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☆ Japan PM strongly demands Beijing release detained Astellas employee
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday the government will continue to strongly demand Beijing for an early release and consular visits for an Astellas Pharma (4503.T) employee detained in China. The government would also provide as much support as possible, including contacting his family, Kishida told an Upper House budget committee meeting. Kishida's comments came after the country's foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met his Chinese counterpart on Sunday and urged China to promptly release the detained JapaneseReporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Gamal Roshdy, spokesperson for the Arab League secretary general, said the organisation is not privy to every move on the bilateral level between Arab countries. Assad's attendance at an Arab League summit would mark the most significant development in his rehabilitation within the Arab world since 2011, when Syria was suspended from the organisation. The Saudi foreign ministry did not confirm an agreement was reached but said it was in talks with the Syrian foreign ministry to resume consular services. Arab League heavyweight Egypt has also resumed contacts with Assad. An Egyptian security source told Reuters the visit was aimed at putting in place steps for Syria's return to the Arab League through Egyptian and Saudi mediation.

☆ Russia's arrest of Evan Gershkovich is the first time the country has accused an American journalist of spying since the Cold War. The Wall Street Journal calls the targeting of their reporter 'a vici
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on Thursday. He is the first American reporter detained by Russia for spying since the Cold War. Gershkovich, a New York-born journalist based in Moscow, was detained in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural mountains. The Wall Street Journal has not been in contact with Gershkovich since his arrest, but the outlet vehemently denies that he was doing anything other than reporting while in Russia. Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday that US State Department officials are working with the outlet to find a way to get Gershkovich released from Russian custody.

☆ Three British men being held in Taliban custody in Afghanistan, Sky News reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 1 (Reuters) - Three British men are being held in Taliban custody in Afghanistan, including so-called "danger tourist" Miles Routledge, Sky News reported on Saturday. The other two men are charity medic Kevin Cornwell and another unidentified UK national who manages a hotel in Kabul, the report said. "We are working hard to secure consular contact with British nationals detained in Afghanistan and we are supporting families," a spokesperson for Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told Reuters in a statement, but did not confirm the details of the British nationals. Routledge has gained fame, and attracted controversy, by travelling to dangerous countries and posting about it online. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath and Rahat Sandhu in Bengaluru Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese-American citizen Kai Li, jailed in China on spying charges he denies, received a rare in-person visit last week from the U.S. Burns met Li on March 16 in a Shanghai prison, Li's son Harrison said. Li, a businessman, has been held in China since 2016 and was handed a 10-year jail sentence in 2018 for espionage. Burns wanted to shake Li's hand but Chinese authorities did not allow that, Harrison Li said. Burns has accompanied consular officers on prison visits to U.S. citizens held in China, a State Department spokesperson said.

☆ China warns against travelling out of Central African Republic capital after killings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) - China's embassy in the Central African Republic has urged its citizens to avoid travelling outside the capital, Bangui, after a report that nine Chinese nationals were killed in an attack by militants at a gold mine outside the city. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for "severe punishment" of the perpetrators in accordance to the law, and said the safety of Chinese citizens must be ensured, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. The security risk level in the Central African Republic, apart from the capital, was "red", or very high, the Chinese foreign ministry added. The ministry said it would work with governments and guide Chinese embassies and consulates to take further effective measures to fully safeguard Chinese citizens and enterprises in Africa. There have been several attacks on Chinese nationals abroad in recent months, prompting embassies to issue warnings and safety alerts and conduct evacuations.

☆ France says Iran breaching international treaty with prisoner detentions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, March 14 (Reuters) - France accused Iran on Tuesday of breaking an international treaty defining consular relations between states and said Tehran had demonstrated publicly that it was holding foreign nationals arbitrarily. Relations between France and Iran have deteriorated in recent months with Tehran detaining seven French nationals in what Paris has said is state hostage taking. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said the French government had interfered and taken "destructive" positions regarding events in Iran. "Obviously, these positions and the measures taken by France will not help in the negotiations for the prisoners," Nasser Kanani told reporters. French foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre said Kanani's remarks were extremely worrying and openly highlighted the "arbitrary character" of the detention of French citizens.

