Authorities have been searching for the group since the driver of the vehicle staggered into a village in Nimroz province, parched and exhausted, seeking help.

Five bodies were found soon after, but authorities launched a hunt for 14 others who had continued the journey on foot.

Nimroz is one of Afghanistan’s hottest and most arid provinces, with temperatures hovering around 45C at this time of year.

The 14 bodies were found buried in sand, a source at the Nimroz provincial hospital told AFP on Saturday.

Provincial government spokesman Abdul Mutawakil Tawhidi confirmed the grisly desert find on Friday.

Iran is a popular destination for Afghan migrants seeking economic opportunity not available at home, but legal avenues for entry are scarce. “These 14 young men are from our village. They had left home 23 days ago, and today we are receiving their bodies,” Abdul Khaleq, a resident of Qolghi in the eastern province of Badghis, told AFP before heading to the cemetery for the burial.

Hemasiri Fernando, 76, was convicted of negligence leading to the death of 279 people – including 45 foreigners – an identical charge given to then-police chief Pujith Jayasundara, 66.

The videos spread as Modi contended with the biggest wave of youth-led protests India has seen in more than a decade, a movement over leaked papers in national examinations that has led to the resignation of his education minister.

Police are preparing to send a notice to Meta Platforms regarding the case, said V Aravind Babu, deputy commissioner of police for cyber crimes in Hyderabad.

Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment on Friday.

It was not immediately clear why Srinivas had been named personally, a rare move against a senior executive of a global tech firm. India has tightened its content rules this year, narrowing the legal shield that protects platforms from liability for what their users post and raising the exposure of the executives who run them.

Since February, platforms must remove unlawful content flagged by courts or the government within three hours, down from 36, or lose that protection.

India summons Meta executives over briefly restricted Modi Facebook post

Holding someone personally responsible normally requires proof of “an active role and knowledge,” said Akash Karmakar, a echnology law partner at Indian law firm Panag & Babu.

Meta has repeatedly drawn the ire of Indian government over content posted by its users, and faced criticism that it does too little to police hate speech and misinformation on Facebook and Instagram.

===== Facebook’s biggest market by users

The case builds on a run of tensions between Meta and Modi’s government over content tied to the prime minister. Modi has faced a barrage of online criticism, jokes and ridicule by protesters in recent weeks.

India’s IT ministry summoned Meta executives this week after Facebook briefly restricted a Modi post, with a top official saying the government wanted the company to explain the matter at the highest level.

A Meta spokesperson said at the time that the post, which was Modi’s first where he addressed the massive student protests, had been blocked inadvertently.

India’s Instagram Gen Z dents Modi’s aura ahead of key state polls

India is Facebook’s biggest market by users. Srinivas is Meta’s managing director and head for India since July 2025.

The case against him is among many others that were filed based on complaints by supporters of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, who alleged that manipulated videos and images of the prime minister were being circulated on Meta-owned social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, local media reported earlier.

The Colombo Consumer Price Index, a leading indicator for broader national prices, tracks inflation in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital and is followed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to help set policy rates.

Food inflation rose to 6.3% in July from 3.6% year-on-year in June, while the non-food category was 7.8% compared with 8.4% last month, the latest data showed.

Sri Lanka is recovering from a severe financial crisis caused by a shortfall of foreign reserves four years ago, supported by a $2.9 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund. Inflation at that timepeaked at 70%, but has gradually declined since.

This is the highest the island nation’s inflation has reached since June 2023 when it hit 12%, data from the census department showed.  CBSL has set a inflation target of 5% and expects inflation to gradually reduce in the medium term.

S&P affirms Sri Lanka’s ratings at CCC+/C with ‘stable’ outlook

“This is on the dot. We don’t see inflation coming down. In fact we see it continuing to rise in the coming months and peaking in November at 8.7%,” said Ranjan Ranatunga, vice president research at First Capital.

“This increase is mainly due to higher fuel prices being transmitted to all areas of the economy, especially higher food and transport prices. Annual average inflation is expected to be 6.1%.”

Sri Lanka’s inflation stood at 2.2% in March, but began to climb largely due to soaring fuel prices caused by the Iran war, which forced it to raise fuel prices by about 35%, introduce fuel rationing and declare Wednesday’s public holidays to manage consumption.

Higher global prices also affected Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves reducing them by 6.3% to $6.4 billion in June. Rapidly rising inflation prompted the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to raise its key policy rate by 100 basis points to 8.75% in May. But the results of the hike are expected to take about four months to filter through to markets, analysts said.

The deficit in the same period last year stood at 2.8 trillion rupees.

India has set the fiscal deficit target for fiscal 2027 at 4.3% of the GDP, or 16.96 trillion rupees.

Net tax receipts stood at 6.4 trillion rupees, compared with 5.4 trillion rupees a year ago.

Non-tax revenue was at 3.8 trillion rupees, compared with 3.7 trillion rupees a year ago.

India’s 2025/26 fiscal deficit at 4.4%, in line with government estimates

Total government expenditure came to 13.6 trillion rupees, compared with 12.2 trillion rupees a year earlier.

Capital expenditure, or spending on building physical infrastructure, stood at 3.4 trillion rupees against 2.75 trillion rupees a year ago.

“The bodies of five IRGC members killed in the recent US-Saudi attacks on Iraq were brought into the country through the Mehran border crossing,” in western Ilam province, the IRNA state news agency reported.

The United States and Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to recent attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

The strikes targeted positions belonging to the Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi armed coalition that includes several powerful pro-Iran groups, killing at least 20 militants, including the five Iranians.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say it targeted US positions in the region in response to attack

The IRGC’s Quds Force oversees Iran’s operations abroad, and Guards members killed outside Iran are often affiliated with the unit.

