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BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — An Israeli airstrike that targeted Hezbollah commanders in a Beirut suburb on Friday killed at least 37 people, including three children and seven women, the Lebanese health ministry said, as rescuers continue to search on Saturday for people missing in the rubble.  Hezbollah said overnight that 16 of its members including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another top commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among those killed in the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.  The Israeli army, in posts on X, said the strike hit an underground gathering of Aqil and senior commanders of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, and had "almost completely dismantled" Hezbollah's military chain of command.  The attack leveled a multistory residential building in the crowded suburb and a nursery next door was damaged, a security source said.  Heavy cross-border strikes continued on Saturday, with Israeli warplanes carrying out some of the heaviest bombings in 11 months of fighting across Lebanon's south and Hezbollah claiming rocket attacks on military targets in Israel's north.  The Israeli army said it hit around 180 targets, destroying thousands of rocket launch barrels.  Friday's strike sharply escalated the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and inflicted another blow on Hezbollah after two days of attacks this week in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded.   The total death toll in those attacks has risen to 39, and more than 3,000 were injured.  The attacks on communications devices were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.   Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati canceled a planned trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York over the escalating conflict, his office said in a statement.  U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he was worried about an escalation between Israel and Lebanon but that the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah leader may lead to a cease-fire with the group, which Washington designates as a terrorist group.  "While the risk of escalation is real, we actually believe there is also a distinct avenue to getting to a cessation of hostilities and a durable solution that makes people on both sides of the border feel secure," Sullivan told reporters Saturday.  Hezbollah has said it will keep fighting Israel until it agrees to a cease-fire in its war against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. The war was triggered by a Hamas-led rampage in southern Israel on October 7.   Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages. Israel believes Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages, the military believes about a third are dead. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Israel hasn’t estimated the death toll recently but says that most of the dead are combatants.  U.S. officials say a truce is unlikely to come anytime soon. Israel wants Hezbollah to cease fire and withdraw its forces from the border region irrespective of any Gaza deal.  Hezbollah said overnight that 15 more of its members were killed, including senior commander Wahbi, who oversaw the military operations of the Radwan forces during the Gaza war until early 2024.  In a brief statement on Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's goals were clear and its actions spoke for themselves.  Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said this week Israel was launching a new phase of war on the northern border, posted on X: "The sequence of actions in the new phase will continue until our goal is achieved: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes."  Tens of thousands of people have left their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in October in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.  Israel's military said on Saturday that airspace in northern Israel — from the city of Hadera north — was closed to private flights, but that the measure did not affect international flights.  With at least 70 people killed in Lebanon this week, the death toll in the country since October has surpassed 740. The current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is the worst since they fought an all-out war in 2006.   While the current conflict has largely been contained to areas at or near the frontier, this week's escalation has heightened concerns that it could widen and further intensify.  

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said he was pulling his country out of a development agreement with neighboring Vietnam and Laos following protests that it was benefiting foreign interests.  Critics on social media have focused on land concessions in border areas particularly with Vietnam, a highly sensitive issue because of Cambodia's historical antagonism toward its larger eastern neighbor.  Authorities had arrested at least 66 people ahead of a planned August rally to condemn the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area — or CLV-DTA. Most were later released but leaders are facing charges.  The agreement, formalized in 2004, intended to facilitate cooperation on trade and migration in four northeastern provinces of Cambodia and border areas in Laos and Vietnam.  Hun Manet called groups that opposed the agreement extremists and said they were using the issue to slander and attack the government and confuse the public.  "For instance, allegations that the government ceded the territory of the four northeastern provinces to foreign countries, etc," he wrote in a post late Friday.  He said that in the past 25 years Cambodia had built many achievements for the development of the four provinces but his government decided to pull out of the agreement, "taking into account people's concern on territory and the need to withdraw weapons out of the hands of extremists to prevent them from using CLV-DTA to further cheat people."  Cambodia's government has long been accused of silencing critics and political opponents. Hun Manet succeeded his father last year after Hun Sen ruled for four decades, but there have been few signs of political liberalization. 

