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Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that the United States will continue enforcing sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following the seizure and investigation of two aircraft linked to him earlier this week in the Dominican Republic. On Friday, Blinken held discussions with Dominican President Luis Abinader during his first official visit to Santo Domingo as the top U.S. diplomat. Blinken underscored the U.S. commitment to continued collaboration with the Dominican Republic to promote inclusive economic growth, strengthen democratic institutions, uphold human rights, and improve governance and security. On Monday, U.S. authorities seized a plane used by Maduro, the equivalent to the U.S. Air Force One. The aircraft, undergoing maintenance in the Dominican Republic, was seized for being illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States, violating U.S. export control and sanctions laws. After the controversial reelection of Maduro on July 28, Venezuela suspended commercial flights to and from the Dominican Republic. A second plane linked to Maduro is under investigation in the Dominican Republic. This aircraft is similar to the one seized on Monday and is listed among the sanctioned assets by the U.S. Treasury as belonging to Maduro. “With regard to the plane seizures, we've been very clear. We'll implement our sanctions, and if we find violations of them, we will act. That's what we did, and that's what we'll continue to do,” Blinken told reporters during a joint press conference with Abinader at the National Palace. The Dominican Republic will host the 2025 Summit of the Americas, where Western Hemisphere leaders will address shared challenges and policy issues facing the region. On August 16, Abinader was sworn in for a second four-year term, vowing to enhance security by increasing police training over the next four years. His administration has also implemented policies barring migrants from neighboring Haiti. The U.S. has urged the Dominican Republic to establish a path toward normalization with Haiti, as border tensions continue to escalate. Blinken said he and Abinader are committed to support the Haitians to build security and “make sure the people are treated humanely.” Abinader told reporters his country will continue moving forward and normalizing the relationship with Haiti, such as opening air flights, but the security and safety of citizens of the Dominican Republic is still the priority. The U.S. and the Dominican Republic signed a historic Open Skies agreement on August 2. Once in effect, the agreement will expand opportunities for airlines, travel companies and people-to-people exchanges. More than 4 million U.S. citizens visit the Dominican Republic each year. The Dominican Republic is a crucial partner for the U.S. in hemispheric affairs, due to its position as the second-largest economy in the Caribbean, after Cuba, and the third-largest country by population, behind Cuba and Haiti. The U.S. is its primary trading partner. Additionally, the Dominican Republic is home to Pueblo Viejo, one of the world’s largest gold mines, and serves as a major global supplier of ferronickel, used for making stainless steel. The Dominican Republic and the United States, along with five Central American countries, are parties to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA-DR. This agreement enhances economic opportunities by eliminating tariffs, opening markets, reducing barriers to services and promoting transparency. The U.S. Agency for International Development is investing more than $9.5 million to strengthen the Dominican Republic’s existing justice system and to reduce crime and violence. Blinken also announced on Friday "the first phase of a supply chain investment through USAID, an initial $3 million that will help the Dominican government improve its workforce training, build industrial parks, attract high-tech industries here to the Dominican Republic.”

