Cyclone Mocha has killed 54 people and damaged over 185,000 buildings so far in Myanmar, however, due to infrastructure challenges and the government’s tight control over information, the true extent of destruction and number of casualties is unclear. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that there are concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases and the movement of landmines in flooded areas. The UK has pledged 2 million British pounds of humanitarian support for at least 175,000 people left without shelter or access to clean water. Refugee camps in Bangladesh where the mostly Muslim Rohingya fled in 2017 have escaped the worst of the storm due to a well-organised evacuation.
Myanmar's military-controlled media has reported that 145 people were killed due to Cyclone Mocha, though other sources suggest that hundreds may have died. The impoverished western state of Rakhine was hit hard by the cyclone, and struggled to cope with a lack of food and medical supplies in the aftermath of the disaster. Some residents told Reuters that over 400 people had died and many more were missing. Relief efforts have been affected by the disruption caused to infrastructure and the refusal of the junta to permit non-governmental organisations to send assistance to the region.
China has promised billions of dollars in "financing support and free assistance" to five Central Asian countries, boosting trade, infrastructure and technology investment and including visa-free travel arrangements. Speaking at the two-day China-Central Asia Summit in Xi'an, China's President Xi Jinping presented himself as a reliable partner to nations which were formerly part of the Soviet Union, while emphasising the importance of safeguarding their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Those countries attending the summit included Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, which have been increasingly concerned over Russian efforts to regain control of Ukraine.
Fouzia Younis, the newly appointed British consul general to Toronto, has welcomed a swath of well-wishers at a day party in her new digs, an Edwardian-style brick house in Rosedale, where the founder of Canada Dry lived. Speaking about her role, Younis noted how her previous postings in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka involved working in conflict zones, but expressed enthusiasm for her new role, which focuses on building trust and relationships. She also discussed her ongoing drive to reflect a modern, diverse Britain in 2023. The party celebrated both the recent coronation of King Charles III and Eurovision.
Cyclone Mocha killed at least 145 people in Myanmar this week, with the region having been struck by the most destructive cyclone in a decade. The country's Rakhine state took the worst hit, with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in displacement camps. These refugee camps are located on low-lying land and have been severely damaged by the storm surge. There have been media reports of up to 400 deaths from this disaster. Aid from international organisations and governments has already been pledged. Bangladesh reports no deaths on its side of the border, including in the Rohingya refugee camps that it houses.
Cyclone Mocha has killed at least 145 people and left 800,000 at risk in Myanmar, according to the UN. Aid has been held up by the military government, with the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) ready to deploy urgently needed food, water, medical supplies and assistance as soon as possible. The WFP has warned of a “trail of devastation” as power lines, schools and hospitals have been destroyed and telecommunications disrupted in Rakhine State. Relief for this area has been particularly difficult to co-ordinate as it harbours a large population of Rohingya people, a mostly-Muslim minority that successive Burmese governments have refused to recognise.
China has rejected India's invitation to a G20 tourism summit to be held in Kashmir due to the region being a "disputed territory." New Delhi, however, stated that it was "free to hold meetings on its own territory." India is the chair of G20 this year by rotation and is organising a chain of meetings with its allies across the country leading to the final event of the summit in the capital city in September. Several countries have not yet registered for the event, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
India and China are frequently at odds in the Himalayan sector’s Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh along the shared border, resulting in the deaths of their troops over a number of clashes. Both India and China stationed tens of thousands of troops armed with artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the Line of Actual Control through 2020 and 2021.
The travel industry has been hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine rollouts have continued, and many countries have started to open their borders. According to a report by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourism suffered its worst year on record in 2020 due to the pandemic, with global arrivals down by 74%, causing a $1.3tn loss in exports.
As heatwaves scorch Asia, Russia is benefiting from the resulting increase in demand for energy. States across Asia are increasing their import of Russian fuel, as coal, gas and fuel oil are required to continue power production. Asian demand for Russian energy has grown significantly this year, according to Kpler. Coal volumes rocketed by a third in April to 7.46m tons from April 2018, while shipments of liquefied natural gas to Asia increased due to reduced prices, after prices hit historic highs, and poorer nations could not afford the fuel. Meanwhile, Kpler’s figures found Asian imports of Russian fuel oil – a cheaper power-generation alternative – had the two highest months on record in March and April.
