Little Washington, Virginia — Senior officials from the United States, Japan, and South Korea convene in historic Little Washington, Virginia, on Friday, amid growing threats from North Korea and other pressing regional and global security issues. 

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell hosts Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano, and South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun at his farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Washington. 

The trilateral dialogue, a key deliverable from the historic 2023 Camp David Summit, reaffirms cooperation on economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and maritime security. 

It also addresses various regional and global challenges, including North Korean threats, Russia’s war on Ukraine, stability in the Taiwan Strait, and humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, according to the State Department. 

The latest trilateral talks follow North Korea’s launch of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea May 30, reported by South Korea’s military. 

The launches occurred shortly after the country’s unsuccessful attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite and after North Korean balloons dropped feces and garbage on South Korea’s busy streets and public areas. 

“Any kind of aerial object, certainly, we would find destabilizing and provocative, and we continue to consult closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan against these kinds of malign and destabilizing behaviors,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel during a briefing on Thursday. 

“We condemn the DPRK’s May 29th ballistic missile launch,” he noted, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

Friday’s talks follow the recent revival of high-level dialogue among China, Japan, and South Korea after almost five years. 

The countries are expected to discuss the outcomes of the trilateral summit held in Seoul on Monday, attended by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. 

Former U.S. intelligence officials and analysts said the alliance between Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul is especially crucial amid rising military threats from the People’s Republic of China.  

James Fanell, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said, “Given the current military threats from the PRC, as exemplified by last week’s large-scale drills near Taiwan, and the ongoing rapid military buildup, all three nations should break free from incremental changes and adopt a much more assertive approach to regional security.”

Others told VOA that countries in the region are not only worried about the economic fallout from any type of war, citing the importance of maintaining the status quo of the Taiwan Strait as an international waterway, but they also are very concerned about immediate Chinese threats following a potential forcible takeover of Taiwan. 

“If China were to take Taiwan by force, then Chinese forces would be that much closer to their outlying territories. Especially in Japan, there’s a fear that this would be the first step toward Chinese seizure of some of the southwestern islands,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

On Friday morning, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell met with South Korea’s vice foreign minister, Kim, for a bilateral discussion. 

The previous day, the State Department’s second-ranking diplomat held an inaugural vice-ministerial meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Okano, to focus on infrastructure development cooperation in other countries. That initiative is widely viewed as a key part of the two allies’ strategy to counter China’s influence in Southeast Asia and beyond.
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SYDNEY — Australian researchers say a simpler and cheaper method to remove salt from seawater using heat could help combat what they call “unprecedented global water shortages.” The desalination of seawater is a process where salt and impurities are removed to produce drinking water.  

Most of the world’s desalination methods use a process called reverse osmosis. It uses pressure to force seawater through a membrane. The salt is retained on one side, and purified water is passed through on the other. 

Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) say that while widespread, the current processes need large amounts of electricity and other expensive materials that need to be serviced and maintained.  

Scientists at ANU say they developed the world’s first thermal desalination method. It is powered not by electricity, but by moderate heat generated directly from sunlight, or waste heat from machines such as air conditioners or other industrial processes. 

It uses a phenomenon called thermo diffusion, in which salt moves from hot temperatures to cold. The researchers pumped seawater through a narrow channel, which runs under a unit that was heated to greater than 60 degrees Celsius and over a bottom plate that was cooled to 20 degrees Celsius. Lower-salinity water comes from the water in the top section of the channel, closer to the heat. 

After repeated cycles through the channels, the ANU study asserts, the salinity of seawater can be reduced from 30,000 parts per million to less than 500 parts per million. 

Juan Felipe Torres, a mechanical and aerospace engineer at the Australian National University and the project’s lead chief investigator, explained his pioneering work.  

“We use a phenomenon people have not used before,” he said. “We are exploring its applicability in this context but in essence (it) should be something super simple, something as simple as a channel where you have water flowing through it and you are going to produce some sort of separation, and this is what thermal desalination is doing.”  

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has stated that by 2025, 1.8 billion people around the world are likely to face “absolute water scarcity.”  

Torres said the ANU’s invention could help ensure water supplies to communities under threat because of climate change. 

“Our vision, let’s say, for the future to have a more equitable world in terms of water security and food security is a method that does not require expensive maintenance or to train personnel to continue running it. So, we think thermal desalination would enable that,” he said.  

The ANU team is building a multi-channel solar-powered device to desalinate seawater in the Pacific kingdom of Tonga, which is enduring a severe drought.  

