BEIJING — China will send a robotic spacecraft in coming days on a round trip to the moon’s far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for an inaugural Chinese crewed landing and a base on the lunar south pole.

Since the first Chang’e mission in 2007, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, China has made leaps forward in its lunar exploration, narrowing the technological chasm with the United States and Russia.

In 2020, China brought back samples from the moon’s near side in the first sample retrieval in more than four decades, confirming for the first time it could safely return an uncrewed spacecraft to Earth from the lunar surface.

This week, China is expected to launch Chang’e-6 using the backup spacecraft from the 2020 mission and collect soil and rocks from the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth.

With no direct line of sight with the Earth, Chang’e-6 must rely on a recently deployed relay satellite orbiting the moon during its 53-day mission, including a never-before attempted ascent from the moon’s “hidden” side on its return journey home.

The same relay satellite will support the uncrewed Chang’e-7 and 8 missions in 2026 and 2028, respectively, when China starts to explore the south pole for water and build a rudimentary outpost with Russia. China aims to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Beijing’s polar plans have worried NASA, whose administrator, Bill Nelson, has repeatedly warned that China would claim any water resources as its own. Beijing says it remains committed to cooperation with all nations on building a “shared” future.

On Chang’e-6, China will carry payloads from France, Italy, Sweden and Pakistan, and on Chang’e-7, payloads from Russia, Switzerland and Thailand.

NASA is banned by U.S. law from any collaboration, direct or indirect, with China.

Under the separate NASA-led Artemis program, U.S. astronauts will land near the south pole in 2026, the first humans on the moon since 1972.

“International cooperation is key (to lunar exploration),” Clive Neal, professor of planetary geology at the University of Notre Dame, told Reuters. “It’s just that China and the U.S. aren’t cooperating right now. I hope that will happen.”

South pole ambitions

Chang’e 6 will attempt to land on the northeastern side of the vast South Pole-Aitkin Basin, the oldest known impact crater in the solar system.

The southernmost landing ever was carried out in February by IM-1, a joint mission between NASA and the Texas-based private firm Intuitive Machines.

After touchdown at Malapert A, a site near the south pole that was believed to be relatively flat, the spacecraft tilted sharply to one side amid a host of technical problems, reflecting the high-risk nature of lunar landings.

The south pole has been described by scientists as the “golden belt” for lunar exploration.

Polar ice could sustain long-term research bases without relying on expensive resources transported from Earth. India’s Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008 confirmed the existence of ice inside polar craters.

Chang’e-6’s sample return could also shed more light on the early evolution of the moon and the inner solar system.

The lack of volcanic activity on the moon’s far side means there are more craters not covered by ancient lava flows, preserving materials from the moon’s early formation.

So far, all lunar samples taken by the United States and the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and China in 2020 were from the moon’s near side, where volcanism had been far more active.

Chang’e-6, after a successful landing, will collect about 2 kilograms of samples with a mechanical scoop and a drill.
…

Islamabad — Militants in Pakistan released a video Sunday showing a senior judge pleading for his freedom, a day after he was taken captive in a volatile northwestern district.

In the minute-long video clip sent to journalists, Judge Shakirullah Marwat appears alone, sitting in front of a dark fabric and stating that he was taken hostage by the Pakistani Taliban on Saturday.

He pleaded with the chief justice of Pakistan to urgently meet the demands of the militants holding him “to make my release possible.” He did not elaborate further. 

The Pakistani Taliban did not claim responsibility for the kidnapping, nor did they release a statement on the video.

There was no immediate response from the authorities to the purported hostage video.

VOA has not been able to independently verify the video. 

Marwat was serving in the South Waziristan district near the border with Afghanistan and was traveling back to the Dera Ismail Khan district when dozens of armed men ambushed his vehicle and kidnapped him along with his driver.  

Police in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the incident occurred, said that the kidnappers set the judge’s vehicle on fire and released his driver before fleeing to an unknown location. 

The driver later told investigators that the kidnappers were demanding the release of their relatives and imprisoned militants, according to local police officials. 

Authorities said police and counterterrorism forces had launched a joint large-scale search operation in the area but did not report any progress.

Separately, the Pakistani military said in a statement that its forces conducted an intelligence-based” counterterrorism raid in Dera Ismail Khan, killing two “terrorist” commanders in the ensuing clashes Sunday. 

The Pakistan border province has recently experienced almost daily attacks on security forces and their bases by militants linked to the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban. 

It is rare, however, for TTP to kidnap a judge as the group claims its violent campaign is only targeting the Pakistani military and police forces. 

Last week, eight Pakistani customs officials tasked to counter weapons smuggling in and around Dera Ismail Khan were also killed by suspected TTP militants in separate attacks.

Pakistan says TTP is orchestrating the deadly violence from sanctuaries in Afghanistan, charges that the neighboring country’s fundamentalist Taliban government claims are baseless.
…

Tokyo — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing party, stung by an extensive slush funds scandal, appeared to have lost all three seats in Sunday’s parliamentary by-elections, according to media exit polls and preliminary results.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s loss is considered a voter punishment for its links to a yearslong corruption saga that erupted last year and has undermined Kishida’s leadership. His party’s loss of power is unlikely, however, because of the fractured opposition.

“The results were extremely severe,” LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters in Tokyo. “We humbly accept the severe results, and we will do our utmost to regain the trust from the public as we continue our effort to reform and tackle the challenges.”

The liberal-leaning main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) was certain to win all three seats in Shimane, Nagasaki and Tokyo, according to exit polls by national NHK television, Kyodo News and other media.

CPDJ leader Kenta Izumi said the by-elections were about political reforms. “There are  

many voters across the country who also want to show (similar) views,” he said, adding that he will seek early national elections if reforms by the governing party are too slow.

The loss in the Shimane prefecture was especially shocking to the governing party and could undermine Kishida’s clout, as LDP lawmakers may try to bring him down to put a new face ahead of the next general election. Such a move would dash Kishida’s hope for running in the party presidential race in September for another three-year term. He can call the election any time before the current term for the lower house expires in October 2025.

Kishida has fought plummeting support ratings since the corruption scandal erupted last year. He has removed several Cabinet ministers and others from party executive posts, conducted internal hearings and drafted reform measures, but support ratings for his government have dwindled to around 20%.

The scandal centers on unreported political funds raised through tickets sold for party events. It led to 10 people — lawmakers and their aides — being indicted in January.

More than 80 governing party lawmakers, most of them belonging to a major party faction previously led by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have acknowledged not reporting funds in a possible violation of the Political Funds Control Law. The money received from the long-term practice is alleged to have gone into unmonitored slush funds.

In Sunday’s by-elections, the LDP did not field its own candidates in the Tokyo and Nagasaki districts because of the apparent low support for the party. It focused instead on defending the seat in the Shimane district that was vacated by the death of former LDP House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda, who was also linked to a few alleged irregularities, including the slush funds.

Akiko Kamei, a CDPJ candidate who beat former Finance Ministry bureaucrat Norimasa Nishikori from LDP, said her victory in Shimane, known as a “conservative kingdom,” sent a “big message” to Kishida.

