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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on Sept. 21 that will likely be a test of confidence in President Ranil Wickremesinghe's efforts to resolve the country's worst economic crisis. The date was announced by the independent elections commission Friday, which said nominations will be accepted on August 15. Wickremesinghe is expected to run while his main rivals will be opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake, who is the leader of a leftist political party that has gained popularity after the economic debacle. It will be the first election in the South Asian island nation after it declared bankruptcy in 2022 and suspended repayments on some $83 billion in domestic and foreign loans. That followed a severe foreign exchange crisis that led to a severe shortage of essentials such as food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, and extended power outages. The election is largely seen as a crucial vote for the island nation's efforts to conclude a critical debt restructuring program and as well as completing the financial reforms agreed under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund. The country's economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022. Parliament then elected the then-Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as president. Under Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka has been negotiating with the international creditors to restructure the staggering debts and to put the economy back on the track. The IMF has also approved a four-year bailout program last March to help Sri Lanka. Last month, Wickremesinghe announced that his government has struck a debt restructuring deal with countries including India, France, Japan and China — marking a key step in the country's economic recovery after defaulting on debt repayment in 2022. The economic situation has improved under Wickremesinghe and severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine have largely abated. But public dissatisfaction has grown over the government's effort to increase revenue by raising electricity bills and imposing heavy new income taxes on professionals and businesses, as part of the government's efforts to meet the IMF conditions. Sri Lanka's crisis was largely the result of staggering economic mismanagement combined with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with 2019 terrorism attacks devastated its important tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis also disrupted the flow of remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad. Additionally, the then-government slashed taxes in 2019, depleting the treasury just as the virus hit. Foreign exchange reserves plummeted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports or defend its beleaguered currency, the rupee. Under the agreements with its creditors, Sri Lanka will be able to defer all bilateral loan instalment payments until 2028. Furthermore, Sri Lanka will be able to repay all the loans on concessional terms, with an extended period until 2043. The agreements would cover $10 billion of debt. By 2022, Sri Lanka had to repay about $6 billion in foreign debt every year, amounting to about 9.2% of gross domestic product. The agreement would enable Sri Lanka to maintain debt payments at less than 4.5% of GDP between 2027 and 2032.

WASHINGTON — Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said. A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the world and known for running the cartel's smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile. A Mexican federal official told The Associated Press that Zambada and Guzmán López arrived in the United States on a private plane and turned themselves in to authorities. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized discuss the matter. The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the capture of Zambada, who eluded authorities for decades. Zambada and Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of "tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence," FBI Director Christopher Wray said, adding that now they will "face justice in the United States." "Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Mexican authorities didn't immediately comment on the arrests. U.S. officials have been seeking Zambada's capture for years, and he has been charged in a number of U.S. cases. He was charged in February in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute the synthetic opioid. Prosecutors said he was continuing to lead the Sinaloa cartel, "one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world." Zambada, one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico, was considered the cartel's strategist, more involved in day-to-day operations than his flashier and better-known boss, "El Chapo" Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán López. Zambada is an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger kingpins known for their flamboyant lifestyles of club-hopping and brutal tactics of beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals. While Zambada has fought those who challenged him, he is known for concentrating on the business side of trafficking and avoiding gruesome cartel violence that would draw attention. In an April 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, he acknowledged that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and would contemplate suicide rather than be captured. "I'm terrified of being incarcerated," Zambada said. "I'd like to think that, yes, I would kill myself." The interview was surprising for a kingpin known for keeping his head down, but he gave strict instructions on where and when the encounter would take place, and the article gave no hint of his whereabouts. Zambada reputedly won the loyalty of locals in his home state of Sinaloa and neighboring Durango through his largess, sponsoring local farmers and distributing money and beer in his birthplace of El Alamo. Although little is known about Zambada's early life, he is believed to have gotten his start as an enforcer in the 1970s. By the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez cartel, transporting tons of cocaine and marijuana. Zambada started gaining the trust of Colombian traffickers, allegiances that helped him come out on top in the cartel world of ever-shifting alliances. Eventually he became so powerful that he broke off from the Juarez cartel, but still managed to keep strong ties with the gang and avoided a turf war. He also developed a partnership with "El Chapo" Guzman that would take him to the top of the Sinaloa Cartel. Zambada's detention follows some important arrests of other Sinaloa cartel figures, including one of his sons and another son of "El Chapo" Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán López. Zambada's son pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa cartel. In recent years, Guzman's sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or "Chapitos" that has been identified as a main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market. They were seen as more violent and flamboyant than Zambada. Their security chief was arrested by Mexican authorities in November. Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested and extradited to the U.S. last year. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in September. Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the DEA, said Zambada's arrest is important but unlikely to have much impact on the flow of drugs to the U.S. Joaquín Guzmán López was the least influential of the four sons who made up the Chapitos, Vigil said. "This is a great blow for the rule of law, but is it going to have an impact on the cartel? I don't think so," Vigil said. "It's not going to have a dent on the drug trade because somebody from within the cartel is going to replace him," Vigil said.

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washington — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' meteoric rise to the top of the Democratic Party's presidential ticket has energized many Indian Americans, raising the fast-growing community's political profile and sparking widespread excitement. Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican descent, appears set to become the first female presidential nominee of color after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday. But the fervor isn't solely about her nomination. Many Indian Americans, regardless of political leanings, are equally electrified to see other notable figures of Indian descent in the national spotlight: Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, as well as former presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. "I'm very proud that Indian Americans are making it on every stage," said Shaker Narasimhan, chair and founder of AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian American and Pacific Islander voters and supporting Democratic candidates. Narasimhan recalled being on a call with about 130 people when news broke that Biden had dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Harris. "Everything lit up, literally: the chats, the DMs, the phones," Narasimhan said. "But it was all with excitement, not wonderment, like, 'Wow.' It was like, 'Oh my God, let's go,' This is just the opportunity of a lifetime, as far as I'm concerned, for us to show our muscles." The enthusiasm cuts across the political spectrum. Priti Pandya-Patel, co-founder of the New Jersey Republican Party's South Asia Coalition, said the community is buzzing about the prospect of Usha Vance becoming the country's first Indian American second lady. "I think it's just a proud moment to see our community actually being out there and being noticed," Pandya-Patel said. "I think that is definitely getting our Indian community very excited." 5 million in US Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities, surging more than tenfold since the early 1990s. Today, there are roughly 5 million people of Indian descent living in the United States, making them the largest Asian ethnic group and the second-largest immigrant group after Mexicans. While Indian Americans vote Democratic more than any other Asian group, roughly 20% identify as Republican. The Indian American community has traditionally been perceived as politically less active than some other ethnic groups. However, there are indications of growing political engagement within the community. A recent survey of Asian Americans, including those of Indian descent, found that 90% intended to vote in the November election even though 42% had not been contacted by either party or candidate. The Asian American Voter Survey, of nearly 2,500 voters, was conducted between April 4 to May 26 by several Asian American groups. "So that suggests a potential gap in engagement," said Suhag Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the non-partisan American Hindu Coalition. Shukla said the election presents a "tremendous opportunity" for the Indian American community as well as the two major political parties. "I think Indian Americans need to recognize their power, especially because many of us do live in either purple states or purple districts," Shukla said in an interview with VOA, referring to battleground states in the U.S. presidential election. "On the flip side, I think that it's a real