Kabul — Afghanistan’s Taliban morality ministry pledged Monday to implement a law banning news media from publishing images of all living things, with journalists told the rule will be gradually enforced.

“The law applies to all Afghanistan… and it will be implemented gradually” by persuading people images of living things are against Islamic law, spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP. 

The Taliban government judiciary recently announced legislation formalising their strict interpretations of Islamic law imposed by the authorities since they swept to power in 2021.

The law detailed several rules for news media, including banning the publication of images of all living things and ordering outlets not to mock or humiliate Islam, or contradict Islamic law.

Aspects of the new law have not yet been strictly enforced, however, and Taliban officials continue to regularly post photos of people on social media. 

Television and pictures of living things were banned across the country under the previous Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, but a similar edict has so far not been broadly imposed since their return to power. 
…

TAIPEI — China’s military launched a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces,” drawing condemnation from the Taipei and U.S. governments.

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week’s National Day speech by President Lai Ching-te, an address Beijing condemned after Lai said China had no right to represent Taiwan even as he offered to cooperate with Beijing.

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said the “Joint Sword-2024B” drills were taking place in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan.

“The drill also serves as a stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces. It is a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity,” it said in a statement carried both in Chinese and English.

The command did not state when the drills would end.

It published a map showing nine areas around Taiwan where the drills were taking place – two on the island’s east coast, three on the west coast, one to the north and three around Taiwan-controlled islands next to the Chinese coast.

Chinese ships and aircraft are approaching Taiwan in “close proximity from different directions,” focusing on sea-air combat-readiness patrols, blockading key ports and areas, assaulting maritime and ground targets and “joint seizure of comprehensive superiority,” the command said.

However, it did not announce any live-fire exercises or any no-fly areas. In 2022, shortly after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, China fired missiles over the island.

In rare operations, China’s coast guard circled Taiwan and staged “law enforcement” patrols close to Taiwan’s offshore islands, according to Chinese state media.

Taiwan’s China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said that China’s latest war games and refusal to renounce the use of force were “blatant provocations” that seriously undermined regional peace and stability.

In the face of the further political, military and economic threats posed by China to Taiwan in recent days, Taiwan would not back down, Taiwan’s China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

“President Lai has already expressed his goodwill in his national day speech and is willing to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait together with the Chinese communists,” it added.

Lai’s National Day speech highlighted the current state of cross-strait relations and the will to safeguard peace and stability and advocated future cooperation in coping with challenges like climate change, the ministry added.

“The Chinese communists’ claim of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ is a complete departure from the truth,” it added.

Joseph Wu, the secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, said Taiwan would “stay alert” but would remain “moderate and responsible, maintain status quo across the Taiwan Strait.”

“Leaders around the world talk more than ever about the need for peace and stability across Taiwan Strait,” Wu said during a forum on Chinese politics in Taipei.

“Taiwan will continue to seek possibilities for talks with China.”

Taiwan’s defense ministry and coast guard said both agencies had dispatched their own forces.

In Washington, an official from the administration of President Joe Biden said they were monitoring the drills and there was no justification for them after Lai’s “routine” speech.

The official said they urged China “to avoid any further action that may jeopardize peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region.”

A senior Taiwan security official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation, said they believed China was practicing blockading Taiwanese ports to the north and south of the island and international shipping lanes as well as repelling the arrival of foreign forces.

Taiwan on Sunday had reported a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailing to the island’s south through the strategic Bashi Channel which separates Taiwan from the Philippines and connects the South China Sea to the Pacific.

Chinese state media has since Thursday run a series of stories and commentaries denouncing Lai’s speech, and on Sunday the Eastern Theatre Command released a video saying it was “prepared for battle.”

The PLA’s Liberation Army Daily newspaper wrote on Monday that “those who play with fire get burned!”

“As long as the ‘Taiwan independence’ provocations continue, the PLA’s actions to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity will not stop,” the paper said.

China held the “Joint Sword-2024A” drills for two days around Taiwan in May shortly after Lai took office, saying they were “punishment” for separatist content in his inauguration speech.

Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
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Karachi, Pakistan — Pakistani police fired tear gas and swung batons at thousands of protesters Sunday in Karachi after the demonstrators tried to break through a security barricade.

Around 2,000 supporters of a far-right Islamist party tried to reach the city’s press club to oppose another demonstration staged by civil society groups about the killing of a blasphemy suspect while he was in custody.

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party hurled rocks at officers and torched a patrol car when police stopped them from reaching the press club.

The party said one of its members died in the violence. Police arrested around 20 people from both demonstrations.

Provincial Interior Minister Zia Ul Hassan said authorities feared clashes because both the political party and the civil society groups had issued calls for protests on the same day.

Ul Hassan condemned the violence, especially given an upcoming security summit in Islamabad and last week’s deadly attack on a convoy of Chinese nationals outside the city’s airport.

The TLP supports Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, which call for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.
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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea said Sunday its front-line army units are ready to launch strikes on South Korea, ramping up pressure on its rival that it said flew drones and dropped leaflets over its capital Pyongyang. 

South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned it would sternly punish North Korea if the safety of its citizens is threatened. 

North Korea on Friday accused South Korea of launching drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times this month and threatened to respond with force if it happened again. 

In a statement carried by state media Sunday, the North’s Defense Ministry said that the military had issued a preliminary operation order to artillery and other army units near the border with South Korea to “get fully ready to open fire.” 

An unidentified ministry spokesperson said the North Korea’s military ordered relevant units to fully prepare for situations like launching immediate strikes on unspecified enemy targets when South Korea infiltrates drones across the border again, possibly triggering fighting on the Korean Peninsula, according to the statement. 

The spokesperson said that “grave touch-and-go military tensions are prevailing on the Korean Peninsula” because of the South Korean drone launches. In a separate statement later Sunday, the spokesperson said that the entire South Korean territory “might turn into piles of ashes” following the North’s powerful attack. 

Also Sunday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described as “suicidal” the South Korean Defense Ministry’s reported warning that North Korea would face the end of its regime if it harms South Korean nationals. She warned Saturday that the discovery of a new South Korean drone will “certainly lead to a horrible disaster.” 

North Korea often issues such fiery, blistering rhetoric in times of elevated animosities with South Korea and the United States. 