“I believe the voters’ anger over LDP’s slush funds problem and the lack of improvement in daily lives in the prefecture became support for me,” she said.

The final results of the special vote are expected early Monday.
…

CHBAR MON, Cambodia — A funeral was held Sunday for 20 soldiers who died at an army base in southwestern Cambodia in a huge explosion of stored munitions that also wounded several others and damaged nearby houses. 

There has been no public explanation of what caused the Saturday afternoon blast at the base in Kompong Speu province, though there were no suggestions it was triggered deliberately. 

Defense Minister Tea Seiha, representing Prime Minister Hun Manet, presided over the Buddhist funeral ceremony, which was attended by relatives of the victims and fellow soldiers. Cambodian flags covered the wooden coffins. 

A villager living nearby told The Associated Press on Sunday that he trembled after hearing the blast because he had never before experienced such a loud explosion. 

“When the explosion happened, I was fixing my house with some construction workers,” said Chim Sothea. “Suddenly there was a loud explosion, causing my house to shake and breaking tiles on my roof. They fell down but luckily they didn’t fall inside the house.” 

Images showed several badly damaged buildings on the base, at least one with its roof  blown off, and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. Other photos showed nearby houses with holes in their roofs. 

Four buildings on the base — three for storage and one work facility — were destroyed and several military vehicles damaged, Col. Youeng Sokhon, an army officer at the site, said in a report to army chief Gen. Mao Sophan. 

Another villager, who asked to be named only as Sophal, said the military closed the road to the base and “villagers were in a panic, seeking a safe place.” He moved his family to his parent’s home, farther away from the base. When he returned to his own house hours later, he found it undamaged but other villagers’ houses had broken windows, doors and roofs, he said. 

Cambodia, like many countries in the region, has been suffering from an extended heat wave, and the province where the blast took place registered a high of 39 C (102 F) Saturday. While high temperatures normally can’t detonate ammunition, they can degrade the stability of explosives over time, with the risk that a single small explosion can set off a fire and a chain reaction. 

In March 2005, a nighttime blast at an arms depot in the northwestern provincial town of Battambang triggered an hour-long spray of shells and bullets, killing at least six people and causing panic. 

A 2014 report by the Swiss-based group Small Arms Survey highlighted the dangers of poorly stored or mishandled munitions, calling it a “global problem.” It noted that from 1979 through 2013 there were more than 500 incidents involving unplanned explosions at munitions sites. 
…

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Armed men ambushed and kidnapped a senior judge in Pakistan’s restive northwest, a police official said Sunday.

Around 15 men on motorbikes intercepted Judge Shakirullah Marwat’s vehicle as he was travelling toward Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said police official Faheem Khan. The assailants set the car on fire before fleeing with him. The driver was not harmed, Khan said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday evening’s assault, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, who made the province their stronghold.

It’s unusual for militants in the northwest to target a judge of Marwat’s seniority, who normally travels with tight security. The militants have generally attacked security personnel or infrastructure.

Khan said a search operation had been launched for the judge and a counter-terrorism team had joined the investigation.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in violence, mostly blamed on the TTP, since the group unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the central government in November 2022.

Last weekend, gunmen opened fire at customs officials, killing two and wounding three others in Dera Ismail Khan.
…

DHAKA — Schools in Bangladesh reopened Sunday despite a heatwave continuing to sweep the South Asian nation, with temperatures expected to climb above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the days ahead, according to the weather department. 

Schools that had closed last week reopened on what is the first day of the week in Bangladesh, despite the latest 72-hour heat alert being extended until April 30. 

Due to the recent holidays to mark Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, students received extended leave, including for the heat alert, leading schools to worry about students’ preparations for year-end exams. 

“Our academic activities are being hampered due to this long break including Ramadan and Eid holidays. This is the time for academic studies for final exams at the end of the year,” Bornali Hossain, principal of Meherunnesa Girls’ School, told Reuters Television. 

“We will try our best to catch up till the government provides the next directive.” 

Daily assemblies will not be held until further notice, and the portion of class activities held outside the classroom and exposed to sunlight will be limited, the education ministry said. 

Parents are still worried about the health of their children, however. 

“The weather is unbearable. What will happen if my daughter gets sick?” asked Sumana Ahmed, the mother of a six-year-old. 

Scientists say climate change is contributing to more frequent, severe and longer heatwaves during the summer months. 

The authorities have been encouraging residents to stay indoors and drink water. 

“My home is far. My younger daughter’s class breaks early, but the elder one is still in  

school. Both of our two-way journeys by buses are tiresome due to the unbearable heatwave,” said Kamrun Nahar, a mother of two students. 
…

BEIJING/TOKYO — China’s coast guard confronted Japanese lawmakers in waters claimed by both countries in the East China Sea, China’s embassy in Tokyo and Japanese media said Sunday, the latest in a series of maritime disputes involving China and its neighbors. 

Chinese vessels took unspecified law enforcement measures, the embassy said in a statement, adding that it had lodged solemn representations for what it called “infringement and provocation” by Japan near tiny, uninhabited islands that Beijing calls the Diaoyu and Tokyo calls the Senkaku. 

The Japanese group, including former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, was on an inspection mission organized by the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa prefecture, according to the Chinese embassy and Japanese public broadcaster NHK. 

Japan and China have repeatedly faced off around the Japan-administered islands. China also has escalating run-ins with the Philippine navy in disputed areas of the South China Sea, where Beijing’s expansive maritime claims conflict with those of several Southeast Asia nations. 

Inada’s group spent three hours near the islands Saturday, using drones to observe the area, and the Japanese coast guard vessel sought to fend off the Chinese coast guard, NHK said. 

“The government and the public are aware of the severe security situation,” said Inada, a senior official of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to NHK. “The Senkaku are our sovereign territory, and we need to go ashore for research.” 

It was the first such inspection trip to the area involving a member of Japan’s parliament since 2013, NHK reported. 

Officials of Japan’s foreign ministry were not immediately available for comment outside of working hours. 

China strongly urged Japan to abide by what it called a consensus reached between the two countries, stop political provocations, on-site incidents and hyping up public opinion, the embassy said. 

It asked Japan to “return to the right track of properly managing contradictions and differences through dialog and consultation, so as to avoid further escalation of the situation.” 
…

Manila, Philippines — The Philippines will suspend in-person classes in all public schools for two days due to extreme heat and a nationwide strike by jeepney drivers, the education department said Sunday.

Extreme heat has scorched Southeast Asia in recent weeks, prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person operations and authorities to issue health warnings.

Many schools in the Philippines have no air conditioning, leaving students to swelter in crowded, poorly ventilated classrooms.

“In view of the latest heat index forecast… and the announcement of a nationwide transport strike, all public schools nationwide shall implement asynchronous classes/distance learning on April 29 and 30, 2024,” the department said on Facebook.

The education department oversees more than 47,000 schools across the archipelago nation.

Some jeepney drivers also plan to hold a three-day nationwide strike starting Monday to protest the government’s plan to phase out the smoke-belching vehicles used by many Filipinos to commute to work and school.

The suspension of in-person classes comes after Manila recorded its highest ever temperature.

The temperature in the city hit a record high of 38.8 degrees Celsius on Saturday with the heat index reaching 45 degrees, data from the state weather forecaster showed.

