South Asia

KABUL (AFP) - At least 25 people were killed, including Agence France-Presse (AFP) chief photographer Shah Marai and five other journalists, when two suicide blasts ripped through Kabul on Monday (April 30), police and AFP have confirmed. The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ...

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File photo of former Myanmar President U. Htin Kyaw and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. April · SAW · South Asia Weekly. Analysis. Myanmar: The challenges of new President. Sreeparna Banerjee. President U Htin Kyaw's sudden resignation on 21 March came as a jolt to most of the people in Myanmar as well ...

After Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency in March refusing to heed diplomatic pressure by New Delhi, Indian commentators sense a decline in New Delhi's authority and agency in maritime-South Asia. For many foreign policy watchers in India, Maldives is but a symptom of ...

KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh (AFP) - A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) team visited Rohingya refugees trapped in the no man's land along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar on Sunday (April 29), as it weighs its response to one of the world's worst refugee crises. Myanmar has faced ...

Islamabad April 28 (inp) : Ruwan Edirisinghe, (UrduPoint / pakistan Point News - 28th Apr, 2018): Ruwan Edirisinghe, President SAARC Chamber Saturday said South Asia has tremendous trade potential, which needs to be tapped with a shared vision of 2030 envisaged to address core trade issues which ...

South Asia Focus (Weekly Program) - Apr 29 , 2018. Published Apr 29, 2018, 2:36 pm IST. This episode focuses on, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two–day visit to Wuhan city of China for an informal summit ... This episode focuses on, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two–day visit to Wuhan city of China for ...

He was of the opinion that South Asia will play an important role in the future particularly by materializing the vision of 2030. “In short term, what we want to do is business between our countries; trade and industrial development, and transportation problems and all that to sort out up to the maximum extent ...

Addressing the opening ceremony here on Saturday at South Asia-China SMEs Seminar and the third annual general meeting of the Organization for South Asian Regional Friendship and Cooperation with China (OSARFCC), Chinese Ambassador Yu Hong called on the SMEs from China and South Asian ...

NEW DELHI – As the world moves on to other matters following World Water Day, the World Water Forum, and Cape Town's postponement of 'Day Zero' until 2019, a global water crisis continues, nonetheless. A crisis already exists for many people in South Asia and there are indications that conditions ...

At the end of a long day of meetings yesterday, Asean's leaders issued three statements which laid out their plans to keep the regional grouping resilient and innovative, to connect smart cities across the region to each other, and to boost cyber security. Regional Correspondent Charissa Yong reports.

Last month, the Pakistani government bestowed its third-highest civilian award on the writer and journalist Mohammed Hanif. This, to put it mildly, was unexpected. It's as if Mr Donald Trump had decided to garland Ta-Nehisi Coates with the National Humanities Medal. TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

Foreword. South Asia's rich human and physical geography are tightly bound to the rivers that radiate out and down from the great Himalayan massif and the extensive Indo-Gangetic basin aquifers. Driving some of the largest irrigation systems in human history and nourishing populations and ecosystems ...

NEW DELHI: India's recovering growth will drive South Asia to the fastest growing region, said World Bank's biannual South Asia Economic Focus released ... India is forecast to grow 7.3% in the current fiscal and 7.5% the next year, while South Asia will grow 6.9% in 2018 and 7.1% in 2019, the report said.

The researchers looked at genome-wide data from 612 ancient individuals, meaning DNA samples of people that lived millennia ago. These included samples from eastern Iran, an area called Turan that now covers Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and South Asia. Of the 612, the DNA ...

In its editorial, the paper says Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has entrenched her authority with the appointment of the new President. NEW DELHI (THE STATESMAN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Paradoxically enough, Aung San Suu Kyi has reinforced her authority with the selection of a longtime loyalist ...

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Asia is foremost victim of urbanization which in Pakistan is urbanizing at 3% annual rate fastest in South Asia. Pakistan has long been a nation defined by its geography and countryside where the majority of the population is based; where the largest industries are ensconced; and where some of the chief ...

Bangladesh and Russia have made substantial headway in the trade and economic sector, a Russian official said, mentioning that Dhaka has long been Moscow's reliable partner in South Asia. In late 2017, the bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached an all-time high of $1.645 billion.

In an acknowledgment of Bangladesh's economic development, the United Nations (UN) last month declared that the country is eligible for graduating from a 'least developed country' (LDC) to a 'developing country'. The declaration has demystified US statesman Henry Kissinger's famous description of the ...

NEW DELHI • India's national space agency has lost contact with a satellite, days after it was launched into orbit with much fanfare, the authorities said yesterday. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) lost communication with the GSAT-6A satellite as it prepared to undertake its third and final ...

DHAKA (AFP) - A prominent Bangladeshi lawyer who fought the state's case in a high-profile murder trial against Islamist extremists has disappeared, police said on Sunday (Apr 1), with grave fears for his safety. Mr Ratish Chandra Bhowmik, a respected prosecutor and champion of minority rights, has not ...

India has traditionally considered South Asia its sphere of influence. However, the status quo has been challenged by China's proactive foreign policy and diplomacy in South Asia in recent times. Most South Asian countries have joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initiated by China, much to India's ...

Higher education in South Asia has been largely influenced by populist political ideologies. The region's elite class's use of populism as a political practice in education and the dissemination of various discourses through curriculum related to national interests, social and cultural values and ideological ...

It has been Wickremesinghe's plan to make the US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City, now being built by a Chinese company, a “Financial City” where persons from across South Asia and the globe, can transact financial business and also park their funds. Speaking at the inaugural function of the Chinese ...

He said SAARC's roots lay in Integrated Program of Action (IPA) Declaration adopted by the foreign ministers of South Asia in 1983 calling for regional cooperation in the areas of agriculture, health, rural development and population. Newly elected SAARC Chamber President from Sri Lanka Ruwan ...

ISLAMABAD (REUTERS) - Pakistan has defended its record on nuclear safety after the United States sanctioned seven Pakistani companies over alleged links to the nuclear trade, saying the suspicions over the companies should not be used to discredit it. Ties between the United States and ...

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DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladesh security forces have seized nearly nine million methamphetamine pills in less than three months as a massive influx of Rohingya refugees brings increased smuggling from Myanmar, officials said Tuesday (March 27). Increased raids on fishing boats on the Naf river, which ...

BIC Razors, the market leader for disposable razors in Sri Lanka, introduced and launched its state-of-the-art Bic Flex 5, being exclusively a first in South Asia, despite already being launched in the United States. Founded in 1945 by Baron Marcel Bich, BIC is a French company listed in the Paris Stock ...

A jirga was involved in one of South Asia's most infamous cases of sexual violence against women when in 2002 it ordered the gangrape of a woman called Mukhtar Mai after her brother was falsely accused of rape. Mai made the unusual decision to defy her rapists and take them to court. Her attackers ...

THE contours of a new economic and political geography within South Asia are clearly emerging on the map with enhanced connectivity among China, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. This transition is already having a remarkable influence on the thinking patterns, politics, cultures and ...

Military skill and discipline have saved countless lives. But military doctrine and training focus primarily on defense against human aggressors. Climate change requires different strategies: different mission definition, skill sets, equipment, training, and collaboration. If South Asia is to be on the front lines of ...

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ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday said Pakistan would become an industrial hub of South Asia after the completion of CPEC. Talking to State-TV, the minister said the mega project is a game changer for Pakistan as it would bring improvement in social infrastructure, energy, industrial ...

WASHINGTON: There has been no positive response from Pakistan on the South Asia strategy of Trump administration, which has a significant impact ... Welcoming the South Asia Strategy announced by President Donald Trump last August, Afghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar told a ...

Energy is a critical ingredient for prosperity, and can be a catalyst for deeper regional integration. Energy security is a critical issue for South Asia, which is home to nearly one-fourth of the world's population and where economies are growing by an average of nearly 7% each year. But South Asia's GDP per ...

KABUL (AFP) - A blast rocked a city in Afghanistan's restive south on Friday (March 23), killing and wounding dozens of people as they left a wrestling match, officials said, in the latest attack in the country. “A car bomb blast happened at the entrance gate to the sports stadium in the first Police District of ...

In a similar spirit, this special issue turns its attention to contemporary South Asia and in acknowledging the shared colonial histories, predominantly agrarian context, and postcolonial developmentalist telos that have informed the political and economic planning of this region, asks if, in the current urban ...

NEW DELHI - India is planning to operate flights from the north-eastern state of Assam to Asean countries, including Singapore, through a scheme that subsidises air travel. The move comes amid a growing focus on pushing India's ties with South-east Asia. Assam's Minister for the Act East Policy ...

NEW DELHI • India has taken down the local website of Cambridge Analytica following allegations that the company used personal data of millions of Facebook members to influence the US presidential election. The step is part of a growing push to investigate Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and ...

India is planning to operate flights from the north-eastern state of Assam to Asean countries, including Singapore, through a scheme that subsidises air travel. The move comes amid a growing focus on pushing India's ties with South-east Asia. Assam's Minister for the Act East Policy Department Chandra ...

Comparing South Asia with other regions across the globe, Iftikhar Malik said with more than one-fifth of the world's population, the SAARC region is home to two-fifths of the world's poor. However, it accounts for only 3 per cent of global output and 2 per cent of world exports. Intra-regional trade has stagnated at around 5 ...

South Asia Regional Public Procurement Network (SAPPN), The World Bank and Procurement iNET launched the Awards. The World Bank, Governance Global Practice, Solutions and Innovations in Procurement (SIP-South Asia) became the Secretariat for Award selection. Information available from ...

In an attempt to tap into the talent in South Asia, Harvard University has opened a new centre in New Delhi. There are already multiple regional offices across the globe, including total three in India. This centre in New Delhi is affiliated to the recently renamed Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute. The centre ...

The report, which was released on Tuesday, highlights that South Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change, as climate variables such as temperature, rainfall, flooding, and drought increasingly affect agricultural activities in the region. “There was a sizeable drop in rainy season foodgrain production in ...

South Asia is one of the least integrated regions in the world, as political hostility between member countries has been taking a toll on efforts to deepen cooperation to foster economic growth and deliver prosperity to people. In this context, governments of member countries of the South Asian Association for ...

Asserting that the South Asia Policy is a comprehensive strategy not a military strategy alone, the official said clearly the military has been given a free hand in meeting the challenge posed by the terrorists but there is a clear interest in the political track, the lead for which is being taken by the Afghan ...

DHAKA (AFP) - Seven Islamist militants were sentenced to death on Sunday (March 18) in Bangladesh for the murder of a Sufi shrine caretaker in 2015, at the height of a wave of attacks which swept the South Asian country. The defendants were convicted by a special court in the northern city of Rangpur ...

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has said Pakistan would become an industrial hub of South Asia after the completion of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as it would play an important role in the regional economic growth through connectivity by the CPEC. Talking to PTV, he ...