India

An anthropologist who visited North Sentinel Island says limited contact with the isolated Sentinelese tribe may become necessary to protect them from increasing threats posed by outsiders, poachers and social media attention.

Encroaching world threatens India's last 'uncontacted' tribe

LONDON: Pressure mounted on Britain&#39;s Prime Minister Keir Starmer Thursday when his former deputy Angela Rayner emerged as a potential challenger in a frenzied battle for the leadership. Starmer, who led his Labour party to victory in 2024 elections ending 14 years of Conservative rule, is fighting to save his job after disastrous local and regional polls last week. Four junior ministers have resigned and more than 80 MPs have urged him to quit but he has vowed to cling on. Although no one has so far broken ranks to formally challenge him, media reported that Health Minister Wes Streeting was preparing to resign on Thursday to run for the top job. The prospect of a challenge by Rayner also grew as she announced that UK tax authorities had &quot;cleared&quot; her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair, opening the way for her to compete in a potential leadership contest. She was forced to step down in September for underpaying a property duty, but said on Thursday the UK tax authority HMRC had exonerated her of &quot;the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax&quot;. Media reported she had paid off &pound;40,000 ($54,000) in outstanding tax. &quot;I welcome HMRC&#39;s conclusion, which has cleared me of any wrongdoing,&quot; she said in a statement. &quot;I set out to pay the correct amount of tax. I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC has accepted this.&quot; Although Rayner suggested in interviews that she would not be the one to trigger a race, she told the Guardian newspaper she would play &quot;whatever role I can&quot; to &quot;deliver the change&quot;. &nbsp;Left-wing figurehead&nbsp;Streeting, 43, is popular on the right of Labour, but is disliked by MPs on the left who would prefer Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as leader. Burnham is currently blocked from running as he does not have a seat in the Westminster parliament. The 46-year-old Rayner, seen as a working-class champion in the party, is a figurehead among Labour&#39;s left-wing base. She quit as deputy PM and housing, communities and local government minister after an investigation found she had breached the ministerial code over the purchase of a flat in southern England. Voters last week punished Starmer over his 22 months in power in local ballots which saw huge gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens at Labour&#39;s expense. The Labour Party lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time and failed to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh. Rayner earlier stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign, but said voters were frustrated with the way the government was being run. &quot;What we are doing isn&#39;t working, and it needs to change,&quot; she said in a 1,000 word assessment of the party&#39;s electoral woes on Sunday. Under party rules, any challenger would need the support of 81 Labour MPs -- 20 percent of the party in parliament -- to trigger a contest. Starmer has vowed to stay put and came out fighting on Monday, pledging to do better. &quot;I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,&quot; he said.

United Kingdom

Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure after poor election results, resignations and leadership rumblings, with Angela Rayner emerging as a potential challenger as divisions deepen within Britain’s Labour Party.

British PM battles to stay in power amid rebellion

Web Desk

DHAKA: Bangladesh will begin loading uranium fuel into its first nuclear power station on Tuesday, a key step towards bringing the 2,400 megawatt plant online to ease pressure on the overstretched power grid. When operating, it could meet up to 10 percent of the power demands of the South Asian nation of 170 million people, according to the government. Construction began on the $11 billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in 2017, with initial power generation of around 300 MW hoped to come online by August, before full production in late 2027. &quot;A controlled nuclear fission chain reaction will be initiated in the reactor core, once fuel loading is completed,&quot; Saikat Ahmed, the plant&#39;s senior scientific information officer told AFP. &quot;This marks the start of the physical start-up phase.&quot; The grid in Bangladesh is stretched every year during the summer heat, when people crank up power-hungry air conditioners. But restrictions have been made worse after an energy crunch due to the Middle East war. Bangladesh imports 95 percent of its oil and gas, much of it from the Middle East, where energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have been disrupted since war began in late February. Science and Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam, speaking earlier this month, said it was hoped the plant would supply around 300 megawatts of electricity to the grid by August. But the process requires a slow process of testing at each stage. &quot;This is a complex and sensitive phase, and every aspect of safety and security will be further evaluated before full-scale production,&quot; said Shafiqul Islam, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Dhaka.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh will load uranium into its first nuclear plant at Rooppur, starting physical start-up. The $11 billion, 2,400 MW project aims to ease grid pressure, supply 300 MW by August, and reach full output by late 2027.

Bangladesh starts fuelling its first nuclear power station

ISLAMABAD: A fresh confrontation has erupted between the Indian Congress and the BJP after Congress MP K.C. Venugopal filed a privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his April 18 televised address to the nation, according to The Times of India&#39;s Tuesday report. The notice was submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on April 21. The row stems from Modi&rsquo;s speech a day after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.&nbsp; The bill had been proposed by the government as a step toward implementing reserved seats for women.&nbsp; According to The Indian Express, Venugopal accused the Prime Minister of making &ldquo;direct reflections&rdquo; on the voting pattern of Opposition MPs and attributing motives to them. He argued that such remarks amounted to a &ldquo;serious breach of privilege and contempt of the House&rdquo;.&nbsp; Venugopal also said Modi&rsquo;s use of a national address to criticize the Opposition was unprecedented and unethical, describing it as a &ldquo;blatant abuse of power.&rdquo;<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2046585126533161190&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=ad5423ad7fe8df2f635750d320f9d812f0b6d588&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 1302px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>The notice argued that no person, including the Prime Minister, should comment on the conduct or voting behavior of MPs in a way that questions their motives.&nbsp; Venugopal said such imputations undermine the dignity and authority of Parliament and interfere with the free and independent discharge of parliamentary duties. The Congress also argued that the Opposition&rsquo;s stand was not against women&rsquo;s reservation itself.&nbsp; As reported by The Tribune, Venugopal pointed out that the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, providing for women&rsquo;s reserved seats in the Lok Sabha, had already been passed unanimously. He said objections to the new bill were rooted in concerns over its additional provisions, including those tied to delimitation. Congress member of the Upper House, Jairam Ramesh, publicly backed the move, saying a Prime Minister&rsquo;s address to the nation should be reserved for moments of national unity and confidence-building.&nbsp; But Modi&rsquo;s speech, he argued, turned instead into a partisan attack marked by repeated criticism of the Congress, according to The Times of India. Venugopal has urged the Speaker to treat the matter urgently, refer it to the Committee of Privileges and initiate proceedings against the prime minister. The notice has added a new layer of political tension to the fallout from the bill&rsquo;s defeat in the Lok Sabha.

Congress accuses the PM of abusing power by attacking opposition parliamentarians in a televised address after the women’s quota bill failed.

Indian opposition moves privilege motion against Modi

NEW DELHI: India&#39;s fertilizer production plunged nearly a quarter in March, official data showed, after natural gas imports used in its manufacture were hit by the Middle East conflict. Natural gas is used to power the production of urea, a key part of the lifeline fertilizers used by India&#39;s vast agriculture sector, making it deeply sensitive to global energy price swings. The slump comes after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which key energy supplies and fertilizer-linked inputs pass, after the United States and Israel launched their war on the country on February 28. A third of the world&#39;s fertilizers normally transit the waterway, and the disruption has prompted multiple warnings about the impact on food production Individual farms are small and often unproductive, but agriculture employs more than 45 percent of people in India, the world&#39;s most populous nation. &quot;Fertilizer production declined by 24.6 percent in March 2026, over March 2025,&quot; the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement late Monday. The drop came after output had risen 3.4 percent in February, 3.7 percent in January and 4.1 percent in December 2025. India&#39;s Ministry of Petroleum has insisted there are &quot;adequate stocks of fertilisers available&quot;, and that the &quot;sourcing of fertilizers being diversified across multiple countries&quot;. India&#39;s fertilizer demand peaks during the Kharif sowing season, in June to July, ahead of the monsoon rains, and then again for the Rabi season, from October to November, for sowing of winter crops. Earlier in April, India hiked subsidies for fertilizers 11 percent to protect farmers from surging prices. India relies on imports for supplies of urea, as well raw materials such as rock phosphate, phosphoric acid and potash, which are key components of fertilizers. Disruptions to fertilizer supplies caused by the Middle East war pose a double threat to global food security, the World Trade Organization warned last month.

India’s fertilizer output fell 24.6 percent in March after Middle East conflict disrupted gas-linked supplies, raising concerns over farm inputs and food security despite government assurances on stocks and subsidies.

India fertilizer output drops a quarter on Mideast war

BEIJING: China&#39;s President Xi Jinping met Taiwan&#39;s opposition party leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, telling the visiting delegation he had &quot;full confidence&quot; that Taiwanese and Chinese people would be united. Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng is the party&#39;s first leader to visit China in a decade, but her trip has sparked debate in Taiwan with critics accusing her of being too pro-Beijing. China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing&#39;s claims that the self-ruled island is part of its territory. Xi told Cheng as the two met on Friday that &quot;the general trend of compatriots on both sides of the Strait getting closer, edging nearer and becoming united will not change&quot;. &quot;This is an inevitable part of history. We have full confidence in this,&quot; Xi said during the talks carried by Taiwanese media. He also said China was willing to strengthen dialogue with groups in Taiwan, including the KMT, on the &quot;common political foundation of... opposing Taiwan independence&quot;. The KMT supports closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it. Cheng echoed Xi&#39;s stance, telling a press conference after their meeting that by &quot;opposing Taiwan independence, we can avoid war&quot;. She also told Xi earlier that the Taiwan Strait would &quot;no longer be a focal point of potential conflict&quot; and &quot;both sides should transcend political confrontation&quot;. Beijing has sworn to take Taiwan and has not ruled out using force, ramping up military pressure around the self-ruled island in recent years. China conducts near-daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near the island and regular large-scale military drills. Taiwanese lawmakers have been at loggerheads over the government&#39;s plan to spend NT$1.25 trillion ($39 billion) on defence, which has been stalled for months in parliament, controlled by Cheng&#39;s KMT party. - Defence spending - Cheng&#39;s trip comes a month before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi. The United States has been piling pressure on Taiwanese opposition lawmakers to back a proposal for defence purchases, including US weapons, to deter a potential Chinese attack. Cheng has railed against the government&#39;s proposal, insisting &quot;Taiwan isn&#39;t an ATM&quot; and instead backed a KMT plan to allocate NT$380 billion ($12 billion) for US weapons with the option for more acquisitions. While KMT party members regularly fly to China for exchanges with officials, its last leader to visit was Hung Hsiu-chu in 2016. Cross-strait relations have worsened in particular since the election of Tsai&#39;s successor, Lai Ching-te, who Beijing considers a separatist. Lai said in a Facebook post on Friday that &quot;China&#39;s... military threats in and around the Taiwan Strait and the island chain have severely undermined regional peace and stability&quot;. Cheng landed in Shanghai on Tuesday evening, saying shortly after her arrival that &quot;the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not doomed to war, as the international community has feared&quot;. The KMT leader also travelled to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she visited the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, one of the few Chinese historical figures revered in both Beijing and Taipei.

China

Xi Jinping met Taiwanese Opposition Leader Cheng Li-wun in Beijing, voicing confidence in eventual cross-strait unity, while the visit stirred controversy in Taiwan amid rising military tensions and disputes over defence spending.

