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TEFE, Brazil — The carcass of a baby dolphin lay on the sand bank left exposed by the receding waters in an Amazon lake that has been drying up during the worst drought on record.  Researchers recovered the dead animal on Wednesday and measured water temperatures that have been rising as the lake's level drops. In last year's drought, more than 200 of the endangered freshwater dolphins died in Lake Tefe from excessive water temperatures.  "We've found several dead animals. Last week, we found one a day on average," said Miriam Marmontel, head of the dolphin project at the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development.   "We're not yet associating the deaths with changes in water temperatures, but with the exacerbation of the proximity between human populations, mainly fishermen, and the animals," she said.  With branches of major rivers in the Amazon basin drying up in this year's critical drought, the lake connected to the Solimoes River has shrunk, leaving less room for the dolphins in their favorite habitat.  The lake's main channel is 2 meters deep and roughly 100 meters wide, and it is used by all the boat traffic, from canoes to heavy ferries, Marmontel said. Two dolphins were killed recently when boats ran into them in the shallow water.  "Nobody thought this drought would come so quickly or imagine that it would surpass last year's drought," fisherman Clodomar Lima said.  While the dolphin deaths are nowhere close to last year's toll, the dry season has more than a month to go and water levels will continue to decline, the researcher said.  And it is not just the rare dolphin species that are suffering. Riverine communities across the Amazon are stranded by the lack of transport on waters too shallow for boats, and their floating houses are now on solid ground.  Even houses built on stilts over water are now high and dry a distance from the river shore.  Lake Tefe resident Francisco Alvaro Santos said it was the first time ever that his floating house was out of the water.  "Water is everything to us. It is part of our daily lives, the means of transportation for everyone who live here," said Santos. "Without water we are nobody!"

MALINDI, Kenya — Shukran Karisa Mangi always showed up drunk at work, where he dug up the bodies of doomsday cult members buried in shallow graves. But the alcohol couldn't numb his shock the morning he found the body of a close friend, whose neck had been twisted so severely that his head and torso faced opposite directions. This violent death upset Mangi, who had already unearthed children's bodies. The number of bodies kept rising in this community off Kenya's coastline where extremist evangelical leader Paul Mackenzie is accused of instructing his followers to starve to death for the opportunity to meet Jesus. While he sometimes sees the remains of others when he tries to sleep, Mangi said recently, the recurring image of his friend's mutilated body torments him when he's awake. "He died in a very cruel manner," said Mangi, one of several gravediggers whose work was suspended earlier in the year as bodies piled up in the morgue. "Most of the time, I still think about how he died." In one of the deadliest cult-related massacres ever, at least 436 bodies have been recovered since police raided Good News International Church in a forest some 70 kilometers inland from the coastal town of Malindi. Seventeen months later, many in the area are still shaken by what happened despite repeated warnings about the church's leader. Mackenzie pleaded not guilty to charges in the murders of 191 children, multiple counts of manslaughter and other crimes. If convicted, he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Some in Malindi who spoke to The Associated Press said Mackenzie's confidence while in custody showed the wide-ranging power some evangelists project even as their teachings undermine government authority, break the law, or harm followers desperate for healing and other miracles. It's not only Mackenzie, said Thomas Kakala, a self-described bishop with the Malindi-based Jesus Cares Ministry International, referring to questionable pastors he knew in the capital, Nairobi. "You look at them. If you are sober and you want to hear the word of God, you wouldn't go to their church," he said. "But the place is packed." A man like Mackenzie, who refused to join the fellowship of pastors in Malindi and rarely quoted Scripture, could thrive in a country like Kenya, said Kakala. Six detectives have been suspended for ignoring multiple warnings about Mackenzie's illegal activities. Kenya, like much of East Africa, is dominated by Christians. While many are Anglican or Catholic, evangelical Christianity has spread widely since the 1980s. Many pastors style their ministries in the manner of successful American televangelists, investing in broadcasting and advertising. Many of Africa's evangelical churches are run like sole proprietorships, without the guidance of trustee boards or laity. Pastors are often unaccountable, deriving authority from their perceived ability to perform miracles or make prophecies. Some, like Mackenzie, can seem all-powerful. Mackenzie, a former street vendor and cab driver with a high school education, apprenticed with a Malindi preacher in the late 1990s. There, in the laid-back tourist town, he opened his own church in 2003. A charismatic preacher, he was said to perform miracles and exorcisms, and he could be generous with his money. His followers included teachers and police officers. They came to Malindi from across Kenya, giving Mackenzie national prominence that spread the pain of the deaths across the country. The first complaints against Mackenzie concerned his opposition to formal schooling and vaccination. He was briefly detained in 2019 for opposing the government's efforts to assign national identification numbers to Kenyans, saying the numbers were satanic. He closed his Malindi church premises later that year and urged his congregation to follow him to Shakahola, where he leased 800 acres of forest inhabited by