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Kampala, Uganda — The summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) got underway this week in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, where delegations from Somalia and the Palestinian people are lobbying members for support. While the Palestinians are calling on members to find a way to end the conflict in Gaza, Somalia says it needs support to maintain its territorial integrity. Ninety-three out of 120 NAM nations are represented in Kampala for the 19th summit of the movement.  For the plenary session that began Monday, Arab nations made clear that Gaza must be the focus of the meeting. Delegates said the NAM summit must find the right language to address what they called “the violent and savage aggression by the state of Israel in perpetuating a genocide” in Gaza. A delegate from Mauritius said the summit must make a political declaration on the war, which broke out October 7 after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostage, 105 of whom were released in November. Israel’s military response reportedly has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians. Riyadh Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said he does not expect any country to disagree with calling for a cease-fire and humanitarian assistance for the 2.3 million Palestinians displaced from their homes.    “We are not asking for anything other than standing with us against this aggression,” he said. “We are facing a massive calamity. I don’t think it's an exaggeration from us to expect support from our brothers and sisters from the movement.”  Uganda recently took over chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement from Azerbaijan. Vincent Bagiire, the permanent secretary at the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says the agenda for the plenary session will be decided by consensus. “We have not subjected the matter of Palestine and Gaza to whether it should be the major topic that we discuss,” he said. “So, Uganda will focus on creating cohesion within the movement to ensure that we can work together as a movement for the good of humanity.” Delegates from Somalia are calling for the 120-state movement to support its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Early this month, Ethiopia signed an agreement with Somaliland, a breakaway region from Somalia, giving Ethiopia access to the sea. In return, Ethiopia would consider recognizing Somaliland as an independent country. Hamza Adan Haadow, permanent secretary in the Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says the agreement “violates our rights, our integrity and our unity.” “So, that’s why we are pushing, and we believe that the peace that we had will continue if the Non-Alignment Movement stands with us,” he added. Both the Somali and Palestinian representatives have five days to convince delegates to prioritize their concerns and come up with resolutions before heads of state fly to Uganda for the summit at the end of this week.

JERUSALEM — A missile fired from Yemen struck a U.S.-owned ship just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after Yemen's Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, officials said. Suspicion immediately fell on the Iranian-backed Houthis, though the rebels did not immediately acknowledge carrying out the assault on the Gibraltar Eagle. It marked the latest attack roiling global shipping amid Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have targeted that crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe over the war, attacks that threaten to widen that conflict into a regional conflagration. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Mideast waters, said Monday's attack happened some 110 miles (177 kilometers) miles southeast of Aden. It said the ship's captain reported that the "port side of vessel hit from above by a missile." Private security firms Ambrey and Dryad Global told The Associated Press that the vessel was the Gibraltar Eagle, a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier. The ship is owned by Eagle Bulk, a Stamford, Connecticut-based firm traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Satellite-tracking data analyzed by the AP showed the Gibraltar Eagle had been bound for the Suez Canal, but rapidly turned around at the time of the attack. The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Yemen's Houthi rebels did not acknowledge any attack, though they have fired missiles previously in that area.  Sunday's attack toward the American warship also marked the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since America and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea. It wasn't presently clear whether the U.S. would retaliate for the latest attacks, though President Joe Biden has said he "will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary." The Houthi fire Sunday went in the direction of the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, the U.S. military's Central Command said in a statement. The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge that attack either. The missile came from near Hodeida, a Red Sea port city long held by the Houthis, the U.S. said. "An anti-ship cruise missile was fired from Iranian-backed Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon," Central Command said. "There were no injuries or damage reported." The first day of U.S.