Vietnam: $ 75,000 and 4 months of travel, the migrants' odyssey to the United States

Today's news: Israel reopens the Kerem Shalom crossing, but Gaza is short of diesel (essential for water supplies) after the Rafah blockade; Hun Sen asks generals to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition sceptical; The Central Bank of Singapore: artificial intelligence will never be able to set interest rates. Kirill's blessing to Putin on his fifth term as president.

VIETNAM-UNITED STATES

Tempted by rumors of a better life abroad and unwilling to wait for slow visa procedures, Vietnamese began entering the United States illegally on foot in unprecedented numbers. According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection relaunched by Radio Free Asia from October 2023 to March 2024, almost 2,400 people have already crossed the border. The journey from Vietnam also lasts four months for a total cost between 60,000 and 75,000 dollars.

GAZA-ISRAEL

Andrea De Domenico, head of the United Nations humanitarian aid office in the Palestinian Territories, said supplies of diesel, needed to power drinking water pumps, maintain communications and deliver aid to Gaza, risked running out. today after Israel took control of the Rafah crossing. De Domenico said the United Nations normally uses 200,000 liters of diesel a day in Gaza, and that as of Tuesday evening only 30,000 remained. For his part, Israel this morning reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing for humanitarian aid, which had been closed since Sunday after a Hamas attack that killed four Israeli soldiers.

CHINA

His name on a wreath at the funeral of a senior Party official suggests that Wei Fenghe, China's former defense minister and veteran of the army's missile program, may be politically safe after his absence from the events of State has sparked months of speculation about his fate. Wei had retired shortly before China's military purge overwhelmed his successor and top Rocket Force officials.

CAMBODIA-MYANMAR

The former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen - in a video conference with the head of the Burmese military junta, General Min Aung Hlaing - asked to have a conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi, imprisoned in Myanmar and ousted by a coup d'état military more than three years ago. According to the semi-official Fresh News newspaper, the talks would be held via video conference, but critics and forces opposing the junta say Hun Sen's approach would be unwelcome given his support for the junta.

SINGAPORE

AI does not have the human judgment skills needed to set interest rates. This was stated by the director general of the Central Bank of Singapore Chia Der Jiun during a session of the Bank for International Settlements. Chia said artificial intelligence is used in some economic models and in areas such as fraud detection, but “there is a great deal of judgment in understanding and having insight into the path of inflation” and “the transmission of monetary policy".

RUSSIA

The inauguration of Vladimir Putin's fifth term as president took place in an even more solemn manner than previous times, with several kilometers of red carpet along all the corridors of the Kremlin and a display of patriotic rhetoric. After the oath, Putin went to the private church of the Tsars of the Annunciation, to receive the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, who recalled how "this assignment comes directly from God".

TURKMENISTAN

The number of citizens of Turkmenistan who is not granted the opportunity to go abroad, despite having the necessary documents and tickets on international flights, is continuously increasing, and appeals to the bodies responsible for emigration are intensifying , with mass gatherings in front of their buildings as in the city of Mari.