Introduced by the University Grants Commission to combat casteism on university campuses, the regulations have been challenged by students in Uttar Pradesh from the "general classes”, i.e. those not covered by quotas, for their ambiguous language and the risk of generating new forms of exclusion. The Supreme Court has stayed their application, calling for a review. Meanwhile, existing protections remain in place.
In the capital of Sri Lanka, public spaces for children to play are disappearing, hitting working-class communities hard. In Slave Island, historic gathering places have been privatised through opaque procedures and political pressure. The phenomenon is accelerated by urban regeneration programmes.
Since August 2024, over 300 companies have closed in a heavily industrialised area of Bangladesh, leaving tens of thousands of people out of work. ‘My wife and I used to earn a good salary. Now I drive a rickshaw and we've cut back on meals.’ Many have returned to their villages, but the depopulation also affects traders and homeowners. Entrepreneur: ‘The empty warehouses I saw in Italy are now in our country.’
Today's headlines: Iran sends fuel to Myanmar's regime using ghost ships, while Beijing executes 11 members of the Ming family involved in online scams; Vietnam and the EU upgrade diplomatic relations; The Taliban designate half of public spending on security. In South Korea, more and more minors are gambling.
A figure completely unknown to the general public, the young builder Shakhmurat Mutalip, has put himself forward as a buyer for several billion dollars of Kazakhstan's leading mining company, the latest step in his meteoric rise in Astana. The suspicion is that he has inherited the legacy of the power groups that prospered in Tokaev's shadow.
This issue is one of the most sensitive questions in the talks that began between the two sides after the November 2023 ceasefire. For Lebanon, this is a "diplomatic priority," but the Jewish state is not cooperating, as confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross. In the background lurk tensions in Iran and Hezbollah's threat to act alongside the Islamic Republic.
