Asia
Nepal's spiritual leader known as 'Buddha Boy' arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping
A controversial Nepalese spiritual leader known as “Buddha Boy” was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor and involvement in the disappearance of at least four of his followers from his camps, police said Wednesday.
Ram Bahadur Bamjan is believed by many Nepalese to be the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal some 2,600 years ago and became revered as Buddha. Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of Bamjan's claims.
Bamjan was arrested late Tuesday from his house in a suburb of Kathmandu, the country's capital, according to Nabaraj Adhikari of the Central Investigation Bureau.
Read: India court restores life prison sentences for 11 Hindu men who raped a Muslim woman in 2002 riots
Police brought him before the media in handcuffs on Wednesday and said that he had tried to flee by jumping two floors from a window when the officers arrived but was unsuccessful and was taken into custody.
Officials also displayed a stack of Nepalese banknotes they said was equivalent to $227,000 and other foreign currencies amounting to $23,000 seized from the house at the time of the arrest.
Bamjan is expected to be taken to a court in southern Nepal, where the alleged crimes occurred, to appear before a judge there.
Several dozen of his followers gathered later Wednesday outside the Central Investigation Bureau offices in Katmandu where Bamjan was being held but were pushed back by riot police.
Bamjan, also known as Buddha Boy, became famous in southern Nepal in 2005 when many believed he was able to meditate without moving for months while sitting beneath a tree with no food or water. He has remained popular despite accusations of sexually and physically assaulting his followers.
Read: Deaths from Japan earthquakes surpass 126
His popularity has since declined but he still maintains camps in southern Nepal where thousands of his followers come to live and worship him or to visit.
Buddhism, founded in India around 500 B.C. is considered the world’s fourth-largest religious tradition after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
South Korea outlaws dog meat industry
South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday endorsed landmark legislation outlawing the country’s dwindling dog meat industry, as public calls for the ban have grown sharply amid animal rights campaigns and worries about the country’s international image.
Some angry dog farmers said they plan to file a constitutional appeal and launch rallies in protest, a suggestion that heated debate over the ban would continue.
Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, is neither explicitly banned nor legalized in South Korea. Recent surveys show more people want its ban and a majority of South Koreans don’t eat dog meat any longer. But the surveys also indicated one in every three South Koreans still oppose the ban even though they don’t eat dog meat.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly passed the bill by a 208-0 vote Tuesday. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government supports the ban, so the subsequent steps to make it law are considered formality.
“This law is aimed at contributing to realizing the values of animal rights, which pursue respect for life and a harmonious co-existence between humans and animals,” the legislation reads.
The bill would make the slaughtering, breeding, trade and sales of dog meat for human consumption illegal from 2027 and punish such acts with 2-3 years in prison. But it doesn’t stipulate penalties for eating dog meat.
The bill would offer assistance to farmers and others in the industry for shutting down their businesses or shifting to alternatives. Details of outlawing the industry would be worked out among government officials, farmers, experts and animal rights activists, according to the bill.
Humane Society International called the legislation’s passage “history in the making.”
“I never thought I would see in my lifetime a ban on the cruel dog meat industry in South Korea, but this historic win for animals is testament to the passion and determination of our animal protection movement,” said JungAh Chae, executive director of HSI’s Korea office.
The legislation left farmers extremely upset and frustrated.
“This is a clear state violence as they’re infringing upon freedom of occupational option. We can’t just sit idly,” said Son Won Hak, a farmer and leader of a farmers’ association.
Son said dog farmers will file a petition to the constitutional court and launch rallies in protest. He said farmers will meet Wednesday to discuss other future steps.
There is no reliable official data on the exact size of South Korea’s dog meat industry. Activists and farmers say hundreds of thousands of dogs are slaughtered for meat each year in South Korea.
India court restores life prison sentences for 11 Hindu men who raped a Muslim woman in 2002 riots
India’s top court on Monday restored life prison sentences for 11 Hindu men who raped a Muslim woman during deadly religious rioting two decades ago and asked the convicts to surrender to the authorities within two weeks.
The Hindu men were convicted in 2008 of rape and murder. They were released in 2022 after serving 14 years in prison.
Read: Thousands forced from homes by quake face stress and exhaustion as Japan mourns at least 161 deaths
The victim, who is now in her 40s, was pregnant when she was brutally gang-raped in 2002 in western Gujarat state during communal rioting that was some of India's worst religious violence with over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, killed.
Seven members of the woman’s family, including her 3-year-old daughter, were killed during the riots. The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault.
