one year and nine months in prison for the former editor-in-chief of Stand News

Today’s news: Israel intercepts a missile launched from Yemen, new airstrikes and deaths also in Gaza. Fiji protests to the UN over China’s intercontinental ballistic missile test launched into the ocean. At least 46 dead, including many children, in India due to a ritual bath at a Hindu festival despite rising rivers. In South Korea, workplace accidents are increasing with immigrants as victims.

HONG KONG

One year and nine months was the sentence imposed on the former editor-in-chief of the independent Hong Kong news organization Stand News for publishing “seditious” material, while a second editor was immediately released only because of a rare illness. Former Stand News editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 55, and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam, 36, were sentenced by the Wan Chai District Court after being found guilty last month of “conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications.” These are the first convictions of journalists since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

ISRAEL-LEBANON-YEMEN

The Israeli air defense claims to have intercepted This morning a ballistic missile was launched from Yemen in the direction of Tel Aviv. Apparently, the missile was shot down “outside the country’s borders.” Meanwhile, in addition to the conflict in Lebanon, the Israeli raids on Gaza: According to Palestinian sources, 36 people have died in the Strip in the last 24 hours as a result of the bombings.

INDIA

At least 46 people – including 37 children and seven women – died drowned during the celebration of a Hindu religious festival in several districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The victims apparently died while performing ritual baths in rivers and ponds swollen by recent flooding. The three-day Jivitputrika festival celebrates the well-being of children every year. According to local authorities, many people ignored the dangerous water levels of the rivers to celebrate.

FIJI-CHINA

The President of Fiji, Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, called for “respect for our region” and the end of missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China once again launched, after more than 40 years, an intercontinental ballistic missile that sank near the Special Economic Zone of French Polynesia. In his speech before the UN General Assembly in New York, Katonivere recalled the history of the Pacific Ocean as a testing ground for nuclear weapons and called for “respect for our region and an end to this type of actions.”

SOUTH KOREA

The work accidents affecting migrant workers, especially in small factories and construction sites, are increasing in South Korea, and are expected to reach 10,000 cases this year, according to a published Ministry of Labor report. From January to August, 6,715 accident claims were filed. South Korea recorded a steady increase in workplace accidents involving foreign workers, with 8,054 cases in 2019, 8,062 in 2020, 8,555 in 2021, 8,886 in 2022 and 9,543 in 2023.

RUSSIA

The Russian Government has drawn up a “Security Infrastructure Development” plan, which plans to spend more than 11 billion rubles (more than 100 million euros) to protect Russia’s 31 main civil airports, 20 state and 11 private, from drone attacks, for which specific regulations and very complex technological solutions are needed.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kaspi Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest bank, has seen the value of its shares plummet by more than 20% in financial markets following the publication of a Culper Research investigation into its relations with Russian oligarchs under Western sanctions, although authorities They deny the accusations against the bank.