islamabad — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump sparred over Afghanistan in their Thursday night debate, but both were silent on the worsening human rights crisis following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.  

During the presidential debate hosted by CNN, Trump blasted Biden for his handling of the August 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden defended his record, but neither of them discussed the human rights and women’s rights crisis in the South Asian nation under Taliban rule.  

The fundamentalist group stormed back to power as the U.S.-led foreign forces departed the country after almost two decades of war with the Taliban. The de facto Afghan rulers have imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law, banning girls from schools beyond the sixth grade and many Afghan women from public and private workplaces, among other curbs on their freedoms. 

“Since the U.S. withdrawal, Afghanistan has sadly become out of sight and out of mind in both public and policy debate in the U.S., so it’s not that surprising that the two candidates would fixate on the last days of the pullout instead of the broader and quite depressing state of play in Afghanistan today,” Michael Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told VOA.  

The U.S. presidential debate came as the United Nations prepares to host crucial talks between Taliban and international envoys in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday. Afghan civil society and women representatives will not be involved, however, a move drawing strong backlash from global human rights defenders.  

“It’s hardly surprising that neither Trump nor Biden has a word to spare for the rights of Afghan women and girls,” said Heather Barr, women’s rights associate director at Human Rights Watch.  

“I wish the moderator had asked them specifically about the contributions they both made to creating what is now the world’s most serious women’s crisis, and a crisis that deepens every day,” Barr told VOA via email.  

She noted that Trump oversaw the Doha agreement his administration signed with the then-insurgent Taliban in 2020, and those negotiations did not involve Afghan women, nor were their rights on the agenda. The pact set the stage for all American and allied troops to pull out from what is described as the longest war in U.S. history.  

“Now Biden is sending his diplomats off to the Doha 3 meeting, where it will be exactly the same — no women on the agenda, no women at the table,” Barr said.

‘Doha process’ 

The two-day conference will be the third in Qatar’s capital since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated what is referred to as the “Doha process” a year ago to try to establish a unified international approach to increase engagement with the Taliban.  

The de facto Afghan leaders were not invited to the first Doha meeting in May 2023 and refused an invitation to the second in February.  

John Fortier, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said Afghanistan and post-withdrawal issues facing the country are no longer high on the American people’s agenda. 

“I think American institutions and foreign policy experts have concerns, but as a political matter … we are not thinking about Afghanistan in the same way as we were after the events of September 11 [2001]. For many years, we do not have troops in the same way that we had for many years,” Fortier told VOA.  

Speaking on Thursday, Trump accused Biden of being responsible for the deaths of 13 American soldiers in an Islamic State group-claimed suicide bombing of the Kabul airport just days before the last American troops left Afghanistan.  

“No general got fired for the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, Afghanistan, where we left billions of dollars of equipment behind; we lost 13 beautiful soldiers. … And by the way, we left people behind, too. We left American citizens behind,” Trump stated.

“I was getting out of Afghanistan, but we were getting out with dignity, with strength, with power. He got out, it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country’s life,” he claimed.

Biden defended his Afghan exit policy, saying he “got over 100,000 Americans and others out of Afghanistan during that airlift” and sharply criticized Trump’s blistering attacks. “I’ve never heard so much malarkey in my whole life,” the president stated. 

VOA’s Afghan Service contributed to this report.
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Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — Mongolians voted in parliamentary elections on Friday, with the ruling party widely expected to win despite deepening public anger over corruption and the state of the economy.

People across the vast, sparsely populated nation of 3.4 million, sandwiched between China and Russia, are voting to elect 126 members of the State Great Khural.

Polls opened at 7 am local time (2300 GMT Thursday) and will close at 10 pm, with preliminary results expected later in the night.

Tsagaantsooj Dulamsuren, a 36-year-old cashier pregnant with her fourth child, told AFP that Friday’s poll offered her a chance to “give power to the candidates you really want to support”.

“I want lawmakers to provide more infrastructure development… and more jobs in the manufacturing industry for young people,” she said outside a polling station at a hospital near the capital Ulaanbaatar.

Analysts expect the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), led by Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, to retain the majority it has enjoyed since 2016 and govern the country for another four years.

They say the party can credit much of its success to a bonanza over the past decade in coal mining that fuelled double-digit growth and dramatically improved standards of living, as well as a formidable party machine and a weak, fractured opposition.

Yet there is deep public frustration over endemic corruption, as well as the high cost of living and lack of opportunities for young people who make up almost two-thirds of the population.

There is also a widespread belief that the proceeds of the coal-mining boom are being hoarded by a wealthy elite — a view that has sparked frequent protests.

Broad spectrum

Preliminary results are expected to come within a few hours of polls closing despite Mongolia’s vast size, thanks to assistance from automated vote counting.

The streets of Ulaanbaatar, home to almost half the population, have been decked out with colourful campaign posters touting candidates from across the political spectrum, from populist businessmen to nationalists, environmentalists and socialists.

Parties are required by law to ensure that 30 percent of their candidates are women in a country where politics is dominated by men.

Long lines snaked around corridors at a polling station in a school in downtown Ulaanbaatar, with many voters wearing traditional clothing.

Oyun-Erdene also voted in a kindergarten in Ulaanbaatar, an AFP reporter saw.

The prime minister told local TV after casting his ballot that he hoped Friday’s vote would “open a new page of trust and cooperation between the state and citizens”.

However, many younger, urban voters are not convinced by the MPP’s pitch, while the failure of the established opposition Democratic Party to provide a credible alternative has helped fuel the rise of minor parties.

Batsaikan Battseren, a 45-year-old community leader dressed in traditional Mongolian deel clothing, said he was urging people to vote.

“Our area’s average participation is 60 percent,” the former herder said at a polling station in rural Sergelen, an administrative division more than an hour’s drive from the capital.

However, “young people from 18 to 30 years old don’t go to vote”, he said.

‘Social contract’

Mongolia has plummeted in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index under Oyun-Erdene’s premiership.

It has also fallen in press freedom rankings and campaigners say there has been a notable decline in the rule of law.

Some fear that, should it win a new mandate, the ruling party will tighten Oyun-Erdene’s grip on power and erode the democratic freedoms of ordinary Mongolians.

“I’ll describe this election as a referendum on… Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene and whether he will manage to get a mandate to rewrite Mongolia’s social contract,” Bayarlkhagva Munkhnaran, political analyst and former adviser on the National Security Council of Mongolia, told AFP.

The MPP is the successor to the communist party that ruled Mongolia with an iron grip for almost 70 years.

It remains popular, particularly among rural, older voters, and commands a sprawling, nationwide campaign apparatus.