Ties between the two Koreas remain tense since a U.S.-led diplomacy on ending North Korea’s nuclear program fell apart in 2019. North Korea has since pushed hard to expand its nuclear arsenal and repeatedly threatened to attack South Korea and the U.S. with its nuclear weapons. But experts say it’s unlikely for North Korea to launch a full-blown attack because its military is outpaced by the combined U.S. and South Korean forces. 

Observers predicted North Korea would escalate tensions ahead of next month’s U.S. presidential election to boost its leverage in future diplomacy with the Americans. 

Since May, North Korea has floated thousands of balloons carrying rubbish toward South Korea in retaliation for South Korean activists flying their own balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets. South Korea’s military responded to the North’s balloon campaign by restarting border loudspeakers to blare broadcast propaganda and K-pop songs to North Korea. 

North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the authoritarian government of Kim Jong Un and his family’s dynastic rule. 
…

NEW DELHI — A senior politician in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, who was also known for his close ties with Bollywood has been shot dead weeks before a key state election.

Baba Siddique, 66, was shot multiple times outside his son’s office in Mumbai on Saturday night, police said in a statement. He later succumbed to his wounds at the city’s Lilavati Hospital.

Siddique was associated with the Indian National Congress party for decades but had recently joined a regional party that rules Maharashtra state. He was also close to several Bollywood superstars and was known for throwing lavish parties.

Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is from the same political party as Siddique, said he was shocked by the killing.

“The incident will be thoroughly investigated, and strict action will be taken against the attackers. The mastermind behind the attack will also be traced,” Pawar said in a statement.

News agency Press Trust of India reported that two suspected attackers had been arrested, and police were searching for another.

Broadcaster NDTV said the two suspects claimed they were part of a crime gang that has carried out multiple killings in the past.

Elections in Maharashtra state are expected to be held in November.
…

KARACHI, Pakistan — The Baloch Liberation Army, a militant separatist group in Pakistan, denied involvement in an attack that killed at least 21 mine workers, condemning the violence.

Dozens of attackers stormed a cluster of small private coal mines in Pakistan’s restive southwest on Friday with guns, rockets and hand grenades, killing some miners in their sleep and shooting others after lining them up.

“Baloch Liberation Army condemns the massacre of 21 Pashtun workers in Dukki, making it clear that our organization has no involvement in this tragic incident,” the BLA said in an email late on Saturday.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the mines of the Junaid Coal Co. in the mineral-rich province of Balochistan that borders Afghanistan and Iran.

It was the worst such attack in weeks and comes days before Pakistan hosts a summit of the Eurasian group Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

A decadeslong insurgency in Balochistan by separatist militant groups has led to frequent attacks against the government, army and Chinese interests in the region, pressing demands for a share in mineral-rich resources.

Besides the separatists, the region is also home to Islamist militants, who have resurged since 2022 after revoking a cease-fire with the government.

The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan. It is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have battled the South Asian nation’s government for decades, saying it unfairly exploits Balochistan’s rich gas and mineral resources.

The province is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by giant Barrick Gold ABX.TO and believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province.

At the time of the attack, a delegation from Saudi Arabia, which says it is set to buy a stake in the Reko Diq mine, was in Islamabad exploring deals as Pakistan seeks to recover from an economic crisis.
…

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Almost eight decades after an atomic bomb devastated her hometown of Hiroshima, Teruko Yahata carries the scar on her forehead from when she was knocked over by the force of the blast.

The U.S. bombs that laid waste to Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, and to Nagasaki three days later, changed the course of history and left Yahata and other survivors with deep scars and a sense of responsibility toward disarmament.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to the Nihon Hidankyo group of atomic bomb survivors, for its work warning of the dangers of nuclear arms, has given survivors hope and highlighted their work still ahead, Yahata and others said.

“It felt as if a light suddenly shone through. I felt like I could see the light,” the 87-year-old said on Saturday, describing her reaction to hearing about the award.

“This feels like the first step, the beginning of a movement toward nuclear abolition,” she told Reuters at the site of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

She was just 8 years old and in the back garden of her home when the bomb hit. Although her house was 2.5 kilometers from the hypocenter, the blast was strong enough to throw her several meters back into her house, she said.

Seventy-nine years later, and a day after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the survivors the prize, a long line formed outside the museum, with dozens of foreign and Japanese visitors queuing up to get in.

A bridge leading into the memorial park was decorated with a yellow sheet and other handmade signs against nuclear weapons. Campaigners gathered signatures for nuclear abolition from those passing by.

Nihon Hidankyo, formed in 1956, has provided thousands of witness accounts, issued resolutions and public appeals, sent delegations to the U.N. and peace conferences, and collected signatures advocating nuclear disarmament.

Yahata, who is not a Nihon Hidankyo member, said it was that drive to gather signatures that finally paid off after bearing little fruit for most of a century.

“It’s this amount of sadness and joy that led them to this peace prize. I think it’s something very meaningful,” she said.

Nihon Hidankyo’s co-chair, Toshiyuki Mimaki, said he felt the award meant more responsibility, adding that most atomic bomb survivors were more than 85 years old.

“Rather than feeling purely happy, I feel like I have more responsibility now,” he told Reuters, sitting in a Hidankyo office in Hiroshima in front of a map showing the impact of the bomb on the city.

In rural areas the group is on the verge of falling apart, the 82-year-old said. “The big challenge now is what to do going forward.”
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MACAO — Macao’s former top judge, Sam Hou Fai, was chosen as the Chinese casino hub’ s next leader in a largely ceremonial election on Sunday, setting him up to become the city’s first chief executive born in mainland China.

Almost the entire election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists — 394 of 398 — voted for Sam, the sole candidate, in a departure from the long-standing custom of having chief executives who were born in the former Portuguese colony, typically from influential business families. The remaining four were blank votes.

The shift in the city’s leadership to someone from the legal profession is likely to create expectations of a declining influence from business circles, which critics have often accused of colluding with officials, analysts say. They anticipate Beijing’s policy agenda for the city will take priority.

Sam, 62, is widely seen to have Beijing’s blessings. During the nomination period, he had already secured endorsements from 386 election committee members who voted in batches in a conference hall on Sunday.

Influential figures among the 400-strong committee were Shun Tak Holdings’ group executive chairperson Pansy Ho, daughter of late casino tycoon Stanley Ho, lawmaker Angela Leong, one of Ho’s widows, and former chief executives Edmund Ho and Fernando Chui.

After being announced as the chief executive-elect, Sam walked onto the stage to applause from the committee members.