☆ Mexico to maintain its diplomats despite Peru pulling its ambassador
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a news conference at the Old City Hall (Antiguo Palacio del Ayuntamiento), in Mexico City, Mexico January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Romero/MEXICO CITY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Mexico's foreign ministry said on Saturday the country will maintain its diplomatic and consular representation in Peru and vowed to keep communication channels open, while regretting Peru's decision to remove its ambassador from Mexico. Peru's newly installed President Dina Boluarte announced on Friday the withdrawal of the country's ambassador in Mexico, Manuel Gerardo Talavera, in response to comments from her Mexican counterpart branding her government as unconstitutional. In addition, the conservatives of Peru, which are a minority, violated the constitution," Lopez Obrador said. In a television address, Boluarte said the statements made on Friday by Lopez Obrador "violate the principle of international law about non-interference in internal affairs."

☆ China says U.S. refused to share information on downed Chinese balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023. "China early on through protected consular channels clearly demanded the United States notify (China) on the progress (of recovery of the balloon), but the United States refused to respond." China said that the alleged spy balloon is a civilian airship used for meteorological purposes, and that it was accidentally blown off course into U.S. airspace. The United States has said a Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia is analysing debris from the balloon for "counterintelligence exploitation." The Chinese defence ministry later said it declined a proposed phone call with the Pentagon because the United States had not created the "appropriate atmosphere".

☆ Australia says it's 'troubled' by delays in writer's espionage trial verdict in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A verdict in the espionage trial of Australian writer Yang Hengjun, detained by China since his arrest there four years ago, has been delayed until April, the seventh such delay, his supporters said on Thursday. Pro-democracy blogger Yang is an Australian citizen born in China who was working in New York before his arrest at Guangzhou airport in 2019, coinciding with deteriorating relations between Australia and China. A Beijing court heard Yang's trial in secret in May 2021 and the case against him has never been publicly disclosed. "The Australian government is deeply troubled by the ongoing delays in his case. A verdict in Yang's trial has been delayed by the court seven times, and his lawyer was told the deadline had been extended a further three months to April, his supporters told Reuters.

"My message for Blinken is: say their names," said Katherine Swidan in a phone interview from her home in Luling, Texas. They've been wrongfully detained. And, unlike Griner, the U.S. citizens held in China are not well known to the American public. Families of detained Americans say the freedom of their relatives should not be bundled up with challenging policy issues and should instead be addressed in a separate track focused on humanitarian matters. There have been talks in recent months, Li said, between Washington and Beijing over the Americans detained in China but they did not go anywhere.

☆ How China planted an FBI mole who was discovered only after gutting the CIA's vast spy network
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( James Bamford | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

At the time, four years after the handover from Britain to China, much of Hong Kong remained a world of neon and noise. "Five years ago, everyone looked down on you if you spoke Mandarin," said a Beijing executive living in Hong Kong. As soon as the Hong Kong Arts Festival ended, the Hong Kong International Film Festival began. In February 2006, Alex Ma, China's mole in the FBI, sent David photos he received from his handlers of five suspected human sources. Born in Hong Kong like Alex, Lee grew up in Hawaii and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

☆ Bolsonaro's Florida stay puts ball in Biden's court after Brasilia riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Gabriel Stargardter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro gestures, as he meets supporters at the Alvorada Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, December 12, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano MachadoRIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The United States has a Jair Bolsonaro problem. But Bolsonaro left behind a violent movement of election-denying supporters, who on Sunday stormed Brazil's presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court. "The United States should not be a refuge for this authoritarian who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil. Former Panamanian President Martinelli was extradited from the United States back to Panama in 2018, three years after Panama's Supreme Court issued its arrest warrant.