elephants and big cats. Church members paid small sums to own plots in Shakahola, and were required to build houses and live in villages with biblical names like Nazareth, according to survivors. Mackenzie grew more demanding, with people from different villages forbidden from communicating or gathering, said former church member Salama Masha. "What made me (realize) Mackenzie was not a good person was when he said that the children should fast to die," said Masha, who escaped after witnessing the starvation deaths of two children. "That's when I knew that it's not something I can do." Mbatha Mackenzie, a mason who lives with his family and goats in a tin shack in Malindi, said that while Mackenzie was generous to his followers, he never treated his extended family with similar kindness. "My brother — he seemed like a politician," he said. "They have a sweet tongue, and when he talks something to the people, people believe him." A former church member who escaped Shakahola said she lost faith in Mackenzie when she saw how his men handled people on the verge of dying from starvation. She said Mackenzie's bodyguards would take the starving person away, never to be seen again. The woman said it was "like a routine" for the bodyguards to rape women in the villages. She says she, too, was sexually assaulted by four men while she was pregnant with her fourth child. The Associated Press does not identify victims of alleged sexual assault unless they choose to publicly identify themselves. Those who tried to the leave the forest without Mackenzie's permission faced beatings, as did those who were caught breaking fast, according to former church members. Autopsies on more than 100 bodies showed deaths from starvation, strangulation, suffocation, and injuries from blunt objects. Mangi, the gravedigger, said he believed more mass graves were yet to be discovered in Shakahola. At least 600 people are reported missing, according to the Kenya Red Cross.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — On his first day of school at Newcomer Academy, Maikel Tejeda was whisked to the school library. The 7th grader didn't know why. He soon got the point: He was being given make-up vaccinations. Five of them. "I don't have a problem with that," said the 12-year-old, who moved from Cuba early this year. Across the library, a group of city, state and federal officials gathered to celebrate the school clinic, and the city. With U.S. childhood vaccination rates below their goals, Louisville and the state were being praised as success stories: Kentucky's vaccination rate for kindergarteners rose 2 percentage points in the 2022-23 school year compared with the year before. The rate for Jefferson County — which is Louisville — was up 4 percentage points. "Progress is success," said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that progress didn't last. Kentucky's school entry vaccination rate slipped last year. Jefferson County's rate slid, too. And the rates for both the county and state remain well below the target thresholds. It raises the question: If this is what success looks like, what does it say about the nation's ability to stop imported infections from turning into community outbreaks? Local officials believe they can get to herd immunity thresholds, but they acknowledge challenges that includes tight funding, misinformation and well-intended bureaucratic rules that can discourage doctors from giving kids shots. "We're closing the gap," said Eva Stone, who has managed the county school system's health services since 2018. "We're not closing the gap very quickly." Falling vaccination rates Public health experts focus on vaccination rates for kindergartners because schools can be cauldrons for germs and the launching pad for community outbreaks. For years, those rates were high, thanks largely to mandates that required key vaccinations as a condition of school attendance. But they have slid in recent years. When COVID-19 started hitting the U.S. hard in 2020, schools were closed, visits to pediatricians declined and vaccination record-keeping fell off. Meanwhile, more parents questioned routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect that experts attribute to misinformation and the political schism that emerged around COVID-19 vaccines. A Gallup survey released last month found that 40% of Americans said it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019. Meanwhile, a recent University of Pennsylvania survey of 1,500 people found that about 1 in 4 U.S. adults think the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism — despite no medical evidence for it. All that has led more parents to seek exemptions to school entry vaccinations. The CDC has not yet reported national data for the 2023-24 school year, but the proportion of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school vaccination requirements the year before hit a record 3%. Overall, 93% of kindergartners got their required shots for the 2022-23 school year. The rate was 95% in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials worry slipping vaccination rates will lead to disease outbreaks. The roughly 250 U.S. measles cases reported so far this year are the most since 2019, and Oregon is seeing its largest outbreak in more than 30 years. Kentucky has been experiencing its worst outbreak of whooping cough — another vaccine-preventable disease — since 2017. Nationally, nearly 14,000 cases have been reported this year, the most since 2019. Persuading parents The whooping cough surge is a warning sign but also an opportunity, said Kim Tolley, a California-based historian who wrote a book last year on the vaccination of American schoolchildren. She called for a public relations campaign to "get everybody behind" improving immunizations. Much of the discussion about raising vaccination rates centers on campaigns designed to educate parents about the importance of vaccinating children — especially those on the fence about getting shots for their kids. But experts are still hashing out what kind of messaging work best: Is it better, for example, to say "vaccinate" or "immunize''? A lot of the messaging is influenced by feedback from small focus groups. One takeaway is some people have less trust in health officials and even their own doctors than they once did. Another is that they strongly trust their own feelings about vaccines and what they've seen in Internet searches or heard from other sources. "Their overconfidence is hard to shake. It's hard to poke holes in it," said Mike Perry, who ran focus groups on behalf of a group called the Public Health Communications Collaborative. But many people seem more trusting of older vaccines. And they do seem to be at least curious about information they didn't know, including the history of research behind vaccines and the dangers of the diseases they were created to fight, he said. Improving access Dolores Albarracin has studied vaccination improvement strategies in 17 countries, and repeatedly found that the most effective strategy is to make it easier for kids to get vaccinated. "In practice, most people are not vaccinating simply because they don't have money to take the bus" or have other troubles getting to appointments, said Albarracin, director of the communication science division within Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center. That's a problem in Louisville, where officials say few doctors were providing vaccinations to children enrolled in Medicaid and fewer still were providing shots to kids without any health insurance. An analysis a few years ago indicated 1 in 5 children — about 20,000 kids — were not current on their vaccinations, and most of them were poor, said Stone, the county school health manager. A 30-year-old federal program called Vaccines for Children pays for vaccinations for children who Medicaid-eligible or lack the insurance to cover it. But in a meeting with the CDC director last month, Louisville health officials lamented that most local doctors don't participate in the program because of paperwork and other administrative headaches. And it can be tough for patients to get the time and transportation to get to those few dozen Louisville providers who do take part. The school system has tried to fill the gap. In 2019, it applied to become a VFC provider, and gradually established vaccine clinics. Last year, it held clinics at nearly all 160 schools, and it's doing the same thing this year. The first was at Newcomer Academy, where many immigrant students behind on their vaccinations are started in the school system. It's been challenging, Stone said. Funding is very limited. There are bureaucratic obstacles, and a growing influx of children from other countries who need shots. It takes multiple trips to a doctor or clinic to complete some vaccine series. And then there's the opposition — vaccination clinic announcements tend to draw hateful social media comments. 

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DUNBARTON, New Hampshire — It's harvest time in central New Hampshire, and one farm there appears to have been transplanted from a distant continent. Farmers balance large crates laden with vegetables on their heads while chatting in Somali and other languages. As the sun burns away the early morning mist, the farmers pick American staples like corn and tomatoes as well as crops they grew up with, like okra and sorrel. Many of the women wear vibrant orange, red and blue fabrics. Most workers at this Dunbarton farm are refugees who have escaped harrowing wars and persecution. They come from the African nations of Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Congo, and they now run their own small businesses, selling their crops to local markets as well as to friends and connections in their ethnic communities. Farming provides them with both an income and a taste of home. "I like it in the USA. I have my own job," says Somali refugee and farmer Khadija Aliow as she hams it up by sashaying past a reporter, using one hand to steady the crate of crops on her head and the other to give a thumbs-up. "Happy. I'm so happy." The farm is owned by a New Hampshire-based nonprofit, the Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, which lets the farmers use plots of land and provides them with training and support. The organization runs similar farms in Concord and the nearby town of Boscawen. In all, 36 people from five African countries, including South Sudan, and the Asian nation of Nepal work on the farms. Many were farmers in their home countries before coming to the U.S. or had previous experience with agriculture, said Tom McGee, a program director with the nonprofit. "These are farmers who are basically independent business owners, who are working in partnership with our organization to be able to bring this produce to life in this country," he said. "And to have another sense of purpose, and a way that they can bring themselves into the community and belong. And really participate in the American dream." The nonprofit runs a food market in Manchester, where people can buy fresh produce or sign up to have boxes delivered. McGee said there are a few other programs with similar aims scattered throughout the U.S. but that the model remains relatively rare. He said his organization relies on state and federal funding, as well as private donations. Farmer Sylvain Bukasa said he escaped in 2000 from the decades-long conflict in Congo that has resulted in millions of deaths. He spent six years with his wife and son in a refugee camp in Tanzania before being accepted into the U.S. in 2006. "I was worried for my safety," he said. "I decided to just go somewhere where it's a little bit safer." Bukasa said he has worked hard since arriving in the U.S. and relishes his new life. But at first he missed the foods he grew up with. He could only find them in specialized markets, where they tended to be expensive and of poor quality. "Back home we ate more vegetables and less meat," he said. "When we came here, it's more chicken, more pizza, things like that. They taste good, but it's not good for you." Bukasa started growing crops on the farm in 2011. The initial plan on the Dunbarton farm was to allow migrants like him to grow traditional crops for themselves and their families. But demand grew, particularly during the pandemic, prompting the farm's evolution into a commercial operation. For a few of the farmers, the harvest provides their primary income. For most, like Bukasa, it's a side gig. He works fulltime as a service agent for a rental car company and travels whenever he can to tend his plot of just over 0.4 hectares. The biggest challenges are making sure his crops are adequately watered and stopping the weeds from taking over, he said. Mondays are harvest days, and on a recent Monday, Bukasa listed the crops he was picking: tomatoes, summer squash, zucchini, kale, corn, okra, and the leaves from pumpkins and sorrel — which he and the other migrants call sour-sour because of its taste. He said there's a surprisingly large Congolese community throughout New England, and they appreciate what he grows. "It's a hard job, but hard work is good work," Bukasa said. "It's fun and it helps people. I like when I satisfy people with the food that they eat." His dream is to one day buy his own farm with a couple of acres of land, so he can walk out his front door to tend to his crops rather than driving 20 minutes like he does now. A more immediate challenge, he said, is to work on the marketing side of his business. He's got to the point where he now grows more food than he's able to sell, and he hates seeing any of it go to waste. One idea is to buy a van, so he can deliver more produce himself. "You see the competition in there," he says with a grin, motioning toward the tent where other refugee farmers wash and pack their crops. "See how many farmers are trying to sell their produce."

IBADAN, Nigeria — In her cramped, dimly lit kitchen, Idowu Bello leans over a gas cooker while stirring a pot of eba, the thick, starchy West African staple made from cassava root. Kidney problems and chronic exhaustion forced the 56-year-old Nigerian woman to retire from teaching, and she switches between cooking with gas or over a wood fire depending on the fuel she can afford. Financial constraints also limit the food Bello has on hand even though doctors have recommended a nutrient-rich diet both to improve her weakening health and to help her teenage daughter, Fatima, grow. Along with eba, on the menu today is melon soup with ponmo, an inexpensive condiment made from dried cowhide. "Fish, meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables and even milk are costly these days," Bello, 56, said, her lean face etched with worry. If public health advocates and the Nigerian government have their way, malnourished households in the West African nation soon will have a simple ingredient available to improve their intake of key vitamins and minerals. Government regulators on Tuesday are launching a code of standards for adding iron, zinc, folic acid and vitamin B12 to bouillon cubes at minimum levels recommended by experts. While the standards will be voluntary for manufacturers for now, their adoption could help accelerate progress against diets deficient in essential micronutrients, or what is known in nutrition and public health circles as "hidden hunger." Fortified bouillon cubes could avert up to 16.6 million cases of anemia and up to 11,000 deaths from neural tube defects in Nigeria, according to a new report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Regardless of economic situation or income level, everyone uses seasoning cubes," Bello said as she unwrapped and dropped one in her melon soup. A growing and multipronged problem Making do with smaller portions and less nutritious foods is common among many Nigerian households, according to a recent government survey on dietary intake and micronutrients. The survey estimated that 79% of Nigerian households are food insecure. The climate crisis, which has seen extreme heat and unpredictable rainfall patterns hobble agriculture in Africa's troubled Sahel region, will worsen the problem, with several million children expected to experience growth problems due to malnutrition between now and 2050, according to the Gates Foundation report released Tuesday. "Farmlands are destroyed, you have a shortage of food, the system is strained, leading to inflation making it difficult for the people to access foods, including animal-based proteins," Augustine Okoruwa, a regional program manager at Helen Keller Intl, said, highlighting the link between malnutrition and climate change. Dietary deficiencies of the micronutrients the government wants added to bouillon cubes already have caused a public health crisis in Nigeria, including a high prevalence of anemia in women of child-bearing age, neural tube defects in newborn babies and stunted growth among children, according to Okoruwa. Helen Keller Intl, a New York-based nonprofit that works to address the causes of blindness and malnutrition, has partnered with the Gates Foundation and businesses and government agencies in Africa to promote food fortification. In Nigeria, recent economic policies such as the cancellation of gasoline subsidies are driving the country's worst cost-of-living crisis in generations, further deepening food hardship for the low-income earners who form the majority of the country's working population. Globally, nearly 3 billion people are unable to access healthy diets, 71% of them in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization. The large-scale production of fortified foods would unlock a new way to "increase micronutrients in the food staples of low-income countries to create resilience for vulnerable families," the Gates Foundation said. Bouillon cubes as the vehicle Bouillon cubes — those small blocks of evaporated meat or vegetable extracts and seasonings that typically are used to flavor soups and stews — are widely consumed in many African countries, nearing 100% household penetration in countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon, according to a study by Helen Keller Intl. That makes the cubes the "most cost-effective way" to add minerals and vitamins to the diets of millions of people, Okoruwa said.

