‘Cockroach’ party founder released by Indian police

South China Morning Post - Oct 17, 2026

India’s youth-led Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijeet Dipke was released from detention on Saturday, a day after his arrest during a police crackdown on protests against the election authority. Dipke, 31, was detained Friday in New Delhi as he headed to join a rally that the CJP protest movement had called in the capital’s central Connaught Place district. He walked out of a police station on Saturday afternoon waving to the media and giving a thumbs up as he was driven away. “Abhijeet Dipke...

Read full article

More News

Deadly School Roof Collapse in Pakistan Raises Questions Over Regulation
Oct 17, 2026
Deadly School Roof Collapse in Pakistan Raises Questions Over Regulation

A teacher and 32 children were killed in northwest Pakistan in an episode has prompted safety inspections of schools across the region.

Indian Gen Z Protest Leader Is Released on Bail After Arrest
Oct 17, 2026
Indian Gen Z Protest Leader Is Released on Bail After Arrest

Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, was detained on his way to a protest called to demand the resignation of India’s top election official.

Dancing Salaryman Pokes Fun at Japan’s Buttoned-Down Culture
Oct 17, 2026
Dancing Salaryman Pokes Fun at Japan’s Buttoned-Down Culture

Toru Utsumi has won more than a million fans on TikTok and Instagram with short, fancy-free videos.

Japan’s ‘Dancing Salaryman’ Can’t Stop Grooving
Oct 17, 2026
Japan’s ‘Dancing Salaryman’ Can’t Stop Grooving

Toru Utsumi, 60, works as a management consultant, but on his days off, he has become a global internet star — despite some local disapproval.

A Wayward Shark Becomes a Celebrity in South Korea
Oct 17, 2026
A Wayward Shark Becomes a Celebrity in South Korea

Stranded in a port waterway for weeks, the 10-foot fish has attracted more than a million spectators, while officials try to guide her back to open sea.

China’s proposed AI tech export bans may create short-term costs, long-term gains: analysts
Oct 17, 2026
China’s proposed AI tech export bans may create short-term costs, long-term gains: analysts

China’s proposed export bans and controls of artificial intelligence technologies aim to tighten Beijing’s grip in the strategically vital sector, casting a cloud over the commercial prospects of domestic model developers in the global AI race, analysts say. The new measures come as concerns mount globally over the risks of advanced AI systems, following a string of recent cyberattacks, while also underscoring AI’s growing national security importance for both Beijing and Washington. Zhang Yi,...

Bangladesh tourist resort fire kills 10
Oct 17, 2026
Bangladesh tourist resort fire kills 10

At least 10 tourists have been killed in a fire at a seaside resort in the southeastern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar, the country’s largest travel destination, officials said on Saturday. Dolon Acharya, an officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence department, said the fire broke out in the morning at Tuptup Resto and Resort at Patuartek beach. The flames gutted the entire facility. The scene is located more than 320km (199 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka. Acharya said...

Reporter’s notebook: Kimi’s AI credit card turns spending into computing quotas – with limits
Oct 17, 2026
Reporter’s notebook: Kimi’s AI credit card turns spending into computing quotas – with limits

China’s artificial intelligence companies have spent years persuading consumers to pay for their technology. Now, Moonshot AI, the start-up behind Kimi, is taking a different approach: offering AI computing benefits through a credit card. The company has teamed up with the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and American Express for what it calls “the world’s first AI native credit card”. After getting one for myself, the experience offered an intriguing way to bring AI services into everyday...

Modi under pressure as India’s youth protests rise to highest level in a decade
Oct 17, 2026
Modi under pressure as India’s youth protests rise to highest level in a decade

Despite ⁠tens of thousands of security personnel deployed to stop them, youth protesters in India scaled barricades last ⁠week, chanted anti-government slogans and scuffled with police officers trying to drag them away. “Long live the revolution,” shouted one young man before police bundled him into a bus. Street protests in India this year are likely to be higher than at any time in the past decade, the independent Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project has said, as dissent mounts...

Asean climate monitor issues highest alert level over toxic haze
Oct 17, 2026
Asean climate monitor issues highest alert level over toxic haze

Ongoing fires in Indonesia that have blanketed parts of Southeast Asia with toxic haze have triggered the highest-level alert by the regional bloc’s climate and fire monitor. “Activation of Alert Level 3 for the Southern Asean region,” the Singapore Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) said on its website, seen on Saturday. Based near Singapore’s Changi Airport, the ASMC uses a four-tiered alert level system, from zero to three, with the highest triggered if there is a “high risk of...

Asean’s Myanmar peace push needs Japan’s ‘silent diplomacy’
Oct 17, 2026
Asean’s Myanmar peace push needs Japan’s ‘silent diplomacy’

Japan has long established itself as a pioneer of mediation in Southeast Asia. In 1990, for example, its officials helped broker talks between Cambodia’s warring factions, supplementing international efforts to end conflict in the country. Now, Tokyo is seeking to upgrade its diplomatic toolkit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Peace Mediation Unit was set up in March, followed by the launch of the Parliamentary Association for Peace Mediation in May. Around the same time, the...

Indo Inquirer

Indo Inquirer is the leading online news network in Indonesia, providing daily breaking news with in-depth news coverage and the best photojournalism. We deliver compelling and diverse engaging stories around the world.

Newsletter