Author: Nurzat Kasymov

Urmatbek Omurbekov remembers a time when grazing his livestock was a purely offline affair. Every spring, herders like him would bring their animals to the foothills of the majestic Tian Shah Mountains to let them fatten up for the next winter. In this part of the world, most families own livestock. It’s common to see goats and cattle running free alongside horses and yaks, and the locals let each other know when they run into a neighbour’s sheep or cow lost in the mountains. But against this idyllic backdrop, disputes have flourished in recent years. More often than not, they’re…

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president said Tuesday that China had agreed to restructure its loans to the bankrupt island nation, clearing the final obstacle to a long-awaited International Monetary Fund bailout. An unprecedented economic crisis has seen Sri Lanka’s 22 million people suffer acute food, fuel and medicine shortages, along with extended blackouts and runaway inflation. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has been working to repair Sri Lanka’s ruined finances and secure the sorely needed IMF rescue package. But it was held up by debt negotiations with China, its largest bilateral creditor. Wickremesinghe told parliament Beijing had now agreed to a restructure and…

To get the best results, hire the best people. That was the unspoken mantra under which Kyrgyzstan’s government again tinkered, last summer, with the school system. The immediate result of the reforms was confounding, however, with nearly one-third of schools – 656 out of 2,333 – beginning this current academic year without a principal at the helm. The Education Ministry’s big idea hinged on a couple of novelties. One was that principals would have to compete for their position rather than inheriting it or drifting into the job by patiently climbing through the ranks. Another was the institution of a…