Washington — The death of a former journalist who experienced beatings and inhumane treatment in prison shows the harassment that media workers and their families endure in Turkmenistan, analysts said. Khudayberdy Allashov was 35 years old when he died in August, after what watchdogs said was eight years of persecution and physical assault by Turkmen authorities. No cause of death was listed on his death certificate. “The beatings and torture that Allashov was subjected to and the impossibility of providing him with rehabilitation and medical care led to the death of a brave and honest man,” Farid Tuhbatullin, the head of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, told VOA via email. Known as one of the most closed-off countries, Turkmenistan has little space for independent reporting. Nearly all media outlets are state-owned, and ministries monitor content, according to watchdogs. Journalists such as Allashov who try to report independently — and their families — are subject to arrest and harassment, according to Reporters Without Borders, or RSF. Azatlyk, which is run by VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Turkmen Service, provides a rare source of news. When Allashov was initially detained in 2016, he had been working for Azatlyk for about three months. That reporting was critical of the government, focusing on social problems such as food shortages, salary delays and forced labor, according to an Amnesty International report published at the time of Allashov’s first arrest. “All of this is forbidden to be mentioned in the local media,” Tuhbatullin told VOA in an email. “The very word ‘problem’ is taboo.” He, too, had been arrested and exiled from Turkmenistan. Allashov, his mother and his wife were all arrested under charges of possessing chewing tobacco, a commonly used substance in Turkmenistan. There are no other known criminal charges of possessing chewing tobacco; the maximum punishment is typically a fine, Farruh Yusupov, director of Azatlyk, told VOA. In captivity, Allashov was tortured with electric shock. The severity of the torture during Allashov’s 74-day arrest caused him to declare he would no longer work as a journalist. But even after his release and quitting the profession, authorities continually detained and harassed him up until his death, journalists and experts who spoke with VOA said. He faced violent interrogations in 2019, 2020 and 2023. “Authorities never left him or his family alone,” Yusupov told VOA. “They told him they would not relent until they chased him to his grave. They were true to their promise.” The Turkmenistan Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment. Despite having ceased his reporting, Allashov was denied any medical treatment due to his status as a target of the authorities, according to RSF. He leaves a wife and two children. RSF condemned the targeted harassment of independent journalists. “Allashov should never have lived through this nightmare,” Jeanne Cavelier of RSF said in a statement. “Under the Turkmen dictatorship, the lives of journalists and former journalists — and the lives of their families — continue to be at risk because of their work.” Turkmenistan ranks 175 out of 180 countries on the RSF World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment. “This is a country where the authorities can do anything to any citizen who expresses any form of dissent,” Gulnoza Said, a program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told VOA. Yusupov told VOA that while there are no “concrete numbers” available for how many journalists have been attacked by authorities, there are many well-documented instances. In 2006, reporter Ogulsapar Muradova died in prison after being denied legal representation. The United Nations recognized the Turkmen government as the responsible party in her death. In 2013, authorities detained journalist Rovshen Yazmuhamedov without cause, according to RSF. Most recently, in 2023, journalist Soltan Achilova was beaten by police officers and banned from leaving the country. Only a small number of independent journalists still operate in the country, and those who do all work under pseudonyms, said Tuhbatullin of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights. Turkmen authorities also harass the families of journalists. Allashov’s wife and mother were arrested with him in 2016, and his mother was detained for three months and beaten. She was taken in for questioning again in 2019, when she was beaten and passed away two days later from heart failure, according to Yusupov. Authorities also harassed the mother of journalist Yazmuhamedov, banning her from leaving the country to see her other children. “This is one of the tools authoritarian governments use to silence independent reporting,” Said told VOA. The Committee to Protect Journalists has reached out to Turkmen authorities after every government attack on a journalist. The government has never responded, Said told VOA. Yusupov told VOA that government repression “makes the work of journalists like Allashov even more important.” “It’s important to tell the truth in the face of an oppressive regime and provide independent reporting to society,” he said.

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new york — A judge agreed Friday to postpone Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case until after the November election, granting the Republican presidential nominee a hard-won reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his campaign. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is also weighing a defense request to overturn the verdict on immunity grounds, delayed Trump's sentencing until November 26, several weeks after the final votes are cast in the presidential election. It had been scheduled for September 18, about seven weeks before Election Day. Merchan wrote that he was postponing the sentencing "to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate." "The Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution," he said. Trump's lawyers pushed for the delay on multiple fronts, petitioning the judge and asking a federal court to intervene. They argued that punishing the former president and current Republican nominee in the thick of his campaign to retake the White House would amount to election interference. Trump's lawyers argued that delaying Trump's sentencing until after the election would also allow him time to weigh next steps after Merchan rules on the defense's request to reverse his conviction and dismiss the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court's July presidential immunity ruling. In his order Friday, Merchan delayed a decision on that until November 12. Judge rejects Trump request A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Trump's request to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan seize the case from Merchan's state court. Had they been successful, Trump's lawyers said they would have then sought to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds. Trump is appealing the federal court ruling. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which prosecuted Trump's case, deferred to Merchan and did not take a position on the defense's delay request. Messages seeking comment were left for Trump's lawyers and the district attorney's office. Election Day is November 5, but many states allow voters to cast ballots early, with some set to start the process just a few days before or after September 18. Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels claims she and Trump had a sexual encounter a decade earlier after they met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Prosecutors cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him during his first presidential campaign. Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses. Trump maintains that the stories were false, that reimbursements were for legal work and logged correctly, and that the case — brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat — was part of a politically motivated "witch hunt" aimed at damaging his current campaign. Democrats spotlight Trump's conviction Democrats backing their party's nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, have made his conviction a focus of their messaging. In speeches at the Democratic Party's convention in Chicago last month, President Joe Biden called Trump a "convicted felon" running against a former prosecutor. Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat labeled Trump a "career criminal with 34 felonies, two impeachments and one porn star to prove it." Trump's 2016 Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, inspired chants of "lock him up" from the convention crowd when she quipped that Trump "fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions." Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge, which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime. Trump has pledged to appeal, but that cannot happen until he is sentenced. In seeking the delay, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued that the short time between the scheduled immunity ruling on September 16 and sentencing, which was to have taken place two days later, was unfair to Trump. To prepare for a September 18 sentencing, the lawyers said, prosecutors would be submitting their punishment recommendation while Merchan is still weighing whether to dismiss the case. If Merchan rules against Trump, he would need "adequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options," they said. The Supreme Court's immunity decision reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president's unofficial actions were illegal. Trump's lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the Daniels deal.

washington — Shortly after appearing in court for an appeal of a decision that found him liable for sexual abuse, Donald Trump stepped Friday in front of television cameras and brought up a string of past allegations of other acts of sexual misconduct, potentially reminding voters of incidents that were little-known or forgotten.  The former president has made hitting back at opponents and accusers a centerpiece of his political identity, but his performance at his namesake Manhattan office tower was startling even by Trump's own combative standards. At times he seemed to relish using graphic language and characterizations of the case, which could expose the former president to further legal challenges.  Trump's remarks came just four days before he will debate Vice President Kamala Harris, with early voting about to begin in some parts of the country and Election Day just two months away.  Trump is staying in the public eye while Harris prepares for the debate in private with her advisers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That's a reflection of their divergent campaign styles, with Trump frequently engaging with reporters — often in friendly settings — while Harris has done just one interview and no news conferences since taking President Joe Biden's place atop the Democratic ticket.  Trump on Friday repeatedly brought up Harris' lack of news conferences. But his own comments — in which he talked about the cases against him for more than half an hour without mentioning any campaign issues — threatened to cause him more legal jeopardy. And after convening reporters for what his campaign said was a news conference, Trump walked off without taking any questions.  Legal team makes arguments A jury returned a $5 million verdict finding Trump liable of sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996. His legal team made its appeal arguments Friday morning.  Juries now have twice now awarded Carroll huge sums for Trump's claiming she made up a story about him attacking her in a department store dressing room in 1996 to help her sell a memoir.  But that hasn't stopped Trump from continuing to make nearly identical statements to reporters. At his news briefing Friday, he said again that Carroll was telling a "made up, fabricated story."  Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, warned in March after a jury awarded Carroll another $83 million that she would continue to monitor Trump's comments and would consider suing again if he kept it up.  Earlier in court, he walked in quietly and passed in front of Carroll without acknowledging or looking at her.  The former president reacted at times during the proceedings, such as shaking his head when Carroll's attorney said that Trump sexually abused her client. He periodically tilted his head from side to side, but otherwise sat still and mostly alone.  A Manhattan jury in May found Trump responsible for sexual abuse. Carroll says Trump attacked her in a department store dressing room, but the former president's legal team says the verdict should be overturned because some evidence that was allowed during the trial should have been excluded while other evidence that should be excluded was allowed. He denies guilt.  In the midst of running for president and facing a series of other legal cases against him, Trump did not attend the Carroll trial and wasn't there when the charges were read — though he assailed the verdict as "a disgrace" on his social media site.  Later Friday, he's traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina, to address the Fraternal Order of Police.  More than 12 women make accusations Carroll is one of more than a dozen women who have accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment. She went public in a 2019 memoir. Trump denied it, saying he never encountered Carroll at the store and did not know her. He has called her a "nut job" who invented her story to sell a memoir.  Trump faces unprecedented criminal and civil jeopardy for a major-party nominee.  He has separately been convicted on 34 felony counts in a New York state case related to hush money payments allegedly made to a porn actor. The judge in that case is expected to decide Friday whether to postpone Trump's sentencing.  Trump has also been ordered to pay steep civil fines for lying about his wealth for years.  And he's still contending with cases alleging his mishandling of classified documents, his actions after the 2020 election, and his activities during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — though none are likely to go to trial prior to Election Day. 

