Chinese President Xi Jinping extended Kim’s invitation to the event, which marks 80 years since Japan’s surrender in World War II, North Korean state media reported Thursday. Kim will be among 26 foreign leaders who are expected to attend, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Chinese coast guard ship that was damaged in a collision with another Chinese vessel in the South China Sea earlier this month is now being repaired at Hainan Island, according to satellite images published by Reuters.
Lawmakers in Phnom Penh on Monday approved a law that will allow the government to strip Cambodian citizenship from people convicted of conspiring with foreign governments against the national interest.
China’s influence in Bangladesh is expanding beyond trade and infrastructure into media, academia, and social networks. This report uncovers how Beijing’s propaganda and soft power strategies are reshaping narratives, fueling pro-China sentiment, and amplifying anti-India rhetoric across the country.
China has deployed an array of armed coast guard forces near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea — one in a series of Chinese actions that the Philippines’ defense chief on Friday called “a matter not only of concern but of condemnation.” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro spoke Friday during a joint press conference with Richard Marles, the defense chief for Australia, as the two countries engaged in combat drills that began Aug. 15 and worked toward an enhanced joint defense pact. “We work really closely with the Philippines in terms of asserting the rules-based order in the South China Sea,” Marles said. “That’s really important for us to jointly do.” The Philippine military reported this week that China has deployed coast guard and militia ships in the area, as well as a cadre of speedboats, some fitted with high-caliber machine guns. A helicopter and a drone were also reported in the area. According to the Philippine report, one of China’s boats came within 50 meters of the Sierra Madre, a warship that the Philippines deliberately grounded in 1999 to serve as a base of operations on Second Thomas Shoal. Two Filipino boats were deployed to keep the Chinese from coming closer, the Philippine military said. Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, right, shakes hands with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles prior to their meeting at a hotel in Makati, Philippines, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)(Aaron Favila/AP) China’s coast guard on Friday released a statement warning the Philippines to “immediately stop all infringement activities, provocations and false accusations” in the area, saying it would continue to “carry out law enforcement activities.” The Philippines and China have long fought and negotiated over territory in the South China Sea. Second Thomas Shoal sits within the Philippines’ U.N.-defined exclusive economic zone. It’s also within the wide swath of the sea that China claims as part of its maritime territory. In March, the Philippines accused China of “deceptive messaging” after state-run television accused the Philippine military of burning trash aboard the Sierra Madre. Last June, members of China’s coast guard used pikes and machetes to puncture Philippine boats and seized firearms during a Philippine mission to resupply the Sierra Madre. By December, China said it had granted permission for such resupply missions on humanitarian grounds. Philippine fishermen told RFA’s BenarNews last year that the heavy presence of Chinese vessels caused them to send out fewer boats, leading to a reduced catch and economic hardship. Includes reporting from The Associated Press. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Recognition comes as military junta and China dominate Burmese information space WASHINGTON – Radio Free Asia (RFA) has won two National Edward R. Murrow awards for chronicling the struggles facing young people from post-coup Myanmar. The recognition for this coverage comes as RFA was forced to suspend much of its news-gathering operations due to the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s illegal cancellation of its grant and RFA’s uncertain future. “It is hard to believe that right now, Myanmar’s media is dominated by its military junta and China,” said Bay Fang, RFA President and CEO. “Challenging those narratives through hard-hitting, fact-based reporting has been RFA’s mandated mission by the U.S. Congress. “These awards serve as a stark reminder of RFA’s critical role in the Asia-Pacific region even as many of our language services, including RFA Burmese, have gone silent.” The multimedia feature Myanmar’s Gen-Z fighting for a nation’s future, produced last November, includes videos, images and text profiling the challenges and resilience of the generation coming of age after the February 2021 military takeover. An RFA team based outside the country returned to Myanmar to speak to people on the front lines in one eastern region to learn about their stories – and their hopes for the revival of their blood-stained country. More than three years of fighting has displaced more than 3 million people inside the country, and refugees continue to spill across borders to the west, south and east. While the military maintains control of the country’s largest cities, anti-junta forces have made unprecedented territorial gains. A 2023 survey of Myanmar found more than 5.1 million Myanmar adults accessed RFA content regularly either online or through shortwave broadcasts. The awards will be presented by the Radio Television and Digital News Association in New York on the evening of October 13. State of play at RFA: Until March, RFA was one of the only international outlets to have a sustained in-country presence since the 2021 military coup. RFA’s Burmese Service was forced to stop operations after the USAGM in March 2025 illegally cancelled the grant that funds Radio Free Asia. At present, 90 percent of RFA’s staff has been either put on unpaid leave or has resigned. RFA continues to fight the illegal termination of its grant funds. The matter is currently being litigated in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, with a hearing scheduled for late September. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a rare visit to Tibet on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region
The military-backed election commission in Myanmar set Dec. 28 for the initial phase of long-promised elections, the first since the 2021 coup that overthrew the country’s last elected government and kicked off a still-raging civil war. Junta leadership nominally transferred power to an interim government last month in preparation for the elections. Last week, Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief and acting president, called for increased security to protect politicians and voters, warning of a rise in attacks on civil servants, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. International observers have framed the elections as a charade to keep Min Aung Hlaing and his generals in power. Critics point to a lack of free media in Myanmar, and that most officials in the last elected government, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, have been arrested. U.N. reports detail a regime of torture inflicted on those the military has detained. It’s also unclear how a truly national election could take place in Myanmar. Control of the country splintered after the coup, with parts of the country held by bands of pro-democracy fighters or ethnic rebel groups, some of whom have pledged to block polls in their areas. “I don’t think the election will hold any significance for the people,” a 63-year-old citizen in the western state of Rakhine told Agence France-Presse. “I think this election is only being held to give power to military dictators until the world ends.” Meanwhile, clashes continue in Myanmar’s civil war, which has killed thousands, spawned rampant poverty, and left more than 3.5 million people displaced, nearly 40 percent of whom are children. On Sunday, at least 24 people were reportedly killed after the military bombed a hospital in Mawchi, a small town in Kayah state, the Associated Press reported. Includes reporting from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to deepen their countries’ collaboration, North Korean state media said Wednesday, as Putin praised the “bravery, heroism, and self-sacrificing spirit” of North Korean troops who fought with the Russian military against Ukraine in the Kursk border region. On a telephone call on Tuesday with the Russian president, Kim said that North Korea would “fully support all measures to be taken by the Russian leadership in the future, too.” According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Putin shared with Kim information about his upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday. Trump is expected to press Russia to end the war with Ukraine. North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall, according to South Korean tallies — and it has also supplied equipment including artillery and ballistic missiles to support the operation against Ukraine. Pyongyang first acknowledged its role in the Ukraine conflict in late April, around six months after the first reports of their troops’ presence. Ukrainian officials have released handwritten letters and combat instructions that are said to have come from North Korean soldiers who were killed in battle. Ukraine has also broadcast messages in Korean appealing to North Korean soldiers to surrender. Includes reporting from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika
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