South Asia
On Monday, during his three-day visit to New Delhi, United States (US) Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met with India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, and Foreign Secretary, Harsh Shringla, to discuss bolstering bilateral cooperation and collaboration between the US and India. He further laid down the groundwork for the upcoming Indo-US 2+2 meeting between Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh, India’s Defence Minister, and their American counterparts Michael R. Pompeo and Mark Esper. [Indian Express]
India’s Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, during his two-day visit to Kuwait following the death of the former Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, spoke of a flourishing partnership between India and Kuwait. Further, he invited Kuwait to increase investments in India, in furtherance of their combined aim to “achieve energy security.” [Economic Times]
East and Southeast Asia
China and Cambodia signed a free trade agreement (FTA) on Monday that was put together in less than a year and aims to reduce tariffs and increase market access between the two nations. [Channel News Asia]
Following North Korea’s military parade over the weekend, which unveiled what appeared to be one of the country’s largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), Japan on Monday vowed to strengthen its missile deterrence capabilities to respond to threats from Pyongyang’s weapons that are were becoming “more diverse and complex”. [AP News]
While attending the military parade on Saturday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a rare emotional speech, tearing up while recalling the adversity his countrymen and women had suffered. He emphasized his gratitude for his supporters and apologized to them for the hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as recent typhoons and flooding. [The Korea Herald]
Protests against the new jobs bill continued in Indonesia on Monday, entering their second week, as hundreds of protesters riding motorbikes and waving flags held a rally in central Jakarta. [The Straits Times]
Europe
As the October 15 deadline for securing a post-Brexit trade agreement with the European Union approached, the spokesperson for the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the United Kingdom would “work hard” to reconcile differences and conclude the negotiations. However, he added that the UK was prepared for a no-deal Brexit, too. [Reuters]
Ukrainian opposition leader Yuri Boiko said that his party Opposition Platform - For Life - has alleged that President Volodymyr Zelensky is responsible for cancelling local elections in the Donbass region and that this move has lost him the right to be considered the guardian of the Constitution. [TASS]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador published an open letter to Pope Francis that urges the Roman Catholic Church to offer an apology for the abuse of Indigenous communities during the imperial conquests of the 1500s. He wrote that the Catholic Church should join hands with the Spanish monarchy and the Mexican government in making a “public apology for the offensive atrocities that Indigenous people suffered”. [Associated Press].
Chileans took to the streets of capital city Santiago for the third straight weekend to demonstrate against government mismanagement and corruption, inequality, and police brutality. The country is set to vote in an October 25 referendum on whether the drafting of a new constitution should be headed by the current Congress or a new constituent assembly. [MercoPress]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The United Arab Emirates will be the second country after Belarus to conduct human trials of the Sputnik V, Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine. The results of the programme are expected by the end of November. [Reuters]
Responding to French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to tackle “Islamist separatism”, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, said that Islamist radicals and extremists have harmed the reputation of the religion, stating that terrorists “were the first to isolate themselves from Islamic society.” [Arab News]
Sudan’s prime minister Abdalla Hamdok said that US sanctions due to the country’s ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ status are crippling its economy and its transition to democracy, pointing out that the military-civilian interim government has done everything it can to be removed from the Washington list. [Financial Times]
North America
The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Sunday pushed back against the Trump administration’s announcement that it will reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year. Gen. Milley stressed that it would be a conditions-based withdrawal, “on terms that guarantee the safety of the US vital national security interests that are at stake in Afghanistan.” [CNN]
Stanford University game theorists Paul R. Milgrom and Robert Wilson won the 2020 Nobel Economics Prize for their work on auction theory. [BBC]
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new action against hate speech, conspiracy theories, and misinformation on Monday, saying that the platform was banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust, and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about it. [Al Jazeera]
Sub-Saharan Africa
After ECOWAS Chairman and Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo met with Mali’s interim president Ba N’Daou, the organization noted that it is pleased with the efforts taken by the current government to ensure a return to civilian rule in 18 months. [Africa Feeds]
The Nigerian government disbanded the police forces’ Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) over the weekend following violent physical and digital protests against years of excessive and extrajudicial use of force by the special squad. [Africa News]
World News Monitor: 13 October, 2020
A quick look at events from around the globe.
October 13, 2020
SOURCE: NIKKEI ASIA