KAWARAMACHI, Japan — Time seems to stop here.  Women sit in a small circle, quietly, painstakingly stitching patterns on balls the size of an orange, a stitch at a time.  At the center of the circle is Eiko Araki, a master of the Sanuki Kagari Temari, a Japanese traditional craft passed down for more than 1,000 years on the southwestern island of Shikoku.  Each ball — known as a "temari" ball — is a work of art, with colorful geometric patterns carrying poetic names like "firefly flowers" and "layered stars." A temari ball takes weeks or months to finish. Some cost hundreds of dollars (tens of thousands of yen), although others are much cheaper.  These kaleidoscopic balls aren't for throwing or kicking around. They're destined to be heirlooms, carrying prayers for health and goodness. They might be treasured like a painting or piece of sculpture in a Western home.  The concept behind temari is an elegant otherworldliness, an impractical beauty that is also very labor-intensive to create.  "Out of nothing, something this beautiful is born, bringing joy," said Araki. "I want it to be remembered there are beautiful things in this world that can only be made by hand."  Natural materials  The region where temari originated was good for growing cotton, warm with little rainfall, and the spherical creations continue to be made out of the humble material.  At Araki's studio, which also serves as head office for temari's preservation society, there are 140 hues of cotton thread, including delicate pinks and blues, as well as more vivid colors and all the subtle gradations in between.  The women dye them by hand, using plants, flowers and other natural ingredients, including cochineal, which is a bug living in cacti that produces a red dye. The deeper shade of indigo is dyed again and again to turn just about black. Yellow and blue are combined to form gorgeous greens. Soy juice is added to deepen the tints, a dash of organic protein.  Outside the studio, loops of cotton thread, in various tones of yellow today, hang outside in the shade to dry.  Creating and embroidering the balls  The arduous process starts with making the basic ball mold on which the stitching is done. Rice husks that are cooked then dried are placed in a piece of cotton, then wound with thread, over and over, until, almost magically, a ball appears in your hands.  Then the stitching begins.  The balls are surprisingly hard, so each stitch requires a concentrated, almost painful, push. The motifs must be precise and even.  Each ball has lines to guide the stitching — one that goes around it like the equator, and others that zigzag to the top and bottom.  Appealing to a new generation  These days, temari is getting some new recognition, among Japanese and foreigners as well. Caroline Kennedy took lessons in the ball-making when she was United States ambassador to Japan a decade ago.  Yoshie Nakamura, who promotes Japanese handcrafted art in her duty-free shop at Tokyo's Haneda airport, says she features temari there because of its intricate and delicate designs.  "Temari that might have been everyday in a faraway era is now being used for interior decoration," she said.  "I really feel each Sanuki Kagari Temari speaks of a special, one-and-only existence in the world."  Araki has come up with newer designs that feel both modern and historical. She is trying to make the balls more accessible to everyday life — for instance, as Christmas tree ornaments. A strap with a dangling miniature ball, though quite hard to make because of its size, is affordable at about 1,500 yen ($10) each.  Another of Araki's inventions is a cluster of pastel balls that opens and closes with tiny magnets. Fill it with sweet-smelling herbs for a kind of aromatic diffuser.  A tradition passed down through generations  Araki, a graceful woman who talks very slowly, her head cocked to one side as though always in thought, often travels to Tokyo to teach. But mostly she works and gives lessons in her studio, an abandoned kindergarten with faded blue paint and big windows with tired wooden frames.  She started out as a metalwork artist. Her husband's parents were temari masters who worked hard to resurrect the artform when it was declining in the modern age, at risk of dying out.  They were stoic people, rarely bestowing praise and instead always scolding her, she remembers. It's a tough-love approach that's common in the handing down of many Japanese traditional arts, from Kabuki acting to hogaku music, that demand lifetimes of selfless devotion.  Today, only several dozen people, all women, can make the temari balls to traditional standards.  "The most challenging aspect is nurturing successors. It typically takes over 10 years to train them, so you need people who are willing to continue the craft for a very long time," Araki said.  "When people start to feel joy along with the hardship that comes with making temari, they tend to keep going." 