The United States killed the Quds Force’s commander Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in Baghdad in 2020, along with Hashed al-Shaabi deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

A video message by Modi posted on Meta’s Instagram platform and later shared on Facebook was restricted temporarily on the latter.

A Meta spokesperson said at the time that the post had been blocked inadvertently.

“We have asked Meta to come in at the highest level and explain what is happening,” S. Krishnan, secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said on Thursday.

He did not say who, specifically, had been requested to appear.

* Meta told Indian authorities it established new protocols relating to accounts of prominent persons to prevent such a situation from recurring, Krishnan added.

India’s Instagram Gen Z dents Modi’s aura ahead of key state polls

Meta India did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Thursday.

Modi’s video post on July 23, his first addressing the massive student protests that forced Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign on Saturday, has more than 404 million views on Instagram.

The sparring with Meta is the latest example of Modi’s government taking on Big Tech over content-related issues.

India is Facebook’s biggest market by users.

About 2 million students had taken the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in May before it was cancelled following allegations of test paper questions being leaked. A re-test was held on June 21.

Those charged include three subject experts from the federal National Testing Agency, several middlemen who sourced and distributed the leaked questions, and two people associated with coaching institutes who obtained them, federal police agency CBI said in a statement late on Wednesday, adding that all of them were detained in custody.

Modi faces challenge from activists over surveillance at India youth protest

“The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed charge sheet … against 13 arrested accused for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and others,” it said.

The 13 people could not be reached for comment as they are in custody.

Exam question paper leaks are fairly common in India and the NEET questions themselves were similarly leaked in some parts of the country in 2024, although no re-test was ordered at the time.

The weeks-long demonstrations, which were called off after the education minister resigned on Saturday, saw thousands of people converging in the capital, with protests spreading to other cities after a march on parliament was met with tear gas and baton charges.

India’s top court on Wednesday ordered that no coercive action be taken against protesters, directed all under-18s arrested during the protests to be released, and said authorities must preserve surveillance footage, after petitioners alleged police brutality against demonstrators.

India suspends policeman for firing AK-47 at student protesters

The protests have also prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to introduce a bill in parliament to amend the legislation governing public examinations, proposing longer prison terms and heftier fines for violators.

Under the amended law, the 13 people could be punished with prison terms of five to 10 years, and fines of up to 50 million rupees ($522,000).

The protests were Modi’s biggest political challenge in his third term in office that began in 2024.

The Suezmax tanker Amazon, chartered by Indian Oil Corp, loaded 1 million barrels of oil and Aframax Rodos lifted 700,000 barrels of crude for Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port around July 20 and briefly turned north towards the Suez Canal.

However, the Amazon and Rodos then switched off their Automatic Identification System transponders around July 22, preventing public tracking of their moves, and headed south to exit the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the sources said.

India’s top refiner scouts stakes in gas carriers as it plans higher US imports

The tankers are the first evidence of vessels carrying Saudi crude for India going dark by turning off their transponders, which the sources said is normal practice in war zone areas, since the blockade began.

“The owner had shut the transponders on the vessels for safety purposes, and the vessels are now heading to India,” one of the sources told Reuters.

The Rodos is expected to arrive at India’s Mangalore port on August 1, while the Amazon is scheduled to reach Chennai in early August, both sources said.

Both vessels are managed by Greece-based Dynacom Tankers. Dynacom had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

India’s foreign ministry, Indian Oil and MRPL did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Saudi Aramco considers new pricing for Sidi Kerir oil exports to Asia, sources say

The vessels switched off their transponders after two other Dynacom ships, Malta-flagged Panamax-sized tanker Kavomaleas and Liberian-flagged VLCC Acheloos, were hit by projectiles.

Indian refiners have switched to cargoes from the Middle East on a delivered basis since the Houthi attacks on several Saudi tankers. MRPL said in its latest tender it will only buy oil shipped on routes avoiding the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz.

It was not immediately clear if the Indian government talked to the Houthis or Iranian authorities to gain safe passage for the vessels after refiners in India approached it for help.

The legislation would double the maximum jail term for those involved in leaking exam papers to 10 years and raise the maximum fine to more than $1 million.

Lawmakers approved the bill by a voice vote after a raucous, hours-long debate, according to India’s public broadcaster.

The legislation will next be put to a vote in the upper house, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance holds a majority.

The vote follows weeks of mass protests over leaked exam papers and other irregularities, which culminated in the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday.

The protests, spearheaded by the online Cockroach Janta Party movement, drew massive support from students across the country and presented a major challenge to Modi’s government.

Rahul Gandhi of the main opposition Congress party said he could relate to the frustration among India’s youth over the state of the education system.

“This was not anger… this was not hatred, this was deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country, and I feel that all political parties must respect this expression,” he said in a speech in the house.

Senior minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday told parliament that the amendments, which the cabinet greenlighted last week, reflect a “deep commitment to safeguard the welfare of the students and the youth of this country”.

Following the vote, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hailed “a significant step forward towards further strengthening the integrity of India’s examination system”.

“The Bill provides for stricter punishments, Special Fast Track Courts, time-bound investigations, Special Public Prosecutors and an expedited appellate mechanism to ensure that those involved in paper leaks and organised examination fraud are swiftly brought to justice,” Singh said on X.

Despite rapid economic growth in the world’s most populous country, millions of young people face a shortage of well-paid jobs and fierce competition for careers.

The intense pressure to succeed has fuelled a vast network of coaching centres and created opportunities for criminal groups to profit by selling leaked exam questions.

