Feed aggregator

Jakarta — Indonesia’s top court on Monday rejected appeals lodged by two losing presidential candidates who are demanding a revote, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the February polls. The 5-to-3 majority decision by the eight-judge panel of the Constitutional Court rejected the arguments, saying the legal teams of the losing candidates had failed to prove allegations that Prabowo Subianto’s victory was the result of widespread fraud. The Court “rejects the petitioner’s appeal entirely,” Constitutional Court Chief Justice Suhartoyo said Monday, after a panel of eight judges took a marathon six hours to publicly read its reasoning in turn on both separate appeals. The verdict cannot be appealed. The General Elections Commission, known as KPU, had certified a landslide victory for president-elect Subianto, but his rivals, former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and former Central Java Gov. Ganjar Pranowo alleged that the victory had depended on large-scale fraud and widespread state interference. They also alleged nepotism, challenging the candidacy of outgoing President Joko Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as Subianto's running mate. Baswedan and Pranowo argued that Raka, 37, should have been disqualified because the minimum age for candidates is 40, and they asked the court to bar him from a revote. Before the election, Raka was granted a controversial exception to that requirement by the Constitutional Court, which was then led by Anwar Usman, Widodo’s brother-in-law. Usman was later forced to resign as chief justice for failing to recuse himself. The case was decided by eight justices instead of the full nine-member court because Usman, who is still on the court as an associate justice, was required to recuse himself. Subianto, the current defense minister, won the election with 58.6% of the votes, or more than 96 million ballots — more than twice the number received by each of the two runners-up, according to the KPU. The losing candidates accused Widodo of widespread abuse of power, saying he used officials at every level, ranging from cabinet members to village heads, and state policies such as social aid programs, to provide support for Subianto and Raka. Indonesian presidents are expected to remain neutral in elections to succeed them. Baswedan and Pranowo’s legal challenges complained that hefty social aid from the government was disbursed in the middle of the campaign — far more than the amounts spent during the COVID-19 pandemic — and Widodo distributed funds in person in a number of provinces. But the top court dismissed the charges, saying it was not convinced that the president had intervened to change the requirements for candidates in favor of his son and that he did not commit nepotism when he approved and supported his son’s candidacy for vice president. “A position obtained through general elections cannot be qualified as a form of nepotism,” judge Arief Hidayat said. The court found that there was no proof that Widodo and his administration bent laws and norms to support Subianto. The decision was widely expected after four Indonesian Cabinet members testified in the court in April 5, that no rules were violated in the distribution of government aid. However, in a dissenting opinion, judge Saldi Isra said it was impossible to deny that social assistance was disbursed in the middle of the campaign for electoral purposes is impossible. “I have a moral obligation to warn in order to anticipate and prevent a repetition of similar situations in the future,” Isra said. Hundreds of protesters who had gathered near the court melted away as the broadcast of proceedings on a TV screen outside indicated their candidate’s case was unsuccessful. Subianto, who was linked to human rights abuses during the authoritarian rule of Suharto, previously made four bids for the presidency and twice unsuccessfully challenged his losses to Widodo. His refusal to accept the results of the 2019 presidential election led to violence that left nine people dead in Jakarta. Widodo, the first Indonesian president from outside the Jakarta elite who is widely popular, will end his second and final term in office in October.

