Author: Saryu Joshi

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned the country’s leading research universities on Thursday that foreign states are targeting their institutions and imperiling national security. “We know that our universities are being actively targeted by hostile actors and need to guard against the threat posed to frontier research in the most sensitive sectors,” said the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who also attended the briefing. The threat requires “further measures,” said the deputy PM, who announced that the government was launching a consultation with the sector so it could “do more to support our universities and put the right…

Northern Elders showing Buyer’s Remorse for Backing Tinubu in 2023 It seems unthinkable that the wealthy and powerful cattle-herding class could be on the margins of President Bola Tinubu’s ruling clique, but it’s thinkable now. During the eight years of Fulani-born Muhammadu Buhari, the beef-on-the hoof lobby called Miyetti Allah Cattlemen’s Association marched vast herds of bony white cattle the length of the nation over lands public and private with impunity. The herds and their rifle-carrying herders uprooted thousands of small plot farms and sent thousands of civilians to their graves in so-called farmer-herder clashes. During those years, the killers…

On a chilly and foggy winter day, hundreds of apple farmers in Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir stored their harvest in a temporary tin shelter installed at the fruit market, anticipating the arrival of traders who would purchase their produce. The farmers were anxious as the quality of apples this year had not been the best and would affect the price they’d get. Kashmir is known in India for its variety of apples. But a series of challenges – from the onslaught of fungal scab, the impact of climate change, and a range of economic hurdles – has thrown the…

Rescue work to save 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state has been delayed by at least four to five days because the drilling machine broke down inside the tunnel. Rescuers will begin digging manually once the faulty part is removed. The workers have been stuck inside the tunnel for two weeks after a portion of it collapsed due to a landslide. The operation has been challenging due to the presence of rocks, stones and metal inside the debris. Rescuers have to resort to drilling by hand because the auger keeps getting stuck on pieces of metal…

For a long time, people living in two densely populated Asian capitals have suffered the toxic smog that blanket their cities. On some days, when the smoke draped Delhi and Beijing – both teeming cities with more than 20 million people – in an orange-grey hue, and the air tasted smoky, people said it felt like living in a dystopian nightmare. Beijing residents even gave the calamity a popular nickname – “airpocalypse”. That time of the year is back in Delhi, but Beijing is breathing much better. Particulate matter, known as PM2.5 – particles so small they can be ingested…

Residents of India’s capital, Delhi, woke up to smoky skies as air quality dropped after the festival of Diwali. People in the city burst crackers late into Sunday night despite a ban on fireworks due to high pollution levels. Delhi has been battling toxic air for weeks, with the government announcing an early winter break for schools in an effort to protect children. The city has high pollution through the year due to factors including vehicular emissions and dust. But the problem becomes worse in winter as farmers in neighbouring states burn crop stubble. Low wind speeds also trap pollutants…

Police in India are investigating a series of explosions which killed three people and injured more than 50 others in the southern state of Kerala. The blasts took place during an event by Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian-based religious movement, in the town of Kalamassery on Sunday. A man was detained after he posted a video claiming responsibility for the attacks and surrendered to police. Police said they were still trying to verify his confession. “He is in our custody. He has also presented some pieces of evidence which we are verifying. The investigation is at its preliminary stage,” Additional Director…

London (08/11 – 50) A U.S. development agency announced on Wednesday that it would lend $553 million to establish a deepwater shipping-container terminal at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka, expanding America’s effort to finance infrastructure around strategic parts of Asia. The loan package is tied to Adani Ports, part of a conglomerate closely linked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India that is still wobbling from a short-seller’s attack in January. Adani will help develop the terminal with Sri Lankan partners. The money from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation resembles the kind of big-ticket deals that China’s…

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit China in the upcoming week as the crisis-hit country makes progress on debt restructuring talks with its biggest lender. Wickremesinghe took office in July last year, after a popular uprising, brought on by an economic meltdown, had forced his predecessor out of power. His Oct. 15-19 visit to Beijing will be his first to China since then. Wickremesinghe, who is also finance minister, has been leading Sri Lanka’s push to manage its heavy debt and keep funds flowing from a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He will attend a Belt and…

Rescue operations have entered the third day after flash floods in India’s north-eastern state of Sikkim left over 100 people missing. At least 26 people, including seven soldiers, have died, officials said on Friday. The massive floods were trigged by a cloudburst over a mountain lake this week. The floods worsened after water was released from a nearby dam into the Teesta river. It destroyed the power infrastructure at the Chungthang dam before moving downstream and flooding towns and villages. Hundreds of search and rescue personnel have been deployed across Sikkim and in the northern parts of the neighbouring West…