Few celebrations have the hills of Dharamshala abuzz like the birthday of the Dalai Lama. But this year, as monks and devotees flooded into the mountainous Indian city before the Tibetan spiritual leader turns 90 on Sunday, the mood of anticipation has been palpable. For years, the Dalai Lama had promised that around his 90th birthday he would make a long-awaited announcement about his reincarnation. Finally, in a video broadcast to Tibetan monks and leaders on Wednesday, he laid out what the future would hold. It came amid fears of…
Tag: South and Central Asia
Peak speed: Sherpas say their traditions are at risk after record Everest ascents
There is nothing unusual about records being broken on Mount Everest. But last week, two sets of climbers turned heads with ascents that many had never thought possible: they went straight up from sea level to the world’s highest summit in less than a week. On Wednesday, a team of four UK climbers, all ex-special forces soldiers, summited Everest having landed from London just over four days earlier. The following day, US-Ukrainian climber Andrew Ushakov said he had gone from New York to the top of Everest in under four…
Trump threatens 25% tariff on iPhones if they are not made in US
Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on iPhones if they are not made in the United States, as he stepped up the pressure on Apple to build its signature product in America. The US president caused a pre-trading dip in Apple shares with a post on the Truth Social platform stating that iPhones sold inside the US must be made within the country’s borders. Trump said in the post: “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold…
Trump says he has a ‘little problem’ with Tim Cook over Apple’s India production
Donald Trump has admonished Apple and its chief executive over the tech firm’s reported plans to source production of US-bound iPhones from India. The US president said he had a “little problem” with Apple’s Tim Cook, after reports that the company is planning to switch assembly of handsets for the US market from China to India. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” said Trump, speaking in Qatar on Thursday. Referring to Apple’s recent promise to spend $500bn (£375bn) in the US, he added: “I said to him:…
India blocks X accounts of Chinese state media over coverage of Kashmir crisis
The social media accounts of some Chinese state media were blocked inside India on Wednesday, after Indian officials accused the outlets of spreading Pakistani propaganda and misinformation. The move came as India protested over Beijing’s decision to rename some locations in a disputed border territory. The X accounts of China’s official state news agency Xinhua, and a state-backed nationalistic tabloid, the Global Times, were inaccessible inside India on Wednesday. Turkey’s TRTWorld was also blocked. Both China and Turkey are allies of Pakistan, with China providing the bulk of its weapons…
New daily weight-loss pill shows success at clinical trial
A significant trial of a daily weight-loss pill has found that it helped people to shed the pounds and reduce their blood sugar levels, making it a contender to join the new wave of drugs that combat obesity and diabetes. People who took a 36mg pill of orforglipron lost an average of 7.3kg (16lbs) over nine months, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial reported by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, on Thursday. The trial, which enrolled 559 obese people with type 2 diabetes from the US, China,…
Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2440bn
Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report. The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history. For the first time, analysts at the thinktank recorded a rise in military outlay in all five geographical regions: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania and the Americas. Nan…
Far Beyond the Pasturelands review – on the trail of the ‘Himalayan Viagra’
Every year, thousands of Nepalese villagers make their way to the Himalayan foothills in search of a fungus called yarsagumba. Known for its aphrodisiac properties, the elusive substance sells in China for a price higher than gold. Following Lalita, a young mother among the countless trekkers, this intimate documentary from Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis paints a stirring portrait of a community exploited by modern commerce. Living in the largely agrarian village of Maikot, a wistful Lalita thinks back on her adolescent dreams of going to university, but an early…
Myanmar: is the junta’s grip on power weakening and what next for its leadership?
Myanmar’s military junta is on the brink of losing control of a major trading town, Myawaddy, on its eastern border with Thailand, after soldiers defending the position surrendered in recent days, according to opposition groups. This is the latest in a series of defeats for the junta, which has also lost crucial territory along its border with China and India, as well as areas of Rakhine state, in the west of the country. These defeats aren’t just economic or strategic blows for the junta – they’re also a humiliation for…
Six killed after suicide bomber rams convoy of Chinese engineers in Pakistan
Six people have been killed after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in north-west Pakistan, in the third significant attack on Chinese interests in the country in a week. The first two attacks targeted a Pakistani naval airbase and a strategic port used by China in the south-west province of Balochistan where Beijing is investing billions in infrastructure projects. The engineers were en route from Islamabad to their camp at the dam construction site in Dasu in the province…