Asia

Philippines Bans Two U.S. Senators in Dispute Over Sanctions

The Philippine government on Friday announced that U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have been banned from visiting the country due to “interfering with our processes as a sovereign state,” as Philippine presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo put it. More specifically, Durbin and Leahy have been involved in the case of incarcerated Philippine Sen. Leila de Lima, who they regard as a political prisoner.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., right, prepare to hear t

Hong Kong Protests Continue on Christmas

Hong Kong’s anti-government protests continued on Christmas, with some reports of confrontations between police and demonstrators but not the general chaos government officials seemed to be expecting. 

Riot police hold banners warning people not to take out any processions in Hong Kong, Wedn

Chinese Media Claims Missing Uyghurs Are ‘Living Normal Lives’

China’s state-run Global Times on Monday pushed back against an international campaign to find Uyghur Muslims who went missing after China began herding them into re-education camps, claiming that the missing Uyghurs are actually “living normally” after “graduating” from the camps Beijing likes to describe as “vocational education and training centers.”

This photo taken on June 2, 2019 shows buildings at the Artux City Vocational Skills Educa