The United States cricket team beat Pakistan — a former world champion — on Thursday, achieving one of the biggest upsets in T20 Cricket World Cup history. This year’s tournament is being hosted by the United States and the West Indies. Saqib Ul Islam has more from the games in Dallas, Texas.
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Month: June 2024
Turkey imposes 40% tariff on vehicle imports from China
ISTANBUL — Turkey will impose a 40% additional tariff on imports of vehicles from China to halt a possible deterioration of its current trade balance and protect domestic automakers, the trade ministry said Saturday.
China is facing increasing trade pressures worldwide over its growing exports of electric vehicles, which many countries claim are being heavily subsidized by Beijing to support its sputtering economy. The European Commission is expected to announce next week whether to impose provisional extra tariffs.
The additional Turkish tariff will be set at a minimum of $7,000 per vehicle, going into effect from July 7, a presidential decision published in the country’s Official Gazette showed.
“An additional tariff will be imposed on import of conventional and hybrid passenger vehicles from China in order to increase and protect the decreasing share of domestic production,” trade ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry also said the additional tariff decision was made taking into current account deficit targets and efforts to encourage domestic investment and production.
The decision said if the 40% tariff calculated from the price of an imported vehicle is under $7,000 then the minimum tariff of $7,000 will be charged.
In 2023, Turkey imposed additional tariffs on electric vehicle imports from China and brought some regulations regarding EV maintenance and services.
The government is encouraging more production and exports to reduce the chronic current trade deficit, which stood at $45.2 billion last year.
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Death toll rises as rescue charity spots another body in sea off Libya
ROME — Another body was spotted off the coast of Libya on Saturday, a day after a Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, rescue ship recovered the bodies of 11 migrants in the same area of the Mediterranean Sea and said it had saved more than 160 people from boats.
Nonprofit organization Sea Watch said on social media platform X that its plane had spotted the corpse on Saturday.
“Yesterday our aircraft crew sighted 11 bodies, and so far, one more has been discovered on today’s flight. The flight and the search continue,” the Germany-based nonprofit group said.
The United Nations has registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world.
MSF said its Geo Barents search and rescue vessel picked up 146 migrants in two operations and then found a further 20 in a separate boat. They also retrieved the bodies of 11 people who were seen by the Sea Watch plane.
“We do not know the precise cause of this tragedy, but we know that people continue to die in a desperate attempt to reach safety. This slaughter must end,” MSF said on X.
The 11 bodies should be transferred onto a ship of the Italian coast guard and then disembarked temporarily at the island of Lampedusa, Italian media reported on Saturday.
Italy has urged Tunisia and Libya to do more to stop would-be migrants from putting to sea. It has also clamped down on the operations of rescue ships, saying they encourage people to head to Europe — something the charities deny.
Underscoring the restrictions, Italy on Friday told Geo Barents to take its latest group of migrants to the northern port of Genova, more than 650 nautical miles away and far from the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily.
“This will significantly delay assistance for the … survivors who endured a lot already,” MSF said.
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Russia puts former Ukrainian PM Tymoshenko on ‘wanted list’
Ukraine air defense downs 9 Russian drones
Suspect in Danish prime minister attack to appear in hearing
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A man accused of assaulting the Danish Prime Minister in central Copenhagen will appear in a pre-trial custody hearing on Saturday, authorities said.
Police confirmed “there has been an incident” with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Friday and that a 39-year-old man was arrested. They didn’t provide further details and it wasn’t clear if Frederiksen was hurt.
The man is expected to arrive at 1100 GMT at the Copenhagen District Court in Frederiksberg, a municipality enclave within the Danish capital.
The prime minister’s office told the Danish state broadcaster DR on Friday that Frederiksen was “shocked” by what happened.
Two eyewitnesses, Anna Ravn and Marie Adrian, told the daily BT that they saw a man walking toward Frederiksen and then “pushing her hard on the shoulder so she was shoved aside.” They stressed that the premier did not fall down.
Another witness, Kasper Jørgensen, told the Ekstra Bladet tabloid that a well-dressed man, who seemed part of Frederiksen’s protection unit, and a police officer took down the alleged assailant.
Søren Kjærgaard who was working at a local bar on Kultorvet Square where the incident happened told the BT that he saw Frederiksen after the incident and she had no visible injuries to her face but walked away quickly.
Politicians in the Scandinavian country and abroad condemned the reported assault.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general, said he was shocked to hear what happened to Frederiksen, whom he called a friend.
“NATO allies stand together to protect our values, freedom, democracy and our rule of law,” Stoltenberg wrote on the social media platform, X, on Saturday.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that “an attack on a democratically elected leader is also an attack on our democracy.” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said he strongly condemned “all forms of violence against the democratically elected leaders of our free societies.”
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, condemned on X what he called a “cowardly act of aggression.”
European Union parliamentary elections are currently underway in Denmark and the rest of the 27-nation bloc and will conclude Sunday.
Frederiksen has been campaigning with the Social Democrats’ EU lead candidate, Christel Schaldemose. Media reports said the attack was not linked to a campaign event.
Violence against politicians has become a theme in the run-up to the EU elections. In May, a candidate from Germany’s center-left Social Democrats was beaten and seriously injured while campaigning for a seat in the European Parliament.
In Slovakia, the election campaign was overshadowed by an attempt to assassinate populist Prime Minister Robert Fico on May 15, sending shockwaves through the nation of 5.4 million and reverberating throughout Europe.
Frederiksen, 46, is the leader of the Social Democratic Party and has been Denmark’s prime minister since 2019.
She has steered Denmark through the global COVID-19 pandemic and a controversial 2020 decision to wipe out Denmark’s entire captive mink population to minimize the risk of the small mammals retransmitting the virus.
Assaults on politicians in Denmark are rare.
On March 23, 2003, two activists threw red paint on then-Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen inside the parliament and were immediately arrested. Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller also suffered some splashes that day.
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Russia aims to increase footprint, influence in Africa
DAKAR, Senegal — Russia’s top diplomat pledged help and military assistance while on a whirlwind tour of several countries in Africa’s sub-Saharan region of Sahel this week, as Moscow seeks to grow its influence in the restive, mineral-rich section of the continent.
Russia is emerging as the security partner of choice for a growing number of African governments in the region, displacing traditional allies like France and the United States. Sergey Lavrov, who has made several trips to Africa in recent years, this week stopped in Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso and Chad.
Moscow has aggressively expanded its military cooperation with African nations by using the private security company Wagner and its likely successor, Africa Corps, with Russian mercenaries taking up roles from protecting African leaders to helping states fight extremists.
The Polish Institute of International Affairs said in a study this month that in “creating the Africa Corps, Russia took an assertive approach to expand its military presence in Africa.
Moscow is also seeking political support, or at least neutrality, from many of Africa’s 54 countries over its invasion of Ukraine. African nations make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations and have been more divided than any other group on General Assembly resolutions criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Russia-linked entities also spread disinformation to undermine ties between African states and the West, the Africa Center For Strategic Studies, an academic institution within the U.S. Department of Defense, wrote in a March report. Moscow has been “sponsoring 80 documented campaigns, targeting more than 22 countries,” it said.
Here’s a look at how Russia is expanding its influence in Africa.
Why are African nations turning to Russia? Russia has taken advantage of political unrest and discontent in coup-hit nations, capitalizing on popular frustration and anger with former colonial power France. Military coups have ousted governments seen close to France and the West and doing little to alleviate grinding poverty, unemployment and other hardships.
Russia offers security assistance without interfering in politics, making it an appealing partner in places like Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all ruled by military juntas that seized power in recent years. In return, Moscow seeks access to minerals and other contracts.
Violence linked to extremists allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has been on the rise in Sahel for years, despite efforts by France, the U.S. and other Western allies to help fight the jihadi groups there. In 2013, France launched a near decade long operation in Mali to help fight militants, which expanded to Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. The operation ended nine years later but the conflict did not, contributing to anger with the West.