“Their appeal is ‘look, we’ve done well, we’ve managed well’,” Julian Dierkes, a professor at the University of British Columbia and an expert on Mongolian politics, told AFP.

He said concern about corruption was widespread, even though “there’s no real distinction” among the opposition parties.

“The extent to which that’ll resonate with voters, we’ll know tonight sometime. It’s really hard to guess,” Dierkes said.
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PROVIDENCE, Guyana — India thumped defending champion England by 68 runs to reach the final of the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday.

India will face South Africa on Saturday at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados in a battle of the two unbeaten teams of the tournament.

Captain Rohit Sharma’s (57) second half-century helped India compile 171-7 and Suryakumar Yadav also blunted the England pace and spin with a vital knock of 47 off 36 balls after more than 2-1/2 hours of second semifinal was lost due to rain and wet outfield.

Spinners Axar Patel and the Kuldeep Yadav then combined in for 6-42 through some sharp turners as England got bowled out for 103 in 16.3 overs on a skiddy, low pitch devoid of grass to bow out of the tournament.

“If bowlers and batters adapt, things fall in place,” a beaming Sharma said. “Axar and Kuldeep are gun spinners. (It was) tough to play shots against them in these conditions (and) they were calm under pressure.”

Captain Jos Buttler smashed four boundaries in his 23 off 15 balls, but once he top-edged reverse sweep off left-arm spinner Patel’s first ball inside the power play and lobbed a simplest of catches to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, England kept on losing wickets with regular intervals.

“I’ve bowled in the powerplay in the past many times,” Patel said after being adjudged player of the semifinal. “Knew the wicket was assisting and didn’t try too many things.”

England had collapsed to 88-9 when Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid both got run out but Jofra Archer hit 21 off 15 balls before Jasprit Bumrah (2-12) finished off England by having Archer leg before wicket.

The win was sweet revenge for India, which got hammered by England by 10 wickets in the 2022 World Cup semifinal at Adelaide, Australia.

“India outplayed us,” Buttler said. “We let them get 20-25 runs too many on a challenging surface … they had an above-par total and it was always a tough chase.”

Earlier, Sharma and Yadav combined in a 73-run third wicket stand on a wicket where batters struggled to negotiate the variable bounce of pace and spin.

Virat Kohli’s below-par tournament continued after a wet outfield delayed the toss for 80 minutes and Buttler won the toss and elected to field.

Kohli took his run tally to disappointing 75 runs in seven games with run-a-ball knock of nine before Reece Topley cramped him for a big shot and hit the top of leg stump.

“We understand his (Kohli’s) class,” Sharma said in defense of his ace batter. “Form is never a problem when you’ve played for 15 years, probably saving for the final.”

Sharma continued his sublime form in the tournament on difficult pitches and countercharged on a yet another tough wicket for batters before heavy rain took the players off the field for another 73 minutes when India had reached 65-2 after eight overs.

Sharma reached his 50 after resumption of play with a swept six over fine leg off Sam Curran, and Yadav hammered the left-arm fast bowler to point for a six before both exited in successive overs.

Sharma was undone by a googly from Adil Rashid (1-25) in his last over and was clean bowled, while Yadav was deceived by Archer’s slower ball and ballooned a catch to long off.

Chris Jordan picked up 3-37 that included the wickets of Hardik Pandya (23) and Shivam Dube off successive balls, but India had piled up enough runs for its spinners to defend.
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washington — The recent defense pact between Russia and North Korea could present a diplomatic opportunity for the United States and China to work together for stability on the Korean Peninsula, an issue of mutual interest to both countries, some experts say.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Monday that China would be “somewhat anxious” about enhanced cooperation between Russia and North Korea, adding that Chinese officials have “indicated so in some of our interactions, and we can see some tension associated with those things.”

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters after the Russia-North Korea summit last week in Pyongyang that concern about the new defense agreement between the two countries “would be shared by the People’s Republic of China” — China’s official name.

During their keenly watched summit, Russian President Vladmir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, vowing to challenge the U.S.-led world order.

Under the treaty, the two countries, which share a short border along the lower Tumen River, are now required to provide military assistance using all available means if either of them is attacked by a third country.

High-precision weapons

Putin further raised the stakes in this newly cemented relationship, saying he is not ruling out the possibility of Russia providing high-precision weapons to North Korea.

According to some experts in Washington, China’s frustration with its two neighbors could make room for a Sino-American effort to dissuade Russia and North Korea from moving forward with their nascent defense pact.

Patrick Cronin, the Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, told VOA’s Korean Service earlier this week that there is a way for the U.S. to find “some common ground” with China on this issue.

He explained that it is in China’s interest not to see the transfer of Russia’s advanced, offensive military technologies to North Korea, which could be destabilizing on the Korean Peninsula.

“That opens up a common ground for the United States to deal with China to limit any destabilizing transfer of technology to the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

Joseph DeTrani, who served as the special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006, told VOA’s Korean Service on Wednesday that the U.S. and China need to come together on this issue.

DeTrani said North Korea has to be on the list of “the issues of mutual concern” between the top two powers, as the U.S. pursues dialogue with China on subjects such as artificial intelligence and trade.

Dennis Wilder, who served as senior director for East Asia affairs at the White House’s National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, was more cautious about the possibility of U.S.-China coordination.

Wilder told VOA’s Korean Service this week that the current state of U.S.-China relations makes Beijing averse to working with Washington on North Korea.

“No, they have no interest in joining with us, considering how they feel we are treating them,” Wilder said. “I very much doubt that the Chinese would be interested. A far possibility would be that they might want to share information, but that would be the only place.”

No ties to call on

Robert Gallucci, who was the chief U.S. negotiator during the 1994 North Korea nuclear crisis, offered a similar view.

“We don’t have a relationship with Beijing right now that we could call on,” he said earlier this week.

Gallucci told VOA’s Korean Service that China will not appreciate the possibility of its influence on North Korea being undercut.

Gary Samore, who served as the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, told VOA’s Korean Service via email on Wednesday that China might have a limited influence on what is happening between Russia and North Korea, although Washington and Beijing share an interest in keeping things calm on the Korean Peninsula.

“I expect that Beijing will discourage any military assistance from Russia to North Korea that could be destabilizing,” he said. “Whether Putin or Kim Jong Un will respect China’s wishes, I can’t say.”

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA’s Korean Service via email earlier this week that “in principle, China welcomes Russia to consolidate and develop traditional friendly relations with relevant countries,” without referring to North Korea.

Meanwhile, Washington is holding out hope that Beijing can still leverage its historical ties with Pyongyang to drive a solution.

