Indian immigration to Australia has surged, overtaking China, according to national census data released Tuesday. The survey, which is held every five years, also revealed a growing number of Australians identifying as indigenous. According to the new census data, Australia’s demographics are changing rapidly and it is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. More than half of its residents were born overseas or have an immigrant parent. Indians are now the second-biggest immigrant...

Why China Has Increased Military Flights off the Coast of Taiwan?

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will participate at the NATO summit in Madrid on Tuesday and Wednesday, reflecting what experts say is Seoul's expanded global role in dealing with threats from China, Russia and North Korea. South Korea, a non-NATO member, was invited as a partner nation to attend the summit of the military alliance of 30 countries. Other Asia-Pacific countries invited are Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Yoon is the first South Korean president to participate at...

Confucius Institutes, the controversial Beijing-backed language and cultural learning centers — most of which were closed throughout the United States after being designated a foreign mission by the State Department — are rebranding and reopening, according to a report by the National Association of Scholars. Of the 118 Confucius Institutes that once existed in the United States, 104 were closed as of June 21 and four are in the process of shutting down, according to the report. Of these,...

Held for the first time since the pandemic, the world’s biggest transgender pageant pulled contestants from as far apart as Honduras and India to Thailand, a country where gender equality law is under the spotlight. For VOA, Vijitra Duangdee has this story from Pattaya, Thailand.

A regional envoy for the crisis in Myanmar has urged the country's military leaders to return deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest from her prison cell in solitary confinement. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, envoy for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), issued the appeal Monday ahead of his second trip to Myanmar. In a letter to Myanmar's military leaders, he urged them to "exercise compassion and facilitate the return of Daw Aung San Suu...

A new report into sexual harassment and the assault of women working in Western Australia’s mining industry finds systematic and horrific levels of abuse. Lawmakers are now calling for much needed reforms to protect female employees in this multibillion dollar resources sector. After almost a year of investigations, an inquiry by state lawmakers has concluded Western Australia’s multibillion-dollar mining sector failed to protect women from sexual predators. Its report said that victims...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is flying to Spain to attend this year’s NATO meeting as leaders attempt to tackle the growing threat posed by global instability. The Australian prime minister will join his counterparts from New Zealand, Japan and South Korea for the largest-ever NATO summit. Though all four countries are not members of the world’s largest defense pact, they bring an Indo-Pacific perspective to global insecurity. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be a key focus...

An Iranian appeals court has upheld an eight-year prison sentence against a Frenchman convicted on spying charges, his Paris-based lawyer said Tuesday.

As experts gather at a UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is facing an "ocean emergency". In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef recently suffered another mass bleaching event, just months after a UNESCO committee recommended the World Heritage Site be listed as "in danger". The country's new left-leaning Labor government has promised to tackle global warming, but the reef's future hangs in the balance as long as Australia remains one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels. Our correspondents report.

The devastating earthquake that hit south-eastern Afghanistan on June 22 has caused immeasurable damage. With over a thousand people killed and tens of thousands now homeless, daily life will be even harder in a country that was already suffering from a humanitarian crisis following the Taliban's return to power. International aid is trickling in, but longer-term help is needed. Our regional correspondents Shahzaib Wahlah and Sonia Ghezali report.

In India, over a million female healthcare workers known as "ASHA" ("hope" in Hindi) work tirelessly to help the country's poorest. Last month, the WHO honoured their hard work with its Global Leaders Award. Over the last 16 years, these women have become the backbone of India's healthcare system, especially for the hundreds of millions of Indians who live in rural areas. But today, they are fighting for better pay and recognition from the government. Our correspondents report.

Authorities in Afghanistan have ended the search for survivors of an earthquake that struck on Wednesday, a senior official said on Friday, adding that supplies of medicine and other critical aid were inadequate.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday replaced its intelligence chief Hossein Taeb, who had held the position for more than 12 years, the Guards said in a statement.

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from house arrest to solitary confinement in a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a junta spokesman said on Thursday.

Afghan authorities struggled on Thursday to reach a remote area hit by an earthquake that killed some 1,000 people but poor communications and a lack of proper roads hampered their efforts, officials said, as the country's supreme leader pleaded with the international community for help.