Today's headlines: 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan; crematoria are full in South Korea; economic growth in India, China and South-East Asia to hit 5.8% this year; Russia's army is using the tactic of razing cities; meanwhile, thousands of Russian tourists are stranded on the island of Phuket.

AFGHANISTAN

The school year begins again in Afghanistan today, but not for girls: the Taliban ordered the closure of girls' secondary schools, contradicting previous decisions. The announcement was made this morning a few hours before the start of classes.

ISRAEL

Four Israelis were killed and two wounded in a terrorist attack by a lone bomber in a shopping centre in the city of Beersheba. The attacker - an Israeli Arab from a Bedouin community in the south of the country - was also killed.

INDIA - AFGHANISTAN

The parents of Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqi, killed last year in Afghanistan while working for Reuters, took legal action against the Taliban. Initial reports claimed the journalist was killed in a clash and then taken to a mosque for treatment, but his body, his parents claim, was mutilated by the Taliban.

TAIWAN

There was a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Taiwan overnight. One person was injured and a building partially collapsed. The island is prone to earthquakes. Taipei's tsunami warnings are automatically triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher.

SOUTH KOREA

Crematoria in South Korea have been forced to upgrade their services due to the raging pandemic. Active cases of Covid-19 have exceeded 10 million. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency yesterday reported over 490,000 new infections and 384 deaths. Although mortality rates remain relatively low, the number of deaths has doubled in just six weeks.

THAILAND

Thousands of Russian tourists are stranded on the island of Phuket in Thailand following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The biggest problem they face is the availability of money: at the moment they cannot withdraw money from ATMs. In December, 17,000 Russian visitors landed on Phuket, who, with the pandemic, have replaced Chinese tourists.

ASIA

According to a report just published by the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the gross domestic product of China, India and the 10 Asean nations will grow by 5.8% this year, after expanding by 7.4% in 2021 and contracting by 0.8% in 2020. Although the war in Ukraine is likely to undermine growth in the region.

RUSSIA

After several attempts to seize Ukrainian cities, the Russian army has changed tactics, switching to destroying them with artillery, missiles and air strikes, as seen in Cernigov, Kharkiv and especially Mariupol. This is the strategy of the Chechen teams, already experimented 30 years ago in Groznyj and ten years ago in Aleppo in Syria, aimed at "razing to the ground" the cities to be conquered.

AZERBAIJAN

A Tehran government delegation visiting Baku signed a memorandum for the construction of a transport corridor linking Azerbaijan with its autonomous enclave of Nakhicevan in Armenian territory. This will act as an alternative to the Moscow-Azerbaijan-Armenia line, leaving the Armenians in the corner, but Baku did not want to wait for their decisions.

• AsiaToday