Syria: at least 100 killed in drone attack on Homs military academy

Today's news: Hong Kong man accused of disseminating 'seditious' children's books is jailed for four months. Arrests for journalists critical of Modi accused of spreading 'Chinese propaganda'. The city of Sapporo withdraws from the 2030 Winter Olympics bid. The Mekong Delta is in danger of running out of sand.

SYRIA

A drone attack on a Syrian military academy in the city of Homs has killed at least 100 people and injured dozens, including women and children who were attending a graduation ceremony for cadets at the military school. The Syrian army accused "terrorist groups supported by known international forces". There has been no claim by the rebels and jihadists fighting the Syrian regime.

HONG KONG

This morning Kurt Leung, 38, was sentenced to four months in prison for importing children's books considered "seditious" by local authorities. Leung was arrested in March after being found in possession of books that depicted Hong Kongers as sheep and the new pro-Chinese government as wolves threatening the population.

JAPAN

According to some sources, the city of Sapporo, in northern Japan, has decided to abandon its bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics, after the corruption scandals that characterized the Tokyo 2020 Games. The city mayor has not confirmed the news, saying only that he will meet Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita in Tokyo on Oct. 11 to "talk about how we should proceed."

VIETNAM

The Mekong Delta in Vietnam could run out of sand by 2035 due to dams, which are reducing the flow of sand downstream, the WWF said in a recent report. One of the authors of the report, Sepehr Eslami, explained that if the sand ran out, there would be a 10% increase in areas affected by salt intrusion, a phenomenon that has already caused enormous damage to rice crops in the freshwaters of the Mekong.

INDIA

New Delhi police arrested the director of the NewsClick news site, one of its administrators and the head of human resources in recent days after raiding the homes of journalists working for the site, which is critical of the government led by the former Minister Narendra Modi. Suman Nalwa, a police spokeswoman, said the arrests were made under the anti-terrorism law, and that the newspaper was accused of receiving money to "spread Chinese propaganda".

IRAN

Several activist groups have accused the Iranian government of beating a 16-year-old girl, Armita Geravand, then she fell into a coma. According to human rights groups, Geravand was targeted because she did not wear the hijab, a story that recalls that of Mahsa Amini. Iranian Kurdish rights group Hengaw also said security forces yesterday arrested Geravand's mother, Shahin Ahmadi, near the hospital where her daughter had been taken after the accident.

KYRGYZSTAN

The deputies of the Žogorku Keneš, the Bishkek parliament, rejected the bill on "Guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for men and women", due to a series of ambiguities and "drafting inaccuracies", in reality to avoid a series of " discrimination that completely denies women's rights", as stated by MP Gulja Kožokulova.

RUSSIA

The Novgorod court in Russia fined a local surgeon, Valery Kochnev, two thousand rubles for "demonstrating Nazi symbolism", having posted on VKontakte a video clip "Zombie" by the Irish rock band the Cranberries, which according to the police showed paintings documentaries from German wartime news. The doctor was a candidate in the municipal elections with the Yabloko liberals when he received the fine.

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