The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. 
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Singapore — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun held their first in-person meeting on the sideline of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday.

The two officials exchanged views on a range of contentious issues, including the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, as well as major global conflicts like Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict.

During the 75-minute meeting, Austin and Dong both highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the two militaries and vowed to resume the hotline between theater commanders from both sides in the coming months.

Austin reiterated Washington’s concern about China’s recent two-day military exercise encircling Taiwan and urged Beijing not to use Taiwan’s political transition, which he characterized as part of a routine democratic process, as “a pretext for coercive measures” against the democratic island.

At a news conference Friday following the meeting between the two defense officials, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told journalists from more than a dozen Chinese and foreign media outlets, including VOA, that the Taiwan question remains purely China’s internal affairs and that external forces “have no right to interfere in the issue.”

Washington’s behavior “severely violated the commitments made by the U.S. side” and sent wrong signals to “the Taiwan independence separatist forces,” Wu said during the 50-minute news conference.

In addition to the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.

Austin said the United States will continue to “fly, sail, and operate” wherever international law allows safely and responsibly while stressing the importance of respecting high seas freedom of navigation under international law, especially in the South China Sea.

During the meeting, Dong said the Philippines has broken its promises due to support from “outside forces” and keeps making provocations on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which both Beijing and Manila view as its territories, according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu.

The Chinese defense minister also criticized Washington for deploying mid-range missile systems to the Philippines “under cover of a military exercise,” warning that such a move poses a real threat to regional security.

“We remain committed to resolving the disagreements with the Philippines side through consultation on an equal footing, but our tolerance for continued and intensified provocations will have a limit,” Wu told journalists during the press conference.

Apart from the two contentious issues in the Indo-Pacific region, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The U.S. defense secretary expressed Washington’s concerns about North Korea’s “direct contributions to Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine.”

Dong reiterated that China has maintained a “just and impartial position” on the Ukraine conflict, honored the promise of not providing weapons to either side in the war and strictly controlled the “export of military items and dual-use goods in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”

He urged the United States not to shift the blame for the ongoing war onto China and said that Beijing will continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace talks, according to Wu.

The Chinese Defense Ministry said the two sides will have ongoing consultations regarding future exchanges between the two militaries, with engagements between military academies and potential bilateral policy dialogues being the potential starting point.

“We believe that having meetings is better than no meeting and having dialogues is better than having no dialogue at all,” Wu told journalists, adding that bilateral exchanges like this meeting can help develop “the sound and stable” military-to-military relationship.

Some analysts say the meeting between Austin and Dong is mainly focusing on “posturing” and sharing the fundamental and core interests and red lines from Beijing and Washington’s perspectives.

“The talk is not about negotiation or high-level diplomacy but more about establishing lines of communication for the hard work that usually goes on at the lower level,” Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan, told VOA.

While military-to-military communication between Beijing and Washington is important and has the effect of de-escalating growing regional tensions, one thing that remains to be seen is whether the Chinese side will “pick up the phone” in the event of an actual crisis.

“Due to the nature of China’s political system, power has been highly centralized under Xi Jinping, [so] we are not sure if our Chinese counterpart would be able to pick up the phone, communicate and make decisions in a crisis situation,” he added.

Despite this uncertainty, some experts say conversations between defense leaders remain “incredibly helpful.” The two officials “can have a conversation about intentions that’s incredibly stabilizing to the overall relationship, [but] I don’t think there is a lot of room for adjusting each side’s red lines,” Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, told VOA by phone.

But with tensions rising in several parts of Asia, including the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and the Korean Peninsula, some observers, say Friday’s dialogue between Austin and Dong will be increasingly crucial for the region, especially at a time when there are two ongoing military conflicts in the world.

“It is a way both sides can turn down the temperature, exchange information in a multilateral security forum, and have corridor diplomacy, which is extremely important for high-context Asian culture that shies away from talking about volatile issues openly and frankly in the public,” Lim Tai Wei, Professor at the National University of Singapore, told VOA in a video interview.

VOA Seoul Correspondent William Gallo contributed to this report. 
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UNITED NATIONS — The number of people fleeing their homes because of war, violence and persecution has reached 114 million and is climbing because nations have failed to tackle the causes and combatants are refusing to comply with international law, the U.N. refugee chief said Thursday.

In a hard-hitting speech, Filippo Grandi criticized the U.N. Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, for failing to use its voice to try to resolve conflicts from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to Congo, Myanmar and many other places.

He also accused unnamed countries of making “short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often founded on double standards, with lip service paid to compliance with the law, but little muscle flexed from the council to actually uphold it and — with it — peace and security.”

Grandi said non-compliance with international humanitarian law means that “parties to conflicts — increasingly everywhere, almost all of them — have stopped respecting the laws of war,” though some pretend to do so.

The result is more civilian deaths, sexual violence is used as a weapons of war, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure are attacked and destroyed, and humanitarian workers become targets, he said.

Calling himself a frustrated humanitarian and looking directly at the 15 council members, Grandi said that instead of using its voice, “the council’s cacophony has meant that you have instead continued to preside over a broader cacophony of chaos around the world.”

The high commissioner for refugees told the council it’s too late for the tens of thousands who have been killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other conflicts.

“But it is not too late to put your focus and energy on the crises and conflicts that remain unresolved, so that they are not allowed to fester and explode again,” Grandi said. “It is not too late to step up help for the millions who have been forcibly displaced to return home voluntarily, in safety and with dignity.”

It’s also not too late to save millions of people from the scourge of war, the refugee chief said.

But the Security Council is increasingly polarized, and its five veto-wielding permanent members are at odds, with the U.S., Britain and France often strongly opposed to the views of Russia and China.

On the Gaza war, the council has not called for a cease-fire because of opposition from the United States, Israel’s closest ally. And on Ukraine, the council has been ineffective as Russia, a key party to the conflict after Moscow invaded its smaller neighbor in February 2022, would veto almost any resolution.

Grandi called what’s happened in Gaza since Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 and the “atrocious” recent events in the southern city of Rafah after an Israeli airstrike led to a deadly fire at a camp for displaced Palestinians an example of the “brutal conduct of hostilities meant not only to destroy but also to terrify civilians,” who increasingly more often have no choice but to flee.

He said Gaza is also “a tragic reminder of what happens when conflicts (and by extension a refugee crisis) are left unattended” for decades. He also pointed to Syria where after 13 years of conflict, 5.6 million Syrian refugees remain in neighboring countries including Lebanon and Jordan which also host Palestinian refugees.

Grandi said violations of international law, including forcing people to flee, are having a devastating effect on people around the world.

For example, in Myanmar, more than 1.5 million people have been displaced by fighting since October, bringing the total to over 3 million, “with many trying to seek refuge in neighboring countries,” he said.

In Ukraine, international humanitarian law is violated every day with Russian attacks on the country’s power networks, houses and other civilian infrastructure, he said.

And in Congo, Grandi said, “violence between men with guns is so common that no other place on Earth is as dangerous for women and children than the east of that country.”

“But how can members of the United Nations, how can ‘we the peoples’ pay so little attention and have so much inaction in a place where sex with a child can be bought for less than a cold drink?” the refugee chief asked.

“What a shameful stain on humanity!” Grandi said.
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 Washington — Vietnam protested what is said was China’s violation of its sovereignty after Beijing dispatched a navy hospital ship to the Paracels, a group of small coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea currently occupied by China but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

China Central Television first reported the story on May 21.

Doan Khac Viet, deputy spokesperson for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his country objected to the ship’s presence. He spoke May 23 in response to a question from the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper regarding the Youai hospital ship being sent to the archipelago, known as Hoang Sa in Vietnamese.

“Vietnam resolutely opposes any activities infringing upon Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa,” Viet emphasized.

The Youai hospital ship is under the command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command. According to a report in the Global Times, citing China Central Television, the ship sailed around the Paracels, covering around 1,000 kilometers, and stopped at some islands to provide health service and treatment to Chinese soldiers.

Viet said Vietnam “objects to any action that hinders and infringes on the sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction” of Vietnam over the Paracels in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the online VnExpress newspaper reported.

VOA contacted the Chinese foreign affairs ministry and its embassy in Washington for comment but received no response at the time of publication.

“This would appear to be a pro forma objection by Vietnam, intended to publicly respond to China’s public announcement of the hospital ship’s voyage, and thus register Hanoi’s continued claim of sovereignty over the Paracel Islands,” Raymond Powell, a fellow at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, told VOA via email.

“China consolidated its control over the Paracels 50 years ago when it seized the western islands from South Vietnam, at a time when Hanoi’s chief interest was in prosecuting its conquest of the South,” Powell said.

China has since developed and militarized its presence in the Paracels, making any change in the status quo highly unlikely.

According to Powell, “This makes Hanoi’s claims largely defensive in nature, more intended as a lawfare bulwark against future encroachments into Vietnam’s waters by staving off international recognition of a Chinese exclusive economic zone claim based on the Paracels.”