The men were eligible for remission of their sentence under a policy that was in place at the time of their convictions. At the time of their release, officials in Gujarat, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party holds power, had said the convicts were granted remission because they had completed over 14 years in jail.
A revised policy adopted in 2014 by the federal government prohibits remission release for those convicted of certain crimes, including rape and murder.
Read: North Korea's Kim orders increased production of mobile launch vehicles as tensions grow with US
Following the release of the convicts, the victim had filed a petition with the Supreme Court, saying “the en masse premature release of the convicts… has shaken the conscience of the society."
The 2002 riots have long hounded Modi, who was Gujarat’s top elected official at the time, amid allegations that authorities allowed and even encouraged the bloodshed. Modi has repeatedly denied having any role and the Supreme Court has said it found no evidence to prosecute him.
Thousands forced from homes by quake face stress and exhaustion as Japan mourns at least 161 deaths
Thousands of people made homeless overnight are living in weariness and uncertainty on the western coast of Japan a week after a powerful earthquake caused at least 161 deaths and left dozens missing.
The rescue effort since magnitude 7.6 New Year’s Day quake has drawn thousands of troops, firefighters and police who picked through collapsed buildings Monday hoping to find survivors.
Authorities warned of the danger of landslides throughout the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, where the quakes were centered. The risks were worsened by snowfall, which grew heavier over the weekend and continued into the new week.
Fluffy white blanketed a landscape telling the story of the quake — dark crumbled houses, ashen blocks of a city, highways with gaping holes and cracks.
Of the deaths, 70 were in Wajima, 70 in Suzu 11 in Anamizu and the rest in smaller numbers spread among four towns. At least 103 people were still unaccounted for, 565 people were listed as injured, and 1,390 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged.
A tsunami of several meters (feet) followed the initial major quake, adding to the damage. Aftershocks have continued daily.
For the residents of Ishikawa, their work has barely started.
Shuji Yoshiura, a fisherman, said he could not get his boats out to sea yet because the seabed was lifted by the quake.
Wajima had featured a shopping street and seafood and traditional crafts that had drawn tourists. Much of the city was destroyed in the fires that broke out after the Jan. 1 quake.
Kentaro Mitsumori, who runs a corner grocery shop, slept in his car with his wife to guard against looting. Their store still stands but has no lock, electricity or running water. Everything sold out in three days. But he plans to close his business.
“Even if I manage to fix up the place, there just aren’t going to be enough customers. I don’t know how Wajima can survive,” he said.
Nearly 30,000 people staying in schools, auditoriums and other evacuation centers worried about infections as cases of COVID-19 and other sicknesses popped up.
In the shelters, people are still sleeping on cold floors, but after initial help provided only a piece of bread and a cup of water for each person a day, the arrival of aid is allowing some facilities to begin serving hot food cooked in huge pots.
People were delighted by the temporary bathing facilities set up by soldiers, sitting in the hot water they had missed for days.
Still, exhaustion and stress are wearing people down. Many are in mourning. The main quake struck on New Year’s Day, a time for families to gather in Japan. Some survivors said they were all alone now.
Mizue Kaba, 79, was lucky she survived, as did her daughter, son-in-law and grandson, who were visiting on New Year's from Osaka in central Japan.
Kaba is sleeping at a school, and no one is sure what might happen when schools open in a week after the New Year’s break.
Three stoves had strained to heat the school's big hall, but the arriva of more heaters has the shelter's inhabitants hopeful it will warm up.
“It’s so cold,” Kaba said.
Deaths from Japan earthquakes surpass 126
Aftershocks threatened to bury more homes and block roads crucial for relief shipments, as the death toll from the earthquakes that rattled Japan’s western coastline this past week rose to 126 on Saturday.
Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy who had been recovering from injuries after boiling water spilled on him during Monday’s 7.6 magnitude earthquake. His condition suddenly worsened and he died Friday, according to Ishikawa prefecture, the hardest-hit region.
Officials warned that roads, already cracked from the dozens of earthquakes that continue to shake the area, could collapse completely. That risk was growing with rain and snow expected overnight and Sunday.
Read: Russia launches fresh drone strikes on Ukraine after promising retaliation for Belgorod attack
The death toll on Saturday rose to 126. Wajima city has recorded the highest number of deaths with 69, followed by Suzu with 38. More than 500 people were injured, at least 27 of them seriously.
The temblors left roofs sitting haplessly on roads and everything beneath them crushed flat. Roads were warped like rubber. A fire turned a neighborhood in Wajima to ashes.
More than 200 people were still unaccounted for, although the number has fluctuated. Eleven people were reported trapped under two homes that collapsed in Anamizu.
