Taiwan has seen a “significant rise” in the number of individuals charged with spying for China in recent years, according to new data released by the island’s security bureau, amid escalating intimidation by Beijing.

In a report released Sunday, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) said the number of individuals prosecuted for Chinese espionage had increased threefold in recent years, rising from 16 in 2021 to 64 in 2024.

Of those 64 charged, 15 were military veterans and 28 were active service members, according to the report, which said targets of Chinese infiltration included military units, government agencies and local associations.

Beijing claims the self-governing democracy as its own territory and has vowed to take control of it, by force if necessary, despite having never controlled it.

The Taiwanese government has repeatedly rejected China’s sovereignty claims and emphasized that Taiwan’s future can only be decided by its 23.5 million people.

“The Chinese Communist Party continues to use diverse channels and means to infiltrate all walks of life in order to absorb citizens to help them develop networks or gather sensitive government information,” the report said.

In recent years, Beijing has stepped up its pressure on the island, launching large-scale military drills more frequently and raising alarm over the possible deployment of “gray zone” tactics – acts that fall below the threshold of war.

Taiwan officials’ suspicions earlier this month that a Chinese vessel may have been responsible for damage to an undersea internet cable underscored concerns on the island about vulnerabilities that could be exploited by Beijing in so-called “gray zone operations.”

In December, China also fielded its largest regional maritime deployment in decades – including multiple formations of Chinese naval and coast guard vessels – in regional waters and around the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

For years, Taiwan’s security agencies have warned about Beijing’s growing attempts to infiltrate its armed forces and their espionage activities, particularly efforts to bribe military officers in exchange for national secrets.

The latest report said that improved counter-intelligence capabilities has allowed authorities in Taiwan to uncover more cases of suspected Chinese espionage.

It said Chinese agents allegedly attempted to establish contacts with criminal gangs and local temples, as well as setting up underground banks to recruit military personnel and China-friendly groups in Taiwan.

The report added, without specifying details of the cases, that some of the suspected spies were tasked to serve as agents of “sabotage” and raise China’s flag in the event of a Chinese invasion. Some were also asked to gather intelligence in a move to build a “sniper team” for an “assassination assignment.”

China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which oversees intelligence and counterintelligence both within China and overseas, has also previously accused Taiwan of conducting spying activities.

Last August, the ministry said it had uncovered over a thousand Taiwanese espionage cases in recent years and dismantled a number of espionage networks.

China’s MSS has also launched a high-profile campaign against what it says is a surge in espionage activities by foreign nationals at a time when relations with western powers, especially the United States, have cratered.

Chao Yu-hsiang, a resident search officer at Taiwan’s Institute of National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), said he hopes the recent surge in prosecutions by Taiwan would prompt the Taiwanese military to enhance security measures.

“Both our military and civilians should maintain a high level of vigilance in our words and deeds, develop good confidentiality habits, and use social media with caution to prevent those with ulterior motives from infiltrating, absorbing and exploiting us,” he wrote in a column published by INDSR on Monday.

The top judge at the International Court of Justice Nawaf Salam has been designated Lebanon’s next prime minister in a surprising turnaround for the crisis-ridden country.

On Monday, the office of newly minted President Joseph Aoun asked Salam to form a government, after the judge was endorsed by a large majority of lawmakers during consultations with Aoun.

Aoun’s election and Salam’s designation mark the end of a more than two-year long stalemate with a presidential vacuum and a cabinet operating in a day-to-day caretaker capacity.

The consultations over the country’s next prime minister were triggered by Aoun’s election in parliament on Thursday, following a robust push from Saudi Arabia.

Salam is widely viewed as a reformist. He is a Sunni Muslim – the only sect allowed the position of prime minister – and was a candidate for the premiership twice before in recent years.

The judge rose to international prominence last year after he was elected head of the ICJ, presiding over South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide and other tribunals.

Some media outlets likened Salam’s designation to a “tsunami.” He put himself forward as a candidate on Sunday morning, according to local media reports. Prior to that, incumbent caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati was widely viewed as the most likely contender for the post.

Salam’s designation is a blow to Hezbollah and its allies Amal, known as the Shia duo, who are believed to have supported Mikati. Speaking to reporters, Hezbollah parliamentary bloc leader Mohammad Raad said the move to designate Salam sowed “division” in the country, and said he hoped the cabinet would respect the country’s confessional power-sharing “pact.”

