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WARSAW — Polish voters are casting ballots Sunday to choose mayors in hundreds of cities and towns where no candidate won outright in the first round of local election voting two weeks ago.  Mayors will be chosen in 748 places, including Krakow, Poznan, Rzeszow and Wroclaw. Those are places where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.  The local and regional elections are being viewed as a test for the pro-European Union government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk four months after it took power at the national level.  Tusk's party did well in big cities including Warsaw, where his party's candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, easily won reelection as mayor two weeks ago.  However, Tusk failed to win a decisive victory overall. The main opposition party, Law and Justice, which held power at the national level from 2015-23, won a greater percentage of votes in the provincial assemblies.  Tusk's socially liberal Civic Coalition has strong support in cities while the Law and Justice party has a stronger base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.  In the election of the provincial assemblies, Law and Justice obtained 34.3% of the votes nationwide and Tusks' Civic Coalition got 30.6%. 

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.

Washington — TikTok on Sunday raised free speech concerns about a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would ban the popular social media app in the U.S. if its Chinese owner ByteDance did not sell its stake within a year.  The House passed the legislation on Saturday by a margin of 360 to 58. It now moves to the Senate where it could be taken up for a vote in the coming days. President Joe Biden has previously said he will sign the legislation.  The step to include TikTok in a broader foreign aid package may fast-track the timeline on a potential ban after an earlier separate bill stalled in the U.S. Senate.  "It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans," TikTok said in a statement.   Many U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170 million U.S. users. TikTok insists it has never shared U.S. data and never would.  Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Sunday said TikTok could be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese government.  "Many young people on TikTok get their news (from the app), the idea that we would give the (Chinese) Communist Party this much of a propaganda tool as well as the ability to scrape 170 million Americans' personal data, it is a national security risk," he told CBS News.  Some progressive Democrats have also raised free speech concerns over a ban and instead asked for stronger data privacy regulations.   Democratic U.S. Representative Ro Khanna said on Sunday that he felt a TikTok ban may not survive legal scrutiny in courts, citing the U.S. Constitution's free speech protections.  "I don't think its going to pass First Amendment scrutiny," he said in an interview to ABC News.  The House voted on March 13 to give ByteDance about six months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, or face a ban. The legislation passed on Saturday gives a nine-month deadline which could be further extended by three months if the president were to determine progress toward a sale.  TikTok was also a topic of conversation in a call between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this month. The White House said Biden raised American concerns about the app's ownership.

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Residents of four Serb-majority municipalities are casting their votes Sunday on removing their ethnic Albanian mayors from office following last year’s mayoral elections, overwhelmingly boycotted by the Serb minority.  The referendum — supported by the West — is an attempt to diffuse tensions between Kosovo and its neighboring Serbia as both countries vie to join the European Union. However, Kosovo's main ethnic Serb party, Srpska List which has close ties with Belgrade, has called to boycott Sunday's poll.  Some 46,500 residents are expected to vote in 47 polling stations, and for the mayors to step down, a majority vote is needed.  In June, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti offered to hold new elections in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok if 20% of the electorate in the municipalities supported a petition for the polls. Residents voted in favor of the petition in January.  When Albanian mayors took up the offices last May, Kosovo Serbs clashed with security forces, including NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers, injuring 93 troops, while protesting the results.  Serbia has backed calls for the mayors to step down.  Kosovo was a former Serbian province until a 78-day NATO bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left some 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s 2008 independence.  Tensions between the two countries remain high.  On Monday, Kosovo took another major step toward joining the Council of Europe — the continent’s foremost human rights body — amid Serbian opposition. The following day, Belgrade authorities stopped Kosovars trying to go home for nearly 20 hours at border checkpoints, saying it was for security reasons. Pristina accused Belgrade of “holding (Kosovars) hostage” for failing to block Kosovo's Council of Europe membership. The U.S. and E.U denounced stalling free movement between the two countries.  Earlier this month, Kosovo announced its first nationwide census since 2011 which will include surveying the ethnic Serb minority in the north. The Srpska List party has denounced the census and called for a boycott, saying it was an attempt by Kurti’s government “to confirm his shameful success in expelling (some 250,000) Serbs,” in reference to the 1999 war.  Another point of contention was Pristina's recent decision to ban ethnic Serbs from using the Serbian currency, the dinar, widely used in Kosovo's Serbian-run institutions, including schools and hospitals.  The United States and the European Union are struggling to get the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue “back on track.” Talks between the two have stalled after a Kosovo police officer and three Serb gunmen were killed in a shootout after about 30 masked men opened fire on a police patrol near the Kosovo village of Banjska in September.  Brussels has warned both that refusal to compromise jeopardizes Serbia and Kosovo’s chances of joining the bloc. The 27-nation bloc is keen on maintaining the alignment of the Western Balkan countries — Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania — with the West as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues.  The six are at different stages of the accession process. 

