Pakistani raid in Afghanistan: eight dead, all women and children

Today's news: only 51.7% of South Koreans want to get married, 28.3% intend to have children 'with certainty'; Hanoi reports annual crop losses of three billion dollars, Mekong Delta in crisis;  Elections in India scheduled between 19 April and early June; The Israeli government instituted the annual national day of remembrance of the 'catastrophe' on 7 October; Russian President Putin re-elected with 87.17% of the vote. 

PAKISTAN - AFGHANISTAN
Eight people, all women and children, were killed today in at least two cross-border Pakistani army airstrikes in Pakistan, in an action that the Taliban in Kabul describe as "reckless". Tensions on the border between the two countries have increased with the return to power of Koranic students in summer 2021. The operations follow the killing of seven Pakistani soldiers over the weekend, following which President Asif Ali Zardari promised "retaliation" .

SOUTH KOREA
Only half of the adult population in South Korea plans to get married, and less than half want to have children in the future. This is what emerges from a research released yesterday, on a sample of 1059 bachelors between 19 and 49 years old according to which only 51.7% intend to settle down while 24.5% exclude it completely, 19.1% are undecided. By gender, more men were willing to marry (56.3%) than women (47.2%). Only 28.3% want to have children.

VIETNAM
Hanoi faces around three billion dollars a year in crop losses as more and more saltwater seeps into farmland. The most serious situation is in the Mekong Delta, an area better known as the "rice bowl of Vietnam" because it provides subsistence to tens of millions of people in the country. Fruit trees account for 29% of damage in the Mekong Delta, crops account for 27%, and rice accounts for nearly 14%.

INDIA
India will elect a new Parliament in seven phases between April 19 and early June, the Election Commission said over the weekend, in what will be the world's largest election with around a billion voters. The last of the seven phases of voting will be held on June 1st and the votes will be counted from June 4th, for what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called "the greatest festival of democracy".

CHINA - SINGAPORE
The Chinese embassy in Singapore is urging expats in the city-state to stay away from all types of betting, warning that overseas gambling violates Beijing's laws. The warning follows the crackdown imposed by the government against those abroad in South-East Asian countries who are addicted to betting, whether illegal or otherwise, who will not receive help from the embassies in the event of problems.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE
The Israeli government decided yesterday "unanimously" to establish an annual national day of remembrance for "the catastrophe" of October 7, with reference to the Hamas attack in the south that triggered the war in Gaza. A ceremony will be held "every year at 11 am for the soldiers fallen in war and another at 1 pm in memory of the murdered civilians" for a total of at least 1160 deaths. The war in the Strip has already killed 31,600 people, 13 thousand children. During the night the army launched a new operation against al-Shifa hospital.

RUSSIA
President Vladimir Putin was re-elected with 87.17% of the votes, with approximately 70% of the ballots counted. This was announced by the Election Commission, which indicates the candidate of the Communist Party Nikolai Kharitonov in second place with 4.19% of the votes, Vladislav Davankov (New People) and Leonid Slutsky (LDPR) in third and fourth place respectively with 4.08 % and 3.15%. The turnout in the three days of voting was high, with 74.22% of those entitled to vote. In his first speech, the Kremlin leader commented for the first time on the death of Alexei Navalny, speaking of a "sad event".

TURKEY - AZERBAIJAN
Turkey's Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, insisted in a joint press conference in Baku with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Georgia on the reopening of the "Zangezur corridor" (Lachin for Armenians). For the head of Ankara's diplomacy “it is the best possibility to guarantee stable peace in the region, taking into account all the countries involved.

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