“We urge Beijing to use its influence to encourage the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] to refrain from destabilizing behavior and return to the negotiating table,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA’s Korean Service on Wednesday.
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Washington — Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was down sharply last year, according to the United Nations and private sources, but the plants are being grown in most provinces despite a ban imposed by the Taliban. Some areas grow more than others.

According to sources inside Afghanistan and on Taliban-run social media accounts, farmers in about 29 provinces have been growing poppies since spring. The largest amounts are grown in Badakhshan, Helmand, Herat and Nangarhar provinces.

Poppies, which farmers process to make opium, are being grown in the open and hidden behind property walls.

Taliban forces conducted thousands of operations to destroy the plant, as was announced on the X social media platform by the Ministry of Interior Counter Narcotics. It listed 29 provinces where they conducted eradication efforts.

The Taliban Interior Ministry said that in the past six months, its police conducted more than 15,000 poppy eradication operations on more than 3,600 hectares (8,900 acres). It also said thousands of people were arrested for violating the ban.

Abdul Haq Akhundzada, Taliban deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, told VOA there won’t be problems with narcotics this year.

“In those provinces, in areas where farmers grow hidden poppy, we conducted operations there as well, and we eradicated their hidden poppy,” he said.

Not everyone is peacefully accepting the opium ban and eradication. In northeastern Badakhshan province, violent clashes erupted last month between the Taliban and farmers. Two people were killed.

Local Taliban eradication officials reported that in Badakhshan, 35,000 to 40,000 acres were cleared.

Aminullah Taib, deputy Taliban governor in Badakhshan, said they were able to eradicate the fall and spring poppy cultivation in eight districts and will not allow further growth.

Farmers said the eradication was disrespectful of the local culture as the Taliban went to the villages without talking to the elders and informing the villagers about the process.

Abdul Hafiz, a resident of Argo district, where the clash between the farmers and Taliban took place, told VOA the Taliban entered people’s homes and destroyed their poppy crops “without a prayer, notice or acknowledgment.”

Poppy growth was at its high in 2021, the year the Taliban regained power. Farmers grew as much as possible, fearing the crop would be banned. While the Taliban banned poppy growth in 2022, they allowed the farmers to harvest what they had already planted.

It was a record year. The United Nations estimated that Afghan opium production was 6,800 metric tons (7,500 tons) in 2021 and 6,200 metric tons (6,800 tons) in 2022.

Last year, the Taliban were largely successful in banning the crop. In opium-rich Helmand province, poppy crop cultivation was down by 99.9%.

Yet how successful the ban was considered depends on the source.

The United Nations reported in October that poppy cultivation was down by 95%. Across Afghanistan, the U.N. said, opium cultivation fell from 233,000 hectares (575,755 acres) in 2022 to just 10,800 hectares (26,687 acres) in 2023.

But the imaging company Alcis, in its comprehensive satellite survey, says poppy cultivation was down by 86% to 31,088 hectares (76,200 acres).

William Byrd, a senior researcher at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told VOA that the 9 percentage-point spread between Alcis and the U.N. makes a difference in how much poppy is estimated to have been harvested for 2023.

He said Alcis paints a more complete picture.

“Opium poppies’ distinctive characteristics and the tools developed by Alcis over a number of years facilitate the complete-coverage approach,” he said, adding that the U.N. relies on sampling different areas. Alcis analyzes satellite imagery for all agricultural land and poppy fields multiple times during the planting, cultivation and harvesting of opium poppy.

Results for 2024 poppy planting are expected by both organizations in the fall.

The economic situation in Afghanistan is dire as more than 12 million people face acute food insecurity.

The poppy ban takes about $1 billion in income away from the rural economy. So, even faced with the ban, impoverished farmers continue to grow poppies because they have few options for income.

For decades now, poppies and the resulting opium have been the biggest cash crop for farmers. Most practice subsistence farming. They have no extra income or time to buy the seeds of other plants and then wait years for them to mature to be harvested and sold.

Farmers complain that the Taliban government isn’t helping them with alternative crops.

Hassebullah, a farmer in Laghman province, told VOA that farmers need support and that they are still waiting for the Taliban government’s help.

“If a farmer doesn’t grow poppy and hashish,” said Hassebullah, who, like most rural Afghans, goes by his first name, “then as an alternative, the government should provide seeds and fertilizer, some agriculture products and other assistance.”

Taliban Deputy Counternarcotics Minister Javed Qaem told VOA that until farmers are provided alternatives, “unfortunately, we will be witnessing more clashes in the coming years.”
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Seoul — South Korea said Thursday that it would consider sending arms to Ukraine, a major policy change that was suggested after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other’s defense in the event of war. 

The comments from a senior presidential official came hours after North Korea’s state media released the details of the agreement, which observers said could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. It comes at a time when Russia faces growing isolation over the war in Ukraine and both countries face escalating standoffs with the West.

According to the text of the deal published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, if either country gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy “all means at its disposal without delay” to provide “military and other assistance.” But the agreement also says that such actions must be in accordance with the laws of both countries and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes a U.N. member state’s right to self-defense. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact at a summit Wednesday in Pyongyang. Both described it as a major upgrade of bilateral relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties.

The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement condemning the agreement, calling it a threat to his country’s security and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and warned that it would have negative consequences on Seoul’s relations with Moscow. 

“It’s absurd that two parties with a history of launching wars of invasion — the Korean War and the war in Ukraine — are now vowing mutual military cooperation on the premise of a preemptive attack by the international community that will never happen,” Yoon’s office said.

At the United Nations in New York, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul called it “deplorable” that Russia would act in violation of multiple U.N. sanctions resolutions against North Korea that Moscow voted for.

Yoon’s national security adviser, Chang Ho-jin, said that Seoul would reconsider the issue of providing arms to Ukraine to help the country fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion.

South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine, while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. But it hasn’t directly provided arms to Kyiv, citing a longstanding policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.

Speaking to reporters in Hanoi, where he traveled after Pyongyang, Putin said Thursday that supplying weapons to Ukraine would be “a very big mistake” on South Korea’s part. If that happens, Putin said that it would lead to “decisions that are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea.”

He said that South Korea “shouldn’t worry” about the agreement, if Seoul isn’t planning any aggression against Pyongyang.

Asked whether Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions with Western-supplied weapons could be considered an act of aggression, Putin said that “it needs to be additionally studied, but it’s close to it,” and that Moscow isn’t ruling out supplying weapons to North Korea in response.

A number of NATO allies, including the United States and Germany, recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv. Earlier this month, a Western official and a U.S. senator said that Ukraine has used American weapons to strike inside Russia.

