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irvine, california — NATO and China's efforts to deepen cooperation with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific and Europe are viewed by some analysts as part of the growing competition between major powers, especially between the United States and China.     "[The latest development] is a standard major power competition," said Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.   These efforts are aimed at "finding out where are their friends and who can support their efforts," he said. "[But] it's pretty clear that the competition between major powers is intensifying," he told VOA by phone.     During its annual summit in Washington, NATO announced it would launch four new joint projects with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The projects will focus on deepening cooperation with the four Indo-Pacific countries on Ukraine, artificial intelligence, disinformation, and cybersecurity. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the goal is to "harness the unique strengths" of democracies to address shared global challenges. In response, the Chinese government accused NATO of "inciting bloc confrontation and hyping up regional tensions" by engaging with countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Instead of expanding its footprint to the Indo-Pacific region through these joint projects, some experts say NATO is trying to involve more like-minded countries in the process of building up competencies in critical areas of competition.   "These are core areas that will shape military and other forms of competition moving forward so NATO wants to establish more cooperation with like-minded democracies," said Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan.   Since NATO has labeled China as "the decisive enabler" of Russia's war against Ukraine, Nagy said the alliance is trying to show Beijing that it won't back out of the global competition in key areas.     "NATO is signaling to China that they can be part of the solution, or they would be part of the problem," he told VOA by phone.     In an interview with VOA's Mandarin Service, Japan's Foreign Press Secretary Maki Kobayashi said that while Tokyo has been working closely with NATO member states, these efforts shouldn't be viewed as an attempt to establish a NATO in Asia. China's attempt to counter NATO   While the U.S. and its NATO allies aimed to strengthen cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries through the summit in Washington, China is also beefing up military cooperation with Belarus and Russia.   On Monday, China initiated an 11-day joint military exercise near the border of Poland with Belarus, the newest member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. While the Chinese Foreign Ministry insisted that the exercise wasn't targeting any country, some analysts told VOA that the move is Beijing's response to NATO's growing interest in Asia. In addition to the military exercise with Belarus in Europe, China also announced Friday a joint naval exercise with Russia in waters near the southern city of Zhanjiang.   The Chinese defense ministry characterized the drills, which will take place near the disputed South China Sea, as attempts for Beijing and Moscow to demonstrate their resolve and capabilities to address "maritime security threats and preserving global and regional peace and stability."   Nagy in Japan said Beijing is trying to show its displeasure toward NATO's efforts to strengthen ties with Indo-Pacific countries.  "China is signaling to NATO member states that they can cause headaches for them in their region or regions that matter to them," he told VOA.     Apart from closely aligning the dates of the two military exercises with the NATO Summit, China also used last week's SCO Summit in Kazakhstan to uphold its "no limits partnership" with Russia and promote the alternative world order that it has been championing in recent years. While the SCO isn't an alliance with a common goal, some experts say China will still try to use it as a platform to "build its own blocs" to counter NATO and dilute Western influence.     "China is strengthening these arrangements through bilateral agreements and strategic partnership, which often include security," Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told VOA by phone.     But since the SCO includes member states such as India, which is also part of the quadrilateral security dialogue with Australia, Japan, and the U.S., Nagy thinks New Delhi is unlikely to back any efforts to transform SCO into a counterweight of NATO.   And while China might engage in some security cooperation with other authoritarian states like Russia or Iran — such as the joint military exercise the three countries conducted in March — Nagy said the differences in the three countries' tolerance for risk and their visions for these partnerships will make it difficult for them to form a formal alliance.  In his view, Russia has a higher tolerance for risk while China is concerned about how the war in Ukraine may affect stability around the world.   "In the North Korea front, China is not happy about Putin's recent trip to Pyongyang while Beijing wants a stable relationship with Iran, which adds limits to their cooperation," Nagy told VOA.  "The idea that these countries can converge to form an alliance to combat the so-called Western containment is not feasible, but they may align themselves so they can coordinate the supply of resources," he added.  Despite some limitations in reality, Arho Havren said China and NATO's latest efforts to deepen partnerships show that a bloc competition may be emerging.  "Both sides are more assertive and clear about their messaging and recent developments may accelerate this trend," she told VOA.   

jerusalem — Israel launched a large airstrike Saturday on the southern Gaza Strip that it said targeted the commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif. Hamas said at least 90 Palestinians were killed and more than 300 wounded, while senior Hamas official Khalil al-Haya told Al-Jazeera that Deif had not been killed. "We say to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that Mohammad Deif is listening to you right now and mocking your lies," al-Hayya told Al-Jazeera. At a news conference, Netanyahu said that Israel will eventually get to all of Hamas' military leaders and said that Deif, whom Israel has repeatedly tried to assassinate, was responsible for the deaths of many Israelis. "His hands are steeped in the blood of many Israelis," Netanyahu said. "At the beginning of the campaign, I laid down a rule: The Hamas murderers are dead men, from the first to the last." Hamas officials said the strike hit inside a strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea known as al-Mawasi, where Israel said Palestinians would be safe if they evacuated other areas of Gaza according to Israeli demands. Hamas said in a statement that Israel's statement about targeting Hamas leader is false. "The Israeli allegations are nonsense, and they aim to justify the horrifying massacre. All the martyrs are civilians and what happened was a grave escalation of the war of genocide, backed by the American support and world silence," Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. He also said the strike showed Israel is not interested in reaching a cease-fire agreement. The Israeli airstrike came amid reports of progress in the cease-fire talks that would lead to freedom for the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza and freedom for thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Weekly demonstrations in Israel calling on the government to accept the cease-fire have grown in both numbers and intensity. At a demonstration Saturday night, protester Ayala Metzger said she hoped the attack on Deif would not derail the hostage negotiations. "I don't know about Mohammed Deif," she said. "I know that keeping the war is bad for all of us. It needs to be stopped, and we need to bring the hostages back. I think Netanyahu, if he killed Mohammed Deif, so he now has his picture of victory? So, bring them back now — that's it." There are 120 Israeli hostages still in Gaza, although at least 43 of them have been declared dead. Israeli officials say time is running out for those who are still alive and are pressing for Israel to accept the U.S.-backed deal on the table for a three-phase cease-fire. Israeli analysts say that if Deif was killed in the airstrike, Hamas could suspend the cease-fire talks in response. The Israeli army also told Israelis to prepare for possible rocket strikes by Hamas. In the early weeks of the war, Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel, but that rocket fire has diminished considerably since then. Israel says the shadowy Deif was one of the architects of the October 7 terror attacks that sent thousands of Hamas fighters into Israel and killed about 1,200 Israelis, as well as taking some 250 hostages, about 100 of whom were returned in a November cease-fire deal. In response, Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 38,200 Palestinians, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. In May, Israel estimated the death toll at 30,000, and said that most of the dead are combatants. Close to three-quarters of Gaza's 2.3 million population is displaced, and nearly the entire population is at risk of famine, according to the United Nations.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX rocket failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company's internet satellites in an orbit so low that they're doomed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up.  The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Thursday night, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. Several minutes into the flight, the upper stage engine malfunctioned. SpaceX on Friday blamed a liquid oxygen leak.  The company said flight controllers managed to make contact with half of the satellites and attempted to boost them to a higher orbit using onboard ion thrusters. But with the low end of their orbit 135 kilometers above Earth — less than half what was intended — "our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites," the company said via X.  SpaceX said the satellites will reenter the atmosphere and burn up. There was no mention of when they might come down. More than 6,000 orbiting Starlinks provide internet service to customers in some of the most remote corners of the world.  The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem must be fixed before Falcon rockets can fly again.  It was not known if or how the accident might impact SpaceX's upcoming crew flights. A billionaire's spaceflight is scheduled for July 31 from Florida with plans for the first private spacewalk, followed in mid-August by an astronaut flight to the International Space Station for NASA.  The tech entrepreneur who will lead the private flight, Jared Isaacman, said Friday that SpaceX's Falcon 9 has "an incredible track record" and as well as an emergency escape system.  The last launch failure occurred in 2015 during a space station cargo run. Another rocket exploded the following year during testing on the ground.  SpaceX's Elon Musk said the high flight rate will make it easier to identify and correct the problem. 

