Bangladesh top court clears way for ex-PM Zia to run in new elections
Bangladesh’s top court has acquitted Khaleda Zia in the last remaining corruption case against her, paving the way for the former prime minister to contest elections.
The South Asian country was plunged into a political and economic crisis in August 2024 after months of protests led by students toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government, forcing the prime minister to flee to India and ending her 15-year rule.
The nation of some 170 million people is currently run by an interim administration headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has indicated that the next general election could be held at the end of this year or the first half of 2026.
An Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a 10-year jail sentence handed down to Ms Zia in 2018 on charges of embezzling nearly $250,000 (£204,583) from an orphanage trust established when she became prime minister in 1991. The case had been filed by the anti-corruption commission in July 2008.
The court also cleared Ms Zia’s son and fellow accused, Tarique Rahman, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison as well. Mr Rahman, his mother’s heir apparent as leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party under the nation’s dynastic political system, has been living in the UK since Ms Hasina’s Awami League was elected to power in 2009.
The Supreme Court said the prosecution of the orphanage trust case was “malicious”, the Daily Star reported.
Ms Zia’s lawyers said the verdict meant she could contest the next election. Bangladeshi law prohibits anyone imprisoned for over two years from running for political office for the next five years.
Ms Zia had faced a total of 17 years in prison, 10 years in this orphanage case and seven in the other corruption case in which she was acquitted after Ms Hasina’s ouster.
Her lawyers and party always denied any wrongdoing involving the trust and denounced the charges against Ms Zia as politically motivated.
Her lawyers told local media Ms Zia had been slapped with as many as 37 cases by the military regime from 2007 to 2008 and by the Hasina government. The charges included corruption, violence, arson, defamation, and sedition.
Ms Zia, 79, is ailing and traveled to London for medical treatment earlier this month. She is the widow of late president Ziaur Rahman and served as prime minister between 1991 and 1996 and again from June 2001 to October 2006.
BNP, the largest opposition party in Bangladesh, has been pressing the interim government for a clear plan to hold a national election.
Mirza Fakrhul Islam Alamgir, the party’s secretary general, this week urged the administration to take steps towards conducting the election by July or August this year.
“We have repeatedly stated that there’s no alternative to an elected government. It’s crucial for democracy,” he said. “We urge the government, the election commission, and all political parties to take necessary steps to hold elections by that time in that greater national interest.”
Mr Yunus has insisted that elections can be held only after electoral reforms are put in place. Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman in September told Reuters that democracy should be restored within a year to a year-and-a-half, but urged patience.
Japan smashes annual record with more than 36 million tourists in 2024
Japan welcomed a record 36 million tourists in 2024, according to official figures released on Wednesday.
Estimates from the Japan National Tourism Organization revealed that more than 36.8 million people visited the country for business or leisure in 2024, surpassing a previous high of 31.88 million in 2019.
“If things go well, 2024 total will surpass 35 million,” national tourism agency commissioner Naoya Haraikawa had said earlier. In the first 11 months of 2024, there was a significant increase in visitors from the US, Europe, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
The Japan National Tourism Organization revealed that 3.19 million foreign visitors arrived for business and leisure in November of last year alone. The number was slightly lower than October’s 3.31 million, which was the highest for any month.
In 2024, visitor spending rose by 53 per cent to 8.14 trillion yen ($51.78bn), driven partly by a weaker yen, which hit a 40-year low against the US dollar.
Harry Hwang, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at UN Tourism, highlighted at Tourism Expo Japan in September last year that Japan has been “leading the recovery” of international tourism in the Asia-Pacific region, citing record-breaking numbers of inbound visitors in recent months.
The surge in tourists has been attributed in major part to a weaker yen which has made Japan more attractive to international tourists.
The soaring numbers, however, have sparked concerns about “overtourism” at popular destinations, leading to challenges in managing visitor flow and preserving local environments.
Last week, it was reported that the popular travel destination of Kyoto in Japan is significantly raising the accommodation tax in an attempt to curb overtourism by reducing visitor numbers.
