BWINDI, Uganda (AP) — In the tangled greenery of a Ugandan national park, mountain gorillas sit among the leaves, calmly carrying on as tourists trek into their forest home.
Many gorilla families are used to people, but while their population grows, the forest available to them does not.
Communities have planted trees for medicine, firewood and crafts along the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in a bid to reduce pressure on gorilla habitats.
The idea is simple: If residents can find the trees they need outside the park, they will have less reason to cut them inside the forest.
Bwindi’s forest is home to about 450 mountain gorillas, close to half the world’s remaining population. A 2018 survey put the global population above 1,000, a significant recovery for a subspecies that once faced possible extinction.
“Being a neighbor to the park, I understand that the number of gorillas is increasing, but the forest habitat is not increasing,” said Christina Katushabe, founder of Change a Life Bwindi.
Her organization supplies useful trees, restores degraded land while improving biodiversity. Katushabe said members of the Batwa, an Indigenous community that has helped guide the project, select species used for medicine, timber and firewood.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority distributes seedlings, including medicinal trees that people might otherwise seek inside the park.
Joseph Muhindo, an assistant tourism and hospitality officer with the authority, said residents can harvest what they need in their communities “without tampering with the habitat for the gorillas.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies mountain gorillas as endangered, an improvement from their earlier designation as critically endangered.
Tourism has helped support that recovery. Visitors trek through the forest to observe habituated gorilla families, generating jobs and revenue for nearby communities. Residents also sell locally made crafts.
Eunice Owembabazi, a member of a women’s crafts group, said the tree planting near the park means "we people and the gorillas do not inconvenience each other.”
The campaign has reached nearby schools, where students plant trees their families will be able to use.
“Now we are going to protect the forest, so that our gorillas can stay well,” said Davis Musinguzi, a student at Ruhijja Seed Secondary School.
The tree planting was among community conservation activities organized to mark World Gorilla Day, observed each year on Sept. 24.
FILE - Two one-year old baby mountain gorillas swing from branches as they play together in the forest of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda Saturday, April 3, 2021. (AP Photo, File)
Israel's increasingly isolated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, but no meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump is planned.
Hamas says the militant group is ready to move forward with the next stages of a Gaza peace agreement, while a top European Union official says only a small amount of the funds needed to rebuild the war-shattered Gaza Strip has been collected.
Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.
The Israeli prime minister's brief stay in New York for his speech at the U.N. General Assembly includes meetings with several world leaders, according to his office — but not Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or any Arab leaders.
Netanyahu's office said “many world leaders” asked to meet with him but that he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday.
Netanyahu will meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, and Ethiopia, the vice president of Colombia, and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea, according to his office.
A Hamas spokesman said the group is ready to move forward with the next steps of a peace agreement, after Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a six-month, $2.45 billion plan for Gaza's reconstruction. The board announced the proposal in New York on Wednesday.
The Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, expressed the Palestinian militant group’s “full readiness to implement the Board of Peace’s roadmap” but made no mention of any disarmament plans. Israel has said it will not allow reconstruction to move forward until Hamas disarms.
Hamas last year agreed to a plan that includes disarmament but has since traded accusations with Israel of ceasefire violations and has accused Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to occupy much of Gaza.
Hamas has publicly backed handing over power to Palestinian administrators operating under the Board of Peace.
Board officials have blamed Hamas' failure to disarm and a lack of Israeli withdrawal as reasons for stalling progress in advancing reconstruction in Gaza.
A top EU official says only 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) has been raised out of the 71 billion euros ($80.8 billion) that the United Nations, the World Bank and the 27-nation European Union estimate are needed to rebuild Gaza.
“All of us, we have to scale up our efforts,” said European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica, speaking on the sidelines of the General Assembly. She called for a unified recovery plan that would bring together Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the U.S.-backed Board of Peace, and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
The world body has appealed to all parties in Yemen to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered rapidly as renewed fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces intensifies an already dire humanitarian situation.
U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said people fleeing the violence need protection and access to food, shelter and healthcare. Ground fighting, artillery and aerial strikes have killed and wounded at least 125 civilians since the beginning of August.
Türk also called for the release of 73 U.N. staffers “arbitrarily detained” by the Houthis in the past few years.
A moderate earthquake shook southeast Turkey and parts of Syria on Thursday, sending people rushing out of buildings in panic. There were no immediate reports of any damage.
The magnitude 5.4 quake was centered in Sanliurfa province, near the border with Syria, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency.
In 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings in 11 southern and southeastern provinces, including Sanliurfa. Another 6,000 people were killed in Syria.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Likud party New Year event in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
