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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.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Crocodile numbers in Australia's Northern Territory must be either maintained or reduced and cannot be allowed to outstrip the human population, the territory's leader said after a 12-year-old girl was killed while swimming. The crocodile population has exploded across Australia's tropical north since it became a protected species under Australian law in the 1970s, growing from 3,000 when hunting was outlawed to 100,000 now. The Northern Territory has just over 250,000 people. The girl's death came weeks after the territory approved a 10-year plan for management of crocodiles, which permits the targeted culling of the reptiles at popular swimming spots but stopped short of a return to mass culls. Crocodiles are considered a risk in most of the Northern Territory's waterways, but crocodile tourism and farming are major economic drivers. "We can't have the crocodile population outnumber the human population in the Northern Territory," Chief Minister Eva Lawler told reporters Thursday, according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We do need to keep our crocodile numbers under control." In this week's deadly attack, the girl vanished while swimming in a creek near the Indigenous community of Palumpa, southwest of the territory's capital, Darwin. After an intense search, her remains were found in the river system where she disappeared with injuries confirming a crocodile attack. The Northern Territory recorded the deaths of 15 people in crocodile attacks between 2005 and 2014 with two more in 2018. Because saltwater crocodiles can live up to 70 years and grow throughout their lives — reaching up to 7 meters in length — the proportion of large crocodiles is also rising. Lawler, who said the death was "heartbreaking," told reporters that 500,000 Australia dollars ($337,000) had been allocated in the Northern Territory budget for crocodile management in the coming year. The region's opposition leader, Lia Finocchiaro, told reporters that more investment was needed, according to NT News. The girl's death "sends a message that the Territory is unsafe and on top of law and order and crime issues, what we don't need is more bad headlines," she said. Professor Grahame Webb, a prominent Australian crocodile scientist, told the AuBC that more community education was needed and the government should fund Indigenous ranger groups and research into crocodile movements. "If we don't know what the crocodiles are likely to do, we're still going to have the same problem," he said. "Culling is not going to solve the problem." Efforts were continuing to trap the crocodile that attacked the girl, police said on Thursday. Saltwater crocodiles are territorial and the one responsible is likely to remain in nearby waterways.

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.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand will drastically ease zoning restrictions in a bid to "flood the market" with land for homes and override the powers of local councils to curb development, the nation's housing minister said in announcing reforms to what he called one of the world's least affordable housing markets. "It's about allowing maximum choice and opportunity for people to build and develop," said the minister, Chris Bishop, in a speech in Auckland this week. "Let's get away from the idea that planners can plan our cities and let actual individuals and families decide how they live their lives." The new measures would require local councils — which decide what land in New Zealand is used for — to free up "bucketloads" of additional space for housing development, Bishop said. They must now accommodate the next 30 years of projected growth instead of the next three as is currently required. Councils will also be barred from imposing urban limits on cities and forced to permit mixed-use development, with an end to rules mandating balconies and minimum sizes for apartments, in a suite of changes widely endorsed by analysts. "It's very easy for local councils to say no to growth because their residents don't want it, because they don't benefit from it, but the costs of those decisions are falling on central government," said Stuart Donovan, a housing economist with the New Zealand thinktank Motu, who was speaking from Brisbane, Australia. Bishop's pitch that the market, rather than officials, should decide what and where homes are needed was a fresh attempt from a series of New Zealand housing ministers to resolve a chronic shortage of homes that has frustrated successive governments and marred the political fortunes of some. While two decades of runaway prices have eased since a 2022 peak, they remain far higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic and an average home costs eight times the average income. The proportion of income spent on rent was higher in New Zealand than in any other country, Bishop said Thursday, citing research by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of mostly developed Western nations. But in a country where housing stock is comprised overwhelmingly of single-family, standalone dwellings, efforts by lawmakers to cool prices before have at times been cautious. Favorable tax conditions have made housing the most popular form of investment in New Zealand, with half of all household wealth bound up in land and homes, according to the country's Reserve Bank — and some voters have rejected measures that would lower prices. Remarks Bishop made to reporters last month that homes were "too expensive" and prices should be reduced were so unusual from a lawmaker for one of the major political parties that they prompted news headlines. But analysts said Thursday that public opinion had changed as a generation of