Extreme heatwaves in South Asia have prompted an uptick in Russian energy sales, replacing energy being shunned by the West. Originally motivated by the Kremlin to support its invasion of Ukraine, Russia's thermal coal, natural gas and (in particular, dirtier and cheaper) fuel oil have become increasingly attractive with rising temperatures hitting countries' power generators amidst an emerging El Niño weather pattern, which increases the need for coal, oil and gas. Prices for LNG fell, allowing poorer nations to increase their imports, and the Middle East has also hiked its Russian oil imports.
As the number of people who die in mass killings in the U.S. continues to rise, thousands more are left to handle the trauma of losing someone they love to a senseless act of violence. Wednesday 15th of June saw families in Uvalde, Texas, have to face that one-year anniversary - transporting them back to the day when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers as they gathered to celebrate the end of the school year. Some cope with the pain by throwing a party to get through the pain, others prefer to be completely alone. Many fall somewhere in the middle, adopting little rituals to help get them through the day. They all struggle with the same question, sometimes after many years have passed: what do I do with myself on the date that changed everything? A hint of fall hung in the air on September 12th, the day Damone Presley threw a party to mark the day his daughter and three friends were killed in Minnesota. He wanted to think about who his daughter was rather than how she died.
The expansion of digital payments across Asia, which accelerated during the pandemic, is helping bridge income gaps for women as well as narrowing the global gender gap in digital account ownership for mobile money accounts. Conducted by the Better Than Cash Alliance, the move towards digital payments has the support of more than 80 members, including Unilever, which have committed to switching from cash to digital payments in a bid to enable everything from paying workers to accepting digital payments. The numbers of those making or receiving digital payments grew from 35% to 57% between 2014 and 2021, though 1.4 billion people are still excluded, with rural women and those living in remote areas the hardest to reach. The UN has set out principles for responsible digital payments that include emerging risks such as identity theft and placing a focus on inclusion.
The United Nations has designated May 21 as International Tea Day to celebrate the cultural heritage, health benefits and economic importance of the drink. Tea is the most popular drink across the globe after water, and it is valued for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant qualities. Nearly all words for tea across the globe can be derived from the root words “cha” or “te,” with China producing nearly half of the world’s tea. Tea drinking is very common among many nations, from being a marker of hospitality to the idiosyncratic methods in which different teas are made.
The "micro age gap" is an age difference of between seven and 12 years, and a recent piece in The Telegraph argues that it is an optimal range for a successful relationship. Those in micro age gap relationships benefit from knowledge sharing and are able to learn from their partner's lived experiences, while still circling the same life stages and reference points, the author said. The piece cited examples of celebrity couples such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé and Davina McCall and Michael Douglas, with both pairs enjoying successful relationships. Couples with more significant age gaps can face issues when the older partner's health declines earlier, but life expectancy is increasing, a psychotherapist quoted in the article said.
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Pakistan's development vision, held by the country's elite and international development establishment, warns against a significant crisis, according to Samira Shackle in Al Jazeera. She posits that this vision has remained unchanged for six decades and is a "much bigger crisis" than Pakistan's current standoff between its authoritarian populist Prime Minister, Imran Khan, and its military. Pakistan's goal to become the "next Asian Tiger" is a familiar vision held by the Global South, with both governments and organisations pursuing a top-down, modernising approach which prioritises export production, ever-more intensive energy use and burning of fossil fuels, and high-productivity cash cropping, Shackle explains. However, researchers have noted the environmental and social impact of this trajectory, most notably in Pakistan's recent floods of 2010 and 2022. This can be attributed to hydrological engineering works in the country which have caused increased flood risks and ignored natural flows of water. Shackle believes that breaking the idea that there is no alternative to capitalist industrialisation, mega projects, and consuming the planet for profit and pleasure is essential for Pakistan to achieve a better alternative to its current development vision.
Weather-related disasters have caused 2 million deaths and $4.3tn in economic losses over the past 50 years, according to a report by the UN's World Meteorological Organization. The report said that 11,778 weather-related incidents had been recorded since 1970, with fatalities disproportionately concentrated in poor countries. Although early warnings and coordinated disaster management have reduced casualties, the report made clear that economic losses were escalating. Wealthy nations accounted for over 60% of losses but most of these were no greater than 0.1% of GDP.
Pakistan's military may be forced to confront its most popular politician, Imran Khan, after his followers attacked senior officers' homes and also military buildings. Protestors took to the streets after Khan was detained on corruption charges and it emerged that supporters of ousted prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, were behind the grisly murder of a journalist earlier this month. Meanwhile, diplomats are warning of the country's fragile economic situation, which could push the nuclear-armed nation towards chaos.