-led strikes Friday hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets with cruise missiles and bombs launched by fighter jets, warships and a submarine. Sites hit included weapon depots, radars and command centers, including in remote mountain areas, the U.S. has said. The Houthis have yet to acknowledge how severe the damage was from the strikes, which they said killed five of their troops and wounded six others. U.S. forces followed up with a strike Saturday on a Houthi radar site. Shipping through the Red Sea has slowed over the attacks. The U.S. Navy warned American-flagged vessels Friday to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for 72 hours after the initial airstrikes. For their part, the Houthis alleged without providing evidence that the U.S. struck a site near Hodeida on Sunday around the same time as the cruise missile fire. The Americans and the United Kingdom did not acknowledge conducting any strike — suggesting the blast may have been from a misfiring Houthi missile. Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying they were avenging Israel's offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade. Even the leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, obliquely referenced the widening Houthi attacks on ships in a speech Sunday, saying that "the sea has become a battlefield of missiles, drones and warships" and blaming the U.S. strikes for escalating maritime tensions. "The most dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea, [it] will harm the security of all maritime navigation," Nasrallah said. Though the Biden administration and its allies have tried to calm tensions in the Middle East for weeks and prevent any wider conflict, the strikes in the Red Sea threaten to ignite one. It's also affecting shipping for the Middle East nation of Qatar, one of the world's top natural gas suppliers. Three liquid natural gas tankers that had recently loaded in Qatar and were bound for the Suez Canal remain idling off Oman, while another coming from Europe to Qatar remains off Saudi Arabia. QatarEnergy and government officials did not respond to a request for comment. Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government-in-exile that the Houthis are fighting, sought to distance itself from the attacks on Houthi sites as it tries to maintain a delicate détente with Iran and a cease-fire it has in Yemen. The Saudi-led, U.S.-backed war in Yemen that began in 2015 has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of thousands more. The American military did not specifically say the fire targeted the Laboon, following a pattern by the U.S. since the Houthi attacks began. However, U.S. sailors have received combat ribbons for their actions in the Red Sea — something handed out only to those who face active hostilities with an enemy force. 

New York — The U.N. secretary-general renewed his appeal Monday for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, as the chiefs of his aid agencies called for more entry points for relief supplies to avert famine and the spread of disease. “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Antonio Guterres told reporters at the United Nations. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is beyond words. Nowhere and no one is safe.” Guterres said he is “deeply troubled” by the “clear violations” of international humanitarian law. “The long shadow of starvation is stalking the people of Gaza – along with disease, malnutrition and other health threats,” he said. The United Nations’ aid agencies warned Monday that without additional access points into the Gaza Strip, the threat of famine and disease will grow among the already struggling population of 2.2 million people. The heads of the World Food Program (WFP), the U.N. Children’s agency (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a joint statement that the opening of new entry routes, more trucks being allowed through border checks each day, fewer restrictions on the movement of humanitarian workers, and guarantees of safety for people accessing and distributing aid are needed for enough supplies to reach the Palestinians in Gaza. “We cannot stand by and watch people starve. Humanitarian access is needed now for supplies to flow into and throughout Gaza and for civilians to safely receive life-saving aid,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said. McCain said famine can be kept at bay, but only if humanitarians can deliver sufficient relief supplies and have access to everyone in need, in all parts of Gaza. The WFP has reached more than 900,000 of the 2.2 million people in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7. The U.N. and its aid partners have the use of the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza, which is primarily a pedestrian crossing, and cannot handle the volume of trucks that need to enter the territory, causing large backlogs. Israel allowed the opening of the Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem, in Arabic] crossing one month ago