CHINA
Two convicts executed
Two men convicted of committing deadly attacks that killed dozens in November have been executed, state media reported yesterday. Fan Weiqiu (樊維秋), 62, who on Nov. 11 rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people, was executed yesterday. The attack was the country’s deadliest in over a decade, authorities said. Police said Fan was upset over his divorce settlement. On Nov. 16, 21-year-old Xu Jiajin (徐加金) killed eight people and injured 17 in a stabbing attack at his vocational school in the eastern city of Wuxi. Police said Wu had failed his examinations and could not graduate, and was dissatisfied about his pay at an internship. He was also executed yesterday, state broadcaster CCTV said.
THAILAND
1.6 tonnes of meth seized
Thai authorities intercepted 1.65 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine in a record seizure of the illegal drug, senior narcotic officials said yesterday. The haul, which authorities said had been sent from Africa via India and was bound for Europe, the US or Australia, was found at a warehouse in Bangkok following a tip-off. Four men were arrested at the scene. At the warehouse, authorities found the crystal meth hidden in cotton rolls, Narcotic Control Board Secretary-General Phanurat Lukboon said. Officials declined to say how much the haul was worth, but a one-tonne seizure of crystal meth in May last year was valued at US$25 million.
AFGHANISTAN
Open girls’ schools: official
The Taliban’s acting deputy foreign minister called on the senior leadership to open schools for girls, among the strongest public rebukes of a policy that has contributed to the international isolation of its rulers. Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who previously led a team of negotiators at the Taliban’s political office in Doha before US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, said in a speech at the weekend that restrictions on girls and women’s education was not in line with Islamic Shariah law. “We request the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open the doors of education,” he said, according to local broadcaster Tolo, referring to the Taliban’s name for its administration. “In the time of the Prophet Mohammed, the doors of knowledge were open to both men and women,” he said. “Today, out of a population of 40 million, we are committing injustice against 20 million people,” he added, referring to the nation’s female population.
RUSSIA
Soldiers allegedly beaten
A regional government has opened an investigation after video footage was published on social media showing what appear to be a military policeman savagely beating contract soldiers bound for Ukraine with a baton and using stun guns against them. In the videos, a man in Russian military police uniform is shown walking over to one of the soldiers and beating him to the ground with a baton while screaming expletives at him and stunning him with an electric shock gun. Another soldier with a walking stick is then shown being beaten and stunned with the gun as the man in military police uniform demands they undress. The time stamp on the video, which was distributed on Telegram by Russian war correspondents, is Jan. 16. Local authorities said the events occurred at a unit in Kyzyl, in the southern Siberian region of Tuva. Tuva’s regional government said in a statement on its Web site that an investigation had been opened after the videos appeared.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
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