younger New Zealanders found themselves priced out of the housing market. "At one point in time, it would be, 'I want house prices to be affordable for my children, but I don't want my house price to fall,'" said Shamubeel Eaqub, an independent economist who specializes in housing. "But I think there is a general recognition that things have gotten so far out of kilter that something has to change." The new measures would not flatten the market, Eaqub said; New Zealand's shortage of homes was so great that it would still take decades to resolve. But he was among many analysts to welcome the shift. It follows a test case on easing restrictions in New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, where a plan introduced in 2016 that increased housing density prompted a surge in building and reduced rents. But Auckland's mayor decried the fresh measures. "I am wary of any policies that will lead to urban sprawl," Wayne Brown posted to LinkedIn. "We also don't want to encourage low quality housing at the detriment of our unique landscapes, waterways, and harbors. Or make traffic congestion worse." The Parliamentary opposition also rejected the reforms. "It's all well and good to want to ensure development opportunities, but unless the Government fronts with infrastructure money, councils are limited in what they can offer by ways of expansion," said the Labour party's housing spokesperson, Kieran McAnulty, in an emailed statement. "Labour is open to any measure that will lead to more housing and will lend support where it is likely to work, but not at the expense of building standards or loss of elite productive soil," he added, referring to the relaxation of urban limits into rural areas. Bishop said building standards would remain unchanged. "People often complain to me about all these shoebox apartments and I agree that they won't be the right housing solution for everyone," he said. "But do you know what is smaller than a shoebox apartment? A car or an emergency housing motel room."

TOKYO — Tokyo elects a new governor this weekend, but residents say personal publicity stunts have overtaken serious campaigning to a degree never seen before, with nearly nude women in suggestive poses, pets, an AI character and a man practicing his golf swing. It's impossible to ignore. With internet campaigning still relatively new, candidates traditionally use designated election billboards — more than 14,000 of them — to promote themselves. The makeshift billboards are set up only during the short campaign season and are valuable space for exposure in a city already crammed with advertising. But this year's wackiness — notably from non-candidates renting the billboard space — is proving exceptional, and residents have flooded election offices with angry calls and messages. "They are distasteful. As a Japanese citizen I feel embarrassed, as I see many foreign visitors pass by those billboards and they must wonder what's going on," said Mayumi Noda, an office worker. "As a voter, I think it's outrageous and disrespectful to the other candidates who are seriously competing." A record 56 candidates, including incumbent Gov. Yuriko Koike, who seeks her third four-year term, are running in Sunday's election. Many of the candidates are fringe figures or influencers seeking even more exposure. Tokyo, a city of 13.5 million, has outsized political and cultural power in Japan. Its budget equals that of some nations, and its policies impact the national government. Hours after official campaigning began on June 20, residents faced a stunning array of posters. For some, it's not even clear whether the person behind it is a candidate or simply seeks exposure. One billboard featured racy posters for an adult entertainment shop. Another had an almost naked female model in a suggestive pose with a message that said "Stop restricting free speech." Others showed photos of a pet dog or a female kickboxer. One candidate called AI Mayor used an image of a metallic humanoid. Campaign video clips have also drawn criticism. One shows female candidate Airi Uchino saying, "I'm so cute; please watch my campaign broadcast," and repeating her name in a high-pitched, anime-style voice while asking voters to be friends on social media. She then strips down to a beige tube top. In another video, a male candidate who represents what he calls a "golf party" talks about his policies while occasionally practicing his golf swing. Under a 1950 public office election law, candidates in Japan are free to say anything as long as they do not support another candidate or carry obviously false or libelous content. This year's escalation is partly linked to an emerging conservative political party that has fielded 24 candidates for governor. Since each of the election billboards across Tokyo has 48 squares for candidates to paste their posters, the party is renting out half the slots to anyone who pays, including non-candidates. That kind of unexpected approach isn't regulated. The rental cost starts at 25,000 yen (about $155) per location per day, said party leader Takashi Tachibana. "We have to be wacky or we don't get media attention," Tachibana said in a YouTube comment posted on the party website. "The point is to make immoral and outrageous actions ... to get attention," said Ryosuke Nishida, a Nihon University professor and expert in politics and media. "The reason why some people find these performances amusing is because they think their objections are not taken into consideration by politicians and existing parties or reflected in their politics." At a park near Tokyo's busy Shimbashi train station, passersby glanced at a campaign billboard with half of its slots filled with dog posters. "I don't decide who to vote for by looking at the faces on their posters," said Kunihiko Imada, a plumber. "But I still think these billboards are being misused."

