China

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korean lawmakers have impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his attempt to impose martial law, a high-stakes move that must now be approved by judges. In a Saturday vote, 12 conservative lawmakers joined opposition forces to impeach Yoon, who is just halfway through his single five-year term. The impeachment suspends Yoon’s powers until the Constitutional Court decides whether to formally remove …

ZURICH — Saudi Arabia scored a major win in its campaign to attract major sports events to the kingdom when it was formally appointed as the 2034 World Cup host on Wednesday. Still, many questions remain about the tournament as well as the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three games in South America. Here are some of the …

Jakarta, indonesia — Indonesia remains cautiously determined to join BRICS despite a threat from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to double tariffs on members of the Russia- and China-led bloc if it pursues its stated goal of establishing an alternative to the U.S. dollar in international trade. At a parliament meeting this month with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, legislators expressed their concern about Trump’s threats. “Although we …

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA/WASHINGTON — Expressing a renewed desire to return to their homeland, some Syrian refugees residing Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, are hopeful that recent developments, including the ousting of the Assad family regime that brutally ruled Syria for 53 years, might signal a safer future in Syria. Since the Syrian civil war broke out more than a decade ago, Syrians have fled to countries in the Middle …

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Macau next week for a gathering marking 25 years since the former Portuguese colony’s handover to China, state news agency Xinhua said Saturday. Xi will also attend the inauguration of Macau’s incoming administration and conduct an inspection tour during the December 18-20 visit, according to Xinhua. Macau grew into a trading post with a mixed Portuguese-Chinese population and cultural …

Palestinian health officials and U.N. aid workers report at least 30 people killed in Israeli strikes in central Gaza overnight, while the Israeli military reports that it conducted operations in Gaza and southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours. Senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees — UNRWA — reported Friday that 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes …

WASHINGTON — Syrian Kurdish groups have welcomed the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, viewing it as a historic opportunity for change after 54 years of rule by the Assad dynasty. However, concerns remain among Kurdish communities about potential opposition to Kurdish rights from the Islamist rebels who led the regime’s overthrow. Following Assad’s fall on Sunday, Mazloum Abdi, the top commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian …

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Iraq on Friday after Syria-focused talks with his counterpart in Turkey. Blinken met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad, after flying from Ankara on a C-17 U.S. Air Force plane. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken “underscored the U.S. commitment to the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership and to Iraq’s security, stability and sovereignty.” “The …

BEIJING — The former coach of the Chinese men’s national football team has received a 20-year-prison sentence for bribery, Chinese state media reported Friday. Liu Tie, who once played in the English Premier League as a midfielder for Everton, was found guilty of “leveraging his positions” as head coach of the national football and national selection team to receive bribes of more than 50 million yuan …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said on Friday the best way to restore order in the country is to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, a day ahead of a planned parliamentary vote over Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law. Yoon’s move to impose military rule on December 3 was rescinded barely six hours later but it plunged the country into a …

BANGKOK — Fleeing an arrest warrant issued by Myanmar’s junta, journalist Nyan Linn Htet moved to neighboring Thailand three years ago. From there, the founder and managing editor at the Mekong News Agency has continued to provide coverage of issues affecting his home country. But a new law being debated in the Thai parliament could damage the fragile existence that he and so many others in …

Seoul, south korea — South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said on Friday the best way to restore order in the country is to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, a day ahead of a planned parliamentary vote over Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law.  Yoon’s move to impose military rule on December 3 was rescinded within six hours, but it plunged the country into a constitutional …

united nations — As Syrians celebrate the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after more than 50 years of brutal father-son rule, the search continues for tens of thousands of Syrians who are still missing after having been arrested, detained or “disappeared.” Human rights experts are urging the preservation of evidence of the torture and death of political prisoners as the doors of the country’s prisons …

WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers and diplomatic officials stressed the need for close cooperation among the United States, South Korea and Japan in response to the possible impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.  The officials say that Yoon, who could be removed from office as soon as this weekend over a short-lived imposition of martial law that threw his country into turmoil, has played an …

WASHINGTON — As the deadline approaches for ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a ban in the United States, the Chinese company made an appeal Monday to U.S. courts to extend the date of the ultimatum until after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The current deadline requires ByteDance to divest from TikTok by Jan. 19, 2025, a day before Trump is sworn into office. Despite an …

Anger in the Syrian capital is palpable as families search for loved ones who are now missing or have died in their fallen government’s brutal prison system. At a rally in Damascus, VOA’s Heather Murdock reports that crowds are calling for the execution of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. Camera: Yan Boechat, Moawia Atrash and Ahmad Fallaha …

WASHINGTON — When news broke about the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria this week, photojournalist Paul Conroy found himself thinking about a former colleague, Marie Colvin.   An American journalist, Colvin was killed in February 2012 in the city of Homs when the Syrian military shelled the media center she was in. French photographer Remi Ochlik was also killed, and Conroy and two other …

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign leaders to his January 20 inauguration, but it is not known yet whether any of them plan to attend the ceremony on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News it was yet “to be determined” whether Xi will accept Trump’s invitation, which was extended in …

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops this week took over a buffer zone between Israel and Syria in the wake of the Syrian government’s fall, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they will remain for now. After a meeting with Biden administration national security advisor Jake Sullivan in Jerusalem, Netanyahu’s office said that Israeli troops will stay in the buffer zone next to the Golan Heights until some …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights until a force on the Syrian side can guarantee security. The Israeli troops advanced from their side of the Golan Heights into the buffer zone and onto the Syrian side after rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “Israel will not permit jihadi …

Israeli forces withdrew Wednesday from a strategic town in southern Lebanon and were replaced by Lebanese troops as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah. The withdrawal from Al-Khiam came two weeks after the start of the ceasefire brokered by the United States and France. “This is an important first step in the implementation of a lasting cessation of hostilities …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s top court upheld on Thursday a two-year jail term for an opposition lawmaker on charges including bribery and academic fraud in a scandal that has deepened the political divide in the country and disenchanted many young voters. The verdict stripped Cho Kuk, a former justice minister and President Yoon Suk Yeol’s adversary, who now runs the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea …

Washington — Closure has been elusive for Penny Sukhraj-Hammerl for more than a decade.  Her husband, South African photojournalist Anton Hammerl, was shot and killed in the Libyan desert on April 5, 2011, by pro-Moammar Gadhafi forces.  Since then, the questions have outnumbered the answers, and justice has remained a far-off hope, Sukhraj-Hammerl, also a journalist, told VOA from London.  At the time of Hammerl’s killing, …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — From plastic surgery clinics to tour firms and hotel chains, South Korea’s hospitality sector is wary of the potential impact of a protracted political crisis, as some overseas travelers cancel trips following last week’s brief bout of martial law. South Korea’s travel and tourism industry, which generated $59.1 billion in 2023, around 3.8% of GDP, has held up through previous bumps in …