Despite repeated government crackdowns, such leaks have remained a recurring problem in both national and state-level examinations.

Demonstrations over the paper leaks in New Delhi turned violent on July 20, when huge crowds attempted to march towards parliament from the capital’s Jantar Mantar protest site.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.

The parliament reconvened last week for its monsoon session, with the first few days repeatedly disrupted by opposition lawmakers seeking accountability over a police crackdown on the student-led protests.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of all detained protesters who are under the age of 18 and have no prior criminal record.

But the ongoing police investigations related to the clashes and street violence have become a contentious issue.

The Cockroach Janta Party movement has accused the government of reneging on one of the promises it had made when activists called off street rallies, not to investigate any protesters.

The “government should stop with this”, the movement’s founder Abhijeet Dipke said on Wednesday.

“Those students were protesting for their future, not for fun,” he added. “If the government doesn’t listen, we will hit the streets again”.

The legislation would double the maximum jail term for those involved in leaking exam papers to 10 years, and raises the maximum fine to more than $1 million.

Lawmakers approved the bill by a voice vote after a raucous, hours-long debate, according to India’s public broadcaster.

It will next be put to a vote in the upper house, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance holds a majority. Modi’s cabinet greenlighted the stricter punishments last week.

The approval follows weeks of mass protests over leaked exam papers and other irregularities, which culminated in the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday.

The protests, spearheaded by the online Cockroach Janta Party movement, drew massive support from students across the country and presented a major challenge to Modi’s government.

Rahul Gandhi of the main opposition Congress Party said he could relate to the frustration among India’s youth over the country’s education system.

“This was not anger… this was not hatred, this was deep expression of the youth of this country, of the future generation of this country, and I feel that all political parties must respect this expression,” he said in a speech in the house.

Despite rapid economic growth in the world’s most populous country, millions of young people face a shortage of well-paid jobs and fierce competition for careers.

The intense pressure to succeed has fuelled a vast network of coaching centres and created opportunities for criminal groups to profit by selling leaked exam questions.

Despite repeated government crackdowns, such leaks have remained a recurring problem in both national and state-level examinations.

Demonstrations against the paper leaks in New Delhi turned violent on July 20 when huge crowds attempted to march towards parliament from the Jantar Mantar protest site.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.

The benchmark Nifty 50 index has fallen about 8% so far this year, underperforming other Asian and emerging-market indexes.

Shankarraman Ramachandran, managing director and chief investment officer for third-party products at Spark Capital Private Wealth Management, says the recovery was likely to be gradual. Investors will be seeking evidence that the improvement in earnings can be sustained through fiscal 2028.

The Nifty is trading 9% below its all-time peak in December 2025 and has been in what Ramachandran described as a “time correction” since September 2024. Weaker earnings growth, foreign fund outflows - which hit a record $29.3 billion in first half of 2026, according to BofA Securities – trade uncertainty and conflict in the Middle East have offset support from domestic investors and resilient economic growth.

Ramachandran does not expect a market rally in the near term, with the monsoon being the key risk, while sharp swings in crude prices impact the broader markets.

IMF says oil prices, weak monsoon pose biggest risks to India’s FY27 GDP growth

The monsoon is a key driver of India’s economy, underpinning agricultural output, supporting more than 40% of the workforce and influencing both food inflation and rural demand.

Recent earnings and high-frequency data suggest India has absorbed higher crude prices better than initially feared, supported by steep credit growth, power demand and healthy tax collection.

About 2-1/2 weeks into June-quarter results, Nifty earnings growth is tracking at 12% year-on-year, around 3 percentage points above consensus estimates, led by energy, metals and automobile companies, according to BofA Securities.

Spark Capital has been “overweight” on domestic lenders, citing strong credit growth and reasonable valuations, and favours industrials tied to data centres, power equipment and the energy transition.

The wealth manager also sees selective opportunities in healthcare, autos, hospitality and discretionary consumption, but remains cautious on the IT sector due to uncertainty surrounding AI spending and disruption, and on consumer stocks because of concerns that weak rainfall could dampen demand.

India is the world’s largest rice exporter, accounting for about 40% of global shipments and the biggest importer of vegetable oils such as palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil.

Indian farmers typically sow summer crops in June and July after the annual monsoon reaches the southern state of Kerala. This year, however, the monsoon arrived three days late and its advance across key western farming regions stalled for about two weeks, delaying planting.

Summer crop sowing was nearly a quarter lower than a year earlier at the end of June, but the shortfall has since narrowed to less than 5%, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

Farmers had planted summer-sown crops on 78.7 million hectares as of July 24, compared with 82.6 million hectares a year earlier, the ministry’s data showed.

India monsoon slows; below-average rain seen over next two weeks

The area under rice cultivation stood at 23.4 million hectares, down from last year’s 24 million hectares, the data showed.

“We were waiting for rain before transplanting the seedlings. After we received good rainfall this month, we started paddy transplanting,” said Krishna Beuraa, a farmer from Konark in the eastern state of Odisha.

India’s monsoon rainfall deficit has narrowed to 16% from nearly 40% at the end of June, following widespread rains over the past few weeks, although some regions are still facing rainfall deficits of as much as 40%.

Farmers have planted soybeans on 11.4 million hectares, down 3% from a year ago.

Corn was planted on 7.8 million hectares down 9.7% from the same period last year. The area in which cotton was planted dropped 4% to 9.87 million hectares, while sugar cane area rose 1.5% to 5.76 million hectares.

The lawsuit comes as the Indian government pushes ahead with its E20 biofuel strategy aimed at reducing its dependence on imported oil and lowering emissions.