Jos, Nigeria — After her early morning class ended, 16-year-old Nigerian student Chidera Denis was waiting to join classmates for end-of-term exams. Moments later, she was trapped under rubble as her school building suddenly collapsed, with pupils barely protected by the desks where they were sitting.  Denis was one of the lucky ones. The collapse of the Saint Academy school in Jos North district in Plateau State killed 22 students Friday, with dozens more hospitalized for treatment, including Denis' friend.   "She said she was going to die ... that if they rescued me, I should tell her mother," Denis told AFP a day after the disaster.   "I said she should stop saying that, that we'll be alive, that God is our strength."   Her brother also attended the school.  "I am yet to see her brother," she told AFP. "I am still searching. I am in pain."     Rescue efforts end A spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, Yohanna Audu, told AFP on Saturday that rescue efforts had ended after the disaster, the latest fatal building collapse in Nigeria.   Audu said there were 22 fatalities, "all of whom are students."    The Red Cross posted on X, formerly Twitter, Saturday that a teacher and a student were still missing.  "I was beside someone who died," 14-year-old Chidinma Emmanuel told AFP. "He fell down on my arm and it broke. The falling debris landed on his head and killed him."  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described the incident as a "huge loss to the nation."  The day after, 58 people were still hospitalized while 74 were discharged, the state commissioner for information Musa Ibrahim Ashoms said in a statement Saturday.    Collapses common Building collapses are common in Africa's most populous country.   The accident Friday was the deadliest since November 2021, when a high-rise building under construction in the country's commercial hub of Lagos collapsed and killed at least 45 people, most of them construction workers.  Poor quality of work, lack of oversight, and official corruption to bypass safety checks are often blamed for the incidents.    Ashoms said it was not immediately clear what caused the collapse in Plateau, but residents said it came after three days of heavy rain.  Although formal investigations have yet to commence, state authorities have said there was a need to reinforce building standard codes.  Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang “emphasizes the need for all developers and property owners to submit their building plans to the Jos Metropolitan Development Board for verification and revalidation," Ashoms said.   The school building disaster was the latest tragedy to hit Plateau State, which has seen a series of deadly intercommunal clashes.   Gunmen killed 40 people in Zurak, a mining village 260 kilometers (160 miles) east of Jos, in May. And nearly 200 people were killed in the state last December in raids on mostly Christian villages. 

Tripoli, Libya — The United Nations mission in Libya called Saturday for the "immediate" release of a prominent journalist arrested this week, warning against a "crackdown" on media freedoms in the war-torn country.   Ahmed Sanussi, chief editor of Libyan financial news website Sada, who has long covered corruption in the hydrocarbon-rich country, was arrested in his Tripoli home after returning from Tunisia, his family said.   The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said, it was "deeply concerned about the arbitrary arrest and detention of journalist Ahmed Sanussi on July 11 in Tripoli."   In a message on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, UNSMIL called for his "immediate release."   "The crackdown on journalism fosters a climate of fear and undermines the necessary environment for democratic transition in Libya," it said. Division and unrest  Libya has been wracked by division and unrest since the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi and remains divided between two rival administrations.  The U.N. mission highlighted the need for a "thriving civic space where Libyans can engage in open and safe debate and dialogue by exercising their right to freedom of expression."    "All Libyan authorities must protect journalists and media professionals."  Sanussi's latest reporting on corruption implicated Economy Ministry Mohamad Ali Houej.    Authorities in Libya did not comment on the arrest, which was also condemned by Western governments.  Journalism group pushes for release The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deemed it "unacceptable that authorities have not disclosed where he is being held or the reason for his arrest."   The Netherlands' ambassador in Libya, Joost Klarenbeek, said on X, formerly Twitter, he was "deeply concerned," adding that "any acts of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance or ill-treatment must be thoroughly investigated."   CPJ's MENA program coordinator, Yeganeh Rezaian, said Libyan "authorities must release Sanussi immediately and unconditionally and ensure his safe return home." 

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WARSAW, Poland — A miner who was reported missing after an earthquake shook Poland's Rydultowy coal mine has been found alive more than two days after the accident that killed one of his colleagues and injured another 17, local officials said Saturday.  The miner has been airlifted to a hospital and the rescue operation has been closed, said Witold Gałązka of the coal mining group that operates the mine.  Earlier, the office of the provincial governor of the Silesia coal mining region, in southern Poland, said that the miner was conscious and was being transported to the surface.  "This is fantastic news," provincial governor Marek Wojcik said on TVN24.  The head of the Polish Coal Mining Group that operates the mine, Leszek Pietraszek, said that rescuers reached the 32-year-old miner around 2 p.m. Saturday. He was conscious and communicating but had some problems breathing. He received first aid from a doctor who also prepared him for transportation to the surface.  Hundreds of rescuers took part in the operation and at times had to be withdrawn from the corridor when more tremors were threatened or because of dangerous methane gas levels. The rescuers had to dig through the rubble by hand to reach the miner, authorities said.  Seventy-eight miners were in the area when a magnitude 3.1 tremor struck about 1,200 meters below the surface on Thursday afternoon.  One miner, age 41, was killed and 17 were hospitalized with injuries. Thirteen of the injured have since been released from the hospital.  The tremor caused a slide of rocks into the corridor at one spot, where the miner was found Saturday.  The mining group has suffered several deadly accidents this year. In May, three miners died in a cave-in at the Myslowice-Wesola coal mine, and one was killed at the same mine in April.  Two miners lost their lives in separate accidents in 2019 and 2020 in the Rydultowy mine, which was opened in 1792 and employs about 2,000 miners.  Coal mining is considered hazardous in Poland, where some mines are prone to methane gas explosions or to cave-ins. Excavation in older mines goes deep into the ground in the search for coal, increasing the job's hazards. The coal industry is among Poland's key employers, providing some 75,000 jobs.  Last year, 15 miners died in accidents. 