In 1959, China set up government offices in the Paracels, and in 1974, acquired and obtained full control of the islands after its naval battle against the then-South Vietnamese government.

The floating hospital, commissioned in November 2020 and equipped with a helicopter landing pad, is expected to provide support in China’s “multidimensional drills in the South China Sea,” according to China Military online.

Earlier in May, the ship took part in a series of training, including transporting the wounded in emergency situations and rescuing damaged vessels, China Central Television reported.

“As Vietnam has recently deepened its relations with both China and the U.S., I think it is a good idea for Vietnam to maintain the quo status in the South China Sea, as well as to continue to occupy its outposts in the Spratly Islands,” Hoang Viet told VOA in a recent phone interview. He is an expert on South China Sea disputes at the National University of Ho Chi Minh City.

In January, Pham Thu Hang, a spokesperson for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Vietnam had “sufficient evidence to claim sovereignty over the islands” as it marked the 50th anniversary of China’s invasion of the Paracel Islands.

Pham spoke in Hanoi in response to reporters’ questions on Vietnam’s position concerning China’s invasion of the Hoang Sa Islands in 1974.

Four days later, the Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing’s claims of the islands were “fully supported by history and jurisprudence,” the Reuters news agency reported.

“China was the first to discover, name, develop and manage these islands and archipelagos, and continues to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over them,” Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a regular news conference on January 24.

“China always opposes relevant countries’ illegal claims on China’s territory and will continue to firmly safeguard its sovereignty,” Wenbin said. 
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Islamabad — Eleven militants accused of being involved in carrying out the deadly March suicide attack on Chinese engineers are in custody, according to Pakistani officials.

Following the arrests, Beijing urged Islamabad to continue the investigation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that China was attaching great importance to the progress made by Pakistan.

“China supports Pakistan in continuing to get to the full bottom of what happened and hunting down and bringing to justice all the perpetrators,” she said.

The suicide attack killed five Chinese engineers on March 26 along with their Pakistani driver. They were on their way to work at the largest dam at Dasu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistani officials said.  A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into their convoy.

Pakistan blames Afghanistan as a launching pad for militants who attack Pakistan – an accusation the Taliban has repeatedly denied. Islamabad said the suicide bomber who targeted the Chinese engineers was an Afghan national.

“The attack on the Chinese engineers at Shangla (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) is not the only attack. There are several attacks that are carried out by Afghan nationals in Pakistan, their dead bodies were there, and they were identified as Afghans,” Abdullah Khan, an Islamabad-based researcher for the Pakistan Institute of Conflict and Security Studies, told VOA.

Mounting security threats have prompted Pakistani officials to introduce security protocols requiring residential addresses of Chinese nationals and information about their mobility in the country.

Baloch separatist groups and Islamist militants have been targeting Chinese interests and personnel in Pakistan’s resources-rich southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Militants associated with the Baloch separatist groups have claimed past attacks on Chinese nationals and interests.

Earlier this month, the army said its troops were carrying out 100 intelligence-based operations daily, as part of its fight against terrorism.

Militants associated with radical Islamists groups claimed an attack in 2021 targeting a bus carrying workers to the same hydropower project. The attack killed 13 people, including at least nine Chinese nationals. The two Islamist militants accused of the crime were sentenced to death for that attack.

No group has accepted the responsibility for the latest suicide attack on the Chinese engineers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  Pakistan announced on May 23 the government will pay $2.58 million to the victims of the March attack.

Pakistan is host to Chinese workers connected to Beijing’s mega projects under the umbrella of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an initiative with $62 billion in overall Chinese investments. Pakistani officials say the pace on the Chinese projects has slowed in recent years.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will be visiting Beijing the first week of June to persuade China to revive CPEC, according to media reports.

This story originated in VOA’s Deewa Service.
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In June, the United States and the West Indies are co-hosting the International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup. Despite its overseas popularity, cricket remains largely unknown in America. VOA’s Muhammad Atif has more.
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HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court Thursday convicted 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s biggest national security case under a law imposed by Beijing that has all but wiped out public dissent.

Those found guilty included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan, and they could face up to life in prison when sentenced later. The two defendants acquitted were former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau.

They were among 47 democracy advocates who were prosecuted in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. Prosecutors had accused them of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority necessary to indiscriminately veto budgets.

In a summary of the verdict distributed to media, the court said the election participants had declared they would “either actively use or use the power conferred on the (Legislative Council) by the (Basic Law) to veto the budgets.”

Under the Basic Law, the chief executive would be compelled to dissolve the legislature and eventually step down if major bills such as the budget were vetoed.

