South Asia
Three Rafale jets arrived in India from France in furtherance of a bilateral agreement between the two countries signed in 2016, wherein France promised 36 aircrafts worth Rs. 59,000 crore. The first batch arrived in India on July 29. [NDTV]
Israel and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further bilateral cooperation in health and medicine. The document covers issues such as training of healthcare professions, exchange of data and information on pharmaceutical research, medical technology, and cosmetics. [The Hindu]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Affected by the ongoing Karabakh - Nagorno War, around 40,000 Armenians were forced to leave Karabakh. Armenia has taken in 90,000 displaced refugees after the conflict trickled into populated localities of the disputed region. [Eurasianet]
Kyrgyzstan’s recently elected chairman of the Parliament Kanatbek Isaev stepped down from his post on Wednesday to take part in the country’s early presidential race in January. He was expected to temporarily assume presidential powers in December by taking in the position of the current acting President Sadyr Japorov. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
The Hong Kong Police Force launched a national security department tip-off hotline on Thursday. Platforms include only WeChat, SMS, and email, though the force said no-one would reply to messages and those using the line will remain anonymous. Data will be protected under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and not shared with third parties. [Hongkongfp.com]
Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru joined forces to threaten measures “to prevent, discourage and jointly confront” illegal fishing near their exclusive economic zones in the Pacific. They made no specific mention of China, but Greenpeace and Ocenea have warned of the increasing presence of massive Chinese fishing fleets in the area. [Jakarta Post]
Europe
On November 6, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte will convene for a bilateral summit. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the two sides will discuss the finalisation of “several government-to-government and private sector agreements.” [The Print]
Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto tested positive for the novel coronavirus after arriving in Thailand on Tuesday for an official visit. The Hungarian delegation was to meet with Thai officials over two days to discuss strengthening economic ties between the two nations, but all of their appointments were cancelled. Szijjarto returned to Hungary on Wednesday, in a separate aircraft from the rest of the team. [AP News]
Belarus began operating its first nuclear power plant on Tuesday, despite strong opposition from Lithuania, who argues that the project has been plagued by accidents, stolen materials, and the mistreatment of workers, and immediately cut off electricity imports from its neighbour. [RFE/RL]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is on a tour of Latin America and made his first stop in Venezuela. Both countries have been hit by crippling sanctions by the US, and have become close partners in recent months. Zarif is also scheduled to visit Cuba and Bolivia. In fact, he will join Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro at newly-elected Bolivian President Luis Arce’s inauguration ceremony. [Telesur]
Amid continuous protests against government mismanagement and corruption, Chilean Interior Minister Víctor Pérez resigned after being held responsible for failing to quell police brutality against protesters over the past year. [MercoPress]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Saudi Arabia announced to remove key restrictions on foreign workers from March 2021. This will ease out contractual restrictions for the workers, and also provide them the freedom to change jobs. [Al Jazeera]
Turkey imposed heavy fines on top tech giants Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for violating its new internet law. The controversial legislation aims to censor online platforms and store users’ data in the country. [Al Jazeera]
North America
The US formally withdrew from the Paris climate accord on Wednesday, becoming the first nation to abandon the 2015 deal. Given the scale of US carbon emissions, the move has been sharply criticized by global environment groups, climate change advocates, and experts as “irresponsible” behaviour from a major nation. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Thursday that he would immediately have the US rejoin the agreement if he is elected president. [NPR]
Former Vice President Joe Biden has moved much closer to the 270 electoral college votes needed to secure the White House, with victories in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday. This has left incumbent Donald Trump largely playing defense in some battleground states. However, the Trump campaign also filed lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia to demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and raise absentee ballot concerns. [AP News]
Oceania
Amid US President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the election is being rigged in favor of the Democrats, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the US as a “great democracy”, and said that he has “great confidence” in the country’s “great institutions” to administer a free and fair election. He remarked that Australia shares a “deep and wide relationship” with the US that is “incredibly important”. [9 News]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Ugandan Opposition Candidate Bobi Wine was arrested just after receiving his certification as a candidate for the country’s upcoming presidential election in 2021. Wine is seeking to defeat President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986. [AllAfrica]
The European Union has authorized $117 million in aid to Mozambique, targeted at education, social action, and public health. It is hoped that the funds will undercut the impact of the coronavirus, which has thus far infected over 13,000 people in the country and killed 94. Mozambique ranks 180th on the UN Human Development Index out of 188 countries, making it one of the world’s poorest countries. [The East African]