Fresh clashes on Thailand-Cambodia border with rubber bullets and tear gas

Today's headlines: Unrest in East Timor over parliamentary privileges; Indonesia's Prabowo appoints another former general as minister; The leader of South Korea's Unification Church denies corruption allegations; Pakistan and Saudi Arabia sign mutual defence (nuclear) agreement.

THAILAND-CAMBODIA

Yesterday, the Thai armed forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas at Cambodian protesters along the disputed border, according to the Bangkok army; an action that, according to Phnom Penh, injured more than 20 people. The two Southeast Asian neighbours had signed a truce at the end of July, but for weeks the situation remained tense. According to a statement by the Thai army, about 200 Cambodians gathered to protest against the military placing barbed wire along the border.

EAST TIMOR

The East Timorese government has decided to shelve a plan to provide free cars for its MPs following protests by the local population. In recent days, demonstrators have burned tyres and set fire to a government vehicle, but despite the decision to suspend the proposal, another 2,000 people gathered yesterday in the capital, Dili, and are now also calling for the abolition of lifetime pensions.

INDONESIA

President Prabowo Subianto yesterday appointed former general Djamari Chaniago as Minister of Security to appease popular discontent. So far, five ministers have been replaced, a move seen as an attempt to reconsolidate the government's power through key executive positions, deploying former generals and members of the army, an issue that has been worrying the Indonesian population and civil society for months.

SOUTH KOREA

Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja, who spent nine hours being questioned at the Seoul prosecutor's office, denied allegations that she bribed the former South Korean first lady with luxury gifts in exchange for favours. Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, wife of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, is accused of accepting two Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace from the church, worth a total of 80 million won (£40,000). A team of lawyers has requested an arrest warrant for Han.

PAKISTAN – SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (a nuclear-armed country) have signed a mutual defence pact under which any attack on either nation will be considered an attack on both. Despite decades of cooperation between the two countries, this decision was taken after Israeli missile strikes on Doha, Qatar, but also in view of nuclear tensions with Iran.

RUSSIA – UKRAINE

According to research by the Yale University Human Rights Lab, there are 210 “correctional” colleges operating in Russia and the annexed regions of Ukraine, where Ukrainian children are sent for patriotic indoctrination and forced military training, and researchers believe the number of such centres is likely to be even higher.

ARMENIA

The Armenian opposition party “I Have the Honour” has tabled a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, citing the “international crisis and the ineffectiveness of our state administration”, as the government “has not only failed to fulfil its obligations, ignoring the programmes approved by the parliamentary majority”, but above all “has been unable to respond to the challenges facing Armenia's future”.

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