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Washington — Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was down sharply last year, according to the United Nations and private sources, but the plants are being grown in most provinces despite a ban imposed by the Taliban. Some areas grow more than others. According to sources inside Afghanistan and on Taliban-run social media accounts, farmers in about 29 provinces have been growing poppies since spring. The largest amounts are grown in Badakhshan, Helmand, Herat and Nangarhar provinces. Poppies, which farmers process to make opium, are being grown in the open and hidden behind property walls. Taliban forces conducted thousands of operations to destroy the plant, as was announced on the X social media platform by the Ministry of Interior Counter Narcotics. It listed 29 provinces where they conducted eradication efforts. The Taliban Interior Ministry said that in the past six months, its police conducted more than 15,000 poppy eradication operations on more than 3,600 hectares (8,900 acres). It also said thousands of people were arrested for violating the ban. Abdul Haq Akhundzada, Taliban deputy interior minister for counternarcotics, told VOA there won’t be problems with narcotics this year. “In those provinces, in areas where farmers grow hidden poppy, we conducted operations there as well, and we eradicated their hidden poppy,” he said. Not everyone is peacefully accepting the opium ban and eradication. In northeastern Badakhshan province, violent clashes erupted last month between the Taliban and farmers. Two people were killed. Local Taliban eradication officials reported that in Badakhshan, 35,000 to 40,000 acres were cleared. Aminullah Taib, deputy Taliban governor in Badakhshan, said they were able to eradicate the fall and spring poppy cultivation in eight districts and will not allow further growth. Farmers said the eradication was disrespectful of the local culture as the Taliban went to the villages without talking to the elders and informing the villagers about the process. Abdul Hafiz, a resident of Argo district, where the clash between the farmers and Taliban took place, told VOA the Taliban entered people’s homes and destroyed their poppy crops “without a prayer, notice or acknowledgment.” Poppy growth was at its high in 2021, the year the Taliban regained power. Farmers grew as much as possible, fearing the crop would be banned. While the Taliban banned poppy growth in 2022, they allowed the farmers to harvest what they had already planted. It was a record year. The United Nations estimated that Afghan opium production was 6,800 metric tons (7,500 tons) in 2021 and 6,200 metric tons (6,800 tons) in 2022. Last year, the Taliban were largely successful in banning the crop. In opium-rich Helmand province, poppy crop cultivation was down by 99.9%. Yet how successful the ban was considered depends on the source. The United Nations reported in October that poppy cultivation was down by 95%. Across Afghanistan, the U.N. said, opium cultivation fell from 233,000 hectares (575,755 acres) in 2022 to just 10,800 hectares (26,687 acres) in 2023. But the imaging company Alcis, in its comprehensive satellite survey, says poppy cultivation was down by 86% to 31,088 hectares (76,200 acres). William Byrd, a senior researcher at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told VOA that the 9 percentage-point spread between Alcis and the U.N. makes a difference in how much poppy is estimated to have been harvested for 2023. He said Alcis paints a more complete picture. “Opium poppies’ distinctive characteristics and the tools developed by Alcis over a number of years facilitate the complete-coverage approach,” he said, adding that the U.N. relies on sampling different areas. Alcis analyzes satellite imagery for all agricultural land and poppy fields multiple times during the planting, cultivation and harvesting of opium poppy. Results for 2024 poppy planting are expected by both organizations in the fall. The economic situation in Afghanistan is dire as more than 12 million people face acute food insecurity. The poppy ban takes about $1 billion in income away from the rural economy. So, even faced with the ban, impoverished farmers continue to grow poppies because they have few options for income. For decades now, poppies and the resulting opium have been the biggest cash crop for farmers. Most practice subsistence farming. They have no extra income or time to buy the seeds of other plants and then wait years for them to mature to be harvested and sold. Farmers complain that the Taliban government isn’t helping them with alternative crops. Hassebullah, a farmer in Laghman province, told VOA that farmers need support and that they are still waiting for the Taliban government’s help. “If a farmer doesn’t grow poppy and hashish,” said Hassebullah, who, like most rural Afghans, goes by his first name, “then as an alternative, the government should provide seeds and fertilizer, some agriculture products and other assistance.” Taliban Deputy Counternarcotics Minister Javed Qaem told VOA that until farmers are provided alternatives, “unfortunately, we will be witnessing more clashes in the coming years.”