The city plans to raise lodging tax for hotels and other accommodations to a maximum of 10,000 Japanese yen (£52) per person per night – nearly 10 times the current cap of 1,000 yen (£5.20).
Mayor Koji Matsui earlier said taxes would be raised “to balance tourism and the livelihoods of local residents”.
In November last year, it was reported that several Japanese cities are increasing the “bathing tax” for overnight visitors to onsen (hot spring) resorts, in an attempt to deal with rising tourism.
This tax has been raised in regions including Hokkaido, Beppu in Oita prefecture, and Shizuoka, according to local reports, to help fund conservation projects and protect hot spring resources.
In July last year, it was reported that Japan hiked the entry fees and restricted the number of visitors to tackle overcrowding on Mount Fuji as the climbing season kicked off in July.
Given the over-tourism, the Japanese government is urging foreign visitors to travel during off-peak times, explore lesser-known destinations, and adhere to local customs.
Julia Simpson, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, was quoted last month by The Japan Times as saying that Japan’s growth was attributed partly to the “positive exchange rate for international travellers” due to the weak yen.
But Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), a think tank focusing on Europe-Asia relations and developments in the Indo-Pacific region says that the strongest factor has been “revenge travel” after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted worldwide, as well as “more favourable visa policies, improved connectivity and increased government spending, such as its hosting of the World Expo in 2025”.
The Japanese government has an ambitious target of attracting 60 million inbound visitors each year by 2030.
Tulip Siddiq resigns as minister amid Bangladesh corruption probes
Tulip Siddiq has resigned as the anti-corruption minister after she was named in a number of corruption probes in Bangladesh involving her aunt, the country’s former prime minister.
In her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour MP said she was standing down as her position had become a “distraction”, but thanked him for his confidence in her. She has been replaced in the Treasury by Emma Reynolds, the MP for Wycombe.
Ms Siddiq had been investigated by the prime minister’s adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, after reports that she lived in properties in London linked to allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who is now exiled in India.
While she was cleared of breaking the ministerial code by Sir Laurie, he appeared to suggest that the prime minister strip the Treasury minister of some of her responsibilities. He told Sir Keir it was “regrettable” that the minister, responsible for tackling financial crime, “was not more alert to the potential reputational risks – both to her and the government – arising from her family’s association with Bangladesh”.
“I would not advise that this shortcoming should be taken as a breach of the ministerial code, but you will want to consider her ongoing responsibilities in the light of this,” he said.
Ms Siddiq was given an apartment in King’s Cross in 2004 by Abdul Motalif, an associate of members of the Awami League party in Bangladesh.
Sir Laurie said: “Ms Siddiq acknowledges that, over an extended period, she was unaware of the origins of her ownership of her flat in Kings Cross, despite having signed a Land Registry transfer form relating to the gift at the time.”
She “remained under the impression that her parents had given the flat to her, having purchased it from the previous owner”.
As a result, he says, the public was “inadvertently misled about the identity of the donor of this gift in her replies to queries in 2022”.
For a period up to 2018 she also lived in a flat in Hampstead, north London, which had been given to her sister in 2009 by lawyer Moin Ghani, who had represented the Hasina administration.
“Ms Siddiq has provided considerable background information to confirm that the tax treatment and funding arrangements were in order, but – in light of the age of the transactions – has not at this point been able to provide conclusive documentation to this effect,” Sir Laurie said.
In her resignation letter to the PM, Ms Siddiq said that after reviewing the matter: “Sir Laurie has confirmed that I have not breached the ministerial code. As he notes, there is no evidence to suggest that I have acted improperly in relation to the properties I have owned or lived in.
“My family connections are a matter of public record, and when I became a minister I provided the full details of my relationships and private interests to the government.”
However, she went on: “It is clear that continuing in my role as economic secretary to the Treasury is likely to be a distraction from the work of government. My loyalty is and always will be to this Labour government… I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position.”
As she left, the PM told her the “door remains open for you going forward”. She is the second minister to go in six months, after former transport secretary Louise Haigh stood down over lying about the theft of her mobile phone. Sue Gray resigned as Downing Street chief of staff in October.
Ms Siddiq’s resignation came after she was reportedly named in two corruption probes in Bangladesh linked to her aunt’s government launched by Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission.
According to The Guardian, Ms Siddiq was named as part of a probe over a plot of land her family received from her despot aunt’s government.
The anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh has alleged Ms Siddiq used “her influence” while serving as an MP to acquire the land for her mother Sheikh Rehana and two other plots of land for her siblings, according to documents seen by Sky News.
Ms Hasina was the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh until she was ousted last year following violent nationwide protests. The latest claim is separate to a probe into allegations of embezzlement in a nuclear deal struck by Ms Hasina, in which Ms Siddiq has also been allegedly mentioned. According to reports, her family embezzled up to £3.9bn from infrastructure spending in Bangladesh.
On Monday, it emerged that Labour Party posters and political flyers for Ms Siddiq were found in the ruins of the ransacked official residence of the deposed Bangladeshi prime minister.
The property, located in the capital Dhaka, also contained Chanel and Swarovski bags, a certificate for a diamond and a $1,500 gold-trimmed Montblanc pen, The Times reported.
There had been growing calls for Sir Keir to sack Ms Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate who was first elected in 2015.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: “It was clear at the weekend that the anti-corruption minister’s position was completely untenable. Yet Keir Starmer dithered and delayed to protect his close friend.
“Even now, as Bangladesh files a criminal case against Tulip Siddiq, he expresses ‘sadness’ at her inevitable resignation. Weak leadership from a weak prime minister.”
The Liberal Democrats’ cabinet office spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “It’s right Tulip Siddiq resigned, you can’t have an anti-corruption minister mired in a corruption scandal.
“After years of Conservative sleaze and scandal, people rightly expected better from this government.”
Controversial bull-riding festival gets underway in India
A controversial bull-taming festival has kicked off in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu with more than 12,000 bulls registered for the fights despite concerns from animal rights activists.
The Jallikattu sport, which is believed to be more than 2,000 years old, is extremely popular in Tamil Nadu during the three-day Pongal harvest festival in January in which hundreds of bull vaulters compete in a carnival-like festival.
However, the festival has suffered legal setbacks after it was banned over animal cruelty and public safety concerns.
As drums beat and the crowds cheer, a bull is released into a ring and the tamers try to leap onto the back one by one and try to hang on tightly on to its hump as the animal bucks and jumps. A man is declared a winner if he is able to hold on for three jumps or 30 seconds, or for a distance of 15m (49ft).
A car, a cash price of Rs 800,000 (£7500), and other prizes are up for grabs for the best bull tamer and the owner of the best bull will be awarded a tractor worth Rs 1,100,000 (£10,000), according to the Madurai city administration.
However, animal rights activists have raised concerns over the dangerous sport in which not only the tamers and spectators, but the bulls may also sustain fatal injuries.
Some reports suggest that the bulls are provoked to make them aggressive, using methods like twisting or pulling their tails, rubbing chilli powder on their eyes or poking them with sharp objects to control them.
PETA India, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told The Independent in a statement that it will again appeal to the Supreme Court to ban jallikattu, as it had in the past.
Tushar Kol, advocacy associate for PETA India, said: “There is nothing religious about this violence and most people in Tamil Nadu state and the rest of India are kind and want nothing to do with jallikattu.”
“Jallikattu is nothing but dysfunctional grown men ganging together to bully vulnerable animals in a display of toxic masculinity. It is criminal under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 to chase, taunt, hit and bully bulls – yet this is what happens during jallikattu,” he said.
PETA said at least 126 humans, including children and 42 bulls have died since 2017.
According to the Madurai administration records, about 12,632 bulls and 5,347 tamers have registered for three Jallikattu events that happened in Alanganallur, Avaniyapuram and Palamedu, The Hindu reported.
