Qatar to pay salaries of Lebanese troops

Today's headlines: Chinese Communist Party members reach record level of 96.7 million; Myanmar military planes encroach on Thai territory; Pakistan ready to block internet after series of power outages;  Turkey awaits Taliban response to bid for Kabul airport operations; Russian censors target culture.

QATAR-LEBANON

With an allocation of million, Doha will finance the Lebanese Armed Forces' salaries. The economic crisis in Lebanon, marked mainly by the collapse of the national currency, has caused discontent among soldiers in Beirut, who now earn less than 0 a month on average.

CHINA

Official data today revealed that the Chinese Communist Party reached a record 96.7 million members at the end of 2021. That is a 3.7 percent growth over 2020. New members are young and schooled; less than a third are women; the blue-collar and agricultural workers segment is shrinking.

THAILAND-BURMA

Bangkok Air Force fighter jets were scrambled yesterday after Myanmar military aircraft violated Thai airspace. The incident occurred on the border with Karen State, where Burmese military junta air forces were targeting local ethnic militias supporting opposition to coup generals.

PAKISTAN

Due to the energy crisis, the Pakistani government may cut off internet and mobile phone services. The country is grappling with repeated blackouts after authorities failed to secure imports of necessary quantities of liquid natural gas used in electricity generation.

TURKEY-AFGHANISTAN

The Turkish government said it is awaiting the Taliban's response on its bid to operate the Kabul airport. Istanbul is ready to operate the airport hub with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

RUSSIA

Moscow's "Gogol-Centr," the Taganka Square theater of director Kirill Serebrenikov, has been closed, bidding farewell to a show entitled "I do not participate in the war," based on the poems of Soviet dissident Jurij Levitansky.

KAZAKHSTAN-AZERBAIJAN-TURKEY

Foreign ministers of the three countries met in Baku to find alternative routes for transporting oil to Europe from the Caspian Sea area to the Black Sea. The goal is to circumvent Russia, which has been blocking pipelines lately, forcing the Kazakhs to reduce extraction activities, especially after Putin and Tokaev's rifts.

• AsiaToday