A divided Israeli cabinet approves Gaza ceasefire
Today's headlines: This morning South Korean President Yoon attended a hearing regarding his arrest on charges of insurrection. China’s economy is growing at a faster pace, but doubts remain about sustainability for 2025. Pakistan launched its first observation satellite from a Chinese base. Poisonings and funding shortages mar Indonesia's free nutritious meal program.
ISRAEL – PALESTINE
After a meeting of more than six hours, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Israeli cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement with Hamas whereby Palestinian prisoners will be exchanged for hostages held in the Gaza Strip. After 15 months of war, the truce will begin tomorrow. The Israeli Ministry of Justice announced that 737 prisoners will be released in a first phase in exchange for 33 hostages. At the cabinet meeting, 24 ministers voted in favour and eight against, including two Likud members.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attended a court hearing this morning to challenge investigators' request to extend the pre-trial detention regime following insurrection charges. On 15 January, Yoon became the first sitting president to be jailed in a criminal investigation related to his short-lived declaration of martial law on 3 December.
CHINA
China's economy grew in the fourth quarter of 2024 at its fastest pace in more than a year, fuelled by strong exports (+10.7 per cent in December) and a flurry of stimulus measures aimed at reversing the downward trends of previous months. The 5.4 per cent expansion from October to December allowed Beijing to hit the target of 5 per cent for the year, but sustainability for 2025 is not assured due to trade tensions and weak domestic demand.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan yesterday launched its first domestically produced observation satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, northern China. PRSC-EO1 will increase the country's ability to monitor and manage natural resources, respond to disasters, improve urban planning and agricultural development thanks to electro-optical sensors for data collection and images of the Earth's surface, measuring reflected sunlight or radiation.
INDONESIA
Indonesia needs an additional US$ 6.11 billion to expand its free nutritious meal programme and reach more than a quarter of the population. Meanwhile, dozens of cases of poisoning have been reported recently. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto wants to reach nearly 83 million of Indonesia’s 280 million people by the end of the year, much earlier than the original target of 2029. The plan kicked off at the beginning of the month with 570,000 beneficiaries, including schoolchildren and pregnant women.
RUSSIA – NORTH KOREA
The contingent of North Korean soldiers sent to fight in the Kursk region against the Ukrainians, has already lost a third of its strength, while Ukrainian forces have taken two more prisoners, with military cards bearing the names of residents of Russia’s Tuva Republic. To avoid capture, many North Korean soldiers blow themselves up with grenades in their pockets.
AZERBAIJAN – TURKEY
First Deputy Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Kerim Veliev, met his Turkish colleague, General Metin Gürak, at Thursday’s session of the NATO military committee in Brussels. The talks focused on prospects of collaboration between Baku and Ankara with NATO support, as well as the situation in Syria, a country to which both provide aid.
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12/02/2016 15:14
14/01/2021 13:34
