Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Myanmar executions: US presses China to rein in junta, saying it cannot be ‘business as usual’

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State department says military government in Yangon has not faced enough economic and diplomatic pressure, amid global outrage at killings

A senior US official has urged China to do more to rein in Myanmar’s military after its execution of four people, saying that “it cannot be business as usual with the junta”, as the killings drew widespread international condemnation.

State department spokesperson Ned Price told a briefing: “Arguably, no country has the potential to influence the trajectory of Burma’s next steps more so than the PRC [People’s Republic of China]”, noting that the junta “has not faced the level of economic and in some cases diplomatic pressure that we would like to see”.

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Executed Myanmar activist visited Australia in 2012 to complete a political advisers’ course

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Phyo Zeya Thaw met then prime minister Julia Gillard when he was brought to Australia by AusAid

Phyo Zeya Thaw hadn’t been out of jail long when he came to Australia to do a political advisers’ course 10 years ago.

The Myanmar hip-hop artist turned politician – who eventually turned hip-hop artist again – was one of four people executed by the military junta following accusations of terror acts that many considered unfounded.

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Myanmar junta executes democracy activists in first such killings in decades

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Democracy figures, including former lawmaker in Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, executed after being accused of carrying out ‘terror acts’

Myanmar’s junta has executed four prisoners including a former politician and a veteran activist, drawing shock and revulsion at the country’s first use of capital punishment in decades.

Junta-controlled media reported on Monday that four men, including Phyo Zeya Thaw, a rapper and former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and the prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, had been executed. They were accused of conspiring to commit terror acts and were sentenced to death in January in closed trials.

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Genocide case against Myanmar over Rohingya atrocities cleared to proceed

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UN’s international court of justice rejects arguments advanced by military junta over crackdowns against Muslim minority group

The United Nations’ highest court has rejected Myanmar’s attempts to halt a case accusing it of genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority, paving the way for evidence of atrocities to be heard.

The international court of justice rejected all preliminary objections raised by Myanmar, which is now ruled by a military junta, at a hearing on Friday.

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‘Every part is useful’: the man who wants Afghanistan to swap opium for hemp

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Oil from the versatile plant makes cannabis medicine CBD and its fibre has a range of uses but the Taliban need convincing

The smell seemed unmistakable, the dried buds looked familiar and the Taliban checkpoint guards, who had never heard of CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabis compound, were disgusted by the pungent cargo of Amin Karim’s truck.

“They said to me: ‘Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Haji?’” using an honorific for an older man, as they poked through the piles of hemp headed for Kabul last October.

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Sri Lanka security forces raid protest camp as Ranil Wickremesinghe flexes muscles

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Arrests as hundreds of demonstrators evicted from camp blocking presidential office, hours before they were due to vacate area

Sri Lankan security forces have carried out a violent early morning raid on the main anti-government protest camp in Colombo, beating protesters, destroying tents and arresting nine people.

Friday’s raid saw thousands of police and troops armed with riot gear descend on the protest camp, known as Gota Go Gama, where hundreds of people have been living for over three months. More than 50 people were injured and three people were sent to hospital in the attack, according to St John Ambulance volunteers at the scene.

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Wild cheetahs to return to India for first time since 1952

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Officials announce eight cats will be brought from Namibia in effort to reintroduce animal to its former habitat

Cheetahs are to return to India’s forests this August for the first time in more than 70 years, officials have announced.

Eight wild cats from Namibia will roam freely at Kuno-Palpur national park in the state of Madhya Pradesh in efforts to reintroduce the animal to their natural habitat.

Despite being a vital part of India’s ecosystem, the cheetah was declared extinct from the country in 1952 because of habitat loss and poaching. Cheetahs can reach speeds of up to 70mph (113km/h), making them the world’s fastest land animal.

Only about 7,000 cheetahs remain in the wild worldwide and the animals are classified as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species. Namibia has the world’s largest population of cheetahs.

Officials have been working to relocate the animals since 2020, after India’s supreme court announced that African cheetahs could be brought back in a “carefully chosen location”.

The move coincides with the nation’s 75th Independence Day, celebrating cheetahs as an important part of India’s cultural heritage.

India’s environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, tweeted: “Completing 75 glorious years of Independence with restoring the fastest terrestrial flagship species, the cheetah, in India, will rekindle the ecological dynamics of the landscape.”

He added: “Cheetah reintroduction in India has a larger goal of re-establishing ecological function in Indian grasslands that was lost due to extinction of Asiatic cheetah. This is in conformity with IUCN guidelines on conservation translocations.”

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Wickremesinghe’s election as Sri Lankan PM could have severe consequences

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Analysis: Political turmoil could hinder any chance of tackling the ongoing economic crisis

On Thursday morning, 45 years to the day since he was first elected to parliament, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the eighth president of Sri Lanka, replacing the ousted and exiled Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His path to executive power – the office Wickremesinghe has clamoured after for so many years – was extraordinary. As a searing editorial in Sri Lanka’s Daily FT newspaper put it on Thursday morning: “Wickremesinghe has no popular mandate and he has won the presidency by proxy.”

Many believe Wickremesinghe’s election, far from stabilising Sri Lanka after the toppling of Rajapaksa, will instead create ongoing turmoil and unrest. For a country grappling with the worst economic crisis since the great depression, the consequences could be severe.

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Taliban presiding over extensive rights abuses in Afghanistan, says UN

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Allegations include 160 killings of ex-government officials and security forces, torture and punishments

Taliban authorities have presided over widespread human rights abuses since they took control of Afghanistan last August, the UN said, including 160 killings of former government officials and members of the security forces, and dozens of cases of torture, arbitrary arrests and inhumane punishments.

A UN report, released on the day an Australian journalist said she had been detained in Kabul and forced to tweet a retraction of her reporting, also detailed a broad assault on the press. In total 173 media workers were affected by abuses including detention, threats, ill-treatment and assault.

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Sri Lanka braced for more unrest as new president vows crackdown on ‘fascist’ protests

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Popular opposition to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s election by MPs could spill over into violence as he picks an old schoolmate as PM

Sri Lanka was braced for more unrest after newly appointed president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, vowed to crack down on the protests that toppled his predecessor, condemning them as “against the law”.

Speaking after being MPs picked him as successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe made it clear he would not tolerate those he perceived to be stirring up violence.

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Sri Lanka president vote: Ranil Wickremesinghe wins amid protests

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MPs pick ex-PM seen as close to ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a move likely to frustrate protesters

Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been elected as president to replace the ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a result that is likely to provoke turmoil among protesters who have been calling for weeks for him to resign.

Wickremesinghe, who has been prime minister six times but never president, won a comfortable victory in parliament on Wednesday morning, where MPs voted for the new president in an unprecedented secret ballot. The vote came after protesters forced Rajapaksa from office amid anger over a spiralling economic crisis.

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Sri Lanka holds its breath as parliament chooses new president amid crisis

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A win for acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe could spark more protests by people furious with ruling elite over crippling shortages

An unprecedented secret ballot is underway in Sri Lanka’s parliament as its MPs choose between three candidates for president, amid hopes the new leader will be able to pull the island out of its worst economic and political crisis since independence in 1948.

A win for the acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe – one of the main two contenders but opposed by many ordinary Sri Lankans – could lead to more demonstrations by people furious with the ruling elite after months of crippling shortages of fuel, food and medicines.

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Sri Lanka opposition leader quits presidential run in bid to stymie Wickremesinghe

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Sajith Premadasa instead pledges support for splinter faction of ruling party that could upset PM’s bid to become president

Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, has withdrawn from the presidential race and thrown his support behind a rival candidate, presenting a significant challenge to prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s bid for the executive role.

In an announcement made on Tuesday morning, Premadasa said that “for the greater good of my country that I love and the people I cherish, I hereby withdraw my candidacy for the position of president”.

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Ranil Wickremesinghe: wily fox who is Sri Lanka’s new president

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Profile: Six-time PM may be unacceptable to many of the same protesters who forced out predecessor

There are few who have been stalwarts of Sri Lankan politics in the last half-century quite like the man often referred to as “the fox”.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, 73, who gained his nickname for his apparently wily ability to repeatedly resurrect his political career, has been prime minister six times since he first entered politics in 1977, though he has famously never completed a term.

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Send us a man to do your job so we can sack you, Taliban tell female officials

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As economy collapses, women from Afghanistan’s finance ministry say they have been asked to suggest male relatives to replace them

The Taliban have asked women working at Afghanistan’s finance ministry to send a male relative to do their job a year after female public-sector workers were barred from government work and told to stay at home.

Women who worked in government positions were sent home from their jobs shortly after the Taliban took power in August 2021, and have been paid heavily reduced salaries to do nothing.

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Sri Lanka: acting president declares state of emergency ahead of MPs’ vote

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Declaration called ‘expedient’ as Ranil Wickremesinghe tries to curb unrest over ongoing political and economic crises

Sri Lanka’s acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has declared a state of emergency as his administration seeks to quell social unrest and tackle an economic crisis gripping the island nation.

“It is expedient, so to do, in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community,” a government notice released late on Sunday said.

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Sri Lanka’s political crisis continues as Ranil Wickremesinghe bids to be president

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Protesters angry prime minister who they say propped up Rajapaksa dynasty in running to lead country

Sri Lanka’s political crisis is looks likely to continue this week after the ruling party decided to nominate the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as its candidate to be the next president.

After the dramatic toppling of Sri Lanka’s strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the campaign has begun for who will take up executive power at a time when the country is facing some of the worst economic and political upheaval since independence.

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Old planes, risky skies: fatal crash lays bare Nepal’s air safety record

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The family of the veteran pilot who lost his life in the May crash – along with everyone else on board – joins those calling for updated tech in aircraft

“He used to say, ‘24 hours [in a day] is not enough for me!’”

Bibhuti Ghimire’s voice breaks as she describes her father, a well-respected pilot in Nepal and a multitalented man with a flair for music, who would get bored with playing the piano and move on to the harmonium. “And he loved to fly.”

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Security tight as Sri Lankan MPs meet to elect new president amid first fuel arrival

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Legislators set to choose within a week after former president flees to Singapore to escape anti-government protests

Sri Lanka’s parliament began meeting on Saturday to begin the process of electing a new president, as a shipment of fuel arrived to provide some relief to the crisis-hit nation.

The resignation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was accepted by parliament on Friday, after he fled to Singapore via the Maldives to escape anti-government protesters who had occupied his official residence and offices.

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Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially resigns

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Ranil Wickremesinghe to serve until MPs vote for new leader next week after months of protests over economic crisis

Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been sworn in as the country’s interim president after Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially resigned on Friday morning following months of protests.

Rajapaksa’s resignation came after a dramatic week in which the beleaguered leader fled the country under the cover of darkness, after his presidential palace and offices were stormed by protesters last weekend.

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