Today's headlines: the Syrian government supports Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the two Ukrainian provinces as independent; Imran Khan visits Moscow; in China the cost of raising a child exceeds that of the US and Japan; protests continue in Kazakhstan and Indian Karnataka; in the Philippines, school runs on rails.

 

 

MYANMAR

UN human rights expert, Thomas Andrews says China, Russia and Serbia are supplying the Burmese military junta with combat aircraft. According to the independent report, the three countries have sold weapons to the Burmese military with "full knowledge that they would be used to attack civilians".

PHILIPPINES

A wooden trolley on rails with a blackboard and a few other materials inside: this is the new type of mobile school set up near the city of Tagkawayan in the Philippines to bring education to the poorest villages while schools remain closed due to the pandemic. The initiative was launched in November and is supported by donations.

CHINA

The cost of raising a child in China is almost seven times the GDP per capita. The cost is higher than that of American and Japanese families, but still lower than in South Korea, says new research published by the Beijing-based YuWa Population Research Institute.

JAPAN

TransitionZero, a British research group, has called on the Japanese government to reconsider its energy policy based on carbon capture and storage: the technology to do so would not only be extremely expensive, but would not even have a significant impact on reducing emissions. According to the research centre, the archipelago should instead focus on developing wind power.

INDIA

Unrest continued in Karnataka: at least 20 people were injured after the killing of a member of the Hindu ultranationalist group Bajrang Dal. During the funeral in Shivamogga, violence broke out. The properties of local Muslims were pelted with stones. The police intervened by firing in the air and using tear gas.

PAKISTAN

Despite the crisis in Ukraine, Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to visit Russia today. The Pakistani Foreign Minister yesterday said that the Prime Minister will travel with a high-level delegation. The two leaders will also 'review the whole range of bilateral relations, including energy cooperation' and other issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.

RUSSIA

A twist occurred in the trial against Aleksej Naval'nyj held inside the Vladimir lager: prosecution witness Fedor Gorozhanko, a former collaborator of Naval'nyj and at odds with him over money issues, said he considered himself a "defence witness", and that all the charges had been suggested to him by the prosecutors.

RUSSIA - SYRIA

The Syrian government supports Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the self-proclaimed provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent. Last week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited President Bashar al-Assad to inspect a Russian air base and inform Damascus of Russian military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean.

KAZAKHSTAN

In Kazakhstan, protests continued in various cities across the country, also calling for the dissolution of parliament and the ruling Nur-Otan party, for which President Tokaev has called an extraordinary Congress on 1st March, in which he promised to set out the "project of great reforms" in front of the whole country.

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