Asia

Hundreds of police, some carrying batons and shields, are deployed around the rally site.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in India’s capital, New Delhi, to demand the resignation of the election chief over changes to voter lists that opposition parties say favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.

Indian National Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi led Sunday’s demonstration, the latest in more than a month of protests challenging the revision of electoral rolls and the conduct of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Opposition parties alleged the exercise, which removed more than 130 million names from voter lists, disproportionately affected Muslims and other minorities considered unlikely to support Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Election Commission has denied favouring any party and said voters whose names were wrongly removed may register again.

The BJP has accused opposition parties of undermining democracy by challenging legitimate electoral procedures. India’s next general election is due in 2029.

Officials ramped up security measures and announced traffic diversions before demonstrators marched from central New Delhi towards the historic Ramlila Maidan ground.

Hundreds of police, some carrying batons and shields, were deployed around the rally site alongside riot-control vehicles. Demonstrators waved Indian and party flags as opposition leaders travelled in an open-top jeep.

Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda dismissed the demonstration as a “carefully orchestrated drama”.

“What is unfolding today at Ramlila Maidan is not an act of respect for democracy,” he told the ANI news agency. “It is a calculated conspiracy to plunge the nation into anarchy, all in the name of democracy.”

Opposition parties, student organisations and the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party have staged near-daily demonstrations since late September, calling for Kumar to step down.

The protests began after Kumar’s two deputies raised concerns about revisions to voter lists, registration procedures and digital systems.

Analysts described the demonstrations and growing support for the opposition as Modi’s most serious political crisis since he took office in 2014.

At five wickets down with 125 required off 79 balls, Pakistan were teetering on the edge of yet another batting collapse when Arafat Minhas walked in to bat in the final of the One-Day International (ODI) tri-nation cricket series against Sri Lanka.

An expectant home crowd in Lahore was on tenterhooks as the 21-year-old all-rounder began his batting partnership with Hasan Nawaz under the floodlights of the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.

Minhas, who had gone wicketless in Sri Lanka’s innings, showed few signs of the pressure mounting on the young batting pair and began the repair job.

Within a few overs, the run chase swayed back in Pakistan’s favour but the final remained tense.

With the hosts needing 39 runs from 27 balls, Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka bowled a delivery at length, angling the ball into Minhas.

Unnerved by the occasion and his own lack of experience, the batter swung his bat across the line and sent the ball soaring over midwicket for six to ignite the crowd and rekindle lost hope.

Following this defining moment of his innings, Arafat coolly went on to hit four more sixes, finish with 61 runs off 31 balls, help Pakistan clinch the trophy and bag himself the player of the series award.

He ended the series with nine wickets and 149 runs, including two half-centuries.

Commentators on the host broadcast ran out of superlatives for the promising all-rounder, who admitted that he “enjoyed the pressure” of the final run-chase and tried to remain calm.

“The team needed someone to believe that we could achieve the target.”

‘Complete all-rounder’

Before shining with the bat in the final, Arafat produced one of the finest bowling performances of his fledgling international career against England in Rawalpindi on October 10.

After scoring 59 off 58 balls to help Pakistan recover from 81-4 and post 302-9, Minhas took six wickets for 40 runs as England were bowled out for 215, handing Pakistan an 87-run win.

England were at 91 without losing a wicket before Arafat dismantled their batting order.

Among his victims was swashbuckling batter Harry Brook, who was bowled for five by a delivery that turned past his attempted defensive shot and hit the stumps.

The England captain was left stunned at the crease and in the post-match media talk.

“Is he under 21? I didn’t know,” Brook said after the match.

More plaudits poured in as Minhas showed his all-round skills on the field.

“A half-century, six wickets and a run out. Mike Hesson wants all-round cricketers and he’s found one in Arafat Minhas,” former England captain Nasser Hussain said during the broadcast.

The performance made him the third Pakistani to score a half-century and take at least five wickets in a men’s ODI after Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq.

On his ODI debut against Australia in May, Arafat took 5-32, becoming the first Pakistani to claim a five-wicket haul on debut, as well as winning the player of the series award.

“I prefer not to label players as batting or bowling all-rounders,” Minhas later said in an interview with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). “I’d rather be seen as a complete all-rounder.”

An early foundation

Thirteen years earlier, Minhas dreamed of becoming a fast bowler like every other aspiring Pakistani cricketer.

But the then-eight-year-old was handed a leather cricket ball and instructed to take up left-arm spin by his father, Kashif, who spent years helping Arafat develop the all-round skills that are now helping Pakistan win matches.

Kashif had represented his hometown team, Multan, in under-19 cricket but was forced to give up on his dream – “with a heavy heart” – by his father, who urged him to take over the family’s car showroom business.

Years later, watching his sons play with toy eggs and plastic balls, Kashif saw a spark.

“When I observed them, I saw their playing style wasn’t ordinary; it seemed like a natural gift and a blessing from God,” Kashif told Al Jazeera. “I thought: ‘why not train them for professional cricket’?”

He would go on to buy full kits for his sons, setting them on the path towards professional cricket.

“My father handed me a hard ball when I was about eight or nine and I’ve bowled left-arm spin ever since [but] In tape-ball cricket, I used to bowl fast,” Minhas explained when asked about his control on his bowling variations.

Minhas rapidly progressed through Pakistan’s age-group system, becoming the country’s best under-16 player in his final year before breaking into the under-19 team.

In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown threatened to interrupt his sons’ development, Kashif built a cricket practice facility on the rooftop of his house in Multan.

A net, a mat pitch and floodlights were installed to ensure that “practice wouldn’t stop”.

In 2024, when Pakistan reached the semifinals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup and lost to Australia by one wicket, Minhas played a key role in the team’s progress in the tournament.

Given his standout performances, the young all-rounder’s elevation to the senior team seemed inevitable.

Brothers living a father’s dream

Minhas’s younger brother, Sameer, is a prodigious right-handed opening batter who has also made significant progress.

Last week, he was included in Pakistan’s Test squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka in November.

Playing his first season of first-class cricket, Sameer scored 405 runs in seven matches, following his own promising spell with Pakistan’s under-19 team. Their youngest brother, Abdullah, is also pursuing cricket as a left-handed batter and leg-spinner.

“To move forward, I’ll improve and put in whatever extra work is required,” Minhas said after the England match. “This isn’t the final goal. The ultimate goal is much further ahead.”

Kashif’s ambition extends beyond one son’s career. He wishes for all three boys to play together for Pakistan and win an international trophy – a dream that would give a new ending to the cricketing journey he had to abandon.

