After six years on the run, the former president of Spain’s Catalonia region may come home to govern after his party won a close second in regional elections. But an investigation into his alleged ties to the Kremlin may prevent his return. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina in Barcelona. Alfonso Beato contributed.
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Analysts see signs of strain in north Korea-China ties
Seoul, South Korea — Tensions between North Korea and China surfaced publicly this week for the first time in years, after Pyongyang lashed out at a joint statement signed by Beijing mentioning the possibility of denuclearization.
The apparent rift between the two allies emerged as North Korea’s latest attempt to launch a military spy satellite interrupted a major diplomatic initiative by China.
North Korea announced that it would conduct the launch as China’s premier, Li Qiang, was in Seoul preparing to meet the top leaders of Japan and South Korea as part of a trilateral dialogue that had not occurred in almost five years.
The launch, which ended in a fiery explosion just after liftoff, occurred several hours after the trilateral dialogue wrapped up late Monday.
Although not unprecedented, it was a rare North Korean disruption of a major political event involving China, which has long been the main ally and economic lifeline for the isolated North.
The developments suggest fissures in a relationship that both sides have long insisted is “as close as lips and teeth,” according to Jean Lee, a Korea specialist at the East-West Center in Hawaii.
“I think what we’re seeing is that those fissures can break wide open with just a little bit of pressure,” she said.
Uncomfortable spot
North Korea’s actions left China’s Li in an awkward position, standing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who both condemned the impending launch.
Things got more uncomfortable from there. After the three men released a joint statement calling, among other things, for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, North Korea erupted.
In a statement posted in the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s foreign ministry accused the three countries of “mockery and trickery,” denouncing what it described as a “blatant challenge” to its sovereignty and “wanton interference” in its internal affairs.
Though the North Korean statement was primarily directed at summit host South Korea, it was also a “veiled but undeniable swipe” at China, said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a North Korea watcher and senior fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
“The North’s relations with China have looked to be cooling over the last year, but this is the first time in recent years any signs of trouble have broken into the open,” she wrote in a blog post on 38 North, a North Korea-focused website.
China has long called for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula – a formulation often embraced by other countries, including the United States and its allies.
North Korea has also accepted the idea of denuclearization in some settings, including perhaps most notably the joint statement signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former U.S. president Donald Trump following their first summit in 2018.
However, North Korea last year enshrined nuclear weapons in its constitution – a status Kim now calls “irreversible.”
North Korea’s moves have sparked major concerns among the U.S. and its allies, which have responded by ramping up their own displays of military strength.
In public settings, Chinese officials have called for all sides to show restraint, even while pressing the United States to make concessions in order to advance the denuclearization process.
Ups and downs
North Korea has not criticized China so blatantly since 2017, when Beijing backed United Nations Security Council sanctions over the North’s nuclear and missile tests.
Since then, North Korea-China ties have improved. China now opposes new sanctions, even as North Korea dramatically expanded its ballistic missile tests that are banned by the U.N. resolutions it once supported.
But there have been signs of trouble beneath the surface. For instance, Chinese leader Xi Jinping hasn’t met with Kim in over five years.
Meanwhile, Kim in September traveled to Russia’s far east, where he agreed to expand military cooperation with President Vladimir Putin. According to Kremlin officials, plans are underway for Putin to soon visit North Korea.
Putin now uses North Korean missiles and other weapons to wage war in Ukraine. In return, Putin may be aiding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to some U.S. officials, who have not provided evidence.
Some analysts say China may be uncomfortable if Russia is enabling a significant nuclear buildup on its border — which may explain some of the current tensions.
China may also be trying to show that it is not as close to North Korea – and to Russia – as some Western nations imply, according to Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King’s College London.
“Kim Jong Un would have been invited already – or would have essentially been dragged to China to meet Xi Jinping. And this hasn’t happened,” said Pacheco Pardo.
That stands in contrast to the past, when Xi went out of his way to demonstrate that he was the world leader with the closest relationship to Kim, Pacheco Pardo added.
