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(WASHINGTON) — As a gang-led rebellion continues to surge through Haiti, the U.S. on Wednesday orchestrated two helicopter airlifts from Port-au-Prince — evacuating more than 30 stranded Americans to the Dominican Republic, according to the State Department.

After officials spent days weighing escape routes for citizens trapped in the perilous capital city, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel announced in a briefing that an operation involving government-chartered helicopters would get underway in the hours ahead, with multiple flights planned to help as many people depart as possible.

“Of course, the situation on the ground is one of the biggest factors into determining the frequency at which we can do this,” Patel said.

Another official later said that the State Department intends to facilitate the departure of roughly 30 Americans via two helicopter flights each day through the duration of the mission and that government personnel would be on hand in the Dominican Republic to help individuals book commercial travel back to the U.S upon landing.

But this official cautioned that the department’s ability to continue running the flights would depend on security conditions in Haiti and the availability of commercial charters, as well as ongoing demand for evacuations.

Patel said in Wednesday’s briefing that the number of Americans that had reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti through its crisis intake form was approaching 1,600, but that many had not asked for help departing the country.

For those who do wish to leave, there are few viable options, according to officials. Gangs have laid siege to Port-au-Prince’s airport, and warfare between the criminal groups, the country’s beleaguered authorities and bands of vigilantes have made traveling by road treacherous.

An official said that members of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service are working with the Department of Defense to provide security for departing citizens and the helicopter landing zone — which is very near the embassy, according to a defense official — but embassy security alerts have repeatedly cautioned Americans in Haiti that they must make their own way to departure points, instructing individuals to “assess your own safety when deciding whether to travel.”

The U.S. on Sunday organized a charter flight from Cap-Haïten, a city in northern Haiti, that brought approximately 30 Americans to Miami, and State Department officials say they are continuing to evaluate other departure options from the region.

Republican politicians and private companies have also organized their own evacuations. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state chartered a flight from Haiti that landed in Orlando late Wednesday.

Many fear that the already dismal conditions in the country are only becoming more dire. UNICEF said on Tuesday that the country’s health care system is on the verge of collapse, and aid groups say the latest wave of violence has made reaching vulnerable populations impossible.

The Biden administration has allocated more than $50 million in humanitarian assistance for Haiti in recent days and is counting on a multinational security force led by Kenya to restore order to the country.

However, Kenyan officials say they will only consider launching that force when Haiti installs a new leader.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Haitian stakeholders and Caribbean leaders struck an agreement early last week to launch a transitional council to appoint an interim prime minister.

U.S. officials initially anticipated that process would take up to 48 hours, but the council has yet to take shape — further pushing off prospects for international intervention.

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(CARTAGENA, Colombia) — Centuries after the Spanish galleon ship San José sunk in Colombian waters and nearly a decade after it was initially discovered, the estimated $17 billion shipwreck is set to be recovered as soon as April, according to officials.

“For the first time in history, a model of comprehensive public management of the archaeological site and asset of cultural interest, protected by regulations and public missionality, is advanced,” the Colombian government said in a press release, which was translated, Tuesday.

The 150-foot-long, 64-gun, three-masted galleon ship’s treasure is comprised of 200 tons of silver and emeralds, 11 million gold coins, an intact Chinese dinner service and porcelain pottery, according to Colombian Navy divers’ findings in June 2022.

In 2015, when the wreck was initially rediscovered, former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a news conference, “This is the most valuable treasure that has been found in the history of humanity.” Santos also paid tribute to the 600 people who were onboard the ship during the wreck.

Current Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered the recovery to be coordinated by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge, the National Navy’s General Maritime Directorate and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, according to the release.

The San José was sunk in 1708 by British warships while it was returning to Spain, with a cargo full of treasure meant to help fund The War of the Spanish Succession, a European conflict that spanned from 1701 to 1714.

The shipwreck’s deep-sea location, which remained a mystery until 2015, is near Cartagena, a port city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, Colombian officials said in the press release.

