Annie Banerji

Since President Donald Trump's H-1B visa crackdown, many Indian students who once dreamed of a world-class education, lucrative careers and a better quality of life, are nervous about tougher and more unpredictable U.S. immigration rules.

Last month, Trump said his administration would impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign workers, up from around $2,000 to $5,000 that employers were paying to sponsor them.

As India's online services platform Urban Company celebrated its stock market debut last week, gig workers - many of whom had staged protests in the run-up to the firm going public - worried they may be squeezed harder to please investors.

Shares of Urban Company, which offers at-home services from facials to plumbing repairs, jumped 74% last Wednesday, notching a valuation of nearly $3 billion as investors bet on its dominant position in a mostly untapped market.

Nepal's army was in talks on Thursday with Gen Z protesters to pick an interim leader for the Himalayan nation after violent anti-corruption protests killed 30 and forced the prime minister to resign.

Soldiers were patrolling the quiet streets of Kathmandu following the capital's worst protests in decades, triggered by a social media ban that authorities eventually repealed.

India's recent ban of online money-based games could drive addicts to unregulated apps and offshore platforms that pose new financial and social risks, fantasy-sports gaming experts warn.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government banned real-money online games late last month, citing financial losses and addiction, leading to a shutdown of many apps offering paid fantasy cricket, rummy and poker games.

From blackouts, a racing heart, extreme fatigue and brain fog, to severe depression and anxiety, DVL Padma Priya was hit with a constellation of symptoms in 2020, just months after recovering from COVID-19.

But without a name for her condition, or support from health professionals, she said she struggled to understand what was wrong.

India's government has announced social security benefits, including healthcare, for about 10 million gig workers in its latest budget, in a boost to a growing workforce that is demanding greater social and labour rights.

Presenting the annual budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hailed gig workers employed through platforms like Amazon, Uber and India's Zomato.

The world's billionaires' wealth grew by $2 trillion in 2024, at a rate three times faster than the previous year largely due to inheritance, powerful connections and corruption, according to anti-poverty group Oxfam.

A report by the British charity, which was issued as business elites gather this week for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, found that an average of nearly four new billionaires were "minted" weekly.

Elections in countries that are home to almost half of the world’s population made this the biggest election year on record and will shape how the world is governed in 2025.

From Taiwan’s general election in January to the U.S. presidential race in November, more than 2 billion people – an all-time record – went to the polls in 2024.

Pollution readings in India's capital New Delhi hit their highest in this pre-winter season, forcing the government to restrict vehicle movement and construction, and urging schools to give classes online.

India's Central Pollution Control Board showed Delhi's 24-hour air quality index (AQI) reading hit 494 on a scale of 500 on Monday.

Cool-season winds and burning fields unleash an annual scourge of toxic air that kills tens of thousands of Indians a year, say researchers, urging tighter air quality standards to save lives.

About 7.2% of all deaths in India are attributable to a daily exposure to small and hazardous airborne particles known as PM2.5, according to a July study by The Lancet.