Aid Groups Fear Worsening Conditions for Thousands Fleeing Rakhine Violence

WASHINGTON — 

International refugee agencies and relief workers in Bangladesh and Myanmar are concerned about worsening conditions for the thousands of people who have fled sectarian violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Vivian Tan, the Asia press director for the U.N. refugee agency, is in Bangladesh and told VOA’s Burmese service that there is a shortage of shelter for the more than 18,000 people who have fled over the border from Myanmar.

The International Organization for Migration and other aid groups have told VOA’s Bangla service that as many as 20,000 more people are staged just inside Myanmar, hoping to enter Bangladesh.

In Myanmar, some communities are packed with internally displaced people, and relief workers fear that the lack of food safety and personal hygiene facilities could spread infectious diseases, a VOA journalist reported.

People began flowing out of their villages in Rakhine Aug. 25, after a group of Muslim insurgents launched a series of attacks on police posts. There are reports that Myanmar security authorities responded with brutal raids on Rohingya villages.

Hindus among those fleeing

The attacks, the worst violence in the region in at least five years, sent both Rohingya, who are Muslims, and people from the Buddhist majority scrambling for safety.

Members of Myanmar’s Hindu minority also have fled, the leader of a Hindu community in Bangladesh told VOA’s Bangla service. Shapawn Sharma Roni said 412 Hindus, mostly women and children, have crossed the border in the past three days.

Sharma said his community is helping the refugees and has arranged for shelter for them. The Hindu refugees said at least 86 relatives have died in attacks in Myanmar, but they don’t know who the attackers were.

A Hindu woman who entered Bangladesh two days ago said a few hundred more members of her community remain stranded at the border.

In Myanmar, journalists were allowed to reach the Rakhine village of Myothagyi on Thursday. A VOA journalist reported the community had been burned down and abandoned. Local authorities said its inhabitants had been involved in last week’s attacks.

Journalists couldn’t reach another Rohingya village, Maw-ni, but were able to speak to its leader, who said his community wasn’t involved in the violence and wants to live in peace. He told VOA his village carefully watched strangers, in case they intended to cause violence, and that he had turned over to police two men he suspected of being terrorists.

Strict security on the border has forced some Rohingya refugees to try entering Bangladesh by boat across the Naf River, VOA’s Bangla service reported. Border Guards in Bangladesh recovered 23 bodies after at least two boats carrying Rohingya capsized in the Teknaf subdistrict of Cox’s Bazar Wednesday night.

​Government airdrops food

The Border Guard has set up a medical camp to support the thousands of refugees stranded along the border.

Myanmar officials are working to get aid to the region.

Soe Aung, the Myanmar permanent secretary for social welfare and relief, told VOA’s Burmese service the air force is dropping food supplies to remote villages for both the Buddhist and Muslim communities. He said that an estimated 10,000 people have sought shelter in makeshift camps.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States supports democracy in Myanmar and condemned attacks by militant groups in Rakhine. And she warned security forces in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to end attacks on civilians.

“As Burmese security forces act to prevent further violence, they have a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, which includes refraining from attacking innocent civilians and humanitarian workers and ensuring assistance reaches those in need,” Haley said Thursday. “We call on all members of the Security Council to support the Burmese government in ensuring the rights and dignity of all communities in Rakhine State and throughout Burma.”

Myanmar’s ambassador to the U.N., Hau do Suan, told VOA’s Burmese service that his office regularly briefs officials at the U.N. on the latest events. The ambassador said the government is trying to resolve what he called a complex and sensitive problem in Rakhine.

The Myanmar government considers the Rohingya to be economic migrants from Bangladesh and has never granted them citizenship, even though most can show their families have been in the country for generations.

Sectarian violence has flared periodically in Rakhine state for more than a decade.

Last October, Muslim militants attacked police posts, prompting a crackdown by security forces that sent tens of thousands of people across the border to Bangladesh. The Myanmar government has denied allegations that its forces used rape and torture against the Rohingya.

With contributions from Amir Khasru in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; Moe Zaw in Rakhine state, Myanmar; VOA Burmese Service and VOA Bangla Service.

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Jails, Justice System Strained as Philippine Drug War Intensifies

MANILA — 

In a teeming prison for crime suspects in the Philippines' capital Manila, Rody Lacanilao, an inmate for 18 months, says he prays for clear weather at night.

A downpour, he says, will prevent him and hundreds of fellow prisoners in the Quezon City jail from sleeping on plywood mats in an outdoor hallway. The cells themselves are overflowing with an influx of detainees from President Rodrigo Duterte's yearlong war on drugs.

Thousands of people have been killed in Duterte's campaign, mainly drug users and small-time peddlers. Tens of thousands of others have been thrown into jail, and both prisons and courts in the Southeast Asian nation are creaking under the pressure.

"Since the war on drugs started, it became harder to sleep," Lacanilao, a 37-year-old facing trial on a drug charge, told a Reuters team allowed access to the Quezon City jail. "We have no place to go to when it rains."

The prison was initially built for 262 inmates, but now has 2,975, three-quarters of them jailed for drug-related offenses.

At night, its basketball court, chapel, classrooms and walkways become sleeping areas for detainees.

Grim prospect

Inmates who spoke to Reuters said living conditions were unbearable, made worse by the prospect that it could be years before their trials are decided. Many of them are not eligible for bail or cannot afford to pay the bond.

"Prisoners came in one after the other. If you have money, you can buy a spot in the sleeping quarters," said Junjun Vallecer, who says he has been in the jail for four years for possession of drugs but is still being tried. He says he has to wait four to six months between court appearances.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) put the prison population in the country, including those awaiting trial and convicts, at 137,417 as of the end of June, up 22 percent since Duterte took office at the end of June last year.

Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested 96,703 suspected pushers, users and chemists from July last year until earlier this month, according to police data. A staggering 94 percent of people jailed for drug offenses are still awaiting trial, according to BJMP.

Police in Manila arrest nearly 100 drug suspects each day, says Oscar Albayalde, the capital's police chief.

"Whether they are minor charges or not, we have to arrest these people," Albayalde told Reuters. "We make these arrests that contribute to the overcongestion of the detention cells ... but what can we do?"

Crowded jails, courts

Including a backlog, the BJMP says 303,534 narcotics cases were at trial or being processed as of June.

Most of the cases are defended by the Public Attorney's Office (PAO), a legal aid agency attached to the Department of Justice. At the end of 2016, the agency had a backlog of 303,000 drug cases, compared with about 82,000 at the end of June 2016, just before Duterte unleashed his fierce anti-drug campaign.

The agency says it has 1,665 lawyers to handle a total of 709,128 pending criminal cases, meaning an average of 426 cases for each of them.

"We have tons of work," said public defender Karen Jay Sabugo, eating a meal of instant noodles at her desk. "There are times when I return to the office so exhausted that I can't speak with colleagues anymore."

The 30-year-old, in her first year as a trial lawyer, told Reuters she attends more than a dozen court hearings a day.

"In the morning we attend court hearings, and in the afternoon we prepare pleadings and meet clients. I go to jails to prepare our defense."

Boxes of documents are piled up inside the PAO's office in Quezon City. Most are related to cases, but some are applications for about 750 new positions the government has agreed to create in the agency in the next two years to handle the overflow of cases.

Typically, trials in the Philippines begin some years after arrest, said Maria Socorro Diokno, executive director of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), an organization of human rights lawyers. Trials last two to three years on average in regional courts, and another two or three years are taken up by appeals.

Already congested

Even before Duterte's anti-drug crackdown, the Philippines had the third most congested prison system in the world after Haiti and El Salvador, according to the London-based Institute for Criminal Policy Research.

An average of six inmates occupy a space of 4.7 square meters, the space intended for one prisoner, data from the BJMP showed.

One Philippine prison officer watches over 63 prisoners on average, far from the stipulated 1-to-7 ratio, and there are insufficient numbers of guards to escort suspects to court hearings, the data showed.

"The ratios are really wild," said Martin Perfecto, deputy director of the Philippines Bureau of Corrections.

FLAG lawyer Alex Padilla says judicial reform is not a priority in the Philippines because there is scant sympathy for those accused of crimes. Duterte is extremely popular because people are fed up with crime and many support the killings in his campaign, he said.

"Judicial reform is the last reform because it's dirty," Padilla said. "These are criminals ... they are the garbage of the society."

