At least 16 in Malaysia die as campsite engulfed by landslide

Today's headlines: more clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; the eldest daughter of the King of Thailand hospitalised with heart problems; North Korea tests a new solid fuel engine; In China, drips are being made in cars for hospitals already full of Covid patients; a kindergarten in Siberia has banned wearing yellow and blue for New Year's Eve.

MALAYSIA

At least 16 people were killed when a landslide swept through a campsite in Selangor State, where 90 people including several children were camped. Rescuers have so far rescued 60 people, but 17 are still missing.

THAILAND

Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, eldest daughter of the King of Thailand, has been hospitalised with heart problems. The 44-year-old princess had lost consciousness on Wednesday evening during a military dog training session. The royal palace gave no further details about her condition.

AFGHANISTAN - PAKISTAN

Another clash on the border between the two countries, this time in the Spin Boldak district, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan. This is the eleventh skirmish at this border crossing since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan in August last year. According to sources, both sides used machine guns and fired mortar shells. Five people, including a woman and a child were injured.

CHINA

According to some videos circulated online, several Chinese patients received intravenous treatment inside their cars. In Xinyang, Henan province, a local clinic started to treat patients in the car park to avoid further crowding inside the health wards where covid-19 patients were already crammed.

NORTH KOREA

Pyongyang yesterday tested a type of engine that experts say will be used in the development of a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile. "Compared to liquid-propellant weapons, solid-fuel missiles are more agile, faster to launch and easier to conceal and use during a conflict," explained Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.

TURKEY

The explosion of a car bomb in the city of Diyarbakir injured several police officers who were passing on a highway. Two people have so far been arrested by the authorities, but the attack has not been claimed. Both the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Islamic State have conducted attacks in the region in the past.

LITHUANIA

The Sejm (parliament) of Lithuania passed the 'De-Sovietisation Law', prohibiting the propaganda of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and their ideologies in public places, in any form. As a result of this law, monuments, plaques, street names and other symbols inherited from the Soviet past will be removed.

RUSSIA

The management of kindergarten No. 107 in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, sent a circular to the parents of children, recommending 'insistently' that they avoid dressing them up for the New Year's celebrations in costumes displaying the colours yellow and blue, which reproduce the Ukrainian flag, and the ban is spreading to all kindergartens. At the end of the year in Russia, festivities are masked, as in Western Carnival.

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