Quick notes: Reality check | Gig worker...

• Reality check: India's bid to match China's factory heft gets a reality check. Goods imports have surged 56% since the 2020 border clash while India's trade deficit with China has nearly doubled to $85 billion. China continues to be India's biggest source of goods and was the largest supplier of industrial products last year.



• "De minimis": Biden takes aim at Shein, Temu with trade crackdown. . . . Guess who comes to China's rescue? Ambani and Modi sarkar!... yay! hindi-chini-bhai-bhai!



• Decline: India losing out to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam in manufacturing. Direct employment related to exports fell from 9.5 percent in 2012 to 6.5 percent in 2020. . . . India’s share in global FDI falls to 2.1% in 2023 from 6.5% in 2020.



• Irrational exuberance: $5.5 trillion and ticking: Beware! The pressure is building in India's stock markets



• Gig worker exploitation is rampant: "I worked as a food delivery boy in Bengaluru. Guess how much I earned in a week".




• AI’s massive thirst for energy: Mr ChatGPT and other AI power players are going to the White House to discuss AI’s massive thirst for energy. . . Oracle will use three small nuclear reactors to power new 1-gigawatt AI data center



• Nikah mut’ah: Sex tourism in Indonesia sells itself as Islamic temporary marriage. . . Taliban’s 'reforms' lead to 21,000 musical instruments destroyed in Afghanistan



• India leads the world in generating plastic waste: Producing 10.2 million tons a year (9.3 million metric tons), far more than double the next big-polluting nations, Nigeria and Indonesia. China, often villainized for pollution, ranks fourth but is making tremendous strides in reducing waste.



• China’s Megadams Create Power and Destroy Homes on the ‘Roof of the World’:




• The Once-Dominant Tank Is Getting Humbled on the Battlefield: The rise of drones has prompted armies to change tactics and add defenses to the powerful armored vehicles.