World

Philippines braces for fifth major storm to hit in three weeks
World

Philippines braces for fifth major storm to hit in three weeks

  A resident reinforces his roof in Santa Ana, Cagayan Province, northern Philippines as they anticipate Typhoon Usagi to hit their area Nov. 14, 2024. MANILA, Philippines — The fifth major storm in three weeks approached the Philippines on Thursday, prompting more largescale evacuations and a United Nations request for emergency funds to help the government ease the plight of hard-hit villagers. Typhoon Usagi had sustained winds of up to 185 kph and gusts of up to 230 kph and was forecast to strengthen further before slamming Thursday afternoon into the coast of Cagayan province at the northern tip of Luzon, the country\'s most populous agricultural region. Another storm was brewing in the Pacific and may hit the northern Philippines thi...
US, Japan, South Korea coordinate response to North Korean threats
World

US, Japan, South Korea coordinate response to North Korean threats

  U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a trilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishiba and the President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol in Lima, Peru, Nov. 15, 2024. Lima, Peru — U.S. President Joe Biden met with leaders of South Korea and Japan to discuss a "coordinated" response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow\'s war against Ukraine and on Pyongyang\'s nuclear threat more broadly. Biden met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Friday, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru. Biden said the countries aim to link arms "to secure the technologies of the future and countering North K...
Experts: Indonesia’s $10 billion deal with China could undermine sovereignty, increase political tensions
World

Experts: Indonesia’s $10 billion deal with China could undermine sovereignty, increase political tensions

  Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2024. Jakarta — Maritime security and international law experts are concerned that a $10 billion deal concluded this week between China and Indonesia could not only undermine Indonesia’s sovereignty in the North Natuna Sea but also spur illegal fishing and increase political tensions among ASEAN nations. "Indonesia could be subjugated economically by China, potentially leading to military power in the South China Sea region," said Merisa Dwi Juanita, the founder of Bara Maritim, an independent institution for maritime security research. Recently inaugurated Indonesian ...
South Korean court finds former lawmaker guilty of misusing funds meant for sexual slavery victims
World

South Korean court finds former lawmaker guilty of misusing funds meant for sexual slavery victims

  FILE - Activist Yoon Meehyang, center left, marches toward the Japanese Embassy during a funeral ceremony of Kim Bok-dong, a former South Korean sex slave, in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 1, 2019. SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea\'s Supreme Court on Thursday handed a suspended prison sentence to a former lawmaker who was found guilty of embezzling funds while leading a group supporting Korean survivors of Japan\'s wartime sexual slavery. Yoon Meehyang, who was also convicted of fraudulently receiving government subsidies and unlawfully collecting donations, didn\'t attend the verdict, which confirmed a lower court\'s sentence of a year and six months in prison, suspended for three years. In a statement on Facebook, Yoon described her co...
North Korea tests exploding drones as Kim calls for mass production
World

North Korea tests exploding drones as Kim calls for mass production

  This picture taken on Nov. 14, 2024, and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency via KNS on Nov. 15, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, inspecting the performance test of drones at an undisclosed location. SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested exploding drones designed to crash into targets and leader Kim Jong Un called for accelerating mass production of the weapons, state media said Friday. The country\'s latest military demonstration came as the United States, South Korea and Japan engaged in combined military exercises involving advanced fighter jets and a U.S. aircraft carrier in nearby international waters, in a display of their defense posture against North Korea. North Korea\'s offi...
Australia's plan to ban children from social media proves popular, problematic
World

Australia's plan to ban children from social media proves popular, problematic

  In this image made from video released by Leo Puglisi, 17-year-old Leo Puglisi records his online streaming news service 6 News Australia, from Melbourne, Australia, in January 2024. MELBOURNE, Australia — How do you remove children from the harms of social media? Politically the answer appears simple in Australia, but practically the solution could be far more difficult. The Australian government\'s plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until their 16th birthdays is politically popular. The opposition party says it would have done the same after winning elections due within months if the government hadn\'t moved first. The leaders of all eight Australian states and mainland territo...
INTERVIEW: Researcher finds hunger, desperation among newest Rohingya refugees
Asia-pacific

INTERVIEW: Researcher finds hunger, desperation among newest Rohingya refugees

By Ginny Stein for Radio Free Asia2024.10.28Updated Oct. 29, 2024, 01:16 a.m. ET.Amnesty International researcher Joe Freeman recently traveled to Cox’s Bazar, the district in Bangladesh along the border with western Myanmar’s Rakhine state where thousands of ethnic Rohingyas have taken refuge this year.Members of the ethnic Muslim minority group joined some 1 million Rohingyas already sheltering in camps in Cox’s Bazar, including the more than 700,000 who fled a military crackdown and crossed the border over a period of months in 2017.This year, Rohingyas in Myanmar have found themselves caught in the crossfire between the military junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup d’etat, and the ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, which is fighting for self-determination in Rakhine state. Both sides have ...
Asia-pacific

Myanmar junta bombs captives held by insurgents killing 12

By RFA Burmese2024.10.29Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.A junta airstrike on a rebel-controlled prison in Myanmar killed 12 prisoners of war and wounded about 60, an anti-junta militia force told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.Insurgent groups have made unprecedented gains across the country in their fight against the junta that overthrew an elected government in early 2021, capturing towns, military bases and numerous outposts, as well as large numbers of troops.The military has responded to the advances by anti-junta forces with relentless air strikes, killing fighters, many civilians and inevitably some of the insurgents’ captives.A pro-democracy guerrilla force known as the Mandalay People’s Defense Force, or PDF, said that junta aircraft bombed a detention center under its cont...
Democratic senators ask Pentagon, US officials to probe reports of Musk's alleged calls with Russia
World

Democratic senators ask Pentagon, US officials to probe reports of Musk's alleged calls with Russia

  FILE - Elon Musk, center, arrives before a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, July 24, 2024. Musk has been appointed to a senior government role by Republican President-elect Donald Trump. washington — Reports that billionaire Elon Musk has held multiple calls with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, should be investigated by the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies on national security grounds, two senior Democratic senators said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday. Musk, who has been appointed to a senior government role by Republican President-elect Donald Trump, oversees billions of dollars in Pentagon and intelligence community contracts as CEO of aerospace company SpaceX. Senator Jeanne S...
Myanmar ethnic alliance says offensive will continue until junta overthrown
Asia-pacific

Myanmar ethnic alliance says offensive will continue until junta overthrown

By RFA Burmese2024.10.29Read RFA coverage of these topics in Burmese.A year after its launch, the ethnic rebel alliance that spearheaded the Operation 1027 offensive in Myanmar‘s northern Shan state has said it will not rest until the country’s military regime is removed from power.Since launching the offensive, named for its Oct. 27 start date, the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies has gone on to push back the military from several regions in Shan state it controlled following its February 2021 coup d’etat, including along northeastern Myanmar’s border with China.At the time of the launch, the alliance - made up of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army - said the objectives of the offensive included removing the ju...