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November
Blinken, Austin to Discuss Indo-Pacific with Indian Counterparts in November
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with their Indian counterparts later this month in New Delhi to discuss "concerns and developments in the Indo-Pacific", the State Department said on Wednesday.
The meeting with India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the country's defense minister Rajnath Singh comes amid tensions between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific region. (Reuters)
November
First Australian Nationals Leave Israeli-Besieged Gaza for Egypt
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Twenty Australians were among the first group of foreign citizens who entered Egypt from the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said on Thursday.
At least 320 foreign nationals left the Palestinian enclave to cross into Egypt on Wednesday, the first to benefit from a deal mediated by Qatar.
Watts said there were still 65 Australians trapped in Gaza and the government had urged them, using all available communication channels, to move toward the Rafah crossing as soon as possible.
"We are providing all possible support we can, communicating through all available channels," Watts told ABC television. "It is not always perfect. This is a conflict zone."
Watts said the government was not planning for more assisted flights at the moment as there were enough commercial options available. Since the conflict began on Oct. 7, the Australian government has conducted several repatriation flights.
Israel sent ground forces into Hamas-ruled Gaza late last week after weeks of air and artillery strikes to retaliate for a surprise Hamas attack in which Israel says 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 were taken hostage.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians in the narrow coastal enclave, including 3,648 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes.
Watts said he also "strongly encouraged" Australians in Lebanon to leave the country after deadly clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
"We can't make any guarantees that Beirut airport will remain open if the conflict spreads to the south of Lebanon and departure options become much more complex and more difficult at that point," Watts said.
"We don't know what the situation is going to look like in the coming days and coming weeks." (Reuters)
November
North Korea Closes Multiple Embassies Around The World
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - North Korea is poised to close as many as a dozen embassies including in Spain, Hong Kong, and multiple countries in Africa, according to media reports and analysts, in a move that could see nearly 25 percent of Pyongyang's missions close worldwide.
North Korea's recent closing of its diplomatic missions was a sign that the reclusive country is struggling to make money overseas because of international sanctions, South Korea's unification ministry said on Tuesday.
On Monday, North Korean state media outlet KCNA said the country's ambassadors paid "farewell" visits to Angolan and Ugandan leaders last week, and local media in both African countries reported the shutdown of the North's embassies there.
Both Angola and Uganda have forged friendly ties with North Korea since the 1970s, maintaining military cooperation and providing rare sources of foreign currency such as statue-building projects.
The embassy closings set the stage for what could be "one of the country’s biggest foreign policy shakeups in decades", with implications for diplomatic engagement, humanitarian work in the isolated country, as well as the ability to generate illicit revenue, wrote Chad O'Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused website NK Pro.
More than a dozen missions may close, likely because of international sanctions, a trend of Pyongyang's disengaging globally and the probable weakening of the North Korean economy, he said in a report on Wednesday.
Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the pullout reflected the impact of international sanctions aimed at curbing funding for the North's nuclear and missile programs.
"They appear to be withdrawing as their foreign currency earning business has stumbled due to the international community's strengthening of sanctions, making it difficult to maintain the embassies any longer," the ministry said in a statement.
"This can be a sign of North Korea's difficult economic situation, where it is difficult to maintain even minimal diplomatic relations with traditionally friendly countries."
North Korea has formal relations with 159 countries, but had 53 diplomatic missions overseas, including three consulates and three representative offices, until it pulled out of Angola and Uganda, according to the ministry.
North Korea will also shut down its embassy in Spain, with its mission in Italy handling affairs in the neighbouring country, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Correspondence with the Spanish Communist Party released on the party's website showed the North Korean embassy announcing the closing in a letter dated Oct. 26.
The North's embassy in Madrid was in the spotlight after members of a group seeking the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un staged a break-in in 2019, during which they bound and gagged staff before driving off with computers and other devices.
Pyongyang denounced the incident as a "grave breach of sovereignty and terrorist attack," and accused the United States of not investigating the group thoroughly and refusing to extradite its leader. (Reuters)
November
First Evacuees Leave Gaza After Another Night of Israeli Bombardments
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - A first group of civilian evacuees from Gaza crossed into Egypt under a Qatari-mediated deal on Wednesday while Israeli forces bombed the Palestinian enclave from land, sea and air as they pressed their offensive against Hamas militants.
The evacuees, who had been trapped in Gaza since the start of the war more than three weeks ago, were driven in ambulances through the Rafah border crossing. A source at the border said they were undergoing security checks on the Egyptian side.
Under the deal reached between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, a number of foreign nationals and critically wounded people will be allowed to leave the besieged territory.
Despite the breakthrough on the humanitarian front, Israeli war planes, naval boats and artillery pounded Gaza throughout the night, inflicting scores more casualties among the civilian population, Palestinian residents said.
Hospitals struggled to cope as fuel shortages forced shutdowns.
Israel sent its forces into Hamas-controlled Gaza following weeks of air and artillery strikes in retaliation for a deadly attack by the Islamist group on southern Israel on Oct 7.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas. But the civilian death toll in Gaza and desperate humanitarian conditions have caused concern across the world as food, fuel, drinking water and medicine run short.
WAITING ON THE BORDER
An Egyptian security source had said earlier that up to 500 foreign passport holders would pass though the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. About 200 people were waiting at the Palestinian side of the border, the source said.
A second source said not all were expected to make it out on Wednesday and there was no timeline for how long the crossing would remain open.
A Western official said a list of people with foreign passports who can leave Gaza had been agreed between Israel and Egypt. An Israeli official confirmed that Israel was coordinating the exits with Egypt.
Egypt has prepared a field hospital in Sheikh Zuwayed, medical sources said. Ambulances were waiting at Rafah.
The first source said the deal was not linked to other issues, such as the release of about 240 hostages held by Hamas or a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting which many countries have called for but which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.
Indonesia said it was trying to get out 10 nationals but three of them, volunteers at an Indonesia-run hospital, have decided to stay. The Philippines, Jordan and Italy also said they said they hoped to bring citizens out on Wednesday.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the hostilities killed about 300 soldiers and 1,100 civilians, Israel says.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since then.
REFUGEE CAMP HIT
On Tuesday, an Israeli air strike killed about 50 people and wounded 150 in Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp, Palestinian health officials said.
The Israeli military said the attack had killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander it said was pivotal in organising the Oct. 7 assault, as well as dozens of Hamas militants.
The European Union's foreign policy chief said he was appalled by the high number of casualties in Jabalia and he urged all sides to respect the rules of war.
Josep Borrell said Israel had a right to defend itself but "laws of war and humanity must always apply".
The EU last week called for pauses in Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket attacks to get humanitarian aid into Gaza through safe corridors.
"With each passing day, as the situation becomes more and more dire, this is more urgent than ever," Borrell said.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that Israeli hostages held in Gaza were subject to the same "death and destruction" that Palestinians have faced.
Eleven Israeli soldiers were also killed in fighting on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, its biggest one-day loss since the initial assault.
Netanyahu mourned mounting military losses and cautioned that the war would be long.
"We are in a tough war," he said. "I promise to all citizens of Israel: We will get the job done. We will press ahead until victory."
Cross-border Hamas rocket fire continued, with warning sirens sounding in southern Israel communities as well as the port cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.
POWER OUTAGE
Overnight Israeli ground forces clashed with fighters from Hamas and other groups in the north, southern and eastern areas of Gaza - part of a series of incursions apparently aimed at incremental gains rather than a full-scale invasion.
Communications and internet services were cut off in Gaza again on Wednesday, telecommunications provider Paltel said.
"They don't want the world to see their crimes against civilians," said Gaza resident Ahmed Muhey.
Dozens of Palestinians gathered outside the Nasser Hospital morgue waiting to get the bodies of their relatives for burial.
Inside, bodies lay on the ground being prepared to be shrouded in white after they were cleaned of dust and blood.
Health officials said they had received 15 bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes overnight in Khan Younis, including four children.
"Everyday there are dead and every day there are children or women among them or both," said one doctor.
Two hospitals - Al Shifa Medical and the Indonesian Hospital - faced power outages as their generators were running out of fuel.
Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, Gaza's only cancer treatment facility, was now out of service due to the lack of fuel.
The violence - the worst in many years of sporadic warfare - erupted at a time when Palestinian apirations for an independent state and an end to Israel's occupation have little prospect of being fulfilled.
Peace talks are now a distant memory and Netanyahu's right-wing government has expanded Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel sees Hamas, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, as an existential threat. (Reuters)
November
Residents in Australian State Urged to Flee as Wildfires Blaze
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Residents in three areas in Australia's northern Queensland state were ordered to evacuate their homes on Wednesday, as bushfires burned out of control.
Firefighters including those flown in from across Australia and New Zealand have been battling blazes in the state that have already killed two and destroyed dozens of homes.
People in two adjacent areas, near the town of Dalveen, were on Wednesday ordered to evacuate immediately.
"Every Australian's heart goes out to the people... who are being impacted once again by these bushfires," Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, whose electorate is in the state, told a news conference on Wednesday. "I really wanted to express our gratitude as well for all of the people who are reinforcing the efforts in those affected communities."
The blazes in the area also affected the neighbouring state of New South Wales (NSW) to the south.
"It was a pretty horrifying experience," NSW resident Michelle Balint told state broadcaster ABC on Wednesday, recounting a wall of flames racing across the family's land. "(We've) never seen anything like it."
Authorities on Wednesday imposed a third evacuation warning in the far north of the state, near Watsonville. (Reuters)
November
Kazakhstan Welcomes France's Macron Under Moscow's Disapproving Gaze
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Kazakhstan on Wednesday on the first leg of a trip to Central Asia, a region long regarded as Russia's backyard which has drawn fresh Western attention since the war in Ukraine began.
Oil-rich Kazakhstan has already emerged as a replacement supplier of crude to European nations turning off Russian supply and an important link in the new China-Europe trade route bypassing Russia.
In addition to oil, Kazakhstan is a major exporter of uranium, and France's Orano already operates a joint venture with its state nuclear firm Kazatomprom.
At a meeting with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Macron complimented Kazakhstan for refusing to side with Moscow on Ukraine and said the two countries signed business deals, including a declaration of intent for a partnership in the much-sought area of rare earths and rare metals.
"I don't underestimate by any means the geopolitical difficulties, the pressures ... that some may be putting on you," Macron told Tokayev, who called the visit "historic."
"France values ... the path you are following for your country, refusing to be a vassal of any power and seeking to build numerous and balanced relations with different countries."
Russia has voiced concern at the West's growing diplomatic activity in former Soviet Central Asian nations.
While on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kazakhstan as a sovereign state was free to develop ties with any countries, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week the West was trying to pull Russia's "neighbours, friends and allies" away from it.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where Macron goes next, have refused to recognise Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territories and have pledged to abide by Western sanctions against Moscow, while calling both Russia and Western nations such as France their strategic partners.
"We respect our friends, we are here when they need us and we respect their independence," Macron said. "And in a world where major powers want to become hegemons, and where regional powers become unpredictable, it is good to have friends who share this philosophy."
Asked about Macron's visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia valued its relations with Kazakhstan "very highly."
"In our turn, we have historical ties, ties of strategic partnership with Kazakhstan, they are our allies and our interests are united in many international bodies," Peskov told reporters. (Reuters)
November
Biggest Chinese Antarctic Fleet Sets Off to Build Research Station
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Two Chinese icebreaker research vessels and a cargo ship set sail on Wednesday for the Antarctic with more than 460 personnel on board to help complete construction of China's fifth station on the world's southernmost continent.
China's biggest flotilla of research vessels deployed to the Antarctic will focus on building the station on the rocky, windswept Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea, a deep Southern Ocean bay named after a 19th century British explorer.
Work on the first Chinese station in the Pacific sector began in 2018. It will be used to conduct research on the region's environment, state television reported.
China has four research stations in the Antarctic built from 1985 to 2014. A U.S.-based think tank estimated the fifth could be finished next year.
The facility is expected to include an observatory with a satellite ground station, and should help China "fill in a major gap" in its ability to access the continent, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report this year.
The station is also well situated to collect signals intelligence over Australia and New Zealand and telemetry data on rockets launched from Australia's new Arnhem Space Centre, it said.
China rejects suggestions that its stations would be used for espionage.
The two icebreakers, Xuelong 1 and Xuelong 2, the name means "Snow Dragon" in Chinese, set sail from Shanghai with mostly personnel and logistics supplies on board.
The cargo ship "Tianhui", or "Divine Blessings", taking construction material for the station, set off from the eastern port of Zhangjiagang.
The five-month mission will include a survey on the impact of climate change.
The two icebreakers will also conduct environmental surveys in the Prydez Bay, the Astronaut Sea in southeast Antarctic, and in the Ross Sea and Amundsen Sea in the west.
The mission, China's 40th to the Antarctic, will also cooperate with countries including the United States, Britain, and Russia on logistics supply, state media said. (Reuters)
November
China Kicks Off Nationwide Population Survey Amid Declining Birth Rate
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - China will begin polling 1.4 million people on Wednesday in a survey on population changes, as authorities struggle to incentivise people to have more children amid a declining birth rate and the first population drop in more than six decades.
The poll, which was announced on Oct. 10 in an unexpected move, will focus on urban and rural areas throughout the country. The survey will be based on a sample of 500,000 households and last for around two weeks until Nov. 15, China's National Bureau of Statistics said.
It will help provide a basis to monitor China's population developmental changes and for the government and Communist Party to formulate national economic, social development and population related policies, it said.
China last conducted its once-in-a-decade census in November 2020 which showed it grew at the slowest pace since the first modern population survey in the 1950s.