KATHMANDU, Nepal — The highest camp on the world's tallest mountain is littered with garbage that is going to take years to clean up, according to a Sherpa who led a team that worked to clear trash and dig up dead bodies frozen for years near Mount Everest's peak. The Nepal government-funded team of soldiers and Sherpas removed 11 tons of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during this year's climbing season. Ang Babu Sherpa, who led the team of Sherpas, said there could be as much as 40-50 tons of garbage still at South Col, the last camp before climbers make their attempt on the summit. "The garbage left there was mostly old tents, some food packaging and gas cartridges, oxygen bottles, tent packs, and ropes used for climbing and tying up tents," he said, adding that the garbage is in layers and frozen at the 8,000-meter altitude where the South Col camp is located. Since the peak was first conquered in 1953, thousands of climbers have scaled it and many have left behind more than just their footprints. In recent years, a government requirement that climbers bring back their garbage or lose their deposits, along with increased awareness among climbers about the environment, have significantly reduced the amount of garbage left behind. However, that was not the case in earlier decades. "Most of the garbage is from older expeditions," Ang Babu said. The Sherpas on the team collected garbage and bodies from the higher-attitude areas, while the soldiers worked at lower levels and the base camp area for weeks during the popular spring climbing season, when weather conditions are more favorable. Ang Babu said the weather was a big challenge for their work in the South Col area, where oxygen levels are about one-third the normal amount, winds can quickly turn to blizzard conditions and temperatures plunge. "We had to wait for good weather when the sun would melt the ice cover. But waiting a long time in that attitude and conditions is just not possible," he said. "It's difficult to stay for long with the oxygen level very low." Digging out the garbage is also a big task, since it is frozen inside ice and breaking the blocks is not easy. It took two days to dig out one body near the South Col which was frozen in a standing position deep in the ice, he said. Part way through, the team had to retreat to lower camps because of the deteriorating weather, and then resume after it improved. Another body was much higher up at 8,400 meters and it took 18 hours to drag it to Camp 2, where a helicopter picked it up. The bodies were flown to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu for identification. Of the 11 tons of garbage removed, three tons of decomposable items were taken to villages near Everest's base and the remaining eight were carried by porters and yaks and then taken by trucks to Kathmandu. There it was sorted for recycling at a facility operated by Agni Ventures, an agency that manages recyclable waste. "The oldest waste we received was from 1957, and that was rechargeable batteries for torch lights," said Sushil Khadga of the agency. Why do climbers leave garbage behind? "At that high altitude, life is very difficult and oxygen is very low. So climbers and their helpers are more focused on saving themselves," Khadga said.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

CANCUN/TULUM, Mexico — Tropical Storm Beryl was blowing out to the Gulf of Mexico on Friday afternoon and appeared likely to reach Texas by late Sunday, after its strong winds and heavy rain largely spared Mexico's top beach destinations. The core of the storm, downgraded from a hurricane, crossed the Yucatan Peninsula by Friday afternoon, with its maximum wind speeds slowing to around 105 kph after striking near the coastal beach resort of Tulum in the morning. The storm, which at one point intensified to a massive Category 5 hurricane, left a deadly trail of destruction across the Caribbean earlier this week. However, there were no casualties in Mexico, the head of the country's civil protection agency, Laura Velazquez, said in a press conference on Friday afternoon. While Beryl's passage over Mexico's Quintana Roo and Yucatan states resulted in slower winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center still forecast dangerous storm surges in the surrounding area. For those who hunkered down as Beryl churned overhead, a sense of relief prevailed. "Holy cow! It was an experience!" said Mexican tourist Juan Ochoa, who was staying in Tulum. "Really only some plants flew up in the air," he said. "Thank God we're all OK." Tourist infrastructure was without major damage in Quintana Roo, the state government said in a statement. Still, many in the area lost electricity, including 40% of Tulum, said Guillermo Nevarez, an official with Mexico's national electricity company CFE, speaking to local broadcaster Milenio. Civil protection chief Velazquez said she expected service to be restored in full by Sunday. Among Mexico's top tourist getaways, the Yucatan Peninsula is known for its white sand beaches, lush landscapes and Mayan ruins. Stranded tourists camped out in Cancun's international airport on Friday, unsure of when they would make it home. Nora Vento said her flight home to Chile was postponed multiple times, and that her airline's counter was unstaffed. "So, I don't know when I will get to Chile," she said. Beryl, currently located over the port of Progreso in Mexico's Yucatan state, was expected to pick up intensity as it enters the Gulf of Mexico and forecast to regain hurricane status and approach the western Gulf coast on Sunday. A hurricane watch was in effect for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande northward to Sargent, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). Mexico's meteorological service issued a hurricane watch for the northeastern coast of Mexico from Barra el Mezquital to the mouth of the Rio Grande. "There is an increasing risk of damaging hurricane-force winds and life-threatening storm surge in portions of northeastern Mexico and the lower and middle Texas Coast late Sunday and Monday where hurricane and storm surge watches have been issued," the NHC said. It warned that flash and urban flooding were possible across portions of the Texas Gulf Coast and eastern Texas from Sunday through the middle of next week. Rainfall of 13 to 25 centimeters, with localized amounts of 38 centimeters, is projected across portions of the Texas Gulf Coast and eastern Texas beginning late on Sunday through the middle of next week. Mexico's national water commission, CONAGUA, flagged a risk of flooding around the tourist hubs, as well as in neighboring Campeche state. Quintana Roo schools were closed, as were local beaches, and officials lifted a temporary ban on alcohol sales. Beryl was the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, and this week became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, with scientists pointing to its rapid strengthening as almost certainly fueled by human-caused climate change. Before reaching Mexico, Beryl wreaked havoc across several Caribbean islands. It swept through Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in addition to unleashing heavy rainfall on northern Venezuela. It has claimed at least 11 lives, tearing apart buildings while felling power lines and trees. Destruction in the islands of Grenada was especially pronounced. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell pointed to major damage to homes in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique during a video briefing Thursday night. Parts of the latter two islands suffered "almost complete devastation," he said. "Many of our citizens have lost everything." Mexico's major oil platforms, primarily located in the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico, are not expected to be affected or shut down. Beryl is also expected to have little impact on U.S. offshore oil and gas production, energy companies said on Friday while evacuating personnel from some facilities out of caution. Research by the ClimaMeter consortium determined that climate change significantly intensified Beryl. According to the study, the storm's severity, along with its associated rainfall and wind speed, saw an increase of 10%-30% as a direct result of climate change.

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.