The heat index measures what a temperature feels like, taking into account humidity.

The hot weather persisted on Sunday with many people flocking to air conditioned shopping malls and swimming pools for relief.

“This is the hottest I’ve ever experienced here,” said Nancy Bautista, 65, whose resort in Cavite province near Manila was fully booked due to the hot weather.

“Many of our guests are friends and families. They swim in the pool to fight the heat.”

The months of March, April and May are typically the hottest and driest of the year, but this year’s conditions have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

“All places in the country, not necessarily just Metro Manila, are expected to have hotter temperatures until the second week of May,” Glaiza Escullar of the state weather forecaster told AFP.

“There is a possibility that the areas will exceed those temperatures being measured today until the second week of May.”

Camiling municipality in Tarlac province, north of Manila, recorded a temperature of 40.3 degrees on Saturday — the country’s highest this year.

As the mercury rose, Gerise Reyes, 31, planned to take her 2-year-old daughter to a shopping mall near Manila.

“It’s hot here at home. This is the hottest I’ve ever experienced, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.,” she said.

“We need a free aircon to cut our electricity bill.”

Global temperatures hit record highs last year, and the United Nations weather and climate agency said Tuesday that Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace.

The Philippines ranks among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
…

Jakarta, Indonesia — A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage. 

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning. 

High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta’s satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi.

The quake also was felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency. 

The agency warned of possible aftershocks. 

Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta. 

Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” 

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java’s Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people. 

In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia’s Aceh province. 
…

GENEVA — Changes are being urged to plans for returning thousands of Afghan citizens from Pakistan to make the process more effective. 

While Pakistan has delayed the expulsion of some 850,000 documented Afghan refugees to Afghanistan, a senior Red Cross official is appealing for the returns to occur “in a more staggered way” so Afghanistan can better absorb the enormous influx of people. 

“It will be important to work with the government of Pakistan in 2024 to ask that if there are going to be returnees,” that they arrive “in smaller numbers at a time just so it is more manageable on the Afghan side,” said Alexander Matheou, regional director, Asia Pacific Region for the International Federation of the Red Cross.   

Speaking in the Qatari capital, Doha, Matheou told journalists in Geneva on Friday that he had just concluded his fifth visit to Afghanistan since the autumn of 2021, shortly after the Taliban takeover of the country. 

He said the challenges facing Afghan returnees from Pakistan was one of several pressing issues he discussed with de facto Taliban rulers.   

“You will be aware that over half a million have crossed the border over recent months, and it is likely that we will see large numbers of new arrivals in the coming months,” he said.

“I imagine this is probably the largest population flow in a short period of time in Asia since the population movement from Myanmar into Bangladesh in 2017,” he added. “So, it is a significant event.”

Returnees ill-equipped to start over

Since October, Pakistan has expelled more than 500,000 Afghan refugees who lacked proper documentation. In a second phase of expulsions, which has been temporarily halted, more than 850,000 Afghans holding identification cards issued by the Pakistani government are slated to be forcibly deported. 

Matheou notes many of the returnees have lived in Pakistan for decades and are ill-equipped to begin a new life in a country that to them is unknown, without government or international support. 

The humanitarian effort is, he said, ” largely concentrated on trying to help people on arrival at transit stations near the border. He added that the real challenges start once people move away from those transit areas.    

“When we interviewed the returnees themselves, it was also clear that most had no idea how they were going to settle in their point of destination or how they were going to build a livelihood with nothing,” he said. “They largely expected to be living with distant relatives, which would actually make very, very poor people some of the poorest communities in the world, even poorer.” 

Children make up half of returning Afghans

Matheou described the returnees as being in generally poor health, especially the children, who account for nearly half of all returnees.   

“The evidence of that was we visited clinics where they reported a real spike in cases of acute malnutrition coming from the arrivals from Pakistan.   

“We visited routine immunization programs of the IFRC and the Afghan Red Crescent in the villages, and there it was clear looking at the children that as well as being anemic, you could see wasting and stunting among the children,” he said.    

Wasting in a child is a condition that increases the risk of death and requires intensive treatment and care. 

While Afghanistan is a country with multiple challenges, Matheou said there have been a few positive changes since the Taliban came to power.   

“There are still plenty of security incidents going on in Afghanistan every day or most days, but the security on the whole is better than it has been for decades, and on the surface it is peaceful, and this is clearly deeply welcomed by a war-ravaged population,” he said, noting there is also a welcomed commitment to reduce theft and corruption. 

Human rights crises remain 

While security has improved, however, he said the country’s humanitarian and human rights crises remains severe. That is most clearly manifested in the mental health crisis afflicting the population. 

“Beneath those crises, there is an invisible crisis of hopelessness, depression, desperation that stem from a collapsing health service, mass unemployment, barriers to education, and frustrated boys, girls, men, and women who are stuck at home all day.   

He said the IFRC has a staff in two to three of the provinces of Afghanistan, but the work of ministering to the physical and mental health needs of the population was done primarily through the Afghan Red Crescent.   

Despite the Taliban ban on women’s participation in work and education, he said, “We try to ensure that our work is gender balanced. We employ women in all our health, mental health, primary health services, as well as services for women-headed households.”   

He warned, though, the outlook for Afghanistan is bleak. If the Taliban does not change its discriminatory policies against women, he said it will be difficult to get the kind of funding needed to turn Afghanistan into an economically viable society. 

“The future of where the next generation of doctors and nurses will come from, where the next generation of teachers will come from, and where employment generated for families to be economically independent and hopeful about the future is looking quite grim,” he said. 
…

ISLAMABAD — Germany’s ambassador to Pakistan faced backlash on social media Saturday for asking pro-Palestinian demonstrators to leave a human rights conference instead of “shouting” and interrupting his speech.

Alfred Grannas was speaking on civil rights at the live-streamed event in the eastern city of Lahore when a young man rose from his seat and spoke to the German diplomat.

“Excuse me, Mr. ambassador. I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians,” the protester said.

The participants cheered and chanted “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea” in response to the comments, with many of them rising from their seats in support of the man.

“If you want to shout, go out; there, you can shout because shouting is not a discussion,” the German ambassador shouted back furiously in response to the questioning voice.

“If you want to discuss it, come here. We’ll discuss it, but don’t shout. Shouting is not a behavior. Shame on you,” Grannas said.

Organizers forced the protesters out of the conference to let the German diplomat complete his speech.

Grannas’ video remarks quickly went viral, drawing criticism from Pakistanis, including activists, politicians and journalists.

“The German ambassador shouting into the mic about shouting,” said Uzair Younus, a former nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center.

“Not a great look for German diplomacy. These types of interruptions will be the norm, not the exception for Western countries’ representatives in the global south moving forward as they lecture folks about human rights,” Younus wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Mr. ambassador, can you tell someone to ‘get out’ for expressing their opinion freely in your own country?” Ghulam Abbas Shah, a Pakistani broadcast journalist, asked on X.

“German ambassador to Pakistan lecturing Pakistanis about free speech while German government bans any discussion on Gaza. Students who spoke up during this speech were dragged and beaten up. Shame!” Ammar Ali Jan, a Pakistani historian, activist, and politician, said on X.

