World

  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...

  Serbian police scuffle with opposition protesters demanding arrests in connection with a deadly roof collapse at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia, Nov. 21, 2024. Twelve people have been arrested in connection with a roof collapse at a railway station earlier this month that killed at least 15 people in the city of Novi Sad, Serbian prosecutors said Thursday. Novi Sad’s Higher Prosecutor’s Office said the suspects, who were not identified, were arrested on suspicion of committing criminal acts against public safety. One suspect remains at large. If convicted, they face up to 12 years in prison. Fourteen people were killed on the day of the November 1 incident and three were injured, one of whom died Sunday. Former Novi Sad Mayor Borislav Novakovic said the arrests sho...

  People wait to vote in legislative elections in Dakar, Senegal, Nov. 17, 2024. The ruling party, PASTEF, won a solid victory, taking 130 of 165 seats, according to provisional results announced Nov. 21. DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal\'s ruling party, PASTEF, secured a resounding victory in the country\'s legislative elections, winning 130 of 165 seats, according to provisional results announced Thursday by the national vote counting commission. The win grants newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye a clear mandate to carry out ambitious reforms promised during the campaign, which include fighting corruption, revamping the fishing industry and maximizing the country\'s natural resource benefits. The main opposition coalition led by fo...

  FILE - The logo of Russia's bank Gazprombank, a subsidiary of state energy giant Gazprom, is seen at its office in Moscow, April 27, 2022. The United State sanctioned, Nov. 21, 2024, on Gazprombank. The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday a new set of sanctions targeting Russia’s financial sector and its ability to fund its war with Ukraine, hitting Gazprombank as well as many other internationally connected financial institutions, entities and individuals. In a statement posted to its website, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the sanctions designate Gazprombank — Russia\'s largest remaining unsanctioned bank — plus more than 50 other Russian banks, more than 40 Russian securities registrars and 15 Russian finance officials. The Treasur...

  FILE - Pham Chi Dung appears at his trial in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Jan. 5, 2021. (Photo: Nguoi Lao Dong) Washington — Vietnamese journalist Pham Chi Dung marked a grim milestone this week: five years in a prison cell. The journalist, blogger and VOA contributor is now one-third of the way through a 15-year term after being convicted of “propaganda against the state.” He was arrested for promoting media freedom, for cooperating with foreign media to deliver “distorted information,” and for his criticism of the Communist Party’s control of the media. The journalist’s lawyers and supporters are pushing the international community to help free him. For Pham, life in Xuan Loc Prison, in Vietnam’s Dong Nai province, is tough. Prison authorities allow a one-hour...