Athens — Delegations from Greece and Turkey were meeting in Athens on Monday as part of long-standing efforts to improve often tense relations between the two neighbors, days after Turkey voiced objections over Greece’s plans to create marine nature reserves in the Ionian and Aegean seas. The two regional rivals are NATO allies but have been at odds for decades over a series of issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean and drilling rights in the Mediterranean, and have come to the brink of war three times in the last 50 years. A dispute over energy exploration rights in 2020 led to the two countries’ warships facing off in the Mediterranean. Monday’s meeting in the Defense Ministry in Athens was to discuss confidence-building measures, following a similar meeting in Ankara last November. The two countries have engaged in the confidence-building process on and off for years, trying to seek common ground on a series of lower-key issues as a means of improving ties. The meeting comes ahead of planned talks in Ankara on May 13 between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Tense ties have improved significantly over the past year, with Erdogan visiting Athens in December and signing a raft of trade, energy and education deals. But Mitsotakis’ announcement last week that Greece will create two marine parks for the protection of sea mammals and birds — one in the Ionian Sea in western Greece and one in the central Aegean — has angered Turkey. Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling party, said last week that Ankara considers the creation of the marine parks “a step that sabotages the normalization process” in relations, and said Turkey would “in no way allow actions toward the declaration of marine parks in the Aegean Sea.” Mitsotakis, speaking last week after a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, expressed surprise at what he described as “Turkey’s totally unjustified reaction to an initiative which at the end of the day is of an environmental nature.” The Greek prime minister said the recent improvement in relations between Greece and Turkey was “undeniable and measurable,” but that this did not mean Turkey had changed its positions on the delineation of maritime zones in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean. “These positions remain positions which are deeply problematic for our country,” Mitsotakis said. “But this does not prevent us from being able to talk, to create a general good climate and invest more in a positive agenda and less in the issues which divide us and over which we clearly disagree.” Turkey’s delegation at Monday’s talks was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar, while the Greek one was headed by Ambassador Theocharis Lalakos, Greece’s Defense Ministry said.

BUJUMBURA, Burundi — Deadly floods are wreaking havoc in many parts of East Africa that face torrential rainfall, with Burundi calling for international help to deal with the aftermath. Lake Tanganyika's rising waters have invaded the port of Bujumbura, Burundi's economic capital, disrupting business there and elsewhere in the country that relies heavily on donor support to run government programs. "We are issuing this statement to ask our development partners to combine efforts with the state of Burundi to help all people affected by these disasters," Interior Minister Martin Niteretse said April 17. "We need that support.” Between September and April 7, some 203,944 people were affected by flooding, with 19,250 homes and 209 classrooms destroyed. The number of people internally displaced by flooding rose by 25%, reaching over 98,000, according to Violet Kenyana Kakyomya, the U.N. resident coordinator in Burundi. Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries, with 80% of its 13 million people employed in agriculture, according to the World Bank. Flooding there has created surreal scenes like game rangers entering the waterlogged Rusizi National Park in a canoe. The Boulevard du Japon, a major highway in Bujumbura, has been flooded in recent days. Climate experts say flooding in Burundi and elsewhere in the region is part of extreme conditions linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon. “It must be said directly that these floods are associated with climate changes that affect Burundi like other countries in the region,” said Jean Marie Sabushimike, a geographer and disaster management expert who teaches at the University of Burundi. While climate change is the trigger, the impact of the flooding is exacerbated by poor land-use planning “that does not take into account areas at very high risk of flooding,” he said. The rising waters of Lake Tanganyika have caused the Kanyosha river to overflow, damaging homes and other property in Bujumbura. Some in the city have been unable to return to their homes — or leave. Joachim Ntirampeba, resident of the village of Gatumba near the Congo border, said that while he had witnessed many flooding events over the years, this time “it’s terrible." He said it's “the first time” he's seen such heavy flooding. Meanwhile, in Kenya 35 people have died since mid-March in flooding events that have affected more than 100,000 people, according to the U.N., which cites Red Cross figures in the most recent update. Some residential areas in Nairobi, the capital, flooded as rivers broke their banks Sunday night. The Kenyan government agency in charge of roads warned Nairobi residents to avoid flooded highways, including one to the coastal city of Mombasa. Those who live by the Nairobi river were urged to move to higher ground. Flooding and mudslides have also been reported in western Kenya. In the northern region, a passenger bus was swept away by floodwaters on a bridge earlier in April, with disaster avoided after 51 passengers were rescued. Kenya's meteorology department predicts that rainfall will peak this week.

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.

