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Islamabad, Pakistan — The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader on Monday warned Afghans against earning money or gaining worldly honor at a time when the country is in the grip of humanitarian crises and isolated on the global stage.  Hibatullah Akhundzada gave his warning in a sermon to mark the festival of Eid al-Adha at a mosque in southern Kandahar province, weeks before a Taliban delegation goes to Doha, Qatar for U.N.-hosted talks on Afghanistan.  This is the first round of talks the Taliban will attend since they seized power in August 2021. They weren't invited to the conference of foreign special envoys to Afghanistan in the first round, and they snubbed the second round because they wanted to be treated as the country’s official representatives.  No government recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, whose aid-dependent economy was plunged into turmoil following their takeover.  U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the invitation to the Doha meeting at the end of June does not imply recognition of the Taliban.  Akhundzada reminded Afghans of their duties as Muslims and made repeated calls for unity in his 23-minute sermon.  Messages by him and another influential Taliban figure, Sirajuddin Haqqani, to mark a religious festival in April showed tensions between hardliners and more moderate elements who want to scrap harsher policies and attract more outside support.  In Monday’s message, Akhundzada said he wanted brotherhood among Muslims and that he was unhappy about differences between citizens and Taliban officials. Public dissent over Taliban edicts is rare, and protests are swiftly and sometimes violently quashed.  He said he would willingly accept any decision to remove him as supreme leader, as long as there was unity and agreement on his ouster. But he was unhappy about differences and disagreement between people.  “We were created to worship Allah and not to earn money or gain worldly honor,” Akhundzada said. “Our Islamic system is God’s system and we should stand by it. We have promised God that we will bring justice and Islamic law (to Afghanistan) but we cannot do this if we are not united. The benefit of your disunity reaches the enemy; the enemy takes advantage of it.”  The Taliban have used their interpretation of Islamic law to bar girls from education beyond the age of 11, ban women from public spaces, exclude them from many jobs, and enforce dress codes and male guardianship requirements.  Akhundzada told Taliban officials to listen to the advice of religious scholars and entrust them with authority. He said officials shouldn’t be arrogant, boast, or deny the truth about Islamic law.  Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, who has written several books about Afghanistan and the Taliban, said Akhundzada’s appeals for unity were a sign of desperation because he refused to spell out the real issues facing Afghans such as unemployment, economic development, and building a consensus for social reform.  “I would not be convinced that this was a meaningful speech if I were the Taliban,” said Rashid.  Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, said Akhundzada's focus on unity may also be preemptive and meant to nip in the bud any possibility that rifts could flare up again.  He also questioned if the audience being targeted went beyond Afghans to focus on the global Muslim community.  “Operationally speaking, the Taliban don’t have transnational goals. But the supreme leader looks to command respect beyond Afghanistan’s borders,” said Kugelman. 

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Nearly 80 of the countries represented at the Ukraine peace summit agreed that territorial integrity and the principles of international law and the U.N. charter should be the basis for peace talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze has the story from Switzerland. VOA footage and editing by Daniil Batushchak.

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Mina, Saudi Arabia — Muslim pilgrims used the early morning hours Monday to perform the second day of the symbolic stoning of the devil, as noontime summer heat caused heatstroke among thousands wrapping up the Hajj pilgrimage. The final days of the Hajj coincide with Muslims around the world celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday. The stoning of the pillars representing the devil takes place in Mina, a desert plain just outside the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. A third stoning is scheduled Tuesday, before the Farewell Tawaf, or circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca. The pilgrimage is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. All Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do so. The Hajj rites largely commemorate the Quran's accounts of Prophet Ibrahim, his son Prophet Ismail and Ismail's mother Hajar — or Abraham and Ismael as they are named in the Bible. The rites have taken place under the soaring summer heat, which at 2 p.m. reached 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in Mecca and the sacred sites in and around the city, according to the Saudi National Center for Metrology. "Of course, it is something very hard and tiring. The temperature is abnormal compared to the past years and this affects us a lot," said Ahmed Al-Baradie, an Egyptian pilgrim, after finishing his second symbolic stoning. More than 2,760 pilgrims suffered from sunstroke and heat stress on Sunday alone at the start of the first round of stoning, according to the Health Ministry. Jordan announced Sunday that 14 Jordanian pilgrims had died from heatstroke. The number of pilgrims on the roads leading to the pillars Monday morning decreased significantly compared to Sunday. Carrying an umbrella against the burning sun, Pakistani pilgrim Khoda Bakhch visited the stoning site on Monday morning and planned to return at sunset. "After two or three hours, it (temperature) may be too much," he said. Experts say heat exhaustion and heatstroke are likely to become more common in the high temperature, with symptoms including heavy sweating, dizziness, muscle spasms and vomiting. Heatstroke is the most serious heat-related illness and happens when the body loses its ability to sweat. Security forces, medics and first responders have been deployed in and around Mina, especially on roads and open areas to direct and help pilgrims. "I am really impressed by the preparations," Sani Abdullah, a Nigerian, told The Associated Press, adding that he was used to such burning heat in his country. "I have never encountered any problems. Everything is going smoothly." Mina is where Muslims believe Ibrahim's faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. In the Christian and Jewish versions of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac. The Eid al-Adha holiday celebrates Ibrahim's submission to God. The stoning began Sunday, a day after the pilgrims visited the sacred Mount Arafat where they spent their day in worship and reflection. The ritual in Mount Arafat, known as the hill of mercy, is considered the peak of the Hajj pilgrimage. The pilgrims collected the pebbles, which they have used in the symbolic stoning of pillars, from Muzdalifa, an area located a few kilometers (miles) away from Mount Arafat. The Hajj is one of the largest religious gatherings on earth. The rituals officially started Friday when the pilgrims moved from Mecca's Grand Mosque to Mina, then to Mount Arafat. They then return to Mina, where they spend up to three days, each casting seven pebbles at three pillars in a ritual to symbolize the casting away of evil and sin. While in Mina, the pilgrims visit Mecca to perform a "tawaf," or circumambulation, which is circling the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque counterclockwise seven times. Then another circumambulation, the Farewell Tawaf, will mark the end of the Hajj as pilgrims prepare to leave the holy city. Once the Hajj is over, men are expected to shave their heads, and women to snip a lock of hair in a sign of renewal. Most of the pilgrims then leave Mecca for the city of Medina, about 340 kilometers (210 miles) away, to pray in Prophet Muhammad's tomb, the Sacred Chamber. The tomb is part of the prophet's mosque, which is one of the three holiest sites in Islam, along with the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. This year's Hajj came against the backdrop of the devastating Israel-Hamas war, which pushed the Middle East to the brink of a regional conflict. The war has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians in the besieged strip, according to Gaza health officials, while hundreds of others have been killed in Israeli operations in the West Bank. It began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip weren't able to travel to Mecca for the Hajj this year because of the closure of the Rafah crossing in May, when Israel extended its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt. More than 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj in 2024, slightly less than last year's 1.84 million, according to data released by the Saudi Hajj and Umra Ministry. This year's figures included more than 1.6 million pilgrims from 22 countries, and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents.

In Namibia, German charity Skate-Aid has built a skate park on the National Institute for Special Education campus. Here, young learners with disabilities can practice a sport Skate-Aid says encourages empowerment, socializing and having fun. Vitalio Angula reports from Windhoek, Namibia.

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.