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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school in northern Gaza on Saturday killed at least 22 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while the Israeli army said that it targeted a Hamas command center in what used to be a school.  Another 30 were wounded in the strike on the school in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, the ministry said in a statement. Most of the casualties were women and children, it said. It wasn't immediately clear to which hospital the dead and injured were taken.  Dozens of people, including children, dug through the rubble of the building — its ceilings caved in, walls knocked out and a mess of wires and metal rods visible. Outside, others gathered around shrouded bodies. Some covered their faces as they wept for relatives killed in the strike.  "A missile, a missile from the plane hit us, and another missile," said Ferial Deloul, who is displaced. "We saw the whole world covered with smoke and stones and we saw people and children cut up. … What should we do? What is our fault for this to happen to us?"  The Israeli army said earlier Saturday that it struck Hamas' "command and control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served" as a school. It said steps were taken to limit harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.  5 Gaza ministry workers killed, it says Also on Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry said five of its workers were killed and five others wounded by Israeli fire that struck the ministry's warehouses in the southern Musbah area.  Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli army has struck several schools packed with tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders. The conflict has left 90% of Palestinians in Gaza displaced, according to figures from the United Nations.  The military has accused Hamas of operating from within civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, U.N. facilities and hospitals.   Hamas has been designated a terror group by the U.S., U.K., EU and others.  Israel targets Hamas, strikes school The contesting narratives over the use of schools and hospitals go to the heart of the nearly yearlong conflict.  Earlier this month, an Israeli strike hit a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 14, according to Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military said that it was targeting Hamas militants planning attacks from inside the school.  In July, Israeli airstrikes hit a girls' school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people sheltering inside. Israel's military said that it targeted a Hamas command center used to direct attacks against its troops and store "large quantities of weapons."  The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an October 7, 2023, terror attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding about 100 hostages. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between fighters and civilians. Israel has not recently estimated the death toll but says that most of the dead are combatants.   

