India caste unrest: Water supply 'partially restored' in Delhi
- 23 February 2016
- India
Water supply has been partially restored in the Indian capital, Delhi, where up to 10 million were affected after protesters sabotaged a key canal.
The army took control of the Munak canal in neighbouring Haryana state on Monday after Jat community protesters, angry at caste job quotas, seized it.
Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra said the "crisis was still not over" and urged people to use water carefully.
The city's schools, which were closed because of the crisis, have reopened.
Sixteen million people live in Delhi, and around three-fifths of the city's water is supplied by the Munak canal, which runs through Haryana.
Mr Mishra tweeted on Tuesday morning that "some water has been released" from the canal. This had led to the restoration of partial supplies in north and central Delhi, he said.
Iran elections: why are they important and who is running?
Elections for the Majlis, or Iranian parliament, and assembly of experts, which will appoint the next supreme leader, are taking place on Friday
On Friday Iranians will vote in two elections, the first to be held since a landmark nuclear agreement was signed last year under which international sanctions were lifted.
Why are the elections important?
Although the presidential election is not due until next year, Friday’s elections for the next Majlis (the Iranian parliament) and the assembly of experts (the clerical body in charge of appointing the next supreme leader) come at a critical time. For more than a decade, conservatives dominated Iran’s main political institutions, but Hassan Rouhani’s victory in the 2013 presidential election changed that. Rouhani’s government is run by moderates, but other institutions such as parliament are still dominated by conservatives. Both of Friday’s elections are a battleground between hardliners already in power and moderate and pro-reform figures seeking a comeback.
Are they fair?
The short answer is no, but that does not mean they are not competitive. In 2013 Rouhani, an approved candidate, created an extraordinary momentum for changeand was elected on a mandate considered at home and abroad to be legitimate.
Syria civil war: The untold story of the siege of two small Shia villages - and how the world turned a blind eye
Villages that remained loyal to the Syrian regime have paid a steep price
This is the untold story of the three-and-a-half-year siege of two small Shia Muslim villages in northern Syria. Although their recapture by the Syrian army – and by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Iraqi Shia militias – caught headlines for a few hours three weeks ago, the world paid no heed to the suffering of these people, their 1,000 “martyrs”, at least half of them civilians, and the 100 children who died of shellfire and starvation.
For these were villages that remained loyal to the Syrian regime and paid the price – and were thus unworthy of our attention, which remained largely fixed on those civilians suffering under siege by government forces elsewhere.
Shipwrecked migrants end up stuck in Cyprus
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is best known as a picturesque tourist destination. However, for a group of refugees who have been stranded on a British military base there, it is more like being trapped in limbo. A Palestinian migrant who has been stuck on the base for four months after being shipwrecked shared his story.
Bilal (not his real name) is a 26-year-old Palestinian. In October 2015, he secured passage on a boat carrying about 100 migrants from Lebanon to Greece. The boat got into trouble and starting sinking off of Cyprus on October 21. The shipwrecked passengers were helped by the staff at a British Royal Air Force base on Cyprus. However, the United Kingdom has refused to consider the refugees’ asylum applications. Since then, Bilal has been living on the British base, called Dhekhelia.
Bilal (not his real name) is a 26-year-old Palestinian. In October 2015, he secured passage on a boat carrying about 100 migrants from Lebanon to Greece. The boat got into trouble and starting sinking off of Cyprus on October 21. The shipwrecked passengers were helped by the staff at a British Royal Air Force base on Cyprus. However, the United Kingdom has refused to consider the refugees’ asylum applications. Since then, Bilal has been living on the British base, called Dhekhelia.
"The only solution is to secretly take a boat to Turkey”
They told us that we couldn’t claim asylum in the UK or in Greece, so we all claimed asylum here in Cyprus, even though no one actually wants to stay here. All the Syrians had their applications accepted. Some Palestinians did, too, so they were able to leave the military base. But there are about 30 of us still stuck here. We’re either waiting for a response or we’ve already had our application refused. We’ve been stuck here for four months. We aren’t allowed to leave, even if it is possible to get out by jumping the fence.
North Korea offered -- then rebuffed -- talks with U.S.
Updated 0047 GMT (0847 HKT) February 23, 2016
North Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama's comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN.
That effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon.
But it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba.
Why China Freaks Out if You Use the Wrong Map
By Leslie Nguyen-Okwu
A family of bleary-eyed tourists strolls into Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport. Fresh from a long-haul flight, Mom drags little Tommy along while Dad takes out his handy map. A customs officer stops them in their tracks and slaps them with a fine that costs more than their Mercedes-Benz. Why? Because the Pacific giant has a hard line on any illegal map that “endangers the country’s sovereignty, safety and interests,” according to a statement from Le Weibin, the government mapping official.
You can be fined up to 200,000 yuan, about $31,400, for the “wrong” map.
That’s if you don’t wind up in jail first. Zhōngguó (中国) — the endonym for China — literally means the Middle Kingdom. Translation: China is the center of the world. And if your map, either physical or online, doesn’t comply with these rules, it’s outta there. If you’re caught distributing a map that names the Diaoyu Islands instead of the South China Sea, you’re in trouble. If it doesn’t clearly mark Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau in the same color as mainland China, it
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