for humanitarians, but the U.N. says its use fluctuates depending on the security situation. The aid chiefs say they need Israeli authorization to use a working port close to Gaza and border crossing points into the northern part of Gaza. They say access to Ashdod port, some 40 kilometers to the north, would facilitate significantly larger quantities of aid to be shipped in which they would then move by truck to northern Gaza. Despite Israeli evacuation orders, around 300,000 Palestinians remain in the north, and few convoys have been able to reach them. “Since the start of the year, just seven of 29 missions to deliver aid to the north have been able to proceed,” Secretary-General Guterres said. With only two border crossing options into Gaza currently, the WFP says it can only meet 20% of its monthly targets. On Saturday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 108 trucks with food, medicine and other supplies entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing. It did not report a figure for Kerem Shalom. Before the current escalation, around 500 commercial and aid trucks entered the enclave daily. Israel put Hamas-controlled Gaza under a total blockade following Hamas’ terror attack in southern Israel on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people. The United States- and European Union-designated terror group also abducted around 240 Israeli and foreign hostages to Gaza. Just over a hundred were released during a weeklong pause in late November. Guterres repeated his call Monday for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reports more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, most of them women and children.  Under intense international pressure, Israel has since eased its blockade, but Gaza remains without electricity and has experienced repeated telecommunications blackouts since October 7 — the latest one began on January 12. Humanitarians say the inspection process for relief supplies remains slow and unpredictable, and Israeli authorities have restricted entry of some of the materials they urgently need, including generators. Famine looms The U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Phase Classification warned last month that more than a half-million Palestinians in Gaza are coping with catastrophic levels of hunger, and nearly 400,000 are on the brink of famine. UNICEF said Monday that Palestinian children are at high risk of dying from malnutrition and disease and urgently need medical treatment, clean water and sanitation services. But the conditions on the ground make it impossible for humanitarians to safely reach them, the agency says. “Some of the material we desperately need to repair and increase water supply remain restricted from entering Gaza,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “The lives of children and their families are hanging in the balance. Every minute counts.” Hunger also puts people, especially children, at risk of dying from diseases, including watery diarrhea, which has climbed among children under the age of 5. “Famine will make an already terrible situation catastrophic, because sick people are more likely to succumb to starvation, and starving people are more vulnerable to disease,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We need unimpeded, safe access to deliver aid and a humanitarian cease-fire to prevent further death and suffering,” he said.

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GENEVA — The United Nations is appealing for $4.2 billion to support war-affected communities in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian refugees and host communities in the wider region, as Russia steps up its bombing campaign in the blistering cold weather to inflict maximum pressure on the Ukrainian government and its people. "Next month we are entering a third year of full-blown war and occupation," said Martin Griffiths, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. He noted that while the war started 10 years ago in eastern Ukraine, "the escalation in 2022 rushed in a whole new level of death, destruction and despair and, of course [the] outflow of refugees." U.N. agencies report at least 10,000 civilians, including more than 560 children, have been killed and more than 18,500 injured since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. They report more than 4 million Ukrainians are internally displaced and some 6.3 million people have fled as refugees, most to neighboring European countries. Griffiths said 14.6 million people — "a staggering 40 percent of the Ukrainian population" —will need aid this year, in addition to the millions of refugees living in 11 countries in the region. Among those in desperate need, he said, are 3.3 million people who live in front-line communities in the east and south where the war goes on under relentless bombardment. "Now that is really a shockingly high number even these days," said Griffiths. "No place in Ukraine is untouched by the war … add to that the harsh winter, which is sweeping across Ukraine and ratcheting up people's need for lifesaving support — heating, proper shelter, warmer clothes, and sufficient calorie intake because of the winter." He noted that people in small front-line