China

MANILA, Philippines — The U.S. Army’s recent deployment of a midrange missile system to the northern Philippines was “incredibly important” and allowed American and Filipino forces to jointly train for the potential usage of such heavy weaponry in Asian archipelago conditions, a U.S. general said Monday.  The Biden administration has moved to strengthen an arc of military alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including …

Jerusalem — Israel’s security services have broken up a spy ring that was gathering information on behalf of Iranian intelligence in the latest attempt by Tehran to recruit Israelis for espionage, the Shin Bet and police said on Monday. Seven Israelis from Israel’s north, including the port city of Haifa, were arrested after an investigation found they had gathered intelligence on Israeli military bases and energy …

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in Beirut Monday for talks aimed at trying to bring a resolution to the conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border, part of a diplomatic push that is also bringing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region in search of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.  Hochstein told reporters he had a “constructive” meeting with Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s …

HANOI — Vietnam’s parliament elected on Monday army general Luong Cuong as the new state president in a widely anticipated move that is expected to bring some stability to Vietnamese politics after a turbulent phase of departures and reshuffles. Cuong, 67, takes over the role from To Lam, who was appointed president of the Communist-run, one-party country in May and then also took on the more …

SINGAPORE — Political risks due to potential loss of public support over rising power tariffs are a major impediment to transitioning to cleaner electricity sources, ministers from New Zealand and Cambodia told an energy industry event on Monday. “It’s incredibly important to take the public with you, given that end of the day, they have to believe that what you’re doing is enhancing their lives,” Shane …

JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesia’s new President Prabowo Subianto will take his cabinet members on a three-day retreat at a military academy nestled in a Javanese mountain range, where they will sleep in tents, an unusual start for a government in the Southeast Asian country. Former special force commander Prabowo was sworn in as Indonesia’s eighth president on Sunday, taking over from Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to lead …

Beirut — Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes Sunday on branches of a Hezbollah-linked financial association, including near the country’s only airport, after the Israeli military warned it would attack Al-Qard Al-Hassan’s branches. The strikes mark an expansion of the Israeli campaign against Iran-backed group Hezbollah after a year of cross-border exchanges that escalated in late September into a full-blown war. Lebanon’s official National News Agency …

JAKARTA — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced his Cabinet late Sunday, hours after he was inaugurated.  The lineup of 109 ministers, vice ministers and head of national agencies was the largest in the country’s history, and he named it the “Red and White Cabinet,” referring to the colors of Indonesia’s national flag.  Prabowo became the eighth president of Southeast Asia’s largest economy on Sunday.  The Cabinet …

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday he had ordered his ministry to start legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after Paris banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming military naval trade show. The decision to bar Israeli firms is the latest incident in a row fueled by the Macron government’s unease over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. …

Jerusalem — Fighting raged on two fronts Sunday as Israel targeted what it said was a Hezbollah “command center” in the Lebanese capital, while in Gaza rescuers reported 73 people killed in a single airstrike. The strikes on Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Iran-backed group of attempting to assassinate him by targeting his residence. It also came as …

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand lawmakers unanimously voted Wednesday to exempt victims of domestic violence from a mandatory two-year separation period before divorce can be sought. The required cooling-off period before a couple in New Zealand can file for divorce — during which they must also live apart — is the longest among no-fault divorce laws in comparable countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada and most …

Arbil, Iraq — Voters in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region headed to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament for the oil-rich region, where voters have expressed disenchantment with the political elite. Iraqi Kurdistan presents itself as a relative oasis of stability in the turbulent Middle East, attracting foreign investors due to its close ties with the United States and Europe. However, activists and opposition figures …

tokyo — Japan’s beloved former Empress Michiko received greetings from her relatives and palace officials to celebrate her 90th birthday Sunday as she steadily recovers from a broken leg, officials said. Michiko is the first commoner to become empress in modern Japanese history. Catholic-educated Michiko Shoda and then-Crown Prince Akihito married on April 10, 1959, after what is known as their tennis court romance. The couple …

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate. The documents are attributed to the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and note that Israel continues to move military assets in place to conduct a military …

JAKARTA, indonesia — Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto on Sunday will take over as president of the world’s third-largest democracy after sweeping the country’s election with policies like free meals for school children and with the outgoing leader’s son as his running mate. The 73-year-old former special forces commander won the February 14 contest with nearly 60% of the vote and has spent the past nine months building …

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s foreign minister said a new multilateral sanctions monitoring team led by the United States was “utterly unlawful and illegitimate,” state media said Sunday. The United States, South Korea and Japan on Wednesday announced the launch of a new multinational team to monitor the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea after Russia and China thwarted monitoring activities at the United Nations. …

German police have arrested a Libyan suspected of belonging to the Islamic State group and of having planned an attack on the Israeli embassy, federal prosecutors told Agence France-Presse on Saturday.  “There is some suggestion he had planned an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, adding that the suspect was also thought to be affiliated with the …

ISTANBUL — Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and Gaza are pushing Iran to take “legitimate steps,” Turkey’s foreign minister said Saturday in a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Iranian counterpart. “Israel’s aggressive stance is forcing Iran to take legitimate steps,” Turkey’s Hakan Fidan said alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “constantly opening new fronts in the region” and “trying …

Naval drills hosted by Iran with the participation of Russia and Oman and observed by nine other countries began in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, Iran’s state TV said. The exercises, dubbed “IMEX 2024,” are aimed at boosting “collective security in the region, expand multilateral cooperation and display the goodwill and capabilities to safeguard peace, friendship and maritime security,” the English-language Press TV said. Participants …

KYIV, UKRAINE — The involvement of North Korean regular troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would be a serious escalation of the war, France and Ukraine’s foreign ministers said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday. France’s Jean-Noel Barrot, who was making his first trip to Ukraine since becoming foreign minister in September, is also set to visit the east of the country, …

NAPLES, ITALY — G7 defense ministers started talks on Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting. Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organized the body’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base. Italian …

MELBOURNE, Australia — King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Sydney on Friday for the first Australian visit by a reigning monarch in more than a decade, a trip that has rekindled debate about the nation’s constitutional links to Britain. The Sydney Opera House’s iconic sails were illuminated with images of previous royal visits to welcome the couple, whose six-day trip will be brief by …

seoul, south korea — North Korea claimed Saturday it had discovered the remains of at least one crashed South Korean military drone in the capital Pyongyang, releasing images of the device that some analysts confirmed was South Korean. The nuclear-armed North recently accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on the capital. Pyongyang’s defense ministry spokesperson said security authorities found the remains of …

washington — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday reiterated her call to end the bloodshed in Gaza, underscoring that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar creates an opportunity “to end this war and bring the hostages home.” She spoke between campaign events in Michigan, a state home to the largest percentage of Arab Americans in the country, many of whom are outraged over the Biden …