More than a dozen people have been ‘detained’ by police in Buenos Aires after rioting broke out following Argentina’s World Cup final loss. 

Thousands gathered in the streets of the Argentinian capital to watch the final, hoping to see Lionel Messi and co retain the World Cup trophy. However, they were left bitterly disappointed. 

Enzo Fernandez was sent off earlier in the game, giving Spain the advantage. Ferran Torres took the initiative with a goal in extra time to hand Spain a 1-0 win.

The New Jersey spectacle became a debacle at full-time, with clashes breaking out between the players. Argentina’s Leandro Parades was sent off after the final whistle for shoving and lashing out at Eric Garcia of Spain.

It had largely been a peaceful affair in Buenos Aires, a city of 3 million people, until riots broke out between police and fans at around 11:45pm, reports Argentine newspaper Infobae .

Clashes were seen around the Obelisk, a national monument where important occasions play out, when a group of supporters attempted to breach fencing designed to protect it.

Chaos then reigned for 20 minutes as a ‘large group’ of fans then started hurling glass bottles and other projectiles at the police. Cops responded with tear gas and a water cannon to disperse irate crowds nearby, the outlet added.

‘At least’ 15 people have been detained by police, Infobae said, with several hurt in the riot. The condition of the injured remains unknown.

Images of the city published worldwide show debris littering the capital’s streets, with one photograph appearing to show a police officer kicking a supporter on the ground.

Despite the loss, Argentinians will enjoy a national holiday. President Javier Milei announced the move hours after Rodri lifted the World Cup trophy, but said the date of the celebration will be decided by the players and coaches.

An English translation of Milei’s post in X in Spanish said: “WORLD CELEBRATION.

“Given the concern about the celebrations for the achievement reached by the Argentine National Team, I inform the population that, depending on what the players and the technical staff decide regarding the day to celebrate, it will be declared a national holiday.”

Argentinians enjoyed a bank holiday after winning the 2022 World Cup.

It occurred on the Tuesday after the final, when players returned to Buenos Aires for a parade. Those celebrations centred around the Obelisk. 

Watch : https://www.thenationalnews.com/video/XGVggsA9/angry-argentina-fans-clash-with-police-in-buenos-aires/ (Mirror/ National)

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Written by Milinda Moragoda

The uprisings in Nepal and Indonesia, and earlier turbulences in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, are not random flare-ups. They are symptoms of a deeper global phenomenon reshaping societies. From the Arab Spring to today’s protests, politics is being recast by inequality, elite capture, and a restless younger generation.

The pandemic acted as both a trigger and a breeding ground for this turbulence. It widened the gap between rich and poor, eroded trust in governance, and sharpened frustration among youth who already felt excluded from opportunity. What we are now witnessing across South Asia and beyond is part of a global pattern of volatility, with structural roots that cannot be ignored.

The inequality trap

For eight decades, capitalism and open markets have generated extraordinary prosperity. Hundreds of millions across Asia were lifted out of poverty, and global integration spurred innovation and growth. Yet, capitalism today faces a legitimacy crisis.

The “top one per cent” phenomenon has become starker, not only in advanced economies but in the Global South. Wealth and influence are concentrated in the hands of a few, while the middle class feels squeezed and the poor remain vulnerable. Social media and digital technologies have amplified this inequality, exposing privilege and corruption in real time while fuelling polarisation. The result has been growing impatience among young populations, who are less willing to wait for incremental change.

South Asia reflects these trends vividly. Sri Lanka’s dramatic political and economic crisis in 2022 was not only about fiscal management but also about the collapse of trust between rulers and ruled. Bangladesh is wrestling with political polarisation; Nepal’s streets echo with popular dissatisfaction; Afghanistan and Pakistan remain mired in instability; and even smaller states such as the Maldives and Bhutan have faced their own disruptions.

The uprisings in the region are, therefore, not isolated events. They are signals of a deeper malaise — an inequality trap that erodes legitimacy, undermines stability, and fuels volatility.

India’s first response

India has not stood idle. Through its Neighborhood First policy, New Delhi has acted decisively in moments of crisis. When Sri Lanka teetered on the edge of collapse, India provided more than $4 billion in assistance, a lifeline that few others were willing to extend. Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives have also benefited from India’s development aid, infrastructure projects, and people-to-people initiatives.

Through the Vaccine Maitri programme, India provided critical support during the pandemic, supplying vaccines that potentially saved millions of lives across the neighborhood and far beyond.

These interventions reinforced India’s role as the indispensable partner in South Asia. But they also highlighted a limit: Crisis management alone cannot ensure lasting stability. The underlying economic and social pressures — inequality, youth exclusion, and fragile institutions — remain unresolved.

The case for Neighborhood First 2.0

This is why the time has come for a Neighborhood First 2.0. The region requires not just fire-fighting but a long-term architecture. The challenge is structural, and so must be the solution.

India, with anticipated economic growth of nearly 7 per cent, is well placed to anchor this next phase. It can serve as the locomotive of regional prosperity, pulling neighbors along through deeper integration and shared opportunities.

Where other powers are closing doors, India can open them. As the United States and parts of the West turn protectionist, India can demonstrate leadership by expanding market access to its neighbours. Preferential trade frameworks, easier movement of goods and services, and regional supply chains can help smaller economies stabilise while giving Indian industry new depth.

What Neighbourhood First 2.0 could look like

Regional connectivity: Investments in ports, airports, highways, and railway networks that knit South Asia into a single economic ecosystem. Modernised and cross-border rail links can reduce costs, expand markets, and accelerate people-to-people ties.

Youth-centered growth: Skill development programmes, regional employment platforms, and digital entrepreneurship opportunities that channel the energy of South Asia’s young populations into constructive enterprise.

Inclusive trade and supply chains: Trade frameworks that support not just large firms but also small businesses, women-led enterprises, and rural producers, ensuring that growth spreads more widely.

Shared energy networks: Cross-border electricity grids, gas pipelines, oil logistics, and rail corridors for energy and commodity transport that can lower costs, build resilience, and strengthen interdependence. South Asia has enormous potential for solar, wind, green hydrogen and hydro; connecting these resources through integrated networks could be transformative.

Shared security of essentials: Cooperative mechanisms on food, energy, climate, and health and addressing the vulnerabilities that can quickly turn into crises.

A more inclusive capitalism: India can model a form of capitalism that reconciles growth with fairness, and that is transparent, participatory, and less extractive than the elite-driven systems that have fueled unrest.

The multipolar context

All this is unfolding against the backdrop of a collapsing old order. Multipolarity is no longer a hypothesis but a lived reality. Global power is dispersed, competition is sharper, and smaller states are exposed to new uncertainties. In this environment, South Asia cannot afford to remain fragmented or disconnected.

Economics will be the defining arena of this multipolar world. Those who are able to plug into value chains, ensure connectivity, and offer markets will shape the future balance of influence. India, with its size and growth, can serve as the anchor market for South Asia, absorbing goods, sharing investments, and providing neighbours access to larger opportunities.

Importantly, a Neighbourhood First 2.0 can be organically linked to India’s participation in the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor (IMEC). If India succeeds in knitting South Asia together through trade, connectivity, rail, energy, and digital integration, the region will not remain a periphery — it will become a bridge between the Indian Ocean and Europe via the Middle East. For Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Maldives, this is not only about access to India, but also about entry into one of the most ambitious connectivity frameworks of the 21st century.

The uprisings in Nepal, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are not anomalies; they are warnings. They show what happens when inequality festers, opportunity stalls, and trust collapses. But they also point to the solution: Shared growth as the foundation of stability.

India has already proven it can act in moments of crisis. Now it must move from reactive to proactive, from episodic interventions to systemic leadership. A Neighbourhood First 2.0 — with India as the region’s economic locomotive — can help deliver prosperity, stability, and resilience.

To succeed, India’s diplomacy will need to make her neighbours feel more secure and less afraid. Regional cooperation cannot be sustained by economics alone; it requires trust, reassurance, and the recognition of a greater shared cause. This will be easier said than done, but it has to be attempted. By linking South Asia’s growth story to larger frameworks such as the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor, and by building rail, energy, trade, and digital networks, Delhi can ensure that its neighbours are not left behind but instead become partners in a broader transformation. In the wider Indo-Pacific context India should consider Japan too as a potential partner for this initiative.

