ASIA TODAY Nobel Peace Prize winners Ressa and Muratov propose a global plan for freedom of information

Other news of the day: ex-president Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka; a well-known imam close to the Taliban is one of the victims of the mosque attack in Herat province; Gazprom plans to open a new gas pipeline to China; in Iraq protests against sectarianism return after clashes between Shiite factions; In Moscow, the Catholic convicted of posting the Pope’s prayer for peace on Facebook was acquitted.

PHILIPPINES

At a conference on freedom of expression held in Oslo to “rebuild independent journalism”, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa and Russian Dmitry Muratov -Nobel Peace Prize winners 2021- launched a plan to combat the information crisis and the business model of the web giants. One of the proposed measures is the obligation of digital companies to rigorously assess the risks to human rights in each country where they intend to expand, strict laws on the protection of personal data and the creation of the figure of a UN special envoy. for the safety of journalists around the world.

SRI LANKA

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad after mass protests in July, has returned to the country. In recent weeks, Rajapaksa has been in Thailand on a temporary visa. Some ministers met him at the airport. Millions of Sri Lankans blame his government for the worst economic crisis the country has ever suffered.

CHINA-RUSSIA

The Russian company Gazprom plans to open a new gas pipeline of 10 billion cubic meters per year to China, from the Siberian Far East through the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok line. The announcement was made by the president of Gazprom, Aleksej Miller, who stated that “gas consumption in China over the next 20 years will increase by 40%”.

AFGHANISTAN

A well-known Taliban-linked imam, Mawlawi Mujeeb Rahman Ansari, is one of the 18 victims of yesterday’s attack against the Guzargah mosque in Herat province. The explosion occurred during Friday prayers inside the mosque and was caused by a suicide bomber.

IRAQ

Angered by the political crisis that has been dragging on for months and in recent days has led to deadly clashes between rival Shiite groups, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets yesterday in Baghdad to remember the 2019 protests against sectarianism. Nonpartisan protesters flooded Nusoor Square, waving banners and Iraqi flags to demand complete political renewal.

RUSSIA

The judge of the Zhuzino court overturned the conviction of the Catholic Moscow municipal deputy Konstantin Jankauskas – accused of spreading Pope Francis’ Marian prayer for peace – after hearing the testimony of the vicar general of the Moscow diocese, Msgr. Kirill Gorbunov, who explained to the court the reasons for the consecration.

KAZAKHSTAN

In a speech lasting more than an hour, President Tokaev of Kazakhstan made an appeal to the nation in which he proposed to organize early elections of the president and parliament in 2023, to begin a “restructuring of the country” and its institutions and to open a new path of more supportive and democratic economic and social development.