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☆ India’s farmers are up in arms again. Will it hurt Modi’s reelection campaign?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Vinay Dwivedi | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Narinder Nanu | AFP | Getty ImagesNEW DELHI — Farmers in India's Punjab state are raising the pitch of their ongoing protests, as the second phase of India's general elections starts Friday. Thousands of farmers continue to drum up support for their demands, foremost being a legal guarantee for minimum support prices for their produce. A Lokniti-CSDS survey earlier this month showed 59% of the respondents found the farmers' demands "genuine," while 16% deemed the protests a "conspiracy" against the government. CNBC did not immediately receive a response from India's Agriculture Ministry on queries pertaining to the farmers' demands. What India's farmers want

Persons: Narinder Nanu, Narendra Modi, Modi, Yogendra Yadav, Sanjay Kumar, Modi's, Kumar, it's, Jagjit Singh, Ayyakannu, Dallewal Organizations: AFP, Getty, DELHI — Farmers, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Modi's BJP, CNBC, India's Agriculture, Tamil Nadu, Morcha Locations: Amritsar, DELHI, India's Punjab, Punjab, Khanauri, Haryana, India, New Delhi, Delhi, Tamil, Varanasi, Tamil Nadu, Varansai, Uttar Pradesh, Samyukta

CNN —British singer Ed Sheeran wowed the stage in Mumbai with Diljit Dosanjh over the weekend as the pair sang a rendition of the Indian artist’s hit track “Lover” in Punjabi, a duet that promptly lit up India’s social media. Both artists posted videos of their performances on Instagram, with huge cheers from the crowd as Sheeran invited his singing partner onto the stage. “Got to bring out @diljitdosanjh tonight in Mumbai and sing in Punjabi for the first time. I’ve had such an incredible time in India, more to come!” Sheeran wrote in a post. Fans and Indian celebrities on social media praised Dosanjh for getting Sheeran to sing in an Indian language.

Persons: Ed Sheeran, Dosanjh, Sheeran, “, I’ve, ” Sheeran, Singer, Diljit, ”, Varun Dhawan, Sahil Bulla, ” Dosanjh, “ Hass Hass, Sia Organizations: CNN, Spotify Locations: British, Mumbai, India, London, Australia, Punjab, Pakistan

☆ Elon Musk's X suspends some India accounts after order from Modi government
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | In Charmainemariajacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's social media platform X said Thursday it will block certain accounts and posts from India in response to executive orders by the government. X said it did not agree with the order but failure to comply would subject the company to "potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment." Tens of thousands of Indian farmers — mostly from the northern state of Punjab — have been protesting since mid-February in renewed calls for better crop prices which were promised to them in 2021. In October, the Modi government warned Musk that X would have to comply to country's new and upcoming IT rules. However, it has written an appeal challenging the Indian government with accounts that are pending to be blocked, the company said.

Persons: Elon, X, Jack Dorsey —, Musk —, Narendra Modi's, Modi, Musk, Naman Tandon Organizations: Global Government Affairs, CNBC, country's Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Reuters, Twitter Locations: Punjab, Haryana, Ambala, India, New Delhi, Delhi, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

☆ Shehbaz Sharif Set for Pakistan's Top Job as Elder Brother Steps Aside
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

Before his stint as prime minister, the younger Sharif was known more as a good administrator than a politician, having served as chief minister thrice in the country's largest province, Punjab. The deal was signed after Sharif personally called on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva last June. Although defence and key foreign policy decisions are largely influenced by the military, Sharif will have to juggle relations with the U.S. and China, both major allies. He started his political career as the chief minister of Punjab in 1997 with a signature "can-do" administrative style. As chief minister, the younger Sharif planned and executed a number of ambitious infrastructure mega-projects, including Pakistan's first modern mass transport system in Lahore.

