INDIA
On the day of a planned protest in Delhi against irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls, which have disenfranchised at least 1.3 million people, Indian police detained three leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) – Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das, and Ashutosh Ranka – upon their arrival at the capital's airport this morning. The CJP is a movement that has been channelling youth discontent following last spring's protests against exam fraud in university admissions. Delhi is under heavy security today with more than 40,000 police and paramilitary personnel deployed, and barricades and spike strips. Officials are explicitly warning students not to participate in the demonstrations, cautioning that doing so could negatively impact their future careers.
CHINA – NORWAY – UNITED NATIONS
Amid the controversy surrounding the Nobel Peace Prize awarded yesterday to South African jurist Navi Pillay, one issue concerns her dealings with China during her tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008–2014). A former official, Irish national Emma Reilly, accuses her of allowing the practice of notifying the Chinese embassy of the names of exiled Uyghur activists participating in Human Rights Council sessions, thereby effectively endangering their families in China. Reilly also criticises Pillay for failing to attend the 2010 Nobel ceremony honouring Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. It should be noted that although she was not present, Navi Pillay publicly called for Liu Xiaobo’s release on that occasion, describing him as an example of the violations human rights defenders face worldwide. The Chinese dissident eventually died in custody in 2017.
GAZA
One year after the ceasefire in Gaza, brokered with US support, more than a hundred humanitarian, human rights, and civil society organisations state that the truce exists only on paper. In a joint statement released on Friday, groups such as Amnesty International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, Oxfam, and Greenpeace report that Israeli attacks have resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 327 children. The organisations also criticise restrictions on humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials, which prevent families from regaining some normalcy. NGO leaders stress that, without security and the ability to rebuild, the ceasefire remains devoid of concrete meaning.
NEPAL
According to a new UNICEF report, Nepal is far from eliminating child marriage by 2030, despite progress made over the past decade. The percentage of women aged 20 to 24 who were married before the age of 18 fell from 37 per cent in 2014 to 28 per cent in 2024–2025. During the same period, marriages occurring before the age of 15 were cut in half, from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. However, improvements remain uneven: girls from the poorest families are 4.4 times more likely to marry before the age of 18 than those from the wealthiest families.
JAPAN
During excavations in the ancient Japanese capital of Heijō-kyō, located in present-day Nara, a wooden tablet dating back to the Nara period (710–784 AD) was discovered; it documents the sale of an enslaved person and specifies the price. The Center for Archaeological Operations at Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties announced the discovery on 7 October. According to scholars, the artefact provides valuable historical evidence of human trafficking, as it records details of the transaction, including the method of payment. Although buying and selling slaves was already documented, this is the first time a document containing such precise information has come to light.
RUSSIA
The Russian agency Rosfinmonitoring has added Sofia M., born in 2012, to its list of “terrorists and extremists”. The girl, who turned 14 only in June, is the youngest person to be placed on the list, beating the previous “record holder” by one week. As of 2025, authorities lowered the age of criminal responsibility for terrorist offences from 16 to 14. The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, had sought to lower it further to 12.
CENTRAL ASIA
Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon has proposed compiling a list of priority energy projects for Central Asia, identifying mechanisms for their joint financing, and developing a regional strategy for a green transition. He made these proposals during the eighth consultative meeting of the heads of state of Central Asia and Azerbaijan, held in Turkmenistan, where he also proposed considering the construction of a large oil refinery, expanding joint ventures, and implementing digital and green technologies.
