Amid China’s deepening crackdown on labor activists, Wei Zhili, the editor of an online labor rights advocacy platform called iLabour, was officially arrested on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on Friday – almost five months after he was taken away from his home in China’s southern city of Guangzhou.

Police presented a statement allegedly made by Wei to dismiss the lawyer of his family’s choice – a decision his family said is “clearly against his will.”

“We are afraid that the police may have tortured him and threatened him so that he decided to unhire that lawyer,” one of Wei’s family members told VOA over the weekend anonymously.

Legal Presentation Denied?

Wei’s family said they feel “sad and hopeless,” fearing that Wei has been deprived of his basic rights to seek legal presentation or his next government-appointed lawyer will not look after his best interest. 

Wei’s wife Zheng Churan, a well-known feminist in China, is barred from talking to foreign media about her husband’s case. Three months ago, she began a running campaign with a goal to complete 10,000 kilometers and hopes that her loved one will be set free by the time she meets the goal. 

If convicted, Wei may face up to a 10-year jail term, according to the lawyer of his family’s choice, whose requests to meet with his client were rejected twice by local police. 

Two of Wei’s colleagues – Yang Zhengjun and Ke Chengbing, who were also seized by police from Shenzhen respectively in January and March – may face a similar fate, according to rights groups, which have been demanding the immediate release of the three journalists, dedicated to labor rights.   

The three, known as “iLabour Three,” had used the news outlet to publish information on the cases of migrant workers from Hunan province who had contracted pneumoconiosis – an occupational lung disease, while also counseling them about defending their labor rights and petitioning over their grievances.

Set iLabour Three Free

“These journalists were serving the public interest by exposing life-threatening labor violations, and therefore they should never have been arrested,” said Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a press statement released last week.

He insisted that the Chinese Constitution “enshrines freedom of the press and safe working conditions.”

RSF estimated that “at least 114 journalists and bloggers are currently imprisoned in life-threatening condition in China.” 

In its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, the international group ranks China’s level of press freedom the 177th out of a total of 180 countries, which suggests China’s reporting environment only outperforms that in Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan.    

Sweeping Crackdown

Also, a group of online campaigners, which run a Facebook page titled Global Support for Disappeared Left Activists in China, noted that, since last July’s Jasic Incident, more than 130 labor rights activists have been detained or disappeared in China. Over 50 of them remain missing or in custody. 

The Jasic incident was a month-long labor rights conflict, in which, workers from Jasic Technologies Co in Shenzhen, dissatisfied with what they alleged were low pay and poor working conditions, staged protests and sought to form a labor union. 

Their calls drew support from students and professors at more than 20 universities. The Facebook group says more than 60 workers and supporters ended up being detained.

China’s state-controlled Xinhua news, in August, placed the blame on labor groups and foreign forces, saying a Shenzhen-based labor center that partners with Hong Kong-based Worker Empowerment, fanned the protests.  It failed to mention that the workers were protesting due to labor rights violations and state violence. 

Since then, the group observed that the authorities’ targets of arrests have ranged from worker organizers, leftist students, labor organizations staff and even social workers.  

Analysts noted that the detention of workers and supporters, plus the state media’s efforts to discredit them, showed the lengths Chinese authorities would go to, to crush worker disputes.

And China’s crackdown on labor activists has become so widespread that it’s hard to tell what activities are viewed by the authorities as crossing the red line, said Li Qiang, founder and executive director of China Labor Watch.

Riskier Labor Activism

In other words, anything that is beyond the Communist Party’s control will threaten the party’s rule and risk being suppressed, Li Qiang added.

“The Communist Party is concerned that, once highly-educated students or intellectuals with ideology join hands with the working class and get involved in the workers’ movement, the situation may get out of control and become detrimental [to its rule]. What worries the party the most is workers groups being organized,” said Li, who is currently based in New York.

Caught in the government’s crackdown, labor rights activists in China face an even more unclear and risker fate if they continue their activism, Li said. 

