International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
SINGAPORE, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Oil prices hit their highest in years on Monday as demand continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by more custom from power generators turning away from expensive gas and coal to fuel oil and diesel. Brent crude oil futures rose 87 cents, or 1%, to $85.73 a barrel
England, Oct 15 (Reuters) – British lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death in an Essex church on Friday by an assailant who lunged at him as he met voters, in what police said was a terrorist attack. Amess, 69, from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, was knifed repeatedly in the attack at about midday in
HONG KONG, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Seven Hong Kong democracy campaigners, including former lawmakers, were sentenced on Saturday to up to 12 months in jail for their role in a protest last year against a sweeping national security law imposed by China. The seven had pleaded guilty to charges that included organising the unauthorised assembly
WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – The White House will announce on Friday it will lift travel restrictions for fully vaccinated foreign nationals effective Nov. 8, at land borders and for air travel, a White House official said. Curbs on non-essential travelers at land borders have been in place since March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic and were first imposed on air travelers in China in early 2020
KONGSBERG, Norway (Reuters) – A man suspected of killing five people with a bow and arrow and other weapons in Norway was in the care of health professionals on Friday, police said. Investigators have named the suspect as Espen Andersen Braathen, a 37-year-old Danish citizen who has lived for most of his life in Kongsberg, where the attacks took place on Wednesday. He has acknowledged killing the victims, investigators have said. He
SYDNEY, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Sydney will open up to fully vaccinated international travellers from Nov. 1 without the need for quarantine, the country’s most populous state said on Friday, bringing forward a full return of overseas travel. Australia closed its borders in March 2020 in response to the pandemic, allowing entry almost exclusively to
(Reuters) – A panel of expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unanimously voted on Thursday to recommend booster shots of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine for Americans aged 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness or occupational exposure to the virus. If the FDA signs off on Moderna‘s booster, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make specific recommendations on who should get the shots. CDC advisers are scheduled to meet next week. The...
TOKYO (Reuters) – Child suicides in Japan are the highest they have been in more than four decades, local media have reported, citing the country’s education ministry. As the COVID-19 pandemic prompted school closings and disrupted classrooms last year, 415 children from elementary to high school age were recorded as having taken their own lives, according to the education ministry’s survey. The number is up
Britain’s Prince William has taken a thinly veiled swipe at the billionaires embroiled in a space tourism race, saying the world’s greatest brains should instead be focused on solving the environmental problems facing the Earth. During a BBC interview aired on Thursday, William appeared to criticize Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, and
Japan’s new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved the lower house of parliament Thursday, paving the way for elections on Oct. 31 that will be Japan’s first of the pandemic. At stake will be how Japan faces a potential coronavirus resurgence and revives its battered economy, and if or how Kishida’s government can leave the shadow
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Wednesday its newly formed advisory group on dangerous pathogens may be “our last chance” to determine the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and urged China to provide data from early cases. The first human cases of COVID-19 were reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. China has
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish man who is in custody in Norway suspected of a bow-and-arrow attack on a small town that killed five people and wounded two others is a Muslim convert who had previously been flagged as having being radicalized, police said Thursday. “There earlier had been worries of the man having
