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This is VOA News. I'm Joe Ramsey.
An aid ship loaded with food has set sail for Gaza. It's a pilot program for the opening of a sea corridor to the territory where the Israel-Gaza war has driven hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to the brink of starvation. It's being transported by the Spanish aid group Open Arms. The ship left the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus and is expected to arrive in Gaza in two to three days. Children in Gaza haven't been to school in five months, and Palestinian officials worry about the long-term effects of the war on Gaza's children. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. Palestinian officials say one child in Gaza is killed every 15 minutes. More than 13,000 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. At least 25,000 have been wounded. Most of the one million Palestinian children haven't been to school in Gaza and there's little prospect that classes will resume any time soon. Most of the schools have been transformed into crowded shelters for the roughly two million Palestinians who have been displaced by Israeli military strikes. Linda Gradstein, VOA News, Jerusalem. The United States will send a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $300 million, President Joe Biden's administration said on Tuesday, the first such move in months as additional funds for Kyiv remain blocked by Republican leaders in Congress. The White House has been scrambling to find ways to send more military assistance given the situation on the battlefield and the resistance to the funding from Republican Party hardliners in the U.S. Congress. This is VOA News. Uncertainty hung over Haiti's political future on Tuesday after its prime minister said he would step down, a move welcomed by many Haitians exhausted by months of escalating gang violence, but with questions over security still to be settled. Reuters correspondent Emma Jehle reports. Kenya's government did an about-face on Tuesday, announcing it was pausing a long-delayed deployment of Kenyan police officers to tackle spiraling violence in Haiti. Only 11 days ago, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and Kenyan President William Ruto signed an agreement that Ruto said would fast-track the deployment of the officers to the Caribbean nation. The jarring turn of events leaves the future of a U.N.-backed multinational mission for Haiti in serious doubt. Kenya's government first pledged 1,000 officers to lead the security mission last July. But the initiative had been tied up in court challenges ever since. Reuters correspondent Emma Jehle. U.S. President Joe Biden has formally clinched a second straight Democratic nomination, now his party's presumptive nominee. He faces an all but certain rematch with former President Donald Trump. Biden clinched the nomination Tuesday after winning enough delegates in the state of Georgia. His nomination will become official at the Democratic National Convention to be held in Chicago in August. Biden, who mounted his first bid for president 37 years ago, did not face any serious Democratic challengers to his run for reelection at age 81. That's despite facing low approval ratings and a lack of voter enthusiasm for his presidency driven in part by his age. Britain's Princess Kate's "photogate" scandal shows relations between royals and the press rarely runs smooth. AP correspondent Charles De Ledesma reports. The scandal over Kate, Princess of Wales' family snapshot, is a new chapter in the thorny relationship between the media and Britain's royal family. It's also a sign of how hard it is for the monarchy to control its own narrative in the social media era. U.K. newspapers were dominated on Tuesday by what the Daily Mirror called the "Picture of Chaos" and the Daily Mail labeled a "PR disaster" for the royals. It follows the retraction by the AP and other news agencies of a photo of Kate and her children over concerns it had been manipulated. Kate apologized, but that's not stopped the flood of rumors and conspiracy on so social media. I'm Charles De Ledesma. Burundi basketball club Dynamo has been removed from the Basketball Africa League after refusing to wear a jersey with the "Visit Rwanda" logo. Burundi closed its borders with Rwanda in January and deported Rwandans after accusing it of backing rebels. I'm Joe Ramsey, V... |