Today's headlines: Israel appears to be behind a drone strike in Iran; Two fatal incidents in Pakistan yesterday; A Bangladeshi boy woke up in Malaysia after being locked in a container; Myanmar's economy will grow by 3 percent, according to the Central Bank; Two Russians who fled the war will be able to stay in the U.S. thanks to the mediation of a Ukrainian-born priest.
CHINA-AUSTRALIA
While Japan has signaled that it will continue to monitor the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, Australia is preparing to accept hundreds of Chinese students into its universities after the Ministry of Education in Beijing announced that diplomas and degrees obtained online will no longer be recognized by the state. About 150,000 Chinese students, who have been stuck with the "zero covid" policy in recent months, are enrolled in Australian universities.
ISRAEL - IRAN.
Israel appears to be behind a drone strike yesterday in Isfahan against an arms factory, U.S. officials said. Iran said no casualties or serious damage were reported, but Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called it a "cowardly" attack aimed at creating "insecurity."
PAKISTAN
More than 50 people died yesterday in Pakistan in two separate incidents: at least 41 people died after a bus fell into a ravine, while 10 children between the ages of 7 and 14 drowned after a boat capsized on the Tanda Dam, a lake in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan. At least 11 children were saved and about 10 are still missing.
MYANMAR
According to a report released today by the Central Bank, Myanmar's economy will grow about 3 percent this year, far below the levels achieved before the coup. In 2021, the Burmese economy contracted by 18 percent. In the months since, exchange rate depreciation has led to an increase in inflation of nearly 20 percent.
BANGLADESH - MALAYSIA
A Bangladeshi teenager was accidentally locked in a container and shipped to Malaysia. Fifteen-year-old Fahim was discovered in a container in West Port, Malaysia, after the ship he was on traveled for six days from Chittagong, Bangladesh. According to some news sites, the boy was playing hide-and-seek when he was locked inside the container.
RUSSIA - UKRAINE - USA
Two residents of the Russian region of Čukotka, who had fled mobilization in Ukraine by crossing the Bering Strait by boat, after three months of isolation at the border police, were finally granted permission to remain on U.S. soil thanks to the mediation of a Ukrainian-born priest, who paid the fee and acted as a guarantor.
RUSSIA-AFRICA
Metropolitan Leonid, Moscow's exarch for Africa, related that the Russian Church "uses dozens of African languages for celebrations, in addition to English and French, because Africa has a wide range of ethnicities, populations, languages and traditions." This has provoked astonished reactions in Russia, where the liturgy remains rigidly bound to ancient Slavic-Ecclesiastical.