North Korea has adopted a new strategy to contend with its southern neighbor: sending floating bags of trash containing “filth” across the border, carried by massive balloons.

The South Korean military began noticing “large amounts of balloons” arriving from the North starting Tuesday night, detecting more than 150 as of Wednesday morning, according to the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Photos released by the JCS show plastic bags carried by two giant balloons, with some broken packages spilling scraps of plastic, sheets of paper, and what appears to be dirt onto roads and sidewalks.

The balloons so far contain “filth and garbage” and are being analyzed by government agencies, said the JCS, adding that the military was cooperating with the United Nations Command.

“North Korea’s actions clearly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens,” it added. “All responsibility arising from the North Korean balloons lies entirely with North Korea, and we sternly warn North Korea to immediately stop its inhumane and low-level actions.”

Local governments also sent messages to residents in the northern Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces to warn of the “unidentified objects,” and advised against outdoor activities. The packages risk damaging residential areas, airports and highways, said the JCS.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister Kim Yo Jong – who is also a senior official in the reclusive regime – referred to the activities as “freedom of expression.”

In a statement published by state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday, Kim said that North Korea had dispersed toilet paper and other waste materials in bags attached to the balloons along the Korean border and central areas.

Kim compared North Korea’s actions to South Korea’s years-long practice of sending balloons with anti-North Korea leaflets towards her nation.

“We’ve done some of the things they always do, but I don’t know why they’re making a big deal like they’ve been hit by a shower of fire,” Kim said.

The move, according to North Korean state media KCNA, was to retaliate against South Korean activists who often send materials to the North – including propaganda leaflets, food, medicine, radios and USB sticks containing South Korean news and television dramas, all prohibited in the isolated totalitarian dictatorship.

Campaigners in the South, including defectors from North Korea, have long sent these materials through balloons, drones, and bottles floating down the cross-border river – even after South Korea’s parliament banned such actions in 2020.

“Scattering leaflets by use of balloons is a dangerous provocation that can be utilized for a specific military purpose,” said Kim Kang Il, North Korea’s Vice Minister of National Defense, KCNA reported on Sunday.

He accused South Korea of using “psychological warfare” by scattering “various dirty things” near border areas, declaring that the North would take “tit for tat action.”

“Mounds of wastepaper and filth will soon be scattered over the border areas and the interior of (South Korea) and it will directly experience how much effort is required to remove them,” Kim said, according to KCNA. “When our national sovereignty, security and interests are violated, we will take action immediately.”

Kim also decried joint US-South Korea military drills, which have increased in recent years as tensions have risen in the Korean peninsula.

The 2020 law that prohibited sending leaflets also restricted loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, which the South’s military once championed as part of psychological warfare against the North until it withdrew the equipment following a 2018 summit between the two Koreas.

But even after parliament passed the ban, activists told Reuters they planned to continue – including the defector Park Sang-hak, who had been sending materials back to his homeland for 15 years, vowing to continue in an effort to give North Koreans a rare glimpse of the outside world.

Earlier this month, Park’s organization Fighters for a Free North Korea said in a statement it had sent 20 balloons toward North Korea, containing 300,000 leaflets that condemned Kim Jong Un and 2,000 USB sticks containing K-pop and music videos.

“In order to appeal and urge the North Korean people to rise up and put an end to Kim Jong Un … the group is sending the leaflets to the compatriots in North Korea,” the organization said in a statement.

For decades, North Korea has been almost completely closed off from the rest of the world, with tight control over what information gets in or out. Foreign materials including movies and books are banned, with only a few state-sanctioned exceptions; those caught with foreign contraband often face severe punishment, defectors say.

Earlier this year a South Korean research group has released rare footage that it claimed showed North Korean teenagers sentenced to hard labor for watching and distributing K-dramas.

Restrictions softened somewhat in recent decades as North Korea’s relationship with China expanded. Tentative steps to open up allowed some South Korean elements, including parts of its pop culture, to seep into the hermit nation – especially in 2017 and 2018, when relations thawed between the two countries.

But the situation in North Korea deteriorated in the following years and diplomatic talks fell apart – prompting strict rules to snap back into place in the North.

China Coast Guard ships have been in waters around Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea for a record 158 consecutive days, according to Tokyo’s latest count released Monday, surpassing the previous record set in 2021.

Analysts fear the uninhabited islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China, have the potential to become a flashpoint for conflict between the two Asian neighbors.

