Thailand: Chinese and Burmese workers trapped in tunnel have died

Today's news: WHO announces temporary ‘humanitarian pauses’ for polio vaccinations in Gaza; The Philippines will spend billion to modernise defence; The Constitutional Court in Seoul declared the country's climate targets unconstitutional as too soft; Schools closed in Karachi due to a depression in the Arabian Sea that could turn into a cyclonic storm.

THAILAND

Three foreign workers trapped in a collapsed train tunnel have died despite rescue efforts that lasted more than five days, Thai authorities said. The men, two from China and one from Myanmar, were still alive until Thursday and died of asphyxiation, according to initial investigations. The tragedy occurred in Pak Chong district, about 200 km north-east of the capital Bangkok.

GAZA - ISRAEL

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it has received a ‘preliminary commitment’ to allow temporary ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza for the distribution of polio vaccines, as the spread of disease and illnesses across the besieged Strip increases. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian territory, said yesterday that the three breaks will take place from 6am to 3pm and will last three days each in different areas of Gaza, starting on Sunday.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines wants to upgrade its armed forces with medium-range missiles and advanced fighter jets, two senior security officials said yesterday, spending at least billion to modernise its defence in the face of rising regional tensions. Armed Forces Chief Romeo Brawner told reporters that the Philippines wants to acquire more state-of-the-art weaponry.

SOUTH KOREA

Yesterday, South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled that most of the country's climate targets are unconstitutional, handing a historic victory to young environmental activists, who wept with joy on the steps of the court. They argued that South Korea's legally binding climate commitments were insufficient and unfulfilled, violating their constitutionally guaranteed human rights. Unconstitutional is the absence of a government target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2031 to 2050.

PAKISTAN

Heavy rains and stormy winds forced authorities in Pakistan's most populous city, Karachi, to close schools today due to a deep depression in the Arabian Sea that could turn into a cyclonic storm, according to the meteorological bureau. According to the weather bureau, parts of Karachi received 147mm of rain overnight and the city's mayor, Murtaza Wahab, in a post on X, asked residents to avoid ‘unnecessary travel’.

GEORGIA

The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabišvili, officially opened the election campaign for the parliamentary elections on 26 October, describing them as ‘the equivalent of a referendum to choose between Europe and Russia’ in heartfelt tones, saying that ‘submission to compromises with Moscow would in fact be a selling out of one's soul’.

RUSSIA

The former editor-in-chief of Novaja Gazeta, Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov, has appealed to the Red Cross on behalf of political prisoner in Russia Aleksej Gorinov, 63, who is serving a seven-year sentence in a lager for fake news about the Russian armed forces, to provide him with adequate care after the torture he endured in his solitary confinement cell.

• Asia
• Today