Persons: Asif Shahzad, Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam, Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif's, Maryam, Imran Khan, Shehbaz Sharif, Khan, Shehbaz, Kristalina Georgieva, Tehmina Durrani, Ariba Shahid, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz, Monetary Fund, IMF, U.S Locations: Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam ISLAMABAD, Sharif, London, country's, Punjab, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Lahore, Panama, Karachi

☆ Why Farmers Are Marching Toward Delhi Again
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Alex Travelli | Suhasini Raj | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Once again, India’s capital is bracing itself for a siege. Not by a foreign army but by an army of Indian farmers, streaming toward New Delhi from nearby states to protest government policies. The farmers’ march has turned the city’s main points of entry into choke points, as the federal and local police go into overdrive: barricading highways by pouring concrete and stacking shipping containers to halt the advancing tractors. The authorities have blocked the social media accounts of some protest leaders and even used drones that were once billed as an agricultural innovation to drop tear-gas grenades on the demonstrators. The scenes hark back to North India’s biggest protests of 2020 and 2021, when hundreds of thousands of farmers, mostly from the states of Punjab and Haryana, forced the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to abandon three bills meant to overhaul India’s agricultural economy.

Persons: Narendra Modi Locations: Delhi, Punjab, Haryana

CNN —The home of a Canadian Sikh activist in Brampton, Ontario, was hit by gunfire on Monday, months after the assassination of another activist sent India-Canada relations into a spiral. “It appears that only one bullet hole was found but that is subject to change,” Peel Regional Police wrote in a statement. The bullet hole in Gosal's home in Brampton, Ontario. The Canadian citizen was gunned down by masked men last June outside a Sikh temple in British Colombia. Weeks later, the United States accused an Indian government official of being involved in a conspiracy to kill another Sikh separatist, American citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, on US soil.

Persons: Inderjit Singh, Gosal, Singh, Justin Trudeau, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Weeks, Gurpatwant Singh, Pannun, Nikhil Gupta, Gupta, Nijjar, “ Organizations: CNN, Justice, Peel Regional Police, Indian Consulate Toronto, Canadian, Indian, Global Affairs Canada Locations: Brampton , Ontario, India, Canada, India’s Punjab, British Colombia, United States, Ontario, Punjab

☆ Analysis: Pakistan’s youth deliver stinging rebuke to military elite by backing jailed leader Khan
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Sophia Saifi | Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Islamabad, Pakistan CNN —His political party is effectively banned, his speeches are barred from television, and he faces at least 14 years in prison. But as the Pakistan election results show, Imran Khan cannot be suppressed. Independent candidates affiliated with the former prime minister’s Pakistan Tehereek-e-Insaf (PTI) party secured the most parliamentary seats in last week’s nationwide election, the election commission announced Sunday. “Now show the strength of protecting your vote.” Khan’s team has previously used AI to deliver his speeches from behind bars. Akhtar Soomro/Reuters/FileWhen he rose to power in 2018, it was, according to analysts, with the backing of the military.

Persons: Pakistan CNN —, Imran Khan, Khan, “, ”, Khan’s, –, Hashim Ali Dogar, Shayan Bashir Nawaz, Raoof Hassam, Madiha Afzal, Akhtar Soomro, Rabiya Arooj, Nawaz Sharif, Husain Haqqani, Anwar Gargash, Manahil Ahmed, Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sundas Kalsoom, Insaaf, Gohar Ali Khan, Hasham Ahmed, Fahd Humayun Organizations: Pakistan CNN, Independent, PTI, CNN, Foreign, Brookings Institution, Pakistani, United, Hudson Institute, Washington D.C, Getty, Haqqani, Political, Neubauer, Tufts University, “ Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan, Lahore, “, Punjab, Washington, Imran Khan Pakistan, British India, It’s, United States, Pakistani, Abu Dhabi, Peshawar, Buner, AFP, Egypt

If no party wins a majority of 169 seats, the one with the biggest share can form a coalition government. The vote was overshadowed by violence, an unprecedented national shutdown of all mobile phone services and allegations of vote rigging. Pakistan’s national human rights body said there was no excuse for the hold-up and expressed concern about the lack of transparency. DEALS, DEALS, DEALSNo party won a majority of National Assembly seats. She accompanied her father at rallies, giving fiery and uncompromising speeches, and escorted him on polling day when he went to cast his vote.