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Washington — A brutal mob lynching at Bangladesh’s oldest university has put a spotlight on the country's crumbling law and order, just as its fledgling interim government tries to assert control and push through sweeping institutional reforms. Late Wednesday, Tofazzal Hossein, a man known for struggling with mental health issues and roaming around the 102-year-old University of Dhaka, wandered into a residential hall. Accusing him of theft, a mob of students grabbed and savagely beat him over the course of several hours. By Thursday morning, Hossein, 35, was dead, the latest casualty in a wave of mob violence that has gripped Bangladesh since student protests ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and sent her fleeing the country last month. Mob violence and student vigilantism were commonplace during Hasina’s 15-year reign. Rights group Ain o Salish Kendra documented 32 mob killings between January and June, even before student protests toppled her government and left more than 1,000 people dead. But the lawlessness has spiraled out of control since the August 5 fall of the government. In the days that followed, police officers, fearful of student reprisals, vanished from the streets, creating a vacuum that has yet to be filled. In just five weeks since early August, 21 people were lynched across the country, according to a tally by the Daily Star, a leading Bangladeshi newspaper. One of the victims, a former student leader accused of attacking protesters in July, was himself beaten to death at another major university on Wednesday. University students, once hailed as democratic heroes, now stand accused of committing mob violence. Six face charges over Hossein's murder, with seven more implicated in the second case. The lawlessness has spread nationwide, leading to numerous incidents of extortion, harassment, intimidation and courtroom violence, sometimes triggering larger conflicts. In Bangladesh’s southern Chittagong Hill Tracts region, the lynching on Wednesday of a man accused of stealing a bike reignited long-simmering tensions between ethnic Bengalis and indigenous people. The ensuing violence has already claimed at least four lives, according to media reports. The unrest comes just days after the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, granted the army sweeping law enforcement powers to restore order. At stake are more than domestic peace and the stability of the country's industrial regions. Yunus' six-week-old government has set up six commissions to advance democratic reforms, including a panel tasked with changing the country’s 51-year-old Constitution. The instability in Bangladesh, South Asia's third-most-populous country, is also drawing regional scrutiny, with Indian politicians voicing concern about reports of attacks on Hindus. The Bangladeshi army's 60-day new powers, announced Tuesday, allow commissioned officers to act as “executive magistrates,” making arrests, conducting searches, dispersing unlawful assemblies and opening fire in extraordinary circumstances. Asif Nazarul, the interim government’s law adviser, said the government acted in response to “subversive acts” and instability, particularly in the country's industrial areas. “Given the situation, army personnel have been given magistracy power,” Nazarul was quoted in the Daily Star. Rattled by growing insecurity, many Bangladeshis have welcomed the army’s new power. Noting that security remains a “big challenge” for the interim government, Badiul Alam Majumdar, editor of Citizens for Good Governance, told VOA, “It has been done to maintain law and order in view of the overall situation. It has been done temporarily. I hope the position will change.” Accused of using violence during the anti-government protests, Bangladeshi police became targets of student anger after Hasina’s ouster. Police stations were looted, and several officers were killed or burned to death, their bodies hanged from overpasses. With no one held accountable in those cases, police fear for their safety. Many have yet to return to their posts, leaving the police forces understaffed and barely functioning. Julia Bleckner, a senior Bangladesh researcher at Human Rights Watch, said while the government has a responsibility to maintain law and order, giving the army “unchecked” powers raises concerns about abuse. “They've been given a mandate to carry out pretty widespread and arbitrary searches, detentions and arrests,” Bleckner said in a phone interview with VOA. The army can now arrest anyone on the spot for “disturbing the peace” and use civilian personnel to disperse “illegal assemblies,” Bleckner noted. “We are under a new government that has made massive commitments and very important commitments to human rights, but these are the same security forces that have carried out abuses for decades,” Bleckner said. The Bangladeshi army last wielded similar law enforcement powers during the country’s 2006-2008 political crisis. At the time, military personnel were accused of making arbitrary arrests and other human rights abuses. Nazarul, the law adviser, said he did not believe the army would “misuse this authority,” according to the Daily Star. But critics remain unconvinced. “It is not right,” ZI Khan Panna, a veteran lawyer, said of the army’s magistracy power, according to the Daily Star. “Has the government lost confidence in the magistrates? It is not right for army personnel to perform magistrate's duties under the deputy commissioners. It would not be wise to mix army personnel with the general public." In the three days since receiving policing powers, the army has not announced any arrests. However, it has faced criticism for failing to quell violence. Nolen Deibert, head of Freedom House’s Asia Religious and Ethnic Freedom Program, noted that the attacks against indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracks region came as “the army allegedly stood by and watched.” The interim government's home affairs adviser, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, said a high-level committee will be formed to investigate the violence, Reuters reported. “The country faces real risks of heightened conflict and threats of violence toward minority groups,” Deibert said via email. “The interim government must come up with a plan to return policing powers to civilian authorities who will fairly protect and serve all Bangladeshis, regardless of race or creed.” VOA’s Bangla Service contributed to this article.

GENEVA — U.N. investigators are warning the humanitarian crisis in Syria threatens to spiral out of control as violence increases and the collapsing economy keeps the population mired in poverty and hopelessness 13 years after civil war erupted in the country. “As world attention and resources shift to other grave political or humanitarian crises, Syria descends further into a quagmire of misery and despair,” Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the U.N. Syria Commission of Inquiry, told the U.N. human rights council Friday. In presenting the latest report by the three-member commission, Pinheiro painted a dark picture of a society that has fallen into an abyss of “multiple failures and missed opportunities.” “We have seen 13 years of internal armed conflict brought about by the Syrian state’s violent and repressive response to peaceful demonstrations,” he said. “Our report to you documents continuing arbitrary detentions with state officials continuing to forcibly disappear, torture and ill-treat detainees in their custody.” The report says that fighting has intensified along multiple front lines, as disparate military forces use heavy artillery to maintain territorial control and resort to intensified violence against their perceived political opponents. It accuses these militias of committing a litany of human rights violations and abuses against the civilian population, increasing the fear “of a large-scale war” breaking out. For example, the report says that in the northwest of the country, conflict between a Syrian terrorist organization, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, and some factions of the Syrian National Army continue to “arbitrarily detain, torture and disappear civilians and those perceived as political opponents.” The report cites intensified fighting by Syrian government forces in the Idlib area of northwest Syria, where civilians have been killed, injured and maimed “in unlawful attacks” with cluster munitions in densely populated urban centers. In the incidents investigated by the commission, the report finds more than 150 civilians, half of them women and children, were killed and injured by government forces. The vast majority were in indiscriminate ground attacks near frontline villages and towns “in violation of international humanitarian law.” “Such attacks may amount to war crimes,” it says, noting that “airstrikes by Syria’s ally, Russia, again led to casualties.” “Aerospace forces of the Russian Federation may have failed to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law,” authors of the report say. Syria’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Haydar Ali Ahmad, responded to the report by calling the commission’s mandate into question and branding the commissioners as “nothing but tools designed to implement specific agendas” of certain Western powers. “What is the benefit of such mandates when we are faced with a commission of inquiry whose task is not to investigate but establish the misleading Western narrative on the situation in Syria?” he said. “Regrettably, it has betrayed the principles of impartiality, objectivity, independence and transparency.” Commission Chair Pinheiro expressed particular alarm at “the heightened regional tensions stemming from the conflict” in Israel and Lebanon. “These have led to intensified Israeli airstrikes — and last week a raid into Syria —targeting Iranian officials and militias across Syria, causing civilian casualties on at least three occasions,” he said. “Iranian-affiliated groups and the U.S. have stepped up attacks on each other in northeast Syria since the start of the Gaza war.” He warned of the dangers to the system of international law itself “if the member states charged with upholding it are seen to be failing in this obligation,” a sentiment shared by Geir O. Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria. In a briefing Friday to the Security Council, Pedersen said he was deeply alarmed at the reports of “a large number of communication devices exploding across Lebanon as well as in Syria … resulting in casualties, including children, and subsequent Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel.” “There is a clear and present danger of a wider regional war that drags the Syrian people into its crosshairs,” he said. Pinheiro cited multiple other ongoing military operations in different parts of Syria by various military groups intent on seizing land, extorting money and other possessions for personal gain, regardless of the costs. “Civilians continue to be killed on a daily basis in a senseless war that has left the country economically and politically broken, dramatically eroding the social fabric,” he said. The United Nations reports more than 306,000 civilians have been killed in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011, and nearly 14 million have been forcibly displaced, 7.2 million inside Syria and 5.6 million as refugees in neighboring countries, across Europe and beyond. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports 16.7 million people, or 3 in every 4 people in Syria, need humanitarian assistance. Of those, 13 million face acute food insecurity, and upwards of 650,000 children under the age of 5 are stunted from severe malnutrition. “Living conditions are increasingly desperate, and we note the failure of the international community to fund more than a quarter of the U.N.’s [$4.9 billion] 2024 humanitarian response plan,” Pinheiro said. “Overall, Syria’s GDP has shrunk by more than half since 2011, a result of the combined effect of destruction of infrastructure and economic networks, forced displacement of more than half the population, predatory practices and rampant corruption,” he said.

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SACRAMENTO, California — California will make it illegal for social media platforms to knowingly provide addictive feeds to children without parental consent beginning in 2027 under a new law Governor Gavin Newsom signed Friday.  California follows New York state, which passed a law earlier this year allowing parents to block their kids from getting social media posts suggested by a platform's algorithm. Utah has passed laws in recent years aimed at limiting children's access to social media, but those have faced challenges in court.  The California law will take effect in a state home to some of the largest technology companies in the world. Similar proposals have failed to pass in recent years, but Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law in 2022 barring online platforms from using users' personal information in ways that could harm children.  It is part of a growing push in states across the country to try to address the impact of social media on the well-being of children.  "Every parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late into the night," Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement. "With this bill, California is helping protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits."  The law bans platforms from sending notifications without permission from parents to minors between midnight and 6 a.m., and between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays from September through May, when children are typically in school. The legislation also makes platforms set children's accounts to private by default.  Opponents of the legislation say it could inadvertently prevent adults from accessing content if they cannot verify their age. Some argue it would threaten online privacy by making platforms collect more information on users.  The law defines an "addictive feed" as a website or app "in which multiple pieces of media generated or shared by users are, either concurrently or sequentially, recommended, selected, or prioritized for display to a user based, in whole or in part, on information provided by the user, or otherwise associated with the user or the user's device," with some exceptions.  The subject garnered renewed attention in June when U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their impacts on young people. Attorneys general in 42 states endorsed the plan in a letter sent to Congress last week.  State Senator Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley who wrote the California law, said that "social media companies have designed their platforms to addict users, especially our kids."  "With the passage of SB 976, the California Legislature has sent a clear message: When social media companies won't act, it's our responsibility to protect our kids," she said in a statement.

