Norway’s Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has claimed victory in Monday’s legislative elections, which also saw a record surge in support for the anti-immigration populist Progress Party.
“We did it,” the 65-year-old leader exclaimed at an election night rally after Labour came out on top, with about 28 percent of votes, which enabled him to remain in power with the support of four other left-wing parties.
Projections by broadcasters NRK and TV2 after polls had closed showed Labour’s left-wing bloc and four smaller parties winning 89 seats, above the 85 needed for a majority.
The Asia Cup cricket tournament starts on Tuesday, but for tournament organisers, sponsors and cricket fans from India and Pakistan, it won’t be before Sunday, when the two regional superpowers face each other, that the event will spring into action.
Any India vs Pakistan match is considered a marquee event, but the recent conflict between the two countries has brought extra heat to the encounter in Dubai.
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After all, it will be their first meeting since the South Asian archrivals returned from the brink of an all-out war in May, when both countries clashed at their shared border before an internationally-brokered ceasefire.
It has been almost 18 years since India and Pakistan last met in a Test match – the five-day version of cricket widely regarded as the pinnacle of the sport – and almost 13 years since either side crossed the border to play a bilateral series.
But between September 14 and 21, if results go the way the organisers hope for, Pakistan and India could end up playing three times.
A decades-old political rift between the two nuclear-armed countries is blamed for the frosty sporting ties, but the same differences are set aside when a regional or global cricket event comes around.
Pakistan was carved out of India in 1947, resulting in a bloody division of the subcontinent by the colonial British. Over the past 78 years, the nations have fought four wars, exchanged countless skirmishes and remained at odds primarily over the disputed Kashmir region that both claim in entirety but administer parts of.
The Asia Cup is no stranger to political influence and has faced the repercussions of strained ties between the two.
When India hosted the tournament in 1990-91 amid an uprising in India-administered Kashmir, Pakistan pulled out. The following edition, in 1993, was called off amid heightened tensions between the two sides.
But despite the strained relations on a political level and the current cricket impasse, which began in 2013, India and Pakistan have regularly faced each other at tournaments for the International Cricket Council (ICC) and for the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Asia Cup.
Pakistani, front, and Indian soldiers stand on their respective sides of their shared border during the flag-lowering ceremony in Wagah, Pakistan on May 4, 2025 [File: Rahat Dar/EPA]
‘Maximising eyeballs and revenue’
Why, then, is it impossible for both sides to separate politics from sport for bilateral exchanges if they can agree to share a cricket field potentially three times in two weeks?
“It’s all about maximising eyeballs and tournament revenue,” Sami Ul Hasan, former head of the ICC’s media and communication departments, told Al Jazeera.
“When the ICC plans a global event, organisers do not consider rankings or any other factors. It’s all about making sure India and Pakistan play against each other at least once.
“Over the last two decades, the ICC has changed the format of its tournaments multiple times in order to ensure that happens.”
The ICC has, in the past, admitted to fixing tournament draws to ensure Pakistan and India end up in the same group.
Post-tournament viewership figures confirm the high ratings for India-Pakistan matches.
According to the ICC, the India vs Pakistan fixture at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was one of the most-watched one-day international matches in India.
It generated over 26 billion minutes of watch time on TV, surpassing the India-Pakistan match from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which had recorded 19.5 billion viewing minutes.
Tournament organisers, such as the ICC and the ACC, typically sell broadcasting rights and sponsorships to the highest bidders.
The ICC and ACC distribute the revenue generated at these tournaments amongst their member nations, who stand to benefit from a higher number of India-Pakistan matches as well.
According to Hasan, the first question posed by broadcasters and sponsors is on India-Pakistan matches.
“It’s tricky to pull off multiple India-Pakistan games at global events, but easier to achieve this outcome in smaller tournaments such as the Asia Cup,” he said.
“Even at the Asia Cup, the most they’ve got so far is two matches per tournament. They have been trying for a third [in the final] but it hasn’t materialised yet.”
In the tournament’s 16 iterations since its inception in 1984, India and Pakistan have never met in a final.
Fans gather at a viewing party for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in New York City, the US, on June 9, 2024 [File: Yuki Iwamura/AP]
‘Don’t care about India vs Pakistan’
Although India versus Pakistan is always the biggest draw at any cricket tournament, fans from other participating nations are not bothered by the lack of attention and respect shown to their teams.
“I only care about Sri Lanka and not about what happens in an India-Pakistan match as long as Sri Lanka walks away with the cup,” Mohammad Akram, a Sri Lankan, said.
“For us, it’s about our team and the same goes for fans of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other countries.
“Sri Lanka has always been sidelined. It has always been about India and Pakistan, but we don’t mind because our team has played the most finals.”
Sri Lanka are the second most successful team in the Asia Cup and have qualified for a record 13 finals, lifting the trophy six times. Another win in the final would tie them with the reigning champions India.
Sri Lanka are the second most successful team at the Asia Cup [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP]
Bending the rules
The focus on this rivalry can sometimes lead to unprecedented decision-making and bending of the rules.
At the last Asia Cup held in Sri Lanka two years ago, the India-Pakistan group-stage game was abandoned due to rain. As both teams reached the next round, and with more rain expected, organisers set aside a reserve day to their Super Four fixture, the only match in that round to benefit from the allocation.
That decision was taken in the middle of the tournament, raising eyebrows and attracting criticism from cricket experts and fans of other participating countries.
“Rules must not be bent for anyone. What happened then did not set a good example for the game,” Hasan said. “Playing conditions and rules are signed off prior to the tournament and are not tinkered with.
“Changing them to accommodate certain fixtures gives out a message that everything is about money and commercialisation of that single fixture.”
