An Indian Armed Forces contingent with 81 personnel left for Australia on Wednesday to participate in the second AUSTRAHIND-23 Joint Military Exercise in Perth, Australia. The exercise will continue from 22 November to 6 December and is aimed at fostering collaborative partnerships and sharing best practices between the two sides. The first edition of the exercise took place in 2022 in Mahajan, Rajasthan. It is planned to be an annual training event conducted in India and Australia alternatively.
On 23 November, the appeal filed against the death penalty awarded to 8 Indian naval veterans in Doha will come up for hearing. The ex-navy officials have been imprisoned since 30 August 2022 on accusations of espionage for Israel on Qatar’s submarine program. Additionally, sources said that India is seeking to engage in back-channel talks with other countries, including the US and Turkey, to expedite the repatriation of accused officials.
The US and the Philippines are conducting joint air and maritime patrols in the South China Sea, only days after Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called the situation in the South China Sea increasingly “dire,” as China steps up aggressive activities in the region.
China said that it is in the interest of all parties to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea claimed it successfully placed its first spy satellite in orbit and vowed to launch more in the near future. “Maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula and promoting the process of political settlement of the peninsula issue are in the common interests of all countries in the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
Turkey informed NATO on Wednesday that confirmation of Sweden’s membership application would not be completed in time for the country’s accession ceremony at next week’s alliance foreign ministers conference. Last week, the Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs panel postponed a vote on Sweden’s NATO membership application to undertake more discussions, which are expected to resume this week.
Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders won the most seats in the country’s parliamentary elections. Reports indicate that Wilder’s Freedom Party (PVV) ran on an anti-Islam, anti-immigrant platform. Wilders has also called for the Netherlands to exit the EU. According to exit polls, PVV won 35 of the 150 available parliamentary seats.