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August
Afghans dreaming of U.S. refuge feel stuck in processing limbo
Written by Nur Yasmin
Crowded into a small, rented room near Pakistan's capital, an Afghan family of 12 is waiting, like thousands of others, for progress on their applications to go to the United States as refugees.
As time passes, their money is running out and their worries are growing.
In a small kitchen, 18-year old Marwa, whose father used to work as a guard for an American aid organisation, cuts vegetables.
The family have applied for resettlement in the U.S. under a special programme for Afghans who worked for U.S. organisations, known as P2.
"We cook and eat twice a day, some days we eat even less to save money," she said.
Reuters is withholding the full names of family members for security reasons. They sold their home in Afghanistan and left last year, having been told by U.S. authorities to travel to a third country to get their application processed.
Marwa's husband, Khalilzad, estimates the family's saving would last for at most two more months.
"It's been two years and things have not improved, they should consider our basic need and speed things up, the process is moving very slowly," Khalilzad said.
For thousands of Afghans applying for refugee status and visas in the West, neighbouring Pakistan was their only option. Between 16,000 and 20,000 applicants for the P2 programme are estimated to be in Pakistan, according to community members and advocates.
Most Afghans are not allowed to work and are ineligible for public education and healthcare.
Many had built middle-class lives in Afghanistan in the two decades after the United States and its allies intervened in 2001.
Now they face destitution in Pakistan where the government, grappling with an economic crisis, is increasingly anxious about the number of Afghans arriving, at times at the request of Western governments, Pakistani officials say.
Afghans waiting for their applications say they fear being detained by Pakistani authorities, as many Afghans have anecdotally reported, so they stay indoors as much as they can.
'LIKE PRISON'
The children of the family have not been able to go to school for more than a year.
On a recent stifling summer day, Asra, 14, was going through the alphabet with her younger siblings.
"I teach them sometimes but I'm worried that neither they nor I go to school ... every day I'm at home like a prisoner."
Asra was barred from school in Afghanistan where the Taliban closed girls' high-schools after their return to power in 2021.
"I suffer a lot when I see other girls going to school. I’m very anxious when I see them going and I can't," she said.
"I want to go to America with my family and continue my studies, I want to become a judge," she said.
In the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops as Taliban forces seized Kabul in 2021, Western countries like the United States and Britain vowed to help, especially those Afghans who had worked for them or on projects they backed. But many have been disappointed.
President Joe Biden pledged to help "Afghan allies" and just before the Taliban takeover, the United States announced the P-2 programme for admission as refugees for Afghans who met certain criteria, including having worked for U.S. organisations and media.
Though the Taliban announced an amnesty for old foes, many Afghans fear reprisals, curtailed freedoms and restrictions on women's education and work, as well as economic hardship.
Human rights and refugee advocates have criticized the slow progress in processing Afghans by Western governments.
'PROBLEMS'
A U.S. government watchdog, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said in April that problems in P2 processing had been identified and lawmakers had required reports on processing times and staffing shortages.
"However, these reports are not public, and problems persist," the agency said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said: "Our processing capacity in Pakistan remains limited, but we are actively working to try to expand it."
Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of U.S. volunteer groups helping Afghans resettle, said there had recently been progress in P2 processing.
"It's light years ahead of where we were a month ago," VanDiver said.
But he warned that processing was "limited in scope" and "not going to be fast". He declined to provide details due to concern over triggering a flood of hopeful applicants into Pakistan.
He acknowledged that a major problem had been the failure to keep applicants informed. "Communications ... have been a disaster," he said. "They've served to cause chaos and confusion and despair. The Afghans are just sitting around waiting."
The Khalilzad family's last official contact was a cursory email in May.
"Our remaining money will last one or two more months, if this runs out ... what can we do?" he said. "People have become depressed ... we are in a state of uncertainty with no destiny." (Reuters)
August
Blinken to meet Japan, S.Korea foreign ministers virtually on Monday
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold a virtual meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Monday, the U.S. State Department said.
Leaders of the three nations are due to meet on Aug. 18 at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, according to Japanese media. (Reuters)
August
New Zealand removes final COVID-19 restrictions
Written by Nur Yasmin
New Zealand's government will lift all remaining COVID-19 requirements from midnight Tuesday, bringing an end to some of the toughest COVID-19 pandemic rules in the world more than three years after they were put in place.
Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said in a statement on Monday that from Tuesday people will no longer have to wear a face mask in health care facilities or isolate for seven days after contracting the virus.
“While our case numbers will continue to fluctuate, we have not seen the dramatic peaks that characterised COVID-19 rates last year. This, paired with the population’s immunity levels, means Cabinet and I am advised we’re positioned to safely remove the remaining COVID-19 requirements,” Verrall said.
