Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Delhi chief minister to be held for six days after arrest on corruption charges

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Judge says Arvind Kejriwal can be held until next Thursday, as his party’s leaders condemn accusations as politically motivated

An Indian court has ruled that Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, will be kept in custody for six days after his dramatic arrest on corruption charges.

Kejriwal, the top elected official for the Indian capital, was taken in by police on Thursday night as part of an investigation into an alleged scam involving kickbacks for alcohol licensing deals.

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Everest climbers prepare to pick up their own poo as season gets under way

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Authorities are now mandating that climbers remove their waste from the mountain using biodegradable bags

It’s one of the more unedifying challenges involved in scaling to the highest point on Earth – how best to relieve oneself in the freezing, inhospitable environment of Mount Everest.

That question is about to become slightly more complicated as climbers prepare for a change in protocol when the season gets under way next month, with a new rule about removing their own faeces as they trek up and down the mountain.

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Indian opposition claim ‘conspiracy’ as Delhi chief minister arrested

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Aam Aadmi party leader Arvind Kejriwal is held as part of corruption case a month before elections

Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, has been arrested in a corruption case, a move condemned by his party as a “conspiracy” by Narendra Modi’s government to target the opposition before next month’s elections.

Kejriwal, who is the leader of the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) and has been Delhi’s chief minister since 2015, was arrested at his home on Thursday night by a dozen officers from the enforcement directorate (ED), an investigating agency under central government control.

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Dozens of Rohingya refugees rescued from overturned boat in Indian Ocean

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Soaked survivors clung to hull overnight before being taken to safety by Indonesian rescue team

Dozens of Rohingya refugees have been rescued from the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia after spending the night balanced on the hull of their overturned boat.

Seventy-five people were pulled from the stricken vessel, which was spotted on Thursday by an Indonesian search and rescue ship.

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Auction of Aung San Suu Kyi’s home in Myanmar attracts no bidders

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Home being sold after supreme court ruling in dispute with Aung San Suu Kyi’s estranged brother, with the price reportedly set at tens of millions of dollars

No bidders have appeared at an auction in Myanmar for the sale of the home of jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for which the starting price was reported to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

The family property on Yangon’s Inye Lake was up for auction by order of the supreme court, after a years-long legal battle between Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 coup, and her estranged brother Aung San Oo.

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Star wars: Sri Lanka’s powerful astrologers split over auspicious dates

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Group employed by government divided for first time over best date for new year rituals

Sri Lanka’s government-backed traditional astrologers have failed to unanimously agree on the best date for new year rituals, with squabbling seers warning of “disaster” and accusing rivals of misinterpreting the position of stars.

Astrologers are hugely influential figures consulted by the island’s Buddhist and Hindu communities, and their advice for auspicious dates guides everything from marriages to business deals – and even national elections.

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Global eradication of polio ‘tantalisingly close’ with UK urged to keep up funding

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After no reported cases of wild polio for 19 weeks, vaccination efforts boosted at last endemic spots in Pakistan and Afghanistan

The world is “tantalisingly close” to eradicating polio – with no confirmed cases of wild polio anywhere so far this year. But experts warn that vaccination efforts – and funding – must not falter if the world is to rid itself of a human infectious disease for the second time in history, after smallpox.

There have been no reported cases of wild polio infection in people for the last 19 weeks. Figures from the World Health Organization reveal that the last confirmed cases were on the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan in October and September 2023 respectively; these are the last nations on Earth where polio is endemic.

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India to hold world’s biggest election in seven stages from April

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Modi favourite to win third term in largest democratic exercise in history held across six weeks

India is to hold a national election in April it has been announced, in what will be the world’s largest election with nearly a billion people eligible to vote.

Many consider Modi’s re-election a foregone conclusion, owing to both the premier’s robust popularity a decade after taking office and a glaringly uneven playing field.

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Five killed in attack on Pakistan military post near Afghan border

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Unnamed militant group drove vehicle laden with explosives into post and detonated suicide bombs

Militants have attacked a military post in Pakistan near Afghanistan using a vehicle laden with explosives, killing five security force members, Pakistan’s military said.

The incident in north-west Pakistan was carried out by six attackers, the military’s media wing said in a statement, without naming the militant group responsible for the attack.

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Narendra Modi’s BJP given £570m under scheme allowing anonymous donations

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Party of Indian prime minister was by far biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds, which were struck down as unconstitutional

India’s election commission has published details of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of political donations, exposing how much prime minister Narendra Modi’s party benefited from a controversial financing scheme.

According to the data that was released, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) received more than 60bn rupees (£570m) in donations through a scheme known as electoral bonds, which the Modi government introduced in 2017.

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India blocks access to documentary about death of Sikh activist in Canada

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CBC aired an investigation into the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing the Canadian government suspects India was behind

India has ordered prominent video-sharing platforms to block access to a new Canadian documentary probing the assassination of a prominent Sikh activist in Vancouver, in a move that highlights India’s mounting frustration with the allegations its government was behind the high-profile killing.

The request marks the second time in just over a year that India has sought to block a documentary critical of the Indian government or its leader, Narendra Modi. In 2023, India used emergency laws to block the distribution of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question.

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India enacts citizenship law criticised as ‘discriminatory’ to Muslims

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Citizenship amendment act grants Indian nationality to refugees who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist, but not Muslim

The Indian government has enacted a divisive citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims, just weeks before prime minister Narendra Modi heads into a general election.

The law, known as the citizenship amendment act (CAA), was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation proposed by the Modi government after it explicitly made religion the basis on which people could become Indian citizens.

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Asif Ali Zardari elected Pakistan president for second time

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Zardari played a key role in talks to form a coalition government after February’s disputed parliamentary election

Pakistan’s lawmakers have elected Asif Ali Zardari as the country’s president for the second time.

Zardari is the widower of the assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto and the father of the former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

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Weather tracker: Much of southern Australia on heatwave alert

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Adelaide region expected to be worst affected with average temperatures forecast to be up by 10C

Southern parts of Australia are expected to suffer a short heatwave starting on Friday and lasting until next Tuesday. The Adelaide region will be worst affected, with highs of about 36C anticipated in the city on Friday, which is 10C above the seasonal norm.

Daytime maximums are then set to remain above 35C until Tuesday, while minimum temperatures are not forecast to drop below 25C. This will be the longest March run of high temperatures in Adelaide in four years, with only one March day above 35C being recorded over this period.

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Narendra Modi visits Kashmir for first time since state’s autonomy stripped

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Thousands of police mobilised for Srinagar rally seen as Modi’s campaign event for elections

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has made his first visit to Kashmir since the government revoked the region’s autonomy in 2019, claiming the state was finally “breathing freely” despite allegations of systematic repression.

Thousands of police and paramilitary officers were mobilised before Modi’s first rally there for more than five years, held in the state’s largest city, Srinagar.

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UK negotiators fly to India in last-ditch effort to seal free-trade deal

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Exclusive: Team will try to resolve goods and services issues amid fears Delhi is holding out for a Labour government

British negotiators have flown to India in a last-ditch attempt to clinch a trade deal amid concerns that Narendra Modi’s administration intends to hold out for a Labour government.

A team of negotiators led by a senior civil servant flew out on Monday with a mandate to resolve the goods and services chapters, which are among the thorniest outstanding issues in the talks.

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Indian train drivers in crash that killed 14 were watching cricket, minister says

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Collision in Andhra Pradesh state in October took place as India played England during one-day World Cup

The drivers of a train that missed a signal and ploughed into another train, killing 14 people, were distracted because they were watching cricket on a phone, India’s railways minister has said.

The fatal collision in Andhra Pradesh state in October took place as hosts India played England during the one-day World Cup.

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Shehbaz Sharif elected as prime minister of Pakistan

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Nominated candidate of eight-party coalition takes office after gathering of national assembly

Shehbaz Sharif has been appointed prime minister of Pakistan after a vote that was riddled with allegations of rigging and irregularities.

Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) party, was the nominated candidate of a new eight-party coalition that was formed after no single party managed to win an outright majority in the election on 8 February.

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‘Why are you asleep?’ Rahul Gandhi pleads with India’s low castes to vote out Modi

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On his 4,000-mile march across the country, congressman tells voters to wake up to the vast gulf between them and the rich

His voice hoarse from all the speeches he had made during his 4,000-mile march across the breadth of India, Rahul Gandhi urged people at a rally in Uttar Pradesh state to think hard.

Specifically, to think hard about caste. “Are there any of you Dalits or other low castes in the judiciary?” the leading face of India’s opposition Congress party, asked the crowd. “Are any of you in the media? Do any of you own even one of India’s 200 top companies? Of the civil servant class which rules this country, are any of you among them?

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India confronts Google over Gemini AI tool’s ‘fascist Modi’ responses

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Junior minister accuses tech firm of violating country’s IT laws with ‘downright malicious’ answers

A response from Google’s AI platform suggesting that some experts believe the policies of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, polices to be “fascist” has provoked a confrontation between the company and the government.

The journalist Arnab Ray last week put the question as to whether Modi was a fascist to Google’s generative AI platform, Gemini. He received the answer that Modi was “accused of implementing policies some experts have characterized as fascist”.

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