ASIA TODAY Hong Kong releases 70-year-old activist Albert Ho on bail

Today’s news: at least four victims in the collapse of a Shiite shrine in Kerbala; heavy rains and floods have claimed dozens of lives in India and Afghanistan; Tokyo is preparing to deploy a thousand missiles as a deterrent against Beijing and Pyongyang; Singapore annulled a law that criminalized homosexuality; crossing of accusations after the death of Daria Dugina in an attack.

HONG KONG

A Hong Kong court granted bail to Albert Ho, a democratic veteran who has been in prison for more than a year for violating the National Security Law, promoted by Beijing. Now in his 70s, the man led the Democratic Party and reportedly has serious health problems, including lung cancer. The statement contemplates restrictions and the prohibition to participate in public acts.

IRAQ

At least four people were killed in a landslide that partially destroyed the Shiite shrine of Qattarat al-Imam Ali in Kerbala on the night of August 20. Rescuers managed to recover six people alive from the rubble. According to the first reconstructions, the detachment was caused by excessive humidity in the roof, which caused it to collapse.

INDIA – AFGHANISTAN

Over the weekend, heavy monsoon rains and flooding left dozens dead in India and Afghanistan. Delhi reports at least 50 victims in the north and east of the country. The water invaded hundreds of villages, washing away houses. In Log, one eastern afghan provincethere are more than 3,000 homes destroyed.

JAPAN

Tokyo is considering the deployment of at least a thousand long range cruise missiles in response to Beijing’s growing military capabilities and threats. According to the Japanese newspaper yomiuri, this new weaponry can be launched from ships or planes and would allow it to reach the coasts of North Korea and China. It will be deployed mainly around the southern Nansei islands.

SINGAPORE

Singapore struck down a colonial-era rule, 377A, that banned same-sex relationships. Therefore, the homosexuality becomes legal in the city-state. The news was announced on television by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself, and comes after years of intense debate between those who support the measure and its opponents. The local LGBT movement openly celebrates the victory.

RUSSIA

Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk, in the Donbass, openly accuses kyiv of the murder of Daria Dugina, the daughter of the philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, ideologue of the “Russian World. The woman died in an attack, when the car exploded in which she and her father were traveling. The explosion occurred in Zakharovo, on the outskirts of Moscow. The kyiv government rejects the accusations, and assures that it did not participate in the attack, while from the Ukrainian capital Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the Moscow Duma expelled for activities against the Kremlin, attributes it to the work of a self-styled National Republican Army (RNA), a group of Russian “partisans”.

ARMENIA – GEORGIA

The State Leaders of Armenia and Georgia, Nikol Pashinian and Iraklij Garibašvili, inaugurated the “Friendship Bridge”, the new “Sadakhlo-Bagratašeni” border crossing crossing the river Debet. The project began in 2018 and was carried out thanks to a loan of six million euros granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.