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Winder, Georgia — The 14-year-old suspect in a shooting that killed four people at a Georgia high school and his father, who was arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon, will stay in custody after their lawyers decided not to seek bail Friday.  Colt Gray, who has been charged with four counts of murder, is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.  The two appeared in back-to-back hearings Friday morning with about 50 onlookers in the courtroom, where workers had set out boxes of tissue along the benches, in addition to members of the media and sheriff’s deputies. Some victims' family members in the front row hugged each other and one woman clutched a stuffed animal.  During his hearing, Colt Gray, wearing khaki pants and a green shirt, was advised of his rights as well as the charges and penalties he faced for the shooting at the school where he was a student.  After the hearing, he was escorted out in shackles at the wrists and ankles. The judge then called the teen back to the courtroom to correct an earlier misstatement that his crimes could be punishable by death. Because he’s a juvenile, the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole. The judge also set another hearing for December 4. Shortly afterward, Colin Gray was brought into court dressed in a gray-striped jail uniform. Colin Gray, 54, was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting and answered questions in a barely audible croak, giving his age and saying he finished 11th grade, earning a high school equivalency diploma.  Colin Gray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the shooting, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said.  “His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said.  The charges come five months after Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health before he killed four students in 2021.  The Georgia shootings have also renewed debate about safe storage laws for guns and have parents wondering how to talk to their children about school shootings and trauma.  The Barrow County hearings for the father and son came as police in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody said schools there and nationwide have received threats of violence since the Apalachee High School shooting, police said in a statement. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also noted that numerous threats have been made to schools across the state this week.  Before Colin Gray’s arrest was reported, the AP knocked on the door of a home listed as his address seeking comment about his son’s arrest.  According to arrest warrants obtained by The Associated Press, Colt Gray is accused of using a “black semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” to kill the two students and two teachers. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how he obtained the gun or got it into the school.  He was charged as an adult in the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Nine people were also hurt in Wednesday’s attack.  A neighbor remembered Schermerhorn as inquisitive when he was a little boy. Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers, and Aspinwall also helped coach the school's football team. Irimie, who immigrated from Romania, volunteered at a local church, where she taught dance.  Colt Gray denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday. Conflicting evidence on the post’s origin left investigators unable to arrest anyone, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time.  The attack was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control but there has been little change to national gun laws.  It was the 30th mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as events in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.

A school shooting in the southern state of Georgia has re-ignited the gun control debate in the US as the presidential election nears. Kamala Harris is campaigning on stricter regulations on guns, while Donald Trump wants fewer gun control rules. A conversation about Kyiv’s recent government re-organization and how right-wing victories elsewhere in Europe might affect aid to Ukraine. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is underway; what is Beijing looking for in exchange for the 51 billion dollars they’re sending to African nations. And as African nations look to modernize, some harmful tradition continues to affect the lives and health of millions of women and girls.

The Midwestern state of Indiana is testing a segment of roadway designed to charge electric vehicle batteries. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh visited the site near Lafayette, Indiana, and reports on how the technology could transform driving.

