China

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Seoul — A North Korean has defected to the South across a de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Thursday. Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s. The latest defection comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in …

PARIS — Iran on Wednesday hanged at least 29 convicts in a single day, including 26 in a group execution in one prison, a rights group said, a day after facing international condemnation for executing a man in connection with 2022 protests. Norway-based Iran Human Rights said 26 men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj outside Tehran, while three other men were executed in Karaj’s …

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Dubai — Flooding triggered by torrential rain has left 45 people dead in Yemen in recent days, according to tolls given Wednesday by a United Nations agency and a local official.    Flash floods caused 15 deaths in Maqbanah in the southwestern province of Taez on Friday, UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on social media platform X.    In the Houthi-held Hodeida region, Governor Mohamed Qahim told the …

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey on Wednesday filed a request with a U.N. court to join South Africa’s lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, the foreign minister said.  Turkey’s ambassador to the Netherlands, accompanied by a group of Turkish legislators, submitted a declaration of intervention to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.  With the development, Turkey, one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s actions …

As Japan this week marks 79 years since the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by nuclear bombs at the end of World War II, Japanese officials have restated their aim to rid the world of atomic weapons. However, after decades of pacifism, the country is undergoing profound changes in its attitude to military power amid multiple regional threats. Henry Ridgwell reports from Tokyo. …

Bangkok — Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday to dissolve the opposition Move Forward Party and ban its executives — including up-and-coming lawmaker Pita Limjaroenrat – from politics for a decade.   The court’s decision is the latest dilution of democracy by the conservative Thai establishment which refuses to cede power to pro-democracy movements, reform advocates say. The nine judges decided that Thailand’s largest parliamentary party should …

Geneva — The World Health Organization will send more than one million polio vaccines to war-torn Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater there, the UN agency’s chief said Wednesday.    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference that health workers need freedom of movement in Gaza to administer the vaccines, saying that a cease-fire or at least a few days of calm, was essential to …

HONG KONG — Asian stocks rose again Wednesday as some stability returned after a volatile start to the week, though Tokyo saw more big swings and the yen weakened further as analysts warned more upheaval could be in store. After Monday’s collapse that saw trillions of dollars wiped off valuations globally, traders returned to pick up bargains on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei bouncing back from a …

JERUSALEM — Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protesters broke into an Israeli army base near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the military said, as demonstrations against call-up orders for religious Jews previously exempt from conscription continued to flare.  The demonstrations, which took place as Israel braced for an expected barrage of missiles from Iran, underscored the deep splits that have widened in Israeli society 10 months after the start …

washington — China has lost a partner with the resignation under pressure of Bangladesh’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who during a visit to Beijing last month signed 28 bilateral agreements and agreed to raise ties between the countries to a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.” Beijing’s official response to her flight into exile was muted, with the Xinhua News Agency quoting the Foreign Ministry describing Bangladesh …

WASHINGTON/SYDNEY — The United States and Australia kicked off high-level talks Tuesday that will focus on China’s “coercive behavior,” as well as the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, mounting tensions in the Middle East and climate change, officials said. The annual Australia-U.S. AUSMIN talks, taking place in Annapolis, Maryland, include the top defense and diplomatic officials from both nations. “We’re working together today to tackle shared security …

Washington — The United States has evacuated two people from an air base in Iraq for additional medical care following a rocket attack Monday that injured seven.  A U.S. defense official on Tuesday said all seven — five servicemembers and two contractors — were wounded after two rockets slammed into the Ain al-Asad base in Western Iraq.  The official said all seven are in stable condition but …

washington — Twenty years ago on an Indonesian island, scientists discovered fossils of an early human species that stood at about 1.07 meters tall — earning them the nickname “hobbits.” Now a new study suggests ancestors of the hobbits were even slightly shorter. “We did not expect that we would find smaller individuals from such an old site,” study co-author Yousuke Kaifu of the University of …

SAINT-DENIS, France — Three-time world champion Quan Hongchan of China won the gold medal Tuesday in the women’s 10-meter platform at the Paris Olympics to defend her title from Tokyo. Quan set the tone on her first dive, recording a perfect score of 10 from all seven judges. The dive was a forward 3½ somersaults, setting off wild cheers among a venue packed with Chinese fans. …

Taipei, Taiwan    — Taiwan’s presence at the Paris Olympics isn’t all about the medals its athletes have racked up in badminton, skeet shooting, gymnastics and boxing. The sight of security guards and other spectators snatching signs and items away from Taiwanese fans is also grabbing global attention. On Saturday, during the badminton men’s doubles semifinal between Taiwanese shuttlers Wang Chi-lin and Lee Yang and their …

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Bangkok — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index soared more than 10% on Tuesday, rebounding after a rollercoaster start to the week that sent markets tumbling in Europe and on Wall Street. European markets were mostly lower, with Germany’s DAX down 0.4% at 17,277.27 and the CAC 40 in Paris 0.7% lower, at 7,098.89. In London, the FTSE 100 shed 0.4% to 7,974.44. Those modest declines and …

WASHINGTON — Thai progressive leader Pita Limjaroenrat and his Move Forward party won the biggest bloc in the country’s House of Representatives in elections last year. But Pita’s bid to become the country’s prime minister failed to receive enough support in the parliament. Pita spoke recently with VOA about a ruling expected this week by the Constitutional Court in Thailand on whether to dissolve the Move …

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea marked the delivery of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units at a ceremony where leader Kim Jong Un called for a ceaseless expansion of his military’s nuclear program to counter perceived U.S. threats, state media said Monday. Concerns about Kim’s nuclear program have grown as he has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s …