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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested new tactical ballistic missiles using super-large warheads and modified cruise missiles on Wednesday as leader Kim Jong Un called for stronger conventional weapons and nuclear capabilities, state news agency KCNA reported. The tests to improve weapons capabilities are required because of the grave threat posed by outside forces to the security of the country, Kim, who led the tests, was quoted as saying. The account followed the firing of multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday reported by the South Korean military, which was the second time the North test-launched missiles in a week. Last week, North Korea also unveiled a uranium enrichment facility, in its first such public report. Kim stressed "the need to continue to bolster the nuclear force and have the strongest military technical capability and overwhelming offensive capability in the field of conventional weapons too," KCNA said. Wednesday's tests involved the new tactical ballistic Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 missiles, KCNA said, indicating it was part of a series of short-range ballistic missiles it had been developing. The missile was mounted with a 4.5-ton super-large conventional warhead, KCNA said. North Korea's state media reported the tests of missiles with the same name in July, which was considered a partial success. On Thursday, state media released photographs of a projectile striking a target in a hilly area. South Korea's military said on Thursday two ballistic missiles landed in a mountainous area in the North's northeast. Such a missile launch test with an intention to hit an inland target is likely unprecedented, said Shin Seung-ki, who is the head of research on North Korea's military at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. North Korea routinely test-launches missiles to drop in the sea or on an uninhabited island. The particular missile with the Hwasongpho-11-Da-4.5 designation is still under development but Russia may want it soon if its performance and reliability can be guaranteed through further testing, Shin said. "North Korea will want to shorten that time as much as possible," he said. Kyiv officials and independent experts have said there were signs some of the missiles used by Russia in the war against Ukraine were North Korean-made, including some that were produced this year. Moscow and Pyongyang both deny any illicit arms trade or shipments. The North's military also tested a strategic cruise missile that has been upgraded for combat use, KCNA said. North Korea has criticized military drills by the South Korean and U.S. militaries, including a large-scale exercise conducted this summer, as preparations for war on the Korean peninsula. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature and aimed at maintaining readiness against any North Korean aggression.

President Joe Biden on Saturday hosts the leaders of Australia, India and Japan for his final convening of the so-called Quad, a strategic security grouping focused on the Indo-Pacific area -- a populous and economically vital region also of strategic interest to China. VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point, a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates that helped tame inflation but also made borrowing painfully expensive for American consumers. We talk to David Kass from the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Celebrating the first U.S. president to reach his 100th birthday. And an American icon files for bankruptcy.

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.

AVIGNON, France — Lawyers for some of the men accused of raping an unconscious French woman who had been drugged by her husband questioned her Wednesday about her habits, personal life and sex life, and even questioned whether she was truly unconscious during the encounters. Gisèle Pelicot's testimony came a day after her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, told the court that for nearly 10 years, he drugged her and invited dozens of men to rape her as she lay defenseless. She fiercely rejected any suggestion that she was anything but an unwitting victim. "Since I've arrived in this courtroom, I've felt humiliated. I am treated like an alcoholic, an accomplice. ... I have heard it all," she said at the start of the day's proceedings, breaking at times with the remarkable calm and stoicism she has shown throughout the often harrowing trial that has gripped France. Gisèle Pelicot, who was married to her husband for 50 years and shares three children with him, has become a hero to many rape victims and a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France for waiving her anonymity in the case, letting the trial be public and appearing openly in front of the media. Her ex-husband and the 50 other men on trial, who range in age from 26 to 74, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Many of the defendants deny having raped Gisèle Pelicot. Some claim they were tricked by Dominique Pelicot, others say they believed she was consenting, and others argue that her husband's consent was sufficient. Gisèle Pelicot and her lawyers say the preponderance of evidence — thousands of videos and photos taken by her ex-husband of men having sex with her while she appeared to be unconscious — should be enough to prove she was a victim and was entirely unaware of what Dominique Pelicot was subjecting her to from at least 2011 until 2020. But on Wednesday, defense lawyers focused their questions on the notion of consent and whether she was aware of what was happening at any point during some of the 90 sexual encounters that prosecutors believe were rapes. "Don't you have tendencies that you are not comfortable with?" one lawyer asked Gisèle Pelicot. "I'm not even going to answer this question, which I find insulting," she responded, her voice breaking. "I understand why victims of rape don't press charges. We really spill everything out into the open to humiliate the victim." Another lawyer asked whether she was indeed unconscious during one of the encounters captured on video. "I didn't give my consent to Mr. Pelicot or these men behind me for one second," she said, referring to her ex-husband's co-defendants. "In the state I was in, I could not respond to anybody. I was in a state of coma — the videos will attest to it." The line of questioning upset her. "Since when can a man decide for his wife?" she said, stressing that only one of her ex-husband's 50 co-defendants had refused his invitation to rape her. That man met Dominique Pelicot online and invited him to rape his own wife, who was also drugged, authorities contend. "What are these men? Are they degenerates?" she said angrily. "They have committed rapes. That's all I have to say." Another questioned the time and date stamps on the videos, and whether she thought the sexual acts lasted as long as the stamps suggested. "Rape is not a question of time," she said. "To talk of minutes, seconds. ... It does not matter how long they spent. It's so degrading, humiliating what I am hearing in this room," she said. At one point, Dominique Pelicot, who already said during the trial that all of the accusations against him are true, came out in support of his ex-wife, saying, "Stop suspecting her all the time ... I did many things without her knowing." On Tuesday, he testified that all of his co-defendants knew exactly what they were doing when he had them over, saying, "They knew everything. They can't say otherwise."

SRINAGAR, India — Voting in the first phase of a staggered election to choose a local government concluded Wednesday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.  Turnout was about 59%, the region's chief electoral officer said in a statement, as voting was "incident-free and peaceful."  Authorities had deployed thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers for security in the seven southern districts of the region, which has been roiled by an insurgency against Indian rule for decades. More than 2.3 million residents are eligible to vote to choose 24 lawmakers out of 219 candidates in the first phase of the election. Wearing riot gear and carrying assault rifles, troops set up checkpoints and patrolled constituencies as long lines of voters stretched around the polling booths. The second and third phases are scheduled for September 25 and October 1. The process is staggered for logistical reasons and to allow troops to move around to stop potential violence in the Himalayan region. For the first time, authorities limited access to polling stations for foreign media and denied press credentials to most journalists working with international media, including to The Associated Press, without citing any reason. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi's Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region's semi-autonomy, downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory and stripped its separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs. It was also divided into two federal territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, ruled directly by New Delhi, allowing it to appoint administrators to run the territories along with unelected bureaucrats and security personnel. Many people said they knew their votes won't solve the dispute over Kashmir but provided a rare window to express their frustration with direct Indian control. Aamir Ahmed, a first-time voter in Pulwama town, said it was important to elect a local representative "who does not condone wrongdoing." "We have witnessed a lot of suffering in the last 10 years," Ahmed said. Another voter, 80-year-old farmer Ali Mohammad Alai, said he had been "reduced to penury by the Modi government" after authorities took away his land given to him decades ago for cultivation by the local administration. "All I want is to get that land back," he said. "Our own government can do that." The multistage election will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a local legislature, called an assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi's direct rule. A chief minister will head a council of ministers in the government. However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly as Kashmir will continue to be a "Union Territory" — directly controlled by the federal government — with India's Parliament remaining its main legislator. The elected government will have partial control over areas like education, culture and taxation but not over the police. Kashmir's statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India. Multiple local parties have campaigned on promises to fight for reversal of 2019 changes and address other key issues like rising unemployment and inflation in the region where locals have struggled amid curtailed civil liberties particularly after the revocation of the special status. India's ruling BJP, however, has vowed to block any move aimed at undoing those changes but promised to help in the region's economic development.

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.

