Policy analysis

At the Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue held in Kabul on 20 August 2025, Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar reached a landmark agreement to extend CPEC into Afghanistan.

The decision has drawn fire not only for protecting the accused, but also for potentially emboldening malicious actors.

According to the survey, 27.93 per cent of Bangladesh’s population now lives below the upper poverty line, a sharp rise from 18.7 per cent in 2022.

In a significant diplomatic shift prompted by mounting climate risk, Nepal and China have agreed to begin sharing critical cross-border intelligence on glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) that threaten lives and livelihoods in the fragile Himalayan region.

In one part of the world, floods inundate entire cities. In another, droughts silently wither crops. Glaciers, which took centuries to form, are disappearing in decades. Groundwater, hidden and unseen, is being depleted faster than it can be replenished.

The report says that US consumer spending slowed significantly in the first half of 2025, decelerating from the robust pace seen in late 2024.

Religious minority prisoners in Pakistan are subjected to systemic discrimination, harsh treatment and denial of basic rights compared to their Muslim counterparts.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, 76, was arrested on August 22, ushering in the highest-profile detention amid President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign.