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Geneva — More than 70% of the global workforce is exposed to risks linked to climate change that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Monday, adding governments would need to act as the numbers rise. Workers, especially the world's poorest, are more vulnerable than the general population to the dangers of climate extremes such as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes because they are often the first exposed, or exposed for longer periods and at greater intensity. As climate change accelerates, governments and employers are struggling to protect employees, the ILO said in a report. "A staggering number of workers are already being exposed to climate change-related hazards in the workplace, and these figures are only likely to get worse," the report entitled "Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate" said in its conclusions. "As (the hazards) evolve and intensify, it will be necessary to re-evaluate existing legislation or create new regulations and guidance."  Some countries have improved heat protections for workers, such as Qatar, whose policies came under scrutiny ahead of the 2022 soccer World Cup. However, rules to govern other dangers like growing pesticide use for agricultural workers are less common. "We do have some (countries) that already limit exposure to high temperatures and also limit exposure to air pollution, but we rarely have occupational exposure limits set for the other hazards," said Manal Azzi, ILO Senior Specialist on occupational safety and health.  The share of global workers exposed to the most widespread hazard, surging temperatures, has risen by around 5 percentage points over the last two decades to 70.9%, the report said. Other climate dangers often co-exist, creating a "cocktail of hazards," the report said, with UV radiation and air pollution each affecting 1.6 billion people. Because a worker is likely to be exposed to multiple dangers at once, an ILO spokesperson said it was impossible to calculate exactly what portion of the 3.4 billion global workforce was at risk. Climate-related hazards are being linked to a cancer, kidney dysfunction, and respiratory illnesses, leading to deaths or debilitating chronic conditions or disabilities. Air pollution is the most deadly risk, causing some 860,000 work-related deaths among outdoor workers annually, the ILO report said. Excessive heat causes 18,970 occupational deaths each year and UV radiation kills 18,960 through non melanoma skin cancer, it said.  "The greatest impacts will be felt by the working poor, those working in the informal economy, seasonal workers and workers in micro and small enterprises," the report said. In some cases, the very technologies meant to slow climate change like solar panels and lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles can end up producing new dangers since they contain toxic chemicals, it said. The ILO plans a major meeting in 2025 of government, employer and worker representatives to provide policy guidance on climate hazards. 

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London — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged on Monday to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, telling the upper house of parliament he will force the new legislation through despite its opposition. Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take migrants to Rwanda, part of a policy he hopes will boost his Conservative Party's flagging fortunes before an election later this year. "No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda," Sunak told a press conference. Tens of thousands of migrants— many fleeing wars and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa — have reached Britain in recent years, mostly by crossing the English Channel in small boats on risky journeys organized by people-smuggling gangs. Stopping the flow is a prime goal for the Conservative government, but critics say the plan to deport people to Rwanda is inhumane and that the East African country is not a safe place. The move has been held up repeatedly by the House of Lords and it could face further legal challenges if it passes parliament. The legislation is due to return on Monday to the House of Commons — the lower house of parliament — where lawmakers are expected to remove changes proposed by the Lords. Sunak, whose party trails Labour in the polls, said an airfield was on standby and slots were booked for flights. Five hundred staff had been trained and were ready to escort migrants "all the way to Rwanda". "We are ready. Plans are in place. And these flights will go come what may," he said. Under the policy formulated two years ago, any asylum seeker who arrives illegally in Britain will be sent to Rwanda in what the government says will deter Channel crossings and smash the people smugglers' business model. Sunak's team hope the pre-election pledge will help turn around his electoral fortunes particularly among wavering Conservatives voters who want to see a reduction in immigration. Polls suggest his Conservative Party will be badly beaten in this year's election by Labour, which has said it will scrap the scheme if it wins power. Even if Sunak is successful in stopping the House of Lords from blocking the legislation, he may still face legal challenges. Charities and rights groups say they would try to stop individual deportations and the trade union which represents border force staff is promising to argue the new legislation was unlawful "within days" of the first asylum seekers being informed they will be sent to Rwanda.  