opportunity for the parties to do not just a checkmark or a checkbox-type outreach, but genuine outreach. Have town halls. Have listening sessions." Spokespeople for the Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to questions about their community outreach efforts. Both campaigns mobilize voters through grassroots organizations. Deepa Sharma, deputy director of South Asians for Harris and a delegate to next month's Democratic National Convention, said her group is "working closely with people on the ground who will knock on doors, will do phone bank and outreach to this community." Indian Americans comprise less than 1% of U.S. registered voters, according to a 2020 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But almost one-third live in closely contested battleground states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. That puts them in a position to sway the outcome of the November election, said Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, a progressive group. "The South Asian American population far exceeds the margin of victory in the closest elections in these states," Patel said. Voter turnout steadily climbing In 2020, the Biden-Harris ticket carried more than 70% of the Indian American vote, according to Patel, adding that support for Harris is likely to edge higher this year. "She has drawn considerable support from the South Asian American community because she has consistently shown up and fought for our values, fought for our issues," Patel said. Earlier this year, Harris spoke at Indian American Impact's "Desis Decide" summit, where she credited Indian Americans and Asian Americans with helping to get two Democratic senators elected in 2020 and 2021. Patel said voter turnout among South Asian Americans has been steadily climbing in recent years. In 2020, for example, more than 70% of registered South Asian American voters turned out to vote in Pennsylvania, he said. "I think they're going to be instrumental in delivering the White House this November," Patel said. Similar predictions by groups such as Muslim Americans have sometimes failed to materialize. But Narasimhan said turnout could be boosted with the right voter mobilization strategy, adding that voter education is key. "Just because you're a citizen doesn't mean you can vote, you have to register," Narasimhan said. "Teaching people the basic rudimentaries of what's early voting, what's absentee balloting, what's going to the polls, navigating the system is critical, and we have to do that basic education." On the Republican side, activists are betting that Trump's close ties to India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi will translate into votes for the former president. "Trump has been friendly to India and that makes a big difference," Pandya-Patel, the Republican activist in New Jersey, said. Whether Indian American support for Trump is rising remains unclear. In the recent Asian American Voter Survey, 29% of Indian Americans said they intended to vote for Trump, largely unchanged from four years ago. Trump has called Modi a "true friend." In 2019, he and Modi addressed a joint rally in Houston, Texas, that attracted more than 50,000 people, many supporters of the Indian prime minister. At the "Howdy, Modi!" rally, Trump called Modi "one of America's greatest, most devoted and most loyal friends." Pandya-Patel said the rally boosted Indian American support for Trump, whose friendship with Modi, she added, is a key reason many Indian Americans back him. Shukla of the American Hindu Coalition said there is a perception among some Indian Americans that the Democratic Party is not "a Hindu-friendly party." That may partly explain a recent "shift" in Indian American party affiliation, she said. In the Asian American Voter Survey, the number of Indians who identify as Democrats fell from 54% in 2020 to 47% in 2024, while those identifying with the Republican Party rose from 16% to 21%. Anang Mittal, a Virginia-based commentator who previously worked for House Speaker Mike Johnson, said the apparent shift reflects less a "sea change" than shifting political attitudes. "I think the country as a whole is sort of shifting towards Republicans because of the larger issues that are plaguing this election," Mittal said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday to Congress highlighted US partisan divisions on his conduct of the war against the Hamas terror group, and some of his differences with President Joe Biden on how best to secure Israel’s future. VOA’s Michael Lipin looks at how Netanyahu’s address and Biden’s decision last weekend not to run for reelection may affect US policy on the Israel-Hamas war in the coming months.

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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met separately with Israel's leader Thursday at the White House — as a sensitive moment in the Gaza conflict collided with an unprecedented moment in American politics. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also plans to meet on Friday with former President Donald Trump. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House Thursday to discuss the war in Gaza -- and the possibility of securing a cease-fire deal -- with President Joe Biden and likely Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. We talk to Michael Provence, who teaches modern Middle East history with a focus on the 20th century Arab East at the University of California San Diego. The Olympics get underway in Paris with the opening ceremony on the Seine River. And what would your ideal partner be like if you could create them from the ground up? Scientists are trying to find out using artificial intelligence.