The U.S. has further lost its footing with key allies for forcing issues — including democracy or human rights — that many African states see as hypocrisy, given Washington’s close ties to some autocratic leaders elsewhere.
While the West may pressure African coup leaders over democracy and other issues, Russia doesn’t meddle in domestic affairs, Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, told The Associated Press.
What is Russia’s interest in African countries? Africa is rich in minerals, oil and other resources, which come with political and legal challenges. Its resources are increasingly central to economic and national security, such as cobalt, which is used in electronics like mobile phones, or lithium, which is used in batteries.
Russia has thrived in countries where governance is limited, and has signing mining deals through companies it controls. An EU parliament study showed that Russia secured access to gold and diamonds in the Central African Republic, cobalt in Congo, gold and oil in Sudan, chromite in Madagascar, platinum and diamonds in Zimbabwe, and uranium in Namibia.
The U.S. based non-profit Democracy 21 group said in an analysis last December that Wagner and Russia may have made about $2.5 billion through the African gold trade alone since invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Though Russia is increasingly a partner to African countries in the oil and mining sector, it lags far behind as an overall trading partner. For example, data by the International Monetary shows less than 1% of Africa’s exports go to Russia, compared with 33% to the European Union.
Where do Russian contractors operate in Africa? The first reports of Wagner mercenaries in Africa emerged in late 2017, when the group was deployed to Sudan to provide support to then-President Omar al-Bashir, in exchange for gold mining concessions. Wagner’s presence soon expanded to other African countries.
In 2018, Russian contractors showed up to back powerful commander Khalifa Hifter in eastern Libya who was battling militants. They also helped Hifter in his failed attempt to seize the capital of Tripoli a year later.
In the Central African Republic, Russian mercenaries have been providing security since in 2018 and in return have gained access to some of the country’s gold and diamond mines.
Coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Niger in 2023, brought military juntas critical of the West to power. All three eventually ordered French and other Western forces out, and instead turned to Russia for military support.
Niger ordered the U.S. to withdraw its troops and close its multimillion dollar flagship investment in a sprawling military and spy base in Agadez earlier this year, after a meeting with a U.S. delegation ended poorly. The decision has upended U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Africa’s Sahel.
Weeks later, Russian trainers arrived in Niger with new defense equipment.
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Biden, Macron to discuss Israel and Ukraine in pomp-filled state visit
PARIS — Fresh from commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, French President Emmanuel Macron will host U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday for a state visit marked by pomp and a parade as well as talks on trade, Israel and Ukraine.
The two men, who share a warm relationship despite past tensions over a submarine deal with Australia, will participate in a welcoming ceremony with their wives at the iconic Arc de Triomphe and a parade down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees before holding a meeting about policy issues and then attending dinner.
Biden hosted Macron for a state visit at the White House in 2022.
“France is … our oldest and one of our deepest allies. And this will be an important moment to affirm that alliance and also look to the future and what we have to accomplish together,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters earlier this week.
Sullivan said talks between the two men would touch on Russia’s war with Ukraine, Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, and policy issues ranging from climate change to artificial intelligence to supply chains.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said the countries would announce a plan to work together on maritime law enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard and French navy would discuss increased cooperation.
Biden and Macron are also expected to discuss strengthening NATO, and both have pledged their countries’ support for Ukraine, though they have not agreed yet on a plan to use frozen Russian assets to help Kiev. A U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday the United States and its G7 partners were making progress on that.
Biden met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on Friday, apologizing for a months-long delay by the U.S. Congress in approving the latest package of aid, and Zelenskyy addressed France’s National Assembly.
During a speech at the American Cemetery in Normandy on Thursday, the anniversary of the allied assault against Nazi German occupiers on French beaches in World War II, Biden called on Western powers to stay the course with Ukraine.
Macron and Biden will also confer on the situation in the Middle East.
Biden has been a staunch supporter of Israel, which is pursuing Hamas after it attacked the country in October, but tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths have soured Biden’s left-leaning political base on Israel, hurting him as he runs against Republican Donald Trump for reelection in November.
