China has delivered a second Type 054A/P frigate to the Pakistan Navy, providing a further boost to Islamabad’s maritime defense.

Named the PNS Taimur, the frigate is reportedly equipped with cutting-edge weapons and sensors to support maritime surveillance and combat missions.

It also has the latest combat management and electronic warfare systems, making it suitable in multi-threat environments.

Bilateral trade between New Delhi and Moscow stood at $8.1 billion in 2020-21, according to official data. Both countries have set a trade target of $30 billion by 2025. Trading in domestic currencies has assumed ever more significance, as India has ramped up its purchases of Russian oil over the last few months despite Western sanctions on Moscow.

Anger against a new army recruitment scheme has intensified across India, with crowds of protesters burning trains, blocking roads and ransacking public property to demand that the plan be rolled back.

“The protests will continue till there is a rollback. We have been cheated,” Lalit Kumar (name changed), a 19-year-old army aspirant who has been protesting for the last few days in the Begusarai district of the eastern state of Bihar, told Al Jazeera.

Monsoon rains in low-lying Bangladesh have triggered catastrophic flooding in the northeastern Sylhet administrative division, leaving a quarter of its 15 million population stranded amid fast-rising waters and swollen rivers.

"The flooding is the worst in 122 years in the Sylhet region," said Atiqul Haque, Director General of Bangladesh's Department of Disaster Management.

Mass riots broke out in India – the youth rebelled after the announcement of the reform of the conscription into the army. Property and offices of the ruling party were burned. In several parts of the country, officials blocked the Internet.

The protests have started in India’s poorest states, where tens of thousands of young people study for military exams every year to avoid mass unemployment. The goal of the reform is to hire more young people on shorter and more unstable contracts.

Authorities in India's Uttar Pradesh state have demolished the homes of several people accused of involvement in riots last week triggered by derogatory remarks made by ruling party figures about Islam's Prophet Mohammad, officials said on Sunday.

In Indian Kashmir, police arrested a youth for posting a video threatening to behead the ruling party's former spokeswoman who had made some of the remarks, officials said. The video, circulated on YouTube, has been withdrawn by authorities.

If you think the world is moving beyond coal, think again. The post-Covid economic rebound and surging electricity demand have resulted in big increases in coal prices and coal demand. Since January, the Newcastle benchmark price for coal has doubled. And over the past few weeks, China and India have announced plans to increase their domestic coal production by a combined total of 700 million tons per year.

Muslims across India on Friday continued protests sparked by comments from a now-suspended spokeswoman for the ruling Hindu-nationalist BJP party that were denounced as insulting to Islam’s Muhammad.  

The Times of India (TOI) reported that “vehicles were torched and vandalized, and sporadic incidents of sloganeering and stone-pelting” were reported from several locations.

On 26 May, a BJP spokeswoman made a controversial remark about the Prophet Mohammad during a Times Now television channel debate. The party suspended the official on 6 June for violating the BJP's constitution. The action came in the wake of a spurt in public and political outrage in India and among Islamic nations.

India has witnessed a wave of protests after former BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma caused outrage by her remarks about the Prophet Muhammad, that were widely regarded as "Islamophobic" by Muslims around the world.

The governments of India and Vietnam have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on mutual logistics support for their armed forces.

As part of the agreement, troops from the two nations will be allowed to use each other’s bases for repairs and to replenish supplies.

The pact is seen as a “major upswing” in India-Vietnam strategic and bilateral ties, especially since both countries have shared concerns over China.