“My ultimate dream is to see all three of my sons play together in the Pakistan playing XI and bring home an ICC trophy for Pakistan. That’s the day my dream will be complete, and that void will truly be filled.”

No injuries reported after glacial lake burst, causing a flash flood and disrupting Bhutan’s Gasa Tshachu hot springs.

A flood caused by the Shintaphu glacial lake bursting its banks has washed away infrastructure at the Gasa Tshachu natural hot springs in the Himalayan ⁠kingdom of Bhutan.

According to state broadcaster BBS on Friday, no injuries or loss of life had been reported from Thursday night’s flash flood.

It added that the extent of the damage was unknown because of “darkness and the strong flow” of floodwaters.

Two Bailey bridges, which are bridges built in portable, prefabricated sections, may also have been washed away, BBS said.

According to Kuensel, Bhutan’s national newspaper, part of the road leading to the village of Laya, where the springs are located, had also been washed away, rendering it impassable. It added that the road has been closed to traffic indefinitely.

Kuensel said that as authorities assess the damage, concerns have emerged about a large artificial lake formed after the flood-affected river channels conjoined following the outburst.

Residents along the Mochhu and Punatsangchhu river valleys were also advised to remain vigilant and avoid riverbanks and flood-prone areas, the report added.

Moreover, in neighbouring India, flood warnings were issued in parts of West Bengal and Assam following the glacial lake outburst, India’s NDTV broadcaster reported.

The hot springs at Gasa Tshachu are a major tourist attraction in the northern part of Bhutan, nestled between India and China.

They were also hit by a flash flood in 2021 when the Mochhu River changed course and swept through the area.

In neighbouring Nepal, a mountainous area about 600km (380 miles) to the west, a flash flood on its border with China in August killed more than 1,500 people and left more than 5,000 missing.

Couple say they are ‘prisoners of conscience’ being made into an example by Pakistan’s military-backed authorities.

An antiterrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced prominent human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, ⁠⁠to 10 years in prison on terrorism-related charges.

Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict on Thursday, following their trial inside Adiala prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The couple were found guilty of putting “the security of [the England and Wales Cricket] team at risk”, the judge wrote, adding that it “clearly shows the intentions and objective of the accused to create a sense of terror”, according to a copy of the court judgement obtained by the AFP news agency.

At the same time, the ruling conceded that the security breach was “a very common nature ordinary type of incident apparently of removal of a barrier”.

The case relates to an October 2024 incident in which the couple removed road barriers in the capital, Islamabad, along a route designated for the touring England cricket team.

The couple were indicted on October 7, accused of obstructing police and inciting public interest, and pleaded not guilty.

In statements seen by the Reuters news agency, the couple denied the charges, while calling themselves “prisoners of conscience”, adding that ⁠⁠they were being targeted for their human rights work.

In their defence document, the couple had earlier said they were “being made an example to further cement the chilling effect against those who stand (or want to stand) against tyranny, oppression and injustice”.

Relatives criticise judicial process

Shireen Mazari, who is Imaan Mazari’s mother and served as Pakistan’s human rights minister under incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan, said it was a “sham trial without any due process”.

Mazari told the Reuters news agency the couple “were not permitted to defend themselves through their own lawyer, and were not provided with key legal ⁠⁠documents”, adding that the defence would file a petition against the verdict in the Supreme Court.

Amnesty International called the convictions “an indictment of Pakistan’s justice system.”

“It was a test of the judiciary’s ability to uphold the principles of justice and the right to fair trial. It has failed that test miserably,” said Amnesty’s Yasmine Ahmend.

“It is clear that these ‘anti-terrorism’ charges are being used to punish Imaan and Hadi for their human rights advocacy,” she added.

Mazari and Chattha have been in custody since January 23, in a separate case over their social media posts.

A lower court sentenced ‌‌them each to 17 years the next day under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, which critics have said is designed to quash antigovernment dissent online.

Although the Supreme Court later suspended those sentences, police re-arrested ‌‌the couple the same day in the security breach case.

“Imaan and Hadi’s re-arrest dispels any pretence that the charges against them are anything other than a politically motivated attempt to punish them for their human rights work”, said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, adding that the case demonstrates once again the authorities’ willingness to weaponise the legal system against critical voices.

Pakistan’s ⁠⁠law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, has repeatedly said the country’s judiciary is independent.

AFC orders judicial reviews for allegation FIFA President Gianni Infantino used AFC Congress for political purposes.

Jordan Football Association chief Prince Ali bin Hussein said he will cooperate with any Asian Football Confederation (AFC) judicial review after he accused FIFA President Gianni Infantino of taking over last week’s AFC Congress for political purposes.

AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa had endorsed Infantino for re-election at the continental body’s extraordinary congress in Tokyo.

Following the meeting, Prince Ali alleged delegates had not been allowed to speak, question or debate matters and described the final day of the congress as “pure politics at the behest of Gianni Infantino”.

The AFC said on Tuesday that neither Prince Ali nor any other member association’s representatives had requested to speak and that allegations involving coercion, threats or bribery should be supported by credible evidence.

It added that it would refer Prince Ali’s statements to its judicial bodies.

“I respect the AFC and its judicial bodies and will cooperate fully with any process,” Prince Ali said in a post on X late on Wednesday.

“As the FIFA Statutes provide, the Jordan Football Association will cast its vote in the FIFA presidential election independently.”

He said his earlier post about the congress was intended to explain the FIFA presidential voting process and highlight the importance of transparency in football governance.

“Its final sentence states a principle the whole football family shares: no election should be open to coercion, threats or bribery. I stand by that principle. It was a statement of principle, not an allegation against any person,” he said.

“Where concerns arise, the proper place for them is the competent bodies.”

Prince Ali, who has been a vocal critic of FIFA’s leadership, said he would make no further comment while the matter remained under consideration.

Infantino, who has led FIFA since 2016, is seeking re-election in March after apologising for his abandoned proposal to sell a stake in FIFA competitions.

The AFC’s endorsement marked a sharp shift from its position three months earlier, when it accused FIFA of a “fundamental breach of trust” over the abandoned proposal.

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — A U.S. cruise ship on an around-the-world voyage that touted its cabins as floating homes suspended its three-year voyage in Cambodia due to fuel costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.

The MV Odyssey set sail two years ago on a voyage to the seven continents marketed as combining long-term living at sea with global travel. Its operator had offered to “make the Odyssey your permanent home,” with the purchase price of a suite for the lifetime of the vessel starting around $230,000.

