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India’s defence minister approved on Tuesday a programme to develop an advanced fighter jet prototype, the latest push to boost local arms production, nearly three weeks after a conflict with arch-rival Pakistan.India, one of the world’s largest arms importers, has made the modernisation of its forces a top priority in the face of tensions with nuclear-armed Pakistan and China.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the prototype of a 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the ministry said in a statement, calling it a “significant push towards enhancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities”.India’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) — a government agency under the Ministry of Defence responsible for aircraft design —  is “set to execute the programme through industry partnership”, it added.”This is an important step…which will be a major milestone towards aatmanirbharta (“self-reliance”) in the aerospace sector”.India’s arms purchases have steadily risen to account for nearly 10 percent of all imports globally in 2019-23, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said last year.The world’s most populous nation has deepened defence cooperation with Western countries in recent years, including the Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia, as it slowly shifts away from its longstanding reliance on Russian military hardware.India signed in April a multi-billion-dollar deal to purchase 26 Rafale fighter jets from France’s Dassault Aviation, adding to 36 already acquired, and replacing Russian MiG-29K jets.But Singh has also promised at least $100 billion in fresh domestic military hardware contracts by 2033 to spur local arms production. – Warships, missiles, planes -This decade India has opened an expansive new helicopter factory, launched its first homemade aircraft carrier, warships and submarines, and conducted a successful long-range hypersonic missile test.New Delhi eyes threats from multiple nations, especially Islamabad.India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day conflict this month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.Pakistan claimed its Chinese-supplied jets had shot down six Indian aircraft — including three French-made Rafale fighters.India has not officially confirmed any of its aircraft were lost, although a senior security source told AFP three jets had crashed on home soil without giving the make or cause.The fighting was triggered by an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing — a charge Pakistan denies.India is also wary of northern neighbour China, especially since a deadly 2020 clash between their troops.

The world’s poorest nations face a “tidal wave of debt” as repayments to China hit record highs in 2025, an Australian think-tank warned in a new report Tuesday.China’s Belt and Road Initiative lending spree of the 2010s has paid for shipping ports, railways, roads and more from the deserts of Africa to the tropical South Pacific. But new lending is drying up, according to Australia’s Lowy Institute, and is now outweighed by the debts that developing countries must pay back. “Developing countries are grappling with a tidal wave of debt repayments and interest costs to China,” researcher Riley Duke said. “Now, and for the rest of this decade, China will be more debt collector than banker to the developing world.”Beijing’s foreign ministry said it was “not aware of the specifics” of the report but that “China’s investment and financing cooperation with developing countries abides by international conventions”.Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said “a small number of countries” sought to blame Beijing for miring developing nations in debt but that “falsehoods cannot cover up the truth”.The Lowy Institute sifted through World Bank data to calculate developing nations’ repayment obligations. It found that the poorest 75 countries were set to make “record high debt repayments” to China in 2025 of a combined US$22 billion. “As a result, China’s net lending position has shifted rapidly,” Duke said. “Moving from being a net provider of financing — where it lent more than it received in repayments — to a net drain, with repayments now exceeding loan disbursements.” Paying off debts was starting to jeopardise spending on hospitals, schools, and climate change, the Lowy report found. “Pressure from Chinese state lending, along with surging repayments to a range of international private creditors, is putting enormous financial strain on developing economies.”The report also raised questions about whether China could seek to parlay these debts for “geopolitical leverage”, especially after the United States slashed foreign aid. While Chinese lending was falling almost across the board, the report said there were two areas that seemed to be bucking the trend. The first was in nations such as Honduras and Solomon Islands, which received massive new loans after switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. The other was in countries such as Indonesia or Brazil, where China has signed new loan deals to secure battery metals or other critical minerals.