Niamey, Niger — A series of ambushes and explosions across military-run Niger killed at least 12 soldiers and wounded 30 others recently, the army announced on state-run television Wednesday.   In the first attack, in western Tillaberi region on Sunday, "a horde of criminals who arrived in their hundreds" killed five soldiers and wounded 25 more, according to the army.   The ground and air response killed "more than 100” attackers, the army said, without giving further details about them.  On Monday, in the restive southwest Diffa region where there are frequent attacks by Boko Haram and the West African branch of the Islamic State group, five patrolling soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device.  A "surgical strike" in retaliation "killed several terrorists" responsible, the army said.  In the latest attack, militants from a new resistance group called the Patriotic Movement for Freedom and Justice (MPLJ) claimed an operation against a military outpost in the Agadez region in the north.   The army said two soldiers were killed and six wounded in Tuesday's attack.  "A pursuit operation was immediately launched to track down the fleeing assailants, who were heading for the Libyan border," the army added.   The MPLJ claimed to have killed 14 soldiers and two gendarmes in the attack, and to have lost two of its own fighters.  Created in August, the MPLJ is an offshoot of the Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) armed group, which is fighting the junta for the release of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.   Democratically elected Bazoum was overthrown in a coup in July 2023 and has since then been held at the presidential palace.  While the military justified its power grab by citing the deteriorating security situation, violence persists.   According to the independent Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, about 1,500 civilians and soldiers in Niger have been killed in militant attacks over the past year, compared with 650 between July 2022 and 2023 when Bazoum was in charge.

Termez, Uzbekistan — Afghans longing for closer connections with the outside world are finding an outlet in the border city of Termez, where neighboring Uzbekistan invites them to visit a new international trade center aimed at boosting regional trade and creating business opportunities. “It’s uplifting to be here, as we’ve been dreaming about creating a common market for so long. Perhaps this is the beginning of it, despite all the challenges,” said Ajmalik Nader Saghpi, a visitor from Afghanistan’s Laghman Province. Nearby, other Afghan men approach along a dedicated corridor leading from the border control area and lounge on a green lawn in front of a prayer hall. Branded as the Airitom Free Zone, the facility sits on the banks of the Amu Darya, a river marking the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and feeding much of Central Asia. Airitom is a neighborhood in Termez, the administrative center of Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya region, which also borders Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Built at a cost of around $70 million, the zone spans 36 hectares and is guarded by special forces and police. It features a customs office and storage area capable of handling 100,000 trucks and 900,000 tons of goods a year. It also includes a Hilton Garden Inn, a high-tech hospital, an academic campus, Uzbek and Turkish restaurants, and 50,000 square meters of business space, along with banking and legal services. It is separate from the nearby Termez Cargo Center, an international transport and logistics hub. When VOA toured the zone in August and saw the model, managers said the site, once fully functional, is projected to generate $1.2 billion in trade and attract 1.5 million visitors a year. “We’re not fantasizing,” said Bakhtiyor Rahimov, the zone’s manager, acknowledging challenges in the region. “We believe this is realistic because we have studied the neighboring country and others around us, surveyed businesses, and discussed our vision with Afghan leaders. We know they are keen to work with us.” Those high hopes have been echoed by high-profile visitors including Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Taliban’s acting Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, and cabinet members from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Any foreigner can stay in the zone for two weeks visa-free. Visitors can conduct commerce in any currency, customs-free. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed that 40% of the space be allocated to Afghan manufacturers and traders, and up to 30% of the projected 5,000 jobs can go to them. Hakim Yar, a businessman from Balkh, the nearby Afghan province, plans to open a couple of offices here for export-import and for an agricultural firm he runs in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. He is satisfied with what’s available in the zone and is among those Afghans already occupying 5% of the space. Qari Shergulan, from Nangarhar, envisions that more Afghans will come if entrepreneurs like him return home with positive experiences. He says his people are eager to seize opportunities wherever they find them and won’t waste any chance to grow. “We have not lost our potential. We can still work, build, trade, earn, expand, and invest,” Shergulan told VOA when asked about the economic conditions in Afghanistan. None of the Afghan visitors VOA spoke with complained about the Taliban. Instead, they praised Kabul’s cooperation with the Uzbek government and its support for efforts like the new trade center. However, they mentioned electricity shortages, unemployment, diminishing manufacturing, and lack of opportunities across Afghanistan, particularly for youth. Tashkent-based Central Asian University is opening a campus in the zone, promising free education and residence for 200 Afghans, as well as business training for others. “We will soon have a visa office here,” said Mirkhamid Mirpulatov, the zone’s CEO. “Foreigners seeking work, study, or services here for a longer period can apply for visas. “The special corridor on the border, once you cross the bridge over the Amu Darya, is only for our zone. The access is limited to this area. Those interested in doing business outside the Airitom Free Zone need additional permissions,” Mirpulatov explained. Airitom is on the main transportation route linking Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. This is a key factor for landlocked Uzbekistan, which is eager for access to ports on the Indian Ocean. The zone is also starting daily bus service between Airitom and Mazar-i-Sharif, about 60 kilometers away. The private hospital in the zone is a branch of Tashkent-based Akfa Medline. “The costs here are lower than in the capital,” Mirpulatov said. “Afghans have been patients for years, so offering health care here on the border simplifies everything for them.” With 315 staff members and state-of-the-art operating and treatment facilities, Akfa Medline has adjusted its services to mainly cater to Afghans, creating separate units for men and women, something it does not do in Tashkent. “We’re doing this out of respect for our neighbor’s culture, just as we’re not allowing alcohol in the zone,” Mirpulatov said, denying that Airitom is run under Taliban rules. “We do discuss business with them but make our own decisions.” Uzbek tycoon behind enterprise Jahongir Artikkhodjayev, an Uzbek business tycoon and former mayor of Tashkent, is the mastermind behind the Airitom Free Zone. Mirpulatov confirmed that the zone is under Akfa Group, one of the largest Uzbek industrial holdings, founded and run by Artikkhodjayev. As with other major projects in the country, President Mirziyoyev entrusted Artikkhodjayev with delivering this trade center, according to Mirpulatov, who calls Artikkhodjayev his mentor. Akfa Group secured the funds for the zone. There is no Western involvement so far, though South Asians, Russians, Chinese and Arabs have shown interest. US view on development When VOA asked U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick about the Airitom Free Zone, he underscored America’s overall position on Afghanistan and the Taliban. “Broadly speaking, we support anything that helps ordinary Afghan people and contributes to stability along the border. We recognize that Uzbekistan has legitimate economic concerns that need to be addressed,” he said. “That should be separate from the question of the Taliban’s desire for international recognition and access to funds. These issues must continue to be handled collectively by the international community through the Doha process,” under which some 30 countries have been discussing how to advance international engagement on Afghanistan. Henick added, “We have a very strong dialogue with Uzbekistan about Afghanistan. Uzbekistan is an active participant in the Doha process. Our interests are closely aligned.” Other Western diplomats in Tashkent agreed with Henick that recognizing the regime in Kabul, based on human rights and governance conditions, is key to normalizing relations and attracting investment. The Taliban remain angry over a recent deal under which several dozen U.S. aircraft that were flown to Uzbekistan as the Taliban seized control in Afghanistan have been transferred to Uzbek control. But, Henick said, Washington and Tashkent maintain “a robust military and security relationship.” At the same time, Henick told VOA: “The U.S. is the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan to this day. We provide enormous amounts of aid because, like Uzbekistan, we have an interest in ensuring there is no humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.”

