Category Archives: South and Central Asia

India and Russia in ‘advanced talks’ over free trade agreement

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Deal would build closer economic ties as most western states push to isolate Moscow over Ukraine

India and Russia have entered “advanced negotiations” over a free trade agreement that aims to build closer economic ties as most western governments push to isolate Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

In a development likely to add to tensions in Washington, London and EU capitals, Russia and India’s trade ministers said on Monday the two countries were in talks to strike a free trade deal.

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UN ready for ‘heartbreaking’ decision to pull out of Afghanistan

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Officials say it will leave in May if Taliban cannot be persuaded to let local women work for organisation

The UN is ready to take the “heartbreaking” decision to pull out of Afghanistan in May if it cannot persuade the Taliban to let local women work for the organisation, officials have said.

The warning comes after UN officials spent months negotiating with the group’s leaders in the hope of persuading them to make exceptions to a hardline edict this month barring local women from working for it, according to the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Achim Steiner.

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India heatwave: temperatures hit 40C

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Indians warned to stay vigilant during spell of very hot weather. Elsewhere, sandstorms plague China

The heatwave that has been plaguing the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in India is forecast to continue through the coming week. Daytime temperatures of 40C have been recorded for several consecutive days in these regions, about 5C above the seasonal average.

This excessive heat is linked to a north-westerly flow of air, which is also bringing much drier than usual conditions. The authorities have advised people to be vigilant about their health by staying hydrated, wearing breathable clothing and avoiding street food, which could easily go off in these conditions. They have also closed schools and universities for a week in response to schoolchildren complaining about headaches.

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Former MP and his brother shot dead on live TV in India

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Atiq Ahmed, jailed since 2019, was in police custody and taking questions from journalists when attackers struck

A former Indian MP convicted of kidnapping and facing murder and assault charges has been murdered along with his brother in a dramatic shooting broadcast live on TV.

Atiq Ahmed, a former MP who was serving a life sentence in jail, and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were in police custody outside a hospital in Prayagraj, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, when three men fired more than 20 round of bullets at them from close range as they took questions from reporters. The two brothers died on the spot.

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Thirteen killed in India after bus carrying musicians falls into gorge

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Twenty-nine passengers also injured as vehicle slides off highway during journey from Pune to Mumbai

A passenger bus carrying dozens of members of a music troupe slid off a highway and fell into a gorge in western India on Saturday, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others, police said.

The bus was on its way to Mumbai, India’s financial capital, in Maharashtra state, from Pune city, where the musicians held a performance, said Atul Zende, a police officer. The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known.

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Indian government agency investigates BBC over foreign exchange rules

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Inquiry comes after tax raid on corporation’s offices and a documentary that was critical of PM Narendra Modi

India’s financial crimes agency is investigating the BBC over alleged violations of foreign exchange rules, less than two months after the corporation’s Indian headquarters were raided by tax inspectors.

According to officials, the latest investigation is being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a central government agency.

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India increases Covid booster jab production after surge in cases

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Mock hospital drills held as new Omicron variant suspected of causing highest number of infections since 2022

India has experienced its highest number of Covid infections in months, reportedly caused by a new variant, with almost 8,000 new cases reported on Wednesday.

Mock drills were carried out in hospitals and some states reintroduced mask mandates over concerns at the increase, with more than 40,000 active cases across India, the highest since last year.

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Myanmar airstrike on civilians sparks global outcry as witnesses describe attack

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Death toll in Sagaing could reach 100 in what could be deadliest junta attack since coup in 2021

A series of deadly airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on a civilian crowd has sparked widespread condemnation, as witnesses recounted the horror of the attack that could be the junta’s deadliest since a coup two years ago.

The initial death toll stood at 53 from Tuesday’s attacks on a village ceremony in Sagaing region at which women and children were present, but later tallies reported by independent media raised it to about 100.

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Airstrikes by Burmese military kill dozens at anti-junta event

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Attack targeted opening ceremony for office set up by military’s opponents in Sagaing region of Myanmar

Myanmar’s military has killed dozens of people in airstrikes on an event organised by its domestic opponents, in what is feared to be one of the deadliest attacks since the junta seized power more than two years ago.

Local independent media reported that the attack on Tuesday morning targeted a ceremony marking the opening of an office set up by the military’s opponents in the village of Pa Zi Gyi, in Sagaing region.

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UN tells Afghan staff to stay home after Taliban ban on female workers

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Review launched into operations in Afghanistan as men and women told not to go to work at least until May

The United Nations has launched a review of its operations in Afghanistan and asked all Afghan staff not to come to work at least until May after the Taliban barred its female staff from working.

