Bhutan: pro-Indian party wins ballot.

Today's news: attacker who shot opposition leader in South Korea wanted to prevent him from becoming president; In Myanmar at least 34 people died in prison in 2023; Diplomatic dispute between the Maldives, India, and China continues; In Hong Kong a man wearing a T-shirt with pro-democracy slogans arrested.

BHUTAN

The People's Democratic Party of Bhutan won the elections, paving the way for the return to power of former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, who obtained 30 out of 47 seats in Parliament against the Bhutan Tendrel Party. Tobgay, former prime minister between 2013 and 2018, is considered pro-Indian and will have to resolve a border dispute with China and try to revive the country's economy according to experts.

SOUTH KOREA

The attacker who stabbed opposition leader Lee Jae-myung with a knife on January 2 said he carried out the act to prevent Lee from becoming president. This was announced by the Busan Metropolitan Police who handed over the 67-year-old suspect (identified only by his surname Kim) to the prosecutor's office for further investigation. Lee, chairman of the Democratic Party, has been released from the hospital.

MYANMAR

According to the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network, at least 34 people died in Burmese prisons in 2023, of which 16 due to lack of medical care and 18 from direct killing. Torture in prisons has increased since the 2021 army coup, a report published by the organization says.

MALDIVES – CHINA – INDIA

The pro-Chinese president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has asked Beijing to send more tourists, while the diplomatic dispute with Delhi continues, which concerns the offensive comments of three deputy ministers towards Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for which they were suspended. During a five-day visit to China, Muizzu said he wanted to diversify tourism in the Maldives and offer new experiences to tourists.

HONG KONG

A 26-year-old Hong Kong man has been sentenced to three months in prison for wearing a T-shirt with slogans from the 2019 pro-democracy protests. Chu Kai Pong was stopped in November at Hong Kong International Airport before boarding a flight flight to Taiwan and had been in pre-trial detention since then. Airport security guards noticed that Chu was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Free Hong Kong", reporting him to the police.

JORDAN - SYRIA

Yesterday, Jordanian planes conducted four strikes inside Syria against suspected hideouts of drug traffickers linked to Iran. This is the second raid of this type in a week: the Jordanian army has intensified its campaign against traffickers after clashes broke out last month over people suspected of having links to pro-Iranian militias, who were transporting large loads of drugs across the border. drugs along with weapons and explosives.

RUSSIA

In January, the Russian ecologist magazine Kedr (The Cedar) was closed, having been included in the list of "foreign agents" by the Ministry of Justice. Editor-in-chief Ivan Žilin explained that all authors who have published recently have received threats. The magazine was opened in 2022 to show the harmful consequences of the war on nature and the climate in Russia.

KAZAKHSTAN

The interview of Kazakh President Kasym-Žomart Tokaev with the newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan gave rise to the impression that he is trying to shift all responsibility for the bloody events of January 2022, on which the courts are reaching conclusions, onto trusted men of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbaev, against his reforms.

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