China

BEIRUT — More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the past three weeks, a top official with the U.N. children’s agency said Monday, warning of a “lost generation” in the small country grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war. Israel has escalated its campaign against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group, including launching a ground invasion, after a year of …

NEW YORK — About 200 demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza were arrested in a sit-in outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, police said.  The protesters chanted “Let Gaza live!” And “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” in front of the stock exchange’s landmark building in lower Manhattan.  “The reason we’re here is to demand that the U.S. government stop sending bombs …

Karbala, Iraq — A funeral procession took place Monday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala in central Iraq for General Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in Lebanon along with the leader of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, during an Israeli strike on Beirut in late September, an AFP photographer noted.   The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, announced Friday that the body of General Nilforushan …

Paris — The Auto manufacturers competing to persuade drivers to go electric are rolling out cheaper, more tech-rich models at the Paris Motor Show, targeting everyone from luxury clients to students yet to receive their driving licenses.  The biennial show has long been a major industry showcase, tracing its history to 1898.  Chinese manufacturers are attending in force, despite European Union threats to punitively tax imports …

BEIJING — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on all parties involved in tensions between Israel and Iran on Monday to exercise caution and avoid escalating the situation.  In a phone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Wang also urged Israel to ensure the safety of personnel of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a foreign ministry statement said.  He also reiterated Beijing’s …

ISLAMABAD  — Chinese Premier Li Qiang began a four-day visit to Pakistan on Monday under tight security for bilateral talks and to attend the heads of government meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) hosted in Islamabad this week. Pakistan is on high alert after a recent increase in deadly insurgent attacks nationwide, including a suicide car bomb attack in Karachi last week that targeted a …

Prague — Former Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen is among the world leaders calling for the release of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai from jail in Hong Kong, where he is standing trial on national security charges that are widely viewed as politically motivated. “They should release him,” Tsai told VOA about Jimmy Lai. She made the statement shortly after she delivered a speech at the Forum 2000 …

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Monday it has detected signs that North Korea is preparing to destroy the northern parts of inter-Korean roads no longer in use, as the rivals are embroiled in soaring tensions over North Korea’s claim that South Korea flew drones over its territory. Destroying the roads would be in line with leader Kim Jong Un’s push to cut off ties …

TAIPEI — China’s military launched a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces,” drawing condemnation from the Taipei and U.S. governments. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week’s National Day speech by President Lai Ching-te, an address …

HONG KONG — Eight animals were found dead in a Hong Kong zoo, the city’s government said on Monday, a rare incident in the financial hub, with necropsy and laboratory tests arranged to find out the cause of deaths. The animals, a De Brazza’s monkey, one common squirrel monkey, three cotton-top tamarins and three white-faced sakis, were found dead at the city’s Zoological and Botanical Gardens …

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Colombo, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s police have arrested 198 Chinese men on suspicion of operating a cybercrime ring from the South Asian nation, a police spokesperson said Sunday.  Deputy Inspector-General Nihal Thalduwa said the men were taken into custody at four locations during raids carried out since October 6, with 129 arrested in one location Saturday.  Thalduwa said that a large number of mobile phones …

Paris — Chinese state-owned carmaker GAC is exploring the manufacture of EVs in Europe to avoid EU tariffs, the general manager of its international business told Reuters on Sunday, joining a growing list of Chinese companies planning local production.  The company is among China’s largest automakers and is targeting 500,000 overseas sales by 2030. It does not yet sell EVs in Europe but will launch an …

Tehran, Iran — Iran condemned Sunday what it called an “illegal and unjustified” expansion of U.S. sanctions targeting its oil industry following Tehran’s missile attack on Israel earlier this month.   In a statement, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei defended Iran’s attack on Israel and “strongly condemned” the sanctions, saying they were “illegal and unjustified.”   The United States on Friday slapped Iran with a spate …

Paris — French President Emmanuel Macron called on Iran’s leader Masoud Pezeshkian to support a “general de-escalation” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in a telephone conversation Sunday, his office said. Macron stressed “the responsibility of Iran to support a general de-escalation and to use its influence in this direction with the destabilizing actors that enjoy its support.” Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters are fighting Israeli troops in …

Washington — The United States will send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and troops to Israel, the Pentagon said Sunday, even as Iran warned Washington to keep American military forces out of Israel.  Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the THAAD battery at the direction of President Joe Biden.  Ryder said …

BANGKOK — China agreed Sunday to assist Vietnam on cross-border railway development and take steps to expand agricultural imports from its smaller neighbor, Vietnam’s official media said. Premier Li Qiang, on an official visit to Vietnam, pledged that China would further open its market to high-quality fruits, seafood and other Vietnamese products, a state media report said. China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner and second-largest export …

Vatican City, Holy See — Pope Francis asked Sunday for “respect” for U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon who have accused the Israeli military of deliberately firing on their positions.   “I am close to all the people involved, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, where I ask that the U.N. peacekeepers be respected,” Francis said at the Vatican.   The peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, has said that its forces have repeatedly come under …

CAIRO — Israeli forces widened their raid into northern Gaza, and tanks reached the north edge of Gaza City, pounding some districts of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and forcing many families to leave their homes, residents said. Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya in the far north of the enclave from Gaza City, blocking access between the two areas …

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan reported a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailing to the island’s south on Sunday, as China’s military put out a video saying it was “prepared for battle” amid concerns in Taipei about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests its president Lai Ching-te as a “separatist,” and the Chinese …

KAMPONG PHLUK, Cambodia — Em Phat, 53, studies his eel tanks with the intensity of a man gambling with his livelihood. For millennia, fishermen like him have relied on the bounty of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia’s largest lake and the epicenter of the world’s most productive inland fishery. But climate change, dams upstream on the Mekong River that sustains the lake, and deforestation …

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Almost eight decades after an atomic bomb devastated her hometown of Hiroshima, Teruko Yahata carries the scar on her forehead from when she was knocked over by the force of the blast. The U.S. bombs that laid waste to Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, and to Nagasaki three days later, changed the course of history and left Yahata and other …

MACAO — Macao’s former top judge, Sam Hou Fai, was chosen as the Chinese casino hub’ s next leader in a largely ceremonial election on Sunday, setting him up to become the city’s first chief executive born in mainland China. Almost the entire election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists — 394 of 398 — voted for Sam, the sole candidate, in a departure from the long-standing …

washington — Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by Southeast Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday. A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday …