The killing of a sixth journalist in Pakistan underscores the dangers for local media, say analysts and reporters. With threats increasing, including on the border with Afghanistan, some journalists fear for their safety. For VOA News’ Tabinda Naeem, Elizabeth Cherneff narrates.
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At a summit between India and Russia this week, both countries said they were committed to deepening the relationship. Anjana Pasricha reports on why India is enhancing its partnership with Russia, which has been isolated by Western countries over its war in Ukraine.
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BEIJING — Six people were killed as record rains struck southwest China, state media reported Thursday, as the country endures a summer of extreme weather.

Torrential downpours struck Dianjiang county, near the megacity of Chongqing, from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, state news agency Xinhua said, citing county officials.

State broadcaster CCTV, citing the county flood control office, reported that four people had died in “geological disasters” and a further two had “drowned” as of 1:50 p.m. (0550 GMT) on Thursday.

Xinhua said one of the people had perished after a house collapsed, and at least three had been caught in a landslide.

Nearly 7,000 people have been affected by rainstorms and 170 have been told to evacuate, according to Xinhua.

It added that up to nearly 25.5 centimeters of rain in parts of Dianjiang, the highest daily maximum since records began.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heavy rains across the east and south coming as much of the north has sweltered in successive heat waves.

The country is the world’s leading emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and make extreme weather more likely.

Beijing has committed to bringing its emissions of planet-heating carbon dioxide to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s anti-graft court sentenced a former agriculture minister to 10 years in prison Thursday after finding him guilty of corruption-related extortion, abuse of power and bribery involving ministry contracts with private vendors.

The case has tarnished President Joko Widodo’s credibility in fighting corruption. Five other members of Widodo’s Cabinet have been sentenced to prison terms in corruption cases, casting a shadow over his efforts to clean up government while his term will end in October.

The court in the capital, Jakarta, ruled that the former Cabinet minister, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, was guilty of abusing his power by enriching himself and other officials. It also ordered him to pay a $18,500 fine and said he would be subject to another four months’ imprisonment if he fails to pay.

“The defendant has legally and convincingly been proven guilty of corruption,” presiding Judge Rianto Adam Pontoh said. “He wasn’t a good example as a public official, what he has done is counter the government’s efforts to fight corruption and enriched himself by corruption.”

Limpo had been arrested last October by the Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK. He has denied wrongdoing.

Several ministry officials testified during the trial that secretariats, directorates general and agencies within the ministry were required to give up 20% of their budgets to Limpo, as though they were indebted to him, and he threated their jobs if they rejected his demands. Vendors and suppliers were also asked to set aside money to fulfill the then-minister’s demands, the trial revealed.

Limpo used the money on luxurious cars, gifts and apartments, charter private jets, family parties and gatherings, and for religious observances and pilgrimages. Limpo also used the bribes to disburse humanitarian aid for disaster victims and to his Nasdem political party.

Prosecutors, who sought 12 years imprisonment for Limpo, said the politician accepted a total of $2.7 million between January 2020 and October 2023.

In their indictment, prosecutors accused Limpo of ordering his two subordinates, Kasdi Subagyono and Muhammad Hatta, to collect the illicit money. They were each sentenced to four years in prison in separate cases.

During the trial, Limpo said he was the victim of political persecution and felt that he had been slandered by his subordinates in his ministry who feared being replaced or removed from their position.

“I never received any information about their objection to any of my orders,” Limpo said. “If they think it’s wrong, they should consult and discuss with me first.”

Widodo campaigned in part on a pledge to run a clean government in a country that ranked 115th out of 180 nations in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International.

Limpo, a former South Sulawesi governor, is the second politician from the Nasdem Party to face recent prosecution. Johnny G. Plate, a former communication minister, was sentenced to 15 years in prison over $533 million in graft of the construction of mobile phone transmission towers in remote parts of the country.

Corruption is endemic in Indonesia and the anti-graft commission, one of the few effective institutions in the country of nearly 270 million people, is frequently under attack by lawmakers who want to reduce its powers.

The KPK has arrested around 250 members of the local parliament, as many as 133 regents and mayors as well as 18 governors, 83 members of the national parliament and 12 ministers since the institution was founded in late 2003.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s defense ministry said Thursday it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window, a record-high this year, a day after it said Beijing was conducting exercises in nearby waters.

China claims self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.

Thursday’s record follows Taipei, a day earlier, spotting Chinese aircraft around the island that it said were headed to the western Pacific for exercises with the PLA aircraft carrier Shandong.

“66 PLA aircraft and seven PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 am (2200 GMT Wednesday) today,” the defense ministry said in Thursday’s statement.

Fifty-six of the aircraft crossed the sensitive median line bisecting the Taiwan Strait — a narrow 180-kilometer waterway separating the island from China.

The ministry added it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly.”

An illustration it released showed some of the aircraft came within 61 km of Taiwan’s southern tip.

The year’s previous record was in May, when Beijing sent 62 military aircraft and 27 naval vessels around Taiwan.

That occurred in the middle of war games Beijing launched on the heels of the inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing regards as a “dangerous separatist.”

Military expert Su Tzu-yun said China’s latest show of force was a reaction to recent political developments, including Washington’s new de facto ambassador to Taiwan meeting with and expressing support for Taipei during a meeting with Lai on Wednesday.

“Beijing puts pressure on Taiwan in order to express its displeasure at the support it enjoys,” said Su of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research. 

Taiwan defense minister Wellington Koo on Wednesday noted that the Shandong had not passed “through the Bashi Channel,” the area off Taiwan’s southern tip where Chinese ships typically transit en route to the Pacific Ocean.

