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BANGKOK — Thailand says regional talks it hosted Friday on a stalled peace plan for Myanmar were “frank” but reached no consensus on a path forward. Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, gathered in Bangkok to discuss the Five-Point Consensus the bloc agreed to in April 2021, two months after Myanmar’s military seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San …

ANKARA, TURKEY — Turkey expects foreign countries will withdraw support for Kurdish fighters in Syria following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as Ankara seeks to isolate Kurds who have long fought alongside U.S. troops.  Germany’s foreign minister later said Kurdish forces should disarm and integrate into Syria’s national security structure, and Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East said the U.S. …

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 …