TEHRAN, IRAN — A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 32 people and injuring 17 others, Iranian state media reported Sunday. Another 18 miners are believed to be trapped inside. The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, about 540 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran. Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast. State television later said that 18 were believed to be trapped inside in tunnels at a depth of 700 meters below the surface. Iran's new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, preparing to travel to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said that he ordered all efforts be made to rescue those trapped and aid their families. He also said an investigation into the explosion had begun. Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes around 3.5 million tons of coal, but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills. Iran's mining industry has been struck by disaster before. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people. Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.

NAHARIYA, Israel — Over 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon early Sunday, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa, as Israel and the Hezbollah militant group appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions. The rockets streaked over a wider and deeper area of northern Israel than previous volleys and set off air raid sirens across the region. The Israeli military said rockets had been fired "toward civilian areas," pointing to a possible escalation after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated four people for shrapnel wounds, including a 76-year-old man who was moderately wounded near Haifa, where buildings were damaged and cars set on fire. It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by a rocket or an Israeli interceptor. The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 37 people, including one of Hezbollah's top leaders as well as women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack that caused thousands of personal devices to explode just days earlier. The Israeli military said it carried out a wave of strikes across southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, hitting some 400 militant sites, including rocket launchers. Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The low-level fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the frontier. Neither side is believed to be seeking a war. But in recent weeks, Israel has shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon and vowed to bring back calm to the border so that its citizens can return to their homes. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly elusive as long-running negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly bogged down. The war in Gaza began with Hamas' October 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed. It does not say how many were fighters but says women and children make up over half of the dead. Israeli media reported that rockets fired from Lebanon early Sunday were intercepted in the areas of Haifa and Nazareth, which are further south than most of the rocket fire to date. Israel canceled school across the north, deepening the sense of crisis. Hezbollah said it had launched dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles — a new type of weapon the group had not used before — at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, "in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs." In July, the group released a video with what it said was footage it had filmed of the base with surveillance drones. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for a wave of explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people — including two children — and wounding around 3,000. The attacks were widely blamed on Israel, which has not confirmed or denied responsibility. On Friday, an Israeli airstrike took down an eight-story building in a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs as Hezbollah members were meeting in the basement, according to Israel. Among those killed was Ibrahim Akil, a top Hezbollah official who commanded the group's special forces unit, known as the Radwan Force. Lebanon's health minister, Firass Abiad, told reporters Saturday that at least seven women and three children were killed in Friday's airstrike on the building. He said another 68 people were injured, including 15 who were hospitalized. It was the deadliest strike on Beirut since the bruising monthlong war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, and the casualty count could grow, with 23 people still missing, a government official said. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the attack broke up the group's chain of command while taking out Akil, who he said was responsible for Israeli deaths. He had been on the U.S. most wanted list for years, with a $7 million reward, over his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the taking of American and German hostages in Lebanon during the civil war in the 1980s.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

TOKYO — Rescue workers searched for at least six people missing Sunday after heavy rain pounded Japan's northcentral region of Noto, triggering landslides and floods and leaving one person dead in a region still recovering from a deadly January 1 earthquake. The Japan Meteorological Agency on Saturday issued the highest alert level for heavy rain across several cities in the Ishikawa prefecture, including hard-hit cities Suzu and Wajima on the northern coast of the Noto peninsula. The agency has since downgraded the heavy rain alert and kept landslide and flooding warnings in place. In Suzu, one person died and another was missing after being swept in floodwaters. Another went missing in the nearby town of Noto, according to the prefecture. In Wajima, rescue workers were searching for four people missing following a landslide at a construction site. They were among 60 construction workers repairing a tunnel damaged by January's quake. The FDMA said another person was missing due to floods at a different location in the city. NHK footage at a coastal area of Wajima showed a wooden house torn and tilted after it was apparently hit by a landslide. No injuries were reported from the site. In Noto town, two people were seriously injured by a landslide while visiting their quake-damaged home. At least 16 rivers in Ishikawa breached their banks as of Saturday afternoon, according to the Land and Infrastructure Ministry. Residents were urged to use maximum caution against possible mudslides and building damage. By late afternoon Saturday, about 1,350 residents were taking shelter at designated community centers, school gymnasiums and other town facilities, authorities said. About 50 centimeters of rain has fallen in the region over the last three days, due to the rainbands that cause torrential rain above the Hokuriku region, JMA said. "Heavy rain is hitting the region that had been badly damaged by the Noto earthquake, and I believe many people are feeling very uneasy," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. Hayashi said the government "puts people's lives first" and its priority was search and rescue operations. He also called on the residents to pay close attention to the latest weather and evacuation advisories and take precautions early, adding that the Self Defense Force troops have been dispatched to Ishikawa to join rescue efforts. A resident in Wajima told NHK that he has just finished cleaning his house from the quake damage and it was depressing to now see it flooded by muddy water. A number of roads flooded by muddy water were also blocked. Hokuriku Electric Power Co. said more than 5,000 homes were still without power Sunday. Traffic lights were out in the affected areas. Many homes were also without water supply. Heavy rain also fell in nearby northern prefectures of Niigata and Yamagata, threatening flooding and other damages and suspending train operations, including the Yamagata Shinkansen bullet trains, officials said. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the region on January 1, killing more than 370 people and damaging roads and other key infrastructure. Its aftermath still affects the local industry, economy and daily lives.

