AFGHANISTAN – IRAN
A road accident in western Afghanistan killed 73 people, including 17 children, most of whom were on a bus carrying Afghan migrants expelled from Iran. The bus, headed for Kabul, caught fire Tuesday night after colliding with a truck and a motorcycle in Herat province. All passengers on the bus died, as did two people in the other vehicles. In recent months, Iran has intensified its deportation of undocumented Afghan migrants who fled the conflict in their home country.
THAILAND – SRI LANKA
The Thai government has approved the hiring of 10,000 Sri Lankan workers in an effort to address a labour shortage caused by the return home of Cambodian workers following violent border clashes between the two countries, a senior Thai official said Tuesday. Thailand's aging population and shrinking workforce have forced it to rely on at least three million registered foreign workers in agriculture, construction, and manufacturing, according to data from the International Labour Organisation.
JAPAN – AFRICA
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba today will launch a plan for a joint "economic zone" encompassing the Indian Ocean region and Africa during the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, attended by representatives of 50 African countries. The goal is to harness the economic potential of a continent where Chinese influence is growing. According to government sources, the "economic zone" will involve governments, industries, and academia to promote free trade in Africa and will support the development of human resources in the field of artificial intelligence.
SOUTH KOREA
A firefighter who suffered from depression after being sent to the scene of the tragic 2022 Itaewon stampede that killed 159 people was found dead after being missing for ten days. The body of the 30-year-old man was found in Geumi-dong, Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The United Arab Emirates announced yesterday the discovery of a nearly intact terracotta tile depicting a cross dating back 1,400 years. The find was uncovered during a new excavation campaign at the archaeological site of Sir Bany Yas, an island not far from Abu Dhabi, where the remains of a monastic complex of the ancient Church of the East were discovered in the 1990s. It is the largest cross ever found in the area, and its exquisite workmanship further confirms the importance of this Christian presence, which continued until the 8th century.
RUSSIA
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with a committee of authors of new school history textbooks, insisting on further corrections that would further clarify that "the so-called independent states” that emerged after the fall of the Russian Empire had never existed before, explaining all the geopolitical and educational consequences for students.
TURKMENISTAN-TURKEY
Turkey repatriated human rights activists Alisher Sakhatov and Abdulla Orusov to Turkmenistan. After the two had moved to Turkey in 2018 with their wives and children, they continued to criticise their country’s regime on YouTube channels and other platforms. Following their arrest in April of this year, they were denied asylum.
