Political economy and interdependence refer to bonding relationships where parties mutually rely on each other, adapting to better management of harmony, togetherness and autonomy. This requires letting go co-dependence, ego and extreme independence. However, socio-cultural environmental norms teach us to be strong, never to be weak or reveal weaknesses to others or depend on others. Growing up in such a socio-cultural setting might keep us disconnected from developments and trends occurring elsewhere.

NEW YORK – Over the past 25 years, nearly 1.2 billion people around the world have been lifted out of poverty, while both malnutrition and the risk of death from air pollution have decreased. Taken together, these achievements are nothing short of a miracle. But two global trends now threaten to slow the momentum in reducing poverty.

The projection of our national flag onto Burj Khalifa exudes an inspiring message for all of us to rethink, refocus and strategize our united effort to push boundaries of possibility as a nation

You need to focus on turning the scarce time into something memorable for both you and your children. Once you commit, you will figure out a way to do that

The Koshi basin provides an opportunity for transboundary cooperation to address and manage shared disasters, and help save lives and livelihoods

On the lead up to the Constitution Day and the day itself last week, as cynics on social media were jeering at the government’s appeal to people to mark the day by wearing national flag emblazoned t-shirts, my contemplation  was on what the press and intelligentsia would say about the constitution that turned four on September 20, 2019.  There were two stark responses: outright ambiguous and dismissive.

Data is becoming the new oil. Governments are under substantial pressure from the citizens to protect their data. Organizations such as Google, Facebook and Apple make daily headlines for manipulating data of the consumers by selling them to marketing agencies.

NEW HAVEN – In the here and now of climate change, it is easy to lose sight of important signs of progress. China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is a case in point. By changing its economic model, shifting its sources of fuel, developing new transportation systems, and embracing eco-friendly urbanization, China’s sustainability strategy is an example of global leadership that the rest of the world should consider very carefully. In the rush to demonize China over trade, the West has missed this point altogether.

In one early announcement of this year’s budget on May 30, Finance Minister Yuvraj Khatiwada said that growth target has been set at 8.5 percent for the year and it will ensue from a number of growth inducing schemes introduced with the new budget and will be supported by a record Rs.1.53 trillion spending allocation, which is one third of total economy.

TEL AVIV – At long last, Israel has taken a step back from the religious nationalist abyss into which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had been leading it. In the September 17 parliamentary election, the country’s second in five months, the “natural coalition” of Netanyahu’s Likud party, Orthodox groups, and proto-fascist factions failed to reach the 61-seat threshold that would have enabled him to form another government.