Unofficially, Lebanon’s major sects – Muslims from Sunni and Shia sects as well as Christians – must all be represented in cabinet.

No Shia lawmakers endorsed the prime minister designate, putting Nawaf on a potential collision course as he tries to form a government in the next few weeks.

Items belonging to missing British hiker Aziz Ziriat have been found in the Italian Alps, close to where the body of his hiking partner Samuel Harris was discovered last week, rescue teams said Sunday.

More than 100 rescuers took part in Sunday’s operation, using shovels to dig into the snow across an area of around 5,500 square meters (18,000 square feet) at an altitude of around 2,400 meters (7,800 feet), according to a statement from Italy’s alpine rescue service.

“Snow depth varied from 50 centimeters (20 inches) to nearly two meters (6.6 feet) in wind-drifted accumulations,” the statement said.

The rescue service said more than 500 people, including seven dog units, were involved in the “complex” search operation.

Search operations will now be “temporarily suspended” to allow for changes in the environmental and snow conditions, adds the statement.

Ziriat, 36 and Harris, 35, were experienced hikers who had planned an excursion in the Adamello mountain range near Trento in northern Italy but went missing on January 1, reported the Associated Press.

Rescue services said they only received an alert about the pair on January 6 after they failed to check in for their flight home and relatives alerted the authorities, according to the Associated Press.

The search operation was complicated by snowfall, fog and avalanche warnings, but on January 8, Harris’ body, as well as the men’s backpacks and equipment, was found by rescuers guided by their phone records.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency has issued a tsunami advisory after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of southwest Japan.

The quake struck shortly after 9:19 p.m. local time (7:19 a.m. ET), the agency said, triggering an advisory for Miyazaki province, in the island of Kyushu, as well as Japan’s southern Kochi prefecture.

Authorities have urged locals not to enter the sea or approach the coast until the advisory is lifted, the country’s meteorological agency said on X.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Monday signed a bill restricting the use of smartphones at school, following a global trend for such limitations.

The move will impact students at elementary and high schools across the South American nation starting in February. It provides a legal framework to ensure students only use such devices in cases of emergency and danger, for educational purposes, or if they have disabilities and require them.

Education minister Camilo Santana told journalists in the capital Brasilia on Monday that children are going online at early ages, making it harder for parents to keep track of what they do, and that restricting smartphones at school will help them.

“We want those devices, as in many other countries, to only be used in class for pedagogical purposes and with a teacher’s guidance,” Santana said.

The bill had rare support across the political spectrum, both from allies of leftist Lula and his far-right foe, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Many parents and students also approved the move. A survey released in October by Brazilian pollster Datafolha said that almost two-thirds of respondents supported banning the use of smartphones by children and teenagers at schools. More than three-quarters said those devices do more harm than good to their children.

“(Restricting cell phones) is tough, but necessary. It is useful for them to do searches for school, but to use it socially isn’t good,” said Ricardo Martins Ramos, 43, father of two girls and the owner of a hamburger restaurant in Rio de Janeiro. “Kids will interact more.”

His 13-year-old daughter Isabela said her classmates struggled to focus during class because of their smartphones. She approved the move, but doesn’t see it as enough to improve the learning environment for everyone.

“When the teacher lets you use the cell phone, it is because he wants you to do searches,” she said. “There’s still a lot of things that schools can’t solve, such as bullying and harassment.”

As of 2023, about two-thirds of Brazilian schools imposed some restriction on cellphone use, while 28% banned them entirely, according to a survey released in August by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee.

The Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, Maranhao and Goias have already passed local bills to ban such devices at schools. However, authorities have struggled to enforce these laws.

Authorities in Sao Paulo, the most populous state in Brazil, are discussing whether smartphones should be banned both in public and private schools.

Gabriele Alexandra Henriques Pinheiro, 25, works at a beauty parlor and is the mother of a boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. She also agrees with the restrictions, but says adults will continue to be as a bad example of smartphone use for children.

“It is tough,” she said. “I try to restrict the time my son watches any screens, but whenever I have a task to perform I have to use the smartphone to be able to do it all,” she said.

Institutions, governments, parents and others have for years associated smartphone use by children with bullying, suicidal ideation, anxiety and loss of concentration necessary for learning. China moved last year to limit children’s use of smartphones, while France has in place a ban on smartphones in schools for kids aged six to 15.

Cell phone bans have gained traction across the United States, where eight states have passed laws or policies that ban or restrict cellphone use to try to curb student phone access and minimize distractions in classrooms.