Persons: hadn't, Imran Khan's, Salman Akram Raja, hasn’t, Nawaz Sharif, kingmaker, Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto, Zardari, Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif’s, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, Benazir’s, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal, Maryam, Shehbaz, Hamza Organizations: —, National Assembly, U.S, Union, Court, Fair, PTI, Pakistan People’s Party, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League Locations: LAHORE, Pakistan, — Pakistan, Lahore, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan, Punjab province

☆ Factbox-Who Are the Key Players in Pakistan's General Elections?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan holds its national elections on Thursday as the country grapples with an economic crisis and political uncertainty following the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2022. Here are some facts about the main political figures trying to lead the nuclear-armed nation of 241 million people. NAWAZ SHARIFFormer prime minister Nawaz Sharif is considered a front-runner to lead the country, having buried a long-running feud with the country's powerful military, analysts say. Maryam, 50, was jailed along with her father shortly before the 2018 elections on corruption charges, which were later overturned. Nevertheless, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has tried to wage an unorthodox election campaign using social media and covert canvassing.

Persons: Imran Khan, NAWAZ SHARIF, Nawaz Sharif, MARYAM NAWAZ SHARIF, Nawaz, Maryam, SHEHBAZ SHARIF, Shehbaz Sharif, IMRAN KHAN, BILAWAL BHUTTO ZARDARI Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, Bhutto Zardari, Asif Ali Zardari, Charlotte Greenfield, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz, International Monetary Fund, Khan's Locations: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Punjab, Pakistan's, Khan's Pakistan, Sindh province

FORMER PRIME MINISTER NAWAZ SHARIF, PAKISTAN MUSLIM LEAGUEBusiness mogul, multi-millionaire and three-time premier, Nawaz Sharif hails from one of the top two families that have dominated Pakistani politics for decades. He also has a personal stake in keeping imprisoned Imran Khan out of the picture. FORMER PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN, PAKISTAN TEHREEK-E-INSAF PARTYA former cricket star turned Islamist politician, Imran Khan triumphed on an anti-corruption, anti-establishment platform in the 2018 election to form a coalition government. FORMER PRIME MINISTER SHEHBAZ SHARIF, PAKISTAN MUSLIM LEAGUEShehbaz Sharif, 72, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, succeeded Imran Khan as prime minister in April 2022. He won his first parliamentary seat in 2018 and became foreign minister after Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister.

Persons: it's, NAWAZ SHARIF, Nawaz Sharif, Sharif, Imran Khan, Khan, ASIM MUNIR, Asim Munir, Munir, IMRAN KHAN, Osama bin Laden, ” —, SHEHBAZ SHARIF, BILAWAL BHUTTO, ZARDARI, Pakistan’s, Bilawal Bhutto, Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari Organizations: —, National Assembly, PAKISTAN MUSLIM LEAGUE Business, Pakistan Muslim League, Supreme, Sharif, GEN, ARMY CHIEF, LEAGUE, International Monetary Fund Locations: ISLAMABAD, — Pakistan, PAKISTAN, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Iran, Tehran, Islamabad, United States, U.S, Washington, LEAGUE Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab, London, Sindh

The highway is the most politically charged slice of a politically turbulent country. It winds 180 miles from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, through the fertile plains of Punjab Province to Lahore, the nation’s cultural and political heart. For centuries, it was known only as a sliver of the Grand Trunk Road, Asia’s longest and oldest thoroughfare, linking traders in Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. As Pakistan heads into national elections on Thursday, the road is buzzing. Politics dominates the chatter between its vendors and rickshaw drivers, their conversations seeped in a culture of conspiracy, cults of political personality and the problems of entrenched military control.