BAGHDAD — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Iraq Monday for his first official visit in more than a decade as his country seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in northern Iraq. Other issues also loom large between the two countries, including water supply issues and exports of oil and gas from northern Iraq to Turkey, which have been halted for more than a year. Erdogan’s last visit to Iraq was in 2011, when he was Turkey’s prime minister. Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement that Erdogan’s visit will be a “major starting point in Iraqi-Turkish relations” and will include the signing of a deal on a “joint approach to security challenges” and a “strategic agreement on the water file,” among other issues. Erdogan has said his country plans to launch a major operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist movement banned in Turkey and with operations in Iraq, during the summer, with the aim of “permanently” eradicating the threat it poses. Turkey has carried out numerous ground offensives against the group in northern Iraq in the past while Turkish jets frequently target suspected PKK targets in the region. Ankara now aims to create a 30- to 40-kilometer deep security corridor along the joint border with Iraq, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told journalists last month. The group, whose fight for an autonomous Kurdish state in southeast Turkey has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s, is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Baghdad has complained in the past that Turkish operations against the PKK violate its sovereignty but appears to be coming closer to Ankara’s stance. In March, after a meeting between the Iraqi and Turkish foreign ministers, Baghdad announced that the Iraqi National Security Council had issued a ban on the PKK, although it stopped short of designating it as a terrorist organization. The two countries issued a joint statement in which they said the group represents a “security threat to both Turkey and Iraq” and that its presence on Iraqi territory was a “violation of the Iraqi Constitution.” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told journalists during a visit to Washington last week that Iraq and Turkey have “true interests with one another and common projects.” He noted that the PKK has long had a presence in northern Iraq, “but we are not allowing any armed group to be on Iraqi territory and using it as a launch pad for attacks.” Ankara has argued that the presence of PKK bases poses a threat to the planned construction of a major trade route, the Iraq Development Road, that would connect the port of Grand Faw in Basra, southern Iraq, to Turkey and Europe through a network of rail lines and highways. Baghdad might take a similar approach to the PKK as it has taken to Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq. The presence of the Iranian dissidents had become a point of tension with Tehran, which periodically launched airstrikes on their bases in Iraq. Last summer, Iran and Iraq reached an agreement to disarm the dissident groups and relocate their members from military bases to displacement camps. Talks between Erdogan and Iraqi officials are also expected to focus on energy cooperation as well as the possible resumption of oil flow through a pipeline to Turkey. A pipeline running from the semiautonomous Kurdish region to Turkey has been shut down since March 2023, after an arbitration court ruling ordered Ankara to pay Iraq $1.5 billion for oil exports that bypassed the Iraqi central government. The sharing of oil and gas revenues has long been a contentious issue between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Irbil. Water rights are also likely to be a key issue on the table. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide most of Iraq’s fresh water, originate in Turkey. In recent years, Iraqi officials have complained that dams installed by Turkey are reducing Iraq’s water supply. Experts fear that climate change is likely to exacerbate existing water shortages in Iraq, with potentially devastating consequences. Mustafa Hassan, a resident of Baghdad said that he hopes that Erdogan’s visit “will help to solve problems related to water, because Iraq is suffering from a water scarcity crisis, and this affects agriculture."

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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea fired "several" ballistic missiles on Monday toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said. A Japanese government alert and its coast guard also said North Korea had fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile. The projectile appeared to have landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone area, the NHK broadcaster said. Japan's NTV broadcaster said the projectile was a short-range ballistic missile, citing a Japanese government official. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North launched what it suspected to be several short-range ballistic missiles from near its capital, Pyongyang, without providing further details. The reports of the launch came as South Korea said its top military officer, Admiral Kim Myung-soo, had hosted the commander of U.S. Space Command, General Stephen Whiting, on Monday to discuss the North's reconnaissance satellite development and growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. After a summit between the two countries' leaders in September, North Korea has been suspected of supplying arms and munitions to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, although both deny that claim. The North is believed to be preparing to launch another spy satellite, after successfully putting a reconnaissance satellite in orbit in November. North Korea said last week that it had fired a strategic cruise missile to test a large warhead, and a new anti-aircraft missile. Earlier in April, the North fired a new hypersonic missile as part of its development of solid-fueled missiles for all ranges of its arsenal. The North has defied a ban by the United Nations Security Council on developing ballistic missiles, rejecting Council resolutions as infringing on its sovereign right to defend itself.

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ISLAMABAD — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in neighboring Pakistan Monday for official meetings with the host nation's leaders amid Iran-Israel tensions. An official pre-arrival announcement from Islamabad's foreign ministry stated that the talks will provide an “important opportunity” to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in trade, connectivity, energy, and agriculture. It said Raisi’s high-level delegation would include the Iranian foreign minister, other Cabinet members, and business representatives. During his three-day stay in Pakistan, the Iranian president is scheduled to meet his counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, among others.  The Pakistani statement said without elaborating, “They will also discuss regional and global developments and bilateral cooperation to combat the common threat of terrorism.”  Iran and Pakistan share a 900-kilometer border, which is prone to militant infiltration, smuggling, and other illegal crossings. The countries accuse each other of not preventing militant groups from sheltering on their respective lands and launching cross-border terrorist attacks. In January, Iranian security forces launched missile strikes against what they said were anti-Iran militant hideouts in the southwestern Pakistani border province of Baluchistan. Islamabad condemned Iran's violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and retaliated with strikes on bases of anti-Pakistan militants operating from Iranian soil. The unprecedented exchange of so-called counterterrorism strikes raised concerns about a larger conflict between the two Muslim countries and of wider regional instability after Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.  Tehran and Islamabad urgently undertook diplomatic efforts to defuse bilateral tensions, renewing pledges to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  Raisi’s visit is part of those mutual efforts to mend relations between Iran and Pakistan. Gas pipeline  Analysts said this week’s meetings in Islamabad are also expected to focus on financial and legal issues related to constructing a gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan. The two countries signed an agreement in June 2009 for the proposed pipeline to export Iranian natural gas to Pakistan. While Tehran has since claimed to have completed construction of 1,100 kilometers of the pipeline on its side of the border, construction has not started on the Pakistani side because Islamabad fears it would invite U.S. sanctions for importing Iranian gas.   Iran’s energy sector is under sanctions from Washington for its nuclear program. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to sue Pakistan in international arbitration and impose a penalty of around $18 billion for breach of contract.  The U.S. State Department has recently renewed its warning to Islamabad, advising against proceeding with the project to avoid sanctions. Iran's recent direct attack on Israel, with more than 300 drones and missiles, has made it even more difficult for Pakistan to build the pipeline, said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Washington’s Wilson Center.  On social media platform X, Kugelman wrote, “Any possibility of the U.S. giving Pakistan a sanctions waiver for the gas pipeline it claims it plans to build with Iran is essentially nonexistent. And that possibility was practically nil even before the Iranian attack on Israel.” The Iranian strikes were in response to Israel's apparent destruction on April 1 of an Iranian consular building in Syria in which seven members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals, were killed.  “The visit was planned weeks before the current hostilities, and Pakistani officials likely had no estimates that the visit would coincide with a full-blown regional crisis involving Iran,” said Ahmed Quraishi, a Pakistani expert on Middle Eastern affairs. “Coming on the heels of Israel-Iran tensions, the Iranian government is likely to use this visit to suggest regional support for Iran's position,” Quraishi said.

