Japan approves controversial amendment to immigration law

Today's headlines: Israeli attack on Gaza results in 12 deaths; In Uzbekistan, the current president could stay in office another 14 years;. Vietnam wants social media users to verify their identity; Asean diplomatic convoy hit in Myanmar.

JAPAN

The House of Representatives today approved an amendment to the immigration law that would allow authorities to deport people who repeatedly apply for refugee status. For the government, the amendment aims to avoid detention in immigration centres, while migrant support groups argue that it violates human rights. The bill - which will now go to the House of Councillors - also provides for a refugee-like status to be granted to those who do not meet all the criteria but are fleeing war and conflict.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE

An Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip killed at least 12 Palestinians, including three leaders of the Islamic Jihad group, who were killed along with women and children. At least 20 people were injured. The Israeli army reported hitting 10 sites used to manufacture weapons and six military facilities of the group. A Gaza military response against Israel is now feared.

MYANMAR

On Sunday, a diplomatic convoy carrying officials from the Indonesian and Singaporean embassies on their way to deliver humanitarian aid to displaced people from Asean was attacked in Taunggyi municipality, Shan State. It is not known which armed group carried out the attack in the context of the civil war ravaging Myanmar. A summit is to be held in Indonesia this week at which the Burma crisis will be discussed.

VIETNAM

Vietnam wants users of Facebook, YouTube and TikTok to certify their identity in order to conduct a 'comprehensive' investigation into the political content circulated on TikTok and combat human trafficking and other crimes. This was announced by the authorities of the Ministry of Information in two different communiqués: at the moment, the government plans to link the phone number to the identity of people, but it is not yet clear how.

RUSSIA - MOLDOVA

The representative in Moscow of Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist Moldovan republic, Leonid Manakov, presented a request to Russia to increase the presence of peacekeepers, which currently number 450, whereas according to the 1997 agreements there should be more than 3,000, to avoid manoeuvres by the government in Chisinau.

UZBEKISTAN

After the approval through referendum of 128 constitutional amendments, President Mirziyoyev set 9 July as the date for early presidential elections in Uzbekistan, which will reset his term of office to zero and put him back in the highest office for the next 14 years. The last election was last October, which he won with over 80% of the vote.

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