berlin — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is predicted to come first in an election in Brandenburg on Sunday, seeking to build on gains in other eastern states this month and beat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats in a traditional stronghold. The AfD became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II, in Thuringia, on September 1 and just missed first place in Saxony. It is one of several far-right groups in Europe capitalizing on worries over an economic slowdown, immigration and the Ukraine war -- concerns that are particularly strong in formerly Communist-run eastern Germany. The party, which is unlikely to be able to govern because it is polling short of a majority and other parties would refuse to work with it, is also seeking to gain from discontent over infighting in Scholz's three-party federal coalition. "We urgently need a thorough course correction so the country does not go to the dogs," the AfD's lead candidate in Brandenburg, Hans-Christoph Berndt, said at a campaign event earlier this month. An AfD victory in the state election would be a particular embarrassment for the Social Democrats (SPD), which has won elections in Brandenburg and governed the state of 2.5 million people since reunification in 1990. It would also raise further questions about the suitability of Scholz, the least popular German chancellor on record, to lead the party into next year's election. Brandenburg's popular SPD premier Dietmar Woidke has mostly shunned campaigning with Scholz, who lives in the state's capital, Potsdam. In an unusual move, Woidke has also criticized the behavior and policies of the ruling coalition. Instead, he has sought to highlight economic success stories during the five years since the last state election such as the opening of a TeslaTSLA.O factory and Brandenburg airport -- which serves Berlin and is now Germany's third most important aviation hub. Narrow the gap In recent weeks, the SPD has managed to narrow the gap with the AfD, opinion polls have shown. A poll published by pollster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on Thursday put the AfD on 28% in Brandenburg with the SPD just one point behind on 27%, followed by the conservatives on 14% and the new leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) on 13%. "My greatest challenge in this legislative period ... to not allow right-wing extremists to have anything to say in this country ever again," Woidke said at a campaign event on Tuesday. He has threatened to resign if his party comes in behind the AfD. AfD party leader Tino Chrupalla said Scholz should do the same. "It is high time this government suffer the consequences after this state election," Chrupalla said. Both of Scholz's junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats and the Greens, look set to struggle to win the 5% needed to enter the state parliament, polls show. At a national level, the three parties in Scholz's coalition are now collectively polling less than the opposition conservatives although political analysts say much could change before the federal election due in September 2025. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, grabbed a commanding early lead on Sunday in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery. Dissanayake won about 53% of a million votes counted so far in the election, Sri Lanka's Election Commission data showed. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa was second at 22%, ahead of President Ranil Wickremesinghe in third place. About 75% of the eligible 17 million people in the Indian Ocean island nation cast their votes in Saturday's election, according to the poll body. Dissanayake contested as candidate for the National People's Power alliance, which includes his Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna party that has traditionally backed stronger state intervention, lower taxes and more closed market economic policies. Although JVP has just three seats in parliament, the 55-year-old Dissanayake has been boosted by his promises of tough anti-corruption measures and more pro-poor policies. He presented himself as the candidate of change, promising to dissolve parliament within 45 days of coming to power in order to seek a fresh mandate for his policies in the general elections. "After a long and arduous campaign, the results of the election are now clear," Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said on X. "Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremasinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake." This was Sri Lanka's first election since the economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving the country unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas. Thousands of protesters marched in Colombo in 2022 and occupied the president's office and residence, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign. Buttressed by a $2.9 billion bailout program from the International Monetary Fund, the economy has posted a tentative recovery, but the high cost of living was still a critical issue for many voters. Although inflation cooled to 0.5% last month from a crisis high of 70%, and the economy is forecast to grow in 2024 for the first time in three years, millions remain in poverty, with many pinning hopes of a better future on the next leader. The winner will have to ensure Sri Lanka sticks with the IMF program until 2027 to get its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, repay debt, attract investors and help a quarter of its people climb out of poverty. In his manifesto, Dissanayake, known for his ability to deliver stirring speeches, has pledged to slash taxes that would impact fiscal targets, leaving investors and market participants worried about his economic policies. However, during campaign speeches he has taken a more conciliatory approach, saying any changes would be undertaken in consultation with the IMF and that he is committed to ensuring repayment of debt.

