カテゴリー: South and Central Asia
Known as Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’, Munir’s power now extends over all the armed forces, along with lifelong immunity from prosecution, thanks to a constitutional amendmentSince it was penned in 1973, Pakistan’s constitution has been dealt many…
Much improved response systems are struggling to cope with ever more powerful and destructive stormsDeath toll from Indonesia floods passes 700 as 1 million evacuatedFamilies stranded on their rooftops. Homes buried by fast-flowing mud. Jagged brown cr…
Friends Melanie Watters and Janine Reid have been trapped in Pussellawa since ThursdayTwo British women stranded by landslides in Sri Lanka’s tea mountains are running out of food and water, the daughter of one of them has said, as officials reported t…
Apple among big tech companies reportedly refusing to install Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity app on their devicesA political outcry has erupted in India after the government mandated large technology companies to install a state-owned app on smartphones …
About 3.2 million people on Sumatra island have been affected, 2,600 have been injured and 504 are missingThe number of people killed by floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island rose to 708 on Tuesday, the country’s disaster agency said, wit…
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have become havens for the multibillion dollar scam industry, which has proliferated in the region in recent yearsScam centres are compounds often linked to transnational criminal networks that are part of a global, multibill…
Like the narco-state, a ‘scam state’ refers to countries where an illicit industry has dug its tentacles deep into institutions and transformed the economyFor days before the explosions began, the business park had been emptying out. When the bombs wen…
Many uncertain about the future after losing everything in the country’s deadliest natural disaster for yearsWhen the rains began, Layani Rasika Niroshani was not worried. The 36-year-old mother of two was used to the heavy monsoon showers that drench …
Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel as they raced to help victims of devastating flooding that has killed more than 1,100 people across four countries in Asia.Millions of people have been affected by a combination of tropical cyclones a…
Critics voice concern as government says its Sanchar Saathi app combats cybersecurity threats for 1.2bn telecom usersIndia’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cybersecurity app that ca…
This blog is now closed.Full report: Sri Lanka and Indonesia deploy militaries as Asia floods death toll passes 1,100How cyclones and monsoon rains combined to devastate parts of Asia – visual guideCyclone Ditwah, which unleashed catastrophic flooding …
Meanwhile, Iran grapples with one of worst droughts and temperatures fall 10C below normal in USMore heavy rainfall is expected in Sri Lanka in the coming days, likely resulting in further damage across the country. It comes after torrential rainfall i…
In Bangladesh, over a million people in the world’s largest refugee camp depend on aid – and cuts mean new arrivals are not even given shelterThe light of a single lightbulb powered by a backup generator lasts just long enough for Noor and Sowkat to s…
Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate says she has not been informed of charges against herTulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, has been sentenced to two years in jail by a court in Bangladesh, over allegations of corruption linked to…
MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London denies allegations and condemns ‘flawed and farcical’ trialWhat led to Bangladesh trial of Tulip Siddiq in her absence?A court in Bangladesh has sentenced the British MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a …