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Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Tourists will be able to visit Japan from next week on package tours without a guide, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday, as the country moves to ease strict Covid-19 controls. From September 7, Japan will also raise its daily cap on the number of people allowed to enter the country to 50,000, Kishida told reporters. Japan has kept strict border restrictions in place longer than many other major economies, and only […]
Manila, Philippines (AFP) A Cambodian psychiatrist treating victims of the Khmer Rouge and a French environmentalist cleaning up Indonesian rivers were among the winners Wednesday of the 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Award — considered Asia’s Nobel Prize. The annual award, established in 1957 and named after a Philippines president who died in a plane crash, honours those who have performed “selfless service to the peoples of Asia”. The foundation that runs the award announced four winners […]
Prague, Czech Republic (AFP) EU foreign ministers on Wednesday agreed to suspend a 2007 visa facilitation deal with Russia but stopped short of a wider visa ban as requested by some member states. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the ministers had agreed that relations with Moscow “cannot be business as usual” and the agreement should be “fully suspended”. Following the informal meeting in Prague, he said this would make it “more difficult” and […]
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) by Kyoko HASEGAWA A female former Japanese soldier on Wednesday submitted a petition to the defence ministry that was signed by more than 100,000 people demanding an independent probe into her alleged sexual assault by colleagues. The case is a rare example of a public allegation of sexual assault in a country where government data shows just four percent of rape victims report the crime to police. Rina Gonoi, 22, alleges that […]
Moscow, Russia (AFP) The Kremlin on Tuesday warned it would respond if the European Union makes it harder for Russians to travel to the bloc as part of measures in support of Ukraine. The idea to ban Russian tourists from Europe has divided EU nations, with some in full support and others fearing it would shut the door on dissident Russians fleeing abroad. EU foreign ministers will discuss the issue during a two-day meeting […]
Beijing, China (AFP) by Laurie CHEN China’s ruling Communist Party will begin its 20th Party Congress on October 16, state media reported Tuesday, a landmark meeting at which President Xi Jinping is expected to be anointed as the country’s most powerful leader in decades. The meeting in the capital Beijing is widely expected to see Xi reinstated as president for an unprecedented third term. It will also see the unveiling of a new top leadership […]
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) by Anna KORIAGINA Five metres beneath a Kyiv classroom, headmaster Mykhaylo Aliokhin puts the finishing touches on the bunker where his students will spend much of their time once Ukraine’s school term starts later this week. The study hall above is still littered with school bags abandoned since February 23 — the last day before Russia invaded and school bells fell silent, replaced by the skirl of the air raid siren. Down […]
Mykolaiv, Ukraine (AFP) by Thibault MARCHAND Intense fighting was raging on Tuesday across the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson occupied by Russia, Kyiv’s presidency said, as its troops pressed counter-offensives “in various directions”. Most of the region of Kherson bordering the Black Sea — and its provincial capital of the same name — were seized by Moscow’s military at the start of the invasion six months ago. With the war in the eastern Donbas […]
London, United Kingdom (AFP) London’s Notting Hill Carnival was marred by the murder of a young rapper and hundreds of arrests, police said on Tuesday. The 21-year-old man died after being stabbed on Monday, the latest in a wave of knife-crime incidents in the British capital this year that have sparked growing concern. The victim was later identified as a rapper from Bristol, western England, who performed under the name TKorStretch. “He came from Bristol […]
Honiara, Solomon Islands (AFP) Solomon Islands has suspended visits from all foreign navies, citing a need to review approval processes, the country’s leader said Tuesday, after a US coast guard was unable to refuel at its port. The decision comes amid concerns over the Solomons’ growing ties with China in recent years, switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019 and signing a security pact with the Asian power in April. Western governments are […]
Copenhagen, Denmark (AFP) The World Health Organization said Tuesday it saw “encouraging” signs the monkeypox epidemic was slowing in Europe and heading “in the right direction”, calling on countries to double down on efforts. “There are encouraging early signs, as evidenced in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and other countries, that the outbreak may be slowing”, the WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, told reporters. “It’s going in the right direction”, he […]
Geneva, Switzerland (AFP) The United Nations and the Pakistani government launched an emergency appeal for $160 million on Tuesday to help those hardest hit by the devastating floods in the country. The funds will provide 5.2 million people with food, water, sanitation, emergency education, protection and health support, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video statement, calling the flooding a “colossal crisis”. The aid, covering the initial six months of the crisis response, will […]
