Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Trump says Lebanon ceasefire extended as Israel continues strikes

    Trump says Lebanon ceasefire extended as Israel continues strikes

    In a striking contradiction that lays bare the fragility of cross-border calm in the Middle East, former U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a three-week extension of a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon — even as Israeli bombing raids continued to target Lebanese territory on the day of the announcement.

    Trump made the extension public via a post on his Truth Social platform, shortly after hosting a high-level diplomatic meeting at the White House with Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, and Nada Moawad, Lebanon’s envoy to Washington. The talks came just hours after a new wave of Israeli strikes across Lebanon left seven people dead, among them a working journalist.

    The additional three weeks will stretch the fragile 10-day truce reached last May into mid-month, offering a tentative window for U.S.-brokered negotiations to continue toward a long-term settlement. But the ceasefire has been marked by near-constant violations from both sides since it first took effect. Even as the Washington meeting was underway, exchanges of fire continued across the Israel-Lebanon border. Israel has persisted with air assaults, ground incursions, and home demolitions in southern Lebanon, and earlier this week, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah responded by launching a barrage of rockets and drones targeting Israeli positions.

    Shortly after the extension was made public on Friday morning, Lebanese state media reported new Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling targeting the outskirts of four areas in southern Lebanon: Majdal Zoun, Touline, Kherbet Selem, and the al-Rihan highlands.

    The ceasefire extension forms part of ongoing U.S. mediation efforts between the Israeli government and Lebanese national authorities. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Trump said he anticipates that Israeli and Lebanese leaders will travel to Washington to meet with him in the coming weeks, adding that he holds out hope for a permanent, comprehensive peace agreement before the end of the year. “I think there’s a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one,” Trump told reporters.

    Not all key stakeholders have signed on to the diplomatic process, however. Hezbollah, the primary Lebanese armed group that has led months of fighting against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, has explicitly rejected the U.S.-led talks.

    Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam outlined his government’s core non-negotiable demand in an interview with The Washington Post: any final peace deal must include the full withdrawal of all Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, including from the contested buffer zone Israel has unilaterally declared inside Lebanese territory.

    The current round of full-scale open hostilities dates back to March 2, when Israel restarted large-scale military operations in Lebanon. This followed more than a year of repeated ceasefire violations after a temporary truce between Israel and Hezbollah was reached in November 2024. Since resuming its offensive, Israeli ground forces have pushed several kilometers into southern Lebanese territory, establishing a self-declared 10-kilometer buffer zone inside Lebanese borders. Israeli troops remain deployed across this area, and all Lebanese civilians have been barred from returning to their native villages in the zone.

  • After a failed attempt, Australian families again attempt repatriation from Syria’s Roj camp

    After a failed attempt, Australian families again attempt repatriation from Syria’s Roj camp

    In a development that reignites debate over the repatriation of citizens linked to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, four Australian families departed the Roj Camp in northeast Syria on Friday, launching a fresh push to return to their home country, according to regional officials.

    Correspondents from the Associated Press witnessed 13 Australian women and children board a bus guarded by a Syrian government delegation for the journey out of the remote camp, which sits just kilometers from the Iraq-Syria border and holds thousands of family members of people suspected of ties to IS.

    Lana Hussein, a senior official with the Women’s Protection Units, an arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that oversees security at Roj Camp, confirmed that the departure was coordinated jointly with the central Syrian government in Damascus. Per the agreed-upon arrangement, the Australian group will stay in the Syrian capital for approximately three days, after which they will be deported following standard security vetting procedures, Hussein explained.

    As of Friday evening, neither the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Australian federal government had issued any public statement in response to press requests for comment. It also remains unclear whether the Australian government was aware of or involved in planning this latest departure attempt.

    This second effort to repatriate Australian citizens from the camp follows a failed attempt in February that saw a group of 34 women and children turned away by Syrian authorities before they could reach Damascus to depart for Australia. At the time, Australian officials explicitly stated they would not facilitate the group’s repatriation, and Canberra later issued a temporary exclusion barring one of the participating women from reentering the country.

