Beijing offers rewards to fight human trafficking

Today's Headlines: Unrest over hijab ban continues to rock India; in the Philippines a doctor accused of being the head of rebel communists has been arrested; Malaysia supermarkets to grow vegetables in store; in Afghanistan the Taliban have deployed over 4,000 soldiers on the borders with Central Asian countries.

CHINA

Several cities in southern China are offering rewards of tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who has information on the networks of traffickers who, according to Beijing authorities, spread Covid-19 from Hong Kong. On 14 February, four people who entered illegally and did not comply with quarantine tested positive.

INDIA

The unrest linked to the ban on wearing the hijab has not yet subsided in India: the police registered an initial report against about ten girls who had organised a protest in front of a school in Karnataka. In the meantime, the State High Court is continuing to evaluate the case: the local government maintains that the hijab is not an essential religious practice and therefore does not violate the article on religious freedom of the Indian Constitution.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippine police arrested a doctor accused of being the head of a Maoist rebel group that has been opposing the government for decades. Maria Natividad Castro is currently in detention and will be tried on charges of kidnapping. One of her superiors claims that the charges were fabricated: she had discovered cases of human rights abuses on the island of Mindanao, where she was setting up health centres for the local community.

MALAYSIA

In Malaysia, vegetables are also grown in shopping centres. Vertical vegetable gardens are not new in the country, but Shoma Tsubota's is the first to be found in the middle of shops. According to Tsubota, growing vegetables indoors prevents the unpredictability of the weather. Up to one and a half tonnes of vegetables can be produced in a month.

AFGHANISTAN

A six-year-old boy who was trapped in a well in the southern province of Zabul, Afghanistan, has died. After four days of agony, rescuers managed to pull him out yesterday afternoon. In the meantime, the Taliban government has deployed about 4,400 soldiers in the northern and western regions, on the borders with Central Asian countries, to "strengthen the security and stability of the territories", raising serious concerns in the region.

PALESTINE

Israeli police dispersed a group of Palestinian demonstrators who were protesting against evictions in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. Disturbances were also reported in other parts of the West Bank. Hamas said that if the situation worsened, it could create "the atmosphere for the next outbreak" of violence.

RUSSIA - ISRAEL

The Israeli authorities asked Russia for help in evacuating its citizens from Ukraine in case war broke out, creating humanitarian corridors. The issue was discussed in a telephone conversation between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Israeli Ministry Director General Alon Ushpiz.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan's President Kasym-Žomart Tokaev heard a report by the Chairman of the National Security Committee Ermek Sagimbaev on the unrest in early January, who reported 27 open cases for coup attempts and acts of terrorism, 14 of which targeted "followers of radical religious movements".

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