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Maputo, Mozambique — More than 90 people died when an overcrowded makeshift ferry sank off the north coast of Mozambique, local authorities said Sunday. The converted fishing boat, carrying about 130 people, ran into trouble as it tried to reach an island off Nampula province, officials said. "Because the boat was overcrowded and unsuited to carry passengers it ended up sinking ... There are 91 people who lost their lives," said Nampula's secretary of state Jaime Neto. Many children were among the victims, he added.   Rescuers had found five survivors and were searching for more, but sea conditions were making the operation difficult. Most passengers were trying to escape the mainland because of a panic caused by disinformation about cholera, Neto said.    The southern African country, one of the world's poorest, has recorded almost 15,000 cases of the waterborne disease and 32 deaths since October, according to government data. Nampula is the worst affected region, accounting for a third of all cases. An investigative team was working to find out the cause of the boat disaster, the official said.

Beirut, Lebanon — At least 20 people were killed in clashes Sunday in Syria's Daraa governate a day after an explosion killed a group of children, a rights monitor said. Daraa was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad but it returned to government control in 2018 under a cease-fire deal backed by Russia. The southern province has since been plagued by unrest. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Ahmed al-Labbad, who "leads an armed group," was accused by a rival group of planting an explosive device that killed eight children Saturday in the city of Al-Sanamayn. Labbad, who previously worked for a state security agency, denied involvement, according to the Britain-based monitor. On Sunday, a rival armed group led by an individual who previously belonged to Islamic State (IS) and is now "affiliated with military intelligence," entered Al-Sanamayn and clashes erupted, the monitor said. The attackers burned the homes of the Labbad family and killed people living there, it added. Among the 20 dead were three members of Labbad's family and 14 of his fighters, the observatory said. Syrian state media did not immediately report the clashes. The official SANA news agency quoted police as saying seven children died in Saturday's explosion in the town, which it blamed on "terrorists." Attacks, armed clashes and assassinations, some claimed by IS, regularly occur in Daraa. In January, the observatory said a local leader and seven members of an IS-affiliated militia were killed in clashes with local groups. More than 500,000 people have died in Syria's civil war since it erupted in 2011. Millions have been displaced.

Tehran, Iran — Four environmentalists who spent more than five years in prison after being convicted of spying will be freed following a pardon from Iran's supreme leader, state media reported Sunday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pardoned more than 2,000 inmates to mark celebrations for the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Their release date was not immediately clear, but their lawyer Hojat Kermani said it will be "in the coming days." "My clients were informed by the judiciary's deputy of human rights that they are included in the amnesty," Kermani told the official IRNA news agency. He named his clients as Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Houman Jowkar, and Taher Ghadirain. They were arrested in 2018 on suspicion of espionage for foreign governments, among other charges, and were given jail sentences of up to 10 years. The environmentalists worked for Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a conservationist organization which protects endangered species. In early 2018, Iranian-Canadian environmentalist and university professor Kavous Seyed Emami, 63, died in prison. He reportedly committed suicide a fortnight after his arrest, an allegation rejected by his relatives. In 2023, wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz was among five American prisoners released from Iran as part of a prisoner swap deal with the United States.

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.

