ndia’s national elections are finally over. After six weeks and 600 million ballots, the ending offered a surprising twist, an absolutely crushing victory in the lower house of parliament for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its standard-bearer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The lingering question now is what India’s charismatic and controversial leader will make of his stunning mandate. In 2014, as… Read more »
outh Asia, for the most part of Donald Trump’s presidency, had been quiet up until earlier this year when the region’s two main protagonists, India and Pakistan, nearly entered a nuclear face-off. A suicide attack on a paramilitary convoy in Indian controlled Kashmir triggered an aerial dogfight culminating in the capture of an Indian pilot who was later released by… Read more »
Yangon, Myanmar – A court in Myanmar has issued an arrest warrant against Wirathu, a notorious Buddhist monk whose hate-preaching sermons against the Rohingya and other minority Muslims have stoked religious tensions. The monk, who once reportedly dubbed himself the “Burmese bin Laden”, faces up to life imprisonment under the country’s sedition law, which prohibits stirring up “hatred”, “contempt” or “disaffection” towards the government. Police have so… Read more »
Myanmar’s army is committing fresh war crimes against ethnic groups in Rakhine state, according to human rights group Amnesty International. In a new report, Amnesty accuses the army of carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests amid an operation against an ethnic Buddhist guerrilla force. The army has denied the allegations. Soldiers were previously accused of mass human rights… Read more »
Colombo-Sri Lanka on Tuesday signed a deal with India and Japan to develop a deep-sea container terminal in the country that has seen increasing forays by China which has taken a strategic port on a 99-year lease that has worried New Delhi. The three countries will jointly build the East Container Terminal at the Port of Colombo. Sri Lanka’s Port… Read more »
Until now, just about anyone could get a permit to climb Mount Everest. But this year has been marred by pileups at the top and a surge of inexperienced climbers. Veteran mountaineers who recently summited described a “Lord of the Flies” atmosphere with mobs of people in huge down jackets precariously perched at the top, pushing and shoving to take… Read more »
KATHMANDU, Nepal — After human traffic jams at the top of Mount Everest and an aggressive, unruly atmosphere that has been likened to “a zoo,” Nepalese officials said on Wednesday that they were considering changing the rules about who was allowed up the world’s highest mountain. “It’s time to review all the old laws,” said Yagya Raj Sunuwar, a member of Parliament…. Read more »
Sixteen people have been charged in Bangladesh over the shocking murder of a teenager who was burned to death after reporting sexual harassment. Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, was doused with kerosene and set on fire on the roof of her Islamic school on 6 April, days after filing a complaint. Headmaster Siraj Ud Doula, targeted in the complaint, is among… Read more »
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s powerful military has seemed unstoppable recently in getting what it wants: its favored candidate as prime minister, a victory of sorts in a dogfight with the Indian military, and its media critics hounded into silence or compliance. Now, the Pakistani Army has turned its sights on ending one of the last unbending sources of dissent to… Read more »
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Two gunbattles between Indian troops and Kashmiri rebels triggered a new round of anti-India protests and clashes in the disputed Himalayan region on Wednesday which left one civilian dead and at least 100 others injured, police and residents said. The fighting erupted after Indian forces raided two villages in the southern areas of Shopian and Kulgam… Read more »