Asia

    Worshippers in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, are set to go green with a new initiative that aims to establish 1,000 eco-mosques by 2020. Launched this week by Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the initiative will help the mosques to source renewable energy, manage their water and food needs sustainably, reduce and recycle waste and provide environmental education. The project will see the top Muslim clerical body work with the private sector, the government’s health and planning ministries, universities, and other religious groups in a bid to boost environmental awareness in communities across the country. Most Muslims in Indonesia listen more to religious leaders than the government, Hayu Prabowo, head of environment and natural resources at...

    Torched villages and unharvested paddy fields stretch to the horizon in Myanmar's violence-gutted Rakhine state, where a dwindling number of Muslim Rohingya remain trapped in limbo after an army crackdown coursed through the region. A rare military-organised trip for foreign media by helicopter to Maungdaw district the epicentre of a crisis that exploded in late August -- showed a landscape devoid of people, with the emerald paddy fields scarred by the blackened patches of destroyed Rohingya villages. Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist country, has denied committing atrocities but has heavily restricted access to the conflict zone with the exception of brief government-organised visits More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the area over the past two and a half months, runni...

    President Trump is being played by Russian President Vladimir Putin, two former intelligence chiefs said on Sunday, responding to Trump’s statement that Putin means it when he denies the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 presidential election. In a joint appearance on CNN's State of the Union, James Clapper, the ex-director of national intelligence, and John Brennan, the former CIA director, both slammed Trump’s remarks as naïve and dangerous. It’s either naïveté, ignorance, or fear, Brennan said of Trump’s take on Putin and the 2016 election. Putin is very clever, Brennan said, and he is using Trump’s insecurity and his need for flattery to convince him that Russia’s intentions toward the United States are not malicious. Trump has since tried to clarify his remarks, made to rep...

    Myanmar’s army has replaced the general in charge of Rakhine state, an army media officer said on Monday, where an army operation drove more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. No reason was given why Major General Maung Maung Soe was transferred from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine, where Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, launched a sweeping counter-insurgency operation in August. I don’t know the reason why he was transferred, Major General Aye Lwin told Reuters as a UN official accused the military of conducting organised rape and other crimes against humanity. He wasn’t moved into any position at present, he has been put in reserve. He said the transfer was ordered on Nov. 10 and Brigadier General Soe Tint Naing had been app...

    US President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had insulted him by calling him old and said he would never call Kim ‘short and fat.’ Trump made the comment after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam. In a series of tweets he also said Chinese President Xi Jinping was ‘upping sanctions’ on North Korea in response to its nuclear and missile programs and that Xi wants Pyongyang to ‘denuclearize.’ During Trump’s visit to Beijing last week Xi reiterated that China would strive for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula but offered no hint that China would change tack on North Korea, with which it fought side by side in the 1950-53 Korean war against US-led forces. One of Trump’s tweets read: ‘Wh...

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump agreed a joint statement on Syria on Saturday that said they would continue joint efforts in fighting Islamic State until it is defeated, the Kremlin said. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the Kremlin announcement or the conversation the Kremlin said took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Vietnamese resort of Danang. The Kremlin said the statement on Syria was coordinated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson especially for the meeting in Danang. Putin and Trump confirmed their commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and called on all parties to the Syria...

    A 14-year-old Pakistani boy is stunning the world with his incredible flexibility that enables him to twist his head by 180 degrees. Not only this, the boy also has a unique capability to even rotate his shoulders by 360 degrees, reports the Khaleej Times. Muhammad Sameer Khan from Karachi is being nicknamed as ‘human owl’ as he turns his head to look behind him, according to reports in Daily Pakistan. Sameer works as a part of an eight-member dance group, Dangerous Boys, in Karachi and performs in dance shows to earn a living. He was forced to quit studies as his 49-year-old father was ill and unemployed. Sameer earns a meager sum of Rs 600-Rs 1000 per show. Asher Khan, the lead dancer of Dangerous Boys, stated that Sameer is incredible and will go a long way if he gets p...

    US President Donald Trump pressed China to do more to rein in North Korea on Thursday and said bilateral trade had been unfair to the United States, but praised President Xi Jinping's pledge that China would be more open to foreign firms. On North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, Trump said China can fix this problem quickly and easily", urging Beijing to cut financial links with North Korea and also calling on Russia to help. Trump was speaking alongside Xi in the Chinese capital to announce the signing of about $250 billion in commercial deals between US and Chinese firms, a display that some in the US business community worry detracts from tackling deep-seated complaints about market access in China. Xi said the Chinese economy would become increasingly open and ...

    Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have formally launched the Dhaka-Kolkata Maitree Express’s end-to-end immigration and customs services and flagged off the Khulna-Kolkata Bandhan Express service. The launch was the fulfilment of a long cherished dream and another happy occasion in Bangladesh-India relations, Hasina said at a press conference at the Ganabhaban on Thursday. I am also confident that these services would give a boost to cultural exchanges and tourism between our two peoples, she said. I hope this fine display of mutuality of our relationship will further strengthen our bilateral relations. Two rail bridges on the Bhairab and the Titas were also inaugurated on Thursday to speed up connectivity between Dhaka and Chittagong. Ha...

    In Sikh temples the world over, community kitchens offer free meals to anyone regardless of colour, creed or caste. But the langars as the kitchens are called - often distribute food grown with chemical pesticides, which can contribute to pollution and leak into rivers and streams. In 2015, a push by Sikh environmental groups drove the Golden Temple, the Sikh faith’s holiest which feeds 100,000 people daily, to start growing its own organic food to reduce its impact on nature. There are many hints in our holy book to protect mother earth and to commit to the betterment of society for all life on earth, said Ravneet Singh, South Asia manager of EcoSikh, a Sikh environmental group. The most vulnerable entity on the planet is the planet itself - the forest, the water, the air...