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Sunday’s attack by Iran-backed militants in Jordan killed three American soldiers, we’ll get the latest from the Pentagon. UNRWA workers accused of terrorism in Gaza, and update from Kyiv and Sierra Leone’s foreign Minister discusses ECOWAS and the growing divisions in West Africa.

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s fundamentalist Taliban hosted their first international meeting Monday since returning to power in Kabul, saying it is aimed at promoting economic connectivity and cooperation with regional countries on “common challenges.”   Special representatives and ambassadors from neighboring and regional countries, including China, Russia and Iran, attended the gathering in the Afghan capital titled Afghanistan Regional Cooperation Initiative.   Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the inaugural session that “regional security remains of grave importance” for his government, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan or IEA.  His office released the English translation of his local language speech.     Muttaqi explained that the meeting had been convened to develop a “region-centric narrative” to enhance cooperation “for a positive and constructive engagement between Afghanistan and regional countries to tackle existing and potential threats.”   The Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021 when the United States-led Western troops withdrew from the country after their involvement in the Afghan war for nearly 20 years.     However, the international community has not recognized the de facto Afghan government mainly over its restrictions on women’s access to education and work.   The United Nations has also refused to give Afghanistan’s seat at the world body to the Taliban until they ease their restrictions on Afghan women’s freedom of movement and work and govern the country through an inclusive political setup representing all Afghan ethnicities.   The Taliban have defended their administration and policies as aligned with Afghan culture and Islamic law, rejecting calls for reforms as an interference in the country’s internal affairs.     “I would like to take this opportunity to put across to you a clear message: The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan respects others’ interests, choices, government structures, and development models and, in return, expects others to respect Afghanistan’s interests and government and development choices and models,” Muttaqi said Monday.     “Therefore, our choices shall be respected. Instead of proposing governance models and pointing fingers at the (Afghan ruling) system, it is better to engage in mutual interests,” the Taliban foreign minister said.   He urged delegates to convey the “ground realities of today’s Afghanistan” to the United Nations meeting scheduled for next month in Qatar in hopes of fostering a “constructive engagement” and “acceptable approach” for his country.     The two-day conference in Qatar’s capital, Doha, will open on February 18. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will convene the meeting with member states, regional organizations, and special Afghanistan representatives.     “The objective of the meeting is to discuss how to approach increasing international engagement in a coherent, coordinated, and structured manner, including through consideration of the recommendations of the independent assessment on Afghanistan,” said Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric while speaking to reporters in New York last week.   The U.N.-mandated assessment determined that “international engagement is not working,” nor does it “serve the humanitarian, economic, political or social needs of the Afghan people.”     The Doha meeting is also expected to discuss the appointment of a U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan in accordance with the assessment's recommendations.   On Monday, Muttaqi reiterated Kabul’s opposition to appointing a U.N. special envoy, saying the world body already maintains its presence in Afghanistan and his administration is ready to engage with international stakeholders on all issues. He cautioned that previous “externally imposed” solutions and interventions led to instability in his conflict-torn South Asian nation.   The U.N.-authorized assessment has linked the recognition of the Taliban government to compliance with Afghanistan's international treaty obligations and commitments and the immediate removal of sweeping curbs on women's rights to education and employment opportunities.

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London — King Charles III and his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, have both left a private London hospital following unrelated medical treatments that have made the health of the royal family headlines news in the United Kingdom. The 75-year-old monarch was admitted to the London Clinic on Friday for treatment of an enlarged prostate, which Buckingham Palace described as benign. The princess, formerly Kate Middleton, has been at the hospital in central London for the past two weeks following abdominal surgery for an undisclosed condition. Charles walked out of the clinic with his wife, Queen Camilla, at about 3 p.m. local time (1500 GMT; 10 a.m. EST) on Monday, stopping to smile and wave to well-wishers but ignoring shouted questions from reporters. A few hours earlier, the princess' office said that she had returned home to recuperate, though she wasn't seen leaving the hospital and details about when she left weren't released. "His majesty would like to thank the medical team and all those involved in supporting his hospital visit, and is grateful for all the kind messages he has received in recent days.'' Buckingham Palace said in a statement. Charles, who ascended the throne 16 months ago, was diagnosed with an enlarged prostate on Jan. 17 after he experienced undisclosed symptoms. He canceled engagements and was urged to rest before the procedure, which was completed on Friday afternoon. The king decided to announce the surgery in advance in an effort to encourage other men to have their prostates checked in line with public health advice. The princess is "making good progress" in her recovery, her office at Kensington Palace said Monday. The wife of Prince William, Charles' eldest son and heir to the throne, underwent planned surgery on Jan. 16. The palace didn't provide further details, but said her condition wasn't cancerous. The 42-year-old future queen has canceled her public engagements until after Easter.