Some social media influencers urged the German diplomat to apologize to Pakistanis for his reaction.

“This isn’t the way a diplomatic relation is built with the masses of host country @GermanyinPAK,” said journalist Sumaira Khan on X. “We are shocked to see your level of respect toward Pakistan and Pakistanis. … You should apologize to our people I believe,” she wrote.

Germany has firmly supported Israel since the Jewish state declared war on Gaza-based Hamas after the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and leading to the capture of scores of hostages.

Israel’s counteroffensive has killed nearly 34,000 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, Gaza health officials say. Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.

The German government has not budged even as warnings of a genocide allegedly committed by Israeli forces have mounted.

Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has no direct channels of communication with it over the issue of Palestinian statehood.
…

MAE SOT, THAILAND — Thailand is staying alert as conflict in Myanmar continues, according to Thai government officials who visited Thailand’s border with Myanmar this week.

The comments come as renewed fighting continues between anti-junta ethnic groups and the military for control over Myawaddy, a crucial trade hub just across the border from Mae Sot.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup in February 2021. The country has devolved into armed conflict with civilian, political and ethnic groups opposing junta rule.

The conflict has shifted in the past year. The Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, has suffered a series of defeats to opposition groups. One of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed groups, the Karen National Union, or KNU, announced in April it had forced the surrender of military soldiers controlling Myawaddy.

Thailand shares a 2,414-kilometer (1,500-mile) border with Myanmar and could be at risk of a border spillover should the conflict escalate.

On Tuesday, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara visited Mae Sot.

Parnpree first surveyed a Thai immigration crossing before holding a news conference with Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Defense Minister Sutin Klungsang, at Mae Sot International Airport.

“We’ve been visiting people in the area to give them confidence that things are being handled well and to hear what issues they may have. For Thai sovereignty we are ready to protect,” Parnpree told reporters.

Thailand’s officials appear calm about the situation, but Mae Sot is literally only a few kilometers across the border from Myanmar’s war. Armored military vehicles can be seen near the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, with soldiers on patrol. Last week there were reports of bullets from the conflict entering Thai territory, and Thailand’s air force has been monitoring Myanmar’s aircraft for any possible incursions.

“In the past there have been incidents including bullets and some sort of encroachment. That is the past in a different context. Today, we are following every issue closely,” Parnpree said.

The reduced control of Myawaddy by Myanmar’s military is seen as a humiliating blow to the junta because billions of dollars’ worth of cross-border trade passes through the town each year.

Footage found online that reportedly was posted by junta soldiers shows a Myanmar infantry battalion raising its flag at a recaptured base Wednesday morning. The KNU says its forces retreated after Myanmar’s Karen Border Guard Force — which is aligned with the junta — allowed military soldiers to reoccupy the base.

Since then, the fighting has continued with the loud thuds and explosions of outgoing weapons fire heard several miles away in Mae Sot.

Even though Myanmar’s post-coup conflict has spanned more than three years, Thailand’s approach to Myanmar changed only after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin took office in the last year, according to one political analyst.

“I think they want to be the broker; they want to promote dialogue, and the Srettha government wants to play a leading role moving forward,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political expert on Thailand, told VOA.

“I think they have a broader foreign policy objective about rebalancing and repositioning Thailand as a leader for ASEAN on Myanmar,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “I think they are willing to do what it takes to [be in a] leading role and are open to options. Myanmar is a top priority for Thailand.”

Thailand has taken on a bigger humanitarian role toward Myanmar in recent months and has agreed to build shelters to receive refugees escaping Myanmar.

Parnpree will also lead a new special committee aimed at dealing with the crisis.

Since the fight for Myawaddy erupted, thousands of people from Myanmar have fled across the 200-mile Moei River, which acts as a natural border separating Thailand and Myanmar. If Myawaddy remains an active war zone, Thailand could see more people fleeing across its border.

At the Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, the medical staff are struggling to cope with the influx of injured patients.

“Three hundred to 400 patients have come from Myawaddy,” Khun Wai, a medical officer at the clinic, told VOA. “Some have got war injuries from the fighting. We currently have 140 beds, so our doctors and medics are very busy right now. In Myanmar, many families have fled to Thailand.”

Inside the facility, the conditions are grim. Patients are crammed in hallways, waiting for treatment. The sweltering heat adds to the discomfort.

In one ward, a handful of young soldiers who fought on both sides of the war have physically succumbed to the brutalities of war. Several have had legs blown off from landmines; others have severe burns to their skin. One man has bandages covering the stitches in his chest after being shot.

More than 60% of Myanmar’s territory is under the control of ethnic and opposition groups, according to the National Unity Government — the anti-junta shadow government — that has long said it must be involved in any new aid initiatives from Bangkok.

Tun Aung Shwe, the NUG representative to Australia, spoke with VOA earlier this year.

“To make a substantial impact, the Thai government’s involvement should prioritize collaboration with the NUG and its allies. Without this engagement, despite good intentions, the efforts might not yield the desired positive outcome,” Shwe said.

Thailand’s government has been criticized for liaising only with Myanmar’s military council in the past, but now Thailand’s foreign ministry said initial discussions have taken place to act as a mediator among the opposing groups.

This hasn’t always been the case.

Thailand endured its own military coup in 2014, which was led by then-army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, who ruled Thailand for nine years.

Military relations have changed since then, Thitinan said.

“I think Srettha is more open to more stakeholders,” he said. “The Thai military [is] on the border now; the Royal Air Force [is] staying vigilant. … This wasn’t happening under Prayuth’s time.”
…

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Twenty soldiers were killed, and several others injured in an ammunition explosion at a base in the west of Cambodia on Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Hun Manet said. 

Hun Manet said in a Facebook post that he was “deeply shocked” when he received the news of the explosion at the base in Kampong Speu province. 

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, and Hun Manet did not say in his post on Facebook. 

He offered condolences to the soldiers’ families and promised the government would pay for their funerals and provide compensation to those killed and injured. 

Pictures from the scene showed a destroyed building still smoldering and soldiers receiving treatment in a hospital. 

Hun Manet, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, was promoted to be a four-star general shortly before he was elected to serve as prime minister, succeeding his autocratic father Hun Sen. 
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MOSCOW — A Moscow court has detained another suspect as an accomplice in the attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people in March, the Moscow City Courts Telegram channel said Saturday. 

Dzhumokhon Kurbonov, a citizen of Tajikistan, is accused of providing the attackers with means of communication and financing. The judge at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ruled that Kurbonov would be kept in custody until May 22 pending investigation and trial. 

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Kurbonov was reportedly detained on April 11 for 15 days on the administrative charge of petty hooliganism. Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona noted that this is a common practice used by Russian security forces to hold a person in custody while a criminal case is prepared against them. 

Twelve defendants have been arrested in the case, including four who allegedly carried out the attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, according to RIA Novosti. 

Those four appeared in the same Moscow court at the end of March on terrorism charges and showed signs of severe beatings. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing. The court ordered that the men, all of whom were identified in the media as citizens of Tajikistan, also be held in custody until May 22. 

