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TOKYO -- Japan has asked international airlines to stop taking new reservations for all flights arriving in Japan until the end of December as the country further tightens its border controls against a new coronavirus variant, the transportation ministry said Wednesday. It said the request is an emergency precaution amid growing…

BEIJING -- China is launching an aggressive campaign to promote Mandarin, saying 85% of its citizens will use the national language by 2025. The move appears to put threatened Chinese regional dialects such as Cantonese and Hokkien under even greater pressure, along with minority languages such as Tibetan, Mongolian and Uyghur.…

TOKYO -- Japanese Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, on Wednesday turned 20, ready for a debut as a new adult member to take a share of official duties for the royal family whose population continues to shrink under the male-only succession law. Aiko is the only child of Naruhito and Empress Masako, a Harvard-educated…

MIAMI BEACH, FLA. -- Louis Vuitton's first ever U.S. fashion show turned into a somber yet whimsical tribute to groundbreaking designer Virgil Abloh days after his death. The Miami menswear event, an unofficial kickoff to the prestigious Art Basel fair, had been in the works for months. Guests were ferried by yachts to the…

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND -- Fiji welcomed back its first tourists in more than 600 days on Wednesday after pushing ahead with reopening plans despite the threat posed by the newly detected Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Pacific nation is famed for its idyllic white-sand beaches and relaxed, welcoming attitude. And it…

NEW DELHI: A meeting of 32 farmers' organizations will be held on Wednesday to discuss the issue of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) committee and cases registered against farmers during the agitation. The meeting will be held at the Singhu border. It will be attended by 40 farmer leaders. "A meeting of 32 farmers' organizations and those who used…

WASHINGTON -- Abortion rights are on the line at the U.S. Supreme Court in historic arguments over the landmark ruling nearly 50 years ago that declared a nationwide right to end a pregnancy. The justices on Wednesday will weigh whether to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks and overrule the 1973 Roe v. Wade…

CHICAGO -- Prosecutors' case against Jussie Smollett has focused on how Chicago police say they determined that what they initially believed was a horrific hate crime was actually a fake assault staged by the ex-"Empire" actor with help from two brothers. Testimony will continue Wednesday in the trial, which is expected to last…

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, MICH. -- A 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at his Michigan high school on Tuesday, killing three students, including a 16-year-old boy who died in a deputy's patrol car on the way to a hospital, authorities said. Eight other people were wounded, some critically. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said late…

UNITED NATIONS -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Tuesday the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted scientific and financial resources from the fight against AIDS, seriously impeding global efforts to achieve the UN goal of ending AIDS by 2030. Fauci told the UN General Assembly that tackling COVID-19 has…