Voice of America’s immigration news

Washington — President Joe Biden's administration is prepared to defend in court the sweeping asylum policy put into place at the U.S.-Mexico border last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday that generally bars migrants who illegally cross the southern border from claiming asylum and allows authorities to quickly deport or send migrants back to Mexico if the daily number of crossings exceeds 2,500. The asylum ban has exceptions for unaccompanied minors, people who face serious medical or safety threats, and victims of trafficking. Mayorkas on Sunday said the administration was ready to defend the policy against an expected American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit. "I respectfully disagree with the ACLU," Mayorkas said. "We stand by the legality of what we have done. We stand by the value proposition. It's not only a matter of securing the border, we have a humanitarian obligation to keep vulnerable people out of the hands of exploitative smugglers." The ACLU confirmed on Sunday it plans to sue. "It was illegal when Trump did it, and it is no less illegal now," ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project Deputy Director Lee Gelernt said in a statement. Biden took office in 2021 vowing to reverse some of Republican Donald Trump's restrictive policies but has grappled with record levels of migrants caught crossing the border illegally ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election. Mayorkas said initial indications showed the new policy was deterring some illegal immigration. "It's early. The signs are positive," he said. A U.S. border official told Reuters that authorities arrested around 3,100 people crossing illegally on Friday, down roughly 20% from the days before. The official requested anonymity to discuss preliminary figures. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who installed razor wire fencing along the Rio Grande and has seen a state law to enforce illegal crossings into his state blocked by a judge, told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" he thinks the policy is backfiring. "All that this new Biden policy is going to do is to actually attract and invite even more people to cross the border illegally," Abbott said.

Yerevan, Armenia — Thousands of Armenians took to the streets in the capital Yerevan on Sunday in a fresh protest against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's concessions to arch foe neighbor Azerbaijan.   The protests began in April, when the Caucasus nation's government agreed to hand back to Baku territory it had controlled since the 1990s.   Pashinyan has not changed his position, despite public opposition from influential archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.   On Sunday, several thousand anti-government protesters gathered in Yerevan's central Republic Square, outside government headquarters, an AFP reporter at the scene said.    Ahead of the rally, Galstanyan announced the protest movement had reached "a decisive stage", vowing to "remove Pashinyan from power."   "We must act, we must increase pressure on Pashinyan," said one of the demonstrators, 20-year-old student Shushan Sargsyan.   "The very existence of our country is at stake," said David Ohanyan, 36.   "Armenians must all realize this and take to the streets."   Galstanyan has called for Pashinyan to be impeached and has temporarily stepped down from his religious post to run for prime minister.   However he is not eligible to hold the office under Armenian law because he has dual citizenship with Canada, and opposition parties do not have enough seats in parliament to launch impeachment procedures.    Last week, Armenia officially returned control over four border villages that it had seized decades earlier to Azerbaijan, a decision Pashinyan has defended as a step to securing peace with Baku.    The Caucasus rivals have fought two wars for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured last year from Armenian separatists who held sway over much of the mountainous enclave for three decades. 