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Beyond Harvey: Deadly Floods Cause Havoc in Africa, Asia

LONDON — 

Harvey has gathered headlines as the most powerful storm to hit Texas in half a century, but floods have killed many more people in Africa and Asia this year amid extreme weather worldwide.

Here are some of them:

South Asia

Floods in India, Bangladesh and Nepal have killed more than 1,200 people and affected 40 million, and are likely to intensify as monsoon rains continue, aid agencies say.

All three countries suffer frequent flooding during the June-September monsoon season, but aid agencies say things are worse this year, with thousands of villages cut off and people deprived of food and clean water for days.

Tens of thousands of houses, schools and hospitals have been destroyed as humanitarians prepare for more deaths, hunger and waterborne diseases.

"These are some of the worst floods we've seen in South Asia in decades, and the impact is likely only going to get worse," Madara Hettiarachchi, Christian Aid's humanitarian head in Asia, said in a statement. "Farms and livestock have been washed away, so food security is going to be a huge problem."

The worst floods in a decade struck Nepal, killing 150 people and destroying 90,000 homes.

Monsoon floods submerged more than a third of low-lying, densely populated Bangladesh, causing more than 130 deaths and widespread crop damage.

The latest disaster zone is Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, where overnight floods killed at least a dozen people, officials said Thursday.

West Africa

Widespread flooding has killed at least 40 people in Niger since the rainy season began in June, leaving thousands homeless, without cattle or crops.

Aid agencies are increasingly worried about waterborne diseases like cholera as the waters are not expected to subside until rains end in September.

A mudslide in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, on August 14 killed about 500 people after heavy rains, with hundreds still missing.

Sporadic downpours continue, flooding parts of the coastal city and washing away more mud containing human remains.

Heavy rainfall also sparked a landslide at a rubbish dump in Conakry, the capital of neighboring Guinea, last week, killing 10 people, while at least 200 people are thought to have died in another slide in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Yemen

At least 18 people were killed in Yemen in flooding caused by heavy rains, the government-run news agency Saba reported Wednesday.

Aid organizations say the rains could exacerbate Yemen's cholera epidemic, which has infected more than half a million people and killed nearly 2,000 since April.

Sources: Oxfam, International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Reuters

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UN: 28 Afghan Civilians Killed in Recent US Airstrikes

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — 

Two American counterinsurgency airstrikes in Afghanistan this week have killed at least 28 civilians and injured 16 others, all women and children, the United Nations said it confirmed Thursday.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), while releasing initial findings of its probe into the attacks, urged authorities to ensure independent, impartial and prompt investigations of both incidents.

UNAMA also called for appropriate steps to be taken to ensure accountability, compensation for victims and the prevention of such incidents in the future.

The first strike took place Monday in western Herat province, where a drone reportedly targeted Taliban insurgents in the Shindand district. The attack left 15 civilians dead and four others injured after munitions hit at least two civilian homes in the area, UNAMA said.

The second airstrike, in the Pul-e-Alam district of eastern Logar province, occurred Wednesday and killed at least 13 civilians and injured 10 others. That attack reportedly targeted a civilian compound used by insurgents to attack aircraft, according to the preliminary findings.

The U.S. military has stated an official investigation is under way into Wednesday's attack in Logar, saying it takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and is working with Afghan partners to determine the facts of the incident.

"I am deeply saddened to hear that women and children have once again suffered so terribly from the conflict," said UNAMA head Tadamichi Yamamoto. "This is unacceptable. All parties must live up to their obligations to take all feasible measures to protect civilians."

UNAMA vowed to continue its independent probe to establish facts around the harm caused to civilians from these attacks, including looking into allegations that insurgents used civilians as human shields.

UNAMA warned it already had recorded a 43 percent rise in civilian casualties, including 95 deaths, from aerial operations during the first six months of 2017, with a substantial increase in deaths of women and children.

The latest Afghan civilian casualties came days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his new war strategy for Afghanistan, which will increase airpower assistance to Afghan security forces and raise the number of American troops in the country.

It was not clear, however, whether the airstrikes against Taliban insurgents in Herat and Logar suggested implementation of Trump's plan.

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Mattis Signs Orders for More US Troops in Afghanistan

PENTAGON — 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis says he has signed orders to deploy additional American troops to Afghanistan beyond the 11,000 currently serving in the war-torn country.

Speaking to reporters Thursday at the Pentagon, Mattis said the additional troops would mostly advise and "enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively" against the Taliban and more than a dozen terror groups in Afghanistan.

The secretary said he would provide the public with more information once he had completed the orders and notified Congress next week of the military's next steps.

"I've signed orders, but it's not complete. In other words, I've signed some of the troops that will go and we're identifying the specific ones," Mattis said.

News of the new deployment orders comes a day after the Pentagon announced that approximately 11,000 U.S. troops are currently serving in Afghanistan, not 8,400 troops, as the Defense Department had previously reported.

The higher number emerged following Mattis's call for a more accurate troop-strength estimate, as the Trump administration worked on a new U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

The chief spokesperson at the Pentagon, Dana White, told reporters Wednesday the estimate of 11,000 troops is based on a simplified accounting method that provides greater "transparency" while "increasing commanders' ability to adapt to battlefield conditions."

The lower number of troops cited previously excluded service members on assignment in Afghanistan for less than 120 days — short-term duty that could include temporary combat support or materiel recovery missions.

Lieutenant General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie Jr., staff director on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the new method of counting troops in the field uses approximations rather than exact numbers of troops. This, he said, allows commanders "more flexibility" when it comes to battlefield deployments.

"We all recognize that whole units are inherently more prepared and more ready than units that are fragmented in order to meet an arbitrary force management level," McKenzie said.

White and McKenzie said the changes made in calculating troop strength in Afghanistan eventually will be applied to American troops fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Officials have suggested that Secretary Mattis is looking to deploy about 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to fulfill the commander's needs on the ground.

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Floods Kill More Than 1,200 People in South Asia

Monsoons have flooded parts of India this week, adding to the toll of a season that has killed more than 1,200 people across South Asia.

A building collapsed Thursday in Mumbai, India, killing at least two people and trapping around 30 others after days rain in the city.

Rescuers pulled several people from the rubble. A police official told reporters nine families were living there.

Monsoons have flooded India's commercial capital this week, killing 14 people. Forecasters said more heavy rain is possible in the region Thursday.

Torrential rains brought the city to a halt Tuesday, making roads impassable and briefly shutting the suburban rail network used by millions of commuters. Thousands were stranded in their offices overnight.

"A journey that usually takes one hour 20 minutes took eight hours that day," Smriti Verma Anand, a resident of West Bombay, told VOA over a messaging application. "Everywhere there was chaos."

"I was stuck yesterday, but like the rest of the city we battled it out," Wajihulla Muhammad told VOA of his commute back home from his office in central Mumbai.

"We stood for each other and that is what Mumbai does," he said.

Throughout the week, Mumbai residents safe in their homes tweeted their locations, often adding whether they had movies or food, offering their homes to anyone nearby who was stuck in the floods.

"Roadside shops started distributing tea and biscuits and water to people," Anand said. "All the gurdwaras, mandirs, and places of worship were opened for people stranded on the road. Common people threw open their doors for anyone and everyone."

Photos and videos showed cars submerged in water and people wading waist-deep around the city. Residents of Dharavi, one of the continent's biggest slums and home to over a million people, said much of the area was under water.

A number of flights were forced to divert to other cities Tuesday, as the airport was affected by flooding.

India's neighbors have also been hit by the monsoon season, which runs from June to September, and has affected more than 40 million people.

At least 13 people have been killed by flooding in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, after heavy monsoon rains hit the sprawling metropolis, officials said Thursday. Storms were expected across the country for several days.

Bangladesh and Nepal have also experienced severe flooding that forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

In 2005, over 1,000 people were killed when around 950 millimeters of rain fell in less than 24 hours.

VOA's Chris Hannas and Samit Verma contributed to this report. Some information was provided by Reuters.

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2 Million Muslim Pilgrims Mark Highlight of Annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia

CAIRO — 

Around two million Muslim pilgrims have marked the high point of the hajj — the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca — by ascending Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia. Saudi security forces remain on high alert, amid a variety of internal and external terrorist threats.

Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims made the ritual ascent to the Namira mosque on Mount Arafat, outside Mecca, braving a blazing summer sun and temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius.

Saudi television showed a sea of pilgrims cloaked in white cloth robes, many clutching umbrellas to shield them from the sun, climbing Mount Arafat, where Islam's Prophet Mohammed, is thought to have given his final sermon.

