Feed aggregator

ISLAMABAD — Millions of people in Pakistan continue to live along the path of floodwaters, showing neither people nor the government have learned lessons from the 2022 devastating floods that killed 1,737 people, experts said Thursday, as an aid group said half of the 300 victims killed by rains since July are children. Heavy rainfall is drenching those areas that were badly hit by the deluges two years ago. The charity Save the Children said in a statement that floods and heavy rains have killed more than 150 children in Pakistan since the start of the monsoon season, making up more than half of all deaths in rain-affected areas. The group said that 200 children have also been injured in Pakistan because of rains, which have also displaced thousands of people. Save the Children also said that people affected by floods were living in a relief camp in Sanghar, a district in the southern Sindh province, which was massively hit by floods two years ago. “The rains and floods have destroyed 80% of cotton crops in Sanghar, the primary source of income for farmers, and killed hundreds of livestock,” the charity said, and added that it's supporting the affected people with help from a local partner. Khuram Gondal, the country director for Save the Children in Pakistan, said that children were always the most affected in a disaster. “We need to ensure that the immediate impacts of the floods and heavy rains do not become long-term problems. In Sindh province alone, more than 72,000 children have seen their education disrupted," he said. Another charity, U.K.-based Islamic Relief, also said weeks of torrential rains in Pakistan have again triggered displacement and suffering among communities that were already devastated by the 2022 floods and are still in the process of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods. Asif Sherazi, the group's country director, said his organization is reaching out to flood-affected people. There was no immediate response from the country’s ministry of climate change and national disaster management authority. Pakistan has yet to undertake major reconstruction work because the government didn't receive most of the funds out of the $9 billion that were pledged by the international community at last year's donors' conference in Geneva. “We learned no lessons from that 2022 floods. Millions of people have built mud-brick homes on the paths of rivers, which usually remain dry,” said Mohsin Leghari, who served as irrigation minister years ago. Leghari said that less rain is predicted for Pakistan for monsoon season compared with 2022, when climate-induced floods caused $30 billion in damage to the country's economy. “But the floodwater has inundated several villages in my own Dera Ghazi Khan district in the Punjab province,” Leghari said. “Floods have affected farmers, and my own land has once again come under the floodwater." Wasim Ehsan, an architect, said Pakistan was still not prepared to handle any 2022-like situation mainly because people ignore construction laws while building homes and even hotels in urban and rural areas. He said the floods in 2022 caused damage in the northwest because people had built homes and hotels after slightly diverting a river. “This is reason that a hotel was destroyed by the Swat River in 2022," he 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.

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.

jerusalem — Three people were shot and killed Sunday at the border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said. The military said the gunman approached the Allenby Bridge Crossing from the Jordanian side in a truck and opened fire at Israeli security forces, who killed the assailant in a shootout. It said the three people killed were Israeli civilians. Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said the three men who were killed were in their 50s. There was no immediate comment from Jordan, which made peace with Israel in 1994 but is fiercely critical of its policies toward the Palestinians. The Allenby crossing is mainly used by Israelis, Palestinians and international tourists. The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen a surge of violence since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Israel has launched near-daily military arrest raids into dense Palestinian residential areas, and there has also been a rise in settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. In Gaza, meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed five people, including two women, two children and a senior official in the Civil Defense — first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government. The Civil Defense said the strike targeted the home of its deputy director for north Gaza, Mohammed Morsi, in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The army says it tries to avoid harming civilians and only targets militants. Gaza's Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted 11 months ago. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October  7 attack on Israel. They abducted another 250, and are still holding around 100 of them after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages inside Gaza are believed to be dead. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker a cease-fire and the return of the hostages, but the negotiations have repeatedly bogged down. The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says at least 691 Palestinians have been killed there since the start of the war. Most appear to have been militants killed during Israeli military operations, but the toll also includes civilian bystanders and rock-throwing protesters. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories the Palestinians want for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but maintained control over its airspace, coastline and most of its land crossings. Along with Egypt, it imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

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.

Ha Long, Vietnam — Super Typhoon Yagi ripped roofs off buildings, sank boats and triggered landslides in Vietnam, leaving nine people dead as of Sunday, after tearing through southern China and the Philippines. A family of four was killed in a landslide in the mountainous Hoa Binh province of northern Vietnam early Sunday morning, according to state media. The landslide happened around midnight, after several hours of heavy rain brought by Yagi, when a hillside gave way and collapsed onto a house, VNExpress said, citing local authorities. The home's 51-year-old owner escaped but his wife, daughter and two grandchildren were buried, their bodies recovered soon after. Yagi, which has devastated infrastructure and uprooted trees, made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, packing winds exceeding 149 kilometers per hour. Four people were killed Saturday as roofing flew through the air, disaster management authorities said. A man in Hai Duong province was killed Friday when heavy winds brought down a tree. Several areas of the port city of Hai Phong were under half a meterof flood waters on Sunday, and electricity was out, with power lines and electric poles damaged, according to AFP journalists. At Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site about 70 kilometers up the coast from the city, fishermen were in shock as they examined the damage Sunday morning. At least 23 boats were seriously damaged or sunk at the Hai Au boat lock on Tuan Chau island, according to local residents. Rooftops of buildings were blown off and motorbikes were left toppled over in piles of building rubble and glass, AFP journalists observed. Pham Van Thanh, 51, a crew member of a tourist boat, said all the vessel's crew remained on board since Friday to prevent it from sinking. "The wind was pushing from our back, with so much pressure that no boat could stand," he told AFP. "Then the first one sank. Then one after another. "I have been a sailor for more than 20 years and have never experienced such a strong and violent typhoon," he said. Before hitting Vietnam, Yagi tore through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens of others. Typhoons in the region are now forming closer to the coast, intensifying more rapidly, and staying over land for longer due to climate change, according to a study published in July.  

VANIMO, Papua New Guinea — Pope Francis flew deep into the jungle of the Southwestern Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Sunday to visit Catholics living in one of the most remote areas of the world and deliver medical supplies and other aid. Traveling 1,000 kilometers in a C-130 cargo aircraft provided by the Royal Australian Air Force, Francis arrived with a small entourage in Vanimo, a township of some 12,000 people in the northwestern corner of country's main island, with no running water and scarce electricity. The 87-year-old pope brought hundreds of kilograms of items to help support the local population, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. They included various medicines and clothing, as well said toys and musical instruments for school children, Bruni said. The pope is visiting the nation of 600 islands as part of his ambitious 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest of his 11-year-old papacy. He came to Vanimo at the invitation of local missionaries with the Catholic Institute of the Incarnate Word. They, like Francis, the first pope from the Americas, are from Argentina. "You are doing something beautiful, and it is important that you are not left alone," Francis told the crowd, which the Vatican estimated at 20,000, of missionaries and Catholic faithful from Vanimo in a meeting outside the town's one-story, wood-paneled cathedral parish. "You live in a magnificent land, enriched by a great variety of plants and birds," said the pope. "The beauty of the landscape is matched by the beauty of a community where people love one another." The Rev. Tomas Ravaioli, one of the missionaries, said he could not believe the pope had actually come to Vanimo. "He is keeping his promise to come," said the priest. "We cannot believe it. At his age he is making an enormous effort." A sprawling country of mountains, jungle and rivers, Papua New Guinea is home to more than 800 languages and hundreds of tribes, including dozens of uncontacted peoples. As with other events throughout his stay in the country, Francis was greeted in a field outside the cathedral with a traditional dance from a group wearing feathered headdresses and straw skirts. Some of the men wore koteka, a traditional gourd covering over the penis. The pope also heard four testimonies from local Catholics. Steven Abala, a lay teacher, described how some rural communities, cut off from roads, must wait weeks or months between visits by priests. Abala presented Francis with a headdress with yellow and brown feathers, which the pope tried on. The Vatican says there are around 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea, which has a population estimated at anywhere from 9 million to 17 million. The country has become a major target of international companies for its gas, gold and other reserves. In a speech to its political authorities on Saturday, Francis called for better treatment of its workers and appealed for an end to a spate of ethnic violence that has killed dozens in recent months. In Vanimo, the pope asked local Catholics to work "to put an end to destructive behaviors such as violence, infidelity, exploitation, alcohol and drug abuse, evils which imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters." Before heading to Vanimo, Francis celebrated a Mass on Sunday with about 35,000 people at a sports venue in Port Moresby, the nation's capital. He told the local populace that while they may think they live in "a far away and distant land," God is near to them. The pope will return to Port Moresby on Sunday evening after spending 2½ hours in Vanimo. Round trip, the pontiff will fly some 2,000 kilometers over about four hours. Francis is visiting Papua New Guinea until Monday as part of a tour that first included a stop in Indonesia. He travels next to East Timor, then Singapore before heading back to Rome on Sept. 13.

