Beijing said Wednesday it would scrap visa-free transit for South Korean and Japanese citizens, stepping up a diplomatic tit-for-tat after both countries placed travel curbs on visitors from China.. China hit back at what it deems "unacceptable" curbs, ending short-term visas for all South Korean and Japanese citizens on Tuesday.
The fate of the Ukrainian city of Soledar was unclear on Wednesday, with Russian mercenary group Wagner claiming control of it while also saying "urban battles" were still being fought.. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia's controversial mercenary Wagner group, claimed in the early hours of Wednesday that his fighters seized control of the town.
In death as in life, Cardinal George Pell split opinion in Australia: while believers on Wednesday mourned the passing of a "great churchman", sexual abuse survivors said they would shed no tears.. "The cardinal has I think been one of the great churchmen of Australia and internationally.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday expressed regret over mass human rights violations committed in the country's past, including a violent anti-communist purge in the 1960s and the disappearance of student protesters in the late 1990s.. Human rights groups said Widodo's expression of regret, like several other Indonesian leaders before him, did not go far enough.
Exhausted doctors working overtime, tests and treatments nowhere to be found, and under-resourced clinics inundated with patients -- in Anhui, one of east China's poorest provinces, Covid hit hard.. When the Covid wave hit in the second half of December, doctors in Anhui rapidly ran out of diagnostic kits and treatments.
Tigrayan rebels have begun handing in their heavy weapons, a key part of an agreement signed more than two months ago to end a deadly conflict in northern Ethiopia, a spokesman for the rebel authorities said.. "Tigray has handed over its heavy weapons as part of its commitment to implementing the #Pretoria agreement" that was signed between Ethiopia's government and Tigrayan rebels, Tigray People's Liberation Front spokesman Getachew Reda tweeted Wednesday.
The British and Japanese prime ministers will sign a "hugely significant" new defence deal allowing UK troops to deploy in Japan when the pair meet in London on Wednesday, Downing Street said.. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office called it "the most significant defence agreement between the two countries in more than a century".
Mosquitoes that transmit dengue and other viruses have evolved growing resistance to insecticides in parts of Asia, and novel ways to control them are desperately needed, new research warns.. "There is growing evidence that there may not be a place for current insecticide formulations in controlling populations of key mosquito pests," Webb told AFP. He said new chemicals are needed, but authorities and researchers also need to think of other ways to protect communities, including vaccines.
Cardinal George Pell -- a giant of the Catholic Church who was convicted and later cleared of sexual abuse in Australia -- has died in Rome aged 81, a church official confirmed Wednesday. . - Criticised by inquiry - Although cleared by the courts, a separate government inquiry criticised Pell's apparent indifference to sexual abuse claims as he rose to prominence in Australia's Catholic Church.
Cardinal George Pell, a powerful Roman Catholic figure who died at the age of 81, leaves a legacy forever marked by a paedophilia conviction that was later overturned.. The ruling in April 2020 allowed the cardinal, who died Tuesday evening in Rome, to walk free from Barwon Prison near Melbourne.
