Thailand receives the first Chinese visitors under a new visa-free policy to boost tourism | AP News

Thailand receives the first Chinese visitors under a new visa-free policy to boost tourism | AP News

BANGKOK (AP) — Top Thai officials welcomed hundreds of Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s international airport on Monday, the first day of a new visa-free entry program that officials say will boost the country’s tourism industry that was badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic.Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin handed out gifts and posed for pictures as his

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Mali’s military government postpones a presidential election intended to restore civilian rule | AP News

Mali’s military government postpones a presidential election intended to restore civilian rule | AP News

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s military government has postponed a presidential election that was expected to return the West African nation to democracy following a 2020 coup, a government spokesperson said Monday.The presidential election scheduled for February 2024 is being delayed for “technical reasons” to allow the transitional government to review its election data and

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Lecturers and staff at some UK universities stage a fresh round of strikes at the start of new term | AP News

Lecturers and staff at some UK universities stage a fresh round of strikes at the start of new term | AP News

LONDON (AP) — Lecturers and other staff at some 40 U.K. universities staged a new round of strike action on Monday in a long-running dispute over pay and work conditions, disrupting college students as many turned up at campus for “freshers’ week,” or their first week at university. The University and College Union, which represents

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Interest rates will stay high ‘as long as necessary,’ the European Central Bank’s leader says | AP News

Interest rates will stay high ‘as long as necessary,’ the European Central Bank’s leader says | AP News

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Central Bank said Monday that interest rates will stay high enough to restrict business activity for “as long as necessary” to beat back inflation because upward pressure on prices “remains strong” in the 20 countries that use the euro currency.Christine Lagarde said “strong spending on holidays

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Fresh fighting reported in Ethiopia’s Amhara region between military and local militiamen | AP News

Fresh fighting reported in Ethiopia’s Amhara region between military and local militiamen | AP News

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Fresh fighting erupted in the second-biggest town of Ethiopia’s turbulent Amhara region as militiamen clashed with the military over government plans to disarm local forces. Fighters from a militia called Fano fought against military units Sunday in the town of Gondar, an important tourist and commercial hub, residents told The Associated

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A deputy police chief in Thailand cries foul after his home is raided for a gambling investigation | AP News

A deputy police chief in Thailand cries foul after his home is raided for a gambling investigation | AP News

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand on Monday raided the Bangkok residence of one of the country’s four deputy national police chiefs, an action the target complained was intended to discredit him due to “politics inside the Royal Thai Police.”Police Gen. Surachate Hakparn is a contender to become the next chief of Thailand’s national police.

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A Molotov cocktail is thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there’s no significant damage | AP News

A Molotov cocktail is thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there’s no significant damage | AP News

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least one Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there was no significant damage and no one was injured. U.S. law enforcement officials were investigating.Secret Service officers were called around 8 p.m. Sunday to respond to the attack on a busy street in the Adams-Morgan section of

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Opponents of a controversial Tokyo park redevelopment file a petition urging government to step in | AP News

Opponents of a controversial Tokyo park redevelopment file a petition urging government to step in | AP News

TOKYO (AP) — A growing movement opposing a highly controversial redevelopment of a historic Tokyo park submitted a fresh petition Monday, stepping up a campaign to get the national government to intervene and revise the plan to save more trees and avoid overdevelopment of the metropolitan area.The new petition submitted Monday by Rochelle Kopp, a

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