ASIA TODAY Iranian Pasdarans Bomb Rebel Positions in Iraqi Kurdistan

Other news of the day: Hong Kong: dp sentence in absentia for activist Ted Hui. The United States will invest 860 million dollars in the South Pacific. India will continue to pay for Russian oil in dollars. New sentence for Aung San Suu Kyi. First deaths in Ukraine among the new soldiers mobilized by Putin. Patriarch Kirill supports the annexation of Ukrainian territories.

IRAN-IRAQ

Iranian Pasdarans bombedn yesterday Kurdish rebel positions in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Missiles and attack drones were used: nine confirmed dead, including civilians. Local and central authorities in Baghdad condemned the attack.

HONG KONG, CHINA

The City Superior Court today sentenced in absentia ted hui to three and a half years in prison. The charge is contempt of court. In November 2020, the democracy activist fled to Australia while out on bail on nine criminal charges. Later, the authorities also accused him of threatening national security.

UNITED STATES-SOUTH PACIFIC

During a summit in Washington, the United States announced that it had reached a association agreement with the island nations of the South Pacific. The US has committed to investing more than $860 million in the region. The goal is to curb the growth of Chinese influence and respond to the demands of local leaders to fight climate change.

INDIA-RUSSIA

Heavy blow to Kremlin attempts to circumvent Western sanctions over Ukraine war: Indian refiners continue to buy Russian oil in dollars. Moscow asks its partners to make payments in rubles or other currencies other than the US. The request to use the UAE dirham in transactions failed.

MYANMAR

A military court today sentenced Aung San Suu Kyiya his former Australian economic adviser, Sean Turnell, to three years in prison. He accuses them of having violated state secrets. Since the February 2021 military coup, the former leader of the Burmese civilian government has received several convictions from courts answerable to the ruling junta.

RUSSIA

The first soldiers mobilized on Putin’s orders were sent to the front in Ukraine, without having received adequate training and weapons, to defend the villages of Svatovo, Lyman and Kupjansk, in the Kharkiv region. Some of them died immediately, several were taken prisoner, and the Ukrainians have already shown one of them terrified on social media.

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

In a liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kirill called for “spiritual mobilization” of all believers, expressing the hope that this will help achieve full pacification between Russia and Ukraine. Kirill then awarded the patriarchal symbol of “church builder” to former Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was appointed commissar of the Ukrainian territories to be annexed to Russia.