No one knows yet what causes eczema, the collective name for a group of skin conditions that result in  itchy, red patches on the skin. Eczema can appear on any part of the body, and it can be a lifelong affliction. Most often, it affects children, but adults can get it, too.    

Ava Segur developed eczema shortly after she was born. She’s now a teenager. Segur says she used to wear long-sleeved shirts to hide the bumps and rashes. Her mother, Stephanie Segur, says doctors were trying to get the eczema under control when Ava suddenly developed food allergies at about 18 months old. 

This turned out not to be a coincidence, but part of something called “Atopic March,” a genetic tendency to develop allergic diseases. 

“Probably a third of patients with eczema develop a food allergy,” said Dr. Donald Leung, an allergist and immunologist at National Jewish Health, a research hospital in Denver, Colorado, where Atopic March is studied.

Eczema patients have dry, cracked skin. If children have food particles on their fingers or underneath their nails, food can enter the body through the skin, instead of through the digestive tract. Other environmental allergens such as pollen can penetrate, as well. 

Heather Karazim recalls that when her daughter, Lucie, was a baby, she would scratch until her skin bled. Karazim constantly worried about infections. 

Leung says patients with eczema should see an atopic dermatitis expert to get control of the eczema quickly and to prevent the progression of Atopic March. Research shows that a warm, not-hot, 20-minute bath, followed by a thick moisturizer or ointment, helps rebuild the skin barrier. The ointment keeps a film of water on the skin and prevents it from evaporating. 

Wet wraps can be put on a child’s arms and legs, covered by dry clothing. Mitts prevent babies from scratching; wrapping the head also seals in moisture. 

Eczema is a troublesome skin condition. It’s itchier at night, and can interrupt the child’s and the parents’ sleep. The disease can impact the entire family, especially if it interferes with a parent or caregiver’s ability to work. And there’s the emotional impact of not being able to soothe the baby.   

Kristen Kline, whose infant son has eczema, says she “can’t even explain the relief that we’ve really gotten from (treatment).” She said it’s “huge” that the soak and seal treatment can prevent future allergies. 

Researchers are developing a way to test every element of the skin so they can identify what weakens the skin barrier and repair it before children develop potentially lifelong issues.

Two French charities pulled another 81 migrants from the waters off Libya Sunday, bringing the number of those it rescued at sea since Friday to 211.

Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranean jointly operate the Norwegian-flagged rescue ship Ocean Viking.

Most of those it picked up over the past three days are Sudanese men, including the 81 rescued from a flimsy rubber dinghy Sunday. Witnesses on the Ocean Viking say the men on the raft waved and cheered when they saw the ship approaching.

“We’re the only ones in the area, the Libyan coast guard doesn’t respond,” SOS Mediterranean rescue coordinator Nicholas Romaniuk told an AFP reporter.

He said he expects more migrants leaving Libya over the next few days because of good weather and the Eid al-Adha holiday reducing the number of police patrolling the beaches.

Meanwhile, a Spanish aid group, Open Arms, said it has 160 migrants aboard its rescue ship, including three who need “specialized medical attention.”

Open Arms founder Oscar Camps made another appeal Sunday to European governments for help, especially Italy, which is the closest safe port.

“Tenth day on board on a scorching Sunday in August. We have 160 reasons to carry on, 160 human beings who have the right to disembark at a safe port. Shame on you, Europe,” Camps tweeted.

Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Italy is not “legally bound nor disposed to take in clandestine unidentified migrants.”

Italy has complained it has done more than its share of allowing migrants to dock and wants other EU nations to do more to help.

Thousands of migrants from Africa try to reach EU shores from Libya every year. Those who are not rescued by charities are either left on unsafe boats to or picked up by the Libyan coast guard and returned to Libya, where they are housed in detention facilities.

Some of those facilities have been caught in the fighting between rival governments in Libya. A missile slammed into one detention building outside Tripoli in July, killing 53.

