Today's headlines: Turkey's annual inflation rate exceeds 78%; Chinese researchers develop device to test 'loyalty' to the CCP; Marcos intends to increase rice and corn production and reduce dependence on imports; Patriarch Kirill attacks the West's 'incomprehensible' hostility towards Moscow; snow returns to Azerbaijan, zero temperature at sea level.
SOUTH KOREA
Seoul wants to boost the contribution of atomic energy to the energy mix to 30% by 2030 from the current 27%. To this end, construction work on two reactors will resume. The turnaround is linked to President Yoon Suk-yeol's election victory in March. Previous administrations had reduced the role of nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
CHINA
A group of Chinese researchers has developed a device that would be able to detect Communist 'party loyalty' (Pcc). The project was developed at an artificial intelligence institute in Anhui and is based on facial scans and a polygraph. The video on its use was published (later removed) on the popular social network Weibo, on the occasion of the July 1st holiday.
TURKEY
The official annual inflation rate in Turkey has exceeded 78%. According to the TurkStat statistics office, consumer prices rose by 4.95 per cent on a monthly basis and by 44.54 per cent on the basis of 12-month moving averages. The largest increases were in transport (123.7%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (93.9%), and household goods (81.1%).
INDIA
A film poster depicting a woman dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali smoking has sparked ire and protests in India. Film director Leena Manimekalai circulated the image on social media to promote her new 'documentary' Kaali. The gesture triggered discontent and offended responses from many believers, who accused her of violating religious sentiments.
PHILIPPINES
The new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr - holder of the Ministry of Agriculture - promised yesterday to increase the production of rice and maize. The aim is to reduce dependence on imports and avoid the consequences of a global food crisis. Manila is the second largest rice importer in the world and is at a disadvantage when it comes to food supply.
RUSSIA
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow celebrated solemn liturgies in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic, which he called an 'outpost of the country'. He then assured that no one will succeed in "reforming Russia", adding that "the hostility of the West is completely incomprehensible, because Russia has never harmed anyone".
AZERBAIJIAN
In contrast to almost all European and Asian nations, snow has fallen in Azerbaijan in recent days, with zero degrees at sea level. The director of the meteorological centre Umaira Tagneva likened this situation to 2019, after record floods in June and 'increasingly acute contrasting processes of abnormal climate change'.