Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
Watch PMQs with British Sign Language (BSL) – https://youtube.com/live/ibqoih-13aU?feature=share
Prime Minister’s Question Time, also referred to as PMQs, takes place every Wednesday the House of Commons sits. It gives MPs the chance to put questions to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, or a nominated minister.
In most cases, the session starts with a routine ‘open question’ from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements. MPs can then ask supplementary questions on any subject, often one of current political significance.
The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, asks six questions and the leader of the second largest opposition party asks two. If another minister takes the place of the Prime Minister, opposition parties will usually nominate a shadow minister to ask the questions.
Want to find out more about what’s happening in the House of Commons this week? Follow the House of Commons on:
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
Prime Minister’s Question Time, also referred to as PMQs, takes place every Wednesday the House of Commons sits. It gives MPs the chance to put questions to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer MP, or a nominated minister.
In most cases, the session starts with a routine ‘open question’ from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements. MPs can then ask supplementary questions on any subject, often one of current political significance.
The Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, asks six questions and the leader of the second largest opposition party asks two. If another minister takes the place of the Prime Minister, opposition parties will usually nominate a shadow minister to ask the questions.
Want to find out more about what’s happening in the House of Commons this week? Follow the House of Commons on:
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Economic growth in the CCA region exceeded expectations in 2025, driven by strong domestic demand and hydrocarbon exports, while inflation accelerated. Economic activity in many CCA countries was stronger than expected in the first half of the year, underpinned by robust remittances, rapid credit growth, and, for oil exporters, higher hydrocarbon production.
Join us on October 30 at 1:00 AM ET for a panel discussion on the IMF’s October 2025 Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for the Caucasus and Central Asia with:
• Jihad Azour, Director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, IMF
• Arif Ali (CEO, CJSC Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank)
• Akylzhan Baimagambetov (Deputy Governor, National Bank of
Kazakhstan)
• Aziza Umarova (Head of Delivery Unit at the Agency for Strategic
Reforms under the President of Uzbekistan; Fellow at Harvard’s Davis
Center)
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Europe is facing daunting fiscal pressures both from new policy priorities (defense, energy security), the escalating costs of population aging (pension, healthcare), and a rising interest bill on already high debt. Without prompt policy action, public debt levels could more than double for the average European country in the next 15 years. This could drive up interest rates, slow down already sluggish economic growth, and undermine market confidence. Both structural reforms and fiscal consolidation will be necessary to deliver the difficult policy adjustment, with one third achieved through a set of moderate reforms and two thirds coming from consolidation. For high-debt countries, however, this policy package would likely be insufficient to meet the fiscal challenge, leaving no option other than a deeper rethink of the scope of public services and the social contract to fill the gap. Delaying policy action could be costly, as the fiscal position would deteriorate further, and make the task for policymakers even more challenging.
On November 4, 2025, the IMF and the European Central Bank jointly organized the launch of the IMF fiscal note of the 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Europe at the House of the Euro in Brussels. The event features:
• Oscar Arce, Director-General for Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics, European Central Bank
• Alfred Kammer, Director, European Department, International Monetary Fund
• Benedicta Marzinotto, Board Member of the European Fiscal Board and lecturer in Economic Policy at the University of Udine
• Maarten Verwey, Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
• Moderator: Sarah Collins, Brussels Correspondent, Business Post
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to remain steady in 2025 and moderate slightly next year. Inflation convergence toward targets continues, though at a slower pace.
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy will hear evidence from senior government ministers on government decision-making in relation to espionage cases, following the collapse of the recent alleged China spy case.
In our second session this week, the cross-party Committee will hear evidence from the Attorney General and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Hybrid press briefing by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, following their presentation to the General Assembly’s Third Committee. Speakers are Ms. Navanethem Pillay (South Africa) and Mr. Chris Sidoti (Australia), who both briefed reporters virtually.
Chris Sidoti, one of the members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) said the 20-point “peace proposal” for Gaza, was “precarious right from the start” and “with fighting taking place in Rafah and Israeli bombing having resumed in the Rafah area, it is more precarious than ever.”