Beyond Ukraine, trade issues between the two sides of the Atlantic are likely to loom large.
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August 2022, has incensed European officials; they see it as a protectionist move that siphons off investments from EU companies.
Macron said during his state visit to Washington in 2022 that the package of subsidies could “fragment the West” and weaken the post-COVID European recovery at a time Washington is seeking allies against China and both sides confront Russia.
He and European allies have won little concessions from Washington since, however, and French officials say their aim for this visit is still to try to “re-synchronize” the U.S. and EU economic agendas.
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22 Chinese nationals sentenced to prison in Zambia for cybercrimes
LUSAKA, Zambia — A Zambian court on Friday sentenced 22 Chinese nationals to long prison terms for cybercrimes that included internet fraud and online scams targeting Zambians and other people from Singapore, Peru and the United Arab Emirates.
The Magistrates Court in the capital, Lusaka, sentenced them for terms ranging from seven to 11 years. The court also fined them between $1,500 and $3,000 after they pleaded guilty to charges of computer-related misrepresentation, identity fraud and illegally operating a network or service on Wednesday. A man from Cameroon also was sentenced and fined on the same changes.
They were part of a group of 77 people, the majority of them Zambians, arrested in April over what police described as a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate.”
Director-general of the drug enforcement commission, Nason Banda, said investigations began after authorities noticed a spike in the number of cyber-related fraud cases and many people complained about inexplicably losing money from their mobile phones or bank accounts.
Officers from the commission, police, the immigration department and the anti-terrorism unit in April swooped on a Chinese-run business in an upmarket suburb of Lusaka, arresting the 77, including those sentenced Friday. Authorities recovered over 13,000 local and foreign mobile phone SIM cards, two firearms and 78 rounds of ammunition during the raid.
The business, named Golden Top Support Services, had employed “unsuspecting” Zambians aged between 20 and 25 to use the SIM cards to engage “in deceptive conversations with unsuspecting mobile users across various platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, chat rooms and others, using scripted dialogues,” Banda said in April after the raid. The locals were freed on bail.
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Biden presses for unity on Ukraine at hallowed WWII battleground
President Joe Biden stressed the need for transatlantic unity during his speech at the monument overlooking the beach where, 80 years ago, Allied troops fought a battle that delivered a decisive blow to Nazi aggression. VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell reports from Pointe du Hoc, France.
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3 Americans implicated in DR Congo coup attempt go on trial in military court
KINSHASA, Congo — Three Americans accused of being involved in last month’s coup attempt in Congo appeared in a military court in the country’s capital, Kinshasa, on Friday, along with dozens of other defendants who were lined up on plastic chairs before the judge on the first day of the hearing.
The proceedings before the open-air military court were broadcast live on the local television channel.
Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga last month that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot for resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.
The defendants face a number of charges, many punishable by death, including terrorism, murder and criminal association. The court said there were 53 names on the list, but the names of Malanga and one other person were removed after death certificates were produced.
Malanga’s 21-year-old son, Marcel Malanga, who is a U.S. citizen, and two other Americans are on trial for their alleged roles in the attack. All three requested an interpreter to translate the proceedings from French to English.
Malanga’s son was the first to be questioned by the judge, who asked him to confirm his name and other personal details. The military official chosen to translate for him was apparently unable to understand English well. Eventually, a journalist was selected from the media to replace him, but he too had trouble translating numbers and the details of the proceedings.
“He’s not interpreting right. We need a different interpreter who understands English, please,” Marcel Malanga said to the judge after the journalist incorrectly translated his zip code.
But no other translator emerged, and the defendants had to make do with the journalist, who worked for national radio. Malanga appeared frustrated and defiant as the interview stumbled ahead.
Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a vacation, with all expenses paid by the elder Malanga. The young men had played high school football together in the Salt Lake City suburbs. Other teammates accused Marcel of offering up to $100,000 to join him on a “security job” in Congo.
Thompson appeared before the court with a shaved head and sores on his skin, looking nervous and lost as he confirmed his name and other personal details.
