INDIA
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kashmir yesterday for the first time since the clashes with Pakistan to inaugurate a new railway line. The travel time between Katra, a town in the Hindu-majority region of Jammu, and Srinagar, Kashmir's main city, is expected to be cut in half to about three hours. In addition to facilitating the movement of people and goods, the railway line will also allow faster troop deployment.
BANGLADESH
Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh's interim government, said that the next elections will be held in the first half of April 2026. The Nobel laureate, who took office after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled, has faced growing discontent over the past few weeks due to the country’s economic crisis.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea's Internet was down for several hours, likely due to internal problems and not the result of a cyber-attack, experts say. Connections to Russia and China were also affected. North Korea has one of the world's most strictly controlled Internet systems. Although this gives the government access to any information about the population, the public has access only to a government-controlled intranet, unlinked from the global network.
UNITED STATES – IRAN
The United States has imposed sanctions on more than 30 Iranian entities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong as well as Iranian nationals it says are part of a “shadow banking” system that has laundered billions, the US Treasury Department said yesterday. The United States, which is trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran, believes the network is helping Tehran to finance its nuclear and missile programmes and support a variety of militias across the Middle East.
MYANMAR
Myanmar’s military junta has rejected a recent United Nations resolution accusing the military of violating workers' rights, calling it "politically motivated.” The International Labour Organisation recently called on countries that have relations with Myanmar to “in no way enable, facilitate or prolong the violations of workers’ rights in respect of freedom of association and forced labour”; otherwise, sanctions could be imposed.
RUSSIA
Ukraine's Deputy Energy Minister, Yurii Sheiko, has warned that Russia’s attempt to restore the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could lead to disruptions that would be felt across Europe, noting that the plant has been under occupation for three years and has not produced energy but is still relying Ukraine’s national grid for energy.
KAZAKHSTAN
Starting in September, the dollar exchange rate will no longer appear on public signs, this according to Timur Suleimenov, head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan. He explained that this measure of “de-dollarisation” includes currency exchange offices, where, however, it will still be possible to exchange the local currency, the tenge. In so, doing Kazakhstanis will be able to “mentally free themselves from dependence on the dollar”.
