(Reuters) – China will drop a requirement for inbound travellers to take COVID-19 PCR tests starting from Jan 8, 2023, customs authorities said on Wednesday. PCR checks for imported chilled and frozen foods will also be dropped, China’s General Administration of Customs said. China’s management of COVID-19 is set to be downgraded to the less …
China to drop COVID tests for inbound travellers from Jan 8 Read More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s government criticised Taiwan on Wednesday for seeking to use the Taiwanese people as “cannon fodder” by extending compulsory military service from four months to one year starting in 2024. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen announced the extension to compulsory military service on Tuesday, citing the rising threat that the island faces from …
China slams Taiwan’s ‘cannon fodder’ conscription decision Read More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday floated the possibility of calling a snap election before a tax increase aimed at funding the country’s defence budget comes into place “sometime after 2024”. The government is set to implement tax increases to cover a shortfall of 1 trillion yen ($7.47 billion) in the …
Japan PM floats possibility of snap election before defence budget tax hike Read More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – International travellers to Hong Kong will no longer need to do a mandatory PCR COVID-19 test on arrival, city leader John Lee said on Wednesday, as he announced that the city’s vaccine pass required to enter most venues would also be scrapped. (Reporting by Farah Master, Twinnie Siu and Jessie Pang; …
Hong Kong scraps COVID test for arrivals, vaccine pass Read More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday that North Korea is not a source of fear because of its nuclear weapons, and its provocations must be met with retaliation, Yonhap news agency reported. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
By Uditha Jayasinghe and Devjyot Ghoshal COLOMBO/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -When Sri Lanka slid into its worst economic crisis in seven decades leading to deadly riots and alarming shortages of fuel, food and medicines earlier this year, its giant northern neighbour stepped into the breach. India provided about $4 billion in rapid assistance between January and …
India makes inroads into Sri Lanka under China’s long shadow Read More »
By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) -About 180 Rohingya Muslims fleeing grim conditions in Bangladesh camps are presumed to have drowned at sea in recent weeks, possibly after their rickety boat broke apart, in what could make 2022 among the deadliest years for the community. Rights groups have recorded a major rise in the number of …
Factbox-Hundreds of Rohingya leave Bangladesh in rickety boats Read More »
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday called for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, denouncing a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women attending universities or working for humanitarian aid groups. In a statement agreed by consensus, the 15-member council said the ban …
U.N. Security Council denounces Taliban bans on women in Afghanistan Read More »
By Sophie Yu and Casey Hall SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s relaxation of COVID-19 rules for international arrivals has raised hopes that its multi-billion dollar travel business will soon flourish again but countries longing for the return of Chinese tourists will likely face more of a wait. China’s National Health Commission announced on Monday that inbound travellers …
No immediate surge of Chinese tourists expected after re-opening Read More »
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan said on Tuesday protests which have blocked the supply route to ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh for more than two weeks would be suspended if monitors were given access to what it calls illegal mining sites in the enclave. A crowd of Azerbaijanis has been engaged in a standoff with Russian peacekeepers …
Azerbaijan demands Karabakh mine access as condition to end protests blocking road Read More »
