International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
BOGOTA (AP) — Colombia became the latest country in Latin America to expand access to abortion Monday as the nation’s Constitutional Court voted to legalize the procedure until the 24th week of pregnancy. The decision by the tribunal of nine judges fell short of the expectations of pro-choice groups that had been pushing for abortion
BEIJING, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Beijing doused its Olympic flame on Sunday night, closing a Games that will be remembered for the extremes of its anti-COVID-19 measures and outrage over the doping scandal that enveloped 15-year-old Russian skating sensation Kamila Valieva. Chinese President Xi Jinping was on hand for the snowflake-themed ceremony at the Bird’s
Britain’s 95-year-old Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday but her symptoms are “mild” and she intends to continue with light duties at her Windsor Castle residence, aides said. The news comes after Prince Charles, the queen’s eldest son and heir, tested positive on February 10, two days after meeting his mother at Windsor. No
A telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine got underway on Sunday as planned, Macron’s office said. The call, described by the French side as part of a last-ditch effort to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine, began at 11 AM (1000 GMT), the presidency said. It comes two weeks
Russia could launch an attack on Ukraine “at any time,” the White House reaffirmed Saturday, as Western politicians gathered in Munich to discuss the crisis. US Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden was due to hold a rare Sunday National Security Council meeting over Russia-Ukraine tensions, having said on Friday he was “convinced”
SEOUL, Feb 18 (Reuters) – South Korea’s new daily COVID–19 cases topped 100,000 for the first time amid its Omicron outbreak, with authorities saying social distancing measures would be only slightly eased ahead of the March 9 presidential election. Authorities announced on Friday they would move a curfew on restaurants and cafes from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., a nod to increasing criticism from business owners. “The
MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) – Shelling in Ukraine on Thursday renewed Western fears of an imminent Russian invasion as U.S. President Joe Biden said Moscow is preparing a pretext to justify a possible attack and the Kremlin expelled an American diplomat. Early morning exchanges of fire between Kyiv’s forces and pro-Russian separatists – who have been at war for years and where a ceasefire is periodically violated –
OTTAWA, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Canadian police are poised to clear out on Friday hundreds of truck drivers from Ottawa who have staged a three-week-long protest against pandemic restrictions that has crippled the capital and prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to assume emergency powers for the first time in more than 50 years. The drivers,
Japan will ease border controls imposed to counter the pandemic, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday, softening measures that have been among the strictest imposed by wealthy nations and have been slammed by business and educators. About 150,000 foreign students have been kept out of Japan, along with workers desperately needed by an ageing
Beijing Olympics organisers hit out at “lies” about Xinjiang on Thursday and reiterated the Chinese government’s stance on Taiwan, while also railing against “politicising” the Games. The United States has led a diplomatic boycott by some Western nations at the Games over rights concerns in China, especially the fate of the mostly Muslim Uyghur
Europe is contemplating sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine — and the work is far from simple. Sanctions would seek to maximize the pain for the Kremlin, its key banks, and energy companies but also avoid jeopardizing the continent’s Russian-dependent energy supplies or inflicting too much damage on European companies with strong ties to
HONG KONG, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday ruled out a citywide lockdown to fight COVID-19, but a surge of infections meant she could not “preclude” the possibility of postponing next month’s chief executive election. Lam, who has not confirmed whether she will seek another five-year term as head of
