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Pakistan criminalised online disinformation on Tuesday, passing legislation dictating punishments of up to three years in jail and prompting journalist protests accusing the government of quashing dissent.The law targets anyone who “intentionally disseminates” information online that they have “reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest”.It was rushed through the National Assembly with little warning last week before being approved by the Senate on Tuesday as reporters walked out of the gallery in protest.Pakistan media workers have reported rising state censorship in recent years and the public has shifted to consuming much of its news from social media.”The mainstream media is already compromised. That’s the reason why many journalists turned to YouTube,” YouTube journalist Asad Ali Toor told AFP in the capital Islamabad, where more than 150 journalists rallied against the bill.”The state wants the same control of social media as it is controlling the mainstream media,” Toor said.Around 50 journalists also protested the bill outside the press club of the southern city of Karachi on Tuesday afternoon.- ‘Highly undemocratic’ -Analysts say the government is struggling with legitimacy after elections last February plagued by rigging allegations, and with popular former prime minister Imran Khan jailed on corruption charges he insists are politically motivated.Khan’s supporters and senior lieutenants in his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have faced a severe crackdown, with thousands rounded up and Khan’s name censored from television.Much of PTI’s campaigning has moved online where the party’s young tech-savvy base has continually called for protests.PTI senator Syed Shibli Faraz called the new law “highly undemocratic” and said it would “fuel the political victimisation” of their supporters.Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp are among the most popular social media platforms in Pakistan, where low digital literacy fuels the spread of false information, conspiracy theories and deepfakes. Some YouTube journalists blur the line between reporting and heavily partisan commentary tailored to their millions of followers.Many lack proper fact-checking skills and contribute to spreading false information, sometimes garnering thousands of views.”I am sure that in the future, the anarchy caused in society through social media will be controlled,” government minister Tanveer Hussain said as the bill was approved.It will now be passed to the president to be rubber-stamped.- ‘Controlling the narrative’ -The new law says social media platforms must register with a newly established regulatory body, with non-compliance potentially leading to temporary or permanent bans.It also grants Pakistan’s intelligence agencies the authority to investigate disinformation and allows any citizen to file a case.Senior journalist Asif Bashir Chaudhry, a member of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, told AFP the government had assured reporters they would be consulted but they were “betrayed and backstabbed”.”We genuinely wanted a law against misinformation, but if it’s not being done through open discussion but rather through fear and coercion, we will challenge it on every available platform,” Chaudhry said.”Even under dictatorships, legislation was not forcefully rammed through parliament the way this government is doing now.”Social media site X was shut down in the wake of February’s election, as posts alleging vote tampering spread on the platform.Digital rights activist Nighat Dad told AFP there has been “one restrictive law after another, introduced under the guise of public interest or national security”.The real intent is “consolidating power and controlling the narrative,” she said.Pakistan is ranked 152 out of 180 countries in a press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.At least 239 cases against journalists accused of spreading “fake news” have been recorded in South and Southeast Asia since 2018, according to the Anti-Fake News Lawfare online database.In Pakistan, even before the new legislation, journalists have faced arrest under terrorism legislation which civil rights monitors say is used as a cudgel on dissent.