 

Gold medal fencer Race Imboden says he has no regrets about getting down on one knee instead of standing before the U.S. flag at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Imboden is one of two U.S. athletes facing sanctions from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for their acts of protest at the medal ceremonies.

African American hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised a clenched fist while the “Star Spangled Banner” played during her team’s gold medal ceremony on Saturday.

Imboden told CNN television Sunday that the two mass shootings last week in El Paso and Dayton while he was in Peru were the catalyst for his protest during the medal ceremony on Friday.

Imboden said he represents what he calls “white privilege” and that it is time for a different face to be seen objecting to what is going on in the U.S. and the world.

“Racism, gun control, mistreatment of immigrants and a president who spreads hate” are more important to him at this time than a gold medal, he said.

Berry said she raised her clenched fist to protest injustice in the U.S. and what she described as a “president who’s making it worse.”

Trump has not commented on the protests. But U.S. Olympics officials said, “Every athlete competing at the 2019 Pan American Games commits to terms of eligibility, including to refrain from demonstrations that are political in nature. … We respect their (Imboden and Berry) rights to express their viewpoints, but are disappointed that they chose not to honor their commitment. Our leadership are reviewing what consequences may result.”

Imboden’s “taking a knee” came three years after National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem at his San Francisco 49ers games, setting off a nationwide debate. He said he was protesting police brutality against young black men.

The 49ers released Kaepernick and he has not been able to find another NFL job since.  

Berry’s raised fist hearkened back to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, when U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to protest violence and racism. A photo of their gesture has since become a symbol of dissent.

 

Once considered the Islamic State’s de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa is slowly recovering, nearly two years after its liberation from the terror group.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated Raqqa from IS in October 2017. But during the 3-month-long battle, much of the city’s infrastructure was reduced to rubble.

Local officials complain the international coalition to defeat IS, which helped free the city, lost interest in rebuilding Raqqa as the focus has shifted to other areas recently liberated from IS.

“We used to meet second-tier coalition officials – sometimes from the first tier,” said Abdullah Aryan, head of the planning department at the Raqqa Civil Council, which has been largely responsible for reconstruction.

“But now we only get visits by an employee from the French ministry of defense or British ministry of agriculture or an employee responsible for civil society in the U.S. government,” he told VOA.

Emergency solutions

The lack of funding is forcing local officials to concentrate the limited money on restoring essential services, which will allow more displaced people to return.

For other restoration projects, they rely on low-cost efforts.

“To repair roads and bridges, we had to use primitive methods. We basically brought rubble from elsewhere in the city and used it to backfill destroyed bridges and roads,” Abdullah al-Ali, an engineer with the Raqqa Reconstruction Committee, said.

“We have too little money for anything more than this emergency solution,” al-Ali added.

According to local officials, the battle against IS destroyed nine main bridges over the Euphrates River and nearby irrigation canals. So far only three bridges have been repaired.

City in ruins

Upon returning, Raqqa residents find much of the city still littered with wreckage.

“We found our properties were knocked to the ground,” said Abdulkarim Issa, 41, who returned to Raqqa five months after it was liberated.

Issa pointed to a nearby building, destroyed in fighting, but that recently had been rebuilt. “But the owners of another building were asked to pay 1 billion Syrian pounds (roughly US $2 million) to rebuild it. But they didn’t have that money, so they went to regime-controlled areas,” he told VOA.

The deteriorating local economy makes some returnees question their decision.  

“The economic situation is bad,” said Um Hassan, whose children chose not to return to Raqqa, citing a lack of job opportunities.

“The market movement is slow and prices are too high. And there is no electricity,” she added.

Return of extremism?

If some progress isn’t made soon in Raqqa, local officials warn, they worry extremism could rise again, here and in other areas liberated from IS.

“War on terror isn’t only military. If we don’t pay attention to agriculture, education and health care in the next 10 years, a new generation of terrorists will rise here,” Aryan, of the Raqqa Civil Council, said.

He said that during four years of IS rule, children, in particular, were educated with the most extremist curriculum.