E20 petrol, a fuel containing 20 percent ethanol, has come under scrutiny after viral social media posts alleged it harms engines and raises maintenance costs in vehicles designed for lower ethanol blends.

Gadkari filed the suit in the Bombay High Court, alleging that content circulated online falsely portrayed him as being personally responsible for the government’s E20 policy, his office told AFP.

The suit also claimed the posts accused Gadkari and his family of profiting from the initiative.

Gadkari is seeking 110 million rupees ($1.14 million) in damages, arguing that the “deepfake” posts and videos were causing “irreparable harm” to his reputation.

There was no immediate response from Meta to a request from AFP for comment about Gadkari’s lawsuit.

Apart from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, the suit also names X Corp, Google and other entities, Indian media reported.

India has the highest number of Facebook and Instagram users in the world, making it one of Meta’s most important markets by reach and engagement.

The government has steadily expanded regulations governing social media platforms, asking them to remove content and follow government takedown orders.

Under the proposed legal change submitted to parliament, the maximum prison term for those involved in paper leaks would be doubled to 10 years, while fines could exceed $1 million and court proceedings would be fast-tracked.

The legislative push follows weeks of protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, which culminated in the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week.

The protests, spearhead by the online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, drew massive support from young students across the country and presented a major challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

The proposed amendments reaffirm “this government’s deep commitment to safeguard the welfare of the students and the youth of this country”, senior minister Jitendra Singh told the lower house of the parliament.

The changes seek to make the legislation “more stringent and to ensure speedy justice”, Singh said, “so that the credibility of all these exams gets enhanced and gets reinstated”.

The parliament reconvened last week for its monsoon session, with the first few days repeatedly disrupted by opposition lawmakers seeking accountability over a police crackdown on the student-led protests.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the release of all detained protesters who are under the age of 18 and have no prior criminal record.

Examination paper leaks have long plagued India’s highly competitive education system.

The intense pressure to succeed has fuelled a vast network of coaching centres and created opportunities for criminal groups to profit by selling leaked question papers.

Despite repeated government crackdowns, paper leaks have remained a recurring problem in both national and state-level examinations.

Demonstrations in New Delhi turned violent on July 20 when huge crowds attempted to march towards parliament from the Jantar Mantar protest site.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.

Indian media reports said Chief Justice Surya Kant also directed authorities to preserve the digital and personal data of people who participated in the demonstrations and barred any coercive action against them.

The reports said Kant took interim steps in response to petitions filed by student protesters and activists seeking action against police and paramilitary forces for what they said was the use of excess force and pellet guns during the weeks-long demonstrations in the national capital and other cities.

He called for the preservation of all footage, including from drones, body cameras, and CCTV footage, and directed authorities to ensure protesters’ data was not made public.

Modi faces challenge from activists over surveillance at India youth protest

Police officers injured, solicitor general says

“Whoever has committed excess … atrocities on innocent people, the law will take care of them. For that, there needs to be a completely independent and fair investigation,” Kant said, according to legal website Live Law, one of several outlets reporting the ruling.

“A probe is meaningless if no responsibility is fixed,” he said, before ordering the interim steps.

The government has defended police action during the protests as lawful crowd control.

The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, was cited by media reports as having said in court that while the matter of students being attacked could not be taken lightly, about 250 police officers were also injured, adding that the government had no objection to an investigation into the matter.

India’s Modi under pressure as youth protest leaders set for more talks

The protests, triggered by the leak of question papers for a national medical college entrance exam, ended on Saturday after the education minister resigned and the government agreed to the protesters’ demands for exam reforms, withdrawal of police cases, and compensation for families of students who died by suicide after the leaks.

Baton charges used against protesters

Tensions erupted between protesters and security forces in several parts of the country during the demonstrations, including in New Delhi, where people attempting to march on parliament were met with tear gas and baton charges.

Indian authorities have also suspended a policeman in an eastern state for firing rounds in the air from an assault rifle to disperse student protesters over the weekend.

India activists demand release of detained ‘cockroach’ protesters

Reuters reported on Monday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was facing a challenge from activists over the use of AI-powered surveillance at the protests, after demonstrators posted pictures on social media of a mobile police surveillance van equipped with cameras on a telescopic mast, providing a 360-degree view of the gathering.

The self-named Cockroach Janta Party, which spearheaded the movement, said on Monday that “hundreds” of students had been arrested in various states, in violation of the government’s commitment.

India suspends policeman for firing AK-47 at student protesters

Reuters was not able to independently verify the claim.

During the calls, “they stressed the need to strengthen cooperation and advance joint diplomatic efforts to establish stability in the region and eliminate the insecurity imposed on the Strait of Hormuz due to the aggressive actions of the United States,” the state broadcaster added.

Iran has maintained control over the strait since the start of the Middle East war on February 28, disrupting shipping through the vital conduit.

In recent weeks, fighting has also spread to involve Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The last few days have nonetheless seen a lull in hostilities in the region.

The surveillance controversy erupted during last week’s student protests over exam paper leaks, when demonstrators posted pictures on social media of a mobile police surveillance van equipped with cameras on a telescopic mast providing a 360-degree view of the gathering.

One protester, student activist Aishe Ghosh, has asked the Delhi High Court to declare mass surveillance of protesters unconstitutional and direct the destruction of all personal data collected during the protest, as well as order the framing of guidelines on how surveillance technology can be used.

Ghosh is pressing on with the case even though the protest ended after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned in a rare setback for Modi, who has since announced a panel to overhaul the cheating-prone exam system.

India has no law governing the use of facial recognition technology by police and surveillance at the main protest site in New Delhi was a breach of the law, activists say.

The government says such checks were legal and in the public interest to ensure law and order.

