By Jessie Yeung and Nectar Gan, CNN

Updated 4:23 AM EDT, Thu May 23, 2024

Soldiers pose for group photos with a Taiwan flag after a preparedness enhancement drill simulating the defense against Beijing’s military intrusions in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan on January 11, 2023. Daniel Ceng/APCNN — 

Tensions are once again ratcheting up in the Taiwan Strait, with China launching military drills encircling Taiwan just days after the democracy swore in a new leader long loathed by Beijing.

“I hid in my bed, I didn’t go outside at all…”

“… I wouldn’t leave my bed for even half a step.”

“To be honest, I felt like I had given up.”

By Jessie Yeung, Sophie Jeong, Carlotta Dotto, Woojin Lee, Kenneth Uzquiano and Saki Toi

Published May 25, 2024

(CNN) — Charlie was 15 when his life inexplicably shrank to fit within the frame of his lower bunk bed in his family’s cramped Hong Kong apartment.

“I felt very depressed, confused, like I didn’t know what I wanted,” said Charlie, who’s now 19 and still learning how to navigate the world outside.

Charlie is among millions of hikikomori, a Japanese term for people who cut themselves off from society, sometimes for months or years – often Gen Z and Millennials in the prime of their youth.

The phenomenon first emerged in Asia, and is particularly well-documented in Japan – but similar stories are surfacing in other parts of the world including the United States, Spain and France.

Hakeem Jeffries, left, and Speaker Mike Johnson.  Kenny Holston/The New York Times

A flurry of bipartisanship

Washington, you often hear, is a place so polarized that our leaders barely get anything done. But that notion is not exactly consistent with the past few years. Consider these major political stories:

vnexpress.vn

Tổng thống Iran Raisi và Ngoại trưởng Amir-Abdollahian đã thiệt mạng trong vụ rơi trực thăng tại vùng núi hiểm trở, theo hãng thông tấn Merh News.

Người nắm quyền tổng thống thay ông RaisiSau khi Tổng thống Raisi được xác nhận thiệt mạng, Phó tổng thống Mohammad Mokhber sẽ trở thành quyền Tổng thống nếu được Lãnh tụ Tối cao Iran phê chuẩn.Ông Mokhber, 69 tuổi, là quan chức cấp cao nhất trong 12 phó tổng thống của Iran. Theo Hiến pháp Iran được thông qua năm 1989, hội đồng đặc biệt gồm lãnh đạo từ các cơ quan hành pháp, lập pháp và tư pháp sẽ có trách nhiệm tổ chức bầu cử tổng thống trong vòng 50 ngày tới.

Press release

Security Council
SC/15692
10 May 2024

Security Council Press Statement on Mass Graves in Gaza

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Pedro Comissário Afonso (Mozambique):

The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves, in and around the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were buried.

The members of the Security Council underlined the need for accountability for violations of international law and called for investigators to be allowed the unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations to establish the circumstances behind the graves.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their demand that all parties scrupulously comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, in particular regarding the protection of civilians and civilian objects.

The members of the Security Council reaffirmed the importance of allowing families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives, consistent with international humanitarian law.

The members of the Security Council emphasized the imperative of all parties to immediately and fully implement resolutions 2728 (2024), 2720 (2023) and 2712 (2023).

Press Release