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Australia cracks down on student and backpacker visas to curb migration

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Australia cracks down on student and backpacker visas to curb migration

Burke said Australia would toughen its enforcement on visa overstayers, including hiring 100 additional compliance officers

International News via Reuters:

Australia will stop foreign students from bringing partners and children to accompany them while they study and tighten working holiday visa rules, a senior minister said on Thursday, amid growing debate over high migration levels.

The government’s move comes after the hard-right One Nation party, which has been surging in recent polls, said this week that it would slash the number of temporary migrants by 750,000 over three years, to give Australians “breathing space.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke dismissed suggestions the changes were politically motivated by the One Nation party, which describes its approach as “Australia first” and whose policies have drawn comparisons to those of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“It’s simply demonstrably wrong to suspect that somehow this is a recent bit of work done to deal with a political climate – it’s not,” Burke told reporters.

The reforms are expected to bring annual net migration down to about 225,000 by 2028 – broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels – from around 300,000 now. The cost of living and immigration have consistently ranked among voters’ top concerns in recent polls.

Burke said Australia would toughen its enforcement on visa overstayers, including hiring 100 additional compliance officers and exploring the repurposing of a pandemic-era quarantine facility in Melbourne to house immigration detainees.

“If you want to come on a temporary basis to Australia, apply for a temporary visa. If you want to come to Australia permanently, apply for a permanent visa. And if you no longer have a valid visa, you should leave Australia,” he said.

BALLOT FOR BACKPACKERS

Under the new measures, a ballot system will be introduced for backpackers seeking to extend their working holiday visas. All visitor visas will carry a “no further stay” provision preventing holders from remaining in Australia while applying for another visa category such as a partner visa.

International students will only be permitted to renew their student visas if they move up the qualification scale.

Some students from Pacific Island nations and Southeast Asia will be able to bring their partners and children, but secondary applicants will not be allowed on most student visas.

Spouses and partners of international students can currently work in Australia, although the number of hours they are permitted varies depending on the course of study.

International education contributed A$53.6 billion ($38 billion) to the Australian economy in the year to June 2025, making it the country’s fourth-largest export. Despite this, foreign students have been a central focus of the centre-left Labor government’s migration reduction efforts.

Student visa application fees have risen by nearly 300% to A$2,500 over the past four years, while English-language requirements and minimum savings thresholds for graduate visa applicants have also been tightened.

“It is chipping away the confidence in what has been a great national asset for this country – international education,” Luke Sheehy, CEO of Universities Australia, said in a radio interview with public broadcaster ABC on the proposed policy shift.

Migration surged after Australia reopened its borders in February 2022 following nearly two years of COVID-19 closures, driven largely by international students, backpackers and temporary workers.

However, numbers have been declining over the past two years. Net overseas migration stood at 306,000 in the year to June 30, 2025, with international students accounting for more than half, down from a peak of 518,000 in 2023.

($1 = 1.4085 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Renju Jose; Additional reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Jamie Freed

Oil prices extend losses on easing fears of Middle East supply disruption

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Saudi Arabia is offering more loadings of crude oil to Asian refiners via ship-to-ship transfers off Oman’s Sohar port

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices eased on Thursday, extending losses on reports of Saudi Arabia offering extra crude cargoes through Oman, which reduced fears of supply disruptions, but stayed above $100 on concerns about the Middle East conflict expanding.

Brent crude futures dropped $1.88, or 1.8%, to $103.95 a barrel by 0632 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down $1.77, or 1.7%, at $100.66 a barrel. Both contracts fell about $3 on Wednesday.

“Concerns over supply tightness eased slightly following news that Saudi Arabia would ship cargo via Oman,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist of Nissan Securities Investment, a unit of Nissan Securities.

“Expectations of progress toward easing tensions in the Middle East ahead of the U.S.-China summit next week are also capping price gains,” he added.

