Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • UAE carrier flydubai announces terminal change for Riyadh flights from Feb 25

    UAE carrier flydubai announces terminal change for Riyadh flights from Feb 25

    Dubai-based airline flydubai has implemented significant operational changes for its Saudi Arabian routes, announcing the relocation of all Riyadh flights from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 at King Khalid International Airport (RUH) effective February 25, 2026.

    The terminal transition will commence with flights FZ 843 and FZ 844 marking the final departures from Terminal 3 on the Riyadh-Dubai route. Subsequently, flights FZ 849 and FZ 850 will initiate operations from the newly designated Terminal 5 facility on the same date.

    This strategic move comes as the Dubai-Riyadh air corridor continues to demonstrate substantial passenger volume, having recently been ranked as the world’s seventh busiest international route. Aviation industry data for 2025 revealed approximately 4.465 million available seats on this route, underscoring its significance within global aviation networks.

    The terminal reassignment reflects flydubai’s ongoing operational optimization efforts and potential infrastructure adjustments at Riyadh’s primary aviation hub. Passengers booked on Riyadh-bound or departing flights are advised to verify terminal information before commencing travel arrangements to ensure seamless transit experience.

    Industry analysts suggest such terminal reallocations typically aim to enhance operational efficiency, improve passenger flow management, and potentially accommodate future route expansions or increased flight frequencies on high-demand corridors.

  • From Bombay to Mumbai; Kerala to Keralam, why India is changing their names

    From Bombay to Mumbai; Kerala to Keralam, why India is changing their names

    India continues its systematic campaign to reclaim cultural identity through geographical renaming, with the Union Cabinet formally approving Kerala’s transition to ‘Keralam’ this week. This decision, endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, fulfills a persistent demand from the southern state where the Malayalam-language designation has remained in popular usage despite colonial-era alterations.

    The movement represents a broader national pattern of decolonizing India’s geographical terminology. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had previously secured legislative approval through state assembly resolutions in 2023 and 2024, arguing that the name change honors regional linguistic heritage and acknowledges historical continuity predating British rule.

    This renaming initiative occurs against the backdrop of impending state elections, highlighting the political significance of cultural identity in contemporary Indian governance. The timing underscores how linguistic pride and historical reclamation remain potent forces in the nation’s political landscape.

    Historical context reveals that the integration of Malayalam-speaking regions followed a complex path. The early 20th century Aikya Kerala movement advocated for unifying the historical regions of Malabar, Kochi, and Travancore. Post-independence reorganization ultimately created the modern state through the merger of these territories, though excluding southern Travancore areas that joined Tamil Nadu.

    India’s constitutional framework itself acknowledges dual nomenclature, opening with ‘India, that is Bharat,’ establishing precedent for multiple legitimate identities. This philosophical approach has enabled numerous successful renaming initiatives across decades: United Provinces became Uttar Pradesh (1950), Madhya Bharat transformed into Madhya Pradesh (1959), and Mysore evolved into Karnataka (1973).

    Urban centers have undergone similar transformations: Bombay became Mumbai, Calcutta transitioned to Kolkata, Madras changed to Chennai, and Bangalore officially became Bengaluru. More recently, Allahabad’s conversion to Prayagraj and Aurangabad’s shift to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar demonstrate the ongoing nature of this national phenomenon.

    While generally popular, these changes sometimes generate controversy. In Mumbai, occasional vandalism targets signage containing ‘Bombay’ references, though established institutions like the Bombay Natural History Society and educational facilities such as IIT-Bombay retain their original names without opposition, suggesting pragmatic exceptions to the broader trend.

  • Aid groups petition Israel’s top court to halt ban on Gaza, West Bank ops

    Aid groups petition Israel’s top court to halt ban on Gaza, West Bank ops

    In an unprecedented legal challenge, seventeen major international humanitarian organizations have petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to block an impending government order that would force 37 NGOs to cease operations across Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The controversial measure, set to take effect March 1, 2026, would revoke the registration status of organizations including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and CARE unless they provide comprehensive lists of their Palestinian staff members to Israeli authorities.

    The joint petition, described as unprecedented in scale and coordination, seeks an urgent interim injunction to suspend the closures pending full judicial review. The humanitarian groups argue that compliance would expose local employees to potential retaliation, undermine fundamental principles of humanitarian neutrality, and violate European data protection regulations. They maintain that turning aid organizations into information-gathering entities for conflict parties directly contradicts international humanitarian law standards.