Sidoti and Navi Pillay, who is also a member of the COI, briefed reporters in New York virtually after presenting their report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee.
Pillay said, “analysis concluded that the State of Israel is responsible for the commission of four genocidal acts in Gaza with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. We also found that the Israeli President, Prime Minister, and former Defence Minister have incited the commission of genocide.”
She said, “these findings remain fully valid and continue to serve as a cornerstone of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure accountability.”
Pillay, who is a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, “Israeli officials have demonstrated a clear and concise intent to establish permanent military control over Gaza and to change its demographic composition.”
She expressed deep concern that “changes already made to land and borders have not been meaningfully reversed, despite the recent ceasefire, and statements by Israeli officials make it clear that objections of ethnic cleansing and the establishment of settlement in the Gaza Strip remain firmly in place.”
Sidoti for his part said, “the criminal activities of both the Palestinian militant leadership and the Israeli political and military leadership must end, and they will only end when those who are responsible for the crimes are held to account.”
He said, “one of the failures of the 20-point proposal is that there is no provision for accountability. There can be no peace in Israel and Palestine without accountability. There can be no justice in Israel and Palestine without accountability.”
Sidoti said, “the hostages have been released – apart from 12 bodies that are still being sought; the Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been released; but humanitarian and aid has not been resumed at the levels of were agreed and there is not a complete ceasefire taking place.”
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory was established by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged violations of international law and human rights abuses in the region.
Hybrid press briefing by Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, following the presentation of her report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee.
"Russia is now run through a state-sponsored system of fear and punishment where dissent is erased and civic space is dismantled,” said Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, briefing correspondents following the presentation of her report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee.
Special Rapporteurs and other human rights experts appointed under the special procedures mandate of the Human Rights Council are not UN staff and are independent of any government or organization. They receive no salary for their work.
Katzarova outlined what she described as an expanding network of repression targeting journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens in Russia. She said that “the most fashionable tool, if you wish, for repression, has become the abuse of the national security legislation,” citing charges such as treason, espionage, confidential cooperation with a foreign organization or foreign state, and broad applications of counter-terrorism and extremism laws.
According to the Special Rapporteur, these measures are designed to create a chilling effect. “People from different professions, different walks of life, just simply for posting or reposting messages on social media against the war have been penalized,” she said. “At first with administrative offenses, then with criminal offenses, imprisoned for their opposition against the war. And this works as a preventive mechanism for other people really to be afraid to show their true sentiments.”
Katzarova also drew attention to the plight of Ukrainian civilians held in Russian detention, saying, “Thousands of Ukrainian civilian detainees, we don’t know the exact count, because the Russian authorities are not revealing it, are lavishing in Russian detention, virtually disappeared.” Many of those known to be held, she added, remain without access to families or the outside world. She also raised concern over the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. “POWs are not recognized in the Russian Federation as prisoners of war, because Russian authorities do not recognize this as a war, but just as a special military operation. Therefore, the POWs do not enjoy the protections of the Geneva Conventions.”
The Rapporteur noted that “Russia is the third in the world biggest jailer of journalists,” adding that “29 probably 28 because one actually was released recently,” referring to Vladislav Yasipenko, a journalist from Crimea who “spent four years in Russian detention being tortured to secure confession.”
Katzarova said punitive psychiatric treatment reminiscent of Soviet-era practices had returned “as a tool against antiwar voices.” She said her team documented 51 cases of activists subjected to forced psychiatric measures since 2022, including journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who “was ordered to undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment for maintaining her antiwar stance in prison.” The journalist subsequently tried to commit suicide three times in one week, according to Katzarova.
She emphasized that “counter terrorism and extremism laws are really used to punish speech, not danger.” She said the repression now extended to the digital sphere. “Coupled with, of course, the absolute crackdown of Russian authorities – this is now intensifying – is freedom of the internet. So, for example, there is now a new law on extremism for searching extremist materials on the internet.”
Highlights:
Secretary-General/Cameroon
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Sudan/Humanitarian
Hurricane Melissa
Central African Republic
Afghanistan
Nationally Determined Contributions Synthesis Report
Women Peacekeepers
Peace Circle
Democratic Republic of the Congo
HURRICANE MELISSA
Thanks to the pre-positioning of relief supplies ahead of the hurricane season, the World Food Programme (WFP) is coordinating a sea-lift operation from Barbados carrying supplies from WFP, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). An airlift of some 2,000 relief kits is also planned for deployment once airports reopen and the weather conditions permit flights.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that a joint warehouse established earlier this year in Barbados by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and the WFP, with support from the European Union and Canada, is already proving to be instrumental in this unfolding disaster.
Additional relief stocks are available at the UN Humanitarian Depot in Panama from UN agencies, NGOs and international cooperation partners.
In Cuba, where the hurricane is expected to make landfall overnight in the eastern part of the island, preparations and prepositioning of supplies and assets are still underway, and authorities plan to evacuate about half a million people to safer ground. OCHA also said that two staff members have arrived in Cuba today to support UN agencies that are already there. and national authorities ahead of the impact.
And in Haiti, authorities have placed the departments of South and Grand’Anse on red alert, while other areas remain on orange alert.
Our humanitarian colleagues are coordinating with Haitian authorities, UN agencies and humanitarian partners to support preparedness and early action. WFP has pre-positioned more than 800 metric tons of food to assist 86,000 people in Haiti for two weeks. UNICEF has pre-positioned water, sanitation and hygiene kits for about 14,500 people and nutritional supplies for more than 4,000 children. For its part, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has stocked reproductive health kits for 5,000 people and dignity kits for 4,000 people, while the Pan American Health Organization provided medical kits for about 11,000 people.
SUDAN/HUMANITARIAN
In answer to questions about the number of civilians killed in El Fasher, the Spokesperson said the UN Human Rights Office said that they have documented some 1,850 civilian deaths in North Darfur, of these, an estimated 1,350 were in El Fasher.
This is considered, however, an under-representation of the real number of conflict-related deaths in El Fasher, and North Darfur, given the challenges related to telecommunications and just access issues on the ground.
Although access to El Fasher remains blocked and humanitarian capacity continues to shrink as needs soar, we and our humanitarian partners remain committed to scaling up the much-needed support across Darfur and reestablishing a presence on the ground and soon as it is practicable.
Many civilians flee toward Tawila seeking relative safety or whatever humanitarian assistance they may receive. Humanitarian workers continue to operate under extraordinary danger to assist them. In Tawila, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners report that families, and especially children, are arriving malnourished, they are arriving sick and they are arriving traumatized after a dangerous journey to safety. UNHCR is providing essential assistance and vital services to displaced families, and that includes shelter.
In a statement issued today, the UN and its humanitarian partners urged the international community for urgent action to protect civilians and for humanitarian workers in Sudan, and to guarantee safe passage and humanitarian access to people trapped in El Fasher as well as scaling up funding to support humanitarian operations in El Fasher and elsewhere in Sudan.
Fighting has also intensified in North Kordofan State. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 2,500 people fled Bara town over the weekend, and up to 1,000 others were newly displaced from Zuraiba village yesterday due to heightened insecurity.
The UN stresses once again that civilians must be protected wherever they are, whether they decide to seek safety or whether they have to stay.
Full highlights:
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-10-28
Source: International Monetary Fund – IMF (video statements)
Asia’s economy is holding up—but slower growth, aging, and rising youth unemployment pose challenges.
IMF Director of the Asia and Pacific Department Krishna Srinivasan calls for renewal: smarter investment, deeper integration, and bold reforms to unlock stronger growth.
Read the latest economic outlook for the Asia Pacific region: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/APAC/Issues/2025/10/24/regional-economic-outlook-for-asia-and-pacific-october-2025?cid=sm-com-yt-AM2025-