For now, it is docked at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand, with no certain departure date.

The ship has been carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, along with 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials. It has a 650-passenger capacity.

Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said monthly fuel expenses per cabin that historically averaged $1,800 have reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia due to the war in Iran. The company said it sought to reduce fuel consumption by slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the surging costs.

Traffic has been curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran began, squeezing supplies of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels, especially in Southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.

“We have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating losses,” Villa Vie Residences said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution. Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew, and employees” while it tries to restructure.

“The company is working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements,” it said.

Those on the ship had hoped to sail for years to come

Passengers, however, said they received no support and had to make their own arrangements after being given seven hours notice on Tuesday to disembark. Some were devastated and expressed hope a new company could rescue the venture so life at sea can continue.

Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired couple from Wyoming, said they bought a window cabin and had expected to sail for years. They boarded the ship 17 months ago in Panama.

Paul praised the concept of residential cruising but said the shipowner lacked the expertise to make the business financially sustainable. While rising fuel costs had been cited publicly as the reason for the suspension, he said the company had already been struggling. Changes to itinerary, unreliable internet access and declining food quality had pushed many residents to leave the ship in recent months, he said.

Lynn said residents were repeatedly asked to contribute additional money for fuel and other expenses, including a fresh call to raise funds for fuel to get out of Cambodia. She said the crew members were also not paid.

“We were tired of every two to four weeks being asked for money for fuel, money for everything,” she said. “We had hopes but they just kept sinking further and further into the hole through mismanagement.”

The company could not immediately be contacted for comment.

For some, the venture was a risk worth taking

Yet for some, even the financial and logistical turmoil couldn’t outweigh the extraordinary experience of traveling the world and living at sea.

Carol Larson, 69, and her sister Crystal Lavering, 72, occupied separate cabins aboard the ship for 18 months. The siblings, from California, described the suspension as heartbreaking, and hoped the cruise would be resuscitated.

“I hope there is a movement for the residents to buy the ship and I am hoping that goes through because it’s a dream to live on the ship and I don’t want it to end,” Larson said.

Lavering said her health improved during her time on the ship, and that she didn’t need to use a cane to walk anymore. “You come to this ship to live … it’s just sad that it’s all over.”

Larson bought her cabin for $120,000, paid in installments, in addition to monthly maintenance fees, under a plan that had promised the possibility of living aboard for up to 15 years. She said she blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for the ship’s woes as fuel costs spiked due to the Iran war, in addition to poor management. But she said she didn’t regret her investment.

“Because it was a startup company, I believe that it was a risk. From the very first day, I said to myself that if it lasts a year, I can walk away and feel like I got my money’s worth … I still feel that way. I feel blessed to have been part of the experiment of residential cruising,” she said.

The cruise began in Northern Ireland in 2024

The ship arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and was scheduled to depart Wednesday, according to a statement from Long Dimanche, the deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province. He said it was now expected to refuel and depart Cambodia on Saturday, but the ship’s operator has not yet publicly confirmed any date.

Built in 1993 and operated under different names by several cruise lines over the years before being becalmed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Odyssey was bought by Villa Vie Residences in 2023.

Its current cruise, originally intended to last 3 1/2 years, began in October 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ship had been refitted. A second cruise had been tentatively scheduled to end in August 2030.

The Odyssey is not the first cruise ship Sihanoukville has hosted in crisis.

In February 2020, the MS Westerdam was allowed to dock in Cambodia after being turned away at five ports in other nations because of fears of COVID-19, which just a month earlier had started to spread from China. It carried 1,455 passengers, more than 600 of them American citizens.

After being stranded at sea for two weeks, Cambodia’s then-Prime Minister Hun Sen allowed it to dock for what he said were humanitarian reasons. Cambodia won plaudits as passengers were welcomed ashore and arrangements were made for them to fly home.

Cheang writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

One demerit point added to the Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf’s disciplinary record for conduct during ODI against England.

Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf has been reprimanded and fined 20 percent of his match fee for “displaying conduct contrary to the spirit of the game” against England, while the visitors were fined for a slow over-rate, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

Rauf breached Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during Sunday’s One-Day International (ODI) tri-series match against England, which Pakistan unexpectedly won by one wicket thanks to batting heroics by Shadab Khan.

The right-arm fast bowler breached Article 2.2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “displaying conduct contrary to the spirit of the game”, according to the ICC.

One demerit point was also added to his disciplinary record, bringing the total to five, since this was his third offence within 24 months.

The incident occurred at the end of the 46th over of Pakistan’s innings, where Rauf appealed for a wide at the non-striker’s end before arguing with England all-rounder Will Jacks.

Per the ICC, Rauf raised his bat and continued the exchange with Jacks despite a warning from umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid. He then brushed past the umpire while walking towards Jacks.

Separately, England were fined 15 percent of their match fee for being three overs short of their target after time allowances were taken into account.

Players are fined 5 percent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl within the allowed time, according to Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

Rauf and England captain Harry Brook admitted their respective offences and accepted the sanctions proposed by Jeff Crowe of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees. As a result, no formal hearings were required.

The charges were levelled by on-field umpires Rashid Riaz and Sharfuddoula, third umpire Wayne Knights and fourth umpire Nassir Hussain.

Pakistan are through to the two-series final, while England take on Sri Lanka on Thursday for a shot at redemption and a chance at making the final after being thrashed by the Lions last week.

Authorities evacuate 180,000 people as severe storm causes flooding, disrupting flights and train schedules.

Cyclone Arnab has made landfall on India’s east coast, causing widespread damage and bringing heavy rainfall and wind speeds of up to 135kph (84mph).

Trees fell onto highways and power supplies were disrupted after Arnab crossed into Andhra Pradesh early on Wednesday morning.

At least 180,000 people were evacuated from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha states a day earlier. Flights and train services were cancelled, and some schools were forced to close.

Authorities say more than 12 million people live in the cyclone’s expected path.

No casualties have been reported so far.

One resident of Kakinada district in Andhra Pradesh, which lies in the storm’s path, said: “No one knew whose house the water would rush into next or whose home would be submerged.”

India’s Meteorological Department forecast a storm surge of up to 1.5m above the tide level, warning that it was likely to submerge low-lying areas in Andhra Pradesh.

‘Very severe cyclonic storm’

Arnab made landfall as a “very severe cyclonic storm” – the third-highest category on its scale, before being downgraded to “severe” after moving further inland.

In neighbouring Nepal, authorities warned tourists on Tuesday not to enter high-altitude areas over fears Arnab could trigger torrential downpours, snowstorms and avalanches from Thursday through to Saturday.

