Nuclear cooperation agreement between Russia and Myanmar

Today's headlines: Colombo declares a state of emergency; Japan's the wasabi industry fears climate change; Modi government criticised over 'ominous' statue on India's parliament building; in Russia soldiers' mothers mobilise to stop their sons going to the front; an Isis leader is killed in Syria.

MYANMAR - RUSSIA

Myanmar's coup junta and the Rosatom State Corporation - Russia's state-owned nuclear power company - yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to foster nuclear cooperation. Junta-led General Min Aung Hlaing, visiting Moscow, also pledged to strengthen military-technical cooperation after meeting senior Russian defence officials.

SRI LANKA

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled to the Maldives on a military jet with his wife and two security agents. The final destination is expected to be a third country. Other family members have also left the country. Protesters are camped out in the presidential residence awaiting his letter of resignation. The premier has declared a state of emergency.

INDIA

The Indian government defended the erection of a new statue on the roof of the parliament after receiving several criticisms from the opposition in recent days. It is a statue of three lions inspired by an ancient Indian sculpture in Ashoka. According to critics, the lions in the statue wanted by Modi are more threatening and aggressive than the originals. The project is part of a plan to renovate colonial buildings.

JAPAN

Climate change is also endangering the cultivation of wasabi: horseradish seedlings have to stay in water at a temperature of 10 to 15 degrees all year round. Japan's ageing population is also a problem: due to these two factors, wasabi production has halved since 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

SOUTH KOREA

Seoul denounced the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019 as a potential 'crime against humanity' by the previous government led by Moon Jae-in. Critics accuse Moon of being "so desperate to please North Korean leader Kim Jong Un" that he "shamefully disregarded basic principles of human rights and humanity".

SYRIA

The US claimed to have killed an Isis leader, Maher al-Agal, in north-west Syria in a drone strike. According to the US Central Command (Centcom), al-Agal was responsible for the "aggressive" development of the group outside Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State has not yet confirmed the death of the leader.

RUSSIA

A new protagonist of the Russian war in Ukraine is the 'women's movement' formed by the mothers of soldiers, active mainly in the Asian Russian regions of Buryatia and Tuva, where there are the highest statistics of casualties in the special operation. The mothers keep in touch via Viber to avoid eavesdropping, and agree on actions to protect their sons from mobilisation.

MONGOLIA

Mongolian President Khurelsuk has issued a decree for the public veneration of the portrait of 'Lord Bogdo Genghis Khan, born as Temuuzhin 860 years ago, a millenary genius of world history, who unified the Mongolian people under the power of law, history, culture and law, proclaiming the great Mongolian Empire'.

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