▽Abortion ban protests end on Friday midnight – The First News Protesters against a near-total ban on abortion put into effect on Wednesday ended their third day of demonstrations in Warsaw in the night from Friday to Saturday.The protest …

▽IMF says fiscal support needed until recovery takes hold | Reuters Global debt likely reached 98% of economic output at the end of 2020 as governments poured in nearly $14 trillion in fiscal support to battle the coronavirus pandemic, the…

▽China introduces stricter measures for Chinese New Year travel rush to prevent Covid-19 resurgence - The Straits Times As the Chinese New Year travel rush kicked off on Thursday (Jan 28), transport operators in China tightened measures to…

▽NI mother-and-baby homes: Investigation promised into 'significant wrongs' - BBC News The voices of survivors of mother-and-baby homes in NI will be heard "loudly and clearly" with a new independent investigation, Arlene Foster has said.T…

▽Colombia's Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo dies from Covid at age 69 Colombian Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, one of the country’s most recognized conservative politicians, has died from complications of Covid-19. He was…

▽Covid deaths: 'Hard to compute sorrow' of 100,000 milestone - PM - BBC News More than 100,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the UK, after 1,631 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded in the daily figures... A total of …

▽India, China troops in ‘minor face-off’ at disputed Sikkim border | Al Jazeera Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a “minor face-off” last week in a disputed stretch of their shared border in the eastern Himalayas, the Indian army …

▽Top Iran leader posts Trump-like image with drone, vows revenge | Reuters The website of Iran’s Supreme Leader on Friday carried the image of a golfer resembling former President Donald Trump apparently being targeted by a drone alongside…

▽China gives coastguards power to fire on foreign ships in disputed waters | South China Morning Post The coastguard law, passed on Friday by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, came two years a…

▽Rio de Janeiro city gov't cancels this year's Carnival - La Prensa Latina Media Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes on Thursday announced the cancellation of Carnival this year due to fact that the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 has …

▽Mongolian prime minister resigns after protests over COVID-19 mother - CNA Mongolia's Prime Minister announced on Thursday (Jan 21) he will immediately stand down, a day after thousands protested in the capital over what they said was the…

▽Foreign visitors to Japan fall 87 percent in 2020 to a 22-year low : The Asahi Shimbun The Japan Tourism Agency on Jan. 20 announced there were 4,115,900 foreign visitors in 2020, a decrease of 87.1 percent over the previous year... Last …

▽Japan's daily coronavirus death toll tops 100 for first time | The Japan Times The daily death toll from the novel coronavirus in Japan topped 100 for the first time ever on Tuesday, as the country confirmed 104 new fatalities from the vi…

▽Minister Taro Kono to lead Japan's coronavirus vaccination efforts Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday that Taro Kono, Japan's administrative reform minister, will lead coronavirus vaccination efforts, as the country grapples with a…

▽'MLK/FBI' probes when bureau bugged Martin Luther King Jr. The opening images of the documentary “MLK/FBI” include footage from the 1963 march on the Washington Mall that, today, is all the more striking for the protesters’ peacefulness..…

▽Nepali team first to top K2, world’s 2nd tallest peak, in winter | Al Jazeera A team of Nepalese climbers made history by scaling the world’s second-highest peak - Pakistan’s K2 - in the winter season, a local Alpine Club official said, o…

▽Ex-Japan farm minister Yoshikawa indicted for bribery without arrest Former Japanese farm minister Takamori Yoshikawa was indicted without arrest Friday on a charge of receiving bribes from an egg production company while in office, prose…

▽Ex-S.Korean president Park's 20-year term upheld | NHK WORLD A 20-year prison term for former South Korean President Park Geun-hye for bribery and other crimes has been finalized.The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by prosec…

▽Japan expands coronavirus emergency to 7 more prefectures - The Mainichi Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in seven additional prefectures, including Osaka and Aichi, expanding the measure as Japan's…

▽Kim Yo Jong demoted: Why the North Korean leader’s sister is down, but not out | NK News The new roster of top officials in the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) leadership is surprising in many ways - especially when considering the ejection…

▽North Korea's Kim Jong Un crowned as party general secretary - Nikkei Asia North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was crowned general secretary of the Workers' Party, tightening his grip on the ruling party 10 days before the inauguration of Joe…

▽Ex-MP quits Labour ahead of sexual harassment disciplinary process - BBC News A former Labour MP has quit the party before disciplinary proceedings against him concerning sexual harassment could be concluded, Labour has said.Kelvin Hopkin…

▽Indonesian plane crashes after take-off with 62 aboard | Reuters A Sriwijaya Air plane crashed into the sea on Saturday minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on a domestic flight with 62 people on board, and their fate…

▽South Korean court orders Japan to pay former 'comfort women' - Nikkei Asia A South Korean court on Friday handed down a verdict requiring the Japanese government to pay 100 million won ($91,000) each in compensation to Korean women who s…

▽How Neil Sheehan Got the Pentagon Papers - The New York Times From the moment he secured the 7,000 pages of classified government documents on the Vietnam War for The New York Times, until his death on Thursday, Mr. Sheehan, a former Viet…

▽Hong Kong arrests 53 activists for attempt to 'overthrow' govt with unofficial vote - CNA Hong Kong police arrested 53 people in raids on democracy activists on Wednesday (Jan 6), with authorities saying an unofficial vote to choose oppos…

▽Extraordinary warning to Trump by 10 former Pentagon chiefs - The Washington Post In an extraordinary rebuke of President Donald Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defense cautioned Sunday against any move to involve the military …

▽Japan could declare virus emergency for Tokyo area this week Japan plans to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures this week, possibly on Thursday at the earliest, and lasting for about one month to curb i…

▽What will Cuba’s new single currency mean for the island? | Al Jazeera The Cuban government formally ended its dual currency system on Friday, devaluing its peso for the first time since the 1959 revolution that swept the late Fidel Castr…

▽Fresh fears for Tokyo Olympics as host city sees surge in Covid-19 infections | The Guardian When Japanese and International Olympic Committee officials finally accepted defeat in March and postponed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there was gen…