It is quite an interesting choice for the largest film festival in the Netherlands to close with a film that explicitly denounces the violence of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, but one can always expect interesting choices from the International Film Festival Rotterdam. This year’s closing film, Mouly Surya’s “This City Is a Battlefield,” takes place in Jakarta in 1946 as Nationalist leaders have declared independence but the city remains under Dutch control, with tensions escalating to bloody, violent clashes. Speaking with Variety ahead of the festival gala, Surya says she...

You have been granted access, use your keyboard to continue reading. The order, giving Afghans until March 31 to go elsewhere in Pakistan, came on the heels of President Trump’s suspension of refugee admissions to the United States. Pakistan to Force Tens of Thousands of Afghan Refugees Out of the Capital Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who have congregated in Pakistan’s capital region to seek resettlement in other countries are being ordered to move elsewhere in Pakistan by March 31. The refugees have arrived in large numbers in the...

I retired Taiwanese general named Kao An-kuo made a video of himself dressed in camouflage, calling on Taiwan’s armed forces to overthrow the island’s government. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party ( ) was full of “ethnic traitors” who were selling Taiwan out to America, he said, and obstructing the Chinese nation’s great rejuvenation. At that time it drew little attention. Mr Kao was the ageing leader of a fringe pro-unification group with scarce support in Taiwanese society. But in January Mr Kao, who is now 80, was indicted for military...

I , Ishiba Shigeru joined the golf club. But he abandoned the sport after entering politics. The elitist hobby did not suit his image as a man of the people from rural Tottori, in Japan’s west (never mind that, like many Japanese politicians, he descends from a political dynasty). His loyal grassroots following ultimately helped him to become his country’s prime minister. Alas, a good short game would have been an asset in one of his most important tasks as Japan’s leader: managing the relationship with America’s mercurial president, Donald...

I of tigers are everywhere. The apex predator is seen accompanying Hindu gods and its face adorns political banners. Yet for most of the country’s history, spotting the actual animal had become ever harder. Poaching, deforestation and other human activity caused tiger populations to collapse from 40,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to fewer than 1,500 in 2006.

I humbling admission for an old ally. “They don’t listen to us,” General Asim Munir, Pakistan’s army chief, complained about the Afghan Taliban last month. In General Munir’s reckoning Pakistan is not asking for much. All the country needs from its “brotherly neighbour” is to stop the “spread of terrorism in Pakistan from across the border”. A helping hand, as it were, from the Afghan Taliban.

President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid could be opening up opportunities for China to boost its standing on the global stage. Tap the Play button at the top of any article to hear it read aloud. President Trump’s tariffs hurt China, but his other actions have alienated U.S. allies, giving Beijing an opening to strengthen its global standing. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox. Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any...

You have been granted access, use your keyboard to continue reading. Tap the Play button at the top of any article to hear it read aloud. Pilgrims taking a holy bath and praying late last month at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India.Credit... The Maha Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival in India that is drawing hundreds of millions of pilgrims, is a powerful marketing tool for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies. The Divine, the Digital and the Political at Humanity’s Largest Gathering Pilgrims taking a holy bath...

Moo Deng doesn’t bounce like she did a couple months ago. But she still resembles a ripe avocado overstuffed with pâté. She retains a moist sheen. She snuffles. She yawns. She naps. She very occasionally sniffs her mother’s hindquarters, then recoils in a springy huff. Mostly, Moo Deng ignores the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who have schlepped to an out-of-the-way zoo for one reason: her. She is, somewhat unaccountably, Thailand’s most famous creature in forever, human or pachyderm. Yet if she’s not in the pool, her eyes and nostrils...