Asian country welcomed record 36.8 million visitors in 2024, tourism agency says.

At least six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Marburg virus can spread between people through direct contact or via blood and other bodily fluids of infected people.

Interview comes less than a week before Trump, who has previously followed a tough line with Tehran, returns to power.

Two moon landers built by private U.S. and Japanese companies are on their way to the moon after lifting off early Wednesday on a shared ride aboard a SpaceX rocket. The launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the latest in a public-private program that put a spacecraft from Intuitive Machines on the moon last year. Wednesday’s launch included a lander from Japanese space exploration company ispace that is carrying a rover with the capability of collecting lunar dirt and testing potential food and water sources on the moon. The spacecraft is also carrying a small red “Moonhouse” built by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg. The ispace mission is expected to reach its destination on the moon’s far north in four to five months. The company is making its second attempt at a lunar landing, after a 2023 mission failed in the final stages.  Also aboard the rocket heading toward the moon is a lander from U.S. company Firefly Aerospace that is set to carry out 10 experiments for NASA. The planned experiments include gathering dirt and measuring subsurface temperatures. The spacecraft is expected to arrive in about 45 days. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

Fires continue to blaze across California, prompting authorities to issue a Red Flag Warning for Wednesday.

Zheng exits after second round loss to unseeded Siegemund as former champions Sabalenka and Osaka battle through.

Chinese users of Xiaohongshu welcome influx of Americans, but caution that sensitive topics are off-limits.

Labour paused implementation of the act after taking power, due to concerns over student welfare.

As global camel population rises, it's on drastic decline in India. Experts say law passed in Rajasthan is main reason.

Here are the key developments on the 1,056th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden signed on Tuesday an executive order to boost development of artificial intelligence infrastructure in America. A day earlier, his administration announced sweeping measures to block access to the most advanced semiconductors by China and other adversaries. But the U.S. left India, its strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific, off a list of 18 countries that are allowed unrestricted access to advanced AI chips. Analysts say while a growing technological relationship between the two countries would likely make India eligible in the future to access advanced U.S. AI chips, New Delhi's existing ties with Moscow and the perception of a less robust technology regulatory framework led to its exclusion from the top list. Exclusion not a surprise The Commerce Department's policy framework divides the world into three categories. The first tier includes the U.S. and 18 countries with unrestricted access, followed by a list of more than 100 countries that will be subjected to new caps on advanced semiconductors with individual exemptions. The third tier includes adversaries such as China and Russia that face maximum restrictions. India falls in the second category, along with U.S. allies like Israel and close friends such as Singapore. Bhaskar Chakravorti, the dean of global business at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said that India's relationship with Russia "puts it outside a super safe category." India has had close ties with Russia since the Soviet Union supported its desire for independence from Britain. It maintained those ties during the Cold War, when the U.S. sided with India's rival Pakistan. Scott Jones, a non-resident fellow at Washington's Stimson Center think tank, highlighted recent reports that accused a few Indian companies of aiding Russia's war on Ukraine, but stressed that while being excluded is a disappointment, it's "not a setback for India." He also pointed to the perception that "India's ability to control and manage technology is perhaps not as robust as evidenced in some of the 18 countries." While India may be off the unrestricted list for now, analysts say its growing technological cooperation with the U.S. may shield it from some curbs. Richard Rossow, senior adviser and chair on India and Emerging Asia Economies at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the presence of caveats in the new framework would ensure India's later participation. "The fact that they have announced that there will be a pathway for some countries to get exemptions that are above what they're going to consider the standard cap, India, I imagine, would be on the short list of countries," he told VOA. In early January, national security adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to India and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior officials. During the trip, both sides reiterated their commitment to forge a "strategic technology partnership" and strengthen cooperation under the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), a bilateral mechanism focused on technology partnership. On semiconductors, the U.S. is facilitating investments in India's semiconductor manufacturing and intensifying R&D collaboration. During his trip, Sullivan highlighted the investment of $2.7 billion in India by U.S. chipmaker Micron to create semiconductor packaging facilities, which he hoped would contribute to establishing "India as a new hub in the global chip ecosystem." The Indian government too is investing billions of dollars through its dedicated program called the India Semiconductor Mission and Production Linked Incentive scheme. Rossow argued that the Indian government would not have been "terribly surprised" that "they were not included" in the list. Jones of the Stimson Center agreed. "Jake Sullivan was in New Delhi last week, and I would be very surprised if he did not inform his Indian counterparts of what was going to happen," he said. Ensuring America's leadership in AI The Biden administration has focused on the centrality of artificial intelligence to America's security and economic strength. According to a White House factsheet, the latest steps are part of its effort to prevent offshoring this critical technology and ensure that "the world's AI runs on American rails." Since October 2022, the U.S. government has enacted a series of export controls, blocking access of advanced semiconductors to China to prevent its use for military applications. While initially the measures adversely affected the Chinese semiconductor industry, Beijing has continued to advance its capabilities and is attempting to narrow the technology gap. According to Chakravorti of the Fletcher School, there are numerous implementation challenges of this expansive global strategy. "From lobbying from the U.S. chipmakers that will start as soon as Trump takes office to potential leaks in the carefully calibrated list of countries. Will there be a secondary market? How does this affect where future data centers are built?" he asked. Jones of the Stimson Center argued that the policy is more a "symbolic gesture than a practical consideration" but has a stern message for the rest of the world. "The U.S. is clearly saying, if you want to participate in the U.S.-sponsored AI ecosystem, you have to pick now. You pick China or you pick us. You can't have it both ways. You can't play one off against the other. You have to choose," he concluded.

