China

Bangkok/Surin, Thailand — Rural voters may have permanently turned away from the Shinawatra family and its Pheu Thai party, former loyalists warn, after Thailand’s dominant political clan welcomed a fresh cohort of conservative one-time rivals into its coalition Cabinet. These include prominent royalists who have backed coups and deadly crackdowns on the Red Shirt protest movement, which emerged to protest a 2006 coup that deposed then-Prime …

More than 1.2 million Vietnamese immigrants live in the United States, many of them having settled after the Vietnam war. More recently, a new wave of Vietnamese migration has sparked debate in the community about immigration and has become one of the main talking points this election season. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details from Texas, the state with the second-largest Vietnamese immigrant population in …

SINGAPORE — When Pope Francis arrives Wednesday in Asia’s financial powerhouse Singapore for the last leg of a four-nation tour, he is expected to bring his message of unity and hope to one of the world’s richest nations. The 11-day trip, which earlier took him to Indonesia,Papua New Guinea and East Timor, is the longest for the 87-year-old pontiff since becoming head of the Catholic Church …

SYDNEY — Australia will ban children from using social media with a minimum age limit as high as 16, the prime minister said Tuesday, vowing to get kids off their devices and “onto the footy fields.” Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, Anthony Albanese said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a “scourge.” The minimum …

JERUSALEM — Emergency officials said Tuesday an Israeli missile strike on a humanitarian area in the southern Gaza Strip killed and injured dozens of people. The attack happened in Mawasi, just west of Khan Younis, which has been home to many Palestinians who fled other areas of Gaza to escape the conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group. The Palestinian news agency WAFA cited medical …

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the United States and its allies, state media reported Tuesday, after the country disclosed a new platform likely designed to fire more powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles targeting the mainland U.S. Kim has repeatedly made similar pledges, but his latest threat comes as …

Beijing — China’s Defense Ministry on Monday announced joint naval and air drills with Russia starting this month, underscoring the closeness between their militaries as Russia presses its grinding invasion of Ukraine. The ministry said the “Northern United-2024” exercises would take place in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk farther north, but gave no details. It said the naval and air drills aimed …

RABAT, Morocco — Torrential downpours hit North Africa’s normally arid mountains and deserts over the weekend, causing flooding that killed more than a dozen people in Morocco and Algeria and destroyed homes and critical infrastructure. In Morocco, officials said the two days of storms surpassed historic averages, in some cases exceeding the annual average rainfall. The downpours affected some of the regions that experienced a deadly …

Seoul, South Korea — Less than two years after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged his country would not seek nuclear weapons, his newly appointed defense minister is openly envisioning scenarios in which South Korea might reconsider that stance.  The comments by Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who took office on Friday, are the latest evidence that the once-taboo idea of nuclear armament has gone mainstream …

NABLUS, West Bank — The Western-backed Palestinian Authority held a funeral procession Monday for a U.S.-Turkish dual national activist who a witness says was shot and killed by Israeli forces while demonstrating against settlements in the occupied West Bank.  Dozens of mourners — including several leading PA officials — attended the procession. Security forces carried the body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi which was draped in a …

Taipei, Taiwan — Efforts to maintain exchanges between Taiwanese and Chinese citizens face new challenges after Beijing last month sentenced a Taiwanese activist to nine years in jail, a move that analysts say will create a chilling effect within Taiwan’s civil society. On September 6, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) confirmed that a court in the eastern city of Wenzhou earlier had sentenced Taiwanese political activist …

HANOI — A bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding Monday as more rain fell following a typhoon Vietnam that has caused at least 59 deaths in the Southeast Asian country and disrupted businesses and factories in the export-focused northern industrial hubs, state media reported. Nine people died when Typhoon Yagi made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday before weakening to a tropical depression, …

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DILI, East Timor — Pope Francis received a raucous welcome Monday as he arrived in East Timor to celebrate its recovery from a bloody and traumatic independence battle, even as he indirectly acknowledged an abuse scandal involving its Nobel Peace Prize-winning hero.  Timorese jammed Francis’ motorcade route into town from the airport, waving Vatican and Timorese flags and toting yellow and white umbrellas — the colors …

Manila, Philippines — The Philippines is not currently looking to extradite a Filipino pastor wanted for child sex trafficking in the United States, President Ferdinand Marcos said Monday after the suspect’s arrest. Apollo Quiboloy, a self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” and ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte, surrendered in the southern city of Davao on Sunday amid a massive two-week police search of his sect’s sprawling …

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea convened an international summit on Monday seeking to establish a blueprint for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the military, though any agreement is not expected to have binding powers to enforce it. More than 90 countries including the United States and China have sent government representatives to the two-day summit in Seoul, which is the second such gathering. …

Seoul, South Korea — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the occasion of North Korea’s founding anniversary, state media KCNA said on Monday. “I am sure that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and the DPRK will be strengthened in a planned way thanks to our joint efforts,” Putin said, according to KCNA. …

Havana, Cuba — Socialist Cuba, the birthplace of salsa and other rhythms that have conquered the world, is now surrendering to the invasion of South Korean pop music. Thirteen thousand kilometers of distance separate the Asian nation and the communist-run island, as well as a different language and cultural traditions. However, all of these barriers would seem to vanish in a split second thanks to K-pop’s …

ALGIERS — President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been named the winner of Algeria’s presidential election, granting him another term leading the gas-rich North African nation five years after pro-democracy protests led to the ouster of his predecessor.  In a result that surprised few observers internationally or in Algeria, the country’s independent election authority on Sunday announced that Tebboune had won 94% of the vote, far outpacing his …

Beijing — China said Sunday it would allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in nine areas of the country including the capital, as Beijing tries to attract more foreign investment to boost its flagging economy. In a document on the official website of China’s commerce ministry, it said the new policy was a pilot project designed to implement a pledge the ruling Communist Party’s Central …

Tehran, Iran — Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit neighboring Iraq on Wednesday, state media reported Sunday, in what will be his first trip abroad since he took office in July. Pezeshkian will head a high-ranking Iranians delegation to Baghdad to meet senior Iraqi officials.   The visit comes at the invitation of Iraq’s premier, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the official IRNA news agency quoted Iran’s ambassador …

TOKYO — One by one, the students, lawyers and others filed into a classroom in a central Tokyo university for a lecture by a Chinese journalist on Taiwan and democracy — taboo topics that can’t be discussed publicly back home in China. “Taiwan’s modern-day democracy took struggle and bloodshed, there’s no question about that,” said Jia Jia, a columnist and guest lecturer at the University of …

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MANILA — A Filipino preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking in the Philippines and similar charges in the United States has been captured, officials said Sunday.  Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos announced the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy in a brief statement on his Facebook account but did not provide other details. Philippine police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil confirmed Quiboloy’s arrest without elaborating.  Quiboloy went …