Instead, it “went further south through the Balingtang Channel towards the Western Pacific,” he said, referring to a waterway just north of the Philippines’ Babuyan Island, about 250 kilometers south of Bashi.

Neighboring Japan on Tuesday confirmed that four PLA navy vessels, including the Shandong, were sailing 520 kilometers southeast of Miyako island.

“Fighter aircraft and helicopters” had been seen taking off from and landing on the Shandong,” it said.

The Philippines’ military public affairs chief said they had received reports of a China-Russia exercise taking place in the Philippine Sea but did not comment about the Shandong directly.

Tensions between Manila and Beijing have grown following a series of escalating confrontations over the hotly disputed South China Sea.
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SYDNEY — Papua New Guinea’s sidelined Petroleum Minister Jimmy Maladina pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court Thursday to a charge of assaulting a woman during a domestic dispute.

His lawyer Margaret Cunneen entered the plea on his behalf during his brief appearance in Waverley Local Court. Neither Maladina nor Cuneen made a statement to media waiting outside court.

Police allege he assaulted a 31-year-old woman Saturday at an address in nearby Bondi in Sydney’s expensive eastern suburbs and she suffered facial injuries. A conviction on the charge of assault resulting in bodily harm could carry a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Maladina, 58, remains free on bail with restrictions on contact with the woman, but there are no bail conditions that would prevent him from leaving Australia. Maladina will appear in court on July 17 when a magistrate will set a hearing date.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape announced on Wednesday that Energy Minister Thomas Opa had taken over the petroleum portfolio since Maladina had stepped down during the court process. He remains a government lawmaker.

Foreign government ministers can claim immunity from criminal prosecution in Australia if they are visiting on business. But there is no immunity for private visits.

The Associated Press asked the Papua New Guinea High Commission in Australia on Tuesday whether Maladina was visiting on official business but received no reply.

Papua New Guinea is Australia’s nearest neighbor and an Australian colony until independence in 1975.
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WASHINGTON — Taliban efforts to solidify the group’s control over Afghanistan are bringing a measure of peace and stability to its residents, but intelligence gathered by United Nations member states suggests the reprieve is not likely to last.

A report issued late Wednesday by the U.N. sanctions monitoring team warns that Afghanistan will almost certainly remain a source for insecurity with terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State either finding safe haven or finding ways to exploit the Taliban’s weaknesses.

“The country continues to be perceived as permissive or friendly territory by terrorist groups,” the report warns. “Continued Taliban tolerance of a range of terrorist groups, based across many Afghan provinces, sets the conditions for terrorism to project into neighboring States.”

Al-Qaida, in particular, continues to thrive, taking advantage of its long-term ties to the Taliban despite being forced to keep a low-profile.

Al-Qaida expansion

U.N. member states contend al-Qaida has used the past year to reorganize and recruit, building out its network of training camps and safe houses across at least five Afghan provinces, including bases in the eastern city of Jalalabad and offices in Kabul.

The expansion has also attracted more al-Qaida operatives, including some that the U.N. report described as “experienced instructors” from outside of Afghanistan, whose mission is “to enhance the security of dispersed cells.”

The report further alleges that de facto al-Qaida leader Saif al-Adel, believed to be in Iran, has sent ethnic Arab operatives to the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan to improve training and facilitate communication with the group’s core leadership.

Other key al-Qaida figures in Afghanistan have also found added safety thanks to the Taliban.

Taliban protection

Abu Ikhlas al-Masri, an al-Qaida commander captured in 2010 and held in a prison at Bagram air base until U.S. forces left in 2021, was placed in protective custody, the report says, “reflecting Taliban concerns that foreign intelligence agencies were looking for him.”

Two other al-Qaida officials, described in the report as “weapons engineers,” were also given protection by the Taliban, while an al-Qaida official from Libya was reportedly given an Afghan passport and a position at the Interior Ministry.

“The intent behind these activities is not clear, nor are the consequences for the group’s capabilities, but the activities cause significant concern,” the report says of al-Qaida.

US assessment

The U.N. assessment stands, in some ways, in contrast to assessments shared late last year by the United States.

“Al-Qaida is at its historical nadir in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its revival is unlikely,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid said in a statement marking the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. that killed almost 3,000 people.

But such views are at odds with the picture put together by the U.N., which maintains al-Qaida has between 30 and 60 senior officials in Afghanistan, along with hundreds of fighters and almost 2,000 family members.

Islamic State-Khorasan

While al-Qaida may be seeing the start of a revival thanks to the Taliban rule of Afghanistan, the intelligence shared in the new U.N. report finds the Islamic State terror group is coming under pressure.

U.N. member states “credit Taliban efforts to counter the threat from [IS-Khorasan],” it says. “But [they] question the Taliban’s counter-terrorism capabilities and have concerns about continued [IS-Khorasan] recruitment and dispersal.”

The result, according to the report, is an Islamic State affiliate that is slowly positioning itself to undermine Taliban rule while actively carrying out attacks as far afield as Iran and Russia.

IS-Khorasan capacity “remains strong,” according to the report, noting the group’s deadly attacks in Kerman, Iran, this past January and on a Moscow concert hall this past March.

IS-Khorasan spreading

The intelligence suggests IS-Khorasan has expanded into a number of adjacent Central Asian states.

IS-Khorasan “is using Afghan nationals to conduct attacks in Pakistan, Pakistani nationals to conduct attacks inside Afghanistan, Tajik nationals to conduct attacks in Iran (Islamic Republic of) and the Russian Federation and has used a Kyrgyz national to carry out an attack in the Taliban’s heartland of Kandahar,” the U.N. report says.