Most of the restrictions were removed last year as vaccination rates reached high levels and the country’s hospitals successfully navigated a winter without being overwhelmed.
The decision to remove the requirements comes just two months out from a closely contested election.
While the New Zealand government’s handling of the pandemic was globally recognised for keeping infection and death rates at low levels, domestically it faced criticism for the extended lockdowns, school closures and closed borders.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the formal end of restrictions was a “significant milestone.”
“I believe that New Zealanders can be enormously proud of what we achieved together. We stayed home, we made sacrifices, we got vaccinated and there is absolutely no question that we saved lives,” he told his weekly press conference.
While no longer mandatory, the Minister of Health still recommends that people stay home for five days if you’re unwell or have tested positive. (Reuters)
August
North Korea's Kim orders making more missiles ahead of South Korea, US drills
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for an increase in missile production to help secure "overwhelming military power" and be ready for war, state media KCNA said on Monday, as South Korea and the United States gear up for annual military drills.
Kim gave the order as he visited key munitions factories that produce tactical missiles, missile launch platforms, armoured vehicles and artillery shells on Friday and Saturday.
His field inspection was the latest in a string of visits to arms factories, where he ordered mass production of weapons, and came days before South Korea and the U.S. are to begin annual military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for war.
Kim noted an "important goal to dramatically increase" missile production capacity to meet the needs of the expanded and strengthened frontline military units, KCNA said.
"The qualitative levels of war preparations depend on the development of the munitions industry, and the factory has a tremendous responsibility in accelerating our military's war preparations," he was quoted as saying.
At other plants, Kim inspected and drove a new utility combat armoured vehicle, and praised recent progress in modernising production lines for large-caliber multiple rocket launcher rounds, KCNA said.
There was a "very urgent need" to "exponentially increase" the production of such rockets to strengthen frontline artillery units, he said.
"Our army must thoroughly secure overwhelming military power and solid readiness to handle any war at any time, so that the enemy does not dare to use force, and would be annihilated if it does," Kim said.
South Korea and the United States said on Monday that they would stage the Ulchi Freedom Guardian summer exercises on Aug. 21-31 to improve their ability to respond to North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.
North Korea has denounced the allies' military drills as a rehearsal for nuclear war.
This year's drills will be held on the "largest scale ever", mobilising tens of thousands of troops from both sides, as well as some member states of the U.N. Command, for about 30 field training programmes, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
"The exercises are an essential element in maintaining robust combined defence posture in case of emergency - absolutely necessary to respond to the growing military threat from North Korea," JCS spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun told a briefing.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles.
North Korea and Russia have denied any arms transactions.
The leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan are also set to discuss security cooperation over North Korea, Ukraine and other issues when they gather for a trilateral summit on Aug. 18 at Camp David.
KCNA separately said on Monday that Kim visited "typhoon-hit areas" after tropical storm Khanun swept over the Korean peninsula last week, flooding farmlands. (Reuters)
August
India, Japan, US, Australia hold first Malabar naval exercise off Australia
Written by Nur Yasmin
India, Japan, the United States and Australia will hold the Malabar navy exercise off the coast of Sydney on Friday, the first time the war games previously held in the Indian Ocean have taken place in Australia.
Japanese and Indian navy vessels stopped in Pacific Island countries Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea on the way to Sydney, highlighting the strategic importance of the region at a time of friction between China and the United States.
Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, Commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, said at a press conference on Thursday in Sydney the exercise was "not pointed toward any one country" and would improve the ability of the four forces to work with each other.
"The deterrence that our four nations provide as we operate together as a Quad is a foundation for all the other nations operating in this region," Thomas said.
"Oceania, the island nations that are just northeast of Australia...all of our nations now are focusing on those countries," he added.
Indian Navy Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said there had been large changes in the world since the United States and India held the first Malabar Exercise in 1992 at the end of the Cold War.
When Australia participated for the first time in 2007, it "sent some signals around the world", he said.
Australia dropped out of the so-called Quad in 2008 after protests from China over its participation in Malabar. The Quad was revived and Australia rejoined Malabar in 2020, although China continues to criticise the grouping as an attempt to contain it.
"The Pacific is very important to us," said Australian fleet commander, Rear Admiral Christopher Smith.
"We understand people have ambition to continue to grow and develop... but its about transparency."
Ships from the four nations will be joined by Australian F-35 fighter jets, as well as P-8 surveillance aircraft and submarines.
"The underwater battle space is seen to be the front line in terms of competition and potential future conflicts", Smith said.
Malabar is being held off the east coast of Australia, instead of the west coast which faces the Indian Ocean, because ships were nearby after the larger Talisman Sabre exercise involving 13 nations which closed last week, he said. (Reuters)
August
Russia to launch lunar spacecraft in race to find water on moon
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russia made its final preparations on Thursday for the launch of its first lunar landing spacecraft in 47 years as it races to be the first power to make a soft landing on the south pole of the moon which may hold significant deposits of water ice.
For centuries, astronomers have wondered about water on the moon, which is 100 times drier than the Sahara. NASA maps in 2018 showed water ice in the shadowed parts of the moon and in 2020 NASA confirmed water exists on the sunlight areas.
A Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft will blast off from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow, on Friday at 0211 Moscow time and is due to touch down on the moon on Aug. 23, Russia's space agency said.
The Russian lunar mission, the first since 1976, is racing against India which sent up its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month and more broadly with the United States and China which both have advanced lunar exploration programmes.
"The last one was in 1976 so there's a lot riding on this," Asif Siddiqi, professor of history at Fordham University, told Reuters.
"Russia's aspirations towards the moon are mixed up in a lot of different things. I think first and foremost, it's an expression of national power on the global stage."
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong gained renown in 1969 for being the first person to walk on the moon but it was the Soviet Union's Luna-2 mission which was the first spacecraft to reach the moon's surface in 1959 and the Luna-9 mission in 1966 was the first to do a soft landing on the moon.
But Moscow then focused on exploring Mars and since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has failed to send probes beyond the earth's orbit. There is much riding on the Luna-25 mission - especially as the Kremlin says the West's sanctions over the Ukraine war have failed to cripple the Russian economy.
"Let me put it this way: If Russia prevailed and the Indian probe succeeded, it would really be something," Saddiqi said, pointing to the deterioration of Russia's space programmes over the recent decades.
MOON WATER?
Major powers such as the United States, China, India, Japan and the European Union have all been probing the moon over recent years, though a Japanese lunar landing failed last year and an Israeli mission failed in 2019.
No country has yet made a soft landing on the south pole. An Indian mission, the Chandrayaan-2, failed in 2019.
Rough terrain makes a landing there difficult, but the prize of discovering water ice there could be historic: quantities of ice could be used to extract fuel and oxygen, as well as for drinking water.
"From the point of view of science, the most important task, to put it simply, is to land where no one else has landed," Maxim Litvak, head of the planning group for the Luna-25 scientific equipment, said.
"There are signs of ice in the soil of the Luna-25 landing area, this can be seen from the data from orbit," he said, adding that the Luna-25 would work on the moon for at least an earth year, taking samples.
Russian space agency Roskosmos said that it would take five days to fly to the moon. The craft would spend 5-7 days in lunar orbit before descending on one of three possible landing sites near the pole - a timetable that implies it could match or narrowly beat its Indian rival to the moon's surface.
Chandrayaan-3 is due to run experiments for two weeks, while Luna-25 will work on the moon for a year.
With a mass of 1.8 tons and carrying 31 kg (68 pounds) of scientific equipment, Luna-25 will use a scoop to take rock samples from a depth of up to 15 cm (6 inches) to test for the presence of frozen water that could support human life.
It can explore the moon's regolith - the layer of loose surface material - to a depth of 10 centimetres and carries a dust monitor and a wide-angle ionic energy-mass analyser that provides measurements of ion parameters in the moon's exosphere.
Russia has been planning such a mission for decades. The launch, originally planned for October 2021, has been delayed for nearly two years. The European Space Agency had planned to test its Pilot-D navigation camera by attaching it to Luna-25, but broke off its ties to the project after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Residents of a village in Russia's far east will be evacuated from their homes at 7.30 a.m. on Friday because of a "one in a million chance" that one of the rocket stages that launches Luna-25 could fall to earth there, a local official said. (Reuters)
August
Japan PM Kishida likely to reshuffle cabinet between Sept 11-13 - Yomiuri
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to reshuffle his cabinet between Sept. 11 to 13, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Thursday.
The reshuffle, which will likely be timed to fall between a tight schedule of diplomatic events, has been widely expected as Kishida seeks to bolster sagging support rates and could also provide clues as to the timing of a possible snap election.
Asked about the report on Thursday, Kishida said "the right people should be in the right positions," but declined to confirm a shakeup and said there was no timetable. (Reuters)
August
Pakistan to pick caretaker leader to oversee general election
Written by Nur Yasmin
Pakistan's outgoing prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and the leader of the opposition will on Thursday meet to pick a caretaker leader to oversee a general election due by November, a government official said.
Sharif and opposition leader Raja Riaz will meet in the afternoon, said the official in the prime minister's office, who declined to be identified pending the announcement of the meeting.
Under the constitution, the two have three days to reach agreement on a caretaker. If they can't, the decision will go to a parliamentary committee, and if it can't, then the Election Commission of Pakistan will decide.
The lower house of parliament was dissolved on Wednesday, three days before the end of its five-year term on Aug. 12.
