Hong Kong: Wall Street Journal fires the new president of the journalists' union
Today's headlines: International Court of Justice calls West Bank settlements "unlawful", while Netanyahu claims that it is the land of the Jewish people. A study reveals that Indian women were much more affected than men by COVID-19 in 2020. Japanese gymnast pulls out of the Olympics because she was caught smoking and drinking, which are banned under Japanese law for people under 20. In Luhansk, the monuments to the victims of the Holodomor, the famine caused by Stalin, have been removed.
HONG KONG
The case of Selina Cheng, a local journalist fired by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) a few days after agreeing to take on the position of president of the Hong Kong Journalist Association, the most important media union, long under pressure in defence of press freedom, is causing a stir in Hong Kong. According to Cheng, the American newspaper (which had already moved its local headquarters to Singapore) gave in to pressure from the authorities. The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, the union representing WSJ staff, has come to her defence from the United States.
PALESTINE – ISRAEL
The International Court of Justice yesterday issued a long-awaited advisory opinion on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, in which it says that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories is "unlawful" and must end "as rapidly as possible". In presenting the UN Court's conclusions, President Nawaf Salam said Israel must also compensate Palestinians for the damage caused, adding that the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, and all states have an obligation not to recognise Israel's occupation as legal. Rejecting these conclusions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Jewish people cannot be considered an occupier in what he called their historic homeland.
INDIA
A study carried out by 10 researchers from the universities of Oxford, Berkeley, and Paris on COVID-19 deaths in India in 2020 found that the impact on the population was heavily influenced by gender inequalities. The data show that between 2019 and 2020, the decline in female life expectancy was one year greater than for males, a trend not found in most of the other countries examined.
OCEANIA – UNITED STATES – CHINA
The United States has opened an embassy in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the latest move by Washington in its competition with Beijing for influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States has already opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, and plans to open another in Kiribati to counter what it sees as a growing threat from China, its main strategic rival.
JAPAN
Shoko Miyata, the 19-year-old captain of Japan's women's artistic gymnastics team, has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics after admitting to smoking and drinking. In Japan, smoking and drinking are prohibited for those under 20 years of age. Miyata's absence will be a blow to the women's team, which is aiming to win its first Olympic team medal since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Shoko Miyata won the bronze medal on the beam and placed eighth in the all-around at the 2022 World Championships.
RUSSIA – UKRAINE
In the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Luhansk, the granite monuments to the victims of the Holodomor, the famine caused by Stalin in 1932-33, and to Stalin's other acts of repression, were dismantled by decision of the Russian provisional administration "at the request of veterans' organisations" who consider them "false and offensive to true patriotism".
KYRGYZSTAN – UZBEKISTAN
The President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, arrived in Tashkent on an official visit to Uzbekistan. Upon landing at the Islam Karimov Airport, he met with his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The two leaders are expected to hold bilateral talks. Important agreements are expected to be signed during high level meetings. The Kyrgyz leader is also expected to visit the capital and Khiva, a city which, according to ancient mythology, was founded by Shem, son of Noah.
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31/08/2006
