カテゴリー: South and Central Asia
Public health emergency declared after air pollution levels go off the charts It was meant to be a ceremony to bring good health and prosperity. But the thousands of women who gathered in the waters of Delhi’s Yamuna River on the city’s most polluted d…
Vehicles with odd or even licence plates are banned from roads on alternate daysDelhi restricted many private vehicles from the roads on Monday to try to lessen pollution as India grapples with a public health crisis over its toxic smog.The “odd-even” …
With citizenship in Myanmar still denied, Rohingya refugees face a stark choice between life under severe restrictions in Bangladesh and moving to an isolated islandLife in the world’s largest refugee camp has grown harder in the past few months. Moham…
Sixteen-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will cover half the planet’s peopleThe world’s largest trade deal is unlikely to be signed this year, with a draft statement from south-east Asian leaders suggesting it will be delayed until 20…
Car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from farms have contributed to a pollution crisisPollution in Delhi has reached its worst levels so far this year, with levels rising to almost 400 times the amount deemed healthy and airplanes diverted away fr…
Air pollution in capital territory 20 times higher than WHO recommended safe levelThe residents of Delhi have already begun to forget what it is like to wake up and see the sky.Almost a week on from Diwali, the thick brown smog that shrouded the city a…
Victims who were aged between 10 and 15 were killed on their way to school official saysNine children have been killed by a roadside bomb near their school in the north-eastern Takhar province, an Afghan official said.Sayed Mehraj Sadat, the provincial…
Nirmal Purja says hardest part of his record-breaking feat was solving a diplomatic impasse with ChinaNirmal “Nims” Purja’s record-breaking ascent of the world’s 14 highest mountains in just over six months drew plaudits and astonishment at his physica…
State taken under federal control and split into Jammu and Kashmir, and LadakhDelhi has formally revoked the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional autonomy and split it into two federal territories in an attempt to integrate it fully int…
A gas canister being used by passengers to cook breakfast exploded on a train between Karachi and Rawalpindi, officials have said. The resulting fire destroyed three carriages in the south of Punjab province. Most people died while trying to jump off t…
Most passengers died trying to jump off moving train to escape blaze in Punjab, say officialsAt least 70 people have died and dozens have been injured after a fire broke out on a passenger train in Pakistan.Footage showed three of the carriages engulfe…
Document details 14 deadly raids by pro-government units with support of US intelligence The Afghan soldiers who swept through Kulalgo village one late August night shot three of Dr Ulfatullah’s relatives carefully, a single bullet through their left e…
Five group members get one-year terms under law that bans information that endangers or demoralises militaryA court in Myanmar has sentenced five members of a traditional theatrical troupe to a year in prison for their gibes about the military.The memb…
On Karachi’s streets, a team is leading the way where police have failed in investigating disappearancesZigzagging through Karachi’s main road, Layla Gulnaz*, 46, is on a mission. Beneath a sweltering sun, she goes from one car to the next, peering int…
Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja has climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre-high mountains in a record-breaking 189 days. The Nepalese former British army soldier completed the last of his 14 climbs, to the summit of Shishapangma in China, at 8.58am local time o…