    The geographic context of the situation has shifted dramatically since that February attempt. Roj Camp is located in a region of northeast Syria that was long controlled by the SDF, but clashes between the SDF and Syrian government forces in early 2024 ended with Damascus seizing control of the majority of the territory the SDF previously held. The fighting also triggered a wave of prison breaks and mass escapes from the larger al-Hol camp, another major facility holding IS-linked detainees, which has since been formally closed. Following the collapse of IS’s self-declared caliphate in 2019, tens of thousands of former fighters, their spouses and children from dozens of countries were detained in a network of SDF-run camps and detention centers across northeast Syria. In the aftermath of the January clashes, the U.S. military transferred thousands of former IS detainees from Syria to Iraq to face legal proceedings.

    Canberra has previously facilitated two repatriation operations for Australian women and children held in Syrian detention camps, and an unknown number of other Australian citizens have returned to the country without official government support. Even after the defeat of IS’s territorial rule, the group retains active sleeper cells that continue to launch lethal attacks across both Syria and Iraq.

    This report includes contributing reporting from AP correspondent Abby Sewell based in Beirut.

  • What a reporter learned covering a protest in Venezuela led by women hoping to free their loved ones

    What a reporter learned covering a protest in Venezuela led by women hoping to free their loved ones

    In the wake of a seismic political shift that shook Venezuela earlier this year, a small group of ordinary women have emerged as unlikely challengers to the country’s new ruling order, turning a quiet Caracas police station sidewalk into a stage for a months-long fight for their loved ones. In an interview with AP editor Del Quentin Wilber, award-winning Associated Press reporter Regina Garcia Cano opened up about the process of chronicling the unprecedented protest that tested both the women’s grit and the new government’s tolerance for dissent.

    The upheaval began in January, when the United States military carried out a raid that deposed long-time authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro, who had claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election despite widespread credible evidence of electoral fraud. In a move that shocked Venezuelan voters, the Trump administration threw its support behind a ruling-party loyalist rather than the political opposition to lead the country, leaving much of the existing power structure intact. The new acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, quickly moved to release all detained U.S. citizens to curry favor with Washington, but hundreds of Venezuelans held on what human rights groups classify as political charges remained locked up.

    Weeks after Maduro’s capture, the Rodríguez administration announced a mass prisoner release and signed an amnesty bill that was supposed to clear the way for thousands of current and former dissidents to walk free. That promise drew dozens of women — most of them wives and mothers of the detained — to gather outside police stations and prisons across Caracas, waiting to greet their loved ones. When the releases never came for their family members, dozens of the women refused to leave, setting up a makeshift encampment directly outside the detention facilities to pressure the government to keep its word.

    For 64 days, Garcia Cano, video journalist Juan Arraez, and photographer Ariana Cubillos shadowed the group, focusing closely on two of the movement’s core participants: Mendoza and Rosales. Arraez even slept overnight in the women’s camp multiple times to document their daily struggles. The pair was chosen for the profile not only because they spent the full two months camped outside the jail, leaving their children and everyday lives behind to advocate for their husbands, but also because their experiences reflect two of the most common household stories across modern Venezuela. Rosales and her husband both worked for the Venezuelan state and were once supporters of the ruling party, living in a community that once benefited from government investment. Mendoza and her husband, by contrast, were entirely apolitical, relying on a single private-sector income to get by. What began as a shared struggle between two strangers grew into a deep, unbreakable friendship over the course of the protest.

    Before January 2025, open public dissent of this kind was unthinkable in Venezuela. In the chaotic aftermath of the disputed 2024 presidential election, Maduro’s government ordered the mass detention of more than 2,000 people, many of whom had never even participated in anti-government protests. The crackdown left the public terrified and cowed into silence, with no space for open opposition. This makes the women’s sit-in all the more unprecedented: they are the first group to openly challenge the ruling establishment in the post-Maduro era.

