ASIA TODAY Pakistan, TTP attack on the Afghan border: 10 police officers killed

Today’s news: more buildings bombed in the Jabalia camp in Gaza, numerous victims. Cambodian journalist Mech Dara, accused of “inciting social unrest”, is released on bail. Chinese residents move billions of dollars abroad due to economic instability. Seoul could send its soldiers to kyiv as observers after the deployment of North Korean troops to the Russian camp.

PAKISTAN

At least 10 Pakistani border policemen killed in militant attack against an outpost near the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan. The attack was claimed by the Islamic militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Three senior police sources confirmed the attack, stating that a large group of militants stormed the outpost, killing members of the border security forces.

ISRAEL – LEBANON – GAZA

More victims in Gaza due to Israeli bombing of a dozen residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee campin the north of the Strip, in an attack described as a “great massacre.” The IDF claimed yesterday to have killed a Hamas commander who participated in the assault on October 7, 2023who also worked for UNRWA. In Lebanon, three journalists were killed in an Israeli attack apparently targeting their accommodation in Hasbaiyya, in the south of the country.

CAMBODIA

Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist arrested and charged with incitement earlier this month, has been released on bail. He was released after a pro-government media outlet published a video in prison in which he apologized to the country’s leaders. The accusation was that five social media posts could “incite social unrest.” Human rights groups and governments, including the United States, have spoken out about his detention.

CHINA

Chinese residents have used everything from cryptocurrencies to works of art to move their money abroad. Billions of dollars have left the country under the noses of the authorities: the collapse of the real estate market and economic uncertainty push citizens to look for safer places to deposit their wealth abroad. Moving fortunes out of China is difficult and dangerous: the country imposes strict capital controls that limit individual foreign currency purchases to $50,000 a year.

NORTH KOREA – SOUTH KOREA

Some South Korean media report from government sources that Seoul could send soldiers to Ukraine, in response to the sending of North Korean soldiers to the Russian army, not to participate directly in the fighting, but as observers to accurately report on the actions of Pyongyang. A scenario that would directly raise the conflict between the two Koreas also in Ukraine, while kyiv’s intelligence agency claims that there are already North Korean units in the Kursk region.

INDIA

At least Four people, including two soldiers, died last night in an ambush by militants to an army vehicle in Indian Kashmir. It is the second attack in the region this week. The attacks come after the takeover of a government formed by an opposition alliance in the territory, where separatist militants have been fighting security forces for decades.

GEORGIA

According to a poll by the opposition television channel Mtavari, with interviews with about 1,500 people, the Georgian Dream party would obtain 35% of the votes in the elections in the coming days, with 61 seats, and the opposition (divided into 7 different coalitions) 52%, with 85 seats. Former president Mijail Saakašvili declares himself convinced of the victory of his party, the National Movement, and that the party in power will not reach 30%.