Other news of the day: Police in India continue to use homing pigeons. Rohingya refugees will be able to access university in Malaysia. In Vietnam, Facebook continues to censor content unwanted by the Communist Party. The Knesset wants to stop a summer camp for Israeli and Palestinian orphans. Moldova declares a pro-Russian party illegal.
CHINA – PAKISTAN
The China National Nuclear Cooperation and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission signed a $4.8 billion deal to build a nuclear power plant, Chashma 5, in the eastern province of Punjab. Work on the project will start immediately, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said. Pakistan’s sixth nuclear power plant was inaugurated two years ago.
MALAYSIA
The Malaysian Ministry of Education announced that rohingya refugees in the country will have the opportunity to study at the International Islamic University thanks to a $50 million grant from the Qatar Development Fund. Responding to the criticism, Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said: “This does not compromise the sovereignty of the country. We are a civilized country that understands that we must help refugees.”
VIETNAM
According to former Meta employees and human rights activists, Facebook has made several concessions to the authoritarian government of Vietnam in order to retain a large number of users, systematically censoring dissidents and allowing those it deems a threat to be banned from the platform. Meta has adopted an internal list of Communist Party of Vietnam officials not to criticize on Facebook and included it in the content moderation guidelines.
INDIA
Police in the eastern state of Orissa continue to use homing pigeons when communications are disrupted during natural disasters. It is a service that dates back to the days of the British colonial empire. “We have kept the pigeons for their historical value and to preserve them for future generations,” said Satish Kumar Gajbhiye, Cuttack District Police Inspector General.
ISRAEL
During a meeting of the Knesset Education Committee, Likud MP Hanoch Milwidsky warned the director of the Ben Shemen Youth Village that he will not be able to organize a camp for orphaned israeli and palestinian children sponsored by the Parents Circle organization, and threatened to closely review all public funds earmarked for the initiative.
RUSSIA
The president of the Moscow Duma, Volodin, summoned all the relokanty, the Russian expatriates because of the war, to return before July 2, because after that date they will lose their fiscal residence in the Russian Federation and they will be increased taxes from 13 to 30%. According to Putin, “half of the Russians who were abroad have already returned,” and of those who remain abroad, only 9% continue to work remotely for Russian companies. A third of the relokanty consider their situation to be “extremely difficult”.
MOLDOVA
Moldova’s constitutional court has declared the pro-Russian party “Shor” illegal. The deputies who were elected with that seal can continue parliamentary activity as independents, because the party “has acted against the priority of the law, endangering the sovereignty and independence of the republic”, and asked that it be completely eliminated.
