ASIA TODAY Israeli attacks in Yemen and Lebanon; 20 more dead in Gaza

Today’s news: Violent protests in the northwest Chinese city of Pucheng over the accidental death of a student. The Ishiba-Prabowo summit relaunches security cooperation between Tokyo and Jakarta. Smog is causing transport chaos in Delhi. A junta airstrike killed more than 40 people in Rakhine, Myanmar.

ISRAEL – GAZA – LEBANON – YEMEN

The Israeli army declared that it had attacked in Yemen some locations controlled by Houthi fighters, including a power plant near the capital Sanaa and the ports of al-Hudaydah and Ras Isa. Several people were killed yesterday in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire agreement, and in Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 21 Palestinians. Since October 7, 2023, at least 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 injured.

CHINA

The death of a teenager has unleashed violent protests in Pucheng citynorthwest China, in the province of Shaanxi. Authorities declared that the young man died on January 2 in an accident in his school dormitory, but accusations of a cover-up subsequently spread on social media. Protests broke out shortly after and lasted for several days, before being quelled.

JAPAN-INDONESIA

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba declared that at a summit in Bogor with President Prabowo Subianto his country has agreed to supply patrol boats high-speed train to Indonesia. The two countries are increasing their security collaboration and also confirmed bilateral cooperation in energy security, human resource development and disaster prevention.

INDIA

Smog is causing traffic chaos inside the Indian capital, Delhi. In the early hours of yesterday visibility was zero in several areas, which disrupted flights, trains and road transport. More than 150 flights had to be rescheduled and dozens of trains are delayed. This is a recurring problem in winter in northern India, where low temperatures between December and January trap pollutants close to the ground.

MYANMAR

Dozens killed in airstrike this week of Myanmar’s military junta in Rakhine State, as the Southeast Asian country’s civil war approaches its fourth year. The junta attacked the town of Kyauk Ni Maw in Yanbye municipality on Wednesday afternoon, destroying around 500 houses and killing more than 40 people, according to the Government of National Unity (GUN) and a United Nations agency. United.

GEORGIA

Former Georgian president Salomé Zurabishvili declared that she “will continue to perform the duties of president” from her new offices after handing over the Orbeliani Palace to her “illegitimate” successor Mikhail Kavelashvili, and that the only way out for the country is to call new and honest elections, what he intends to talk to Donald Trump, at whose inauguration he will be present.

RUSSIA

As is traditional in Russia, the peak of alcohol sales occurs during the New Year holidays, and on those same days a percentage increase in deaths is also recorded, 14% more than in any other period of the year, figures that are growing uninterruptedly since the war in Ukraine began. The Federal Control Service reported that in the first 11 months of 2024, 108.5 million decaliters had been sold, an absolute record.