On Tuesday, 1,100 bulls and 900 bull tamers will jump into the fray for the first day of the event in Avaniyapuram village, Madurai.
The Madurai district administration said strict rules had been imposed to ensure the sport is played safely and within the guidelines of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
According to the directions issued, each bull can participate only in one of the three competitions in the district and each bull can be accompanied only by its owner and a trainer familiar with the bull.
District police commissioner, Lokanathan, said over 2,000 police personnel have been deployed along with a bomb squad. Metal detectors have been placed and drone surveillance is being carried out to monitor the event.
The administration has also readied veterinary teams, ambulances, and fire service vehicles near the venues.
The controversial festival was first banned by a court in 2006 after a young spectator got attacked by a bull and died. It was later banned by the Supreme Court in 2014 on grounds of animal cruelty.
However, it began again in 2017 after it was legalised by the state through an amendment into a law following protests.
But the amendment was then challenged by animal rights organisations with petitions saying jallikattu is a bloodsport and dangerous, with the bulls often attacking their riders and bystanders as they tried to escape crowded areas.
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled to allow the continuation of jallikattu, saying it was an “integral part of Tamil culture”.
PETA, a global animal rights organisation, which was one of the complainants in the case, denounced the verdict at that time. Activists argue that the risk to human life also makes the event unethical.
The festival in southern India is being held as the Uttar Pradesh government in the northern part of the country has organised the world’s largest religious gathering.
Nearly 400 million people including Hindu ascetics and pilgrims, are expected to take part in the 45-day, Maha Kumbh festival, the largest religious congregation on Earth, which began on Monday.
North Korea fires multiple missiles as Japanese minister visits Seoul
North Korea test-fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles towards its east coast on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, escalating tensions in the region a week before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The missiles were launched at about 9.30am local time from Kanggye in the Jagang province and flew 250km before splashing down into the East Sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It was Pyongyang’s second missile test this year after leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile on 6 January that struck a target around 1,100km away.
“We strongly condemn the launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
It warned the North against “misjudging” the situation and vowed to “overwhelmingly respond” to any additional provocation.
The latest missile test coincided with Takeshi Iwaya’s visit, the first by a Japanese foreign minister in seven years, to Seoul for talks on trilateral cooperation with the US.
Mr Iwaya met his South Korean counterpart Cho Tae Yul on Monday. He condemned the North’s nuclear and missile development, and pledged to boost security ties with Seoul.
The test came less than a week before the inauguration of Mr Trump’s second term. In his first term from 2016 to 2020, Mr Trump sought to mend relations with Pyongyang, holding summits with Mr Kim and touting their personal rapport.
South Korean lawmakers briefed by the National Intelligence Service claimed that North Korea’s recent weapons tests were partly aimed at “showing off its US deterrent assets and drawing Trump’s attention” after Mr Kim vowed to initiate “the toughest anti-US counteraction” at a key year-end policy meeting last month.
Pyongyang is showcasing its advanced military capabilities while the South remains mired in a political crisis sparked by president Yoon Suk Yeol’s shortlived declaration of martial law on 3 December.
Mr Yoon has since been impeached and suspended. He is being investigated for insurrection and faces the prospect of arrest and even removal from office.
South Korea’s defence minister and military commanders have also been arrested and tried for their alleged involvement in the imposition of martial law.
Japanese fathers should be forced to take childcare leave, expert says
A Japanese expert on demographic trends and ageing society has suggested mandating childcare leaves for fathers as one of the ways to boost the country’s plummeting birth rate.
Hiroshi Yoshida, a professor at Tohoku University’s Research Center for Aged Economy and Society, told The Independent that childcare leave for fathers should be significantly increased and made more common in Japan, similar to the policies in Scandinavian countries.
“Male participation in childcare is very low in Japan and it needs to be boosted,” he said.
He also proposes a system where senior citizens can step in to fill labour gaps when the younger population takes childcare leave.
He pointed out the example of the “Papa quota” in Norway, where fathers are required to take at least one month of childcare leave after the birth of a child. Prof Yoshida advocated for a similar approach in Japan to improve gender equality and support work-life balance for families.
