DruasiaAsia

Afghan women’s radio station to resume broadcasts after Taliban say they’re lifting suspension

An Afghan women’s radio station will resume broadcasts after the Taliban suspended its operations, citing “unauthorized provision” of content to an overseas TV channel and improperly using its license.

Radio Begum launched on International Women’s Day in March 2021, five months before the Taliban seized power amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops.

The station’s content is produced entirely by Afghan women. Its sister satellite channel, Begum TV, operates from France and broadcasts programs that cover the Afghan school curriculum from seventh to 12th grade. The Taliban have banned education for women and girls in the country beyond grade six.

In a statement issued Saturday night, the Taliban’s Information and Culture Ministry said Radio Begum had “repeatedly requested” to restart operations and that the suspension was lifted after the station made commitments to authorities.

The station pledged to conduct broadcasts “in accordance with the principles of journalism and the regulations of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and to avoid any violations in the future,” it added.

The ministry did not elaborate what those principles and regulations were. Radio Begum was not immediately available for comment.

Since their takeover, the Taliban have excluded women from education, many kinds of work, and public spaces. Journalists, especially women, have lost their jobs as the Taliban tighten their grip on the media.

In the 2024 press freedom index from Reporters without Borders, Afghanistan ranks 178 out of 180 countries. The year before that it ranked 152.

The Information Ministry did not initially identify the TV channel it alleged Radio Begum had been working with. But the Saturday statement mentioned collaboration with “foreign sanctioned media outlets.”
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DruchinaChina

Well-off Hong Kong daunted by record deficits

HONG KONG — Hong Kong is facing its toughest fiscal test in three decades following a painful run of mammoth deficits, with experts urging the government to make careful cuts as the economy wobbles.

The Chinese finance hub last saw a string of deficits after the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s — but their scale was a fraction of the $32.4 billion shortfall in the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Hong Kong has recorded annual deficits exceeding $20 billion in three of the past four years, according to official figures.

The city’s finance chief, Paul Chan, said Sunday that the deficits were caused by “multiple internal and external challenges” and that a new budget unveiled on Wednesday will tightly control public spending.

While Chan earlier predicted a return to surplus in “three or so years,” a former government minister told AFP that the situation is “not just due to economic cycles” spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.

“If you look at Hong Kong versus other economies in the region, for example Singapore, those other economies have done much better,” said Anthony Cheung, who oversaw transport and housing policies.

Adding to the headache is the exodus of companies and high-paid workers as the city’s international reputation took a hit after Beijing quelled pro-democracy protests and imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020.

Singapore and Hong Kong suffered towering deficits in 2020 because of the pandemic, but the former has been able to keep spending relative to income in check as firms shift there from the Chinese city, helping it outperform its fiscal targets.

The challenge for Hong Kong is not just to balance its books, but to find fiscal sustainability amid U.S.-China tensions and a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, Cheung said.

“In the past, we assumed that Hong Kong was geopolitically well-positioned. … Now we have to be more careful about such presumptions.”

Plunging land sales

Hong Kong is required by its mini-constitution to “strive to achieve a fiscal balance” — a holdover from British colonial rule that kept the market mostly free from government intervention.

After returning to China in 1997, it kept taxes low and refilled its coffers with the help of land-related revenue, selling land to developers with deep pockets.

But last year Hong Kong collected just $2.5 billion that way, from a peak of $21.2 billion in 2018.

“[Land-related revenue] by itself has contributed to the majority of the income decline,” said Yang Liu, a financial economist at the University of Hong Kong.

“We have a very inactive land market and declining housing prices. That’s one reason that people [don’t] trade, so there’s no tax [income],” Liu told AFP.

Hong Kong still has healthy cash reserves and low government debt compared with most economies around the world.

But the prospect of three straight years in the red has fueled public debate on how to spend less.

“All the new initiatives will be under much stronger scrutiny, so [the government} will be a lot more disciplined, a lot more careful,” Liu said.

In his upcoming budget speech, the finance chief is set to put the latest deficit at “under HK$100 billion,” or $13 billion, adjusting for money raised from bond sales.

There are calls to roll back a transport subsidy for those aged 60 to 64, which can grow into a major burden on the government as Hong Kong’s population ages.

Lawmaker Edmund Wong cautioned against pay cuts for civil servants, which he said may cause private-sector employers to follow suit, but urged the government to slim down.

“In the long term, we can greatly reduce the manpower which the government is employing now,” he told AFP.

‘Welcoming’ image

The deficits could prompt Hong Kong to rethink how it makes money, though past discussions on expanding the tax base — such as a goods and services tax — went nowhere.

The city’s low ratio of debt to gross domestic product — which the government last year put at no more than 13% — means it can afford to issue bonds to fund huge undertakings, experts say.

Officials have signaled they will push ahead with a massive infrastructure project in northern Hong Kong, while backing away from a separate plan to create artificial islands.

As tensions flare between the United States and China, Hong Kong is seeking untapped growth potential in the Middle East and Southeast Asia that can translate to government revenue down the line.

The city’s economic fortunes are ultimately tied to how investors view the city as a regional and global hub, said Cheung, the former minister.

“We have to continue to showcase Hong Kong as a city that welcomes all kinds of views, all kinds of people, so long as they stay within the parameters of the national security legislation,” Cheung said.
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DruamAmericas

New FBI Director Patel will also be named acting head of firearms agency, official says

WASHINGTON — New FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be named the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a Justice Department official said Saturday.

Patel could be sworn in next week, the official said, putting Patel in charge of two of the Justice Department’s largest agencies in an unusual arrangement that raises questions about the future of the bureau that has long drawn the ire of conservatives.

The Justice Department official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the move before it’s announced publicly. White House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening.

Patel was sworn in Friday as FBI director after winning Senate approval despite Democrats’ concerns about the steadfast Trump ally’s plans to radically overhaul the FBI.

ATF is a separate agency with about 5,500 employees and is responsible for enforcing the nation’s laws around firearms, explosives and arson. Among other things, it’s in charge of licensing federal firearms dealers, tracing guns used in crimes and analyzing intelligence in shooting investigations.

The move was first reported Saturday by ABC News.

The news comes days after Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF’s top lawyer. Bondi said in a Fox News interview Friday that she fired chief counsel Pamela Hicks because the agency was “targeting gun owners.” Hicks, who spent more than 20 years as a Justice Department lawyer, said in a social media post that being ATF chief counsel was the “highest honor” of her career.

Conservatives have long railed against ATF over its role in regulating firearms and have suggested shuttering the agency. Under the Biden administration, the ATF advanced new regulations aimed at cracking down on ghost guns and requiring thousands more firearms dealers to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.

In an executive order earlier this month, President Donald Trump directed the attorney general to review all actions taken by the Biden administration around firearms “to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”

Gun safety groups have raised alarm about putting Patel in charge of the FBI, with gun control group Brady calling him a “known gun rights extremist.” Gun Owners of America, a gun rights group, called his confirmation as FBI director “a major victory for gun owners and constitutional rights advocates nationwide.”

The last confirmed ATF director was Steve Dettelbach, a former federal prosecutor, who led the agency from July 2022 until last month. He was the first confirmed director since 2015 as both Republican and Democratic administrations failed to get nominees through the politically fraught process.
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DruasiaAsia

Pakistan threatens to deport Afghans if US relocation timeline isn’t met

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has warned that thousands of Afghan nationals awaiting relocation and resettlement in the United States will be deported to Afghanistan if their cases are rejected or not processed on time.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar issued the warning during a television interview aired Saturday, noting that the U.S. has promised to relocate the Afghan community in question from Pakistan “tentatively around September this year.” His office in Islamabad released the interview excerpts.

“If any refugee who was undertaken to be taken by another country after due process —no matter the timeline — if it doesn’t happen and the country refuses, then for us, that will be an illegal immigrant in Pakistan, and we might be forced to send such refugee back to [their] original country, which is Afghanistan,” Dar told Turkey’s TRT national broadcaster.

However, the chief Pakistani diplomat expressed Islamabad’s willingness to resolve the issue with Washington, stating that his government is “examining the situation and will negotiate [accordingly].”

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump halted refugee applications and travel plans until further notice to ensure that refugee entry into the United States aligns with its national interests.

The decision has stranded around 45,000 Afghans prepared to fly out of Afghanistan and at least 15,000 qualified refugees currently in Pakistan, according to #AfghanEvac, a coalition that assists Afghans with their relocation and resettlement in the U.S.

These individuals were part of Afghan families who fled their country following the Taliban insurgents’ retaking of power in 2021, primarily seeking refuge from potential retribution because of their affiliations with the U.S. and NATO forces during their nearly two-decade-long presence in Afghanistan.

While about 80,000 of these Afghans have since been relocated from Pakistan, officials in Islamabad assert that around 40,000 remain in a state of limbo including around 15,000 in Pakistan destined for the United States.

Since launching a crackdown on undocumented foreign migrants in September 2023, Pakistan has forcibly repatriated more than 825,000 undocumented Afghan refugees to their home country, according to the United Nations.

The government has recently intensified its crackdown, targeting both documented and undocumented Afghan refugees.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered authorities last month to remove all Afghans from Islamabad and the adjoining city of Rawalpindi by Feb. 28 before arranging for deporting them to Afghanistan along with others subsequently. The targeted population encompasses over 2.5 million Afghans nationwide, comprising lawful refugees, documented economic migrants, and those without legal authorization to remain in Pakistan.

Sharif’s directive stipulates March 31 as the deadline for the United States and other countries to process the cases of Afghans awaiting resettlements, thereby preventing their deportation.  
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DruamAmericas

US, Uzbekistan reaffirm commitment to Central Asia security

WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration begins to engage with Central Asia, Uzbekistan has expressed eagerness to expand its strategic partnership, highlighting what it calls its “enhanced” political dialogue on bilateral and regional issues and security cooperation, including its “solid connection” with the Mississippi National Guard.   

The U.S. recently got back its seven Black Hawk helicopters from Uzbekistan that Afghan military pilots had flown there in 2021 while fleeing the Taliban.  

This transfer and other bilateral exchanges within the last month have underscored Tashkent’s role as Washington’s key partner in Central Asia, according to U.S. officials. However, analysts see the military relationship as largely transactional and shaped by geopolitical complexities and regional tensions. 

Talk between diplomats  

In a phone conversation on February 21 with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated U.S. support for the country’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, according to State Department’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce.  

They discussed a joint effort through the C5+1 diplomatic platform, launched nearly a decade ago between Washington and five Central Asian republics. The Trump administration is interested in using this platform to support “a more peaceful and prosperous Central Asia.” 

Saidov described his talk with Rubio as “candid and productive,” aiming to expand the “strategic partnership between our nations in all spheres without an exception. Building strong bridges between business communities, increasing trade volume in both directions, ensuring prosperous development in Central Asia.”  

Cooperation with Pentagon, ties with Mississippi 

Uzbek Ambassador Furqat Sidikov says his country’s forces “have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Mississippi National Guard in the best ways,” citing joint exercises and Pentagon-sponsored professional exchanges. 

“We are a reliable partner of the United States in the region,” Sidikov said at a January 31 embassy reception, pointing to defense reforms and improvements in the Uzbek military’s equipment.

Mississippi National Guard Adjutant General Major General Bobby Ginn emphasized at the event that since 2012, the partnership has facilitated more than 170 engagements between U.S. and Uzbek soldiers, strengthening disaster response and readiness. 

“Uzbekistan’s commitment to regional stability and contributions to counterterrorism efforts and border security” demonstrate the power of its armed forced, Ginn said. 

Davis Florick, the Pentagon’s acting principal director for Eurasia, also attending the reception, thanked Tashkent for “storing” U.S. aircraft and diligently working with the U.S. toward the mutually beneficial solution. He confirmed that the seven Black Hawks were part of a fleet from Afghanistan that, according to multiple sources, included 24 helicopters, among them Mi-17s and UH-60s, and 22 fixed-wing aircraft, most of which were transferred to Uzbekistan last year.  

Another high-level Pentagon official, Rear Admiral Erin Osborne, speaking at the same gathering, praised Uzbekistan as a “critical ally” that offered its airspace and an air base during the initial years of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan. The republic was also part of Pentagon’s Northern Distribution Network, delivering nonmilitary goods to the international coalition fighting in the neighboring country.

Osborne said that mutual trust and understanding were reflected in “capacity-building initiatives and the sharing of intelligence to counter common threats.” 

The U.S., she added, is committed to working with Uzbekistan “to ensure its stability and sovereignty, as well as the stability and sovereignty of the entire Central Asian region.” 

The Taliban and the Afghanistan factor 

Even though the transfer of the Black Hawks back to the U.S. was disclosed at the embassy event, Uzbek officials have been tight-lipped about this collaboration to avoid any tension with the Taliban, which has condemned the handovers as an infringement on Afghanistan’s sovereignty. The Taliban’s Defense Ministry issued a statement denouncing the transfer as “unacceptable” and demanding the return of the aircraft. 

Eighteen U.S. aircraft also ended up in Tajikistan in 2021, but Washington and Dushanbe have yet to settle the matter. 

During a visit to the region in June 2022, U.S. Central Command commander General Michael Kurilla said the aircraft would not be returned to Afghanistan “because they do not belong to the Taliban … Our hope is to be able to hand over some or all of the aircraft to the Tajik government.” 

Washington analysts view Uzbekistan as the most active U.S. military partner in the region, comparing it with the activities other republics in Central Asia have with their state partners, specifically Kazakhstan with Arizona, Tajikistan with Virginia, and Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan with Montana. 

Still, they characterize Tashkent-Washington security relationship as more transactional than strategic. 

“The Uzbeks want training and equipment. What do we want from them? A reliable partner in the region,” a former U.S. official with deep experience in Central Asia told VOA. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity for professional reasons.

