糖心传媒

From Mexico to Nepal, young people around the globe rose up in protest this year, fed up with corruption, poverty and soaring living costs.

While an array of grievances sparked the so-called Gen Z protests in various countries, the underlying cause seemed universal -- a generation demanding social and political change.

India has put new privacy rules into force, cutting back what personal data Big Tech can collect and giving ordinary people more control over their own information.

The government passed the stringent Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) act in 2023 but the new regime only went live last week when it finalised new rules curtailing the reach of Meta, Google, OpenAI and other tech firms.

New Delhi failed in its attempts to trigger rain through cloud seeding this week after toxic smog engulfed the Indian capital in a so-called 'airpocalypse', partly due to the use of firecrackers during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Tuesday two trials had been carried out in cooperation with the government's Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur city, which is spearheading the effort.

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 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.

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 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.

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 in decades, triggered by a social media ban that authorities eventually repealed.

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 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.