China

Tokyo — A Japanese business executive who was detained in Myanmar for more than a month has been released after being convicted of violating rice pricing rules, officials said Tuesday. Hiroshi Kasamatsu, a director of the Myanmar supermarket Aeon Orange, was in custody in Myanmar since his June 30 arrest for selling rice at prices above the official regulations. Japan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that the …

Hong Kong — China’s agricultural sector must improve its capacity for disaster prevention and mitigation, Vice Premier Liu Guozhong said on Tuesday, according to the Xinhua news agency, also vowing more financial support to restore output after flooding. Liu called for strengthening the monitoring of rainfall conditions to provide early warnings and enhancing defense capabilities against water and drought disasters in major water conservancy projects in …

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ISTANBUL — The United States is asking Turkey and other allies that have ties with Iran to persuade it to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey said. Ambassador Jeff Flake made the comments as the region braces for possible attacks by Iran and its allies after the killing of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah. Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of …

istanbul, turkey — Turkey’s military conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq and “neutralized” 17 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the defense ministry said Monday.  Turkey, which typically uses the term neutralized to mean killed, has been carrying out a cross-border operation called Claw-Lock in Iraq as part of its offensive against the PKK militants.  The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the …

Istanbul — A masked man wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest stabbed at least five people Monday outside a mosque in northwest Turkey before being detained by police, according to local media reports. The 18-year-old suspect, armed with a long knife, broadcast the attack at the tea garden of a mosque in the city of Eskisehir live on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, before police …

Pentagon — Hamas says its soldiers killed one Israeli hostage and wounded two others, as the White House warned Monday an Iranian attack against Israel could be imminent. A spokesperson for the Hamas militants, Abu Obaida, blamed the murder by the hostage’s guard on what he said was an Israeli “massacre” of Palestinians. He said two Israeli female hostages were injured in a separate incident. The …

INCHEON, South Korea — South Korea has deployed a bedbug sniffer dog at its main Incheon international airport in a bid to reduce the risk of the tiny insects entering the country when athletes, officials and fans return from the Paris Olympics.  Leading the campaign is a beagle named Ceco, 2, who pest control company Cesco said is the first and so far only canine trained …

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Tarawa, Kiribati — Pacific nation Kiribati will begin voting in a general election this week, a poll that will test the strengthening ties between China and the government of the climate-threatened archipelago. The vote on Wednesday in tiny Kiribati – a country of scattered atolls and islands – has the potential to stir ripples across the South Pacific. Kiribati has drawn closer to China under longtime …

beijing — Engineers sent China’s biggest-yet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soon-to-open 100-km route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country’s expanding low-altitude economy. Packing a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twin-engine aircraft took off on Sunday on an inaugural flight, state media said, citing developer Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co., for …

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea and the United States will begin their annual joint military exercises next week with a focus on improving their combined capabilities to deter and defend against growing North Korean nuclear threats, the allies said Monday. The drills could trigger a belligerent response from North Korea, which portrays them as invasion rehearsals and have used the allies’ military cooperation as a …

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM — Hanoi’s joint drill with the Philippines in the South China Sea and efforts to define and uphold territorial boundaries with neighboring Southeast Asian nations is an effort to counter Beijing’s aggression in the hotly contested waters, according to analysts. A Vietnamese coast guard ship arrived in Manila on Aug. 5 for a four-day goodwill visit and to perform joint exercises …

Beirut — Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said an Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed two fighters from the Iran-backed group, with the health ministry reporting another death from an attack days ago. Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza. Tensions have skyrocketed since a strike on Beirut’s …

Tehran, Iran — Iranian courts have reduced jail terms for two female journalists charged with collaborating with the United States, their lawyers told reformist newspapers Sunday.  Elaheh Mohammadi, 37, and Niloufar Hamedi, 31, are out on bail after more than a year in Tehran’s Evin prison for their coverage of the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini which had sparked nationwide protests.  In January, …

Beijing — China supports Iran in defending its “sovereignty, security and national dignity,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Iran’s acting foreign minister in a phone call Sunday, according to a statement by China’s foreign ministry.  In the phone call, Wang repeated Beijing’s denunciation of the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31, saying the attack violated Iran’s sovereignty and threatened regional …

DUBAI — Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards are holding military drills in the western parts of the country that will continue until Tuesday, Iran’s official news agency announced Sunday. The drills, which started Friday, are ongoing in the western province of Kermanshah close to the border with Iraq to “enhance combat readiness and vigilance,” an armed forces official told IRNA. The drills are taking place as Iran …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s new president presented his cabinet to parliament on Sunday for a vote of confidence, state media reported, proposing seasoned pragmatic diplomat Abbas Araqchi as foreign minister at a time of heightened regional tensions. President Masoud Pezeshkian is shaping his cabinet at a time of an increased risk of escalation of the conflict in Gaza into a broader regional war, after …

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza early Sunday after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Israel said it targeted a militant command post, killing 19 fighters. Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its troops have returned to heavily destroyed areas where they had previously …

Sydney — Australia’s spy chief on Sunday accused some friendly nations of running foreign interference operations in the country, saying their identities would surprise people if revealed. Canberra last year named Iran as having engaged in foreign interference, adding that Australian intelligence had disrupted “individuals” conducting a surveillance operation on an Iranian-Australian’s home. But other countries are also secretly attempting to interfere in Australia’s political system …

Beersheba, Israel — At 19, Yoni, an Israeli man, has to put aside his plans to join the military and instead enter rehab for drug abuse that has worsened since Hamas’ October 7 attack. Health professionals said Yoni’s case is not an exception in wartime Israel, noting a surge in drug and alcohol abuse as well as other addictive behaviors. Yoni, who asked to use a …

BEIJING — Chinese authorities are chasing unpaid taxes from companies and individuals dating back decades, as the government moves to plug massive budget shortfalls and address a mounting debt crisis. More than a dozen listed Chinese companies say they were slapped with millions of dollars in back taxes in a renewed effort to fix local finances that have been wrecked by a downturn in the property …

Washington — Chinese drones were detected in Vietnam’s airspace twice recently, a response, experts say, to the joining of forces between Vietnam and the Philippines. “The Chinese WZ-10 surveillance drone entered Vietnam’s airspace twice in close succession, in response to joint exercises with the Philippines,” Roni Sontani, founder of Indonesia-based Airspace Review said in a report Wednesday, the most recent drone flight. Vu Duc Khanh, a …

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and China traded accusations Saturday following an encounter between their aircraft over a contested area of the South China Sea. The Philippine military strongly condemned “dangerous and provocative actions” by China’s air force, while the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, said it acted in a professional and legal manner. It is the first time the Philippines has complained of dangerous …