    According to UN statistics, 133 NGO workers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began on October 7, 2023, including 15 MSF employees. The petitioners emphasize their critical role in the region, noting they collectively support over half of all food assistance in Gaza, 60% of field hospital operations, and all inpatient treatment for children suffering severe acute malnutrition.

    Practical enforcement has already commenced, with reports of medical supplies being blocked and visas denied to foreign staff. MSF’s head of mission in the Palestinian territories confirmed that international staff haven’t been able to enter Gaza since January, though operations continue for now.

    The legal action emerges amid Israel’s hardening stance toward humanitarian actors, following the 2025 ban on UNRWA operations within Israel and coordination restrictions in the West Bank. The current regulatory changes stem from March 2025 legislation updating registration frameworks for foreign organizations working with Palestinians, including provisions for application denial and registration revocation.

    The NGOs have proposed alternative compliance mechanisms including independent sanctions screening and donor-audited vetting systems, arguing that as an occupying power, Israel must facilitate civilian relief under Geneva Convention obligations rather than obstruct humanitarian operations.

  • China’s top court enhances judicial strategies for financial cases

    China’s top court enhances judicial strategies for financial cases

    In a significant move to bolster its financial legal framework, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has unveiled comprehensive plans to develop specialized judicial strategies for emerging financial sectors. The initiative specifically targets complex areas including private equity funds and virtual currencies, aiming to strengthen judicial protection in these rapidly evolving markets.

    Chief Judge Wang Chuang of the SPC’s Second Civil Division announced that the court will draft detailed judicial interpretations concerning civil compensation for securities market violations, particularly insider trading and market manipulation. This effort seeks to refine legal proceedings and establish clearer guidelines for handling such cases.

    The announcement comes amid a substantial increase in financial litigation throughout China. Official data reveals that Chinese courts handled over 2.7 million financial cases in 2025, marking a 1.7 percent increase from the previous year. These cases spanned multiple emerging sectors including technology finance, digital finance, pension finance, and green finance.

    Notably, securities and insurance disputes have seen particularly dramatic growth. Courts nationwide processed 27,000 securities cases and 392,000 insurance disputes in 2025, representing staggering increases of 63.6 percent and 21.3 percent respectively compared to 2024. This surge has prompted judicial authorities to intensify efforts to protect investors and consumers through strengthened legal mechanisms.

    Beyond immediate case management, the SPC is pursuing structural enhancements to China’s financial judiciary system. Plans are underway to improve the establishment of specialized bankruptcy courts across the country and optimize adjudication processes within this sector. These developments represent China’s proactive approach to creating a robust legal environment capable of supporting its increasingly complex financial ecosystem.

  • Jharkhand air ambulance crash: Father says lack of medical facilities led to tragic loss

    Jharkhand air ambulance crash: Father says lack of medical facilities led to tragic loss

    A devastating air ambulance crash in Jharkhand has unveiled profound systemic failures in India’s rural healthcare infrastructure, leaving multiple families shattered and raising urgent questions about medical accessibility. The Beechcraft aircraft, transporting a critically burned patient to Delhi for specialized treatment, crashed Monday after encountering severe weather and losing communication with air traffic control.

    Among the seven fatalities were two pilots, a paramedic, Dr. Vikram Kumar Gupta, his patient Sanjay Kumar (who had sustained 60% burns), and two family members. The tragedy has highlighted the desperate measures families must take to access adequate medical care, with the patient’s relatives reportedly taking substantial loans to charter the emergency flight.

    Dr. Gupta’s father, who sold ancestral farmland to fund his son’s medical education, expressed unimaginable grief and frustration. ‘I sacrificed everything to make my son a doctor. If Ranchi had proper medical facilities, this transfer would never have been necessary,’ he stated through tears during a heartbreaking press conference.

    The emotional aftermath has revealed multiple layers of tragedy: a young doctor killed while trying to save a patient, families driven to financial ruin for basic healthcare, and a healthcare system that forces dangerous medical evacuations. Dr. Gupta’s uncle recounted how the promising physician had recently encouraged his family to ‘relax’ as his career was beginning to provide stability, making the loss particularly devastating.

    This incident follows a pattern of medical evacuation tragedies in India and raises critical questions about healthcare equity, emergency medical transport safety protocols, and the urgent need for improved critical care facilities in rural regions. As families mourn their losses, the crash has become a symbol of the human cost of healthcare disparities.