Sheikh Sa'ad al-Shetri, addressing them at the mosque, told them the pilgrimage should be focused on God.

He said the hajj must be dedicated to God, alone, and that there can be no place for political or sectarian strife, which has resulted in horrible massacres and left millions homeless.

Prince Khalid al-Faisal, Emir of Mecca, told journalists the Saudi government has done its utmost to ensure the comfort and safety of the pilgrims attending this year's hajj.

He said the Saudi hajj authority has provided 21,000 tour buses, a shuttle train that can carry 360,000 pilgrims, and provided for health concerns with 30,000 doctors and nurses, 17 hospitals, 35 emergency rooms, and 135 mobile health centers.

Thousands of Saudi security personnel, dressed in black, held training drills overnight to ensure their readiness for possible problems.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdel Aziz ben Saoud said several days ago his ministry and others are cooperating to make sure the pilgrimage takes place safely and without any glitches.

He said several government ministries and private organizations have cooperated to make the hajj go off smoothly and ensure the pilgrims' comfort and safety.

Pilgrims were spending Thursday night in the Valley of Muzdalifa after slowly descending Mount Arafat. The hajj concludes Friday, as pilgrims sacrifice an animal.

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Floods Kill 13, Swamp Streets in Pakistani City of Karachi

KARACHI — 

At least 13 people have been killed by flooding in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, after heavy monsoon rains hit the sprawling metropolis overnight, officials said on Thursday.

The deaths were the latest in a disaster that has so far killed more that 1,200 people across the region encompassing India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Karachi's deluge came a day after India's financial center, Mumbai, was hit with floods that killed 14 people.

Pakistan's military was delivering aid to the city where main streets were flooded, cars abandoned and hundreds of people have been forced to flee their homes.

The private Edhi Foundation, which runs ambulances and medical centers, said it had confirmed 13 people dead and 350-400 houses inundated near the Lair River.

Karachi's city administration requested army assistance, including water pumps, after the heavy overnight rains, the military said in a statement.

Countries in the region suffer frequent flooding during the June-September monsoon season, but international aid agencies say things are have been worse than normal this year.

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2 Pakistani Police Officers Sentenced in Bhutto Murder Trial

Two police officers have been sentenced to 17 years in prison Thursday for failing to protect assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

The officers are the first two people to be convicted in Bhutto's murder case after the nearly decade-long trial.

The judge at the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi also declared exiled former president Pervez Musharraf an "absconder" and ordered his property in Pakistan seized.

Musharraf took power in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and was president when Bhutto was assassinated. In addition to other charges including treason, Musharraf was charged in 2013 of being culpable in Bhutto's murder, an allegation he denies.

Musharraf has been abroad since 2016, having been allowed to leave the country for medical treatment. Following Wednesday's court decision, Musharraf legally must be arrested and brought to trial if he returns to Pakistan.

The court acquitted five others Thursday who had been accused of being Taliban militants involved in the conspiracy of killing Bhutto.

Bhutto, who twice served as Pakistan's prime minister, was assassinated in December 2007 in a gun-and-bomb attack while leaving a political campaign rally in Rawalpindi, just weeks after returning to Pakistan from years in self-imposed exile. Authorities claimed at the time that Taliban militants were behind the attack.

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US Flies Bombers, F-35 Fighter Jets Over Korean Peninsula

PENTAGON — 

The United States and its allies have once again responded to a North Korean missile test, but this time the response included a live-fire exercise.

Two B-1 bombers from a base in Guam, along with four F-35 fighter jets from a base in Japan, participated in a 10-hour, show of force mission over the Korean Peninsula.

The American aircraft were joined by Japanese military aircraft over Japanese waters and four South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, where they released live weapons at Pilsung Range training area.

The show of force came two days after North Korea fired of an intermediate-range missile over Japan. And it comes a day after the U.S. Navy announced its sailors had successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii in a defense systems test.

North Korea has launched several missiles toward Japan this year, with most falling in the Sea of Japan.

"North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly,” said General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, the commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces. “Our forward deployed force will be the first to the fight, ready to deliver a lethal response at a moment’s notice if our nation calls."

The U.S. military frequently responds to North Korean provocations with a show-of-force display of its attack aircraft. Last month, the U.S. and Republic of Korea militaries also fired missiles into South Korean territorial waters in direct response to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch by Pyongyang.

Speaking on a recent trip to the region, the top U.S. general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, said the military’s “primary focus” is supporting the administration’s diplomatic and economic campaign to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, while preparing “viable military options” in the event that campaign fails.

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Americans Fly out from North Korea Before US Travel Ban

BEIJING, CHINA — 

A handful of Americans left Pyongyang on Thursday on a flight to Beijing, a day before the start of a U.S. ban on American citizens going to North Korea.

Among those on the flight from the North Korean capital were aid workers who hoped to be allowed to return to continue humanitarian work.

The Trump administration announced in July that it was barring American citizens from traveling to North Korea from Sept. 1 over concerns about detentions of Americans who travel there. Earlier this year, U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier was sent home in a coma and later died after spending more than a year in North Korean detention.

Overall, though nearly all Americans who have gone to North Korea have left without incident, at least 16 have been detained in the last decade, American officials say.

The ban also goes into effect amid heightened U.S. concern about Pyongyang's recent advancements in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The ban includes potential exceptions for journalists and humanitarian workers, and expires after one year unless extended.

Heidi Linton, director of the U.S.-based charity Christian Friends of Korea, said she wasn't sure how long it could take for travel approval to come through. The organization, which fights tuberculosis and hepatitis, has been working in North Korea for more than 20 years.

“The devil is always in the detail,” she said, after landing in Beijing. “These trips take a long time to plan and organize and so, if travel approval doesn't come in a timely way, it's a de facto denial.”

Linton said the organization appreciated the U.S. government's concern for its people, but said there was a “tremendous need” for humanitarian work in North Korea.

“I think it's very important that there be opportunities for people to understand one another in person,” Linton said.

Another Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang is due to land in Shanghai on Thursday evening.

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Key Chinese Communist Party Congress to Start Oct. 18

BEIJING — 

China on Thursday said a key Chinese Communist Party meeting held once every five years will start on Oct. 18, marking the formal countdown to the gathering at which President Xi Jinping will begin his second five-year term as head of the ruling party.

The 19th National Party Congress will also see the selection of new members of key bodies, including the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee that Xi is expected to pack with allies to the detriment of rival factions. The congress typically runs for about 10 days.

Xi has emerged as China's most powerful leader in decades, dominating the party, government, military and state economy. The congress will also be scrutinized for signs that Xi intends to remain beyond the 10-year terms served by his predecessors, the most telling of which would be the failure of a clear successor to emerge.

Xi, who has already assumed the title of "core" of the party leadership, is also expected to further cement his authority by having his thoughts on political theory written into the party constitution.

The congress will also offer an opportunity to reinvigorate Xi's campaign against corruption that has been his signature political achievement, alongside a muscular foreign policy and efforts to shore up the party's presence and influence in the economy and society, including among academia and the vibrant online sector.

In its announcement read on the national evening news report, the official Xinhua News Agency said the congress would review the achievements of the past five years, thoroughly analyze the current domestic and international situation, and ``mobilize the entire party and people... to strengthen self-confidence in the in the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics.''

The congress "is an extremely important meeting being held at a crucial time for the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics," said the announcement, which also referenced Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and the political theories of other Chinese leaders.

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Pope Francis’ Visit to Myanmar Raises Hopes, Concerns

YANGON, MYANMAR — 

When Pope Francis comes to Myanmar later this year for the first papal visit to this largely Buddhist country, he will be arriving in a land in need of healing.

Since independence in 1948, Myanmar has been beset by ethnic and civil strife, decades of military dictatorship and, since 2011, an uneasy transition to democracy that culminated in election victory for Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2015.

Myanmar’s peace process has stalled as fighting continues between the military and armed ethnic groups in the north. In the west, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh as security forces battle a new Rohingya insurgency, which struck anew Aug. 25.

A challenge for the pope

So can Francis, who has made his voice known on, among other issues, the environment, immigration and the migrant crisis, help ease tensions in Myanmar? Or will his presence further inflame them?

“The motto of his visit is love and peace,” said Father Mariano Soe Naing, a spokesman for the pope’s trip who works with the Catholic Bishops Conference of Myanmar.

