South Asia
On Tuesday, Amnesty International announced its decision to shut all its operations in India, citing the “witch-hunt” by the Indian government against human rights organizations as a reason for this move. Earlier in September, the Indian government froze the organization’s bank accounts. [NDTV]
Following Saturday’s meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa, India is planning to offer a $50 million Line of Credit to Sri Lanka. This is in pursuance of India’s decision to boost its defense and security partnership with Sri Lanka to counter China’s increasing influence in the region. [Economic Times]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
The United Nations Security Council is set to convene on Tuesday to urgently hold closed-door consultations on the recent skirmishes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. [TASS]
Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde spoke over the phone to affirm their willingness to strengthen cooperation in education and culture. [Kazinform]
The Georgian Ministry of Defence has acquired unmanned tactical drones from Spain to equip their reconnaissance units. [Agenda.ge]
East and Southeast Asia
In its latest economic update report, the World Bank said on Tuesday that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, East Asia and the Pacific as a region is expected to grow only 0.9% this year – its weakest expansion since 1987 – and poverty will increase for the first time in 20 years, creating a class of ‘new poor’. [Straits Times]
The Korean Coast Guard said on Tuesday that intelligence reports showed that the South Korean official who was shot to death by North Korean forces last week was trying to defect to the North. [Yonhap News Agency]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte criticized Facebook on Monday for taking down accounts with links to the military and police, arguing that the social media company could not stop him from promoting the objectives of his government. He said that if it sought to do so, it should re-examine its purpose in his country. [Channel News Asia]
Europe
On Monday, the Spanish Supreme Court disqualified Catalonian President Quim Torra from his position. The court cited his conviction for disobeying the instructions of the Spanish election board as the reason for the decision. In December, he was charged by Spanish authorities for refusing to take down a hoarding, which had separatist slogans, from the government’s office in Catalan. [DW]
Latin America and the Caribbean
The Peruvian government has been sued for the forced sterilization of thousands of women under the rule of President Alberto Fujimori, who was in office from 1996 to 2001. The case is being heard by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Turkish prosecutors will be naming six new Saudi nationals in their second indictment in the Jamal Khashoggi case. [Reuters]
Riyadh claims to have taken down a cell of terrorists who had allegedly been trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Saudi officials have arrested ten people and seized explosives and weapons. Iran has called the allegation a “complete fabrication”. [Al Jazeera]
Ever since the partial lift of Libya’s energy facilities blockade last week, the war-torn country’s oil production has tripled to almost 250,000 barrels a day. [Bloomberg Quint]
North America
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, has said that the issue of Donald Trump’s finances is a matter of national security, and questioned whether the President owed money to foreign interests. “He has exposure to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. To whom? The public has a right to know,” she said. [NPR]
Oceania
Consultancy firm Ernst & Young has said that a $60 billion stimulus package. including a reduction in income taxes, and an increase in JobSeeker payments and investment in infrastructure projects over the next two years could reduce Australia’s unemployment rate by close to 1% by putting 135,000 people back to work. This report comes ahead of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's unveiling of the federal budget next week. [Sydney Morning Herald]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Somali and Kenyan troops exchanged fire along their shared border after Kenyan troops launched warning shots to Somali protestors who were approaching them. The demonstrators were protesting against the alleged killing of three Somali civilians by Kenyan “anti-terror police”. [The East African]