  • Whole roasted lamb lands Chongqing restaurant in trouble

    Whole roasted lamb lands Chongqing restaurant in trouble

    A prominent roasted lamb establishment in Chongqing has encountered significant regulatory sanctions after authorities uncovered deceptive practices involving artificial weight inflation of livestock prior to slaughter. The municipal market supervision administration released an investigative report confirming that ‘Dacaoyuan Whole Roasted Lamb’ restaurant on Nanbin Road had excessively fed lambs with corn, hay, and water to artificially boost their live weight measurements.

    The case came to public attention when a consumer who had purchased a premium roasted lamb package through Meituan, China’s leading delivery platform, noticed substantial discrepancies in the final product. According to official documentation, the customer personally selected a lamb weighing 18 kilograms during a morning visit on February 16, marking the animal’s legs and tail for identification. Upon returning that evening to collect her prepared order, she immediately observed the roasted lamb appeared conspicuously undersized. Subsequent verification confirmed the cooked product—excluding head, blood, hooves, skin, and internal organs—weighed merely 3.45 kilograms, representing an 80% reduction from the originally measured live weight.

    Market regulatory authorities launched a comprehensive investigation involving consumer interviews, staff testimony analysis, transaction record examination, and video surveillance review. Technical experts from a legal metrology institute were commissioned to verify measurement instrument accuracy. The investigation concluded the restaurant had violated multiple provisions of China’s Consumer Rights Protection Law through deliberate pre-slaughter weight manipulation practices.

    The restaurant has been ordered to immediately cease all illegal operations and provide compensation under China’s ‘refund one, compensate three’ policy framework. This requires full reimbursement of the original purchase price plus additional damages equivalent to three times the transaction value. Market supervision officials emphasized their ongoing commitment to investigating similar practices across the food service industry to maintain market integrity and protect consumer rights.

  • Early land plants reshaped Earth 30m yrs earlier than thought, study finds

    Early land plants reshaped Earth 30m yrs earlier than thought, study finds

    A groundbreaking international study has revealed that early terrestrial vegetation began fundamentally reshaping Earth’s planetary systems approximately 30 million years earlier than scientific consensus previously held. Published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the research conducted by scientists from China, the United States, and the United Kingdom provides compelling new evidence that land plants emerged as environmental engineers during the Late Ordovician period around 455 million years ago.

    The research team employed sophisticated analysis of marine sediment records, identifying a significant increase in carbon-to-phosphorus ratios that coincided with the proposed timeline of plant expansion. This geochemical signature indicates a substantial rise in terrestrial net primary productivity, fundamentally different from marine production systems due to its distinctive carbon-to-phosphorus composition.

    According to Professor Zhao Mingyu, corresponding author from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, these early plants triggered a cascade of environmental transformations. ‘Greater organic carbon burial would have promoted atmospheric oxygen accumulation while drawing down carbon dioxide levels,’ Zhao explained. These processes were further amplified by intensified silicate and phosphorus weathering linked to rapid plant diversification.

    The study suggests that the Laurentian continent, part of modern North America, served as the initial epicenter for this botanical expansion. The environmental changes were so profound that they potentially contributed to Late Ordovician glaciation events and influenced mass extinction patterns. Following initial ecological disruption, the increased oxygenation eventually created conditions favorable for the evolution of primitive vertebrates, including early fish species.

    This research fundamentally recalibrates our understanding of planetary evolution, demonstrating how terrestrial vegetation served as a primary driver in creating Earth’s habitable atmosphere and shaping the course of biological evolution millions of years earlier than previously documented.

  • Shanghai records double-digit consumption growth during the Chinese New Year

    Shanghai records double-digit consumption growth during the Chinese New Year

    Shanghai witnessed a remarkable surge in consumer activity during the recent Spring Festival holiday, with official data revealing a substantial 12.8% year-on-year increase in overall spending. According to the Consumer Market Big Data Laboratory (Shanghai), total consumption across both physical and digital platforms reached an impressive 60.35 billion yuan ($8.76 billion) during the eight-day holiday period from February 15 to 22.

    The breakdown shows particularly strong performance in offline commerce, which jumped 15.4% to 36.55 billion yuan, while online spending maintained solid growth at 8.9%, totaling 23.80 billion yuan. The tourism sector emerged as a standout performer, with comprehensive travel-related expenditures—encompassing accommodation, dining, transportation, entertainment, shopping, and sightseeing—soaring 20.9% to 25.61 billion yuan.

