Japan's parliament on Monday narrowly voted for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to stay on as leader, after his coalition lost its parliamentary majority in a lower house election last month.  Ishiba had called the snap poll immediately after taking office on October 1, following the resignation of his predecessor Fumio Kishida in a party financing scandal.  Runoff vote decisive, putting Ishiba atop a minority government The ruling coalition led by Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) — the dominant force in Japanese politics for almost all of the last 70 years — lost its parliamentary majority in the vote, but the LDP and its Komeito ally combined still won the largest bloc of seats.  This was reflected in Monday's parliamentary vote requiring a second round runoff for the first time in 30 years, with no outright majority for any prime ministerial candidate in the first round of voting.  Ishiba ultimately claimed 221 votes second time around, in a 465-seat chamber, when merely winning more votes than his rival was sufficient to proceed. Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who leads the largest opposition faction, the Constitutional Democratic Party, finished a fairly distant second with 160 votes.  Ishiba reappointed most of his core Cabinet members, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, but had to replace three who lost seats or were affected by the election results.  Seeking new allies, or opposition support for legislation Ishiba had refused to step down and said he would instead seek additional coalition partners to try to re-establish a majority government.  He had made overtures to a smaller, up-and-coming conservative opposition party, the Democratic Party for the People, which now holds 28 seats in the lower house. But so far, that party has indicated it is not willing to join a formal coalition, but intimated that it might be prepared to support some proposals from the minority government from opposition.  That party's leader, Yuichiro Tamaki, had been trying to build on the momentum already established, but he faced unrelated pressure on Monday as he admitted that a magazine article exposing an extramarital affair was accurate. Prime Minister Ishiba's immediate domestic challenge is compiling a supplementary budget for the fiscal year through March, and getting it through parliament. There are also elections to Japan's less influential upper house, the House of Councillors, scheduled next year. The prime minister has a busy schedule of foreign travel, with a trip to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru likely this week, and then the G20 summit in Brazil on November 18 and 19.  Ishiba has said he is also hoping to arrange a stopover in the US around the time of the G20 summit, for talks with returning US President-elect Donald Trump after his election win.

A high-level summit has been organized in Saudi Arabia today to discuss Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, with Arab and Muslim world leaders beginning to arrive in the country. According to a report from Saudi Arabia’s state media outlet, Al Arabiya, on Monday, November 11, the summit was convened to address the situation. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry announced this summit at the end of October during the first meeting of an “international coalition” aimed at resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through a two-state solution. On Sunday, November 10, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the attendees will discuss Israeli aggression in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as current developments in the region. Saudi Arabia has organized a similar summit a year after a previous one. Leaders from the Cairo-based Arab League and the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be participating. Last year, these leaders condemned Israeli attacks as "brutal" at a similar summit. On October 7 last year, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people and the abduction of 250 hostages by this pro-independence Palestinian group. In response, Israel began retaliatory strikes on Gaza, which continue to this day. The conflict has claimed 43,600 Palestinian lives so far and has now spread to Lebanon as well.

Israel has launched devastating airstrikes across the besieged Gaza Strip and Lebanon, killing over a hundred people. Medical sources in Gaza report that more than 50 Palestinians were killed in the attacks on the blockaded region. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health stated that 53 people were killed in strikes by Israeli forces. According to a report by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, medical sources informed them that over 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, with at least 42 casualties in the besieged northern area alone. As a result, the total death toll since October of last year has reached 43,469, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health on Thursday. Additionally, more than 102,561 Palestinians have been injured in the attacks that have continued for over a year. Meanwhile, Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health reported that Israeli forces’ operations across the country in the past 24 hours left 53 dead and another 161 injured. According to Lebanese health authorities, since Israeli attacks began in October of last year, 3,103 people have been killed, and nearly 14,000 injured in Lebanon.

Israel has intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip, with at least 31 people killed in the latest airstrikes. This brings the total death toll in the area to over 43,340, according to Reuters. A report on Monday, November 4, stated that Palestinian doctors reported at least 31 casualties from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday, November 3, with nearly half of the fatalities occurring in northern Gaza. Claiming that Hamas is regrouping in the region, the Israeli military has been conducting month-long operations to prevent this. In a separate report, the Anadolu news agency stated that at least 27 more Palestinians were killed in the ongoing attacks, bringing the total death count to 43,341 since October of last year, as reported by Gaza's Health Ministry on Sunday. The ministry's statement revealed that over 102,105 individuals have also been injured in relentless attacks. Over the last 24 hours, Israeli forces’ continuous assaults have led to 27 more deaths and 86 injuries. Many people remain trapped under rubble or stranded in the streets, as rescuers are unable to reach them. Palestinian health authorities estimate that more than 10,000 people are still missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings across Gaza. Despite a United Nations Security Council proposal urging an immediate ceasefire, Israel continues its severe offensive in the blockaded territory. The conflict between Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed group supporting Hamas, and Israel also escalated after Israel's assault on Gaza began on October 7, with Hezbollah launching rockets at Israel. Israel has reported that Hamas’s attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and the taking of approximately 250 hostages. According to Gaza's health authorities, Israeli attacks have killed 41,600 people in Gaza and displaced over 2.3 million individuals.

Germany's closure of Iran's consulates in the country effectively serves as a "sanction" against Iranians residing in Germany, Tehran said on Friday. It comes after German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday announced that three Iranian consulates would be closed in Germany in response to the execution of German-Iranian dual national Jamshid Sharmahd. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized the order online. "The closure of Iran's Consulates in Germany is a sanction against Iranians residing in that country — most of whom possess German citizenship as well," he wrote. Germans urged to leave Iran Meanwhile, Germany reiterated its call for citizens in Iran to leave the country and warned others against traveling there. "We have long had a travel warning for Iran and a request to Germans in Iran to leave the country because we saw from the Jamshid Sharmahd case that Iran is taking German citizens hostage," foreign office spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said on Friday. "We want to spare other German citizens this fate," he added. Germany orders all Iranian consulates shut On Thursday, Germany ordered Iran's consulates in Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich to be closed but said the embassy in Berlin would remain open. "We have repeatedly and unequivocally made it clear to Tehran that the execution of a German citizen will have serious consequences," Foreign Minister Baerbock said when announcing the closures. On Monday, Iran said it had executed Sharmahd after he was sentenced to death in 2023 on charges of "corruption on Earth" related to a 2008 attack on a mosque and other incidents. The German government, relatives, and human rights activists strongly rejected the accusations against him and dismissed the trial as unfair. Baerbock also said Germany would seek EU-wide sanctions against those involved in Sharmahd's execution. The minister said this included the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Eight people died in a large fire at a cooking oil factory near the Indonesian capital Jakarta, local fire authorities said on Friday, November 01. Around 20 firefighting trucks are at the site and have contained the blaze in most areas of the factory, authorities said. Footage from Metro TV showed flames and billowing black smoke coming out of a building in the center of an industrial complex in Bekasi, a city on Jakarta's eastern edge. The report said roads had been closed around the factory. All of the bodies had been evacuated from the site, Suhartono, head of Bekasi's fire department, told Reuters, adding that three other people were injured. But the number of casualties could still rise, he said. Local authorities are investigating the cause of the fire. The factory is operated by PT Primus Sanus Cooking Oil Industrial (Priscolin), said Suhartono.

Iran is angered by Israel over various issues, including conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Tensions have already led to attacks and counterattacks between the two sides. According to a report, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has now instructed his military officials to prepare for a “retaliatory attack” against Israel. Citing Iranian officials, The New York Times reported that Iran would not carry out any attack on Israel before the U.S. election on November 5. However, other media sources suggest that Iran might launch an attack on Israel before the U.S. election. According to The Times, which quoted three officials linked to Tehran’s war planning, after being briefed on the extent of damage from Israeli attacks, Khamenei directed his Supreme National Security Council last Monday to plan the retaliatory attack. The report also mentions that Iranian military officials are preparing a potential list of Israeli military targets. On Wednesday, October 30, CNN, quoting a senior source, reported that a “specific” and “painful” Iranian response to recent Israeli strikes could occur before the U.S. presidential election. The source connected to Iranian authorities told CNN that Iran’s reaction against “Zionist regime aggression” would be “specific” and “painful.” While no exact date was provided, the source indicated that “it will likely happen the day before the U.S. presidential election.” The Israeli military has yet to comment on this matter.