India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country with almost 3 million more people by the middle of this year, according to UN figures. The State of World Population 2023 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates India’s population will be 1.4286 billion by the end of June, compared with China’s 1.4257 billion. The US is a distant third, with an estimated population of 340 million people by the end of June. The data in the report is based on information available up to…
Tag: South and Central Asia
Severe heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close
A severe heatwave has swept across much of Asia, causing deaths and school closures in India and record-breaking temperatures in China. Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist and weather historian, described the unusually high temperatures as the “worst April heatwave in Asian history”. In China, local media reported that record temperatures for April had been observed in many locations, including Chengdu, Zhejiang, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other areas of the Yangtze River delta region. Unusually hot temperatures have also been reported in south-east Asia in recent days, including in Luang Prabang, Laos, which…
India heatwave: temperatures hit 40C
The heatwave that has been plaguing the states of West Bengal, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh in north-west India is set to continue through the coming week. Daytime temperatures of 40C have been recorded for several consecutive days in these regions, about 5C above the seasonal average. This excessive heat is linked to a north-westerly flow of air, which is also bringing much drier than usual conditions. The authorities have advised people to be vigilant about their health by staying hydrated, wearing breathable clothing and avoiding street food, which could easily…
Germany warns China not to arm Russia as ministers meet at G20 in India
The German chancellor has warned China against arming Russia with weapons, as western foreign ministers repeatedly clashed with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, at an ill-tempered meeting of the G20 in New Delhi, India. Olaf Scholz told the German parliament: “My message to Beijing is clear: use your influence in Moscow to urge the withdrawal of Russian troops. And don’t deliver any weapons to the aggressor Russia.” China has repeatedly denied suggestions it might arm Moscow, but the US administration has recently said that cooperation between China and Russia…
Pakistan’s fresh £580m loan from China intensifies debt burden fears
China has agreed to loan Pakistan $700m (£580m) to help it weather its worst economic crisis in a generation, in a move that will intensify concern among western countries about cash-strapped Islamabad’s debt burden to Beijing. The loan comes on top of $30bn (£25bn) that Pakistan already owes China and Chinese commercial banks. Securing the financing will help to unlock bailout cash from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The news of the loan from the state-owned China Development Bank came the day after Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously passed a money…
Global action is needed to topple Myanmar’s criminal junta boss
It’s a country where children are imprisoned, tortured and sexually abused. Hundreds have been killed since the military coup two years ago. In total, more than 2,600 people have been murdered and nearly 17,000 detained by a brutal regime led by a genocidal war criminal. In case you’re wondering, this isn’t Ukraine and it isn’t Vladimir Putin. The criminal in question is Myanmar’s junta boss, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who struts about in a uniform adorned with meaningless decorations and gaudy gold braid. As a general rule, the more medals…
Chinese and Indian troops in fresh skirmish at Himalayan border
Chinese and Indian troops have clashed in a disputed Himalayan border region for the first time in more than two years, with reports of dozens injured. At least 20 Indian soldiers were injured in the incident on 9 December in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian army said on Tuesday. The clash was the most serious since June 2020, when at least 24 soldiers died in violent hand-to-hand combat, and comes after months of major acts of disengagement by both militaries in the long-running dispute. Addressing India’s parliament,…
Pakistan’s PM says rival Imran Khan is ‘biggest liar on earth’
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has accused the former premier Imran Khan of being the “the biggest liar on the face of the earth” and injecting poison into society to “dangerously polarise the electorate” after he was toppled from power earlier this year. Speaking in his first interview from Pakistan since he took over as prime minister in April, Sharif, 70, spoke unsparingly of the “damage” that Khan, the former cricket superstar who ruled Pakistan from 2018, had done to the country in both domestic and foreign affairs. Pakistan is…
TechScape: What’s really behind Apple’s shift from China
This week, the first iPhone 14s rolled off Apple’s newest production line in Chennai, India. I understand why that doesn’t seem like huge news. The company has been assembling phones in India for some time, all of which serve the large domestic market. But it’s an important milestone, marking the first time Apple has produced a new iPhone outside of China in the same year it was released. It is also an important step in one of Apple’s most sensitive projects: to decouple its fortunes from those of Sino-American relations.…
Apple shifts some iPhone 14 production from China to India
Apple has begun making iPhone 14s in India, as it moves some production away from China for the first time against a backdrop of Chinese Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and geopolitical tensions between the US and the country’s communist government. A production line in Chennai has begun operation, assembling the iPhone 14 for the domestic Indian market. The move, which marks the first time the company has assembled iPhones outside of China in the same year they were released, is part of a plan to disentangle its manufacturing operations from the…