Other news of the day: Israel shells parts of Lebanon and Gaza in response to rocket attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. In China, a new study on Covid-19 confirms its animal origin. A military plane disappears in Japan. A South Korean citizen was arrested in Thailand for simulating his own kidnapping. Papuan separatists want to free the pilot taken hostage two months ago. Saudi Arabia will provide financial aid to Pakistan.
INDIA
the indian government removed some phrases related to Gandhi’s assassination from high school textbooks (used by young people aged 17-18). One of the corrected texts refers to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – a Hindu nationalist organization: it maintained that the RSS was temporarily banned after the assassination of the Mahatma because it spread “hatred between communities”. The reviews were conducted by an autonomous government body, the National Council of Educational Research and Training.
CHINA
A team of researchers published a peer-reviewed study analyzing samples from the Wuhan market linked to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The investigation reveals that swabs that tested positive in 2020 contained genetic material from wild animalsproof that the virus was transmitted from animals to humans at an early stage.
JAPAN
found remains that could belong to the military helicopter that disappeared from radar yesterday. The aircraft had 10 crew members on board. The Black Hawk is presumed to have crashed during a reconnaissance mission in the southern islands of Japan, some 1,800 km southwest of Tokyo.
THAILAND
A South Korean man was arrested for staying in Thailand for more than a year on an expired visa, allegedly simulating his own kidnapping. The man, identified as Kim, was trying to convince his relatives to send him money so he could return home, but the family contacted the South Korean embassy in Thailand and security forces found him and he was arrested.
INDONESIA
Separatist rebels in the Indonesian province of Papua, who have been holding a New Zealand pilot hostage for two months, maintain that no longer require recognition of their independence and declared that they are willing to talk with Jakarta. “This New Zealand pilot is not our enemy, so we will find a solution to release him,” he told Reuters a spokesman for the West Papua Liberation Army.
SAUDI ARABIA – PAKISTAN
Riyadh informed the International Monetary Fund that will grant a financing of 2,000 million dollars to Islamabad, so that Pakistan can reach an agreement with the lending institution and avoid the default. Islamabad also reported that it is in talks with the United Arab Emirates.
LEBANON – ISRAEL
Yesterday, the israeli army shelled areas of lebanon and gaza in response to rocket attacks attributed to Hamas and Hezbollah following tensions at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. According to a member of the Lebanese civil defense, no casualties were reported. The Israeli army reported that the attacks focused on 10 targets in Gaza and three in southern Lebanon, near the city of Tyre.
RUSSIA
An investigation of currenttime.tv documents the difficulties of independent Russian institutes dedicated to social research. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the propaganda of state institutes with their “oriented statistics” has intensified. With censorship and repression, various researchers agree that it becomes more and more difficult to “bring light to dispel the darkness of war.”
