The Syrian government intensified shelling on Idlib, hitting various civilian places and killing and wounding dozens.^MEE

Turkiye has launched airstrikes against the PKK in northern Iraq,^CGTN and is launching bombs in Syria in retaliation for a suicide bombing by a Iraq-based Kurdish armed group,^TC which has drawn critique from a Syrian Kurdish commander.^BNE Construction on the Turkiye-Iraq oil pipeline will resume in a week after six months of suspension.^MEE The UAE and Turkiye are in talks to build a railway across the Bosphorus.^TC Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.6 in September from 49.0 in August.^BNE Electricity tariffs for industry have been hiked by 25%.^BNE Inflation was officially 62% in September, a slight increase from August, though a research group says inflation was actually 130% for September.^BNE

Over 130 cats were dumped in the Abu Dhabi desert, prompting an investigation. The key question: were they indoor or outdoor cats? /s.^MEE

Central Asia:

Afghanistan's leadership has assured China that it has worked to combat terrorism and regards threats to China seriously as a threat against its own country.^SCMP Their foreign ministers met at the Trans-Himalaya Forum and talked about various issues,^CGS and Wang Yi called for a speedy green transformation in the trans-Himalaya region,^CGTN where phase two of the Zhegu Wind Farm has been put into operation in Tibet, for example.^SCMP An earthquake has killed over 2000 people.^DW

Kazakhstan will begin piping Russian gas to Uzbekistan by the end of October as repairs finish up.^BNE Kazakhstan's inflation eased to 11.8% in September.^BNE Manufacturing PMI increased to 52.8 from 52.4 in August.^BNE Services PMI is up to 52.3, from 50.2.^BNE

The once-friendly relations between Pakistan and the Taliban have sharply deteriorated.^TC Pakistan has given all illegal immigrants until November 1st to leave the country, including 1.73 million Afghan nationals.^RT

Putin has a 77% approval rating.^BNE Russia's manufacturing PMI reached 54.5 in September.^BNE Russia's service sector PMI slowed a little from August (57.6) but is still at 55.4.^BNE Russia's national debt has reached 16.7% of GDP.^RT Banks have earned $40 billion in profit this year, their best result in almost a decade.^BNE As the ruble once again falls past 100 to the dollar,^FT Peskov has said that inordinate focus on the dollar-ruble exchange rate is a "remnant of the past".^RT The deputy PM has once again confirmed that Russia not complying with the Western oil price cap and is instead selling at market prices.^RT Russian oil exports have jumped to a three month high.^RT The diesel export ban has been lifted.^FT Russia has announced that the ZNPP could be put back online next year; the reactors have been idling for months.^RT Russia does not plan to resume nuclear tests even though they may withdraw from the test ban treaty.^CGTN More than one million Russians have been declared bankrupt since 2015, with 250,000 going bankrupt since the beginning of 2023.^RT

Firms departing Russia will need to contribute 15% of the value of their business sale to the country's budget.^RT Carlsberg has written off the entire value of its Russian business and terminated agreements allowing the local subsidiary to sell its products, three months after Carlsberg's subsidiary Baltika, Russia's biggest and most popular beer brand, was placed under state control.^FT

Uzbekistan's inflation was 9.2% year-on-year.^BNE Uzbekistan is ramping up imports of Kazakhstan wheat to a five year high.^BNE Uzbekistan and China are moving forward on a joint venture to produce electric and hybrid vehicles.^EN

Eastern Asia and Oceania:

Asia faces one of worst economic outlooks in half a century, World Bank warns,^FT giving a mere 5.1% projected GDP growth for China in 2023.^CGTN

Australia's cost of living crisis deepens.^WSWS

Bangaldesh's economy is a mixed bag right now, with infrastructure megaprojects alongside significant inflation and public discontent.^FT Bangladesh has recorded 1000 deaths in the worst dengue fever outbreak in its history.^DW

When consumers of the Cambodian fashion industry cancelled orders in the wake of coronavirus, and factories closed and millions of workers lost their jobs, many people (in this industry, usually women) were left without their final wages, and some have been fighting for them ever since.^OD

Domestic tourism in China has flourished.^SCMP Consumers for domestic brands have returned as the recovery continues.^SCMP Evergrande has applied for trading of its shares to continue in Hong Kong.^SCMP Cryptocurrency trading is down in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan, though Hong Kong has introduced new virtual asset-friendly policies.^SCMP Pessimism about Chinese chip-making in the midst of triumphalism, as SCMP often does. China's new energy vehicles are reshaping the global automotive landscape.

Chinese scientists have found a way to inhibit the occurrence of cytokine release syndrome (aka "cytokine storm") triggered by cancer immunotherapy.^CGTN China is to launch its relay satellite Queqiao-2 in 2024 to support communications with its next lunar mission.^CGTN China will soon complete a 3000-meter deep seabed geology exploration off the coast of China to detect oil and gas.^CGTN China has cultivated a second harvest of genetically modified giant rice in a region with poor soil.^SCMP A new type of ore, called niobobaotite, has been found in the world's largest rare earth deposit in Inner Mongolia, containing niobium.^SCMP

Taiwan's share in global semiconductor manufacturing is set to fall and China's is expected to correspondingly rise, according to an IDC report.^SCMP Taiwan is developing a backup satellite network to secure its communications with the outside world in the event of a conflict.^SCMP

An article on how the news the West gets about the DPRK is so often complete falsehoods, brought to us by the national security state.^MPN

India tells Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomatic staff.^FT Can India, the world’s most populous country, provide jobs for its young people? An article on the gendered digital divide; only 31% of women have smartphones, compared to 60% of men.^RoW The homes of over 100 journalists, contractors, and former employees associated with Newsclick and People's Dispatch and the Tricontinental Research Services were raided by Indian authorities, with 50 people taken to a police station for additional questioning,^MR and this has met with international outrage^MR and outrage from Indian communist groups.^PW

Indonesian nickel mining projects involve the clearing of wide swathes of biodiverse forests, with various corporations involved in the practice.^FT

Japan's car industry is losing billions over the Russia export ban.^RT The central bank has bought $12.7 billion of government bonds as yields hit their highest in a decade; a global market sell-off has driven US Treasury yields to 16-year highs.^FT The yen has fallen past the 150-to-dollar mark before rebounding sharply, prompting questions about whether the government had or would intervene.^FT

The Singaporean PM has warned to not see China through the frame of "democracy vs autocracy" at the Asia Future Summit.^CGTN

South Korea has warned the North that they would see "the end of its regime" if it ever launched a nuclear attack and that the United States would come to South Korea's aid.^RT

Thailand is expected to finalise free trade agreements with the EU, Sri Lanka, and the UAE next year.^Bilaterals