North Korea’s actions this week suggest it has been emboldened by its cooperation with Russia and now wants to demonstrate some level of independence from Beijing, he said.
However, analysts have questioned whether Russia’s current level of support for North Korea will outlast its war in Ukraine.
While North Korea appears to be less reliant on China for now, Pacheco Pardo said, “in the future, it might be different.”
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Analysts see signs of strain in North Korea-China ties
Tensions between North Korea and China surfaced publicly this week for the first time in years. The apparent rift between the two allies emerged as North Korea’s attempt to launch a spy satellite interrupted a major diplomatic initiative by Beijing. VOA’s William Gallo has more from Seoul, South Korea. (Camera: William Gallo)
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Early results in South Africa’s election show ANC losing majority
MIDRAND — The African National Congress appeared on course to lose the parliamentary majority it has held for 30 years, partial results from South Africa’s national election showed, in what would be the most dramatic political shift since the end of apartheid.
With results in from 16% of polling stations, the ANC’s share of the vote in Wednesday’s election stood at 42.6%, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) on 25.8% and the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on 8.5%, data from the electoral commission showed.
If the final results were to resemble the early picture, the ANC would be forced to make a deal with one or more other parties to govern – a situation that could lead to unprecedented political volatility in the coming weeks or months.
“There will be checks and balances on the ANC power, but the ultimate risk is that the infighting could make governance ineffective,” said Simon Harvey, head of foreign exchange analysis at Monex Europe.
He added that the speed at which a coalition could be formed would be an indication of what was to come.
“If it is protracted, you may start to worry about a political gridlock going forward,” he said.
The uncertainty weighed on South African markets.
The rand slipped more than 1% against the U.S. dollar to hit its weakest level in four weeks while the wider equity index dropped more than 2% in its worst day in six weeks and the country’s international bonds lost as much as 1 cent in the dollar.
The ANC has won national elections held every five years since the landmark 1994 election, which marked the end of apartheid and the ascent of Nelson Mandela as president.
But since those heady days the ANC’s support has declined because of disillusionment over issues such as high unemployment and crime, frequent power blackouts and corruption.
Based on the early results, the ANC is projected to have roughly 42% of the vote when the count is over, according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research which was providing projections to the state broadcaster SABC.
In the previous election in 2019, the ANC won 57.5% of the vote, with 20.8% for the DA and 10.8% for the EFF, on a turnout of 66% of registered voters, which the commission has already said is likely to be higher this time.
The Zuma factor
Under South Africa’s constitution, the newly elected National Assembly will elect the next president.
With the ANC still on course to be the largest party, its leader Cyril Ramaphosa is likely to remain as the country’s president, although a poor showing could make him vulnerable to a leadership challenge from within party ranks.
The early results showed the ANC on 38%, the DA on 27.8%% and the EFF on 10.9% in the key province of Gauteng, which includes the country’s business capital Johannesburg and the sprawling townships of Soweto and Alexandra.
In KwaZulu-Natal, a populous eastern province where the major city of Durban is located, a new party led by former president Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), was performing strongly, with 42.7% of the vote versus 21.4% for the ANC.
Zuma was forced to quit as president in 2018 after a string of scandals and has since fallen out with the ANC leadership, leading him to throw his weight behind MK. The party, named after the ANC’s armed wing from the apartheid era, appeared to be costing both the ANC and the EFF votes, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.
By law, the electoral commission has seven days to declare full results, but in practice it is usually faster than that. In the last election, in 2019, voting took place on a Wednesday like this year and final results came on the Saturday. The new parliament must convene within 14 days of final results being declared and its first act must be to elect the nation’s president.
This means that if the ANC is confirmed to have lost its majority there could be two weeks of intense and complex negotiations to agree on how to form a new government.
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Hong Kong activists found guilty of subversion in landmark national security case
Taipei, Taiwan — Hong Kong’s High Court found 14 prominent pro-democracy figures guilty of conspiracy to subvert state power Thursday, as diplomats, foreign media outlets, and civil society organizations closely followed the verdicts in the biggest trial since China imposed the controversial national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.
