Cambodian journalist Mech Dara released on bail

Award-winning Cambodian journalist Mech Dara has been released on bail after he was detained on charges of inciting social unrest earlier this month, his lawyer said on Thursday.

He was arrested on 1 October after he shared posts on social media about a rock quarry.

Dara’s lawyer, Duch Piseth, confirmed he had been released and another journalist confirmed that Dara spoke briefly to reporters outside the Kandal provincial jail before leaving in a vehicle.

Earlier this month, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said that the journalist, who worked for local and international media, had posted “provocative” and “false” messages and pictures about a rock quarry on a sacred mountain.

On Wednesday, the Cambodian information minister shared a video of Dara’s apology. He was seen wearing a prison garb.

“In all the messages that I posted, I conveyed false information that affected the leaders and the country’s reputation. I sincerely apologise for my mistakes and promise to stop sharing such harmful content,” Dara said in the video.

The video was accompanied by images of a handwritten three-page letter that the minister said was from the journalist.

Dara is known for exposing corruption and human trafficking in his work. He was in pre-trial detention since 1 October and faces up to two years in prison. His arrest sparked a wave of concern from rights groups and the US government.

He was travelling with his family from the coastal city of Sihanoukville to the capital Phnom Penh when authorities stopped his car and arrested him, the independent Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association (CamboJA) said in a statement after his arrest.

Dara was handed the Hero Award in 2023 by US secretary of state Antony Blinken for his investigations into massive scam compounds staffed mostly by trafficked workers in Cambodia.

The journalist managed to send an SMS to Cambodian human rights group Licadho saying he was being arrested by military police before his phone was seized, spokesperson Am Sam Ath said.

“We knew that he was arrested but we don’t know where he was taken or the reason for his arrest,” Am Sam Ath told AFP, adding that the military police had confirmed Dara’s arrest without revealing the charges.

Dara previously worked as a journalist for the Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post, two formerly thriving English language newspapers forced to shut down under government pressure, and the Voice of Democracy radio station and website, which was closed by the government last year.

“Every newsroom I work in gets silenced,” he told the BBC after then Cambodian leader Hun Sen ordered the closure of Voice of Democracy last year.

Dara is best known for his reports in the past few years about human trafficking connected to online scam operations.

The activity involves tricking people into signing up for what they believe are legitimate jobs in Cambodia, only for them then to be kept in virtual slavery in compounds often housing casinos as well, where they go online to target people around the world.

Afghan journalists fear country going dark with latest Taliban move

The Taliban’s ban on images and videos of “living things” will make it harder to cover Afghanistan, journalists in the country said.

The Afghan ministry for vice and virtue has directed media platforms in Maidan Wardak, Kandahar and Takhar provinces to not show images of “living things with a soul”, taken as meaning people and animals. On Thursday, a new province Helmand joined the list and banned all media from showing images of living things to ensure compliance with the Taliban’s morality laws.

Taliban officials in Helmand said the filming and photography of living things would stop immediately but did not give any further information about enforcement or exceptions.

A ministry spokesperson, Saif ul Islam Khyber, confirmed to the Associated Press that Taliban-run media stopped showing images of living things in some provinces on Tuesday to comply with the new law.

The ban, part of a set of “morality laws” published by the ministry in August, does not extend to visuals of the Taliban’s more prominent leaders.

In effect, this means journalists can no longer take pictures or videos of people and animals. Photojournalists in particular fear that the restrictions will harm their livelihoods.

“What is allowed? Photos of buildings, banners, and empty spaces. Landscapes and mountains are also allowed for now,” an Afghan photojournalist told The Independent, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal from the Taliban.

“It is a worsening situation for me and other photojournalists. This puts an end to our work of taking photos. If I don’t take pictures, then I don’t get paid. I get paid for the photographs I send to news agencies.”

The photojournalist, who freelances for an international news agency in southern Afghanistan, fears the prohibition, issued in keeping with the Taliban’s interpretation of Shariah law, is another weapon in their arsenal to harass media workers.

Afghanistan is the only country to impose such a prohibition, an eerie reminder of the Taliban’s previous rule in the late 1990s.

