Taiwan Defense Ministry warns new laws could have 'serious impact' on security
Voice of America
FILE - This handout photo taken and released Dec. 16, 2024, by Taiwan's defense ministry shows soldiers securing a U.S.-made M1A2 Abrams battle tank onto a trailer at an army training center in Hsinchu county, Taiwan.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry warned of "serious impact" to security after opposition parties passed laws that require a cut in defense spending of about $2.45 billion as the island is facing an elevated Chinese military threat.
FILE - Eugene Spector, Russian-born U.S. citizen already imprisoned in Russia on a bribery stands behind bars in a courtroom in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 20, 2020. Spector has been handed a second 15-year jail term for espionage, Russian news agencies reported on Dec. 24, 2024.
Israeli emergency services work at the scene of a missile strike that, according to Israel's military, was launched from Yemen and landed in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, Dec. 21, 2024. The Yemen-based Houthi militant group fired a ballistic missile at the Tel Aviv area on Dec. 25.
FILE - Bosnian Serb's lawmakers take part in the parliament session in Banja Luka, Dec. 10, 2021. Lawmakers, Dec. 25, 2024, ordered Serb representatives in state institutions to block decision-making and reform laws needed for the Balkan country's integration into the EU.
FILE - A man looks at the social media platform TikTok on his smartphone in Hanoi on October 6, 2023.
Loraine Mwanza, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), speaks at the launch of the USAID-Funded MISA Freedom of Expression Report at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Dec. 17, 2024. (Kathy Short for VOA)
FILE - Sheikh Hasina checks her watch as she waits for the official opening time to cast her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 7, 2024.
People take shelter at a metro station during an air raid alert, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, December 25, 2024.
FILE - A man looks at the social media platform TikTok on his smartphone in Hanoi on October 6, 2023.
Loraine Mwanza, chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), speaks at the launch of the USAID-Funded MISA Freedom of Expression Report at the Protea Hotel in Lusaka, Dec. 17, 2024. (Kathy Short for VOA)
FILE - U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters stand guard at Al Naeem Square, in Raqqa, Syria, Feb. 7, 2022.
France's newly appointed Prime Minister Francois Bayrou looks on after the handover ceremony at the Hotel Matignon , the Prime Minister residence, in Paris, Dec. 13, 2024.