International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Judging by Friday’s quiet streets in the heart of China’s capital and city eateries adherence to virus curbs, the anxieties created by the ‘zero-COVID’ regime could hinder the world’s second largest economy’s return to health. Though the government on Wednesday loosened key parts of the strict controls that kept the
WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on dozens of people and entities over alleged rights abuses, including Russia’s Central Election Commission, Iranian officials and Chinese nationals. The U.S. Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on Li Zhenyu and Zhuo Xinrong, both Chinese nationals, and 10 entities linked to the
(AFP) – Where in the world can you shave a year or two off your age? South Korea — which has just passed a set of bills to abandon its traditional system of calculating ages. The current system, widely known as “the Korean age”, recognises people as a year old at birth and also adds
BERLIN, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Germany on Wednesday detained 25 members and supporters of a far-right group that the prosecutor’s office said was preparing a violent overthrow of the state to install as national leader a prince who had sought backing from Russia. Prosecutors said the group was inspired by the deep state conspiracy theories
China’s national health authority said on Wednesday that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and people with mild symptoms can quarantine at home, in the strongest sign yet that China is preparing its people to live with the disease. Most cases of infection with the coronavirus are asymptomatic or mild with no special treatment required, the National Health Commission said in a statement. “Asymptomatic
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday slammed multinational corporations for turning the world’s ecosystems into “playthings of profit” and warned failure to correct course would lead to catastrophic results. “With our bottomless appetite for unchecked and unequal economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction,” he said, in a speech ahead of biodiversity
People in China’s capital Beijing on Tuesday were allowed to enter supermarkets, offices and airports without having to show negative COVID tests, the latest in a mix of easing steps nationwide after last month’s historic protests. “Beijing readies itself for life again” read a headline in the government-owned China Daily newspaper, adding that people were
North Korea said on Tuesday it had ordered military units to fire more artillery shells into the sea, the North’s official KCNA news agency reported, in response to South Korea’s ongoing drills across the border. The firing comes a day after North Korea said it fired more than 130 shells into the sea off its east and west
The Group of Seven price cap on Russian seaborne oil came into force on Monday as the West tries to limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine, but Russia has said it will not abide by the measure even if it has to cut production. The price cap, to be enforced by the G7,
India’s capital, New Delhi, was engulfed in thick smog early on Monday as cooler weather exacerbated pollution and the government banned private construction in and around the city to try to limit dust and emissions. Residents of New Delhi and its suburbs endure poor air every winter as colder, heavier air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from the burning of crop stubble
There is no prospect of a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, according to Irina Scherbakova, one of the co-founders of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Russian rights organisation Memorial. “I am absolutely convinced that there is not a diplomatic solution with Putin’s regime, so long as it is still there,” Scherbakova said Sunday in Hamburg, Germany. Her comments came as she was presented with
Authorities in China’s financial hub of Shanghai will from Monday scrap some testing requirements in the country’s latest relaxing of its strict zero-Covid policy following nationwide protests unseen in decades. Multiple cities have started to roll back some restrictions after public resentment at harsh and prolonged containment measures reached a boiling point last weekend, when spontaneous protests broke out in multiple Chinese cities. Shanghai residents
