Nikkei Asia
중도 성향
정치
"SOIL" · 총 81건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 81,946건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.3(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,163건(5.1%)·중립 75,752건(92.4%)·부정 2,031건(2.5%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.8(중도 균형)입니다.
Baku called the reports attributed to anonymous sources and unconfirmed by either Azerbaijan or Israel "completely groundless," telling Euronews it had never provided its territory for any action against a third country, including Iran, with which it shares a 700-kilometre border.
[Liberian Observer] Environmental experts, civil society organizations, community leaders and government stakeholders have raised serious concerns over the growing threat of soil, water, and waste pollution across communities in Montserrado County, calling for urgent intervention, stronger policies and increased public awareness.
England opener Emilio Gay marked his Test debut against New Zealand at Lord's with a composed 57 in the second innings. His crucial half-century anchored the hosts against a disciplined pace attack. With this knock, Gay became the first England men's opener to score a debut fifty on home soil since Andrew Strauss in 2004, stabilising the top order.
Envisioned by Sadhguru, the broader Save Soil–Cauvery Calling initiative aims to facilitate the planting of 242 crore trees on farmlands across the river basin
The products address the twin challenges of scientific fish waste disposal and the growing need for eco-friendly nutrient sources that enhance soil fertility and agricultural productivity
Labourer, sleeping on road, dies after soil for UP road project 'dumped' over him
Security forces killed four terrorists in two separate intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Thursday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the four terrorists killed during the operations belonged to Fitna Al Khawarij, referring to the term used by the state to designate members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “On [the] reported presence of khwarij, an intelligence-based operation (IBO) was conducted by security forces in Dera Ismail Khan district,” ISPR said in a statement. “During [the] conduct of the operation, own troops effectively engaged [the] khwarij location and after [an] intense exchange of fire, two khwarij … were sent to hell.” ISPR added that another IBO was conducted in the Mohmand district of the province. “In [the] ensuing skillful engagement, two more khwarij were effectively neutralised,” the statement added. It further said weapons and ammunition were recovered from the dead terrorists, who remained actively involved in terrorist activities in the area. “Sanitisation operations are being conducted to eliminate any other kharji found in the area, as [the] relentless Counter Terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm e Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” ISPR stated. At the end of last month, 13 terrorists were killed during a two-day operation in KP’s Darra Adamkhel area, including two Afghan nationals who belonged to the Tariq Gidar group — a TTP affiliate. There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
For over two decades, Pakistan has been locked in a war, not of its choosing but one that it cannot escape. Long after the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan continues to absorb the strategic shockwaves of a conflict whose centre of gravity may have shifted, but not disappeared. The return of the Taliban to power in Kabul has transformed the security landscape of South and Central Asia, with Pakistan bearing the most immediate and severe consequences. This is not merely a bilateral problem between neighbours. It is a global security challenge with implications stretching from West Asia to Europe, amid growing international concern over Afghanistan becoming a renewed militant hub. Pakistan’s role in the post-9/11 international order was clear and costly. As a frontline partner of the United States and Nato, Pakistan provided intelligence cooperation, logistics, and sustained military operations against Al Qaeda and affiliated networks. It was later designated a Major Non-Nato Ally, reflecting its centrality to global counterterrorism efforts. Yet, while international forces eventually exited Afghanistan, Pakistan’s war did not end. Instead, it evolved into a long war of attrition aimed at preventing the spillover of militancy from Afghan territory into the region and beyond. The cost Pakistan has paid is extraordinary. Over the past two decades, approximately 100,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorism, including civilians, security personnel, and children, most tragically symbolised by the massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar. The site of a truck bomb attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad on September 20, 2008. — Reuters/File The economic toll exceeds $150 billion, encompassing destroyed infrastructure, lost investment, and enduring reputational damage. These figures are not abstractions; they represent one of the highest sacrifices borne by any country in the global war on terror. Over the years, Pakistan has pursued a sustained counterterrorism strategy. It dismantled major terrorist sanctuaries through sequential operations, strengthened its legal framework via the Anti-Terrorism Act and National Action Plan, operationalised dedicated counterterrorism institutions, and imposed financial controls to disrupt terrorist funding. By the late 2010s, violence had dropped sharply, and Pakistan had rebuilt a measure of internal security through institutional resilience rather than episodic force. That progress has been severely undermined by the Taliban’s return to power. Despite commitments under the 2020 Doha framework to prevent Afghan soil from being used against other states, militancy accelerated after the release of thousands of prisoners and the collapse of the Afghan republic. Today, Afghanistan has once again become a permissive environment for transnational jihadist groups, as