Bangladesh’s top court on Tuesday overturned a conviction against a key leader of the country’s main Islamist party, who had been on death row since being sentenced under the regime ousted last year.A.T.M. Azharul Islam, from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, and who has been in custody since 2012, was acquitted of crimes against humanity by the Supreme Court, which ordered his release.Islam, who was born in 1952, was among six senior political leaders convicted during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, whose 15-year-long autocratic rule as prime minister ended in August 2024 when a student-led revolt forced her to flee.Political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, are readying for hugely anticipated elections which the interim government has vowed will take place by June 2026 at the latest.Islam’s lawyer Shishir Monir said he was “fortunate” because the five other senior political leaders who had been convicted — four from Jamaat-e-Islami, and another from the key Bangladesh National Party (BNP) — had already been hanged.”He got justice because he is alive”, Monir told reporters. “The appellate division failed to review the evidence in other cases for crimes against humanity”.Islam had been sentenced to death in 2014 for rape, murder and genocide during Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war from Pakistan.Jamaat-e-Islami supported Islamabad during the war, a role that still sparks anger among many Bangladeshis today.- ‘Seek your pardon’ -They were rivals of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League — who would become Bangladesh’s founding figure.Hasina banned Jamaat-e-Islami during her tenure and cracked down on its leaders.Islam appealed in 2015, but the court upheld the verdict in 2019, and he filed a review petition in 2020.Hasina, 77, fled to India last year as crowds stormed her palace, and she remains there in self-imposed exile — with her Awami League party itself now banned.She has defied Dhaka’s extradition request to face charges of crimes against humanity related to the crackdown that killed at least 1,400 protesters in her failed bid to claw onto power.With Hasina gone, Islam appealed his conviction again, filing an appeal on February 27.On Tuesday, the full bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, acquitted him.Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami celebrated. Leader Shafiqur Rahman told reporters that the party was also remembering those who had been hanged.”They were the victims of judicial killings,” he said.”If they were alive today, they could have led the country in the right direction. People will always remember their contributions to the nation”.As political parties jostle for power, rivals of Jamaat-e-Islami have also questioned its historical role in supporting Pakistan during the 1971 war.”We, as individuals or as a party, are not beyond making mistakes”, Rahman said, without specifying further what he referred to, and declining to take questions.”We seek your pardon, if we have done anything wrong”.

A 55-year-old Nepali climber dubbed “Everest Man” reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain for a record 31st time on Tuesday, more than three decades after his first summit.”Massive congratulations to the legendary Kami Rita Sherpa on his 31st successful ascent of Everest, the highest number of ascents by anyone in history,” expedition organiser Seven Summit Treks said.”Kami Rita Sherpa needs no introduction. He is not just a national climbing hero, but a global symbol of Everest itself,” it added.Sherpa first stood on the top of Mount Everest in 1994 when working for a commercial expedition.He has climbed Everest almost every year since, guiding clients.Sherpa, speaking a year ago after he had climbed the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) peak for the 29th and 30th times, said that he was “just working” and did not plan on setting records.”I am glad for the record, but records are eventually broken,” he told AFP in May 2024. “I am more happy that my climbs help Nepal be recognised in the world.”Seven Summit Treks said he completed the climb on Tuesday as the leader of an Indian army team, adding that he “not only reached the summit himself, but also led and guided the last remaining members of the team to the top”.- ‘To the next height’ -Another Nepali climber, Tashi Gyalzen Sherpa, 29, returned to the capital Kathmandu on Tuesday after he made a record-breaking four summits of Everest in just 15 days, completing the last on May 23, according to 8K Expeditions. “I feel proud, it was a very difficult task but I made it a success,” Gyalzen Sherpa told AFP after landing in Kathmandu, where his family and mountaineering fans welcomed him. “Earlier, many pioneers have scaled the Everest many times, but not four times in one season.”The records come as the spring climbing season nears its end.More than 500 climbers and their guides have already reached the summit of Everest since the route opened, taking advantage of brief spells of good weather, according to Nepal’s tourism department.The season has so far recorded the fewest number of deaths on Everest in recent years. Two climbers, a Filipino and an Indian, have died on its high camps.Nepal has issued more than 1,100 permits for mountaineers this season, including 458 for Everest, earning more than $5 million in royalties.The country is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warmer and winds typically calmer.Earlier this month British climber Kenton Cool, 51, successfully climbed Everest for the 19th time, extending his own record for the most summits by a non-Nepali.Tourist ministry official Himal Gautam, director of its mountaineering and adventure section, said Kami Rita Sherpa’s achievement reflected on the country’s wider efforts.”Kami Rita Sherpa’s record ascent has helped to take Nepal’s mountaineering sector to the next height,” Gautam said.A climbing boom has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made the first ascent in 1953. Last year more than 800 climbers made it to the peak of Everest, including 74 from the northern Tibet side. 

