SAUDI ARABIA - YEMEN
Schools in Riyadh have switched to distance learning and will not hold face-to-face lessons for at least a week. Pupils, teaching staff and other school personnel have been instructed not to attend school due to growing security concerns, following a series of attacks by the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels against Saudi Arabia from Yemen.
Over the weekend, parents were informed that classes would be suspended from 27 September to 1 October, with teaching continuing via ‘Madrasati’, the kingdom’s online learning platform. However, the Saudi authorities have not provided any official explanation for this measure, and the Ministry of Education has not issued any statements justifying it. Recently, a series of drones and ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis have targeted various sites across the country, including strategic oil infrastructure and the capital region.
NEPAL – INDIA
Heavy rain and thunderstorms have caused flooding and landslides, resulting in the deaths of 56 people in India;
in Nepal, there are 14 fatalities and 11 people missing, with the authorities warning of the possibility of further flash floods. Local teams and volunteers are carrying out rescue operations in the flooded areas and distributing aid, whilst officials have been tasked with assessing damage to crops and arranging compensation. Also in Nepal, there have been two deaths among a group of 14 climbers and guides reported missing after an avalanche struck the base camp of Mount Himlung, in the centre of the Himalayan country, which had already been hit by devastating floods on 26 August. Mount Himlung, which stands at 7,126 metres and is close to the border with Tibet, had experienced heavy snowfall in the preceding days. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks, and the foreign mountaineers who flock to the mountains represent an important source of income for this predominantly rural country.
THAILAND
Yesterday, the Thai government approved the granting of special leave on 28 and 29 September for civil servants in Bangkok and the three neighbouring provinces, due to heavy rainfall. Flooding has forced thousands of residents to take refuge in designated evacuation centres, whilst others are rushing to buy food or trying to dry out their homes. Days of heavy rain have flooded markets, roads and homes. According to the Metropolitan Administration, nearly 4,900 people have been evacuated to shelters and around 52,000 households have been affected, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency in the capital.
Thailand is accustomed to a humid climate and September marks the peak of the rainy season, but this year the situation has appeared worse than in previous years; to date, there have been at least eight fatalities confirmed since the floods began in the middle of the month, though none in the capital.
ISRAEL – UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Abu Dhabi yesterday on a surprise four-hour lightning visit, where he met the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. A senior Israeli official told Reuters of this, although there have been no official comments from the Prime Minister’s office or the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visit follows a report published this month by the Israeli daily Haaretz, according to which Sheikh Mohammed had warned Netanyahu a week and a half before 7 October 2023 of the Hamas attack on Israel. This warning was reportedly not passed on to the Israeli intelligence services or armed forces. After being targeted during the conflict with Iran, the Emirates have strengthened their ties with the United States and Israel – a nation with which they established relations following the 2020 Abraham Accords – thereby exerting regional influence and establishing a privileged channel of communication with Washington.
KOREA
The South Korean armed forces and the United Nations Command have launched an investigation into the explosion of a landmine near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas. This was announced yesterday by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, whilst opposition MPs called for transparency regarding the origin of the device, which they suspect came from the North. The investigation team, comprising around 40 officials, has been searching an area near the site of the 21 September blast, which injured three soldiers.
MALAYSIA
Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, the surviving wife of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, died today at the age of 100. Her family confirmed her death following her admission to the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur, though they did not immediately clarify the cause. The current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim – whose decades-long rivalry with Mahathir has shaped the country’s modern political history – has announced that Siti Hasmah will be given a state funeral.
RUSSIA – ARMENIA
Gazprom-Armenia has announced that natural gas supplies from Russia to Armenia via the North Caucasus–Transcaucasia pipeline resumed on 25 September. Gas deliveries had been temporarily suspended on 15 September due to scheduled maintenance and repair work on the pipeline in Russia, effectively as a means of exerting pressure in response to the Yerevan government’s pro-European statements. Gazprom-Armenia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Russian company Gazprom and holds a monopoly on supplies for domestic consumption.
KAZAKHSTAN – MIDDLE EAST
Representatives from Bahrain, Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and the United States met in New York for the first time in over three years as part of the Abraham Accords, which aim to improve relations between the State of Israel and Arab countries.
Following the terrorist attacks of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent conflict in the Gaza Strip, the countries had suspended the meetings, but the Trump administration is prioritising the resumption of this format, in which representatives from Kazakhstan also took part for the first time.