“It is the highest honor of my life,” Sam said.

He pledged to uphold national sovereignty, accelerate economic diversification of the city and better integrate it into the national development plans.

Sam is expected to meet reporters later Sunday.

Most of the territory’s 687,000 residents lack voting rights, leading to mixed sentiments about the election. Some hope Sam will heed public opinion and avoid prioritizing business interests, while others feel disconnected from an election process they can’t participate in.

Still, political observers said many residents are comfortable with Sam’s non-local origin in a city that has been home to migrants for decades.

The real challenges now await in the governance hurdles that lie ahead.

Macao is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Beijing has called for the city to diversify its gambling-reliant economy.

Sam has promised to accelerate the current government’s plan to boost tourism and other sectors such as traditional Chinese medicine, finance, exhibitions and commerce. However, the city will still need to rely on the gambling industry for government revenues to support the city’s welfare and accomplish other goals laid out by Beijing, analysts say.

China wants Macao to develop into a world-class tourism and leisure center and play a bigger role as a bridge for trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Small local businesses have been hurt by residents who spend money in the neighboring mainland city of Zhuhai, which offers a wider selection of items with good value for money. Chinese tourists are also now spending less than before.

It remains to be seen whether Sam, with a lack of government leadership experience, can form a capable cabinet to tackle these pressing issues.

Sam was born in neighboring Guangdong province in 1962. He graduated from the prestigious law school of Peking University in Beijing. He also studied the Portuguese language, culture and law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and once practiced law in mainland China.

When Macao returned to Chinese rule in 1999, Sam was appointed the city’s top judge, a role in which he served for nearly 25 years before resigning in August to participate in the election.

He handled some politically sensitive cases, including rejecting an appeal of a police ban on a vigil commemorating China’s bloody 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. His court also upheld a decision to bar pro-democracy figures from running in the 2021 legislative elections. 
…

taipei, taiwan — Taiwan’s China Airlines is not facing any political pressure on its decision about whether to buy Boeing or Airbus aircraft for a refreshment of its long-haul fleet, the company’s chairman said Saturday. 

Taiwan’s largest carrier has been weighing Boeing’s 777X and the Airbus A350-1000 as replacements for its fleet of 10 Boeing 777-300ERs, mostly used on U.S. and some high-density regional routes, according to industry sources. 

China Airlines Chairman Hsieh Shih-chien told reporters the company was still in the process of evaluating which aircraft to purchase and, asked if there was any political pressure on the decision, replied “no.” 

“When it comes to buying aircraft, it is only China Airlines ourselves who makes the assessment. I want to clarify this,” Hsieh said.

Multibillion-dollar deals for new aircraft often must take political as well as business considerations into account — especially in the case of Taiwan, given its international situation and the pressure it faces to give in to China’s sovereignty claims, which are rejected by the democratically elected government in Taipei. 

The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, and China Airlines’ majority owner is the Taiwan government. 

A senior industry source told Reuters, speaking on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, that on the China Airlines deal the timing was a complicating factor given November’s U.S. election. 

In 2022, shortly after then-U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei — which set off Chinese war games — China Airlines announced a $4.6 billion order for Boeing’s 787 to replace its aging fleet of Airbus A330s. 

China Airlines already operates 15 of the smaller Airbus A350-900s, as well as nine of the freighter versions of the 777. 

Hsieh said the 787s would start arriving from next year, while a further 11 Airbus A321s, which are replacing its older Boeing 737-800s, would all come before 2026. 
…

…

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday accused South Korea of deliberately avoiding responsibility for the alleged flights of South Korean drones over the North’s capital and warned of a “terrible calamity” if they continue.

The statement by Kim Yo Jong came a day after North Korea’s Foreign Ministry claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as on October 3.

The ministry said North Korean forces will prepare “all means of attack” capable of destroying the southern side of the border and the South Korean military — and respond without warning if South Korean drones are detected in its territory again.

South Korea’s defense minister initially denied the accusation, but the South’s military later adjusted its response, saying it couldn’t confirm whether the North’s claims were true.

In comments published through state media, Kim, one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, said that the South Korean military’s vague statements should be taken as proof that it was “either the main culprit or accomplice in this incident.”

“If the military stood by while its own citizens employed drones, a widely recognized multi-purpose military tool, to violate another country’s sovereignty, thereby increasing the risk of armed conflict with a potential adversary, this would amount to intentional acquiescence and collusion,” she said.

“The moment a South Korean drone is discovered once again in skies above our capital, a terrible calamity will surely occur. I personally hope that does not happen,” she said.

South Korea’s military and government didn’t immediately respond to Kim’s comments.

Tensions between the Koreas are now at their worst in years as the pace of both North Korea’s missile tests and the South’s combined military training with the United States have intensified in tit-for-tat. The animosity has been exacerbated by Cold War-style psychological warfare campaigns between the Koreas in recent months.

Since May, North Korea has sent thousands of balloons carrying paper waste, plastic and other trash to drop on the South, in what it described as retaliation against South Korean civilian activists who flew balloons with anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

South Korea’s military responded to the North’s balloon campaign by using border loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda and K-pop to North Korea.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of the authoritarian government of leader Kim Jong Un and his family’s dynastic rule.

South Korean officials have been raising concern that North Korea may seek to dial up pressure on Seoul and Washington ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Experts say Kim’s long-term goal is to eventually force Washington to accept North Korea as a nuclear power and to negotiate security and economic concessions from a position of strength.

In written answers to questions by The Associated Press this month, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea is likely preparing major provocations around the U.S. election, possibly including a test detonation of a nuclear device or flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, as it tries to grab Washington’s attention.
…

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran’s president Friday, at a time when Tehran is supplying weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine and concerns are growing over escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its militant allies.

Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed the situation in the Middle East on the sidelines of an international forum in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, Russian state media said.

Moscow and Tehran signed a $1.7 billion deal for Iran to export drones to Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the U.S. also believes it has transferred short-range ballistic missiles.

Both countries were accused this week by Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5, of carrying out a “staggering” rise in attempts at assassination, sabotage and other crimes on U.K. soil. McCallum said his agents and police have tackled 20 “potentially lethal” plots backed by Iran since 2022 and warned that it could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East deepen.

During the two presidents’ meeting, Putin told Pezeshkian that Moscow and Tehran’s positions on international events are often very close, according to Russian state news agency Tass. He also invited the Iranian leader to visit Russia and Pezeshkian accepted, Tass said.

