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Parul Chaudhary conquers 5000m gold, second medal at 2023 Asian Games

Roshan Bilung
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Parul Chaudhary conquers 5000m gold, second medal at 2023 Asian Games

Parul Chaudhary conquers 5000m gold, second medal at 2023 Asian Games

By Shyam Vasudevan

Hangzhou (ESPN) – With 30 metres to go in the 5000m on Tuesday, Parul Chaudhary had already run 7970 meters, including the 3000m steeplechase yesterday, in under 24 hours. Japan’s Ririka Hironaka was several metres ahead of her. A lesser athlete might have faded.

But, as the lactic acid in her legs started kicking in, she got a second wind. And as Hironaka looked right, Parul overtook her from the left. All the Japanese saw was a blur of blue on the inside track. The look on the two athletes’ faces told the story: Utter disbelief on Hironaka’s face, sheer joy on Parul’s as she claimed gold.

READ MORE : Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh win gold; Jyothi Yarraji bags silver in athletics medal rush

What makes it more special is that this is Parul’s second medal of the Games: she’d won silver in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase on Tuesday, finishing second only to the world champion. And the steeplechase is a demanding race: 28 hurdles and seven water barriers.

Not just that, she became the first athlete in Asian Games history to medal in the women’s steeplechase as well as 5000m. She’s also the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games 5,000m gold.

When the schedule for the Asian Games were drawn, Paul knew the kind of conditioning she needed to be able to compete in both events. Training alongside her steeplechase counterpart Avinash Sable, she built herself to handle the rigors of two back-to-back races.

It was something that both worried her and excited her. The prospect of becoming a double Asian Games medallist had her smacking her lips.

“Everyone will know me if I win two medals at the Asian Games. That’s my main target: I am competing in two events, so I might as well medal in both,” she told ESPN a week before the Games.

“It’s important for me to medal in both events because then the juniors will have someone to look up to. Sudha [Singh] didi and Lalita [Babar] didi were there when I was a junor and now I want to set an example like them. I want the juniors to look up to me and say ‘I want to be like Parul.”

Parul Chaudhary cross the wining line. Photo : WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images

She’s done her bit to set the bar. This season she’s won the 3000m steeplechase gold at the Asian Athletics Championships and followed it up with a silver in the 5,000m. A month later, she ran a massive personal best at the World Championships and finished a creditable 11th. She’s reduced her steeplechase personal best by 23 seconds and her 5,000m personal best by 29 seconds. Both are, you would have guessed by now, national records.

Athletics Federation of India shared an video on their twitter/X handle where Parul giving thanks remarks to people of India and Government.

Off the field, she has one more ambition: to silence all the naysayers back home in Meerut who would tell her “girls should not wear shorts and compete in sports.” “This happens in every village. They pass comments if a girl is wearing shorts and running. Unfortunately, this is so common that it is considered normal. If not for athletics, gaon mein rehte to shaadi vagera ho jaati (smiles) [if I was staying in my village I would have been married]. That’s how it works in villages.”

“Earlier, they would say get married at 23 or 24. But now they say you are running so well, focus on that and we’ll look at marriage later.”

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Europe Union’s top diplomat dismisses concern about bloc’s long-term support for Ukraine

Rania Lampou
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Europe Union’s top diplomat dismisses concern about bloc’s long-term support for Ukraine

Europe Union’s top diplomat dismisses concern about bloc’s long-term support for Ukraine

By SUSIE BLANN

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Monday led a delegation of top diplomats on an unannounced visit to Kyiv and dismissed concerns about political tension in the bloc over its long-term support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

Though largely symbolic, the informal meeting between EU and Ukrainian diplomats demonstrated the EU’s “clear commitment” to Ukraine in its 19-month-long war, Josep Borrell said.

“The EU remains united in its support to Ukraine … I don’t see any member state folding on their engagement,” Borrell told a news conference in the Ukrainian capital.

READ MORE : Zelenskyy to speak before Canadian Parliament in his campaign to shore up support for Ukraine

The gathering was the first time EU foreign ministers have met outside the bloc — and in a war zone, according to Borrell.