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New Delhi  — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a rare third term on Sunday at a glittering ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi. But he returns to office with a diminished mandate as head of a coalition government.   All eyes are now on how Modi, an assertive leader, will navigate his new term after ruling India with an absolute majority for a decade. With his Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, failing to cross the halfway mark in parliament, he is now dependent on regional allies.  “A majority is essential to run the country, that's the essence of democracy. But to run a country, consensus is also essential," Modi said at a meeting with his alliance partners on Friday.  Analysts say achieving that consensus with a new governance style will be a test for the Indian leader. While India is no stranger to coalition governments which ruled the country for a quarter century until 2014, the pulls and pressures of managing partners outside his party is uncharted territory for Modi.    “His style of functioning has been to take quick decisions, go into an issue, give a timeline for it to be implemented; it’s not into consulting scores of people, taking them along in that decision-making approach,” political analyst Neerja Chowdhury pointed out. “So that will require a new approach.”   At rallies and in interviews in the run-up to the recent election, Modi said he had prepared a 100-day plan to pursue big targets. But questions are being raised about whether he will find it harder to achieve his goals.  Analysts say he will be able to bring his allies along in pursuing reforms to spur manufacturing and attracting foreign investment needed to grow India’s economy. Modi has ambitions to turn India into a manufacturing powerhouse and a developed country by 2047. The country’s push to build closer ties with neighboring countries and the United States while retaining relations with Russia also has broad consensus.    “Big decisions on the economic front, opening up certain sectors to FDI, [foreign direct investment], he may not confront much of a resistance there,” according to Chowdhury. “Whether it is on the foreign policy he may take the allies along, and he may well take the opposition along also.”  But his party’s Hindu nationalist agenda could take a back seat. While he has a diverse set of coalition partners, two of the most crucial allies, the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh state and Janata Dal (United) of Bihar belong to secular parties and do not share the BJP’s Hindu first agenda.   Analysts also point out that the inauguration of a grand temple in Ayodhya for Hindu god Rama in January – a centerpiece of his party’s Hindu agenda, failed to yield dividends. His party was defeated in the seat that is home to the temple and lost nearly half the seats in Uttar Pradesh state, where the temple is located. The politically crucial state, which sends most lawmakers to parliament, has been a BJP stronghold.     “The verdict of 2024 is in fact a kind of rejection of extreme Hindu nationalistic policies,” said political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. “People did not actually vote for the BJP because they had got the temple constructed.”   Modi is also likely to focus more on pressing issues. Unemployment and inflation were the two biggest reasons nationally for people to go against Modi's alliance, according to a post-poll survey by the CSDS-Lokniti polling agency.   While the economy has expanded on his watch, it has failed to generate enough jobs for its huge population and the opposition has flagged widening wealth inequality in a country where millions are still poor. It had also raised concerns of democratic backsliding under Modi.  Analysts said besides his allies, the Indian leader will need to build a broader consensus with a reenergized opposition alliance that won a total of 232 seats out of 543, doubling its strength from the last election. Although many of its two dozen partners have ideological differences and compete for the same political space, the perceived threat from the BJP has kept them united.    “This verdict has pumped oxygen in the democratic system,” says Chowdhury.  Other analysts agree. “We have seen in the past 10 years, key decision-making involved power being cantered in the prime minister’s office. This will have to change,” said political analyst Sandeep Shastri.  It remains to be seen how the Indian leader, whom critics have called authoritarian and dictatorial, adapts to a new political reality.  “Mr. Modi will have to reinvent himself if he wants this government to continue and last its full term without any major political upheavals,” according to Mukhopadhyay, who has authored a biography on the prime minister. “Whether his instinct will allow him to make way for others' opinions, that remains to be seen.”  Modi is only the second Indian prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to retain power for a straight third tenure.  Among the thousands of guests who witnessed the Indian leader take office were leaders of seven neighboring countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka as well as Bollywood stars and industrialists.   In an outreach to the Maldives, with which ties have deteriorated, its president, Mohammed Muizzu, was also present for the swearing-in ceremony. His presence underscored India’s priority in forging strong ties in its neighborhood, where China’s influence is growing. 

