ASIA TODAY Ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. Hamas: open to a truce

Today’s news: In Pakistan, Khan’s party calls off protest after overnight police raid with mass arrests. Up to 40% increase in the price of vegetables in Malaysia due to bad weather conditions. In Japan, 4,000 sites used as relief centers are located in environmentally hazardous areas. The UN mission denounces more than 250 cases of arbitrary detentions of journalists at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

ISRAEL – LEBANON – GAZA

A cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, mediated by the United States and France in a rare diplomatic success, came into force overnight in an attempt to extinguish the “northern front” between the Jewish state and Lebanon. Ignoring the warnings of the Israeli army (and its Lebanese counterpart), civilians are returning to southern cities and towns near the border, but the situation remains very fragile and the country’s political and social crisis remains unresolved. Anger among the inhabitants of northern Israel, the vast majority of whom are in favor of continuing the war, while in Gaza even Hamas He appears willing to a truce.

PAKISTAN

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party suspend the street protests to demand his release from prison, after a major police operation in Islamabad overnight led to hundreds of arrests among his supporters. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pti) “temporarily” froze the demonstrations, in which at least six people died, including two protesters.

MALAYSIA

The prices of some vegetables have gone up between 30% and 40% in the last period due to bad weather conditions. Citing lettuce, Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers Association president Wong Keng Fatt confirmed the doubling of the cost. The prolonged lack of sunshine also negatively affected tomato crops in the Cameron Highlands.

JAPAN

According to a study by the Yomiuri Shimbun, some 4,000 potential temporary shelter sites for disaster survivors are located in disaster-prone areas. floods or disasters. Prefectures and municipalities cooperate in the construction of temporary shelters, based on the Disaster Relief Law. Municipalities mainly choose the locations and prefectures build the homes. A total of 3,958 of the 14,051 candidate sites, or 28%, are located in disaster zones.

AFGHANISTAN

The UN mission in Afghanistan denounced the arbitrary detention, by the ruling Taliban, of 256 journalists since their return to power in the summer of 2022, and urged the authorities in Kabul to protect the media and freedom of information. Reporters operating in the country, UN experts point out, work in “conditions of grave hardship,” especially women.

RUSSIA

According to calculations on the Zerkalo website, Russia has invested more than $900 billion in the war in Ukraine since 2014. A sum that could have built 50 space stations, installed 300 world-class scientific laboratories, and assigned free housing to 4 .5 million people and built more than 900 contemporary hospitals in all regions.

GEORGIA

The first session of the new Parliament was held in Georgia, which re-elected Šalva Papuašvili as president, while a crowd of protesters gathered in front of the palace, who believe that the elections were falsified and demand new ones. Only the 88 Georgian Dream deputies of the 150 elected participated in the assembly, with the four opposition parties absent en bloc.