Saudi Arabia is offering more loadings of crude oil to Asian refiners via ship-to-ship transfers off Oman’s Sohar port, people familiar with the matter said, blunting some of the hit to global supply from attacks on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline to the Red Sea.

However, some analysts were expecting these flows to only ease a portion of the supply loss from the kingdom’s Red Sea port, capping the declines in oil prices.

The pick-up in flows through the Strait of Hormuz “is only partly offsetting lost export barrels following drone attacks that shut Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline,” Saxo Bank analysts said in a note.

Oil prices rose to about four-month highs earlier this week after shipping industry sources said crude loadings at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export hub of Yanbu had been suspended and Riyadh had cancelled some cargo deliveries to European customers. The suspension followed attacks on the East-West pipeline, which feeds the Saudi port of Yanbu.

Yanbu became Saudi Arabia’s main outlet for oil exports after Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel attacked the country at the end of February. Prior to the war, Hormuz was the conduit for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Two pumping stations serving the East-West pipeline were damaged in an attack last week, with a repair timeline unclear, according to assessments from three oil and security sources.

Despite the oil price decline on Thursday, worries about the intensifying Middle East war remain.

Saudi warplanes pounded Yemen and Houthi fighters launched drones and missiles at Saudi cities, the Iran-backed movement said on Wednesday, after a lightning advance that has extended Tehran’s reach in the Middle East war.

Singapore’s DBS Bank assumes in its base-case scenario for the fourth quarter that the U.S. war with Iran will dial down and Brent will stabilise in the $85 to $95 range.

“However, under the bear-case scenario currently prevailing, with attacks and incidents in Hormuz and Red Sea continuing, prices could spike towards $120/bbl levels before potentially normalising back towards $100/bbl,” Suvro Sarkar, DBS Bank’s head of energy research, said.

Reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Trixie Yap in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed, Sonali Paul and Christian Schmollinger

US, China security experts propose nuclear-style safeguards for AI risks

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The experts are urging both governments to prepare for such scenarios amid rising concerns about increasingly powerful and more autonomous systems

International News via Reuters:

An AI system that interferes with a nuclear command network or launches a military cyber operation could leave Washington or Beijing with minutes to decide whether the other government attacked, according to U.S. and Chinese security experts.

The experts, part of a U.S.-China dialogue whose work helps inform official discussions, are urging both governments to prepare for such scenarios amid rising concerns about increasingly powerful and more autonomous systems.

Their proposals include red lines around nuclear systems, human control over consequential cyberattacks and a hotline for incidents involving autonomous AI.

The recommendations were published last week ahead of planned government-level AI talks and an expected September 24 meeting in Washington between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Authors Melanie Sisson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, and Tianjiao Jiang, an associate professor at Fudan University, participated in the U.S.-China AI and national security dialogue convened since 2019 by Brookings and Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy.

Their proposals show how the U.S.-China AI rivalry is moving beyond competition over chips and advanced models into questions long associated with arms control: how to prevent accidents from being mistaken for attacks, limit machine-made military decisions and set communication protocols for nuclear-armed rivals when technology behaves unexpectedly.

China’s State Security Minister Chen Yixin this week wrote in a government outlet that AI “fundamentally transforms the form of military struggle”. He said it had moved from playing a supporting role on the battlefield to a key role, citing AI-directed strikes in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

RED LINES AROUND NUCLEAR SYSTEMS

Brookings Institution’s Sisson argued that humans should retain sole authority to initiate AI-enabled cyberattacks against the other country’s nuclear command, control and communications systems or strategically important infrastructure.

An autonomous system could malfunction, exceed its instructions or be compromised, while the country under attack might struggle to tell whether the action was accidental or ordered by its rival.

Fudan University’s Jiang proposed explicit red lines preventing AI from independently deciding to use nuclear weapons or autonomously attacking nuclear command systems, along with protections around critical infrastructure including energy, finance and healthcare.

