RIYADMEDIA

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In the wake of Russia’s massive air attacks across Ukraine Monday, Ukrainians are moving quickly to get power and transportation back online. Ukraine’s military says Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the attacks, with more strikes on Tuesday. As Lesia Bakalets reports, cities are dealing with power outages, water supply interruptions and train delays. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets
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White House officials welcomed the rescue of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas Tuesday and said they are finalizing a Gaza cease-fire deal. But even if an agreement is reached, a future U.S. administration will still inherit the problem of managing tensions in the Middle East. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at potential U.S. policy under Vice President Kamala Harris should she win the November presidential election.
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WASHINGTON — The United States is urging certain foreign nations not to fuel Sudan’s civil war by arming fighting factions, as the country faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Meanwhile, Washington has also called on Sudan’s warring sides to enforce a code of conduct to reduce abuses, noting that the army is considering the proposal after its rival paramilitary forces have agreed to it.

More than 25 million people face acute hunger and more than 10 million have been displaced from their homes since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, the State Department said.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a significant proliferation of the number of external actors that are playing a role on both sides,” and they are not putting the interest of the Sudanese people “at the core of this,” said Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan.

“In addition to UAE [the United Arab Emirates] supporting the RSF,” Perriello told reporters on Tuesday, “we see foreign fighters coming in from across the Sahel. We’ve seen Iran, Russia, other negative actors on the SAF side.”

U.S.-brokered peace talks on Sudan that concluded last week in Geneva failed to end the country’s 16-month conflict. But one of the warring sides, the RSF, agreed to a code of conduct pledging to avoid violence against women, exploitation at checkpoints and the destruction of crops.

Perriello said that the U.S. has presented the proposal to the SAF leaders who were absent in the Switzerland negotiations.

“They have the code of conduct in front of them. We hope to get a response from them in the coming days,” Perriello said.

The United States has accused the SAF and RSF of war crimes, with the RSF specifically charged with ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity targeting the indigenous African-origin people of Darfur.

During the talks in Geneva, the U.S., along with representatives from the African Union, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, focused on reopening three humanitarian corridors — the Western border crossing in Darfur at Adre, the northern Dabbah Road from Port Sudan and the southern access route through Sennar.

Later this week, the U.S. will have a first formal follow-up with the heads of delegations.

Humanitarian assistance deliveries have resumed via two of the three routes: across the border at Adre from Chad and along the Dabbah Road into famine-stricken areas of Sudan.

In a statement late Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the reopening of humanitarian corridors, saying lack of humanitarian aid access into Darfur over the past six months has exacerbated the historic levels of famine and acute hunger across Sudan, particularly within the Zamzam camp.
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New Delhi — Days after visiting Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he supports a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Modi’s discussion with the Russian leader on Tuesday came a day after he had a phone conversation about the war with U.S. President Joe Biden.

In a post on X, Modi wrote that he had “exchanged perspectives on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and my insights from the recent visit to Ukraine” with Putin. He said that he reiterated “India’s firm commitment to support an early, abiding and peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

During his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, the Indian prime minister had urged talks between Russia and Ukraine and said that “we should move in that direction without losing any time.” He had offered to play an active role in efforts to achieve peace.

Modi’s visit to Kyiv came amid criticism from Western allies that New Delhi has not condemned Russia’s invasion.

The Indian foreign ministry said that during his phone talk with Putin, Modi underlined the importance of dialogue and diplomacy as well as “sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders.”

Modi and Putin also reviewed progress on bilateral ties and discussed measures to further strengthen their partnership, the statement said.  

In his talk on Monday with Biden, Modi had also expressed India’s support for an early return of peace and stability.

“I think Modi’s conversations with the Russian and American leaders come amid an effort by India to convey that it is serious about using its leverage to resolve this conflict and to stake a claim for itself as an autonomous actor,” according to Harsh Pant, vice president for studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “It has been faulted for not doing that in the past, so it is reaching out to the countries most closely involved in the conflict.”

India has not proposed any peace plan to resolve the war. But with New Delhi being one of the few countries that enjoys good relations with both Russia and the West, it hopes to push talks between Moscow and Ukraine.

Following Modi’s visit, Zelenskyy told reporters that he had told Modi that he would support India hosting the second summit on peace as Kyiv hopes to find a host among the countries in the Global South. The first peace summit was held in Switzerland in June.