documented by the United Nations Monitoring teams, contradicting the Doha pledge that Afghan soil would not be used to threaten the security of the United States and its allies. What makes the current situation uniquely dangerous is that the Taliban are no longer an insurgent movement operating from the shadows; they control an entire state. They possess territory, resources, institutions, and an education system that is being systematically redesigned to serve ideological ends. Analysts warn that this form of state capture amounts to long-term societal engineering with consequences that do not remain confined to one country. For Pakistan, the impact is direct and violent. Afghan soil is being used as a launchpad for cross-border terrorism. Pakistani authorities have identified camps, staging areas, and logistics nodes inside Afghanistan operated by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other groups. Leaders of the TTP terror outfit operate openly from Afghan cities, enjoying protection and material support. A security personnel stands guard at an imambargah following an explosion, in Islamabad on February 6, 2026. — AFP/File In 2025 alone, Pakistan conducted more than 75,000 intelligence-based operations across the country, dismantling terrorist formations and neutralising militants. A striking proportion of those involved were Afghan nationals, reflecting the depth of Afghan-side involvement in anti-Pakistan terrorism. This has repeatedly surfaced in international reporting as Pakistan confronted a sustained spike in attacks and arrests tied to cross-border militant facilitation. Pakistan’s geographic exposure magnifies the threat. It shares a 2,670-kilometre border — by far the longest of any neighbouring state. The border cuts through rugged terrain and dense kinship networks, which are routinely exploited by militant groups for infiltration, making Pakistan the primary firewall against the westward diffusion of jihadist violence. The notion that Pakistan can be destabilised without broader repercussions is therefore dangerously myopic. Policies that tolerate, enable, or instrumentalise militant proxies against Pakistan may appear tactically convenient to some regional actors, but they undermine collective security. Terrorist ecosystems, once empowered, rarely remain controllable. As global benchmarking shows, Pakistan continues to rank among the states most affected by terrorism, reinforcing the scale of the threat confronting it. Afghanistan’s transformation into a hub for transnational militancy is now acknowledged not only by Pakistan but by Russia, China, Iran, Central Asian states, as well as UN monitoring bodies. The problem is no longer one of competing narratives; it is a documented security reality, as international reporting continues to describe Afghanistan as a post-withdrawal magnet for armed networks. Despite immense pressure, Pakistan has consistently chosen engagement over abandonment. When Kabul fell in 2021, and much of the international community closed its embassies, Pakistan kept its mission open and facilitated evacuations. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Afghan Defence Minister Maulvi Sahib Muhammad Yaqub Mujahid shake hands after signing a ceasefire deal between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar on October 19, 2025. — X/@KhawajaMAsif/File It has advocated for humanitarian support to the Afghan people, called for the unfreezing of Afghan assets to prevent economic collapse, and invested in trade, transit, and border mechanisms to stabilise livelihoods. Pakistan has also hosted millions of Afghan refugees for decades, absorbing a humanitarian burden that few states would tolerate, even though it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. These actions underscore a central truth: Pakistan’s objective is not confrontation with Afghanistan but containment of a threat that endangers the region and the world. Yet engagement without accountability has limits. The Taliban’s failure to take verifiable action against terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil has turned Afghanistan into a net exporter of insecurity. Major reporting has consistently linked Afghanistan’s permissive environment with the rising tempo of attacks in Pakistan. Allowing this trajectory to continue unchecked risks recreating the pre-9/11 environment — this time with more sophisticated networks, advanced weaponry left behind after the Western withdrawal, and digital tools that accelerate recruitment and radicalisation. Evidence of ideological-military institutionalisation is increasingly visible, including reports of new militant training camps in Afghanistan linked to Taliban factions and allied groups. For major powers, the strategic implications are clear. Supporting Pakistan in its efforts to eradicate cross-border terrorism is not a favour; it is a strategic necessity that requires intelligence cooperation, diplomatic backing, and coordinated international pressure on the Taliban to honour their commitments, dismantle terrorist sanctuaries, and end cross-border militancy. The alternative strategic neglect or proxy-driven destabilisation would be far costlier. Pakistan’s war on terror has never been only Pakistan’s war. It has been fought, often quietly and at enormous human cost, on behalf of a global order that depends on preventing ungoverned or ideologically weaponised spaces from becoming incubators of transnational violence. Pakistan’s 2025 operational tempo and threat environment have been extensively documented in international reporting tracking the resurgence of militant violence. If the international community fails to recognise this reality, it risks learning once again, perhaps too late, that terrorism ignored at its source rarely stays there. The warning is no longer theoretical: international reports increasingly describe Afghanistan’s post-2021 environment as a convergence space for armed networks with regional reach, reinforcing the urgency of collective action against the renewed Afghanistan-based militant threat. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dawn.