Jerusalem — Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said that Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order. "There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days," an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari, the network reported, citing the conversation which was broadcast live. "I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment," the soldier said. Footage showed heavily armed and masked troops entering the office. The broadcaster said the soldiers did not provide a reason for the closure order. The move was the latest Israeli action against Al Jazeera. Last week Israel's government announced it was revoking the press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists in the country, four months after banning the channel from operating inside Israel. The shutdown had not affected broadcasts from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, from which Al Jazeera still covers Israel's war with Palestinian militants. The Israeli military has repeatedly accused journalists from the Qatari network of being "terrorist agents" in Gaza affiliated with Hamas or its ally, Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera denies the Israeli government's accusations and claims that Israel systematically targets its employees in the Gaza Strip.

CLAYMONT, Delaware — President Joe Biden told Indo-Pacific allies on Saturday that he believes China's increasing military assertiveness is an effort to test the region at a turbulent moment for Beijing. Biden's comments were caught by a hot mic after he and fellow leaders of the so-called Quad delivered opening remarks before the press at a summit he's hosting near his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. He said his administration sees Beijing's actions as a "change in tactic, not a change in strategy." China is struggling to pull up an economy pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic and has seen an extended slowdown in industrial activity and real estate prices as Beijing faces pressure to ramp up spending to stimulate demand. "China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it's true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits," Biden told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. "At least from our perspective, we believe (Chinese President) Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimize the turbulence in China's diplomatic relationships, and he's also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China's interest," Biden added. Starting with a trade war that dates back to 2018, China and the United States have grown at odds over a range of issues, from global security, such as China's claims over the South China Sea, to industrial policy on electric vehicle and solar panel manufacturing. The administration has repeatedly voiced concerns about Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and more recently on the frequent clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels in disputed areas of the South China Sea. At the summit, the leaders agreed to expand the partnership among the coast guards of the Quad nations to improve interoperability and capabilities, with Indian, Japanese and Australian personnel sailing on U.S. ships in the region. But U.S. officials would not say if those transits would include the contested South China Sea. China also has longtime territorial disputes involving other claimants including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. U.S. officials worry about China's long-stated goals of unifying Taiwan with China's mainland and the possibility of war over Taiwan. The self-ruled island democracy is claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. The leaders in a joint declaration issued following their talks expressed "serious concern about the militarization ... and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea." Biden last month dispatched his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, to Beijing for three days of talks with Chinese officials. Sullivan during that visit also met with Xi. Both governments are eager to keep relations on an even keel ahead of a change in the U.S. presidency in January. And both sides have said they remain committed to managing the relationship, following up on a meeting between Xi and Biden in San Francisco last November. The concerns about China were raised as Biden showed off a slice of his Delaware hometown to the leaders of Australia, Japan and India. When Biden began his presidency, he looked to elevate the Quad to a leader-level partnership as he tried to pivot U.S. foreign policy away from conflicts in the Middle East and toward threats and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. This weekend's summit is the fourth in-person and sixth overall gathering of the leaders since 2021. "It will survive way beyond November," Biden told the leaders. The president, who has admitted to an uneven track record as a scholar, also seemed tickled to get to host a gathering with three world leaders at the school he attended more than 60 years ago. He welcomed each of the leaders individually for one-on-one talks at his nearby home before they gathered at the school for talks and a formal dinner. "I don't think the headmaster of this school thought I'd be presiding over a meeting like this," Biden joked to fellow leaders. Albanese, Modi and Kishida came for the summit before their appearances at the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week. "This place could not be better suited for my final visit as prime minister," said Kishida, who like Biden, is set to soon leave office. Earlier, the president warmly greeted Kishida when he arrived at the residence on Saturday morning and gave the prime minister a tour of the property before they settled into talks. White House officials said holding the talks at the president's house, which sits near a pond in a wooded area several miles west of downtown, was intended to give the meetings a more relaxed feel. Sullivan described the vibe of Biden's one-on-one meeting with Albanese, who stopped by the house on Friday, as "two guys — one at the other guy's home — talking in broad strokes about where they see the state of the world." He said Biden and Albanese also swapped stories about their political careers. The Australian leader remarked that the visit had given him "insight into what in my view makes you such an extraordinary world leader." Modi also stopped by the house on Saturday to meet with Biden before the leaders gathered for their joint talks. "There cannot be a better place than President Biden's hometown of Wilmington to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Quad," Modi said. Biden and Modi discussed Modi's recent visits to Russia and Ukraine as well as economic and security concerns about China. Modi is the most prominent leader from a nation that maintains a neutral position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.