His stepmother, Miranda Thompson, told The Associated Press that the family found out about the hearing too late to arrange travel to Congo but hoped to be present for future court dates. Before this week, the family had no proof he was still alive.
“We’re thrilled with the confirmation,” she said.
Miranda Thompson had worried that her stepson might not even be aware that his family knew he’d been arrested. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Congo told the AP it had yet to gain access to the American prisoners to provide consular services before the trial.
The embassy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Thompson’s family maintains he had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, no plans for political activism and didn’t even plan to enter Congo. He and the Malangas were meant to travel only to South Africa and Eswatini, Thompson’s stepmother said.
Marcel Malanga’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, has said her son is innocent and simply followed his father, who considered himself president of a shadow government in exile. Sawyer and the Thompsons are independently crowdfunding legal expenses and travel funds to be present for the rest of the trial.
Both families say they remain worried about their sons’ health — Malanga has a liver disease, and Thompson contracted malaria earlier in the trip.
“As a mother, my heart is crying each day,” Sawyer wrote on her crowdfunding page. “My main goal each day is to bring him home.”
Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, is the third American on trial. He was seen seated in the back row and was the last to be interviewed. He told the court he wasn’t married and had three children. The AP was unable to reach his family for comment.
Zalman-Polun, who in 2015 pleaded guilty to trafficking marijuana, is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company that was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambique’s government and a report by the Africa Intelligence newsletter.
A prominent Belgian-Congolese researcher on political and security issues, Jean-Jacques Wondo, also appeared in court on Friday. It was unclear what evidence was held against him. Human Rights Watch said it had consulted with Wondo for years on research, and his only link to Malanga appears to be an old photo.
“Wondo and others detained should be credibly charged with a criminal offense or immediately released. An arrest based only on a 2016 photo is just not credible,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Friday.
The defendants will appear in court again next Friday to continue with the trial.
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Chechen man was killed near US military base — what happened?
Danish prime minister attacked in Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was struck on Friday by a man in a Copenhagen square, her office said, with EU chiefs quickly condemning the attack.
The Danish prime minister’s office said in a statement to AFP that Frederiksen was “shocked by the incident,” but it did not provide further details.
“Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was hit by a man Friday evening on Kultorvet in Copenhagen. The man was subsequently arrested,” the statement said.
The incident came on the heels of a spate of attacks on politicians from across the political spectrum at work or on the campaign trail ahead of this week’s European Union elections.
On May 15, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot four times at close range as he greeted supporters after a government meeting in the central town of Handlova.
Fico, who survived the assassination attempt, was taken to a hospital in a nearby city after the shooting, where he underwent two lengthy surgeries.
EU chief Charles Michel and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Friday slammed the attack on Frederiksen.
Metsola urged the Danish head of government to “keep strong,” while adding in a post to X that “violence has no place in politics.”
Michel said he was “outraged by the assault.”
“I strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression,” the European Council president said in a separate post to X.
Copenhagen police confirmed that an incident involving the prime minister had occurred but did not provide further details.
“We have one person arrested in the case, which we are now investigating. At this time, we have no further comments or remarks on the case,” police said in a statement on X.
“I must say that it shakes all of us who are close to her,” Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said in a post to social media.
“Something like this must not happen in our beautiful, safe and free country,” he said.
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UN discusses ‘Doha III’ meeting agenda, coordination with Taliban
ISLAMABAD — The United Nations informed Taliban leaders Friday that it is working to finalize the agenda for a crucial two-day international conference on Afghanistan, and it is aiming for it to be accepted by all sides.
Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, met with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul and discussed the matter, Muttaqi’s office said in a post-meeting statement.
The two sides “exchanged views on the detailed outlook and necessary coordination” for the June 30 U.N.-convened conference, which Doha, Qatar, will host.
The gathering, referred to as “Doha III,” will be the third in Qatar’s capital on the subject since U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres initiated the process with special envoys on Afghanistan to promote an effective world approach to the Taliban-governed country, which is facing dire humanitarian, economic, and human rights crises.