India’s coastguard raced on Monday to contain an oil spill from a container ship with hazardous cargo that sank off the southern coast a day earlier, Kerala’s state government said.The Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3, listed as a 184-metre (603-foot) freight ship, went down off the coast of Kerala on Sunday, with all 24 crew members rescued.It was carrying 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous cargo and 12 containing calcium carbide, a chemical used for fertiliser production and steelmaking. The vessel also contained some 370 tonnes of fuel and oil.”The Coast Guard is taking action to prevent the spread of oil using two ships,” Kerala’s government said in a statement.”The work of spraying dust to destroy the oil is in progress using a Dornier aircraft”.India’s defence ministry said the ship sank “due to flooding” some 38 nautical miles southwest of Kochi, raising concerns for the “sensitive marine ecosystem along Kerala’s coast”.The government has put coastal areas on high alert and warned people not to touch or approach any containers —  some of which have already washed up along the coast.The ship was sailing between the Indian ports of Vizhinjam and Kochi when it ran into trouble on Saturday and issued a distress call.

Lashing rains swamped India’s financial capital Mumbai on Monday as the annual monsoon arrived some two weeks earlier than usual, according to weather forecasters.Heavy rains cooling temperatures — welcomed by farmers for their crops but which cause havoc each year in cities by flooding transport infrastructure — are normally expected in the southwestern state of Maharashtra in early June.The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of “extremely heavy rainfall” in Mumbai and the city authorities said a red alert had been issued until Tuesday.”All citizens are advised to stay indoors and avoid travel unless necessary” the city authorities said in a statement, urging people to “kindly cooperate”.The IMD said in a statement that the rains had advanced to Mumbai on Monday, “16 days earlier than usual”, with rains usually expected around June 11, the earliest for nearly a quarter century.”This marks the earliest monsoon advancement over Mumbai during the period 2001–2025″, it said.Across the wider state of Maharashtra, IMD weather chief in the region Shubhangi Bhute said it was the earliest the rains had arrived for 14 years.South Asia is getting hotter and in recent years has seen shifting weather patterns, but scientists are unclear on how exactly a warming planet is affecting the highly complex monsoon.The southwest monsoon is a colossal sea breeze that brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall between June and September every year.It occurs when summer heat warms the landmass of the subcontinent, causing the air to rise and sucking in cooler Indian Ocean winds which then produce enormous volumes of rain.The monsoon is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security.But it brings destruction every year in landslides and floods.In India, the southwest monsoon normally arrives on the southern tip at Kerala around June 1, and moves north to cover the country by early July. The rains typically reach Maharashtra around June 7.

Sikandar Raza hit the winning runs to seal the Pakistan Super League title for Lahore Qalandars on Sunday, having landed just 10 minutes before the toss after a mad dash from England.The 39-year-old was carried off the field on the shoulders of his celebrating teammates after having jumped on a plane to Pakistan straight after Zimbabwe’s innings defeat in the Nottingham Test on Saturday.Raza hit 22 not out with two sixes and two fours to give the home team a thrilling six-wicket victory over Quetta Gladiators with one ball to spare.”Had dinner in Birmingham, breakfast in Dubai, drove to Abu Dhabi for lunch, took a flight and had dinner in Pakistan,” said Raza, who scored a half-century in his country’s heavy defeat to England.”I guess this is the life of a professional cricketer, and I’m truly humbled and blessed to have that life.”Needing 13 off the last over to complete a 202-run chase, Raza struck a six and a four to help seal the title.Sri Lankan Kusal Perera led the chase with an undefeated 31-ball 62 studded with five boundaries and four sixes, adding 59 runs during the unbroken fifth-wicket stand.Opener Mohammad Naeem scored 46, with half a dozen sixes and one boundary, and Abdullah Shafique hit 41 to set Lahore on course to make the highest successful chase in a PSL final.Lahore sealed their third title following triumphs in 2022 and 2023.Hasan Nawaz scored a brilliant 76 to lift Quetta to 201-9 after they won the toss and batted.Coming in at 21-2, Nawaz added 67 for the fourth wicket with Avishka Fernando (29) and 46 with Dinesh Chandimal (22).Skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi was the pick of Lahore’s bowlers with 3-24.It was Faheem Ashraf (28) who lifted Quetta past 200, taking 23 off the last over from Salman Mirza.The six-team PSL was suspended on May 9 following the conflict between Pakistan and India.The league resumed on May 17 after a ceasefire between the two countries.

