Tag: border

Thaw and redraw: melting glacier moves Italian-Swiss border

  by Nicolas CAMUT Agence France Presse Way up in the snowy Alps, the border between Switzerland and Italy has shifted due to a melting glacier, putting the location of an Italian mountain lodge in dispute. The borderline runs along a drainage divide — the point at which meltwater will run down either side of the mountain towards one country or the other. But the Theodul Glacier’s retreat means the watershed has crept towards the […]

Russian oil refinery says hit by Ukraine drone strike

MOSCOW, June 22, 2022 (AFP) – An oil refinery in southern Russia said Wednesday it was struck by a drone attack from Ukraine, starting a fire at the plant and forcing it to suspend operations. The Novoshakhtinsk refinery is located in Russia’s Rostov region, a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine’s separatist region of Lugansk. “As a result of terrorist actions from the western border of the Rostov region, two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) […]

Finland to build fences on border with Russia

  HELSINKI, Finland (AFP) — Shaken by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland is rushing to beef up security on its border with Russia in order to protect itself from hybrid threats, the interior ministry said Friday. Fearing that Moscow could use migrants to exert political pressure, Helsinki plans legislative amendments that would facilitate the construction of sturdier fences on its 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) eastern border with Russia. “The aim of the proposed law is to improve […]

Zelensky warns NATO as Russia strikes near Polish border

Attack was at military base in Yavoriv which had been a training centre for Ukrainian forces with foreign instructors by Ionut IORDACHESCU with Dave CLARK in Kyiv Agence France Presse LVIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned NATO Monday that its member states would soon be attacked by Russian forces after an air strike hit a Ukrainian military base close to the Polish border. Meanwhile, the death toll in the strategic southern port […]

Japan eases border rules to allow business travellers, students

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan said Friday it will allow short-term business travellers, foreign students and other visa holders to enter the country, but tourists are still barred under pandemic border restrictions. From Monday, business visitors fully inoculated with an authorised vaccine will need to quarantine for only three days, down from a minimum of 10 days, the foreign ministry said. Daily cases in the country of 126 million have plunged from record highs […]

Israel strikes Gaza after border clashes

Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza Saturday after clashes between its troops and Palestinian protesters left dozens injured, including an Israeli border policeman and a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who were both critically wounded. The Israeli military said it carried out air strikes against four weapons sites and that it had reinforced its Gaza division with additional troops. The escalation came exactly three months since Israel and the enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas reached a truce following their deadliest […]

Chinese city on Myanmar border locked down again over virus fears

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese city near the border with Myanmar has imposed a lockdown and started mass testing after three coronavirus cases were reported on Monday, with officials rushing to curb another outbreak. It is the second time in four months that Ruili, home to more than 210,000 people, has been locked down after the discovery of cases imported from Myanmar. Ruili is a major crossing point from Muse in neighbouring Myanmar, […]

India’s neighbours close borders over virus rampage

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka on Thursday became the latest of India’s neighbours to seal its borders with the South Asian giant as it battles a record coronavirus surge. Bangladesh and Nepal have also banned flights and sought to close their borders with India, where a huge rise in numbers in the past three weeks has taken deaths past 230,000 and cases over 21 million. All three countries are fighting their own pandemic […]

Mexico welcomes Biden halt to border wall construction

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico on Wednesday hailed US President Joe Biden’s order to halt construction of Donald Trump’s wall along the US-Mexican border, as well as his other immigration-linked reforms. “Mexico welcomes the end of the construction of the wall, the immigration initiative in favor of DACA and a path to dual citizenship,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter. He was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to regularize […]

India accuses China of new ‘provocative’ border action

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) –The Indian military on Monday accused China of carrying out “provocative” movements on their contested Himalayan border near where 20 Indian troops were killed in a battle in June. A defence ministry statement said the incidents happened in eastern Ladakh on Saturday night but did not indicate whether there was a new clash. Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” at the border, […]

Spain reopens border with France

LA JONGQUERA, Spain (AFP) — Traffic flowed again across Spain’s border with France on Sunday as the last of the strict Spanish coronavirus restrictions introduced in March were eased. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced earlier this month that Madrid would remove border checks with most other EU states from June 21, when its state of emergency also ended. Spain has been one of the worst affected countries, suffering more than 28,000 deaths, with its economy […]

North Korea vows to step up border military activities

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea threatened Wednesday to bolster its military presence at now-shuttered inter-Korean project sites and rebuild guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone, a day after it blew up its liaison office with Seoul, sharply raising tensions on the peninsula. In a series of denunciations of Seoul, it rejected an offer it said had come from the South’s President Moon Jae-in to send an envoy for talks. North Korean leader Kim […]