White House — The Biden administration is hopeful over a deal to reach a cease-fire and free hostages held in Gaza, where war has raged for more than nine months after Hamas’ stunning October 7 attack on Israel. VOA spoke to John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson, about the deal and more, in this interview with VOA's White House Correspondent Begum Ersoz on Thursday. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. VOA: Does the administration accept a cease-fire deal only with phase one, that does not guarantee any way forward for the other phases of the deal? What stands in the way of a deal? And what are the sticking points? KIRBY: The whole purpose of the proposal is that you get to phase one, you get a six-week ceasefire, get some hostages out and you begin the negotiations on phase two. That’s the whole purpose of this proposal. What we want to do is to get to phase one, get the six weeks started. …I will not get into the details and negotiate in public. But we believe the gaps are narrow enough, that with compromise and leadership on both sides could be closed. VOA: Is the administration concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be using this visit to the U.S. to bolster his own domestic political standing? KIRBY: I think it's important that the American people had a chance to hear directly from the prime minister with comments [before the U.S. Congress] on Capitol Hill. And we obviously look forward to any opportunity we have, including the one today, to sit down and discuss these issues in a private setting. We also believe it was important that the prime minister hear directly from the families of the American hostages and understand their anxiety, their fear, their desire to get their loved ones home. I won’t speak for the domestic considerations of the prime minister, that’s for him to speak to, but it's pretty clear that the Israeli people also want to see those hostages returned. They want their loved ones back too. VOA: Netanyahu also had talks with Vice President Kamala Harris. As the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party, to what extent she will follow the same trajectory as the Biden administration? KIRBY: I'm not going to speculate about the future. Those are the questions for the vice president. Because what I can tell you, without question, is that she has been a full partner in the pursuit of the policies that this administration has made clear are important to us with respect to the Middle East and the war in Gaza. She has been a full partner and had conversations with Israeli counterparts on her own. She's been involved in virtually every conversation that the president has had with the prime minister. VOA: Some NATO officials express concerns about an arms race with the axis of Russia-China-Iran-North Korea – and some say it has already helped Russia reconstitute its forces and capabilities more quickly. How potent is the Russian-Chinese-Iranian-North Korean axis? And do you see their cooperation expanding? KIRBY: We have certainly watched with concern the burgeoning defense relationships between Russia and China and between Russia and North Korea. The way that it's manifested itself, particularly in Ukraine – Chinese companies now providing components for some Russian systems North Koreans providing artillery shells and ballistic missiles. Obviously, that's of concern to us. And we have and will continue to take the appropriate action to make sure these countries are held accountable for what they're doing in terms of supporting the war in Ukraine. VOA: The Taliban claim Afghanistan is a victim of the destructive activities of groups with operations in neighboring countries and in the region. They warn that if the world neglects this, it could face a dangerous outcome. Does the U.S. perceive or sense any potential threat from Afghanistan? KIRBY: First of all, we don't recognize the Taliban as the governing authority of Afghanistan. They made some commitments when they took over Kabul. They have not met those commitments. If they want legitimacy on the world stage, if they want to be taken seriously, they need to start making good on some of those commitments. They do have internal security issues, particularly an ongoing terrorist threat inside Afghanistan. And that is something that they're going to have to reconcile with. But the idea of playing victim here after they forcibly took over governance in Afghanistan rings pretty hollow to the international community. VOA: During the NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the approach of Western allies fuel the fire in the war in Ukraine instead of bringing about peace. Any reaction to that? KIRBY: All I can tell you is that everything that President Biden has been doing since the beginning of this illegal aggression by Russia and unprovoked war has been to put Mr. Zelenskyy and Ukrainians in the best position possible, a position of strength, so that if and when they're ready to negotiate an end to this war, they can do it, knowing they've been supported by the United States and the international community. We all want to see this war end. And it's worth reminding people that the war could end tomorrow if Putin did the right thing and got his troops the hell out of Ukraine. So we make no apologies, none, whatsoever about what we're trying to do to make sure that Ukraine can find a way to end this war on terms that are acceptable to them. 