“Government officials harass photographers and bar us from taking pictures every time we are at a venue. We are also not openly accepted at media briefings and press events. Local Taliban leaders also stop us from taking pictures of women even if they are wearing hijab or burqa. The ban will pick up pace slowly in the coming days. I can only hope that foreign nations will step in and bring us out of Afghanistan,” he said.

A photojournalist who covered Afghanistan until the Taliban took Kabul by force and overthrew the Ashraf Ghani government in 2021 claims that the edict marks the beginning of the end for the outside world to witness atrocities and human rights violations in Afghanistan.

“Make no mistake, this is one of the last times the international community can have free access to photos and videos coming out of Afghanistan, some highlighting grave human right abuses,” Massoud Hossaini, a Pulitzer-winning Afghan-born photojournalist, said. “It will now come at the cost of the safety of media workers.”

Mr Hossaini, who worked for French news agency AFP, claims to have received death threats for doing his job even under the previous Western-backed government.

“You are taking pictures of women and men and everybody who does not want to be in the picture, and taking pictures is haram,” he says he was told by local Afghan leaders.

“We are warning you, if you do not stop this we will punish you in the Islamic way. They meant death, not just flogging or prison.”

North Korea drops trash balloon on presidential compound in Seoul

A trash-filled balloon sent by North Korea fell on the presidential compound in Seoul and scattered leaflets deriding president Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee, South Korean authorities said on Thursday.

South Korea‘s presidential security service said one of the balloons floated by North Korea burst over the presidential compound on Thursday morning, dropping rubbish. There were no dangerous items in it, but there were leaflets with graphic messages accusing the Yoon government of leaving South Koreans living in despair and describing the first couple as immoral and mentally unstable.

This came just days after Pyongyang declared the rival neighbour a “hostile state” amid rising tensions in East Asia. North Korean propaganda leaflets carried by the balloons were also found scattered on the streets of the South Korean capital.

The rival Koreas have ramped up the rhetoric against each other over North Korea’s claims that South Korea flew drones over its capital to scatter propaganda leaflets earlier this month.

Seoul this week also demanded that North Korea withdraw troops it allegedly sent to Russia to help Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine, amid fears that Moscow would arm Pyongyang with nuclear weapons as a reward.

The leaflets were scattered in Seoul’s Yongsan district, where the presidential office is located, the security service said, adding the North had begun using GPS technology to drop balloons more accurately.

North Korea has been floating balloons carrying leaflets and trash into South Korea since May, in retaliation for the South sending propaganda leaflets the other way.

The North also destroyed its side of the inter-Korea road earlier this month after vowing to cut off road and railway links that once symbolised cooperation and eventual peace between the two countries, prompting the South to fire warning shots.

In spite of the North routinely sending balloons their way, South Korean experts claimed Pyongyang lacked the technology to drop them on specific targets.

“Whether the balloons have GPS or not, it’s all about launching them in large numbers and hitting the right altitude based on wind direction and speed, so they can ride those winds to travel,” Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, told the Associated Press.

The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the Korean War was ended in the 1953 by an armistice not a peace treaty.

Man pleads guilty to displaying Nazi symbol at pro-Palestinian rally

A restaurateur pleaded guilty to displaying a Nazi symbol during a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney in early October.

Alan Yazbek was photographed at the 6 October rally in Sydney’s central business district holding a sign that replaced the Star of David on the Israeli flag with a blue swastika, accompanied by the words “Stop Nazi Israel”.

The 56-year-old Yazbek was also photographed holding another sign in the green and yellow colors associated with Hezbollah – a designated terrorist organization in Australia – with the words “our boys in green and gold will win”.

The rally took place a day before the one-year anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel, carried out by Hamas.

Yazbek – the co-founder of the Nomad Group, which owns three high-end restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne – was the only person charged following the rally, which saw an estimated 10,000 people in attendance. Police initially tried to prevent the rally but later reached an agreement with organizers, allowing it to proceed peacefully.

Yazbek faces a potential sentence of up to 12 months in jail or a fine of 11,000 Australian dollars ($7,300; £5,656). He is due to be sentenced on 10 December.

