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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday outlined plans for deeper ties between his country and Africa, as New Delhi increasingly vies for a stronger economic presence on the continent along with China and Russia.In a speech to Ghana’s parliament, Modi highlighted a major rail project that opened in the west African nation last year, financed by the India Export-Import Bank.He also underlined his country’s expanding diplomatic development and business footprint in Africa.”Over 200 projects across the continent enhance connectivity, infrastructure and Industrial capacity,” Modi said. On the political front he welcomed “the establishment of Ghana-India Parliamentary Friendship Society in your parliament”.Modi’s visit is the first to Ghana by an Indian leader in three decades.But India’s rival China remains the most important backer of infrastructure across the continent, a position only strengthened as the United States and other Western powers slash aid programmes.In a meeting Wednesday, Modi and Ghanaian President John Mahama agreed to deepen security and mining ties.In November 2024, the Indian prime minister visited Nigeria, discussing trade and security at a time when Indian companies had expressed interest in investing in Nigerian industries including steel.The Indian prime minister also on Thursday called for a greater global diplomatic role for both his country and Africa, warning that “the world order created after the Second World War is changing fast”.- Global South’s voice -Modi noted that the African Union had been admitted as a permanent member to the G20 while India held the rotating presidency of the bloc.Progress on worldwide challenges including climate change, diplomacy, “terrorism” and pandemics “cannot come without giving voice to the Global South”, he added.India, the world’s most populous country and a nuclear-armed power, has close ties with Russia but is often in rivalry with China.Resource-rich Ghana is Modi’s first stop in a tour that will take the Indian premier to four other countries in Africa, the Caribbean and South America.The visit to Accra came as he made his way to Brazil for a summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies on Sunday and Monday.Highlighting his own country’s economic development aspirations to become a “developed nation by 2047,” Modi said “India remains a committed partner in Africa’s development journey.”

Hindus began a vast month-long pilgrimage in contested Indian Kashmir on Thursday, with many of the faithful starting from near the site where a deadly April attack triggered conflict with Pakistan.Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a sacred ice pillar located in a cave in the forested Himalayan hills above the town of Pahalgam.Pahalgam is the site where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists.New Delhi said the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected — triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that escalated into a four-day conflict.It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a May 10 ceasefire.But pilgrim Muneshwar Das Shashtri, who travelled from Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP “there is no fear of any kind”.”Our army is standing guard everywhere. No one can raise a finger towards us,” he said.India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the gruelling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva.”We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,” said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory.- ‘Not afraid’ -At Pahalgam, soldiers have turned a tented base camp into a fortress encircled by razor wire.Troops in newly deployed armoured cars, or from gun positions behind sandbags, keep a close watch — efforts boosted by facial recognition cameras.”High-quality surveillance cameras have been installed at all major points along the route,” said Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed top administrator for Jammu and Kashmir.All pilgrims must be registered and travel in guarded vehicle convoys, until they start out to walk.Camouflaged bunkers have been erected in the forests along the route, where dozens of makeshift kitchens provide free food.Electronic radio cards pinpoint their location.Pilgrims can take several days to reach the cave, perched at 3,900 metres (12,800 feet) high, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) uphill from the last easily motorable track.”Whatever the attack that was carried out here, I am not afraid. I have come to get a glimpse of baba (the ice formation)” said Ujwal Yadav, 29, from India’s Uttar Pradesh state, undertaking his first pilgrimage to the shrine.”Such are the security arrangements here that no one can be hurt.”Sinha has said that “public confidence is returning”, but admits that pilgrim registration had dipped by 10 percent this year.Once a modest, little-known ritual, attended by only a few thousand mainly local devotees, the pilgrimage has grown since an armed insurgency erupted in 1989.India’s government has since heavily promoted the annual event, which runs until August 9.Rebels fighting against India’s control of Kashmir have said the pilgrimage is not a target, but have warned they would act if it was used to assert Hindu dominance.In 2017, suspected rebels attacked a pilgrim bus, killing 11 people.The gunmen who carried out the April 22 killings remain at large, despite the manhunt by security forces in Kashmir where India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed.On June 22, India’s National Investigation Agency said two men had been arrested from the Pahalgam area who they said had “provided food, shelter and logistical support” to the gunmen.Indian police have issued wanted notices for three of the gunmen, two of whom they said were Pakistani citizens.

Shubman Gill led from the front once more with a second hundred in as many matches as India captain to keep England at bay at Edgbaston on Wednesday.Gill’s 114 not out was the cornerstone of India’s 310-5 at stumps on the first day of the second Test, with Yashasvi Jaiswal contributing a typically entertaining 87.India lost two wickets in quick succession to be 211-5 but all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (41 not out) helped Gill avoid a further collapse in an unbroken stand of 99.Gill, however, knows better than anyone that individual milestones are no guarantee of team success.In the first Test at Headingley, India posted five individual hundreds, including Gill’s 147, and still lost — the first time this had happened in more than 60,000 games of first-class cricket.Batting collapses of 7-41 and 6-31 cost India dear before England, making light of a seemingly stiff target of 371, won by five wickets to go 1-0 up in a five-match series.England captain Ben Stokes, as he did in Leeds, again opted to field after winning the toss, with England having achieved their all-time record fourth innings victory chase of 378 at Edgbaston, against India, three years ago. KL Rahul, fresh from a hundred at Headingley, rarely looked comfortable as he laboured for a 26-ball two that ended when he played on to Chris Woakes. Both Woakes (2-59 in 21 overs) and new-ball partner Brydon Carse (1-49 in 16) kept things tight. But the pressure England had exerted in a first hour where India were held to 37-1 off 13 overs was released by Josh Tongue, whose 13 wicketless overs cost 66 runs. England, however, would have been in a stronger position had a couple of close lbw reviews not gone against them on umpire’s call, with batsmen spared by the fact the on-field officials had initially ruled in their favour.”A couple of decisions go our way early doors and then all of a sudden they’re 30-3 and we’re looking at a completely different day ahead,” Woakes told Sky Sports.The all-rounder added: “A couple of wickets early in that last session, which we felt like we could have kicked on and got into the tail, but they played well.” Left-hander Jaiswal completed a 59-ball fifty, where 40 of his runs came in fours, with consecutive boundaries off fast bowler Tongue, a hook followed by a rasping cut.- Jaiswal denied century -Jaiswal, 62 not out at lunch, look destined for another hundred after his 101 at Headingley until caught behind flat-footedly edging a cut off a loose Stokes delivery, with India then 161-3.New batsman Rishabh Pant, who in Leeds became only the second wicketkeeper in Test history to score two hundreds in a match, was relatively restrained in taking 23 balls to score his first boundary — a six off Shoaib Bashir.The off-spinner, however, had his revenge when Pant (25) holed out to long-on.India’s 208-4 became 211-5 when the recalled Nitesh Kumar Reddy was bowled playing no shot to a Woakes delivery that nipped back off the seam.But the 25-year-old Gill pulled the lively Stokes in front of square and drove Carse for commanding fours. Gill though required several minutes of on-field treatment when on 86 for what appeared to be cramp – a delay that led to boos from a capacity crowd at a sun-drenched Edgbaston. But the jeers turned to cheers when, in the over before England took the new ball, Gill swept part-time off-spinner Joe Root for consecutive fours to complete a watchful 199-ball hundred, including 11 boundaries. India made three changes, notably resting Jasprit Bumrah after it was announced before the series the outstanding fast bowler would only feature in three of the five Tests in order to protect his fitness following a back injury.The third Test at Lord’s starts just four days after the scheduled end of the game in Birmingham. Akash Deep was given the unenviable task of replacing Bumrah, the world’s number one-ranked Test bowler.Both teams and the umpires wore black armbands on Wednesday in memory of former England batsman Wayne Larkins, who died aged 71 last weekend.

