CHINA-SOUTH SUDAN The first 120 troops of a 700-member Chinese U.N. peacekeeping force depart for South Sudan, deepening China’s commitment to the troubled East African nation, where two of its peacekeepers were killed in fighting over the summer.
PHILIPPINES A survey conducted by UNICEF and the Philippine government has found a high prevalence of violence against Filipino children, with eight out of ten suffering some form of physical or psychological abuse. The two organizations said yesterday that their first nationwide survey of children and youth aged 13-24 also found one in five respondents had been sexually violated.
Indonesia strengthens its moratorium on converting peat swamps to plantations in a move a conservation research group says will help prevent annual fires and substantially cut the country’s carbon emissions if properly implemented.
THAILAND Thailand’s new king names an 11-member council of advisers, bringing in three new officials, including a former army chief and two representatives of the ruling junta.
SOUTH KOREA President Park Geun-hye is willing to “calmly” accept the outcome if the opposition-controlled parliament votes for her impeachment this week, but prefers to resign on her own terms, lawmakers from her party say.
IRAN-SAUDI ARABIA A court in Saudi Arabia yesterday sentenced 15 people to death and several others to prison terms in a case involving an alleged Iranian spy cell, a sign of the continuing tension between the two Mideast powers.
IRAQ The Iraqi army yesterday pushed into another neighborhood held by the Islamic State group on the southeastern edge of Mosul, according to a military statement and Iraqi commanders on the ground.
ALBANIA A European security organization says it has helped Albania’s army dispose of 140 metric tons of hazardous military chemicals, which are ready to be taken by ship to France for destruction.
GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel has won a new two-year term as leader of Germany’s main conservative party. Merkel ran unopposed yesterday for the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union — the springboard for her run for a fourth term as chancellor in next year’s German election. She won 89.5 percent of delegates’ votes, short of the 96.7 percent she won two years ago.
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