washington — President Joe Biden has made it a priority to elevate the relationship of the Quad, four countries touched by the Indo-Pacific region, the White House said, as he prepares to host the leaders of Japan, India and Australia on Saturday at his Delaware home. The region stretches from the U.S. West Coast to the shores of India to the northeast waters of Japan to the waters around Australia, and includes the many tiny, diffuse islands of the Pacific. That swath of the globe, the U.S. Commerce Department says, holds more than half the world's people and two-thirds of its economy.  And, administration officials said, this summit is personally important to Biden, as demonstrated by his decision to host the visitors in his private home in Wilmington, about 160 kilometers from the White House. "The Biden-Harris administration has made elevating and institutionalizing the Quad a top priority," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "And this leaders' summit will focus on bolstering the strategic convergence among our countries, advancing our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and delivering concrete benefits for our partners in the Indo-Pacific in key areas." Officials say the leaders will act on the region's concerns and will announce moves on illegal fishing in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. "We've moved forward substantially on efforts that basically allow for the Pacific and Southeast Asia to track — largely untracked to this point — illegal fishing fleets that are the scourge of these extraordinarily important fishing areas," U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters Wednesday. "Vast majority of those fishing fleets are Chinese. We think these capacities will be indeed very helpful in helping local governments repel illegal fishing in their home waters." Biden often likes to say that the U.S. is at an inflection point — a fact he has stressed recently as American voters face a tense November election with two very different presidential candidates. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump disagree on how to maintain the crucial U.S.-China relationship. Trump is campaigning hard on harsh tariffs on China, saying, in a recent rally, "I'm putting a 200% tariff on them," while making false claims that Chinese automakers are putting up large factories in Mexico. And Harris is expected to continue Biden's more cautious policy of keeping lines of communication open even while competing forcefully in many areas. Beijing recently showed its sensitivity to hearing its name in U.S. election rhetoric, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning saying last week: "The election is an internal affair of the U.S. I won't comment on election remarks. But we oppose the U.S. using the election to criticize China." Analysts say pulling the leaders of four powerful democracies into one room gives them space to talk freely. "So really, I think the real agenda is not spoken about. It's China," said Rafiq Dossani, a senior economist at the RAND research corporation and a professor of policy analysis. "It's how to manage the rivalry with China." "Each has their concerns about China," he told VOA. "That becomes, then, the text of the subtext or the background story." But this group's interests extend far beyond China, analysts say. "This is certainly not a Contain China club," said Kathryn Paik of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The primary objectives of the Quad have focused on health, on delivering infrastructure needs, on enhancing countries' ability to monitor their maritime domains and their maritime resources, and on people-to-people ties between these countries." VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching and Kim Lewis contributed to this report.

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.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Some Brazilian users regained access to X on Wednesday despite a nationwide ban put in place by the country's Supreme Court, a reunion apparently resulting from a change in the way the social network's servers are accessed.  But the renewed access may be short-lived.  Late last month, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X blocked nationwide after months of tension with the site's billionaire owner, Elon Musk, over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. De Moraes also set fines for anyone using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access the platform.  That rendered X effectively inaccessible in the country until Wednesday, when an Associated Press journalist was among those who regained access. The number of X posts made in Brazil rose from 939,000 Tuesday to more than 2 million by late afternoon Wednesday, data analysis company Bites said.  Experts examining X's IP addresses — numeric designations that identify sites' locations on the internet — said there are indications the company has begun routing users through the servers of Cloudflare, a content delivery network, en route to its own.  "The service that Elon Musk's social network has started using works like a 'digital shield' that protects the company's servers," said Pedro Diogenes, Latin America's technical director for CLM, a distributor that focuses on cybersecurity. It acts as a proxy between users and X's servers, filtering traffic and preventing the original IP address from being recognized, Diogenes told the AP.  Brazilian telecommunications regulator Anatel said it is looking into the situation and will report its findings to the Supreme Court, noting that there has been no change to de Moraes' ruling. A panel of fellow justices later upheld his decision, though it hasn't yet gone before the court's full bench. His fine for VPN users in particular has faced blowback, including from the nation's bar association.  The Supreme Court declined to comment on possible actions it could take. Musk, who often uses his platform to disparage de Moraes, hadn't commented on X by late afternoon.  Former President Jair Bolsonaro celebrated the return of the social network. He has sided with Musk in the feud with de Moraes and sought to portray the ban as censorship from an overzealous judge.  "I congratulate you all for the pressure that makes the wheels turn in defense of democracy in Brazil," Bolsonaro posted Wednesday on X.  