ASIA TODAY Iran’s presidential election: reformist Pezeshkian wins

Today’s news: Extreme weather continues across China. In Taiwan, a ruling party member who monitored relations with Beijing has been arrested. In Indonesia, data lost in a cyber attack has still not been recovered. To leave Turkmenistan, citizens must carry cash to prove they do not want to emigrate.

IRAN

The reformer Masoud Pezeshkian wins presidential election in second round against Saeed Jalili, a conservative and a supporter of closer ties with Russia and China. Although the president has no direct influence on Iranian politics, he participates in the election of the Supreme Leader, a role currently played by Ali Khamenei, 85 years old. The turnout was around 50%, compared to less than 40% in the first round.

TAIWAN

The Taoyuan prosecutor’s office in northern Taiwan announced that it had opened an investigation against Cheng Wen-tsana member of the Democratic Progressive Party in charge of relations with China, for alleged corruption. Cheng, in a statement issued through his lawyer and released by the foundation he heads, the Straits Exchange Foundation, denied any wrongdoing.

CHINA

This morning, the Chinese authorities have had to deal with a dam failure Hunan province, as the country continues to grapple with extreme weather conditions. No casualties have been reported so far, but 6,000 people have been evacuated. Yesterday, a tornado struck devastated part of Shandong provincewhere one person died and 79 were injured.

INDONESIA

Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, an official from the Ministry of Communications, resigned in recent days after a cyber attack on June 20 paralyzed government services across the country for several days. Citizens are also demanding the resignation of other executives through online petitions. So far, public bodies have only recovered 2% of the data, but the ministry expects full recovery by next month.

TURKMENISTAN

A new challenge has been imposed on Turkmen citizens who wish to leave the country after going through some rather complicated procedures: the (unofficial) requirement at the airport to carry at least $1,500 in cash to be allowed to fly, to ensure that they are “a tourist and not an emigrant seeking income abroad.”

RUSSIA

The Moscow court has sentenced the three sons of Lipetsk Orthodox priest Father Igor Aščeulov, Aleksej, Ioann and Timofej, to 17 years of hard labour for high treason for attempting to illegally cross the border to engage in terrorist activities, believing that they were fighting on the Ukrainian side against the Russians.