Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have issued a sweeping order to all educational institutions to review books for “inappropriate and objectionable” content, in a move that has sparked a debate over who gets to shape the region’s history in classrooms. The order, issued last week, directs schools, colleges, universities and coaching centres to screen all published…
Wangchuk has so far refused to call off his fast. On Tuesday, he’d told the BBC that “I have to take what I’ve begun to its logical conclusion”. On Wednesday, a video that went viral showed the activist being helped by people while he walked. But a minute later, he was seen clutching his leg…
A sudden blast of flame across a crowded bar sends revellers in panic towards a single, narrow exit. Thick, toxic smoke chokes them. The bodies of those who have succumbed block the escape of those who have not. These horrific scenes occurred not only at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao pub in Bangkok last Sunday…
Dong, a police officer-turned-human rights activist, has been jailed in China several times for his activism. In 1999, Dong was fired from the police force after 13 years because he signed a petition to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the brutal Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Then in 2001, he was imprisoned for three years…
The Indian agency investigating last year’s Air India plane crash that killed 260 people has said that a draft final report could be ready in October. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) told the Supreme Court in an affidavit filed on Tuesday that it was currently “engaged in the analysis phase” of the investigation, which…
China has detained a US seismologist who tracks nuclear tests for nearly two years on espionage charges, his family says. Chen Youlin, 54, was arrested in November 2024 during a personal trip to Beijing to visit family, according to hostage advocacy group Global Reach. He is currently the only citizen designated as “wrongfully detained” in…
China’s economic growth slowed sharply between the start of April and end of June as weak demand domestically and the impact of the Iran war on oil prices overshadowed the country’s strong exports. Official gross domestic product (GDP) figures showed that the world’s second largest economy grew in the second quarter of the year by…
During the trial in April, the minister and their lawyers argued that the mention of the ministers in the article unfairly associated their property deals with those covered in the rest of the article, which included concerns about transparency and money laundering. Shanmugam also argued that the Bloomberg article was written to target him and…
Police in Australia have released previously unseen photographs from their investigation into the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio 25 years ago. Falconio, from Huddersfield, was shot on a remote stretch of highway near the Northern Territory town of Barrow Creek, about 186 miles (300km) north of Alice Springs on 14 July 2001. His body…
Preliminary investigations suggest the blaze was caused by a short circuit in an air conditioner, which quickly cut power throughout the bar. But several people who had visited the bar earlier have described it as a dark room even in its original state. Phatsara Khamloet, who visited in May, told BBC Thai she had to…