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TOP OF THE AGENDA
Madrid, Catalonia in Standoff After Referendum
Catalan leaders said the preliminary results of an independence referendum held Sunday indicate 90 percent of voters favored secession. Hundreds were injured as Spanish authorities violently sought to suppress the vote, which was banned by Madrid.
Spain's central government said it can use its constitutional powers to suspend regional autonomy (Reuters) if Catalonia's parliament declares independence. At least 875 people, including thirty-three police, were injured in clashes as law enforcement raided polling stations and confiscated ballots (Guardian). Voter turnout of 2.26 million people represented about 42 percent of Catalonia's population (VOA), according to a regional government spokesman.
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PACIFIC RIM
Trump, Tillerson Send Mixed Messages on North Korea
U.S. President Donald J. Trump wrote in a Sunday tweet that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was "wasting his time" attempting to negotiate (NYT) with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The comment came after Tillerson said the United States had multiple direct channels of communication open to Pyongyang.
Scott D. Sagan writes in Foreign Affairs that deterrence is still the best option in North Korea.
MYANMAR: Authorities took three groups of foreign diplomats to tour Rakhine State on Monday (AP); the nationality of the diplomats was not made public. Myanmar has been criticized for not allowing journalists and observers access to the region, where a crackdown by security forces has prompted an exodus of half a million Rohingya Muslims.
CFR's Joshua Kurlantzick writes that the United Nations has taken a tough stance on Myanmar, five years into the crisis.
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SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA
Uzbek-Kyrgyz Border Demarcated
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev signed legislation demarcating some 85 percent of the 795-mile border (RFE/RL) between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan on Monday. Border disputes have been a source of conflict between the countries since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
AFGHANISTAN: Child soldiers as young as fourteen from Afghanistan have been recruited by Iran to fight in Syria (VOA) alongside pro-government forces, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.
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MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Monitor: September Deadliest Month This Year in Syria's War
More than 3,300 people died as a result of fighting in Syria (BBC) in September, including 995 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based monitoring group said 70 percent of the deaths were caused by Syrian government, Russian, or U.S.-led coalition air strikes.
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: West Bank-based Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah arrived in Gaza on Monday, his first visit in two years, to meet with authorities of the militant group Hamas to discuss retaking control of the Gaza Strip (Al Jazeera).
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