He also urged a shared definition of “meaningful human control” to prevent both countries from using identical language to justify different levels of machine autonomy.

The idea builds on a principle endorsed by then-U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi in November 2024 that humans should retain control over decisions to use nuclear weapons.

Lora Saalman, an associate senior fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, wrote in February that this was an important point of U.S.-China convergence even as both countries showed signs of integrating AI more deeply into nuclear and nuclear-related systems.

WHEN MACHINES MOVE FASTER THAN HUMANS

Jiang also proposed a dedicated U.S.-China military hotline for AI incidents, warning that automated cyber exchanges could escalate too quickly for human intervention.

One country’s defensive AI might automatically respond to suspicious activity, while the other side could interpret that response as an attack and retaliate before understanding what actually happened.

A hotline could allow one government to tell the other that an unusual AI operation was accidental, unauthorised or still under investigation before it was treated as deliberate state action.

However, experts including Carla Freeman at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies have questioned the utility of the existing U.S.-China military crisis communication hotline, citing Chinese officials’ refusal to answer U.S. counterparts’ calls about the “spy balloon incident” in February 2023.

The Chinese bureaucracy’s rigid top-down hierarchy also disempowers low-ranking officers from taking the initiative during engagements with U.S. counterparts, she wrote in an article for War on the Rocks in January.

“No one in the Chinese system wants to communicate with the United States until the top leadership in consultation with relevant actors within China’s party-state have decided on a response, which may take days if not longer,” she said.

VIEWS IN WASHINGTON AND BEIJING

Neither government has publicly endorsed the Brookings-Tsinghua proposals, but China has increasingly placed AI inside its existing arms-control bureaucracy.

AI is a formal portfolio of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Arms Control, which also handles nuclear weapons, non-proliferation, missiles and other international security issues.

Shen Jian, China’s ambassador for disarmament affairs, told a U.N. meeting in Geneva in June that military AI could affect strategic stability and raise risks of miscalculation and conflict escalation, and that weapons should remain under human control. China also argues that AI safety should not become a pretext for technological barriers.

Washington has no equivalent single arms-control home for AI, with national security policy spread across the White House National Security Council, State Department, Pentagon and other agencies.

Both governments remain wary of measures that could slow their own technological development. Trump has warned broad restraints could hand China an advantage, while Beijing views many U.S. technology controls as attempts to preserve American dominance.

Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Laurie Chen; Editing by Jamie Freed

Military leaders meet in Paris to mull post-UN mission plans

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Military leaders meet in Paris to mull post-UN mission plans

Israel and Lebanon have held several rounds of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at easing tensions along their border

International News via Reuters:

European and Arab military chiefs will meet in Paris on Thursday to assess the Lebanese Armed Forces’ needs and discuss the looming end of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, amid fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon have held several rounds of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at easing tensions along their border. But with elections in Israel and the United States approaching in the coming weeks, diplomats say a breakthrough is unlikely.

Thursday’s talks, which will initially be chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Jordan’s King Abdullah, are not formally part of Washington’s efforts.

The U.S. will be represented by a senior military official involved in Middle East security issues.

FRAMEWORK DEAL

As part of the U.S.-brokered talks, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that envisions Israeli troops gradually withdrawing as Lebanese authorities disarm Hezbollah and deploy across the country’s south.

Officials in Paris will seek to assess the precise military and financial requirements ahead of a donor conference likely to be held in late 2026 or early 2027, diplomats said.

The most immediate concern is how to fill the security vacuum that could be left when the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, which has about 7,500 personnel, begins drawing down from January.

Despite Lebanon and France both favouring an extension of the U.N. mandate, neither the United States nor Israel has signalled support for prolonging the mission.

The officials in Paris will discuss options for a new international mission, backed by France and Italy, operating outside a U.N. mandate, as well as a possible European Union-led mission.

Both concepts would focus on training, equipment, intelligence sharing and mentoring support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.

