Pakistan crackdown sends Afghan families to unknown future

Pakistan wants to expel three million Afghans by the end of this year, saying they are in the country illegally, but many have lived there for decades. Returning refugees have been forced to head to a camp across the border, in Torkham, where thousands arrive every week and face a new future in a country they don't know. Pakistan denies targeting Afghans and says everyone leaving is treated humanely and with dignity.

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Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Why India's Budding EV Sector Has Opened Its Doors To China

For decades, China has driven the lion's share of oil demand growth thanks to its remarkable economic boom and large population. However, China is now losing its prominence in global oil markets due to a dramatic slowdown in its economy coupled with the country's ongoing electric vehicle revolution. Last year, nearly half of all new cars sold in China were electric vehicles, including both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Indeed, China's rapid adoption of EVs, as well as rapid growth of high-speed rail and natural gas trucks, is displacing traditional fossil fuel demand, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicting that China's oil demand will peak as early as 2027. Ironically, the country that is taking over China's mantle in world oil markets is also aspiring to follow in its EV footsteps: India. Unlike China, India's EV sector is still at its infancy, with electric vehicles accounting for just 2.5% of all cars sold in the country in 2024. However, India has big EV ambitions, with the Indian government having set a target for EVs to make up 30% of total passenger vehicle sales by 2030. To accomplish this, India's EV sector is forging close ties with Chinese EV manufacturers at a time when Washington has been keeping Chinese EV giants at bay. India is relying on Chinese EV tech to bridge the gap until the domestic sector is ready to compete on the global stage. Industry analysts note that without access to Chinese technologies—including batteries, drivetrain components, and EV software—India would likely face slower product rollouts, limited model variety, and higher costs during its growth phase. This marks a clear pivot from just a few years ago, when India restricted the operations of firms like BYD and banned popular Chinese apps such as TikTok and Shein after deadly clashes at the New Delhi appears to be taking a more calculated stance. In March, the government reduced tariffs on over 35 EV components, many of which are imported from China, making it easier for automakers to source critical parts. A few weeks later, India's Ministry of Heavy Industries unveiled a new EV policy slashing import duties on fully built EVs from 110% to 15%, provided manufacturers invest and set up local production. This dual-pronged approach aims to attract international players while building out domestic supply chains. Experts view these shifts as pragmatic. Leading Indian EV makers—such as Tata Motors, Ola Electric, and Mahindra & Mahindra—continue to depend on Chinese vendors for components like battery cells, power control units, and electric motors, even though assembly is carried out in India. 'The aim is to build a resilient domestic ecosystem, not to isolate it, unlike the more aggressive decoupling seen in the U.S. with China,' said Shubham Munde, senior analyst at intelligence firm Market Research Future. Yet this growing alignment between Indian and Chinese EV sectors is creating both opportunity and competition. MG Motor—a joint venture between India's JSW Group and China's state-owned automaker SAIC—has managed to double its market share over the past year, putting pressure on homegrown giants like Tata Motors. Its model, the MG Windsor, is now India's top-selling electric car, highlighting how joint ventures are gaining traction. At the same time, India's EV landscape remains deeply fragmented. According to Bernstein Research, just four legacy automakers dominate 80% of the electric mobility market, leaving over 150 EV startups struggling to establish a foothold in an increasingly competitive space. Government policy appears to be playing an outsized role in the EV trajectories of different countries. In its 2025 Electric Vehicles Outlook, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) cut both its near-term and long-term passenger EV adoption outlook in the United States for the first time ever, citing key policy changes including rollback of national fuel-economy targets as well as the removal of supportive elements of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by the Trump administration. In contrast, S&P Global Mobility has forecast strong growth for India's nascent EV sector, projecting that production of battery-electric passenger vehicles will increase by 140% year-over-year in 2025 to roughly 301,400 units. That would represent about 6% of the estimated 5.16 million passenger vehicles expected to be built in India that year. Still, the road to India's 2030 goal may be steep. According to S&P, India would need to boost EV adoption by approximately 380 basis points annually to reach 30% market share—nearly double the current growth rate of around 200 basis points per year since 2021. Compounding the challenge is the lack of a unified long-term roadmap and the pending expiration of several state-level EV incentive programs. By Alex Kimani for More Top Reads From this article on Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten

Associated Press

an hour ago

• Associated Press

Photos of Lesbos 10 years after the migration crisis

LESBOS, Greece (AP) Fleeing Iran with her husband and toddler, Amena Namjoyan reached a rocky beach of this eastern Greek island along with hundreds of thousands of others. For months, their arrival overwhelmed Lesbos. Boats fell apart, fishermen dove to save people from drowning, and local grandmothers bottle-fed newly arrived babies. Namjoyan spent months in an overcrowded camp. She learned Greek. She struggled with illness and depression as her marriage collapsed. She tried to make a fresh start in Germany but eventually returned to Lesbos, the island that first embraced her. Today, she works at a restaurant, preparing Iranian dishes that locals devour, even if they struggle to pronounce the names. Her second child tells her, ''I'm Greek.'' 'Greece is close to my culture, and I feel good here,' Namjoyan said. 'I am proud of myself.' In 2015, more than 1 million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe — the majority by sea, landing in Lesbos, where the north shore is just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Turkey. The influx of men, women and children fleeing war and poverty sparked a humanitarian crisis that shook the European Union to its core. A decade later, the fallout still reverberates on the island and beyond. For many, Greece was a place of transit. They continued on to northern and western Europe. Many who applied for asylum were granted international protection; thousands became European citizens. Countless more were rejected, languishing for years in migrant camps or living in the streets. Some returned to their home countries. Others were kicked out of the European Union. For Namjoyan, Lesbos is a welcoming place — many islanders share a refugee ancestry, and it helps that she speaks their language. But migration policy in Greece, like much of Europe, has shifted toward deterrence in the decade since the crisis. Far fewer people are arriving illegally. Officials and politicians have maintained that strong borders are say enforcement has gone too far and violates fundamental EU rights and values. 'Migration is now at the top of the political agenda, which it didn't use to be before 2015,' said Camille Le Coz Director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, noting changing EU alliances. 'We are seeing a shift toward the right of the political spectrum.' A humanitarian crisis turned into a political one In 2015, boat after boat crowded with refugees crashed onto the doorstep of Elpiniki Laoumi, who runs a fish tavern across from a Lesbos beach. She fed them, gave them water, made meals for aid organizations. 'You would look at them and think of them as your own children,' said Laoumi, whose tavern walls today are decorated with thank-you notes. From 2015 to 2016, the peak of the migration crisis, more than 1 million people entered Europe through Greece alone. The immediate humanitarian crisis — to feed, shelter and care for so many people at once — grew into a long-term political one. Greece was reeling from a crippling economic crisis. The influx added to anger against established political parties, fueling the rise of once-fringe populist forces. EU nations fought over sharing responsibility for asylum seekers. The bloc's unity cracked as some member states flatly refused to take migrants. Anti-migration voices calling for closed borders became louder. Today, illegal migration is down across Europe While illegal migration to Greece has fluctuated, numbers are nowhere near 2015-16 figures, according to the International Organization for Migration. Smugglers adapted to heightened surveillance, shifting to more dangerous routes. Overall, irregular EU border crossings decreased by nearly 40% last year and continue to fall, according to EU border and coast guard agency Frontex. That hasn't stopped politicians from focusing on — and sometimes fearmongering over — migration. This month, the Dutch government collapsed after a populist far-right lawmaker withdrew his party's ministers over migration policy. In Greece, the new far-right migration minister has threatened rejected asylum seekers with jail time. A few miles from where Namjoyan now lives, in a forest of pine and olive trees, is a new EU-funded migrant center. It's one of the largest in Greece and can house up to 5,000 people. Greek officials denied an Associated Press request to visit. Its opening is blocked, for now, by court challenges. Some locals say the remote location seems deliberate — to keep migrants out of sight and out of mind. 'We don't believe such massive facilities are needed here. And the location is the worst possible – deep inside a forest,' said Panagiotis Christofas, mayor of Lesbos' capital, Mytilene. 'We're against it, and I believe that's the prevailing sentiment in our community.' The legacy of Lesbos Last year, EU nations approved a migration and asylum pact laying out common rules for the bloc's 27 countries on screening, asylum, detention and deportation of people trying to enter without authorization, among other things. 'The Lesbos crisis of 2015 was, in a way, the birth certificate of the European migration and asylum policy,' Margaritis Schinas, a former European Commission vice president and a chief pact architect, told AP. He said that after years of fruitless negotiations, he's proud of the landmark compromise. 'We didn't have a system,' Schinas said. 'Europe's gates had been crashed.' The deal, endorsed by the United Nations refugee agency, takes effect next year. Critics say it made concessions to rights organizations say it will increase detention and erode the right to seek asylum. Some organizations also criticize the 'externalization' of EU border management — agreements with countries across the Mediterranean to aggressively patrol their coasts and hold migrants back in exchange for financial assistance. The deals have expanded, from Turkey to the Middle East and acrossAfrica. Human rights groups say autocratic governments are pocketing billions and often subject the displaced to appalling conditions. Lesbos still sees some migrants arrive Lesbos' 80,000 residents look back at the 2015 crisis with mixed feelings. Fisherman Stratos Valamios saved some children. Others drowned just beyond his reach, their bodies still warm as he carried them to shore. 'What's changed from back then to now, 10 years on? Nothing,' he said. 'What I feel is anger — that such things can happen, that babies can drown.' Those who died crossing to Lesbos are buried in two cemeteries, their graves marked as 'unknown.' Tiny shoes and empty juice boxes with faded Turkish labels can still be found on the northern coast. So can black doughnut-shaped inner tubes, given by smugglers as crude life preservers for children. At Moria, a refugee camp destroyed by fire in 2020, children's drawings remain on gutted building walls. Migrants still arrive, and sometimes die, on these shores. Lesbos began to adapt to a quieter, more measured flow of newcomers. Efi Latsoudi, who runs a network helping migrants learn Greek and find jobs, hopes Lesbos' tradition of helping outsiders in need will outlast national policies. 'The way things are developing, it's not friendly for newcomers to integrate into Greek society,' Latsoudi said. 'We need to do something. ... I believe there is hope.' ___ — This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors. Text from AP news story, 10 years after Europe's migration crisis, the fallout reverberates in Greece and beyond, by Derek Gatopoulos, Lefteris Pitarakis and Renata Brito.

CNN

2 hours ago

• CNN

China tightens internet controls with new centralized form of virtual ID

China has mastered the craft of policing the internet, operating one of the world's most extensive online censorship and surveillance regimes. With mandatory identity checks on every online platform, it has become almost impossible for users to stay anonymous. But this rigidly moderated online environment is about to face even stricter controls with the introduction of a state-issued national internet ID. Instead of requiring individuals to submit their personal information for identity checks separately on each platform, the government now seeks to centralize the process by issuing a virtual ID that will allow users to sign in across different social media apps and websites. The rules for the new system, currently voluntary, were released in late May and will be implemented in mid-July. It aims to 'protect citizens' identity information, and support the healthy and orderly development of the digital economy,' according to the published rules. Experts, however, have raised concerns that the new policy will further erode already limited freedom of expression by forcing internet users to relinquish even more control to the state. Since Chinese leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012, the country has further tightened its grip on the digital space through an army of censors. Deployed around the clock, they remove posts, suspend accounts and help authorities identify critics, quashing any sign of dissent before it can gain traction. The finalized rules were announced after a proposal that was opened for public comment last summer, a typical step in China's legislative process. During the course of the public consultation over the past year, the proposal faced backlash from law professors, human rights experts and some internet users. Yet, the finalized rules remained largely similar to the draft. 'This is a state-led, unified identity system capable of real-time monitoring and blocking of users,' said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist studying internet freedom at the University of California, Berkeley. 'It can directly erase voices it doesn't like from the internet, so it's more than just a surveillance tool – it is an infrastructure of digital totalitarianism.' Control of China's vast portion of the global internet has largely been delegated to a decentralized range of different groups, with authorities relying partially on the social media platforms themselves to identify comments deemed problematic. Xiao warned that a centralized system using the internet ID could make it much easier for the government to wipe out a user's presence across multiple platforms at once. Shane Yi, a researcher at China Human Rights Defenders, an advocacy group, echoed Xiao's worries. The system gives the Chinese government expanded power to 'do what they want when they see fit' on the internet, as authorities are able to track users' entire digital trail 'from point zero,' she said. At home, Chinese state-run media has called the internet ID a 'bullet-proof vest for personal information' and touted the system as being able to greatly reduce the risk of personal data leaks. Already, more than six million people have registered for the ID, according to Chinese state-run media Xinhua last month, out of a total estimated online population of more than one billion. A cybersecurity official from the Ministry of Public Security told Xinhua that the internet ID service was strictly 'voluntary,' but the government encourages various industries and sectors to integrate with it. 'Its goal is to provide individuals with a secure, convenient, authoritative and efficient means of identity verification, in support of the development of the digital economy,' the person was quoted as saying. But experts have also questioned how voluntary the system truly is and highlighted risks of potential data breaches, as personal information is now being collected in a centralized manner. Haochen Sun, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said that, although the law presents the system as voluntary, it could gradually evolve into a system which users may struggle not to opt in to. 'If the government wants to promote this internet ID verification system, it can do so through various arrangements – essentially by encouraging people to adopt it, offering more conveniences in return,' he said. Sun also raised concerns about the increased risks of data leaks. 'A centralized, nationwide platform inherently creates a single point of vulnerability, making it an attractive target for hackers or hostile foreign actors,' he said. Government data breaches have occurred around the world. One notable incident in China involved a police database containing the personal information of one billion citizens being leaked online in 2022. Although the new rules won't take effect until mid-July, hundreds of apps started trialing the internet ID since last year. The system was born out of a proposal by a police official early last year. Jia Xiaoliang, a cyber police deputy director in northeastern China who is also a delegate to China's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People's Congress, first proposed the system during the Congress's annual meeting in March 2024. As soon as the government began soliciting public comments on the proposal last July, experts and legal scholars voiced opposition. Lao Dongyan, a prominent law professor at Tsinghua University, compared the system to 'installing a surveillance device on every individual's online activity' in a post on Weibo, an X-like Chinese social media platform. The post was removed soon after, and her account was subsequently suspended from posting for three months, for 'violating relevant rules.' In late May, when the finalized rules were unveiled after a year, almost no criticism could be found online. Xiao explained that it's not the first time authorities have spaced out the time between a proposal and its implementation, to allow critics to 'blow off steam.' 'It's done deliberately … Many of their measures follow the same pattern, and they've proven effective,' he said.