International

The Air Suvidha self-declaration forms that had to be filled in by international passengers arriving in India will no longer be necessary, the Indian government has said. The decision comes into effect on Tuesday, according to reports.A notice from the Ministry of Civil Aviation read, "In the light of sustained declining Covid-19 trajectory and significant advances being made in Covid-19 vaccination coverage both globally as well as in India, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has issued revised 'Guidelines for International Arrivals."Under the revised guidelines of the health ministry, the submission of self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal stands discontinued, the aviation ministry said. It, however, added that the rule will be reviewed depending on the Covid situation.

A shallow 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed at least 46 people and injured hundreds when it damaged buildings and triggered landslides on Indonesia's main island of Java on Monday, officials said.The afternoon quake was centred in the Cianjur region of West Java, according to the United States Geological Survey, and was felt as far away as the capital Jakarta, where panicked residents ran into the streets."The latest data, 46 people were killed. Victims kept coming from many areas. Around 700 people were injured," Herman Suherman, head of Cianjur's local administration, told broadcaster Kompas TV.The majority of deaths were counted in one hospital, he said earlier, with most of the victims killed in the ruins of collapsed buildings.He said the town's Sayang hospital had no power after the quake, leaving doctors unable to operate on victims.Locals rushed victims to the hospital on pickup trucks and motorbikes, according to footage obtained by AFP.They were placed in front of the facility as residents spread a tarpaulin on the road for the bodies.Suherman said electricity was still down and authorities also needed more health workers due to the overwhelming number of patients.Thousands of houses could have been damaged in the quake, Adam, a spokesperson for the administration who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name, told AFP.Shops, a hospital and an Islamic boarding school in the town were severely damaged, according to Indonesian media.Broadcasters showed several buildings in Cianjur with their roofs collapsed and debris lining the streets.Relatives of victims congregated at the hospital. Suherman warned the death toll could rise because villagers outside the town may still be trapped."We are currently handling people who are in an emergency state in this hospital. The ambulances keep on coming from the villages to the hospital," he said."There are many families in villages that have not been evacuated."Indonesia's disaster chief Suharyanto, who also goes by one name, said at least 14 people had died in the Cianjur area but said information was "still developing".Cianjur police chief Doni Hermawan told Metro TV authorities had rescued a woman and a baby from a landslide but a third person they found had died of their injuries.Jakarta rattledIndonesia's meteorological agency warned residents near the quake to watch out for more tremors."We call on people to stay outside the buildings for now as there might be potential aftershocks," the head of Indonesia's meteorological agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, told reporters.The USGS had earlier reported the quake's magnitude at 5.4.There were no reports of casualties or major damage in Jakarta.Mayadita Waluyo, a 22-year-old lawyer, described how panicked workers ran for the exits of their building in Jakarta as the quake struck."I was working when the floor under me was shaking. I could feel the tremor clearly. I tried to do nothing to process what it was but it became even stronger and lasted for some time," she said."I feel a bit dizzy now and my legs are also a bit cramped because I had to walk downstairs from the 14th floor."Hundreds of people were waiting outdoors after the quake, including some wearing hard hats to protect themselves from falling debris, an AFP reporter there said.Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.A 6.2-magnitude quake that shook Sulawesi island in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Kamala Harris called for open communication during a brief meeting on Saturday, days after his extensive talks with President Joe Biden aimed at keeping tensions in check.Harris and Xi met during an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok where another US rival, Russia, saw itself isolated, with no top leader attending and a statement issued showing wide condemnation of its war in Ukraine.Speaking to Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Harris reinforced Biden's message that "we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries", a White House official said.On Monday, Biden and Xi met for three hours at a Group of 20 summit in Bali, the first in-person talks between the leaders of the world's two largest economies since they each became president.Chinese state media quoted Xi as telling Harris that his meeting with Biden was "strategic and constructive, and has important guiding significance for China-US relations in the next stage"."It is hoped that the two sides will further enhance mutual understanding, reduce misunderstanding and misjudgement, and jointly promote the return of China-US relations to a healthy and stable track," added Xi, who is on only his second overseas trip since the pandemic.US and Chinese officials have both put a positive spin on the renewal of diplomacy, while stopping short of predicting any substantive resolution of issues dividing them -- notably Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing.Xi and Biden agreed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China early next year, the first visit by a top US diplomat since 2018.Blinken told reporters in Bangkok that the contacts aimed