India will resume issuing visas to Canada

Today's news: Israeli night raids in Gaza, still no date for start of ground operation; China sends three astronauts to its space station; Indonesia arrests tiktoker for insulting Christianity; For the United Nations, the number of refugees reaches an all-time high this year; Ukraine created a battalion of Russians who want independence for their regions.

GAZA – ISRAEL

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out a "targeted raid" in northern Gaza overnight using tanks, part of "preparation for the next stages of combat". In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has also reiterated that there will be a ground invasion of the Strip, but it is not yet clear when this will happen and what exactly will be the main military objective of the operation, such as the occupation of part of territory.

INDIA – CANADA

India will resume issuing visas to Canadian citizens following last month's diplomatic row over the killing of a Canadian Sikh activist for which Ottawa had accused Delhi of being responsible. Indian officials also said that “further decisions, if any, will be communicated based on continuous assessment of the situation.”

CHINA

This morning China sent a new crew to its Tiangong space station. This is a mission that is part of the Chinese space program which plans to send people to the moon by 2030. The Shenzhou-17 took off from the Jiuquan launch site in northwestern China carrying a team of three astronauts.

INDONESIA

An Indonesian TikToker accused of blasphemy against Christianity has been arrested in North Sumatra province after videos of him went viral. Fikri Murtadha was taken from his home and taken to the city of Medan for investigation, police said, adding that the 28-year-old man apologized for the content he posted on TikTok but will likely be charged with incitement to hatred, for which up to six years in prison are foreseen.

REFUGEES – UN

There are estimated to be more than 114 million refugees worldwide, an increase of 5.6 million in 2023 compared to the end of last year, the highest figure ever recorded by the Refugee Agency. According to the United Nations, this is a number that demonstrates "the inability of the international community to resolve conflicts". The main causes of displacement were conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

INDIA

In the remote village of Totopara, in the state of West Bengal on the border with Bhutan, the local community has started an initiative to protect the Toto language, spoken by 1,600 people, who are forced to learn Bengali, Nepalese and Hindi. But in 2019, an alphabet was created for the language and now several volunteers have offered to teach the writing method to children, so that the language does not become extinct.

RUSSIA – UKRAINE

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have established the “Siberia” battalion, made up of Russian citizens of various ethnic origins who desire the independence of their republics and regions and the overthrow of Vladimir Putin's regime and who have come to Ukraine from third countries and passed through careful checks before being enlisted.

TURKEY – TURKMENISTAN

The president of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, went to Turkey on an official visit to discuss with his counterpart Recep Tayyp Erdogan the issue of increasing trade between the two countries, and that of the transit of Turkmen gas, which should arrive in Europe with the help of Ankara, but many aspects are still to be defined.

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