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The earthquake alarm in Japan
Megaquake warning lifted in Japan - "Risk remains"

The warning for a "megaquake" in Japan has been lifted, the country's minister for disaster management Yoshifumi Matsumura says, reports the AFP news agency.

- But that does not mean that the risk has been eliminated, he warns.

Last week, the Japan Meteorological Institute issued a warning after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Miyazaki prefecture in southern Japan. According to the institute, the risk of a "megaquake" striking later was higher than normal. The warning prompted many Japanese to cancel their vacations and begin hoarding essential goods.

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Analysis: Now the world must unite in solidarity with Africa

The virus outbreak can no longer be ignored. This is what infectious disease doctor Krutika Kuppalli writes in The Telegraph after the World Health Organization WHO classified the spread of mpox, previously called monkeypox, as an international health emergency.

The new strain of the virus is significantly more infectious and deadly than the previous one, causing 14,000 cases of the disease this year, compared with an average of 4,000 over the past seven years. Over 500 people have died.

"The lessons learned from Ebola, covid-19 and the 2022 mpox outbreak in several countries must not be forgotten and the world must unite in solidarity to support Africa in its fight against this virus," she writes.

"Mpox is not corona 2.0," writes Oliver Klein in an analysis for the German TV channel ZDF. He states that the virus is spread from person to person and that 95 percent of cases can be traced back to sexual contacts, according to a study.

The state of emergency is declared precisely to avoid a new global pandemic, writes Professor Raina MacIntyre in The Conversation. The virus has spread from Congo-Kinshasa to several neighboring countries. The WHO's announcement makes it, among other things, easier to move vaccines to where they are needed, she writes.

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The bluetongue virus is spreading - the number of cases is increasing sharply

Several countries in Europe are affected by bluetongue, according to data collected by the AFP news agency. The spread of the virus - which affects ruminants such as sheep and cows but not pigs and horses - worries farmers.

The first virus outbreak was recorded in September 2023 in the Netherlands. It then spread to Great Britain, Germany and Belgium.

In recent weeks, the number of cases has increased sharply around the continent. Other European countries such as France and Denmark detected their first cases in August, the World Organization for Animal Health said in a report on Monday.

An animal infected with bluetongue may show various symptoms such as swelling, fever and salivation. Bluetongue cannot affect humans, but it is a serious disease for animals and can be fatal for sheep, for example. It can also cause a sharp reduction in milk production in cows.

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After five years: North Korea partially opens to tourism

A city in North Korea will reopen to foreign tourists in December, some five years after the country's borders were closed due to the Covid pandemic, the BBC reports.

In addition, at least two travel companies based in China have announced that tourists will soon be able to visit the city of Samjiyon, located in northern North Korea.

"So far only Samjiyon has been confirmed but we believe that Pyongyang and other places will also be opened!!!", writes the travel company Shenyang's KTG Tour on Facebook.

North Korea, which closed its borders at the start of the pandemic in early 2020, began lifting its restrictions as recently as the middle of last year.