Political change prompts concerns about Thailand’s economy

bangkok — After a whirlwind few weeks with Paetongtarn Shinawatra taking the helm as Thailand’s new prime minister, Thailand’s struggling economy needs a clear strategy moving forward to get it back on track, according to some analysts.

The country’s economy has been sluggish and isn’t growing as fast as hoped.

Thailand has the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, though its annual growth is slower than many of its regional neighbors.

Initial forecasts put Thailand with a GDP growth of 3% for 2024, but its new revised growth is 2.7%, according to Thailand’s Finance Ministry.

Kiatanantha Lounkaew, an economic lecturer at the Thammasat University in Bangkok, said there are two major problems holding Thailand back.

“The household debt per GDP is high, approaching 90%,” he told VOA.

“Secondly, our economy has been operating with the same structure since the year 2000, and that is why our competitiveness has been eroding. We can’t compete in the municipal [foreign direct investments] compared to our regional partners.

“We must have a clear strategy roadmap for Thailand for the next three years. The picture must be credible. Thailand will then be recovered fully, economically, socially and politically,” Kiatanantha said.

Manufacturing, agriculture and services

The three main economic industries driving Thailand’s gross domestic product are manufacturing, agriculture and services.

But manufacturing, for example, has slowed, with nearly 2,000 factories closing last year alone, leading to thousands of lost jobs, local media report. Cheap imports from places such as China, are a factor in Thailand becoming uncompetitive.

Thailand needs to come up with innovative ways to use technology to aid its key sectors, such as agriculture, according to Kiatanantha.

“We have been a technology user for a long time, we can use technology in a smart way to increase our core economy. For example, [shifting] agriculture into smart farming to something more value added, rather than sending out the raw materials.”

And foreign direct investments (FDIs) are also important to Thailand, with countries like Japan, Singapore, the U.S., and China making significant investments in Southeast Asia countries in recent years.

But the labor force is limited, and more training is also needed to attract further FDIs, including in technology.

“The quality of our labor force to cater to a new technology is not that high, and the number of people qualified for such technology is still low,” he said. “We need to produce people with good human capital, so the investor will be confident that when they come to Thailand, they will be able to find suitable people to build a position.”

‘Thailand has lost its footing’

Thailand’s political changes haven’t helped matters either.

Earlier in August, Thailand’s Constitutional Court’s swiftly removed Srettha Thavisin as prime minister over an “ethical violation” for his role in appointing a member of parliament (MP) to his cabinet who had been imprisoned for an alleged attempt to bribe an official.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst, said Thailand’s economy has long had problems because of the political instability in the past two decades.

“Since 2006, Thailand has lost its footing. Two military coups [2006 and 2014]. Elections, multi-major parties dissolved. We’ve had three constitutions along the way. The trajectory shows me we are seeing signs of economic stagnation and political decay,” he said Wednesday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok.

The removal of the prime minister paved the way for Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra to be elected as Thailand’s new prime minister.

That marked the return of another Shinawatra as Thailand’s premier. Paetongtarn Shinawatra is the youngest daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who recently returned to Thailand following 15 years in self-exile.

In his first public speech since leaving Thailand in self-exile, Thaksin laid out a 14-point strategy to fix the country’s economy, ranging from reforming the public debt, the agriculture sector, empowering tourism, promoting investment into entertainment complexes and the use of locally made products.

But Thitinan, the political analyst, said Thailand must be looking toward digitalization.

“Now I think the dial has moved on, they have to be talking about much more digitalization, digital economy, AI, machine learning, education reform,” he said. “Thailand has missed the semi-conductor innovation, the tech boom and now it is missing the AI burst, and the reason is because of the domestic political situation.”

After government upheavals in recent years with decisions from Thailand’s monarchy, military and judiciary, Thitinan is unsure how long this Shinawatra government will last.

“Now we have a Thaksin 2.0 government, but it’s a shell of itself 20 years ago,” he said. “I’m wondering whether they will be allowed to govern — or continue to be stymied. If it isn’t, Thailand will go nowhere, it will be at a standstill and regress.”

“But,” Thitinan later told VOA, “at least there is a plan.”

Plan aims to give citizens money

One of the controversial policies still up in the air is Thailand’s Digital Wallet scheme, a program aimed at giving 10,000 baht ($275) to 50 million citizens in digital money to spend locally to stimulate the economy. It was a campaign promise from the Pheu Thai party during the 2023 elections.

Thaksin recently said the plan will begin in September. This is despite speculation that government lawmakers want to scrap the idea.

But political analyst Thitinan said its impact will be diluted.

“It will come from the current budget year and the next budget year. So, the effects will be diluted,” he said. “And in order to be effective, you need to have a big fiscal boost in a short time and let that create multiplier effects.”

If it goes ahead, it will cost the Thai government an estimated $13.8 billion. At least 20 million people have registered for the plan.

The only industry seen as thriving economically is Thailand’s crucial tourism industry. At its peak in 2019, tourism accounted for 11.5% of the country’s overall GDP.

By August, there were 21 million visitors to Thailand, with about 36 million forecasted by the end of this year.

Thailand recently relaxed entry rules so tourists from 93 countries will now be permitted 60 days on arrival. A Destination Thailand Visa also was launched that allows digital nomads to live, work and travel in the country.

Kiatanantha, the economic lecturer, said more tourism is a “good sign,” but improvements are needed.

“[Tourism] focuses on a few tourism attractions like Bangkok, Phuket and in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Until [tourism income] is a distributed benefit to other regions, that’s a problem,” said Kiatanantha.

“The health sector has potential. It can combine with the tourism sector to generate a bigger sector where people come for leisure and some health checkups or wellness, and that’s the sector that we are good at,” said Kiatanantha. “Tourism is still a goal, but it has to be a sustainable one. We need to attract tourism with more purchasing power.”

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Mississippi bus crash kills 7, injures dozens

BOVINA, Mississippi — Seven people were killed and dozens were injured in Mississippi after a commercial bus overturned on Interstate 20 Saturday morning, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol. 

Six passengers were pronounced dead at the scene and another died at a hospital, according to a news release. The bus was traveling west when it left the highway near Bovina in Warren County and flipped over. No other vehicle was involved. 

The crash was caused by tire failure, the National Transportation Safety Board said on the social media platform known as X. The bus was operated by Autobuses Regiomontanos based in Laredo, Texas. A woman who answered the phone at the company said it was aware of the crash, but she didn’t answer questions or provide her name. 

The transit company says it has 20 years of experience providing cross-border trips between 100 destinations in Mexico and the United States. Its website promotes “a modern fleet of buses that receive daily maintenance,” and offers “trips with a special price for workers.” 

The dead included a 6-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister, according to Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey. They were identified by their mother. Authorities were working to identify the other victims, he said. 

Thirty-seven passengers were taken to hospitals in Vicksburg and Jackson. The department is continuing its investigation and hasn’t released the names of the deceased. No other information was immediately provided. 

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Japan wants its hardworking citizens to try a 4-day workweek

tokyo — Japan, a nation so hardworking its language has a term for literally working oneself to death, is trying to address a worrisome labor shortage by coaxing more people and companies to adopt four-day workweeks. 

The Japanese government first expressed support for a shorter working week in 2021, after lawmakers endorsed the idea. The concept has been slow to catch on, however; about 8% of companies in Japan allow employees to take three or more days off per week, while 7% give their workers the legally mandated one day off, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. 

Hoping to produce more takers, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, the government launched a “work style reform” campaign that promotes shorter hours and other flexible arrangements along with overtime limits and paid annual leave. The labor ministry recently started offering free consulting, grants and a growing library of success stories as further motivation. 

“By realizing a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” states a ministry website about the “Hataraki-kata kaikaku” campaign, which translates to “innovating how we work.” 

The department overseeing the new support services for businesses says only three companies have come forward so far to request advice on making changes, relevant regulations and available subsidies, illustrating the challenges the initiative faces. 

Perhaps more telling: of the 63,000 Panasonic Holdings Corp. employees who are eligible for four-day schedules at the electronics maker and its group companies in Japan, only 150 employees have opted to take them, according to Yohei Mori, who oversees the initiative at one Panasonic company. 

The government’s official backing of a better work-life balance represents a marked change in Japan, a country whose reputed culture of workaholic stoicism often got credited for the national recovery and stellar economic growth after World War II. 

Conformist pressures to sacrifice for one’s company are intense. Citizens typically take vacations at the same time of year as their colleagues — during the Bon holidays in the summer and around New Year’s — so co-workers can’t accuse them of being neglectful or uncaring. 

Long hours are the norm. Though 85% of employers report giving their workers two days off a week and there are legal restrictions on overtime hours — which are negotiated with labor unions and detailed in contracts — some Japanese do “service overtime,” meaning it’s unreported and performed without compensation. 

A recent government white paper on “karoshi,” the Japanese term that in English means “death from overwork, said Japan has at least 54 such fatalities a year, including from heart attacks. 

Japan’s “serious, conscientious and hard-working” people tend to value their relationships with their colleagues and form a bond with their companies, and Japanese TV shows and manga comics often focus on the workplace, said Tim Craig, the author of a book called “Cool Japan: Case Studies from Japan’s Cultural and Creative Industries.” 

“Work is a big deal here. It’s not just a way to make money, although it is that, too,” said Craig, who previously taught at Doshisha Business School and founded editing and translation firm BlueSky Academic Services. 

Some officials consider changing that mindset as crucial to maintaining a viable workforce amid Japan’s nosediving birth rate. At the current rate, which is partly attributed to the country’s job-focused culture, the working age population is expected to decline 40% to 45 million people in 2065, from the current 74 million, according to government data. 

Proponents of the three-days-off model say it encourages people raising children, those caring for older relatives, retirees living on pensions, and others looking for flexibility or additional income to remain in the workforce for longer. 

Akiko Yokohama, who works at Spelldata, a small Tokyo-based technology company that allows employees to work a four-day schedule, takes Wednesdays off along with Saturdays and Sundays. The extra day off allows her to get her hair done, attend other appointments or go shopping. 

“It’s hard when you aren’t feeling well to keep going for five days in a row. The rest allows you to recover or go see the doctor. Emotionally, it’s less stressful,” Yokohama said. 

Her husband, a real estate broker, also gets Wednesdays off but works weekends, which is common in his industry. Yokohama said that allows the couple to go on midweek family outings with their elementary-school age child. 

Fast Retailing Co., the Japanese company that owns Uniqlo, Theory, J Brand and other clothing brands, pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., and electronics companies Ricoh Co. and Hitachi also began offering a four-day workweek in recent years. 

The trend even has gained traction in the notoriously consuming finance industry. Brokerage SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. started letting workers put in four days a week in 2020. Banking giant Mizuho Financial Group offers a three-day schedule option. 

Critics of the government’s push say that in practice, people put on four-day schedules often end up working just as hard for less pay. 

But there are signs of change. 

An annual Gallup survey that measures employee engagement ranked Japan as having among the least engaged workers of all nationalities surveyed; in the most recent survey, only 6% of the Japanese respondents described themselves as engaged at work compared to the global average of 23%. 

That means relatively few Japanese workers felt highly involved in their workplace and enthusiastic about their work, while most were putting in their hours without investing passion or energy. 

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Border arrests expected to rise in August; 5-month drop might have ended

san diego, california — Arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico during August are expected to rise slightly from July, officials said, likely ending five straight months of declines. 

Authorities made about 54,000 arrests through Thursday, which, at the current rate, would bring the August total to about 58,000 when the month ends Saturday, according to two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that has not been publicly released. 

The tally suggests that arrests could be bottoming out after being halved from a record 250,000 in December, a decline that U.S. officials largely attributed to Mexican authorities increasing enforcement within their borders. Arrests were more than halved again after Democratic President Joe Biden invoked authority to temporarily suspend asylum processing in June. Arrests plunged to 56,408 in July, a 46-month low that changed little in August. 

Asked about the latest numbers, the Homeland Security Department released a statement by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling on Congress to support failed legislation that would have suspended asylum processing when crossings reached certain thresholds, reshaped how asylum claims are decided to relieve bottlenecked immigration courts and added Border Patrol agents, among other things. 

Republicans including presidential nominee Donald Trump opposed the bill, calling it insufficient. 

“Thanks to action taken by the Biden-Harris Administration, the hard work of our DHS personnel and our partnerships with other countries in the region and around the world, we continue to see the lowest number of encounters at our Southwest border since September 2020,” Mayorkas said Saturday. 

The steep drop from last year’s highs is welcome news for the White House and the Democrats’ White House nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, despite criticism from many immigration advocates that asylum restrictions go too far and from those favoring more enforcement who say Biden’s new and expanded legal paths to entry are far too generous. 

More than 765,000 people entered the United States legally through the end of July using an online appointment app called CBP One and an additional 520,000 from four nationalities were allowed through airports with financial sponsors. The airport-based offer to people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela — all nationalities that are difficult to deport — was briefly suspended in July to address concerns about fraud by U.S. financial sponsors. 

San Diego, California, again had the most arrests among the Border Patrol’s nine sectors on the Mexican border in August, followed by El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona, though the three busiest corridors were close, the officials said. Arrests of Colombians and Ecuadoreans fell, which officials attributed to deportation flights to those South American countries. Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras were the top three nationalities. 

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Japan lodges protest over Chinese survey ship in its territorial waters

TOKYO — Japan lodged a formal protest via China’s embassy against what it called an incursion by a Chinese survey ship into its territorial waters Saturday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry expressed “strong concern” after the ship was spotted near Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, early in the morning.

The Chinese ship, confirmed in territorial waters at 6 a.m., left shortly before 8 a.m., according to Japan’s Defense Ministry, adding it was monitored by a Japanese military vessel and plane.

Recently, China’s increasingly assertive activity around Japanese waters and airspace has caused unease among Japanese defense officials, who are also concerned about the growing military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces.

This follows Tokyo’s protest after a Chinese military aircraft briefly entered Japan’s southwestern airspace Monday. It was the first time the Japanese Self Defense Force detected a Chinese military aircraft in Japan’s airspace.

Earlier this week, Tokyo told Chinese diplomats that Monday’s violation of its airspace was “unacceptable.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday his country had “no intention” to violate any country’s airspace.

Bilateral business ties between the two countries, as well as exchanges among scholars and businesspeople among others, remain strong.

Saturday’s incident marked the 10th time in the past year that a Chinese naval survey ship has sailed into or through Japan’s territorial waters, and the 13th such incursion if submarines and other intelligence-gathering vessels are included, according to national Japan broadcaster NHK.

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Harris calls on Trump to debate with mics ‘on the whole time’

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee in the November 5 U.S. presidential election, on Saturday called on her Republican rival, Donald Trump, to debate her with their microphones switched on throughout the event.

Harris and the former president have agreed to a debate, hosted by ABC News, on September 10.

“Donald Trump is surrendering to his advisors who won’t allow him to debate with a live microphone. If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t,” Harris said in a post on social media platform X.

“We are running for President of the United States. Let’s debate in a transparent way with the microphones on the whole time.”

Trump has said that he preferred to have his microphone kept on and that he did not like it muted during the last debate against then-contender President Joe Biden.

So-called “hot mics” can help or hurt political candidates, catching off-hand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public. Muted microphones also prevent the debaters from interrupting their opponent.

A representative for ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The debate would be the first time Harris and Trump face off since Biden dropped out of the presidential race following a poor performance at a CNN debate in June that raised doubts about his mental acuity.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance have agreed to an October 1 debate on CBS News.

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Tourist helicopter carrying 22 goes missing in Russia’s Kamchatka

Moscow, Russia — A helicopter with 22 people aboard, most of them tourists, has gone missing in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula in the far east, regional authorities said Saturday.

“Today at about 1615 (0415 GMT) communication was lost with a Mi-8 helicopter … which had 22 people on board, 19 passengers and three crew members,” Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram.

Rescue teams in helicopters have been searching into the night for the missing aircraft, focusing on a river valley that the helicopter was due to fly along, Russian authorities said.

The Mi-8 is a Soviet-designed military helicopter that is widely used for transport in Russia.

The missing helicopter had picked up passengers near the Vachkazhets ancient volcano in a scenic area of the peninsula known for its wild landscapes, pristine rivers, geysers and active volcanoes.

Kamchatka, which is nine hours ahead of Moscow, is a popular tourist destination.

A source in the emergency services told TASS news agency that the helicopter disappeared from radar almost immediately after taking off and the crew did not report any problems.

The local weather service said there was poor visibility in the airport area.

Accidents involving planes and helicopters are frequent in Russia’s far eastern region, which is sparsely populated and where there is often harsh weather.

The emergencies ministry said the search and rescue operation was being hampered by thick fog in the area.

In August 2021, a Mi-8 helicopter with 16 people on board, including 13 tourists, crashed into a lake in Kamchatka due to poor visibility, killing eight.

In July the same year, a plane crashed as it tried to land on the peninsula, with 22 passengers and 6 crew aboard, all of whom were killed.

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Harris’ record in California praised, ridiculed, in US presidential campaign

U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris is from one of America’s most politically liberal states — California. Her work as a local prosecutor, the state’s attorney general and U.S. senator is central to Harris’ presidential campaign. Her opponent, Donald Trump, says that Harris’ record in California shows she is too liberal for the rest of America. From Los Angeles, Genia Dulot tells us what Californians are saying.

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Dispute over border telecom plan further strains China-North Korea ties 

washington — A new sign of discord has emerged in the ties between North Korea and China over Beijing’s plan to install telecommunication facilities near its border, which analysts say could be a way for China to exert its influence over its southern neighbor.

Pyongyang has apparently objected to China’s plan to install the facilities, which could broadcast FM radio signals into North Korea.

Pyongyang sent an email complaining about the plan to the U.N. telecoms agency, the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, saying Beijing failed to consult it about the plan in advance, which constitutes an “infringement” of an ITU guideline, Kyodo News reported this week.

The complaint was sent after the U.N. agency, which facilitates global communication connectivity, disclosed information in June about China’s plan to set up 191 telecom facilities capable of broadcasting FM signals, including 17 stations near the North Korean border, according to Kyodo.

Pyongyang said those 17 stations, including the ones in the border city of Dandong, could cause “serious interference.”

A spokesperson for ITU told VOA Korean that “ITU cannot confirm whether or not it received such a complaint” as “such objections may contain sensitive or confidential information not intended for the general public and may hamper bilateral consultations.”

The spokesperson said China and North Korea have “no formal obligation to get agreement from each other before registering FM stations with ITU or bringing them into service.

“Therefore, operation of FM stations in these countries without prior coordination does not represent an infringement of ITU’s Radio Regulations,” but “such coordination is very much desirable and recommended to avoid interference.”

Patricia Kim, a fellow specializing in Chinese foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said, “It’s quite notable that Pyongyang chose to publicly lodge a complaint with an international organization rather than to resolve this dispute with Beijing privately.”

“This is not how allies typically handle disputes, and the incident suggests that Beijing and Pyongyang are not on favorable or intimate terms at the moment,” she said.

Lui Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Wednesday that China and North Korea “have always maintained friendly relations” and the “relevant issue can be properly resolved through dialogue and communication.”

 

Growing signs of strain

Some signs of trouble have begun to show in the relationship between Pyongyang and Beijing since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un forged a close bond with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023 when the two met in Russia.

Putin reciprocated Kim’s visit by taking a trip to Pyongyang in June when the two signed a mutual defense treaty and vowed to deepen their military cooperation.

A few days after Putin’s Pyongyang visit, North Korea switched its state TV broadcast transmission from a Chinese satellite to a Russian one, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

In July, China demanded that North Korea take back all its workers in China after their visas expired, while Pyongyang wanted to repatriate them gradually over time, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

North Korean workers are thought to have remained in China despite U.N. sanctions that required them to be sent back by December 2019.

Analysts say China may have decided to put telecom facilities at the border to transmit information to North Koreans as a way to exert its influence in the country and to offset its strained ties with the regime.

Beijing “could have made the decision not to put anything near the North Korean border, but they didn’t do that,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.

“China wants to dominate East Asia,” and spreading Chinese propaganda and perspectives to promote its lifestyle and get people to buy from Chinese markets is “a key part of China’s plans for dominance in the region,” he said.

China has been North Korea’s largest trading partner. In 2023, North Korea conducted more than 98% of its foreign trade with China. But the trade between the two has been falling this year, dropping 6% in May from April, according to Chinese customs trade data released in May and reviewed by VOA Korean.

A report by the Korean Institute for International Economic Policy in Seoul forecasts that “North Korea’s exports are unlikely to increase significantly” in 2024 “as North Korea-Russia military cooperation is expected to continue.”

Military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has branched into economic cooperation. On Wednesday, talks were held in Pyongyang between industry and trade representatives of North Korea and Russia on “further developing the economic cooperation,” according to state-run KCNA.

Fear of outside information

Even if Beijing does not intend to convey information directly to North Koreans, the regime might have objected to Chinese telecom stations because they provide an “additional path through which information will be able to reach the country from the outside,” said Martyn Williams, a senior fellow for the Stimson Center’s Korea Program.

“Some of the new stations will be receivable inside North Korea, and it could be for this reason that North Korea has complained,” Williams said.

North Korea is known to take tight control of information coming from the outside world, prohibiting media content that is not sanctioned by the government.

The regime cracks down harshly on people who receive outside information, especially South Korean drama and music, by sending them to prison with the penalty of months of hard labor or sometimes even death.

Michael Swaine, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said despite North Korea’s attempt to control information entering the country, the complaint about the Chinese telecom stations shows that “Pyongyang does not control its broadcast space.” 

Soyoung Ahn and Jiha Ham contributed to this report.

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Floods in Nigeria kill scores, wash away farmland, raise hunger concerns

ABUJA, Nigeria — Weeks of flooding have killed 185 people in Nigeria and washed away homes and farmlands, the country’s disaster management agency said, further threatening food supplies, especially in the hard-hit northern region.

The floods, blamed on poor infrastructure and badly maintained dams, have displaced 208,000 people in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states, the National Emergency Management Agency said in an update Friday, triggering frantic efforts to evacuate hundreds of thousands to makeshift shelters.

Nigeria records flooding every year mostly as a result of failure to follow environmental guidelines and inadequate infrastructure. The worst floods the country has seen in a decade were in 2022, when more than 600 people were killed and more than 1 million people were displaced.

However, unlike in 2022 when the floods were blamed on heavier rainfall, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency predicted delayed or normal rains in most parts of the country this year and said the current floods were more a result of human activities.

“What we are doing is causing this climate change, so there is a shift from the normal,” said Ibrahim Wasiu Adeniyi, head of the central forecasting unit. “We have some who dump refuse indiscriminately, some build houses without approvals along the waterways.”

The Nigerian disaster response agency warned the flooding could get worse in the coming weeks as the flood waters flow downwards to the central and southern states.

“People [in flood-prone areas] need to evacuate now … because we don’t have time any longer,” said its spokesperson, Manzo Ezekiel.

In Jigawa, the worst-hit state, has recorded 37 deaths. The impact of the floods there has been “devastating,” and authorities are converting public buildings and schools as shelters for those displaced, according to Nura Abdullahi, head of emergency services in the state.

The floods have so far destroyed 107,000 hectares of farmland, especially in northern states, among the most affected and where most of Nigeria’s harvests come from.

Many farmers in the region are already unable to farm as much as they would like either because of decreasing inputs as families struggle amid Nigeria’s economic hardship or as a result of violent attacks that have forced them to flee.

Nigeria has the highest number of hungry people in the world, with 32 million — 10% of the global burden — facing acute hunger in the country, according to the U.N. food agency.

Resident Abdullahi Gummi in Zamfara state’s Gummi council area said the floods destroyed his family’s farmlands, which are their source of income. “We spent around 300,000 naira [$188] on planting, but everything is gone,” Gummi said.

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Gaza conflict shapes — and reshapes — political views of Muslim American voters

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‘Renaissance of illegals’: Since its war in Ukraine, Russia is relying more on bargain basement spies

Madrid/Washington — They are known as “illegals” — spies who operate under the guise of normal jobs.

Since Russia lost many of its valuable spy assets when dozens of diplomats were expelled from Western countries after the invasion of Ukraine, these civilian agents have become essential.

Experts in Russian intelligence told VOA that this was the “renaissance of illegals,” with 90% of operations now carried out by these shadowy figures.

The August 1 hostage swap, in which American journalists and Russian rights activists were exchanged for an assassin and spies, exposed how some of these “illegals” operate.

Many manage to avoid detection by working in innocuous jobs that allow them access to events and people of interest to Moscow. The prisoner swap included supposed art dealers and a freelance journalist.

President Vladimir Putin welcomed back Russian couple Artem and Anna Dultsev, who posed as Argentinians and ran a tech start-up and gallery in Slovenia, and Spanish-Russian freelance reporter Pablo Gonzalez, also known as Pavel Rubtsov.

On the surface, Gonzalez worked as a reporter for media outlets that included DW and VOA, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. But in reality, according to the head of the British MI6 secret service, he was gathering information on Russian opposition groups and trying to destabilize Ukraine in the run up to Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Polish authorities detained Gonzalez in February 2022. Until August 1, he was held in a high-security jail on charges of spying for Russia — allegations he had denied.

Media watchdogs condemned the conditions in which Poland held Gonzalez, but footage of him being welcomed by Putin after the swap appeared to confirm his primary role was spy craft, not journalism.

Gonzalez himself gave VOA a cryptic answer to a request for an interview. Referring to an earlier VOA article about his release, Gonzalez said through his Spanish wife, Oihana Goiriena, “If there are no more speculations, then I don’t know what you want to talk about.”

 

Russian roots

Speaking perfect Russian and Spanish, Gonzalez forged a career in journalism after studying Slavic studies at the University of Barcelona. But despite his new life in the West, he retained much sympathy for his country of birth.

A source with knowledge of the Russian intelligence sector who did not want to be named told VOA that Gonzalez grew up in Spain’s Basque country, where sympathies for a regional independence movement are common — and, in left-wing circles, support for Putin is not unusual.

This meant many who met him did not question his pro-Russian leanings; far fewer suspected he secretly worked for Russian intelligence.

“This is a renaissance for illegals,” Oleksandr V. Danylyuk, an expert in subversive Russian and Soviet special services, told VOA from Kyiv.

“Historically, it was so difficult to travel abroad. [These spies] can travel, they can live, they can join governments, businesses,” said Danylyuk, who is an associate fellow of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, a defense think-tank.

“Some people are still not convinced that illegals are important, but it is 90% of all the [Russian intelligence] activity.”

Danylyuk said part of their value is that millions of Russians — and foreign-national Kremlin sympathizers — can travel freely without suspicion.

“They can travel to Silicon Valley and steal secrets, and they can recruit Westerners. Why would you need to use diplomats?” he said. “For some specific tasks, yes, but in fact for other operations you would use illegals, and you would have spymasters.”

Danylyuk said one purpose of illegals is to exert influence on the Western world by infiltrating radical protest groups or opposition organizations.

In 2016, Gonzalez engaged with leaders of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom — named after the Russian opposition politician assassinated in 2015 — where he became close with key members of the group.

Nemtsov’s daughter and co-founder of the foundation, Zhanna Nemtsova, said she was a target of Gonzalez’s espionage.

“I was the first to tell Agentstvo about Pablo Gonzalez/Pavel Rubtsov in May 2023 after I had access to the case materials,” she wrote on social media X on August 27. Agentstvo is an independent Russian media outlet.

Gonzalez collected detailed reports on his contacts with Nemtsova and the foundation, Agentstvo said.

Spy operations

Marc Marginedas, a correspondent for Spanish newspaper El Periodico, said despite the expulsions of Russian diplomats after the Ukraine invasion, the Russian intelligence service is like a small army.

“Tens of thousands of people work for the different branches of the intelligence services in Russia. Some sources elevate this to hundreds of thousands if it includes those working not on a regular basis,” said Marginedas, who specializes in the former Soviet states and Middle East.

Staff in Russian embassies and state-run media organizations, he added, are probably forced to work in some kind of intelligence capacity.

Marginedas agreed that “illegals” are now a mainstay of Moscow’s spying operation.

“Russia has invested heavily in ‘illegal’ agents who do not enjoy diplomatic protection,” he said.

“They provide them with a personal alibi that is very difficult to track down. Latin American countries, with not very tight controls and regulations when providing citizenship to foreigners, are very useful for this purpose.”

Marginedas said that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine resulted in large numbers of suspected Russian spies being expelled from embassies around the world. So, when Putin appeared at the airport in Moscow to welcome the agents in the prisoner swap in August, it sent a specific message.

“Following the war in Ukraine and the mass expulsions of Russian diplomats from Western countries, its capacities were seriously undermined,” Marginedas said.

“Putin, by receiving those people with pomp at [Moscow’s] airport and promising them jobs and medals, was sending out the message to the future spies that the Russian state will not abandon its spies.”

A journalist who knew Gonzalez said his real identity came as a shock.

Xavier Colas, who works for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, has known Gonzalez since 2014 when they met in Ukraine.

“He was not a person who pretended to be a journalist. He really was one. He did reports and traveled and knew what he was talking about,” Colas said. “He styled himself as an expert in Ukraine and other [post-Soviet] republics. He knew his stuff.”

Colas, whom Russia expelled earlier this year, also said Gonzalez espoused “pro-Russian” arguments that attacked Ukraine and the European Union and claimed Alexei Navalny, the late opposition leader imprisoned by Russia, was being treated well by the Russian government.

Navalny died in a penal colony in the Arctic in February.

“Gonzalez’s opinions were very pro-Russian. But he was not some stupid young radical journalist. He knew what he was talking about, but his arguments did not make sense,” Colas remembers.

He said that Gonzalez worked for mostly regional newspapers such as the pro-separatist Basque Gara newspaper, but he never seemed short of funds to travel to all parts of Ukraine and Syria.

Gonzalez worked for Spanish outlets Publico, La Sexta and Gara. He also worked as a freelancer for Voice of America in 2020 and 2021 and the public broadcasters Deutsche Welle and EFE.

VOA hired Gonzalez via a third-party freelance media platform. After learning of his arrest in Poland, the broadcaster removed his content.

Deutsche Welle did not reply to a request for comment. But Miguel Angel Oliver, president of EFE, told VOA: “We have not made any comment. Gonzalez worked for EFE over two years ago. It was a brief collaboration principally about photographs at the start of the Ukraine war.”

Colas said he thought Gonzalez came from “a wealthy Basque country family.” It was a shock, he said, when Gonzalez emerged from a plane with a Russian hitman and other spies.

