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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.

Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana and an American biotech firm, Ginkgo Bioworks, have partnered to conduct pathogen surveillance at the country’s entry points. Health officials say the proactive move is meant to safeguard public health as the world faces emerging disease threats. Botswana introduced mpox screening last month for travelers at its entry points. In a statement Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesperson Christopher Nyanga said a pathogen-monitoring program is critical to detecting similar emerging health threats. Dr. Mbatshi Mazwiduma, a public health expert, said the pathogen-surveillance program will complement existing strategies to prevent disease threats. "The initiative by the Ministry of Health is a very welcome development in the sense that it is at least demonstrating that they are both embracing traditional methods of surveillance and disease detection plus at the same time, they are looking at other innovative ways of disease detection," he said. Through the collaboration, Boston-based Gingko Bioworks will work with the Ministry of Health to collect and monitor travelers’ samples. Nasal swabs will be used to collect the samples. Nyanga said testing will be done on a voluntary, anonymous basis. "Although participation in this initiative is entirely voluntary, travelers are encouraged to participate because this early detection of pathogens is meant to safeguard the health of all citizens, visitors and residents of this country," he said. "The samples collected will be kept anonymous. The data collected from the samples will be vital in strengthening the country's robust health system and response to public health threats and emergencies." But Mazwiduma said voluntary participation in the pathogen-monitoring program could hinder effective disease detection. "Perhaps if non-invasive, non-intrusive, the technique should be compulsory because it ensures that the number of people who comply to sample acquisition is increased and, therefore, you can actually rapidly achieve suitable sample sizes for you to be able to ensure that you do not miss any patients, but also more importantly that it allows you to improve your validation of these particular technologies," Mazwiduma said. Botswana and Gingko Bioworks previously collaborated in a 2022 pathogen-monitoring program to detect new and emerging COVID-19 variants. During the same year, Botswana was credited with the discovery of COVID-19 variant omicron.

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.

WARSAW, Poland — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with senior Polish government officials on Thursday to discuss support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia and deepening U.S. defense cooperation with Warsaw. Washington's top diplomat travels to NATO ally Poland following a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, where he heard Ukrainian officials' appeals to be allowed to fire Western-supplied missiles deep into Russian territory. Blinken is scheduled to meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President Andrzej Duda and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, according to their offices. More than 2-1/2 years since Russia's invasion began, Ukrainian forces are being pressured on the battlefield by a better armed and bigger foe, as they try to fend off Russian gains in the east where Moscow is focusing its attacks. In a bid to regain some of the initiative and divert Russian forces, Kyiv last month sent troops into Russia's Kursk region, but progress has stalled. The security of Poland's eastern flank will also feature in the discussions with Blinken, said Mieszko Pawlak, head of the international policy bureau at Duda's office. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made defense a top priority for eastern members of the NATO alliance, and Poland has sought to strengthen the borders it shares with Belarus and Russia. Relations between Poland and Russia have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Warsaw has ramped up defense spending in response and expects record defense spending in 2025 of $47.95 billion. Deepening energy cooperation is also expected to be a topic of discussion while Blinken is in Warsaw, the State Department said on Tuesday. Pawlak said cooperation on civilian nuclear energy including building the first Polish nuclear power plant would be on the agenda.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States supports creating two permanent United Nations Security Council seats for African states and one seat to be rotated among small island developing states, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield will announce on Thursday. The move comes as the U.S. seeks to repair ties with Africa, where many are unhappy about Washington's support for Israel's war in Gaza, and deepen relations with Pacific Islands nations important to countering Chinese influence in the region. Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she hopes the announcement will "move this agenda forward in a way that we can achieve Security Council reform at some point in the future," describing it as part of U.S. President Joe Biden's legacy. The push for two permanent African seats and a rotating seat for small island developing states is in addition to Washington's long-held support for India, Japan and Germany to also get permanent seats on the council. Developing nations have long demanded permanent seats on the Security Council, the most powerful body in the United Nations. But years of talks on reform have proved fruitless and it is unclear whether U.S. support could fuel action. Ahead of making the announcement at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday, Thomas-Greenfield clarified to Reuters that Washington does not support expanding veto power beyond the five countries that hold it. The Security Council is charged with maintaining international peace and security and has the power to impose sanctions and arms embargos and authorize the use of force. When the U.N. was founded in 1945, the Security Council had 11 members. This increased in 1965 to 15 members, made up of 10 elected states serving two-year terms and five permanent veto-wielding nations: Russia, China, France, the U.S. and Britain. Legitimacy problem U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backs Security Council reform. "You have a Security Council that corresponds exactly to the situation after the Second World War ... that has a problem of legitimacy, and that has a problem of effectiveness, and it needs to be reformed," Guterres told Reuters on Wednesday. Any change to the Security Council membership is done by amending the founding U.N. Charter. This needs the approval and ratification by two-thirds of the General Assembly, including the Security Council's current five veto powers. The 193-member U.N. General Assembly has annually discussed reform of the Security Council for more than a decade. But momentum has grown in recent years as geopolitical rivalries have deadlocked the council on several issues, particularly after permanent veto-wielding member Russia invaded Ukraine. "Much of the conversation around Security Council reform has been just that: a conversation," Thomas-Greenfield will say on Thursday, according to prepared remarks reviewed by Reuters of her announcement that Washington supports moving to negotiations on a draft text to amend the U.N. Charter to expand the council. Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she could not say how long it might take to get the General Assembly to vote on such a resolution. Each year the General Assembly elects five new members from different geographical groups for two-year terms on the Security Council. Africa currently has three seats rotated among states. "The problem is, these non-permanent seats don't enable African countries to deliver the full benefit of their knowledge and voices to the work of the council ... to consistently lead on the challenges that affect all of us - and disproportionately affect Africans," Thomas-Greenfield will say. She will also say that small island developing states deserve a rotating elected seat because they offer "critical insights on a range of international peace and security issues: including, notably, the impact of climate change."

