GAZA - ISRAEL - TURKEY
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad handed over the body of a dead hostage yesterday, as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In a statement released today, the Israeli military confirmed the identity of the hostage, Israeli-Argentine Lior Rudaeff. Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that October saw the highest number of settler attacks in the West Bank since records began in 2006, over 260 in one month. Finally, Turkish prosecutors issued several arrest warrants for “genocide” against Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and several Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Israël Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
AFGHANISTAN – PAKISTAN
Afghanistan’s Taliban government reported the failure of the latest round of peace talks with Pakistan due to Islamabad's “irresponsible and uncooperative” approach, and further violence is not ruled out. The two sides met on Thursday in Turkey to finalise the truce agreed on 19 October in Qatar, following deadly clashes between the two neighbours. There was almost total silence on the content of the discussions, which reportedly addressed long-standing security issues.
NORTH KOREA
North Korean Defence Minister No Kwang Chol threatened to take further “offensive action” after a US aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea and US and South Korean officials visited the inter-Korean border, the official state news agency KCNA reported. This comes one day after North Korea fired its latest ballistic missile. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington arrived in Busan this week to refuel and give its crew a rest.
INDIA
After a day of delays and cancellations of hundreds of flights due to technical problems, Delhi Airport – one of the world's busiest – is working again, with the flight management system "up and running”. The malfunction caused IndiGo (INGL.NS) shares to fall 2 per cent yesterday, while SpiceJet (SPJT.BO) lost 1 per cent. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) says it will take some time before the system returns to normal operation.
SYRIA
Nearly 100 people have been reported as abducted or missing in Syria since the start of the year, with reports of new enforced disappearances, as confirmed by the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The UN body has documented at least 97 people who have been kidnapped or disappeared since January, but it is difficult to ascertain an accurate figure. This figure adds to the more than 100,000 who went missing under Bashar al-Assad.
INDONESIA
More than 50 people were injured during Friday prayers in an explosion at a mosque in Kelapa Gading, a district of the capital Jakarta. The suspect is a 17-year-old boy, who also reportedly suffered injuries in the explosion, which occurred around 12:15 local time in a school complex that housed the place of worship. The injured, mostly students, suffered burns, while the police have opened an investigation.
RUSSIA
Economists at the Center for Analysis and Strategies in Europe (CASE), including some of Russia's most authoritative experts like Sergei Aleksashenko, Vladislav Inozemtsev, and Dmitry Nekrasov, predict at least 10 years of economic stagnation for Russia. This phase will last until 2036 and coincides with the constitutional end of Vladimir Putin's presidency, considering that “currently there are no factors indicating a total collapse, but neither significant growth.”
ARMENIA – AZERBAIJAN
The delivery of the first wheat shipment from Russia through Azerbaijan, via the railway that also runs through Georgia, is a “historic event”, this according to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. A second shipment is now expected from Kazakhstan, a sign of the implementation of the Washington agreements of last August, which include Armenia's willingness to guarantee lorries travelling in the opposite direction.