“I knew for a while that the Spanish secret services believed he was a spy. But this was still a shock for me,” he said.

Intelligence services

Three different intelligence services had no doubt about where Gonzalez’s real loyalties lay — even if his colleagues and many peers were in the dark.

Spanish secret services, who spoke on background to a VOA reporter, said they believed he was a Russian spy. And Polish security services said Gonzalez was included in the prisoner swap because of “common security issues” with the United States.

In a statement, they said: “Pavel Rubtsov, a GRU officer arrested in Poland in 2022, [had been] carrying out intelligence tasks in Europe.”

Richard Moore, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6, said at the Aspen Security Forum in 2022 that Gonzalez was an “illegal” arrested in Poland after “masquerading as a Spanish journalist.”

“He was going into Ukraine to be part of their destabilizing efforts there,” Moore said.

Gonzalez has always denied spying for Russia.

His lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, noted the case of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter Russia detained on false espionage charges who was freed in the prisoner swap and welcomed by U.S. President Joe Biden.

“Nobody in the USA has questioned that Gershkovich was simply a journalist. We think that neither Gershkovich nor Pablo Gonzalez are spies, but journalists are trapped in a new kind of cold war, where truth matters little,” he told VOA.

Boye also acted as a lawyer for Edward Snowden and Carles Puigdemont, a fugitive former Catalan independence leader wanted in Spain on charges of embezzlement and misuse of public funds. (Boye himself has faced legal action, convicted in a 1996 trial involving Basque separatists.)

Gonzalez is now living in Russia, but his wife, Goiriena, still lives with the couple’s three children in Spain’s Basque country. She told VOA that she remains in touch with her husband daily by social media or telephone.

“So far there is no news of him coming back from Russia,” she said. “I think he has to recover from everything he has been through.”

While living in Warsaw in the run-up to Russia’s invasion, Gonzalez had a girlfriend, named in local media as Magdalena Chodownik. She has since been charged by Polish authorities with assisting espionage but denies the charge.

Chodownik, who has worked for several European outlets, declined to comment to VOA when asked about Gonzalez.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry did not reply when asked by VOA if Gonzalez will be allowed to return to Spain to see his family while Poland has accused him of spying.

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China accuses Philippine ship of deliberately hitting coast guard vessel

Beijing — Beijing accused a Philippine ship of deliberately running into a Chinese coast guard vessel on Saturday near a flashpoint shoal in the South China Sea, the latest in a spate of similar incidents in recent weeks.

China claims almost all of the economically vital waterway despite competing claims from other countries and an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

A Chinese coast guard spokesperson said Saturday’s incident took place off the disputed Sabina Shoal, which has emerged as a new hotspot in the long-running maritime confrontations between Manila and Beijing.

Shortly after noon, a Philippine ship “deliberately collided with” a Chinese vessel near the shoal, known in Chinese as Xianbin, said spokesperson Liu Dejun, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“China exercises indisputable sovereignty” in this zone, Liu added.

Liu condemned the Philippine vessel’s “unprofessional and dangerous” conduct.

Sabina Shoal is located 140 kilometers west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese landmass.

Philippine and Chinese vessels have collided at least twice this month near Sabina, which analysts say Beijing is seeking to further encroach upon, moving deeper into Manila’s exclusive economic zone and normalizing Chinese control of the area.

The discovery this year of piles of crushed coral at the shoal ignited suspicion in Manila that Beijing was planning to build another permanent base there, which would be its closest outpost to the Philippine archipelago.

Recent clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels have also taken place around the Second Thomas Shoal.

A Filipino sailor lost a thumb in a clash there in June when Chinese coast guard members wielding knives, sticks and an axe foiled a Philippine Navy attempt to resupply a small garrison.

Sabina Shoal is also the rendezvous point for Philippine resupply missions to the garrison on Second Thomas Shoal.

The repeated confrontations prompted Manila to brand Beijing the “biggest disruptor” to peace in Southeast Asia at a defense conference this month.

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Ukrainian air defense downs 24 Russian drones, Kyiv says

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian air defenses shot down 24 out of 52 drones launched by Russia during overnight attacks on eight regions across Ukraine, the air force said Saturday.

It said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that 25 Shahed drones had fallen on their own and three others had flown toward Russia and Belarus. There were no reports of anybody being hurt in the attacks or of any major damage being caused.

Ukraine uses electronic warfare as well as mobile hunting groups and aircraft defenses to repel frequent Russian drone and missile strikes.

Air alerts sounded several times during the overnight drone attacks, with many people rushing to shelters in the middle of the night.

In the capital, Kyiv, where alerts lasted for about four hours, it was the fourth drone attack this week, officials said.

All drones targeting the city were downed and no major damage was reported, Kyiv city officials said.

Ukrainian air defenses also shot down Russian drones in the Poltava, Cherkasy, Kyrovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk regions in central Ukraine, in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north and the Mykolayiv region in the south.

Regional officials in the Cherkasy region said the drones’ debris had damaged several private houses.

The Russian forces also launched five missiles during the attack, the Ukrainian air force said, but gave no other details.

Meanwhile, five people were killed and 46 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod late Friday, the local governor said. Vyacheslav Gladkov said that 37 of the injured, including seven children, were hospitalized.

Video from a car dashboard, posted on social media and purporting to demonstrate the attack, showed another car being blown up while moving on the road. Seconds later an explosion is seen on the other side of the road. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

Russia’s Investigation Committee said on its Telegram channel that it had initiated a criminal case into the Belgorod attack.

Authorities also reported that a woman was injured Saturday during Ukrainian shelling of the border town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region.

Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months. The city has been the focal point of the attacks.

Ukraine and Russia say they do not deliberately target civilians in the war that began when Russia sent thousands of troops into its smaller neighbor in February 2022. Moscow has called the invasion a “special military operation.”

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High rents are forcing small businesses in into tough choices

NEW YORK — While many costs have come down for small businesses, rents remain high and in some cases are still rising, forcing many owners into some uncomfortable decisions.

“Every time the rent goes up, we have to raise prices, to keep up with the cost,” said Adelita Valentine, owner of HairFreek Barbers in Los Angeles. “But with the cost of living, it makes it difficult on our customers.”

Other owners are choosing to be late on payments or seeking out new locations where the rent is lower. A few are pushing back against their landlord.

Although inflation is easing, it remains a top concern for small businesses. According to Bank of America internal data, rent payments per small business client rose 11% year-over-year in July. That’s more than twice the increase for renting and owning a residence, a metric known as shelter, according to the government’s monthly Consumer Price Index. That figure rose 5.1% in July.

And although the situation has improved since the height of the pandemic, a survey by business networking platform Alignable of more than 6,000 small business owners found that 41% could not pay their July rent on time and in full. And 52% said they’ve encountered rent spikes in the past six months.

The rent for Valentine’s barbershop rose to $4,000 in January from $3,600 in December, the fifth increase in the past eight years. She had to raise the price for her cuts from $35 to $40.

Two months ago, she moved locations for a cheaper $3,200 rent, but her space is smaller now and she sees fewer families coming in.

“A lot of people can’t afford to take a whole family to get haircuts,” after the price increase, she said.

Peter Yu has owned iPAC Automotive, an auto repair and detailing shop in Ontario, Canada, for six years. He said the rent on the shop typically went up about 4% a year. But when his landlord sold the property to a new owner, Yu’s rent jumped from about $1,800 (2,500 Canadian dollars) to about $2,700 (3,700 Canadian dollars) after three months.

He contemplated moving but decided that the cost of a move would be more than just paying the extra rent.

Yu tried to raise prices a month ago, but customers would come in and say “Oh, its too expensive,” and leave, he said. So, he had to drop the price increase in order to get those customers back.