In Kyiv, India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, had said that India is willing to do whatever it can to help end the war “because we do think that the continuation of this conflict is terrible, obviously for Ukraine itself but for the world as well.”

The resolution of the conflict is important for India, as Russia’s continued isolation could push Moscow into a tighter embrace with New Delhi’s arch rival, China, say analysts.

“India does not want Russia and the West’s rupture to be permanent because that only means that the Moscow-Beijing dynamic becomes much more solid,” according to Pant. “India also wants a stable Europe which can then play a larger role in ensuring a stable Indo-Pacific. That is very important for India. A Europe which is involved with its own internal challenges rather than a global role is something India does not want.”

Modi visited Ukraine six weeks after his visit to Moscow elicited strong criticism from Zelenskyy and Western allies. The first-ever visit by an Indian prime minister to the country was billed as a “landmark” one.

However analysts in New Delhi point out that Modi’s trip to Ukraine will have no bearing on India’s warm relationship with the Kremlin. Before he visited Kyiv, India’s foreign ministry had said that India has “substantive and independent ties with both Russia and Ukraine, and these partnerships stand on their own.”
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Before Russia invaded in February 2022, American football was becoming popular in Ukraine. Today, most of the players are on the front lines. A gentler version of the game — flag football — is gaining ground in the meantime among kids and youth. Tetiana Kukurika has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Sergiy Rybchynski
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FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — It’s been a wild week of weather in many parts of the United States, from heat waves to snowstorms to flash floods.

Here’s a look at some of the weather events:

Midwest sizzles under heat wave

Millions of people in the Midwest have been enduring dangerous heat and humidity.

An emergency medicine physician treating Minnesota State Fair-goers for heat illnesses saw firefighters cut rings off two people’s swollen fingers Monday in hot weather that combined with humidity made it feel well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius).

Soaring late summer temperatures also prompted some Midwestern schools to let out early or cancel sports practices. The National Weather Service issued heat warnings or advisories across Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Several cities including Chicago opened cooling centers.

Forecasters said Tuesday also will be scorching hot for areas of the Midwest before the heat wave shifts to the south and east.

West Coast mountains get early snowstorm

An unusually cold storm on the mountain peaks along the West Coast late last week brought a hint of winter in August. The system dropped out of the Gulf of Alaska, down through the Pacific Northwest and into California. Mount Rainier, southeast of Seattle, got a high-elevation dusting, as did central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor resort.

Mount Shasta, the Cascade Range volcano that rises to 14,163 feet (4,317 meters) above far northern California, wore a white blanket after the storm clouds passed. The mountain’s Helen Lake, which sits at 10,400 feet (3,170 meters) received about half a foot of snow (15 centimeters), and there were greater amounts at higher elevations, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Shasta Ranger Station.

Tropical storm dumps heavy rain on Hawaii

Three tropical cyclones swirled over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, including Tropical Storm Hone, which brought heavy rain to Hawaii; Hurricane Gilma, which was weakening; and Tropical Storm Hector, which was churning westward, far off the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico.

The biggest impacts from Tropical Storm Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) were rainfall and flash floods that resulted in road closures, downed power lines and damaged trees in some areas of the Big Island, said William Ahue, a forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. No injuries or major damage had been reported, authorities said.

Deadly Alaska landslide crashes into homes

A landslide that cut a path down a steep, thickly forested hillside crashed into several homes in Ketchikan, Alaska, in the latest such disaster to strike the mountainous region. Sunday’s slide killed one person and injured three others and prompted the mandatory evacuation of nearby homes in the city, a popular cruise ship stop along the famed Inside Passage in the southeastern Alaska panhandle.

The slide area remained unstable Monday, and authorities said that state and local geologists were arriving to assess the area for potential secondary slides. Last November, six people — including a family of five — were killed when a landslide destroyed two homes in Wrangell, north of Ketchikan.

Flash flood hits Grand Canyon National Park

The body of an Arizona woman who disappeared in Grand Canyon National Park after a flash flood was recovered Sunday, park rangers said. The body of Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was discovered by a group rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the park said in a statement.

Nickerson was hiking along Havasu Creek about a half-mile (800 meters) from where it meets up with the Colorado River when the flash flood struck. Nickerson’s husband was among the more than 100 people safely evacuated.

The flood trapped several hikers in the area above and below Beaver Falls, one of a series of usually blue-green waterfalls that draw tourists from around the world to the Havasupai Tribe’s reservation. The area is prone to flooding that turns its iconic waterfalls chocolate brown.
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PARIS — Telegram boss Pavel Durov could be held in police custody until Wednesday after French prosecutors said they had granted extra time for questioning, while a senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged Washington was behind his arrest.