Population development has often been linked to the strength and "rejuvenation" of the country in state media amid the declining birth rate and widespread concerns by citizens on the difficulties of raising children.
High childcare costs and having to stop their careers have put many women off having more children or any at all. Gender discrimination and traditional stereotypes of women caring for the children are still widespread throughout the country.
Authorities have in recent months increased rhetoric on sharing the duty of child rearing but paternity leave is still limited in most provinces.
The country reported a drop of roughly 850,000 people for a population of 1.41175 billion in 2022, marking the first decline since 1961, the last year of China's Great Famine. (Reuters)
November
Japan, Philippines in Final Stages of Talks on Security Aid - Japan Govt Spokesperson
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Japan's top government spokesperson said on Wednesday that Japan is in the final stages of negotiations with the Philippines on what equipment to offer to Manila and when to sign an agreement under Tokyo's official security assistance programme.
The programme is aimed at helping boost deterrence capabilities of Tokyo's partner countries.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno made the comment to reporters ahead of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's visit to the Philippines on Friday. (Reuters)
October
Palestinian Americans fundraise for Gaza, as aid groups receive record donations
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Palestinian Americans and aid groups in the United States are raising funds for Gaza, which faces a deepening humanitarian crisis as the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth week - but they have as yet limited ability to get supplies into the besieged enclave.
Aid organizations that serve civilians in Gaza say they are receiving record amounts of donations in a sign of public support for relief efforts even as a growing stock of supplies remain stalled at Egypt's Rafah border crossing.
In the Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million people live, civilians are in dire need of clean water, food and medicine, emergency medics say. Half of Gaza's population was already living in poverty before the crisis.
"We've seen a significant increase in donations, unlike we've ever seen before," said Steve Sosebee, president of the U.S.-based Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which has a staff of 40 in Gaza that provide medical support. He said the fund, which usually has an annual budget of around $12 million, had raised $15 million in just 10 days.
However, with a web of political and logistical obstacles on getting aid in, much of the money and supplies intended for Gaza is in limbo, forcing aid groups to wait as they amass truckloads of goods.
Hamas militants burst over the Gaza border and rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people and taking 229 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. In response, Israel launched its most intense air bombardment campaign on the tiny enclave, along with a "total siege," banning food, water and fuel imports.
Aid groups say they are building up supplies in hopes of eventually getting them through to civilians in Gaza, nearly half of whom are children.
There has been "a five-fold increase in the total number of donors versus typical past emergencies," said Derek Madsen, chief development officer of Anera, a nonpartisan emergency relief group for refugees throughout the Middle East. The organization, which maintains the privacy of individual donors, said it had recently received the largest single donation from an individual in its 55-year-old history.
The majority of support comes from donors based in the United States, he added, with individual donations averaging around $138. The efforts mirror those of Jewish groups in the U.S. and Canada who also fundraised millions for Israel.
Anera was using the last of its stocks this week to distribute meals and vegetable parcels in Gaza. Its staff of 12, like everyone in Gaza, were facing "unbelievable, unimaginable trauma," he said.
GLUED TO THE TELEVISION
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rabia Shafie, national director of the Palestine Aid Society, said her group was speaking to student and Muslim groups on local university campuses and community centers to spread awareness and raise donations for the Red Crescent and UNRWA, the UN aid agency that serves Palestinian refugees.
"The money is needed to help people survive at this point of time. Medical support is so essential," she said.
"People are glued to the television ... watching the news moment to moment and very stressed out over the situation," said Shafie, adding that it was difficult as a Palestinian American to watch "the massacre and injustice done to our people back home."
Hamas-governed Gaza is one of the most densely packed places on earth and its medical authorities say over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed since airstrikes began, including more than 3,000 children.
Anera's Madsen called for a ceasefire and establishment of a humanitarian corridor "so that people literally do not starve to death, literally do not die of dehydration."
Last week, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, home to one of New York's largest Muslim and Arab communities, hundreds of protesters called for a ceasefire with signs written in Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew and Korean.
In Clifton, New Jersey, the Palestinian American Community Center's priority is advocating for U.S. officials to support a ceasefire and for the hundreds of Americans trapped in Gaza, said Basma Bsharat, the education director of the center.
The center has also been collecting cash donations to send on to UNRWA. It has asked people not to donate supplies, which it has no easy way of sending to those in need in Gaza.
Last week, a woman came to the center anyway, hauling bags filled with goods.
"We didn't know how to say no," said Bsharat. "She was like, I just want to do something. I just want to help somehow."
"It's a very difficult time, and the fact that we do see the support coming in it, it gives some relief," she said. "It gives some kind of solace." (Reuters)