Opium production in Afghanistan slumped an estimated 95%, according to a UN report
Myanmar became the world’s biggest producer of opium in 2023, overtaking Afghanistan after the Taliban government’s crackdown on the trade, according to a United Nations report.
Myanmar produced an estimated 1,080 metric tonnes of opium – essential for producing heroin – this year, according to the latest report by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Continue reading...Chief justice says government did not overreach its powers when it revoked autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019
India’s supreme court has ruled that the government acted lawfully when it revoked the autonomy of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and brought it directly under control of the centre.
Article 370, which for almost 70 years had enshrined special rights for Jammu and Kashmir outside the Indian constitution, was revoked by the government of Narendra Modi in August 2019 through a presidential order, with no consultation with the Kashmiri people.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Pre-election agreement would provide a major boost to Narendra Modi and Rishi Sunak
Senior Downing Street officials have flown to Delhi to kickstart talks over a multibillion pound free trade agreement, with the government of Narendra Modi having indicated it is keen to finalise a deal in the next three months.
UK trade negotiators are in the Indian capital talking to their Indian counterparts as they look to revive a deal that looked a distant prospect just a few months ago.
Continue reading...Economic loss from disruption on important travel route for grain exports estimated to be $20bn
Extreme drought and a warm autumn have left water levels on the Mississippi exceptionally low for the time of year. This is causing problems for farmers who rely on the river as a travel route for the crops: 60% of US grain exports use the waterway to reach the Gulf coasts.
The total economic loss is estimated to be about $20bn and, despite attempts to dredge the river, it remains worryingly low as the country enters an important month for grain transport.
Continue reading...The portable unit, comprising mini cubes of medical equipment, enables surgeons to be operating within an hour, designers claim
India has designed and built a “flatpack” field hospital that can be flown to a disaster area by helicopter and assembled faster than an Ikea bookcase.
The hospital is contained in 72 small waterproof cubes, each weighing under 15kg and measuring 38cm x 38cm x 38cm (15 x 15 x 15in). They are packed with tents and specially designed medical equipment.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch warns bar on women means unqualified men now teach boys, fewer subjects are taught and beatings are routine
The Taliban is causing “irreversible damage” to Afghanistan’s education system through the reintroduction of corporal punishment, curriculum changes and the use of unqualified teachers to replace women, most of whom have been barred from schools, Human Rights Watch has warned.
After taking power in 2021, the Taliban banned girls from secondary schools. A new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), published on Wednesday, warns that boys’ education has also suffered under the Taliban, although this has gone largely unreported.
Continue reading...UN warns of possible tragedy unless people are rescued from two boats on Andaman Sea
About 400 Rohingya refugees have been adrift in two boats on the Andaman Sea for about two weeks, according to the United Nations, which called on regional governments to help rescue them.
The number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing by boats in a seasonal exodus – usually from squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh – has been rising since last year due to cuts to food rations and an increase in gang violence.
Continue reading...Fahad Shah, whose case was a symbol of harassment of region’s media, says he has different outlook after months behind bars
During his more than 600 days behind bars, Fahad Shah, a Kashmiri journalist, had begun to lose hope that he would ever see freedom again. It was in February last year that Shah, 34, the editor of the Kashmir Walla, one of the last remaining independent news websites in the region, was arrested on charges of “glorifying terrorism” and publishing “anti-national content”.
What followed was a crushing 21 months for Shah as his high-profile case became a symbol of the growing harassment faced by Kashmiri journalists. He was granted bail in one case, only to be swiftly re-arrested and hit with new, more draconian charges.
Continue reading...Foxconn and Pegatron temporarily shut factories near Chennai because of torrential rains that have claimed at least four lives
Taiwan’s Foxconn and Pegatron have halted production of Apple iPhones at their factories near Chennai in southern India because of heavy rains, sources close to the matter said on Monday.
In Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai, the state’s largest city and a major electronics and manufacturing hub, at least two people died and the runway of one of the country’s busiest airports was submerged after torrential rain as the city braced for a severe cyclone expected to hit in the next 24 hours. Two others had died elsewhere. Cyclone Michaung was expected to make landfall on the coast of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh around noon on Tuesday, the country’s weather office said, with sustained winds of 90kph to 100kph (56mph to 62mph), gusting to 110kph.
Continue reading...East of country may fall to close to -50C, while Moscow has its third snowiest November this century
Temperatures across large parts of Russia are expected to plummet in the second half of this week. A large area of high pressure will sit over a large portion of the west of the country, introducing arctic air to the region, and keeping temperatures well below the seasonal average.
In Perm and Omsk, daytime temperatures are not forecast to rise above -25C later this week, which is about 20C below the seasonal norm. For the Perm region, this week is expected to be the coldest since 2016.
Continue reading...Family of Avtar Khanda question UK authorities’ account that his death was reviewed by police and that there was no foul play
A Sikh activist in Birmingham complained that Indian police were verbally harassing him by phone and threatening his family in Punjab months before his sudden death in June, a Guardian investigation has found.
The death of Avtar Singh Khanda, which family and friends have said was suspicious, coincided with a plot that was playing out across the Atlantic where, US prosecutors have alleged, an Indian government official with close ties to Indian intelligence was ordering the murder of high-profile Sikh activists in Canada and the US.
Continue reading...People who worked for or were affiliated with the British Council may lose babies as government delays relocation to UK
Pregnant Afghan women who are eligible for resettlement in the UK have been told their babies may not survive unless they are urgently evacuated.
The women, who worked for or are affiliated with the British Council, should be entitled to relocation through the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme (ACRS). Despite Foreign Office and Home Office instructions to move to Pakistan and await relocation, they are stuck in hotels with limited access to medical care nearly two years after the scheme launched.
Continue reading...After months of legal challenges Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey registered their marriage, giving hope to other same-sex couples in the south Asian country
The dancing continued until the early hours. Family and friends – and Suru the dog – gathered in western Nepal to mark the joyful end to what had been a historic day for Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey. On Wednesday, they became the first same-sex couple in south Asia to have their marriage legally recognised.
“Finally, we are completely together, finally we are completely each other’s, finally we can perform each other’s funeral if we die tomorrow,” Gurung, 37, a transgender woman, says as the couple sit in the register office in rural Dordi municipality, where she was born.
Continue reading...US justice department alleges Indian agent directed plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
The Indian government has responded to allegations by the US Department of Justice that an Indian agent attempted to assassinate a Sikh separatist on US soil, stating that such a crime would be “contrary to government policy”.
The DoJ indictment, which was made public on Wednesday, included damning details regarding the alleged attempted assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen, by an Indian intelligence officer referred to only as CC-1.
Continue reading...Rights activists say marriage of Maya Gurung, a transgender woman, and Surendra Pandey is ‘historic day’
An LGBTQ+ couple in Nepal have said they want to “scream to the world that we are husband and wife at last” after becoming the first in south Asia to have their marriage legally recognised.
Maya Gurung, 38, a transgender woman, and Surendra Pandey, 27, were given a legal certificate in Nepal’s Lamjung district on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Team who made breakthrough hope acclaim will lead to more awareness of their value and the risks of their work
The “rat hole” miners who finally rescued 41 Indian workers who had been trapped in a mountain tunnel for more than two weeks on Tuesday have said the operation involved 26 hours of digging by hand, as they sought to highlight the harsh conditions and lack of dignity faced by manual labourers in India.
Munna Qureshi, 33, was the first of the 12-man team to break through a wall of rubble and lay eyes on the 41 workers who had been trapped in the collapsed tunnel in the Himalayan mountains since 12 November.
Continue reading...Arnold Dix describes having to dig ‘100 millimetres at a time’ to save workers stuck in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel for 17 days
An Australian tunnelling expert has told of his part in the dramatic rescue of 41 Indian workers who had been trapped in a collapsed tunnel for 17 days.
Arnold Dix, a Melbourne specialist in underground transportation and infrastructure, is being hailed after his efforts helped save workers stuck inside a blocked tunnel in the Himalayan mountains.
Continue reading...Global governments should engage with the Taliban because some in the regime support reversing the ban, says Rangina Hamidi
There are many Taliban officials who would support reversing the ban on schooling for girls in Afghanistan, according to the country’s last education minister before the takeover.
Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where girls are banned from schooling beyond the age of 11. The group has also imposed what has been described as a policy of “gender apartheid”, banning women from most work and public spaces.
Continue reading...Alleged plan to favour Nawaz Sharif in coming general election comes amid allegations of pre-polling rigging
The election commission of Pakistan is facing accusations of using a controversial exercise to redraw the voting map in order to favour the return of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to power, amid allegations of pre-polling rigging and increasing doubts over the fairness of the coming general elections.
The process of amending constituency borders, known as delimitation, follows on from a census that was recently carried out, which was marred with controversies.
Continue reading...Workers pulled up through escape pipe after 17 days stuck in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Himalayan mountains
All 41 Indian labourers have been rescued after a gruelling 17 days trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayan mountains.
The dramatic scenes of the first men emerging on stretchers from the entrance of the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel came after more than 400 hours, during which the rescue operation hit multiple obstacles, delays and false promises of imminent rescue.
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