Pakistani PM in Washington seeking concessions on military aid and sanctions
Imran Khan will meet Donald Trump on his first visit to Washington as Pakistan’s prime minister, burdened by the task of trying to mend relations mired in mutual distrust and restoring financial support cut off by the US president.
The US has suspended most of its military aid, worth $300m (£240m), after Trump accused Pakistan of not doing enough to fight extremism.
Continue reading...Foreign affairs minister defends controversial proposal as ‘only solution’ despite misgivings of human rights campaigners
The first Rohingya refugees could be relocated to an island in the next few months under controversial plans drawn up by the Bangladesh government, the country’s state minister of foreign affairs has said.
Some of the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar and are now living in camps in Cox’s Bazar will be relocated to the silt island of Bhasan Char in the estuary of Bangladesh’s Meghna river, accessible only by boat.
Continue reading...Steps are the strongest the country has taken in response to massacres of minority Rohingya in 2017
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has announced sanctions on the Myanmar military’s commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and other military leaders over extrajudicial killings of Rohingya Muslims, barring them from entry to the United States.
The steps, which also covered Min Aung Hlaing’s deputy, Soe Win, and two other senior commanders and their families, are the strongest the United States has taken in response to massacres of minority Rohingya in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Continue reading...Photographers from Sydney to Brasilia capture July’s stunning partial lunar eclipse
Stargazers around the world have enjoyed a view of a global lunar eclipse, delighting people from Dehli to Dublin.
The partial eclipse was visible in nearly every part of the world except for North America and the polar climes of Greenland and northern Russia.
Continue reading...Millions displaced in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, with Assam and Bihar among the worst-hit regions
More than 100 people have been killed and millions more affected by devastating floods and landslides across India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
In the Indian state of Assam, among the worst hit areas, agencies were working on a war footing to deal with the situation, the chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said.
Continue reading...Nation’s first attempt at a landing on the moon put on hold due to ‘technical snag’
India’s moon mission, destined for the uncharted south pole, has been put on hold less than an hour before take off, following a technical glitch.
The mission, which was scheduled to launch at 02:51 local time from Sriharikota space centre, north of Chennai, is India’s most ambitious to date.
Continue reading...The death toll in Nepal from flash floods and landslides in the past three days rose to 47 on Sunday, with dozens more injured or missing. Incessant monsoon rains have pounded many areas in the mountainous country, submerging large portions of land, inundating homes, and destroying bridges and roads across the country
Continue reading...With another 2.5 billion urban dwellers predicted within the next 30 years, should we expand existing cities? Or is there a case for starting afresh?
People have been building new cities from scratch for millennia. From the foundation myths surrounding Athens and Rome, to the clearance of virgin forests in western New York state to create the “garden city” of Buffalo, to scores of purpose-built capitals – Brasília, Canberra, Astana, Washington DC – building new cities is just something that humans do.
When countries rise up, when markets emerge, people build new cities. Today, though, we are taking it to unheard-of levels. We have never before built so many new cities in so many places at such great expense as we are right now.
Continue reading...Restaurant tycoon P Rajagopal turns himself in after losing last-ditch attempt to avoid jail
The trailblazing Indian founder of a global restaurant chain has surrendered to a court after losing a last-ditch attempt to avoid a life sentence for murdering a love rival.
P Rajagopal rose from rags to riches to create the Saravana Bhavan chain, which has more than 80 restaurants in India and around the world, including London, New York, Singapore, Sydney and Stockholm.
Continue reading...Aid worker Peter Dalglish, 62, sentenced for abusing two boys, aged 12 and 14
A former United Nations official has been jailed for sexually abusing children in Nepal after a trial that underscored the country’s growing appeal for foreign paedophiles.
Peter John Dalglish, 62, a high-profile humanitarian worker from Canada, was sentenced on Monday to two separate terms of nine years and seven years after being convicted last month.
Continue reading...Proposal could provide cheaper funding for charities, says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but critics warn against greater government control of welfare projects
India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has called for the creation of a “social stock exchange”, allowing ethically minded investors to buy stakes in social enterprises, volunteer groups and welfare organisations.
The proposal would be a radical experiment in a country characterised by stark inequality and rapid economic growth.
