Myanmar: child labour rampant with compulsory conscription

Today's news: India's West Bengal state ready to take in people fleeing Bangladesh shaken by clashes. New Israeli bombings in Khan Younis on the eve of Netanyahu's trip to the US. Pacific islands ask Japan to act on pollution caused by wrecks of ships sunk in World War II. Vatican representative in Vietnam sends condolences on the death of Nguyen Phu Trong.

MYANMAR

The military conscription ordered by the Myanmar junta has exacerbated the shortage of workers caused by the country's civil war, and the gap is being filled by minors. Reporting this to Radio Free Asia are local workers' rights groups who speak of an increase in child labour in Myanmar in 2024 compared to previous years. Among the sectors affected are garment production, agriculture, food services, domestic work, construction and street trading.

INDIA-BANGLADESH

The Chief Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, declared herself ready to open the borders to people in distress from Bangladesh, which is shaken by the serious internal conflict. "I should not talk about the affairs of Bangladesh, as it is a sovereign nation and the matter is a matter for the central government in Delhi. But I can tell you this: if helpless people knock on the doors of West Bengal, we will certainly give them shelter,' he said. More than half of the 4,096 km of border that India shares with Bangladesh are in West Bengal, a state that has deep cultural and linguistic ties with Bangladesh and was at the forefront of the reception during the 1971 War.

GAZA-ISRAEL

New Israeli bombardments took place this morning in the eastern part of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in areas that had been designated as humanitarian zones. Shortly before the raids, the army had issued a clearance order claiming that attacks against its own troops would start from those areas.
The action comes on the eve of Netanyahu's trip to Washington where he will meet Joe Biden tomorrow, while the US continues to press for a truce.

VIETNAM

The Vatican's permanent representative in Vietnam, Archbishop Marek Zalewski, has sent a statement to the country's Bishops' Conference with the Holy See's condolences for the death of Vietnamese Communist Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong on 19 July. ‘I ask God,’ he writes, ‘to bless the Vietnamese people at this sad moment’.

JAPAN-OCEANIA

Japan and the Pacific Island nations will cooperate to address the problem of ‘oil spills from wrecked Japanese ships’ during World War II. as part of a broader effort to promote future-oriented relations. The commitment is contained in the action plan of the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders' Meeting (PALM10), held last week in Tokyo. Experts estimate that there are more than 3,000 wrecks scattered in the Pacific Ocean, including about 1,000 in the waters of the Melanesian and Micronesian regions, near island nations such as the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia.

RUSSIA-CHINA

Vladimir Potanin's Russian metallurgy giant Norilsky Nikel is looking to open production lines in China as exports have become almost impossible due to the blocking of payments by Chinese banks, which are defending themselves against secondary sanctions, and is agreeing with Cngr Advanced Material and Brunp Recycling for deliveries of over 50 thousand tonnes of nickel per year, 25% of its entire production.

KYRGYZSTAN

The President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Žaparov, has signed the amendments to the law ‘On Advertising’, which introduces a ban on any form of advertising of mystical-occult services and the people who offer them, in order to ‘prevent the manipulation of citizens’ consciences with magic and deception promising to obtain benefits in such ways'.

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