In December 2015, former president Santos announced the discovery of the San José galleon, which launched an international debate over the rightful owner of the ship’s bounty.

Colombia, Spain, Bolivian Indigenous groups and an American salvage company have all attempted to take legal ownership of the historical wreck, which is now estimated to be worth $17 billion, according to court documents from Colombia’s National Legal Defense Agency, obtained by Business Insider in 2023.

A U.S. salvage company, Sea Search Armada (SSA), claimed they discovered the location of the San José in 1981 and attempted to take legal ownership against Colombia for the recovery of the ship.

However, a U.S. court declared the galleon the property of the Colombian state in 2011, according to court documents.

In 2018, UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, intervened when the Colombian government attempted to auction some of the San José’s artifacts to fund the recovery costs.

“Allowing the commercial exploitation of Colombia’s cultural heritage goes against the best scientific standards and international ethical principles as laid down especially in the UNESCO Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention,” a letter from the cultural agency to Colombian Culture Minister Mariana Garces Cordoba said.

In May 2022, the official decision was made to keep the “invaluable cultural heritage of Colombians managed under the figure of a protected archaeological area of ​​the national order,” according to the release.

In the 316 years since the San José sunk, the ship has remained untouched aside from natural ocean wear and tear.

“So far, the entire discovery of the Galeón San José Asset of Cultural Interest and its archaeological evidence have been deposited without any variation, other than that produced by the marine dynamics themselves (currents and fauna), with no evidence of external interventions,” according to the release.

The Colombian State will invest 17,962 million pesos ($1,073,646) in the recovery process, officials say.

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(NEW YORK) — A private U.S. advisory firm of former senior American military, CIA and humanitarian officials is proposing to operate the anticipated daily deployment of international aid ships from Cyprus to the Gaza coast, in a plan that would increase the American presence in the volatile region.

The proposal, pitched by the firm Fogbow with the hope that foreign donors will sign on in meetings this week, is being pursued separately from a U.S. military effort to build a giant pier off Gaza to enable the delivery of aid.

While such a plan would put more Americans operating near Gaza, Fogbow’s effort calls for its team to stay offshore, providing primarily logistics and other support from nearby sites.

“Right now, the plan is to have no Americans on the ground. But there will be former military and former humanitarian officials advising at each level,” said the person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the effort – coined the “Blue Beach Plan” — hadn’t been publicly announced.

Representatives from potential donor countries were scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday in Nicosia, Cyprus, to discuss details, the person said.

A leading global authority warned this week that famine was “imminent” in north Gaza in the wake of Israel’s military operations against Hamas. U.S. officials have pressed the Israeli government to open up ground checkpoints and allow aid trucks to enter Gaza. But convoys are still being denied access or slowed down as Israel says they want to ensure the cargo doesn’t help Hamas fighters.

With few options, the U.S. in recent weeks joined other countries in air dropping aid — pushing parachute-strapped pallets out the backs of C-130 military planes — in an effort officials acknowledge is not nearly as efficient as a ground convoy.

President Joe Biden this month announced he would try to push more aid through by opening up a maritime aid corridor and deployed some 1,000 troops to construct a pier that would help humanitarian ships off load supplies. The military pier, however, is still some two months away from becoming operational.

U.S. officials said this week that the government still hasn’t decided which organizations it might rely on to help move the humanitarian aid from its pier, including providing transportation to shore, security and distribution. Biden has insisted that U.S. troops not operate from the ground in Gaza, and the expectation is that Army, Navy and Marines will be working some three to five miles from the coast.

With the U.S. pier still weeks away, international aid groups have launched their own efforts using donations. Earlier this week, a barge operated by the Spanish aid group Open Arms landed with food from World Central Kitchen, a charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.

According to a statement provided by the World Central Kitchen, aid workers built their own jetty in Gaza using nearby rubble from bombed buildings to unload the cargo. The group said their team is now prepared to send a second maritime shipment that will include food and heavy machinery to expedite the offloading process.

