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MOSUL, Iraq — At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar toward a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria Sunday, two Iraqi security sources and a U.S. official told Reuters. The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops. It comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States, where he met with President Joe Biden at the White House. A post on a Telegram group affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah said armed factions in Iraq had decided to resume attacks after a near-three month pause after seeing little progress on talks to end the U.S.-led military coalition in the country. Another popular Telegram group close to Kataib Hezbollah, Sabreen News, later said there had been no official statement by the Iran-backed faction. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said more than five rockets were fired from Iraq toward troops at a coalition base in Rumalyn, Syria, but no U.S. personnel were injured. The official referred to it as a "failed rocket attack," but it was not immediately clear if the rockets had failed to hit the base or been destroyed before they reached. It was also not clear if the base was the target itself. Following that, the official said, an aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria carried out a strike against the launcher. Two security sources and a senior army officer in Iraq said a small truck with a rocket launcher fixed on the back had been parked in Zummar, a town on the border with Syria. An army officer said the destroyed truck was seized for further investigation and initial investigation showed it was destroyed by an air strike. "We are communicating with the coalition forces in Iraq to share information on this attack," the officer added.  The Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information, said in a statement that Iraqi forces had launched "a wide-ranging search and inspection operation" targeting the perpetrators near the Syrian border, pledging to bring them to justice. The attacks came after a huge blast at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of an Iraqi security force that includes Iran-backed groups. The force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.

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Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a 95 billion foreign aid bill. At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar toward a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday. Palestinians on Sunday recovered bodies found under rubble and dirt at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The trial of former President Donald Trump enters a new stage Monday when opening remarks begin. And on this Earth Day scuba diving groups and marine organizations in Thailand have been working to remove abandoned fishing gear.

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Manila, Philippines — Thousands of Filipino and American troops will kick off joint military exercises in the Philippines on Monday, as Beijing's growing assertiveness in the region raises fears of a conflict.  The annual drills — dubbed Balikatan, or "shoulder to shoulder" in Tagalog — will be concentrated in the northern and western parts of the archipelago nation, near the potential flashpoints of the South China Sea and Taiwan.  China claims almost the entire waterway, a key route for international trade, and also considers self-ruled Taiwan to be part of its territory.  In response to China's growing influence, the United States has been bolstering alliances with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines.  Washington and Manila are treaty allies and have deepened their defense cooperation since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos took office in 2022.  While the Philippines is poorly armed, its proximity to the South China Sea and Taiwan would make it a key partner for the United States in the event of a conflict with China.  "The purpose of armed forces, why we exist, is really to prepare for war," Philippine Colonel Michael Logico told reporters ahead of the drills. "There's no sugarcoating it ... for us not to prepare, that's a disservice to the country."  The Philippine coast guard will join Balikatan for the first time, following several confrontations between its vessels and the China coast guard, which patrols reefs off the Philippines' coast.  The joint drills involve a simulation of an armed recapture of an island in Palawan province, the nearest major Philippine landmass to the hotly disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.  The same exercise will be held in the northern provinces of Cagayan and Batanes, both less than 300 km (180 miles) from Taiwan.   Like last year, there will be a sinking of a vessel off the northern province of Ilocos Norte.  Other training will concern information warfare, maritime security, and integrated air and missile defense.  The United States has deployed its Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) guided missiles to the Philippines for Balikatan, but Logico said the weapons would not be used in the drills.  China's foreign ministry has accused the United States of "stoking military confrontation," and warned the Philippines to "stop sliding down the wrong path."  'It matters for regional stability'  The exercises, which will run until May 10, will involve around 11,000 American and 5,000 Filipino troops, as well as Australian and French military personnel.   France will also deploy a warship that will take part in a joint exercise with Philippine and U.S. vessels.  Fourteen countries in Asia and Europe will join as observers.  For the first time, the drills will go beyond the Philippines' territorial waters, which extend about 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) from its coastline, Logico said.  "Balikatan is more than an exercise; it's a tangible demonstration of our shared commitment to each other," Lieutenant General William Jurney, commander of U.S .Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, said in a statement.   "It matters for regional peace," he said. "It matters for regional stability."  

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new york — Mary J. Blige,Cher, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & The Gang and Ozzy Osbourne have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a class that also includes folk-rockers Dave Matthews Band and singer-guitarist Peter Frampton.  Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton earned the Musical Influence Award, while the late Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield will get the Musical Excellence Award. Pioneering music executive Suzanne de Passe won the Ahmet Ertegun Award.  "Rock 'n' roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations," John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. "This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps."  The induction ceremony will be held October 19 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in the city of Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio. It will stream live on Disney+ with an airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day.  The music acts nominated this year but didn't make the cut included Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, the late Sinead O'Connor, soul-pop singer Sade, Britpoppers Oasis, hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, and alt-rockers Jane's Addiction.  There had been a starry push to get Foreigner — with the hits "Urgent" and Hot Blooded" — into the hall, with Mark Ronson, Jack Black, Slash, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney all publicly backing the move. Ronson's stepfather is Mick Jones, Foreigner's founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist.  Osbourne, who led many parents in the 1980s to clutch their pearls with his devil imagery and sludgy music, goes in as a solo artist, having already been inducted into the hall with metal masters Black Sabbath.  Four of the eight nominees — Cher, Foreigner, Frampton and Kool & the Gang — were on the ballot for the first time.  Cher — the only artist to have a Number 1 song in each of the past six decades — and Blige, with eight multi-platinum albums and nine Grammy Awards, will help boost the number of women in the hall, which critics say is too low.  Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they're eligible for induction.  Nominees were voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals. Fans voted online or in person at the museum, with the top five artists picked by the public making up a "fans' ballot" that was tallied with the other professional ballots.  Last year, Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Chaka Khan, "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius, Kate Bush, and the late George Michael were some of the artists who got into the hall. 

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Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill on Saturday. The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to take up a vote early this week. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A race car veered off the track during a competition in Sri Lanka on Sunday and rammed into a crowd of spectators and race officials, killing seven people and injuring 20 others, officials said. Thousands of spectators looked on as the crash took place during a race in the town of Diyatalawa in the tea-growing central hills, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of the capital Colombo. The cause wasn't immediately clear. Police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said one of the cars veered off the track and struck spectators and officials. Seven people, including four officials, were killed and another 20 were being treated at a hospital, said Thalduwa. He said three of the injured were in critical condition. Thalduwa said police have launched an investigation into the crash, which happened during the 17th out of 24 scheduled events. The race was suspended afterward. About 45,000 spectators had gathered at the race circuit at a Sri Lankan military academy. The event was organized by the Sri Lankan army and Sri Lanka Automobile Sports.

PITTSBURGH — An appeals court in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania has kept alive an Italian heritage group's challenge to efforts by the city of Pittsburgh to remove a statue of Christopher Columbus from a city park. The Commonwealth Court on Friday sent the dispute over the 13-foot bronze and granite Schenley Park statue back to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court for further consideration of issues raised by opponents of the removal. The Italian Sons and Daughters of America filed suit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to remove the statue and then-Mayor Bill Peduto also recommended its removal. The group argued that the mayor could not override a 1955 city council ordinance that cleared the way for installation of the 800-pound statue. City attorneys argued that the legislation was more akin to a resolution accepting a gift and no council action to rescind it was needed. Common Pleas Judge John McVay Jr., after urging both sides for two years to work out a solution such as relocation, ruled in 2022 that because the statue is in a city-owned park, it represents government speech. But the Commonwealth Court wrote Friday that McVay erred in concluding that the group's claims “are barred in their entirety," rejecting what it called the idea that claims of violations of the city's charter, code and ordinance were “irrelevant procedural quibbles.” The appellate court did reject the group's challenge to McVay's refusal to remove himself from the case. Philadelphia attorney George Bochetto, who filed the lawsuit and subsequent appeal on behalf of the group, hailed the ruling and called on the new mayor to “sit down with me to reach a resolution without further costly litigation." A message seeking comment was sent Sunday to a spokesperson for the Pittsburgh mayor. The Schenley Park statue, vandalized several times, was wrapped in plastic in 2020, but local news reports indicate that much of the covering has since worn away or perhaps been removed, although the head remains covered. Disputes over Columbus statues have roiled other cities across the nation, including Philadelphia on the other side of the state, where supporters in a city with a deep Italian heritage say they consider Columbus an emblem of that heritage. Former Mayor Jim Kenney, however, said Columbus, venerated for centuries as an explorer, had a “much more infamous” history, enslaving Indigenous people and imposing harsh punishments. After 2020 protests about racial injustice and the statue, Kenney ordered the 1876 statue's removal, calling it a matter of public safety. But a judge reversed that decision, saying the city had failed to provide evidence of a public safety need for removal. In December 2022, a plywood box covering the statue was removed by judicial order. The group that fought for retention of the statue and removal of the covering filed suit last year alleging that officials conspired to abuse the legal process in trying to remove the statue, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Columbus statues have been removed in nearby Camden, New Jersey, and Wilmington, Delaware. In Richmond, Virginia, a statue of Christopher Columbus was torn down, set on fire and thrown into a lake. In Columbia, South Carolina, the first U.S. city named for Columbus, a statue of the explorer was removed after it was vandalized several times. Another vandalized statue in Boston also was removed from its pedestal.

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los angeles, california — Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America's longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76. Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants in his best-selling 1993 memoir "Den of Lions," died Sunday at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, said his daughter, Sulome Anderson. The cause of death was unknown, though his daughter said Anderson recently had heart surgery. "He never liked to be called a hero, but that's what everyone persisted in calling him," said Sulome Anderson. "I saw him a week ago and my partner asked him if he had anything on his bucket list, anything that he wanted to do. He said, 'I've lived so much, and I've done so much. I'm content.'" After returning to the United States in 1991, Anderson led a peripatetic life, giving public speeches, teaching journalism at several prominent universities and, at various times, operating a blues bar, Cajun restaurant, horse ranch and gourmet restaurant. He also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, won millions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets after a federal court concluded that country played a role in his capture, then lost most of it to bad investments. He filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Upon retiring from the University of Florida in 2015, Anderson settled on a small horse farm in a quiet, rural section of northern Virginia he had discovered while camping with friends. "I live in the country and it's reasonably good weather and quiet out here and a nice place, so I'm doing all right," he said with a chuckle during a 2018 interview with The Associated Press. In 1985 he became one of several Westerners abducted by members of the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah during a time of war that had plunged Lebanon into chaos. After his release, he returned to a hero's welcome at AP's New York headquarters. As the AP's chief Middle East correspondent, Anderson had been reporting for several years on the rising violence gripping Lebanon as the country fought a war with Israel, while Iran funded militant groups trying to topple its government. Chained to wall, threatened with death On March 16, 1985, a day off, he had taken a break to play tennis with former AP photographer Don Mell and was dropping Mell off at his home when gun-toting kidnappers dragged him from his car. He was likely targeted, he said, because he was one of the few Westerners still in Lebanon and because his role as a journalist aroused suspicion among members of Hezbollah. "Because in their terms, people who go around asking questions in awkward and dangerous places have to be spies," he told the Virginia newspaper Orange County Review in 2018. What followed was nearly seven years of brutality during which he was beaten, chained to a wall, threatened with death, often had guns held to his head and often was kept in solitary confinement. Anderson was the longest held of several Western hostages Hezbollah abducted over the years, including Terry Waite, the former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had arrived to try to negotiate his release. By his and other hostages' accounts, he was also their most hostile prisoner, constantly demanding better food and treatment, arguing religion and politics with his captors, and teaching other hostages sign language and where to hide messages so they could communicate privately. He managed to retain a quick wit and biting sense of humor during his long ordeal. On his last day in Beirut, he called the leader of his kidnappers into his room to tell him he'd just heard an erroneous radio report saying he'd been freed and was in Syria. "I said, 'Mahmound, listen to this, I'm not here. I'm gone, babes. I'm on my way to Damascus.' And we both laughed," he told Giovanna DellOrto, author of "AP Foreign Correspondents in Action: World War II to the Present." He learned later his release was delayed when a third party who his kidnappers planned to turn him over to left for a tryst with the party's mistress and they had to find someone else. Trauma lasted for years Anderson's humor often hid the PTSD he acknowledged suffering for years afterward. "The AP got a couple of British experts in hostage decompression, clinical psychiatrists, to counsel my wife and myself and they were very useful," he said in 2018. "But one of the problems I had was I did not recognize sufficiently the damage that had been done. "So, when people ask me, you know, 'Are you over it?' Well, I don't know. No, not really. It's there. I don't think about it much these days, it's not central to my life. But it's there." At the time of his abduction, Anderson was engaged to be married and his future wife was six months pregnant with their daughter, Sulome. The couple married soon after his release but divorced a few years later, and although they remained on friendly terms Anderson and his daughter were estranged for years. "I love my dad very much. My dad has always loved me. I just didn't know that because he wasn't able to show it to me," Sulome Anderson told the AP in 2017. Father and daughter reconciled after the publication of her critically acclaimed 2017 book, "The Hostage's Daughter," in which she told of traveling to Lebanon to confront and eventually forgive one of her father's kidnappers. "I think she did some extraordinary things, went on a very difficult personal journey, but also accomplished a pretty important piece of journalism doing it," Anderson said. "She's now a better journalist than I ever was." Chose Marines over Michigan Terry Alan Anderson was born Oct. 27, 1947. He spent his early childhood years in the small Lake Erie town of Vermilion, Ohio, where his father was a police officer. After graduating from high school, he turned down a scholarship to the University of Michigan in favor of enlisting in the Marines, where he rose to the rank of staff sergeant while seeing combat during the Vietnam War. After returning home, he enrolled at Iowa State University where he graduated with a double major in journalism and political science and soon after went to work for the AP. He reported from Kentucky, Japan and South Africa before arriving in Lebanon in 1982, just as the country was descending into chaos. "Actually, it was the most fascinating job I've ever had in my life," he told the Orange County Review. "It was intense. War's going on — it was very dangerous in Beirut. Vicious civil war, and I lasted about three years before I got kidnapped." Anderson was married and divorced three times. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Gabrielle Anderson, from his first marriage.