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.

Election officials across the U.S. are warning that problems with the nation’s mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election. We talk to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who is also the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. Support for the far-right among young voters appears to be growing in several European countries. And making robots seem more human.

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.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined President Joe Biden in commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the worst terror attack on American soil. Whoever takes the presidency in January, whether Harris or her rival, former President Donald Trump, also at the ceremonies, will continue to face a range of threats. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from ground zero in New York, from Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and from the Pentagon.

This year, about 8 million young people will turn 18 and become eligible to vote. In all, an estimated 41 million members of Gen Z — people under age 27 — will be able to vote in the 2024 presidential election

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.

washington — The Biden administration is overriding human rights conditions on military aid to Egypt, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday, granting the U.S. ally its full allocation of $1.3 billion this year for the first time during this administration, despite ongoing concerns over human rights in the country. The announcement comes as Washington has relied heavily on Cairo, a longstanding U.S. ally, to mediate so far unsuccessful talks between Israel and Hamas on a cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza. Of the $1.3 billion in U.S. foreign military financing allocated to Egypt, $320 million is subject to conditions that have meant at least some of that sum has been withheld in recent years. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress on Wednesday that he would waive a certification requirement on $225 million related to Egypt's human rights record this year, citing "the U.S. national security interest," the spokesperson said by email. "This decision is important to advancing regional peace and Egypt’s specific and ongoing contributions to U.S. national security priorities, particularly to finalize a cease-fire agreement for Gaza, bring the hostages home, surge humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in need, and help bring an enduring end to the Israel-Hamas conflict," the spokesperson said. Democrat Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Middle East subcommittee, said Washington had previously withheld military aid from Egypt on human rights grounds while maintaining its strategic relationship with the country. "It's no secret that Egypt remains a deeply repressive autocratic state, and I see no good reason to ignore that fact by waiving these requirements," Murphy said. Cairo has remained a close regional ally of Washington despite accusations of widespread abuses under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's government, including torture and enforced disappearances. Sissi denies there are political prisoners in Egypt. He says stability and security are paramount and authorities are promoting rights by trying to provide basic needs such as jobs and housing. The war in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants on southern Israel, has increased Washington's reliance on Cairo for diplomatic efforts like the cease-fire talks. Much-needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza also enters from Egypt. Blinken issued a similar waiver on the human rights conditions last year but withheld a portion of the military aid over Egypt's failure to make "clear and consistent progress" on the release of political prisoners. This year, he determined that Egypt had made sufficient efforts on political prisoners to release $95 million tied to progress on the issue, the spokesperson said. They cited Egypt's efforts to draft legislation to reform pretrial detention and the broader penal code, its release of some political prisoners and a move to end travel bans and asset freezes associated with foreign funding for nongovernmental organizations. Seth Binder, director of advocacy for the Washington-based Middle East Democracy Center, said that while about 970 prisoners had been released since last September, at least 2,278 Egyptians were arbitrarily arrested over the same period, according to data collected by the center and Egyptian human rights groups. The State Department spokesperson said Washington was continuing "a rigorous dialogue with the Egyptian government on the importance of concrete human rights improvements that are crucial to sustaining the strongest possible U.S.-Egypt partnership."