The idea pitched by Fogbow would dramatically expand these kinds of operations, the person familiar with Fogbow’s plan said, allowing more aid ships from the World Central Kitchen and elsewhere to access the coast weeks before the US military pier is up and running.

Private contractors operating in war zones aren’t uncommon, although US military officials grew wary of the idea following deadly shootings of civilians involving security contractors in the Iraq war.

Fogbow advisers, however, would not be involved in any security operations, and they would not work from the ground in Gaza. According to the plan, the group would rely on a maritime company from Cyprus to deliver supplies to the beach and United Nations organizations to distribute it.

Fogbow is led by retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Sam Mundy and Mick Mulroy, a former Pentagon and CIA official and now an ABC News contributor, as well as by Chris Hylslop, a retired United Nations humanitarian official.

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(NEW YORK) — The United States has fallen eight spots and is no longer in the top 20 happiest countries in the world, falling behind countries like Canada, Israel, Kuwait, Lithuania and the United Arab Emirates, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report released by Gallup and its partners.

The new report, which was released on Wednesday, shows that the top 10 happiest countries in the world remain largely unchanged compared to the 2023 report, but that there has been a lot of change when it comes to the top 20.

“Costa Rica and Kuwait are both new entrants to the top 20, at positions 12 and 13,” the report states. “The continuing convergence in happiness levels between the two sides of Europe led last year to Czechia and Lithuania being in the top twenty, nearly joined now by Slovenia in 21st place. The new entrants are matched by the departures of the United States and Germany from the top 20, dropping from 15 and 16 last year to 23 and 24 this year.”

The list of the world’s happiest countries no longer includes any of the world’s largest countries.

“In the top ten countries only the Netherlands and Australia have populations over 15 million,” according to the report. “In the whole of the top twenty, only Canada and the United Kingdom have populations over 30 million.”

One of the main reasons for the United States dropping out of the top 20 is the overall unhappiness of younger people, according to the report.

“For the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for the young, so much so that the young are now, in 2021-2023, the least happy age group,” according to the new report. “This is a big change from 2006-2010, when the young were happier than those in the midlife groups, and about as happy as those aged 60 and over. For the young, the happiness drop was about three-quarters of a point, and greater for females than males.”

The 2024 World Happiness Report goes on to explain another reason for such a heavy drop is the widespread concern about an “emerging epidemic of loneliness, and about the consequences of loneliness for mental and physical health.”

“Although overall levels of loneliness are not unduly high in global terms, there is a significantly different pattern across the generations,” the report says. “Loneliness is almost twice as high among the Millennials than among those born before 1965. Millennials also feel less socially supported than Boomers in those countries, another place in which these countries look different from the rest of the world. This is despite the fact that actual social connections are much more frequent for Millennials than Boomers, and about as frequent as for Generation X.”

The results are based on self-assessments from people in more than 140 countries who are answering questions regarding their overall satisfaction with their lives. The study also takes into account six key variables which contribute to explaining life evaluations, including GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and corruption.

Then to help understand the differences seen between countries, they look at six factors: the nation’s healthy life expectancy, economy (GDP per capita), levels of corruption, social support, generosity and freedom.

The top 10 countries overall this year are Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, Netherlands Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia.

The countries that fared the worst and were least happy this year are Zambia, Eswatini, Malawi, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Congo (Kinshasa), Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan, which was listed as the least happy by a sizeable margin.

The report, which was published on Wednesday, was released to coincide with the U.N.’s International Day of Happiness which is celebrated on March 20 every year to promote happiness, well-being and a more compassionate world.

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(NEW YORK) — The recent identification of fossils from a heavily armored ancient crocodile ancestor species, known as aetosaurs, provides a glimpse into our world 215 million years ago.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and published in the journal The Anatomical Record earlier this year, announces a new aetosaur species: Garzapelta muelleri.

Aetosaurs are a species likened to modern crocodiles that lived during the Triassic Period, 229 million to 200 million years ago, which pre-dates the Jurassic Period, according to researchers, who further note aetosaur fossils have been discovered on every continent except Antarctica and Australia.

