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Oct 25, 2024 - World

Venice authorities said Thursday they would extend to next year a controversial experimental system that charges day tourists an entry fee to visit the floating city.Considered one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, Venice is a top tourist destination -- but is drowning under the droves of sightseers who visit each year.A trial of entry fees for day visitors began in April, when tourists who were not staying overnight in hotels were required for the first time to buy a five-euro ($5.4) ticket for entry into the UNESCO World Heritage site.The 29 days in 2024 chosen to try out the scheme -- mostly crowded weekends and holidays -- would be increased to 54 next year, Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said Thursday."Next year it will start on April 18 and will be active on 54 specific days," Brugnaro wrote on social media.Those tourists who book at least four days in advance will continue to pay 5 euros, while last-minute bookings will rise to 10 euros, he said.Brugnaro -- who has called the plan a "first step" towards managing tourist flows -- has maintained that the goal is to persuade day trippers to choose less busy times to visit Venice.Authorities had debated for years, without taking concrete action, over how best to regulate the millions of visitors anxious to see sights including St Mark's Square, the Rialto Bridge and Venice's countless picturesque canals.But critics have scoffed at Brugnaro's plan, saying it would do little to discourage tourists while calling it a hastily arranged concession to UNESCO.The UN's cultural arm had warned it would put Venice on its endangered list if authorities did not do more to manage its tourism.Residents of Venice may continue to show their identity card for free access.

Oct 25, 2024 - World

Khalijah Musa was just 12 years old when her brother Sari was stuffed into a Thai army truck, hands bound, joining a pile of arrested protesters who all suffocated to death.Twenty years after the October 25, 2004 tragedy, known as the "Tak Bai massacre", Musa and the other relatives of the 78 victims, are mourning the fact that the killers will never be brought to justice.On Friday, the 20-year statute of limitations expires, and murder charges against the seven suspects will be dropped.The incident is one of the bloodiest days in the long-running conflict in Thailand's deep south between government forces and separatist insurgents."There is no natural justice in our country," Musa told AFP in an interview, saying those responsible deserved the death penalty."It's not equal… we in the southernmost provinces are not part of the (Thai) family. Our voices are just not loud enough."Families will hold memorial prayers for the victims on Friday and once again repeat their calls for justice.The case has long stood as an emblem of state impunity in the kingdom's Muslim-majority southernmost provinces, which are culturally distinct from the rest of mostly Buddhist Thailand.A low-level conflict between security forces and insurgents demanding more autonomy for the region has killed more than 7,000 people since January 2004.- 'Not worth it' -On October 25 that year, security forces opened fire on a crowd protesting outside a police station in the town of Tak Bai in Narathiwat province, close to the Malaysian border, killing seven people.Subsequently 78 people suffocated after they were arrested and stacked on top of each other in the back of Thai military trucks, face down and with their hands tied behind their backs.In August, a provincial court accepted a criminal case filed by victims' families against seven officials, a move Amnesty International called a "crucial first step towards justice".But the officials -- including a former army commander elected to parliament last year -- have avoided appearing in court, preventing the case from progressing.On Monday the court is expected to formally dismiss the charges, ending a case that has become synonymous with lack of accountability in a region governed by emergency laws and flooded with army and police units.No member of the Thai security forces has ever been jailed for extrajudicial killings or torture in the "deep south", despite years of allegations of abuses across the region.Parida Tohle, 72, lost her only son Saroj, 26, who was one of those who died in a truck.Even if suspects are not held accountable, she told AFP, "I would have settled for an apology".In 2012, the government of then-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra paid the families of each of the dead 7.5 million baht ($220,000) in compensation."But," Parida said, "in exchange for my son's life it was not worth it."