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.

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washington — Militant attacks in Pakistan’s northwest have plagued the region for years, leading to tensions between some of the region’s civilian leaders and the Pakistani military. Last month, the military announced the Azm-e-Istehkam or “Resolve for Stability” offensive would be an operation that cracks down on militants, but after a decade of similar interventions, many residents in the region are wary. This week, a man recorded a video while standing next to debris from a girls school that militants blew up Monday night in a small village in the North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He lamented how violent the province has become, especially compared with other, more peaceful parts of Pakistan. “We never heard that a school was blown up in Punjab,” Pakistan’s most populous province and home to the majority of the country’s armed forces, he said. Mohsin Dawar, the former chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Pakistan’s lower house, posted video of the destroyed school on the X platform with a comment, “The state stands by, complicit in the destruction.” Monday’s destruction of the girls school was not unusual. Last week there were attacks on police stations, a hospital and an army base, all in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province about the same size as Iceland or South Korea. After years of violence, the local Pashtun population is questioning why peace has not returned to the border region despite the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from neighboring Afghanistan. The ongoing militant attacks have boosted support for a local rights movement, the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, which is leading a series of mass peace rallies aimed at holding Pakistan’s military accountable for its track record in combating terrorism. The group is the major voice opposing the government’s plan to launch another military operation in the region to try to drive out militants and end the attacks. The prospect of another military offensive has drawn opposition from residents, who remember the large-scale displacements that happened when the military launched offensives twice before in the last decade. Army spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif on Monday blamed groups who oppose the new offensive for allegedly trying to sabotage the operation with a disinformation campaign. He insisted the proposed Azm-e-Istehkam is aimed at destroying militant groups operating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, two provinces that border Afghanistan, Iran and the strategic Arabian Sea, and also host several major Chinese-backed development projects. Murad Ali, an academic at Malakand University in the nearby Swat Valley, says the region’s history of military offensives has left many skeptical of the army’s plans. “It is a fact that [the] military also suffered in terms of sweat and blood in [the] fight against militants," Ali said, but many in the Pashtun population doubt the capability of the military to eradicate militancy or suspect it is an "accomplice in perpetrating this hide and seek with ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban.” The army spokesman said security forces have lost 137 soldiers so far, including officers, in 2024 in the fight against militants. Ahmad Kundi, an elected member of Pakhtunkhwa’s regional assembly, says over the years, the national government has sent a mixed message about how to combat militancy. “One prime minister said negotiations with militants was a way forward and another prime minister opts for military operations, though it didn’t deliver in the past,” Kundi said. Hamid Ullah in Peshawar contributed to this report.

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.

Billions of dollars, millions of tourists, and thousands of athletes and security forces are behind the Paris Olympics, which kick off Friday with a ceremony on the Seine River. The city’s first Olympic Games in a century faced some roadblocks in the run-up, from political upheaval and bad weather, to threats of COVID-19 and strike action. Lisa Bryant reports.