If India succeeds, it will not only secure its neighbourhood, but also define what leadership looks like in a multipolar world.

The writer is former Sri Lankan cabinet minister, diplomat and founder of the Pathfinder Foundation, a strategic affairs think tank (Indian Express)

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Former Prisons Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa who was sentenced to death over the deaths of inmates following riots at the Welikada Prison in 2012, has been acquitted by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The five-judge bench of the Supreme Court has released Emil Ranjan Lamahewa from the death sentence previously issued by a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court.

The Supreme Court announced the decision after taking up for consideration an appeal that had been filed on behalf of Lamahewa against the death sentence. (Newswire) 

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Fireworks were let off and a police van was damaged as far-right and anti-racist demonstrators clashed in Plymouth amid a wave of mob violence sweeping the UK.

The protesters clashed as campaign group Stand Up To Racism and a “Stop the Boats” rally met at Guildhall Square in Plymouth Monday evening.

Devon and Cornwall Police also said violence had been carried out against its officers and a riot van had been damaged during the confrontation.

In Birmingham, balaclava-clad rioters waving Palestinian flags were seen smashing a car as rumours of a far-right rally in the city circulated online.

It comes as almost 400 people have been arrested over the mob violence spreading across the UK, with the prime minister setting up a “standing army” of specialist police officers to deal with further attacks.

Sir Keir Starmer has held an emergency Cobra meeting after far-right mobs carried out racist attacks and set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth. (The Independent)

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Anti-government protesters in Bangladesh have stormed Prime Minister Sheik Hasina’s palace in Dhaka, similar to the ‘Aragalaya’ people’s struggle in Sri Lanka in 2022. 

According to media reports, protesters ignored a national curfew to storm PM Hasina’s palace in Dhaka today. Images on national television showed thousands of people breaking into the prime minister’s official residence. 

It also showed large crowds of protesters out in the street in scenes of jubilation as the news of the departure of Hasina started spreading. The resignation comes after 300 people have died amid weeks of protest the authorities have sought to crush. 

Following a night of deadly violence that killed close to 100 on Sunday, tension had remained high on Monday as protesters called for a march on Dhaka and the army prepared to address the nation.

Protests in the country started a month ago over a controversial job quota scheme which reserved a third of government jobs for family veterans of the country’s 1971 independence war with Pakistan. 

Despite Hasina reversing the highly contested policy, the demonstration morphed into an unprecedented and nationwide uprising against her and the ruling Awami League party. (Newswire/ Al Jazeera)

Bangladesh protesters storm the Prime Minister’s palace, reminiscent of similar footage from Sri Lanka’s 2022 protests

Bangladeshi-Bengali TV station Channel 24. pic.twitter.com/TGYZNIPytP

— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) August 5, 2024

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Rioting continued to escalate in towns and cities across England on Sunday – with police condemning a “staggering” level of violence.

Downing Street is expected to hold a COBRA emergency response meeting on Monday after “thugs” tried to storm hotels housing asylum seekers on the sixth day of disorder.

The meeting is due to involve relevant ministers and police officials, who will discuss the response in the coming days to ensure there is no repeat of the violent scenes.

More than 140 people have been arrested so far across the country. In Middlesbrough alone, officers arrested 43 people.

Sky’s north of England producer Hope Yeomans reported from the town – capturing clashes between police and rioters live on air – and said it was different to the disorder elsewhere in the country.

How the UK riots unfolded

That was because there were two groups targeting one another – the far-right rioters who started the day’s disorder, and the Asian community defending their homes and livelihoods from vandalism and violence.

More than 300 people earlier marched in the town carrying a banner saying: “Tom Jones is Welsh, Axel Rudakubana [the Southport stabbings suspect] isn’t” while chanting “we want our country back” as they made their way through the town centre.

Cars were set alight and windows smashed. Burning wheelie bins were also hurled at officers, leaving the road strewn with smoking rubbish.