PHNOM PENH — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for a three-day official visit to reaffirm ties with Beijing’s closest ally in Southeast Asia. His visit is the last stop on a three-nation regional swing that also took him to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. He is visiting amid foreign concerns about two big Chinese-funded projects in Cambodia — a planned canal and a naval base — that critics allege could aid Beijing’s strategic military interests in Southeast Asia. China is Cambodia’s most important ally and benefactor, with strong influence in its economy. That is illustrated by numerous Chinese-funded projects — particularly infrastructure, including airports and roads, but also private projects such as hotels, casinos and property development. More than 40% of Cambodia’s $10 billion in foreign debt is owed to China. Wang is scheduled to have separate meetings with Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, Hun Sen, now serving as president of the Senate after serving for 38 years as Cambodia’s head of government until he stepped down last year to be succeeded by his son. Wang was also granted a royal audience with King Norodom Sihamoni. Hun Manet has shown no sign of deviating from his father’s pro-Beijing foreign policy. In August 2023, Wang visited Cambodia just days after Hun Sen announced he would step down as prime minister in favor of his eldest son. Beijing’s support allows Cambodia to disregard Western concerns about its poor record on human and political rights, and in turn Cambodia generally supports Beijing’s positions on foreign policy issues such as its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Cambodia has recently reiterated its determination to go ahead with the Chinese-financed 180-kilometer (112-mile) long, $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal project across four provinces in the southern part of the country to connect the capital, Phnom Penh, to the Gulf of Thailand.  The plan has raised concern from neighboring Vietnam, where some scholars speculated the 100-meter (330-foot) -wide and 5.4 meter (18-foot) -deep canal could make it easier for China to send military forces southward, close to Vietnam’s southern coast. There are often frosty relations between Vietnam and its massive northern neighbor China, which aggressively claims maritime territory claimed by Hanoi and in 1979 staged a brief invasion. The United States has also weighed in on the project, appealing for transparency on the part of Cambodia's government. Wesley Holzer, a U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Phnom Penh, was quoted as telling VOA that “the Cambodian people, along with people in neighboring countries and the broader region, would benefit from transparency on any major undertaking with potential implications for regional water management, agricultural sustainability, and security,” Hun Manet, speaking Thursday to government officials and villagers in southern Takeo province, dismissed the Vietnamese concern and vowed to push forward with the project, which he said would provide a huge benefit to Cambodia. China also is involved with another project causing foreign concern, its Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand, which the United States and some international security analysts say is destined to serve as a strategic outpost for Beijing’s navy. The Ream base initially attracted attention in 2019 when The Wall Street Journal reported that an early draft of an agreement seen by U.S. officials would allow China 30 years' use of the base, where it would be able to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships. Hun Sen in response repeatedly denied there was such an agreement, pointing out that Cambodia’s constitution does not allow foreign military bases to be established on its soil and declared that visiting ships from all nations are welcome. The base is situated on the Gulf of Thailand, adjacent to the South China Sea, where China has aggressively asserted its claim to virtually the entire strategic waterway. The U.S. has refused to recognize China’s sweeping claims and routinely conducts military maneuvers there to reinforce its status as international waters.  On Dec. 7, two Chinese naval vessels became the first ships to dock at a new pier at the base, coinciding with an official visit to Cambodia by China’s top defense official.

