UpFront
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Blanket ban unlikely, keep calm and crypto on
India's policymakers sent local crypto trade into a spin with reports of a proposed bill to ban private cryptocurrencies. Trade has stabilised and so have intermediaries, but the uncertainty on the road ahead
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Pakistan, stricken by surging inflation, seeks an IMF lifeline
As the cost of food and fuel eats up a larger share of meagre incomes, people are putting pressure on the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to do something
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Why India wants to regulate cryptocurrency
From the basics of cryptocurrency to why governments are wary, here's a primer on India's stand on the new asset class
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Why China can't bury Peng Shuai and its #MeToo scandal
Chinese state media and its journalists have offered one piece of evidence after another to prove the star Chinese tennis player was safe and sound despite her public accusation of sexual assault against a powerful former vice premier
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Women make up for 13.76 percent of entrepreneurs in India; own 20.37 percent of MSMEs
The percentage of self-employed women in the country went down, as the percentage of salaried women drastically went up in a span of six years
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How Magnus Carlsen is building a business empire like no other chess grandmaster
Play Magnus, an app that allowed users to mimic Carlsen's playing style and strength has expanded, mostly through acquisitions, to become a company with a dozen subsidiaries and now includes an online playing site, multiple teaching and training platforms, and digital and book publishing arms
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How fake news on Facebook helped fuel a border crisis in Europe
Facebook, now officially known as Meta after a corporate name change, said it prohibited material that facilitates or promotes human smuggling and has dedicated teams to monitor and detect material related to the crisis
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Why the Sputnik V vaccine never took off
The use of Russia's Covid-19 vaccine in India remains less than 1 percent due to reasons ranging from yield issues to supply constraints. Will Sputnik Light make any difference?
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How the US lost ground to China in the contest for clean energy
Over the past year, the US government has moved rapidly to scour the world for new cobalt supplies and deploying cobalt-free batteries, but all that falls far short of Chinese efforts to take over resources critical to a green future, including cobalt, lithium and others
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The Paytm market cap story
It is too early to say if Paytm will take the wind out of the existing IPO rally, but the expensive valuations of the digital payments platform and it's ability to gain market share in the businesses it operates in have been questioned by analysts and investors
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In hard times, Afghan farmers are turning to Opium for security
Opium can be kept for longer and needs far less irrigation than pomegranates, and selling and distributing the illicit substance often relies on a network of smugglers inside the country, so closed borders are no longer a problem