ASIA TODAY Record inflation in Pakistan, with rates of 37.67% (+3.68% in one week)

Other news of the day: Israel revokes the permanent license of six Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem. Papua New Guinea postpones the announcement of the election results. Mass resignations in the Hong Kong civil service. In Uzbekistan, the president decrees 30 days of intensive cotton harvesting to save the harvest from the heat wave.

PAKISTAN

With an increase of 3.68% in just one week, inflation in Pakistan reached unprecedented levels. Driven by the increase in food prices, the Sensitive Price Index, which compares the cost of living with that of the previous year, reached 37.67%. The rate of 11.5%, which the Islamabad government had set as a target for fiscal year 2023, is further and further away.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

The Israeli Ministry of Education permanent license revoked of six Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem. This was replaced by a permit valid for one year during which they will have to modify school texts that incite hatred towards Israel. The Arab side criticizes the move as an attempt to do away with the Palestinian curriculum in favor of the Israeli version, which got rid of any reference to the occupation.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, postponed until August 5 the publication of the results of the elections held on July 22, which were to be released yesterday. Marape justified the decision by the “exceptional circumstances” in which the vote was held, accompanied by clashes with dozens of victims. Of the 118 seats up for grabs, only 35 have been allocated so far.

HONG KONG

In Hong Kong, some 3,734 civil servants they quit their jobs in the year 2021-22, according to data provided by the Public Administration Office (CSB). The resignations were more than double the previous year’s total and the highest number since the handover to China in 1997. The phenomenon is related to the “declaration of allegiance” officials must sign under the infamous National Security Law.

PHILIPPINES

Filipino athlete EJ Obiena, who last week won a historic bronze medal in the pole vault at the world championships in Eugene, USA, has decided to donate the prize granted by his federation. The money will be given to Lydia de Vega, a former Filipino sprinter and former 100m Asian record holder, who is currently battling cancer. To the 250,000 pesos received (about 4,500 euros) she will add an equivalent amount raised by her staff.

UKRAINE-RUSSIA

On July 28, the various jurisdictions of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches celebrated the feast of the Baptismal Day of Kievan Rus’, in honor of Prince Vladimir of kyiv “like the apostles, born in Volyn.” Special emphasis was placed on his role as the “founder of Ukrainian statehood”, combining religious and civil solemnity. In Russia, on the other hand, baptism is celebrated as the holiday “of the great territories of historical Russia”.

UZBEKISTAN

President of Uzbekistan Mirziyoyev declared that “intensive 30 days” of cotton picking will be carried out to save the season. For more than ten days the country has suffered abnormal temperatures with an average of more than 43 degrees, due to climate change that requires a “different approach to production.”