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Jakarta, Indonesia — Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto has undergone leg surgery but is continuing to work as he recovers, a spokesman said Tuesday. The defense minister and former general, who had suffered for years from a limp attributed to parachuting accidents, underwent surgery on his left leg at the National Defense Central Hospital in Jakarta, his team said. Specifics of the procedure were kept under wraps, but Prabowo, who succeeds President Joko Widodo in October, described the surgery as "full of risks" in a social media post. He has since resumed his duties as defense minister and was in attendance at an anniversary celebration for Indonesian police on Monday, Prabowo spokesman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak told AFP. "Thank God, he is now very fit. [His leg] has healed and is much better now," Dahnil said. Pictures shared to both men's official Instagram accounts on Sunday showed the president, popularly known as Jokowi, visiting a bathrobe-clad Prabowo while he was still in the hospital. "I was aware and understood that the medical procedure I was undergoing was full of risks and my life was at stake," Prabowo wrote in his accompanying caption. The former general has courted controversy for past allegations of human rights abuses, accused by rights groups of a role in disappearing democracy activists at the end of dictator Suharto's rule in the late 1990s. But the fiery populist secured an easy election win on the back of his pledge to continue Jokowi's popular agenda of strong economic development and his choice of the president's eldest son Gibran as his vice president.

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.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. We talk to Joel Richard Paul is a professor of law at the University of California Hastings Law School in San Francisco and Carolyn Shapiro, the founder and co-director of Chicago-Kent's Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States. The Israeli army has ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from much of Gaza's second largest city, Khan Younis. Hurricane Beryl has made landfall on the Caribbean island of Carriacou. The dangerous and powerful Category 4 storm is the earliest one of its strength to form in the Atlantic. And ew York photographer and writer Gary He has single handedly documented McDonald’s evolution over the last 40 years in his new book “McAtlas.

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.

The U.S. government's representative to the Minerals Security Partnership, an alliance of mostly Western countries that aims to speed the development of energy mineral supply chains, said last month that a Chinese company was using "predatory" tactics to hold down the price of cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Henry Wilkins looks at what this means for Africa.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed Monday that President Joe Biden's proposal to end the Israel-Hamas conflict is still achievable. Blinken also underlined the importance of postwar plans to rebuild Gaza. VOA's Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.

New York — Donald Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked the New York judge who presided over his hush money trial to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing scheduled for later this month. The letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier Monday and asked the judge to delay Trump’s sentencing while he weighs the high court’s decision and how it could influence the New York case, the people said. The people could not discuss details of the letter before it was made public and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment just before the 2016 presidential election. Merchan instituted a policy in the run-up to the trial requiring both sides to send him a one-page letter summarizing their arguments before making longer court filings. He said he did that to better manage the docket, so he was not inundated with voluminous paperwork.

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.

washington — The United States’ commitment to providing extended deterrence to South Korea is being put to the test, with some South Korean politicians publicly questioning the effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear umbrella after Russia and North Korea reached a new defense pact. Debate over the U.S. extended deterrence was sparked by Representative Na Kyung Won, a five-term lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, who is running for the party leadership. “The deterrence under the solid South Korea-U.S. alliance is currently working, but it does not guarantee the capacity to respond to the future changes in the security environment,” Na said in a social media post last week. “The international situation, such as cooperation between North Korea and Russia, is adding uncertainty to the security of South Korea,” she added, referring to the stronger military ties between Russia and North Korea, bolstered by the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty signed by Russia’s President Vladmir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang last month. The new treaty mandates Russia and North Korea to immediately assist each other militarily if either of them is attacked by a third country. The prospect of quasi-automatic Russian involvement in any future war between the two Koreas is now causing alarm in Seoul. The credibility of extended deterrence is a frequent topic of conversation in today’s South Korea, where citizens must contend with seemingly endless threats and provocations from the North.     Seoul is doing its best to allay citizens’ fears by invoking the April 2023 Washington Declaration, which reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea through its extended nuclear umbrella as well as robust missile defense and conventional forces.     The Washington Declaration outlined a series of measures, including the establishment of the bilateral Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), to deter North Korea’s use of nuclear weapons.     In the joint declaration, the U.S. additionally vowed to enhance the visibility of its strategic assets, such as a nuclear-armed submarine, around the Korean Peninsula. The Washington Declaration’s measures are collectively sufficient to deter aggression from Pyongyang, according to some experts in the U.S. The joint declaration was “unprecedented in its strength and clarity,” Evans Revere, a former State Department official who negotiated with North Korea, told VOA’s Korean Service on Sunday. “And the NCG process is designed to be flexible, creative, and allow for adaptation to a broad range of future contingencies.” Troop presence David Maxwell, a former U.S. Special Forces colonel who served on the Combined Forces Command of the U.S and South Korea, told VOA’s Korean Service on Sunday that a large troop presence on the Korean Peninsula demonstrates Washington’s firm commitment to the defense of its key ally. “How many Russian troops are committed to North Korea? There is no comparison as to the commitment,” said Maxwell, who now serves as vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy. Currently, the U.S. has about 28,500 service members deployed in South Korea. In contrast, Elbridge Colby, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development in the Trump administration, suggested the U.S. might have to go beyond the Washington Declaration to ensure the security of South Korea. “I think we need to take very seriously how dire the threat from North Korea is, and that the Washington Declaration is not a solution,” Colby told VOA’s Korean Service on the phone last week.     “It’s been a failure that both North Korea and China are a nuclear breakout. They’re increasing the size and the sophistication of the nuclear forces. So it’s very unsurprising that serious people in South Korea are coming to this conclusion.”     Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, believes some South Koreans may lack confidence in the Washington Declaration because the NCG’s work is not made public. “Because the NCG that it established has carried out most of its work in secrecy and provided little substance to reassure the South Korean people, many of the South Koreans with whom I have spoken are concerned that it is an inadequate means for rebuilding South Korean trust,” Bennett told VOA’s Korean Service on Sunday. Responding to an inquiry from VOA’s Korean Service, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday that "the U.S. and the ROK are enhancing and strengthening extended deterrence through the Nuclear Consultative Group, established as part of the Washington Declaration.” The spokesperson also stressed that the Washington Declaration is “a landmark U.S. extended deterrence commitment to the Republic of Korea.” The Republic of Korea is South Korea’s official name. Earlier last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell maintained that the series of mechanisms put in place between the United States and South Korea through the Washington Declaration “has given us what we need to work with” regarding the alliance’s deterrence posture. North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles Monday, one of which is presumed to have failed and fallen inland near Pyongyang. The latest missile test came just five days after North Korea conducted a ballistic missile test in which it claimed to have successfully tested its multiple-warhead missile technology. South Korean authorities have dismissed such a claim. Eunjung Cho contributed to this report.  

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.

doha, qatar — The third round of U.N.-led talks to explore engagement with Afghanistan ended Monday without the Taliban making any reform pledges or winning concessions from the international community. A few international organizations and special envoys for Afghanistan from nearly two dozen countries met with Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar, over two days. Rosemary DiCarlo, U.N. undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, who presided over the event, told reporters the talks were "constructive" and "useful." "This is the first time such a broad cross section of the international community and the de facto authorities have had the opportunity to hold such detailed discussions," DiCarlo said at the news conference after the event. "The discussions were frank and, I believe, useful." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated the "Doha process" a year ago. While participants in the latest round of talks agreed to continue to engage, DiCarlo ruled out recognizing the de facto regime in Kabul unless the Taliban ended curbs on women's education and participation in public life. Individual decisions "Afghanistan cannot return to the international fold, or fully develop economically and socially, if it is deprived of the contributions and potential of half its population," the U.N. official said, adding that recognizing Taliban rule is also not the mandate of the global body but would be the decision of individual countries. Although nearly 16 countries have embassies in Afghanistan, the global community has held back recognition of the Taliban government mainly because it is not inclusive and restricts the rights of women and girls in the country. Though women's rights were not part of the official agenda, DiCarlo said participants raised the issue throughout their discussions and highlighted the need for an inclusive government during the two-day talks that focused on developing a private business sector and helping the Taliban sustain anti-narcotics gains. "Afghanistan's messages reached all participant countries," Taliban delegation head Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on social media platform X after the talks, adding that his country needed international cooperation. Speaking to VOA on background, a Western diplomat said the Afghan delegation members were "very competent" and their technical know-how was "impressive." Earlier, in a post on X, Mujahid, who is also the Taliban's chief spokesperson, claimed success. "It was pledged that restriction on banking and economic avenues should be lifted," the post said. While more than a hundred Taliban members face international sanctions, including financial sanctions, Afghanistan's banks do not. Experts say the country is disconnected from the global banking system and the dominant SWIFT financial transaction network because Western banks are wary of doing business with Afghan banks and exposing themselves to the reputational and financial risks they pose. No new policy was introduced by any country, the Western diplomat privy to the talks said. Separately, the U.S. froze $9.5 billion in Afghan central bank funds after the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021. In 2022, the Biden administration put $3.5 billion of that money in a Switzerland-based trust account called “Fund for the Afghan People,” which a board oversees. The remaining money remains locked. China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran are among countries that support unfreezing the funds. 'It was about understanding' Speaking to reporters late Monday, Mujahid said the Taliban did not come expecting a breakthrough. "It [the gathering] was about understanding each other's views," Mujahid said in response to a VOA question on the lack of progress on contentious issues between the Taliban and the West. "The achievement is that every country wants to support Afghanistan." The U.N. is under fire from rights activists for its decision to exclude Afghan civil society activists to ensure the Taliban's participation in the global meeting. DiCarlo told reporters it was "a very tough, maybe impossible choice." "We have a mandate to support this process [of talks]. Our belief was to bring the de facto authorities and special envoys together for direct talks," DiCarlo said. "Regrettably, the de facto authorities will not sit across the table with Afghan civil society in this format." When asked what concessions the global body would be willing to make in the future to bring the Taliban back to the table, DiCarlo said she could not predict what conditions the de facto rulers might place. "I could not speculate on that. What I can say is that they did come today. They were very engaged," she said. At least three prominent Afghan women have declined the U.N.'s invitation to meet for talks in Doha on Tuesday. "I respect their decision," DiCarlo said. "We're involved in a process now that is going to be a long-term process. This is not easy going forward. And we will continue to try to do the best we can. We won't make everybody happy." Asked whether the Taliban would come back for more talks, Mujahid said it would depend on who and what were on the table. "We will consider each meeting separately," he said. " We will look at its agenda and targets." No date has been set for the next round of U.N.-led talks on Afghanistan.

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.