KAMPALA, UGANDA — United Nations agencies, the World Athletics Federation and others reacted with shock and anger at the death of Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei, who died Thursday after being set on fire by her ex-boyfriend. The case is shining a light on domestic violence in the region. Human rights groups are calling for stronger legal measures to protect women who suffer at the hands of their domestic partners. Every hour, six women lose their lives to femicide worldwide, according to U.N. Women and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Thursday told reporters in Geneva that Cheptegei’s brutal murder illustrates a much bigger, and too often ignored, problem. Back in Uganda, relatives waited for Cheptegei’s body to be returned from Eldoret, Kenya, where she was being treated for severe burns after her ex-boyfriend set her on fire during a dispute Sunday. Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said Monday that Dickson Ndiema bought a can of gasoline, poured it on Cheptegei and set her ablaze during a disagreement. Ndiema was also burned and was being treated at the same hospital. Beatrice Ayikoru, secretary general of the Uganda Athletics Federation, said Cheptegei’s death is a wake-up call that many elite athletes are targeted. “This is an eye-opener for many of us in sports,” she said. “There is a silent violence against women, especially the female athletes. We need to fight for safe sports.” Cheptegei’s death is a dark reminder of what’s been happening for years. In the East African country of Kenya, gender-based violence against women athletes came to public attention in 2021 when long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed and beaten to death. In 2022, Olympic runner Damaris Muthee Mutua was found strangled. Both women lost their lives at the hands of their male partners. In a statement, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said that it was time to assess how safety policies might be enhanced to include abuse outside of the sport and protect female athletes from abuse of all kinds. In 2021, after the death of Kenyan world-record holder Tirop, fellow marathoner Viola Cheptoo Lagat started a foundation called Tirop’s Angels and has since been speaking against domestic violence. She said prize money can be at the root of these attacks. “When they come from races, their boyfriends want their money, and then they go misuse the money,” she said. “And then another problem is the society. We have allowed it to happen that we don’t even condemn it anymore. We’ve made it a norm to see a woman being beaten — to see somebody snatching somebody’s property and us not screaming out loud about it until somebody is lost.” Kipchumba Murkomen, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for youth affairs and sports, said Thursday that gender violence has again reared its head in the world of elite sports, insisting that government officials are obligated to seek justice. Wangechi Wachira, executive director of the Center for Rights Education and Awareness, a feminist nongovernmental organization in Kenya, said it is time to stop calling these murders domestic violence, but rather acts of femicide. “By the time a woman has the courage to go to a police station, it means that they’ve gotten another level of courage to say, finally, beyond the social structures, ‘I am moving to a police station, then I can be able to get help.’ We don’t see the wheels of justice moving as fast as they should,” Whachira said. Cheptoo said there’s more work to be done. “It has to be a whole community coming together and working towards ending GBV,”she said, referring to gender-based violence. “That way we don’t have to say, ‘Not again.’” Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press.

New York — A dozen U.N. Security Council ambassadors strongly condemned on Friday the Afghan Taliban’s recent “morality law” which further erodes the rights of women and girls in that country and called for its reversal.  “On top of the existing edicts, this new directive confirms and extends wide-ranging and far-reaching restrictions on personal conduct and provides inspectors with broad powers of enforcement, thus deepening the already unacceptable restrictions on the enjoyment by all Afghans of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” said Japan’s U.N. ambassador, Yamazaki Kazuyuki.  “Day by day, Afghan women and girls lose their opportunities and hope for their future,” he added. “This is unacceptable.”  Envoys from Ecuador, France, Guyana, Malta, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States joined him as he read the statement before reporters.  The only Security Council members not to lend their support to the statement were Algeria, China and Russia.  On August 21, the Taliban announced the ratification of a detailed “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” which includes among its restrictions a prohibition on Afghan women using their voices in public and orders them to completely cover their bodies and faces outdoors. Women are also forbidden from interacting with non-Muslims, using public transport alone, and looking at men who are not their husband or blood relative. The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism of the law as offensive.   Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted this week that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said.   The United States, European Union, United Nations and others have condemned the edict, the latest in a series that have eroded the rights of Afghan women and girls.  “Today, we once again urge the Taliban to swiftly reverse all the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Ambassador Kazuyuki said.  “The Taliban need to listen and respond to the voices of Afghan women and girls by respecting their rights to education and for women to work, as well as the freedoms of expression and movement. It is a prerequisite for a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”  The Japanese envoy noted that the 15-nation Security Council has repeatedly discussed the worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August 2021 and have “raised a united voice on multiple occasions.”  Last year, the council unanimously adopted Resolution 2681 which calls for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and girls in Afghanistan.  The 12 Security Council members also called on those countries with influence over the Taliban to promote the “urgent reversal” of the policy, which violates Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights treaties to which it is a signatory.  They also urged the Taliban to allow the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan to visit the country. The Taliban have publicly said they will not allow Richard Bennett entry.  The U.N.’s agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment, U.N. Women, warned in a statement on August 28 that the new law is “effectively erasing women from public life and granting broad enforcement powers to the morality police.”  U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned last month that the law would only impede Afghanistan’s return to the international fold.  The Security Council plans to next discuss Afghanistan in a meeting on September 18.  Ayaz Gul in Islamabad contributed to this report.   

