Asia
Mamata Banerjee suffers "major injury": Trinamool Congress
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered major injuries to her forehead on Thursday, her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) informed through a post on X.
The All India Trinamool Congress shared photos of Ms Banerjee on a hospital bed with a deep cut in the middle of her forehead and blood on her face, reports NDTV.
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Sources said the Chief Minister suffered a fall at her home and was taken to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. Currently, the wound is being stitched.
"Our chairperson Mamata Banerjee sustained a major injury. Please keep her in your prayers," the party said in a post on X.
‘No compromise’: India’s Home Minister Amit Shah defends Citizenship Amendment Act
In a strong response to the growing opposition against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Indian Home Minister Amit Shah declared the legislation irrevocable. He affirmed the BJP-led government’s steadfast stance during remarks reported by NDTV, emphasising, “This is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country. We will never compromise on it and CAA will never be taken back.”
Shah’s comments come in the wake of criticism from the opposition coalition INDIA, particularly a Congress politician who suggested the law would be repealed if they were elected. Shah confidently countered, acknowledging the opposition's recognition of their limited chances at the polls. “Even the INDIA alliance knows that it will not come into power. CAA has been brought by the BJP and the Narendra Modi-led government. It is impossible to repeal it. We will spread awareness about it in the whole nation so that those who want to repeal it do not get a place,” he stated.
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The Indian home minister robustly defended the constitutionality of the CAA, dismissing allegations of it violating the nation’s constitution. He elucidated on the law’s compatibility with Article 14, explaining, “They always talk about Article 14. They forget that there are two clauses in that Article. This law does not violate Article 14. There is a clear, reasonable classification here. This is a law for those who, due to partition, remained in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and were facing religious persecution and decided to come to India.”
Shah further clarified BJP’s motives behind the enactment of the CAA, stating there is “no question of political gain as the BJP’s main aim is to provide rights and justice to persecuted minorities coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.”
Citizenship Act protests: Three dead and thousands held in India
Addressing the concerns of the country’s minorities, Shah reassured, “I have spoken on CAA at least 41 times on different platforms and spoken on it in detail that the minorities of the country need not be afraid because it has no provision to take back the rights of any citizen.” He elaborated on the CAA’s objective to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians – who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, aiming to alleviate their suffering.
In a critique of opposition leaders like AIMIM’s Asaddudin Owaisi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shah condemned their claims that the CAA was anti-Muslim, highlighting a broader political discourse surrounding the legislation.
Bangladeshi minorities worried over Indian Citizenship Act: BHBCKF
North Korea's Kim drives new-type tank during drills and calls for efforts to prepare for war
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined his troops in training to operate newly developed battle tanks as he called for bigger efforts to prepare for war, state media reported Thursday.
The North’s tank training was seen as a response to the annual 11-day South Korean-U.S. military drills that are to end later Thursday. The North views its rivals’ exercises a rehearsal for invasion.
North Korea conducts artillery firing drills in likely response to South Korea-US military training
The North’s training on Wednesday was designed to inspect tankmen’s combat capabilities and involved the new-type main battle tank that Kim called “the world’s most powerful,” the official Korean Central News Agency.
During the training, heavy tanks moved around various simulated harsh combat circumstances and fired rounds at targets. Kim mounted one of the new-type tanks and drove it himself, “adding to the high militant spirit of the tankmen of our army,” KCNA said.
North Korea's Kim calls for stronger war fighting capabilities against the US and South Korea
North Korea's Defense Ministry earlier vowed to carry out “responsible military activities” in reaction to the ongoing South Korea-U.S. military exercises in the South. Kim later supervised artillery firing drills.
The South Korean-U.S. training involve a computer-simulated command post training and 48 kinds of field exercises, twice the number conducted last year.
North Korea has dialed up its weapons testing activities since early 2022 in a bid to modernize and enlarge its nuclear and missile arsenals. The U.S. and South Korea have expanded their training exercises and a trilateral drill involving Japan in response.
North Korea threatens to take military moves in response to US-South Korean drills
Experts say Kim likely wants to use his upgraded weapons arsenal to win U.S. concessions like extensive relief of international sanctions on North Korea. They say North Korea is expected to extend its testing activities and ramp up warlike rhetoric this year as both the United States and South Korea hold major elections.
End/UNB/AP/MB
An explosion in a building outside Beijing kills 2 people and injures 26
Rescuers were responding to a suspected gas leak explosion Wednesday in a building in northern China that has killed two people and injured 26, authorities said.
The explosion came early in the morning from a fried chicken shop in the city of Sanhe, authorities said in a short statement. The city is just an hour drive west of Beijing.
