SOUTH KOREA
Nearly 3 in 10 foreign workers in Korea worked 50 hours or more per week during the past year. This was revealed by the data of a survey released yesterday by Statistics Korea. As of May 2023, there were a total of 1.43 million foreigners aged 15 years or older in South Korea, and 64.5% were employed. Of the total foreigners who had resided in the country for more than three months, ethnic Chinese Koreans represent 33% (the largest share) and those from Vietnam 14.1%. The percentage of foreigners from non-Asian countries was 9.7%.
QATAR-GAZA-ISRAEL
Qatar "is reevaluating" its role as mediator between Israel and Hamas. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said this during a press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Doha, while negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza remain at a standstill. Sheikh Mohammed accused "politicians with narrow interests" of harming Qatar with their "destructive statements". The Persian Gulf state often serves as an intermediary between the United States and its adversaries, including Russia and Iran, and regional Islamist movements.
CHINA-UNITED STATES
US President Joe Biden has called for tripling tariffs on some steel and aluminum products from China. This is a further protectionist move undertaken by Biden during his re-election campaign against Donald Trump. The White House said the proposal aims to protect U.S. jobs from "unfair" competition. China has already denied accusations of dumping steel and aluminum abroad.
INDIA
The Prime Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh, has launched a strong appeal to the population, inviting them to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - Prime Minister Modi's party - in the next Lok Sabha elections to safeguard the territorial integrity of the State , which has been shaken by ethnic tensions between the Meitei and the Kuki for almost a year now. Singh highlighted the threats posed by attempts to alter Manipur's demographic balance, saying such efforts could potentially destabilize the region. On the contrary, the Kuki accuse Modi's government of having given the Meitei a free hand, exacerbating tensions.
GEORGIA
Protests are growing in Georgia against the approval of the law on the "transparency of foreign influences", with rallies in front of the parliament in Tbilisi with thousands of demonstrators, with clashes that led to the arrest of 14 people by the police, and a policeman was hospitalized. Growing conflicts are feared in the coming days.
RUSSIA
The director Ženja Berkovič and the playwright Svetlana Petrijčuk, in prison for a year now for shows considered pro-Ukrainian, have been included in the list of "terrorists and extremists" by the control agency Rosfinmonitoring, considering the show Finist Jasnyj Sokol, a remake of a popular anti-war fairy tale, as a "justification of terrorism".
ARMENIA-IRAQ
The Yerevan parliament unanimously approved the proposal to commemorate in Armenia on August 3 the genocide of the Yazidis in Shingal in north-western Iraq near the border with Syria, by ISIS terrorists in 2014, with the exile of the population and mass killings, kidnappings and violence against women and children. It is the first state in the world to have made this choice.
