Picture the scene. You're on holiday and intend to go for a swim in a nearby reservoir. You pull out your phone for a selfie to make sure everyone knows you're having a lovely time, but you fumble the handset and it falls into the water.

Irritating, embarrassing, and it might even cause you some serious logistical difficulties. But it's not the end of the world, is it? Most of us would be able to move on and enjoy our holiday one way or another.

Manipur, the remote north-eastern Indian state, continues to burn weeks after the violence first erupted on May 3, following ethnic clashes between the majority Meitei community and the minority hill tribals, belonging to the Kuki/Chin/Zomi groups. 

On Sunday, fresh clashes erupted between the two communities, and at least five people, including a policeman, were killed and 12 others injured.

Following the economic collapse of Sri Lanka in mid-2022, Pakistan is close to sliding into the same disaster.

There is US$3 billion remaining in the country’s foreign currency reserves that can pay for only two weeks of imports.

Inflation is near 40 per cent.

The value of the national currency—the rupee—is in free fall.

Pakistan’s debt is near default and has increased by 38 per cent in one year.

A lopsided trade relationship with India is forcing Russia to accumulate up to $1 billion each month in rupee assets that remain stranded outside the country, swelling the stockpile of capital it's amassed abroad since the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has emerged as a top supplier of oil to India over the past year, settling a greater share of trade in national currencies and redirecting shipments east as traditional customers in Europe shunned purchases after the war began over a year ago.