Experts: Thailand’s bid to join BRICS is mostly symbolic
Voice of America
FILE - Banners promoting a BRICS summit hang from a pole outside the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 19, 2023.
Thailand wishes to become the first Southeast Asian member of BRICS, a geopolitical group of developing countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Girls in the Eid family eat lentils cooked by their mother, Yasmin, at their tent in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Nov. 19, 2024. Yasmin Eid cooks at her family's tent in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Nov. 19, 2024.
FILE - Anima Mangola eats rice and stewed cassava leaves in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, Sept. 25, 2024. FILE Alhaji Aboubacar Kowa, imam and farming leader, poses for a photo in a rice field near the Sierra Leone village of Fanima, Sept. 25, 2024.
Afghan school girls attend a class at an open air primary school in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, May 14, 2023. The Taliban banned secondary education for girls after the 2021 takeover.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a summit discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, in Lima, Peru, Nov. 15, 2024.
FILE - People hold a banner during a public rally held for the Myanmar community in Australia calling for ASEAN to not support the Myanmar Military Junta, outside the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit venue, in Melbourne, Australia March 4, 2024. FILE - Myanmar military officers march during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 79th Armed Forces Day, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2024.
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FILE - Venancio Mondlane gestures to supporters gathered to celebrate the results in the local elections in Maputo, Mozambique, Oct. 12, 2023. Mondlane finished second in Mozambique's presidential election on Oct. 9, 2024.
FILE - Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski speaks to reporters during his visit in Kyiv, Dec. 22, 2023.
FILE - The Chinese ship, the bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, right, is anchored and being monitored by a Danish naval patrol vessels in the sea of Kattegat, near the City og Granaa in Jutland, Denmark, Nov. 20, 2024.
FILE - In this May 28, 2017, photo, members of the Biafran separatist movement gather in Umuahia, Nigeria. Police in Finland said on Nov. 21, 2024, the movement's leader and four others were arrested for alleged terror-related activities.