OSLO — Norway's 87-year-old King Harald will permanently reduce the number of official activities in which he takes part out of consideration for his age, the royal household said on Monday following the monarch's recent bout of illness. Europe's oldest living monarch and Norway's ceremonial head of state since 1991, Harald was hospitalized in February for an infection while on holiday in Malaysia and later received a pacemaker to help compensate for a low heart rate. Harald resumed his duties as head of state on Monday after almost two months of sick leave. He has ruled out abdication, however, insisting his oath as king is for life. "The king will make adjustments to his program in the future, out of consideration for his age. This will entail a permanent reduction in the number and scope of activities in which the king participates," a palace statement said. A great great grandchild of Britain's Queen Victoria, the king ascended the throne in 1991 and slowly introduced modern touches that brought a ceremonial post seen mainly as a symbol of independence into the 21st century. His marriage in 1968 to a commoner broke with tradition and followed a nine-year stand-off with his father that ended only after Harald threatened never to marry rather than give up the woman who became his wife, Sonja Haraldsen. Harald once said in an interview that Europe's royal families should not be tempted to reverse moves towards openness and retreat to their palace towers. "If you've opened the gate it's very difficult to close it again," he told Reuters and a British newspaper. "I'm not sure I'd want to close it. So far so good, as far as I'm concerned." Harald struggled in his early years to replace his father, the extrovert Olav, known as the "People's King" for his down-to-earth style and frequent interaction with the people. But he has been successful in emulating his father's approachable style, travelling to the scene of natural disasters, wearing rubber boots and a well-worn jacket, to meet those who had lost homes or loved ones in floods and storms. Health scare When right-wing anti-Islamic fanatic Anders Behring Breivik massacred 77 people in 2011, the king consoled the nation with a powerful televised speech, saying in a voice trembling with emotion that "freedom is stronger than fear." The royal household gradually modernized under Harald's supervision, setting up an official website and publishing annual spending accounts. As a man, Harald inherited the throne despite having two older sisters, a practice that also benefited his son Haakon, who also has an older sister. But in 1990, a constitutional change eventually paved the way for women born from then on to inherit the throne, placing Haakon's oldest child, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, in the line of succession when she was born in 2004. Harald had a health scare in 2003 when he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and another in 2005 when he underwent heart surgery, but made a full recovery from both. In 1998, the king faced public criticism over press reports that he had accepted a 4-million-crown ($667,700) yacht from a group of industrialists as a birthday present, and that palace repairs had cost the government 500 million crowns. Around the same time, his former deputy private secretary suggested Harald should abdicate at Norway's normal retirement age of 67. Opinion polls gave the king firm backing to stay on for life, however, and the criticism subsided. A year later, in another Reuters interview, Harald joked that he would remain on the throne for life unless he went mad.

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.

Brussels, Belgium — With an energy crisis and record high inflation in the EU's rearview mirror, Brussels believes the time has come for the bloc to focus on ensuring sound public finances. New spending rules will be voted on in the European Parliament on Tuesday. Once in place, each member state will be required to get national spending under control, but with built-in flexibility for investment. The old rules were suspended between 2020 and 2023 to shore up the European economy as it weathered the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sent energy costs soaring. Faced with the specter of recession, the European Union believed it was necessary to let deficit targets slip so that businesses and households could be protected. Debt has since exploded in the most vulnerable countries, and the EU came to accept that for the rules to be brought back, changes were needed to make them workable. After protracted negotiations over two years, a final agreement on the reform was reached on February 10. Inapplicable rules The old rules, known as the Stability and Growth Pact, were born in 1997 ahead of the arrival in 1999 of the single currency, the euro.   Fiscal hawks -- particularly Germany -- feared some countries would pursue lax budgetary policies, so they wanted strict rules to ensure balanced government accounts. The pact enshrines two sacred objectives, which remain in the reformed rules: a country's debt must not go higher than 60 percent of gross domestic product, with a public deficit of no more than three percent.  In theory, violators would have faced hefty fines. In practice, no sanctions were ever levied as that would have put those states in greater difficulty. For instance, after Greece plunged into a sovereign debt crisis in 2009, rather than fining it, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund stepped in with bailout loans, conditioned on painful reforms. Under the rules' "excessive deficit procedure", a debt-overloaded country has to negotiate a plan with the European Commission to get back on track. The guideline was that the country was meant to slash sovereign debt by 1/20 a year until it comes back down to the 60-percent target. But that rule was not respected and ended up being deemed inapplicable, as implementation would unleash excruciating austerity. Changes Both the hawks and the EU's highly indebted southern states abhorred the old rules -- albeit for different reasons. The frugal states felt the rules were insufficiently respected, and that their interpretation by the commission was overly accommodating to rule-breakers. The indebted countries -- for example, Italy whose debt is 140 percent of GDP -- believed the pact was a straitjacket that penalized public investment. They argued it hindered them from meeting the massive needs for the green and digital transition and rearmament in the face of the Russian threat. One of the reform's aims is to make sure debt-reduction plans take a country's economic situation into better consideration. Under the new rules, each state will have to present a four-year plan to ensure the "sustainability" of their debt and how they will reduce the deficit to below three percent, in line with a trajectory formulated by the commission. Government reforms and investments will be rewarded by allowing them to extend the horizon of their plan to seven years, easing the return to fiscal discipline. The "sustainability" criteria means countries must put debt on a downward trajectory for the 10 years after their plan ends. The focus will be on how spending evolves, rather than the deficit itself.  Germany secured an additional requirement in the reform that all countries with excessive deficits must reduce their deficit overshoot by at least a half a percentage point of GDP per year. And the debt ratio must be lowered by at least one percentage point on average over four or seven years, if the debt is greater than 90 percent of GDP. Some observers believe the straitjacket still exists. "For many member states, it will be difficult to successfully consolidate public finances while making major investments," said Andreas Eisl of the Jacques Delors Institute think tank. 

