JAPAN
The number of members of the yakuza gangs - the historic Japanese mafia - fell to a record low of 18,800 at the end of last year, according to data released by the Japanese National Police Agency. This is the first time the number has fallen below 20,000 since the NPA began keeping records in 1958. Meanwhile, however, anonymous and ad hoc criminal groups known as ‘tokuryu’, whose members also interact on social media to carry out scams and robberies, are becoming a growing social problem in the country. The number of known ‘tokuryu’ members arrested for various crimes has exceeded 10,000.
UKRAINE-RUSSIA
A combined Russian missile and drone attack overnight sparked fires, destroyed buildings and buried residents under rubble in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, killing nine people and injuring more than 70. According to Ukrainian officials, six children are among the injured.
INDIA-PAKISTAN
India has summoned the highest Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi, announcing a downgrade of diplomatic relations with Islamabad and a suspension of a six-decade old river-sharing treaty, in response to the attack by cross-border militants that killed 26 tourists in Kashmir on 22 April. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also called a meeting of all Indian opposition parties for today to report on the government's response to the attack.
SOUTH KOREA
In a new court case intertwined with politics in South Korea, prosecutors have charged former President Moon Jae-in with corruption in connection with allegations that he favoured the hiring of his former son-in-law at an airline. Moon, who was president from 2017 to 2022, is a member of the Democratic opposition, whose current leader Lee Jae-myung (also recently acquitted in a corruption case) is leading in the polls for the early presidential elections on 3 June, called after the Supreme Court deposed conservative Yoon Suk yeol, who was elected in 2022.
TURKEY
According to the Turkish government, 236 people were injured - most of them bruised in the panic caused by the tremors - in the earthquake that struck Istanbul yesterday around midday. The epicentre of the 6.2-magnitude quake was located in the Sea of Marmara, about 80 kilometres from the metropolis.
PHILIPPINES
A mayor in the province of Cagayan was killed by gunfire last night, just three weeks before local elections across the Philippines. Rizal Joel Ruma, the mayor of Barangay Illuru Sur, was killed at around 9.30 p.m. Two other people, Merson Abiguebel and Melanie Talay, were injured.
JORDAN
Jordan's interior minister has announced a ban on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, specifying that promoting its ‘ideology’ is now illegal. The offices and headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-based group with strong roots in the country, will be closed and their assets confiscated.
RUSSIA
Seventeen-year-old Adam Kadyrov, son of Chechen President Ramzan, has been appointed secretary of the Security Council of the Caucasian republic, although the appointment has not been officially announced, as his uncle Khamzat Kadyrov already holds the office, and this would be the third high-level state position in the security and internal affairs systems for the teenager.