Washington — Schools in the United States are not being spared from a dramatic rise in hate crimes that has swept across the country. A new report released Monday from the Federal Bureau of Investigation finds that 10% of all hate crimes in the U.S. in 2022 took place at schools, making them the country's third most common location for hate crimes. Only homes (27%) and highways, roads or alleys (16%) saw more hate crime offenses. The report found that the number of reported hate crimes at schools — from preschool through university — has risen steadily since 2020, when officials recorded 500 hate crimes at school. In 2021, the number of school-based offenses rose to 896 before hitting a high of more than 1,300 in 2022. Those increases track with what FBI officials have described as a worrisome rise in hate crimes overall, with the latest data showing a record 11,643 incidents in 2022, surpassing the previous record of almost 11,000 incidents in 2021. Monday's report is the first of its kind issued by the FBI, and officials say it is not clear yet whether they will issue additional reports on school-based hate crimes in the future. "The goal is to draw attention to the data and to the occurrences of hate crimes at schools giving possibly others the opportunity to respond," an FBI official told reporters Monday, briefing on the condition of anonymity under ground rules established by the bureau. "[This is] not a situation here where the bureau is looking to take immediate action on this," the official added. "But by providing the information, we think that it enables our law enforcement partners to do so." The report, which looked at data from the five-year period covering 2018 to 2022, found the most common hate crime offense was intimidation, followed by vandalism and assault. The most common hate crimes were anti-Black crimes (12.6%), followed by anti-Jewish crimes (5.6%) and anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender crimes (2.6%). Anti-Muslim hate crimes were 0.5% of the total. The FBI report also found that hate crimes in schools were more frequent in October, November and December, with nearly a third of school-based hate crimes taking place during those months. Overall, the report said that more than 30% of children who were victims of hate crimes over the five-year period were victimized at school. Almost 36% of juvenile hate crime offenders committed the crimes in school. Almost two-thirds of the reported hate crimes took place in preschools, elementary schools and high schools, according to the FBI data.

Taipei, Taiwan — China’s human rights record faced rare public scrutiny at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva last week, and while Beijing was able to lobby some countries from the Global South to praise human rights conditions in the country, analysts and advocates say its charm offensive has had a limited effect. “A lot of governments issued friendly recommendations to China during last week’s Universal Periodic Review [UPR] in Geneva, which demonstrated China’s influence, but despite the enormous pressure that many developing countries feel [from Beijing,] there were some bold statements from Latin American countries,” Raphael Viana David, China and Latin America Program Manager at the International Service for Human Rights [ISHR] told VOA by phone. During the UPR, China’s fourth since the inception of the mechanism in 2008, a total of 161 UN member states commented on Beijing’s human rights record. Several Western democracies urged China to ratify international treaties and cease human rights persecutions against ethnic minorities while countries from the Global South were split between those that praised the human rights conditions in China and others that expressed concerns about Beijing’s crackdown on civil society. During the review, Costa Rica recommended China “remove excessive restrictions on the functioning of independent NGOs” while Belarus recommended China to “combat separatism and promote modernization of social governance system and capacity in Xizhang,” using the term that Beijing has adopted in its official English statement about Tibet. During a regular news conference on January 24, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing follows a “people-centered approach” to human rights and works hard to “deliver a better life for the people.” “During the review, China announced that it will adopt 30 new measures to safeguard human rights, covering areas of people’s wellbeing, legal protection for human rights, international cooperation on human rights, and the work related to UN human rights mechanisms,” Wang said. Despite Beijing’s efforts to lobby support from developing countries, some expressed mixed views about China’s charm offensive. “Before the UPR, China had sent something like instructions to [some of these] countries about what they should say to the other U.N. member states so that’s why some of them repeated the narrative that Beijing presented,” Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur human rights lawyer who engaged with diplomats from several countries prior to the review, told VOA by phone. According to Asat, some countries in the Global South, including some in Africa, found China’s lobbying efforts quite “demeaning.” “They find China’s approach disrespectful to the U.N. process,” she said, adding that such sentiment didn’t stop these countries from echoing Beijing’s point of view. Asat says it is difficult for countries to do that given the economic sway they maintain in their home capitals. Prior to the review last Tuesday on January 23, several media outlets reported that China asked the U.N. to prevent some activists, whom Beijing characterized as “anti-China separatists,” from attending the review. Apart from these efforts, Viana David from ISHR told VOA that the Chinese government also tried to influence media reporting on the UPR in Global South countries and limit access to the review for NGO representatives. “China brought a huge delegation and [while] NGO representatives arrived an hour and a half before the review to try to queue to enter the room, their strategy still closed some space for civil society participation in this UPR,” he said. Responding to reports about China’s attempt to lobby support from non-western countries ahead of the UPR, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang said Beijing attaches “high importance” to the UPR and promised to participate in the review “with an open, candid attitude.” “[The Chinese government] will communicate with all parties for mutual learning and joint progress,” he said during a daily press conference on January 23. Some analysts say Beijing’s efforts to influence the human rights review reveal the fundamental problem of the mechanism. “The UPR is still very much an exercise of diplomatic struggle,” Patrick Poon, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo, told VOA by phone. Poon, who participated in the U.N. Human Rights Council’s first review of China in 2009, said last week’s UPR shows that the review isn’t based on independent experts’ assessment of the human rights situation in China. “The UPR shows how eager China was at influencing other member states in the process but we can’t let China feel they can just get around this mechanism so easily,” he added. Following last Tuesday’s session, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s UPR Working Group adopted the recommendations for China made by U.N. member states on January 26. China’s top diplomat in Geneva Chen Xu said Beijing would be ready to work with the global community to “steadfastly advance and safeguard human rights.” Viana David from ISHR said the next step is to see how many recommendations will be accepted by Beijing between now and the next session of the UN Human Rights Council in June. “The document that shows which recommendations China accepts will be the test of Beijing’s willingness to commit to addressing [human rights] challenges,” he told VOA. In his view, the way that the Chinese government responds to the recommendations made by U.N. member states will show whether China is serious about being a constructive international player. “This UPR will show us how much China is willing to be a constructive player in a geopolitical context where China seeks to assert itself as a responsible leader,” Viana David said.

