Afghanistan, magnitude 6 earthquake in Kunar: over 600 dead
Today's headlines: Xi and Modi meet at the SCO summit in China. Protests in Indonesia postponed due to tightened security measures. Israel intensifies offensive in Gaza City; Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida killed. Pakistan: 2 million people at risk in record floods.
AFGHANISTAN
Kunar authorities report that an earthquake last night killed over 600 people and injured at least 1,500 in the districts of Nurgal, Sawkay, Watapur, Manogi and Chapa Dara. Several villages in Nurgal were buried under the ground and it is estimated that hundreds of people may still be trapped. The main tremor had a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale, followed by two tremors measuring 5.2 and 4.7. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) identified the city of Jalalabad as the epicentre.
CHINA - RUSSIA - INDIA
Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tianjin yesterday for the 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The two leaders are participating alongside some twenty other heads of state and government in the event, which demonstrates China's ambition to make Eurasia the engine of a new multilateral order. Yesterday also saw the eagerly awaited bilateral meeting between Xi and the Indian Prime Minister, who, thanks to the rapprochement accelerated by Trump's tariffs, returned to China after seven years of tension. The two leaders expressed their hope that the two countries would be “partners and not leaders”, not allowing “unresolved border issues to define relations”.
INDONESIA
Indonesian students and activists have cancelled protests planned for today due to heightened security measures following deadly riots over the weekend. The demonstrations began in Jakarta after a police vehicle ran over and killed a motorcycle taxi driver on Thursday evening. Anger is growing over MPs' salaries and the police response. President Prabowo Subianto said political parties had agreed to reduce MPs' benefits in an attempt to quell the protests, in which at least five people died.
ISRAEL - GAZA - YEMEN
Israel has intensified its offensive in Gaza City with plans to take control of the Strip's largest urban centre, forcibly displacing about one million Palestinians to the south. Seventy-eight people died yesterday alone across the enclave, including dozens searching for food. Yesterday, Israel declared that Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida was killed on Saturday in an air raid, as was the prime minister of the Houthi government of Yemen in the capital Sanaa. Meanwhile, yesterday saw the departure of the Global Sumud Flotilla: over 50 ships headed for Gaza to challenge the humanitarian aid blockade imposed by Israel.
PAKISTAN
The eastern province of Punjab in Pakistan is facing the worst flooding in its history, with river levels reaching record highs. Global warming is believed to have exacerbated this year's monsoon rains in Pakistan. Torrential rains and storms have caused flash floods and landslides in mountainous regions. ‘The flood has affected 2 million people. This is the first time that the three rivers - Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi - have carried such high water levels,’ the province's senior minister, Maryam Aurangzeb, said on Sunday.
KAZAKHSTAN
The crisis in one of Kazakhstan's crucial agricultural sectors, cotton cultivation, continues, with production falling by more than half in the last two years, hitting the export balance hard. There are several causes for this, including climatic anomalies, a shortage of specialists, rising electricity prices and poor access to credit for farmers to modernise their techniques.
GEORGIA
The former president of Georgia, Salome Zurabišvili, has appealed to opposition groups to the “illegitimate” Georgian Dream regime, calling on them not to participate in the upcoming local elections, stating that “we are moving increasingly towards the Russian scenario, and we must not indulge in this game”, but without managing to convince them.
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15/07/2023
