TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture has confirmed its first infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, its governor Seitaro Hattori said on Saturday. The case was a result of possible community transmission as the infection route was unclear, Hattori told a news conference. (Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Pravin Char)
(Reuters) – Reigning Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu returned to competitive action at the Japanese national championships in Saitama, where he took the lead after the men’s short programme in his first competitive skate in eight months. The 27-year-old landed a quad slachow, a quad toe-triple toe combination and triple axel to help him …
Figure skating – Hanyu leads Japan nationals on injury comeback Read More »
(In paragraph 6, fixes typo to say “than,” not “that) By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis, leading the world’s Roman Catholics into Christmas, said on Friday that people who are indifferent to the poor offend God, urging all to “look beyond all the lights and decorations” and remember the neediest. Francis, ushering in …
Look beyond the lights and remember the poor, pope says on Christmas eve Read More »
By Sara Cheng and Jessie Pang HONG KONG (Reuters) -Two more Hong Kong universities removed on Friday public monuments to the 1989 Tiananmen protests in Beijing, following the dismantling of a sculpture commemorating victims of the crackdown at another university this week. The removals at Chinese University and Lingnan University in the global financial hub …
Two more Tiananmen monuments removed from Hong Kong university campuses Read More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – It’s a bus, it’s a train, it’s a DMV! The world’s first dual-mode vehicle, equally at home on road and rail, is set to make its public debut on Saturday in the town of Kaiyo in Japan’s Tokushima prefecture. The DMV looks like a minibus and runs on normal rubber tyres on …
Bus or train? World’s first ‘dual-mode vehicle’ to begin operating in Japan Read More »
AYUTTHAYA, Thailand (Reuters) – Elephants in Thailand wearing Santa hats and surgical masks passed out hand gel, face masks and balloons to students at a school’s annual Christmas party, a COVID-era twist on a 15-year tradition in the Buddhist majority country. “I’m so excited because an event like this only happens once a year and …
Elephant Santas pass out face masks, hand gel in Thai school tradition Read More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Officials in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian are facing punishment after a COVID-19 outbreak led to the lockdown of its 13 million residents, authorities said on Friday, as the number of new cases declined. All domestic flights out of Xian and most trains originating from the city scheduled for Friday were …
Chinese officials punished over COVID outbreak that led to Xian lockdown Read More »
By Rocky Swift and Kantaro Komiya TOKYO (Reuters) -A Japanese health ministry panel on Friday recommended approval of the COVID-19 antiviral pill developed by Merck & Co Inc, part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to roll out new treatments by year-end as concerns rise about the Omicron variant. The panel’s decision sets the stage …
Japan health panel approves Merck’s oral COVID-19 treatment Read More »
By Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in granted a pardon to former President Park Geun-hye, who was in prison after being convicted of corruption, the justice ministry said on Friday, amid a tight presidential race. Park, 69, became South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of …
S.Korea’s Moon pardons disgraced Park amid tight presidential race Read More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – It was close to midnight when Reuters photojournalist Tyrone Siu spotted chatter among students in an online forum that a statue seen as a symbol of Hong Kong’s freedoms was being covered up by construction workers. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) said earlier this year it wanted to remove the …
A nightlong vigil on a muddy, rainy hilltop to capture Hong Kong’s change Read More »
