Other news of the day: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest in Pakistan has been suspended. India could sell $200 million worth of weapons to Indonesia. In Myanmar, the coup junta used the displaced as human shields. Information about counterfeit medicines is rampant in the Philippines. Russian credit cards are popular in Cuba. A part of the Georgian opposition wants a pro-Ukrainian government.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea launched another intercontinental ballistic missile hours before the historic meeting (the first in 12 years) between the president of South Korea and the prime minister of Japan. It is Pyongyang’s fourth missile launch in a week as the United States and South Korea conduct joint naval exercises. Pyongyang’s increased missile activity will likely be at the center of talks in Tokyo between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
PAKISTAN
A Lahore city court ordered a stay of arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. For two days a crowd of supporters of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI), Khan’s party, clashed with police to prevent his arrest. According to some, cricket, the sport of which he was champion, came to the rescue Former Prime Minister: Agents withdrew early so Pakistan Super League knockout matches could be played at the Lahore stadium, located 9 km from Khan’s residence.
INDONESIA – INDIA
Defense company BrahMos Aerospace plans to close a deal to sell cruise missiles to indonesia for an approximate value of 200 million dollars with the aim of expanding its presence in Southeast Asia. BrahMos is an India-Russia joint venture and signed its first deal last year for the sale of $375 million worth of land-based anti-ship missiles to the Philippines, as part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to triple defense exports. .
MYANMAR
The Burmese coup junta detained and used internally displaced civilians as shields during clashes with the Karenni Army and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, two ethnic militias from Kayah state, where the conflict has escalated in recent weeks. The regime “launched an airstrike on a displacement camp in eastern Demoso while civilian medical teams were evacuating the displaced, but fortunately no casualties have been reported,” a Karenni Human Rights Group spokesperson said.
PHILIPPINES
Many posts promoting fake drugs and offer untested cosmetic products. Even before the pandemic, people were turning to the internet for cheaper and more easily accessible medicines, but experts say that with covid-19 there has been “an explosion of misinformation.” Most of the posts circulate on Facebook and the platform has a hard time controlling the spread of harmful information.
RUSSIA – CUBA
Russian “Mir” credit cards, rejected in almost every country in the world except a few “friends,” are becoming popular in Cuba because they hand out generous sums of cash to Russian tourists who flock to the island – where locals cannot withdraw more than $20 a day from ATMs – under an agreement that allows them to circumvent US sanctions.
GEORGIA
Former Georgian Prime Minister Vano Merabišvili, a member of the National Movement, said that opposition parties support the establishment of a pro-Ukrainian government in Tbilisi that would take office “after Ukraine’s victory over Russia”, arousing much criticism not only by the government but also by numerous opposition figures.