“At the outset, Mrs. Roza Otunbayeva said that her team is working on the agenda of the 3rd Doha meeting and trying to arrange an agenda that could be recognized by all sides,” the Taliban foreign ministry stated.
While emphasizing the importance of a conference agenda “that may be acceptable to all sides,” Muttaqi was quoted as pledging “to work closely with the concerned sides regarding the matter.”
The U.N. did not immediately comment on its envoy’s meeting with the chief Taliban diplomat.
Otunbayeva’s contact with de facto authorities came amid growing calls for the U.N. to ensure Afghan women’s representation at the table in the Doha meeting, with the rights of women and girls at the center of discussions.
Rights activists have criticized the U.N. for inviting the Taliban to the Doha meeting and allegedly working hard to persuade them to attend the event. De facto Afghan authorities did not participate in the first two Doha gatherings, saying the U.N. had failed to meet their conditions for doing so.
The Taliban informally stated late last month their intention to join the June 30 discussions in Doha, however, promising to make a formal announcement after receiving from the U.N. the final agenda of the event.
On Thursday, about a dozen rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, jointly sent a letter to the U.N., the Security Council and member states, sharing concerns the Taliban’s participation in Doha is being sought at the cost of the rights of Afghan women and girls.
“While members of the international community are moving perilously close to accepting the legitimacy of Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s women, who are bravely fighting back and paying a devastating price as a result, are not,” the letter reads.
Heather Barr, women’s rights associate director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA the letter highlighted several concerns, including reports that women’s rights would neither be on the agenda nor fully represented at the conference.
“The situation in Afghanistan right now is already the most serious women’s rights crisis on the planet, and it is steadily worsening,” Barr stated. She criticized stepped-up U.N. contacts with the Taliban ahead of the Doha meeting.
“The context for this seems to be the U.N. twisting themselves into a pretzel to try to placate the Taliban and convince them to attend. That effort is in direct conflict with the U.N.’s core obligation to uphold human rights, including the rights of Afghan women and girls.”
U.N. officials have defended their invitation and engagement with the Taliban, saying that “they are the de facto authorities in Afghanistan” and underscoring that the world body is persistently urging Kabul to uphold the rights of women and girls.
The Taliban had asked the U.N. in the run-up to the second Doha meeting, in February, that their delegates would be accepted as the sole official representatives of the country, meaning that Afghan civil society representatives, women’s rights activists and members of opposition groups would not be present.
De facto Afghan authorities also sought a meeting between their delegation and the U.N. at “a very senior level,” saying it “would be beneficial” for both sides. The Taliban also opposed the planned appointment of a U.N. special envoy to coordinate international engagement with Kabul in line with the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Afghanistan.
However, Guterres rejected the Taliban conditions, saying they would have “denied us the right to talk to other representatives of the Afghan society and demanded a treatment that would to a large extent be similar to recognition.”
No foreign country has recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan since they stormed back to power in August 2021 as all the U.S.-led NATO troops withdrew from the country after their two-decade-long presence.
The Taliban have imposed sweeping curbs on women’s right to education and public life at large in line with their strict interpretation of Islam. Afghan girls ages 12 and older are banned from attending secondary school, while women are prohibited from public and private workplaces, barring health care and a few other sectors.
Women are not allowed to undertake road trips unless accompanied by a close male relative and are banned from visiting parks, gyms and other public places.
The elusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, insists he is governing the country in line with local culture and Islamic teachings, rejecting international criticism of his policies as an interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.
The Taliban, who are ethnically Pashtun, have also dismissed international calls for giving representation to other Afghan ethnicities in the government, saying all groups are represented in it.
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Pakistan-India cricket match in US sets fans’ rivalry on fire
karachi, pakistan — British author George Orwell once said, “Sports is war minus the shooting.” In modern sport, when we speak about the greatest rivalries, a cricket match between archrivals India and Pakistan truly lives up to the saying.
One such battle will occur Sunday in the T20 Cricket World Cup at the newly built Nassau Stadium in New York.
Unfortunately, there is space for just 34,000 spectators.
With armies of Indian and Pakistani fans ready to descend on the Big Apple, ticket prices are soaring. The tickets are reportedly selling for thousands of dollars each, but die-hard fans still go after them.
After all, both are former champions, India having won the title in 2007 and Pakistan two years later.
Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram believes India versus Pakistan is an ideal match for expats living in the United States.
“The interest and passion involved in this match – and of course, the matches in the USA – will also give Americans an idea of what cricket is all about, and they will get a hang of it,” Akram told VOA.
“India versus Pakistan is the ultimate rivalry in cricket,” Pakistan’s former captain and batter Javed Miandad told VOA. “I always enjoyed the rivalry to the hilt, and even now, when I sit in front of the television to watch a current match, I feel amped and animated as if I am still playing.”
Such a game is fire versus fire, riveting to the last ball, as proved by the legendary batter Miandad’s six to seal a match in Sharjah nearly four decades ago and India’s sensational win inspired by Indian maestro Virat Kohli against Pakistan in Melbourne in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
And with long gaps due to political tension and play restricted to multinational events, the India-Pakistan contest keeps fans’ hunger unsated.
“A contest between India and Pakistan motivates players from both sides to give their best, because if you do well, you become an instant hero. It will be a unique experience for the fans in the USA,” Miandad said.
But the not-so-positive aspect is that since such matches are few and far between, many believe the sheen is coming off them. Indian batting supremo-turned-popular commentator Sunil Gavaskar believes other rivalries are taking over.
“The India-Pakistan contests used to be iconic some time back, but as far as India is concerned there is hardly any contest between India and Pakistan. The new iconic rivalry is India versus Australia,” Gavaskar, himself involved in some iconic Indo-Pak contests, told VOA.
His views may perturb some loyal fans in both countries, but Gavaskar always plays with a straight bat. Pakistan’s recent one-sided losses against India may become a bane in this rivalry.
India has won all eight ODI World Cup matches against Pakistan and has lost only one of seven T20 World Cup face-offs.
Meanwhile, after the upset defeat against the U.S., the match against India is a must win for Pakistan to qualify for the next round of the World Cup.
But results aside, the two uncompromising sets of players are never ready to give an inch to their rivals, for they know a defeat is unacceptable to their fans.
Those involved try to play it down by terming it “just another game,” but it is the opposite. A contest evoking such strong emotions that losing players get death threats cannot be “just another game.”
Ask Pakistan’s former captain, Akram, who could not return to his hometown, Lahore, after Pakistan lost to India in the quarterfinal of the 1996 World Cup — a match the left-arm pacer missed with a shoulder injury.
The bitter Pakistani fans accused him of faking the injury.
With so much sentiment involved, former Pakistan pacer Aqib Javed reckons an Indo-Pak game is special. “It’s more than a game,” he said. “Whichever side loses doesn’t swallow a defeat easily,” said the fast bowler whose seven-wicket haul in Sharjah in 1991 left Indian players and fans fuming.
Pakistan’s defeats against India in the 1999, 2003, 2011, 2019 and 2023 World Cups prompted inquiries to ascertain reasons for the losses and ended in major upheavals.
“No one accepts defeat in an India-Pakistan match,” former Pakistani fast bowler Wahab Riaz, who took five wickets in the 2011 semifinal defeat against India at Mohali, told VOA.
“It is not war, but it is very sentimental. Allegations were hurled at us after the defeat, but after all, it was a cricket match, and we lost by playing badly.”
India-Pakistan matches draw hundreds of millions of viewers in the two countries and among expats living around the world.
They comfortably surpass every other cricket event in terms of eyeballs and broadcast revenue. The International Cricket Council, the sport’s governing body, has repeatedly acknowledged wanting a schedule in which Pakistan and India play a match in the first round of a tournament.
Fans and organizers wish to see these archrivals in action again in the tournament’s knockout stage.
The big game in the Big Apple will create a big splash.
This story originated in VOA’s South Central Asia Division.
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Biden looks to persuade G7 leaders to endorse $50B loan for Ukraine using interest from Russian assets
White House — U.S. President Joe Biden is aiming to persuade leaders of the world’s seven richest economies on a plan that could potentially provide up to $50 billion in loans for Ukraine’s war effort by using interest from frozen Russian assets held in Western financial institutions.
The U.S. leader wants his G7 counterparts to endorse the plan at their upcoming summit in Apulia, Italy, set to kick off June 13. But before G7 partners can get on board, much of the scheme’s details must first be ironed out, a source familiar with Biden’s plan told VOA. If agreed upon, the loan could be disbursed as early as during the next few months.
Most of the approximately $280 billion Russian assets frozen by Western financial institutions following Moscow’s 2022 invasion are in Europe, the bulk of which are in Belgium, France and Germany.
In April, Biden signed legislation allowing Washington to seize the roughly $5 billion in Russian assets that had been immobilized in U.S. financial institutions.
Resisting pressure from the U.S. and Ukraine to seize the assets directly, EU officials in May agreed on a more restrained plan of using only the interest generated by these assets, an estimated $3 billion a year or more.
But the Biden administration is pushing for a more aggressive scheme. In simple terms, a loan of up to $50 billion will be issued up front to Ukraine by Western allies, which will be paid back using the assets’ interest income in the years to come.
If not the G7, the U.S. — possibly with other allies including Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and the EU — would issue the loan jointly and be entitled to a share of interest generated by the assets, the source said.
Details of the plan are unclear as intensive diplomacy continues to work out the legal and technical requirements. But G7 finance ministers broadly agreed to support the principles of the plan during their meeting in May.
The group’s discussions have focused on what can be done to unlock the value of Russians’ frozen assets for the benefit of the Ukrainian people, said U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo.
“They talked through a number of options that will allow us to make sure that Ukraine has access to the money you need to not only invest in the economy but to invest in defense,” Adeyemo told VOA. “And my expectation is that as we get to the leaders meeting, those leaders are going to endorse some of those options.”
The push is driven in part by the situation in the battlefield, where Moscow’s forces have made strategic advances north and north-east of Kharkiv, the second biggest city in Ukraine. Russia has also intensified attacks along the eastern front.
American taxpayers’ reluctance to fund the war is another driving factor. Although the U.S. Congress in April agreed on a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine, Republican opposition had stalled its passage.
In his Friday meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on the sidelines of D-Day celebrations in France, Biden apologized to the Ukrainian president for “those weeks of not knowing what was going to pan — in terms of funding,” blaming “very conservative members who were holding it up.” He pledged to continue to support Zelenskyy’s war efforts.
But as other G7 countries face the same war funding fatigue among their constituents, Biden began working with allies and partners to make Russia pay instead of burdening taxpayers, in a way that maintains unity without crossing any country’s red lines, the source said.
While there is an overall agreement to give Ukraine as much as possible, as early as possible, there are challenging legal and regulatory implications of lending based upon the anticipated returns on frozen assets, said Kristine Berzina, managing director of Geostrategy North at the German Marshall Fund think tank.
“How do you lend against the anticipated profits of the assets, how does that fit into the existing sanctions regime, and how long will those assets truly be frozen?” she pointed out to VOA as the key issues at stake. “How can you guarantee that the sanctions which freeze these assets do not get changed by the Europeans before that 50 billion is provided?”
Moscow has threatened retaliation. In May, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that Russia will identify U.S. property, including securities, that could be used as compensation for losses sustained as a result of any seizure of frozen Russian assets in the U.S.
While some Western countries may be concerned by the threat, others are worried about the precedent of using frozen assets under international law.
Biden will seek to allay those fears when he meets with G7 leaders next week. He faces many challenges, including the European Parliament this weekend, where hundreds of millions of voters from 27 nations could help decide on the continent’s struggle between unity and nationalism, as well as determine the fate of European support for Ukraine.
VOA’s Oksana Bedratenko contributed to this report.
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