towns and villages in Donetsk and Kharkiv have exhausted their meager resources and are relying on aid for survival. "Families live in damaged houses with no piped water, gas, or electricity in the freezing cold. Constant bombardments force older people to spend their days in basements. Children — terrified, traumatized — have lived the last three years under these circumstances trapped indoors and many, many of them with no schooling," he said. The United Nations aims to support 8.5 million of the most vulnerable people inside Ukraine and 2.3 million refugees and the communities hosting them in the region. "The total displacement today is about 10 million people if you add the almost 4 million estimated people who are displaced inside Ukraine and the over 6 million estimated to be refugees worldwide," said Filippo Grandi, U.N. high commissioner for refugees. "So, we are over 10 million people not in their homes, which remains, by the way, the largest displacement crisis in the world." Grandi said most of the refugees fled Ukraine in the first few months of the war, but the outflow of people slowed dramatically when they realized that it was safe to remain in Ukraine. He said the refugee situation is very fluid in that people often leave and then go back to Ukraine, which is quite unusual in most refugee situations. The International Organization for Migration estimates some 900,000 refugees have returned to Ukraine. Grandi said it is important to understand that the pendular movement is possible in Ukraine and not possible in other refugee situations "because these people are not fleeing from their government. They are fleeing from the occupation and the invasion and the Russian bombing." "They are still refugees. That is how we call them because they flee war, but they are not refugees from their government," he said. The UNHCR reports the majority of refugees plan to remain in their current host countries and will require continued support to meet their basic needs, including education for children, physical and mental health care, skills, and language training, as well as protection. According to a UNHCR survey, 62 percent of the refugee populations are women and girls, and 36 percent are children. The survey said, "This age and gender composition, together with the high number of single-parent families, highlights the heightened risk of gender-based violence." Speaking at the joint launch of the U.N.'s multibillion-dollar humanitarian and refugee response plan for Ukraine, Denise Brown, humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, told donors that the U.N. responds to every bombing incident that occurs — big or small. Within days of the incident, she said, "We bring psycho-social support. We bring immediate supplies to people whose doors and windows have been completely destroyed by massive explosions." Weeks after a bombing takes place, she said the U.N. begins work on rebuilding the damaged homes, removing the rubble and, in many cases, supporting small businesses in reopening. "The war is not over. The suffering is not over. We continue to require your support," she said, warning, "If the funding is not coming, we will have to dismantle the humanitarian system." In appealing for continued donor support, Iryna Vereshchuk, deputy prime minister of Ukraine, spoke about the resilience of her people and their determination to fight on until the war was won. "The enemy counts on our being exhausted because the enemy knows that they cannot win militarily. They really count that sooner or later our civilians will get exhausted, and we cannot allow this to happen. "We have to keep supporting civilians. We have to keep supporting IDPs who move within Ukraine and people of Ukraine who move outside, running from the war by withstanding and resisting evil and oppression," she said.

Madrid — Spain will host Brazil in an international football friendly at Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium on March 26 to raise awareness of racism, the Spanish football federation said Monday. The Spanish and Brazilian football federations announced plans for the match last June, a month after Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior, who is Black, was racially abused by Valencia fans in an incident which provoked worldwide outrage. The match will serve "to strengthen the commitment against violence and racism in football" with "a great celebration of football between two of the most powerful teams on the international scene," the Spanish football federation said in a statement. It will be Spain's first game in 2024 and Brazil's second under new coach Dorival Junior. The Liga match at Valencia's Mestalla stadium on May 21, 2023, was held up for several minutes during the second half after Vinicius, who has repeatedly been targeted with racial slurs in Spain, was abused again from the stands. The referee wrote in his post-match report that shouts of "monkey" had been directed at the player. Vinicius, 23, issued a strongly-worded statement after he was abused, saying, "Today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists." Supporters found guilty of abusing Vinicius during the match have been slapped with stadium bans and fines by Spanish authorities.

