Today’s news: The Burmese army hunts down gold dealers and real estate agents. Malaysians ingest the highest amounts of microplastics. Body recovery operations in Papua New Guinea suspended due to risk of new landslides. The Taliban demolish the houses of the internally displaced. Arrest in Türkiye of a pro-Kurdish mayor. China continues to do business in Central Asia.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea to resume all military activities along demarcation line (which separates the country from North Korea) after suspending a 2018 peace agreement. The decision, made after the sending of garbage balloons by Pyongyang, will allow Seoul to develop training plans and carry out exercises to reinforce the defense of the front in an area that had been considered a buffer zone between the two Koreas for the past five years.
MYANMAR
In the last two days, the Myanmar junta has arrested 35 people who traded in gold, foreign currency and sold property abroad, accused of destabilizing the exchange rate of the kyat, the Burmese currency. According to state media, those detained include five people accused of illegally selling condominiums in Thailand. Last week, the kyat hit a record low, trading from $1 to $4,500 on the black market, compared to $2,100 at the Central Bank of Myanmar.
MALAYSIA
Malaysians ingest more microplastics than most countries in the world, according to a recent study, since they ingest an average of 502.3 mg of microplastics per day, 50% of which comes from eating fish. One of the main sources of microplastics in ocean waters is the poor management of plastic waste from landfills. The authors also noted that by eliminating 90% of plastic waste, microplastic intake can be reduced by more than 48% in Southeast Asian countries.
AFGHANISTAN
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), In Kabul, the Taliban began demolishing internally displaced settlements, leaving more than 800 families, about 6,000 people, homeless. The NRC urged the Taliban to immediately stop the ongoing evictions. At the end of 2023, there were 4.2 million internally displaced people due to conflict and violence and 1.5 million displaced by natural disasters, in addition to some 600,000 Afghans expelled from Pakistan in recent months.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The bodies of hundreds of villagers buried by the landslide of recent days in Papua New Guinea will not be recovered, announced this morning the authorities, who described the rescue operations as “too dangerous.” “All efforts to recover the bodies have been canceled due to the danger,” said Army Maj. Joe Aku, citing the risk of further landslides. After this decision, the true balance of the catastrophe will probably never be known.
Türkiye
Clashes in Ankara Parliament after the arrest on Monday of Mehmet Siddik Akis, Kurdish mayor of the southeastern province of Hakkari, on the border between Iran and Iraq, which came to power two months ago after winning local elections. The Turkish Interior Ministry said Akis allegedly played an important role in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an organization banned by Turkey, and replaced him with an official, a move he had previously taken. A fight broke out between deputies from the ruling AKP party and the pro-Kurdish DEM party.
RUSSIA
A province of the Siberian Republic of Buryatia, the Mujskij Raion, is burning due to an impressive series of fires in almost 30 thousand hectares of forest, caused by the dry storms of recent days with lightning discharges, while other areas near The rivers are devastated by the floods, which have also submerged many roads, making rescue operations extremely difficult.
KAZAKHSTAN – CHINA
Kazakhstan has entrusted the Chinese company China Nonferrous Metal Industry with the construction of a new copper processing factory in the Abajsk region, for a volume of 300 thousand tons per year, in an agreement with Kaz Minerals Smelting of Pavlodar, in whose signature it was Prime Minister Olžas Bektenov himself will be present, and other similar agreements are expected.
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