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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for what could be their first and only debate on Tuesday. Early numbers suggest that more than 60 million people tuned in to watch the matchup. Dora Mekouar explores whether the debate changed people’s minds about who to vote for.

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 two-day pan-African AI conference co-hosted by the United States concluded Wednesday in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub. Hundreds of delegates including public officials, tech leaders, policy makers academics and entrepreneurs attended the conference to hold talks about the development and use of safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems in Africa. The U.S. deputy secretary of state, Kurt Campbell, spoke at the summit about the opportunity at hand. "A global technology revolution is well under way — the race to develop and deploy new technologies, including artificial intelligence, is already shaping everything about our lives," said Campbell. "We aim to foster collaborations between the United States and Africa AI researchers, policy makers and industry leaders, so that we can work together to drive innovation and address common challenges. This will enable us to share the benefits of AI globally." The conference is a significant step in Africa's technological future. Campbell said artificial intelligence can be used to address problems like global health, food security, education, energy and climate change, and asserted the conference has provided the ground for African voices in AI to shape emerging global AI systems. "I cannot overstate Africa's growing importance in the global technology landscape," said Campbell. "By developing human capital and strengthening research and innovation ecosystems and building and AI ready institutional and regulatory environment, we can help AI work for Africa. The African Union's landmark AI strategy sets the roadmap for African countries to harness AI's potential to achieve developmental aspirations in education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, peace and security and good governance." In July, the African Union launched the continent's Artificial Intelligence Strategy, saying AI is pivotal in transforming Africa into a global technology hub, and it called on member states to adopt the strategy. On Tuesday, Nigeria's minister of communication, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, announced a $61,000 grant for Nigeria's brightest AI startups. "For us to truly harness artificial intelligence for our collective benefits, we must be deliberate and collaborative in our approach," said Tijani. "We just ensure that our digital transformation journey is inclusive, equitable and human focused." Africa currently represents 2.5% of the global AI market, according to the Artificial Intelligence for Development Africa, or AI4D. But analysts say with more talks about safe use, AI applications could boost Africa's economy by $2.9 trillion by the year 2030 with Kenya, South Africa and Nigerian markets taking the lead.

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.

United Nations — The U.N. Security Council unanimously renewed for another year an arms embargo on parties in the Darfur region of Sudan, where the war between rival generals has intensified in recent months, exacerbating a dire humanitarian crisis. Sudan’s envoy welcomed the extension but urged the council to go further and sanction the entire Rapid Support Forces militia, the rival of the government-backed Sudanese Armed Forces. “The militia, in its entirety, really needs to be listed, because it fulfills all the conditions,” Ambassador Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed said. “There also needs to be an end to the financing of the militia.” The RSF as it is known, has captured most of Darfur, and a battle has been going on since May over North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, which is the only Darfuri regional capital not to have fallen to the RSF. Sudan’s military has repeatedly accused the United Arab Emirates of supplying the RSF with arms and ammunition smuggled in through neighboring Chad. The UAE strongly denies the accusations. A report by a United Nations panel of experts earlier this year said there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the paramilitary group. At the meeting, Sudan’s envoy accused the UAE of profiting from his nation’s natural resources, including gold and uranium, and he urged the Security Council to act. “We are calling for clear measures to be taken against those who seek to sabotage the Sudanese economy — namely businesses and companies whose headquarters are in the UAE,” Mohamed said. “The repetition of baseless allegations does not make them true,” Emirati Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab told the council. He urged the army, known as the SAF, to show “political courage” and participate in peace talks to end the war. The SAF sat out U.S.- and Saudi-brokered talks in Geneva in August because the UAE was invited to participate. The United States led the negotiations in the council on the renewal of the Darfur arms embargo, which was first put in place in 2004 during the genocide carried out by Arab Janjaweed fighters against non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur. Janjaweed fighters make up elements of today's RSF. “Renewing the sanctions measures will restrict the movement of arms into Darfur and sanction individuals and entities contributing to, or complicit in, destabilizing activities of Sudan,” U.S. envoy Robert Wood said. “All of this is critical to helping end the escalating conflict, alleviate humanitarian catastrophe and put Sudan back on the path to stability and security.” The U.S. also has proposed that the Security Council sanction two RSF commanders, but their designation remains in limbo after Russia put a hold on it on August 31. Rights groups said the embargo renewal did not go far enough and should include the whole of Sudan. “The council should correct this failure as soon as possible and expand the arms restrictions to cover all of Sudan, to limit the flow of arms and curb widespread atrocities being committed in the country,” said Human Rights Watch’s Jean-Baptiste Gallopin. Sudan is facing a massive humanitarian crisis as a result of the war between the 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. Across the country, the United Nations says, 26 million people are in crisis levels of hunger. Human rights violations are also rife. In June, the RSF and SAF were added to an annual U.N. blacklist for perpetrators of grave violations against children. They were named for violations committed last year, including the killing and maiming of children, for attacking schools and hospitals, and in the case of the RSF, for sexual violence and recruiting and using children in their ranks.

Blantyre, Malawi    — Malawi has recently recorded the sudden deaths of dogs that consumed meals prepared from maize husks contaminated with aflatoxins. Veterinary experts say the country has recorded 450 dog deaths since April, when the first cases were identified in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre. Aflatoxins are toxic substances produced by fungi that grow on pet food ingredients like peanuts, corn and other grains. Experts warn that the accumulation of those toxins in an animal’s body can lead to liver damage, blood clotting and, in severe cases, death.  Timothy Banda is the veterinary clinic manager at the Blantyre Society for the Protection and Care of Animals, which has been testing the dogs. He told VOA that symptoms include a yellowish tint on the dog‘s skin, hemorrhagic diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, and sometimes vomiting. "For the past two, three weeks, we haven’t received any death from the problem," he said. "But from the time it started somewhere around April up to somewhere around early August, the estimations could be somewhere around 450 dogs so far have died.”  He said the aflatoxin contamination was suspected after it was observed that the dogs were not responding to treatment.  “Under normal circumstances, once we started the right treatment, we could get good results, but in this scenario, they were all dying despite whatever treatment was given. Nothing could work out,” Banda said. Banda said the affected dogs were those fed with nsima, a thick porridge prepared from maize or maize husks.  Alfred Manda, a resident of Chirimba township, told VOA that he lost three dogs in August.  “The kind of food I mostly give out to my dogs is nsima flour made from leftover maize called madeya," he said. "To me, I thought it was a healthy diet. I wish I knew earlier. I could have done things better to save my dogs, but unfortunately this is the sad reality that I have faced.”     Health experts warn that aflatoxins can also cause tumors in the livers of animals and humans. But health officials in Malawi, where maize is the staple food, have not reported any human deaths resulting from consuming contaminated maize.  In Zambia, media reports indicate over 400 dogs died in July after consuming maize meal contaminated with aflatoxins.  Malawi authorities are advising dog owners to switch to alternative foods, such as rice, until the problem is contained.

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.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Senate voted early Wednesday to overhaul the country's judiciary, clearing the biggest hurdle for a controversial constitutional revision that will make all judges stand for election, a change that critics fear will politicize the judicial branch and threaten Mexico's democracy.  The approval came in two votes after hundreds of protesters pushed their way into the Senate on Tuesday, interrupting the session after it appeared that Morena, the governing party of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had lined up the necessary votes to pass the proposal.  Judicial employees and law students had protested for weeks, saying the plan, under which all judges would be elected, could threaten judicial independence and undermine the system of checks and balances.  The legislation sailed through the lower chamber, where Morena and its allies hold a supermajority, last week. Approval by the Senate posed the biggest obstacle and required defections from opposition parties.  Both of the Senate votes were 86-41. The chamber erupted into cheers and chants of "Yes, we could!"  The legislation must now be ratified by the legislatures of at least 17 of Mexico's 32 states. The governing party is believed to have the necessary support after major gains in recent elections. Oaxaca's legislature became the first to ratify it just hours after the Senate's approval.  President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office October 1, congratulated lawmakers on passing the overhaul.  The election of judges "will strengthen the delivery of justice in our country," Sheinbaum wrote on the social media platform X. "The regime of corruption and privileges each day is being left farther in the past and a true democracy and true rule of law are being built."  López Obrador acknowledged Wednesday that many are against the plan, but said that "it's incredibly important to put an end to corruption and impunity. We're going to make a lot of progress when the people can freely elect judges, magistrates and ministers." Some experts and observers, however, have suggested that the overhaul could have the opposite effect, and allow corrupt individuals and criminals to have more sway over the justice system.  On Tuesday evening, just hours after the governing party appeared to have wrangled the votes it needed, protesters with pipes and chains broke into the Senate chamber.  The protesters said lawmakers were not listening to their demands.  "The judiciary isn't going to fall," yelled the protesters, waving Mexican flags and signs opposing the overhaul. They were joined by a number of opposition senators as they chanted in the chamber. Others outside roared when newscasters announced the Senate was taking a recess.  Among them was Alejandro Navarrete, a 30-year-old judicial worker who said he and his colleagues, "knowing the danger the reform represents," came to call on the Senate to strike down the proposal.  "They have decided to sell out the nation and sell out for political capital they were offered. We felt obligated to enter the Senate," he said, carrying a Mexican flag. "Our intention is not violent, we didn't intend to hurt them, but we intend to make it clear that the Mexican people won't allow them to lead us into a dictatorship."  López Obrador, a populist long averse to independent regulatory bodies who has ignored courts and attacked judges, says the plan would crack down on corruption by making it easier to punish judges. Critics say it would handicap the judiciary, stack courts with judges favoring the president's party, allow anyone with a law degree to become a judge and even make it easier for politicians and criminals to influence courts.  It has spooked investors and prompted U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar to call it a risk to democracy and an economic threat. 