London — Find a globe in your local library or classroom and try this: Close the eyes, spin it and drop a finger randomly on its curved, glossy surface. You’re likely to pinpoint a spot in the water, which covers 71% of the planet. Maybe you’ll alight on a place you’ve never heard of — or a spot that no longer exists after a war or because of climate change. Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to find out who lives there and what it's like. Trace the path of totality ahead of Monday's solar eclipse. Look carefully, and you'll find the cartouche — the globemaker's signature — and the antipode (point diametrically opposed) of where you're standing right now. In the age of Google Earth, watches that triangulate and cars with built-in GPS, there's something about a globe — a spherical representation of the world in miniature — that somehow endures. London globemaker Peter Bellerby thinks the human yearning to “find our place in the cosmos” has helped globes survive their original purpose — navigation — and the internet. He says it's part of the reason he went into debt making a globe for his father's 80th birthday in 2008. The experience helped inspire his company, and 16 years later — is keeping his team of about two dozen artists, cartographers and woodworkers employed. “You don’t go onto Google Earth to get inspired,” Bellerby says in his airy studio, surrounded by dozens of globes in various languages and states of completion. “A globe is very much something that connects you to the planet that we live on.” Building a globe amid breakneck change? Beyond the existential and historical appeal, earthly matters such as cost and geopolitics hover over globemaking. Bellerby says his company has experience with customs officials in regions with disputed borders such as India, China, North Africa and the Middle East. And there is a real question about whether globes — especially handmade orbs — remain relevant as more than works of art and history for those who can afford them. They are, after all, snapshots of the past — of the way their patrons and makers saw the world at a certain point in time. So, they're inherently inaccurate representations of a planet in constant flux. “Do globes play a relevant role in our time? If so, then in my opinion, this is due to their appearance as a three-dimensional body, the hard-to-control desire to turn them, and the attractiveness of their map image,” says Jan Mokre, vice president of the International Coronelli Society for the Study of Globes in Vienna. Joshua Nall, Director of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge, says a globe remains a display of “the learning, the erudition, the political interests of its owner.” How, and how much? Bellerby's globes aren't cheap. They run from about 1,290 British pounds (about $1,900) for the smallest to six figures for the 50-inch Churchill model. He makes about 600 orbs a year of varying size, framing and ornamentation. The imagery painted on the globes runs the gamut, from constellations to mountains and sea creatures. And here, The Associated Press can confirm, be dragons. Who buys a globe these days?   Bellerby doesn't name clients, but he says they come from more socioeconomic levels than you'd think — from families to businesses and heads of state. Private art collectors come calling. So do moviemakers. Bellerby says in his book that the company made four globes for the 2011 movie, “Hugo.” One globe can be seen in the 2023 movie “Tetris," including one, a freestanding straight-leg Galileo model, which features prominently in a scene. 'A political minefield'   There is no international standard for a correctly drawn earth. Countries, like people, view the world differently, and some are highly sensitive about how their territory is depicted. To offend them with “incorrectly” drawn borders on a globe is to risk impoundment of the orbs at customs. “Globemaking,” Bellerby writes, “is a political minefield.” China doesn't recognize Taiwan as a country. Morocco doesn't recognize Western Sahara. India's northern border is disputed. Many Arab countries, such as Lebanon, don't acknowledge Israel. Bellerby says the company marks disputed borders as disputed: “We cannot change or rewrite history." Speaking of history, here's the ‘earth apple’ Scientists since antiquity, famously Plato and Aristotle, posited that the earth is not flat but closer to a sphere. (More precisely, it's a spheroid — bulging at the equator, squashed at the poles). No one knows when the first terrestrial globe was created. But the oldest known surviving one dates to 1492. No one in Europe knew of the existence of North or South America at the time. It's called the “Erdapfel,” which translates to “earth apple” or “potato." The orb was made by German navigator and geographer Martin Behaim, who was working for the king of Portugal, according to the Whipple Museum in Cambridge. It contained more than just the cartographical information then known, but also details such as commodities overseas, marketplaces and local trading protocols. It's also a record of a troubled time. “The Behaim Globe is today a central document of the European world conquest and the Atlantic slave trade,” according to the German National Museum's web page on the globe, exhibited there. In the 15th century, the museum notes, "Africa was not only to be circumnavigated in search of India, but also to be developed economically. “The globe makes it clear how much the creation of our modern world was based on the violent appropriation of raw materials, the slave trade and plantation farming," the museum notes, or “the first stage of European subjugation and division of the world.” Twin globes for Churchill and Roosevelt during WWII If you've got a globe of any sort, you're in good company. During World War II, two in particular were commissioned for leaders on opposite sides of the Atlantic as symbols of power and partnership. For Christmas in 1942, the United States delivered gigantic twin globes to American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They were 50 inches in diameter and hundreds of pounds each, believed to be the largest and most accurate globes of the time. It took more than 50 government geographers, cartographers, and draftsmen to compile the information to make the globe, constructed by the Weber Costello Company of Chicago Heights, Illinois. The Roosevelt globe now sits at the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., and Churchill’s globe is at Chartwell House, the Churchill family home in Kent, England, according to the U.S. Library of Congress. In theory, the leaders could use the globes simultaneously to formulate war strategy. “In reality, however," Bellerby writes, “the gift of the globes was a simple PR exercise, an important weapon in modern warfare.”

