Fresh violence plunges Manipur into political crisis as leader resigns

A fresh wave of violence in Manipur compelled the northeast Indian state’s chief minister to resign over the weekend as the almost two-year-old ethnic conflict raged on unabated.

N Biren Singh, senior member of prime minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party, announced that he had submitted his resignation to the governor on Sunday.

The resignation came just a day before the state legislative assembly was scheduled to go in session.

The state was now expected to be placed under the president’s rule, meaning that it would effectively be ruled directly by Mr Modi’s government.

In his resignation letter, Mr Singh thanked Mr Modi’s federal government for what he described as its efforts to safeguard Manipur’s interests and urged continued action to curb border infiltration and deport “illegal immigrants”.

The ethnic conflict in Manipur involving the majority Meitei community and the minority Kukis began in 2023 after the state’s High Court ordered the government to accept the Meitei demand for Scheduled Tribe status, which, if granted, would have extended economic benefits and job and education quotas meant for marginalised groups like the Kukis to the majority community.

The conflict has left more than 250 people dead so far.

Kuki groups accused Mr Singh, 64, of siding with his Meitei community and demanded his removal after the conflict started. His own allies grew increasingly critical as the conflict continued and several BJP lawmakers sought his resignation over his handling of the crisis.

International human rights organisations accused the state administration as well as Mr Modi’s government of allowing vigilante groups in the state to operate with impunity, stoking ethnic tensions, and failing to uphold law and order.

The BJP governments in New Delhi and Imphal “have utterly failed to end the violence and displacement and protect human rights in the state”, Amnesty International said last year.

Animated film Ne Zha 2 breaks box office records

Animated film Ne Zha 2 broke several records, including one held previously by Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, as it continued its domination in the Chinese box office over the lunar new year holidays.

Ne Zha 2 is a sequel to the 2019 fantasy adventure Ne Zha, which follows a young boy born with unique powers who teams up with dragon prince Ao Bing to fight demons and save the very community that fears him.

The film series, written and directed by Jiaozi, is loosely based on a 16th-century novel, Investiture of the Gods, attributed to Xu Zhonglin.

Ne Zha 2 was released in cinemas for the Chinese lunar new year on 29 January. Most businesses and government offices close for an eight-day public holiday for the new year to enable people to travel home. The extended break likely contributed to the success of the film, which not only features a beloved Chinese mythological character but appeals to audiences of all ages.

Ne Zha 2 has now outstripped major Hollywood films to become not only the highest-grossing film ever in a single market worldwide, but also the first film ever to cross $1bn (£805.5m) in a single market.

In the first week of its release alone, Ne Zha 2 made ¥4.84bn (£534m) in China, setting the record for the most money made by a single film in the new year period, which runs from 28 January to 12 February.

Holding strong at the box office for the second consecutive week, Ne Zha 2 has managed to bring in a cumulative total of $1.11bn (£886m), according to Artisan Gateway. Earlier projections, which had put Ne Zha 2 firmly in place to beat 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens as the highest-grossing film in a single market, were proved true this past weekend.

The space opera film made $936.7m (£754m) in North America.

Ne Zha 2 has already surpassed Ne Zha in total earnings and has also become the highest-grossing film ever not in the English language, beating 2021’s The Battle at Lake Changjin, which had earned $913m.

It overtook The Battle at Lake Changjin as China’s biggest film ever within the first week of its release.

The numbers bode well for the Chinese film industry, even taking into account the fact that the lunar new year is generally one of its most lucrative periods. In 2024, total box office collections dropped 22.6 per cent from the previous year as a sluggish economy reportedly prompted moviegoers to stay home.

New Zealand announces it will loosen visa rules to lure foreign money

New Zealand will relax visa rules to attract more foreign investors, in efforts to stimulate economic growth, its government said on Sunday.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said the country’s investor visa category would be made “simpler and more flexible” to encourage investors to choose New Zealand for their “capital, skills and international connections”.

“These changes will turbocharge our economic growth, bringing brighter days ahead for all Kiwis,” Stanford said in a statement announcing that two new visa categories – for “higher-risk investments” and “mixed investments” – would be created.

