India-Pakistan: Hague court reopens arbitration over Indus water exploitation

Today's headlines: Japan remembers Abe one year after assassination; Chinese scientists study climate change on Mars.; Pablo Virgilio David re-elected president of Philippine bishops; Israeli researcher kidnapped in Iraq, Netanyahu accuses pro-Iranian militias; After Novaja Gazeta journalist pro-pacifist lawyer also attacked in Russia.

INDIA-PAKISTAN

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague has overruled India's objections to a proceeding initiated by Pakistan over water use in the Indus River basin, reopening a procedure that has been stalled for many years. The South Asian neighbors have been clashing over hydroelectric projects on the Indus River and its tributaries for decades, with Pakistan complaining that India's planned hydroelectric dams in upstream areas will reduce flows on the river that feeds 80 percent of its irrigated agriculture.

JAPAN

Memorial events for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were held throughout Japan today, exactly one year after his assassination at the hands of a gunman in the city of Nara. The faithful have been bringing flowers and offering prayers since morning at the site where he was killed, while a memorial ceremony was held at Tokyo's Zojoji Temple in the presence of his widow and Prime Minister Kishida. Meanwhile, Tetsuya Yamagami-the murderer who shot him over resentments about the politician's ties to the Unification Church-will not be tried until early 2024.

CHINA

An international research team led by Chinese scientists has revealed that climate changes have also occurred on Mars. This is evidenced by stratigraphic sequences from the area where the Chinese Zhurong Mars rover landed in May 2021. According to a release from the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), the research confirmed that wind processes recorded changes in the Martian environment with its rotation axis and glacial period, and will help understand the ancient climate history of Mars and provide a reference for the evolution of climate on Earth.

PHILIPPINES

Bishop of the Diocese of Kalookan Pablo Virgilio David, 64, has been re-elected for a second term as head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). He was chosen by the country's 80 bishops gathered for their plenary assembly in Kalibo, Aklan province. David will assume the role for a second and final term of two more years.

ISRAEL-IRAQ-IRAN

The Iraqi government has opened an investigation into the abduction of Israeli-Russian academic Elizabeth Tsurkov, which took place in March but was only made public in recent days by the Israeli government. Tsurkov disappeared after traveling to Iraq for research on behalf of Princeton University. "She is still alive and we hold Iraq responsible for her fate and well-being," said PM Netanyahu. According to the Israeli government, Tsurkov is reportedly being held by the pro-Iranian Shiite Kataib Hezbollah militia, which is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi Forces, former paramilitaries recently integrated into the Iraqi security forces.

RUSSIA

Strangers attacked Moscow lawyer Elena Ponomareva pouring green dye on her, the "color of shame" used in Chechnya against Novaja Gazeta journalist Elena Milašina. Ponomareva's eyesight was also damaged, and she said she was convinced that it was an act related to her professional work, in which she also defends people accused for pacifist actions.

ORTHODOX 

The chairman of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Court, Protoierej Vladislav Tsypin, said the Russian Orthodox Church does not recognize its former priests, whether from Russia or other countries such as Lithuania, who have been reduced to the lay state and rehabilitated by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The reaction is particularly related to images of Russian priest Ivan Koval, expelled for his pacifist views, celebrating in a Constantinopolitan church.

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