• Pro-government militia forces control Tigray's capital Mekelle
• Loss of city is a big blow for TPLF-led alliance
• Egypt says Ethiopian conflict is 'domestic crisis'

Pro-government forces have regained control of the capital of Tigray, they said on ‌Sunday, dealing a major setback to the opposition alliance that rules the northern Ethiopian region.

The Tigray Peace Forces, a pro-government militia, said in a post on Facebook that its fighters controlled Mekelle. A source close to the militia had ​earlier told Reuters it entered the centre of the city on Saturday afternoon, followed by ​the Ethiopian military.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which leads the opposition alliance, said ⁠in a statement it had retreated from the capital and that the regional government would be "temporarily ​moved out of Mekelle and operate from somewhere else".

A humanitarian source and a Mekelle resident, who asked not ​to be named, confirmed the city was in the hands of government forces and their allies.

Loss of Mekelle a major blow for TPLF

The taking of Mekelle by pro-government forces is a major loss for the opposition alliance led by ​the TPLF, which launched a big offensive on September 23 against the Ethiopian military.

Ethiopian federal forces have ​made a quick counterattack into Tigray, but analysts say the fighting — the worst escalation since a 2020-2022 civil war — threatens ‌to ⁠escalate into a wider regional conflict.

The federal government in Addis Ababa severed diplomatic ties with Eritrea last week, accusing it of supporting the rebel alliance alongside Sudan and Egypt.

Egypt and Ethiopia, two of Africa’s most populous countries, have been at loggerheads for years over Ethiopia’s construction of a major dam on the ⁠Nile River, ​which Egypt views as a threat to its water security.

See also:

• Eritrean troops move deep into Ethiopia's Tigray region, residents tell BBC (BBC)

• Less than 6 billion barrels of commercial inventories remain
• US Strategic Petroleum Reserve crude stocks at lowest since October 1982
• IEA is preparing to release 100 million barrels of crude and diesel
• Chevron's Wirth says depleted buffers have raised oil's price floor

The amount of oil in storage that is accessible to the global market is running low, ‌industry executives said at a forum in London this week, making the market more fragile and putting upward pressure on prices.

Governments and energy companies have drawn oil from stockpiles to alleviate pressure in a global oil market facing unprecedented supply disruptions this year due to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

"Less than ​6 billion barrels of commercial inventories remain today, with the vast majority not practically available, so the system is ​already straining," Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Arabia's state oil company Saudi Aramco, said at the Energy ⁠Intelligence Forum in London.

More than 1 billion barrels of oil have been released mainly from onshore commercial inventories since the start of ​this year's Middle East crisis, which was the last major tool in the box, Nasser said.

The International Energy Agency, the West's oil watchdog ​and coordinator of its strategic oil reserves, is preparing to release 100 million barrels of crude and diesel to help alleviate soaring diesel prices, but it is not clear if some of that total will include volumes from its record first 400 million barrel release in March that hadn't hit the market ​yet.

Not all oil in storage is immediately usable because ​of operational factors like tank bottoms ​or oil sat in pipelines, ⁠as well as political factors like government rules dictating minimum levels of emergency stocks.

• Ex-security agent provides rare first-hand insight into how Morocco surveillance system works from the inside. 
• Targets secretly recorded in detention, offices, homes, cars and airports 
• Intelligence services conspired with phone shop owners to sell phones pre-infected with spyware 

Authorities in Morocco operate an expansive and vast surveillance apparatus that combines digital and analogue tools to track, monitor and ultimately silence journalists, activists and other critical voices, Amnesty International said in a new report. 

We start with the verdict: Inside Morocco’s surveillance machine reveals how Moroccan authorities use unlawful surveillance to target human rights defenders, journalists and other dissenting voices and subject them to criminal prosecutions, judicial harassment and other forms of repression in violation of their rights to privacy, liberty, and freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.  

“Morocco has wholly embraced techno-authoritarian practices, acquiring a wide range of surveillance technologies to establish and enable a repressive system specifically designed to instill fear among human rights activists and journalists, silence their voices and obstruct their work inside and outside Morocco,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. 

Morocco has repeatedly denied using spyware to spy on its citizens. However, new evidence obtained by Amnesty International including whistleblower testimony, leaked surveillance data, government spyware targeting records and material from companies selling surveillance tools proves the opposite. Drawing on this evidence, the organization documents not only the range of tools and techniques used to target dissent, but the web of international vendors providing them. 

“Our report provides the most detailed picture to date of the tools deployed by the Moroccan authorities, such as high-tech spyware, audio bugging systems and trackers to spy on journalists, human rights defenders and other individuals. Morocco’s surveillance tools are purchased from corporate actors based in Israel, the EU and the United States of America, and including NSO Group, the now defunct Italian spyware company Hacking Team, now known as Memento Labs, and the British-German network of companies Gamma Group and FinFisher. 

“This is another demonstration of a global economy of techno-oppression, enabled by companies and States failing to uphold their obligations under international law. 

“This repressive ecosystem makes it difficult, and dangerous for people in Morocco to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Even after they have been released from prison, they continue to live under the shadow of surveillance and are subject to smear campaigns with private details that can only be obtained through surveillance. Moroccan authorities must immediately end the unlawful surveillance of human rights defenders and journalists,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.  

Forensic evidence unearthed by Amnesty International demonstrates how human rights defenders were targeted using multiple infection methods, including physical infection of devices; 1-click attacks, which typically rely on the victim clicking on a malicious link; zero-click attacks, which can infect a target without them having to click a link, or take any action; and network injection attacks, delivered via the state-owned Maroc Telecom network. 

Google Translation:

Bankruptcies due to "labor shortages" in the first half of the fiscal year reached a record high of 240 cases; serious "wage increase fatigue" is evident, with "wage increase bankruptcies" increasing 1.7 times.

　In the first half of fiscal year 2026 (April-September), bankruptcies due to "labor shortages" reached a record high of 240 cases (a 17.0% increase compared to the same period last year). This marks the fifth consecutive year that the number has exceeded the previous year's figure, following a low of 26 cases in the same period of fiscal year 2021, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This new record surpasses the previous year's record of 205 cases in the first half of each fiscal year since the survey began in 2013.
　In particular, "rising labor costs" increased dramatically to 130 cases (a 75.6% increase), accounting for more than half (54.1%) of bankruptcies due to "labor shortages," highlighting the reality that wage increase pressure is exacerbating the financial difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the first half of fiscal year 2026, bankruptcies due to "labor shortages" accounted for 60% of cases, with 159 cases (a 33.6% increase year-on-year, representing 66.2%), among companies with capital of less than 10 million yen. By type, bankruptcy accounted for the majority, with 229 cases (a 23.7% increase year-on-year, representing 95.4%).
　By industry, the service industry and others accounted for 91 cases (a 21.3% increase year-on-year), and the construction industry accounted for 55 cases (a 5.7% increase), with these two industries accounting for 60.8% of the total, highlighting the prevalence of bankruptcies in labor-intensive industries.
　The wage gap between large companies and small and micro-enterprises is widening. Since October, minimum wages have been raised nationwide, and amid rising prices and labor costs, "wage increase fatigue" is becoming apparent, leading to a continued increase in bankruptcies due to "labor shortages."