“We have many opportunities now, and we must help each other in our relationships. Our principles, our positions in the international arena are similar to yours,” Pezeshkian said at the start of his meeting with Putin.

Pezeshkian said that Israel’s “savage attacks,” on Lebanon are “beyond description.” The Israeli military sent ground troops into southern Lebanon and is carrying out airstrikes in the country against Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

Speaking Friday as the forum opened, Putin said he wants to create a “new world order” of Moscow’s allies to counter the West, according to video provided by the Kremlin.

The conference is being attended by other regional leaders including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and the heads of the other Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Putin is also expected to hold talks with Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Berdymukhamedov was elected in March 2022 to succeed his father, Gurbanguly, who had run the gas-rich country since 2006.

Turkmenistan has remained largely isolated under autocratic rulers since it became independent following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
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washington — U.S. national security experts say it is unclear whether a new cost-sharing agreement with South Korea, hailed by the State Department as “a significant accomplishment,” will survive if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House next year.

Concluded last week and effective from 2026, the five-year Special Measures Agreement, or SMA, requires South Korea to raise its contribution to the cost of stationing of U.S. troops in the country by 8.3% to $1.47 billion in the first year.

The two allies reached the agreement earlier than expected, a move widely seen as key for Seoul and Washington to clinch before the U.S. presidential election in November, in which Trump is the Republican Party candidate.

The U.S. State Department hailed the agreement as a “a significant accomplishment for both sides” in a statement released on October 4.

But Trump, both in office and as a candidate, has consistently demanded that South Korea contribute significantly more to the cost of supporting U.S. forces in Korea. Most recently in April, Trump told Time magazine that “I want South Korea to treat us properly,” adding that Seoul is “paying virtually nothing for” the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

‘Trump factor’

John Bolton, a former White House national security adviser during the Trump administration, told VOA Korean by phone on Friday that “it’s very likely that Trump would ask to renegotiate it.”

“I know that the administration [of President Joe Biden] here tried to rush the coming-to-an-agreement on it, so that Trump couldn’t meddle with it, but that won’t slow him down at all,” said Bolton, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2005-06.

“He never thinks his predecessors make good enough deals, and in part, it’s not just the question of economics, but he doesn’t understand collective defense alliances,” Bolton said.

“He thinks that not just with respect to the Republic of Korea, but also with NATO or Japan or whatever that we’re defending, these countries don’t pay us enough money.” The Republic of Korea is South Korea’s formal name.

Bruce Klingner, the senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, pointed out the pact is “an executive agreement,” which makes it easier for Trump to undo since it does not require approval from Congress.

“We really don’t know whether he would just see it as a done deal, or if he will seek to renegotiate it upward, where South Korea would pay much more,” Klingner said.

“If you take a step back, it’s in our strategic interest to have allies, it’s in our strategic interest to have our forces stationed overseas, because actually, they’re less costly to the United States when they’re stationed overseas than when they’re stationed domestically.”

Robert Rapson, who served as charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 2018 to 2021, told VOA Korean last week that he was concerned that the agreement wouldn’t pass muster with a Trump administration should the former president win a second term in November.

“Given his demands and expectations of U.S. allies with respect to security burden sharing, my strong fear is that he will seek to renegotiate today’s agreement with a much higher number in mind,” said Rapson, who was directly involved in the two sets of SMA negotiations in 2013-14 and in 2019-21.

Evans Revere, who served as acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told VOA Korean on Thursday via email that he suspected there was “considerable dissatisfaction with the recently concluded SMA agreement in the Trump camp,” knowing how strongly the former president feels about the burden-sharing issue.

Revere said he could not rule out the possibility that Trump will come up with “a demand to reopen talks on the SMA issue, and toward that end, he might make major new demands of Seoul” if he takes office again.

‘It’s in our interest’

Other former government officials, like Klingner, believe it is too early to predict whether Trump will try to revise the cost-sharing agreement between the U.S. and South Korea.

Richard Armitage, who served as deputy secretary of state during the George W. Bush administration, told VOA Korean on Wednesday on the phone, “He might try, but let’s not get fearful about this too soon.”

“If he comes to the White House, he will have a secretary of state, defense, national security adviser, et cetera, who may have slightly different views and can help moderate Mr. Trump.”

“Seoul and Washington understand that Trump is very transactional,” Armitage said. “But American soldiers are not Hessians. We’re not for rent. We’re in Korea because it’s in our interest.”

VOA Korean contacted the Trump campaign this week and asked what Trump’s stance was on the newly reached agreement, but did not receive a reply by the time this article was published.

Joeun Lee contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Korean Service.
…

London — The European Parliament overwhelmingly passed an emergency resolution Thursday condemning the Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghurs and urging China to immediately and unconditionally release detainees, including Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti and Gulshan Abbas.

The resolution is fueled by widespread concern from the international community and highlights its continued concern about the human rights situation in Xinjiang.

The resolution, which was adopted by a vote of 540 in favor, 23 against and 47 abstentions, strongly condemns China’s “repression and targeting of Uyghurs with abusive policies, including intense surveillance, forced labor, sterilization, birth prevention measures and the destruction of Uyghur identity, which amount to crimes against humanity and a serious risk of genocide.”

The European Parliament’s resolution pays attention to the cases of two high-profile Uyghurs. Ilham Tohti, a 54-year-old economist, was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 on charges of “separatism.” Tohti has long worked to promote dialogue between Uyghurs and the Han Chinese and is considered a moderate intellectual. In 2019, the European Parliament awarded him the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for his efforts to uphold human rights.

Gulshan Abbas, a 62-year-old retired doctor, was detained in 2018 and sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism-related charges. Abbas’s sister, Rushan Abbas, is a Uyghur human rights activist in the United States.

Ziba Murat, daughter of Gulshan Abbas, told the nonprofit group International Services for Human Rights, “My mother was a medical professional who dedicated her life to helping others and saving lives. She is a non-politicized, warm-hearted and loving mother. The accusations against her are absurd and baseless. My mother is suffering only because her family in the United States has spoken out against the Chinese government’s unfair treatment of Uyghurs. This is an obvious example of kinship punishment and transnational repression.”

