ASIA TODAY Japan, ready to restart the nuclear plant closest to Fukushima

Today’s news: UAE and Vietnam sign comprehensive economic partnership agreement. In Pakistan, an extremist group attacks a district to vaccinate against polio; three dead. Beijing promotes measures to promote families and support birth rates. At least four Southeast Asian countries want to join the BRICS (safeguarding relations with the West).

JAPAN

Tokyo is ready to restart the nuclear power station closest to the epicenter of the devastating earthquake, and subsequent tsunami, that caused the Fukushima disaster in 2011. According to local experts, this would represent a “milestone” in the Rising Sun’s attempt to reactivate the use of atomic energy, starting with the unit 2 of the Onagawa plant, in the northeast of the country, which is about to return to operation after a long period of maintenance due to some minor damage suffered during the earthquake.

UAE – VIETNAM

United Arab Emirates and Vietnam have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa), the first on free trade that Hanoi establishes with a Middle Eastern country as a result of a year of negotiations. The objective is to promote exports and investments in agriculture, energy, technology and logistics. In 2023, the volume of trade between both countries reached around $4.7 billion, 6% more than the previous year.

PAKISTAN

The campaigns of vaccination They continue to be targeted by Islamic fundamentalist groups. At least one police officer was killed today in Upper Orakzai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the northwest of the country, when a group of armed men attacked a health district housing anti-polio vaccination teams. Two of the attackers were reportedly killed in the shootout.

CHINA

Beijing yesterday outlined a series of measures to support to the family and encourage birth at a time of demographic crisis after decades of the one-child policy. Last year, the birth rate hit an all-time low and India overtook China in population. Among the measures under study: better maternity insurance, maternity leave, subsidies and medical resources for children.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Indonesia and Vietnam, along with two other Southeast Asian countries, have announced their intention to join the Bricsthe body that opposes the Western bloc, while emphasizing that they want to maintain good relations with Washington and Brussels. In the group of candidate countries – which for the moment have been recognized as “partners” of the 9 member countries – there are also Malaysia and Thailand, called to maintain a balanced position between the two fronts.

IRAN – RUSSIA – ISRAEL

One of the consequences of the latest Israeli attacks on fuel depots in Iran will be the impossibility for a few months of supplying Russia with new ballistic missiles to use against Ukraine. This is explained in X by the Israeli expert Angel Pfeffer, according to whom the weapons will not even be available to the Hezbollah militiamen in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

UZBEKISTAN

In the parliamentary elections held in Uzbekistan, the Liberal Democratic Party of President Savkat Miziyoyev won with 42.7%, as announced by the head of the electoral committee Zajniddin Nizamkhodzhaev, obtaining 64 seats. Another 29 went to the Millij Tiklanish Democrats, 21 to the Social Democrats, 20 to the People’s Democrats and 16 to the Environmentalists.