Sri Lanka is in its worst economic crisis and the country is facing a steep challenge to pay back its crushing 4.5B debt problem. These are debts accumulated through borrowing from foreign countries to build large scale projects to revive the economy after a natural disaster in 2004. Unable to pay off these debts, equity of these large scale projects now belong to countries like China. The country’s 22M people are facing the most painful economic downturn since the country’s independence in 1948. With no food, no fuel, or no medicine available to Sri Lankans, the people are losing confidence in their President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Protests swelled demanding the president to resign and crowds have attempted to storm the homes of government leaders. On April 19th, Police in Sri Lanka opened fire on crowds protesting at fuel shortages during the economic crisis, leaving one man dead and 11 others wounded.

Quan Bui - Vietnam’s Pole Mermaid - is a world class professional pole dancer and instructor who’s made it his mission to promote body confidence and self love through sexy dancing. Quan’s classes demonstrate and teach other dancers to find their inner mermaid - to feel powerful on the pole.

The pan-Asian housing market is broken, and the dream of owning a home is increasingly out of reach for young Asians. There are two major things that contribute to the high housing prices around Asia. First, the rapid urbanization of people migrating from the country to the city. By 2030, 66% of East Asians will live in urban areas. Lastly, Foreign investors are purchasing land and building high rise buildings that cater to high income people. Cities like Hong Kong have the highest rent prices in the world, and in Taiwan housing prices are 2x more than homes in New York and London. In Singapore, the housing development board offers subsidized housing to residents, but these programs often neglect working immigrants and non-hetrosexual couples. Young people are working hard and disheartened by their limited options.

Imran Khan was ousted from the office of Pakistan’s PM after he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament on April 10th. A week before, Khan had tried to dissolve Parliament to block the vote from happening, but the Supreme Court overruled this move as unconstitutional. The National Assembly elected Shehbaz Sharif as their interim 23rd prime minister. Khan claimed that U.S. foreign policy ousted him to overthrow his government, adding that he looks to the public to protest against a “US-backed regime” in Pakistan. Shehbaz has faced corruption allegations and spent time in jail during Imran Khan's tenure, however, he has not been convicted of an offense and maintains the allegations are politically motivated.

A Dukun is an Indonesian term for shaman. Today, Dukuns in Indonesia like Ki Sawaung Rahsa and Ki Cokro Santri, have started revamping their spiritual offerings across digital platforms. If spirituality is energy and energy moves according to the mind, why can’t spirituality travel through objects we interact with everyday? This mindset got Ki Sawung Rahsa and Ki Cocro to widen their services, from traditional offerings like implanting gold needles into bodies to harness spiritual powers to consulting spiritual seekers via video call.

April 1st 2022 marks a step towards justice for Dalit garment workers in India: H&M signed an agreement to end sexual violence against majority-women garment workers at its largest Indian suppliers. The move comes after the outrage over Jeyasre Kathiravel an H&M-associated factory worker in Tamil Nadu was murdered by her supervisor a year ago. Jeyasre’s family says she endured sexual harassment at work for months. Making our mainstream clothes shouldn't compromise the safety of garment workers in Asia. With this new agreement, all H&M workers, supervisors and executives are required to take gender-based violence training. The agreement was signed during Dalit History Month, and this is the first time a major clothing brand and a retailer is pledging to do their due diligence to ensure garment workers can thrive in a safe working environment.