Lahore woman risks lynching over dress with Arabic print

Today's news: China's space agency names launchers that will put a man on the moon by 2030; Thousands of Filipinos take to the streets against Marcos' constitutional reform on the 38th anniversary of his father's ouster; Indians spend less on food, increase resources for TVs and fridges; New on-shore gas field discovered in Saudi Arabia.

PAKISTAN
In Lahore, an angry crowd accused a woman of blasphemy for wearing a dress adorned with Arabic print, mistaking the word "Halwa" (sweet) for verses from the Koran. Only the intervention of her police saved her, with the officers who rescued her by taking her away from hundreds of people ready to kill her. Hours later, the woman publicly apologized for the "accident".

CHINA
The Chinese space agency has revealed the names of a new crewed spacecraft and a lunar lander for its mission to send astronauts to the moon before 2030. The crew spacecraft is called Mengzhou ( dream ship in Chinese) and the lunar lander Lanyue (hugging the moon). The names were selected from nearly 2,000 submissions from August 2023.

PHILIPPINES
Thousands of members of the Philippine opposition movement demonstrated in various cities of the archipelago yesterday to protest against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s plans to amend the Constitution. The demonstrators chose the symbolic date of February 25, which marked the 38th anniversary of the peaceful uprising of 1986 which led to the ouster of his father.

INDIA
Compared to the past, Indians are spending less money on food, particularly staples like rice and wheat, and more on discretionary items like processed food and durable goods like televisions and refrigerators. This was revealed by a government survey on consumption as of July 2023, with average spending rising to 45.54 dollars per month per capita in the countryside and 77.95 dollars in the cities.

SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh has announced a gas discovery in Aramco's on-shore Jufurah field. The Department of Energy reports 15 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas and two billion barrels of condensate. Reserves at Jufurah have reached 229 trillion cubic feet of gas and 75 billion barrels of condensate. Unconventional resources require advanced extraction methods.

RUSSIA - JAPAN
A delegation from the Patriarchate of Moscow participated in the international conference in Tokyo on "Religions for Peace", explaining their beliefs on the right to support Russia's military actions in Ukraine. Those present then recalled that according to the Geneva Convention "the presence of ministers of religion in the army is admitted", as has always happened in history.

TURKMENISTAN - ASIA
According to the Techopedia website, internet users in Turkmenistan have reached first place in the world for searching for VPN access through the Google search system, leaving behind those of Ethiopia and Iran, Myanmar, China and Syria. Afghanistan is also included in the top ten countries, to find the possibility of using the network without excessive controls.

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