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BEIJING — China hit back on Monday after G7 leaders warned Beijing to stop sending weapons components to Russia, saying their end-of-summit statement was "full of arrogance, prejudice and lies." When Group of Seven leaders met last week in Italy, souring trade relations with China as well as tensions over Ukraine and the South China Sea were a focus of their discussions. The statement released at the end of the summit on Friday criticized China on many of these issues. It included an accusation against Beijing of sending dual-use materials to Russia, which it said were helping the war effort in Ukraine. On Monday China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the statement had "slandered and attacked China". It had "rehashed cliches that have no factual basis, no legal basis, and no moral justification, and are full of arrogance, prejudice and lies," he said at a regular press briefing. The Group of Seven,  made up of the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Britain and Italy, had also taken aim at what it called "dangerous" incursions by China in the South China Sea. Worries of a military escalation between China and its neighbors are rising, and on Monday Philippine and Chinese vessels collided near the Second Thomas Shoal, according to the Chinese Coast Guard. "We oppose China's militarization, and coercive and intimidation activities in the South China Sea," read the G7 statement, using stronger language than at last year's summit in Japan.

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BEIJING — China said Monday it had launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of pork products from the European Union. The probe is in response to an application submitted on behalf of domestic producers, Beijing said, and comes in the face of mounting trade tensions between China and the EU. "The Ministry of Commerce has opened an anti-dumping investigation into imports of relevant pork and pig by-products originating from the European Union," the ministry said in a statement. China has criticized the bloc's decision last week to slap additional tariffs of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car imports from next month after an anti-subsidy probe. The European Commission pointed to "unfair subsidization" in China, which it said "is causing a threat of economic injury" to EU electric car makers. Beijing warned the tariffs would "harm Europe's own interests" and condemned the bloc's "protectionism". Pork is China's most popular meat and a staple of diets in the world's second most populous nation.

GENEVA — The world’s nine nuclear-armed states together spent $91.4 billion last year, or nearly $3,000 per second, as they “continue to modernize, and in some cases expand their arsenals,” according to a report issued Monday by ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. “This money is effectively being wasted given that the nuclear-armed states agree that a nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought,” Alicia Sanders-Zakre, co-author of the report, told journalists in Geneva last week in advance of the report’s publication. For example, she said, $91.4 billion a year “could pay for wind power for more than 12 million homes to combat climate change or cover 27 percent of the global funding gap to fight climate change, protect biodiversity and cut pollution.” The report shows the nuclear-armed states spent $10.7 billion more on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared with 2022, with the United States accounting for 80% of that increase. ICAN reports the United States spent $51.5 billion, “more than all the other nuclear-armed countries put together.” It says the next biggest spender was China at $11.8 billion with Russia spending the third largest amount at $8.3 billion. The report notes that the United Kingdom’s “spending was up significantly for the second year in a row,” with a 17% increase to $8.1 billion, just behind Russia. The combined total of the five other nuclear powers, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea, amounted to $11.6 billion last year. The authors of the report say companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons received new contracts worth just less than $7.9 billion in 2023. Analysis of data gathered over the past five years shows that the nuclear-armed states collectively spent $387 billion on their nuclear arsenals. “There has been a notable upward trend in the amount of money devoted to developing these most inhumane and destructive of weapons over the past five years, which is now accelerating,” Sanders-Zakre said. “All this money is not improving global security. In fact, it is threatening people wherever they live.” Arms control experts share these concerns and warn of the dangers of a new arms race as the nuclear powers build up their arsenals in defiance of the spirit of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. A report in the May issue of Foreign Affairs magazine cites Washington’s concerns about China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal. According to Pentagon estimates, “Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing is on track to amass 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, up from around 200 in 2019.” A 2023 report by the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States insists that China’s nuclear expansion should prompt U.S. policymakers to “re-evaluate the size and composition of the U.S. nuclear force.” The commission also expressed disquiet at Russia’s increasingly aggressive behavior, “including the unprecedented growth of its nuclear forces, diversification and expansion of its theater-based nuclear systems, the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and subsequent full-scale invasion in February 2022.” International anxiety about an accidental or deliberate tactical nuclear attack by Russia was on display this past weekend at the G7 summit in Italy and at the peace summit for Ukraine in Switzerland. In their final communique, the G7 leaders condemned Russia’s “blatant breach of international law” affirming that “in this context, threats by Russia of nuclear weapons use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia in the context of its war of aggression against Ukraine, would be inadmissible.” This sentiment was mirrored in a final declaration signed by most of the 100 countries that attended the Ukrainian peace conference. Notable holdouts included India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke warned, “This war has increased nuclear tensions between Russia and the West to their highest level since the Cold War and there is now a real threat of nuclear conflict as a result of Russia’s numerous overt and tacit nuclear threats.” ICAN’s report, which profiles 20 countries involved in the production, maintenance and development of nuclear weapons, notes that “Altogether there is $335 billion in outstanding contracts related to nuclear weapons work.” While the report shows significant growth in nuclear spending over the last five years, Susi Snyder, ICAN’s program coordinator and report co-author, observes “there also has been growth in global resistance to these weapons of mass destruction.” “The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has signatures from nearly 100 countries. One-hundred-eleven investors representing about $5 trillion in assets stated their support for the treaty,” she said. “They demanded that more efforts be made to exclude the nuclear weapons industry from their business until these countries stop doing things prohibited by the treaty,” she said, noting the treaty is “a clear pathway forward.” “It is a way to reduce tensions, to condemn threats, and to stop this new nuclear arms race that we have illustrated here before it surges any further out of control,” she said.