    Most of the women leading the protest were quiet, reserved housewives who had never taken part in any form of political activism before. They put aside warnings from friends and family that they would be arrested, overcame their own fear, and stepped forward to demand the release of their loved ones. For the most part, their gambit paid off: while the government eventually cleared the encampment outside the police station and the women returned to their homes, the protest broke years of official silence around the issue of political detentions. Their fight is far from over, however: Mendoza and Rosales still continue their advocacy to free their husbands.

    Beyond the politics, Garcia Cano emphasized that the story is as much about female solidarity as it is about protest. Over the 64 days of the demonstration, the women grew from wary, suspicious strangers into a close-knit support network. They learned together how to organize, how to speak to reporters and lawmakers, how to navigate the confusing bureaucracy of Venezuela’s prison system. They comforted each other through moments of despair, celebrated small victories together, and shared their deepest fears, hopes for the future, and struggles as parents.

    AP’s full-length feature on the women’s 64-day protest is available now, and readers can find more coverage of Latin American and Caribbean politics at AP’s dedicated regional hub.

  • Two women risked everything after US raid to protest Venezuela’s detentions of their husbands

    Two women risked everything after US raid to protest Venezuela’s detentions of their husbands

    In the frigid pre-dawn hours of Valentine’s Day this year, a small group of weary women huddled outside the gates of a Caracas detention center, straining to hear every name a police officer shouted into the dark night. With each call, a gaunt detainee stumbled out into the tearful embrace of waiting loved ones. When the roll call ended, 15 men and two women—all labeled political prisoners—had walked free. But for Mileidy Mendoza and Sandra Rosales, the moment was heavy with bittersweet tension: their husbands’ names never came.

    What began as two isolated women’s quiet agony over detained spouses grew into a grassroots movement that would test the new post-Nicolás Maduro Venezuelan government’s commitments to political reform under intense U.S. and international pressure. It is a story of unexpected sisterhood, relentless courage, and the unfinished struggle to secure freedom for more than 400 political prisoners still held behind bars.

    Neither Mendoza nor Rosales had any prior political organizing experience before their husbands’ arrests last November. Mendoza, a 30-year-old stay-at-home mother who sold handcrafts to supplement her driver husband’s income, lived quietly in western Caracas with her two children. Rosales, a 37-year-old elementary school teacher, raised four kids in Valencia, a once-booming industrial city north-central Venezuela. Both were apolitical; Rosales and her husband, Dionnys Quintero, an explosives technician for Venezuela’s intelligence service, had even long supported the ruling socialist party. When both men were arrested in November and accused of collaborating with U.S.-backed opposition factions to plant a bomb in a central Caracas plaza, neither woman was given official confirmation of the detentions for weeks, and no visitors or phone calls were allowed. The Venezuelan government never responded to requests for comment on the arrests.

    Their shared predicament drew them together after the January 3 U.S. military operation that captured and removed Maduro from power. Under direct pressure from the Trump administration to restore civil liberties, the interim government led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced it would free jailed political dissidents, sparking hope for hundreds of families with loved ones detained under Maduro’s authoritarian rule. Mendoza, who had already spent weeks trekking between detention centers searching for her husband Eric Díaz, learned he was being held at a Calle Mara police station, a dead-end street in an industrial Caracas neighborhood, alongside dozens of other political prisoners.

    Mendoza and a handful of other wives traveled to the station expecting to reunite with their husbands that day. When no releases happened, they refused to leave. They set up a makeshift camp on the sidewalk with just a few fleece blankets; local businesses and residents stepped in to donate foam cushions, water, electricity, and bathroom access. Within days, the camp grew to 30 women, most of them wives and mothers of detained dissidents, who transformed the dead-end street into a permanent protest site. Rosales joined the movement shortly after it began, and she and Mendoza quickly became close collaborators: Rosales’ calm, rational balance tempered Mendoza’s fiery, unapologetic passion, and the pair forged a sisterhood that extended beyond their shared fight. “We are much more than comrades; we are a family,” Mendoza said.