The court said that if the defendants had reached their aims, it would amount to “a serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law” by the Hong Kong government.

The court was adjourned until later Thursday, and Judge Andrew Chan did not give further details on the court’s reasoning.

Lau, who was acquitted, told reporters that he should not be the focus at the moment as other defendants in the case warrant the public’s concern and love.

He said if there’s any “star” in the case, the judgment should be “the star” because it set out the logic and perspectives of the judges. “This is part of our rule of law,” he said.

Lee, the other defendant found not guilty, thanked the public for caring about the case over the past few years. He said he could not say more about the verdict because the prosecution might appeal against his acquittal.

“I feel calm, as I have always been,” he said. In an earlier Facebook post, he said Thursday was like a special graduation ceremony for him, though graduation is usually about sharing happiness with families and friends.

“This perhaps best reflects the common helplessness of our generation,” he had said in his post Wednesday.

Observers said the subversion case illustrated how the security law is being used to crush the political opposition following huge anti-government protests in 2019. But the Beijing and Hong Kong governments insisted the law has helped bring back stability to the city and that judicial independence was being protected.

When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain the city’s Western-style civil liberties for 50 years. However, since the introduction of the 2020 law, Hong Kong authorities have severely limited free speech and assembly under the rubric of maintaining national security. Many activists were arrested, silenced or forced into self-exile. Dozens of civil society groups disbanded.

The activists prosecuted in the main case included legal scholar Benny Tai, former student leader Joshua Wong and a dozen former lawmakers including Leung Kwok-hung and Claudia Mo.

Thirty-one of them, including Tai, Wong and Mo, pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion. They have a better chance at shorter jail terms and will be sentenced at a later date.

Sixteen others, including Leung, pleaded not guilty and underwent a non-jury trial. After Thursday’s verdicts, mitigation hearings will be scheduled to determine the sentences of those convicted.

On Thursday, prior to the court hearing, Chan Po-ying, leader of pro-democracy political party League of Social Democrats, as well as three other LSD members, were arrested at court, according to a Facebook post by party member Figo Chan. Chan is also the wife of former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, one of the defendants convicted Thursday.

Reports by local media such as the South China Morning Post said those arrested had attempted to raise a yellow banner in protest as they walked onto court grounds but were stopped by police and escorted away.

Diplomats from the United States, Australia and Britain, along with dozens of residents had waited outside the police-guarded court building to secure seats to hear the verdicts.

Former chairperson of the Democratic Party Emily Lau was among those who turned up in support. She told reporters she was sad that so many had been locked up for over three years, but declined to comment on the verdict.

Social worker Stanley Chang, a friend of one of the 16 defendants, said he arrived the site at 4 a.m. because he feared he could not get a seat. Chang said there were very few things supporters could do for them and that attending the hearing is a kind of company.

“I want to give some support for my friend and the faces I saw in news reports,” he said.

The unofficial primary in June 2020 was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates who would then run in the official election. It drew an unexpectedly high turnout of 610,000 voters, over 13% of the city’s registered electorate.

The pro-democracy camp at that time hoped they could secure a legislative majority, which would allow them to press for the 2019 protest demands, including greater police accountability and democratic elections for the city leader.

But the government postponed the legislative election that would have followed the primary, citing public health risks during the coronavirus pandemic. The electoral laws were later overhauled, drastically reducing the public’s ability to vote and increasing the number of pro-Beijing lawmakers in the legislature.

Beijing also had criticized the vote as a challenge to the security law, which criminalizes secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces to intervene in the city’s affairs as well as terrorism.
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May 31 is World No Tobacco Day, a day when many health advocacy groups raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco. These groups have reason to celebrate: In most countries, tobacco use is declining. But not in Indonesia, where smoking rates are rising, according to the World Health Organization. Dave Grunebaum has the story.
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QUETTA, Pakistan — A speeding passenger bus fell from a highway into a rocky ravine in southwest Pakistan early Wednesday, killing at least 28 people and injuring 20 others, officials said.

Local police officer Asghar Ali said the driver lost control suddenly in Washuk town as the bus was traveling from Turbat, the second-largest city in Baluchistan province, to Quetta, the province’s capital. Police were trying to collect details from the injured.

Ismail Mengal, a government administrator in Washuk, said the driver of the bus was among the dead. He said officers were still trying to determine the cause of the crash. 

He said rescuers and police quickly responded and provided initial medical treatment to the injured passengers. Police transported the dead and injured to a hospital, where some of the injured were in critical condition.