Modi’s government has often been accused by opposition parties and digital rights advocates of expanding surveillance powers and tightly controlling digital communications. It has rejected such accusations, saying it only acts in the public interest.

How Abhijeet Dipke became the face of India’s first Gen Z protest movement, and won

During a hearing on Friday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta defended the Indian police conduct, saying privacy claims at a public gathering were “ironical” and the checks were “absolutely necessary” and “in legitimate state interest.”

In a brief hearing on Monday, judges heard arguments from Ghosh that intrusive mass surveillance of protesters was disproportionate, as she sought broader disclosures on the state’s surveillance policies during protests. The court will hear the matter on Tuesday.

‘Need for accountability’

Internet Freedom Foundation, a New Delhi-based digital advocacy group, wrote to Delhi’s police commissioner on July 24 demanding the deletion of biometric data collected at the protest site.

Delhi police did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. In a post on social media platform X on Sunday, the force said it had not “restricted anyone’s freedom through the use of facial recognition technology”.

“We need proportionality even if we are to claim national security risks. Accountability must flow both ways,” said Akash Karmakar, a technology law partner at Indian law firm Panag & Babu.

He said if India used facial recognition to track protesters, it must also be used to identify police officers who allegedly acted without name badges during the crackdown.

India’s Instagram Gen Z dents Modi’s aura ahead of key state polls

Police were also seen noting Instagram handles of protesters arriving at the site. When asked why, Inspector Sunil Kumar told Reuters the checks were to ensure no-one with a criminal background entered the protest.

‘Face accuracy’ match

The surveillance van parked at the site was emblazoned with the Delhi Police crest and the branding “Ikshana”, Hindi for “vision”.

There is little detail online about Ikshana, barring one post from its development partner, Indian CCTV company CP Plus, which said they were equipped with “Advanced AI-powered” cameras, mobile cameras and “Varifocal Bullet Cameras” with adjustable lenses.

The 2023 post on CP Plus’ website was removed over the weekend and was no longer accessible. CP Plus did not respond to a request for comment.

When a Reuters reporter walked past the van last week, one computer display inside showed his face with a green rectangular box around it and a “face accuracy” match metric next to it. Soon after, a police officer inside shut the van’s window.

“The computers here help us identify those who have a criminal history and it highlights them,” police officer Raj Kumar Dahiya told Reuters.

“AI also helps us count the number of protesters”.

The move underscores the fragility of Bangladesh’s economic recovery, as the world’s second-largest garment exporter grapples with domestic and global headwinds that threaten to erode the FX reserves and export receipts that underpin its credit profile.

“Our ratings on Bangladesh reflect the economy’s modest per capita income and limited fiscal flexibility owing to a combination of low revenue-generation capacity and the government’s elevated interest burden,” S&P said on Monday.

Bangladesh students demand minister quit over flood-hit exams

The ratings agency, meanwhile, affirmed its ‘B+/B’ long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on the South Asian nation, but warned that economic growth could average only around 4.5% over the next three years.

“The ‘CCC+’ ratings reflect our views that Sri Lanka’s creditworthiness is vulnerable and dependent upon favorable financial and economic conditions but the government does not face a near-term credit or payment crisis,” the agency said.

S&P noted that conditions supporting economic growth and fiscal repair will persist over the next six to 12 months.

Sri Lanka’s central bank likely to hold rates to control inflation

However, the agency warned that higher energy import bills and renewed escalations in the Middle East war could dampen economic growth and weigh on tourism earnings and remittances.

“We expect the impact on economic activities to be temporary due to the government’s proactive policies to secure energy and fertilizers supply,” S&P said.

Police have been accused of using excessive force at the protests, including beating students with canes and firing tear gas to push back tens of thousands marching to parliament in the capital New Delhi on July 20.

In videos uploaded to social media by students and others, and confirmed by police, a policeman in riot gear can be seen running towards a group of protesters in the eastern city of Siwan in Bihar state on Saturday, pointing an AK-47 at them and firing at least three shots in the air.

Senior Bihar police official Nilesh Kumar said no one was wounded and that a constable, part of an intelligence unit “which deals with dreaded, hard-core criminals”, had been issued the assault rifle.

“The AK-47 was used by the constable wrongly. It cannot be justified in any way,” Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, told Reuters on Monday. “He used it wrongly, because they were students. There was no need of doing so. That is why he has been suspended. All sorts of actions will be taken against him.”

India activists demand release of detained ‘cockroach’ protesters

The protests were triggered by the leakage of question papers for a national medical college entrance exam in May, taken by more the 2 million students, and forcing a re-test. There are other issues, mainly youth unemployment and fear among the young that AI could take their jobs in places such as IT back offices that India is known for, analysts say.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s education minister resigned over the exam paper leaks on Saturday following nearly five weeks of protests by the youth Cockroach Janta Party.

Opposition rakes up issue in parliament

“It is one of the gravest assaults on democracy in our history. Never before have students been beaten, dragged, and treated like criminals for raising their voices,” opposition Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said in parliament.

“In Bihar, reports indicate use of AK-47 against students. Those responsible cannot escape accountability.”

Government ministers did not respond before both houses of parliament were adjourned amid a noisy row over the issue.

Criticism of the police actions has been widespread.

“It will not be an exaggeration to say that public space for expressing divergent opinion is shrinking in India,” Supreme Court Judge Ujjal Bhuyan said in a speech on Saturday, in a rare such comment by a sitting judge of the country’s highest court.

“Right to express one’s views and to demonstrate peacefully are fundamental freedoms of the citizens.”

The Indian foreign ministry said it had summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk to convey its “serious concern” over the July 18 attack on the MV Omforfi.

The ship had three Indian nationals on board, one of whom was killed.

“The ministry conveyed its serious concern over the incident and condemned such attacks on commercial shipping in the strongest terms,” it said in a statement.

Polishchuk was asked to tell Kyiv that such actions, “which endanger the lives of innocent civilian seafarers, are unacceptable and must be avoided”.

New Delhi had also summoned the Russian envoy last week to protest against an attack on a cargo ship leaving Ukraine’s port of Odesa that killed four Indian nationals.

India is one of the largest contributors of sailors to merchant shipping worldwide, with more than 320,000 active seafarers in 2025, according to Delhi’s shipping ministry.

New Delhi has issued a string of security warnings for ships heading into the Black Sea that are locally flagged or employ its seafarers in the wake of the recent attacks.

Fourteen Indian seafarers have also been killed in attacks on ships during the Middle East war, according to the foreign ministry.

Officials from both countries inaugurated the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone (CEIZ), an 800-acre (324-hectare) development first agreed more than a decade ago.

The launch comes as Bangladesh seeks to boost foreign investment and expand industrial production, and as Beijing deepens its economic footprint in South Asia through mega infrastructure projects.

Bangladesh’s Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said the industrial zone would support the country’s ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar economy by 2034.

“We are expecting strategic investments in areas such as high-tech chips, medical equipment and manufacturing,” he said.

Beijing’s ambassador to Bangladesh, Yao Wen, described the CEIZ as a flagship project, saying delegations from more than 100 Chinese companies had already visited the site.

“The economic zone has already attracted approximately $500 million in potential investment,” Yao said, adding that it was expected to create around 100,000 jobs across sectors including ready-made garments, electric vehicles, batteries and medical equipment.

Bangladesh and China signed a memorandum of understanding for the project in 2014 but progress stalled for years because of delays in appointing a developer, securing financing and obtaining administrative approvals.

The project regained momentum after Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to China in June.

The launch follows Bangladesh’s decision last month to transfer development rights for the 110-acre Mongla Port Economic Zone to China after revoking an allocation granted to India in 2015.

India and China have been competing for influence across South Asia, seeking to expand their economic and strategic footprints in the region.

The online Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which organised protests over exam paper leaks and other irregularities, said they had received reports of students held in detention, particularly in the states of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.

“Any failure to release those detained or withdraw criminal cases would amount to a breach of public trust,” the protest group said in a statement, adding they would take “further necessary steps” if their demand was not met.

The statement comes two days after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as education minister over repeated failures in the conduct of competitive exams that have fuelled anger among millions of young Indians.

How Abhijeet Dipke became the face of India’s first Gen Z protest movement, and won

The CJP accused the government of backtracking after authorities had assured them that no punitive action would be taken against protesters.

The movement has won millions of followers on social media since it was launched in May by 30-year-old public relations graduate Abhijeet Dipke.

Tens of thousands of protesters, mainly students, rallied last week in New Delhi and other cities, demanding Pradhan’s resignation and broader reforms of the examination system.

India’s Modi under pressure as youth protest leaders set for more talks

Demonstrations in the Indian capital turned violent on July 20 when a crowd attempted to march towards parliament from the Jantar Mantar protest site.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protest, triggering clashes and a wave of detentions.

The issue reverberated in parliament on Monday, with repeated disruptions as opposition lawmakers demanded a response from the government over last week’s police crackdown.

Despite the disruptions, the government introduced legislation in the lower house seeking tougher penalties for examination paper leaks.

Jubaida Anjum Saba, an NGO worker in the capital Dhaka who cooks for her extended family of 10 people, told AFP that “we haven’t been getting cooking gas since Wednesday”.

That has left her “switching from one option to another, like sometimes using an induction stove, and at other times the clay oven” which she bought a few years ago for special occasions but now has to arrange firewood to use, she said.

Bangladesh has long grappled with an energy crisis, but the US-Iran conflict since February has exacerbated it, dealing a major blow to the South Asian country’s economy.

And on Wednesday, things took a turn for the worse when a fire hit one of Bangladesh’s two storage and regasification units in Moheshkhali.

Long queues have returned at the pump, with a popular ride-hailing app, Obhai, saying it has been receiving complaints from drivers of gas-run auto-rickshaws about the time it takes to refill.

The interruption is also likely to hit electricity generation, which is largely dependent on gas.

Md Rafiqul Islam of state-run energy firm Petrobangla told AFP they were “not sure” when gas supplies would return to normal.

Bangladesh currently imports about 30 percent of its natural gas needs.

According to Petrobangla sources, total gas demand is around 3.8 billion cubic feet per day, while daily supply had stood at 2.7 billion cubic feet since last year.

Following this week’s accident, supply has fallen further to 2.15 billion cubic feet a day.

Factories, especially the country’s flagship export sector of readymade garment manufacturing, appear to be among the biggest losers from the ongoing crisis.

“Dozens of factories are sitting idle for want of gas,” Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told AFP.

Factory owners say they mostly depend on captive electricity generation, as the grid electricity they receive is often of poor quality, with voltage fluctuations frequently damaging machinery.

“For the last 10 days, the captive power plants have been almost idle, and the impact will be disastrous,” delaying shipments and denting profits, Hatem said.

The social media-driven Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had drawn thousands of demonstrators, mainly students, to the capital’s Jantar Mantar site, forming one of India’s largest anti-government protests in recent years.

Weeks of protests over exam irregularities and other issues affecting young Indians culminated on Saturday with the resignation of the education minister and the government accepting other key demands.

