Saudi activist against male guardianship jailed for 11 years 'terrorism' charges

Today's news: at least 36 victims in Guangdong in highway collapse; Ankara wants to join South Africa in genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice; Bhutan is a pioneer in South Asia for primary health care (PHA); Heat wave and mismanagement cause a fish die-off in a reservoir in southern Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of animals dead. 

SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi women's rights activist Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of 'terrorism-related offences'. The sentence dates back to January but the news only came out in recent days. A fitness instructor and feminist, the 29-year-old was charged for "clothing choices" and for a number of posts on social media calling for an end to the male guardianship system or in which she showed up in shops without an abaya. 

TURKEY - ISRAEL
Ankara wants to join South Africa in the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on charges of genocide for the war in Gaza against Hamas. This was announced yesterday by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during a press conference with his Indonesian counterpart who was visiting the country. Turkey, he added, "will continue to support the Palestinian people". 

BUTHAN 
Bhutan is a leading and pioneering nation in South Asia for primary health care (PHA). This was stated in a study by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the World Bank, the Government of Japan and the Global Fund. The assessments focus on the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (Phcpi), service delivery indicators (Sdi) and health cost analysis, which show that the country has a 'solid foundation'. 

CHINA
At least 36 people have been killed and dozens injured, some of them seriously and hospitalised, in the collapse - caused by heavy rain - of a section of motorway in Guangdong province, in the south of the country. CCTV reports that a stretch of road almost 18 metres long between Meizhou and Dabu county collapsed around 2.10 a.m. on 1 May, trapping 20 vehicles.

VIETNAM
Hundreds of thousands of fish died in a water reservoir in Dong Nai province in the south due to mismanagement of the reservoir combined with the exceptional heat wave that hit several countries in South and Southeast Asia. Residents ford the Song May reservoir by wading through the carcasses. There has been no rain for weeks and the water is too shallow for the animals to survive. 

SOUTH KOREA
Seoul's parliament today passed a bipartisan bill establishing a new committee to investigate the deadly accident on Halloween night 2022 in the South Korean capital, overcoming obstacles and vetoes that had emerged in the past. The go-ahead also accommodates the demands of a large part of the population and relatives of the victims, who are calling for truth and justice on the tragedy.

RUSSIA
Finland has closed to navigation the Sajmen Canal, an ancient water link between Russia and Northern Europe, famous for its extraordinary natural features, housing constructions and highly folkloristic production buildings. It was, Okno reports, a symbol of the friendship between Russians and Finns 'now destroyed by the war in Ukraine'.

KAZAKHSTAN - AZERBAIJAN - ARMENIA
The President of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Zomart Tokaev, announced that the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed to meet in Astana, following a Kazakh proposal. He recalled the symbolic value of the Alma-Ata agreements in 1991, where the borders of the two Caucasian states were set after the end of the Soviet Union.

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