at making sure that competition "does not veer into conflict" and examining areas of cooperation on global challenges such as climate change.The United States said it was also looking for China to do more to rein in its ally North Korea, which on Friday test-fired a ballistic missile that US and Japanese officials said was likely capable of hitting the US mainland.China should use its influence to persuade North Korea "not to go in this provocative direction, which only destabilises the region and the world", said a US official travelling with Harris.Pressure on RussiaIf relations remain unchanged, Xi could see Biden in a year's time when the United States hosts the APEC summit in San Francisco.Xi last visited the United States in 2017, meeting then president Donald Trump at his Florida estate, but relations between the two countries later sharply deteriorated over trade, Taiwan, human rights and Covid-19.APEC, which groups 21 economies, focuses on trade rather than political matters. But after US insistence, APEC followed the formula of this week's G20 summit to take up the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a member of both organisations."Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy," an APEC joint declaration said."There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions."The United States has been cautiously upbeat about China taking a distance from nominal ally Russia, including by rejecting requests to send military supplies.While engaging Xi, the United States has vowed to shun Russian President Vladimir Putin who skipped this week's Asian summits and is virtually certain not to receive an invitation to San Francisco.Harris, who is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, told leaders in Bangkok that the United States would focus next year's summit on raising climate ambitions.She asked leaders to prepare new targets in time for the 2023 summit on reducing emissions from the power sector, hoping to flesh out longer-term commitments by most APEC members on zeroing out carbon.

Malaysians headed to the polls on Saturday with jailed ex-leader Najib Razak's scandal-hit party seeking to cement its power in a race analysts say is too close to call.Its main challenge is from the coalition led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who has campaigned on a promise to fight corruption in Southeast Asia's third-largest economy.There were long lines at polling centres across the country despite concerns about monsoon rains, indicating a strong turnout from among the 21 million registered voters."I want a strong government and a stable economy so that there will be more job opportunities for the youth," Nurul Hazwani Firdon, a 20-year-old tutor, said as she went to cast her ballot in the rural town of Bera in Pahang state.Malaysians face soaring food prices, and parts of the country are being battered by flash floods sparked by monsoon rains.Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) usually dominates Malaysian politics but it suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2018 general election after a massive corruption scandal at state fund 1MDB.The former prime minister, who was at the centre of the 1MDB storm, is currently serving a 12-year jail term.Because of infighting in the two successive governments since 2018, UMNO crept back into power last year despite lingering corruption allegations, and is seeking a stronger mandate in Saturday's election - called 10 months ahead of schedule.Anwar's dream The UMNO-dominated ruling Barisan National coalition is up against Anwar and his allies.With age catching up, this may be Anwar's last chance to fulfil his long-standing dream of leading Malaysia."A win today would certainly be gratifying after more than two decades of fighting to win the hearts and minds of the people," Anwar, 75, told AFP before casting his vote in Penang state.He added he was "cautiously confident" that his Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) could secure a simple majority in the 222-member parliament.Caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, from the ruling coalition, cast his vote in Bera."I hope the voters will choose a government that can guarantee security and stability," he told reporters.A record 945 candidates are contesting for seats in parliament across the largely Muslim nation.Former prime ministers Mahathir Mohamad, 97, and 75-year-old Muhyiddin Yassin head two other coalitions.Corruption a key issue Corruption was a key issue during the campaign, with opposition parties repeatedly warning that if UMNO wins, Najib could walk free and graft charges against other party leaders could be dropped.The 1MDB scandal, in which billions of dollars in state funds were diverted to Beverly Hills properties, a superyacht, a Hollywood film and Najib's own bank account, sparked investigations in Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.Analysts said there was no clear frontrunner among the four coalitions.A survey by pollster Merdeka Centre on the eve of the elections showed Anwar's coalition winning 82 seats, and 33 percent favouring him as the prime minister.Merdeka analyst Ibrahim Suffian told AFP it was "still possible for Anwar to achieve a simple majority" given the large turnouts in the final days of his campaign.Malaysia lowered its voting age from 21 to 18 last year, a move that added six million voters to the rolls for this election.Nearly 1.4 million of total registered voters are aged 18-20.Analysts have said young voters lean towards the more progressive politics of the opposition.The majority of registered voters, however, live in Malaysia's rural areas where the patronage politics dominated by UMNO still holds sway.Analysts said the multi-racial country would be in for further political instability if no coalition wins a clear majority.There is likely to be a "similarly fragmented political landscape after the election," Oh Ei Sun of the Pacific Research Center of Malaysia told AFP.

