Pakistan, TTP attack on Afghan border: 10 policemen killed

Today's news: more buildings bombed at Gaza's Jabalia camp, numerous casualties. Cambodian journalist Mech Dara released on bail, accused of ‘inciting social unrest’. Chinese residents move billions of dollars abroad due to economic instability. Seoul may send its soldiers to Kiev as observers after the deployment of North Korean troops in the Russian camp.

PAKISTAN

At least 10 Pakistani border policemen were killed in an attack by militants on an outpost near the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan. The attack was claimed by the Islamic militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Three senior police sources confirmed the attack, saying that a large group of militants stormed the outpost, killing members of the border security force.

ISRAEL - LEBANON - GAZA

More casualties in Gaza from Israeli shelling of a dozen residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Strip in an attack described as a ‘great massacre’. The IDF claimed yesterday to have killed a Hamas commander who took part in the assault on 7 October 2023, who also worked for UNRWA. In Lebanon, three journalists were killed in an Israeli attack apparently aimed at their accommodation in Hasbaiyya, southern Lebanon.

CAMBODIA

Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist arrested and charged with incitement earlier this month, was released on bail. He was released after a pro-government media outlet published a video in prison in which he asked the country's leaders for forgiveness. The accusation was that five social media posts could ‘incite social unrest’. Human rights groups and governments, including the US, have commented on his arrest.

CHINA

Chinese residents have used everything from cryptocurrencies to artwork to move their money abroad. Billions of dollars have been moved out of the country under the noses of the authorities: the collapse of the property market and economic uncertainties are pushing citizens to find safer places to deposit their wealth abroad. Moving fortunes outside China is difficult and dangerous: the country imposes strict capital controls limiting individual purchases of foreign currency to ,000 a year.

NORTH KOREA - SOUTH KOREA

Some South Korean media report from government sources that Seoul could send military personnel to Ukraine, as a response to the sending of North Korean soldiers to the Russian army, not for direct participation in the fighting, but as observers to report precisely on the actions of those in Pyongyang. A scenario that would directly re-propose the conflict between the two Koreas also in Ukraine, while theKiev intelligence agency claims that North Korean units are already in the Kursk region.

INDIA

At least four people, including two soldiers, were killed in an ambush by militants on an army vehicle in Indian Kashmir last night. It is the second attack in the region this week. The attacks come on the heels of the installation of a government formed by an opposition alliance in the territory where separatist militants have been fighting security forces for decades.

GEORGIA

According to a poll by the opposition TV channel Mtavari, with interviews of about 1,500 people, the Georgian Dream party will get 35% of the vote in next days' elections with 61 seats, and the opposition (divided into 7 different coalitions) 52% with 85 seats. Former President Mikhail Saakašvili says he is convinced of the victory of his National Movement party, and that the ruling party will not reach 30%.