Today's news: US Secretary of State continues his Middle East tour in Riyadh and the Emirates; Opposition leader in Singapore found guilty of lying under oath; Gil Wok-ok, one of the last Korean ‘comfort women’, dies at 97; Kuala Lumpur imposes compulsory vaccinations for pilgrims participating in the Hajj: Accident at the Delhi railway station: 18 victims.

VIETNAM

The Ministry of Public Security has included the pro-refugee NGO Boat People SOS, based in the United States, on the list of ‘terrorist’ groups, accusing it of having carried out ‘anti-Vietnam activities’. According to a statement from Hanoi, the accusation is based on a series of meetings, which were also attended by representatives of ‘Montagnards [Stand] for Justice - MSFJ’, a group that ‘carried out the terrorist attack of 11 June 2023 in Dak Lak’.

ISRAEL - USA

The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, left Israel today and arrived in Riyadh, where he will meet with Saudi leaders (and Russian officials to discuss the war in Ukraine), and then conclude his first Middle Eastern tour in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Meeting with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the head of US diplomacy confirmed his support in the war against Hamas Gaza and the Iranian ayatollahs.

SINGAPORE

The leader of the Singapore opposition, Pritam Singh, has been found guilty of lying under oath to a parliamentary commission. The charges against Singh concern his handling of the case of Raeesah Khan, a former MP of his party, who lied to Parliament in a separate case. The verdict comes as the city-state prepares for the next general election in November. The Workers' Party holds nine of the 87 seats.

SOUTH KOREA - JAPAN

Gil Won-ok, a former sex slave of Japanese troops, died yesterday at the age of 97. She was a key figure in the campaign to raise awareness of the Korean ‘comfort women’ and the atrocities of the Second World War. She was only 13 years old when she was taken from her home in Pyongyang, now the capital of the North. With her death, seven remain alive in the South out of 240 recorded. Up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were mobilised to work in brothels for Japanese soldiers.

MALAYSIA - SAUDI ARABIA

Muslim faithful from Malaysia who intend to participate in the Hajj, the major pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, will be required to undergo a meningococcal vaccine. For at-risk categories - over 65s and the chronically ill - the Covid-19 and flu vaccines will also be required. The prophylaxis campaign begins today, 17 February.

INDIA

The death toll from an accident on the evening of 15 February at Delhi's main railway station has risen to 18, including five children. The youngest was seven and the oldest 79; four were women. Many of those injured and killed in the crush were pilgrims on their way to the Maha Kumbh Hindu festival, who were waiting for trains on two tracks.

RUSSIA - CHINA

Chinese oil processing companies have drastically reduced their purchase of Russian crude oil due to the strengthening of American sanctions against the ‘shadow fleet’ of cargo ships from Moscow. In February, 500 thousand barrels per day were exported from Russia to China instead of the million and more of the average of the previous three months, replaced by deliveries from Brazil and Angola.

KAZAKHSTAN - CANADA

One of Canada's main mining companies, Ivanhoe Mines, has begun geological analyses of one of the largest copper sites in Kazakhstan, the Šu-Sarysu basin, the third most important in the world after Central Africa and Kupferschiefer in Germany. It covers an area of 16 thousand square kilometres and has a reserve of 27 million tonnes, with funding from the British company Pallas Resources and an investment of 18.7 million dollars planned for the next two years.

 

 

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