South Asia
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a relief package for farmers to offset the impact of recent floods. The floods caused a significant drop in the production of major crops, with the total damage to agriculture and livestock estimated at $3.7 billion. [Geo TV]
Save the Children reported a 47% increase in the number of Afghan children admitted to its mobile healthcare facilities over critical malnourishment since January. Food insecurity in the country has reached record levels after a prolonged drought resulted in unusually low harvests, pushing organisations like Save the Child “to the absolute limit.” [Khaama Press News Agency]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Armenian armed forces chief Edward Asryan said on Monday that while Azerbaijan has returned ten bodies of Armenian soldiers who died in recent clashes, Yerevan is preventing Baku from conducting rescue operations on the Azerbaijani side of the border in search of 25 missing Armenian servicemen. [Armen Press]
Kazakhstan has frozen a $39 million cybersecurity project with Russia. The project, signed in 2019 for six years, aimed to boost Kazakhstan’s cyber threat readiness. Some analysts have said the move could be due to Kazakhstan’s opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. [Fergana News]
East and Southeast Asia
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will hold a government-civilian meeting early next week to discuss improving crowd safety measures in the wake of the Halloween crowd crush in Seoul last weekend that killed 155 people and injured 149. Yoon instructed his government on Monday to prepare a crowd control system for “unorganised and spontaneous” events to prevent similar accidents. [The Korea Herald]
Fifty member countries of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday criticised China’s “severe and systematic” human rights violations of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. The statement read out by Canada stated that the Assembly’s Third Committee is “gravely concerned” about the situation and that the violations “cannot be justified on the basis of counter-terrorism.” [Channel News Asia]
Europe
Russia summoned Dutch Ambassador to Moscow Gilles Beschoor Plug to formally protest an alleged attempt by British intelligence officials to recruit a Russian envoy at the embassy at The Hague. The Russian foreign ministry released a statement calling on the Netherlands to urge its “allies” from engaging in such “unfriendly” activities. [Reuters]
The British government is facing pressure from within the Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party to improve conditions at migrant facilities after Chief Inspector of Borders David Neal said the conditions at a facility in Manston were “wretched.” The debate was instigated by a failed attack on a migrant centre in Dover that forced hundreds of asylum seekers at the facility to be shifted to the centre at Manston, which already housed over 3,000 migrants. [Euronews]
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala signed a joint declaration on Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Perspective, allowing the Czech Republic to support Ukraine’s bid for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “as soon as the conditions permit.” It also notes that Prague will continue to provide Kyiv with military, technical, defence, and humanitarian support. [President of Ukraine]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Argentine President Alberto Fernández on Monday was the first international leader to hold an in-person meeting with Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, posting a video on Twitter of their encounter in São Paulo. “All my love, admiration and respect, dear comrade. We have a future that embraces us and summons us,” he wrote. Fernández also revealed that Lula's first trip abroad will be to Argentina, saying they share a “common goal” of “Latin American integration.” [MercoPress]
American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Co. launched a new $260 million technology and business centre on the periphery of Mexico’s capital city on Monday. It will employ 9,000 people and forms part of a larger trend of automakers expanding operations in Mexico, including Volkswagen, Nissan, Jeep, and Tesla. [Reuters]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Ukraine’s football federation on Monday called on FIFA to ban Iran from participating in the upcoming World Cup, accusing Tehran of rampant human rights abuses and supplying Russia with weapons. FIFA suspended Russia from contesting international competitions following the invasion of Ukraine. [ESPN]
African Union-led peace talks that started last week between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in South Africa have been extended for a week. According to officials, the two sides have not been able to resolve their differences. The talks are the first formal negotiations between the rivals since the Tigray war began in November 2020. [Associated Press]
North America
An unnamed senior United States (US) Defence official revealed on Monday that US forces are conducting onsite inspections of weapons to ensure that Ukraine is adequately accounting for the weapons being supplied by the West. He also said Ukraine is cooperating and has been transparent in its weapons’ distribution. It comes against the backdrop of the US Department of State announcing last week that the inspections were to make sure that the weapons do not end up being used by Russian troops, its proxies, or other extremist groups. [Associated Press]
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly announced additional sanctions against the Iranian police, Al-Mustafa International University, and four senior officials and prominent regime supporters. “Canada has reason to believe that these individuals and entities have participated in gross and systematic human rights violations either in Iran or in the regime’s malign activities abroad, including by attacking other states,” a statement said. [Global Affairs Canada]
Oceania
Australian Prime Minister (PM) Anthony Albanese will not attend the upcoming COP27 climate conference in Egypt. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is expected to lead the country’s delegation instead, and will be accompanied by Pacific Minister Pat Conroy and junior minister Senator Jenny McAllister. [Sydney Morning Herald]
New Zealand Prime Minister (PM) Jacinda Ardern warned that social media platforms such as Twitter “if misused, they can do a huge amount of harm.” Commenting on business magnate Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, Ardern said that while she hadn’t “had any opportunity to engage directly with Mr Musk,” she would like to point out that “social media and platforms like Twitter have a huge responsibility. They can be a force for democracy, a force for connection and for good.” [The Guardian]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan revealed on Monday that the country’s population has grown by more than 37% over the last 10 years from 44.9 million to 61.7 million. She warned that this huge growth comes with its challenges, arguing that it is a “burden when it comes to allocating resources and delivering social services.” [AFP]
On Monday, at the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Maputo, which brings together African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries with the European Union, the EU signed six financing agreements with Mozambique that are worth around $146.5 million. The funding will be directed towards education, water and sanitation, and energy efficiency. The EU said it is also committed to contributing towards “peace-building” and “security” in the crisis-torn Cabo Delgado province, which has in recent years become overrun with Islamist groups. [Africanews]