Washington — The United States, the United Kingdom and Norway expressed "deep concern" on Saturday at the announcement of a two-year delay in elections in South Sudan, terming the extension of a transitional government a "failure." "This announcement demonstrates the persistent and collective failure of South Sudan’s leaders to create the conditions necessary to hold credible and peaceful elections," said a joint statement from the three governments. South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 but was plunged into a civil war two years later that killed an estimated 400,000 people. A 2018 peace deal brought together President Salva Kiir and bitter rival Vice President Riek Machar, but efforts to write a constitution and hold the country's first elections have been repeatedly delayed. Last week, Kiir's office announced that voting planned for December would be pushed back by another two years, ahead of a Sunday deadline for the transitional government to be dissolved. Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro said the extension was "in response to the recommendations from both electoral institutions and the security sector." The three countries "acknowledged" that polls could not be held as scheduled in December and blamed "a lack of political will." "Responsibility for this failure is shared by all parties in the transitional government," said the statement. "As South Sudan's leaders vie for power and fail to organize credible and peaceful elections, the people of South Sudan suffer the consequences." Earlier this week, the United Nations expressed "regret and disappointment" at the delay. "Two years ago, we were in a similar situation, as we are today, and gave our support specifically under the condition that there would be no more extensions," U.N. special representative Nicholas Haysom said in a statement. South Sudan has battled flooding, hunger and violence, while its leaders have appeared reluctant to risk going to the polls and are accused of massive corruption. Earlier this month, the U.N.'s humanitarian agency warned that more than 700,000 people had been affected by flooding, with aid failing to meet many in need. South Sudan boasts plentiful oil resources, but the vital source of revenue was cut in February when an export pipeline was damaged in war-torn Sudan.

PORTLAND, Maine — Fall is back, and bringing with it jack-o'-lanterns, football, pumpkin spice everything and — in some parts of the country — especially vibrant foliage. Leaves around the northern United States are starting to turn orange, yellow and red, inspiring legions of leaf lovers to hop in their cars and travel to the countryside for the best look at fall's fireworks. Leaf peeping — the act of traveling to witness nature's annual kaleidoscope — contributes billions of dollars to the economy, especially in New England and New York. But this year, some of the most colorful displays could be in the Midwest. AccuWeather, the commercial forecasting service, said in early September that it expects especially vibrant foliage in states such as Michigan and Illinois. The service also said powerful, popping colors are expected in upstate New York and parts of Pennsylvania, while New England will follow a more typical color pattern. But that doesn't mean New England travelers will miss out. Maine, the most forested state in the country, had "an abundance of daily sunshine with just the right amount of rainfall to set the stage for a breathtaking foliage season," said Gale Ross, the state's fall foliage spokesperson. Color change and timing depend on the weather in the fall, but cooler nighttime temperatures and shorter days should enhance the colors, Ross said. "The growing season of 2024 has been excellent for trees, supporting tree health and resilience that should lead to brilliant fall colors throughout Maine," said Aaron Bergdahl, the state's forest pathologist. Fall colors peak at different times around the U.S., with the foliage season sometimes starting not long after Labor Day in the far northern reaches of the country and extending into November further to the south. In Maine alone, peak foliage can arrive in the northern part of the state in late September and not arrive in coastal areas until close to Halloween. Leaf turn happens when summer yields to fall and temperatures drop and the amount of sunlight decreases. Chlorophyll in leaves then breaks down, and that allows their fall colors to shine through before leaf drop. However, weather conditions associated with climate change have disrupted some recent leaf peeping seasons. A warming planet has brought drought that causes leaves to turn brown and wither before reaching peak colors. Other enemies of leaf peeping include heat waves that cause leaves to fall before autumn arrives and extreme weather events like hurricanes that strip trees of their leaves. A summer heatwave in the Pacific Northwest in 2021 caused a condition called "foliage scorch" that prematurely browned leaves. This year in Maine, leaf turn was still very sparse in most of the state as late September approached, but the state office of tourism was already gearing up for an influx of tourists. Northern Maine was already experiencing moderate color change. And neighboring New Hampshire was expecting about 3.7 million visitors — more than twice the state's population. "It's no surprise people travel from all over the world to catch the incredible color," said New Hampshire Travel and Tourism Director Lori Harnois.

NEW YORK — Six years after a teenage Greta Thunberg walked out of school in a solitary climate protest outside of the Swedish parliament, people around a warming globe marched in youth-led protest, saying their voices are being heard but not sufficiently acted upon. Emissions of heat-trapping gases and temperatures have been rising and oil and gas drilling has continued, even as the protests that kicked off major weeklong climate events in New York City have become annual events. This year, they come days before the United Nations convenes two special summits, one concentrating on sea level rise and the other on the future. The young people who organized these marches with Fridays for Future said there is frustration with inaction but also hope. People marched in Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi and elsewhere, but the focus often is in New York City because of Climate Week NYC. Diplomats, business leaders and activists are concentrating their discussions on the money end of fighting climate change — something not lost on protesters. "We hope that the government and the financial sector make polluters pay for the damage that they have imposed on our environment," said Uganda Fridays for Future founder Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, who was among a few hundred marching in New York Friday, a far cry from the tens of thousands that protested in a multigroup mega-rally in 2023. The New York protest wants to take aim at "the pillars of fossil fuels" — companies that pollute, banks that fund them and leaders who are failing on climate, said Helen Mancini, an organizer and a senior at the city's Stuyvesant High School. "A lot of older people want to make sure the economy is intact, and that's their main concern," said Julia Demairo, a sophomore at Pace University. "I think worrying about the future and the environment is worrying about the economy." On a day that was at least 8 degrees warmer than average, protest signs included "This is not what we mean by Hot Girl Summer," while others focused on the theme of fighting the coal, oil and gas industries: "Youth Didn't Vote for Fossil Fuels," "Don't Be a Fossil Fool" and "Climate Crisis = Extermination By Capitalism." Nakabuye said she was in New York to represent Uganda "that is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis." "We feel like we are creating an impact in the community. However, we are not listened to enough; there is more that needs to be done, especially right now when the climate catastrophes are intensifying," said Nakabuye. "We need to even raise our voices more to demand change and to demand that fuels should end." In the six years since Thunberg founded what became Fridays for Future, global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have increased by about 2.15%, according to Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists who monitor carbon pollution. The growth of emissions has slowed compared with previous decades and experts anticipate peaking soon, but that's a far cry from the 43% reduction that a U.N. report said is needed to keep temperature increases to an agreed-upon limit. Since 2019, carbon dioxide emissions from coal have increased by nearly 900 million metric tons, while natural gas emissions have increased slightly and oil pollution has dropped a tiny amount, according to the International Energy Agency, or IEA. That growth has been driven by China, India and developing nations. But emissions from advanced or industrialized economies have been falling and in 2023 were the lowest in more than 50 years, according to the IEA. Coal emissions in rich countries are down to levels seen around the year 1900, and the United Kingdom next month is set to shutter its last coal plant. In the past five years, clean energy sources have grown twice as fast as fossil fuels, with solar and wind individually growing faster than fossil fuel-based electricity, according to the IEA. Developing countries — where more than 80% of the world population lives — say that they need financial help to curb their increasing use of fossil fuels. Since 2018, the globe has warmed more than 0.29 degrees Celsius, with last year setting a record for the hottest year and this year poised to break that mark, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the European climate agency Copernicus. "We're making progress, even if it's slow progress," said 17-year-old Ashen Harper of Connecticut, a veteran protester turned organizer. "Our job right now is to accelerate that progress." In Berlin, hundreds of people took to the streets, although in fewer numbers than in previous years. Activists held up signs saying, "Save the Climate" and "Coal is Over!" as they watched a gig put on outside the German Chancellor's Office. Protesters in London held up letters spelling out "Pay Up," calling for the country to pay more to adapt to climate change and transition away from fossil fuels.

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PRAGUE — Czechs went to the polls on Friday in a two-day vote for a third of the seats in Parliament's upper house, which is the Senate, and to select their representatives in regional elections. The elections took place as the Czech Republic was recovering from massive floods that hit Central Europe in recent days. The floods claimed at least 24 lives in the region, five of them in the Czech Republic. State officials helped dozens of the hardest-hit towns organize the ballot in the northeast of the country, where schools and various other buildings that serve as polling stations were submerged and damaged. Interior Ministry officials took over the organization of the vote in five towns where local authorities were preoccupied with cleanup and recovery efforts. In some places, voting took place in tents, shipping containers or outside. The current ruling five-party coalition led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala has a clear majority in the 81-seat Senate, where 27 seats are up for grabs in the two-round election. The runoffs take place next week. Parliament's lower house dominates the legislative process, but the Senate plays an important role in passing constitutional amendments and approving Constitutional Court judges. In separate regional elections, a political movement led by former populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis is the favorite to win for the third straight time. Babis' ANO (YES), which is currently in opposition, is also favored to win the next general election, scheduled for next year. The results of the elections will be known late Saturday.

U.S. presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have focused their campaigns mainly on hot-button issues such as immigration, abortion and the economy. But the culture clash over how to handle gender identity matters in elementary and secondary schools is also a campaign issue, with loud voices on all sides. VOA’s Laurel Bowman reports. Videographer: Saqib Ul Islam

KOLKATA, INDIA — Striking junior doctors in India's West Bengal state agreed to resume essential services, in a partial resumption of medical facilities, but they will continue their strike over the rape and murder of a colleague over a month ago. The rape and murder of the 31-year-old female doctor in West Bengal in August set off a wave of protests by doctors demanding greater workplace safety for women and justice for their slain colleague, prompting India's Supreme Court to create a hospital safety task force. The junior doctors will resume essential duties from Saturday, the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, said in a statement on Thursday. "The movement for ‘justice’ will continue in each state-run hospital but we have decided to resume essential services in hospitals due to the flood situation in parts of the state," said Aniket Mahato of the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front. Doctors are demanding better security, included additional CCTV coverage, deployment of female security personnel and adequate lighting, toilets and resting spaces. A police volunteer has been arrested in connection with the doctor's rape and death in the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The former principal of the college has been arrested over accusations of evidence tampering and graft, and the Kolkata police chief has been replaced. Although tougher laws were introduced after the 2012 gruesome gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in national capital New Delhi, activists say the Kolkata case shows how women in the country continue to suffer from sexual violence.

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.

ABUJA, NIGERIA — The high inflation rate in Nigeria dropped slightly in August, but a decline in the value of the nairia and a continued increase in fuel prices are eroding the slight gains and threatening to reignite the inflationary trend. Michael Anthony, an engineer and father of four, still faces high costs despite the small drop in inflation, which fell from 33.40% in July to 32.15% in August. His household expenses remain steep, with no real relief in sight. "In the month of July, I bought a bag of rice at the rate of 65,000 naira, but ... three days ago, I bought a bag of rice for 95,000 naira,” he said. "If you want to buy anything, price has risen because of the price of fuel. I'm worried that inflation rate might rise again." At a market in a suburb of Abuja, food trader Blessing Ochuba is also struggling. With customers unable to buy in bulk, she’s cutting back her stock and adjusting prices to stay in business. Ochuba said patronage has been slow despite the reported dip in inflation rate. "People that normally buy in bags, they now buy like half or quarter ... because they can no longer afford to buy for now,” she said. “I used to buy like 10 bags of rice, but now I cannot afford to buy five. Honestly, I did not see the coming down, everything is going higher. “It's on the high side, and it is really affecting us." Despite lower inflation, Nigeria’s currency has weakened from 1,200 to 1,600 to the dollar, and gasoline prices have soared from 620 to nearly 1,000 naira per liter over the past three months. Development economist Hauwa Mustapha credited a government policy in which food imports were not subject to excise duty for 90 days for the slight inflation drop. "I think that helped a lot, and that also helped for them to boost the supply of food. ... It does not indicate a long-term recovery,” she said, adding that a lasting recovery will depend on government measures. "What the government can do to manage inflationary pressure for both short term and long term, I think for now, is to concentrate policy action in the area of food supply,” Mustapha said. “Thankfully, we are approaching the harvest season. Typically, in Nigeria, we also know that we experience a lot of post-harvest loss. This is ... the time for the country to manage the harvest, particularly control [and] minimize post-harvest losses, so that we can keep the food supply steady." Experts say the government’s next steps will determine whether this inflation dip signals a recovery or just temporary relief.