For Shiro Kokuda, 76, the house in Wajima where he grew up was spared but a nearby temple went up in flames and he was still looking for his friends at evacuation centers.
“It’s been really tough,” he said.
Japan is one of the fastest-aging societies in the world. The population in Ishikawa and nearby areas has dwindled over the years. A fragile economy centered on crafts and tourism was now more imperiled than ever.
In an unusual gesture from nearby North Korea, leader Kim Jong Un sent a message of condolence to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday.
Japan earlier received messages expressing sympathy and promises of aid from President Joe Biden and other allies.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan was grateful to all the messages, including the one from North Korea. Hayashi said the last time Japan received a condolence message from North Korea for a disaster was in 1995.
Along Japan’s coastline, power was gradually being restored, but water supplies were still short. Emergency water systems were also damaged.
Read: Floods in a central province in Congo kill at least 22 people, a local official says
Thousands of troops were flying and trucking in water, food and medicine to the more than 30,000 people who had evacuated to auditoriums, schools and other facilities.
The nationally circulated Yomiuri newspaper reported that its aerial study had located more than 100 landslides in the area, and some were blocking lifeline roads.
The urgency of the rescue operations intensified as the days wore on. But some have clung to life, trapped under pillars and walls, and were freed.
North Korea conducts artillery drills along disputed sea border. South Korea plans similar drills
North Korea fired artillery rounds Friday near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea in violation of a fragile 2018 military agreement, officials said, prompting the South to plan similar drills.
North Korea's front-line maritime firing exercise was the first of its kind in about a year. Experts say North Korea will likely intensify a run of weapons tests in the coming months, escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula ahead of the South's parliamentary elections in April and the United States presidential election in November.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired 200 rounds in the waters north of their disputed western sea boundary. It said South Korea suffered no damages.
Also read: North Korea's Kim orders increased production of mobile launch vehicles as tensions grow with US
Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon told a televised briefing that the North's artillery firing was "an act of provocation that threatens peace and heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula." Lee said South Korea strongly urges North Korea to stop provocations.
He said South Korea's military will take an unspecified step in response to the North's artillery firing while closely monitoring North Korean moves in close coordination with the United States.
Lee didn't elaborate what corresponding step South Korea would take. But residents of South Korea's front-line island of Yeonpyeong said the South Korean military has asked them to evacuate because it plans to launch maritime firing drills later Friday.
Also read: North Korea's Kim orders military to 'thoroughly annihilate' US, South Korea if provoked
The Koreas' poorly marked western sea boundary witnessed bloody naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009. The North's alleged torpedoing of a South Korean warship killed 46 South Korean sailors in March 2010, and the North's artillery bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island killed four South Koreans in November 2010.
The 2018 agreement requires the two Koreas to halt live-fire exercises and aerial surveillance in no-fly and buffer zones that they established along their border. But the deal is in danger of collapsing after the two Koreas began bickering since the North's first successful military spy satellite launch in November.
South Korea accused North Korea of restoring front-line guard posts that it had dismantled under the 2018 deal, after South Korea resumed front-line aerial surveillance in protest of the North's satellite launch. South Korea also accused North Korea of violating the deal numerous times with firing drills at the buffer zones, including one as recently as December 2022 off the Korean Peninsula's east coast.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fired off fierce, derisive rhetoric against South Korea in a key ruling party meeting at the end of December. Kim called South Korea "a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state" whose society is "tainted by Yankee culture."
He said South Korea must not be considered as a partner for reconciliation or unification, and ordered the military to use all available means — including nuclear weapons — to conquer South Korea in the event of a conflict.
"North Korea is now in the stage of finding a justification for provocation after scrapping the 2018 military agreement," said Lee Sang Sook, a research professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. "There is a possibility for North Korea to ramp up provocation steadily, so big and small provocations along the western sea boundary and the land border are expected this year."
Earlier Friday, North Korea's state media said Kim ordered authorities to increase production of mobile launch vehicles for missiles because the country faces a looming military showdown with its enemies.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim made the comments during a visit to a factory that produces transport erector launchers, or TELs, without saying when he went or where the factory is.
TELs are mobile launch vehicles, which give North Korea the ability to move missiles around its territory. This makes it more difficult for adversaries to detect launches in advance. Some South Korean experts have estimated that North Korea has about 100-200 such vehicles.
Kim said the factory's role is "very important" in bolstering North Korea's national defense "given the prevailing grave situation that requires the country to be more firmly prepared for a military showdown with the enemy," KCNA reported.
"He took an important measure for expanding the production capacity of the factory," it said.
Experts say Kim is likely to increase weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November because of a belief that a boosted military capability would increase his chances of wresting U.S. concessions if former President Donald Trump is reelected.
In the recent ruling party meeting, Kim also vowed to expand the country's nuclear arsenal, launch three additional military spy satellites and take other steps to build up the military this year to acquire "overwhelming" war readiness to cope with what he called U.S.-led confrontation, citing the expansion of U.S.-South Korean military drills that sometimes involve U.S. long-range bombers and a nuclear-armed submarine.
North Korea's Kim orders increased production of mobile launch vehicles as tensions grow with US
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered authorities to increase production of mobile launch vehicles for missiles because the country faces a looming military showdown with its enemies, state media reported Friday, as it pushes to make its launches harder to detect.
The report on Kim's order came hours after the White House said U.S. intelligence has determined that North Korea has supplied ballistic missile launchers to Russia for its war in Ukraine. The U.S. and its allies have previously accused North Korea of sending artillery and ammunition to Russia in return for Russian technologies to enhance its own military programs.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a factory that produces transport erector launchers, or TELs, without saying when he went or where the factory is.
TELs are mobile launch vehicles which give North Korea the ability to move missiles around its territory, making it more difficult for its adversaries to detect launches in advance. Some South Korean experts have estimated that North Korea has about 100-200 such vehicles.
Kim said the factory's role is "very important" in bolstering North Korea's national defense "given the prevailing grave situation that requires the country to be more firmly prepared for a military showdown with the enemy," KCNA reported.
"He took an important measure for expanding the production capacity of the factory," it said.
In a key ruling party meeting last week, Kim vowed to expand the country's nuclear arsenal, launch three additional military spy satellites and take other steps to build up the military this year to acquire "overwhelming" war readiness to cope with what he called U.S.-led confrontation. Kim cited the expansion of U.S.-South Korean military drills that sometimes involve U.S. long-range bombers and a nuclear-armed submarine.
Experts say Kim is likely to increase weapons tests ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November because of a belief that a boosted military capability would increase his chances of wresting U.S. concessions if former President Donald Trump is reelected.
Kim's factory visit may also be related to arms supplies for Russia. Last year, Kim toured weapons factories and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military when speculation about North Korea-Russia weapons transfers was widespread.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that recently declassified intelligence showed that North Korea has provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles. He said Russian forces fired at least one of those missiles into Ukraine on Dec. 30 and it landed in an open field in the Zaporizhzhia region.
In November, South Korea's military said North Korea is suspected of sending short-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank missiles and portable anti-aircraft missiles to Russia, in addition to rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and shells.
Julianne Smith, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, said last month that U.S. intelligence indicates that North Korea has provided Russia with more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions. Smith said North Korea is suspected of seeking Russian technologies related to fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and ballistic missile production.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan indicted for allegedly insulting election officials
A Pakistani court on Wednesday indicted imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a contempt case for allegedly insulting election officials, his defense lawyer said.
The indictment is another blow for Khan, who is serving time on a corruption conviction and has multiple other legal cases hanging over him.
Also read: Suicide bomber attacks police station in northwest Pakistan, killing 22 officers and wounding 32
It also comes days after election officials rejected Khan's nomination papers, blocking his attempt to contest parliamentary polls on Feb. 8.
Khan is accused of calling the head of the Election Commission, Sikandar Sultan Rajaa, and other officials "personal servants" of former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Sharif replaced Khan in April 2022 after he was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in Parliament by his political opponents. Since then, government agencies have pursued him in the courts.
Also read: Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan replaced as PTI head
The 71-year-old former cricketer is the country's most popular opposition figure.
Khan's lawyer, Naeem Haider Panjutha, said Khan was indicted at Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi.
He said during the court hearing, Khan pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him. One of Khan's former deputies, Fawad Chaudhry, was also indicted on the same charges.
Also read: Pakistan court suspends the corruption conviction and sentence of former PM Imran Khan
Election officials say they rejected Khan's candidacy because of his corruption conviction.
Japanese transport officials and police begin on-site probe after fatal crash on Tokyo runway
Transport officials and police began separate investigations at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Wednesday, a day after a large passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft collided on the runway and burst into flames, killing five people.
The accident occurred Tuesday evening when the Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 plane landed on one of Haneda's four runways after the coast guard aircraft — a Bombardier Dash-8 — had also entered, preparing to take off. Both sides said they received a go-ahead from aviation officials.