AMMAN — Jordan's moderate Islamist opposition made significant gains in Tuesday's parliamentary election, initial official results showed on Wednesday, boosted by anger over Israel's war in Gaza.  The Islamist Action Front (IAF) also benefited from a new electoral law that encourages a bigger role for political parties in the 138-seat parliament, though tribal and pro-government factions will continue to dominate the assembly.  The IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won up to a fifth of the seats under the revamped electoral law, which for the first time allocated 41 seats for parties, according to preliminary figures seen by Reuters and confirmed by independent and official sources.  "The Jordanian people have given us their trust by voting for us. This new phase will increase the burden of responsibility for the party towards the nation and our citizens," Wael al Saqqa, head of the IAF, told Reuters.  The IAF win allowed it to capture 31 seats for the first time since parliamentary life was revived in 1989 after decades of martial law. The party has emerged as the largest political grouping in parliament.  "The elections reflect the desire for change and those who voted were not necessarily all Islamists but wanting change and had become fed up with the old ways," said Murad Adailah, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood.  The IAF, the only effective grassroots opposition, praised the authorities for not meddling in polls.  Adailah told Reuters their win was a "popular referendum" that backs their platform of support for the militant Palestinian group Hamas, their ideological allies, and their demand to scrap the country's peace treaty with Israel.  In a country where anti-Israel sentiment runs high, they have led some of the largest protests in the region in support of Hamas in what their opponents say allowed them to increase their popularity.  Hamas has been designated a terror group by the U.S., U.K., EU and others.    The election represents a modest step in a democratization process launched by King Abdullah as he seeks to insulate Jordan from the conflicts at its borders and speed up the slow pace of political reforms.  Under Jordan's constitution, most powers still rest with the king who appoints governments and can dissolve parliament. The assembly can force a cabinet to resign by a vote of no confidence.  The monarch hopes nascent political parties under the new law will help pave the way for governments that emerge from parliamentary majorities.  The voting system still favors sparsely populated tribal and provincial regions over the densely populated cities mostly inhabited by Jordanians of Palestinian descent, which are Islamist strongholds and highly politicized.  Turnout among Jordan's 5.1 million eligible voters in Tuesday's poll was low at 32.25%, initial official figures showed, up slightly from 29% at the last election in 2020.  The Muslim Brotherhood has been allowed to operate in Jordan since 1946. But it fell under suspicion after the Arab Spring, which saw Islamists pitted against established powers in many Arab countries.

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.

MOSCOW — A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American blasted off Wednesday for an express trip to the International Space Station.  The space capsule atop a towering rocket set off at 1623 GMT from Russia's manned space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and was scheduled to dock with the space station three hours later, in contrast to some missions that last for days.  The mission commander is Alexei Ovchinin, with Russian compatriot Ivan Vagner and American Donald Pettit in the crew.  The blast-off took place without obvious problems and the Soyuz entered orbit eight minutes after liftoff, a relief for Russian space authorities after an automated safety system halted a launch in March because of a voltage drop in the power system.  On the space station, Pettit, Vagner and Ovchinin will join NASA's Tracy Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, and Russians Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko. 

