Delhi ready to launch digital rupee

Today's headlines:  An American professor hired by Hong Kong University denied a visa; Humanitarian aid brings Covid to pandemic isolated Tonga; Bangladesh government opposes NGO over transfer of Rohingya refugees to a deserted island; Qatar to evacuate foreigners from Afghanistan; in Idlib, Syria, two children die from the cold.

INDIA

India will have its own cryptocurrency by the end of this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced. She has added that there will also be a 30% tax on income from digital assets. The announcement is part of a demonetisation policy that began in 2016. This month, China experimented with the digital yuan at the Winter Olympics.

CHINA

The Olympic torch relay in China alone began today: more than 1,000 torchbearers will carry the flame through competition areas in Beijing and the nearby city of Zhangjiakou, home to sporting events such as cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Friday evening.

HONG KONG

An American professor specialising in LGBTQ rights said he was denied a visa to teach at the University of Hong Kong. Ryan Thoreson, who has also worked with Human Rights Watch, had been hired as a human rights expert. The city authorities denied him entry without giving a reason.

BANGLADESH

Yesterday, Bangladeshi authorities rejected a report by the NGO Fortify Rights that the government was forcing Rohingya refugees to move from crowded refugee camps to Bhashan Char island in the Bay of Bengal. The accusations were made earlier, when UN humanitarian personnel were not yet present on the island. UNHCR signed a memorandum with the Bangladesh government to manage refugees on the island, which is almost deserted and prone to flooding.

TONGA

Humanitarian aid arriving on the island in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption and tsunami has also brought the coronavirus. Tonga, which had been isolated by the pandemic, will be forced to impose a general lockdown. The first two cases were detected at the port but experts fear the spread has already begun. Although more than 80 per cent of the population has already received the double dose of vaccine, limited health facilities make the island particularly vulnerable.

AFGHANISTAN - QATAR

The Qatari Foreign Ministry and the Taliban government have agreed to evacuate foreign nationals still in Afghanistan with two flights a week from Kabul. The flights will allow the transfer not only of American citizens, but also citizens of other nations. Meanwhile, talks are underway regarding a weekly flight operated by Ariana Airlines.

SYRIA

At least two children died overnight in the Idlib refugee camp due to intense cold. Of the two, the baby girl had been born without complications a week earlier. Over the past two weeks, frost has hit north-west Syria, home to more than 4 million displaced Syrians. About 1.7 million of these IDPs are living in tents after fleeing from President Bashar al-Assad's forces. 

KAZAKHSTAN

The speaker of the Mažilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan's parliament, Nurlan Nigmatulin, resigned to make way for Erlan Košanov, director of Kasym-Žomart Tokaev's presidential administration. Both chambers are now headed by the current president's men, instead of those linked to predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev.