Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Women’s health at risk from UK aid cuts, Foreign Office warned

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Thousands more women will be forced into unsafe abortions and die in pregnancy and childbirth, ministers told

Hundreds of thousands more women will face unsafe abortions and thousands will die in pregnancy and childbirth as a result of UK aid cuts in 2023-24, Foreign Office ministers were warned in an internal assessment.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) published its programme allocations for the next two years last month, showing that official development assistance (ODA) spend is due to rise marginally in 2023-24 and then increase by 12% in 2024-25 to £8.3bn.

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Aung San Suu Kyi given partial pardon by Myanmar junta

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Ousted leader granted clemency on five charges as part of amnesty but faces a further 14 cases

Myanmar’s junta has pardoned Aung San Suu Kyi on five legal charges, military-controlled TV has announced, although the deposed leader still faces more than two decades in detention.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by the military since 1 February 2021 when it ousted her democratically elected government. The 76-year-old has since been sentenced for multiple charges – including incitement, electoral fraud and corruption.

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Indian sanitation workers clean up with £1.2m lottery win

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An impulsive decision to collectively buy a single lottery ticket resulted in the friends from Kerala collectively hitting the jackpot

The 11 women had never felt luck was on their side. The friends, some in their 20s and others over 70, all struggled to make ends meet, earning only a small salary as they collected and segregated rubbish in their town of Parappanangadi, in the south Indian state of Kerala.

Yet this week, their fortunes changed. An impulsive decision to pool their small resources to collectively buy a single lottery ticket, at a cost of 250 rupees (£2.50) – the equivalent of a day’s wages – resulted in them collectively hitting the jackpot. This week, they found out they had won the monsoon bumper prize, worth 100m rupees (£1.2m).

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Myanmar junta extends state of emergency, forcing delay to elections

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Military-controlled government seemingly needs more time to organise new vote as it tackles protests and armed resistance

Myanmar’s military-controlled government has extended the state of emergency it imposed when the army seized power from an elected government in 2021, forcing a further delay in elections it promised when it took over.

MRTV television said the National Defense and Security Council met on Monday in the capital, Naypyidaw, and extended the state of emergency for another six months starting on Tuesday because time is needed to prepare for the elections. The NDSC is nominally a constitutional government body, but in practice is controlled by the military.

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Islamic State says it carried out Pakistan suicide bombing that killed 54

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Blast took place at political rally for a pro-Taliban party as country faces a rising tide of militant attacks

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 54 people in Pakistan, as the country battles a rising tide of militant attacks.

The bombing took place at a rally for a pro-Taliban party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan that has faced a rapidly declining security situation due to attacks from militant groups including the Pakistan Taliban and Islamic State’s regional affiliate.

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Pakistan police suspect Islamic State in bomb blast that killed at least 44

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Nearly 200 injured at gathering of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party ahead of elections expected later this year

At least 44 people have been killed and almost 200 injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that targeted a political party gathering.

Police said the explosion at a rally on Sunday afternoon for the conservative Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (JUI-F), a government coalition partner, was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting.

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Bangladesh police clash with protesters calling for PM to resign

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Officers use rubber bullets and teargas to disperse demonstrators blockading main roads into Dhaka

Bangladesh police have fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse stone-throwing crowds blockading main roads in the capital, Dhaka, in a protest demanding the prime minister’s resignation.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) and its allies have staged a series of protests since last year demanding that Sheikh Hasina step down and allow a caretaker government to oversee the elections that are scheduled for January next year.

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Baby dies after teargas fired at Rohingya trying to escape Indian detention centre

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Child’s death follows hunger strike at Jammu & Kashmir jail amid increasing hostility towards 40,000 refugees ahead of elections

A five-month-old girl has died after Indian forces fired teargas at Rohingya refugees trying to escape a detention centre where they have been held for more than two years.

Videos – sent to Rohingya activists by detainees at Hiranagar jail, now operating as a holding centre – appear to show women and men amid clouds of teargas. About 270 Rohingya detainees at the centre, in the Indian-administered territory of Jammu & Kashmir, have been on hunger strike since April over their detention.

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Female Afghan judge wins legal battle to come to UK

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‘Overjoyed’ justice and son, who spent two years in hiding in Pakistan, reunited with family after landmark case

A female Afghan judge who was in hiding in Pakistan after fleeing the Taliban has won a landmark right to sanctuary in the UK.

The 53-year-old judge, whose true identity cannot be disclosed due to security concerns but is referred to as Yosra, was granted the right to come to the UK after a long legal battle with the Home Office.

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Villagers say 14 killed as Myanmar violence flares

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Fighting increases in border states while junta continues to delay elections

Fighting between the Myanmar army and anti-junta rebels has flared up in recent days, with local people in one village saying on Saturday that 14 people were killed in a single raid.

Deadly violence has engulfed Myanmar since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February 2021 and unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent that has left thousands dead.

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Video of women attacked in Manipur breaks silence on systematic gang rapes in India

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Indians were shocked when social media exposed a mob abusing minority Kuki women. But similar incidents have been happening with impunity for months

As footage emerged last week of two women in the state of Manipur being forcibly stripped, paraded naked, publicly molested and allegedly gang raped, everyone from prime minister Narendra Modi to the chief justice of India publicly expressed their shock and disgust.

Breaking his long silence on the conflict that has been raging in Manipur for months, Modi declared that “what happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven” and that “the entire country has been shamed” by the attack.

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Barbie release delayed in Pakistan’s Punjab province over ‘objectionable content’

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Film being reviewed to ensure it is not violating the country’s social, cultural and religious values

The launch of the highly anticipated Hollywood movie Barbie has been delayed in Pakistan’s Punjab province over “objectionable content”.

Officials said the film would be reviewed and needed clearance from the provincial boards that censor scenes violating the country’s social, cultural and religious values.

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Manipur: why is there conflict and how is the government responding?

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As violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities continues in north-east India, campaigners criticise the authorities’ reaction and both sides warn of civil war

Manipur is a state in north-east India with a population of more than three million. It has been embroiled in an ethnic conflict since early May, fought between the majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki tribe.

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India’s ban on rice exports raises fear of global food price rises

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Attempt to curb domestic inflation behind country’s decision on non-basmati white rice

India has banned non-basmati white rice exports to curb domestic inflation, raising fears of further increases in global food prices just days after wheat and corn prices were sent climbing by Russia’s termination of a key grain deal.

The immediate ban, introduced after heavy rains hit domestic crops, follows the failure of a 20% duty on international exports introduced in September to curb foreign demand, which has soared after extreme climate conditions hit production in countries.

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India: four men arrested after women stripped naked and paraded in Manipur

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Police say further arrests expected as attack captured in viral video prompts nationwide outrage

Four men have been arrested in connection with the case of two women who were stripped naked, publicly paraded and allegedly gang raped in the Indian state of Manipur, in an attack that caused outrage after it was captured in a viral video.

The arrests took place on Thursday, a day after the footage of the assault prompted anger across India and was condemned by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the supreme court. The police said more arrests were expected soon.

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Modi speaks out after video of sexual assault on women in Manipur emerges

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Indian PM had been criticised for failing to talk about deadly ethnic conflict taking place in north-eastern state

The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has broken his months-long silence on the deadly ethnic conflict raging in the state of Manipur after a video emerged of women being stripped naked, paraded and assaulted before it is alleged they were gang raped.

Outrage erupted across India after footage was circulated from Manipur of two women from the minority Kuki tribe being forcibly stripped naked by a mob of the majority Meitei tribal group who can be heard shouting: “If you don’t take off your clothes, we’ll kill you.” The women are then publicly groped and dragged to a field, where it is alleged they were gang raped.

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Indian opposition unites in attempt to oust Narendra Modi

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Leaders put aside personality clashes and ideological differences to form coalition to take on PM

Leaders of 26 opposition political parties in India have united to form an alliance in an attempt to oust the country’s populist prime minister, Narendra Modi, in next year’s general election.

During a conclave of opposition parties held this week, it was decided that the coalition will be called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance: otherwise known as INDIA.

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Sexual violence is junta’s ‘modus operandi’, Myanmar activist tells UN

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People are united to end military dictatorship but international support is needed, Naw Hser Hser says

The crisis in Myanmar should be referred to the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including widespread sexual violence, an open session at the UN security council will be told.

Naw Hser Hser, the first Myanmar human rights defender to brief council members in an open session since the 2021 coup, will also call for greater action to cut crucial supplies of arms and finances to the military junta.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Indian rocket blasts into space on historic moon mission

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Chandrayaan-3 launches from island in southern India in follow-up to failed effort four years ago

An Indian spacecraft has blazed its way towards the far side of the moon in a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface, India’s space agency said.

Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in Sanskrit, took off from a launch pad in Sriharikota, an island in southern India, with an orbiter, a lander and a rover, in a demonstration of India’s emerging space technology. The spacecraft will embark on a journey lasting slightly over a month before landing on the moon’s surface later in August.

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India readies historic moon mission as it seeks to cement position as a space power

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The Chandrayaan-3 is set to blast off from a spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh

India’s space agency has made final preparations for the launch of a rocket that will attempt to land a rover on the moon and mark the country’s arrival as a power in space exploration.

Only the United States, the former Soviet Union and China have made successful lunar landings. An attempt by a Japanese start-up earlier this year ended with the lander crashing.

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