washington — U.S. diplomats and military officials rejected concerns that recent — and sudden — changes to the American political landscape are a sign of weakness, warning America’s adversaries Thursday against trying to seek any sort of advantage. “They should think again,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, briefing reporters. “They should be disabused of the notion that we are anything but focused on the national security challenges that the country faces,” he added. “That includes responding to our adversaries when appropriate.” At the Pentagon, officials insisted that whatever challenges U.S. adversaries might have in store, the U.S. military is ready. “As to whether or not our adversaries are testing us at this particular time, they're always testing us,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. “It's just a nature of who they are and what they do,” he told reporters. “I don’t think that this particular point in time is any different.” The warnings from Washington come less than a week after U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection, instead endorsing fellow Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris to run against former president and Republican Party nominee Donald Trump. In an address from the White House late Wednesday to explain his decision to quit the race with just more than 100 days to go until the presidential election, Biden spoke in stark terms about the future of the country. “Nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy,” Biden said. “America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division,” he added. “We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, respect, freedom, justice and democracy?” Adding to the public concerns, the U.S. military announced just before Biden’s speech that, for the first time, Russian and Chinese long-range strategic bombers flew a joint training mission, coming within 350 kilometers of the northwestern U.S. state of Alaska. Other officials have also warned of emboldened U.S. adversaries. FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday told lawmakers that Iran still seeks retribution against Trump and some of his advisers for the January 2020 killing of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. "We need to recognize the brazenness of the Iranian regime, including right here in the United States," he said, while declining to share details of a reported assassination plot against Trump. “I expect there will be more coming on that," he said. Others have voiced concerns about the actions of Iranian proxy forces, like the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, or attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. “We are taking away capability from the Houthis,” said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown Jr., speaking to reporters Thursday at a Pentagon briefing. “But at the same point, it's going to take more than just a military operation,” he said. “This is an engagement with the international community, but also the [U.S.] interagency to use the various tools to put pressure on the Houthis to cease this.” At the State Department, spokesperson Miller said no matter the challenge, U.S diplomats will be up to the task. “The president has made it incredibly clear to the secretary and the rest of the national security team that he expects them to be focused for this next six months, that he expects them to advance the foreign policy objectives that he laid out from the outset of the administration and we have put into place over the course of the last three and a half years,” he said. And should any adversary seek to weaken the U.S., the Pentagon’s Austin said, the military will be waiting. “I think we'll continue to see this going forward,” he told reporters. “But again, we have the world's greatest military, most capable military, and we will continue to protect this nation.”

A seismic shift in American politics as President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek reelection. This paves the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to face former President Donald Trump in November's high-stakes presidential election. This week on the Inside Story: Biden Ends Reelection Bid.

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Washington — Over the past three weeks, Shirali Abdurehim, a 39-year-old Uyghur honey seller in Istanbul, has been detained in an immigration detention center. Abdurehim, a father of nine children, has lived in Turkey with his wife since 2013 as a refugee after fleeing repression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China. He is one of at least a dozen Uyghurs who have been detained in recent weeks, according to detainees, lawyers and rights advocates. VOA has also seen at least four posts on the social media site Facebook calling for the release of family members since last weekend. "Turkish agents came to my residence on July 4 and said there was an allegation against me that I conspired with other foreigners from Uzbekistan to produce and sell counterfeit Turkish passports," Abdurehim told VOA in a phone interview. "They were very polite when they took me for interrogation. They first said they would immediately release me after taking a statement," he said. Family facing eviction During the interrogation, Abdurehim says he denied the allegations, claiming that the accusations were fabricated by the Chinese government or Chinese agents in Turkey. "After that interrogation, they said they couldn't release me and instead transferred me to an immigration detention center, where I joined six other recently arrested Uyghurs," he said. "My wife and nine children are desperately waiting for my return. They can't survive without me, and now they face eviction from the apartment we rent." VOA