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JACKSON, Wyo. — A large chunk of a twisting mountain pass road collapsed in Wyoming, authorities said Saturday, leaving a gaping chasm in the highway and severing a well-traveled commuter link between small towns in eastern Idaho and the tourist destination of Jackson.   Aerial photos and drone video of the collapse show the Teton Pass road riven with deep cracks, and a big section of the pavement disappeared altogether. Part of the guardrail dangled into the void, and orange traffic drums marked off the danger area. The road was closed at the time of the collapse.   The section that failed first drew attention Thursday when a crack and drop in the road contributed to the crash of a motorcycle.   Geologists and engineers who were sent to the area that day noticed “that crack and that drop started to move a lot,” said Stephanie Harsha, a spokesperson for District 3 of the Wyoming Department of Transportation. A paving crew temporarily patched the road, and traffic began moving again that night.    But that was short-lived as maintenance crews were sent to respond to a mudslide a couple of miles away in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, prompting the road to be closed once again.   Crews then noticed that the damage to the pavement had become more pronounced. Workers trying to figure out a detour around that section left for the night, “and by 5 a.m., this morning, WYDOT had discovered that the road had completely failed,” Harsha said Saturday.   “We were very, very lucky that no crews were harmed. No equipment was damaged,” she said. “So now, engineers and geologists are doing geological assessments on the pass. They’ve been looking at it all day.”   The transportation department said via social media that the road “catastrophically failed” at milepost 12.8.   It was not immediately clear how long it will take to reopen the road, a vital artery for people who live across the border in Idaho and work in pricey Jackson, which is also close to the popular Grand Teton National Park.   Harsha said an alternate route between Jackson and the area of Victor, Idaho, goes more than 60 miles (97 kilometers) out of the way and adds “quite a bit to any commute.”   Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order declaring an emergency, which his office said would help the state access additional resources from the Federal Highway Administration to begin repair work.   In a statement, the governor said the transportation department is working on “a long-term solution to rebuild this critical roadway.”   “I recognize the significant impacts this closure has to Teton County residents, regional commuters and the local economy,” Gordon said. 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A prominent Iranian whistleblower was arrested and sent to prison to serve a 13-month sentence after he was convicted of “spreading lies to disturb the public mind," Iranian media said Sunday. State-run IRNA news agency reported that the Tehran prosecutor summoned Yashar Soltani and sent him to prison. The report also said a court of appeal issued the verdict after 17 plaintiffs appealed the decision by a lower court but gave no details about the earlier case. In recent years, Soltani has routinely published reports on corruption in public bodies. Authorities in the past few months have also detained several journalists and activists on security charges. In 2019, Soltani was sentenced to five years in prison after his series of exposes alleging massive corruption in land deals linked to Tehran’s mayor at the time, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who is now the frontrunner in the presidential election scheduled for June 28. Soltani was later freed on bail.

Athens, Greece — The body of missing British TV presenter Michael Mosley was found on a Greek island Sunday morning after a days-long search, his family said. A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation, said a body was found on a rocky coast by a private boat and that formal identification was pending. Mosley’s wife said in a statement that her husband took the wrong route on a hike and collapsed in a place where his body couldn’t easily be seen. Mosley went missing on the island of Symi on Wednesday afternoon.  “Michael was an adventurous man, it’s part of what made him so special,” Dr. Clare Bailey Mosley said. “It’s devastating to have lost Michael, my wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant husband. We had an incredibly lucky life together. We loved each other very much and were so happy together.” She thanked the people of the island of Symi, whom she said worked tirelessly to find him. “Some of these people on the island, who hadn’t even heard of Michael, worked from dawn till dusk unasked,” she said. “My family and I have been hugely comforted by the outpouring of love from people from around the world. It’s clear that Michael meant a huge amount to so many of you.”  Lefteris Papakalodoukas, the island's mayor, told The Associated Press he was on the boat with members of the media representatives when they saw a body some 20 meters above the Agia Marina beach. “We zoomed with the cameras and saw it was him,” he said.  The mayor said that Mosley appeared to have fallen down a steep, rocky slope, stopping against a fence and lying face up with a few rocks on top of it.  As police officers were retrieving Mosley's body, one fell on the slope and had to be carried away on a stretcher, local media reported. The body will be taken to the nearby island of Rhodes for autopsy.  Mosley, 67, was well known in Britain for his regular appearances on television and radio and his column in the Daily Mail newspaper. He was known outside the U.K. for his 2013 book “The Fast Diet,” which he co-authored with journalist Mimi Spencer. The book proposed the so-called “5:2 diet,” which promised to help people lose weight quickly by minimizing their calorie intake two days a week while eating healthily on the other five.  He subsequently introduced a rapid weight loss program and made a number of films about diet and exercise.  Mosley often pushed his body to extreme lengths to see the effects of his diets and  lived with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks for the BBC documentary “Infested! Living With Parasites.”  Mosley had four children with his wife Clare Bailey Mosley, who is also a doctor, author and health columnist.

BELLEAU, France — President Joe Biden closed out his trip to France by paying his respects at an American military cemetery that Donald Trump notably skipped visiting when he was president, hoping his final stop Sunday will draw the stakes of the November election in stark relief. Before returning to the United States, Biden honored America's war dead at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery about an hour outside Paris. He placed a wreath at the cemetery chapel before an expanse of white headstones marking the final resting place of more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers who fought in World War I. It was a solemn end to five days in which Trump was an unspoken yet unavoidable presence. On the surface, the trip marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day and celebrated the alliance between the United States and France. But during an election year when Trump has called into question fundamental understandings about America's global role, Biden has embraced his Republican predecessor — and would-be successor — as a latent foil. Every ode to the transatlantic partnership was a reminder that Trump could upend those relationships. Each reference to democracy stood a counterpoint to his rival's efforts to overturn a presidential election. The myriad exhortations to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia created a contrast with Trump's skepticism about providing U.S. assistance. Biden's paeans to the struggle between democracy and autocracy drew plaudits in Europe, where the prospect of a return to Trump's turbulent reign has sparked no shortage of anxiety. But it remains to be seen how the message will resonate with American voters, as Biden's campaign struggles to connect the dire warnings the Democratic president so often delivers about his rival with people's daily concerns. The visit to the cemetery served as a moment to underscore the contrast once more. "It's the same story," Biden said. "America showed up. America showed up to stop the Germans. America showed up to make sure that they did not prevail. And America shows up when we're needed just like our allies show for us." During a 2018 trip to France, Trump skipped plans to go to the cemetery, a decision that the White House blamed on weather at the time. However, subsequent reports said that Trump told aides he didn't want to go because he viewed the dead soldiers as "suckers" and "losers." Trump has denied the comments, although they were later corroborated by his chief of staff at the time, John Kelly. Trump's purported insults have become a regular feature of Biden's campaign speeches, including during an April rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania. "These soldiers were heroes, just as every American who has served this nation," Biden said. "Believing otherwise, that alone is disqualifying for someone to seek this office." Biden ignored a direct question about Trump at the cemetery. "The idea that I would come to Normandy and not make the short trip here to pay tribute," he added, his voice trailing off as if to express disbelief. Maura Sullivan, a former Marine officer who served on the American Battle Monuments Commission under President Barack Obama, said Biden's visit would "set the example, and do what a president should do." Now an official with the New Hampshire Democratic Party, Sullivan said that "voters can draw their own conclusions" from that. Biden's trip was full of emotional moments, and the president grew heavy-eyed after meeting with World War II veterans. A 21-gun salute cast eerie smoke over 9,388 white marble headstones at the Normandy American Cemetery. "This has been the most remarkable trip that I've ever made," Biden said on Saturday night, his last in Paris before returning to the U.S. At Aisne-Marne, Biden said the trip "surprised me how much it awakened my sense of why it's so valuable to have these alliances. Why it's so critical. That's the way you stop wars, not start wars." His remarks over the last few days were also freighted with political overtones. On Thursday at Normandy anniversary ceremonies, Biden said D-Day served a reminder that alliances make the United States stronger, calling it "a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget." He also highlighted how the war effort drew on immigrants, women and people of color who were too often overlooked by history. Then on Friday, he went to Pointe du Hoc, a spot on the coast where Army Rangers scaled cliffs to overcome Nazi defenses on D-Day that was also the site in 1984 of one of President Ronald Reagan's most memorable speeches about the struggles between the West and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. By following in an iconic Republican's footsteps, Biden honed his appeal to traditional conservatives who are often frustrated by Trump's isolationist vision. Biden issued a call for Americans to protect democracy like the Rangers who scaled the cliffs, a message that synced with campaign rhetoric that paints his election opponent as an existential threat to U.S. values. While Biden was in France, his campaign announced that it had hired the onetime chief of staff to former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger to lead outreach to GOP voters. Kinzinger clashed with Trump's foreign policy and efforts to overturn the last presidential election. At Pointe du Hoc, Biden said the Army Rangers "fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the '30s and '40s. Does anyone doubt they wouldn't move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?" Trump has argued that the U.S. needs to devote more attention to its own problems and less to foreign alliances and entanglements. He has also routinely played down the importance of American partnerships, suggesting the U.S. could abandon its treaty commitments to defend European allies if they don't pay enough for their own defenses. Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian who wrote a book about Pointe du Hoc and Reagan's speech, said Biden "had big shoes to step into" by choosing the same location. Biden's speech "didn't equal Reagan's in grandeur, nor could it," Brinkley said. Still, he said Biden "said the right words about why democracy matters." Paul Begala, a veteran Democratic strategist, said it could help Biden politically "to stand where Reagan stood." He noted that Biden is struggling with younger voters but appears to be gaining strength among older ones who may be more receptive to reminders of Reagan's speech four decades ago. "He needs a lot of Reagan Republicans to offset his challenges with younger voters," he said. Biden's trip was also punctuated by the pomp of a state visit in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron arranged a ceremony at the Arc du Triomphe, where four fighter jets flew overhead, and hosted a banquet at the Elysee presidential palace. "United we stand, divided we fall," Macron said in toasting Biden. "Allied we are, and allied we will stay." Overall, Biden's visit had a slower pace than other foreign trips. The 81-year-old president had no public events on his first day in Paris after arriving on an overnight flight, and didn't hold a press conference with reporters, as is customary. John Kirby, a national security spokesman, said that was necessary to prepare "in advance of the weighty engagements" during subsequent days. "There's a lot on the calendar," he said. Still, it was a contrast to Macron's tendency to offer prestigious guests an intense schedule with a mix of official meetings, business talks, cultural events and private dinners at fancy restaurants. When the 46-year-old French leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, the two-day agenda was crammed with activities including a trip to the Pyrenees Mountains near the border with Spain where Macron spent time as a child.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's Guardian Council on Sunday approved the country's hard-line parliament speaker and five others to run in the country's June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others.  The council again barred former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a firebrand populist known for the crackdown that followed his disputed 2009 re-election, from running.  The council's decision represents the starting gun for a shortened, two-week campaign to replace Raisi, a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei once floated as a possible successor for the 85-year-old cleric.  The selection of candidates approved by the Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei, suggests Iran's Shiite theocracy hopes to ease the election through after recent votes saw record-low turnout and as tensions remain high over the country's rapidly advancing nuclear program, as well as the Israel-Hamas war.  The Guardian Council also continued its streak of not accepting a woman or anyone calling for radical change to the country's governance.  The campaign likely will include live, televised debates by the candidates on Iran's state-run broadcaster. They also advertise on billboards and offer stump speeches to back their bids.  So far, none of them has offered any specifics, though all have promised a better economic situation for the country as it suffers from sanctions by the U.S. and other Western nations over its nuclear program, which now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.  Such matters of state remain the final decision of Khamenei, but presidents in the past have leaned either toward engagement or confrontation with the West over it.  The most prominent candidate remains Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, 62, a former Tehran mayor with close ties to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. However, many remember that Qalibaf, as a former Guard general, was part of a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999. He also reportedly ordered live gunfire to be used against students in 2003 while serving as the country's police chief.  Qalibaf ran unsuccessfully for president in 2005 and 2013. He withdrew from the 2017 presidential campaign to support Raisi in his first failed presidential bid. Raisi won the 2021 election, which had the lowest turnout ever for a presidential vote in Iran, after every major opponent found themselves disqualified.  Khamenei gave a speech last week alluding to qualities that Qalibaf's supporters have highlighted as potentially signaling the supreme leader's support for the speaker.  Yet Qalibaf's role in crackdowns may be viewed differently after years of unrest that have gripped Iran, both over its ailing economy and the mass protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf, or hijab, to the liking of security forces.  The Guardian Council disqualified Ahmadinejad, the firebrand, Holocaust-questioning former president. Ahmadinejad increasingly challenged Khamenei toward the end of his term and is remembered for the bloody crackdown on the 2009 Green Movement protests. He was also disqualified in the last election by the panel.  The election comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over its arming of Russia in that country's war on Ukraine. Its support of militia proxy forces throughout the wider Middle East has been increasingly in the spotlight as Yemen's Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.  Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others were killed in the May 19 helicopter crash in the far northwest of Iran. Investigations are continuing, though authorities say there's no immediate sign of foul play in the crash on a cloud-covered mountainside.  Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the country's Islamic Revolution.

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Seoul, South Korea — South Korea on Sunday resumed anti-North Korean propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts in border areas in retaliation for the North sending over 1,000 balloons filled with trash and manure over the last couple of weeks. The move is certain to anger Pyongyang and could trigger retaliatory military steps as tensions between the war-divided rivals rise while negotiations over the North's nuclear ambitions remain stalemated. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that the military conducted a loudspeaker broadcast Sunday afternoon. It didn't specify the border area where it took place or what was played over the speakers. "Whether our military conducts an additional loudspeaker broadcast is entirely dependent on North Korea's behavior," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Hours earlier, South Korean national security director Chang Ho-jin presided over an emergency meeting where officials decided to install and begin the broadcasts from loudspeakers. The South had withdrawn such equipment from border areas in 2018, during a brief period of engagement with the North under Seoul's previous liberal government. Chang and other South Korean security officials berated Pyongyang for attempting to cause "anxiety and disruption" in South Korea with the balloons and stressed that North Korea would be "solely responsible" for any future escalation of tensions. The North said its balloon campaign came after South Korean activists sent over balloons filled with anti-North Korean leaflets, as well as USB sticks filled with popular South Korean songs and dramas. Pyongyang is extremely sensitive to such material and fears it could demoralize front-line troops and residents and eventually weaken leader Kim Jong Un's grip on power, analysts say. South Korea has in the past used loudspeakers to blare anti-Pyongyang broadcasts, K-pop songs and international news across the rivals' heavily armed border. In 2015, when South Korea restarted loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years, North Korea fired artillery rounds across the border, prompting South Korea to return fire, according to South Korean officials. No casualties were reported. Last week, as tensions spiked over the trash-carrying balloons, South Korea also suspended a 2018 agreement to reduce hostile acts along the border, allowing it to resume propaganda campaigns and possibly restart live-fire military exercises in border areas. South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik in a meeting with top military commanders called for thorough preparation against the possibility that the North responds to the loudspeaker broadcasts with direct military action, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. North Korea continued to fly hundreds of balloons into South Korea over the weekend, a third such campaign since late May, the South's military said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North launching around 330 balloons toward the South since Saturday night and about 80 were found in South Korean territory as of Sunday morning. The military said winds were blowing eastward on Saturday night, which possibly caused many balloons to float away from South Korean territory. The South's military said the balloons that did land dropped trash, including plastic and paper waste, but no hazardous substances were discovered. The military, which has mobilized chemical rapid response and explosive clearance units to retrieve the North Korean balloons and materials, alerted the public to beware of falling objects and not to touch balloons found on the ground but report them to police or military authorities. In North Korea's previous two rounds of balloon activities, South Korean authorities discovered about 1,000 balloons that were tied to vinyl bags containing manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste batteries and waste paper. Some were popped and scattered on roads, residential areas and schools. No highly dangerous materials were found and no major damage has been reported. The North's vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, later said his country would stop the balloon campaign but threatened to resume it if South Korean activists sent leaflets again. In defiance of the warning, a South Korean civilian group led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it launched 10 balloons from a border town on Thursday carrying 200,000 anti-North Korean leaflets, USB sticks with K-pop songs and K-dramas, and $1 U.S. bills. South Korean media reported another activist group also flew balloons with 200,000 propaganda leaflets toward North Korea on Friday. Kim in recent years has waged an intensifying campaign to eliminate South Korean cultural and language influences. In January, Kim declared the North would abandon its longstanding goal of a peaceful unification with the South and rewrite its constitution to cement the South as a permanent enemy. Experts say Kim's efforts to reinforce the North's separate identity may be aimed at strengthening the Kim family's dynastic rule. North Korea's balloon campaign is also possibly meant to cause a divide in South Korea over its conservative government's hard-line approach to North Korea. Liberal lawmakers, some civic groups and front-line residents in South Korea have called on the government to urge leafleting activists to stop flying balloons to avoid unnecessary clashes with North Korea. But government officials haven't made such an appeal in line with last year's constitutional court ruling that struck down a law criminalizing an anti-North Korea leafletting as a violation of free speech.

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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.