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Lima’s Chinatown was founded by Chinese migrants who arrived in Peru as indentured laborers. Back then, it was a meeting place for fellow countrymen, but today, it’s a vibrant commercial hub intertwined with Peruvian society. Adriana Núñez Rabascall has the story from Lima.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian professional tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky immediately volunteered to fight for his home country. Anna Kosstutschenko has his story. Camera and edit: Pavel Suhodolskiy

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 — Pakistan's space agency on Thursday launched its second satellite in a month from a launch site in China's northwest Sichuan province. According to Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), PakSAT-MM1 is a high-power multimission satellite designed to provide a range of communication services. "Based on advanced communication technologies, PakSAT-MM1 will play a pivotal role in the socio-economic uplift of the country," SUPARCO said on its website, adding that the satellite is "the hallmark of technological cooperation between" China and Pakistan. SUPARCO added, "It will prove to be a stepping stone in the transformation of the country into digital Pakistan." Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Thursday that the country successfully launched Pakistan's multimission communications satellite. "At 20:12 on May 30, my country [China] successfully launched Pakistan's multi-mission communication satellite into space using the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center," Xinhua said. "The satellite smoothly entered its predetermined orbit, marking a complete success of the launch mission." According to Xinhua, the launch marks the 524th flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif congratulated the nation on the launch of the satellite, according to a tweet by the Government of Pakistan. "The satellite will play a key role in improving the communication system, enhancing e-commerce, economic activities, and e-governance," Sharif said. According to PTV, Pakistan's state broadcaster, the satellite will provide top-tier internet services nationwide, enhancing TV broadcasts, cellular connectivity and broadband. Its services are set to launch in August. Prior space collaboration Beijing-Islamabad space cooperation dates to 1990 when a communication satellite developed by Pakistan was launched into space aboard a Chinese Long March 2E rocket. This collaboration has since evolved, culminating in the recent launch of Pakistan's first lunar satellite, ICUBE-Qamar (ICUBE-Q), on May 3, aboard China's Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province. The ICUBE-Q satellite, a joint project between Pakistan's Institute of Space Technology, SUPARCO, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, captured its first image of the moon on May 8, according to Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai. Ge Ping, deputy director of the China National Space Administration’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, said that this ongoing cooperation enhances friendship between the two countries and fosters diverse aerospace collaboration. "I believe that this cooperation is of great significance to promoting friendly relations between the two countries and enriching people's understanding of the moon," Ge said. "We welcome Pakistan's participation in China's lunar and deep space exploration missions, and we will conduct extensive exchanges and cooperation related to space technology." During the first satellite launch this month, Pakistan's Sharif remarked in an official statement that the friendship between Pakistan and China has "gone beyond borders to reach space." He described the Pakistan-China friendship as "higher than the Himalayas, deeper than the oceans, and sweeter than honey," emphasizing that it has now expanded to transcend the boundaries of space with this mission. On its website, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Pakistan regards China as one of its closest friends and partners, while China considers Pakistan its "Iron Brother." Economically, China stands as Pakistan's largest trading partner and a significant investor, particularly in the infrastructure and energy sectors, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Pakistan, hosting a multibillion-dollar flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, maintains a close relationship with its neighbor China. Pakistan shares a border with China's northwest region of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where some Western parliaments and the U.S. government accuse Beijing of committing genocide and crimes against humanity against its Muslim Uyghur population. However, Beijing vehemently denies these accusations, and Pakistan supports Beijing's policy in Xinjiang. Notably, Pakistan delivered a statement on behalf of more than 70 countries at the U.N. General Assembly last October, expressing support for China's actions in Xinjiang toward Uyghur Muslims. BRI and beyond Beijing views space cooperation as integral to its BRI, referring to these endeavors as the "Space Silk Road," according to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. China's Space Silk Road aims to connect China's BRI partner countries through China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). BDS serves as an alternative to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's GLONASS, and the European Galileo system. BDS offers China and its BRI partners global positioning, navigation and tracking capabilities for both civilian and military uses. In 2018, Pakistan ended reliance on the GPS system and fully transitioned to China's BDS, which covers the entire country. According to the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, China has become Pakistan's foremost arms supplier in value terms over the past decade, with Pakistan receiving nearly 40% of Beijing's arms exports. Additionally, China has supported Pakistan's nuclear weaponization efforts, aiding in bomb designs and explosive component development, and enhancing nuclear delivery capabilities by developing and transferring solid-propellant missiles.

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.

Singapore — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun held their first in-person meeting on the sideline of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday. The two officials exchanged views on a range of contentious issues, including the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, as well as major global conflicts like Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict. During the 75-minute meeting, Austin and Dong both highlighted the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the two militaries and vowed to resume the hotline between theater commanders from both sides in the coming months. Austin reiterated Washington’s concern about China’s recent two-day military exercise encircling Taiwan and urged Beijing not to use Taiwan’s political transition, which he characterized as part of a routine democratic process, as "a pretext for coercive measures" against the democratic island. At a news conference Friday following the meeting between the two defense officials, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told journalists from more than a dozen Chinese and foreign media outlets, including VOA, that the Taiwan question remains purely China’s internal affairs and that external forces "have no right to interfere in the issue." Washington’s behavior "severely violated the commitments made by the U.S. side" and sent wrong signals to "the Taiwan independence separatist forces," Wu said during the 50-minute news conference. In addition to the rising tension across the Taiwan Strait, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing confrontation between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. Austin said the United States will continue to "fly, sail, and operate" wherever international law allows safely and responsibly while stressing the importance of respecting high seas freedom of navigation under international law, especially in the South China Sea. During the meeting, Dong said the Philippines has broken its promises due to support from "outside forces" and keeps making provocations on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, which both Beijing and Manila view as its territories, according to Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu. The Chinese defense minister also criticized Washington for deploying mid-range missile systems to the Philippines "under cover of a military exercise," warning that such a move poses a real threat to regional security. "We remain committed to resolving the disagreements with the Philippines side through consultation on an equal footing, but our tolerance for continued and intensified provocations will have a limit," Wu told journalists during the press conference. Apart from the two contentious issues in the Indo-Pacific region, Austin and Dong also exchanged views on the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The U.S. defense secretary expressed Washington’s concerns about North Korea’s "direct contributions to Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine." Dong reiterated that China has maintained a "just and impartial position" on the Ukraine conflict, honored the promise of not providing weapons to either side in the war and strictly controlled the "export of military items and dual-use goods in accordance with relevant laws and regulations." He urged the United States not to shift the blame for the ongoing war onto China and said that Beijing will continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace talks, according to Wu. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the two sides will have ongoing consultations regarding future exchanges between the two militaries, with engagements between military academies and potential bilateral policy dialogues being the potential starting point. "We believe that having meetings is better than no meeting and having dialogues is better than having no dialogue at all," Wu told journalists, adding that bilateral exchanges like this meeting can help develop "the sound and stable" military-to-military relationship. Some analysts say the meeting between Austin and Dong is mainly focusing on "posturing" and sharing the fundamental and core interests and red lines from Beijing and Washington’s perspectives. "The talk is not about negotiation or high-level diplomacy but more about establishing lines of communication for the hard work that usually goes on at the lower level," Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan, told VOA. While military-to-military communication between Beijing and Washington is important and has the effect of de-escalating growing regional tensions, one thing that remains to be seen is whether the Chinese side will "pick up the phone" in the event of an actual crisis. "Due to the nature of China’s political system, power has been highly centralized under Xi Jinping, [so] we are not sure if our Chinese counterpart would be able to pick up the phone, communicate and make decisions in a crisis situation," he added. Despite this uncertainty, some experts say conversations between defense leaders remain "incredibly helpful." The two officials “can have a conversation about intentions that’s incredibly stabilizing to the overall relationship, [but] I don’t think there is a lot of room for adjusting each side’s red lines," Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, told VOA by phone. But with tensions rising in several parts of Asia, including the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and the Korean Peninsula, some observers, say Friday’s dialogue between Austin and Dong will be increasingly crucial for the region, especially at a time when there are two ongoing military conflicts in the world. "It is a way both sides can turn down the temperature, exchange information in a multilateral security forum, and have corridor diplomacy, which is extremely important for high-context Asian culture that shies away from talking about volatile issues openly and frankly in the public," Lim Tai Wei, Professor at the National University of Singapore, told VOA in a video interview. VOA Seoul Correspondent William Gallo 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.

KYIV — Missiles fired by the Ukrainian navy struck an oil terminal at the Russian port of Kavkaz in the Krasnodar region on Friday, the Ukrainian military said via the Telegram messaging app. The military reported explosions at the site as it worked to verify the damage from the attack carried out with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles. Ukrainian drones also struck another oil depot in the Krasnodar region, the statement said. "Russia's 'modern' and 'effective' air defense system once again proved powerless against our missiles and unmanned systems and failed to protect important facilities used for logistics and supply of the Russian army," the Ukrainian military said. The Russian defense ministry said on Telegram that its air defense systems destroyed five missiles and 29 drones targeting Krasnodar. Falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil depot in the Temryuk district, damaging several tanks filled with fuel and injuring two people, according to local Russian officials.

Rafah, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces on Friday struck targets across the Gaza Strip, with witnesses reporting air raids around the southern city of Rafah, the latest focus of the nearly eight-month war. Israel launched its military incursion into Rafah in early May despite international objections over the safety of civilians sheltering in the city on Gaza's border with Egypt. A strike that sparked a fire and killed dozens in a displacement camp at the weekend drew a wave of fresh condemnation. Witnesses said Friday Israeli strikes hit the Rafah area as well as central Gaza's Nuseirat, and an AFP correspondent reported intense bombardment in the north. Strikes on two separate locations killed a total of 11 people overnight, medical sources at a hospital in Deir al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp reported. The Israeli military said its troops "continue... operational activities" in the Rafah area, and found rocket launchers, weapons and "tunnel shafts" in the city center. An air strike "targeted and eliminated" a militant in that area, it added. In central Gaza, further air strikes "eliminated several terrorists who operated near" troops, the military said without elaborating. Israel, which has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas after the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, said on Wednesday its forces had taken over the 14-kilometer Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, where it alleges weapons were being smuggled. Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict, has yet to officially comment on the Israeli takeover, which officials have previously said could violate the two countries' 1979 peace deal. Amid stalled diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire, Hamas said it had informed mediators it would only agree a "comprehensive" truce agreement including a hostage-prisoner swap if Israel halts its "aggression." On Thursday, Israel said its forces had killed about 300 Palestinian militants in Rafah since launching its military operation in the city. A stream of civilians fled Rafah, taking their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts. Aid at sea Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city. Since then, 1 million have fled the area, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said. The United Nations has warned of looming famine in Gaza. The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza's 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory's main exit point. However, Israel said at the weekend that aid deliveries had been stepped up, including through its Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza. Cyprus, the European Union's easternmost member, said humanitarian aid shipped to Gaza was being kept at sea off the territory's coast, after a U.S.-built pier was damaged in bad weather. In an interview on French channel LCI, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as "anti-Semitic slander" accusations Israel was deliberately targeting and starving Gazan civilians. Netanyahu, who has often spoke to foreign media during the war but largely avoided interviews with Israeli outlets, said the ratio of militants to civilians killed so far in the Israeli offensive was "the lowest rate we have seen in an urban war." Hundreds of demonstrators rallied late Thursday outside the offices of private broadcaster TF1, LCI's parent company, in Paris's western suburbs, to protest the broadcast. Wearing black and white keffiyeh scarves and waving Palestinian flags, the protesters chanted: "Gaza, Paris is with you." Car, house hit The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,224 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. A medical official at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah said eight people, including two children, were killed in an air strike that hit a house in Al-Bureij refugee camp. Another source at Nuseirat's Al-Awda Hospital reported three deaths in a strike on a car. An AFP correspondent saw Israeli military vehicles southwest of Gaza City, in the territory's north. Sunday's Israeli strike and resulting fire at the Rafah displacement camp killed 45 people, according to Gaza officials, and prompted two days of discussions at the U.N. Security Council. Israel has said it targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members. After the strike, Algeria presented a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council demanding an immediate cease-fire and the release of all hostages, but it was unclear when it would be voted on. Amid the fighting, Israeli war Cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party submitted a bill to dissolve parliament for an early election, drawing criticism from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party.

