Musicians had hoped to keep their art alive after fleeing Taliban but now face crackdown on refugees
Ajmal Haikalzada, 44, first became a refugee when his artist father left Afghanistan for Pakistan during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. In 2001, then a musician, he returned, singing and performing across the country of his birth after the US toppled the Taliban.
Two decades later, he fled once again as the Taliban took over Kabul.
Continue reading...Analysis: Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s authoritarianism and incompetence ended the family’s political reign
For weeks protesters in Sri Lanka have chanted “Go home Gota.” Now Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president, appears to be looking for one. His first stop was the Maldives, reached last night. The United Arab Emirates may be the final destination.
The Rajapaksa family’s fall has been spectacular. It has resonated across the region, and well beyond. The ruler of Sri Lanka has been a high-profile casualty of the global cost of living crisis, analysts have said. In distant South Africa, a talk show host asked if the soaring cost of living there could spell the end for the ruling party. Others are asking the same question.
Continue reading...State of emergency declared as protesters reject premier Ranil Wickremesinghe acting as president and demand he and Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign
Protests erupted in Sri Lanka on Wednesday after the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled to the Maldives on a military jet – but neither he nor the prime minster officially resigned, throwing the country into political chaos.
After Gotabaya’s clandestine departure, a Sri Lankan official said that the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had been appointed by Rajapaksa to be acting president.
Continue reading...Rajapaksa, 73, and his wife boarded a special air force flight bound for the Maldives, local officials said
Sri Lanka’s embattled president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has flown out of the country, heading to the neighbouring Maldives, according to local officials.
The 73-year-old leader, his wife and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 Sri Lankan military aircraft which took off from Colombo’s international airport on Tuesday, immigration officials told Agence France-Presse.
Continue reading...Indian police say gang went to great lengths in betting scam reminiscent of the 1973 film The Sting
A gang set up a fake “Indian Premier League” tournament with farm labourers acting as players to dupe Russian punters in a betting scam reminiscent of the 1973 film The Sting.
The so-called “Indian Premier Cricket League” reached the quarter-final stage before the racket was busted by police in India.
Continue reading...Gotabaya Rajapaksa informs PM’s office of resignation intention as brother Basil is turned away at airport and opposition leader signals plan to run for president
Sri Lanka’s government has confirmed the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is to resign, paving the way for the appointment of a successor, amid reports that the beleaguered leader had attempted to flee the country on Monday.
A statement from the office of the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said “Rajapaksa has officially informed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will be resigning”, in the most formal confirmation yet that the president intends to step down later this week.
Continue reading...The group of 10 people, including nine from UK, managed to take shelter when avalanche struck
Ten people, including nine Britons, are reported to have survived after a huge avalanche swept over them in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan.
Footage uploaded on Instagram by Harry Shimmin, one of the people on the trekking tour, showed snow starting to break down a mountain in the distance, before sweeping towards them and forcing the group to take cover as the snow went over the top of them.
Continue reading...Prime minister as well as Rajapaksa will step down after months of protests culminated in attacks on their homes
Sri Lanka’s main opposition parties have hurriedly moved to form an all-party unity government a day after the president and the prime minister said they would resign from office after mounting public pressure.
On Sunday, leaders from the main opposition political parties met to discuss an effective transition of power, following the much anticipated resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 13 July.
Continue reading...Protesters turn compound into community kitchen and museum as they demand president’s resignation
It was once the palatial colonial-era home frequented only by Sri Lanka’s political elite. But by Sunday morning, Temple Trees, the formal residence of the country’s prime minister, was “open to the public”, according to a large sign graffitied at the entrance.
In the aftermath of the dramatic events of Saturday, when tens of thousands of anti-government protesters stormed the state residences of the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Temple Trees was among the political properties now defiantly occupied by ordinary Sri Lankans.
Continue reading...Thousands rescued from makeshift camps in Himalayas after sudden deluge in Indian-controlled region
Emergency workers rescued thousands of pilgrims after flash floods swept through their makeshift camps during an annual Hindu pilgrimage to a Himalayan cave in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least 16 people and injuring dozens, officials said.
Authorities suspended the pilgrimage for two days as the sudden rains continued to lash the region. Teams of rescuers from India’s military, paramilitary and police as well as disaster management officials combed through the slippery mountain tracks and used thermal imaging devices, sniffer dogs and radars to locate dozens of missing people. Civilian and military helicopters evacuated the injured to hospitals.
Continue reading...Beleaguered Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he will step down on 13 July, following turmoil in Colombo
The Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has agreed to resign after a dramatic day during which his house and offices were stormed by protesters and the home of the prime minister set on fire.
In a late-night message conveyed through the parliamentary speaker, Mahinda Yapa, the beleaguered president said he would step down from power on 13 July to “ensure a peaceful transition of power”.
Continue reading...Simba the goat’s owner says kid’s ears are record-breaking and has contacted Guinness World Records
A kid goat with extraordinarily long ears has become a media star in Pakistan, with its owner claiming a world record that may or may not exist.
Simba is living a pampered existence in Karachi, where he was born last month with ears that were strikingly long – and have grown to reach 54cm (21in).
Continue reading...The inside story of Rajapaksa family infighting that toppled a country into violence and bankruptcy
Dilith Jayaweera can still recall the moment he realised Sri Lanka was hurtling, unstoppably, towards financial ruin.
It was around October 2021 and Jayaweera, a Sri Lankan media magnate and close friend of the Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had invited Basil Rajapaksa, the president’s younger brother, who was also the finance minister, to join him for dinner.
Continue reading...Homes, roads, bridges and power stations also badly hit with Balochistan province faring worst
At least 77 people have died in rain-related incidents across Pakistan in the past three weeks, the country’s minister for climate change said on Wednesday.
The monsoon rains have also damaged homes, roads, bridges and power stations, Sherry Rehman told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad, as storms continued to lash the country.
Continue reading...A toxic combination of climate emergency, conflict and Covid is pushing some of the poorest countries into an acute hunger crisis
Global hunger toll soars by 150m as Covid and war make their mark
The world is in the grip of an unprecedented hunger crisis. A toxic combination of climate crisis, conflict and Covid had already placed some of the poorest countries under enormous strain, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent grain and fuel prices soaring.
“We thought it couldn’t get any worse,” said David Beasley, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), in June. “But this war has been devastating.”
Continue reading...Police open cases against Leena Manimekalai for ‘hurting religious sentiments’ with short film Kaali
An Indian film director is facing police investigation over the poster for her new film, which depicts the Hindu goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette and clutching an LGBTQ+ flag.
Leena Manimekalai, an Indian film-maker based in Canada, has received thousands of threats of violence after the poster for her short film Kaali, which was aired in the Canadian city of Toronto at the weekend, went viral on social media.
Continue reading...The extremist group said the white Toyota, which belonged to Mullah Mohammad Omar, should be displayed
The Taliban have dug up a white Toyota used by their founding leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, to escape into hiding in southern Afghanistan after the US invasion.
Senior officials have called for the vehicle to be put on display at the national museum in Kabul. It already houses the cars and coaches of former kings and prime ministers, including one with bulletproof glass fragmented by an assassination attempt.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Contractors at ‘high risk’ of Taliban reprisals still have no idea how to get out of country safely
More than 180 British Council contractors left trapped in Afghanistan have been given immediate permission by the UK government to apply online to come to Britain, but no hint of how to get out of the country safely.
The partial breakthrough came after a campaign led by MPs and former colleagues of the staff that had been horrified that they had been left behind, and exposed to retribution by the Taliban for teaching values of diversity and openness.
Continue reading...Miles-long queues outside petrol stations despite ban on sales for private vehicles for at least a week
Sri Lanka’s energy minister has said the country’s fuel supplies will run out in a few days, forcing nationwide school closures and prolonged power cuts, as the worst economic crisis in its history continues.
Kanchana Wijesekera said fuel stocks were enough to last less than a day under current demand, and petrol and diesel was being limited to essential services such a healthcare and public transport in order to stretch out the remaining supplies for a few more days and ensure the country did not shut down entirely.
Continue reading...Government U-turns over plans to curtail autonomy of Karakalpakstan but fears rise tensions may escalate
Eighteen people were killed and 243 wounded during unrest in Uzbekistan’s autonomous province of Karakalpakstan over plans to curtail its autonomy, Uzbek authorities said.
Security forces detained 516 people while dispersing protesters on Friday but have released many of them, the national guard press office told a briefing.
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