“The Japanese government takes very seriously the fact that there have been a succession of vessels sailing in the contiguous zone and trespassing in territorial waters,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at Monday briefing in Tokyo.

The Japanese government chief spokesperson did not say how often Chinese ships entered Japan’s territorial waters, though foreign ships are allowed “innocent passage” through such waters.

A contiguous zone extends another 12 nautical miles beyond a country’s territorial waters, the area that stretches 12 nautical miles from the shore.

Foreign warships are allowed into contiguous zone waters – so the Chinese Coast Guard hasn’t broken any international agreements – but the continuous presence of the Chinese vessels there is seen as a provocation.

Hayashi said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has raised Tokyo’s “serious concerns” with Chinese Premier Li Gongmin during a trilateral summit with South Korea in Seoul on Monday.

“We will continue to take every possible precaution and surveillance around the Senkaku Islands with a sense of urgency,” he said.

Competing claims

The uninhabited island chain has been a sore spot in Japan-China relations for years.

Claims over the rocky chain, 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo but only about 205 miles (330 kilometers) from China’s east coast, date back centuries, and neither Japan nor China is likely to back down over territory considered a national birthright in both capitals.

Tensions heated up in 2012, after Tokyo bought some of the islands from a private Japanese owner, which Beijing took as a direct challenge to its sovereignty claims.

It has frequently dispatched China Coast Guard and other government vessels to the waters around the islands to assert those claims.

“China’s patrol and law enforcement missions in waters off the Diaoyu Dao are legitimate measures taken by China to exercise its sovereignty in accordance with law and are necessary responses to Japanese provocations in violation of China’s sovereignty,” a 2022 Chinese Foreign Ministry document says.

“No country or force should misjudge the strong resolve of the Chinese government to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it says.

Experts have said China makes a statement and sets up a possible legal argument for sovereignty over the islands by keeping government ships near them.

Hayashi, the Japanese government spokesperson, said Monday that Tokyo is answering the Chinese presence around the islands with vessels of its own.

“We ensure a comprehensive security system for territorial waters by deploying Coast Guard patrol vessels that are consistently superior to other party’s capacity,” Hayashi said.

Any Japanese-Chinese incident in the Senkakus raises the risk of a wider conflict, analysts note, due to Japan’s mutual defense treaty with the United States.

Washington has made clear on numerous occasions that it considers the Senkakus to be covered by the mutual defense pact.

China exerts pressure at sea

The extended Chinese presence around the Senkakus comes as Chinese forces assert themselves in two other East Asian hotspots – around Taiwan and near Philippines-controlled features in the South China Sea.

China staged its largest military exercises this year around Taiwan last week after the island’s new democratically elected leader, President Lai Ching-te, who is openly loathed by Beijing for championing the island’s sovereignty and distinct identity, was sworn in.

China’s ruling Communist Party says Taiwan is part of its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take the island, by force if necessary.

And in the South China Sea, the China Coast Guard has been taking action against Philippine vessels trying to resupply a contingent of Philippine marines on Second Thomas Shoal, using water cannons on that have injured Filipino sailors and damaged their craft.

The developments come as leaders and military officials prepare to gather in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense summit.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is scheduled to give the keynote speech Friday evening, with Chinese-Philippine clashes around Second Thomas Shoal expected to be a prime topic.

The US and Chinese defense chiefs are also expected to address the conference.

Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been indicted on lese majeste charges, authorities said Wednesday, the latest twist in a decades-long political saga in the Southeast Asian kingdom.

The case, filed by police, alleged Thaksin violated Thailand’s notoriously harsh royal insult law during an interview he gave in 2015 to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

“The attorney general has decided to indict Thaksin on all charges,” spokesperson Prayuth Bejraguna, told reporters Wednesday. Thaksin will need to appear before the Office of the Attorney General on June 18, after which he will be taken to court. He could not appear at Wednesday’s hearing due to a Covid-19 infection, the spokesperson said.

Thaksin has denied the charges, according to the spokesperson, and has repeatedly pledged loyalty to the monarchy.

Thaksin, who served as prime minister from 2001 until he was ousted in a military coup in 2006, made a dramatic return to Thailand last August after 15 years in self-imposed exile and was taken into custody.

Some experts believe Thaksin may have struck a deal with the country’s powerful conservative and royalist establishment for his return – given his court convictions and the charges against him. Thaksin has denied the claim.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison for conflict of interest, abuse of power and corruption during his time in power, though his sentence was later reduced to one year. In February, the 74-year-old was released from detention after being granted parole, having served just six months in a police hospital.

