China

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.  Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that led the campaign that ousted Assad …

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — A magnitude 6.1 earthquake rattled buildings on Vanuatu’s main island early Sunday but did not appear to have caused major damage, just days after a massive, deadly quake wreaked havoc on the Pacific archipelago.  The nation’s most populous island, Efate, is still reeling from the 7.3-magnitude quake that struck Tuesday. It killed 12 people as it toppled concrete buildings in the capital, Port …

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.  Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican’s various departments with what appeared to be a reference …

GENEVA — As temperatures drop and seasonal rains flood fragile settlements in the Gaza Strip this winter, aid agencies fear many Palestinians will die while others become critically ill and some permanently disabled. “It is very cold. It has been raining overnight. … We are anticipating very heavy rain here today, and this is while 1.9 million people are displaced,” Louise Wateridge, senior emergency officer for …

Syria’s new rulers have appointed a foreign minister, the official Syrian news agency, or SANA, said on Saturday, as they seek to build international relations two weeks after Bashar al-Assad was ousted. The ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian …

BANGKOK — A Myanmar ethnic rebel group has captured a military regional command in Rakhine state, it said, in what would be a major blow to the junta.    The Arakan Army had “completely captured” the western regional command at Ann on Friday after weeks of fighting, the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel. Ann would be the second regional military command to …

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people slightly injured by shattered glass from nearby windows, the Israeli military said Saturday. A further 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before the projectile hit just before 4 a.m. Saturday, the military said. The Houthis later issued a …

Salahaddin Bahadin, the secretary-general of the Islamic Union of Kurdistan (IU), visited Turkey this week, following an official invitation from the Turkish Foreign Ministry. While the party has not shared details about the visit’s purpose, Bahadin announced the trip on his Facebook and X accounts.  Click here to see the full story in Kurdish.  …

BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA — Two decades after a catastrophic tsunami destroyed her village, Tria Asnani still cries when she recalls how she lost her mother while trying to escape the giant waves. Asnani, now a schoolteacher, was 17 at the time. Her father, who was a fisherman, never returned home from sea. She doesn’t know how she survived. “I cannot swim. I could only rely on …

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is actively working behind the scenes to address escalating tensions in northeast Syria, an area under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces. According to Sardar Abdullah, a political observer and former Iraqi parliament member, the KRG is leveraging its relationships with the United States, Europe and Turkey to prevent a humanitarian and political disaster for the Kurdish people in …

A new Foundation for the Defense of Democracies report warns about Beijing’s years-long efforts in establishing connections and exerting influence on state officials in the United States, an area that’s been overlooked by national security authorities on the federal level.  Click here for the full story in Mandarin.  …

The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, in a comprehensive report, Iran: State Violence Without Borders, has meticulously documented hundreds of extrajudicial killings attributed to the Islamic Republic. These incidents include the abduction and assassination of dissidents in various countries worldwide. Click here for the full story in Persian. …

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is in Macau for events marking 25 years since the city was returned to China from Portugal. Xi hailed Macau’s development since 1999, saying the city’s development potential is being unleashed and the special administrative region has a bright future.   Click here for the full story in Mandarin.  …

BANGKOK — Thailand says regional talks it hosted Friday on a stalled peace plan for Myanmar were “frank” but reached no consensus on a path forward. Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, gathered in Bangkok to discuss the Five-Point Consensus the bloc agreed to in April 2021, two months after Myanmar’s military seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San …

ANKARA, TURKEY — Turkey expects foreign countries will withdraw support for Kurdish fighters in Syria following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as Ankara seeks to isolate Kurds who have long fought alongside U.S. troops.  Germany’s foreign minister later said Kurdish forces should disarm and integrate into Syria’s national security structure, and Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East said the U.S. …

WASHINGTON — A network of secret prisons run by the former Syrian government is more extensive than the U.S. had realized, and is complicating efforts to find American journalist Austin Tice, the U.S. hostage envoy said Friday.  The U.S. government initially estimated Syria had around 10 to 20 secret prisons, but there may be 40 or more, the chief envoy for hostage negotiations Roger Carstens told …

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwanese lawmakers tackled and doused each other with water on Friday as President Lai Ching-te’s party tried to block the passage of bills they say could harm the self-ruled island’s “democratic system.” Scores of lawmakers from Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, occupied the podium of the parliament’s main chamber since Thursday night and barricaded themselves inside — piling up chairs to block …

WASHINGTON — A group of U.S. diplomats were in Syria to hold talks Friday with the country’s new leaders and seek information about the whereabouts of detained American journalist Austin Tice, following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.  Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein, and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, …

Myanmar’s recent arrest and sentencing of four Thai fishermen has heightened tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors with some analysts telling VOA the move appears to be aimed at gaining legitimacy and recognition ahead of high-level government meetings in Bangkok this week. Earlier this week, a Myanmar court in Kawthoung sentenced the owner of a seized fishing vessel to six years in prison, and three …

WASHINGTON — Top diplomats from the Biden administration are in Damascus on Friday to meet new Syrian authorities led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a State Department spokesperson said, the first in-person and official meeting between Washington and Syria’s de-facto new rulers. The State Department’s top Middle East diplomat, Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and newly appointed Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, who …

MACAO — Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the casino hub of Macao to diversify its economy as he swore in the former Portuguese colony’s new government on Friday at an event marking the 25th anniversary of its handover to China. New Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai — Macao’s first leader born in mainland China — vowed to address the territory’s unbalanced and uncoordinated economic development. Since …

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Australia announced on Friday it will pay for more police in Solomon Islands and create a police training center in the South Pacific island nation’s capital, Honiara, where Chinese law enforcement instructors are already based under a bilateral security pact with Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would spend 190 million Australian dollars ($118 million) over four years on funding and training …

A chapter in Syria’s prolonged civil war has ended with the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government. But what does this mean for the country’s future and that of the Middle East? …

On Thursday, two days after Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu, was hit by a deadly 7.3 magnitude earthquake with numerous aftershocks, residents were told to prepare for heavy rains that could grow into a cyclone that would bring more destruction to the ravaged island. Earthquakes are commonplace in the Pacific Island archipelago, but Tuesday’s temblor was exceptional. Its shaking flattened buildings, destroyed reservoirs, …