Pakistan: 177 thousand children die of malnutrition before the age of 5 each year

In today's headlines: Indonesian migrants are rescued off the coast of Malaysia; Typhoon Rai heads towards the  Philippines; Russia overtakes the US in arms exports; Japanese beverage company Kirin wants to continue doing business in Myanmar.

PAKISTAN

At least 177,000 children die of malnutrition before the age of 5 in Pakistan, reports a eminar on malnutrition held in recent days. At least 50 million Pakistanis do not get adequate doses of zinc, considered one of teh most important micronutrients for human health. Islamabad intends to combat teh problem through the cultivation of biofortified wheat.

AFGHANISTAN

The economic crisis in Afghanistan is spiralling beyond control due to the loss of value of Afghanis, and a flooding fake currency in the markets. Two days ago the Central Bank of Kabul declared that it was working to stop the collapse of the currency, but the financial crisis has accelerated dramatically in the last week: the price of 50 kg of flour has increased from 20% to 40%, now costing 3,200 Afghanis when a few days ago it cost 2,300.

MALAYSIA

Yesterday a ship carrying at least 50 Indonesian migrants capsized off Tanjung Balau beach in Johor. So far, Malaysian authorities have recovered 19 bodies and are searching for at least 17 other missing persons. The boat was unregistered and the migrants had no documents with them.

PHILIPPINES

Tens of thousands of people are being evacuated in the Philippines due to Typhoon Rai, which is increasing in intensity. Boats of all types have been ordered to remain in port. Rai, categorized as a super typhoon, is the 15th to hit the country this year.

SOUTH KOREA

South Korea will reintroduce distance measures a month and a half after they were lifted. No more than 4 (vaccinated) people will be allowed to meet, and venues will have to close at 9 or 10 p.m. More than 7,600 new cases were reported yesterday; there were just over 1,000 at the end of October.

JAPAN - MYANMAR

Japanese beverage company Kirin wants to "continue its business" of selling beer in Myanmar, the company's president and CEO Yoshinori Isozaki announced yesterday. Kirin is currently involved in a legal dispute after attempting to break its partnership with a company controlled by the Burmese junta. Before the coup, Myanmar accounted for 9 percent of profits for the Japanese company.

CHINA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he will attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. He is the first major leader to confirm his presence. Today, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he has no plans to attend the Games. He would thus join the diplomatic boycott put in place by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

RUSSIA

In 2021, Russia broke all records for exporting bullets to the U.S., as reported by the U.S. Trade Registration Office, and this despite the sanctions regime that prohibits the import of firearms from Russia. U.S. companies imported 7.9 billion worth of Russian bullets, billion in October alone. Russian bullets are also exported in large quantities to Europe, Canada and Thailand.