SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Conservative South Korean lawmaker Kim Sang-wook has received so many threats since December that his children no longer tell classmates who their father is.

Already sidelined in the ruling party, many colleagues want Kim expelled altogether. In his home district of Ulsan, he finds himself shunned by former friends and allies.

Welcome to the life of a conservative politician who has chosen to break ranks with the People Power Party, or PPP, which has swung sharply to the right as it rallies around impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Once a low-profile figure, the 45-year-old first-term lawmaker has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Yoon, whose short-lived martial law declaration in early December triggered South Korea’s worst political crisis in decades.

At times, Kim has quite literally stood alone. Ahead of Yoon’s impeachment, he staged a one-man protest on the top steps of the National Assembly, holding a giant placard imploring fellow conservatives to abandon the president. Hours later, the impeachment motion passed with the support of just 11 other conservatives, out of a total of 108.

If fully implemented, Yoon’s decree would have outlawed all political activity and required journalists to report to martial law command – measures not seen since South Korea emerged from a military dictatorship in the 1980s.

That hasn’t prevented the overwhelming majority of the PPP from defending Yoon — a trend Kim blames on “extreme partisan logic” that has come to define both sides of the country’s politics.

“It’s like everything is justified by the belief that ‘we’ are right and ‘they’ are wrong,” Kim told VOA in an interview at his National Assembly office. “Is that conservatism? I don’t think so.”

Kim’s defiance highlights a broader reckoning within the PPP. As the Constitutional Court decides Yoon’s fate, the party must decide whether to uphold his populist legacy or choose a different path.

Fighting back

Few would deny that Yoon’s more combative approach has galvanized the conservative base, as indicated by the size and intensity of street protests.

Throughout the frigid Seoul winter, large crowds, including many young people, have rallied in Yoon’s defense. His arrest for alleged insurrection, which carries a possible death penalty, only added to their outrage.

That anger deepened when the opposition, using its legislative supermajority, ousted acting President Han Duck-soo less than two weeks after impeaching Yoon, reinforcing conservative concerns about political overreach.

The result was a scene unthinkable just months ago — Koreans packing streets in support of a leader who, however briefly, had just attempted to restore military rule.

“The whole situation just naturally evolved in a way that Yoon Suk Yeol became the symbol of this movement of freedom and liberal democracy, vis-a-vis communism, socialism, and tyranny,” said Lee Jung-hoon, a conservative legal scholar and dean at Seoul’s Yonsei University.

Lee served in the administration of the country’s last conservative president, Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office in 2017 and jailed on corruption-related charges.

In Lee’s view, Park was too passive in challenging her impeachment, which may have contributed to her downfall. By contrast, former prosecutor Yoon has vowed to “fight to the end,” further energizing his supporters, Lee said.

Yoon has defended his martial law decree as a tough but necessary response to an opposition he says crippled his administration with budget cuts and repeated impeachments of senior leaders.

At his final impeachment hearing this week, Yoon argued the decree was never meant to be enforced as written — insisting that if he had intended to follow through, he would have deployed more troops and used greater force.

Yoon has also defended martial law as necessary to investigate what he claims is election fraud.

Those comments helped bring once-fringe allegations into the conservative mainstream, where many now openly question the integrity of South Korea’s electoral system.

Some have gone further, attacking the credibility of judges they see as left-leaning, with a small group of conservative protesters even ransacking a court that had issued an arrest warrant for Yoon.

Underlying fears

Some of the hardening behind Yoon stems from deep distrust of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung. Lee is seen as the likely successor if Yoon is removed from office.

Conservatives view Lee as too soft on China and likely to pursue what they see as futile engagement with North Korea. Others fear he is seeking the presidency to shield himself from legal battles, as he faces five separate trials on corruption and other charges.

Hahm Sung-deuk, a professor of political science at Kyonggi University outside Seoul, said many conservatives are also eager to prevent a repeat of Park’s impeachment, which fractured the party and paved the way for a left-leaning president to take power.

“Conservatives have a painful memory. They feel that if they let this situation get out of hand, they might not regain power for not just five years, but maybe 10, 15, or even 20 years,” Hahm told VOA.

That anxiety may help explain the fierce backlash against lawmakers like Kim, the renegade conservative who has been accused of betraying conservative values after breaking with Yoon.

But Hahm insists the party’s divide isn’t about ideology but is about loyalty.

“This is not a policy debate,” he said. “It’s centered around whether … you support or oppose Yoon Suk Yeol.”

If Yoon is impeached, some fear that protests will once again turn violent. But in Yoon’s absence, party moderates may likely prevail, said Hahm, who is well-connected among elite conservatives.

“Deep down, both the far-right and moderates know that Yoon Suk Yeol made mistakes,” said Hahm, who believes the party will eventually unite around a steadier candidate to block Lee from taking power.

Uncertain future

As he withstands attacks from fellow conservatives, Kim is less confident about the party’s future. Once a rising figure in local conservative politics, he now acknowledges he may not win reelection.

But even if his stance costs him his political career, Kim says he will keep making decisions based on his principles, convinced this is what conservatism should be about.

“I have no regrets,” he said of voting to impeach Yoon. “I believe this was the best decision I have made in my entire life.”
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New Delhi  — India and the European Union agreed to wrap up a free trade deal by the end of this year, the two sides announced Friday following talks in the Indian capital between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.

While negotiations between India and the EU have dragged on for years, analysts say there is a greater urgency to conclude a pact as the threat of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump prompts many countries to ramp up efforts to increase access to markets outside the U.S.

Von der Leyen came to New Delhi along with leaders of EU countries. Following talks with the Indian prime minister, she called India a “like-minded friend” and said that “we have tasked our teams to build on this momentum” to finalize a free trade pact.

Both sides also discussed elevating their defense and security partnership. Modi said they had prepared a “blueprint for collaboration” in areas such as trade, technology, investment and security.

Before her meeting with Modi, von der Leyen said the EU and India “have the potential to be one of the defining partnerships of this century” and it was time to take their strategic partnership to “the next level.”

A flux in geopolitics is pushing countries to diversify partnerships, analysts say.

“For India, which is scrambling to navigate the turbulence unleashed by Trump, Europe emerges as a valuable partner,” political analyst C. Raja Mohan wrote in The Indian Express newspaper. “While neither can afford to disengage from the U.S., both India and Europe must do more to strengthen their ties in response to Trump’s unpredictable policies.”

A free trade agreement between the EU and India “would be the largest deal of this kind anywhere in the world,” von der Leyen said. “It is time to be pragmatic and ambitious and to realign our priorities for today’s realities.”

Trump has said he will impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from the European Union. His plans for reciprocal tariffs also will hit Indian exports to the U.S.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods — bilateral trade was more than $130 billion in 2023-24.

Negotiations between India and the EU began years ago but were stalled for eight years before resuming in 2021.

The main sticking points have been New Delhi’s reluctance to lower tariffs on key European imports to India, such as cars, whiskey and wine, while the EU has been reluctant to concede New Delhi’s demand to ease visa curbs on Indian professionals.

India also wants greater access to the EU for cheaper drugs and chemicals.

India, the world’s fifth largest economy with a large middle class, is seen as an attractive market but has high protectionist barriers.

Earlier this week, India and the UK also resumed trade talks during a visit by British business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds to New Delhi. India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, said both countries aim to double bilateral trade in a decade. Reynolds said that securing a trade deal was a “top priority” for his government.

Trade analysts say there is a “sense of urgency” to seal trade pacts.

“It seems there is a real intent on part of India and other partner countries to do something this time. The timing is important – President Trump’s threat of tariffs can cause trade disruptions. So, I think countries want to conclude deals before the global mood changes from being relatively open to more protectionist,” according to trade analyst Biswajit Dhar in New Delhi.

While India has made slow progress in clinching free trade pacts in the past, it is now stepping up efforts to conclude deals amid fears that potential shifts in global trade could pose a challenge to meeting Prime Minister Modi’s goal of growing exports to $1 trillion by 2030.

“The trade uncertainties being unleashed by Trump’s tariffs will push the Indian government to look at the levels of protection in the country more closely. It can’t afford that any longer,” said Dhar.

“Every major country is interested in the large Indian market but complains about high tariffs.”
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KATHMANDU, NEPAL — A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck north of Nepal’s Kathmandu on Friday, according to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre.

The earthquake struck around Bhairab Kunda in the Sindhupalchok District in Nepal, close to the Himalayan mountain range that runs along the border with Tibet.

The German Research Center for Geosciences placed the magnitude of the earthquake at 5.6, and the depth at 10 kilometers while the U.S. Geological Survey pegged it at magnitude 5.5.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the earthquake.

Pasang Nurpu Sherpa, chairman of the Bhote Koshi rural municipality, where the epicenter is located, told Reuters, “I have no information of any damage so far. The earthquake has triggered a landslide at Dugunagadi Bhir across the river. There are no houses around the site of the landslide.”

Kiran Thapa, district governor of Sindhupalchok, said, “One inmate of the district jail broke his hand while trying to run after the quake and he is now undergoing treatment at a hospital. One police post building developed minor cracks at Kodari.”

“It shook us from our sleep strongly,” Ganesh Nepali, a senior official of Sindhupalchok district, told Reuters. “We rushed out of our home. People have now returned home. We have not received any report of damage or injuries so far.”
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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles and ordered full readiness to use nuclear attack capability to ensure the most effective defense for the country, state media announced Friday.

The test was designed to warn “enemies, who are seriously violating the security environment of the (country) and fostering and escalating the confrontation environment” and to demonstrate “readiness of its various nuke operation means,” KCNA news agency said.

“What is guaranteed by powerful striking ability is the most perfect deterrence and defense capacity,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

The missile launch was conducted on Wednesday over the sea off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula, it said.

South Korea’s military said on Friday it had detected signs of missile launch preparations on Wednesday and tracked several cruise missiles after they were launched around 8 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Tuesday) over the sea.

North Korea has pursued the development of strategic cruise missiles over several years, intended to deliver nuclear warheads.

That type of missile tends to bring less alarm and condemnation from the international community than ballistic missiles because they are not formally banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The Security Council has banned the North from ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development and imposed a number of sanctions for violations.

The report of the missile test came in the same week that Kim made back-to-back visits to military schools, driving home the message of loyalty and the importance of ideological and tactical training of young military officers.

Kim did not mention any country by name when he spoke of warning the enemies but has kept up harsh rhetoric against the United States and South Korea despite comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that he would be reaching out to him.

Trump and Kim held unprecedented summit meetings during the U.S. president’s first term.  
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ISLAMABAD — Sana Safi, a young a doctor in Afghanistan, takes pride in her work, for she is among a shrinking group of female health experts in a country where women are banned from pursuing education or working in most sectors. 

“I am making a real difference in the lives of my patients, especially women who have limited access to health care,” the doctor told VOA on the phone from Nangarhar province. 

But she also is afraid of drawing attention to herself for fear of reprisal and asked to be called Sana Safi to avoid revealing her real identity. 

Many female doctors have left Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. New women may not be entering the health sector any time soon, as the hardline de facto authorities banned medical education for women last December, leaving many final year students without a formal degree. 

The edict was one in a long line of restrictions the Taliban’s reclusive spiritual leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, has placed on women, using extremely strict interpretation of Islamic teachings that he claims are divine commands.

The United Nations has called Taliban’s treatment of women “gender apartheid.” 

Health is one of the few sectors in which Afghan women are allowed to work. Safi works in obstetrics and gynecology, one of the few specializations that women can practice. 

Safi said she sees up to 40 women patients daily.   

“What makes me sad about my work is the lack of resources, the restrictions on female health care workers, and the fact that many women are unable to get the medical attention they need due to cultural and political barriers,” the doctor said. 

Barriers that women face in accessing health care vary according to local culture across the war-torn, mountainous country. 

“Patients in restricted [conservative] provinces are not allowed to come to the health facility without a mahram [male guardian],” a health sector researcher told VOA by phone from Kabul. 

She asked that we call her Amina to protect her identity as her work requires cross-country travel to collect data. 

“We have had these reports from the health facility level that the female who did not have the mahram with herself at the moment of delivery of the baby, she died because of this issue,” the researcher said. 

She said such restrictions are applied stringently in government-run health facilities in conservative towns but are largely ignored in private clinics, especially in urban centers like Kabul and Jalalabad. 

A World Health Organization donor appeal issued last month said 14.5 million people, or 33 percent of Afghans, live in areas where primary health care cannot be accessed within a one-hour walk. 

Since a majority of Afghans in the poverty-stricken country rely on state-run hospitals and health centers that provide care at little to no cost, women from poor households are forced to comply with the requirement of having a male guardian – who can even be a minor. 

Amina, who travels with her husband for her research, told VOA that many female health workers also must bring a male family member to work with them in conservative parts of the country. 

Taliban workers from the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, commonly called PVPV, routinely visit health centers to ensure compliance. 

“They are regularly checking each health facility to see that each female health worker brought their mahram with herself or not,” said Amina. 

The researcher said that the requirement that a male family member must accompany a woman outside the house, though, existed in conservative parts of the country under the U.S.-backed regimes, as well, because of cultural norms. 

The checks under Taliban are thorough. 

“They check the attendance sheet and ask who is a particular doctor’s mahram,” the researcher said. 

The restrictions come at a financial cost to families, while men who could work sit idle as chaperones. 

From pharmacies to hospitals, Taliban have put men in charge. However, performing duties amid restrictions on the mixing of sexes is a challenge for them, too. 

Pharmacy workers in areas under strict Taliban control are discouraged from giving medicine to women without mahram, and hospital chiefs are punished for holding meetings with female staff, according to Amina’s research. 

A hospital head in Badakhshan province spent two weeks behind bars after a meeting with female employees, Amina said. 

Staff in private hospitals don’t face similar restrictions. 

“In emergency situations or when no other doctor is available, I may also assist male patients, if necessary,” said Safi. 

She told VOA she does not take a male guardian with her and that her employer provides transportation. 

Amina said she believes Taliban are willing to look the other way because private hospitals pay taxes, contributing to the treasury. 

Despite the Taliban’s ban on women’s education, a few medical institutions also continue to train women in Kabul. However, the fields are limited to midwifery and dentistry. 

Both Safi and Amina worry that the limits on what female medical students can study will leave female patients with little help. 

“It breaks my heart to see patients suffer simply because there aren’t enough medicines, equipment, or female doctors available,” Safi said. 

Public health facilities across Afghanistan operate mostly with support from United Nattions agencies and other international aid organizations.   

Amina said the Taliban-run health ministry pays attention to research reports and donor feedback. She pointed to the authorities’ support for vaccination programs. 

Still, there is no sign the de facto authorities will lift restrictions on women’s education or access to work in health care despite international calls and dissent from within Taliban circles.

Cultural norms coupled with official restrictions mean some of the most vulnerable cannot receive the care they need. 

“I hope for a future where health care is accessible to all,” Safi said. “And female doctors can work freely without fear or restrictions.” 
…

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday that North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to Russia after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties.

The National Intelligence Service said in a brief statement it was trying to determine how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.

The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an address on Feb. 7, confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and said North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there.

North Korea has been supplying a vast number of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials.

North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers say they’ve become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields because of their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain.

In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, although U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200.

Earlier Thursday, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that an additional 1,000 to 3,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Kursk between January and February.

South Korea, the United States and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia, as well.

During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the U.S. agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. Ukrainian officials weren’t present at the talks. That marked an extraordinary shift in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.
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JOHANNESBURG — The Group of 20 major economies has been instrumental in coordinating the response to crises like the COVID pandemic. But top officials from the U.S. and several other member states skipped the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in South Africa this week, raising questions about the group’s continued relevance in a splintered global environment.

The two-day meeting in Cape Town ended without a communique, with current G20 leader South Africa saying there was not sufficient consensus to issue one.

In his opening remarks at the event, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the fractured geopolitical climate and stressed the importance of international cooperation.

“At this time of global uncertainty and escalating tension, it is now more important than ever that the members of the G20 should work together,” Ramaphosa said. “The erosion of multilateralism presents a threat to global growth and stability.”

He said the G20 finance ministers meeting had to address major issues like climate change financing, ensuring debt sustainability for developing countries, and Africa’s need to process its own critical minerals for inclusive growth.

But it appeared the world’s largest economies were not able to find common ground on a number of issues. South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted this wasn’t the first time.

“The issue of the communique and the absence of it is not something new,” Godongwana said. “To my knowledge, I mean, since the Russia-Ukraine war, it has been difficult to find a joint communique. Now, new differences have emerged on a number of other topics.”

Climate adaptation funding was one of the areas where there was a “difference of opinion,” he said.

The finance ministers meeting was beset with similar problems faced by last week’s G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg, which laid bare the discord in current geopolitics.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skipped the event amid a spat with host country South Africa, and after the U.S. criticized the themes around climate change and “solidarity, equality and sustainability.”

The finance chiefs of other large economies, including Japan, India and China also sat it out. However, all of them, including the U.S., sent representation at various levels.

Still, the absence of some top officials underscores global divisions sparked by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the “America First” administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Professor Alex van den Heever of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“I think that this has caused a sort of a general review of how people see global issues,” van den Heever said, “with people becoming a lot more insular and not really looking at sort of global social solidarity in any way, shape or form – largely looking to look after their own situation.”

However, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, who was in Cape Town for the meeting, added to Ramaphosa’s call for unity, posting on social media platform X, “Productive and successful collaboration with our international partners is front of mind, now more than ever.”

Asked about the issue of tariffs, Godongwana said there had been, “general agreement against protectionism” at the G20 meeting.
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Washington — For Sweden-based independent Uyghur researcher Nyrola Elima, Feb. 27, 2025, stands as a day of deep sorrow.

After years of relentless work to help resettle more than 40 Uyghurs held in Thailand’s immigration facilities since 2014, her efforts came to a devastating close Thursday when all of them were loaded onto buses and put on a flight to the city of Kashgar in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, home to 12 million Uyghurs.