Photos from local media showed the wreckage at the bottom of a rocky ravine. 

In a statement, Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Baluchistan, expressed grief over the loss of lives, and he ordered the best possible medical treatment be provided to the injured.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in separate statements expressed sorrow over the deaths.

Road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules and safety standards are not well followed, even on battered roads in particularly rugged areas.

The latest accident occurred three days after 13 members of a family were killed in a collision between a van and a truck in Multan, a city in the eastern Punjab province.

At least 20 people were killed and another 30 were injured earlier this month in a similar crash.
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Sydney — Australian university leaders held talks Wednesday with their Chinese counterparts over the Canberra government’s plans to cut the number of international students.  Australia has said the reductions will ease the stress on housing and reduce immigration.

Representatives from the Group of Eight Universities, which represents large research-intensive institutions in Australia, met Wednesday in Adelaide with leaders from the China Education Association for International Exchange.

The Chinese delegation included senior officials from 22 leading research-intensive universities in China.

In a joint statement, the two groups said that “our research and education links not only deliver enormous economic and social benefits for both countries, but also foster enduring people-to-people ties.”   

The talks focused on “constructive dialogue focused on challenges and opportunities around university research in a fast-evolving, globalized world.”

One major challenge is Australia’s plans to cap the number of international students it allows into the country to relieve pressure on housing and rental accommodation in the major cities.  It is part of a broader effort to reduce immigration.

In 2023, official data showed that 787,000 international students studied in Australia, exceeding levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the tertiary sector says plans to shut out some foreign students would cost the economy billions of dollars.

Vicki Thompson is the chief executive of the Group of Eight Universities.  She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday that it is unclear how far international student numbers would be cut.  

“At the moment there is a lot of unknowns about what this will actually mean.  We are in very good discussions with government, though.  They certainly understand the impact that our international education sector has on tourism, on the economy.  So, you know, they do not want to bust it either.  It is just how can we come to, I guess, a compromise position where, you know, we do not damage one of our most successful export markets,” she said.

Most overseas students in Australia come from China, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Vietnam, according to government data.

Under the government’s plans, colleges and universities would have to provide purpose-built accommodation for international students if they wanted to exceed the caps on numbers.

Specific quotas for foreign students, however, have not yet been made public by the Canberra government.

Australia’s plan to curb the number of students from other countries is expected to be discussed when Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra next month.
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ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers stated their intention Wednesday to join a United Nations-organized meeting in Doha on June 30 that aims to facilitate and coordinate the world’s engagement with the country hit by a multitude of crises. 

The announcement came a week after a senior U.N. diplomat visited Kabul and extended to the de facto authorities “an advance invitation” to participate in the two-day conference of special envoys on Afghanistan.  

The international event will be the third Afghanistan-centered gathering in Qatar’s capital since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated the process in May 2023, aiming to increase interaction with Afghanistan “in a more coherent, coordinated and structured manner.” 

Zakir Jalali, a senior Taliban foreign ministry official, said in a “keynote speech” to its staff in the Afghan capital that “representatives of the Islamic emirate will take part in the main discussions” in Doha. A ministry spokesperson posted details of his remarks on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday. 

Jalali stated that a formal decision to attend the “Doha III” meeting would be announced later. He defended the Taliban’s decision not to join the previous two meetings, saying that any “symbolic participation would have been futile” for Kabul as the organizers had refused to accept its conditions and address objections over the agenda.  

“However, the agenda for the third Doha format meeting has changed positively, and there are no significant differences regarding the topics of the discussion,” Jalali noted. He explained that the upcoming meeting would discuss financial and banking-related problems facing Afghanistan, alternative livelihoods for poppy growers, and climate change impacts on the country.  

Jalali said the Taliban foreign ministry was waiting for the U.N. to share the latest details about the Doha huddle to enable Kabul to send its delegation there.  

Rosemary DiCarlo, the under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, visited Afghanistan from May 18 to 21, where her discussions with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, among others, centered on the June 30 meeting.  

The Taliban had asked the U.N. in the run-up to the second Doha meeting in February that their delegates would be accepted as the sole official representatives of the country, meaning that Afghan civil society activists and members of opposition groups would not be present.  

De facto Afghan authorities also sought a meeting between their delegation and the U.N. at “a very senior level,” saying it “would be beneficial.” The Taliban also opposed the planned appointment of a U.N. special envoy to coordinate international engagement with Kabul in line with the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Afghanistan. 

However, Guterres rejected the Taliban conditions while briefing reporters at the end of the second Doha meeting. 

“These conditions, first of all, denied us the right to talk to other representatives of the Afghan society and demanded a treatment that would, I would say, to a large extent be similar to recognition,” the secretary-general argued. 

It was unclear immediately whether the U.N. would relax those conditions to allow Kabul’s delegates to attend the upcoming meeting despite their controversial governance in poverty-stricken Afghanistan.  

The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions since taking power in August 2021, including a ban on girls attending school beyond the sixth grade and prohibitions on many Afghan women’s access to employment and public life at large. 

De facto Afghan leaders, who are ethnically Pashtun, have also rejected international calls for giving representation to other ethnicities in the government, saying all groups are represented in it.  

The elusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, insists he is governing the country in line with local culture and Islamic law and dismisses international criticism of his policies as an interference in the country’s internal affairs. 

Afghan rights groups and activists have criticized the U.N. for inviting the Taliban to the upcoming Doha meeting, saying it would embolden the Taliban to further tighten their curbs on women.  

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, while responding to the criticism, told reporters in New York on Tuesday that his organization continues to engage with the Taliban “because they are the de facto authorities in Afghanistan.” 

Dujarric emphasized that the U.N. is persistently urging the Taliban to uphold the rights of women and girls, as well as advocating for increased humanitarian aid for the Afghan people. 

“We’ve invited envoys on Afghanistan to attend a meeting in Doha … to bring some clarity and consistency to the way the world deals with the situation in Afghanistan while continuing to put the human rights of women and girls at the forefront,” he said.  

Separately on Tuesday, in her address to a U.N. Security Council meeting, DiCarlo cited Afghanistan as a “crying example” where women and girls are systematically denied rights and dignity, particularly in education. “Women in Kabul aspire to the same opportunities as men and seek international support to realize their rights and contribute to their country’s future,” she stated. 

U.N. agencies describe Afghanistan as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, where more than two-thirds of the estimated 40 million population needs assistance following years of conflict and natural disasters. In recent weeks, hundreds of Afghans have died in flash floods triggered by climate change-induced heavy seasonal rains, which displaced more than 80,000 people. 

The Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 invited international financial and banking sanctions on the country, worsening economic and humanitarian conditions. 
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Many people of Chinese descent are drawn to New York City for the jobs and universities. There are several so-called Chinatowns in the Big Apple. The newest one is in Long Island City, just a few subway stops away from Manhattan. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details on what many residents are describing as the younger, hipper Chinatown.
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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea appears to have made good on its threat to float feces-carrying balloons into South Korea, according to local media reports. 

The Yonhap news agency reported that South Korea’s military early Wednesday detected about 90 balloons, some of which carried apparent propaganda leaflets and other items that were scattered in two South Korean border provinces. 

“It was reported that some of the balloons that fell had sewage hanging in bags, which although difficult to confirm, was presumed to be feces due to its dark color and odor,” Yonhap reported.

Earlier this week, North Korea vowed “tit for tat action” after a prominent human rights activist launched balloons carrying anti-North Korea pamphlets and USB flash drives filled with South Korean pop culture content into the North. 

“Mounds of wastepaper and filth will soon be scattered over the border areas and the interior of the ROK, and it will directly experience how much effort is required to remove them,” said Kim Kang Il, North Korea’s vice minister of national defense, in comments published in state media on Sunday.

Early Wednesday, text message alerts warned some South Korean residents in border provinces to refrain from outdoor activities because of unknown objects presumedly from North Korea. The notification, which did not mention feces, advised residents to contact their local government if they find any of the objects. 

It is not the first time North Korea has sent balloons carrying feces into the South. In 2016, South Korean residents near the border reported finding balloons containing cigarette butts, compact discs, and used toilet paper, among other things.

North Korea’s totalitarian government has for years complained about South Korean activists who float anti-Pyongyang materials and other items into the North. The leaflets often criticize North Korea’s human rights record or mock North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and are sometimes packaged with items of value, such as dollar bills or USB flash drives.

Earlier this month, Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector and outspoken human rights activist, sent about 20 large balloons into the North. It was Park’s first launch since South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down a law banning such launches. 

South Korean officials have cited national security considerations to prohibit or outlaw the launches. In 2014, North Korean border guards tried to shoot down some of the balloons, resulting in an exchange of gunfire with the South.

 
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Washington/Jakarta — Planned revisions to Indonesia’s broadcasting bill that include restrictions on investigative journalism are raising concerns among journalists and free expression analysts.  