Putin has said in response that Moscow “reserves the right” to arm Western adversaries and reiterated that notion on Thursday.

“I said, including in Pyongyang, that in this case we reserve the right to supply weapons to other regions of the world,” he said. “Keeping in mind our agreements with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I’m not ruling that out.”

The summit between Kim and Putin came as the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concern over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for the war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Following their summit, Kim said the two countries had a “fiery friendship,” and that the deal was their “strongest-ever treaty,” putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. He vowed full support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin called it a “breakthrough document,” reflecting shared desires to move relations to a higher level.

North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961, which experts say necessitated Moscow’s military intervention if the North came under attack. The deal was discarded after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security assurances. 

There’s ongoing debate on how strong of a security commitment the deal entails. While some analysts see the agreement as a full restoration of the countries’ Cold War-era alliance, others say the deal seems more symbolic than substantial.

Ankit Panda, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the text appeared to be carefully worded as to not imply automatic military intervention.

But “the big picture here is that both sides are willing to put down on paper, and show the world, just how widely they intend to expand the scope of their cooperation,” he said.

The deal was made as Putin visited North Korea for the first time in nearly a quarter-century, a trip that showcased their personal and geopolitical ties. Kim hugged Putin twice at the airport, their motorcade rolling past giant Russian flags and Putin portraits, before a welcoming ceremony at Pyongyang’s main square attended by what appeared to be tens of thousands of spectators.

According to KCNA, the agreement also states that Pyongyang and Moscow must not enter into agreements with third parties, if they infringe on the “core interests” of any of them and mustn’t participate in actions that threaten those interests.

KCNA said that the agreement requires the countries to take steps to prepare joint measures for the purpose of strengthening their defense capabilities to prevent war and protect regional and global peace and security. The agency didn’t specify what those steps are, or whether they would include combined military training and other cooperation. 

The agreement also calls for the countries to actively cooperate in efforts to establish a “just and multipolar new world order,” KCNA said, underscoring how the countries are aligning in face of their separate confrontations with the United States.

How the pact affects Russia’s relations with South Korea is a key development to watch, said Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and director of the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

“Seoul had already signed onto sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, souring its relations with Moscow. Now with any ambiguity of Russia’s partnership with North Korea removed, how will Seoul respond?” she said. “Is there a point where it decides to cut or suspend diplomatic ties with Russia or expel its ambassador? And have we reached it?”

Kim has made Russia his priority in recent months as he pushes a foreign policy aimed at expanding relations with countries confronting Washington, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and trying to display a united front in Putin’s broader conflicts with the West. 

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests, and combined military exercises involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.

The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on South Korea with balloons, and Seoul broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers. 
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manila, Philippines — Analysts see China’s increasingly aggressive attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea as a test of the U.S.-Philippines alliance. What happens next, they say, will depend largely on how Manila and Washington respond. 

Dramatic footage released last week by the Philippine military showed Chinese coast guard personnel wielding knives, an ax and other weapons as they intercepted Philippine soldiers who were in rubber boats delivering supplies to a garrison at Second Thomas Shoal.  

The June 17 clash was the worst so far in the escalating tension in the disputed waters, with several Philippine soldiers injured, including one who lost a thumb, according to Manila. 

But while the Philippines tried to de-escalate the tension with diplomacy, analysts say future such incidents are likely.  

“China will seek to push the Philippines further,” said Don McLain Gill, an international studies lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila.  

“The main challenge here is to apply considerable cost on China in order for it not to illustrate this sort of behavior and turn it into something regular, like the same way it had regularized water canonning and ramming [of Philippine vessels],” he told VOA. 

There have been several incidents in the past months in which Chinese coast guard ships blasted Philippine patrol boats with water cannons and performed dangerous maneuvers in attempts to stop resupply missions to Philippine troops stationed at the shoal. 

The flash point of the conflict is the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated warship that Manila deliberately ran aground in 1999 to stake its claim to Second Thomas Shoal, a maritime feature in the Spratly Islands that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.  

China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, including the Spratly chain, based on historical maps that an international tribunal has ruled have no legal basis.

Parallel strand of negotiation

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his first media interview since the incident, acknowledged Thursday that more must be done than to just file diplomatic protests against China. 

“We have [lodged] more than 100 protests already. … [What usually happens is] we summon the ambassador, we tell him our position, that we don’t want what happened, and that’s it. But we have to do more than that, so we are. We are doing more than just that,” Marcos told reporters Thursday, without elaborating. 

But Collin Koh, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said there must also be a “parallel strand of negotiation and dialogue” between China and the United States to de-escalate the tension. 

The United States is a treaty ally of the Philippines and is obligated to defend Manila against external armed attack, including in areas in the South China Sea. 

Given the high stakes for all three countries, Koh said, China might listen to another superpower.  

“I think in large part it will depend very greatly on U.S. signaling explicitly to China on things that it should refrain from doing, and it must come with a very explicit threat of repercussions or consequences,” Koh told VOA. 

“If the messaging isn’t done clearly, then we are going to see a repetition of what’s happening,” he added. 

Mutual defense treaty 

Marcos has ruled out invoking the mutual defense treaty over the latest incident, saying it could not be considered an “armed attack.” 

Marcos had earlier said he wanted a review of the treaty, which was signed in 1951, to respond to the changing security challenges in the region.  

The recent escalation might provide urgency for Washington and Manila “to expedite the process of defining particular provisions and enhancing consultations,” according to Gill of De La Salle University. 

One such clarification was provided earlier this year by Marcos, who said the death of a Philippine serviceman in “an attack or an aggressive action by another foreign power” could trigger the treaty.  

This specific requirement, however, might work in China’s favor.

“If you set the bar so high, then it means that you are allowing China to keep doing whatever it is doing just under that threshold,” Koh said, although he agreed that it was not yet necessary to activate the treaty.  

“Nobody died and there were no other serious injuries other than the poor guy who lost his thumb. The question is: Are we going to be lucky in the future like that?” Koh asked.
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A U.N.-led conference of international envoys on Afghanistan is set to begin in Doha, Qatar, on June 30. To get the Taliban to participate, the U.N. decided not to have women and rights activists at the table, angering many. VOA Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman reports.
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WASHINGTON — Vietnam has ramped up its building of islands in the disputed South China Sea to bolster its position in relation to China, say experts, but does not pose any threat to the other main claimant in the area, the Philippines.

Since November last year, Vietnam has accelerated the expansion of its outposts in the Spratly Islands, according to a report published earlier this month by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

According to the report, Vietnam constructed 280 hectares (1 square mile) of land across 10 features it controls in the archipelago in the first half of 2024, compared with a total of 301 hectares (1.2 square miles) in the first 11 months of 2023 and the whole of 2022 combined.