A faction of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the massacre in which gunmen shot people who were waiting for a show by a popular rock band and then set the building on fire. But Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have persistently claimed, without presenting any evidence, that Ukraine and the West had a role in the attack. 

Ukraine denies involvement and its officials claim that Moscow is pushing the allegation as a pretext to intensify its fighting in Ukraine. 
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SYDNEY — The Asian Development Bank holds its annual meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia, next week, with discussions on climate change and the world’s aging population high on the agenda.

The four-day summit, starting Thursday, marks the first time that the ADB’s 68 members have gathered for a meeting in Georgia, which joined the multilateral development bank in 2007.

“Georgia sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia,” said Shalini Mittal, a principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“This meeting signifies ADB’s agenda of bridges to the future where technology and expertise from the West can be used to enhance structural reforms in Asia,” Mittal told VOA.

Alongside numerous panel discussions and a keynote speech from ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa, finance ministers from Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries Japan, China and South Korea will also meet on the sidelines.

“Given the geopolitical uncertainty with the Ukraine-Russia war and tensions in Asia with China’s problematic relations with its neighbors, I think the meeting is taking place at a crucial time,” said Jason Chung, a senior adviser with the Project on Prosperity and Development at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It provides an additional path to have meaningful discussions on global economic issues,” Chung told VOA.

Climate change stressed

The issue of climate change is set to headline proceedings at the conference, with the ADB now marketing itself as the climate bank for the Asia-Pacific region.

The bank pledged a record $9.8 billion of climate finance in 2023, supporting developing countries to cut greenhouse emissions and adapt to extreme conditions as global warming continues.

“Storm surges, sea level rise, heat waves, droughts, and floods — all our countries suffer from all of the imaginable impacts of climate change,” said Warren Evans, who, as senior special adviser on climate change in the ADB president’s office, acts as the institution’s climate envoy.

The bank says that the Asia-Pacific region was hit by over 200 disasters last year alone, with many of them weather related, a problem that shows no sign of letting up.

“Right now, there’s a heatwave in Bangladesh that is causing severe impacts. Schools are closed, they’re seeing a drop in agricultural productivity, hospitals are getting overloaded with people with heatstroke,” Evans told VOA.

“Mortality rates are going up and, of course, women and children are the most vulnerable to those impacts,” he said.

While much of the Asia-Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to climate change, it is also a huge driver of the phenomenon.

The region contributes more than half of global carbon dioxide emissions, with a heavy reliance on coal as a source of energy, according to the ADB.

To try to reach net zero targets, many Asia-Pacific nations require huge investment to convert to clean energy alternatives.

One way that the ADB is tackling this issue is through a program targeting coal-burning power plants, a major contributor to emissions.

“With private sector partners and sovereign funding, we’re refinancing coal-fired power plants in order to be able to close them down early,” Evans said. The ADB’s “energy transition mechanism” uses private and public capital to refinance investments in coal-fired power, allowing power purchase agreements to be shortened and plants to be closed as much as a decade earlier than planned. The financing is also used to fund clean energy projects to generate the power that would have come from the coal plant.

The project looks to replace these plants with clean energy alternatives, ensuring that power is generated more sustainably.

A coal-burning power plant in Indonesia’s West Java is set to become the first to be retired early under the initiative.

“The communities that are impacted will have support, allowing people to find new jobs or to get social welfare,” Evans said.

Aging population in Asia

During the Tbilisi summit, the ADB will also launch a major report on aging population, which also affects member countries’ economies.

According to the bank, 1 in 4 people in the Asia-Pacific region will be over 60 by 2050, close to 1.3 billion people.

“The speed of aging is very quick in Asia, because of the rapid progress in the social development that has taken place in the region,” said Aiko Kikkawa, a senior economist for the ADB’s Aging Well in Asia report.

Researchers have investigated the implications of this demographic transition, with Kikkawa finding that the Asia-Pacific region is currently “unprepared” for aging populations.

“Large numbers of older people do report a substantial disease burden, lack of access to decent jobs or essential services, such as health and long-term care, and even lack of access to pension coverage,” Kikkawa told VOA.

The ADB has pledged to help to improve the lives of older people across the Asia-Pacific region, by supporting the rollout of universal health coverage and providing infrastructure for ‘age-friendly cities’ that are more accessible for older people.

Poverty to be addressed

While much of the focus in Tbilisi will be on climate change and aging populations, the ADB’s core edict remains to eradicate extreme poverty in its many developing country members.

That task has become even more challenging in an environment of high inflation and growing government debt.

However, Chung, the former U.S. director of the ADB, told VOA he believes that this goal should be at the center of discussions in the Georgian capital.

“The ADB should focus on its core mission of alleviating poverty and creating paths for economic growth in the developing member countries.

“While climate risk is important, I think given the state of uncertainty, it is important to provide support to create economic conditions for growth,” he told VOA.
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Lausanne, Switzerland — The head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has backed the World Anti-Doping Agency in a row over its handling of positive drug tests by 23 Chinese swimmers.

“We have full confidence in WADA and the regulations and that WADA have followed their regulations,” Bach told AFP in an exclusive interview Friday at the committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

WADA has faced criticism since media reports last weekend revealed that the Chinese swimmers tested positive for heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ) — which can enhance performance — ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The swimmers were not suspended or sanctioned after WADA accepted the explanation of Chinese authorities that the results were caused by food contamination at a hotel where they had stayed.

The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, has called the situation a “potential cover-up” with the positive tests never made public at the time.

Bach stressed that WADA was run independently, despite being funded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and he said he had learned of the positive tests via the media.

The IOC was awaiting the results of a new investigation ordered by WADA on Thursday, but Bach said the Chinese swimmers could compete at the Paris Olympics this year if cleared.

“If the procedures are followed, there is no reason for them not to be there,” the 70-year-old former German fencer added.

‘Iconic’ Paris

The Paris Games are set to be important to “revive the Olympic spirit” after the last COVID-affected edition in Tokyo in 2021 saw sport play out in empty stadiums, Bach said.

The hugely ambitious opening ceremony being planned by French organizers remains one of the biggest doubts, with infrastructure for the Games either already built or on track.

Instead of a traditional parade through the athletics stadium on the first night, teams are set to sail down the Seine on a flotilla of river boats in front of up to 500,000 spectators.

Worries about a terror attack have led to persistent speculation that the ceremony might need to be scrapped or scaled back dramatically.

“The very meticulous, very professional approach (from French authorities) gives us all the confidence that we can have this opening ceremony on the river Seine and that this opening ceremony will be iconic, will be unforgettable for the athletes, and everybody will be safe and secure,” Bach said.

Recent grumbling from Paris residents and negative media reports were typical of the run-up to any Olympics, he said, and also a symptom of broader anxiety.

“It’s part of our zeitgeist because we are living in uncertain times. And there are people who are skeptical. Some are even scared. Some are worried about their future,” the IOC president said.

Diplomatic tightrope

As with previous Olympics, international politics and diplomacy are set to intrude on the world’s biggest sporting event.

Bach reiterated his support for the IOC’s policy of excluding Russia from the Paris Games over the “blatant violation” of the Olympic charter when it annexed Ukrainian sporting organizations.