David Felton, assistant chief constable of Cleveland Police, said on Sunday night: “The level of violence we have seen today is staggering.

“We know the shocking scenes across Middlesbrough today will have caused alarm amongst communities.

“I want to reassure the people of Teesside that we will continue to identify those involved in these acts of violence and arrest them and put them before the courts.”

Shortly before 1.30am, Cleveland Police said the disorder in Middlesbrough had ended.

The force added: “A policing presence will remain in the town throughout the night and into tomorrow and the coming days.

“The total number of arrests made so far in connection with the incidents today is 43. A full investigation is now under way.”

The lawlessness added to a sense of emergency from the government, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer telling rioters they would regret their “thuggery” in a news conference on Sunday.

He said: “I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves.

“This is not a protest, it is organised, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online.”

The Home Office has also announced that mosques will be offered greater protection with new “emergency security” that can be rapidly deployed to respond to violent disorder.

Two hotels attacked in Rotherham and Tamworth

Elsewhere, chairs were hurled at police and windows were smashed as masked anti-immigration rioters broke into a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Objects including rocks and long pieces of wood were thrown at the Holiday Inn Express and at police officers who lined up in front of the building as they tried to protect it.

At least 10 officers were injured, including one who was left unconscious. One injured officer in riot gear was carried away by colleagues.

Hotel employees and residents were “terrified”, but no injuries to them were reported.

Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield, of South Yorkshire Police, said on Sunday: “Today in Rotherham we have seen our officers attacked and at least 10 injured, significant damage caused and a fire set outside a hotel full of terrified residents and staff.

“The mindless actions of those today have achieved nothing other than sheer destruction and leaving members of the public and the wider community in fear.”

Later, a large group of individuals threw projectiles, smashed windows, started fires and targeted police in an area around another Holiday Inn in Tamworth, Staffordshire.

The hotel also houses asylum seekers.

Members of the public were told to avoid the area and one officer was injured, suffering a suspected broken arm.

Windows of the hotel were smashed, with three petrol bombs used to start fires.

Staffordshire Police said the disorder later ended with the crowd dispersed from outside the Holiday Inn. They appealed for information to help identify people who attacked the hotel and police officers.

A force statement said: “Police officers were faced with being attacked with petrol bombs and fireworks and damage was caused to the hotel by protesters, with the lives of residents inside put at risk. Fortunately, no one inside was injured.”

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison added: “The senseless violence and acts of despicable thuggery in Tamworth tonight are completely inexcusable. The local community do not deserve to be subject to this behaviour, and neither do the brave officers putting themselves in harm’s way to keep everyone safe.” (Sky News)

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The overall death toll from clashes in Bangladesh has risen to at least 300 people, after 94 died Sunday in the deadliest day in weeks of anti-government demonstrations, according to an AFP tally.

The tally is based on reports from police, officials and doctors at hospitals. Protests are set to resume on Monday, with heavy deployments of soldiers and police in the capital Dhaka patrolling key roads and barricading routes to the office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The military announced that a new curfew was in effect Sunday evening for an indefinite period, including in the capital, Dhaka, and other divisional and district headquarters. The government had earlier imposed a curfew with some exceptions in Dhaka and elsewhere.
Demonstrators are demanding the prime minister’s resignation following protests last month that began with students calling for an end to a quota system for government jobs. Those demonstrations escalated into violence that left more than 200 dead.
As the renewed violence raged, Hasina said the protesters who engaged in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals, and she said the people should deal with them with iron hands.

The ruling Awami League party said the demand for Hasina’s resignation showed that the protests have been taken over by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Also Sunday, the government announced a holiday from Monday to Wednesday. Courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile Internet service was cut off, and Facebook and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were inaccessible.

Junior Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said the services were severed to help prevent violence.

At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest has also resulted in the closure of schools and universities across the country, and authorities at one point imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew.

Protesters called for a “non-cooperation” effort, urging people not to pay taxes or utility bills and not to show up for work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced challenges getting to their jobs.

The demonstrators attacked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a major public hospital in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area, torching several vehicles.