    Shanghai’s popularity as a holiday destination was further evidenced by the arrival of 21.67 million visitors during the festive period, as monitored by the city’s tourism big data systems. The municipal government’s strategic initiatives played a crucial role in stimulating economic activity, with over 300 daily promotional events organized throughout the festival. Additional incentives including consumption vouchers and prize invoice programs effectively boosted consumer participation and spending enthusiasm.

    The city’s commercial districts demonstrated vibrant performance, with Shanghai’s 19 major business hubs recording combined sales of 4.78 billion yuan—a 12% increase from the previous year. These areas also experienced significant foot traffic growth, with average daily visitor numbers reaching 3.19 million, representing a 15.8% year-on-year increase, indicating strong consumer confidence and robust market vitality.

  • Iran issues death sentence linked to January unrest, source tells Reuters

    Iran issues death sentence linked to January unrest, source tells Reuters

    An Iranian revolutionary court has delivered its first capital punishment verdict in connection with the widespread civil unrest that shook the nation in January, according to information received by Reuters. The sentence was imposed on Mohammad Abbasi, charged with ‘enmity against god’ (moharebeh), a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic legal code.

    The judicial decision emerges against the backdrop of what has been described as the most severe domestic turmoil since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. International observers estimate that thousands of protesters lost their lives during government crackdowns on the demonstrations that swept across multiple cities.

    The development occurs despite previous warnings from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who during the unrest period cautioned Tehran against carrying out executions, suggesting potential military response should such sentences be implemented. Notably, Iran’s judiciary has not formally announced Abbasi’s sentence through official channels.

    In a related development, Iranian authorities recently extended clemency to over 2,000 convicts, but explicitly excluded individuals detained in connection with protest-related cases from this amnesty initiative. This selective approach to pardons underscores the government’s firm stance against those participating in anti-establishment demonstrations.

    The January protests represented a significant challenge to Iran’s leadership, with citizens taking to the streets to voice grievances over various political and social issues. The judicial response, including this landmark death sentence, signals the establishment’s determination to suppress dissent through stringent legal measures.

  • Israel shuts down five Palestinian media outlets in Jerusalem

    Israel shuts down five Palestinian media outlets in Jerusalem

    In a significant escalation of media restrictions, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has formally outlawed five Palestinian media organizations operating in occupied East Jerusalem, designating them as ‘terrorist organizations’. The banned outlets—Quds Plus, Miraj, Al-Maydan, Al Quds al-Asima, and Asima Agency—were targeted under the nation’s anti-terrorism legislation, a move that grants authorities sweeping powers to shutter operations, block digital content, and prohibit all journalistic activities.

    The government’s decision, announced via Israeli Army Radio on Sunday, was reportedly instigated by intelligence from the Shin Bet internal security agency. The agency alleged that Hamas was utilizing these media platforms as fronts to incite tensions throughout Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan. No specific evidence substantiating these claims was publicly disclosed by Israeli officials.

    Commentators and regional experts have interpreted the ban as a deliberate strategy to suppress reporting on Israeli activities at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s most sacred sites. Abdullah Marouf, a professor specializing in Jerusalem studies, stated on social media platform X that the move signals an impending ‘decisive’ Israeli action in the city, intended to preemptively silence local media voices.

    In response to the order, Asima Agency announced a suspension of all its journalistic work. The outlet clarified that this was not an abandonment of its mission but a necessary measure to shield its reporters from ‘the oppression and aggression of the occupation,’ asserting its status as an independent, self-funded entity.

    The crackdown precedes the recent arrest of Palestinian journalist Nisreen Salem Al-Abd while she was reporting in Jerusalem. Although later released, she was placed under a 10-day house arrest, banned from using her phone or social media, and prohibited from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque for 180 days.

    The Palestinian Media Forum condemned Israel’s media ban as a ‘blatant violation of press freedom’ and an attempt to distort the Palestinian narrative internationally. This incident occurs against a backdrop of heightened restrictions; last week, Israeli authorities barred thousands of Palestinian worshippers with valid permits from attending the first Friday prayer of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa.

    The mosque remains a deeply symbolic site within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, representing both the struggle for Palestinian identity and the aspirations of ultra-nationalist Israelis. Since Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Palestinian access has been increasingly curtailed while Jewish presence is expanded—a breach of longstanding international agreements that preserve its Islamic character. Recent years have seen frequent Israeli police raids and the arrest of Islamic Waqf officials, further inflaming religious and political tensions.