Category Archives: South and Central Asia

Are we heading for another world war – or has it already started?

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The rules-based world order is in retreat and violence is on the rise, forcing countries to rethink their relationships

In a week in which former allies in a redividing globe separately commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, the sense of a runaway descent towards a third world war draws ever closer.

The implosion of Pax Americana, the interconnectedness of conflicts, the new willingness to resort to unbridled state-sponsored violence and the irrelevance of the institutions of the rules-based order have all been on brutal display this week. From Kashmir to Khan Younis, Hodeidah, Port Sudan and Kursk, the only sound is of explosions, and the only lesson is that the old rules no longer apply.

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IPL cricket suspended amid growing India-Pakistan tensions

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  • ‘It does not look nice playing cricket while country at war’
  • Thursday’s IPL match was abandoned in Dharamsala

The Indian Premier League has been suspended, initially for a week, because of concerns about the security situation in the country amid rising tensions along its border with Pakistan. The news came hours after the decision was taken to relocate the final fixtures in the Pakistan Super League to United Arab Emirates because of safety concerns. Foreign-based players in India and all teams in Pakistan are expected to leave the countries over the next 24 hours.

“Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders,” Devajit Saikia, the secretary of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), said in a statement. “The decision was taken by the IPL governing council after due consultation with all key stakeholders following the representations from most of the franchisees, who conveyed the concern and sentiments of their players, and also the views of the broadcaster, sponsors and fans; while the BCCI reposes full faith in the strength and preparedness of our armed forces, the board considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders.”

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Vance says US won’t intervene in India-Pakistan conflict: ‘None of our business’

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Vice-president says US will seek to de-escalate but cannot force either nuclear power to ‘lay down their arms’

JD Vance has said that the US will not intervene in the conflict between Pakistan and India, calling fighting between the two nuclear powers “fundamentally none of our business”.

The remarks came during an interview with Fox News, where the US vice-president said that the US would seek to de-escalate the conflict but could force neither side to “lay down their arms”.

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Meta blocks major Muslim Instagram page in India amid rising conflict

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Company referred to policy for restricting content when governments say material goes ‘against local law’

Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said on Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.

Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim – a page with 6.7 million followers – were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”

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India claims to have thwarted Pakistan missile and drone strikes

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Pakistan tried to hit Indian-administered Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan, according to India, which reported ‘no losses’

India claimed to have thwarted retaliatory missile and drone strikes launched by Pakistan on Thursday evening, which attempted to hit sites in Indian-administered Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Residents in Jammu, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, reported missiles and drones over the city and the noise of explosions, amid a city-wide blackout.

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Has UK-India trade deal ‘sold out British workers’ as Farage and Badenoch claim?

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Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal

A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.

Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week.

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India’s Pakistan strikes show how warfare has been normalised again

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All-out war is unlikely but shifting of goalposts amid Gaza and Ukraine conflicts suggests Kashmir crisis could escalate

India’s string of attacks on Pakistan overnight – a response, Delhi says, to the killing of 26 in a terror attack in Kashmir last month – comes at a time when warfare has become increasingly normalised internationally and the restraints of the global diplomatic system weakened.

Though flare-ups between the two south Asian powers are nothing new, India’s Operation Sindoor is already notably more aggressive than recent military actions launched by Delhi against its neighbour in 2016 and 2019, raising the stakes for Pakistan’s promised response to what it says was “an act of war”.

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Kashmir crisis: what is Lashkar-e-Taiba and is it supported by Pakistan?

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India claims to have attacked camps associated with a militant group in Pakistan – but what is its relationship with Islamabad?

As India launches missile strikes on what it says are camps associated with militant groups inside Pakistan in retaliation for last month’s massacre in Kashmir, attention has once again focused on India’s claimed relationship between Islamabad and armed groups involved in attacks in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, most prominently Lashkar-e-Taiba.

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India and Pakistan can ill afford war, but who will talk them down? | Hannah Ellis-Petersen

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The US has brought the two sides back from the brink before, but the mood is very different with Trump

The uneasy calm that had settled over India and Pakistan in the past two weeks was swiftly shattered in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

In the days that followed the deadly attack that killed 25 Indian tourists and a guide in Kashmir in late March, the Indian government made it clear it held Pakistan responsible – and it intended to avenge the deaths.

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UK and India agree ‘landmark’ trade deal after three years of negotiations

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Deal could help UK industries hit by Trump tariffs, as ministers say it will add £4.8bn a year to economy by 2040

Britain and India have agreed a long-desired trade deal that ministers said would cut tariffs and add £4.8bn a year to the UK economy by 2040.

The agreement, which was finalised on Tuesday after more than three years of negotiations under successive governments, has long been touted as one of the biggest prizes of Brexit.

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Starmer beats Trump to the line in race for trade deal with India

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India has made concessions in trade negotiations, leaving UK heralding deal as ‘most significant’ since Brexit

It is not exactly the deepest and most comprehensive trade deal the UK has ever entered, but the timing of the announcement that Keir Starmer has clinched a free trade deal with India could not be more fortunate.

Over the weekend, the US president, Donald Trump, hinted he was on the verge of announcing his first trade deal, prompting speculation it could be with Japan, South Korea or India.

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India tries to halt auction of Piprahwa gems found with Buddha’s remains

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Ministers claim sale in Hong Kong is unlawful and are demanding repatriation of sacred relics buried in third-century BC

The Indian government has issued a legal notice to halt the “unethical” auction of ancient gem relics, which it said should be treated as the sacred body of the Buddha.

Its Ministry of Culture said the auction of the Piprahwa gems in Hong Kong this week “violates Indian and international laws, as well as United Nations conventions”, and demanded their repatriation to India “for preservation and religious veneration”.

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Weather tracker: Deadly storms in India and huge hailstones in Paris

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Severe thunderstorms around Delhi cause seven deaths, with western Europe also hit by stormy conditions

Residents of Delhi and surrounding areas woke last week to severe thunderstorms with intense rainfall, large hailstones and squally winds. The storms arrived in the early hours of the night, lasting six hours before easing by about 8.30am on Friday morning. At Safdarjung, the primary weather station in Delhi, 77mm of rain was recorded, the majority of which, 60mm, fell within the first three hours. The event itself was the second highest 24-hour rainfall total in Delhi during May since 1901. The deluge of rain led to flash flooding, felled trees, widespread disruption and claimed seven lives.

Further sharp showers are forecast across India this week, alongside thunderstorms across western and central parts where relatively cooler air will become situated aloft through the course of Monday and promote convection. Some forecast models show the potential for thunderstorms to produce very heavy rainfall, particularly in Gujarat and south-west Rajasthan, until Thursday. However, due to the nature of thunderstorm formation, the exact intensity can be difficult to forecast days ahead, and often still proves too tricky to predict on the day. So the conditions in Delhi on Friday morning may not have been a one-off.

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MPs urge David Lammy to intervene as British man remains in jail in India

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Jagtar Singh Johal’s hopes of being freed on bail have been dashed for now despite being cleared of charges in one case

Hopes that Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man held in an Indian jail for seven years, would be released on bail were dashed on Thursday when his case was deferred by the Indian supreme court possibly until after the summer, prompting calls from MPs for the UK to intervene.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, is due to meet Johal’s brother again next week.

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Trump’s first 100 days supercharged a global ‘freefall of rights’, says Amnesty

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World now in era of repressive regimes’ impunity, climate inaction and unchecked corporate power, says report

The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency have “supercharged” a global rollback of human rights, pushing the world towards an authoritarian era defined by impunity and unchecked corporate power, Amnesty International warns today.

In its annual report on the state of human rights in 150 countries, the organisation said the immediate ramifications of Trump’s second term had been the undermining of decades of progress and the emboldening of authoritarian leaders.

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Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees in limbo after deportation from US

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Human rights experts voice alarm as refugees expelled by the US, not welcomed by Bhutan and rejected by Nepal

When Narayan Kumar Subedi received a call from his daughter in the United States three weeks ago, he expected to hear news of his two children’s life abroad, perhaps even plans for a long-awaited reunion. Instead, he was told his 36-year-old son Ashish, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in the US, was being deported.

Ashish had been caught in a domestic dispute that led to police involvement. After several days in detention without proper legal support, he was caught up in Donald Trump’s migration crackdown and deported to Bhutan.

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Sri Lankan police investigate photo of Buddha’s tooth relic

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Worshippers are frisked on entering temple in Kandy where relic is held and photography is strictly prohibited

Sri Lankan police have launched an investigation into a photo circulated on social media claiming to show a Buddha tooth relic, which has gone on display under tight security.

The Criminal Investigation Department was ordered to determine whether the widely shared image was taken during the rare display of the relic, police said.

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New daily weight-loss pill shows success at clinical trial

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Orforglipron also reduced blood sugar levels in participants with type 2 diabetes

A significant trial of a daily weight-loss pill has found that it helped people to shed the pounds and reduce their blood sugar levels, making it a contender to join the new wave of drugs that combat obesity and diabetes.

People who took a 36mg pill of orforglipron lost an average of 7.3kg (16lbs) over nine months, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial reported by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, on Thursday.

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Tulip Siddiq decries Bangladesh arrest warrant as ‘politically motivated smear’

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Former City minister denies allegations she received land illegally from her aunt, the ousted PM Sheikh Hasina

The former City minister Tulip Siddiq has said an arrest warrant issued against her in Bangladesh over allegations she illegally received a plot of land from her aunt, the country’s ousted former prime minister, is a “politically motivated smear campaign”.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Hampstead and Highgate MP said: “No one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted me. The entire time they’ve done trial by media. My lawyers proactively wrote to the Bangladeshi authorities, they never responded.

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UN calls on Trump to exempt poorest countries from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

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Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US

The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.

In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.

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