Under the shade of recently planted poplars in Afghanistan, village leader Ghulam Ali Poya is proud to see residents rediscover the value of trees after years of wartime deforestation. “There were forests of pistachio trees,” he told AFP, gesturing to the bare mountains that surround Char Bagh’s mud homes. “During the conflicts and the civil war, they were destroyed; no one could stop the logging.” From the 1979 Soviet invasion until the fall of the first Taliban government in the early 2000s, “around 50 per cent of Afghanistan’s forest cover was lost”, said Mohammad Nasir Shalizi, a researcher at North Carolina State University. In eastern Afghanistan, timber smuggling to Pakistan drove massive logging, while in the more arid central and northern “pistachio belt”, residents used wood for heating and cooking. This photograph taken on May 18, 2026 shows Afghan farmer Bas Begum Ahmadi (R) with her husband Abdul Samad Ahmadi standing next to paulownia trees at her family-owned plot. —AFP But in the last two decades, deforestation has slowed “substantially”, Shalizi said. Forest cover has increased 35pc nationwide since 2011, according to the National Statistics and Information Authority, though just 2.5pc of Afghanistan was forested in 2025 and cover is still shrinking in some areas. But experts say communities are working to improve forest cover. Both the US-backed government, in place until 2021, and the current Taliban administration have supported tree-planting campaigns. In Char Bagh, the Aga Khan Development Network funded a kilometre-square grove which includes poplars, paulownias, pomegranates and persimmons. This photograph taken on May 11, 2026 shows pine seedlings at a nursery in Paghman district, Kabul province. Under the shade of recently planted poplars in northeastern Afghanistan. —AFP ‘A model’ The land belongs to farmer Bas Begum Ahmadi, who hopes to sell fruit and homemade jam, but it is also open to the community of 350 families. “Having these trees makes me feel good; my environment is green, and we breathe fresh air,” said the 45-year-old, who tends the trees with her husband to support their four children. This photograph taken on April 20, 2026 shows Afghan municipality workers and residents planting trees next to a park in Charikar district, Parwan province. —AFP This “micro-forest” follows Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki’s principles: dense planting of mostly local species of varying heights. It is noticeably cooler than the surrounding bare fields and offers twigs for stove fuel and leaves that feed livestock. Micro-forests “restore ecosystems, improve soil fertility, help climate resilience, and support community livelihood,” said Parisa Malikzada, Afghanistan agriculture coordinator for the organisation, which has planted 500 micro-forests in seven provinces. Poya said the forest, next to a river, prevents soil erosion during flooding and offers “a model for people”. This photograph taken on May 18, 2026 shows Afghan farmer Abdul Samad Ahmadi examining a paulownia tree at his family-owned plot, which supports a micro-forest in the Char Bagh area of Doshi district, Baghlan province. —AFP “Everyone comes to have a look, and they’d like to have one too,” he told AFP. In Afghanistan, where many places are hard to reach and the state has limited funds, community-based forest management is the most effective approach to reforestation, experts told AFP. Penalties for tree cutting Afghan authorities have set a goal of planting 200 million trees between 2023 and 2030, relying partly on NGOs, the United Nations and the private sector. “Last year, the target was eight million, but in the end, 17 million were planted,” said Rohullah Amin, head of climate change at the General Environmental Protection Agency, where he has worked for more than a decade. This year’s goal is nine million. This photograph taken on May 11, 2026 shows deodar cedar seedlings at a nursery in Paghman district, Kabul province. Under the shade of recently planted poplars in northeastern Afghanistan. —AFP Challenges include selecting native, climate-adapted species, water scarcity, and livestock damaging saplings. Some forests have struggled with “lack of care or water”, Amin acknowledged, including one site where drought killed 70pc of the planted pines. In some places, tribal councils protect forests and penalise residents who damage them. Elsewhere, “forest management associations” run by elected villagers and farmers have been set up. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has helped them plant five million trees since 2019, according to its climate change chief, Muhammad Safi. Birds coming back The government created nurseries to grow local species in places such as Paghman on state land on Kabul’s outskirts. Head gardener Mahmood Khwajazada carefully tends almond, pine nut and walnut trees, as well as deodar cedars, for distribution nationwide. “Our Prophet said, ’Even if you have only one day left, plant a tree,” he told AFP. This photograph taken on May 11, 2026 shows Afghan farmers tending to a nursery in Paghman district, Kabul province. Under the shade of recently planted poplars in northeastern Afghanistan. —AFP In Charikar, northeastern Afghanistan, where thousands of saplings were planted this year along streets, in parks and on hillsides, the municipality sees “a change” in people’s attitude towards trees. Ahmad Khalid Sabiri, a resident, said he volunteered to help plant “because it’s beneficial for the environment”. Experts said more work is needed to protect the remaining old growth, as well as planting in forests rather than just in urban areas.
According to CEO Georgy Yemelin, once potential sites are identified, specialists will begin engineering and geodetic surveys, as well as soil assessments
A bill, which passed unanimously, requires the state to decontaminate soil polluted by the pesticide chlordecone. Over 90% of adults in the French overseas territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe are contaminated by the pesticide.
ISLAMABAD: Locals narrate harrowing details of putting out devastating forest fire believed to be human induced, in the ecologically sensitive Kotli Sattian region of Punjab. Caught in the middle of burning towering Pine trees, smoke, and immense heat was Fareha Yousaf and her family. “The ground was so hot that I could feel my feet burn,” Ms Yousaf said. Fareha Yousaf, her husband and two daughters along with their five to six staff members struggled to put out flames that had reached the small fence surrounding their house in Karore village in Kotli Sattian. In the images and videos she shared, her two daughters and staff could be seen picking dry pine needle and shrubs, while others scooped water with plastic mugs from a bucket of water to douse the flames. Fareha Yousaf said there was a burning sensation inside from inhaling smoke. The fires that raged for two days decimated an estimated 3,326.4 hectares of natural forest tree cover across 27 locations in the protected and ecologically rich forest. Forest fire destroyed over 3,000 hectares in Kotli Sattian amid heat wave. According to satellite data released by Suparco on Space4Climate.gov.pk, the analysis comparing imagery from May 9 to May 29 showed extensive damage in Chir pine forests. These forests play a key role in protecting sub-watersheds linked to the Indus and Jhelum river basins. Forest Inspector, Forest Department Punjab, Mohammad Tufail told Dawn that flames reached a towering 100 feet fuelled by gusts of stormy winds. “These are educated people, quite sensitised about risks and consequences of triggering forest fires. It’s lamentable that anyone would act so carelessly,” he said, explaining that in his area of jurisdiction, which was labeled, Forest 99, fires had not raged since 2016-17. He complained about lack of proper firefighting equipment and manpower to overcome forest fires. “We were less than a dozen forest staff members with brooms to put out flames that were engulfing Pine trees and dry shrubs fast,” he said. According to Ministry of Climate Change, forest fire destroys over 3,000 hectares in Kotli Sattian amid heat wave. These forest fire events generally affect the breeding season of the birds, animals, regeneration loss of seedlings and saplings and colonisation of invasive fire tolerant grasses and shrubs. Environmentalists warned that the ecological aftermath extended far beyond the immediate burn scars and that the disaster had severely disrupted the peak breeding season for local birds and wildlife, destroyed vital young seedlings and saplings, and opened the door for invasive, fire-tolerant grasses and shrubs to colonise the damaged terrain. Mohammad Saleem, who is spokesperson for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, told Dawn that the massive wildfire in Kotli Sattian was not an isolated environmental incident. It was a stark warning of a new climate reality confronting Pakistan. “Forest fires are increasingly becoming the ‘new normal’ across the country as rising temperatures, prolonged dry spells, erratic rainfall patterns and recurrent heat waves create ideal conditions for ignition and rapid fire spread.” He said scientific evidence was unequivocal. “A recent study published in NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science found that the climate crisis was intensifying extreme heat events across South Asia, with Pakistan emerging as one of the regional hotspots for increasingly synchronised and severe heat waves. These conditions substantially elevate wildfire risks by drying vegetation and reducing soil moisture. Likewise, a