“When we do try to raise our prices, consumers don’t have the money to pay for it. They’re looking for financing options,” he said. Yu’s services run the gamut from paint correction that costs a few hundred dollars to troubleshooting problematic EV battery and electric drive units for out-of-warranty Teslas that can cost up to $15,000.

So instead, he’s going to try to improve his marketing, close more sales, and find a way to offer more financing.

Standing firm against a landlord sometimes works. Janna Rodriguez has run her home-based The Innovative Daycare Corp. in Freeport, New York, since 2018. When she first signed her lease, she paid $3,500, plus costs including landscaping and maintenance. In 2020, the pandemic began, and her landlord raised her rent to $3,800 and also made her start paying half of the homeowner’s insurance. Last year, the landlord raised her rent to $4,100, plus the additional expenses.

Rodriguez raised her prices for the first time, by $10 per child per week, to help offset the rising rent.

This year she successfully pushed back when the landlord wanted to raise the rent yet again.

“I said to them, if you do that, then I’m going to find another property to move my business to, because at this point now you’re trying to bankrupt a business, right?” 

It’s worked – so far. But Rodriguez is worried about the future.

For others, negotiating a late payment is an option. Nicole Pomije owner of Minneapolis-based The Cookie Cups, which makes cookie kits for kids, has a 372-square-meter office space along with a warehouse where she develops her line of baking kits. Her rent rose 10% this year to $4,000 monthly. Then there are unanticipated bills, such as $1,500 for snow plowing.

“There’s so much stuff that pops up that you just you never expect,” she said. “And it’s always when you never expect it.”

Pomije hasn’t raised prices, but instead tried to mitigate the higher rent costs by buying materials in bulk – like ordering 5,000 boxes instead of 1,000 boxes for a 40% discount — and finding cost savings elsewhere.

Still, there have been several months over the past couple of years where she couldn’t pay rent on time. So, far the landlord has been amenable.

“If we have a conversation like hey, we don’t know if we’re going to make it for the first this month. It might be closer to the tenth,” she said.

Asked if she thinks costs might ease in the future, Pomije said she is focused on the present.

“It’s weird, but I’m trying not to think about the future too much and I’m trying to just do what we have to do, and get ready for a holiday season and just, like, get everything paid on time now,” she said. “And then we’ll kind of reevaluate everything in January.”

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Here’s what Harris and Trump have said about easing costs for families

WASHINGTON — The high cost of caring for children and the elderly has forced women out of the workforce, devastated family finances, and left professional caretakers in low-wage jobs — all while slowing economic growth. 

That families are suffering is not up for debate. As the economy emerges as a theme in this presidential election, the Democratic and Republican candidates have sketched out ideas for easing costs that reveal their divergent views about family. 

On this topic, the two tickets have one main commonality: Both of the presidential candidates — and their running mates — have, at one point or another, backed an expanded child tax credit. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination last week, has signaled that she plans to build on the ambitions of outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration, which sought to pour billions in taxpayer dollars into making child care and home care for elderly and disabled adults more affordable. She has not etched any of those plans into a formal policy platform. But in a speech earlier this month, she said her vision included raising the child tax credit. 

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican, has declined to answer questions about how he would make child care more affordable, even though it was an issue he tackled during his own administration. His running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, has a long history of pushing policies that would encourage Americans to have families, floating ideas like giving parents votes for their children. Just this month, Vance said he wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. But Vance has opposed government spending on child care, arguing that many children benefit from having one parent at home as caretaker. 

The candidates’ care agendas could figure prominently into their appeal to suburban women in swing states, a coveted demographic seen as key to victory in November. Women provide two-thirds of unpaid care work — valued at $1 trillion annually — and are disproportionately impacted when families can’t find affordable care for their children or aging parents. And the cost of care is an urgent problem: Child care prices are rising faster than inflation. 

Kamala Harris: Increase child tax credit 

When Harris addressed the Democratic National Convention, she talked first about her own experience with child care. She was raised mostly by a single mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who worked long hours as a breast cancer researcher. Among the people who formed her family’s support network was “Mrs. Shelton, who ran the day care below us and became a second mother.” 

As vice president, Harris worked behind the scenes in Congress on Biden’s proposals to establish national paid family leave, make prekindergarten universal, and invest billions in child care so families wouldn’t pay more than 7% of their income. She announced, too, the administration’s actions to lower copays for families using federal child care vouchers, and to raise wages for Medicaid-funded home health aides. Before that, her track record as a senator included pressing for greater labor rights for domestic workers, including nannies and home health aides who may be vulnerable to exploitation. 

This month at a community college in North Carolina, Harris outlined her campaign’s economic agenda, which includes raising the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 and giving families of newborns even more — $6,000 for the child’s first year. 

“That is a vital — vital year of critical development of a child, and the costs can really add up, especially for young parents who need to buy diapers and clothes and a car seat and so much else,” she told the audience. Her running mate selection of Tim Walz, who established paid leave and a child tax credit as governor of Minnesota, has also buoyed optimism among supporters. 

Donald Trump: Few specifics, but some past support 

For voters grappling with the high cost of child care, Trump has offered little in the way of solutions. During the June presidential debate, CNN moderator Jake Tapper twice asked Trump what he would do to lower child care costs. Both times, he failed to answer, instead pivoting to other topics. His campaign platform is similarly silent. It does tackle the cost of long-term care for the elderly, writing that Republicans would “support unpaid Family Caregivers through Tax Credits and reduced red tape.” 

The silence marks a shift from his first campaign, when he pitched paid parental leave, though it was panned by critics because his proposal excluded fathers. When he reached the White House, the former president sought $1 billion for child care, plus a parental leave policy at the urging of his daughter and policy adviser, Ivanka Trump. Congress rejected both proposals, but Trump succeeded in doubling the child tax credit and establishing paid leave for federal employees. 

In his 2019 State of the Union address, Trump said he was “proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave, so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.” 

This year, there are signs that his administration might not pursue the same agenda, including his selection of Vance as a running mate. In 2021, before he joined the Senate, Vance co-authored an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal opposing a proposal to invest billions in child care to make it more affordable for families. He and his co-author said expanding child care subsidies would lead to “unhappier, unhealthier children” and that having fewer mothers contributing to the economy might be a worthwhile trade-off. 

Vance has floated policies that would make it easier for a family to live off of a single income, making it possible for some parents to stay home while their partners work. Along with his embrace of policies he calls pro-family, he has tagged people who do not have or want children as “sociopaths.” He once derided Harris and other rising Democratic stars as “childless cat ladies,” even though Harris has two stepchildren — they call her “Momala” — and no cats. 

Even without details about new care policies, Trump believes that families would ultimately get a better deal under his administration. 

The Trump-Vance campaign has attacked Harris’ record on the economy and said the Biden administration’s policies have only made things tougher for families, pointing to recent inflation. 

“Harris … has proudly and repeatedly celebrated her role as Joe Biden’s co-pilot on Bidenomics,” said Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman. “The basic necessities of food, gas and housing are less affordable, unemployment is rising, and Kamala doesn’t seem to care.” 

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Analysts: Vietnamese leader visited China to reassure Beijing

Washington — Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam visited China to make sure that bilateral ties are on track under his country’s new leadership and to build personal ties with China’s top leaders, experts told VOA.

Lam landed in China on August 18 in his first foreign trip in his new role at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, just two weeks after Lam had been appointed party chief following the sudden passing of his predecessor, Nguyen Phu Trong.

At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi reportedly told Lam that China “has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy,” while Lam described ties with Beijing as “a top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy.”

The two leaders witnessed the signing of 14 cooperation documents on topics ranging from cross-border railways to crocodile exports. Xi also promised to widen the market for Vietnam’s agricultural produce.

According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, Xi visited then-party chief Trong in Hanoi late last year to promote the deepening of the two countries’ bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to a “China-Vietnam community with a shared future.” Xi did not meet Lam, who was then the minister of public security.