An increasing number of parents across Europe who are concerned by evidence that smartphone use among young kids jeopardizes their safety and mental health.

A report published in September by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said one in four countries has already restricted the use of such devices at schools.

Last year in a US Senate hearing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents of children exploited, bullied or driven to self harm via social media. He also noted Meta’s continued investments in “industrywide” efforts to protect children.

While they continued to emphasize that officials will remain cautious until the negotiations produce a final deal to end the Gaza conflict, as of Monday, the sources said US officials believe a ceasefire agreement could very well be announced in the forthcoming last days of President Joe Biden’s time in office.

Another source said that “all the big blocks (to a deal) have been resolved.”

“I am not going to sit here and make predictions – this has been a long time coming,” Finer said. “Fundamentally, we believe there is progress being made. There is a deal on the table that Hamas should accept.”

It comes as a Hamas official said Monday morning that the group is “very close to an agreement” with Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also announced some progress, saying Monday that Israel is working hard to reach a deal in the ongoing negotiations being hosted in the Qatari capital of Doha, and that “progress was made.”

“Israel wants a hostage deal. Israel is working with our American friends in order to achieve a hostage deal, and soon we will know whether the other side wants the same thing,” Saar said in a news conference in Jerusalem.

They include Hamas’ demands that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border, and commit to a permanent ceasefire rather than a temporary halt to the military operations launched in the wake of the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.

Disagreement also remains over an Israeli-proposed buffer zone inside Gaza to run along the strip’s eastern and northern borders with Israel. The official said that Hamas wants the buffer zone to return to the pre-October 7 size of 300-500 meters (330-545 yards) from the border line, while Israel is requesting a much larger 2,000-meter depth.

“We believe this means that 60 km (37 miles) of the Gaza Strip will remain under their control, and displaced people will not return to their homes,” the official said.

Beyond those key demands, the Hamas official said that negotiators were hammering out specific details of the release of Palestinian prisoners and maps covering the areas from which Israeli forces would withdraw.

The optimistic tone was tempered though by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said Monday that the potential ceasefire-hostage deal would be a “catastrophe” for Israel’s national security. In a post on X, Smotrich described it as a “surrender deal” that would include releasing “terrorists” and “dissolving” the war’s achievements.

On Monday, 10 members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party sent a letter to the Israeli prime minister expressing concern about a potential agreement and reiterating three “red lines” should not be crossed. The Knesset members argued that Israel should not have to rely on others for security, all hostages must be returned and a mass return to northern Gaza should be prevented in any framework for a deal.

Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden on Sunday, their first publicly announced call since October, about the progress in negotiations.

Netanyahu, who met with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Saturday, is facing pressure from both the current and incoming US administrations to reach a deal.

Meanwhile, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been in close consultation with top Israeli officials, including David Barnea, and Qatar’s prime minister, on Monday, per sources.

“There’s a bigger picture here that he (Netanyahu) wants to achieve. And you know, remaining on track with Trump is important. That’s the thing,” the source added. They said that even if there is no deal by January 20, when Trump will be sworn in as president, then “we have to get to a framework” by that date.

On Monday US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan struck an optimistic tone, saying the two sides were inching closer to a potential deal and that it could “get done this week.”

“I’m not making a promise or a prediction, but it is there for the taking, and we are going to work to make it happen,” he told reporters at the White House Monday.

Finer said Monday that some remaining differences that were present in recent weeks “have been resolved or narrowed.”

Gazans hope for a ceasefire

Since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the death toll from Israeli military action in Gaza has risen to 46,584, with 109,731 people injured, according to the latest daily report from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The report added that a number of victims are still under the rubble and on roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.

Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed study by researchers from a leading health research university in the UK found the number of people killed in Gaza is significantly higher than the figure reported by authorities in the enclave.

Ahmad Salama, another man displaced from Khan Younis, said: “My family hopes that the negotiations will succeed so the war will end, and we can return to safety, and the fear and terror will stop, and we won’t have to flee from one place to another with the children and my mother again.”

The war in Gaza has also exacted a heavy toll on Israeli forces. At least 15 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Gaza in the past week, according to the Israeli military.

Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging ceasefire agreement being finalized by negotiators in Doha, two Israeli officials said.

Israel believes that most of the 33 hostages are alive, a senior Israeli official told reporters on Monday, but the bodies of deceased hostages will also likely be among those released during the initial 42-day ceasefire.

