World

  FILE - Gen. Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing will travel to China this week to attend regional summits, state media said on Monday, in the embattled top general\'s first visit to the influential neighboring nation since he seized power in a 2021 coup. Since the coup, Myanmar has been in chaos, including areas along its border with China, as an armed resistance movement combined with established ethnic minority militias to wrest control of large territories from the military government. Min Aung Hlaing will attend summits of the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Econ...

  FILE - A data center is shown in Jatiluhur, Indonesia. Analysists say Vietnam could become a major regional player in the data center industry. HANOI, Vietnam — U.S. tech companies have warned Vietnam\'s government that a draft law to tighten rules on data protection and limit data transfers abroad would hamper social media platforms and data center operators from growing their businesses in the country. The Southeast Asian nation with a population of 100 million is one of the world\'s largest markets for Facebook and other online platforms, and is aiming to exponentially increase its data center industry with foreign investment in coming years. The draft law "will make it challenging for tech companies, social media platforms and ...

  People load their carts with sacks of flour at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency aid distribution centre in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 3, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Israel’s foreign ministry said Monday the country formally notified the United Nations that it will not cooperate with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, once new Israeli legislation goes into effect early next year. The move follows the Israeli parliament’s approval of legislation severing ties with the agency and banning it from operating in Israel. “Despite the overwhelming evidence we submitted to the UN that substantiate Hamas\' infiltration of UNRWA, the UN did nothing to rectify the situation,” Is...

  FILE - Visitors look at cars at the BYD booth during the China Auto Show in Beijing, China, Friday, April 26, 2024. BEIJING — China has urged France to take on "an active role" to push the European Commission toward a solution acceptable to both the European and Chinese electric vehicle industries, Beijing\'s commerce ministry said on Monday, citing its minister. Wang Wentao, in a meeting with French junior trade minister Sophie Primas in Shanghai on Sunday, reiterated the European Union\'s investigation into China\'s EVs is a major concern and has "seriously hindered" China-EU auto industry cooperation. The EU launched an anti-subsidy investigation into imports of Chinese-made battery EVs last year and in October ...

  FILE - Israeli soldiers stand near to a tank near Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, Oct. 16, 2023. Israel said on Nov. 3, 2024, that it launched a ground raid into Syria. Israel said Sunday it launched a ground raid into Syria, seizing a Syrian it claimed was involved in Iranian networks supporting militants in the region. The Israeli raid into Syria was its first during the current 13-month Middle East conflict. Syria did not immediately confirm the operation. The Israeli army did not say where the raid occurred or when, but identified the man seized as Ali Soleiman al-Assi and said he had been living in the southern Syrian region of Saida. Israel said he had been under military surveillance for many months and wa...

  Members of a rescue team carry away bodies in Klatanlo village, in East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, on November 4, 2024, after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted overnight. JAKARTA, Indonesia — At least nine people died after Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki in eastern Indonesia erupted on Sunday, spewing explosive plumes of lava and forcing authorities to evacuate several nearby villages, officials said on Monday. Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Sunday night, belching a fiery-red column of lava, volcanic ash and incandescent rocks, Hadi Wijaya, a spokesperson for The Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation , said on Monday. "After the eruption, there was po...

  FILE - U.S. MV-22 Osprey aircraft are parked at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, south of Okinawa, southern Japan, Sept. 6, 2023. Washington — Japan has grounded its fleet of V-22 Osprey aircraft again after an incident last Sunday where one of the hybrid helicopter-aircraft tilted unexpectedly and hit the ground while trying to take off. The V-22 was taking part in the joint U.S. military exercise Keen Sword and carrying 16 passengers, including three U.S. service members. During takeoff it “became unstable as it swayed from side to side, and the left wing, the lower part of the aircraft came into contact with the ground and part of the aircraft was damaged, so the flight was aborted," Japan\'s Ground Self Def...

  FILE - Supporters of Pakistan's jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan rally, demanding his release from prison where he has been held for more than a year after being sentenced in multiple cases, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Sept. 8, 2024. Islamabad — A leading lawyer for Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan has resurfaced under mysterious circumstances nearly a month after his alleged “enforced disappearance.” Police officials and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party Sunday confirmed the overnight recovery of Intazar Ahmad Panjutha — who had gone missing on October 8 while returning home to Islamabad — amid allegations that government security agencies were involved. Punjutha’s recovery occurred a da...

  KAMPALA — Fourteen people were killed in a lightning strike in a refugee camp in northern Uganda, police said Sunday. The incident happened Saturday in the remote district of Lamwo. Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said 34 other people were injured. The victims have not yet been identified, he said. The residents of the Palabek settlement camp, which primarily houses refugees from South Sudan, had been attending a prayer service in the makeshift metallic structure when the lighting struck. Deadly lightning is commonly reported in this East African country during the wet seasons. Rusoke said there was no report of fire breaking out following the strike.   By：VOA

  FILE - A volunteer soldier of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion takes a video at a makeshift memorial for fallen Ukrainian and foreign soldiers on Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 23, 2024. Taipei, Taiwan — A second Taiwanese volunteer fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers against Russia has been killed, Taiwan\'s foreign ministry said Sunday. The man was a member of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, the ministry said in a statement, expressing condolences to his family, who did not want him publicly identified. The ministry said it was informed of the man\'s death Saturday and that Taiwan\'s representative office in Poland had verified the information with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. No further details were released about how he die...