JAPAN
Today Shigeru Ishiba, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, was formally re-elected prime minister of Japan in the first runoff in three decades against Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party. With a minority government, the opposition is likely to intensify pressure on Ishiba to adopt drastic political reforms.
CHINA-TAIWAN
The introduction of a stricter form of censorship in 2019 is leading to a drastic drop in the publication of books by Taiwanese writers in the People's Republic of China. According to data provided by the South China Morning Post, at least 70 titles had been published in mainland China in the three years prior to the 2019 revision.
The number dropped to 26 between the introduction of the new rules and August 2022, when the situation worsened following Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Since then, only four works of Taiwanese literature have been published in Mainland China, including only one this year.
RUSSIA - NORTH KOREA
In addition to the soldiers supporting the Russian army, estimated at around 12,000, North Korea sent 3,765 of its citizens to Russia ‘for the purpose of study’ between July and September 2024, according to data from the border service on the website of the statistics institute Rosstat, a record number on a historical level, even though only 300 of them were registered for studies by the Ministry of Education.
PHILIPPINES
This morning 2,500 villages in the Philippines were ordered to evacuate due to a new typhoon, Toraji, the fourth in less than 30 days. Schools and government offices remained closed in the areas expected to be hardest hit along the north-eastern coast, while about 700 passengers were stranded at ports as shipping was suspended.
INDIA
The Punjab police arrested two alleged associates of Arshdeep Singh, alias Arsh Dalla, accused of several crimes, including murder, extortion and terrorism, and himself an aide to Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan activist killed in Vancouver last year. According to the police, the arrest of the two, who were found in possession of weapons, cash and false identity documents, foiled four potential targeted killings.
BHUTAN
Bhutan plans to build a ‘city of mindfulness’, for which it issued a USD 100 million bond today. The ‘Gelephu Mindfulness City’ will be built in a special administrative region with separate rules and laws, and will serve as an economic corridor between South Asia and South East Asia, covering an area of over 2,500 square kilometres on the border with India.
MIDDLE EAST
Qatar has suspended its role as mediator in the ceasefire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas, stressing that it will resume work when Hamas and Israel ‘demonstrate their willingness’ to negotiate and calling initial reports of the US willingness to close the Hamas office in Doha ‘inaccurate’. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in northern Lebanon and Gaza have killed dozens of people, including several children.
KYRGYZSTAN
The President of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Žaparov, met with representatives of the country's religious communities to discuss the new draft of a law ‘On the Freedom of Religious Profession and Religious Organisations’, which should make it possible to regulate the positions of all denominations, and above all ensure the unity of all Muslims, with fewer prohibitions.