Durov, a Russian-born billionaire, was arrested in France over the weekend as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor said Durov’s detention had been extended by up to 48 hours late on Monday.

The messaging platform, which analysts have described as a virtual battlefield, has been heavily used by both sides of the war in Ukraine and war-related news and propaganda channels around the globe.

Without providing evidence, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said the United States, through France, was attempting to exert control over Telegram.

“Telegram is one of the few, and at the same time the largest, Internet platform over which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post.

“On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for (President Joe) Biden to take Telegram under control.”

The White House did not immediately comment on Durov’s arrest.

With nearly 1 billion users, Telegram, which presents itself as a haven for free speech and political dissidents, is particularly prominent in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union.

While millions of ordinary users like the app for its easy use and range of functions, it is also widely used by far-right, anti-vax and conspiracist movements.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of the app, has said that the arrest was “in no way a political decision.”

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered – and sometimes graphic and misleading – content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict.
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BEIJING — China called U.S. sanctions on its entities over the Ukraine war “illegal and unilateral” and “not based on facts,” in comments on Tuesday ahead of White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s arrival in Beijing for days of high-level talks.

Last week the United States imposed sanctions on more than 400 entities and individuals for supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, including Chinese companies that U.S. officials say help Moscow skirt Western sanctions and build up its military.

Washington has repeatedly warned Beijing over its support for Russia’s defense industrial base and has already issued hundreds of sanctions aimed at curbing Moscow’s ability to exploit certain technologies for military purposes.

China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, who has done four rounds of shuttle diplomacy, opposed the sanctions at a briefing for diplomats in Beijing after the latest round of meetings with officials from Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa.

“A particular country uses the crisis … to shift blame in an attempt to fabricate the so-called China responsibility theory and threatens countries that have normal economic and trade ties with Russia with illegal and unilateral sanctions,” said Li.

Li did not name the United States, but China’s commerce ministry said on Sunday it strongly opposed the sanctions and the foreign ministry has expressed similar opposition to previous rounds of curbs.

Last week’s sanctions include measures against companies in China involved in shipping machine tools and microelectronics to Russia.

“These words and deeds are totally for their selfish interests and are not based on facts, the international community will never accept them,” added Li.

China has been striving to present itself as a party that is actively looking for a solution to the conflict, despite skipping a Swiss peace conference in June.

After past rounds of talks led by Li, Beijing put forward proposals on supporting the exchange of prisoners of war, opposing the use of nuclear and biological weapons and opposing armed attacks on civilian nuclear facilities.

In a 12-point paper more than a year ago China set out general principles for ending the war, but did not get into specifics.

China and Brazil jointly called this year for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. On Tuesday, Li expressed the hope that more countries would endorse China’s peace efforts.
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Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday ruled out naming a left-wing government to end the country’s political deadlock, saying it would be a threat to “institutional stability.”

While Macron said he would start new talks Tuesday to find a prime minister, left-wing parties reacted with fury to his announcement, calling for street protests and the impeachment of the president.

Macron has held protracted talks on a new government since elections in July gave a left-wing alliance the most seats in parliament but not enough to govern.

The president rejected left-wing claims to govern after negotiations Monday with far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen and other political leaders.

While some reports said Macron had wanted to name a prime minister on Tuesday, the president instead said he would embark on a new round of negotiations.

“My responsibility is that the country is not blocked nor weakened,” Macron said in a statement, calling on “all political leaders to rise to the occasion by demonstrating a spirit of responsibility.”

The July election left the 577-seat National Assembly divided between the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance with over 190 seats, followed by Macron’s centrist alliance at around 160 and Le Pen’s National Rally at 140.

‘Stability’ threatened

The NFP, particularly the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), has demanded the right and opportunity to form a government but centrist and right-wing parties have vowed to vote it down in any confidence vote.

A purely left-wing government “would be immediately censored by all the other groups represented in the National Assembly” and “the institutional stability of our country therefore requires us not to choose this option,” Macron said.

Macron said he would talk with party leaders and “personalities distinguished by experience in the service of the state and the Republic.”

Without naming the LFI, the president called on socialists, ecologists and communists in the leftist alliance to “cooperate with other political forces.”

