China grants UK and Canada visa-free entry, raising total to 79 countries
ABC News
China is letting British and Canadian citizens enter without a visa as it tries to boost tourism and business
BEIJING -- British and Canadian citizens can enter China without a visa starting Tuesday, bringing to 79 the number of countries granted visa-free access in a bid to boost tourism and business.
China has expanded eligibility for the program significantly in the last two years. Visitors can stay for up to 30 days for business, tourism, exchange programs and to visit family and friends.
Most Europeans qualify for visa-free entry, along with some from select countries in other regions including Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Citizens of a few other countries, including the United States and Indonesia, can enter for 10 days if they are in transit — meaning they have a ticket departing for a different country than they arrived from.
Business executives and tourists have welcomed the change, as the China visa application process can be a relatively cumbersome one.
The Bank of England is expected to keep its main interest rate unchanged at 3.75% in the wake of the oil and gas price hikes following the start of the Iran war
Thailand’s Parliament has convened to pick a new prime minister
Dozens of dogs and cats have arrived in Athens with their owners aboard a special evacuation flight for Greeks with pets who were trapped by the current war in the Middle East
Mexican authorities have arrested an Ecuadorian fugitive accused of helping organize the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio
President Emmanuel Macron has named France’s next nuclear-powered aircraft carrier France Libre, or Free France, framing it as a symbol of independence and military power
Pakistan has announced a pause in strikes against Afghanistan, saying the decision was made ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey
Bulldozers have been digging pits in a cemetery in the Afghan capital ahead of a mass funeral for some of the victims of what officials have said was a Pakistani airstrike that hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul on Monday night
Attacks on a town along Sudan’s border with Chad have killed at least 17 people and injured 123, Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said
Rwanda has told a panel of international arbitrators that Britain still owes it 100 million pounds ($115 million) under a controversial refugee resettlement deal that Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped immediately after taking office in 2024
Georgia’s Patriarch Ilia II, the longtime head of the Georgian Orthodox Church and one of the country’s most influential figures, has died at the age of 93
A Thai zoo said police has arrested a man after he entered the enclosure of Moo Deng, the viral pygmy hippo
Peru’s prime minister has resigned from her post
Republic of Congo’s President N’Guesso reelected to his fifth consecutive term, according to provisional results