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced each other for the first time Tuesday night in a combative debate as the two presidential candidates clashed over issues including immigration, foreign policy and abortion. Moments after the debate, Taylor Swift told her 283 million Instagram followers that she will be voting for Vice President Harris in the Nov. 5 election. We’ll talk to a political analyst for perspective on whether the debate or the endorsement could change the equation. Americans are commemorating remembering the lives lost on September 11, 2001, when al-Qaida operatives hijacked planes killing nearly 3,000 people. And dangerous zoo animals are washing up in a northeastern Nigerian community.

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.

ISLAMABAD — Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and neighboring Turkmenistan on Wednesday marked the resumption of work on a long-delayed gas pipeline designed to run through the two countries, Pakistan and India. The estimated $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India, or TAPI, project is designed to annually transport up to 33 billion cubic meters of Turkmen natural gas from the southeastern Galkynysh field through the proposed 1,800-kilometer pipeline. Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund of the de facto Taliban government traveled to the Turkmen border region of Mary and joined top leaders of the host country to inaugurate construction of a vital section of the TAPI project. It is intended to link the city of Serhetabat in Turkmenistan to Herat in western Afghanistan. Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov joined and addressed the ceremony via video link. "This project will benefit not only the economies of the participating countries but also the entire region,” he said. Taliban authorities declared a public holiday in Herat, the capital of the province of the same name, to mark the occasion, with posters celebrating the TAPI project plastered across the border city. Initially signed in the early 1990s to provide natural gas to energy-deficient South Asia, the TAPI project has faced repeated delays due to years of Afghan hostilities, which ended in 2021 when the then-insurgent Taliban recaptured power as all U.S. and NATO forces exited the country. While Turkmen leaders Wednesday pledged to enhance bilateral ties between Ashgabat and Kabul and carry forward the TAPI project, experts remain skeptical that the gas pipeline will become operational soon. They cite funding issues, U.S.-led Western economic sanctions on Afghanistan and the international community’s refusal to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government over restrictions on Afghan women’s rights. Islamabad’s persistent diplomatic and military tensions with New Delhi are also considered a significant obstacle to the materialization of the TAPI project. According to officials of the participating countries, Pakistan and India, each one plans to purchase 42% of the gas exports, and Afghanistan will receive the rest. Kabul will also earn around $500 million in transit fees annually. Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan deteriorated after the Taliban takeover over terrorism concerns. Islamabad complains that Kabul shelters and facilitates fugitive anti-Pakistan militants to orchestrate cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghan sanctuaries, charges the Taliban reject.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson canceled a vote scheduled for Wednesday on his stopgap funding bill, saying more work is needed to build support for a measure, less than three weeks before a government shutdown deadline.  "No vote today, because we're in the consensus-building business here in Congress, with small majorities, and that's what you do," Johnson told reporters at the Capitol.  The vote had been set for later on Wednesday.  Johnson added that Republicans will be working through the weekend to find a bill that would gain enough votes for passage, now that his measure, opposed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, has faltered.  House Republicans have attached a controversial provision requiring people to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, a measure meant to force Democrats to take stances on the politically charged issue of non-citizen voting, which is already illegal in federal elections.  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who continues to falsely claim his 2020 loss was the result of fraud, has urged Republicans to pass the voting measure ahead of the November 5 election.  The federal government's fiscal year ends on September 30, when funding for many agencies expires. Without some sort of extension, federal programs not deemed essential would have to suspend many of their operations, forcing thousands of government workers to go on leave.  Success for the funding bill was not guaranteed in the chamber that Republicans control by a narrow 220-211 margin. Several House Republicans have said they would vote against the measure, citing spending concerns, and many members of the caucus generally oppose stopgap spending measures.  Two Republicans joined Democrats on Tuesday in voting against a procedural move to advance the bill.  Democrats broadly see the citizenship registration requirement as meant to undermine confidence in administering elections.  "We're watching a movie we've seen over and over again," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday. "House Republicans are trying to pass a bill so partisan that it even splits their own caucus. This proposal isn't even serious."  The White House on Monday said Biden would veto this funding package were it to pass, citing the “unrelated cynical” voting requirement. The administration also wants a temporary funding period shorter than six months, as well as more money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fix infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.  Lawmakers face an even more critical self-imposed deadline on January 1, before which they must act to raise or extend the nation's debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than $35 trillion in federal government debt.

According to Feeding America, a U.S. network of food banks, Americans waste about 41 billion kilograms of food every year - about 145 billion meals. But some new high-tech ways make sure that food gets to people who need it. VOA’s Valdya Baraputri has more. Camera: Rendy Wicaksana, Nabila Ganinda, Naras Prameswari.