“I don’t want to speak right now,” Elima said in a trembling voice message to VOA. “I’ve talked to them so much over the past two-and-a-half years. Now, I feel like someone who’s lost loved ones and somehow survived. This pain – it’s more than I can bear.”

Just two weeks ago, Elima testified before a judge in Thailand on behalf of the 43 Uyghur men detained in a Thai prison. A glimmer of hope emerged for them when the court set a March 27 date to hear from the Thai Immigration Bureau on why the Uyghurs were detained for nearly 11 years. The Thai government’s decision to deport the Uyghurs before that hearing has sent shockwaves through communities of Uyghurs overseas and rights advocates.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the deportation and said in a statement, “we are alarmed by this action,” and added, “We call on Chinese authorities to provide full access to verify the well-being of the returned Uyghurs on a regular basis. The Thai government must insist and fully verify continuously that Chinese authorities protect the Uyghurs’ human rights.”

‘Complex factors’

“On February 27th, 40 Chinese nationals who had illegally entered Thailand were repatriated to Xinjiang, China on a chartered flight of China Civil Aviation Company [Southern Airlines],” posted the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok on Facebook.

The embassy’s post continued, “a concrete measure between China and Thailand in collaboratively tackling immigration crimes and protecting the rights and interest of Chinese nationals in accordance with the two countries’ laws and international protocols,” blaming the group’s decade-long detention on “complex factors in international relations.”

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai defended the move Thursday, telling reporters that successive Thai governments had sought third-country resettlement, informing the U.S. and EU of stalled efforts.

“This is a beautiful, nice ending for them, for their families. And Thailand is no longer burdened,” he declared. “Thailand should even get praises for handling this issue decisively for the best interest of humanity and them [the Uyghurs]. It is a cause for happiness as they are free from detention and reunite with their parents, brothers and sisters and children and wives.”

At a Thursday press conference, Thai officials showcased photos and videos of a few Uyghurs reuniting with their families when they arrived in China.

Elima, responded to the images with a post on X, saying, “So far, only these 3 men and their families have been used as propaganda material. I don’t believe all 40 men’s families were summoned to Kashgar – some have relatives who are deceased or imprisoned,” the post said. “The whereabouts of the remaining 37 individuals and their families remain unknown,” casting doubt on the legitimacy of the reunion.

Julie Millsap, a U.S.-based activist who has urged Washington to intervene, posted on X, “…can’t explain how painful it is to watch them be used for propaganda, knowing how terrified they must be. Our brave men. Brave enough to seek a new life. How we’ve let you down.”

Until this week, 48 Uyghurs were detained in Thailand and languished in legal limbo despite their pleas for asylum. They were among more than 350 men, women, and children intercepted by Thai police in 2014 after being smuggled from China’s Yunnan province by human traffickers.

A year later, Bangkok and Ankara agreed to resettle more than 170 Uyghurs – mostly women and children – in Turkey. Yet weeks later, Thailand deported 109 mostly male asylum seekers to China.

In interviews with VOA, one resettled Uyghur who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions to his family in China, described the escape from Xinjiang’s tightening repression.

“We had to put our lives in harm’s way,” citing China’s refusal to issue passports as a reason of their flight without documents in 2013 and 2014.

Their stories echo findings from the U.N. Human Rights Office and groups like Amnesty International, which estimates that since 2017, more than one million people – mostly Uyghurs – have been confined in Xinjiang’s internment camps. China has described these facilities as “Vocational and Skills Training Centers” to counter extremism, but a 2022 U.N. report cited “credible” evidence of torture, forced labor, and inhumane conditions, based on survivor accounts – allegations Beijing has repeatedly rejected as fabrications.

Since 2014, of the 53 remaining Uyghur detainees in Thailand, five received prison sentences for attempting to escape. Five others, including two minors, died in custody. Chinese state media reported Thursday that forty Uyghurs were just deported to China, leaving the whereabouts of eight Uyghurs detained in Thailand unknown.

“Even when other countries offered resettlement, Thailand refused to release them,” Elima told VOA.

“They applied for UNHCR [U.N. refugee agency] protection, but UNHCR has no access to them. They are barred from seeing their families, lawyers, [and] UNHCR. They are not even allowed to be bailed,” which VOA confirmed with UNHCR.

“This is a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement and the Royal Thai Government’s obligations under international law,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Ruvendrini Menikdiwela.

Non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international law, bars returning people to persecution—a duty Thailand holds under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, despite not signing the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Sophie Richardson, former China director at Human Rights Watch, blasted the U.N.’s response on X as “inexcusably weak or non-existent,” arguing it enabled “China and Thailand govts’ blatant violations of human rights law.”

Rattaphol Onsanit, Yiamyut Sutthichaya and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
…

BANGKOK — The United Nations led criticism Thursday of Thailand’s government over its deportation to China of 40 Uyghurs held for more than a decade in detention in Bangkok. The deportation came despite warnings that the Uyghurs face persecution and the risk of torture if handed over to Chinese authorities.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk has called the deportation “a clear violation of international human rights laws and standards.”

The deportation “violates the principle of non-refoulement for which there is a complete prohibition in cases where there is a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm upon their return,” Türk said in a statement.

Campaigners say the fate of the group, which had been held at an immigration detention center in the Thai capital and unable to apply for asylum in Thailand, highlights a failure of Thai authorities to meet their own human rights commitments — as well as the reach of China to get its allies to act on its behalf.

Thailand’s police chief late Thursday confirmed 40 Uyghurs had been sent on a chartered jet to China after images emerged before dawn of several police trucks with blacked-out windows rushing from the detention center to the airport.

“The Chinese government sent a letter to the Thai government stating their intention to look after the safety of this group of Uyghur people,” Police General Kitrat Phanphet told reporters.

“They reiterated that they will sincerely take care of their safety, their accommodation, as well as allow their family members of these Uyghurs to welcome them home,” he said.

Uyghurs in China

Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority from China’s remote western region of Xinjiang, have faced oppression by Beijing that governments, including the United States and U.K., have described as genocide.

Since 2017, China has put more than a million Uyghurs into internment camps, according to Amnesty International. In 2022, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang may constitute “crimes against humanity.”

Uyghurs fleeing China to Thailand have long been a delicate issue for the Southeast Asian kingdom.

Successive governments have faced intense pressure from Beijing to return them. In July 2015 more than 100 detainees were deported to China against their will. A few weeks later, a bomb blast killed 20 people at a downtown shrine in Bangkok — an attack some security experts have linked to Uyghur diaspora groups.

The Thai government has never publicly confirmed that connection.

Until Thursday, 53 remaining Uyghurs were languishing in a legal limbo in detention since that bomb attack, despite pleas for asylum. Five died in that time. It was not immediately clear what has happened to the eight who were not confirmed among the 40 sent to China on Thursday.

The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok said that “40 Chinese nationals” were deported after a decade detained in Thailand “due to complex international considerations.”

“This is a formal measure between China and Thailand in combating smuggling and protecting the rights and interests of Chinese citizens in accordance with the laws of both countries,” it said in a statement, promising to return them “back to their normal lives.”

Criticism at home and abroad

After years of lobbying, Thailand in January joined the U.N. Human Rights Council for a three-year term. The deportation has raised concerns over Thailand’s priorities.

Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR — the UN’s refugee arm — said the deportation of the 40 was a “clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement” and admonished the Thai government for breaching its “obligations under international law.”

While Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra refused to be drawn into the issue, opposition lawmakers led condemnation.

“Today I feel utterly upset and sad,” Kannavee Suebsang, a member of parliament for the Fair Party who was also a field officer with UNHCR, told parliament. “But I will not cry for the Uyghur brothers and sisters. … Instead, I will cry for the inhumane handling of this government for pushing these people back to face calamity.”

Shinawatra traveled to China earlier this month promising tighter cooperation to crack down on cross-border crimes, principally a massive scam crisis.

But concerns have been raised about what other deals may have been struck.

Rangsiman Rome, a prominent opposition lawmaker, said, “Deporting these Uyghurs to China violates the kingdom’s anti-torture law — which is our own domestic law, as well as international law” due to the risks they face in China.

Rights campaigners who have urged Thailand to provide sanctuary to the Uyghurs said Thailand has done the “unthinkable” in sending them back to China, where they can face torture.

“This massive human rights violation blows apart any pretense the Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her Thai government has made to be a rights-respecting member of the U.N. Human Rights Council,” said Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates.

“The Thai government should resign its seat on the Council to show responsibility for its outrageous and unacceptable action,” he said.
…

washington — As more countries enact cybercrime legislation, analysts warn that efforts to combat legitimate concerns could also allow for easier targeting of critics.

Analysts have warned that amendments in Pakistan and Myanmar in recent months could add to already repressive environments. 

Some point to Nigeria as a test case. Since passing its cybercrime law in 2015, watchdogs have documented 29 cases of journalists being charged, including four who were charged in a Lagos court in September.

“What we are seeing is a steady criminalization of journalists around the world, and it’s a huge threat to press freedom,” said Jonathan Rozen, a senior researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.

In Pakistan, the government in January amended the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act of 2016 (PECA). Authorities said the changes would curb cybercrime, online harassment and the spread of hateful content that could instigate violence.

