IRAN
Ghazal Marzban, an Iranian Catholic who converted from Islam and a former prisoner of conscience sentenced in recent weeks to nearly 10 years in prison for “propaganda against the state” and undermining “national security”, has been subjected to beatings in prison. Imprisoned in the women’s wing of the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, she has suffered a fracture to a bone in her left hand, causing her severe pain. The violence is reportedly linked to protests organised by her against the deterioration in prison conditions following the arrival of 50 new female prisoners. Meanwhile, Iran claims to have struck US bases in Kuwait and Jordan following a fresh wave of US attacks yesterday.
VIETNAM – HONG KONG
A crackdown on free publishing in Asia: yesterday, Vietnamese police arrested three executives from a publishing house that had published a book on Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Communist Party. The author of *Stories With Thanh – A New Account Of Light*, former telecoms executive Nguyen Thanh Nam, was detained on charges of anti-state activities, along with an influencer who had promoted the book on social media. In Hong Kong, officers raided a bookshop run by former journalists, the latest in a series of raids on independent bookshops. A woman was taken away in handcuffs and several boxes of materials were seized from the Have A Nice Stay bookshop; in a statement, the police reported five arrests for displaying and offering for sale items with “seditious intent”, carrying a sentence of up to seven years. The other bookshop reportedly targeted is the Greenfield Book Store.
INDIA
A data breach has affected the Kudankulam nuclear power station, India’s largest. The ransomware group World Leaks has published around 19,000 documents on the dark web. These include alleged site plans, details of suppliers, inspection reports and technical documentation relating to the project. The files are said to have been stolen from the systems of the Reliance Group, one of the main contractors involved in the plant’s construction. Meanwhile, the company has confirmed a “partial breach” of its data hosted on a server belonging to the Indian provider Yotta and is reported to have informed the relevant authorities, without specifying the extent of the breach.
MYANMAR – UN
Several boats carrying over 500 people are reported to have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent weeks, with no survivors reported. This is according to United Nations agencies, which state that refugees fleeing the war-torn country continue to face dangerous journeys in search of safety and freedom. The boats are said to have set sail “from Rakhine State in late June, carrying mostly Rohingya passengers, including some who had travelled from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh”, as explained by the International Organisation for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency in a joint statement.
LEBANON - ISRAEL
Lebanese and Israeli officials concluded the sixth round of talks mediated by the United States yesterday in Rome, focusing on a plan to establish “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon from which Israeli forces would begin to withdraw. Sources within the US administration described the meetings as “productive and positive”. “We will now move on to expanded technical talks, which will focus,” the US source noted, “on the implementation of all areas of the trilateral framework with the aim of reaching a comprehensive agreement”.
TAIWAN – LITHUANIA
The new Prime Minister, Mindaugas Sinkevicius, has stated that the decision in 2021 to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in the country was “perhaps too bold”, in an attempt to mend relations with China. This statement comes on his first day in office and relates to the decision taken by Beijing five years ago to downgrade diplomatic relations with Vilnius. At the time, both Lithuania – a NATO member state with a population of 2.9 million – and the European Union had permitted the opening of a representative office. Beijing regards the ‘rebel’ island as part of its territory and does not recognise its right to establish offices in countries with which Beijing already has formal ties.
RUSSIA – CHINA
Western sanctions have significantly altered the balance of power in relations between Russia and China: whilst Vladimir Putin was previously perceived as an equal partner to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Wall Street Journal now reports that Moscow is increasingly forced to accept Beijing’s terms. Negotiations on the construction of the “Power of Siberia-2” gas pipeline have failed to yield results, and the Chinese side has demanded supplies of Russian gas and oil at significantly discounted prices, becoming the main trading partner.
MONGOLIA – VATICAN
Pope Leo XIV sent his best wishes to the Mongolian people on the occasion of the Naadam national festival: the pontiff offered his congratulations on the 2,235th anniversary of the founding of the first Mongolian state; the 820th anniversary of the Great Mongol Empire; the 115th anniversary of the restoration of freedom and national independence; the 105th anniversary of the People’s Revolution; and the 36th anniversary of the Democratic Revolution.
