Third school year opens without girls under Taliban rule

Today's news: Bangkok court convicts Chinese businessman and three accomplices for running a surrogate mother circuit; Agreement between IMF and Islamabad to allocate a first tranche of .1 billion; Aramco will increase gas production by 60%; Two Vietnamese pro-minority activists sentenced to prison for 'abuse of democratic freedoms'. 

AFGHANISTAN
The school year has begun in Afghanistan and, for the third time, without girls in class who the Taliban have prevented, since coming to power in the summer of 2021, from attending lessons beyond primary school, the only country in the world with restrictions on female education. According to Unicef, over one million young people are affected by the ban, which adds to the five million already excluded in the past due to lack of structures, funds and motivation. In response, some girls of different ages take online lessons and distance learning, even though they consider them much more "boring".

THAILAND - CHINA
The Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced Ran Zhao, a Chinese businessman, and three accomplices to 50 years in prison on charges of managing an international ring that exploited Thai women as surrogate mothers between 2015 and 2020. Seven others, including his wife, Su Yingting, were sentenced to four years and released because they had already completed their sentence.

PAKISTAN
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Pakistani authorities yesterday reached an initial agreement for the allocation of a first tranche of 1.1 billion dollars, out of the overall bailout package of 3 billion dollars resulting from the Islamabad negotiations. The IMF in a note "recognizes the strong implementation of the program" of the State Bank of Pakistan, the interim government and the new executive which leads from "stabilization to a strong and sustainable recovery.

SAUDI ARABIA
Energy giant Saudi Aramco will increase gas production by 60% by 2030, Executive Vice President Strategy and Business Development Ashraf Al Ghazzawi highlights. Aramco recently halted plans to expand oil production capacity. Attention has shifted to unconventional gas fields similar to US shale fields in the kingdom.

SOUTH KOREA
Seoul will add another 2,000 places for new students at medical universities, a move intended to alleviate a shortage of doctors in the country, but opposed by health workers, especially interns. The number will rise to 5,085, with 80% of new entries destined for regional schools. For the medical community, an increase in positions will lead to a decline in the quality of care and teaching.

VIETNAM
The People's Court of Cau Ngang district, Tra Vinh province, sentenced To Hoang Chuong and Thach Cuong - pro Khmer Krom ethnic minority activists - to four and three and a half years in prison for "abuse of democratic freedoms" based on the article 331 of the Criminal Code. The two were arrested last year for distributing books on the rights of indigenous peoples.

RUSSIA
The Ministry of Civil Defense of the Russian republic of Baškortostan has launched a competition by May for the presentation of the best air raid shelter designs. Among the criteria to take into account the comfort and furnishing of the interior and the use of defense structures in the capital Ufa, divided into three categories up to 150 people, from 150 to 600 and over 600 guests.

KYRGYZSTAN
One of Kyrgyzstan's historic information agencies, 24.kg, changed ownership twice in one week: on March 15th it was registered in the name of journalist Gulžan Šeripbaeva, replaced on March 19th by Almaz Turdumamatov, decisions that follow searches, arrests and pressure on the group since the beginning of the year, in a phase of restrictions on all media.

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