BUCHAREST, Romania — A court in Romania's capital ruled Friday that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave Romania but must remain within the European Union as he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest Tribunal's decision to allow Tate, 37, to leave the country was hailed by his spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, as a "significant victory and a major step forward" in the case. It is not clear whether prosecutors can or will appeal the court's decision. Tate, a former professional kickboxer and dual British U.S. citizen, was initially arrested in December 2022 near Bucharest along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in June last year and all four have denied the allegations. After Friday's decision, Tate wrote on the social media platform X: "I AM FREE. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS I CAN LEAVE ROMANIA. THE SHAM CASE IS FALLING APART." "We embrace and applaud the decision of the court today, I consider it a reflection of the exemplary behavior and assistance of my clients," said Eugen Vidineac, one of Tate's lawyers, adding that the Tates are "still determined to clear their name and reputation." On April 26, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that the prosecutors' case file against Tate met the legal criteria and that a trial could start but did not set a date for it to begin. That ruling came after the legal case had been discussed for months in the preliminary chamber stages, a process in which the defendants can challenge prosecutors' evidence and case file. After the Tate brothers' arrest, they were held for three months in police detention before being moved to house arrest. They were later restricted to Bucharest municipality and nearby Ilfov county, and then to Romania. Vidineac said the ability to travel within the 27-nation EU bloc will allow the Tates to "pursue professional opportunities without restriction." Andrew Tate, who has amassed 9.5 million followers on the social media platform X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He was previously banned from various social media platforms for allegedly expressing misogynistic views and using hate speech. In a separate case, Andrew Tate was served at his home in Romania with a civil lawsuit lodged by four British women after a claim was issued by the High Court in London, according to a statement released in May by McCue Jury & Partners, the law firm representing the four women. The four allege Tate sexually and physically assaulted them and they reported him to British authorities in 2014 and 2015. After a four-year investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided in 2019 not to prosecute him. The alleged victims then turned to crowdfunding to pursue a civil case against him. In a separate third case, the Tate brothers also appeared in March at the Bucharest Court of Appeal after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a U.K. case dating back to 2012-15. The appeals court granted the British request to extradite the Tates to the U.K., but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia's parliament, is unhappy with below-cost electricity rates that she says show her country has yet to fully shake off its socialist past. Most of Mongolia's power plants date from the Soviet era, and outages are common in some areas. Heavy smog envelops the capital Ulaanbaatar in the winter because many people still burn coal to heat their homes. "It's stuck in how it was like 40, 50 years ago," said Tsenguun, part of a rising generation of leaders who are puzzling out their country's future after three decades of democracy. "And that's the reason why we need to change it." Democracy in Mongolia is in a transition phase, said Tsenguun, who at 27 is the youngest member of a new parliament sworn in this week. "We are trying to figure out what democracy actually means," she said in a recent interview. Discontented voters deliver ruling party setback Mongolia became a democracy in the early 1990s after six decades of one-party communist rule. Many Mongolians welcomed the end of repression and resulting freedoms but have since soured on the parliament and established political parties. Lawmakers are widely seen as enriching themselves and their big business supporters from the nation's mineral wealth rather than using it to develop a country where poverty is widespread. Voters delivered an election setback to the ruling Mongolian People's Party last week, leaving it still in charge but with a slim majority of 68 out of the 126 seats in parliament. Tsenguun was one of 42 winning candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party, which made a major comeback after being reduced to a handful of seats in the 2016 and 2020 elections. She articulates a vision for Mongolia that dovetails with small government Republicans in the United States. In her view, too many people think the government will take care of them, and the large budget just feeds corruption. Government should be as invisible as possible, she said, and give people the freedom and responsibility to build their own lives. "I don't think that (the) free market has developed yet because the people are not used to this mentality," she said. "People are afraid of competition." The detention of journalists in the past several months has fueled worries that the government may be edging backward, eroding the freedoms that democracy brought. Younger voters, female representation The ruling party, which also ran the country during the communist period, is well-entrenched and enjoys the support of many older voters. Younger voters historically have not voted in large numbers, but anecdotal reports suggest their turnout may have risen in Ulaanbaatar in last week's election. Nearly half the country's population of 3.4 million people live in the capital. "It was really encouraging to see so many young people in such a long line to vote as early as possible," said Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, a former Democratic Party lawmaker and Cabinet minister who founded her own party two years ago. The proportion of female representatives rose from 17% to 25% in the new parliament, but most of those came in 48 seats that are allocated to parties based on their share of the vote. Female candidates did not do well in the head-to-head competition to represent 13 multi-member districts. As a young woman, Tsenguun sees requirements that political parties nominate female candidates as a two-edged sword. She has to fight against the assumption that she got her position only because of a quota. "I have to prove I'm not too young or inexperienced, and then afterwards comes, oh, she's a woman," she said. 'We are equal people and ... we can equally be strong candidates. And that's what I want to say to my fellow female candidates."