Some Brazilian X users trumpeted the platform's return — with several addressing de Moraes directly, vowing that they weren't using a VPN. There have been no reports of fines being levied against people using VPNs.  Protection of controversial sites Cloudflare, a security company that prides itself on providing services to websites regardless of their content, has a history of protecting sites other companies won't touch — up to a point. In 2017, for instance, it dropped the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer as a customer following a deadly clash at a white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. And in 2022, it dropped the notorious stalking and harassment site Kiwi Farms, citing an "immediate threat to human life."  But X is a mainstream social media platform — even if it may be home to some extremist content — and it is not yet clear whether Brazil's ban would be enough for San Francisco-based Cloudflare to abandon it.  Cloudflare has a reputation for cooperating with governments, however, and so may comply with an order from the Supreme Court to cease serving as X's proxy, David Nemer, who specializes in the anthropology of technology at the University of Virginia, told the AP.  Ordering internet service providers to block Cloudflare would be impossible since thousands of Brazilian companies depend on it, Nemer previously wrote on Bluesky, another social media platform.  A person close to Cloudflare, who was not authorized to speak publicly about a business relationship, said the network services provider did not do anything specifically to help X get around Brazil's ban. Rather, X recently switched to Cloudflare from another provider, which could be a reason the block is not working. This person added that the workaround likely won't last long.  De Moraes could also attempt to force Musk's hand by going after his satellite-based internet service provider Starlink, as he has done since the ban, said Rafael Mafei, a law professor at the University of Sao Paulo.  On Friday, de Moraes seized about $3 million from bank accounts belonging to X and Starlink to collect what X owed in fines.  Legal analysts have questioned de Moraes' prior decision to freeze Starlink's bank account until it paid for X's fines. While Musk owns both X and SpaceX, which operates Starlink, the two companies are separate entities. But de Moraes has shown that he considers the two companies to belong to the same economic group, Mafei said.  "Under normal circumstances, anyone else who openly took active steps to obstruct judicial measures and investigations, as Musk is doing, would possibly have already had their arrest decreed in Brazil," Mafei said. 

united nations — A senior United Nations official warned Wednesday that "immediate action" is needed to halt the fighting in the capital of Sudan's North Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are at risk. "We urge members of the Security Council to employ their collective leverage to help protect the population caught in the crossfire," Martha Pobee, U.N. assistant secretary-general for Africa, told council members. A round of large-scale fighting erupted on September 12 between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who advanced on the capital of El Fasher from multiple directions, and the Sudanese Armed Forces, who are positioned inside the city. El Fasher is the only capital in the Darfur region that has not yet fallen to the rebel paramilitary. Civilians inside the large city, including an estimated 700,000 people displaced from other parts of Sudan, have been under siege for months with little outside assistance. Pobee urged exploring the possibility of local cease-fires. "Prior to the deterioration of the situation in El Fasher, a local cease-fire protected the city's population for close to a year," she said. "A return to such an arrangement in El Fasher and similar short-term solutions in other locations must continue to be pursued." War causes humanitarian crisis Sudan is experiencing a massive humanitarian crisis because of the war between two rival generals that began in April 2023. More than 10 million people have fled their homes in search of safety, and last month, international monitors confirmed famine in North Darfur. According to the United Nations, 26 million people are in crisis levels of hunger across the country. In June, the 15-nation Security Council adopted a resolution calling for "an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around El Fasher," but it has been totally ignored. During a news conference Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his frustration with the intransigence of Sudan's warring generals. "I mean, the truth is that you have two generals, and you have two groups, one army and one paramilitary institution, that are fighting each other, without any consideration for the needs and the dramatic impacts of their people," he said. "The level of hunger is spreading terribly in Sudan. The number of people killed and maimed is increasing dramatically. And as a matter of fact, all this is done with total impunity." On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement that both sides must pull back their forces, facilitate unhindered humanitarian access and re-engage in negotiations to end the war. The United States, Saudi Arabia and other partners have pressed for peace for months. While the U.S. and its partners have been successful in opening up some routes for humanitarian relief into Sudan, they so far have failed to silence the guns. Diplomats continue seeking solutions Next week, the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces and chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, will be in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly meetings. Diplomats say there will be multiple meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly gathering to discuss the situation in Sudan, including a ministerial-level meeting to be hosted by the United States, France, Germany and the European Union. Burhan said Wednesday that the government "remains resolute and fully committed to ending the suffering of our citizens" and is open to all constructive efforts aimed at ending the war. He said he looks forward to discussing it further during his trip to New York.

