SEOUL (Reuters) -- North Korea is on the path to “finally defuse” a crisis stemming from its first acknowledged outbreak of COVID-19, the state news agency said on Monday, while Asian neighbors battle a fresh wave of infections driven by Omicron subvariants. The North says 99.98% of its 4.77 million fever patients since late April have fully recovered, but due to an apparent lack of testing, it has not released any figures of those that proved positive. “The anti-epidemic campaign is improved to finally defuse the crisis completely,” KCNA said. It added that the North had reported 310 more people with fever symptoms. The North’s declaration could be a prelude to restoring trade long hampered by the pandemic, one analyst said.

 

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SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin began a meeting in Tokyo on Monday with his Japanese counterpart, carrying a message of reconciliation in hopes that the neighbors can overcome historical disputes and repair strained ties. Ties have been fraught for years over the bitter legacy of Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Disputes concern issues from wartime forced labor to export controls, but both nations have expressed interest in improving relations. Park smiled as he bumped elbows at the meeting with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on his first trip to the Japanese capital since South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May, which is to be followed by a dinner. There were no immediate details of their remarks. Speaking to reporters in Seoul before flying to Tokyo, Park described his trip as “very meaningful”, adding that he would tell the Japanese side that Yoon had a strong will to improve South Korea-Japan relations.

 

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BANGKOK (AFP) -- Dozens of Thai democracy activists were targeted by the controversial Israeli spyware known as Pegasus during the height of intense anti-government protests, according to an international digital rights group report. Massive demonstrations engulfed Thailand’s capital Bangkok two years ago as thousands called for greater civil freedoms, as well as a loosening of the strict lese-majeste laws that prevent any criticism of the monarchy. The report by Canadian cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab in partnership with Thai groups iLaw and DigitalReach, identified some 30 activists, academics, lawyers and NGO workers -- mostly connected to civil rights organizations -- whose mobile devices were affected. Pegasus software, created by Israeli firm NSO Group, can extract data and activate cameras or microphones once it has successfully infiltrated a mobile device. The report stops short of saying definitively who was behind the use of the spyware, though it notes that NSO Group says they only sell the technology to governments.  

 

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LAHORE, Pakistan (AFP) -- Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan called again Monday for an early national election after his party seized control of the state assembly in Punjab, the country’s most populous province. Twenty seats were up for grabs in the Punjab by-election, which was seen as a popularity test for the former international cricket star dismissed by a no-confidence vote in April. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won 15, with the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif taking four, and one going to an independent. Sunday’s vote was also seen as a bellwether for national elections that must be held by October next year, although Khan has campaigned across the country for an earlier poll since being dismissed. “The only way forward from here is to hold free and transparent elections,” Khan tweeted early Monday after the Punjab votes were tallied.

 

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KHARTOUM (AFP) -- Police fired tear gas in Sudan’s capital Khartoum against hundreds of anti-coup protesters who also called attention to increasingly deadly tribal clashes in the country’s south. The capital has been the scene of near-weekly protests since army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan launched a power grab in October last year that derailed a transition to civilian rule. The coup saw key donors pull the plug on funding, exacerbating a long-running economic crisis and feeding into inter-communal unrest in remote parts of the country. Blue Nile state, bordering Ethiopia, is the latest crucible of tribal clashes -- and on Sunday, authorities there raised the death toll to 60, from 33 the previous day, in fighting that began nearly a week ago. “Al-Damazin is bleeding,” read a sign held up by a Khartoum protester, referring to the provincial capital of Blue Nile. Other demonstrators in the capital chanted: “Sudan is one nation” and “No to racism, no to tribalism.”

 

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BERLIN (AFP) -- Weather catastrophes triggered by climate change have cost Germany at least 80 billion euros since 2018, a “horrifying” official study said on Monday, as disasters grow more frequent and intense. The report commissioned by the economy and environment ministries estimated the impact of drought, floods and extreme heat in Germany between 2000 and 2021 was nearly 145 billion euros ($147 billion), most of it seen in recent years. Since 2018 alone, damage to buildings and infrastructure as well as lost revenue in sectors such as forestry and farming in Europe’s top economy reached over 80 billion euros. Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said the “horrifying scientific data” illustrated the “enormous damage and costs” of the climate crisis.