China

In Shanghai, police, not trick-or-treaters and partygoers, are taking to the streets this week as the city approaches Halloween. The strengthened police force accompanies official notices prohibiting citizens from “role-playing” on Halloween, signaling the government’s paranoia over the social instability the holiday’s festivities could bring. Videos online show police cars lining the streets of Shanghai, with some officers approaching crowds and instructing them to disperse …

London — The European Union, United Kingdom, and Canada on Tuesday announced fresh sanctions targeting the Myanmar junta’s access to “military materiel, equipment and funds.”  The new curbs, against entities supplying aviation fuel and equipment to Myanmar’s military, were aimed at constraining its “ability to conduct airstrikes on civilians,” according to Britain.  It said the month of August saw the highest number of airstrikes on record …

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia is “committed” to maintaining crude capacity at 12.3 million barrels per day, Energy Minister Prince Abulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, he said the world’s largest oil exporter would maintain its crude targets while also pursuing its climate aims. “We will monetize every molecule of energy this land has, period,” Prince Abdulaziz …

Berlin — Germany has recalled its ambassador to Iran over the reported execution of German-Iranian national Jamshid Sharmahd and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to voice Berlin’s protest against the killing, the German foreign office said on Tuesday. “We have sent our strongest protest against the actions of the Iranian regime & reserve the right to take further action,” the foreign ministry said in a post …

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Survivors and family members of campers killed in a 2022 landslide at an agritourism farm in Malaysia have filed a lawsuit contending the disaster was caused by negligence – not only excessive rainfall as an earlier government report concluded. “We want this lawsuit to bring to the public’s attention the real reasons why this tragedy happened,” said Tan Ei Ein, whose 7-year-old …

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was discharged from hospital on Monday, his aide said, after the 99-year-old had been admitted earlier this month because of coughing due to a lower respiratory infection. Mahathir, who served as prime minister for more than two decades, has a history of heart problems and has been in and out of hospital several times in recent …

WASHINGTON/BEIJING/TAIPEI — Chinese President Xi Jinping asked U.S. President Joe Biden last year to change the language the United States uses when discussing its position on Taiwanese independence, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the private conversation. During last November’s Biden-Xi meeting near San Francisco, Xi and his aides asked Biden and his team to tweak the language in U.S. official statements. China wanted the …

PENTAGON — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia “poses a significant security threat to the international community.” The comments at a Cabinet meeting in Seoul followed Yoon saying Monday that the deployment of North Korean troops to the battlefield in Ukraine could happen “more quickly than anticipated,” according to South Korean intelligence assessments. The U.S. Defense …

Beijing — A knife attack near a school in China’s capital on Monday injured five people, including three children, police said. The attack occurred midafternoon in Beijing’s northwestern Haidian district. None of the injuries was life-threatening, police said in a statement. A 50-year-old suspect surnamed Tang was detained at the scene and is under investigation, police said. The location of the attack given by the statement …

United Nations Security Council members urged Israel and Iran on Monday to end their spiraling cycle of tit-for-tat attacks on one another, following Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran. “All sides must exercise restraint. No good can come of pouring more fuel on the flames of this escalating cycle of violence,” said British Ambassador Barbara Woodward. Iran’s foreign minister requested the Security Council meet in an …

Iida City, Japan  — In August 1945, as Soviet troops closed in on Japanese positions in occupied China, 14-year-old Hideo Shimizu was given a grim task: Collect and dispose the burnt bones of prisoners who had been murdered. Only later did he realize he had helped destroy evidence of one of the 20th century’s most horrific war crimes: the actions of Unit 731, a covert branch …

Japan remains divided over how to confront its violent past, with parts of the country’s World War II history still sparking controversy. Now, one man with direct ties to that history is breaking decades of silence at great personal cost. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Iida City, Japan. Camera: Ken Watanabe, Gallo …

The United Nations Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the situation in the Middle East following Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran. Council president Switzerland said Iran requested the meeting with the support of Algeria, China and Russia. “Israeli regime’s actions constitute a grave threat to international peace and security and further destabilize an already fragile region,” Iran’s Foreign Minister …

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A major labor group in Indonesia has called on the government to bail out troubled textile giant Sritex, after President Prabowo Subianto ordered his ministers to save the firm from bankruptcy. Prabowo, who took office last week, has ordered his cabinet to find solutions for Sritex quickly, after a court last week accepted a petition by one of its trade partners over unpaid …

SHANGHAI — Shanghai police patrolled the downtown streets over the weekend to crack down on Halloween celebrations in China’s most international city. Local authorities appeared to be trying to prevent a repeat of last year, when Halloween revelers thronged central Shanghai, with some dressed in costumes that poked fun of the Chinese stock market, youth unemployment and strict COVID-19 policies. This weekend, the police presence, online …

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday proposed a two-day cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with the militant group also freeing four hostages during the halt in fighting if implemented. Neither Israel nor Hamas offered any immediate response to el-Sissi’s plan, the first he has proposed during months of playing a role, along with the United States and Qatar, in trying to broker a …

Tehran — Iranian armed forces killed at least four “terrorists” in the southeast of the country on Sunday after a deadly jihadist attack on police the day before. At least 10 police officers were killed in the attack, one of the deadliest claimed by a jihadist group in a border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The attack targeted police cars in Taftan county, part of Sistan …

Padang, Indonesia — One of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes erupted Sunday, spewing thick columns of ash at least three times and blanketing villages with debris, but no casualties were reported. Mount Marapi, in Agam district of the province of West Sumatra, is known for sudden eruptions that are difficult to predict because they are not caused by a deep movement of magma, which sets off tremors …

Israel is bracing for a possible Iranian response to its strikes on Iran early Saturday. Israel said the strikes were “precise and targeted” and focused on military targets in a number of areas in Iran. Iranian media reported that four soldiers were killed. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen …

SEOUL — Hundreds of thousands of members of South Korea’s Christian groups held a service in Seoul on Sunday to protest  against a landmark court ruling that acknowledged same-sex the rights of partners in same-sex couples to state health insurance.   The supreme court in July upheld a high court ruling that a same-sex partner was eligible for spousal benefits from the National Health Insurance Service, a …

Baalbek, Lebanon — Since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, the famed Palmyra Hotel in east Lebanon’s Baalbek has been without visitors, but long-time employee Rabih Salika refuses to leave — even as bombs drop nearby. The hotel, which was built in 1874, once welcomed renowned guests including former French President Charles de Gaulle and American singer Nina Simone. Overlooking a large archaeological complex encompassing the …

Bangkok — Thousands of well-wishers lined the banks of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River Sunday to watch King Maha Vajiralongkorn ride a glittering royal barge procession to mark his 72nd birthday. A flotilla of 52 ornately decorated boats, paddled by more than 2,000 oarsmen decked out in scarlet and gold, carried the king and Queen Suthida in formation through the heart of the Thai capital to a …

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at two secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital, satellite photos analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press show. In the past, experts have linked one site to Tehran’s onetime nuclear weapons program and the other to its ballistic missile program. Some of the damaged buildings sat in Iran’s Parchin military base, where the …

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, Palestinian medical officials said.  The Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said that 11 women and two children were among those killed in the strikes late Saturday on several homes and buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. It said another 15 people were wounded and that the death toll …