Britian’s new Prime Minister officially takes office after his UK Labour Party’s landslide victory in a parliamentary election that ended 14 years of Conservative government. Timothy Hellwig, Professor of Political Science with a focus on politics of European Nations at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences provides insights into what the historic vote says about how voters are feeling, and if it signals a shift of the trend toward right leaning leadership. And with the U.S. presidential election just months away, Senior Clinical Professor of Law and the director of Appellate Practice clinic at Cleveland State University Law Doron Kalir talks about what the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity could mean for democratic norms in 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.

portland, oregon — A slow-moving and potentially record-setting heat wave is spreading across the Western United States, the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. The Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. are also sweltering, with oppressive heat and humidity expected to last through Saturday. Widespread temperature records are expected to be tied or even broken during the heat wave, with much of the West Coast likely to see temperatures that are between 15- and 30-degrees Fahrenheit (8 and 16 degrees Celsius) higher than average, the National Weather Service said. "The duration of this heat is also concerning, as scorching above average temperatures are forecast to linger into next week," the weather service said. In the Portland, Oregon, suburb of Gresham, Sherri Thompson, 52, was waiting in her car with her 14-year-old Chihuahua Kiwani for a cooling center to open late Friday morning. Thompson has lived in her car for three years and can only run its air conditioning for about 20 minutes at a time as it causes the engine to overheat. Thompson said the high temperatures prompted health concerns, as she has been hospitalized for heat stroke in the past. "I have anxiety and panic attacks and I get worried," she said. "I don't want to have another heat stroke, and everything just triggers my anxiety a lot."  Pavement, sidewalks magnify heat Inside the air-conditioned center, Multnomah County spokesperson Julia Comnes oversaw county staff and people working with a local homeless services provider as they lined up thin mattresses in rows on the floor and set up cots for people with disabilities. She said the space had capacity for up to 80 people. "We had a pretty cool June, so our bodies aren't totally acclimated yet to the heat," she said. "For people living outside or more vulnerable people, the cooling space like this is really important for them to just cool off for a few hours." The blistering weather in the Portland region is expected to last at least through Monday, National Weather Service meteorologist Clinton Rockey said. If the triple-digit Fahrenheit temperatures (well over 37 degrees Celsius) stretch into Tuesday, then the region will match a record last seen in July 1941, with five consecutive days of more than 100-degree weather, Rockey said. The duration is a problem: Many homes in the area lack air conditioning, and round-the-clock hot weather means people's bodies can't cool down at night. The issue is compounded in many city settings, where concrete and pavement can store the heat, essentially acting as an oven. "That's what drives people batty," Rockey said. "It's going to be obnoxious. And unfortunately for some people, if you're not having good shelter, it could be a very challenging, life-threatening situation." Heat leads to 13 deaths In Arizona's Maricopa County, which encompasses the city of Phoenix, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, while the causes of more than 160 other suspected heat deaths were still under investigation, according to the county's most recent report on such deaths through June 29. That doesn't include the death of a 10-year-old boy earlier this week in Phoenix, who suffered a "heat-related medical event" while hiking with his family at South Mountain Park and Preserve, according to the Phoenix Police Department. Among extremes, the forecast for Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park calls for daytime highs of 129 degrees Fahrenheit (53.8 degrees Celsius) Sunday, and then around 130 F (54.44 C) through Wednesday. The official world record for hottest temperature recorded on Earth was 134 degrees F (56.67 C) in Death Valley in July 1913, but some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 F recorded there in July 2021. At Bullhead City, Arizona, the temperature already had reached 111 F (44.4 C) by 11 a.m. Friday. The city opened a pair of cooling centers for seniors and others, but locals seemed to be taking it in stride. "While this is a heat wave and we urge everyone to be cautious, we typically don't see large attendance at our cooling centers unless there are power outages," Bullhead City spokesperson Mackenzie Covert said Friday. Figure skaters took to the ice at the Reno Ice Rink in Nevada starting at 6 a.m. Friday, general manager Kevin Sunde said. By the time the rink closes at 10:30 p.m. Friday, Sunde expected nearly 300 people would have visited, with more parents hanging around to watch kids' hockey practice than usual. "They may not be getting on the ice themselves, but enjoying the cool," Sunde said. "We're the only sheet of ice within about an hour's drive."

