The Paris Olympics opened with some confusion over South Korea’s name, annoying the East Asian country’s officials. Mixed Doubles Table Tennis instead took a group photo on the podium with a Samsung.
The non-participation in the Tokyo 2020 Games led to the exclusion of the Beijing 2022 winter event as well. In PyeongChang, athletes from North and South Korea paraded and played together to the point that there was speculation that a peace treaty would be signed. Today, relations with Seoul are once again hostile.
Today's news: at least 32 killed in student protest in Bangladesh, state TV set on fire; Police investigate cyanide used in the murder-suicide of six Vietnamese men in a Bangkok hotel; Consensus reached between Tokyo and Pacific Island leaders on releasing Fukushima waters into the ocean; Monsoons in Nepal caused 125 deaths in little over a month.
Today's news: Police in Laos rescue 17 girls (as young as 10) from sex slavery for Chinese tourists; UN report denounces "institutionalized" forced labor in North Korea; Six Vietnamese men poisoned in a Bangkok hotel room; Recruitment among ultra-Orthodox begins next week, clashes in Tel Aviv; Hindu group offers prayer for Trump's "health" after attack.
According to a local think tank, nearly 60 per cent of South Koreans would prefer another word, but there is no consensus at present on an alternative. The issue touches on the identity of the inhabitants of the peninsula. Since 1953, at least 3,400 people have fled the North Korean regime.
Today's news: three civilians killed in an Israeli raid in southern Lebanon, in Gaza the attack on the UN school exceeds 20 dead; Talks between Palestinian factions on 20 and 21 July in China; High North Korean official in Cuba defects and flees to South Korea; Bangkok court postpones extradition hearing in Vietnam for activist Montagnard Y Quynh Bdap.
