A fugitive guru and self-anointed “godman” who is facing charges of abduction and rape in India has established his own island nation, reportedly off the coast of Ecuador. Nithyananda, who built up a huge spiritual following in India, is on the run from the Gujarat police over multiple allegations that he abducted and confined children to collect donations for his ashram and… Read more »
Gadhimai is known as ‘bloodiest festival of the world’ and is one of country’s most polarising traditions Arun Budhathoki in Bariyapur and Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi Tue 3 Dec 2019 09.52 ESTLast modified on Tue 3 Dec 2019 14.55 EST Tightly crushed together in an area about the size of a football field fenced with barbed wire, more than 2,000 buffalo stand waiting for their death. Deprived… Read more »
Turkmenistan has been China’s largest source of gas. With the new Power of Siberia pipeline, Russia is muscling in. Russia’s mega-project to export its gas to China, the Power of Siberia pipeline, came online December 2. By 2024, the pipeline is expected to deliver 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually. This triumph for Moscow will be greeted warily in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan has… Read more »
A Japanese doctor who spent decades working in Afghanistan was killed Wednesday along with five Afghans in an attack in the east of the country, officials said. Tetsu Nakamura, 73, who headed Peace Japan Medical Services — known as Peshawar Kai in Japanese — was shot by gunmen while in a vehicle in Jalalabad in Nangarhar province. “Sadly, Dr Nakamura… Read more »
UNNAO: In a rerun of the Hyderabad horror, a 23-year-old gang-rape survivor was stabbed multiple times, doused in petrol and set ablaze by five men, including two of her alleged rapists, in her village in Unnao district early Thursday morning while she was on her way to meet her lawyer The girl, who was thrashed with sticks before she was… Read more »
Despite its regional outreach, Kazakhstan’s diplomatic priority will remain Russia, China, and Europe. Leaders of the resource-rich Central Asian region have the propensity to remain in power until mortality dictates otherwise. Much like the UK and Brexit, however, few wanted to see Central Asia’s longest reigning ruler, Kazakhstan’s septuagenarian president Nursultan Nazarbayev, crash out without a deal. The sudden departure… Read more »
After three years of steady but piecemeal reforms, the government of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev faces its most demanding test yet — to persuade the international community through parliamentary and local elections on Dec. 22 that it is truly committed to democratic change. “We know the world is watching,” says Mahmud Istamov, deputy chair of the Central Election Commission. “The Uzbek… Read more »
Police in Mongolia have arrested 800 Chinese citizens as part of a major probe into cyber crime. Raids in the capital of Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday also resulted in computer equipment and mobile phones being seized by authorities. Gerel Dorjpalam, who heads Mongolia’s General Intelligence Agency, said those apprehended are suspected of crimes ranging from fraud and identity theft, to money laundering and computer hacking…. Read more »
A lawyer representing Afghanistan has told the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges that the country opposes a proposed international investigation into possible war crimes and other abuses committed during the Afghan conflict, saying its own courts should be allowed to prosecute war criminals. Lawyer Rodney Dixon spoke on December 5, the second day of a three-day hearing into the ICC… Read more »
Mirziyoyev has been pursuing a less autocratic path than his predecessor, Islam Karimov, seeking to reform and liberalise the country. It was he who initiated in 2017 the idea of holding regular meetings of the presidents of the five Central Asian countries. The meeting was also attended by Kazakhstan’s former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Tajikistan’s President Emomali… Read more »