Disqualification of candidates and dissatisfaction with reformists could reduce turnout in Iran’s parliamentary vote. Correction 27/1/2020: An earlier version of this article stated that Iran’s legislative elections would be held on February 9. The vote will in fact be held on February 21, as is now reflected below. On February 21, Iranians will head to the polls to choose members for… Read more »
JEWAR, India (Reuters) – The 17-year-old boy left his home in a small north Indian town on Thursday morning after telling his grandfather he was going to school. Instead he turned up 80 km away in New Delhi, where he pulled out a gun and shot an anti-government protester. FILE PHOTO: An unidentified man brandishes a gun during a protest against… Read more »
The top court seeks gov’t response to petitions filed against Citizenship Amendment Act, seen discriminatory to Muslims.22 Jan 2020 India’s Supreme Court has sought government response to petitions filed against new citizenship legislation after it refused to stay the law that has sparked widespread opposition and protests across the country. The top court on Wednesday gave the government headed by… Read more »
Pakistan’s Lahore has some of the most toxic air on the planet, but not all of its residents suffer its effects equally. Lahore, Pakistan – Walking through the streets of Lahore’s old city, once home to Mughal royalty but now overtaken by a maze of ramshackle shops and commercial buildings built seemingly on top of one another, you can see a thin… Read more »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The successor to the Iranian commander killed in a U.S. drone strike would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path by killing Americans, the U.S. special representative for Iran said, according to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Washington blamed General Qassem Soleimani for masterminding attacks by Iran-aligned militias on U.S. forces in the region. U.S. President… Read more »
Iranian leader warns Europeans of ‘tough’ consequences if they renege on the 2015 nuclear agreement. Iran will never seek nuclear weapons – with or without the nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday. He also called on European powers to avoid the United States’ “mistake” of violating the historic 2015 nuclear accord with major powers. “We have never sought nuclear weapons …… Read more »
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan, on Wednesday named Kanat Bozumbayev as a presidential aide, moving him from the key position of energy minister in a reshuffle which comes days after large protests calling for greater democracy. Tokayev did not immediately name a new energy minister for the oil-and-gas exporting Central Asian nation. He also appointed Madina Abylkasymova, until now a deputy… Read more »
At least 15 masked attackers have been killed and four others captured after a group of fighters attacked a border checkpoint in Tajikistan, killing a border guard and a policeman, according to authorities. The border guard service, in a statement on Wednesday, blamed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) armed group for the attack. There… Read more »
An earthquake shook parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indian-administered Kashmiron Friday, witnesses said. Friday’s magnitude 6.1 earthquake was centred in the mountainous Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan, at a depth of 210km (130 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Officials in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said they were assessing damage in areas around the sparsely populated epicentre…. Read more »
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said he wants to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan “with or without” a peace agreement in order to give higher priority to strategic competition with China. The Trump administration is expected to announce plans to withdraw about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan, according to US media, after talks resumed a week ago between the US and the Taliban. Esper… Read more »