KABUL, Afghanistan — In parts of Afghanistan where there are no street names or house numbers, utility companies and their customers have adopted a creative approach for connecting. They use mosques as drop points for bills and cash, a "pay and pray" system. Now the national postal service wants to phase this out by putting mailboxes on every street across the country, part of a plan to modernize a service long challenged by bureaucracy and war. The lofty aspirations include introducing access to shopping via e-commerce sites and issuing debit cards for online purchases. It will be a leap in a country where most of the population is unbanked, air cargo is in its infancy and international courier companies don't deliver even to the capital, Kabul. The changes mean Afghans will pay higher service fees; a challenge as more than half the population already relies on humanitarian aid to survive. The Afghan Post, like much of the country, still does everything on paper. "Nobody uses email," said its business development director, Zabihullah Omar. "Afghanistan is a member of the Universal Postal Union, but when we compare ourselves to other countries it is at a low level and in the early stages." The postal service has 400 to 500 branches across the country and is key for completing administrative tasks like obtaining a passport or driver's license. It distributes up to 15,000 passports daily. Another popular service is the certification of documents for admission to higher education or overseas institutions. The main Kabul branch has dedicated counters for it along with VIP lanes and a women-only area. Post offices in Afghanistan are vital for women wanting to access services or products they would otherwise be denied, since they are often barred from entering ministries or other official premises. But the specter of the Taliban's edicts targeting women and girls also looms at the Afghan Post. At the entrance to the main Kabul branch, a sign tells women to correctly wear hijab, or the Islamic headscarf. One picture shows a woman with a red cross over her visible face. The other has a green check mark over the face because only her eyes are seen. One woman visiting the branch was a 29-year-old medical graduate from western Farah province, who gave her name as Arzo. The Education Ministry wouldn't let her in and dispatched her to the post office instead to get paperwork done. She wanted to get her documents certified, a practical measure amid the country's precarious economic situation and the sweeping restrictions on women and girls. "Anything can happen at any time," she said. "There are no jobs. There are many problems." It was her first time using a post office. She paid 640 afghanis, or $9, for each document and called the fees too high. A more satisfied customer was 22-year-old Alam Noori from eastern Paktika province who came to collect his passport. "Piece of cake," he said in English. In the past, he also used a post office to collect his driver's license. "I came to know about the post office through social media," he said. "People in the city use it a lot because they are aware of it, but those in villages and districts aren't." The Afghan Post's business development director, Omar, wants services to be easier for people but conceded that it will take time. "In most government agencies, people are wandering from public service to public service, so I want to serve people here, and that makes me very happy," he said. "There is a need for a post office wherever there is a population." That's where the plan to have a mailbox on every street comes in. They will be for paying bills, sending mail and submitting documents for processing. But handwritten letters are disappearing, as they are in many parts of the world. Hamid Khan Hussain Khel is one of the country's 400 postmen, zipping around the capital on a motorcycle bearing Afghan Post's jaunty blue and yellow. But he has yet to deliver a personal letter, despite serving the city's population of 5 million for two years. He cited the popularity of smartphones and messaging apps. He enjoys the work, which is less dangerous than it was during the decadeslong conflict. "When we meet people, their satisfaction makes us happy," he said. "I haven't seen a person not smile when they get their documents."

