Gaza: Hamas 'studies' its response to Israel's truce offer

Today's news: The Afghan Taliban launch a nationwide anti-polio campaign; US court sentences Chinese student to prison for stalking threats against compatriot 'pro-democracy' campaigner; Casualties and new school closures due to heat wave in India and Bangladesh; Another two-year sentence for Thai activist in prison for lese majesty.

GAZA - EGYPT
Hamas is preparing a response to the offer of a truce of at least 40 days in Gaza proposed by Israel and delivered by Egyptian mediators in Cairo, in response to the release of dozens of hostages still in the hands of the militiamen who control the Strip. A source assures that a decision will be taken "as quickly as possible" by the group's leaders in Qatar. Meanwhile, Israel has approved the plan for the invasion in Rafah, while at least five European nations are ready to recognize the Palestinian state.

AFGHANISTAN
The Afghan Taliban have launched a four-day nationwide polio vaccination campaign in 31 of the country's 34 provinces. The remaining three will be immunized at a later time due to bad weather. Children will also receive doses of vitamin A to boost immunity. Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban have attacked vaccination campaigns in the past, are the only two nations where polio has not been eradicated.

CHINA - UNITED STATES
A US court has sentenced a Chinese student at the Berklee College of Music to nine months in prison for promoting "a campaign of stalking and threats" against a compatriot promoting a pro-"freedom and democracy" campaign in China. Wu Xiaolei, 26, will also be subject to three years of probation. He had threatened to “cut off her hands”.

INDIA - BANGLADESH
There are at least two victims in Kerala, southern India, of the heat wave that has hit several countries in South and South-East Asia in recent days, raising the alarm for the public health of the population . Temperatures are more than 5 degrees higher than the average for the period. In neighboring Bangladesh, after just one day of lessons, the schools close again.

THAILAND
Arnon Nampa, a 39-year-old pro-human rights activist and lawyer in prison for treason, will have to serve another two years and 20 days in prison for "insulting the monarchy" in reference to a speech during the 2021 street protests. He had already been sentenced to eight years for what he said during a political demonstration in 2020 and a post on social media the following year.

UNITED STATES - LAOS
The winner of the .3 billion lottery up for grabs this month in Oregon is an immigrant from Laos, who has been treated for eight years for cancer and who last week underwent his last dose of chemotherapy. Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, 46, from Portland, and his wife will take half the sum, dividing the remainder between a friend and the residents of the suburb where he lives. Born in Laos to the Iu Mien ethnic group and moved to Thailand as a child, he immigrated to the United States in 1994.

RUSSIA
At the end of the school year, the independent private high school NovoCollege in Novosibirsk will be officially closed, together with the associated elementary and middle school and the institute for the study of foreign languages. According to its founder Sergei Chernyšov, it was "the only educational institute in Russia that never carried out propaganda", while the other schools collaborated in the "normalisation of war".

TAJIKISTAN
The Foreign Ministry of Tajikistan has issued a protest over the actions against Tajik migrants, detained by the thousands in Russian airports as they try to legitimately enter the country, in difficult conditions without observing the minimum health standards and without guaranteeing food and drink. Among these there are also many students returning to the institute from holidays.

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