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.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Dong Jun, in person for the first time Friday on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has the details.

UNITED NATIONS — The number of people fleeing their homes because of war, violence and persecution has reached 114 million and is climbing because nations have failed to tackle the causes and combatants are refusing to comply with international law, the U.N. refugee chief said Thursday. In a hard-hitting speech, Filippo Grandi criticized the U.N. Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, for failing to use its voice to try to resolve conflicts from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to Congo, Myanmar and many other places. He also accused unnamed countries of making "short-sighted foreign policy decisions, often founded on double standards, with lip service paid to compliance with the law, but little muscle flexed from the council to actually uphold it and — with it — peace and security." Grandi said non-compliance with international humanitarian law means that "parties to conflicts — increasingly everywhere, almost all of them — have stopped respecting the laws of war," though some pretend to do so. The result is more civilian deaths, sexual violence is used as a weapons of war, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure are attacked and destroyed, and humanitarian workers become targets, he said. Calling himself a frustrated humanitarian and looking directly at the 15 council members, Grandi said that instead of using its voice, "the council's cacophony has meant that you have instead continued to preside over a broader cacophony of chaos around the world." The high commissioner for refugees told the council it's too late for the tens of thousands who have been killed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and other conflicts. "But it is not too late to put your focus and energy on the crises and conflicts that remain unresolved, so that they are not allowed to fester and explode again," Grandi said. "It is not too late to step up help for the millions who have been forcibly displaced to return home voluntarily, in safety and with dignity." It's also not too late to save millions of people from the scourge of war, the refugee chief said. But the Security Council is increasingly polarized, and its five veto-wielding permanent members are at odds, with the U.S., Britain and France often strongly opposed to the views of Russia and China. On the Gaza war, the council has not called for a cease-fire because of opposition from the United States, Israel's closest ally. And on Ukraine, the council has been ineffective as Russia, a key party to the conflict after Moscow invaded its smaller neighbor in February 2022, would veto almost any resolution. Grandi called what's happened in Gaza since Hamas' surprise attack on October 7 and the "atrocious" recent events in the southern city of Rafah after an Israeli airstrike led to a deadly fire at a camp for displaced Palestinians an example of the "brutal conduct of hostilities meant not only to destroy but also to terrify civilians," who increasingly more often have no choice but to flee. He said Gaza is also "a tragic reminder of what happens when conflicts (and by extension a refugee crisis) are left unattended" for decades. He also pointed to Syria where after 13 years of conflict, 5.6 million Syrian refugees remain in neighboring countries including Lebanon and Jordan which also host Palestinian refugees. Grandi said violations of international law, including forcing people to flee, are having a devastating effect on people around the world. For example, in Myanmar, more than 1.5 million people have been displaced by fighting since October, bringing the total to over 3 million, "with many trying to seek refuge in neighboring countries," he said. In Ukraine, international humanitarian law is violated every day with Russian attacks on the country's power networks, houses and other civilian infrastructure, he said. And in Congo, Grandi said, "violence between men with guns is so common that no other place on Earth is as dangerous for women and children than the east of that country." "But how can members of the United Nations, how can 'we the peoples' pay so little attention and have so much inaction in a place where sex with a child can be bought for less than a cold drink?" the refugee chief asked. "What a shameful stain on humanity!" Grandi said.

