ITALY: The Italian Senate gave final approval today to an agreement with Albania to house migrants during the processing of their asylum requests, part of the government’s effort to share the migration burden with the rest of Europe.

Under the five-year deal, Albania would shelter up to 3,000 migrants at a time in two centres while Italy fast-tracks their asylum requests.

THAILAND: City employees in Thailand’s capital Bangkok were ordered today to work from home for two days, and those in the private sector were encouraged to do so as well, as air pollution soared to unhealthy levels.

Air pollution has been a problem for many years in Thailand’s north, where the burning of forests and agricultural waste are major contributing factors. 

SOUTH KOREA: Hundreds of doctors rallied in Seoul and other cities today against a government plan to boost the number of medical students.

Doctors’ groups say increasing the number of medical students by 2,000 starting in 2025 is too steep. They want officials to instead use available resources to raise medical fees they say are set too low.

RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia would prefer to see Joe Biden win a second term, describing him as more experienced and predictable than Donald Trump — even though Moscow strongly disagrees with the current administration’s policies.

President Putin’s comments during an interview with Russian state television were his first about the forthcoming US presidential election, which seems likely to see Mr Biden and Mr Trump once again compete for the presidency.