The changes, to take effect from April 1, follow the government’s recent relaxation of visa rules allowing holidaymakers to work remotely while visiting the country, aimed at boosting its tourism sector.

The new conditions allow visitors to work from New Zealand for an employer or client that is in another country.

The change will apply to applications received from 27 January 2025, including tourists and people visiting family or partners and guardians on longer-term visitor visas.

This visa is aimed at digital nomads – people who travel freely while working online because they are not required to be in a certain place. It means they will be able to keep in touch with work back home without breaching visa conditions.

Those who have a visitor visa and people who enter the country with a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) will be under these conditions.

However, the new relaxed rules will not extend to those who have a work connection in New Zealand. Visitor visa holders must not work for a New Zealand employer, have to be physically present at a workplace in New Zealand or provide goods or services to people or businesses in New Zealand.

The government said that the push for digital nomads to spend time in the country is to try and drive up the country’s appeal to other tourists as well as bring in more visitor spending, especially during the shoulder season.

“Tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest export earner generating revenue of almost $11 billion and creating nearly 200,000 jobs, New Zealand’s economic growth minister Nicola Willis said.

“Making the country more attractive to ‘digital nomads’ – people who work remotely while travelling – will boost New Zealand’s attractiveness as a destination.”

After slipping into a technical recession in the third quarter of 2024, the New Zealand government is seeking ways to bolster growth. In January, it announced plans to set up Invest New Zealand, part of the government’s international economic development agency, to serve as a one-stop-shop for overseas investment.

North Korea opens to tourists after five years with tours to port city

North Korea is set to reopen to tourists this week with the first organised tour of the country for international visitors since 2020.

Koryo Tours last week announced packed five-day itineraries of northern city Rason, with activities including a hike on Mount Shahyang, a boat trip to see seals and a visit to the Rason School Uniform Factory.

North Korea’s borders have been closed since the government imposed COVID-19 border restrictions five years ago.

In August 2024, North Korea said it hoped to send in the first Western tourists by the end of the year.

Now, travellers are invited to visit Rason, one of the state’s lesser-seen destinations, for the country’s late leader – Kim Jong Il’s – birthday celebrations.

The Beijing-based tour operator said: “Koryo Tours is happy to announce the first trip back to North Korea since the borders closed in January 2020.

“This tour will take you to the must-see sites in Rason, North Korea’s Special Economic Zone. Plus, you will travel to North Korea to celebrate one of the biggest holidays, Kim Jong Il’s Birthday.”

Rason is a Special Economic Zone that sits close to both the Chinese and Russian borders in the far northeast.

Here, new economic and social policies including the first mobile phone network and card payment system in the country were tested, and capitalism is promoted.

The first trip to depart for Rason is a “Return of North Korean Tourism Tour” for 20 tourists on 12 February.

In honour of the country’s late leader, the tour from Yanji, China to the DPRK border starts from €705 (£590) per person and spends four nights in Rason.

Taekwondo demonstrations, seaside walks at Hae’an Park and the Rajin Fine Art Gallery are among itinerary inclusions.

Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours told The Independent’s daily travel podcast in August, that tourism “can only bring positives” and that visitors help to “open eyes and open minds, and these are things that should be promoted”.

Before they leave Yanji for the border, tourists will attend a pre-tour briefing that covers regulations, etiquette, safety, and practicalities for travel in North Korea and up to three local guides will travel with the group.

‘Classic’, ‘speciality’ and ‘budget’ North Korea tours are scheduled to run from February to April 2025.

According to Koryo Tours, the trips are “not yet confirmed” as it awaits “further information on the border opening date” from the Chinese authorities, with Pyongyang itineraries still unavailable.

The Foreign Office (FCDO) currently advise British citizens “against all but essential travel to North Korea” and the British Embassy in Pyongyang remains closed.

It says: “The North Korean authorities have previously detained foreign nationals for allegedly violating local laws and have denied them access to support from their governments.”

“The few British people who visit North Korea are usually part of an organised tour. If you decide to visit North Korea against FCDO advice, follow the guidance of your tour operator and the local authorities,” adds the FCDO.

