CHINA-MADAGASCAR
The Madagascan authorities have dismantled 13 online fraud centres run predominantly by Chinese nationals, as part of operations carried out in August and September in collaboration with the US Department of Justice. The organisations were involved in romance scams, fraudulent investment schemes and cryptocurrency scams, and were also recruiting African nationals through alleged human trafficking. The networks are believed to have links to criminal organisations already operating in Cambodia. According to the Madagascan Ministry of Justice, 148 Chinese nationals have been extradited to China. The United States also seized approximately $52 million in cryptocurrencies in a single day and analysed over 3,200 electronic devices.
NORTH KOREA–UNITED STATES
Two leading blockchain analysis firms, TRM Labs and Chainalysis, attribute with a high degree of certainty the $6.3 billion theft from Binance – potentially the largest in history – to the state-linked North Korean Lazarus Group (TraderTraitor). Pyongyang has been suspected for years of using cybercrime to finance Kim Jong Un’s regime, through cyberattacks and the laundering of cryptocurrencies. Previous incidents include the theft of 1.5 billion from Bybit in 2025 and that of 620 million in 2022. The attack on Binance is believed to have exploited vulnerabilities in the digital wallet authorisation systems. 80 per cent of the stolen funds are reported to have been recovered or frozen.
CHINA
Chinese manufacturing activity fell unexpectedly in October, with the official PMI index at 49.3 points, down from 50.1 in September, returning to contractionary territory. The figure is below analysts’ expectations (50 points). The main factors weighing on the figure are the slowdown in Christmas-related foreign orders – which were brought forward to September – and the weakening of domestic consumption following the peak recorded during the national holidays in early October. According to Zhang Liqun, an analyst at the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, insufficient demand is increasing downward pressure on the economy.
GULF
“The war in Iran and the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted life across the Middle East, forcing governments and populations to adapt to a higher cost of living at a pace that would normally take decades.” This was stated by Abdullah Al Dardari, UN Under-Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for the Arab States of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in an interview with the Emirati newspaper The National on how the conflict has rapidly redefined priorities in the Gulf region. According to Al Dardari, “we were used to the old classification of oil-rich and oil-poor countries. .. but now we have a new category defined as ‘rich but fragile’”.
BANGLADESH
The pass rate for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations in Bangladesh has fallen to 51.62 per cent, down from 57.12 per cent in 2025, reaching its lowest level since 2004. Across the nine general education boards, 507,281 out of 1,048,530 students failed their exams: the highest figure in the statistical series available since 1990. When technical and religious schools are also taken into account, the number of students who failed rises to 594,113. The number of students achieving the highest mark (GPA-5) has also fallen, dropping to 40,084 – the lowest figure in the last eight years. The Minister of Education has acknowledged the seriousness of the results and announced measures to address learning gaps
RUSSIA
The Novaya Gazeta – the independent Russian newspaper founded in Moscow in 1993, for which Ana Politkovskaya, the anti-Putin journalist murdered in October 2006, used to write – has announced its permanent closure on 9 November 2026, after more than thirty years of operation. The editorial team attributes the decision to pressure from the Russian authorities and the security services. Following the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many journalists had left the country, founding Novaya Gazeta Europe in Latvia. The management decided to close the paper to prevent it from being classified as an extremist organisation, which would have exposed the reporters to arrest. Former editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov denounced the end of press freedom and the violation of the Russian Constitution.
KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan intends to involve rural residents ine-commerce and create new income opportunities for them through digital platforms, as announced by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development, Žaslan Madiev, during a government meeting. To this end, the authorities intend to connect rural entrepreneurs to online markets, develop a network of collection and delivery points for orders, and organise the delivery of goods, even to the most remote villages. According to the minister, over 20 digital platforms already offer income opportunities to more than 500,000 Kazakhs.
