Hong Kong: first conviction of minors under national security law

Today's headlines: India studies bacteria's resistance to antibiotics, a major problem in the country; Thailand annoucnes a crackdown on drugs; life expectancy falls in Singapore; Afghanistan's human rights rapporteur is reappointed; the last speaker of the Aleutian language has died in Russia.

HONG KONG

Five teenagers, members of a self-proclaimed independence group, were sentenced to three years in prison. This is the first time that the National Security Law - introduced by Beijing in 2020 - has been used against minors. According to the court, the defendants were found guilty of fomenting a riot through social media.

INDIA

India is one of the countries most affected by what is called 'antimicrobial resistance' in medical jargon: it means that the bacteria responsible for infections are resistant to antibiotics. It is estimated that 60,000 newborn babies die from this every year. At Katshurba Hospital in Maharashtra, doctors have discovered that some drugs are less than 15% effective against the most common bacteria.

THAILAND

Thai Prime Minister Payuth Chan-Ocha ordered a crackdown on the spread of drugs in the country after a former police officer attacked a kindergarten and killed 36 people. The former police officer had been suspended from duty for possession of drugs, however medical examinations did not reveal the presence of drugs at the time of the attack.

SINGAPORE

Life expectancy dropped for the first time in the city-state due to covid-19 deaths, despite Singapore being one of the countries least affected by the pandemic. Between January 2020 and June 2022, there were 2,490 deaths, 60% of which were directly caused by the coronavirus. In 40 per cent of the cases, people had existing diseases.

AFGHANISTAN

The UN extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, by another 12 months. However, China, Venezuela and Pakistan voted against the resolution (29 votes in favour, 15 abstained). In recent days, the UN mission in Afghanistan sent teams to Panjshir to investigate alleged torture and killing of civilians by the Taliban.

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Aramco said it will keep its crude oil supplies to seven Asian countries steady despite Opec+ production cuts in recent days and shipments will be made by November, before the winter peak. Moreover, despite the generalised increase in energy costs, Riyadh also kept its crude oil prices for Asian countries unchanged.

RUSSIA

In Kamchatka, the last Russian bearer of the Aleutina language, the language of the Eskimos also found in Alaska, 86-year-old Gennadij Jakovlev, has died, as announced by the president of the Aleutina District Duma, Galina Koroleva. He spoke in the dialectal variant of the islands in the village of Nikolskoe on Bering Island in the Komandorskye archipelago.

ARMENIA - AZERBAIJAN

Following his participation in Prague at the enlarged meeting of the countries of Europe, Armenian Prime Minister Pašinyan reiterated that Armenia "is ready to unblock all channels of communication in the region", as soon as Azerbaijan gives an answer to Yerevan's demands on the recognition of territorial integrity, which has not been so far forthcoming.

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