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In 2016, China welcomed 17.86 million babies. By 2025, that number had plummeted to 7.92 million: a decline of more than half in less than a decade, all during a period of peace, with no war or disaster. This freefall is not just a statistic; it is a social earthquake. Schools are closing, paediatric wards are shuttered or merged, labour shortages threaten factories, and urban infrastructures built for a larger population risk becoming white elephants. China’s demographic implosion is unprecedented in modern history, and its lessons for India are profound.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADChina’s strict one-child policy, implemented in the…

“He [Mohammad Nabi] is still fielding on the boundary, running better than any other youngster in the team,” Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan said. File | Photo Credit: AP After its impressive run to the semifinals in the T20 World Cup in 2024, a lot was expected from Afghanistan in this year’s showpiece. However, two defeats in the first two games set Rashid Khan & Co. back and their hopes of advancing out of the group stage took a beating.“Overall, if you look, I feel we played some good cricket, especially the game against South Africa. A couple of super overs…

Good food needs no drama or backstory to entice the eater. And yet, when doli ki roti was served to me for lunch by Sherry Mehta, who hails from Shimla and is an authority on Himachali and Punjabi cooking, at Kanak, Trident Hyderabad, I found myself curious. Without context, it looked very much like a puri that was part of ‘A culinary tale of unchronicled Punjab.’ Sheen sajji by Sherry Mehta | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement “No, it’s not a puri. Break a piece, taste it, then let’s talk,” says Sherry.I did—and the doli ki roti surprised me. Simply put,…

The parliamentary elections of February 12 have redrawn Bangladesh’s political map with startling clarity. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, secured an overwhelming mandate—winning roughly 209 of the 299–300 directly elected seats in the National Parliament. With near two-thirds control of the legislature, the BNP now commands the authority to reshape domestic governance and recalibrate foreign policy.Meanwhile, the so-called Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami achieved a historic high, emerging as the principal opposition with approximately 68 seats. The student-led National Citizens’ Party, a small fraction of Jamaat-e-Islami under nom de guerre, and some other smaller factions captured a modest but…

India’s coach Gautam Gambhir, left, and captain Suryakumar Yadav, right, during a practice session ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 cricket match between India and the Netherlands, at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on February 17, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI With a 61-run rout of archrival Pakistan securing their passage to the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup, the Men in Blue will look to cap off their group stage campaign on a high when they take on the Netherlands at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday (February 18, 2026).The stakes are…

The kite festival in Hyderabad held during the month of January every year is a crowd puller. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL Sankranti arrives as a pause at the start of the year — a festival rooted in harvest, homecoming and shared rituals. It is remembered through simple, tactile moments: kites cutting through winter skies, fresh muggus traced at dawn, journeys back to villages, and meals shaped by the season’s first produce. For many, these memories form the emotional grammar of Sankranti, carried forward even as celebrations shift from fields and terraces to apartments and city streets. Nandini Reddy |…

After Muhammad Yunus’s self-obsessed regime, until Tarique Rahman welcomes competition and criticism, he will be less the leader of a great nation and more the benefactor of a great fraudOn February 12, 2026, Bangladeshis delivered an overwhelming victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) over the pro-Pakistan and Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami. The election purported to restore democracy to Bangladesh after the July and August 2024 protests that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It does not.While the BNP’s two-thirds vote margin ends the pretension of both Jamaat-e-Islami and its Pakistani backers that they can revert Bangladesh to pre-1971 subordination, the damage wrought…

South Africa’s Corbin Bosch, who took three wickets, in action against UAE during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR On a day of intermittent showers in the national capital on Wednesday, there was an air of inevitability about the proceedings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Such was the commanding nature of South Africa’s six-wicket win against the United Arab Emirates in the T20 World Cup Group-D contest. After Muhammad Waseem’s side was curtailed to 122 for six, the Proteas took…

Have you ever sat in a car and assumed the driver should be sitting on the right side? In India, that feels normal. But travel to countries like the United States, France, or Japan, and you’ll notice something surprising, either the driving seat or the side of the road changes!So why does this happen?Believe it or not, the answer goes back hundreds of years back, long before cars even existed. It has to do with swords, horses, and later colonial rule and global influence.Medieval habits that shaped trafficThis behaviour goes back to the time when there were horses and people…

The India AI Impact Summit 2026, taking place from February 16 to 20 in New Delhi, is hosting a distinguished lineup of global leaders, heads of state, and technology executives. Positioned as the first major global AI summit in the Global South, the event focuses on AI’s practical impact, safety, and governance. The summit will be attended by 15-20 heads of government, over 50 ministers, and more than 40 global CEOs, with discussions centred around the “People, Planet, and Progress” framework for AI development.STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS ADThe India AI Impact Summit 2026 will serve as a defining moment in…