The future of Twitter seemed to hang in the balance Friday after its offices were locked down and key employees announced their departures in defiance of an ultimatum from new owner Elon Musk.Fears grew that a fresh exodus would threaten the very existence of one of the world's most influential internet platforms, which serves as a key communication tool for the world's media, politicians, companies and celebrities.According to ex-employees and US media, hundreds of employees chose "no" to Musk's demand that they either be "extremely hardcore" or leave the company."So my friends are gone, the vision is murky, there is a storm coming and no financial upside. What would you do?" tweeted Peter Clowes, who refused Musk's final warning.Musk, also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has come under fire for radical changes at the California-based firm, which he bought less than a month ago for $44 billion.He had already fired half of Twitter's 7,500 staff, scrapped a work-from-home policy and imposed long hours, all while his attempts to overhaul the company face backlash and delays.His stumbling attempts to revamp user verification with a controversial subscription service led to a slew of fake accounts and pranks, and prompted major advertisers to step away from the platform.On Friday, Musk appeared to be pressing on with his plans and reinstated previously banned accounts, including that of comedian Kathy Griffin, which had been taken down after she impersonated him on the site.Musk however did not welcome back former US president Donald Trump, banned for inciting last year's attack on the Capitol by a mob seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election."(The) Trump decision has not yet been made," he said.- 'Not super worried' -Fevered talk of the site's imminent demise was driving record high engagement on Twitter, according to Musk.In a tweet, the South African-born billionaire said: "Record numbers of users are logging in to see if Twitter is dead, ironically making it more alive than ever!"Musk added that the "best people are staying, so I'm not super worried."Despite Musk's assurances, entry to Twitter's offices were temporarily closed until Monday, even with a badge, according to an internal message seen on US media.In leaked emails reported in The New York Times, Musk asked engineers critical to the site's functioning to make their way to Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco on Friday to meet him in person.Twitter did not respond to AFP requests for comment on the new measure.In the ultimatum sent Wednesday, Musk had asked staff to follow a link to affirm their commitment to "the new Twitter" by 5:00 pm New York time (2200 GMT) on Thursday.If they did not do so, they would have lost their jobs, receiving three months of severance pay.Signs that government regulators were becoming impatient with Musk's handling of Twitter also grew on Friday, especially over the platform's ability to moderate content with a severely reduced headcount.A group of US senators on Thursday said Musk's plans for the site "undermined the integrity and safety of the platform... despite clear warnings those changes would be abused for fraud, scams, and dangerous impersonation."A top regulator for the European Union meanwhile said that Musk should be increasing the number of moderators in Europe, not reducing them.Musk "knows perfectly well what the conditions are for Twitter to continue operating in Europe," EU commissioner Thierry Breton told French radio.A spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the government was watching developments at Twitter "with growing concern" and reviewing its presence on the platform.

Amazon confirmed on Thursday that it is laying off staff, after days of rumors that the e-commerce behemoth would become the latest tech giant to unleash a large-scale redundancy plan amid a souring economic environment."The economy remains in a challenging spot and we've hired rapidly the last several years," wrote chief executive Andy Jassy in an internal memo published on the Amazon website.US media have previously reported that the platform and its various branches will lay off about 10,000 employees.Jassy did not confirm the figure, but he said that the process had begun and would continue early next year.The first teams affected were those dealing with the brand's electronic devices such as Kindle e-readers. Physical shops will also be impacted."There will be more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments," he wrote."Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023. We haven't concluded yet exactly how many other roles will be impacted."Jassey said that in the roughly 18 months he has been CEO, "without a doubt, this is the most difficult decision we've made."He continued: "It's not lost on me or any of the leaders who make these decisions that these aren't just roles we're eliminating, but rather, people with emotions, ambitions, and responsibilities whose lives will be impacted."A reduction of 10,000 employees would represent a little less than one percent of the group's total payroll, which had 1.54 million employees worldwide at the end of September, not counting seasonal workers who are recruited during periods of increased activity like the Christmas holidays.The layoffs follow an aggressive hiring spree.With business booming due to the coronavirus pandemic as cooped up people turned in earnest to online shopping, Amazon doubled its workforce from the first quarter of 2020 to 1.62 million employees two years later.But with the economy souring, two weeks ago Amazon announced a hiring freeze and its workforce has already decreased compared to the beginning of the year.The US retail giant saw its net profit fall by 9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.And for the current quarter, the crucial holiday season, the group expects growth to be anemic by its standards, between 2 and 8 percent year-on-year.Many technology companies that had been hiring heavily during the pandemic have recently announced job cuts, including Meta, Twitter, Stripe and Lyft.

Nato, Poland say missile likely from Ukraine air defenceMoscow says missile was Ukrainian air defence S-300Zelenskiy demurs, says 'no doubt' missile not UkrainianNato says Russia bears ultimate responsibilityA missile that crashed inside Poland was probably a stray fired by Ukraine's air defences and not a Russian strike, Poland and military alliance Nato said on Wednesday, easing international fears that the war could spill across the border.Nevertheless, Nato's chief said that Moscow, not Kyiv, was still to blame for starting the war in the first place with its February invasion and launching scores of missiles on Tuesday that triggered Ukrainian defences."This is not Ukraine's fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine," Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.Nato ambassadors held emergency talks to respond to Tuesday's blast that killed two people at a grain facility in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the war's first deadly extension into the territory of the Western alliance."From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side," Polish President Andrzej Duda said. "It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence."Stoltenberg also said it was likely to have been a Ukrainian air defence missile. Earlier, US President Joe Biden had said the trajectories suggested the missile was unlikely to have been unleashed from Russia.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demurred, saying "I have no doubt that it was not our missile", Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday. He said he based his conclusion on reports from Ukraine's military which he "cannot but trust".He gave no evidence for his position, while saying he believed Ukraine should already have been given access to the site of the explosion as Kyiv had the right to be there.The incident occurred while Russia was firing scores of missiles at cities across Ukraine, targeting its energy grid and worsening power blackouts for millions, in what Kyiv says was the most intense volley of such strikes of the nine-month war.Kyiv says it shot down most of the incoming Russian missiles with its own air defence systems. Ukraine's Volyn region, just across the border from Poland, was one of the many Ukraine says was targeted by Russia's countrywide fusillade.The Russian Defence Ministry said none of its missiles had struck closer than 35 km (20 miles) from the Polish border, and that photos of the wreckage in Poland showed elements of a Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile.The Kremlin said on Wednesday some countries had made "baseless statements" about the incident, after having accused Poland of an "absolutely hysterical" reaction on Tuesday, but that Washington had been comparatively restrained.Zelenskiy also said Kyiv had received no offer from Moscow to start peace talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week Ukraine was not interested in such talks.Zelenskiy's top adviser Mykhailo Podoloyak dismissed the notion of talks. "Putin's Russia is a key threat to the global world. Ukraine is trying to restrain Russian outrages, stop the escalation and growth of the war. Do not look for 'compromises' between the killer-country (Russia) and the civilized world. This is the path to a global tragedy," Podolyak tweeted.The news that Western officials had concluded the missile was Ukrainian brought some relief to the inhabitants of the Polish village hit by the missile, with some saying they had feared being dragged into the war."Everyone has in the back of the head that we are right near the border and that an armed conflict with Russia would expose us directly," said Grzegorz Drewnik, the mayor of Dolhobyczow, the municipality to which Przewodow belongs."If this is a mistake of the Ukrainians, there should be no major consequences, but I'm not an expert here."Some Western leaders at a summit of the G20 big economies in Indonesia suggested that whoever fired the missile, Russia and President Vladimir Putin would ultimately be held responsible for an incident arising from its invasion.G20 leaders issued a closing declaration saying "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine", although it acknowledged that "there were other views".Moscow carried out Tuesday's missile volley just days after abandoning the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital it had captured since the invasion.The barrage echoed a pattern of Moscow lashing out with longer-range missile salvoes after losses on the battlefield to a continuing Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east and south.However, the top US general played down the odds of any near-term, outright military victory by Ukraine, cautioning that Russia still had significant combat power inside Ukraine despite a string of setbacks."Politically, there may be a political solution where, politically, the Russians withdraw. That's possible," Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference in Washington.Russia "right now is on its back", Milley added.