Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: July 3, 2016 Edition

Fifty Pakistani clerics based in Lahore have issued a fatwa, or religious decree, declaring that transgender men and women have the right to marry. The religious decree also provides the transgender community with inheritance and funeral rights under Islamic law.

The move has been cautiously welcomed by the transgender community.

The fatwa was issued by the Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat Pakistan. The body’s chairman, Zia-ul-Haq Naqshbandi, said he wanted a ruling from Islamic scholars to prevent discrimination against Pakistan’s transgender community.

On June 30, Rodrigo Duterte took his oath of office as the 16th president of the Republic of the Philippines. As mayor of Davao City in Mindanao for almost three decades, Duterte became prominent primarily because of his tough methods against crime.

According to the government investigation, which featured over 100 scientists from Vietnam and abroad, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel’s plant discharged industrial waste into the ocean, containing harmful chemicals such as phenol, cyanide and iron hydroxides. That pollution was responsible for killing the fish, Minister Mai Tien Dung announced in a press conference on Thursday.

Residents had long blamed Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, with local fishermen reporting they had seen red water discharging from a dumping pipeline linked to the as yet unfinished plant. The company’s initial response only made things worse, with a representative telling the media, “Before acquiring the land, we already advised local fishermen to change their jobs… Many times in life, people have to make a choice: either to catch and sell fish, or to develop the steel industry. We cannot have both.”

A Chinese state-owned defense firm may have provided the transporter used for Pakistan’s Shaheen-III medium-range ballistic missile.

IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly, citing an Indian government source, reports that China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC), a state-owned defense export firm, made the 16 wheeler transporter erector launcher (TEL) for Pakistan’s Shaheen-III missile.

According to Jane‘s:

Pakistan is believed to have taken delivery of the TELs at the end of February or in early March 2016. The source also said that Pakistan’s National Engineering and Scientific Commission has set up an assembly line at the Punjab-based National Development Complex to assemble TELs for Pakistani missiles.

Pakistan and China are close allies. While China has been accused of abetting Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programs, it officially denies providing any technological assistance to Pakistan.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, after opening its doors for business in January, held its first annual meeting over the weekend in Beijing, China, where it is headquartered.

The AIIB has barely been operational for six months and has announced a handful of projects, all but one co-financed with existing development institutions, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The annual meeting brought together representatives from the 57 founding members and had a wide agenda, focused on updates on the bank’s ongoing operations, including its $500 million in already authorized project loans, and future plans.

The AIIB’s first four authorized development projects are in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.The Pakistan and Tajikistan projects had been reported previously, and the final loan amounts will be $100 million and $27 million respectively. Bangladesh will receive a $165 million loan for electricity grid coverage expansion and Indonesia will receive a $216.5 million loan for a co-financed World Bank slum development project. The Bank’s board of governors approved the loans on Friday.

According to a press release issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, its verdict in the arbitration between the Philippines and China will be made public on Tuesday, July 12, 2016.

The Republic of Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China, the official name of the case, was initiated in January 2013 by the Philippines, following a difficult 2012 stand-off with China over Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

The arbitration proceedings were initiated under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the primary treaty governing international maritime law. Both China and the Philippines are party to the treaty, but Beijing has refused to participate in the arbitration, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

On Monday, as expected, India became the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), just days after its bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group was put on hold.

The MCTR is an informal and voluntary association of countries that works toward the non-proliferation of unmanned delivery systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction and seeks to coordinate national export licensing efforts. It was originally set up in 1987 by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States.

Members, observers, and guests of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have gathered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for their annual summit. The multilateral organization concerns itself with the full kitchen-sink of topics–political, economic, security–but often seems to have little or no actual direction. The two-day summit will touch on the evergreen issues that plague the region: primarily security concerns stemming from Afghanistan and international terrorism. This summit, the organization’s 16th, may also see India and Pakistan join the group’s six present full members, its first expansion since Uzbekistan joined what had been known as the Shanghai Five in 2001.

In July, Taiwan will test-fire its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles at a U.S. missile range. The test, though scheduled under Taiwan’s previous Kuomintang government, stands to raise tensions between Taiwan and China.

Earlier this week, Beijing announced that it had cut off communications with the new Democratic Progressive Party government led by President Tsai Ing-wen.

The PAC-3 missile defense system is one of Taiwan’s most expensive defense platforms, with an estimate cost of $6.5 billion. It is set for use by Taiwan’s Missile Command, a new command created in 2004 combining air and ballistic missile defense and anti-ship missile targeting.

Though the details remain mired in uncertainty as of this writing, armed gunmen assaulted a restaurant in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Friday evening. The incident sparked a 12-hour hostage standoff, which was resolved when Bangladesh Army commandos stormed in on early Saturday morning. Final casualty counts remain unclear, but at least two police officers were killed in initial gunfire. At least 26 people were wounded.

The targeted institution was the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighborhood, an upscale area frequented by foreign diplomats. The Islamic State group quickly claimed the attack through its social media accounts. The New York Times counts this attack as the 19th claimed by the group in Bangladesh; a spate of recent terror attacks and targeted killings have focused on Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and other minorities, in addition to foreigners. Given the reputation of the targeted restaurant as a popular spot for foreigners and diplomats in Dhaka, several commentators and terrorism experts have suggested that the global terror group could be responsible.