India and Pakistan faced each other twice in the Asia Cup 2023, but their first match was abandoned due to bad weather [File: Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images]
India’s sporting ambitions
Despite the ongoing political rift between India and Pakistan, both sets of cricket boards and governments have given these fixtures a green light.
In August, India announced a new sports policy whereby its teams and athletes will not be allowed to engage in bilateral sports events with Pakistan, but can face them in international tournaments.
It also prohibited Indian athletes from travelling to Pakistan and refused to host teams and individuals from Pakistan.
The move, according to former ICC official Hasan, is to ensure that India’s ambitions of bidding for the 2036 Olympics and the 2030 Commonwealth Games are not affected.
“For India to say it doesn’t want to play against Pakistan due to political reasons would weaken its case as a potential global sporting hub,” he said.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India, the world’s most populous nation [Amit Dave/Reuters]
The United States has sanctioned nearly 20 companies and individuals in Myanmar and Cambodia for their involvement in part of a multibillion-dollar global scam industry built on the back of enslaved human trafficking victims.
The Treasury Department on Monday announced it had issued financial and diplomatic sanctions on nine targets operating in Myanmar’s notorious Shwe Kokko city, and 10 in Cambodia.
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“Southeast Asia’s cyber scam industry not only threatens the well-being and financial security of Americans, but also subjects thousands of people to modern slavery,” undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K Hurley said in a statement, adding that Americans last year lost more than $10bn from scam operations originating in the region.
The department said it had issued sanctions against Tin Win, Saw Min Min Oo and Chit Linn Myaing Co for acting on behalf of the Karen National Army – which protects the massive scam operation – as well as She Zhijiang, the creator of the city’s Yatai New City compound. Several companies linked to them were sanctioned as well, which, under the Magnitsky Act, bars them from entry to the US and bank dealings.
In Cambodia, the department sanctioned Dong Lecheng, Xu Aimin, Chen Al Len and Su Liangsheng, along with six companies they are tied to, for their role in turning a number of hotels, office blocks and casinos into scam compounds.
Myanmar and Cambodia have become a cyberscam epicentre in recent years. Run by criminal networks that often have links to Chinese organised crime, the scam operations bilk victims across the globe out of billions of dollars annually.
The schemes, known as “pig-butchering”, involve scammers developing virtual relationships with victims before convincing them to sink money in nonexistent investments.
Many of those operating the scams are victims themselves, lured from abroad with the promise of fake jobs, and held against their will, often through extreme violence. While exact figures are hard to come by, the now-defunct US aid agency has estimated that approximately 150,000 victims are trapped in scam compounds in Cambodia, while the Thai government has estimated that 100,000 are enslaved in Myanmar.
At least 10 people have been killed after a freight train hit a double-decker bus in Mexico, according to authorities.
The crash occurred in an industrial zone on the highway between Atlacomulco, a town about 115km (71 miles) northwest of Mexico City, and Maravatio in the Michoacan state on Monday.
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Images from the crash showed portions of the top deck of the bus smashed in and its metal frame badly dented. First responders were on the scene and cordoned off the area.
Authorities said at least 61 others were injured in the incident.
Authorities work at the scene where a passenger bus was struck by a train in Atlacomulco, Mexico [File: Jorge Alvarado/Reuters]
The State of Mexico’s attorney general’s office said that seven of those killed were women and three were men.
The circumstances surrounding the crash were not immediately clear, although a video circulating online showed the bus inching across the train tracks as it waited in traffic.
Another video, from after the collision, showed the bus at rest to the side of the tracks, with the roof missing. People could be seen moving on the top level as the train slowed to a stop.
“Help me, help me,” a woman could be heard crying.
The train operator, Canadian Pacific Kansas City of Mexico, confirmed the accident and sent its condolences to the families of the victims.
Emergency vehicles are parked at the scene where a passenger bus was struck by a train in Atlacomulco, Mexico [Jorge Alvarado/Reuters]
The Calgary-based company said its personnel were on site and cooperating with authorities.
Rebeca Miranda told The Associated Press news agency her sister and her sister’s daughter-in-law were on the bus when it was hit at about 6:30am (12:30 GMT).
She said her sister was taken to hospital and was able to speak, but the other woman died in the accident. She said both were domestic workers.
A group of 45 Colombian soldiers have been retrieved from a village controlled by rebel fighters in the country’s rural southwest, where authorities say they were blocked from leaving by a group of about 600 civilians.
The Colombian military said on Monday that the last remaining soldiers had been retrieved “without incident” and returned “safe and sound” from El Tambo, located in a region known for coca production and other illicit activity.
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“All military personnel in the hands of civilians have been released,” President Gustavo Petro said in a social media post. “The population in regions of coca leaf and illicit gold [mining] must stop obeying orders from the mafias.”
The government has blamed such incidents, five of which have occurred this year, on splinter groups that spurned a 2016 peace deal between the government and the FARC, a left-wing rebel group.
Colombian authorities allege that such armed groups pressure civilian populations in coca-producing regions into blocking patrols of soldiers in place. Such incidents are not uncommon and mostly result in soldiers being released unharmed, sometimes following mediation by human rights groups.
After the 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), various splinter groups, drug trafficking, and criminal organisations rushed in to take control of areas previously controlled by the left-wing group.
A six-decade civil conflict that resulted in the death of 450,000 people may also contribute to hostility towards the army in some parts of the country. A 2022 truth commission report stated that the government, along with right-wing paramilitaries, were responsible for the majority of civilians killed in the conflict, although all forces involved participated in abuses such as kidnapping and disappearances.
While the Petro government has sought to reach agreements with remaining armed groups, authorities have struggled to address continued violence and instability that have disrupted life for civilians in regions where they remain active.