“We need to act fast and amend the situation before it’s too late,” Aryan said.

US contribution

The United States last year cut about $230 million in funding for northeast Syria. Washington said other members of the anti-IS coalition, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, should increase financial contributions to the Syrian rebuilding effort.

Despite the cuts, the U.S. remains the largest single national humanitarian donor for the Syrian response, providing nearly $8.1 billion in humanitarian assistance since the start of the crisis for displaced people inside Syria and in the region.

The U.S. has also been a major contributor of mine-clearance efforts in Raqqa and other parts of Syria, where IS and other militant groups have left behind thousands of landmines and other improvised explosives.

From 2013 to 2018, the U.S. contributed more than $81 million to humanitarian mine action efforts in northeast Syria, according to a State Department annual report on U.S. mine removal efforts worldwide.

 

The issue of gun violence has been dominating U.S. political debate in the wake of mass shootings last weekend in Texas and Ohio.  While members of Congress are on their August recess, Democratic presidential candidates are calling for action and Republican President Donald Trump is promising more rigorous screening of gun buyers.  VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports.

Once considered Islamic State’s de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa is slowly recovering, nearly two years after its liberation from the Islamic State terror group. Local officials and residents complain there is too little money to rebuild their city. VOA’s Sirwan Kajjo reports from Raqqa.

Former defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse formally launched his bid for Sri Lanka’s presidency Sunday, vowing to battle “extremist terrorism” in the wake of the deadly Easter Sunday suicide attacks.

The 70-year-old — and his ex-president brother, Mahinda — have been critical of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s handling of the bombings, which were blamed on a local Islamist jihadi group in the Buddhist-majority nation.

The attacks targeting three churches and three hotels claimed the lives of at least 258 people and left nearly 500 wounded. Since then, the country has been under a state of emergency.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse will stand for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) party, which was formed recently by his older brother, who ruled for a decade from 2005.

The SLPP is a breakaway faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which is nominally led by current President Maithripala Sirisena.

Highlighting frequent schisms in the country’s politics, the SLFP in turn broke away from a coalition with premier Wickremesinghe’s right-wing United National Party (UNP) earlier this year.

“I will not allow extremist terrorism under my presidency,” Gotabhaya Rajapakse said at the launch of his campaign for presidential elections, which are due later this year.

He was in charge of the defense ministry as its top bureaucrat when security forces crushed Tamil rebels and ended a 37-year separatist war in May 2009.

The no-holds-barred military campaign also triggered allegations of grave human rights abuses, including the killing of up to 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting.

Gothabhaya Rajapakse is currently on bail facing prosecution for allegedly siphoning off millions of rupees of state cash to build a monument for his parents when his brother was president.

He also faces a civil suit in the United States for allegedly causing the death of a prominent anti-establishment newspaper editor in Sri Lanka in January 2009.

Wickremesinghe has indicated he too wants to run for president, but his party is yet to nominate an official candidate amid major internal clashes over his leadership.

Incumbent Sirisena also plans to run again.

 

Myanmar troops and emergency responders scrambled to provide aid in flood-hit parts of the country Sunday after rising waters forced residents to flee by boat and a landslide killed at least 52 people.

Every year monsoon rains hammer Myanmar and other countries across Southeast Asia, submerging homes, displacing residents and triggering landslides.

But this season’s deluge has tested disaster response after a fatal landslide on Friday in southeastern Mon state was followed by heavy flooding that reached the roofs of houses and treetops in nearby towns.

Hundreds of soldiers, firefighters and local rescue workers were still pulling bodies and vehicles out of the muddy wreckage of Paung township on Sunday.

“The latest death toll we have from the landslide in Mon state was 52,” Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told AFP.

As the rainy season reaches its peak, the country’s armed forces are pitching in and have readied helicopters to deliver supplies.

“Access to affected regions is still good. Our ground forces can reach the areas so far,” Zaw Min Tun said.

Heavy rains pounded other parts of Mon, Karen and Kachin states, flooding roads and destroying bridges that crumbled under the weight of the downpour.