A source close to Macron later confirmed that he would not hold further talks with the LFI or the National Rally, nor with Eric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing Republicans (LR), who had allied himself with Le Pen’s far-right party for the snap vote.

The LFI reacted with fury, with its national coordinator Manuel Bompard called Macron’s comments an “unacceptable anti-democratic coup.”

LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon called for a “firm and strong response” by the public and politicians including a “motion of impeachment” against the president.

Communist party leader Fabien Roussel called for a “grand popular mobilization” and rejected new talks. Green party leader Marine Tondelier said “the people must get rid of Macron for the good of democracy. He is chaos and instability.”

Macron has left Gabriel Attal as caretaker government leader for a post-war record time since the July election as he seeks a figure with enough broad support to survive a confidence vote.

The pressure is on however as the deadline to present a draft 2025 budget for the heavily indebted government is just over a month away.

Leftist parties had pushed for Macron to name 37-year-old economist and civil servant Lucie Castets as prime minister.

Melenchon even said there could be a left-wing government without ministers from his party, but this has still been opposed by Macron and center-right parties.

The president has repeatedly called LFI an “extreme” movement, branding the party as equally zealot as Le Pen’s.

Since Melenchon’s offer, center-right parties have focused attention on the NFP’s big-spending manifesto at a time when France is battling a record budget deficit and a debt mountain.

Attal reaffirmed the opposition to the LFI in a letter to deputies that called Melenchon’s offer an “attempted coup,” saying it would be “inevitable” that an NFP government would lose a vote of confidence.
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McALLEN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Monday paused a Biden administration policy that would give spouses of U.S. citizens legal status without having to first leave the country, dealing at least a temporary setback to one of the biggest presidential actions to ease a path to citizenship in years.

The administrative stay issued by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker comes just days after 16 states, led by Republican attorneys general, challenged the program that could benefit an estimated 500,000 immigrants in the country, plus about 50,000 of their children.

One of the states leading the challenge is Texas, which in the lawsuit claimed the state has had to pay tens of millions of dollars annually from health care to law enforcement because of immigrants living in the state without legal status.

President Joe Biden announced the program in June. The court order, which lasts for two weeks but could be extended, comes one week after the Department of Homeland Security began accepting applications.

“The claims are substantial and warrant closer consideration than the court has been able to afford to date,” Barker wrote.

Barker was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2019 as a judge in Tyler, Texas, which lies in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a favored venue for advocates pushing conservative arguments.

The judge laid out a timetable that could produce a decision shortly before the presidential election Nov. 5 or before a newly elected president takes office in January. Barker gave both sides until Oct. 10 to file briefs in the case.

The policy offers spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status, who meet certain criteria, a path to citizenship by applying for a green card and staying in the U.S. while undergoing the process. Traditionally, the process could include a yearslong wait outside of the U.S., causing what advocates equate to “family separation.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the order.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cheered the order.

“This is just the first step. We are going to keep fighting for Texas, our country, and the rule of law,” Paxton posted on the social media platform X.

Several families were notified of the receipt of their applications, according to attorneys advocating for eligible families who filed a motion to intervene earlier Monday.

“Texas should not be able to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and their immigrant spouses without confronting their reality,” Karen Tumlin, the founder and director of Justice Action Center, said during the press conference before the order was issued.

The coalition of states accused the administration of bypassing Congress for “blatant political purposes.”

The program has been particularly contentious in an election year where immigration is one of the biggest issues, with many Republicans attacking the policy and contending it is essentially a form of amnesty for people who broke the law.

To be eligible for the program, immigrants must have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 10 years, not pose a security threat or have a disqualifying criminal history and have been married to a citizen by June 17 — the day before the program was announced.

They must pay a $580 fee to apply and fill out a lengthy application, including an explanation of why they deserve humanitarian parole and a long list of supporting documents proving how long they have been in the country.

If approved, applicants have three years to seek permanent residency. During that period, they can get work authorization.

Before this program, it was complicated for people who were in the U.S. illegally to get a green card after marrying an American citizen. They can be required to return to their home country — often for years — and they always face the risk they may not be allowed back in.
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WASHINGTON — An Army private who fled to North Korea just over a year ago will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said Monday.

Travis King’s attorney, Franklin D. Rosenblatt, told The Associated Press that King intends to admit guilt to a total of five military offenses, including desertion and assaulting an officer. Nine other offenses, including possession of sexual images of a child, will be withdrawn and dismissed under the terms of the deal.