study published in Nature Communications has shown that global warming is expanding wildfire-prone areas and lengthening fire seasons worldwide. According to the World Resources Institute, forest fires now burn more than twice as much tree cover globally as they did two decades ago, largely as a consequence of climate change. He said the future of Pakistan’s forests would be determined not only by climate policies and firefighting equipment, but also by the awareness, vigilance and stewardship of the communities living closest to them. “Local communities are the frontline protectors of our forests, and investing in their engagement, training and ownership is among the most effective defences against the growing threat of wildfires,” he added. While local communities and forest department personnel have successfully contained the blaze in several areas, active fires continue to spread across neighbouring slopes, driven by strong, hot winds that threaten further environmental degradation. According to locals, Kotli Sattian is being promoted by the local government as an upcoming tourist destination, with its pristine natural environment, breathtaking sceneries, the Bisa waterfall, and clear areas for camping. Kotli Sattian is ecologically sensitive because the Murree-Kotli Sattian landscape was dominated by Chir pine forest, steep slopes and sub-watersheds linked with the Indus/Jhelum basin. Kotli Sattian forest area under Punjab Forest Department jurisdiction was about 27,653 acres. Fareha Yousaf said she had never faced such a horrific experience where she feared her family would lose their home. “We are all so scared that even though the fire has been put out, the fear is not going away.” Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2026
The ceremony for the 51-year-old former England captain will take place hours before the first game on US soil in this year's World Cup.
Mother Dairy is launching India's first naturally degradable milk pouch. This new packaging will break down into natural elements in soil over a few years. It aims to tackle plastic waste that escapes recycling systems. The change will not affect consumers. This initiative addresses the significant plastic pollution from milk packaging in Delhi-NCR.
Data from Global Affairs Canada shows more than 2,900 Chinese EVs entered Canada in May, igniting a debate around national security.
Security forces killed 17 terrorists during intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in different districts of Balochistan following the suicide car bomb attack against a shuttle train in Quetta, said a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday. At least 14 people were killed and 20 others were injured in the incident, which took place on May 24. The IBOs were conducted in the districts of Mastung, Nushki, Khuzdar and Kech. The military’s media wing added that multiple terrorist locations were targeted by security personnel during these operations. “Following intense and fierce exchanges of fire, 17 terrorists belonging to Indian-sponsored Fitna al Hindustan have been sent to hell, giving a significant blow to the terrorist networks operating in these areas,” the statement read. The state has designated Balochistan-based terrorist groups as Fitna-al-Hindustan to highlight India’s alleged role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan. ISPR added that weapons, ammunition and a large cache of explosives were recovered from the dead terrorists, as well as improvised explosive devices (IEDs). It added that the terrorists remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area. “Sanitisation operations continue to eliminate terrorists from these areas, as [the] relentless counter-terrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm e Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” ISPR stated. Last month, a major was among five soldiers martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan district, according to ISPR. At least seven terrorists were also killed during the operation, and the operation was carried out by the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps. There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
For 30 years, soccer has been "the sport of the future." Could a World Cup on home soil and an AI-powered talent revolution make it the sport of now?
Canada will have to open its home-soil World Cup run without its captain. Superstar full-back Alphonso Davies confirmed he won’t play in Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 as he recovers from a hamstring injury, he said on the Sid Seixeiro Show on Tuesday. “The first game of the tournament, it won’t […]
Government sanctions 91,918 quintals of seeds for distribution to farmers to improve soil health and boost sustainable agriculture, says Agriculture Minister