An Israeli military drone reportedly fired three missiles at a group of people in the Jenin refugee camp.

Elon Musk was sued on Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the world's richest person of waiting too long to disclose in 2022 he had amassed a large stake in Twitter, the social media company he later bought. In a complaint filed in Washington, the SEC said Musk violated federal securities law by waiting 11 days too long to disclose his initial purchase of 5% of Twitter's common shares. An SEC rule requires investors to disclose within 10 calendar days, or by March 24, 2022, in Musk's case, when they cross a 5% ownership threshold. The SEC said that at the expense of unsuspecting investors, Musk bought more than $500 million of Twitter shares at artificially low prices before finally revealing his purchases on April 4, 2022, by which time he owned a 9.2% stake. Twitter's share price rose more than 27% following that disclosure, the SEC said. Tuesday's lawsuit seeks to force Musk to pay a civil fine and disgorge profits he didn't deserve. Musk eventually purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, and renamed it X. Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, in an email called the SEC lawsuit the culmination of the regulator's "multi-year campaign of harassment" against his client. "Today's action is an admission by the SEC that they cannot bring an actual case," he said. "Mr. Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is." Spiro added that the lawsuit addresses a mere "alleged administrative failure to file a single form — an offense that, even if proven, carries a nominal penalty." Musk, an adviser to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, is worth $417 billion according to Forbes magazine, through businesses such as the electric car maker Tesla and rocket company. He is worth nearly twice as much as Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, the world's second-richest person at $232 billion, Forbes said. The SEC sued Musk six days before Trump's January 20 presidential inauguration. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is stepping down that day, and Paul Atkins, who Trump nominated to succeed him, is expected to review many of Gensler's rules and enforcement actions. Musk has also been sued in Manhattan federal court by former Twitter shareholders over the late disclosure. In that case, Musk has said it was implausible to believe he wanted to defraud other shareholders, and that "all indications" were that his delay was a mistake. Musk has long feuded with the SEC, including after it sued him in 2018 over his Twitter posts about possibly taking Tesla private and having secured funding to do so. He settled that lawsuit by paying a $20 million civil fine, agreeing to have Tesla lawyers review some Twitter posts in advance, and giving up his role as Tesla's chairman. The SEC also sought sanctions from Musk after he missed court-ordered testimony last September for the Twitter probe so he could attend the launch of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission at Florida's Cape Canaveral. A federal judge in San Francisco rejected that request, because Musk later testified and agreed to pay the SEC's travel costs.

US Securities and Exchange Commission says Musk's failure to disclose stake allowed him to underpay $150m for shares.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says gov't working to verify report that volunteer fight was killed by Russian forces.

A report finds the special educational needs and disabilities system in "disarray" and lacking funds.

Investigators used ladders to climb into President Yoon Suk-yeol's home after he failed to appear at impeachment trial.

Premier League leaders Liverpool come back to draw at Nottingham Forest but holders Man City let lead slip at Brentford.

The White House says it has finalized rules that crack down on Chinese and Russian automobile technology effectively banning all personal smart cars from the two countries from entering the U.S. market. In a White House fact sheet detailing the decision, the Biden administration Tuesday said that while connected vehicles offer advantages, the involvement of foreign adversaries such as China and Russia in their supply chains presents serious risks granting “malign actors unfettered access to these connected systems and the data they collect.” “The Department of Commerce has issued a final rule that will prohibit the sale and import of connected vehicle hardware and software systems, as well as completed connected vehicles, from the PRC and Russia,” the fact sheet said. PRC is the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. Connected vehicles are smart cars that are designed to be convenient for consumers and provide safety for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians through the use of many connected parts such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and satellite connectivity. "Cars today aren't just steel on wheels; they're computers," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo when speaking on the rule. "This is a targeted approach to ensure we keep PRC- and Russian-manufactured technologies off American roads," said Raimondo. The new rule is the “culmination of a year-long examination” of potential risks posed by connected vehicles and will “help the United States defend against the PRC’s cyber espionage and intrusion operations, which continue to pose a significant threat to U.S. critical infrastructure and public safety.” The crackdown on cars follows Washington’s announcement earlier this month that the U.S. consider new rules aimed at addressing risks posed by drones that utilize technology from China and Russia. The U.S. has repeatedly emphasized the need to balance technological progress with the protection of national security interests.