“So I think he would speak of love, the country here as a whole, they value love a lot, like metta [loving-kindness] in Burmese Buddhism also. Love is something very special for us. So his message, I think, he will try to emphasize this aspect of love, which will bring us to peace and harmony in the country,” he said.

Myanmar established diplomatic relations with the Vatican in May. The pope is expected to travel to Myanmar from Nov. 27 to 30. He will visit Yangon and Naypyitaw, and proceed to Bangladesh for a similar visit.

​Rohingya crisis

Discussion around his visit has inevitably landed on the Rohingya crisis. The pope has mentioned their plight several times in sermons, most recently in the wake of new clashes.

Numbering around 1.1 million, the Rohingya are the largest stateless group in the world, and more than 120,000 live in IDP camps in Rakhine State following religiously motivated violence in 2012.

The crisis worsened last year when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a relatively unknown group, attacked police border posts, killing nine. The military launched “clearance operations” that rights groups have said could amount to crimes against humanity. The government has denied the claims.

Pope Francis’ vocal support for the Rohingya has created the impression that he is speaking for their rights alone, not the Rakhine Buddhists involved in the conflict.

Radical monk Wirathu was quoted in an interview as saying the trip was “political instigation,” but there has been little substantive pushback from religious leaders in general.

Christians are a small minority in Myanmar

One obstacle may be in the numbers. The pope’s upcoming visit to Colombia in a few weeks could have more sway because of its sizeable Catholic population, but Myanmar is almost 90 percent Buddhist and only 6 percent Christian, not all of them part of the Catholic Church.

And because the pontiff only makes the news in Myanmar when talking about the conflict, his image has been distorted, Father Mariano said.

“The reactions that we see in Facebook under the news of the arrival of the pope. Many would comment that they think the pope is the activist for the rights of those people, and some even do not even see that he is the head of the Catholic Church,” he said.

“Most of the time when they speak of the pope this issue is always in the media of Myanmar. So they really distort the image of the pope because the people in Myanmar know always the association is made with him and this case.”

Comments by the pope have not helped downplay the image.

The attacks have killed 11 police officers, one soldier and a civil servant, while a counteroffensive has caused the deaths of scores of Rohingya militants, according to state media. A number of ethnic minorities have also been killed. But on the Sunday following the violence, Francis spoke only about the persecution of the Rohingya.

“Maybe some people who brought the message to him did not give the complete message,” Father Mariano said. “That is the reason he prayed only for those people, but not those who were slain, not those who were brutally killed, the people who have to leave their house and run away, he did not mention those things.”

The Vatican declined to comment.

History of papal visits

But given the historic nature of the pope’s trip, and the way other popes have been able to influence positive change, there is still optimism.

“A visit by the pope is always very significant, politically and spiritually, and especially so when it is an historic first visit and to a country emerging from decades of dictatorship but still torn apart by conflict,” Benedict Rogers, author of three books on Myanmar and East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said in an email.

“One only has to think of John Paul II’s visit to Poland early on in his pontificate, which is credited with sparking the Solidarity movement that ultimately led to freedom across Eastern Europe.”

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UN Sources Say Rohingya Flee into Bangladesh from Myanmar

DHAKA — 

Around 27,400 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar during the past week and a further 20,000 are marooned in no man’s land between the two countries, three U.N. sources said on Thursday.

Bangladeshi border guards on Thursday recovered the bodies of 20 Rohingya women and children whose boat capsized as they fled Myanmar.

Around 18,500 Rohingya Muslims, many sick and some with bullet wounds, have managed to slip into Bangladesh since Friday, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Insurgents use coordinated attacks

They fled after a series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state led to a military crackdown.

Myanmar has evacuated thousands of Rakhine Buddhists from the area, where clashes have so far killed at least 117 people, most of them Rohingya insurgents but also security officials, according to the Myanmar government.

The treatment of about 1.1 million Rohingya in Buddhist-majority Myanmar is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.

Bodies recovered from river

On Thursday, the bodies of 11 Rohingya children and nine women washed up on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River that separates the two countries as their boat overturned, said Ariful Islam, a commander with Bangladesh’s border guards.

The bodies of two Rohingya women and two children were recovered on Wednesday after their boat was fired on by Myanmar’s Border Guard Police, Islam said.

In the Bangladeshi border district of Cox’s Bazar, makeshift camps for the displaced set up since similar violence last October were being expanded to accommodate thousands arriving in the past week.

One of those arrivals, Mohammed Rashid, 45, wore a surgical dressing under his eye, which he said was the result of bullet splinters hitting him after the Myanmar army opened fire on a group of Rohingya.

He said about 100 people made their way to the border together, and that he saw explosions and people dying.

“We hid in the forest for two days and then we were stopped at the border, but we got through. We heard that the houses in our village have burned down,” Rashid told Reuters at the camp.

Event started in October

The recent violence marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when a similar but much smaller series of Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a brutal military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and regarded as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots that date back centuries.

Bangladesh on Wednesday pushed back 366 Rohingya trying to enter the country mainly by small wooden boats, though thousands of others have set up temporary camps along the porous land border between the countries, borders guards said.

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US, South Korea Give North Korea a Show of Air Power

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — 

The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills Thursday with ally South Korea, a clear warning after North Korea launched a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear bombs over Japan earlier this week, South Korea’s military said. North Korea hates such displays of U.S. military might at close range and will likely respond with fury.

Two U.S. B-1B supersonic bombers and four F-35 stealth fighter jets joined four South Korean F-15 fighters in live-fire exercises at a military field in eastern South Korea that simulated precision strikes against the North’s “core facilities,” an official from Seoul’s Defense Ministry said. The B-1Bs were flown in from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam while the F-35s came from a U.S. base in Iwakuni, Japan, the official said. He didn’t want to be named, citing office rules.

The North, which claims Washington has long threatened Pyongyang by flaunting the powerful U.S. nuclear arsenal, describes the long-range B-1Bs as “nuclear strategic bombers” although the United States no longer arms them with nuclear weapons. A strong North Korean reaction to the drills is almost certain.

Annual military drills wrap up

The bombing exercise came as the United States and South Korea wrapped up their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military drills that involved tens of thousands of soldiers. North Korea condemns the annual U.S.-South Korea war games as rehearsals for an invasion and described Tuesday’s launch over Japan as a countermeasure against the drills. Washington and Seoul faced calls to postpone or downsize this year’s drills.

The United States often sends its warplanes to South Korea, mostly for patrols, when animosity rises on the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

North Korea missiles

North Korea on Tuesday flew a potentially nuclear capable Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile over northern Japan and later called it a “meaningful prelude” to containing the U.S. territory of Guam. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the launch was a “curtain-raiser of its resolute countermeasures” against the U.S.-South Korea war games and called for his military to conduct more ballistic missile launches targeting the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea has been maintaining a torrid pace in weapons tests this year as it openly pursues an arsenal of nuclear-armed, intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching deep into the U.S. mainland. Experts say Kim wants a real nuclear deterrent against the United States to ensure the survival of his government and likely believes that it will strengthen his negotiating position when North Korea returns to talks.

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End of Border Standoff with China Satisfies India, but It Will Not Lower its Guard

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to China for a summit of emerging nations starting Sunday, there is a sense of quiet satisfaction in New Delhi at the resolution of their most serious border confrontation in decades in a disputed Himalayan plateau.

Strategic road

For now it appears China has abandoned plans to build a contentious road on the high mountain junction lying between India, Bhutan and China that sparked the standoff between the two countries.

Indian officials maintain that China has withdrawn its bulldozers and road construction equipment.

Beijing has sidestepped the issue, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying saying it will take into consideration factors such as weather “to make relevant construction plans in accordance with the situation on the ground.”

It was in mid-June that Indian troops moved into the Doklam Plateau to obstruct China from building a road in the Himalayan junction disputed between Bhutan and Beijing. That led an infuriated China to accuse Indian troops of trespassing into territory to which it had no claim and demand their withdrawal.

India in turn said the status quo should be restored. It says that has happened as soldiers from both sides have pulled back.

China has announced that its troops will patrol the region, but New Delhi says that happened in the past also.

Stronger India

Strategic experts say India scored by standing its ground for 2½ months despite the strident rhetoric from its powerful neighbor about the prospect of a full-blown conflict if Indian troops did not withdraw from Doklam.

“For the first time, I think the Indian government held its nerve in a crisis. Delhi in particular is known to lose its nerve, and that has not happened,” said strategic analyst Bharat Karnad at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

Although Doklam is disputed between Bhutan and India, Indian troops moved in swiftly to stop the construction because the area serves as a buffer that keeps China away from a strategic strip of territory that connects India to its northeast.