Beijing still controls the three largest outposts in the Spratly chain but, thanks to the recent dredging and landfill work, Hanoi now controls the next four largest. Manila’s largest island in the archipelago — Thitu — ranks ninth in size.

Vietnam and the Philippines have been locked in a decadeslong territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea and its islands despite a ruling in 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that dismissed China’s claim to most of the sea. That claim infringes on the exclusive economic zones of several coastal states.

“Boosting presence”

Vietnam’s acceleration of island building took place after Hanoi upgraded ties with Washington to the highest level in September 2023 and agreed to building a “community of shared future” with Beijing in early December.

“It’s a good timing for Vietnam to step up dredging,” Hoang Viet, a lecturer at University of Law in Ho Chi Minh City who closely monitors the situation in the South China Sea, told VOA over the phone.

Hanoi has learned a lesson from Manila’s recent stand-off with Beijing over the Second Thomas Shoal in which Chinese coast guard vessels attempted to block the Philippines’ resupply missions to its troops on a grounded vessel. Viet said the lack of an expanded outpost there puts Manila at a disadvantage.

It will be more complicated for Beijing to harass a claimant that has a strengthened garrison on a disputed feature, he said, so it’s imperative that Hanoi speed up dredging in the South China Sea if it wants to safeguard its presence in the area.

He said legal action is not enough for Hanoi or Manila to push their claims if they are not accompanied by an actual military presence, noting that the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s 2016 ruling has not helped the Philippines much against Chinese aggression.

“It’s Chinese aggression that has prompted Vietnam to carry on its own reclamation. Vietnam had seen no need to do that prior to Chinese reclamation and militarization in the South China Sea,” he said.

Harrison Pretat, deputy director of AMTI, told VOA in an email that the new reclamation will give Vietnam several more large ports in the Spratly Islands.

“This may allow Vietnam to begin operating more coast guard or militia vessels in disputed areas for long periods, without having to make the long return journey to Vietnam’s coast,” he said.

“It is also possible that Vietnam could build a second airstrip in the Spratly Islands, enhancing its ability to move personnel and supplies quickly and potentially conduct maritime air patrols,” he said.

Viet also cited Vietnam’s need to build strongholds in the waters to help with search and rescue operations for its fishermen caught in rough weather, as well as to prevent them from engaging in illegal fishing in its neighbors’ waters.

“Not provocative to Manila”

Viet said Vietnam’s dredging is “unlikely to stoke tension” in the South China Sea given that “it is purely for development or defense purposes, not to threaten or attack other claimants.”

“Beijing has little reason to protest because they reclaimed twice as much land, while Washington and Manila understand Vietnam’s motive,” he said.

Hanoi and Manila have overlapping claims to features in the Spratly chain, but incidents between the two countries have been rare, while bilateral ties were strengthened during President Ferdinand Marcos’ state visit to Hanoi earlier this year. The two countries agreed to increase coast guard cooperation.

Two days after AMTI released its report, Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard for the West Philippine Sea, told local press that “Vietnam focuses on minding their own affairs and reclaiming maritime features they occupied before the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties.”

AMTI’s Pretat argued that although Manila is not excited to see Vietnam expanding its outposts, it “doesn’t see it as a threat to its own maritime activities.”

“Vietnam has shown no effort to forcefully administrate its claims the way China has,” noted Pretat. “The Philippines is much more concerned with China’s behavior at sea and its efforts to restrict the activities of Philippine fishers, coast guard and military.”

He stressed that Manila sees Hanoi as a potential partner. “Vietnam has been one of the only claimants besides the Philippines to maintain a relatively strong stance against China’s claims and activities in the South China Sea,” he said.

Viet said statements by Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang regarding incidents in the Second Thomas Shoal last Friday “carried implicit support for the Philippines.”

She also said that Vietnam “stays ready to discuss with the Philippines to seek and achieve a solution that is mutually beneficial for both countries” regarding overlapping claims to the undersea continental shelf, AP reported.

However, Viet said that despite similar stances on South China Sea issues, as well as shared concern of China’s assertiveness, Hanoi’s measured and less noisy approach to Beijing makes it hard for them to work with Manila to counter Beijing.

“Without the support of ASEAN or other claimants like Indonesia or Malaysia, I think Vietnam’s appetite for direct and public opposition to China’s activities currently can’t match the Philippines,” said Pretat.
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Islamabad — A Pakistani court has let stand the seven-year prison sentences given to former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for what authorities say is the couple’s “illicit marriage.”

The decision by a district and sessions court in the capital, Islamabad, Thursday deals a blow to Khan’s hopes of walking free as this is the only case now keeping the former leader behind bars.

Khan has been in a high security prison near Islamabad since August 5 last year on a long list of charges. His wife has been serving her sentence in the same prison since May after initially being placed under house arrest.

In a post on social media platform X, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, decried the decision as “absolutely ridiculous.”

“Every single individual responsible for fabricating and carrying this case will go down in the dirtiest, darkest alleys of history,” a party said.

In a statement to the media the party said it would challenge the verdict.

Many legal experts have also called the “illicit marriage” case frivolous.

Case history

Just days before Pakistanis headed to the polls in early February, a court sentenced Khan and his wife to seven years in prison each for a marriage law violation in 2018, on a petition filed by Bibi’s ex-husband. The court also fined the 71-year-old former prime minister and his wife $1,800 each.

Bibi was accused of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called “iddat,” after divorcing her previous husband and marrying Khan in 2018.

The former first lady rejected the charges as baseless and politically motivated to malign her husband.

Prison history

Since his removal from power in Aril 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, Khan has faced a long list of charges which he has rejected as an attempt by the country’s military to keep him out of the political arena – a charge the powerful institution denies.  

Khan’s first and brief arrest on May 9 of last year in a land bribery case led to widespread protests and rioting, including attacks by supporters on government and military installations. Khan was granted bail in that case.

Khan was again arrested on August 5 on corruption charges. He was accused of illegally selling state gifts received while in office between August 2018 and April 2022.

Although the three-year prison sentence handed down in that case was suspended weeks later, Khan remained under arrest as proceedings in other cases involving charges such as corruption, rioting, vandalism, and treason continued inside prison walls.

On January 30 of this year, a special lower court established under the Official Secrets Act, sentenced Khan to a decade behind bars for leaking state secrets. The Islamabad High Court overturned that conviction earlier this month.