Ahead of Thursday’s verdicts, 16 defendants in the subversion case, which involves 47 prominent pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, had not pleaded guilty while 31 defendants had pleaded guilty in the hope of receiving more lenient sentences. In the end, two defendants were acquitted.
The verdicts come more than three years after police arrested the 47 prominent pro-democracy activists in a city-wide pre-raid at dawn for taking part in an unofficial primary election organized by the pro-democracy camp to select candidates running for the 2020 legislative council election.
They were later charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020. Authorities accused the defendants of trying to topple the Hong Kong government but the defendants argued that they were only trying to secure a majority in the legislature and used the power to veto government budgets to force the city’s chief executive to resign.
Most defendants have been denied bail and have been in detention since the trial began in March 2021. While 31 defendants in the case, including prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, legal scholar Benny Tai, and former pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo, had already pleaded guilty, 16 of them didn’t plead guilty, including prominent journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho and former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung.
The prosecution of the 47 prominent figures has dealt a serious blow to the once-vibrant political activism in Hong Kong and dampened hopes of pursuing democracy in the city.
Some activists said Thursday’s verdicts didn’t come as a surprise.
“We have expected most defendants to be found guilty while maybe around two would be cleared of the charges because the government wants to offer an impression that they have considered all the evidence and handed down the verdicts in a fair manner,” Patrick Poon, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo, told VOA by phone.
Some analysts say the verdicts Thursday show that it’s becoming extremely difficult and risky for Hong Kong’s civil society to organize activities similar to the unofficial primary. The verdicts show that “the use of peaceful means to pressure the Hong Kong government could become a criminal activity,” Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asi Law in the United States, told VOA by phone.
Due to the huge amount of attention on the case, Hong Kong authorities deployed heavy police presence to areas around the court. Despite that, dozens of people, including family members and friends of some defendants, lined up outside the court since early hours on Thursday.
Several prominent activists, including veteran activist Alexandra Wong and members of the League of Social Democrats, one of the last remaining pro-democracy organizations in Hong Kong, staged brief protests near the court.
Diplomats from several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, and members of several foreign media outlets were also present at the scene.
While the court determined that the defendants were plotting a conspiracy to subvert state power through the unofficial primary, some participants in the primary said the pro-democracy camp was merely trying to “create some opportunities” to force the Hong Kong government to respond to some demands made by Hong Kong people during the months-long anti-government protest in 2019.
“I think it’s absurd for the government to accuse people who took part in the primary for trying to subvert state power when they were simply planning to exercise a legislative power protected under Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” Sunny Cheung, an associate fellow for China studies at the Jamestown Foundation and participant in the 2020 primary, told VOA by phone.
Given the prominence of the 47 defendants and the fact that they represent a wide swath of Hong Kong’s civil society, some observers say the Hong Kong government is warning the rest of the city not to engage in activities that would be deemed subversive in the future.
“Due to the prominence of these defendants, today’s verdicts will set a precedence for other national security cases in Hong Kong,” Maya Wang, the interim China director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA by phone.
Lai at Georgetown said the case of the 47 pro-democracy activists reflects the dramatic changes that Hong Kong’s civil society has undergone since Beijing imposed the national security law on the former British colony in 2020.
“The Hong Kong government has instrumentalized the courts to punish opposition forces, a method widely used by other autocratic regimes,” he told VOA, adding that authorities have imposed a new order on the city that forces the defense of human rights, the defense of the rule of law, and independent watchdogs to disappear.
According to data collected by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, 286 individuals were arrested under the national security law and 156 have been charged under that law or a seditious law dating back to the British colonial era.
Following Thursday’s verdicts, the 45 defendants found guilty under the subversion charges must wait for their final sentences in custody. The maximum punishment they could face is life imprisonment.
While dozens of them, including Joshua Wong and Benny Tai, had pleaded guilty before Thursday’s verdicts, Poon in Tokyo said the new national security legislation that the Hong Kong government passed in March could prevent defendants who have pleaded guilty from receiving early releases from prison.