“The modalities of this international or multinational action remain to be defined — if only because the Lebanese have not voiced requests that align with, in particular, U.S. demands at the Security Council, and because we still need to calibrate the terms of this presence and be absolutely clear about the mandate,” a French presidency official told reporters ahead of the meeting.

Highlighting the fragility of the situation, Israeli strikes on a town in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people, including six children, on Monday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, making it one of the deadliest days of Israeli bombardment in recent weeks.

Fears of a renewed Israeli military campaign are growing in Lebanon after days of escalating strikes despite a June ceasefire that was intended to halt fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

Reporting by John IrishEditing by Rod Nickel

Bermuda Tonight – September 16

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Bermuda Tonight – September 16

US pays $725 million to UN, easing its debt dispute with the world body

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US pays $725 million to UN, easing its debt dispute with the world body

Trump has criticized the global body ‌for not living up to its potential and slashed funding to many U.N. agencies

International News via Reuters:

The Trump administration paid $725 million to the United Nations, the organization said on Wednesday, reducing Washington’s large debt and ensuring it keeps its vote at the U.N. General Assembly convening in New York next week.

Trump has criticized the global body ‌for not living up to its potential and slashed funding to many U.N. agencies. When asked about the planned payment last month, a U.S. official said any payments will ‌be contingent on continued reforms of the U.N.

“We received $725 million yesterday from the United States for the U.N. regular budget, and we also received $102 million from the U.S. for peacekeeping on Friday,” said U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq.

“The U.S. still owes $1.312 billion to the regular budget,” he said, adding that, “with these payments, the U.S. is no longer in jeopardy of falling under Article 19 for 2027.”

Under Article 19 of the U.N. Charter, a member state loses its voting rights in the General Assembly if its arrears exceed two years in annual fees, although grace ⁠periods are possible.

The Trump administration has ⁠carried ⁠out an unprecedented shrinking of its federal government, ⁠saying it was bloated and has significantly ​cut back on domestic and foreign grants in an effort that it says was to put money into causes that aligned with U.S. taxpayer interests.

The U.S. is the biggest contributor to the U.N. budget, but under the Trump administration it has slow-walked mandatory payments to regular and peacekeeping budgets, and has slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies with their own budgets.

The second-biggest contributor, China, also paid $641.4 million on September 1 in its regular budget contributions, according to the U.N. website.

The U.N. has been undergoing a reform and cost-cutting exercise known as “UN80” amid its financial crisis.

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Howard Goller

Curtis Dickinson responds to election delay

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Curtis Dickinson responds to election delay
Curtis Dickinson. Photo supplied

Statement from the Curtis Dickinson campaign:

“We acknowledge the decision of the Central Committee to postpone the Annual General Conference while the matter before the Court is determined.

“Our position remains resolute: we are committed to the unity and strength of the Progressive Labour Party, while defending its Constitution and the rights of every member, old and new.

“We have confidence in the legal process and believe its conclusion will provide the clarity needed for the Party to come together, move forward and ensure all eligible members can participate in a fair, robust and democratic process.”

UN chief Guterres calls for countries fueling Sudan’s war to be held accountable

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UN chief Guterres calls for countries fueling Sudan’s war to be held accountable

Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, has displaced more than 14 million people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises

International News via Reuters:

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Wednesday for countries providing weapons to the warring parties in Sudan that are used to attack civilians to be held accountable. 

“What is happening in Sudan is absolutely horrible. The humanitarian situation in Sudan is devastating. The level of suffering of the Sudanese people is intolerable,” Guterres told reporters ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York next week. 

Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 following a power struggle between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, has displaced more than 14 million people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

“It is true that the conflict is fueled by a number of countries from the outside,” Guterres said. “In my opinion, there should be accountability for the kind of interference in which some countries provide weapons to parties to a conflict when those weapons are used massively to attack civilians.”