Continue reading...Stolen artefacts likely removed by Taliban will go on display before being sent to Kabul
Fourth-century Buddhist terracotta heads probably hacked off by the Taliban and found stuffed in poorly made wooden crates at Heathrow are to be returned to Afghanistan where they will be star museum exhibits.
The British Museum gave details on Monday of one of the most significant repatriation cases it has dealt with relating to the illegal looting of artefacts from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Continue reading...Bahria Town promises Pakistan’s middle classes respite from traffic, terror attacks and blackouts – local villagers are fighting to be heard by developers
Fronted by a dramatic gated arch, its roads fringed with neatly trimmed hedges, palm trees and lush grass, Bahria Town bears little resemblance to the urban chaos of nearby Karachi.
The economic heart of Pakistan is an overcrowded and often violent megacity with an official population of 15 million (closer to 20 million if the urban sprawl beyond the city perimeter is included). Infrastructure has not kept pace with its rapid expansion, and basic amenities such as water have become a commodity for criminal gangs. The city is also an organisational centre for the Pakistani Taliban, who attacked the airport in 2014.
Continue reading...Construction of a fence along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, one of the world’s most dangerous crossings, is splintering families while failing to halt the flow of smugglers and terrorists
Keramat used to visit her sons all the time, crossing the border between her home in Afghanistan’s Kunar province into Pakistan, where they live and work.
But a fence built to mark a border between the two countries, which has not been recognised by the Afghan government, has made the 55-year-old’s journey much longer, and more bureaucratic.
Continue reading...Two Mumbai athletes are converting old footwear into flip-flops for unshod schoolchildren
In the vast Indian interior, it is not unusual to see shoeless infants – whether walking barefoot to school or hopping around on makeshift sports pitches. Injuries are common and lead to infections such as hookworm and elephantiasis.
More than 250 million Indians live below the poverty line and footwear is usually a luxury. Tens of millions of children have no shoes. (By contrast, roughly 300m pairs of shoes are discarded in the US every year).
Continue reading...The trial of Joshua Boyle, the former hostage of a Taliban-linked group in Afghanistan who was accused of violence against his wife, has resumed after the court ruled it would hear testimony about the couple’s sexual history.
Boyle was arrested at the couple’s former Ottawa apartment on New Year’s Eve 2017, just two months after he and Caitlan Coleman were released from five years of Taliban captivity.
Continue reading...Teams of women and girls are among numerous cycle groups increasingly to be seen on the streets of the frenetic Pakistan megacity
Early on Sunday morning in Karachi, a group of girls are riding loops around an empty stretch of road outside the colonial-era Custom House. At 6am they left the narrow alleys of the old neighbourhood of Lyari, branded a war zone by national and international media after a lengthy and brutal gang conflict. Two hours later they are still happily pedalling away, in ballet slippers and with headscarves tucked under helmets.
“I used to cycle alone,” says Gullu Badar, 15. “It’s nice to cycle here because there’s no danger, no cars. It feels good that there are other girls cycling with me too.”
Continue reading...Relatives say more than 30 people stuck at sea told to go home or lose food and water
More than 30 migrants from Bangladesh who were trapped on a merchant ship off Tunisia for three weeks have been sent back to their home country against their will, according to relatives.
They were among 75 migrants rescued on 31 May by the Maridive 601, an Egyptian tugboat that services offshore oil platforms, only to spend the next 20 days at sea near the Tunisian coast.
Continue reading...Visa decision overturned for British resident Nina Saleh, 48 hours after Guardian and others published her story
A woman who was refused a visa to return to London after travelling to Pakistan to adopt a baby has been told she can come home.
Nina Saleh has a Norwegian passport but full UK residency rights after living in London for 20 years. She was refused a visa to return home with baby Sofia three times, despite going through a stringent and lengthy adoption process in the UK with British authorities’ involvement.
Continue reading...As a politics student, Sonakshi Dogra has given the bold new plan by the Delhi government to let all women ride free on the metro and buses a thorough going-over. “It’s ridiculous. Why favour women this way? What about male students and working men? Women can’t ask for gender equality and then support inequality on public transport,” she said firmly.
Dogra was about to enter Ashram metro station with three male friends, also students at the same university. They spend about 4,000 rupees (£45) each a month on transport.
Continue reading...