Major earthquake hits Tibet, at least 95 dead

Today's news: Malaysia and Sinngapore agree on shared Special Economic Zone in Johor; The Lebanese army deploys in Naqoura with the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers; Indonesian President Prabowo's free meal plan kicks off; Kirill addresses the Orthodox of Ukraine in his Christmas message.

TIBET-CHINA

A strong earthquake struck the mountainous region of Tibet, at the foot of the Himalayan range, this morning. Official Chinese sources speak of at least 95 confirmed dead and more than 100 people injured. The quake hit the holy city of Tibet, Shigatse, at around 0900 local time with a magnitude of 7.1 and a depth of 10 kilometres, according to data from the US Geological Survey. The tremors were also felt in neighbouring Nepal and parts of India.

MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE

The governments of Malaysia and Singapore announced the establishment of a jointly managed Special Economic Zone in Johor that will be earmarked for global investment. The two countries aim to create 20,000 skilled jobs in the first five years. The announcement was made by Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at a bilateral summit in Putrajaya today. Investments related to 11 sectors will be promoted in the new Special Economic Zone: manufacturing, logistics, food security, tourism, energy, digital economy, green economy, financial services, business services, education and health.

LEBANON

The Lebanese army announced that its units have positioned themselves around the location of Naqoura and have begun to deploy to the Unifil commando site in parallel with the withdrawal of the Israeli army, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement. The deployment of the army coincided with the third meeting of the committee in charge of overseeing the understanding between Hezbollah and Israel, chaired by US envoy Amos Hochstein.

INDONESIA

In Indonesia, President Prabowo Subianto's ambitious plan to provide free meals to more than a quarter of the population officially kicked off yesterday. On the first day, 570,000 meals were provided for school children and pregnant women in more than 20 provinces. When fully implemented, the plan - on which Prabowo has focused his election campaign - aims to reach 82.9 million of the country's 280 million inhabitants by 2029.

BANGLADESH-UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

At least 461 Bangladeshis own 929 properties in Dubai worth at least Taka 50 billion (about 400 million euro). This was revealed in an investigation by the Dhaka daily The Daily Star into the wealth parked abroad by their countrymen.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

In his Christmas message, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow declared that he was ‘in full unity with all the faithful of the Upz Church of Ukraine’, despite all declarations of autonomy, asking the Ukrainian Orthodox to have the courage to profess their faith even in the face of threats from the government and parliament in Kiev, ‘suffering for Christ and for the truth’.

KAZAKHSTAN-UZBEKISTAN

The construction of a new Darbaza-Maktaaral railway line between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was inaugurated in recent days, to be finished by 2027 as an ‘important element for the entire regional transport infrastructure, as an alternative to the Saryagaš-Tasskent route, with an investment of over half a billion dollars.

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