The U.S. has trained Uzbek pilots to operate and maintain the transferred aircraft, but continued congressional funding — amounting to several million dollars — is crucial for sustained cooperation. 

“There will be questions from Congress, of course,” the former official said. “The primary justification so far has been that these assets would help counter extremists from Afghanistan.” 

Meanwhile, experts in Tashkent support Uzbekistan’s cautious approach to the Taliban. As officials have said, Uzbekistan will engage with whoever governs Afghanistan. While it does not officially recognize the Taliban, the administration of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has forged stable diplomatic relations with Kabul, holds significant investment and business agreements with the country, and provides humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. Last summer, Uzbekistan opened a free economic zone in the city of Termez on the border with Afghanistan, inviting neighbors to foster entrepreneurial cooperation.  

U.S. interests and Central Asian security 

The U.S. maintains military cooperation agreements with each Central Asian republic, with plans reviewed annually and subject to funding approval. 

Despite intelligence-sharing efforts, there is no U.S.-Uzbekistan overflight agreement. Tashkent does not allow its territory to be used for strikes on neighboring soil, even against terrorist targets. 

“The Trump administration may question this,” said the former U.S. official. “It complicates the case for cooperation with Uzbekistan because they’re centrally located, yet we must fly around them. It’s hard to justify what we’re getting in return.” 

For years, the U.S. has also supported regional border security initiatives. 

“That’s the big program,” the former U.S. official said, but added: “How many terrorists have we stopped? How many have been disrupted, killed, or captured? Do we have those hard numbers? We are still in the nascent stages of setting up the program.” 
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DruafAfrica

Hundreds of Congolese police join rebels in occupied city

Crowds of Congolese police officers who switched to the M23 rebel group sang and clapped in occupied Bukavu city on Saturday, preparing for retraining under the authority of the rebels who are intent on showing they plan to stick around and govern. 

The M23 rebels advanced a week ago into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s second-largest city, which was rocked by looting and unrest as Congolese forces withdrew without a fight. 

The M23’s capture of swaths of eastern Congo and valuable mineral deposits has fanned fears of a wider war and led the United Nations Security Council to demand unanimously Friday that it cease hostilities and withdraw. 

In Bukavu, there was no sign this call would be heeded. The assembled police, wearing brand new uniforms and black berets, were told they would leave for a few days of training and come back to support the M23 rebels. 

“May you come back to us in good shape so that together we can continue to liberate our country,” said Police Commander Jackson Kamba.  

Around 1,800 police officers have surrendered and were going for retraining with 500 more due to do so, said Lawrence Kanyuka, a spokesperson for the AFC rebel alliance that includes the M23 group. 

The Congolese government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The ongoing crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to escalate, with tensions involving the Congolese government, and the M23 rebel group. The DRC government has officially designated the M23 rebel group as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group. 

Several locals expressed skepticism. The M23’s arrival in Bukavu “has paralyzed the entire life of the whole area, even if some activities are resuming in different ways,” said resident Josue Kayeye. “We cannot applaud anything done by force.” 

Congolese troops are under pressure on multiple fronts. The town of Minembwe in the mountains of South Kivu and its airfield were captured Friday by a Tutsi militia allegedly allied with the M23, a local official, a military source and a U.N. source said. A few days earlier, its leader, Colonel Makanika, was killed by a Congolese military drone. 

East African defense chiefs met in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday to discuss the crisis. An internal report on the meeting, seen by Reuters, showed that the group noted that there was “no clear picture of the situation on the ground” amid the escalation and M23’s occupation of major cities and airports.  

The group emphasized the need for direct engagement between all parties to the conflict, according to the report. 

Congo has repeatedly refused to hold talks with M23. 

The ethnic Tutsi-led M23 is the latest in a string of groups to take up arms in the name of Tutsis in Congo. The M23 and neighboring Rwanda reject allegations from Congo that it is a Rwandan proxy bent on looting the east’s reserves of gold and coltan. 
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DruamAmericas

Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday urged billionaire Elon Musk to be more aggressive in his efforts to shrink the federal government despite the uproar over layoffs and deep spending cuts.

“Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive,” Trump posted all in uppercase letters on his Truth Social platform. “Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than ever before. MAGA!”

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — an entity created by Trump — has swept across federal government agencies, firing tens of thousands of federal government workers, from scientists to park rangers, mostly those on probation.
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DruchinaChina

Vietnam’s railway drive raises risk of mismanagement, debt traps, analysts say

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM — Analysts are pointing to management and funding issues for Vietnam’s planned north-south, high-speed rail initiative and express concerns over potential “debt traps” and growing Chinese influence as Beijing funds a railway connecting the two countries.

The comments come as Vietnam is expanding its infrastructure by building railways using Chinese and Vietnamese funding, projects that could help the country’s outlook in the long term. As part of the effort, Vietnam’s National Assembly on Feb. 19 gave near-unanimous approval to legislation allowing the country to use Chinese loans for a new $8.3 billion rail link from the port city of Haiphong to China.

Nguyen Hong Minh, then the transport minister, announced Vietnam’s plans to use the Chinese loans for the 391-kilometer passenger and freight line from Lao Cai on the Chinese border and passing through Hanoi.

“Vietnam’s current railway system is outdated, and the country needs a new system to support its economic development,” Minh, now the construction minister, said, adding that construction is expected to begin this year and be completed by 2030.

The National Assembly vote followed its November approval of construction of a high-speed railway connecting Hanoi to the country’s southern economic hub, Ho Chi Minh City. That project is Vietnam’s most ambitious infrastructure initiative to date and is projected to cost Vietnam $67 billion. Authorities said construction should begin in 2027 and be completed by 2035.

Ha Hoang Hop, chair of the Hanoi-based Think Tank Viet Know, told VOA on Feb. 17 that while both projects could modernize the country’s transport network and improve its economy, “public sentiment is cautious.”

“There have been several publicly funded railway and infrastructure projects in Vietnam that have led to public frustration due to delays, cost overruns and poor-quality outcomes,” Hop said.

“Public skepticism is also fueled by fears of debt traps associated with Chinese loans,” he said.

Hop cited fear the construction of the high-speed rail project could be dogged by the country’s “historical issues with project management and corruption.”

“There is indeed concern that the north-south, high-speed rail could face similar challenges given the scale and complexity of the project,” Hop said.

Mismanagement and corruption

Albert Tan, associate professor at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, told VOA on Feb. 18 that while Vietnam’s railway modernization will improve the country’s supply chain efficiency, the major problem is corruption.

“The corruption level in Vietnam is so high that when you have that amount of money that the Chinese are pumping in, I’m sure there will always be leakages,” he said.

Tan said railway funds ending up in “someone’s pocket” have caused delays and cost overruns for Vietnam’s two city Metro lines. In 2021, the Chinese-funded Cat Linh-Ha Dong Metro line began running in Hanoi, five years behind its originally planned opening. The first line of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro, primarily funded by Japan, opened in December 2024, six years behind schedule. Costs ballooned for both Metro lines while under construction and delayed payments to contractors slowed the process.