London — The U.S., Britain and Australia are set to begin talks on bringing new members into their AUKUS security pact as Washington pushes for Japan to be involved as a deterrent against China, the Financial Times reported. The countries' defense ministers will announce discussions Monday on "Pillar Two" of the pact, which commits the members to jointly developing quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology, the newspaper reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the situation. They are not considering expanding the first pillar, which is designed to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, the Financial Times said. AUKUS, formed by the three countries in 2021, is part of their efforts to push back against China's growing power in the Indo-Pacific region. China has called the AUKUS pact dangerous and warned it could spur a regional arms race. U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to step up partnerships with U.S. allies in Asia, including Japan and the Philippines, amid China's historic military build-up and its growing territorial assertiveness. Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo, wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that Japan was "about to become the first additional Pillar II partner." A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters on Wednesday that some sort of announcement could be expected in the coming week about Japan's involvement but gave no details. Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will likely discuss expanding AUKUS to include Japan when the president hosts the prime minister in Washington on Wednesday, a source with knowledge of the talks said. Australia, however, is wary of beginning new projects until more progress has been made on supplying Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines, said the source, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media. Obstacles for Japan A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the FT report. A Japanese foreign ministry spokesperson said the ministry could not immediately comment. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has said they would "seek opportunities to engage close partners in AUKUS Pillar II" and any involvement of more countries would be decided and announced by the three partners, a spokesperson from his office said. Britain's defense ministry said it too would like to involve more allies in this work, subject to joint agreement. While the U.S. is keen to see Japanese involvement in Pillar Two, officials and experts say obstacles remain, given a need for Japan to introduce better cyber defenses and stricter rules for guarding secrets. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, an architect of U.S. Indo-Pacific policy, said Wednesday the U.S. was encouraging Japan to do more to protect intellectual property and hold officials accountable for secrets. "It's fair to say that Japan has taken some of those steps, but not all of them," he said. The United States has long said that other countries in Europe and Asia are expected to join the second pillar of AUKUS. The senior U.S. official said any decisions about who would be involved in Pillar Two would be made by the three AUKUS members, whose defense ministers had been considering the questions for many months, based on what countries could bring to the project. Campbell said that other countries had expressed interest in participating in AUKUS. "I think you'll hear that we have something to say about that next week and there also will be further engagement among the three defense ministers of the United States, Australia, and Great Britain as they focus on this effort as well," Campbell told the Center for a New American Security think tank. Campbell also said Wednesday the AUKUS submarine project could help deter any Chinese move against Taiwan, the democratically governed island that Beijing claims as part of China. Biden, Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are to hold a trilateral summit Thursday.

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.

In an interview with VOA, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign downplayed the new single-event fundraising record set on Saturday by Donald Trump’s campaign. Analysts point out, however, that money alone won’t secure either candidate’s return to the White House. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the story.

Israel’s prime minister says there will be no cease-fire in Gaza at the six-month mark of Hamas’ deadly October 7 attacks. This, as international pressure builds against Israel concerning the humanitarian toll of its war against the militant group in Palestinian territories. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.

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.

Paris — China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is due in Paris Sunday for talks that are expected to cover China's fast-growing export of cheap electric vehicles (EVs) into the European market. Four sources briefed on Wang's trip told Reuters in late March that the discussions would focus on a European Commission investigation into whether China's EV industry has benefited from unfair subsidies. European carmakers have a fight on their hands to produce lower-cost electric vehicles and erase China's lead in developing cheaper models. The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm which forecasts China's share of EVs sold in Europe could reach 15% of the market in 2025, says Chinese EVs benefit from huge state subsidies and is examining whether to impose punitive tariffs. China contests the claim its EV industry has boomed because of subsidies and has called the EU inquiry "protectionist." Analysts say factors, including China's dominance of the battery supply chain, innovation and cut-throat competition in a crowded domestic market have also reduced prices. Wang is due Sunday to meet Renault chief executive Luca de Meo, who is also acting chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), a person briefed on the meeting said. He is also expected to attend a dinner later Sunday with executives from the cosmetics industry, two other sources familiar with the plans said. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said he will hold talks with Wang on Monday. The Chinese trade ministry did not respond to a request for comment. European Commission investigators inspected leading Chinese automakers BYD, Geely Automobile Holdings and SAIC earlier this year as part of their inquiries. Paris backed the anti-subsidy probe. BYD's Europe chief executive Michael Shu will accompany Wang during his trip, said a person briefed on the matter. Representatives of SAIC and Geely were also due to accompany Wang, Reuters reported last month. BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China launched its own anti-dumping investigation into brandy in January in response to Europe's EV probe. France accounts for almost all EU brandy exports to China. Wang will meet Monday with the Bureau National Interprofessional du Cognac (BNIC), a brandy trade group, along with company executives, said an association official. China has said it is selecting Martell & Co, Societe Jas Hennessy & Co, and E. Remy Martin & Co as sample companies for its own investigation. Wang will also attend a China-Italy business forum Friday in Verona, Italy, alongside the country's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, the Italian government said.

