News in Asia

News outlets in the States are currently dominated by news that makes my progressive heart happy: the SCOTUS rulings saving an essential portion of the Affordable Care Act, marriage equality in all 50 states, and fair housing. Not to mention a real life superhero by the name of Bree Newsome.

There’s still big news elsewhere so let’s get started…

While we here in the States are celebrating the rights gained for the LGBT community, that community still faces discrimination and hostility elsewhere. This weekend is Seoul Pride, and this year, the number of counter-protesters have increased. Church groups (mainly from Protestant denominations) attempted to block the parade, sang worship songs and gave sermons over the loudspeakers. Christians are a sizeable minority in South Korea. The LGBT community faces quite a bit of prejudice and discrimination there, and many older, more conservative Koreans believe the homosexuality was brought to the country by Western influences.

A couple of weeks ago, a measure was defeated by Congress that would have given President Obama fast-track approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Well, he got that approval anyway. The main difference is that the fast-track bill was separated from a bill that would give assistance to Americans who lost their jobs due to the trade deal.

If you need a refresher on the TPP, read this.

This article in The Atlantic talks about how Americans have conveniently forgotten about Afghanistan.

The brutal heat wave in Pakistan has killed more than 800 people and now the Taliban is threatening to target the country’s main power company if it does not stop power outages in Karachi.

The military Thai government has banned the release of a human rights report concerning Vietnam’s indigenous people ahead of a state visit.

Myanmar’s military is using its influence to block constitutional changes, the biggest of which is easing a law that would allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to become president one day.

The U.S. has longed criticized China’s human rights record. Well, China has fired back, attacking the U.S. record in relation to racial discrimination and gun violence.

In the meantime, the U.S is still pissed about all those cyber attacks.

State media has published pictures of the new airport in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

India has pledged $1 billion in quake relief for Nepal.

That’s it for this week!