Pakistan’s federal information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the law was needed “to regulate social media.”

“Countries across the world have some codes or standards under which social media operate, but there was none in our country,” he told reporters last month.

The amendment led to protests by journalists and civil society, who said the changes would make it easy for authorities to prosecute people whose opinions are not in line with those of the government.

Analysts pointed to broad terms, including definitions of “unlawful” content and “person,” with the latter now including state institutions and corporations. 

Another amendment proposed the creation of a Digital Rights Protection Authority that can remove content from social media platforms.

Critics and media rights groups worry this could expose journalists and social media users to increased restrictions and legal action, restrict dissent and open doors for the powerful military establishment to target and harass civilians.

Before the reforms, watchdogs recorded more than 200 cases of journalists being investigated since PECA was passed.  

Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the changes in Pakistan’s cybercrime law would make an “already repressive online atmosphere even worse and restrictive.”

Pakistan’s military has imposed a “much tougher crackdown” in the past year, said Kurlantzick.

“They have gone well out of their way to target individuals, civil rights activists, journalists, and use anti-freedom laws to target those people, and often put them in jail,” he said.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Similar concerns are shared in Myanmar, where the junta last July passed an expansive cybercrime law. The law targeted virtual private networks, or VPNs, that allow internet users to circumvent blocked websites and censorship.

The junta said the new law was needed to protect against cyberattacks and cybercrimes that could threaten the country’s stability.

Since seizing power in a coup in February 2021, Myanmar’s military has revoked broadcast licenses, blocked access to websites and jailed journalists. The country is the third worst jailer of journalists, with 35 detained, according to the latest CPJ data.

An expert with the Myanmar Internet Project, a digital rights group, told VOA at the time that the law was more focused on suppressing rights than protecting the public.  

“All the provisions of the law are designed to suppress rather than protect the public,” the expert, who asked to be identified only as U Han, said. “We believe that the junta will use this bill as a weapon prepared for this purpose.”

Kurlantzick, however, believes the military would struggle to restrict the online space.

“Myanmar’s military has no power to restrict online dissent anymore, as 70% of the country is in control of the opposition groups,” he said. “The government, which can’t provide power, water or other services even in the biggest cities, doesn’t have the ability to crack down on the internet now.”

In Nigeria, the 2015 Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act has been used to file cases against journalists who investigate corruption. But the government has made some reforms based on civil society and press freedom group recommendations.

Two sections of the cybercrime law had been of particular concern because of the “very broad and vague wording” that allowed the arrest of journalists for sending what were deemed  “annoying” or “defamatory” messages, said CPJ’s Rozen.

Changes made in 2024 narrowed the language. 

“It constrained the opportunity for authorities to arrest journalists only if the messages were knowingly false, or if it was causing a breakdown of law or causing a threat to life,” said Rozen, who added that other areas remain “overly broad and could be abused.”

One section he cited allows for law enforcement to access information from service providers without a court order.

Nigeria’s police have used this to access data of journalists, said Rozen, noting that four journalists are currently facing prosecution under the cybercrime act. 

Rozen agrees that “misinformation and disinformation are challenges for society, but what is being observed,” he said, “is a criminalization of journalists on accusations that they are sharing false information, and in many cases, this is used as a shorthand to smother or crush” dissenting voices.

With more reporting and publishing taking place online, the tools some governments use to suppress journalists are adapting to the modernization of the industry, Rozen said. 
…

SYDNEY — Australia pledged to remain the South Pacific’s largest aid donor on Thursday during security and economic talks with Vanuatu, as Canberra reviews the potential Pacific impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign aid cuts.

“Australia will always be there for you,” Australia’s Minister for International Development Pat Conroy told a news conference in the Vanuatu capital Port Vila.

Conroy, who held talks with Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat, pledged another $3.2 million in direct budget support for Vanuatu after an earthquake in December flattened commercial buildings and killed 16 people.

“There is geostrategic competition occurring in the Pacific as great powers get interested in our region, but we are proud to be the biggest development partner,” Conroy said.

Australia was there “well before any other countries, be it the United States or China, became interested in the Pacific,” he added.

China is the second-biggest bilateral donor to the Pacific Islands after Australia, a Lowy Institute report on aid to the region found in November 2024.

Australia and its main security ally the United States have been concerned at China’s growing influence in the South Pacific and Trump’s order to cut foreign aid has worried the region’s small island nations.

Australian officials said Canberra was reviewing any potential impact from the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In recent years Vanuatu has moved closer to China, which is its largest external creditor after a decade of infrastructure loans for construction including a new president’s office last year.

China’s navy, which upset Canberra by holding live fire drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in recent days, has made repeated port visits to Vanuatu, where Beijing funded the expansion of a wharf.

A security treaty signed by Australia and Vanuatu in 2022 has not yet been ratified by Vanuatu’s parliament, which has experienced a period of high political instability. Napat is the fourth prime minister since 2022.

Napat told reporters he had discussed economic cooperation and security with Australia. 
…

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — Sri Lanka vowed Thursday to urgently tackle costly clashes between villagers and wild elephants after reporting the deaths of nearly 1,200 people and more than 3,500 animals in a decade.

Environment minister Dammika Patabendi told parliament that they will build more electrified fences and deploy additional staff to help reduce elephant raids on villages near wildlife sanctuaries.

“We are allocating more money to reduce the human-elephant conflict, and are hopeful that within a short period of time we will be able to mitigate the situation,” Patabendi said.

Between 2015 and 2024, 1,195 people and 3,484 wild elephants were killed, he said.

In January this year, three more people and 43 elephants were killed.

Opposition legislator Nalin Bandara said the toll was “shocking” and urged authorities to protect people, while also ensuring that the wild animals were not harmed.

He noted that disposing of the carcasses of wild elephants had cost the state about $11.6 million over a decade, while compensation to victims of elephant attacks was about $4 million over the same period.

Killing or harming elephants is a criminal offense in Sri Lanka, which has an estimated 7,000 wild elephants, which are considered a national treasure, partly due to their significance in Buddhist culture.

However, the massacre continues as desperate farmers struggle with elephants raiding their crops and destroying livelihoods.

Many elephants have been electrocuted, shot and poisoned. Sometimes fruits packed with explosives are used to injure the animals, often ending in painful deaths.

Elephants are also killed by trains running through their habitats.

Seven elephants, including four calves, were killed when they were run over by an express train in the island’s eastern Habarana region a week ago. It was the worst such accident recorded in the country.

Asian elephants are recognized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 

An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mostly in India, surviving for an average of 60-70 years outside captivity.                 
…

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — A small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea in the past week, making them the first international travelers to enter the country in five years except for a group of Russian tourists who went to the North last year.

The latest trip indicates North Korea may be gearing up for a full resumption of its international tourism to bring in much-needed foreign currency to revive its struggling economy, experts say.

The Beijing-based travel company Koryo Tours said it arranged a five-day trip from Feb. 20 to Feb. 24 for 13 international tourists to the northeastern North Korean border city of Rason, where the country’s special economic zone is located.

Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell said the travelers from the U.K., Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy crossed by land from China. He said that in Rason, they visited factories, shops, schools and the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the late grandfather and father of current leader Kim Jong Un.

“Since January of 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are glad to have finally found an opening in the Rason area, in the far north of North Korea,” Cockerell said.

“Our first tour has been and gone, and now more tourists on both group and private visits are going in, arranging trips,” he added.

After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world’s most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders.

In February 2024, North Korea accepted about 100 Russian tourists, the first foreign nationals to visit the country for sightseeing. That surprised many observers, who thought the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and major ally.

A total of about 880 Russian tourists visited North Korea throughout 2024, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said, citing official Russian data. Chinese group tours to North Korea remain stalled.

This signals how much North Korea and Russia have moved closer to each other as the North has supplied weapons and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Ties between North Korea and China cooled as China showed its reluctance to join a three-way, anti-U.S. alliance with North Korea and Russia, experts say.

Before the pandemic, tourism was an easy, legitimate source for foreign currency for North Korea, one of the world’s most sanctioned countries because of its nuclear program.

North Korea is expected to open a massive tourism site on the east coast in June. In January when President Donald Trump boasted about his ties with Kim Jong Un, he said that “I think he has tremendous condo capabilities. He’s got a lot of shoreline.” That likely refers to the eastern coast site.

A return of Chinese tourists would be key to making North Korea’s tourism industry lucrative because they represented more than 90% of total international tourists before the pandemic, said Lee Sangkeun, an expert at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s intelligence agency. He said that in the past, up to 300,000 Chinese tourists visited North Korea annually.

“North Korea has been heavily investing on tourism sites, but there have been not much domestic demand,” Lee said. “We can assess that North Korea now wants to resume international tourism to bring in many tourists from abroad.”

The restrictions that North Korea has typically imposed on foreign travelers — such as requirements that they move with local guides and the banning of photography at sensitive places — will likely hurt its efforts to develop tourism. Lee said that Rason, the eastern coast site and Pyongyang would be the places where North Korea feels it can easily monitor and control foreign tourists. 
…

ISLAMABAD — Uzbekistan and Pakistan agreed to establish a tripartite committee with Afghanistan to address issues that are hindering the implementation of a proposed railway project connecting the three countries. 

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reported the development after delegation-level talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Tashkent, emphasizing the need to coordinate joint efforts to advance the trans-Afghan railway link. 

The three neighboring countries signed an agreement in February 2021 to construct a 573-kilometer (356-mile) railway line through Afghanistan, connecting landlocked Central Asia to Pakistani seaports, with an estimated cost of $4.8 billion to enhance regional economic connectivity. 

“For the first time, we conducted comprehensive discussions [on the project],” Mirziyoyev said in remarks through his official interpreter broadcast live Wednesday on Pakistani state television.  

He noted that both sides agreed to form a tripartite committee to evaluate opportunities and address project challenges. The Uzbek leader stated that it was also central to discussions his government recently hosted with officials from Afghanistan.

“Now, we will have the tripartite [committee] meeting on resolving the problems,” said Mirziyoyev without elaborating. “We know that this [project] is our future,” he added, calling it crucial for regional trade and travel.  

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and subsequent Western financial sanctions on the country briefly deterred Uzbekistan and Pakistan from advancing discussions on the railway connectivity project.  

Lately, Pakistan has accused the Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country, of harboring and facilitating militants responsible for terrorist attacks in the country. The ongoing violence has strained bilateral relations and prevented Islamabad from pursuing any meaningful economic partnership with Kabul, according to Pakistani officials. 

The Taliban reject allegations that foreign militant groups operate on their territory, saying that no one is allowed to use Afghan soil to threaten other countries.  

Sharif, speaking alongside Mirziyoyev, reiterated concerns about cross-border terrorism, emphasizing that militant groups should not use Afghan soil to launch attacks against other nations, including Pakistan. 

The Uzbek and Pakistani leaders announced Wednesday that they had also agreed to increase annual trade from more than $400 million to $2 billion and signed several agreements to deepen bilateral economic and trade ties. 

The two sides stated that they had discussed enhancing collaboration in agricultural, pharmaceuticals, machinery, geology, mineral resources, textiles, leather and other industries by exporting finished products to third-country markets. 

Islamabad and Tashkent also agreed to enhance air links with new flights planned between the largest Pakistani city of Karachi and the historic Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. 
…

NEW DELHI — The European Union plans to urge India to lower its high tariffs on cars and wine to boost trade, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China, a senior official from the bloc said, ahead of a visit by the European Commission president to New Delhi.

Echoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs, the official said the EU would press India to cut tariffs on some goods and broaden market access for its products, while offering flexibility on agriculture issues to expedite free trade agreement talks.

“The Indian market is relatively closed, especially to key products of commercial interest to the European Union and our member states’ industries, including cars, wines and spirits,” said the official, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s two-day visit from Thursday, accompanied by leaders of EU member nations, coincides with escalating geopolitical tensions, with Brussels and New Delhi set to outline key areas for deeper cooperation under their strategic partnership.

Leyen will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, followed by discussions with trade minister Piyush Goyal.

The next trade negotiations round is scheduled for March 10-14 in Brussels.

The EU’s call for lower tariffs comes amid Trump’s threats to impose reciprocal tariffs from early April, which has caused anxiety for India’s exporters. Analysts from Citi Research estimate potential losses of about $7 billion annually.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods, with trade nearing $126 billion in 2024, marking an increase of about 90% over the past decade.

Reducing reliance on China

As part of its “de-risking” strategy, the EU aims to strengthen economic and security ties with India, diversify supply chains, and reduce reliance on key products from China.

The EU also views India as a vital ally in addressing security challenges, the official said, including cyber threats and tensions in the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific.

Leyen is also expected to seek India’s support for a “peaceful and just deal” for Ukraine’s security, the official said.

The EU and India could sign an agreement to share classified security information to tackle common threats such as cyber attacks and terrorism, while exploring defense equipment trade.

Despite these potential benefits, trade analysts said the visit may not yield tangible results.

For substantial cooperation, the EU should acknowledge India as a data-secure country, said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Delhi-based think-tank Global Trade Initiative, and India’s former negotiator on trade talks with the EU.

“While both parties have concerns about China, neither sees it as a top priority,” Srivastava said, adding India is focused on border tensions with China, while the EU is more concerned with the Ukraine-Russia conflict and NATO matters.
…

TAIPEI/BEIJING — China’s military held “shooting training” on Wednesday off Taiwan’s southwest coast in a move Taipei described as provocative and dangerous, while a senior Chinese leader vowed unswerving efforts to bring the island under Beijing’s control.

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has repeatedly complained of Chinese military activities, including several rounds of full-scale war games over the past three years.

From shortly before 9 a.m. local time, Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement, it had detected 32 Chinese military aircraft carrying out a “joint combat readiness drill” with Chinese warships in the Taiwan Strait area.

“During this period it even blatantly violated international practice by setting up a drills area in waters about 40 nautical miles (74 km) off the coast … without prior warning, claiming that it would carry out ‘shooting training,'” it added.

Taiwan’s major southwestern population centers of Kaohsiung and Pingtung that figured in the ministry’s statement are both home to important naval and air bases.

The exercises endanger the safety of international flights and shipping and is a “blatant provocation” to regional peace and stability, the ministry said in a statement, adding that it had dispatched its own forces to keep watch.

There was no immediate confirmation from China that it was carrying out new drills around Taiwan and its defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

China’s other recent military activity in the region, such as that off Australia’s coast, gave “proof that China is the only, and the greatest, threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific,” Taiwan’s ministry said.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its rule, and has denounced both President Lai Ching-te, who took office last year, as a “separatist,” and the United States for its support for Taiwan.

Earlier on Wednesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency said the ruling Communist Party’s fourth ranked leader, Wang Huning, had called this week for greater effort in the cause of Chinese reunification.

China must “firmly grasp the right to dominate and take the initiative in cross-strait relations, and unswervingly push forward the cause of reunification of the motherland,” it quoted Wang as telling an annual meeting on work related to Taiwan.

Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
…

WASHINGTON — A sweeping crackdown led by authorities from Thailand, China and Myanmar has dismantled scam centers along the Thai-Myanmar border and freed thousands from nearly 30 countries, but helping them return home remains a big challenge, says the spokesperson for the Karen Border Guard Force, or BGF.

Over a week ago, BGF, an ally of Myanmar’s military junta, played a key role in evacuating more than 6,000 people from scam centers in Myanmar’s Shwe Kokko fraud hub, near the border with Thailand.

Although many have been freed, the spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Naing Maung Zaw, told VOA’s Burmese Service the repatriation process is complex and will remain slow.

“Originally, we planned to send 1,000 people a day, but now we are only able to send a few hundred at a time,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “So far, 673 people have been transferred to Thailand.”

Getting those rescued from scam centers to where they can be processed is part of the challenge, he said.

The BGF operates in a region where local militia groups control large swaths of territory. These groups have historically maintained uneasy alliances with the Myanmar military while engaging in illicit economic activities, including human trafficking and scam operations.

According to the United Nations, criminal gangs have trafficked hundreds of thousands of people, forcing them to work in Southeast Asian scam centers such as the ones in Myanmar.

Thousands of the recently freed remain in temporary shelters in Myanmar, awaiting processing by Myanmar’s military authorities.

“We have evacuated more than 6,000 people, but overcrowding is an issue,” spokesperson Naing Maung Zaw said. “About 500 people are crammed into warehouses, increasing risks of disease and escape attempts.”

The repatriation process involves coordinating with multiple countries, as individuals from nearly 30 nations have been found in the scam centers.

“We are prioritizing the return of those who have been rescued,” he said. “After China, the largest number of people are from Indonesia, followed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Pakistan, India, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nepal, Thailand, Rwanda, Kenya, Cambodia, and Ghana — making a total of 15 countries. According to our special forces on the ground, people from other countries are also among those affected, bringing the total to nearly 30 countries.”

The Thai government said it is “working closely with Myanmar and other countries to ensure the safe return of victims. Over 7,000 rescued individuals are currently in the process of being transferred.”

Raids on scam centers continue, but operations will pause at the end of February, Naing Maung Zaw said.

“It’s estimated that tens of thousands are still trapped in these scam centers. It will take months to repatriate everyone,” he said.

The crackdown is a response to growing international pressure, particularly from China.

On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced the repatriation of 200 nationals rescued from Myanmar’s scam hubs, with more expected to follow. However, according to Xinhua, these individuals are being referred to as “suspects in call center fraud,” suggesting that China views them as potential criminals rather than victims.

The operation is being overseen by Liu Zhongyi, China’s assistant minister of public security, who has been coordinating efforts with Thai and Myanmar officials to dismantle the criminal networks.

Liu emphasized that shutting down these operations is critical not only for ensuring the safety of Chinese citizens but also for curbing organized crime across the region.

China’s role in cybercrime crackdown

China has taken a leading role in dismantling cyber scam networks operating along the Thailand-Myanmar border, leveraging diplomatic pressure and regional cooperation with both countries. The crackdown intensified, with Thai authorities cutting gas and oil supplies to Myanmar earlier this month and deploying military units to weaken criminal syndicates.

On Feb. 5, the Thai authorities cut electricity, fuel, and internet supplies to several Myanmar border towns known to host scam operations. This action aimed to disrupt the infrastructure supporting these illicit activities. Additionally, Thai military units were deployed to the border area to further weaken the criminal syndicates operating there. 

China’s Ministry of Public Security confirmed the repatriation of 200 Chinese nationals from Myanmar, labeling them as suspects in telecom fraud. The ministry stated that over 800 more would be repatriated soon as part of a joint effort with Myanmar and Thailand to combat transnational cybercrime.

Jason Tower, the Myanmar country director for the U.S. Institute of Peace, has been monitoring transnational cybercrime for nearly a decade. He told VOA in an interview Monday that “the campaign is the most aggressive crackdown seen along the Thailand–Myanmar border.”

Previous short-term disruptions, such as power and internet cuts, that once lasted only a few weeks, have now been replaced with sustained pressure, he said.

“The Thai military’s presence and comprehensive cuts on electricity, internet, gas and oil have created significant challenges for these criminal networks,” he said.

China has played a crucial role in coordinating regional efforts, pushing for tougher actions against cybercrime syndicates.

“A surge in social media outcry over high-profile trafficking cases has given Beijing the political capital to demand cross-border cooperation,” Tower said.

While repatriation efforts continue, Tower said, dismantling the infrastructure linked to organized crime is equally critical.

“Without sustained pressure and intelligence-sharing, these criminal networks will continue to adapt and thrive,” he warned.

Meanwhile, China has taken legal action against key figures over their alleged involvement in transnational cybercrime.

Influential in the Myanmar town of Kokang, the Ming family, accused of colluding with cross-border scammers, was publicly tried in Wenzhou, China, last week, according to AFP. Kokang is an area in northeastern Myanmar along the southern Chinese border that is home to a Mandarin-speaking ethnic group of Chinese under the same name.

The 23 defendants face charges in Wenzhou, including murder, fraud, and extortion. According to the Chinese court, they are linked to 14 Chinese deaths and illicit financial gains, exceeding $1.4 billion since 2015.

Among those tried was the former head of the Kokang Administration, who was arrested in Nay Pyi Taw and handed over to China by Myanmar’s junta last year. The six-day trial concluded with a verdict pending, underscoring Beijing’s commitment to holding suspected major players accountable.

Challenges amid ongoing crackdown

Despite aggressive measures, scam syndicates continue to operate, shifting their hubs across borders.

Syndicates can easily relocate to Cambodia, Laos or Dubai, Tower said.

Impunity also remains a major issue. While some key figures were brought to justice in 2023-2024, many kingpins still operate freely. Since 2016, scam networks have flourished with little oversight, particularly in Cambodia, where large-scale scam centers remain active.

Another challenge is repatriating trafficking victims and recovering stolen funds. Thai authorities have identified victims quickly, but returning them across multiple countries is complex.

“Without coordinated intelligence sharing, these networks will keep adapting,” Tower cautioned.

Thein Htike Oo from Burmese Service contributed this report.
…

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday heard the last of the oral arguments in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial.

The court’s decision on whether Yoon will be reinstated or removed from office is expected by mid-March.

Yoon has denied that he did anything wrong when he declared martial law on Dec. 3. In his closing statement Tuesday, he defended the declaration, saying it was a “proclamation that the nation was facing an existential crisis.”  

He told the court that “external forces, including North Korea, along with anti-state elements within our society” were “working together to seriously threaten our national security and sovereignty.”

The liberal opposition-controlled National Assembly impeached Yoon, a conservative, after his short-lived Dec. 3 martial law decree. They accused Yoon of taking the extraordinary measure, which is reserved for national emergencies or times of war, without proper justification.

In his statement, Yoon said he “could no longer neglect a do-or-die crisis facing this country” and that he had “tried to inform the people of these anti-state acts of wickedness by the mammoth opposition party and appealed to the people to stop it with their surveillance and criticism.”

Yoon had said the opposition parties blocked a revision to an anti-espionage law, preventing the prosecution of foreign nationals spying on South Korea.

“This was never a decision made for my personal benefit,” he told the court Tuesday.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) pushed for an amendment to the law to broaden its scope from targeting “enemy states” to include “foreign countries,” citing threats posed by Chinese espionage. The opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) blocked the revision for fear of potential misuse of the law.

Yoon also was arrested last month and indicted on rebellion charges after his declaration. The charges carry possible penalties that include life imprisonment or a death sentence.

After declaring martial law, Yoon ordered troops and police officers into the National Assembly where lawmakers were gathering to veto his decree. He said it was not his intention to prevent the lawmakers, who unanimously voted against the decree, from doing their work. He said he deployed the security forces to maintain law and order.

However, some commanders of the forces sent to the assembly told investigators and assembly hearings that they were ordered to drag the lawmakers from the assembly. 

An opposition lawyer had an emotional reaction to that tactic at the impeachment trial, telling the court, “As a citizen and a father, I feel a sense of rage and betrayal toward Yoon, who tried to turn my son into a martial law soldier.”

If Yoon’s impeachment is upheld by the court, a new election must be held within 60 days.

VOA’s Christy Lee contributed to this article. Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
…

BANGKOK — Thailand is emerging as one of Russia’s main pipelines for machine and computer parts with the potential for military use, with a growing number of local companies accused of helping Moscow evade Western export controls meant to cripple its war on Ukraine. 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has imposed sanctions on seven companies in Thailand for exporting these “high priority items” to Russia, the last of them in December. 

Trade data published last year by S&P Global, a financial analytics and services firm based in New York, also show a huge spike in these exports out of Thailand since 2022. 

Thailand eluded mention when the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments started warning in mid-2023 of third countries being used to funnel high-priority items to Russia as a way of skirting the West’s export controls. 

“So, it was a surprise to see them … as a new country or a new location which had been involved in this type of goods transaction,” Byron McKinney, a sanctions risk and supply chain expert at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told VOA of his team’s research. 

Supply chains hit by sanctions, McKinney said, are “a little like water in a stream — if you try damming in one place, it will try and move around. So, Thailand kind of appeared in this way, as a country which wasn’t there originally for the transshipment or transit of these goods but has appeared later on.”  

Within days of the 2022 invasion, the U.S. Commerce Department placed export controls on dozens of high-priority items it said Russia needed most “to sustain its brutal attack on Ukraine,” from ball bearings to microchips. These are commonly known as dual-use goods for their potential to be put to both civilian and military use. 

A 2024 report by McKinney and his team shows China exporting or reexporting the vast majority of these goods to Russia since the invasion — over $6 billion worth in 2023 alone. It also shows countries funneling more such goods to Russia than Thailand. 

But of the 14 countries whose exports and reexports to Russia that the report breaks down, Thailand saw the sharpest spike of any, from $8.3 million in 2022 to $98.7 million in 2023, a jump of over 1,000%. 

Thailand’s 2023 shipments also included an especially large proportion of the most sensitive, high-priority goods such as microchips, designated by U.S. Customs as Tier 1. 

More recent data shared with VOA by S&P Global show Thailand’s exports and reexports of high-priority goods to Russia again topping $90 million in 2024. 

McKinney said the trade routes on which the goods are shipped are in constant flux. 

But for the time being, he added, “Thailand just happens to be in an area where there’s the possibility to transit these goods easier or quicker because maybe the regulation is a bit more light touch, for example, than it would be in other locations. So, it kind of gets picked on from that particular perspective and … turns up as a particular transit or transshipment hub.” 

The U.S. has put sanctions on seven Thailand-registered companies in the past 13 months.  

The first was NAL Solutions in January 2024. In announcing the sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said NAL was part of a network of companies controlled by Russian national Nikolai Aleksandrovich Levin channeling electronics and other goods from the United States and other countries to Russia. 

Washington sanctioned another five firms in Thailand in October, including Intracorp, which Treasury accused of setting up other companies that send high-priority goods to Russia. 

Treasury also tied Thailand’s Siam Expert Trading — added to the sanctions list in December — to the TGR Group, which it described as “a sprawling international network of businesses and employees that have facilitated significant sanctions circumvention on behalf of Russian elites.” 

Five of the seven firms did not reply to VOA’s repeated requests for comment about the sanctions. The other two could not be reached. 

Spokespersons for the Thai government and Ministry of Commerce, which oversees the country’s exports and company licensing, did not reply to VOA’s requests for comment either. 

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Thailand has been keen to keep up warm diplomatic and economic ties with Russia. 

At an international summit on China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing two years ago, Thailand’s prime minister at the time, Srettha Thavisin, hailed his country’s “close relations” with Russia, shook hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and invited him to Thailand. 

“When Srettha became prime minister in 2023, he was focused like a laser on economic growth and viewed Russia as a useful economic partner,” Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told VOA. “Visa-free entry was extended for Russian tourists, and the authorities turned a blind eye to incidents of antisocial behavior and illegal activities.” 

He said Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who replaced Srettha last year, has carried on both his fixation on economic growth and neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Just last month at Putin’s invitation, Thailand joined BRICS, a group of developing countries with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa at its core, focused on forging closer economic ties. 

And while bilateral trade between Russia and Thailand has been falling in recent years, Storey says Russians have become major players in Thailand’s property market. They have also helped boost Thailand’s tourism sector, a pillar of the economy. 

In an interview with Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency in 2023, Vitaly Kiselev, president of the Thai-Russian Chamber of Commerce, said Western sanctions on Moscow were also opening up more trade opportunities between Russia and Thailand. He said chamber membership was on the rise. 

Given Thailand’s priorities, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, Storey doubts that Thai authorities will step in to stop the country’s trade in dual-use goods. 

“If Bangkok hasn’t taken action to crack down on this trade three years after the war started, there’s little chance that it will do so now, especially as the Trump administration is making nice with Russia,” he said. 

Across Asia, only Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan have imposed trade restrictions or other sanctions on Russia since the 2022 invasion. 
…

ISLAMABAD — When Amir Ali left the narrow alleys of his village in Pakistan’s Punjab province last summer for the plazas of Spain, he thought his dream of a better life was finally coming true. The 21-year-old had failed seven times before to get a visa for countries in Europe and the Middle East.

Six months later, in mid-January, Ali was one of 22 Pakistani men whom Moroccan authorities rescued from a stranded migrant boat in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa.

At least 43 Pakistanis were among 50 men who perished from hunger, dehydration and physical torture at the hands of human smugglers.

Limping with an injured foot in his home in Gujranwala district, Ali said he felt lucky to be alive.

“It’s not as if we survived because of some food or water,” he said. “Not at all. It’s just that God wanted to save us, so we survived.”

Since December 2024, dozens of Pakistanis have died as boats carrying migrants to Europe have run into accidents.

While Pakistan does not rank among the top 10 countries from which migrants attempting irregular entry into Europe come, thousands of its nationals risk their lives every year to reach the continent.

Human smugglers are becoming savvy too, officials say, as kingpins move abroad to evade an ongoing crackdown, and rely on digital currencies to transfer the proceeds of their crime.

A harrowing journey

Ali’s trip began more than 1,200 kilometers south of Gujranwala in Karachi, where he boarded a plane to Senegal on a visa that smugglers had arranged.

“I didn’t even know that a country with that name existed,” Ali told VOA.

From Senegal he obtained a visa to enter Mauritania, where he stayed in a safe house with dozens of other migrants for almost five months.

The dream journey was turning into a nightmare.

“There were so many boys in one room, there was no room to sit,” Ali said. “It was mentally very tough.”

In the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 2, he was stuffed with more than 80 others on a boat headed from Nouakchott, Mauritania, to Spain’s Canary Islands.

After a day of travel, the boat ran out of fuel. To lighten the load, Ali said, the smugglers threw away the passengers’ belongings and took away their meager rations.

“On the fourth day on the boat, a man went crazy because of hunger. He jumped into the ocean. We all got very scared thinking about what was going to happen next,” Ali said.

Smugglers, the survivor said, thrashed anyone who complained or didn’t comply.

“The smugglers told us to throw the dead bodies in the water,” said Ali. “When we refused, thinking how could we throw our brothers, they beat us up a lot.”

The ordeal ended almost two weeks later when Moroccan authorities rescued the survivors after a fishing boat spotted them.

Ali’s family sold livestock and precious agricultural land and took loans to raise nearly $10,000 to get their son to Spain. His mother is worried about the debt but delighted that her son is alive.

Who is leaving?

Almost two hours away in Gujrat district of Punjab, Haji Shaukat Ali is devastated. His son Chaudhry Atif Gorsi and nephew Chaudhry Sufyan Gorsi did not survive.

A roadside sign leading to their village commemorates the two as martyrs.

“We sent them because of our weakness,” said Ali, sitting among a group of mourners, some of whom had come from Europe. “The weakness is money.”

Studies conducted by Gallup Pakistan and the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, or PIDE, in recent years show lack of jobs as the primary reason for wanting to leave a country where economic growth is barely keeping up with population growth.

According to Pakistan’s Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, more than 65,000 people left legally to work abroad just in January 2025. Between 2022 and 2024, an average of roughly 800,000 nationals moved abroad for work annually. Most went to the Middle East but a few to Europe.

Pakistanis also made nearly 5,000 attempts to enter Europe illegally in 2024, data from the EU’s border and coast guard agency Frontex indicates.

Amir Ali’s home district of Gujranwala and the Gorsi cousins’ home district of Gujrat, lead in migration trends, along with nearby Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin and Faisalabad districts, despite being hubs of agriculture and industrial activity.

“They are not the poorest of the poor,” said demographer Durre Nayab, pointing to the ability of migrants from this region to pull together thousands of dollars to fund their journey.

“But it’s not just the financial aspect,” Nayab, who was involved in the PIDE study, told VOA. “The two other aspects that came out were lifestyle, and somehow, they thought they would gain more respect out of [the] country.”

Many Pakistanis wanting to leave felt poorly treated compared to their wealthier countrymen, Nayab explained.

“This difference made them disillusioned about the whole system,” the demographer said.

The PIDE study showed 37% of Pakistanis would leave, if given a chance.

Does life get better?

Kashif Ali, a cousin of the deceased Gorsis, spent hundreds of dollars to arrange a sponsor for a work permit to Italy a decade ago.

“In Pakistan, a middle-class laborer earns around $3 a day. For that same work, they make $20 to $25 overseas,” said Ali, who works in boat making.

His family in Pakistan now has a new home and a car.

Such a turn of fortune is on display across small towns and villages in central Punjab. Experts say it inspires many others to risk their lives to reach Europe.

It was a similar story of success that made Ishraq Nazir move from Mandi Bahauddin to Greece. He entered the European country after a brief stay in Turkey as a tourist in 2009.

It took Nazir a decade to get a Greek residency permit after his asylum request was rejected.

For years he worked odd jobs like herding cows and painting trees to get by. Now he works in a packaging factory earning almost $60 a day and said he finally feels settled.

“I had to face a lot of difficulties, but the fact is that if I had stayed in Pakistan, I would have not gotten anything given the type of jobs they have,” Nazir told VOA on the phone while packing disposable plates. “My friends are still where they started.”

Umar Shaid from district Sialkot arrived illegally in Greece by boat from Libya in October.

“I am struggling. It’s very hard to find work. There are very few opportunities. I don’t have any friends or relatives to seek help from,” Shaid said by phone over the sound of the Athens metro.

Shaid said he has spent around $15,000 to pay smugglers and take care of his day-to-day expenses.

“Honestly, I believed the stories people told me and took this silly decision,” said Shaid. Still, he said he was not planning to go back to Pakistan.

Crackdown on smugglers

This month, Pakistan’s Senate passed three bills to toughen anti-human smuggling laws, increasing fines and jail terms.

Pakistan began cracking down on human smuggling after hundreds of its nationals died off the coast of Pylos, Greece, in June 2023 in one of the worst migrant boat disasters.

A report by Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights says after that disaster, authorities arrested 854 suspected human smugglers.

Frustrated by recent incidents, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a high-level task force in January, with himself as the head, to combat human smuggling.

The Federal Investigation Agency, or FIA, has ramped up efforts, arresting dozens of alleged human smugglers and confiscating the assets of others to force them out of hiding.

“For the first time we have seen that they [smugglers] are using Bitcoin and digital currency. They have shifted away from traditional ways of money laundering.” Bilal Tanvir, FIA deputy director for the Gujrat region, told VOA.

However, he said a lack of resources and low rate of conviction of alleged criminals posed a challenge in curbing the crime.

The FIA is also facing increased scrutiny. Sharif’s government removed the agency head at the end of last month. More than 100 officials have been fired, suspended or blacklisted for alleged involvement in and insufficient action against human smuggling.

Survivor Ali told VOA his group of migrant men faced no hurdle boarding the flight for Senegal at the Karachi airport.

“Someone connected with the agents came, held our hand and told us to come after him. Wherever we went, we followed him,” Ali said. “Nobody stopped us.”

Tanvir defended his agency, saying officers focus on those entering the country more than those on their way out.

The impact of tragedies

Surrounded by friends and neighbors, Ali looked disappointed. He told VOA he would not recommend attempting to reach Europe by boat.

Others in the room felt differently.

“Why should I lie?” said Tariq Bajwa, who supports his young sons’ plan to head to Europe illegally in a few years. “Looking at others, we are willing to try as well.”

Several young men in the room agreed.

Why Europe? “Just because,” said Hamza Qayyum, the son of a farmer. “There’s farming in Europe. I don’t feel like doing it here,” the 20-year-old with a sixth-grade education explained.

Asked if they would risk drowning in the sea, Muhammad Zohaib, whose brothers work in the Middle East asked, “Why not?”

“Planes crash too, so what’s the big deal if a boat sinks?” the 20-something said. “One can run into an accident right outside the house.”
…

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Hong Kong’s largest and oldest opposition party, the Democratic Party, has announced that it will start the process of disbanding, a move that analysts say will mark “the end of an era” for the city’s pro-democracy forces.  