Nairobi — Kenyan President William Ruto says he will appeal a court ruling last week rejecting a planned deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. Ruto promised last year that Kenya would lead a multinational force to help fight gangs in the troubled Caribbean nation, but critics challenged his legal authority. Friday’s court ruling didn’t come as a surprise because procedure was not followed said, Dr. Francis Khayundi, assistant professor of international law at the United States International University Africa in Nairobi. “Under article 240 of the constitution that talks about the National Security Council, amongst the role and functions of the security council, there was no mention that it had a role to do with deploying of the police officers. Their thinking was that only the armed forces can be sent or deployed outside of the territory of the country and not the police service,” he said. The ruling also said that Kenya could’ve deployed its police officers only if a so-called “reciprocal arrangement” exists between the two nations. Khayundi told VOA that the court action puts President Ruto in a difficult position, coming after the U.N. Security Council approved a Kenya-led multinational security force aimed at helping combat violent gangs in the troubled Caribbean nation. “It’s a bit of [a] catch 22 situation; being between a rock and a hard place particularly for Kenya, here we are talking about the executive. For those who believe in the rule of law, of course it’s victory,” he said. In a statement, Ruto’s government reiterated its commitment to honoring the country’s international obligations and says it will appeal the court ruling. That statement was welcomed by some in Haiti. A local Haitian says, “it's their country [Kenya], they make their decisions but as an ally country of Haiti, we are waiting for them. As the president says, it's not over yet.” Khayundi says while the Kenya government has the right to appeal, he wonders on which grounds it plans to do so. “It’ll be interesting to see their grounds of appeal but that is a right they have," he said. For me, I would suggest that the executive try and regularize or normalize that gap because if we don’t have the legal framework, then no appeal can put in place a legal framework.” Tirana Hassan, Human Rights Watch Executive Director told a U.N. Security Council meeting last week that while plans for the deployment of the Kenyan-led force have stalled, the situation for many Haitians has worsened. "Killings, kidnappings, sexual violence and other abuses continue at a staggering rate, with criminal group activities and fighting intensifying and spreading," said Hassan. The challenge to the deployment was brought to court by three petitioners, including opposition politician and constitutional lawyer Ekuru Aukot, who told VOA at the time the proposed deployment was unconstitutional. Reacting to the ruling on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Aukot pleaded for Ruto to accept the court’s decision and called for the government to focus on providing security to troubled regions inside Kenya including his own village.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

For Ukrainians who fled the war and came to the United States, getting access to the health care system remains one of the biggest challenges. To help refugees in New York, a group of volunteers organized a health fair where Ukrainians can receive the medical care they need. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Pavlo Terekhov

