Today’s news: Bangladesh suspends access to public jobs following student protests. Rights groups call on Thailand not to extradite a Degar activist to Vietnam over fears of torture. China scandal over edible oil in tankers used to transport toxic substances. Israel will acquire more land in the West Bank in 2024 than in the past 20 years.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan will extend for one year The expiring registration cards issued to nearly 1.5 million Afghans have been renewed, the prime minister said on Wednesday, after the UN refugee commissioner called for a pause in the country’s refugee repatriation plan. It is unclear whether the extension of the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, which expired in June, will exempt their holders from any future repatriation.
BANGLADESH
On July 10, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh temporarily suspended quotas for coveted public jobsafter thousands of students across the country protested against what they called a discriminatory system. In fact, the quota system reserves places for specific groups, including the children of liberation heroes. The students are demanding a merit-based system.
THAILAND – VIETNAM
Two human rights groups called on Thailand to to abandon its intention to extradite a Montagnard activist to VietnamAmnesty International said Y Quynh Bdap, an indigenous Ede man, is at risk of torture upon his return. An extradition hearing is scheduled for next week. Vietnamese authorities have a long history of violent and racist persecution of indigenous people.
CHINA
The Chinese government said it would investigate allegations that tanker trucks were used to transport transporting cooking oil and syrup after transporting toxic chemicals without cleaning them properly between loads. This is believed to be a widespread practice in the sector. It is yet another example of the Chinese government’s inability to enforce food safety regulations.
ISRAEL
In 2024, Israel officially acquired 23.7 square kilometers of new Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank as it continues its offensive on Gaza. It’s more land than it has taken in the last 20 years combined.It was the latest in a series of land confiscations announced this year by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees settlement planning.
ARMENIA
A protest action by refugees from Artsakh was organised in front of the UN representation in Yerevan, demanding “guarantees for the return to their homes” in Nagorno-Karabakh, occupied by Azerbaijan “after three terrible wars in the 21st century, which carried out a violent genocide with all kinds of heavy weapons.”
RUSSIA – IRAN
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (Gundjaev) sent his congratulations to the new Iranian President Masud Pezeshkyan, noting that “the peoples of Iran and Russia are united by the desire to preserve historical religious and cultural traditions, and to remain faithful to moral principles” in the ongoing dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Islamic community.
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