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian police on Thursday banned a festival that promotes cultural exchange with Kosovo in a sign of growing nationalism and government pressure on liberal voices in the Balkan country. A police statement cited security concerns as the reason to ban the "Mirdita, dobar dan" event that was scheduled to start later Thursday in Belgrade with a theater show from Kosovo. The words mean “good day” in Albanian and Serbian, respectively. Serbia does not recognize the 2008 declaration of independence by its former province, which is overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian. The Mirdita, dobar dan festival is organized by youth groups from Serbia and Kosovo seeking to bridge ethnic divisions created by a 1998-99 war and the postwar tensions. Organizers in Serbia, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights group, said that Serbian police violated the country's constitution and European laws: "It is a basic duty of the state to secure the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the law and to sanction all those who limit or violate those freedoms and citizens' rights." The group added that police did not allow the bus with participants to enter Belgrade and ordered that it return to Kosovo under police escort. The police ban came after several dozen right-wing extremists gathered outside the festival venue on Thursday, seeking to prevent the celebration while waving Serbian flags. Police said they wanted to prevent "danger to the security of people and property and to public peace and order on a larger scale." A statement said that the anti-festival gathering is also banned. Liberal groups criticized the police decision. "With the ban on 'Mirdita,' Serbia and its institutions sided with the hooligans and the deepest ethno-nationalist darkness," prominent human rights activist Natasa Kandic said on X. "No longer can a debate about reconciliation or a protest against glorification of war criminals be organized in Serbia. A black hole." The Movement of Free Citizens party urged the Interior Ministry to revoke the ban also, saying the authorities have sided with the extremists who are opposed to regional reconciliation. Several government officials have sharply criticized the festival in the past several days, describing it as anti-Serb. While the festival has been held alternatively in Serbia and Kosovo for the past decade, this year's ban in Serbia illustrates a general toughening of the government's stance toward its critics. Earlier this week, authorities banned a Bosnian actor and author from entering Serbia, saying he was a threat to national security, and deported him back to Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital. In the past months, Serbia's independent and investigative journalists have complained of increased legal pressure and threats. Serbia is formally seeking entry into the European Union, but the increasingly authoritarian government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic has steadily drifted away from the EU's pro-democracy values while nurturing close ties with Russia and China.

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Los Angeles — The Center for Investigative Reporting said Thursday it has sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its closest business partner, Microsoft, marking a new front in the news industry's fight against unauthorized use of its content on artificial intelligence platforms. The nonprofit, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, said that OpenAI used its content without permission and without offering compensation, violating copyrights on the organization's journalism. The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, describes OpenAI's business as "built on the exploitation of copyrighted works" and focuses on how AI-generated summaries of articles threaten publishers. "It's immensely dangerous," Monika Bauerlein, the nonprofit's CEO, told The Associated Press. "Our existence relies on users finding our work valuable and deciding to support it." Bauerlein said that "when people can no longer develop that relationship with our work, when they no longer encounter Mother Jones or Reveal, then their relationship is with the AI tool." That, she said, could "cut the entire foundation of our existence as an independent newsroom out from under us" while also threatening the future of other news organizations. OpenAI and Microsoft didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. The lawsuit is the latest against OpenAI and Microsoft to land at Manhattan's federal court, where the companies are already battling a series of other copyright lawsuits from The New York Times, other media outlets and bestselling authors such as John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin. The companies also face a separate case in San Francisco's federal court brought by authors including comedian Sarah Silverman. Some news organizations have chosen to collaborate rather than fight with OpenAI by signing deals to get compensated for sharing news content that can be used to train its AI systems. The latest to do so is Time magazine, which announced Thursday that OpenAI will get access to its "extensive archives from the last 101 years." OpenAI and other major AI developers don't typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the "fair use" doctrine of American copyright law. CIR's lawsuit says a dataset that OpenAI has acknowledged using to build an earlier version of its chatbot technology contained thousands of links to the website of Mother Jones, a 48-year-old print magazine that's been publishing online since 1993. But the text used for AI training was usually missing information about a story's author, title or copyright notice. Last summer, more than 4,000 writers signed a letter to the CEOs of OpenAI and other tech companies accusing them of exploitative practices in building chatbots. "It's not a free resource for these AI companies to ingest and make money on," Bauerlein said of news media. "They pay for office space. They pay for electricity. They pay salaries for their workers. Why would the content that they ingest be the only thing that they don't [pay for]?" The AP is among the news organizations that have made licensing deals over the past year with OpenAI; others include The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post publisher News Corp., The Atlantic, Axel Springer in Germany and Prisa Media in Spain, France's Le Monde newspaper and the London-based Financial Times. Mother Jones and CIR were both founded in the 1970s and merged earlier this year. Both are based in San Francisco, as is OpenAI. The lawsuit from CIR, also known for its Reveal podcast and radio show, outlines the expense of producing investigative journalism and warns that losing control of copyrighted content will result in less revenue and even fewer reporters to tell important stories in "today's paltry media landscape." "With fewer investigative news stories told, the cost to democracy will be enormous," the lawsuit says.

