SINGAPORE: A Malaysian drug trafficker was hanged in prison today, marking the second execution in two weeks and raising the number of executions in the city-state to 12 this year despite pressure to abolish the death penalty.

A Singapore anti-death penalty activist, Kirsten Han, confirmed that Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was executed at Changi Prison.

PAKISTAN: Security forces raided a hideout of the Pakistan Taliban near the Afghan border today, triggering a fierce gun battle that left 11 soldiers and 19 militants dead, the military said.

The operation took place in Orakzai district in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to a statement from the military.

UNITED STATES: National Guard troops were positioned outside Chicago today as the Trump administration pushed ahead with its continuing authoritarian clampdown on Democratic-controlled cities.

National Guard members from Texas had settled in at an Army Reserve centre in Illinois by Wednesday, despite a lawsuit and opposition from Democratic elected leaders.

The Trump administration has engaged in a major clampdown on immigration in the nation’s third-largest city where protesters have frequently rallied at an immigration building outside Chicago.

CONGO: More than 200 health facilities in eastern Congo are experiencing shortages of medicines as a result of fighting in the region and a lack of humanitarian funding, the International Committee of the Red Cross said today.

The Red Cross said it had assessed 240 health centres and clinics in North and South Kivu, two provinces where the Rwanda-backed M23 militia made an unprecedented advance earlier this year, further deepening one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.