Rushan Abbas told VOA, “The adoption of this resolution by the European Parliament signifies more than symbolic recognition; it is a decisive step toward accountability and justice for the countless Uyghur lives devastated by China’s oppressive policies, including my sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas and Ilham Tohti. It is imperative that EU member states not only recognize their moral duty but also seize this political moment to implement sanctions that reinforce this resolution. Our collective demand for justice and the protection of human rights must manifest in substantive measures.”

Rahima Mahmut, executive director of the group Stop Uyghur Genocide, told VOA, “I welcome this decision that is so important. In my opinion, especially for Ilham Tohti’s 10th anniversary this year, and then along with so many thousands of intellectuals, linguistics, artists, scholars, religious leaders and many, many imprisoned unlawfully, serving long-term prison sentences. They are all innocent people, never committed any crime in any standard, even under the Chinese constitution.”

Raphaël Viana David, program manager of International Service for Human Rights, told VOA, “There is indisputable evidence that when governments and U.N. experts press Beijing publicly, in a coordinated and sustained fashion, the wall will eventually crack. It is now the moment for global actors to step up pressure in calling out acts of transnational repression by Beijing, and to call for the release of Dr. Abbas.”

Mahmut said, “I believe the EU and countries, especially democratic countries like the U.K., should impose sanctions against China for illegally detaining millions of people, putting people on forced labor. This is not a new thing anymore. It’s not news anymore.

“There are so many other things that the EU and the U.K. government can do to really show their support to the Uyghurs and the Tibetans and the Hong Kongers. We are suffering under this regime for too long,” she added.

Michael Polak, an international criminal lawyer from London’s Church Court Chambers who is involved in a universal jurisdiction case concerning Uyghurs in Argentina, said, “Five hundred and forty out of 610 members of the European Parliament voted to recognize the repression of the Uyghur people and particularly the continued detention of well-known individual Uyghur leaders.”

He emphasized the legal implications of the vote and said, “This is the biggest Parliament in the world, as far as I’m concerned, to recognize what’s happening to the Uyghur people, which are crimes against humanity and genocide.”

David said, “In the last June session of the Human Rights Council, the high commissioner [the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights] also called out a ‘pattern emerging of transnational repression’ in Southeast Asia ‘whereby human rights defenders seeking refuge in neighboring countries have been subject to rendition and refoulement or disappeared and even killed,’ making implicit reference to the unlawful refoulement of lawyer Lu Siwei from Laos to China. Just today, we received reports that Lu Siwei has been arrested: Governments have to firmly condemn this and urge his release.”

Rushan Abbas said, “I urge each EU member state to not only support this resolution but to actively enforce sanctions against Chinese officials and entities directly responsible for the detention and persecution of Uyghurs. … It is crucial that these sanctions are robust and targeted towards CCP [Chinese Communist Party] officials that aid and abet human rights abuses.

“EU member states should enforce strict compliance with the new EU forced labor regulations. Companies operating within their borders must be transparent about their supply chains and ensure they are not complicit in the exploitation of the Uyghur people,” she added.

The human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has been the focus of international attention in recent years. Several Western countries and human rights groups have accused China of setting up “re-education camps” in Xinjiang and mass detaining Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. Human Rights Watch reports that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs may have been held in so-called “re-education camps” since 2017. Analysis of satellite imagery from the Australia Strategic Policy Institute shows many suspected detention facilities in Xinjiang.

However, the Chinese government firmly denies those allegations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson has repeatedly said that Xinjiang’s measures are aimed at combating terrorism and extremism and ensuring regional security and development.

The Chinese government has not yet officially responded to the European Parliament’s decision.

The Chinese Mission to the European Union did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — A new source of tension in the South China Sea — until now focused on fisheries, resource extraction and freedom of navigation — is beginning to get attention: the undersea fiber-optic cables that crisscross the strategic waterway and carry almost all of the region’s internet and other telecommunications traffic.

Since 2020, according to published reports, the United States has been urging countries in the region to avoid using a Chinese company to repair or lay new cables at the bottom of the sea out of concern that China could intercept and monitor sensitive communications passing through the cables.

It has also been urging companies to route new cables around the perimeter of the sea, avoiding the central part of the waterway claimed by China based on historic maps showing a 10-dash line that infringes on the exclusive economic zones of several other countries.

In what may be an act of retaliation, according to a Washington Post report this month, China has been delaying — sometimes for months — its approval of permits for companies to repair or lay new cables under the sea. The delays have been particularly troublesome for countries such as Vietnam, which is anxious to replace five aging cables that have failed repeatedly, slowing internet traffic in the country.

In the past four years, the U.S. government has blocked at least three cable projects that would have linked the United States to Hong Kong because of concerns that China could spy on or sabotage communications, the Post reported.

Concerns were also raised at last month’s U.N. General Assembly meetings, where the U.S. and other countries, including Australia, France, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and the U.K., issued a joint statement calling for undersea cables to be kept secure from risks that included surveillance, intentional damage and compromise of data and communications.

“There is a risk of surveillance and snooping in by the Chinese telecom companies, and similar kind of surveillance risk exists also for undersea cables,” said Sameer Patil, director of the Center for Security Strategy and Technology at the Observer Foundation.

The kind of data that the Chinese military could gather in real time through undersea cables includes information about U.S. military personnel, the movement of U.S. naval warships and other military assets, Patil told VOA.

Although the U.S. and some other countries have undersea cables that are exclusive for military use, countries in the Indo-Pacific do not have the financial means to maintain dual sets of cables, said Patil, who is based in New Delhi and has been closely following the issue.

This means these countries may transmit sensitive military data and civilian data over the same sets of cables, he said.

At the center of the concerns is China’s HMN Technologies, the latest entrant into the specialized field of cable laying that previously was dominated by just three companies: U.S.-based SubCom, French firm Alcatel Submarine Networks and Japan’s Nippon Electric Company.

HMN Technologies was once owned by Huawei and is still considered by the U.S. to be an affiliate of the Chinese tech giant, whose equipment has been banned in the United States and other countries over fears that it can be used to facilitate Chinese espionage.

Reuters news agency reported exclusively last month that the United States is pressing Vietnam to avoid using HMN Technologies in its plans to build 10 new undersea cables by 2030. It said U.S. officials and companies have held at least a half-dozen meetings with Vietnamese and foreign officials and business executives on the matter this year.

Reuters also quoted multiple sources saying U.S. officials have separately shared intelligence about possible sabotage of Vietnam’s subsea cables.

