Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Air India crash victims’ families not satisfied with ‘vague’ initial report

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Relatives call for ‘honesty, transparency and an unwavering commitment to uncovering the full truth’

Families of the Air India crash victims have said they are hoping for more answers from investigators after a report found the plane’s fuel switches were cut off, deepening the mystery of what happened.

The preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, published on Friday, said both of the plane’s fuel switches moved to the cut-off position immediately after takeoff, stopping fuel supply to the engines.

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Engine fuel switches cut off before Air India crash that killed 260, preliminary report finds

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Early investigation into accident in Ahmedabad in June also contains details of pilots discussing the switches

Fuel to both engines of the Air India plane that crashed and killed 260 people last month appears to have been cut off seconds after the flight took off, a preliminary report has found.

Air India flight AI171, bound for London, crashed into a densely populated residential area in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on 12 June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground. It was India’s deadliest air crash in almost three decades.

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Bangladesh caretaker government overturns use of ‘sir’ to address female officials

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Protocol was ‘clearly odd’ relic of regime of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, administration says in revision of directives

Bangladesh’s caretaker government has overturned a longstanding protocol requiring female officials to be addressed as “sir”, calling it an “odd” relic of the regime of the ousted leader, Sheikh Hasina.

The interim administration, headed by the Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus, took office last year after the former prime minister was overthrown by a student-led uprising, forcing her to flee to neighbouring India.

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Shunned Myanmar leader thrilled at US contact after Trump tariff letter

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Min Aung Hlaing expresses ‘sincere appreciation’ for letter from US president threatening 40% tariff

Myanmar’s military leader has praised Donald Trump and asked him to lift sanctions, as the junta sought to capitalise on a tariff letter from the US president believed to be Washington’s first public recognition of its rule.

Min Aung Hlaing, who has been in power since a 2021 coup, expressed his “sincere appreciation” for Trump’s letter, which threatened a tariff of 40% on its goods, and commended the US president for his “strong leadership” and for guiding the US “toward national prosperity with the spirit of a true patriot”.

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Bangladesh’s ousted Sheikh Hasina charged with crimes against humanity

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Former leader, who is in hiding in India, indicted over deadly crackdown on anti-government protests last year

Bangladesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina has been formally charged with crimes against humanity after being accused of ordering a deadly crackdown against anti-government protests last year that left more than 1,400 people dead.

Hasina, who fled the country on 5 August last year, was charged in absentia by a three-judge panel on Thursday. She remains in hiding in neighbouring India and has ignored formal requests for her to return.

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Accelerated glacial melt and monsoon rains trigger deadly floods in Pakistan

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Record temperatures and seasonal downpours raise fears of a repeat of the devastating flooding in 2022

Glaciers across northern Pakistan have been melting at an accelerated pace as a result of record-breaking summer temperatures, leading to deadly flash flooding and landslides.

The floods and heavy monsoon rains have caused devastation across the country this summer, killing at least 72 people and injuring more than 130 since the rains began in late June.

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Dozens missing after flash floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh

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Hundreds of homes, bridges and roads washed away in north Indian state after unusually heavy rainfall

India’s mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh has been left reeling after it was hit by rainstorms, flash floods and landslides, with dozens of people reported missing.

Hundreds of homes, bridges, roads and electricity pylons in the north Indian state were washed away after 23 flash floods and 16 landslides caused by unusually heavy rainfall over the weekend. There were also 19 cloudbursts, in which an enormous amount of rain falls in a sudden deluge, according to a report by the Himachal Pradesh state government.

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Lion’s owners arrested after woman and children injured in attack in Pakistan

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Footage shows animal leaping over wall in Lahore before attack that left victims with face and arm injuries

The owners of a pet lion that escaped from a farmhouse and injured a woman and her two children in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore have been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

The arrest came after dramatic video footage emerged showing the lion leaping over a wall and attacking the victims in a residential area.

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At least 32 people killed as flash floods hit northern Pakistan

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Family dies in Swat River, with witnesses saying they waited to be rescued for more than an hour

At least 32 people have been killed in Pakistan in recent flash flooding caused by heavy rains, including a family of tourists who died after being swept away by flood waters while apparently awaiting rescue.

Videos of the family stranded on a small piece of land as the raging Swat River in northern Pakistan swept them away were shared widely on social media, prompting anger towards the provincial government as witnesses said the family waited helplessly for more than an hour.

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Pakistan debates Trump Nobel peace prize nomination after US strikes on Iran

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Pakistani government had credited US president with ‘pivotal leadership’ in its ceasefire negotiations with India

Donald Trump’s intervention into the Iran-Israel war, and brokering then announcing a ceasefire, has drawn a heated debate in Pakistan – where the government had formally nominated the US president for the Nobel peace prize as the US military was making its final preparations for a strike that threatened all-out war in the Middle East.

A statement in the early hours of Saturday local time – shortly before US B-2 bombers left the Whiteman air force base in Missouri and headed to Iran – had credited Trump for a “legacy of pragmatic diplomacy” and “pivotal leadership” for ensuring Pakistan’s ceasefire with India in a conflict that had begun with the killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in April.

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Pakistan to nominate Donald Trump for Nobel peace prize

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Islamabad says US president helped resolve India conflict but critic says ‘Israel’s sugar daddy in Gaza’ not candidate for any prize

Pakistan has said it will recommend Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize for his work in helping to resolve the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.

The move, announced on Saturday, came as the US president mulls joining Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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India illegally deporting Muslim citizens at gunpoint to Bangladesh, say rights groups

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There are fears the crackdown against ‘outsiders’ is driving widespread persecution as expelled Indians are returned by Bangladesh border guards

The Indian government has been accused of illegally deporting Indian Muslims to Bangladesh, prompting fears of an escalating campaign of persecution.

Thousands of people, largely Muslims suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, have been rounded up by police across India in recent weeks, according to human rights groups, with many of them deprived of due legal process and sent over the border to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

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Monday briefing: How the Air India ​crash ​happened​ and why ​it ​raises ​questions ​about ​aviation ​safety

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In today’s newsletter: ​With just one survivor emerging from the wreckage​, investigators work to uncover the cause

Good morning. An Air India plane bound for London Gatwick took off from Ahmedabad, India, at 1.38pm local time last Thursday. On board were 242 people. Within moments of takeoff, the airliner crashed, sending up a fireball of exploding jet fuel.

Initial reports suggested all passengers and crew had perished. Then, miraculously, there was one survivor – a British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who while badly injured was able to walk out of the wreckage by himself. Ramesh, who was returning to his family in London, told the Hindustan Times: “I don’t know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me … I walked out of the rubble.”

Middle East | Israel and Iran broadened their strikes against each other in an escalating war that has killed and injured hundreds of people. Donald Trump called for an end to the conflict and warned Tehran against striking US targets in the region.

UK news | The government’s welfare plans have to be pushed through, Keir Starmer has said, indicating that there will be no further concessions over cuts to disability benefits.

UK news | Thousands of university students in the UK have been caught misusing ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools in recent years, while traditional forms of plagiarism show a marked decline.

UK news | China and Russia are stepping up sabotage operations targeting undersea cables and the UK is unprepared to meet the mounting threat, according to new analysis.

Greenland | Emmanuel Macron has criticised Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland as he became the first foreign head of state to visit the vast, mineral-rich Arctic territory since the US president began making explicit threats to annex it.

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‘We needed somewhere to mourn’: Indians in London keep vigil for victims of air disaster

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Gujarati communities in the capital gather to commemorate more than 270 victims who died in Ahmedabad air crash

As the late afternoon sun streamed into a small square behind the Indian High Commission in London on Sunday, a crowd of 200 people gathered for a vigil – one of several held around the UK this weekend to remember those who died in the Air India disaster.

Candles were placed beneath a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru and attenders listened to inter-faith leaders and members from the Gujarati community who had come to reflect on a shocking week of loss.

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Canada and India to share terrorism intelligence despite 2023 murder plot, says report

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Accord comes as Mark Carney seeks shift in Ottawa’s relationship with New Delhi after long diplomatic spat

Canada and India plan to share intelligence in an effort to combat the rising threat of international crime and extremism, according to a new report from Bloomberg, days before a meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

Canadian officials declined to comment on the report, which, if confirmed, would represent a dramatic shift in relations between the two countries which for nearly two years have been locked in a bitter diplomatic spat after Canada’s federal police agency concluded that India planned and ordered the murder a prominent Sikh activist on Canadian soil.

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India to send first astronaut on mission to International Space Station

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Shubhanshu Shukla will be first Indian to reach orbit in more than 40 years as country works to join global space race

The first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station is due to blast off as part of an effort by the world’s most populous nation to catch up with the US, Russia and China in human space flight missions.

Shubhanshu Shukla, a 39-year-old air force fighter pilot, is one of a four-person mission launching on Tuesday from the US with the private company Axiom Space, which is using a SpaceX capsule.

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Tulip Siddiq requests meeting with Bangladeshi leader over corruption allegation

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Ex-minister wants to clear up ‘misunderstanding’ over accusation she benefitted from regime of her aunt, ousted Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina

The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has asked to meet Bangladesh’s leader during his London visit to clear up a “misunderstanding” after corruption allegations made by his administration led her to resign from the UK government.

Siddiq, whose aunt Sheikh Hasina was put on trial in absentia last week over crimes against humanity during her 15 years as prime minister, has been accused of benefitting from the former regime by the authorities in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

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Trump travel ban comes as little surprise amid barrage of draconian restrictions

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President had cued up ban in January order and, despite exemptions, policy will separate families and harm people fleeing crises

Donald Trump’s first travel ban in 2017 had an immediate, explosive impact – spawning chaos at airports nationwide.

This time around, the panic and chaos was already widespread by the time the president signed his proclamation Wednesday to fully or partially restrict foreign nationals from 19 countries from entering the United States.

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Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say

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Incident next to Gujarat border occurs weeks after four-day conflict between countries

Indian border troops have shot dead a Pakistani man they say crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged.

The shooting occurred two weeks after conflict erupted between the two nuclear-armed countries that led to four days of violence and more than 70 people being killed before a ceasefire was agreed.

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Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say

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Incident next to Gujarat border occurs weeks after four-day conflict between countries

Indian border troops have shot dead a Pakistani man they say crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged.

The shooting occurred two weeks after conflict erupted between the two nuclear-armed countries that led to four days of violence and more than 70 people being killed before a ceasefire was agreed.

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