Other news of the day: the Japanese fashion chain Uniqlo announced salary increases of 40% due to inflation. The US Navy seized 2,000 rifles destined for Houthis in Yemen. The head of the Pakistani army seeks funding in the Gulf. In Dagestan, rehabilitation centers for homosexuals were opened.
TURKMENISTAN
According to the new rules of Turkmenistan’s Lebap velayat, which were announced orally but will soon be extended to the entire country, women will not be able to obtain a driver’s license before their 40th birthday, and only on presentation of their marriage certificate.
JAPAN
While Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was visiting in Italy Y United Kingdom the respective heads of government to sign security agreements, the Japanese fashion chain Uniqlo, known for its sober and monochrome garments, reported that will increase the salaries of its employees by up to 40%. Last week the prime minister invited all companies to do the same due to the rampant inflation.
TAIWAN
A Taiwanese air force official revealed details of the relationship of the island’s army with NATO and said that he had attended a six-month academic program at the Nato Defense College in Rome in 2021, in contact with senior officials of the organization. Taiwan, claimed by China as part of its territory, has no formal diplomatic relations with any NATO member, but enjoys US military support.
PHILIPPINES – CHINA – VIETNAM
The Supreme Court of the Philippines declared “unconstitutional and void” an agreement signed in 2005 (and concluded in 2008) granting oil exploration rights to foreign companies from China and Vietnam in the disputed area of the South China Sea. The court took 15 years to deliver its verdict. According to the judges, the agreement did not respect “constitutional guarantees” and undermined the sovereignty of the Philippines.
PAKISTAN
Yesterday the Chief of Staff Gulf tour of the Pakistani army, General Asim Munir, who visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in search of new loans to avoid financial default. While Pakistan will have to repay about $8.3 billion in loans over the next three months, foreign exchange reserves have fallen to $4.5 billion. For his part, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the international community for pledging to donate $10 billion after the floods that killed more than 1,700 people this summer.
YEMEN
The US Navy reported that in recent days there had been seized more than 2,000 assault rifles on a ship in the Gulf of Oman. They are believed to have come from Iran and were destined for Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. “The illegal flow of weapons from Iran through international waters has a destabilizing effect on the region,” said General Michael Kurilla, CENTCOM commander.
RUSSIA
In the Russian republic of Dagestan, several clinics and rehabilitation centers for the “treatment of homosexuality, bisexuality and atheism” have begun to open. In the most important of them, the “Alliance Recovery” of Makhachkala, 18-year-old Elina Ukhmanova was admitted, who had run away from her home due to domestic violence and was forcibly recovered by two “rehabilitators”.