Mumbai, India — In fake videos that have gone viral online, two of India's A-lister Bollywood actors are seen criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asking people to vote for the opposition Congress party in the country's ongoing general election. In a 30-second video that shows Aamir Khan and another 41-second clip of Ranveer Singh, the two Bollywood actors purportedly say Modi failed to keep campaign promises and failed to address critical economic issues during his two terms as prime minister. Both AI-generated videos end with the Congress election symbol and slogan: "Vote for Justice, Vote for Congress." The two videos have been viewed on social media more than half a million times since last week, a Reuters review shows. Their spread underlines the potential role such AI (artificial intelligence)-generated content can play in the mammoth Indian election that started on Friday and will continue until June. AI and AI-generated fakes, or deepfakes, are being increasingly used in elections elsewhere in the world, including in the U.S., Pakistan and Indonesia. Campaigning in India has long focused on door-to-door outreach and public rallies, but extensive use of WhatsApp and Facebook as campaigning tools started in 2019. This year's general election - in which Modi is expected to secure a rare third term - is the first in which AI is being used. A Congress spokesperson, Sujata Paul, shared actor Singh's video with her 16,000 followers on X on April 17 and by Saturday afternoon, her post had been reshared 2,900 times, liked 8,700 times and received 438,000 views. Paul told Reuters by telephone she was aware the video was marked "manipulated media" by X, but she did not want to delete it as, while posting, she thought the person was a look alike of Singh and "it has creativity for sure." The post was no longer visible on X on Sunday, hours after Reuters sent a request for comment to Congress' head of social media cell, who did not respond. Both actors have said the videos are fake. Facebook, X and at least eight fact-checking websites have said they are altered or manipulated, which the Reuters digital verification unit has also confirmed. Reuters could not ascertain who created the videos. Khan was "alarmed" by the viral "fake" video and Singh's team was looking into the matter, according to a spokesperson for both actors. Singh wrote on X on Friday: "Beware of deepfakes, friends." Modi's office, and the IT head of his Bharatiya Janata Party, did not respond to requests for comment.   Police probe Nearly 900 million people in India have access to the Internet and a survey conducted by research organization Esya Centre and the Indian Institute of Management business school showed an average Indian spends over three hours a day on social media. The country has nearly one billion voters. Some versions of the videos have been blocked on social media but at least 14 were still visible on X on Saturday. Facebook deleted two videos Reuters flagged to the company but one other was still visible. Facebook in a statement said it has "removed the videos" for violation of its policies. X did not respond to Reuters queries. The videos have sparked one police investigation with Khan registering a case in Mumbai against unnamed persons on April 17 for alleged impersonation and cheating for creating the fake video. Mumbai police did not return a request for comment, but two officers working on Khan's case, who declined to be named, said they wrote to Facebook and X to take down the video and the companies had said it was done. The officers said they were up until 2 a.m. on Friday, refreshing pages to check if Khan's online videos were removed. Asked about progress in the case, one of them said: "Such technical investigations take time."   AI video of dead father In this year's election, politicians are using AI in other ways. In southern India, Congress leader Vijay Vasanth's spokesperson said his team has created a 2-minute audio-video clip using AI that was shared on social media platforms and shows his now dead but more popular politician father, H. Vasanthakumar, seeking votes for him. The late politician is seen saying "even though my body left you all, my soul is still around." In videos put out on YouTube by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Samata, an AI-generated anchor dressed in a traditional saree and speaking in a style that mimics regular news channels, criticizes the ruling party in West Bengal state. In one clip, the anchor alleges the party does not care about the environment as many water bodies have vanished due to illegal construction. A spokesperson for the ruling party denied the allegation and said the state government has ensured no such construction takes place. The CPM did not respond to requests for comment. In the video, which has been seen 12,000 times, anchor Samata declares: "These are questions that we the citizens of this city need to ponder over."

