In 1977, 13-year-old Megumi Yokota vanished from the Japanese coastal city of Niigata on her way home from school. Twenty-five years later, North Korea admitted that its agents had snatched her away, along with 12 other Japanese citizens, in order to train its spies. In a groundbreaking diplomatic move, Pyongyang returned five of them in 2002, but not Megumi, claiming she had committed suicide. Her brothers Takuya and Tetsuya Yokota, who have spent the last 45 years waiting for answers, speak to FRANCE 24.
This week in China, violent protests shook a mega iPhone assembly plant in Zhengzhou, run by Taiwanese tech firm Foxconn. Frustration had been mounting at strict Covid restrictions at the factory. The unrest comes as the Communist authorities have started locking down thousands of neighbourhoods to contain a fresh surge in Covid-19 cases.
Finally, since returning to power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have closed off the majority of schools to girls, leaving many with the only option of getting married.