Performing Nazi gestures and displaying Nazi symbols such as the swastika have been banned by various state and federal laws since 2022. Jewish groups in Australia have reported a significant rise in anti-Semitic actions as the conflict in the Middle East escalates.

Earlier in October, an Australian state police chief was compelled to apologize to the Jewish community after a 65-year-old sergeant allegedly performed an outlawed Nazi salute at a police academy. In the same week, a self-described Nazi was told by a magistrate he would become the first person in Australia sentenced to prison for performing the same banned gesture.

In June, three soccer fans were fined for performing the salute during a Sydney match. The men were the first convicted in Australia for such offenses and have lodged appeals.

Modi and Xi hold first formal meeting in five years in Russia

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping held their first formal meeting in five years after a violent border confrontation between the two countries threw bilateral relations into a tailspin.

The meeting, on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Russia’s Kazan, came soon after the neighbours confirmed that they had reached a deal to resolve the military standoff on their Himalayan frontier.

The meeting of leaders of the two warring parties was one of the main highlights of the Brics 2024 summit hosted by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, giving a major boost to his image on the global stage amid western efforts to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war.

Mr Xi told Mr Modi that they should enhance communication and cooperation and effectively manage differences.

“It is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples for China and India to correctly grasp the trend of history and the direction of development of their relations,” Mr Xi said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Mr Modi called for “stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations” between the two world’s most populous countries, as it will have a “positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity”.

“We welcome the agreement on the issues that had come up over the last four years,” Mr Modi told Mr Xi in comments that were aired on India’s state broadcaster Doordarshan.

The meeting lasted for approximately 50 minutes, concluding with hand-shakes and smiles between Mr Xi and Mr Putin, who had been so far seen avoiding direct contact at such events.

It was the two leaders’ first meeting since 2019, when the Chinese president made a bilateral visit to India, before the border dispute froze such engagements.

They have only met once since, briefly and informally on the sidelines of the last Brics summit in South Africa in August 2023. In that meeting, they agreed to expeditiously deescalate tensions in the contested border areas.

The longstanding border dispute between India and China, over which they fought a war in 1962, escalated in 2020 when their troops engaged in the deadliest clash in 45 years in Ladakh region. At least 20 Indian army men and four Chinese soldiers were killed in the clash that fought with hands, stones and bludgeons as the use of guns was banned under a pact.

India announced a breakthrough in negotiations to resolve the dispute on Monday when the foreign ministry said an “agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements” along the Line of Actual Control, as the loosely demarcated boundary between the countries is called.

That Mr Xi and Mr Modi are holding such a crucial meeting in Russia, which counts China and India as allies, is significant in its own right.

The meeting, and the fact he is hosting the leaders of over 20 emerging economies, is set to bolster Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a time when the West has been seeking to isolate him and his country through economic and diplomatic sanctions for waging a war on Ukraine.

The summit concluded with the signing of a 43-page final communique that ranged on topics from geopolitics and narcotics to the Ukraine war and the Middle East conflict.

The toughest language was reserved for the Middle East, calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and denouncing Israeli “attacks against humanitarian operations, facilities, personnel and distribution points”.

The carefully worded declaration mentioned the Ukraine war just once, stating that “all states should act consistently with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation” and welcomed proposals for mediation through “dialogue and diplomacy”.

As many as 36 countries are attending and more than 20 of them are represented by their heads of state or government, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said.

The Brics summit is “the largest foreign policy event ever held” by Russia, he pointed out.

The leaders warmed up for the main event by attending a dinner and a music concert with Mr Putin.

While welcoming the Chinese leader, Mr Putin described relations between Moscow and Beijing as “one of the main stabilising factors on the world arena”. He promised to “expand coordination on all multilateral forums for the sake of global stability and a fair world order.”

Mr Xi said the “international situation is undergoing serious changes and upheavals” unseen for centuries, and commended the “unprecedented character” of China’s relations with Russia.