The Post said concerted U.S. lobbying has led to three other U.S.-financed transpacific cable projects being routed through the coastal waters of Indonesia and the Philippines to avoid Beijing-claimed waters, driving up the costs of the projects.

Meanwhile, according to executives at seven cable companies cited by the Post, permits for cable work that were once approved by China in less than 10 days now are taking up to four months and are sometimes rejected with little justification.

While China’s claim to most of the South China Sea has been rejected by an international tribunal, the companies say they are unwilling to risk working in the area without Beijing’s approval.

“What we’re seeing is China essentially retaliating by delaying permits that it can grant,” said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

“The U.S. government is concerned about China listening in on existing cables,” and Beijing is retaliating against the U.S. for trying to dissuade countries from using Chinese companies, Braw told VOA.

Beijing rejected that interpretation in response to questions this week from VOA.

“The Chinese government has always welcomed and supported the laying of international submarine cables by other countries and telecommunications companies in waters under China’s jurisdiction,” said Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

“Over the years, China has actively promulgated relevant laws and regulations to clarify the rights and obligations of all countries to lay submarine cables in waters under China’s jurisdiction” to “provide a sound legal guarantee for the transit of international submarine cables in waters under China’s jurisdiction,” he said.

Erin Murphy, a senior fellow for the Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told VOA that China may have its own concerns about espionage or sabotage operations when cable-laying ships from the United States or other Western countries operate in areas it claims as being under its jurisdiction.

“There’s also the economic competition angle. Preventing non-Chinese companies from operating in their perceived backyard is one way to continue to dominate the network, providing ongoing business for its companies and fulfill its digital Silk Road ambitions,” she said.

Braw at the Atlantic Council said Chinese companies, while relatively new to the field, have become highly competitive with Western cable-laying companies by offering to build and repair subsea cables at cheaper costs.

An estimated 400 to 600 fiber-optic cables crisscross the world’s seabed with a total length of 1.4 million kilometers, according to TeleGeography, a research firm monitoring the telecommunications industry. That is enough to wrap around the earth’s circumference about 35 times.

These cables carry more than 95% of global data, including voice communications, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department.
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Bangladesh is busy reforming institutions after an uprising in July and August ended Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule. As VOA’s Sarah Zaman reports from Dhaka, Hasina’s brutal crackdown on the mass protests left deep scars. Videographer: Rubel Hassan
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LONDON — Climbers believe they have found the partial remains of a British mountaineer who might — or might not — have been one of the first two people to climb Mount Everest, a century after their attempt on the world’s highest peak, according to an expedition led by National Geographic. 

Ahead of the release of a documentary film, the television channel said Friday that the expedition found a foot encased in a sock embroidered with “AC Irvine” and a boot that could be that of Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, who disappeared at the age of 22 along with his co-climber, the legendary George Mallory, near Everest’s peak on June 8, 1924. 

The pair, who were seeking to become the first people to conquer Everest, were last seen around 800 feet (245 meters) from the summit. Their fate has been debated by climbers and historians alike, with some postulating that they had stood atop of the world before disappearing on the way down. 

In his final letter to his wife, Ruth, before he vanished on Mount Everest a century ago, the 37-year-old Mallory, who once famously said he wanted to conquer Everest “because it’s there,” tried to ease her worries even as he said his chances of reaching the world’s highest peak were “50 to 1 against us.” 

Mallory’s body was found in 1999 but there was no evidence that could point to the two having reached Everest’s summit at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters). 

There is still no such evidence, though the apparent discovery of Irvine’s remains could narrow the search for a Kodak Vest Pocket camera lent to the climbers by expedition member Howard Somervell. For mountaineers, it’s the equivalent of the Holy Grail — the possibility of photographic proof that the two did reach the summit, almost three decades before New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay got there on May, 29, 1953. 

The sock and boot were found at a lower altitude than Mallory’s remains, on the Central Rongbuk Glacier below the North Face of Mount Everest. 

“This was a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground, and we just hope this can finally bring peace of mind to his relatives and the climbing world at large,” said climb team member and National Geographic explorer Jimmy Chin. 

Chin did not say exactly where the remains were found because he wants to discourage trophy hunters. But he’s confident that other items — and maybe even the camera — are nearby. 

“It certainly reduces the search area,” he told National Geographic. 

The Irvine family has volunteered to compare DNA test results with the remains to confirm his identity. 

His great-niece and biographer, Julie Summers, said she reacted emotionally when she found out about the discovery. 

“I have lived with this story since I was a 7-year-old when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest,” she said. “When Jimmy told me that he saw the name AC Irvine on the label on the sock inside the boot, I found myself moved to tears. It was and will remain an extraordinary and poignant moment.” 

The find, made by Chin along with climbers and filmmakers Erich Roepke and Mark Fisher, was reported to the London-based Royal Geographical Society, which jointly organized Mallory and Irvine’s expedition along with the Alpine Club. 

“As joint organizer of the 1924 Everest expedition, the society deeply appreciates the respect Jimmy Chin’s team has shown Sandy Irvine’s remains and their sensitivity toward Sandy’s family members and others connected to that expedition,” said Joe Smith, director of the society. 

The partial remains are now in the possession of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association, which is responsible for climbing permits on Everest’s northern side.
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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea on Friday accused South Korea of sending drones to drop anti-regime leaflets over Pyongyang, an accusation that Seoul immediately denied.

According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry said South Korean drones have entered Pyongyang at night on three occasions since October 3, scattering “numerous” leaflets.

The ministry called the alleged incursion a “grave political and military provocation” that requires retaliation, warning that the situation could lead to an armed conflict or even war.

South Korea’s military denied involvement, stating it did not send any drones but that it would investigate whether private groups may have launched the leaflets, reported the South’s Yonhap news agency.

In recent months, North Korea has launched thousands of trash-filled balloons into South Korea as retaliation against activists who float anti-Pyongyang leaflets northward across the border.

While South Korean activists have recently employed more advanced types of balloons to send leaflets into North Korea, there are no known reports of them using drones.

The leaflets often criticize North Korea’s human rights abuses or mock its leader Kim Jong Un and are sometimes accompanied by valuable items like dollar bills or USB drives.

North Korea is governed by a third-generation hereditary dictatorship that views virtually all outside information as an existential threat.

In the past, North Korea has used the leaflets as a justification to ramp up cross-border tensions.

When the North began sending waste-filled balloons to the South in May, some analysts cautioned that Kim may be preparing to conduct a more serious cross-border confrontation.

