said.  "We urge the relevant authorities across the strait to investigate and address the matter promptly."  A Foxconn spokesman declined to comment when contacted by AFP. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she was "not aware of the specific situation".  China and Taiwan have been locked in a decades-long dispute, with Beijing claiming the self-ruled island as part of its territory, which the Taipei government rejects.  Many Taiwanese companies set up factories in China over the past four decades, taking advantage of the shared language and cheaper operating costs, but investment has fallen sharply in recent years over regional tech disputes.   

VIENTIANE, LAOS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Friday warned China against military provocations toward Taiwan, following Beijing's strong reaction to an annual speech by the leader of the self-ruled democracy. “I can tell you that with regard to the so-called Ten Ten speech, which is a regular exercise, China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters during a press conference in Vientiane, Laos.  He was referring to October 10, known as Double Ten Day, when Taiwan celebrates the founding of the Republic of China in 1912, just months after an uprising that began on October 10, 1911. The People's Republic of China celebrates its national day on October 1, marking the founding of the country in 1949.  China has continued to ramp up its military threats against Taiwan, following President Lai Ching-te's Thursday speech, which rejected China’s claim of sovereignty over the island. Blinken was in Vientiane for meetings with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and participated in the East Asia Summit.  He said there is a strong desire among all ASEAN countries, along with others present, to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, with neither side taking actions that undermine the status quo. Earlier on Friday, Taiwan detected 20 Chinese military aircraft and 10 naval vessels around Taiwan. Thirteen of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern and southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone, according to a posting on social media platform X by Taiwan’s defense ministry. Between Wednesday and Thursday, Taiwan also detected 27 Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels, and five official ships. In Beijing, Chinese officials said Taiwan “has no so-called sovereignty.” Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, slammed Lai, accusing him of having "the ill intention of heightening tensions in the Taiwan Strait for his selfish political interest.” Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong's communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang nationalists in a civil war, prompting the nationalists' relocation to the island. Washington switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing to counter the then-Soviet Union in 1979.   Since then, relations between the U.S. and Taiwan have been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act that Congress passed in April 1979, under which the U.S. provides defense equipment to Taiwan.   In September, Taiwan President Lai said if China’s claims over Taiwan are truly based on concerns about territorial integrity, it should also seek to reclaim the 600,000 square kilometers of land it ceded to Russia in the 19th century — an area almost the size of Ukraine.

NEW DELHI — The half-brother of Ratan Tata was appointed on Friday as the head of the powerful and influential philanthropic arm of India's Tata group, giving him indirect control of the $165 billion conglomerate.   Tata Trusts said Noel Tata, 67, will be its new chairman after the death this week of Ratan Tata, one of India's best-known corporate titans.   The decision followed "many old-timers" in the group wanting him to lead the venture, said one Tata executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.   The parent company, Tata Sons, oversees 30 firms across consumer goods, hotels, automobiles and airlines and has become a global juggernaut over the years, with brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea in its stable.   It owns Tata Consultancy Services, Taj Hotels and Air India and counts Starbucks SBUX.O and Airbus as partners in India.   Tata Trusts has a 66% ownership of Tata Sons, giving it power over big investment, philanthropic and strategic decisions by the conglomerate, company executives say.   Noel Tata, who is half-French, was already among the many trustees of the philanthropic arm, and also chairman of Tata's retail fashion brand Trent as well as vice chairman of Tata Steel TISC.NS.   The trust earns dividends from Tata Sons but has no direct say over its operations. However, it appoints a third of the directors to Tata Sons who have veto power over board decisions.   The chairman of Tata Trusts "is powerful enough to decide board and key personnel" appointments at Tata Sons, a second senior company executive said.   While Tata Sons is not compelled to seek advice or guidance from the philanthropic arm, it's an "unsaid understanding" that there is consultation between leadership on both sides, the first executive added.    Noel’s journey    The Tata group was set up in 1868 by Ratan's great grandfather, Jamsetji Tata.    A few years later, Jamsetji started charity work that has since expanded to sectors such as healthcare and sports, through many of the trusts in the philanthropic arm.   Ratan Tata started working at the family firm in 1962 and became the chairman of Tata Sons in 1991, taking the group to new heights while gaining a reputation as an extremely shy, soft-spoken executive with sharp business acumen.   Noel Tata is a graduate of Sussex University who has been associated with the group for more than 40 years. He serves on the board of various Tata companies.   