WASHINGTON/PRAGUE — An Indian man suspected by the U.S. of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil has been extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic, the Czech justice minister said on Monday. Nikhil Gupta has been accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of plotting with an Indian government official to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India. Gupta traveled to Prague from India last June and was arrested by Czech authorities. Last month, a Czech court rejected his petition to avoid being sent to the U.S., clearing the way for the Czech justice minister to extradite him. "On the basis of my decision on (June 3), the Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta, who is suspected of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire with intent to cause death, was extradited to the U.S. on Friday (June 14) for criminal prosecution," Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek said on social media platform X. The comments confirmed an earlier Reuters story reporting on the extradition that cited the federal Bureau of Prisons website and a source familiar with the matter. An inmate search by name on the Bureau of Prisons website showed on Sunday that Gupta, 52, was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, a federal administrative detention facility. A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. Gupta's U.S.-based lawyer, attorney Jeffrey Chabrowe, had no immediate comment. The discovery of alleged assassination plots against Sikh separatists in the U.S. and Canada has tested relations with India, seen by Western nations as a counter to China's rising global influence. India's government denies involvement in such plots. Canada said in September its intelligence agencies were pursuing allegations linking India's government to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 in Canada. In November, U.S. authorities said an Indian government official had directed the plot in the attempted murder of Pannun, who is a U.S. and Canadian citizen. Gupta is accused of involvement in that plot. Pannun told Reuters on Sunday that while the extradition was a welcome step, "Nikhil Gupta is just a foot soldier." India's government has dissociated itself from the plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy. It has said it would formally investigate security concerns raised by Washington.

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BEIJING — A Philippine supply ship dangerously approached a Chinese ship resulting in a slight collision after it illegally intruded into waters adjacent to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, the Chinese coast guard said on Monday, a claim that Manila's military said was "deceptive and misleading." The Philippine transport and replenishment ship ignored China's repeated, solemn warnings, the coast guard said in a statement. The guard said the vessel deliberately and dangerously approached the Chinese ship in an unprofessional manner, resulting in a collision. The statement made no mention of injuries or damage to either vessel. "We will not dignify the deceptive and misleading claims of the China coast guard," Xerxes Trinidad, chief of the Philippine armed forces' public affairs office, told reporters, adding they would not discuss operational details of resupply missions. "The continued aggressive actions of the CCG are escalating tensions in the region." The main issue remains to be the illegal presence and actions of Chinese vessels within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, the military said. Philippine coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said the agency was not in a position to provide any details as it was not a coast guard operation. For months, China and the Philippines have traded accusations over dangerous maneuvers and collisions at the Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll in the Philippines' economic zone. Several incidents have occurred when the Philippines deploys resupply missions for Filipino soldiers living aboard an aging warship there deliberately run aground to protect Manila's maritime claims. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. China had previously warned the Philippines about intruding into its territorial waters, and the country has issued new rules, which went into effect on June 15, that would enforce a 2021 law allowing its coast guard to use lethal force against foreign ships in waters that it claims. The new rules allow China's coast guard to detain suspected trespassers without trial for 60 days.

