ASIA TODAY Seoul threatens retaliation against North Korean troops on the Ukraine front

Today’s news: In Kazan, security forces crush demonstrations prior to the Brics summit. In Israel, Blinken calls for reopening ceasefire talks. In Japan, the serious gender gap in politics is confirmed. Bacterial infection in the Hong Kong zoo, 12 monkeys have already died.

SOUTH KOREA – NORTH KOREA – RUSSIA

South Korea announced that will take “gradual measures” against North Korea and Russia for intensifying their military cooperation and urged Pyongyang to immediately withdraw its troops from Russia. The Presidential National Security Council (NSC) declared that this fact poses a “significant threat to the security” of both South Korea and the international community. “If illegal military cooperation between North Korea and Russia continues, Seoul will not stand by, but will respond firmly in cooperation with the international community,” said Security Advisor Kim Tae-hyo.

RUSSIA

Before the start of the BRICS summit in Kazan from October 22 to 24, Tatarstan law enforcement forces carried out a vast operation to quell possible protests. and, in general, all social activities that could create unrest in the capital and throughout the republic, prohibiting in particular nationalist and environmental demonstrations.

ISRAEL – LEBANON – USA

Israeli army says it has killed three Hezbollah commanders and about 70 fighters in southern Lebanon in the last 48 hours, a day after confirming that he had killed leader Hashem Safieddine. Blinken – who arrived in Israel on Tuesday on his eleventh visit to the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza – urged Netanyahu to relaunch ceasefire talks to end the war in Gaza.

JAPAN

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has promised to reduce one of the largest gender gaps in politics in the democratic world. However, in the LDP, which has governed for most of the postwar period, only 16% of the candidates in the October 27 parliamentary elections are women. In the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (PDCJ), the percentage is 22%.

INDIA

Parts of the Bengaluru Technology Center were flooded on Tuesday after heavy rains falls during the night and it is feared that some people were trapped after a collapse. Heavy rain is expected in the coming days in the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, due to what is described as a “cyclonic upper air circulation” off the coast.

HONG KONG

A twelfth monkey has died in the Hong Kong Zoo, thus expanding a chain of deaths in a few days attributed to a bacterial infection. The agent would be the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes melioidosis, an infectious disease that affects animals and humans and is spread mainly by contact with contaminated soil, air or water. According to the Center for Health Protection, “melioidosis is an endemic disease in Hong Kong and cases of melioidosis are reported every year.”

KYRGYZSTAN

Two journalists from Kyrgyzstan, Bolot Temirov (who fled abroad) and Azamat Išenbekov, were sentenced to six years in prison for the reports they published in various media outlets to denounce the nepotism of the current Bishkek regime, and they believe that President Sadyr Žaparov is ready to do anything to silence these investigations, including murder.