panama city — Eight years after 11 million leaked secret financial documents revealed how some of the world's richest people hide their wealth, more than two dozen defendants are on trial in Panama for their alleged roles. The case has become known as the "Panama Papers."  The repercussions of the leaks were far-ranging, prompting the resignation of the prime minister of Iceland and bringing scrutiny to the then-leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.  But those on trial now for alleged money laundering are principally the leaders and associates of the now defunct Panamanian boutique law firm that helped set up the shell companies used to obscure those really behind them.  The leaders of that firm, Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, are among those on trial.  What is the Panama Papers case about?  Panamanian prosecutors allege that Mossack, Fonseca and their associates created a web of offshore companies that used complex transactions to hide money linked to illicit activities in the "car wash" corruption scandal of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.  In December 2016, Odebrecht pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to a charge related to its use of shell companies to disguise hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes paid in countries around the world to win public contracts.  According to Panamanian prosecutors, the Mossack Fonseca firm created 44 shell companies, 31 of which opened accounts in Panama to hide money linked to the Brazilian scandal. The judge on the case, Baloisa Marquinez, last year decided to also merge the Odebrecht-related charges to prosecutors' allegations about the firm's work for German giant Siemens. Prosecutors allege a former executive with the company used entities created by Mossack Fonseca to transfer funds for bribes.  A Siemens spokesperson declined to comment, noting that it is not a party to the Panama case and that it involves former Siemens employees in their private capacity.  What do Mossack and Fonseca say?  The 71-year-old Fonseca has not been present for the trial, because his lawyer said he is hospitalized. But he had previously said his firm did not control how their clients used the shell companies the firm created for them. Its role was simply the creation and sale of the companies.  Mossack, a 76-year-old lawyer originally from Germany, said in a statement to The Associated Press that "we categorically reject that we have committed any crime, not Mossack Fonseca nor the subsidiaries … and we hope that can be proved in the trial. If there is in fact justice in our case, they have to absolve us."  Both men were arrested in 2017, but had awaited trial out on bond.  What happened to the firm?  Mossack Fonseca helped create and sell around 240,000 shell companies across four decades in business. It announced its closure in March 2018, two years after the scandal erupted.  "The reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial siege and the irregular actions of some Panamanian authorities have caused irreparable damage, whose consequence is the complete cease of operations to the public," the firm said in a statement at the time.  How did the scandal affect Panama?  Panama's international reputation for financial services was tarnished by the scandal.  The European Union included Panama on a list of tax haven countries — low taxes or fiscal opacity — which led international financial institutions to demand the implementation of measures that would allow scrutiny of the banking and financial systems.  Consequently, the country's business creating shell companies plummeted some 40% within a year of the scandal.  What changes did Panama make?  Panama's government implemented changes to make it possible to identify the ultimate beneficiary behind limited liability companies and their assets.  Changes also sought to give greater responsibility to the registered agents — typically lawyers from Panamanian firms — listed for the shell companies.  The objective was to make it possible for Panamanian authorities to respond to requests to assist in investigations.  Julio Aguirre, an expert and financial specialist in Panama, said the government wants the registered agents to actually keep an eye on the companies. Before, "the law didn't ask them to follow up, there wasn't that legal obligation," he said.  Banks had also previously been restricted in their ability to know who was really behind accounts. "They gave the bank the vehicle to obtain that information," Aguirre said. 

bogota, colombia — Tens of thousands of Colombians marched Sunday to reject economic and social reforms being proposed by the leftist government of President Gustavo Petro, the latest in a series of demonstrations against Petro's policies.  The reforms, which Petro says will fight deep inequality, but which opponents say will damage the country's already-struggling economy, were key campaign promises for the 64-year-old leader, who took office in 2022.  Despite gray skies and rain, some 70,000 people marched in the capital Bogota, according to city government estimates, chanting "out with Petro," waving national flags, and blowing on trumpets before gathering in the central Bolivar Square.  The march comes after a Senate committee earlier this month rejected a proposed health reform aimed at stripping power from insurers and expanding access to health care, as the government took control of two major insurers it said had failed to correctly care for patients.  The government is expected to propose a new version of the health reform once the new legislative session begins in July. Pension and labor reforms are still being debated by lawmakers.  "This government's policies are dire. The health system, despite its flaws, was working and now Petro is putting an end to it by plunging patients who have no health care or medicine into a crisis," said Monica Leon, a 45-year-old doctor.  Accountant Miguel Angel Larrota, 52, said he was protesting bad governance and demanding that Petro "not destroy what works and put an end to the corruption he promised to fight."  Paloma Valencia, a senator from the opposition Democratic Center, a conservative political party founded by former President Alvaro Uribe, said the march was bringing together not only opponents but people who voted for Petro two years ago.  People also took to the streets in the city of Medellin and in Cali, near the Pacific coast.  Marches have also previously taken place in support of Petro's reforms. 

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