King will be given an opportunity at a Sept. 20 hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, to discuss his actions and explain what he did.

“He wants to take responsibility for the things that he did,” Rosenblatt said.

In a separate statement, he added, “Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him, and to all outside his circle who did not pre-judge his case based on the initial allegations.”

He declined to comment on a possible sentence that his client might face. Desertion is a serious charge and can result in imprisonment.

The AP reported last month that the two sides were in plea talks.

King bolted across the heavily fortified border from South Korea in July 2023, and became the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years.

His run into North Korea came soon after he was released from a South Korean prison where he had served nearly two months on assault charges.

About a week after his release from the prison, military officers took him to the airport so he could return to Fort Bliss to face disciplinary action. He was escorted as far as customs, but instead of getting on the plane, he joined a civilian tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom. He then ran across the border, which is lined with guards and often crowded with tourists.

He was detained by North Korea, but after about two months, Pyongyang abruptly announced that it would expel him. On Sept. 28, he was flown to back to Texas, and has been in custody there.

The U.S. military in October filed a series of charges against King under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, as well as kicking and punching other officers, unlawfully possessing alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity. Those allegations date back to July 10, the same day he was released from the prison.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked a federal appeals court to revive the criminal case accusing Donald Trump of retaining classified documents, after a lower court dismissed the indictment in July, according to a court filing.

In their brief, Smith and his team of attorneys urged the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to overturn the July 15 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon in which she concluded that Smith was unlawfully appointed and did not have the legal authority to bring the case.

“Congress has bestowed on the Attorney General, like the heads of many Executive Departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law,” they wrote.

“The district court’s contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.”

The Justice Department had previously said it planned to appeal the ruling.

In Monday’s brief, Smith’s office also asked the appellate court to schedule oral arguments.

Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, found that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint Smith in 2022 violated the U.S. Constitution. She also found that his budget, which is funded through an indefinite appropriation, was unlawful.

Trump’s lawyers had previously challenged the legal authority for Smith’s appointment, arguing that Smith’s office was not created by Congress and the special counsel was not confirmed by the Senate.

Trump’s campaign said on Monday that the court should reject Smith’s request and that other cases facing the former president should be dismissed.

“Not only should the dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida be affirmed but be immediately joined by a dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts. The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Comrade Kamala’s Political Opponent, President Trump. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Cannon’s ruling has faced staunch criticism, with many attorneys saying it flies in the face of prior court decisions which all upheld the legality of the rules that the Justice Department has relied on for years in appointing special counsels.

“The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded,” Smith’s office wrote, adding that Cannon had “deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent” and also “misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel’s appointment.”

Cannon’s decision to dismiss the case marked a legal victory for Trump and came not long after the Supreme Court ruled that he had broad criminal immunity from prosecution for official actions he took during his time in office.

That Supreme Court decision has led to major delays in Smith’s second criminal case against Trump, in which Trump is facing charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Smith faces a Friday deadline to tell the judge overseeing the election subversion case how he wishes to proceed in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Trump, who is running in the 2024 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris, was convicted in May on New York state charges involving hush money paid to an adult film star to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 election.

His sentencing has been postponed following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

In the documents case, Trump was indicted on charges that he willfully retained sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021 and obstructed government efforts to retrieve the material.
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London — Police in Iceland called off a search Monday for two tourists initially believed missing after the collapse of an ice cave that killed one person and seriously injured another, saying they now believe no one is missing.

Icelandic authorities said they called off the search after examining the tour operator’s records and determining that only 23 people were on the trip, not 25 as was first believed.

One person died and one person was seriously injured Sunday when the cave collapsed shortly before 3 p.m. local time. Both victims are American citizens, police said.

“A moment ago, the police field manager located at the scene announced that all the ice that was thought to have fallen on the people had been moved,‘’ police said. “It has come to light that no one (was) hidden under the ice.’’

Rescuers had worked by hand to cut through the remnants of the collapsed ice cave as they searched for those they had believed to be missing.

The search, which was suspended overnight when conditions made it too dangerous, had resumed at about 7 a.m., Icelandic broadcaster RUV reported. Video showed rescuers working inside two large craters surrounded by the sand-blackened ice of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier.

But by the end of the day, they were satisfied that a mistake had been made in record keeping and that no one else was missing.