☆ U.S. embassy in Cuba resumes full immigrant visa processing for first time since 2017
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] People wait in line to enter the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniHAVANA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Havana resumed full immigrant visa processing and consular services for the first time since 2017 on Wednesday in a bid to stem the record-breaking flow of illegal migrants from Cuba north to the United States. Cubans were instead required to travel to Guyana for visa processing, a costly trip well out of reach for most on the island. The U.S. embassy in Havana began limited visa processing last year and in September announced the 2023 full reopening, to "ensure safe, legal, and orderly migration of Cubans," it said. Cuba and the United States have also resumed once-regular talks on migration in a bid to tamp down the flow.

☆ U.S. Embassy in Cuba reopening visa and consular services
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

HAVANA — The United States Embassy in Cuba is reopening visa and consular services Wednesday, the first time it has done so since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff in 2017 slashed the American presence in Havana. Cubans are now the second-largest nationality after Mexicans appearing on the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows. Visa and consular services were closed on the island in 2017 after embassy staff were affflicted in a series of health incidents, alleged sonic attacks that remain largely unexplained. While relations have always been tense between Cuba and the U.S., they were heightened following the embassy closure and the Trump administration’s tightening of sanctions on Cuba. Cuban officials have repeatedly expressed optimism about talks with the U.S. and steps to reopen visa services.

☆ Pakistan says it has provided list of nuclear facilities to India under annual practice
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Pakistan said it had handed a list of its nuclear installations and facilities to the Indian mission in Islamabad on Sunday under a decades-old agreement between the two nuclear-armed rivals. It said lists are exchanged annually on Jan 1 and that India had simultaneously handed over a list to the Pakistani mission in New Delhi. Pakistan first officially tested nuclear weapons in 1998 and has since developed a significant stockpile of nuclear capable missiles, as has India. The list included 705 Indian prisoners detained in Pakistan, including 51 civilians and 654 fishermen, the statement said. It added that the Indian government also shared with the Pakistani mission in New Delhi a list of 434 Pakistani prisoners in India, including 339 civilians and 95 fishermen.

☆ Australia seeks to resolve China trade woes as foreign minister heads to Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Renju Jose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Wong is expected to meet Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday, the first visit by an Australian minister since 2019 and the first formal talks in Beijing between the two nations' top diplomats since 2018. "Many of the hard issues in the relationship will take time to resolve in our interests," Wong said during a media briefing in Canberra before leaving for China. A meeting between Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali last month signalled a thaw in ties, although China's trade sanctions remain in place. Wong will attend the sixth Australia–China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue in Beijing, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. She hoped the restart of official talks would "stabilise" the relationship between China and Australia.

☆ France announces it will end visa restrictions with Morocco
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - France will end visa restrictions for Moroccan nationals, the foreign minister said on Friday, in a sign of warmer relations between the two countries after more than a year of tensions between Paris and Rabat. Morocco's Bourita said France had made a unilateral decision to end restrictions after what he said was also a unilateral decision to introduce the restrictions. France has generally warmer relations with Morocco than with its eastern neighbour Algeria, also a former colony. The improvement in relations comes two days after France and Morocco played each other in the football World Cup semi-finals in Qatar. France won the match, which gave greater visibility to the extensive links between the two countries and their dual nationals.

CNN —A Kenyan security guard who reportedly fell while on duty at Qatar’s Lusail Stadium has died in hospital, his family and officials have confirmed to CNN. We send our sincere condolences to his family, colleagues and friends during this difficult time.”John Njua Kibue at the Lusail Stadium. But the security guard’s family says his Qatari employer, Al Sraiya Security Services, has not explained how he fell or any of the circumstances surrounding his death. CNN has contacted Al Sraiya Security Services for comment after the guard’s death and is yet to receive a response. A WhatsApp message seen by CNN was sent to his colleagues at other World Cup stadiums soliciting for contributions.

London CNN —China has removed its consul-general and five other British-based diplomats wanted by police for questioning in connection to the alleged beating of a Hong Kong protester in the English city of Manchester. The Chinese Embassy said the consul-general returned to China under a “normal rotation of Chinese consular officials” and had completed his term of office. Hong Kong protester Bob Chan shows a photograph of his injuries at a news conference in London on October 19. According to protest organizers, around 60 demonstrators had gathered outside the Manchester consulate to protest Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power. Under the law, protesters and activists have been jailed, newsrooms shut, civic society dismantled and formal political opposition effectively wiped out.

☆ China removes six officials after Manchester consulate incident, UK says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Cleverly said the removal of the officials, including the consul general in Manchester, came after a police request to interview them over the incident. The Chinese embassy hit back, saying Britain had failed to protect its staff, adding it launched its own representations with Britain over the incident. It said the consul general had returned to China under a "normal rotation of Chinese consular officials". "In response to our request, the Chinese government have now removed from the UK those officials, including the consul general himself," Cleverly told broadcasters. The Chinese embassy said the protest was a "violent, disruptive provocation", adding Britain had failed to fulfil its obligations to protect the consulate and its staff.

☆ How one family’s struggle illustrates problems with the program meant to help Afghans who helped the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Jim Sciutto | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —For more than a year, I have been trying to help a family leave Afghanistan for safety and a new life abroad. However, SIV approval does not equal freedom for him and other Afghans with similar status – far from it. And last week, Congress removed language from the National Defense Authorization Act that would have extended the program for another year. To get to one of those countries, Afghans need passports – a relative luxury for many. The State Department tells CNN it had been managing to get only about 250 Afghans and their family members out of the country per week.

☆ Fiance of U.S. citizen detained in UAE fears he will be extradited to Egypt
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - An Egyptian-American national detained while visiting the United Arab Emirates fears he will be extradited to Egypt for criticising authorities there ahead of the country hosting the COP27 climate conference last month, his fiance said on Sunday. The UAE, a close ally of Egypt, arrested Sherif Osman, who resides in the United States, on Nov. 6 at the request of an Arab League entity responsible for coordinating law enforcement and security matters, a UAE official confirmed to Reuters on Thursday. The United States was aware of Osman's arrest in Dubai, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Thursday, and was "watching his case closely and providing appropriate consular support". Osman's fiance said she had travelled to the UAE with him to meet his sister, who lives in Dubai, and his mother who had planned to visit from Egypt. The UAE official had said the UAE "strictly adheres to all internationally accepted standards" in detention cases including regular consular access and legal council.

☆ China operating over 100 police stations across the world with the help of some host nations, report claims
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Nina Dos Santos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Madrid-based human rights campaigner Safeguard Defenders says it found evidence China was operating 48 additional police stations abroad since the group first revealed the existence of 54 such stations in September. When approached by CNN last month about Safeguard Defenders’ original allegations, China’s foreign affairs ministry said the overseas stations were staffed by volunteers. However, the organization’s latest report claims one police network it examined had hired 135 people for its first 21 stations. The organization also sourced a three-year contract for a worker hired at an overseas station in Stockholm. The NGO determines Italy has hosted 11 Chinese police stations, including in Venice and in Prato, near Florence.

☆ Israeli journalists experience chilly reception at Qatar World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Former Israeli football star, and now a commentator Eil Ohana posted a video showing a Qatari police officer driving him in a golf cart. Videos have gone viral in Israel and the Arab world showing football fans yelling at Israeli reporters, refusing to speak to them because of where they are from. Canadian pop star Justin Bieber launched clean water company Generosity at Qatar’s World Cup, to provide premium alkaline water in refillable fountains across the globe. The pitch invader who waved a rainbow flag on the field during Portugal’s World Cup match with Uruguay on Monday said FIFA president Gianni Infantino came to the Qatari police station to free him in order to “avoid more controversy.”Thursday’s Group E FIFA World Cup match between Costa Rica and Germany saw an all-women refereeing team for the first time in men’s World Cup history. Stephanie Frappart, from France, led the refereeing team, making her the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup match.

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