​Lingering bad feelings

But although the crisis has been defused, it has further frayed ties and has deepened mistrust between the Asian giants, analysts say.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said Wednesday that New Delhi should learn lessons from Doklam and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

For India, the lesson is that even though the standoff has been resolved, future flare-ups cannot be ruled out.

“The problem is essentially the aggressive stance that China has adopted on all territorial matters with all countries and here the manner in which it has tried to alter the status quo on the ground by building this road, which we have stopped,” said Jayadeva Ranade, a former China specialist at the Indian government’s National Security Advisory Board. “They might resonate Doklam itself next year, on the other hand they might try something else,” he warned.

Lessons learned

Indeed, India will be even more vigilant in the months and years to come, not just in Doklam but in the several other sectors along their 3,500 kilometer Himalayan boundary that remains disputed despite decades-long negotiations. That was underlined by India’s army chief, Bipin Rawat, just a day before the formal announcement of the agreement.

“My message to my people is that remain prepared, it can happen again, and therefore do not let your guard down,” he said.

However for the time being there is a sense of relief that the crisis is over, especially because the spat had pulled in Bhutan, India’s tiny neighbor, which feared being caught in the middle of the two huge Asian countries and whose ties with India might have been jeopardized had the conflict flared.

Commentators say the resolution of the dispute also sent a message to other countries that China is not unchallengeable.

Countries embroiled in disputes with China in the South China Sea and elsewhere can look at this crisis as a case study on how to avoid escalation with the Asian giant while sticking to their position, according to Michael Kugelman, South Asia’s deputy director at the Wilson Center in Washington.

“The fact that India stood its ground before eventually fashioning a resolution is something that many other countries will take notice of and try to learn lessons from,” he said.

The forthcoming BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in China might have played a role, according to several reports. New Delhi had refused to confirm Modi’s attendance at the meeting until the crisis was resolved. As he leaves this weekend, India feels it has sent a message that it reached an equitable agreement with China, but their recent tensions may well loom over the meeting.

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China Accuses Exiled Tycoon Guo Wengui of Rape

BEIJING — 

Escalating efforts to repatriate one of the ruling Communist Party’s most wanted exiles, Chinese police have opened an investigation on a new allegation, rape, against New York-based billionaire Guo Wengui, who has been releasing what he calls official secrets ahead of a pivotal party leadership conference.

Two Chinese officials with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that police are requesting a second Interpol arrest notice for Guo, 50, for the alleged sexual assault of a 28-year-old former personal assistant.

Guo and his representatives did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Sprawling case against Guo

The rape allegation represents a new element in the sprawling case that Chinese prosecutors are building against the real estate tycoon, who is being investigated for at least 19 major criminal cases. Allegations against him include bribing a top Chinese intelligence official, kidnapping, fraud and money laundering.

The Associated Press reviewed documents related to the rape investigation and confirmed their contents with Chinese official sources in Beijing, who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing case. The Chinese officials’ disclosures to the AP — an unusual move given the political sensitivity of Guo’s case in China — underscores Beijing’s urgent effort to not only bring a fugitive to heel on criminal charges but also silence a potent irritant in the run-up to a key Communist Party congress during which political stability and the stifling of any challenges to the party head, President Xi Jinping, are paramount.

Although the United States does not have an extradition agreement with China, Beijing hopes that a mounting body of evidence could sway the U.S. government against extending the exiled businessman’s visa, which is believed to expire in October, the Chinese officials said.

Senior U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed the allegations against Guo, according to a third person with direct knowledge of the talks. The Chinese officials are asking the U.S. to cancel Guo’s visa, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It’s unclear what steps Washington plans to take, if any. The White House would not comment on the matter.

Repatriating elite Chinese

The Guo saga highlights how China’s efforts to repatriate elite Chinese seeking refuge on American soil have become increasingly contentious in the bilateral relationship. The U.S. government has often refused Beijing’s demands to extradite corruption suspects, citing flimsy evidence and China’s opaque justice system. But the U.S. has sent back two Chinese fugitives in the past three months, including one suspected of rape.

Pressure on Guo has been building since April when Interpol issued a “red notice” seeking his arrest on corruption-related charges. Chinese authorities later sentenced several of his employees for fraud in June.

Police in central China opened the rape investigation July 5 after a former employee came forward, the officials said.

In interviews with police, the woman described how she was plucked from her human resources position at Guo’s real estate company in Hong Kong in 2015 and sent overseas to become his personal assistant. The woman, whose identity is being withheld by the AP, said that over the next two years, she was raped several times in New York, London and the Bahamas by Guo, who she said demanded sex from female employees as a test of their loyalty.

At times, she said, she languished in virtual detention after Guo’s staff confiscated her smartphone, computer, passport and keys and forbade her from leaving her room in his luxury apartment in the high-end London neighborhood of Belgravia. To prove her case, the woman surreptitiously met a lawyer friend in London earlier this year to give a written statement about her ordeal and kept her underwear, pregnancy tests and abortion pills as evidence, according to police documents.

In a brief phone interview with the AP arranged by Chinese officials, the woman confirmed the account and described fleeing Guo’s apartment to the Chinese Embassy in London in April to apply for a new passport before returning to China. She said she was speaking of her own volition and that police had assured her she could bring charges against Guo without facing repercussions for having worked for a highly sought-after fugitive.

Calls to Guo’s mobile phone since Tuesday evening in New York rang unanswered. Guo also did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent by an AP reporter to his WhatsApp mobile messaging account since Tuesday. Lawyers representing him at the New York firm Boies Schiller Flexner did not respond to requests for comment.

Interpol declined to comment about the latest warrant China is seeking for Guo’s arrest, referring questions to national authorities as is the policy in ongoing investigations.

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As Men Migrate to India's Cities, Female Farmers Seek Land Rights

MUMBAI — 

Female farmers urged the Indian government on Wednesday to protect their land rights and keep them safe from abuse as women increasingly run farms abandoned by men for jobs in the city.

Women own just 13 percent of land in India, although they do two-thirds of all farm work, with ownership largely passing from fathers to sons.

"At a time when there is rapid feminization of Indian agriculture, the data need to reflect women farmers' work," Soma Parthasarathy of the women farmers rights organization Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Women have the greater workload, yet their rights are more insecure."

Parthasarathy is among a delegation of women in New Delhi to issue the government with a charter of demands aimed at winning women equal status in land rights.

"Their names must appear in the land and cultivation records so they can finally gain a legitimate identity as farmers," she said.

As women's names are seldom on title deeds, the government labels them "cultivators" rather than farmers, which means they are denied loans, insurance and other state benefits.

"Our main demand is delinking land ownership from the definition of who a farmer is, as women are not recognized as farmers," said Parthasarathy, who is leading the delegation at the New Delhi meeting.

Widows lose out

India's constitution gives women equal rights but custom dictates that land is inherited by male sons. Women also seldom have claim over their husbands' land.

About 60 percent of India's population depends on the land, mostly farming and raising livestock and poultry on marginal plots of less than 2 hectares (4.9 acres).

The burden of caring for livestock and harvesting forest produce such as honey to supplement incomes also falls on women, Parthasarathy said.

"It is important that women get not just individual rights over land but also access to common lands, forestland and grazing grounds to secure their livelihoods," she said.

Legislators failed to pass a bill granting women equal rights to land, drafted in 2011 by the father of India's "Green Revolution," M.S. Swaminathan, to boost farm production.

Some states have programs to give land to the landless poor. But not all ensure women's names are on the titles, which means widows risk losing their farms when their husbands die.

"The system itself is not geared to protect a woman farmer's rights," Parthasarathy said.

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Growing Commerce With India Gives Vietnam New Defense Against China

HO CHI MINH — 

A flood of Indian business in fast-growing Vietnam has solidified commercial ties to help Hanoi upgrade an alliance with a powerful Asian neighbor and offset dependence on its historic rival, the more massive China.

Indian investment in Vietnam has reached $2 billion and bilateral trade hit $10 billion over the year ending in March on its way to $15 billion by 2020, said Radha Krishnan, vice chairman of the Indian Business Chamber of Vietnam.

"As of now that is very easily achievable," Krishnan said. "The last three ... years exports from Vietnam to India have picked up momentum."

Vietnam has many trade partners

Last year the two countries agreed to upgrade a "strategic partnership," giving Vietnam more Indian market access, and they will drop import tariffs in 2022 as part of a trade deal with a bloc of Southeast Asian countries.