    As the protest gained international attention, the government made its first concession: it allowed the women their first in-person visits, officially confirming the detainees were being held at the site. What the women saw during that January 27 visit shocked them: their loved ones were pale, gaunt, and had aged dramatically in custody. Male detainees were forced to wear baby blue uniforms—the official color of opposition leader María Corina Machado’s party, which the government accuses of plotting the bomb attack—an intentional branding the women saw as part of the regime’s repression.

    Far from quelling the protest, the visit only strengthened the women’s resolve. Rejecting offers of limited, regular visitation as insufficient, they doubled down: they met with lawmakers debating an amnesty bill for political prisoners, filed court paperwork, met with legal teams, and held round-the-clock prayer vigils. After more than a month of camping outside the station, 10 women launched a hunger strike to force further action. Mendoza lasted five days without food before dehydration, heart palpitations, and dizziness forced her to end the strike and receive medical care; Rosales lasted two days. The strike concluded on the 42nd day of the protest, with only one woman outlasting Mendoza by a matter of hours.

    Two weeks after the hunger strike, the first major breakthrough came on Valentine’s Day, when the government released 17 prisoners. Two more releases followed on March 7, when 25 more men walked free. But each release left Mendoza and Rosales with the same hollow disappointment: their husbands remained in custody. Shortly after the March releases, the women learned their spouses had been transferred to a notoriously harsh prison outside Caracas, a facility long known for sweltering temperatures, systematic physical and psychological abuse, and inadequate food supplies. The women suspected the transfer was retaliation for their high-profile protest.

    After 64 days of continuous camping outside the Calle Mara police station, the remaining core of the movement folded their tents and suspended the site protest, shifting into a waiting game. Two weeks later, they were granted a new visit at the outlying prison, this time allowed to bring their children. On Easter Sunday, April 5, the women traveled by bus to the facility, each carrying small comforts for their husbands: Mendoza brought popcorn and fried plantains, her husband’s favorite snacks, while Rosales brought a sheet cake to celebrate her eldest daughter’s birthday and her own, which fell that very day. The four-hour visit was filled with small updates on school, dental appointments, and family life, but the women left with a clear promise: they would not abandon their fight. They just needed time to regroup.

    To date, human rights groups confirm more than 400 political prisoners remain in Venezuelan custody, and the government has not responded to repeated requests for comment on its plans for future releases. The Trump administration has praised the interim government’s pledge to free detainees, but critics note releases have been selective, falling far short of the full amnesty activists and family members demand. For Mendoza, Rosales, and the other women of the Calle Mara camp, the fight is far from over. “We must continue fighting for our goal, which is the release of all of them,” Mendoza said. “Not one, not two, not 17, but all of them.”

  • China’s development lessons: Long-term planning, investing in people

    China’s development lessons: Long-term planning, investing in people

    For decades, China’s unprecedented transformation from a low-income economy to the world’s second-largest economy has drawn global attention from policymakers, development practitioners and international organizations alike. Now, the top United Nations population official based in Beijing has underscored three core pillars of China’s success that hold critical insights for low- and middle-income countries working to advance their own sustainable development agendas.

    In a recent observation shared by China Daily, updated on April 24, 2026, Nadia Rasheed, the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) representative to China, said she has long been struck by both the rapid pace and transformative scope of China’s development over the past half century. Beyond the impressive infrastructure expansion and economic growth metrics that often grab global headlines, Rasheed pointed to three underpinning strategies that have driven China’s inclusive progress: long-term strategic planning, forward-looking policy vision, and consistent investment in human capital across every stage of a person’s life.

    Rasheed’s remarks align with a growing body of international development analysis that credits China’s long-term five-year planning framework for creating stable, predictable policy environments that enable large-scale public and private investment. Unlike many developing nations that face shifting policy priorities with changes in political leadership, China’s consistent commitment to its long-term development goals has allowed it to pursue large-scale projects, from poverty alleviation campaigns to universal healthcare expansion, that deliver transformative results over decades. Equally important, she argued, is China’s sustained focus on investing in its people — from early childhood education and primary healthcare to vocational training and elder care — creating a healthy, skilled population that can power sustained economic growth and social progress.

