Asia

Soutik BiswasIndia correspondent Hindustan Times via Getty Images India faces a severe air pollution crisis, ranking among the world’s top 10 most polluted countries India is losing sunlight. A new study by six Indian scientists finds that over the past three decades, sunshine hours – the time direct sunlight reaches …

The US has called for the release of 30 leaders of one of China’s largest underground church network who were reportedly detained over the weekend in overnight raids in various cities. The list includes several pastors and Zion Church founder Jin Mingri who was arrested in the early hours of …

The Dutch government said on Sunday that it had taken the “highly exceptional” decision to intervene at Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia over a potential “risk to Dutch and European economic security.” The Netherlands-based firm’s owner Wingtech said on Monday that it will take actions to protect its rights and will seek …

The Taliban government has confirmed that it attacked Pakistani troops in multiple mountainous locations on the northern border. Casualties are not yet clear in what the Taliban called “retaliatory operations”, after it said Pakistan violated Afghan airspace and bombed a market inside its border on Thursday. Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin …

Colin PatersonEntertainment correspondent Netflix Zoey, Rumi and Mira are Huntr/x – the Kpop trio who also try and save the world from evil Maggie Kang, the creator and co-director of Kpop Demon Hunters, has said she is “excited for the potential for more stories” involving animated girl group Huntr/x. Speaking …

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the southern coast of Philippines, prompting tsunami warnings from Philippine and Indonesian authorities. Residents in coastal towns in central and southern Philippines were asked to evacuate as authorities warned of waves over a metre (3.3ft) above normal tide levels. At least one person was …

Taiwan will build a dome-like air defence system to guard against “hostile threats”, President William Lai announced a day after his government warned that China is enhancing its ability to attack the island. Lai did not mention China by name – but Beijing has long claimed self-governed Taiwan as its …

Reuters Li is second-in-command to China’s President Xi Jinping, and his attendance marks Beijing’s highest-level visit to Pyongyang since 2019 North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un lauded his country’s “international prestige” as celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of its ruling party kicked off. The authoritarian state …

A life-sized holographic police officer has been installed in central Seoul in a bid to deter crime. The hologram is projected every two minutes from 19:00 to 22:00 in Jeo-dong Park, an area which is busy at night with nearby bars. Police say crime rates in the area have dropped …

Yvette TanSingapore and BBC Burmese Supplied Paramotor attacks have ramped in Myanmar in recent months It was a Monday night in Myanmar’s Chang U township in central Sagaing region, where nearly 100 people had gathered to mark Thadingyut, the festival of the full moon. Some held candles at the event, …

Dawood AzamiBBC World Service and Cherylann MollanMumbai Randhir Jaiswal/MEA Twitter Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in India on Thursday for a week-long trip Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has arrived in India for a week of talks – a visit which had been previously unimaginable. It is the Taliban’s …

Indian singer-composer Zubeen Garg told an interviewer recently that his home state of Assam would “shut down for seven days” when he died. His remark almost proved prophetic – for days after he drowned in the sea in far-off Singapore, Assam was at a standstill, with schools closed, shops shuttered …

The US National Basketball Association (NBA) will return to China this week for the first time since 2019. Two pre-season games are scheduled for Friday and Sunday between the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns at an arena in Macau’s Venetian casino and hotel. China effectively froze the NBA out …

The parents of Tom Phillips, who vanished with his three children into the New Zealand wilderness in 2021, have made a public apology – their first comments since Phillips was shot dead by police on 8 September. “We would like to send our sincere apology… for all the trouble, inconvenience, …

China has tightened its rules on the export of rare earths – the elements that are crucial to the manufacture of many high-tech products. New regulations announced by the country’s Ministry of Commerce formalise existing rules on processing technology and unauthorised overseas cooperation. China is also likely to block exports …

Nikhil InamdarBBC News, Mumbai Getty Images India’s IPO bull run is being driven partly by mom-and-pop investors India’s ravenous appetite for stock market investing has sparked a fundraising gold rush in Asia’s third largest economy, with its booming initial public offerings (IPO) market undeterred by trade tariffs or global uncertainties. …

Navdeep Kaur Grewal and Navjot KaurBBC Punjabi Rajvir Jawanda/Instagram Rajvir Jawanda has millions of fans The death of policeman-turned-Punjabi singer and actor Rajvir Jawanda has sparked an outpouring of grief from fans, politicians and the music community. The 35-year-old died on Wednesday, 11 days after he was fatally injured in an …

Restrictions have been placed on content on some social media platforms in Afghanistan, Taliban government sources told BBC Afghan. Filters have been applied to restrict certain types of content on sites including Facebook, Instagram and X, the sources at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said. It is not …

One of Australia’s biggest telecommunication companies sent emails about a deadly outage to the wrong email address at the Department of Communcations where they remained unread for over a day, parliament has heard. Optus’ emails also underplayed the severity of the 18 September outage, which has been linked to four …

Cherylann MollanBBC News, Mumbai and Neyaz FarooqueeBBC News, Delhi Getty Images India is WhatsApp’s biggest market and the app is almost a way of life in the country Can an Indian-made messaging app compete with the behemoth that is WhatsApp? Over the past couple of weeks, Arattai, developed by Indian …