In one particularly provocative move, North Korea in late 2022 sent five small reconnaissance drones across the border, with one making it all the way to the northern edge of the capital, Seoul.

In response, South Korea’s military said it sent a drone into North Korea on a reconnaissance mission. There have been no subsequent reports that South Korea’s military has flown drones into the North.
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Islamabad — The United Nations expressed “a great deal of sorrow” Friday over the continued ban on girls’ secondary school education in Taliban-led Afghanistan as the world body marked the International Day of the Girl Child. 

Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, renewed her appeal to Taliban leaders to “change course” by lifting the restrictions. She lamented that over 1,100 days have passed since the de facto Afghan authorities imposed the ban on educating girls over the age of 12.  

“This is more than three years of lost opportunity – not just for millions of girls, but for families, communities, and the entire country,” Otunbayeva stated.  

”As each day passes, even greater damage is being done to the lives of women and girls. Afghanistan is being taken backwards, not forwards, in its quest for peace, recovery, and prosperity,” the U.N. envoy added.  

Otunbayeva pledged that her organization will continue to advocate for Afghan women and girls, even in the face of attempts to silence them. 

The Taliban have enforced their strict interpretation of Islamic law since regaining control of the impoverished country in 2021.  

Girls ages 12 and older are barred from attending school, making Afghanistan the only country with that restriction. Female students have been prohibited from attending universities, and most Afghan women are banned from working in both public and private sectors, including the U.N. They are also forbidden from visiting public places such as parks and gyms. 

Islamist leaders enacted contentious “vice and virtue” laws last month, which solidified existing restrictions on women’s freedoms and deemed the sound of a female’s voice in public as a moral violation.  

The decree requires women to cover their entire bodies and faces when outdoors and forbids them from looking at men to whom they are not related and vice versa, sparking a global outcry and calls for reversing the curbs.  

The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, defends its policies as being aligned with Sharia and Afghan customs, rejecting international criticism as an interference in the internal affairs of the country.  

The United Nations recognizes October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child to acknowledge girls’ rights and the challenges they face worldwide.  
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NEW DELHI — The half-brother of Ratan Tata was appointed on Friday as the head of the powerful and influential philanthropic arm of India’s Tata group, giving him indirect control of the $165 billion conglomerate.  

Tata Trusts said Noel Tata, 67, will be its new chairman after the death this week of Ratan Tata, one of India’s best-known corporate titans.  

The decision followed “many old-timers” in the group wanting him to lead the venture, said one Tata executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.  

The parent company, Tata Sons, oversees 30 firms across consumer goods, hotels, automobiles and airlines and has become a global juggernaut over the years, with brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea in its stable.  

It owns Tata Consultancy Services, Taj Hotels and Air India and counts Starbucks SBUX.O and Airbus as partners in India.  

Tata Trusts has a 66% ownership of Tata Sons, giving it power over big investment, philanthropic and strategic decisions by the conglomerate, company executives say.  

Noel Tata, who is half-French, was already among the many trustees of the philanthropic arm, and also chairman of Tata’s retail fashion brand Trent as well as vice chairman of Tata Steel TISC.NS.  

The trust earns dividends from Tata Sons but has no direct say over its operations. However, it appoints a third of the directors to Tata Sons who have veto power over board decisions.  

The chairman of Tata Trusts “is powerful enough to decide board and key personnel” appointments at Tata Sons, a second senior company executive said.  

While Tata Sons is not compelled to seek advice or guidance from the philanthropic arm, it’s an “unsaid understanding” that there is consultation between leadership on both sides, the first executive added.   

Noel’s journey   

The Tata group was set up in 1868 by Ratan’s great grandfather, Jamsetji Tata.   

A few years later, Jamsetji started charity work that has since expanded to sectors such as healthcare and sports, through many of the trusts in the philanthropic arm.  

Ratan Tata started working at the family firm in 1962 and became the chairman of Tata Sons in 1991, taking the group to new heights while gaining a reputation as an extremely shy, soft-spoken executive with sharp business acumen.  

Noel Tata is a graduate of Sussex University who has been associated with the group for more than 40 years. He serves on the board of various Tata companies.  

As a previous managing director of Tata International, Noel grew the turnover of the trading arm to more than $3 billion from $500 million, a Tata Group website said.  

The Tatas belong to the tiny Parsi community, which has included some of India’s biggest business names, top nuclear scientists, world-class musicians and senior military officers.  

Parsis follow the Zoroastrian faith, an ancient pre-Islamic religion of Iran. Some of its tenets, such as charity and doing good to others, have long been woven into the Tata heritage and business ethos.   

Much of the dividend paid out by Tata Sons gets funneled into charitable trusts involved in philanthropic work.   

Although the trusts’ influence over the group is not often on display, the starkest such example was in 2016, when Ratan Tata had a falling out with Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry that led to the latter’s ouster.  

Mistry, another Parsi billionaire whose family owns a stake of about 18% in Tata Sons, died in a car accident in 2022.  

One of his former advisers told Reuters this week that the Tata Trusts “without a doubt” exert unparalleled power over Tata Sons’ functions, adding that they “work behind a veil.”   

Noel is an Irish citizen married to Mistry’s sister. 
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seoul, south korea — South Koreans flocked to bookstores Friday and crashed websites in a frenzy to snap up copies of the work of novelist Han Kang in her home country, after her unexpected win of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.

However, the author herself was keeping out of the limelight.

The country’s largest bookstore chain, Kyobo Book Centre, said sales of her books had rocketed on Friday, with stocks almost immediately selling out and set to be in short supply for the near future.

“This is the first time a Korean has received a Nobel Prize in Literature, so I was amazed,” said Yoon Ki-heon, a 32-year-old visitor at a bookstore in central Seoul.

“South Korea had a poor achievement in winning Nobel Prizes, so I was surprised by news that (a writer of) non-English books, which were written in Korean, won such a big prize.”

Soon after Thursday’s announcement, some bookstore websites could not be accessed due to heavy traffic. Out of the current 10 bestsellers at Kyobo, nine were Han’s books on Friday morning, according to its website.

Han’s father, well-regarded author Han Seung-won, said the translation of her novel The Vegetarian, her major international breakthrough, had led to her winning the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 and now the Nobel prize.

“My daughter’s writing is very delicate, beautiful and sad,” Han Seung-won said.

