Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Four of six aboard private jet survive crash in Afghanistan

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Rescue teams find charter ambulance flight from Thailand to Moscow after it disappeared from radar screens

Four people are reported to have survived after a private jet carrying out a medical evacuation from Thailand to Russia disappeared from radar screens and crashed in a remote and mountainous area of north-eastern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Russian aviation authorities said two passengers and four crew members were onboard the charter ambulance flight, which was travelling from Utapao airport, near Pattaya, to Moscow via India and Uzbekistan.

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Seemingly disparate Middle East conflicts show collective erosion of self-restraint

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As pockets of war multiply across region so does the risk that conflict becomes more contagious and intractable

On Thursday morning the Iranian news website Entekhab ran, without irony, the headline: “Taliban call on Pakistan and Iran to show restraint and urge both sides to settle differences through diplomatic means”.

If proof were needed that a new, more dangerous world order may be upon us, the Taliban cast in the role of advocates for restraint seems conclusive.

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Tata Steel to shut down Port Talbot blast furnaces, putting 3,000 jobs at risk

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Firm rejects union plan, leaving UK on course to become only major economy unable to make steel from scratch

The owners of Port Talbot steelworks have rejected a trade union plan designed to keep its blast furnaces running, putting nearly 3,000 jobs at risk and leaving the UK on course to become the only major economy unable to make steel from scratch.

In what one union said would be a “crushing blow” to workers and UK steelmaking, Port Talbot’s parent company, the Indian-owned Tata Steel, told workers’ representatives that it could no longer afford to continue production at the loss-making plant in south Wales while it completed a four-year transition plan to greener production.

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Pakistan hits separatist ‘hideouts’ in retaliatory strikes against Iran

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Drone and missile attacks in Sistan and Balochistan province come after Iran struck sites inside Pakistan

Pakistan has launched retaliatory strikes against militants in Iran in response to attacks by Tehran that targeted sites within Pakistan’s borders, heightening fears of further instability across the Middle East and surrounding region.

A statement by Pakistan’s foreign office early on Thursday said it had undertaken “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts” in the Sistan and Balochistan province of Iran, adding that “a number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation”.

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Climate crisis to increase cancer risk for tens of millions of people in Bangladesh

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Scientists say sea level rises, flooding and extreme weather will accelerate release of arsenic into water supply

Climate breakdown will put tens of millions of people in Bangladesh at heightened risk of cancer from contaminated well water, according to research.

Sea level rises, unpredictable flooding and extreme weather caused by the climate heating up will accelerate the release of dangerous levels of arsenic into the country’s drinking water, say scientists.

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Iran hails strikes in Pakistan as it is warned of ‘serious consequences’

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Iran claims attack in south-west Balochistan province destroyed two strongholds of Sunni militant group

Iranian military officials were hailing one of the biggest projections of force in its recent history as Pakistan warned Tehran of “serious consequences” to a “completely unacceptable” attack in Pakistan’s Balochistan that left six dead or injured including two children.

Iran said its attack mounted on Tuesday using “precision missile and drone strikes”, destroyed two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in the Koh-e-Sabz area of Pakistan’s south-west Balochistan province.

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Iran strikes ‘militant bases’ in Pakistan in latest Middle East flashpoint

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Pakistan says attacks killed two children in ‘unprovoked violation’ of its airspace, adding to regional instability sparked by Israel-Gaza war

Iran has launched airstrikes on Pakistan territory, apparently aimed at a Sunni militant group, in the latest sign of a wave of violence rolling across the Middle East and beyond.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said two children were killed and three others were injured in what it called an “illegal” airstrike, and summoned Tehran’s senior diplomat in Islamabad to protest against the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”. The ministry did not give more details of the strikes, but Pakistani social media accounts said missile and drone strikes had been aimed at the Balochistan province which lies along the 1,000km border between the two countries.

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Pakistan: Imran Khan’s party loses cricket bat electoral symbol

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Supreme court ruling is latest setback for jailed leader before general election

Pakistan’s supreme court has rejected an attempt by the party of the former prime minister Imran Khan to retain its traditional electoral symbol of a cricket bat, in the latest setback for the jailed leader before a general election.

Khan’s party, at odds with powerful army generals, has been grappling with a military-backed crackdown that has gathered pace before the vote due on 8 February. The party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleges the military is attempting to keep it out of the election race, a charge the army denies.

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Myanmar junta and armed rebels agree ceasefire

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China mediates truce that would halt months of conflict that has displaced half a million people in country’s north

Myanmar’s military and an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups have announced a China-mediated ceasefire after months of conflict that has posed the biggest threat to the junta since it seized power in 2021.

Fighting has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced more than half a million people since October, when the alliance launched an offensive against the junta.

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BAE Systems in line for potential windfall from Kazakhstan airline flotation

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Air Astana, which is 49% owned by the British defence firm, announces plans to float on London stock market

Kazakhstan’s national airline has announced plans to float on the London stock market, bringing a potential windfall to BAE Systems, which has been an investor for more than two decades.

Air Astana, which is 49% owned by the British defence company, hopes to list in London and Kazakhstan and raise $120m (£94m). The airline, which is majority owned by the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund, did not say how much of the company would be floated and is yet to confirm an expected valuation range.

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Netflix pulls Indian film after backlash from rightwing Hindu groups

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Annapoorani: the Goddess of Food criticised for depiction of deity and member of vegetarian caste cooking and eating meat

Netflix is embroiled in a backlash in India from rightwing Hindu groups over a film accused of offending religious sentiments for its depiction of a deity and a member of a traditionally vegetarian caste cooking and eating meat.

Annapoorani: the Goddess of Food, a film made in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, tells the story of a young woman of the privileged Brahmin caste, whose father cooks food in a Hindu temple, and her aspirations to become one of India’s best chefs.

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Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns

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Human Rights Watch’s annual report highlights politicians’ double standards and ‘transactional diplomacy’ amid escalating crises

Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.

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Afghan girls detained and lashed by Taliban for violating hijab rules

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Girls as young as 16 arrested in shops, classes and markets in Kabul by the Taliban, who labelled them ‘infidels’ for wearing ‘bad hijab’

Girls as young as 16 have been arrested across the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the past week for violating the Taliban’s hijab rules.

The girls – who were detained in shopping centres, classes and street markets – were accused of “spreading and encouraging others to wear a bad hijab” and wearing makeup.

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Modi trip to Indian islands prompts Maldives row

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Maldivian envoy summoned and flights suspended after insults about Indian PM’s visit to Lakshadweep islands

A row has erupted between India and the Maldives after the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, visited the Indian islands of Lakshadweep to promote tourism.

The visit was perceived by some in the Maldives as an attempt to draw tourists away from the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism.

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Hasina wins fifth term as Bangladesh PM after opposition boycotts vote

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Turnout reportedly as low as 40% after opposition party called general strike over ‘sham election’

Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has won office for a fifth term, in an election that was overshadowed by a ruthless crackdown on the opposition and low voter turnout.

The election commission announced in the early hours of Monday that Hasina’s ruling Awami League had won a fourth consecutive term, winning almost 75% of the seats. It will be her fifth term as prime minister as she had previously ruled between 1996 and 2001, before coming back to power in 2009.

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Polls open in Bangladesh election guaranteed to hand Sheikh Hasina a fifth term

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Already decimated by mass arrests, opposition parties have boycotted the ‘sham’ election, which will give victory to the ruling Awami League

Bangladesh began voting on Sunday in an election guaranteed to give a fifth term in office to rime minister Sheikh Hasina, after a boycott led by an opposition party she branded a “terrorist organisation”.

Hasina has presided over exceptional economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless opposition crackdown.

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Bangladesh: polling booths set alight on eve of general elections

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Four people also killed in suspected arson attack on a train, which police say was aimed at scaring people before vote

Polling booths have been set on fire in Bangladesh on the eve of general elections.

On Friday four people, including two children, died in an apparent arson attack on a train in Bangladesh. Police said they had arrested seven people in connection with the incident.

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Aditya-L1: India’s solar mission reaches sun’s orbit

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After four-month journey, Aditya-L1 will measure and observe sun’s outermost layers

India’s solar observation mission has entered the sun’s orbit after a four-month journey, the latest success for the space exploration ambitions of the world’s most populous country.

The Aditya-L1 mission was launched in September and is carrying an array of instruments to measure and observe the sun’s outermost layers.

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Nepal bans citizens from working in Russia or Ukraine after deaths in military

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Work permits to leave Nepal for those countries halted as 10 men killed and dozens more reported missing

The government of Nepal has banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for employment after 10 young men were killed and dozens more reported missing while fighting, predominately in the Russian military.

More than 200 Nepali soldiers are believed to have enlisted in the Russian army since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Nepal’s foreign ministry had said, and more than 100 of them have gone missing. A smaller number are believed to be fighting in the Ukrainian army.

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Bangladesh election: Sheikh Hasina expected to win fourth term amid opposition boycott

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The election has been branded a ‘sham’ designed to cement Hasina’s rule by exiled opposition leader Tarique Rahman

An opposition boycott looks set to usher prime minister Sheikh Hasina to a fourth straight term in the Bangladesh election this weekend.

The election has been described as a “sham” designed to cement Hasina’s rule by exiled opposition leader Tarique Rahman.

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