Other news of the day: The Taliban want to turn foreign military bases into economic zones. New Pyongyang missile tests. The Japanese said goodbye to a panda bear specimen that will return to China. Nearly half of the cables on the Gujarat bridge that collapsed in October were corroded. Joint Russian, Chinese and South African military exercises off the coast of Durban.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
A group of researchers, including an Australian professor, were captured and held hostage in Papua New Guinea. The group was in the highlands on a study tour when they were surprised by armed men. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said authorities were in contact with the kidnappers and hoped the hostages would be released “safely”.
AFGHANISTAN
The Taliban authorities have announced that they will convert former foreign military bases into special economic zones. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Minister of Economic Affairs, added that the project will start in the capital Kabul and Balkh province. According to experts, the Taliban desperately need to increase their income if their government is to be recognized as legitimate.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea stated that it had launched a Hwasong-15 missile yesterday in response to US-South Korean military exercises. Meanwhile, the leader Kim Joung-un watched a soccer match with his daughter, Ju-ae, to celebrate her father’s birthday. This is the sixth public appearance for Kim’s daughter and the first at a non-military event.
JAPAN
Many visitors flocked to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo yesterday to say goodbye to a female panda much loved by Japanese citizens before it returns to China. Xiang Xiang was born in Japan in June 2017 to a pair of pandas, Ri Ri and Shin Shin, on loan from China. Xiang Xiang will be transported to a breeding center in southwest China’s Sichuan province, where she will begin the search for her mate.
SYRIA – ISRAEL
At least five people died and 15 were injured after a Israeli airstrike on Damascus. The incursion affected densely populated areas of the Syrian capital, causing damage to several civilian homes. “Sunday’s attack was the deadliest Israeli attack on the Syrian capital,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Intelligence sources said the target was a logistics center for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an ally of the Syrian regime.
INDIA
A research team determined that nearly half of the Morbi bridge cables in Gujarat, which collapsed on October 30, 2022, they were corroded. The collapse of the bridge over the Machchu River, which had been reopened after 7 months of maintenance, caused the death of 141 people. The renovation works had been awarded by the government, without bidding, to a company from the Oreva group.
RUSSIA – CHINA – SOUTH AFRICA
The exercises of the Russian, Chinese and South African navies began in recent days in the Indian Ocean off the South African coast, near the port of Durban, under the name “Mosi”, “smoke” in the Swahili language. The decision implies the renunciation of military neutrality in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has provoked strong reactions in the country’s public opinion.
MOLDOVA
The Chisinau parliament approved the composition of the new Moldovan government, which will be led by Dorin Recean. The newly appointed prime minister stated that the country “cannot continue to rely solely on foreign policy instruments and neutrality”, and must also equip itself for military defense, thus proclaiming the definitive break with Moscow.