Other news today: Vietnam continues to protest the representation of the South China Sea, while the Philippines denounces the presence of Chinese ships in disputed areas. Burmese army attacks also hit health workers. They dismissed the appeal of Rahul Gandhi in India. Russian planes in Syria force American and French planes to avoid them. Diplomatic meetings between Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
SOUTH KOREA – JAPAN – CHINA
After conducting its own independent analysis, the South Korean government accepted the UN assessment according to which the Japanese project to release the polluted waters of Fukushima into the ocean complies with global safety standards, but the korean opposition organized a nightly sit-in inside the National Assembly in protest. Long at odds, Seoul and Tokyo are getting closer politically, while Beijing today imposed the food import ban of ten Japanese prefectures due to the release of radioactive water.
SOUTH CHINA SEA
After banning the movie “Barbie” for the presence of a map showing the South China Sea entirely under Chinese jurisdiction, the Vietnamese authorities complained about the same problem with blackpink concert organizers, a well-known all-female South Korean music group, because there is a similar map on their website. Meanwhile, the Philippine military has expressed “alarming concern” over the presence of at least 47 Chinese ships in disputed maritime areas, rich in natural resources.
MYANMAR
According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, in Myanmar they have killed more than 40 aid workers since the coup d’état of February 1, 2021. The military of the coup junta are responsible for “direct attacks” against local cooperators to prevent the distribution of aid. More than 17.6 million people, a third of the population, need some form of humanitarian assistance.
INDIA
The Gujarat High Court has rejected the appeal of the Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, sentenced to two years in prison for defamation due to a sentence he uttered in 2019 against the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His arrest is on hold for now, but he has been disqualified as a deputy and will not be able to participate in next year’s national elections.
SYRIA – UNITED STATES
Russian fighter jets returned to fly dangerously close of several US MQ-9 Reaper drones operating over Syria. The US Air Force explained that it is the second such incident in less than 24 hours. For its part, the French military claimed that two of its warplanes patrolling the Iraq-Syria border area were forced to carry out special maneuvers to avoid the Russian planes.
Türkiye – AZERBAIJAN
The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to “exchange points of view on regional issues”, in particular on the thorny issue of the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, assuming greater mediation by Turkey to guarantee peace and security in the South Caucasus.
RUSSIA
Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina, who was attacked by unknown assailants along with lawyer Aleksandr Nemov while on her way to court to attend the trial of an unjustly accused woman, was transferred to a Moscow hospital after receiving initial treatment in Beslan. . Before leaving, she declared that she will return to work in Chechnya, despite the attack and the shame she has been inflicted by shaving her hair and painting her face, “so that I don’t show myself in public.”