“I don’t expect the 45 defendants to receive short sentences and for some of the main defendants, I think they might be given really long sentences as a way for the government to create a chilling effect in Hong Kong’s civil society,” he told VOA.
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US official, Chinese counterpart holds talks amid effort to avert unintended conflict
STATE DEPARTMENT — Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is hosting China’s Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu in Washington on Thursday. The talks are aimed at maintaining open communication channels to prevent miscalculations and unintended conflicts, especially during times of tension.
Following two hours of face-to-face discussions, officials from the United States and the People’s Republic of China will have a working lunch at the State Department. Later in the afternoon, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer will continue discussions with Ma.
The visit by Ma Zhaoxu follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Shanghai and Beijing in April. Officials said it builds on U.S.’s intensive diplomacy with the PRC to responsibly manage competition in the relationship, even in areas where the two countries disagree.
“As we continue to take actions to protect our interests and values and those of our allies and partners, we are also using face-to-face diplomacy with the PRC to clearly and directly communicate our positions and intentions, and make progress on bilateral, regional, and global issues that matter to the American people and the world,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.
A spokesperson from PRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ma will also “interact and communicate with representatives from various sectors in the U.S.” during his visit to the U.S. from May 30 to June 2.
While in Beijing last month, Blinken voiced “serious concern” regarding China’s support for Russia’s defense industry, warning Chinese leaders that Washington could impose sanctions over the matter.
China has defended its approach to Russia, saying it is only engaged in normal economic exchanges with a major trading partner.
Wednesday, Campbell renewed the U.S. warnings. He said Chinese support was helping to revitalize Russia’s military capabilities, including long-range missiles, artillery, drones and battlefield tracking.
During his visit to Brussels, the State Department’s second-highest diplomat emphasized the urgent need for European and NATO countries “to send a collective message of concern to China about its actions, which we view are destabilizing in the heart of Europe.”
The latest U.S.-China talks occur just days after China conducted a large-scale, two-day military exercise involving 111 aircraft and 46 naval vessels around Taiwan. Washington has strongly urged Beijing to exercise restraint and has reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert met virtually with PRC’s Director-General for Boundary and Ocean Affairs Hong Liang on May 23. During this meeting, Lambert expressed profound concerns regarding People’s Liberation Army joint military drills in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan.
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South Korea says North Korea fires missiles toward its eastern waters
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing around 10 projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. It said the suspected missiles flew about 350 kilometers before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast. It said the South Korean military has increased surveillance and vigilance and is closely sharing information with the United States and Japan.
Japan’s coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory over the North Korean launches and urged ships to exercise caution if they find any fallen objects. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that the suspected missiles were believed to have landed in waters outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone and there were no immediate reports of damage. He said Tokyo “strongly condemns” the launches, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months as the pace of both North Korea’s weapons testing and South Korea’s combined military exercises with the United States and Japan have intensified in a cycle of tit-for-tat.
Also on Thursday, North Korea hit back at international condemnation of its failed satellite launch, which drew strong rebukes from the United Nations and other countries as it involves technologies used for developing intercontinental range ballistic missiles.
The North had successfully launched its first military spy satellite in November, but Monday’s failure posed a possible setback to Kim’s plans to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024.
“We will never tolerate any moves of the hostile forces to violate the inviolable sphere under the exercise of sovereignty nor step back from having access to the space reconnaissance capability which should be done surely no matter what others may say,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said in a statement published on state media.
Kim Son Gyong’s statement came as response to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ condemnation of Monday’s launch, which he called a violation of Security Council resolutions that prohibit the North from conducting any launches involving ballistic missile technology.
Thursday’s launches were the latest in a series of weapons tests by North Korea.
On May 17, South Korea’s military said that North Korea fired suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. North Korea later said it tested a tactical ballistic missile with a new autonomous navigation system.
