China

Iran has increased its supply of uranium that has been enriched to 60% purity, according to confidential International Atomic Energy Agency reports sent to member states and seen by several news agencies.   Atomic weapons can be created when uranium enriched to 60% is further enriched to 90%. The enrichment procedure is a short, technical process.   However, Iran has offered to cap its stockpile …

new delhi — The Chinese yuan has plummeted since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, and finance experts are questioning why the Chinese government is not doing more to defend the currency.  “The slide in the yuan’s value reflects the negative expectations of the world towards China-U.S. relations after the recent victory of Donald Trump, as well as some misperception in the international market towards China’s growth,” …

Islamabad — China said Tuesday it will send troops to Pakistan later this month for the countries first joint counterterrorism military exercise in five years to enhance security cooperation with its South Asian neighbor and close ally. The announcement follows reports that Beijing is pushing Islamabad to permit its security personnel to safeguard thousands of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan from deadly terrorist attacks. It also …

BEIJING — A driver in an SUV plowed into students and pedestrians outside a primary school in southern China on Tuesday, leaving several people injured, state media said, as worries spread over a spate of violent attacks in the country over the past week.  CCTV and other state media reported the SUV hit people outside a primary school in Changde city in Hunan province as students …

A U.S. diplomat arrived Tuesday in Beirut to meet with Lebanese officials about a possible cease-fire agreement – reportedly approved by Hezbollah – that would end fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group. Amos Hochstein was meeting with Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who is mediating for the militants. Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have agreed to a proposal that was …

SYDNEY — A nine-day march to protest race relations laws in New Zealand ended Tuesday with a rally of more than 40,000 perople in the capital, Wellington. Introduced last week by New Zealand’s center-right government, the Treaty Principles Bill, would enshrine a narrower legal interpretation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.       The right-leaning government says a bill – or a proposed law reform – …

Taipei, Taiwan — Numerous children were injured by a vehicle at the gate of an elementary school in central China’s Hunan province on Tuesday morning, reports said. Students were arriving for classes around 8 a.m. at Yong’an Elementary School in the city of Changde when the incident occurred. Few details were immediately available, and it wasn’t clear whether the vehicle had lost control or whether it …

Jewish settlers in the West Bank welcome the election of Donald Trump and his selection of Mike Huckabee as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. They say they hope to annex the West Bank and even build settlements in Gaza. For VOA, Linda Gradstein reports from the Kedumim settlement in the West Bank. Camera: Ricki Rosen. …

State Department — Members of the United Nations Security Council, including the United States and the United Kingdom, urged an immediate increase in aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian situation there is worsening. Meanwhile, the United States warned Turkey on Monday against hosting Hamas leadership, saying there can be “no more business as usual” with what the U.S. designates as a terrorist …

Washington — Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a range of measures to boost global development in his remarks Monday at G20 Summit meetings in Rio de Janeiro — highlighting Beijing’s support for its global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road, and a joint technology initiative to support so-called “Global South” nations.  Xi said the “Open Science International Cooperation Initiative” would be spearheaded by China, Brazil, South …

Washington — Yu Miao smiles as he stands among the 10,000 books crowded on rows of bamboo shelves in his newly reopened bookstore. It’s in Washington’s vibrant Dupont Circle neighborhood, far from its last location in Shanghai, where the Chinese government forced him out of business six years ago. “There is no pressure from the authorities here,” said Yu, the owner of JF Books, Washington’s only …

Washington — The U.S. on Monday imposed sanctions on organizations and firms involved in illegal settlement development in the occupied West Bank, including a well-established decades-old group that has close ties with Israeli leadership.  Treasury sanctioned Amana, the largest organization involved in illegal settlement development in the West Bank, and its subsidiary Binyanei Bar Amana Ltd. Already sanctioned by Britain and Canada, Amana is one of …

Washington — After a monthslong delay, the national security trial of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai is due to resume Wednesday in Hong Kong amid continued calls for his immediate release.   Founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, Lai has been held in solitary confinement since late 2020. His trial began in December 2023 and was initially estimated to last about 80 days.   Lai, 76, is expected …

In the past two months, more than half a million people have fled into Syria from Lebanon, many of them refugees who initially fled the Syrian war. Those returning to Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, say they are escaping to a place that is only a little safer than Lebanon, without homes, jobs or humanitarian aid waiting for them. Heather Murdock reports from …

Beirut schools were closed Monday after six people — including the media relations chief for Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — were killed in airstrikes in the central part of the city a day earlier. The strikes prompted the education ministry to shut schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area for two days. Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammad Afif was among four people killed in the …

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli airstrike killed the chief spokesman for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group on Sunday in the first attack in central Beirut in more than a month, while Palestinian medical officials said earlier Israeli strikes killed 12 in Gaza. A Hezbollah official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mohammed Afif was killed in the Beirut strike. He had been especially visible since …

Bangkok, Thailand — Across war-torn Myanmar, rebel commanders, aid workers and cyber-scammers alike are turning to billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to stay in touch with each other and with the outside world amid some of the most severe internet restrictions. Starlink is not licensed in Myanmar, and the military junta running much of the country has banned its use, yet orbiting satellites and smugglers on …

Beirut — Hundreds of cultural professionals, including archeologists and academics, called on the United Nations to safeguard war-torn Lebanon’s heritage in a petition published Sunday ahead of a crucial UNESCO meeting. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south — both strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah — hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as UNESCO World …

Rome — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year.   It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon …

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight killed 12 people, Palestinian medical officials said Sunday. Israeli police meanwhile arrested three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea. In Lebanon, Israeli warplanes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut after the military warned people to evacuate from at least seven buildings. The Hezbollah …

Vientiane, Laos — Suffocating under a mountain of debt to China, communist Laos is struggling to tame rampant inflation, with food prices rising so sharply that a growing number of households are resorting to foraging. At a market in Vientiane, traders told AFP they have never known business to be so slow, as families have seen the value of their money collapse since COVID-19. While the …

CAIRO — Two flash bombs were fired toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the northern Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday and fell into the garden, police said. Neither Netanyahu nor his family were present and there was no damage reported, it added in a statement. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the incident crossed “all red lines” in a post on X early …

Tehran, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday in an interview that an opportunity exists for nuclear negotiations with the West, but that it is “limited.” Abbas Araghchi’s comments come after the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, visited the Islamic Republic for talks with high-ranking officials. “There is still an opportunity for diplomacy, although this opportunity is not much, it is a limited …

On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru, U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their last in-person engagement before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from Lima. …