Pyongyang sent 500 workers to China in violation of UN sanctions

Today's news: more than 500 people have died in the storms that are sweeping through Southeast Asia; Israel places return of displaced people from the North among the targets of the war, a further step towards an offensive in Lebanon; India condemns Ali Khamenei's statements on the treatment of Muslims in the country; First 2024 case of monkeypox in Malaysia.

NORTH KOREA - CHINA

North Korea, in violation of international sanctions, sent 500 workers to China for the first time since the pandemic, Radio Free Asia reported. The 500 workers were sent at the end of August. The postings - to countries such as Russia and China - were supposed to end at the end of 2019, with UN Security Council Resolution 2397 aimed at pushing Pyongyang to end its nuclear programme.

MYANMAR - SOUTH EAST ASIA

The number of people killed in Myanmar by Typhoon Yagi has risen to more than 220, with nearly 80 still missing. The storm passed through northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar last week, killing more than 500 people across the region. The UN has also warned that more than half a million people in Myanmar are in urgent need of food, drinking water, shelter and clothing due to the war.

ISRAEL

Under pressure from Netanyahu, the Israeli security cabinet has included among the objectives of the war the return of displaced people to their homes in northern Israel, abandoned under Hezbollah rocket fire. This is a step that brings the start of an Israeli offensive in Lebanon even closer. In the meantime, increasingly insistent rumours claim that the exit of Defence Minister Gallant is imminent, and that he will be replaced by former Likud member Gideo Sa'ar, in a move that would mark Netanyahu's victory over the Israeli army leadership in the clash that has been going on for weeks over the management of the war.

INDIA - IRAN

India condemned Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's comments on the treatment of Muslims in the great South Asian country, calling his remarks ‘uninformed and unacceptable’. ‘We cannot consider ourselves Muslims if we are unaware of the suffering a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India or anywhere else,’ Khamenei had in fact stated in a social media post on Monday. The Indian Foreign Ministry said it ‘strongly deplores’ the comments.

MALAYSIA

Malaysia today reported the first case of mpox (monkeypox) in 2024 after a man tested positive for the less severe clade II variant. The case was detected yesterday in a man who had been experiencing symptoms such as fever, sore throat and cough since 11 September. The patient, a Malaysian national, had not travelled abroad in the 21 days prior to the onset of symptoms, the ministry added. Since July last year, Malaysia has detected a total of 10 cases of mpox, all of the clade II variant.

ARMENIA - JAPAN

Armenia's Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan paid a visit to Japan, meeting in Tokyo with his counterpart Takeo Akiba, discussing regional and international issues in light of the ‘Crossroads of Peace’ project proposed by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pašinyan to open economic, political and cultural borders.

RUSSIA

Among the many measures to tighten conditions for migrants in Russia, the Moscow Duma has proposed changes to the law on citizenship, whereby every new citizen of the country must automatically be placed on military conscription lists, under penalty of being deprived of their newly received passport, and ‘several new measures’ have been announced.

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