India will be concerned whether growing US-China ties will affect ‘bandwidth for a more robust response’ to Beijing, analysts say.

India last conducted a nationwide caste census in 1931. Caste-based mobilisation could prioritise social justice and disrupt the BJP’s Hindu-nationalist agenda, analysts say.

President-elect Mohamed Muizzu has made it a priority to cut Indian presence from the Maldives, diluting New Delhi’s ‘first responder’ role in the country’s foreign policy.

Both nations are building major dam projects in a region they have rowed about for decades, with the same river involved.

France is looking to bolster its ties with Sri Lanka and believes it can be ‘a balancing power’ in the Indo-Pacific, analysts say.

For two years, Hindutva Watch has chronicled unreported hate crimes and violence against India’s religious minorities, earning it some powerful enemies.

Modi and Xi have not had an in-person meeting since 2019 and the ongoing border dispute has only served to inflame tensions. But next month’s BRICS meeting and India’s G20 summit may provide an opportunity to engage.

Civil society activists say Hindu-nationalist outfits with links to Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party are funding the growing demand for Nepal to become a Hindu nation once again, according to a US religious freedom report.

A slew of agreements may be how Washington weans New Delhi off its reliance on Moscow for weapons, analysts say, amid the war in Ukraine and a flourishing Moscow-Beijing relationship.

PM Dahal’s visit has not addressed key Nepali concerns, such as the Kalapani border dispute and implementation of previous bilateral projects, one analyst notes.

Cybercrimes are not new to India but a new wave of such crimes is spreading, in which victims are promised money for liking social media content.

China-India relations are ‘not normal’, says minister S Jaishankar, despite Beijing’s insistence the border situation is ‘generally stable’.

A new study from a state-backed Indian university found that some sectors of the country’s economy couldn’t function without Chinese imports. In other cases, Indian manufacturers said they actually preferred Chinese goods – even if they weren’t the cheapest option.

One member of Nepal’s new ruling coalition, former PM Sher Bahadur Debua has been dubbed ‘pro-India’ by the Global Times. Debua replaces KP Sharma Oli, who was known for his pro-Beijing stance.

Panellists discuss rising tensions between mainland China and Taiwan, with one analyst predicting conflict could happen ‘in the next two to five years’.

During a Quad meeting with partners India, Japan and Australia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the bloc offered “choice” to countries, in a veiled reference to China.

The engagement between two senior diplomats from neighbouring countries is of importance, given that they have been locked in a border stand-off since June 2020 – and the war in Ukraine has overshadowed the G20 summit.

China’s talks with Bhutan prompted India to send its foreign secretary over for meetings with the kingdom’s leaders.

Over the last few weeks, Beijing has sent naval surveillance ships to the Indian Ocean in efforts to expand its influence in the region, while India has recently increased its naval spending.

Analysts expect Nepal’s new communist government to expedite projects under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative as Kathmandu makes a pivot from the US to China.

Three young women from a Muslim community outside Mumbai have had to dribble past societal barriers to earn their football coaching credentials.

Amid reports that Chinese and Indian soldiers attacked one another with sticks and canes and concerns Beijing aims to ‘unilaterally change status quo’, experts say we could be on route to a new reality of easily out-of-control violence.

Election results will be key to how the three powers will develop their priorities in Nepal, with India and US keen to counter Chinese influence in the region.

New Delhi can benefit from Taiwanese expertise and send Beijing a ‘political message’ by forging closer economic ties, analysts said. But divergent expectations – and Beijing’s wrath – may yet stand in the way.

With the Conservatives seeking to oust Truss, the deal is not likely to be a priority, but the ‘common threat perception’ of China could keep it on the table.

Clashes in Leicester and elsewhere highlight deep divisions caused by Hindutva groups. Analysts predict such nationalistic displays are likely to become more frequent and violent.

Washington’s embassy in Nepal was at pains to emphasise that the State Partnership Programme ‘is not and has never been’ a security or military alliance. But Beijing and New Delhi thought otherwise, analysts say.

Narendra Modi stopped off at Abu Dhabi airport on his way home from G7 summit to meet UAE president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; it follows a diplomatic storm after spokespersons for Modi’s party were accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed.

The recent moves by Asian governments to save their own food supplies have sent already inflated food prices soaring across the region.

Beijing has built a second bridge across the disputed Pangong Tso lake in the Himalayas, in an area New Delhi says belongs to India; analysts fear more political rows, more militarisation and less chance of resolution to decades long stand-off.