Thailand has some of the world’s strictest royal defamation laws, and criticizing the king, queen, or heir apparent can lead to a maximum 15-year prison sentence for each offense.

Sentences for those convicted under Section 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Code, or lese majeste law, can be decades long, and hundreds of people have been prosecuted in recent years.

Earlier this month, the death of a young Thai activist in pre-trial detention for lese majeste charges shocked many in the country and sparked renewed calls for justice reform.

Thaksin, a former owner of Manchester City Football Club, is the head of a famed political dynasty that has dominated Thai politics for the past two decades, boasting two former prime ministers.

Even today, Pheu Thai — the latest party of the powerful Shinawatra clan — is in government after entering into a ruling coalition with its former military rivals following the May 2023 election. Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn is leader of the party.

Return from exile

Thaksin’s return to Thailand reintroduced a towering and divisive figure to Thailand at a tense political time.

Since his release from detention, Thaksin has traveled the country making a series of public appearances, including to his hometown of Chiang Mai where his support base is concentrated.

Throughout his time in power, Thaksin was hugely popular with Thailand’s rural and working class but his policies were loathed by rich elites and conservatives who accused him of being a dangerous and corrupt populist.

During his physical absence from the country, he retained an outsized influence on Thai politics and has remained at the center of the country’s tumultuous and often violent political landscape.

Thaksin has denied that he remains behind the scenes pulling the strings and insisted he returned to Thailand because he wants to enjoy his retirement and spend time with his family.

Some analysts suggest Thaksin sees himself as an “elder statesman” figure and that his old adversaries in the establishment still consider him a threat.

“The charge is politically driven, there’s no other way to put it,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University.

“They see him as a threat. He didn’t serve a day in jail which caused consternation because it was a double standard, and he wields influence over the Pheu Thai party in government.”

Thailand’s Constitutional Court last week accepted a petition seeking to remove Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin from office over his appointment of a Cabinet member, a lawyer and close Thaksin aide who had served jail time.

Pichit Chuenban was jailed for six months in 2008 for contempt of court after trying to bribe Supreme Court officials in a land case involving Thaksin.

Thitinan said the two cases are connected, and the lese majeste charge was a “way to keep Thaksin in line.”

“It’s an indictment and a reminder to Thaksin of who has real power in Thailand,” he said.

Calls for reform

For years, human rights organizations and free speech campaigners have said lese majeste has been used as a political tool to silence critics of the Thai government.

And rights groups say the right to freedom of expression in Thailand has come under increased attack since nationwide 2020 youth-led protests that saw millions of young people take to the streets calling for constitutional and democratic reforms – for the first time, openly criticizing the monarchy and publicly questioning its power and wealth.

Those protests came four years after King Maha Vajiralongkorn succeeded his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej who had reigned for seven decades.

Despite the change from a military-backed government to civilian leadership last year, surveillance and intimidation against activists and students continues, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The legal advocacy group said that since the start of those protests in July 2020 and up until March 2024, at least 1,954 people have been prosecuted or charged for their participation in political assemblies and for speaking out, with 286 of those cases involving children.

A push to reform the lese majeste laws gained significant traction ahead of the 2023 general election, which saw the progressive Move Forward Party win the most votes.

The party was ultimately blocked from forming a government over its reform agenda, and later the Constitutional Court ruled Move Forward violated the constitution through its campaign to amend the lese majeste law and ordered it to stop all related activities.

Cancer is often regarded as a disease of the modern age. However, medical texts from ancient Egypt indicate that healers of the time were aware of the condition. Now, new evidence from a skull more than 4,000 years old has revealed that ancient Egyptian physicians may have tried to treat certain cancers with surgery.

The skull belonged to a man who was about 30 to 35 years old when he died, and it resides in the Duckworth Laboratory collection at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Since the mid-19th century, scientists have studied the skull’s scarred surface, including multiple lesions thought to represent bone damage from malignant tumors. Archaeologists regard the skull, labeled 236 in the collection, as one of the oldest examples of malignancy in the ancient world, dating back to between 2686 BC and 2345 BC.

But when researchers recently peered more closely at the tumor scars with a digital microscope and micro-computed tomography (CT) scans, they detected signs of cut marks around the tumors, suggesting that sharp metal instruments had been used to remove the growths. The scientists reported the findings Wednesday in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.