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.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored the importance of strengthening naval power as he toured a naval base construction site, state media KCNA reported on Sunday. "Now that we are soon to possess large surface warships and submarines which cannot be anchored by the existing facilities for mooring warships, the construction of a naval base for running the latest large warships has become a pressing task," Kim was quoted saying. During the tour, Kim stressed the need to build a naval port capable of operating weapons systems of the warships and revealed military measures to deploy anti-aircraft and coastal-defense systems for defending the port, according to the report. Kim cited geopolitical advantages of the site for the country, bordered by the sea on both the east and west sides. The location of the site was not specified in the report. A recent satellite imagery analysis by 38 North indicated that North Korea's newest ballistic missile class submarine, the Sinpo-C class, was undergoing an extensive fitting-out period at the Sinpo South Shipyard. In a separate visit to a shipyard, Kim ordered the increase of national investments in shipbuilding projects so that immediate tasks and long-term plans for laying the foundation for the development of the shipbuilding industry are pushed forward as scheduled. KCNA also reported on Sunday Kim's visit to a defense industrial enterprise, where he stressed the need to make munitions production more scientific and modernized to guarantee the performance of newly developed military hardware, and an inspection of an artillery academy. Separately, North Korea condemned a recent consultation meeting and simulation drill on extended deterrence conducted by the United States and South Korea, according to a Sunday statement carried by KCNA. The foreign ministry described the activities as "reckless moves of the hostile forces disturbing the regional strategic stability and increasing the possibility of a nuclear clash." "The DPRK will continue to take practical measures to cope with the long-term nuclear confrontation with the U.S.," the ministry said, using the abbreviation of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Meanwhile, North Korea continued its campaign of launching trash balloons toward South Korea for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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.

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.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — Pope Francis honored the Catholic Church of the peripheries on Sunday as he celebrated Mass in Papua New Guinea before heading to a remote part of the South Pacific nation with a ton of humanitarian aid to deliver to the missionaries and faithful who live there. An estimated 35,000 people filled the stadium in the capital, Port Moresby, for the morning Mass. It began with dancers in grass skirts and feathered headdresses performing to traditional drum beats as priests in green vestments processed up onto the altar. In his homily, Francis told the crowd that they may well feel themselves distant from both their faith and the institutional church, but that God was near to them. "You who live on this large island in the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world," Francis said. "Yet … today the Lord wants to draw near to you, to break down distances, to let you know that you are at the center of his heart and that each one of you is important to him." Francis was himself traveling to a distant land on Sunday, flying into remote Vanimo, on Papua New Guinea's northwest coast, to meet with the small Catholic community there served by missionaries from his native Argentina. Francis was being transported by an Australian military aircraft and was bringing with him one ton of humanitarian aid, including medicine, clothes and toys for children, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. Eight suitcases of medicine and other necessities had been prepared by one of the Argentine missionaries, the Rev. Alejandro Diaz, during a recent trip to Rome and left with the Vatican to bring in on the cargo plane, the ANSA news agency reported. Francis has prioritized the church on the "peripheries," saying it is more important than the center of the institutional church. In keeping with that philosophy, Francis has largely shunned foreign trips to European capitals, preferring instead far-flung communities where Catholics are often a minority. Vanimo, population 11,000, certainly fits the bill. Located near Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia, the coastal city is perhaps best known as a surfing destination. Francis, history's first Latin American pope, has also had a special affinity for the work of Catholic missionaries. As a young Argentine Jesuit, he had hoped to serve as a missionary in Japan but was prevented from going because of his poor health. Now as pope, he has often held up missionaries as models for the church, especially those who have sacrificed to bring the faith to far-away places. There are about 2.5 million Catholics in Papua New Guinea, according to Vatican statistics, out of a population in the Commonwealth nation believed to be around 10 million. The Catholics practice the faith along with traditional Indigenous beliefs, including animism and sorcery. On Saturday, Francis heard first-hand about how often women are falsely accused of witchcraft, then shunned by their families. In remarks to priests, bishops and nuns, Francis urged the church leaders in Papua New Guinea to be particularly close to these people on the margins who had been wounded by "prejudice and superstition." "I think too of the marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition sometimes to the point of having to risk their lives," Francis said. He urged the church to be particularly close to such people on the peripheries, with "closeness, compassion and tenderness." Francis heads on Monday to East Timor and then wraps up his visit in Singapore later in the week.