Reuters news agency reported that authorities suspended issuing trekking permits for three days.

This is peak hiking season in Nepal, with about 750 hikers receiving permits daily.

Nepal is still recovering from a catastrophic glacial mountain collapse in August, which killed more than 1,400 people and left at least 5,000 missing.

Sri Lanka has also closed schools, with its Department of Meteorology warning the storm could trigger flash floods and landslides.

The cyclone is due to make landfall on Wednesday, with more than 12 million people living along its projected path.

India is evacuating tens of thousands of people from its eastern coast as a strengthening Cyclone Arnab bears down on its coastal states.

The cyclone has intensified since Monday and is expected to make landfall by Wednesday morning.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a warning for the coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, saying the “very severe” cyclonic storm was centred only 260km (160 miles) southeast of the port city of Visakhapatnam, the most populous in Andhra Pradesh.

The department expects Arnab to turn northwest and cross the coast by 11:30am local time (06:00 GMT) on Wednesday, with sustained winds of 115-125km/h (71-78mph) and gusts of up to 140km/h (87mph).

Arnab formed over the Bay of Bengal, which is among the world’s main breeding grounds for tropical cyclones, frequently affecting India’s eastern coastal regions.

More than 12 million people live along the cyclone’s projected path, which runs inland and north across India, according to Andhra Pradesh’s disaster management authority.

Nearly 50,000 people had been moved to shelters from vulnerable areas of the state by Monday night, out of an estimated 400,000 in need of evacuation, the authority’s managing director, Prakhar Jain, told the Reuters news agency.

“Evacuation is continuing,” Jain said.

Railway authorities in the region said on social media that at least 12 trains had been cancelled in eastern India and services on 53 routes along the southern coast had been suspended for Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Odisha, authorities have announced plans to evacuate 48,000 people out of harm’s way, according to local newspaper The Hindu.

Authorities in neighbouring Nepal have advised tourists to stay away from high-altitude areas over concerns that Arnab could trigger heavy rain, snowstorms and avalanches in the Himalayas from Thursday night to Saturday.

The advisory comes after a Himalayan flash flood in August killed about 1,500 people in the country.

Pakistan had all but lost hope of winning their One-Day International (ODI) cricket match against England when all-rounder Shadab Khan walked onto the pitch to bat and stormed off it with an unlikely come-from-behind win in the bag, in front of a raucous home crowd in Lahore.

The hosts were reduced to 154-9 in the chase of 242 on Sunday, and England were in sight of their first win of the tri-nation series when Shadab and fast bowler Haris Rauf came together for the last-wicket partnership.

From there on, Shadab put on a run-chase masterclass, hitting an unbeaten century to give Pakistan a one-wicket victory and book a spot in the series final.

The 28-year-old launched a surprise counterattack on England, ending up with 113 not out off 96 balls alongside Rauf (7 not out off 19). Shadab and Rauf’s partnership was the highest last-wicket stand in a successful run chase in ODI history.

Earlier in England’s innings, Ben Duckett was the lone batting saviour, scoring 105 off 111 for his fifth ODI century. Once Arafat Minhas dismissed him, England looked hopeless as Shaheen Afridi’s impressive bowling cleaned up their batting lineup.

He took his fourth wicket (4-46) to remove Henry Crocombe. England’s last-wicket pair added 39 to post a below-par total of 241 all out from 46.4 overs.

England then decimated Pakistan’s top order as Jamie Overton (3-43) and Liam Dawson (2-19) removed Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam and Saad Baig cheaply.

The hosts ultimately slumped to 154-9, having been 74-3. By this point, England had all but secured victory as the home crowd began leaving Gaddafi Stadium after the ninth wicket fell.

Shadab stepped up to flip the script and produce the batting performance of a lifetime when he prised victory away from England, particularly after his leg-before-wicket dismissal was overturned on review.

“I dedicate this win to the two most wonderful women in my life: my mother & my wife,” Shadab wrote on social media following the victory.

“Special mention for [Haris Rauf], we win only as a team and he showed that today in the partnership. Thank you to my entire team.”

‘Won it for Pakistan out of nowhere’

The victory went some way towards restoring faith among Pakistani cricket fans, who have endured months of dismal performances at global tournaments, as well as bilateral series.

It was “an innings to remember”, as former Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Hafeez put it, while teammate Imad Wasim praised Shadab for handling the extreme pressure.

“That was a sensational innings by Shadab Khan,” Sri Lanka’s veteran cricketer Angelo Mathews wrote on X. “Won it for Pakistan out of nowhere.”

Barbadian wicketkeeper-batsman Shai Hope called the match “absolute cinema” while former West Indies cricketer Daren Sammy termed it “another thriller”, referring to Sri Lanka’s thrashing of England on Thursday when they recorded the second-highest successful run chase in ODI history.

Praise and memes kept pouring in on social media as one user joked about making a documentary of the game, while others reiterated the need for more trilateral series in ODI format.

Speaking after the match, Pakistan’s captain Afridi said he was pleased with the team’s overall performance, especially the way Shadab and Haris finished the game.

“We thought we had a lot of variation in the team, so that’s why we brought Shadab in,” the fast bowler said.

“We need top-order runs; we’re struggling. I hope in the next few games we’ll bring that energy.

“I think tonight we’ll be celebrating; tomorrow back to normal.”

‘Incredible run chase’

English cricket commentator Nasser Hussain praised Pakistan’s “incredible run chase” as he credited Shadab’s change of intent in the heat of the moment.

“Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf; that partnership, you had to be really switched on and smart how you played it,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.

“The moment they changed intent, the moment Shadab said ‘right we’ve gone one way, it’s gone nowhere, we’re going to play our shots’, there’s a lesson to be learnt,” Hussain said, referring to the previous game when England were put under pressure.

“Brilliant change of intent from Shadab Khan; that game had gone from them. Took one individual backed up by Haris Rauf to bring it back.”

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf echoed a similar sentiment.

“Superb display of positive intent! Fearless, aggressive and full of belief. Take a bow,” he wrote on X.

Speaking alongside Hussain, retired English cricketer Chris Woakes agreed on Shadab’s spectacular performance: “A hundred not out at number eight is pretty special!”

The victory helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking.

Elena Rybakina blazed past unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-2 in the Ningbo Open final to retain her title and lift her first trophy as the world number one ahead of the WTA Finals next month.

The victory on Sunday also helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking, further burnishing a spectacular season in which she won the Australian Open title before adding the US Open crown to reach the summit.