The talks took place after the weekend election victory in EU member Slovakia of former Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose pro-Russian agenda has increased the question marks about the EU’s continued support for Kyiv.

The small eastern European country could bring more tension to the EU’s discussions on Ukraine, as has happened with Hungary’s at-times cool attitude toward Kyiv. Budapest has maintained close relations with Moscow and argued against supplying arms to Ukraine or providing it with economic assistance. Slovakia operates a key rail line used to transport western military hardware to Ukraine.

The EU, the United States and the United Kingdom have provided massive military and financial support to Ukraine, enabling it to stand up to the Kremlin’s attack. The assistance is crucial for Ukraine’s weakened economy and has so far been open-ended.

But uncertainty has set in over how long Kyiv’s allies will keep sending aid worth billions of dollars (euros).

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday reassured allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort, after Congress averted a government shutdown by adopting a short-term funding package that dropped assistance for Ukraine in its battle against Russia.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Biden had rallied more than 140 countries to condemn Russia’s invasion and built a coalition of more than 50 countries to provide aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia’s finances are deteriorating in part over sanctions.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell attends his press conference during informal EU Foreign Ministires meting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. Photo : Efram Luketsky/AP

“There is a strong, very strong international coalition behind Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre said. And if Russian President Vladimir Putin “thinks he can outlast us, he’s wrong.”

Many U.S. lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war grinds on.

Borrell, at his news conference, insisted the EU is devoted to “sustained engagement” with Ukraine. “Our resolve … is firm and will continue,” he said.

He ticked off a list of ongoing commitments the 27-nation EU has made and hopes to make, including proposed military aid of 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) next year, a target to train some 40,000 Ukrainian troops and possible joint arms industry ventures between EU and Ukrainian defense companies.

Other signs of the EU’s commitment include help with cyber defense, a demining program to enable Ukraine’s postwar recovery and the reform of Ukrainian law enforcement to crack down on corruption, Borrell said.

But the EU’s “strongest security commitment” for Ukraine is to grant it membership of the bloc, he said.

Ukraine is bent on becoming a member of the EU, and EU officials have encouraged that course, even though it could take years amid a war of attrition with no end in sight.

Zelenskyy’s 10-point plan, which demands Russia’s total withdrawal from Ukrainian soil, includes establishing a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes and building a European-Atlantic security architecture with guarantees for Ukraine.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said the only way to achieve peace is to “inflict an unequivocal military defeat on Russia” and then rebuild Ukraine.

“This path is achievable if the West commits to supporting Ukraine in the prolonged effort likely needed to walk down it,” the agency said in an assessment published Sunday.

___
Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Brussels, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Jill Lawless in Manchester, England, and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this story.

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Mexico’s president says 10,000 migrants a day head to US border; he blames US sanctions on Cuba

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Mexico’s president says 10,000 migrants a day head to US border; he blames US sanctions on Cuba

Mexico’s president says 10,000 migrants a day head to US border; he blames US sanctions on Cuba

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Monday that about 10,000 migrants per day are heading to the U.S. border, and he blamed U.S. economic sanctions on countries like Cuba and Venezuela for the influx.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the number of migrants reaching Mexico’s northern border with the United States was partly due to about 6,000 migrants per day crossing into Mexico from Guatemala over the past week.

He said many of those migrants are traveling on a route through Central America that includes the jungle-clad Darien Gap region between Panama and Colombia.

READ MORE : As migration surges in Americas, ‘funds simply aren’t there’ for humanitarian response, UN says

López Obrador seemed to join Colombian President Gustavo Petro in blaming the situation on U.S. sanctions on countries like Venezuela and Cuba, whose citizens make up a large part of the migrant flow. Experts say economic mismanagement and political repression are largely to blame for the tide of migrants leaving those countries.

The United States has sanctioned both governments over what it considers the suppression of democracy. López Obrador suggested the sanctions are because of ideological differences and not to uphold human rights, and said the “sanctions and blockades cannot be maintained.”