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QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s fledgling president got a resounding victory Sunday in a referendum that he pushed as a way to crack down on criminal gangs behind a spiraling wave of violence. An official quick count showed that Ecuadorians overwhelmingly voted “yes” to all nine questions focused on tightening security measures, rejecting only two more controversial economic proposals. The quick count was announced by the head of the Electoral National Council, Diana Atamaint. It confirmed a private exit poll released hours before that indicated a resounding victory and sign of support for President Daniel Noboa, the scion of a wealthy banana exporting family. Among the measures approved are President Noboa's call to deploy the army in the fight against the gangs, to loosen obstacles for extraditing accused criminals and to lengthen prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers. Ecuador was traditionally one of South America's most peaceful countries, but it has been rocked in recent years by a wave of violence, much of it spilling over from neighboring Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine. Last year, the country's homicide rate shot up to 40 deaths per 100,000 people, one of the highest in the region. Noboa has rallied popular support by confronting the gangs head on. That task became more urgent in January when masked gunmen, some on orders from imprisoned drug traffickers, terrorized residents and took control of a television station while it was live on the air in an unprecedented show of force. Following the rampage, the 36-year-old president decreed an “internal armed conflict,” enabling him to use emergency powers to deploy the army in pursuit of about 20 gangs now classified as “terrorists.” The referendum, in which more than 13 million Ecuadorians were called to vote, contained measures to extend those powers and put them on firmer legal ground. For some analysts, the Ecuadorian leader must show results to live up to people’s support. “This gives him some vigor,” said Andrea Endara, analyst and professor at Casa Grande University. But “if the president does not begin to take actions to demonstrate that having voted ‘yes’ brings results to reduce insecurity, this support will quickly be diluted.” Some of the measures approved imply changes to Ecuador's constitution, but because they were previously endorsed by the Constitutional Court, Noboa only needs to publish them in the official gazette to go into effect. Some of those initiatives are the ones related to the use of the army and extradition. For the changes that require changing some general laws, the president will have to send a reform proposal to the Assembly, which will have 60 days to process them. Noboa, ahead of the final tally, celebrated the results. “We've defended the country,” he said in a message posted on social media. “Now we will have more tools to fight against the delinquent and restore peace to Ecuador's families.” Noboa's law and order rhetoric recalls the policies of El Salvador's wildly popular president, Nayib Bukele, a fellow millennial, and could give him a boost politically as he prepares to run for reelection next year. Noboa, is serving the final 18 months of a presidential term left vacant when fellow conservative Guillermo Lasso resigned amid a congressional investigation into allegations of corruption. Noboa was elected following a shortened but bloody campaign that saw one of his top rivals brazenly assassinated while campaigning. “We can’t live in fear of leaving our homes,” Leonor Sandoval, a 39-year-old homemaker, said after voting for all 11 of the proposals.

Maputo, Mozambique — The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, is seeking $413 million in emergency aid to support over 1 million people in northern Mozambique dealing with climate disasters and an insurgency concentrated in the province of Cabo Delgado. OCHA Mozambique representative Paola Serrao Emerson told a media conference in Maputo on Friday that her organization’s efforts to deal with the souring humanitarian situation in the southern African nation face financial problems. According to the U.N, a total of 2.3 million people need humanitarian assistance in the northern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula, but her organization is operating under a tight budget. "We are looking for $413 million for Cabo Delgado or war in Mozambique, and of that we have received just about $43 million or so, just over 11%, so we are woefully underfunded," she said. "Normally at this time of the year we would at least 20 or more percent funding.” According to Emerson, food insecurity compounds the vulnerability of the internally displaced people, host communities and returnees alike. Mozambique is regularly exposed to cyclones, floods and droughts, damaging private and public infrastructure. In 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy, a storm of record-breaking length, hit Mozambique’s northern region twice with destructive winds, extreme rainfall, and widespread flooding. Droughts, which have become more frequent, are also a dire concern, as 80 percent of the population of more than 33 million depends on rain-fed agriculture. "Humanitarian organizations, the U.N., national and international organizations are supporting people every day with food assistance, with health support, with child support assistance, with mental health psychiatric support amongst many others throughout Cabo Delgado," she said. "However, the funding situation is difficult to provide comprehensive multi-sectoral support to all areas that are affected.” The news comes at a time when terrorist attacks have increased in northern Mozambique. Last month, missionaries, priests and religious sisters were forced to flee from remote towns and villages to Pemba and other large cities, which are overwhelmed with displaced people as the insurgency in Cabo Delgado intensifies. At the same time, troops from the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, have begun to draw down due to financial issues. Defense Minister Cristovao Chume told state-run Radio Mozambique on Friday that the end of the mission cannot be seen as a rupture in cooperation with SADC. He said the SADC military mission is leaving Mozambique because it fulfilled the objective for which it was created — to stabilize the north of Cabo Delgado and recover areas controlled by terrorists. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi says his country’s armed forces should take a more prominent role in counterterrorism operations, despite some challenges. Since 2017, the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, waged by a group that claims affiliation with Islamic State, has terrorized civilians and caused interruption to several multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas projects.

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