lima, peru — Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who steered economic growth during the 1990s but was later jailed for human rights abuses stemming from a bloody war against Maoist rebels, died Wednesday. He was 86. Close colleagues visited him earlier in the day, reporting that he was in critical condition. "After a long battle with cancer, our father ... has just departed to meet the Lord," his daughter Keiko Fujimori wrote in a message on X, signed by the former leader's other children. Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants, was the little-known chancellor of a farming university when elected to office in 1990. He quickly established himself as a cunning politician whose hands-on style produced results even as he angered critics for concentrating power. He slayed hyperinflation that had thrown millions of Peruvians out of work, privatized dozens of state-run companies, and slashed trade tariffs, setting the foundations for Peru to become, for a while, one of Latin America's most stable economies. Under his watch, the feared leader of the Maoist Shining Path, Abimael Guzman, was captured, dealing a crucial blow to a movement that in the 1980s seemed close to toppling the Peruvian state. Guzman died in prison in September 2021. But many Peruvians saw Fujimori as an autocrat after he used military tanks to shut down Congress in 1992, redrafting the constitution to his liking to push free-market reforms and tough anti-terrorism laws. A slew of corruption scandals during his 10-year administration also turned public opinion against him. Shortly after he won a third election in 2000 — amending the constitution to run — videos emerged of his top adviser and spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos doling out cash to bribe politicians. Fujimori fled to exile in Japan. He resigned via fax from Tokyo and then unsuccessfully campaigned for a Japanese senatorial seat. Montesinos was later captured in Venezuela and jailed, convicted by the hundreds of videos he recorded of himself handing out cash bribes to politicians and business and media executives. The cases against Fujimori piled up, including accusations that he had ordered the use of death squads in his battle against Shining Path militants. Fujimori was safe in Japan — he was a dual citizen, and Japan does not extradite its citizens. So many were shocked when in 2005 he decided to return to Peru, apparently in hopes of forgiveness and a return to politics. Instead, he was detained during a layover in Chile, extradited to Peru in 2007, and in 2009 he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Once jailed, Fujimori's public appearances were limited to hospital visits where he often appeared disheveled and unwell. While detractors dismissed his health complaints as a ploy to get out of prison, then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski briefly pardoned Fujimori in 2017. Months later Kuczynski was impeached, and the pardon overturned by Peru's top constitutional court, sending Fujimori back to the special prison that held him and no other inmates. The court restored the pardon in December 2023, releasing the ailing Fujimori, who had suffered from stomach ulcers, hypertension and tongue cancer. In May 2024, Fujimori announced he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumor. Fujimori's legacy has been most passionately defended by his daughter Keiko, who has been close to clinching the presidency herself three times on a platform that has included pardoning her father and defending his constitution. The late Fujimori was born in Lima on Peruvian Independence Day, July 28, 1938. A mathematician and agricultural engineer, Fujimori was a political nobody when he decided to run for the presidency, driving a tractor to his campaign rallies. He surprised the world by defeating renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa in the 1990 election, with heavy support from the left. He touted himself as an alternative to the country's white elite and gained crucial support from Peru's large Indigenous and mixed-race populations. As Peru battled what was among the world's worst hyperinflation, Fujimori promised not to carry out drastic measures to tame it. But in his second week in office, he suddenly lifted the subsidies that kept food essentials affordable, in what became known as the "Fuji-shock." "May God help us," Fujimori's finance minister said on TV after announcing the measure. Inflation worsened in the short-term, but the bet paid off, eventually stabilizing the economy after over a decade of crisis. Even as support for him started to wane, Fujimori pulled off audacious stunts in his second term. In 1997, he devised a plan to dig tunnels under the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima to end a four-month hostage crisis after another insurgency, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, took 500 people captive for 126 days. In a surprise attack, Fujimori sent in more than 100 commandos in a raid that killed all 14 insurgents. Only two commandos and one of the remaining 72 hostages died. Television footage showed Fujimori calmly stepping over the corpses of the insurgents after the raid. 

WASHINGTON — Haitian Americans said they fear for their safety after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim during this week's presidential debate about immigrants in Ohio. Haitian community leaders across the U.S. said the Republican candidate's remarks about immigrants eating household pets during his debate with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in the small city of Springfield, Ohio, where thousands of recent Haitian arrivals have boosted the local economy but also strained the safety net. "We have to be careful where we go," said Viles Dorsainvil, 38, who says the Haitian community center he heads in Springfield has received threatening phone calls. The hostility has prompted one friend working at an Amazon warehouse to consider leaving, he said. "He said that things are getting out of hand now; the way people are treating us, making bad comments about us," Dorsainvil said. Trump's Tuesday remark that "they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats" is the latest in a long line of lies about immigrants that have defined his political career. It followed a similar false claim spread by his running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on social media about Springfield's new residents. City officials say they have received no credible reports of anybody eating household animals. Karen Graves, a city spokesperson, said she was not aware of recent hate crimes targeting Haitian residents but that some had been victims of "crimes of opportunity," such as property theft. The Haitian Times reported that some Haitian families in Springfield, Ohio, were keeping their children home from school, while other sources told the newspaper that they were subject to bullying, assaults and intimidation in front of their homes amid racist rhetoric amplified by social media. The lie fed on frustrations of some in the western Ohio city, who say the 15,000 Haitians who have arrived in recent years to fuel the city's economy, have also stressed limited resources at local schools and health clinics and driven up rents. Tensions have increased since a Haitian driving without an Ohio license struck a school bus in 2023, killing 11-year-old Aiden Clark and injuring 26 other children. "People are getting really fed up," city resident Richard Jordan said at a city council meeting on Tuesday. "Things are going to get ugly." At that same meeting, Clark's father Nathan Clark criticized Trump and Vance for exploiting his son's death. "They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis, and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members," Clark said. "However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio." Last month, a white supremacist was ejected from a city council meeting after he made threatening statements towards Haitian immigrants. 'My heart fell' Ahead of the debate, billionaire Elon Musk amplified the lie further on his X social media platform, as did Republicans on the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Guerline Jozef, who heads the national advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance, said her group had been trying to knock down the rumor before the debate. When Trump mentioned it, "my heart fell to the floor," she said. "This has become a nationwide lie that people everywhere are repeating." For Taisha Saintil, now an analyst with the immigrant advocacy group UndocuBlack Network, said Trump's remark brought back painful memories of being taunted when she arrived at a Florida elementary school in 2006. Some 1.1 million Haitian Americans live in the U.S., about half of whom are immigrants, according to the Census Bureau. Long established in Florida and New York, Haitian immigrants have recently been moving to states like North Carolina and California to pursue work, Jozef said. Seeking work Springfield officials say the majority of Haitian migrants are in the country legally, drawn by jobs at warehouses and factories. They have opened two restaurants and seven groceries, according to a city fact sheet. “While we are experiencing challenges related to the rapid growth of our immigrant population, these challenges are primarily due to the pace of the growth," city manager Bryan Heck said in a video on Wednesday. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, said on Tuesday the state is providing $2.5 million to help the new residents get vaccines and other health services, and state police are being brought in to help enforce traffic laws. He said President Joe Biden's administration should also provide aid to cities like Springfield that see a sudden increase in new migrants. Trump's comments could energize his supporters to help him win over undecided voters, particularly aggrieved white voters who feel a sense of their own decline in this country, said Republican strategist Mike Madrid, founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. "The attempts to dehumanize people is a long-proven strategy to work at a time when society's undergoing change," he said. But that strategy risks spurring violence, Haitian American leaders said. Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the only Haitian-American in Congress, said Trump's rhetoric endangers Haitians across the country. "We've heard these stereotypes for years about Haitian people, Black immigrants, doing all these things that we know aren't true,” she said. Gepsie Metellus, who heads the Sant La Haitian neighborhood center in North Miami, said Trump's comment was viewed as a "cheap political shot" in her community, but directly endangers those in Springfield. "This rhetoric has a way of turning out really badly," she said. 

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.