The UN said last week that the Taliban, who swept to power in 2021, had communicated that Afghan women would not be able to work for the global organisation. Taliban officials have not commented on the order.

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Dalai Lama apologises after kissing boy and asking him to ‘suck my tongue’

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Interaction at temple in India seen in video that has gone viral condemned as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘scandalous’

The Dalai Lama has apologised after he faced allegations of inappropriate behaviour after kissing a young boy on the lips and asking him to “suck his tongue” at a public event in India.

The interaction, which took place in late February at the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamshala, was attended by about 100 young students who had just graduated from the Indian M3M Foundation.

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Indian government accused of rewriting history after edits to schoolbooks

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References to Muslim rulers, deadly riots connected to PM and Gandhi’s dislike of Hindu nationalism removed

The Indian government has been accused of rewriting history to fit its Hindu nationalist agenda after school textbooks were edited to remove references to Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to Hindu nationalism, as well as mention of a controversial religious riot in which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was implicated.

Textbooks were also revised to remove chapters on the history of the Mughals, the Muslim rulers who controlled much of India between the 16th and 19th centuries.

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Five arrested over human sacrifice at Indian temple

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Arrests follow discovery four years ago of woman’s headless body at Hindu temple in Guwahati

Indian police have arrested five men accused of conducting a human sacrifice, nearly four years after the discovery of a woman’s headless body at a Hindu temple left officers baffled.

Shanti Shaw, 64, was killed and decapitated with a machete in 2019 after visiting the temple in Guwahati, a city in India’s remote north-east.

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Twitter accused of censorship in India as it blocks Modi critics

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Canadian politician, poet, an India MP and journalists are among 120 accounts that have been withheld

Twitter has been accused of bowing to government pressure in India by blocking scores of prominent journalists, politicians and activists from its platform in recent weeks.

The Indian government issued notices to Twitter to remove people in the aftermath of an internet shutdown in Punjab during the search for a fugitive Sikh separatist leader.

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Bangladesh fire: 600 firefighters tackle blaze in huge Dhaka clothing market

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Bongo Bazar and three adjacent markets said to be gutted, as 11 people reported injured

Hundreds of Bangladeshi firefighters have battled an inferno that raged through a popular clothing market in the capital, Dhaka, and covered the city’s oldest neighbourhoods in black smoke.

No deaths have been reported, but shop owners and fire officials told reporters that the famous Bongo Bazar and three adjacent markets had been gutted in the dawn fire.

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India’s Rahul Gandhi appeals against defamation verdict

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Opposition leader was found guilty last month, given suspended jail term and barred from parliament

The Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has appealed against his conviction for defamation, seeking to overturn a judgment that resulted in his expulsion from parliament a year before a general election is due.

Gandhi, 52, was convicted last month in a case brought by a state lawmaker from Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) after comments Gandhi made in a 2019 speech were deemed to be insulting to the prime minister and other people surnamed Modi.

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Two Britons held by Taliban speak to families for first time since arrest

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Calls described as ‘great relief’ after Kevin Cornwell, 53, and an unnamed man were detained in Afghanistan

The families of two British men held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been able to speak to them for the first time since their arrest.

Kevin Cornwell, a 53-year-old charity medic, and another British national, who has not been named, were detained by the Taliban’s secret police on 11 January.

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Taliban holding three British men in detention in Afghanistan

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Charity medic, hotelier and ‘danger tourist’ reportedly arrested by Taliban’s secret police in January

Three British men including a charity medic and a self-styled “danger tourist” are being held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan, it has been reported.

The Mail on Sunday said Kevin Cornwell, a 53-year-old charity medic, and another British national who manages a hotel for aid workers in Kabul, who has not been named, were detained by the Taliban’s secret police in January.

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Female radio station in Afghanistan closed for playing music during Ramadan

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Sadai Banowan violated ‘laws and regulations of the Islamic emirate’, says local Taliban official

A female-run radio station in Afghanistan’s north-east has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said.

Sadai Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari, is Afghanistan’s only female-run station and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.

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Eight arrested in Pakistan after crush at free food point kills 12

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Police in Karachi say nine women and three children dead after crush outside factory during Ramadan alms-giving

Pakistani police have arrested eight people in the southern port city of Karachi after a crush killed 12 people at a Ramadan food and cash distribution point a day earlier.

Hundreds of women and children rushed to collect free food and cash outside a factory in an industrial area of the city on Friday. Business-owners during the Islamic holy month often hand out cash and food, especially to poorer people. An initial report from the police said nine women, aged between 40 and 80, and three children, aged between 10 and 15, had died in the crush.

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