Kiwis welcome back Aussie visitors
Wellington: New Zealand welcomed hundreds of travellers from Australia on Wednesday as it opened its borders to its trans-Tasman neighbour for the first time since mid-2021. Maori cultural performers greeted travellers at Auckland International Airport, where two flights from Australia landed.
New Zealand had some of the toughest curbs during the Covid-19 pandemic and its borders have been closed most of the time since March 2020, except for a short-lived travel bubble with Australia last year.
Tourists from countries like the US, Britain and Singapore will be able to visit from May 1. The border will remain closed for all other visitors until October. Reuters
UK court jails IS knifeman for life
London: A British judge sentenced Islamic State group follower Ali Harbi Ali on Wednesday to a whole-life prison term for murdering MP David Amess in a knife attack last year.
“This is a murder that struck at the heart of democracy,” judge Nigel Sweeney said at London’s Old Bailey courthouse.
Ali, 26, had told the trial he had no regrets about killing father-of-five Amess in revenge for votes in parliament for air strikes in Syria in 2014 and 2015. He stabbed Amess over 20 times in a church in Leigh-on-Sea, southeast England.
Amess’ family said nothing could ever compensate for his murder. AFP
Myanmar New Year celebrations dampened by protests
Myanmar: Opponents of military rule in Myanmar have urged residents to boycott traditional New Year celebrations, as activists and Buddhist monks defied security forces by staging small protests against last year’s coup in some areas.
The holiday runs to Saturday and is usually celebrated with prayers, cleaning of Buddha images in temples and water fights on the streets.
Since the coup, security forces have cracked down brutally on dissent and killed hundreds, and some protesters have taken up arms. On Wednesday, streets in Yangon were deserted and there were protests in several areas. AFP
Factory searched after E coli outbreak
France: Prosecutors have searched a frozen pizza factory in northern France, the suspected source of an E coli outbreak that has left dozens of children sick, police said.
A probe was opened on April 1 after more than 70 infections, which may have caused the deaths of a 1-year-old and an 18-year-old.
The search at the Caudry factory, operated by Buitoni, which is owned by Nestlé, was confirmed by the Paris prosecutor’s office. Nestlé announced a recall of the pizzas last month, and authorities ordered a halt to production after two inspections at the factory. These “revealed a deterioration of food hygiene controls”, “rodents”, and insufficient measures to prevent pests from contaminating a food production site, authorities said.
Recalls were ordered in Belgium and Luxembourg. The pizzas were also distributed in 20 other countries, 15 of them in Africa, the EU said. This was after nine European countries reported 150 salmonella cases linked to a Kinder chocolate factory in Belgium that has since been closed. AFP
Everest bid for Ukraine
A Ukrainian climber said on Wednesday she would summit Mount Everest carrying her national flag to boost morale among those fighting the Russian invasion.
Antonina Samoilova, 33, will be the only climber from Ukraine attempting to summit a Himalayan peak this season.
She is aiming to join the select club of climbers to scale the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each continent. Her first updates on the war came from a Kyiv bomb shelter. She said her father and brother were fighting in the war. AFP