Moscow — Iran’s president committed his country to deeper ties with Russia to counter Western sanctions on Tuesday, state media reported, amid U.S. worries that Tehran is supplying Moscow missiles to hit Ukraine. Russia’s top security official Sergei Shoigu arrived in the Iranian capital days after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. More than two and a half years into its conflict with …
Exploding pagers in Lebanon kill 8, wound 2,700
Jerusalem — Lebanon’s health minister said eight people were killed and more than 2,700 wounded when pagers they were carrying exploded Tuesday in an operation being blamed on Israel. Hezbollah militants were among those wounded. Ambulances raced through the streets and the Lebanese Red Cross called on doctors and nurses to come to the hospital and on civilians to donate blood. Lebanese officials said the deaths …
US boosts military ties with Southeast Asian countries
The United States has deepened its cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years, including Japan and South Korea. But it has also reached out to non-allies, including non-aligned countries of Southeast Asia like Indonesia. VOA’s Virginia Gunawan reports. Camera: Ahadian Utama, Hafizh Sahadeva. …
Analysts say Vietnam official’s US trip could set path to C-130 deal
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Analysts say this week’s visit to Washington by Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang shows advances in cooperation between the two countries, despite rising Vietnamese nationalism that may indicate rising anti-American sentiment in Vietnam. A U.S.-based analyst told VOA on September 12 that Giang’s trip set the groundwork for Hanoi to potentially purchase military cargo planes from the United States …
China says it tailed a US spy plane through the sensitive Taiwan Strait
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chinese warplanes tailed a U.S. military aircraft through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, China’s military said. The U.S. aircraft was a P-8A Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance plane, capable of conducting long-range anti-submarine warfare, according to a statement by the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command. Chinese military forces “organized warplanes to tail and monitor the U.S. aircraft’s flight and handled it in …
Casualties in Myanmar push Southeast Asia’s death toll from Typhoon Yagi past 500
BANGKOK — Floods and landslides in Myanmar triggered by last week’s Typhoon Yagi and seasonal monsoon rains have claimed at least 226 lives, with 77 people missing, state-run media reported Tuesday. The new figures push the total number of dead in Southeast Asia from the storm past 500. The accounting of casualties has been slow, in part due to communication difficulties with the affected areas. Myanmar …
Jailed Iranian Nobel laureate urges action against oppression of women
PARIS — Jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on Monday urged the international community to act to end the oppression of women in Iran, two years after the start of a women-led protest movement. “I call on international institutions and people around the world… to take active action,” she said in a letter written in Tehran’s Evin prison on Saturday, and published by her foundation …
India condemns Iran supreme leader’s comments on treatment of minorities
NEW DELHI — India has condemned comments made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the treatment of Muslims in the South Asian nation, calling his remarks “misinformed and unacceptable.” “We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place,” Khamenei said in a social media post on Monday. …
AI videos of US leaders singing Chinese go viral in China
WASHINGTON — “I love you, China. My dear mother,” former U.S. President Donald Trump, standing in front of a mic at a lectern, appears to sing in perfect Mandarin. “I cry for you, and I also feel proud for you,” Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent in this year’s election, appears to respond, also in perfect Mandarin. Trump lets out a smile as he listens …
US will ‘continue to push’ for release of detainees in China, State Department says
WASHINGTON — On Monday, after the U.S. State Department announced the release of David Lin, an American pastor, from nearly two decades of imprisonment in China, officials said more work remains to secure the freedom of other Americans held in China. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the U.S. government had been working to secure Lin’s release for some time. “When it comes …
Turkish-backed group besieges Syrian-Kurdish village after protest
Northern Syria/Washington — A village in northwestern Syria has been under siege by a Turkish-backed group of armed militants following a women-led protest against ongoing abuses carried out by the Syrian faction. The Kurdish village of Kakhira in Syria’s Afrin district came under siege Sunday after fighters affiliated with the Suleiman Shah Brigade cut off internet access and set up additional checkpoints in and around the …
Saudi Arabia plans to allow tougher nuclear oversight by IAEA this year
Vienna — Saudi Arabia plans to scrap light-touch oversight of its nuclear facilities by the U.N. atomic watchdog and switch to regular safeguards by the end of this year, the kingdom said on Monday, a step the watchdog has long been calling for. Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand to eventually include activities like proliferation-sensitive uranium enrichment. It is unclear …
Vietnam puts typhoon losses at $1.6 billion
Hanoi — Typhoon Yagi caused $1.6 billion in economic losses in Vietnam, state media said Monday, as the UN’s World Food Program said the deadly floods it triggered in Myanmar were the worst in the country’s recent history. Yagi battered Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand with powerful winds and a huge dump of rain more than a week ago, triggering floods and landslides that have killed …
Japan celebrates historic Emmys triumph for ‘Shogun’
Osaka, Japan — Japan celebrated on Monday the record-breaking Emmy Awards triumph of “Shogun”, although many confessed not having watched the series about the country’s warring dynasties in the feudal era. “Shogun” smashed all-time records at the television awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, taking home an astounding 18 statuettes and becoming the first non-English-language winner of the highly coveted award for best drama series. Lead …
Australia imposes more sanctions on Iran over human rights concerns
SYDNEY — Australia is imposing more sanctions on Iranian officials on the second anniversary of the jailing and death of Mahsa Jina Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman was arrested in September 2022 for “improperly” wearing her hijab. Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said Monday that Australia stood in solidarity “with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality and empowerment.” Wong announced financial sanctions …
Shy penguin wins New Zealand’s bird election
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — It’s noisy, smelly, shy – and New Zealand’s bird of the year. The hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, won the country’s fiercely fought avian election on Monday, offering hope to supporters of the endangered bird that recognition from its victory might prompt a revival of the species. It followed a campaign for the annual Bird of the Year vote that was absent the …
Iran’s President to attend BRICS summit in Russia
DUBAI — Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian will attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Russia, state media cited Tehran’s ambassador in Moscow as saying Sunday, amid tensions with the West over military cooperation between the two countries. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and was likely to use them in Ukraine within weeks. Cooperation between Moscow and …
Netanyahu vows vengeance after Houthi missile strike on Israel
Israel’s prime minister vows his country will exact a “heavy price” following a missile strike in central Israel. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis took credit for the non-lethal attack, as the Israel-Hamas conflict continues to spread. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more on the rising tensions in the region. …
On Iran, Harris emphasizes defensive approach; Trump highlights record of sanctions
Iran’s threatening behavior toward the United States and its ally Israel is one of only a few foreign policy issues addressed by U.S. presidential rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the election campaign. Michael Lipin looks at the differing approaches of Harris and Trump in facing the threat from Iran and its proxies. …
87 and hobbled, Pope Francis goes off-script in Asia and reminds world he can still draw a crowd
DILI, East Timor — It was the farthest trip of his pontificate and one of the longest papal trips ever in terms of days on the road and distance traveled. But Pope Francis, age 87, hobbled by bad knees and bent over with sciatica, appeared to be having the time of his life. With half of East Timor’s population gathered at a seaside park, Francis couldn’t …