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Washington — A deadly clash over the weekend between two clans in central Somalia has killed at least 50 people, residents and medical officials told VOA on Monday.  Another 155 people are said to have been injured in the clashes in the Galgudud province near Somalia’s border with Ethiopia.  The fighting between the Dir and Marihan clans erupted on Saturday in rural areas between Abudwaq and Herale towns over grazing land and watering points, said Feysal Abdullahi Kheyre, a commissioner and resident of Herale.  Witnesses who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals said about 400 militiamen fought each other during the clashes, using anti-tank weapons and heavy machine guns mounted on pickup trucks.  “The reason behind the high casualties is the fact that the fighting took place in an open ground and that the clan militias are heavily armed,” said Muhidin Aden Wali, a commissioner and resident of Abudwaq.  Neither commissioner denied there were high casualty figures but said that they did not know specific numbers.   Following the clashes, the Somali government announced Sunday that it was forming a committee to find an immediate solution for tribal conflicts.  The Somali National News Agency (SONNA) said the committee consisted of five ministers appointed by president of Galmudug State, Ahmed Abdi.  “The purpose of this committee is to go to conflict areas in the cities [of Abu Dawaq and Harali] to end the bloody fighting there,” SONNA reported.  Witnesses said Monday units of Somali’s army were deployed in the area to prevent further clashes.  The clans have a recent history of fighting over pastoral land and water wells.  Revenge killings  According to residents and local elders, revenge killings and land disputes have been fueling inter-clan violence in Somalia for years, with some of the heaviest fighting taking place in Galgudud and Mudug.  “It was unfortunate fighting between brotherly and neighboring nomadic people and it is as it has always been, over land disputes, water and clan vendetta,” Abdullahi Sa’id Farah, a clan elder and resident of Abudwaq, told VOA.  “Our sons and husbands are those dying from both sides in the clan conflicts in central Somalia and this has had a painful impact on Somali mothers for many years,” said Irado Mohamed Igal, an activist in the region.  Regional officials accused militant group al-Shabab of sparking the renewed clan clashes.  “Al-Shabab continues to pit Somali clans against each other so that it would benefit by distracting the local governments and local people from their fight against al-Shabab,” a security adviser to the president of Galmudug state, Ahmed Shire Falagle, told VOA Somali by phone.  VOA could not independently verify the involvement of al-Shabab in this weekend’s clan violence.  The clashes add weight to the security tasks of Somalia's federal government, which is struggling to contain the threat posed by the militants.  On Saturday, al-Shabab militants attacked government forces in the central town of El-Dheer.  Al-Shabab, through its Telegram channel, said its forces overran two government military camps, a claim denied by the Somali government.  Residents and witnesses who spoke to VOA said at least 16 people were killed during the attack, which they said was repelled by the government soldiers aided by local clan militias.  VOA reporter Abdiwahid Isaq contributed this report from Galkayo in central Somalia. 