    For developing nations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America that are grappling with their own development challenges, from ending extreme poverty to building resilient public health systems, these lessons offer a actionable, context-responsive framework that differs from one-size-fits-all development models promoted by Western institutions. Rasheed’s observation reinforces the growing global recognition that China’s development experience, shaped by its own unique historical and social context, provides valuable actionable insights for countries seeking to chart their own independent development paths.

  • South Africa’s top envoy to Ghana summoned over attacks on foreigners

    South Africa’s top envoy to Ghana summoned over attacks on foreigners

    A wave of xenophobic harassment targeting African migrants in South Africa has sparked diplomatic backlash, with Ghana officially calling in South Africa’s senior diplomatic representative to respond to targeted attacks against its citizens, raising alarms across the continent over escalating anti-immigrant violence.

    The controversy ignited after viral video clips circulated on social media earlier this week, showing self-appointed anti-immigrant vigilante groups confronting and assaulting people they accused of residing in South Africa without legal authorization. One widely shared clip shows members of these groups accosting a Ghanaian national, demanding to inspect his immigration documentation. Even after the man produced valid, legal paperwork, the vigilantes continued to question the documents’ legitimacy before telling him to leave the country and ‘go fix your own country.’ Ghana’s foreign ministry confirmed that the Ghanaian man is in South Africa with full, legal immigration status.

    Following the emergence of the video, Ghanaian authorities stepped in quickly to support the targeted citizen. Ghana’s High Commission in Pretoria released footage of its top envoy, Benjamin Quashie, meeting with the man to offer consular assistance. While urging all Ghanaian migrants living in South Africa to remain law-abiding and respect local regulations, Quashie acknowledged the deeply stressful and dangerous environment the confrontations have created.

    Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed it had formally summoned Thando Dalamba, South Africa’s acting high commissioner to Ghana, to deliver an official protest over the string of recent xenophobic attacks targeting foreign nationals, including Ghanaian citizens. In an official statement released Thursday, the ministry emphasized that ‘such conduct undermines the dignity and rights of law-abiding citizens.’ Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also held a direct conversation with his South African counterpart, Ronald Lamola, who expressed regret for the incidents and pledged to launch a full, thorough investigation into the attacks.

    South African officials have also publicly condemned the vigilante actions. Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia stressed that no private individual or organized group has the right to seize legal authority into their own hands, regardless of any grievances or frustrations community members may hold.

    Xenophobic tension and anti-immigrant violence are not new challenges for South Africa, where anti-foreigner sentiment has simmered for decades, occasionally flaring into deadly outbreaks that have left dozens dead and displaced thousands of migrants over the years. According to official South African statistics, approximately 2.4 million documented migrants reside in the country, accounting for just under 4% of its total population, though analysts estimate a far larger number of people live in the country without formal immigration status. Most cross-border migrants come from neighboring Southern African nations including Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique – countries with long histories of supplying migrant labor to South Africa’s economy – while smaller numbers originate from West African nations like Ghana and Nigeria.

    The latest incidents have already drawn broader concern across the African continent, with regional observers calling for South African authorities to take decisive action to protect foreign residents and crack down on violent vigilante groups targeting migrants.

  • Shooting sparks safety fears ahead of World Cup

    Shooting sparks safety fears ahead of World Cup

    In the lead-up to one of the world’s most-watched international sporting events, a deadly shooting incident has ignited widespread public debate and safety anxiety among prospective international fans planning to attend the World Cup in Mexico. The incident, which occurred in a high-traffic area ahead of the tournament’s kickoff, prompted questions from global media and traveling supporters about whether local authorities could adequately secure venues, fan zones and tourist hotspots for the duration of the month-long competition.

    Security preparedness has been a top talking point for international soccer stakeholders ever since Mexico was confirmed as the host nation, with critics pointing to long-standing challenges related to organized crime and urban violence that have made global headlines in recent years. This latest shooting has amplified those pre-existing concerns, with many fans taking to social media to share their worries about traveling to the country and reconsidering their already booked trip arrangements.