Petro’s government has been criticize d for doing little to stop the industrial-scale smuggling of migrants through Colombia. And López Obrador’s administration has done little to stop migrants from hopping freight trains toward the U.S. border, until the country’s largest railway line complained last month and stopped some trains itself, citing safety risks.

López Obrador also has slammed U.S. aid for Ukraine and said the United States should spend some of the money sent to Ukraine on economic development in Latin America.

“They (the U.S.) don’t do anything,” he said Friday. “It’s more, a lot more, what they authorize for the war in Ukraine than what they give to help with poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

He called Friday for the U.S. “to remove blockades and stop harassing independent and free countries.” He said there should be “an integrated plan for cooperation so the Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans wouldn’t be forced to emigrate.”

There has been a surge in Venezuelan migrants moving through Mexico in recent weeks in a bid to reach the U.S. border. Many of the migrants say deteriorating economic and political conditions in their home country led them to make the journey.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. File Photo

Mexico has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine but has adopted a policy of neutrality and has refused to participate in sanctions. Mexico also continues to buy 2020-vintage COVID vaccines from Russia and Cuba.

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Asian Games 2023 Updates : Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh win gold; Jyothi Yarraji bags silver in athletics medal rush

Shasi Kumar
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Asian Games 2023 Updates : Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh win gold; Jyothi Yarraji bags silver in athletics medal rush

Asian Games 2023 Updates : Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh win gold; Jyothi Yarraji bags silver in athletics medal rush

Sunday as India’s medal tally at Hangzhou surged up to 53! The Indian men’s badminton team and Aditi Ashok scripted Asian Games history.

Hangzhou(Olympics) –  India bagged 15 medals – three gold, seven silver and five bronze – on a dramatic eighth day at the Asian Games 2023 on Sunday, where athletics headlined the success.

Avinash Sable shattered the Asian Games record as he comfortably raced to India’s first men’s 3000m steeplechase gold medal at the continental meet. Tajinderpal Singh Toor, meanwhile, defended his men’s shot put crown at Hangzhou.

READ MORE : Undefeated Eagles remain work in progress following tough overtime win over Commanders

Jyothi Yarraji clinched a dramatic women’s 100m hurdles silver after China’s Wu Yanni, who originally finished second, was disqualified for a false start. Harmilan Bains in women’s 1500m and Murali Sreeshankar in men’s long jump also won silver. Ajay Kumar Saroj and Jinson Johnson were second and third in the men’s 1500m.

Discus thrower Seema Punia and heptathlon athlete Nandini Agasara settled for bronze medals.

History created in badminton, golf and shooting

The Indian men’s badminton team, despite losing a thrilling final against China, scripted Asian Games history, winning the first-ever men’s team silver.

Aditi Ashok also created history. She became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Asian Games golf tournament after claiming silver in the women’s individual event.

Shooters won three medals, one of each colour, to wrap up their Hangzhou campaign with a record 22 medals, the highest in shooting in a single edition for India.

Boxer Nikhat Zareen, on the other hand, settled for a bronze medal in her debut Asian Games campaign.

The Indian women’s hockey team were held to a 1-1 draw against five-time Asian Games champions Republic of Korea. Archery also kicked off today.

Badminton: India win first-ever men’s team silver

The Indian men’s badminton team claimed their maiden silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 after losing the final 3-2 against China. It is only India’s second silver medal at the Asian Games, following PV Sindhu’s singles silver at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. India had previously won three men’s team bronze medals.

Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty had handed India a 2-0 lead in the men’s team badminton gold medal match. However, Li Shifeng beat former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth in straight games while Liu Yuchen / Ou Xuanyi made light work of Dhruv Kapila / Sai Pratheek to level the tie. Weng Hongyang won the decider 21-12, 21-4 against Mithun Manjunathan as China defended their title.

Basketball: China hand India first 5×5 defeat

The Indian women’s basketball team lost 111-53 against China in the women’s Group A match at Hangzhou 2023. All four quarters showcased a dominant attacking performance by the Chinese team.

