Gaza: 500 dead in bombed hospital. Amman summit with Biden called off

Today's news: The number of political prisoners in Russia up 15-fold in recent years; Pyongyang's escalation - also nuclear - to regional nation's meeting with the US in Jakarta; India accelerates in space race with the goal of putting an astronaut on the Moon by 2040; Dengue is on the rise in Vietnam.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE

According to Palestinian authorities in the besieged territory of Gaza, at least 500 people were killed in an Israeli shelling of al-Ahli hospital. Israel defends itself by claiming that the cause was a Palestinian missile that would have missed its trajectory. “The WHO condemns the attack on the hospital,” said the director general of the United Nations health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that initial reports indicate “hundreds of people dead and as many injured.” “We call for the immediate protection of civilians and health care and the lifting of evacuation orders."

MIDDLE EAST - USA

It was supposed to be one of the key moments of U.S. President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East today: a stop in Jordan to meet Palestinian National Authority leader Abu Mazen, Egyptian President Al Sisi and other Arab leaders amid the incessant Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip. Jordan canceled the summit following the Israeli air strike that hit the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza city, killing at least 500 people. Biden nevertheless arrived in Israel for his visit.

RUSSIA

According to calculations by the Kholod agency, the number of political prisoners in Russia has grown 15 times in the last 9 years, and most of them are persecuted for religious reasons. In March 2014 there were a total of 40 people, in October 2024 they exceeded 600, of which 420 were Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostals and members of various "undesirable" religious organizations.

NORTH KOREA

Senior diplomats from the United States, Japan and South Korea met in Indonesia on Tuesday to understand how to deal with arms transfers between North Korea and Russia which pose a threat to the security of the area and also global security. During the Jakarta meeting, diplomats also addressed the dangers of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs, as well as its cyber activities, to the Indo-Pacific region.

VIETNAM

Vietnam's Health Ministry has reported 99,639 cases of dengue fever in the country with 27 deaths since the start of 2023. The number of new cases in the past week has decreased compared to the previous week, but infections in the capital Hanoi show no signs of abating .

RUSSIA - FRANCE

After the attack on the French school in Arras, in which a teacher lost his life and three other people were seriously injured, France is deciding to expel from the country around sixty Russian citizens, mostly Chechens, described as extremists and Islamists radicals, as announced by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

HONG KONG

Hong Kong is set to allow its public universities to double the number of non-local undergraduate admissions next year. The quotas will go from 20% of the places, financed with public funds, to 40%. The new proposal aims to make the city “an international center of higher education”.

INDIA

India is aiming hard to conquer space: the first goal is to build India's first space station by 2035. The push towards the stars comes after India became the first country to land a spacecraft in August spacecraft on the Moon's south pole, and in September launched a rocket to study the Sun. The ultimate goal is to put an astronaut on the Moon by 2040.

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