As a previous managing director of Tata International, Noel grew the turnover of the trading arm to more than $3 billion from $500 million, a Tata Group website said.   The Tatas belong to the tiny Parsi community, which has included some of India's biggest business names, top nuclear scientists, world-class musicians and senior military officers.   Parsis follow the Zoroastrian faith, an ancient pre-Islamic religion of Iran. Some of its tenets, such as charity and doing good to others, have long been woven into the Tata heritage and business ethos.    Much of the dividend paid out by Tata Sons gets funneled into charitable trusts involved in philanthropic work.    Although the trusts' influence over the group is not often on display, the starkest such example was in 2016, when Ratan Tata had a falling out with Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry that led to the latter's ouster.   Mistry, another Parsi billionaire whose family owns a stake of about 18% in Tata Sons, died in a car accident in 2022.   One of his former advisers told Reuters this week that the Tata Trusts "without a doubt" exert unparalleled power over Tata Sons' functions, adding that they "work behind a veil."    Noel is an Irish citizen married to Mistry's sister. 

STOCKHOLM — Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who are also known as Hibakusha, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.   Below are some facts about the background and efforts of the movement.   Atomic bombing of Japan    In 1945 the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to bring an end to World War II and avoid a hugely costly invasion of the Japanese home islands.   The two bombs killed an estimated 120,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while many thousands more died of burns and radiation injuries in the following years. The two atomic bombs remain the only nuclear weapons used in war.   Local associations     The fates of those who survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were long concealed and neglected, especially in the initial years after the end of the war.   Local Hibakusha associations, along with victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific, formed the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations in 1956.    The organisation, whose name was shortened in Japanese to Nihon Hidankyo, would become the largest and most influential Hibakusha organisation in Japan.    Witness accounts   Through the years, Nihon Hidankyo has provided thousands of witness accounts relating the experience of the nuclear bombs. It has issued resolutions and public appeals, and sent annual delegations to bodies such as the United Nations and peace conferences to advocate nuclear disarmament.    The movement has helped drive global opposition to nuclear weapons through the force of the survivors' testimonies while also creating educational campaigns and issuing stark warnings about the spread and use of nuclear arms.   Future   With each passing year, the number of survivors from the two nuclear blasts in Japan nearly 80 years ago grows smaller.   But the grassroots movement has played a part creating a culture of remembrance, allowing for new generations of Japanese to carry on the work.   Source: The Norwegian Nobel Committee      

kyiv, Ukraine — A Russian missile slammed into a commercial building in Ukraine's southern Odesa region overnight, killing four people including a 16-year-old girl, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Friday. It was the fourth Russian attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa and the nearby region in the last five days. Kiper said a day of mourning had been announced for Friday in the region to remember people killed in a Russian drone attack on October 9. "In two days Russian terrorists killed 13 civilian people in the Odesa region and most of them are youth," Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app. The ability to maintain exports through the Black Sea ports is vital for the Ukrainian economy which has been hit hard by Russia's war in Ukraine. The Prosecutor General's office said Russian forces had struck civilian infrastructure with a ballistic Iskander missile at about 22:35 (19:35 GMT) on Thursday night. A two-story commercial building hosting food production facilities where civilians worked was hit and 10 more people were wounded, officials said. Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said the Russian attacks targeted civilian infrastructure and strived to create impossible living conditions for millions of Ukrainians. The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 29 out of 66 Russian drones launched at Ukraine overnight. Moscow also fired two missiles, it said, and 31 drones were "locationally lost," an apparent reference to electronic warfare, while two drones returned towards Russian territory. Zelenskyy meets foreign leaders The new wave of strikes on Ukrainian Black Sea ports has coincided with visits by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week to meet leaders in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin to discuss his proposed "victory plan." There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the strike on Odesa. Russia, which invaded in February 2022, denies targeting civilians. It says it targets only military infrastructure and other military targets although towns and cities across Ukraine have been struck repeatedly. A Russian missile hit a Palau-flagged vessel in Odesa port Monday, while on Sunday, another Russian missile damaged a civilian Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged vessel loaded with corn in the port of Pivdennyi. Ukrainian officials said Russia had carried out almost 60 attacks on ports over the past three months, resulting in the damage and destruction of almost 300 port infrastructure facilities, 177 vehicles and 22 civilian vessels. "They are trying from all sides to suppress our intentions to develop, maintain our economy," Kiper said.

