NEW ZEALAND
Work visa rules to change
The government yesterday said it was making immediate changes to its employment visa program after a near record migration last year. which it said was “unsustainable.” The changes include measures such as introducing an English language requirement for low-skilled jobs and setting a minimum skills and work experience threshold for most employer work visas. The maximum continuous stay for most low-skilled roles would also be reduced to three years from five years. “The government is focused on attracting and retaining the highly skilled migrants such as secondary teachers, where there is a skill shortage,” Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford said in a statement. Last year, a near record 173,000 people migrated to the country, the statement said.
RUSSIA
Dam burst floods region
Almost 4,500 people have been evacuated from the Orenburg region in Southern Ural due to flooding after a dam burst, the government said on Saturday. Emergency services worked through the night after a dam burst in the city of Orsk, near the border with Kazakhstan, on Friday. The press service of the Orenburg governor said that “4,402 people, including 1,100 children” had been evacuated and more than 6,000 homes were affected by the flooding after torrential rain. President Vladimir Putin ordered Minister of Emergency Situations Alexander Kurenkov to the region, a Kremlin spokesman said late on Saturday. Authorities also opened a criminal case for “negligence and violation of construction safety rules” over the burst dam, which was built in 2014. Orenburg Mayor Sergei Salmin yesterday said the situation remained “critical” and that water levels would continue to rise in the coming days.
ECUADOR
Countries rally after raid
Latin American governments, including Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay, rallied around Mexico after its embassy in Quito was raided to arrest a controversial politician who had been granted asylum by Mexican authorities. The late Friday night seizure of former vice president Jorge Glas triggered a suspension of relations with Quito by Mexico City. Brazil’s government condemned the arrest of Glas, who had sought refuge in the embassy since December last year, as a “clear violation” of international norms prohibiting such a raid on a foreign embassy. Ecuador’s move against the embassy “must be subject to strong repudiation, whatever the justification for its implementation,” said the statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which stressed Brasilia’s solidarity with Mexico.
INDONESIA
Rare Javan rhino spotted
A new Javan rhinoceros calf has been spotted at a national park, giving hope for the conservation of one of the world’s most endangered mammals. The calf, estimated to be between three and five months old, was spotted in footage captured last month by one of 126 camera traps installed in Ujung Kulon National Park on Java. The mammal, whose sex remains unknown, was seen walking with its mother inside the park, the last remaining wild habitat for Javan rhinos. “Praise God, this is good news and proves that Javan rhinos, which only exist in Ujung Kulon, can breed properly,” senior Ministry of Environment and Forestry official Satyawan Pudyatmoko said in a statement on Saturday. After years of population decline, authorities believe that 82 rare rhinos are inside the about 120,000-hectare sanctuary of lush rainforest and freshwater streams.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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