New Delhi — A Chinese research ship due to dock in the Maldives has raised apprehensions in India, where concerns have been growing about the potential military use of the data collected by such vessels. The Maldives foreign ministry said last week that it has given permission to the ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3, following a request by China to “make a port call, for rotation of personnel and replenishment.” It said the ship will not be conducting any research in Maldivian waters. The announcement comes at a time when diplomatic tensions have spiked between India and the Maldives following the election of President Mohamed Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China. The Maldives gave clearance to the ship weeks after India’s other small neighbor in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka placed a one-year moratorium on foreign research ships entering its waters. The suspension was put in place apparently due to objections raised by India after at least two Chinese research and surveillance ships docked in the island nation in the last year and a half. Last year, the research ship Shi Yan 6, conducted a maritime survey in Sri Lankan waters. Analysts say New Delhi’s concerns about Chinese research ships such as the one due to dock in the Maldives in the coming days arise from fears that the data collected could be used to deploy Chinese submarines in the region. “Our suspicion is that this vessel, although it is an oceanographic research vessel, is gathering information that could be used by China to expand its undersea military operations and improve its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, as it studies the Indian Ocean environment, the seabed, temperature profile, eddies, currents, etc. That means China will have an edge militarily in the Indian Ocean in times to come,” Abhijit Singh, Head of Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi told VOA. Amid rising geopolitical tensions, the Indian Ocean has become a hugely strategic waterway for India and China, the Asian giants whose rivalries have deepened following a four-year long military standoff along their Himalayan borders. “Beijing has profound interest in the Indian Ocean because vital sea-lanes of communication pass through here carrying energy, oil, trade etc. What they are doing is reconnoitering the high seas, studying the hydrographic or hydrological conditions because their submarines will operate here one day,” India’s retired navy chief Arun Prakash told VOA. “China is preparing the ground for a major maritime deployment in the years to come So it is of concern to India.” The Maldives and Sri Lanka are placed strategically along key shipping routes. Although the Maldives foreign ministry said that the Chinese ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3 would not be conducting research, analysts said that was unlikely to reassure New Delhi. “Once the vessel is there, it is very hard for Maldives to make sure that it is not doing the work it intends to do,” according to Singh. A report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies released earlier this month said that Chinese surveys in the Indian Ocean have “clear military value - especially to submarine operations.” According to the report, China, whose surveying operations had been concentrated along its periphery in the South China Sea and Western Pacific Ocean, has also set its sights on the Indian Ocean. "While scientific and commercial benefits may accrue from Chinese oceanographic research, these activities may also prove crucial for the PLA [People's Liberation Army] in expanding its operational reach and capabilities in the Indian Ocean," the report said. "This expansion poses a significant challenge to key regional players like India, as well as to the United States and its allies." Following the report’s release, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, said that China's marine scientific research fully complied with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. "We hope that the relevant parties will take an objective view of China's marine scientific research activities and refrain from speculating through colored glasses," Mao said on January 11. In the Maldives, permission to the Chinese vessel was granted weeks after both sides committed to stronger ties during a visit this month by the Maldivian president, Muizzu, to Beijing. “The Chinese are going to leverage these growing ties with Maldives by conducting surveys in these waters,” said Singh. Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives have witnessed a geopolitical tug of war between India and China for a strategic presence over the past two decades. "The Maldives has always been a welcoming destination for vessels of friendly countries, and continues to host both civilian and military vessels making port calls for peaceful purposes," the Maldivian foreign ministry said last week, referring to the Xiang Yang Hong 3 visit. “The deployment of such research ships in the Indian Ocean is going to increase, it is not going to get any less in the years to come,” said Prakash.

In Mogadishu, the troubled capital of Somalia, elderly citizens gather every afternoon in the Bondere district for an archery contest. The activity is part of a deeper historical tradition. Jamal Ahmed Osman has more about this unique activity, in this story narrated by Kevin Enochs. Camera and video editing by Abdulkadir Zubeyr.

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Islamabad — Pakistan and Iran agreed Monday to broaden political and security cooperation to confront terrorism after exchanging unprecedented missile strikes earlier this month against alleged militant bases in each other’s territories.  The understanding stemmed from a meeting Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani hosted with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, in Islamabad. "There was an agreement to cooperate to fight terrorism in our respective areas. We need to address and allay each other’s concerns with regard to terrorism,” Jilani told a news conference alongside the Iranian foreign minister.  He said that Pakistan and Iran had decided to immediately deploy “liaison officers” in their respective Turbat and Zahedan border towns to “further strengthen ongoing security and intelligence cooperation.” Amirabdollahian said Iran and Pakistan “strongly respect” each other's “sovereignty and territorial integrity.” He added, “We will tell all terrorists that we will not … provide them with any opportunity to endanger our common security.”  The chief Iranian diplomat, without elaborating, pointed figures at “third countries” for supporting militants in border regions of Iran and Pakistan. "There is no doubt that the terrorists located in the common border regions and areas of Iran and Pakistan are led and supported by third countries, and they never favor any good actions in line with the benefits and interests of the Iranian and Pakistani governments and nations,” Amirabdollahian said.  The two foreign ministers said they had agreed to hold regular meetings at the highest ministerial and military levels to prevent any future “misunderstandings.” Military tensions between Tehran and Islamabad escalated on January 17 when Iranian security forces launched airstrikes into the turbulent southwestern Pakistani border province of Baluchistan against what Tehran said were the “strongholds” of anti-Iran Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice.  Nuclear-armed Pakistan condemned the cross-border incursion, saying it killed two children and injured several other civilians. It swiftly recalled the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran and asked the Iranian ambassador to leave Pakistan, suspending all planned meetings between the two countries.  Two days later, Islamabad carried out similar airstrikes against what it said were terrorist hideouts in Iran's southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchistan. Iranian officials said the strikes killed nine Pakistani nationals, mostly women and children. The two countries, however, have since agreed to de-escalate tensions and allowed their respective ambassadors to resume duties, leading to the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Islamabad on Monday.  Iran and Pakistan share a 900-kilometer-long border and routinely accuse each other of not doing enough to prevent fugitive anti-state militants from using their respective territories to plot cross-border attacks.

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Paris — Iran on Monday hanged four members of its Kurdish minority on charges of spying for Israel, defying a campaign for their lives to be spared by rights groups who had described their trial as grossly unfair. The four men were executed at dawn after they were convicted of collaborating with Israel on a plan to sabotage an Iranian defense site in the central province of Isfahan, according to the judiciary's Mizan Online website. It accused them of being "members of a group affiliated with the Zionist spy organization", in apparent reference to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. It did not refer to their Kurdish ethnicity which has been emphasized by several rights groups. There was already alarm that the lives of the four, all aged under 30, were in danger after relatives were on Sunday summoned for a final meeting with them before they were hanged in Ghezel Hesar prison in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj. Their hanging comes as concern grows over a surge in executions in Iran, which has seen on average two people executed every day so far this month according to campaigners. Amnesty International had said the four men, whom it described as "Iranian Kurdish dissidents", had been sentenced to death "after a grossly unfair secret trial." It described their arrests in July 2022 as an "enforced disappearance" and also said they had been subjected to giving "confessions" on Iranian television, a tactic commonly used by the authorities that activists fear is obtained under duress. "The execution of these four prisoners was based on confessions under torture and without a fair trial, and is considered an extrajudicial killing," said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group. According to IHR's toll, at least 65 people have been executed in Iran so far this year. The wife of Mohsen Mazloum, one of the executed men, lashed out at the decision in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "I will neither forgive nor forget today! I have nothing else to say," wrote Joanna Taimasi. Taimasi, who now lives outside Iran, had in the last days campaigned for the lives of the four to be spared on social media and through appearances on Persian-language TV channels. The Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw said the four, aged between 26 and 28 and all from Kurdish-populated regions of western Iran, "were deprived of their fundamental rights to legal representation, visits, and even communication with their families." "Even by the standards of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the minimum requirements for a fair trial were not met in their case," it said. The spike in executions last week also saw the hanging of Mohammad Ghobadlou, 23, who was the ninth man to be executed in connection with the nationwide protests that swept Iran from September 2022. Iranian authorities had said that the four men executed on Monday were recruited by Mossad "about a year and a half before the operation." They were sent to African countries for "training courses in the military centers" where Mossad officers were present, the judiciary added. The men were sentenced to death in September 2023. In August 2023, Iran claimed to have foiled a "very complex" Mossad-initiated project to "sabotage" its ballistic missile industry. In February of that year, Teheran accused Israel of being responsible for a drone attack on a military site in Isfahan. The two countries have been engaged in a shadow war for decades, with Iran regularly accusing Israel and its ally the United States of inciting unrest. Tensions are also running high amid the war in Gaza sparked by the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel on October 7. Iran denied on Monday any links to a drone strike in Jordan that killed three U.S. military personnel.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.