USA – MYANMAR
The United States and Myanmar’s military government also held talks last week in Tokyo, Japan. This is the second meeting in a month and forms part of a rapprochement between the Washington administration and the Burmese coup junta, but it is unclear what the two sides discussed during the talks, just as it is unclear what role Japan is playing, given that it does not recognise any Burmese government – neither the military-led one nor the one in exile following the 2021 coup – yet it is nonetheless one of the largest foreign investors in Myanmar.
THAILAND
Thailand’s Prime Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, played the saxophone at a government reception organised for representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank attending their annual summit in Bangkok. Anutin thanked the delegates for the several days of meetings and discussions. The reception, he said, provided an opportunity to relax with food and music, enjoy each other’s company and experience the warmth of Thailand away from the conference halls.
INDIA
This morning, Indian police once again detained the founder of the ‘Cockroaches’ youth movement, Abhijeet Dipke, who had organised a protest in support of other young people arrested this week. The Cockroach Janta Party and left-wing student organisations had called for a new demonstration in New Delhi to wave and hoist the national flag. Dipke was detained as he was leaving a house in central Delhi; the police forcibly put him into a patrol car and took him away after a brief altercation. Activist Neha Bora, a leading figure in the protests, was also detained whilst attempting to reach Connaught Place in the capital with dozens of supporters.
JAPAN
The Japanese Meteorological Agency announced in recent days the formation of the 30th typhoon of the year, making 2026 the first year since 2013 to record 30 or more typhoons. According to forecasts, Typhoon Champi is expected to move westwards and approach a chain of islands south of Japan’s main island of Kyushu next week or in the days following.
ISRAEL – PALESTINE
As happens every year during the olive harvest, violent clashes have broken out between Israeli settlers and the Palestinian population. Around 80 settlers, some of whom were armed with gas canisters, came down from a hill overlooking a terraced olive grove in the village of Abu Falah and attacked the local population, injuring a photojournalist from the Washington Post in the process. The attack continued even after the military arrived. Since 27 September, at least 170 attacks have been recorded in the West Bank.
CHINA – AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan and China discussed expanding cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, energy, transport and logistics, as well as the role of the Middle Corridor in strengthening regional and inter-regional ties. The talks took place during a meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Džeikhun Bayramov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who was on a working visit to Baku for the 7th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, chaired by Azerbaijan.
RUSSIA
Valery Ermakov, vice-chairman of the board of directors of Rostelecom, has proposed the creation of a ‘Doomsday’ backup data centre in Russia to restore digital services following large-scale attacks and disruptions. Following Ukrainian attacks on Yandex’s data centres in the Ryazan, Kaluga and Vladimir regions, the creation of such infrastructure has become an “immediate and pressing necessity”, Ermakov emphasised. In the past, companies concentrated computing power in a few large sites to reduce costs and simplify management, but this model has now proved too vulnerable.