Chinese, Taiwanese will unite, Xi tells Taiwan opposition leader

TEHRAN: Yemen&#39;s Houthi rebels joined the month-old Middle East war, claiming two missile attacks on Israel that raised concern on Sunday about the war spreading to the Red Sea. Fears of a widening conflict came as the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pentagon-preparing-for-ground-operations-in-iran-report" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">US ground operations</a>&nbsp;in Iran -- though it said President Donald Trump has yet to approve any deployment. The involvement of Houthi rebels has added a new complexity to a conflict that has already impacted a wide swathe of the Middle East. During Israel&#39;s recent war on Gaza, the Houthis, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, forcing companies to take costly detours. Until Saturday, they had sat out the latest conflict, even as the Red Sea grew more vital. A Houthi spokesman on Saturday said the group fired &quot;a barrage of cruise missiles and drones targeting several vital and military sites&quot; in Israel. Since the launch of hostilities, Saudi Arabia has rerouted much of its oil exports via the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it has closed to shipping from hostile powers. Iran threatens retaliationThe attacks on Iran continued Saturday as Israel&#39;s military said it struck the headquarters of Iran&#39;s Marine Industries Organisation in Tehran, saying the facility developed &quot;a wide range of naval weaponry.&quot; On Saturday evening, a wave of blasts rang out in the capital for several minutes, with no immediate word on what was targeted. An Israeli military spokesman said attacks on Iranian military industry had intensified and &quot;within a few days, we will complete attacks on all critical components.&quot; &quot;I miss a peaceful night&#39;s sleep,&quot; an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying the previous night&#39;s strikes were &quot;so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking.&quot; Iran&#39;s Revolutionary Guard meanwhile threatened Sunday to strike US university campuses in the Middle East unless Washington officially condemned US-Israeli&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-israel-war-on-iran-day-29" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">attacks on two Iranian universities</a>. Several American institutions operate campuses across the Gulf region, including Texas A&amp;M in Qatar and New York University in the UAE. Pakistan mediationThe conflict began when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, engulfing the region in conflict, sending energy prices soaring and prompting diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting. Pakistan, acting as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pakistan-iran-leaders-discuss-regional-tensions-peace-efforts" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">go-between for Washington and Tehran,</a>&nbsp;will host foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad on Monday for talks on the crisis. Iran&#39;s President Masoud Pezeshkian thanked Islamabad &quot;for its mediation efforts to stop the aggression,&quot; while Germany&#39;s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Friday he expected a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan &quot;very soon.&quot; Trump&#39;s special envoy Steve Witkoff said such a meeting could take place this week, and promoted a 15-point plan that Washington says &quot;could solve it all.&quot; Still, the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday amid speculation over a possible US ground deployment in Iran. The Washington Post reported late Saturday that the Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran -- potentially including raids on Kharg Island and sites near the Strait of Hormuz -- though President Trump has yet to approve any deployment. Red Sea shipping&nbsp;The economic fallout of the war remained critical with Hormuz still all but impassable and attacks on infrastructure still frequent in the region. Many Gulf shipments have been rerouted through Oman&#39;s Salalah port on the Arabian Sea, but Danish shipping giant Maersk said operations there were temporarily suspended after a drone attack. Fire broke out after Iranian missiles and drones struck the Khalifa Economic Zone in Abu Dhabi, injuring six people. Emirates Global Aluminium reported significant damage. Air travel has also been disrupted, with authorities in Kuwait and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan reporting airport facilities hit in strikes by Iran. The United States condemned a drone attack on the residence of Kurdish regional leader Nechirvan Barzani, blaming Iranian militia proxies in Iraq and calling it &quot;a direct assault on Iraq&#39;s sovereignty.&quot; Elsewhere in Iraq, a former paramilitary coalition, integrated into the armed forces but containing pro-Iran factions, said three fighters were killed in a strike near Kirkuk, while the interior ministry said two police officers died in another in Mosul. Both were blamed on the United States and Israel. Ukraine&#39;s President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his military&#39;s expertise to help defend against Iranian strikes as left his war-torn country for the region to sign anti-drone cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Three journalists killed<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/lebanon-says-46-rescuers-5-medical-staff-killed-in-israelhezbollah-war" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Attacks continued in Lebanon</a>, which was drawn into the conflict when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2. On Saturday, the Israeli military killed three journalists in the south, including Al Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib, one of the network&#39;s most prominent war correspondents, who had covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades. The Israeli military accused him of operating within Hezbollah &quot;under the guise of a journalist.&quot; Lebanese authorities, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, condemned the killings as war crimes. Israel also carried out raids in southern Lebanon that killed nine paramedics, according to the health ministry.

A security personnel stands guard as Houthi supporters gather during a rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon, amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on March 27, 2026. (File photo: AFP)

Middle East

The involvement of Houthi rebels adds a new complexity to a conflict that has already impacted a wide swathe of the Middle East.

Houthis missile attacks on Israel widen Middle East war

KATHMANDU: Nepal&#39;s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and ex-home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested Saturday morning over their alleged involvement in a deadly crackdown on protestors in September, police said. &quot;They were arrested this morning and the process will move forward according to the law,&quot; Kathmandu Valley police spokesman Om Adhikari told AFP. The detentions come a day after Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his cabinet were sworn in after the first elections since the 2025 uprising that toppled Oli&#39;s government. At least 77 people were killed in the anti-corruption youth uprising on September 8 and 9, which began over a brief social media ban, but tapped into longstanding fury over economic hardship. At least 19 young people were killed in a crackdown on the first day of protests. The unrest spread nationwide the following day as parliament and government offices were set ablaze, resulting in the government&#39;s collapse. A Nepal government-backed report into the deadly uprising has recommended the prosecution of 74-year-old Oli and other officials. The report said that it was &quot;not established that there was an order to shoot&quot;, but said that &quot;no effort was made to stop or control the firing and, due to their negligent conduct, even minors lost their lives&quot;. &quot;No one is above the law... This is not revenge against anyone, just the beginning of justice. I believe, now the country will take a new direction,&quot; newly appointed Home Minister Sudan Gurung, who was a key figure in the protests, posted on Instagram.

Former Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, along with other officials, attends the inaugural session marking the launch of the high-definition versions of four Nepal Television (NTV) channels on its 34th anniversary, January 30, 2019. (File photo: The Hi

Nepal

Nepal's former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and ex-home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested Saturday morning over their alleged involvement in a deadly crackdown on protestors in September, police said.

Nepal's ex-PM arrested over alleged role in protest crackdown

KATHMANDU:&nbsp;<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: source-sans-pro, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" id="isPasted">Nepal&#39;s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah held an unassailable lead against ousted prime minister KP Sharma Oli in the highly contested face-off in Nepal&#39;s southeastern district of Jhapa, according to data by the Election Commission. The high-stakes parliamentary election on Thursday came six months after deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government, with at least 77 people killed. The September 2025 youth-led demonstrations, under a loose Gen Z banner, began over a brief social media ban but quickly tapped into broader grievances over corruption and a struggling economy. According to early trends issued by the Election Commission Saturday, 35-year-old Shah&#39;s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was on track to win a majority in the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament. &quot;Looking at the trend, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has taken the lead in many places and has won several seats,&quot; commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai told AFP. If the trends are confirmed by the vote count, 35-year-od Shah&#39;s victory over a veteran Marxist leader -- and his rise from city mayor to potential prime minister -- would mark one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics. &quot;This is heading to a landslide victory -- this reflects the frustration that has been building up,&quot; said Chandra Dev Bhatta, a political analyst. &quot;It is actually the people&#39;s revolt against the established political parties,&quot; he added. &quot;The people understand that the new do not really have strong agendas, but it is a punishment to the parties for their decades-long poor governance.&quot; &nbsp;&#39;A day will come&#39; By Saturday morning, on the second day of counting, there were only 34 declared results -- RSP took 27, Nepali Congress won four, and the Marxist party of ousted prime minister KP Sharma Oli was trailing with one. Former Maoist guerrilla commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal has one seat for his party. But trends showed that Shah&#39;s RSP was also leading in 90 of the 165 constituencies in the direct elections. It had secured comfortably more than half of votes so far counted in the proportional representation vote, which determines a further 110 seats via party lists. Bhattarai said results from direct elections would be ready by Monday, but longer for full results to be ready. &quot;According to our plan, it will take at least a week to count the proportional votes, after which the election will go through the official process,&quot; he added. He said that vote counting was &quot;going smoothly&quot; across the Himalayan nation, from snowbound high-altitude mountain regions to the hot plains bordering India. On Friday, Shah&#39;s party loyalists danced on the streets of Kathmandu in celebration -- even though votes counted remain low, and final results could take days. DP Aryal, RSP deputy chairman, issued a message urging supporters to hold back on celebrations. &quot;Once we work, a day will come for us to celebrate,&quot; he said in a post on social media late Friday. Shah has also taken a commanding lead in the seat he is contesting -- a head-to-head contest against the 74-year-old ousted prime minister Oli, symbolising the clash between the old guard and a youth-driven call for change. Better known as Balen, Shah first leveraged his music fame and strong social media following to become Kathmandu&#39;s first independent mayor in 2022. Nepali Congress, the largest party in the past coalition government, saw its new leader Gagan Thapa trailing in his own constituency. &quot;This is even a bigger upset than we expected -- it underscores the level of public disenchantment with the old parties for under-performance, as well as anger over the events of September,&quot; said Kunda Dixit, publisher of the weekly Nepali Times. In Jhapa, soldiers with armoured trucks manned barbed wire barricades around the counting centre. Yagya Prasad Adhikari, a 49-year-old businessman who travelled from Kathmandu for the vote, said he supported the calls for calm before full results were ready. &quot;We want someone who works, not someone who talks,&quot; he said. &quot;We support Balen not celebrating.&quot; Meanwhile, the burnt-out ruins of Oli&#39;s home in Jhapa -- torched during the unrest, like hundreds of other buildings, including parliament -- serve as a reminder of the deadly violence that occurred last year. Dharmakala Gautam, 74, who watched the house burn, said she was tired of promises by politicians that never materialised. &quot;When the Maoists came to rule, we hoped for change -- but not much happened,&quot; she said. &quot;I will keep some hope this time too.&quot;

