news in brief -2025-01-31

Japan protests UN calls to allow

women on imperial throne

TOKYO, Jan 30: Japan said it would not fund a UN women's rights committee and suspended a member's visit over calls for the nation to change its male-only imperial succession rules. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Thursday that a visit by a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would be called off, and financial contributions not made. In October, the UN committee said Japan should "guarantee the equality of women and men in the succession to the throne" in line with "good practices" in other monarchies. —AFP

One dead in Uganda Ebola outbreak

NAIROBI, Jan 30: A nurse has died from Ebola in the Ugandan capital Kampala, the health ministry said Thursday. "An outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease has been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda following confirmation from 3 National Reference Laboratories," the ministry's permanent secretary Diana Atwine was quoted as saying on X. The victim was described as "a 32-year-old male nurse, an employee of Mulago National Referral Hospital who initially developed fever-like symptoms". —AFP

Russian drone barrage kills four in E Ukraine

KYIV, Jan 30: A Russian drone attack that targeted cities across Ukraine killed at least four people in a Soviet-era residential block in the eastern city of Sumy, the interior ministry said. Citing emergency services on the ground, the ministry said four people were killed. The rights ombudsman in Kyiv said nine others were wounded. —AFP