Top seed Rybakina made the breakthrough with her trademark power in the fifth game and then unleashed a searing crosscourt backhand winner to go 4-2 up, before the 27-year-old wrapped up the opening set in only 38 minutes.

World number 30 Fernandez made a bright start to the next set but Rybakina absorbed the pressure and raised her level to force an error and break for 2-1, with the three-time Grand Slam champion breezing to victory from there.

Rybakina’s latest triumph is a timely lift after setbacks in Beijing and Wuhan, as she turns her attention to the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo this week before launching her title defence at the season finale in Indian Wells from November 8.

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto says it will be difficult for Saudi Arabia to host next year’s tournament as scheduled.

The ongoing security situation in Saudi Arabia makes it difficult for the country to host football’s 2027 Asian Cup as scheduled, Japan Football Association President Tsuneyasu Miyamoto has warned.

Several major sporting events in Saudi Arabia have been cancelled or postponed amid escalating attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, raising doubts over whether the continental tournament can take place as planned from January 7 to February 5 next year.

“Based on what I’ve learned from the news, the situation is still unsafe, so at this point, I don’t think it would be easy to hold the [Asian] Cup there,” Miyamoto told reporters at the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) extraordinary congress in Tokyo.

“I just had a meeting with the Saudi side and they said that their top priority is the safety of the players, the fans, and everyone who would be attending the tournament.”

“They said they would work with the AFC to decide whether the tournament can go ahead, so they did mention that it would take some time (to make that decision).”

Asian football chief Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said last week a postponement until 2028 remained a possibility if necessary, but the local organising committee (LOC) later said it was sticking to the original schedule.

“Preparations across all organisational and operational areas are progressing according to the approved schedule, including work on venues, facilities and supporting services,” the LOC had said in a statement last week.

“(The LOC) will continue to monitor developments relevant to the tournament and ensure the appropriate conditions are in place for its successful delivery.”

Earlier this month, golf’s Asian Tour postponed the Saudi International indefinitely and cycling’s Urban World Championships were cancelled following a deadly attack on Riyadh’s international airport, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300.

Other events have also been disrupted. The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament in Riyadh was moved from October to December, while FIFA postponed the FIFAe Finals 2026 video game competition in Jeddah until an unspecified date.

The Saudi government has invested heavily in sport through its Public Investment Fund (PIF) in recent years and the Asian Cup was pitched as an early rehearsal for hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2034.

The world authority on threatened wildlife classified 96 percent of all coral reef systems as “critically endangered”.

Almost all of the world’s shallow-water coral reefs face an extremely high risk of collapse in the next 50 years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has warned in a new global assessment.

In a report released on Thursday, the world authority on threatened wildlife classified 96 percent of the planet’s coral reef systems as “critically endangered”, its highest risk category, with total extinction possible by 2075.

“The future threat of climate change is looming and severe, and that poses a very high risk to the survival of these ecosystems,” said Mishal Gudka, scientific lead of the IUCN Red List of Coral Reef Ecosystems assessment.

Corals are heat-sensitive and particularly vulnerable to human-driven climate change, which is warming the world’s oceans and increasing the frequency and intensity of damaging bleaching events.

When a reef collapses, hard corals disappear and are replaced by algae, rubble and sponges. As a result, the reef no longer supports a diverse ecosystem that can include everything from tiny invertebrates to reef fish like grouper.

The emergence this year of a “super” El Nino, the natural warming phenomenon, also presents a risk to corals, Gudka said at a news conference at the UN’s COP17 biodiversity summit in Yerevan, Armenia.

It’s the latest dose of bad news for coral reefs, which are critical sources for seafood and tourism and often serve as buffers against coastal erosion and storms.

Sometimes dubbed “rainforests of the sea”, they have some of the world’s richest biodiversity and support a quarter of marine species as well as coastal communities and businesses.

Most of the world’s famous reef systems – including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Coral Triangle in the Western Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the Red Sea coral reefs – are critically endangered, according to the assessment.

Elevated risk of extinction

For its report, the IUCN used the “middle-of-the-road” scenario from the UN’s panel of climate experts that projects global temperatures rising 2.7C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

Its analysis examined 127 tropical and subtropical coral systems covering 188,362 square kilometres.

A week ago, another IUCN study in the journal Nature found that nearly 44 percent of reef-building coral species face an elevated risk of extinction due to climate change. A year ago, a survey found that harmful bleaching of the world’s coral had grown to include 84 percent of the ocean’s reefs, the most intense of its kind in recorded history.

Despite its warning, the IUCN said coral reefs in most parts of the world “are not yet lost”.

“Coral reefs have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from devastating bleaching events,” said Gudka. “Pockets of surviving, resilient coral reefs can still remain in the future, so we must do everything within our reach to set them up for success.”

Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia signed a deal on Wednesday to deepen their defence industry cooperation, reflecting a broader effort by countries in the region to widen their network of security partners amid the prolonged US-Israel war with Iran.

The four countries signed the memorandum of understanding in Doha, building on existing military projects through joint production, technology transfers and more closely integrated supply chains.

The initiative comes as the failure of the United States and Iran to reach a concrete peace agreement pushes countries in the region to diversify their defence partnerships and look beyond what experts described as an overreliance on Washington for their security. But they stress that closer cooperation does not mean abandoning long-standing alliances. Instead, the ambition is to gain greater control over their own security while strengthening pre-existing partnerships.

Arda Mevlutoglu, a defence industry analyst and managing director of Mergen Analytical Strategies, told Al Jazeera that the implications could extend well beyond the four participants.

“We may be witnessing the emergence of an interconnected network of defence and security arrangements extending from the Gulf to South and Southeast Asia, rather than a single formal alliance,” he said.

What would the agreement do?

In a statement, the Qatari Defence Ministry said the “Badr” Memorandum of Understanding “aims to foster cooperation in the field of defence manufacturing, enhance defence capabilities among the four countries, and promote collaboration in technical defence training, as well as in research and development areas, thereby contributing to the creation of solutions and industries worthy of the evolution of modern defences”.

Experts say that under the agreement, each country will bring its own resources or set of skills to the table. “Turkiye contributes technological expertise, systems integration and a mature defence industry; Pakistan and Indonesia offer manufacturing capacity, skilled workforces and sizeable domestic markets; and Qatar provides investment potential and demand,” said Mevlutoglu.

Together, the four nations could “establish integrated supply chains, allowing these countries to jointly develop, manufacture and sustain defence systems”, he told Al Jazeera.