Mr Modi, who met Mr Putin for the second time this year, stressed the need for peace in Ukraine and said New Delhi was ready to help find a resolution to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

“We fully support the early restoration of peace and stability. All our efforts give priority to humanity. India is ready to provide all possible support in the times to come,” he said, adding that he would discuss the issues with Mr Putin.

The two leaders shared lighthearted moments as Mr Putin joked that their “relationship is so tight that you understand me without any translation”.

This is the first summit of the Brics since its expansion last year.

Brics comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa until last year when Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined last year.

A dozen countries, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Malaysia, have formally applied to become members while several more have expressed interest in joining.

Brics now accounts for 45 per cent of the world’s population and 35 per cent of its economy, and regards itself as a political and economic counterbalance Western-led world order.

China and Russia have pushed for Brics members to reduce reliance on the US dollar as a reserve currency and instead use national currencies for trade.

Russia also wants more countries participating in a payment system project that would be an alternative to the global bank messaging network SWIFT, allowing them to trade without worrying about unilateral sanctions by the West.

Tourists warned to avoid popular surfing spot after terrorism threat

Police in Sri Lanka have raised security around a popular surfing spot after receiving information about a possible threat to Israeli travelers, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The warning comes as Israel’s national security council called on Israelis to immediately leave some tourist areas in southern Sri Lanka over the threat.

Sri Lanka police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said special security measures had been put in place at Arugam Bay in the country’s east.

“This area is a popular spot for surfing and this has attracted a large number of Israeli tourists. We are working to ensure they remain safe,” Thalduwa added.

The police statement came after the U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka alerted Americans to avoid Arugam Bay area until further notice due to “credible information warning of an attack targeting popular tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area.”

Israel’s national security council said the warning pertained to the area of Arugam Bay and beaches in the south and west of Sri Lanka, and stemmed from “current information about a terrorist threat focused on tourist areas and beaches”.

The security council did not specify the exact nature of the threat and called on Israelis in the rest of Sri Lanka to be cautious and refrain from holding large gatherings in public areas.

“The Israeli security establishment … is in close contact with the security authorities in Sri Lanka and is following the developments,” it said.

Thalduwa said the regional police had stepped up security over the past days increasing road blocks and vehicle checks and police will be putting in place security measures around the country to protect tourists who will be visiting Sri Lanka for the oncoming year-end tourist season.

Sri Lanka, famed for its pristine beaches, tea plantations and historic temples, is seeing a resurgence in tourists as the island nation recovers from a severe financial crisis.

It is slowly emerging from its worst economic crisis and the tourism industry has been a main driver of its recovery.

Simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on three tourist hotels and three churches on Easter Sunday in 2019 caused a downturn in the industry and contributed to an economic collapse three years later.

In the first eight months of this year, 1.5 million tourists arrived in Sri Lanka, including a total of 20,515 from Israel, government data showed.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s wife granted bail in state gifts case

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s wife was given bail on Wednesday in a case involving the sale of state gifts, local media reported.

Mr Khan and Bushra Bibi are jailed on a multitude of charges, one of which involves the alleged sale of gifts worth more than Rs140m (£386,300), received during Mr Khan’s premiership between 2018 and 2022, from a state treasury known locally as “Toshakhana”.

It was not immediately clear if Ms Bibi would be freed or kept in prison on the other charges brought against her.

She was given bail by the Islamabad High Court against surety bonds of PKR1m (£2,773), the media reports said. She had moved the court on 3 October seeking bail in the new Toshkana case related to the sale of jewellery.

In the petition for bail, Ms Bibi’s advocate Yousaf Chaudhry contended that she was a homemaker and so the allegations against her were baseless, The News reported.

Mr Chaudhry also said the investigation was not transparent and the case was aimed at keeping Ms Bibi in jail.

Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb granted the bail after a Federal Investigation Agency officer said further interrogation of Ms Bibi was not required.

Mr Khan and his wife have been held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail since 2023. Mr Khan has been sentenced to three years in prison in an alleged corruption case and faces nearly 150 charges in all, which he and his party maintain are politically motivated.

Mr Khan is barred from seeking political office as a consequence of his imprisonment. His party was prohibited from contesting the national election in February which it said was rigged.