Those totals hardly match those of Vietnam's long-time investment sources such as Taiwan, South Korea and China. But their growth offers Vietnam a line to the world's second-largest country, helping to reduce dependence on China, which is the world's second-largest economy and Vietnam's biggest trading partner.

China-Vietnam set a trade target of $100 billion in 2016, but the pair disputes a swathe of the South China Sea. Their dispute sparked clashes in 1974, 1988 and 2014.

"The Vietnamese government, they don't want to get an unbalanced investment portfolio where any particular country or region is dominant, because then it just unbalances everything else — foreign policy, domestic politics and everything," said Frederick Burke, partner with the international law firm Baker McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City.

"As far as people who think about strategic issues are concerned, they would like the Indians to be probably more present in the market, because they're probably behind mainland China in particular," he said. "Everybody wants to balance the two out, be friends with both. That's the ideal situation."

Robust trade but also continuing disputes with China

Vietnam depends on China for cheap mass market goods, as well as raw materials for export manufacturing. The two Communist countries fought a border war in the 1970s shortly after what was then South Vietnam lost the Paracel Islands to China. That archipelago is part of the South China Sea.

In 2014, the placement of a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea east of Vietnam touched off a boat-ramming incident and deadly anti-China riots on land. In June, a Chinese military official cut short his Vietnam visit as the host drilled for oil offshore.

Over the past two decades, Indian farming, garment and pharmaceutical investment have reached Vietnam because of its eager partners, Krishnan said. Low-cost but advanced Indian technology has helped Vietnam farm in dry weather, produce sugar and process cashews, he said. Tata Power of India runs a $1.8 billion thermal power plant in Vietnam.

For the past three years, the overseas subsidiary of India's government-run ONGC has worked with PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation to search for oil and gas in the South China Sea.

About 80,000 Indians visit Vietnam every year, often as tourists looking for business opportunities, and 20,000 go the other way, sometimes as travelers to Buddhist landmarks, Krishnan said.

India has its own reasons for strengthening trade with Vietnam

India, for its part, is keen to resist China's expansion in Asia. The two Asian powers are easing just this week a more than two-month-old military standoff in Bhutan. China claims the area in question, and Bhutan called on India to help when the Chinese came to work on a highway project.

Countries that build trade, investment and economic ties do not always become political allies, but in the India-Vietnam case, that fate is "natural," said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. China, he added, is unlikely to flinch at India because Vietnam is chasing stronger ties with other powerful countries, as well.

"You don't need to be a grand strategist to think of diversifying your market," Huang said. "Of course it will have some kind of impact, but so far I do not see one to the degree that will fundamentally change the Chinese perception over Vietnam, because the United States is improving relationships with Vietnam, Japan is improving relationships with Vietnam."

A need to resist continued Chinese expansion

Beijing's "belligerence" and escalation of territorial disputes in the seas to the Bhutan border have "served to bring a coalition of China-wary states closer," said Mohan Malik,professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines have also tried to balance foreign policies between China and the West, often through trade and investment.

China is expected to keep a special eye out for India's maritime ties with Vietnam. The Indian oil company could work again in the waters off Vietnam, Krishnan said. Officials in Hanoi, he said, would try to protect that investment and others.

"I don't think it's going to be a big problem per se," said Krishnan. "We are very, very positive that both governments will be able to handle that very, very positively. I don't think investments made in Vietnam by a foreign country or company will be at risk."

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Cambodian Media Crackdown Seen as Key Step by Government Ahead of 2018 Elections

BANGKOK — 

Recent moves by the Cambodian government to crack down on independent media, including broadcasters and newspapers, is seen by analysts and activists as a key step by the government to consolidate control ahead of national elections in 2018.

The tougher approach by the Cambodian government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen — in power for more than three decades — comes against a backdrop of growing opposition support, especially among younger voters.

Allegations of a campaign against human rights

Rights activists also point to a broad strategy by the government against both the media and rights activists.

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development condemned the recent attacks against civil society organizations and the free media.

"These repressive measures come at a critical juncture for Cambodia and severely compromise the legitimacy and fairness of next year's election," Asian Forum said in a statement.

The group also pointed to the killing of activist Kem Ley in July 2016, as well as detention of other opposition politicians, as adding to a "culture of fear spreading in the country."

​Campaign takes many forms

The media crackdown has included imposition of a $6.3 million tax bill against the English-language Cambodia Daily, a newspaper published since 1993, with the paper being forced to shut down if the payment is not met by Sept. 4.

Other targets included Cambodian radio stations broadcasting U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia and Voice of America (VOA), with the government claiming the outlets failed to have the correct licenses, charging the offices were unregistered with the authorities.

In late August, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered the closure of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), in international development and democracy organization, ordering the institute's foreign staff to leave the country before month's end.

Billy Chai-Lung Tai, an independent analyst with Human Rights and Project Management, said the moves against the media marked a tougher line by the government on the media and public debate.

Analyst says China is a factor

"The gloves are off, so to speak," Chai-Lung Tai said in an email to VOA. He added the government was also less reticent now about maintaining "a semblance of upholding human rights to show the [international aid] donors anymore."

Cambodia has become less dependent on Western foreign development assistance in recent years as the economy has grown and the Cambodian government has built closer ties with China.

Charges that government fears elections

Nathan Thompson, president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC), said the 2018 elections are the main reason for the media crackdown.

"The ruling party is terrified of losing the 2018 elections and so they crack down on all opposing voices," Thompson told VOA in an email. He pointed to opposition gains in local elections, which "served to only increase their paranoia."

He said there were also fears the government may tighten visa rules and work permits, making it easier for the government to deny visas to freelance journalists and foreign correspondents.

​Human Rights Watch charges

Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said the government was acting dictatorially to control the media and wipe out opposition political leaders and critical nongovernment organizations (NGOs) "in a barrage of bogus criminal charges heard by judges beholden to [the prime minister]."

Robertson said the strategy by Hun Sen is to "stifle all the remaining independent media outlets, whether they be radio or newspapers, before the real campaigning starts for the July 2018 election."

In a May commentary, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) noted the Cambodian government had also drawn on the new U.S. administration's "more hostile rhetoric and policies regarding the [U.S.] media."

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) said the government should first clarify new regulations "rather than immediately launch a crackdown as a first action."

SEAPA director Edgardo Legaspi called the government's policy a "systematic attack" at silencing independent media and called on the international community to press the government over the recent crackdown.

"It is important for the international community to voice their concern on the recent events in order to convince the Cambodian government to adopt a more reasonable approach for their all-too-sudden concern about taxation or reporting airtime buyers," Legaspi told VOA.

"We must call for the immediate reinstatement of the programming of the canceled radio programs," he said.

Low 'freedom of press' ranking

Cambodia remains lowly ranked in terms of press freedom with the media watchdog Freedom House, which classifies Cambodia's media as "not free," while in 2016 Reporters without Borders placed Cambodia at 128 out of 182 countries for the freedom afforded to its press.

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights said journalists often found themselves "victim to physical attacks, judicial harassment and even murder."

CCHR said since 1994 14 journalists have been killed in Cambodia with most of the killings carried out "with complete impunity," creating a "climate of fear among Cambodian journalists and political commentators."

The Cambodian government did not respond to requests for comment.

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US Has 11,000 Troops in Afghanistan, Not, 8,400, Pentagon Says

PENTAGON — 

The Pentagon said Wednesday that about 11,000 U.S. troops are serving in Afghanistan, not 8,400 as the Defense Department had previously reported.

The higher number emerged following Defense Secretary Jim Mattis's call for a more accurate troop-strength estimate, as the Trump administration worked on a new U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

The chief spokeswoman at the Pentagon, Dana White, told reporters the estimate of 11,000 troops was based on a simplified accounting method that provides greater "transparency" while "increasing commanders' ability to adapt to battlefield conditions."

The lower number of troops cited previously excluded service members on assignment in Afghanistan for less than 120 days — short-term duty that could include temporary combat support or materiel recovery missions.

Lieutenant General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie Jr., staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the new method of counting troops in the field used approximations rather than exact numbers of troops. This, he said, allows commanders "more flexibility" in battlefield deployments.

"We all recognize that whole units are inherently more prepared and more ready than units that are fragmented in order to meet an arbitrary force management level," McKenzie said.