YAOUNDE, cameroon — Cameroon has outlawed any discussion about the health of 91-year-old President Paul Biya, a letter shared by the interior ministry said, after Biya's prolonged absence fueled widespread speculation he was unwell. Earlier this week, the authorities put out statements saying the president was on a private visit to Geneva and in good health, dismissing reports he had fallen ill as "pure fantasy." In the letter to regional governors dated October 9, Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji said discussing the president's health was a matter of national security. From now on, "any debate in the media about the president's condition is therefore strictly prohibited. Offenders will face the full force of the law," Nji said. He ordered the governors to set up units to monitor broadcasts on private media channels, as well as social networks. Cocoa and oil-producing Cameroon, which has had just two presidents since independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s, is likely to face a messy succession crisis if Biya became too ill to remain in office or died. Cameroon’s media regulator, the National Communication Council, could not immediately be reached for comment. The move faced criticism as an act of state censorship. "The president is elected by Cameroonians and it's just normal that they worry about his whereabouts," said Hycenth Chia, a Yaounde-based journalist and talk show host on privately owned television Canal2 International. "We see liberal discussions on the health of Joe Biden and other world leaders, but here it is a taboo," he told Reuters. Press freedom advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists said it was gravely concerned. "Trying to hide behind national security on such a major issue of national importance is outrageous," said Angela Quintal, head of the CPJ's Africa Program. Biya has not been seen in public since attending a China-Africa forum in Beijing in early September. His failure to appear as scheduled at a summit in France last weekend further stoked public discussion about his health. 

ROME — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was city-hopping across Europe on Thursday to promote a "victory plan" that he said "aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war" against Russia, detailing the proposals to European allies after a summit with President Joe Biden was derailed by Hurricane Milton. Zelenskyy's talks in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte were quickly followed by another meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who just the previous day sent a strong signal of support for Ukraine by visiting Ukrainian troops being trained in France. Zelenskyy posted on X that he "outlined the details" of the Ukrainian victory plan to Starmer and added: "We have agreed to work on it together with our allies." Starmer's Downing Street office said the leaders discussed the blueprint, the challenges for Ukraine of the approaching winter and "how investment in the country's security today would support Europe's broader security for generations to come." The Ukrainian leader also met Rutte with Starmer. Zelenskyy posted afterward that they discussed trans-Atlantic cooperation and further reinforcing Ukraine militarily. He gave no details but posted that "these are the steps that will create the best conditions for restoring a just peace." Zelenskyy has yet to publicly present his proposals for victory. But the timing of his efforts to lock in European support appeared to have the looming U.S. election in mind. Former President Donald Trump has long been critical of U.S. aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy had planned to present his blueprint at a weekend meeting of Western leaders in Germany, but it was postponed after Biden stayed home because of the hurricane that struck Florida. Zelenskyy then embarked on his whistle-stop tour of European capitals that have been among Ukraine's staunchest allies outside of the United States. In Paris, Macron and Zelenskyy hugged before talks on the plan at the French presidential Elysee Palace. Afterward, Zelenskyy said "all the details" would come in November and that he's talking with allies about securing more military aid and permission for Ukrainian forces to carry out long-range strikes. Kyiv wants Western partners to allow strikes deep inside Russia, using long-range weapons they provide. Some, including the U.K. and France, appear willing, but Biden is reticent about escalating the conflict. "The situation looks bleak for all sides," Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said Thursday on X. "The West hesitates amid internal divisions, Ukraine struggles while bracing for a harsh winter, and Russia presses forward without any strategic shifts in its favor, yet grows increasingly impatient." Later Thursday, Zelenskyy met in Rome with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who ensured Italy's full and continued support "at both bilateral and multilateral level in order to put Kyiv in the best position possible to build a just and lasting peace." Meloni said the meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the situation on the ground and Ukraine's "most immediate military, financial and humanitarian needs, as well as the forthcoming diplomatic initiatives and the pathway to bring an end to the conflict." She added that Rome will continue to do its part also in the future reconstruction of Ukraine and announced the dates for the next Ukraine recovery conference, which will be held in Rome in July 2025. Zelenskyy stressed that his priority is to strengthen Ukraine's position, with the help of its international partners, to create the necessary conditions for diplomacy. "Russia is not really looking for a diplomatic path," he said. "If we are able to implement the victory plan, Russia won't be able to continue the war." Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet Pope Francis Friday morning for a half-hour audience, the Vatican said. Later in the day, he'll meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. Ukraine relies heavily on Western support, including tens of billions of dollars' worth of military and financial aid, to keep up the fight against its bigger enemy after almost 1,000 days of fighting since the full-scale Russian invasion began in 2022. Fearing that crucial help could be in jeopardy due to political changes in donor countries, Ukraine has been building up its domestic arms industry. It also wants to raise more money from taxpayers to pay for the war effort. The Ukrainian parliament passed a bill on second reading Thursday that raises the so-called military tax from 1.5% to 5%. Some amendments are expected before it becomes law. Zelenskyy's tour comes as Russia continues a slow but relentless drive deeper into Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region and targets key infrastructure with airstrikes. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that the victory plan seeks to strengthen Ukraine "both geopolitically and on the battlefield" before any kind of dialogue with Russia. "Weakness of any of our allies will inspire (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," he said. "That's why we're asking them to strengthen us, in terms of security guarantees, in terms of weapons, in terms of our future after this war. In my view, he (Putin) only understands force." The death toll from a Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukraine's southern city of Odesa rose Thursday to eight, regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said. It was the latest in a string of assaults on the Black Sea port. Authorities in Kyiv also announced Thursday that Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna died while being in Russian captivity, although the circumstances of her death remained unknown. Moscow admitted detaining Roshchyna, who went missing in 2023 while on a reporting trip to Russia-occupied areas.

WASHINGTON — The United States still believes that Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon despite Tehran's recent strategic setbacks, including Israel's killing of Hezbollah leaders and two largely unsuccessful attempts to attack Israel, two U.S. officials told Reuters. The comments from a senior Biden administration official and a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) added to public remarks earlier this week by CIA Director William Burns, who said the United States had not seen any evidence Iran's leader had reversed his 2003 decision to suspend the weaponization program. "We assess that the Supreme Leader has not made a decision to resume the nuclear weapons program that Iran suspended in 2003," said the ODNI spokesperson, referring to Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The intelligence assessment could help explain U.S. opposition to any Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program in retaliation for a ballistic missile attack that Tehran carried out last week. U.S. President Joe Biden said after that attack he would not support an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites, but did not explain why he had reached that conclusion. His remarks drew fierce criticism from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump. U.S. officials have long acknowledged that an attempt to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program might only delay the country's efforts to develop a nuclear bomb and could even strengthen Tehran's resolve to do so. "We're all watching this space very carefully," the Biden administration official said. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment but Tehran has repeatedly denied ever having had a nuclear weapons program. Key Iran ally weakened In the past weeks, Israel's military has inflicted heavy losses on Hezbollah, the most powerful member of the Iran-backed network known as the Axis of Resistance. The group's setbacks have included the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month. The weakening of a key Iranian ally has prompted some experts to speculate that Tehran may restart its efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb to protect itself. Beth Sanner, a former U.S deputy director of national intelligence, said the risk of Khamenei reversing his 2003 religious dictum against nuclear weapons is "higher now than it has been" and that if Israel were to strike nuclear facilities Tehran would likely move ahead with building a nuclear weapon. That would still take time, however. "They can't get a weapon in a day. It will take months and months and months," said