An orange fireball erupted from the aircraft, and the JAL plane continued down the runway covered in flames while spewing gray smoke. Within 20 minutes, all 379 passengers and crew members slid down emergency chutes and survived. The pilot of the coast guard plane, which exploded, evacuated with injuries but five crew members aboard the coast guard plane were killed.
Transport safety officials were focusing on communication between air traffic control officials and the two aircraft to determine what led to the collision.
Police began a separate probe into possible professional negligence. On Wednesday, Tokyo police said that investigators examined the debris on the runway and were to interview the involved parties.
The Japan Airlines A350 had flown from Shin Chitose airport near the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, and the coast guard Bombardier was preparing to depart for Niigata to deliver relief supplies to residents in the central Japan regions hit by powerful earthquakes on Monday that killed more than 60 people.
On Wednesday, six experts from the Japan Transport Safety Board examined what remained of the aircraft, the board said. TV footage showed the severely damaged A350's wings among the charred, broken parts of fuselages. The smaller coast guard plane looked like a mound of rubble.
Transport safety investigators plan to interview the pilots and officials from both sides, as well as air traffic control officials to find out how the two planes simultaneously ended up on the runway, JTSB said.
The two sides had different understandings of their permission to use the runway.
JAL Managing Executive Officer Tadayuki Tsutsumi told a news conference late Tuesday that the A350 was making a “normal entry and landing” on the runway. Another JAL executive, Noriyuki Aoki, said the flight had received permission to land from aviation officials.
The air traffic officials gave the JAL airliner landing permission, while telling the coast guard pilot to wait before entering the runway, NHK television reported Wednesday. But the coast guard pilot said he also had been given permission to take off. The coast guard said officials were verifying that claim.
All passengers and crew members left their baggage and slid down the escape chutes within 20 minutes of the landing as smoke filled the cabin of the burning aircraft — an outcome praised by aviation experts. Videos posted by passengers showed people covering their mouths with handkerchiefs as they ducked down and moved toward the exits. Some passengers told news media they felt safe only after reaching a grassy area beyond the tarmac.
“The entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them,” Swedish passenger Anton Deibe, 17, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. “The smoke in the cabin stung like hell.”
The fire is likely to be seen as a key test case for airplane fuselages made from carbon-composite fibers — featured on the A350 and the Boeing 787 — instead of conventional aluminum skins.
“This is the most catastrophic composite-airplane fire that I can think of. On the other hand, that fuselage protected (passengers) from a really horrific fire — it did not burn through for some period of time and let everybody get out,” safety consultant John Cox said.
Haneda's three other runways reopened late Tuesday, but some 100 flights have been canceled due to the closure of the accident-hit runway. The airport was packed Wednesday as many holidaymakers wrapped up their New Year travel, including those who who survived the fire and spent the night at the airport or at nearby hotels, trying to change their flights.
Haneda is the busier of the two major airports serving the Japanese capital, with many international flights, and is favored by business travelers due to its proximity to central parts of the city.
Tuesday’s accident was the first severe damage to an Airbus A350, among the industry’s newest large passenger planes. It entered commercial service in 2015. Airbus said in a statement it was sending specialists to help Japanese and French officials investigating the accident, and that the plane was delivered to Japan Airlines in late 2021.
JAL operates 16 of the A350-900 version aircraft, according to its website. The twin-engine, twin-aisle A350 is used by a number of long-haul international carriers. More than 570 of the aircraft are in operation, according to Airbus.
5 die as planes catch fire after collision at Japan's Haneda Airport
A passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft collided on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday and burst into flames.
Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed that all 379 occupants of Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 got out safely before the plane was entirely engulfed in flames. The pilot of the coast guard plane also escaped, but five crewmembers died, Saito said.
Read: South Korean opposition leader is stabbed in the neck by a knife-wielding man
Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied after landing. The area around the wing then caught fire. Footage an hour later showed the plane fully on fire.
The JAL plane was an Airbus A-350 that had flown from Shin Chitose airport, near the city of Sapporo, to Haneda, the transport minister said.
Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima said its plane was MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8. The plane, which is based at Haneda, had been due to head to Niigata to deliver relief goods to residents affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on Monday that killed at least 48 people.
Swede Anton Deibe, 17, who was a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that “the entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them.
Read: Japan issues tsunami alert after series of very strong quakes off its northwestern coast
“The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos," added Deibe, who was traveling with his parents and sister.
Saito said Haneda is currently closed while the collision is under investigation by aviation safety investigators and police, but that they are doing their best to reopen the airport Wednesday or even sooner.
He added that said officials are doing their utmost to prevent any delays in the relief goods delivery and other operations for the disaster-hit region.
Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.