Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to host the first India-Central Asia Summit in a virtual format on Thursday. The online event will see the participation of Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed that this will be […]
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What Happens If Sri Lanka Goes Bankrupt Amid Foreign Debt Crisis?
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and humanitarian and financial crisis, Sri Lanka could witness total bankruptcy this month, especially as inflation has risen to record levels. While the country had announced a national financial emergency following an acute fall in the value of the Sri Lanka Rupee on August 30, 2021, […]
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5 Reasons to Be Optimistic About 2022
By March, as many as 1 billion doses are scheduled to arrive in Africa—in theory enough to fully vaccinate 70 percent of the continent’s population, up from only 8 percent at the start of December. Hoarding by rich countries could still slow that down, and the vaccines now arriving are […]
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U.S.-China Detente Would Pose Its Own Dangers
Already the economic costs of confrontation and technological decoupling are pushing business and political leaders to advocate a modus operandi of defusing the tension. Other areas of possible cooperation might drive a push for de-escalation. A majority of Americans and allied populations, especially in Europe, consider climate change a top […]
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What to Watch in South Asia Next Year
If you would like to receive South Asia Brief in your inbox every Thursday, please sign up here . Last week, we looked at the most surprising stories from South Asia in the past year. This week, we turn to 2022. Below, we’ve rounded up four key questions for the […]
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3 Tech Industry Trends to Watch in 2022
That a few Big Tech companies dominate our digital consciousness with offerings that haven’t evolved all that much over the past 10 years adds to the urge for novel digital distractions. It is telling that TikTok beat the almighty Google as the most popular web domain when 2021 came to […]
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As Another City Locks Down, China Is on High Alert
If you would like to receive China Brief in your inbox every Wednesday, please sign up here . The highlights this week: The city of Tianjin enters a partial lockdown amid a coronavirus outbreak, why Beijing sympathizes with Moscow in Kazakhstan, and China and India hold their 14th round of […]
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COVID-19 Pandemic Leaves Sri Lanka On Verge Of Bankruptcy With Record-high Inflation
Amid the surge of COVID-19 cases across the world, Sri Lanka is in the grip of a rising financial and humanitarian crisis, with predictions that it could declare bankruptcy in 2022 as inflation reaches new highs, along with food prices soaring Since the beginning of the outbreak, the World Bank […]
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What 2021 Meant for the Fight Against Climate Change
Then, in November, the long-awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference (known as COP26) took place in Glasgow, Scotland. Although its president dubbed it the “ last, best hope ” to save the planet, its final pact dashed hopes: With no enforcement mechanisms, it failed to sketch a clear path to […]
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Pakistan Approves USD 11.6 Mn Compensation For Chinese Victims Of Dasu Dam Attack
Succumbing to China’s pressure, Pakistan on Saturday approved a USD 11.6 million compensation package for Chinese victims of the Dasu Hydropower Project. In July 2021, 13 people, including 9 Chinese engineers, along with over two dozen other people, sustained injuries when a bus carrying the team fell into a ravine […]