taipei, taiwan — As the maritime conflict between China and the Philippines escalates, Japan and the Philippines are set to meet Monday for talks to deepen their security cooperation.   The talks in Manila, known as the "two plus two" meeting, will bring together the Japanese and Philippine foreign and defense ministers to potentially finalize a key defense agreement.   Romeo Saturnino Brawner Jr., chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said at a press conference on Thursday that he hopes the Philippines will sign the defense agreement, known as the Reciprocal Access Agreement, or RAA, with Japan, which will allow either side to deploy troops on the other's territory.   The RAA also stipulates how the two countries are to arrange weapons and ammunition when they conduct joint training, and it lays out the procedures in the event of any accidents. Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino said earlier that the draft agreement also specifies the legal status of the Philippine military and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces when they temporarily stay in each other's country.  Japan and the Philippines are also expected to discuss a Japanese program, launched in April 2023, that provides weapons and equipment free of charge to like-minded countries to increase security cooperation. In November, Japan provided the Philippines with five surveillance radars to strengthen its coastal supervision capabilities.  Nations have grown closer, says expert Saya Kiba, an associate professor of international relations at Kobe University of Foreign Studies in Japan, says that Tokyo and Manila have had increasingly close relations in recent years.  Kiba told VOA Mandarin in a video interview that in addition to discussing existing cooperation frameworks, the two countries are expected to plan further defense exchanges.  The talks come at a time of escalating tensions over China's actions in the disputed South China Sea.  On June 17, Chinese and Philippine military vessels collided at the Second Thomas Shoal ("Ren'ai Reef" in Chinese), part of the Spratly Island chain where several nations have overlapping claims. A Filipino crew member lost a finger in the crash that Manila described as "intentional-high speed ramming" by the Chinese coast guard.  On July 4, the Philippine military asked China to pay over $1 million (60 million pesos) in financial compensation for the June collision. The Chinese Foreign Ministry called on the Philippines to stop "provocations," saying that China was safeguarding its rights and enforcing the law. It said the Philippines should "bear the consequences of its infringement activities."  Julio Amador III, CEO of Amador Research Services, a consulting firm in the Philippines that provides policy analysis and strategic advice on ASEAN and Southeast Asian issues, said that the Philippines and Japan may be close to completing negotiations on the RAA, and that the "two plus two" meeting would be a good time to announce the agreement.  However, the agreement would not take effect immediately as it must first be signed by the leaders of the two countries.  A signal to Beijing Kei Koga, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, pointed out in a video interview with VOA Mandarin that an RAA signed by Japan and Australia in January 2022 was not ratified until a year later.  Nevertheless, he said that the RAA will send a signal to Beijing that Japan and the Philippines "will conduct more types of military collaboration and cooperation," which can have a deterrent effect on China's hegemonic behavior at sea.  Kei emphasized that Japan's constitution says its Self-Defense Forces can only defend their own country and cannot go abroad to fight. That limits the scale of military force that Japan can deploy in the South China Sea.  Kobe University's Kiba agreed that Japan's military influence in the South China Sea will be limited since the Japanese Self-Defense Forces can only conduct multilateral and joint exercises with allies.   "So, if the Philippines is attacked in the future, the United States may be the only ally that can provide assistance, because this is the form of alliance," Kiba said. 

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