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Ukraine has a new foreign minister, one of the latest moves as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy embarks on the largest overhaul of his administration since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports on the appointment of nine new ministers in the Cabinet shakeup. Videographer: Daniil Batushchak

baghdad — The United States and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Iraq, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The plan, which has been broadly agreed but requires a final go-ahead from both capitals and an announcement date, would see hundreds of troops leave by September 2025, with the remainder departing by the end of 2026, the sources said. "We have an agreement, it’s now just a question of when to announce it," a senior U.S. official said. The U.S. and Iraq are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some U.S. troops remain in Iraq after the drawdown. An official announcement was initially scheduled for weeks ago but was postponed because of regional escalation related to Israel's war in Gaza and to iron out some remaining details, the sources said. The sources include five U.S. officials, two officials from other coalition nations, and three Iraqi officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Several sources said the deal could be announced this month. Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said technical talks with Washington on the coalition drawdown had concluded. "We are now on the brink of transitioning the relationship between Iraq and members of the international coalition to a new level, focusing on bilateral relations in military, security, economic, and cultural areas," he said. He did not comment on details of the plan and the U.S.-led coalition did not respond to emailed questions. The agreement follows more than six months of talks between Baghdad and Washington, initiated by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in January amid attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups on U.S. forces stationed at Iraqi bases. The rocket and drone attacks have killed three American troops and wounded dozens more, resulting in several rounds of deadly U.S. retaliation that threatened government efforts to stabilize Iraq after decades of conflict. The U.S. has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat Islamic State as it rampaged through the two countries. The group once held roughly a third of Iraq and Syria but was territorially defeated in Iraq at the end of 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Iraq had demonstrated its ability to handle any remaining threat, Alaaldin said. The U.S. initially invaded Iraq in 2003, toppling dictator Saddam Hussein before withdrawing in 2011, but returned in 2014 at the head of the coalition to fight Islamic State. Other nations, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, also contribute hundreds of troops to the coalition. Under the plan, all coalition forces would leave the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025. U.S. and other coalition troops are expected to remain in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region, for approximately one additional year, until around the end of 2026, to facilitate ongoing operations against Islamic State in Syria. Exact details of troop movements are being kept secret because of their military sensitivity. The drawdown would mark a notable shift in Washington's military posture in the region. While primarily focused on countering Islamic State, U.S. officials acknowledge their presence also serves as a strategic position against Iranian influence. This position has grown more important as Israel and Iran escalate their regional confrontation, with U.S. forces in Iraq shooting down rockets and drones fired towards Israel in recent months, according to U.S. officials. Prime Minister al-Sudani has stated that while he appreciates their help, U.S. troops have become a magnet for instability, frequently targeted and responding with strikes often not coordinated with the Iraqi government. The agreement, when announced, would likely present a political win for al-Sudani as he balances Iraq's position as an ally of both Washington and Tehran. The first phase of the drawdown would end one month before Iraqi parliamentary polls set for October 2025. The State Department and U.S. Embassy in Baghdad did not respond to requests for comment.