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QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuadorians head to the polls Sunday in a referendum touted by the country's fledgling leader as a way to crack down on criminal gangs behind a spiraling wave of violence. The majority of 11 questions posed to voters focus on tightening security measures. Proposals include deploying the army in the fight against the gangs, loosening obstacles to extradition of accused criminals and lengthening prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers. Ecuador, traditionally one of South America's most peaceful countries, has been rocked in recent year by a wave of violence, much of it spilling over from neighboring Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine. Last year, the country's homicide rate shot up to 40 deaths per 100,000, one of the highest in the region. President Daniel Noboa has rallied popular support by confronting the gangs head on. That task became more urgent in January when masked gunmen, some on orders from imprisoned drug traffickers, terrorized residents and took control of a TV station while it was live on the air in an unprecedented show of force. Following the rampage, the 36-year-old leader decreed an "internal armed conflict," enabling him to use emergency powers to deploy the army in pursuit of some 20 gangs now classified as "terrorists." The referendum seeks to extend those powers and put them on firmer legal ground. But in recalling the law-and-order policies of El Salvador's wildly popular President Nayib Bukele, a fellow millennial, they could also boost Noboa politically as he prepares to run for re-election next year. Noboa, the scion of a wealthy banana exporting family, is serving the final 18 months of a presidential term left vacant when fellow conservative Guillermo Lasso resigned amid an investigation into alleged corruption by congress. He was elected following a shortened but bloody campaign that saw one of his top rivals brazenly assassinated while campaigning.

ISLAMABAD  — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will arrive in neighboring Pakistan on Monday for official meetings with the host nation's leaders amidst Iran-Israel tensions.    An announcement from Islamabad's foreign ministry Sunday 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 October 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 in order 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. 

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Colombo — The United Nations on Sunday urged Sri Lanka to bridge its "accountability deficit" and ensure justice as the country commemorated the 279 victims of its worst-ever attack against civilians five years ago. The U.N.'s top envoy to the country, Marc-Andre Franche, told a remembrance service in Colombo that there should be a "thorough and transparent investigation" to uncover those behind the Easter carnage in 2019. Islamist bombers hit three churches and three hotels in the island's deadliest suicide attack aimed at civilians, but grieving families say they are still waiting for justice. Among the dead were 45 foreigners, including tourists visiting the island a decade after the end of a brutal ethnic conflict that had claimed more than 100,000 lives since 1972. "Sri Lanka suffers from a continuing accountability deficit, be it for alleged war crimes, more recent human rights violations, corruption or abuse of power, which must be addressed if the country is to move forward," Franche said. He noted that victims were still seeking justice despite the country's Supreme Court holding the then president Maithripala Sirisena and his top officials responsible for failing to prevent the attack. "Delivering justice for victims of these attacks should be part of addressing the systemic challenge," Franche said. He said the U.N. Human Rights office has also called on Colombo to publish the complete findings of previous inquiries into the Easter Sunday bombings and to establish an independent investigation. The leader of Sri Lanka's Catholic church, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, accused President Ranil Wickremesinghe's government of suppressing new evidence and protecting those behind the jihadists. "It is clear that Islamist extremists carried out the attack, but there were other forces behind them," Ranjith said. "We have to conclude that the current government too is trying to protect them." He has previously alleged that military intelligence officers engineered the April 21, 2019 attack to help the political ambitions of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a retired army officer who campaigned on security. Seven months later he won the presidency. Since coming to power, Rajapaksa had systematically protected those behind the bombings, the Cardinal said. Rajapaksa was forced out of office in July 2022 following months of protests over an unprecedented economic crisis that caused shortages of food, fuel and medicines. Thousands of Sri Lanka's Catholic minority staged a silent protest outside the capital after multi-faith services to bless the victims, who included more than 80 children. Relatives carried photos of the dead and protested in the town of Negombo -- known as Sri Lanka's 'Little Rome' because of its heavy concentration of Catholics. Military personnel armed with automatic assault rifles watched as the protesters marched to the nearby St Sebastian's church, where 114 people were killed in the coordinated suicide bombings. Evidence tendered during a civil case brought by relatives of the victims showed that Indian intelligence officials warned Colombo of the bombings some 17 days earlier, but the authorities failed to act. Then-president Sirisena and his officials have been ordered to pay 310 million rupees ($1 million) in compensation to victims and relatives. But the ruling has yet to be fully implemented as Sirisena has appealed and a fresh hearing is scheduled for July.