Australian batting great Steve Smith begins a tour of Sri Lanka just one short of entering the elite club of 10,000 Test runs ahead of Wednesday’s opening match in Galle.Smith, who will captain the team for the two-match series in the absence of Pat Cummins, has amassed 9,999 runs in 114 matches at an average of more than 55.The 35-year-old is all but assured of becoming the 15th batsman in the world — and fourth Australian after Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh — to achieve the milestone.Smith said the landmark would not be on his mind when he walks out at the picturesque Galle stadium overlooking the Indian Ocean.”Honestly, I’m trying not to think about it too much,” he told reporters on Tuesday.Smith suggested it had played on his mind “a bit too much” during Australia’s fifth and final Test against India in Sydney this month, where his 33 and four left him agonisingly short.”Now it’s just about focusing on the job at hand,” he said.Travis Head will open the batting in place of 19-year-old Sam Konstas on a pitch that is expected to favour spinners and at a venue where Sri Lanka have won 27 of the 46 Tests played.”Travis will bat at the top, but we’ll finalise the XI after another look at the pitch tomorrow morning,” Smith said. “The wicket has changed a bit since yesterday, so we’ll weigh our options.”- Inglis debut? -Australia, who have already set up a World Test Championship (WTC) final with South Africa at Lord’s in June, will be looking to stamp their authority as the number-one Test team.Smith was coy on whether wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, 29, was in line for his Test debut.”He has solid defence, plays spin well, and scores all around the wicket,” Smith said. “If he gets his chance, I’m confident he’ll grab it with both hands.”Sri Lanka, led by Dhananjaya de Silva, will be looking to reclaim the Warne-Murali trophy, named after late Australia hero Shane Warne and Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.Sri Lanka hammered the visiting Australians 3-0 in 2016 but the last series in 2022 ended 1-1, with both matches played in Galle.”The last time we won the Warne-Murali Trophy was in 2016, which was also my debut series. A lot of players from that campaign are still in the mix and we believe we have what it takes to repeat history,” de Silva told reporters.”Another incentive for us is the chance to finish third in the WTC standings if we win 2-0. That would be a tremendous achievement.”The hosts have injury worries, with opener Pathum Nissanka out due to a groin injury and de Silva struggling with a side strain.”Pathum is a key player and we’re hopeful he’ll be fit for the second Test. Whoever steps in will have a golden opportunity to make a mark,” de Silva said.Oshada Fernando, a seasoned campaigner with a knack for piling up runs in domestic cricket, is the frontrunner to replace Nissanka.

Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, following weeks of suspension prompted by protests from locals citing environmental impact and loss of income from trekkers.Helicopters are a key means of transport and crucial for emergency rescue in many remote regions around mountainous Nepal, vast stretches of which are often inaccessible by road.But they have also been used to give mountaineering teams and tourists a shortcut over challenging terrain in the Sagarmatha National Park, home to Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. For those who can afford the $1,000 price tag, helicopters reduce the two-week long trek to Everest base camp to just a day — depriving Nepalis along the overland route of a key source of revenue.In early January, the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal grounded all flights, blaming the halt on local youths who had blocked landing sites with flags.The association also said the protesters had warned pilots who landed that they would be forced to walk back on foot.On Tuesday, association official Pratap Jung Pandey told AFP that rescue flights were reopened Saturday “on humanitarian grounds”. But commercial flights to the region were still suspended, as negotiations with locals for their resumption were ongoing. “It is going in a positive direction and it should reopen soon. But I cannot say exactly when,” Pandey told AFP.Over 50,000 tourists visit the Everest region every year.According to the association, the Everest region sees about 15 helicopter flights per day in the winter and up to 60 per day during peak tourist season.”Rescue flights are crucial in mountaineering to save lives of climbers if anything happens,” said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa who runs Imagine Nepal, a mountaineering expedition company.   Earlier this month, German mountaineer Jost Kobusch — who has made several Himalayan ascents — cited the lack of helicopter rescues as one of the reasons for ending his solo winter climb up Everest. “I have never been rescued due to an emergency in my career but right now there are protests going on… making helicopter rescues impossible,” he said in a January 11 post on Instagram. Kobusch also cited other factors, like aftershocks from an earthquake causing riskier conditions.

Residents of the Afghan capital have complained of rising food prices as the local currency lost value against the US dollar in recent days. The currency fell to around 80 Afghanis to the dollar on Monday after hovering around 70 in recent weeks.Kabul residents have reported rising prices of basic goods and are concerned they will not readjust in one of the poorest countries in the world, where consumers are anxiously following policy announcements from US President Donald Trump’s new administration. Observers link the change to Trump’s decision to freeze US foreign assistance. The United States remains Afghanistan’s largest aid donor. Afghanistan’s currency stability in part depends on US dollars flowing in to aid organisations that are then exchanged in the market for Afghani, analysts said.The fear is that “this dollar is not going to come anymore. So the Afghani does not have takers”, said analyst Torek Farhadi, who was an adviser on the development of the Afghani in the years after the end of the first Taliban reign in 2001.For Abdul Maroof Niaz Zada, a 40-year-old Kabul shopkeeper, the fluctuation “may mean nothing to the rest of the world, but it has a big impact in Afghanistan”.”The price changes are not noticeable for the businessmen maybe but it’s very difficult for the poor,” he said, noting that the prices of daily goods such as flour, oil and rice had gone up by 200-500 Afghanis ($2.60 – $6.70). The World Food Programme said in January nearly 15 million people are going hungry across Afghanistan, with the UN agency providing aid to help people get through the country’s harsh winters.”Food, fuel, gas, everything gets expensive as the dollar goes up,” 28-year-old Tofan Ahmadi, who works at a Kabul currency exchange, told AFP. The Afghani’s stability depends “largely on Afghanistan’s ability to secure consistent foreign exchange inflows, either through sustained remittances, aid, or by diversifying its  export base”, the World Bank said in a December 2024 report. It underscored “the reduced capacity of Afghanistan’s foreign exchange reserves to shield the economy from external shocks”. The Afghan central bank, which told Afghans “not to worry” about currency fluctuations, met with major money changers and announced an auction of $25 million on Monday.

