ASIA TODAY Chinese activist proposes a day of fasting to remember the Tiananmen massacre

Other news of the day: Iran registered 142 executions in May, up from 307 since the beginning of the year. Japan launches “special bonds” to finance child care plans. Annual inflation in Pakistan reached 38%, the highest figure among South Asian countries. With a new “golden visa” system, Jakarta wants to attract talent from all over the world. Bangladesh is looking to Qatar for a supply of liquefied natural gas. A new church for the Russian Orthodox community will be built in Manama.

CHINA

From his jail cell, the Chinese activist Xu Zhiyong invited the people to observe a day of fasting on June 4 to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, when Beijing bloodily cracked down on the pro-democracy movement. He had previously invited the leader of the Communist Party and President Xi Jinping to resign.

IRAN

with 142 executions (about 4 per day) in the month of May that just ended, Iran set the record since 2015. According to data from Iran Human Rights (IHR), 307 prisoners have been executed since the beginning of the year, an increase of 75 % compared to the same period in 2022. Seven of them were related to the Mahsa Amini protests.

JAPAN

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the Japanese government has decided to create “special bonuses” to finance the child care programs provided for in the 2030 plan, one of the Executive’s priorities. The objective of the plan is to respond to the needs of families and counteract the progressive aging of the population in the country of the Rising Sun.

PAKISTAN

The YoY inflation from Pakistan reached 37.97% in May, the highest in all of South Asia and well above Sri Lanka, which follows with 25.2%. The month-on-month increase in May was 1.58%, mainly due to the increase in the price of vegetables, legumes and poultry.

INDONESIA

The Indonesian government wants to attract talent from all over the world and is preparing to launch a program based on the “golden visa“, in order to make the country a more attractive place to work thanks to extended residence permits. President Joko Widodo and the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno explained that the project constitutes a “radical inflection point” for attract investment and qualified foreigners.

BANGLADESH – QATAR

Bangladesh urgently needs cheap petroleum products and is preparing to sign a long-term contract with Doha for the liquefied natural gas supply (LNG). The terms of the deal, explained Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker, provide for the delivery of two million tons of gas per year for the next 15 years, starting in 2026.

RUSSIA – BAHRAIN

The Russian Orthodox Church plans to build a new place of worship in the capital of Bahrain, which is now very popular with Russians. The information was published on the patriarchate’s website, which reproduces the words of Primate Kirill during a visit to the exhibition of the artist Vasilij Nesterenko in Moscow, entitled “We are Russians, thank God”, in which the portrait of the king stands out. Manama Arab riding a white horse.

AZERBAIJAN

More than 10 countries have turned to Azerbaijan in the last year and a half for gas supplies or to increase existing ones, as President Aliev reiterated at the “Caspian Oil and Gas” exhibition during the Baku “energy week”. The country is becoming, he said, “the most important supplier in Europe, and the geography of our market is expanding.”