In many regions of the two countries, rivers have been flooding since the beginning of April. Among the worst affected areas are the Kazakh region of Atyrau and the Russian city of Orsk. Astana rejects the criticism that it did not manage the discharge of snow accumulations properly. There is controversy over the Russian civil defence not taking measures to mitigate the impact of the water.
Having archived the historic friendship between Putin and Netanyahu, the change in Russian-Israeli relations did not begin on 7 October 2023, but when Israel began openly supporting Ukraine more than a year earlier. And on the Moscow-Tehran-Beijing axis, Middle Eastern issues are both symbolic and practical.
According to the head of the Levada Center, Russia's leading sociological research institute, “only 10 per cent of Russians are actively interested in politics, and the war involves a super-politicisation of a minority in the face of the depoliticisation of the masses.” Only 30 per cent of Russians are willing to trust people outside their ever-shrinking circle of relatives and friends.
Today's news: over 243 million children in East and Southeast Asia at risk from heat waves:; Beijing denies top management access to two US companies for selling arms to Taiwan; The Taliban want to black out Facebook (and social media) by blocking the few sources of information; Islamabad negotiates the renewal of the rescue plan with the International Monetary Fund; Over 98,000 people evacuated in Kazakhstan due to flooding.
Moscow is pushing to extend the free trade area created in 2014 with Belarus and Kazakhstan and already extended to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to all non-hostile former Soviet countries. But the Eurasian countries are gaining big economic benefits from geopolitical tensions. With the oil sector, in particular, now poised between traditional routes and new prospects of collaboration with Westerners.
Today's news: Hong Kong denied access to a Reporters Without Borders representative, who was searched and then deported; At least 16% of the candidates in the first phase of the Lok Sabha vote have pending criminal cases; Taiwan earthquake death toll rises to 16, over 1100 injured; The Houthis claim an attack on four boats in the Gulf, also a 'US warship'.