washington — Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives failed on Wednesday to pass a funding bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by Donald Trump, complicating efforts to avert a possible government shutdown at the end of the month. Despite urging from Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election, House Republicans were unable to muster enough votes to pass the package and send it on the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Democrats mostly united in opposition, the bill failed by a vote of 202-220, with 14 Republicans voting against and three Democrats in favor. House Speaker Mike Johnson said afterward that he would craft a new temporary spending bill that would keep the government running beyond Oct. 1, when current funding is set to expire. He did not provide details. "Now we go back to the playbook, draw up another play and we'll come up with another solution," Johnson said. "I'm already talking to colleagues." Democrats in the House and the Senate say they are eager to pass a stopgap spending bill to avert a disruptive shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers. However, they opposed the version that Johnson brought to a vote on Wednesday, because it was paired with an unrelated voting bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote and require states to purge non-citizens from their registration lists. Johnson also has to contend with a contingent of Republicans who typically vote against stopgap funding bills. Trump has made illegal immigration a central issue in his re-election bid and has falsely claimed that Democrats are registering illegal immigrants to vote, the latest in a long line of lies about election fraud. House Republicans say their bill is needed to ensure that only American citizens vote. It is already illegal for a noncitizen to vote in federal elections and in state elections in every state, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. "It's already illegal for a minor to purchase alcohol, yet we still card them. We still enforce the law," said Republican Representative Aaron Bean. Senate Democrats have refused to consider the Republican voting bill, saying it would risk disenfranchising legitimate voters while doing nothing to bolster election security. A 2017 study found 30 instances of suspected illegal immigrant votes out of more than 25 million cast. Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer predicted that Johnson would ultimately bring up a straightforward spending bill that could attract Democratic support — a dynamic that has played out repeatedly over the past year as Republicans have been paralyzed by infighting. "We've seen this film before. Let's just skip to the ending today," he said. Congress faces an even more critical deadline on Jan. 1, by which time lawmakers will have to raise the nation's debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than $35 trillion in federal government debt.