Mr Khan and his wife were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in a fresh Toshakhana case in July, just hours after their acquittal in a separate case.

They were convicted in another case on 3 February after a complaint from Ms Bibi’s former husband claimed her marriage to Mr Khan violated Muslim family law which requires a widow or divorcee to observe “iddah”, a waiting period, before remarrying. The judge fined Mr Khan and Ms Bibi PKR500,000 (£1,420) and sentenced both to seven years in jail.

North Korea sent 3,000 troops to Russia for Ukraine war, says Seoul

North Korea has now sent 3,000 soldiers to Russia to support Vladimir Putin‘s war efforts in Ukraine, according to South Korean MPs.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month accused Pyongyang of preparing to send 10,000 soldiers from North Korea to join the Russian forces fighting in his country.

South Korea’s spy agency revealed that the North had deployed 1,500 soldiers to Russia‘s far east last month for training, with plans to send a total of 12,000 troops.

South Korean lawmakers have since updated that figure, saying they were briefed by the spy chief that Pyongyang had sent another 1,500 troops to Russia this month, twice the previous estimate.

“Signs of troops being trained inside North Korea were detected in September and October,” Park Sun-won, a member of a parliamentary intelligence committee, said after the briefing.

“It appears that the troops have now been dispersed to multiple training facilities in Russia and are adapting to the local environment.”

National Intelligence Service (NIS) director Cho Tae-yong told a closed-door parliamentary committee meeting that North Korea plans to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin later said there is evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia but it remained to be seen what they would be doing there.

Mr Austin said it would be “very, very serious” if they are preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine. Kyiv published a video purporting to show dozens of North Koreans lining up to collect Russian military fatigues, without providing further details. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has also cited intelligence about the preparation of two units with possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops who would take part in the war alongside Russian forces.

“There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia,” Mr Austin told reporters in Rome, using North Korea’s formal name – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out,” he added.

Both North Korea and Russia have previously denied the allegations, calling them “fake news”.

Russia’s United Nations ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed South Korea’s assertion as well as allegations of Iran supplying Russia with missiles and China providing arms components at a UN Security Council meeting. He accused the West of “circulating scaremongering with Iranian, Chinese and Korean bogeymen, each one of which is more absurd than the one before”.

A Russian government jet landed in North Korea on Wednesday in the latest evidence of continuing cooperation between the two pariah nations following the establishment of a defence pact this year.

The Il-96-300 jet operated by Russia’s Special Flight Squadron departed Vnukovo Airport in Moscow this morning and landed in Pyongyang around 2.30pm (local time), NK News reported, citing data from flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

Seoul this week warned that it could consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to Pyongyang sending troops and artillery to pressurize Moscow to not bring North Korean troops.

South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that can boost the North’s nuclear and missile programmes that target South Korea.

The South’s spy agency alleged that Pyongyang had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, South Korea has joined US-led sanctions against Moscow and shipped humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv. But it has avoided directly supplying arms to Ukraine in line with its policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Monday that Pyongyang sending troops to Ukraine would significantly escalate the conflict. He previously said the alliance had “no evidence that North Korean soldiers are involved in the fight”.

He said it was “highly worrying” anyway that North Korea was supporting Russia through “weapons supplies, technological supplies, innovation, to support them in the war effort”.

Germany on Wednesday summoned the North’s charge d’affaires over growing concerns of Pyongyang rallying military support for Russia.

“Should reports be true on North Korean soldiers in Ukraine and should North Korea now be supporting the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine with troops, this would be serious and in violation of international law,” the German foreign office said.

The US, Japan and South Korea have separately issued a joint statement condemning North Korea for its nuclear and missile developments, deepening military cooperation with Russia and engaging in allegedly illegal activities to fund its weapons programme.

It comes as Russian state media channel Tass, citing the Kremlin defence ministry, claimed that Moscow’s forces had captured two more villages in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, without providing evidence.

The publication reported that Russian forces had captured the villages of Serebrianka and Mykolaivka. DeepState, a Ukrainian organisation that tracks developments on the frontlines and is known to have close ties to the military, suggests that both remain out of Russian hands.