Other news of the day: Nearly 35,000 people experienced Christmas as displaced people due to heavy rains in northern Mindanao; the spread of Covid-19 forced India to reintroduce screening tests for those entering the country from China and four other countries; five major NGOs will leave Afghanistan because the Taliban banned them from employing female staff; two Tajiks convicted in Russia of drug trafficking were killed in the war in Ukraine.
Former Maoist guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda He will be the next Prime Minister of Nepal. The leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) – who has already headed the Kathmandu government for two terms – allied himself with his rival and former prime minister KP Oli of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist Leninist. Elections on November 20 had ended without a clear majority and now the Nepali Congress – the majority party of outgoing Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba – has gone into opposition, refusing to accept Prachanda as prime minister.
PHILIPPINES
In the Philippines, thousands of people spent Christmas Day in evacuation centers in the two provinces of Misamis, due to heavy rains that caused flooding and landslides in the northern part of the island of Mindanao. At least two people were killed in a landslide in Oroquieta City on Christmas Eve, but the hardest-hit town was Gingoog in Misamis Oriental province, where nearly 35,000 people had to be evacuated by the army.
SOUTH KOREA-NORTH KOREA
Seoul sources reported that suspected North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean border on Monday without South Korea’s authorization. The aerial devices crossed the military demarcation line that separates the two Koreas and were seen in the regions of Gimpo, Ganghwa Island and Paju, forcing the temporary suspension of civilian flights. The new violation of the South’s airspace comes just days after the North launched two short-range ballistic missiles and two medium-range ballistic missiles.
INDIA-CHINA
On news of the new Covid-19 outbreak in China, India has also declared a state of alert. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that passengers from China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand – countries where the number of infections is increasing – will have to undergo mandatory tests upon entering the country. In a meeting with the heads of the Indian states, the minister also called for all necessary measures to be taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
AFGHANISTAN
Five major international NGOs they interrupted their work in Afghanistan because on Saturday the Taliban government decreed a ban on employing women. Care International, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Save the Children stated that they could not continue their activity ‘without our female staff’. The International Rescue Committee also suspended services, while Islamic Relief stated that it had suspended most of its operations.
BELARUS-KAZAKHSTAN-KYRGYZSTAN
Following the introduction of European sanctions against the import of timber from Belarus, trade in these materials from Central Asia to European countries has grown significantly with a “lateral re-export” scheme whereby Belarus sells the timber through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, despite the restrictive decrees of local governments.
TAJIKISTAN-RUSSIA
The funeral of two migrants, Boboaziz Tuydiev, 22, and Manučekr Šodov, 28, who had been arrested and convicted in Russia for drug trafficking, were held in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan. Later they were forced to fight in the Ukraine, where they died. Before leaving they had called their families to say that “we have no other choice.”
