Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Volunteer rescuers race to find survivors two days after Myanmar earthquake

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Red Cross says devastation is of a level not seen in Asia for over a century as more than 1,700 people killed

Rescue volunteers, many of them poorly equipped local people, raced to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings across central Myanmar, two days after a huge earthquake killed more than 1,700 people in the country and at least 18 in neighbouring Thailand.

Red Cross officials said Myanmar was facing “a level of devastation that hasn’t been seen over a century in Asia”, after a 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the centre of the country on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.

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‘It means death’: Afghan women’s rights activists face deportation from Pakistan

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Police go door-to-door arresting Afghans as government pledges to send millions back home to Taliban rule

More than 50 prominent female Afghan women’s rights activists sheltering in Pakistan are facing deportation home, where they fear they will be imprisoned or killed under Taliban rule.

Under a draconian policy, the Pakistan government has pledged to deport millions of Afghan nationals, after relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan severely deteriorated and attacks by militants in the border areas surged.

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Scramble to free survivors as death toll passes 1,600 after Myanmar earthquake

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Woman pulled to safety after 30 hours trapped in building a rare glimmer of hope in midst of devastation

Rescue workers battled for a second night to find survivors of Myanmar’s devastating earthquake, which has killed at least 1,644 people and injured thousands more.

Teams with little protective equipment, at times using only their bare hands, scrambled to free survivors from the rubble of countless buildings that were shattered by Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

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US citizen detained in Afghanistan by Taliban released to Qatari embassy

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Faye Hall had been detained since February along with a British couple before a court order led to her release

A US citizen detained in Afghanistan in February by the Taliban administration has been released, the former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday.

“American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad posted on X.

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Myanmar earthquake: race to find survivors as junta confirms huge rise in death toll

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Military rulers have called for ‘any country, any organisation’ to help as concerns grow over how rescuers will reach affected areas

The south-east Asian bloc Asean says it is ready to support quake recovery efforts in Myanmar and Thailand and recognises the urgent need for humanitarian assistance.

Foreign ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations said in a joint statement on Saturday that the bloc “reaffirms its solidarity with the families and communities affected by the earthquake”.

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Thailand and Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as Bangkok declared disaster area with dozens trapped under skyscraper – live

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United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay

A 30-storey skyscraper under construction for government offices has collapsed in Bangkok trapping 43 workers, police and medics said, after the city was rocked by a strong earthquake.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the building in the north of the Thai capital was reduced to a tangle of rubble and twisted metal in seconds after the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.

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Internationally acclaimed film Santosh blocked in India over portrayal of police brutality

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Award-winning film set in fictional town has already made its debut at Cannes but censors have refused to approve it for domestic release

Indian film censors have blocked the release of critically acclaimed film Santosh over concerns about its portrayal of misogyny, Islamophobia and violence in the Indian police force.

Santosh, written and directed by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri, is set in north India and has won international plaudits for its portrayal of a young widow who joins the police force and investigates the murder of a young Dalit girl.

Santosh is currently on release in UK cinemas

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Mumbai comedy club ransacked after performer’s joke about local politician

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Shiv Sena party supporters tore apart the Habitat comedy club after Kunal Kamra’s satirical song about a top minister

A mob violently ransacked a Mumbai comedy club and its building has been partly demolished after one of India’s most prominent comedians performed a satirical song about a local ruling politician during a performance there.

Kunal Kamra has a reputation for his acerbic comedy which often pokes fun at political figures. Few comedians in India dare to make political jokes for risk of a backlash.

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MPs think they may have been targets of ‘disinformation’ over Bangladesh inquiry

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Group received emails about Ahsan Mansur, the central bank official investigating money laundering allegations

British MPs believe they may have been targeted by a “disinformation” campaign aimed at discrediting the man leading efforts to trace funds allegedly laundered from Bangladesh into the UK.

MPs raised the alarm after receiving emails about Ahsan Mansur, who was installed as the central bank governor of Bangladesh last year, after a student-led revolution swept away the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.

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X sues Modi’s government over content removal in new India censorship fight

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Elon Musk’s company is arguing against the government’s expanded powers to allow easier removal of online content

India’s IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered “countless” government officials to execute such orders, Elon Musk’s X has alleged in a new lawsuit against New Delhi.

The lawsuit and the allegations mark an escalation in an ongoing legal dispute between X and the government of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, over how New Delhi orders content to be taken down. It also comes as Musk is getting closer to launching his other key ventures, Starlink and Tesla, in India.

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British couple held by Taliban due in court on unknown charges, family say

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Peter Reynolds, 79, and wife, Barbie, 75, expected to appear in Kabul on Thursday after detention last month

A British couple in their 70s imprisoned by the Taliban are due in court in Kabul on Thursday but have not been informed of the charges, their family has said.

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.

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Life of British man, 79, imprisoned by Taliban is in serious danger, say family

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Peter Reynolds, who runs a business in Afghanistan, was held along with his wife last month and needs heart pills, says his daughter

The life of a 79-year-old British man imprisoned along with his wife by the Taliban is in serious danger, his family have warned.

Peter Reynolds and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.

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Pakistan accuses India of sponsoring militant terror group after train hijacking

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A spokesperson offered no evidence for the claim after 26 people were killed on a train that was hijacked in Balochistan province on Tuesday

Pakistan’s military has accused neighbouring India of sponsoring militant groups in the south-west of the country as survivors recounted their ordeal from an unprecedented attack that killed 26 passengers on a hijacked train.

The scope of the attack in Balochistan province underscores the struggles that Pakistan faces to rein in militant groups.

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US journalist sues Indian government after losing his overseas citizenship

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Raphael Satter had his OCI card taken away after publishing a story critical of an Indian businessman

A US journalist has taken the Indian government to court after his Indian overseas citizenship was unilaterally cancelled, after the publication of a story critical of a prominent Indian businessman.

Raphael Satter, who covers cybersecurity for the Reuters news agency in the US, received a letter from India’s ministry of home affairs in early December 2023, accusing him of producing work that “maliciously” tarnished India’s reputation and informing him that his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card had been cancelled.

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Pakistan operation to free hostages after train hijacking ends with dozens killed

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Security services claim to have rescued about 190 people being held by Baloch Liberation Army in remote area

An operation to rescue hundreds of people taken hostage when a train was hijacked by a separatist militant group in remote south-west Pakistan has ended with dozens killed in the onslaught, a spokesperson for the army has said.

Pakistan’s security services claimed late on Wednesday to have rescued about 190 people who were being held captive after militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up a railway line and launched an attack on the Jaffar Express train.

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Militants say 214 people taken hostage as train hijacked in Pakistan

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Baloch Liberation Army claims to have killed 30 military personnel after blowing up tracks in Balochistan region

A separatist militant group in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province says it has taken 214 hostages including military personnel after hijacking a train, as the country’s security situation continues to decline sharply.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up the tracks and fired on the Jaffar Express train as it travelled through a tunnel in a remote and mountainous area, bringing the train to a halt.

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Myanmar junta’s promise of elections denounced as ‘sham’ by experts

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There are fears military will deploy further violence in run-up to any poll, which is unlikely to be viewed as credible

The Myanmar military’s promise to hold elections in December 2025 or January 2026 has been condemned as a “sham” that risks bringing even greater violence.

Myanmar’s military junta announced on Saturday, in comments reported in state media, that it would hold a long-promised election, specifying a timeframe for the first time since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

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Two men arrested in India over alleged rape of Israeli and local woman

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The two women were said to have been stargazing with three male travellers when the incident took place

Two men have been arrested in India in connection with the alleged rape of an Israeli and a local woman.

The Israeli woman and her homestay operator were said to be stargazing with three male travellers in Koppal town in southern Karnataka state on Thursday night.

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British activist Jagtar Singh Johal acquitted in India terror trial

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Human rights campaigner still faces threat of death penalty if found guilty of further charges

Jagtar Singh Johal, the British human rights activist accused of terrorism has been acquitted on all charges in a case in Punjab, after a court rejected the allegations against him made by Indian authorities.

Johal has been held in detention for seven years awaiting judgment, but must remain in prison since he is facing eight essentially duplicate cases brought by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) based on the same alleged confession.

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Indian cinema chain sued by film-goer over lengthy pre-film ads

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Court orders compensation to be paid to 30-year-old from Bangalore, saying ‘in the new era, time is considered as money, each one’s time is very precious’

For some, the adverts that precede the start of a film are the bane of a trip to the cinema; for others, they are a useful buffer as you stand in the popcorn queue.

But for one man in India, the lengthy marathon of cinema advertising was so infuriating that he took the matter to the courts – and won.

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