Ceasefire begins betgween Hezbollah and Israel. Hamas: ready for truce
Today's news: in Pakistan, Khan's party suspends protest after overnight police raid with massive arrests. Up to 40% higher prices for vegetables in Malaysia due to bad weather conditions. In Japan 4,000 sites used as disaster relief centres are located in environmentally hazardous areas. UN mission reports more than 250 cases of arbitrary arrests among journalists at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
ISRAEL - LEBANON - GAZA
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, brokered by the United States and France in a rare diplomatic success, came into effect overnight in an attempt to extinguish the ‘northern front’ between the Jewish State and Lebanon. Heedless of the warnings issued by the Israeli army (and its Lebanese counterpart), civilians are returning to the southern towns and villages near the border, but the situation is still very fragile and the political and social crisis in the country remains unresolved. Wrath among the inhabitants of northern Israel, the vast majority of whom are in favour of continuing the war, while in Gaza even Hamas is signalling its readiness for a truce.
PAKISTAN
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party suspended street protests calling for his release from prison after a large police operation in Islamabad overnight ended with hundreds of arrests among his supporters. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pti) ‘temporarily’ froze the demonstrations, in which at least six people died, including two demonstrators.
MALAYSIA
Prices of some vegetables have risen between 30 and 40 per cent in the last period due to bad weather conditions. Citing lettuce, the president of the Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers Association Wong Keng Fatt confirmed the doubled cost. The prolonged lack of sunshine also adversely affected tomato crops in the Cameron Highlands.
JAPAN
About 4,000 potential sites for temporary shelters for disaster survivors are located in flood-prone or disaster-prone areas, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun study. Prefectures and municipalities cooperate in the construction of temporary accommodation on the basis of the Disaster Relief Act. The municipalities mainly choose the locations and the prefectures build the housing. A total of 3,958 of the 14,051 candidate sites, or 28%, are in disaster areas.
AFGHANISTAN
The UN mission in Afghanistan denounced the arbitrary detention by the ruling Taliban of 256 journalists since their return to power in the summer of 2022, urging the authorities in Kabul to protect the media and freedom of information. Reporters operating in the country, UN experts point out, work in ‘conditions of severe hardship’ especially women.
RUSSIA
According to calculations by the Zerkalo website, Russia has invested more than 900 billion dollars in the war in Ukraine since 2014. A sum with which 50 space stations could have been built, 300 world-class scientific laboratories installed, free housing allocated to 4.5 million people, and over 900 contemporary hospitals built in every region.
GEORGIA
The first session of the new parliament, which re-elected Šalva Papuašvili as president, was held in Georgia, while a crowd of protesters gathered in front of the palace, who believe the elections were falsified and demand new ones. Only the 88 deputies of the Georgian Dream out of the 150 elected took part in the assembly, with the four opposition parties absent en bloc.
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15/07/2023