Garzapelta muelleri’s fossilized dorsal carapace – the hard, armored plating that covered its back – is 70% complete, according to researchers, with major pieces from the neck and shoulder region to the end of its tail intact.

William Reyes, a doctoral student at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences who led the study, published in January, told Phys.org on Monday that the findings are remarkable because “Usually, you find very limited material.”

The exterior of Garzapelta’s skeleton is called the osteoderm, which is comprised of rock-hard plates and curved spikes both made of bone, according to the study.

“Take a crocodile from modern day, and turn it into an armadillo,” Reyes told the publication, describing the ancient creature.

The study determined that Garzapelta’s fossils date back 215 million years and that the species was largely omnivorous, contradictory to its modern cousin, the carnivorous crocodile.

The name Garzapelta muelleri is a nod to Garza County in northwest Texas, where the fossil was discovered, while “pelta” is the Latin word for shield, to signify the armor-like shell of the species. The second half of the name, muelleri, is a nod to Bill Mueller, the paleontologist who initially discovered the aetosaur’s fossilized skeleton.

To determine that Garzapelta is, in fact, a new species of aetosaur, researchers compared the skeleton with those of similar ancient aetosaurs.

“The carapace of G. muelleri exhibits a striking degree of similarity between that of the paratypothoracin Rioarribasuchus chamaensis and desmatosuchins,” researchers said in the study.

However, the unique qualities of Garzapelta’s skeleton, from the formation of the osteoderm plates to the distinct markings and ridges on the species’ bones, make it distinctly different from its aetosaur relatives, according to the study.

“Convergence of the osteoderms across distantly related aetosaurs has been noted before, but the carapace of Garzapelta muelleri is the best example of it and shows to what extent it can happen and the problems it causes in our phylogenetic analyses,” Reyes told Phys.org.

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(LONDON) — For the second time in less than two weeks, a global photo agency has issued an editing notice on a royal family photo shared by Kate, the Princess of Wales.

Getty Images added an editor’s note Tuesday on a photo that was taken by Kate in 2022 of the late Queen Elizabeth II and some of her great-grandchildren.

Last April, Kensington Palace shared the photo on the social media accounts of Kate and her husband Prince William to mark what would have been the queen’s 97th birthday.

Credit for the photo was given to Kate.

In its editor’s note Tuesday, Getty Images says the photo “has been digitally enhanced at source.”

The palace has not commented on the addition of the editor’s note to Kate’s photo of the late queen.

The notice from the photo agency comes just over one week after multiple global news agencies, including Getty Images, retracted a photo of Kate with the three children she shares with William over concerns it was “manipulated.”

In a statement to ABC News at the time, the AP said it had “retracted the image because at closer inspection, it appears that the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards. The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”

The photo was shared on William and Kate’s social media accounts to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K. Credit for the photo was given to William, and it was shared along with a message from Kate thanking people for their “continued support” as she recovers from abdominal surgery.

The day after the photo was retracted, Kate issued a public apology for any “confusion” caused by the photo.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said in a statement posted on social media. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”

The palace has not commented on the photo controversy.

Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News his analysis of the photo of Kate with her children shows “minor manipulation,” and no evidence it is an AI-generated photo.

“I think most likely it is either some bad photoshop to, for example, remove a stain on the sweater, or is the result of on-camera photo compositing that combines multiple photos together to get a photo where everyone is smiling,” Farid said. “Either way, I think it is unlikely that this is anything more than a relatively minor photo manipulation.”

Still, the retraction of the photo added to a growing credibility issue for the royal family.

Last week, Phil Chetwynd, global news director at Agence France-Presse, told BBC Radio that in light of the photo editing, he no longer considers Kensington Palace to be a trusted source.

“No, absolutely not,” Chetwynd said. “Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source, the bar is raised.”

The photo was the first time Kate had been seen in an official capacity since December, when she joined the royal family for a Christmas Day church service.

In mid-January, the palace announced Kate had undergone a “planned abdominal surgery” and would be out of the public eye until after Easter.

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(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong’s legislature has unanimously passed a strict security law, 11 days after it was tabled in an unusually fast turnaround.

Authorities in Hong Kong have argued that the law is necessary to uphold stability and “plug any holes” left by the sweeping National Security Law, which was imposed by China following widespread protests in 2019.

Article 23 was mandated under Hong Kong’s mini constitution, but plans to enact it in 2003 were shelved after mass protests. This time, Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, made it clear the government wanted it passed with “full speed.” Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have spent the last few years dismantling political opposition and stacking the legislature with only “patriots” loyal to Beijing.

A lengthy bill that ran more than 200 pages, Article 23 expands on the already broadly worded National Security Law.

Article 23 also targets new offenses like insurrection and external interference. Lee hailed its passage as a “historic moment,” adding that the bill targets “potential sabotage and undercurrents that try to create troubles.” Penalties include life sentences.

There are fears, however, the new security law could further erode Hong Kong’s already diminished freedoms and semi-autonomy.

Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a coalition of western lawmakers, released a statement criticizing the passage of the Article 23 law, saying, “Aside from representing a disastrous deterioration in Hong Kong’s already diminished freedoms, it fundamentally changes the business environment.”

It may also have a lasting impact on the city’s competitive edge, impacting investor appetite for a city once viewed as a safe investment gateway to mainland China.

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(LONDON) — Kate, the princess of Wales, is seen in a new video with Prince William as the pair visited a local farm shop over the weekend in Windsor, England.

The video, newly obtained by TMZ and shared on Monday, is the first video footage the public has seen of Kate since she was hospitalized in mid-January for what Kensington Palace described at the time as planned abdominal surgery. It is also only the third time Kate has been seen in public since late December as questions continue to swirl online about her health and well-being.

The U.K.’s The Sun newspaper was the first to report that Kate was seen over the weekend looking “happy, relaxed and healthy” as she went about her day-to-day life in Windsor, where she and William live with their three children, Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte.

In addition to visiting a local farm shop together, Kate and William also reportedly watched their three kids play sports, according to The Sun.

Since January, Kate’s extended absence from public duties has caused rumors to swirl online about her health and her marriage to William.

Those rumors only compounded after a photo William and Kate shared on social media on Mother’s Day in the U.K. was later retracted by global news agencies due to concerns over “manipulation.”

Kate later issued a statement on social media apologizing for the “confusion” caused by the photo.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she said in a statement. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”

Most royal experts and visual verification experts agreed the editing in Kate’s Mother’s Day photo seems minor, likely nothing more than an effort by a mom to make herself and her kids look as good as possible.

The fallout from the photo’s retraction, however, has left parts of the news media and the public questioning the reliability of the royal family.

Last week, a leader of one of the news agencies that retracted the photo, Agence France-Presse, told BBC News Radio that Kensington Palace is no longer considered a trusted source for the agency.

“No, absolutely not,” said Phil Chetwynd, global news director at AFP. “Like with anything, when you’re let down by a source, the bar is raised.”

According to Chetwynd, issuing a “kill notice” for a photograph based on manipulation is a very rare occurrence.

Kensington Palace has not commented on the photo beyond the apology issued by Kate.

When Kate was hospitalized in January, the palace said she was not expected to resume public duties until after Easter.

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(NEW YORK) — Famine is “imminent” in northern Gaza, as the entire population of the strip experiences high levels of food insecurity amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to a report released Monday.

The report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative said a famine in the north of the strip may occur between mid-March and the end of May unless an immediate cease-fire occurs so that essential food and supplies can be delivered consistently to Gazans.

“The conditions necessary to prevent famine have not been met and the latest evidence confirms that famine is imminent in the northern governorates,” the report said.

The report projects that northern Gaza will be classified as Phase 5, the highest stage of food insecurity equivalent to famine levels of starvation, in the next month and a half. Additionally, 70% of the remaining population in the north, or about 210,000 Gazans, will experience “catastrophic” levels of hunger, according to the report.

“Continued conflict and the near-complete lack of access to the northern governorates for humanitarian organizations and commercial trucks will likely compound heightened vulnerabilities and extremely limited food availability, access and utilization, as well as access to health care, water and sanitation,” according to the report.

Currently, the IPC classifies governorates in the south of Gaza, including Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, in its Phase 4 category, meaning very high levels of malnutrition and only able to mitigate a lack of food through emergency strategies or a liquidation of assets.

However, the IPC says that in a worst-case scenario, the three governorates face a risk of famine through July 2024.

The report also found that the entire population of the Gaza Strip, about 2.23 million people, is facing high levels of food insecurity and, in the most likely scenario, an estimated 1.11 million people — half of the population — will be experiencing famine levels of hunger by mid-July. This is an increase from the 530,000 people who were predicted to experience this level of food insecurity in a previous IPC analysis, according to the report.

Multiple United Nations organizations have warned since January that more than half the population in Gaza faces “catastrophic hunger” — especially northern Gaza, which the U.N. says has been largely cut off for months now. Some people in the north of the strip said they have been forced to eat bird feed in place of flour to stave off starvation.

The IPC report comes on the heels of a statement from the nonprofit organization CARE released Friday stating babies and toddlers in northern Gaza are dying from starvation.

At least 27 individuals have died from severe acute malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza, according to CARE. Of those individuals, 23 were children and the youngest was just a few days old, the organization said.

An analysis from CARE and its partner organization Juzoor looking at data from 1,329 children aged 2 and younger in northern Gaza showed children categorized as having moderate or severe malnutrition nearly doubled in February compared to January, from 16% to 29%.

“No one is suffering more in this war than those who have yet to utter their first word,” Hiba Tibi, country director for CARE in the West Bank and Gaza, said in a press release.

“This war is causing an entire generation of children to lose their childhood and future. Imagine watching your baby perish in front of your eyes, simply because you cannot get her the food she needs? Imagine hearing your children’s cries for bread, but there is nothing you can give them? The situation is simply unbearable, unjustifiable and needs to stop immediately,” Tibi said.

Israel, with the support of Egypt, has restricted the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza since the terrorist group Hamas came to power in 2007.

Those restrictions tightened following Hamas’ surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea. More than 1,200 people in Israel were killed and 253 others were taken hostage by Hamas, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has said it’s determined to destroy Hamas and plans to invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where it says Hamas leaders are hiding and where Israeli officials believe some of the hostages are being kept in tunnels.

More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, amid Israel’s ongoing ground operations and aerial bombardment of the strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has previously said Israel doesn’t provide enough authorization to deliver sufficient aid and, even when it does give authorization, the fighting makes it difficult to deliver that aid.

Israeli officials have said Hamas steals aid once it enters Gaza and claim looting is also a problem. Israel continues to deny all accusations that it isn’t letting enough aid into Gaza, and encourages other countries to send in aid, with Israeli officials saying the U.N., its partners and other aid agencies have created logistical challenges, resulting in a bottleneck. The U.N. disputes these claims.

The head of the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs said last week there is “no limit on the amount of aid that can enter into Gaza.”

According to local media outlets, aid trucks reached areas of northern Gaza, including Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, over the weekend — the first time in four months.

However, several U.N. agencies, including UNRWA and UNICEF, have called for a cease-fire so more aid can be delivered.

“Children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in #Gaza. Famine is looming. There is no time to waste,” the UNRWA wrote in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday.

ABC News’ Nasser Atta contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — President Vladimir Putin was handed a fifth term in Russia’s heavily stage-managed presidential election on Sunday in a vote where no real competition was permitted and with virtually all leading opposition figures jailed, in exile or dead.

The election, held over three days, gave Putin over 87% of the vote, extending his already 24-year rule until at least 2030 – a stratospheric result that recalled the illusionary elections of the Soviet Union or those of other dictatorships, such as North Korea or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

It was the highest result ever for Putin and underlined the extent that dissent is no longer acceptable to the Kremlin, amid Russia’s rapid turn deeper into dictatorship since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Election officials also claimed the turnout was 77%, the highest in modern Russian history.

Putin on Monday evening led a victory rally in Red Square timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. A crowd of several thousand cheered Putin as he walked on stage, waving Russian flags and chanting “Russia.” Putin congratulated them on the annexation and expressed satisfaction that Donbas and other areas of southeastern Ukraine were also now under Russian control.

“Hail Russia!” Putin shouted to the crowd.

Many who were present at similar previous rallies have described being bussed in and pressured by their state employers to attend. Parts of central Moscow were choked with lines of buses on Monday ahead of the rally, according to ABC reporters there.

Western countries denounced the election as neither free nor fair, with the European Union saying it had violated the basic rights of Russians.

“The result was clearly set beforehand,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s deputy spokeswoman, Christiane Hoffmann, reportedly told journalists in Berlin. “Russia is a dictatorship and is ruled by Putin in an authoritarian way.”

Similarly, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said “the elections are obviously not free nor fair, given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”

However, the leaders of several key non-Western countries and Russian allies, including India and China, quickly congratulated Putin.

The three candidates permitted to run against Putin, each of whom received less than 5% of the vote, were vetted by the Kremlin. Anti-war candidates were blocked from the ballot and the election was held amid a worsening crackdown that has seen even minor public expressions of dissent punished with fines and prison sentences.

Despite the Kremlin’s orchestrated efforts to present the appearance of near-total support for Putin, thousands of Russians appeared to heed a call from the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny to demonstrate around the elections. Navalny before his death in prison last month urged people to gather at the same time outside polling stations at midday on Sunday.

The protest action, called “High Noon Against Putin,” was intended to show that significant numbers of Russians still oppose Putin, regardless of the official result. People were told to vote for any candidate other than Putin, or to spoil their ballots.

Thousands of people did come out at noon, forming long lines in cities across Russia, as well as at embassies in foreign capitals where overseas voting was held.

Some of the longest lines formed in capitals where large numbers of Russians have emigrated since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In London, a line stretched roughly a mile from the Russian embassy, with some people holding placards condemning Putin and the war, and blasting protest songs at the embassy building.

In Berlin, Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, joined the line outside the embassy, waiting approximately six hours to vote, meeting with and embracing supporters there. Afterward, she told reporters she had written her husband’s name on her ballot.

In Russia, authorities had warned people they could face arrest for taking part in the demonstrations. Russia’s government on Monday dismissed them, claiming implausibly that the unusually long lines were due to people waiting to vote for Putin. Appearing at a press conference on Sunday night after declaring victory, Putin himself appeared to troll the protestors, praising the opposition for telling people to vote.

“Well done,” Putin said. “But as far as I understand it didn’t have any effect.”

Golos, an independent Russian NGO that for years has sought to monitor elections and that has been banned for its efforts, denounced the election as an “imitation,” saying every basic element of a free vote had been violated.

“We have never seen a presidential campaign that so much didn’t correspondent to constitutional standards,” the group said in a statement. “In essence the basic articles of Russia’s constitution guaranteeing political rights and freedoms were not operating.”

Authorities made it impossible to monitor voting, Golos wrote, and also had full control over ballot counting. Even to run again, Putin had changed Russia’s constitution in 2020 to circumvent a two-term limit, it noted.

Golos’ chairman, Grigory Melkonyants, remains in jail in Russia after being arrested last August for allegedly associating with what the government calls an “undesirable” organization.

The head of Russia’s elections commission, Ella Pamfilova, claimed Sunday there had been virtually no irregularities in Sunday’s polling and that none of the total results from 90,000 polling stations had been disqualified, which she called “unprecedented.”

Voting was also held in occupied areas of Ukraine, in violation of international law, with videos showing voting taking place in the presence of armed Russian troops.

Putin has hailed the election as demonstrating a clear mandate for his war in Ukraine. In his victory speech on Sunday, he said that he did not exclude that Russia would need to create a “sanitary cordon” on Ukrainian territory, perhaps even including the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, that borders Russia.

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