But the bulk of the relief effort is focused on hard-hit Mon, which sits on the coast of the Andaman sea.

About two-thirds of the state’s Ye township remained flooded, an administrator said, as drone footage showed only the tops of houses, tree branches and satellite dishes poking above the waters.

‘We thought we were dead’

Families realized they had to leave in the early hours Sunday, packing possessions into boats, rowing towards higher ground or swimming away.

Than Htay, a 40-year-old from Ye town, told AFP that water rose to their waists around 02:00 am and she and her family members started shouting for help.

The heavy rains muffled their pleas but a boat happened to pass by and gave them a ride.

“That’s why we survived. We thought we were dead,” she said.

Another resident said this year’s flooding was the worst they had experienced.

Floodwaters have submerged more than 4,000 houses in the state and displaced more than 25,000 residents who have sought shelter in monasteries and pagodas, according to state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.

Vice President Henry Van Thio visited landslide survivors in a Paung township village on Saturday and “spoke of his sorrow” while promising relief, the paper reported.

The search for victims continued later Sunday though the rain has made the process more difficult.

“We are still working. We will continue searching in the coming days as well,” Paung township administrator Zaw Moe Aung said.

Climate scientists in 2015 ranked Myanmar at the top of a global list of nations hardest hit by extreme weather.

That year more than 100 people died in floods that also displaced hundreds of thousands.

 

Syrian government forces captured an important village in the northwestern province of Idlib on Sunday, drawing close to a major town in the last rebel stronghold in the country, state media and opposition activists said.

 The capture of Habeet opens up an approach to southern regions of Idlib, which is home to some 3 million people, many of them displaced by fighting in other parts of the country. Habeet is also close to the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which has been held by rebels since 2012, and to parts of the highway linking the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest.
 
Syrian troops have been trying to secure the M5 highway, which has been closed since 2012. Idlib is a stronghold for al-Qaida-linked militants and other armed groups.
 
Syrian troops have been attacking Idlib and a stretch of land around it since April 30. The three-month campaign of airstrikes and shelling has killed more than 2,000 people on both sides and displaced some 400,000.
 
The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said the Syrian army captured the village after fierce fighting with al-Qaida-linked militants.
 
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, described the capture of Habeet as “the most important advance” by government forces since April 30. It said the overnight fighting left 18 insurgents and nine pro-government gunmen dead.
 
Syrian troops have been pushing their way into Idlib and rebel-held northern parts of Hama province in recent weeks under the cover of intense airstrikes and shelling.
 
In Damascus, meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad attended Eid al-Adha prayers in a mosque.
 
State news agency SANA showed Assad attending the Muslim prayers early Sunday at Afram Mosque along with top officials, including the prime minister and the country’s grand mufti.
 
Over the past few years, Assad’s forces have been able to capture most areas controlled by rebels in other parts of the country, including the eastern suburbs of Damascus.
 
Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, marks the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham to Christians and Jews) to sacrifice his son.

 

 

Tanzania was in mourning Sunday, preparing to bury 69 people who perished when a crashed fuel tanker exploded as crowds rushed to syphon off leaking petrol.

President John Magufuli declared a period of mourning through Monday following the deadly blast near the town of Morogoro, west of Dar es Salaam.

He will be represented at the funerals by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, an official statement said.

“We’re currently mourning the loss of 69 people, the last of whom died while being transferred by helicopter to the national hospital in Dar es Salaam,” Majaliwa told residents in comments broadcast on Tanzanian television.

The number of injured stood at 66, he said.

The burials will start Sunday afternoon, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jenista Mhagama announced during the morning after relatives identified the dead.

“The preparations for the burials have been completed. Individual graves have been dug and the coffins are ready,” Mhagama said, adding that experts would be available to offer psychological counselling to the victims’ relatives.

DNA tests would be carried out on bodies that were no longer recognizable, Mhagama said, adding that families could take the remains of their loved ones and organize their own burials if they preferred.

In the latest in a series of similar disasters in Africa, 39 seriously hurt patients had been taken to hospital in Dar es Salaam while 17 others were being treated in Morogoro, 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the economic capital of Tanzania.

Footage from the scene showed the truck engulfed in flames and huge clouds of black smoke, with charred bodies. The burnt-out remains of motorcycle taxis lie scattered on the ground among scorched trees.

A video posted on social media showed dozens of people carrying yellow jerricans around the truck.

‘No-one wanted to listen’

“We arrived at the scene with two neighbors just after the truck was overturned. While some good Samaritans were trying to get the driver and the other two people out of the truck, others were jostling each other, equipped with jerricans, to collect petrol,” teacher January Michael told AFP.

“At the same time, someone was trying to pull the battery out of the vehicle. We warned that the truck could explode at any moment but no one wanted to listen, so we went on our way, but we had barely turned on our heels when we heard the explosion.”

President Magufuli called Saturday for people to stop the dangerous practice of stealing fuel in such a way, a common event in many poor parts of Africa.

He issued a statement saying he was “very shocked” by the looting of fuel from damaged vehicles.

“There are vehicles that carry dangerous fuel oil, as in this case in Morogoro, there are others that carry toxic chemicals or explosives, let’s stop this practice, please,” Magufuli said.

Last month, 45 people were killed and more than 100 injured in central Nigeria when a petrol tanker crashed and then exploded as people tried to take the fuel.

Among the deadliest such disasters, 292 people lost their lives in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2010, and in September 2015 at least 203 people died the South Sudan town of Maridi.

 

 

Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir said that they eased restrictions Sunday in most parts of Srinagar, the main city, ahead of an Islamic festival following India’s decision to strip the region of its constitutional autonomy.

Magistrate Shahid Choudhary in a tweet said that more than 250 ATMs have been made functional and bank branches opened for people to withdraw money ahead of Monday’s Eid al-Adha festival.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of reports by authorities that people were visiting shopping areas for festival purchases because all communications and the internet remain cut off for a seventh day.

Authorities appear to be acting with utmost caution because of a fear of a backlash from residents who have been forced to stay indoors since last Monday.

India’s main opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said there are reports of violence and “people dying” in the region. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Gandhi said “things are going very wrong there,” and called for the Indian government to make clear what is happening.

Authorities in Srinagar said there have been instances of stone pelting by protesters but no gun firing by security forces in the past six days. Television images showed movement of cars and people in some parts of Kashmir.

State-run All India Radio quoted the region’s top bureaucrat, Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, as saying that people were coming out of their homes for Eid shopping. He also said that Srinagar and other towns witnessed good road traffic Saturday.

Modi promises normalcy

On Thursday, Modi assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir that normalcy would gradually return and that the government was ensuring that the current restrictions do not dampen the Islamic festival.

New Delhi rushed tens of thousands of additional soldiers to one of the world’s most militarized regions to prevent unrest and protests after Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government revoked Kashmir’s special constitutional status and downgrading its statehood. Modi said the move was necessary to free the region of “terrorism and separatism.”

On Saturday, Pakistan said that with the support of China, it will take up India’s unilateral actions in Kashmir with the U.N. Security Council and may approach the U.N. Human Rights Commission over what it says is the “genocide” of the Kashmiri people.

Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan and is divided between the archrivals. Rebels have been fighting New Delhi’s rule for decades in the Indian-controlled portion, and most Kashmiri residents want either independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Pakistan: Move toward genocide

“When a demographic change is made through force, it’s called genocide, and you are moving toward genocide,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad after returning from Beijing.

With India moving to erase the constitutional provision that prohibited outsiders from buying property in Jammu and Kashmir state, Indians from the rest of the country can now purchase real estate and apply for government jobs there. Some fear this may lead to a demographic and cultural change in the Muslim-majority region.

Qureshi also said that while Pakistan is not planning to take any military action, it is ready to counter any potential aggression by India.