Although women’s roles in society have evolved, there hasn’t been enough social empowerment to support families in balancing work and childcare, Prof Yoshida said.
If women can’t have children while maintaining a career, “marriage is useless for them” leading to a decline in marriage rates, he said.
“So the marriage rate of young couples has decreased sharply in Japan,” he said. “As a result, the birth rate has fallen.”
“It is a very, very serious issue.”
He said gender equality in Japan needed to be prioritised as it was crucial for the “country’s existence”. In Japan, while some fathers take paternity leave to support childcare, many hesitate due to concerns about work disruption and career advancement.
Japan’s birthrate dropped to a record low of 1.20 in 2023, with Tokyo’s rate falling below one. This decline has been linked to fewer marriages, with a growing number of people remaining single.
Japanese policymakers have been working on “extraordinary measures” to tackle the country’s declining birth rate, which some leaders have called “alarming”.
These efforts include expanding childcare facilities, providing housing subsidies, launching a government-run dating app to promote marriage and childbearing, and more recently, it was reported that Tokyo’s mayor plans to subsidise epidural births this year in order to encourage more women to give birth.
Mr Yoshida has been maintaining a conceptual clock that highlights Japan’s rapidly declining fertility rate by displaying real-time data on the number of children in the country. It shows the number of children in the current year and the previous year and tracks the decrease every second.
Using official population data from the Japanese Statistics Bureau, the clock calculates a decreasing rate by comparing the number of children in consecutive years. The clock then estimates the year when the number of children will drop to just one, based on this steady decline.
According to the latest calculation, this would happen around the year 2720 – 695 years from now.
Mr Yoshida said he was “impressed” by the impact of the National Debt Clock in Times Square in New York City and the Doomsday Clock, highlighting the power of visualising issues. He believes that a similar approach could help raise awareness about the decline in Japan’s fertility rate.
Even though Japan has provisions for paternity leave, several reports suggest the number of fathers actually taking advantage of it has remained relatively low.
Mr Yoshida says that in order to implement male childcare leave effectively in Japan, workplaces need to adjust by addressing the labour shortages.
He suggested increasing the participation of older people in the workforce and leveraging new technologies, such as AI to improve efficiency and reduce the labour gap.
He also suggested older workers be employed longer, “up to ages 70-75”.
This would allow younger parents to take more time off for childcare while the older generation continues to contribute to the workforce.
A survey conducted by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other organisations last year, involving around 6,000 small and midsize businesses, revealed that 52.4 per cent of the 2,880 companies that responded lacked the personnel to replace employees on childcare leave, Asahi Shimbun reported.
Staying in one of most Japan’s popular cities may get more expensive
The popular travel destination of Kyoto in Japan is significantly raising accommodation tax in an attempt to curb overtourism by reducing visitor numbers.
The city plans to raise lodging tax for hotels and other accommodations to a maximum of 10,000 Japanese yen (£52) per person per night – nearly 10 times the current cap of 1,000 yen (£5.20).
The lodging tax will start at 200 yen (£1.04) for accommodations costing up to 5,999 yen (£31.19) a night; increasing to 400 yen (£2.08) for stays priced between 6,000 yen (£31.19) and 19,999 yen (£104); and 1,000 yen (£5.20) for those costing 20,000 yen (£104) to 49,999 yen (£260).
For rooms priced 50,000 yen (£260) to 99,999 yen (£520), the tax will increase to 4,000 yen (£20.79) a night, with the maximum rate set at 10,000 yen (£52) for accommodations costing 100,000 yen (£520) or more.
The city plans to implement the new taxes by spring 2026, according to Kyodo News.
Kyoto introduced the tiered accommodation tax system in 2018, charging 200 yen (£1.04) for stays under 20,000 yen (£104), 500 yen (£2.6) for those between 20,000 (£104) and 49,999 yen (£260), and 1,000 yen (£5.2) for accommodations costing 50,000 yen (£260) or more per night.