Video footage showed protesters vandalizing a prison van in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Dhaka. Other videos showed police opening fire on the crowds with bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas. The protesters set fire to vehicles and the ruling party’s offices. Some carried sharp weapons and sticks, according to TV footage.

In Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who blocked a major highway. Protesters attacked homes and vandalized a community welfare office in the area, where hundreds of ruling party activists took up positions. Some crude bombs were detonated, and gunshots were heard, witnesses said. At east 20 people were hit by bullets in the area.

At least 18 people were killed in the northwestern district of Sirajganj. That figure included 13 police officers who died after a police station was attacked by protesters, according to police headquarters in Dhaka. Another officer was killed in the eastern district of Cumilla, police said.

Five people died in the Feni district in southeast Bangladesh as Hasina’s supporters clashed with protesters.

Asif Iqbal, a resident medical officer at a state-run hospital in Feni, told reporters that they had five bodies at the hospital, all of them hit by bullets. It was not clear if they were protesters or ruling party activists.

In Munshiganj district near Dhaka, four people were declared dead after being rushed to a hospital, according to hospital official Abu Hena.

The Jamuna television news channel reported that violent clashes took place across more than a dozen districts, including Chattogram, Bogura, Magura, Rangpur, Kishoreganj and Sirajganj, where protesters backed by the main opposition party clashed with police and the activists of the ruling Awami League party and its associated bodies.

The protests began last month as students demanded an end to a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.

As the violence crested, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the veterans’ quota must be cut to 5 percent, with 93 percent of jobs to be allocated on merit. The remaining 2 percent will be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The government accepted the decision, but protesters have continued demanding accountability for the violence they blame on the government’s use of force.

The system also sets aside jobs for members of ethnic minorities and for disabled and transgender people, whose quotas were cut from a collective 26 percent to 2 percent in the ruling.

Hasina’s administration has blamed the opposition parties and their student wings for instigating the violence in which several state-owned establishments were also torched or vandalized.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of the main opposition party, repeated a call for the government to step down to stop the chaos.

Hasina offered to talk with student leaders on Saturday, but a coordinator refused and announced a one-point demand for her resignation.

Hasina repeated her pledges to investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down whenever the protesters want.

The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who has ruled the country for over 15 years. She returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election that was boycotted by her main opponents. (AFP/ AP)

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More than 500 people, including some opposition leaders, have been arrested so far over days of clashes in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka sparked by protests against job quotas, police said.

“At least 532 people have been arrested over the violence,” said Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain.

“They include some BNP leaders,” he added, referring to the opposition Bangladesh National Party.

The detainees included the BNP’s third-most senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and its spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, he said.

A former national football captain turned senior BNP figure, Aminul Huq, was also held, he added.

Mia Golam Parwar, the general secretary of the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, was also arrested, Mr Hossain said.

He said at least three policemen had been killed during the unrest in the capital and about 1,000 injured, at least 60 of them critically.

Curfews, telecom disruption continue

Bangladesh appeared calm today amid a curfew, but widespread disruption of telecoms prevailed a day after the Supreme Court scrapped some quotas for government jobs that sparked protests this month that killed scores.

Clashes between protesters and security forces killed at least 139 people across the South Asian nation after the high court last month reinstated job reservations removed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in 2018.

Yesterday, however, the Supreme Court ordered that 93% of government jobs should be allocated on the basis of merit, against earlier quotas of 56% for groups such as families of freedom fighters, women, and people from underdeveloped areas.

There were no reports of violence or protests this morning.

Reports indicated the curfew would be relaxed for three hours in the afternoon, extended from two hours the previous day, so that people could buy essentials.

Student protesters vow to continue demonstrations

Student protesters have said they plan to continue demonstrations, however, until the release of detained protest leaders, and have demanded the government lift the curfew and re-open universities shut since Wednesday.

They have set a 48-hour deadline for the government to act on the demands.

Last week’s protests saw thousands injured as security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to scatter the demonstrators.

Experts have blamed the unrest on stagnant job growth in the private sector and high rates of youth unemployment that have made government jobs, with their regular wage hikes and other privileges, more attractive. (RTE)

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