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ISLAMABAD — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in neighboring Pakistan Monday for official meetings with the host nation's leaders amid Iran-Israel tensions. An official pre-arrival announcement from Islamabad's foreign ministry stated that the talks will provide an “important opportunity” to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in trade, connectivity, energy, and agriculture. It said Raisi’s high-level delegation would include the Iranian foreign minister, other Cabinet members, and business representatives. During his three-day stay in Pakistan, the Iranian president is scheduled to meet his counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, among others.  The Pakistani statement said without elaborating, “They will also discuss regional and global developments and bilateral cooperation to combat the common threat of terrorism.”  Iran and Pakistan share a 900-kilometer border, which is prone to militant infiltration, smuggling, and other illegal crossings. The countries accuse each other of not preventing militant groups from sheltering on their respective lands and launching cross-border terrorist attacks. In January, Iranian security forces launched missile strikes against what they said were anti-Iran militant hideouts in the southwestern Pakistani border province of Baluchistan. Islamabad condemned Iran's violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and retaliated with strikes on bases of anti-Pakistan militants operating from Iranian soil. The unprecedented exchange of so-called counterterrorism strikes raised concerns about a larger conflict between the two Muslim countries and of wider regional instability after Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.  Tehran and Islamabad urgently undertook diplomatic efforts to defuse bilateral tensions, renewing pledges to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  Raisi’s visit is part of those mutual efforts to mend relations between Iran and Pakistan. Gas pipeline  Analysts said this week’s meetings in Islamabad are also expected to focus on financial and legal issues related to constructing a gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan. The two countries signed an agreement in June 2009 for the proposed pipeline to export Iranian natural gas to Pakistan. While Tehran has since claimed to have completed construction of 1,100 kilometers of the pipeline on its side of the border, construction has not started on the Pakistani side because Islamabad fears it would invite U.S. sanctions for importing Iranian gas.   Iran’s energy sector is under sanctions from Washington for its nuclear program. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to sue Pakistan in international arbitration and impose a penalty of around $18 billion for breach of contract.  The U.S. State Department has recently renewed its warning to Islamabad, advising against proceeding with the project to avoid sanctions. Iran's recent direct attack on Israel, with more than 300 drones and missiles, has made it even more difficult for Pakistan to build the pipeline, said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Washington’s Wilson Center.  On social media platform X, Kugelman wrote, “Any possibility of the U.S. giving Pakistan a sanctions waiver for the gas pipeline it claims it plans to build with Iran is essentially nonexistent. And that possibility was practically nil even before the Iranian attack on Israel.” The Iranian strikes were in response to Israel's apparent destruction on April 1 of an Iranian consular building in Syria in which seven members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals, were killed.  “The visit was planned weeks before the current hostilities, and Pakistani officials likely had no estimates that the visit would coincide with a full-blown regional crisis involving Iran,” said Ahmed Quraishi, a Pakistani expert on Middle Eastern affairs. “Coming on the heels of Israel-Iran tensions, the Iranian government is likely to use this visit to suggest regional support for Iran's position,” Quraishi said.

Mumbai, India — In fake videos that have gone viral online, two of India's A-lister Bollywood actors are seen criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asking people to vote for the opposition Congress party in the country's ongoing general election. In a 30-second video that shows Aamir Khan and another 41-second clip of Ranveer Singh, the two Bollywood actors purportedly say Modi failed to keep campaign promises and failed to address critical economic issues during his two terms as prime minister. Both AI-generated videos end with the Congress election symbol and slogan: "Vote for Justice, Vote for Congress." The two videos have been viewed on social media more than half a million times since last week, a Reuters review shows. Their spread underlines the potential role such AI (artificial intelligence)-generated content can play in the mammoth Indian election that started on Friday and will continue until June. AI and AI-generated fakes, or deepfakes, are being increasingly used in elections elsewhere in the world, including in the U.S., Pakistan and Indonesia. Campaigning in India has long focused on door-to-door outreach and public rallies, but extensive use of WhatsApp and Facebook as campaigning tools started in 2019. This year's general election - in which Modi is expected to secure a rare third term - is the first in which AI is being used. A Congress spokesperson, Sujata Paul, shared actor Singh's video with her 16,000 followers on X on April 17 and by Saturday afternoon, her post had been reshared 2,900 times, liked 8,700 times and received 438,000 views. Paul told Reuters by telephone she was aware the video was marked "manipulated media" by X, but she did not want to delete it as, while posting, she thought the person was a look alike of Singh and "it has creativity for sure." The post was no longer visible on X on Sunday, hours after Reuters sent a request for comment to Congress' head of social media cell, who did not respond. Both actors have said the videos are fake. Facebook, X and at least eight fact-checking websites have said they are altered or manipulated, which the Reuters digital verification unit has also confirmed. Reuters could not ascertain who created the videos. Khan was "alarmed" by the viral "fake" video and Singh's team was looking into the matter, according to a spokesperson for both actors. Singh wrote on X on Friday: "Beware of deepfakes, friends." Modi's office, and the IT head of his Bharatiya Janata Party, did not respond to requests for comment.   Police probe Nearly 900 million people in India have access to the Internet and a survey conducted by research organization Esya Centre and the Indian Institute of Management business school showed an average Indian spends over three hours a day on social media. The country has nearly one billion voters. Some versions of the videos have been blocked on social media but at least 14 were still visible on X on Saturday. Facebook deleted two videos Reuters flagged to the company but one other was still visible. Facebook in a statement said it has "removed the videos" for violation of its policies. X did not respond to Reuters queries. The videos have sparked one police investigation with Khan registering a case in Mumbai against unnamed persons on April 17 for alleged impersonation and cheating for creating the fake video. Mumbai police did not return a request for comment, but two officers working on Khan's case, who declined to be named, said they wrote to Facebook and X to take down the video and the companies had said it was done. The officers said they were up until 2 a.m. on Friday, refreshing pages to check if Khan's online videos were removed. Asked about progress in the case, one of them said: "Such technical investigations take time."   AI video of dead father In this year's election, politicians are using AI in other ways. In southern India, Congress leader Vijay Vasanth's spokesperson said his team has created a 2-minute audio-video clip using AI that was shared on social media platforms and shows his now dead but more popular politician father, H. Vasanthakumar, seeking votes for him. The late politician is seen saying "even though my body left you all, my soul is still around." In videos put out on YouTube by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Samata, an AI-generated anchor dressed in a traditional saree and speaking in a style that mimics regular news channels, criticizes the ruling party in West Bengal state. In one clip, the anchor alleges the party does not care about the environment as many water bodies have vanished due to illegal construction. A spokesperson for the ruling party denied the allegation and said the state government has ensured no such construction takes place. The CPM did not respond to requests for comment. In the video, which has been seen 12,000 times, anchor Samata declares: "These are questions that we the citizens of this city need to ponder over."

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QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s fledgling president got a resounding victory Sunday in a referendum that he pushed as a way to crack down on criminal gangs behind a spiraling wave of violence. An official quick count showed that Ecuadorians overwhelmingly voted “yes” to all nine questions focused on tightening security measures, rejecting only two more controversial economic proposals. The quick count was announced by the head of the Electoral National Council, Diana Atamaint. It confirmed a private exit poll released hours before that indicated a resounding victory and sign of support for President Daniel Noboa, the scion of a wealthy banana exporting family. Among the measures approved are President Noboa's call to deploy the army in the fight against the gangs, to loosen obstacles for extraditing accused criminals and to lengthen prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers. Ecuador was traditionally one of South America's most peaceful countries, but it has been rocked in recent years by a wave of violence, much of it spilling over from neighboring Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine. Last year, the country's homicide rate shot up to 40 deaths per 100,000 people, one of the highest in the region. Noboa has rallied popular support by confronting the gangs head on. That task became more urgent in January when masked gunmen, some on orders from imprisoned drug traffickers, terrorized residents and took control of a television station while it was live on the air in an unprecedented show of force. Following the rampage, the 36-year-old president decreed an “internal armed conflict,” enabling him to use emergency powers to deploy the army in pursuit of about 20 gangs now classified as “terrorists.” The referendum, in which more than 13 million Ecuadorians were called to vote, contained measures to extend those powers and put them on firmer legal ground. For some analysts, the Ecuadorian leader must show results to live up to people’s support. “This gives him some vigor,” said Andrea Endara, analyst and professor at Casa Grande University. But “if the president does not begin to take actions to demonstrate that having voted ‘yes’ brings results to reduce insecurity, this support will quickly be diluted.” Some of the measures approved imply changes to Ecuador's constitution, but because they were previously endorsed by the Constitutional Court, Noboa only needs to publish them in the official gazette to go into effect. Some of those initiatives are the ones related to the use of the army and extradition. For the changes that require changing some general laws, the president will have to send a reform proposal to the Assembly, which will have 60 days to process them. Noboa, ahead of the final tally, celebrated the results. “We've defended the country,” he said in a message posted on social media. “Now we will have more tools to fight against the delinquent and restore peace to Ecuador's families.” Noboa's law and order rhetoric recalls the policies of El Salvador's wildly popular president, Nayib Bukele, a fellow millennial, and could give him a boost politically as he prepares to run for reelection next year. Noboa, is serving the final 18 months of a presidential term left vacant when fellow conservative Guillermo Lasso resigned amid a congressional investigation into allegations of corruption. Noboa was elected following a shortened but bloody campaign that saw one of his top rivals brazenly assassinated while campaigning. “We can’t live in fear of leaving our homes,” Leonor Sandoval, a 39-year-old homemaker, said after voting for all 11 of the proposals.

Maputo, Mozambique — The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, is seeking $413 million in emergency aid to support over 1 million people in northern Mozambique dealing with climate disasters and an insurgency concentrated in the province of Cabo Delgado. OCHA Mozambique representative Paola Serrao Emerson told a media conference in Maputo on Friday that her organization’s efforts to deal with the souring humanitarian situation in the southern African nation face financial problems. According to the U.N, a total of 2.3 million people need humanitarian assistance in the northern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula, but her organization is operating under a tight budget. "We are looking for $413 million for Cabo Delgado or war in Mozambique, and of that we have received just about $43 million or so, just over 11%, so we are woefully underfunded," she said. "Normally at this time of the year we would at least 20 or more percent funding.” According to Emerson, food insecurity compounds the vulnerability of the internally displaced people, host communities and returnees alike. Mozambique is regularly exposed to cyclones, floods and droughts, damaging private and public infrastructure. In 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy, a storm of record-breaking length, hit Mozambique’s northern region twice with destructive winds, extreme rainfall, and widespread flooding. Droughts, which have become more frequent, are also a dire concern, as 80 percent of the population of more than 33 million depends on rain-fed agriculture. "Humanitarian organizations, the U.N., national and international organizations are supporting people every day with food assistance, with health support, with child support assistance, with mental health psychiatric support amongst many others throughout Cabo Delgado," she said. "However, the funding situation is difficult to provide comprehensive multi-sectoral support to all areas that are affected.” The news comes at a time when terrorist attacks have increased in northern Mozambique. Last month, missionaries, priests and religious sisters were forced to flee from remote towns and villages to Pemba and other large cities, which are overwhelmed with displaced people as the insurgency in Cabo Delgado intensifies. At the same time, troops from the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, have begun to draw down due to financial issues. Defense Minister Cristovao Chume told state-run Radio Mozambique on Friday that the end of the mission cannot be seen as a rupture in cooperation with SADC. He said the SADC military mission is leaving Mozambique because it fulfilled the objective for which it was created — to stabilize the north of Cabo Delgado and recover areas controlled by terrorists. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi says his country’s armed forces should take a more prominent role in counterterrorism operations, despite some challenges. Since 2017, the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, waged by a group that claims affiliation with Islamic State, has terrorized civilians and caused interruption to several multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas projects.

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MOSUL, Iraq — At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar toward a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria Sunday, two Iraqi security sources and a U.S. official told Reuters. The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops. It comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani returned from a visit to the United States, where he met with President Joe Biden at the White House. A post on a Telegram group affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah said armed factions in Iraq had decided to resume attacks after a near-three month pause after seeing little progress on talks to end the U.S.-led military coalition in the country. Another popular Telegram group close to Kataib Hezbollah, Sabreen News, later said there had been no official statement by the Iran-backed faction. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said more than five rockets were fired from Iraq toward troops at a coalition base in Rumalyn, Syria, but no U.S. personnel were injured. The official referred to it as a "failed rocket attack," but it was not immediately clear if the rockets had failed to hit the base or been destroyed before they reached. It was also not clear if the base was the target itself. Following that, the official said, an aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria carried out a strike against the launcher. Two security sources and a senior army officer in Iraq said a small truck with a rocket launcher fixed on the back had been parked in Zummar, a town on the border with Syria. An army officer said the destroyed truck was seized for further investigation and initial investigation showed it was destroyed by an air strike. "We are communicating with the coalition forces in Iraq to share information on this attack," the officer added.  The Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information, said in a statement that Iraqi forces had launched "a wide-ranging search and inspection operation" targeting the perpetrators near the Syrian border, pledging to bring them to justice. The attacks came after a huge blast at a military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of an Iraqi security force that includes Iran-backed groups. The force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.

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Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a 95 billion foreign aid bill. At least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar toward a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday. Palestinians on Sunday recovered bodies found under rubble and dirt at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The trial of former President Donald Trump enters a new stage Monday when opening remarks begin. And on this Earth Day scuba diving groups and marine organizations in Thailand have been working to remove abandoned fishing gear.

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.

Manila, Philippines — Thousands of Filipino and American troops will kick off joint military exercises in the Philippines on Monday, as Beijing's growing assertiveness in the region raises fears of a conflict.  The annual drills — dubbed Balikatan, or "shoulder to shoulder" in Tagalog — will be concentrated in the northern and western parts of the archipelago nation, near the potential flashpoints of the South China Sea and Taiwan.  China claims almost the entire waterway, a key route for international trade, and also considers self-ruled Taiwan to be part of its territory.  In response to China's growing influence, the United States has been bolstering alliances with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines.  Washington and Manila are treaty allies and have deepened their defense cooperation since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos took office in 2022.  While the Philippines is poorly armed, its proximity to the South China Sea and Taiwan would make it a key partner for the United States in the event of a conflict with China.  "The purpose of armed forces, why we exist, is really to prepare for war," Philippine Colonel Michael Logico told reporters ahead of the drills. "There's no sugarcoating it ... for us not to prepare, that's a disservice to the country."  The Philippine coast guard will join Balikatan for the first time, following several confrontations between its vessels and the China coast guard, which patrols reefs off the Philippines' coast.  The joint drills involve a simulation of an armed recapture of an island in Palawan province, the nearest major Philippine landmass to the hotly disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.  The same exercise will be held in the northern provinces of Cagayan and Batanes, both less than 300 km (180 miles) from Taiwan.   Like last year, there will be a sinking of a vessel off the northern province of Ilocos Norte.  Other training will concern information warfare, maritime security, and integrated air and missile defense.  The United States has deployed its Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) guided missiles to the Philippines for Balikatan, but Logico said the weapons would not be used in the drills.  China's foreign ministry has accused the United States of "stoking military confrontation," and warned the Philippines to "stop sliding down the wrong path."  'It matters for regional stability'  The exercises, which will run until May 10, will involve around 11,000 American and 5,000 Filipino troops, as well as Australian and French military personnel.   France will also deploy a warship that will take part in a joint exercise with Philippine and U.S. vessels.  Fourteen countries in Asia and Europe will join as observers.  For the first time, the drills will go beyond the Philippines' territorial waters, which extend about 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) from its coastline, Logico said.  "Balikatan is more than an exercise; it's a tangible demonstration of our shared commitment to each other," Lieutenant General William Jurney, commander of U.S .Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, said in a statement.   "It matters for regional peace," he said. "It matters for regional stability."  

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new york — Mary J. Blige,Cher, Foreigner, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & The Gang and Ozzy Osbourne have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a class that also includes folk-rockers Dave Matthews Band and singer-guitarist Peter Frampton.  Alexis Korner, John Mayall and Big Mama Thornton earned the Musical Influence Award, while the late Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick and Norman Whitfield will get the Musical Excellence Award. Pioneering music executive Suzanne de Passe won the Ahmet Ertegun Award.  "Rock 'n' roll is an ever-evolving amalgam of sounds that impacts culture and moves generations," John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in a statement. "This diverse group of inductees each broke down musical barriers and influenced countless artists that followed in their footsteps."  The induction ceremony will be held October 19 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in the city of Cleveland in the U.S. state of Ohio. It will stream live on Disney+ with an airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day.  The music acts nominated this year but didn't make the cut included Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, the late Sinead O'Connor, soul-pop singer Sade, Britpoppers Oasis, hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, and alt-rockers Jane's Addiction.  There had been a starry push to get Foreigner — with the hits "Urgent" and Hot Blooded" — into the hall, with Mark Ronson, Jack Black, Slash, Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney all publicly backing the move. Ronson's stepfather is Mick Jones, Foreigner's founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist.  Osbourne, who led many parents in the 1980s to clutch their pearls with his devil imagery and sludgy music, goes in as a solo artist, having already been inducted into the hall with metal masters Black Sabbath.  Four of the eight nominees — Cher, Foreigner, Frampton and Kool & the Gang — were on the ballot for the first time.  Cher — the only artist to have a Number 1 song in each of the past six decades — and Blige, with eight multi-platinum albums and nine Grammy Awards, will help boost the number of women in the hall, which critics say is too low.  Artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before they're eligible for induction.  Nominees were voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals. Fans voted online or in person at the museum, with the top five artists picked by the public making up a "fans' ballot" that was tallied with the other professional ballots.  Last year, Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Chaka Khan, "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius, Kate Bush, and the late George Michael were some of the artists who got into the hall. 

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.

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill on Saturday. The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to take up a vote early this week. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A race car veered off the track during a competition in Sri Lanka on Sunday and rammed into a crowd of spectators and race officials, killing seven people and injuring 20 others, officials said. Thousands of spectators looked on as the crash took place during a race in the town of Diyatalawa in the tea-growing central hills, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of the capital Colombo. The cause wasn't immediately clear. Police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said one of the cars veered off the track and struck spectators and officials. Seven people, including four officials, were killed and another 20 were being treated at a hospital, said Thalduwa. He said three of the injured were in critical condition. Thalduwa said police have launched an investigation into the crash, which happened during the 17th out of 24 scheduled events. The race was suspended afterward. About 45,000 spectators had gathered at the race circuit at a Sri Lankan military academy. The event was organized by the Sri Lankan army and Sri Lanka Automobile Sports.