ASIA TODAY China confirms plans to delay retirement age

Today’s news: The Indian state of Manipur has reimposed a curfew in the face of a new wave of violence. Deaths from Typhoon Yagi are rising in Vietnam and Thailand. Burmese refugees in India are on hunger strike. Tenth draft of the difficult peace agreement is being reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

CHINA

Following the first announcement in July, China decided gradually increase the retirement ageaccording to a draft submitted to the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress, which began yesterday. The topic immediately became a trending topic on Chinese social media. It is a necessary measure to support the economy and deal with an ageing population, according to experts, but the population fears that this will make it more difficult for young people to find work.

JAPAN

Former Minister of Health, Katsunobu Kato, also announces his candidacy for the next elections internal elections of the Liberal Democratic PartyKato is the eighth candidate to formally enter the race to become party leader and prime minister. At a press conference, he pledged to double people’s incomes by raising wages.

VIETNAM – THAILAND

The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Yagi rises to 141while in Thailand Four people have died so far. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said aid was being provided to some 9,000 families affected by flooding in the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Vietnamese authorities warned that the rains were endangering central districts of the capital, Hanoi, where some schools had already been closed.

INDIA – MYANMAR

More than a hundred Rohingya and Chin refugees from Myanmar They started a hunger strike in the Matia transit camp in the state of Assam to protest against the poor sanitary conditions. Following recognition of their refugee status by the United Nations (despite India not being a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention), they are demanding to be transferred to a detention centre in Delhi and then resettled in a third country or in a refugee camp in India.

MANIPUR

Authorities in the northeastern state of Manipur They imposed an indefinite curfew and blocked Internet access due to a new wave of student protests and violence that has been raging in the northeastern Indian state for a year. The local government said it wanted to curb disinformation and hate speech that could lead to new clashes between the Kuki and Meitei communities and against law enforcement.

AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban Ministry of Labor announced Today is a holiday in Herat for the inauguration of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline, a project that was actually launched by the previous Afghan government in 2018 following an agreement signed between the four countries in 2016. Once completed, the pipeline will have the capacity to transport 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

ARMENIA – AZERBAIJAN

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced during a visit to Luxembourg that Yerevan has handed over to Azerbaijan the tenth version of the draft peace agreement, with a text agreed upon by all internal bodies and Azerbaijani demands, and that it is now expected that it will be signed by Baku without any further conditions.

RUSSIA

Major Russian metallurgical companies Severstal, Nlmk and Mmk have appealed to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) complaining about China’s excessive increase in steel and zinc trade across Eurasia, with claims of dumping seriously jeopardizing the production and business of Russian companies.