Indian cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan irked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after he posted photos of himself standing in front of Adina Mosque in Malda, West Bengal, on Friday.

In a post on X, Pathan — who is part of the Trinamool Congress — wrote that the mosque was built in the 14th century by Sultan Sikandar Shah, the second ruler of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty.

Cherishing its historical significance, the former Indian cricketer said that the mosque showcased the “region’s architectural grandeur”.

However, BJP West Bengal turned a simple photo into a controversy by claiming — without concrete evidence — that the mosque was built on the ruins of a temple.

The BJP leaders have, for years, asserted that the historical mosque was actually built after the demolition of the Adinath Temple.

In 2022, a BJP leader claimed that the temple was buried beneath the mosque’s structure.

Two years later, a Hindu worshipper went as far as offering religious rituals inside the mosque; however, he was barred from doing so and had a case registered against him.

A lawyer has also written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Interior Minister Amit Shah to allow Hindu worshippers to offer their rituals inside the mosque.

The response to Pathan’s social media post has renewed the ongoing debate surrounding the BJP’s assertions that multiple mosques stand on sites of former Hindu temples.

Pathan is a member of the Lok Sabha from West Bengal, representing the Trinamool Congress.

Before his career in politics, he was part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the ODI World Cup in 2011.

His younger brother, Irfan Pathan, is also among the renowned Indian cricketers.

• He Weidong, Miao Hua removed for serious disciplinary violations.
• Nine senior army officials expelled in latest graft drive.
• Xi says corruption fight vital to Party’s survival and unity.
  

China said on Friday it has expelled two top generals from the military and ruling Communist Party, part of corruption investigations into nine high-ranking army officials.

The announcement marks the latest push in a sweeping drive to root out graft at all levels of the party and state since President Xi Jinping came to power over a decade ago.

It also comes just days before a closely watched four-day gathering of top officials in Beijing for deliberations on long-term economic planning.

He Weidong, the Central Military Commission (CMC) vice chairman, was among nine individuals to be expelled from the army for having “seriously violated” discipline, according to an online statement by defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang.

He had not been seen in public since March, fuelling speculation, though no formal investigation had been previously announced.

The statement did not disclose He’s current whereabouts.

Also expelled was Miao Hua, the former head of the military’s political work department, who was formally removed from his post, according to state media reports in June.

Eight of the individuals were also stripped of Communist Party membership, after previously serving on its elite Central Committee, Zhang said.

Xi has called graft “the biggest threat” to the Communist Party and said “the fight against corruption remains grave and complex”.

Proponents say the policy promotes clean governance, but others say it also serves as a tool for Xi to purge political rivals.

“The severe punishment of He Weidong, Miao Hua […] and others once again demonstrates the Party Central Committee and the CMC’s unwavering resolve to persevere in the fight against corruption,” said Zhang.

He added that the crackdown represents a “significant achievement in the Party and military’s anti-corruption campaign”.

It has “contributed to a more pure, consolidated, cohesive and combat-ready People’s Army”, he added.

Miao and He are not the only high-ranking military officials to fall afoul of Xi’s corruption crackdown in recent years.

Former defence minister Li Shangfu was removed from office in 2023 just seven months into the job, and later expelled from the Party for offences including suspected bribery.

The latest announcement comes as the Communist Party prepares to convene a key meeting Monday known as the “fourth plenum” focused on economic planning for the five-year period ending in 2030.

That plan will play a central role in the pursuit of President Xi Jinping’s core aims, including technological self-sufficiency and military and economic might.

Nearly 80% of the world’s poorest, or about 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate hazards exacerbated by global warming, bearing a “double and deeply unequal burden,” the United Nations warned Friday.

“No one is immune to the increasingly frequent and stronger climate change effects like droughts, floods, heat waves, and air pollution, but it’s the poorest among us who are facing the harshest impact,” Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, told AFP in a statement.

COP30, the UN climate summit in Brazil in November, “is the moment for world leaders to look at climate action as action against poverty,” he added.

According to an annual study published by the UNDP together with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, 1.1 billion people, or about 18% of the 6.3 billion in 109 countries analysed, live in “acute multidimensional” poverty, based on factors like infant mortality and access to housing, sanitation, electricity, and education.

Half of those people are minors.

One example of such extreme deprivation cited in the report is the case of Ricardo, a member of the Guarani Indigenous community living outside Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia’s largest city.

Ricardo, who earns a meager income as a day labourer, shares his small single-family house with 18 other people, including his three children, parents, and other extended family.

The house has only one bathroom, a wood-and-coal-fired kitchen, and none of the children are in school.

“Their lives reflect the multidimensional realities of poverty,” the report said.

Prioritising ‘people and the planet’

Two regions particularly affected by such poverty are sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia — and they are also highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The report highlights the connection between poverty and exposure to four environmental risks: extreme heat, drought, floods, and air pollution.

“Impoverished households are especially susceptible to climate shocks as many depend on highly vulnerable sectors such as agriculture and informal labor,” the report said.

“When hazards overlap or strike repeatedly, they compound existing deprivations.”

As a result, 887 million people, or nearly 79 percent of these poor populations, are directly exposed to at least one of these threats, with 608 million people suffering from extreme heat, 577 million affected by pollution, 465 million by floods, and 207 million by drought.

Roughly 651 million are exposed to at least two of the risks, 309 million to three or four risks, and 11 million poor people have already experienced all four in a single year.

“Concurrent poverty and climate hazards are clearly a global issue,” the report said.

And the increase in extreme weather events threatens development progress.

While South Asia has made progress in fighting poverty, 99.1 percent of its poor population is exposed to at least one climate hazard.

The region “must once again chart a new path forward, one that balances determined poverty reduction with innovative climate action,” the report says.

With Earth’s surface rapidly getting warmer, the situation is likely to worsen further, and experts warn that today’s poorest countries will be hardest hit by rising temperatures.

“Responding to overlapping risks requires prioritising both people and the planet, and above all, moving from recognition to rapid action,” the report said.