India paceman Jasprit Bumrah was Monday named men’s Test cricketer of the year for 2024 by the International Cricket Council.The right-arm quick returned to the five-day format in late 2023 following a lengthy absence due to a back injury.Bumrah, 31, was the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket in 2024, topping the charts with 71, well clear of second-placed Gus Atkinson of England (52 in 11 matches).His average across the year was a breathtaking 14.92 and he ended 2024 with a strike rate for the year of just 30.1.”Test cricket has always been a format I hold close to my heart, and to be recognised on this platform is truly special,” said Bumrah.”This award is not just a reflection of my individual efforts but also of the unwavering support of my teammates, coaches, and fans who continue to believe and inspire me every day.”Representing India is a privilege I deeply cherish, and knowing my efforts bring smiles to people around the world makes this journey even more special.”Bumrah beat England batsmen Harry Brook and Joe Root as well as Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis to the award, given by the game’s governing body.Smriti Mandhana made it a double success for India as she was voted women’s one-day international cricketer of the year for the second time.Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai clinched the men’s ODI award.

West Indies bowler Jomel Warrican dominated his team’s first victory over Pakistan in nearly 35 years on Monday, with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite labelling it an “outstanding” performance. The 32-year-old left-arm spinner took nine wickets to spearhead a series-levelling win against the hosts on the third day of the second Test in Multan.Skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was effusive in his praise for Warrican, man of the match and of the series for his 19 wickets.”Jomel was outstanding,” said Brathwaite.”To see how he went about his bowling and the pressure he built from ball one, I mean, it was amazing. “With the bat, you can’t come to him more. I think he did a fantastic job with the bat as well. But bowling-wise, I know he’s worked hard over the years.”Brathwaite said Warrican’s performance was as “amazing” as that of Shamar Joseph in Australia 12 months ago, when the newcomer fast bowler helped power the West Indians to a rare victory.”This one is right up there, both amazing Test wins,” said Brathwaite. “To come here, playing here in Pakistan, it’s never easy to win a Test match so to have done that is fantastic.”The victory is West Indies’ first in Pakistan since winning the Faisalabad Test in November 1990.Pakistan won the first Test by 127 runs, also in Multan.However, the second Test victory lifted West Indies to eighth in the World Test Championship, having started the series on ninth and last.The defeat plunged Pakistan from eighth to last.Warrican scored a crucial 36 not out in the first innings, which lifted the West Indies from a precarious 9-95 to 163 all out.Pakistan skipper Shan Masood acknowledged that the runs made by the West Indian tail were the turning point.”We allowed them to score 109 runs for the last two wickets and then we were 119-4 and then bowled out for 154 and conceded a nine-run lead, that pushed us back,” Masood said.”We made mistakes as a team and lost as a team,” said Masood, who has now lost nine of 12 Tests as captain.He defended the tactic of using dry pitches to assist spin bowlers in matches at home.”We’ve won three out of four Tests,” said Masood, referring to Pakistan’s two wins against England and then the first West Indies Test.Pakistan’s batters also found the conditions tough to bat on, raising calls to have similar pitches in domestic matches where fast bowlers have ruled in the past two seasons.”We have to replicate these conditions in our domestic matches so that our batters can also bat better in future, but this is the strategy with which we have won a series against England,” Masood said.

Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi appealed against their convictions for graft on Monday, his lawyer said.Khan, 72, has been held in custody since August 2023 charged in around 200 cases that he claims are politically motivated.The former cricketing star was sentenced to 14 years in jail and his wife to seven this month in the latest case to be brought against them.”We have filed appeals today and in the next few days it will go through clerical processes and then it will be fixed for a hearing,” Khan’s lawyer Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry told AFP outside Islamabad High Court. Khan has been convicted four times since his arrest, with two convictions overturned and the sentences in the other two cases suspended.A special graft court found the pair guilty of “corruption and corrupt practices” over a welfare foundation they established together called the Al-Qadir Trust.The court hearing for the case was postponed three times and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said earlier it was being used to pressure him into cutting a deal with the government to step back from politics. Khan alleged before the conviction that he had been “indirectly approached” about the possibility of house arrest at his sprawling home on Islamabad’s outskirts.Bibi, a faith healer who married Khan shortly before he was elected in 2018, is being held at the same jail as her husband in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, close to the capital Islamabad.- One year since elections -Khan’s popularity continues to undermine a shaky coalition government that kept PTI from power in elections last year.Even from behind bars, Khan has fired off statements through his legal team railing against the government and promising to fight his battles through the courts.Sometimes violent protests have paralysed Islamabad in recent months and the party has announced further rallies next month to mark one year since elections that were marred by allegations of rigging.Khan called off talks with the government last week aimed at easing political tensions.Ousted from power by a no-confidence vote in 2022, the former cricket star has since launched an unprecedented campaign in which he has openly criticised Pakistan’s powerful generals.Analysts say the military’s leaders are Pakistan’s kingmakers, although the generals deny interfering in politics.A UN panel of experts found last year that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.Khan was barred from standing in last February’s election and his PTI party was hamstrung by a widespread crackdown.PTI won more seats than any other party but a coalition considered more pliable to the military’s influence shut them out of power.

The son of Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was banned Monday from leaving the island nation following his arrest for alleged money laundering.The case against Yoshitha Rajapaksa dates back years, but has received renewed impetus since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake — who has vowed to fight endemic corruption — won a landslide election victory.Several members of the powerful Rajapaksa family and close associates have been charged with an array of offences over the years, including corruption and even murder — all of which are still pending in the courts.A former junior naval officer, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 36, was hit with the travel ban after police said he was unable to explain the sources of income used to purchase a home while his father was in power from 2005 to 2015.He was arrested and spent two days in detention before being released Monday by a magistrate in Colombo on a bond of 100 million rupees ($344,000).Yoshitha had told investigators that he raised money to buy the property by selling a small bag of gems his grand-aunt had given him. She was unable to recall how she acquired the precious stones when asked.He was arrested in 2016 on a separate money laundering charge related to his purchase of a television network. Both cases have sat dormant for years. His older brother Namal, a lawmaker in Sri Lanka’s parliament, also faces separate money laundering charges which have not yet gone to trial. Dissanayake came to power in September 2024 after pledging to expedite the pending criminal cases and bring back stolen assets allegedly stashed abroad.Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters in Colombo over the weekend that the new government was providing more resources to the criminal investigations department to speed up prosecution.”This is not a political witch hunt, but people voted us in to ensure that these dragging cases are concluded,” Jayatissa said.Mahinda Rajapaksa’s younger brother Gotabaya became president in 2019 but was forced out of office in 2022 after a popular revolt, sparked by a ruinous economic crisis.Gotabaya Rajapaksa also faces corruption charges over military procurements when he was a top defence official during Mahinda’s presidency at the tail end of Sri Lanka’s civil war.

