India

The games began yesterday in Chennai, chess central for sports fans. Russian, Chinese, and Pakistani players are absent, the latter because of the Kashmir question. As the game gains in popularity in India, chess coaches are now in short supply.

At the end of last year, most of the world’s 53 new nuclear reactor projects concerned Asia. Construction time is decreasing. Growth is driven by China, followed by India, Japan and South Korea.

On the feast day of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus, the superior of the Redemptorist Vice Province of Majella in India offers his thoughts. For him, “Every elderly and infirm confrere is the hidden jewel” who must “be guarded with care”.

The Santal and other Indigenous communities gathered in front of Bangladesh’s parliament to celebrate the election of a fellow Santal. The oppressed “tribal peoples of Bangladesh and India will find inspiration” in her election. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is asked to invite her to visit the country as soon as possible.

Driven by community of origin to return home to marry, Indians living abroad bring their wives back with them, but on different visas that deprive them of the same rights as their husbands. Abandoned after marriage, they often lose access to their children and their basic rights. In India, there is still no law obliging men to appear before a judge to answer for their abuse.

The 64-year-old, who hails from Odisha, was elected by a wide margin with the support of the BJP. Archbishop Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar told AsiaNews that he hopes she “will raise her voice for tribals and uphold constitutional values.”

Dalits protest in the village of Ayyampatty on the eve of the feast day of St Mary Magdalene, the local patron saint. Dalit Catholics are excluded from the celebrations and forced to have a separate cemetery. A Dalit man threatens to go before the Madras High Court if things are not rectified.

The historic public port a hub of global maritime trade has been awarded to a consortium 70% controlled by the Indian group. A second private one managed by the Chinese Shanghai International Port Group had already been opened last year. Israel's objective is to make it a major Mediterranean hub. And there is already talk of a "tender" for the rail link to the Gulf.

In response to a petition by an unmarried woman, the court noted that allowing an abortion "would be equivalent to killing the fetus”. As an alternative, it said the woman should be allowed to give birth anonymously and give the child up for adoption. Meanwhile, the first National March for Life planned for New Delhi on 10 August will mark the anniversary of the law legalising abortion in 1971.

Neeraj Chopra, Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin are India’s newest track and field stars. Although some will bet at the World Athletics Championships, which opened today in Eugene (US), India remains a desert when it comes to Olympic medals. Cultural attitudes and poorly made investments seem to be the main causes; however, things appear to be changing.

Between April and June, unprecedented fires torched 0.45 per cent of the state’s surface. The forest department blames an increasingly dry climate and human negligence. Locals pin the fires on wrong development projects that are altering the environmental balance.

Many donors are worried about becoming the next targets of the government crackdown after Razorpay shared part of its payment information to AltNews, an independent fact-checking site, with the investigating authorities. One of the co-founders, Muhammad Zubair, is swamped with legal cases after his arrest last month.