World

  A serviceman of Ukraine's 24th Mechanised brigade fires a 120-mm mortar towards Russian troops, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Nov. 19, 2024. Russian state media reported Friday — citing the Russian Defense Ministry — their forces have taken control of five settlements in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, including the village of Novodmitrovsk. The report, from Russia’s state-run Ria Novosti news service, said Russian forces defeated one tank, four mechanized, one infantry, three Ukrainian Army Jaeger brigades, “two marine brigades, three territorial defense brigades and two National Guard brigades. They also managed to repel 68 counterattacks.” The report has not been verified. The Russian report comes as Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov...

  A doctor leaves the hospital where poisoned foreign tourists were initially admitted, in Vang Vieng, Laos, on Nov. 22, 2024. VANG VIENG, LAOS — A second Australian teenager who fell critically ill after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos has died in a hospital in Bangkok, her family said Friday, bringing the death toll in the mass poisoning of foreign tourists to six. Holly Bowles, 19, had been in critical condition on life support following the poisoning in Laos more than a week ago. "We are so sad to say that our beautiful girl Holly is now at peace," her family said in a statement sent to Australian Network 10 and other Australian media. "We find comfort and solace in knowing that Holly brought so much joy and happiness to so many people." An officer at Vang Vieng\'s ...

  NAIROBI, KENYA — Heavy gunfire erupted in South Sudan\'s capital, Juba, on Thursday evening after security forces moved to arrest the former head of the intelligence service, according to Reuters reporters and an alert sent to United Nations staff. The gunfire began around 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) and continued sporadically for more than an hour before dying down, Reuters reporters said. A U.N. safety alert to staff members in Juba, seen by Reuters, said the shooting was related to the arrest of the former head of the National Security Service (NSS). It urged U.N. staff to shelter in place. In early October, President Salva Kiir dismissed Akol Koor Kuc, who had led the NSS since the country\'s independence from Sudan in 2011, and appointed a close ally to replace ...

  In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of a defense exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, Nov. 21, 2024. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Russia gave North Korea anti-air missiles in exchange for deploying troops to support Moscow\'s war in Ukraine, Seoul\'s top security adviser said Friday. The United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, with experts saying Kim Jong Un was eager to gain advanced technology, and battle experience for his troops, in return. Asked what Seoul believes Pyongyang has received for the troops, top security advisor Shin Won-sik said: "It...

  FILE - The Chinese ship, the bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, right, is anchored and being monitored by a Danish naval patrol vessels in the sea of Kattegat, near the City og Granaa in Jutland, Denmark, Nov. 20, 2024. London — European allies in the Baltic region are investigating how two fiber-optic data cables were severed earlier this week, with suspicion falling on a Chinese vessel in the area. Germany has said the incident was clearly sabotage. The Danish navy said this week it is following the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese bulk carrier, as it moves through the Baltic Sea. As of Friday, marine tracking systems showed the vessel anchored east of the Danish city of Aarhus. Denmark did not elaborate on why it was tracking the ship. However, there\'s ...

  FILE - In this May 28, 2017, photo, members of the Biafran separatist movement gather in Umuahia, Nigeria. Police in Finland said on Nov. 21, 2024, the movement's leader and four others were arrested for alleged terror-related activities. ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigerian military authorities are praising the arrest of separatist leader Simon Ekpa in Finland on Thursday. Ekpa was arrested along with four others for alleged terror-related activities, including incitement to violence and terrorism financing in Nigeria. In two separate statements late Thursday, Nigerian defense authorities lauded Ekpa’s arrest as a step toward his extradition to Nigeria and a validation of Nigeria\'s bilateral relations with the international community. Poli...

  Police officers keep watch near an entrance to the Wuxi Vocational College of Arts and Technology following a knife attack in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, China, on Nov. 17, 2024. TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Violent attacks in China this month have killed 43 people and injured more than 70, raising questions about why the tragic incidents occurred and sparking discussion and debate online. VOA spoke with observers who see a link between the incidents and a lack of effective measures to address the underlying social and mental health issues caused, in part, by the country’s current economic challenges. “These violent attacks happen quite frequently, and one cause of the attacks is China’s sluggish economy and the direct grievances that it creates for average people across several industri...

By BenarNews Staff2024.11.22 KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia and Vietnam have agreed to elevate ties and cooperate closely to maintain peace in the South China Sea, following a rare protest by Kuala Lumpur over Hanoi’s island-building program in the disputed waterway. The two Southeast Asian countries are among six parties that have overlapping territorial claims in the sea, alongside China, Brunei, the Philippines as well as Taiwan. Malaysia and Vietnam pledged to “continue working closely together to maintain peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea and to promote peaceful settlement of disputes,” To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, said during a joint press briefing with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim ...

  FILE - Activists participate in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16, 2024. BAKU, AZERBAIJAN — The role of Azerbaijan as a growing exporter of fossil fuels has forced a debate at this month’s climate conference in Baku over which countries are most responsible for worsening climate change — the producers or the countries that buy and burn those fuels. Climate activists have cited a slew of new contracts signed by Azerbaijan’s state oil company in the past year, a development that President Ilham Aliyev has defended as a “gift from God” and a realistic response to market demand. Oil and gas account for more than 90% of the southern Caucasus country’s exports, boosted by the...