Asian Info

 According to a recent report, China is making significant investments in Kyrgyzstan's underfunded media sector, growing its state-run outlets, and forming alliances with local businesses in an effort to influence the country's information environment. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Academy in Bishkek published a study on Chinese inroads into Kyrgyz media on August 25 as part of a multiyear research project into the strategies used by Chinese state actors to generate favourable coverage of China, spread unfavourable political talking points about the United States and the West, and suppress or drown out stories about China's interests in Central Asia, such as worries over an international conflict. Since [Kyrgyzstan's] media industry is severely underfunded, "money talks," according to Niva Yau, senior researcher at the OSCE Academy and author of the study, this is a concern. "[China] has a lot of money to invest and spend,...

As the flood death toll approaches 1,000, Pakistan declares a national emergency. Pakistan is battling terrible floods, leaving 30 million people homeless and at least 937 dead. The weather service in Pakistan, according to The Express Tribune, has forecast further rain for the upcoming week. Pakistan's Islamabad - Nearly 1,000 people have perished and more than 30 million people are still without shelter in Pakistan as monsoon rains continue to batter the South Asian country, prompting the government to proclaim the disastrous floods a "national emergency." According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), at least 937 people have perished since mid-June, including 343 children. Vast areas of the southwest province of Balochistan are still under water, evoking memories of the devastation caused by the 2010 floods. "At present, more than half of (the country) is under water and millions of people have been forced homeless as a result of flash flooding c...