The North this year tested various cruise missiles and artillery systems and flight-tested what it described as a solid-fuel intermediate range missile with hypersonic warhead capabilities. Experts say it is designed to reach remote U.S. targets in the Pacific, including the military hub of Guam.
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First Ukrainian pilots graduate from F-16 training in US
the Pentagon — The first Ukrainian pilots have completed F-16 fighter jet training at a military base in Arizona, with others soon to follow this summer.
“The first batch has graduated, and other Ukrainian pilots are finishing their training here by the end of August,” Arizona National Guard spokesperson Capt. Erin Hannigan told VOA.
The graduates include a handful of Ukrainian pilots who had trained at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, according to a U.S. official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity because of security sensitivities.
Out of an abundance of caution for the pilots’ safety, officials declined to provide an exact number of how many had graduated or the number of those who remain in F-16 training.
The 162nd Wing at Morris is considered the Air National Guard’s premier F-16 training unit and houses the Air Force’s only school dedicated to training pilots from more than 20 countries on the fighter.
Kyiv pleaded for Western aircraft when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of their country in February 2022. In August 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden approved a plan for Western allies to send F-16s to Ukraine once pilot training was complete.
Last August, Ukraine was gaining momentum in the conflict against Russia, but that was before a monthslong delay by Congress to approve new military assistance for Kyiv.
Since then, Ukrainian officials reported that troops were forced to ration supplies as ammunition ran low. Analysts say Russia has capitalized on Kyiv’s disadvantage to make gains on the battlefield.
Last month, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his country’s promised jets would be delivered to Kyiv by the end of the year.
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Ukraine says Russia abducted more than 19,000 of its children
Ukrainian officials say Russia’s invasion has turned thousands of Ukrainian children trapped in occupied territories into hostages, while others have been deported to Russia and forced into reeducation programs and adoption. Anna Chernikova reports from Kyiv on Ukraine’s efforts to bring them home. VOA footage by Vladyslav Smilianets.
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US presidential campaigns surround Trump trial
Jurors are deliberating in a criminal case against U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. He is charged with falsifying financial records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. Campaigning continued outside the New York courthouse. VOA’s Scott Stearns reports. Camera: Michael Eckels.
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Blinken pledges US support for Moldova amid rising Russian threats
State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Moldova, pledging $135 million to enhance energy security and counter Russian disinformation during his visit to Chisinau.
During Wednesday’s visit, Blinken announced that up to $85 million in USAID funding will subsidize equipment to strengthen Moldova’s national power grid and facilitate greater electricity trade with Romania, Ukraine, and the broader European market. He also unveiled additional aid for Moldova, a pro-Western country facing renewed threats from Russia.
“Today, I’m announcing that we’ll be working with our Congress to provide an additional $50 million to further advance these efforts from reforming the energy and agricultural sectors to pushing back and further against disinformation,” said Blinken during a joint press conference with Moldova President Maia Sandu.
“That in turn will bolster the ability of Moldova to resist Russian interference, to hold free and fair elections to continue down the path to the European Union and Western integration to create more economic opportunity,” he said.
Blinken’s trip comes amid concerns over Russia’s military presence in Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region. Moldova has accused Russia of waging a hybrid war through election interference and disinformation campaigns aimed at toppling the government and hindering its EU aspirations. Russia denies these accusations.
Sandu welcomed Blinken’s second visit in two years as “a strong sign of support.”
“Through unity and with the support of our partners, we will stand by our people and move forward,” Sandu said during the press conference.
She also expressed gratitude for U.S. support to both Moldova and Ukraine. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, the Biden administration has directed billions of dollars in weapons assistance to Ukraine, which Sandu said “also makes Moldova safer and more resilient.”
Historically, Moldova’s heavy reliance on outside energy resources has made the country vulnerable to external disruptions and price fluctuations, delaying its progress toward sustainable economic development. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has further exacerbated Moldova’s energy challenges by driving up electricity and gas prices and creating sector instability.
Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States has provided Moldova with $774 million in assistance, including $300 million through USAID, to support energy security.
NATO, Ukraine
After Chisinau, Blinken is heading to Prague for NATO foreign ministers’ meetings, where “a substantial show of support for Ukraine” is expected, according to U.S. officials.
On Wednesday, Blinken said the U.S. is working hard to deliver more air defenses to Ukraine as it defends itself against intensifying Russian attacks.
But Blinken, along with other officials from the Biden administration, said Washington does not encourage or enable the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.
“Ukraine has to make its own decisions about the best way to effectively defend itself,” Blinken said. ‘’We’re going to make sure that it has the equipment it needs.”
This week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the alliance’s members to lift some of the restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons, potentially enabling their use for strikes directly on Russian soil.
“The right to self-defense includes hitting legitimate targets outside Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said Monday at a NATO meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The United States will host a NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to July 11.
Blinken said there will be “very strong deliverables” in terms of Ukraine’s further integration with the Atlantic alliance.
Thirty-two countries have either completed or will soon complete bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
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UNHCR: ‘Act now’ or Sahel crisis will be ‘problem for the world’
Brussels — Action must be taken immediately to address the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel or other countries will be drawn in and it will “become a problem for the world,” a UNHCR official warned Wednesday.
The volatile situations in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso risks overflowing into neighboring countries, the U.N. refugee agency’s director for west and central Africa, Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde told AFP in an interview in Brussels.
“The Gulf of Guinea, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire are already suffering because of the spiral of insecurity and the humanitarian situation — the same with Mauritania, the same with Algeria,” he said.
“If we don’t act now, if we don’t respond now, if we don’t find a way to remain there, stay and continue to remain engaged, finding a solution, then somehow those countries will be overwhelmed, the state will be overwhelmed, and it will become a problem for the world,” he said.
The official was on a visit to Brussels to stress to EU officials the need to stay focused on the African regions where some 10.5 million people have been displaced by conflict, even as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza dominate international news.
“Despite all the change, all the crises that we see in the world, despite all the conflict that we have, things are happening in the Sahel and that merits our attention,” Gnon-Konde said.
The day before, he participated in an EU-hosted donors’ conference for the Sahel. At the event, the European Commission pledged 201 million euros ($218 million) for vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.
Military regimes in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have pushed out troops from France, the former colonial ruler, and are increasingly turning to Russia for support as they battle jihadist insurgencies, causing wariness from Western donors.
Gnon-Konde said, for UNHCR, “it doesn’t matter who is in charge” in those countries, as the most important thing was to respond to the needs of the civilian populations.
He added that Chad, located between Niger and Sudan, was emerging as “a testing case” for countries in the region, international donors and the U.N.
Chad — which has just announced its first government after three years of military rule — is hosting nearly one million Sudanese refugees and “there is a risk that that number will increase by the end of the year,” the UNHCR director said.
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Alito rejects calls to quit US Supreme Court cases on Trump and Jan. 6 because of flag controversies
Washington — Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes.
In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito said his wife was responsible for flying an upside-down U.S. flag over his home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey beach house last year.
Neither incident merits his recusal, he wrote.
“I am therefore duty-bound to reject your recusal request,” he wrote.
The court is considering two major cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Trump supporters on the Capitol, including charges faced by the rioters and whether Trump has immunity from prosecution on election interference charges.
Alito has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse on other issues.
The New York Times reported that an inverted American flag was seen at Alito’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, less than two weeks after the attack on the Capitol. The paper also reported that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown outside of the justice’s beach home in New Jersey last summer. Both flags were carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
Alito said he was unaware that the upside-down flag was flying above his house until it was called to his attention. “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused,” he wrote in nearly identical letters to Democrats in the House and Senate.
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Australian and Chinese university chiefs meet in Adelaide
Sydney — Australian university leaders held talks Wednesday with their Chinese counterparts over the Canberra government’s plans to cut the number of international students. Australia has said the reductions will ease the stress on housing and reduce immigration.