The terror group also appears to be growing in parts of Afghanistan.

“[It] has strengthened in northern regions of Afghanistan, increasing recruitment within Tajik and Uzbek communities and stockpiling arms and explosives in remote mountainous areas,” according to the report.

And one of the U.N. member states warned it sees indications IS-Khorasan may be preparing to try to reestablish territorial control in some areas.

IS undercover

Other intelligence shared with the U.N. by its member states raises concerns that IS-Khorasan may be preparing to take down the Taliban from within.

The report says there is evidence that IS-Khorasan operatives have infiltrated the Taliban’s Interior and Defense ministries, as well as its General Directorate of Intelligence.

There is also concern that the group is finding ways to hide its true presence.

The report estimates IS-Khorasan has 2,000 to 3,500 fighters, with members of other IS affiliates in Afghanistan helping to swell that number to as many as 6,000.

But U.N. member states allege the group is embedding its fighters in as many as four other terror groups, including some that get training and welfare benefits from the Taliban-run government.

IS special forces

There is also some evidence to suggest IS-Khorasan has set up a special operations force in Iran.

According to two U.N. member states, the force is made up of mostly Tajik and Uzbek nationals, charged with carrying out attacks on Shia shrines, clergy and Iranian police.

One of the two U.N. member states said the force could have as many as 300 fighters and appears to be operating along Iran’s borders with Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Iraq.

Central Asia

As with the U.N. assessment of al-Qaida’s fortunes in Afghanistan, the U.N. assessment of a large and possibly growing IS presence in the country also runs counter to some U.S. assessments, which see a much smaller footprint.

But more recent U.S. intelligence estimates have raised concerns about the ability of IS-Khorasan to project power into Central Asia and beyond.

A top U.S. counterterrorism official last month warned that IS appeared to be trying to take advantage of changing migration patterns that are sending more Central Asians to the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Treasury Department sanctions unveiled last month also pointed to the involvement of an IS operative in Uzbekistan and the emir of the IS affiliate in the Republic of Georgia in a plot to smuggle operatives to the U.S.

Global reach

Some analysts say the additional details in the U.N. report are evidence that IS-Khorasan, also known as ISKP, remains on a worrisome trajectory.

“ISKP intensified its Central Asia outreach after the U.S.-withdrawal from Afghanistan and rolled out Tajik and Uzbek media arms in 2022,” according to Lucas Webber, a research fellow at the global intelligence firm, The Soufan Center.

“This initiative continues to expand,” he told VOA, pointing to the introduction of a new IS Tajik language magazine days after the group’s terror attack in Moscow.

And there are other worrisome signs.

“There has been an uptick in ISKP-linked arrests throughout Central Asia in the last few months,” Webber added, saying that could indicate the recent high-profile attacks could be “just the start of what the group has planned.”
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan announced Wednesday it had extended the stay of more than 1.4 million lawful Afghan refugees for another year. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said the decision was made during a cabinet meeting he chaired in Islamabad. 

The statement noted that the meeting approved extending the validity of proof of registration cards, or PoR, for Afghan refugees legally residing in the country to June 30, 2025. It added that the cards had expired last month on June 30. 

The document enables refugee families in Pakistan to access health, educational, and banking facilities and protects them from forced deportations to Afghanistan. 

The cabinet meeting occurred a day after the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, wrapped up a visit to Islamabad, where his discussions with Sharif and other senior officials focused on the problems facing the Afghan refugee community.  

A post-visit UNHCR statement issued on Tuesday noted that its chief “called for the timely extension” of the PoR cards, describing them as a “critical identity document” held by Afghan refugees in Pakistan.  

Refugee controversy 

“Grandi expressed appreciation that the ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan [IFRP]’ had been suspended and sought assurances that it would remain on hold,” the UNHCR said.  

Pakistan implemented the plan last October and began expelling foreigners, primarily Afghans, who do not possess legal documents or have their visas expired. The crackdown stemmed from rising terror attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians. More than 600,000 Afghans have since been forced to return to their home country.  

A senior Pakistani official privy to Grandi’s meetings in Islamabad on Tuesday confirmed to VOA that his government had halted expulsions of undocumented Afghans under the IFRP. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.  

However, on Wednesday, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson disputed the UNHCR’s assertions about Islamabad suspending the IFRP. 

“This is not true,” Mumtaz Baloch told VOA in a written statement.  

“It may be noted that no such understanding has been given by Pakistan to the UNHCR, including in recent meetings with the High Commissioner for Refugees,” Baloch emphasized.  

She noted the “IFRP remains in place and is being implemented in an orderly and phased manner.” 

Afghanistan’s Taliban government, as well as human rights groups, have condemned Islamabad’s plan to forcefully send Afghans back, saying it is in violation of refugee and international laws.  

Rights activists also cited sweeping restrictions the fundamentalist Taliban have placed on women, barring them from most jobs and public places and prohibiting girls’ education beyond the sixth grade. 

The Taliban have denied allegations Afghan refugees are responsible for security issues facing Pakistan. Islamabad says the Taliban have allowed anti-Pakistan militants to take refuge on Afghan soil and stage cross-border terrorist attacks, charges Kabul rejects. 

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials announced Wednesday they had launched a new phase of scholarships for Afghan students, including girls.  

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, revealed the information through his X social media platform. 

“Glad to launch the third phase of Allama Iqbal scholarships for Afghan students. In the coming five years, 4,500 Afghan students will pursue studies in social and natural sciences in various universities of Pakistan,” Durrani wrote.
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has officially authorized its military-run main spy agency to intercept citizens’ phone communications, sparking outcry and concerns from political opponents and advocates of civil liberties. 

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government has defended the controversial measure, saying the new powers for the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, will enable authorities to track “anyone who misuses the law.” 

Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told parliament on Tuesday that phone monitoring would be restricted to tracking criminal and terrorist activities. He said the government would ensure it does not violate Pakistanis’ privacy. 

According to the July 8 directive, “The federal government, in the interest of national security and in the apprehension of any offence, is pleased to authorize [ISI] officers … to intercept calls and messages or to trace calls through any telecommunication system.” 

Critics have slammed the notice as unconstitutional and an assault on civil liberties, saying it would enable ISI to further strengthen its alleged hidden role in national politics. 

Politicians, including former Pakistani prime ministers, have long accused the ISI of manipulating or undermining elected governments at the behest of the powerful military, which has staged several coups and governed the country for nearly half of its independent history. 

Lawmakers affiliated with the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan strongly opposed the phone tapping permission given to the ISI and promised to launch a legal challenge against it.  

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, or HRCP, said in a statement Wednesday it was “deeply concerned” by the government’s decision to give intelligence personnel “carte blanche” to intercept phone calls of any citizen.  

The watchdog decried the measure as a “flagrant violation of citizens’ constitutionally protected rights to liberty, dignity and privacy.”  

The HRCP stated, “Given the poor track record of governments and intelligence agencies alike, this measure will invariably be used to clamp down on political dissent through means of blackmail, harassment, and intimidation.” 

Several members of the Pakistan Bar Council, the country’s highest elected body of lawyers, issued a joint statement dismissing the government’s notice as a “blatant disregard” for the rule of law and judicial independence. 

“Such sweeping powers granted are alarming and unjustified. The issuance of this notification is in direct violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of Pakistan,” the council said. 

Pakistan’s renowned English-language newspaper Dawn criticized the granting of new powers to ISI as another “example of how extensively constitutional freedoms are being encroached upon” in the country.  

“To be clear, this was already being done, albeit without warrants or legal sanction. It will now continue with legal sanction, but likely still without warrants,” the paper said Wednesday in an editorial.  

“Suppressing a restless public and blocking dissent will only create more frustrations, which may spill over in unforeseen ways,” the editorial cautioned. 
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Beijing — India has no right to carry out development in the area China calls South Tibet, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in response to a Reuters report on New Delhi’s plans to speed up hydropower projects in the border state. 

“South Tibet is China’s territory,” a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement. 

It said India had no right to carry out development there and the establishment of what India calls Arunachal Pradesh on Chinese territory is “illegal and invalid.” 

Reuters reported on Tuesday that India plans to spend $1 billion to expedite the construction of 12 hydropower stations in the northeastern Himalayan state. 

India’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on China’s statement. 

India says its remote state of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of the country, but China says it is a part of southern Tibet, and has objected to Indian infrastructure projects there. 

Last week, India Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kazakhstan where the two agreed to intensify efforts to resolve issues along their border. 
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Yangon, Myanmar — Myanmar ethnic minority fighters said on Wednesday they have seized a town along a key trade highway to China following days of clashes with junta troops. 

The town of Naungcho “is totally ours,” General Tar Bhone Kyaw of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) told AFP.  

Earlier Wednesday a military source told AFP that ethnic minority fighters were in control of “most” of Naungcho. 

Myanmar’s northern Shan state has been rocked by clashes since late last month when an alliance of ethnic armed groups renewed an offensive along the highway that runs from second city Mandalay to China’s Yunnan province. 

Naungcho is around 50 kilometers along the highway from the former British hill station of Pyin Oo Lwin, home to the military’s elite officer training academy.  

Another road from the town leads to Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state.  

AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment.  

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to myriad ethnic armed groups who have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 for autonomy and control of lucrative resources.
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SYDNEY — Australia, along with the United States and Britain, are accusing a state sponsored Chinese spy agency of cyber espionage.

Authorities in Beijing have rejected the allegations as another attempt to “smear and frame China on cybersecurity.”

The Australian Signals Directorate, the national cyber intelligence agency, has accused a group called APT40 – meaning Advanced Persistent Threat – of widespread hacking on behalf of a branch of China’s Ministry of State Security.  

The agency said Tuesday that the hackers were trying to plunder information by infiltrating old and forgotten computers that were still connected to sensitive networks. Australian officials said the targets were government and business networks, and that the threat was “ongoing.”

It is the first time Australia has directly attributed malicious cyber espionage to a state-sponsored group in China.   

The Australian Signals Directorate’s report was co-authored by Canberra’s Five Eyes security alliance partners; Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Britain, along with Germany, South Korea and Japan.  

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sought to stabilize ties with China after years of diplomatic friction but has insisted there would be areas of disagreements.

Matt Thistlethwaite, Australia’s Assistant Minister for Defense, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday that the “cyber domain” was becoming an area of conflict and espionage.  

“It has been a non-traditional area of conflict in Ukraine and we are learning a lot of lessons from that,” he said. “That is why the Albanese government is making record investments in bolstering Australia’s cyber capability both in a defense sense and in a non-defense sense as well.”

Analysts have said Australia’s cyber espionage allegations appear to be an escalation of international efforts to deter Beijing’s cyber espionage activities.

China has steadfastly refuted the claims.

On Tuesday, a foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing that the Chinese government was “firmly opposed to such repeated hype about so-called ‘Chinese cyber attacks’ aimed to smear and frame China on cybersecurity.”

Experts have also said the stockpiling of sensitive computer information has made Australia a target for hackers. 

In recent years, many of its major ports, its largest private health insurer and one of its main telecom companies have been targeted by cyber criminals.

Earlier this year, the New Zealand government blamed APT40 for a cyber-attack in 2021 that compromised its parliamentary computer network.  
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LUCKNOW, India — A double-decker passenger bus collided with a milk truck in northern India on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and injuring many others, officials said.

The collision occurred on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh state, and 19 injured people were rushed to the hospital by villagers in the area, said police officer Arvind Kumar, adding that their condition was reported to be stable. The bus was traveling from the northern state of Bihar to the capital New Delhi.

“Authorities are in the process of identifying the victims, and a probe has been launched to determine the exact cause of the accident,” Kumar added.

Gaurang Rathi, a government official, said that according to a preliminary investigation the bus may have been speeding when it struck the milk truck from behind, which led both vehicles to overturn. The collision was severe enough that one side of the bus was torn off, causing passengers to be ejected from the vehicle. Images on television showed bodies scattered across the road.

India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually. Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.

In May, a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims skidded and rolled into a deep gorge on a mountainous highway in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least 21 people.
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has halted the expulsion of undocumented migrants from Afghanistan after discussions with the chief of the United Nations refugee agency. 

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, wrapped up his three-day visit Tuesday and called for “a bolstering of efforts towards longer-term solutions” for Afghans in Pakistan.  

A post-visit UNHCR statement said, “Grandi expressed appreciation that the ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’ had been suspended and sought assurances that it would remain on hold.” 

A senior Pakistani official who was knowledgeable about Grandi’s meetings with leaders in Islamabad confirmed to VOA that Pakistan had halted deportation of Afghans. However, the official did not specify the duration of the suspension. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly to the media.  

“Our message to Grandi was that the international community should fulfill its responsibility for the upkeep and repatriation of Afghan refugees. It’s a shared responsibility and shouldn’t be left to Pakistan to lift the entire burden,” the official said. 

The decision to suspend the evictions of Afghans was taken on “humanitarian grounds” because of deteriorating economic and humanitarian conditions facing impoverished, war-ravaged Afghanistan, said Pakistani and U.N. officials.  

During his visit, Grandi met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior Pakistani officials, and his talks mainly focused on the fate of about 3 million Afghans.  

According to Pakistani and U.N. officials, of those, about 1.3 million are officially declared refugees, nearly 900,000 hold Afghan citizenship cards, and the remainder are without documents, or their visas have expired while waiting to seek asylum in third countries after fleeing the August 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. 

Repatriation action 

Pakistan unleashed a crackdown last November on all foreigners illegally staying in the country, citing a dramatic rise in militant attacks and attributing them to people residing among the refugee populations. The move has largely targeted more than 1 million Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers who lack legal documents or valid visas.  

Pakistani and Afghan officials say close to 600,000 Afghans have been repatriated to their homeland since the deportation campaign started.  

During his stay in Pakistan, Grandi also traveled to Afghan refugee localities in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including its capital of Peshawar, and met with their representatives. 

“In the meantime, as Pakistan continues to host some 3 million Afghans, all solutions need to be explored in addition to voluntary repatriation, including third-country resettlement and longer-term solutions within Pakistan,” concluded the UNHCR statement. 

Islamabad maintains that anti-Pakistan militant groups entrenched in sanctuaries in Afghanistan have stepped up attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians since the Taliban returned to power in the neighboring country three years ago.  

Taliban authorities have criticized the expulsion of Afghans from Pakistan and dismissed allegations they are allowing militants to use Afghan soil to threaten neighboring countries and beyond.
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New Delhi — Urging peace during a visit to Moscow, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the death of children was painful, and a resolution to the war in Ukraine cannot be found on the battlefield.

The two leaders held a summit Tuesday, their first since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, in which both leaders underlined their commitment to deepen ties.  

Modi’s remarks came a day after the main children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit by a missile strike, which Ukraine blamed on Russia, but for which Moscow has denied responsibility. Several other cities in Ukraine also were hit in deadly strikes, killing at least 31 people.

In televised remarks at the Kremlin, Modi said, “Whether it is war, conflicts, or terror attacks, everyone who believes in humanity is pained when there is loss of lives. But when innocent children are killed, when we see innocent children dying, it is heart-wrenching and that pain is immense.”

Asserting that India is ready to cooperate in “all ways” for restoration of peace in the region, Modi said that “amid bombs, guns and bullets, solutions and peace talks do not succeed. We will have to follow the path to peace only through talks.”  

It was Modi’s first visit to Moscow in five years. The two countries had been holding annual summits since 2000, but none since 2021.

Images displayed bonhomie between the Indian and Russian leaders as they hugged, rode a golf cart at Putin’s residence and talked for several hours during a private dinner hosted by the Russian president on Monday before formal talks were held on Tuesday. Putin called Modi his “dear friend.”

As Modi began his visit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the meeting.

“It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day,” he wrote Monday on the social media platform X, in reference to the missile strike on the children’s hospital.

During Modi’s two-day visit, both countries hailed their strong partnership that dates back to the Cold War years.  

“Our relationship is one of a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” Putin said.

“I am grateful to you for the attention you pay to the most pressing issues, particularly trying to find ways to resolve the Ukraine crisis, primarily through peaceful means,” he was quoted as saying by the official TASS news agency.

Modi said the relationship had scaled new heights under Putin’s leadership and that they had taken significant decisions to deepen their partnership.  

The visit came amid concerns that New Delhi’s longstanding ties with Russia were stagnating as it builds a closer partnership with the United States. Analysts said Russia’s growing proximity to Beijing is also a source of worry for New Delhi, whose ties with China are at an all-time low.

Modi said the energy cooperation between the two countries had helped India control fuel prices and bring stability in global markets. India did not join Western sanctions and has markedly increased its purchases of oil from Russia.

After the talks, Putin conferred Russia’s highest civilian award, the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, on Modi and said both countries were working for stability.

During an address to the Indian diaspora in Moscow, Modi called Russia a trusted ally and an “all weather friend.”

“Every Indian considers Russia to be India’s friend in good and bad times,” Modi said. Expressing appreciation for Putin’s leadership, he said that “the commitment of our relationship has been tested multiple times, and it has emerged very strong each time.

Modi announced the opening of two new consulates in Russia — in Kazan and Yekaterinburg.

Russia also agreed to facilitate the return of Indian nationals working in its army, following discussions between the two leaders, according to reports in the Indian media.

Several cases of Indians lured to Russia with the promise of lucrative jobs or education, who ended up fighting against Ukraine have been reported in the last few months.

The meeting between Modi and Putin took place as NATO leaders opened a summit in Washington where support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion is set to top the agenda.

India has walked a fine line as it builds a strong partnership with the United States but maintains ties with Russia.

As Modi began his visit on Monday, the United States said it has raised concerns with India about its relationship with Russia. “So, we would hope [that] India and any other country when they engage with Russia would make clear that Russia should respect the U.N. Charter, should respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

While the West has imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, multiple countries including China and India have continued to build ties, setting back efforts to isolate it.
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ISLAMABAD — A Taliban Health Ministry spokesman says Afghanistan has recorded no polio cases so far in 2024, contradicting reports of nine cases recorded by the World Health Organization.

“This year, we haven’t had a positive case of poliovirus in the entire country,” Sharafat Zaman, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health spokesperson, said in a video announcement ahead of a four-day polio vaccination campaign that began Monday.

However, the WHO-led Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has recorded nine paralytic polio cases in Afghanistan so far in 2024, including three reported this week from the southern province of Kandahar.

“The Afghan Ministry of Public Health has reported all the cases of wild poliovirus as per the IHR (International Health Regulations) protocols to WHO,” Hamid Jafari, director of polio eradication for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, which includes Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, told VOA.

Jafari told VOA that the information is available weekly in the WHO polio analysis published online. Afghanistan did not detect a polio case this year until April. It recorded six cases in 2023.

“[As of] now, we have no confirmed cases of poliovirus,” Zaman reiterated Tuesday in written remarks when VOA contacted him for an explanation regarding his ministry’s claims of no polio cases in Afghanistan this year, despite the nine cases recorded by the WHO.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries in the world where wild poliovirus is still endemic. The highly contagious disease affects young children and can paralyze them in severe cases or can be deadly in certain instances.

In his video statement, the Public Health spokesperson stated that the ongoing polio vaccination campaign would inoculate roughly 8 million children under the age of 5 against the paralytic virus in 23 of the 34 Afghan provinces. He called on parents, religious scholars, and community leaders to collaborate with vaccinators to help eradicate polio in the country.

WHO’s Jafari noted that Afghanistan has a “long and positive track record in complying with” IHR recommendations.

The regional WHO director told VOA that in addition to participating at every quarterly meeting of the IHR’s emergency committee, the crisis-ridden country “has intensified polio eradication efforts and identified ways of implementing temporary recommendations.”

WHO has warned that the recent repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan has increased the risk of polio spreading on both sides of the border.

An ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrants in Pakistan has forced hundreds of thousands of Afghans to return to their home country since November 2023.

Polio in Pakistan

Pakistan recorded six cases of paralytic poliovirus in 2023 and has reported eight cases so far this year. According to the GPEI data, the worldwide case count stands at 17 as of Tuesday, nine from Afghanistan and eight from Pakistan.

The WHO has reported 44 positive wild poliovirus environmental samples from Afghanistan and 211 from Pakistan to date in 2024.

“The persistent detection of poliovirus in environmental samples and polio cases will delay the interruption of transmission beyond the timeline of the end of 2024 and will likely get pushed to the next low season in the first half of 2025,” Jafari said.

Polio immunization campaigns have long faced multiple challenges in both countries, including security and vaccine boycotts, dealing setbacks to the goal of eradicating the virus from the globe.

While the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan in 2021 effectively ended years of war-related violence there, surging militancy and allegations that vaccines cause infertility or that vaccinators are government spies continue to hamper polio eradication efforts in Pakistan.

“Despite immense efforts to stop polio, transmission of wild poliovirus type 1 in Afghanistan and Pakistan expanded through late 2023 and 2024,” Jafari stated.

He mentioned that the rise in poliovirus detection in environmental samples in Pakistan since August 2023 is mainly due to “unpredictable” population movements, leading to virus detection in previously polio-free areas. “The large, unusual population movements were in part related to the repatriation of migrants,” said the WHO regional director.
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ISLAMABAD — The head of the U.N. refugee agency met the Pakistani prime minister Tuesday to discuss the situation of Afghan refugees living in uncertainty since Islamabad began a persistent anti-migrant crackdown last year.

Pakistan has long hosted an estimated 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. More than half a million others escaped Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, with thousands waiting in Pakistan for resettlement in the United States and elsewhere. Since the widely criticized clampdown started in November, an estimated 600,000 Afghans have returned home.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who arrived in Pakistan on Sunday, spent two days meeting Afghan refugees. He posted on social media platform X: “I spent time with Afghan refugees whose resourcefulness is testimony to their strength — and to Pakistan’s long hospitality.” Grandi added that his visit aimed to “discuss how we can best support both amidst growing challenges.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif told the UN refugee agency head that Afghan refugees were treated with “exemplary respect and dignity” despite facing multiple challenges, according to a statement released by his office Tuesday. Sharif also urged the international community to “recognize the burden being shouldered by Pakistan while hosting such a large refugee population and demonstrate collective responsibility.”

The prime minister also asked for help from UNHCR to repatriate the refugees in “a safe and dignified” manner.

Also on Tuesday, Grandi met with Asif Durrani, the country’s special representative for Afghanistan. Durrani wrote on X that the two sides “expressed readiness to find a durable solution to the Afghan refugee problem, including their repatriation”.

Pakistan had previously said the crackdown targeted those without valid documents regardless of nationality.

U.N. agencies have decried the forced expulsion of Afghans from Pakistan, saying it could lead to severe human rights violations — including the separation of families and deportation of minors. Although Pakistan had been routinely deporting Afghans who came here without valid documents in recent years, the ongoing crackdown is unprecedented in scale.

Since the crackdown, the neighboring Taliban-led government said it set up a commission to deal with repatriated nationals and has criticized Islamabad’s actions.

Pakistan has also faced a surge in militant attacks on security forces and civilians alike, mostly blamed on Pakistani Taliban — a separate militant group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban — straining the ties between the two countries.
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TOKYO — Eight years ago, Yuriko Koike became the first woman to lead Tokyo, beating her male predecessor. She won her third term as governor Sunday, and one of her closest rivals was a woman.

Multiple women competing for a top political office is still rare in Japan, which has a terrible global gender-equality ranking, but Koike’s win highlights a gradual rise in powerful female officials and a society more open to gender balance in politics. That said, even if a woman eventually becomes prime minister, politics here is still overwhelmingly dominated by men, and experts see a huge effort needed for equal representation.

“There are growing expectations for women to play a greater role in politics,” said parliamentarian Chinami Nishimura, a senior official with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. “In politics or parliament, which are still largely considered men’s work, it is extremely meaningful for women to show their presence and have our voices heard.”

Nishimura, who also heads the opposition party’s gender-equality promotion team, hopes to have women make up 30% of her party’s candidates in the next national election. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party last year vowed to achieve 30% female representation within 10 years and is working to recruit more female candidates.

Finding aspiring female candidates, however, isn’t easy. Women in Japan are still often expected to be in charge of childrearing, elderly care and other family responsibilities.

National parliamentarians are also expected to regularly travel between Tokyo and their home constituencies, which makes it especially difficult for female lawmakers trying to balance a career and family. Nishimura says former female colleagues have quit national politics and returned to local assemblies because of such demands.

Nishimura began her political career in her hometown Niigata’s prefectural assembly in 1999, the first woman to serve there in decades. The 53-member assembly now has five women.

A growing number of women are now seeking political careers, but they are still in the minority, especially in national politics where electoral decisions are largely determined by closed-door, male-dominated party politics, and outspoken women tend to be targets.

One of Koike’s top rivals was a woman, Renho, a veteran former parliamentarian who goes by one name and who finished third. Renho told reporters last month that she often saw headlines about the Tokyo governor’s race that trumpeted “A battle of dragon women.”

“Would you use that kind of expression to describe a competition between male candidates?” she asked.

Koike, a stylish, media-savvy former television newscaster, was first elected to parliament in 1992 at age 40. She served in several key Cabinet posts, including as environment minister and defense chief, for the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, before becoming Tokyo governor in 2016.

Renho, known for asking sharp questions in parliament, was born to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father. A former model and newscaster, she was elected to parliament in 2004 and served as administrative reform minister in the government led by the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan.

Attacks on Renho’s aggressive image were a clear example of gender bias in a society that expects female candidates to be “motherly or cute,” said Chiyako Sato, a Mainichi Shimbun editorial writer and a commentator on politics.

Because of a small female presence in politics, powerful women tend to get excessive attention. Their presence in Tokyo governor’s election “conveyed a positive message that women can become political leaders, but a large amount of the noise about them also reflected Japan’s sad reality,” said Mari Miura, a Sophia University professor and expert on gender and politics.

For instance, a survey of national and local lawmakers in 2022 conducted by a civil group showed one-third of about 100 female respondents faced sexual harassment during election campaigns or at work.

Earlier this year, a gaffe-prone former prime minister, Taro Aso, was forced to apologize for describing Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, a woman, as capable but not beautiful.

Women make up about 30% of the Tokyo assembly, and their presence in town assemblies in urban areas is also growing. On average, female representation in more than 1,740 Japanese local assemblies doubled to 14.5% in 2021 from 20 years ago. There are growing calls for more female voices in politics.

But in rural areas, where more traditional gender roles are more usual, 226, or 13% of the total, had “zero women” assemblies last year, according to the Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office.

In parliament, where conservative Liberal Democrats have been in power almost uninterruptedly since the end of World War II, female representation in the lower house is 10.3%, putting Japan 163rd among 190 countries, according to a report by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union in April.

In 1946, the figure wasn’t much different — only 8.4% — when a first group of 39 women were elected to parliament, according to the Gender Equality Bureau.

“There have been changes starting from regional politics, but the pace is too slow,” Sato said, proposing a mandatory quota for women.

One woman in a Cabinet of about 20 ministers was standard in the 1990s. Lately, two is usual. Maintaining an increased number of female ministers is a challenge because of a shortage of women with seniority. Women are also given limited leadership chances, which delays gender equality laws and policies.

“Because of the absence of leadership change, the metabolism is bad in Japan. Because of that, politics does not change despite changes in the public view,” Miura said.

Koike became the first female candidate to run in the LDP leadership race in 2008. Two others, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda, ran in 2021 against Kishida.

Most recently, Kamikawa, the foreign minister, is seen as having a chance, because the LDP wants change as it struggles with dwindling support ratings and corruption scandals.

The winner, determined by a vote among LDP lawmakers and party members, automatically becomes prime minister because of the LDP’s dominance in parliament.

Under the Japanese system, however, having a female prime minister doesn’t necessarily mean progress in gender equality because of overwhelming male political influence. But it could be a crucial step forward, even if symbolic, said Sato, the political commentator.

“Having role models is very important … to show gender equality and that women can also aim for a top job,” Sato said. “Women in politics are no longer expected to be wallflowers.”
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities have arrested six members of an international crime ring known as the “Ninja Turtle Gang” and seized about 200 smuggled tortoises and turtles, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim, director-general of Malaysia’s wildlife and national parks department, said four Cambodians and two Malaysians were arrested during a July 2 raid on a house in Kuala Lumpur by police and wildlife officials.

He told AFP some 200 turtles and tortoises worth an estimated $52,300 were rescued during the raid, the second seizure in Malaysia in less than a week.

Many people across Asia believe turtles and tortoises bring good luck and prosperity.

Abdul Kadir said the six arrested belong to the Ninja Turtle Gang, an international crime ring involved in smuggling the reptiles.

Police and wildlife officials rescued 400 tortoises during an initial raid on June 29 that were meant for sale in Southeast Asia and were worth $805,084 on the black market.

Animals rescued in the latest raid included the critically endangered Chinese striped-necked turtle, which is also known as the golden thread turtle, Abdul Kadir said.

Other species included the endangered black pond turtle, snapping turtle, sulcata tortoise, leopard tortoise and the red-footed tortoise found throughout South America and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Barbados.

“Initial investigations revealed that the reptiles were smuggled from abroad to meet the lucrative pet market,” Abdul Kadir said.

Also discovered were three snakes, four softshell turtles, a skink and five frogs.

The rescued animals were being kept in a Malaysian wildlife department quarantine center.

The reptiles are illegally brought into Malaysia by road or in suitcases by smugglers aboard commercial flights, Abdul Kadir said last week.

Traffic, a wildlife NGO, has said that Southeast Asian countries “function as source, consumer and as entrepots for wildlife originating from within the region as well as the rest of the world.”
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Islamabad/Washington — Two hearings at high courts in Pakistan in July are being viewed as a further sign of the eroding digital rights in the country. 

In Islamabad, a submission to the high court said that telecom companies had been ordered to install a mass surveillance system. And in Peshawar, the Chinese social media app TikTok told the high court it would allow the Telecoms Ministry access to remove content deemed “blasphemous.” 

Digital and free expression advocates criticized the moves. Haroon Baloch, a digital rights activist at Bytes for All, said mass surveillance has no place in a democratic society. 

“Physical or online surveillance needs a legal justification. The government should justify the need and gauge for online surveillance,” he told VOA. 

The Islamabad case focuses on the surveillance of citizens whose phone calls were recorded and later released on social media, the news website Dawn reported. 

Among those affected are the wife of former leader Imran Khan and the son of the former chief justice, both of whom petitioned the courts over their leaked calls.  

A submission to the court said that Pakistani telecom companies were ordered to “finance, import, and install” a Lawful Intercept Management System at a surveillance center for the use of designated agencies.  

In Pakistan, “agencies” often refer to the country’s powerful intelligence service.  

The court noted that the software provides the ability to surveil up to 2% of their consumers, or 4 million citizens, “at any given time.”  

People will lose their privacy through such surveillance, said Aftab Alam, executive director of the Islamabad-based think tank Institute for Research Advocacy and Development. “This [mass surveillance] is against the constitution and laws.” 

Nighat Dad, who serves on Meta’s oversight board, told Dawn it was “mind boggling” that Pakistan’s telecom companies “do not feel the need to be transparent towards their own consumers.” 

Separately in Peshawar, TikTok told the court on July 1 that it would provide access to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.  

In that case, a petitioner is seeking a countrywide ban on TikTok for allowing what he described as “‘un-Islamic posts.” 

Like Instagram, TikTok is a popular platform in Pakistan where users access it for diverse views, entertainment and marketing.  

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment.  

With traditional media restricted or navigating official and unspoken red lines of what can and cannot be discussed, social media offers a rare platform in the country for independent or diverse views.  

Issues off limits, including for broadcast journalists, include subjects that go against anything deemed as “national interests,” as well as missing persons, criticism of the armed forces, voices of dissent, and the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement or PTM. After an army spokesperson said in 2019 the media should avoid giving coverage to the PTM, most local stations stopped reporting on the movement and its rallies.  

But as more viewers turn to social media, Pakistan has seen more restrictions on digital platforms.  

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority banned X after users on the platform questioned the transparency of February elections. 

The ban was not announced formally, but officials told a high court in April it was imposed “in the interest of upholding national security, maintaining public order and preserving the integrity of our nation.”  

The social media platform can still be accessed via VPN. 

Digital rights activist Farieha Aziz told VOA that Pakistan is moving toward greater “control” of the technology sector. As a result, she said, “We will have to suffer.” 

This article originated in VOA’s Deewa and Urdu services.
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