Washington — After a monthslong delay, the national security trial of pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai is due to resume Wednesday in Hong Kong amid continued calls for his immediate release. Founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, Lai has been held in solitary confinement since late 2020. His trial began in December 2023 and was initially estimated to last about 80 days. Lai, 76, is expected …
UK sanctions Iran Air and IRISL over military transfers to Russia
London — Britain on Monday imposed sanctions against Iran’s national airline and shipping carrier, measures it said were taken in response to Iran’s transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia. The state-owned Iran Air and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) will face an asset freeze for their role in supplying weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield against Ukraine, Britain said. “Iran’s attempts to …
Syrian refugees flee Israeli bombs in Lebanon
In the past two months, more than half a million people have fled into Syria from Lebanon, many of them refugees who initially fled the Syrian war. Those returning to Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria, say they are escaping to a place that is only a little safer than Lebanon, without homes, jobs or humanitarian aid waiting for them. Heather Murdock reports from …
Dutch minister: Chinese trade with Russia ‘directly affecting’ EU security
AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands’ foreign minister, whose ministry oversees export restrictions on top computer chip equipment maker ASML, said on Monday that China-Russia trade was “directly affecting” European security. NATO views China as a “decisive enabler” of Russia in its war against Ukraine, given that Chinese firms are selling goods that end up as components in Russian weapons, including drones, Caspar Veldkamp said before a meeting …
Beirut schools closed after deadly airstrikes
Beirut schools were closed Monday after six people — including the media relations chief for Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — were killed in airstrikes in the central part of the city a day earlier. The strikes prompted the education ministry to shut schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area for two days. Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammad Afif was among four people killed in the …
UK to put Sudan resolution to vote by UN Security Council
LONDON — Britain will seek backing from other United Nations Security Council members on Monday for its demand that Sudan’s warring parties stop hostilities and allow deliveries of aid, the British foreign ministry said. With London holding the rotating presidency of the council, British foreign minister David Lammy is due to chair a vote on a UK/Sierra Leone-proposed draft resolution, which also calls for the protection …
Latvian company to send drones to Ukraine
The Baltic states have committed to continue providing financial and material support to Ukraine’s fight against Russia in 2025. Part of that support is coming from the Latvian-led Drone Coalition. Vladislav Andrejevs has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Video editing by Sergii Dogotar. …
Protesters in separatist Georgian region occupy government buildings, call for leader’s ouster
Tbilisi, Georgia — Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia on Sunday refused to cede control of key government buildings seized during rallies earlier in the week during which at least 14 people were injured in clashes with police. Demonstrators stormed the buildings Friday to protest new measures allowing Russians to buy property in the seaside region. Protesters on Sunday continued to demand the ouster …
New global carbon trade rules adopted at UN climate summit expand inclusion, draw ire
Baku, Azerbaiijan — A new set of global carbon credit trade market standards has been agreed to during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, or COP29, following years of deadlock. Some analysts say that under the guidelines, a bigger number of entities could join a more regulated voluntary carbon credit trading system to reduce emissions. Known as Article 6.4, delegates agreed on the …
Russia launches massive airstrike campaign in Ukraine
Russia launched a massive airstrike campaign against neighboring Ukraine on Sunday. Local officials say several people died and the power system suffered “severe damage.” VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …
Israeli strike in Beirut kills Hezbollah spokesman
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli airstrike killed the chief spokesman for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group on Sunday in the first attack in central Beirut in more than a month, while Palestinian medical officials said earlier Israeli strikes killed 12 in Gaza. A Hezbollah official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mohammed Afif was killed in the Beirut strike. He had been especially visible since …
Myanmar’s sweeping internet blackouts drive rebels, medics, scammers to satellite service
Bangkok, Thailand — Across war-torn Myanmar, rebel commanders, aid workers and cyber-scammers alike are turning to billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to stay in touch with each other and with the outside world amid some of the most severe internet restrictions. Starlink is not licensed in Myanmar, and the military junta running much of the country has banned its use, yet orbiting satellites and smugglers on …
Putin critics lead march in Berlin calling for democracy in Russia and end to war in Ukraine
Berlin — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin Sunday, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and calling for democracy in Russia. Behind a banner that read “No Putin. No War,” the protesters were led by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, as well as Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, …
Cultural experts urge UN to shield war-torn Lebanon’s heritage
Beirut — Hundreds of cultural professionals, including archeologists and academics, called on the United Nations to safeguard war-torn Lebanon’s heritage in a petition published Sunday ahead of a crucial UNESCO meeting. Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south — both strongholds of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah — hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as UNESCO World …
Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute ‘genocide’
Rome — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year. It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel’s attacks in Gaza and Lebanon …
Israeli strikes kill 12 in Gaza as arrests are made over flares fired at Netanyahu’s home
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip overnight killed 12 people, Palestinian medical officials said Sunday. Israeli police meanwhile arrested three suspects after flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea. In Lebanon, Israeli warplanes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut after the military warned people to evacuate from at least seven buildings. The Hezbollah …
Norway’s Kon-Tiki Museum returns artifacts to Chile’s remote Easter Island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile’s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove his theory — that …
Russia targets Ukraine’s power grid in ‘massive’ missile strike, officials say
KYIV, Ukraine — Blasts rang out across Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other cities early on Sunday, as Russia staged its biggest missile attack since August and targeted power facilities with the winter setting in, officials said. Ukrainians have been bracing for a major attack on the hobbled power system for weeks, fearing crippling damage to the grid that would cause long blackouts and build psychological pressure …
Debt-saddled Laos struggles to tame rampant inflation
Vientiane, Laos — Suffocating under a mountain of debt to China, communist Laos is struggling to tame rampant inflation, with food prices rising so sharply that a growing number of households are resorting to foraging. At a market in Vientiane, traders told AFP they have never known business to be so slow, as families have seen the value of their money collapse since COVID-19. While the …
Flash bombs fired at Netanyahu home land without injury, damage
CAIRO — Two flash bombs were fired toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the northern Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday and fell into the garden, police said. Neither Netanyahu nor his family were present and there was no damage reported, it added in a statement. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the incident crossed “all red lines” in a post on X early …
Iran says ‘limited opportunity’ for nuclear diplomacy
Tehran, Iran — Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday in an interview that an opportunity exists for nuclear negotiations with the West, but that it is “limited.” Abbas Araghchi’s comments come after the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, visited the Islamic Republic for talks with high-ranking officials. “There is still an opportunity for diplomacy, although this opportunity is not much, it is a limited …
Biden meets with China’s Xi, bids farewell to APEC leaders
On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru, U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their last in-person engagement before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports from Lima. …
8 dead, 17 hurt in China school knife attack
BEIJING — Eight people were killed and 17 others injured Saturday in a knife attack at a vocational school in eastern China, and the suspect — a former student — has been arrested, police said. The attack took place in the evening at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology in the city of Yixing in Jiangsu province, police in Yixing said in a statement, …
Russia’s Gazprom stops flow of natural gas to Austria, utility says
VIENNA — Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom stopped supplies to Austria early Saturday, according to the Vienna-based utility OMV, after OMV said it would stop payments for the gas following an arbitration award. The official cutoff of supplies before dawn Saturday came after Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Friday held a hastily called news conference to emphasize that his country has a secure supply of …