“It was the very first time that humanity was dealing surgically with what we nowadays call cancer,” said senior study author Dr. Edgard Camarós, a professor in the department of history at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Coruña, Spain.

“If those cut marks were done with that person alive, we’re talking about some kind of treatment directly related to the cancer,” he said. But if the cut marks were made posthumously, “it means that this is a medical autopsy exploration in relation to that cancer.”

Either way, “it’s amazing to think that they performed a surgical intervention,” Camarós added. “But we cannot actually distinguish between a treatment and an autopsy.”

Medical ‘knowledge and mastery’

Medicine in ancient Egypt, documented extensively in medical texts such as the Ebers Papyrus and the Kahun Papyrus, was unquestionably sophisticated, and the new findings offer important, direct evidence of this knowledge, said Dr. Ibrahem Badr, an associate professor in the department of restoration and conservation of antiquities at Misr University for Science and Technology in Giza, Egypt.

“We can see that ancient Egyptian medicine was not solely based on herbal remedies like medicine in other ancient civilizations,” said Badr, who was not involved in the new research. “It directly relied on surgical practices.”

But while this evidence from antiquity was well studied during the 19th and 20th centuries, 21st century technologies, such as those used in the new study, are revealing previously unknown details about ancient Egypt’s medical arts, Badr added.

“The research provides a new and solid direction for reevaluating the history of medicine and pathology among ancient Egyptians,” he said. The study authors’ methods “transition their results from the realm of uncertainty and archaeological possibilities to the realm of scientific and medical certainty.”

The scientists also found cancer lesions in a second skull from the Duckworth collection. Labeled E270 and dating from 664 BC to 343 BC, it belonged to an adult woman who was at least 50 years old. The team identified three lesions on the specimen where malignant tumors had damaged the bone.

Unlike skull 236, E270 showed no signs of surgery related to the disease. But the woman’s skull did contain long-healed fractures, showing the success of prior medical intervention for head injuries.

“That person survived many years after that trauma,” Camarós said.

Writing cancer’s ‘biography’

The analysis of both skulls “is a remarkable piece of research that provides new and clear scientific evidence about the field of pathology and the development of medicine among the ancient Egyptians,” Badr said.

Badr, who collaborates with scientists from Europe and the United States to study atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in arterial walls) in ancient Egyptian mummies, explained that his work follows the same scientific direction as the skull investigation. By conducting detailed examinations of mummies using 21st century technologies such as CT scans and DNA sequencing, Badr and his colleagues hope to further illuminate the extent of medical knowledge in Egyptian antiquity.

“There is an urgent need to reevaluate the history of Egyptian medicine using these scientific methodologies,” Badr said. “By utilizing these modern techniques, we will be able to study and gain a more comprehensive and precise understanding of medicine in ancient Egypt.”

The new findings also help to complete a portion of cancer’s “obscure biography” by adding a chapter that was written thousands of years ago, Camarós added.

“The more we look into our past, the more we know that cancer was much more prevalent, much more present than we thought,” he said.

A medical milestone

Ancient Egyptians’ perception of cancer centered around the visible tumors that the disease produced. The earliest recorded observation of cancer is in an ancient Egyptian medical text known as the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, which dates back to around 3000 BC to 2500 BC. This text contains 48 case studies covering diverse ailments, including one description of breast cancer.

While healers in ancient Egypt may have been aware of cancer, treating it was another story. Most of the medical cases in the Edwin Smith papyrus included mention of medicines or strategies for healing. But there was none for the breast cancer patient’s tumors, Camarós said.

“It specifically says there’s no treatment,” he said. “They realized this was a frontier when it came to their medical knowledge.”

However, the incisions around the skull tumors suggest that healers in ancient Egypt were trying to change that, surgically removing the tumors to either heal the patient, or to examine the tumors more closely.

“We have these two possibilities: in a way that they tried to treat it, or in a way that they tried to medically understand it, in terms of probably treating it in the future,” Camarós said. “I think that’s a milestone in the history of medicine.”

Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.

American Tyler Wenrich was sentenced to three weeks in jail and fined Tuesday after he had pleaded guilty earlier this month to possession of ammunition while traveling to Turks and Caicos.

The Virginia resident was fined $9,000, Kimo Tynes, the director of communications for the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands, said in a news statement. Since he had already served three weeks in jail, the court recognized it as time served so his prison sentence is complete, the release said.