    In response to the growing safety fears, representatives from the Mexican federal government moved quickly to address public anxiety, issuing a formal public statement pushing back against narratives that the country represents an unsafe destination for World Cup attendees. Government officials emphasized that they have rolled out a comprehensive, multi-layered security plan specifically designed for the tournament, which includes deploying thousands of additional law enforcement officers to host cities, increasing patrols around tourist areas and competition venues, and establishing dedicated coordination units with international security agencies to prevent and respond to potential incidents.

    The administration also noted that past large-scale international events held in Mexico have been completed without major security incidents, and that the priority of all local and federal agencies is to ensure a safe, enjoyable experience for all athletes and supporters visiting from around the globe. As the tournament approaches, international soccer governing bodies are continuing to work alongside Mexican officials to monitor the security situation, while fans wait to see whether the reassurances will ease growing concerns ahead of the opening match.

  • China to send giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta under new 10-year conservation deal

    China to send giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta under new 10-year conservation deal

    After 25 years of productive transboundary giant panda conservation collaboration that yielded seven captive-bred cubs, China and the United States are set to extend their landmark partnership. The China Wildlife Conservation Association made a formal announcement on Friday confirming that a new 10-year conservation agreement has been activated, paving the way for two young giant pandas to relocate to Zoo Atlanta.

    Both new pandas – a male named Ping Ping and a female named Fu Shuang – were born and raised at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, one of China’s leading facilities for endangered species protection and captive breeding. The cooperative framework between the association and Zoo Atlanta was first finalized last year, kicking off a new chapter of scientific collaboration that traces its origins back to the initial partnership established in 1999.

    In preparation for the pandas’ arrival, Zoo Atlanta has already launched targeted upgrades to its giant panda enclosures. Chinese conservation specialists have been on hand to provide specialized technical guidance covering every critical detail of the pandas’ future care, from meeting strict global enclosure design standards and developing science-based husbandry routines to securing a consistent supply of high-quality bamboo and establishing rigorous animal health monitoring protocols.

    Under the previous 25-year agreement, the collaborative program earned a place in history as the most successful panda breeding initiative between China and any Western nation. The pair of pandas housed at Zoo Atlanta during that period – Lun Lun and Yang Yang – produced seven cubs across five separate litters, a record that demonstrated the effectiveness of the bilateral cooperative model.

    Beyond breakthroughs in captive breeding, the two sides have built a robust partnership across multiple areas of giant panda conservation over the decades. Joint projects have included development of modern behavioral training techniques for captive pandas, advancement of preventive veterinary medicine practices tailored to the species, and the expansion of public conservation education programs that reach millions of visitors annually.

    Officials from the China Wildlife Conservation Association noted that these years of academic exchange and collaborative research have done more than advance global scientific understanding of giant pandas. The program has also served as a people-to-people cultural bridge, strengthening mutual understanding and connections between the citizens of China and the United States.

    Moving forward under the new 10-year agreement, the partnership will expand its focus to include four key priority areas: enhanced giant panda disease prevention and control, continued cross-border scientific knowledge exchange, expanded support for in-situ giant panda conservation in China’s natural habitats, and collaborative development of China’s Giant Panda National Park, one of the world’s largest protected areas for endangered wildlife.

  • US launches sweeping crackdown on Southeast Asia cyberscams and sanctions Cambodian senator

    US launches sweeping crackdown on Southeast Asia cyberscams and sanctions Cambodian senator

    In a coordinated virtual press briefing Friday that connected U.S. officials in Washington to reporters across Southeast Asia, the Trump administration unveiled a broad enforcement action against sprawling cross-border cyber scam operations based in the region, framing the campaign as a new front in the fight against transnational Chinese organized crime.

    Leading the multi-agency effort is the newly established U.S. government Scam Center Strike Force, a specialized task force assembled from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Secret Service. The action carries sweeping penalties: the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on 29 individuals and entities, headlined by Kok An, a sitting Cambodian senator and high-profile business leader branded the “scam center kingpin” by U.S. authorities. Two Chinese nationals also face federal criminal charges in connection with a parallel scam operation based in Myanmar.

    As part of the enforcement, U.S. officials have secured a warrant to seize and shut down a major online recruitment channel hosted on the Telegram messaging platform, which the criminal networks used to lure new workers and victims. They have also moved to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds linked to the schemes, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed during the briefing.

    For years, United Nations analysts and independent experts have warned that transnational cybercrime has grown rapidly across Southeast Asia, with unregulated hubs in Cambodia and Myanmar emerging as the epicenters of global scam operations that generate billions in illegal profit annually. New FBI data underscores the scale of harm to U.S. consumers: in 2025 alone, American victims lost nearly $21 billion to cyber-enabled fraud and online scams tied to these regional networks.

    Beyond financial fraud, the illegal scam industry is deeply intertwined with systemic human trafficking and modern slavery, investigators say. Criminal groups recruit foreign workers with false promises of legitimate, well-paying jobs, then force them to operate romance scams and cryptocurrency fraud schemes under exploitative, near-slave labor conditions.

    Under the sanctions announced Friday, all of Kok An’s assets located within U.S. jurisdiction are immediately frozen, and any U.S.-registered individual or entity is prohibited from engaging in financial or commercial transactions with him. The Associated Press was unable to reach Kok An or his legal representatives for a response to the allegations. Chea Thyrith, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Senate, noted that as an elected senator, Kok An holds parliamentary immunity, and declined further comment on the U.S. action, saying only that Washington could speak to the details of the sanctions.

    This is not the first time the U.S. has targeted a sitting Cambodian senator with cyber scam-related sanctions. In 2024, the U.S. imposed similar penalties on another prominent Cambodian tycoon, Ly Yong Phat, who was also accused of ties to forced labor, human trafficking, and large-scale online fraud operations.

    Pirro explained that the current crackdown grew out of a breakthrough investigation launched last November, when FBI agents deployed to Thailand gained access to a large cache of evidence seized from an abandoned scam compound in Myanmar. The trove included more than 8,000 mobile phones and 1,500 computers containing records of the network’s activities, which led investigators to the two charged Chinese nationals: Huang Xing Shan and Jiang Wen Jie.

    According to court documents, Huang and Jiang worked as senior managers of the Myanmar scam compound before fleeing to Cambodia in an attempt to reestablish their fraudulent operations. The pair is currently in custody of Thai authorities facing immigration violations, and the U.S. has formally filed extradition requests to bring them to the U.S. to face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

    In response to growing international pressure, the Cambodian government has taken recent steps to crack down on domestic scam operations. In March, the country’s National Assembly unanimously passed a new anti-scam law that allows for life prison sentences for convicted operators, and the government pledged to shut down all illegal scam centers across the country by the end of April. Earlier this year, Cambodia extradited alleged Chinese scam kingpin Chen Zhi, founder of the large business and banking conglomerate Prince Holding Group, to China, even after U.S. authorities had sought his custody following a 2024 indictment accusing Chen of running a multi-billion dollar scam operation.

  • Mining projects help improve lives

    Mining projects help improve lives

    Against the backdrop of deepening China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, Chinese-invested mining ventures across Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are driving tangible, life-changing improvements in access to affordable education, healthcare and basic infrastructure for local residents. The impact of these corporate social responsibility initiatives is most visible in quiet, daily shifts that have reshaped community expectations and long-term livelihood prospects.

    One of the clearest examples of this transformation can be found at Golden Eagle Community School, located in Chililabombwe’s Konkola Township in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province. When the school was first launched as a small community-led project in 2001, it was designed to serve children from low-income families whose parents could not cover official school fees. But for nearly a decade, the initiative struggled to stay operational: it operated out of inadequate spaces, with fewer than 300 enrolled students, only one fully trained teacher, and almost no desks or teaching resources. Without consistent sponsorship, community leaders faced constant challenges to keep the school open.

