OPINION

DHAKA – From 1990 to 2019, the number of people living in extreme poverty (according to the World Bank threshold of $1.90 per day) plummeted, from 1.9 billion to 648 million. COVID-19 has reversed much of this progress. By the end of 2021, the pandemic will have pushed approximately 150 million people back …

Although it is completely a personal choice to wear a badge that one wishes, however, it is utterly odd to see wide ranges of badges being worn by our youth today. It is tempting for me to share my personal feelings and so I am sharing this as a concerned …

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA – The year 2020 was unforgettable for all of us, and tragic for many. No one had imagined that a lethal virus originating in horseshoe bats could spread so fast and upend our lives so thoroughly. And in most countries, there is still no sign that normalcy …

LONDON – Having been postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo Olympic Games are approaching their opening on July 23 amid a chorus of doom. Japanese and foreigners alike are predicting, or even outright demanding, the event’s cancellation. Among those coming out in favor of scrapping the Games is …

ITHACA – The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, published twice a year, is the most important source for evaluating the current and future outlook for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). The recently released June edition is especially significant because of the warnings it contains. Someone reading this report too quickly could easily …

NEW YORK – The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily has been forced to close. On the day it was shuttered, people queued to buy one last copy; a million were printed. The paper was doomed since last year, when China’s Communist government imposed a harsh National Security Law on Hong Kong. Its …

LONDON – The G7 summit starting on Friday will mark the first time that world leaders have met in person for almost two years. It is Joe Biden’s first such meeting as US president and Angela Merkel’s last as German Chancellor. The gathering will also be the first test of …

The 2008 judgment of the Thimphu High Court in the defamation case involving the former Director of Revenue and Customs, Sangay Zam, Finance Minster, Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu, and Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, on the one hand, and the former authorised agent of PlayWin online lottery, Sangay Dorji, raises some interesting questions …

CAMBRIDGE – A century ago, an influenza pandemic killed more people than died in World War I. Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has killed more Americans than died in all US wars since 1945. A big difference, however, is that science did not have a vaccine for the influenza virus back …

It was always evident that the ACC’s investigation of corruption allegations around Gypsum would be its most difficult case, and this paper said as much when they started their investigation.  The reason being that this was ACC’s first attempt at a cross border investigation and all the main information, wrong …