(1) Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dies at 92
India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform and a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, has died.
Singh was admitted to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences late Thursday (December 26, 2024) after his health deteriorated due to a “sudden loss of consciousness at home,” the hospital said in a statement.
“Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to the Medical Emergency” at 8:06 p.m., the hospital said, but “despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 9:51 p.m.”
Singh was being treated for “age-related medical conditions,” the statement said.
A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh became one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers for 10 years and leader of the Congress Party in the Parliament’s upper house, earning a reputation as a man of great personal integrity. He was chosen to fill the role in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi, the wife of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Singh was re-elected in 2009, but his second term as prime minister was clouded by financial scandals and corruption charges over the organization of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This led to the Congress Party’s crushing defeat in the 2014 national election by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Singh adopted a low profile after relinquishing the post of prime minister.
(2) Plane crash kills 179 in South Korea
A passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport Sunday (December 29, 2024), slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board died in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
Follow the live updates on South Korea plane crash at Muan airport here
The Jeju Air plane crashed while landing in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometres (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that had arrived from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9:03 a.m.
Map showing the flight path of Jeju Air Flight 2216 before it crashed on landing at Muan International Airport, South Korea, on December 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
A total of 179 people — 85 women, 84 men and 10 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable — died in the fire, the South Korean fire agency said. Emergency workers pulled two people, both crew members, to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition.
Footage of the crash aired by South Korean television channels showed the plane skidding across the airstrip at high speed, apparently with its landing gear still closed, overrunning the runway and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility, triggering an explosion.
Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan said workers have retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the plane’s black box, which will be examined by government experts investigating the cause of the crash and fire.
(3) 757 journalists and media workers were killed since 2015
As many as 757 journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide since 2015, as of December 24, 2024, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In 2024, at least 98 journalists and media workers were killed, making it the second-highest yearly tally since 2015, when 100 were killed. This figure is also on par with the 2023 tally, as shown in the graphic below.
In 2024, over 60% of all the journalists killed (98 in number) in the world were in the Palestinian region. In 2023, the region’s share was over 73%.
Between 2015 and 2024, journalists killed in twenty countries — represented in the graphic below — accounted for almost 85% (or 647) of the total 757 deaths. Palestine and Israel accounted for 139 (18%) of these 757 deaths. Of the 139 journalists and media workers killed between 2015 and 2024, 135 lost their lives in 2023 and 2024 alone, following the outbreak of the war in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Among those killed, 133 were Palestinian, and two were Israeli. Additionally, six journalists from Lebanon were killed since the war began, according to data from CPJ.
(4) Delhi witnessed 155 days of poor or worse air quality in 2024
In 2024, as of December 27, Delhi has seen 155 days of ‘poor’, ‘very poor’, or ‘severe’ air quality, that is, with an air quality index (AQI) of 200 or more. This is a repeating pattern over the last six years, where on average, the city’s air quality has been poor or worse for 167 days in a year.
However, over the last two years, there has been a slight improvement when it comes to the total number of days in a year where the air quality in the city was poor or worse. In 2022, the air quality in Delhi was poor or worse for 202 days or 55% of the year. This has come down to 159 days (or 44%) in 2023 and 155 days (43%) in 2024.
In 2020, when COVID-19 had triggered curbs and restrictions since March, Delhi had a total of 100 days where the air quality was ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’, which means the AQI on those days was lesser than 100. It has only gotten worse since 2021.
The average quality of air has been ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ in Delhi from October to February every year since 2019. The AQI in the month of November is the highest in the year, averaging to around 347 over the past six years.
(5) M.T. Vasudevan Nair no more
M.T. Vasudevan Nair, one of India’s greatest writers of all time, died in Kozhikode at a private hospital on Wednesday (December 25, 2024). He was 91.
The Jnanpith Award winner is known for elevating the art of Malayalam storytelling to a profound level through his works. Popularly known as MT, Vasudevan Nair is celebrated for his evocative storytelling, which explores human emotions and the complexities of rural life.
He was also an exceptional scriptwriter who revolutionised the art of screenplay writing in Malayalam cinema and authored several landmark films. Some of those films were directed by M.T. himself. His debut film as a director, Nirmalyam, in fact, won the National Award for the best film in 1974. He wasn’t too keen on directing films, and was happier writing fiction.
The 91-year-old writer had been hospitalized in critical condition with a diagnosis of heart failure and breathed his last on Wednesday (December 25, 2024). He had been suffering from several health issues, including respiratory ailments, for some time, according to literary sources.
Published – December 31, 2024 07:25 am IST