Middle East War: Another Indian migrant and an Indonesian soldier killed

Today’s headlines: in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, a formal presidential candidate, has left the army; The Taiwanese leader of the Kuomintang is due to visit Beijing from 7 April; The Maldives do not recognise the agreement between Britain and Mauritius on the Chagos Islands; Chongqing overtakes Shanghai in the ranking of Chinese cities by consumer spending.

MIDDLE EAST-INDIA-INDONESIA

Whilst mixed signals continue to emerge from the United States regarding the war, with Trump wavering in his statements between optimism about the Pakistan-mediated negotiations and the threat of a ground operation on the Iranian island of Kharg, another Indian worker has been killed in Kuwait in an Iranian missile strike targeting a desalination plant. This brings the total number of Indians killed in the Gulf states since the start of the conflict to seven. Meanwhile, the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon has reported that an Indonesian peacekeeper has also died and another has been seriously injured following the explosion of a projectile near the town of Adchit al-Qusayr. UNIFIL has launched an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the incident and the origin of the projectile.

MYANMAR

The head of Myanmar’s military junta and architect of the 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing, has resigned to stand for the presidency following the first elections since the power grab that sparked a civil war. The 69-year-old general, who has led the armed forces since 2011, has been named as one of three candidates from whom the new parliament, installed after a sham election, must choose the president. His election is taken for granted.

MALDIVES-MAURITIUS-UNITED KINGDOM

The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has stated that his country does not recognise the agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius regarding the transfer of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, the Indian Ocean archipelago where the Diego Garcia military base is located. The Maldives claims historical sovereignty over the archipelago and is threatening international legal action. The British government, however, maintains that the matter concerns only the UK and Mauritius, citing a ruling by the International Court of Justice in favour of Mauritius.

TAIWAN-CHINA

The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, will visit China from 7 to 12 April at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a trip scheduled a month before US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing for a summit. Former MP Cheng Li-wun, elected KMT chairperson in October, has signalled a shift towards even closer ties with Beijing than her predecessor Eric Chu, who did not visit China during his term of office, which began in 2021.

CHINA

In the People’s Republic of China, the south-western metropolis of Chongqing has overtaken Shanghai in the ranking of cities by consumer spending in 2025, ending the seven-year reign of Shanghai, the financial capital. Official figures show retail sales of 1.67 trillion yuan, compared with 1.66 trillion in Shanghai. This growth is attributed to its larger population (31.9 million), lower cost of living and greater propensity to spend.

RUSSIA

The Russian state sociological centre Vitsom has put President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating at 70.1%, the lowest level since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, almost two percentage points lower than the previous month, undoubtedly due to internet restrictions and the blocking of the Telegram messaging service, which also caused approval ratings for Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (below 55%) and the United Russia party (below 30%) to fall.

TURKMENISTAN

In 2025, Turkmenistan’s trade balance with European Union countries exceeded billion, as stated by Ashgabat’s Finance Minister, Mammetguly Astanagulov, at the EU-Turkmenistan business forum, a partnership that “occupies an important place in our state’s foreign economic strategies”, emphasising that this concerns practically all European countries across many sectors.

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