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ISLAMABAD — The World Health Organization said Monday that the recent return of about 600,000 undocumented migrants from Pakistan to Afghanistan and an estimated 200,000 unvaccinated children in southern Afghan regions are a threat to regional gains against polio.    In its latest assessment of the disease's international spread, WHO said that both neighboring countries had made significant progress in interrupting the transmission of the two surviving genetic clusters of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in the region.   Pakistan and Afghanistan, the last two nations where the crippling virus is still found, have reported two and zero cases of polio infections, respectively, this year.   However, the WHO assessment said that the recent large-scale displacement of undocumented Afghans from Pakistan had “increased the risk of cross-border poliovirus spread, as well as [the] spread within both countries.” It cautioned that “any setback in Afghanistan poses a risk to the [polio] program in Pakistan due to high population movement.”  The report stated that coordinated efforts were being made to “manage and mitigate” the risk through vaccination at border crossing points between the two countries.     WHO said vaccination coverage in southern Afghan provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul and Nimruz has improved “but remains suboptimal, with an estimated 200,000 children who remain unreached.” The large pool of unvaccinated children “constitutes a major risk,” it said.  The report stressed that house-to-house immunizations of children are comparatively effective, but some parts of Afghanistan “still only allow site-to-site or mosque-to-mosque vaccinations.”  It appreciated the Taliban government's commitment to the global goal of eradicating polio in Afghanistan. WHO noted and praised the increased use of Afghan female health care workers in campaigns and strongly encouraged the implementation of house-to-house campaigns where feasible.  The fundamentalist Taliban have banned women from many public and private sector workplaces, but the health sector is mostly exempted from the restrictions.

Manama, Bahrain — Bahrain's king has pardoned 1,584 people facing criminal and "riot" charges, state media said Monday, in the largest such mass release in the Gulf nation in years.  The announcement of the royal decree carried by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) did not specify whether political prisoners are among those to be released, though a rights group said it was likely.  BNA said that "this royal decree reflects his majesty's keenness to maintain the cohesion and stability of the Bahraini society, while protecting its social fabric."    The pardons cover "those convicted for riot and criminal cases" and were announced as Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa marks 25 years since his ascension to the throne, BNA added.  Sayed Alwadaei, advocacy director for the Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said political prisoners were probably included in the pardon "as the term 'riot' refers to those who demanded political change."  BIRD said the latest royal decree marks the "highest number of pardoned prisoners since the pro-democracy uprising in 2011," when anti-government protests triggered a state crackdown.  However, a government spokesman told AFP: "There are no political prisoners in the Kingdom of Bahrain. No one is detained for expressing his or her peaceful political views.  "However, the authorities have a duty to investigate and if appropriate prosecute individuals — as in all countries — when conduct strays into violence or seeks to incite violence or hatred,” the spokesman said.  The royal decree also comes ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, an occasion that often elicits prison pardons from Gulf leaders.  Bahrain has imprisoned scores of dissidents since the 2011 protest wave, when authorities backed by a Saudi military force crushed Shiite-led demonstrations demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.  In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bahrain's interior ministry announced in 2020 the release of 1,486 prisoners, including 901 who had received royal pardons on "humanitarian grounds."

NEW YORK — Donald Trump asked a New York appeals court on Monday to reverse his gag order and move his hush money criminal trial out of Manhattan in an eleventh-hour bid for a delay just a week before it is scheduled to start.  A judge in the state's mid-level appeals court was to hold an emergency hearing Monday afternoon after the former president's lawyers filed paperwork challenging Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan's pretrial rulings.  The documents were placed under seal, but a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press they pertained to Trump's gag order — recently expanded to prohibit comments about the judge's family — and the Republican's desire to move the trial out of heavily Democratic Manhattan. The person was unauthorized to speak publicly and did so on the condition of anonymity.  Messages seeking comment were left for Trump's lawyers, the Manhattan district attorney's office and a spokesperson for New York's state court system.  Trump had pledged to appeal after Merchan ruled last month that the trial would begin April 15. His lawyers had pleaded to delay the trial at least until summer to give them more time to review late-arriving evidence from a prior federal investigation into the matter.  Merchan, who had already moved the trial from its original March 25 start date because of the evidence issue, said no further delays were warranted.  Trump's lawyers filed their appeals Monday on two separate court dockets. One was styled as a lawsuit against Merchan, a legal mechanism allowing them to challenge his rulings.  In New York, judges can be sued over some judicial decisions under a state law known as Article 78. Trump has used the tactic before, including against the judge in his civil fraud case in an unsuccessful last-minute bid to delay that case last fall.  A clerk at the appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state's trial court, said no documents were publicly available from either appeal docket.  Trump's hush money trial is the first of his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.  Trump is accused of falsifying his company's records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who helped him bury negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Cohen's activities included paying porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.  Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.  Trump's move Monday is the latest escalation in his battles with Merchan.  The presumptive Republican presidential nominee assailed the judge on social media after he imposed a gag order last month barring Trump from making public statements about jurors, witnesses and others connected the case. After Trump's complaints, Merchan expanded the gag order to include members of his own family.  Last week, Trump renewed his request for the judge to step aside from the case, citing Merchan's daughter's work as the head of a firm whose clients have included his rival President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.  The former president alleges the judge is biased against him and has a conflict of interest because of his daughter's work. The judge rejected a similar request last August.  Trump has also made numerous other attempts to get the trial postponed, echoing a strategy he's deployed in his other criminal cases. "We want delays," Trump proclaimed to TV cameras outside a February pretrial hearing in his hush money case.  Merchan last week rejected his request to delay the trial until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases.  The New York judge has yet to rule on another defense delay request, which claims that Trump won't get a fair trial because of "prejudicial media coverage." Trump has suggested on social media that the trial should be moved to Staten Island, the only New York City borough he won in 2016 and 2020.

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.

The head of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency is warning of a potentially dangerous situation following a drone strike on one of six nuclear reactors at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns Ukraine could run out of air defense missiles if Russia keeps up its intense long-range-bombing campaign. While NATO members vow to support Kyiv, U.S. aid is still in limbo. The story of an American who joined Ukraine’s military efforts following Russia’s invasion and how a Ukrainian woman stepped into her husband’s job as a blacksmith after he joined his country’s armed forces.

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.

Israel withdraws some troops from southern Gaza as negotiators meet in Cairo. Nicaragua accuses Germany of being complicit in genocide in Gaza by selling weapons to Israel. An update from Kyiv and a look at Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to China, and security in the South China Sea.

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.

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — The Cambodian government is pushing ahead with a cybercrime law experts say could be wielded to further curtail freedom of speech amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent.  The cybercrime draft is the third controversial internet law authorities have pursued in the past year as the government, led by new Prime Minister Hun Manet, seeks greater oversight of internet activities.  Obtained by VOA in both English and Khmer language versions, the latest draft of the cybercrime law is marked “confidential” and contains 55 articles. It lays out various offenses punishable by fines and jail time, including defamation, using “insulting, derogatory or rude language,” and sharing “false information” that could harm Cambodia’s public order and “traditional culture.”   The law would also allow authorities to collect and record internet traffic data, in real time, of people under investigation for crimes, and would criminalize online material that “depicts any act or activity … intended to stimulate sexual desire” as pornography.  Digital rights and legal experts who reviewed the law told VOA that its vague language, wide-ranging categories of prosecutable speech and lack of protections for citizens fall short of international standards, instead providing the government more tools to jail dissenters, opposition members, women and LGBTQ+ people.  Although in the works since 2016, earlier drafts of the law, which sparked similar criticism, have not leaked since 2020 and 2021. Authorities hope to enact the law by the end of the year.  “This cybercrime bill offers the government even more power to go after people expressing dissent,” Kian Vesteinsson, a senior research analyst for technology at the human rights organization Freedom House, told VOA.   “These vague provisions around defamation, insults and disinformation are ripe for abuse, and we know that Cambodian authorities have deployed similarly vague criminal provisions in other contexts,” Vesteinsson said.  Cambodian law already considers defamation a criminal offense, but the cybercrime draft would make it punishable by jail time up to six months, plus a fine of up to $5,000. The “false information” clause — defined as sharing information that “intentionally harms national defense, national security, relations with other countries, economy, public order, or causes discrimination, or affects traditional culture” — carries a three- to five-year sentence and fine of up to $25,000.  Daron Tan, associate international legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists, told VOA the defamation and false information articles do not comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Cambodia is a party, and that the United Nations Human Rights Committee is “very clear that imprisonment is never the appropriate penalty for defamation.”  “It’s a step very much in the wrong direction,” Tan said. “We are very worried that this would expand the laws that the government can use against its critics.”  Chea Pov, the deputy head of Cambodia’s National Police and former director of the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Cybercrime Department that is overseeing the drafting process, told VOA the law “doesn’t restrict your rights” and claimed the U.S. companies which reviewed it “didn’t raise concerns.”   Google, Meta and Amazon, which the government has said were involved in drafting the law, did not respond to requests for comment.  “If you say something based on evidence, there is no problem,” Pov said. “But if there is no evidence, [you] defame others, which is also stated in the criminal law … we don’t regard this as a restriction.”   The law also makes it illegal to use technology to display, trade, produce or disseminate pornography, or to advertise a “product or service mixed with pornography” online. Pornography is defined as anything that “describes a genital or depicts any act or activity involving a sexual organ or any part of the human body, animal, or object … or other similar pornography that is intended to stimulate sexual desire or cause sexual excitement.”  Experts say this broad category is likely to be disproportionately deployed against women and LGBTQ+ people.  Cambodian authorities have often rebuked or arrested women for dressing “too sexily” on social media, singing sexual songs or using suggestive speech. In 2020, an online clothes and cosmetics seller received a six-month suspended sentence after posting provocative photos; in another incident, a policewoman was forced to publicly apologize for posting photos of herself breastfeeding.  Naly Pilorge, outreach director at Cambodian human rights organization Licadho, told VOA the draft law “could lead to more rights violations against women in the country.”  “This vague definition of ‘pornography’ poses a serious threat to any woman whose online activity the government decides may ‘cause sexual excitement,’” Pilorge said. “The draft law does not acknowledge any legitimate artistic or educational purposes to depict or describe sexual organs, posing another threat to freedom of expression.”  In March, authorities said they hosted civil society organizations to revisit the draft. They plan to complete the drafting process and send the law to Parliament for passage before the end of the year, according to Pov, the deputy head of police.  Soeung Saroeun, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, told VOA “there was no consultation on each article” at the recent meeting.  “The NGO representatives were unable to analyze and present their inputs,” said Saroeun, echoing concerns about its contents. “How is it [possible]? We need to debate on this.”  The cybercrime law has resurfaced as the government works to complete two other draft internet laws, one covering cybersecurity and the other personal data protection. Experts have critiqued the drafts as providing expanded police powers to seize computer systems and making citizens’ data vulnerable to hacking and surveillance.  Authorities have also sought to create a national internet gateway that would require traffic to run through centralized government servers, though the status of that project has been unclear since early 2022 when the government said it faced delays. 

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, announced Monday that the holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the Ramadan fast will begin on Wednesday. "Supreme Court declares tomorrow the last day of #Ramadan and Wednesday the first day of #Eid Al-Fitr," the official Saudi Press Agency said on its X account. The timing of Eid al-Fitr is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon, in accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar. Saudi media outlets reported that the crescent moon was not visible on Monday. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar also announced that Eid al-Fitr, a holiday normally celebrated with family gatherings, would begin on Wednesday. The daytime fasting month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. Observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk, and traditionally gather with family and friends to break their fast in the evening. Ramadan is also a time for prayer, with the faithful converging in large numbers on mosques, especially at night. Fasting is widely practiced in Saudi Arabia, home of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. Saudis are expected to observe a four-day holiday for Eid al-Fitr. Across the Muslim world, Ramadan festivities this year were overshadowed by the war in Gaza, where Israel's military campaign to eradicate Hamas has killed at least 33,207 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The war was sparked by the October 7 attack against Israel by Hamas militants that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show. Palestinian militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead. Mediators pushed in vain for a cease-fire to take effect before the start of Ramadan. Talks on a cease-fire have resumed in Cairo, but no breakthrough has yet been announced.

Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, hold very different views on key foreign and domestic issues. Here’s an overview of where each one stands on foreign policy.   Russia-Ukraine   Biden endorses sending military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine to aid its fight against Russia, while warning that Western countries cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to achieve victory. To date, the Biden administration has sanctioned Russian individuals and entities and sent $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine since the February 2022 Russian invasion.  Biden said on March 7, 2024, “Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.”   Trump has said NATO countries are not paying their share of aid to Ukraine and claimed the United States has sent more than other countries. At a February rally, Trump said he told an unnamed NATO member that he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to any alliance member that does not meet spending guidelines on defense. In a 2023 speech in New Hampshire, Trump said, “Shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled.”   Throughout his presidency, Trump faced multiple accusations of collusion with Russia and was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 2019, for charges he leveraged U.S. aid to Ukraine in return for damaging information on potential political rival Joe Biden. Trump denied those charges and was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate.   China  Biden said on March 7, 2024, “We have the best economy in the world. And since I've come to office, our GDP is up, our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point over a decade and we're standing up against China's unfair economic practices. We're standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. I've revitalized our partnership and alliance in the Pacific. India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Pacific Islands. I made sure that the most advanced American technologies can't be used in China, not allowing to trade them there. Frankly, for all this tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do any of that. I want competition with China, not conflict. And we're in a stronger position to win the conflict of the 21st century against China than anyone else, for that matter, than any time as well."  During his presidency, Trump denounced the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party as the most significant foreign policy challenge of this generation. He said China was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and penalized China for ending the “one country, two states” policy in Hong Kong. In a May 2020 speech, Trump said, “The United States wants an open and constructive relationship with China, but achieving that relationship requires us to vigorously defend our national interests.”   On his campaign website, Trump said, “To protect our country, we need to enact aggressive new restrictions on Chinese ownership of any vital infrastructure in the United States, including energy, technology, telecommunications, farmland, natural resources, medical supplies, and other strategic national assets. We should stop all future Chinese purchases in these essential industries. And we should begin the process of forcing the Chinese to sell any current holdings that put our national security at risk.”   Israel-Palestinians   Biden says Israel has a right to go after Hamas but has warned Israel against killing Palestinian civilians. In March, Biden announced the construction of an offshore port to deliver aid to Gaza.   Biden said in New York on March 9, 2024, “I'm never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there's no red line I'm going to cut off all weapons, so they don't have the Iron Dome to protect them. They don't have ... but there's red lines that if he crosses and they continue … you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after, there's other ways to deal, to get to, to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas.”   Trump released a Middle East peace plan in 2020 calling for a two-state solution that would have given Israel control of a unified Jerusalem and maintained its settlements in the West Bank.   In an interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper on March 25, 2024, Trump said of the current conflict, “What I saw October 7 was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. ... You have to finish up your war. To finish it up. You got to get it done. And I am sure you will do that. And we got to get to peace; we can't have this going on. And I will say, Israel has to be very careful, because you're losing a lot of the world, you're losing a lot of support, you have to finish up, you have to get the job done. And you have to get on to peace, to get on to a normal life for Israel.”   Iran  Biden spent more than two years attempting to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration before declaring it “dead.” Last year, the Biden administration negotiated the release of five American hostages in return for unfreezing billions in Iranian assets.   Biden said in Washington on March 7, 2024, "Creating stability in the Middle East also means containing the threat posed by Iran. That's why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. I've ordered strikes to degrade the Houthi capability and defend U.S. forces in the region. As commander in chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and our military personnel."  Among Trump’s proudest achievements was the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA. He also authorized the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force — the terrorist branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC — a move he called “the boldest action of his presidency.”  North Korea  The Biden administration has repeatedly stated it is open to negotiations with North Korea with no preconditions but has yet to offer any incentives in the form of economic assistance to encourage North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to open talks. Biden has met with regional allies and last year announced a new nuclear deterrence agreement, with South Korea, that would allow the U.S. to dock submarines in South Korean ports.   During his presidency, Trump pursued “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea but eventually developed a good personal relationship with Jong-Un after multiple meetings. His personal diplomacy did not result in any agreements between the two countries.  VOA's Saqib Ui Islam 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.

Lusaka, Zambia — Two senior U.N. officials are wrapping up their visit to Zambia to assess the country’s worst drought in 20 years, which affected some 8 million people and left at least 6 million at risk of food insecurity. The officials say communities affected by the drought need immediate humanitarian aid and food assistance. Reena Ghelani, the U.N. assistant secretary-general, and climate crisis coordinator for the El Niño and La Niña response, and Eva Kadilli, UNICEF regional director for eastern and southern Africa, called for international solidarity to support the humanitarian response during their visit to Zambia. Speaking in Lusaka Sunday, Ghelani said the country received less than normal rainfall, leaving hundreds of thousands of hectares of maize destroyed. This accounted for more than half of the country's cultivation of maize, which is a staple food in Zambia. “That means there’s not going to be food on the table for many families, and they are not going to be able to purchase,” she said. “So we need to respond swiftly with assistance today. This might become the new normal so we need to prepare, as the president has said, for the future.” The U.N. representatives met with government and local partners involved in ongoing efforts to address both the drought and a historic cholera outbreak that claimed more than 700 lives. The U.N. officials also heard from communities and NGOs working on the frontlines of the humanitarian crisis. Eva Kadilli, UNICEF regional director for eastern and southern Africa, told VOA that about 3 million of the people in need are children. She said those most vulnerable to the impact of a climate crisis are children, specifically those under 5. They were also impacted by COVID and cholera, she said. “Now to drought … this has a huge toll on children, on communities and families but also mothers, pregnant women lactating women as well, young adolescent girls,” she said. Felesia Manico, a small-scale farmer in Chongwe near the capital Lusaka, told VOA that the drought has been a nightmare as she lost hundreds of hectares of crops such as maize and various vegetables. “Our fields dried up one month in we couldn’t get anything from all the inputs that we put in,” she said. “We invested quite a bit in seed and labor and also fertilizer and all the other requirements that come with farming.” Another small-scale farmer, Sam Tembo, said he has lost all 40 hectares of maize field to the drought. He borrowed $5,000 from the bank. “All my crops are gone and now I cannot afford any meals,” he said. “Already I have lost money investing in the crops … but nothing came out. I don’t know how I am going to feed the children as it is.” Worsened by climate change and the El Niño weather pattern, the crisis threatens national food security as well as water and energy supply, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema said recently. Zambia is highly dependent on hydroelectric power as experts warn that the drought consequences could last until early 2025. The U.N. mission follows a recent declaration by Hichilema of a state of emergency and national disaster, as 84 of the country’s 116 districts are affected by the prolonged drought. The crisis could have regional implications as Zambia is a major maize exporter in the region.