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(Reuters) – The United States has restricted visas from being issued to current and former members of the Taliban, among other individuals, for repressing women and girls in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday. (Reporting by Tyler Clifford)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly all agriculture and finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies agreed to ask the World Bank to map out the various initiatives under way to address ongoing food insecurity, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday after an inaugural joint meeting in Washington. Sri Mulyani said the …

Indonesian finance minister says 2023 will be even more risky on food security issues Read More »

By Jiraporn Kuhakan UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand (Reuters) – Thousands of people gathered at temples in northeast Thailand on Tuesday to cremate the victims of a massacre of 36 people, among them 22 preschool children slashed to death in a rampage by a disgraced policeman that shocked the world. Crowds gathered around the normally sleepy town …

Last goodbyes as Thailand marks lives of child massacre victims Read More »

By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing has stepped up security and COVID curbs and decorated the capital with red political banners as it gears up for a Communist Party congress where President Xi Jinping is poised to become China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. The 20th party congress, which opens on Oct. 16, …

Security, red banners and COVID curbs: Beijing readies for 20th Congress Read More »

By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has attended the opening ceremony of a new massive greenhouse farm built on a former air base where the country had test-fired missiles until last year, state media said on Tuesday. The launch on Monday of the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm, located in the …

N.Korea’s Kim touts new large greenhouse farm built on ex-missile test site Read More »

By Yew Lun Tian BEIJING (Reuters) – One of Xi Jinping’s first moves after winning China’s top job as general secretary of the Communist Party in 2012 was to reinstate regular “democratic life sessions” with fellow leaders in the 25-member Politburo, a staple of the Mao Zedong era. Restoring the practice, which entails self-criticism in …

Analysis-How China’s Xi accumulated power, and why it matters in a third term Read More »

By Ryan Woo and Casey Hall BEIJING (Reuters) -Shanghai and other big Chinese cities, including Shenzhen, have ramped up testing for COVID-19 as infections rise, with some local authorities hastily closing schools, entertainment venues and tourist spots. Infections have risen to the highest since August, with the uptick coming after increased domestic travel during the …

China steps up anti-COVID measures in megacities as infections mount Read More »

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa plans to appeal her cyber libel conviction at the country’s Supreme Court, her lawyer said on Tuesday, after losing her legal battle and having months added to her sentence. The appeals court in its Oct. 10 decision upheld its earlier ruling that affirmed a lower court’s conviction, …

Philippines’ Nobel laureate Ressa to fight conviction at Supreme Court Read More »

By Yimou Lee TAIPEI (Reuters) -The stepped up intensity of Chinese naval patrols near Taiwan since August is putting a “heavy burden” on the island’s aging frigate fleet, which is struggling to maintain combat readiness, the Taiwanese defence ministry said on Tuesday. China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, carried out war …

More frequent Chinese patrols put ‘heavy burden’ on aging Taiwan frigates Read More »