PHOENIX — Heat and cold extremes are expected this week in the U.S. Officials warned Southwest residents to take precautions as a heat wave moves east, while heavy rains and flooding could drench the Gulf states and snow threatens parts of the Rockies and Northwest. Extreme heat spread across Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas, Colorado and Kansas as severe weather swept across many parts of the U.S. on Sunday. There was unseasonable cold in the Pacific Northwest, snow headed to the northern Rocky Mountains and heavy rainfall forecast from the northern Plains to the Upper Midwest. The National Weather Service estimated more than 63 million people were under heat advisories on Sunday, stretching from the Southwest northward up through Denver and into Chicago. Temperatures in Phoenix, which hit 44.4 Celsius on Saturday, eased slightly on Sunday to 43.3 Celsius. Weather service forecasters say the first two weeks of June in Phoenix have been an average of about 3 degrees Celsius hotter than normal, making it the hottest start to June on record. "We have already seen some pretty significantly high temperatures in our area," said Ted Whittock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. "We are recommending that everyone reduce their time outdoors between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., stay hydrated and wear light, looser fitting clothing." The heat in metro Phoenix will ease a bit Monday through Wednesday, with the highs pushing back up as the week progresses, likely prompting another excessive heat warning, Whittock said. The heat has been especially dangerous in recent years in metro Phoenix, where 645 people died from heat-related causes in 2023, a record. The city and Maricopa County have adopted additional measures this year in hopes of keeping people safer, including two new overnight cooling centers where people can rest in air conditioning after the sun goes down. There are more than 100 other cooling centers that have been open since May 1 where people can get cold water and sit in a cool space during daytime hours. In neighboring New Mexico, a heat advisory was in effect over the weekend for the Chavez County plains including Roswell, where the high was forecast to hit 41.6 degrees C on Monday. The high for Albuquerque reached 37 C on Sunday and is forecast to cool slightly to 36 C on Monday. The high Sunday was 40 C in El Paso, Texas, which opened five cooling centers. Temperatures in Colorado ranged from near 32.2 C in areas of metropolitan Denver Sunday to 37.7 C in the southern city of Pueblo, with temperatures expected to surpass 37.7 C Monday in the southern reaches of the state. The heat wave was moving eastward Sunday into the Plains and the Great Lakes area and was expected to arrive in the Northeast by Tuesday. The threat of thunderstorms with potential high winds and heavy rainfall increased in the Chicago area, even as heat indices were forecast to reach near 37.7 C through the middle of the week. As the heat wave spreads eastward, temperatures in Washington and the rest of the mid-Atlantic, as well as New England, were likely to see highs in the mid- to upper-30s C as the week progresses, with excessive humidity making it feel even more oppressive. The U.S. last year saw the most heat waves, consisting of abnormally hot weather lasting more than two days, since 1936. While much of the country swelters, late season snow was forecast for the northern Rockies on Monday and Tuesday. Parts of Montana and north-central Idaho were under a winter storm warning, with as much as 15 centimeters of heavy, wet snow expected in the mountains around Missoula, Montana. As much as 51 centimeters was predicted for higher elevations around Glacier National Park. Meanwhile, a fresh batch of tropical moisture will bring an increasing threat of heavy rain and flash flooding to the central Gulf Coast late Sunday into Monday. Heavy rain is expected to start Monday morning, with the moisture shifting toward the Gulf Coast by Tuesday. The intense flooding from heavy rains continued to dissipate in southern Florida, where some areas in and around Miami and Fort Lauderdale were left underwater in recent days as storms dumped up to 50 centimeters. That unnamed storm system coincided with the early start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory.