153 exiles from Gaza on a ghost flight to South Africa

Today's headlines: the house of the doctor who drove the car that exploded at the Red Fort in Delhi demolished in Kashmir; Trump administration approves its first sale of spare parts for Taiwanese fighter jets; Japan denies citizenship to three children of Japanese from Hokinawa who arrived in the Philippines during World War II; Escort spacecraft for the return of astronauts from the Chinese space station.

GAZA-SOUTH AFRICA-ISRAEL

After nearly 12 hours of waiting on the runway, South Africa allowed 153 Palestinian passengers from Gaza to disembark from a mysterious charter flight that arrived from Kenya at Tambo International Airport. The Home Affairs Ministry only authorised the passengers to disembark after a local humanitarian organisation guaranteed that it would provide accommodation for the passengers during their stay in South Africa. The Palestinian passengers were not allowed to disembark from the plane after it was discovered that they “did not have the usual exit stamps in their passports”. Nigel Branken, a South African social worker who helped those detained on the plane, said that passengers from Gaza told him they had been forced by Israeli authorities to leave all their personal belongings behind before boarding an unmarked plane at an Israeli air force base.

INDIA

In the town of Pulwama in Kashmir, Indian security forces demolished the home of Dr Umar Nabi, the man linked to the car bomb involved in the explosion at the Red Fort in Delhi that killed at least 10 people. Officials said Umar was behind the wheel of the Hyundai i20 at the time of the incident and that his identity was confirmed after DNA samples collected at the scene matched those of his mother. Nabi worked as an assistant professor at Al Falah University in Faridabad. Delhi Police had previously claimed that he was linked to Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie and Dr Adeel Rather, who were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir last week and accused of storing over 2,900 kg of ammonium nitrate, detonators, timers and assault rifles in Faridabad.

TAIWAN-CHINA-UNITED STATES

The United States has approved the possible sale to Taiwan of spare parts and components for the repair of fighter jets worth 0 million, the Pentagon announced, marking the first potential transaction of its kind since President Donald Trump took office in January. Taiwan's Defence Ministry said it expects the sale to “take effect” within a month. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island. The Taiwanese government strongly rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only the people of Taiwan can decide their own future.

JAPAN-PHILIPPINES

Three Japanese-Filipinos – children of Filipino women and men from Hokinawa who arrived in the archipelago during World War II – have had their applications for Japanese citizenship rejected by the Naha Family Court. The judges justified the rejection on the grounds of a lack of documents certifying their parents' marriage or recognition of paternity. There are still about 50 Japanese-Filipinos in the Philippines who hope to have their Japanese citizenship recognised. At the time of their birth, the law stipulated that children of Japanese men automatically acquired Japanese citizenship.

CHINA

The three astronauts of Shenzhou-20 are returning to Earth from the Chinese space station aboard another spacecraft, Shenzhou-21. The crew's return, initially scheduled for 5 November, has been postponed due to a suspected impact of small space debris on the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, which would no longer meet the requirements for the safe return of the astronauts but will remain in orbit to continue the relevant experiments. The astronauts are expected to arrive today at the Dongfeng landing site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

RUSSIA

The Russian studio Khorošye Igry (‘Good Games’) has received a commission of 20 million roubles (€200,000) from the presidential fund for cultural initiatives to produce a video game with content related to the Orthodox faith, entitled “The Ladder to Heaven”, with active areas to click on to discover “moral and spiritual values” and overcome “adolescent crises” with the help of the Church, leading to the “acceptance of responsibility”.

ARMENIA

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters that Armenia's territorial integrity must be restored by delimiting its borders with Azerbaijan, for which ‘we are committed to negotiations and rule out any scenario involving the use of force’ to resolve the issues of the still disputed areas, and only then can ‘other possible conditions’ for a definitive peace with Baku be discussed.