SAINT-PAUL, Réunion — A tropical cyclone hit the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean on Monday, bringing intense rains and powerful winds and leaving about a quarter of households without electricity and tens of thousands of homes without water, authorities said. Nearby Mauritius was also on high alert as authorities there said they expected to feel the effects of Cyclone Belal as it made its way through the southwestern Indian Ocean. In Reunion, local authorities said that the highest alert level — or purple alert — that was announced on Sunday had been lifted after the worst of the storm had passed. But residents were still urged to remain sheltered indoors and heavy rains and winds of up to 170 kilometers per hour were expected to continue blowing on the island of about 860,000 people. Belal’s intensity appeared to be slightly decreasing, the prefecture of Reunion said in a statement. Some eight-meter-high waves have been recorded, it said. Many people had lost internet and phone services, and a homeless person who was not in a shelter was found dead in Saint-Gilles, on the island’s west coast. The circumstances of the death were unclear. Under the purple alert, people were told to stay at home and even emergency services were under lockdown. French weather forecaster Meteo France said Belal reached Reunion on Monday morning local time, bringing “heavy rains, sometimes stormy, very violent winds and powerful and raging seas.” Prefect Jérôme Filippini, the island’s top government administrator, had warned that there could be flood surges at levels unseen for a century and forecasters feared the storm could be the island's most destructive since the 1960s. Mauritius, some 220 kilometers northeast of Reunion, was also expected to be battered by the storm. “On this trajectory Belal is dangerously approaching Mauritius and it represents a direct threat for Mauritius,” Mauritius' national meteorological service said. It said that Belal's outer winds were likely to impact the southern part of the island late Monday and early Tuesday morning. The Mauritius government held meetings of its National Crisis Committee to put in place disaster management plans. Cyclones are common between January and March in southern Africa as oceans in the southern hemisphere reach their warmest temperatures. The hotter water is fuel for cyclones. Scientists say human-caused climate change has intensified extreme weather, making cyclones more frequent and rainier when they hit. Some climate scientists have identified a direct link between global warming and the intensity of some cyclones in the region. In 2019, Cyclone Idai ripped into Africa from the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 1,000 people dead in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe and causing a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations said it was one of the deadliest storms on record in the southern hemisphere.

Yaounde, Cameroon — Opposition parties in Chad are condemning the entry of the country’s military ruler into the 2024 presidential race. General Mahamat Idriss Deby seized power after his father’s death, declared himself interim president, and pushed through a new constitution which enables him to run for president in this year's delayed elections. In the nationally televised broadcast Saturday, Mahamat Zene Bada, secretary of Chad's former ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement or MPS party, said that military ruler Mahamat Idriss Deby is the party's candidate for the central African state’s presidential elections expected later this year. Bada said Chad is lucky to have Deby, an understanding leader who he said listens to his people and works for peace, development and national concord as transitional president. Baba said members of MPS designate Deby as their candidate for presidential elections so Deby can continue the work he has been doing to stop armed conflicts and political tensions and make Chad an emerging economy by 2030. However, Chad's opposition and civil society groups are condemning Deby's designation and candidate for the presidential race. The opposition and civil society groups say Chad is not a Deby dynasty that can be ruled only by a single family. Albert Pahimi Padacke, opposition leader of Chad's National Rally for Democracy, contested and lost Chad's 2006 presidential election. Padacke says he is certain the younger Deby asked the MPS, Chad's former ruling party, to name the military ruler as candidate for presidential elections expected this 2024. He says Deby, who wants to conserve power and continue his late father Idriss Deby Itno's three decades iron fisted rule, should save Chad from descending into violence by not single handedly appointing people loyal to the military ruler to manage elections, instead of people who are independent, neutral and have the confidence of all Chad's political actors. Padacke spoke on Chad state TV on Monday. He said Chad has remained poor and is devastated by armed conflicts and political tensions since the Deby family took power in 1990. General Mahamat Idriss Deby became leader of Chad's Transitional Military Council in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, died on the frontlines of a fight against northern rebels. The younger Deby was to head an 18-month transitional council but in October of 2022, he dissolved the council and declared himself interim president. Deby organized a December 17 constitutional referendum he said paved the way for a return to civilian rule and Chad's supreme court announced that the new constitution was approved by 86% of voters. Chad's opposition and civil society groups called the constitutional referendum a sham to prepare for an eventual election of Deby, a 39-year-old military general. Opposition parties, including the Rally for Democracy and the Union of Democrats for Development and Progress, said the referendum should have barred Deby from becoming a candidate. Meantime, interim president Deby has been designated honorary president of the MPS by a resolution of congressmen.  