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WASHINGTON — Hiring by America’s employers picked up a bit in August from July’s tepid pace, and the unemployment rate dipped for the first time since March in a sign that the job market may be cooling but remains sturdy.   Employers added a modest 142,000 jobs, up from a scant 89,000 in July, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2% from 4.3% in July, which had been the highest level in nearly three years. Hiring in June and July, though, was revised sharply down by a combined 86,000. July's job gain was the smallest since the pandemic.   “The labor market is weakening,” said Eugenio Aleman, chief economist at Raymond James Financial. “It is not falling apart, but it is weakening.”   The cooling jobs figures underscore why the Federal Reserve is set to cut its key interest rate when it next meets September 17-18, with inflation falling steadily back to its target of 2%. Friday’s mixed jobs report raises the question of how large a rate cut the Fed will announce. It could decide to reduce its benchmark rate by a typical quarter-point or by a larger-than-usual half-point. In the coming months, the policymakers will also decide how much and how fast to cut rates at their subsequent meetings.    Christopher Waller, an influential Fed policymaker, suggested in a speech Friday that the central bank is leaning toward a quarter-point reduction this month. But he left the door open for larger rate cuts, if necessary, later this year.   “I do not expect this first cut to be the last," Waller said in a speech at the University of Notre Dame. "With inflation and employment near our longer-run goals and the labor market moderating, it is likely that a series of reductions will be appropriate.”   “I am open-minded," he added, “about the size and pace of cuts, which will be based on what the data tell us about the evolution of the economy.”   Collectively, Friday’s figures depict a job market slowing under the pressure of high interest rates but still growing. Many businesses appear to be holding off on adding jobs, in part because of uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election and about how fast the Fed will reduce its benchmark rate in the coming months.   Daniel Zhao, lead economist at the career website Glassdoor, said some of the details in the August jobs report indicate that businesses' demand for workers is slowing. The number of Americans who are working part time but would prefer full-time work rose, extending a year-long trend.   “When you look under the hood, you’re seeing numbers that confirm that the job market is on that cooling trajectory," Zhao said.   America's labor market is now in an unusual place: Jobholders are mostly secure, with layoffs low, historically speaking. Yet with the pace of hiring having weakened, landing a job has become harder.   In the past three months, hiring has averaged only 116,000 a month, down sharply from an average of 211,000 a year ago. And August's job gains were concentrated in just a few industries, with health care adding 44,000 jobs, restaurants, hotels and entertainment companies gaining 46,000, and construction 34,000. Steady hiring by restaurants and hotels could reflect ongoing gains in consumer spending, which rose last month even after adjusting for inflation.   In a major speech last month, Chair Jerome Powell suggested that the Fed’s policymakers have all but tamed inflation through high interest rates and don’t want to see the job market weaken further. The central bank is trying to achieve a “soft landing,” in which it succeeds in driving inflation down from a 9.1% peak in 2022 to its target level without causing a recession. A lower Fed benchmark rate will lead eventually to lower borrowing costs for a range of consumer and business loans, including mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.   For now, companies are posting fewer job openings and adding fewer workers, while Americans are far less likely to quit their jobs now than they were soon after the economy rebounded from the pandemic. In a strong job market, workers are more likely to quit, usually for higher-paying opportunities. With quits declining, it means fewer jobs are opening up for people out of work.   Becky Frankiewicz, North American president of the staffing firm ManpowerGroup, said that uncertainty around the presidential election and the Fed’s next moves are causing many companies to hold back on new investments and hiring.   “There’s a whole world waiting to see what happens with our election,” she said. “We have this great waiting game. No one wants to make big moves yet.”   Still, Frankiewicz said the job market appears to be stable for now.   “The bottom isn’t falling out, and we’re not seeing a rocket ship,” she said. “It’s stability.”   A slower pace of hiring is often a precursor to layoffs — one reason why the Fed’s policymakers are now more focused on sustaining the health of the job market than on continuing to fight inflation.   Recent economic data has been mixed, elevating the importance of the jobs report, which is among the more comprehensive economic snapshots of the government issues. The Labor Department surveys roughly 119,000 businesses and government agencies and 60,000 households each month to compile the employment data.   The Fed’s Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes from the 12 regional Fed banks, reported that many employers appeared to have become pickier about whom they hired in July and August. And a survey by the Conference Board in August found that the proportion of Americans who think jobs are hard to find has been rising, a trend that has often correlated with a higher unemployment rate.   At the same time, consumer spending, the principal driver of economic growth in the United States, rose at a healthy pace in July. And the economy grew at a solid 3% annual pace in the April-June quarter.