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China Confirms Visa-free Access for Canada, UK Visitors from Feb 17

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping, ahead of a bilateral meeting in Beijing, China, January 29, 2026. Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping, ahead of a bilateral meeting in Beijing, China, January 29, 2026. Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
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China Confirms Visa-free Access for Canada, UK Visitors from Feb 17

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping, ahead of a bilateral meeting in Beijing, China, January 29, 2026. Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping, ahead of a bilateral meeting in Beijing, China, January 29, 2026. Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS

China confirmed that Canadian and British citizens will be able to visit the country visa-free from Tuesday, after the two countries' leaders had announced such agreements following official trips to Beijing.

British and Canadian prime ministers Keir Starmer and Mark Carney both visited Beijing in January, seeking to bolster relations with China and pivot from the increasingly mercurial United States, said AFP.

Both leaders had hailed progress following meetings with top Chinese leaders such as President Xi Jinping, including on issues like visa-free access for their citizens to China.

Beijing's foreign ministry confirmed these agreements on Sunday, saying Canadian and British citizens will be able to travel to China visa-free from Tuesday, with the policy in effect until December 31.

"Holders of ordinary passports from these countries can enter China without a visa for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, exchanges, or transit for a period not exceeding 30 days," it said in a statement.

This was to "further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries", it added.

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World

Türkiye Arrests 110 on Suspicion of ISIS Ties

The arrests came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centered in Istanbul. (AFP file)
The arrests came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centered in Istanbul. (AFP file)
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Türkiye Arrests 110 on Suspicion of ISIS Ties

The arrests came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centered in Istanbul. (AFP file)
The arrests came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centered in Istanbul. (AFP file)

Turkish counter-terror police on Tuesday arrested 110 people on suspicion of activities in support of the ISIS group in an operation largely targeting Istanbul, the Anadolu state news agency said.

The suspects are accused of organizing classes in illegal associations, educating young children with ISIS ideology, collecting money for the group and seeking to recruit new ISIS members, in an operation coordinated by the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office.

The arrests came during simultaneous raids across three provinces, centered in Istanbul, with police seizing four rifles and 90 cartridges along with documents and digital materials.

Last week, police arrested another 324 people in raids targeting ISIS suspects across 47 provinces, the interior ministry said.

On April 7, a gunman was killed and two others were wounded in a shootout outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said one of them was linked to an "organization that exploits religion", which Turkish media reported was ISIS.

At the end of December, ISIS militants opened fire on police in the northwestern town of Yalova, killing three officers and wounding nine others.

Six ISIS militants were also killed in the hours-long gun battle that followed, with Türkiye rounding up more than 600 suspected members of the group in the following weeks.

World

WHO Chief Says ‘Deeply Concerned’ by ‘Scale and Speed’ of DR Congo Ebola Outbreak

A motorcycle taxi driver waits for clients in front of the entrance of CBCA Virunga General Hospital, in Goma on May 17, 2026. (AFP)
A motorcycle taxi driver waits for clients in front of the entrance of CBCA Virunga General Hospital, in Goma on May 17, 2026. (AFP)
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WHO Chief Says ‘Deeply Concerned’ by ‘Scale and Speed’ of DR Congo Ebola Outbreak

A motorcycle taxi driver waits for clients in front of the entrance of CBCA Virunga General Hospital, in Goma on May 17, 2026. (AFP)
A motorcycle taxi driver waits for clients in front of the entrance of CBCA Virunga General Hospital, in Goma on May 17, 2026. (AFP)

The World Health Organization chief said Tuesday he was "deeply concerned" by an Ebola outbreak raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo which has spilled into Uganda, believed to have killed 131 people. 

"Early on Sunday, I declared a public health emergency of international concern over an epidemic of Ebola disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the World Health Assembly in Geneva. 

"I did not do this lightly... I'm deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic," he said. 

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared the outbreak a Continental Public Health Emergency, in a statement late Monday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded 131 deaths from 513 suspected cases of Ebola, and there has been one death in neighboring Uganda.

Declaring a continental emergency empowers the Africa CDC, based in Ethiopia, to mobilize extra resources including emergency response teams and surveillance operations.

"Africa CDC expresses deep concern about the high risk of regional spread due to intense cross-border population movements, mobility related to mining activities, insecurity in affected areas, weak infection prevention and control measures... and the proximity of affected areas to Rwanda and South Sudan," it said.

The agency said it was working closely with the WHO to strengthen coordination, as developed in response to recent mpox and cholera outbreaks.

"This outbreak is occurring in one of the continent's most complex operational environments, marked by insecurity, population mobility, fragile health systems, and the limited availability of medical countermeasures for Bundibugyo strain Ebola virus disease," said Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya.

World

US Court Accuses Former Venezuelan Industry Minister of Money Laundering for Maduro

FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro embraces Alex Saab, who was facing US bribery charges, after he was released by the US government, at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, December 20, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro embraces Alex Saab, who was facing US bribery charges, after he was released by the US government, at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, December 20, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo
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US Court Accuses Former Venezuelan Industry Minister of Money Laundering for Maduro

FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro embraces Alex Saab, who was facing US bribery charges, after he was released by the US government, at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, December 20, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro embraces Alex Saab, who was facing US bribery charges, after he was released by the US government, at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, December 20, 2023. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/File Photo

Venezuela's former minister of industry appeared in a US court Monday to face money laundering charges under accusations of being a front man for deposed president Nicolas Maduro.

Alex Saab, a 54-year-old Colombia-born businessman and close ally of Maduro's, appeared in US federal court in Miami where he was indicted on charges he oversaw a network that exploited a subsidized food aid program for Venezuela known as CLAP.

"Alex Saab allegedly used American banks to launder hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from a Venezuelan food program meant for the poor and proceeds from the illegal sale of Venezuelan oil," US Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement.

Saab, who was expelled from Venezuela on Saturday, had originally become involved with politics in the South American country during the final years of leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez's 1999-2013 presidency, said AFP.

Under Maduro, he was accused of acting as front man and money launderer, and in return was granted Venezuelan citizenship and a diplomatic passport.

First hit by US sanctions in 2019, Saab had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 and extradited to the United States the following year, but he was released in 2023 as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange with Venezuela.

Maduro appointed Saab to be his minister of industry in 2024, but shortly after US forces Maduro in a deadly Caracas raid earlier this year, interim president Delcy Rodriguez dismissed him from all his posts.