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.

An automated restaurant is opening this month in Pasadena, California. CaliExpress will be serviced by robots that make food in the kitchen and AI that takes clients’ orders. The only job humans will still need to do is assemble and pack the food. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian

In the Western U.S. state of Colorado, doctors are helping a Ukrainian refugee who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of colon cancer. Svitlana Prystynska has our story from the Rocky Mountain town of Estes Park. Camera: Volodymyr Petruniv

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, observers say Moscow has significantly stepped up the spread of fake news about Ukraine. Ksenia Turkova looks at what topics Russia has focused on and at some of its most outlandish claims. VOA footage by Alexander Zimukha.

Goma, DRC — Felix Tshisekedi is set to be inaugurated for a new term as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the constitutional court confirmed his victory in last month’s election. In the eastern part of the country, residents hope he will focus his attention on bringing peace and security to the volatile region.  Bashinge Esperance is a war-displaced woman who fled a month ago from Masisi territory, where the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo are fighting the rebel group M23.  Esperance is a widow, her husband having been killed by the rebels while working in his field. She says she hopes that Tshisekedi, in his second term, will focus on bringing peace to the region.  She says that the president, who will soon be sworn in, should be stronger to bring peace, because in the camp where she lives, she says she is suffering and would like to return to her village.  Esperance sews to support herself and her 4-year-old child. She is pregnant and expecting a baby in about a month. She says doesn't want to give birth in the displaced persons' camp because life is so difficult; she'd like to give birth in her village. She says that if peace were to return, the DRC could be even better and the people would live better.  The same hope was expressed by Sadiki Willy, a displaced person who has been living in the Kanyaruchinya camp, north of the city of Goma, for over 10 months. He hopes the president will show concern for the difficult living conditions of the displaced in the camps. He says that the first thing the president should focus on in his second term is peace, and that he should care about the war-displaced and do his best to get them back home. He says they used to live better at home, in their houses, but here they live in dilapidated shacks with no security.  The DRC already has a record number of internally displaced people. In October 2023, the number was estimated at 5.6 million, with most living in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika.  Rebel groups have fought the government and each other in eastern Congo for decades, battling for political dominance and control of the region’s rich mines. Congolese law professor Tresor Makunya has some ideas about how these armed conflicts could be resolved.  "The Congolese government has mainly relied on the U.N. and a few regional organizations such as the East African Community to resolve conflicts and security problems in eastern DRC ... instead of strengthening its own armed forces,” he said. “The government has also relied on bilateral military agreements with, for example, Burundi Rwanda and Uganda. I believe that the national army needs to be enhanced, and that it can be enhanced in a number of ways. Firstly, we need to increase [the] military budget and ensure that it is used wisely and appropriately. Finally, we need to ensure that military personnel and soldiers involved in wrongdoing are held to account."  Tshisekedi’s swearing-in ceremony will take place January 20 in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

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NEW YORK — Sixty years ago, the U.S. surgeon general released a report that settled a longstanding public debate about the dangers of cigarettes and led to huge changes in smoking in America.   Today, some public health experts say a similar report could help clear the air about vaping.   Many U.S. adults believe nicotine vaping is as harmful as — or more dangerous than — cigarette smoking. That’s wrong. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and most scientists agree that, based on available evidence, electronic cigarettes are far less dangerous than traditional cigarettes.   But that doesn’t mean e-cigarettes are harmless either. And public health experts disagree about exactly how harmful, or helpful, the devices are. Clarifying information is urgently needed, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University.   “There have been so many confusing messages about vaping,” Gostin said. “A surgeon general’s report could clear that all up.”   One major obstacle: E-cigarettes haven’t been around long enough for scientists to see if vapers develop problems like lung cancer and heart disease.   “There’s a remarkable lack of evidence,” said Dr. Kelly Henning, who leads the public health program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Smoking and Vaping Cigarette smoking has long been described as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the annual toll at 480,000 lives. That count should start to fall around 2030, according to a study published last year by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, thanks in part to a decline in smoking rates that began in the 1960s.   Back then, ashtrays were everywhere and more than 42% of U.S. adults smoked.   