Representatives from the Group of Eight Universities, which represents large research-intensive institutions in Australia, met Wednesday in Adelaide with leaders from the China Education Association for International Exchange.
The Chinese delegation included senior officials from 22 leading research-intensive universities in China.
In a joint statement, the two groups said that “our research and education links not only deliver enormous economic and social benefits for both countries, but also foster enduring people-to-people ties.”
The talks focused on “constructive dialogue focused on challenges and opportunities around university research in a fast-evolving, globalized world.”
One major challenge is Australia’s plans to cap the number of international students it allows into the country to relieve pressure on housing and rental accommodation in the major cities. It is part of a broader effort to reduce immigration.
In 2023, official data showed that 787,000 international students studied in Australia, exceeding levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the tertiary sector says plans to shut out some foreign students would cost the economy billions of dollars.
Vicki Thompson is the chief executive of the Group of Eight Universities. She told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Wednesday that it is unclear how far international student numbers would be cut.
“At the moment there is a lot of unknowns about what this will actually mean. We are in very good discussions with government, though. They certainly understand the impact that our international education sector has on tourism, on the economy. So, you know, they do not want to bust it either. It is just how can we come to, I guess, a compromise position where, you know, we do not damage one of our most successful export markets,” she said.
Most overseas students in Australia come from China, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Vietnam, according to government data.
Under the government’s plans, colleges and universities would have to provide purpose-built accommodation for international students if they wanted to exceed the caps on numbers.
Specific quotas for foreign students, however, have not yet been made public by the Canberra government.
Australia’s plan to curb the number of students from other countries is expected to be discussed when Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra next month.
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South Africans vote in most pivotal elections since apartheid
South Africans voted Wednesday in elections being described as the most important in thirty years because the governing African National Congress could get under 50 percent of the vote for the first time and lose its absolute majority in parliament. Kate Bartlett spoke to voters in two very different areas of Johannesburg about why they felt it was important to turn out.
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‘Open source’ investigators use satellites to identify burned Darfur villages
Investigators using satellite imagery to document the war in western Sudan’s Darfur region say 72 villages were burned down in April, the most they have seen since the conflict began. Henry Wilkins talks with the people who do this research about how so-called open-source investigations could be crucial in holding those responsible for the violence to account.
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New York’s newest ‘Chinatown’: young, hip and dog-friendly
Many people of Chinese descent are drawn to New York City for the jobs and universities. There are several so-called Chinatowns in the Big Apple. The newest one is in Long Island City, just a few subway stops away from Manhattan. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details on what many residents are describing as the younger, hipper Chinatown.
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New volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula
Reykjavik — A new volcanic eruption has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland, the country’s meteorological office said Wednesday, shortly after authorities evacuated the nearby town of Grindavik.
“An eruption has started near Sundhnuksgigar, north of Grindavik,” the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said in a statement, almost three weeks after the end of a previous eruption that had been ongoing since March 16.
“The eruption plumes reach a height of at least 50 metres,” it added.
The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, Iceland’s biggest tourist attraction, said it had also evacuated its facilities on Wednesday.
The eruption was the fifth to occur on the peninsula since December.
The IMO had reported “intense earthquake activity” prior to Wednesday’s eruption.
In addition, it had reported the accumulation of 20 million cubic metres of magma in the magma chamber below Svartsengi, where a power plant that supplies electricity and water to around 30,000 people on the peninsula is located.
The Svartsengi plant was evacuated and has largely been run remotely since the first eruption in the region in December, and barriers have been built to protect it.
Most of the 4,000 residents of the nearby town of Grindavik were permanently evacuated in November, prior to the eruptions in December, January, February and March.
Lava flowed into the streets of Grindavik during the January eruption, engulfing three homes.
But a few die-hard residents had returned to live in neighborhoods less at risk from lava flow.
On Monday evening, the Met Office had said that “about 400 earthquakes” had been measured in the past seven days near the Sundhnuksgigar crater row.
Until March 2021, the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption for eight centuries.
Volcanologists now believe a new era of seismic activity has begun in the region.
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