England captain Ben Stokes again proved his worth as a Test-match partnership-breaker at Edgbaston on Wednesday by denying India dangerman Yashasvi Jaiswal his second hundred of the series.India were 182-3 at tea on the first day of the second Test after Jaiswal had fallen for 87, with the tourists looking to level the five-match series at 1-1 after last week’s five-wicket loss at Headingley. India captain Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant, who between them scored three of the team’s five hundreds at Headingley — something no other losing side had achieved in more than 60,000 games of first-class cricket — were 42 and 14 not out respectively. Jaiswal was closing in on a century after another dazzling display of stroke-play when the left-handed opener cut flat-footedly at a short and wide ball from all-rounder Stokes, bowling from around the wicket, only to edge a poor delivery straight to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.It was a tame end and meant Jaiswal was unable to match his excellent 101 at Headingley — a game England won as they made light of chasing 371 for victory.The 23-year-old’s exit also saw the end of a third wicket partnership of 66 with India captain Shubman Gill that had taken the tourists to 161-3.New batsman Pant, fresh from becoming just the second wicketkeeper in Test history to score hundreds in both innings of a match with 134 and 118 in Leeds, waited a relatively restrained 23 balls until he scored his first boundary Wednesday — a six over midwicket against off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.  Earlier Stokes, as he had done at Headingley, opted to field after winning the toss, with England having achieved their all-time record fourth innings victory chase of 378 at Edgbaston, against India three years ago. KL Rahul, fresh from a second-innings hundred at Headingley, rarely looked comfortable Wednesday as he took 26 balls to score two in an innings that ended when he played on to Chris Woakes, on his Warwickshire home ground.Brydon Carse kept things tight at the other end as India were held to 37-1 off 13 overs in the first hour of play.But there was a release of pressure when he was replaced by Tongue.Jaiswal went to his fifty with consecutive boundaries off Tongue, a hook followed by a rasping cut. It took him a mere 59 balls to reach the landmark, with 40 of his runs coming in fours.But shortly before lunch, Karun Nair (31) was undone by a lifting ball from the admirable Carse that lobbed gently to second slip.The most eye-catching of the three changes made by India saw Jasprit Bumrah rested after it was announced before the series he would only feature in three of the five Tests in order to protect his fitness following a back injury.The third Test at Lord’s starts just four days after the scheduled end of the game in Birmingham. Akash Deep was given the unenviable task of replacing Bumrah, the world’s number one-ranked Test bowler.India have yet to win a Test at Edgbaston following seven defeats and a draw at the Birmingham ground.They are also bidding for just a fourth series win in England following triumphs in 1971, 1986 and 2007.    

The Dalai Lama said Wednesday that the 600-year-old Tibetan spiritual institution would continue after his death, reassuring Buddhist followers around the globe and saying his office “exclusively” would name his successor, even as China insisted it would.Followers of the Dalai Lama laud his tireless campaign for greater autonomy for Tibet, a vast high-altitude plateau in China about the size of South Africa.It is a landmark decision for Tibetans, many of whom had feared a future without a leader, as well as for global supporters who see the Dalai Lama as a symbol of non-violence, compassion and the enduring struggle for Tibetan cultural identity under Chinese rule.According to Tibetans, Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.He and thousands of other Tibetans have lived in exile in India since Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959.The charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist had previously said the institution of Dalai Lama would continue only if there was popular demand.He said Wednesday he had received multiple appeals over the past 14 years from the Tibetan diaspora, Buddhists from across the Himalayan region, Mongolia and parts of Russia and China, “earnestly requesting that the institution of the Dalai Lama continue”.”In particular, I have received messages through various channels from Tibetans in Tibet making the same appeal,” he said in a video broadcast at the start of a meeting of religious leaders in the Indian Himalayan town where he has lived for decades.”In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he added, according to an official translation.The announcement was made ahead of his 90th birthday on July 6.- ‘Historic’ -While China condemns him as a rebel and separatist, the internationally recognised Dalai Lama describes himself as a “simple Buddhist monk”.Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name its own successor to bolster control over a territory it poured troops into in 1950.But the Dalai Lama said Wednesday that responsibility for identifying the 15th Dalai Lama “will rest exclusively” with the India-based Gaden Phodrang Trust, the office of the Dalai Lama.Samdhong Rinpoche, a senior Tibetan leader from the Gaden Phodrang Trust, told reporters that the Dalai Lama was “in excellent health” and that, at this time, there were “no further instructions for succession”.However, Rinpoche said the next Dalai Lama could be of “any nationality”, and would come from a place where there is “access to freedom”.China said on Wednesday that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama “must be approved by the central government” in Beijing, and that it would be carried out “by drawing lots from a golden urn”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.That urn is held by Beijing, and the Dalai Lama has already warned that, when used dishonestly, it lacks “any spiritual quality”.The Dalai Lama handed over political authority in 2011 to an exiled government chosen democratically by 130,000 Tibetans globally.At the same time, he warned that the future of his spiritual post faced an “obvious risk of vested political interests misusing the reincarnation system”.In 1995, Beijing selected a Panchen Lama, another influential Tibetan religious figure, and detained a Dalai Lama-recognised six-year-old, described by rights groups as the world’s youngest political prisoner.The Dalai Lama’s announcement about the continuation of the role was welcomed with relief by Tibetans, including by Jigme Taydeh, a civil servant with the India-based Tibetan government.”Whilst we rejoice at this confirmation of its continuation, we stringently object to China’s interference and plans to install a puppet Dalai Lama”, he said. “Neither the Tibetans nor the world would recognise such mischief.”burs-pjm/lb

Thailand’s acting prime minister is set to helm the country for only one full day Wednesday, standing in for suspended premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra before being replaced himself in a cabinet reshuffle.Transport minister and deputy prime minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit began his engagements by attending a ceremony in Bangkok celebrating the longevity of the prime minister’s office.The event marked the 93rd anniversary of an institution Suriya is set to command for far fewer than 93 hours as Thailand reels from the suspension of Paetongtarn, heiress of the country’s dominant political dynasty.During a brief ceremony open to media Suriya declined to respond to queries asking how he felt about his ephemeral leadership, which caps a decades-long political career.He said his most urgent business had been to “sign a paper” ensuring a smooth transition to his successor on Thursday.The Constitutional Court said Tuesday there was “sufficient cause to suspect” Paetongtarn breached ministerial ethics in a diplomatic spat with Cambodia, suspending her pending a probe that may last months.- ‘I don’t know the guy’ -The 38-year-old Paetongtarn is the daughter of political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra, whose family and party have been jousting with Thailand’s conservative establishment since the early 2000s.Power immediately passed to 70-year-old Suriya, a veteran operator with a reputation in Thai media as a political weathervane for always aligning himself with the government of the day.”I don’t really know the guy, but I don’t care anymore who becomes prime minister,” 54-year-old motorbike taxi driver Paitoon Kaewdee told AFP.”I’ve lost hope in Thai politics. I used to care a lot about politics and the Shinawatra family but now, it’s all the same.”Suriya’s time as acting premier is due to end with a cabinet reshuffle already scheduled before Tuesday’s court bombshell.It takes effect in an oath-swearing ceremony scheduled on Thursday, when he is set to be superseded by incoming interior minister Phumtham Wechayachai.The ruling Pheu Thai party said late Tuesday that Phumtham will take over after the cabinet reshuffle because he will receive a deputy prime minister title that is higher in the order of succession than Suriya.The “power vacuum at the top” may threaten Thailand’s bid for a US trade deal to avert President Donald Trump’s threat of a 36 percent tariff, said Capital Economics senior Asia economist Gareth Leather.”I want a new election,” complained 40-year-old Bangkok office worker Chatchai Summabut. “This country needs stability.”- Waning influence -Paetongtarn — who became prime minister only last August — assigned herself the culture minister position in the new cabinet before she was suspended, meaning she is set to keep a perch in the upper echelons of power.She, Suriya and Phumtham are all members of Pheu Thai, which came second in the 2023 election but secured power by forming an unsteady coalition with its former enemies in pro-military parties.But analysts say Paetongtarn’s pause from office represents a dramatic waning of the Shinawatras’ influence, even though the acting prime ministers are still considered their loyal lieutenants.Tuesday also saw the second day of Thaksin’s criminal trial for royal defamation, in which he faces a possible 15-year sentence if convicted.Paetongtarn has been hobbled over a longstanding territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which boiled over into cross-border clashes in May, killing one Cambodian soldier.When she made a diplomatic call to Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen she called him “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent”, according to a leaked recording causing widespread backlash.A conservative party abandoned her ruling coalition — sparking the cabinet reshuffle — while her approval rating plunged and thousands mustered to protest over the weekend.Conservative lawmakers accused her of kowtowing to Cambodia and undermining the military, entering a case with the Constitutional Court alleging she breached the constitution’s ministerial ethics code.

A nickel stockpile towers over farmer Moharen Tambiling’s rice paddy in the Philippines’ Palawan, evidence of a mining boom that locals hope a new moratorium will tame.”They told us before the start of their operations that it wouldn’t affect us, but the effects are undeniable now,” Tambiling told AFP.”Pangolins, warthogs, birds are disappearing. Flowers as well.”A biodiversity hotspot, Palawan also holds vast deposits of nickel, needed for everything from stainless steel to electric vehicles.Once the world’s largest exporter of the commodity, the Philippines is now racing to catch up with Indonesia. In 2021, Manila lifted a nine-year ban on mining licences. Despite promised jobs and tax revenue, there is growing pushback against the sector in Palawan.In March, the island’s governing council unanimously passed a 50-year moratorium on any new mining permits.”Flash floods, the siltation of the sea, fisheries, mangrove areas… We are witnesses to the effects of long-term mining,” Nieves Rosento, a former local councillor who led the push, told AFP.Environmental rights lawyer Grizelda Mayo-Anda said the moratorium could stop nearly 70 proposed projects spanning 240,000 hectares.”You have to protect the old-growth forest, and it’s not being done,” she said.From 2001 to 2024, Palawan dubbed the country’s “last ecological frontier” — lost 219,000 hectares of tree cover, more than any other province, in part due to mining, according to Global Forest Watch.- ‘Fearsome’ flooding -In southern Palawan’s Brooke’s Point, a Chinese ship at a purpose-built pier waits for ore from the stockpile overlooking Tambiling’s farm.Mining company Ipilan says increased production will result in greater royalties for Indigenous people and higher tax revenues, but that means little to Tambiling’s sister Alayma.The single mother-of-six once made 1,000-5,000 pesos ($18-90) a day selling lobster caught where the pier now sits.”We were surprised when we saw backhoes digging up the shore,” she told AFP, calling a one-time compensation offer of 120,000 pesos ($2,150) insulting.”The livelihood of all the Indigenous peoples depended on that area.”On the farm, Tambiling stirred rice paddy mud to reveal reddish laterite he says is leaking from the ore heap and poisoning his crops.Above him, swathes of the Mantalingahan mountains have been deforested, producing floods he describes as “fearsome, deep and fast-moving.”Ipilan has faced protests and legal challenges over its logging, but its operations continue.Calls to parent company Global Ferronickel Holdings were not returned.For some in Palawan, the demand for nickel to power EVs has a certain irony.”You may be able to… eliminate pollution using electric vehicles,” said Jeminda Bartolome, an anti-mining advocate.”But you should also study what happens to the area you are mining.”- ‘First-class municipality’ -In Bataraza, the country’s oldest nickel mine is expanding, having secured permission before the moratorium.Rio Tuba employees armed with brooms, goggles, hats and scarves are barely visible through reddish dust as they sweep an access road that carries 6,000 tonnes of ore destined for China each day.Company senior vice president Jose Bayani Baylon said mining turned a barely accessible malarial swamp into a “first-class municipality”.”You have an airport, you have a port, you have a community here. You have a hospital, you have infrastructure which many other communities don’t have,” he told AFP.He dismisses environmental concerns as overblown.With part of its concession tapped out, the company is extending into an area once off-limits to logging but since rezoned.Thousands of trees have been cleared since January, according to locals, but Baylon said “under the law, for every tree you cut, you have to plant 100″.The company showed AFP a nine-hectare plot it spent 15 years restoring with native plants.But it is unclear to what degree that will be replicated. Baylon concedes some areas could become solar farms instead.- ‘Four kilos of rice’ -Nearby, Indigenous resident Kennedy Coria says mining has upset Mount Bulanjao’s ecosystem.”Honeybees disappeared where we used to find them. Fruit trees in the forest stopped bearing fruit,” the father-of-seven said.A fifth of the Philippines’ Indigenous land is covered by mining and exploration permits, according to rights group Global Witness. Legally, they have the right to refuse projects and share profits, but critics say the process is rarely clear.”There are Indigenous peoples who have not received any royalties for the past 10 years,” said Rosento.Coria, who can neither read nor write, said he must sign a document each year when accepting what he is told is his share of Rio Tuba profits.”We get about four kilos of rice from the community leader, who tells us it came from the company,” he said.Rio Tuba said funds are distributed in coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), which is meant to represent the communities.But some say it acts in the interests of miners, attempting to persuade locals to accept concessions and the terms offered by companies.The NCIP referred questions to multiple regional offices, none of which replied. The government’s industry regulator declined interview requests. While Palawan’s moratorium will not stop Rio Tuba’s expansion or Ipilan’s operations, supporters believe it will slow further mining.Ryan Maminta, a councillor who backed the moratorium said it already halted one expansion.There are looming legal challenges, however.A recent Supreme Court decision struck down a mining ban in Occidental Mindoro province.Backers remain confident though, and Rosento said the council would stand firm.”Responsible mining is just a catchphrase,” she said.

Thailand’s billionaire Shinawatra dynasty has dominated the kingdom’s politics for 25 years, but its rule has been hit by coups and court cases including this week’s suspension of the prime minister.Thaksin Shinawatra amassed a telecoms fortune before driving the family’s entry into politics, elected to power in 2001 and again in 2005 — when he led the first Thai party ever to secure an overall majority alone.His populist policies won the devotion of rural voters but the ire of the pro-monarchy, pro-military establishment who regarded him as an insurgent threat to the traditional social order.The patriarch was ousted in a 2006 coup, but Thai politics has remained dominated by jousting between his Shinawatra clan successors and Bangkok’s tradition-orientated elite.Thaksin’s sister Yingluck became prime minister in 2011, regarded by many as his stooge, before she was likewise forced out by the military.- Founding father – Thaksin served as a police officer before making his fortune and launching his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, promising to use his business savvy to uplift rural areas.He became the first Thai premier to serve a full term after his 2001 victory, and was re-elected in a landslide by villagers grateful for cash injections amid the Asian financial crisis.But Thaksin was dogged by corruption allegations and months of protests. While he was on an overseas trip in September 2006 tanks rolled into Bangkok and the military toppled his government.Despite his Thai assets being frozen the following year, he purchased Manchester City and later sold the British football club for a sizeable profit.Thaksin took himself into exile in 2008 but never stopped commenting on national affairs — or, according to his critics, meddling in them.- A family affair -Thai Rak Thai was dissolved after the coup ousting Thaksin, but its successor People’s Power party won the next election, and in 2008 Thaksin’s brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat was briefly prime minister before the courts ordered it dismantled too.It evolved into the Pheu Thai (For Thais) party, which brought Thaksin’s sister Yingluck to power in 2011.Yingluck was pilloried as a political lightweight armed with little more than a winning smile and a hotline to her elder brother — who once referred to her as his “clone”.She reached out to the military which had ousted her brother, but their shaky truce collapsed after a failed bid to pass an amnesty bill which would have enabled Thaksin’s return.The move outraged government opponents who flooded the streets for months-long protests marked by violence, with dozens killed and hundreds wounded.Yingluck’s premiership was scuttled in 2014 by a court ruling and weeks later the military shunted aside the rest of her administration.- Inheriting influence -Thaksin subsequently threw his weight behind his youngest child Paetongtarn Shinawatra as she took up the Pheu Thai mantle, transferring from a career in the hotel arm of the family’s business empire.She was pregnant during the 2023 election campaign but was a near-constant presence, regularly leading rallies in stifling tropical heat.Pheu Thai finished second, but secured power by forming an unsteady alliance with their former enemies in pro-military parties, and Paetongtarn was appointed prime minister last August.Much like Yingluck, the 38-year-old Paetongtarn has been accused of being a puppet of Thaksin.The Constitutional Court suspended her from office on Tuesday while it probes her actions during a diplomatic spat with Cambodia.- Return to division -While in exile in Dubai, Thaksin pledged repeatedly to return to Thailand despite being convicted on graft and abuse-of-power charges in his absence.He went back on the day Pheu Thai took power, prompting speculation he had been granted leniency as part of the coalition bargain.He was immediately arrested and sentenced to eight years in jail, but was whisked to a police hospital within hours on health grounds. Thaksin was later pardoned by the king without spending any time in prison. He went on trial Tuesday for royal defamation, with a 15-year sentence possible if convicted.The clan’s future is now increasingly murky, said Thai political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak.”The Shinawatra family has been systematically weakened to the point that its mass appeal in Thai politics has worn off.”