Li Yueru from China scored 25 points, finishing as the top-scorer in the match. Four other players from the host nation also registered double figures. For India, Pushpa Senthil Kumar and Sanjana Ramesh notched 14 points, each, while Shireen Limaye scored 12.

After finishing second in the Group A standings, India will make the women’s basketball quarter-finals at the Asian Games 2023.

Athletics: Jyothi Yarraji bags dramatic 100m hurdles silver

Ace Indian hurdler Jyothi Yarraji clocked 12.91 seconds in the women’s 100m hurdles final at the Asian Games 2023. The 24-year-old athlete was initially awarded the bronze medal. However, China’s Wu Yanni was disqualified after the race, upgrading Yarraji’s medal to a silver.

Jyothi Yarraji and Wu Yanni were under review for false starts. The race, meanwhile, continued without any disqualification but the post-race investigation saw Wu Yanni lose her silver medal.

Lin Yuwei from China clinched the gold with a personal best time of 12.74 seconds. Japan’s Yumi Tanaka, initially fourth, clocked 13.04 seconds and bagged the bronze medal.

Indian athlete Jyothi Yarraji won the silver medal in the women’s 100m hurdles at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. Photo: AFI

Athletics: Medals in long jump, heptathlon, discus throw

Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar bagged the silver medal with a best of 8.19m at the Asian Games 2023. The 24-year-old jumped just 0.3m short of the gold medal winner Wang Jianan from China. Sreeshankar also won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Jeswin Aldrin, meanwhile, finished eighth (7.76m) in the men’s long jump final at Hangzhou.

In the women’s heptathlon, Nandini Agasara, a U20 world championships finalist, won the 800m race with a personal best time of 2:15.33 and won the bronze medal after seven events. She notched personal best scores in the 200m race and javelin throw too. Swapna Barman fell just four points shy of her compatriot to finish fourth at the Asian Games 2023.

Seema Punia hurled a season-best 58.62m in the women’s discus throw final, winning the bronze medal at Hangzhou 2023. China’s Bin Feng (67.93) won gold with an Asian Games record. The 40-year-old Seema Punia completed a hat-trick Asian Games medals – gold in 2014, bronze in 2018 and bronze in 2023.

“I’m very, very happy. I was focusing on beating my personal best, but in the last leg I thought I’d better go for the gold. And then I saw that I broke the record. I’m very happy about that.” – Avinash Sable

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Undefeated Eagles remain work in progress following tough overtime win over Commanders

Roshan Bilung
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Undefeated Eagles remain work in progress following tough overtime win over Commanders

Undefeated Eagles remain work in progress following tough overtime win over Commanders

By Judy Battista

PHILADELPHIA (NFL)– This is how you know when bad things are happening to the Philadelphia Eagles: from underneath the stadium, you can hear fans wailing “Oh, nooooooo.” as they did when Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell, with one second remaining in regulation, found Jahan Dotson in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown.

This is how you know Eagles fans are not really all that concerned about their team’s early season perceived struggles: hundreds of them, most wearing their new Kelly green throwback jerseys, left minutes before the game was even decided by a 54-yard Jake Elliott field goal, heading to their cars or a post-game bar, when the Eagles were still gutting out an overtime victory to remain undefeated with a 34-31 win on Sunday.

READ MORE : Inter Miami Coach Martino Disputes Messi Injury Reports

The Commanders handed the Eagles their first loss of the season in 2022, and that they came so very close to doing it again was little consolation. Ron Rivera, who had earned the moniker Riverboat for his penchant for high rick plays, went the safe route, and opted to kick the extra point to send the game to overtime, rather than try for a two-point conversion that would have won the game outright. His team had already executed a perfect two-minute drill, slicing through the Eagles defense with one Sam Howell pass after another. The Eagles looked exhausted. Why not try for two and the win?

“They were gassed,” Rivera said of his own team. “It was a long-ass drive.”

It was that. And the resilience of the Commanders, and Howell in particular — who had been whipped by nine sacks from the Buffalo Bills last week — indicated that the NFC East might not be done with the Commanders, who are 2-2, quite so easily this season. Rivera noted that the Commanders had had some good drives this season, but to do it against the Eagles, with a game on the line, was impressive. And then he pounded his fist on the lectern.

“There’s no moral victories,” Rivera said. “We’re going to learn from it and I think this is going to help us going forward.”

For the first month of the season, the Eagles have followed each victory with a vow that they are still a work in progress. This victory won’t change that narrative, or the fretting of Eagles fans, or the — almost certainly correct — confidence among some that everything is going to be just fine, so fine that a traffic jam is a viable alternative to waiting for the Eagles to win. Most of the concern until Sunday was centered around Jalen Hurts, and the sputtering start to the passing game. Worry no more, Hurts threw for 319 yards, two touchdown and no interceptions. This was the best defensive front the Eagles had faced and they still ran for 104 yards. Even on Sunday, the Eagles had to be patient before the offense opened up, with Hurts starting the day with short passes on the opening drive and then hitting A.J. Brown on a 59-yard bomb and again for a 28-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

“I think tension and pressure build character,” Hurt said after the game. “We needed a game like this for us. I think a win like this does so much for the spirit of a team because winning is not easy. Winning is hard.”

The Eagles defense would likely agree. They were uneven, struggling early to get home on the pass rush (Howell was sacked five times), and allowing Howell to throw for 290 yards. This was the first game of the season in which they ceded more than 76 yards rushing (the Commanders had 107). Still, the Eagles held the Commanders without a point in the third quarter, when the Eagles mounted their rally, and they had the ultimate lucky break when Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin appeared to catch a pass from Howell on third down on the first possession of overtime. But McLaurin landed on Reed Blankenship’s left forearm — the bright red marks near his elbow attested to it — which prevented him from landing in bounds and extending the drive. Instead, the Commanders had to punt. And they never got the ball back.

Not much has been easy for the Eagles through four weeks. Hurts got called for intentional grounding on the game-winning drive, eliciting another long groan in the stadium, one of 11 penalties that nearly undid the Eagles. And it was a taunting call on Brown, following his late-game touchdown that gave the Eagles a brief lead, which gave the Commanders favorable field position to start their game-tying drive. But the Eagles need to be battle-tested for a brutal stretch of games that begins in three weeks after winnable games against the Rams and Jets. Then, starting in mid-October and stretching for nearly two months, are games against the Dolphins, Commanders again, Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, 49ers and the Cowboys again.

It is telling that after the game, Brown acknowledged he can’t make mistakes like the taunting penalty. It was Hurts who told him on the sideline that he can’t do it. That refining of the details is a form of progress that the Eagles are working on, too. They are far from a finished product, but the finish line for one of the league’s most talented teams is far off.

“I would love to blow a team out,” center Jason Kelce said. “But I’ll take it. A win’s a win. We’re not playing our best ball right now, but we’re still finding ways to win games.”

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Inter Miami Coach Martino Disputes Messi Injury Reports

Roshan Bilung
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Inter Miami Coach Martino Disputes Messi Injury Reports

Inter Miami Coach Martino Disputes Messi Injury Reports

(CTN News) – Inter Miami and New York City FC played to a dramatic 1-1 draw, with Messi in street clothes. The Herons equalized in stoppage time, and the latter effort hit the crossbar.

After a wild finish to the game that was delayed by storms around DRV PNK Stadium, Messi remained the major talking point.

Inter Miami Podcast (not affiliated with the team) reported that Messi had “sustained a 2 [centimeter] hamstring tear, which is likely to put him out for the remainder of the season.”

Gerardo “Tata” Martino dismissed the report after the match.

“Time will tell whether what I say is true or whether the person who wrote the report is correct,” Martino said in his post-match press conference. “That’s what I said. This will be seen game by game.

He will be evaluated. We’ll see if he’s on the bench, if he’s not available, whether against Chicago or FC Cincinnati. “He’s training separately from the group, but he’s feeling better and better.”

In Inter Miami recent training sessions, Messi was seen working to some extent, but how much he’s capable of remains a mystery. Messi was expected to return before the end of the MLS season, according to Martino.

READ MORE : Lionel Messi will miss another game for Inter Miami after leaving Toronto match early

Messi’s return still holds hope for Inter Miami

The single point wasn’t really what Messi’s side needed with the regular season winding down.

Miami finished the night one point closer to the top nine than it was when play started, despite the Eastern Conference playoff race being sloppy and slippery. Three of the seven teams competing for the final two spots were defeated on Saturday, including the Chicago Fire.

Is there bad news? On the games-won tiebreaker, the Herons are four points behind ninth-place CF Montréal. In just four games left, there is no room for error.

What’s good? It will only take a couple of blunders from teams that seem immune to positive streaks for Inter Miami to have an opening against Montréal and Chicago.

“We’ve played a lot of decisive games, not just mentally but physically,” said Martino. “Despite all our problems, we tried to win today with dignity. Three months ago, we were in last place, and these guys helped us catch up. Our expectations are high.”

Inter Miami has fought hard late in close games despite its relentless schedule. Following the draw with NYCFC, the club will play two more matches within the next six days. After Wednesday’s match against the Fire, the team will play Cincinnati on Saturday.

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A fire at a nightclub in Spain’s southeastern city of Murcia kills 13

Rania Lampou
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A fire at a nightclub in Spain’s southeastern city of Murcia kills 13

A fire at a nightclub in Spain’s southeastern city of Murcia kills 13

MADRID, Spain (AP) — A fire broke out in a nightclub in the southeastern Spanish city of Murcia on Sunday, killing 13 people and injuring several others, authorities said.

The fire started around 6 a.m. in the popular Teatre nightclub and quickly tore through the venue, according to Spain’s state news agency EFE.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

READ MORE : Tenerife wildfire : Tens of thousands evacuated as wildfire burns out of control on Spain’s Tenerife

A video shared by Murcia’s fire service showed firefighters trying to control flames inside the nightclub. Police and emergency services worked to secure the interior of the club to avoid a possible collapse and were trying to locate and identify the bodies.

Officials said the death toll could increase.

The city council declared three days of mourning with flags flown at half-staff on public buildings throughout the region of Murcia.

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Afghan Embassy closes in India citing a lack of diplomatic support and personnel

Shasi Kumar
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Afghan Embassy closes in India citing a lack of diplomatic support and personnel

Afghan Embassy closes in India citing a lack of diplomatic support and personnel

By ASHOK SHARMA

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Afghan Embassy said it is closing in New Delhi from Sunday due to a lack of diplomatic support in India and the absence of a recognized government in Kabul.

But it will continue to provide emergency consular services to Afghan nationals, it said in a statement.

“There has been a significant reduction in both personnel and resources available to us, making it increasingly challenging to continue operations,” the statement said.

READ MORE : Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing, official says

India has not recognized the Taliban government, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. It evacuated its own staff from Kabul ahead of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago and no longer has a diplomatic presence there.

The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi has been run by staff appointed by the previous government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, with permission from the Indian authorities.

There was no immediate comment by India’s External Affairs Ministry, but an official said last week that the Afghan ambassador left India several months ago and other Afghan diplomats have departed for third countries reportedly after receiving asylum.

India has said it will follow the lead of the United Nations in deciding whether to recognize the Taliban government.

The Afghan Embassy statement said that it wanted to reach an agreement with the Indian government to ensure that the interests of Afghans living, working, studying and doing business in India are safeguarded.

Afghans account for around one-third of the nearly 40,000 refugees registered in India, according to the U.N. refugee agency. But that figure excludes those who are not registered with the U.N.

Last year, India sent relief materials, including wheat, medicine, COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothes to Afghanistan to help with shortages there.

In June last year, India sent a team of officials to its embassy in Kabul.

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As migration surges in Americas, ‘funds simply aren’t there’ for humanitarian response, UN says

Mikey Peres
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As migration surges in Americas, ‘funds simply aren’t there’ for humanitarian response, UN says

As migration surges in Americas, ‘funds simply aren’t there’ for humanitarian response, UN says

By MEGAN JANETSK

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Countries in the Americas are reeling as the flow of migrants reaches historic levels, but international “funds simply aren’t there” for humanitarian needs, a United Nations official said.