On Sunday, dozens of municipal workers were washing the pavements along the road leading to the site, where activists had camped for weeks and where just hours earlier the crowd sang protest songs, chanted slogans and painted acerbic graffiti. “We have been here since midnight when the protestors left,” a municipal worker who declined to be identified told AFP.

“The walls have been painted, but may require another coat of paint as some lines (from the slogans) are still visible,” he said.

The movement sparked by a call for education reforms evolved to include concerns over unemployment, opportunities for young people and what critics brand as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increasingly authoritarian style of governance.

“Our examination system should be trustworthy, should be transparent and the system should make maximum use of technology,” Modi said on Instagram, adding that new legislation to deal with paper leaks would be introduced in parliament on Monday.

The measures would tighten the law and toughen the penalties for culprits, Modi added.

It was Modi’s first public comment since Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on Saturday following the protests by youth activists, who demonstrated for weeks demanding he quit over exam paper leaks in May.

Modi did not mention Pradhan in his 30-second video statement.

The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, which spearheaded the demonstrations, called off its protests on Saturday after its demands were met.

The government also accepted the protesters’ demands for reforms in the exam system, dropping police cases filed against protesters and compensating families of students who died by suicide after the exam paper leaks.

Nilekani is an entrepreneur best known for leading the creation of India’s digital identity system Aadhaar and co-founding software major Infosys.

The video, posted late on Thursday on Instagram, where CJP amassed 22 million mainly Gen Z followers in a matter of days in May, was not enough to satisfy the thousands of protesters who had gathered in central Delhi, braved a massive police crackdown days earlier, and then inspired protests across the country. On Saturday, the education minister stepped down, meeting the protesters’ main demand, in a rare such setback for Modi.

The resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hands a clear win to the CJP, whose young supporters have openly mocked Modi through raps, placards and graffiti, an almost unthinkable development only weeks earlier in a country whose politics has been almost fully dominated by Modi since he came to power in 2014.

“A large number of people who were at the protest may actually be his supporters — and that’s quite different from other kinds of protests in the past,” said Sanjay Srivastava, anthropology professor at SOAS University of London.

“What might be interpreted as a win is the fact that there is now a much wider cross-section of people questioning the government. A much wider cross-section has begun to question the idea that the ruling party is necessarily good for the country.”

The protests were triggered by a leaked medical-entrance exam, but there are other issues, mainly youth unemployment and fear among the young that AI could take their jobs in places such as IT back offices that India is known for, analysts said.

“The paper leak is a trigger point,” political analyst Amitabh Tiwari said. “It is largely a reflection of the anxiety, nervousness, discontent, frustration and anger among the youth.”

Modi’s senior ministerial colleague Rajnath Singh said the government’s “top priority remains to understand our students’ genuine concerns, address them promptly, and ensure that they know their voices are being heard”.

Government out of touch with what Gen Z wants, analyst says

Indians aged 18 to 40 are estimated to make up about 40% of the population but hold only about 10% of seats in the lower house of parliament, down from more than double that in the 1950s, Tiwari said. The cabinet’s average age is more than 60.

Though the CJP is not a political party, all opposition parties have tried to cash in on the rare opening they have seen in the protests against Modi, by taking up the cause of the students.

The first tests of the youth anger could be in elections next year in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, in Punjab and Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The BJP runs both Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

The bigger risk for Modi could lie in the 2029 national election if the CJP turns itself into a party. Its founder, Abhijeet Dipke, has said no decision had been made so far on joining electoral politics.

Some analysts say young voters have hitherto largely cast ballots along religious or caste lines, benefiting Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. But things may be changing.

An actor - running for his own party and allied with opposition parties - was recently elected chief minister in the prosperous southern state of Tamil Nadu, propelled by his Instagram-first Gen Z fanbase.

“This has been a moment of reckoning for PM Modi - and it shows how they are completely out of touch with what Gen Z wants,” said author Anurag Minus Verma.

“For years, the BJP’s digital political strategy was centred on platforms like X, where much of the political conversation took place. But that conversation has increasingly shifted to Instagram now, particularly among younger users.”

The BJP may rule most of India, and calls itself the world’s largest political party, but it has managed just 10 million Instagram followers in years, less than half what the CJP gained in days.

The BJP has 23 million followers on X and 18 million on Facebook, though Modi’s personal followers on all three social media platforms are massive, ranging between 60 and 107 million.

“You need a kind of authenticity for Instagram,” said columnist Santosh Desai. “Pre-laboured, carefully massaged messages won’t work. This medium was created by this generation and has become what it has thanks to this generation. This generation has no reverence.”

For a decade, Modi has governed as a strong, decisive figure who admits few mistakes, and his government had long resisted sacking ministers under pressure. Indian farmers had to protest for nearly a year before Modi repealed contentious farm laws in 2021.

“From now, a leader who listens is likely to do well,” Tiwari said. “And that is what Modi is trying to show.”

Instead of preparing again for the exam, she wrote “I am sorry” on a plain sheet of paper and took her own life, her family said.

Her death, along with the suicides of other aspiring students who sat medical college entrance exams only to face retakes after it emerged that test papers had been leaked, has become a focus for thousands of young protesters demanding accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

On Saturday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned over the protests.

About two months of protests have evolved from demands for action over the leaks into a broader expression of frustration over education, opportunity and accountability in a country where 65% of the population is under the age of 35.

More than 2 million students sat the pen-and-paper exam, known as the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), in May. After the leak came to light, the government launched an investigation into the test-selling scheme, cancelled the release of the results and ordered a retake in June, forcing candidates back into intense test preparation.

Sana’s family, as well as the families of two other students who took their own lives, attributed their deaths to the voiding of the first exam and the uncertainty that followed.

