The other news of the day: Talks between India and China on the Himalayan border go nowhere. A quarter of Hong Kong's population wants to emigrate. Sri Lanka’s crisis forces two newspapers to suspend publications due to a paper shortage. Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv calls for the union of all Orthodox in Ukraine. Azerbaijan attacks areas in Karabakh still under Armenian control.
SAUDI ARABIA
Yesterday Yemeni rebels bombed a petroleum storage site in Jeddah, a city on the Red Sea that will host the Formula One Grand Prix this weekend. With Iranian support, the Houthis have intensified their attacks on Saudi Arabia, which has militarily backed Yemen’s internationally-recognised government.
INDIA – CHINA
Without Beijing's military disengagement and a solution to the disputes on the Himalayan border, there will be no improvement in bilateral relations, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a meeting yesterday in Delhi.
HONG KONG
One resident in four of the former British colony plans to emigrate, this according to a poll by the independent Public Opinion Research Institute. The main reasons behind “escape” plans are the growing lack of personal freedom and the deteriorating political climate.
SRI LANKA
Two of Sri Lanka’s main newspapers have stopped publishing their paper editions due a paper shortage. The Island and Divaina are victims of the country’s severe economic crisis, which has led to a brutal drop in its foreign exchange reserves.
SINGAPORE
After taking a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Singapore has strongly condemned North Korea’s recent ICBM test. For the city-state, it is a further break with its traditionally cautious foreign policy, and a sign of greater support for the United States and its allies in the region.
UKRAINE-RUSSIA
The head of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Epiphanius (Dumenko), appealed to all Orthodox priests of the Moscow Patriarchate to join his Church: "Let us unite around Kyiv in a single local Church since only missiles and bombs arrive from Moscow with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill.”
AZERBAIJAN – ARMENIA
Some divisions of the Azerbaijani army have begun to attack areas of Karabakh still under Armenian control. Baku is taking advantage of the fact that most of Russia’s “peacekeepers” deployed to the disputed region since 2020 have been sent to Ukraine to take part in the fighting. Azerbaijani forces are said to have already taken the villages of Farukh and Pirljar.