Ugochi Daniels, deputy director of operations for the International Organization for Migration, said a larger and coordinated regional effort is necessary for a longer term solution to the steady movement of vulnerable people toward the United States.

But other global crises — among them the war in Ukraine, conflict in Sudan, Morocco’s earthquake — have pulled global funds away, Daniels said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

READ MORE : New York begins drying out after being stunned and soaked by record-breaking rainfall

The U.N. estimated that this year through August, it needed $55.2 billion to take on compounding global crises, but it received funds for only 71% of that.

A growing number of countries like Panama and Costa Rica are pleading for international aid in handling the flood of migrants, though Daniels would not say who should pay the tab.

“Obviously, it’s not an issue that can be solved by any one country,” she said. “The unprecedented flows in the region require attention — international attention.”

The flood of migrants to the Mexico-U.S. border has swelled in recent years, with recent days seeing thousands of people crossing daily just into Texas. In fiscal year 2017, U.S. authorities stopped migrants 310,531 times on the border, while in the first 11 months in fiscal year 2023, they recorded more than 1.8 million stops.

The crush of people — many of them Venezuelans — is overwhelming Latin American governments, many of which lack the funds to take care of their own citizens. On Wednesday, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves announced a state of emergency due to the number of people entering the country.

“We all know that there is a migration crisis throughout the entire American continent. We are fundamentally a country of passage for migrants, people who come, who pass through Costa Rica largely trying to reach the United States,” Chaves said.

Lack of aid dollars is not a new problem, and has been especially notable in the mass migration from Venezuela.

As more than 7.2 million people have fled the South American nation’s economic and political turmoil, the mass migration has received pennies on the dollar in aid compared to other global migration crises like Syria’s. For years, countries receiving the bulk of Venezuelan migrants like Colombia, Peru and Ecuador have pleaded for more support.

In September, a U.N. report said that $400 million was required to address the Venezuelan migration, but that the international body had received only a third of that.

“Aid dollars are clearly insufficient,” said Juan Pappier, deputy director of the Americas for Human Rights Watch. “But it’s also a reflection of the insufficient attention that Latin America gets, and the insufficient interest that Latin American governments have in properly addressing this issue.”

Pappier said the lack of aid to help pay for migrant services generated resentment and xenophobia in many South American nations, which led to more restrictive policies. Such policies pushed Venezuelans to travel north through routes like the Darien Gap, helping fuel the new flood of migration to the U.S., he said.

Analysts and Daniels note the international response has been defined by largely short-term patchwork measures.

Pressures by the U.S. on countries to keep migratory flows at bay and create new barriers has produced temporary pauses of arrivals to the border, but that has been followed by new surges, said Adam Isacson, an analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America.

“They’re just looking for new ways to keep pushing the numbers down for as long as they can,” Isacson said. “It’s not permanent, it’s super super short term.”

Daniels said governments really need to address the root causes of migration, such as poverty, corruption, crime and political repression.

But in the meantime, she said, instead of putting up restrictions, governments should do more to help migrants, such as creating work programs. She also urged countries to provide legal pathways for migrants to travel, so they don’t have to turn to smugglers, which she said rake in between $7 billion and $10 billion a year annually just on the U.S.-Mexico border.

She urged countries to resolve their squabbling over the flood of migrants, and praised Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for announcing this week that he would convene a meeting of 10 regional nations to discuss the recent wave of migrants.

“I’ve heard some people talking about migration control, closing borders, and we know that it doesn’t work. We know that what people will do is still find a way to move, but it will be more risky and they’ll be more vulnerable,” Daniels said. “You can’t control migration; you can manage it.”

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New York begins drying out after being stunned and soaked by record-breaking rainfall

Kyung An
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New York begins drying out after being stunned and soaked by record-breaking rainfall

New York begins drying out after being stunned and soaked by record-breaking rainfall

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ, BOBBY CAINA CALVAN AND JENNIFER PELTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City began drying out Saturday after being soaked by one of its wettest days in decades, as city dwellers dried out basements and traffic resumed on highways, subways and airports that were temporarily shuttered by Friday’s severe rainfall.

Record rainfall — more than 8.65 inches (21.97 centimeters) — fell at John F. Kennedy International Airport, surpassing the record for any September day set during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.

Parts of Brooklyn saw more than 7.25 inches (18.41 centimeters), with at least one spot recording 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) in a single hour, turning some streets into knee-deep canals and stranding drivers on highways.

READ MORE : Climate change made storm that devastated Libya far more likely and intense, scientists say

More rain was expected Saturday but the worst was over, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Saturday morning during a briefing at a transportation control center in Manhattan.

“We’ve seen a whole lot of rainfall in a very short period of time,” the governor said. “But the good news is that the storm will pass, and we should see some clearing of waterways today and tonight.”

The deluge came two years after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped record-breaking rain on the Northeast and killed at least 13 people in New York City, mostly in flooded basement apartments. Although no deaths or severe injuries have been reported, Friday’s storm stirred frightening memories.

Ida killed three of Joy Wong’s neighbors, including a toddler. And on Friday, water began lapping against the front door of her building in Woodside, Queens.

Cars move along Brooklyn Bridge under heavy rain on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023 in Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo: Andres Kudacki/ AP

“I was so worried,” she said, explaining it became too dangerous to leave. “Outside was like a lake, like an ocean.”

Within minutes, water filled the building’s basement nearly to the ceiling. After the family’s deaths in 2021, the basement was turned into a recreation room. It is now destroyed.

City officials received reports of six flooded basement apartments Friday, but all occupants got out safely.

Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams declared states of emergency and urged people to stay put if possible.

Virtually every subway line was at least partly suspended, rerouted or running with delays. Metro-North commuter rail service from Manhattan was suspended for much of the day but began resuming by evening. The Long Island Rail Road was snarled, 44 of the city’s 3,500 buses became stranded and bus service was disrupted citywide, transit officials said.

Some service interruptions continued Saturday.

Traffic hit a standstill earlier in the day on a stretch of the FDR Drive, a major artery along Manhattan’s east side. With water above car tires, some drivers abandoned their vehicles.

On a street in Brooklyn’s South Williamsburg neighborhood, workers were up to their knees in water as they tried to unclog a storm drain while cardboard and other debris floated by. Some people arranged milk crates and wooden boards to cross flooded sidewalks.

Flights into LaGuardia were briefly halted in the morning, and then delayed, because of water in the refueling area. Flooding also forced the closure of one of the airport’s three terminals for several hours. Terminal A resumed normal operations around 8 p.m.

Hoboken, New Jersey, and other cities and towns near New York City also experienced flooding.

Why so much rain? The remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia over the Atlantic Ocean combined with a mid-latitude system arriving from the west, at a time of year when conditions coming off the ocean are particularly juicy for storms, National Weather Service meteorologist Ross Dickman said. This combination storm parked itself over New York for 12 hours.

The weather service had warned of 3 to 5 inches (7.5 to 13 centimeters) of rain and told emergency managers to expect more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) in some places, Dickman said.

The deluge came less than three months after a storm caused deadly floods in New York’s Hudson Valley and swamped Vermont’s capital, Montpelier.

As the planet warms, storms are forming in a hotter atmosphere that can hold more moisture, making extreme rainfall more frequent, according to atmospheric scientists.

In the case of Friday’s storm, nearby ocean temperatures were below normal and air temperatures weren’t too hot. Still, it became the third time in two years that rain fell at rates near 2 inches (5 centimeters) per hour in Central Park, which is unusual, Columbia University climate scientist Adam Sobel said.

The park recorded 5.8 inches (14.73 centimeters) of rain by nightfall Friday.

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Associated Press journalists Deepti Hajela, Joe Frederick and Karen Matthews in New York, Anthony Izaguirre in Albany and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed.

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For more AP coverage of climate change: https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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