Today's news: Taiwan carries out first death sentence in five years; Israel toward confirmation of truce with Hamas; India claims to have killed 12 Maoist rebels in recent days; South Korea's anti-corruption agency may issue a new warrant today that would extend Yoon Suk-yeol's arrest; Medical costs rise in Malaysia.

PAKISTAN

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while his wife, Bushra Bibi, will serve seven years. The couple was accused of receiving land from a real estate developer while the former cricket star was premier, from 2018 to 2022. The verdict was handed down by an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi prison, where Khan has been held for more than a year. “While we await a detailed decision, it is important to note that the Al Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi has no solid basis and is doomed to fail,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Khan's party, commented in a note.

ISRAEL

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that a cease-fire agreement has been reached with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, claiming to have overcome last-minute disputes, which actually involve opposition to the truce from Israel's far right. Netanyahu had postponed the meeting with his cabinet after accusing Hamas of wanting to make changes to the understanding.

INDIA

At least 12 Maoist rebels were killed by Indian security forces in forested areas of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh state, the center of the armed insurgency. At least 3,000 policemen have been involved in the operation, which has been going on since Wednesday night. According to government figures, which wants to end the insurgency by 2026, 200 fighters, who claim to be fighting for the rights of indigenous peoples, have been killed in the past year.

TAIWAN

Taiwan yesterday carried out the first death sentence in five years against a man found guilty of two rapes and one murder, after the Constitutional Court failed to abolish the practice in September. The court had ruled that executions could be conducted for the most serious crimes (the nature of which is “inhumane and extremely vicious”), an idea that finds wide support among the country's population but is instead condemned by human rights groups and the European Union.

SOUTH KOREA.

The anti-corruption agency investigating allegations of insurgency against President Yoon Suk-yeol is “almost ready” to file a formal arrest warrant against him, an official said this morning, adding that “it is very likely” the request will come by today, after Yoon refused to answer questioning from officials.

CHINA - THAILAND

Chinese and Thai police have arrested 12 suspects allegedly involved in fraudulent operations related to online scam centers, the Chinese government announced. Yesterday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi also urged that Southeast Asian nations (particularly Myanmar) take crackdowns on online gambling and fraud involving Chinese nationals.

MALAYSIA

One of Malaysia's largest public hospitals, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), began the new year by raising fees due to rising cost of living and health insurance premiums, generating some concern among patients. Those who already pay for health insurance fear that many patients in the lower income brackets may soon be excluded from the public health care system, which includes 10 hospitals in the country.

RUSSIA - MOLDOVA

The leader of Moldova's breakaway republic of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselskij, has indicated that Russia will deliver cargoes of “humanitarian gas” after transit through Ukraine has ceased, without specifying dates or modalities, but “in sufficient measures to heat the population and industries currently blocked, then we will see.”

GEORGIA

A ‘notice’ strike was held throughout Georgia for several hours, in which many companies and organisations participated, to show what the government in Tbilisi may be up against if it remains in its positions of ‘isolation from society’, as the communiqué states, with ‘economic blockade, poverty and unemployment’.

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