A U.N. fact-finding mission said earlier this month that foreign weapons, military technology, fighters and logistical networks are helping sustain Sudan’s conflict and expanding the warring parties’ ability to strike distant civilian areas with drones.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Rod Nickel

French seeks lifting of EU sanctions on billionaire after pressure by Azerbaijan, diplomats say

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French seeks lifting of EU sanctions on billionaire after pressure by Azerbaijan, diplomats say

European Union envoys extended the deadline for renewing Russia sanctions listings by seven days on Monday after failing to agree ‌on a six-monthly rollover of the sanctions, which requires the unanimous approval of the 27 member states

International News via Reuters:

France has been urging the EU to lift sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov after coming under what it says is pressure from Azerbaijan as Baku holds two French nationals, three European diplomats familiar with the matter said.

European Union envoys extended the deadline for renewing Russia sanctions listings by seven days on Monday after failing to agree ‌on a six-monthly rollover of the sanctions, which requires the unanimous approval of the 27 member states.

EU diplomats said France had joined Slovakia in calling for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Usmanov after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The metals and mining mogul has launched multiple lawsuits in Europe with the ultimate goal of having the sanctions lifted, and his lawyers have contested statements in the media that were used as grounds for the sanctions.

French diplomatic sources said the decision by Paris to call for sanctions on Usmanov to be lifted was driven by national security considerations, and that France was responding positively to approaches from international partners regarding the Usmanov case.

The European diplomats said Paris had indicated in private that Baku was using Usmanov to “blackmail” it over the case of two French citizens held in Azerbaijan, one of whom Paris has said is being held arbitrarily. Baku has sentenced the French national on espionage charges.

The link to Azerbaijan was first reported by the Financial Times on Monday. It was not clear why Azerbaijan was seeking Usmanov’s delisting although President Ilham Aliyev has previously lobbied for his delisting.

The diplomats said France believed Baku’s move was supported by Qatar and Kazakhstan.

Several other leaders in the region and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, have previously called for Usmanov to be taken off the EU’s sanctions list.

The foreign ministries of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Qatar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

France’s Foreign ministry spokesperson declined to comment on the Azerbaijan connection.

DIFFICULT TIES

Ties between Azerbaijan and France have long been strained, and worsened in 2023 when Azerbaijan regained control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in a move that triggered an exodus of 120,000 ethnic Armenians living there. Baku reacted angrily to French military support for Armenia, with which Azerbaijan has fought two wars in the past three decades.

France has accused Azerbaijan-linked groups of carrying out disinformation campaigns over the last year, and said Baku has been seeking to fan the flames of riots and independence demands in France’s Pacific island of New Caledonia.

The EU sanctions designations, which target nearly 3,000 companies and individuals with asset ​freezes and travel bans, had been due to expire on September 15. The expiry date has been pushed back to September 22.

One diplomat said member states were now watching to see how Paris would seek to break the impasse before next week or risk undermining both its credibility as a supporter of Ukraine and the EU’s sanctions process.

Additional reporting by Nailia Bagirova, Felix Light and Andrew Mills, Editing by Timothy Heritage

Redevelopment plan submitted for former Ariel Sands site

Jasmine Patterson
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Redevelopment plan submitted for former Ariel Sands site

The Department of Planning has received an application to build hotel rooms, condos and villas, with new amenities.

Developers are hoping, once again, to give a new lease to the former Ariel Sands property on South Shore in Devonshire.  

The Department of Planning has received an application to build hotel rooms, condos and villas, with new amenities.

Ariel Sands Ltd says the plan is to create one of Bermuda’s leading resorts, to enhance our tourism product.

The site was well-loved in its heyday and was famous for its large seawater pool, beachside tennis court and the statue of the Shakespearean character Aerial, which stood in the water.

Ariel Sands Beach Club opened in 1984, and was subject to successive plans prior to its closure in 2008, having suffered declining tourist numbers.

At that time, there was a 47 room hotel and 11 cottages which have subsequently been demolished. 

The new plan calls for 33 Hotel Guest Rooms, 21 Villas and 30 one, two and three-Bedroom Condominium Units, with amenities. 

Hotel facilities would include a gym, resort pool, tennis court, a restaurant/café and a bar.

A four-storey, 30-room hotel building would be located near the shoreline adjacent to the eastern boundary. All these proposed works are located on the southern side of the highest points on the property and face the ocean. 

As a result, these are not visible from the public road or by the majority of the residences in the area. 

Exteriors would include stucco finishes, with a mixture of glass railings and timber louvers, amid landscaping. 

This redevelopment plan is similar to a previous on approved in 2022, but with a less density.

With 84 units, developers say it will not overburden roads, amenities or services.  

And residents will be encouraged to use electric vehicles.  

A voluntary conservation plan will be submitted to the planning department, for the planting of native and endemic trees within the property’s woodland reserve. 

UK PM Burnham to welcome Canada’s Carney to Everton soccer game

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UK PM Burnham to welcome Canada’s Carney to Everton soccer game

Burnham became prime minister in July, and in his first call with Carney two days later promised to “roll out the blue carpet” — a reference to Everton’s blue kit — and host the Canadian premier at a game

FILE PHOTO: Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham leaves 10 Downing Street to attend PMQs at the House of Commons, in London, Britain, September 9, 2026. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

International News via Reuters:

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to host his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney at a soccer match on Wednesday, giving the leaders a chance to bond over their shared affection for Everton, one of England’s most historic clubs.

Burnham became prime minister in July, and in his first call with Carney two days later promised to “roll out the blue carpet” — a reference to Everton’s blue kit — and host the Canadian premier at a game.

The leaders will hold bilateral talks in Liverpool before the match, likely to cover their shared aims to seek closer ties with Europe, a strong NATO defence alliance and growth in trade.

After that, for 90 minutes their shared aim will be for Everton to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of England’s League Cup.

Everton, a founding member of the Football League in 1888, are one of the most storied teams in English soccer. Despite going over three decades without a major trophy, they have the fifth most league wins in the country, with nine.

Burnham has spoken about his lifelong support for Everton, going to matches since he was a child in the 1970s, and he has continued to go to games when possible as prime minister.

Carney has said cousins in Liverpool fuelled his Everton fandom, and has previously attended Everton matches — especially while living in Britain during a seven year stint as Bank of England governor.

Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William James

Update on Ebola for arriving travellers

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Update on Ebola for arriving travellers

The Ministry of Health, in coordination with the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shaun Ramroop, has announced an update to Bermuda’s public health response to the ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Africa. Effective 28 August, 2026, Bermuda has narrowed its enhanced port‑of‑entry health screening to focus exclusively on travellers who have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) within the previous 21 days.

Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP, said, “The Ministry of Health’s priority is always the protection of Bermuda’s people. These adjustments reflect the best available evidence and ensure we remain vigilant without imposing unnecessary burdens on travellers.”

Following a comprehensive epidemiological review, and in alignment with the latest World Health Organization (WHO) advice to State Parties, the Ministry has ceased entry screening and active monitoring for travellers arriving from Uganda and South Sudan. These adjustments ensure Bermuda’s border‑health measures remain proportionate to the current international risk.

Dr. Ramroop explained, “While the risk of Ebola transmission to Bermuda remains low, targeted surveillance at ports of entry remains an essential precaution to support early detection and rapid containment. Border health officials will continue to conduct entry screening, review travel histories, and apply monitoring protocols for individuals who have travelled to the DRC within the past 21 days.”

The Ministry reminds the public that Ebola is a severe and often fatal illness transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person, or through contaminated surfaces. Residents planning international travel are encouraged to stay informed of global health notices, take appropriate precautions when travelling near affected regions, and remain attentive to any symptoms following travel.

The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the international situation closely, maintain coordination with global partners, and issue further updates as necessary.

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