Muscat, Oman — Oman's foreign minister called Sunday for de-escalation during a visit by his Iranian counterpart who started a regional tour in Muscat where he met a spokesperson for Yemen's Houthi rebels. The visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian came almost a week after an airstrike in Damascus leveled the Iranian Embassy's consular annex and further raised regional tensions. The attack, which Tehran blamed on Israel, killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members including two generals. Iranian leaders have called for retaliation. "Oman supports efforts to reduce escalation in the region, address various issues and conflicts, and for the voice of wisdom to prevail," Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi said in a statement carried by the official Oman News Agency. Oman has long been a mediator between Tehran and the West. "The Palestinian issue is the main issue that we are working to overcome," the minister said. Amirabdollahian praised growing ties between Iran and Oman, thanking the sultanate for its condemnation of the Damascus strike. The Gulf country is also a mediator in the war between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Yemen's internationally recognized government.   Houthi rebels have launched dozens of missiles and drone strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November. They say they are acting in support of Palestinians during Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. During a meeting with Houthi spokesperson and senior official Mohammed Abdelsalam in Muscat on Sunday, Amirabdollahian hailed "the brave support of the Yemeni nation for the oppressed Palestinian nation," Iran's foreign ministry said. During the meeting, Amirabdollahian, like other Iranian leaders, vowed revenge for the attack in Syria. He said his country "will use its recognized rights within the framework of international law to hold the criminal aggressors accountable and punish them," the ministry said. Yahya Rahim Safavi, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned Sunday that Israeli embassies are "no longer safe" after the strike. There was no immediate comment from Israel, Iran's arch foe. The consular strike has further raised Middle East tensions already inflamed by the war in Gaza and related violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. At a joint news conference with the Houthi official, Amirabdollahian called Israel's embassy strike "a new page of this regime's warmongering and its efforts to expand the war in the region." According to Syrian pro-government newspaper Al-Watan, Amirabdollahian travels to Damascus on Monday for an official visit. Fighting in Yemen between rebels and the government backed by a Saudi-led coalition has largely remained on hold since a United Nations-brokered cease-fire in April 2022. Amirabdollahian expressed support "for the process of peace talks in Yemen," his ministry said.

New York — “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” easily swatted away a pair of challengers to hold on to the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, according to studio estimates Sunday. After its above-expectations $80 million launch last weekend, the MonsterVerse mashup brought in $31.7 million over its second weekend, a 60% drop from its debut. The Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures release, directed by Adam Wingard, has thus far outperformed any of the studio’s recent monster films except for 2014’s “Godzilla.” But with $361.1 million worldwide in two weeks, “Godzilla x Kong” could ultimately leapfrog the $529 million global haul of 2014’s “Godzilla.” The latest installment, in which Godzilla and Kong team up, cost about $135 million to produce. “Godzilla x Kong” extended its box-office reign as another primate-themed movie arrived in theaters. Dev Patel’s “Monkey Man,” an India-set revenge thriller released by Universal Pictures, opened in 3,029 North American theaters with an estimated $10.1 million. That marked a strong debut for Patel’s modestly budgeted directorial debut in which he stars in a bloody, politically charged action extravaganza. “Monkey Man,” which cost about $10 million to make, was dropped by its original studio, Netflix, after which Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions swooped in. The weekend’s other new wide release, “The First Omen,” from Disney's 20th Century Studios, struggled to make a big impact with moviegoers. It came in fourth with an estimated $8.4 million in ticket sales in 3,375 theaters, while collecting an additional $9.1 million overseas. The R-rated horror film, which cost about $30 million to make, is a prequel to the 1976 Richard Donner-directed original starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. This version, directed by Arkasha Stevenson and starring Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom and Bill Nighy, follows 2006’s “The Omen,” which opened to $16 million and ultimately grossed $119 million. The tepid opening for “The First Omen” allowed Sony's “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” to take third place with $9 million in its third weekend of release. The sci-fi comedy sequel has collected $88.8 million domestically and $138 million worldwide. Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two” continues to perform strongly. It added $7.2 million in its sixth week, dipping just 37%, to bring its domestic total to $264 million. One of the week's biggest performers was in China, where Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning “The Boy and the Heron” landed in theaters. The acclaimed Japanese anime is setting records for a non-Chinese animated film. After opening Wednesday, its five-day total surpassed $70 million, a new high mark for Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," $31.7 million. 2. “Monkey Man,” $10.1 million. 3. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” $9 million. 4. “The First Omen,” $8.4 million. 5. “Kung Fu Panda 4,” $7.9 million. 6. “Dune: Part Two,” $7.2 million. 7. “Someone Like You,” $3 million. 8. “Wicked Little Letters,” $1.6 million. 9. “Arthur the King,” $1.5 million. 10. “Immaculate,” $1.4 million.