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

China wants people to marry and have children — no one is listening

China witnessed a record 20 per cent plunge in marriages last year, marking the steepest decline ever recorded and raising further concerns about the country’s shrinking population.

Despite government initiatives to encourage young couples to marry and have children, the number of registered marriages plummeted to just over 6.1 million, a significant drop from 7.68 million in 2021.

This decline underscores a growing reluctance among young Chinese to embrace traditional family life. Experts point to the soaring costs of childcare and education as major deterrents.

Furthermore, recent economic stagnation has exacerbated the situation, leaving many graduates struggling to find stable employment and fostering widespread job insecurity.

The severity of the drop is unprecedented.

Even during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, marriage registrations only decreased by 12.2 per cent, according to demographer Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This highlights the depth of the current demographic challenge facing China.

He noted that the number of marriages in China last year was less than half of the 13.47 million in 2013.

If this trend continues, “the Chinese government’s political and economic ambitions will be ruined by its demographic Achilles’ heel,” he said.

For Chinese authorities, boosting interest in marriage and baby-making is a pressing concern.

China has the second-biggest population in the world at 1.4 billion – one that is aging quickly.

The birth rate fell for decades due to China’s 1980-2015 one-child policy and rapid urbanisation. And in the coming decade, roughly 300 million Chinese – the equivalent of almost the entire US population – are expected to enter retirement.

Measures taken last year by authorities to tackle the problem included urging China’s colleges and universities to provide “love education” to emphasise positive views on marriage, love, fertility and family.

In November, China’s state council or cabinet, also told local governments to direct resources towards fixing China’s population crisis and spread respect for childbearing and marriages “at the right age.”

Last year saw a slight rise in births after a lull due to the pandemic and because 2024 was the Chinese zodiac year of the dragon – with children born that year considered likely to be ambitious and have great fortune.

But even with the increase in births, the country’s population fell for a third consecutive year.

The data also showed that more than 2.6 million couples filed for divorce last year, up 1.1 per cent from 2023.

Indonesia in talks with UK over repatriation of rapist Reynhard Sinaga

The British government is speaking with Indonesia about repatriating the most prolific rapist in UK history.

Reynhard Sinaga, 41, was in 2020 found guilty of assaulting 48 men in Manchester.

Sinaga met his victims at bars and clubs, then took them back to his apartment, where he drugged and raped them.

He was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for 159 offences, which he committed between January 2015 and May 2017.

Indonesia’s senior minister for law and human rights affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra told reporters late on Thursday that talks with the British government were at an early stage.

The mechanism for such a repatriation would be decided later, he said, either through a prisoner transfer or through an exchange with a British prisoner jailed in Indonesia.

“No matter how wrong a citizen is, the country has the obligation to defend its citizen,” Yusril said.

“It’s not an easy job for us,” he said, adding there are many things that need to be negotiated with the British government.

The British embassy in Indonesia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Indonesia is also looking at ways to repatriate Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was accused of being involved in some deadly attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings.

Under British rules, Sinaga is only able to file for leniency after he has been in jail for 30 years, Yusril said.

Sinaga’s family have met with the ministry’s representative to seek his repatriation.

If the British government agrees to his return he would be jailed in a maximum security prison, Yusril said. “Otherwise he will cause new problems.”

Sinaga, who has been in the UK since 2007, targeted young men who looked drunk or vulnerable and rendered them unconscious with a sedative.

The rape investigation was the largest in British legal history.

Five Thai hostages return home after 482 days in Hamas captivity

It’s been a long-awaited moment, but some of the last remaining Thai hostages held captive by Hamas are back on home soil.

Five Thai nationals arrived in Bangkok on Sunday, and were greeted by their families in emotional scenes.

The five have been held in war-torn Gaza for over 15 months following the Hamas militant group’s attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.

But Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Surasak Rumnao, 31, and Bannawat Saethao, 28, had all been released on 30 January after Israel and Hamas recently agreed a ceasefire, leading to a wider prison exchange.

