Two years after the 7 October attack negotiations continue in Sharm el Sheikh,
Today's headlines: Tarique Rahman, Khaleda Zia's son, announces his return to Bangladesh for the elections; Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Pyongyang, the first high-level visit since 2019; Egypt's Khaled Ahmed El-Enany Ali Ezz will be the new Director-General of UNESCO; Teachers in Singapore work an average of 47.3 hours per week; The Philippines is searching for new Olympians with an app.
ISRAEL-GAZA-EGYPT
The second anniversary of the 7 October attacks by Hamas and the subsequent start of the Israeli war in Gaza is marked by growing international pressure for a ceasefire, the release of hostages still alive and the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip. Talks on Trump's plan began yesterday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh to discuss the details of the agreement. According to Al Qahera, a broadcaster close to the Egyptian government, the first round of talks ended “in a positive atmosphere”. For his part, Trump said he was “fairly confident” that an agreement would be reached to end the conflict.
BANGLADESH
“The time has come, God willing, I will return soon”. This was stated in London in his first interview in twenty years with the BBC by Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia (now elderly and ill), interim president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The BNP is the favourite in the elections scheduled for February, from which the Awami League, the party of the deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been excluded.
CHINA-NORTH KOREA
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will lead a Chinese delegation to North Korea to attend the ruling party's 80th anniversary celebrations. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing confirmed Li's visit from 9 to 11 October and said China is willing to take the opportunity to strengthen communication and deepen partnerships with North Korea. This will be the highest-level visit by a Chinese delegation to Pyongyang since 2019.
UNITED NATIONS
Former Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled Ahmed El-Enany Ali Ezz, was nominated as the sole candidate for the post of Director-General of UNESCO during the 222nd session of the organisation's Executive Board, held yesterday in Paris. During the vote, El-Enany received 55 votes, while the other candidate, Firmin Edouard Matoko of the Republic of Congo, received only two. Having obtained more than half of the valid votes, El-Enany won the election. The appointment will be submitted for approval to the UNESCO General Conference, scheduled for 6 November in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
SINGAPORE
The Teaching and Learning International Survey, the largest international survey of teachers and school leaders, found that teachers in Singapore work longer hours and are more likely to experience high levels of stress than the OECD average. Full-time teachers in Singapore reported working an average of 47.3 hours per week, above the OECD average of 41 hours. The survey also found that 27% of teachers in Singapore reported feeling “a lot” of stress at work, higher than the OECD average of 19%. This figure is up 4 percentage points from 2018.
PHILIPPINES
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has launched an app to provide Filipino athletes with a platform to showcase their progress and connect with talent scouts. Developed using technology from US company Elite Link, the app – which bears the same name – will serve as a database for athletes, coaches, scouts, teams and brands across the country. According to PSC President Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, the aim is to discover the next generation of Olympians in the Philippines.
KAZAKHSTAN
The presentation of the “Nazarbayev era” has been revised in the new history textbooks for Kazakh schools, with criticism of the “illusion of living in a perfect society” during the 30-year reign of the country's first president. Recalling the bloody events of January 2022, with hundreds of deaths in Almaty and Shymkent, the blame is attributed to the old regime and to Nursultan Nazarbayev himself, “who did not intervene to quell the conflict at that time”.
RUSSIA
The Moscow Patriarchate's Commission for the Defence of the Family, Motherhood and Children has announced that it has identified hundreds of private clinics that do not comply with the new laws restricting abortions, found thanks to the contribution of a large group of “pro-life volunteers” who sent 732 complaints to the supervisory bodies about more than a thousand clinics investigated in all regions of Russia.
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