On January 31, a federal anti-graft court sentenced Khan and Bibi to 14 years in prison on corruption charges, again related to illegally retaining and selling state gifts. The Islamabad High Court suspended that sentence in April.

According to PTI, Khan has been acquitted or granted bail in 18 cases in the last several months.

While the petitions to seek suspension of sentence in the “illicit marriage” case have been rejected, according to PTI, a hearing on petitions challenging the conviction is scheduled for July 2.
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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea claimed progress Thursday on testing a missile meant to contain multiple warheads, an advanced weapon aimed at penetrating U.S. missile defenses.

According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea “successfully conducted the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads” during a Wednesday launch.

KCNA said the first stage engine of an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile carried the warheads, which “were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets.”

The test, which also included decoy warheads, was aimed at securing the capability for multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, KCNA added.

If confirmed, analysts say the development would mark significant progress toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s goal of developing a long-range missile with multiple warheads that could overwhelm U.S. missile defenses, which have limited interceptors.

An ‘exaggeration,’ says South

South Korea’s military initially reported the launch as a failure, noting it ended in a mid-air explosion during the early stages of its flight.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stuck by that assessment, dismissing the North Korean claim as a “deception and exaggeration.”

Whereas the warheads on such a missile typically separate in the descent stage, the JCS spokesperson said the North Korean missile exploded mid-air during an early stage of flight.

“A number of videos and photos taken by the private sector yesterday show that the missile’s flight was not normal,” he said.

South Korean broadcasters on Wednesday aired multiple videos showing an object that appeared to spin out of control before exploding and plunging toward earth. The videos were taken by residents in South Korea’s far northwestern islands.

Decker Eveleth, who studies North Korea’s strategic forces for the Center for Naval Analyses, said it is hard to determine the success of the launch with certainty, given the available public evidence.

“The stage was spinning at the end. Sometimes that’s an intentional maneuver and sometimes it’s not,” Eveleth told VOA.

Missile defense woes

North Korea has previously conducted tests of various MIRV components, including systems meant to aim multiple warheads. But the latest launch appears to have gone further, using multiple warheads as well as decoys, which aim to confuse missile defense shields.

The United States is currently protected, in theory, by a missile defense shield with 44 interceptors designed for ICBM missiles. That figure is set to expand to 64. Those numbers allow little room for error, even before factoring in missiles with multiple warheads, according to analysts.

With MIRVs, North Korea has a “much, much higher chance of overwhelming American missile defense,” Eveleth said.

“Many nuclear experts spent about a decade arguing that missile defense was not cost effective and the DPRK would simply outbuild the shield when they got a program rolling. These concerns were dismissed, largely because people did not think the DPRK was capable of a program of that scale. And here we are,” Eveleth told VOA.

By placing multiple warheads on a single missile, North Korea can also reduce the need for mobile missile launchers, or TELs, which it has had difficulty producing.

What’s next

North Korea’s launch represents the latest effort to work through a wish-list of strategic weapons laid out by Kim in 2021. The list also included hypersonic missiles, spy satellites, solid-fuel ICBMs, and submarine-launched missiles — all areas where North Korea has since made advances.

Kim says his nuclear weapons program is necessary to deter attacks from the United States, which has tens of thousands of troops in the region. He has also warned he could preemptively use nuclear weapons to counter what he says are hostile forces in the region.

Analysts are especially looking for any signs of Russian help with North Korean weapons. Earlier this month, Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense treaty. After the signing, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the arrangement could help facilitate arms transfers.

On Thursday, a South Korean military spokesperson said it was difficult to determine whether the latest launch included any help from Russia.

Given that North Korea claimed only “fairly modest and technical” successes with its latest MIRV launch, more tests using such technology are likely, said Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“If their claims are true, I’d expect to see further iteration,” Panda said. “Even if this wasn’t a total success, I suspect the Missile Administration received useful data that’ll contribute to advancing their missile capabilities, including a MIRV capability.”

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
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TOKYO — Three bodies were found inside a crater at the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s most famous mountain, with one of them already brought down from the slopes, police said Thursday.

The identities of the people, including gender or age, were not confirmed. An effort to bring back the two other bodies will continue Friday or later, depending on weather conditions, they said. A search was called off for Thursday because of forecasts for heavy rainfall.

It’s unclear whether the three people were climbing the 3,776-meter mountain together, as the bodies were found several meters apart.

The official climbing season had not yet started when the climbers entered the mountain from the Shizuoka Prefecture side.

Japanese media reports showed a vehicle with one of the bodies driving into a police station in Shizuoka Prefecture. The rescue team had been searching for a 53-year-old man for whom a missing person report was filed.

Separately, Kyodo News service said professional climber Keita Kurakami, 38, died in a hospital after being found by police while climbing Fuji from the Yamanashi Prefecture side of the mountain.

Fuji can be climbed from both Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. The climbing season kicks in for Yamanashi starting July 1.

Mount Fuji, made famous in ukiyoe, or woodblock prints, of 18th and 19th Century Edo Era masters Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, is a popular tourist destination.

Experts warn it can get extremely cold, even in the summer, and proper gear, climbing boots and clothing are crucial. Trekkers are also at risk of altitude sickness if they ascend too quickly.

The picturesque Fuji has long been an iconic symbol of Japan, with its gracefully sweeping slopes and white icy cap that stand out amid tranquil lakes and rice fields.

As many as 300,000 people climb Fuji every year, and watching the sunrise from the mountaintop is coveted as a spiritual experience. But worries have been growing lately about overcrowding from the influx of tourists.

The town of Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi erected a large black screen along a sidewalk to block the view of Mount Fuji to discourage photo-snapping crowds.
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SAN DIEGO — A pair of giant pandas are on their way from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo as part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations, officials said Wednesday.

Officials with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were on hand in China for a farewell ceremony commemorating the departure of the giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao.

The celebration included cultural performances, video salutations from Chinese and American students and a gift exchange among conservation partners, the zoo said in a statement. After the ceremony, the giant pandas began their trip to Southern California.

“This farewell celebrates their journey and underscores a collaboration between the United States and China on vital conservation efforts,” Paul Baribault, the wildlife alliance president, said in a statement. “Our long-standing partnership with China Wildlife Conservation Association has been instrumental in advancing giant panda conservation, and we look forward to continuing our work together to ensure the survival and thriving of this iconic species.”

It could be several weeks before the giant pandas will be viewable to the public in San Diego, officials said.

Yun Chuan, a mild-mannered male who’s nearly 5 years old, has connections to California, the wildlife alliance said previously. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.

Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female described as “a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears.”

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has a nearly 30-year partnership with leading conservation institutions in China focused on protecting and recovering giant pandas and the bamboo forests they depend on.
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seoul, south korea — North Korea has successfully conducted an important test aimed at developing missiles carrying multiple warheads, state media KCNA said on Thursday.  

The test was carried out on Wednesday using a first-stage engine equipped with a solid-fuel based intermediate and long-range ballistic missile, it said.  

The dispatch came a day after South Korea’s military said that North Korea launched what appeared to be a hypersonic missile off its east coast, but it exploded in midair.  

KCNA said the missile succeeded in separating warheads that were accurately guided to three preset targets. 

“The purpose was to secure the capability to destroy individual targets using multiple warheads,” it said.  

South Korea, the United States and Japan condemned the launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and a serious threat. They also warned against additional provocations in the wake of last week’s summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

During Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years, the two leaders signed a mutual defense pact, which Kim lauded as an alliance, but South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called it “anachronistic.” 

In another dispatch, North Korea’s defense minister Kang Sun Nam condemned Ukraine’s attack on Crimea with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles that killed at least four people and injured 151 as an “inexcusable, heinous act against humanity.”  

The attack highlighted how Washington has served as a “top-class state sponsor of terrorism,” he said, adding that any retaliation from Russia would make “the most justifiable defense.”  

The U.S. State Department said on Monday that Washington provided weapons to Ukraine so it could defend its sovereign territory, including Crimea. 
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Severe shortages of water have affected millions of people in the Indian capital, New Delhi, which has coped with a searing heat wave in recent weeks. It is one of several Indian cities that are running low on water. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha reports, experts are calling for better water management practices in the country to manage a scarce resource.
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DHAKA, BANGLADESH — Pride Month, the monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and rights, is not publicly celebrated in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country where same-sex relationships are illegal under a colonial-era law dealing with “unnatural offences,” and conservative religious values are rising, despite the nation’s self-imposed secular label.

A teenage high school student from an affluent Dhaka family who identifies as a lesbian and asked that her name not be used told VOA she limited her celebration to a virtual party on an exclusive private online forum.

“My devout Muslim father would be shattered,’’ she told VOA. ‘’My grandparents would think they’re being punished for their sins, and my mom wouldn’t be able to come to terms with it.” 

With the constant risk of social rejection and disappointment from her family, the student remains closeted, a situation that mirrors the country’s pervasive and deeply ingrained cultural and religious attitudes.

Despite public constraints, private LGBTQ gatherings still take place in secret locations, embassies, and safe spaces organized by civil society groups, as well as online. Organizers and participants say these events connect to the global LGBTQ community, fostering discussions on diversity and acceptance in a confidential, supportive setting.

“The Bangladeshi LGBTQ community has been organizing its own private events for years,” Tushar Baidya, a Dhaka LGBTQ and human rights activist, told VOA. ‘’The positive side of these gatherings is that attendees find a sense of connectivity, build new networks, and enjoy knowing they have a common, safe space to share.’’

However, such events have limitations, Baidya said, typically attracting an urban, educated and wealthier audience and often regularly draw the same attendees.

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced global shifts in work and activism, the LGBTQ community in Bangladesh adapted. In 2021, they organized the country’s first “Virtual Pride Event” to continue their advocacy during the pandemic and try to connect with a broader audience.

“These virtual Pride events have not only put Bangladesh back on the world Pride map but also sparked conversations about the human rights of LGBTQ people within Bangladeshi society,” said Baidya, an organizer of the virtual “Dhaka Pride” event on YouTube, which includes online discussions and recorded musical and dance performances. “For decades, the human rights of this marginalized group have been intentionally kept taboo, allowing misconceptions to spread and narratives to shrink their rights. 

Progress in hijira legal status

Over the past decade, transgender women, commonly referred to as “hijra” – a term derived from the old Hindi language that originally meant “impotent” – in South Asia, have gained increased legal recognition in Bangladesh, where they are officially acknowledged as a third gender.

Bangladesh’s hijras, previously excluded from prayer services, can now worship at a new mosque near Mymensingh, north of the capital Dhaka, that does not discriminate against them. 

The Third Gender Community and Dakshin Char Kalibari Ashrayan Mosque was built on land donated by the government after hijras were expelled by locals from an established traditional congregation. Afterward, with local government assistance, they obtained the land and built the new mosque themselves, mainly with hijra donations.

There has been opposition to similar efforts, though, including opposition that stopped a similar project in another part of Mymensingh.

Anwara Islam Rani, a transgender candidate for a parliamentary seat, attracted considerable attention in the country’s January general election, which political activists and analysts have described as one-sided. Although unsuccessful, her campaign garnered significant public support.

Bangladesh’s most recent census in 2022 reported 12,629 transgender individuals, yet the exact number of LGBTQ people in the country remains unclear because of the criminalization of same-sex relationships and the related social stigma.

‘One Step Forward, Three Steps Back’

While the government has made progress in promoting social acceptance for hijras, it has made limited efforts to advance the rights of other LGBTQ Bangladeshis and has not offered legal recognition. 

The anti-LGBTQ stigma in Bangladesh is deeply ingrained and consistently reinforced by the legal system, societal norms, and religious beliefs. Religious hardliners increasingly use such social media platforms as YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok to disseminate homophobic content, reaching broad audiences to encourage discrimination.

“My father is a massive follower of some so-called religious scholars on YouTube, and he often listens to them spreading all sorts of rubbish, hateful misinformation about queer people,” the high school student said.

“Even a couple of years ago, he wasn’t this stupid and intolerant of gay people, but I can sense the videos changed him for the worse, and that frustrates me,” she added. 

“I feel society is sometimes taking one step forward by recognizing the identities of trans people, but three steps back when it comes to the rest of us.”

Mosques

The issue is discussed beyond the digital realm and in such places as mosques, where some imams deliver speeches that include homophobic rhetoric during the Friday sermons.

The speeches reinforce negative stereotypes and hostility towards LGBTQ individuals, deepening prejudices.

This rhetoric, both online and offline, apparently poses real danger to members of the LGBTQ community.

Shahanur Alam, founder and president of the human rights organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France, told VOA via WhatsApp, “Throughout the year 2023, there were 56 reported incidents affecting 219 individuals within the LGBTQI+ community” in Bangladesh. 

Shahanur – who, like many Bangladeshis, prefers using his first name on second reference – operates in France because of past attacks, death threats, and fabricated legal cases against him in Bangladesh, stemming from his LGBTQ rights activism.

Incidents, he said, included killings, assaults, suicides, kidnappings, detainments, harassment, and extortion.