The 31-year-old American faced as much as a 12-year prison sentence. But the Hon. Justice Davidson Baptiste cited exceptional circumstances in Wenrich’s case and said, “Enforcing the mandatory minimum would have been arbitrary and disproportionate, and would not serve the public interest.”

Two other Americans have pleaded guilty and are out on bail while they await sentencing while a third has pleaded guilty, been sentenced and has returned back to the US.

In recent months, all were arrested and accused of bringing in various amounts of ammunition to the 40-island chain southeast of the Bahamas.

Bringing firearms or ammunition into Turks and Caicos without prior permission from police is “strictly forbidden,” according to a statement from its government.

In the Turks and Caicos, possession of firearms or ammunition carries a minimum 12-year sentence, though the law allows reduced sentences under “exceptional circumstances.”

Even though the territory doesn’t manufacture firearms or ammunition, the number of firearms finding their way to the islands has increased, Misick said. Meanwhile, the United States has more guns than people.

On Friday, American Bryan Hagerich of Pennsylvania pleaded guilty and received a 52-week sentence suspended for one year and a $6,700 fine, his representatives said. He returned to the United States after paying the fine.

In addition to Hagerich and Wenrich, one other American – Michael Lee Evans – pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition while traveling in Turks and Caicos, according to the territory’s government.

A fifth American, Sharitta Shinese Grier, was arrested last week and is awaiting trial after making bail, according to Tynes​​​​, with the Office of the Premier and Public Policy.

The mandatory minimum 12-year sentence for possession of firearms or ammunition is in place to protect those on the islands, and judges may use their discretion to impose reduced sentences, Turks and Caicos Gov. Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam said.

US citizens are not being targeted, Turks and Caicos officials said. Of the 195 people sentenced for firearm-related offenses over the past six years, only seven were US citizens, Misick said Thursday. No US citizen has received the 12-year sentence to date.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is increasingly resorting to overtly Islamophobic language during his election campaign, critics and observers say, as he seeks a third straight term governing the world’s most populous nation.

As turnout in the polls so far shows a slight dip from five years ago, the popular leader – and overwhelming favorite – has embraced negative campaigning, they say, and received little pushback from civil society or election authorities.

Followers of Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – and some of its top figures – have long been accused of using inflammatory language to describe the country’s 200 million Muslims, but rarely Modi himself. However this election has brought a clear shift, critics say.

“What is unique about what we’ve seen recently, is that these statements are being uttered by the Prime Minister himself,” Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Not necessarily by surrogates – the Home Minister, or by the chief minister – or by other kind of party apparatchiks.”

The shift in tone is making many Indian Muslims nervous.

“Modi and the BJP have for a long time been making references to the community, but it’s moved on from the dog whistle,” said political researcher and columnist Asim Ali. “It’s painting us as an existential threat to Hindus. It’s coming directly from the prime minister. It’s anti-Muslim, and it’s dangerous.”

Modi and his BJP have repeatedly said they do not discriminate against minority groups.

But analysts and observers have noted multiple speeches he’s made during this six-week election campaign, that began last month, specifically refer to Muslims and paint them in a negative light.

Calling Muslims “infiltrators” with “large families,” Modi has accused his main opposition, the Indian National Congress, without evidence, of intending to redistribute the country’s wealth to Muslims. He warned women that the opposition would take their gold and redistribute it to Muslims. He accused Congress of wanting to choose players on the Indian cricket team “on the basis of religion.” And he has claimed the party is conspiring to commit “vote jihad” by uniting “a certain community” against him.

For Irfan Nooruddin, a professor of Indian politics at Georgetown University, the rhetoric has “become much more starkly and overtly communal.”

“These are very central views within the BJP that are sometimes suppressed to avoid negative press or civil society pushback. With the media and civil society neutralized, the BJP no longer fears such consequences and so can pull back the veil,” he said.

“The BJP understands that its path to a majority in parliament – especially a super-majority that would allow it to amend the constitution – is to consolidate the Hindu vote and to prevent the opposition from making inroads through economic appeals,” added Nooruddin.

Signs of anxiety?

The prime minister has set an ambitious target for his alliance to win 400 seats in the country’s Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament, in this election.

Many in the country say their lives have been transformed under his leadership, aided by his far-reaching welfare and development schemes. Weeks before voting began, analysts were certain his party would sweep the polls yet again.