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Bangkok — Thailand’s democracy movement faces a pivotal week as the Constitutional Court considers whether to dissolve the election-winning Move Forward Party (MFP), a ruling which would effectively nullify the votes of 14 million people and trigger a new period of political instability.  MFP became Thailand’s largest party at the May 2023 polls, winning 151 parliamentary seats and igniting calls to cut the army from politics and redistribute wealth and power more evenly.   But it was blocked from forming a government and has since run into endless obstacles brought by a conservative establishment rattled by its success.   The court will meet on June 12 to consider MFP’s fate on an allegation that it breached the Thai constitution by calling for reform of the royal defamation law — which protects the monarchy from criticism — during its election campaign.  Party frontman Pita Limjaroenrat says MFP had no intention of overthrowing the monarchy, as alleged, with a call to amend a law that has seen scores of young pro-democracy activists charged since 2020.  The activists came out to protest when the same court dissolved Move Forward’s predecessor — Future Forward.   “No one can really say how the court is going to rule but if we are to be dissolved this would be two parties in five years,” Pita told reporters Sunday at a news conference.  “I don’t even want to think or forecast how this might affect Thailand especially when our society, economy, and politics are still fragile,” he added.    The court is widely expected to strike out the party, which has the potential to stir a new round of political uncertainty.  “In the short term, there may be big protests across the country like those that happened when they dissolved Future Forward,” Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a constitutional scholar at Chulalongkorn University, told VOA.  “But in the long term I’m more concerned that the conservative elite will actually succeed in slowly weakening the progressive movement, by banning MPs and dissolving whatever the next party incarnation is.”  The monarchy sits at the head of Thai power, backed by an army which has carried out 13 coups since the kingdom became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.  Where coups have failed to end the democracy cause, the courts have stepped in by banning parties and popular politicians, mainly from groups which threaten the status quo.   The Constitutional Court can also impose a decade-long political ban on the party leader — including Pita — when it renders a decision.  What happened  Move Forward emerged from last year’s poll as the most serious threat to the elite order in a generation. Harvard-educated leader Pita appeared primed for the premiership.  But he was blocked from taking office by senators who were appointed by generals after the last coup in 2014. The party was subsequently forced into the role of the opposition.  Instead, conservatives rallied behind the Pheu Thai party, formerly Thailand’s most radical group, to take the reins of government.  The courts have previously taken out parties linked with Pheu Thai’s founder, 74-year-old telecoms billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra. Until its deal to lead the government, Pheu Thai was seen as the gravest threat to the establishment.   Now it finds itself aligned with its former enemies.   “There’s no such thing as normal politics in this country,” Sirote Klampaiboon, an independent scholar and political commentator, told VOA.   Referring to the establishment’s opposition, Klampaiboon said, “A political entity can be destroyed at any time. Participatory democracy can be destroyed at any time.”  Even the current coalition government is now also being destabilized by court cases against its prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, and Pheu Thai’s patron, Thaksin.  Experts say it is a sign of the kingdom’s conservatives exerting their behind-the-scenes control over politics despite losing the popular vote.   If Move Forward is dissolved, most of its lawmakers are expected to regroup under a new banner, whose name has yet to be announced.   Others, however, may defect to coalition parties — a common practice in Thai politics — weakening its parliamentary hand.   Thailand’s latest democracy movement stems from Future Forward, founded by the billionaire scion of an auto parts empire, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.  Future Forward won 6 million votes in the 2019 election but was dissolved a year later with Thanathorn banned from politics for a decade for breaching media shareholding rules, which he denied.   Four years on, the party’s successor Move Forward won 14 million votes.  Thanathorn, a charismatic figure who still pulls large crowds wherever he goes, says the future belongs to a new era in politics.   “If Pita was our prime minister this would already be the beginning of a new era of progressive Thailand,” he told the audience at a June 1 screening of a documentary about his rise from nowhere to the center of Thai politics.  “I’m confident that by 2027, when we will have the next election, our political horizons will be closer. Whatever our party name will be… we will absolutely be ready.”

Since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has carried out a campaign of repression against local and foreign journalists including via intimidation, threats, expulsions and arrests. Marcus Harton narrates this report from Ricardo Marquina.

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Oradour-sur-Glane, France — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned against the dangers of nationalism Monday, as he visited a World War II massacre site in France a day after European elections saw advances for the far right.   It is "fittingly on the day after the European elections that I say: let us never forget the damage done in Europe by nationalism and hate. Let us never forget the miracle of reconciliation the European Union has worked," Steinmeier said at a commemoration ceremony for the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where Nazi SS soldiers massacred civilians in 1944.   Among the German head of state's audience was President Emmanuel Macron, who called new national elections to France's parliament Sunday, after his party's disastrous showing in the European vote.   While Macron hopes to break the deadlock of a hung parliament that has dogged his second term since 2022, the far-right National Rally (RN) looks set to make significant gains from its current 88 lawmakers.   "It is in this memory, in the ashes of Oradour, that we have to ensure the strength of this reconciliation is reborn," Macron said, calling post-war Franco-German ties "the lifeblood of our European project." 