A small number of Russian athletes will be able to compete as neutrals in Paris, providing they have not declared public support for the invasion of Ukraine or are associated with the security forces.

Any Russian athlete that expressed political views on the field of play, including the “Z” sign that has come to symbolize Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, could be excluded.

“Immediately a disciplinary procedure would be opened and the necessary measures and or sanctions be taken,” Bach said, adding: “This can go up to immediate exclusion from the Games.”

Addressing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, he said between six and eight Palestinian athletes were expected to compete in Paris, with some set to be invited by the IOC even if they fail to qualify.

Bach dismissed any suggestion that the IOC had treated Russia differently over its invasion of Ukraine compared with Israel and its war in Gaza.

“The situation between Israel and Palestine is completely different,” he said.

He said he had been even-handed in his public statements on Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.

“From day one, we expressed how horrified we were, first on the seventh of October and then about the war and its horrifying consequences,” Bach said.

Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign to destroy Hamas has killed 34,356 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Bach is in the last year of what should be a second and final four-year term according to IOC rules.

But some IOC members have suggested changing the organization’s statutes to enable him to stay at the helm — an issue he declined to address.

“The IOC Ethics Commission has given me the strict recommendation not to address this question before the end of (the) Paris (Olympics) and I think they have good reasons for this,” he said.
…

…

sydney — Analysis of more than 25,000 images from divers, tourism operators and recreational boats on Australia’s annual Great Reef Census is getting under way. Now in its fourth year, one of the world’s fastest-growing conservation projects is helping to gauge the health and degradation of the world’s largest coral system, which is suffering from another mass bleaching event.

The Great Reef Census collects a trove of images of what is arguably Australia’s greatest natural treasure.

Each picture can contain vital information about the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Together, the images create a vital evaluation of the state of the ecosystem.

The barrier reef stretches for 2,300 kilometers down Australia’s northeastern coast. It is under increasing threat from global warming, pollution and overfishing, as well as coral-eating crown of thorns starfish.

The surveillance project is urging so-called citizen scientists around the world to help in the analysis of the images. The survey also uses artificial intelligence to scan much of the data.

The public is being asked to analyze the images to see which reefs fared better than others and potentially identify so-called new “key source reefs,” which are those reefs that appear to have escaped the worst of the degradation.

Anyone can help in the effort, said Nicole Senn, impact and engagement lead at Citizens of the Reef, which coordinates the survey.

“Citizen scientists using our A.I assisted platform can actually provide data that is highly comparable in accuracy to a reef expert, and it takes as little as one minute to analyze an image, and the data you are generating helps to prioritize conservation efforts on the reef and identify key source reefs,” she said. “These are healthy reefs that are positioned in a way that they can help nearby reefs recover and this is just one of the many ways your analysis of these images can help.”

The Great Barrier Reef is suffering from another widespread bleaching event.

Scientists say that corals bleach, or turn white, when they are stressed by changes in water temperature, light, or nutrients. In response, the coral expels the symbiotic algae living in their tissues that give them their color and energy, exposing their white skeleton.

Not all bleaching incidents are due to warm water, but experts say the mass bleaching reported on the Great Barrier Reef is caused by a marine heatwave.

Experts say reefs around the world last year and early this year have been affected by high ocean surface temperatures.

Chris Lawson, a data scientist with the Great Reef Census’ Science Committee, told VOA that the situation appears to be dire.

“The latest mass bleaching event has been designated as the fourth global mass bleaching event,” he said. “So, it is not just in Australia, it has been observed globally and by all accounts is the worst one on record in terms of its extent and its severity of bleaching.”

Experts say reefs’ extreme susceptibility to warming sea temperatures makes them one of the world’s ecosystems that is most vulnerable to climate change.
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s decision earlier this week to extend the term of a key document that allows Afghans to live in the country legally has created some breathing room for refugees who fear they would be sent back to Afghanistan.  

However, concerns remain about Pakistan’s controversial moves in recent months to expel refugees, which has already seen hundreds of thousands of Afghans forced to return to their economically unstable homeland.  

On Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Cabinet approved extending proof of registration cards for Afghan refugees that expired April 1st to June 30, according to an official statement.

The document allows access to health, educational, and banking facilities for Afghan refugees.    

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Information, expulsion of documented refugees will come at a later stage.

“The POR cardholders will be sent back in the third stage of the program to expel foreigners residing illegally in Pakistan,” the statement said.

Faced with rising terror attacks, Pakistan launched a drive in October 2023 to evict foreign nationals residing illegally in the country.

The decision primarily impacted Afghans who arrived in Pakistan over the last four decades, seeking refuge from war and poverty at home.

In the first phase of the on-going drive, more than half a million Afghans have left Pakistan since last fall, according to data compiled by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

According to the UNHCR, Pakistan is now home to around 3.1 million Afghans. Data shows 1.35 million are registered or POR cardholders. More than 800 thousand have Afghan citizenship cards while the remaining are unregistered.

In the second phase, Pakistan plans to repatriate Afghan citizenship card (ACC) holders. At a recent news briefing, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified the second phase of the expulsion program had not yet begun.

“I would like to underline that Pakistani authorities are considering all aspects of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan and at this point there are no plans to repatriate the ACC holders,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said. “When such a decision is taken the relevant authorities will make an announcement,” she added addressing media reports suggesting the phase had been launched.

Afghan Taliban as well as international and Pakistani human rights activists have condemned Islamabad’s plan to send Afghans back.

Rights activists worry women and girls will live under severe repression as the Afghan Taliban have forbidden women from most jobs and public spaces, and banned education for girls beyond the sixth grade.

“Pakistan’s ‘Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan’ is in violation of refugee and international human rights law,” Amnesty International said in a statement earlier this month.

A recent survey by Save the Children revealed nearly 65 percent of the 250,000 children who returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan are not in school anymore, largely because of a lack of documents needed to enroll.

Pakistan is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. convention protecting refugee rights. But the country has run registration drives in the past with help from the UNHCR to give Afghans documentation that gave them long term protection.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021, Pakistan has seen a spike in terror attacks primarily by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an ideological offshoot of the Afghan Taliban. TTP and groups affiliated with it have killed thousands of Pakistani security personnel in attacks concentrated in the provinces along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.   

Pakistani military and the government accuse Afghan Taliban of providing a haven to anti-state terrorists, a charge the de facto rulers in Kabul deny. Pakistani authorities claim Afghan nationals have been involved in several deadly attacks on Pakistani security personnel.
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HANOI — The chairman of Vietnam’s parliament, Vuong Dinh Hue. has resigned over his “violations and shortcomings,” its government said on Friday, in a new sign of political turbulence just weeks after the high-profile dismissal of the country’s president.  

The head of the assembly is among the four “pillars” of the leadership in Vietnam, which officially has no paramount ruler.

Hue, 67, had been touted as a possible candidate for the Communist Party secretary position, Vietnam’s most powerful job.  

“Comrade Vuong Dinh Hue’s violations and shortcomings have caused negative public opinion, affecting the reputation of the Party, State and him personally,” the government’s website said, carrying a statement from the Communist Party’s Central Committee.  

The statement said his resignation had been accepted and would be removed from the Central Committee and the powerful Politburo. It did not specify what the violations were.

Hue was seen attending a ceremony earlier on Friday alongside the prime minister ahead of next week’s 49th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the reunification of North and South Vietnam under communist rule.  

His resignation comes just days after the announcement that his assistant had been arrested over alleged bribery involving an infrastructure company.  

‘Blazing furnace’

Under a yearslong anti-corruption campaign, called “blazing furnace,” hundreds of senior state officials and high-profile business executives have been prosecuted or forced to step down.

The latest change among Vietnam’s top leadership could raise new concerns about political stability in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub, which is highly reliant on foreign investment and trade.  

The departure of Hue, a trained economist and former deputy prime minister who previously served as chief state auditor, follows the dismissal in March of President Vo Van Thuong after the Communist Party said he had violated party rules.  

Thuong was the second president to exit in just over a year, prompting multiple commentators to warn that the country’s appeal as an investment destination may be affected by prolonged infighting.  

A survey of over 650 business leaders conducted by foreign chambers of commerce in Vietnam and published in March said foreign firms were attracted to the country mostly for its political stability.  

Hue had met Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 8 during a weeklong visit to China and while abroad, rumors spread in Vietnam that his assistant had been arrested. The detention was announced two weeks later.  

Earlier in April, real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death for her role in a multibillion-dollar financial fraud, which had been going on for years with multiple senior officials turning a blind eye.
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Bangkok — Thailand’s most popular political party, Move Forward, is facing the familiar threat of dissolution by court order, but senior members say plans are already in place for a swift comeback if they are disbanded, refusing to let their reform movement die.

MFP secured a plurality in Thailand’s May 2023 elections with 14 million votes and 151 seats, ending nine years of military-dominated government.

The party did it with a radical slate of reforms for equitable governance — to cut the military from power, break up an economic monopoly and amend the royal defamation law, known as lèse-majesté, which criminalizes criticism of the powerful monarchy.

Yet the party’s candidate for prime minister, Pita Limjaroenrat, was blocked from forming a government by the appointed Senate of ultraconservatives allied to the generals who seized power in a coup nearly a decade earlier.

Forced into the opposition, MFP has since faced an obstacle course of legal challenges brought by rivals determined to kill its reform agenda.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court is expected within weeks to decide whether the centerpiece of MFP’s agenda — a proposed amendment of lèse-majesté — is tantamount to subversion.

The court dissolved MFP’s previous incarnation, Future Forward, in 2020, triggering vigorous street protests by pro-democracy activists.

A repeat of that ruling potentially sets a precedent for any future review of the law, which carries penalties of up to 15 years in prison and has been cited in the prosecution of at least 260 people in the past four years.

“We’ve seen party dissolution being used as one of the tools against parties that are opposite from the establishment institution of Thailand,” MFP spokesperson Parit Wacharasindhu told VOA.

“It’s not normal for any democratic country to have this kind of party dissolution but … if it were to happen, it highlights why there’s a need for a party like Move Forward Party to exist in Thai politics,” he said.

If banned, MFP will have to rebrand under a new name and work quickly to keep its lawmakers from being poached by the coalition parties led by Pheu Thai — Thailand’s previously dominant electoral force, which now holds the premiership through property tycoon Srettha Thavisin.

It will also most likely have to replace Pita, leader Chaithawat Tulathon and several other front-line figures who could be banned from politics for 10 years if the party is ordered to dissolve.

Parit, 31, is widely tipped to emerge as the next leader with a strong speaking style and connection with the public.

“The party has plans in place for all scenarios,” he said, without confirming any possible future role.

An MFP lawmaker, who also faces a ban from politics as a possible result of the imminent ruling, summed up the limbo of political life in a country where courts routinely eliminate talented new politicians and parties as feeling similar to “knowing your friend is really sick and knowing he can go any day.”

“I’ve put in so much in this political career and it could just be the end of it just like that,” the lawmaker told VOA, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of political reprisals.

MFP is set to present its final argument on May 3, and the head of Thailand’s nine-member constitutional court, Nakarin Mektrairat, has publicly called it “impossible” to prejudge the bench’s decision.

But political observers say the dissolution is a virtually done deal as the establishment seeks to politically suffocate Thailand’s most radical movement of the last two decades.

Powerful royal legacy

Thailand’s monarchy is extremely powerful, and the royal defamation law protects it from criticism, with sentences of up to 15 years per conviction.

Dozens of young pro-democracy activists have been jailed in the last few years under the law.

MFP leaders have been touring the country, saying the mere fact of a looming court decision signals the rot within Thailand’s current political system.

“I’m not sure if those who have the power to dissolve us have asked themselves what they gain by doing it,” Pita said before a party meeting April 6.

“Sure, it may weaken us in the short term, but it may turbocharge us into the next election … whatever the name of the party may be.”

Analysts say banning the party is futile given two factors: millions of young people joining the electorate and the looming term limit of Thailand’s 250-member militarily appointed Senate, which has been instrumental in blocking MFP’s progress.

“It makes no difference,” Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, law professor at Thammasat University, told VOA. “The coalition government will get slightly stronger [without an opposition]. But when it comes to the next election, there will be four million new voters. Without the appointed Senate, it’s highly likely that the MFP’s next version will be the government.”

But MFP’s “next reincarnation” may have to be politically expedient, softening calls for reform of the royal defamation law to reach power, he added.

As MFP awaits its legal fate, party leaders say they are focusing on their work as the opposition, especially challenging the government’s efforts to draft a new constitution to reflect the changing political realities.

Meanwhile, the Pheu Thai-led government is newly confident with billionaire ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s late-February release from prison. Thaksin, Pheu Thai’s longtime patron, has toured parts of the country and routinely hosted the great and the good of Thai politics at his Bangkok home, where he is serving out a house-arrest sentence for corruption.

So long as the kingdom’s old political allegiances continue to crumble and MFP’s call for sweeping social, political and economic reforms continue to resonate with a substantial part of Thailand’s electorate, it may mean the country’s progressive movement, whatever its name may be, emerges stronger in the long-term.

“No one is distracted by the legal struggle, no one is less energetic,” Parit told VOA.  “We remain as committed as ever in terms of pushing ahead for change …whether by submitting draft laws to the parliament, contesting local elections or expanding party membership.” 
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washington — The United States is calling on China to do more to monitor North Korean sanctions violations as a U.N. panel charged with that task is set to expire this month.

“Beijing can do more to combat the DPRK’s sanctions evasion efforts in PRC territorial waters, repatriate North Korean laborers earning income in PRC territory, and shut down procurement networks,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email Wednesday to VOA’s Korean Service.

DPRK refers to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. China’s official name is the People’s Republic of China.

The U.S. official also reacted to comments this week by Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, who told VOA, “The U.S. needs to … stop heightening the pressure and sanctions, stop military deterrence, and take effective steps to resume meaningful dialogue.”

Washington has been sending messages to Pyongyang seeking a dialogue “in multiple ways – through third parties and directly, orally and in writing,” said the U.S. spokesperson, who insisted on anonymity according to department policy. But North Korea has shown “no indication it is interested in engaging,” he wrote.