The new system is projected to boost Kyoto’s lodging tax revenue to over 10bn yen (£52m), nearly double the 5.2bn yen (£27m) collected in fiscal 2023.
Kyodo, like many other tourist destinations in Japan, has seen overtourism in recent years. Mayor Koji Matsui earlier said taxes would be raised “to balance tourism and the livelihoods of local residents”.
The official 2024 tourism figures for Japan, expected to be released on 15 January, will likely set a record and surpass the 31.9 million visitors recorded in 2019, before the Covid pandemic.
“If things go well, 2024 total will surpass 35 million,” national tourism agency commissioner Naoya Haraikawa said earlier. In the first 11 months, there was a significant increase in visitors from the US, Europe, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
The surge in tourist numbers has been attributed in major part to a weaker yen which has made Japan more attractive to foreign tourists.
While some believe this increase in accommodation tax in Kyodo will alleviate strain on infrastructure, others worry it will push tourists to stay in nearby cities like Osaka and visit Kyoto as day-trippers, potentially undermining the intended effect.
“There are clearly two sides to the argument,” Masaru Takayama, president of Kyoto-based Spirit of Japan Travel, was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.
“Yes, overtourism is a problem in many parts of Kyoto and at particular times of the year, but I am sure foreign tourists will very quickly realise they can stay in a neighbouring city or town and just visit Kyoto for the day.
“That will not be good for hotel operators and will not effectively reduce the number of tourists.”
Japan’s internal affairs ministry reports that 11 local governments, including in Tokyo and Osaka, have enhanced accommodation taxes.
Last year, authorities in Fujikawaguchiko, a resort town in the Yamanashi prefecture, installed a large mesh barrier to block the view of Mount Fuji to deter poorly behaved tourists who frequently trespass, litter, and break traffic rules while taking pictures.
Residents had reportedly long been complaining about overcrowding at a spot offering a view of the mountain above a Lawson convenience store where tourists often parked illegally and obstructed pedestrians.
A recent survey showed that over 30 per cent of foreign visitors experienced overtourism issues in Japan in 2024, with congestion at tourist sites being the most common complaint. In response, 60 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to pay higher fees to reduce congestion and help protect resources.
Mysterious marble-sized balls wash up on Sydney beaches
Nine beaches in Sydney were shut down for visitors on Tuesday after mysterious white and grey marble-sized balls washed up ashore, disrupting the summer holiday season.
Popular beaches like Manly, Dee Why, Long Reef, Queenscliff, Freshwater, North and South Curl Curl, North Steyne and North Narrabeen were closed until further notice, the Northern Beaches Council said.
It said they were clearing the beaches of the small debris and doing tests on the samples as they “don’t know what they actually are”.
“Nine beaches in the Northern Beaches are closed after white and grey ball-shaped debris was found washed up along the shore,” the council said in a statement on Facebook.
“Council was alerted to the debris via the EPA and is working closely with the state agency to collect samples for testing,” it added, referring to the Environment Protection Authority.
Northern Beaches mayor Sue Heins told ABC’s Radio Sydney the balls “could be anything”.
“We don’t know at the moment what it is and that makes it even more concerning,” she said.
“There is something that’s obviously leaking or dropping or whatever and floating out there and being tossed around. But who is actually dropped it or lost it or leaked it is something none of us know.”
Last October, a number of beaches, including the iconic Bondi east of downtown Sydney, were closed to visitors after small black balls washed up on the shore.
They were initially reported to be “tar balls” of crude oil but tests later revealed that they were blobs of human-generated waste.
The EPA found that the balls were formed of fatty acids, petroleum hydrocarbons and other organic and inorganic materials, and contained traces of drugs, hair, motor oil, food waste, animal matter, and human faeces.
A Sydney Water spokesperson said on Tuesday there were “no issues with the normal operations” of its nearby Warriewood and North Head Water Resource Recovery plants.
“Sydney Water is continuing to work with the EPA to investigate the cause of the grease balls.”