INDIA
At least six devotees died and dozens of people were injured last night in an accident at the Venkateswara Swamy temple in the Tirumala hills in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The incident occurred as hundreds of people crowded to buy tickets for the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam, a ceremony being held near the ancient temple.
GAZA-ISRAEL
The body of hostage Youssef Ziyadne, 53 - a Bedouin working in the stable of a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023 - was recovered by the Israeli army in a tunnel in the Rafah area. Other remains not yet formally identified are said to be that of his son Hamza, 22, who was abducted with him. Also in the area were the bodies of at least two other people who the Israeli army believes were Hamas overseers. Of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, 94 are believed to remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
JAPAN-MYANMAR-UNITED STATES
A yakuza boss - the Japanese mafia - pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to trafficking nuclear materials such as uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Myanmar to other countries. Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, a member of a criminal organisation, also admitted collaborating with a global network of associates from countries such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and the United States to traffic drugs and weapons.
CHINA
Shanghai has initiated a plan to allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in China in key economic zones, biopharmaceutical areas and downtown districts that are home to many foreign residents. The commercial capital is the first city to announce this measure after the central government said in September that it would allow the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in nine locations, including Beijing.
VIETNAM
With the New Year, a new decree came into force in Vietnam that allows police to impose heavy fines on those who run red lights, ride on pavements or use a mobile phone while driving. Under Decree 168, fines for drivers who run red lights, for example, increased from 4 million Vietnamese dong ($157) to 18 million Vietnamese dong ($709).
RUSSIA
In Moscow's Vodnik solitary confinement prison, the director of the Man Travel agency, Andrej Kotov, who had been imprisoned for a month on charges of extremism for organising tourist trips for homosexuals, died. Repeatedly subjected to electric shocks, humiliated and tortured in every way, he was allegedly beaten to death by other inmates until his death, which was written off as ‘suicide’.
TAJIKISTAN
It made a strong impression in Tajikistan that the New Year's message to the nation was delivered not by President Emomali Rakhmon, for the first time since 1994, but by his son Rustam Emomali, mayor of Dushanbe and speaker of parliament, without giving official reasons, but fuelling rumours of a close replacement for the presidency.
