Japan: three years after Shinzo Abe's assassination, life sentence for the killer

Today's headlines: Indonesia, nine arrests by Medan police for trafficking newborns; Seoul: 23 years in prison for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for supporting martial law in 2024; Traffic in India among the worst in the world, with six of the ten most congested cities in Asia in 2025; Lawyer who defended Christians and converts arrested in Tehran.

JAPAN

Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who killed former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, three and a half years after shooting the former leader during a rally in the city of Nara in 2022. He pleaded guilty at the start of his trial last year, but the sentence he deserves has divided Japanese public opinion, with some sympathising with his troubled childhood. His mother's devotion to the Unification Church led the family to bankruptcy, and Yamagami harboured a grudge against Abe after discovering the former leader's ties to the controversial church.

INDONESIA

Police in Medan, North Sumatra province, have arrested nine people and are searching for three others for their alleged involvement in a baby trafficking ring that operated through illegal adoption schemes via Facebook and TikTok. Police Chief Commissioner Jean Calvijn Simanjuntak said the suspects had sold at least two children for between nine million rupees (680 Singapore dollars) and 25 million rupees each.

SOUTH KOREA

The Seoul Central District Court has sentenced former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to 23 years in prison for aiding then-President Yoon Suk-yeol's attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. The defendant ‘ignored his duties and responsibilities as prime minister until the very end,’ Judge Lee Jin-gwan said, adding that martial law was intended to ‘subvert the constitutional order.’

INDIA

Indian traffic is among the worst in the world. Bengaluru ranks second and Pune fifth in the global traffic index for 2025. Among the top 10 cities with the highest traffic in Asia, six are Indian: Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Jaipur. Chennai ranks 11th and Hyderabad 15th. In Bengaluru, the average speed is 16.6 km per hour, and it takes the average motorist 15 minutes to travel 4.2 km, according to data from TomTom.

IRAN

A lawyer who has defended several Christians in Iranian courts has been arrested in Tehran. Shima Ghosheh, who has represented Christians and converts accused of ‘apostasy’, was arrested at her home and taken to an unknown location. No further details about her arrest are known yet, as it remains difficult to obtain information from inside Iran, where an internet blackout persists almost two weeks after its introduction, following protests against the Islamic Republic, with thousands of people killed. However, Iran could lift the internet blockade within a few days.

RUSSIA

In keeping with a tradition that has not always been observed in recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the celebrations of the Baptism of the Lord by immersing himself in water through a cross cut into the frozen surface, as reported by the Kremlin press office, ‘a sacramental rite that many Russians observe, a personal choice that is not compulsory for anyone’. The Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, called the president ‘our Orthodox leader’.

TAJIKISTAN

Border guards from the Tajikistan Security Committee reported that they had eliminated four members of a terrorist group who, on the night of 18 January, had illegally crossed the border from Afghanistan into the province of Badakhshan and, when ordered to drop their weapons, opened fire. In response, they were all shot dead, and a considerable arsenal and various technologies were recovered, “maintaining order” in the area.

• Asia
• Today