South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen struck his second IPL century on Sunday as he powered Sunrisers Hyderabad to a mammoth 278-3 and a 110-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders.In the first match of the day, Chennai Super Kings, already doomed to the wooden spoon, ended their IPL campaign on a high with an 83-run thrashing of Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.Chennai skipper M.S. Dhoni said he is in “no hurry” to decide on his future in the T20 tournament. The 43-year-old was reported to be retiring.Klaasen made the day his own with an unbeaten 105 off 39 balls to steer Hyderabad to IPL’s third highest total after they elected to bat at New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla ground.Klaasen, who was promoted to number three, hit seven fours and nine sixes in a complete show of domination by Hyderabad after opener Travis Head hit a 40-ball 76.Three-time champions Kolkata, who won the IPL last year, were bowled out for 168 in 18.4 overs to end this edition eighth out in 10 teams.Hyderabad’s Australian import Head came out roaring with opening partner Abhishek Sharma in a blazing start of 92 in 6.4 overs.Abhishek fell for 32 before fellow left-hander Head put on 83 runs with Klaasen as it rained sixes at Feroz Shah Kotla ground.Klaasen reached his ton in 37 balls for the joint third-fastest IPL ton. West Indies’ Chris Gayle hit a hundred in 30 balls in 2013 and Rajasthan Royals’ teenager Vaibhav Suryavanshi in 35 balls this season.The left-handed Head fell to West indies spinner Sunil Narine, but Klaasen kept up the charge with Ishan Kishan.In the earlier match, Chennai hurt Gujarat’s chances of finishing in the top two. They made 230-5 powered by Devon Conway’s 52 and a 23-ball 57 by Dewald Brevis.The Chennai bowlers then combined to dismiss Gujarat, who have already qualified for the playoffs, for 147 in 18.3 overs.- Dhoni’s luxury of time -Chennai ended with four wins in 14 matches with debate raging once again over the future of veteran Dhoni, who took over as leader midway after injury to regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. Dhoni kept his cards close to his chest after the game.”I have four, five months to decide. There’s no hurry,” said Dhoni. The former India captain, who turns 44 in July, has had an underwhelming IPL season with the bat, scoring just 196 runs. However, he has again shone with his wicketkeeping, pulling off several fine stumpings.”Need to keep the body fit,” said Dhoni. “You have to be at your best. If cricketers start retiring for their performance, some of them will retire at 22. I will go back to Ranchi, enjoy a few bike rides.”I am not saying I am done, not saying I am coming back. I have the luxury of time.”Gujarat, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians are certain of filling the top four places, but are fighting to finish in the top two spots which offer two shots at reaching the final on June 3.Gujarat end the group stage with 18 points. Punjab (17), Bengaluru (17) and five-time winners Mumbai (16) have one match left.The spotlight was on Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill, who took the field a day after he was named captain of the Indian Test team.He was the first batter out, for 13 off nine balls, in a Gujarat chase that never took off.Gill said the defeat was a “hard pill to swallow”.