In March 2023, Imtiaz Mohammad Bhuiyan, a gay architect, was killed in Dhaka by a smartphone app-based blackmailing racket of persons using the app Grindr, which targets gays. His body was later discovered, and police investigations indicated that the crime was facilitated through connections made on the app.

In April 2016, Xulhaz Mannan, co-founder of Roopbaan, Bangladesh’s first LGBTQ-focused magazine and a U.S. Embassy employee, and fellow activist Mahbub Rabbi Tanoy, were murdered in a Dhaka apartment by attackers armed with machetes and guns. The assault was claimed by Ansar Al Islam, the regional affiliate of al-Qaida. 

Shahanur added that religious fundamentalist homophobic and transphobic rhetoric in Bangladesh “greatly intensifies the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community, resulting in legal persecution, social ostracism, violence, and significant mental health issues.”

 
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s launch of an unknown ballistic missile toward the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula appears to have failed, South Korean military said on Wednesday.

North Korea earlier this week criticized the deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier to join joint drills with South Korea and Japan, and warned of “overwhelming, new demonstration of deterrence.”

The apparent failed missile launch originated from around Pyongyang, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s coast guard said a projectile believed to be the North Korean ballistic missile appeared to have fallen.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said the missile flew to an altitude of about 100 km (62 miles) and range of more than 200 km (124 miles). It appeared to be a failed test of a hypersonic missile, Yonhap News Agency said citing an unnamed military source. North Korea’s last missile firing was on May 30.

The missile launch comes a day after the 74-year anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War.

North Korean state media KCNA said on Wednesday a mass rally in Pyongyang was held to commemorate the anniversary, calling it a day of “struggle against U.S. imperialism” and calling the U.S. the arch enemy.

Recently, North Korea has been flying hundreds of balloons carrying trash toward the South including on Tuesday. Pyongyang also deployed a large group of soldiers to build new fortifications within the heavily armed border with South Korea, according to the South’s military, occasionally inviting warning shots from South Korean counterparts.
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Austin, Texas — Ecuador says it will suspend visa-free entry into the country for Chinese citizens, starting July 1, citing a “worrying” increase in irregular migration. 

Over the past few years, Ecuador has been the starting point for many of the thousands of Chinese citizens who have decided to take the long and treacherous journey through South America, Central America and Mexico to reach the southern U.S. border.

Some who have already migrated to the United States say Ecuador’s decision and the growing resolve of both Washington and Beijing to stop the flow of illegal migration is a sign that the door may be closing for those seeking to “zouxian” or “walk the line” – as the journey is popularly described in Chinese.

Wang Zhongwei, a 33-year-old Chinese from Anhui, came to the U.S. by “walking the line” from Ecuador in May 2023. He said that after the Ecuadorian government’s announcement, “the discussion [among Chinese illegal immigrants] has been heated, and this has a great impact [because] more than 80% of the people came through Ecuador.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol statistics, the monthly number of encounters for Chinese nationals at the southwestern border hit a record high of nearly 6,000 in December of 2023. In recent months, those encounters have started to come down, slipping to just more than 3,600 in May.

In addition to a recent decision by U.S. President Joe Biden to temporarily restrict asylum eligibility at the U.S.-Mexico border, there are signs that Washington and Beijing are finding ways or at least trying to work together on the issue.  

In May, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Associated Press that Beijing is “willing to maintain dialogue and cooperation with the United States in the field of immigration enforcement” and accept the repatriation of people with verified Chinese nationality.

In April, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told a congressional hearing that he had “engaged” with his Chinese counterparts and that China had begun to accept the repatriation of Chinese immigrants who have no legal basis to stay in the United States.

VOA emailed the Department of Homeland Security to inquire about U.S.-Chinese cooperation on the deportation of Chinese nationals but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Guo Bin, a Chinese citizen from Guangxi who arrived in the United States at the end of last year with his 12-year-old daughter, said he has heard of some Chinese who “walked the line” being deported in Los Angeles since May.

“There are indeed deportations, and they can be deported on the spot,” he said.

According to posts from social media influencer Teacher Li, Chinese authorities recently issued two documents to public prosecutors that highlight their determination to crack down on those who “walk the line” and to strengthen border control.

VOA could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents, but when it asked the Chinese Embassy about the documents the spokesman did not say they were fabricated.

In an emailed response to questions about the post, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. said: “China’s Supreme Court performs its duty in keeping with the law.”

“On illegal migration, China’s position is clear and consistent,” he said. “We oppose and firmly combat all forms of illegal migration and human smuggling.”

Li also said that “China’s law-enforcement agencies are working with the relevant countries to combat human smuggling and on extradition as well, in a joint effort to uphold the orderly flow of people across the countries.”

Earlier this year, Mexico strengthened its border control by setting up new checkpoints on major roads and increasing patrols at the more heavily used crossing points into the U.S. More illegal migrants have been intercepted as a result. 

According to the Washington Office on Latin America, Mexican immigration forces set a new record for the number of immigrant arrests in a single month in January and February of this year.

Guo said that he has heard about some Chinese who were intercepted while crossing Mexico. 

“U.S. immigration officers cooperate with the Mexican government and go deep into central Mexico to intercept immigrants,” he said. 

Once Chinese migrants are intercepted, they are sent to southern Mexico, he said.

If they want to continue “walking the line,” they must start again from a place farther away from the U.S., which will cost them more money and time.

Challenges aside, Wang and Guo say there are still ways to make it to the border. 

Wang says the desire of people to leave China is still strong and that some are exploring new routes. 

“You can fly to Cuba, and you can also fly to Bolivia,” Wang said.

In May, the Cuban government began allowing 90-day visa-free entry for Chinese citizens. Bolivia allows Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports to receive tourist visas upon arrival. Those with a transit visa can stay for 15 days or on a tourist visa for 30 days.

The straight-line distance from Cuba to the southernmost tip of Florida is about 150 km. The narrow waterway has been a smuggling route for decades. And some Chinese have already tried, despite the risks.

In October 2023, authorities in Florida say, 11 male and six female Chinese citizens were arrested after illegally entering Key Largo, Florida, from Cuba.

Li Xiaosan, a Chinese dissident, arrived in the U.S. in February 2023 by “walking the line.” He says he feels fortunate to be able to start a new life and sad for others who want to leave China now. Since arriving in the U.S., Li opened a translation company in New York and has passed his preliminary hearing for his political asylum application. He also obtained a work permit.

He says that once Ecuador’s new policy takes effect on July 1, even if Chinese people use other routes, the chances of successfully reaching the U.S. and staying will be significantly reduced.

“The door is closed,” Li said, adding that the question now is: “How many people can squeeze in through the cracks?” 

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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