Pakistani government accused of manipulating census data
Today's news: Some 23 Rohingya died trying to reach Malaysia by sea. Philippine police have vowed to punish officers for abuse of power. It will likely take two years for Hebei province to recover from floods. After almost two weeks of total blockade of the Lachin corridor, some ambulances were allowed through.
PAKISTAN
Critics have slammed Pakistan's government for allegedly manipulating census data. The latter are crucial for redrawing the boundaries of constituencies and providing financial resources and employment opportunities within the federal public service. The need to redraw the country’s electoral map based on the new census data has led to the postponement of federal elections. Likewise, Balochistan now has seven million fewer residents and consequently fewer seats in Parliament.
MYANMAR
The bodies of 23 ethnic Rohingya who fled Myanmar’s Rakhine State have been recovered after their Malaysia-bound boat sank at sea. Another 30 are missing. Eight people survived, saying that they were abandoned by the crew after paying about US$ 4,000 to smugglers to leave their country where they are persecuted by its armed forces.
PHILIPPINES
The Philippine National Police have vowed to punish officers who abused their powers after six officers shot and killed a teenager in a mistaken identity case. Police in the city of Navotas shot 17-year-old Jerhode Baltazar after mistakenly identifying him as a murder suspect. They admitted their mistake and said they had no intention of killing the young man.
CHINA
It could take two years for China’s northern province of Hebei to recover from recent floods, state-controlled China New Service reported. As a result of typhoon Doksuri, the province suffered 95.8 billion yuan (.3 billion) in direct economic losses and 29 deaths. At least 40,000 homes were destroyed and more than 155,000 were damaged.
SYRIA
The United Nations announced an agreement with Syrian authorities to reopen the only crossing for humanitarian aid in the northwest of the country still controlled by rebel groups. Aid agencies fear that the Syrian regime could control the distribution of food and medicine, on which more than four million people depend. After the February earthquake, the Bab al-Hawa crossing became the most important conduit to deliver aid.
RUSSIA – IRAN
Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate took part in the theological conference titled “Religion and Traditional Values in Society” organised in Moscow by Iran’s Al-Mustafa International University. Centred on comparing "the role of prophets in Abrahamic religions", it saw participants praised the “closedness of spiritual values" of Islam and Orthodox Christianity.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH
After almost two weeks of total blockade of the Lachin corridor, some ambulances were allowed to cross from Nagorno Karabakh, bringing 11 seriously ill people to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, for urgent medical care, nine for haemodialysis, who will have to return the same day, and two cancer patients. The government of the Armenian enclave in Stepakert, the capital, renewed their appeals to the international community to "stop the genocide of Armenians in Artsakh.” The latter is the Armenian name for Nagorno Karabakh.
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14/01/2021 13:34
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