On Jan. 11, 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry released an authoritative report that said smoking causes illness and death — and the government should do something about it. The report is considered a watershed moment: In the decades that followed, warning labels were put on cigarette packs, cigarette commercials were banned, governments raised tobacco taxes and new restrictions were placed on where people could light up.   By 2022, the adult smoking rate was 11%.   Some experts believe e-cigarettes deserve some of the credit. The devices were billed as a way to help smokers quit, and the FDA has authorized a handful of e-cigarettes as less-harmful alternatives for adult smokers.   Vaping’s popularity exploded in the 2010s, among both adults but and teens. In 2014, e-cigarettes surpassed combustible cigarettes as the tobacco product that youth used the most. By 2019, 28% of high schoolers were vaping. U.S. health officials sounded alarms, fearing that kids hooked on nicotine would rediscover cigarettes. That hasn’t happened. Last year, the high school smoking rate was less than 2% — far lower than the 35% rate seen about 25 years ago. “That’s a great public health triumph. It’s an almost unbelievable one,” said Kenneth Warner, who studies tobacco-control policies at the University of Michigan. “If it weren’t for e-cigarettes, I think we would be hearing the public health community shouting at the top of their lungs about the success of getting kids not to smoke,” he said. Vaping’s Benefits and Harms Cigarettes have been called the deadliest consumer product ever invented. Their smoke contains thousands of chemicals, at least 69 of which can cause cancer.  The vapor from e-cigarettes has been estimated to contain far fewer chemicals, and fewer carcinogens. Some toxic substances are present in both, but show up in much lower concentrations in e-cigarette vapor than in cigarette smoke. Studies have shown that smokers who completely switch to vaping have better lung function and see other health improvements. “I would much rather see someone vaping than smoking a Marlboro. There is no question in my mind that vaping is safer,” said Donald Shopland, who was a clerk for the committee that generated the 1964 report and is co-author of a forthcoming book on it. But what about the dangers to people who have never smoked? There have been 100 to 200 studies looking at vaping, and they are a mixed bag, said Dr. Neal Benowitz, of the University of California, San Francisco, a leading academic voice on nicotine and tobacco addiction. The studies used varying techniques, and many were limited in their ability to separate the effects of vaping from former cigarettes smoking, he said. “If you look at the research, it’s all over the map,” Warner said. Studies have detected bronchitis symptoms and aggravation of asthma in young people who vape. Research also indicates vaping also can affect the cells that line the blood vessels and heart, leading to looks for a link to heart disease. Perhaps the most cited concern is nicotine, the stimulant that makes cigarettes and vapes addictive. Animal studies suggest nicotine exposure in adolescents can affect development of the area of the brain responsible for attention, learning and impulse control. Some research in people suggests a link between vaping and ADHD symptoms, depression and feelings of stress. But experts say that the research is very limited and more work needs to be done. Meanwhile, there’s not even a clear scientific consensus that vaping is an effective way to quit smoking, with different studies coming up with different conclusions. Clearing the Air Last month, the World Health Organization raised alarms about the rapidly growing global markets for electronic cigarettes, noting they come in thousands of flavors that attract young people. In 2016, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said efforts were needed to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use by children and young adults, saying nicotine in any form is unsafe for kids. About four months before the report’s release, the FDA began taking steps to regulate e-cigarettes, believing they would benefit smokers. The agency has authorized several e-cigarettes, but it has refused more than 1 million product marketing applications. Critics say the FDA has been unfair and inconsistent in regulation of products. Meanwhile, the number of different e-cigarette devices sold in the U.S. has boomed, due largely to disposables imported from China that come in fruit and candy flavors. But vaping by youths has recently been falling: Last year, 10% of high school students surveyed said they had used e-cigarettes in the previous month, down from 14% the year before. Why the decline? “It’s hard to say what’s working,” said Steven Kelder, a University of Texas researcher. He mentioned a 2019 outbreak of hospitalizations and deaths among people who were vaping products with THC, the chemical that gives marijuana its high. The illnesses were traced to a thickening agent used in black market vape cartridges, a substance not used in commercial nicotine e-cigarettes. But it may be a reason many Americans think of e-cigarettes as unsafe, Kelder said. Sherri Mayfield, a 47-year-old postal worker, remembers the 2019 outbreak and reports of rapid illnesses and deaths in youths. Vaping “absolutely” needs to be studied more, Mayfield said last week while on a cigarette break in New York with some co-workers. “Cigarettes aren't safe” but at least it can take them decades to destroy your health, she said. The surgeon general's office said in a statement that the 1964 report “catalyzed a 60-year movement to address the harmful effects of smoking" and suggested similar action was needed to address youth vaping. Murthy's website, however, currently lists neither vaping nor smoking as a priority issue.