“Somehow the money doesn’t go back to the contractor. Money goes somewhere to other stakeholders,” Tan said.

For the north-south, high-speed rail, Hop said the country is planning to rely on domestic funding with capital likely to come in the form of “government bonds, public investment and possibly some low-interest loans.”

“A $67 billion project will still be a significant challenge requiring careful financial management,” Hop said.

Chinese influence

Hanoi’s decision to pursue domestic funding for its high-speed rail shows the country’s drive to “maintain strategic autonomy,” Hop said. As it looks to Chinese loans for another rail project, though, “there remains a significant portion of the populace wary of increasing economic dependency on China,” he added.

Tran Anh Quan, a Vietnamese social activist currently living in exile, told VOA on Feb. 18 he fears the Chinese-funded railway will leave Hanoi indebted to Beijing and could be a weak point if conflict were to break out between the countries.

“This is definitely a debt trap,” he said. “Expanding the railway to China would be very dangerous if China attacked Vietnam.”

Tan also shared concerns over the “one-way” flow of money. He said the Chinese loans are likely to be paid to Chinese firms that will “retain control over construction and maintenance, with little technology transfer to local engineers.”

Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that Chinese influence in the region is already “massive.” He said Chinese funding for the Vietnamese railway is in line with Beijing’s goal to expand its influence in Southeast Asia.

The railway “fits right into China’s efforts to link the Mekong region, and to connect them to China,” he wrote in an email.

Kurlantzick said that in Vietnam’s delicate balancing act between Washington and Beijing, China is taking the upper hand as he sees U.S. influence waning with the withdrawal of funding to Vietnam through USAID and weakening public diplomacy more broadly.

“China is by far the dominant economic power in Southeast Asia already, increasingly the dominant security power, and now, with the U.S. giving up its soft power in the region, China will increasingly bolster its soft power in the region, too, making it even more dominant,” Kurlantzick said.

Minh Son To, a research assistant focused on Vietnamese and Chinese politics at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told VOA February 20 Hanoi has looked to Laos with concern after a China-funded high-speed rail threw the country into an “existential debt crisis.” Still, he said many are eager to see Vietnam develop.

“Any ‘China’ label is bound to evoke some concern, though I wouldn’t overstate that,” he told VOA. “Vietnamese know that they need development and infrastructure, regardless of where it comes from.”
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DruasiaAsia

Sri Lanka’s first elephant orphanage marks golden jubilee

PINNAWALA, SRI LANKA — Sri Lanka’s main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary Sunday with a feast of fruit for the 68 jumbos at the showpiece center, reputedly the world’s first care home for destitute pachyderms.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage lavished pineapples, bananas, melons and cucumbers on its residents to celebrate the anniversary of their home, which is a major tourist attraction.

A few officials and tourists invited to the low-key celebration were served milk rice and traditional sweets while four generations of elephants born in captivity frolicked in the nearby Maha Oya river.

“The first birth at this orphanage was in 1984, and since then there have been a total of 76,” said chief curator Sanjaya Ratnayake, as the elephants returned from their daily river bath.

“This has been a successful breeding program, and today we have four generations of elephants here, with the youngest 18 months old and the oldest 70 years,” he told AFP.

The orphanage recorded its first twin birth in August 2021 — a rarity among Asian elephants — and both calves are doing well.

Two years before the orphanage was formally established as a government institution in February 1975, five orphaned elephants were cared for at a smaller facility in the southern resort town of Bentota.

“Since the orphanage was set up at Pinnawala in 1975, in a coconut grove, the animals have had more space to roam, with good weather and plenty of food available in the surrounding area,” Ratnayake said.

The home requires 14,500 kilos of coconut and palm tree leaves, along with other foliage, to satisfy the elephants’ voracious appetites.

It also buys tons of fruit and milk for the younger calves, who are adored by the foreign and local visitors to the orphanage, located about 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of the capital Colombo.

It is also a major revenue generator for the state, earning millions of dollars a year in entrance fees. Visitors can watch the elephants from a distance or get up close and help scrub them during bath times.

Tragic toll

The facility lacked running water and electricity at its inception but things improved as it gained international fame in subsequent years, said retired senior mahout K.G. Sumanabanda, 65.

“I was also fortunate to be present when we had the first birth in captivity,” Sumanabanda told AFP, visiting the home for the jubilee celebrations.

During his career spanning over three decades as a traditional elephant keeper, he trained more than 60 other mahouts and is still consulted by temples and individuals who own domesticated elephants.

Twenty years ago, Sri Lankan authorities opened another elephant home in the south of the island to care for orphaned, abandoned or injured elephants and later return them back to the wild.

While Pinnawala is seen by many as a success, Sri Lanka is also facing a major human-elephant conflict in areas bordering traditional wildlife sanctuaries.

Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody told AFP on Sunday that 450 elephants and 150 people were killed in clashes in 2023, continuing an alarming trend of fatalities in the human-elephant conflict. The previous year saw 433 elephants and 145 people killed.

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

But the massacre continues as desperate farmers face the brunt of elephants raiding their crops and destroying livelihoods.

The minister was confident the new government could tackle the problem by preventing elephants from crossing into villages.

“We are planning to introduce multiple barriers — these may include electric fences, trenches, or other deterrents — to make it more difficult for wild elephants to stray into villages,” Jayakody told AFP.
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DruasiaAsia

VOA Uzbek: Activists fear repression returning to Uzbekistan 

A prominent religious blogger in Uzbekistan, Alisher Tursunov, has been placed on a wanted list. He is suspected of the illegal preparation, storage, importation or distribution of religious materials. He previously had been in the Muslim Office of Uzbekistan and taught at the Tashkent Islamic Institute. Activists express fear that political and religious repression is returning to the situation of the “Old Uzbekistan” era.

Click here for the full story in Uzbek.
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DruamAmericas

Amid rising worldwide populism, America’s premier conservative conference goes global

WASHINGTON — This week, thousands of conservative politicians, activists and influencers convened outside Washington for the Conservative Political Action Conference, the premier annual gathering of the American right.

The four-day event, hosted by the American Conservative Union since 1974, features U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, among other high-profile speakers from around the world.

Dubbed the “Woodstock for conservatives,” CPAC was once the go-to event for conservative Republicans and presidential hopefuls, with its presidential straw poll serving as a barometer of grassroots support. However, Trump’s political rise in recent years has transformed it into a platform for populism.

Driven by the rise of populist movements globally, the conference has ventured overseas in the past decade. It launched its first international conference in Japan in 2017, expanded to Australia, Brazil and South Korea in 2019, then added Hungary, Mexico and Israel in 2022. Argentina joined the fold last year following the election of populist President Javier Milei.

The international conferences, CPAC says, serve to “unite conservatives from all over the world, strengthen the movement, and challenge globalism.” They are also used for public outreach, recruitment and mobilization, according to a recent paper on CPAC by Grant A. Silverman, a research assistant at George Washington University in Washington.

CPAC’s growing international outreach mirrors a recent surge in far-right populism worldwide. Last year’s foreign speakers included Presidents Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Javier Milei of Argentina, as well as Prime Minister Victor Orbán of Hungary.

Here’s a look at some of the foreign speakers for this year’s CPAC and what they’re saying:

Javier Milei, Argentine president

Milei, wielding a chain saw, electrified the CPAC crowd Thursday when he shared the stage with billionaire Elon Musk and presented Musk, Trump’s cost-cutting czar, with his signature campaign prop.

“This is the chain saw of bureaucracy,” Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, shouted, waving the tool.

As head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk, who made his first CPAC appearance, is spearheading the Trump administration’s massive governmentwide cost-cutting efforts.

This marks Milei’s third CPAC appearance. The self-styled “anarcho-capitalist” campaigned in 2023 on shrinking Argentina’s government, often brandishing a chain saw at rallies.

At last year’s Washington conference, he vowed to eliminate unnecessary government agencies, declaring, “We will not surrender until we make Argentina great again!”

Speaking at CPAC Argentina in December, Milei declared that the “new winds of freedom are sweeping through the world” and called on allies to fight against “lefties.”

“We must stand together, establishing channels of cooperation throughout the world,” he told the crowd.

Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil

Brazil’s former right-wing president is a CPAC regular. After Bolsonaro lost a reelection bid in 2022, his supporters stormed federal government buildings in an alleged attempt to seize power. Banned from seeking office until 2030, Bolsonaro faces charges of plotting a coup.

His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, organizes CPAC Brazil. At last year’s conference in Balneario Camboriu, the elder Bolsonaro joined Milei and other right-wing politicians from Latin America to hail conservatism’s global rise and expressed hope for Trump’s return to office.

For his part, Milei used the platform to denounce socialism, saying it restricts liberties and breeds corruption.

Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia

Robert Fico makes his CPAC debut this year. Though he leads a left-wing populist party, he has drawn controversy for his attacks on journalists, immigrants and LGBTQ+ people.

In October, he called journalists “bloody bastards” and threatened new media restrictions. An opponent of same-sex marriage, he has called adoption by gay couples a “perversion.”

During the Ukraine conflict, Fico has opposed European sanctions on Moscow and echoed Moscow’s messaging, drawing comparisons to Hungary’s pro-Kremlin prime minister.

In May, he survived an assassination attempt by a gunman opposed to his stance against military assistance to Ukraine.

Mateusz Morawiecki, former Polish prime minister

After speaking at CPAC Hungary last year, Morawiecki makes his first U.S. appearance this year. He served as prime minister from 2017 to 2023 and is now a leading figure in the opposition Law and Justice Party.

Despite his party’s strong support for Ukraine, Morawiecki maintains close ties with Hungary’s Orban and Spain’s Santiago Abascal, leader of the conservative Vox political party. Abascal is an invited speaker at CPAC.

Immigration is a unifying issue for Europe’s right-wing populists. At last year’s Hungary conference, Morawiecki called Orban his friend and credited his tough response to Europe’s 2015 migration crisis with preventing “chaos” in Europe.

Liz Truss, former British prime minister

The former Conservative Party leader and prime minister made her second CPAC appearance in a row Wednesday. Calling Britain a “failed state” ruled by a socialist government, she called for a Trump-style MAGA movement to save it.

“We want a Trump revolution in Britain,” she said to applause, praising Trump’s second presidency as “the golden age of America.”

Blaming Britain’s decline on unelected bureaucrats, she urged the dismantlement of the “deep state,” a favorite theme among conference attendees.

“We want Elon and his nerd army of muskrats examining the British deep state,” Truss said.

Truss served just 49 days as prime minister and lost her Parliament seat last year. 
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VOA Spanish: Venezuela receives more deportees from the US

A total of 177 Venezuelan migrants were deported by the United States from the Guantanamo naval base, where they were detained, in another sign of cooperation between these historically feuding countries.

Click here for the full story in Spanish. 
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From VOA Creole:  Haiti multinational force denies losing members in gunfight

The Kenyan-led Multinational Support and Security Mission for Haiti denies losing officers during a gunfight with armed gangs in Kenscoff. Spokesperson Godfrey Otunge says news to the contrary published and shared on social media is “propaganda.”

Click here for the full story in Creole. 

 

 
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From VOA Mandarin: Congressman proposes ban on student visas for Chinese nationals

Congressman Riley Moore recently wrote an op-ed urging the administration to ban all student visas for Chinese nationals to prevent the CCP from using U.S. academic institutions as platforms for espionage. Experts told VOA Mandarin that due to the number of espionage cases Chinese students in the U.S. involved in, it might be more helpful to close the CCP-sponsored Chinese students and scholars’ associations on U.S. campuses.

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.  
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UN Security Council demands rebels withdraw from captured Congolese cities

united nations — The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday demanding that the M23 rebels in eastern Congo immediately cease hostilities and withdraw from territories they have seized. The council also threatened sanctions on those who prolong the conflict.

France, which drafted the text, said it sends a clear message that there is no military solution to the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The priority is to reach an effective, unconditional and immediate ceasefire agreement,” Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said. “A restoration of dialogue is urgent, with support from mediation at the regional level. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC needs to be respected.”

The resolution also calls on the Rwanda Defense Forces to cease their support “to the M23 and immediately withdraw from DRC territory without preconditions.” Council members accuse the Rwandan Defense Forces of “direct support” of the M23. Rwanda has repeatedly denied allegations that it supports the rebels.

The Security Council also strongly urged the the DRC and Rwanda “to return without preconditions to diplomatic talks as a matter of urgency” and to implement their existing commitments under two regional mediations known as the Luanda and Nairobi processes.

Land grab

Thousands of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels continue to seize territory in the mineral-rich eastern part of the DRC with little resistance from the national army.

Since mid-December, they have focused on the provinces of North and South Kivu, seizing North Kivu’s capital, Goma, in late January and moving to South Kivu’s capital, Bukavu, on February 14. The rebels have also taken control of other important towns, including Masisi, Sake and Nyabibwe, and have established “parallel administrations” in some of the territories they control.

On Friday, the head of the U.N. mission in the eastern DRC said the rebels appear to have their sights set on the capital, Kinshasa.

“Very public declarations and statements by AFC/M23, clearly repeated over time and including last week, show that the intent is to go up to Kinshasa,” Bintou Keita, the U.N. special representative of the secretary-general in the DRC, told reporters in a video briefing from Kinshasa. “It is our understanding, looking at what is going on in North Kivu, but also the onward push towards South Kivu, and we understand they are pushing a bit further to Tanganyika.”

Rwanda alleges that Kinshasa collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or the FDLR, a Hutu armed group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an allegation the DRC rejects.

“We believe that any outcome that doesn’t take Rwanda’s security concerns seriously will not offer a sustainable solution to the conflict,” said Rwandan Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo. “The security challenges posed by FDLR and its splinter groups are of very serious concern for Rwanda. DRC must be held accountable for its continued preservation of FDLR, embedding it in its army, equipping the FDLR with sophisticated weapons and using it as an ally and fighting force.”

In its resolution, the council condemned “support provided by DRC military forces to specific armed groups, in particular the FDLR,” calling for it to stop. The council also urged the parties to rapidly implement “the harmonized plan for the neutralization” of the FDLR and the “disengagement of forces from the territory of the DRC.”

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been caught up in the fighting. The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that it needs $40.4 million to assist 275,000 internally displaced people in eastern DRC and to support a potential influx of 258,000 refugees and returnees going to neighboring countries.

The DRC government has officially designated the M23 as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group.

Congolese Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo welcomed the council’s action but said it came late, after weeks of repeated appeals from his government.

“In this particular case, the council’s paralysis gave free rein to the illegal occupation of DRC territory by the Rwandan Defense Forces and their supporters in the AFC/M23,” he said, “in the knowledge that every further day of inaction compromises regional and international peace and security, only strengthens the aggressor, and undermines the United Nations’ credibility.”

On Thursday, the United States unilaterally imposed sanctions on a senior Rwandan official and a spokesperson for a coalition of armed groups that includes the M23 for fueling violence in the eastern DRC.

“We applaud similar actions taken by other member states aimed at compelling Rwanda to return to the negotiating table and bring this violence to an end,” U.S. envoy Dorothy Shea said.

Sierra Leone’s envoy offered a lesson to the parties from his country’s 11-year civil war in the 1990s. Ambassador Michael Kanu said that at some point the parties realized the conflict would not end on the battlefield and that dialogue was the only viable path to sustainable peace.

“We had to talk with each other in good faith and commit to signing a peace agreement with the necessary political will,” Kanu said. “Talking to adversaries is hard. Perhaps a taboo for some. But we do not make peace with friends, but with adversaries.”
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N. Koreans’ high casualties in Ukraine blamed on inexperience

washington — North Korean troops that joined Moscow’s forces about four months ago in Russia’s border region of Kursk are estimated to have suffered considerable casualties in the war against Ukraine, which analysts attribute to their lack of front-line combat experience.

Numbers from different sources vary, but more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers are believed to have died or been injured while fighting Ukrainian forces.

The South Korean National Intelligence Service cited the figure in mid-January, breaking it down to at least 300 killed and another 2,700 wounded.

In an interview published Monday by South Korea’s Chosun Daily, Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said North Korean troops had suffered about 4,000 casualties.

That would be one-third of the 12,000 North Korean soldiers who the U.S. in December estimated had been deployed to the Kursk region.

A peace deal is being pushed by the Trump administration to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Frontal assaults

“The North Korean military personnel fighting in the Kursk region are being used for frontal assaults without much military support such as artillery and armor and drones, against some of the very best Ukrainian forces,” said Bruce Bennett, senior defense researcher at the Rand Corporation.

“Many of the North Korean forces used by the Russians were trained to be special forces intended to penetrate into the enemy rear and operate there,” he said. “Their North Korean training was not for frontal assaults, and they appear to not have been trained in Russia very well for such tactics, especially given the evolution of warfare to involve drones and other factors.”

If the Russians are using North Korean special operations forces as light infantry units, then “they are wasting their soldiers’ lives” because they are not using the soldiers’ special operations training, said David Maxwell, vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy.

If the Ukrainian forces are “employing effective combined arms maneuver with integrated fire support, they will inflict tremendous damage against frontal assaults,” he said.

Another reason for high casualties among North Korean troops could be “communications problems if they are working under the command of Russian forces,” Maxwell said. “The language challenge hinders interoperability and the ability of the Russians to provide support” to the North Koreans.

Many of the North Korean troops deployed to Russia are reportedly from the regime’s elite special forces unit known as the 11th Corps of the Korean People’s Army, also known as the Storm Corps.

Headquartered in Tokchon, North Korea, the Storm Corps is trained to infiltrate and sabotage enemy operations and assassinate targets.

North Korea began sending troops to Russia in October. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the time that if the forces entered the war, it would be “a very, very serious issue” affecting not only Europe but also the Indo-Pacific region.

The deployment of North Korean troops, in addition to the munitions the country had been sending to Russia since October 2023, represented an escalation of military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow and a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in October.

The same month, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun described North Korean troops as “mere cannon fodder mercenaries” for Russia’s “illegal war of aggression.”

Russia has been using so-called meat-grinder tactics to fight Ukraine. The strategy involves mobilizing a large number of troops in a concentrated area of combat to bombard the enemy and break through its defenses. The attackers often suffer a high number of casualties.

Escalation of conflict

Ukrainian forces first reported encountering North Korean units on Nov. 5 in the Kursk region. Shortly afterward, Russia, reportedly using meat-grinder tactics, suffered a record number of casualties for the month.

Russia suffered more than 2,000 casualties on Nov. 28 alone, which helped raise the average daily Russian casualties for the month to a new high of 1,523, according to the Institute for the Study of War, citing an analysis from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense.

Adding to the casualties are the lethal World War I-style combat tactics, such as heavy artillery bombardments and trench warfare, that have made a comeback in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Russians and North Koreans “are fighting in this horrible, almost World War I-style combat, where all sides, including the Ukrainians, are taking huge casualties” with “tons of artillery” and “missiles and rockets and tanks,” said Bruce Bechtol, a professor focusing on East Asia and international security at Angelo State University in Texas.

Since the start of the war, Russia is estimated to have incurred more than 860,000 casualties, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported Friday. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and about 380,000 had been injured over that same period.

Bechtol, a former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency, said North Korean and Russian casualties could have been “exaggerated,” and it might not be possible to assess exact figures, even after the war ends.

In October, neither Moscow nor Pyongyang denied the possibility of North Korean troop deployment to Russia, nor did either fully acknowledge that North Korean soldiers were fighting Ukrainian forces.

Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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Los Angeles mayor ousts fire chief for response to deadly fires

LOS ANGELES — Six weeks after the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted the city’s fire chief Friday amid a public rift over preparations for a potential fire and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.

Bass said in a statement that she is removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately.

“Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs,” Bass said in a statement.

“We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch,” Bass disclosed. She added that the chief refused a request to prepare an “after-action report” on the fires, which she called a necessary step in the investigation.

The Palisades Fire began during heavy winds Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the Los Angeles neighborhood.

Another wind-whipped fire started the same day in suburban Altadena, a community to the east, killing at least 17 people and destroying or damaging more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.

Bass has been facing criticism for being in Africa as part of a presidential delegation on the day the fires started, even though weather reports had warned of dangerous fire conditions in the days before she left.

In televised interviews this week, Bass acknowledged she made a mistake by leaving the city. But she inferred she wasn’t aware of the looming danger when she flew around the globe to attend the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She faulted Crowley for failing to alert her to the potentially explosive fire conditions.

Crowley has publicly criticized the city for budget cuts that she said made it harder for firefighters to do their jobs.

Crowley was named fire chief in 2022 by Bass’ predecessor at a time when the department was in turmoil over allegations of rampant harassment, hazing and discrimination. She worked for the city fire department for more than 25 years and held nearly every role, including fire marshal, engineer and battalion chief.
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UN Security Council weighs calling on Rwanda to pull troops from Congo

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council will vote Friday to call on Rwanda’s military to stop supporting the M23 rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and immediately withdraw all troops from Congolese territory “without preconditions.” 

The M23 has captured the two largest cities in eastern Congo and stoked fears of a wider war. Rwanda denies allegations from Congo and the U.N. that it supports the M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against Hutu militias which it accuses of fighting alongside the Congolese military. 

The French-drafted U.N. resolution “strongly condemns the ongoing offensive and advances of the M23 in North-Kivu and South Kivu with the support of Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF)” and demands that M23 immediately stop its hostilities and withdraw. 

A council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France to be adopted. Several diplomats said it is expected to pass. 

Congo says Rwanda has used the M23 rebels as a proxy to loot its minerals such as gold and coltan, used in smartphones and computers. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on a Rwandan minister and a senior rebel for their alleged role in the conflict. 

The text also condemns support by Congolese troops “to specific armed groups, in particular the FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda], and calls for the cessation of such support and for the urgent implementation of commitments to neutralize the group.” 

Rwanda accuses Congo of fighting alongside the FDLR. The Congolese military has vowed to arrest soldiers who cooperate with the FDLR, but the government has continued to use FDLR fighters as proxies, U.N. experts said in December. 

The M23 vows to defend Tutsi interests, particularly against ethnic Hutu militias such as the FDLR. The FDLR was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide that killed close to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. 

The U.N. draft resolution urges the DRC and Rwanda to return to diplomatic talks to achieve a lasting peaceful resolution. 

The escalation of a decade-old insurgency has killed several peacekeepers with the U.N. force in Congo, known as MONUSCO. 

The draft U.N. resolution warns that “attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and that planning, directing, sponsoring or participating in attacks against MONUSCO peacekeepers constitutes a basis for sanctions.” 
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US Treasury’s Bessent, China’s He trade economic complaints in call

WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traded policy complaints with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Friday, with Bessent telling Beijing to do more to curb fentanyl trafficking and rebalance its economy, and He voicing concerns about President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, the two governments said.

The top economic officials from the world’s two largest economies agreed to keep up communications, the Treasury said in a readout of the introductory video call.

“Secretary Bessent expressed serious concerns about the PRC’s counternarcotics efforts, economic imbalances, and unfair policies, and stressed the Administration’s commitment to pursue trade and economic policies that protect the American economy, the American worker, and our national security,” the Treasury said, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

Earlier, Chinese state media reported that He expressed concerns to Bessent over U.S. tariffs and trade restrictions on China during the call.

The two sides had an “in-depth” exchange of views on important issues in China-U.S. economic relations, and both agreed to keep communicating on matters of mutual concern, according to a readout released by Chinese state media.

He, the lead China-U.S. trade negotiator on the Chinese side, and Bessent recognized the importance of bilateral economic and trade relations, the readout said.

More tariffs

China and the United States are seeking to manage their relationship as they stand on the precipice of a renewed trade war.

Trump imposed 10% tariffs on all Chinese goods in early February, citing China’s failure to stanch fentanyl trafficking.

Beijing retaliated by imposing targeted tariffs of up to 15% on some U.S. imports, including energy and farm equipment, and put several companies, including Google, on notice for possible sanctions.

Trump has also planned further reciprocal tariffs for all countries that tax U.S. imports, a move that is likely to further escalate global trade tensions. During his election campaign, Trump threatened 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports.

Trump said earlier this week he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the U.S., without giving a timeline for such a trip.

Bessent said on Thursday he would tell his Chinese counterpart that China needed to rebalance its economy and rely more on domestic consumption for growth and less on investment and exports.

“They are suppressing the consumer in favor of the business community,” Bessent told Bloomberg Television.

Similar arguments

The U.S. had a $295.4 billion goods trade deficit with China in 2024, down from a peak of $418.2 billion in 2018, the year Trump began imposing new tariffs on some $370 billion of Chinese imports.

But last year’s deficit rose $16.3 billion from 2023 as Chinese exporters rushed to beat a new round of Trump tariffs.

Bessent’s predecessor, former Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, met several times with He in recent years and lodged similar complaints about China’s state-led economic policies.

She argued during a trip to China last year that those policies were leading to excess production capacity that was threatening the viability of firms in the U.S. and other market economies, a warning that laid the groundwork for former President Joe Biden’s steep tariff hikes on electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar products.

He and other Chinese officials never accepted U.S. excess capacity assertions, arguing that China’s EV and other key industries are simply more competitive.
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Rubio highlights emerging terror threat in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested late Thursday there are ungoverned regions in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan that provide opportunities for extremist groups to operate.

The comments came in an interview with former CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge on X, where Rubio was asked if intelligence indicates that al-Qaida and Islamic State had set up safe havens in Afghanistan, posing a threat comparable to the one preceding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the pre-9/11 landscape, but I think anytime you have governing spaces that are contested that you don’t have a government that has full control of every part of their territory, it creates the opportunity for these groups,” Rubio said.

“The difference between today and 10 years ago is that we don’t have American elements on the ground to target and go after them,” the top U.S. diplomat noted.

Rubio added that in some cases, the Taliban has been cooperative when “told that ISIS or al-Qaida is operating in this part of your country” and to go after them. Not so much in other cases, he said.

“So, I would say that I wouldn’t compare it to pre-9/11, but it’s certainly far more uncertain — and it’s not just limited to Afghanistan,” Rubio said.

The Taliban did not immediately respond to Rubio’s remarks, but they have persistently claimed to be in control of the entire country and rejected that any foreign terrorist organizations are on Afghan soil.

Rubio’s comments came just days after the United Nations reported that al-Qaida operatives continued to find shelter across Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban’s intelligence agency.

“The Taliban maintained a permissive environment allowing al-Qaida to consolidate, with the presence of safe houses and training camps scattered across Afghanistan,” read the report.

It also described an Afghan-based Islamic State affiliate, the Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, as “the greatest extra-regional terrorist threat.”

The U.N. assessment highlighted that in addition to attacks on Taliban authorities and Afghan religious minorities, IS-K supporters conducted strikes as far away as Europe, and that the group “was actively seeking to recruit from among Central Asian states” bordering Afghanistan.

The Taliban militarily swept back to power in August 2021 when the then-Afghan government collapsed as all U.S.-led NATO allied troops withdrew from the country after a nearly two-decade-long presence.
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Commercial airlines warned as Chinese navy holds live-fire exercises off Australia

SYDNEY — Airlines modified flight paths between Australia and New Zealand on Friday after China notified Australia that the People’s Liberation Army Navy would hold live-fire exercises off the New South Wales coast in international waters, a rare event.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Friday afternoon that the time period for the Chinese navy exercises had expired, and it was unclear if live fire had been used by the Chinese navy.

“China issued, in accordance with practice, an alert that it would be conducting these activities, including the potential use of live fire. It’s outside of Australia’s exclusive economic zone,” he said, indicating it was at least 370 kilometers offshore.

“According to defense, there has been no imminent risk of danger to any Australian assets or New Zealand assets, and that’s why this notification occurs,” he added.

A People’s Liberation Army Navy frigate, cruiser and replenishment vessel last week entered Australia’s maritime approaches, and traveled down Australia’s east coast this week, monitored by the navies and air forces of Australia and New Zealand.

Airlines were contacted by Australia’s air traffic control agency on Friday warning them of reports of live fire where the Chinese navy task group was operating, the agency and Australian officials said.

“The Civil Aviation Authority and Airservices Australia are aware of reports of live firing in international waters,” air traffic control agency Airservices Australia said in a statement.

“As a precaution, we have advised airlines with flights planned in the area,” it added.

Qantas and its low-cost arm Jetstar were monitoring the airspace and temporarily adjusted some flights across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Air New Zealand said it had modified flight paths as needed to avoid the area, with no impact to its operations, while Virgin Australia was following instructions from Airservices Australia.

Albanese said he had contacted New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about the matter.

“The chief of the defense force has advised that it’s not clear whether there was any actual live fire used in this area, but it is consistent with international law,” Albanese said. Foreign Minister Penny Wong would raise the matter with her Chinese counterpart in South Africa, where they are attending the G20 foreign ministers meeting, he added.

Wong said the live fire was “an evolving situation.”

“We do have concerns about the transparency associated with this and the notice, and I certainly will be having a discussion with (China’s) Foreign Minister Wang about that,” she said in an ABC television interview Friday.
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US tax agency fires 6,000 amid federal government downsizing

A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency’s workforce in the midst of the busy tax-filing season.

The cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping downsizing effort that has targeted bank regulators, forest workers, rocket scientists and tens of thousands of other government employees. The effort is being led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s biggest campaign donor.

Musk was on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, when Argentine President Javier Milei, known for wielding a chain saw to illustrate his drastic policies slashing government spending, handed him one.

“This is the chain saw for bureaucracy,” said Musk, holding the power tool aloft as a stage prop to symbolize the drastic slashing of government jobs.

Labor unions have sued to try to stop the mass firings, under which tens of thousands of federal workers have been told they no longer have a job, but a federal judge in Washington on Thursday ruled that they can continue for now.

Christy Armstrong, IRS director of talent acquisition, teared up as she told employees on a phone call that about 6,000 of their colleagues would be laid off and encouraged them to support each other, a worker who was on the call said.

“She was pretty emotional,” the worker said.

The layoffs are expected to total 6,700, according to a person familiar with the matter, and largely target workers at the agency hired as part of an expansion under Democratic President Joe Biden, who had sought to expand enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers. Republicans have opposed the expansion, arguing that it would lead to harassment of ordinary Americans.

The tax agency now employs roughly 100,000 people, compared with 80,000 before Biden took office in 2021.

Independent budget analysts had estimated that the staff expansion under Biden would work to boost government revenue and help narrow trillion-dollar budget deficits.

“This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” said University of Pittsburgh tax law professor, Philip Hackney, a former IRS lawyer. “It’s a travesty.”

Those fired include revenue agents, customer-service workers, specialists who hear appeals of tax disputes, and IT workers, and impact employees across all 50 states, sources said. The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.

The IRS has taken a more careful approach to downsizing than other agencies, given that it is in the middle of the tax-filing season. The agency expects to process more than 140 million individual returns by the April 15 filing deadline and will retain several thousand workers deemed critical for that task, one source said.

The Trump administration’s federal layoffs have focused on workers across the government who are new to their positions and have fewer protections than longer-tenured employees.

Meanwhile, the Trump White House is also preparing to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent agency into the Commerce Department, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Waiting for dismissal email

At the IRS’s Kansas City office, probationary workers found all functions had been disabled on their computers except email, which would deliver their dismissal notices, said Shannon Ellis, a local union leader.

“What the American people really need to understand is that the funds that are collected through the Internal Revenue Service, they fund so many programs that we use every day in our society,” Ellis told Reuters.

The White House has not said how many of the nation’s 2.3 million civil-service workers it wants to fire and has given no numbers on the mass layoffs. Roughly 75,000 took a buyout offer last week.

The campaign has delighted Republicans for culling a federal workforce they view as bloated, corrupt and insufficiently loyal to Trump, while also taking aim at government agencies that regulate big business — including those that oversee Musk’s companies SpaceX, Tesla and Neuralink.

The small unit within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that regulates the kind of autonomous cars that Musk says are the future of Tesla is losing nearly half of its staff, the Post reported on Thursday.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team has also canceled contracts worth about $8.5 billion involving foreign aid, diversity training and other initiatives opposed by Trump. Both men have set a goal of cutting at least $1 trillion from the $6.7 trillion federal budget, though Trump has said he will not touch popular benefits programs that make up roughly one-third of that total.

Democratic critics have said Trump is exceeding his constitutional authority and hacking away at popular and critical government programs at the expense of legions of middle-class families.

Most Americans worry the cost-cutting could hurt government services, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday.

Some agencies have struggled to comply with the rapid-fire directives Trump has issued since taking office a month ago. Workers who oversee U.S. nuclear weapons were fired and then recalled, while medicines and food exports have been stranded in warehouses by Trump’s freeze on foreign aid.
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Philippine police arrest more than 450 in raid on alleged ‘Chinese-run’ scam center

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Philippine police arrested more than 450 people in a raid on an allegedly Chinese-run offshore gaming operator in Manila, the country’s anti-organized crime commission has said.

Initial interrogations suggested the suburban site had been operating as a scam center, targeting victims in China and India with sports betting and investment schemes, the commission said after the Thursday raid, which saw 137 Chinese nationals detained.

“We arrested around five Chinese bosses,” commission chief Gilberto Cruz told AFP on Friday, adding they faced potential trafficking charges.

Banned by President Ferdinand Marcos last year, Philippine online gaming operators, or POGOs, are said to be used as cover by organized crime groups for human trafficking, money laundering, online fraud, kidnappings and even murder.

“This raid proves that the previous POGO workers are still trying to continue their scamming activities despite the ban,” Cruz said.

He previously told AFP that about 21,000 Chinese nationals have continued to operate smaller-scale scam operations in the country since the online gaming ban.

International concern has grown in recent years over similar scam operations in other Asian nations that are often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus cryptocurrency investments and other cons.

President Marcos has put POGOs at the center of recent campaign messaging in the run-up to May mid-term elections, framing predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged tolerance of the sites as evidence of a too-cozy relationship with China.

Thursday’s raid is the latest in a series of busts this year, including one in January that saw some 400 foreigners arrested in the capital, including many Chinese nationals.

The Washington-based think tank United States Institute of Peace said in a May 2024 report that online scammers target millions of victims around the world and rake in annual revenues of $64 billion. 
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DruamAmericas

Vance delivers warning to Europe at conservative gathering

Vice President JD Vance sketched his conservative view of foreign affairs Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, accompanied by foreign politicians who say they support President Donald Trump’s agenda. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
Camera: Anthony LaBruto
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