ISLAMABAD, pakistan — Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his third wife were acquitted on charges of marrying unlawfully by a Pakistan court Saturday, yet he will not be freed after authorities issued fresh orders to arrest him.   The ruling came a day after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won more seats in parliament, ramping up pressure on the country's fragile ruling coalition which is grappling to stabilize a broken economy.  The couple were sentenced to seven years in February when a court found them guilty of breaking Islamic law by failing to observe the required interval between the divorce from a previous marriage of Bushra Khan, also known as Bushra Bibi, and her marriage to Khan.  They had filed an appeal against their convictions.  "Both the appellants are acquitted of the charges," said an order by the appeal court seen by Reuters.   "They are directed to be released forthwith if not required to be detained in any other case."   It said the prosecution failed to prove its case against the couple.   Khan's PTI party said authorities have issued fresh arrest warrants for him in three cases linked to violence against the military and other state installations that erupted following his brief arrest in May 2023.  An anti-terrorism court last week cancelled his bail in one of the May 9 cases registered against him and thousands of his supporters.   The party called it a "gimmick" aimed at prolonging his imprisonment.   Bibi is on bail in a land corruption case in which she is also co-accused with Khan, who is a free person after the latest acquittal, the party added.   All four jail sentences Khan received ahead of a February national election have now been overturned or suspended.   Jailed since last August, he was acquitted last month of charges of leaking state secrets. Two other corruption sentences have been suspended.  The PTI has warned that keeping Khan in jail despite Saturday's decision will deepen a political crisis which has crippled the country of 240 million people since he was ousted in a parliament no confidence vote in 2022.  Khan blames his ouster on the country's powerful military generals. No prime minister of Pakistan has completed a full five-year constitutional term since the country gained its independence in 1947. 

Nairobi, Kenya — Kenyan police said Saturday that they had found more bags filled with dismembered female body parts in a grisly discovery at a rubbish dump that has horrified and angered the country.  Detectives have been scouring the site in the Nairobi slum of Mukuru since the mutilated corpses of at least six women were found Friday in sacks floating in a sea of garbage.    The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Saturday that another five bags had been retrieved from the abandoned quarry, three of them containing female body parts, including severed legs and two torsos. "We want to assure the public that our investigations will be thorough and shall cover a wide range of areas, including but not limited to the possible activities of cultists and serial killings," the directorate said in a statement. Kenya was left reeling by the discovery last year of mass graves in a forest near the Indian Ocean coast containing the bodies of hundreds of followers of a doomsday starvation cult.    The country's law enforcement services are also under scrutiny after dozens of people were killed during anti-government demonstrations last month, with rights group accusing officers of using excessive force.    Police reported Friday of finding bodies of at least six women, while the state-funded police watchdog said nine had been found, seven of them women.    Horrendous scene  "As the government deploys all necessary resources and manpower to expedite this investigation, we appeal to the members of the public to remain calm and give our detectives a chance to deliver justice to the victims of this horrendous scene," the DCI statement said.   Tensions have been running high at the Mukuru site, with local media reports that police had fired into the air to try to disperse an angry crowd of locals.  The DCI said a team of detectives and forensic experts "were impeded by agitated members of the public from accessing the scene."   The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) had said Friday that it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the gruesome saga.  "The bodies, wrapped in bags and secured by nylon ropes, had visible marks of torture and mutilation," it said, noting that the dumpsite was less than 100 meters (330 feet) from a police station.     The IPOA is also looking into claims of abductions of demonstrators who went missing after the widespread anti-government protests turned deadly.    Surge of disappearances  Kenya's police force is often accused of extrajudicial killings and other rights abuses, but convictions are rare.    "The discovery comes amid a troubling surge in cases of mysterious disappearances and abductions, particularly following recent protests against the finance bill," a coalition of civil society and rights groups said in a statement.  "This horrific incident is a mass fatality issue, it represents a grave violation of human rights and raises serious concerns about the rule of law and security in our country," it said.  National police chief Japhet Koome, the target of much public anger over the protest deaths and reported abductions, resigned Friday after less than two years in the post.  