Papua New Guinea: group of researchers taken hostage

In other news of the day, the Taliban want to turn foreign military bases into economic zones. New missile tests by Pyongyang. The Japanese greeted a panda specimen that will return to China. Almost half the cables of the bridge that collapsed in October in Gujarat were corroded. Joint military exercises between Russia, China and South Africa off Durban.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Several researchers, including an Australian professor, were captured and taken hostage in Papua New Guinea. The group was in the highlands on a study trip when they were surprised by armed men. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said the authorities are in contact with the kidnappers and hope the hostages will be released 'safe and sound'.

AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban authorities have announced that they will turn former foreign military bases into special economic zones. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Minister of Economic Affairs, said this yesterday, adding that the project will begin in the capital Kabul and in the province of Balkh. According to experts, the Taliban desperately need to increase their revenue in order for their government to be recognised as legitimate.

NORTH KOREA

North Korea claimed to have launched a Hwasong-15 ballistic missile yesterday in response to military exercises between the US and South Korea. Meanwhile, leader Kim Joung-un watched a football match with his daughter, Ju-ae, to celebrate her father's birthday. This was the sixth public appearance by Kim's daughter, the first at a non-military event.

JAPAN

Several visitors came to the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo yesterday to bid farewell to a much loved female panda before her return to China. Xiang Xiang was born in Japan in June 2017 to a pair of pandas, Ri Ri and Shin Shin, on loan from China. Xiang Xiang will be transported to a breeding centre in Sichuan province, southwest China, where she will begin the search for her mate.

SYRIA - ISRAEL

At least five people were killed and 15 injured after an Israeli airstrike on Damascus. The raid hit densely populated areas of the Syrian capital, causing damage to several civilian residential homes. "Sunday's attack is the deadliest Israeli strike in the Syrian capital," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Intelligence sources reported that the target was a logistics centre run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, allies of the Syrian regime.

INDIA

Almost half of the cables of the Morbi bridge in Gujarat, which collapsed on 30 October, were corroded, an investigation team discovered. The collapse of the bridge over the Machchu river, which was reopened after seven months of renovation work, had killed 141 people. The renovation work had been granted by the government to an Oreva group company without a tender.

RUSSIA - CHINA - SOUTH AFRICA

Exercises by the navy of Russia, China and South Africa in the Indian Ocean basin near the South African coast near the port of Durban, under the name 'Mosi', the 'smoke' in Swahili, began in recent days, causing much controversy in the country over the renunciation of military neutrality in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

MOLDOVA

The parliament in Chisinau approved the composition of Moldova's new government, which will be led by Dorin Rečan, who stated that the country "cannot continue to rely solely on foreign policy instruments and neutrality", and must also equip itself for military defence, thereby proclaiming a definitive break with Moscow.

• Asia
• Today