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.

JAYAPURA, Indonesia — Two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, police said Sunday. Clashes Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police and military force near the mining town of Tembagapura in Central Papua province left two of the group’s regional commanders dead; Abubakar Kogoya, known as Abubakar Tabuni and Damianus Magay, commonly known as Natan Wanimbo. Both were part of the West Papua Liberation Army, the group's military wing. Rebels in Papua have been fighting a low-level insurgency since the early 1960s when Indonesia annexed the region. A U.N.-sponsored ballot, widely seen as a sham, incorporated the former Dutch colony into Indonesia leading to simmering insurgency ever since. Security forces recognized the two commanders after finding their identity cards on them, said Faizal Ramadani, who headed the joint security force. He also said authorities showed the bodies of both men to other imprisoned members of the liberation army Friday for further confirmation. Several other rebels were wounded in the shootout but managed to escape into the jungle, according to Ramadani. He said they were armed with military-grade weapons, axes and arrows. Security forces seized a gun in the area. The group's spokesperson couldn’t be reached for immediate comment. The area harbors the Grasberg gold mine, nearly half-owned by U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan and run by PT Freeport Indonesia. Separatists view the mine as a symbol of Indonesian rule and have frequently targeted it. The shootout ensued after authorities received reports that attackers believed to be members of the liberation army stormed a traditional gold panning facility in Kali Kuluk, causing many, including locals in surrounding villages, to flee. Kali Kuluk is in the operational area of PT Freeport Indonesia. Ramadani described Tabuni as a central figure in the liberation army, adding that police records showed he took part in the March 2020 attack that killed a New Zealander and wounded six others in the same area, a road ambush in Oct. 2017 that left one police officer dead and another attack in November the same year that wounded a company truck driver. “He played an active role in various security disturbances near Freeport areas,” Ramadani said. Freeport-McMoRan has been mining the Grasberg’s vast gold and copper reserves for decades. Several environmental groups have accused the company of damaging the surrounding territories primarily via waste dumping. The mine provides a significant tax income for the Indonesian government, according to local reports. Indigenous Papuans suffer poverty, sickness and are more likely to die young than people elsewhere in Indonesia, multiple nongovernmental organizations say.

Mexico City — Mexico's diplomatic personnel were leaving Ecuador on Sunday, its foreign minister said, as the two countries severed ties after Quito's security forces stormed the Mexican embassy in a raid that prompted criticism across Latin America.    "Our diplomatic staff are leaving everything in Ecuador and returning home with their heads held high... after the assault on our embassy," said Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena on social network X, formerly Twitter.    She spoke after Spain and the European Union joined the United Nations chief and several Latin American countries in condemning Quito for the raid — which it carried out in a bid to arrest former Ecuadoran vice president Jorge Glas, who was sheltering at the embassy.    Glas sought refuge there last December after an arrest warrant was issued against him for alleged corruption, in a move that Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa's government branded an "illicit act."    Ecuadoran special forces equipped with a battering ram on Friday surrounded the embassy, and at least one agent scaled the walls, in an almost unheard-of raid on diplomatic premises that are considered inviolable sovereign territory.    On Saturday, Mexico's foreign ministry had said that diplomatic personnel and their families would leave Ecuador the next day, adding that personnel from "friendly and allied countries" would accompany them to the airport.    The group, which according to authorities is made up of 18 people, is traveling on a commercial airline to Mexico City after a military plane was ruled out due to tensions.    The officials and their families went to the Quito airport accompanied by the ambassadors of Germany, Panama, Cuba and Honduras, as well as the president of the Ecuador-Mexico Chamber, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement.