News of the day: Israel reiterates that it will respond to Iran, while Hamas reduces to 20 the number of hostages it would release for a ceasefire. The WHO warns of a new contamination in the ingredients used for cough syrups. In Manila, regulations prohibiting electric Jeepneys on main roads come into force. In Chinese songs, women no longer talk about love, but about freedom and personal fulfillment.
AUSTRALIA
He is accused of terrorism The 15-year-old boy arrested yesterday after stabbing a Syrian Orthodox bishop and at least four worshipers during a celebration in Sydney. The attack occurred last night at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley. None of the injured is in danger of death. The bishop attacked on Monday is Mar Mari Emmanuel, considered a popular but also controversial figure. Ordained by the Syrian Assyrian Orthodox Church in 2011, he was subsequently suspended for disobeying the canons and forming a separate church.
ISRAEL-IRAN-GAZA
The Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi, declared that the Iranian attack “will receive a response”. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has prudently withdrawn its inspectors from Iranian nuclear facilities. Meanwhile – while at night Israel carried out new bombings on Gaza with a toll of 5 dead, including a child – Hamas once again put the brakes on a ceasefire agreement, stating that it is only willing to release 20 hostages ” “humanitarians” (women and the elderly) and insisting on the end of the war and the return of the population to northern Gaza.
PAKISTAN
The World Health Organization has alerted drug manufacturers about five batches contaminated with propylene glycol, an ingredient used in medicinal syrups. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issued three alerts between January and March over high levels of ethylene glycol (EG), an industrial solvent known for its toxicity, found in drums allegedly produced by Dow Chemical subsidiaries in Thailand, Germany and Singapore . Contaminated cough syrups produced in India and Indonesia have been linked to the deaths of more than 300 children worldwide since the end of 2022. In the Indonesian case, authorities discovered that a supplier had placed fake Dow Thailand labels on drums containing EGs that he had sold to a distributor for pharmaceutical use.
PHILIPPINES
In Manila, a new regulations which restricts the use of light electric vehicles (LEVs) on about 20 main routes in the metropolis. The ban includes electric bicycles, but also Jeepneys, the small four-wheeled vehicles often used by the poor to get around quickly at low cost. Several groups have urged authorities to reconsider the ban, which they consider anti-poor.
CHINA
The letters of songs in mandarin Written, performed and addressed to Chinese women have undergone a drastic change in recent years, focusing much less on romantic love and much more on freedom and personal fulfillment, recent research has shown. This is corroborated by research carried out on the texts by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
RUSSIA
The rector of the Pushkin Institute of the Russian Language, Natalya Trukhanovskaya, stated that street vocabulary and swear words are destined to disappear as perceived vulgarities, since their frequent use even by official figures (such as President Vladimir Putin) will degrade them to linguistic expressions “normal.”
UZBEKISTAN
Hundreds of car dealership owners have addressed Uzbekistan's president, Šavkat Mirziyoyev, asking him to lift restrictions on the import of foreign cars, which could put thousands of people out of work, introduced to encourage the import of Chinese cars after the agreements reached by the president in Beijing.
