Have you noticed how ISIS hasn’t been in the news lately? That’s because the once large terrorist organization has lost large amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria. And while there are still thousands of sympathizers, agents, and sleeper cells around the world, the organization no longer has the ability to push for their radical caliphate in the Middle East…. Read more »
France 24 In India, Bangalore used to be known as the “city of lakes”, with 285 lakes making the southern city self-sufficient in the 1970s. But since then, unchecked urbanisation has led to a whopping 85% decline in water bodies. Those lakes that do still exist are polluted and toxic. The situation is so bad that experts predict Bangalore will… Read more »
France 24 Protesters clashed with security forces, attacked buses and government buildings, and blocked trains and major roads. Four were reported dead in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, one in Uttar Pradesh and one in Rajasthan, police said. Madhya Pradesh was one of the worst hit but Rishi Kumar Shukla, director general of the state police, told AFP the… Read more »
The Guardian India says 39 of its citizens who were kidnapped by Islamic State in Iraq in 2014 have been confirmed dead after remains recovered from a mass grave outside Mosul were DNA tested. The Indian external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, told parliament that tests had shown a match with the construction workers, who disappeared in June 2014 when the… Read more »
The Guardian A four-storey rickety hotel building collapsed in central India, killing at least 10 people and injuring another three, police said Sunday. Rescuers working through the night with sledgehammers and chainsaws pulled alive 10 people from the debris of the building that came crashing down in Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh state, on Saturday night, said police officer… Read more »
The Guardian Myanmar’s military is building bases where Rohingya homes and mosques once stood, Amnesty International said on Monday, citing new evidence from satellite imagery. Nearly 700,000 members of the Muslim minority fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents that the US and UN have called ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that accusation, saying it was responding to attacks… Read more »
Al-Jazeera Buddhist flags hang limply from bamboo poles at the entrance to Koe Tan Kauk, a “model” village for ethnic Rakhine migrants shuttled north to repopulate an area once dominated by Muslim-majority Rohingya. The new arrivals are moving to parts of Rakhine state mostly “cleared” of its Rohingya residents, whose villages were bulldozed and reduced to muddy stains on a landscape of… Read more »
Al-Jazeera One of India‘s busiest cities could soon run out of water. Bangalore is a hub of high technology, but urban growth, neglect and unpredictable rainfall are combining to make the city dry. The city’s population has doubled over the last 15 years to more than 10 million, as young IT workers arrive to take up hi-tech jobs. But about half… Read more »
France 24 At least 40 people died on Monday when a passenger plane carrying 70 people crashed as it prepared to land at Kathmandu airport, Nepal. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. In addition, 23 people were injured when the Bangladeshi plane crashed and burst into flames near the capital’s airport, in the worst aviation disaster to… Read more »
I was very interested to read the article by Reuters on Russia’s growing relationship with Pakistan. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980’s, the United States worked with Pakistan to funnel spies, weapons, and resources to the Mujahideen fighting off the foreign invasion. The Soviet Union was well aware of the Pakistani and American presence in that conflict,… Read more »