How India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink with U.S.-brokered ceasefire

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - At 2.09 am on Saturday, Ahmad Subhan, who lives near an air base in the Pakistan military garrison city of Rawalpindi, heard the first explosion that rattled the windows of his house - and took South Asia to the brink of war. As dawn broke, the heaviest fighting in decades between nuclear-armed...

India and Pakistan accuse each other of attacks, tourists flee

JAMMU, India/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -India and Pakistan accused each other of launching drone and artillery attacks overnight into Friday morning, as tourists and villagers fled the third day of the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in nearly three decades. Sirens rang out in cities in the conflict's Kashmir flashpoint and beyond and people were told to...

Malaysians advised to postpone all non-essential travel to India

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi urges the postponement of all non-essential travel to India, especially to Indian states bordering Pakistan. In a statement Wednesday (May 7), the High Commission said this includes travels for holidays or other non-urgent purposes. "In view of the recent escalation between India and Pakistan, in which India launched...

On Pakistan’s side of Kashmir, locals fear they’ll be the first to face India’s ire

MUZAFFARABAD, Kashmir: Families are reinforcing their bunkers and confirming evacuation plans. Hospitals have stocked up on essential medicines. Schoolchildren are being trained on the essentials of first aid. All across the Pakistani-held section of Kashmir, there is an air of emergency, a persistent trepidation as the threat of military confrontation looms. “God willing, nothing will happen,” said...

Britain and India clinch landmark trade deal in shadow of Trump’s tariffs

NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) -India and the United Kingdom concluded on Tuesday a long-coveted free trade pact, in a landmark deal that represents London's most significant post-Brexit agreement that was finalised in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff increases. The deal, between the world's fifth and sixth largest economies, has been concluded after three years...

Pakistani PM postpones official visit to Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has postponed his official visit to Malaysia scheduled for this Friday (May 9) in light of recent tensions following the attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The Prime Minister said Shehbaz informed him of the decision during a phone call on Sunday (May 4). ALSO READ: Malaysian and...

Kashmir leader calls for caution in Indian response after deadly attack

SRINAGAR: India should not do anything to alienate Kashmiris in its hunt for militants who killed 26 people last week, especially as residents of the Muslim-majority Himalayan region have staged protests against that attack, its chief minister said on Monday (April 28). The April 22 killings of tourists by gunmen from an armed Islamist group have...

Indians battle respiratory issues, skin rashes in world’s most polluted town

BYRNIHAT, India (Reuters) - Two-year-old Sumaiya Ansari, a resident of India's Byrnihat town which is ranked the world's most polluted metropolitan area by Swiss Group IQAir, was battling breathing problems for several days before she was hospitalised in March and given oxygen support. She is among many residents of the industrial town on the border of...

Three dead, hundreds affected following massive outbreak of rabies in India’s Manipur

NEW DELHI (Bernama-Xinhua) -- At least three people have died and hundreds are suffering following the massive outbreak of rabies in India's northeastern state of Manipur, reported Xinhua. The outbreak has been reported in the Churachandpur district, about 88 km south of Imphal, the capital city of Manipur. Authorities have imposed restrictions and declared containment zones to tackle...

China loses private jets as other Asian growth spots emerge; Singapore and India among front runners now

SINGAPORE (Reuters): A sharp fall in the number of private jets based in China in recent years shows the impact a weakening domestic economy, anti-corruption drives and the pandemic have had on the country's wealthiest, according to business aviation industry data and experts. At the end of last year there were a third fewer private jets...