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Police cordoned off streets 1 kilometer (over half a mile) out from the explosion, Associated Press reporters saw, and were directing people away.
Fire engines were still arriving at the scene as of 11 a.m., and a truck could be seen hauling away a burnt-out car with its windows gone. Pieces of the building's frame stood at a tilt above piles of rubble.
What is India's new citizenship law and why are Muslims in the country worried?
Over 150 firefighters were sent to bring the flames under control, according to national broadcaster CCTV. Videos online showed smoke billowing out of a mid-level commercial building at an intersection.
What is India's new citizenship law and why are Muslims in the country worried?
India has implemented a controversial citizenship law that has been widely criticized for excluding Muslims, a minority community whose concerns have heightened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.
The rules for the law were announced Monday. It establishes a religious test for migrants from every major South Asian faith other than Islam. Critics argue that the law is further evidence that Modi's government is trying to reshape the country into a Hindu state and marginalize its 200 million Muslims.
WHAT IS THE NEW CITIZENSHIP LAW?
The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014. The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.
It also amends the old law, which prevents illegal migrants from becoming Indian citizens, and marks the first time that India — an officially secular state with a religiously diverse population — has set religious criteria for citizenship.
The Indian government has said those eligible can apply for Indian citizenship through an online portal.
India announces steps to implement a citizenship law that excludes Muslims
The implementation of the law has been one of the key poll promises of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the run-up to the general election, which is scheduled to be held by May.
Modi's government has dismissed the notion that the law is discriminatory and defended it as a humanitarian gesture. It argues the law is meant only to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution and would not be used against Indian citizens.
WHAT MAKES THE LAW SO CONTROVERSIAL?
The law was approved by India's Parliament in 2019, but Modi's government held off its implementation after deadly protests broke out in New Delhi and elsewhere. Scores were killed during days of clashes.
The nationwide protests in 2019 drew people of all faiths who said the law undermines India's foundation as a secular nation. Muslims were particularly worried that the government could use the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, to marginalize them.
The National Register of Citizens is part of the Modi government's effort to identify and weed out people it claims came to India illegally. The register has only been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam, but Modi's party has promised to roll out a similar citizenship verification program nationwide.
Critics and Muslim groups say the new citizenship law will help protect non-Muslims who are excluded from the register, while Muslims could face the threat of deportation or internment.
WHY ARE INDIA'S MUSLIMS WORRIED?
Opponents of the law — including Muslims, opposition parties and rights groups — say it is exclusionary and violates the secular principles enshrined in the constitution. They say faith cannot be made a condition of citizenship.
On Monday, Human rights watchdog Amnesty India said the law "legitimizes discrimination based on religion."
Some also argue that if the law is aimed at protecting persecuted minorities, then it should have included Muslim religious minorities who have faced persecution in their own countries, including Ahmadis in Pakistan and Rohingyas in Myanmar.
To critics, Modi is pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda that threatens to erode the country's secular foundation, shrink space for religious minorities, particularly Muslims, and move the country closer to a Hindu nation.
India is home to 200 million Muslims who make up a large minority group in the country of more than 1.4 billion people. They are scattered across almost every part of India and have been targeted in a series of attacks that have taken place since Modi first assumed power in 2014.
Scores of Muslims have been lynched by Hindu mobs over allegations of eating beef or smuggling cows, an animal considered holy to Hindus. Muslim businesses have been boycotted, their localities have been bulldozed and places of worship set on fire. Some open calls have been made for their genocide.
Critics say Modi's conspicuous silence over anti-Muslim violence has emboldened some of his most extreme supporters and enabled more hate speech against Muslims.
Modi has also increasingly mixed religion with politics in a formula that has resonated deeply with India's majority Hindu population. In January, he opened a Hindu temple at the site of a demolished mosque in northern Ayodhya city, fulfilling his party's long-held Hindu nationalist pledge.
India announces steps to implement a citizenship law that excludes Muslims
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Monday (March 11, 2024) announced rules to implement a 2019 citizenship law that excludes Muslims, weeks before the Hindu nationalist leader seeks a third term in office.
The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014. The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.
The law was approved by Indian Parliament in 2019, but Modi’s government had held off with its implementation after deadly protests broke out in capital New Delhi and elsewhere. Scores were killed during days of clashes.
The nationwide protests in 2019 drew people of all faiths who said the law undermines India’s foundation as a secular nation. Muslims were particularly worried that the government could use the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, to marginalize them.
The National Register of Citizens is part of Modi government’s effort to identify and weed out people it claims came to India illegally. The register has only been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to roll out a similar citizenship verification program nationwide.
19 dead and 7 missing as landslide and flash floods hit Indonesia's Sumatra island
Modi’s government has defended the 2019 citizenship law as a humanitarian gesture. It argues that the law is meant only to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution and would not be used against Indian citizens.
“These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation,” Home Minister Amit Shah wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
India’s main opposition Congress party questioned the announcement, saying “the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarise the elections.”
Human rights watchdog Amnesty India in a statement called the law “discriminatory” and said it “goes against the constitutional values of equality and international human rights law.” It said the law “legitimises discrimination based on religion” and is “exclusionary in its structure and intent.”
India is home to 200 million Muslims who make up a large minority group in the country of more than 1.4 billion people. They are scattered across almost every part of India and have been targeted in a series of attacks that have taken place Modi first assumed power in 2014.
Critics say Modi’s conspicuous silence over anti-Muslim violence has emboldened some of his most extreme supporters and enabled more hate speech against Muslims.
Modi has increasingly mixed religion with politics in a formula that has resonated deeply with India’s majority Hindu population. In January, he opened a Hindu temple at the site of a demolished mosque in northern Ayodhya city, fulfilling his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge.
North Korea threatens to take military moves in response to US-South Korean drills
Most poll surveys suggest Modi will win a majority in a general election that is scheduled to be held by May.
19 dead and 7 missing as landslide and flash floods hit Indonesia's Sumatra island
Torrential rains have triggered flash floods and a landslide on Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing at least 19 people and leaving seven others missing, officials said Sunday.
Tons of mud, rocks and uprooted trees rolled down a mountain late Friday, reaching a river that burst its banks and tore through mountainside villages in Pesisir Selatan district of West Sumatra province, said Doni Yusrizal, who heads the local disaster management agency.
Rescuers by Saturday pulled out seven bodies in the worst-hit village of Koto XI Tarusan, and recovered three others in two neighboring villages, Yusrizal said.
Rescuers retrieved six bodies in Pesisir Selatan and three more in the neighboring district of Padang Pariaman, bringing the death toll to 19, the National Disaster Management Agency said on Sunday.
The agency in a statement said at least two villagers were injured by the flash flood and rescuers are searching for seven people who are reportedly still missing.
It said more than 80,000 people had fled to temporary government shelters after the flood and landslide buried 14 houses, while 20,000 houses were flooded up to the roof in nine districts and cities in West Sumatra province.
"Relief efforts for the dead and missing were hampered by power outages, blocked roads covered in thick mud and debris," Yusrizal said.
Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.
North Korea conducts artillery firing drills in likely response to South Korea-US military training
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised artillery firing drills aimed at boosting combat readiness, state media reported Friday, days after his country vowed to take corresponding military steps against the ongoing South Korean-U.S military trainin g that it regards as an invasion rehearsal.
Thursday's drills involved frontline artillery units, whose weapons place Seoul, the South Korean capital, in their striking range, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim said artillery units must “take the initiative with merciless and rapid strikes at the moment of their entry into an actual war,” KCNA said.
North Korea's forward-deployed long-range artillery guns pose a serious security threat to Seoul, a city with 10 million people which is about 40 to 50 kilometers (25 to 30 miles) from the border with North Korea.
North Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it would conduct unspecified ”responsible military activities” in response to the annual South Korea-U.S. military drills that are to end on March 14. Kim visited a western operational training ground on Wednesday and called for stronger war fighting capabilities.
The South Korean-U.S. drills began on Monday and involve a computer-simulated command post training and 48 kinds of field exercises, twice the number conducted last year.
North Korea views South Korea-U.S. military exercises as a major security threat, calling them a preparation to launch attacks on the North. Seoul and Washington officials have said their drills are defensive in nature.
North Korea has sharply accelerated its missile testing activities since 2022 in part of efforts to develop more powerful nuclear-capable weapons targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The South Korean and U.S. militaries have expanded their drills in response.
Experts say North Korea likely aims to use a modernized arsenal to win sanctions relief from the United States when diplomacy restarts. They say North Korea could increase its weapons tests and dial up warlike rhetoric this year as the United States and South Korea hold major elections.
Gang rape of a tourist in India highlights its struggle to curb sexual violence against women
The woman in the Instagram video appeared shaken. Her face was swollen and bruised. Sitting beside her husband, she began recounting her ordeal.
“Something happened to us that we wouldn’t wish on anyone," she said in Spanish, with captions in English. “Seven men raped me, and they have beaten us and robbed us.”
In the video that has since been deleted, the woman said the assault on her and her Brazilian partner — both travel bloggers — took place in a forest late Friday in eastern Jharkhand state’s Dumka district where they were camping on their way to neighboring Nepal. She said seven men held knives to their throats and took turns sexually assaulting her.
The couple, who had been documenting their trip for more than 200,000 followers on an Instagram account, were found by a police patrol van which took them to a hospital, where the woman told the doctor she had been raped.
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Police in Jharkhand confirmed the incident and arrested three men over the weekend. On Monday, police said they were searching for four more suspects.
The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault.
The case triggered a nationwide outcry over one of India’s rampant problems: a decades-long struggle to curb rising sexual violence against women.
Reports of horrific sexual assaults on women have become familiar in India, where police recorded 31,516 rape cases in 2022, a 20% increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
The real figure is believed to be far higher due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence and victims' lack of faith in police. Women's rights activists say the problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where victims of sexual assault are sometimes shamed by the community and families worry about their social standing.
“Often, the victims are victimized further with insults, and it makes it very difficult for them to report the crime to the police. In such cases, women think it is best to keep quiet,” said Mariam Dhawale, a women's rights activist and general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association.
Rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight since the brutal 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus. The attack galvanized massive protests and inspired lawmakers to order the creation of fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases and stiffen penalties.
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The rape law was amended in 2013, criminalizing stalking and voyeurism and lowering the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16.
Despite stringent laws, rights activists say the government is still not doing enough to protect women and punish attackers.
“Often, investigations in rape cases are messed up by the police and timely evidence is not collected. These cases get dragged on without any convictions and the culprits walk free,” Dhawale said. She said convictions remain rare and cases often remain stuck for years in India’s clogged criminal justice system.
In the last few years, the conviction rate in rape cases has hovered below 30%, according to several government reports.
High-profile rape cases involving foreign visitors have drawn international attention to the issue. In 2022, a British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa. Earlier this year, an Indian-American woman said she was raped at a hotel in New Delhi.
In January, the Supreme Court restored life sentences for 11 Hindu men who raped a Muslim woman during deadly religious rioting two decades ago. They had been released in 2022, when they were garlanded with flowers by their families and a lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party.
Last year, female wrestlers demonstrated against the head of the wrestling federation, accusing him of repeatedly groping women. After months of protests, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, an influential lawmaker from Modi’s party, was charged in court with stalking, harassment and intimidation. Singh has denied the accusations.
Dhwale said even though high-profile rape cases get media attention, a culture of downplaying sexual harassment and violence against women remains prevalent in India.
“We are continuously on the road to protest, sometimes to get a single case registered. It shouldn’t be like that,” she said.
North Korea threatens to take military moves in response to US-South Korean drills
North Korea called the ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills a plot to invade the country, as it threatened Tuesday to take unspecified “responsible” military steps in response.
The North's warning came a day after the South Korean and U.S. forces kicked off their annual computer-simulated command post training and a variety of field exercises for an 11-day run. This year’s drills were to involve 48 field exercises, twice the number conducted last year.
In a statement carried by state media, the North’s Defense Ministry said it “strongly denounces the reckless military drills of the U.S. and (South Korea) for getting more undisguised in their military threat to a sovereign state and attempt for invading it.”
An unidentified ministry spokesperson said North Korea’s military will “continue to watch the adventurist acts of the enemies and conduct responsible military activities to strongly control the unstable security environment on the Korean Peninsula.”
The spokesperson didn't say what measures North Korea would take, but observers say North Korea will likely carry out missile tests or other steps to bolster its war capability.
North Korea views its rivals' major military drills as invasion rehearsals, though South Korean and U.S. officials have repeatedly said their training are defensive in nature. North Korea has previously reacted to South Korean-U.S. exercises with launches of a barrage of missiles into the sea.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said last week that this year's military drills with the United States were designed to neutralize North Korean nuclear threats and would involve live-firing, bombing, air assault and missile interception drills.
Concerns about North Korea's nuclear program have grown in the past two years, as the North has test-launched missiles at a record pace and openly threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively. The U.S. and South Korea have expanded their military exercises and increased the deployment of powerful U.S. military assets like aircraft carriers and nuclear-capable bombers in response.
This year, North Korea performed six rounds of missile tests and artillery firing drills. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also declared his country won't seek reconciliation with South Korea and vowed to scrap the country's long-running goal of peaceful unification with South Korea. Kim said North Korea would take a more aggressive military posture along the disputed sea boundary with South Korea.
Experts say North Korea could believe a bigger weapons arsenal would provide it with a greater leverage in future diplomacy with the United States. They say North Korea is desperate to win an international recognition as a nuclear state, a status that it would think helps it win relief of U.S.-led economic sanctions.
North Korea is expected to further dial up tensions with more missile tests and warlike rhetoric this year as the U.S. and South Korea head into major elections. North Korea may stage limited provocation near the tense border with South Korea this year, experts say.