ACCRA, Ghana — Meet Ace-Liam Ankrah, a Ghana toddler who has set the record as the world's youngest male artist. His mother, Chantelle Kukua Eghan, says it all started by accident when her son, who at the time was 6 months old, discovered her acrylic paints. Eghan, an artist and founder of Arts and Cocktails Studio, a bar that that offers painting lessons in Ghana's capital, Accra, said she was looking for a way to keep her son busy while working on her own paintings. "I spread out a canvas on the floor and added paint to it, and then in the process of crawling he ended up spreading all the colors on the canvas," she said. And that's how his first artwork, "The Crawl," was born, Eghan, 25, told The Associated Press. After that and with his mother's prodding, Ace-Liam kept on painting. Eghan decided to apply for the record last June. In November, Guinness World Records told her that to break a previous record, her son needed to exhibit and sell paintings. She arranged for Ace-Liam's first exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra in January, where nine out of 10 of his pieces listed were sold. She declined to say for how much the paintings sold. They were on their way. Then, Guinness World Records confirmed the record in a statement and last week declared that "at the age of 1 year 152 days, little Ace-Liam Nana Sam Ankrah from Ghana is the world's youngest male artist." Guinness World Records did not immediately respond to an Associated Press query about the previous youngest male artist record holder. The overall record for the world's youngest artist is currently held by India's Arushi Bhatnagar. She had her first exhibition at the age of 11 months and sold her first painting for 5,000 rupees ($60) in 2003. These days, Ace-Liam, who will be 2 years old in July, still loves painting and eagerly accompanies his mom to her studio, where a corner has been set off just for him. He sometimes paints in just five-minute sessions, returning to the same canvas over days of weeks, Eghan says. On a recent day, he ran excitedly around the studio, with bursts of energy typical for boys his age. But he was also very focused and concentrated for almost an hour while painting — choosing green, yellow and blue for his latest work-in-progress and rubbing the oil colors into the canvas with his tiny fingers. Eghan says becoming a world record holder has not changed their lives. She won't sell "The Crawl" but plans on keeping it in the family. She added that she hopes the media attention around her boy could encourage and inspire other parents to discover and nurture their children's talents. "He is painting and growing and playing in the whole process," she says.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A former speaker of Iran's parliament registered Friday as a possible candidate in the Islamic Republic's June 28 presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this month with seven others. Ali Larijani is the first high-profile candidate to register for the contest. He and other serious contenders against Raisi had been barred from running in the 2021 election. Larijani, 66, is viewed as a conservative within Iran's narrow political scene. However, he has increasingly allied himself with former President Hassan Rouhani, whose administration reached a 2015 nuclear deal with a group of world powers. Larijani had positioned himself as a pragmatic candidate in the 2021 vote in which hard-liner Raisi, a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was elected. Larijani had posted online and made comments in recent days all but confirming he would be a candidate. The Larijani family has long been powerful in Iran's Shiite theocracy. "Solving the issue of sanctions for an economic opening will be among the priorities of diplomacy" for Iran, Larijani told journalists. All candidates must be approved by Iran’s 12-member Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei. That panel has never accepted a woman or anyone calling for radical change within the country’s governance. Who will run — and potentially be accepted — remains in question. The country’s acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, a previously behind-the-scenes bureaucrat, could be a front runner because he has already been seen meeting with Khamenei. Also discussed as possible aspirants are former hard-line President Mohammad Ahmadinejad and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, but whether they would be allowed to run is another question. The five-day registration period will close on Tuesday. The Guardian Council is then expected to issue its final list of candidates within 10 days. That will allow for a shortened two-week campaign before the vote in late June. The new president will take office while the country is enriching uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and is hampering international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine and launched a drone and missile attack on Israel during the war in Gaza. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Middle East such as Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Meanwhile, Iran’s economy has faced years of hardship over its collapsing rial currency. Widespread protests have swept the country, most recently over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in September 2022 after being detained for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory headscarf law. A U.N. panel said the Iranian government is responsible for the "physical violence" that led to Amini’s death. 

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.

Immigration is one of the most important issues in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. In Washington, there is a restaurant advocating for immigration reform while fostering community and driving social change through food. VOA’s immigration reporter Aline Barros has more. Camera: Saqib Ul Islam