“Japan has implemented a five-fold increase to visa fees for all foreigners, marking the first price hike in nearly 50 years. From 1 July, single-entry visa fees will be raised from the current 3,000 yen ($18.69; £14) to 15,000 yen, while multi-entry visas will now cost 30,000 yen, up from 6,000 yen. The visa fee revisions – the first since 1978 – were made to ‘reflect inflation and exchange rate fluctuations,’ Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters on Friday. ‘We do not anticipate that it will have an immediate impact on inbound tourism,’ he added. The Japanese yen has been weakening continually since 2021, and is now hovering near historic 40-year lows. This, along with a post-pandemic travel rebound, has led to a surge in tourists to Japan. The country welcomed a record 42.7m international tourists last year.” (06/22/26)
“A UK lawyer who led volunteers to clean up a heavily polluted river in East London is now being probed and could face a prison sentence for doing the cleanup without official permission, The Guardian reported. Paul Powlesland, who is an environmental campaigner, spent 10 days in late February organising a community effort on Alders Brook, a tributary of the River Roding in Barking. Alongside the River Roding Trust, volunteers removed around 200 bags of litter, silt, weeds, and branches from a 250-metre stretch that had reportedly become choked and stagnant. The media outlet suggested that the cleanup worked, as within days, locals reported fish, dragonflies, herons, and reed beds returning to the revived section. … Within a week of the cleanup, Environment Agency investigators visited the site and sent Powlesland a letter saying the group was under investigation for ‘unpermitted works’ in breach of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.” (06/22/26)
“Getty Images has announced a multi-year partnership with OpenAI that will bring its licensed content libraries to the AI company. The agreement means Getty’s content will appear in OpenAI search and ChatGPT. … Getty, until recently, had taken a strong stance against working with AI companies. In September 2022, Getty banned all AI-generated art from its library. A few months later, it sued Stability AI, alleging copyright violations — a notion that was rejected late last year. A year after its AI-generated art ban, Getty announced its own generative AI tool, trained on its library and powered by NVIDIA’s Edigy AI model. Each of the resulting images came with a royalty-free license. But in October 2025, Getty signed a deal with Perplexity AI, allowing the latter’s AI search and discovery tools to access Getty’s library.” (06/22/26)
“At least 13 people have been killed and 66 injured after an explosion at Qatar’s largest gas facility. The city’s main liquified natural gas (LNG) processing site suffered ‘a technical accident’ in Ras Laffan industrial zone on Sunday night, the interior ministry said, with the city’s skyline turning orange because of the explosion. Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said the explosion would not affect the country’s exports, adding ‘this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature’. The Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbour in the world and has the world’s largest LNG export facility. It was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year. The blast on Sunday rattled windows and was felt across central Doha, panicking residents more than 70km (43 miles) from Ras Laffan.” (06/22/26)
“The former leader of [British-occupied] Ireland’s largest [British quisling] party, Jeffrey Donaldson, was found guilty on Monday of historic child sex offences against two women when they were children in one of the highest-profile cases to be heard in the British-run region in recent times. A jury at Newry Crown Court found Donaldson guilty of one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency against two complainants at dates between 1985 and 2008. He denied all charges. … The jury found that Donaldson’s wife, Eleanor, aided and abetted her husband. She has also denied the charges. The court ruled her unfit to stand trial last month, due to mental health issues, meaning she could not face criminal conviction.” (06/22/26)
“Bolivia began the week with 11 active roadblocks remaining across the national highway network — a sharp decline from the dozens that had disrupted transportation and commerce for more than 50 days, according to a road accessibility report from the Bolivian Highway Administration. Local media outlets, including El Deber and La Razón, reported that reopening the country’s main transportation routes occurred shortly after President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency Saturday in response to internal unrest. Vehicle traffic and essential goods distribution have gradually returned to normal after a joint deployment of the Bolivian National Police and the Armed Forces, officials said. The operation dismantled much of the network of more than 50 critical roadblocks that had pushed the country toward a logistical and economic crisis.” (06/22/26)
“China imposed fresh trade restrictions on dozens of U.S. entities on Monday, retaliating against Washington’s move to add more Chinese companies to a Pentagon list of businesses it accuses of aiding Beijing’s military. On Monday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce placed 10 American industrial suppliers on its export control list, including rare earth miners MP Materials Corp and USA Rare Earth, and drone makers Teal Drones and Jaia Robotics — barring exports of any dual-use items originating in China to the companies. Other companies included on the list are California-headquartered electronics manufacturer Aveox Inc, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp, and military equipment provider Oshkosh Defense. In a separate statement Monday, the Chinese Finance Ministry excluded 46 U.S. companies, mostly defense contractors, from participating in government procurement projects.” (06/22/26)
“US President Donald Trump says he has ‘inspected’ the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, and that ‘work will begin immediately’ to repair the American landmark. Despite a recent multi-million dollar renovation, including a fresh coat of blue paint, the historic structure continues to face issues – most prominently algae turning the water a bright shade of green. The pool may need to be drained and refilled for a second time this month, according to Trump, who flew over the site in a helicopter on Sunday while on his way back from Camp David. It comes as Trump claims the pool’s paint has been marred by vandals ahead of the 250th anniversary of the country’s 4 July independence day. US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro has vowed to aggressively prosecute anyone found to have damaged the pool.” (06/22/26)
“The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict. The three liberal [sic] justices dissented. Prosecutors had been preparing to try the man, Pedro Hernandez, for a third time. … Etan vanished while walking to his downtown Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979. Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience shop at the time, but the Maple Shade, New Jersey, resident didn’t become a suspect until 2012. Etan was among the first missing children ever to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day. Hernandez already has been tried twice. A jury deadlocked in 2015, and then a different panel of jurors convicted him at a 2017 retrial.” (06/22/26)
“A court sentenced a former South Korean justice minister on Monday to 25 years in prison for his role in ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol’s brief and disastrous declaration of martial law in 2024. Park Sung-jae was found guilty of involvement in ‘insurrection,’ the Yonhap news agency reported from the Seoul Central District Court. Yoon’s December 2024 martial law declaration lasted only about six hours as lawmakers raced to the assembly building and voted it down in an emergency session. He has since been convicted of leading an insurrection, and is in detention while appealing a life sentence. Yoon was also given a 30-year jail term earlier this month for sending drones to North Korea to ‘manufacture a national crisis’ to justify his martial law.” (06/22/26)