    Today, that landscape looks entirely different. Enrollment has surged to more than 580 students, and the school now boasts fully built classrooms, sufficient desks, and upgraded learning facilities — changes that community leader George Katabulwe directly attributes to targeted community investment from Lubambe Copper Mine, a project led by Chinese firm JCHX Mining Management. “Learners are now motivated. They are sitting at desks and learning in good classrooms,” Katabulwe explained, noting that improved infrastructure has drawn more children into school and raised hopes for long-term success among local families.

    Similar transformations are playing out near Kolwezi, a major mining hub in the DRC, around operations run by Sicomines, a joint venture with Chinese backing. For decades, local residents like Rachide Mund Jethro lived without access to the most basic public services: no drinkable water, no nearby healthcare facilities, and too few schools to serve growing populations. Before Sicomines built local clinics, expectant mothers faced deadly barriers to timely maternal care, Jethro recalled, with many losing children before they could reach a hospital. Today, new schools, paved access roads, clean water wells and fully functional clinics have transformed daily life across nearby communities. “Our children have schools and we can access clean water,” Jethro said. “Families are able to reach clinics easily, easing fears around childbirth.”

    Local resident Kasongo Ndayi Jacques echoed that sentiment, highlighting that students no longer need to walk multiple kilometers to reach overcrowded, under-resourced classrooms. “Now we have schools near us, good roads, some wells and good hospitals,” he said.

    Data shared by Sicomines shows the scale of the company’s community investment across the DRC, with a focus on four core areas: education, public health, clean water access, and agricultural livelihood support. In regions where the company has rolled out projects, student enrollment has jumped between 30 and 50 percent, between 5,000 and 15,000 households now have reliable access to clean drinking water, and supported health facilities treat between 10,000 and 20,000 patients every year. In 2025 alone, the company expanded its community outreach to more surrounding villages, adding new agricultural training programs alongside additional infrastructure investments.

    In Zambia, the impact of Chinese-led investment in local education is equally measurable. At Konkola New Day High School, Lubambe Copper Mine’s support has delivered new classroom blocks, student desks, and perimeter fencing, changes that have directly boosted student attendance and academic performance, according to head teacher Pule Mlenga. Today, pass rates at the school reach 84 percent for Grade 9 students and 86 percent for Grade 7 students, a sharp increase from pre-investment levels. “The pass rate has increased because learners are able to be found in school,” Mlenga said.

    Beyond infrastructure, the mine has also supported the school’s agricultural production program, where maize grown on school plots supplements student meals and generates extra income for school activities. This initiative has cut absenteeism, Mlenga noted, by ensuring students can stay on campus throughout the day without leaving to find food.

    For many young people, the investment has opened pathways to professional careers that would otherwise have been out of reach. Willard Siame, a recent graduate in environmental engineering from Zambia’s Copperbelt University, earned a community scholarship from Lubambe that allowed him to complete his degree, followed by an industry internship at the mine. Today, he works full-time in environmental compliance and sustainability, building a career in the sector that supported his education. “This scholarship really helped me in my studies,” Siame said. “It made sure that I focused mostly on my academics.”

    Over the past three years, Lubambe’s community programming has expanded beyond scholarships and classrooms to include new sanitation infrastructure, a maternity annex at a local clinic, clean water boreholes for schools, road maintenance, and agricultural support for local cooperatives. Company data shows that enrollment at supported schools has risen roughly 20 percent since projects launched, while pass rates have improved by 10 percent. Local clinics supported by the initiative treat an average of 200 patients each month, and access to maternal health services has increased by 20 percent.

    The mine has also driven broad-based local employment: approximately 3,000 Zambians hold direct or indirect jobs connected to its operations, and 95 percent of the mine’s total workforce is drawn from local surrounding communities. Agricultural support programs have additionally helped local groups boost food production and earn supplementary income to support ongoing community projects.

    For residents across both Zambia and the DRC, the true impact of these mining investments is not measured in production output or corporate balance sheets — it is measured in the small, permanent shifts that make daily life more stable and the future more hopeful. It can be seen in children walking into purpose-built classrooms that did not exist a decade ago, in expectant mothers accessing life-saving care just a few kilometers from their homes, and in families drinking clean water from community wells. For millions of people across these two southern African nations, these are the changes that matter most.