This time, Lam and his wife traveled to Beijing with a high-level entourage that included five members of the Politburo, the country’s highest decision-making body, and were greeted at the airport by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Lam was later received by Xi and his wife outside the Great Hall with a 21-cannon salute, the highest level for a head of state.

The next day, he was seen off at the airport by Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong.

The pomp that Beijing arranged for Lam is “indicative of it valuing ties with Hanoi and treating Hanoi as a heavyweight in its neighborhood diplomacy,” Khang Vu, a visiting international relations scholar at Boston College, wrote to VOA in an email.

Apart from Xi, Lam also familiarized himself with other top Chinese leaders during his visit, including Premier Li Qiang, Chairman of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji, and Chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference Wang Huning.

The fact that Lam traveled to China first and early into his party leadership speaks to a relationship that is on track and growing, even though Vietnam had just gone through an abrupt leadership change, Khang observed.

Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Hawaii-based Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, pointed to a possible meeting between Lam and U.S. President Joe Biden next month at the U.N. General Assembly in New York as the main reason Lam wanted to meet with Xi so quickly.

“This is to reassure Beijing of any progress in the Vietnam-U.S. relations and to express Hanoi’s deference to Beijing, which is an important element of Vietnam’s current approach to the great powers,” Vuving told VOA in an email.

Hanoi has made great efforts to strike a balance between the superpowers, an approach famously known as “bamboo diplomacy.” Biden visited Hanoi a year ago to elevate bilateral ties to the highest level — another comprehensive strategic partnership three months before Xi’s arrival in Hanoi.

The fact that Lam’s first foreign trip was to Beijing signifies the great importance Hanoi attaches to ties with its big neighbor, said Sang Huynh, a visiting scholar of international relations at the National University of Taiwan, in an email.

“Hanoi wants to keep the relationship stable, while Beijing is keen to keep Hanoi in its orbit,” he noted. “In general, the relationship is unlikely to take a different trajectory under To Lam.”

Party-to-party ties

Both Lam and Xi are chiefs of the largest communist parties in the world, and party-to-party ties have been exclusively at the core of bilateral ties. The joint declaration issued at the conclusion of the visit stressed the “historic mission” of the two parties to steadfastly pursue the socialist path.

In fact, Lam seized the opportunity on this trip to stress the countries’ shared communist heritage. He kicked off the visit not in Beijing but in Guangzhou, where late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh, the country’s founder, trained Vietnam’s first communists 100 years ago.

“The stop in Guangzhou is highly symbolic because Vietnam wants to show appreciation for Chinese support a century ago,” Sang said.

Khang noted that party-to-party ties, which have been active since the countries normalized ties in 1991, have played out well in mitigating tension, especially in the South China Sea.

“Hanoi is in a better position than Manila to deal with Beijing,” he observed.

However, Sang noted that Lam is less of an ideologue than Trong, so he is more pragmatic in his approach to China. 

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Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate, says NATO’s Stoltenberg

BERLIN — Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv’s right to self-defense, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly Welt am Sonntag in his first reaction to the advance into Russian territory.

“Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg told the paper, adding that NATO had not been informed about Ukraine’s plans beforehand and did not play a role in them.

The NATO chief said Ukraine was running a risk with the advance onto Russian territory but that it was up to Kyiv how to conduct its military campaign.

“(Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy has made clear that the operation aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further Russian attacks from across the border,” he said.

“Like all military operations, this comes with risks. But it is Ukraine’s decision how to defend itself.”

Kyiv launched a major cross-border incursion into the Kursk region on August 6, while Moscow’s troops keep pressing towards the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.

The incursion was also discussed at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine-Council on Wednesday that was requested by Kyiv amid Moscow’s biggest wave of air attacks on its neighbor.

The council, grouping members of the Western military alliance and Ukraine, was established last year to enable closer coordination between the alliance and Kyiv.

Russia has called the Kursk operation a “major provocation” and said it would retaliate. 

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With men at front lines, women watch Ukraine’s night sky for Russian drones

KYIV, Ukraine — When the air raid siren bellows in the dead of night, the women in arms rush to duty.

Barely two months since joining the mobile air-defense unit, 27-year-old Angelina has perfected the drill to a tee: Combat gear fitted, anti-aircraft machine gun in place, she cruised behind the wheel of a pickup, singing along to a Ukrainian song about rebellion.

The rest unfolded in seconds: Under a tree-lined position near Kyiv’s Bucha suburb, she and her five-woman unit mounted the gun, checked the salvo and waited. The chirp of crickets filled the silence until the Russian-launched Shahed drone was shot down — on this August night, by a nearby unit — another menace to near daily life in Ukraine eliminated.

To shoot down a drone brings her joy. “It’s just a rush of adrenaline,” said Angelina, who like other women in the unit spoke to The Associated Press on condition only their first names or call signs be used, in keeping with military policy.

Women are increasingly joining volunteer mobile units responsible for shooting down Russian drones that terrorize Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure as more men are sent east to the front line.

While women make up only a tiny fraction of the country’s armed forces, their service is vital. With tens of thousands of men reportedly recruited every month, women have stepped up as crucial operations from coal mines to territorial defense forces accept them to fulfill traditionally male roles.

At least 70 women have been recruited into the Bucha defense forces in recent months for anti-drone operations, said the area’s territorial defense commander, Col. Andrii Velarty. It’s part of a nationwide drive to attract part-time female volunteers to fill the ranks of local defense units.

The women come from all walks of life — stay-at-home moms to doctors like Angelina — and call themselves the “Witches of Bucha,” a nod to their role of keeping watch over the night skies for Russian drones.

Some were motivated to volunteer by the Russian massacre of hundreds of Bucha residents during the monthlong occupation of the Kyiv suburb by Russian troops soon after the February 2022 invasion. Bodies of men, women and children were left on the streets, in homes and in mass graves.

“We were here, saw these horrors,” said Angelina, who treated wounded residents, including children, during the Russian occupation.

So when she spotted a sign calling for female recruits on a highway while driving in June with her friend, Olena, also a doctor, “we didn’t hesitate,” she said.

“We called and were immediately told ‘Yes, come tomorrow,’” she said. “There is work that we can do here.”

A grueling training

At a training session deep inside Bucha’s forest this month, female recruits ranging in age from 27 to 51 were being tested on how quickly they could assemble and disassemble rifles. “I have eighth graders who can do this better,” their instructor shouted.

The recruits were taught about a variety of weapons and mines, tactics and how to detect Russian infiltrators — their skills adapted to a war in which their enemy’s methods are always changing.

“We train no less than men,” said Lidiia, who joined a month ago.

A 34-year-old sales clerk with four children, Lidiia said her main motivation was to do her part to protect her family. Her children have looked at her differently since she began wearing army fatigues, she said.

“My younger son always asks, ‘Mom, do you carry a gun?’ I say, ’Yes.’ He asks, ‘Do you shoot?’ I say, ‘Of course I do.’”

“I’ve always been the best for them, but now I’m the best in a slightly different way,” she said.

On July 31, she was on duty when Russia launched 89 Shahed drones, all of which were destroyed. Lidiia was an assistant machine-gunner that night.

“We got ready, we went to the call, we found that there were a lot of targets all over Ukraine,” she said. “We had night-vision devices so it was easy to spot the target.”

What did she feel as her unit shot down three of the drones? “Joy and some foul language,” Olena said.

After shooting down drones, the day job begins

When the sun rose, Angelina and Olena removed their heavy combat gear and went home to slip on surgical scrubs. Another shift, this time at the intensive care unit at the hospital where they work, was about to start.

By midnight, they would be back near the tree line, waiting for incoming Russian drones. “Today I slept for two hours and forty minutes,” Olena said.

There is no escape from the war for both women.