“So, how you translate that sad sentence into a foreign language will determine whether you win … It seems the translator was the right person to translate the unique flavor of Korean language.”

Han’s other books address painful chapters of South Korean history, including Human Acts which examines the 1980 massacre of hundreds of civilians by the South Korean military in the city of Gwangju.

Another novel, We Do Not Part, looks at the fallout of the 1948-54 massacre on Jeju island, when an estimated 10% of the island’s population were killed in an anti-communist purge.

“I really hope souls of the victims and survivors could be healed from pain and trauma through her book,” said Kim Chang-beom, head of an association for the bereaved families of the Jeju massacre.

Park Gang-bae, a director at a foundation that honors the victims and supports the bereaved families and survivors of the Gwangju massacre, said he was “jubilant and moved ” by her win.

“The protagonists in her book (Human Acts) are people we meet and live with every day, on every corner here, so this is deeply moving,” Park said.

Han’s father told reporters on Friday that she may continue to shun the limelight after giving no separate comments or interviews and eschewing media scrutiny since Thursday’s win.

“She said given the fierce Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine wars and people dying every day, how could she celebrate and hold a joyous press conference?” her father said.

Han Kang received the news of her win about 10 to 15 minutes before the announcement, her father said, and was so surprised that she thought it might be a scam at one point.
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QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday, drawing condemnation from authorities who have ordered police to trace and arrest those who are behind the killings.

It’s the latest attack in restive Balochistan province and comes days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital.

Police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire.

Most of the men were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan.

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but the suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which often targets civilians and security forces.

The group committed multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50 people, while authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province. Those killed included 23 passengers, mostly from eastern Punjab province, who were fatally shot after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail district in Baluchistan.

The latest attack drew a strong condemnation from Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan, who said the “terrorists have once again targeted poor laborers.”

He said the attackers were cruel and had an agenda to destabilize Pakistan. “The killing of these innocent laborers would be avenged,” he said in a statement.

The province is home to several separatist groups who want independence. They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals.

On Monday, a group called the Baloch Liberation Army said it carried out an attack on Chinese nationals outside Pakistan’s biggest airport. There are thousands of Chinese working in the country, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to protect high-profile events or foreigners in the country.

Islamabad is hosting a summit next week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping founded by China and Russia to counter Western alliances.

Authorities have beefed up security in the capital by deploying troops to prevent any acts of terrorism.

The Ministry of Interior this week had alerted the country’s four provinces to take additional measures to enhance security as the separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban could launch attacks at public places and government installation. 
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washington — This week, Pakistan banned a grassroots protest movement advocating for the rights of Pashtuns, an ethnic minority inhabiting the country’s northwestern region.

The government in Islamabad contends the movement, known as PTM, poses a threat to national sovereignty and security, but human rights groups view the move as part of a larger crackdown on dissent.

The ban, enacted Sunday under Pakistan’s anti-terror law, comes as tensions are mounting ahead of a PTM-planned jirga, or council of elders, on Friday.

Here is what you need to know about PTM:

What is it?

The Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement grew out of the turmoil of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations in the tribal region.

With the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan driving the Taliban and al-Qaida into the region, the Pakistani military launched a series of operations over the next two decades to hunt down the militants.

The consequences were devastating for the local population. Tens of thousands were killed, thousands were forcibly disappeared and millions more were displaced. These experiences fueled a growing sense of resentment and injustice among the Pashtuns.

In response to the alleged human rights abuses by the army and extremists, a group of eight university students from the Mehsud tribe formed the Mehsud Tahafuz Movement in 2014.

The movement gained national attention in 2018 after leading a 300-kilometer march to the capital to protest the killing of a Pashtun man by Pakistani police. The group then rebranded as the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, or PTM, giving fellow Pashtuns a cause to rally around.

PTM co-founder Manzoor Pashteen, known for his charismatic personality and oratorical skills, has become the face of the movement. Other key leaders include Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, both of whom served as independent lawmakers in Pakistan’s parliament. Along with other PTM leaders and activists, they’ve been repeatedly arrested on a variety of charges.

How large is PTM?

While there are no figures on PTM membership, it has emerged as a formidable grassroots movement in recent years. Its rallies routinely attract tens of thousands of people.

What does PTM want?

PTM began with a narrow set of demands, including the removal of military checkpoints, clearance of landmines and recovery of missing persons. But its campaign has evolved over the years into a broader struggle for justice, even as the government has met some of its demands.

What methods does it use?

Modeling itself on a British-era Pashtun civil disobedience movement, PTM uses a variety of peaceful methods such as marches, protests, processions through bazaars and open-air meetings known as jalsas. The groups have reportedly formed study circles to promote nonviolence and have called for a peace-and-reconciliation commission for justice.

How does the Pakistani government view PTM?

Though the movement has drawn support from other Pashtun groups, as well as progressive Pakistani activists and politicians, it has become, as one expert said, a “thorn in the side” of Pakistan’s powerful army.

The army, which rejects accusations that it has committed egregious human rights abuses, views PTM as a threat to its legitimacy. As Madiha Afzal, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted in a 2020 report, by “calling the army to account” and questioning its integrity, PTM effectively undermines the authority of an institution that sees itself as the guardian of the nation.

But the army’s hostility stems from a deeper fear: Pashtun nationalism. Pakistan, created in 1947 out of several ethnolinguistic parts of then-British India, has long been wary of “strong ethnic loyalties,” according to Afzal.

While PTM has remained peaceful, it is seen by the army as a potential threat to Pakistani sovereignty, as is a violent Baluch insurgency the army has been battling for decades.

Since the early days of the movement, the army has used a variety of tactics to try to shut it down, censoring media coverage of its activities, arresting and jailing PTM leaders, and launching a disinformation campaign to brand PTM activists as traitors and terrorists supported by India and Afghanistan.

But PTM has shown few signs of faltering, combining peaceful protests with legal battles and political activism while resisting the urge to turn violent.

As one activist told researcher Qamar Jafri, “We defend against attacks through resistance driven by legal activism and remaining resilient.”

What is next?

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have called on Pakistan to revoke its ban on PTM. But Pakistani officials say PTM has ties to both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, a charge the group denies.

Meanwhile, the government says PTM’s planned three-day jirga will not be allowed to proceed. At least three people were killed and several others injured as police clashed with activists near the site of the gathering on Wednesday.

VOA’s Deewa Service contributed to this report.
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