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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with your worldwide news update.
Tuesday is Election Day in the U.S. and the presidential race is shaping up to be extremely close with potentially even tighter margins than Joe Biden's narrow win in 2020. Reuters correspondent Joseph Ax explains. Polls are showing that this is likely to be one of the closest elections in U.S. history between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. There are seven states that are considered battlegrounds. Every single one of those states is essentially tied, according to the polls, with very small margins in one direction or the other. There are a lot of people who vote by mail. In a couple of the swing states, particularly Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, state law doesn't allow election officials to touch those votes until Election Day. Even in states like Arizona and Nevada, where workers are allowed to start processing and tabulating mail ballots before Election Day occurs, it still takes a really long time just because of the sheer volume. So a host of reasons are gonna contribute to what's gonna be a long time before we can actually say who won this election. Reuters correspondent Joseph Ax. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday that officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, are greatly concerned about the partnership between North Korea and Russia. "We saw the secretary speak to the fact on Thursday that North Korea has deployed as many as 10,000 troops to Russia and that we were concerned that they would move to the front lines to enter the fight against Ukraine as the - as the secretary said on Friday that as many as 8,000 North Korean troops had made their way to Kursk. We now assess that as many as 10,000 have made their way to Kursk and could enter combat in the coming days." President Vladimir Putin has neither confirmed nor denied the North Korean troops' presence. This is VOA News. Israel's Foreign Ministry said Monday the country has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Reuters correspondent Sean Hogan has more. UNRWA has been the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinian refugees since 1967, providing education and aid services to millions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Last month the Israeli parliament passed legislation banning it from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from cooperating with the organization. Since the start of the war in October last year, Israel has maintained UNRWA has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the October 7 attack on Israel. The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack and had been fired. Israel's legislation has alarmed some of its Western allies and the United Nations. They fear it will further worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants for over a year. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said activity by other international organizations would be expanded. Reuters correspondent Sean Hogan. Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu on Monday ordered the release of 29 children facing the death penalty after being arraigned for allegedly participating in protests against the country's worst cost of living crisis in a generation. The children were arraigned Friday and have been in detention since August. Activists say they were illegally picked up and have been put through horrifying experiences. Their arraignment sparked outrage and renewed concerns about deteriorating human rights in Africa's most populous country. Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency says that at least 10 people have died as a series of volcanic eruptions widens on the remote island of Flores. AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports. The eruption at Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki around midnight spewed thick brownish ash into the air and hot ashes hit several villages, burning down houses. The volcano's lava blanketed nearby villages and towns with tons of volcanic debris and forced residents to flee. Some, however, weren't lucky enough to escape, and emergency services came to recover their bodies as relatives wept nearby. Authorities said at least 10,000 people in 10 nearby villages have been affected by the eruption. I'm Karen Chammas. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA News. |