“The fear killed her. The fear of re-NEET,” Sana’s father, Sheikh Jaffar Hussain, told Reuters at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site, where students have been demanding accountability over the government’s handling of the affair.

The government has not commented on the deaths of the exam candidates. Police officials in Rajasthan, Telangana and Gujarat told Reuters they had registered as suicides the deaths of Sana and two other students whose parents Reuters interviewed, and that the cases were still under investigation. They did not comment on the reason for the deaths, which Reuters was unable to independently confirm.

In mid-May, India’s federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced that teachers and agents at private tuition centres had leaked the exam paper, charging students large sums for access to the questions. The CBI has arrested 13 suspects, including a doctor and several teachers, over the leaks.

Modi said in a video message on Thursday that he was pained by the paper leaks and promised strict action against those responsible, including by trying them in fast-track courts.

“I know that paper leaks are not an ordinary issue. And for millions of students and their guardians, this is painful,” he said.

Surging protest movement

This week, tens of thousands protested in central Delhi, and police used batons and tear gas to disperse crowds. Opposition lawmakers disrupted parliament as they echoed protesters’ calls for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress Party, told reporters that exam paper leaks had gone unpunished, and that there had been more than 150 leaks over the past decade.

Pradhan and his ministry did not respond to a request for comment on past leaks.

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), the Gen Z movement leading the protests in the capital, says 21 students died by suicide in cases it believes were linked to the exam fiasco. Reuters could not independently verify the CJP’s numbers.

The offices of the prime minister, education minister, and the top government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters on the protests and the student deaths.

On Tuesday, Pradhan said the government was committed to discussing NEET and addressing youth concerns.

In a post on X on Saturday announcing his resignation, he said: “I deeply respect the aspirations, feelings, and legitimate expectations of the country’s youth.”

Some political analysts say the unrest, which has spread to other regions of India, presents a challenge for a government that has often described India’s youthful population as one of the country’s biggest strengths.

“When young people are on the streets of Delhi protesting against a malfunctioning education system, it acquires much larger significance,” said Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, a political science professor at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata.

However, analysts also say it will be hard to dent Modi’s popularity. In his 12 years in office, he has weathered a series of major protest movements, including over a new citizenship law and agricultural reforms, without lasting electoral damage.

Fierce competition for education

For thousands of Indian families, the medical college entrance exam is seen as a gateway to financial security, social mobility and prestige in a country where competition to gain professional qualifications is fierce and opportunities can be scarce.

Despite rapid economic growth, India’s official youth unemployment rate stood at 9.9% last year, far above the overall rate of 3.1%.

Only around 6% of candidates secure a place in medical college through the test, according to government data.

Families often spend years of savings or borrow heavily to fund tuition, accommodation and study materials, in the hope that a child will win admission to medical school.

In one such case Rajesh Kumar, a farmer in Jhunjhunu district in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, said he sold land worth 2.8 million rupees ($29,000) and took a bank loan of 1.1 million rupees to support his son Pradeep Kumar’s preparations.

The 22-year-old student had dreamed of becoming a doctor since childhood and moved to the coaching hub of Sikar to study for the exam, his father said. He died by suicide on May 15, days after the release of the exam results was cancelled.

Sitting on a red plastic chair outside his modest brick home, with a young calf tethered nearby, Kumar told Reuters the cancellation shattered his son.

“We are farmers and hardly educated, but my son always wanted to become a doctor,” he said.

Kumar said he blamed what he called a “failure of the system” for his son’s death and that he would not immerse his son’s ashes in the Ganges, part of Hindu last rites, until Education Minister Pradhan resigned.

The CJP and the Congress Party have demanded compensation for the families of students who took their own lives. The government hasn’t offered any, but Kumar, like other relatives Reuters interviewed, said he was not seeking money. “I want accountability,” he said.

‘He wasn’t able to fight more’

Another student, 17-year-old Kahaan Patel, died in Gujarat, Modi’s home state, days before the retake of the exam took place in June.

His father, Prashant Patel, said his son had hoped to study medicine and later go to the United States for higher education.

He said that after the retest was announced, his son tried to prepare again, but could not cope with the uncertainty.

“He wasn’t able to fight more, so he ended it,” Patel told Reuters.

Education activist Nandita Narain, a former president of the Delhi University Teachers’ Association, said the protests reflected concerns about the pressure on students competing for college places, and the growing role of often costly private coaching and commercial interests in education.

“The youth of India have finally awakened to the seriousness of the problem,” Narain said. “The anger which was building up for some time has come to the surface.”

Back at the Delhi protest site, two photographs of students who died by suicide were placed on the stage as protesters continued to chant slogans demanding answers.

The Trump administration on Friday unveiled fresh duties of between 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, including India, alleging those countries had failed to curb imports made with forced labour.

The fresh duty on India is lower than the 12.5% tariff proposed in June and excludes products such as generic pharmaceuticals, smartphones, steel, aluminium and auto parts, India’s commerce ministry said in a statement.

India remains engaged with the United States and would continue discussions on sector-specific issues, including textiles, as part of negotiations on a bilateral trade pact, the statement said.

The two countries have been negotiating a trade agreement since last year as they seek to deepen economic ties and resolve long-standing market access issues.

“The government remains committed to working with the United States towards the early conclusion of the India-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement,” the ministry said.

It said about 45% of India’s exports to the United States would remain outside the scope of the fresh tariff because of product exemptions, while the remaining 55% would face the new 10% duty.

The fresh levy applies on top of standard U.S. most-favoured-nation tariffs.

Reuters reported on Friday that Indian textile and apparel exporters are likely to be at a disadvantage against several Asian rivals under the new tariff regime.