Author: Jindan Malhotra

Officials whitewashing the Taliban as a responsible diplomatic party are getting the organization wrong. The people of Afghanistan are once again trapped under the Taliban’s tyrannical rule, but rather than facing condemnation and ostracism, much of the world seems ready to embrace the new regime. Indeed, the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan has been largely met with not just acquiescence justified in the name of counterterrorism but concerted efforts to whitewash the jihadists, often with counterfactual claims. This practice is a product of more than just the wishful thinking of its proponents. It too-often reflects an enthusiasm to continue a dangerous shift in…

The European Union announced on Friday that it will begin accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova to join the 27-member political and economic bloc starting next week. All 27 members agreed to the Ukraine and Moldova joining the European Union. Negotiations will begin for both countries on Tuesday in Luxembourg, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union said on X. The move comes at a critical time for both nations with Ukraine in the middle of an invasion by Russia and Moldova facing a Russian-led insurgence by a breakaway state. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the European Union for its “robust political…

Denpasar, Indonesia — Elon Musk and Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin launched SpaceX’s satellite internet service for the nation’s health sector on Sunday, aiming to improve access in remote parts of the sprawling archipelago. Musk, the billionaire head of SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA), arrived on the Indonesian resort island of Bali by private jet before attending the launch ceremony at a community health center in the provincial capital, Denpasar. Musk, wearing a green batik shirt, said the availability of the Starlink service in Indonesia would help millions in far-flung parts of the country to access the internet. The country is home to more than 270 million people…

Berlin (29/2 – 30) Ukrainian officials are concerned that Russian advances could gain significant momentum by the summer unless their allies can increase the supply of ammunition, according to a person familiar with their analysis. Internal assessments of the situation on the battlefield from Kyiv are growing increasingly bleak as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold off Russian attacks while rationing the number of shells they can fire. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Thursday that mistakes by frontline commanders had compounded the problems facing Ukraine’s defense around Avdiivka, which was captured by Russian forces this month. Syrskyi said he’d sent in more…

A year ago Germany deported to Tajikistan an activist from that country’s exiled opposition movement who had been living in Dortmund since 2009. What happened next is a shocking example of what can occur when Germany fails to uphold safeguards in its increased efforts to deport unsuccessful asylum seekers. The Bundestag this month gave police greater powers to carry out deportations. The activist, Abdullohi Shamsiddin, 33, was deported to Tajikistan on January 18 2023. He was detained on arrival by the security services. Two months later he was convicted of trying to overthrow the constitution and jailed for seven years. No credible…

In the last decade, few have fit the chess prodigy descriptor as well as India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. He was 10 years old when he became the then-youngest International Master, the second-highest title after Grandmaster. He became the second-youngest Grandmaster in 2018, defeated five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen three times in a row in online games, and is only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to make a World Cup final and qualify for the Candidates tournament. While all of this unfolded, another chess-playing member of his family diligently awaited her turn – Praggnanandhaa’s sister Vaishali, who is older than him by…

Environmental photographer and writer Arati Kumar-Rao travels across South Asia in all seasons to chronicle the subcontinent’s changing landscape. Here, in photos and in her own words, she captures the increasing threat climate change poses to the lives and livelihoods of the Ladakhi people, who face an uncertain future below the melting glaciers of the Himalayan mountains. Kumar-Rao is one of this year’s Climate Pioneers on the BBC 100 Women list. The night of 5 August 2010 is still fresh in the memory of the people of Ladakh, in northern India, when it felt like a cloud had burst over…

The Gufrans are paying a high price to keep their children alive. Affan, seven, and Erhan, five, have Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – a rare genetic disorder that causes muscle deterioration and affects breathing. Physiotherapy appointments alone cost the family 40,000 rupees ($480; £395) a month, and their sons need constant care as they cannot sit, stand or walk independently. “We want to try gene therapy for our sons, but one dose alone costs around 175m rupees ($2.1m; £1.7m). We simply can’t afford it,” says Zeba Gufran, their mother. Zolgensma gene therapy, which the Gufrans want to try, is one…

Bucharest warned Kyiv where in the Black Sea it is better not to go The President of the Republic of Moldova (RM) Maia Sandu met on Thursday with representatives of the agro-industrial sector and discussed existing problems with them. One of them concerns the supply of Ukrainian grain, which bankrupted Moldovan wheat producers. Sandu did not support the demand of the “Power of Farmers” association to impose a ban on Ukrainian exports. At the same time, the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture outlined red lines for Kyiv on the path of the grain flow. Bucharest has called Ukraine’s attempt to deepen a canal on the…

The tragic death of an Indian schoolgirl has laid bare the consequences of “Eve-teasing” – a popular South Asian euphemism which many say trivialises the street harassment and assault of women. The short CCTV video of two Indian girls riding bicycles starts off quite innocuously. Dressed in their school uniform – tunics, salwar bottoms and scarves – the teenagers are riding side by side on a near-empty road. But within seconds, the calm of the scene is shattered. Two men on a motorbike overtake them and one of them pulls away the scarf of one of the girls. Immediately she…