NPR's Emily Feng talks with Abao, one of Taiwan's biggest pop stars. She is Paiwan, an indigenous people that lived on the island before Han Chinese colonized it more than 300 years ago.

A divided Congress presents fresh complications for President Biden's agenda. House Republicans meanwhile will likely turn their attention towards investigating the president's son Hunter.

Luis Inácio Lula da Silva will be sworn in as Brazil's new leader — just three years after being released from prison on corruption charges and 12 years after his first two terms as president.

The U.S. will require travelers from China to take COVID tests from Jan. 5. CDC officials have also expressed concerns about new variants originating from China, which is experiencing a surge.

Abao sings in the Paiwan language — not Chinese, which dominates Taiwan's pop music industry. Her popularity reflects the island's overdue recognition and awareness of Indigenous culture.

Taiwan has lived under the threat of attack from China for years. The island is preparing for the worst-case scenario, however unlikely — and they have a long way to go.

China is dropping COVID quarantine requirements for foreigners and says it will start reissuing some visas — after nearly three years of complete border closures.

Hospital staff and space are short in Beijing as a surge in COVID infections overwhelms China.

Health officials are concerned that people traveling home to their villages for the Lunar New Year could turn celebrations into superspreader events, catching ill-prepared rural systems off guard.

For nearly three years, China used extremely strict testing and lockdown policies to keep COVID out. Then it abruptly lifted nearly all those controls as a COVID surge spread across the country.

China has reported very few deaths in a massive nationwide COVID-19 surge, but crematoriums and funeral homes say they are overwhelmed.

Taiwan's semiconductor industry has become a global powerhouse, in part, because of its closeness to both China and the U.S. But now Taiwan may have to choose sides.

Jiang Zemin rose to power in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests and leaves a legacy of economic reforms — but also tight political control.

Protestors explain why they came out and demonstrated in China. Some say they did it to protest against COVID controls, others for more abstract political ideals.

The protests drew on deep public dissatisfaction with the country's strict COVID-19 controls. A Chinese government official blamed the unrest on "forces with ulterior motives."

A deadly fire in Urumqi, China, sparked the mass protests that are currently spreading across the country — with residents demanding democratic reform and an end to COVID-19 controls.

Protests in support of democratic reforms and against Covid controls are growing across China. They began after a fire killed ten people who witnesses say were trapped in a building under lockdown.

Earlier this month, China relaxed its strict Covid-related rules. But lockdowns are back as infections have risen.

Cities are once again locking down thousands of neighborhoods and sending people into quarantine, even as local Chinese authorities are tasked with easing COVID restrictions.

President Biden says preliminary information contests the idea that a deadly explosion in Poland, along the border with Ukraine, was the result of a missile fired by Russia.