emailed the Turkish Interior Ministry's Immigration Department for more information regarding the cases of Abdurehim and the other Uyghurs detained in recent weeks. The ministry has yet to respond. Abdurehim's wife, who asked that her first name not be published to protect her relatives in Xinjiang, told VOA that the family had been living day-to-day on her husband's honey sales. "Our landlord demanded six months' rent in advance, but we can't afford it. With my husband in indefinite detention, we're also struggling to put food on the table." Turkish flag T-shirt Abdurehim says his troubles trace to 2010 when Chinese authorities arrested him in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. "I was arrested for months in 2010 for wearing a T-shirt with a Turkish flag," Abdurehim said. "It was a time when many Uyghurs felt grateful for [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan's statement in 2009." Unrest had broken out in Urumqi in July of that year amid protests over government inaction following reported killings and injuries of Uyghurs by a Chinese mob in Guangdong province. Initially peaceful, the protests escalated into clashes when Chinese armed police intervened. Subsequently, Uyghurs faced accusations of attacking unarmed Chinese individuals, resulting in arrests, disappearances and detentions. Erdogan had characterized China's actions toward Uyghurs as "genocide," a sentiment that resonated within the Uyghur community. Fleeing China After his release, Abdurehim fled the country without a passport. Because of China's historical restrictions preventing many Uyghurs from obtaining passports legally, he sought assistance from human traffickers in Yunnan province in southwest China. "In 2012, I journeyed from Yunnan through Vietnam and Thailand, eventually arriving in Malaysia. It was there that my wife, our only child at the time, and I received humanitarian travel documents from the Turkish Embassy, enabling us to relocate to Turkey in 2013," he recounted. "For the first time, I felt liberated from government repression in a country I came to cherish deeply, a place I was prepared to sacrifice everything for, including my life." After arriving in Turkey, Abdurehim opened a grocery shop in Istanbul. However, in late 2018, he was detained by Turkish authorities on unspecified allegations. He was released in early 2019 without any charges. "I spent three months in detention due to baseless accusations, which I believe were influenced by Chinese authorities or their agents in Turkey," Abdurehim recounted. "Thankfully, Turkish authorities eventually recognized my innocence and released me. However, the ordeal forced me to sell my grocery shop to cover legal expenses and defense fees." Refuge in Turkey Turkey is home to one of the largest Uyghur diaspora communities outside China, with a population estimated at 50,000 to 75,000, according to Uyghur groups there. Since the 1950s, Turkey has been a refuge for Uyghurs fleeing what they describe as severe repression by the Chinese government, including allegations of genocide, mass arbitrary detention affecting over 1 million people, forced labor, forced sterilization, torture and other abuses. China denies all those allegations, but in recent years, the U.S. and several Western parliaments have officially labeled China's recent policies and treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as genocide. The U.N. human rights office has suggested that these actions may constitute crimes against humanity. Initially denying these accusations, China later referred to the facilities holding Uyghurs as "re-education centers" aimed at countering "extremism, terrorism and separatism." China continuously describes accusations of Uyghur human rights abuses as "lies fabricated by U.S.-led anti-China forces" to contain China's development. China-Turkey ties Memettohti Atawulla, an Istanbul-based senior project manager at the Washington-based Center for Uyghur Studies, notes that the recent surge in arrests of Uyghurs in Turkey came shortly after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Xinjiang. During the trip, "Turkey expressed its commitment to cooperate in what China terms as 'anti-terrorism,' a label that masks China's harsh policies targeting Uyghurs," Atawulla told VOA. "This may be a significant factor contributing to the increased arrests of Uyghurs in Turkey." During his visit to Urumqi, Fidan emphasized Turkey's support for China's anti-terrorism efforts in a meeting with Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui. "We support China against armed terrorist groups. We do not approve international initiatives seeking to incite strife in China and to stop China's economic development," Fidan said in China. He also urged China to respect Uyghurs and let them "live their values." The Turkish Foreign Ministry didn't respond to a request from VOA for comment on whether the recent arrests were related to "anti-terrorism" cooperation between the two countries. Recent uptick According to Jevlan Shirmehmet, an Istanbul-based lawyer advocating for Uyghurs, the reasons for the recent arrests extend beyond accusations related to terrorism. He said it is hard to determine the total number of Uyghurs detained, but he personally knows of at least five detainees and was meeting with one detained Uyghur in a prison in Istanbul when VOA spoke with him. He added that arrests of Uyghurs are not new, but that there has been a recent uptick. "This issue of Uyghur detentions in Turkey has persisted over several years, and I have personally seen a variety of cases," Shirmehmet said. "One common scenario involves allegations conveyed by China, while another type accuses Uyghurs of espionage for China. Additionally, there are cases related to civil crimes that occur in any community."