London — Alexander Mutiso Munyao delivered another win for Kenya on a day the London Marathon remembered last year's champion Kelvin Kiptum. A race that started with a period of applause for Kiptum, who was killed in a car crash in Kenya in February, ended with his countryman and friend running alone down the final straight in front of Buckinhgam Palace to earn an impressive victory in his first major marathon.   Mutiso Munyao said he spoke to Kiptum after his win in London last year and that the world-record holder is always on his mind when he's competing.   “He’s in my thoughts every time, because he was my great friend,” Mutiso Munyao said. “It was a good day for me.” It was a Kenyan double on the day, with Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir pulling away late to win the women’s race and cement her status as the favorite to defend her gold in Paris. With around 400 meters (yards) to go to, Jepchirchir left world-record holder Tigst Assefa and two other rivals behind to sprint alone down the final stretch. She finished in 2 hours, 16 minutes, 16 seconds, with Assefa in second and Joyciline Jepkosgei in third. Her time was more than 4 minutes slower than Assefa’s world record set in Berlin last year, but it was the fastest time ever in a women-only marathon, beating the mark of 2:17:01 set by Mary Keitany in London in 2017. The elite women’s field in London started about 30 minutes ahead of the elite men. For Jepchirchir, though, the main goal was to show Kenya's selectors for the Olympic team that she should be on the team again in Paris. “So I was trying to work extra hard to (be able to) defend my title in the Olympics,” she said. Mutiso Munyao denied 41-year-old Kenenisa Bekele a first London Marathon victory by pulling away from the Ethiopian great with about 3 kilometers to go Sunday for his biggest career win. Mutiso Munyao and Bekele were in a two-way fight for the win until the Kenyan made his move as they ran along the River Thames, quickly building a six-second gap that only grew as he ran toward the finish. “At 40 kilometers, when my friend Bekele was left (behind), I had confidence that I can win this race,” the 27-year-old Mutiso Munyao said. He finished in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 1 second, with Bekele finishing 14 seconds behind. Emile Cairess of Britain was third, 2:45 back. Bekele, the Ethiopian former Olympic 10,000 and 5,000-meter champion, was also the runner-up in London in 2017 but has never won the race. Mutiso Munyao is relatively unknown in marathon circles and said he wasn't sure whether this win would be enough to make Kenya's Olympic team for Paris. “I hope for the best,” he said. “If they select me I will go and work for it.” 

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.

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.

Kabul — One person was killed and three others wounded by an explosion in Kabul on Saturday evening, Afghan police said, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility for the sticky bomb attack. The improvised explosive device was detonated in the Kot-e-Sangi neighborhood, near an enclave of the historically persecuted Shiite Hazara community, which has been targeted by the militant group in the past. "The sticky bomb was planted on a minibus," Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said in a statement late Saturday. "The driver of the vehicle lost his life, and three other civilians were injured." Security personnel were investigating the incident, the statement added. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on its Telegram channel, saying a minibus carrying Hazaras was blown up as it passed through a Taliban checkpoint. The attack "led to its destruction and the killing and wounding of around 10" people, the IS statement said. The number of bombings and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has reduced dramatically since the Taliban ended their insurgency after ousting the U.S.-backed government and returning to power in August 2021.  However, a number of armed groups, including IS, remain a threat. Multiple people were killed last month when an IS suicide bomber targeted a bank as people were gathering to collect their salaries. Authorities put the blast's toll at three, but hospital sources told AFP 20 people were killed. 

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.