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WILMINGTON, Delaware — Hunter Biden's lawyers rested their case Monday in the federal criminal trial of the president's son, who is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018, according to news reports.  Prosecutors have argued the evidence is clear that Hunter Biden was in the throes of addiction when he checked "no" on the form at the gun shop that asked whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" drugs.  Hunter Biden's addiction struggles before getting sober more than five years ago are well documented. But defense lawyers argued that prosecutors failed to prove he was using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun.  The defense has suggested Hunter Biden had been trying to turn his life around at the time, completing a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018. His daughter Naomi took the stand for the defense last week, telling jurors about visiting him while he was at a California rehab center weeks before he bought the gun. The defense also tried to cast doubt on the memories of the prosecution's witnesses, pressing them about their recollection of events.  Hunter Biden was charged with three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty,  It's the first of two trials for Hunter Biden in the midst of his father's Democratic reelection campaign. He also is charged with failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a case scheduled to go to trial in September in California.  Hunter Biden has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the gun case and the separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year.  The case has put a spotlight on a turbulent time in Hunter Biden's life after the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015.  Hunter Biden's struggles with addiction before getting sober more than five years ago are well documented. But defense lawyers argue there's no evidence he was actually using drugs in the 11 days that he possessed the gun. He had completed a rehab program weeks earlier.  Jurors have heard emotional testimony from Hunter Biden's former romantic partners and read personal text messages. They've seen photos of Hunter Biden holding a crack pipe and partly clothed, and video from his phone of crack cocaine weighed on a scale.  His ex-wife and two former girlfriends testified for prosecutors about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. One woman, who met Hunter Biden in 2017 at a strip club where she worked, described him smoking crack every 20 minutes or so while she stayed with him at a hotel.  Hunter Biden has not taken the witness stand. But jurors have heard him describe at length his descent into addiction through audio excerpts played in court of his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things." The book, written after he got sober, covers the period he had the gun but doesn't mention it specifically.  A key witness for prosecutors is Beau's widow, Hallie, who had a brief troubled relationship with Hunter after his brother died of brain cancer. She found the unloaded gun in Hunter's truck on Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash.  "I didn't want him to hurt himself, and I didn't want my kids to find it and hurt themselves," Hallie Biden told jurors. From the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she threw his gun away, she did not see him using drugs, Hallie told jurors. That time period included the day he bought the weapon. But jurors also saw text messages Hunter sent to Hallie in October 2018 saying he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the following day.  The defense has suggested Hunter Biden had been trying to turn his life around at the time of the gun purchase, having completed a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018.  "There is no evidence of contemporaneous drug use and a gun possession," defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote in court papers filed Friday. "It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs."  Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi took the stand for the defense Friday, telling jurors about visiting her father while he was at a California rehab center weeks before he bought the gun. She told jurors that he seemed "hopeful" and to be improving, and she told him she was proud of him. As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.  The defense on Friday did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Hunter's lawyers previously said they planned to call as a witness Joe Biden's brother, James, and he was at the courthouse on Friday. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more deeply personal messages to be introduced to the jury.  President Joe Biden said last week that he would accept the jury's verdict and has ruled out a pardon for his son. After flying back from France, President Biden was at his home in Wilmington for the day and was expected in Washington in the evening for a Juneteenth concert. He was scheduled to travel to Italy later this week for the Group of Seven leaders conference.  Last summer, it looked as if Hunter Biden would avoid prosecution in the gun case altogether, but a deal with prosecutors imploded after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated to the bench by Republican former President Donald Trump, raised concerns about it. Hunter Biden was subsequently indicted on three felony gun charges. He also faces a trial scheduled for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years.  If convicted in the gun case, he faces up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it's unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars.