Oct 25, 2024 - World

Riding his tricycle with cheerful abandon, Kuranosuke Kato is the only child in his tiny, depopulated Japanese village overrun by life-sized puppets.The two-year-old was the first baby in two decades for Ichinono, one of more than 20,000 communities in Japan where the majority of residents are aged 65 and above, according to the internal affairs ministry data.Revitalizing rural areas is one of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's key campaign pledges as he fights to retain a majority in a general election on Sunday.Ishiba has called Japan's low birth rate a "quiet emergency", one that is starkly evident in places like Ichinono, a bucolic hamlet home to fewer than 60 people."If the village is left as it is now, the only thing that awaits us is extinction," said 74-year-old Ichiro Sawayama, head of its governing body.Many developed nations are facing the same demographic time bomb, but Japan, which allows relatively low levels of immigration, already has the world's second-oldest population after Monaco.Silence pervades the air in Ichinono, where residents have handcrafted stuffed mannequins to create a semblance of a bustling society.Some puppets ride swings while others push a cart of firewood, smiling eerily at visitors."We're probably outnumbered by puppets," Hisayo Yamazaki, an 88-year-old widow, told AFP.Rice harvesting and sake brewing used to keep Ichinono afloat. Most families in the village used to have children, Yamazaki recalled.But "we were afraid they would become unmarriageable if they remained stuck in a remote place like this", so they were encouraged to attend city colleges."Out they went, and they never came back, getting jobs elsewhere. We're now paying the price," she said.- Pastoral living -One family in Ichinono is a bit different: 33-year-old Rie Kato and 31-year-old Toshiki Kato moved from big city Osaka to Ichinono in 2021, then they had Kuranosuke.The couple decided to ditch urban life for the countryside as the pandemic allowed for more flexible working.As the youngest resident by far, their son is adored by the other villagers, who bring him home-cooked meals and collectively look after him.The toddler is "our pride", village head Sawayama beams, while widow Yamazaki says he is "practically my great-grandchild -- such a sweet thing".The Katos say it is a good thing that he is growing up with the community of Ichinono instead of the anonymity of an Osaka apartment."Just by being born here, our son benefits from the love, support and hope of so many people -- even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet," laughed his father Toshiki.His mother Rie said neighbors in the tight-knit village sometimes ask her a favor or invite her to play the croquet-like sport gateball. The family also helps harvest edamame beans with their neighbors."I feel like my self-worth, as an individual, is recognized here," she said. "I'm sure that's how Kuranosuke will feel about himself growing up."- 'Recreate' Japan? -But Ichinono's insularity can be a turn-off for outsiders.Outdated rules still exist on paper requiring aspiring newcomers to be vouched for by at least three long-term residents, and proffer sacks of rice or cash.Those edicts -- meant to "keep the village cohesive" -- are no longer applied to avoid scaring people away, Sawayama said.While rural decline is a global phenomenon, Japan's topography may worsen the problem, said Taro Taguchi, a community development professor at Tokushima University."Probably nowhere do people live on hillsides as much as in Japan," due to a large population and the scarcity of flat farmland, he told AFP.But the "higher risk of natural disasters and greater proximity to vermin" on mountains make them less attractive when people can choose where they live.Prime Minister Ishiba has vowed to "recreate Japan" with policies including doubling subsidies for struggling regions.But Taguchi cautioned that similar subsidies were often approved by the central government in the past to fund "flashy" revitalization projects like fancy cafes."These initiatives did little to support locals' livelihoods," he said.While working remotely in the IT sector,Toshiki Kato has launched a side project refurbishing century-old houses."My humble hope is to help add some new value to these homes, and keep Ichinono's death at bay even just a year longer," he said.