Such arrangements could give buyers a larger role in producing and supporting their own equipment, while providing manufacturers with longer-term orders and investment. Albert Vidal, a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that Pakistan and Indonesia were both willing to purchase Turkish weapons and locate part of their production at home.

This could bring down costs for Turkish companies and bring jobs to Pakistan and Indonesia, while Qatar brings “financial depth”, he said.

Building on existing partnerships

Turkiye, home to one of the world’s most advanced defence sectors, already has military manufacturing ties with Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia separately. Qatar and Turkiye, for instance, signed a bilateral defence industry memorandum in October 2025.

But Vidal says that the new agreement, bringing together all four nations, points to a strategic calculation alongside an industrial one. Closer relationships could give more countries a stake in each other’s security. He pointed to Qatar’s investment in the Turkish defence industry over more than a decade and Ankara’s deployment of forces to Doha during the 2017 diplomatic crisis.

Pakistan’s existing naval manufacturing project with Turkiye, meanwhile, shows how weapons purchases can support domestic manufacturing. Of the four ships announced under the project, two are to be built in Istanbul and two at Karachi Shipyard.

Indonesia and Turkiye, meanwhile, are jointly building a tank.

“The rationale is to streamline these distinct defence export and joint production agreements under a more structured and resilient networked hub, rather than reinvent the wheel with each new defence agreement,” Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera.

Less dependence on Washington?

The US-Israeli war with Iran and recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have heightened regional security concerns, analysts say, while reported US weapons shortages may be adding urgency to efforts to strengthen pre-existing partners and bolster domestic arms-building capacity.

“Diversification is a major driver, particularly as recent conflicts have exposed vulnerabilities associated with dependence on foreign suppliers, technology restrictions and supply chain disruptions,” Mevlutoglu said.

But he cautioned against interpreting the memorandum as a break with Washington. “Qatar is unlikely to abandon its strategic relationship with Washington, while Turkiye seeks greater technological independence within NATO, not autonomy from it,” he said.

According to Bader Mousa Al-Saif, an associate fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme and an assistant professor at Kuwait University, the initiative reflects Gulf countries increasingly looking towards the Global South and fellow Muslim countries.

It also complements a separate effort to formalise military cooperation across the region, analysts say. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in August, establishing a mutual defence commitment. Ankara submitted the agreement to parliament for ratification on Wednesday, although deploying Turkish troops abroad would require separate parliamentary approval.

The Doha memorandum concerns industrial cooperation rather than a mutual defence pledge, but Mevlutoglu sees a connection between the two initiatives. “While Mecca focuses on collective deterrence and military cooperation, Doha could provide the industrial and technological foundations for such partnerships,” he said.

Bitupan Deka was out shopping for a “gamusa” (traditional scarf) with his mother in India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya when he noticed something unusual.

“Every shop selling the scarf had the same handful of patterns repeated over and over,” he told Al Jazeera over the telephone from Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.

“When I asked around, I found that weavers in Sualkuchi [district in neighbouring Assam state] are paid a one-time fee of roughly 2,000 rupees [$21] for each design they develop, instead of royalties. Cutting down the number of designs they produce was a cost-saving practice followed by the manufacturers.”

This discovery prompted Deka, an assistant professor of computer technology at Shillong’s MIT University, to create a system that can produce infinite new designs for such fabrics.

“My work isn’t meant to replace the traditional designers. I hope, instead, that it will become a tool in their hands to create new and modern motifs more easily, so the consumers can have variety,” Deka said.

Once the patent, which is being applied for under the research and development department of his university, comes through, Deka plans to monetise the system by making it a commercial designing service that the textile industry can avail.

In India’s varied textile traditions, patterns and motifs carry the memory of a place and the mythology of its people – sometimes even the history of migrations.

The designs are imagined by weavers from things that exist around them, and then painted with locally available colours, mostly using carved clay and wooden frames. These weavers do not simply reproduce a pattern; they inherit it. Their hands hesitate where their grandmother’s did, and they know why a particular flower must face left.

A computer has no such inheritance or hesitation. It learns by analysing pictures and repeating them in endless variations. And yet, as Deka’s system shows, the computer can now draw and weave the same flower.

The Rekh Sanganeri Dataset is a similar system developed for hand-block printed Sanganeri textiles from the western Indian state of Rajasthan. It includes high-resolution images of printed patterns, annotated down to ink bleed and slight misalignment – the imperfections that are the hallmark of the handmade work.

Its developer, Reddy Sai Nivas C, says it should be used as a resource for research and art, not as a substitute for artisans.

But the disclaimer is the paradox: Tools built to preserve a craft are making its visual language easier to digitally reproduce without involving the craftsperson.

Dinesh Chhipa comes from one of the oldest Chhipa families, an artisan and merchant caste renowned for dyeing and block printing. He is a Bagru designer – a block printing technique from Bagru town in the western state of Rajasthan – and a textile businessman.

“Traditional craft is slow to produce. Even if someone offered us a fortune, we wouldn’t be able to produce these pieces in mass numbers, so I don’t fault those using digital technology and AI to fill the gap,” he told Al Jazeera.

“But don’t borrow craft and regional names like Bagru and Jaipuri [named after the capital city of Rajasthan]. These designs and motifs were born out of a culture and necessities of the communities they come from.”

Who owns culture when it turns into plain data?

India has been digitising its textile memory for years – from the Botanical Survey of India’s historical collections to the Bharatiya Vastra Shilpa Kosh, a national portal built by the state-run National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

Without documentation, the fragile traditions and knowledge could disappear. But digitisation also allows the same archive to be used by an AI system seeking to reproduce these crafts at scale.

At the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February this year, Indian software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) showcased Bridgital Loom, an AI system that converts textile designs into loom-ready instructions. LED lights on the loom guide a weaver through the thread sequences of intricate Banarasi and Kanchipuram patterns – named after the cities where these iconic arts grew.

TCS says the technology helps weavers execute complex designs faster and with fewer errors, and is meant to be a bridge between the artisans and technology. A pilot project that uses the loom is already under way at Kanchipuram, a town in southern Tamil Nadu state.

In an interview with the online platform Digit at the New Delhi summit, the head of AI strategy at Bridgital Loom, Muthulakshmi Nellaiappan, pointed out that a new weaver takes more than 15 years to master the art.

“With the technologies we have in hand … the younger weaver who has just entered the skill can become a master much sooner,” she said.

Technology flattens the master-apprentice hierarchy of traditional knowledge systems. The weaver no longer has to conceptualise or remember patterns, colours and codes; he blindly follows the machine’s instructions, handing creativity and memory to AI.

