World News

A child wearing a mask stands near light decorations at a mall in Beijing on Friday. China is on a bumpy road back to normal life as schools, shopping malls and restaurants fill up again following the abrupt end of some of the world's most severe restrictions even as hospitals are swamped with COVID-19 patients.

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Canada and Australia impose COVID testing requirements on travelers from China

1:42pm January 01, 2023

by The Associated Press

Australia and Canada join other countries including the U.S., U.K., India, Japan and several European nations in imposing tougher COVID-19 measures on Chinese travelers amid fears of new variants.

A Save the Children nutrition counsellor, right, explains to Nelab, 22, how to feed her 11-month-old daughter, Parsto, with therapeutic food, which is used to treat severe acute malnutrition, in Sar-e-Pul province of Afghanistan in September 2022.

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A U.N. official met with a Taliban leader over a ban on women working for NGOs

12:53pm January 01, 2023

by The Associated Press

Major international aid agencies suspended operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women from working for nongovernmental organizations in a series of measures rolling back women's rights.

World News

Unpacking the Biden administration's approach to China

8:09am January 01, 2023

by Emily Feng

NPR's Emily Feng speaks with Jessica Chen Weiss, professor of government at Cornell University, and Nadia Schadlow, senior fellow at Hudson Institute, about the Biden administration's China policy.

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Brazil plans 'Lulapalooza' as Luis Inácio Lula da Silva is sworn in as president

7:35am January 01, 2023

Luis Inácio Lula da Silva will be sworn in as Brazil's new leader — just three years after being released from prison on corruption charges and 12 years after his first two terms as president.

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In Taiwan, an activist's release from prison has sparked debate on how to deter China

7:34am January 01, 2023

by Emily Feng

For decades, Taiwan residents have accepted Washington's deliberately ambiguous stance towards the island. But Chinese aggression is causing people there to demand stronger security commitments.

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In the Philippines, revived traditions bring hope and gratitude in the new year

7:27am January 01, 2023

by Julie McCarthy

Life around the world is returning to pre-pandemic normal this winter. In the Philippines, people are looking forward to the New Year with hope that they will stay healthy and happy.

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One of Taiwan's biggest pop stars is challenging the boundaries of Taiwanese identity

7:27am January 01, 2023

by Emily Feng

NPR's Emily Feng talks with Abao, one of Taiwan's biggest pop stars. She is Paiwan, an indigenous people that lived on the island before Han Chinese colonized it more than 300 years ago.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends a ceremony of donating 600 mm super-large multiple launch rocket system at a garden of the Workers' Party of Korea headquarters in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.

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North Korea's Kim orders 'exponential' expansion of nuclear arsenal

6:49am January 01, 2023

by The Associated Press

Some experts say Kim Jong Un's push to make more nukes and new weapons systems reflects his hopes to solidify future negotiating power as he heads into prolonged tensions with the U.S. and its allies.

Croatia's Minister of Interior Davor Bozinovic, left, pushes a button to lift the barrier at the Bregana border crossing between Croatia and Slovenia, accompnanied by Slovenian counterpart Sanja Ajanovic Hovnik, early on Sunday.

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Croatia rings in the New Year as a fully integrated EU member

2:19am January 01, 2023

by The Associated Press

It marked a fresh start for the small Balkan nation of 4 million that captured international attention three decades ago as the site of a brutal war that left nearly a quarter of its economy in ruins.

Fireworks explode next to the Arc de Triomphe with "2023" projected on the building, at the Avenue des Champs-Elysees during New Year celebrations in Paris.

World News

Countries across the world ring in the new year

9:48pm December 31, 2022

by Giulia Heyward

From Bangkok to Berlin, one time zone at a time celebrated the entry into 2023.