Since April 19, millions have flocked to polling booths to cast their vote. But turnout across six phases so far has slightly dipped from the record highs of 2019, and this might be causing anxiety among BJP leaders, analysts say.

The chief minister of Delhi, popular opposition leader and staunch Modi critic, Arvind Kejriwal, was temporarily allowed out of prison earlier this month after being arrested on corruption charges, in a case his allies claimed was politically motivated. His release has galvanized a once flattened opposition, uniting them to deliver a tough fight to Modi and his BJP.

“This election is becoming competitive,” said political researcher Ali, suggesting that a tighter race in key seats might be motivating the ruling party to ramp up the inflammatory language. “The BJP is a favorite but their target is ambitious, and this rhetoric appeals to their vote bank.”

Many have accused the prime minister of tacitly endorsing sectarianism to bolster his Hindu-nationalist credentials, while diverting from policy failures – such as youth unemployment, which now stands at close to 50% among 20- to 24-year-olds, and the vast wealth gap in the country, which according to a recent study is more unequal than it was during British rule.

“The BJP’s track record on economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation is weak,” Nooruddin, from Georgetown University, said. “These bread-and-butter issues are central to election campaigns and the opposition has really sought to emphasize them. So, I think the BJP’s resort to overt communal rhetoric is an effort to fight an election on its preferred terms rather than on issues where it is vulnerable.”

Muslim independent journalist Alishan Jafri noted that the day-to-day struggles brought by poverty and unemployment are “affecting Muslims as much as it’s affecting poor Hindus,” pointing to some 800 million people dependent on rations provided by the government.

“To tell (Hindus) that Muslims will take away even half of that is surely going to scare them and divide the communities on religious lines. That the mainstream media has refused to push back tells us two things: they are compromised, or they support it.”

Global reputation

Modi’s government posits India as a leader on the global stage. His calendar last year included diplomatic trips to Australia and the United States, and he presents himself as a statesman cementing the country as a modern power.

Last year India overtook China to become the world’s most populous nation, while the year before it surpassed former colonial power Britain to become the world’s fifth-largest economy. According to Vaishnav, the muted response to Modi’s divisive language from Western leaders must be seen through the prism through which they view India – as a balance against an increasingly assertive China.

At home, analysts say, his grip on power has allowed him to make such comments with little pushback from civil society.

“The Election Commission is pretty toothless and what powers it has had have been further weakened by changes made to how commissioners are appointed by making the Prime Minister’s Office more central to that process,” Nooruddin said.

Modi’s April 21 speech about “infiltrators” has ignited widespread anger among Muslim leaders and opposition politicians, and calls for election authorities to investigate. BJP party spokespeople subsequently said Modi was talking specifically about undocumented migrants.

The election commission has asked the BJP to respond to the allegations. But opposition groups and critics say the response is not strong enough.

Globally, independent polls suggest that India’s image is declining in some countries around the world and there is some criticism about the government’s Hindu nationalist ambitions.

“The anti-Muslim rhetoric used on the campaign trail will unfortunately further damage India’s reputation globally. This is unnecessary at a time when India should be ascendant,” Nooruddin said.

For Jafri, the journalist, the effects are clear.

“I can’t express what millions of people feel as a collective, but I am sure that nobody likes being constantly abused, bullied, betrayed, and singled out,” he said. “Some feel attacked and humiliated. Many have become cynical, and they don’t expect any better from this regime and its supporters.”

Hong Kong police have made their first arrests under a newly passed local national security law over social media posts deemed “seditious” by authorities, just days ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The city’s national security police on Tuesday arrested six people on suspicion of committing acts with seditious intent, according to a police statement.

Security chief Chris Tang confirmed one of those arrested was Chow Hang-tung, a leading organizer of the huge Tiananmen vigils that used to be held in Hong Kong but are now effectively outlawed. Chow is already in custody on charges related to her democracy activism.

In their statement, police accused an unnamed woman in custody and five others of taking advantage of “an approaching sensitive date” to anonymously publish seditious posts on social media since April.

The goal, police alleged, was to “incite citizens’ hatred of the central authorities, the city government and the judiciary, and to incite netizens to organize or participate in illegal activities later on.”

The statement did not state the upcoming sensitive date. However next Tuesday marks the anniversary of Beijing’s June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, an event that has been scrubbed from the record by Chinese authorities and can no longer be safely commemorated in Hong Kong.

Chow, a lawyer and one of the city’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, was previously twice jailed for holding unauthorized vigils to commemorate Beijing’s bloody military crackdown. She is currently in custody on a national security charge.

Tang was asked by reporters if the authorities were referring to the June 4 commemoration in the statement announcing the latest arrests.

“The date itself is not important,” he replied. “The most important thing is that people who want to endanger national security use these topics to incite citizens’ hatred against the Central government, our government and our judiciary.”

Those arrested were five women and a man, aged between 37 and 65, police said, adding they could face up to 7 years in prison if convicted.

Police raided the homes of five of the suspects and seized items including electronic devices that officers suspect were used to publish the “seditious messages,” according to the statement.

“Those who intend to endanger national security should not have the delusion that they can avoid police investigation by going anonymous online,” the statement added.

The arrests marked the first time Hong Kong’s own national security law had been invoked since it was unanimously passed by the city’s opposition-free legislature in March.

Locally known as Article 23, the law was rushed through at the request of city leader John Lee and debated over just 11 days.

The legislation introduces 39 new national security crimes, adding to an already powerful national security law that was directly imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in 2020 after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before.

That law has already transformed Hong Kong with authorities jailing dozens of political opponents, forcing civil society groups and outspoken media outlets to disband and transforming the once freewheeling city into one that prioritizes patriotism.

The local national security legislation covers a raft of new crimes including treason, espionage, external interference and unlawful handling of state secrets, with the most serious offenses punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Lee, Hong Kong’s leader, described it as a “historic moment for Hong Kong,” but critics and analysts warned it would align the financial hub’s national security laws more closely with those used on the Chinese mainland and deepen an ongoing crackdown on dissent.

For decades, Hong Kong had been the only place on Chinese soil where mass commemorations were held on every June 4 to commemorate the pro-democracy protesters killed by Chinese troops in 1989.

The vigils were held by the now-disbanded organization Hong Kong Alliance, of which Chow was a leading figure within.

But the candlelight vigils had been all but banned since 2020, as authorities sought to snuff out all public commemorations of the crackdown, which remains the biggest political taboo in mainland China.

In 2020 and 2021, Hong Kong authorities banned the event on Covid-19 restrictions grounds, but small crowds continued to show up and light candles.

Chow was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2022 for her part in organizing an unauthorized vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre the year before. At the time, she was already serving a 12-month sentence for her role in organizing the 2020 Tiananmen vigil.

In a separate case, Chow was charged in 2021 with inciting subversion of state power over her role in Hong Kong Alliance.

Pope Francis allegedly told Italian bishops to not permit gay men to train for the priesthood, with two Italian newspapers claiming that the 87-year-old pontiff made a homophobic slur in a closed-door meeting last week.

Citing sources from inside the meeting, the Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica newspapers reported Monday that the Pope had made the comments while meeting with Italian bishops on May 20.

The remarks took place in the context of proposals from the Italian bishops to amend guidelines on candidates to seminaries.

The newspaper articles, which were translated from Italian, claimed the Pope had used an offensive noun which translates into English approximately as “f*****ry, to describe some of the seminaries.

The Vatican ruled in 2005 that the church cannot allow the ordination of men who are actively gay or have “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies. In 2016, Francis upheld this ruling.

Two years later he told the Italian bishops not to accept gay candidates for the priesthood.

During his pontificate, the Pope has sought to offer a more welcoming approach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, saying “who am I to judge?” when asked about gay priests, and has also offered the possibility that priests could offer informal blessings for same-sex couples.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper stated that the Argentine pope, who speaks Italian as a second language, may not have been aware of how offensive his language was, adding that the remark was greeted with incredulous laughter by the bishops.

There is no official transcript of the comments due to the nature of the closed-door meeting.

Dakhla, a small city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is mostly controlled by Morocco, is located on a long spit of sand between the Atlantic Ocean and a saltwater lagoon. Its consistent wind makes it a hotspot for kitesurfing enthusiasts, but a new port, currently halfway through construction, could turn the area into a gateway for trade.

The $1.2 billion megaproject is expected to complete in 2028. Spanning 1,650 hectares, the complex will include a trade port with an oil terminal, a fishing port and a shipyard. There will be a bridge linking the port to the land and a 7-kilometer road that connects the port with a national highway that runs along the coast as far north as Tangier and as far south as the border with Mauritania.

This will not only boost Morocco’s economy, she says, but it could help the country become a maritime hub for worldwide trade, connecting regions such as West Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, the Canary Islands and even South America.