Liu, whose remarks were delivered to VOA by email on Monday, also maintained that “China has faithfully implemented relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

DPRK ‘grows stronger’

The North Korean Foreign Ministry’s vice minister for U.S. affairs, Kim Un Chol, released a statement through its state-run KCNA on Thursday saying Washington’s attempt “to enliven the worn-out sanctions and pressure the DPRK” would be met with a military response.

“If the U.S. introduces a new version of sanctions against the DPRK, the latter will take a new opportunity necessary for its upward readjustment of force which the U.S. is most afraid of,” said Kim. “The DPRK is a state entity that grows stronger before harsher sanctions and pressure.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, visited South Korea and Japan last week to discuss new ways of enforcing sanctions on North Korea.

Authorization of the U.N. panel of experts that has been monitoring sanctions enforcement expires at the end of this month because Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an annual extension of its mandate. China abstained.

Thomas-Greenfield said at an April 17 news conference in Seoul that it was “critical” for all U.N. member states to continue “receiving independent and accurate reporting of the DPRK’s ongoing weapons proliferation and sanction evasion activities.”

She also said, “We will eventually find a mechanism to continue to do that reporting. And yes, Russia and China will continue to try to block those efforts.”

She added, “I don’t expect that they will cooperate or agree with any efforts that we make to find another path, but that is not going to stop us from finding that path moving forward.”

Aaron Arnold, former member of the U.N. panel of experts and currently a senior associate fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said he believed it is possible to create an external monitoring body without Russia and China.

“Although the report [of a new body] may not hold the same political legitimacy as a report produced under a [U.N.] mandate, relevant stakeholders such as banks will certainly make use of them,” Arnold said.

The U.N. panel produced reports twice a year detailing the violations of sanctions by U.N. member states, including China and Russia.

“Everyone who reads the reports of the U.N. panel of experts knows the truth” that China is violating sanctions, said Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the Sanctions and Policy Enforcement Act in 2016.

“It has been illegally importing North Korean coal, knowingly hosting North Korean hackers, helping North Korea disguise its smuggling fleet, and hosting North Korea’s money laundering and computer hacking networks,” he said.

“North Korean missiles even parade through the streets of Pyongyang on Chinese trucks.”

China is harboring at its port in its eastern Zhejiang province a U.S.-sanctioned Russian cargo ship, the Angara, that transported arms from North Korea, Reuters reported Thursday, citing the Royal United Services Institute’s findings.

Eunjung Cho contributed to this report. 
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Washington — Bangladesh and Myanmar exchanged hundreds of their citizens from custody over two days this week, following a deal reached between the two countries. Bangladesh repatriated 288 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police and other security agencies on Thursday, after Myanmar on Wednesday released 173 Bangladeshi nationals, mostly fishermen. 

Officials of the Bangladesh border security agency Border Guard Bangladesh said a Myanmar navy ship, the Chin Dwin, left Cox’s Bazar port early Thursday morning with the Myanmar police and immigration officials on board. The same ship brought the freed 173 Bangladeshi fishermen the previous day. 

The Myanmar security personnel fled the fighting last month in the province of Rakhine between Myanmar’s military and rebel Arakan Army and took shelter in Bangladesh. This was the second such incident of Myanmar border police and officials escaping to Bangladesh in as many months. 

The Myanmar province of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh, has been the site of heavy fighting between the rebels and Yangon’s forces since October. While the Arakan Army is mostly ethnic Rakhine, the Muslim Rohingyas have borne the brunt of the Myanmar military’s actions over the past few decades. Over a million Rohingyas who fled atrocities by the military in 2017 are currently living in makeshift shelters in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district. 

In February, 330 Myanmar police and officials were repatriated but nothing was sought in return. This time, officials said the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry took the initiative to take back their nationals who had either served their prison terms or were still in jail. 

Despite the apparent success of the negotiations, analysts in Dhaka see this as a lost opportunity rather than a triumph. Long-term Myanmar watcher and defense analyst Mohammad Emdadul Islam called it an “empty gesture” and said the fishermen would have been released at some point anyway. 

“If Myanmar had taken back 20,000 Rohingyas in return for the repatriation of their officials, then I would’ve seen it as a positive outcome,” said Islam, who served as the head of mission at the Bangladesh Consulate in Sittwe, Rakhine, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

Islam, a retired Army major, negotiated the release of 1,100 Bangladeshi fishermen from Myanmar prisons while serving at the consulate in 2001. He said the fishermen stray into Myanmar waters either because their boats have poor navigation equipment or they take a chance to illegally fish there. 

Myanmar naval forces often intercept them and hand them to the courts, which sentence them to up to 12 years in jail — five for illegal fishing and seven for illegal entry. 

Bangladesh’s decision to promptly repatriate the Myanmar officials has also been the subject of debate among international human rights groups that campaign for the rights of the Rohingya people. 

One such group, Fortify Rights, urged Bangladesh in February to investigate the Myanmar security personnel seeking refuge for potential involvement in atrocities against the Rohingyas. The group’s CEO, Matthew Smith, told Dhaka’s New Age newspaper that while it was important for Bangladesh to provide aid and protection to the fleeing officials, their past actions needed to be questioned. 

“These border guards might have information that could help hold perpetrators accountable for the Rohingya genocide and other crimes unfolding in Myanmar, and they should be properly investigated,” Smith said.

Bangladeshi officials emphasize their desire to keep the border calm and not confront Myanmar. “[The border police] have been given shelter on humanitarian grounds and we are working to ensure their safe return,” Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud told reporters in the southern city of Chattogram on Wednesday.

Analysts agree that Bangladesh does not want to get into a direct conflict with Myanmar, but other factors make an investigation of sheltered officials difficult. 

“The atrocities against the Rohingyas in 2017 were committed by special brigades of the Myanmar army,” Islam told VOA. “These brigades are no longer deployed in the area. Besides, the officials and police who are coming across the border are not part of the regular army. They are mostly border police, intelligence, customs and immigration officials.”

Hasan Mahmud told reporters that what was happening in Rakhine was “Myanmar’s internal affairs,” even though it often spilled across the border in the form of stray artillery shells or fleeing officials. He said the Bangladeshi government, working closely with various countries, especially the United States, China and India, is putting pressure on Myanmar to take back the Rohingyas living in Bangladesh. 

Meanwhile, Islam is concerned about the impact recent developments in Rakhine may have among the Rohingyas in Bangladesh. He said the Myanmar military has, in recent months, started recruiting Rohingyas to fight against the Arakan Army.

“How will the Rohingyas living in Bangladesh react when they see their relatives and friends back home joining the Myanmar army, and how will authorities in Bangladesh tackle the reaction? This could be a big challenge,” Islam said.

In March 2022, the U.S. recognized the atrocities committed against the Rohingya population as a genocide. 

This story originated in VOA’s Bangla Service. 
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In the Solomon Islands – officials are counting ballots in key national elections that were held on April 17. It’s the first poll since the strategic Pacific country signed a security pact with China. And who wins may well dictate whether the Solomons continues to draw closer to Beijing or Washington. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports. Charley Piringi and Bakhtiyar Zamanov contributed.
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