He is the latest head to roll as President William Ruto scrambles to contain the worst crisis of his rule, triggered by the protests over deeply unpopular plans for tax hikes.  Crowds that gathered at the dumpsite Friday chanted "Ruto must go," the slogan of Gen-Z Kenyans leading the demonstrations that have now morphed into a wider campaign against the government, corruption and alleged police brutality.   "As the police investigations unfold, IPOA is keenly independently undertaking preliminary inquiries to establish whether there was any police involvement in the deaths, or failure to act to prevent them," the agency said.    The IPOA also called for public help in its investigations into reports of abductions, unlawful arrests and disappearances during the anti-government protests.  But it did not make any link to those missing and the dumped bodies, and some people on social media have described them as victims of femicide.  On Monday, doomsday cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie went on trial along with 94 co-defendants over the deaths of more than 400 followers he is accused of inciting to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.   He and his co-accused also face charges of murder, manslaughter and child cruelty in separate cases over one of the world's worst cult-related massacres. 

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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Pamplona, Spain — Five runners were injured, but none were gored on the seventh day of Pamplona's running of the bulls in northern Spain Saturday, the Red Cross said.  The five injured people were hurt during Spain's traditional annual San Fermin bull running festival, with most suffering bruising, local government sources said.  The curtain went up on nine days of festivities earlier this week as thousands of revelers dressed in white clothes and red scarves filled the city's main square for the "chupinazo" — the firecracker that launches an event dating back to medieval times. The run became world famous after being immortalized by U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises." The festivities include concerts, religious processions and copious amounts of wine. Each day at 8 a.m., hundreds of attendees launch themselves into a dangerous 850 meters (930 yards) race, seeking to outrun — or at least avoid — six heavy fighting bulls through the city center's narrow streets. During the intense "running of the bulls" — which lasts less than three minutes — the runners try to get as close as possible to the animals in their sprint to the Pamplona bullring, where bullfights are held in the afternoon. This year's edition saw the day of San Fermin fall on a Sunday, allowing a stronger turnout than when the saint's day falls on a weekday. Anyone aged 18 or above may participate. Dozens of people are injured each year, although most are injuries resulting from falls or being stomped by animals. To date, 16 deaths have also been recorded since 1911, the last coming in 2009.

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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ISLAMABAD — Thousands of supporters of a Pakistani radical political party rallied near the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday, denouncing Israeli strikes in Gaza and urging the government to send more aid to the Palestinians. The protesters also demanded that Pakistan declare Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a terrorist.” There was no immediate response from the government following the rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Pakistan has been calling for a cease-fire in the nine-month Israel-Hamas war, and in recent months has sent relief items for the Palestinians in Gaza. Saad Rizvi, head of the Islamist Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party, which led the rally, said the sit-in at the protest would continue as long as its demands are not accepted by the government. Hundreds of police were deployed near the rally, which took place as militant attacks have surged in Pakistan.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia — A Cambodian military helicopter has gone missing following an "accident" in bad weather in the southwest of the country, its Defense Ministry said Saturday.  The ministry said in a Facebook post that the chopper went missing in the rugged Cardamom Mountains, which are cloaked in dense rainforest.  "A helicopter has lost contact with the headquarters of the air force ... during a training [session]," it said.  "The accident happened due to bad weather," it added.  The ministry did not say when the chopper went missing, what model it was, or how many people were on board.  But air force sources told AFP that a Chinese-made Z-9 chopper with at least two people aboard disappeared Friday during a training exercise.  The Defense Ministry said rescue teams began searching for the missing chopper Saturday morning, but the chopper had not been found.  Local press reports said the search was focused on Pursat province.  Cambodia bought 12 Z-9 helicopters from China in 2013 to boost its military capacity.  Four Cambodian soldiers died, and one was injured in 2014 when a Z-9 exploded in midair before crashing into a water-filled quarry during military training on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh.  In 2008, Cambodia's chief policeman, Hok Lundy, was killed in a helicopter crash along with the deputy army commander and two pilots when their chopper went down in bad weather.