Oct 25, 2024 - World

Residents of the northern Philippines used spades and rakes to clear their homes of mud and debris on Friday while others still awaited rescue as the death toll from Tropical Storm Trami rose to 66.Tens of thousands remained displaced after fleeing floods driven by a torrential downpour that dumped two months' worth of rainfall over just two days in some areas."Many are still trapped on the roofs of their homes and asking for help," Andre Dizon, police director for the hard-hit Bicol region, told AFP. "We are hoping that the floods will subside today since the rain has stopped."But accessibility remained a major issue for rescuers Friday, particularly in Bicol, President Ferdinand Marcos said at a morning press briefing."That's the problem we're having with Bicol, so difficult to penetrate," he said, adding that ground saturated by rain had led to "landslides in areas that didn't have landslides before."- 'Everything is gone' -In Laurel, a scenic town nestled near volcanic Lake Taal south of the capital Manila, AFP reporters saw roads blocked by felled trees, vehicles half-submerged in mud and homes severely damaged by flash flooding."We saw washing machines, cars, home equipment, roofs being swept away," resident Mimie Dionela, 56, told AFP."We're lucky (the rain) happened in the morning, for sure many would've died if it happened at night," she said. "It was indescribable how scared we were."Islao Malabanan, 63, agreed he was alive only because the flood occurred during daytime, but said his family had lost everything "including our clothes".Jona Maulion, who started an auto repair business in Laurel less than a year ago, questioned if her family could ever afford to restart from scratch."We thought we were on the way to success in the business," the 47-year-old said. "I didn't know that this would happen, everything is gone."- Death toll grows -As Trami departed the Philippines in the early hours, traveling west over the South China Sea, the storm's death toll was swelling as fresh reports of victims emerged.In Batangas province south of Manila, the number of confirmed dead had more than doubled to 34, police told a local radio outlet Friday afternoon.Earlier in the day, police staff sergeant Nelson Cabuso told AFP six unidentified bodies had been found in the province's Sampaloc village."The area was hit by a flash flood yesterday. Our people are still in the area to check if there are other casualties," he said.Another five people were killed in a flash flood in the coastal village of Subic Ilaya, police corporal Alvin de Leon said.Police in the Bicol region on Friday reported a total 28 deaths there, while two other bodies were previously found in Quezon province, one in Zambales and one in Masbate.At his morning press briefing, President Marcos noted that the cities of Naga and Legazpi had reported "many casualties, but we haven't been able to get in yet".- 'Two months' worth of rain -Government offices and schools across the main island of Luzon remained shuttered Friday and storm surge warnings were still in place along the west coast, with potential waves as high as two metres.State weather agency specialist Jofren Habaluyas told AFP that Batangas province had seen "two months' worth of rain", or 391.3 millimeters, fall over October 24 and 25.An official tally late Thursday reported 193,000 people evacuated in the face of flooding that turned streets into rivers and half-buried some towns in sludge-like volcanic sediment set loose by the storm.Rescuers in the region's Naga city and Nabua municipality used boats to reach residents stranded on rooftops, many of whom sought assistance via Facebook posts.The search for a missing fisherman whose boat sunk in the waters off Bulacan province west of Manila, meanwhile, remained suspended Friday due to strong currents, the local disaster office said.About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Philippines or its surrounding waters each year, damaging homes and infrastructure and killing dozens of people.But a recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.© Agence France-Pressephilippines

Oct 25, 2024 - World

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Friday the island will not cede an inch of its territory, as China maintains military pressure on Taipei to accept its claim of sovereignty.Lai made the remarks during a visit to the Kinmen islands off China for the 75th anniversary of a victory over communist forces in the Battle of Guningtou.It followed a fortnight of intense military activity in the Taiwan Strait -- the sensitive waterway that separates China and Taiwan -- with troops from both sides holding drills."(We) will not yield an inch of ground in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu to firmly defend our homeland," Lai said in a speech, referring to the islands controlled by Taipei."The Battle of Guningtou lets us understand that democracy and freedom should not be taken for granted, but require the joint efforts of generations to defend them," Lai said.Without naming China, Lai insisted that "any external forces" would not be allowed to change the future of the islands.China's Communist Party has never ruled democratic Taiwan, but Beijing claims the island as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian brushed aside Lai's comments, insisting that China and Taiwan "will and must be unified in the end".The dispute between Beijing and Taipei dates back to a civil war between Mao Zedong's communist fighters and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces, which fled to Taiwan in 1949 following their defeat.The nationalists scored a key victory over the communists in the Battle of Guningtou on the Kinmen islands.Lai, who took power in May and has been more outspoken than his predecessor in defending Taiwan's sovereignty, earlier attended a sombre ceremony for the battle and shook hands with veterans.In his speech, Lai said Taiwan's "determination to defend our national sovereignty" and efforts "to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" were unchanged.He repeated his hope that China and Taiwan will "conduct dialogue and exchanges with parity, dignity and in a healthy and orderly manner".Beijing severed high-level communications with Taipei in 2016 and has since ramped up military and political pressure on the self-ruled island.China's large-scale war games around Taiwan on October 14 were followed by live-fire drills nearthe islandon Tuesday, and the transiting of a Chinese aircraft carrier group through the Taiwan Strait a day later.Taiwanese troops conducted live-fire drills on Penghu island in the waterway on Thursday, days after a US and a Canadian warship sailed through the narrow passage.