Nellaiappan said that since a large percentage of India’s looms are non-electronic, TCS has ensured its system works with handlooms as well and that it was essential for scaling up the technology.

But digital looms also raise another question: Who owns culture when it turns into plain data?

For generations, India’s textile knowledge sat outside intellectual property systems. It lived in community memory, passed from master to apprentice with no certificate of ownership. Kanchipuram, Mekhela-Sador, Sanganeri and Banarasi are names for places that these textiles helped shape, not merely emerged from.

Now, this knowledge is entering generative models that owe nothing to these traditions.

For designers and manufacturers, the possibilities are seductive: Motifs combined at will, colours changed with a command, and thousands of designs generated instantly. The machine offers abundance.

The artisan, on the other hand, has always lived with scarcity: Of money, bargaining power, or recognition.

Ananthalakshmi Vadivel, a third-generation weaver and owner of Vadivel Silk Looms in Kanchipuram, says their venture is already competing in the market with cheaper Kanchipuram sarees produced on electronic looms.

“Perhaps, with AI, these sellers can create trending designs faster and cheaper to attract mass consumers. But these imitations can never replace the original,” she told Al Jazeera.

“There will always be a market for authentic Kanchipuram and handcrafted textiles, no matter how much technology makes the imitation cheaper. True Kanchipuram weave, colour, and designs can only be created by hand, and discerning buyers know this.”

Then again, the question is no longer whether AI can recreate a textile. It sure can. The question is: Who gets paid when it does?

Legal gaps

In December 2025, the federal government’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade floated a statutory “blanket licence” – a system where AI developers could train models on lawfully obtained copyrighted material without seeking permission from each rights holder. Once commercialised, those systems would owe royalties to copyright owners at rates set by the government.

But intellectual property (IP) laws assume a traceable work with a traceable author. A motif, on the other hand, is communal property, its technique passed down through generations with no single originator.

In such cases, who is entitled to royalty and copyright? The artisan who first created the design? The photographer who documented it? The researcher who assembled the dataset? The developer who built the tool? India’s laws offer no clear answers. The artisan whose name never appeared on a label may once again be missing from the paperwork.

Meanwhile, the government is planning a dedicated AI-handloom research department under the Centre of Excellence for Handloom Technology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the capital, New Delhi. Inaugurated in August, the $1.4m facility aims to modernise India’s handloom sector by combining traditional weaving heritage with contemporary technology.

The government also plans to register thousands of weavers and fit their handlooms with sensors that convert weave patterns into digital data, and issue QR-coded tags to trace provenance. Maharashtra’s Vingatha system does something similar at the state level by authenticating handloom sarees such as Paithani and Karvat Kathi.

The idea is simple: If a saree can tell you where it came from, the person who made it becomes harder to erase.

While these measures cannot stop AI-enabled design and mass production, they may give artisans more visibility and turn each piece into an archive.

In art galleries, the traditional textiles are increasingly shedding the label of craft for the more lucrative category of contemporary art.

Gurjeet Singh, an artist from Chandigarh city, recently hosted a textile-based solo show in New York. His work transforms discarded fabrics, buttons and embroidered scraps into sculptures that explore queer identity and social prejudices surrounding gender and sexuality.

Sayan Chanda, an Indian artist based in London, works with cut and rewoven vintage Bengali quilts to question fixed notions of cultural belonging. Gurugram-based artist Sumakshi Singh uses delicate embroidery and suspended thread structures to reconstruct the architectural fragments of vanished homes, gardens and personal histories. There are many more.

In New Delhi, 20 such artisans and craft-led collectives featured last month at an art show celebrating the traditional textile crafts.

“Our aim is to present these traditional crafts as living practices that continue to evolve through contemporary artisans, rather than as heritage to be archived. Kanmai Payun, one of the artists featured in the show, for example, is the last practitioner of Fulor Saneki, a flower pattern used by Assamese weavers. We encouraged her to teach her 17-year-old son so the craft outlives her,” Aparupa Ray Ganguly, the curator of the show, told Al Jazeera.

But as textiles gain value in art galleries, their makers do not necessarily gain automatic control over their work.

In April, another art exhibition in New Delhi, titled No ‘One’ Maker, saw artisans missing from the show’s preview, exposing how traditional textiles are aestheticised, but the people who carry that knowledge remain unrecognised.

“You cannot separate the names from the community. Call your mass-produced work digital prints and leave the traditional names to the original artisans,” says Chhipa, the artisan and merchant from Rajasthan.

New Delhi, India — United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in India for a two-day visit, during which he is set to tour the Jamnagar refinery complex in Gujarat, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, a major player in global oil markets.

Reliance’s crude refinery in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state is the world’s largest single-site refinery. In many ways, Reliance Industries’ businesses sit at the crossroads of the ongoing global energy crisis.

The conglomerate is central to Washington’s efforts to punish Russian energy buyers, while also trying to contain oil prices amid the war on Iran, on top of rising diesel costs in the US, where a crucial midterm election looms. Reliance has also only recently committed to a major investment in the US, which President Donald Trump’s administration has cited as an example of its successes in luring global capital.

Rubio is skipping the capital, New Delhi, at a time when the US-India bilateral relationship has been rocky, strained by a string of friction points — and an elusive trade deal.

So why is the top US diplomat visiting the world’s largest single-site oil refinery?

Where is Rubio visiting?

After meetings in Mumbai, India’s financial hub in the western state of Maharashtra, Rubio will fly to Jamnagar in neighbouring Gujarat, near the Gulf of Kutch. Jamnagar opens into the Arabian Sea and is home to Reliance Industries’ refining complex, a major hub for crude processing and fuel exports, which processes 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).

Rubio had visited India earlier this year too, but this trip “is a little more business-focused”, the US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, told reporters last week. A readout from Rubio’s office noted that he would “meet with business leaders to promote opportunities for commercial investment and economic cooperation”.

“[At Jamnagar] he will meet some of the folks at Reliance,” Gor said.

What’s in Jamnagar?

The world’s largest single-site oil-refining complex has a combined crude-processing capacity of 1.4 million bpd. That is nearly 1.5 percent of global refining capacity, according to the company.

The complex comprises two refineries: the original facility, commissioned in 1999 with a capacity of 660,000bpd, and a second, export-oriented refinery commissioned in 2008, adding 580,000bpd, which operates in a special economic zone.

Jamnagar imports crude from international suppliers and exports refined products to global markets. The refinery can process heavy, sulphur-rich crude that many facilities cannot handle efficiently, converting oil into higher-value products.

Reliance said last month that the complex has processed more than 216 crude grades, claiming to be “perhaps the only refinery to achieve this feat”.

The Jamnagar refinery’s capacity is also driving a sharp revival in imports of Venezuelan crude — taken over by the US earlier this year after abducting then-President Nicolas Maduro — as Washington seeks to reshape global oil trade.

Reliance is expected to account for roughly 350,000bpd to 370,000bpd of the October intake, according to estimates from analytics firm Kpler. “We will talk with Reliance about refining more Venezuelan crude,” Rubio told reporters in brief remarks on Tuesday.

Why is the refinery significant for global energy supplies?

Reliance is a central player in keeping global oil markets stable, as one of the world’s biggest suppliers of refined petroleum products. In September, for instance, six of the seven large cargo ships that docked at European Union ports carrying oil products were bearing Reliance goods.

Reliance’s biggest export is diesel, which Trump has been particularly worried about, with prices reaching historic highs in the US ahead of midterm elections early next month.

Though the data on exports by category is not public, an analysis by the Reuters news agency from trade sources noted that Reliance Industries exported 21.66 million tonnes of refined petroleum products in the first half of 2025 from Jamnagar. Diesel accounted for the largest share at 9.81 million tonnes, followed by petrol at 6.14 million tonnes and jet fuel at 2.06 million tonnes.

Europe accounted for the biggest share of the company’s exports, making up 28 percent of Reliance’s refined products during the period. Buyers include BP, ExxonMobil, Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura.

The Jamnagar refinery also shipped about $143m worth of oil products to the US last month, according to data cited by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a think tank in Finland.

CREA noted in its report that the EU’s ban on importing petroleum products made from Russian crude from January 2026 does not adequately prevent products from refineries in third countries from entering Europe when those refineries also process Russian crude. The Jamnagar refinery is a prime example of that loophole.

Rubio’s visit to the refinery also comes as Trump faces his worst approval ratings amid inflation and rising fuel prices ahead of the midterm election in November. Just about 31 percent of Americans are happy with Trump’s performance – the lowest-ever number in his two terms, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.

The Trump administration has also reportedly been pushing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop strikes on Russian energy facilities, which have rattled the global fuel markets.

Why the refinery is important for the Russia-Ukraine war

Reliance is also a critical actor in US efforts to influence how much oil Russia sells.

Since the start of Russia’s full-fledged war on Ukraine in February 2022, India has emerged as the second-largest buyer of Russian oil after China. And Reliance is driving that surge in imports. While only 3 percent of its oil was sourced from Russia before 2022, that share rose to 50 percent by 2025.

So when Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods in August 2025 to punish New Delhi for the purchase of Russian oil, Reliance was directly affected. It cut back on Russian crude imports significantly in subsequent months, but it still made up a third of the oil processed by Jamnagar’s refinery during the July-September 2026 quarter.

That was under threat when the Trump administration appeared poised to impose a 100 percent tariff on Indian goods because of continued Russian oil imports, under a new law passed last month.

But Trump has since suspended those proposed tariffs, easing concerns for India and Reliance.

Rubio has said India has been diversifying its import mix away from Russian crude, even as it still buys millions of barrels of Russian oil every day. “You’ve got countries like India, for example, that have voluntarily diversified their energy portfolio, but are still getting a substantial amount of energy from Russia because it’s hard to pivot from one day to the next,” Rubio said on Sunday.

“But they’re also an important ally and partner of the United States.”

Is Reliance also investing in the US?

Yes, India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, is investing in the US, primarily through energy-related projects.

It is backing America First Refining’s planned oil refinery at the Port of Brownsville in Texas, also the first major US refinery in about 50 years, announced by Trump in March.

The refinery is expected to cost $3bn to $4bn and process about 60 million barrels of US crude annually. Reliance has signed a 20-year agreement to buy a large share of the facility’s output, with operations expected to start around 2029.

In November 2024, Reliance’s US subsidiary also acquired a 21 percent stake in helium explorer Wavetech Helium for $12m as part of its low-carbon energy strategy.

Last month, Trump announced that India’s Essar Group — an oil major with knee-deep ties to Russia — is planning an $18bn integrated steel investment in the US through its subsidiary, Mesabi Metallics.

Didn’t Trump’s ally just lock horns with Ambani?

Despite Reliance’s investments in the US and Rubio’s upcoming visit to the Jamnagar facility, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is also a key Trump ally, recently hit out at Ambani.

His Starlink space telecommunications firm has struggled for years to secure a licence to operate in India.

In ⁠a series of X posts recently, Musk accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of stalling Starlink’s entry to ⁠favour market leader Ambani’s telecom firm, Jio. Musk taunted Ambani directly, addressing ‌him as “Prime ‌Minister Ambani” and asking whether he would “consider allowing Starlink to compete”. Starlink, Musk wrote, was being blocked by “oligarchs” protecting their “monopolistic chokehold” on Indians.

In a statement issued on X, Reliance said it has “never feared competition” and has “grown in an India that welcomes investment and innovation, homegrown or international”.

Earlier this month, South Korea recalled its ambassador from Kyiv after Zelenskyy disclosed the prisoner transfer.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it will withdraw additional embassy personnel from Ukraine following Kyiv’s lack of “constructive response” in a dispute about North Korean prisoners of war (POWs).

Seoul had told Kyiv of its position via multiple channels but had not received a sufficient response from Ukraine, ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, South Korea recalled its ambassador from Kyiv after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to the South.

The disclosure angered Seoul, which said the operation should have remained confidential to protect the soldiers’ families in North Korea.

“This measure was taken because we judged it necessary to facilitate an amicable resolution of the issue and restore trust between the two countries,” Park told a regular press briefing, without saying how many staff members would leave.

A charge d’affaires would stay on in Kyiv to maintain diplomatic communication along with all consular staff to protect South Korean nationals, Park added.

Persistent threats of air strikes across Ukraine had also made it difficult to ensure staff safety, he said.

Seoul previously summoned the Ukrainian ambassador and threatened unspecified “further measures”.

‘Situation resolved’

Ukraine has insisted that “diplomacy must prevail over emotions” in relations between the countries, and also said Kyiv considered “the situation resolved”.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said earlier this month that Ukraine had sent a message that “included words of apology” over Zelenskyy’s disclosure, but it fell short of “the level” Seoul had in mind.

Under South Korea’s constitution, all North Koreans are considered citizens of the Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known, and those who reach its territory and seek to defect are generally allowed to stay.