Netanyahu fires defence minister, protests and detentions in Israel

Today's news: for the first time in the United States, a senator of Korean descent is elected; In Taliban-held Afghanistan, opium poppy production rises (slightly) again; In Delhi, ritual bathing in the Yamuna river is banned for pollution; 1500 soothsayers and sorcerers arrested in Tajikistan,.

ISRAEL

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose election day in the United States to sack Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, his antagonist within the government, who is very close to the military leadership. In his place, he appointed loyalist Israel Katz to be replaced by Gideon Saar as Foreign Minister. Netanyahu's move provoked street demonstrations in Israel, with the families of the hostages seeing it as a further closure to the negotiations for the liberation: dozens of people who wanted to camp outside the prime minister's residence were detained, while water cannons intervened to clear the roadblocks. Gallant's exit is also a setback on the issue of the recruitment of the ultra-Orthodox, opposed by the Jewish religious parties.

UNITED STATES-SOUTH KOREA

Among the results of the vote in the United States is also the election of the first senator of Korean descent. Andy Kim, 42, in his third term in Congress, won a Senate seat for New Jersey, beating his Republican rival Curtis Bashaw. Kim's victory was expected: New Jersey had not elected a Republican as senator since 1972.

AFGHANISTAN

Opium poppy production in Afghanistan increased by a fifth in the second full year since the Taliban banned it, but remains a small fraction compared to pre-ban levels. This is according to the annual survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC): opium cultivation in the country had plummeted by 95% in 2023; according to new estimates it has increased by 19% this year to 12,800 hectares with the centre of production having moved from the country's traditional heartland, the southwest, to the northeast. Opium poppy cultivation, however, remains far below 2022, when 232,000 hectares were estimated to be cultivated.

INDIA

The Delhi High Court banned devotees in the capital from celebrating the Chhath Puja - an important holiday for immigrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand - on the bank of the Yamuna river, in Geeta Colony, due to the high level of pollution of the river. The local government's lawyer, Santosh Kumar Tripathi, said that if devotees were allowed to celebrate the Chhath Puja on the riverbed, they would probably fall ill, pointing out that the Delhi local government has designated another 1,000 areas to celebrate the Chhath Puja. Yesterday, the first day of the festival had seen many devotees dipping into the Yamuna River, despite the thick layers of toxic foam covering its surface.

CHINA

China has opened up loan access to local and international researchers to the first batch of lunar samples brought to Earth by the Chang'e-6 mission and the eighth batch of samples from the Chang'e-5 mission. Researchers interested in accessing these samples can submit their requests to the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) through an official data and sample release system by 22 November.

RUSSIA

In a lake in Karelia, Northern Russia, the corpse of Andrej Tkačenko, one of the early partners of Wagner Company founder Evgenij Prigožin, was found. It seems that he died in a storm while fishing, with the boat capsizing 400 metres from the shore, but there are many doubts about this.

TAJIKISTAN

Some 1,500 diviners and sorcerers have been arrested in Tajikistan, and more than 5,000 people with no official religious education have been arrested, offering consultations to clients in the name of combating illegal occult practices and rituals, and President Emomali Rakhmon himself has expressed his concern about the increasing spread of superstition in Tajik society.

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