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Madrid — Three Valencia football fans were sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday for hate crimes against Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior, the first conviction for racist insults in a soccer stadium in Spain, the court announced. "The ruling handed down today, which is final, establishes as proven that the three defendants insulted Vinicius with shouts, gestures and chants referring to the color of his skin," the court said in a statement. "These shouts and gestures of a racist nature, consisting among other things in the repetition of the sounds and imitating the movements of monkeys, caused the footballer feelings of frustration, shame and humiliation, with the consequent undermining of his intrinsic dignity." In Spain, prison sentences of less than two years for non-violent crimes rarely require a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time so the three are likely to remain free unless they commit further offences. The three supporters, who pleaded guilty to the charges, were also banned from entering football stadiums for two years and ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings. "This ruling is great news for the fight against racism in Spain as it repairs the damage suffered by Vinicius Jr and sends a clear message to those people who go to a football stadium to insult that LaLiga will identify them, report them and there will be criminal consequences for them," LaLiga president Javier Tebas said.   The events happened at Valencia's Mestalla stadium in May last year, when racist slurs were hurled at Vinicius, who is Black, during a league match. They led to an outpouring of support for the Brazilian forward and galvanized a series of local and international campaigns, including the creation of a FIFA anti-racism committee made up of players. "During the hearing, the defendants read a letter of apology to Vinicius Jr, LaLiga and Real Madrid," LaLiga said in a statement on Monday. Real Madrid said the defendants had shown repentance and, in their letter, had "asked fans that all traces of racism and intolerance should be banished from sporting competitions." "Real Madrid, which together with Vinicius Jr has acted as private prosecutor in these proceedings, will continue to work to protect the values of our club and to eradicate any racist behavior in the world of football and sport," the club added in a statement. The 23-year-old Vinicius helped Real Madrid to win the LaLiga title and the Champions League this past season. He was named the Champions League's player of the season and is one of the favorites to win the Ballon d'Or for the world's best player in October. Sixteen incidents of racist abuse against Vinicius have been reported to Spanish prosecutors by LaLiga in the last two seasons. In March, Vinicius broke down in tears at a press conference and said he was struggling to stay motivated and enjoy playing football due to the recurring abuse, urging Spanish authorities to take action. "People should know that this type of act is punishable, punishable as a hate crime, because the conviction is for crimes against moral integrity but with the aggravating circumstance of hatred," state prosecutor Susana Gisbert told reporters. In April, Spanish TV station Movistar Plus+ fired analyst German Burgos after Barcelona and Paris St Germain refused to give interviews to the network following a comment he made about Barcelona's Lamine Yamal which was interpreted as racist. In the same month, Atletico Madrid and Getafe were ordered to partially close their stands following racist and xenophobic abuse in a LaLiga game, while a third-division match between Rayo Majadahonda and Sestao River was suspended after Rayo's Senegalese goalkeeper Cheikh Kane Sarr confronted a rival fan who he said was racially abusing him.

A Chinese aircraft manufacturer is actively marketing its commercial jet to the international market, eventually hoping to compete with giants like Boeing and Airbus. But VOA’s Ahadian Utama reports that Beijing faces an uphill battle for Asian skies. Indra Yoga contributed to this report.

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Tokyo — The United States needs Japan's help to cope with strategic challenges in Europe and Asia that are straining its defense industries, the U.S. ambassador to Japan said on Monday as the countries kicked off talks on military industrial cooperation. "Our national security strategy calls for us to be able to handle one and a half theaters, that's a major war and another one to a stand-off, and with both the Middle East, Ukraine, and keeping our deterrence credible in this region (East Asia) you can already see that we are in two plus," Rahm Emanuel told reporters.  On Sunday, Japan and the U.S. kicked off their first talks in Tokyo on forging deeper defense industry collaboration under the U.S.-Japan Forum on Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) established in April by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden.   Discussions on Tuesday between U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William A. LaPlante and Masaki Fukasawa, the head of Japan’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency, will focus on naval repairs in Japan that could help free up U.S. yards to build more warships. "China has a major capacity we already know that will surpass us on new shipbuilding," Emanuel said.   Other potential cooperation between Japan and the U.S. includes aircraft repairs, missile production and military supply chain resilience, he added. Japan and the U.S. already build a missile defense interceptor together and Tokyo has also agreed to supply Patriot PAC3 air-defense missiles to the U.S.