Fight against IS

White and McKenzie said the changes made in calculating troop strength in Afghanistan would eventually be applied to American troops fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

"We are reviewing Iraq and Syria, and the same guiding principles will govern how we roll out those numbers as well," White said.

The new number of 11,000 does not include any additional troops that Mattis may choose to send to Afghanistan under the new military strategy there. McKenzie said no decision had yet been made on what total troop strength is to be in the weeks and months ahead. Officials have suggested that about 4,000 additional troops will join the fight in Afghanistan.

Mattis had previously acknowledged there were discrepancies between troop strengths listed in war zones and the actual numbers of American forces deployed there. The Pentagon chief told reporters last week that before he sent more troops to Afghanistan he would "level" the number of troops actually there.

In his August 21 speech announcing the new Afghanistan policy, President Donald Trump said giving commanders more flexibility was a primary goal of his new policy, not simply "transparency" about numbers of troops: "We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities. America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out."

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UN Security Council Meets on Myanmar Violence

UNITED NATIONS — 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says at least 18,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims have escaped to neighboring Bangladesh in the past week. They fled after a series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in Myanmar's north Rakhine State triggered new fighting with the army.

Amid reports that the security forces have been involved in extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages and attacks on ethnic Rohingya communities, thousands more people have headed toward the Bangladesh border.

In a closed-door U.N. Security Council briefing Wednesday, Ambassador Matthew Rycroft urged all parties to reduce tensions. He also called on Myanmar's de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, to show strong leadership.

"We look to her to set the right tone and to find the compromises and the de-escalation necessary in order to resolve the conflict for the good of all the people in Burma," Rycroft said.

Myanmar is also known as Burma.

On Tuesday, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said the state has a duty to protect all people within its territory without discrimination.

He also expressed concern about unfounded allegations by the government that international aid organizations were complicit in or supported recent attacks on the security forces.

Human Rights Watch U.N. Director Lou Charbonneau said such accusations are dangerous.

"The suggestion that aid workers are at all involved in this violence is irresponsible, unhelpful and it just smells like an excuse to keep aid workers out of an area where people desperately need humanitarian aid; where they have been suffering for a long time," Charbonneau said.

Charbonneau urged the Security Council to speak with one voice to demand that both the government and insurgents stop the violence, end human rights abuses, and carry out investigations of alleged abuses.

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Taliban Chief Says Foreign 'Occupation' Blocking Afghan Peace

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — 

The fugitive leader of the Afghan Taliban renewed his call Wednesday for U.S. and NATO forces to leave the country, saying that would pave the way to peacefully resolve the armed conflict.

The remarks by Maulvi Haibatullah Akhunzada came in a message to mark the coming Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in a bid to rally followers.

“The main obstacle in the way of peace is the occupation,” said the insurgent chief, referring to the presence of international forces in Afghanistan.

“Peaceful solution of the Afghan issue is the main pillar of the policy of the Islamic Emirate [the Taliban], should the occupation come to an end,” he added.

Akhundzada claimed the Taliban has established “administration over more than half of the country,” and the Islamist insurgency is determined to “liberate” from foreign “invaders” the rest of the Afghan territory.

He went on to claim that “life, property and honor” of people, including minorities, “are safe” in Taliban-held areas of Afghanistan.

These areas, he added, do not pose threat to the neighboring countries and the world at large.

“We believe in an inclusive and representative system. ... I would like to mention that we want a free, independent and progressive Afghanistan,” said Akhundzada in a bid to present a moderate face of the Taliban.

The radical religious group had imposed harsh Islamic rule in Afghanistan when it was in power from 1996 until 2001. Under the Taliban regime, Shi’ites and other minorities were persecuted, while women were barred from receiving education and outdoor activities.

The Taliban leader’s defiant message comes a week after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his new Afghan war strategy, extending and enhancing the U.S.-led foreign military mission in the war-torn nation.

The new policy, among other things, also will mean an increase in U.S. forces and foreign airpower available to Afghan security forces to help them reverse Taliban territorial gains.

The end goal of the Trump plan is to pressure the insurgents to push them to the negotiating table to find a political solution to the Afghan war.

The new U.S. policy comes as the Taliban already has intensified deadly attacks on Afghan security forces across the country and captured new districts in recent weeks.

The United Nations has warned that the protracted Afghan conflict has caused record levels of civilian casualties since the beginning of the year.

The latest civilian casualties occurred early Wednesday when a U.S. airstrike hit a suspected Taliban hideout in the eastern Logar province.

Residents in the Pul-e-Alam district told reporters the attack also killed more than 20 civilians, including women and children.

Afghan officials would not confirm the fatalities, although they said at least 10 civilians have been evacuated for medical aid to hospitals in Kabul.

A U.S. military statement said it is aware of the incident with potential civilian casualties, and an official invitation has been launched.

“United States Force — Afghanistan takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and is working with our Afghan partners to determine the facts surrounding this incident,” the statement added.

An American drone strike in the western Herat province on Monday killed at least 13 civilians and wounded nine others, according to Afghan officials. That attack also targeted a Taliban base, killing 16 insurgents, they added.

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US Investigating Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan Airstrikes

The United States is investigating possible civilian deaths in a military airstrike in Afghanistan.

A military said Wednesday. "U.S. Forces-Afghanistan is aware of an incident in the Pul-e 'Alam District in Logar Province ... with potential civilian casualties. An official investigations has been launched."

The latest civilian casualties were reported Wednesday when a U.S. airstrike hit a suspected Taliban hideout in the eastern Logar province.

Residents in the Pul-e-Alam district told reporters the attack also killed more than 20 civilians, including women and children.

Afghan officials would not confirm the fatalities though they said at least 10 civilians have been evacuated for medical aid to hospitals in Kabul.

An American drone strike in the western Herat province on Monday killed at least 13 civilians and wounded nine others, according to Afghan officials. That attack also targeted a Taliban base, killing 16 insurgents, they added.

The strikes occurred a week after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his new, "condition-based approach" for Afghanistan.

The president offered few details about how many additional troops would be required in Afghanistan, or how they would support Afghan forces fighting the Taliban and the Islamic State terror group.

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Men May Suffer if Marital Rape Becomes Crime, India Government Says

NEW DELHI — 

Criminalizing marital rape could "destabilize" marriages and make men vulnerable to harassment by their wives, said India's government in response to a plea in the capital's high court.

Victims and rights groups are seeking to change the law on marital rape, but the government said husbands risked being falsely accused of rape if the change were to go ahead.

It compared the proposal to outlaw marital rape with India's tough anti-dowry law, which men's rights groups say women are misusing to settle personal vendettas.

"It has to be ensured adequately that marital rape does not become a phenomenon which may destabilize the institution of marriage, apart from being an easy tool for harassing the husbands," said an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court.

Tuesday's statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing government also said that the country should not blindly follow Western countries that have criminalized marital rape, as illiteracy and diversity make India unique.

Sexual violence against women is widely reported. Stories abound of girls molested en route to school or at home by relatives, or of women picked up by men in cars and gang raped.

The 2012 murder and gang rape of a 23-year-old women on a Delhi bus triggered protests, forcing the government to set up a panel to amend laws related to violence against women.

While India's parliament passed some of its recommendations, such as criminalizing stalking and making acid attacks a specific offense, it did not agree with the panel's proposal to outlaw marital rape.

More than 50 countries, including the United States, Nepal, Britain and South Africa, criminalize marital rape.

In India, conservative and patriarchal norms make it difficult for victims to speak out about sexual violence by their husbands, activists say. As a result, there are no accurate figures on marital rape.

More than 40 percent of married women aged 15 to 49 experience domestic violence, according to government data, rising to 70 percent among child brides.

Activists want India's rape law — which provides an exemption for sexual intercourse by a man with his wife if she is more than 15 years old — to be declared unconstitutional as it discriminates against married women and girls.

The court hearing before a two-judge bench continues.

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Pakistan: Trump's Afghan Policy 'Hostile and Threatening'

ISLAMABAD — 

Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a resolution Wednesday strongly denouncing President Donald Trump’s new policy on Afghanistan and calling his and General John Nicholson’s statements on Pakistan “hostile and threatening.”

President Trump had some of the harshest words for Pakistan when he announced his new policy on Afghanistan and South Asia on August 21.

“We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists we are fighting,” he said in a speech.

Soon after, in an interview with an Afghan TV channel, the top U.S. military commander in Kabul, General Nicholson said the U.S. is "aware of the presence" of Taliban leaders in the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Peshawar, and that they should not "sleep in peace."