A general election in the South Asian country of 241 million people should be held in 90 days but it could be delayed for several months because the election commission has to redraw the boundaries of hundreds of constituencies based on a new census data.
Any delay could fuel public anger and add to uncertainty in the nuclear-armed country, analysts say.
Sharif led a coalition government of nearly a dozen parties after they voted out his predecessor, Imran Khan, whose party won the last election in 2018, in a no-confidence vote in parliament last year.
The former cricket star has been at the heart of months of political turmoil since he was ousted, raising new worries about stability. He has since been jailed in connection with a graft case and has, as a result, been barred from taking part in an election for five years. (Reuters)
August
North Korea's Kim dismisses top general, calls for war preparations
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un replaced the military's top general and called for more preparations for the possibility of war, a boost in weapons production, and expansion of military drills, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
Kim made the comments at a meeting of the Central Military Commission which discussed plans for countermeasures to deter North Korea's enemies, which it did not name, the report said.
The country's top general, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il was "dismissed," KCNA reported, without elaborating. He had served in his role for about seven months.
Pak was replaced by General Ri Yong Gil, who previously served as the country's defence minister, as well as the top commander of its conventional troops.
Ri also previously served as the army chief of staff. When he was replaced in 2016 his sacking and subsequent absence from official events sparked reports in South Korea that he had been executed. He reappeared a few months later, when he was named to another senior post.
Kim also set a target for the expansion of weapons production capacity, the report said, without providing details. Last week he visited weapons factories where he called for more missile engines, artillery and other weapons to be built.
Photos released by KCNA showed Kim pointing at Seoul and areas surrounding the South Korean capital on a map.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, rockets and missiles. Russia and North Korea have denied those claims.
Kim also called for the military to conduct drills with the country's latest weapons and equipment to keep its forces ready for combat, the report said.
North Korea is set to stage a militia parade on Sept. 9, marking the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic. North Korea has a number of paramilitary groups it uses to bolster its military forces.
The U.S. and South Korea are scheduled to hold military drills between Aug. 21 and 24, which the North sees as a threat to its security. (Reuters)
August
Muslims flee Indian business hub after religious clashes, attacks
Written by Nur Yasmin
Over 3,000 poor Muslims have fled a business hub outside New Delhi this month, fearing for their lives after Hindu-Muslim clashes and sporadic attacks targeting them, residents, police and a community group said.
Shops and shacks owned or run by Muslims and their houses in two large slum areas were padlocked when Reuters visited them more than a week after seven people were killed in clashes in Nuh and Gurugram districts in Haryana state, adjoining the Indian capital.
The violence began on July 31 after a Hindu religious procession, organised by groups ideologically aligned with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was targeted and a mosque attacked in retaliation. Police quelled the unrest in 48 hours.
But minor attacks targeting Muslims have continued for days, scaring families who had moved to the new urban centre of Gurugram - where 250 of the Fortune 500 companies have offices - in search of a livelihood.
Stone-throwing, arson and vandalisation of two small Muslim shrines in the slum districts forced hundreds of Muslim families to abandon their single-room houses and seek shelter at a train station before heading out, witnesses said.
"Many of us spent the entire night on a railway platform because it was much safer there," Raufullah Javed, a tailor who fled to his home village in the eastern state of Bihar, told Reuters by phone.
The Gurugram president of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind (Council of Indian Muslim Theologians) Mufti Mohammed Salim estimated that more than 3,000 Muslims had left the district after the violence.
Four Muslim shopkeepers who also fled to their villages in eastern India said by phone that members of hardline Hindu groups had questioned them about their businesses and families.
"Some Hindu men came in a large group and started asking questions such as how much money I earn," said Shahid Sheikh, a barber who fled from Tigra village, home to over 1,200 Muslim families.
"Many Muslims decided it's best to leave for a while," said Sheikh, adding that some Hindu owners of shops rented out to Muslims wanted them to vacate.
Tensions between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims have risen over issues such as the eating of beef and inter-faith marriages with Muslims saying they have been increasingly targeted by Hindu activists since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government took power in 2014.
BJP leaders say clashes between the two communities have broken out in the past as well and have been less frequent since they came to power.
The trouble in Gurugram, a city of over 1.5 million people formerly known as Gurgaon, has exposed multinationals such as Google, American Express, Dell, Samsung, Ernst & Young and Deloitte based there to risks of violence and disruption.
Haryana police said they had arrested over 200 men from both communities in connection with the violence and some Muslims who had fled had begun to trickle back.
Anil Vij, the interior minister of Haryana's BJP government, said he had received reports of some Muslims leaving but the situation is completely under control now.
"No one is asking them to leave and we are providing full security in all communally sensitive areas," he told Reuters. (Reuters)