Their boyfriends are soldiers, and Angelina, an anesthesiologist, met hers at the hospital where he was recovering from a combat wound to his foot.

Seeing the numbers of wounded Ukrainian soldiers was one reason she decided to volunteer.

“To bring our victory closer. If we can do something to help, why not?” she said.

Angelina’s boyfriend worries every time she is on duty and the air raid alarm sounds. He texts her, “be careful” and when it ends, “write to me” — despite it being much scarier on the front lines, she said.

‘We are no longer women, we are soldiers’

The Russian drone attacks are typically more intense at night, but daytime attacks are just as deadly. The drone unit spends entire nights driving back and forth from their base in the forest to the position. Sometimes they stand there for hours waiting to shoot.

“There is nothing easy about it. In order to shoot it down, you have to train constantly,” Angelina said. “I have to train all the time, including on simulators.”

Their platoon commander, a confident woman with long braided hair who goes by the call sign Calypso, leads training in shooting, assault skills and combat medicine every Sunday.

There’s no difference between the male and female volunteers, she said.

“From the moment we come to serve, sign a contract, we are no longer women, we are soldiers,” she said. “We have to do our job, and men also understand this. We don’t come here to sit around and cook borscht or anything.”

“I have a feeling the girls and I would shoot down these Shaheds with our bare hands, with a stick, if we had to — anything to stop them from landing on our children, friends and family.”

The women in the mobile-fire units are on duty every two or three days. They work in groups of five, with a machine gunner, assistant, fire support, a driver and commander.

“Of course, war is war, but no one has canceled femininity,” Calypso said. “It doesn’t matter whether you hit a Shahed with painted eyes or not, the work is still going on. And not everyone has a manicure.”

As more women are trained to join the ranks of the territorial defense forces, the safer Ukraine’s skies will be, Angelina said.

“This means that I can make at least some small contribution to the fact that my mother sleeps peacefully, that my brothers and sisters go to school peacefully and they can meet their friends peacefully,” she said.

“So that my godsons can also grow under a relatively peaceful sky.”

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Germany ends military operations in junta-run Niger

Berlin — The German army on Friday vacated an air base in junta-run Niger and flew its final troops home, completing a withdrawal from the restive Sahel nation.

At the end of May, Germany and Niger reached an interim agreement allowing the German military to continue operating its airbase in the capital, Niamey, until the end of August.

But negotiations to extend that agreement broke down, notably because the base’s personnel would no longer benefit from immunity from prosecution.

Senior German and Nigerien military officials read out joint statements announcing the completion of the withdrawal.

“This withdrawal does not mark the end of military cooperation between Niger and Germany, in fact the two sides are committed to maintaining military relations,” they said.

Five cargo planes carrying 60 German troops and 146 tons of equipment landed at the Wunsdorf air base around 6:30 pm local time (1630 GMT), where they were met by state secretary for defense Nils Hilmer.

Germany had operated the base in Niger since February 2016, and it once housed some 3,200 personnel.

Niger has been run by a military government since a coup d’etat in July 2023 ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, who has been held as a prisoner ever since.

The regime has turned its back on other Western allies such as France and the United States to turn towards Russia and Iran.

A similar shift has taken place in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, which are likewise ruled by military leaders and faced with violence from jihadist groups. 

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Nigeria’s oil company lack funds to fix leaky pipelines

ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigeria’s decades-old oil pipelines are vital for transporting crude, but most are now corroded and vulnerable to leaks and vandalism. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation says it lacks the funds to fix these pipelines, sparking concerns about Nigeria’s oil production.

Oil fuels Nigeria’s economy, making up more than 90% of its export value. Pipelines are the veins transporting crude from production sites to ports and refineries.

But those pipelines have lost more than 3 million barrels of oil in the first five months of this year, according to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. That amounts to about $265 million or N400 billion, based on an average of $88 a barrel.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s recent disclosure of a funding shortfall for pipeline maintenance could have serious consequences.

Faith Nwadishi, a leading Nigerian energy expert, raised the alarm about potential risks of this development.

“Why would they say that they have a shortage in funding, knowing that the pipelines are the vehicles for transmitting or transporting the crude that could actually bring in funds and revenue to the country? … When these things are not done, we are also encouraging oil theft. We are encouraging destruction of the environment, oil spillages that could come from these pipelines that are over aged,” Nwadishi said.

Although it remains a major oil producer, Nigeria is often behind on production targets because of theft and infrastructure challenges.

NNPC’s 2023 financial statements show it spent nearly $29 million or N45.88 billion, on pipeline security and maintenance nationwide.

Public policy analyst Jide Ojo blamed the maintenance shortfall on multiple factors, including corruption.

“Corruption is what is responsible for the funding challenge of NNPCL. … When things are shrouded in secrecy, it spaces room for abuse of office, corruption and all manners of malpractice. … For many decades, we didn’t even know how many liters of crude oil we were producing per day and there was a lot of impunity in that sector,” Ojo said.

Nigeria’s 2022 Petroleum Industry Act aimed to boost sector performance and attract investments, but progress has been minimal.

Ojo stressed the need for better reforms to strengthen public-private partnerships.

“Government needs to have better policy environment. … The enabling environment needs to be better enhanced,” Ojo said. “Don’t forget, there is what is called the ease of doing business. I think the federal government needs to do more on that ease of doing business, so that our investors can come and make money, and be able to invest without much concern about repatriation of their money.”

Nigeria removed its petroleum subsidy in May 2023 to conserve oil revenue, causing fuel prices to surge.

Pipeline inefficiencies add to pricing pressure, straining Nigeria’s fragile economy.

Nwadishi called for a lasting solution to the crisis.

“If these pipelines have outlived their relevance or their lifespan, they should be replaced. … There’s technology to monitor the pressures that come from the different pipelines, and the different points of intersection,” she said. “It could also help to know when there’s interference in the pipeline. It also further helps to determine where volumes are being lost, so that early repairs can be made, and it reduces cost.”

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Africa’s mpox outbreaks could be stopped in 6 months, WHO chief says

geneva — The head of the World Health Organization believes mpox outbreaks in Africa might be stopped in the next six months, and he said Friday that the agency’s first shipment of vaccines should arrive in Congo within days. 

To date, Africa has received a small fraction of the vaccines needed to slow the spread of the virus, especially in Congo, which has the most cases — more than 18,000 suspected cases and 629 deaths. 

“With the governments’ leadership and close cooperation between partners, we believe we can stop these outbreaks in the next six months,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing. 

He said that while mpox infections have been rising quickly in the last few weeks, there have been relatively few deaths. Tedros also noted there were 258 cases of the newest version of mpox, with patients identified in Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Sweden and Thailand. 

Earlier this month, WHO declared the mpox outbreaks in Africa a global emergency, hoping to spur a robust global response to the disease on a continent where cases were spreading largely unnoticed for years, including in Nigeria. In May, scientists detected a new version of the disease in Congo that they think could be spreading more easily. 

Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is related to smallpox but typically causes milder symptoms, including fever, headache and body aches. In severe cases, people can develop painful sores and blisters on the face, chest, hands and genitals. Mpox is typically spread via close skin-to-skin contact. 

WHO estimated about 230,000 vaccines could be sent “imminently” to Congo and elsewhere. The agency said it was also working on education campaigns to raise awareness of how people could avoid spreading mpox in countries with outbreaks. 

Maria Van Kerkhove, who directs WHO’s epidemic and pandemic diseases department, said the agency was working to expedite vaccine access for affected countries — given the limited supply available. 

Scientists have previously pointed out that without a better understanding of how mpox is spreading in Africa, it may be difficult to know how best to use the shots. 

Earlier this week, the head of Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the continent was hoping to receive about 380,000 doses of mpox vaccines promised by donors, including the U.S. and the European Union. That’s less than 15% of the doses authorities have said are needed to end the mpox outbreaks in Congo. 

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