Police said there had been “misleading information” about the number of people on the trip. Based on what initially was available, it was deemed necessary to continue the search until rescuers could be assured no one was under the ice, police said.
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Geneva — Switzerland hosted United Nations Security Council members at a meeting in Geneva on Monday to recommit to international humanitarian law, describing an “alarming” global context characterized by over 120 armed conflicts, with Russia the only member absent.

Switzerland, which is one of the 15 members, organized the informal meeting to commemorate the Geneva Conventions, signed 75 years ago after World War II in the Swiss city to limit the barbarity of war.  

“I call for us to raise respect of the Geneva Conventions to the level of a top political priority,” Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told the meeting attended by envoys from a range of countries, including 14 of the 15 U.N. Security Council members.

Asked about Russia’s absence, he said that all members were invited to think about international humanitarian law collectively but said attendance was not compulsory.

A Russian envoy in New York described the meeting as a “waste of time.”

“We believe that the Security Council should be focusing on more important matters than traveling around Europe,” said Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative in New York Dmitry Polyanski in a message sent by the diplomatic mission in Geneva.

Russia is a ‘P5’ member which holds a permanent seat within the broader Security Council alongside the United States, France, Britain and China.  

At the same meeting the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric described the Geneva Conventions as “under strain,” referring to the Gaza conflict as well as Ukraine. Russia launched more than 100 missiles and around 100 attack drones at Ukraine on Monday, killing at least five people and striking energy facilities.
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The rapid rise in disposable electronic cigarette, or vape, usage is creating a tidal wave of pollution, and it’s raising serious environmental concerns. Aron Ranen reports from New York City about one woman who is trying to make a difference.
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A memorial run has been held in Simi Valley, California to honor 13 U.S. service members killed three years ago during a suicide bombing as U.S. troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan. VOA’s Genia Dulot attended this year’s run and spoke to two Gold Star families as well as the event organizer, whose son survived the attack at the Kabul airport.
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THIAROYE-SUR-MER, Senegal — Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to get to Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Without her parents’ knowledge, she made it onto a small fishing boat known as a pirogue, but the Senegalese police intercepted the vessel before it could leave.—

A year later Ndiaye tried again, successfully making it off the coast but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where Ndiaye and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal.

Despite her two failed attempts, the 28-year-old is determined to try again. “Right now, if they told me there was a boat going to Spain, I would leave this interview and get on it,” she said.

Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to leave the West African country each year to head to Spain, fleeing poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spain’s Interior Ministry.

While most migrants leaving Senegal are young men, aid workers in the Canary Islands say they are increasingly seeing young women like Ndiaye risk their lives as well.

Earlier this year, the EU signed a 210 million euro deal with Mauritania to stop smugglers from launching boats for Spain. But the deal has had little effect on migrant arrivals for now.

The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will visit Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this week to tackle irregular migration. The West African nations are the main launching pads for migrants traveling by boat.

The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone.

Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains.

But the danger of the route is not a deterrent for those like Ndiaye, who are desperate to make a better living for themselves and their families in Europe. “Barsa wala Barsakh,” or “Barcelona or die” in Wolof, one of Senegal’s national languages, is a common motto of those who brave the deadly route.

“Even if we stay here, we are in danger,” said Cheikh Gueye, 46, a fisherman from Thiaroye-sur-Mer, the same village on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital that Ndiaye is from.

“If you are sick and you can’t pay for treatment, aren’t you in danger? So, we take our chances, either we get there, or we don’t,” he added.

Gueye also attempted to reach Europe though the Atlantic route but only made it to Morocco following bad weather, and was sent back to Senegal.

Like many inhabitants of Thiaroye-sur-Mer, he used to make a decent living as a fisherman before fish stocks started to deplete a decade ago due to overfishing.

“These big boats have changed things, before even kids could catch some fish here with a net,” Gueye said, pointing at the shallow water.

“Now we have to go more than 50 kilometers out before we find fish and even then we don’t find enough, just a little,” he adds.

Gueye and Ndiaye blame the fishing agreements between Senegal and the European Union and China, which allow foreign industrial trawlers to fish in Senegalese waters. The agreements impose limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what the large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult.

Ahead of the Spanish prime minister’s visit to Senegal on Wednesday, Ndiaye’s mother, Fatou Niang, 67, says the Senegalese and Spanish governments should focus on giving young people in the West African country job opportunities to deter them from migrating.

“These kids don’t know anything but the sea, and now the sea has nothing. If you do something for the youth, they won’t leave,” Niang says.

“But if not, well, we can’t make them stay. There’s no work here,” she said.
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