“The geographic location is key (to) the success of the port,” she says, adding that the project has attracted significant foreign investment, including from the United Arab Emirates.

Gateway to Africa

The project is part of Morocco’s national port strategy, which aims to modernize and strengthen port infrastructure by 2030, in order to enhance its role in global supply chains.

Seaports such as Casablanca, Tanger-Med and Agadir have already been or are being upgraded, but because of its location, the Dakhla port is seen as particularly significant in opening up other parts of the African continent for the world to trade with.

“We strongly believe that with this infrastructure – port infrastructure, road infrastructure, renewable energy – we will be very attractive for investors that aim to get to one of the fastest growing markets, which is the West African market,” says Mounir Houari, general manager of Dakhla’s Regional Investment Center.

With the implementation of Africa’s continental free trade agreement, which aims to create a single market for goods and services, the port could encourage the processing of raw materials within the continent.

“Less than 5% of African natural resources are processed in Africa because there is no industrial infrastructure and exporting infrastructure,” says Houari. The Dakhla port “will encourage many Africans to start processing natural resources in Africa, allowing African countries to create more jobs to improve their skills and know-how and strengthen their own industries.”

The Sahel region, especially landlocked countries such as Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso, are expected to benefit. Houari explains that Morocco has granted the region access to its road and port infrastructure, providing “a door to the Atlantic maritime trade.”

Turloch Mooney, head of port intelligence and analytics at research firm S&P Global Market Intelligence, says the development could be beneficial to the region. “It is very positive to see modern port and trade infrastructure being developed in the Western Sahara where there is potential to support a large hinterland in West Africa and the Sahel,” he says. “Quality port infrastructure and efficient port operations is part of the package of assurance for foreign direct investment and has been a key factor in the successful growth strategies of many developing countries.”

But Western Sahara and the Sahel region has a long history of unrest. “Local disputes can make developing port infrastructure and reliable logistics much more challenging,” says Mooney.

He cautions that infrastructure alone won’t drive trade growth in the region, and that the port’s success will depend on good governance, reliable transport connections and political stability.

Temperatures rose above 52 degrees Celsius (125.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, the highest reading of the summer and close to the country’s record high amid an ongoing heat wave, the met office said on Monday.

Extreme temperatures throughout Asia over the past month were made worse most likely as a result of human-driven climate change, a team of international scientists have said.

In Mohenjo Daro, a town in Sindh known for archaeological sites that date back to the Indus Valley Civilization built in 2500 BC, temperatures rose as high as 52.2 C (126 F) over the last 24 hours, a senior official of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Shahid Abbas told Reuters.

The reading is the highest of the summer so far, and approached the town’s and country’s record highs of 53.5 C (128.3 F) and 54 C (129.2 F) respectively.

Mohenjo Daro is a small town that experiences extremely hot summers and mild winters, and low rainfall, but its limited markets, including bakeries, tea shops, mechanics, electronic repair shops, and fruit and vegetable sellers, are usually bustling with customers.

But with the current heat wave, shops are seeing almost no footfall.

“The customers are not coming to the restaurant because of extreme heat. I sit idle at the restaurant with these tables and chairs and without any customers,” Wajid Ali, 32, who owns a tea stall in the town.

“I take baths several times a day which gives me a little relief. Also there is no power. The heat has made us very uneasy.”

Close to Ali’s shop is an electronic repairs shop run by Abdul Khaliq, 30, who was sat working with the shop’s shutter half down to shield him from the sun. Khaliq also complained about the heat affecting business.

Local doctor Mushtaq Ahmed added that the locals have adjusted to living in the extreme weather conditions and prefer staying indoors or near water.

“Pakistan is the fifth most vulnerable country to the impact of climate change. We have witnessed above normal rains, floods,” Rubina Khursheed Alam, the prime minister’s coordinator on climate, said at a news conference on Friday adding that the government is running awareness campaigns due to the heat waves.

The highest temperature recorded in Pakistan was in 2017 when temperatures rose to 54 C (129.2 F) in the city of Turbat, located in the Southwestern province of Balochistan. This was the second hottest in Asia and fourth highest in the world, said Sardar Sarfaraz, Chief Meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department

The heat wave will subside in Mohenjo Daro and surrounding areas, but another spell is expected to hit other areas in Sindh, including the capital, Karachi — Pakistan’s largest city.