Israeli raid near Parliament, at least six dead

Today’s news: Singapore’s former Transport Minister sentenced to 12 months in prison. Chinese authorities have ordered the transfer of 200 students from a Buddhist monastery in Tibet to state schools. Delhi blocks screening of Pakistani film, first in more than a decade. Dozens of tigers, lions and panthers die in two zoos in Vietnam due to H5N1 bird flu.

LEBANON – ISRAEL

The Israeli Air Force claims to have carried out a air attack “precise” in the early hours of the morning in Beirut, the first operation “in the heart of the Lebanese capital.” Local sources report a massive explosion (the target would have been a building near Parliament), which killed at least six people and injured seven others. More than 240 rockets were launched from southern Lebanon to northern Israel; yesterday, eight soldiers were killed in ground clashes in the south with Hezbollah militias.

SINGAPORE

A Singapore court conviction today the former Minister of Transportation and Communications is sentenced to 12 months in prison for obstruction of justice and pocketing more than $300,000 in gifts. It is the first imprisonment of a former executive in the city-state’s history. For 13 years Subramaniam Iswaran was part of the government; pleaded guilty to four charges.

TIBET – CHINA

The Chinese authorities ordered the transfer of at least 200 students from a monastery in Tibet to state schools. Activists and critics claim that the measure is part of Beijing’s efforts to control Tibetan Buddhist education and assimilate young people, in a typical “colonial” style. This is the last part of a total of 600 students currently enrolled in Taktsang Lhamo Kirti.

INDIA – PAKISTAN

Delhi freezes the screening of a movie Pakistani film, the first to be shown in the country’s cinemas in more than a decade. It is a remake of a 1979 Punjabi film, The Legend of Maula Jatt, the highest-grossing film in history in the Asian country. At the moment the reasons for the blockage are unknown. In Maharashtra, right-wing populist parties had protested against the release of the film.

VIETNAM

At least 47 tigers, three lions and a panther died in zoos in southern Vietnam due to the H5N1 avian flu virus. The deaths occurred in August and September at the private My Quynh Safari Park (Long An Province) and at the Vuon Xoai Zoo in Dong Nai. It appears that no zoo staff in close contact with the animals experienced respiratory symptoms.

RUSSIA

The Jews of St. Petersburg were denied permission to hold their annual memorial service for Holocaust victims, scheduled for October 6. The authorities justified themselves by citing coronavirus restrictions, now suspended for almost all events, to the point that in 2022 and 2023 the ceremony had been held, while now it will be held “in private.”

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan is maintaining intense negotiations to increase its gas exports to China, in order to maintain its positions in the market and resist competition from Russia and Turkmenistan. This was revealed by Orda.kz based on the statements of Sanžar Žarkešov, president of HK Qazaq Gaz, according to which “Chinese demand for gas is increasing every day.”