05/26/2023, 09.14
ASIA TODAY
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Japan: four dead in gun and knife attack, suspect arrested

Today's headlines: Congo's president is in China to review mining agreements; Vietnamese 'Salt Bae' arrested and sentenced to over five years in prison; In Manipur, requests for gun permits rise after ethnic violence; A video game about killing Syrian refugees at the border now available in Turkey.

JAPAN

The man believed to have stabbed a woman and shot dead two police officers in the city of Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, has been arrested: he is Masanori Aoki, 31, son of the local assembly speaker. Aoki barricaded himself in his house for 12 hours and was arrested this morning, but the motive is still unclear. Shootings are a very rare occurrence in Japan.

CHINA - CONGO

The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, is in China for a six-day visit to sign new billion mining contracts originally signed in 2008. Tshisekedi would like to renegotiate the agreements with Chinese companies, arguing that they have benefited the Chinese much more than the Congolese. The Chinese embassy in Kinshasa has rejected the accusations.

INDIA

The situation in the Indian state of Manipur remains tense after the ethnic violence of the last few weeks, on the contrary: according to an official in West Imphal, since the outbreak of the clashes there has been an increase in applications for arms licences: 'Usually the average number of applications we receive in a month is no more than 50. Since the incident we have received at least 300,' he said anonymously.

BANGLADESH

Bangladeshi authorities said they will take steps to prevent illegal practices in national elections after the US threatened to restrict visas to Bangladeshis believed to be responsible for interfering in the democratic process. In 2014 and 2018, the Awami League, the party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was accused of fraud and attacks against the opposition.

VIETNAM

A Vietnamese Catholic activist who imitated Turkish celebrity chef Salt Bae was arrested for 'activities against the state'. Peter Bui Tuan Lam, who was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, had published videos in which he parodied the Minister of Public Security who went to the Turkish chef in London to eat a steak covered in gold foil. Lam, a father of three, was active in the local parish. His wife and other activists were prevented from attending the trial.

TURKEY

A video game about killing refugees on the Turkish-Syrian border is now downloadable from the Google Play Store. The game is called Zafer Tourism, a name similar to 'Zafer Party', the far-right party of Umit Ozdag that has launched a fundraiser to expel Syrians. Some online reviews called the game racist and 'sick'.

RUSSIA

The Sevastopol court sentenced to 18 years in prison Ernes Sejtosmanov, an activist of the 'Crimean Solidarity' movement of the Crimean Tatar ethnic minority, accused of Islamic extremism, including 4 years of solitary confinement in prison, for his participation in the Islamic party 'Khizb ut-Takhrir', considered terrorist in Russia, but recognised in the rest of the world. The 'Memorial' association declared him a 'political prisoner'.

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