The draft bill seeks to revise Indonesia’s 2002 broadcasting law. Among the amendments are restrictions on the “exclusive broadcast of journalistic investigation,” the broadcasting of content that portrays LGBTQ “behavior,” and content on a profession or figure that shows “negative behaviors or lifestyles that could potentially be imitated by the public.”  

Penalties for violations of the law could include written warnings or the revocation of licenses, according to the International Federation of Journalists.  

Lawmakers say the revisions are needed to update a law that was first enacted more than 20 years ago. Critics say the proposal will restrict media and free expression.  

“We see that the current draft of the bill is very far from our national interests, and it actually suppresses many rights of creativity, press freedom, and expression from citizens,” said Yovantra Arief, of the Jakarta-based media monitoring group, Remotivi.  

Arief, who is executive director of Remotivi, said that with the development of digital platforms, the revision of the law should capture the spirit of growth, instead of being a setback. 

A 2021 survey by the data analysis group, the Katadata Insight Center, and the Ministry of Communication and Information showed that the majority of Indonesians — 73 percent — access information through social media, followed by television at 59.7 percent and the internet at 26.7 percent. 

Ade Wahyudin, director of the Legal Aid Institute for the Press, questioned the reason for the proposed restrictions on investigative journalism, and noted that the Press Law already guarantees protection for journalists’ work, including the right to do news investigations. 

“This vague article could potentially undermine journalistic work, not limited to investigation because its interpretation is still unclear,” he told VOA. If passed, the bill would bring Indonesian media into the dark ages, he added.  

Discussions to amend the broadcasting law have been taking place since 2020. 

According to Reuters, the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Informatics said the government has not received the draft bill. 

Rizki Natakusumah, of the House of Representatives, acknowledged the concerns about the proposed law. 

“The essence of this Broadcasting Law is to discuss what is appropriate, what is suitable (for broadcast), or the ethics in broadcasting itself,” Rizki said, adding that the government does not want to regulate press freedom.  

Rizki said that lawmakers received input from law enforcement agencies who want to limit how the media report on some cases. 

But investigative journalists say such carve-outs would restrict their ability to act as a watchdog for citizens and the public interest.  

“The problem is, in some cases, from my personal experience, law enforcement agencies do not work properly,” said Aqwam Fiazmi Hanifan, an investigative producer for the Narasi media outlet in Jakarta.   

“Many investigative news reports in Indonesia ultimately manage to uncover a case that initially failed to be resolved by law enforcement agencies,” he added.  

He cited how Ferdy Sambo, the head of internal affairs for the national police, was convicted for his role in planning the 2023 murder of his bodyguard.  

According to Aqwam, if media had not pushed to uncover the truth in that case, then justice may not have been secured for the family of the victim.  

The proposed ban on LGBTQ content is also criticized by media advocates.  

Homosexuality is still considered a taboo subject in Muslim-majority Indonesia, and it is illegal in Aceh province, which is under sharia, or Islamic law. 

But Yovantra from Remotivi said audiences need to be able to access information on such issues. 

Yovantra told VOA that all stakeholders should be involved in discussions on the bill and that its passage should not be rushed. “It’s OK to discuss it again in the next period because this law will affect the lives of many people,” he said. 

This article originated in VOA’s Indonesian service. Fathiyah Wardah contributed to this report; some information is from Reuters.
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TOKYO — The operator of Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time since the 2011 meltdown.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to deploy a “telesco-style” extendable pipe robot into Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 reactor to test the removal of debris from its primary containment vessel by October.

That work is more than two years behind schedule. The removal of melted fuel was supposed to begin in late 2021 but has been plagued with delays, underscoring the difficulty of recovering from the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011.

During the demonstration at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Kobe, western Japan, where the robot has been developed, a device equipped with tongs slowly descended from the telescopic pipe to a heap of gravel and picked up a granule.

TEPCO plans to remove less than 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of debris in the test at the Fukushima plant.

“We believe the upcoming test removal of fuel debris from Unit 2 is an extremely important step to steadily carry out future decommissioning work,” said Yusuke Nakagawa, a TEPCO group manager for the fuel debris retrieval program. “It is important to proceed with the test removal safely and steadily.”

About 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three damaged reactors. Critics say the 30- to 40-year cleanup target set by the government and TEPCO for Fukushima Daiichi is overly optimistic. The damage in each reactor is different, and plans must accommodate their conditions.

Better understanding the melted fuel debris from inside the reactors is key to their decommissioning. TEPCO deployed four mini drones into the No. 1 reactor’s primary containment vessel earlier this year to capture images from the areas where robots had not reached.
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