The five have been in Israel recuperating from their ordeal and receiving medical treatment. They began their journey back to Thailand on Saturday evening, flying from Dubai to Bangkok. Their Emirates EK374 flight landed shortly after 7am on Sunday.

As the five arrived, escorted by Thailand’s foreign minister and government officials, the group emotionally clamped their hands together in prayer, a Buddhist custom, before tearfully opening their arms to their waiting families.

They had been held in captivity for 482 days.

Mr Pongsak, one of the five hostages, said it was an overwhelming feeling to be home as he spoke with a crowd of reporters from outlets including The Independent in the airport’s arrivals hall.

“Thank you to the ministry for getting us back today, without their help we wouldn’t be back. It is an overwhelming feeling, so thank you very much,” he said.

The five had been working in Israel, close to the Gaza border, when they were kidnapped by Hamas militants. They were part of a group of 31 foreign nationals who were taken. Twenty-three of the group have since been released.

Speaking at the airport on Sunday, the Thai foreign minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who travelled to Israel to visit the five shortly after their release, welcomed them home and thanked all those involved in making their return possible.

“Today is a very emotional day. It is the most pleasing news to see the Thai nationals return to their homeland. The ministry of foreign affairs, the ministry of labour, all the agencies together and the prime minister, we never gave up hope.

“The tears of joy are our encouragement. We thank all the friendly countries that have helped make today happen. Family is the most important. As you can say they are all healthy, but mental health will be the next important thing. We will continue to support,” he said.

Following the press conference, the five agricultural workers and their families quickly left the airport and began the last leg of their journey home to Thailand’s northern regions.

Dozens of Thais have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs says the total is now 46, including two during the 7 October attacks.

One Thai national, Nattapong Pingsa, remains unaccounted for.

“We will do our utmost to have the remaining hostages returned to Thailand, as well as the remains of those two who have passed away,” Mr Maris added.

Thousands of Thais live in Israel, most of them migrants working in agriculture. Before the war, there were around 30,000 Thais living in the country.

The first group of Thai workers returned days after the conflict began, with 41 returning to Bangkok on two flights. Around 7,000 Thais have returned home since then.

But the war hasn’t prevented other Thais from seeking work in Israel. According to officials, there are now more than 38,000 living in the country. Thai nationals remain the largest group of foreign agricultural labourers in Israel, mainly because they can earn higher wages in Israel than at home.

Landslide leaves one dead and dozens missing in southwestern China

A landslide in China’s southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday left one person dead and two injured, state media reported on Sunday.

Rescuers in the Sichuan province are now scrambling to find at least 28 people who have been missing since the landslide struck.

At least 10 houses have reportedly been buried and several people were trapped under soil and debris after the landslide stuck in Jinping village in Sichuan province at 11.50 local time on Saturday.

Two people have been rescued alive with injuries and 200 others have been relocated to safe shelters, state broadcaster CCTV said.

President Xi Jinping has called for “all-out” search and rescue efforts, stressing careful handling of the aftermath of the disaster to prevent secondary disasters.

Images from the state media displayed a massive flow of mud and rocks cascading down a steep mountain and tumbling over what used to be a small village in the valley.

Hundreds of rescuers, including firefighters, have been mobilised by the country’s ministry of emergency management.

The landslide occured after days of heavy rainfall and bad weather, authorities said at a news conference on Sunday.

These conditions triggered a debris flow, resulting in an accumulation stretching about 1.2km (0.7 miles) in length, with a total volume exceeding 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet).

Efforts are still underway to confirm the total number of mission persons.

Chinese premier Li Qiang called for an investigation and inspection of potential geological hazards in nearby areas. He also ordered the relocation of those at risk to safe places and urged measures to prevent secondary disasters.

A villager told Beijing News that rocks had frequently rolled down the mountain since mid-2024, sometimes making sounds resembling firecrackers.

According to the state-run newspaper, the villager also mentioned that geologists had inspected the area late last year.

Landslides, frequently triggered by heavy rain or unsafe construction, are common in China which has allocated 80m yuan ($11m) to support disaster relief and recovery efforts.

Last year, a landslide in a remote mountainous region of southwestern Yunnan province claimed dozens of lives.