The senior Israeli official said that the parties appear to be on the brink of an agreement and that Israel is prepared to immediately implement the deal once it has been inked.

Under the latest proposals, Israeli forces would maintain a presence along the Philadelphi Corridor – a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border – during the first phase of the agreement, the officials said. The presence of Israeli troops along the corridor previously contributed to sinking a potential deal in September during the last round of negotiations.

Israel would also maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza along the border with Israel, the official said, without specifying how wide that zone would be – another subject of contention during the negotiations.

The residents of northern Gaza would be allowed to return freely to the north of the strip, but an Israeli official claimed there would be unspecified “security arrangements” in place.

Palestinian prisoners deemed responsible for killing Israelis would not be released into the West Bank, the official said, but rather to the Gaza Strip or abroad following agreements with foreign countries.

A senior Israeli official told reporters on Monday that a “breakthrough” in the talks came late Sunday night during Israeli intelligence agency Mossad Director David Barnea’s meeting with the mediators in Doha, Qatar.

“There is talk of an agreement in the near future – it is impossible to say whether it is a matter of hours or days,” the official said.

The official said Israel is prepared to quickly implement the agreement, but the deal must first pass both the security cabinet and full government cabinet. The government must also allow time for opponents of the agreement to petition the Supreme Court.

Negotiations to reach the second phase of a ceasefire agreement – which is intended to end the war – would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal.

“We are closer than ever to a deal but mediators in Doha are still awaiting official responses from both sides,” said an Arab official briefed on the talks.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging at least two factories and forcing schools to close in a major southern Russian city, according to Russian officials and media.

The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.

“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” the Two Majors war blogger said.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said Ukraine had launched a major missile attack but did not say which missiles had been used.

The Russian defense ministry, which reports on such attacks, made no immediate comment. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the reports.

In the Russian city of Engels, home to an air base where Russia’s nuclear bombers are based, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said an industrial enterprise had been damaged by a drone but gave no more details.

Busargin said that classes in schools in Saratov and Engels would be held remotely. Flight restrictions were imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.

Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, is home to the major Taneco refinery. Shot said attack sirens were sounded at the refinery. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the report.

Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on November 21 in what President Vladimir Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.

Putin, after those attacks, said that the Ukraine war was escalating towards a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons, and warned the West that Moscow could strike back.

President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Surrounded by forest-covered mountains cloaked in mist, a patchwork quilt of green farmland and steel-blue waves breaking on mangrove-strewn mudflats, Lai Chi Wo does not look like it belongs in Hong Kong.

The remote 300-year-old village is one of the city’s oldest settlements — and one of its most biodiverse.

Its location is no accident: it draws on the traditional philosophies of the Hakka people, one of Hong Kong’s pre-colonial indigenous groups, who built the settlement.

“We maintain what is called a feng-shui forest, to preserve the village,” says Susan Wong. The 73-year-old grandmother is the village chief, and was born in Lai Chi Wo, when the town was home to around 1,000 residents. “From our ancestors to now, it has been passed down, not to let anyone cut down the trees. If you cut all the trees out, the mountain will become bare, and nothing can cover the village.”

Feng shui — which literally means “wind” and “water” — is a design philosophy about how homes, villages and cities should be arranged for good fortune.

In Lai Chi Wo, the position of the forest is intended to shelter the village from typhoons, prevent landslides, and manage extreme heat and cold.

However, in the 1960s, residents began to leave their ancestral home: Hong Kong was industrializing rapidly, and it was becoming hard to make a living from farming.

“We didn’t even have shoes or clothes to wear,” Wong recalls. Lai Chi Wo is so remote that, even today, it can only be reached by a three-hour hike through the jungle, or a long boat trip around the coast.

In the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, many families emigrated overseas — like Wong’s, who moved to the UK when she was 15 — for better opportunities, and elderly residents passed away.

Lai Chi Wo became a ghost town.

Restoring a community

Over the decades that Lai Chi Wo lay empty, buildings crumbled, and farmland grew wild with weeds. The roots of banyan trees twined around open doorways, and wild boar or lost hikers were the only foot traffic through the decaying village.

But Lai Chi Wo was not entirely forgotten.

“Elsewhere in Hong Kong, many abandoned villages had houses collapsed beyond recognition and vegetation invaded the whole village,” says Chiu Ying Lam, head of the Hong Kong Countryside Foundation. However, when he first visited Lai Chi Wo in 2009, he was surprised to find several homes were well maintained.

Lam speculated that these absentee homeowners were still connected to their ancestral home, and were planning to return one day, perhaps to retire. This sparked an idea that would eventually become the Sustainable Lai Chi Wo program: a decade-long collaboration between NGOs, universities and government agencies to restore the village to its former glory.

In re-establishing the community, the unique biodiversity around the village could be protected too, says Lam.

Over the years, Lam estimates around HK$100 million ($12.8 million) in funding from businesses, non-profits and the Hong Kong government has been invested into the village’s redevelopment, including the restoration of five hectares of farmland and the reconstruction of 15 dilapidated homes.

While the project aimed to bring back former residents, it also wanted to bring in new people. In 2015, Ah Him Tsang and his wife, who are not Hakka, were one of the first families to move to the village, looking for a life “closer to nature” to raise their then-infant son.

Like many residents in Lai Chi Wo, Tsang works a variety of jobs: he grows vegetables and cash crops on a small farm, and on weekends, runs “Hakka Experience” homestays and a store that serves locally grown tea, coffee, and homemade vegan ice cream to tourists who pass through.

“I also grow these vegetables for my staycation program, (for a) farm-to-table dining experience,” says Tsang, adding that the Hakka Experience is designed to give visitors a more authentic experience of village life. “You can really feel the quietness, the serenity of the nature here. I hope more people can stay longer and enjoy the slow pace.”

Homecoming

The influx of new residents to Lai Chi Wo encouraged more of the original residents to move back, too.

Upon retiring, Wong returned to Hong Kong from the UK to care for her elderly parents, and heard about the revitalization project.

In 2019, she decided to return to the village with her now-103-year-old father, into the home they were both born in. “I’m very happy because I like this village. I have so many friends (who have) come back,” she says.

With her father, Wong runs a small farm, growing mandarin oranges, lemons, chilis, flowers, and vegetables, and uses organic agriculture techniques, such as grinding up discarded oyster shells to make plant food.

The project also introduced new crops like coffee, which grows in the shade. This agroforestry technique protects the forest by growing high-value plants around the perimeter of the native woodland, while boosting profits for farmers.

Lai Chi Wo now has around 700 coffee plants across several farms, making it the “biggest coffee-producing region in Hong Kong,” says Ryan Siu Him Leung, senior project officer at the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong, which oversaw parts of Lai Chi Wo’s revitalization program.

The University of Hong Kong is leasing some of the land for experimental farming, and helping villagers turn their crops into higher-value products in a licensed food processing plant in nearby Sha Tau Kok, on Hong Kong’s border with mainland China. Products include pickles and unusual fruit jams, or seasonal foods like popular radish cake for Chinese New Year, says Leung.

“We’re also looking at traditional Hakka recipes, and trying to explore the possibility of turning those recipes into commercial products,” he says, adding that they are currently selling via local supermarket suppliers and pop-up farmers markets, and plan to launch an online shop soon, to reach more customers.

A model for redevelopment

While the project has garnered positive attention — including recognition from UNESCO in 2020 for cultural heritage conservation and sustainable development — it’s not all been smooth sailing.

There’s been resistance from some of the original villagers, who claim they were not properly consulted about the redevelopment.

Additionally, more than a decade into the project, the village is still not financially sustainable, and is supported by external funding, including government subsidies for the farmers.

Farming at such a small scale is largely unprofitable; so like Tsang, most residents have multiple income streams. Leung says that most of the new residents work remote jobs online, or in creative industries, with farming as a hobby where any income is a bonus.

Leung says that, aside from preserving the town’s traditional lifestyle, there’s an ecological advantage to maintaining the farmland: sustainable agriculture helps to better manage water drainage and improve soil health.

Even if the village isn’t economically independent, he feels it’s worthwhile, and that cultivating a sustainable community is more important. “As long as there are people willing to stay in the village, and they are making their living — to me, it’s financially viable for those individual households.”

The project has become a model for sustainable revitalization, and the Forest Village Project, launched in 2024, is applying the lessons from Lai Chi Wo to two nearby hamlets, Mui Tsz Lam and Kop Tong. These settlements are around one-tenth the size of Lai Chi Wo, says Leung, but they both have a feng shui woodland, diverse flora and fauna, and offer the potential to develop a wider eco-tourism destination.

“Hopefully, we could have a more comprehensive region of revitalized villages, which (could be) a bigger attraction to the wider (Hong Kong) community,” Leung adds.