China

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, …

sydney — Australian scientists said Wednesday that they had found a widespread decrease in coral cover in southern parts of the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers have just completed a routine annual underwater survey of reefs off central Queensland state a month after their analysis showed similar devastation in a northern section. The Australian Institute of Marine Science, a government research agency, said most of the damage …

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on Israel to halt its airstrikes on Syria, calling them violations of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. “Syria’s sovereignty, territorial unity and integrity must be fully restored, and all acts of aggression must come to an immediate end,” Guterres told reporters. Since the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad abruptly fell earlier this month, Israel has carried …

Strategically located in the south edge of Damascus, the Mazzeh air base was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime more than a week ago. The airport was used by the Syrian army during the entire 13 years civil war that engulfed the country. The remains of aircraft and air defense air systems are still scattered around the air base, but …

A new report Thursday from New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, or HRW, has accused Israel of committing genocide for intentionally depriving civilians in Gaza of an adequate water supply, likely resulting in the deaths of thousands.  The 179-page report published on the group’s website outlines how, since the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas began in October 2023, Israeli authorities and …

HANOI, VIETNAM — U.S. weapons manufacturers could work with Vietnamese counterparts to help build Vietnam’s armed forces, the U.S. ambassador to the southeast Asian country said on Thursday. “Our goal is to ensure that Vietnam has what it needs to defend its interests at sea, in the air, on the ground and in cyberspace,” U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper said at an international arms expo in the …

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that he is appointing the former head of Mexico’s National Search Commission to head an independent mechanism for determining the fate of tens of thousands of missing and forcibly disappeared persons in Syria.  “We pledge our support to those who continue to live with the agony of uncertainty,” Guterres said of the families of the missing.  In …

Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday rejected the notion that the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad represented a defeat for Russia. Putin said during his annual news conference that Russia had “achieved our goals” in Syria, where it rushed to provide direct military support for Assad’s government more than nine years ago to help push back rebel fighters. Russian forces operated out of a network …

Hanoi — Police in Vietnam have arrested a man suspected of starting a blaze that killed 11 following an argument with staff in a Hanoi cafe, authorities said on Thursday, while two of seven pulled from the flames were admitted to hospital.  In a statement, police said the man had confessed to using gasoline to set Wednesday’s fire on the ground floor of the three-story cafe, …

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Malaysia’s High Court on Thursday acquitted Rosmah Mansor, the wife of jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak, of money laundering and tax evasion, citing insufficient grounds to charge her. Najib and Rosmah have been the subject of multiple graft investigations since Najib’s surprise election defeat in 2018, when voters’ fury over his alleged role in a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia …

Israel’s military said Thursday it carried out airstrikes against Houthi militant targets in Yemen. A military spokesperson said the strikes targeted energy and port infrastructure used by the Houthis as part of their “military action.” Houthi-run media reported attacks in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, and that the strikes hit a power station and an oil facility. A …

UNITED NATIONS — An independent weapons expert told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that North Korea is procuring parts for missiles from third countries and producing and transferring them to Russia faster than previously thought, for use in its war against Ukraine. Jonah Leff, who heads Conflict Armament Research (CAR), an independent organization that tracks weapons used in conflicts, said his researchers documented remnants of …

Bangkok — For many countries in Southeast Asia, Chinese investment and tourism are key to their economies. However, cheap low-quality Chinese products that are flooding markets across the region are also raising concerns about how they are undercutting local businesses, experts say. That is forcing countries like Thailand to find ways to combat onslaught of low-priced goods. Last year, bilateral trade between Thailand and China was …

NEW YORK — A Manhattan resident has pleaded guilty to helping establish a secret police station in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government. Chen Jinping, 60, entered the guilty plea on a single count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. Matthew Olsen, an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department, said …

Turkey is chief among local, regional and global powers seeking to fill the power vacuum following the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8. Ankara is poised to be one of the biggest winners in post-Assad Syria. Despite being in a military alliance with the United States via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Turkey’s main target in Syria is also the United States’ …

WASHINGTON — The United States has transferred two Malaysian detainees at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison to their home country after they pleaded guilty to charges related to deadly 2002 bombings in Bali and agreed to testify against the alleged ringleader of that and other attacks, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Prosecutors say Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep worked for years with …