Vietnam: at least 20 dead from typhoon Yagi

Today's news: Former Jemaah Islamiyah leaders in Indonesia continue to hold deradicalisation meetings; Indian government disbands committee critical of delays in the census; In Pakistan, thousands protest to demand the release of former premier Imran Khan; House prices continue to fall in China.

VIETNAM

At least 20 people were killed in Vietnam by Typhoon Yagi. The injured number over 220. The headquarters of several multinational companies in the coastal city of Haiphong remained closed yesterday and countless damages were reported. In several areas the electricity supply was interrupted and several highways in the north of the country were flooded.

INDONESIA

Former leaders of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) held another deradicalisation awareness rally in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, to urge some members of the organisation to turn themselves in to contribute to peace and economic development in Indonesia. ‘If you have weapons, hand them over to the authorities. You will not be detained,' one of JI's leaders, Abu Rusdan, who was arrested in 2021, said in a video conference,

INDIA

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation disbanded the Standing Committee on Statistics because, according to the Indian authorities, its work overlapped with that of the National Sample Survey Steering Committee. In fact, members of the organisation claim the dissolution occurred because they pointed out delays in the conduct of the national census on which the disbursement of state aid depends.

PAKISTAN

Thousands of people took to the streets yesterday to demand the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been in prison for over a year. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) organised a demonstration in the capital, Islamabad, with the approval of a local court (the first since Khan was arrested) despite the fact that the city administration had blocked the main access points. Clashes with the police were reported.

CHINA

House prices in China continue to fall despite the government's attempts to save the property market. According to the research institute China Index Academy, August was the 28th consecutive month in which prices fell, down almost 7% year-on-year. Experts say that the measures implemented by Beijing since May are not enough to reverse the market trend, which has been in crisis for three years.

RUSSIA - EUROPE

According to Eurostat data, released by the Verstka agency, EU countries issued over 115,000 residence permits to Russians in 2023, slightly less than the over 116,000 in 2022, reaching a record of about 232,000 in the two war years, five times more than the previous five-year period, mainly in Germany, Poland, Spain and Cyprus.

MOLDOVA

The banks of Moldova also expressed their ‘indefinite’ refusal to accept payments linked to Russia through the system of the Zolotaja Korona, the ‘Golden Crown’ of the former Soviet countries with multilateral exchanges, and only Eurocreditbank announced that it ‘will try to restore services after appropriate corrections’, without specifying the timeframe.

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