Tension in Taiwan: Chinese military exercises circle island

Today's news: Maharashtra politician killed shortly before local elections; Myanmar militias follow Beijing's lead in peace talks; Cambodia jails Filippino women over surrogacy; Ukraine accuses North Korea of sending its soldiers to Russia.

CHINA - TAIWAN

Tension in Taiwan over Chinese military drills that began this morning near the island: for Beijing, the ‘Joint Sword B’ operations are a ‘stern warning’ in response to President Lai Ching-te's speech last week vowing to oppose ‘annexation’ by China. Similar exercises had also occurred after the inauguration speech. The United States, Taiwan's ally, is monitoring the situation.

INDIA

Indian politician Baba Siddique, 66, was shot dead in Mumbai, the capital of the state of Maharashtra, where local elections will be held in November. In February, Baba Siddique had left the Congress, the main opposition party, to join the National Congress Party, a regional independent party, which is part of the BJP's ruling coalition. So far, two people have been arrested in connection with the murder.

MYANMAR

In recent days, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) - allegedly under Chinese pressure - banned its members from joining international talks to address the crisis in Myanmar. Recently, Indonesian, ASEAN, EU, UN and anti-junta representatives met in Jakarta to discuss the solution to the civil conflict.

PHILIPPINES - CAMBODIA

A number of Filipino women found pregnant have been charged with violating Cambodian law and risk imprisonment for acting as surrogate mothers after being contacted online, probably by a Thai group. Interior Minister Chou Bun-eng said that on 23 September police found 24 foreign women, 20 Filipinas and four Vietnamese, while raiding a villa in Kandal province, near the capital Phnom Penh. Surrogacy has been banned in Cambodia since 2016.

UKRAINE - RUSSIA - NORTH KOREA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused North Korea of sending not only weapons, but also soldiers, to help Russia in its war against Ukraine. According to South Korea's Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, the news that North Korean soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied territory is most likely true, while Russia called it ‘fake news’.

MIDDLE EAST

Yesterday, the US announced that it was sending Israel an advanced anti-missile system (called THAAD) and, according to an anonymous official, also ‘100 troops’. In the night, a drone attack by Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers at the Binyamina military base, south of Haifa, wounding at least 50 others. An Israeli bombing of a school that was sheltering displaced Palestinians killed several people, including at least 15 children according to Hamas authorities.

GEORGIA

The Georgian Prime Minister, Iraklij Kobakhidze, urged law enforcement agencies to ‘work particularly carefully’ in the next two weeks leading up to the parliamentary elections, to ‘prevent any form of provocation’, not even ruling out the possibility of terrorist attacks, as had happened to MP Givi Targamadze in 2016.

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