India set to withdraw Kashmir’s special status and split it in two

Move to split disputed state follows security crackdown and detention of politicians

India is set to withdraw the special status of the disputed territory of Kashmir and split the state in two, in a move likely to face major resistance in the Muslim-majority state and escalate tensions with Pakistan.

The proposal, which has been advocated by Hindu nationalists for decades, is the most radical change any government has suggested for Kashmir’s status since the region was granted autonomy in exchange for joining the Indian union after independence in 1947.

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Heightened security and anxiety in Kashmir amid fears of unrest

People queue for hours for petrol and cash, following evacuation of thousands of tourists and pilgrims

People across the Indian-administered side of Kashmir queued for hours outside petrol stations and cash machines on Sunday following a heightening of security measures that has prompted fears of unrest.

Thousands of tourists and Hindu pilgrims have been evacuated since Friday, after the Indian government cancelled the annual Amarnath Yatra, a 45-day pilgrimage to a Himalayan cave shrine. Officials said they had received intelligence suggesting an attack on pilgrimage routes, which 300,000 people have set out on since July.

Kashmir residents were told not to panic, though curfews and evacuations continued to be imposed on hospitals and educational institutions over the weekend. On Sunday evening mobile internet was cut across Kashmir valley.

Kashmir is claimed by India and Pakistan in full and ruled in part by both. An insurgency on the Indian-administered side has been ongoing for three decades, and tens of thousands of people have been killed.

The region in the foothills of the Himalayas has been under dispute since India and Pakistan came into being in 1947.

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Thousands of tourists flee Kashmir after security alert

India claims it killed five militants trying to attack its forces in disputed region

Tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and workers have begun leaving the disputed region of Kashmir after local officials issued a security alert and India said it had killed at least five militants who were trying to attack its forces.

The Foreign Office on Saturday issued new advice to avoid all travel to Jammu and Kashmir, adding: “There is a risk of unpredictable violence, including bombings, grenade attacks, shootings and kidnapping.”

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Activists scramble to prevent Uighur man’s deportation to China

Ablikim Yusuf, who had been living in Pakistan, faces detention and torture if he is sent to China, say supporters

Human rights activists are scrambling to prevent the imminent deportation of a Uighur man to China, where they say he faces torture.

Ablikim Yusuf, 53, who has been living in Pakistan, posted a desperate video on Facebook asking for help from the overseas Uighur community. He says in the video, translated and circulated by activists on Saturday: “I am currently being held in Doha airport, about to be deported to Beijing, China. I need the world’s help. I am originally from Hotan.”

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Indian boy, seven, found with 526 teeth inside his mouth

Teeth sized between 0.1mm to 3mm discovered in lower jaw of boy during surgery in Chennai

A seven-year-old boy who had suffered occasional toothache was found to have 526 teeth inside his jaw, according to surgeons in India.

The hundreds of teeth were found inside a sac that was nestled in the molar region of his lower jaw, following surgery carried out at the Saveetha dental college and hospital in Chennai.

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‘We’re not afraid to lead’: Myanmar’s displaced find a new voice

Fearful for their safety, many of the 241,000 people forced from their homes by conflict in Myanmar are reluctant to go back. Now campaigners are mobilising to resist organised returns

Bawk Nu Awng hasn’t been home since 2011. All three of the villages where she spent her childhood have been destroyed.

“War hit wherever my family lived,” she said. “I feel like it is my responsibility to engage in all matters related to peace.”

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Green shoots: Indian state introduces guns-for-trees scheme

Punjab residents must plant 10 trees to get a firearms licence – and send photos to prove it

Residents in a district of the Indian state of Punjab who want to buy a gun face an unlikely new hurdle: to secure a firearm licence, they must plant at least 10 trees.

Applicants in Ferozepur district are required to send photos of themselves with their saplings to officials, as well as follow-up pictures a month later to prove they are caring for their trees.

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Aftermath of deadly Pakistan military plane crash – video

Seventeen people have been killed after a small military plane crashed into a residential suburb of Rawalpindi in Pakistan. The crash caused a fireball that lit up the night sky and terrified residents of the garrison city that is home to the army’s headquarters. The Pakistani military said the plane was on a routine training mission

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Redesigning Delhi’s Champs Élysées: ‘It represents all that’s complex about urban India’

From heaving traffic and dense crowds to car-free and tranquil: that’s the vision for Chandni Chowk. But is it achievable?

The Champs Élysées is one of the most famous streets in the world, but you could say the French were beaten to it by the Mughals. About 15 years before the avenue was laid out in 1667 in Paris, India’s Mughal emperor Shah Jehan built a grand mile-long street in his capital to reflect the glory of the empire at its height.

It ran from Fatehpuri mosque at one end to the colossal Red Fort at the other and was lined with trees, elegant mansions, mosques and gardens. Provisions for the Red Fort, the imperial residence, were carried down the boulevard by elephants, camels and horse-drawn carriages.

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Pakistan military plane crash kills 17 in Rawalpindi suburb

Plane came down in poor district creating ‘huge explosion’ and fireball in the middle of the night

Seventeen people were killed when a small military plane crashed into a residential area in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, officials have said.

The crash created a fireball that lit up the night sky and terrified residents after the plane came down in a poor village in the garrison city that is home to the army’s headquarters.

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India’s strongman PM: Modi to appear on Bear Grylls’ Man vs Wild

Narendra Modi claims the programme will showcase India’s ‘beautiful mountains and mighty rivers’, in the latest in a string of choreographed media appearances

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will appear with Bear Grylls in a wilderness survival television programme, the latest in a series of Putin-style media appearances in which the 68-year-old leader projects himself as a man of action and a champion of the environment.

A trailer for the programme, Man vs Wild, which will air in India on 12 August, shows the two men cutting through forests, sniffing animal dung and floating down a river on a makeshift raft. In one scene, Modi holds an improvised spear and tells Grylls: “I’ll hold this for you.”

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Indian navy rescues more than 800 people from train stranded in floodwaters

Mahalaxmi Express stuck for about 12 hours near Mumbai when river burst its banks after torrential rain

Indian navy helicopters and emergency service boats came to the rescue of more than 800 people stranded on a train in floods near Mumbai on Saturday. Some reports have the number of people affected at over 1,000.

The Mahalaxmi Express left Mumbai late on Friday for Kolhapur but travelled only 60 kilometres (37 miles) before it became stranded after a river burst its banks in torrential rain, covering the tracks.

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Iran tanker standoff: Tehran releases nine crew of Mt Riah vessel

India urges Tehran to release remaining three crew of tanker seized on 13 July amid Middle East tensions

Iran has freed nine of 12 Indian crew members of MT Riah, a Panama-flagged tanker it seized this month as part of a growing diplomatic crisis in the Middle East, the Indian foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The MT Riah was detained by the Iranian coastguard on 13 July, with 12 Indian crew members on board, the Indian foreign ministry said, and appealed for the release of the remaining crew. No reason has been provided as to why the three are being held.

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Indian villagers beat tiger to death after attacks on locals

Mobile phone video of incident goes viral as one of nine people attacked dies of injuries

Indian police have arrested four people after a mob of villagers brutally beat to death a tiger that had attacked local people.

Mobile phone footage of the incident went viral on social media, and officials said one of nine people injured by the animal earlier had died in hospital.

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Bangladesh: eight lynched over false rumours of child sacrifices

Police use loudspeakers to counter online reports that children were being killed for bridge-building project

Eight people have been killed in vigilante lynchings in Bangladesh, sparked by rumours on social media of children being kidnapped and sacrificed as offerings for the construction of a mega-bridge, police said on Wednesday.

The victims – who include two women – were targeted by angry mobs over the rumours, spread mostly on Facebook, that said human heads were required for the massive $3bn project, police chief Javed Patwary said in Dhaka. “We have analysed every single case of these eight killings. Those who were killed by lynching mobs – no one was a child kidnapper.”

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Satellite images reveal scale of Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis

Myanmar appears unprepared for return of refugees who might be put in camps

Analysis of satellite imagery has cast further doubt on promises that arrangements are being made by Myanmar for the safe and humane return of Rohingya Muslims, and revealed that the destruction of their villages has continued.

Despite repeated assurances by the Myanmar government that it would repatriate the 700,000 Rohingya who fled over the border from Rakhine state after a military-led violent crackdown in August 2017 – violence described by the UN as having “genocidal intent” – the preparations for their return have been “minimal”, a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has found.

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Trump says he could win Afghan war and wipe country ‘off the face of the Earth’ – video

Donald Trump has said that he could win the Afghanistan war 'in a week' adding that the country 'could be wiped off the face of the Earth. I don’t want to go that route'. The president made the claim sitting alongside the Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan, who is seeking to have more than $1bn in US aid restored, after Trump cut it off last year blaming Islamabad for not doing enough to fight extremism. Trump said he would not do it because 'I just don't want to kill 10 million people'

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Trump says he could win Afghan war ‘in a week … but I don’t want to kill 10m’

  • President hosts Pakistani PM Imran Khan amid aid dispute
  • US pursues talks with Taliban with Islamabad’s cautious support

Donald Trump has said that he could win the Afghanistan war “in a week” but did not want to wipe the country “off the face of the Earth”.

At the same White House, the president also made a quixotic offer to mediate the longstanding Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, claiming the Indian government had invited to act as broker – a claim quickly denied in New Delhi.

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India’s Chandrayaan-2 moon mission lifts off a week after aborted launch

With first mission to land on lunar south pole, India aims to join club comprising Russia, US and China

India’s mission to the moon has blasted into space one week after a technical glitch forced scientists to abruptly halt its scheduled launch.

Thousands gathered to watch Chandrayaan-2 take off at 2.43pm local time (0913 GMT) on Monday from Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai.

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India launches mission to explore south pole of moon – video

India’s mission to the moon has blasted into space one week after a technical glitch forced scientists to abruptly halt its scheduled launch. Thousands gathered to watch Chandrayaan-2 take off on Monday from Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikota, north of Chennai. It will travel to the little-explored south pole of the moon

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