Sanner, now a fellow with the German Marshall Fund. Iran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, close to the 90% of weapons grade, at two sites, and in theory it has enough material enriched to that level, if enriched further, for almost four bombs, according to a yardstick of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. watchdog. The expansion in Iran's enrichment program has reduced the so-called breakout time it would need to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb to "a week or a little more," according to Burns, from more than a year under a 2015 accord that Trump pulled out of when president. Actually making a bomb with that material would take longer. How long is less clear and the subject of debate. Possible Israeli attack Israel has not yet disclosed what it will target in retaliation for Iran's attack last week with more than 180 ballistic missiles, which largely failed thanks to interceptions by Israeli air defenses as well as by the U.S. military. The United States has been privately urging Israel to calibrate its response to avoid triggering a broader war in the Middle East, officials say, with Biden publicly voicing his opposition to a nuclear attack and concerns about a strike on Iran's energy infrastructure. Israel, however, views Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat. The conflicts in the Middle East between Israel and Iran and Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen have become campaign issues ahead of the November 5 presidential election, with Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, positioning themselves as pro-Israel. Speaking at a campaign event last week, Trump mocked Biden for opposing an attack on Iran's nuclear sites, saying: "That's the thing you wanna hit, right?" Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence officer and government official, said Iran still had space to compensate for setbacks dealt to its proxies and missile force without having to resort to developing a nuclear warhead. "The Iranians have to recalculate what's next. I don't think at this point they will rush to either develop or boost the (nuclear) program toward military capacity," he said. "They will look around to find what maneuvering space they can move around in."

seoul, south korea — South Koreans flocked to bookstores Friday and crashed websites in a frenzy to snap up copies of the work of novelist Han Kang in her home country, after her unexpected win of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. However, the author herself was keeping out of the limelight. The country's largest bookstore chain, Kyobo Book Centre, said sales of her books had rocketed on Friday, with stocks almost immediately selling out and set to be in short supply for the near future. "This is the first time a Korean has received a Nobel Prize in Literature, so I was amazed," said Yoon Ki-heon, a 32-year-old visitor at a bookstore in central Seoul. "South Korea had a poor achievement in winning Nobel Prizes, so I was surprised by news that (a writer of) non-English books, which were written in Korean, won such a big prize." Soon after Thursday's announcement, some bookstore websites could not be accessed due to heavy traffic. Out of the current 10 bestsellers at Kyobo, nine were Han's books on Friday morning, according to its website. Han's father, well-regarded author Han Seung-won, said the translation of her novel The Vegetarian, her major international breakthrough, had led to her winning the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 and now the Nobel prize. "My daughter's writing is very delicate, beautiful and sad," Han Seung-won said. "So, how you translate that sad sentence into a foreign language will determine whether you win ... It seems the translator was the right person to translate the unique flavor of Korean language." Han's other books address painful chapters of South Korean history, including Human Acts which examines the 1980 massacre of hundreds of civilians by the South Korean military in the city of Gwangju. Another novel, We Do Not Part, looks at the fallout of the 1948-54 massacre on Jeju island, when an estimated 10% of the island's population were killed in an anti-communist purge. "I really hope souls of the victims and survivors could be healed from pain and trauma through her book," said Kim Chang-beom, head of an association for the bereaved families of the Jeju massacre. Park Gang-bae, a director at a foundation that honors the victims and supports the bereaved families and survivors of the Gwangju massacre, said he was "jubilant and moved " by her win. "The protagonists in her book (Human Acts) are people we meet and live with every day, on every corner here, so this is deeply moving," Park said. Han's father told reporters on Friday that she may continue to shun the limelight after giving no separate comments or interviews and eschewing media scrutiny since Thursday's win. "She said given the fierce Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine wars and people dying every day, how could she celebrate and hold a joyous press conference?" her father said. Han Kang received the news of her win about 10 to 15 minutes before the announcement, her father said, and was so surprised that she thought it might be a scam at one point.

QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday, drawing condemnation from authorities who have ordered police to trace and arrest those who are behind the killings. It’s the latest attack in restive Balochistan province and comes days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital. Police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire. Most of the men were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but the suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which often targets civilians and security forces. The group committed multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50 people, while authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province. Those killed included 23 passengers, mostly from eastern Punjab province, who were fatally shot after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail district in Baluchistan. The latest attack drew a strong condemnation from Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan, who said the "terrorists have once again targeted poor laborers." He said the attackers were cruel and had an agenda to destabilize Pakistan. "The killing of these innocent laborers would be avenged," he said in a statement. The province is home to several separatist groups who want independence. They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals. On Monday, a group called the Baloch Liberation Army said it carried out an attack on Chinese nationals outside Pakistan's biggest airport. There are thousands of Chinese working in the country, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to protect high-profile events or foreigners in the country. Islamabad is hosting a summit next week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping founded by China and Russia to counter Western alliances. Authorities have beefed up security in the capital by deploying troops to prevent any acts of terrorism. The Ministry of Interior this week had alerted the country's four provinces to take additional measures to enhance security as the separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban could launch attacks at public places and government installation. 

VIENTIANE, Laos — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian leaders Friday that the U.S. is concerned about China's "increasingly dangerous and unlawful" activities in the disputed South China Sea during an annual summit meeting and pledged the U.S. will continue to uphold freedom of navigation in the vital sea trade route. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ meeting with Blinken followed a series of violent confrontations at sea between China and ASEAN members Philippines and Vietnam, which have fueled concerns that China’s increasingly assertive actions in the waterways could spiral into a full-scale conflict. China, which claims almost the entire sea, has overlapping claims with ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan. About a third of global trade transits through the sea, which is also rich in fishing stocks, gas and oil. Beijing has refused to recognize a 2016 international arbitration ruling by a U.N.-affiliated court in the Hague that invalidated its expansive claims and has built up and militarized islands it controls. "We are very concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the South China Sea which have injured people, harm vessels from ASEAN nations and contradict commitments to peaceful resolutions of disputes," said Blinken, who is filling in for President Joe Biden, in his opening speech at the U.S.-ASEAN summit. "The United States will continue to support freedom of navigation, and freedom of overflight in the Indo Pacific." The United States has no claims in the South China Sea but has deployed navy ships and fighter jets to patrol the waters in a challenge to China’s claims. Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly this year, and Vietnam said last week that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen in the disputed sea. China has also sent patrol vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as exclusive economic zones. The United States has warned repeatedly that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines — its oldest treaty ally in Asia — if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under armed attack, including in the South China Sea. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. complained to summit leaders on Thursday that his country "continues to be subject to harassment and intimidation" by China. He said it was "regrettable that the overall situation in the South China Sea remains tense and unchanged" due to China’s actions, which he said violated international law. He has called for more urgency in ASEAN-China negotiations on a code of conduct to govern the South China Sea. Singaporean leader Lawrence Wong earlier this week warned of "real risks of an accident spiraling into conflict" if the sea dispute isn't addressed. Malaysia, who takes over the rotating ASEAN chair next year, is expected to push to accelerate talks on the code of conduct. Officials have agreed to try and complete the code by 2026, but talks have been hampered by sticky issues including disagreements over whether the pact should be binding. Chinese Premier Li Qiang was defiant during talks on Thursday. He called South China Sea a "shared home" but repeated China’s assertion that it was merely protecting its sovereign rights, officials said. Li also blamed meddling by "external forces" who sought to "introduce bloc confrontation and geopolitical conflicts into Asia." Li didn’t name the foreign forces, but China has previously warned the U.S. not to meddle in the region’s territorial disputes. In another firm message to China, Blinken said the United States believed "it is also important to maintain our shared commitment to protect stability across the Taiwan Strait." China claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as its own territory and bristles at other countries’ patrolling the body of water separating it from the island. Blinken also attended an 18-nation East Asia Summit, along with the Chinese premier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and leaders from Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. ASEAN has treaded carefully on the sea dispute with China, which is the bloc's largest trading partner and its third largest investor. It hasn't marred trade relations, with the two sides focusing on expanding a free trade area covering a market of 2 billion people. Blinken said the annual ASEAN summit talks were a platform to address other shared challenges including the civil war in Myanmar, North Korea’s "destabilizing behavior" and Russia’s war aggression in Ukraine. He said the U.S. remained the top foreign investor in the region and aims to strengthen its partnership with ASEAN.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand's defense minister issued stinging rebukes of what she said were "vile" and "misogynistic" online remarks by "armchair admirals" about the woman captain of a navy ship that ran aground, caught fire and sank off the coast of Samoa. "Seriously, it's 2024," Judith Collins told reporters Thursday. "What the hell's going on here?" After days of comments on social media directed at the gender of Commander Yvonne Gray, Collins urged the public to "be better." Women members of the military had also faced verbal abuse in the street in New Zealand since the ship — one of nine in the country's navy — was lost on Sunday, Collins said. All 75 people on board evacuated to safety with only minor injuries after the vessel ran aground on the reef it was surveying about a mile off the coast of Upolu, Samoa's most populous island. The cause of the disaster is not known. "The one thing that we already know did not cause it is the gender of the ship's captain, a woman with 30 years' naval experience who on the night made the call to get her people to safety," Collins said. One of the posters was a truck driver from Melbourne, Australia, she added. "I think that he should keep his comments to people who drive trucks rather than people who drive ships," Collins said. "These are the sorts of people I'm calling out and I'm happy to keep calling them out for as long as it takes to stop this behavior." About 20% of New Zealand's uniformed military members are women. Collins is New Zealand's first woman defense minister and said she stood alongside Gray and Maj. Gen. Rose King, the country's first woman army chief, who assumed her role in June. "We are all appointed on merit, not gender," said Collins. The sinking prompted fears of a major fuel spill. On Thursday, officials in Samoa said while the vessel was leaking oil from three places, the amount was reducing each day and was dissipating quickly due to strong winds in the area. Most of the ship's fuel appeared to have burned out in the fire, according to a statement by the Marine Pollution Advisory Committee. Officials were due to meet with locals Thursday to discuss how to remove the vessel's anchor and three shipping containers from the reef without further damaging the fragile marine ecosystem. New Zealand's government has ordered a military court of inquiry into the episode, which will be led by senior military officers. It will assemble for the first time on Friday. Passengers, including civilian scientists and foreign military personnel, left the vessel on lifeboats in "challenging conditions" and darkness, New Zealand's Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters after the sinking. Those on board have since returned to New Zealand by plane. The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019 but was 20 years old and had previously belonged to Norway. The military said the ship, purchased for $100 million NZ dollars ($61 million), was not covered by replacement insurance. The state of New Zealand's aging military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as "extremely fragile," with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them. Of the navy's eight remaining ships, five are currently operational. Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent a maintenance period before the deployment.

WINTER PARK, Florida — Many Jews worldwide will mark Yom Kippur in fasting and prayer at their synagogues this weekend. But for the faithful in Florida, destructive Hurricane Milton has disrupted plans for observing the Day of Atonement — the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith — that begins Friday evening and caps off the High Holy Days that began with Rosh Hashana on October 2. Across the storm-threatened areas, rabbis and their congregants spent part of the Days of Awe — the span between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur — protecting their homes and synagogues as Milton churned off the coast, spiraling into a Category 5 storm. Many — though not all — evacuated, heeding the voluntary and mandatory orders, and found safekeeping for their synagogues' Torah scrolls and themselves. Milton hit Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 cyclone, with damaging winds, heavy rains and tornadoes. By Thursday, the storm had moved eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. Why this rabbi decided against evacuating before storm Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz evacuated most of his family ahead of the storm, but chose to ride it out with his son, also a rabbi, at Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida near Fort Myers. The center is hosting people displaced by the storm, including doctors, first responders and elderly who cannot evacuate. It's important to be "with the people and for the people," and provide emotional and spiritual support, he said as the storm approached. Near midnight Thursday, the Chabad center and the rest of the neighborhood lost power, said Minkowicz, making them among the millions without it. The center was spared from the storm surge, but homes and other buildings in the area were not, he said. "Our pressing need is for Power so that we can help our community & hold Yom Kippur services," Minkowicz told The Associated Press via email Thursday. "We're praying for this to be resolved asap." The center planned to host Yom Kippur observances regardless of the storm. He said it was similar two years ago, when the holy day followed the major hurricane, Ian. "Yom Kippur is a day that you open up your soul to God and you totally connect with God," Minkowicz said. "When you go through a hurricane, anything materialistic is not important. They're already in that zone where they're totally focused on God." Congregation Beth Am in the Tampa Bay area also lost power and plans to hold Yom Kippur services online, said Rabbi Jason Rosenberg of the Reform synagogue. "It's important to keep perspective. Having a service online is not what anybody wants, but it could've been a lot worse," he said. "This feels like a blessing." The storm underscored one of Yom Kippur's annual reflections. An implicit question, he said before Milton's landfall, is "If this was going to be your last year on earth, how would you want to act differently? ... When you've got a historical storm, a potentially life-threatening and life-altering storm bearing down on you, that message is really present." Milton disrupts Yom Kippur and October 7 commemoration Like most of her congregants, Rabbi Nicole Luna had evacuated after helping secure Temple Beth El in Fort Myers, and entrusting several Torah scrolls to congregants should the threatened surge devastate the synagogue. While the congregation braved Hurricanes Irma in 2017 and Ian in 2022, Milton's timing hit especially hard, having already forced the postponement of community-wide commemoration of Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023. The war that followed is ongoing. "It just feels like too much for our hearts to carry right now," Luna said from Miami ahead of the storm. "It's all very heavy." After the storm passed through, Luna told her congregation that their synagogue had emerged undamaged, though it lost power. She announced plans for a service via Zoom on Friday evening, and in-person services Saturday. "We hope by Saturday more traffic lights will be restored but please only come if you can safely navigate the roads," she said in her message. Luna said she was grateful for the "big outpouring of support" she received from fellow rabbis across the East Coast of Florida, who were opening their temples for the holidays to evacuees and have emphasized they can come as they are since few grabbed "holiday-appropriate clothing" in the rush to escape Milton's fury. The Chabad of Southwest Broward near Fort Lauderdale is hosting several evacuees from areas most affected by the storm, ranging from a mother with her newborn to an elderly couple, said director Rabbi Pinny Andrusier. They are invited to spend Yom Kippur with the Cooper City-based group, including sharing kosher meals before and after the day of fasting. "We were spared, thank God," Andrusier said of the storm. "We've been able to open up our doors" for those in the hurricane zone. Synagogue skips holding Yom Kippur services Hundreds of Jewish families on Longboat Key, a barrier island off Sarasota Bay, won't be able to observe Yom Kippur in their synagogue for the very first time in their 45-year history, said Shepard Englander, CEO of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. Access to the island, specifically the John Ringling Causeway, was closed ahead of the storm. The congregation decided it wasn't worth risking Milton's might for Day of Atonement services. They had celebrated Rosh Hashana in their building despite a number of nearby homes being damaged by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall last month. Englander said he and his family evacuated from their home on a riverbank outside Sarasota and were hunkered down at a friend's home inland. From there, he was trying to make sure community members from Longboat Key and other temples that won't have services can say their prayers and break their daylong Yom Kippur fast at a newly constructed conference center in Sarasota with food items like blintzes, bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon. Ahead of the storm, people were scattered in the region at emergency shelters or staying with family or friends, Englander said. "It's in difficult times that you really understand the power of community," he said. "And this is a caring, tight-knit, generous Jewish community."