Locations: Pakistan’s, Islamabad, Punjab Province, Lahore, Central Asia, Pakistan

☆ Alleged Plot to Kill Sikh Separatist Highlights Thorn in India’s Side
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Sameer Yasir | More About Sameer Yasir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The federal indictment this week of an Indian citizen in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme targeting a Sikh separatist in New York threatens to damage ties between the United States and India just as the Biden administration has been courting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The charges are rooted in a decades-old dispute: the demand by some Sikhs for a sovereign state known as Khalistan carved out of northern India, which the Modi government opposes. In addition to directing the unsuccessful plot in New York, the federal indictment said, an Indian government official organized the killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada who was shot in June by masked gunmen outside a temple in Vancouver. The idea of Khalistan is rooted in Sikhism, a religion with 26 million followers around the world, of which about 23 million live in the state of Punjab in northern India. Sikhs make up less than 2 percent of India’s population of 1.4 billion.

Persons: Biden, Narendra Modi’s, Modi Locations: New York, United States, India, Canada, Vancouver, Punjab

☆ A Timeline of Plots Against Sikh Activists, According to Canada and the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Derek M. Norman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal prosecutors in the United States announced this week that they had charged an Indian national in a murder-for-hire scheme that targeted a Sikh activist in New York. The plot was foiled, they said, but it further complicated the delicate diplomatic relations between the United States, Canada and India. The U.S. prosecutors also linked the plot to a murder in Canada last June. Relations between India and Canada had soured this fall after Canadian officials accused Indian government agents of the killing. In or around May 2023American prosecutors said that, around this time, an unnamed Indian government employee recruited Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, to orchestrate the assassination of a U.S. citizen, according to the indictment.

Persons: Biden, Narendra Modi, Nikhil Gupta, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun Organizations: United States, Biden, The U.S, Indian, Justice Locations: New York, United States, Canada, India, China, Russia, The, Punjab

☆ Prosecutors Charge Indian Man With Trying to Kill Sikh Activist in U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hindu nationalists at a recent rally in New Delhi held a banner depicting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the alleged target of an assassination plot. Photo: arun sankar/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesU.S. prosecutors charged an Indian man with trying to assassinate an American citizen on U.S. soil, a dramatic development that threatens to cause new rifts in the deepening relationship between allies Washington and New Delhi. In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors said Nikhil Gupta paid someone he thought was a hit man $100,000 to murder the target, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an advocate for carving out an independent Sikh homeland from the north Indian state of Punjab.

Persons: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, arun sankar, Nikhil Gupta Organizations: Agence France, Getty Locations: New Delhi, American, U.S, Washington, Punjab

☆ Man charged in alleged plot by Indian government official to assassinate U.S. citizen
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced murder-for-hire charges against a man related to an alleged plot by an Indian government official to assassinate a U.S. citizen in New York City. Nikhil Gupta, a 52-year-old Indian national, is charged in federal court in Manhattan with two criminal counts related to the ultimately foiled murder plot, a newly unsealed court filing shows. The Indian government official who allegedly directed the murder plot has called himself a "Senior Field Officer" with responsibilities in "Security Management" and "Intelligence," according to the DOJ. Gupta allegedly then helped broker a deal for the Indian government official to pay the purported hitman $100,000 for the assassination. The government official fed personal information about the victim to Gupta and asked for regular updates about the progress of the murder plot.

Persons: Hunter Biden, Biden's, Biden, Kevin Dietsch, Nikhil Gupta, Gupta, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Justin Trudeau, Nijjar, William Burns, National Intelligence Avril Haines Organizations: U.S . Department of Justice, The Justice Department, ., Department of Justice, New York City ., New York Times, Washington Post, Justice, DOJ, Indian, Intelligence, U.S, Sikh, New, Canadian, CIA, National Intelligence, Indian Embassy Locations: WASHINGTON, DC, Washington ,, U.S, New York City, Manhattan, Czech Republic, Punjab, India, British Columbia, Canada, New Delhi

☆ The U.S. Charged an Indian Man in a Plot to Kill a Sikh Activist
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Federal prosecutors accused an Indian national today of attempting to kill a Sikh separatist in New York City. The hit in the U.S. was planned by an Indian government official who told the man tapped to carry it out, Nikhil Gupta, that there was a target in New York and another in California, according to prosecutors. “We have so many targets,” the official told him. Prosecutors said that Gupta hired a hit man to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. citizen and outspoken proponent of independence for the Indian state of Punjab. The supposed hit man, however, was an undercover officer, prosecutors said.

Persons: Nikhil Gupta, “, Gupta, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun Organizations: U.S ., Prosecutors Locations: New York City, Canada, Washington , Ottawa, New Delhi, U.S, New York, California, Punjab

The target in New York was identified by American officials as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is general counsel for the New York-based group Sikhs for Justice. Mr. Pannun is an outspoken proponent of independence for the northern Indian state of Punjab, which is home to a large number of Sikhs, a powerful but minority group in the nation. The indictment said that the supposed hit man hired to kill Mr. Pannun was in fact a federal agent. agents warned a number of Sikh leaders around the United States about potential threats against them. Mr. Biden himself raised the issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the Group of 20 summit in September.

Persons: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Pannun, Adrienne Watson, Biden, Gupta, ”, ” Ms, Watson, William J, Burns, Narendra Modi Organizations: New, National Security Council, ”, Group Locations: New York, Punjab, Vancouver, F.B.I, United States, India

☆ Explainer: Why is South Asia the global hotspot of pollution?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Sakshi Dayal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The worsening air pollution is an annual problem for South Asian nations as winter approaches and cold, heavy air traps pollution in a thick layer of smog. South Asia has become the global hotspot for air pollution, with studies finding four of the world's most polluted countries and nine of the 10 most polluted cities in the region. WHY IS POLLUTION IN SOUTH ASIA WORSE THAN OTHER PLACES? An increase in the number of vehicles on roads as the region has developed has also exacerbated the pollution problem. Countries across South Asia will have to coordinate efforts if the region's pollution problem is to be solved, collaborating to enhance monitoring and make policy decisions.

Persons: stubble, Anushree, Sakshi Dayal, Michael Perry Organizations: Swiss Group, REUTERS, ., Thomson Locations: DELHI, South Asia, Asia, New Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh's

☆ An Epic Pilgrimage Across Three Great Religions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Aatish Taseer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +111 min

Before there was tourism, there was pilgrimage: a trip of endurance, hardship and ecstasy in celebration of one’s faith. On an epic pilgrimage of his own, one writer ventures into the heart of three great religions in Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. The Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala the day after Ashura. “They’re poor, but they come thousands of kilometers for the love of Imam Hussein.” PILGRIMAGE WAS A great equalizer. “Labaik ya Hussein,” came the solemn chorus of surrounding voices.

Persons: Eduardo Quintela Gonzáles, ” Quintela, JAN, “, ”, Quintela, Victor, Edith Turner, Chaucer, ferne, sondry londes, Vaishno Devi, Lyra Skinner, Lyra, Victoria Preston’s, —, Prophet Muhammad, Virgin Mary, Bath, Naipaul, Augustus, Ryan, garret, Virgin, Monica Machicao, Nicholas Casey, ” Monica, Casey, Evo Morales, sloughing, Columbus, Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Monica, glitzy cholets, Peru —, Viracocha, it’s, Pablo Quisbert, Leandro Chitarroni, Eichmann, Father Chitarroni, Father Chitarroni’s, Conquistadores ”, Fernando Cervantes, Bernabé Cobo, Quisbert, Edgar Quispe, Tatiana Huayhua, Francisco Tito Yupanqui, Mary, Yupanqui’s, su, Yupanqui, Chitarroni, she’s, Friar Abelino Yeguaori, Friar Yeguaori, Friar Yeguaori’s, Irene, Juana, hajji, Waka, Aracely Alcón, Santiago, Alcón, ‘, don’t, ” Alcón, Tito Yupanqui, Uma Marka, Pachamama, haggard, Amaru Fiorilo Barrios, he’d, ” Fiorilo, Fiorilo, who’d, Valeria Alcón, Laureano Jose Quisbert, Elena Ticona Flores, Eduardo Quintela’s, Ensamble, pang, padre, consolations, Sincrético, El, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, Axel, amauta, strode, La, Aatish Taseer, Saint Helena —, Constantine I, La Paz, Orgilbaatar Tsolmon, Orgil, Genghis Khan, Edward Gibbon, ” Orgil, Araniko’s, Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s, Kubla Khan, Coleridge, Kublai, Stalin, sybarite, Khamar, Dalai Lama, Lama, Christopher Kaplonski, ger, I’d, banshtai tsai, Prim, Egi, Munkhdul, Gandantegchinlen, Haidav, herder, “ Um sain, boltugai, Danzanravjaa, Zanabazar’s, Erdene, Mandakhtsog Monkhbaatar, Monkhbaatar’s, Dalai Lamas, prostrated, He’d, Zuu, she’d, Santiago de, L.K, Advani, Emperor Babur, Ram, kar sevaks, Ayodhya, Narendra Modi, Munkhbaatar Batchuluun, Henry Wallace, Franklin D, Potemkin, Munkhbaatar, Gerelmaa, Giimaa, She’d, Eduardo Quintela, Aracely, Santiago’s, Joseph Brodsky’s, Muhammad’s, Hussein, William Keo, ” Khuder, pillion, Labaik, Hussein ”, O Hussein, hearkened, Prophet, Ali —, Ali, Yazid, Imam, crackling, chickpeas, Imam Ali, Imam Hussein, Saddam Hussein, Tusi, Qasim, Imam Hussein’s, Khuder, “ Will, Najaf, prestes, — I, Yasir Yaseen, Ashura, Ali Akbar, Abbas, Ali Asghar, “ We’re, Francisco Goya’s, Hussein’s, Groom, Joseph, ” Wissam, Turfi, Saddam —, Arbaeen, Saddam, “ Imam Hussein, WE, Muhammad, Barnaby Rogerson, Prophet Muhammad ”, ” Ali, Muhammad — Muhammad, formlessness, Muqtada al, Abrams, chiding, Abu Musab Al, Zarqawi, Al Qaeda, William, “ They’re, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, flagellants, ruddy, stylishly, Hussein — shahid —, Farman Ahsan, Syed Salman Raza —, Saddam’s, ” Raza, William “, Ali Zayn al, Abidin, Labaik ya Hussein, thrall —, Lloyd, Susanne Rudolph — Organizations: CITY LA, LA, LA PAZ, Virgin, Crusaders, Dolorosa, Sun, The New York Times, Bolivian, Spain, La, Cordillera, Universidad Mayor de, Catholic, Good, La Paz, Dominican, Pakistan, Caesars, Nissan, Coke, Communists, Communism, ardor, Communist, Hyundai, flails, sacra, Apache, Mahdi Army, Al, ISIS, Karachi —, Princeton Locations: Bolivia, Mongolia, Iraq, Aatish Taseer Bolivia Mongolia Iraq, CITY LA PAZ, BOLIVIA, NAJAF, IRAQ, ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, LA PAZ, La Paz, Bolivian, Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, New York, Christian, British, sondry, India, Delhi, Varanasi, Europe, American, Mecca, Arabia, Long, Vino Tinto, Chile, Peru, Monica, Plurinational State, Bolivia —, Americas, Spain, Columbian, Aztec Mexico, Inca Peru, Calvary Hill, Virgen del Cerro, South America, Puerto Rico, Huatajata, ”, Argentine, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Mexican, revelry, Spanish, “, morena, La, “ India, multilayered, Potosí, Argentina, Warisata, Scotch, Santiago de Compostela, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Nations, El Alto, Buenos Aires, Bombay, Tibet, Bolivia’s, Yamuna Rivers, United States, Buddhist Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolian, Istanbul, Asia, Islam, China, Beijing, Dadu, Erdene Zuu, Soviet, Gobi, Los Angeles, gers, Qing China, Karnataka, Töv Province, Karakorum, Khamar, Erdene, Ukraine, Korea, Golden, Bayankhongor, Lhasa, Dalai, Inner Mongolia, Mongol, Nalaikh, Santiago, Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury, Bulgan Province, Somnath, Gujarat, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, ger, East German, Uvs Province, Pakistani, Indian, Tennessee, Najaf, Baghdad, Khuder, —, abayas, KARBALA, Kufa, Medina, Saudi Arabia, Karbala, Imam Ali, Bab, Kuwaiti, Bohras, South Asia, Tajikistan, Zaydis, Yemen, Alawites, Anatolia, Syria, Iran, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Sadr, U.S, Jordanian, Al Qaeda, Mesopotamia, Al, Multan, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan’s, Islamabad, Lahore, Kuwait, Karachi, Doha, Qatar

☆ Indian scientists hope cloud seeding can clean Delhi's toxic air
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Shivam Patel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Air quality dips in Delhi ahead of winter every year, when cold air traps pollutants from a variety of sources including vehicles, industries, construction dust, and agricultural waste burning. The project, estimated to cost 10 million rupees ($120,000) for 100 square kilometres (38.6 square miles), would involve spraying into clouds a mix of salts that include silver iodine, Agrawal said. "We don't expect that big a cloud that will cover entire Delhi, but a few hundred kilometres would be good," he told Reuters. The air quality index in the city was 506 early on Thursday, which is categorised as "hazardous" by Swiss group IQAir. Several countries have used cloud seeding to produce rain, improve air quality and water crops in time of drought, including Mexico, the United States, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Persons: Anushree, Manindra Agrawal, Agrawal, Gufran Beig, SAFAR, Beig, Shivam Patel, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Indian Institute of Technology, Reuters, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, DELHI, Delhi, Kanpur, Punjab, Haryana, Mexico, United States, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Mexico

☆ Pollution Forces City-Wide Closures of Businesses, Schools in Eastern Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Mubasher BukhariLAHORE (Reuters) - Heavy pollution-fuelled smog forced authorities to close schools and markets this week in Pakistan's most populous province, including the eastern city of Lahore which has risen to one of the world's worst cities for hazardous air quality. Schools, offices, restaurants and businesses, aside from priority services like pharmacies, hospitals and courts, would all close to limit residents' movement outside, according to a directive from the provincial government. Heavy smog blanketed Lahore this week, reducing visibility and leading residents to complain of a threat to their health. In neighbouring India, authorities in Delhi have announced they would restrict use of vehicles next week to curb rising pollution as air quality in the capital remained dangerously unsafe despite mitigation efforts. (Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Michael Perry)

Persons: Mubasher Bukhari, Amir Mir, Mohammad Salahuddin, Charlotte Greenfield, Michael Perry Organizations: Schools Locations: Mubasher, Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan's, Lahore, Punjab, Swiss, Delhi, Karachi, South Asia, India

☆ India's top court tells states to stop crop burning as New Delhi's air turns hazardous
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Shivam Patel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Air quality dips every year ahead of winter, when calm and cold winds trap pollutants from sources including vehicles, industries, construction dust, and agricultural waste burning. Delhi has stopped local construction, closed primary schools till Nov. 10 and will impose restrictions on use of vehicles next week to fight pollution, but it wants its neighbouring states to control crop residue burning. At 2 p.m. on Tuesday, the real time air quality index stood at 306, a level categorised as 'hazardous' by Swiss group IQAir. "We direct the state government of Punjab and adjacent states to Delhi - Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh - to ensure that crop (residue) burning is stopped forthwith," Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana usually burn crop stubble left behind after rice is harvested in late October or early November to quickly clear their fields before planting wheat crops.

Persons: Anushree, Boulton, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, SAFAR, Justice Kaul, Kaul, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, NEW, Farmers, Thomson Locations: Karnal district, Haryana, India, NEW DELHI, New Delhi, Delhi, Swiss, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 (Reuters) - India's capital New Delhi was wrapped in a thick layer of toxic haze on Friday and some schools were ordered closed as the air quality index (AQI) plummeted to the "severe" category. In India, the annual average concentration of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) in the air is the highest in northern regions. Officials said they saw no immediate improvement in the air quality. Delhi hosts a World Cup match on Monday between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Poor air quality also caused respiratory problems, irritation in the eyes and restlessness in pet animals.

Persons: Aheed Khan, Ashwani Kumar, Prabhat Gangwar, Tanvi Mehta, Rajesh, Blassy Boben, Manoj Kumar, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: joggers, Residents, Officials, Control Committee, Farmers, Health, Friendicoes, Thomson Locations: DELHI, New Delhi, Swiss, Pakistani, Lahore, Delhi, India, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka

☆ Why is India's Modi so worried about Sikh separatist calls for Khalistan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Amplified calls for the creation of Khalistan date back to when India gained its independence in 1947. At the same time, some Sikh supporters of Khalistan have made comments perceived as anti-national and threatening toward India and its government. And in counterinsurgency operations, Indian security forces were accused of a multitude of human rights abuses. The first photos of the damaged Akal Takhat after the army stormed the sikh Golden Temple complex in Amritsar on June 9, 1984. “The larger [Sikh] community is standing by the statements from Trudeau and they want action upon this,” said Jasveer Singh, a British Sikh and senior press officer with the Sikh Press Association.

Persons: Justin Trudeau’s, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, “, Nijjar’s, –, Andre Durand, Guru Nanak, hasn’t, ”, Amandeep Sandhu, Amritpal Singh, India’s, Singh, Stringer, Modi, Suhasini Haidar, Sondeep Shankar, Indira Gandhi, Gandhi, Harsh Pant, Cole Burston, Pant, Nijjar, Justin Trudeau, Blair Gable, Trudeau, Jasveer Singh Organizations: CNN, Air India, Sikh, Canadian, Air, Air India Boeing, Getty, India, British, Keystone, Pew Research Center, Panjab, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Police, Khalistan, Observer Research Foundation, Protesters, Reuters, Sikh Press Association Locations: Montreal, New Delhi, Ireland, Indian, Punjab, Canada, Hardeep, India, Air India, Cork, AFP, Pakistan, Amritsar, British India, Ottawa, “ India, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Toronto, British

India is by far Canada's largest source of global students in the country's fast-growing international education business, making up for roughly 40% of study permit holders. International students contribute over C$20 billion ($14.6 billion) to the Canadian economy each year. Reuters spoke to more than a dozen universities and consultants in Canada and India who said they were taking measures to reassure students. Last week, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller described international students "an asset that is very lucrative". In Punjab's Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple, one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, over 5,000 students moved to Canada last year.

Persons: Justin Trudeau, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, We've, Joseph Wong, Ashok Kumar Bhatia, John Tibbits, Tibbits, Marc Miller, Rhonda Lenton, Jiwan Sharma, Melanie Joly, Gurbakhshish Singh, Nivedita Balu, Wa, Manoj Kumar, Denny Thomas, Josie Kao Organizations: Canada's, Canadian, Reuters, University of Toronto, Reuters Graphics, Association of Consultants, Overseas Studies, Conestoga, York, Taxi, Thomson Locations: India's, Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada, TORONTO, AMRITSAR, India, New Delhi, British Columbia, Kitchener , Ontario, Punjab, Punjab's Amritsar, Ottawa, Amritsar, Wa Lone, Toronto

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