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Washington — Artificial intelligence poses risks to job security around the world but also offers a "tremendous opportunity" to boost flagging productivity levels and fuel global growth, the IMF chief told AFP. AI will affect 60% of jobs in advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said in an interview in Washington, shortly before departing for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. With AI expected to have less effect in developing countries, around "4o% of jobs globally are likely to be impacted," she said, citing a new IMF report. "And the more you have higher skilled jobs, the higher the impact," she added. However, the IMF report published Sunday evening notes that only half of the jobs impacted by AI will be negatively affected; the rest may actually benefit from enhanced productivity gains due to AI.  "Your job may disappear altogether – not good – or artificial intelligence may enhance your job, so you actually will be more productive and your income level may go up," Georgieva said.  Uneven effects The IMF report predicted that, while labor markets in emerging markets and developing economies will see a smaller initial impact from AI, they are also less likely to benefit from the enhanced productivity that will arise through its integration in the workplace.    "We must focus on helping low income countries in particular to move faster to be able to catch the opportunities that artificial intelligence will present," Georgieva told AFP.   "So artificial intelligence, yes, a little scary. But it is also a tremendous opportunity for everyone," she said.  The IMF is due to publish updated economic forecasts later this month which will show the global economy is broadly on track to meet its previous forecasts, she said.   It is "poised for a soft landing," she said, adding that "monetary policy is doing a good job, inflation is going down, but the job is not quite done." "So we are in this trickiest place of not easing too fast or too slow," she said. The global economy could use an AI-related productivity boost, as the IMF predicts it will continue growing at historically muted levels over the medium term.  "God, how much we need it," Georgieva said. "Unless we figure out a way to unlock productivity, we as the world are not for a great story."  'Tough' year ahead Georgieva said 2024 is likely to be "a very tough year" for fiscal policy worldwide, as countries look to tackle debt burdens accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic, and rebuild depleted buffers. Billions of people are also due to go to the polls this year, putting additional pressure on governments to either raise spending or cut taxes to win popular support.   "About 80 countries are going to have elections, and we know what happens with pressure on spending during election cycles," she added.  The concern at the IMF, Georgieva said, is that governments around the world spend big this year and undermine the hard-won progress they have made in the fight against high inflation. "If monetary policy tightens and fiscal policy expands, going against the objective of bringing inflation down, we might be for a longer ride," she added.  Concentrating on the job Georgieva, whose five-year term at the IMF's helm is set to end this year, refused to be drawn on whether she intends to run for a second stint leading the international financial institution.   "I have a job to do right now and my concentration is on doing that job," she said.  "It has been a tremendous privilege to be the head of the IMF during a very turbulent time, and I can tell you I'm quite proud of how the institution coped," she continued.  "But let me do what is in front of me right now.

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