South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen struck his second IPL century on Sunday as he powered Sunrisers Hyderabad to a mammoth 278-3, and a 110-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders.With both teams already out of the play-off race, Hyderabad elected to bat first and registered the third highest total of the T20 tournament, with Klaasen hitting an unbeaten 105 off 39 balls in Delhi.Klaasen, who was promoted to number three, stole the limelight with seven fours and nine sixes in a complete show of domination by Hyderabad after opener Travis Head hit a 40-ball 76.Three-time champions Kolkata, who won the IPL last year, were bowled out for 168 in 18.4 overs to end this edition placed eighth out of 10 teams.Hyderabad finished with 6 wins and seven losses.”Very pleased, it’s been a long season of disappointment,” Klaasen said after his knock.”Luckily, I stuck to my processes and found my form now. The franchise spent a lot of time and money to play this brand of cricket, and it was up to us to step up to the mantle.”Hyderabad, who won their only IPL title in 2016 under Australia’s David Warner, have the top four totals in IPL to their credit.Hyderabad amassed IPL’s highest ever total of 287-3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last year. They fell one short of that score — 286-6 — against Rajasthan Royals this year.Hyderabad scored 277 versus Mumbai Indians in 2024.Hyderabad’s Australian import Head came out roaring with opening partner Abhishek Sharma, and the two handed the team a blazing start of 92 in 6.4 overs.Klaasen reached his ton in 37 balls for the joint third-highest IPL ton. West Indies’ Chris Gayle hit a hundred in 30 balls in 2013 and Rajasthan’s 14-year-old opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi in 35 balls this edition.Abhishek fell for 32 before Head put on 83 runs with Klaasen as it rained sixes at Feroz Shah Kotla ground.Head fell to West indies spinner Sunil Narine, but Klaasen kept up the charge with Ishan Kishan and carried his bat through.Kolkata were never in the chase with Manish Pandey top-scoring with 37.Skipper Ajinkya Rahane said “no regrets” as they take positives from a disappointing season and hope to comeback strong next year.Hyderabad bowlers Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga and impact substitute Harsh Dubey took three wickets each.

Bangladesh’s interim leader held a second day of marathon talks Sunday with multiple parties seeking to build unity and calm intense political power struggles, party leaders and officials said.Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who is leading the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections are held, has called for rival parties to give him their full support.The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a student-led revolt in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.Yunus met around 20 party leaders on Sunday, after talks that stretched late into Saturday evening with the major political parties, including those who have protested against the government this month. Mamunul Haque, leader of the Islamist Khelafat-e-Majlish party, was among those who spoke to Yunus on Sunday in discussions that he said focused on “the ongoing crisis”. – ‘Broader unity’ -After a week of escalation during which rival parties protested on the streets of the capital Dhaka, the government led by Yunus warned on Saturday that political power struggles risked jeopardising gains that have been made.”Broader unity is essential to maintain national stability, organise free and fair elections, justice, and reform, and permanently prevent the return of authoritarianism in the country,” it said in a statement.Yunus on Saturday met with the key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as the election front-runners, who are pushing hard for polls to be held by December.According to Bangladeshi media and military sources, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman also said this week that elections should be held by December, aligning with BNP demands.Microfinance pioneer Yunus, who returned from exile at the behest of protesters in August 2024, says he has a duty to implement democratic reforms before elections he has vowed will take place by June 2026 at the latest.The caretaker government has formed multiple reform commissions providing a long list of recommendations — and is now seeking the backing of political parties.Yunus has said polls could be held as early as December but that holding them later — with the deadline of June — would give the government more time for reform. – ‘May further deteriorate’ -But Mujahidul Islam Selim, a veteran leftist politician, said he told Yunus that the interim government was not required to complete all reforms.”We urged them to leave fundamental reforms to the people”, Selim said Sunday.”If they delay solving problems, the opposite may happen — the situation may further deteriorate.”Yunus last held an all-party meeting — to discuss efforts to overhaul Bangladesh’s democratic system — on February 15. Some parties cited frustration at the lack of contact.”We told him that if only he had engaged with political parties more frequently, nobody would mind delaying the election by a few weeks,” Saiful Haque, of the Biplobi Workers Party, told reporters after his meeting.Sources in his office and a key political ally said on Thursday that Yunus had threatened to quit, but his cabinet said he would not step down early.On Saturday, the government warned that it had faced “unreasonable demands, deliberately provocative and jurisdictionally overreaching statements”, which it said had been “continuously obstructing” its work.Bangladesh’s tax authority workers ended a two-week partial strike on Sunday after they said the interim government would address their demands to stop an overhaul of the body.Security forces had surrounded the national tax authority headquarters, after government orders to reform the National Board of Revenue (NBR) sparked fury from employees.Yunus also met with leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority nation’s largest Islamist party, and the National Citizen Party (NCP) made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that ended Hasina’s rule.NCP leader Nahid Islam warned on Saturday that rival parties were pushing for swift elections to skip reforms and “assume power”, and that he believed there were “indications” that a “military-backed government could re-emerge”.