Geneva — More than 70% of the global workforce is exposed to risks linked to climate change that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Monday, adding governments would need to act as the numbers rise. Workers, especially the world's poorest, are more vulnerable than the general population to the dangers of climate extremes such as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes because they are often the first exposed, or exposed for longer periods and at greater intensity. As climate change accelerates, governments and employers are struggling to protect employees, the ILO said in a report. "A staggering number of workers are already being exposed to climate change-related hazards in the workplace, and these figures are only likely to get worse," the report entitled "Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate" said in its conclusions. "As (the hazards) evolve and intensify, it will be necessary to re-evaluate existing legislation or create new regulations and guidance."  Some countries have improved heat protections for workers, such as Qatar, whose policies came under scrutiny ahead of the 2022 soccer World Cup. However, rules to govern other dangers like growing pesticide use for agricultural workers are less common. "We do have some (countries) that already limit exposure to high temperatures and also limit exposure to air pollution, but we rarely have occupational exposure limits set for the other hazards," said Manal Azzi, ILO Senior Specialist on occupational safety and health.  The share of global workers exposed to the most widespread hazard, surging temperatures, has risen by around 5 percentage points over the last two decades to 70.9%, the report said. Other climate dangers often co-exist, creating a "cocktail of hazards," the report said, with UV radiation and air pollution each affecting 1.6 billion people. Because a worker is likely to be exposed to multiple dangers at once, an ILO spokesperson said it was impossible to calculate exactly what portion of the 3.4 billion global workforce was at risk. Climate-related hazards are being linked to a cancer, kidney dysfunction, and respiratory illnesses, leading to deaths or debilitating chronic conditions or disabilities. Air pollution is the most deadly risk, causing some 860,000 work-related deaths among outdoor workers annually, the ILO report said. Excessive heat causes 18,970 occupational deaths each year and UV radiation kills 18,960 through non melanoma skin cancer, it said.  "The greatest impacts will be felt by the working poor, those working in the informal economy, seasonal workers and workers in micro and small enterprises," the report said. In some cases, the very technologies meant to slow climate change like solar panels and lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles can end up producing new dangers since they contain toxic chemicals, it said. The ILO plans a major meeting in 2025 of government, employer and worker representatives to provide policy guidance on climate hazards. 

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.

London — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged on Monday to start sending asylum seekers to Rwanda within 10 to 12 weeks, telling the upper house of parliament he will force the new legislation through despite its opposition. Sunak said the government had booked commercial charter planes and trained staff to take migrants to Rwanda, part of a policy he hopes will boost his Conservative Party's flagging fortunes before an election later this year. "No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda," Sunak told a press conference. Tens of thousands of migrants— many fleeing wars and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa — have reached Britain in recent years, mostly by crossing the English Channel in small boats on risky journeys organized by people-smuggling gangs. Stopping the flow is a prime goal for the Conservative government, but critics say the plan to deport people to Rwanda is inhumane and that the East African country is not a safe place. The move has been held up repeatedly by the House of Lords and it could face further legal challenges if it passes parliament. The legislation is due to return on Monday to the House of Commons — the lower house of parliament — where lawmakers are expected to remove changes proposed by the Lords. Sunak, whose party trails Labour in the polls, said an airfield was on standby and slots were booked for flights. Five hundred staff had been trained and were ready to escort migrants "all the way to Rwanda". "We are ready. Plans are in place. And these flights will go come what may," he said. Under the policy formulated two years ago, any asylum seeker who arrives illegally in Britain will be sent to Rwanda in what the government says will deter Channel crossings and smash the people smugglers' business model. Sunak's team hope the pre-election pledge will help turn around his electoral fortunes particularly among wavering Conservatives voters who want to see a reduction in immigration. Polls suggest his Conservative Party will be badly beaten in this year's election by Labour, which has said it will scrap the scheme if it wins power. Even if Sunak is successful in stopping the House of Lords from blocking the legislation, he may still face legal challenges. Charities and rights groups say they would try to stop individual deportations and the trade union which represents border force staff is promising to argue the new legislation was unlawful "within days" of the first asylum seekers being informed they will be sent to Rwanda.  

BAGHDAD — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Iraq Monday for his first official visit in more than a decade as his country seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in northern Iraq. Other issues also loom large between the two countries, including water supply issues and exports of oil and gas from northern Iraq to Turkey, which have been halted for more than a year. Erdogan’s last visit to Iraq was in 2011, when he was Turkey’s prime minister. Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement that Erdogan’s visit will be a “major starting point in Iraqi-Turkish relations” and will include the signing of a deal on a “joint approach to security challenges” and a “strategic agreement on the water file,” among other issues. Erdogan has said his country plans to launch a major operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist movement banned in Turkey and with operations in Iraq, during the summer, with the aim of “permanently” eradicating the threat it poses. Turkey has carried out numerous ground offensives against the group in northern Iraq in the past while Turkish jets frequently target suspected PKK targets in the region. Ankara now aims to create a 30- to 40-kilometer deep security corridor along the joint border with Iraq, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told journalists last month. The group, whose fight for an autonomous Kurdish state in southeast Turkey has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s, is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Baghdad has complained in the past that Turkish operations against the PKK violate its sovereignty but appears to be coming closer to Ankara’s stance. In March, after a meeting between the Iraqi and Turkish foreign ministers, Baghdad announced that the Iraqi National Security Council had issued a ban on the PKK, although it stopped short of designating it as a terrorist organization. The two countries issued a joint statement in which they said the group represents a “security threat to both Turkey and Iraq” and that its presence on Iraqi territory was a “violation of the Iraqi Constitution.” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told journalists during a visit to Washington last week that Iraq and Turkey have “true interests with one another and common projects.” He noted that the PKK has long had a presence in northern Iraq, “but we are not allowing any armed group to be on Iraqi territory and using it as a launch pad for attacks.” Ankara has argued that the presence of PKK bases poses a threat to the planned construction of a major trade route, the Iraq Development Road, that would connect the port of Grand Faw in Basra, southern Iraq, to Turkey and Europe through a network of rail lines and highways. Baghdad might take a similar approach to the PKK as it has taken to Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq. The presence of the Iranian dissidents had become a point of tension with Tehran, which periodically launched airstrikes on their bases in Iraq. Last summer, Iran and Iraq reached an agreement to disarm the dissident groups and relocate their members from military bases to displacement camps. Talks between Erdogan and Iraqi officials are also expected to focus on energy cooperation as well as the possible resumption of oil flow through a pipeline to Turkey. A pipeline running from the semiautonomous Kurdish region to Turkey has been shut down since March 2023, after an arbitration court ruling ordered Ankara to pay Iraq $1.5 billion for oil exports that bypassed the Iraqi central government. The sharing of oil and gas revenues has long been a contentious issue between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Irbil. Water rights are also likely to be a key issue on the table. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide most of Iraq’s fresh water, originate in Turkey. In recent years, Iraqi officials have complained that dams installed by Turkey are reducing Iraq’s water supply. Experts fear that climate change is likely to exacerbate existing water shortages in Iraq, with potentially devastating consequences. Mustafa Hassan, a resident of Baghdad said that he hopes that Erdogan’s visit “will help to solve problems related to water, because Iraq is suffering from a water scarcity crisis, and this affects agriculture."

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.

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.

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea fired "several" ballistic missiles on Monday toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said. A Japanese government alert and its coast guard also said North Korea had fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile. The projectile appeared to have landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone area, the NHK broadcaster said. Japan's NTV broadcaster said the projectile was a short-range ballistic missile, citing a Japanese government official. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North launched what it suspected to be several short-range ballistic missiles from near its capital, Pyongyang, without providing further details. The reports of the launch came as South Korea said its top military officer, Admiral Kim Myung-soo, had hosted the commander of U.S. Space Command, General Stephen Whiting, on Monday to discuss the North's reconnaissance satellite development and growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. After a summit between the two countries' leaders in September, North Korea has been suspected of supplying arms and munitions to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, although both deny that claim. The North is believed to be preparing to launch another spy satellite, after successfully putting a reconnaissance satellite in orbit in November. North Korea said last week that it had fired a strategic cruise missile to test a large warhead, and a new anti-aircraft missile. Earlier in April, the North fired a new hypersonic missile as part of its development of solid-fueled missiles for all ranges of its arsenal. The North has defied a ban by the United Nations Security Council on developing ballistic missiles, rejecting Council resolutions as infringing on its sovereign right to defend itself.

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.

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.

ISLAMABAD — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in neighboring Pakistan Monday for official meetings with the host nation's leaders amid Iran-Israel tensions. An official pre-arrival announcement from Islamabad's foreign ministry stated that the talks will provide an “important opportunity” to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in trade, connectivity, energy, and agriculture. It said Raisi’s high-level delegation would include the Iranian foreign minister, other Cabinet members, and business representatives. During his three-day stay in Pakistan, the Iranian president is scheduled to meet his counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, among others.  The Pakistani statement said without elaborating, “They will also discuss regional and global developments and bilateral cooperation to combat the common threat of terrorism.”  Iran and Pakistan share a 900-kilometer border, which is prone to militant infiltration, smuggling, and other illegal crossings. The countries accuse each other of not preventing militant groups from sheltering on their respective lands and launching cross-border terrorist attacks. In January, Iranian security forces launched missile strikes against what they said were anti-Iran militant hideouts in the southwestern Pakistani border province of Baluchistan. Islamabad condemned Iran's violation of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and retaliated with strikes on bases of anti-Pakistan militants operating from Iranian soil. The unprecedented exchange of so-called counterterrorism strikes raised concerns about a larger conflict between the two Muslim countries and of wider regional instability after Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.  Tehran and Islamabad urgently undertook diplomatic efforts to defuse bilateral tensions, renewing pledges to enhance counterterrorism cooperation and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  Raisi’s visit is part of those mutual efforts to mend relations between Iran and Pakistan. Gas pipeline  Analysts said this week’s meetings in Islamabad are also expected to focus on financial and legal issues related to constructing a gas pipeline between Iran and Pakistan. The two countries signed an agreement in June 2009 for the proposed pipeline to export Iranian natural gas to Pakistan. While Tehran has since claimed to have completed construction of 1,100 kilometers of the pipeline on its side of the border, construction has not started on the Pakistani side because Islamabad fears it would invite U.S. sanctions for importing Iranian gas.   Iran’s energy sector is under sanctions from Washington for its nuclear program. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to sue Pakistan in international arbitration and impose a penalty of around $18 billion for breach of contract.  The U.S. State Department has recently renewed its warning to Islamabad, advising against proceeding with the project to avoid sanctions. Iran's recent direct attack on Israel, with more than 300 drones and missiles, has made it even more difficult for Pakistan to build the pipeline, said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Washington’s Wilson Center.  On social media platform X, Kugelman wrote, “Any possibility of the U.S. giving Pakistan a sanctions waiver for the gas pipeline it claims it plans to build with Iran is essentially nonexistent. And that possibility was practically nil even before the Iranian attack on Israel.” The Iranian strikes were in response to Israel's apparent destruction on April 1 of an Iranian consular building in Syria in which seven members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals, were killed.  “The visit was planned weeks before the current hostilities, and Pakistani officials likely had no estimates that the visit would coincide with a full-blown regional crisis involving Iran,” said Ahmed Quraishi, a Pakistani expert on Middle Eastern affairs. “Coming on the heels of Israel-Iran tensions, the Iranian government is likely to use this visit to suggest regional support for Iran's position,” Quraishi said.