Election trends show rapper-turned-politician Balendra “Balen” Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party heading for a landslide and possible majority in Nepal’s 275-seat parliament, six months after deadly anti-corruption protests. 

Nepal's Balendra Shah holds unassailable poll lead for seat: Commission figures

PARIS: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been Iran&#39;s hardline spiritual guide and top political authority since 1989, when he succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader. Here is a look at his life in key dates: - July 17, 1939: Khamenei is born in the shrine city of Mashhad to parents from Iran&#39;s Azeri minority. - 1957: Meets Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who will emerge as a key influence. - 1977: After several stays in prison due to his opposition to the shah, he is exiled to Iranshahr, a remote desert city close to the Pakistan border. He returns to Mashhad in 1979 for the Islamic Revolution. - 1979: His rapid ascent to power begins when he is named deputy defence minister and subsequently head of the elite Revolutionary Guards by Khomeini. - 1981: Becomes the first cleric to be elected president of the Islamic republic. Re-elected in 1985. - June 27, 1981: Survives a bomb attack by the outlawed People&#39;s Mujahedeen group in a Tehran mosque, but his right hand is never the same. Learns to write with his left. - June 4, 1989: Upon the death of Khomeini, he is elected supreme leader just a year after the end of the war with Iraq (1980-1988). - January 2005: Confirms the &quot;death sentence&quot; fatwa handed down on writer Salman Rushdie by Khomeini. - September 8, 2014: Undergoes prostate surgery after two decades of speculation about his health. - July 14, 2015: Supports the Vienna accord with world powers on Iran&#39;s nuclear programme. - January 17, 2020: Leads Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since 2012. Uses the occasion to condemn anti-government protests. - October 3, 2022: Blames the United States and Israel for fomenting the widespread nationwide unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. - June 13-24, 2025: Going into hiding during the 12-day war with Israel, which the United States briefly joins, but emerges from the conflict unscathed. - January 17, 2026: Says &quot;Iran must break the back of the seditionists&quot; as the clerical authorities brutally repress the biggest protests against the Islamic republic in more than three years. - February 28, 2026: Killed in the wave of strikes launched by the United States and Israel.

Important dates in the life of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei

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