The Indian ambassador to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, left Islamabad on Saturday night after Pakistan retaliated against India by lowering diplomatic ties. Fourteen other Indian mission officials and their families also left Islamabad, airport official Mohammad Wasim Ahmed said.

A regional political party from Kashmir petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down the government’s move to scrap the region’s special status and divide the state into two federal territories. An opposition Congress party activist has already filed a petition challenging the communications blockade and the detentions of Kashmiri leaders.

Pilgrims on the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia threw stones Sunday at pillars representing the devil, a symbolic casting away of evil.

More than 2 million Muslims have gathered in Saudi Arabia for the annual, five-day-long pilgrimage.

Worshippers spent the night Saturday at a large encampment around the hill where Islam holds that God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail. It is also where Prophet Muhammad gave his last sermon.

The end of the Hajj coincides with Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims around the world.

Riyadh is using tens of thousands of stewards, who help marshal the crowds to prevent stampedes that have occurred in previous years’ events, such as in 2015 when about 2,300 pilgrims were killed.

The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is required of every Muslim at least once in their lifetime, as long as they are healthy enough and have the means to do so.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Aden Sunday in support of the Yemeni government after southern separatists effectively took over the port city, fracturing the alliance that had been focused on battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

The Sunni Muslim coalition said it attacked an area that posed a “direct threat” to the Saudi-backed government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is temporarily based in Aden.

It did not specify the site, but a local official told Reuters it had targeted separatist forces surrounding the nearly empty presidential palace in the Crater district. Hadi is based in Riyadh.

“This is only the first operation and will be followed by others … the Southern Transitional Council (STC) still has a chance to withdraw,” Saudi state TV quoted it as saying.

A rival agenda

The alliance had threatened military action if the separatists did not quit government military camps they seized in the city Saturday, after four days of clashes that killed at least nine civilians, and halt fighting.

STC Vice-President Hani Ali Brik, writing in a Twitter post marking a Muslim holiday that began Sunday, said that while the Council remained committed to the coalition it would “not negotiate under duress.” It had earlier agreed to a truce.

The United Arab Emirates-backed separatists have a rival agenda to Hadi’s government over the future of Yemen, but they have been a key part of the coalition that intervened in the Arabian Peninsula nation in 2015 against the Houthis after the group ousted Hadi from power in the capital Sanaa in late 2014.

The violence complicates United Nations’ efforts to end the war that has killed tens of thousands and pushed the long-impoverished country to the brink of famine.

The fighting trapped civilians in their homes with limited water supplies in Aden, the port of which handles some commercial and aid imports. Residents said clashes had ceased Saturday night.

Coalition member the UAE, which has armed and trained thousands of southern separatists, urged calm. Riyadh said it would host an emergency meeting aimed at restoring order. Hadi’s government has asked Abu Dhabi to stop backing southern forces.

Setback for coalition

The infighting is a serious setback for the coalition in its more than four-year campaign to break the grip of the Houthis, who control Sanaa and most urban centers.

The Aden clashes began Wednesday after the separatists accused an Islamist party allied to Hadi of complicity in a missile attack on a southern forces military parade in Aden.

Analysts said that Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Sunni Muslim allies united against Shiite foe Iran, would work together to contain the crisis even though the UAE in June scaled down its military presence in Yemen as Western pressure mounted to end the war.

“The UAE and Saudi Arabia have allied with distinct Yemeni partners. … Yet to this point in the conflict, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have worked to maintain a relative detente between competing interests in the south,” Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst at International Crisis Group, told Reuters.

“That is the approach again today,” she said, but added that there was real concern that the situation could deteriorate into “a civil war within a civil war.”

The war has revived old strains between north and south Yemen, formerly separate countries that united into a single state in 1990 under slain former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Houthis’ deputy foreign minister on Saturday said that the Aden events proved Hadi’s government was unfit to rule and called for a dialogue with other main powers in Yemen to establish a federation under a “unified national framework.”