Seoul — South Korea said Thursday that it would consider sending arms to Ukraine, a major policy change that was suggested after Russia and North Korea rattled the region and beyond by signing a pact to come to each other's defense in the event of war.  The comments from a senior presidential official came hours after North Korea's state media released the details of the agreement, which observers said could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War. It comes at a time when Russia faces growing isolation over the war in Ukraine and both countries face escalating standoffs with the West. According to the text of the deal published by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, if either country gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy "all means at its disposal without delay" to provide "military and other assistance." But the agreement also says that such actions must be in accordance with the laws of both countries and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes a U.N. member state's right to self-defense.  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the pact at a summit Wednesday in Pyongyang. Both described it as a major upgrade of bilateral relations, covering security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties. The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement condemning the agreement, calling it a threat to his country's security and a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and warned that it would have negative consequences on Seoul's relations with Moscow.  "It's absurd that two parties with a history of launching wars of invasion — the Korean War and the war in Ukraine — are now vowing mutual military cooperation on the premise of a preemptive attack by the international community that will never happen," Yoon's office said. At the United Nations in New York, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul called it "deplorable" that Russia would act in violation of multiple U.N. sanctions resolutions against North Korea that Moscow voted for. Yoon's national security adviser, Chang Ho-jin, said that Seoul would reconsider the issue of providing arms to Ukraine to help the country fight off Russia's full-scale invasion. South Korea, a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped military backed by the United States, has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine, while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Moscow. But it hasn't directly provided arms to Kyiv, citing a longstanding policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict. Speaking to reporters in Hanoi, where he traveled after Pyongyang, Putin said Thursday that supplying weapons to Ukraine would be "a very big mistake" on South Korea's part. If that happens, Putin said that it would lead to "decisions that are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea." He said that South Korea "shouldn't worry" about the agreement, if Seoul isn't planning any aggression against Pyongyang. Asked whether Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions with Western-supplied weapons could be considered an act of aggression, Putin said that "it needs to be additionally studied, but it's close to it," and that Moscow isn't ruling out supplying weapons to North Korea in response. A number of NATO allies, including the United States and Germany, recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv. Earlier this month, a Western official and a U.S. senator said that Ukraine has used American weapons to strike inside Russia. Putin has said in response that Moscow "reserves the right" to arm Western adversaries and reiterated that notion on Thursday. "I said, including in Pyongyang, that in this case we reserve the right to supply weapons to other regions of the world," he said. "Keeping in mind our agreements with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, I'm not ruling that out." The summit between Kim and Putin came as the U.S. and its allies expressed growing concern over a possible arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for the war in Ukraine, in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim's nuclear weapons and missile program. Following their summit, Kim said the two countries had a "fiery friendship," and that the deal was their "strongest-ever treaty," putting the relationship at the level of an alliance. He vowed full support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Putin called it a "breakthrough document," reflecting shared desires to move relations to a higher level. North Korea and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1961, which experts say necessitated Moscow's military intervention if the North came under attack. The deal was discarded after the collapse of the USSR, replaced by one in 2000 that offered weaker security assurances.  There's ongoing debate on how strong of a security commitment the deal entails. While some analysts see the agreement as a full restoration of the countries' Cold War-era alliance, others say the deal seems more symbolic than substantial. Ankit Panda, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the text appeared to be carefully worded as to not imply automatic military intervention. But "the big picture here is that both sides are willing to put down on paper, and show the world, just how widely they intend to expand the scope of their cooperation," he said. The deal was made as Putin visited North Korea for the first time in nearly a quarter-century, a trip that showcased their personal and geopolitical ties. Kim hugged Putin twice at the airport, their motorcade rolling past giant Russian flags and Putin portraits, before a welcoming ceremony at Pyongyang's main square attended by what appeared to be tens of thousands of spectators. According to KCNA, the agreement also states that Pyongyang and Moscow must not enter into agreements with third parties, if they infringe on the "core interests" of any of them and mustn't participate in actions that threaten those interests. KCNA said that the agreement requires the countries to take steps to prepare joint measures for the purpose of strengthening their defense capabilities to prevent war and protect regional and global peace and security. The agency didn't specify what those steps are, or whether they would include combined military training and other cooperation.  The agreement also calls for the countries to actively cooperate in efforts to establish a "just and multipolar new world order," KCNA said, underscoring how the countries are aligning in face of their separate confrontations with the United States. How the pact affects Russia's relations with South Korea is a key development to watch, said Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and director of the North Korea-focused 38 North website. "Seoul had already signed onto sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, souring its relations with Moscow. Now with any ambiguity of Russia's partnership with North Korea removed, how will Seoul respond?" she said. "Is there a point where it decides to cut or suspend diplomatic ties with Russia or expel its ambassador? And have we reached it?" Kim has made Russia his priority in recent months as he pushes a foreign policy aimed at expanding relations with countries confronting Washington, embracing the idea of a "new Cold War" and trying to display a united front in Putin's broader conflicts with the West.  Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim's weapons tests, and combined military exercises involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle. The Koreas also have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on South Korea with balloons, and Seoul broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers. 

Athens — Greek judicial authorities have jailed the captain and first officer of a yacht ahead of a trial on charges of arson over a forest fire on the island of Hydra believed to have been sparked by fireworks, legal sources said. The two men and the entire crew of the yacht have denied any wrongdoing. Eleven other crew members were freed on bail and with restrictions. Wildfires are common in the Mediterranean country, but they have become more frequent and devastating due to hotter, drier and windier conditions, which scientists link to climate change. Greece has, in recent years, beefed up penalties for arson. The fire, believed to have been triggered by fireworks, broke out on Friday night and devoured nearly 300,000 square meters of the island's pine forest before firefighters doused the flames early on Saturday. The Greek crew members of the yacht, which was moored 350 meters from the shore when the fire erupted, were arrested on Sunday at a marina near Athens and charged with starting the blaze. All of them reiterated their denial of the charges before an investigating magistrate at the court of Piraeus on Wednesday. The yacht operator, Salaminia Yachting Limited, said it "retains absolute confidence in the integrity and sincerity of the crew members," who deny involvement in the incident, according to a statement cited by the Athens News Agency. A legal source said earlier there was not enough evidence to link the crew with the case and that the captain was the first person to alert authorities about the fire. The foreign passengers who chartered the yacht, most of them from Kazakhstan, have left the country, the source added. A prosecutor ordered on Thursday an internal probe into the actions of authorities that allowed them to travel outside the country before the official investigation was concluded. Later in the day, charges for abetting arson were laid against eight of the passengers, police sources said. Witnesses have testified that they saw smoke and flames after hearing 15 to 20 loud sounds, similar to firework explosions, at 10:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on Friday, according to court documents seen by Reuters. A rubber boat sailed toward the yacht as the fire rapidly spread, said one witness, who later saw a fire extinguisher on the yacht's stern.

manila, Philippines — Analysts see China’s increasingly aggressive attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea as a test of the U.S.-Philippines alliance. What happens next, they say, will depend largely on how Manila and Washington respond.  Dramatic footage released last week by the Philippine military showed Chinese coast guard personnel wielding knives, an ax and other weapons as they intercepted Philippine soldiers who were in rubber boats delivering supplies to a garrison at Second Thomas Shoal.   The June 17 clash was the worst so far in the escalating tension in the disputed waters, with several Philippine soldiers injured, including one who lost a thumb, according to Manila.  But while the Philippines tried to de-escalate the tension with diplomacy, analysts say future such incidents are likely.   “China will seek to push the Philippines further,” said Don McLain Gill, an international studies lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila.   “The main challenge here is to apply considerable cost on China in order for it not to illustrate this sort of behavior and turn it into something regular, like the same way it had regularized water canonning and ramming [of Philippine vessels],” he told VOA.  There have been several incidents in the past months in which Chinese coast guard ships blasted Philippine patrol boats with water cannons and performed dangerous maneuvers in attempts to stop resupply missions to Philippine troops stationed at the shoal.  The flash point of the conflict is the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated warship that Manila deliberately ran aground in 1999 to stake its claim to Second Thomas Shoal, a maritime feature in the Spratly Islands that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.   China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, including the Spratly chain, based on historical maps that an international tribunal has ruled have no legal basis. Parallel strand of negotiation Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his first media interview since the incident, acknowledged Thursday that more must be done than to just file diplomatic protests against China.  “We have [lodged] more than 100 protests already. … [What usually happens is] we summon the ambassador, we tell him our position, that we don’t want what happened, and that’s it. But we have to do more than that, so we are. We are doing more than just that,” Marcos told reporters Thursday, without elaborating.  But Collin Koh, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said there must also be a “parallel strand of negotiation and dialogue” between China and the United States to de-escalate the tension.  The United States is a treaty ally of the Philippines and is obligated to defend Manila against external armed attack, including in areas in the South China Sea.  Given the high stakes for all three countries, Koh said, China might listen to another superpower.   “I think in large part it will depend very greatly on U.S. signaling explicitly to China on things that it should refrain from doing, and it must come with a very explicit threat of repercussions or consequences,” Koh told VOA.  “If the messaging isn’t done clearly, then we are going to see a repetition of what's happening,” he added.  Mutual defense treaty  Marcos has ruled out invoking the mutual defense treaty over the latest incident, saying it could not be considered an “armed attack.”  Marcos had earlier said he wanted a review of the treaty, which was signed in 1951, to respond to the changing security challenges in the region.   The recent escalation might provide urgency for Washington and Manila “to expedite the process of defining particular provisions and enhancing consultations,” according to Gill of De La Salle University.  One such clarification was provided earlier this year by Marcos, who said the death of a Philippine serviceman in “an attack or an aggressive action by another foreign power” could trigger the treaty.   This specific requirement, however, might work in China’s favor. “If you set the bar so high, then it means that you are allowing China to keep doing whatever it is doing just under that threshold,” Koh said, although he agreed that it was not yet necessary to activate the treaty.   “Nobody died and there were no other serious injuries other than the poor guy who lost his thumb. The question is: Are we going to be lucky in the future like that?” Koh asked.

WASHINGTON — Catastrophic Canadian wildfires last year pumped more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air than India did by burning fossil fuels, setting ablaze an area of forest larger than the U.S. state of West Virginia, new research finds. Scientists at the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland calculated how devastating the impacts were of the monthslong fires in Canada in 2023 that sullied the air around large parts of the globe. They figured it put 2.98 billion metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air, according to a study update published in Thursday's Global Change Biology. The update is not peer-reviewed, but the original study was. The fire spewed nearly four times the carbon emissions as airplanes do in a year, study authors said. It's about the same amount of carbon dioxide that 647 million cars put in the air in a year, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. Forests "remove a lot of carbon from the atmosphere and that gets stored in their branches, their trunks, their leaves and kind of in the ground as well. So, when they burn all the carbon that's stored within them, [it] gets released back into the atmosphere," said the study’s lead author, James MacCarthy, a research associate with WRI's Global Forest Watch. When and if trees grow back, much of that can be recovered, MacCarthy said, adding, "It definitely does have an impact on the global scale in terms of the amount of emissions that were produced in 2023." MacCarthy and colleagues calculated that the forest burned totaled 77,574 square kilometers (29,951 square miles), which is six times more than the average from 2001 to 2022. The wildfires in Canada made up 27% of global tree cover loss last year; usually it's closer to 6%, MacCarthy's figures show. These are far more than regular forest fires, but researchers focused only on tree cover loss, which is a bigger effect, said study co-author Alexandra Tyukavina, a geography professor at the University of Maryland. Syracuse University geography and environment professor Jacob Bendix, who wasn't part of the study, said, "The loss of that much forest is a very big deal, and very worrisome. "Although the forest will eventually grow back and sequester carbon in doing so, that is a process that will take decades at a minimum, so that there is a quite substantial lag between addition of atmospheric carbon due to wildfire and the eventual removal of at least some of it by the regrowing forest,” he said. “So, over the course of those decades, the net impact of the fires is a contribution to climate warming." It's more than just adding to heat-trapping gases and losing forests; there were health consequences as well, Tyukavina said. "Because of these catastrophic fires, air quality in populated areas and cities was affected last year," she said, mentioning New York City's smog-choked summer. More than 200 communities with about 232,000 residents had to be evacuated, according to another not-yet-published or peer-reviewed study by Canadian forest and fire experts. One of the authors of the Canadian study, fire expert Mike Flannigan at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, puts the acreage burned at twice what MacCarthy and Tyukavina do. "The 2023 fire season in Canada was [an] exceptional year in any time period," Flannigan, who wasn't part of the WRI study, said in an email. "I expect more fire in our future, but years like 2023 will be rare." Flannigan, Bendix, Tyukavina and MacCarthy all said climate change played a role in Canada's big burn. A warmer world means a longer fire season, more lightning-caused fires and especially drier wood and brush to catch fire "associated with increased temperature," Flannigan wrote. The average May-to-October temperature in Canada last year was almost 2.2 degrees Celsius warmer than normal, his study found. Some parts of Canada were 8 to 10 degrees Celsius hotter than average in May and June, MaCarthy said. There's short-term variability within trends, so it's hard to blame one specific year and area on climate change, and geographic factors play a role, Bendix said in an email, but still, "there is no doubt that climate change is the principal driver of the global increases in wildfire." With the world warming from climate change, Tyukavina said, "The catastrophic years are probably going to be happening more often, and we are going to see those spikier years more often."

Cambodian rapper VannDa was featured at a California festival of Asian music and culture called Sabaidee Fest. VOA’s Malis Tum and Chetra Chap report on this young rapper who’s shining a spotlight on Cambodian music, culture and history. Chetra Chap narrates.

In Washington, the garden of former President Woodrow Wilson’s historic home is being reimagined to accommodate a changing climate. VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports. Camera: Adam Greenbaum.

HARARE, ZIMBABWE — The head of U.S. Africa Command denied Thursday claims by Zimbabwean government officials that Washington is setting up a military base in neighboring Zambia and wants to move AFRICOM operations there from Germany. At an online press briefing, General Michael Langley, head of AFRICOM, rejected Zimbabwe’s claims that the United States is establishing a base in neighboring Zambia. “That's absolutely false,” Langley said from an African Chiefs of Defense Conference in Botswana. “We have no bases in Zambia. We have no plans to put one there.” He said the U.S.’s approach on the continent is “African-led and U.S.-enabled.” “We have a deep partnership with Zambia,” he said. “We have increased security cooperation with them. But there is no footprint. There's no posture. There's no base.” Zimbabwean officials declined to comment to VOA about Langley’s remarks. But Rutendo Matinyarare, chairperson of the pro-government Zimbabwe Anti-Sanctions Movement, alleged that Langley held a briefing in Lusaka and that the U.S. was setting up the AFRICOM hub in Zambia. Matinyarare claimed that several businesspeople who have flown into the country have seen a substantial amount of American military equipment at Zambia’s airport. “And so, the question is, ‘What are these weapons doing in Zambia?’” he said. Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema denies that his country is being militarized by the U.S. He says Zambia’s army has exchange programs with a number of countries, including the U.S., which should not be mistaken for the U.S. establishing a base. Zambia says it has called on two regional bodies — the African Union and the Southern African Development Community — to mediate talks with Zimbabwe. Zambia and Zimbabwe are members of both organizations. Zambian officials have also said the fallout stems from comments that Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa made during a recent trip to Russia — namely, the accusation that the U.S. has been militarizing Zambia to consolidate power in the region and isolate Zimbabwe. Western countries imposed travel and financial sanctions on Zimbabwe’s leadership and affiliated companies in the early 2000s for alleged election rigging and human rights abuses. The U.S. recently removed sanctions on most Zimbabweans, but a few prominent figures — including Mnangagwa — remain on the list. Meanwhile, Langley told reporters that top regional security challenges throughout Africa were discussed at the just-ended defense conference. “Our African partners want this conference here because they want to own it. But we are AFRICOM, and the U.S. government is here because we have common values, common objectives, that will affect stability, security and prosperity on the continent,” he said. This year’s conference provided a “valuable wealth of information” and lessons ahead of talks next year, Langley said.

Madrid — Spain’s leader has pledged to reform the country’s media law next month to stop the spread of fake news, a move criticized by many as a threat to press freedom. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced this month that the new legislation would “end the impunity of some pseudo media largely financed by … the extreme right.” In an interview with Spanish paper La Vanguardia, he said the law would “consolidate plural, diverse media with accurate information. These are today the ones harmed by digital tabloids that spread hoaxes.” But journalists and media analysts warn the move risks endangering press freedom and limiting the media’s role as a public watchdog. Some note that the move by Sanchez and his left-wing coalition government comes in response to critical reporting about the leader’s family. His wife, Begona Gomez, was embroiled in a legal case over alleged corruption and influence peddling. She is scheduled to appear before a judge in Madrid on July 5 as part of a preliminary investigation relating to business activities. Gomez has not been charged, and Sanchez said she has not committed any offense. The court probe was opened after a complaint filed by Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), an anti-corruption union that has been linked to the far right. The organization has said its complaint is based on media reports. When the story broke in April, Sanchez described the allegations leveled at Gomez as a “harassment and bullying operation” against him and his wife by political and media enemies. He took five days out, saying he needed to consider his future and whether his position was worth all the abuse directed at his family. When Sanchez returned to office, he called for an end to a culture of “mud-slinging and slanderous rumors” which, he said, threatened the quality of public life. In a four-page letter posted on X, he said the Manos Limpias complaint was untrue and based on “alleged reporting” by news sites whose political bias were “overtly right-wing and far-right." Manos Limpias has said its complaint could be based on incorrect reports. But in a social media post, it said, “If they are not true then whoever published them should take responsibility. But if they are not untrue, we understand that the judicial investigation should continue.” Media reform When Sanchez briefly stepped back, thousands of journalists signed a letter of support, saying an attack by the media and judicial “extreme right” was an “attempt to subvert the popular will expressed at the polls through illicit means.” And in proposing reforms to the media law, Sanchez has said it will be allied to the Media Freedom Act introduced by the European Commission. MFA is designed to prevent political interference in media outlets and ensure transparent and non-discriminatory state advertising. But critics are wary. Nacho Cardero, director of El Confidencial — a respected news website that has published a series of reports on Gomez — said Sanchez’s proposal to legislate against the media represents a challenge to journalism. “This is a complicated moment in the story of Spain and journalism. It is putting in danger media freedom and the right of the citizens to be well-informed. The government has reacted by attacking the media. Right now, they have not said who the pseudo media is nor what are the lies,” he said. “They have said they are going to change the law to distinguish between good and bad media. But they have not said what they are going to do.” Since El Confidencial published its reports on Gomez, the government has cut ties with the news site, Cardero said, meaning they can no longer report the government’s side. This, he said, is not good for “El Confidencial, the government nor the people.” VOA emailed the Spanish government for a comment but has not received a reply. Media watchdogs have noted an increase in political polarization and attacks from media in Spain and several other countries. It’s a trend that sees leaders respond to critical reporting by accusing the media of political bias. Alfonso Bauluz, president of the Spanish wing of the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, known as RSF, condemned such attacks. “We also want to appeal to the sanity of political representatives. Straining public debate and encouraging acrimony leads to hatred, something that unfortunately is so present on social networks. And we think that it should not contaminate the press, whose task is to represent and offer all points of view,” he said. “The function of informing, criticizing power and denouncing its deviation is inherent to journalism and respect for those who exercise their profession with rigor and professional ethics is an inalienable demand,” Bauluz said. Maria Rey, president of the Madrid Press Association, told VOA that if Spain reformed the existing law, it might mean the creation of an organization to police media. “What makes us uncomfortable is the message that journalists are not sufficiently professional to regulate ourselves. Until now, there has always been responsible media to counterbalance incorrect news,” she said. “We are able to regulate ourselves. We are tremendously self-critical about our journalism,” Rey said. Cardero said that although the government wants to legislate, it is unclear if they can. The current minority government, which is dependent on smaller parties, has made legislating difficult this year. Because of that, it is unclear whether Sanchez would be able to gain enough support needed for reforms.

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Washington — Geopolitical tensions and growing competition in tech between the United States and China appear to be spilling over into academia despite commitments from the world’s two biggest economies to boost people-to-people exchanges. The United States remains the top choice for Chinese students seeking to study abroad with nearly 300,000 studying in American colleges and universities during the 2022-2023 school year. But reports of some cases that students and professors are facing extra scrutiny while passing through immigration and the deportation of others are raising concerns. For Chen Xiaojin, a doctoral student studying semiconductor materials at a university in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, it has been six years since she returned to her hometown of Beijing. At first, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that kept her from going home. But over the past two years, she has been deterred by accounts of Chinese students majoring in science and engineering being required to reapply for their visas upon returning to China. She also says she is worried by reports over the past six months of Chinese students being deported, even at nearby Dulles Airport. "My current research is relatively sensitive, and my boss [adviser] is getting funds from the U.S. Department of Defense, making it even more sensitive,” she told VOA. "I am afraid that I won't be able to return after I go back [to China]." Chen says that if she did return to China, she would have to apply for a new visa. In a report late last month, Bloomberg said it had found at least 20 Chinese students and scholars with valid visas who were deported at U.S. Customs since November and barred from reentry. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency does not release relevant data. Immigration attorney Dan Berger represented one Chinese student who was deported late last year. He tells VOA Mandarin that the student studied biological sciences at Yale University and was about to complete her doctorate. She visited her family in China and got a new visa but was deported by customs at Dulles Airport and barred from reentering the country for five years. Berger said he did not see anything suspicious in the transcript of the conversation between the student and the customs officer. "We have seen what seems like a pattern over the last six months of Chinese PhD students being turned around…. more than I've seen in quite a while," he said. Matthew Brazil, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said neither country seems willing to explain the situation. However, he believes that in most cases, the United States must have valid reasons for blocking visa holders from entering the country. In some cases, the student’s background may not match what is written on the visa application. In other cases, customs agents may also find something that the State Department missed, and once they see it, they are responsible for taking action. "I wish the Chinese side would be specific about their students who were refused entry,” he said. “The fact that both sides are mum on details and that the Chinese side is engaged with the usual angry rhetoric means that each has security concerns. And that says to me that there was good reason for the U.S. to stop these particular applicants." Brazil also sees a connection between the entry denials and export control regulations issued by the United States in October 2022 that restrict China's ability to obtain advanced computing chips, develop and maintain supercomputers, and manufacture advanced semiconductors. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is one of the law enforcement agencies authorized to investigate violations of export control regulations, he said. "Beijing's intelligence agencies are known to focus attention on PRC [People's Republic of China] students and scientists headed abroad who study or work on dual-use technologies controlled under the Export Administration Act — compelling Chinese students and scientists to report on what they've learned when they return to China on holiday,” he said. “This has been true for decades." Bill Drexel, a fellow for the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said the U.S. government did find some cases where students tried to steal strategic technology for China. "I think it would both not be surprising that they found some really questionable or incriminating evidence for some students,” he said. “It would also not be surprising if, in their hunt for really solid evidence, they also may have made some mistakes on other students.” Drexel adds that “it’s just kind of an unfortunate fact of the time that we live in and the tactics that the CCP uses when it comes to these measures." In a post on X in early May, U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns tried to dispel concerns about visas and entry to the United States for students and scholars. In the post, he said "99.9% of Chinese students holding visas encounter no issues upon entering the United States.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Monday, Burns said it is China that is making it impossible to promote people-to-people ties. Burns told the Journal that students attending events sponsored by the United States in China have been interrogated and intimidated. He also said that since U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping held their summit in San Francisco last year, China’s Ministry of State Security and other agencies had interfered with Chinese citizens’ participation at some 61 events. At a regular briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed those accusations, saying that they did not “reflect reality" and that went against key understandings reached by both countries’ presidents in San Francisco. “The United States, under the pretext of 'national security,' unjustifiably harasses, interrogates, and deports Chinese students in the U.S., causing them significant harm and creating a severe chilling effect,” Mao said. “The image of the United States in the minds of the Chinese people fundamentally depends on the actions of the United States itself.” Drexel said he believes Burns’ comments about visas and students' willingness to study in the U.S. still ring true. “On balance, it's still the case that American universities are overwhelmingly warm towards Chinese students and want them in large numbers," he said. However, Berger, the immigration lawyer, is concerned about the chilling effect recent cases involving Chinese students could have. "In general, we are being more careful about advising Chinese graduate students in STEM fields about traveling and letting them know that there is some small risk,” he said. Even though the risk is small, it does seem to be real at the moment, he said. Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

An attempted military coup rocks Bolivia. The Haitian public reacts to Kenyan peacekeepers as President Rutto relents and does not sign the controversial tax law following deadly protests earlier in the week. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy is in Brussels to address the EU Summit and North Korea is sending personnel to help Russia with “rebuilding works” in Occupied Donetsk. Iran targets journalists abroad and a look at the future of democracy