Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Factory that supplied Tesco compensated abused worker

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The woman was robbed and told if she protested she would be ‘killed and put in box’

A Bangladeshi factory that produces clothes for Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Mothercare was forced to compensate an “outspoken” female worker after she was beaten up on the orders of management and threatened with being murdered, the Guardian has learned.

The woman claimed to have been “severely beaten up” by security guards and the HR and compliance management at the factory, which is used by the brand Stanley/Stella. She said she was robbed of her severance pay and told that if she protested she would be “killed and her body put in a cardboard box”, an industry watchdog report that endorses her account states.

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Hopefuls pay out thousands of rupees to chase Gurkha glory in Nepal | Pete Pattisson

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Training academies – and unscrupulous agents – are cashing in on young men preparing for this month’s feared ‘doko race’ to secure a lucrative British army job

Long before the sun rises above the towering Himalayan peaks that overlook Pokhara in central Nepal, scores of young men gather in the dark on the edge of the town to train for the race of a lifetime.

At the starter’s signal, they charge off, first heaving a 25kg sack of sand into a “doko” wicker basket on their backs, and then starting a gruelling 5km race up the steep mountainside. Finish in less than 46 minutes and they have a chance to join the Gurkhas, the legendary brigade of the British army.

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Taliban kill ‘more than 100 people’ in attack on Afghan military base

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Attackers detonated car bomb inside complex in Maidan Wardak province, say officials

The Taliban have launched a major attack on an Afghan military compound in central Maidan Wardak province, officials have said, with some putting the death toll at more than 100 people.

Monday’s incident at a campus of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) is the latest in a series of deadly attacks in recent months by the Taliban, which has seized control of about half of Afghanistan.

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Revealed: Spice Girls T-shirts made in factory paying staff 35p an hour

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Workers producing tops sold to raise money for Comic Relief receive far below a living wage

Spice Girls T-shirts sold to raise money for Comic Relief’s “gender justice” campaign were made at a factory in Bangladesh where women earn the equivalent of 35p an hour during shifts in which they claim to be verbally abused and harassed, a Guardian investigation has found.

The charity tops, bearing the message “#IWannaBeASpiceGirl”, were produced by mostly female machinists who said they were forced to work up to 16 hours a day and called “daughters of prostitutes” by managers for not hitting targets.

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‘Inhuman conditions’: life in factory making Spice Girls T-shirts

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Staff at Bangladesh plant tell of fainting and abuse while sewing charity tops designed by group

Salma has never even heard of the Spice Girls. Her life, hunched over a sewing machine for up to 16 hours a day, is a world away from the luxuries enjoyed by the millionaire pop band.

But while neither knows it, Salma and the Spice Girls are connected. The factory where she has worked for more than five years, off a narrow, winding road three hours’ drive from Dhaka, is where charity T-shirts designed by the group were made.

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‘I have lost my wallet and brother’: reuniting at Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest festival

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As an estimated 15m Hindus gather at convergence of holy rivers in India, the huge lost-and-found centres go digital

Day and night, through crackling loudspeakers, the announcements ring out. “It is Babu speaking,” says a shrill voice. “I have lost my wallet and brother. Please come here the moment you hear this.”

“Lal Ram is here,” a woman says a few times. “Come and collect him from the yellow tower.”

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‘Example to the world’: Sri Lanka president plans to copy Duterte’s war on drugs

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President Maithripala Sirisena praises Philippines over policy that has led to thousands of extrajudicial killings

Sri Lanka’s president has praised his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, which has taken thousands of lives, calling it an “example to the world”.

In a speech during a visit to the Philippines this week, Maithripala Sirisena said he intended to replicate Duterte’s ruthless approach to tackling illegal drug use.

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‘A three-generation project’: riverside development divides Indian city

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The next 15 megacities #6: New facilities by the Sabarmati will provide Ahmedabad with much-needed public space, but at what cost?

As the sun dips below the horizon, young lovers make themselves more comfortable on benches overlooking the Sabarmati river. Walkers stroll along the concrete promenades, and mothers enjoy a moment of respite under newly planted saplings while their children play in the adjoining gardens.

Few Ahmedabad residents could have imagined this scene a couple of decades ago. Back then the Gujarati city’s tidal river banks were lined with slum housing – precariously constructed on land polluted by industrial effluent and untreated sewage, and home to some of the most marginalised communities in the city.

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Justin Trudeau lookalike found in Afghan talent show

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Wedding singer Abdul Salam Maftoon was called the Canadian prime minister’s ‘lost twin’ after appearing on Afghan Star

An Afghan talent show contestant’s striking resemblance to Justin Trudeau has turned him into an unlikely celebrity in the war-torn country.

Abdul Salam Maftoon, a wedding singer from a village in the remote and impoverished northeastern province of Badakhshan, had never even heard of his more famous doppelganger until a judge on the popular television music contest Afghan Star pointed out the uncanny likeness.

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Destroy ‘period huts’ or forget state support: Nepal moves to end practice

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After the custom of consigning menstruating women to outdoor sheds claimed three more lives, a new system of penalties offers hope of change

Chhaupadi, the practice of banishing girls and women to a hut or shed when they have their periods, is common in Dilu Bhandari’s village in Nepal.

But two months ago Bhandari, a 26-year-old mother of four, watched as her husband destroyed the tiny hut in which she had previously been sent to live once a month. The family had been told by local authorities that if she continued to observe the custom, they would no longer receive state food support. Forced to choose between a food allowance for her twin boys and abandoning the traditional practice, the choice was effectively made for them.

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The Indian village where child sexual exploitation is the norm

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Poverty and caste discrimination mean that children in Sagar Gram are being groomed by their own families for abuse

Many families in India still mourn the birth of a girl. But when Leena was born, people celebrated.

Sagar Gram, her village in central India, is unique that way. Girls outnumber boys. When a woman marries, it is the groom’s family that pays the dowry. Women are Sagar Gram’s breadwinners. When they are deemed old enough, perhaps at the age of 11, most are expected to start doing sex work.

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Bangladesh strikes: thousands of garment workers clash with police over poor pay

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Dozens of factories have closed after more than a week of protests in which one person has died

Thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh who make clothes for top global brands have clashed with police as strike action over low wages entered a second week.

Police said water cannon and tear gas were fired on Sunday to disperse huge crowds of striking factory workers in Savar, a garment hub just outside the capital, Dhaka.

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Afghanistan bucks global trend with sharp rise in civilian casualties

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Number of innocent people killed or maimed in Afghan war rises 36% despite overall fall in casualties worldwide

Civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan from explosive weapons rose by more than a third last year, against a downward trend globally, according to a survey seen by the Guardian.

Most of the 4,260 civilians killed or injured in explosions in the country in 2018 – up from 3,119 in 2017 – were victims of suicide attacks, found a report by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

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Reuters journalists to remain in Myanmar jail after losing appeal

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Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo jailed for seven years for breaching country’s Official Secrets Act

The two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting on the violence against the Rohingya in Rahkine state have lost their appeal, with the court upholding their guilty verdict and lengthy prison sentences.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had each been handed prison sentences of seven years in June after they were found guilty of breaching the country’s Official Secrets Act after it was claimed they were in possession of classified documents.

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India: teenage girl murdered and mutilated by family for eloping, say police

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Girl killed with help of a butcher friend, say police in Bihar in so-called ‘honour killing’

Police in eastern India say a teenager who was found dead this week with her body dismembered and mutilated was murdered by her family in a so-called “honour” killing.

The body of the 16-year old from Gaya, a city in Bihar state, was discovered on Sunday. Pictures of her mutilated remains were widely shared on social media along with claims she had been doused in acid, sparking protests and candlelit vigils in the city.

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Mother and two boys suffocate in Nepal’s latest ‘period hut’ tragedy

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Practice of banishing women to small outbuildings during periods claims further victims despite country declaring practice illegal

A woman and her two sons have suffocated to death in a windowless shed to which they were banished in the latest tragedy linked to the illegal practice of chhaupadi, whereby women in Nepal are forced to sleep in “period huts”.

Police said Amba Bohara, 35, had spent four days in the cowshed with her sons Ramit, nine, and Suresh, 12, when her father-in-law discovered their bodies on Wednesday morning.

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India’s sick left out in the cold as New Delhi’s top hospital struggles to cope

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Patients awaiting treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Science are living in tents and on pavements for months at a time as the centre reels under the weight of demand

The night-time cold in New Delhi is biting. As the temperature plunges, Alam Ansari’s twin daughters, born prematurely, have only their parents’ body heat to keep them warm while they huddle in a crowded tent on the road outside the capital’s top hospital.

They are not alone. Each day, about 8,000 people from across the country queue outside the outpatients department for treatment. Mainly from poorer backgrounds, they sleep in tents or on the ground.

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India outcry after scientists claim ancient Hindus invented stem cell research

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The organisers of a major Indian science conference said they were concerned by speakers citing religious texts and ideas at the event

The organisers of a major Indian science conference distanced themselves on Sunday from speakers who used the prestigious event to dismiss Einstein’s discoveries and claim ancient Hindus invented stem cell research.

The Indian Scientific Congress Association expressed “serious concern” as the unorthodox remarks aired by prominent academics at its annual conference attracted condemnation and ridicule.

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Indian PM lampooned for ‘manufactured’ interview

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Narendra Modi accused of being afraid of media after rare interview that failed to ask tough questions

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been accused of being afraid of the media, after consenting to a rare interview – just one of a handful in four years as PM – on New Year’s Day in which he answered a range of questions that critics compared to “free-hit deliveries” in cricket.

Related: India: world's biggest election has suddenly become competitive

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