The United States, Japan, India and Australia pledged Tuesday to work together to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals, as worries grow over China’s dominance in resources vital to new technologies.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed his counterparts from the so-called “Quad” to Washington in a shift of focus to Asia, after spending much of his first six months on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and on President Donald Trump’s domestic priorities such as migration.The four countries said in a joint statement that they were establishing the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, aimed at “collaborating on securing and diversifying” supply chains.They offered little detail but made clear the goal was to reduce reliance on China, which has used restrictions as leverage as the United States in turn curbs its access to semiconductors and as Trump threatens steep tariffs — including on Quad countries.”Reliance on any one country for processing and refining critical minerals and derivative goods production exposes our industries to economic coercion, price manipulation and supply chain disruptions,” the statement said.The ministers were careful not to mention China by name but voiced “serious concerns regarding dangerous and provocative actions” in the South China Sea and East China Sea that “threaten peace and stability in the region.”China holds major reserves of several key minerals including the vast majority of the world’s graphite, which is crucial for electric vehicles.In brief remarks alongside the other ministers, Rubio said he has “personally been very focused” on diversifying supply chains and wanted “real progress.”- US refocus on Asia -The four-way partnership was first conceived by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who saw an alliance of democracies surrounding China — which has repeatedly alleged that the Quad is a way to contain it.Rubio had welcomed the Quad foreign ministers on January 21 in his first meeting after Trump’s inauguration, seen as a sign the new administration would prioritize engagement with like-minded countries to counter China.But to the surprise of many, China has not topped the early agenda of Trump, who has spoken respectfully about his counterpart Xi Jinping and reached a truce with Beijing to avoid a wider trade war between the world’s two largest economies.Trump is expected to travel to India later this year for a Quad summit. Both the Indian and Japanese foreign ministers said that they wanted the Quad to focus on a “free and open Indo-Pacific” — a phrasing that is a veiled allusion to opposing Chinese dominance in Asia.”It is essential that nations of the Indo-Pacific have the freedom of choice, so essential to make right decisions on development and security,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.At Jaishankar’s urging, the Quad condemned a May attack on the Indian side of Kashmir that killed mostly Hindu civilians and called for “the perpetrators, organizers and financiers of this reprehensible act to be brought to justice without any delay.”India in May launched air strikes in Pakistan, which it blamed for the attack. Pakistan denied responsibility and responded with its own attacks on the Indian military.In a key concern for Japan, the Quad condemned North Korea for its “destabilizing launches” of missiles and insisted on its “complete denuclearization.”Trump, in one of the most startling moves of his first term, met with North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un, helping ease tensions but producing no lasting agreement.Despite common ground on China, Quad members have differed on other hotspots, with the joint statement not mentioning Ukraine or Iran.India has maintained its long relationship with Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine, while both India and Japan also have historically enjoyed cordial ties with Iran.