Spinner Jomel Warrican took five wickets as the West Indies won a Test match in Pakistan Monday for the first time in nearly 35 years.The West Indies won the second Test in Multan by 120 runs on day three to draw the series 1-1.Pakistan triumphed in the first Test by 127 runs, also in Multan. Warrican finished with nine wickets in the match — 19 in the series — to give the hosts a taste of their own medicine on sharply spinning pitches. The last time the West Indies won a Test in Pakistan was in Faisalabad in November 1990, having gone winless on their 1997 and 2006 tours.”We haven’t played in Pakistan for a number of years, but we haven’t won here in a while, so to come here and do it as a young group is incredible,” said West Indian skipper Kraigg Brathwaite. He praised the performance of star player Warrican, who scored 36 not out in the West Indies’ first innings of 163 and took both the man of the match and player of the series awards.”Apart from his excellent bowling, he always says he’s one of the best players of offspin in the Caribbean, so it’s good to see him get some runs along with wickets.”Pakistan skipper Shan Masood defended his side’s spin ploy. “On the first day we were in the position we wanted — even better, maybe, when we had them eight down,” he said.Resuming on 76-4 and chasing 254, Pakistan’s hopes of victory rested on Saud Shakeel, but Kevin Sinclair had the left-hander caught in the slips for 13 to further dent the home team’s fading chances.Babar Azam top-scored with 31 while Mohammad Rizwan made 25 as Pakistan were bundled out for 133. Warrican bowled nightwatchman Kashif Ali with a straighter ball for one, leaving Pakistan in tatters at 76-6. Rizwan added 39 for the seventh wicket with Salman Ali Agha before Warrican dismissed the latter leg before for 15 and then bowled Rizwan to bring the tourists within two wickets of victory. Gudakesh Motie, who took 2-35, removed Noman Ali for six while Warrican deservedly took the last wicket, bowling Sajid Khan for seven to seal the victory. The defeat sent Pakistan crashing to ninth and last in the World Test Championship table, while the West Indies finished eighth. Title-holders Australia face South Africa in the WTC final at Lord’s in June.

India’s efforts to pare back a longstanding reliance on Russian military hardware is bearing fruit after the courting of new Western allies and a rapidly growing domestic arms industry, analysts say.At a time when Moscow’s military-industrial complex is occupied with the ongoing war in Ukraine, India has made the modernisation of its armed forces a top priority.That urgency has risen in tandem with tensions between the world’s most populous nation and its northern neighbour China, especially since a deadly 2020 clash between their troops. “India’s perception of its security environment vis-a-vis China has been dramatically altered,” Harsh V Pant, of the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank, told AFP.Relations between the two neighbours went into freefall after the clash on their shared frontier, which killed 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers. “It has sort of shaken the system and there’s a realisation that we have to do whatever is best now, and very fast,” Pant said of the incident. India has become the world’s largest arms importer with purchases steadily rising to account for nearly 10 percent of all imports globally in 2019-23, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said last year.More is in the pipeline, with orders worth tens of billions of dollars from the United States, France, Israel and Germany in coming years.Modi will be in France next month where he is expected to sign deals worth about $10 billion for Rafale fighter jets and Scorpene-class submarines, Indian media reports say.- ‘Not easy to switch’ -Defence minister Rajnath Singh has also promised at least $100 billion in fresh domestic military hardware contracts by 2033 to spur local arms production. “India has been traditionally an importer for decades and only switched to emphasising on indigenous manufacturing… in the last decade,” strategic affairs analyst Nitin Gokhale told AFP.”It is not easy to switch, not everything can be manufactured or produced here,” he said, saying the country lacked the ability to manufacture “high-end technology” weapons systems.But its efforts have still seen numerous impressive milestones.  This decade India has opened an expansive new helicopter factory, launched its first homemade aircraft carrier, and conducted a successful long-range hypersonic missile test.That in turn has fostered a growing arms export market which saw sales last year worth $2.63 billion — still a tiny amount compared to established players, but a 30-fold increase in a decade.India is expected in the coming weeks to announce a landmark deal to supply Indonesia’s military with supersonic cruise missiles in a deal worth nearly $450 million. The government aims to triple this figure by 2029, with a significant chunk of the $75 billion it spent on defence last year aimed at boosting local production. – ‘Spread risks’ -India has deepened defence cooperation with Western countries in recent years, including in the much-feted Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia.This reorientation has helped India sign various deals to import and locally co-produce military drones, naval ships, fighter jets and other hardware with suppliers from Western countries.It has also led to a precipitous drop in India’s share of arms from longstanding ally Russia, which supplied 76 percent of its military imports in 2009-13 but only 36 percent in 2019-23, according to SIPRI data. New Delhi has nonetheless sought to maintain the delicate balance between India’s historically warm ties with Moscow while courting closer partnerships with Western nations.Modi’s government has resisted pressure from Washington and elsewhere to explicitly condemn Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, instead urging both sides to the negotiating table.Gokhale said that India was not in the position to abandon its relationship with Russia, which still plays an important role as a supplier of advanced weaponry including cruise missiles and nuclear submarine technology.”India has certainly spread its risks by sourcing from other countries,” he said. “But Russia remains a very important and dependable partner.”