UN Xinjiang report accuses Beijing of 'gross human rights violations'

Today's headlines:  India's rice crops at risk from abnormal rainfall; Sri Lanka signs agreement with the International Monetary Fund; Vietnam grants amnesty to less than 2,500 prisoners but not to activists; Russian savers have lost almost everything since the invasion of Ukraine.

CHINA

A long-awaited UN report accused Beijing of 'serious human rights violations' in the Xinjinag region against the Uyghur population. According to the investigation there is 'credible evidence' of torture that can be classified as 'crimes against humanity'. Meanwhile, the 'zero covid' policy continues: the city of Chengdu has announced a new lockdown and mass testing for its 21.2 million residents.

JAPAN

Hironori Aoki, former president of Aoki Holdings, a clothing company sponsoring the Tokyo Olympics, said he donated 2 million yen (,300) to the head of the Games organising committee, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. Last month, Aoki was arrested along with other Olympic Games executives on suspicion of corruption.

INDIA

Abnormal rainfall has been registered not only in Pakistan, but also in India, which received 3.4% more rain in August. It rained more in the central and southern soya and cotton growing regions while rice crops in the north-east received less rainfall. The monsoon season, which provides 75 % of water in a year, is vital for crops because about half of the agricultural land has no irrigation.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of about USD 2.9 billion, the lending institution announced today. "The objectives of Sri Lanka's new programme supported by the Fund are to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability," the statement said. Inflation meanwhile has risen to about 65 per cent year-on-year.

VIETNAM

Vietnam announced yesterday that it will release fewer than 2,500 prisoners ahead of its independence anniversary on Friday. However, activists, in short those convicted of 'propaganda' against the state or attempting to overthrow the communist regime, will not be released. In previous years many more prisoners had been granted amnesty: 18,000 in 2015 and 3,000 last year.

MYANMAR

More than 5,000 civilians fled from more than 10 villages in Rakhine state after fighting broke out Tuesday night between junta troops and the Arakan Army, the ethnic militia that controls the area. Fighting between the sides resumed in July after a one-and-a-half year truce. People abandoned villages in Rathedaung and Mrauk U municipalities.

RUSSIA

Russian savers have lost almost all their savings since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, a survey by 'Alfastrakhovanja' revealed. Only 19% answered that they had lost nothing, of the remaining 81% a quarter said they had lost everything, on average about 30% was squandered, mainly due to the inability to use cards because of the sanctions.

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