North Korea denies its weapons were used in Hamas attack
Today's news: Number of Thais who died in Mideast rises to 24. A meeting between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Kyrgyzstan over Nagorno Karabakh falls through. In Myanmar, junta drops one of its most powerful bombs on a refugee camp. In Moscow police raided the homes of Alexei Navalny's lawyers. Taiwanese government raises salaries of educators and caregivers of people with physical and mental disabilities.
NORTH KOREA – PALESTINE
North Korea has denied claims that the Palestinian terrorist group used its weapons. Reports from the United States suggest that Hamas militants used North Korean F-7 rocket-propelled grenades. “This could be new supplies or from previous shipments going back as far as 2009," said Bruce Bechtol, a professor at Angelo State University in Texas, who has researched North Korea's arms sales. He suggests the weapons may have taken an indirect route through Iran or Syria.
ISRAEL – THAILAND
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced that three more Thais were killed in the Hamas attack, bringing the death toll of Thai nationals to 24. The government has announced that the number of people who have asked to be evacuated from Israel has reached 7,000. Srettha confirmed that his government is working with private airlines to bring Thais home as soon as possible.
JAPAN
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered the deployment of a Japan Self-Defence Forces plane to an operating base in Djibouti over the weekend as part of his government’s efforts to evacuate Japanese nationals from Israel. Kishida said the plane will arrive in East Africa about 2,000 kilometres south of Israel and be on standby to intervene if necessary.
MYANMAR
According to an investigation by Amnesty International, Myanmar’s ruling military junta used one of its largest aerial-delivered bombs during an attack on the village of Mung Lai Hkyet, Kachin State, last Monday night. According to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), at least 29 people, including 13 children, were killed, while another 57 were injured. The junta reportedly bombed the village located about two miles north of the city of Laiza, thinking it was one of the KIA's headquarters.
CHINA – KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan has approved a bill that ratifies an agreement signed with China that will allow the two countries to exchange information – name, date and place of birth, photograph, identification issuing authority and citizenship status – about their citizens. This follows a visit by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to China, which is more interested in the deal in order to curb immigration to Kazakhstan of Chinese citizens, including several people from Xinjiang, who moved to Kazakhstan without informing Chinese authorities.
INDIA
India's palm oil imports increased by 29.21 per cent – to over 90 million tonnes – in the first 10 months of the year compared to 2022. India, the world's largest buyer of vegetable oil, had imported 70.28 million tonnes of palm oil products during the same period last year. “During November 2022 and September 2023, the import of palm products increased sharply due to price parity,” reads a statement by the Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA). This has had a negative impact on the domestic market.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed in principle to reach a peace agreement within two to three months, but their leaders cannot find a place to meet. Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliev did not show up at a meeting of European Union heads of state and government in Granada (Spain) on 5 October, while Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to take part in the summit of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation's (CSTO), currently underway in Kyrgyzstan, increasingly moving away from Moscow.
RUSSIA
Police in Moscow raided the apartments of Alexei Navalny's lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Alexei Liptser, and arrested them on charges of "participation in an extremist association”, this according to other activists from the anti-corruption fund linked to the jailed dissident. Navalny himself was informed of this during a court hearing against him.
TAIWAN
The Taiwanese government has approved funding for a five-year Ministry of Health and Welfare project worth 48 billion New Taiwan dollars to increase the pay of educators and caregivers of people with physical and mental disabilities to NT,700 and 33,700 respectively. The increase is close to NT,000. Some 1.2 million people have a physical or mental disability in Taiwan, but despite many efforts, there are not enough staff to care for them.
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