Indian and Chinese troops exchanged sweets at several border points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Diwali, marking a significant thaw in Sino-Indian ties. This traditional practice comes on the heels of a major breakthrough - the completion of disengagement at two friction points in eastern Ladakh's Demchok and Depsang Plains.

The move marks a collaborative spirit following the recent disengagement at two friction points in eastern Ladakh—Demchok and Depsang Plains. This disengagement, completed just a day prior, represents a hopeful step towards stabilizing Sino-Indian ties that have been strained since 2020.

This development follows weeks of negotiations, culminating in an agreement finalised on October 21, as announced by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in Delhi. The pact aims to resolve issues stemming from the 2020 standoff, focusing on patrolling and troop disengagement along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

On Wednesday, an Army source said that troops of both sides had completed the disengagement at the two friction points and patrolling would commence soon at these points.

The verification process after the disengagement was in progress and patrolling modalities were to be decided between ground commanders, the source said then.

As talks continue at the local commander level, the exchange of sweets on Diwali may serve as a beacon of hope for more collaborative and peaceful interactions in the future. The gesture, steeped in tradition, highlights the potential for reconciliation and dialogue between the two nations.

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At least 35 Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon or on the Lebanese border since Israel invaded its northern neighbour at the start of the month in an escalation of its war against Hezbollah. The Lebanese militant group has said it has killed more than 90 Israeli soldiers, although these figures are unverified.

At least 19 soldiers have also died this month in continuing fighting with Hamas in Gaza, where Israel is accused of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing and extermination against Palestinians trapped in the north of the enclave.

Information about casualties is tightly controlled in Israel where the media is subjected to strict military censorship. That has led some to question whether official figures may be under-reporting the real scale of losses suffered by Israeli forces in Gaza and Lebanon.

Algeria is on track to triple its rail network by 2030 to boost national economic growth and regional connectivity.

With more than 5,000 kilometres of rail already in service, new lines such as the Kenchela-Constantine line are providing faster travel, connecting communities and creating economic opportunities.

This expansion integrates strategic freight and passenger lines, reducing road congestion and improving access to remote areas.

Algeria's investments are paving the way for a more connected future, where rail is a driver of both sustainable transport and economic development.

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The BRICS Cross-Border Payment Initiative (BCBPI) will use national currencies, instead of the US dollar. Russia’s finance ministry and central bank released a report detailing plans to transform the international monetary and financial system.

As the chair of BRICS for 2024, Russia proposed the creation of a BRICS Cross-Border Payment Initiative (BCBPI), in which members of the organization will use their national currencies to trade.

BRICS will likewise establish an alternative messaging infrastructure to circumvent the SWIFT system of interbank communication, which is overseen by the United States and subject to Western unilateral sanctions.

There are also plans for the establishment of a BRICS Grain Exchange and associated pricing agency, with centers for trade in commodities like grain, oil, natural gas, and gold, which can likewise be used to settle trade imbalances.

These proposals were outlined in the report “Improvement of the International Monetary and Financial System”, which was co-authored by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the Bank of Russia, and the consulting firm Yakov and Partners.

In February 2024, the finance ministers and central bank governors of BRICS met in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There, the Russian representatives said they would prepare a report “for BRICS countries’ leaders with a list of initiatives and recommendations on ways to improve the international monetary and financial system”.

Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov explained the motivation:

"The current system is based on existing Western financial infrastructure and the use of reserve currencies. It is severely flawed and is increasingly used as a tool of political and economic pressure. Another reason for a reform of the international monetary and financial system is the geo-economic fragmentation that became a result of the abuse of trade and financial restrictions."

The Russian BRICS chairmanship report argued that the international monetary and financial system (IMFS) is not only unjust but also inefficient, as it is a monopoly that suffers “from excessive reliance on a single currency and centralized financial infrastructure”.

The document noted that the “current IMFS is primarily serving interests of AEs” (advanced economies) – that is, largely the wealthy countries of the West.

As of 2023, the original five BRICS countries make up 32% of global GDP (measured at purchasing power parity, PPP), but have only 13.54% of voting shares in the IMF.

On the other hand, the G7 nations hold 41.27% of the voting shares in the IMF, despite the fact that they comprise just 30% of global GDP (PPP).

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On October 30, the UN General Assembly once again convened to debate and vote on a non-binding resolution to end the US blockade against Cuba. This year, 187 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The United States and Israel were the only countries to vote against it, and only one country, Moldova, abstained.

Cuba has presented the resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” every year since 1992 (except 2020), to the UNGA. Every year it passes in an almost unanimous vote, showcasing the international consensus against the US policy.

This year’s resolution comes as Cuba experiences a historic energy crisis and is recovering from the devastating Tropical Storm Oscar. Despite these challenges, Biden refuses to lift the blockade, take Cuba off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, or lift Trump’s additional 243 sanctions against Cuba. US-based Cuba solidarity activists have organized a fundraiser to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Cuba as it faces these crises.

“US imperialism continues violence & genocide, but the peoples of the world have had enough and call for an end to the blockade,” writes the International Peoples’ Assembly.

Many were pleasantly surprised to see that the far-right government of Argentina supported Cuba’s resolution, abandoning its proclaimed allies Israel and the US. However, hours after the vote, Argentine President Javier Milei announced that he was firing Foreign Minister Diana Mondino because of the vote. Her replacement is Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s current ambassador to the US who is a businessman and an ideologically committed Zionist.

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NASA astronaut hospitalized after return from eight-month International Space Station mission due to unspecified medical issue.

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Kiev will conscript 160,000 more troops over the next three months, according to statements from lawmakers and media outlets. More than a million soldiers have already been drafted, yet high losses have left the Ukrainian Armed Forces plagued by manpower shortages.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces had around 250,000 active-duty personnel at the beginning of 2022, a number that rapidly swelled once Vladimir Zelensky called up reservists and forbade draft-age men from leaving the country.

This spring, faced with mounting losses, Kiev lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and significantly tightened mobilization rules, requiring potential recruits to report to conscription offices for "data validation." These checks often result in people being immediately taken into the army and sent to the front line.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21976398

By Sharon Zhang, Truthout
Published October 30, 2024

US State Department officials have identified nearly 500 potential incidents of civilians being harmed by US-supplied weapons during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, Reuters has reported.

However, no further action has been taken on any of them, three sources, including a US official familiar with the matter, said this week.

The pro-opposition President, Salome Zourabichvili, stated that Georgians were "victims of what can only be described as a Russian special operation -- a new form of hybrid warfare waged against our people and our country." However, when asked by Western journalists to substantiate this, she could only say that the government had used "Russian methodology."

The Biden administration and other Western governments and institutions have not even waited for detailed reports from their own observers to call the election results into question. Moreover, it must be stated with regret that many of these observers can hardly be called objective.

President Biden, absurdly, "cited international and local observers' assessments that elections in Georgia were not free, nor fair;" absurdly, because the local observers are overwhelmingly from NGOs closely linked to the Georgian opposition. As to monitors from the West, in many cases their parent institutions have spent months denouncing the Georgian government as undemocratic and under Moscow's sway.

Jaume Asens, a member of the European Parliament, has reported that the Israeli occupation forces used tear gas against an international human rights delegation near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to Sama.

According to Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Asens and Colau arrived in Palestine on Monday as part of an international team to “investigate systematic violations of international law by Israel.”

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A senior officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened Israel yesterday with major strikes in the coming days in retaliation for the occupation state’s attack against Iranian military sites which killed four soldiers at the weekend, Iranian media outlets have reported.

“The Zionist entity will receive more deadly strikes in the coming days,” the Sabereen news agency quoted General Mohammad Reza Naqdi as saying. “The Zionists will be surprised with new actions, initiatives and innovations.”

At least 63 people have died in eastern Spain in the worst natural disaster to hit the country in recent memory.

Emergency services in the southeastern region of Valencia have confirmed a death toll of 62 people just after noon local time on Wednesday, up from 51 earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, the central government office for Castilla La Mancha region confirmed that an 88-year-old woman was found dead in Cuenca province.

The death toll appeared to be Europe's worst from flooding since 2021, when at least 185 people died in Germany.