During a press conference last Thursday, Democratic Party chairperson Lo Kin-hei told journalists that the party, founded in 1994, would set up a three-person task force to “study” the procedures needed for the party to shut down.

“We considered the overall political environment in Hong Kong and all those future plans that we can foresee, and that is the decision that we make,” he said, adding that party members’ votes will determine the final decision for disbandment. Lo did not specify when the vote might take place.  

Hong Kong’s government has yet to comment on the news of the party’s possible disbandment and authorities did not respond to inquiries from VOA. 

In an editorial published Monday, the Chinese Communist Party-controlled media outlet Wen Wei Po said the Democratic Party’s planned disbandment was the result of the party’s connections to detained media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is facing several national security charges, and its support of “violent protesters” during the 2019 pro-democracy protests. 

The Democratic Party, founded a few years before the end of British colonial rule, played a pivotal role in Hong Kong’s transition to Chinese governance, with some of its early leaders, including prominent figures such as Martin Lee and Albert Ho, helping to shape the “One Country, Two Systems” model, a constitutional arrangement set up to give Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy under Chinese rule.

Following Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997, the Democratic Party became the most influential opposition force in the port city’s legislative council, leading street protests and advocating for the fulfillment of universal suffrage and direct elections that were embedded in the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

But following months-long anti-government protests that sent shockwaves across the city in 2019, Beijing initiated a series of moves to tighten control over Hong Kong, including the imposition of the controversial National Security Law, or NSL, in July 2020 and the overhaul of the city’s electoral system that essentially blocks pro-democracy candidates from running in elections.

‘Chilling effect’ felt in Hong Kong 

Analysts say the Democratic Party’s decision to begin disbandment reflects Hong Kong authorities’ intensifying crackdown on pro-democracy organizations, with several opposition political parties, such as the Civic Party, deciding to shut down due to increasing political pressure and restrictions on operating.  

“Democratic Party’s decision to start preparing for disbandment marks the end of the good old times when there were functioning opposition parties that could maintain a presence in the legislative council, serve constituents, and consult the government on policies,” said Maggie Shum, a political scientist at Penn State University in the U.S. 

Additionally, she said, the crackdown has affected independent bookstores, independent media, and independent institutions.  

“It’s like the Hong Kong government is going down a long list of democratic institutions and taking every one of them off the list,” Shum told VOA by phone, adding that the trend has created a “society-wide chilling effect” in Hong Kong.  

The Hong Kong Journalist Association, or HKJA, the main journalism group in the city, was forced to scrap its annual fundraising dinner this month after two hotels cancelled bookings. The head of HKJA, Selina Cheng, has said the cancellations were likely the result of “political pressure” the hotels had faced. Local authorities have said nothing about the issue. 

Additionally, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, which tracks public attitudes on a wide range of issues in the city, announced it would suspend all self-funded research and might even “close down” after its CEO Robert Chung was summoned by national security police for investigations. 

Some pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong say authorities have shifted the focus of their crackdowns to groups dedicated to issues such as labor rights in recent months.

“The Hong Kong government has proposed legislative amendments that will ban individuals convicted of national security offenses from being part of labor unions while imposing stricter vetting mechanisms on foreign funding,” said Debby Chan, a former pro-democracy district councilor in Hong Kong.  

Emily Lau, the former chairperson of the Democratic Party, said these trends show Hong Kong’s political system is pivoting away from democracy.  

“More than a dozen groups have dissolved over the last two to three years and in the current environment, it will be hard for pro-democracy figures or organizations to have the space to operate,” she told VOA by phone, adding that Hong Kong authorities’ goal is to “annihilate” pro-democracy figures’ attempts to “organize.”  

Beijing: ‘National security safeguarded’ in Hong Kong  

In response to inquiries from VOA, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said Beijing “firmly supports” Hong Kong authorities’ efforts to “safeguard national security” and urged “critics” to “stop smearing the Chinese central government’s policy governing Hong Kong.”  

“Hong Kong’s economy is booming, and the constitutional order is in stable operation, national security is safeguarded and the ‘patriots ruling Hong Kong’ is implemented,” Liu Pengyu, the Chinese Embassy spokesperson, told VOA in an email.

Shum at Penn State said Hong Kong people may “get disoriented or forced to withdraw from caring about politics” because authorities are rapidly tightening control over civil society and “taking away their power to take collective actions.”  

“Hong Kong is implementing the Chinese model of governance and using an authoritarian way to control every aspect of life,” she told VOA.  

Shum said Hong Kong’s people could still find symbolic ways to express support for democracy.  

“The online censorship in Hong Kong is not as dire as compared to China and there are a lot of exiled media outlets reporting on the situation in Hong Kong, which serve as channels for Hong Kong people to connect with the outside world,” she said, adding that that “could potentially serve as anchors for people who care about democratic values.” 
…

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — A fresh search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been launched more than a decade after the plane went missing in one of aviation’s greatest enduring mysteries.

Maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity has resumed the hunt for the missing plane, Malaysian transport minister Anthony Loke said Tuesday.

Loke told reporters contract details between Malaysia and the firm were still being finalized but welcomed the “the proactiveness of Ocean Infinity to deploy their ships” to begin the search for the plane which went missing in March 2014.

Loke added that details on how long the search would last had not been negotiated yet.

He also did not provide details on when exactly the British firm kicked off its hunt.

The Malaysian government in December had said it had agreed to launch a new search for MH370, which disappeared more than a decade ago.

The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found.

“They (Ocean Infinity) have convinced us that they are ready,” said Loke.

“That’s why the Malaysian government is proceeding with this,” he added.

In December, Loke had said the new search would be on the same “no find, no fee” principle as Ocean Infinity’s previous search, with the government only paying out if it finds the aircraft.

The contract was for 18 months and Malaysia would pay $70 million to the company if the plane was found, Loke previously had said.

Ocean Infinity, based in Britain and the United States, carried out an unsuccessful hunt in 2018.

The company’s first efforts followed a massive Australia-led search for the aircraft that lasted three years before it was suspended in January 2017.

The Australia-led search covered 120,000 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean but found hardly any trace of the plane, with only some pieces of debris picked up.

The plane’s disappearance has long been the subject of theories — ranging from the credible to outlandish — including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.

A final report into the tragedy released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.
…

The top U.S. Army officer for the Asia-Pacific region began a two-day visit to Cambodia Monday in a trip designed to expand and improve frayed ties between the two nations.

General Ronald P. Clark, the commanding general of the United States Army Pacific met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and senior Cambodian military officials in Phnom Penh.

Ties between the U.S. and Cambodia have been strained with Washington’s criticism of Cambodia’s political repression and human rights violations.

However, the U.S. and other countries are also greatly concerned with Cambodia’s close ties with China. Of special interest is China’s access to the Ream Naval Base near the disputed South China Sea, a waterway China claims almost in full.

In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China’s sweeping claims. The naval base is strategically located in the Gulf of Thailand, which borders the western section of the South China Sea. The base’s renovation was funded by China.

China has contributed massive amounts of money to Cambodia’s updating of its infrastructure with the help beginning when the prime minister’s father, Hun Sen, was leading the country.

That funding continues and later Monday, Manet met with Yin LI, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, according to a post on the prime minister’s Telegram account.

The post said the Li praised the progress on “all cooperation in all fields” between Cambodia and China.

During the meeting, Clark also expressed his admiration for Cambodia for sending U.N. peacekeepers to several international locations, according to the prime minister’s office.

The prime minister also thanked the U.S. for its assistance in helping to clear explosives from Cambodia after years of war that left Cambodia in the late 1990s with 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded ordnance, including unexploded U.S. bombs.

Clark also met Monday with General Mao Sophan, Cambodia’s military chief.

The two military generals had “constructive discussions,” the army said in a statement. Topics of their talks included defense, trade, tourism, counterterrorism, peacekeeping and demining, the Cambodian army said.

Their discussion also included the possible revival of the Angkor Sentinel exercise, the joint military exercises previously held by the U.S. and Cambodia that were abandoned nearly 10 years ago, the army said.

Some information provided by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
…

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban authorities publicly flogged 20 men and women Monday on charges of adultery, rape, and engaging in “illegitimate relations.” 

The Taliban’s Supreme Court reported that all defendants received sentences of 39 lashes each and prison terms ranging from one to seven years. 

The punishments were carried out in the eastern Khost and central Parwan provinces, with residents, judicial, and government officials among the spectators.

Since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have publicly flogged hundreds of men and women. Most were charged with offenses such as adultery, sodomy, eloping, having illegitimate relations and robbery.  

The number of Afghans subjected to flogging this month alone has reached 86, with 17 women among the victims, according to data from the top court.  

The United Nations has condemned corporal punishment being conducted by the Taliban as a violation of international law and human dignity, calling for the practice to be halted immediately.  

The Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country, defends its criminal justice system and overall governance by stating that they are aligned with Islamic law or Sharia and dismissing foreign criticism as misguided. 

The de facto Afghan leaders have placed sweeping restrictions on women’s access to education and employment, effectively erasing most of them from public life in Afghanistan and drawing persistent calls from the U.N. to reverse what it condemns as “gender-apartheid.”
…