The U.N. is trying to salvage a stalled peace deal in the main port city of Hodeidah, north of Aden, to pave the way for peace talks at a time of heightened tensions after the Houthis stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny being puppets of Iran and say their revolution is against corruption.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said for weeks he has “no problem” with North Korea testing short-range missiles, insisting they are not a threat to the United States. It seems Pyongyang got the message.

North Korean state media on Sunday cited Trump’s comments, hours after rolling out what appears to be yet another new short-range missile system that threatens U.S. allies in the region.

In an article from the official Korean Central News Agency, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson blasted South Korea for criticizing its recent launches.

“Even the U.S. president made a remark which in effect recognized the self-defensive rights of a sovereign state, saying that it is a small missile test that a lot of countries do,” the spokesperson said.

Multiple missile tests

North Korea on Saturday conducted its fifth ballistic missile launch in just more than two weeks, and seventh in the past two months. In total, North Korea has unveiled three new short-range missile systems during that period, all of which appear to be designed to evade or overwhelm U.S.-South Korean missile defenses.

On Saturday, Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently offered a “small apology” for the tests and vowed to stop the launches as soon as the current round of U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises end.

Trump says Kim sent the apology in a personal letter that blasted the U.S.-South Korean military drills.

“It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises,” Trump said in the tweet. “It was also a small apology for testing the short range missiles, and that this testing would stop when the exercises end.”

The tests violate United Nations Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from any ballistic missile activity. But Trump, who wants to continue talks with North Korea, has shrugged off the tests.

“Kim knows that he can continue to launch these short-range missiles without consequences. He can continue to provoke, so long as he keeps emitting signals of hope to President Trump directly,” said Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst who now works at the U.S.-based Rand Corp.

“Kim’s plodding along faithfully according to plan. He’s dialing up the optempo (operational tempo) of his engagement with President Trump — remaining on our radar through these launches and friendly missives — to put the U.S. in a tighter bind,” she adds.

Military drills

The U.S. and South Korea began their latest round of military exercises Monday. They are scheduled to last until Aug. 20.

The drills have been scaled back to help pave the way for talks with North Korea, which views the exercises as preparation to invade. But that has satisfied neither Trump nor Kim, who have found common ground in their dislike of the drills.

“I’ve never been a fan” of the drills, Trump said Friday. “You know why? I don’t like paying for it. We should be reimbursed for it.” Trump added that he only approved the latest exercise because it helped prepare for “a turnover of various areas to South Korea.”

“I like that because it should happen,” Trump added.

The latest U.S.-South Korean drills are aimed in part at testing South Korea’s ability to retake operational control from the U.S. during wartime. The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Trump has for decades complained that U.S. allies such as South Korea, Japan and others are not paying enough for U.S. military protection. North Korea appears to be exploiting those complaints in an attempt to split the alliance between Washington and Seoul.

“Breaking the alliance is exactly what Pyongyang wants, which is why it makes all this noise and tries to blame U.S.-South Korea drills for its lack of cooperation,” says Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

“Pyongyang looks to exploit Trump’s preoccupation with alliance cost-sharing as well as South Korea’s deteriorating relations with Japan. Kim appeals to Trump directly about the exercises, trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul,” Easley said.

Cost-sharing dispute

Trump earlier this week announced in a tweet that South Korea had agreed to pay “substantially” more for the U.S. troop presence. South Korea refuted that allegation, saying cost-sharing negotiations with the United States have not yet begun.

The administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has responded cautiously to Trump’s comments and shrugged off North Korea’s latest provocations. Moon has made talks with North Korea a top priority.

But Moon now finds himself in an increasingly awkward position, with both Trump and Kim openly playing off each other in order to bash Seoul.

Meanwhile, Trump has given few signs that he will loosen the pressure on South Korea.

At a fundraiser in New York Friday, Trump made fun of Moon’s accent “while describing how he caved in to Trump’s tough negotiations,” according to a report in the New York Post.

“So why are we paying for their defense,” Trump said, according to the report. “They’ve got to pay.”