Taiwan is seeking to increase the size of its military attache office at its de facto consulate in Honolulu as the self-ruled island democracy looks to tighten ties with the United States and bolster defenses against potential Chinese military attacks.

Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest. The military government said Wednesday the move was made as a health measure due to a heat wave.

In the military exercise, U.S. and Philippines troops will perform joint operations off the northern tip of the island of Luzon, facing Taiwan.

Chinese fighters tracked a U.S. Navy surveillance plane making a flight over the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. defense chief talked for the first time to his Chinese counterpart.

Nearly three dozen patients were treated through a program that brought a plastic surgeon to this airlift hub in western Tokyo for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The United States and its allies are discussing options “both inside and outside the U.N. system” to create a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, the American ambassador to the United Nations said.

North Korea is putting surveillance cameras in schools and workplaces and collecting fingerprints, photographs and other biometric information from its citizens in a technology-driven push to monitor its population even more closely, a report said.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr says a congressional committee’s report “uncovered persuasive evidence” that China’s government is “knee deep” in sponsoring and facilitating the export of fentanyl precursors.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday morning spoke with China’s minister of national defense for the first time since November 2022, marking another step toward restoring military communications between the two major powers, the Pentagon said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to pressure Russia to end its “insane campaign” in Ukraine, the latest in a parade of European leaders and senior officials to make such an appeal. The Chinese side gave no sign Tuesday of any change in its position, which has been to blame Europe and the U.S. for prolonging the fighting and calling for peace negotiations that recognize Russian as well as Ukrainian concerns