washington — Iran’s efforts to upend U.S. politics ahead of November’s presidential election by targeting the campaign of former President Donald Trump went well beyond a standard hack-and-leak operation. According to U.S. intelligence officials, Tehran sought to ensnare the campaign of Trump’s then-opponent, incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden. Information released late Wednesday by U.S. intelligence officials indicates Iranian cyber actors not only tried to leak stolen Trump campaign documents to media organizations but also tried to feed them to Biden campaign officials, hoping the Biden team might try to use them. “Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, nonpublic material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to a statement by the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “There is currently no information indicating those recipients replied,” the statement added, noting the Iranian hackers have continued to peddle the stolen information to U.S. media organizations. “The FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible,” the statement said. Earlier this month, a U.S. intelligence official warned that Tehran is “making a greater effort than in the past to influence this year's elections.” Those efforts included what the official described as a “multipronged approach to stoke internal divisions and undermine voter confidence” that has included attacks on Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democrats’ presidential nominee after Biden ended his campaign in late July.  Iran's mission to the United Nations has not yet responded to a request from VOA for comment. It has previously denied involvement in any attempts to interfere with U.S. elections. In an email to VOA, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt raised the possibility, without providing supporting evidence, that Harris and Biden may have used hacked material obtained from Iranians to try to hurt the Trump campaign.  The Harris campaign told VOA in an email that it has cooperated with law enforcement since it was made aware of the Iranian activities. “We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign,” said campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein. “A few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Finkelstein said. “We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections, including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.” The Trump campaign first announced the suspected hack last month, initially blaming "foreign sources hostile to the United States." U.S. intelligence officials attributed the attack to Iran about a week later. An unclassified U.S. assessment issued earlier this month cautioned, “Iran has a suite of tools at its disposal.” “Beyond attempts to hack and leak information, Iran is conducting covert social media operations using fake personas and using AI to help publish inauthentic news articles,” it added. Private technology companies have likewise warned about Iran’s activities. In a report issued just days before the Trump campaign said it had been hacked by Iran, Microsoft said Tehran-linked actors were already seeding the online space for influence operations and potential cyberattacks. But Microsoft President Brad Smith on Wednesday indicated Iranian preparations began even earlier. "We've seen, starting in May, increasingly sophisticated Iranian activity to penetrate network accounts," Smith told a cyber summit in Washington.  "It's a classic prelude to hack-and-leak operations. If you can steal the email in June, you can use it in October and you can even change the email."

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Islamabad/Washington — Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Wednesday to deepen economic ties and expand cooperation "across multiple sectors," as Moscow grapples with U.S. and EU economic sanctions over its war against Ukraine. Overchuk’s visit comes after two days of meetings between John Bass, U.S. acting undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad.   During a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Wednesday in Islamabad, Dar said discussions centered on expanding economic ties between the two countries. Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Russia reached an unprecedented $1 billion last year. The countries are committed to expanding trade ties by addressing logistical and related issues, Dar said. According to Dar, Pakistan and Russia are expanding ties in many fields, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases. However, sanctions against Russia restrict cooperation between the two countries. “Even today, we looked at how to expand our relationship, and overcome this constraint of the banking system, which you know are facing sanctions, which obviously constrains our relationship, the volume of our relationship could have been much bigger,” Dar said Dar said Pakistan and the U.S. Department of State had detailed discussions in October 2023, and American officials agreed to Pakistan's request to purchase Russian LNG, as long as a committee of U.S. trade officials determines the price.   According to Dar, Pakistan views Russia as an important player in West, South and Central Asia. He said Pakistan aims to work with Moscow toward peace and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s army media wing said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia’s Overchuk spoke with General Syed Asim Munir, chief of the army staff (COAS), in Rawalpindi. “Both reiterated Pakistan's commitment to fostering traditional defense ties with Russia. Both sides reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen security and defense cooperation in multiple domains,” the statement says. Analysts say the Russian deputy prime minister's visit and the expansion of cooperation shows Moscow is expanding its influence in the region. “In my view, a vacuum has emerged after the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and Russia is positioning itself to fill that void. China is also making efforts in this direction. As a result, Pakistan is working under this policy framework to improve its relations with regional countries, including Russia,” professor Manzoor Afridi, a Pakistani academic on international relations, told VOA. Muhammad Taimur Fahad Khan, a Pakistani international affairs expert at Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, told VOA, “The primary goal during this period is to enhance trade, strengthen diplomatic ties, and develop infrastructure, particularly in the energy sector. However, the United States has restricted certain aspects of Pakistan's ballistic missile program, while tensions between Russia and Ukraine have escalated. In this context, Pakistan's relationship with Russia holds significance.” Pakistan received its first shipment of Russian liquefied petroleum gas in 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed the possibility of liquefied natural gas supplies earlier in July on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit at Astana, Kazakhstan. This story originated in VOA’s Deewa service.

Russia's efforts to amplify political divisions in the United States and influence the November 5 presidential election are well-documented.