Drone strikes a concern

Many observers in the region interpreted that to be a threat of either drone strikes or unilateral military action. The U.S. has carried out drone strikes periodically on Pakistan’s territory against high value targets. Last year, Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was taken out in a drone strike in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Pakistan maintains that drone strikes on its territory are a violation of its sovereignty, but it has never shot down a U.S. drone.

While the resolution passed Wednesday did not directly call for such an action, it called on the government to “express the determination of the people of Pakistan to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Other suggested responses included postponement of visits by U.S. delegations to Pakistan and vice versa, and suspension of Ground or Air Lines of Communication, the official name for the routes used by the U.S. or NATO to take their supplies through Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Some of these steps seem to already have been implemented. A visit by Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif to the U.S. was postponed after Trump’s speech, followed by the postponement of a visit by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells to Pakistan.

India as player

The National Assembly also objected to “attempts by the Trump administration to provide more space to India in Afghanistan,” a move Pakistan considers highly provocative.

Pakistani officials say India, a hostile neighbor to the east, wants to encircle their country by setting up a second front on the west in Afghanistan from where it could support terrorist activities or support separatist insurgencies inside Pakistan. Officials in the U.S. say Pakistan’s fears regarding India in Afghanistan are overblown.

The resolution, presented by Defense Minister Asif, also emphasized the “robust and credible command and control system” for the country’s nuclear weapons program in response to the second element of President Trump’s policy to “prevent nuclear weapons and materials from coming into the hands of terrorists.”

Pakistan’s Senate had adopted a similar resolution earlier in the day.

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Amid Calls for More Sanctions on N. Korea, Questions About What Else Can Be Done

BEIJING, CHINA — 

Following the United Nations' swift and stern rebuke of North Korea’s missile test over Japan, calls are growing to put more pressure on Pyongyang and tighten existing sanctions even further. Some observers, however, wonder what good that will do, in light of the North's persistent provocations as it faces its toughest sanctions to date.

In a statement, the Security Council condemned Tuesday's launch and what it called the North's "outrageous actions," but did not mention the option of new sanctions.

The United States says all options are on the table, but China – North Korea’s biggest ally – has put its focus more on repeating its call to return to long-stalled talks and for all sides not to take any steps that would further heighten tensions.

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, Wednesday warned against unilateral actions by individual countries against North Korea, arguing that such steps violate international law.

Unilateral sanctions

In recent weeks, the United States and Japan have announced unilateral sanctions on Chinese firms aimed at curbing the flow of money to the North.

A new round of sanctions that went into effect earlier this month is the toughest ever in history, but not enough to stifle North Korea’s missile development, according to Zhao Tong, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing.

“Any tougher sanctions, such as new bans on oil, labor and textile imports from North Korea, will seriously hurt the North's economic stability,” he said, noting China and Russia would be very cautious about implementing new sanctions.

Air, sea blockade

Ding Xueliang, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says given that North Korea’s illicit trade ranges from $3 billion to $5 billion a year, sanctions need to amount to about $2.5 billion to have any impact.

Measures such as an air and sea blockade against the North also could be effective.

"All traffic in and out of North Korea, be it for commercial or military use, could be suspended; this is something the U.S. military could handle on its own,” said Ding. “But there are two things it may not be able to prevent and that’s the flow of goods from the North's connections to China or Russia."

North Korea shares a nearly 1,500-kilometer-long border with northeastern China and a short border with Russia.

​The latest round of sanctions has targeted coal, iron and seafood. The impact already is being felt in China, where local sellers of seafood have protested about the closure of the border and implementation of the ban. Analysts say it may take months for the impact of the current sanctions to truly be gauged.

Threats and talks

In the meantime, tensions continue to rise.

Earlier this month, North Korea threatened to fire missiles into the sea near Guam – an important U.S. military outpost in the Pacific – after President Donald Trump said Pyongyang would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.

Following Tuesday’s launch, North Korea said more were to come, calling the missile test the first step in an effort to contain Guam.

Zhao Tong says that while the long game for both Washington and Pyongyang is to get back to the negotiating table, the two countries have opposite approaches.

“The U.S. believes that they should keep on exerting economic, political, diplomatic and military pressures on the North Korea to a certain extent that it is too much to bear so that the North will be forced to resume talks,” Zhao said.

The North thinks the U.S. isn’t convinced Pyongyang’s missile capabilities are feasible and solid, and that is keeping the U.S. from resuming talks with the North unconditionally, he says.

“Pyongyang will likely keep on testing its missile capabilities to the U.S. in the hope that the U.S. will acknowledge that fact and eventually treat the North as an equal party at the negotiation table,” he added.

Potential miscalculations

China, too, is the focus of international pressure to do more to help with the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

During a visit Wednesday to Japan, British Prime Minister Theresa May urged Beijing to put more pressure on North Korea, saying it had a key role to play; but much like the United States could not force Cuba’s hand during the Cold War, China cannot force Pyongyang’s, says John Siracusa, a professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia.

“There is always the possibility here of a Cuban missile-like solution, that is if China just announces tomorrow morning that they will guarantee North Korean sovereignty in exchange for an American pledge not to invade North Korea, I think we might save the day,” he said. “But the Chinese believe that the United States should cease and desist all military activities and exercises, and that the United States will not do that under any circumstances.”

Siracusa notes that unlike the Cold War, the situation on the Korean Peninsula now is more tense and the chance of war is high, standing at about 80 percent in his estimation.

“We have a kind of a 1914 situation, where all of these alliances are balanced against each other and we have all of these different players. Everybody is trying to calibrate what they are doing, etcetera,” he said. “We are looking at catastrophic potential miscalculations here, and I think any [damn] thing could trigger this thing off.”

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Mattis: US Is ‘Never out of Diplomatic Solutions’ Concerning Korea

PENTAGON / WHITE HOUSE — 

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has emphasized the U.S. is “never out of diplomatic solutions” when it comes to the North Korean crisis, after President Donald Trump said that "talking is not the answer."

Mattis was responding to a question about Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning about dealing with the threat of North Korea following the country's most recent ballistic missile test over Japan.

"The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!" Trump tweeted, a day after he said "All options are on the table" for dealing with Pyongyang.

Defense Secretary Mattis welcomed his South Korean counterpart to the Pentagon on Wednesday, as the two countries try to figure out how to handle recent North Korean provocations.

“We continue to work together, and the Minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations, and our interests…and look for all the areas that we can collaborate,” Mattis said.

North Korea has acknowledged firing a ballistic missile Tuesday over Japan, saying it was to counter current joint exercises by South Korea and the United States.

In Geneva, U.S. Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood called for “concerted action” in response to the “increasing threat” caused by North Korea’s missile program, calling it the greatest current “challenge to the global security environment.”

“We must respond to the serious threats it makes to the United States and to our allies,” he said. “We want to be clear to North Korea that the United States has the unquestionable ability and unbending will to defend itself and its allies.”

On Wednesday the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted leader Kim Jong Un as saying the drill for the launch of the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile was “like a real war” and the first step by North Korea's military for operations in the Pacific and “a meaningful prelude to containing Guam."

The U.S. and South Korea have been conducting war games in recent days, as rhetoric between North Korea and the United States has heated up.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy announced its sailors had successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii Wednesday in a test of its defense systems.

“We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves,” said Lieutenant General Sam Greaves, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

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Mumbai Floods Kill 5

At least five people have died in flooding caused by monsoons in India's financial capital Mumbai, government officials said Wednesday.

Torrential rains brought the city to a halt Tuesday, making roads impassable and briefly shutting the suburban rail network used by millions of commuters. Thousands were stranded in their offices overnight.

Trains were mostly running at full function by Tuesday evening, but traffic remained chaotic and offices and schools were largely closed on Wednesday.

With a population of over 20 million, the coastal city of Mumbai is the latest to be hit by floods which have killed over 1,200 people this summer across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Rains in Mumbai had eased by Wednesday, but meteorologists warn that they may resume in the next 48 hours.

Photos and videos showed cars submerged in water and people wading waist-deep around the city. Residents of Dharavi, one of the continent's biggest slums and home to over a million people, said much of the area was under water.

A number of flights were forced to divert to other cities Tuesday as even the airport was affected by flooding.

The city of Mumbai struggles each year to plan for and cope with annual rains during monsoon season, which runs from June through September.

In 2005, over 1,000 people were killed when around 950 millimeters of rain fell in less than 24 hours.

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