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.

SAO PAULO — Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo's main boulevard for an Independence Day rally Saturday, buoyed by the government's blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk's X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution. A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colors of Brazil's flag, poured onto Avednia Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded. "Thank you for defending our freedom," read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur. Saturday's march is a test of Bolsonaro's capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil's electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It's also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro's opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil's deep-seated political polarization. "A country without liberty can't celebrate anything this day," Bolsonaro wrote on his Instagram account September 4, urging Brazilians to stay away from official Independence Day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X's nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of feuding with Musk over the limits of free speech. The powerful judge has spearheaded efforts to ban far-right users from spreading misinformation on social media, and he ramped up his clampdown after die-hard Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress and the presidential palace on January 8, 2023, to overturn Bolsonaro's defeat in the presidential election. The ban is red meat to Bolsonaro's allies, who have accused the judiciary and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government of colluding to silence their movement. "Elon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech," staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. "The right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn't want the right to exist." "Our liberties are in danger; we need to make our voices heard. De Moraes is a tyrant, he should be impeached, and people on the streets is the only thing that will convince politicians to do it," said retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday, Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else's post claiming that X's ban had awakened people "to the fact that freedom isn't free and needs to be fought for." He's also created an X account, named for the controversial jurist, to publish sealed court orders directing X to shut down accounts deemed unlawful. But De Moraes' decision to ban X was far from arbitrary, having been upheld by fellow Supreme Court justices. And while expression, online and elsewhere, is more easily censored under Brazil's laws than it is in the U.S., Musk has emerged as both a cause celebre and a mouthpiece for unrestricted free speech. Since 2019, X has shut down 226 accounts of far-right activities accused of undermining Brazil's democracy, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro's party, according to court records. But when it refused to act on some accounts, de Moraes warned last month that its legal representative could be arrested, prompting X to disband its local office. The U.S.-based company refused to name a new representative — as required to receive court notices — and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so. A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld de Moraes' decision to block X days later, undermining Musk's efforts to cast him as an authoritarian bent on censoring political speech. The more controversial component of his ruling was the levy of a whopping $9,000 daily fine for regular Brazilians using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X. "Some of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive," said Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel. In the lead-up to Saturday's protest, some right-wing politicians defied de Moraes' ban and brazenly used a VPN to publish posts on X, calling for people to partake in the protests. The march in Sao Paulo is organized in parallel to official events to celebrate Brazil's anniversary of independence from Portugal. Commemorations have been fraught with tension in recent years, as Bolsonaro used them while in office to rally supporters and show political strength. Three years ago, he threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis when he declared he would no longer abide de Moraes' rulings. He has since toned down the attacks — a reflection of his own delicate legal situation. Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for alleged money laundering in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it.